The Clarity of Scripture

Tonight we're on lesson 8, the perspicuity of Scripture, which we're just going to call the clarity of Scripture. Some theological terms are very loaded, so to speak, kind of like doctors use big words oftentimes, and those words are sometimes necessary. I wanted you to be familiar with that word because if you read in a theological textbook you'll see "perspicuity of Scripture." But for our sakes tonight we're going to say clarity.

It's much easier to say. Tonight we're doing lesson 8. Next week, to give you a little commercial, Hal is going to be speaking and we're going to be studying the interpretation of Scripture. It's going to be a dynamite lesson. Don't miss next week. You'll have a very gifted teacher, Hal, whose job is to interpret the law. He'll be showing us how to interpret the Scripture. Then after that we'll be doing our last lesson, which will be the authority of Scripture.

Then the following week, I believe what our plan is, we're still going to meet even though we're not going to be doing a lesson. We're going to have a dessert fellowship and we're going to have an elder question and answer time so you can play stump the elder with any question that you have from the Bible. We'll just have a time of fellowship and relaxing together before we start the next section in theology, which is the second part of the doctrine of God.

So let's start off on Bible point number one. Scripture is given by God to be understandable. That's the first blank. To be understandable to His people. Scripture is clear, that's the second blank, and free from undue complexity or ambiguity. Scripture is lucid, that's the third blank, L-U-C-I-D, lucid, in that it has logical coherence and evident order of arrangement. It is given to reveal, that's the fourth blank, not to conceal, that's the fifth blank.

So let me reread that. Scripture is given by God to be understandable to His people. Scripture is clear and free from undue complexity or ambiguity. Scripture is lucid in that it has logical coherence and evident order of arrangement. It is given to reveal, not to conceal. The idea behind the clarity of Scripture is that God has graciously revealed Himself to us through His Word. And in revealing Himself to us, His revelation is meant to be understandable.

You may have had a teacher or a professor at some point who talked so high and used so much jargon that you could hardly understand him. That's not what the Bible does. The Bible is meant to reveal God in an understandable way to His people. This past week, if you watched any of the news, you've probably seen the demonstrations at college campuses all across America, this anti-Israel sentiment. And most of the protesters are wearing masks, right?

And when they're interviewed, most of them say that it's not because of COVID or anything like that. They don't want their identity to be known. That way there can't be repercussions. They can't get expelled, they can't be delayed in graduation, they can't be docked, so to speak, or blacklisted from employment. So they're wearing masks to conceal their identities. God did not give us Scripture to conceal His identity.

He gave us Scripture to reveal Himself to us. That's the kind of God that we have — a gracious God who condescends to us, who speaks to us in our terms to reveal Himself to us.

Look at Deuteronomy chapter 33, verse 3: "He," speaking of God, "loves the people. All His saints are in Your hand. They sit down at Your feet. Everyone receives Your words." The picture there is God loving His children, His children gathering around Him, sitting at His feet in His words. Isn't that a beautiful picture? I remember when I was a boy, my grandmother, she lived to be 103, and every time we'd visit her, I would sit right beside her and just listen to her.

She was born in 1900, and she told us stories about there in Texas riding in covered wagons. She was a rancher, a cowgirl, rode horses, did that for years. I used to love to hear those stories. She and her husband would run the chow wagon at night for all the ranchers. And it was just an amazing thing to be able to listen and learn from your elder. That's the picture of God and His Word.

His Word is meant for us to understand. The application is this: rejoice that God has given us His Word. It is a revelation of Himself to us in understandable terms.

Psalm 19, verses 7 through 8 says, "The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul." It's for our goodness to be able to hear His Word. "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." How many of you feel simple oftentimes?

But God's Word makes us wise. "The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart." Isn't it great to hear God's promises? We hear His affirmations, we hear Him say that He loves us in His Son, Jesus Christ. "The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." It is lucid for us. It shows us who God is.

