“The Bible Doesn’t Make Sense”, Repent!

Introduction

How many times have you heard someone saying that the Bible doesn’t make sense, or there are contradictions in the Bible or why should we believe a book written 2000 years ago. I don’t know about you but I hear this all the time. There seems to be a clear inability by most people to understand the Bible. In this message, I will show that their inability is directly linked to their lack of repentance. They need to repent. I will show using scripture that without repentance, no one will be able to come to understand or comprehend the truth that is found within the pages of scripture.

The World System on Repentance.

The world system has convinced people throughout the world into thinking that one first has to understand and accept what the Bible says and thereafter, they will be able to repent. There world system says we must prove to the people that the Bible is true and then they will be able to repent. We must give as much evidence to people as possible and they will repent. Is this true? Can we blame the lack of repentance among people to the lack of evidence that the Bible is true? Are Christians failing to convince people that the Bible is true or is there something else preventing people from repenting.

What Does the Bible say?

2 Timothy 2:23-26 (ESV Strong’s)

23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

In the above scripture, just as a background, Paul is writing to Timothy encouraging and guiding him in the faith. In verses 23-24a, Paul says Timothy must have nothing to do with foolish and ignorant controversies which he knows breeds quarrels, and a servant of Jesus must not be quarrelsome. Continuing in verses 24-25a, Paul says instead of being quarrelsome, a servant of Jesus must be kind to everyone, he must be able to teach, he must patiently endure evil, and lastly he must correct his opponents with gentleness. According to the Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament, this is what the Greek word translated here as the word “correcting” means: (Gk-EnLex_NT) to assist in the development of a person’s ability to make appropriate choices, Based on this definition, Paul is telling Timothy that a servant of Jesus assists those who oppose him, with the aim to help them develop an ability or to assist in the development of that ability to make appropriate choices.

In the context of Paul’s letter to Timothy, those who oppose Timothy or those who oppose servants of Jesus in general, will be unbelievers who oppose the truth of the gospel as contained in the Bible. These unbelievers are the people that Timothy as a servant of Jesus must correct with gentleness. These are the people that Timothy must assist in their development of their ability to make appropriate choices. How will correcting these unbelievers who oppose the truth help them? In verse 25b, Paul says in correcting these unbelievers who oppose the truth of the Bible, the hope is that God may grant them repentance.

This shows very clearly that the ability to repent, is not a human ability. It is an ability that comes from God. All that a servant of Jesus can do is to assist by correcting the unbeliever. But that is not all, in verse 25c, Paul says once God gives them the ability to repent, and they do repent, then this repentance leads them to the knowledge of truth. Please note that repentance was given first by God and only then, was the unbeliever who has now repented, able to know the truth. No repentance, No truth. This completely contradicts what the world system says. The world system says truth first and then repentance but, the Bible says repentance first and then truth.

This simply means, it doesn’t matter how intelligent you are, if you don’t repent, you cannot know the truth of the Bible and, you cannot repent, unless God grants you the ability to repent. But that is not all, in verse 26, Paul says “and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” This means, once an unbeliever who opposes the truth, has been granted by God the ability to repent, has repented, and has acquired the knowledge of truth, only then, can he come to his senses, and escape the trap of the devil who had captured him to use him to do what the devil wants.

What does to come to your senses mean? According to the Complete Word Study Bible, it means: (CWSB Dictionary) to be sober. To awake out of a drunken sleep and become sober, to become sober. According to the Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, it means: (ANLEX) strictly become sober again; hence come to one’s senses, no longer think wrong thoughts; figuratively, of spiritual recovery. This means an unbeliever who opposes the truth and who has not repented, is living in a state that renders him incapable of having rational thoughts and making rational decisions. Like a drunk person, he is completely irrational. Like a drunk person, he cannot see right from wrong. Unless God grants you repentance that leads to the knowledge of truth, this is the state in which an unbeliever is living.

This means, once an unbeliever who opposes the truth, has been granted by God, the ability to repent, has repented, and has acquired the knowledge of truth, only then, can he wake up from his drunken state, come to his rational sense, and then have the ability of right and wrong, and then finally escape from the trap of the devil. No repentance, no truth. No truth, you live in a state of drunkenness. Living in a state of drunkenness, allows the devil to capture and trap you. Once trapped, the devil uses you to do his will.

The only way you can escape from being trapped by the devil and doing his will, is to come to your senses. The only way to come to your senses is to have the knowledge of truth. The only way to have the knowledge of truth, is to repent. The only way to repent, is for God to grant you the ability to repent.

What Does This Mean? This means you must Repent to have knowledge of Truth

This simply means that the Bible cannot make sense to unbelievers who oppose the truth because they are living in a state likened to that of drunkenness in a spiritual sense. A spiritually drunk person cannot make sense of anything spiritual. They are incapable of making sense of anything spiritual. That is why they come to a conclusion that the Bible doesn’t make sense. The Bible makes absolute sense to spiritually sober people.

Back to the questions I asked at the beginning. Do unbelievers who oppose the truth, need evidence that proofs that the Bible is true and makes sense, for them to repent and believe? The answer is now clearly no. What they need is God’s mercy! They need to go down on their knees and ask God for mercy and grace, to grant them the ability to repent or they are on their way to hell.

It doesn’t matter how intelligent you are, if you are spiritually drunk, the Bible will not make any sense to you. Therefore, next time you hear an unbeliever who opposes the truth say that the Bible doesn’t make sense, correct him, with the hope that God may grant him the ability to repent. He is spiritually drunk, trapped by the devil and he is being used to do the devil’s work.

Check out this post: Worldy Wisdom vs Divine Wisdom

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Posted in 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy 2, Christian Attitude and Behaviour, Exposing Sin, God's will, Grace of God, The Devil.

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