How to Study the Bible III - Principles of Interpretation I

We're going to have, this week and next week, Principles of Interpretation. You see, what we've been doing all the way along is giving you tools for observation. And so it's essentially been six months on tools of observation. And what I've asked you to look to is the last page. It's a one-page supplement. It's looking at, OK, where are we headed here? And essentially what we want to do today is lay out all the biblical guidance that we have on the understanding of God's Word.

Looking at this last page here, this supplement called Overview, The Holy Spirit is involved in every part of the right understanding of Scripture, and are beholden to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Word, and thereby being changed from glory to glory." How was Scripture written? These guys just had ideas, and they wrote down their ideas? Right, in other words, the Holy Spirit was involved in the inspiration of Scripture, it is not simply a matter of these guys had some great ideas and we want to study them because we think they're great ideas. It is a matter of our recognizing that the Holy Spirit has inspired the writing of Scripture, all the way from the Old Testament on into the New.

And then some of the things that also are recognized along with that is God's Word is for individual growth, 1 Peter 2.2, like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the Word so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.

And then God's Word feeds the growth of the church body as a whole, Ephesians 4.11-13. He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith, of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ."

So question mark. Did God give through the Holy Spirit's spiritual gifts to people in the body of Christ. Yes. Beyond that are certain gifted people also given as gifts to the body. That's what this passage is saying, isn't it? So we have spiritual gifts given to individuals for the benefit of the body. We also have this statement that certain men are given as gifts to the body of Christ.

By whom? By Christ. Then we have here, along with that, God's Word feeds the growth of the church body as a whole, so that in the end, can you have a growth of the church body or of individuals completely absent of the Word of God? Can't happen, right? So the Word of God is not optional or a nice supplement, but essential, right? Essential.

Now, did the Holy Spirit give the structure of his written word to these people, or did the authors work it out themselves? You know, like the poetic structure in what we were talking about before. You know, is that? Specifically by the author, or is it by the Holy Spirit?

You know, like Paul. It's just an atomic thing. Yeah, well let's just ask this question, and I think it gets at your point. Did Paul write exactly like John did? No, no, no. No, definitely not. And so what you find is, here are these authors with inclinations to write in certain ways. We spell that, here's John writing a little more than a dozen books. And as he wrote, he wrote with a particular pattern and style, which wasn't just cookie cutter, because we see variation in it, but nonetheless, specific pattern and style to Paul's writings. And then we look at Paul, and he writes like a logician. In rhetorician, should we assume that grace may abound? It may never be, right? So he writes with a certain style. He says things, let's put it this way, Paul will put things in three or four part compound words sometimes.

In some cases he writes with words we can't find anywhere else in all of Greek literature. So there's a uniqueness to the way he writes. John writes very differently. John doesn't use a compound word unless he has to. John writes not like a logician.

Here's Paul. This, therefore this, because of that, since that, you know, if this, then that. So Paul lays out things and explains things and uses logical terminology. John writes like a musician. John writes like a musician, and he goes from heights and crescendos down to the depths and then he goes back up.

So a very different writing style we find with the Old Testament authors, a variation from one to the next. potential to growth, but that would mean that someone like Abraham, who didn't have the law or didn't have scripture or the canon or anything else, wouldn't have had the opportunity to be saved, but he was.

Well, then let's also address that. Did God deal differently with Abraham than he does with us? Yes. And in what ways did he deal differently? He spoke to him directly. And so what we have in scripture is the indication that in these last days he has spoken through his son, through his word.

And so we have things that are very different from God's dealing with someone like Abraham. Here is Moses. God spoke very directly with Moses. And so those who were receiving communications directly with God, those who were receiving communications from God personally and directly, that's a very different manner of dealing than with us. Now with us, here's Jesus' half-brother saying, I urge that you contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. So, God deals with us differently than with Abraham. I think what you can find is that God deals with us differently and we see the difference. Here is God speaking with Abraham, confirming points of the Abrahamic covenant. Here is God speaking with Moses and laying it all out. On top of that, here's Daniel who longed to understand what he was writing. And God says, no, that's not for you. Write it down. Get this down. It will be understood later. So we are communicated with and dealt with in a different way than they were. Does that make sense, Stan?

