Sunday, October 20, 2013 am
DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE READING?
Acts 8:30
(2 Lessons)
In Acts 8 we find the account of the Ethiopian Eunuch (8:26-40).
The Eunuch is believed to be a proselyte Jew (meaning a Gentile
that had converted to Judaism).
He was evidently a devout student of the word.
He had been to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home.
An angel appears to Philip charging him to meet the eunuch on his
way home. Philip obeys and
finds him in the wilderness.
He joins the eunuch in his chariot and asks him, “Do you understand what
you are reading?” The Eunuch
answered, “How can I unless someone guides me.”
In the text we find that he was studying from Isaiah and Philip,
beginning at that passage preaches Jesus to him.
The result is that the eunuch immediately obeyed the gospel and
went on his way resulting. Today
we want to focus on one statement in this account – the question Philip
began with – “Do you understand what you are reading?”
Evidently the Eunuch needed some help understanding it.
But what about us? Are we like the Eunuch,
incapable of understanding the word of God without help or are we
capable of understanding it ourselves?
There are many today who teach we cannot understand God’s word.
Catholicism teaches that you need the help of your priests to
fully understand His word.
Others teach that we are incapable unless the Holy Spirit directly
guides us (i.e. Calvinism).
Still others see religious division and rationalize that it is so
because we cannot fully understand God’s word.
ALL of these concepts are false.
The truth is – we CAN understand God’s word.
In this lesson we are going to see how that is true and notice
what it would mean if we cannot understand God’s word.
Finally we want to make some application as to HOW we can
understand the word of God.
a.
Eph. 3:3-5 “how that by
revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written
already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the
mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons
of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles
and prophets:”
b.
Eph. 5:17, “Therefore
do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
c.
2 Tim. 3:16-17 – all
scripture inspired is profitable “that the man of God may be complete,
thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
d.
Matt. 13:23, the “good
seed” hears and understands.
e.
2 Tim. 2:15 tells us to
“rightly divide the word of truth.”
f.
1 Peter 2:1-2
“Therefore, laying aside all
malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn
babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if
indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” (1 Peter
2:1–3)
g.
Writers and teachers demonstrated this
over and over in scripture.
i.
Jesus on more than one occasion asked,
“Have you not read…” (Matt. 12:3, 5, 19:4, etc.).
He expected them to UNDERSTAND the Old Law and apply it.
ii.
Acts 17:11 – The Bereans,
“These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they
received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily
to find out whether these things were so.”
iii.
2 Tim. 3:14-15, Timothy
from childhood had learned “the Holy Scriptures” which are able to make
you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
iv.
John 20:30-31,
“And truly Jesus did many other
signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this
book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His
name.”
v.
Luke 1:1-4, Luke was
writing to Theophilus providing an orderly account of the life of Jesus.
Why? “that
you may know the certainty of those thing in which you were instructed.”
(Vs. 4)
h.
With just a casual reading of the Bible
it becomes clear that it was written to men so that they COULD
understand it, learn from it and apply it to their lives. The epistles
were written to Christians in congregations to explain God’s
instructions to them. It is
within these letters we find the above passages.
Paul, Peter, James, John and Jude and the gospel writers were NOT
just rambling when they wrote. They
were EXPLAINING things in such a way that the common man could
comprehend.
i.
I am certain that many other passages
could be added to these to show how we CAN fully understand God’s word.
a.
He IS the author of confusion
–“Only a cruel father would give his son a book so complex and difficult
that the son could not possibly understand it.”[1]
It would be cruel for God to expect us to follow and obey Him and yet
give us a message we are incapable of understanding.
But that is NOT our God! HE
is a loving God who desires all men everywhere to be saved.
1 Cor. 14:33 says, “For
God is not the author of confusion but of peace…”
1 Tim. 2:3-4 “For this
is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all
men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
b.
The Bible is irrelevant – if we
cannot understand the Bible, what good is it?
It would be relegated to nothing more than a theory among many
theories. If we cannot
understand it, why choose it over the Qur’an?
