NAILED TO THE CROSS

                                     

If you're a Christian, and/or attend church regularly, or if you've been around Christians much, then I'm sure you've heard somebody say that the law was nailed to the cross. They say the Ten Commandments were only for the Jews, not for Christians, and they were nailed to the cross when Jesus died. Then, they usually quote Romans 6:14-15, and say, "We’re not under the law but under grace."

So, if we no longer have to obey the 10 Commandments, is it okay to Lie, Steal, Kill, Commit adultery, and take the name of the LORD in vain? Then they say, "No. Nine of the Commandments were repeated in the New Testament, so we do have to obey those nine."

Today, I want to ask, and answer the question, What exactly did Jesus nail to his cross?

We'll start with Colossians 2:11-14, and Ephesians 2:11-18

Colossians 2:12-14
12 You were buried with him in baptism and rose with him through faith in the operation of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 Because you were dead in your sins and uncircumcised in your flesh, but he made you alive together with him, and forgave you for all your sins,
14 Erasing the handwritten law that was against us, which was contrary to us, he took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Ephesians 2:11-18
11 So remember, that in the past, you were Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcised by those who are Circumcised in the flesh;
12 At that time, you were without Jesus. You were not part of the community of Israel and were strangers to the covenant of promise. You were without God in the world, and had no hope:
13 But now, in Jesus, the Messiah, you who were once far away are made near through the blood of the Messiah.
14 Because he is our peace. He has made both, one, and has broken down the wall that separated us.
15 In his flesh, he destroyed that wall, which was the law of precepts and ordinances, in order to create in himself one new man from the two, and make peace;
16 So that he might reconcile both to God in one body, and destroy the wall through the cross:
17 He came and preached peace to you who were at a distance, and to those who were near.
18 So now, through him, we both have access to the Father through one Spirit.

In these 2 passages, Paul is talking to two different churches, but he's saying the same thing to both, although it's not word for word. Notice that he uses the same terms in the highlighted sections in each passage marked by corresponding colors.

Paul is telling the Colossians and the Ephesians that Jesus died for the Jews and the Gentiles to bring all his followers together as one people. There was a law of precepts and ordinances which he calls a wall that separated both groups. He also calls it the handwritten law which was against them. Both terms refer to the Law of Moses.

He says Jesus destroyed that "Wall" which was the handwritten law of precepts and ordinances which was against them by symbolically nailing it to his cross. He became sin for us on that cross. He was the supreme sacrifice that all the animal offerings pointed forward to. So, what was nailed to the cross? It was the Law of Moses; not the Ten Commandments. Let's look at a few verses from Moses to confirm this.

Deuteronomy 10:1-5
1 At that time the Lord said to me, Cut two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me into the mountain, and also make you an ark of wood.
2 And I will write on the tablets, the words that were on the first tablets which you broke, and you will put them in the ark.
3 And I made an ark of shittim wood, and cut two tablets of stone like the first, and went up into the mountain, with the two tablets in my hand.
4 And he (God) wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spoke to you in the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly: and the Lord gave them to me.
5 And I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, as the Lord commanded me.

Notice that the 10 commandments were written on two tablets of stone, and were placed inside the ark of the covenant itself, but, as the next few verses show, the Law of Moses was written in a book, (scroll) and placed in the SIDE of the ark of the covenant.

Deuteronomy 4:14
14 And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, so you might do them in the land which you go over to possess.

Deuteronomy 31:9
9 And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.

Deuteronomy 31:25-26
25 Moses commanded the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying,
26 Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.

Notice that the Law of Moses (Precepts/Ordinances and Judgments) was against them. That's the same wording Paul uses in Colossians 2:14. The law that was against them was the Law of Moses, and clearly, that is the law that was nailed to the cross; not the Ten Commandments.

Since that's the case, what about the Ten Commandments? Well, the Bible tells us the Ten Commandments was the Old Covenant written on stone (Deut. 4:13), and the New Covenant is the Ten Commandments written in our minds (Hebrews 10:16).

The Ten Commandment Law was NOT nailed to the cross, the Law of Moses was. So, that means the Ten Commandments are still there for us to obey; all ten, not just nine, and by the way, all ten of the commandments were repeated in the New Testament; not just nine, as some people claim.

