Church of Christ Studies

Rightly Dividing The Word Of Truth

 

As a text tonight I want to read you a few verses from Second Timothy: "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. And their word will eat as cloth a canker: of whom is Hymeneus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." (2 Tim. 2: 15-19.)

 

I take it as a matter of fact that the most trusted companion and beloved associate of the great apostle Paul was this young man Timothy, found by him on his second missionary tour. Him Paul took and circumcised, and from that until the close of the apostle's career they together converged their thoughts and ideas. Near the close of that eventful career of the older, two letters were addressed to this young man well worthy of being memorized and thoughtfully and earnestly studied by every youth of the land and by all those who recognize their responsibility to God.

 

In the fifteenth verse of the chapter thus announced I repeat the statement to Timothy: "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." I submit to you that this is equally applicable to-night to all those who would have God's favor and approval upon them.

 

Man is a thinking being, and thus is distinguished from all the other creatures of earth. The Bible is addressed unto intelligences—not to passions, nor the desires, nor the emotions, but to that which is high and noble, which marks the difference between us and all other things created. For that reason God has given this instruction, that 28 Hardeman's Tabernacle Sermons you and I study with the intent before us of being approved unto God.

 

Time was when man did not need such admonition; but in view of the fact that the days of inspiration were drawing to a close and Heaven's will to mortal man was almost completed, Paul said to Timothy: "Study to show thyself approved unto God, rightly dividing the word of truth."

 

I recall the fact very well that back during the personal ministry of the Savior on a certain occasion he said specifically: "And ye shall be brought before governors and kings.

 

Take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak." (Matt. 10: 18, 19.) Now, in instructing the apostles further with reference to the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said in John 14: 26: "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." Then, again, as stated in chapter 16, verse 13: "Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come." Thus the apostles, in marching out over the territory and fields untraversed and unexplored, guided by inspiration, took the old Jerusalem blade in hand, blazed the way, peeled the sapling, knocked the bark from the respective trees, and left open the pathway directing man to salvation and redemption and the remission of sins.

 

After all that had been done, Paul then said to Timothy and to the rest of us: "Study that you may be able to follow the old blazes and walk in the same path and be governed and guided and directed accordingly."

 

Do you know that it would not do me any special good if I could open my mouth to-night and speak by direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God? Strange to you as that may seem, it is in perfect harmony and accord with the book of God; for could I so speak at this time, I would be privileged to proclaim unto you only that which now I can do, provided I have heeded the apostles' instructions, for be it remembered that Paul said in Gal. 1: 8: "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." And, to give double emphasis, he repeats and says: "As we said before, so say I now again, If any man [that gets an American, a Spaniard, a Frenchman, an Englishman, or any other man under the vast domain of heaven's realm] preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." And I am conscious of that supreme solemnity to-night.

 

I recognize that every time I rise in the presence of dying humanity, woe is unto me if I proclaim not the gospel of Christ. Why ought man to study? Due to the fact, first of all, that the Bible, unstudied and unsearched, is like unto a mine unworked and undeveloped. The great Klondike region of to-day, pouring forth riches from its veins of gold, is the same Klondike that has been there throughout the generations and centuries that have passed; but for years and years it remained unprofitable, undeveloped, unattractive, without benefit or usefulness to mortal man; but when the search was made by digging into things that were therein hidden and buried, treasures came forth and streams of wealth flowed out that have enriched the world.

 

My friends, the great mass of humanity is an honest, earnest body of people. We differ on things political, social, and religious many, many times because of the fact that the questions in which we are interested have not been studied and investigated, for study and investigation always bring out the facts.

 

Time was when every man in the world believed that this earth was flat; and when the great Italian geographer, Toscanelli, suggested its rotundity, and Sir John Mandeville confirmed the idea, and Columbus determined to prove it, the world laughed with scorn and ridicule; but the search and the investigation and study demonstrated that the earth is a globe that revolves upon its axis, and, therefore, brings about night and day.

 

Just so with reference to the word of God. Thousands of people have passed from the stage of life and entered into the boundless beyond without ever stopping to question or express the thought solemnly to themselves: "Am I accountable unto God for the investigation of his word? Do I know whence my bearings are taken? Can I read my title clear to mansions in the sky?"

