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Now to our next listener question.
I'm a new listener to Truth Time.
My wife and I have spent many years struggling to find truth and keep coming up short in finding answers to various questions.
We've attended three different denominational churches over the course of the past 17 years and haven't really progressed as we would have liked.
We're raising two children and want to bring them up less confused than we both were, slash, are. Please advise us as how we should read our Bible without getting confused.
Well, don't feel bad.
We've all been there.
This is a common question from listeners.
Listen, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross is the single most important event in human history.
When you approach, when you come to a passage of scripture that has you perplexed and seems
somewhat problematic, approach it with the finished cross work of Christ in view, keeping in mind that the work was finished on your behalf.
You see, most people are struggling because they don't do this.
They're so worried about the works they're doing that they often miss the work that he already did.
We should always take into account who's doing the speaking, consider the circumstances by which they speak, and be sure to identify who's being spoken to.
And then ask yourself, do I fit?
One mistake many make is to teach that to rightly divide the word of truth means to rightly divide the Bible.
Hey, rightly dividing the word of truth is much more important than that.
To rightly divide the word of truth means to rightly divide the gospels.
There's more than one gospel found in your Bible, but there's only one gospel that will save today.
So it's vitally important that you rightly divide the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
And what Paul is telling us is that we must rightly divide them to find ours, to find our good news, to find our gospel, the only one that we'll save today.
The Greek word for rightly dividing is orthotomeo, orthotomeo.
It means to cut straight, to make a true and accurate division.
This Greek word, orthotomeo, is where we get our English word, orthodontics, and we all know what that is.
This word refers to a type of dentistry.
Orthodontists are skilled in the art of making teeth straight.
Now, when we break the word down, we see ortho.
Ortho means straight or right.
The second part of the word is tomeo, to cut.
The word together means to make a straight cut, to cut right.
You see, truth is explicit.
It's specific.
It's understandable and comprehensive.
And we're living in an information age where people are wanting to know truth.
Many are wanting to learn and understand how to find this truth on their own.
Now, in order to preach the correct gospel that'll save a lost soul today, a Bible teacher has to carefully cut and divide the word of truth, the gospel of their salvation.
If you were to look at a skeletal model of a human body, you'd notice some vital components, some that run throughout the entire body.
But if you'll look closely, you'll also notice some other vital things that are only found in a specific section.
Your respiratory system, your nervous system, and even your circulatory system.
They all run throughout the entire body, but your digestive system only runs through the top half.
Knowing and understanding this is important to a physician and other healthcare professionals.
Well, understanding the differences that are in the Bible, the different stewardships, the different instructions, the different programs put in place by God, should also stand out and be very important to any Bible student or teacher.
The Bible is not to be viewed as a still picture on a single canvas.
The Bible is, well, it's more like a motion picture, a narrative.
It's progressive in its nature.
You don't know as much information during the first half hour as you'll learn by watching the second half hour.
It's progressively going somewhere.
When studying the Bible, we should examine not only the similarities, but examine and distinguish the vast differences that we find in Scripture.
And let me throw this in.
A good place for you to start is at our website.
You can do that today, TruthTimeRadio.com.
When you get there, you can click on the compare the verses link, and you can start to see all of the vast differences found throughout Scripture.
Places where the Bible says different things about the same thing.
And that's okay.
Why?
Because they were written in different dispensations to different audiences.
2 Timothy 2:15 says this, Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
We could just as easily read that this way.
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the gospel of our salvation.
Why so?
Well, look with me in Ephesians 1:12.
Here Paul writes that we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Verse 13, In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
Did you catch that?
Did you hear the phrase, word of truth?
That's the same phrase found in 2 Timothy 2.15.
And here the word of truth is defined for us.
The word of truth is, and I quote, The gospel of your salvation.
So rightly dividing the word of truth is not to rightly divide the Bible.
That's a man-made definition.
To rightly divide the word of truth is to rightly divide the gospel of your salvation.
Now, is there divisions to be made throughout the entire Bible?
Yes sir, yes ma'am.
But that's not what Paul's telling us here.
Paul is telling young Timothy to make sure he rightly divides the gospel of our salvation from the other gospel that was preached prior to Paul receiving his.
And hey, if there's a quote, Gospel of your salvation, then that by default means there is a gospel not of your salvation.
The word gospel means good news, and there is more than one gospel in the Bible.
That's why Paul told us to rightly divide the gospel of our salvation.
The gospel of your salvation, the good news, would explain how to be saved, would it not?
Well, Peter said to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.
That was Israel's gospel in Acts chapter 2 verse 38.
Did Paul ever make such a statement?
No, he did not.
Paul tells us that our salvation is complete.
God took your sins and imputed them upon the Lord Jesus Christ and made him to be sin for you, 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
And that, my friend, was the greatest trade ever known to mankind.
He took your sins and made you the righteousness of God in him.
In Romans 4:25, we're told that Christ was delivered for our offenses and then raised for our justification.
How many of your offenses did he die for?
All of them.
Colossians 2:13 says that you have been made alive with him, and you have been forgiven of all your sins.
Every last one of them, past, present, and future.
Now that's the rightly divided gospel of your salvation.
There's nothing left to be done.
Just believe the gospel by agreeing with God and placing your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Christ died for all your sins, plural, all of them.
There's nothing you can add to that.
You see, you were hardwired by the old man, Adam.
That old religious man's initial response to the gospel I'm communicating is, no way Trey, there's no way that salvation is free.
You see, it's that old man that screams at you telling you, nothing in life is free.
And you know what?
That's correct.
But it's not this life, this temporal life that the gospel is speaking of.
The gospel is speaking to the eternal man.
The gospel is speaking of eternal life, the life hereafter.
This isn't about Joel Osteen's best life now.
Getting my best life now means I'm going to hell.
However, as a member of the body of Christ church, my best life is still to come.
Salvation is a free gift today.
A free gift requires your acceptance, but a free gift does not require your payment.
The payment has already been made, and that's why the Bible calls it a free gift.
Romans chapter 5 verse 18.
And it was the work of Christ, not yours, that made you free.
Galatians chapter 5 verse 1.
Galatians 4:16, Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
For more answers to your Bible questions, stop by TruthTimeRadio.com.
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