HOW TO READ THE BIBLE — a short course from Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church • Pastor Chuck Trusty • Lesson 4 of 13 • a new lesson every two weeks
Last Time
Last lesson you took Proverbs 9:10 home:
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." — Proverbs 9:10
We asked three plain things. Where does wisdom begin? Right there — the fear of the LORD. Not a school, not a degree — the fear of the LORD. Read the whole verse, and the second half adds to it: to know the Holy One is understanding. Then, who is this wisdom for? Read the three verses just above it (9:4-6), and Wisdom calls out to "the simple" — the untaught, the beginner. That is good news: this wisdom is not held back for a few — it is for whoever will come.
And that word fear — hold it once more. It does not mean God will turn on you; you are held by a gift you cannot lose. It means reverence — standing small before a great and holy God, and that reverence is where all real learning starts. Now, one more tool.
The Verse
"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." — Hebrews 10:25
The Question
Most of us have heard this verse used one way: do not skip church. That is not wrong. But look at the word it turns on — FORSAKING. Is that just missing a Sunday? Let us do something new: let the Book tell us what its own word means.
The Tool — walked together
Bring the tools you already have, and ask your five questions — all five, every time. WHO? The writer of Hebrews, to Hebrew believers. And since this is a command, the last lesson's tool speaks up — every command has an address. Who is it spoken to? Look at the words: "the assembling of ourselves together." The writer counts himself in. It is spoken to believers — the gathered body, the church. WHAT? A command: keep meeting together, and stir up one another. WHEN? The verse gives no clock time, but it points ahead — "as ye see the day approaching": more and more as that day nears. WHERE? Here the verse does not say — and an empty box is our shovel. Scripture digs it up: the saved gathered in real places — the church we met last lesson. WHY? Because that day is coming, and we need one another more, not less.
You have now brought every tool you own to this verse — you read it whole, to its last word, and because it is a command you asked its address, and found it: the gathered body, the church. Only three tools so far, and all three fit; none rests yet. And the whole sentence leans on one heavy word: forsaking.
So here is this lesson's new tool. TOOL #4: let the Bible define its own words. When you hit a word you are not sure of, do not reach for your own idea of it. Find where the Bible uses that same word somewhere else, and let Scripture set the meaning. The Book is its own dictionary. Let us do that with forsaking.
ONE WORD
The word behind FORSAKE is a strong one. Watch how the Bible itself uses it.
Paul, near the end of his life, writes: "Demas hath forsaken me" (2 Timothy 4:10). Demas did not miss a meeting. He abandoned Paul — walked out, and left him alone.
And from the cross, the Lord Himself cries: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). There is the word at its heaviest — utterly left, deserted.
So "not forsaking the assembling" is not a small rule about a missed Sunday. It is "do not abandon the gathering — do not desert the body." That is a bigger and a warmer thing than attendance.
And here is the sweetness. The very same word comes back one chapter over, in a promise: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). He will never desert you — so we do not desert one another. One word, and the verse grows a whole size larger.
Try It This Week
Here is your verse. It has an odd word in it. Bring your questions, and read the whole thing to its last word:
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." — Matthew 6:24
Read it to the end, and the two masters are named: God, and mammon. Now — what is mammon? The King James kept the old word as it stood, rather than turning it into English. Do not guess at it. Ask what the verse sets it against: God. Whatever stands opposite God here — one master against the true Master — that is mammon. (Hold that word; we will dig it up in a later lesson.)
Your Toolbox So Far
1. Start with the questions — WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY. 2. Read the whole verse — all the way to its last word. 3. Every command has an address — ask who it was spoken to. 4. Let the Bible define its own words — the Book is its own dictionary.
Next lesson, in two weeks: when one verse is hard, stand a clear one beside it, and let the plain light explain the deep.
‹ Lesson 3 — Every Command Has an Address • The Course Index — all lessons
No comments:
Post a Comment