Question 6: May all men make use of the Scriptures?
All men are not
only permitted, but commanded and exhorted, to read, hear, and understand the
Scriptures.
DAY 1: John 5:39
The context of the passage is Jesus’
healing of a lame man at the Pool of Bethesda.
The man had not walked for 38 years.
Jesus performs the miracle of giving the man back the ability
immediately to walk.
However, the catch is that Jesus
performed the miracle of the Jewish Sabbath.
This was considered a holy day and was commanded to be so by God. However, those leaders in authoritative
positions of religion made many self righteous laws to define the one law that
God gave. These were of course what they
were comfortable with and so they judged whether others were holy on the basis
of their definition of the laws.
“The Jews” as they are referred to
in this passage is probably another reference to the Pharisees. They wanted to let this man, who had just
been healed, know that he was violating the Sabbath by carrying his bed! How ridiculous! Can you imagine being lame for 38 years, a
man comes along and tells you to get up and take up your bed and go, and you
stopping to think about the fact that it’s the Sabbath??!! I mean come on, wouldn,t the day of the week
completely slip your mind if such a thing happened?
The text goes on to say that the
Jews wanted to know who had healed the man and the man stated that he didn’t
know. Then later Jesus finds the man in
the temple and there it appears is where the man is saved (vs. 14). He is also told not to sin anymore “lest a
worse thing come upon you”. Explain to
your family that being lame is nothing compared to the judgment that awaits
those who “trample under foot the Son of God”.
Verse 16 says the Jews
“persecuted” or harassed Jesus because of His work on the Sabbath. Jesus begins to speak of His obedience to the
Father and how that the thing the Son does is only the things He sees the
Father doing. This made the Jews angry
because, (1) He broke the Sabbath, and (2) He claimed equality with God.
But Jesus went further and said
that if you did not honor the Son, there was no way you could honor the Father
(vs. 23). He hits right at the heart of
what they were claiming by judging Him to be doing. They were claiming that He didn’t honor God,
when the reality was that He was obeying His Father and they didn’t even know
the Father.
He also addresses Himself as judge
and testifies to the fact. However, he
states that His testimony requires more than just His words. It requires at least 2 or three witnesses (2
Cor. 13:1; Matt. 18:16). So he gives
them John the Baptist who was the one who pointed to Him. Then He goes a step farther and says that His
Father, God, also bears witness of Him. And how has he testified to Jesus as the
Christ? Verse 39.
Jesus points them in the direction
in which they were pointed. However,
they had perverted the Scriptures. That
is exactly why He addressed the perversion in Matthew 5-7, when he said things
like, “You have heard it said….., but I say unto you”. He says, “You search the Scriptures…”. The verb is in the indicative mood, which
just is a simple statement of fact.
However, it is also an imperative, which implies a command. Jesus is commanding something that they
already do, which is search the Scriptures.
The words Scriptures is graphe,
which means “writings”. The Scriptures
are the writings of the Old and New Testaments.
Jesus says that they “think ….
That in the Scriptures… they have eternal life”. Again the verb think (dokeo) is in the indicative mood.
Therefore what he is saying about what they are thinking is true. However, He points out WHO eternal life is
in. he says they speak of me. Jesus lets each of these, who THINK they know
the Scriptures, know exactly who they are speaking of (cf. Luke 24:44-48). They should have been doing what Peter said
the prophets were doing and even the angels attempt to perceive (1 Peter
1:10-12).
Ask your family if they think it
is important to search the Scriptures and understand the One who gives eternal
life.
DAY 2: Luke 16:29
The context is the famous story of
the rich man and Lazarus. All
indications seem to indicate that the rich man was a Jew and that he may have even been a leader and very prominent
by the clothing he is wearing and his dining.
In contrast, Lazarus was poor and a beggar. He had sores and aloud the dogs to lick
him. He was unclean in the Jewish
culture.
Immediately, it would appear that
the beggar gets into heaven (Abraham’s bosom), by his “poorness” and the rich
man goes into hell and torment because of his luxurious living. However, that is not at all the point of the
story. The real point is that there were
those, especially of the Pharisees sect who thought they would get into the
kingdom because they were decendants of Abraham. Thus we have the rich man lifting up his eyes
and referencing Abraham as his father and Abraham addressing him as his son. Jesus was making clear that entrance into the
kingdom was not dependant upon one’s earthly lineage, but upon what one’s faith
was in.
In the flames of the torments of
hell, the rich man cries for just a finger dipped in water to come and cool his
tongue. Jesus does not give us
indication that this is not a reality of hell.
