The Bible – What is it about?

Well, as I was saying to the children,

the importance of knowing the different

genres of the Bible and reading them

well. If you'd like to be a bit more

equipped for that, I've got a handout

that you're very welcome to come and

grab afterwards that just gives some

some teaching on that. I had planned to

include that in the sermon, but it was

going to be really long. So,

I've decided to take that out. But, if

you want to talk about that more or work

through that more, indeed, if you want

to meet up and read through the Bible

together, if there's passages that you

struggle with, I'm I'm more than happy

to do that and I know Matt is, too.

Please do talk to us about that.

Well, last week we spoke about the

Bible.

We saw that the Bible is God's word.

That means it's authoritative.

When God speaks, he speaks what is true.

It's infallible. God's word is incapable

of containing error and it also contains

everything we need to live a godly life.

It's sufficient.

And speaking about the Bible is is, I

think, fantastic and exciting. And what

an incredible gift we have in the Bible.

But, sometimes the reality of getting

stuck into the Bible can be very hard.

I mean, what am I supposed to do with

the story of a floating ax head?

Or Hebrew love poetry that describes

someone's teeth as being like a flock of

shorn ewes.

Right?

This week we're going to talk not about

the Bible. We're going to talk about

what the Bible is about.

And we're aiming to be better equipped

to open up the Bible and to get

something out of it. That's the the aim

for this morning. This is sermon part

one. This will just be a couple of

minutes. We'll then sing and we'll do

part two. And I've done that because we

need to think about a fundamental truth

that Jesus taught, which is this. In

John chapter 15 and verse five, he says,

John 15 · chapter mention

"Apart from me,

you can do nothing."

Jesus This mean, "On the days you're not

depending on me, you'll basically be

okay and be able to get on with it.

Right? Like husbands, when your wife's

gone away, you can still cope, can't

you? You know how to wash your own

pants. It's not just your wife who does

that for you.

But,

when Jesus says, "Apart from me, you can

do nothing."

He's not saying, "I'm a nice to have."

You know, you kind of get on with your

life and I'm a nice extra to have in

your life. He says, "Apart from me, you

can do nothing." He means nothing. The

whole of the Christian life should be

lived in total dependence upon God. And

that the same thing is true of reading

and seeking to understand the Bible.

We are helpless without God.

We might be able to understand a

proposition

or see the link between a cause and an

effect written in the pages of the

Bible, but true understanding of the

Bible only comes about by a work of the

Spirit.

So, in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 9

1 Corinthians 2:9–14

to 14, we read this. As it is written,

"What no eye has seen nor ear heard, nor

the heart of man imagined, what God has

prepared for those who love him."

These things God has revealed to us

through the Spirit.

For the Spirit searches everything, even

the depths of God. For who knows a

person's thoughts except the spirit of

that person, which is in him?

So also, no one comprehends,

no one comprehends the thoughts of God

except the Spirit of God.

Now, we have not received the Spirit of

the world,

but the Spirit who is from God, that we

might understand the things freely given

us by God. And we impart this in words

not taught by human wisdom,

but taught by the spirit

interpreting spiritual truths to those

who are spiritual. And here's the real

kicker. First Corinthians chapter 2

1 Corinthians 2:14

verse 14, the natural person does not

accept the things of God.

For they are folly to him.

And he is not able to understand them

because they are spiritually discerned.

Someone can be a scholar of the biblical

languages, right? Originally written in

Hebrew, a short section in Aramaic, and

the New Testament in Greek. Someone can

be an expert in those languages. They

might be able to explain to you the

technical use of this particular term at

this reason

is is used at this point for this

reason, but they will never truly

understand the Bible because

understanding of the Bible

only comes about by the spirit.

Someone might be able to recite to you

the story of Daniel in the lion's den.

But their understanding of it

it will be lacking.

The spirit must help us to understand

spiritual truth or we will never

understand at all.

And part of the miracle of how God saves

someone is by giving them this

understanding of the truth of the Bible.

So, in coming to the Bible

hopefully day by day, week after week

in seeking for that to be more than just

an exercise in flicking your eyes over

some words, maybe half remembering a

sermon you once heard about it, and then

just plowing on with your day

in order to read the Bible and truly get

something out of it, we need to start

with an attitude of total humility and

dependence.