We can see the evidence from how he spoke, because it's written in his word. Yes. In other words, what we have is what's called progressive revelation, and that progressive revelation has us in a place of seeing how it was being revealed in earlier times. We need God to speak to us really right now, verbally, in order for the manifestation of it to be all written in God's Word. We have to trust Him by faith.

That's correct. That's correct. Sometimes it's harder, sometimes it's easier. Yeah. And so, yeah, if we go and expect God to communicate with us in the same way that God communicated with Abraham, that God communicated with Moses, that's actually a problem now, right? How much of Genesis did Abraham have when God first talked to him? Zippo, right? Nothing, nada. So here's Abraham, who by tradition, his father was an idle salesman in Ur. It didn't have anything. And was there the Jews around when Abraham was in Ur?

No. He was essentially a selected Gentile to begin the Jewish people and Jewish nation. So there's a very different character to the early Old Testament writings. Here is Isaiah, for example, writing around 700 BC, and a lot of the Old Testament prophecies have not been written yet. The Old Testament itself was not complete. So for him, he was still getting revelation of different kinds. He did have some background of, you know, here's the books of Moses, some of the records. Some of the books of, you know, like 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles and things like that were still being written. He was still progressive at that time.

And the New Testament records things about the life of Christ that none of the Old Testament authors had anything but just some foreview about. Here's Isaiah writing Isaiah 53. I think that in our time, it has now been 19 centuries since the New Testament was complete. It has now been 2,400 years since the Old Testament was completed.

A key point here is we've been spending the last six months on observation. Six months observing. Here's how I observe things in the Bible. The Old Testament, New Testament, and looking at tools for observation. Everything we've been doing has all been about observing. Why have we taken so much time for what's one of the four steps? Because if you don't get observation right, you're not going to get interpretation. Ah, yes. And that is key.

One of the things that has caused a great deal of difference between different groups within Christendom is people tend to minimize their observation and fill in with their interpretive system. And so you've got Calvinism and Arminianism and all the isms. Even dispensationalism is another ism. The truth is, the more I carefully and thoroughly observe the less I need any system at all. The less I need any system at all. So what happens with a great many people is they'll go and observe this and this and this, run to their system, and then fill in the rest. And the result is that we've got all these different isms and disagreements about interpretation and all that.

We have handouts here that I think you'll find real helpful. Can I get one for you? Yeah, you're okay? All right. Okay, so we look at the four steps here are observation, and we've been spending six months on that, interpretation, and we're just stepping into that, okay, application, and appropriation. Can we mention here that we've spent six months on observing because what needs to happen is that we observe what's in scripture very, very carefully and we don't jump to a system. The jumping to a system happens because people don't observe enough.

That's one reason. How many denominations are there in Christendom? Over 30,000. Different denominations. And a great deal of it is because people fail to observe. People fail to look at carefully what's in scripture. So you end up having all these different, you know, I think this and I follow this guy. Notice a lot of isms are named after a person. Do I need that? Did God inspire all those, you know, Lutheranism, Calvinism, you know? Other parts of the country, we've got like the Mennonites, that's following Menno, another In the end, I don't need that.

So are you saying these guys are doing eisegesis? Yeah, essentially what they're doing is filling in with their system, instead of observe, observe, observe, observe, carefully, right? They're picking and choosing what they want. Yes. Let's take, for instance, in Calvinism, let's take John 3.16. For God so loved the world of the elect, that he gave his only begotten Son only for the elect, that whosoever believes which will only be of the elect shall have everlasting life, because they are elect." So the ism has completely overridden the passage.

So that's the Calvinistic interpretation of John 3.16. And you notice I've had to insert again and again what that means.

