Interpreting God's Word - Pastor Brad DeLong

Thank you, brother Spaul. Feels good in here already this morning. And so good to be back with you all in Bible class. I apologize for my absence, but I promise you I've been studying the Bible and teaching it elsewhere. So, don't worry. Been in this book. Uh, so glad to have brother Mitch Sers here. He's missionary to Munich, Germany. And we welcome him to Apostolic Pentecostal Church. So glad he's here connected. We've had several missionaries come through. And the Morenos were with us on Wednesday. And we celebrate with my friend Dwight who received the gift of the Holy Ghost this last Wednesday night.

the Lord filled him with the Holy Ghost and uh and then he ended up in the hospital this week. So pray for him. Pray for God's strength in his life. Uh so excited about this topic today and uh I was glad to hear about the book that you all have been studying alongside the Bible which uh that book is God's infallible word written by brother David K. Bernard and I actually referenced this book during our hermics series a few weeks ago or a few years ago rather.

It's a great resource uh and guide as we wait into this subject of how to interpret scripture. The last chapter of that book, if you haven't read it, it deals uh directly with hermeneutics, which you may recall is defined as the art in science of interpretation. So, uh seems like it's it's one of those $10 words, hermeneutics, but it's just how you interpret scripture, how you read scripture, how you apply it. The word itself is based on a Greek word for interpretation. in this study. I hope you'll get this over the next couple minutes if you haven't already.

It's critical not just for AC academics, not just if you're uh attending Ian University, but it's critical for all of us who study and read the word of God. Your lens when you come to the Bible matters a great deal. And I encourage you to pick up that book, Brother Bernard, that helps us with that uh that last chapter. You see it on the screen, interpreting God's word. Brother Bernard, I'm going to quote several times today. He says it this way. In order for us to benefit from the Bible, not only do we read and study it, we have to believe and obey it.

And the necessary link between reading and studying and obeying the Bible is hermeneutics. It's the link between the two. The uh science and art of interpretation. So, we have to have at least a basic understanding of how this works, especially as we handle this allimportant text and book. I think we can all agree uh the Bible's a a lamp into our feet, a light into our path. We know that man doesn't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

This word we've heard is forever settled in heaven. And James says, "The implanted word is able to save your souls." So, we agree and realize before I ever got up here, uh that the Bible itself is critical for us to read and to hide in our hearts and hermeneutics helps us to do that. Brother Bernard continues, "Hermeneutics includes both understanding the word and applying it." So, here's another $10 word, exesus, which is bringing out of the text the meaning that the writers intended to convey the wr uh the the meaning that they were expecting their hearers to gather from it.

And then exposition, applying that text and its meaning to w uh men and women today. So, you need exesus, you need to figure out what the meaning is. If you don't know what the meaning is, it's hard to apply it, right? We need both. And we taught in our connect class this last week. All our new families were there. Talked about the core value of truth. We believe that everything we do, how we live is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.

Amen. That's what that's why we're here. We're built on this word. If that's the case, and it is, if how we live and act and walk, if what we teach our children about life and the Lord and eternity, if it's rooted here in this book, we cannot stress enough how important it is for every believer to rightly divide. Hopefully over this pull pit on a regular basis, I am rightly dividing the word of truth. But you're only here two, three times a week. So when you're at home, it's just as in some ways maybe even more critical for us to rightly divide it by ourselves and on our own.

I shared this story previously. Hopefully though it illustrates the point and power to uh we need to be careful and have correct study. I remember getting my first King James Bible when I was a kid. I had 13 weeks of consecutive attendance at church. I obviously worked very hard to get here 13 weeks as mom and dad drugged me all the way to church every week. All right. Over time, that Bible got worn out and the cover of it fell off. I wish I could say it was because I was reading it incessantly.

Uh but I'm not sure that that's the case. Either way, it was in disrepair. And I remember asked my dad, "Dad, what do I do with this Bible?" And the first thing he said, "Do not throw that away. Don't whatever you do, don't throw it away." So, we talked about different options and we talked about burying it and we talked about, you know, we put it in a plastic bag and we seal it for all eternity. Ziplock will keep that thing sealed. And I mean, we uh all I KNEW WAS YOU YOU DON'T throw it away.