When I remember to when I come to read

my Bible

I start by expressing this explicitly to

God.

I pray to him, God, I will not

understand your word without the work of

your spirit. Without you, I can do

nothing. Have mercy on me.

I wonder

when you come to read the Bible, is your

attitude more one of humble dependence?

Or is it one of, "Yeah, I've got this."?

And what we would confessionally say is

true of us,

but what's actually true?

When you open your Bible,

what's your attitude?

Where's your heart? So, before we get

stuck into what the Bible is about,

we're going to come to God in humble

dependence and prayer. If I'll invite

the the band up, we're going to ask God

to speak to us through his word in this

wonderful hymn,

uh speak, O Lord, we're going to express

exactly this truth. We're looking to him

to give us understanding, which we will

not otherwise have.

So, uh as the band plays, if you're

able, let's stand, and let's sing,

speak, O Lord.

>> [music]

[music]

>> Speak, O Lord,

>> [singing]

>> as we

come to

>> [music]

>> you to receive

the food

of your [music]

holy

word.

Take

your truth

and

>> [singing and music]

>> make it deep

in us.

Shape and

fashion

us your kindness [music and singing]

the

light of Christ

>> [singing]

>> might

be seen today

>> [music]

>> in our

acts of love

and our

>> [music and singing]

>> deeds of faith.

Speak

oh Lord

and

fulfill in

>> [music]

[singing]

>> us all your

purposes

>> [music]

>> for your

glory.

>> [music]

>> Teach

>> [music and singing]

>> us all your loving kindness

holy

>> [singing]

[music]

>> reverence

true humility.

Bless

>> [music]

>> our thoughts

>> [singing]

>> and [music] our acts

in the

radiance

>> [music]

>> of your pure

glory.

>> [singing]

>> Open [music] our

eyes to Christ

open our eyes

to see your majestic [music and singing]

love

and

authority.

Words [music] of

power

that can

>> [music]

>> never be

broken

over

our lives.

>> [music]

>> Speak

>> [singing]

>> oh Lord and renew

>> [music]

>> us

>> [music]

[music]

[singing]

[music]

[singing]

[music]

[music and singing]

[music]

[singing]

[music]

[singing]

[music]

>> And so, then let's pray. Lord, yes, we

pray. Speak.

We ask open our minds.

We ask give us understanding of those

things which we cannot understand apart

from you.

Lead us into the truth of your glorious

words

and glorify yourself in this.

Amen.

Uh they made some Star Wars films about

10 years ago now. Anyone see them? Star

Wars 7, 8, and 9? Yeah, some of you did.

Over a period of about 5 years, they had

two different directors and they made

three films.

And they really struggled to tell one

coherent story. It was a complete mess.

I think pretty much everyone agrees

about that. They had some fun things

that happened, you know, they were an

enjoyable watch, but it was supposed to

be three episodes in the saga of Star

Wars that all joined together, and it

was just a total shambles.

They couldn't tell one story

over just 5 years with two directors

working on three films.

You know where I'm going. The Bible was

written over the course of 1,500

years. It had over 40 different authors

and it does manage to tell one great and

glorious story.

Now, I don't know how many millions they

spent on Star Wars. Maybe I should have

looked that up.

But what a miracle the word of God is

that it tells one coherent, glorious

story. This graphic was created by a guy

called Chris Harrison. It's going to

appear on the screen in a moment and it

shows all of the cross-references that

exist between the different chapters of

the Bible. What you can see along the

bottom is each different chapter of the

Bible. The longer the line, the longer

the chapter is.

And these are all the different ways in

which the Bible refers to itself.

There are tens of thousands of them.

It's a glorious picture. And that's very

nice. I quite like that demonstration.

You know, the colors don't actually mean

anything. They just did that to make it

look pretty. But it's very nice, isn't

it? And isn't incredible?

In fact, even people like Jordan

Peterson, who you may have come across,

uh quite a popular speaker, he refers to

this diagram. He says that the Bible is

the first ever hyperlinked document.

Used to hyperlinks, those blue links on

web pages that take you around, right?

