Sermon

The Authority and Ability of God’s Word | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

Open publisher episode ↗

Publisher transcript

Transcript

View source ↗
  1. Glorious worship. Would you agree?

  2. Amen. Well, meet me in the word of God

  3. as we continue to worship. Through the hearing and the

  4. receiving of God's word and second Timothy chapter 3 and a

    2 Timothy 3 chapter mention

  5. very well-known passage of scripture.

  6. Beginning here in verse 16. Would you pray with me one more

  7. time, please. Lord, this is a familiar passage

  8. of scripture. And we are in danger of allowing

  9. familiarity to breed a contempt, but we ask Lord that you would

  10. give us fresh Revelation and that it would speak to our

  11. hearts, our hearts would be moved.

  12. And Lord May the goal made the result of such a time together

  13. in your word cause us to love your word to reverence it to

  14. stand in all of it. Oh God.

  15. Lord help us not fall into the Trap that this word though.

  16. It is common though, here, week after week though, it occupies

  17. many of our shelves and our nightstands Lord.

  18. May it be seen today as what it is, the Living Word of God?

  19. Oh Lord. Speak to your people.

  20. Speak to us, reveal yourself to us.

  21. Touch us draws closer to the person of Jesus Christ and your

  22. name. We ask these things humbly

  23. desperately. Amen.

  24. And amen. And amen.

  25. Verse 16 of 2nd. Timothy chapter 3, reeds.

  26. All scripture. Is breathed out by God.

  27. And profitable for teaching, for reproof for correction, and for

  28. training in righteousness. That the man of God, may be

  29. complete equipped for every good work.

  30. I think we should read these verses one more time.

  31. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching,

  32. for reproof for correction, and for training in righteousness.

  33. That the man Of God, may be complete equipped for every good

  34. work. Our time in this precious

  35. epistle, is coming to a near end, as we are approaching the

  36. last chapter of Paul's final letter before his death.

  37. But before we transition into his concluding thoughts, we are

  38. going to focus, our attention and plant ourselves.

  39. And one of the most familiar and often quoted passages of all the

  40. Bible. These two short verses

  41. powerfully described and defined for us, the authority of God's

  42. word, its nature, its function and its ability to change lives.

  43. Now remember the context. Remember what Timothy was facing

  44. the challenges of his day. Let's look at what is happening

  45. around. These verses to help us

  46. understand exactly why Paul is saying these things.

  47. Timothy was facing primarily false, Teachers who are emerging

  48. and they are presenting new ideas and New Concepts and

  49. twisted versions of the scripture or total dismissal the

  50. word of God all together. Therefore, Paul is going to

  51. remind this young disciple of the divine origins of his

  52. beliefs and now because this is supremely given to us by God,

  53. that it triumphs over every man-made concept.

  54. No matter how persuasive or beneficial in might be.

  55. He wants him to see how this word is above all else.

  56. Secondly, as we hear look at verse 13 again, while evil

  57. people and Impostors Will Go On from bad to worse.

  58. Deceiving and being deceived there is going to be a new

  59. effort now to rebel against God, and that's only going to grow as

  60. we approach the return of Christ and sinning against one another.

  61. So there is this corruption that will increase.

  62. Therefore Paul is going to tell his young disciple how he can

  63. Grow in the opposite direction. How he can go from glory to

  64. glory from Faith to Faith from love to love and it is found,

  65. he's going to be reminded. It is found in your engagement

  66. your absorb, some your, your obedience to the written word of

  67. God. This is going to be a little

  68. different Sunday service than usual because it's going to

  69. demand you to be more attentive with the references that are

  70. going to be brought to you. I hope you have your Bibles

  71. firmly in your hands because in this particular message, I'm

  72. going to do a lot less talking explaining commentating and a

  73. lot more pointing to versus and a lot more putting verses

  74. together for you to see the two main points of this message and

  75. that is this number one, the authority of the word of God.

  76. The authority of the word of God.

  77. Is this? Just another book?

  78. Among many other books? No, you're going to discover

  79. that this is in fact, the very word of the Living.

  80. God number two, not just the authority but the ability.

  81. What can this word do? It can do what no other book can

  82. do. And that is transform lives

  83. miraculously as we engage with him.

  84. The authority of God's word. We read here.

  85. All scripture is breathed out by God.

  86. What is scripture? What is Paul referring to here?

  87. Well, surely we heard last week in verse 15 that there are these

  88. things called the sacred writings, and that is a

  89. beautiful way of describing. The Old Testament library that

  90. you have in your Bible and that the Jews share with us and they

  91. would call it the Tanakh and though they have different

  92. orders of the books, the content is still the same and this is

  93. what is known as scripture. This is what is known as the

  94. word of God. This is, what is known as the

  95. sacred writings, but what's different between us and the As

  96. you know, is that we have an additional Library.

  97. It is the New Testament Library, it doesn't contradict the old.

  98. It is built upon the old. It is the Revelation that God

  99. further is from the old Covenant and fulfills So the question is

  100. begged this morning. Well what about that?

  101. What about the New Testament books?

  102. Are those just as authoritative? Are they just as much breathed

  103. out by God and the sacred writings?

