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After nineteen lessons of seeing how the Bible was written and learning some of the crucial truths in the Bible, we should be very attracted to the Word of God. There should be an appreciation welling up from our spirit causing us to desire to devour the Word of God until our being is fully constituted with His word. In the remaining lessons, we want to fellowship with you about our attitude toward the Bible and how we may be constituted with the Word of God.
First, we need to believe the Bible. At times we may read the Bible and not fully agree with it, or we may think that what it says is impossible. Other times we may not like what we read. We need to accept, agree, and believe the Word of God by faith.
The Word of God is trustworthy. Not one word can be changed or annulled until it is fulfilled. Human words are not trustworthy because they are not eternal. Human feelings likewise fluctuate. We cannot depend on our words or our feelings. But what the Lord has spoken will be accomplished (Num. 23:19). For example, He said in Mark 16:16, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.” Anyone who believes the Lord Jesus and is baptized shall be saved. There is no reason to question if the person looks saved or feels that he is saved. He is saved because the Bible says so. We must accept the Word of God the way it is written.
We should agree with the Word of God. When God says something, it is right; it is established. If we do not presently agree with the Word of God, we will in eternity. For example, Paul said in Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” You may not think that it is always right to agree with your parents. But the Bible says that it is right; therefore, it is right. The sooner you agree with the Word of God, the sooner you will receive the blessing from the Lord. After you agree with His word, you call on the Lord to receive the bountiful supply from the Spirit (Phil. 1:19); then you will be able to obey your parents in the Lord. But if you disagree, you will never receive the supply to overcome your flesh so that you may obey your parents. When you say “Amen” to the word of God, all the promises of God will become real to you (2 Cor. 1:20).
We must believe the Word of God. Whatever the Lord spoke in the Bible is for us to enjoy and experience. There may be times when we think that what we read in the Bible is impossible. When this happens, the word spoken is not effective in our Christian life. We become weak and beggarly. The children of Israel were told to go in to possess the good land, but they did not believe the word of God. Therefore, they did not go in, but died in the wilderness. There were two men, Joshua and Caleb, who believed the word of God and went in even though there were giants in the good land. Because of their faith, the giants became food for them. Without faith, the people regarded themselves as grasshoppers before the giants. Not believing in the word of God is due to an evil heart of unbelief (Heb. 3:12). Joshua and Caleb had an extraordinary spirit to believe the word of God (Num. 14:24). We should learn from them. Whenever we read the Bible, we must believe everything we read. If we lack understanding, we must pray and fellowship until we are clear. Never doubt the Word of God.
Where do we receive faith to believe the Word of God? Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes out of hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Galatians 3:2 and 5 tell us that we receive the Spirit and the Lord supplies to us the Spirit by the hearing of faith. We were born without faith. We cannot conjure up faith to believe. However, when we hear the word of God, faith is infused into our spirit. It creates an appreciation for what is spoken. When we pray to the Lord according to what is spoken to us, we receive the reality conveyed by the word. For example, when we read Romans 10:12, “The same Lord of all is rich to all who call upon Him,” we appreciate this verse. Then we need to pray, “O Lord, I call upon You. O Lord Jesus! You said that You will be rich to me if I call. O Lord Jesus, I call upon You now and I believe that You are rich to me. Lord, as I am calling, You are supplying me richly. Thank You, Lord!” If we accept the Lord’s word by agreeing with it, believing it, acting on it, and praying according to it, whatever the Bible says becomes not only a promise to us but also an accomplished fact as a bequest to us. Hallelujah!
We also need to know the truth in the Bible. If we do not know the truth, we will not have the opportunity to accept, agree, believe, act, and pray. Therefore, it is imperative for us to know the truth in the Word.
Believers throughout the last twenty centuries have been interpreting the Bible. The church fathers, during the first centuries, began to interpret the Bible. Subsequently, the Bible was locked up for approximately one thousand years. These one thousand years were called the dark ages. Following the dark ages, the reformers resumed the interpretation of the Bible. The Brethren continued, and many among us in the Lord’s recovery have stood on the shoulders of the foregoing saints until now. The interpretation began with the Trinity and Christology and has continued until the recent revelation of the New Jerusalem. The top and proper interpretation is printed in the Recovery Version, the Life-study Messages, the lesson books, and the other books currently available in the Lord’s recovery. We should not let the interpreted truths sit on our bookshelves. Instead, we should study them until we are constituted with the truth.
