Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at The Word of God P36 (04-28-21)
Synopsis
The word of God is living and active. In the word of God is the words of good news, the gospel of salvation. It speaks of an Old Covenant, a law of sin and death, that has since been replaced by a New Covenant with man, whereby sins and lawless acts will be remembered no more.
So the word of God has given us everything that we need to learn about the love of God that is contained in Christ Jesus our Lord. How then do we respond to someone who says “I do not believe the bible is the word of God? I do not believe the bible is true? Do you believe that bible is true?”
The word of God is likened to a sword that cuts open and reveals to us the attitudes of our heart. So if a surgeon has a knife to treat a person with cancer, to cut out that cancer or the person will die, what must the surgeon do? He has to cut it out. Certainly he must communicate the problem to a person with cancer so they can choose. Now, he could tell the person to just take an anesthetic so he will feel better, not tell them the truth of his condition, and the person would die. But ultimately the surgeon, who wants the patient to live, must perform an operation.
So too in sharing the gospel. Truth must be told. You cannot just be nice without telling somebody the meaning of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You cannot compromise or neglect to share that truth and just assume by just being kind and nice to him, so as not to offend or confront him with truth, that he will hear what he needs to hear in order to be born again. When will friendship evangelism lead to a presentation of the truth of the complete gospel? Recall what the apostle Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation.”
The word of God stands on its own, regardless of the person sharing. A con artist can share with only the motive for making money and for self glorification but if he shares the gospel, even if he knows nothing about it himself, God can use that word to reach a humble heart, who will receive that word from the Spirit of God and become born again. Even in the Old Testament, God spoke through a donkey. Jesus even said that even the rocks would cry out on that day he entered Jerusalem heralded as king of the Jews.
We are not worthy, and never were, to share the gospel. The Lamb of God alone is worthy, and we are recipients of His love and grace toward us. We, who are in Christ, are simply passing on truth God has revealed to us, pointing people to Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith.
That also is important to know. Only the Spirit of God can reveal truth to men. The natural man cannot discern the things of God. That is why a person must be born again to know the meaning of the word of God. He has to have the Spirit for the Spirit to be able explain spiritual things to him. A person can go to seminary and learn all kinds of things, even with the study of hermeneutics or whatever tools there may be, but not know the Lord and not know what the word means.
That is also why, if people rely on their own understanding, do not acknowledge God, then you have all kinds of interpretations out there, denominations out there, and paths are not so straight, often commingling law and grace, or even teaching a different gospel. They are believing what they have come up with by their own understanding, not by the Spirit of God. But if two or more people, regardless of nation of origin, or language they speak, they have come to the end of their intelligence, to the end of the law for righteousness, then the Spirit of God reveals truth to them, and that same truth will be revealed to all such people the same way, without contradiction, through the word of God. That does not mean on little things, on non-essential matters, things not pertaining to the gospel, but details such as of end time events and the timing of such things, we might only be able to say, “The Lord has not revealed that to me yet” or simply “I do not know.”
Transcript
The bible was given to us in order to show the wrath of God under the law and to show the mercy of God that was extended to us at the cross, in order to usher in a brand new covenant today, whereby He was able to say their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. Sins were taken away for the entire world before and after the cross. There was only one time sin was totally forgiven. Forgiveness for the entire world, from the cross back to Adam, from the cross forward to eternity. There was only one time sin was ever forgiven and that was at the cross. Prior to that it was covered. Forgiven, taken away, propitiation took place, one time for the entire history of the world, at the cross of Jesus Christ. If that is not love then it is not raining in Indianapolis in the summertime. I look at that and say it is a love letter. It is not that I loved Him but He loved me first. In coming to grips with His love, we come to know Him.
It is a library of answers given to us out of the heart of a loving God. It contains all of the riches and treasures He has given us as His children. The word of God, therefore, I believe will fill every need of the human heart. That is why it is important to use this extremely unique book.
2 Peter 1:3
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
In 2 Peter 1:3, we read that we have been given everything we need for life and godliness. That is what He means. We have been given everything we need. If we are complete in Christ, then how in the world are we going to add to completeness. If I am complete in Christ, why would I be seeking answers from another human being as to why I do not feel complete? If I do not feel complete, it is either because I am not in Christ or I do not know when I am in Christ. Once you know you are in Christ, and once you know your inheritance in Christ, you are complete. You know you are complete and therefore you feel complete.