The Bible is the first of all of those.

It is one big story.

And knowing that big story will help us

by the power of the Holy Spirit, of

course,

to appreciate and properly understand

the small part of the Bible that you

might be reading on any given day. So,

we're asking this question. What is the

Bible

about?

Now, I can give you very short answers.

And next week, we've got an all age

service in which we're going to see the

fact that the Bible is all about Jesus.

And we're going to see three different

ways in which the Old Testament in

particular leads us into Jesus. And

hopefully not in the obvious ways that

you're already thinking of. It does it

in so many more ways. The Bible is about

Jesus. What else could we say? We could

say Genesis chapters 1 through 11 is the

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

story of why the world is the way it is.

Genesis chapter 12, all the way through

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

to the end of Revelation, is how God is

going to solve that problem. That's one

way of thinking about the Bible. Maybe

if you've not read those first 11

chapters of the Bible for a while, spend

some time there. Why is the world the

way it is? It's all there.

It's all laid out for us.

Or we might sketch out the four main

movements of the Bible. It begins with

creation. God makes a perfect world

followed by fall. Humanity rebels

against God and is subject to death.

Which is followed by redemption.

The story of how God is going to save us

from our sins.

And then finally, it speaks about the

new heavens and the new earth. When

those who have been saved from their sin

will get to dwell with God forever.

And that last part,

new heavens and new earth, that's still

future tense, of course, isn't it? That

is yet to come. The Bible describes the

events of the end of the world.

And the glory that it's leading to

for those whose faith is in Jesus.

Here's the thing though, on the ground

level of scripture,

right, say you were reading the book of

Ruth.

Well, we could say that's part of the

Bible that's about redemption, right? We

have our creation fall, it's part of the

redemptive storyline. That's helpful.

And you're reading Ruth,

and then Ruth sleeps on some guy's feet,

and then some people swap flip-flops.

Right?

That large picture maybe isn't as

helpful as it could be. So, what we're

going to do is look at another framework

that helps us down on the ground level

of scripture. Now, there are lots of

different ways we could tell the big

story of the Bible. One of my favorite

ones comes from a book by Graeme

Goldsworthy. He's an Australian

theologian who has described the story

of the Bible as being about the kingdom

of God.

And the kingdom of God, he says, and you

can trace this through scripture, I

think is a very, very faithful

framework, is where God's people are in

God's place under God's rule and

blessing. And the toddlers leaders are

very excited cuz they're singing a song

this term which captures that big

picture of the Bible. Right? If you want

to sing it, sing it with them

afterwards. They'll teach it to you.

It's very good. God's people in God's

place under God's rule and blessing. And

I want to suggest to us that this is not

a perfect summary of the Bible. It's not

inspired in the way that scripture is,

but it is very helpful and very

importantly very memorable.

And it can help us get orientated

correctly wherever we are in scripture.

So, let's run it through.

Adam and Eve at the beginning enjoyed

God's kingdom.

In Genesis chapter 2, we read this. The

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

Lord God took the man and put him in the

Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

And the Lord God commanded the man

saying, "You may surely eat of every

tree of the garden.

But of the tree of the knowledge of good

and evil, you shall not eat. For in the

day you eat of it, you shall surely

die."

And a little later in Genesis 2, we read

this. "And the man and his wife were

both naked and were not ashamed."

Here are God's people, the first two

people. They are in the Garden of Eden,

God's place that he had made to them and

given to them to look after. And they're

living under God's rule and blessing.

They're given all these trees. There's

one from which they must not eat.

There's blessing. There's rule.

We also see the blessing in that there's

no shame between them.

The fact that they're naked and not

ashamed is the sort of thing that was

read in Sunday school when I was a kid

that I would giggle at.

But now I realize it's far more profound

than that. There is no shame. There is

nothing in the world that would make

them want to cover up. There is no

sinful desire. There is no

self-consciousness. They are at peace.

They are naked and they are not ashamed.

But they sin.

And we call that before because from

these great soaring heights of enjoying

the kingdom of God, being God's people

in God's place under his rule and

blessing,

because of sin they are driven away from

God's place. Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Therefore, the Lord God sent him out of

the garden of Eden to work the ground

from which he was taken. He drove out

the man.