  104. And the best way to answer that is to see what Jesus Christ said

  105. about his own words and to see what the apostles were

  106. commissioned by the Lord, Jesus Christ believed about their own

  107. writings. And once we see that, we are

  108. realize that there is a Harmony not The harmony, but there is

  109. equal value, equal authority, to both Testaments.

  110. We should comfort our souls. And so the first place, I would

  111. encourage you to turn to in your Bibles is actually two places.

  112. You're going to have one hand tucked in the Old Testament.

  113. Another hand tucked in the new and the old you're going to turn

  114. to Deuteronomy chapter 18 in the new, you're going to tuck your

    Deuteronomy 18 chapter mention

  115. hand into John chapter 5. beginning in verse 46, There's

    John 5 chapter mention

  116. all scripture include the New Testament or is it limited to

  117. the prophets of old? Let's see what the Lord Jesus

  118. Christ said in John chapter 5 verse 46 to 47.

    John 5:46–47

  119. John chapter 5. I always encourage you to bring

    John 5 chapter mention

  120. your Bible so that you can see the word for yourself.

  121. And you can have a mental map of your own Bible.

  122. You can get to the point where you read your Bible so much

  123. where you may not know their reference be like, I know, it's

  124. in this side of the page on that side.

  125. Have anybody else relate to that?

  126. Yeah, that's the beauty of God's word.

  127. When you have a copy of it verse 46, for if you this is Jesus

  128. speaking for. If you believed Moses, you would

  129. believe me for he wrote of me, but if Do not believe his

  130. writings. How will you believe my words?

  131. The first thing to observe here is that Jesus Christ.

  132. Testifies that Moses who is revered by the Jews.

  133. Obviously, the mediator of their Covenant, Moses wrote of Jesus

  134. Christ, and there are many references to that, some Shadows

  135. some types, but there is the most famous the most known

  136. prediction of the person of Jesus Christ, hundreds of years

  137. before his Incarnation, and that is where your hand is in the Old

  138. Testament and Deuteronomy chapter 18 and beginning.

    Deuteronomy 18 chapter mention

  139. In verse 15, we read Moses, speaking to the nation of Israel

  140. saying, the Lord your God will raise up for you.

  141. A prophet like me from among you.

  142. From your brother's it is to him, you shall listen, the

  143. Muslims love to use the scripture to say that it speaks

  144. of Muhammad that he is that Prophet to come.

  145. And you can just simply answer by saying, so, is he among the

  146. Jews? I don't know.

  147. Muhammad was a Jew because it says from among you from your

  148. brother's it kind of closes the conversation very quickly.

  149. But look at this part, it is to him.

  150. You shall listen. That's important because this

  151. future Prophet who will be like Moses will have something very

  152. important to say and it will call for the people to pay

  153. attention to what he has to say. Notice that Moses says that

  154. there will be a prophet like me many prophets have come after

  155. Moses but there's going to be a particular messenger from God

  156. who be very much similar to this amazing man of God.

  157. Who had a unique relationship with God.

  158. What are the similarities between this future profit?

  159. As we know fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ and Moses

  160. will number one God himself testifies that he communicated

  161. to Moses in a way that he didn't with others face to face

  162. directly from God. He might say that God has done

  163. that with other prophets, but what makes Moses even more

  164. unique, are the Miracles that he performed the signs and the

  165. Wonders? And we see Jesus performing,

  166. very similar signs and wonders and miracles.

  167. In fact, the most common one is when he multiplied the bread and

  168. the fish, we're in the wilderness and the Jews,

  169. understanding this prophecy and the Jews understanding what

  170. Moses was able to do by the power of God.

  171. Saw what Christ did in John chapter 6 and they made the

    John 6 chapter mention

  172. connection themselves. You don't have to turn there.

  173. But in verse 14, look at the reaction has Jesus Made bread,

  174. seemingly appear out of nowhere. Just like the Manna in the

  175. wilderness. S.

  176. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said this

  177. indeed is the prophet who is to come into the world, this is

  178. him. This is whom Moses spoke about,

  179. even they were convinced, but as you heard earlier, this Prophet,

  180. who would be like, Moses would be similar.

  181. Because Moses was this mediator. He was the liaison.

  182. He was the communicator of the old Covenant at that mountain,

  183. with the law being given. And yes, you know, this, that

  184. the Lord Jesus Christ is the mediator.

  185. Either of the New Covenant. And so, these things are plain

  186. and obvious and it all makes sense with Jesus comment, when

  187. he said, if you don't believe his writings, how will you

  188. believe my my words? How will you believe my words?

  189. Well, what do you have to say? Lord, that is so important.

  190. Why do we have to believe your words?

  191. Is there something that you have to say that we have to adhere to

  192. and Listen and Obey? Well we don't have to, we don't

  193. have to guess. Let Moses speak on behalf of the

  194. Christ and the answer will come to us.

  195. When you scroll down and Deuteronomy 18, look at Verse 18

  196. God is speaking now and he's speaking to the people and he

  197. was saying I will raise up for them.

  198. A prophet like you from among their brothers and they'll give

  199. this, I will put my words in his mouth.