I think we're still still looking for suggestions on what to do with that Bible. I think I still have it uh at home. Truth be told, I I I never really figured out what you do with those. But here's the point. And after my conversation with dad that day, I learned this is far too precious to be mishandled. Whether a physical copy or how you handle it daytoday, I have a personal rule. I don't set things on top of my Bible unless it's another Bible. I don't toss it around.

I don't use it as a, you know, to prop up a table leg. I don't mistreat it. I don't misuse it. The same is true for hermeneutics. I have to rightly divide and correctly handle the word of truth. It's too important to misread, misteach, and misinterpret. It has to be handled and observe and applied and taught correctly. This is what Paul charged Timothy to do as Timothy face an onslaught of false teachers in vain philosophy in Ephesus. He says, "Hey, Timothy, remind them of these things, charging them before God not to strive about words that are to no profit, words that that ruin the hearers.

Words can ruin people. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed, rightly dividing or correctly handling the word of truth." And then he warns them of the opposite. The people on social media who were twisting scripture to match their whims and ambitions. Obviously, they didn't have social media, but you get the point. He says, "I want you to shun profane and idol babings, for they will increase to more and more ungodliness, and their message will spread like a cancer."

Himaeus and Phileitus are of this sort. I've seen pictures of people right now engaging in a uh Christian practice that is totally twisted and antiscriptural. But someone took a scripture and said, "Hey, we can this is what we have to do." They made a doctrine out of it. It spread like cancer. They've strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection's already passed, and they overthrow the faith of some. That's how important it is. If you don't handle it right, it could overthrow your legitimate faith. We're going to talk about how to do that in a moment.

I just want to encourage us as believers and apostolics and believers of this word. We ought to know the Lord and we ought to know his word and study it more than anybody. I pardon this uh you could call it a carnal reference, but I've heard about Cardinals baseball fans that they know baseball better than anybody. They're the best fans in baseball and they they know how the mechanics of baseball and they know We ought to know this better than anybody. Not because we're better than anybody, but because our lives are built on this thing.

If everything we do is rooted in this text, we ought to know it for ourselves. In a world where Pew research studies so show that atheists and agnostics score higher in biblical literacy than most evangelicals, we have work to do, right? This is our book. We ought to know it and how to correctly handle it. We need correct exugesus bringing out of the text the meaning that the writers intended or intended rather to convey and we need right exposition how we apply it in order for us to get those right and correctly handle this truth.

Brother Bernard in typical fashion offers 10 principles of interpretation in this chapter. Buckle up everybody because we're going to try to get through all of them in the next 35 minutes. Can we do it? All right. All right. Hey, we got some people ready. Okay. It's not on you, it's on me. The first one is the one we've used. You've heard me say this over and over again. We use it in our minor prophet study. It's the grammatical, historical, hermeneutic, or lens. This is the one I I'll probably spend majority of the time on today.

It's the first one he gives. This is not the only hermeneutic out there. If you can't read that, you have to zoom in on your iPhone. Yeah. Uh it's this is not the it's one of five main branches. I think there's a sixth one now. This lends it lends itself to trying to figure out what the original author inspired by God was trying to say since we believe that that God breathed these writings that he had a purpose and a reasoning behind him. It stands to reason.

Uh we should try to figure out what is God actually trying to say. As basic as that sounds, it's actually disputed in many circles. There are people who contend, well, we'll never really know what God's trying to say. So, let's just import our own meaning and just figure out what it means to us. That's an oversimplification of their approach, but it really is it, you know, encapsulates their approach. So, instead of saying what is God trying to say, it's what does this mean to me? And how how does this affect my life right now?

How what does my heart say about this text? This lens instead says we want to know the meaning that the writers intended to convey. Uses a couple elements to do that. You can probably guess what they are. One's grammar. It tries to derive the meaning from the grammatical context, definition of words, their grammatical forms and relationships. Uh from time to time, you'll hear us reference the the Greek and Hebrew and even Aramaic words over the pool pit. There are so many resources out there. You can find a lot of these for yourself.

