SIMPLE THEOLOGY

Category: The Word of God

  • Remember! What God has done – Happy Reformation Day

    Remember! What God has done – Happy Reformation Day

    The Church is called to be the light in the world, leading people from the deception of sin to the truth of the Living God. For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church has suppressed the truth and put people in darkness. The purpose of the Church and the Scriptures was defeated during this dark period.

    According to Church history, right from the early second century, the Church has slowly deviated from the word of God to mere human methods and traditions. By the Medieval period, the Church has come into a state of darkness. The corruption in the Church was so evident and strong that God called for a reformation.

    God in His own sovereign way worked out a reformation. He raised up his men who would expose the corruptions of the Roman Catholic Church and its popes. God enabled His men to fight until the truth was available for everyone. These men fought to bring back the scriptures to the primitive place and into the hands of every common man.

    Today is commemorated as the Reformation day. October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the Wittenburg church door, leading to a firestorm response in Germany. Reformation fire spread across Europe. Men like John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, John Knox, William Tyndale and many others played a major role in Reformation and men like John Hus, John Wycliffe, Jerome of Prague and others paved the way for Reformation. Oh! We cherish now because of their efforts. We hold our Bibles because of them. They laboured hard that the Word of God would be available to the common man. They laid down their lives that all men may be exposed to the Truth of God’s Word which was hidden from the world by the Popes and the Roman Church. Let us thank God for what He has done through these men. The Truth of God had burst forth through the overlay of papism, and other Roman Catholic heresies.

    Let us re-affirm our allegiance to the truth revealed in the Scripture alone. Let us stand for the Truth like these men and honour God alone. For, the reformation is not over yet. Look at the modern church which is plagued by many heresies. Heresies, which spring from the wrong interpretation of the scriptures and also from those who are not subjected to the word of God.

    Lo! There are false preachers everywhere, who do everything in the name of Christ, but they do not know Christ, they do not preach the truth, and only speak lies to deceive people. And there are people who flock to them, who do not seek the truth. They both represent only a false Christianity. We need to expose them. It is time for the faithful remnant to take a stand against them and against the heresies that they teach. Let all the faithful become the beacon of lights in a time where darkness pervades everywhere. A vast majority of people in the church are ignorant of even fundamental truths of the Christian faith. Many do not know that we are justified by faith alone through God’s grace alone. They need to know the importance of the word of God and the right way of studying, interpreting and applying the same.

    Today’s Church needs men and women who are slaves of God and who are subjected to the word of God. We need more Pastors who would not care for their own bellies but rather shepherd the Church with love and truth. We need more faithful preachers and teachers who would expose and divide the word rightly and point people to Christ alone.

    It is time for us to pray for another reformation in our day and suffer to declare the wonderful Word of God with great Joy and Gladness. May God open the eyes of His people.

    May God bless His Church.

  • The Only Way to Seek God

    Just imagine, after you died, and the next moment you are in heaven, a place of joy and peace. There are no more sorrows, tears, pain, sin, suffering, and sickness and you are freed from your sinful body and received a glorified one. The moment you entered heaven, you witnessed altogether a different world, a beautiful world of ecstasy, golden streets, countless glorious angels and much more. But as you detour the heaven, you would get to know that you would be living a peaceful life without any manifestation of the Triune God, without His presence and glory, and without those heavenly beings worshipping the One and only True God.

    How would you feel? You have everything of heaven but the manifestation of the presence of God. Does it make any difference? Would you be shattered with the thought that you are going to spend eternity without any glimpse of the glorious God? 

    As long as there is no sickness, sorrow, tears or pain, many will be glad without any mention of God, because the majority of people seek after God to get these things.

    There is a kind of Christianity today, which reflects this seeker-sensitive mentality. Many seek after God because of other things. God is not central to them. They are not captivated by the glory of God, and therefore, they do not seek after God. 

    I just mentioned about heaven. But the reality of heaven is God himself. Heaven is no heaven without God. We cannot imagine a place where there are no more sorrows, tears, pain, sin, suffering, and sickness without God. God is central in heaven. He is the object of all praise, worship and glory. The heavenly host is always awestruck at the majesty of God that they worship Him with joy. They witness such glimpses of God’s glory that they call out to one another and declare that “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3). The word holy means ‘separated’ or ‘set apart’. When the heavenly host ascribed holiness unto God, they meant that He is uniquely distinct from all His creation. He is also far superior to all other creatures. For all creation is His handiwork and there is none like Him in this entire universe. The heavenly host is so marvelously captivated by the Divine glory, and they joyfully live in His presence to serve Him at all times because they deem Him to be worthy of all glory and honor.

    How about you? Are you passionate about God? Do you seek God because of God? If you are not captivated by God’s glory on this side of eternity, then heaven isn’t a place for you because it is for those who are awestruck at the Divine majesty. Such people while on earth deemed God to be worthy of all honor, glory and worship.

    A Divine call

    Our relationship with God begins with the gospel. The gospel is the good news that the great and awesome God sought after a sinful, disobedient, undeserving, and unworthy people to save them from their sins by sending His Son, Jesus Christ into this world. The eternal God came as a man into this world, born of a virgin, lived a righteous life, and then became the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He took our place, bore our sins, and the punishment of our sins came upon Him. God, crushed Jesus, our Lord under His severe wrath which was against us because of our sins. Our Lord Jesus shed His blood to atone for our sins, He died, and rose again from the dead for His glory and our salvation.

