Sovereign Grace Bible Church
These are the sermons and teachings of Sovereign Grace Bible Church in Biggsville, Illinois. We exist to fulfill the Great Commission through the Great Commandment within Gospel Community.
Sovereign Grace Bible Church
Why We Believe the Bible
We all know that feeling—someone asks why we believe the Bible is true, and suddenly words fail us. Yet understanding Scripture's foundation isn't just for academics or apologists—it's vital for every believer who wants to stand confidently on God's truth in a skeptical world.
This exploration of biblical authority takes us on a journey through the three dimensions of divine revelation. We begin with general revelation—how the starry night sky, the intricacies of nature, and even our innate moral compass declare God's existence and power without speaking a word. As Romans reminds us, these universal testimonies leave humanity "without excuse" for denying the Creator.
But creation alone can't tell us how to know God personally. That's where special revelation—primarily Scripture—becomes our lifeline. The Bible isn't simply human reflections about God; it's "God-breathed" communication where divine truth flows through human authors. This gives Scripture unique properties that no other book possesses: divine authority that demands our submission, perfect truthfulness that never contradicts reality, complete sufficiency for life and godliness, remarkable clarity in essential matters, absolute necessity for salvation, beautiful unity centered on Christ, and supernatural effectiveness that accomplishes God's purposes.
Most powerful is what happens when these truths move from page to heart. Applied revelation occurs when believers respond to God's Word in faith and obedience, becoming living demonstrations of its transformative power. As our lives change—our priorities shift, our speech becomes gracious, our actions reflect divine love—we become walking evidence of Scripture's supernatural origin.
The journey concludes with Psalm 19's perfect illustration of all three revelation types working together: creation's silent testimony, Scripture's perfect guidance, and the believer's heartfelt prayer for transformation. Whether you're new to faith or a seasoned believer, this foundation will strengthen your confidence in God's Word and deepen your appreciation for how He speaks into our lives today.
Good morning. Good morning, a couple of things that I forgot to tell. Sean, for our opening information, we have Jason. One of our members is out fighting a fire. There's a train that caught on fire out of town, so we're going to be praying for him at this time. We also have some members that are out of town currently that are traveling, and then others that are sick. So for our little body we've got a lot going on. So those are things to be keeping in mind and keeping in prayer. You'll also be praying for me.
Speaker 1:If Dan and I are co-pastors of this church, there's definitely one of us that everyone would say that's the preacher and the other one that everyone would say that's the teacher. Over the next 22 weeks I have to do a lot of teaching and, if you cannot guess, I am not the teacher, I am more of the preacher and Dan's more the teacher. But by God's grace, we're going to get through this. So, yeah, I have slides. This is going to help Bree and I mainly Bree put in some blood, sweat and tears to make some binders for you guys. Again, each week we'll have new information to put into those for taking notes and for the Sunday night questions and all those kinds of things. And yeah, the first 14 weeks of this series is going to be titled what we Believe, and we begin with the Bible, because everything else we're going to talk about comes from the Bible. So it's really important to understand why we believe the Bible. And if you're anything like me, I remember growing up and asking questions about the Bible and most people didn't have sufficient answers for an 8-year-old. You'd ask questions like well, how do you know that the Bible's true? Or how do you know that there's nothing wrong with the Bible? And most adults that are Christians that attend church cannot answer those questions. Bible and most adults that are Christians that attend church cannot answer those questions. Now, in this segment, this teaching session, we're not going to delve into all of the arguments against the Bible and explain why this one's wrong and this one's wrong and this one's wrong. Rather, we're just going to explain why we believe the Bible, from the Bible as a positive and then maybe as a negative. At some point in time, dan and I can do a podcast and talk about the objections to the Bible and what are the Christian responses to that. So we begin with our first session of 14, which is why we believe the Bible.
Speaker 1:To understand the Bible, we have to first understand the word revelation. The first thing that comes to mind if you're familiar with your Bible is the last book of the Bible. We have to first understand the word revelation. The first thing that comes to mind if you're familiar with your Bible is the last book of the Bible, and that's not what we're speaking about when we say revelation here. Revelation is going to be broken down into three aspects, and this is how God reveals himself. So the first aspect is general revelation, the second will be special revelation and the third will be applied revelation. The second will be special revelation and the third will be applied revelation. We begin with general revelation.
Speaker 1:General revelation refers to the general truths about God that can be learned through his creation. So what does that mean exactly? Well, a good example would be Psalm, chapter 19, verses 1 through 3. It says, the idea being that when you and I are walking about, especially out here in the countryside in the middle of the night, and you just see the clean, crisp air and the stars are everywhere, again, like I've said before, I can get frustrated as I look up because I can't see all of the stars. At the same time I have to look at these bunch over here and then I have to turn over here to look at these bunch over here. It is proclaiming, it is declaring God did this, this didn't happen by accident. There wasn a whoopsie-do and then all of a sudden all of this intricate design came to be. The voice of creation is always heard by all humanity. But also we can learn from general revelation In Romans 1, verses 19-20,.