But of course, you got to apply the right principles when you do that. Just like you wouldn't take a word and and pull it out of my sentence and just zero in on it and and not consider the words around it. Don't do that with uh the Greek word, but we can find the the meaning behind those things. We can look at the grammar behind it. Example of that uh is is the literary devices that we were pointing out in the minor prophets over the last couple months.

We talked about uh kayazms. We took we went all the way back to, you know, grade school or maybe middle middle school English. Talked about the structure of those books. We talked about poems. And I couldn't figure out how to say that word poems. Uh we talked about uh their analogies. We talked about metaphors, but all the the genres of of scripture. And we learned that words matter. Words have definition. So what does the grammar tell us about the message the writers intended to convey? And then there's the historical part.

It derives meaning from the historical context trying to understand the words and expressions according to their meaning when they were written. What what did certain idioms mean in that day and age? When Jesus looked at the Pharisees and said, "Your whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bone." If I called someone here that today, you'd you'd probably be offended, but you'd also be like, "What does that even mean?" Jesus, when he said it, it landed. They knew exactly what he meant. What did it mean when Jesus preached about the second mile in his sermon on the mount?

What was the history behind that? What uh how did the the the Makabian wars and rebellion affect the disciples view of of Jesus and his purpose when he came? How uh did Roman occupation affect their viewpoint of Jesus and and his execution? What was the significance of that lukewarm water and uh that John and Jesus referenced in Revelation 3? All of this affects how we view these letters in this book. And this particular hermeneutic, the grammatical historical one is helpful in that it leans on exogesis bringing out of the text rather than importing our own meaning into the text.

Tries to let the text speak for itself rather than try to put our own spin on those words. An example, anyone here ever gotten a text message and you put meaning into the text that wasn't there? Anybody ever gotten in trouble like that? Just me. Oh, no. There's a couple. All right. All right. the ones who actually text in the room like, "Yeah, I've done it." Uh, maybe the text read, "Hey, what are we doing for dinner?" And you read into the text, "It's your responsibility to figure out what we're doing for dinner."

Maybe they actually meant, "I'm allowing you to pick what we're eating for dinner because I love you and I want to make this for you and you're awesome." And you read your own meaning into that text. That's is Jesus. Probably got you in some trouble. Well, I didn't realize it was my turn. And that's not what I was saying. And yes, this can happen even while we're reading the Bible. Instead of asking, hey, what did you mean? This struck a nerve for somebody over here. All right, everybody lift your hand.

Let's pray in that direction. You should ask, what does this text mean? When you get that text message, ask the same here. Don't start by asking, how does this support my own view? uh what do I want it to say? That's how this lens helps us. A few other notes on this lens. This anchor hermeneutic are that the grammatical historical approach results in a relatively literal interpretation of scripture. It's sometimes called the literal method. Doesn't mean that we don't ever see v uh figurative language or poetry.

It also doesn't deny the fact that God may have embedded more meaning into the text than those inspired writers could have ever conveyed. That's what God can do. What it suggests is that each passage has one primary meaning but can have different applications. So when we read it, we try to find the original culture and text and meaning. But we also know what brother Bernard says that scripture is not bound to a particular culture or historical setting. It can speak beyond that. So when I read something like Jeremiah 29:11, for I know the plans I have towards you to give you a hope and a future, I recognize this was written to an entire nation of people who were in exile and not directly to me on an individual level in the 21st century.

I can also recognize that its power and implications can translate to where I'm sitting today. And I can take hope in a principle that God cares for me. He knows what's in store for me. That's a principle that the rest of scripture would support. But as a reminder, that verse was not written to a 21st century American living in freedom. It was written to people living in exile, which enhances the meaning. It doesn't pull away from it. We have to look at the original intent. That make sense, everybody?

