Verification of the truth of the Holy Scriptures by one's own patience, experience, and observation. Here are a few examples:
Ask yourself whether or not the following statements are true:
These things I (Jesus) have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation, Jhn1633.
Of the ungodly it is said:
(1) An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire. A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends. A violent man enticeth his neighbour, and leadeth him into the way that is not good. He shutteth his eyes to devise froward things: moving his lips he bringeth evil to pass, Pro1627-30.
(2) These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage, Jude0116.
(3) They
loved the praise of men more than the praise of God, Jhn1243.
(4) And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge
in the most High? Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in
the world; they increase in riches, Pss7311,12.
(5) There are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, Jude0104.
(6) In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, 2Tm0301-05.
Of the unbelievers it is said:
(7) Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe, Jhn0448.
(8) To whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? Heb0318.
(9) Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers, 1Co0605,06.
(10) The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables, 2Tm0403,04.
Of the wicked it is said:
(11) The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked, Isa5720.
(12) The wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand, Dan1210.
Of the worldlywise it is said:
(13) My people is foolish, they have not known me (saith the Lord); they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge, Jer0422.
(!4) Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain, Jas0413. Saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:), Mat0631,32.
(15) There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death, Pro1412.
(16) They
are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world
heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he
that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth, and the spirit of error, 1Jn0405,06. Even the Spirit of
truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it
seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you, Jhn1417.
(17) Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe (from sin, from wrath, from death), 1Co0120,21.
Of idolaters it is said:
(18) The Lord your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner. So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day, 2Kg1739-41.
(19) For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go, Jer1003-05.
(20) To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship. They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble. Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Isa4605-09.
(21) Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not, Isa0208,09.
Of traditionalists it is said:
(22) As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh (outwardly appear righteous,Mat2328), they constrain you to be circumcised (conformed to Moses and the customs, under the first covenant, Act1501;Heb0807; 0910); only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh (outward shew, Luk1720m), Gal0612,13.
(23) For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, 1Co0118. Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition, Mrk0709.
(24) They sought it (righteousness) not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, Rom0932.
(25) They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers, Mat2304.
(26) Blind leaders, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues (places of assembly), and the chief rooms at feasts; Which devour widows' houses, and for a shew make long prayers, Luk2046,46.
(27) They worship me (the Lord), teaching for doctines the commandments of men, Mrk0707. Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth, Tit0114.
(28) Are ye subject to ordinances (ordinances of divine service, Heb0101), (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Col0220-22.
(29) Wherefore
the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their
mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their
heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept
of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work
among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the
wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of
their prudent men shall be hid, Isa2913,14.
(30) Verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine
service, and a worldly sanctuary: Which stood only in meats and
drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, (rites and
ceremonies) imposed on them until the time of reformation, Heb0901;10.
Howbeit they could not stedfastly look to the end of that which
is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day
remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old
testament; which vail is done away in Christ, 2Co0313,14.
(31) Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace, Gal0504. (To him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Rom0404-06. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified, Gal0216).
(32) There were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not, 2Pe0201-03.
(33) Who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake, Tit0111.
(34) And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord, Jer0905,06.
(35) Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived, 2Tm0313. Being carried about with divers and strange doctrines, Heb1309.
(36) And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage (under the elements of the world, Gal0403; Through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ, Col0208,09), Gal0204.
Of the disobedient it is said:
(37) Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction, 2Pe0315,16.
(38) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables, 2Tm0403,04.
(39) Ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof, Pro0125. For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them, Pro0129-32.
Of the nations it is said:
(40) From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts, Jas0401-03.
(41) Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven, Luk2110,11.
Of the well intended it is said:
(42) The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin, Rom0719-25.
(43) That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered, Ecc0115.
Of the lawbreakers it is said:
(44) The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth, Pro2915,16.
(45) Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil, Ecc0811.
Of those who seek change is is said:
(46) Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls (for I am the Lord, I change not. Mal0306). But they said, We will not walk therein, Jer0616.
(47) Jesus Christ (the Word made flesh) the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein, Heb1308,09.
Of those who believe that what God had promised, he was able also to perform, it is said:
(48) If from thence (among the nations) thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; (For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them, Deu0419-31.
(49) If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free, Jhn0831,32.
(50) If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you, Rom0811. It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life (The Spirit is truth, 1Jn0506.). But there are some of you that believe not, Jhn0663,64.
(51) Verily, verily, I (Jesus) say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed, Jhn0834-36.
THE ORIGIN OF TRUTH
(52) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men... That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, Jhn0101-09.
(53) And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him, Jhn0116-18. For, God is a Spirit, Jhn0424. It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life, Jhn0663.
(54) It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one, 1Jn0506,07.
(55) Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error, 1Jn0401-06.
(56) These
things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you,
and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing
teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even
as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him, 1Jn0226,27.
As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God, Jhn0112,13.
(57) Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures, Jas0118.
(58) Let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him, 1Jn0319. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 1Jn0204.
(59) I (Jesus) can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? Jhn0530-47.
(60) If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness (having the understanding darkened, Eph0418), we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light (the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, 2Co0404), we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess (acknowledge, Jer0313) our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us, 1Jn0106-10.
(61) Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid, Jhn1423-27.
(62) The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, 2Tm0224,25.
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