Systematic Navigation: Necessity
“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” Romans 10:14-15 (ESV)
Having a Bible around has become a necessity in my life. Just never know when you are gonna need a good sword to cut with at the dinner table or to go out into the world with. I even have gone as far as having “Olive Tree” Bible software installed on my smartphone just in case. Now this is not to say that if you are not doing likewise that there may be something amiss. If we were to look back into Nehemiah and Ezra’s time, Ezra had stood at the Water Gate and read God’s Word aloud to His people as per the ordinance of God. There were no Droid 2’s or i-Phones available to the nation of Israel for them to download His Word onto but they had, at times, understood the importance of God’s Word being part of their everyday life. After all, in the one account in the book of Nehemiah, they spent a longtime out in the morning sun, standing up, to listen to Ezra’s reading of the Word.
The point here is that when we are calling on the name of the Lord, in even those hot morning sun moments, it is necessary to have had His word convened to us in some fashion. It is a necessary for us in the knowing of the Gospel, maintaining our spiritual life and knowing God’s will. In plain English, it is a necessity for God’s people to know God’s Word. And within His Word we have the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. The four faith wondering questions in the passage of Romans that I have used today can only be answered in a one simple statement and that is…“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17 ESV) In order for Paul to have been able to convene this message to his reader’s he needed to understand the Old Covenant in order to preach the New Covenant.During his time of testing in the wilderness, Jesus Himself understood that even the physical existence of mere man was nothing without a daily feeding of the Father’s Word. As it was recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus quotes what we can find in Deuteromony chapter 8…”And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deut 8:3 ESV) Even as of late, a good friend of mine and I had engaged in a conversation about using “The Message”. My position was one of at least trying to get the unsaved, from the streets perhaps, to understand something of God’s Word in a language that the unsaved might be able to digest. Jorge reminded me that as written in 1 Peter…“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” (1 Peter 2:2-3 ESV) it is just as important that we do not speak a tainted Gospel. (Thank you Jorge for the rebuke, by the way)
It is the necessity of Scripture “READ!!” that allows us to know what God’s will is for our lives. I am sure that we are born with some knowledge of God’s will or a moral code but without aligning this with Scripture that knowledge can be indistinct and lack in its certainty. I use to read a lot of Nietzsche and had those times when I was absolutely certain that this all made perfect sense. But when you run him through God’s Word, especially when you place any of his work up against what we read in Deuteronomy 29:29…“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”(ESV) and then see that this comes to fulfillment in Romans 11:33…”Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”(ESV) it seems to be no longer a good thing to just be “Human, All Too Human”.
So for all his grace and grit, up to the time of his arrest, Paul never stopped walking around preaching the Gospel message and that he got his walking instructions on the road to Damascus. And since he was there during the stoning of Stephen, he heard the Gospel message before his conversion. The blinding light that was before him saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me” (Acts 9:4 ESV) gave him a clear belief. All that was left for Paul at that point was to call out, “Who are you, Lord?” Paul was a great example of why it is necessary to read and preach God’s Word. Can you follow the same example? – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a regular Freedom Fighter Contributor
Compass Pointers: “The threefold purpose of the Bible is to inform, to inspire faith and to secure obedience. Whenever it is used for any other purpose; it is used wrongly and may do actual injury. The Holy Scriptures will do us good only as we present an open mind to be taught, a tender heart to believe and a surrendered will to obey.”
The Next Chapter after the Last A.W. Tozer
Anchored to the Rock: Abandon the secret chamber and the spiritual life will decay. Isaac Watts
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