And those relationships which have been

free of shame

take a dark turn. In the very next

chapter of the Bible after the fall of

humanity is recorded, the first murder

is committed.

God's people are not in God's place

anymore.

They should live under his rule, but

they rebel against it. God in his grace

and mercy blesses them

and they have large families. They start

to populate the earth.

And then God calls Abraham.

At the time of the reading when Josh

read it for us earlier, he was called

Abram. His name is going to get changed

a few chapters later.

And just pay attention as you hear this.

God's people in God's place under God's

rule and blessing. It's all here.

Now the Lord God said to Abram, "Go from

your country and your kindred and your

father's house to the land I will show

you.

And I will make of you a great nation.

And I will bless you and make your name

great so that you will be a blessing. I

will bless those who bless you and him

who dishonors you, I will curse. And in

you all the families of the earth shall

be blessed. God chooses a people, the

descendants of Abraham.

The nation of Israel, that's what the

rest of the Old Testament really covers.

God tells him he will give him a place.

God commands him to leave where he is,

that's the rule of God, and he promises

blessing.

And from Abraham this nation grows. They

wind up in Egypt,

which is not the place that God had

promised to them, and so God rescues

them out of Egypt.

That's the first half of the book of

Exodus.

Then God tells the people how they

should live,

given that they are his people.

That's the second half of Exodus and the

book of Leviticus. But they reject God's

rule, they grumble, they complain, they

say they would have been better off in

Egypt, and so a whole generation misses

out on going into God's place that he

had set aside for them. That's the book

of Numbers.

A new generation rises up.

They will be the ones to enter God's

place, and so the law is repeated to

them.

That's Deuteronomy.

In Joshua, God's people enter God's

place.

They conquer the promised land, and when

they live under God's rule, they are

blessed.

And we see a few times they disobey and

they face judgment.

And then comes Judges, which is a story

that gets darker and darker as it goes

along. Those final chapters of Judges

are truly awful to read.

God's people are in God's place, but

they are not living under his rule.

And there's a line that gets repeated a

few times in Judges, it's this: In those

days there was no king in Israel.

Everyone did what was right in his own

eyes.

And it was clear that what was right in

their own eyes was deep, deep

wickedness.

Which leads into the next chapter of the

life of God's people.

In the book of Ruth, we see how God is

going to provide a king for his people.

And staggeringly, God chooses Ruth, who

is not one of God's people. She is not a

descendant of Abraham.

And she gets brought into God's people.

And eventually, she becomes In fact,

that's the flip-flop swapping, right?

That's her becoming one of God's people,

right? And she becomes the

great-grandmother

of King David.

First and Second Samuel tell the story

of God's people being given a king.

First of all, Saul, but he fails to live

under God's rule. And so, God God

appoints David to be the new king. And

God makes an amazing promise

to David in Second Samuel chapter 7. And

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

again, listen out here, God's people in

his place under his rule and blessing.

This is 2 Samuel chapter 7 verse 8.

2 Samuel 7:8

Now therefore,

thus you shall say to my servant David,

so this is Nathan the prophet speaking

to David, "Thus says the Lord of hosts,

I took you from the pastures,

from following the sheep,

that you should be prince over my people

Israel.

And I have been with you wherever you

went and have cut off all your enemies

from before you. And I will make for you

a great name,

like the names of the great ones of the

earth.

And I will appoint a place for my people

Israel and will plant them, so that they

may dwell in their own place and be

disturbed no more. And violent men shall

afflict them no more as formerly,

from the time that I appointed judges

over my people Israel. And I will give

you rest from your enemies.

Moreover, the Lord declares to you that

the Lord will make you a house.

When your days are fulfilled and you lie

down with your fathers, remember this is

speaking to David, "I will raise up your

offspring after you, who shall come from

your body. And I will will

his kingdom.

He shall build a house for my name, and

I will establish the throne of his

kingdom forever. I will be to him a

father, he shall be to me a son. When he

commits iniquity,

I will discipline him with the rod of

men, with the stripes of the son of men,

but my steadfast love will not depart

from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I

put away from before you. And your house

and your kingdom shall be made sure

forever before me. Your throne shall be

established

forever.