Psalm 119:130 says, "The entrance of Your words gives light." Light is a metaphor for unveiling, for lighting the way. "It gives understanding to the simple." His words give us light. They are meant to reveal. They are meant to show us who He is so we can grasp and know Him.

Bible point number two: all things needed to be known, that's the first blank, known and believed, that's the second blank, for salvation, that's the third blank. All things needed to be known and believed for salvation are clearly set forth in God's Word. Not everything in the Scripture is super easy to understand, especially without some diligence and work, but everything that we need for salvation is set forth in His Word.

Have you ever been on an airplane? Most of us have flown at some point in our lives. When you first sit down on the plane before takeoff, what do the stewardesses and stewards do? They get up there and do a safety demonstration. They tell you if the mask falls, look up and grab it and put it over your head. They say that your seat is a flotation device if you crash into the ocean.

They make it very simple to explain to you what you need to do to save yourself in case of an emergency, in case the plane crashes. Well, Scripture gives you everything you need to know, in a very clear way, of how we are saved in Christ Jesus. That's the main point of the Scripture. Very clearly, it explains salvation in Jesus Christ.

Look at 2 Timothy 3:15. Paul writes to Timothy and he says, "And that from childhood," speaking to Timothy, "you have known the holy Scriptures." You see that Timothy, from a child — a child doesn't have a fully developed brain, does he or she? No, they have a very simple understanding. He's saying that God's Word, Timothy grasped as a child. It's meant to be understood by children, not just adults. "That from childhood you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." The Scriptures are given to us to simply explain how we can be saved through faith in Christ Jesus.

The application is this: trust in Christ and hold fast to His Word. The Gospel promise is so simple. It's almost too simple. It becomes a stumbling block for some people. Saying, "That's it? I just have to turn from my sins and turn to Christ. I have to believe that He died for me and I have to put my trust and confidence in Him. That's it? I don't have to climb a bunch of stairs and say a bunch of Hail Marys and raise a certain number of funds to get into heaven. I can just trust the perfect, sufficient work of Christ." Yes. So trust in Christ and hold fast to His Word.

John 5:24, our Lord Jesus says, "Most assuredly I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has" — what? — "everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life." You've already passed into life. You're already experiencing the new life in Christ Jesus the moment that you believe in the words of Christ Jesus.

His testimony is simple, converting the simple. 1 John chapter 1, the apostle writes this: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes" — don't forget John was an eyewitness of Christ — "which we have looked upon, our hands have handled, concerning the word of life. The life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life was with the Father, and was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you may also have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full." John is saying, "I have seen with my own eyes, I have handled with my own hands the incarnate Word of God. And what I'm writing to you is the testimony that you may have eternal life." That's what he's writing to us.

And that's what Scripture does. It tells us of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Bible point number three: Scripture was written for the learned, that's the first blank, the learned or the educated and the unlearned, for adults and children, that's the second blank, for individual reading, that's the third blank, and public corporate worship, the fourth blank. Scripture was written for the learned and the unlearned, for adults and children, for individual reading and public corporate worship.

Scripture is meant for us to embrace at all times and in all places. It's to be understood by yourself when you crack it open on your lunch break in your car and you have a few minutes to read a Bible verse on your phone. It's meant to be understood when you're breaking the Word of God with your family, reading it to your children or reading it to your grandchildren. You don't have to have a pope. You don't have to have a pastor to teach you the Word of God. You should be able to understand it when you read it yourself. It's meant for Bible study, as we're doing right now. It's meant for our corporate worship. That's why we have Scripture reading and exposition of the Scripture in the service.

It's meant to be understood at all times for all people. Look at Deuteronomy 6, verses 4 through 8: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." If God commands you to teach them to your children, doesn't that imply that His Word is understandable by children?