The Ten Commandments were not just for the Jews. In fact, they were not given to the Jews. They were given to the Children of Israel, which, at the time, consisted of all twelve tribes. The Jews came much later from the tribe of Judah. The Ten Commandments existed before God wrote them on the stone tablets for the Israelites in Exodus chapter twenty. Look BACK at chapter 16 and read this verse carefully.

Exodus 16:4
4 Then the LORD said to Moses, Look, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out and gather a certain amount every day, so I may test them, to see if they will follow my law or not.

Much earlier than that, God said this about Abraham;

Genesis 26:5
5 Because Abraham heard my voice, and obeyed my ordinances, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

So God's Law was already there before there was ever a Jew or a nation called Israel. The Israelites had been in Egypt for over four hundred years and had been deeply influenced by Egyptian culture. Many of them were even serving the Egyptian gods. They needed to be reminded of the true God's Law, so he spoke the Commandments to them, and then he wrote them down for them. The fact is, that God's law has always existed because he has always existed.

Just a few more points to wrap it up:

The New Testament does say, "You are not under the law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14). But the first part of that verse says, "Sin shall not have dominion over you…"

Romans 3:20 says the law is the standard that shows us what sin is.

In Romans 7:7, Paul says he would not have known what sin was without the law.

Romans 10:4 says the goal of the law is to bring all who believe to Jesus to be justified.

1 John 3:4 says, Whoever sins, breaks the law: because sin is breaking the law.

There could be no sin without the Law, so it has been around as long as sin has. Please look at these next few verses carefully.

Galatians 5:18
18 If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

BUT, those who are not led by the Spirit are STILL under the Law. Let me say that again. Listen closely. Galatians 5:18 says, "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law." Those who are NOT led by the Spirit are still under the Law. What does that mean?

We who have accepted Jesus as our Savior are not under the Law because we've accepted God's free gift of Salvation, and our sins have been forgiven. We're now under Grace. But, just because we're no longer under the Law, doesn't mean the Law is no longer there. Those who have NOT yet been saved still need the Law to show them what sin is so they can come to Jesus and be saved.

Galatians 3:24-25 says it another way.

Galatians 3:24-25
24 So the Law was our teacher to bring us to Christ, so we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith has come, we are no longer under a teacher. (The Law)

Everyone is not saved. Everyone does NOT have faith. Those people STILL NEED THE LAW to tell them what sin is. They still need the Law to show them they're lost, and to point them to our loving Savior. They still need that teacher. So the Ten Commandment Law has not been changed nor done away with. IT IS STILL THERE, just as strong, and as in effect as ever.

Keeping the Ten Commandments WILL NOT save us. We should obey them because we ARE saved. All ten, not just nine of them. Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). If we love him, we should want to obey his Commandments; Not to be saved, but because we ARE saved.

So, the next time you hear someone say the law was nailed to the cross, you'll know that it was not the Ten Commandment Law. It was the law of Moses with the precepts and ordinances, and the sacrifices that symbolized the one great sacrifice of the Son of God for us for all time.

You can read what the Bible says about the Old and New Covenant at the link below.
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-old-and-new-covenant.html

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HANDLING BULLIES

Remember the fights in school? Remember how everybody would gather around and watch and encourage their friends? When I was in school, I was not a fighter. I didn’t get in trouble many times for fighting, but the few times I did, I was not the one who started the fight. I remember one fight I had with a guy named Robert. I don’t remember why the fight started, but I do remember that wrestling move he used on me. I’ll never forget it. He grabbed my arms from the front, and fell backward on the ground, pulling me down with him. At the same time, he put both of his feet on my stomach and flipped me over his head onto the ground behind him. It knocked the breath right out of me.

Mrs. Brauner saw us and came to break up the fight. It was already over, but she did her duty and told us to go clean up, then come to the Library for our paddling. As Robert and I walked together to the restroom, he said we should put a bunch of toilet paper in our pants to keep the paddling from hurting so bad, so that’s what I did. I went into one of the stalls and packed my underwear, full, and I assumed he did, too. Then, we both walked together down the long hallway to the library to take our punishment. I don’t think the toilet paper helped any. If it did, I would have hated to take that paddling without it. It hurt! Good old Robert. He tried to help. What’s funny is, we became friends after that.

