The Perspicuity Of Scripture

[0:00] Welcome. You're about to hear an inspirational message by David Entry. May your faith increase and your heart be stirred towards God as you listen to this life-transforming message.

[0:13] Press subscribe so you're the first to know when the messages are released. Blessed are your ears full of things they hear. Today I want to teach on faith. In the book of Luke chapter 24 verse 45, I found something there which was very much a great encouragement.

[0:32] And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. He opened their understanding that what? That they might comprehend the scriptures.

[0:43] What makes you think that you can just understand the Bible? Wow. They've been reading the Bible every day but their understanding was closed. Jesus when he resurrected, he just had to open their understanding that they might understand the scriptures.

[0:59] Every time you're about to read your Bible, pray that God opened my understanding that I might understand the scriptures. The only one who can teach you the scriptures is the one who wrote it.

[1:11] He knows exactly what he wrote. The Holy Spirit. So Jesus said, I have so much to tell you but you can't take. Excuse me, what do you mean I can't take? He said, we can't hear. No, no, there's a difference between hearing and understanding.

[1:25] A man came to, Philip went to a man and saw him sitting in the chariot, Ethiopia Union, Philip. He said, do you understand what you're reading? He said, how can I understand? Except somebody explains it to me.

[1:38] The scriptures are not just a book you just read with your natural mind and think you can get everything. There are certain aspects of the scriptures.

[1:48] It's as obvious as ABC. He said, when your enemy is thirsty, give him to drink. When he's hungry, what extra thing do you need?

[2:00] It's not esoteric. It's not a request sign. It's just straightforward. For God so loved the world that he gave it. It's straightforward. So there are a lot of parts of the scriptures which theologians say is the PPP principle.

[2:15] Okay. It's the Protestant principle of perspicuity of scripture. So I will break your understanding easily.

[2:27] How many of you have heard the word conspicuous? Conspicuous. Yeah. When they say something is conspicuous, what does that mean? Obvious. Obvious. What does it mean? Obvious. Obvious.

[2:38] Obvious. Yeah. How about perspicuous? Perspicuous. Clearly expressed and easily understood. Lucid. Yeah. Read it again.

[2:48] Clearly expressed and easily understood. Lucid. Clearly expressed and easily understood. When they say something is perspicuous. And the scripture is perspicuous.

[2:59] So the perspicuity of scripture. Yeah. Do you understand? So it's perspicuous. The perspicuousness. But we don't say perspicuousness. So perspicuity.

[3:11] And it is a principle of. And when there was. Those of you who have a little bit of knowledge about the reformation. There was the reformation. And the protestants who left the catholic church.

[3:24] Because the catholic church at that time. The bible is only written in latin. And nobody is allowed to read it. Except those who are trained like the catholic father. That's why. Santeri santeri santeri santeri.

[3:34] And they do all that. Because you are not supposed to read the bible. Because you can't understand it. But the reformers. Those who left the church. And they call them protestants. They came up with a principle.

[3:46] That the bible is basically understood. Understandable. By even the one who is not learned. So the protestant principle of perspicuity of scripture.

[3:59] That it makes sense now. Yeah. So it's simple. So the scriptures are so perspicuous. That you don't need a trained mind to understand it.

[4:11] How many of you have read the bible. And you got something that is saying. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Watch this. The basic message of the bible.

[4:21] Is so plain to understand. It's plain to understand. The highly trained. Professional. Or highly trained.

[4:33] Or educated person. Can understand. And the uneducated person. Can understand. The basic message of the scriptures. It's so straightforward.

[4:45] The scriptures are perspicuous. In its basic message. The message of love. The message of not sinning. The message of forgiveness of sins in Christ.

[4:57] The message of Jesus died on the cross to save us. When you read it. It's there. Clear. The message of righteousness brings reward. It's clear. The basic message of scripture.

[5:07] So the scriptures is perspicuous enough. For you to read and understand. The basic message. But to be able to get the total agenda of God.

[5:21] Your eyes must be opened. Your eyes must be opened. When it comes to the knowledge of God.

[5:31] There is something that theologians call. The immediate revelation of God. The immediate revelation of God. According to Romans chapter 1 verse 20.

[5:44] It says that. For the invisible things of God. Are clearly seen. Being understood by the things that were made.

[5:56] Read it. For since the creation of the world. Since when. The creation of the world. The world was created. Okay. This is a basic information in the Bible. The world was created.

[6:06] The world. Listen. It's basic in the scriptures. That the world was created. There is no way. Science.

[6:18] Can prove creation. Wow. It's true. It's bizarre. It's absurd. It's madness.

[6:28] To think. You can prove creation. In what way. It is not a repeatable event. Science. Science. Comes. To conclusion.

[6:39] Based on. Observations. And experiment. You do it. And you can repeat it. Creation cannot be repeated. And it was once and for. It's a miracle. You cannot. Science cannot explain.

[6:51] How Jesus walked on water. Yes. That's all. Science cannot explain. How Lazarus. Four days dead. Oh. In the tomb. Came out. Alive.

