If you want to build a puzzle, you would need to open the box. First, you would see hundreds of pieces that you are supposed to build with. You would know that each piece would represent a part of the puzzle, but you would not know the order yet, or how the pieces fit together. Those individual pieces are KNOWLEDGE. You have to have knowledge to build, but building cannot stop at knowledge.
DOCTRINE #5: KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge is a fact. A fact is a Right WHAT. Knowledge alone puffs us up in pride. The devil has knowledge. The written word of God is always knowledge. The Bible is a fact or a Right WHAT.
Question: Do you believe your knowledge is sufficient enough to have a relationship with God?
Next Doctrine: Doctrine #6
Table of Contents
If you need it, here is the support from God's Word...
SCRIPTURE
Doctrine #1: Words showed the importance of words. However, there were three different types of words mentioned in the Bible. The first type was the written word of God. In the New Testament, the Greek word was graphe. It was translated as "word" or "scripture". In fact, we saw an example of this in a passage from Doctrine #2: Definitions. In the following passage, Jesus referenced the scriptures in verse 29:
"23 On that day there came to him Sadducees, they that say that there is no resurrection: and they asked him,
24 saying, Teacher, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
25 Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first married and deceased, and having no seed left his wife unto his brother;
26 in like manner the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.
27 And after them all, the woman died.
28 In the resurrection therefore whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.
29 But Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as angels in heaven.
31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
33 And when the multitudes heard it, they were astonished at his teaching." (Matthew 22:23-33)
(Notice, "knowing" was associated with the written word of God. We also saw the following passage in Doctrine #3: Man's Thinking. The Sadducees didn't know the scriptures. They had incorrect facts, or a Wrong WHAT.)
"1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth.
2 If any man thinketh that he knoweth anything, he knoweth not yet as he ought to know;
3 but if any man loveth God, the same is known by him." (I Corinthians 8:1-3)
(ALL have knowledge. Knowledge alone puffs us up in pride; everyone can become prideful. However, love edifies, creates; love is profitable. In fact, look at this well known passage five chapters later...)
"1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." (I Corinthians 13:1-2)
(Paul stated that having all knowledge without love made him NOTHING. Now look again at Paul's "meaning of life" passage that we covered in Doctrine #2: Definitions. Pay particular attention to verse 13...)
"11 And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ:
13 till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14 that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;
15 but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, even Christ;
16 from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love." (Ephesians 4:11-16)
(Knowledge is one thing that can be completed in eternity. However, it looks as if love is something that is never going to reach a finish line. Love is a complicated Doctrine which we will cover once we build a stronger foundation. Here is a passage that supported this...)
"8 Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away." (I Corinthians 13:8)
(The following exchange occurred over the written word of God, which both Jesus and the devil knew.)
"1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered.
3 And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5 Then the devil taketh him into the holy city; and he set him on the pinnacle of the temple,
6 and saith unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and, On their hands they shall bear thee up, Lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, Again it is written, Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God."
(Matthew 4:1-7)
(The devil has knowledge. We've seen that knowledge alone puffs us up. We know the devil fell because he was puffed up in pride.)
"1 Brethren, my heart's desire and my supplication to God is for them, that they may be saved.
2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth.
5 For Moses writeth that the man that doeth the righteousness which is of the law shall live thereby." (Romans 10:1-5)
(We've seen that knowledge alone is not enough. This passage showed that people who have the zeal for God without knowledge are ignorant and fall into their own way of thinking. To use the puzzle analogy again, have you ever seen a child jamming two pieces together that don't fit?)
"16 And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17)
(Knowledge sounds like man's way of thinking, by itself it can lead to death. Finally, here was how the Book of Proverbs began...)
"1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
2 To know wisdom and instruction; To discern the words of understanding;
3 To receive instruction in wise dealing, In righteousness and justice and equity;
4 To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion:
5 That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; And that the man of understanding may attain unto sound counsels:
6 To understand a proverb, and a figure, The words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
7 The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction." (Proverbs 1:1-7)
(Notice, knowledge is for the young man...and let's be honest, who's more immature than the "young man"? The respect for God is the beginning of knowledge. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve didn't have knowledge, but they had respect for God.)
Knowledge is meant for the immature, for the young man, for the child, for ALL. There must be a way to build. There must be a progression toward maturity! Have you ever taught a child to put a puzzle together? They need to be taught the reason why you start with the boarder.