Rather, the story seems to imply reality. When told that no one from Abraham’s side can
come to him, nor can he cross to them, the rich man immediately becomes
evangelistic. His cries are for his
brothers. He desires that they not meet
the same fate as he has met.
How does the rich man propose a
solution of repentance for his brothers.
He does it via an Arminian theology.
He believes that if his brothers see Lazarus back from the dead, “they
will repent (vs. 30).
But what is the response to this pragmatic
appeal? Father Abraham (a calvinist
himself, no doubt), says “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither
will they be persuaded thought one rise from the dead”. Simply put, Abraham, points to the Scriptures
of the Old Testament as the map towards salvation. They give the remedy and the physician for
the cure of sin.
Does this not show that the
Scriptures are useful? Does it not also
show our lack of understanding of the things of the Spirit of God? How often have we thought pragmatically,
rather than biblically? May God grant us
repentance as we study and make use of the Scriptures.
DAY 3: Acts
The context of the passage is that
of an angel of the Lord sending Philip to the road leading from Jerusalem to
Gaza. There, God has an appointment to
keep with a man from Ethiopia. This man
had tremendous power and prestige. He
was a eunuch. A eunuch was one who was
either emasculated or, as John MacArthur points out, in general, a government
official. He was one who was in charge
of the queen of Ethiopia’s treasury.
This man had “made it” in the world’s eyes. Yet, we find him on the road from Jerusalem,
reading the Scriptures.
Philip is sent to help him
understand what he is reading. This is a
great story to point out how God gifts men to help give understanding to other
men. Notice that the Spirit was there
(vs.29). Could He not have given
understanding to the eunuch? Of course,
he could have. However, God chose to use
Philip and the wisdom God had given him through the Scriptures to make it very
personal to the man with which he was engaged in conversation.
Verse 31 tells us that the eunuch
was also willing to be “guided”. The
word “guided” in the Greek comes from the root word, hodegos, which means, “a teacher of the ignorant and
inexperienced”. Evidently this man had
no knowledge of anything of the Scripture and no understanding of who was being
spoken of (vs. 34).
This man also welcomed the Word of
God along with the man of God. He asked
Philip to come up and sit with him.
Philip was definitely, at least from his appearance, on a lower social
class than the eunuch, and yet, the eunuch was willing to bring him into the
midst of his caravan to receive the truth of the Scriptures.
Our question this week asks, “May
ALL men make use of the Scriptures?”
Yes, all men may make use of the Scriptures. Whether, they are rich or poor, free or
slave, sick or well, prominent or paupers, all men are not only permitted, but
commanded and exhorted to read, hear and understand the Scriptures.
Ask your family if they are
diligent in making use of the Scriptures.
Ask them if there is someone they need to encourage to make use of the
Scriptures.
DAY 4: Acts
Paul and Silas have just left
Thessalonica because of the rising up of the mob there. They have now come to Berea, and will only be
there for about 3 verses before being run off again by the same Jews from
Thessalonica!
Luke tells us in verse 11
something wonderful about those at Berea.
He says they were fair-minded.
The Greek word is eugenes,
which means “noble minded”. These were
those who were admirable. They did not
just take Paul’s word for it. They
didn’t say, “Boy, we’ve heard about Paul.
He’s an apostle and saw Jesus alive, and, and …..”. No, they checked out Paul’s words with God’s
words.
The passage says that they
“received the word with all readiness”.
The word received (dechomai)
means, “to take hold of favourably”. In
the venacular, “they were hanging on to every word. He also says that the received the word with
all readiness. The word comes from two
word in the Greek, “pro” and “thumos”.
Pro means, “before” and thumos means “anger or wrath”. The idea is that these who received the word
were indeed unlike the Jews at Thessalonica, because they listened to Paul’s
words and were WILLING to examine them in light of objective Scripture before
they became angry towards him and Silas.
They searched the Scriptures to
see if these things were so. The word
searched (anakrino) means, “to
examine, or judge; to investigate”. It
comes from 2 Greek words: ana, which means “into the midst, among,
between” and “krino”, which means “to
separate, to approve, to determine” and can also be used in a forensic
sense. They were diligent in making use
of the Scriptures to verify the truth of the words given to them by Paul and
Silas.
We would do well to follow there
example. For in doing so they were
fulfilling the actual use of the Scriptures according to 2 Timothy 3:16. They were using the for doctrine, reproof,
correction and instruction in righteous.
Therefore, they were being made complete (vs. 17).
Ask each member of the family how
they can begin immediately to make more use of the Scriptures now than they
have before today.
Scriptures: John 5:39; Luke 16:29; Acts