[7:01] Science can't. That is beyond science. Science doesn't have. What it takes to explain. Because that is. Supernatural events. Creation is supernatural. You are not there. To tell the story. What makes you think.

[7:12] That. Oh. Billions. And billions. And billions. And billions. Of years ago. Something. Something. A mass. Like a jelly light. Exploded. What does it.

[7:22] Where did it come from. And what caused it. To explode. So. In Greek philosophy. And in Greek. Philosophy. They. They. They.

[7:32] They always knew. That. There is something. Behind creation. There is something. Behind existence. We don't know. What to call it. How many of you. Have met people. You talked to. They said. Well. I don't want to call it.

[7:43] God. I just. I just. I just. I just. I just know. Some energy. Something came. But I just don't want to call it. God. Yes. I agree with you. I can understand. Why you don't want to call it. God. Because. As soon as you call it.

[7:54] God. You have to now. Begin to live. According to the standards. Of God. So. I don't want to call it. God. Because then. I. I come under responsibility. To obey. And I'm afraid. I don't want to do it.

[8:04] So. I can tell. Because it's so common sense. It's not. It's so basic. To know. That nothing can. Nothing can ever come. Or something can never come out of nothing.

[8:17] Now. We all. We are just there. One thing. Something happened. And then we started emerging. Everybody's coming. Oh. How stupid can that be? Nothing. Nothing. How stupid can that be?

[8:28] Oh. Pardon. Were you there? How can science prove the origin of man? You're not there. Experiments. Listen. You can't.

[8:38] How far can you go back? But the one who was there. Who made it. He said. This is how it happened. And you have a problem with that. Yeah. I can understand. Because you don't want to live by his standards. Oh.

[8:49] Yes. Yes. Bible says that. Read it again. Verse 20. Romans 1. 20. Quickly. For since the creation of the world. Since when? The creation of the world.

[9:00] Since when? The creation of the world. The world has a beginning. Creation. So in Greek philosophy. It is. It's called. The reason. Years ago.

[9:11] They used to call it. The reason. They used to call it. The idea behind creation. The idea behind the existence. They used to call it. The logos. The idea behind the world. The idea behind the world. They used to call it something.

[9:22] It's something. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. Logos. It's not new. That's why. When people say. I don't believe that. I believe something exists beyond us. But I. Excuse me.

[9:33] That's funny. I choose not to call it God. Excuse me. You are deluded. Yes. Be real. What you choose to call it doesn't matter. Yes. You don't have a say.

[9:44] You don't have a say. Your opinion is irrelevant. Oh. Absolutely. Your opinion doesn't define God. Excuse me. Your opinion doesn't define God.

[9:58] You haven't even been able to discover your own identity. Yes.

[10:10] You think you know God. You. You have an exaggerated opinion of yourself. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So in Romans chapter 1 verse 20 said that. For.

[10:22] Read it. For since the creation. Oh. This since thing keeps messing me up. I just. Since. From the time of. So creation happened at the 13th point time.

[10:35] But the good thing is. Before creation. Somebody was. Since creation. Of the world.

[10:46] His invisible attributes are clearly seen. That's where I was going. The invisible attributes. Think about it. Think about it. Let's. Let's play on words a little bit. The invisible.

[10:56] What. What. When we say something is invisible. What's the meaning? But what did you just read? That. His invisible attributes are clearly seen. Invisible. Things.

[11:07] Are clearly seen. Hey. I've seen more God. This is a justice. So what are you talking about? You just said it's invisible. And now you said they are clearly seen. Yeah. That. That. That's what I'm telling you.

[11:19] The attributes. The characteristics. Let me just use the word characteristics. For. Just for. Spanish. The characteristics. The manner. See. So. The. The attributes of God. How would you know?

[11:29] You can't see God. He's too big for your mind to contain him. It's like. You have bought this hotel. And now you are relocating to America. So you want to ship it. You can't ship.

[11:46] A story building like this. No. What are you thinking? That's. When you think you can understand God. That's what you're asking for. You. You're trying to understand. Your mind is finite.

[11:56] How can your mind contain. Infinity. The finite cannot contain. Infinity. Come on. Wow. It's a limitation. The very moment you understand him.

[12:08] He ceases to be God. Wow. It's true. Because he's so God. And you're so man. So. The most intelligent. Amongst men. Can never get anywhere near.

[12:19] Conceptualizing God. So. The only way you can understand God. And have a glimpse. Of who God is. Is by his attributes. His attributes. His manner. His characteristics.

[12:30] And Bible says that. From the. Since the creation of. The world. The invisible. Attributes of God. Which we can't see. Are now clearly seen. How? Being understood.

[12:43] By the things that are made. The things that are made. Your shoe is telling you about God. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Mother nature. Oh. Come on. It is. There is a personality behind.

[12:53] When you look at nature. She'll point you to God. When you look at the wildlife. She'll point you to God. When you look at the ecosystem.