Speaker 1:This is a key text about natural or general revelation. It says For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them, for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. So we learn from this text, if you break it down just segment by segment here, that general revelation reveals God to a limited degree. Right, for what can be known about God is plain to them. So what God allows to be known about himself through general revelation is the only thing that we can know about him in that way.
Speaker 1:Number two it is a revelation that is open and plain in its manner. It's not complicated. When you take the child out to see a beautiful sunset and you say, look what God did, there's not a lot of well like, what's the angle of the sun at this point in time and how does that balance out with the equator where we're currently spinning? None of that's necessary with general revelation. It's very plain. Number three it is according to his will. It's because God has shown it to them. God has desired and designed to allow himself to be visible in this way, which is important because we learn.
Speaker 1:Number four he is the invisible God. So general revelation shows us the invisible God. Namely what? Number five, his divine nature, that he is God. In the same way that if you go over to our house and Bree bakes you something that will reveal something to you about her nature that she is a baker and she likes baking stuff and some would say she's pretty good at it. Same thing here with. It's gonna be the only amen I get today. So in the same way, god's creation testifies that God is God. Number six this has happened throughout history. There's never been a point during creation that general revelation has began or stopped. Since creation has been, general revelation has been and will continue to be. And then, lastly, this is through his created world. So the venue, the channel through which general revelation happens is through creation.
Speaker 1:We also see that from general revelation that we are able to understand God's divine wrath. In Romans, chapter 1, verse 18, it says for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who, by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth. So what does this look like? Well, you know, when you have a young man who is like I'm going to go out and just spend all of my money and sleep around and do whatever I want to do, and you look at it and you say it's not going to go well for you If you do that, like sin is enjoyable to a sinner, it will not go well for you. Why would we say that? How can we know that's true? It's because God's wrath, his judgment, his anger against sin is proven. Time and time again. It's revealed clearly. Again, the person says I'm going to go get drunk. We say okay, beer one and two. You're going to be feeling okay, maybe depending on your size and all those things, but after a while there's going to be a negative implication. Why? Because you're going outside of the parameters of what God has designed. You have now began to act unrighteously and because of that, god's wrath will be revealed to you, not in thunder and lightning and fire coming down from heaven, but in the fact that there are natural complications and implications to your actions. God has created an ordered world upon which his order is established.
Speaker 1:Another aspect of general revelation is the image of God. This is a cool one. In Genesis, chapter 1, verses 26 and 27, it says then God said let us make man in our image, after our, let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Then in verse 27, says so God created man in his own image, in the image of God. He created him male and female. He created them.
Speaker 1:When you and I look at a turtle, we say that's kind of cool, but no one looks at that and says man, man, yeah, there, there is something spiritual inside. This turtle like this turtle is able to discern things and articulate things. It has a moral compass where it says if I eat this carrot, that's good, but if I eat that celery over there, that's bad. The we don't look at the turtle and think that. However, with human beings, we can see the imprint of God. We can see a soul within a body and say there's much more to you than just this flesh and bone. So with the image of God, we're able to see more of God. He reveals himself Not only that, though, also through the human conscience. This is Romans, chapter 2, verses 14 and 15. It says so you and I are able to see.
Speaker 1:God reveals a part of himself through the conscience he has given on the inside of all of us, which is why, when the average person that has no preference either way reads the Ten Commandments, they say all of these look good, right. When the average person that has no preference either way reads the Ten Commandments, they say all of these look good, right. Thou shalt not kill. We're like, yeah, I mean, the average Joe would say that's good. Why, if there's no God, if there's no scripture, if there's no necessity of that, how can you say that this blob of matter shouldn't die? How can you say that I'm worth anything if I do not, if I'm not made in the image of God, if there's not a creator God? And the human conscience reveals God, because you and I, we have this ping on the inside that says, no, that is bad. No, I do agree with that. This is the moral compass God has given us, that's built into each and every one of us.
Speaker 1:So what can we learn from general revelation? We can learn that God exists and created all things. We learned that atheism is pure foolishness, that God has a unique nature, that idolatry that's worshiping anything else than God, is wicked, that God holds man accountable to his moral law and that sinners are under God's wrath and are without excuse. And you and I, it's very important that we understand this, because we'll always think of the person that's on an island out in the middle of nowhere, that never had the Bible. And do they know God? Can they know God? And we would say God has revealed himself enough to be known and enough that mankind is without excuse, even if the scriptures are not with them.
