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The Exhaustless Word of God

by Sabbath Sermons

By Paul Godfrey

You can’t exhaust the word of God. There’s a temptation for us to not to meditate on things long enough, because we think that the Bible is exhaustless. Do you find fresh thoughts on texts?

Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

In our heads thoughts come out. Your brain can never really be quiet thinking nothing. Something needs to come out of it. Either good or evil. There’s only so many times you can repeat the words of the gospel of Jesus. But if we find that those thoughts are old, I already know that, then we stop thinking about it and then what happens? You start thinking something evil.

The mind is so constituted that it must be occupied with either good or evil. If it takes a low level, it is generally because it is left to deal with commonplace subjects. . . . Man has the power to regulate and control the workings of the mind, and give direction to the current of his thoughts. But this requires greater effort than we can make in our own strength. We must stay our minds on God, if we would have right thoughts, and proper subjects for meditation. {OHC 111.2}

What is our mind meant to be on? The facts and events of God. Our mind has to be on God, the person. That person is exhaustless. Can you work out God? Do you think you’ve worked him out? Then we’ve got more to learn. If we stay our mind on him, then he will teach us things that we thought we knew but didn’t realise how much there was in it.

Few realize that it is a duty to exercise control over their thoughts and imaginations. It is difficult to keep the undisciplined mind fixed upon profitable subjects. But if the thoughts are not properly employed, religion cannot flourish in the soul. The mind must be preoccupied with sacred and eternal things, or it will cherish trifling and superficial thoughts. Both the intellectual and the moral powers must be disciplined, and they will strengthen and improve by exercise. {OHC 111.3}

When you study for so many hours you go past the barrier of just reading information and God starts connecting the Bible texts together for you. The problem why many Christians don’t find much joy in studying the Bible is because they don’t spend enough time studying it. They just read a text. We don’t discipline the mind to stay there and keep doing it. What is the danger that people who don’t really like the Bible can fall into?

Collosians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

In Bible studies you can go three ways. You can read it and consider it old and leave it or you can read it, dissect it and start to say what you think about the text. That’s philosophy, higher criticism. Dissecting it according to your own head. To put a construction on the text, that the text isn’t saying. That is very close to proper Bible study but there is a big difference in results.

Satan often finds a powerful agency for evil in the power which one human mind is capable of exerting on another human mind. This influence is so seductive that the person who is being molded by it is often unconscious of its power. God has bidden me speak warning against this evil, that His servants may not come under the deceptive power of Satan. The enemy is a master worker, and if God’s people are not constantly led by the Spirit of God, they will be snared and taken. For thousands of years Satan has been experimenting upon the properties of the human mind, and he has learned to know it well. By his subtle workings in these last days, he is linking the human mind with his own, imbuing it with his thoughts; and he is doing this work in so deceptive a manner that those who accept his guidance know not that they are being led by him at his will. The great deceiver hopes so to confuse the minds of men and women, that none but his voice will be heard. {OHC 110.2}

You find this with scholars of the Bible. They read the exact same Bible that you do but as they read it, Satan is telling them his thoughts on the Bible. It’s so deceptive that we think that is an angel of light. The principle is that it changes the meaning of the whole fabric. Faith and works has been one subject that Satan has changed how we read the Bible and interpret the words of the scriptures. Satan has changed the meaning of faith to the opposite of what the Bible says. That’s why there are so many versions of the Bible. He has also changed the way that we use the words. The definition faith from dictionary.com is “belief that is not based on proof”. The Bible says faith is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen. So when we read the word faith, whose thoughts are we picking up? Those who wrest the scriptures from their meaning also used Bible texts but they always rely on the wrong meaning of the word all the way through. That way they can prove their point. The Bible has to tell you how the word is used. When you know how the word is used then you use it the way the Bible used it. The dictionary describes a word by other words. The Bible does that also. It will say a word in a structure and in another place it will use that same structure but use a different word. When you find those situations, take those meanings and put them where they belong and all the sudden it all means something different. Galatians says the law was added because of transgression. But ‘added’ means the law was spoken because of transgression. This text is always used to say that the law was only given at Sinai. We don’t use the language of the Bible any more. The meanings of words has changed and then you get problems.

The controversy between Christ and Satan is not yet ended. The latter is constantly seeking to establish his own power and authority. If he can entangle minds, he will do it. . . . The deceptions of Satan are manifold, but the Lord will be our helper if we seek him earnestly. {OHC 110.5}

As Satan has mastered this you can see why the Lord had to give a prophet in these last days otherwise we would go off on such a wrong track.

2 Corinthians 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Any doctrine that comes out of the Bible that presses itself against the knowledge of God and pulls down his law in any way is wrong. They speak not according to the law or the testimony and there’s no light in them. These ideas that pop into our heads we need to be careful. There are some brilliant ideas but if they aren’t founded on thus saith the Lord we have to lay them down.

1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

There needs to be strict guidelines when we study the Bible. We can’t take our thoughts and put them into the Bible. If it’s unclear, we need to find other texts that explain it. If you’re unsure, don’t conclude and say, I think it must mean that. Leave it and study other clearer texts that say what they say. If man did that we wouldn’t have all the doctrinal issues we have today. Let the clearer texts explain the confusing texts. When you study and harmonise what the Bible is saying without construing, then you’ll be fine. Every doctrine that is wrong uproots some texts. We cannot put our interpretation on the Bible. Anywhere that is really vague then we have the prophet someone who has been proven to have the Spirit of Prophecy. Ellen White is more than a prophet, she’s a messenger. Just like John the Baptist. We need to understand what God is trying to show us in the Bible. Not to prove someone wrong. When you study that, things become deep. There’s no scriptures that would make you go wow. It would have to be line upon line until you see the picture.