We need to know the truth to be set free. The Lord said, “And you shall know the reality (truth), and the reality shall set you free” (John 8:32). At times, we may be bound by things of sin and the world, or we may be under unnecessary condemnation. This is due to the lack of the truth. The truth sets us free from the bondages of sin and the world. The Lord prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17). The truth not only frees us, it also sanctifies us. Sanctification brings the holy nature of God into us, resulting in the transformation of our mind. The mind is the battleground between God and Satan, and between the mingled spirit and the flesh. Thus, knowing the truth sets us free from the attacks of Satan and makes it easy for us to turn to the spirit, to live in the spirit, and to follow the sense of life.
The church of the living God is the pillar and base of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15). [The pillar supports the building, and the base holds the pillar. The church is such a supporting pillar and holding base of the truth.] The church must be built with the truth and constituted with the truth; then she can be the pillar and base of the truth. If the church is full of worldly activities, she cannot display the truth. Ephesians 4:15 tells us that we need to hold to truth in love in order to grow up into Christ the Head in all things. By the functioning of every truth-holding member, the Body is built up in love (v. 16). Truth is essential to the Body of Christ. Therefore, we all should endeavor to know the truth, not only for our own sake, but also for the sake of the church.
Ephesians 1:13 says, “In whom you also, hearing the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise.” The word of the truth is the gospel of salvation. A person who is full of truth has much to preach. A person who is not full of truth would not know what to say to help people to believe. People are regenerated by the living and abiding word of God (1 Pet. 1:23). They grow by the milk of the word (1 Pet. 2:2). The truth of the word is crucial in preaching to unbelievers and in begetting and nourishing new believers.
We must be people full of the truth for ourselves, for the building up of the church, and for the gospel.
Merely studying and knowing the truth is not enough; we need to apply the truth in our daily Christian life and in the church life. The truth is not only in the Bible; it has been interpreted and published for our benefit. We need to study the interpreted truth to receive it into us. Then we need to experience the truth so that it becomes our reality. God “desires all men to be saved and come to the full knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3-4). Getting saved is not enough; we need the full knowledge of the truth, the complete realization of the divine realities embodied in the Word. This full knowledge comes from knowing and experiencing the truth.
First, we need to apply the truth in our daily Christian life. We must believe that everything spoken of by the Lord is for our experience. If we have this view, we will experience the Lord according to His word in all our daily situations. For example, when we read in Matthew 5:48, “You, therefore, shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” we believe it and we can experience it. We are the Father’s children having the Father’s divine life and divine nature (1 John 5:12a; 2 Pet. 1:4). As the Father is perfect, we also can be perfect. When we notice that we are not perfect like the Father, we can repent and be forgiven. Then we can call on the Lord and pray-read His word to be strengthened by His divine life in the Spirit. Such strengthening enables us to express Him in His perfect living. Thus, we can fulfill the word in Matthew 5:48.
Many times our experience does not match the Word. We should never say, “It is all right.” Nor should we say, “It is not possible.” We should simply repent and confess our shortcomings, then call on the Lord and pray-read His word. The Lord will save us and allow us to experience Him according to the truth of the Word.
Second, we need to apply the truth in the church life. Many Christians have gathered themselves in denominations and do not practice according to the truth. They do not believe that the things spoken of in the Bible are for our practice today. They may excuse themselves and say that it is not possible to practice what is in the Bible or that what is in the Bible is for the future. Some others may say, “We have been practicing this way for hundreds of years; why should we change now?”
We must not be loose with the Word of God. Whatever the Lord says, we must do. We must practice according to the truth that is revealed in the Bible. For example, 1 Corinthians 14:26 says that we all should have something to say when we come to the meetings so that we may build up the church. Some may say that it is hard to speak, preferring to hire a pastor to speak for them. We cannot hold on to this attitude. We must hold on to the truth and practice accordingly. Therefore, we need to call on the Lord, pray, and pray-read every morning so that we may be revived and enlightened by the Lord. As we practice overcoming in all our situations during the day by continuing to pray over the word which we enjoyed in the morning, our enjoyment and experience of the Lord in His word will increase. At the end of each week, we should consider what we have seen and experienced in the Word and prepare something to share in the Lord’s Day meeting. This will provide the Lord a way to build up His church according to His prophecy in Matthew 16:18.
We have the interpreted truth in the Lord’s recovery. We must use our time and energy wisely to study the truth for ourselves, for preaching to the unbelievers, and for the church. The more our experience is according to the truth, the more we will have the full assurance to speak to others, to beget children for God, and to build up the church.