When we do not have that confidence, we will be seeking every other person, every other thought, every other philosophy, every other psychology, every pill produced, or every new bottle of booze put out in order to try to cover up the pain and hurts of humanity, and not realizing there is Christ to this very day calling with His arms stretched out saying, “Come unto me all who labor and are heavy laden. I know your problems. I know your hurts.” Man is saying, “No. Come unto me. Of course I charge but that is okay.” Christ is still there saying to you and me, every moment of the day, “Come unto me.” When you lay there and are heavy laden, He says “Come unto me and I will give you rest and peace for your soul.”
Matthew 7:28-30
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
So the word of God has given us everything that we need to learn about the love of God that is contained in Christ Jesus our Lord. How then do we respond to someone who says “I do not believe the bible is the word of God? I do not believe the bible is true? Do you believe that bible is true?”
I remember one time sitting on an airplane flying from Dallas to New York, sitting next to a guy. I had no plans or anything. I happened to be reading the bible. The guy looked over and said, “Do you believe that stuff?” He opened up the conversation. “I sure do. Don’t you?” “No, I do not believe the bible is true. Why do you believe the bible is true? You do not really believe Jonah is in a whale do you?” “Let me ask you a question? Who do you think Jesus is?” “What does that have to do with my question?” “It has everything to do with my question?” “Why is that?” “Jesus claimed to be God, and as God, He said Jonah is in a whale. If He is God and Jesus says Jonah is in a whale, then Jonah is in a whale. Now, if He is not God who cares if he is in a whale or not. You and I can get along on this flight quite well whether or not Jonah is in a whale or not. So I ask again, ‘Who is Jesus?’” “I guess the Son of God.” “Let me show you what the bible has to say about that.” I opened up to the gospel of John. “I do not believe the bible is true.” “That is okay. I do.” “Well, I do not.” “That is okay. That is your opinion. Let me read it to you. ”
John 1:1-3
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
John 1:14
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
What does the bible say the word is? The word was with God and the word was God. Who is the word? It says he is God. What does it say the word of God did? Well, he became flesh and dwelt among us. The only begotten of the Father. Who is that? “That is Jesus. ” “Well, if the word is God and the word of God became flesh, and that is Jesus, then who is Jesus? ” “I guess God. ” “Yes. ” “I did not know that.”
Here the guy just said he does not believe the bible, but when you read it to him, he says “I did not know that. ” That is the power of the word of God. The issue is with someone who does not believe the bible would be the same way that if I would have been sitting there in that chair and I had a sword in my hand. What is that? It is a sword. It does not look sharp to me. It would be dumb to sit there for three hours on a trip from Dallas to New York, it would be dumb to argue if the sword is sharp or not. Just poke him with it, and he will know if it is sharp or not. That is what you do with people who doubt, you just poke him with it. Hopefully you use a little anesthetic before it enters, and that is love. The word of God is truth and we need to administer that truth with love. That is the anesthetic. If I had to make a choice between the two, I would eliminate the anesthetic.
Ephesians 6:17
17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
As we left off with poking people with a sword. The bible defines the word as the sword of the Spirit. That is what the truth of the word of God is. That is to be administered in love. But again, love is kind of like the anesthetic. The sword is the truth. If we were in a situation where if I was a surgeon and your appendix was bursting, and they had to come out or you were going to die, that operation had to take place whether I had anesthetic or not. Obviously the desirable situation is to numb you before cutting you open. There is no question about that. But if you had to choose between the two, you better choose the cutting you open.
That is what takes place when people become more feeling oriented than they are truth oriented. Because then the thing is, you are such a nice guy. You look healthy. Your head looks good. Your arms look nice. Your legs look good too. It is just that stomach that does not look too well. So let us just give you some novocaine, but we will not operate because I hate to cut you open. We will just make you feel good and make you numb for a while. Quite frankly, that is what a lot of counseling is today. I do not want to cut you open just numb you and in the meantime watch you die as your appendix bursts and you end up dying.