There was another kid there who rode our bus. He was always poking fun at me and one of my sisters, laughing and talking about our zits. We actually had the acne disease. I had it all over my face and chest, but she had it on her face, chest, and back. We had to go to the doctor regularly to get medication for it, but it didn’t do much good. Not a day went by that he didn’t harass us about it. It got old, but there was nothing we could do about it.

I know you’ve heard “What goes around comes around.” Karma, or whatever it may be. After elementary school, I didn’t see him for a few years. He was a teenager the next time I saw him, and his face was so full of zits you probably couldn’t put your finger on his face without touching one. I wasn’t a Christian then so I actually laughed, and said, “That’s what he gets for making fun of us.”

There were two or three times in school when I was bullied by another student. One of those times was by a kid named Tommy. He would sit behind me on the school bus and flick my ear. The first few times, he acted like it wasn’t him, but after I knew it was, he would do it and laugh about it. Later, he started doing it and getting other kids to laugh about it.

Then one day, I had had enough. When he flicked my ear, I turned around in my seat and yelled at him to leave me alone. I guess he didn’t like that, so he grabbed both of my ears and slammed his head into my head three times as hard as he could. It hurt so bad it made me cry. After that day, we got along pretty good, and he never bothered me again. I guess he got it out of his system.

There was another bully name Daniel. He would do all kinds of stuff to me just to aggravate me. I don’t remember all the stuff he did. He was just bullying me around all the time, so I told the teacher. Well, I don’t know what the teacher did or what he said to Daniel, but we were headed out to the gym after lunch the next day and he flipped my hair from behind as he ran past me. Then he turned around and walked beside me and said, “Whatchu gonna do, tell the teacher again?” That kind of stuff continued until the end of the year school year.

Then, while we were out of school for the summer, he came to visit some boys from school who lived in my neighborhood. I had no problem with them. They were alright. They would come and visit once in a while, and sometimes we would hang out on the weekend. They came over that weekend, and Daniel was with them.

We were all just standing around talking then I did something dumb. I don’t know why. Maybe I felt safe in my own yard or something like that. I don’t know, but I threw a pack of mayonnaise on the ground beside the bully and stomped it. It squirted out onto his pants. I remember him grabbing me, but the next thing I knew I was on top of him on the ground beating him in the face with my fist. I got up off him and stood on my porch feeling like I had paid him back as he walked away with the other two boys. When school started back, he didn’t bother me, and he never bothered me again.

Fighting is not always the answer. It should never be the answer, but unfortunately, we’re not always left with much of a choice. We humans can only take so much bullying before we break and want to fight back. That’s one reason so many young people snap and go shoot a bunch of other kids. I hear of so much bullying in schools today, and the teachers and parents refuse to do anything about it, but when the victim retaliates, they get into trouble.

Look what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 12:18. “If possible, you should live peacefully with everyone.” That’s the best route to go, but it’s not always a popular one. It’s not what most people choose to do. In Romans 12:2, Paul said, “Do not conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so you may test and see what God considers good, and acceptable, and perfect.” In other words, Don’t be like everybody else. Be converted and find out what is good in God’s eyes and do that.

In verse 17 Paul said, “Do not repay anyone for evil with evil. Do good in the presence of everyone.” In verse 21 he said, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” How do we do that? He gives us a great example in verse 14; He says, “Speak well of those who persecute you; Speak well, and do not condemn.” In Matthew 5:44-45, Jesus said, “Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you, and persecute you, so that you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven.” Back in Romans 12:20, Paul said, “If your enemy is hungry, feed them. If they thirst, give them something to drink. By doing this, you will pile up coals of fire on their head.” This “fire” may have one of two results. It may melt their heart, and you may gain a friend. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Do I not destroy my enemy, when I make him my friend?”

On the other hand, some bullies don’t respond well to kindness from their victims. Your kindness may make them angry or they may confuse your kindness for weakness and continue bullying you. Continue to pray for them. God will take care of it in his own way, and time. Look what Paul tells us in verse 19. He said, “Dear loved ones, do not avenge yourselves. Leave that to God: because it is written, “the LORD says, Vengeance is mine; I will repay.”