  200. And he shall speak to them all that.

  201. I command him. And whoever will not listen to

  202. my words that he shall speak, in my name, I myself will required

  203. it of him. So the words of this future

  204. Prophet who will be like, Moses will be the very words of God.

  205. God will place his words in his mouth.

  206. He will command them exactly what to say and he will fulfill

  207. what he's been told to say. In fact, the words of this

  208. Prophet are so serious, So important, So Divine that those

  209. who would refuse according to verse 19 to listen to what he

  210. has to say, there will be consequences, I myself will

  211. require it of him. And we know that Jesus, Jesus

  212. Echoes exactly what Moses is saying here concerning his own

  213. Ministry in his own message. How will you believe my words?

  214. Because Moses said that there's going to be one like him and he

  215. has something to say and what he has to say is in fact, the very

  216. words of God, When you scroll back now go to John, chapter 12.

    John 12 chapter mention

  217. Look what Jesus says in verse 48 about his word.

  218. John 12:48 Jesus is speaking about his words the one who

    John 12:48

  219. rejects me and does not receive. My words has a judge.

  220. The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

  221. We pause and say that, it's very dangerous to boast in biblical

  222. knowledge, because the more light you get, the more

  223. judgment, you will receive. So be very, very careful and

  224. boasting about biblical knowledge.

  225. Because according to this the word that we receive that we are

  226. exposed to will be our judge verse 49.

  227. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the father who

  228. sent me has himself given me a commandment what to say and what

  229. to speak. It's right.

  230. There is exactly what Moses said he's going to come and he's

  231. going to speak. What has been commanded to him

  232. and if you don't listen to what he says, God says I myself will

  233. required it of you and here comes the Lord.

  234. Jesus Christ. Saying, if you do not receive my

  235. words, this word will judge you because everything that I am

  236. saying to you has been given to me by the father who commanded

  237. it to me. There's no denying that Jesus

  238. Christ's words are the words of God.

  239. And if they are the words of God and they are divine revelation,

  240. If they are divine revelation, then they are scripture like

  241. what Moses predicted he would be commanded and Jesus says I was

  242. commanded Moses says he would have something to say and those

  243. who refuse to listen will be judged Jesus.

  244. If you don't listen to me, you will be judged.

  245. No mere. Man, can say that.

  246. This is the prophet of prophets, the Lord, Jesus Christ.

  247. Now, you might not be convinced or maybe might satisfy some

  248. skepticism. And there's so many places you

  249. can go to. There's so many places to prove

  250. this but I like this one. This one's neat.

  251. It's found in the gospel of Mark. when you go to Mark

    Mark 13:31

  252. chapter 13 verse 31, it's going to be a little bit of a marathon

  253. this afternoon. Look what Jesus after he

  254. finishes teaching on the end times after he finishes talking

  255. about the signs that will come before his return.

  256. He concludes with this Divine stamp of approval.

  257. He says something about his words that if the if the

  258. Christian here's that they understand with ease.

  259. If you believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, you can hear

  260. what Jesus is about to say and say well, that makes sense, I

  261. believe he is God. But to the Jewish mind, Who sees

  262. a mere man and is challenged by this concept of God becoming man

  263. though. They shouldn't because the

  264. scriptures prove it over and over.

  265. This would have been Blasphemous.

  266. This would have been just shocking to hear, Mark, 1331

  267. Jesus puts us exclamation mark to his teaching on the last days

  268. and he says Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words

  269. will not pass away my words. Do you eat it to us?

  270. We say, Amen. But to the Jew.

  271. They go. Who Do You Think You Are?

  272. My words will not pass away. Why would this be so shocking?

  273. Because he dared to take the prerogative that solely belongs

  274. to God and His word alone, and applies it to himself.

  275. Jesus Takes a perogative, a statement that God Alone makes

  276. about his word. And he says, my word is equally

  277. Eternal and equally reliable and equally permanent.

  278. Because the prophet Isaiah said, in chapter 40 verse 8, the grass

  279. withers, the flower Fades, but the word of our God will stand

  280. forever. Are you saying your words are

  281. the same as the word of our God? Are you saying that the humanity

  282. is frail? Mankind will fade?

  283. That your word will stand Until the End of the Age?

  284. And Jesus without blushing, without hesitation says my word,

  285. my word will never pass away because my words are the very

  286. words of God that might help. I may settle the skeptical hard

  287. and we can go on and on and on about what Jesus words mean and

  288. the authority of his words. But I think the more debatable

  289. area is well okay, that's fine. But what about the apostles

  290. then, what about the apostles because you even some people who

  291. innocently or Deceptively say, well, I I follow the letters of

  292. red and that is becoming more and more common and I'll tell

  293. you why in a moment. But these people fail to realize

  294. that the very words of the Apostles, are the words of

  295. Christ. And if the words of Christ are

  296. the words of God, just do the math.

  297. Jesus in John chapter 16. This is incredible.

    John 16 chapter mention

  298. And verse 12, he speaking to his own before his passion.

  299. He speaking to those 12 that have fault him Faithfully for

  300. years and he's about to speak now about his departure but he's

  301. also going to give a comforting promise.

  302. They've been chosen for this Apostolic Ministry and he's not

  303. going to leave them behind without assistance and guidance

  304. but he says something quite remarkable and verse 12 of

  305. chapter 16, I still have many things to say to you.