Why not choose the teachings of Hinduism or Buddhism?
Why not pick your favorite philosopher and follow him?
But the Bible is relevant.
It contains, “all things that
pertain to life and godliness.” (2 Pet. 1:3).
It is the beginning of a happy marriage, moral societies,
honorable conduct, good parenting, etc.
David said, ““Through Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.” (Psalm 119:104)
c.
We cannot know how to be saved or to
completely please God.
A clear understanding of God’s word is key to answering the questions of
life.
Salvation is tied to our understanding of God’s word – Mark 16:15-16.
How can we believe unto salvation if we cannot understand?
IF God’s word cannot be understood, then we are merely guessing and
hoping we are right. If you
do a study of idolatry, what you find is man creating god in their image
instead of the other way around.
And what usually happens is either they create a god that
approves of their behavior OR they create standards so impossible that
none can achieve it (such as human sacrifices, self-torture, etc.)
Jesus taught that we would be judged by His words, “He who rejects
Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word
that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.” (John 12:48)
In saying this, Jesus established
an absolute standard of judgment.
That standard IS God’s word – Rom. 1:16-17.
d.
True unity cannot be achieved –
the premise of denominationalism is that we cannot fully understand
God’s word. If that be true,
we are free to pursue whatever standard we want.
We have no right to judge anyone by any standard.
And sadly, that is the direction this world seems to be headed.
BUT, God’s word does NOT teach this.
1 Cor. 1:10, note what Paul expected of them,
“Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no
divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the
same mind and in the same judgment.”
John 17:20-21, ““I do not
pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through
their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I
in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that
You sent Me.”
Phil.
2:2 we are commanded to be of one mind.
To be possible that means we
must have a unified standard.
a.
We must approach it with the realization
that we can understand it. Realize
that God wants you to understand.
We have already established this.
b.
Seek it with all your heart
- Search the scriptures daily. Matt.
22:37 says you love Him with all your heart.
IF you love God, you are going to seek to obey Him.
In fact that is what John said in 1 John 5:2-3, “By this we
know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His
commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His
commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”
Like the pearl of great price – Matt. 13:45-46 – we need to be looking
and when we find it, we will sell EVERYTHING we have to get it.
c.
Desire to learn – be
diligent in it! (2 Tim. 2:15)
Many study His word with wrong motives – to validate what they
want to believe, with emotion over truth, with little real effort
(sloppy handling of God’s word, laziness, etc.), without a desire to
change, as a hobby, indifference, worldliness, etc.
Why is there so much division in the religious world today?
For many this is the reason!
They don’t desire to really know the truth – so they listen to
men, their feelings, and even critics of the truth.
d.
STUDY!
2 Tim. 2:15. We need
to be hungering and thirsting after righteousness (Matt. 5:6).
Study means that you weigh the meaning.
This is where multitudes of resources are available – word
studies, personal notes, commentaries, multiple versions, etc.
We need to meditate on the word (Phil. 4:8 – whatsoever things are
true…”)
Acts 17:11 – search the scriptures daily
Psa. 1:2 speaks of the one who delights in the law of the Lord meditates
on it day and night.
e.
Respect its boundaries -
1 Cor. 4:6, Rev. 22:18-19
f.
Intend to obey it – Matt.
28:18-19. All the knowledge
in the world is meaningless if you do not intend to apply it.
Prov. 23:23 says, ““Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom
and instruction and understanding.”
“Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in
doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” (1
Timothy 4:16)
And thus we can see that we CAN understand God’s
word. Not only are we told
so, but are told HOW to understand it.
That’s what the Bible says.
It’s up to you to apply it.
This lesson is based upon the introductory chapter of a book
which addresses MDR from a Biblical standpoint.
The point that was made is we need to separate our emotions,
relationships, personal desires and the manipulating of scripture to
find more than what the Bible actually says.
That is key to understanding the word of God – both for yourself
and as we study together.
And the principle applies to EVERYTHING we examine!
What about you? What
are you doing to understand God’s word?