​Much of the historical content of the Bible has proven to be accurate.  What has not yet been substantiated only means Archeologists have more to uncover.  Nothing has ever been disproven so confidence remains high that discoveries will in time be found which will provide that proof.  However, I do admit that some of the stuff mentioned in the Old Testament stretches the boundaries of our imaginations.  However, what else would you expect from the God who spoke the universe into existence. 

But what about the rest of it, the spiritual content?  How can we be sure the authors wrote down what God wanted revealed?  Certain books like Genesis and the prophets were more or less dictated by God so the authors only had to write down what He said.  Others like the Psalms and Proverbs were written by men under some form of supervision by the Holy Spirit.  We have this explanation in 2 Peter 1:20 & 21 “knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”  Jesus Christ backed that up by quoting from almost every book in the Old Testament and by Him never correcting the listed books in the Jewish Bible.
​
The New Testament would also fall under Peter’s explanation of the Holy Spirit’s having led the Apostles to write it.  I’d also point out that Peter stated they had already verified much of what Paul had written as Scripture in 2 Peter 3:15 & 16 “and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.”

Peter didn’t come up that that on his own.  He is merely elaborating on something the Lord Jesus Christ and told the Apostles just before His execution.  John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”  And John 16:13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

Most of what the Apostle wrote was introduced by Jesus Christ during His public ministry in Israel.  Some of it was new information such as the prophecies in the Book of Revelation.  Some of the new stuff was just filling in details on things Jesus had talked about.  The Lord may have given those details at the time and they were not recorded.  However, I’m more inclined to go with the Holy Spirit filling in the gaps.  That fits with what John said in John 16:13.  

I admit that doesn’t constitute proof, but it does fit the frame work of Jesus Christ’s teaching.  So, I choose to believe it.  You may not, but keep in mind your unbelief is not proof it is not true.  Since the consequences for getting the Bible wrong are eternal in duration it makes sense to me to read it for yourself before dismissing it out of hand.  

I want to take a more detailed look at a couple of verses I referenced in my last post.  I want to put them into their context because they make an important point about our knowledge of God and His plans for the creation.  
 
1 Corinthians 2:7-10 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.  10But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

You’ll notice I included the verses that preceded verses 9 & 10 from the last posts quotation.  V. 9 appears to be Paul’s paraphrase of Isaiah 64:4 which the NKJV translates as: “For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him.”  

A key assertion of Isaiah 64:4 is that no one has ever seen another God who does the things that the God of the Bible has.  The reason being there is no other God than the God of the Bible.  Paul highlights one other key implication of Isaiah’s statement.  While we can learn some things about God by observations of what He has done, meaning studying the material universe, there is very little beyond that.  That is because God exists apart from the observable universe, He is transcendent.  Romans 1:19-20 lists a few basic facts we can deduce about God by examining the world.  That He is eternal, artistically creative, powerful and extremely smart. 

To truly know who God is and what He is about, where He is leading the creation, you have to look to the Bible.  Should not even the atheist be able to define the God they reject?  How terrible would it be to discover after it is too late that you’ve spent your life dismissing the wrong thing?  Within the world of Christianity, I wonder if most disagreements on doctrine are based on wrong ideas about the nature of God.
​
I have met so many people who have ideas about God that are based solely on hearsay or their own preferential view of who God should be.  Don’t entrust your future to an opinion, read the Bible and get to know the God who is.      

What does it mean to be a spiritual person?  Do they manifest specific observable behaviors?  And if so, what are they?  Galatians 5:16-25 does give us some of the answers to those questions.  The spiritual Christian is one who walks in or by the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit manifests His presence by the display of what Paul called the Fruit of the Spirit.  Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law (NKJV).  The fruit of the Spirit is basically a manifestation of His personality in the person who walks by the Spirit. 

I have one more question and that is do we know what the fruit of the Spirit looks like in a human being?  I ask that because I’m not sure we understand what God means by love or joy or any of those words He identifies as the Fruit of the Spirit.  For example, ask yourself what is love.  Then ask another believer and compare it to your answer.  Now compare it to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.  If all three match then you may not need to read the rest of this post.  I’d appreciate it if you did anyway but that is only because I took the time to write this down. 

