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Showing posts with label Ai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ai. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Application Principle

Application Principle

             Applying God’s Truth only after the correct interpretation has been learned.  If we do not learn the correct interpretation first, the application can never be applied correctly, leading directly to false doctrine.   When we learn the proper interpretation of a certain text, then we can apply its truth to our lives and community. The interpretation of a text supplies us with the meaning.  When we understand the meaning of a text, then we are free to apply the meaning to our lives.  Here are some examples.
             The True Light- Exodus 10:21-24:   The Israelite's are in Egyptian bondage and God is in the process of freeing them.  The proper application of the story is that the sinner is in slavery to Satan and is in spiritual darkness, but was freed by God and brought into His Light of Salvation.
             This is the application.  In the ninth plague God judges the Egyptian sun god called Ra. The god Ra was the most important, and powerful of all of the Egyptian gods.
            The Egyptians were being judged because they did not worship the True Light, but instead worshiped a false god they had invented.  The leader of the Egyptians, Pharaoh, was trying to keep God’s people in bondage.  The wicked world that we live in today also is trying to keep us, God’s people, in spiritual bondage.  God put the Egyptians in physical darkness because they did not worship the One True God.  Today there is spiritual darkness because the world does not worship the One True God. 
             The Israelite's had light in their dwellings, but it was not a natural light, it was a supernatural light from God.  This supernatural Light shined out of their homes into a dark Egyptian land   Today, our bodies is our dwelling and temple of the Holy Spirit, it is not a natural light, but a supernatural light from God.  This supernatural Light shines forth out of our soul through our worship, good works and daily living in this dark world.
             There was total darkness over Egypt for three days (Exodus 10:22-23).  Egypt, in Scripture symbolizes the world; the world would again be in spiritual darkness while Jesus was in the tomb for three days.
             The Salvation of Rahab-Joshua 2:  Joshua had led the people across the Jordan River and was going to attack the city of Jericho.  The Israelite's were in large numbers, but Jericho was the strongest fortified city in Palestine and was confident.  But Rahab, a sinner, believed the messengers of God’s people and was saved.
             The application is as follows.  Rahab was a sinner living in a condemned city that was under the curse of God.  Jericho is a type of this world.  Rahab was a sinner living in a lost world, just like we are sinners living in this lost world.  Rahab was a prostitute and a bad character, on her own she is a condemned person.  We are spiritual prostitutes and are bad characters, and we are all condemned unless Christ saves us.  There was nothing about Rahab to commend her to God.  There is nothing in man to commend us to God (Romans 3:10).
             But Rahab had something that others in Jericho did not have, and that was she had faith in God.  She heard the message given to her by God’s messengers and believed the word of their God.  A few in this lost world will have faith.  We heard the Gospel and believed God’s world.  Rahab’s messengers said “Our life for yours.”  Here is the message Jesus Christ also have given us.  His life for ours! Everyone in this world is a potential Rahab, but like then, only a few will have the faith and believe.  Salvation of God comes from faith in His Word.
             Achan and Ai- sin in the Church- Joshua 7-8:  In Chapter 6 we have the stunning victory over the city of Jericho.  That was because the people were obedient to the Lord.  But after the victory they were supposed to give the wealth of the city to glorify the Lord in providing the victory.  Everyone did, except one, that was Achan.  A major theme of the book of Joshua is that obedience brings blessing, while disobedience brings defeat.  Chapters seven and eight discuss Achan’s sin and the implications of that sin on the entire house of God which Israel was at this time.
             This is the application for us today in the Church.  Until willful sin is purged from the Church, God’s blessing will be withheld, even the giving over of some saints to the devil for correction.  Jesus would later tell us that it takes only a little bit of liven to affect the whole loaf.  Christians would have much more power from God if we will just be obedient and refrain from sinful behaviors.  Achan’s sin was committed at the time of victory for Israel, but it led to a defeat soon after. 
            Sin usually catches Christian’s while they are on the mountain top, flush with spiritual victory.  If sin is quickly repented of it’s not a problem, but unrepentant sin will send a Christian or an entire Church crashing down into the valley. 
             David and Mephibosheth- 2 Samuel 9:  This is a beautiful story reflecting that God has mercy on mankind for the sake of another, which is Jesus Christ.  This is a beautiful picture of salvation by Christ.