So instead, what did God inspire and intend to say needs to be our question. What did God intend to So, a lot of the different theological debates, things like that, if we're debating, we probably haven't observed enough. If we're debating, we probably haven't observed enough. And so that's one reason why we spend six months on different tools of observation, and asking primarily the question, Rather than, you know, this guy says this, and this other guy says that, and now we'll start up our debate. Wait, what did God intend to tell us? Let's ask this question. Before the New Testament was written, did the Jews have different groups debating over their systems? Yeah, yeah they did.

The Sadducees were influenced by Epicurus, the Greek philosopher. The Pharisees had their various isms. And what's interesting, only the New Testament criticizes them. You won't find criticism of the Pharisees in any place else. We get the idea the Pharisees are bad guys. Only in the New Testament does that come across.

The group that we don't hear by name is the Essenes, and they were the double-predestination Calvinists of their day. The Essenes believed God chose us, and God didn't choose you, and so they believed the Sadducees and the Pharisees were all going to hell, and it was OK to hate them, which is why Jesus talks about in Matthew 5. So they hate these guys. So when you look at these systems, these systems that people develop can easily be way off track.

And all the contention that takes place frequently takes place because people have failed to observe adequately and ask the question, what did God intend to say? What did God intend to say? So that's why we've spent six months on this observation here. That gets rid of a whole lot of the different arguments between different systems.

Now, what's the difference between application and appropriation? Yeah? Appropriation is to reach out and gain something. Application is to apply that to your life. Okay, in other words, application is me stating what the application is. The appropriation is when it gets lived out in my life.

Here's a for instance. Suppose I said, well, after reading this passage and this passage in scripture, it says that I should be praying all the time. But do I? And here's one more thing. Should I be praying as a matter of law or as a matter of grace motivation? Today I prayed 63 minutes and 53 seconds. Did I fulfill scripture? Yeah, it doesn't guarantee that I've really fulfilled scripture. So I might write down, oh, this means this, and this means this.

Years ago, about 14 years ago, Hal and I worked on a document spelling out, here's what the New Testament says about elders in the church. And so we wrote that all down, and it's very good. And this last October, I taught that in Poland and in Uganda. So we wrote down, here's how it applies. Here's what the New Testament teaches. The application of it, we've written down. The appropriation of it is a different question altogether. Because I wasn't taught it in Poland, I wasn't taught it in Uganda, what are they doing with it? That's the appropriation question, right? So what are they doing with it?

So we can write about application, we can talk about it, we can think about application, the appropriation is how does this get actually lived out? Yes? How did you define application? Defining application is not the living out of it. It's either the speaking out of it, the thinking out of it, the writing out of it. We talk about application.

Here's what this means. Example. Let's take it for instance. Here at Holly Hills, when I was back in high school, it used to be that it was a congregational form of government. People voted. Right? They met and had a vote after some teaching on here's how a church ought to be operating. And they voted out voting. They voted out voting. Pardon? I didn't hear what you said. Yeah, they voted out voting.

They had a congregational meeting, and it was like right here in this room. at a conjugational meeting, and they voted out Cody. And so, since then, it has been elder-led, rather than everybody votes on different things. I think that's biblical. Yes, and so this is a matter of saying, okay, here's what the Bible teaches about elders. And recognizing that, and then the application of it was, OK, we're going to vote out voting. And elders are going to lead the congregation here. And then what they subsequently developed is, OK, here's what elders need to deal with doctrinal. And so in the middle 70s, they developed 75 questions. These are questions that I and Roger and Mike all had to answer and talk about in order that there be an elder-led truth-finding.

Because God's economy is not a democracy. Democracy was developed by whom? It was ultimately a Greek idea, right? It was a Greek idea. But it's not the biblical idea so far as how the church is governed. It doesn't mean that the governance of our States, country, etc. It should be done differently.

