Confessing hearsay knowledge of the gospel: Clip from Consider Revival V

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Let me give you the first that I chose. Not having a practical knowledge and experience of the mystery of the gospel in themselves before they taught others.

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So, certainly applicable to parents or to church leaders. So, in modern language, not really knowing the transforming power of the gospel, but you're willing to talk about religion to other people.

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And that is not an okay thing. Actually, that is a sinful thing.

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Historically, in the 17th century with Puritanism, the Puritans warned ministers that just because they lived moral lives and had right doctrine or studied their

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Bibles and were willing to kind of devote themselves to the ministry of Christianity, that that was not evidence that they were really born again.

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Which was a shocking thing to say to them. Yeah, which was quite offensive. The ministers of the day would say, look, my life is good, my doctrine is good, and I work hard for the church.

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What more do you expect? And they would say, you must be born again. And that was just so offensive. In the 18th century, more so, as Whitefield and others here in America, the

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Tenet brothers in particular, really hammered home the theme of an unregenerate or a non -born -again leadership of the church, that many ministers knew nothing more of conversion, as David Brainerd said, who became a missionary to the

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Indians, than that chair over there, which got him kicked out of college. So it's not a good thing to do, to say that about your religious professor.

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But today, I think we could say it this way, just because you are a teacher or a pastor does not mean that you know experientially the

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God of the Bible. And I would add that even if you have been genuinely converted, sometimes the temptation is to speak of things about Christ that you haven't personally experienced.

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So, in the book, Words to Winners of Souls, Bonnard comes back and says later, speaking about these confessions, speaking of Christ more by hearsay than from knowledge and experience.

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I mean, I think we have to really guard against those things, that temptation to speak churchy talk rather than to genuinely know it and speak from your own heart and experience.

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Yeah, and we're not saying by that, and they weren't either, that the truths of Scripture aren't true unless I've experienced them.

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They are objectively true, even if a donkey says them. But what is the pattern of our

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Lord? When He was talking with the Jews, He pointed out the distinct difference between their disciples and His disciples.

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We speak what we know. We tell you of a meal that we have eaten.

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It is a dishonoring thing to the living God for us to accept a surface knowledge, like you said, hearsay kind of just, well,

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I read a great commentary here, or I heard a preacher say this, but you have not done the hard work of bringing those truths down into your own life.

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So, that does ultimately dishonor the Lord, and they saw it as a sin. We really do appreciate being able to interact with you through the comments.

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So, if you have questions or just comments you'd like to leave, leave them below, and we'll get back to them as we have a chance.