We must practice obeying God’s word to the fullest, no matter how uncomfortable it may be at first. God knows what’s best, always. We need to trust him and pray for grace and strength to obey. We have to start now. If we’re not fully committed to God and his ways now, we certainly won’t be able to obey him when persecution comes to us. So commit to him now, and pray without ceasing. “Those who stand firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22)

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18 WHEELS AND A DOZEN PRAISES

I remember it like it was yesterday. Well, maybe not that vividly, but pretty well. My family and I went to a used car lot to buy a new car for me to drive back and forth to work each day. Do you get the joke? New car, used car lot. Ok, well, it was new to me. After praying first, we looked at several different cars and were about to decide that we were not going to find one there that we felt good about buying. 

That’s when we saw it. It wasn’t in the rows with the other cars. It was sitting beside the building with some other less desirable ones.

I tried it out and felt pretty good about the dependability and the price, so, after my boys climbed in, I drove it away as my wife and daughter followed.

The car was a small, blue Geo Metro. It had twelve-inch tires and only three cylinders. It only had 80 MPR on the speedometer, but I don’t even know if it could do eighty. If it could, it did one morning, about five o’clock. I was taking my kids to the babysitter on my way to work. 

We were going through town, minding our own business, and obeying the speed limit. I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw an eighteen-wheeler coming up on us pretty fast. I said something about it to the kids and they looked back just in time to see it bearing down on us. I saw that it wasn’t going to stop, or change lanes so I put the pedal to the metal. 

We were going as fast as that little car could possibly go. It was shaking all over and screaming, and so were the kids. We were only a foot or two away from being twisted up under that big highway monster. We think the driver may have been falling asleep or something. Anyway, the truck finally started slowing down and we started pulling away from it.

Thank God! We were safe again. We were so grateful to be alive and I praise the Lord for saving us that morning. I don’t mind telling you I was scared to death and so were my kids. I don’t remember praying while it was going on. It all happened so fast and it was over before we knew it. That’s one reason why it’s so important to stay in constant communication with God. 

We always prayed before we drove away to go anywhere. We would God to be with us and protect us and keep us safe there and back and we still do all these years later. I talk to God throughout the day. It’s easy when you truly know that he is right there with you constantly.

Sometimes people make the mistake of thinking he’s just up in heaven and we have to kneel and close our eyes to talk to him like we’re making a phone call. Some people even think you have to go to a church building to communicate with God, but that’s the wrong idea. We should always be reverent when speaking to our Creator, of course, but if you’ve been born again, then the Holy Spirit is living in your mind. You’re a child of God. You can talk to him any time and anywhere, in any condition and any position, whether you’re kneeling, standing, or lying down, and with your eyes open or closed. 

The important thing is to talk to him. He’s always listening and he’s always talking to us. Sometimes we let our minds drift into areas where they shouldn’t be, or neglect to take time to talk to him. Sometimes we’re angry and sometimes we may sin. In those times it becomes harder for us to hear his voice, but he’s always there. He said he would never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

1 Thessalonians 5:17 says we should pray without ceasing. That’s constant communication. That’s how God changes us into holy people. He tells us what to do and what not to do as we listen to him. So talk, listen, and communicate with our loving God and allow him to sanctify you, and I’ll see you on the other side, at the end of our journey.

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MODERN MANNA

In 1 Kings chapter 11, we learn that King Solomon had a servant named Jeroboam, who was a mighty man of valor. The king saw that this young man was industrious, so he made him ruler over all the affairs of the house of Joseph. Solomon sinned against God and did some things that God had said not to do, so God told him that he would take the kingdom from his house and give it to his servant. He would leave Solomon’s son one tribe for David’s sake. So God sent the prophet Ahijah to tell Jeroboam that he was going to make him king of Israel.

Then King Solomon decided to kill his faithful servant to keep the whole kingdom for his son. To avoid this death sentence, Jeroboam fled to Egypt and remained there until he was told that King Solomon was dead.

In chapter 12, Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, became king of Israel, and Jeroboam returned from Egypt. Then, he and the people of Israel went to talk to the new king. They asked him to make their labor lighter than his father, Solomon, had, but he refused. In fact, he told them he was going to make things tougher for them than the former king had.