But regarding the church, it spells out, here's the elder-led church model. We're led by educated men who are trusting God to lead them. Basically, that's the truth, but democracy is basically the blind leading the blind. The blind is going to lead the blind. Yeah, so it doesn't particularly spell out anything with regards to our secular government, right? It doesn't say anything, but regarding the Church, while there are three main forms in existence regarding the Church, it spells out, no, the Church should be over-led.

So the application was first recognized and taught And then it was appropriated. For me as a Christian, I can say, look, here I have the understanding that it's not a matter of me living out my life by rule of law. And in fact, I come to an understanding that says, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. I can say that, and I can tell you that. The appropriation of it is when I recognize that I have been crucified with Christ. I'm seated in the heavenlies. He does the living here undone. You start living it out in that way.

So application is recognizing the true facts? Yes, application is we either think, we talk about, we write down. how things are to be lived out. The appropriation of it is how it gets lived out in life. See the distinction there? So, because I could write, you know, this and this and this is true, and this is how, I know I'm supposed to live my life by praying, you know, continuously, but it's possible that I could go about and just keep that theoretical. Just keep on living. Alright, I know this is the application. But in fact, it's possible that I could go about and simply say, I know that that's true, but just keep it in theory.

Instead of, oh, this is how everyday life is to be lived out. To recognize, in my heart and mind and perspective, I have been crucified with Christ. I am completely done here. And my life gets lived out, and it's not my job. I'm fired. So to live that out means that I am no longer trying to live the Christian life. I am no longer doing my best. I'm not giving it the old college try. I recognize that I have been crucified with Christ, and my life gets lived out by His doing, and not mine.

And He doesn't need my help. My trust in God, my faith in what He's going to do in you. Yup. And He doesn't need my help. And I talk to Him, not because, OK, I've got to put in 63 minutes today, and I'll make it 64 tomorrow. I talk to Him because that's the only way I'm going to live through life. I recognize my need. I recognize my need. And I recognize from the moment I take my first waking breath in the morning. Lord, I cannot make it through the day. I have no place to make it through the day.

I must be in total and complete dependence upon you. You don't have to say that to Jesus. You can talk to him, right? Nancy will joke with me that a lot of times I'll be praying with her and I'll start the prayer with Ann because I've been praying the whole time anyway. I am not intended by God to have anything delicate to me. It's completely by Him. So that's the appropriation part of it.

I can look at Galatians 2.19, I've died to the law.

I look at Galatians 2.20, and I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who, and I'll expand this a little bit, it's no longer I who do the living. Christ does the living in me. and the life that I now live. I live by faith in the Son of God and not me. Because I don't have what it takes. I was never intended to have what it takes. That's why I was crucified.

So that's all about appropriation. I can read that verse and study it and get into the Greek and look at the cultural background and all that. That's all good and well and fine. In the end, The appropriation of it means I'm not trying to live the Christian life. The appropriation of it means I recognize my complete and total and absolute dependence upon Him. It's not my job. I've been fired long ago.

You were fired at the cross, weren't you? Yeah, everybody was looking. The disciples were terrified. All the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees said, ah, job done, right? But I died there. I'm done. I was fired. I quit. I'm through. And my living is from there seated next to Him. So, I'm there, he's here, I'm out of here. That's appropriation. That's how it gets appropriated in life.

I could read Galatians 2.19 and 20 and analyze it with all the greed and write it all out, but in real living, in real life, the appropriation of it is, I'm done. I'm through here.

Nancy doesn't need me. The church body doesn't need me. My kids and grandkids don't need me. They need the Lord. Good job to me. I'm fired. I'm done. I died. with Christ, and it's His job to do the living. So that's appropriation. As we look at these things, it isn't a matter of just, okay, now I'm going to observe, and now I'm going to interpret. And now I've got my interpretation, I'm going to argue with people over it. God's intent is, I observe, observe, observe, observe. And then I interpret, after I very, very thoroughly observe, and then I look at appropriation, and then it gets lived out. In the end, there's no argument of theologies. God never intended that we sit there and argue over theologies. No place for it. The appropriation of it is what God has in mind.