We're good. All right. Same page. Okay. Some of you are like, "We're only on the first one." I know. I know. All right. Uh, moving quickly. Principle number two, the illumination of the spirit is necessary. Bernard elaborates, by the grammatical historical method, anyone can potentially understand the words of scripture, even an unsaved person or someone who is just coming to the text. But this method does not guarantee that a person will integrate the concepts properly and make the appropriate application to his life. Paul said that the carnal mind is at odds or enmity with God.

He also said the ma natural man cannot receive the things of God or the spirit of God for their foolishness to him. Uh but he says that he who is spiritual judges all things. Bernard mentions even the disciples didn't fully comprehend the full implication of what Jesus was saying until he opened their understanding. We know that Jesus promised this that the Holy Spirit will teach you all things and then later he said the spirit will lead and guide you into all truth. I also want you to look at the context though.

Right after he said that, he says this, "For he, the spirit, will not speak on his own authority. But whatever he hears, he'll speak and he'll tell you things to come. He will glorify me for he will take care of what is mine and declare it to you. All things that the father has are mine. Therefore, I said that he will take of mine and declare it to you." So, the spirit of God has an active part in illuminating truth to us. truth that is found here in the word of God and not extra biblical truth.

The spirit is not going to guide you to something that's not true or something that is contradictory to truth. The spirit will lead us back to this truth. I wonder if this has happened to someone recently where you were praying over something and you feel like the the spirit of God led you straight to scripture. Anybody had that happen recently? All right, couple of you nodding your heads. I had it happen this morning. had it happen last Wednesday, a text in Hebrews that that spoke to me.

I was looking for an answer and the Lord led me straight to scripture. The spirit will illuminate what God has already spoken. And this is a good rule of thumb. If the spirit is saying something, the spirit is saying something that's contrary to that, it's not the spirit of God. I was in a friendly conversation years ago with someone who claimed some extra biblical knowledge. knowledge that's above scripture. They said this to me. They said, "Just because it isn't scripture, that doesn't mean it isn't true."

Their argument was that the spirit of God had revealed something that scripture had not yet revealed to humanity or to his prophets or to the apostles. Uh that something that scripture itself could not explain. Paul and others explicitly warned against uh some of that or of against that particular and some of the strongest terms in the Bible. It'd almost be like God coming saying, "Listen, I know that this this flies in the face of what I've already told you. It's contradictory to what I've told you, but I'm going to reveal something to you that I've hidden from everyone else, including my own disciples and apostles and prophets, the ones that I inspired to write this book in the first place.

I don't think that the Lord is going to do that." So he's not going to say one thing here and then tell you the opposite or something that contradicts it. The third principle is critical to note as well. It's simple to understand. Scripture is basically clear and meant to be understood. It's basically clear and meant to be understood on a couple of these points. Bernard doesn't elaborate a lot. Neither will we because uh you can take them at face value. They're they're easy to understand. Uh but as I read that brother Bernard saying scripture is basically simple and easy to understand.

My first facicious thought was it is to brother Bernard with his two PhDs and his 47 books you know but I concede he is absolutely right. Now are there difficult passages to understand mysteries that that we may not know yet? Absolutely. When I read Romans 7 I admit I have some challenges. It starts with Paul saying, "For what I'm doing, I do not understand." That's what he says in in uh Romans 7:15. Then he goes into for the good that I would do, I I do not.

And all kinds of uh I mean, it's it's a lot of gymnastics. There was a professor of mine who preached on this text and he said, "Lost in the woods." Wo u d. I thought that was one of the most clever titles I've ever heard. Lost in the woods. The good that I would do, I do not. Hopefully, you get it. Okay? If you don't come see me after his point though, remember Art's point is that God expects and enables individuals to understand and apply his word in their own life.

This is not to say every biblical statement is simple or that his meaning is just overtly obvious, but we can have assurance God will not withhold truth from hungry hearts. And this is important that he has not hidden essential doctrine in obscure, hard to understand passages. Instead, Bernard says, "Most difficulties in interpreting scripture come from two sources. One, that there's a cultural, linguistic, contextual distance from the text. We weren't there when they delivered this. And two, maybe a lack of spiritual illumination." I've heard people say, "I I don't understand it, so I'm just not going to read it.