Don't overlook your children. Some people say, "Well, when they get older, they'll be able to understand. They're just a little bit too young for that right now." Hogwash. Teach them right now. They're never too young. God's Word is meant for us to understand. It's meant for us to grasp. Every generation has different slang that we use sometimes, and sometimes you have to scratch your head wondering what something means.

A year or two ago, I was watching a commercial on television. I think it was for a chicken restaurant — Kentucky Fried Chicken. And it was talking about a deal, and this lady says, "I'm feeling bougie today." Like, what is bougie? I asked my wife, I said, "What is bougie?" She didn't know what bougie was either. So I had to look it up. It's something the younger generation uses, short for bourgeoisie, meaning feeling rich, feeling like you've got some money, some panache, so to speak. So I had to look that up to figure out what they were saying. And sometimes when we speak across generations, some generations may use words that we don't use, and we have to ask, "What do you mean by that?"

But the Scripture isn't meant to conceal that way at all. It's not meant to be a club of secret passwords and secret understandings. It's meant for old and young alike, for learned and unlearned. It's meant to be understood in your private prayer closet. It's meant to be understood in the public worship of the saints.

The application is: what is in your heart and on your lips? Deuteronomy says that you should put God's Word where? In your heart. And what should be on your lips? You should speak God's Word when you sit down, when you walk in the way. Teach it to your children. Let it always be in your heart and on your lips.

Bible point number four: Jesus assumed the Old Testament meaning was clear. First blank is "meaning." That's very important. I hear people all the time say, "Well, I like the New Testament. The Old Testament is kind of esoteric and kind of hard to understand. I don't read the Old Testament very much. I mainly stay in the New Testament because it's just hard for me to grasp or understand." Jesus assumed that the Old Testament meaning was clear.

He refers to Scripture in settling disputes, that's the second blank, and corrects others for their failure to understand it, that's the third blank. Jesus assumed that the Old Testament meaning was clear. He refers to Scripture in settling disputes and corrects others for their failure to understand it.

In Matthew chapter 12, we have where Jesus and His disciples are walking through — I believe, hang on, let me make sure, there are three different examples I want to bring here, and I want to make sure I'm telling you the right one. Let me look up Matthew 12. He's dealing with the Pharisees. And the Pharisees are, of course, being their regular contentious selves. Yes, it's where His disciples are going through the grain field. It's on the Sabbath and they begin to pluck the heads of the grain. And what do the Pharisees say? They say, "Ah, your disciples are working. They shouldn't be doing that on the Sabbath," because they were taking the grain and eating it as they went. And look what Jesus says.

I just have the first part of this listed here on your sheet. But He said to them, "Have you not — " what? "Have you not read?" And He begins to quote the Old Testament. He talks about David when he was being chased and he goes and he eats the showbread that was set apart, so to speak. And He tells them that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. So He quotes the Old Testament as if that's something they should know and they should understand.

And certainly the Pharisees should. The Pharisees were famous for having their phylacteries, which were a box of Scripture tied to their forehead and also on the wrist, because the Bible says, "Don't let the word of God depart from before your eyes and from your hand." So they took that literally and they wrote out Scriptures on the hem of their garments. They wrote out the Torah verses so it would always be near to their feet. Always grounded in the Scriptures. But they didn't understand that what the disciples were doing was totally scriptural. Christ pointed them to the Old Testament and expected them to understand it.

John chapter 3, verse 10 is a story where Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. Nicodemus is a teacher of the Jews. He is a member of the Sanhedrin, the 70 ruling elders of Jerusalem. He probably comes at night — we suspect — because he's probably a little bit ashamed and doesn't want the other elders to know he's seeking out this prophet. And Jesus tells him that to even see the kingdom of God, he must be born again, which is also translated "born from above."

