The Book Nobody Knows

A number of years ago—I think it was a year or two after I graduated high school—I was at work. I was still working the same job that I had in high school, and one of my co-workers came up to me and asked about this war that had erupted in the Middle East, and he said, “Does this war have anything to do with what’s prophesied in the Bible?” And this question caught me off guard because to that point I had never heard him mention the Bible or talk about God or really anything that even seemed religious. And yet he asked this just out of the blue, and so I tried to answer it as best I could. I was still pretty young at the time. I don’t remember everything that I told him, but I do remember encouraging him to look into the Bible and to see what the Bible actually said, and to study it.

And I suppose that young man is not unlike many others in the world today who often wonder what world conditions really mean, particularly when you look at what’s happening in these last few years, just examining the world and seeing the spread of terrorism or weapons. What about the proliferation of nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction? Where will this lead? How is this going to end? What about the revolutions sweeping across the Middle East? What will be the outcome of that? Will the United States win the war against terrorism in the end?

You think about also the economic instability of this world that swept across Europe, and of course, hit the United States a few years ago, as well. What will be the end of that? I read recently how China’s economy is going to surpass the United States in just a few years now. How will that impact the United States and the rest of the world?

What about all of the religious tension that we see in the world today? Not just in the Middle East, but everywhere! Everywhere that you look you see tension and strife, division, and even fighting and bloodshed. So much chaos, so much confusion in the world today.

What does the future hold? That’s what that young man was wondering when he asked me that question many years ago. Are there solutions to these mounting problems, these seemingly insoluble problems? What is the WAY to peace in the world? Is there a way to peace? Does the Bible have anything to say about the way to peace?

And what about our purpose? I mean, leaving aside all of the problems that you see in the world today. Why are we here? Did God put us here? And if so, why? Why were we born? What is man? Why is man? And if God made us, would the great Creator God—a Being with SUPREME intelligence, wisdom, and love, One who designed this world, and who brought us into existence—would this great Creator God then leave us, His created beings, in complete ignorance of His purpose, His plan?

Our scientists and world leaders today, even our theologians, they have failed utterly to give us the answers to these questions.

Let’s look at 2 Timothy 3. God did not hide from human minds these all-important answers. He’s made them accessible to us. He made them accessible to Adam and Eve in the Garden. But our first parents, of course, rejected those answers, and humanity, as a whole, has been cut off from that knowledge, from those answers ever since. But still God can and will reveal it to you and to me IF we have a right attitude, if we’ll look into the Bible and see what it says, and even more than that.

2 Timothy chapter 3. Why is it that so few people understand the Bible today? Why are there so many different Church denominations, all of them with their different ideas, with their different doctrines, with their different teachings? Does modern religion have answers to these questions? I mean, they’ve failed too—theologians have—just like the scientists and the world leaders.

What’s the truth? I mean, speaking of religion, what is the truth? What are the true teachings of the Bible on some of the central tenets of religious doctrine—heaven or hell, salvation? What does God say in the Bible about the law? About grace? About the Great Tribulation? Does He talk about a rapture? Is there anything in there about the virgin birth? The resurrection from the dead? The Second Coming of Christ? The Millennium? All these things—what does God say about it? What is the Bible teaching about it?

Today I’m going to just show you in the brief time that we have WHY there’s so much confusion on these subjects, and why there’s NO ANSWERS to these questions that we asked earlier. God GIVES us the answers, if we’ll accept them, but that’s the problem! When you look at any other textbook or book that’s used in school today, in high school or college on chemistry or biology, and for the most part if you hand those textbooks out to 10 different professors you’re going to get a similar explanation from those 10 professors who’ve been trained and educated in that specific field. And yet you hand the Bible to 10 different theologians and they will give you 10 DIFFERENT explanations. They’ll give you 10 DIFFERENT ideas on a specific doctrine. Why is that? Why are there so many DIFFERENT “answers”?

Here is a Book, the Word of God, that in spite of all the human misunderstanding it’s changed more lives than all the other books combined. Lives for the better. And yet, paradoxically, it’s also a Book that almost nobody knows, that almost nobody understands.

