What to Do with Truth

Man Reading Bible

When Pilate was questioning Jesus, He said He had “come into the world, to testify to the truth” (John 18:37). In response, Pilate dismissively asked, “What is truth?” (John 18:38) before returning to meet Jesus’ accusers.

Though it may not have been a sincere inquiry, Pilate’s question – “What is truth?” – is good. Ultimately, God is the source of truth since it is “impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18). This is why the Psalmist wrote, “The sum of Your word is truth” (Psalm 119:160). Shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed for His disciples and appealed to the Father, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17).

When we seek to define truth, we must recognize that the Scriptures reveal the truth that comes from God. It is critical that we understand this. However, simply acknowledging that is not enough. In addition to recognizing the word of God (the Bible) as truth, there are certain things we must do with the truth.

So what are we to do with the truth? Let us briefly notice a few points.Continue Reading

Growing in Wisdom, Stature, and Favor

Jesus as a Boy in the Temple

The four gospels focus primarily on the public ministry of Jesus leading up to His crucifixion and resurrection – a period of approximately three years. In addition to this, Matthew and Luke include some information about His birth and infancy. Luke also briefly records one event in Jesus’ childhood – the time when He was “lost” in the temple at twelve years old (Luke 2:41-51).

We may be curious about what happened as Jesus grew up, but the Scriptures are mostly silent about this. However, the Holy Spirit did see fit to include a statement about the growth of Jesus:

And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52).

This may seem somewhat obvious and, therefore, almost insignificant. Yet this statement was given for a reason. If Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, and favor, then it should be expected for us to do the same. In this article, we are going to consider how we can grow in each of these areas.Continue Reading

The Hills and Vales of Bethany

Alexander Campbell's study

Alexander Campbell (1788-1866) is recognized as one of the leading figures in the Restoration Movement. However, his influence did not come as a result of him preaching for a large congregation or because he lived in some big city. Instead, he lived “among the hills of Western Virginia” as Moses E. Lard wrote in the excerpt below. In fact, Lard suggested that the place in which Campbell resided was surprisingly advantageous to him and his work.

“Besides, we can not but think that the very location he chose for his home was specially designed for him in the providence of God, and that it had no small influence on the great work he did. He sat down among the hills of Western Virginia, on the little stream of Buffalo, amid a hardy, simple population, who had no more power to appreciate him than they had to compute the distance from their respective doors to the most distant star. Here he lived in comparative seclusion to the day of his death, dwelling in the same house in which he had married his first wife, and in which his children were born. True, in the course of time, he collected around him a few highly cultivated and gifted friends, as professors in his beloved college. These accomplished brethren were his life-long friends, and helped him much. Still must it be said that for the most part he dwelt alone, far away from the great marts of trade and centres of literature and fashion. Whether these could ever have had any influence on him or not, we, of course, are not able to say; but of this we feel glad, that he dwelt remotely from them. The pride of his life was thus passed in the lap of his own romantic hills.

“Here on the Lord’s day, for many a year, in a rude, untidy little meeting-house, he wasted the splendors of his great mind. His dozy congregation often numbered not more than fifty. They had wound down their hill-side paths to hear him preach. Many of them passed the time as unconsciously as did the bodies of the dead, which slept in the yard close by. Others lent him a drowsy ear, as incapable of appreciating his masterly inductions as were the kine that browsed on his pastures.

“The week he would pass in his study, amid his choice books, illumining and spicing the pages of his immortal Christian Baptist, or enriching with his riper and more sober thought his great Harbinger. Many a piece of a day he spent wandering beside his winding Buffalo, or clambering over its neighboring woody slopes. Here, often seated on a log, or perched like the wild mountain bird on some lone rock, he would pass unconscious hours deep wrapped in thought, or searching the meaning of some dark text in his Greek Testament. If he passed a teamster stuck in the mud, he clapped his burly shoulder to the wheel, and shouted to the team, as if he had been bred to the cart and its toils. If he passed a ragged orphan boy, he stopped him, asked for his mother, gave him his secret penny, and then wept over him tenderly as did the Savior with the stricken Martha and Mary. Such were the scenes amid which he ripened and mellowed for the work to which God in his mercy called him.

If the flocks of Midian were the most fitting school in which to train Moses for his immortal mission, were not the oak-covered hills and deep shadowy vales of Bethany the very spot in which to nurse this great restorer of the gospel to the age in which we live? We can not but think that one greater than he had much to do in fixing even his home where it stood. Being here alone he was left free to prosecute his studies and pursue his thoughts in his own original way, with no interference from those great local and religious forces which are constantly at work in large cities. He thus studied Christianity in the light of nature, because in the light of his own unperverted mind. Never could he have succeeded otherwise.” (The Reformation for Which We Are Pleading, p. 159-160).

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Thankful (Part 1): Thankful for God’s Word

Thankful

Seven times a day I praise You, because of Your righteous ordinances” (Psalm 119:164).

We have many different reasons to praise God and give thanks to Him. In the passage above, the psalmist mentioned God’s “righteous ordinances” as a reason to praise Him. He was referring to the word that God revealed to man (the entire psalm is dedicated to His word). Not only is this something for which we should be thankful, but it also reveals to us many other reasons for us to give thanks to God. So we will consider it in the first part of this series.Continue Reading

The Psalm of the Word (Part 19): Help

The Psalm of the Word

I cried with all my heart; answer me, O Lord!
I will observe Your statutes.

I cried to You; save me
And I shall keep Your testimonies.

I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I wait for Your words.

My eyes anticipate the night watches,
That I may meditate on Your word.

Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness;
Revive me, O Lord, according to Your ordinances.

Those who follow after wickedness draw near;
They are far from Your law.

You are near, O Lord,
And all Your commandments are truth.

Of old I have known from Your testimonies
That You have founded them forever.

(Psalm 119:145-152)

This lesson is about the help that we can receive from God. In particular, the psalmist emphasizes prayer. However, as we should expect by this point in this psalm, we cannot appeal to God without regard to His word.
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The Psalm of the Word (Part 7): Remembrance

The Psalm of the Word

Remember the word to Your servant,
In which You have made me hope.

This is my comfort in my affliction,
That Your word has revived me.

The arrogant utterly deride me,
Yet I do not turn aside from Your law.

I have remembered Your ordinances from of old, O Lord,
And comfort myself.

Burning indignation has seized me because of the wicked,
Who forsake Your law.

Your statutes are my songs
In the house of my pilgrimage.

O Lord, I remember Your name in the night,
And keep Your law.

This has become mine,
That I observe Your precepts.

(Psalm 119:49-56)

This lesson will address the importance of remembering God’s word. His word will not do us any good if we do not know it. Furthermore, God’s word will not help us if we forget it. So let us consider what the psalmist said about remembering God’s word – why to do it and how to do it.
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The Psalm of the Word (Part 4): Strength

The Psalm of the Word

My soul cleaves to the dust;
Revive me according to Your word.

I have told of my ways, and You have answered me;
Teach me Your statutes.

Make me understand the way of Your precepts,
So I will meditate on Your wonders.

My soul weeps because of grief;
Strengthen me according to Your word.

Remove the false way from me,
And graciously grant me Your law.

I have chosen the faithful way;
I have placed Your ordinances before me.

I cling to Your testimonies;
O Lord, do not put me to shame!

I shall run the way of Your commandments,
For You will enlarge my heart.

(Psalm 119:25-32)

All of us will face difficulties in life. Job said, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble” (Job 14:1, KJV). In this lesson, we will focus on how God’s word is our source of strength, particularly when we are dealing with difficult circumstances in life. During such times, we must turn to God’s word to find the strength that we need.
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