Speaker 1:So how does the world respond to general revelation? They look around and God is in their face everywhere. How does the world respond? Romans, chapter 1, verses 21 through 25. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God, for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever, amen. How does the world respond to general revelation? Give me my stuff, give me my popularity, give me my accolades. Make me feel good. I don't want to think about dying. I don't want to think about what's going to happen at the end of all this. Instead, just let me stare at the creation and lust after it, then actually deal with the fact that there's a creator and I'm responsible to him.
Speaker 1:How should Christians respond? Two ways. Number one is with evangelism. We should follow Paul's example in Acts, chapter 17, verses 30 through 31, and say all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. We look at creation. Right, this is uh paul on mars hill. He's looking at the athenians and he's saying uh, you worship all these gods. So you're aware there's a God. Let me tell you about the unknown God. You will be responsible to him because he's the one that's made all of these things, and all of them are able to understand that concept that what he's talking about must be true in some sense. The question is just will they suppress the truth and their unrighteousness and say, no, I don't want to think about that, no, I don't want to deal with that? Or will they repent and believe the gospel?
Speaker 1:Number two Christians should respond in worship as we look at general revelation. As you look at a beautiful sky, you go on a nature walk, you see a brand new baby and you're overwhelmed. It should lead you to worship and say oh Lord, oh Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man, that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him. We should be in awe about the fact that the God who made everything sincerely cares about you and me and providentially cares for us every single day, and that leads us into special revelation. Now, this is important because special revelations we're going to spend the bulk of our time for the rest of this time. Special revelation Now, this is important because special revelations we're going to spend the bulk of our time for the rest of this time. Special revelation I don't think I have.
Speaker 1:It Refers to what can be known about God through only supernatural means. So these are things that, if you look at creation, you would not know. These things are true about God. You need God to intervene into creation and to do something supernatural in order for us to understand these things about God. What is the primary or the only aspect of special revelation today? It is God's holy word, the Bible.
Speaker 1:In the Bible, we see that all three members of the Trinity are involved, that the Son is the only mediator of divine revelation. He's the one that reveals God to us. The Father is the sovereign author of divine revelation. He's the one that put the words into Jesus' mouth for Jesus to speak them. And that the Spirit is the effective agent of divine revelation. He is the one who makes the impact of God's word happen in our lives. All three persons of the Trinity are required in the aspect of divine revelation. Not only that, though. We see that throughout Scripture God commanded Scripture to be written down. This happens multiple times, whether it's in the Exodus, like we have here, or Jeremiah. God commands, write these words down and we also have this emphatic. Thus says the Lord statement that is used over 400 times in Scripture Nothing says God speaking like saying God's speaking. This is the scripture. This is special revelation.
Speaker 1:So what about people who get it wrong? Today, nowadays, people will claim to be prophetic or claim to be able to. They heard from God. They have a word for you from God. What about people who get it wrong? Well, we go back to Deuteronomy 18, 20 through 22. It says but the prophet, so the one who presumes to speak for God, who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart, how may we know that the word of the Lord has not spoken? When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. So we learn very clearly from scripture that God never makes a mistake. When it comes to prophets, people that spoke his word, there was never a mistake. They always spoke things that were true and came to pass. So nowadays, when people claim to speak for God and they say, oh, I got that prophecy wrong, or I got this part wrong, or God gave me a word for you, but then it turned out to be sideways, all of that points back to scripture and says if this was Old Testament times, you'd be dead. It's New Testament time, so there's grace. So I would stop doing that if I were you, because God doesn't like it when people talk for him.
Speaker 1:Now the New Testament affirms scripture both the Old Testament and the New Testament. So it self-affirms in that way. The New Testament affirms Scripture both the Old Testament and the New Testament, so it self-affirms in that way. The Old Testament, in Acts 1, verse 16, says Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas. This is talking about in the Psalms, how David wrote Scripture in the Old Testament and the New Testament apostles look back at that and say this is God's Word. Not only that, even in the New Testament, as the New Testament is being written, they affirm the Bible and Peter, talking about Paul, says Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. And then he compares that to the other scriptures, implying that Paul's words were scripture that were written down.
Speaker 1:Now this leads us to the big word here. This is verbal plenary inspiration. If you're anything like me, the first time I saw that I was like I don't like that. That's a V word with a P word and inspiration. I need no inspiration, I'm good, I got plenty of motivation in life and I don't know what verbal plenary means. I'm guessing it's talking.
Speaker 1:So the scriptures that give us the most foundational aspects of this doctrine is 1 Timothy 3, verse 16, and 2 Peter 1, verses 20 and 21. We see that all scripture is breathed out by God and that men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So what does verbal plenary inspiration mean? Why is it important? Verbal describes the extent of scripture, which is all of scripture. So in 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, when he says all scripture is God-breathed, that is an all-encompassing statement with no qualifiers. That means every word or, as Jesus would say, every jot and tittle of scripture is true is inspired We'll get to that word just in a second Plenary describes the completeness or fullness of this inspiration.