  306. But you cannot bear them now. You know, it's amazing after

  307. three and a half years of ministry on Earth.

  308. Jesus, admits here that there are still many other things that

  309. he had to teach concerning. His person concerning his work,

  310. concerning his will for the church, but he tells them why he

  311. did not teach them up to this point because they could not

  312. bear them now, You can't handle this.

  313. Now it'll be too overwhelming for you.

  314. It will be confusing and that makes total sense.

  315. And so what are what are one of the reasons why he does not

  316. teach them what he says he wanted to, but he couldn't.

  317. I believe it's because he had to First died.

  318. He had the first be buried. He had to First resurrect and

  319. ascend before the further Revelations would even make

  320. sense to the minds of the disciples.

  321. Because we see over and over that when Jesus even tells them,

  322. blatantly I'm going to be surrendered, I am going to die

  323. and I'm going to rise. They were confused.

  324. They could not accept it. They could not understand it.

  325. And if they couldn't understand the beginning of his Redemptive

  326. purposes, how would they understand the things that it

  327. would accomplish, how it to understand the things?

  328. I would be as a result of his death and Resurrection when they

  329. couldn't even understand him dying and resurrecting?

  330. So he puts a limit to what he teaches them because they could

  331. not understand it. They could not bear it.

  332. Yes, they were sorrowful. That's one part.

  333. But I believe they were limited in their understanding and the

  334. things that he would want to teach would only make sense

  335. after the events of his Redemptive purposes being

  336. accomplished after his sacrificial atonement, then

  337. these teachings would make sense to the Mind Into the Heart.

  338. But it gives him a promise in verse 13.

  339. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the

  340. truth for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever.

  341. He hears he will speak and he will declare to you the things

  342. that are to come. He will glorify me for.

  343. He will take. What is mine and declare it to

  344. you? You are my Apostles, you will be

  345. the foundation of the church through your teaching and I want

  346. to promise you now, this is what Christ is saying that the agent

  347. will deliver these further, Revelations will be the person

  348. of the Holy Spirit. He will be given to you and he

  349. will tell you exactly what you need to know.

  350. He will guide you into all truth and the primary application of

  351. that deals with the New Testament.

  352. Writers who will Who will give us this Library?

  353. The promise is you are going to receive the revelation.

  354. To complete, what I want to say to the world and to my people.

  355. You don't have to turn there but early on he says about the Holy

  356. Spirit. He will teach you all things and

  357. John 14:26. He will teach you all things and

    John 14:26

  358. bring all the things that I've said to you to remembrance.

  359. And if you ever met somebody who said, and I've heard this from

  360. somebody wants many, many years ago.

  361. You know, if I'm in doubt of the New Testament, I just go to the

  362. words of Jesus. Paul John Peter.

  363. Yeah. But they're like, you know, But

  364. the letters in red, that's where I go to.

  365. And if anybody ever says that or maybe you believe that I would

  366. say, well what do you do with the scripture like this?

  367. Because Jesus said that the holy spirit will not speak on his own

  368. authority. The Holy Spirit who work through

  369. the apostles was not giving something additional or less

  370. than what does it say here? That he will take.

  371. What is mine? Jesus said he will take.

  372. What is mine? And make it known to you?

  373. So you go to First Corinthians and you see Paul writing to a

  374. church, and immediate context has is the troubles that they

  375. have. And if people that he's

  376. communicating to that, he's minutes or to Paul's writings.

  377. Yeah, but Jesus is words, John, same thing.

  378. Why is this crucial? Because we're coming to a day

  379. where people are saying, well, Jesus didn't speak about

  380. homosexuality, so it must be okay.

  381. Jesus wasn't very clear about gender roles within the local

  382. church and the home. So we will pop.

  383. Well, yeah, but that's Paul. That was Peter.

  384. Jesus said that what they would receive from the spirit would be

  385. from him. So they're actually Jesus's

  386. words. So, what you gonna do with that?

  387. They are his words through the apostles and these chosen men

  388. who received the promise of the Holy Spirit to experience a

  389. supernatural work of being inspired in a specific moment.

  390. To write holy writ, they themselves knew they themselves

  391. were convinced that their content at certain times were in

  392. fact given by Jesus Christ. By the spirit, they knew that if

  393. you believe that the New Testament was just compiled

  394. accidentally and that the apostles did not know what they

  395. were writing, would be inspired and we come to this point where

  396. we would have the scriptures. No, no.

  397. They in fact, knew it though, they were not in control of when

  398. they would be inspired. They knew that they were by the

  399. Holy Spirit carrying them along. Proof of that is in second Peter

  400. in chapter 3. in verse 1, Peter says this is now the second

  401. letter that I am writing to you Beloved in both of them, I am

  402. stirring up, your sincere Mind by way of reminder that you

  403. should remember. Now look at this verse to that

  404. you should remember the predictions of the Holy prophets

  405. and the Commandment of the Lord and Savior through your

  406. apostles. You should remember the

  407. predictions of the Holy prophets.

  408. And we know that those prophets were the men who spoke and

  409. Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Mayhem, and Malachi

  410. and Deuteronomy, remember their predictions and look where he

  411. places his own writings with the other 11.