And He talks about the Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit must regenerate the heart, and that the Holy Spirit is like the wind — you don't know where it's coming from. He tells him he must be born of water and the Spirit. He's actually quoting from the book of Ezekiel when He does that. And Nicodemus says, "Well, how can I get back into my mother's womb?" And look what Jesus says: "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Are you the teacher of Israel and do not know these things?'" You're a member of the Sanhedrin. You're a religious leader and you don't know the Scriptures. He expected them to know the Old Testament because the Old Testament is understandable. It's part of the clarity of Scripture. It's not to be discarded.

Look in Matthew 19, verses 4 through 6. Here we have the Pharisees again coming to Christ. And they say, essentially, "Can't we get a divorce for any reason we want to?" And "He answered and said to them, 'Have you not' — " what? — " 'Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female?' " He's quoting Genesis. " 'And said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." So then they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate.' " Again, He points them to the Old Scriptures and says, "Don't you know this? Don't you know the Old Testament?" Because the Old Testament is clear.

Also, we find in Matthew 22, with the Sadducees — the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. And they tell this long story. They say, "There's a widow. She was married and she gets remarried." And then her second husband dies and she gets married again, on and on and on to the seventh. "Well, in the resurrection," which they did not believe in, "whose husband will she be? Which of those seven will she be?" And look what Jesus says in Matthew 22, verses 29 through 33: "Jesus answered and said to them, 'You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not' — " what? — " 'Have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob"? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.' " And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching. He was simply pointing back to the Old Testament and reading it clearly as it stated, and they were astonished by that.

The application for number four is: to whose authority do you appeal? When you're having a dispute and trying to settle it, the best place to go is God's holy Word, because it's clear and it speaks to us.

Bible point number five: the clarity of Scripture requires an awareness of progressive revelation. First blank is "revelation."

Let me explain what I mean by progressive revelation. The Old Testament and the New Testament form one book. Out of the entire Bible, we got 66 books from Genesis to Revelation, but they make up one book with one author and one theme. From Genesis all the way through Revelation, it is progressively revealing Christ our Savior. Think about the Torah, the book of the law, the five books. What does the law do but form the foundation for Christ? You read in Genesis about the fall and man's need for a Savior and the promise in Genesis 3 of the One who would crush the head of Satan. And you see the law showing a portrait of the character of Christ in His holiness and how far we are from that, how far we fall. So it lays the foundation for Christ when you read the law.

When you get to the historical books, what do they do but show the preparation for Christ? The New Testament says it was needful for preparation for Christ to come. Christ could have come right at the garden after the fall, but God didn't see it that way. He wanted to unfold this drama of redemption, progressively revealing Christ the Savior through the Scriptures.

What about the wisdom literature of the Old Testament? The Psalms show aspiration for Christ. If you ever read the Psalms, they cry out for the Redeemer. When you read Song of Solomon, it cries out for the shepherd King that Christ is. What about the prophets? Do they not show an expectation for Christ?

When you read the prophets, you read Jeremiah talking about the new covenant. You read Isaiah talking about the suffering servant. When you read Ezekiel talking about the sending of the Spirit, all these things are things that even David didn't know — things that Moses didn't seem to know — but it's progressively revealing more and more and more of Jesus Christ.

Then we get to the New Testament and what do we see? We see the Gospels, which are the very manifestation of Christ. And then we get to the book of Acts and what do we see? The propagation of Christ, as the Gospel spreads starting in Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the world.

When we get to the epistles, what do we see but the interpretation and the application of Christ? And then we get to the book of Revelation — is that not the consummation of all things in Christ Jesus? So the Bible is a progressive revelation of Christ from Genesis all the way through Revelation. And that's key to understanding the sufficiency of Scripture. Because when you understand the sufficiency and clarity of Scripture, you see that all of Scripture is important because it's part of that story.

For example, let's say you're reading in the Old Testament and you're reading some of these genealogies — this guy begat this guy, begat this guy. It's like, "What does this mean to me?" But then when you understand it's part of the unfolding revelation of our Savior, Jesus Christ, a genealogy is showing us the whole chain all the way from Adam to Christ.