Speaker 1:That means that every part of scripture is equally inspired. So what does that mean? It means that the red letters do not hold a greater authority than the black letters, that a direct quote from Jesus Christ has the same authority in our lives as a genealogy. In Genesis, all of it is God speaking. You and I, because we're humans, can think no, no, no, but this is a direct quote from God. God spoke from heaven. At this point, that's got to be like a level one inspiration, and a genealogy is like a level five inspiration. All of it is inspired.
Speaker 1:What does that mean? The meaning of inspiration just literally means God breathed. It means that God, in the same way that you and I, when we speak, you and I are breathing out, as surely as we breathe out, the words are coming out of our mouths. Same way as surely as God breathed scripture into existence, all of the words are his. God breathed out the scriptures, producing them by his breath. Inspiration is not the action the Bible has on us, because you and I can think it's inspiring to me, but rather is descriptive of God's action in making the Bible the words of the holy scriptures. So what are the implications of inspiration? What happens because of that? Joel Beeky says word just as surely as the breath of our mouths produces our own words. So the implications of inspiration are as follows that the Bible has divine authority, veracity, sufficiency, clarity, necessity, unity in Christ and efficacy.
Speaker 1:There will be some quotes throughout this that I'll probably skip as we go through, depending on how time is working out. I will find a way to get this slideshow online for you to look at later. So we start with divine authority. Joel Beeky says the Bible's authority is its property as the word of God to obligate its readers or hearers to entire submission. Again, it's just that idea that 400 times the Bible says thus says the Lord. If, again, if Joe Schmo came in that lives here in town and said get out, we might say okay, on what authority are you trying to tell me to get out? And if the president came in and said get out, with all of his secret service and everything, no matter your opinion, you would say okay, guys with guns are telling me to get out. The most powerful man in the country is telling me to get out. I'm going to get out. The same way, the Bible's authority is inherent. It's built into scripture. God said it thus it must be. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith is a long quote and I'll probably skip most of these, and these will be up for you to look at at a later date.
Speaker 1:We move on to the divine veracity. What does veracity mean? It means truth, truthfulness, and this leads us to what I'm going to call inerrant veracity. What does that mean? What does inerrant veracity mean? It means the Bible does not declare anything contrary to what is true and real, and all that it does declare is faithful and accurate because it is God's word. This is really important because, if you're anything like me, I grew up and people would be like well, it's really hard to know what parts of scripture to believe because the Bible contradicts itself. And that is not true. The Bible does not contradict itself, as we'll talk about in a little bit and I'll probably say it again because it's worth repeating. You and I don't stand in judgment over Scripture and say okay, scripture, you're wrong. If anything, scripture stands in judgment over us and says no, you're wrong, puny human. You don't understand. So what are some truths that help us to understand the veracity of God's word? These are scriptures in the middle.
Speaker 1:There we learned that God does not change his mind. So it's not like in the Old Testament, right? You've ever heard the Old Testament, new Testament, god argument? Like the God of the Old Testament's mean God of the New Testament's. So nice, nice and everyone that says that you're just like have you read revelation? Like it's, it's bad man. Like there's a four-fold hallelujah from smoke coming up from people being in hell in revelation and we're like that's good, old testament, no, grace is bad. God does not change his mind. He didn't, in the Old Testament, make rules and regulations that were moral or absolute and then say actually, you know, now that Jesus came, you can go ahead and take some stuff from people that's not yours, it's okay. All of his moral law, all of his statutes are the same.
Speaker 1:Number two God cannot lie. This is a beautiful thing to understand. If you have trust issues, like most Americans do, or most people in the world, it is very comforting to know that it is impossible. That's another verse actually that's used. It is impossible for God to lie. Which is really comforting to you and I when we're reading the promises of God and your flesh is saying no, no, that can't be true, or that's not true of me, or that's not effective in this moment. Right, the joy of the Lord is my strength, like okay, yeah, I got it, but I'm dying right now, so that's not going to get me from point A to point B, we say no, no, no, god cannot lie. So then, the joy of the Lord must be your strength and will never fail to be your strength.
Speaker 1:Number three we see that God's word is truth. Jesus says that in John 17, 17. Matthew 5, 18,. Jesus says that even the smallest letter written on the page of the Bible is intentional and true. There was no mistakes that were made in the writing of Scripture. And in Psalm chapter 12, verse 6, we see that God's word is pure. This is a reference to the purity of refined silver in the Psalms. Find silver in the Psalms.
