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| Pastor Kenneth Ham (Source, answersingenesis.org) |
He emphasize the importance of establishing the authority of the Word of God over the traditions of men, or the teachings of local or national churches, and even well-known teachers.
The standard is the Word of God, for in the Word of God we see the Word of God: Jesus!
"Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? 27And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." (Luke 24: 25-27)
We need to allow the Word of God to be the standard, because otherwise, relying on our own reasoning, our own logic, we will never believe let alone receive that the LORD is that good:
"1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." (Genesis 1: 1-2)
and
"And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:" (Genesis 2: 16)
In the New Testament, we find:
"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5: 17)
and
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? " (Romans 6: 1-2)
and
"8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6: 8-11)
We reckon ourselves dead to sin, alive in Christ, alive in His righteousness.
Wow!
Yet much of this is not preached in churches today. Why? I submit one reason is that pastors want to be accepted by other people, or that churches have made the standard whatever is the prevailing opinion of the community rather than the finality and the supremacy of Christ and His Word.
Another reason returns to the preeminence of "liberal" or "liberation" theology, which has placed man's interpretation as preeminent over the word of God. More importantly, the trend in "higher learning" has made war on the simple law of "Either A or not-A". Instead of establishing human logic based on "Either/Or", a movement which establishes logic, or truth, as a product of culture, race, and thus human perception has taken over our universities, and our seminaries.
This terrible trend is a fanatical lie which must be rejected.
Truth is a Person, and this Person made manifest who He is through His Word.
Connecting with this bad basis of seeing everything through ourselves, men and women are reading the Bible to see themselves. That is totally wrong. The Bible contains clear contexts. We can see patterns of behavior which are rewarded and punished, granted, but also every reader must recognize the Biblical standard of Old Covenant and New Covenant.
The Old Covenant was given to the Israelites, a provisional testament which has been replaced by the New Covenant.
Do we therefore throw out or diminish the Old Testament? Of course not!
The Old Testament is good for:
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:" (2 Timothy 3: 16)
The key word is "righteousness", a gift which we are called to keep receiving in Christ (Romans 5:17). The writer of Hebrews even chides his readers regarding their lack of understanding of righteousness:
"12For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." (Hebrews 5: 12-14)
Paul talks about the zeal of his Jewish brothers, yet not according to knowledge:
"1Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." (Romans 10: 1-4)
Could it not be clearer? Christ is the end, the perfection, the fulfillment of the law regarding the matter of our righteous standing before God.
We need to gain a greater revelation of God's grace, based on this never-ending river of righteousness which He pours out on us!
The standard is Christ Jesus and His righteousness. Not anything that we do, or that we add, or what we think that Jesus means. But Himself!
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