When you read through the Levitical law, all these rules — you've got to do this, you've got to do that — it's like, "These are impossible to keep. I can't even keep up with all 600 and some odd of these commandments." But then you see the need for Christ, the need for the Savior, who then sums it all up in the New Testament. The law and the prophets are all fulfilled in Christ. Love is the fulfillment of the law. If you want to sum up the law, love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. It's all part of this progressive revelation.

So it's important to understand this progressive revelation in order to understand the clarity of Scripture. Scripture will make sense in its context. Jesus appealed to the Old Testament as it prefigured, pointed to, and prepared us for Him.

The clarity of Scripture requires an awareness of progressive revelation. Jesus appealed to the Old Testament as it prefigured, pointed to, and prepared us for Him. The central message of Scripture is not mankind — we're not the star of the show. It's not Israel. It's not the covenants. It's not the kingdom. It's Jesus. That's the central message of Scripture from Genesis all the way through Revelation. Yes, it talks about humanity. Yes, it talks about Israel. Yes, it talks about the covenants. Yes, it talks about the kingdom. But the central theme, the central idea of Scripture is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In Luke 24, we're going to touch on this next week when we talk about biblical interpretation, but it's a deep well and there's plenty of room to touch on it today. On the road to Emmaus — remember, this is when Christ had been resurrected, and there are a couple of disciples walking, and they're dejected because their Savior had been put to death. They're wondering, "Is this the end? We were expecting a Messiah on a great white horse," so to speak.

Verses 25 through 27 say, "Then He said to them, 'O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.' " What is He doing here? Just like He did with the Pharisees, He's correcting them. He's saying, "Oh, you're foolish and you're slow of heart to believe what the prophets have spoken." He says, "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter His glory?" Don't you know this? He's saying that all the Old Testament talks about this. The prophets talk about this. The writings talk about this. The law talks about this. It says, "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in" — does it say "some of the Scriptures"? — "all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."

What He's saying is that everything in the Old Testament is all about Him — about the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't you understand this, is what Jesus is saying to His disciples.

The application is this: is Christ central in your Scripture reading? When you read the Old Testament, are you looking at it as just another boring genealogy, another long history of one king failing after another, one judge coming and the people rebelling and finally repenting temporarily, being rescued, and then failing again? Or are you seeing it as part of the progressive revelation of Jesus Christ, the central figure in all of Scripture?

In Luke 24, the same passage of the Emmaus Road, He continues in verse 44: "Then He said to them, 'These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.' " The law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms — that was the Old Testament canon. That's the complete Old Testament. He says, "This is all about Me. I have fulfilled them." He says, "And He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures."

Some scholars, when they see verse 45 — "And He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures" — the Scriptures He's speaking of being the Old Testament — say, "Well, this is a supernatural thing. He's lifting the blinders off their eyes," so to speak, which is language we see used in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Remember Isaiah the prophet? He was sent to proclaim the upcoming judgment that God was going to present on Israel's people, but it would fall on deaf ears, God said. We even see Jesus using this language. So it could be talking about God supernaturally opening their eyes. Another way of looking at it, though — and many scholars agree, and I tend to sympathize with this view — is that He simply opened their understanding by showing them the whole intent and purpose of the Old Testament, which was about the Lord Jesus Christ.

He was saying, "This is how you should interpret the Old Testament. You're seeing it now through Christ's eyes." If you, as a Christian, read the Old Testament and get the exact same thing out of it as an Orthodox Jew, you're doing it wrong. We have the light of the Holy Spirit within us. We have the words of Christ telling us that this is about Him. We have the example of Christ and the apostles teaching the same way.

Look what Jesus says in verses 46 and 47: "Then He said to them, 'Thus it was written, and thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.' " He says, "Thus it is written" — Jesus has just resurrected out of the grave. A Gospel has not been written. An epistle has not been written. So what He is talking about is the Old Testament.