And is this it then, this great and

soaring and wonderful promise that is

made to David?

They're going to be secure, God's people

finally secure in God's place

under his rule. And listen to that

blessing.

Is this it?

Alas, no.

David himself fails to obey the rule of

God.

The books of Psalms, Proverbs, and

Ecclesiastes, and Job speak about what

it is to live in this world. What does

it look like to live under the rule of

God and the blessing of God amidst a

world which is broken by sin?

The story carries on in Kings and

Chronicles. They tell the sad story of a

kingdom that by the end of David's son's

life, Solomon, splits in two.

So, what had been a united people is

split into two parts. What becomes known

as the kingdom of Israel in the north,

whose kings are not from the line of

David, and so are not heirs of that

promise we just heard.

And the kingdom of Judah in the south,

whose kings are descended from David.

They're part of this royal line.

In both kingdoms, they have good kings,

but mostly bad ones, who lead God's

people away from living under God's

rule.

And so, they do not know God's blessing.

God sends prophets: Jonah, Amos, Hosea,

Micah, Isaiah, Nahum, Zephaniah,

Habakkuk, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, who remind

the people of the commands that God has

given to them. That they should live

under his rule, or they will face

terrible consequences.

But the people do not listen.

The kingdom of Israel, that northern

kingdom, is conquered by the Assyrians,

who have been sent by God. They are

taken away from God's place.

And the Assyrians begin a program of

importing people in mass into this

northern kingdom, and basically

eradicating the ethnic identity of this

northern kingdom. That's the reason why

in Jesus' time, the Jews hated the

Samaritans so much. The Samaritans were

the children of those who had been part

of this northern kingdom. And they have

a mixed bloodline. They're not true Jews

anymore. And so there's a great enmity

between them.

The kingdom of Judah in the south sticks

around for a bit longer.

But as we read about in Kings, and it's

also in Chronicles,

the Babylonians come along.

And they're taken out of God's place and

into exile.

And then you get the books of Ezra and

Nehemiah, which actually originally are

just the book of Ezra and Nehemiah. It

was one book originally. We read of how

God's people were restored to God's

place. They travel back to the land.

They rebuild the temple. And God sends

them prophets to encourage them. Haggai,

Zechariah, Malachi, and Joel.

And then there's 400 years of silence.

Lots happens in the period between the

end of the Old Testament and the start

of the new, and we're actually told

pretty much exactly what will happen in

the book of Daniel.

That second part of the book of Daniel.

Everyone likes the first part of the

book of Daniel, exciting stories,

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, right?

Daniel in the lions' den. And then you

get into this really mad stuff. And

there's a goat that's chasing people

around, and then it splits into four,

and all this kind of stuff. What you

have in the book of Daniel, if you spend

time in it, is an incredibly accurate

prophetic history of what would happen

with the kingdoms around God's people.

In the prophecy of Daniel, we find

Alexander the Great. He's there.

He's that goat, by the way. We even read

in Daniel's prophecy of the rise of the

Roman Empire.

So, even the period of time in which God

does not speak to his people, he has

spoken about what will happen to them.

And then we reach the book of Luke. And

I'm going to read a reading that's going

to make you feel all Christmasy. In

those days, a decree went out from

Caesar Augustus that all the world

should be registered. This was the first

registration while Quirinius was

governor of Syria, and all went to be

registered, each to his own town. And

Joseph also went up from Galilee, from

the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the

city of David, which is called

Bethlehem, because he was of the house

and lineage of David, to be registered

with Mary, his betrothed, who was with

child. And while they were there, the

time came for her to give birth, and she

gave birth to her firstborn son, and

wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and

laid him in a manger, because there was

no place for them in the inn. Jesus

comes

under the rule of the Romans, as

predicted in Daniel.

And he alone,

he alone

truly lives under the rule of God.

Never sinning, but living a perfect

life.

He is the long-promised rescuer, the

fulfillment of that wonderful promise to

David. His kingdom will be established

forever.

And you can forgive the disciples for

getting a bit confused.

Because a few times it becomes very

clear that they think that Jesus is

going to be a political leader.