I don't understand this part of it, so I just I just steer clear of that." And some may have some legitimate comprehension difficulties, but I believe that the Bible is plain enough, especially in its stories and narratives, that it's effectual for every life. Don't be discouraged. Okay? We can get this. Will it take time to understand it? Yes, a lifetime. But can we apply it right here and now? Yes. It was written with us in our limited frames in mind, which is part of what the fourth principle expresses.

Coincides with the third. The Bible is adapted to the human mind. Expresses truth in a finite human vocabulary and thought. We're not reading angelic language. Thank God. Most notably, it's written in things like narrative and poetry and history and ways that are meant to capture the human mind and thought. The Lord knows how we think. And I believe that he wrote uh that we're hardwired for this to affect us. In fact, there are people who you you'll encounter them who will say, "I don't believe a single word of that."

But you'll start to convey to them scripture and speak to them scripture and I believe it has an inherent effect that it doesn't return void that it it touches something in their heart. Even if they say, "I reject that completely." The word of God will have that power. Even children can help grasp its main concepts. I've been teaching some basic Bible stories to me and Wes every night. Last night we were talking about uh the Lord providing for the children of Israel in the 40 years that their their sandals never wore out, their shoes never wore out, that he provided mana every day.

And I was doing some math trying to figure out how much mana that actually was. And I'll share that at a different day in time, but they understood when I told them because they wear their shoes out in a month's time that they were wearing shoes the same shoes for 40 years and that and they're like, "Wow, that's amazing." Now, can I describe how it happened? No. Only God can. But children can get a hold of this. And if you're a parent in the room, don't think it's going over their head.

You'll know when their eyes glaze over and you'll be able to break it down again. But teach it to them. We see in Deuteronomy 6, it's meant to be taught diligently to children, which means God designed it to be palatable to all humanity. If you're struggling with it, if you're having a difficult time with difficult text, pray. Ask God for help to understand it. Study yourself. Reach out to someone who's probably already digested that passage. Come talk to us and we can continue to rightly divide it together.

It also helps to know the fifth principle. God reveals truth progressively from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Paul says this in Galatians 3. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we may be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we're no longer under tutor. Bernard points out two progressions at least under this heading. One, there's this physical to spiritual progression where spiritual truths are first taught in a physical form.

So, think about the tabernacle. So much imagery in that tabernacle. It was a physical thing that the Lord used to teach a spiritual truth. Colossians 2 talks about the law itself that its teachings were a shadow of things to come. And then brother Bernard mentions a progression to greater morality in spirituality under the new covenant. He says this, God's law was unchanging. God's morality is unchanging. But he mentions the Lord patiently instructed us one step at a time to bring us into the full the fullness of his original plan.

That plan's almost fully realized in the church and the bride of Christ. uh we see another progression which directly relates to the six sixth principle. That principle is that the Lord himself is revealed more and more as we walk through the text. Jesus is the central focus. The Bible's unified and its central focus is Jesus. If you look at Genesis to the revelation of Christ, you see more and more of the nature and the fullness of God, especially when you see him come in the likeness of men and make himself a servant to die for our sin.

But Bernard says, "A study of the Bible reveals its unifying theme is God's plan for salvation for the human race through Jesus Christ." So you can take that central theme and see it throughout scripture. He is the central focus of all of scripture. And ultimately, we interpret scripture in light of God's manifestation and his atoning sacrifice on the cross. More and more in the scriptures, you see the Lord reveal himself progressively. And we see some of the most revealing and powerful images of God. When John writes this in Revelation 1, he says, "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place."

More and more the Lord, you see through the passages of scripture. And then you look at books like Psalms and Isaiah that just reveal so much of I was reading uh Apostolic Study Bible a couple years ago. I got into the Psalms. I was blown away at how the Psalms how much they point to the Messiah. There's texts that that just at face value are uh that that edify and things like David in Psalm 22 where he's my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?