Here is the thing, no one can become a spiritual person without a renewed mindset.  Our natural way of reasoning won’t get us there.  I refer you my last post and Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (NKJV).  The natural mind we received at birth and have filled with extrabiblical information cannot discover or comprehend Spirit truth. 

1 Corinthians 2:9 & 10 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
The Holy Spirit guided the human authors of the Bible as they recorded what God wanted us to know. The Holy Spirit is also active in helping us understand what is recorded in the Bible. 

1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (NKJV).  

That is why we have so many passages in the Bible stressing our need to read it and learn what God has revealed.  We are called to live by faith.  Faith is believing what God has said.  And you cannot believe what you do not know.  Being a spiritual person requires a growing knowledge of God’s word.  

​I want to lead off this post with a passage in John 14 and Jesus’ last words to the disciple before His arrest and subsequent execution the next day.  John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

In response to Judas’ question (not Iscariot, the other Judas) about how the Lord would manifest Himself to the disciples; Jesus Christ said the following:
 
John 14:23-26 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
 
The idea behind the word manifest is He would reveal or to make apparent His presence.  Here in John 14 Jesus Christ was speaking specifically to the disciples, but the big idea applies to everyone who has and keeps the Lord’s commandments.  Jesus Christ was actually expressing the same experience Paul wrote about in Galatians 5 where he referred to this as walking by the Spirit and the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit has now taken over for the Son, Christ Jesus.  The fruit of the Spirit is Him revealing His personality in us when we walk (live) in obedience to the Lord’s commandments. 
 
But read John 14:26 carefully.  The Holy Spirit did not download new information into the Disciples minds.  He brought to their remembrance the things which Jesus Christ had taught them.  He did reveal to them the meaning behind what Christ had said as they had not really grasped much of what they had been taught.   I believe that is true for us today.  Rather than give each believer a data dump of God’s word the Holy Spirit works in us to understand what we have read for ourselves.  Remember, we are commanded to study the Bible (2 Timothy 2:15, Deuteronomy 6:6-9).  If we don’t know what the Bible says then there is nothing for the Holy Spirit to recall to our memory.  God wants us to fill our minds with something new.  Something other than what this world teaches. 
 
Paul, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit said it this way.  Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
​The renewed mind is operating with a new spiritual data base we up load from the Bible. That is fundamental to having and keeping Christ’s commandments.  

One of the things I encourage the people at Trego Community Church to do is read their Bibles.  Mainly because it is our only source of information about the God who is.  It is also one of the commandments we’re given by God.  One verse a lot of people are familiar with is 2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (NKJV).  But God also issued the same command in the O.T.  It was worded a little differently but was the same basic idea.  Check out Deuteronomy 6:6-9 and Joshua 1:8. There are others as well but you get the idea.  I recommend the practice of reading at least 4 chapters a day.  I picked 4 chapters because that doesn’t take a lot of time and it will get you through the entire Bible in less than a year.  Something else to consider.
 
Jesus Christ said the following in John 15:14: You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.  What an amazing thing, Jesus Christ said His friends obey His commandments.  So, does that mean you’re not His friend if you don’t keep His commandments?  Notice, He said Friend which means this doesn’t contradict His promise in John 3:16.  Everlasting life is a gift given to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ for life.  So, you can have everlasting life and know you will be in Heaven when you die and not be a friend of the Lord.  Not everyone with everlasting life knows this because they don’t read their Bible.  They depend on their Pastor to tell them what they need to know.   But if He doesn’t tell them or they miss that Sunday, well I guess they will just miss out. 
 
We are called to live by faith, Romans 1:17 For in it (the Gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”  But you can’t believe what you do not know.  As Paul wrote in Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  Living by faith requires knowledge of God’s word.  And His word contains a lot of important pointers on living by faith.  Promises that help us navigate life on this planet.  Which you may already have realized is not very user friendly. 
 
I can’t imagine what it would be like to only learn about this after you get to Heaven.  To have missed the good things God had for you now if only you had known those promises.  To learn for the first time that you could have been laying up treasures for your use in the eternal kingdom after it is too late to do so.  There is no guarantee you’ll keep His commandments if you do know them.  But, you have a better chance to do so if you know what they are!