And with our minds taken back to the Old

Testament, we can see why. It seems

obvious to us. We're going, "Well, why

are you thinking that, lads? That's

strange. Jesus is clearly talking about

spiritual things."

You see, the nature of God's kingdom

as foreshadowed in the Old Testament,

God's people in God's place under his

rule and blessing,

actually is much, much broader.

God's people in God's place under God's

rule. Well, hang on, the disciples are

thinking, "We're under the Romans."

Jesus is going to get rid of the Romans,

and then the Jews will stand out among

the nations again.

But, no.

As was said in the Old Testament,

but not properly understood,

all the families of the earth will be

blessed through the descendants of

Abraham,

specifically through one descendant,

Jesus.

And at the end of his ministry, after

his life, his passion, his resurrection,

he gives this Great Commission. "Go

therefore and make disciples of all

nations, baptizing them in the name of

the Father and of the Son and of the

Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe

all that I have commanded you, and

behold, I am with you always to the end

of the age."

All nations. God's people will come from

all nations. It will not be a political

kingdom as it was in the Old Testament.

It will be broader than that.

Far broader. It will be worldwide. And

the Book of Acts speaks about how that

starts.

The letters which we have recorded for

us in the New Testament unfold what it

means to live under God's rule after

Jesus, and just how great God's blessing

is.

God's place is no longer the promised

land.

That's a foreshadowing of the new

heavens and earth,

where it finally all comes together,

but better than Eden.

Revelation 21:3-4,

Revelation 21:3–4

"Behold, the dwelling place of God is

with man. He will dwell with them, and

they will be his people. God himself

will be with them as their God. He will

wipe away every tear from their eyes,

and death shall be no more, neither

shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor

pain anymore.

For the former things have passed away.

There, in perfection, are God's people,

in God's place, under God's rule,

knowing his blessing.

And I commend that outline to you.

It's not perfect.

It doesn't always totally fit, but it is

very, very helpful.

So, as you read the Bible, considering

that framework, we can find our way.

Because the Bible hasn't been given to

us in a series of short, sharp episodes,

which can be read out of context.

That's not what the Bible is. The Bible

is one story. It must be appreciated as

one story. Like we said last week, it's

not a reference guide.

Turn to this section for anger.

Turn to this section for managing your

finances. No, it's not written like

that.

It's one glorious story. And so, as you

read whatever part of the Bible you're

in,

ask these questions: Who are God's

people? Where is God's place? What does

it look like to give and live under

God's rule?

Are people doing so? And how much

blessing

are they knowing?

If you want to give using that framework

a go, I've got some other handouts as

well of some passages that you might go

to, and using that framework orient

yourself, find your way. They're from

across the whole of scripture, different

styles of literature.

And I hope you will see that you can

find where you are, and by identifying

where the short piece of the Bible

you're reading

fits into the big story that the Bible

is telling,

it helps us to understand it

properly.

You see, when we don't

bear in mind the context of the big

story of the Bible,

uh we can end up with some very weird

application of the Bible.

You might be aware yesterday in London

there was an awful lot of going on.

Christian nationalism is on the rise.

Christian nationalism misses out on the

fact that the kingdom of God is not just

limited to one people anymore,

nor to one geographical place on Earth.

They've ended up with a very strange

interpretation of scripture.

Liberal Christian denominations reject

the rule of God while expecting the

blessing of God.

A sort of comfort blanket for life while

they live it their own way. Well, that's

not being part of God's kingdom.

If we don't bear in mind this big

picture that is told, we end up in weird

places.

Right application of the word of God

bears the whole in mind as it considers

the part it is reading.

Which if you then layer that up with the

fact that there are different genres and

literary styles in the Bible,

well, then one application from today is

surely this, right? Yes, absolutely you

need the help of the spirit to

understand it.

You need to have the whole story of the

Bible in mind as you read the small bit.

You need to know how to read

thousands of years old Hebrew poetry,

which has a whole different set of rules

that it follows compared to modern

poetry. It doesn't rhyme.

There's no iambic pentameter, right?

Those are exciting things you learn

about in your GCSEs, right?

