The greatest gift a person can receive today is a Bible. Titus 2:11,12 say, “The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age”. Jesus appeared in this world to make the once for all blood sacrifice and “teach” us what to do and how to live in order to accept His gift. He doesn’t say we must earn anything He offers. He just says we must obey His Words that have been revealed to us by the grace of God in the Bible. God’s grace is a teacher. In John 18:37 He said to Pilate, “For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the Truth. Everyone who is of the Truth hears My voice.” Pilate, like so many misguided and confused people today, just said, “What is Truth?”
One of the saddest commentaries in the religious world today is that there are so many people, including preachers, of all people, who say we can’t understand the Bible. In other words, we can’t know the Truth. Jesus says we can know the Truth. Who am I supposed to believe?
The Bible tells of some others who have said we can’t know God’s Word. They were leading men among the Jews who made up a big part of the Jewish Sanhedrin in the New Testament. They liked to convince people that the average person couldn’t know the Scriptures so they, the rulers, could pervert what was written and twist everything to their materialistic advantage. In John 1:4,5, it is talking specifically about these men, and the rest of the world who deny we can know the Truth, where it says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” People who prefer darkness, in other words, rumors, and lies, and falsehood, over the Truth, cannot comprehend the light, unless they repent. They are blinded by light.
I have studied the Bible with many people this past year, including preachers, and to my amazement, they claim to be Christians yet say we can’t know the Bible. A few even say the Bible can’t be trusted to reveal if we are saved. They said, “We all need dreams and visions.”
It is heartbreaking that so many people believe these men and women, but reject the Truth because they are told we can’t know it, or understand it. Why don’t people believe Jesus, or the writers of His Word in the Bible when He says we can know? In John 8:31,32, Jesus says, “If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.” 1 John 2:21, the apostle wrote, “I have not written to you because you do not know the Truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the Truth”. It is a lie to say we can’t know the Truth. It is a lie from Satan. 1 Timothy 4:3 says there will be false teachers “speaking lies in hypocrisy… forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the Truth.” Today, we have all Truth that God would have us to know in the Bible. But, one has to “believe” it, and obey it to know it.
I know a faithful gospel preacher who likes to say, “Christians are commanded to love the Truth, hear the Truth, walk in the Truth, obey the Truth, teach the Truth in love. Isn’t it strange there are so many who claim to be believers, and then say we can,t know the Truth?” Pray about it. And then study the Bible to find the answers. Don’t just read, study. Don’t make excuses, make it a priority like God wants, and then study the Bible with the sincere desire to obey what He says.
Timothy Sundlie
Preacher / Evangelist for the La Crosse church of Christ
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