In my last post I stated that Romans is the letter you need to read to get the basics of living by faith.  The reason being that those whose righteousness is by faith must also live by faith if they want to please God and avoid wrath (Romans 1:16-19).  Consider Romans 3:21-23 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

The only Righteousness that matters is that which is imputed by God through faith in Jesus Christ.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a Jew or Gentile, there is no difference.  But don’t overlook v. 23.  All have sinned means all are guilty and in need of righteousness.  But notice the 2nd clause “and fall short of the glory of God” is in the present tense.  The sentence structure shows this to be a factual statement and means we continue to fall short.  In other words, we never, by our own efforts, measure up to God’s expectations. 

The good news is in Romans 3:24 (all) “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” All fall short but all can be freely justified by Grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  Redemption covers the entire package of what you received when you believe in Jesus Christ for the gift of everlasting life.  What Paul wrote in Romans 5:9 & 10 is how we deal with the issue of continuing to fall short.  But first I need to point out another factual reality for those who have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ.   

Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You may not be at peace with yourself, but God is at peace with all who are in Christ Jesus.  Ephesians 1:6 “to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”   We have peace and He has accepted us in the Beloved, Jesus Christ.  This is the result of His love and grace towards us, not anything we have done.  Because it originates in God, we can’t change it.  The question for us is do we believe what God has said?  That is what living by faith is all about, taking Him at His word.  Resting in the truth of His promise.   

As for not measuring up, He has made provision for that as well.  1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  As John explained in the first 4 verses of 1 John, he too was writing to believers.  He is addressing the same basic issue Paul was in Romans.  He just used different terminology.  God is not pleased with our sin and it can ruin our fellowship with Him.  His promise is that if we confess our sin to Him He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  That is a key part of living by faith. 

Believing and obeying God’s commands is how we are to live now.    

​Based on our observations of Romans 5:9 & 10 in the previous post, I believe it is obvious Paul is using the word “saved” differently from the common way we use it today.   Saved from wrath must be something other than deliverance from hell since the person in mind has already been justified.  The word wrath has already occurred 6 times in the first 4 chapters and each time it referred to temporal rather than eternal consequences of sin. 
 
So, how does that impact our understanding of Paul’s purpose in writing his letter to the Romans?  Well, go back and look at his greeting and introduction in chapter 1.   Romans 1:7 identifies his addressees: “To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  He wrote this letter to believers, people who already had everlasting life and were in no danger of the lake of fire. 
 
We also have his stated theme laid out in Romans 1:16-19 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
 
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is also the revelation of God’s righteousness to people of faith because we who are saved by faith are also to live by faith.  Why?  Because God’s wrath is presently being revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.  All means regardless of their eternal destiny.  Can a Christian suppress the truth?  That should be apparent from all the doctrinal disagreements we have between denominations.  They all cannot be right; some have gotten it wrong.  In fact, our need to be saved after being justified (Romans 5:9) insists that we can! 
 
While the Holy Spirit felt it necessary for Paul to make sure we have a clear understanding of justification by faith (Romans 3-4) the balance of Romans deals with living by faith.  The justified shall live by faith (1:17).  It is the only way to please God and avoid wrath.  Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.  Romans is the letter you need to read to get the basics of living by faith. 
 
Because those whose righteousness is by faith should also live by faith if they want to please God and avoid wrath.  

​I’m not sure how many people realize there is only one evangelistic book in the New Testament.  That would be the Gospel of John.  The Apostle John is the only New Testament author to state that as his purpose for writing.  John 20:30-31 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.  John wrote his Gospel to appeal to unbelievers. 
 
The rest of the N. T. books are written to believers.  Their content deals with living the worthy life of a disciple.  Paul clearly states in the opening of each of his letters he is writing to Believers.  He refers to them as Brethren and Saints.  James, John and Peter do the same.  It would therefore be reasonable to expect these books to deal with matters on life after having obtained salvation.  To impose an evangelistic meaning to them will lead to confusion and faulty doctrine. 
 
For example, how would you explain Romans 5:9 & 10 from an evangelistic perspective? 
Romans 5:9-10 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
 
As stated, these verses are directed to people who have been justified and reconciled to God.  According to Romans 4:1-8 and 5:1-2 that means they have been declared righteous by God, are at peace with God with full access to His grace.  However, they are not yet saved from wrath nor have they been saved by His (Jesus Christ’s) life.  Since he has already defined Justified and reconciled, we have to figure out what Paul meant by the word saved and wrath to make sense of these verses.  To automatically assume saved means deliverance from sin and hell would render both verses as self-contradictory.  And if that’s the case then we need to rethink our understanding of the Bible and inerrancy. 
 
