A Message from Homer G. Rhea

Truth and Power: The Place of Scripture in the Christian Life by J. I. Packer is a defense of the inerrancy of the Bible. It also offers many helpful insights that show how the Word speaks to our lives. The author presents seven points, each of which highlights an aspect of the approach that is critical for communion with Christ.

First, think of the Bible as a library, a collection of 66 separate pieces of writing. Their common purpose is to inform us about God and godliness and to draw us into a responsive life of faith. These books were written over a period of something like 1,500 years in a number of different cultures. The unity of their presentation of God and His ways is simply stunning.

Second, see the Bible as a landscape, that is, a panorama of human life. It is a people book, narrating stories of good and evil in the lives of some of the most vital, fascinating people you can imagine. As we read their stories, we learn a steady flow of lessons about right and wrong ways to live.

Third, look upon the Bible as a letter, a love letter addressed to you personally by the divine Lord. We take love letters very seriously, reading them over and over. Sometimes the writer’s words of love affect us so poignantly they take our breath away. If we read the Bible seriously as God’s love letter, this will be our experience time and time again.

Fourth, think of the Bible as a listening post, where you go to hear the voice of God. Our hearing of the specific things God has to say to us at this moment begins with our overhearing what He said to others long ago—to Israel, or to the disciples, or to the early Christians. Those who approach the Bible as their listening post and listen for God as they read it are made aware of particular things that God is saying to them about their relationship with Him.

Sixth, always approach Holy Scripture as a light. Psalm 119:105 states, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Walking by the light of Scripture is like walking by the shining of a flashlight. Beyond the little circle of vision that your flashlight gives you, the darkness remains, and it is through this continuing darkness that you travel. But Scripture enables you to see each next step you must take.

Seventh, the Holy Scripture should be to us a lifeline. A lifeline is a rope to which a drowning person clings while being pulled ashore. To people drowning in hopelessness, Bible truth comes as a lifeline. God throws this lifeline to us to ensure that we stay connected with Him while the rescue is in progress. The hope that the Scriptures bring us arrests and reverses the drowning experience here and now, generating inward vitality and renewed joy.

This review has been written primarily in J. I. Packer’s own words. My hope is that they have as much meaning for you as they have had for me.

God’s faithfulness is written large upon the pages of God’s Word. The Bible calls upon believers to reciprocate by being faithful to Him. The story of three Hebrews—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—recorded in Daniel 3, illustrates how God honors those who honor Him. They defied a king who would have them denounce God. They made their intentions clear. Regardless of the consequences, they would be true to their God. They would not serve the god of the king. In turn, God delivered them from a fiery furnace. Several lessons may be learned about the faithfulness of God here.

First, God is accessible in our time of need. The story of the Hebrew children shows how accessible God is in our time of need. He was with them prior to their being cast into the fiery furnace. Then in the furnace experience, He manifested Himself in a measure beyond what they had witnessed before. The measure of His manifestation was in exact proportion to their need. They needed to be protected from the heat of the flames, and He protected them. They needed to be loosened from the bonds that bound them, and He loosened them. They needed to be delivered from the furnace, and He delivered them.

God is just as accessible to believers today. He will minister to us according to our need.

Second, God acts when it is His time to act. The Hebrew children could have imagined that God had abandoned them when they were cast into the fiery furnace. But God has a purpose in all things. He acts when it is His time to act. This story illustrates how His time is always the best time. Scripture repeatedly reminds us to wait upon the Lord. Our faith is not always as strong as that of the Hebrew children. We are prone to take matters into our own hands. If we will wait upon the Lord, in His own time—which is the best time—He will act.

Third, we are safe in God’s Hands. The Hebrews were safe in the fiery furnace because they were in God’s hands. Nothing can penetrate the protective shield God places around His children without His express permission. What comfort we have in knowing that God cares about us and we are safe in His hands!

Fourth, God is at work when we are unaware of His activity. If God had been idly observing the events surrounding the Hebrew children, then we might have cause for concern. The fact of the matter is that unseen forces were at work in behalf of these faithful followers of the living God before they knew it. Even as they were admitted to the flames, they were surrounded by a protective Presence.

How often God is at work for us and we are unaware of His activity! Elisha’s servant was blinded to God’s activity. Elisha prayed for God to remove the veil from the servant’s eyes that he might see the host of heaven there to fight for God’s man (see 2 Kings 6:13-17). The apostle Peter was unaware of Jesus’ activity in his behalf. Satan desired to have Simon Peter that he might sift him as wheat, but Jesus prayed for him (see Luke 22:31, 32).

Many times our feet would have wandered into wayward paths, but a faithful God intervened in our behalf. The intercessory ministry of Jesus is vitally important to victorious Christian living. He is at the right hand of the Father pleading our case for us, expanding our boundaries, and perfecting His call of excellence in us.

He had one of the sharpest minds of any man I have ever met. As a farmer/businessman, he showed unusual shrewdness. His political influence was evident because he served as a colonel (an honorary position) on the staff of two Mississippi governors. He was liked and respected by people from all spectrums of society. But K. C. Peters was not a Christian.

Usually a very confident man, at one point in his life this native of Charleston, Mississippi, became obsessed with fear about his health. He seemed utterly helpless in trying to overcome his fear. He spent some time in a hospital and eventually was given electrical shock treatments to erase from his mind the thoughts that were causing him to be afraid.

During this time, the Holy Spirit began to deal with him about his spiritual needs. Even after he had gone home from the hospital, the Spirit continued to speak to him.

One morning I felt an inner urge to go to K. C.’s house. When I arrived—his house was located in a beautiful rustic setting—he met me at the door and said: “Preacher, the Lord sent you here this morning. I’ve gone three times to get my hat to go to town, and for some reason I just couldn’t leave.” Then he added, “I want to be saved.”

We went into the house, sat down on the sofa, and talked about the plan of salvation. I suggested that he needed to ask God to forgive him for the wrong he had done. He responded, “Preacher, I’ve asked God to forgive me of every sin that I can think of that I’ve ever committed. I’ve told Him that if I have forgotten any sin, if He will bring it to my attention, I will ask His forgiveness for that too.”

I told K. C. that if he had come to grips with the sin in his life, all he needed to do now was to place his faith in Jesus Christ and invite the Savior to come into his heart. At that point, we knelt together, and K. C. prayed the sinner’s prayer.

After the prayer, he looked at me as tears streamed down his cheeks and said, “Preacher, I feel something that I’ve never felt before. I feel clean and peaceful in my heart.” Such was the character of this man that he apologized for his tears.

The Lord gloriously saved K. C. Peters that morning. He became one of the best friends I have ever had. Though he has gone on to be with the Lord, I am still influenced by his life. His experience is just one example of the complete change that takes place when a person is regenerated.

Henry C. Thiessen in Lectures in Systematic Theology define regeneration “as the communication of divine life to the soul (John 3:5; 10:10, 28; 1 John 5:11, 12), as the impartation of a new nature (2 Peter 1:3) or heart (Jeremiah 24:7; Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26), and the production of a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:10; 4:24).”

The plan to regeneration is simple. When the jailer fell down before Paul and Silas (Acts 16) and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (v. 30). They replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (v. 31, NKJV).

All we have to do to be born again is to repent of our sins and believe on the Lord Jesus as our personal Lord and Savor. We don’t clean up, give up, or turn around ourselves; we just come as we are.

—From A New Creation (Cleveland, Tennessee) pp. 95-97, 100, 103