KNOW THE TRUTH FOR OURSELVES
THE Master says, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8: 32. And again He says, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." Verse 36. Each individual is to know the truth for himself. "It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God." John 6: 45. God's only plan of teaching is to teach men through His word, and He has arranged to have it so that the weakest and the feeblest of the human family may understand and know for himself the teachings of that Word. We are not to take things merely because men supposedly wise and good are teaching them, but we are to know the truth for ourselves. We are to see it in God's own word by the guidance of His Spirit. We are to take nothing for granted just simply because some good man in whom we have confidence said it. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help," is the divine admonition. Ps. 146: 3. Even though the man be a prince and a great character, yet he may be mistaken or misguided. Our faith and confidence and trust must be anchored in the infallible Word itself. "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes." Ps. 118: 8, 9. The prophet Jeremiah even goes so far as to affirm that a curse will be reaped by the man who places his trust in men instead of in the living God. "Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." Jer. 17: 5-8. One of the commonest mistakes is for people to place their faith in supposedly good men in the place of understanding for themselves the truth of the living God as revealed in His word. God designs that you, as well as the most influential, useful, and devout minister, are to know for yourself the living truth of the living God. You are to know it not because you see it in the teaching of the minister, but because it is clear to you from the Bible itself. The minister may be a great help to you in understanding the word of God, but he must not become your god.