You got cancer in there but I cannot stand to cut you open. I will just give you some stuff to make you feel good so you just do not know you have cancer. I will just make you feel good. That is what the world is after today. That is why many times we talk and talk so I can make you feel good. That is what the entirety of counseling is around, to make you feel good. I can make you feel good by saying that you are the victim, and you have been abused, and you have been this and that is why you are the way you are. I can make you feel good by doing that. But if I do not give you truth and operate I have not done anything for you but give you a quick fix.
Of course, we live in a quick fix generation. Instant coffee. Instant tea. Instant spirituality. Instant relief from anything. I do not want a headache for over 3 minutes. I want instant relief in every aspect of life. That is the world we live in today. We would not be without the influence to buy instant relief and without advertising that says you are not supposed to have pain in any shape or form.
We live in that kind of a mindset so when it enters into the spiritual and emotional ills of man, we are in the same way. Give me a quick fix. I do not want it operated on. Do not stick that sword in me. I do not want anything to do with that sword. But give me something to make me feel good while I am dying. So if you have to make a choice between the sword and an anesthetic will you sacrifice the anesthetic? I do not want to operate without it, but if I have to I will. But what I will not do is give you anesthetic and not take out your appendix if it is bursting. That is the mindset as far as I am concerned in regard to using the word of God in your own life as well as administering it into the lives of others. I too do not want to sacrifice the truth of the word of God for Mr. Feelgood.
We have to remember that when we are talking about the scripture that Jesus Christ is the very central issue of salvation. The questions of science, history, philosophy, they can wait. But there is one relationship that cannot wait and that is what are you going to do with Jesus? That cannot wait. You are talking about an eternal question that demands a response. A response of nothing keeps you dead and literally will. As long as that response is nothing, you will remain under the wrath of God, which is death. The response to the word of God, “I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life” and “Come unto me”, the response to that coming unto Him is eternal life with God.
It is a decision that cannot wait. You are either this very day eternally dead at this point, or you are eternally alive at this point. If you are dead in your sins and in the uncirumcision of your sinful nature, come to Christ, and let Him make you alive, receiving forgiveness of all of your sins.
There is no need to hide the fact that we believe the bible to be true and trustworthy. We can hold to this without apology. Knowing that the facts clearly lead to such a conclusion, however, the real demonstration of the power of God’s word is not in logic, but in the ability to give that new life to the one who has exercised faith in Jesus Christ.
We are told that the scriptures are alive and they are active and powerful. This was known in the Old Testament even before the final revelation in Christ Jesus.
Isaiah 55:10-11
10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
God’s word does not return void. That is why in the Old Testament God even had a donkey speaking the word. So His word does not return void. If I did not speak the truth, these stones would cry out. That is also why a person can be a total con artist, preaching the gospel for no other reason than to make money and for self glorification, can speak the word of God, not having a clue what it means, just verbalizing words, and seeing people saved. Why? Because His word does not return void. The word itself is what energizes and saves the soul.
That is also a wonderful thing to know. God does not need us to be real nifty. Does the vehicle who speaks it has to be really worthy to speak it? No. If that was the case, we would all be deaf mutes. No one is worthy to speak the word of God. He is the worthy one. Worthy is the Lamb not the sheep. We have never been worthy. The fact of the matter is, that is the power of the word of God.
Romans 1:16
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
As you are listening to the radio, people hear that sound and come to know Christ, and have an eternal benefit, eternal life by just listening to a little box called a radio. Or by listening to something said on television. Or picking up a book, the written word, and you are reading truth, and watching the Spirit of God quicken that to your heart and become born again. You can hear a person on the street speaking at the top of his voice. Most of us wonder where he is coming from, and then suddenly see another person stop and listen.
There was the case of a very well known judge, who was in a city who was to hear a very important case. He was in his hotel room, before the days of air conditioning, and had his window open. Outside of his window was a man on the corner with a bible in his hand, preaching about God and about salvation. His first inclination was to close the window to get rid of the sound, but it was too hot. So he had to keep the window open. So he had no choice but to listen and hear what he had to say. In that position of hearing, he gave his heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a street person presenting the gospel to a very dignified judge. It made no difference who was preaching it. That was the word of God that quickened the heart. God’s word does not return void. There is nothing we can say in regard to the truth of the word of God, that if God is truly saying that through us, that He will accomplish what He set out to do. That is good news.