Well, you could read that uh from David directly, but then it has this double fulfillment where it points to the future as well and points to Jesus Christ. It seemed like almost every psalm was pointing to the coming Messiah. The Bible does revolve around that central theme and that we would know more and more about the creator who came to reveal himself as Jesus Christ. Scripture is miraculously consistent in that and it does not contradict itself as well. Seventh principle you're going to read and see is that scripture interprets scripture.

One of the key things we learn in hermeneutics classes, anyone know uh you've heard me say this before probably, but the three L's of real estate, anybody, you know them? Location, location, location. Yeah. Hermeneutics, it's context, context, context. One of the key things we learn, context, context, context. What does that mean? It means that one of the chief considerations and lenses through which we read this lifechanging book is through the the rest of this lifechanging book. We read each passage and verse and line and word as it sits in context with the rest of the chapter, letter, book and Bible.

So in the inverse of that, we cannot cherrypick or lift one verse or one word out of the the hole and read it as a standalone statement. Neither can we cut off key phrases and qualifiers in order for the rest of scripture or the the scripture itself to say what we want it to say. Every scripture and passage has to be read with the rest of the chapter and the book and the Bible in mind. But Bernard says it like this. Scripture interprets scripture. It has to be read within the whole context of the entire Bible.

The whole Bible is the context for interpreting a passage. Clear verses help interpret more difficult ones. Taken as a whole, the Bible's message is truth. But a person who selects only part of the truth on a given subject and ignores the rest can quickly fall into error. That's exactly what happens when we mishandle a verse or we we lift it from its location in the text so that it stands alone or maybe you read it in a way that it changes its meaning. I referenced an example of this a while ago with Romans 8:28.

powerful scripture and that it brings us such tremendous hope, but it has to be read entirely in in its proper place. Okay? Instead, what you might hear someone say is, "Well, we know all things work together for good." Praise God. Or, "Everything's going to come together for my good." I think I've heard a song or two that says that there can only be good that comes out of this situation. Some will even go so far to say, "God only works for the good for everybody. What you find is that many may not add the two qualifiers there in that scripture alone that all things work together for good to those who love God.

And quite a few others leave out the second one to those who are called according to his purpose. So that's the scripture itself. Fewer still may realize that verses 18 to 30 are discussing suffering and its eventual transformation to glory. the groaning of creation and the spirit within us. And then maybe few are still zoom out to the entirety of chapter 8, the verses after 28 and before 28, which uh discuss being conformed to Christ's image, walking in the spirit, not after the flesh, and what it really means to be counted among those who love God and are called according to his purpose.

And then if you zoom out even further, even less may consider the book of Romans as a whole, the historical context in which it was set, the city and government that it's named after that that they're living under, the persecution they endured. So if we pluck all things work together for good out of the center of all of that and you say that to a Christian in Rome at the time who's under the rule of an oppressive government who's enduring suffering who's being conformed and pressed into the image of Christ through that suffering who's working to put away the deeds of the flesh to be counted among those who love God and are called according to his purpose.

If you take that phrase out of its context you miss the point entirely. And I think one of those Roman Christians or Paul himself if we said that uh on some of these situations they would probably rebuke us that you didn't read that right. You can see where hermeneutics comes into play. context, surrounding verses, chapter, book would help us, especially when you consider the rest of scripture. Uh, and you ask yourself, where in the world does it say that everything's going to be good and positive and prosperous and everything will work together for good with no qualifiers, no suffering?

It says that nowhere. Just a quick look at the verses around verse 28. And if you look at chapter nine, it's a tough chapter, Romans nine, where Paul says, "I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart." Those alone will tell you our just quick look and understanding of that text needs to be amended. This is why context matters. This is just one example of many. Here's just a a quick caution, okay? I I have the Uver app. I love the Uver app. I I've used it plenty.

It has a great feature of verse of the day. Sometimes that verse of the day, if you don't read it in context, may throw off your day. Scripture is amazing. It's amazing. But if you just read that verse of the day and you're like, "Oh, all things work together for good. Praise God." And someone cuts you off in traffic. That's always my go-to for some reason. Yeah. And I I don't get cut off in traffic because I live 10 seconds away. Uh maybe I'm the one cutting people off in traffic.