  412. In the same category equal and worth equal in authority and the

  413. Commandment of who the Lord and Savior through your apostles.

  414. The apostles writings were just as relevant and reliable and

  415. authoritative as those of the ancient prophets in the Old

  416. Testament. And so even the early church

  417. learned to submit to the words of the Apostles, as though, they

  418. were divine in origin. And that's clear here.

  419. And this should excite us to a certain degree.

  420. Because Jesus is telling telling them that this is going to

  421. happen in Peters experiencing and he's what he's saying to his

  422. people is that you should be reminded what we're saying comes

  423. from Christ. Comes from the Lord himself your

  424. savior and our savior. What about Paul?

  425. Paul was additional Paul was in among the twelve.

  426. So many Paul. I mean, I know this sounds crazy

  427. but you have to understand, this is how people think.

  428. This is a people actually think they chop it up in such a way

  429. and they really believe that not all scripture is breathed out by

  430. God. Now you believe that, but there

  431. is a world increasing and even an academic settings that will

  432. say otherwise So narrow it down. We go from all scripture Old

  433. Testament. Now we come to the words of

  434. Jesus, they're Divine, okay, there's no much argument there.

  435. Okay, the 12 there. Well, what about Paul then?

  436. Paul was Paul's third number 13, the same chapter, you scroll

  437. down to verse 16 of second, Peter He's speaking about Paul's

  438. writings, you can go to verse 15 actually and count the patience

  439. of Our Lord as salvation. Just as our beloved brother

  440. Paul. I love how Peter speaks about

  441. Paul our beloved brother. Tenderness and compassion our

  442. beloved brother Paul, also wrote to you to the wisdom, given him.

  443. Now, look at this, as he does in all his letters.

  444. When he speaks in them of these matters, there are some things

  445. in them that are hard to understand, that comforts me,

  446. There are some things in them that are hard to understand,

  447. which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction,

  448. as they do the other scriptures. so, even Peter Speaking about

  449. Paul's letters is saying that they're scripture as they do

  450. implying. What that Paul's writings are

  451. just as much scripture as Moses writings.

  452. And people twist them. And I, as I said earlier, I'm

  453. comforted to know that some parts are hard to understand.

  454. So if you have difficulty, reading some, postures of

  455. scripture, you don't understand what's being said, it's okay.

  456. Even Peter did Notice this incredible connection and I hope

  457. that this brief time but at least settle your soul to

  458. realize that when God through Paul says all scripture, he

  459. really meant all scripture. Now, if you want to know how the

  460. Bible has been developed and how why we have these particular

  461. books in our library, you can come ask us after the service,

  462. that's a whole another session on its own.

  463. But within the testimony of the word of God itself, we know that

  464. from the sacred writings to the words of Jesus.

  465. To the words of the Apostles it is considered as the very truth

  466. of God from God's heart and mind himself.

  467. And this is encouraging, because we go on to read here.

  468. That all scripture, all scripture is breathed out by

  469. God. Sounds, poetic sounds profound

  470. sounds powerful. What does it mean?

  471. What does it mean? Breathe out by God?

  472. It's an expression only found in this verse in all of the Bible

  473. though, the meaning is expressed in different ways at different

  474. portions of the Bible. This phrase itself is unique to

  475. this text and the purpose of this claim is to make sure that,

  476. although you and I believe that the Bible has been written by

  477. individual writers with their respective personalities.

  478. The origin, the origin is God, It's God.

  479. And now, God in his wisdom, does not give us the mechanics.

  480. Does that give us a step-by-step process of how that

  481. inspirational work happened? Did they go into a trance and

  482. start writing? I don't think so.

  483. But we don't have that we not given that.

  484. All God believes is sufficient for his people.

  485. And for a world who is skeptical to know is that at certain times

  486. with certain men, God used them to say exactly what he wanted to

  487. say and it is found in our Bibles today.

  488. Breathe out the same way that your words are accompanied by

  489. your breath. You breathe out your words.

  490. This written word are the very words of God does not Inspire

  491. reverence in US. That this book that we are

  492. hearing from today. It's not Paul's thoughts, not

  493. Peters thoughts? Yes, God work through them.

  494. It's ultimately the Lord himself.

  495. These are his commands. These are his instructions.

  496. This is his counsel. This is his revelation.

  497. All from time to time. We need to be reminded of that

  498. so that we can tremble. When we come to this word, and

  499. I'm afraid that with, with such availability, we are losing that

  500. sense of reverence because you can download God's word, it's

  501. just an app, right? Beside Instagram and Facebook.

  502. There's God's word. Be reminded today that are no

  503. matter what platform. It's found its still God

  504. speaking. It's God speaking.

  505. And in order to even show how connected God's word is to him,

  506. you may have never heard this before but I hope it inspires

  507. some excitement in you this afternoon in order to show just

  508. how connected God is to his word.

  509. The holy spirit in the Bible sometimes listen to this uses

  510. the word God and scripture interchangeably.

  511. In other words, when God has said something, sometimes the

  512. New Testament will just say and scripture said, when it was in

  513. fact, God who said it. And there are other times that

  514. when there is a clear scripture given by specific author, The

  515. New Testament was say, God said that God said that and I want to

  516. show you just two examples of that.