The thoughts must be trained. Gird up the loins of the mind that it shall work in the right direction, and after the order of well-formed plans; then every step is one in advance, and no effort or time is lost in following vague ideas and random plans. We must consider the aim and object of life, and ever keep worthy purposes in view. Every day the thoughts should be trained and kept to the point as the compass to the pole. {OHC 112.3}

Why not keep your minds fixed on the unsearchable riches of Christ, that you may present to others the gems of truth? In the Word of God there are rich mines of truth that we may spend our whole lifetime in exploring, and yet we shall find that we have only begun to view their precious stores. Sink the shaft deep, and bring up the hidden treasures. But it is impossible to do this while we indulge an idle, restless spirit, seeking constantly for something that will merely gratify the senses, something to amuse, and cause a foolish laugh. . . . {OHC 115.2}

It’s impossible to do Bible studies while we’re engaged in media. TV makes the brain dull. It takes mental effort to apply the mind. If you read a bit and then walk off, you’ve missed the blessing. You don’t know what you’re about to find if you leave.

Minds that are occupied with frivolous reading, with exciting stories, or with seeking after amusement, do not dwell upon Christ, and cannot rejoice in the fullness of His love. The mind that finds pleasure in foolish thoughts and trifling conversation, is as destitute of the joy of Christ as were the hills of Gilboa of dew or rain. {OHC 115.2}

What are some good subjects that we need to pursue. What do you Bible study?

There are, in the Christian faith, subjects upon which every one should accustom his mind to dwell. The love of Jesus, which passeth knowledge, His sufferings for the fallen race, His work of mediation in our behalf, and His exalted glory–these are the mysteries into which angels desired to look. Heavenly beings find in these themes enough to attract and engage their deepest thoughts; and shall we, who are so intimately concerned, manifest less interest than the angels, in the wonders of redeeming love? {OHC 111.5}

Christ’s humiliation in clothing His divinity with humanity is worthy of our consideration. {OHC 114.4}

Faith in Christ is not the work of nature, but the work of God on human minds, wrought in the very soul by the Holy Spirit, who reveals Christ, as Christ revealed the Father. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. With its justifying, sanctifying power, it is above what men call science. {OHC 117.2}

There’s more to faith than what the scientists have to study.

It is the science of eternal realities. Human science is often deceptive and misleading, but this heavenly science never misleads. It is so simple that a child can understand it, and yet the most learned men cannot explain it. It is inexplainable and immeasurable, beyond all human expression. {OHC 117.2}

Why study it? If it’s so simple yet no one can explain it, why study it? You can experience it. When you experience it and come back to the science plan you can identify where you are, where others are and where God is in relation to you.

The acceptance of Christ’s atonement is the groundwork of true faith. . . . Those who will look long enough into the divine mirror to see and despise their sins, their unlikeness to the meek and lowly Jesus, will have strength to overcome. {OHC 117.3}

This isn’t just about theory. It’s about looking at it to experience it. When we look at the law of God long enough what do you see? Love and what do you see in yourself? The condition that you’re in. Failure. Then you can see the love of God even better. Depth is always related to contrast.

All who truly believe will confess and forsake their sins. They will cooperate with Christ in the work of bringing their hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong under the control of the divine will, so that sin shall not have dominion over them. {OHC 117.3}

You need to understand what your hereditary and cultivated tendencies are. Look to your ancestors and understand them. Then you can understand Christ, and God.

Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith, they will be changed into His likeness. They will grow up into the full stature of men and women in Christ Jesus. . . . Those who truly believe, who confess and forsake their sins, will grow more and more like Christ, until of them it can in heaven be said, “Ye are complete in him.” Colossians 2:10. {OHC 117.3}

The Christian should possess more intelligence and keener discernment than the worldling. The study of God’s word is continually expanding the mind and strengthening the intellect. There is nothing that will so refine and elevate the character and give vigor to every faculty as the continual exercise of the mind to grasp and comprehend weighty and important truths. {CH 257.1}

Some say the incarnation of Christ is a mystery so don’t look, it’s a mystery. Christ in you, this mystery, the hope of glory, don’t think about it. Is that correct? No. If we will exercise our mind to grasp the weighty and important truths to understand how Jesus is our saviour, that is important. If we will use the Bible and the spirit of prophecy to understand the law, our natures and what Christ did, all those things strengthen the mind.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

That will save you from going insane. When the mind doesn’t understand things there is a problem. When children don’t know what is going on and they panic but the parents don’t. Because they know what’s going on. If we study the Bible and when things come, we won’t be surprised by it. Learn of the waymarks of the spiritual walk to heaven and then when those things happen you’ll be strengthened. There will only be 144000 sane people on the earth. If we understand it right everything will have its place. You’ll know what is going on and you will have a sound mind. Study the Bible long enough to understand the truth and let the Bible interpret itself for us.

The Scripture declares, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” The knowledge of what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of cultivating faith, is more essential than any other knowledge that can be acquired. We suffer much trouble and grief because of our unbelief, and our ignorance of how to exercise faith. We must break through the clouds of unbelief. We can not have a healthy Christian experience, we can not obey the gospel unto salvation, until the science of faith is better understood, and until more faith is exercised. There can be no perfection of Christian character without that faith that works by love, and purifies the soul. {RH, October 18, 1898 par. 7}

If faith is belief in something that has no proof, how can you understand it? It’s pure imagination but faith is the substance of things hoped for.

Amen.

About Sabbath Sermons Australasia is a divinely appointed center, from which the light of present truth is to radiate to many lands. {AU Gleaner, June 17, 1903 par. 8} Read more at sabbathsermons.com

 

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