Daily Devotion With Pastor Dan Nickerson – February 7th, 2024
When one considers the many different beliefs that stem from Christian denominations today, it is vitally important to have a correct doctrine concerning the Scriptures. The doctrine of any church or any individual believer is the most important part to any local church or ministry. What is taught and believed by the body of Christ (the church) is crucial in a day when doctrine is ignored or not discussed at all.
“Everyone must be aware that there is at the present time a great prejudice against doctrine, or as it is often called “dogma” in religion; a great distrust and dislike of clear systematic thinking about divine things. Men prefer, one cannot help seeing, to live in a region of haze and indefiniteness in regard to these matters. They want their thinking to be fluid and indefinite, something that can be changed with the times, and with the new lights which they think are being constantly brought to bear upon it, continually taking on new forms, and leaving the old behind.”
James Orr, Sidelights on Christian Doctrine (New York: A.C. Armstrong and Sons, 1909), p.3.
When the Word of God (the Scriptures) are spoken of or studied, they are not always thought of as relevant to our culture. Many treat the Scriptures as if they were no different than any other novel or history book we might come across, and don’t really have an impact on one’s daily life. But the Word of God in both the Old and New Testaments is God’s written revelation to man, where He caused words to be spoken by the mouth of His saints, and written in the writings of certain men so that those words are recorded as the inspired words of God. In writing to Timothy and Titus, the Apostle Paul told these two young pastors to be “constantly nourished on the words of the faith and the sound doctrine,” to “pay close attention to yourself and your teaching,” and to “hold fast to the faithful word.” These are words of wisdom that need to be heeded in the church today.
The Scriptures
The Scriptures can be trusted as inerrant in the original autographs, infallible and God-breathed. How important is this when we are living in a time of history where truth is being clouded by a culture of false teaching? Man has written many things with his limited and sometime confused intellect, especially when writing about spiritual matters. But the Scriptures are not just written by man alone, they have the inspired work of God in its pages.
(2 Timothy 3:16-17)…..All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
(Hebrews 1:1-2)…..God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us in His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.
(2 Peter 1:20-21)…..Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
The Scriptures are not like a document or article that can fade away into the corridors of time. God’s word will never disappear from all eternity because God is faithful to preserve His Word. This truth is a pillar of great comfort for the righteous in Christ because all God’s promises remain true. However, for the unrighteous it is a reason for great fear because God will not alter or change any of His word concerning His judgments and wrath.
(Matthew 24:35)…..Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
(1 Peter 1:24-25)…..”All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
(Psalm 119:89)…..Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.
The Scriptures are also complete and perfect as the Lord has given them to us. That is, there is no need to add to what is already sufficient for our use. The word sufficient meaning that all of Scripture contains all the words of God that He intended His people to know and have. It contains all the words of God that we need for faith, salvation, help, hope, and the ability to trust and obey Him. Therefore, God’s inspired word is not to be changed, altered, added to, or taken away from in any way.
This morning as you are digging into the Scriptures to see what God has for you today to feast on and grow spiritually, remember just what it took to place the word of God into your hands. Be blessed in your journey into His word today.