Speaker 1:We owe the scripture the same reverence which we owe to God, because it has proceeded from him alone and has nothing belonging to man. Mixed with it there's the idea that, as the Bible speaks, god speaks, and that's from John Calvin that leads us into divine sufficiency. Divine sufficiency lets us know that the Bible was not written by perfect people with perfect grammar or scientific precision in their terminology. Because some people will look at scripture and say, well, the Bible is not accurate because it says the sun rises, and the sun doesn't actually rise. The earth rotates, so there's an issue with your bible. We say no, no, it was written by common men in the common language. The same way that when you wake up tomorrow, you're not going to look over at your family member and be like isn't it nice, the sun rotated around. We rotated around, so the sun would come up like this. I hope you won't say that you will not have a good breakfast with whoever it is you're looking at.
Speaker 1:So they also used at times hyperbole or figures of speech. So when Jesus says, they'll say also, like Jesus did lie, because he said something about a camel fitting through the eye of a needle. And we'd say, yeah, but no one looks at you. And when you like, break your foot, you're like, dude, I feel like I'm dying right now Says okay, buddy, don't be a liar, okay, you're not actually dying. Well, some of the dads might do that. But, like in general, we would say you're using hyperbole, you're exaggerating to make a point. Okay, the scriptures are allowed to do that and we need to allow that to happen because, again, you and I don't stand in judgment over God's word.
Speaker 1:The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith says the whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his glory, man's salvation, faith and life is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture. This is super important for my black and white people here that are like no, it's got to be this or that, because when you're teaching people and they're newer Christians or they just have that kind of personality, you'll say no, no, no, the Trinity is true. And they're like Bible verse. Give me a Bible verse. You're like well, I can give you a dozen, dozen, and then from these dozen we can prove that the trinity is a necessary conclusion. It's like no, no, I want one bible verse that proves to me this truth and that is completely unnecessary and inaccurate for us to say.
Speaker 1:There are many things in life that we look at that we don't have an explicit reference to, but it's implied in our lives and we don't question it. Most of you have no idea how gravity works and you don't ask. Some scientists prove to me that gravity works in a scientific method. You just I mean it's implied my feet are always on the ground. This is just kind of a thing I've realized in life. This is what happens. Same thing with truths from scripture. They are necessarily contained or deduced from scripture. This is really important, especially again today we have this new age prophetic kind of movement.
Speaker 1:God's word is sufficient and is not to be added to. I'm going to give you three scriptures, two from the Old Testament and one from the New, just to make sure we're clear here. Deuteronomy, chapter 4, verse 2, god says you shall not. Two from the old testament, one from the new, just to make sure we're clear here. Deuteronomy, chapter 4, verse 2 god says you shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it. Don't take away, right. You can't say yeah, that was just paul talking to the corinthians at that time in a specific thing, and it't mean that command has nothing to do with us. You can't do that. But you also cannot add and say what. What he really meant is that we should add on a whole other book, like the book of mormon or whatever else we might think of in this life.
Speaker 1:Proverbs. Chapter 30, verses 5 and 6, says every word of god proves he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. So comforting. Then there's the other side. Do not add to his words lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. Okay, so Old Testament. We got two examples here. Is it okay to add to God's word or take away from it? Answer no, okay. How does the last book of the Bible end? There's two more verses, I think after after 18 and 19.
Speaker 1:Here, revelation, chapter 22. I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, god will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book, of this prophecy, god will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city which are described in this book. There are eternal, damning ramifications to adding or taking away from God's word.
Speaker 1:God's word is sufficient. We don't need more than that. But you and I, we are emotional, sinful creatures and so we will say but I want an experience. But this person said something really nice that God supposedly said directly to them. That comforted me. Those things are all fine and dandy as far as the world is concerned, but when it comes to God and his word, we say no, no, no. All that I need for life and godliness is found in this book.
Speaker 1:God's word is specifically sufficient in two areas. Number one is found in 2 Timothy 3.15 and Ephesians 6.4. It is great for raising up children and teaching them wisdom and the way of salvation teaching them wisdom and the way of salvation. And number two, 2 Timothy 3.17 and 4.2,. It is sufficient for the church and for ministry.
Speaker 1:You and I don't need more than God's word to tell us how to minister. We don't need some sort of creative strategy of how we're going to impact Henderson County and some sort of like five-step process to sharing this or that or the other thing. All we need is God's word that leads us to divine clarity. God has given us gifts to clarify his word. Ephesians 4, 11 through 13 will tell us that we get pastors and teachers who are a gift that equips us for ministry. How do they do that? They do it through teaching us and clarifying God's word.