It's very different. You've got to bear

those things in mind.

Depend on the spirit and slow down.

I think one of the wonderful things

about the modern age in which we live is

that we've all got the Bible with us

wherever we go. Remember in your maths

lessons, your teacher said, "You won't

have a calculator with you everywhere

you go."

And now we do.

It's on your phone. It's the same with

your Bible. It's in your pocket. It's

right there. They're fantastic. One of

the downsides,

reading plans can be really helpful.

They keep you accountable to following

through a book.

But the pressure of trying to keep up

with a reading plan means you're not

really reading what you're reading.

You're just trying to get through it.

You're just trying to tick a box.

You've got the whole of the Bible to

bear in mind and to apply it properly.

You need to take time and slow down and

appreciate the Bible for what it is.

Don't use a cocktail stick to eat your

soup.

Use a spoon.

Now, when it's the podcast, that's going

to sound weird cuz the kids' talk's

going to be cut out of it, right? So,

it's going to sound very strange, but

you all know what I mean, right? You

need to read each style appropriate to

it. Read and read again. And you know

what? If you're someone who finds

reading difficult, how blessed we are to

live in an age where on your phone as

well, it can be read to you. And again,

and again, and again.

It's glorious that we have these things.

We must

slow down with our Bible reading.

The temptation is to attempt some great

Bible reading plan, and it is great to

do that and really helpful.

But what are we actually taking in?

I commend to you, too, the Bible is

sufficient. It gives us everything we

need to live a godly life.

But there are really helpful study

guides out there that are like a wise

friend who can sit alongside you and

point things out.

They'll help you to see the difference

between what it looked like to be part

of God's kingdom back then and what it

means to be part of God's kingdom now,

because it's not the same now as then.

If you try and directly apply the

teaching of the Old Testament to

yourself, you're missing the fact that

the Bible is one big story and you end

up in very strange places.

Use Bible study reading guides.

There can be a bit of pride going on and

we're like, "No, I don't use those. I

just have my Bible."

Let's have some humility.

Let's look to those wise friends who can

sit alongside us in a book

or a video

or a podcast

and help us to really appreciate

scripture.

I commend the message of the Bible to

you. The kingdom of God is where God's

people get to live in God's place under

God's rule and its blessing and it's

fantastic.

We live in the age of the church.

The reason why the New Testament is the

most read part of the Bible is because

it's the easiest part for us to

understand and apply. It's why the

letters of the New Testament, while they

only take up a relatively small chunk of

your Bible, something like that much of

all of that, get so much attention in

churches and church teaching.

Because they unfold what it is to be the

church. The church is God's kingdom

in the world. Not the building, the

people. God's people.

So, take the teaching of Romans chapter

Romans 8 · chapter mention

8.

And we did a little series on this a

couple of years ago.

If you weren't around then or if you

want a reminder, I just really commend

it to you.

In Romans chapter 8 verses 15 and 16, we

Romans 8:15

read this.

"For you did not receive the spirit of

slavery to fall back into fear,

but you have received the spirit of

adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba,

Father.'

For the Spirit himself bears witness

with our spirit that we are children of

God."

Do you see yourself in the light of

God's kingdom? Are you God's person? Are

you part of God's people?

Do you realize you're a son of God?

If you're a boy or a girl,

again, go to that sermon series if you

want to hear about that.

You're a son of God. That's who you are.

I'm not only worth something while I'm

as busy as I can be doing this and that.

I don't need to prove myself by the

results that I can achieve. If my faith

is in Jesus, I've been adopted as a son

of God.

That is who I am.

I am God's person.

God's place is what we're waiting to

enter. It's not for nothing that in 1

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Peter chapter 2, Christians are

described as sojourners and exiles,

foreigners and exiles. This is not our

home.

There should feel a tension.

Some of you know, Sophie and I moved

into our new house this week.

I've been reflecting a lot on the fact

that yes, while we might call it a home

in a sense, it is not home.

Cuz do you know what? The copper

pipework will slowly degrade. The

plaster will crumble from the walls.

Already is.

The weeds will grow in the garden.

And the bricks will be eaten away by

ivy.

It's not a home that lasts.