  517. This is this is exciting. One is found in the book of

  518. Galatians. Galatians chapter 3 They're the

    Galatians 3 chapter mention

  519. rustling of the leaves. Galatians chapter 3.

    Galatians 3 chapter mention

  520. Look what look what Paul says, look at this.

  521. Masterful statement in verse 8 of Galatians chapter 3, And the

    Galatians 3 chapter mention

  522. scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by

  523. faith. Preached the gospel beforehand

  524. to Abraham saying in you shall all the nations be blessed.

  525. Hold on, read that slowly. Who's foreseeing?

  526. Who's preaching the gospel to Abraham?

  527. who's saying it's not a who it's a, what the scripture, the

  528. scripture foreseeing, the scripture preaching, the

  529. scripture saying but you go back to Genesis 12 where this quote

  530. is taken from and you realize that it's God who's speaking to

  531. Abraham God is the one who said in you shall all the nations be

  532. blessed. And yet Paul, by the spirit goes

  533. on to say, actually it was scripture who said it Paul

  534. personifies scripture. As a scripture, can see, as

  535. though, scripture can preach as a scripture, can say because

  536. what's credited to God, he actually credits it to

  537. scripture. For what reason to show, just

  538. how connected scripture is to the heart and mind of God.

  539. He does the same in Romans 9 verse 17, you don't have to turn

    Romans 9:17

  540. there. he says, and the scripture said to pharaoh, And

  541. then he quotes what God said about pharaoh and exodus.

  542. Well God said it. Yeah but scripture said it

  543. because whatever God says is scripture.

  544. So Paul even personifies the written word of God, to a

  545. certain extent, by saying when God said it, it's divine

  546. revelation. And he does the opposite, he

  547. does the opposite when a human writer wrote something.

  548. He says God said it and that's found in Hebrews as an example.

  549. And Hebrews chapter 3 verse 7 I told you were going to a lot of

    Hebrews 3:7

  550. verses today and Hebrews chapter 3 verse 7.

    Hebrews 3:7

  551. We read this Therefore as the holy spirit says, today if you

  552. hear his voice, do not Harden. Your hearts as in the Rebellion

  553. on the day of testing, in the wilderness, he quotes Psalm, 95

  554. 7 to 11. And it's clear that a psalmist

  555. wrote this. It's a psalmist, in fact, giving

  556. instruction to the people of how to respond to God.

  557. Don't Harden your hearts. That's a preaching thing.

  558. That's an instruction think today, if you hear his voice, do

  559. not Harden your hearts, some would say that's David.

  560. And actually David, when you go down later on, we're told it's

  561. David. But he doesn't say the psalmist.

  562. He doesn't say. As David says, he says who as

  563. the holy spirit says, The holy spirit.

  564. Is God, what does that mean? What, when you read the Psalms,

  565. you're not just reading David, you're not just reading asaph,

  566. you're not just reading, Moses. You're reading God.

  567. Speaking to you. And in fact, in the next chapter

  568. in chapter 4 verse 7, we are told with the same Psalm that

  569. God spoke through David through. David the holy spirit says today

  570. if you hear his voice. Not David.

  571. Yes, David was the instrument. Yes, David was speaking with his

  572. personality, his poetic ability but it was God who said he was

  573. God, who said it. And so you see how God even in

  574. the word, conjoins his word with who he is, they're inseparable.

  575. These things reveal him, they speak of him the same way, your

  576. words reveal who you are, God's word reveals who he is and I

  577. hope we understand that. I hope we see that this is

  578. Supernatural that it's Inseparable from who he is but

  579. you might be in an honest way asking.

  580. Well how How does this ancient Spirit woven series of tax

  581. applied to my Martin life? You've proved it.

  582. I hope all scripture means all scripture, including the words

  583. of Jesus, including the words and the writings of the Apostles

  584. that when they spoke God spoke, but what does that mean for me?

  585. What does that do for me? Oh you ask the wonderful

  586. question and Paul. After speaking about the

  587. authority of God's word, this Breathe Out book goes on to

  588. speak about the ability of God's word and you heard it its

  589. profitable for teaching. It's Trouble for reproof for

  590. correction for training in righteousness.

  591. So that the man of God, may be complete equipped for every good

  592. work. Now we read in verse 15 of

  593. second. Timothy chapter 3 that these

    2 Timothy 3 chapter mention

  594. sacred writings make us wise for salvation.

  595. When you come to this book even the Old Testament you can be led

  596. to saving faith. But he goes on beyond that.

  597. It's more than just that it's more than just bringing you to

  598. the place. Where your soul is secure in the

  599. hands of a merciful god by Faith by repentance it is adequate

  600. enough from that place. It is adequate enough to make

  601. you healthy spiritually to make you whole to make you pure, to

  602. make you strong, to make you fruitful to make you effective

  603. to make you discerning. To be complete.

  604. Complete this and speak about moral perfection.

  605. It speaks about being mature in the things of God, and we do

  606. strive on to Perfection, but complete in the sense that you

  607. are furnished with all that, God would want to furnish you with.