Speaker 1:Similarly, what we usually practice here at Sovereign Grace Bible Church is what's called expository preaching. That means I don't have to be this creative. You say, pastor Dan, what's next for next week? And I'll say whatever. The next Bible verses are. Probably three of them, maybe five. If we have more than like nine, you should be worried. We're going to be sitting here for a while. Why do I do that? Because God wrote his word in an order for a specific reason, and my job is to expose the truth of it, which is why a lot of you would say after a sermon like that, you'd say I never saw that in that, or I always read over that and didn't think about that. Why? Because God's given us gifts in his body, the believers here, that clarify his word. This is important the Baptist Confession of Faith. I'll read part of this.
Speaker 1:It says all things in scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor are they clear, but all the things that are necessary to be known, believed and observed for salvation are clear. So here's what we would say the gospel is simple enough for a toddler to understand it, and yet the doctrines that are within the gospel are so profound that the oldest, greatest theologian can get lost in the sea of truth. This is called the perspicuity of scripture. That is a if you got a lisp, that is like the word right there Perspicuity of scripture. What is that? That is just the doctrine of the clarity of scripture. That scripture is clear, it's understandable.
Speaker 1:It's knowable that when it says Jesus walked on water, you and I don't have to like, all right, what does that mean? Like? Does that mean I get to walk on water? Was that like a spiritual symbolism for like, walking through this life and not being sunk? No, it just means that God walked on water. That's all that means. Scripture is clear. How do we know that? Examples would be Romans 15.4.
Speaker 1:It says for whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction. If something's written for your instruction, for you to learn, that means it's learnable. Right, like we would say if you are, if you're saying to your kindergarten class kiddos, we're going to learn calculus today, we would say that was not written for a five-year-old's instruction. It was not. I don't care how genius they are, they are not ready for calculus, maybe arithmetic. So we have comfort when we look at this, because this is pointing to the old testament and saying in the old testament that was written for our instruction. So if god intended it to instruct us. Is it understandable? It must be, because he's perfect. So when we have a hard time, that just shows again that it's the student, not the teacher, that needs to continue to work.
Speaker 1:Second, timothy 316 said that all scripture is profitable. That means that you can gain something from all of scripture and, yes, that includes the genealogies. Those are also important. This is really important. It's called the analogy of scripture. It is the greatest interpretation tool you will ever have. The infallible rule of interpretation of scripture is the scripture itself. When we have a not as clear text, we're like I don't know what that means. We take more clear texts that are very easy to understand and we say, okay, from these clearly clear to understand text, how can I best use those to interpret this not as easy to understand text? This leads us to divine necessity.
Speaker 1:Romans 10, 9 through 11, 13 through 14 and 17 says that faith comes from hearing the word of god and that if that's true, it is required that we would have the word of god, otherwise there's, otherwise there's no faith. If there's no faith, there's no salvation, for by grace you have been saved through faith. We'll skip that one. So, through God's word, god does three things he saves us, he sustains and comforts us and he sanctifies us. Sanctification is just becoming more Christ-like. Let's see we'll skip that. We move on to the divine unity that's in Christ. So all of scripture is united in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Christ was promised in the Old Testament. Christ is present in the Old Testament as the angel of the Lord, which we'll get to at a different sermon. Christ is revealed in also what's called types such as the need for sacrifices. In the Old Testament they were pointing to the need for a greater sacrifice that would be sacrificed once for all sins. Lastly, the Old Testament implies the need for a mediator of saving grace. It is very obvious that if you're King David, a man after God's own heart, you still are not good enough to mediate saving grace to all humanity.
Speaker 1:Scripture, all of scripture, points to Jesus. The gospels are a historical count of his life and ministry. Acts is a historical count of his church and its beginnings. Jesus, on the road to Emmaus, pointed to all of scripture to teach of himself, specifically the Old Testament at that time. Then there were letters that were written to Jesus' church teaching them how they must live in light of his life and ministry. And then the book ends with an account describing how Jesus will bring all things to an end, from Genesis, chapter 3, all the way through to Revelation 22,. Everything is clearly specifically about Jesus. This leads us to the divine efficacy. The divine efficacy of the Bible is 2 Timothy 3.16.
Speaker 1:The Bible is designed for effective application. So it's not this heady knowledge that you just kind of get bloated with and you're like I know a bunch of stuff. It's knowledge that's supposed to be applied. And again, that's why we've talked before about how you can have saints that have been Christians for decades and for some reason it looks like they know stuff, they know Bible verses, but their life hasn't changed. And that's because application is where the rubber meets the road, and all of scripture is designed by the perfect God for effective application. One of the ways that this has helped is that the Holy Spirit empowers the preaching of God's word by granting discernment to hearers to receive the truth of God. This is fascinating, because you and I think about empowerment of the Spirit when it comes to preaching, and we think me right. He's empowering me, and to a degree, that's true, but primarily he's empowering you to be able to stay awake, to be able to stay focused, to be able to understand, to be able to write notes if you write notes, all those kinds of things.