God's people,

the sons of God, have a place to which

we look forward, which is eternal.

Are you one of God's people? Are you

looking forward to being in God's place?

Do you live under God's rule?

The men's breakfast yesterday was really

helpful. Right, if God investigated you

for fraud, we had Phil, who's a fraud

investigator with us speaking.

You can catch him afterwards cuz he's

here. Hi, Phil.

If God investigated your life,

and what would the outcome of that be?

But of course in the gospel

when God looks at me

he doesn't investigate my life.

He investigates the life of Jesus.

Because it's Jesus' perfect life that is

in my place. Oh, I failed to live under

the rule of God.

But Jesus never did.

In Ephesians we read about how there are

good works prepared for us in advance.

We should be seeking to bring our lives

under what what God would have us do.

And do you know the blessing of God?

The blessing of God in the age of the

church is manifold. In our Bible studies

recently, in fact for the last couple of

years, we've been

chunking our way through, I say

chunking, maybe

little baby steps through the book of

Philippians or the letter to the

Philippians. And recently we covered

this passage.

I have learned in whatever situation I

am to be content. I know how to be

brought low. I know how to abound. In

any and every circumstance, I have

learned the secret of facing plenty and

hunger, abundance and need. I can do all

things through him who strengthens me.

Here is the blessing of God. The

blessing of a contentment that does not

come from our circumstances, but from

the Holy Spirit who strengthens us to

face whatever we are to face.

There are liars out there who claim the

name Christian and say that blessing for

Christian comes in wealth and in good

health.

Now that's a lie.

In this life

we will suffer.

But in whatever we face, whatever the

circumstance, we have hope.

Of the God who will never leave us nor

forsake us, whatever he might allow to

come our way. The Bible is about God's

kingdom.

Do you see yourself

in the kingdom of God.

Are you God's person? Are you

anticipating God's place? Do you seek to

live under his rule?

And how do you know his blessing?

Because we are

even when sometimes we feel we are not.

The Bible also tells us what it is to be

outside of God's kingdom.

To not be one of God's people

means you need to find your identity

somewhere.

Who are you?

And people will go into all sorts of

places.

Your health and fitness?

Your family?

Your work?

Your sexuality?

To not have the hope of being in God's

place

means that at death someone who is not

part of God's kingdom will face

separation from God's love.

Facing only his judgment.

Because he knows how we have rejected

his rule.

And rather than coming under blessing

we would face his curse.

The Bible is about God's kingdom.

It's a message that we will not

understand apart from the spirit.

It's one big story

that we must appreciate as we try and

take the small parts.

And where do you fit into the kingdom?

Are you in?

Or are you out?

Are you God's person in God's place

knowing his rule and blessing?

Or are you out?

I don't know. In a moment I'm going to

pray. After the service there'll be some

questions that will appear on the screen

to try and help us to have scriptural

conversations rather than just going

straight to the weather. As interesting

as it's been this week. You can see the

hail the other day. Crazy, right? As

interesting as that is, some questions

on the screen to help us reflect on

these things. As I say, I've I've

handouts here. Use them or don't use

them, that's fine, but I

do pray, if you feel convicted about the

need to really get more Bible literate,

these will be helpful for you.

Let's talk about this. Let's work

through this. The message of this book

is far too good

to just skim over.

So, let's pray.

And then Ali will come up and introduce

our song.

Gracious God,

loving heavenly Father,

I have spoken many words.

Lord, I pray that you would take away

that which is unhelpful

and keep that which is helpful.

I do thank you for Graeme Goldsworthy

and his study of your scriptures and

that really helpful framework that he's

drawn out from it.

Thank you that it's not something he

made up and then tried to put on to

scripture. By hard study, he came to it

and it is so true. This is the story of

scripture.

Lord, I would pray for each one of us

here that we would be clear as to

whether we're in or out of the kingdom.

And Lord, if we're in,

particularly in the fact that we are

your people,

that is who we are,

Lord, I pray that you would help us to

root our identity there,

rather than looking everywhere else like

the rest of the world does.

Lord God, remind us who we are

and remind us

of how you've wonderfully saved us to

yourself.

In Jesus' name, we pray these things.

Amen.