  608. And what do we need? Do we need 10 texts?

  609. Do we need the Book of Mormon, do we need?

  610. No, no just the Scripture. It is sufficient.

  611. It is enough. It is it is God's necessary and

  612. sufficient truth to tell you exactly what he wants you to

  613. know about him. It is exactly what God wants to

  614. say to you about. Who you are with him or without

  615. him. What this world is, what this

  616. world will become. Is enough for you to know how to

  617. act, not to act. There's nothing more that you

  618. need that I need. And this written word and that

  619. will only be exciting, really to the person who would strive to

  620. be, what he tells him that he is to Timothy a man of God.

  621. You men of God listen you want to be a man of God.

  622. This will equip you to be a man. If you don't care about being a

  623. man of God, this Bible will not be attractive to you.

  624. If you don't want to be a woman of God, you will not be

  625. attracted to this book. But if you strive after coming

  626. to Salvation to the wisdom of God's word to say now, Lord make

  627. me into a man of God. And this is the place to be.

  628. This is where you draw that wisdom from.

  629. And as you hear it, as you receive it as you engage with

  630. it. It's super naturally Works in

  631. you and begins to shape you and change you from glory to glory

  632. to glory. You do not read this book every

  633. morning because that's what a good little Christian does.

  634. You come to this word because it is God's way of speaking into

  635. your life. As he spoke into creation, let

  636. life come Let order come. Like chaos be calmed in your

  637. heart and your mind and your behavior.

  638. But the difference between you and the trees and you and I and

  639. the planets, and the water is that they do not have the

  640. ability. To say, no.

  641. When God said trees come up. Yes.

  642. Sand, come up, yes, mountains, come up.

  643. Yes. But when it comes to you and I

  644. when God's word is exposed, as you have to submit to it, in

  645. order for it to work in you What I love about this truth is that

  646. if this is the source that brings about a certain kind of

  647. person, a man of God or woman of God, then as a local church, as

  648. we make this word central, then we can know what to expect from

  649. our people. And that is to be trained in

  650. righteousness. That is to be quit.

  651. That is to be complete. The only way that you can have

  652. such caliber of people in a local church is when you elevate

  653. the word of God and you, Teach it, you use it to reprove, you

  654. use it to preach and teach and instruct and then only then will

  655. you see a people arise to be Mighty Warriors for the kingdom

  656. of God? Only then nothing apart from the

  657. word of God. And yet, here we are hearing a

  658. different methods to draw. I am not interested in drawing

  659. people in and neither is the Bible.

  660. The Bible is interested in creating certain type of people.

  661. That can only happen from the word when the word is sung, when

  662. the word is converse, when the word is declared only, then will

  663. we see like, Timothy men and women of God, and when this word

  664. is Central, you know what happens, it weeds out, the

  665. people who don't want it. It weeds out those who think

  666. that they can live in sin and worldliness and come and take

  667. refuge among God's people. This word is so sharp that when

  668. it is declared by the power of the Holy Spirit, the person who

  669. does not want Sin, Cara their lives while For his life from

  670. such a place. But to those who say, oh God, do

  671. what he need to do, whatever surgery you need to do, cut it

  672. out, mold me shape me. Put me in the fire melt me so

  673. that you can create something beautiful, and me, a local

  674. church. That puts the word of God is

  675. supreme and primary will be an oasis in a Wilderness for such a

  676. person. They will come and drink, they

  677. will sit and they will receive. Even if they have to go

  678. Coast-to-Coast to receive the word from the Lord.

  679. You want to be a man of God. Come to the word.

  680. God, wrote a book. God wrote a book and God has

  681. ordained it. Since he has made Covenant with

  682. a people. That they would hear from him

  683. through a book. And if you have a copy of his

  684. book, It means that in his good Providence.

  685. God longs to speak to you. I know we pray say God speak to

  686. me and we want the Mount Sinai experience.

  687. Not realizing that the Mount Sinai experience was to create

  688. the very word that he would communicate his people with God

  689. spoke and God still wants to speak.

  690. Notice? I didn't say, God wants you to

  691. come to his word to learn something about him.

  692. I didn't say that. I said, God wants to speak

  693. currently to you, and I want to prove that to you in our final

  694. text as we close in a moment and the gospel of Matthew chapter

    Matthew 22 chapter mention

  695. 22, I want you to see how Jesus believe how this word spoke, and

  696. still speaks. And the gospel of Matthew

    Matthew 22 chapter mention

  697. chapter 22. He speaking to.

  698. The Sadducees. They didn't believe in the

  699. Supernatural. They didn't believe in the

  700. resurrection. They didn't believe in angels

  701. and somebody jokingly said well no wonder they were called the

  702. Sadducees sad you see? They don't believe in things.

  703. I should make you rejoice. In Matthew, 22 verse 31.

    Matthew 22:31

  704. Jesus speaks to them because they try to Corner him with a

  705. question about the resurrection. They thought they were clever

  706. and look what he does. So masterfully.

  707. And as for the resurrection of the Dead, have you not read?

  708. What was said to you by God, I am the god of Abraham and the

  709. god of Isaac and the god of Jacob.

  710. He is not God of the dead but of the living.

  711. Jesus is a master apologists. Evangelist knew that the

  712. Sadducees only held to the first five books of the Bible, didn't

  713. hold to the prophets then hold to the historical narratives,

  714. they held to the first five books.

