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Nesher Tracts
The Church Has Forgotten
The
Christian church, whatever denomination, has forgotten what Jesus
Christ came into the world to teach. The philosophies of men have taken
over. We needs to get back to teaching, believing and practising the
truth.
The Source
of Truth
The Bible
is the only Source of Truth
Most people nowadays would say that there are elements of truth to be
found everywhere - in all religions, in science and in philosophy. This
would possibly be true, except for one thing. If God really exists, men
are not at liberty to invent truth (as in all false religions), or to
think that by their own efforts they can seek truth out (as in science
and philosophy). God Himself is the one who must reveal truth to men.
He created us, therefore He must be the one to teach what man is to
believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.
Men think that they have to prove the existence of God before they can
believe. But this is impossible. All the philosophical "proofs" for
God's existence commit logical fallacies (such as that of "begging the
question"). Science cannot prove the existence of God either, because
science, useful though it is, cannot actually prove anything - it too
commits logical fallacies (such as "asserting the consequent" and the
use
of induction). Of course, on the other hand, man cannot prove the
non-existence of God either.
All belief systems, whether that of the scientist, the philosopher or
those of another religion, begin with unprovable first principles. The
first principle of the Christian is that God exists and that He has
revealed Himself in the Bible. If so, truth is found only in the
logical propositions of the Bible, and whatever can be logically
deduced from them by good and necessary consequence.
Some people think that God speaks directly to them today, and it is
very difficult to tell them otherwise. But this is not so. Whilst the
Bible was still being written, God did at sundry times and in divers
manners speak to the fathers and prophets, but in these last days He
has spoken to us by His Son, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 11:1,2). Now
Scripture is complete, we need no more revelation. We now have a far
more sure word of prophecy (2 Peter 1:19) than any vision or voice of
God, even a genuine one, as Peter had. The Scripture is reliable, and
the only source of truth.
Every Word of the
Bible is Inspired
If the source of truth is in written form, we must conclude that every
word of it (in the original languages) has been inspired by and given
to us directly from God. So, when we translate the Bible into other
languages, we must make sure we translate word for word as closely as
possible. Because different languages have different word orders,
grammatical constructions and syntax, we must realise that no
translation is perfect. But what truth remains will be used by God to
fulfil His purposes. This does not mean that therefore we can be sloppy
in our translation. We must translate word for word as accurately as
possible. Some Bibles helpfully put in additional words in italics to
show that
they have been added to make more sense in the target language. If we
have a problem in a translation, we must always go back to the original
languages.
Most modern translations do not translate word for word. Modern
translators have the concept of translating "idea for idea." But this
then becomes no longer a translation as such, but a commentary, an
interpretation, which may or may not be correct. The work of a
translator should be purely translation, as accurately as possible. He
should not try to impose his opinion into the text, to try and give
credence to his particular views, right or wrong.
God Preserves His
Bible
God makes sure, in His inscrutable providence, that His Word is
preserved entire throughout every generation. Papyrus, parchment and
paper all decay, so we no longer have the original documents available
to us. But God has ensured perfect copies of His Word will always be
made and available to the church. But we see some variations in
manuscripts. How do we know which ones are correct? Well, we don't go
by the age of the manuscript - maybe it still exists today because it
lay unused, because it was erronous. Neither do we go by what scholars
tell us are the correct manuscripts, because scholars, like scientists,
change their views frequently. Neither do we necessarily go by what the
majority of manuscripts say, although we are coming nearer the truth
now. In actual fact, 90% of all manuscripts in existence today agree
with the correct text. But we cannot believe that this is the correct
text because it is in the majority, as it could
theoretically change as
more manuscripts are discovered (although God in His providence has
prevented this from happening). But the Word of God never changes. We
believe in the doctrine of a Received Text, kept pure throughout all
ages. This is found in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Old Testament
and the Textus Receptus of the Greek New Testament. The Jews were the
keepers of the oracles of God in Old Testament times (Romans 3:2), and
now the church is the pillar and ground of the truth in the New (1
Timothy 3:15).
The Doctrines of
Truth
Because the church has forgotten the source of truth, it has lost many
of its basic doctrines. Thousands of churches today, all claim to be
Bible-believing, but all of them are wrong somewhere. No-one
understands all truth, so no church is perfect, or ever will be. Hence
we should trust in the Bible alone as our perfect source of truth, not
in any church. Three truths especially lost are these:
Men are
Vile
The church has forgotten about the total depravity of man, but rather
clings to the philosophies of the world, claiming that men should have
a sense of "self-worth" and "self-esteem." But we all fell in our
forefather Adam, and all mankind by their fall, lost communion with
God, are under His wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries
of this life, to death itself and to the pains of hell for ever. If you
don't believe this (as most don't) then you have too high a view of
yourself. Men deserve eternal conscious torment in body and soul in
hell fire forever. So we should not be asking why God should be so
cruel as to send men to hell for ever, rather we should be wondering
why God should save any of these wretches from hell at all.