 

I submit to you, further, I ought to study God's word, in company with you, because of the fact that it contains all the light and revelation that the world has ever had. Occasionally I have met with people who claim to have some special revelation, who claim to know more about things sacred and eternal than do the rest of common mortals; but upon closer inspection and closer investigation, I have yet to find the man that knows one single solitary thing of the great beyond that the rest of us could not know if we apply the admonition given by Paul to Timothy. Therein, ladies and gentlemen, is the source of all light to guide our barks across the tempestuous sea and into the grandeurs and glories that we expect to burst upon our visions over there. In that book is the whole revelation, the scheme of redemption and salvation, the hope of the world, and all things for which the human heart sighs. Therefore, study it, not only with a view to this life, but with special reference to the life beyond. Let me say, it is the book which will be opened on the plains of eternal judgment, and out of the things written therein you and I will be judged and our destinies determined.

 

In view of such, I think it timely for us to study God's will toward mortal man; but the text assigns a reason for such. "Study to show thyself approved unto God"—not for the sake of public controversy, not for personal advantage over your fellows, not that you may receive the eulogy and commendation of man, but to be approved by Jehovah. "Study to show thyself approved unto God ;" and if Heaven's smiles are lavishly bestowed upon you, count all things else as naught.

 

I trust, therefore, I may speak your sentiments that in our investigation of truth Divine the one supreme object in view is that God will be pleased and that we may stand approved in his sight. Not only so, but "study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed," and at the same time "rightly dividing the word of truth"—a workman that has no need of fear, that has nothing to be ashamed of, surrounded by a halo of light upon his countenance, conscious of the fact that God's word is the foundation upon which his hopes are founded. Study as a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, and at the same time rightly divide the word of truth, or handle aright God's book and teachings to mankind.

 

The last statement therein found suggests, as you will observe, the possibility of a wrong division; and I think I am not unmindful nor unconscious of the danger and confusion and chaotic scenes that have resulted because of a failure at this point.

 

When boys and girls come to Freed-Hardeman College, with which I have connection, and bring us textbooks for their investigation and study, I never think, nor does any other member of that institution, of offering the advice to the boy or to the girl to "close your eyes and open the book; and wherever it opens, there begin to study." If a boy says, in arithmetic, for example, "I want to study common fractions," I know there is a certain part of that book where that particular subject is discussed; and I turn him not to bank discount nor partial payments, but unto the specific part designed to teach the subject of fractions. If he brings any other book, the same principles prevail.

 

When Paul said, "Rightly dividing the word of truth," I ask you: Upon what basis shall we proceed? In our old geographies right at the first there were two large maps, one facing the other—one of them on the right-hand page, showing the eastern hemisphere, and the other on the lefthand page, showing the western hemisphere. I remember, further, these hemispheres were subdivided naturally into continents, and that in the North American Continent we had still further subdivisions viz., the Dominion of Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Central America.

 

When the boys began to study our own civilized land and wanted to know of the manufacturing industries of the 32 Hardeman's Tabernacle Sermons country, I never thought of turning to that part of the geography that discussed the great plains, but I directed them unto our New England and middle Atlantic sections, because I understood in those divisions such information could be found.

 

When it came to the production of corn or wheat or the raising of hogs and the fattening thereof, I turned them not to the Rockies nor to the sun-kissed coast of the Pacific, but to the North Central States, assured of the fact that I was acting in the right way. May that now serve to illustrate the fact that the Bible is divided into two great parts. As agreed upon by all, there is a blank leaf just about the center, indicating these divisions—the Old Testament of thirty-nine books, from Genesis to Malachi, and the New Testament with its twenty-seven books, from Matthew to Revelation. That there are further subdivisions admits of no possible question. What are they? We walk by faith, and I recall the fact that the Savior, in that little trip with two of his disciples to Emmaus, said, in Luke 24: 44: "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms." And when we thus follow his direction, no mistake can possibly be made.

 

Will you, therefore, continue, as patiently as has characterized your hearing heretofore, in the investigation of these subdivisions? I think I realize the importance of a proper division of the word of God, of a correct understanding of matters just at this point. In the survey of a piece of land, the accuracy and perfection thereof depend upon finding the beginning corner. If we can, therefore, find the proper place to begin, and there plant our Jacob's staff, and level the compass, and then run through to the close accurately, there is no question but that perfect harmony, absolute oneness, will characterize the results of every man who thus does.