[13:05] She'll point you to God. When you look at your hair. She'll point you to God. That you can't even wear a wig. And look like a hair. She'll point you to God.

[13:15] Oh. so the invisible attributes i'm trying to move you to somewhere the invisible attributes of god are clearly seen being understood by the things that were made so that they are not without excuse the more you want to think the more you can see that there is god if you are a thinker unless you are stupid that's not what bible says in some 14 verse 1 that the fool has said in his heart there's no god because it takes a higher level of stupidity to deny such obvious evidence such obvious evidence that no science has been able to create life scientific advancement can it just puts what already exists in life to try and create but you can't create life because life came from god if there's no god okay how did life come life is a very complex thing can you imagine you are there and your mother is also there but you came from your mother and some of you see your grandma your grandma your mother came from your grandma and you also came from your mom and the three of you are all alive and they are there you can see hello but at the point in time they were there but you never existed you never existed is someone getting what i'm saying his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that were made so that they are without excuse is it in your bible read it for since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and godhead so that they are without excuse without excuse you one day when you are before judge the judgment judgment of god you can't say i didn't really know there's no god because everything is showing you that there's god so god watch this god has not heeded himself he has left his footprints on creation so that anyone who cares to know even if you are not seeking you find out that there's something about creation it's shouting so loud that god is there god is that's why they are working so hard to deny it because it's more work to deny what is obvious it's true it's true it's working hard to no no they can't be god they can't be god when people say they are 80s they do it with such energy and passion so the problem the actual thing is it takes more faith to be an 80s than to be a believer because the evidence are so clear it is it takes a lot of work to try and believe against the evidence does christianity will give you grounds to pray because god will never force himself into anybody's life can even if your parents are christians doesn't make you a christian your parents can force you to go to church and still you are not a christian christianity is you genuinely say jesus i accept you and no one can do that for you and no one can force you to do that that's christianity so watch this so the invisible attributes are clearly of god that clearly seen it is called you don't need mediation no media social media media is like a medium to communicate information so when you say there is a there is a mediator there's a mediator between you and your former guy it's like they're trying to mediate between the two and you know what i'm talking about so media media is a medium to transfer or send information so when we say something is immediate that means that without medium without media the revelation of god and creation is immediate it's an immediate revelation

[17:18] what you look you can tell there's something going on here so what theologians said is say it's an immediate revelation you don't need to no one needs to explain it you can actually tell that there is god there is the immediate revelation of god that is obvious to everybody but there is another side of god the insights revealed knowledge of god which you can't just know unless you are taught that is what happened to the disciples and he opened their understanding and they might understand the scriptures the scriptures are there to point out to the attributes and the nature of god you can't know just by creation the scripture so how can you know god outside of the scriptures no so you close the bible and say there's no god i can understand why because what you know even though it's telling you are denying and you can't go further than that and the second corinthians chapter 4 verse 4 tells us that satan the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers it's a serious thing if you are an unbeliever it's not your mind is blind oh come on i have phd i have phd in english english literature i'm a phd holder in philosophy phd holder in english literature phd holder in latin i mean i i i hold four phd holder in english literature how can you tell me i can't understand excuse me it doesn't give you what it takes to understand because this understanding is not naturally spiritual so he says watch this he says satan satan is not a physical being it's a spiritual being he has blinded the minds of unbelievers let's let's the the glory of the gospel of christ to shine it's not really whose minds the god of this age has blinded who do not believe less the light of the gospel of the glory of christ who is the image of god should shine on them less the light of the gospel of the glory of christ who is the minute should shine on them but it's not about to shine on them so we come to church we are happy some there are people sitting here when you are screaming they are wondering what you're screaming about it's because you don't understand it you don't get it you don't get it you don't get it what what you have found in scripture is better than anything you can find any treasure so but what he hasn't said anything exceptional yeah you haven't heard anything exceptional but we are hearing something we are hearing something we are hearing something hallelujah so we have the immediate revelation you don't need anybody to tell you but we also have the revelation of god in scriptures that needs somebody and your your the eyes of your understanding must be enlightened else satan the god of this world has blinded you that is why christians pray for people we pray as we are going to preach to them we pray that let the light the scales fall of their eyes when you become born again one way of putting is i've seen the light how many of you since you started coming into god you realize that you were so stupid those of you haven't realized it's likely that you haven't noticed on the others you haven't moved to the other you are still in the realm oh i love jesus what's your blessing in this season please sit down let me finish anyway i told i thought you i was going to talk about faith but i was trying to just encourage someone to know that sometimes you think you know but your mind is closed god jesus the disciples they were working with jesus for three years and still their understanding was closed bible said he opened their understanding like he had a key he opened their understanding that they might understand the scripture one of your biggest prayers should be god open my understanding

[21:21] because the god of this world is easily blinding people's minds god bless you for listening to this message to hear more from david entry follow him on twitter facebook instagram and youtube and visit www.caris.org for videos and upcoming events remember be a doer of the word and not just a hearer