That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Ephesian 1:17-20.
One great premise of being a bible believer is the knowledge that God will reveal himself through his word. The word by itself can never instruct man, but likewise the Spirit of God without the word has been shorn of his voice. The words of a King James Bible are the words of God. They are a fulfillment of Hebrews 1:1-2; God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hebrews 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.
To be a bible believer is to trust only that which can be proven and understood from within the text of the bible. That is not to say that we are not to trust worldly proofs of worldly things. From within the pages of our bible we find the rules of evidence that when practiced, make our court systems fair. One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established, Deuteronomy 19:15.
God has abundantly blessed man with the power of reason and the ability to observe. By observation and reason man has increased his knowledge and understanding of the world and the cosmos. God intends man to use that same reasoning to discern the things of God, but he gives us an added bonus; he gives us the very Spirit with which he reasons. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, I Corinthians 2:11,12.
Until such time as a man is converted through the saving grace of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of Truth is enabling him to see the truth of God's promises and the depth of the man's guilt before God. God uses the revelation of his law to cause men to fear. God will often teach fallen men through typology as he uses types and shadows to reveal his truths. It is a mark of an unregenerate or at best carnal preacher when all that preacher can do is preach typology.
Once a man is converted, the spirit which is of God enlightens that man to understand passages just as God understands them. Two things become necessary for a man to study out the truths of God; a man must have a bible that matches scripture in heaven, and the man must be filled with the Spirit of God. With those two things in hand, the man must have the courage to stand by what he has been taught. Often his friends and colleagues will be angered or offended by those things he has discerned through the scripture while aided by the Spirit of God.
I have a post titled G-Bock. In that post I talk about the general body of Christian knowledge that hangs like a translucent mist between every man and his bible. For every verse that he reads, there is a generally accepted understanding of that verse that often dulls the reader's understanding to what God is really wanting to say. Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye, Mark 7:13. I am often amazed at King James Bible believers who balk at truths of the word of God. The pall of G-Bock hangs over their heads and their consciences are often troubled by plain statements of scripture that if taken for what they plainly say would undermine key elements of doctrine commonly accepted by men. We live in an age of unprecedented apostasy. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work, II Thessalonians 2:7. Such born-again men as we have, who are sanctified unto a King James Bible are all too often entangled in silliness rooted in worldly ideas masquerading as Christianity. To quote Dr. Timothy Luchon, "Scriptural facts always obliterate theological stupidity".
Be warned. Such liberty as we have known, and such tranquility of government that we have prospered under can not last long in the crushing sin of our age. This is the time to stand with God by first believing what your bible says more than the traditions of your peers. The deception that has fallen over the free world is almost unnoticed by God's saints. While they search out the hypocrisy of liberal politicians and journalists, or look under rocks for conspiracies, they have missed the steady transformation of Western churches into religious enclaves void of the Spirit of God.
It is absolutely worthless to be a King James Bible believer if you won't believe what it says. In the next couple of posts I will get back to the topic of bible study. We will look at ways to kick off those voices of G-Bock that hinder your understanding.