Live it out in real life. But that doesn't mean that we, as in our human nature, don't react and respond to things, but then process it and then turn it over, is that not your point? Yeah, I mean, if you look at it, it doesn't mean we're just all spiritual and not physical, right? So, yeah, in the reality, you know, we have to deal with things as they are, you know, in whatever stage God has us in.

But in the end, you know, I live by faith in the Son of God. And that includes, you know, boy, I'm hungry. That includes, boy, I'm really frustrated about this situation. I'm really baffled about how to deal with this, you know. We encounter the various things, but the living out through those things, whatever it is, is Christ does the living, it's not my job. He has delegated nothing to me. I live by faith in the Son of God, and He doesn't need my help. He doesn't need my help. Yeah, I'm saying He doesn't need your help.

And so that, you know, I look at it, this is appropriation. Looking at this, you know, He didn't say that I kind of got wounded with Christ. I went through a rough time with Christ. No, I got completely crucified with Christ. Completely crucified. And guess what? Just to make sure it was all clear and total, I got sealed up in that tomb as well with a hundred pounds of wrappings. And then I was identified with him, united with him as he came out of the tomb. But that doesn't mean that somehow, oh, now I'm resurrected back to try again. I am completely and entirely dead to the law, the world, and the sin nature. With no exceptions, and I didn't just go through a rough time, completely and totally dead to those things.

As you're asking, I'm thinking of the 1980s when Chesney was, he was a dictator. And he was fired. He was fired by his dad. I mean, they hunted him down, and he went into a firing ball. So it would be really odd if Romania said, now we're going to do what Chesney did. Right, and they didn't say, but you know, we'd like to have your help out here and there. Right? That's not how it worked out.

Let's take a look at this Principles of Interpretation 1 from Facts and Meaning. So we that we've just been looking at here over Review Sheet 2, the early, provides some perspectives for our study of God's Word that are essential to understand the meaning that God intended. We will reintroduce those points here along with other passages and principles. So the Bible is God's inspired Word. One of the things you'll notice about this handout, we've got three pages, and most of it's all just quoting Scripture. As we interpret scripture, we want to start off with a biblical foundation.

So we have here, we see the Bible for what it is, God's written word, so 1 Corinthians 4.1, let a man regard us in this manner. By the way, let doesn't mean allow anywhere in the Bible. A man must, is really what this should spell out, a man must regard us in this manner as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

And by the way, what's translated, let a man regard, it's the same as reckon in Romans 6.11.

It's the exact same as reckon in Romans 6.11. It's the same word, it's the same There is no difference. So it is added up, draw a logical conclusion, and you must.

A man must draw this logical conclusion that we are servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Do you believe that the Apostle Paul was assigned by God to convey these mysteries that he's spelling out? Yep. That's it. And that's what he's writing.

You must get it, because the Corinthians here apparently weren't. Apparently they weren't getting it, that when Paul's writing, he's telling you, this is the word of God, and you better figure it out, and draw a proper conclusion from this. We could put it this way, a man must reckon, must consider, must draw the logical conclusion in this manner. who were servants of Christ and stewards, we've been entrusted with the mysteries of God. Now, mysteries are not something spooky, you know, I've got no idea. Something previously not revealed, but now revealed. That's the biblical definition of a mystery.

2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. How much of scripture is inspired? All. So is it my job to sit there and figure out, you know, this part of it is inspired but I'm not so sure about this other part. Is that my job? No. So all scripture is inspired, and so as I look at it, it's not my place to go and figure out, okay, well, this part of the Gospel of John is inspired, this other part we're not sure, you know, the Apostle Paul writes something, yeah, that may be his idea. Right? No. We've got to look at it, all scripture is inspired. And what's it good for? What's it good for? Is it good for giving me kind of the gushies, or making me feel like, wow man, that was really cool. Is that what it's for?