  715. So what he does to prove his case as he goes to the first

  716. five books to prove the resurrection And he goes to the

  717. Book of Exodus. But more than that, he says,

  718. have you not read? And then he finishes that

  719. statement with what was said to you.

  720. By God. Have you not read?

  721. What was said to you. Well, that's interesting because

  722. he quotes Exodus and that burning bush scene where Moses

  723. approaches this Burning Bush and God speaks to Moses.

  724. And when you go to Acts chapter 7 and you don't have to turn

    Acts 7 chapter mention

  725. there, Stephen goes to this incident as well in his last

  726. message, before he is executed. And he clearly says, in Acts 7.

  727. What the Lord said to him being Moses and he engages with the

  728. same reference, Stephen says, what the Lord said to him?

  729. Jesus says what the Lord said to you, What do you mean to you?

  730. God spoke to Moses that was the immediate context.

  731. And yet Jesus still says in this text that even though in the

  732. immediate context God spoke to Moses God was actually having in

  733. mind something for you to hear. God in his mind, obviously,

  734. wrote it and recorded it for Moses, but he also had in mind

  735. that for future Generations. When they would read that

  736. portion of scripture among all of it, they would understand

  737. that God was actually saying something to them as well.

  738. You Sadducees hundreds of years after what this happened, where

  739. this happened, God actually was saying something to you.

  740. Did you hear it? Did you hear what God Said in

  741. Exodus? When he spoke to Moses he was

  742. in. Just speaking to Moses he was

  743. speaking to you and he's still speaking to us in 2021 2022 2023

  744. 2024 T he's still speaking. What does that mean?

  745. This phrase proves to me in essence then when I come to his

  746. word Not just the, the obvious instructions given to me and you

  747. as Christians and Philippians and Ephesians do this, don't do

  748. this. Even when I come to Exodus, God

  749. has something to say to me. From Genesis to Malachi although

  750. its historical. As ancient its narrative, it's

  751. descriptive and yet still according to the words of Jesus,

  752. God wants to speak to me through those stories.

  753. He wants to speak to me through Leviticus.

  754. He wants to speak to me in Malachi and Zechariah.

  755. That will make all the difference in your approach to

  756. the word of God. That will make all the

  757. difference. It will be much more exciting to

  758. come to something like the Old Testament.

  759. And not think that the ultimate motivation is.

  760. So I can memorize certain truth, so that when I'm quizzed, I can

  761. show that I'm sharp. Who cares.

  762. What, what are we seeing here? Come to the word of God because

  763. God wants to say something. You should get giddy my brother.

  764. And my sister, when you finish a book in the Old Testament,

  765. you're ready to come to a new one.

  766. You should prepare yourself old God, what are you going to say

  767. to me? What are you going to speak?

  768. To me? What are you going to reveal

  769. yourself to me through this text because God had in mind through?

  770. Jesus Christ, that when you see these things and read these

  771. things, he would say something. and I hope you would feel that

  772. way when you read God's word, because as you come with that

  773. kind of an attitude, You will go deeper in your knowledge of him

  774. in a way that would be so rich and so real.

  775. And so transformative that you will not be the same as you

  776. discipline yourself to have a conversation with god.

  777. When God speaks to a heart, that's willing to receive what

  778. he wants to say. That heart cannot remain the

  779. same. It cannot.

  780. Now if you come to this book to receive data and information,

  781. then that can only go so far when you are disconnected from

  782. this book and you don't realize that it's actually God's means

  783. of speaking and communicating to you won't go very far and being

  784. equipped as a man of God. But when you come from cover, to

  785. cover ready for the Lord to speak to you, although you will

  786. be furnished. You'll be molded, you will be

  787. transformed. Something will happen to your

  788. conversation style, will change your outlook will change victory

  789. over sin becomes more available and more experienced something

  790. happens. But you have to believe that

  791. it's God's voice first. Jesus said it and I hope today

  792. this afternoon that you would leave here with a greater itch

  793. and a holy way a greater appetite.

  794. When you fail to feel the motivation to come to God's word

  795. realize what Jesus said to these Sadducees, he wants to say

  796. something to you. He wants to say something to

  797. you. But we thank you for your word

  798. this afternoon. Thank you that all scripture is

  799. breathed out by God. And this world will be held

  800. accountable to the word. Thank you that we have.

  801. Received the wisdom from this word for salvation.

  802. But Lord, we don't want your salvation.

  803. We want to be Sanctified, we want to be a man of God, a woman

  804. of God. What help us believe, what?

  805. Christ himself said of his word that it speaks to us, you speak

  806. to us. Even in this day you had in mind

  807. from eternity past that Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers

  808. Deuteronomy and everything after that.

  809. Would be your way of speaking. Revealing.

  810. Communicating to us. Lord.

  811. We just ask in this moment that there would be a renewed love

  812. for the word and in this moment we in response to his show you

  813. reverence As we sing to the Living God with his living book.

  814. Breathing us, Breath of God, Fresh Life, fresh hope, and

  815. fresh Faith to continue in this walk Faithfully, as we walk in

  816. the word, in Jesus name, we pray.

  817. Amen, let's stand and Worship the Lord together, shall we?