A Chinese man once said, after hearing the bible for the first time: “I know it has to be God’s word for it just told me everything I am.” That is also true.
For preparation for understanding, we have to go to 1 Corinthians 2:9.
1 Corinthians 2:9-12
9 However, as it is written:“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”[Isaiah 64:4] – the things God has prepared for those who love him –
10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
As we look at that scripture passage, it tells us something about understanding the word of God. There is a world of difference between hearing the word of God and understanding the word of God. There is a world of difference between seeing the word of God and understanding the word of God. You can go to biblical higher education, in seminaries, and many have done so, and sit there and learn and learn what the bible says and never be born again, and thus never know what it means. We have to understand that truth, that knowing what it says and knowing what it means are entirely two different things.
Again, according to the word of God, He is saying to us that your eye cannot see, your ear cannot hear, and your mind cannot conceive of those things that God has prepared for those who love Him. What He is saying is, you cannot understand those things. They have to be revealed to you by the Spirit. You can hear about it, but you cannot understand it. It is saying to some little nine year old boy that it is really neat to be in love with a girl. And he says, “What are you talking about? Yuk. They do not like frogs, snakes, and any of those things. What do you mean to be in love with a girl?” You can spend all day long drawing pictures, and just teach word after word, but his eye cannot see, his ear cannot hear, and his mind cannot conceive what that might be like. At sixteen, yes. But not at seven years of age. They do not understand what that is. That is a flimsy illustration to some degree, but it gets the point across.
1 Corinthians 2:13-14
13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
Natural man cannot understand spiritual things. It is foolishness to him. There is no way we can understand what the word of God means unless it is revealed by the Spirit. That also explains why there are so many different interpretations of the word of God. We wonder that some times. Why do the Methodists do what they do? How come the Baptists believe what they do? How come Catholics believe what they do. How come Lutherans believe differently than that? You are all over the place with people believing different things. Why is that? It is because of interpreting the scripture out of your own mindset. In other words, instead of relying upon the word of God to teach you what it means, I study what it says and then figure it out on my own what it means, but I am wrong. I might hit one or two, but I am wrong. My eye cannot see, ear cannot hear and my mind cannot conceive what God has prepared.
You cannot enter into that any more than a nine year old entering a love relationship with a girl. You can tell that nine year old to write an article on what it is like to be in love with a girl. So he says, “Okay. I will have to write something.” Some other nine year old writes something else. “See there, they know what is going on.” “No, I am just writing something. I do not know.” That is the same thing. This is why there are so many differences in understanding the word of God.
1 Corinthians 2:15-16
15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,“Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?”[Isaiah 40:13]
But we have the mind of Christ.
On the other hand, if the Spirit of God is the author of the word of God, and you and I have been indwelt by His Spirit, why should not the Spirit of God interpret the Spirit of God? It is very exciting to me to go to a place whether New York from Dallas, or into Canada or into Japan or Europe or whatever place it might be, and to be sitting down listening to people who I know are people who have finally come to the end of themselves in regard to their intellect, leaning not on their own understanding, acknowledging Him, and letting Him direct their path, and find out God has been teaching him the same things He has been teaching me as He was teaching that Canadian, that Japanese person and that other guy. Everyone is excited about the same thing as they let the word of God speak to them.
But we need to understand that there are still some little things I do not know. I have to say to those deals, I just do not know. I just have to wait on the Spirit of God to reveal some things. I have studied it and looked at it, but I just do not know. I feel sorry for some people that I see in Christianity today who have become authorities on everything. I feel very sorry for them. They do not have anything to look forward to. They already have God figured out. They already know everything that is going to happen in heaven. No excitement going there. They already know when the end times are going to come. I feel sorry for them. They just have nothing to look forward to. I have a whole bunch to look forward to. There are a bunch of things I just do not know. But when the Lord is ready to reveal it, even when I am absent from the body and present with the Lord, then I will know. Until the Spirit reveals it to me, I do not want to be an advocate of it outside of saying, “I just do not know.”
1 Corinthians 2:10-12
10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
I do not have a clue what you are thinking right now. No one knows what you are thinking except the Spirit living in you. We do not even necessarily know what we are thinking when we are speaking because, as a human, unlike God, what is going on inside is not necessarily reflected by what we say is going on inside.