So, Israel decided to rebel against King Rehoboam, and they made Jeroboam king over the ten rebel tribes. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David, just as God had said. The ten tribes continued to travel back to Jerusalem to sacrifice in the temple there, but after a while, Jeroboam began to worry. He was afraid that if the people of his kingdom continued to go up to Jerusalem, to sacrifice in the house of God, they might rebel against him, and return to the house of David.

In order to prevent such a thing from happening, Jeroboam offered Israel some options. He set up two different places of worship in his kingdom; one at Bethel, and one at Dan. He set up a golden calf at each location, and encouraged the children of Israel to come, and worship at one or the other, instead of continuing to journey back and forth to Jerusalem. He told the people, “It’s too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” The people bought it. They started going to the place of worship at Dan. The Bible says this became a sin. Then, Jeroboam made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the tribe of Levi. Remember, God had given the Priesthood to the Levites.

1 Kings 12, verse 32, tells us that Jeroboam held a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast they have in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar to the calves that he had made, and he burnt incense as well.

Then in chapter 13, God sent a prophet from Judah with a message to King Jeroboam. God was not happy with the things he had done since becoming king. The prophet said a child, named Josiah, would be born into the house of David, and he would destroy the idols, and the groves, and the priests that Jeroboam had made.

When Jeroboam heard this, he stretched out his hand and gave the command for the prophet to be restrained. When he did this, his hand shriveled up and he couldn’t move it or pull it back to him. So he asked the prophet to pray and ask God to heal his hand. So he prayed for Jeroboam, and God restored his hand back to the way it was before.

The king was pleased, so he invited the man of God to come to his house and clean up and refresh himself, and he offered him a reward. The Prophet refused the offer and said, “If you would give me half your house, I will not go in with you, neither will I eat bread, nor drink water in this place. The LORD told me I should not eat bread, nor drink water, nor go back the same way I came.” So he left and went a different way than what he came.

Now, there was an old prophet in Bethel, and his sons came and told him what the man of God had said, and done to Jeroboam. After finding out from his sons which way to go, he headed out to catch up with this messenger and found him resting under an oak tree. He invited him to come to his house and eat bread, but the man of God told him what the LORD had said, and refused to go back with him. Then the old man said, “I’m also a prophet, just like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, and said, Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread, and drink water.” But he lied to him.

Notice that the man of God had the word of God. God had told him exactly what to do and what not to do. Why would he ever listen to someone telling him something contrary to what God had already clearly told him?

Look at Paul’s instructions in Galatians 1:8-10.

8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be cursed. 
9 As we said before, so I say again now, If anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be cursed. 
10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

Friends, we have the word of God in our hands today, but unfortunately, many are still deceived by the lies of the enemy. Wake up, before it’s too late. Look in the Bible for instructions from God, and hold firmly to his words. Don’t be deceived by listening to the many things that contradict what God has already told us in his word.

So what do you think this man of God did when the old prophet lied to him? Look back at 1 Kings 13:19.

19 So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

He disobeyed God. This reminds me of Eve in the garden of Eden when the serpent told her something different than what God had said, and she believed the lie. God had given her and Adam specific instructions, but the serpent came along with something new and different, and even though it contradicted the word of God, they still did it and disobeyed God. Now, this prophet of God has been lied to, and he believed the lie. Let’s continue reading on with verse 20.

20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the prophet that brought him back: 
21 And he cried out to the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus says the LORD, Because you have disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you, 
22 But came back, and ate bread and drank water in the place which the LORD did say to you, Eat no bread, and drink no water, your carcass will not come to the tomb of your ancestors.

The man of God saddled his donkey and left, but he didn’t get far before a lion met him and killed him. Then, the lion and the donkey both just stood there by the dead body.

So Sad. This account shows that there are consequences to disobeying God. Look at all Adam and Eve lost by disobeying God, all because of a lie. Look what this prophet of God lost by listening to a lie. We have a lot to lose if we listen to lies. Eternal life is at stake if we don’t obey God. We have to be on our toes and refuse to listen to lies.

How can we recognize a lie? By knowing the truth. Jesus said, “God’s word is truth” (John 17:17). The word of God is a “lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32).

We have the word of God recorded in the Bible. If anyone tells you something contrary to God’s word, don’t believe them. How will we know if they’re lying or not? We have to know the Bible. To know it, we have to prayerfully read it, and study it every day. It should be our daily bread. It’s like the manna that God sent down to feed the children of Israel in the wilderness. This is manna from heaven for us. Modern Manna. Heavenly food to nourish our spiritual bodies.

