 I'm convinced that one of the problems at Plays of Church, as a matter of fact, may be the biggest problem that Plays of Church has to do with our hermeneutics. Now, I know you've heard this word before and you're probably even asking some of you, what does that even mean? What does the word hermeneutics even mean? Well, what it really means, and some will say it this way, is the art and science of interpreting, or in this case, biblical interpretation. But it's not, and there here lies a problem, it's not the art and science, it's just the science. Because if it's an art, it's up to discretion of the person that's doing it, it becomes subjective. In other words, I like to do it this way, I like to do it that way. There is no consistency, and I would say that the best way to read the Bible, whatever your hermeneutic is, is to do so in a consistent fashion. You've heard me state that my hermeneutic is what's called a dispensational hermeneutic. Does it mean that I want you to be dispensational or be a dispensationalist? No. A dispensational hermeneutic is a way of reading the scriptures with these different dispensations in mind, which is in the Bible, the Bible calls it the Greek word for it, is oikonomia, which is the word for house rules. This economy that Paul talks about how God has dealt with mankind in these different dispensations, for example, before the law, during the law, new covenant after the cross, and so forth. It's just how God relates them. Although God doesn't change mankind in his changing ways, God relates to him. And so I read the Bible in this literal, historical, grammatical hermeneutic, keeping in mind the different dispensations, really what God is trying to accomplish. What do I mean by that? Well, I read the Bible literally, meaning that I take the words for what they say. Understanding, though, that there are metaphors and similes, analogies, that there are different types of genres, such as poetry, there's figures of speech and idioms. However, remember, there's never been a society in the history of the world that spoke in complete metaphors, that spoke in analogies, that spoke in allegory. There's never been one. We always, just like today, we've always spoken in a literal fashion, but we would employ analogies. We would employ idioms. We would employ figures of speech. If I tell you it's hot out here, it's burning up. You don't really think that the place is burning up. There's the place literally on fire. But you understand where I'm coming from because we use these figures of speech, these metaphors, to give emphasis to what we're saying, to make, interestingly enough, to make clear what we're trying to say. And the same thing holds true in the Bible. For example, in Revelation, should we take the book of Revelation, literally, even though there's a lot of metaphors and analogies used there, we take it literally as best we can, even though John is trying to communicate something it's difficult for him to say, which is why he says, I saw something and it was like. Well, he gives us these keys. There are these keys. Let us know that he's not saying specifically, I mean, literally what he's saying, he's using figures of speech to try to convey to us what he is seeing in these vision. The same will hold true if you were to speak with someone who's never seen or been in water. How do you describe what water is to a person who's never seen water or been wet? How would you do that? Well, you have to employ some sort of literary device to help you to communicate to the person as best you can. There are rules when it comes to communication. Otherwise, we would not be able to communicate with each other. Keeping in mind, though, that words do change over time. The writer, the author, the speaker is trying to convey as best as possible what he's saying, not trying to confuse anyone. And so saying I take something literally does not mean I don't understand that there are no such things as idioms that there are no such things as figures of speech. Secondly, when I say the grammatical meaning that there are rules to grammar, there are rules to if I'm reading in Hebrew or Greek, even though it's been translated English, what's the what's what's the case of the noun that's being used, the declension and so forth is masculine and feminine. Those things matter. The verb is what tense, what mood, what voice is this verb in? Those things matter. And then also keeping the kind of things in context, which is why we have this historical aspect attached to it, meaning understanding what's happening at that time, the historical portion of this, where God is going with this, where they are right now when something is being spoken of, does it matter? For example, we know that there are chronological books of the Bible, but then they're also complementary books that go along with these chronological books. And then when we speak about the prophets of old, these prophets, where they prophets to the Northern Kingdom or the Southern Kingdom, where they prophets during the restoration, during the exile, where they prophets such as a Nahum or a Jonah, where they prophets to the other nations, the non Jewish nations, those things matter because when they make these statements, it helps us to understand, oh, this is what he means, and they may not apply to us. Some things do apply to us primarily. Some things we have to add have a