             This is the application for us today.  David is now king and wishes to show the kindness of God to the house of Saul because of his covenant with Jonathan, Saul’s son.
             David now had the upper hand, and no one would have found any fault with him if he had rounded up the members of Saul’s family and killed them all, but David’s throne became a throne of mercy rather than of judgment because of another (Jonathan).  We may draw a comparison here and show that through the blood of Jesus Christ the throne of God is a throne of mercy today because of Another, God’s Son.  But this throne will someday become a throne of judgment because of those who reject Christ.
        Verse three tells us that Jonathan had a son whose name was Mephibosheth and was lame on both feet.  Mephibosheth was lame because of a fall.  His nurse had dropped him when fleeing with him from the enemy.  He had fallen at the hands of another.  Sinful man has fallen at the hands of another, who was Adam.  Every son of Adam is lame on both feet.  Now where was Mephibosheth?  He was in the house of Machir, in the land of Lodebar.  That was an interesting place, and that is just where the sinner is.  Machir means “sold.”  Mephibosheth was living in a house of bondage.  We are all sold under sin in a house of bondage- a slave of sin and a slave of Satan. 
 The land of Lodebar means “no pasture.”  Where there is no pasture there is no satisfaction.  No pasture means “no peace.”
             We read later that David sent and fetched him.  Mephibosheth did not go, he was not seeking David, and he did not fetch himself, but David sent and fetched him.  When we are sinners, God sends and fetched us.
             When Mephibosheth came to David, he fell on his face.  He feared David.  This is a picture of the sinner in fear on that great judgment day.  But Mephibosheth was to be shown kindness for the sake of another.  God, for Christ’s sake, will save the sinner.  God did not save you for your own sake, but because of another.  Mephibosheth went to live in Jerusalem, which means “Peace.”  He came from Lodebar (no pasture) to Jerusalem, the “city of peace.”  Here is an opportunity to tell the sinner to leave Lodebar and move down to Jerusalem.  God is already to fetch him out of Lodebar and over to Jerusalem.
             The end of the story is- “so Mephibosheth did eat continually at the king’s table; and was lame on both feet.”  The fact of the matter is, that when Mephibosheth came from Lodebar to Jerusalem, he brought his lame feet right along with him.  When we came to the King’s house and ate at the King’s table, and became members of the family of God we brought our lame feet with us.[1]
             Naaman and Elisha- 2 Kings 5:  This has to do with a Syrian captain and the Jewish captive.  Here was a little girl who believed that the prophet could heal Naaman of his leprosy.
             Here is the application.  Someone has said that there are millions of lepers in the world.  We are not certain as to the exact number, but we do know that there are many times that number of spiritual lepers.  Spiritually, every man is a leper until cleansed in the Blood.  His story gives the Gospel plan of salvation.
             Leprosy is a symbol of sin.  Men are lepers in the sight of God, when in sin.  In the nation of Israel, lepers were excluded from worship in the Temple of God, by the command of Jehovah.  This was not true in any of the other nations, for lepers were allowed to mingle with the rest of the people.  Sin, like leprosy, breaks out in the most loathsome forms.  You can see it on all sides.  Sin, like leprosy, makes everyone hideous.  Sin, like leprosy, brings separation.  In the nation of Israel, the leper could not come into the camp with the others.  When anyone came near, he must shout, “unclean, unclean!”  If the moral lepers of today had to shout, “unclean” there would be a terrific racket.  Sin, like leprosy, cannot be cured by man.  A sinner is a death-doomed man and no one can cure him but God.  It seems that no one could cure leprosy but God, in the Scriptures.  We mentioned here that there are some ways in which the sinner and a leper are not alike.  A leper never makes light of his leprosy, but a sinner does make light of his sin.  The leper knows he is a leper, but the sinner fails to recognize that he is a sinner.
             When a sinner is awakened to his sin, he will be miserable, as was Naaman.  With all of his good things, Naaman was not happy.
             The Gospel of cleansing came to Naaman through a little girl, not a great woman; but she had a great message.  She had a humble position.  Though she was a servant of Naaman and his wife, she was also a servant of Jehovah.  Here is a lesson.  The thing necessary to get Naaman into touch with God was the testimony of a servant.  When this little girl started to testify, things started to move, and the king moved, and then Naaman moved over into Israel.
             The law of Assyria did not bar Naaman from society, but in Israel God’s law said a leper must be separated.  When Naaman came into Israel, then Elisha treated him as a leper should be treated.  The trouble today is that the world is trying to make sin respectful, and God will not have it so.  You should treat the sinner as a sinner and put him in his place.  You can never save a man by patting him on the back and then feeding him cream puffs.  When the sinner takes a sinner’s place, then he will be saved.  There is too much fellowship with sin, and compromise with sin.  Naaman had to take the leper’s place before he was cleansed.  The sinner must take the place of the sinner.