But it it matters. The the context matters. And it'd be good to read that entire chapter if you're able. It's just one example of many that tell you that we need to read and understand the surrounding passage. As we round out this lesson, principle number eight, truth has several witnesses, including that context we just talked about. I'll briefly read this excerpt from brother Bernard he gave to explain this. He says God uses two or three witnesses to establish truth. Paul appealed to this principle to underscore teaching.

He says this will be the third time I'm coming to you by the mouth of two or three witnesses. Every word should be established. This is Paul saying that. And then brother Bernard continues. We should not ignore or discount any passage. But if someone bases an entire doctrine solely on one passage, he or she may be misinterpreting that doctrine or that passage. I believe in particular, not to pick on anybody, but the cessationist doctrine follows this trend. bases their entire position that tongues and miraculous have ceased on really one central text in first Corinthians that is almost immediately followed by Paul's instructions to those who are experiencing the exact same gift or operating that gift.

Even with the plan of salvation and the ample evidence we see in Acts and other places for the gift of tongues and and the miraculous, they claim that those have ceased based on very limited and often misinterpreted passages of scripture. The immediate context alone should disprove that point. But they they make some bold claims and doctrine based on a cherrypicked scripture. The evidence of the miraculous on the other hand, the evidence for the gift of tongues for new believers, mature believers, it's ample in scripture and serves as a a witness to the text in the teaching.

Along similar lines, brother Bernard shares the ninth principle. Each passage has one primary meaning and can have multiple applications. Another critical principle to note, I mentioned uh the phrase authoral intent earlier. There are some that argue, well, you'll never know the true author's intent. So, we're just left to find our own meaning and our own application. That's a slippery slope. It's dangerous for obvious reasons. Uh if the meaning cannot be known, uh maybe they they just suggest, I'll just interpret it how I feel uh or what may make the most sense in my heart and mind.

The same heart that the Bible says is deceitfully wicked above all things who can know it. Uh there's a saying that says beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And some will try to make the Bible in the eye of the beholder. It just means what I feel like it means. Bernard stresses there's one meaning. God had a purpose in inspiring that text. Peter, the apostle Peter would agree. He said, "And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first.

No prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. For prophecy never came by the will of man." Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. God moved on those writers with purpose and intent. spirit made sure that their words were inspired and endowed with truth and meaning. So we believe that there's one meaning. That said though, the text can have a double fulfillment in the case of prophecy or even multiple applications. Bernard notes this. Scripture is not bound to a specific cultural or historical setting.

As the eternal word of God, it teaches principles that apply to every age, every culture, every society, every country. Nevertheless, we should try to find the primary meaning te of a text first before making applications. Okay. Scripture I've always tried to uh live by and emulate. Proverbs 15:1 says, "A soft answer turns away wrath." Uh the meaning is pretty plain. It was written to people who primarily would have had face-to-face interactions. Maybe they got to write a letter, but paper was pretty expensive and hard to come by.

So likely they were talking about face-toface interactions. the writer's encourage and respond the right way to deescalate arguments. He likely did not have social media and comment sections and text messages or internet interactions in mind, but you can still apply the principle directly to those. There's one meaning, but there's also an application. So, we don't read uh the the writer saying just insert a funny gif in a text to turn away wrath. No, it could work though. All right, probably even better just call that person on the phone and talk to them.

Okay, it's a simple illustration but shows scripture has one meaning but it's also so applicable across generations even thousands of years after it was written. And part of the reason for that is the Lord has given wisdom and faculties and logic to mankind across generations to understand it. Which leads us to the final principle in the chapter. Some of you like praise the Lord. We got six minutes to uh principle number 10, use sound rules of logic, which again I love that brother Bernard's saying that because uh he is a man of logic.

Bible teaches each of us has been given a a measure of faith. I also believe we've been given a measure of common sense. Some of you got more than the rest of us. All right? But we all have a measure of it. He says logic is defined as the science of correct reasoning. Brother Bernard makes the point, God created our minds to recognize and think in logical categories, especially the mind of brother Bernard, I would add. He cites Isaiah 1:18. This is the Lord's call to repentance from the people of Judah.