2 Timothy 3, and verse 15, it says, “And that from a child you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” He’s speaking to Timothy here, Paul is, and he brings out that from his youth, from the days of his childhood, Timothy grew up learning these scriptures, studying this Word. He had a faithful mother and even grandmother who taught him the true teachings of God. And of course, all that he had to go on in his day was the Old Testament, and here Timothy was this powerful minister and assistant to Paul in the New Testament actively using, though, those Holy Scriptures found in the Old Testament, the two—the Old and the New—of course, perfectly complementing one another.

As verse 16 brings out, “All Scripture,” all of it, from Genesis right through to Revelation, ALL OF IT, “is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” God inspired these books. God inspired the way that the Bible was put together. God inspired how it was arranged. I mean, just thinking about the Bible, itself—how could a book that was put together over the course of sixteen-hundred years and by as many as 40 different authors have such a similar message from beginning to end? It’s because God was behind it. God inspired those fleshly writers, those faithful men and women. He inspired the messages that they recorded. God arranged it and put it all together, and we turn to this Book, this inspired Book, for doctrine, for teaching, for instruction. There’s a lot packed into verse 16. I mean, you just take one of those elements—doctrine, for instance—it comes from another word that means instructor, master or teacher, much like you’d go to a professor or a master to receive the lesson. Scripture is profitable for instruction and teaching.

But notice, also it says there, “reproof” and “correction,” and that has to do with pointing out certain faults, problems, sins that need to be corrected, that need to be adjusted. We have to study the Bible for correction, and that’s really the most important reason that we study the Bible—to be corrected, to be reproved.

But now, think of the average individual in the world today. Mr. Armstrong once said that one of the hardest things for human beings to do is to admit error, to admit that he’s wrong, to admit that she’s wrong, and herein lies the reason why there’s so much confusion, why there’s so much disagreement, why there’s so much misunderstanding when it comes to the Bible and what the Bible teaches. It’s because people simply will not submit to the Bible’s precepts; they will not OBEY God’s instruction; they will not ACCEPT the fact that we must CHANGE and overcome and grow. I mean, how many people do you know that are willing to be corrected when they are in error? People simply don’t like that. Human nature detests the thought of being corrected for making mistakes—that’s not the way human nature operates. We love to be praised. We love to be constantly told we’re doing great, particularly in this age of the self-esteem generation. Everybody needs to be told that they’re doing just fine, that everything’s going great.

But what about you? You’re here at God’s school, at God’s college, at God’s academy to learn how to use the Bible the way God intended for it to be used. Do you study it with 2 Timothy 3 and verse 16 in mind? What is your approach to Bible study? What is your approach to life? Do you look to God for instruction, for correction, for reproof, for admonition, for doctrine, for encouragement? Because God will provide all of those things to you.

Think about the 23rd Psalm. We don’t have to time to go over there, but that’s where it speaks of Christ being our Shepherd, and you think about a shepherd and how he guides the flock, how he looks after the flock, how he protects the flock; that’s the way God wants to work with us. That’s how involved God wants to be in your life, and in mine. And at times, the shepherd has to use the staff to make sure that the flock stays in line. Do we look to God for that, that comfort, that encouragement, that correction? If we do, God will sustain us. God will protect us. And God will richly BLESS us!

Look at verse 17. It says, “That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” That’s what God is building here! That’s what God is making! I mean, He’s made our physical bodies, but He’s much, much MORE concerned about our spiritual makeup, our character, our development and growth spiritually.

Let’s look at Hebrews 4 and we’ll see, again, just how valuable the Word of God really is. Hebrews chapter 4. Look at the profit¸ though, that there is in using the Book, in using the Bible—the Book that almost nobody knows. There’s great profit in it. It leads to perfection if we’ll use it the way God intended it to be used. “All Scripture,” he says, “is given.” God gives it as a gift. All Scripture is given by inspiration from God.

Hebrews 4 and verse 12, it says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” God’s Word is quick. That means it’s alive, it’s living, it’s breathing. It’s relevant to today!

