Faithful sayings to take to the bank

Four times in Paul’s writings he uses the expression, ‘This is a faithful saying.’

“The idea is, ‘This is something you can count on,’ ” explains Jordan. “A lot of things in the world you can’t count on. You know what a 'saying' is. Brother Mel just this morning was sharing one his mother used to say: ‘When the days get longer the cold gets stronger.’ Whatever that’s supposed to mean.

“When the days start getting longer around the 22^nd of December the cold’s coming in January and February. But the days get really long in July and it’s hot. The saying doesn’t hold continually, but it’s kind of a truism. We have a lot of sayings that aren’t real faithful. A faithful saying is one you can depend on.

“We say, ‘Birds of a feather flock together.’ That’s saying you see people out there who are kind of the same. You know, ‘Water seeks its own level.’ But then you see two people who are absolute opposites get together and you say, ‘Opposites attract.’

“Well, which is it? It’s one that fits one situation and another that fits a different situation and we do those kind of things. Down South you used to hear what we call ‘Chimney-corner Scriptures.’ They say, ‘Every tub shall sit on its own bottom.’

“I’ve had people fight me and swear that’s in the Bible when it’s not. Now, the idea is in the Bible. Romans 14:12 says, ‘So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.’ Chimney-corner Scriptures are truisms and colloquialism but it’s not really Bible. We tell our kids, ‘Cleanliness is next to godliness.’ Well, that’s not really true either, but it’s sure good to tell kids.

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“A faithful saying is one that God guarantees to be true every time. There are four times Paul refers to it in four different relationships. The first one is about the gospel. I Timothy 1:15 says, [15] This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

“The second one is about godliness I Timothy 4:8-9 says, [8] For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
[9] This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.

“The next one is in II Timothy 2 and it has to do with the enduring of suffering. The passage says, [11] It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
[12] If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
[13] If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

“The last one is in Titus 3:8: [8] This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

“You’ll notice all of these sayings are in these personal epistles to Timothy and Titus and are what we call ‘pastoral epistles.’ They are personal epistles written to men who are involved in the work of the ministry of the Body of Christ. When you look at these four topics you’re really looking at the whole gamut of what the Christian life is really all about.

“Everybody ought to be believe I Timothy 1:15. What a wonderful message to proclaim. Everybody ought to believe that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Paul said, ‘Of whom I am chief.’ That last little expression there tells you who preaches this message; who brings this message to you. ‘This message is brought to you by,’ and there’s the sponsor: ‘The chief of sinners.’

“When you read that expression ‘chief of sinners,’ always remember this passage: Phil 3:6: [6] Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

“Paul lived a morally upright life. His life was filled with the rectitude of the law. You see, the ‘righteousness’ of the scribes and Pharisees, and Paul identifies himself here as a Pharisee, was having an external, rigid life code. These people, you could go to their home and leave your life savings on the table and when you got back it would be there in as good a condition as when you left it, if not better. These people were righteous in their conduct.

“The word ‘chief’ means to be the first in a line. We talk about an Indian chief. He’s the head of the tribe. We talk about how this is ‘the chief principal’ for which we stand, meaning this is the No. 1 issue in our life.

“If you look at I Timothy 1:16 you see the word ‘first’ again, [16] Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

“That term ‘first’ is the same term as ‘chief’ in verse 15. It means to be the foremost, the one out in the front, the first one. Paul’s talking about being a leader of sinners. He’s saying that in two ways. In verse 13, he says, [13] Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

“Paul in his life as an unsaved man literally was a blasphemer and a persecutor and an injurious person. He blasphemed the work of God. When you find Paul’s conversion on the Road to Damascus in Acts 9, what you read about is a man who had literally gone and gotten legal documents from the government; John Doe warrants. And he was the government of his nation’s legal representative to go out and persecute people who were followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s literally leading his nation and the world, through them, in rebellion; he was the chief leader of the world’s rebellion against Christ.”

“Notice carefully in I Timothy 1:16, Paul says, ‘for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.’ Not only was he leading the world’s rebellion against Christ, but when he got saved, Christ turned him into the leader of those which would hereafter believe on Christ. God’s grace made him a herald of His grace and a leader of the church the Body of Christ. That’s important because it helps you appreciate what he’s saying when he says ‘it’s a faithful saying.’

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"To study the Bible, you take all these little pieces that take 30-45 minutes apiece to study and work out and get into your understanding; that’s a piece. It takes time. I spend at least 20 hours a week just to study, not to prepare and get ready to teach and preach. I usually can get ready to do that in a couple of hours. It doesn’t take a lot of time to do that when you’ve done all the other study. My biggest problem is to cull stuff out, to pick the stuff I want to use out of this big pile of stuff.

“When I lost my Bible, I spent a long time in just a grieving process, not because I lost my Bible, but because I lost YEARS of notes and answers. You work through things and you work it out and you spend a day or two working out a problem and it’s a knotty thing but you work through and get to a conclusion.

“You write the references down and you write a note that explains it and I can read that little note and all that information will pop back up on the screen in my mind.

“When I lost the Bible what kept bothering me is I’d go start studying something, just like I turned to Isaiah 14, and all that study that I’d done in my other Bible where I’d make a note or something.

“What that note does is sort of capsulizes maybe two days of research in a note you’ve made that you can read in 30 seconds and be reminded about. It just sort of summarizes two days of thinking and research and stuff and you’ve got it capsulized down.

“What happens when I lose a little crib note? Well, I can remember most of it, but sometime maybe you didn’t think about that stuff. Maybe you don’t think about it again for two years. And then you come back across that passage of Scripture and study it and you’re trying to figure out something and that stuff you studied two years ago is going to be the key to understanding what you’re trying to figure out today.

“You get there and you say, ‘You know, if I could figure out that little piece of information there, I could answer this and, you know, I figured that out a couple of years ago and it’s written in the margin of that Bible I lost and then you’re depressed again. You’re ready to go kick the car.

“It doesn’t mean you can’t restudy it; it’s an issue of efficiency and time. I don’t like to do something three times. I like to do it once, get it right and then move on. Build on that. That’s what we do when we study.

“You might think, ‘What’s that got to with anything?’ Well, later on that little piece out there that you didn’t know had anything to do with anything, later on you’ll find that it will be a key for you somewhere else and that’s the way you put the Bible together.

“You just keep adding the information, and the bits, and pretty soon it all kind of fills in. When you study something, don’t get discouraged because you can’t right that minute see some practical application into what you already know. Just remember you’re just putting information on the shelf that later on you’ll be able to pull down and use.”