secondary application. And so this just helps us to keep in mind what's happening. When I read the Bible, I want to read the Bible from the front to the back. There's a reason why the Bible does not start off in John. There's a reason why the Bible starts off with the Gospels or with the Paulian epistles. There's a reason why it doesn't start off with First and Second Kings. The Bible starts off where in the beginning because it helps us to formulate and to understand the foundation of the Bible. I'm saying this, that you all should try your very best to determine what your hermeneutic is, how you read the Bible. I would ask you, I would challenge you to make sure that it is consistent. Because if it's not consistent, then if you read it one way today, and then read it a different way the next day, well, now what it is that the interpretation of the scriptures is subject to your mood, your feeling, whatever the day is. I read it this way on Tuesday, but a different way on Friday. You want to avoid allegorizing a text as much as possible. Why? Because whose allegorization is the right way. If I want to read into it or find a deeper meaning, God doesn't think that highly of us guys to think that we should be able to find the deeper hidden meaning. He gives it to us the way a father would give to a child. Why? Because God, let's be honest, it may hurt some feelings, but God does not expect that much with our thinking. We're not as sophisticated or as clever as savvy as we would like ourselves to think that we are. We're really not. And so God kind of gives it to us in a plain way. He even uses to kind of help us out. He uses what's called anthropomorphic terminology or words, meaning he speaks to us the way that mankind can understand. For example, when we're told that this prophet stood before the face of the Lord, or Moses was before the face of the Lord, that mean that the Lord had actual, that has an actual face that he has eyes and nose. No, the Hebrew word that's used there would be Alpani before the presence, like we would say before the face of the mountain. That mean the mountain has an actual face, two eyes, nose, lips, ears, no, in front of, in the presence of this mountain, the same type of literary device would be used when it comes to the Bible. That is what we mean by anthropomorphic terminology, giving things human characteristics in describing something literally. Now Paul tells Titus in Titus 2.1, he says, but as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. The only way that you can have your doctrine sound is to be as close to the text as possible. Whatever your hermeneutic is, and I'm asking you do your best to try to define it, write it down and see if that's the, see if you can carry this out. Now let me tell you what a hermeneutic is not before we go further. A hermeneutic is not, I let the text speak for itself. Well, we all try to do that. But unfortunately, we don't. That's not a hermeneutic, you want to find it, or I let the spirit guide me. That's still not a hermeneutic. What does that mean? You need to define how it is you're going to read the Bible. I would suggest to you though, read the way that you would read a newspaper, read the way that you would read a magazine. Even yes, even though the Bible is much more than a regular book or newspaper magazine, we still have rules to communicate. If you read cooking instructions to bake a cake, and it says to put, I don't know, a quart of milk, you can tell I can't cook. But a quart of milk, and you said, I wonder if they, what they really meant was a half a gallon of milk. I can promise you, if you're going to allegorize cooking instructions, your cake won't be that good. Following the instructions to a tea is probably what you ought to do rather than allegorizing, trying to find a deeper meaning. We read manuals that way. We read directions that way. Why not read the Bible that way? Now, I'm not telling you to adopt my hermeneutic. I'm saying, have your own, but define it. Why? Paul also tells Timothy this. He says in 2 Timothy 2.15, he says, do your best to present yourself to God as one approval. Look what he says. A worker who need not be ashamed. Here it is, rightly handling some of your verses may say rightly dividing the word of truth. You want to be able to divide the Bible to go through the scriptures and understand what it's saying. Why? Because you're going to apply it to your life for your growth, your edification. Paul says to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord. And you also want others to hear the true, unadulterated word of God. So my friends, again, I ask that we would all try to do better, be as best we can when it comes to interpreting scriptures, to read the scriptures, even if we come to the wrong conclusion, at least someone who's walking with us and talking with us can see, well, this is where I see you're wrong at this, where I see that you're right. Because the whole goal is not about who's right, but it's about what's right. And the only way to get to the heart of a matter is to be consistent, I believe. So I'd be interested to hear you guys tell me in the comments what your hermeneutic is, what hermeneutic that you use, if you think you're being consistent, or if you don't, but you learn, would like to know how to develop your hermeneutics. As Paul says, let's teach what a core is for sound doctrine. Amen.