God has protected and preserved his word for thousands of years so we can have it today. Satan has always attacked God’s word, and he will never stop. He’s always trying to get us to disobey God’s word. He’ll try anything, but he seems to favor lying to get us to disobey God. Many of the modern Bible translations are full of lies, in addition to deleting many entire verses. We need to be very careful about which versions we read. Do some research on your own and see where each translation originated from.

Satan not only uses these false Bibles to deceive people, but he uses those who read them to sow seeds of doubt in others. Only by knowing the truth can we be sure we won’t be deceived. If you just listen to some Christians talk, you’ll notice that there are many contradictions in their beliefs.

Many are starving because they never even pick up God’s word to read it. Many are only eating this modern manna once or twice a week as the preacher feeds it to them. We do need that, but we also need to learn to feed ourselves. We need it daily. How long can our physical bodies live without physical food? Not long. The same is true of our spiritual bodies. They can’t live long without spiritual food.

In like manner, if someone puts poison in our food we will most likely die. When we receive spiritual food that is laced with poison we will most likely die, spiritually. If you’re one of those who think there’s no way a preacher will lie to you, then you are very mistaken. The Apostle Paul said they would (2 Corinthians 11:2-4). The Bible also says that Satan has ministers pretending to be ministers of God (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). That old prophet lied to this young man of God, and yes, there are preachers today who lie. Again, we can only spot a lie if we know the truth.

Isaiah 8:20 says, “if they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Our creator has prepared this manna for us, and we need to fill ourselves with it every day and know the truth so we won’t be deceived. It’s the only way. Know the truth, and you will recognize a lie when it comes along.

2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to show yourself approved to God, a worker that does not need to be ashamed, RIGHTLY dividing the word of truth.” So, does that mean God’s word can be wrongly divided? Sure it can, and it often is. Many Christians believe the old testament is irrelevant, and many even refuse to read it. That’s not “rightly dividing” the word.

Isaiah 28:10 says, “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:..” That’s the way to rightly divide the word of God. Reading the Bible is fine, and very important, but we must also study it. Meditate on it. The best way is to study subjects. If you want to know what the Bible says about grace, first, use a concordance or Bible software, and find out the definition of grace. Then, search for the word grace, anything that relates to grace. When you have finished, you will know what the Bible actually says about grace. That’s how you rightly divide the word of truth. It’s very dangerous to build a doctrine on one verse of scripture. Many have done just that and have led others astray because they didn’t study the Bible for themselves.

1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you.” We have to know the word of God in order to properly obey God, and teach our children to obey him. How will we know it if we don’t study it? Acts 17:11 says the men of Berea were noble and received the word with all readiness of mind, AND they “searched the scriptures daily,” to see if what they were being told was true. That’s what we must do. We need to be sure what our preachers and teachers are telling us is true. That’s the way we benefit from this modern manna; this daily bread that feeds our spiritual bodies.

1 Corinthians 3:18 says, “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this world, let them become a fool so they may be wise.” When we study God’s word, we need to put away our preconceived ideas and be open-minded so we can see what the Bible really says. Then, we need to be willing to reject what we thought was the truth when we discover we were wrong. That’s how we grow and become wise in the word. Holding on to preconceived ideas has kept many people from understanding the truth. Jesus said God’s word is Truth (John 17:17).

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, 
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 
6 Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will direct your paths.

Trust the Lord. Trust his word. Don’t trust your own understanding. Allow the Holy Spirit to help you understand his word. We have to get our doctrine straight from the Bible.

Deuteronomy 8:3 says, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.”

Jesus quoted this scripture when Satan tempted him in the wilderness (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4) and we need to be able to do that as well. We need to fill our minds with God’s word because we won’t always have a copy of it with us.

In conclusion, God's Holy Book, the Bible, is Modern Manna, sent down from God out of heaven. It is spiritual food for our spiritual bodies. We need to eat it daily. Learn it. Memorize it. Get to know it so you won’t be deceived. Pray without ceasing. Invite the Holy Spirit to help you understand his word, and read it AND study it EVERY day. Your life depends on it.

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