 

 

Much of the confusion that exists in the religious realm is due to the feet that we have planted our tripod, our Jacob's staff, if you please, at different places from which to take our bearing; and so long as that custom and that idea prevails, confusion on the part of honest, earnest, sincere people will evermore characterize our labors and our endeavors. Think you to-night, ladies and gentlemen, that the law of Moses is that by which we are to be governed, directed, and unto which we are accountable? If so, let me persuade you to the contrary by saying that it was never intended for a single soul beneath the shining sun or the twinkling stars except a man that was born in Abraham's house or bought with his money. There is nothing in the term "law" that suggests its application or its duration or its extent. It simply means a rule of action, a code or a principle by which men and women are to be governed or directed. It may be applicable to a special people for a limited time.

 

No one thinks that the laws of the city of Nashville are applicable to the people of Davidson County. The laws of Tennessee are not binding upon the people of Kentucky, nor are the people of Arkansas subject to the statutes and laws of the "Volunteer State." So why is it that people have jumped at the conclusion and imagined that because God gave a law unto Moses, and through him unto a special people, it was intended for all time and applicable unto all men? This is one of the strangest things with which we have to do.

 

There are a series of questions that will, perhaps, bring out the truth respecting this part of the investigation. I want, therefore, to specifically and definitely propound them. First of all: Unto whom was the law of Moses given ? In Deut. 5: 2, 3 there is this statement: "The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day." That, ladies and gentlemen, was with reference to an event that transpired just about two months after Moses, by a mighty hand, had led the house of Israel out of bondage in Egypt and across the Red Sea, on the other side of which they sang the song of redemption. Passing down the eastern shore of the Red Sea, they came unto the group of mountains in the south 34 Hardeman's Tabernacle Sermons ern part of that wonderful country designated as Horeb; and while the great multitudes 'waited below, Moses ascended the height of that historic mountain, and there, fresh from the hand of God, received the decalogue, or Ten Commandments, which was the covenant between God and his people. That was the constitution or the great Magna Charta of a theocracy—a system of government that was to be inaugurated for a special people for a definite time. May I ask, then, as a further thought, just when this happened?. The answer is forthwith from Heb. 8: 8, 9: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [what day?] when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord."

 

There you have it—the time, the place, the people; those that were alive that day, descendants of that mighty host that had spent four hundred and thirty years in bondage, scattered along the shores of the River Nile.

 

But I ask again: Why was the law given, and how long was it intended to last? In Gal. 3: 19 Paul has this to say: "Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till [and thus the limit is fixed] the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of the mediator."

 

The Bible student will recall the fact that four hundred and thirty years before that—namely, 1921 B.C.—God called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees and suggested unto him the promise: "Abraham, I will make of thee a great nation; I will multiply thy seed like the stars of the heavens and the sands of the seashore; I will bless them that bless thee, and I will curse them that curse thee, and in thee and thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." There was the first definite promise of salvation to mortal man.

 

Four hundred and thirty years after that, as Paul said, because of transgression and to bring to men a recognition of their sinfulness, in stepped the law inaugurated and brought unto the posterity of Abraham until the Seed promised should by and by make his advent upon the earth. If you are interested to know to just whom that referred, I call your attention to Gal. 3: 16, where it is said: "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ."

 

It would not be a violation, therefore, of the word of God for me to thus say that the law was added because of the transgression until the Christ should come, after which, when by him fulfilled, it was banished, obliterated, and wiped out of existence, as the further thought shall demonstrate.

 

But you ask again: "What bearing, what attitude, what relation did Christ sustain "hereunto?" From Matt. 5: 17, 18 we have this statement, where Jesus said in that memorable Sermon on the Mount: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Thus the Savior gave his solemn declaration that he came not to destroy nor to violate the law, but he came to fill it full and to fulfill it; and thus he spent a third of a century walking and talking and moving among men in perfect harmony with and in obedience unto the law, until such opposition had been aroused, such prejudice had been engendered, that he was finally arrested, arraigned, hurried through various mock trials, and at last consigned to death outside the city's walls. Heaven veiled its face, the sun no longer shone upon the earth, all nature became clad in the very garb and habiliments of mourning, because of the fact that the Son of God had assumed the fulfillment of the triumphant and culminating purpose of his existence among men. After several of the utterances on the cross were enunciated, at last the Savior bowed his head upon a heart made to ache and said: "It is finished."

 

I ask you, ladies and gentlemen, what, among other things, does that embrace? Certainly there was included 36 Hardeman's Tabernacle Sermons that theocratic form of government, that system that reigned from Sinai to Calvary, that he came to fulfill. "I have accomplished my purpose with reference "hereunto."