I saw an article not too long ago asking the question: Is the Bible even relevant in this modern world that we live in? And the truth of it is, it’s more relevant today than it ever has been! Because so much of it was written “for the latter days,” just like God told the Prophet Daniel. “Don’t worry about understanding this, Daniel. It’s sealed until the latter days.” So many other prophetic passages also are noted for being for the end time, the last days that we’re living in right now. Look at how it describes that word, though, in Hebrews 4. It’s quick, it’s powerful, it’s sharper than any two-edged sword. I mean we’ve got to use the Word as a weapon, as a tool. Ephesians 6 also comes to mind, all of that armor that we’ve got to put on every day. God’s Word will cut. God’s Word will strike. God’s Word will thrust through the enemy if we use it the way God intended us to use it.

This is a quote from the correspondence course that we produce here at the college. “Instead of acknowledging the truth, repenting of the sin, having it legally justified by the blood of Christ, men seek to justify their own acts by perverting the sacred and holy Word of God.” See, we want the Bible to say what we want it to say, and we want to be able to do what we want to do. God wants us to just submit to His Word as He reveals it to be, as He shows us plainly in the pages of this Bible, if we’ll just accept it as He has inspired it.

Back to that quote: “The most difficult thing on Earth for the average person to do is to admit and confess it and repent of it when he is wrong. Oh, how hard that seems to be. Almost the rarest thing in this world is a person who will always acknowledge it when he is wrong, repent, and turn the other way.” See, turn around and go back in the right direction, the direction that heads toward God.

It says, “This world is full of people who profess to be willing to do this, but the one who does it is a rare jewel.” It’s easy to profess Christ. It’s easy to say we want God’s will in our life. But those that actually do it, it’s a rare jewel, it says there.

Let’s look at Psalm 111. Psalm 111 and verse 4 says, “He has made his wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion. [5] He has given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant. [6] He has showed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen.” See, this is just describing God and all that He’s given to us, all that He provides us with, our great Creator God. I mean, He’s proven His love for man. He’s revealed His purpose to those who have minds who are willing to look into His Word and to receive God’s truth.

Verse 7, it says, “The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. [8] They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.” See, God has—I mean, His truth, His judgment, it’s on full display! And Jesus came to this Earth to uphold that law, to abide by those laws, to in fact, MAGNIFY the law, not to do away with it, like a smart-aleck child! But to UPHOLD God’s laws, the principles of God’s way of living. I mean, He embodied that lifestyle, that way of life.

Verse 9, “He sent redemption unto his people: he has commanded his covenant forever: holy and reverend is his name.” God’s proven, you see, His love for us. What an awesome price He paid, God the Father, and Jesus Christ that laid down His life for mankind, to shed blood for man. I mean, this is a God Kingdom that we ought to, as it says here in the Psalm, to revere, to worship!

Notice verse 10. It says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that DO his commandments: his praise endures forever.” Notice there: “A good understanding have all they that DO His commandments.” Understanding follows the doing. Understanding the Word of God comes by practicing what God reveals—putting it into practice. We’ve got to keep that proper sequence in mind.

Fear God, I mean, He’s the great Creator! Keep and observe His Commandments, and then, and then think of the understanding and the depth that you’ll have, as you start living this way of life, and then realizing more deeply with every passing week and month and year WHY you’re doing what you’re doing, where it’s leading.

Look at David, who wrote so many of these Psalms. He had understanding. That’s because he used the Word of God. He said elsewhere in the Psalms that it was like a lamp unto his feet. It lit his path so that he could see where he was going in life. David’s a wonderful example of one who used the Word of God the right way!

Jesus came into this world as a LIGHT to the world, but it says in the gospels that men loved darkness. They rejected that light, and that’s why there’s so little understanding when it comes to the Holy Word of God. Few people realize that the Bible is actually the Maker’s instruction book. It’s sent from our Maker to us so that we might know how to live, so that we might understand our awesome purpose for being! It also reveals the final outcome of these many troubling events that we see unfolding in this very evil world. And yet, as incredible as this book is, almost no one uses the Word of God for its intended purpose. It’s the world’s best-selling book, and yet almost nobody knows that the Bible is the Maker’s instruction book, that its purpose is to instruct us in the knowledge of what we are, where we are, the purpose for human life, how to live happily and abundantly, and how to inherit the glory of Almighty God for all eternity.