Yeah. Correct. So, profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. So that the man of God, and by the way that's not males, A man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. And by the way, ever feel inadequate? Adequate, equipped for every good work. Our adequacy comes from what the Lord has provided, and not from ourselves.

That fits with Galatians 2.20. I've been crucified. My adequacy is entirely not for me. If I have any adequacy at all, it's not my job. It's not my place. It's not for me. It's not for my best efforts. It's not because I'm a good guy. None of that. I had to be crucified to get me out of the way.

So the adequacy is from the Lord, and including His Word. Now, the Bible is necessary for spiritual growth and understanding. We have this diagram here. showing four different Greek words and each of those points to a different stage of spiritual growth and the food that goes along with it.

We have a nursery in here in which we sometimes have babies that are months old, not even a year old, months old. And so we'll have them in the nursery. Now of course we want those babies to be fed properly, so we give them steak and potatoes, right? No, because that's not the appropriate food for that age and stage in their life, right? And so the Bible spells out with essentially multiple passages out of the New Testament. These New Testament epistles spell out what's appropriate for the age and stage. And there is biblical content that's appropriate at each age and stage.

Now, something is different. Now, I quit growing at the end of my freshman year. I put on 5 inches and 40 pounds during my freshman year in high school. And I haven't grown any since then. Is there a stage at which believers in Christ are intended to have stopped growing and just, we're done? No. So for me personally, I often look back and say, I haven't grown for decades physically. But for me, there is no end spiritually in God's intended growth for me. I became a believer 60 years ago this year. God did not intend for me to reach some stall-out point at any place. And I continue to realize, alright, I've been a believer for 60 years.

Okay, so let's look at 1 Peter 2.2, which is the first one referenced there. Like newborn babes long, and that's an imperative by the way, you must long for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.

2 Peter 3.18, after a caution about those who lead people astray, it says, But grow, imperative, in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Now, question for you. How, if there's an imperative, grow? How do you do that as an imperative? Do you tell a baby, Grow! Is that what you do with a little infant? You know, they just got born and you bring them home from, you know, and okay, you've got this little tiny infant and you sit there and say, grow! Do you do that? No, you don't.

So what is an imperative to grow? What does that point to? Being fed. Necessary. Pardon? First of all, it's necessary if it's an imperative. And you say being fed, okay? As a matter of fact, if a baby isn't hungry, that's a point of real concern, right? So this longing for the pure milk of the word, and this is the young tiny infant, essentially growth is not possible without the word, just like this little infant, you better have some milk. you know, for this baby.

Yeah, Stan? So is the longing and the growing, is that also active or is it passive? Those are both active voice imperatives. Yeah, and what's interesting is the longing is the imperative in 1 Peter 2. The growth, same word by the way, 1 Peter 2. For growth. as 2 Peter 3.18.

But the growth is the imperative in 2 Peter 3.18, belonging to the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow, is 1 Peter 2.2. So that's not, neither one of them are passive and they're both active.

Does that mean that the individual wills both of those? Any imperative is an appeal to the will. You have also other appeals to the will. For example, the Apostle Paul will say, I urge you. That's an appeal to the will of the believer. And the ultimate point of our having a will is to believe. So I could read that and I'm going to do this and do that and the other thing, and in the end everything about my will points to belief.

Do I believe it? Is it possible I could sit there and look at the Greek and translate it and look up all the cultural background and get that all written out and do nothing with it? Can I do that? It's possible. There are people who are atheists. who have done that. So are they subjective, do you know? No, they're imperatives. Indicative, that's right. They're imperatives, right?

Long is an imperative in 1 Peter 2.2, and then to grow is an imperative in 2 Peter 3.18. Wouldn't that mean that it's my part to satisfy the natural desires? that these things cause the longing and the growing. So it's my responsibility to satisfy the desires of my longing to be growing. Now let's talk about this. This is a critical thing.