 

It would naturally follow: "What became of that wonderful document that so successfully guided them, fulfilling its purpose for the fifteen hundred years preceding?" Paul declared (Col. 2: 14) that Jesus the Christ blotted "out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross."

 

In Eph. 2: 13-22 it is declared: "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who bath made both one, and bath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in the ordinances; for to make in himself of twain [the Jew and Gentile] one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit."

 

But hear again Rom. 7:1-7: "Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which bath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man." I believe this audience understands that illustration. The woman that is married unto a man is bound by the law of God, with only one exception, as long as he lives. If while husband number one lives she be married unto another man, though the courts and though the General Assembly of Tennessee may decree to the contrary, Paul says that she shall be called an "adulteress ;" but if the first husband be dead, then she is loosed from the law that hitherto bound her, and is no adulteress, though she be married to husband number two. Now, see the application: "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."

 

But some one says: "Brother Hardeman, how do you know that Paul was talking about the law of Moses ?" Well, listen further: "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." The reason I know this is Moses' law is because Paul clearly says so, in that he quotes one statement found nowhere else in all God's book except in the law of Mosey Paul said: "We are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."

 

And, applying the principle thus demonstrated, here is the picture that you have: The law of Moses stood back there representative of the husband; the Jew stood as the wife. So long as the law of Moses was in existence, every Jew on earth was bound in strict allegiance and regard "hereunto; and while the law was still in existence, if a Jew had been married to some other law, he would have been likened unto the woman—guilty of spiritual adultery before God; but when the husband, the law, ceased to be, the law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ became husband 38 Hardeman's Tabernacle Sermons number two, unto which, with the middle wall of partition having been torn down, the enmity no longer existing, both Jew and Gentile are privileged to be married even unto him that is raised from the dead—not unto him that walked over the Judean hills, not to the character known as Jesus of Nazareth previous to his death, but married unto him. Unto what him? Unto him that is raised from the dead.

 

And the man to-night that gives his church relationship and the marriage ceremony previous to the resurrection of Christ stands in violation of this plain, positive declaration of the word of God.

 

Let it be remembered, brethren, that you and I, as Gentiles, descendants of Japheth, were never subjected to the law of Moses. It was never applicable unto us. Its promises were never ours, neither its threats nor punishments. Strange, is it not, therefore passingly so—that, notwithstanding two thousand years have passed since it was taken out of the way and nailed to the cross, there perhaps are people to-night, never included in it, that are blinded, deceived, and deluded by the thought that they are amenable to it?

 

My friends, there is a better covenant, founded upon better promises, that is applicable to-night, not to Jew alone, not to Gentile alone, but to the sons and daughters of men wherever they chance to dwell upon earth; for in Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Gentile, there is neither bond nor free, male nor female—all are one. And if we be Christ's, then we transcend the limits of the law and are Abraham's seed according to the promise.

 

Go back to the promise given by God to Abraham four hundred and thirty years before the law, and become heirs of God according to the promise made unto him in the long ago. Thus on the pages of God's word it is clearly declared that the law is blotted out, wiped away' stricken from existence, become dead, that we might serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

 

But I must speak just a moment with respect to the second division and rapidly pass.

 

The prophecies simply mean the foretelling or the prediction of events not yet come to pass. They are never destroyed, wiped away, or blotted out, but can only pass in every instance when they merge into history. Once for all, let it be said that every prophecy spoken by God has been fulfilled or is being fulfilled or will be ere time's knell shall be sounded and all the ransomed of earth gathered home.

 

The Psalms constitute that part of the Old Testament written in metrical units that could be sung and accompanied by the lyre. They were expressive of the emotions, sentiments, joys, prayers, and raptures that thrilled the heart. They were counted and referred to by both Christ and the Jews as a part of the law.

 

But may I pass over that now, in conclusion, and suggest this: that under the blood-stained banner of Jesus Christ our Lord we live to-night under a new law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which is a regime and order that is heaven-born, that is world-wide, and that is blood-bought? Induction into the privileges and the rich benedictions thereof is laid down plainly in the book of God. Unto those of you that believe the gospel with all your hearts, that genuinely and truly are willing to repent of your sins, thus to resolve by the grace of God to forsake the wrong, to abandon sin and evil relationships in every form as much as in you lies, that will publicly confess your faith in the Lord and be buried in the name of the sacred three, with the avowed purpose to walk in newness of life, and then walk it until by and by God shall touch you with the finger of his love and bid you come home, I am glad to extend Heaven's invitation while we stand and sing.