Speaker 1:Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 12, is a great text on the efficacy or the effectiveness of scripture. It says for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. So we see the Bible is living, powerful to accomplish the will of God. The Bible is sharper in piercing which that pierces through humanity's hypocrisy and deception or it exposes our true spiritual condition. And the Bible is discerning, or is able to judge between good and evil in the thoughts and intents of the heart. The extent of inspiration is plenary, including everything the prophets wrote. The meaning of inspiration is that the words of the Bible did not arise from men but from God, as his spirit breathed forth the word of God through the prophets. By implication, the Bible has special properties that make it unlike any other book. It is the word of God and therefore has supernatural authority veracity, sufficiency, clarity, necessity, unity in Christ and efficacy, joel Beeky.
Speaker 1:We then look at Isaiah, chapter 55, verses 10 through 11. It says, for, as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55, 10, 11 breaks down into two aspects an analogy and an explanation. The analogy is of rain and snow, and that communicates the gift of spiritual and fruitful life that's given from heaven. This is the work of the spirit, to give life to a spiritually barren world. Now the explanation is that God's word cannot fail to be profitable. It's like a business plan that's guaranteed to succeed and make you money, and therefore it cannot. It is unable to return empty-handed. It will accomplish its purpose. What's the purpose of scripture? To call sinners to faith and repentance. That leads us to applied revelation, and there's no slides for that, but we'll go through them real quick. So, applied revelation do I have? No, I don't.
Speaker 1:Okay, applied revelation is the revelation of God by his people's response to his word. This is important, as you and I so think of it this way. I, when I was not saved, was a really, really good, popular sinner. I mean I was like creme de la creme of the bottom of the bucket. Now, when that happened and I got saved at the age of 19, there was a change in my life. Things began to fall off. God reveals himself through things like that, as I say no, I don't need that anymore. God is not only glorified, but he is revealed to the world where they then say there's something different about you, thing different about you. Again, if you want to, just the most basic summary of applied revelation is when Jesus looks at you and says you are salt and light In a dying and dark world. You are a preserving presence and a bright light in the midst of darkness.
Speaker 1:Applied revelation is God producing people of the word through effectual calling and their experienced application of special revelation. This looks like the following Personal faith in the scriptures, personal study of the scriptures, personal experience through the scriptures. So it's as you and I again, most of the time you read like that God collects all the teardrops that you ever cry in a bottle and saves them. And most of the time you read that and you and I have these like stony hearts and we're like, okay. But there's sometimes when you read that and you're like, wow, yeah, that's cool, I like that. That's experiencing God's word.
Speaker 1:Divine revelation also aims at a multi-generational impact. So applied revelation is shown through family discipleship. So think of, like Deuteronomy, chapter six, you tell it to your children, tell it to them here, there and everywhere. That's the Dr Seuss version. Now, not only that, there's transformation in the church's life. So, as a church, a corporate body of believers, becomes more Christ-like. They become less self-centered, more sacrificial, more mission-driven to impacting a community for eternity.
Speaker 1:As that happens, the world looks at it and says, okay, no, that's not a religious social club that we're not allowed to go to or we wouldn't fit in at. That is a people that are on mission. They are boots on the ground, loving me, loving this community and sharing this truth that they really believe is the truth. Another one is we get Christ-like pastors. That is another example. The world is full of leaders. It is full of a lot of leaders that are great at convincing people of things and failing and falling short in terrible moral ways.
Speaker 1:One of the gifts of applied revelation is when the church is able to look at pastors and say that man is different, god has set apart that man. And then, as the world throws stones right and the devil works in tune with this as well and says, okay, let's test this, let's put the man of God under pressure and see if he cracks. Because what happens? Let's say, I have an influence of 150 people in the area, and if I were to fall into some moral scandal, I was stealing money from the church or whatever, and that was broadcasted. How many people are impacted negatively because of that? That's something I think about regularly, and that's good. There needs to be this fear of God and the man of God who's leading. We don't do it out of obligation. I must do this. We do this out of what's called aspiration, desiring to lead in this way, and, trust me, this job is not candy-coated, and so it's got to be a God-born desire inside of you that says I must do this.
Speaker 1:Not only that, we see also that applied revelation is shown through evangelistic zeal. As you and I go out into the community and we talk to our coworkers and we actually share the gospel with them, they're like oh, that's crazy. No one talks about religion at work, or no one talks about religion at fishers. You're like that's right, but I do. So let's talk. Where are you going when you die? That proves a point. And God reveals himself. Because you and I would not be that bold, naturally right, you would say, before you're saved, there ain't no way I'm stopping somebody in the middle of a grocery store that I kind of know to say do you know Jesus? There ain't no way I'm doing that. As I do that, the world again looks and says, okay, that's funny, that's different. What's happening?