    God calls His lost people by this gospel and saves them unto Himself. Then a relationship between God and His people is ignited when people respond to God by faith and repentance by the glorious work of the Holy Spirit.

    As a result of this work, a truly saved person is awestruck at the glory of God, which God demonstrated on the cross. Believers have a glimpse into the love and wisdom of God when they comprehend the great plan of salvation that God devised through the sacrifice of Lord Jesus Christ. A saved person witnesses the righteousness and the justice of God in the punishment of Jesus Christ for our sins. Believers are also amazed by the grace and mercy of the Lord in the salvation of their souls, etc. (More on this: https://simpletheologyin.wordpress.com/2020/04/12/gods-glory-on-the-cross/)

    A Relationship sustained by the Word

    This gospel relationship which began at the cross continues forever, and that relationship with God stands on His revelation to man through His written word. Our faith in God is dependent on God’s revelation in His Word, and we continue to know our God from His Word. Our relationship with God is not dependent on our feelings, and imaginations, but it began with the Word of God and will continue with the Word of God.

    God reveals Himself to us through His Word alone, and we need to pursue God through His Word alone. Therefore, the necessity is laid upon us to study the Word of God sincerely, and the aim of such a discipline is to know God. Surprisingly, many among believers lack excitement for the Word of God. Therefore, they do not dig deeper. Once a person asked me: “Brother, why is the Bible boring? And how can we read the same book again and again?”  The reason for such experiences is because of the wrong approach that people have towards God’s Word. We need to learn to study God’s word rightly.

    Here are some of the right approaches we need to develop to study the Word of God:

    1) Study God’s Word to know God

    Many Study God’s Word superficially, and to gain some information. Eventually, after a few readings, they would be bored with the book. The very first lesson that we need to learn is that we shouldn’t approach the Bible as any other book. It is God’s Word, written, and preserved for us, and that written Word of God is His ordained way for us to be captivated with His glory, and to live for His purposes.

    God deemed this way to be the only way for our finite minds to comprehend the infinite God at least to some measure. So, let us be committed to God’s way. It is a great privilege and honor that God vested upon us, that by His mercies we may now know Him. 

    Therefore, brethren, how seriously must we be committed to studying the Word of God, if this is the only way for us to know God and be awestruck at His glory? And how much of these awesome moments have we missed?

    2) Study God’s Word with a right attitude

    Many times, we are easily deceived into thinking that we have arrived or we would start thinking that we know it all. Once this attitude has control over us, we would soon begin to lean on our ability to understand God’s word. But we need to see our incapability to understand and comprehend divine truths, and it is only through the help of the Spirit of God, who illumines our minds to grasp the divine reality.

     The Bible says, “But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.” (1 Corinthians 2:10-12).

    “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 that I have said to you” (John 14:26).

    Since the Spirit of God indwells us, He will help us to understand God’s Word and will illumine our minds to grasp the greatness of God, and He will strengthen us to be loyal to God while we are here on this earth and it is He who will sanctify us and conform us into the image of Christ Jesus. Therefore, we need to study God’s Word in prayerful dependence upon God’s Spirit.

    3) Study God’s Word rightly

    Someone said, “Bible does not yield to lazy people.” It is indeed, very true. Studying the Bible is hard work. We cannot read it superficially and expect that we would grow spiritually. Just reading through the Bible is helpful, but we need more. We must sit and study the Bible Systematically. Our personal Bible study would be more exciting and enriching if we do it with proper guidelines.

    For us to study God’s word in the right way, we need to allocate proper time. We wouldn’t get much out of the Bible study without a commitment to spend some quality time every day. To dig deeper, we need time, and we need to dig deeper by using proper tools.

    The most crucial step in understanding the Bible is the right interpretation. We need to employ the established rules of interpretation to understand the intended meaning of the author. The intended meaning of the author is the only meaning of the text, and all this will help us to comprehend God, His glory, and His purposes properly.

    Conclusion

    God’s Word is God’s only way for us to know God. Therefore, we need to sincerely, and whole-heartedly study God’s Word with a prayerful dependence upon the Spirit of God for us to be captivated by His glory while we live here on this earth. We must know that there is no other way for us to know and comprehend God apart from God’s revealed word. Thus, we dishonor God, if we, do not passionately pursue Him through His Word.

    Douglas F. Kelly says, “What could you possibly say then that would be worthy of God? He is more sublime than all sublimity, higher than all heights, deeper than all depth, clearer than all light, brighter than all brilliance, more splendid than all splendor, stronger than all strength, mightier than all might, more beautiful than all beauty, truer than all truth, more enduring than all endurance, greater than all majesty, more powerful than all power, richer than all riches, wiser than all wisdom, kinder than all kindness, better than all goodness, just than all justice, more merciful than all mercy. Every kind of virtue must of necessity be less than He who is God and source of everything.”

    Therefore, I encourage you to be devoted to God through the study of God’s Word diligently. As a result of such diligence, the Holy Spirit not only illumines our minds, He also impresses on our hearts with a true knowledge of God which produces meaningful godliness in our lives while we are yet surrounded with sin and impropriety everywhere.