But don't men do good works? No, because the works they do are not to
the glory of God. The only reason that the world is not worse than it
is, is because it is not to most people's advantage to thieve, commit
adultery or murder. Otherwise they would do it all the time. Only when
society has broken down do we see men doing these things. In a rich
society they refrain from their baser instincts because peace and order
suit them very nicely.
Job, upon understanding the ways of God for himself, concluded, "Behold
I am vile" (Job 40:4), and "I abhor myself, and
repent in dust and
ashes" (Job 42:6). Our view of ourselves should be no
different.
God does
not love Everybody
To most people this is a shocking thing to say. But it is the truth. We
don't know who God loves and who He doesn't, but we do know that God
sent His Son into the world to "save His
people from their sins"
(Matthew 1:21), i.e. not everybody, but only "His people,"
whoever they
are. This doctrine becomes so obvious when we come to a realisation of
the vileness of man, because we then see that there is no reason at all
for God to save anybody. But in His mercy, God saves a certain number
from the punishment they deserve, grants them faith and repentance, so
they may escape the wrath to come, and brings them into heaven to be
with Christ for ever. And none of it is of their own deserving. What
grace! What mercy!
Man is so arrogant that he thinks he can strut into heaven by himself,
but we see that only repentant sinners go there, and even then,
repentance is a gift of God.
The
Vanity of this World
Because of our sins, God has shut us up in bondage to decay and death.
This is far from being a natural
process, as most people think. Rather, death is the wages of sin
(Romans 6:23). Because it is inevitable that we die, and have only a
few short years on this earth, all we do or think
here is vanity and vexation of spirit (Ecclesiastes 1:14). If we are
living enslaved by our feelings, as we all are, we do
nothing that is worth anything,
and our lives are utterly pointless. No wonder the psychiatric
hospitals are full! But, God has shown us a way out. He sent Christ
into the world to save sinners. So we can have
something eternal to
live for, our true home being in the next world, and not in this one.
We
should spend our
lives in the light of this, realising that we are strangers and
pilgrims in this world (Hebrews 11:13), and thinking of it as the
passing, evanescent thing that it really is.
True Worship
How then is God to be worshipped? It is God who sets the rules, not
man. True worship is not in outward rituals. "God is a
spirit, and they
that worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and in truth"
(John 4:24).
True worship is therefore of the heart. It is inward thoughts, beliefs
and motives that God sees. Many in the church have all the right
outward actions, but their hearts are far from God. But if we are right
inwardly, our outward actions should consequently be affected.
We should
be deadly serious
The things of God, heaven and hell, are deadly serious subjects.
Therefore we must treat them as such. Therefore, when we come to
worship, we should come in a serious manner. The church has forgotten
this, and most people today come to church in a casual, relaxed manner,
which reflects the world around them. But this leads to taking the
things of God lightly, whereas they are the most serious things of all.
For sure, if we are believers, we have been saved from hell fire, and
should no longer fear God's wrath. But that should make us even more
serious when we come to worship God, to thank Him for His mercy to us.
Only God
ordains how we should
worship Him
With this air of seriousness about us as we come to worship, we should
not be wanting jolly, foot-tapping tunes, or a smiley, happy religion
going on all around us. God alone has ordained the elements of true
worship. These are psalm singing, prayer, Scripture reading and
preaching. No other elements should be allowed. We need to sing the
psalms to the exclusion of the words of uninspired men and the sound of
musical instruments, both of which only serve to distract us from the
truth. Prayer needs to be offered by the leader of the worship, with
every other member of the congregation silently joining in and agreeing
with what is being said. To this end, God has ordained the posture we
should use in prayer. Standing, kneeling or falling prostrate only are
allowed. Sitting, or slouching, is not an option. The scripture reading
and preaching should be solemn, humble and in the fear of God.
The
Primacy of the Word of God
At the time of the Reformation, the Reformers spoke very much about the
"primacy of preaching." This was quite right, especially when
confronted with the Roman Catholic superstitious worship, whereby the
ritual took the prime place. True religion is not to be found in
outward ritual, but in the understanding gained from the reading and
expounding of the Word of God. However, today, we have another problem.
Protestant churches are full of leaders who preach their own peculiar
doctrines and think so highly of themselves for being right. Except
that none of them are. But all of them get a following. As long as men
follow men, especially if they are smooth talkers, easy to listen to
and very persuasive, we must redefine what we mean by the "primacy of
preaching." Instead we must now talk about the "primacy of the Word of
God." This would entail extended scripture readings in worship, and
preaching limited only to a direct explanation of the Scripture, and
its practical implications. "So they read in the book of the
law of God
distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the
reading" (Nehemiah 8:8).
Here are nine things needful, which are completely missing in our
churches today. How far the church has strayed from the truth! Let us
commit ourselves to become a living sacrifice to promote these truths,
bring them to the fore, and to make the Christian church once more a
light shining on a hill, where people may say again, "I was
glad when
they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord"
(Psalm 122:1).