The proper approach is to assume Paul was making factually true statements and then see how he has used these words elsewhere in Romans.  Are they used in a way consistent with his purpose and theme for this letter.  Since these two verses set the theme for the next 3 chapters getting them wrong will likely result in getting wrong as well.  

If you look at other accounts of Jesus Christ explaining how to receive everlasting life you will find the same focus on belief rather than behaviors.  John 4:10-26 and John 11:25-26 both stress belief.  When you hear people add other requirements beyond believing in Christ for everlasting life it should raise some questions. Why didn’t Jesus mention these other requirements.  Where is a passage in the Bible that lists all of them together?  I can give you the answer to the 2nd question, there isn’t one.  People who say such things must skip around to put together a narrative that matches their claims.  But you transferring meaning from one context to another is a bad interpretive method. 

When the Lord was talking about discipleship, He might use some of the same words as when evangelizing but He was attaching different meanings to those words.  The context in which a word is used determines it’s meaning not the lexicon.  That is because most words have more than a single meaning.  Take the word angle.  It can mean the intersection of two lines, a direction or an opinion.  The sentence in which it is use is how you know which definition to attach. The word saved is used over 100 times in the New Testament.  Only about a third of them deal with salvation.  You must look at the context to determine from what is one being saved.  For example, in Luke 8:48 Jesus told a woman her faith and cured her of a hemorrhage.  The word cured is translated the Greek word Sozo.  Here is a case where the translators knew He was not speaking of her eternal destiny. 

Jesus Christ is God. He invented language.  He knows how to use language.  Therefore, you can rest assured He knows the difference receiving everlasting life and discipleship.  He knows that everlasting life lasts forever.  And He knows the rationale behind the offer of everlasting life.  He is the one who died to make it possible!

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Jesus Christ reconciled the world to God while on that cross.  He died for your sins and mine which is why God no longer imputes (charges) our sins to us.  Jesus Christ took them away, John 1:29. We have the commission to carry the good news of reconciliation to the world.  And it is good news! 
​
2 Corinthians 5:20-21 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Now let’s compare the discipleship passages Mark 8:34-38 and Luke 14:25-35 with an evangelistic one - John 3:1-21.  
​
John 3:1-4 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”  3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Nicodemus was one of the Jewish leaders who had been aware and watching Christ ever since His first Passover at age 12 (Luke 2:41-50).  After Nicodemus’ greeting Jesus Christ immediately went to the man’s personal need for salvation.  Nicodemus had faithfully followed the Mosaic Covenant and still would not see God’s Eternal Kingdom unless he was born again.  All his efforts to live righteously had not brought him even close to having everlasting life.  Notice his response was not “what do you mean” but how can I be born again?  He knew who he was.  And that question is the topic of the rest of their conversation.    

John 3:5-8 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Basically, Jesus just said in v. 8 you can’t look at a person’s life style and tell if they have everlasting life or not. 

John 3:9-13 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.
Jesus Christ’s rebuke in V. 10 means Nicodemus should have known these things.  That means being born of water and the Spirit were O. T. truths. The path to salvation today is the same as it was in the O.T. People have always been saved by Grace through faith and not by good works.  It has always been a gift from God.  

John 3:14-16 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

VS. 14 & 15 refer to an incident in Numbers 21 you can read later.  Jesus Christ uses it to illustrate a salvation based on belief rather than works.  The people of Israel had refused to believe God about His promise of the new land ever since they had left Egypt 39 years earlier.  So to teach them to believe Him, God gave them a life-or-death situation to force the issue.  Poisonous snakes were in the camp.  If you wanted to survive being bitten you had to look at a bronze snake He had Moses hang up in the camp.  You either looked or you died. 

​Jesus Christ told Nicodemus getting into the Heavenly Kingdom follows the same pattern.  His terms are believe in Jesus Christ for everlasting life or end up in hell.  Jesus Christ is God incarnate.  He lived a perfect life and then died as a criminal to pay for our sins and failure to honor God.  He did that so you could have everlasting life simply by believing in Him.  Notice not one mention of giving up anything, abandoning your family or taking up a cross and following Him.  That is the price of being a disciple.   We are saved by Grace through faith (belief) in Jesus Christ for everlasting life.