He's saying, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer, to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Pastor just read to us from the New Testament, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, a summation of the Gospel. And this here is a summation of the Gospel from the Old Testament.

What Jesus is saying here is this: when you read the Old Testament, this is what you ought to get. You ought to get that "thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." That's what you should understand when you read the Old Testament. Don't take my word for it — take the words of Jesus Christ.

Speaking of progressive revelation, Paul writes in Romans chapter 16: "Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began, but now made manifest." A mystery in the New Testament is something that was concealed but is now revealed. It was hidden, but now it's made known. "By the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations according to the commandment of the everlasting God, to the obedience of the faith." He's saying Christ and the Messiah, the Gospel, is revealed to all people now in this New Covenant. You may not have understood it — most people in the Old Testament didn't, it seems — but now it's being revealed. This is what we call progressive revelation.

Colossians, same thing, chapter 1, verses 26 through 27: "The mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." The mystery is that Christ is the Savior of all men, both Jew and Gentile, and it's been revealed to us all. This is what we call again this progressive revelation.

Number six: the clarity of Scripture is inseparable from God's work of salvation, that's the first blank. Apart from the regenerating and illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, readers will not receive, understand, or obey God's Word. In other words, God's Word is perfectly clear to His people because we have been regenerated. We have had our hearts and our minds renewed. We have the Holy Spirit, who authored Scripture, living within us.

So it's perfectly clear to us. The Gospel should be clear to all people, but it seems like some people can't see it. It's almost as if there are blinders they can't see through. We see some speaking of that in the New Testament. But regardless, for Christians, we have no excuse to say that the Scripture isn't clear to us, because God has made us to receive it, to understand it, and to obey it.

First Corinthians 2, verses 12 through 14, speaks of this illuminating work of the Holy Spirit. Before I actually read it, think back to John. What does Jesus say in His discourse? He says, "I'm going to send to you another, the Holy Spirit, and He's going to take what is Mine and declare it to you." He's going to be a teacher to you. And here we see that fleshed out in 1 Corinthians 2: "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

When you're talking to someone and sharing the Gospel with them, and it feels like all your words are bouncing off their forehead, and you feel like there are blinders on their eyes and they can't see — Scripture explains it's because they don't have the Spirit of Christ within them. That's why when we evangelize, we evangelize on our knees, do we not? Don't we pray, "Lord, give them understanding. Lord, illuminate their hearts. God, take this veil and remove it from them so that they can see the light of Jesus Christ"? It drives us to our knees when we evangelize, because if it's just our words apart from the Spirit, they're not going to go very far.

Because the old maxim which came out of the Reformation — and we'll get to it in just a minute, in fact it's the application — is: "Never the Word without the Spirit, never the Spirit without the Word. These two things go together." When you read the Word, the Holy Spirit, who originally inspired the Word and is at work inside your heart, is illuminating you, giving you understanding. And the same thing when you speak in the Spirit to somebody, try to encourage them, try to edify them — it better be according to the Word of God.

Never the Word without the Spirit, never the Spirit without the Word. Jesus said in John 10, "My sheep hear My voice and I know them, and they follow Me." As Christians, we are the sheep of His pasture, and we know His voice. Can we expect those who are not in the fold to know the shepherd's voice? No. So the clarity of Scripture is inseparable from God's work of salvation.

Last point, number seven: the clarity of Scripture does not mean that all Scripture is equally clear, nor does it mean that rightly dividing the Word requires no effort or aid. So the first blank is "clear," the second blank is "effort," and the third blank is "aid." The clarity of Scripture does not mean that all Scripture is equally clear. In other words, Scripture is given to us to be understandable, but it doesn't mean that all Scripture is equally clear.

We can read, say, the Beatitudes — it's pretty easy to follow. But then you may read something like the book of Revelation, and you're like, "What does that mean?" Because it has a lot of imagery, it's a different type of literature. In fact, Hal is going to be speaking about that next week. So not all Scripture is equally clear to understand, nor does it mean that rightly dividing the Word requires no effort or aid.