But he says, "Come now, let's reason together." This is the Lord speaking to them. He gave us the Lord gave us that reasoning. And one of the primary reasons he did was to interact with us, to commune with us, to share his word with it. I think one of the the key reasons we have a mind in the first place is to understand this right here gave us that reason God-given wisdom and reasoning to interpret scripture within the bounds of all those other principles I expressed.

He brother Bernard mentions that our logic does not override those other principles. It works with those principles. And he uses logic when interpreting texts like Matthew 28:19. We heard about this Wednesday. Talked about this Wednesday. It reads, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I've commanded you, and I'm with you always, even to the end of the age." We heard Wednesday the word name there is a singular Greek word.

It points to one name. And then we use the context of the Bible to see that we were given that name. Matthew 1:21 talks about that name. Acts 2:38, Acts 4:12, Philippians 2, all throughout scripture, that name is Jesus. And then brother Bernard uses the logic analogy of personal experience. He says, I've heard him use this analogy before. I'm a father, I'm a pastor, brother, friend, son, etc. But I have one name. In his case, his name is David Bernard. In my case, her name is Bradley Dong.

And when I sign my name somewhere, I sign that particular name. has all the authority behind that name. The name given in Matthew 28:19 is the name of Jesus and we can use these principles to interpret that passage. All right, does that make sense? Everybody good? Okay. In summary, though, we know that hermeneutics is the the science of interpreting the Bible. It's fundamental to how we read and understand scripture. We need to have the principles of hermeneutics. Those principles include the grammatical historical lens, the illumination of the spirit, the understanding that scripture is meant to be understood, the human mind that God gave us.

We all have that already. Praise the Lord. The reasoning and logic that he gave us. We need the context of progressive revelation throughout the text. As you read the Bible this year, you should just note, all right, wherever you start, maybe you're starting in Genesis, midway through, just take a note of how it reveals God all the way from the beginning to the end. I think that'd be an interesting study how it reveals more and more of him. We need the context of the rest of scripture.

We need the focal point of Christ throughout the scripture, the witness of other texts and proofs, and lastly, the understanding that the text has one meaning, multiple application. Armed with those principles, we can rightly divide this allimportant text. And I am always happy to help. But uh if you have those principles, you can study this text yourself. You can learn it. You can know it and hide it in your heart. You also need to know and recognize that this is a lifelong pursuit. And there may be some things you don't understand right now, but don't be discouraged or weary and welloing.

uh you're if the more you study it, the more you learn it, the more that you'll understand it. So maybe you only have uh you know 10, 20, 30 minutes a day. If you dedicate yourself daily to studying this, you'll be surprised. One day someone will walk up to you and they'll say, "Hey, I've been struggling with this scripture. I don't understand what it means." And without even really realizing it, you'll be able to uh convey to them the truths behind that and think, "I didn't even know that I knew that."

And the scripture or the spirit rather of course will help you to do that. We're going to uh end today by praying for the Lord's help. I invite you to stand with me. And here's going to be the focal point of our prayer. We've been studying God's infallible word. We've gone through brother Bernard's book together. You're going to hear more and more of this scripture today. And our prayer is going to be Lord help us one to have the discipline to study your word and two to understand and rightly divide your word.

If you haven't prayed this prayer before, I encourage you to pray this regularly and the Lord will absolutely help you. Would you join with me and let's pray together? Lord, we thank you for the truth of the word of God. What a blessing it is to have your word in its completed form. Oh Lord, uh we we count ourselves so blessed that we have the the foundation of the apostles and prophets, you yourself being the chief cornerstone. We're praying that you'd help us uh to have the discipline to study, to show ourselves approved to God, a workman who doesn't need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

And we also pray that you'd help us to understand, to comprehend your word, and help us to use these principles of interpretation as we study your word on a daily basis. We love you, trust in you. Thank you in Jesus name. Amen.