Text: “Thou therefore, be strong in the grace that is
in Christ Jesus. And the things that
thou hast heard of me (Paul) among many witnesses, the same commit thou to
faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
2 Timothy 2:1-2.
Good morning, teachable
Christian! Having been blessed by God
with a teachable spirit, you are able and willing to be instructed in God’s way
of true and Eternal Salvation. Praise
God for such ’teachable spirits’; absorbers of sound doctrine, and Gospel
truth! You are ’…the salt of the earth…’
indeed! Thank you, Lord God, for
granting us such teachable spirits. May
we never cease from Thy Divine instruction.
“I will instruct thee and
teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine
eye. Be not as the horse, or as the
mule, which have no understanding; whose mouth must be held in with bit and
bridle, lest they come near unto thee.”
(Psalm 32:8-9)
Too many in the increasingly
apostate 21st Century church, worldwide, are desiring to be big TV
Evangelists; entertaining huge crowded buildings with funny or ‘amazing’
stories. Fewer and fewer seem to want to
take time to study this old black-covered Book which we call The Bible, never
mind listen to instruction from it!
Therefore, what we are too
frequently seeing is what the Scriptures call ‘…the blind leading the blind…’;
so-called teachers with nothing of God’s authority to teach; audiences who only
attend big gatherings in order to be entertained, wowed, and told exactly what
they themselves want to hear.
Such souls
attend ‘church’ feeling wonderful, sit through the entertainment for the day,
and go back home feeling better. What a
sad situation. Charismatic circuses;
modernistic meetings; legalistic religion is what ensues. Having watered down Biblical truth - true
faith in God is reduced to sham and ritual.
Foolishness begets foolishness - and chaos is ushered into the church.
The church, international and
universal, needs to get back to studying the Bible!
“Study to show thyself
approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the Word of truth. But shun profane and
vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.” (2 Timothy 2:15-16)
Verse 8. “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the
way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye. This threefold repetition, ‘I
will instruct thee, I will teach thee, I will guide thee…’, teaches us three
properties of a good teacher. First, to
make the people understand the way of Salvation; second, to go before them;
third, to watch over them and their ways.”
(Archibald Symson -1631)
What a privilege is the
promise that the Lord God Almighty Himself will teach us His Sovereign will;
from His Sovereign Word; in the power of His Holy Spirit. Now, surely, we must see that this is what is
truly wonderful and amazing!
Verse 8. “I will guide thee
with Mine eye. (Margin), ‘I will
counsel thee, Mine eye shall be upon thee.’
The margin expresses the sense of the Hebrew. The literal meaning is, ‘I will counsel thee;
Mine eyes shall be upon thee.’ De Wette:
‘My eye shall be directed towards thee.’
The idea is that of one telling another what way he is to take in order
that he may reach a certain place; and he says he will watch him, or will keep
an eye upon him; he will not let him go wrong.”
(Albert Barnes 1798-1870) (Cited in The Treasury of David, C.H.
Spurgeon, page 159)
We Christians are the only
souls that hear with our eyes as well as our ears! We have a two-way personal fellowship with
Almighty God - we speak to Him in prayer, and He speaks back to us through His
Spirit-inspired Word contained in our KJV Bibles. Hallelujah!
What a privileged fellowship with have!
God is our Holy Guide.
Verse 9. “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule. You and I, as regenerate Christians,
still have an old nature within us that just loves to sin. We cannot change that nature, but praise God,
He has also given us a new, regenerate nature which consistently seeks to do
only righteousness - that is why we have constant conflict within our
hearts.
The horse and the mule are
like our old nature - “…they never ask whether their rider be noble or base,
nor whether their load be gold for the treasury or roots for the market. And those expositors find the same indifference
in an habitual sinner to any kind of sin; whether he/she sin for pleasure, or
sin for profit, or sin but for company, still he/she sins.” (John Donne 1573-1631)
“If we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make
Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.”
(1 John 1:8-9)
Can we not now see, especially
through the truth contained in the above verses, how absolutely vital it is
that we Christians read and study our Bibles personally and continually? We must pray afresh for God to grant us
‘teachable spirits’; learn from His Word; and receive His Divine instruction
for every step in life that we are privileged to take. Blind guides have nothing but darkness to
offer us - let us seek to walk in Christ’s light; empowered by God the Spirit;
and guarded by our Father’s grace. May
the Lord God grant us power to live Christ-like lives for His glory. Amen.
Thought: Christ has called Sheep to His Flock - not
fickle horses nor mules!
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