Speaker 1:Applied revelation is shown through leadership that is dependent on God. So leadership in the church is not dependent on their own skills or abilities charisma, but it was rather wholly dependent on God. We look at the journey of this church. We say we want this church to be officially planted on September 14th and we say, okay, no man can do this. I'm talking to the church planting network and they're like, yeah, no. So we got guys that are in your class that are going to be planting in Peoria, in Macomb, quad Cities, chicago. Where are you planting? And I'm like you ever heard of Biggsville? No, okay. Have you ever heard of Henderson County? No, okay. Think Quad Cities, hour and a half south and a half south.
Speaker 1:We look at this and on paper, the corporation, the world, looks at it and says do not do that, do not do that, that will fail. And we look at them bold in the face and we say, yes, it will, unless God does something. And that's how we want to live our lives as a church is we don't do things unless we say this will only succeed if God does it. Because what happens? That makes it really easy to be more humble, because you can't take credit. It's like it's like salvation. You're like, oh wow, you chose Jesus. It's like it's like salvation. You're like, oh wow, you chose Jesus. It's like kind of Jesus chose me and kind of plucked. The Bible says he plucked me out of a fire. I was going to die, I was already dead and he made me alive. So like he did it. Same thing with this ministry. We look at the future and we say, if God will bless this, let's do it. And until then, we stumble forward in sanctification together and just say God, please hold us, and we move forward as a united front, looking for God's glory and not our own.
Speaker 1:One of the greatest examples. This is where we'll end of applied revelation is found in Psalm 19. Psalm 19 is one of the greatest examples. This is where we'll end of applied revelation is found in Psalm 19. Psalm 19 is one of the greatest texts on God's word, or we'll say, on revelation. The first six verses verses 1 through 6, can summarize general revelation. Verses, I think it's. 7 through 9, summarizes special revelation, and then verses 10 through 14 ends with applied revelation. So I'll just give you the headlines of that real quick and then we'll be done. Applied revelation 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 are all their own point for applied revelation.
Speaker 1:How do Christians respond? How do they live out scripture Number one, verse 10, they love the word and they grow in that. Again, it's not an absolute where we look at each other with anxiety and say you know, I didn't wake up this morning and be like, look at my Bible, I'm like I just love you so much, like I just didn't do that this morning. We don't, we don't do that, but we say there is this affection, this, this, this drawing from within that's growing over time, inch by inch, degree by degree over years. God's word has meant more to me today than it did last year.
Speaker 1:Verse 11, we listen to the word, which is important because you and I have an opportunity every time God's word is opened, to listen. But you and I will think for some reason because the devil's really good at blinding our hearts and our minds when it comes to these things that like, if you attend church or a Bible study, like you're, you're in, like there's. The rest of this is passive. It's like getting on a roller coaster, like you sit in your seat, you put your little seatbelt thingy on and you're on for the ride and you'll get off when it's done. It is not like that Every time you sit down for the preaching of the word or for a Bible study. You have now engaged in a great battle of spiritual warfare and you and I must choose to actively listen.
Speaker 1:Verse 12 begins a prayer. Verses 12, 13, and 14 are a prayer that David speaks and he prays that God would help him to look for saving grace, to keep his eyes fixed on that. Verse 13, that he would long to please God. That would be the desire of his heart. And then verse 14, that his life would be for God, and that's why Psalm, chapter 19, verse 14, says May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, o Lord, my rock and my redeemer. That is the Christian's prayer in a nutshell. You and I must look at God's word and say everything that we're going to learn over the next 21 weeks stems from this, and that the Bible learning about the Bible right, so let's talk about ologies right, bibliology is what this would be.
Speaker 1:The study of the Bible is not some cold academic doctrine that's distanced. Rather, the doctrine of the Bible is a warm, comforting, assuring doctrine that not only assures us of the truth, but assures us of God's love for us, that he didn't have to write all this down, but because of the great love with which he loved us, he chose to write it down so that you would be saved. Will you pray with me, father? We come before you and we are just in awe of your word. We're in awe of your truth.
Speaker 1:Lord, we ask that you would help us to be a people of your word, that we would believe your word, the promises that are in it, that these truths that have been explained today will be foundational to the church that you build here in Henderson County. Lord, we ask that you would use us as tools for your glory, that you would help us to engage in the spiritual warfare each week as we go to listen to God's word and communicate about it together. That we would be prepared, that we would have thought through how we're going to engage, how we're going to listen and how we're going to live for you In this place, in this house, in this community. May you get all the glory and the honor and the praise, for you are worthy of it, and we ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen.