Just because the Bible is meant to be understandable doesn't mean that we don't have to work at it, that we don't have to engage our hearts and our minds. Often the number one reason why we don't understand God's Word is because we haven't prepared our hearts to receive it. Our hearts are so full of sin. Our hearts are so full of self. We couldn't hear the Holy Spirit over Pat Sajak's voice on the television sometimes. We have to get alone with God and ask Him to prepare our hearts to receive His Word.

Sometimes it's just out of laziness. Granted, we're all tired. We work jobs. We raise our children. It's like, "I don't have that much time for Scripture today." Make the time, because it's worth it. And if we don't make that time, it's not going to happen on its own. Donovan's not here tonight, but Donovan was telling me a few weeks back — maybe a month or so back — that he was worn out, because that day he had dug, or the day before he had dug, a trench in the dirt to lay pipe.

Is the trench going to dig itself? No, you have to dig it. Now, it doesn't mean you have to use a garden spade and get on your hands and knees to do that. If you have a ditch digger — what they call a ditch witch, which looks like a chainsaw that digs the dirt down — use that tool, use that aid. And that is why God has given us brothers and sisters in Christ. If you have a question about Scripture, ask a fellow brother or sister. Ask your Sunday school teacher. Ask someone you know is spending time in the Word of God.

Don't stop there. Do what we do in our 3D Bible study — use helps. We have things such as lexicons for language. We have things such as a Strong's concordance and Bible dictionaries. Use those aids to understanding Scripture. Use commentaries. Do your work first, but then go to commentaries, because sometimes you'll come across a passage where you still can't figure it out.

Stand on the shoulders of giants. People have gone before you and have wrestled with that text — get their point of view. Listen to sermons such as pastor's messages on YouTube, or go and listen to things such as "A Sword and a Trowel," or listen to maybe a John MacArthur message or an R.C. Sproul message — whoever you trust as a spiritual teacher to gain insight. So the idea that Scripture is clear doesn't mean that you don't have to work at it and that you shouldn't use any aids in understanding it.

2 Timothy 2:15 says, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth." Jordan, as you move forward in life, one day the Lord's going to bless you with a family and kids and whatnot. At that point, you're going to be on your knees more than you've ever been. It happens to everybody. Same with Markham, same with you, same with you, Lee, Lee.

When the Lord does give you a family, you are going to have to seek Him for wisdom like you never have before. And when that happens, where do you find that counsel? Where do you find those answers? In the Word of God. We need to be able to rightly handle God's Word. We don't want to give our children an answer that isn't right. We don't want to say, "Well, I heard Benny Hinn say it, so it must be right." We want it to be from the mouth of God.

We need to rightly handle the Word of God. The application is: diligently study and share God's Word. Study it so you can share it with others, to edify, to build up. What does Ephesians tell us? That He gave some to be prophets, some pastors, some teachers for the edification of the body. Always be able to share a good word with somebody.

Last but not least, Matthew 13:52, Jesus said: "And He said to them, 'Therefore every scribe' " — a scribe, by the way, was not someone who just simply copied the Bible, even though most scribes did, but they were also teachers of the law. Think of Ezra in the Old Testament, who was a scribe who gave the sense of the meaning — " 'every scribe who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household,' " speaking of the person who was in charge of the food distribution of a large estate, " 'who brings out of his treasure things new and old.' "

A man who was a steward of a large house would have a vast pantry. And he may have some wonderful, delicious goodies from last year's bountiful harvest that maybe aren't in season right now, that he can pull out and serve his guests. He can pull fresh things from the farm to the table, so to speak, that are in season right now. The idea and the picture is that he has a whole vast storehouse of things to be able to serve people with, to be able to bless people with. And that's what a good scribe should do.

And every single one of you are scribes in that you've been given the Word of God to share with others. That's your calling.