I Need to Repent

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I need to repent of something. I need to confess to all of you that I have downplayed the importance of God for a really long time. Even as recently as this week to certain people. I've downplayed that importance by suggesting books to people. I'll say, "Oh you've got to read this John Piper book, or this Francis Chan book, or this whatever book. It's life changing." I've said, "This book completely changed my perspective on everything." And that is wrong. All of that is wrong. Books do not change people. God does. And He does that through His Word. The only reason that any book that I've read has any credibility or worth is because it points back to the Bible. Some do so more accurately than others, but they point back. Don't miss this. These books may be good. They may help you understand some great truths. But they are truths from the Bible and you need to hear them from the Bible first.

The reason that I have messed up so horribly is I have assumed that everyone that I suggested these books to knows the Truth. Which is stupid because I myself don't know the Truth. By "know the Truth" I mean have read and understood as much as is possible in God's Word. In that video I posted last week, Mark Driscoll said it better than I could ever say it, "You need to learn the Truth before you learn everything else." That is so important and I've been wrong for not saying that and doing that. Hear me again because it is worth repeating,

"You need to learn the Truth before you learn everything else."

Well what is the Truth? It's the Word of God, the Scriptures, the Bible. Quick note on that: The Bible is Truth because it believes itself to be Truth. If you say, "Oh I don't think the Bible is completely true." Then you have to come to the conclusion that God is lying to you. If you believe that and do not believe that the ENTIRE Bible is the inspired Word of God, then the Bible is not credible at all. Here's why- because it believes itself to be COMPLETELY true. Listen to what Peter says in 2 Peter 1:19-20, "And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." How much more clear can you get? The Bible believes itself to be COMPLETELY true. Therefore if it is not COMPLETELY true, the whole thing is worthless.

Watch what the rest of the verses say though. Look at verse 19, "... you will do well to pay attention as a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts." Do you know how much you would pay attention to a lamp shining in a dark place? It would seriously be all you could look at. And Peter is saying, pay that much attention to it until the day you are in heaven.

This is where I have made my mistake. I have told people that things would help them when they wouldn't. I am not saying that books are bad. There are a lot of really good books out there that will help you understand things. But if they are read on their own and before you read and understand what God is telling you in the Bible, they are screwing you over. I know that is harsh language and it is meant to be. They will confuse you over and over again, as I am a testament to, because you do not know the Truth. I know you'll probably just be thinking, 'He's just doing this because he's reading the Bible now and it makes him look good to say that it's the only thing you should be reading.' I hope that you don't think that way. I am telling you this because in reading the Bible I am realizing the awesomeness and incalculable importance of God's Word. I plead with you to put down your books that give people's opinion and pick up the opinion of God. Put down these commentaries on truth and pick up The Truth. If after that you want to go back and get some perspective, that's fine. I encourage you to do that. I encourage you to learn what is out there so that you know who to give ear to and who to shut out. But if you don't know the Truth, you will take it all and will become very confused, very quickly. I was just talking to my friend Mark Baur and I said to him, "I wish so bad that I had learned this when I was fourteen instead of nineteen, because I could have saved myself from a lot of listening to things that I should not have been listening to. I could have saved myself a lot of heartache if I only would have learned the Truth before everything else." That is what I am trying to do for all of you, my friends and brothers and sisters.

With that in mind, there are those people who have read the Bible and do know what they believe and why they believe it. They still constantly are working through things, but they know what is in there. I have read the Bible, but not to understanding. Not to the point where I know what is in there and know why I believe things. So these commentaries and sermons and books are all great for those people, but they have a very real danger of leading other people, who don't know the Truth, astray.

So again, I beg of you. Pick up your Bible. Read it. Read the Word of God and learn the truth that He states about Himself, not what some guy thinks God is to him. Please, please, please. Read the Bible.

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