There is no imperative in the New Testament that is not based on our position. God has made every provision to fulfill anything he asks us to do, because it's not our job to carry it out. He has motivated all of the imperatives by grace, not under principle of law, but by Those are all the motives for the imperatives. Here's the Apostle Paul writing to the believers of Ephesus. You must forgive one another, imperative, as God and Christ has forgiven you. Grace-motivated imperatives. Grace-motivated imperatives. empowered and energized by the Holy Spirit for carrying out any of those imperatives that are facing our position. So grace motivated, enabled, empowered and energized by the Holy Spirit, it's not my job, it is.

And we've been provided an opportunity, that's Ephesians 2.10, we've been provided the opportunity for good works. by his doing. He's prepared them. He has given us the grace motive for each one of them. He has enabled, empowered, and energized by his Holy Spirit the carrying out of them.

And so it's consistent with Galatians 2.20. There is no contradiction.

Yeah? So in other words, positionally you would not say no, but conditionally you could. You could, but the urging and imperatives of the New Testament are all in the direction of walking in the Spirit, abiding in Christ, all beholding, they're all entrusting things to him. So, yes, you could. The urgings of the New Testament are never in that direction. Yeah, Christine? I'm sorry, say that again?

So the longing would be more of an orientation of how we direct our will towards what it is. More than some inspirational or what it would be. Right, and ultimately we look at what's the basis for this longing and responding to that graciously. Not a, boy, I better start longing for something and pumping it up out of myself. Let's continue on here, we barely touched this.

In 2 Corinthians 3.18, But we all with unveiled face, beholding as an emir the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory as from the Lord the Spirit. Looking at page 2 there, the unbeliever and the out-of-fellowship and immature believer have limited understanding. We quote 1 Corinthians 2, 14-16, But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.

1 Corinthians 3, so this is right after that, 1-4, and I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual men, but as men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly.

So is he writing to believers? He's writing to believers. Back in the first verses, he's already said, you are sanctified, and he says it in the perfect tense. In their position, it's all done. In their condition, they haven't gotten very far. Right? They haven't gotten very far. So, that limits what he can communicate to them. writing inspired scripture, not speak to them as spiritual men. Paul was limited in what he could communicate, not because of any lack in their position, but because of their deficiency in implementing and understanding those things.

Next, 2 Timothy 2.15, our approach must be with diligence. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. So, I'm going to study the Bible this next Saturday morning, but it might be a few months before I get back to it again. It talks about some diligence here. And by the way, am I accountable to other people about my diligence.

Pardon? Yes. Okay, and you say yes, why? Well, I'm pretty much a parent. Ah, okay. It's absolutely critical that we understand what we've got, because there are people looking at us to see how this is done, and do you absolutely love the Lord, or are you just talking? Yeah.

Now, that having been said, what I would say that this passage says is your first accountability is to the Lord. The first accountability is to the Lord. That's where it starts. One of the things Craig will be presenting in the weeks ahead is looking at Ephesians 5 and 6, and it keeps saying, as to the Lord, in the Lord, as to the Lord, again and again and again in the passage, that our relationship to the Lord first is what counts. That's the perspective. Next, and we pretty much have to cut it off here pretty quick. We start with objective observations. Our observations are complete. There is no missing information. Next, observations do not include any misinformation, mistaken observations, and the observations do not include any from outside the context of language, history, culture.

I've had conversations with Christians in which they say, I feel blessed, therefore it's true. Or you'll get something like, you know, Dunamis, that's the root word for dynamite, and therefore I've got to feel like I do things explosively. That's a big observation. So the key is that we stick down to what does scripture really say, not misinformation or some extraneous means of confirmation. Okay, we've run way out of time, so let's pray and let people come crashing through the back doors here.

Lord, we thank you for your word, we thank you for the things that you've laid out for us, we thank you for the things that you've made clear, and we just look to you to continue to guide and lead us as we proceed through this hardest day in the Bible.