             Naaman was willing to go far and do much, but he wanted to do things his own way.  The sinner is much like Naaman, for he is not satisfied with the remedy prescribed.  He will say it is too easy.  A sinner never does like God’s plan, and the reason is- God’s plan strips the sinner of all his righteousness.  It brings all sinners on the same plane.
             Naaman dipped seven times.  Seven is the number of God.  Six is the number of evil and of man.  There is no cleansing for man until six is submerged in God’s seven.  In Adam we are marked with six, but in Christ we are marked with seven.[2]
             The Lost Sheep- Luke 15:1-7:  Jesus has an audience of sinners and Pharisees and Scribes together.  Because we have two different groups of people, we therefore have two different applications.  A man has a hundred sheep, but one has strayed off from the ninety-nine.  Jesus asked what man would not leave the ninety-nine to go and get the one that has strayed.  The answer is that they all would.  Jesus is saying to them that God will also.
        The application to the sinners in the audience is that God loves them and will diligently seek them out and lead them home.  Every sinner is precious in the sight of God and He will call all of them home. Sheep are silly little animals. Sheep are a prey animal so they will seek the safety in the pack.  But they are absent minded and will get distracted and accidentally wander off from the rest and get themselves into trouble.  People are like silly sheep sometimes, we will get distracted with the cares of this world and wander off from the Kingdom.  But when we come to our senses, we will also have a good shepherd by the name of Jesus Christ who will be there when we call out for help.
             The application for the Scribes and Pharisees (and preachers of today) is that instead of concerning themselves with making money and keeping power to themselves they should be a shepherd to the people and be looking for the strays and bring them back home.
             The Prodigal Son- Luke 15:11-32:  Jesus was eating at the house of one of the chief Pharisees with other Pharisees and Scribes, on the Sabbath day (Luke 14:1).  Chapter fourteen is the context setting up chapter fifteen which deals with the Prodigal Son.  While Jesus is there the Pharisees bring in a sick man to see if Jesus would heal him on the Sabbath day.  They are setting up Jesus so that they can accuse Him of working (healing) on the Sabbath day and kill Him.  These men are considering an evil act to stop the preaching of Jesus.  They know that Jesus can heal at will, they do not dispute this.  Because of this they know that Jesus is from God   Instead, these preachers are only concerned about their Temple money that they pocket and their positions that allow them to profit off the people.  Jesus heals the sick man in their sight (Luke 14:4) and then teaches on humility, the parable of the great feast, worthless salt, the lost sheep and the lost coin.  Now, Jesus sets Himself up to speak on the Prodigal Son.
             This is the application.  Jesus was trying to teach the Pharisees that God’s will is to be humble, and love the people.  They were only concerned with rules and regulations of their religious system that they had built up, not to serve God, but to serve themselves.  Their concern should have been to love one another and preach in the spirit of Godly love and not out of judgment and control.
             If any application is to be made to this present dispensation it must be made to people who are in a covenant relationship with God.  In other words, the prodigal son is not a lost sinner but a saved sinner.  He is a son.   The lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost boy all apply to the backslider.  The one-hundred sheep were saved; the coins were saved; the two boys were saved.  It was a sheep that was lost, not a goat.  It was a real coin that was lost, not a counterfeit.  It was just as good as the rest of the coins on the string.  The boy was lost was just as much a son as the one who stayed at home.  This boy was a son, and nothing could unmake him a son.  He was a son in the home and a son when he left home, and a son when in the field feeding swine.  If he had died in the far country, he would have still been a son.  This boy was a son even when he brought shame to the family.  The parable teaches the everlasting love of God for His own.  The son could waste and spend all that he had, save his father’s love, but he could not spend that; and when he returned home his father met him with outstretched arms.[3]





[1] Hartill, J. Edwin.  Principles of Biblical Hermeneutics.  Zondervan Publishing House; Grand Rapids, MI, pgs. 44-45.  1947.


[2] Hartill, J. Edwin.  Principles of Biblical Hermeneutics.  Zondervan Publishing House; Grand Rapids, MI.  Pgs 45-46.  194

[3]Hartill, J. Edwin.  Principles of Biblical Hermeneutics.  Zondervan Publishing House; Grand Rapids, MI, p. 46. (only last paragraph).

William J. Roop, M.A.B.S.