Problem #8: Experience Instead of the Bible

Good morning! For the last seven weeks we have been locked into a series entitled

Modern American Problems and that is what we're going to do today.

Not only are we going to continue in the series but we are going to finish this

series with part eight, Modern American Problems Experience Instead of the Bible.

Now I don't know if you've noticed this or not but all the titles throughout

this series have included the words instead of.

So just in case you didn't, here is a complete rundown of the eight weeks of

the titles that we've had.

It's success instead of God's will, self-esteem instead of God's esteem,

porn instead of sex, technology instead of community, anxiety instead of contentment,

money instead of purpose.

Science instead of morality, and now today, experience instead of the Bible.

By using the words instead of, the title is implying that experiences become

a problem when they are used as a substitute for the Bible.

Or it could be stated that experiences become a problem when they are used as

an alternative to the Bible.

Like that has been the theme throughout this series of using the words instead of in each title.

That when one thing is substituted or used as an alternative for another thing

and takes the place of that something, it creates a problem.

So when experiences

are used to determine one's decisions apart

from the bible when experiences are

used to determine right and wrong apart from the bible when experiences are

used to determine why you exist or to determine the purpose in your life or

to determine what you believe or to determine how you should live instead of

using the Bible to determine these things, that's a problem.

Of course, all of this is contingent upon one key factor, and that is how a

person views and values the importance of the Bible.

Like maybe you have missed, and you didn't notice all the titles having the instead of in them.

That's fine, no big deal. But I sure hope that you have not missed that every

Sunday when we gather together, it is the Bible that takes the center stage

when it comes to the preaching and the teaching and the teaching and the preaching.

Hopefully you have noticed that for every modern American problem that's been

identified throughout this series, that the solution to the problem is found in the Bible.

That's because the Bible is to have center stage every day in our lives.

Like not just a Sunday thing, but every day in every area of our lives that

no matter the situation, no matter the circumstances,

no matter the matter, the Bible is designed to tell us this unified story of

who Jesus is and what he's all about.

And it is designed to be the ultimate guide for what we believe and what we

do. So a very good starting point for each of us to consider when it comes to the Bible is to ask.

What role does the Bible have in my life?

What role does the Bible have in my life?

It seems in our modern American culture, most people are okay with the Bible.

It's fine. It's like a lot of other philosophical books.

I'd even venture to say that a lot of people know a little bit of something about the Bible.

You could come up on someone and ask, hey, you know anything about the Bible?

This is like there's this big boat with a lot of animals on it and water everywhere oh yeah no

that yeah that story was there and speaking of water like jesus

walked on it and didn't he have someone with him i think he had another guy

with him like we think about those things we could watch a movie and up come

a line from it give us this day our daily bread and someone like oh that comes

from the bible or you can be at a sports game and you see the sign john 3 16

i don't know what it says,

but I know it comes from the Bible. That type of mentality exists.

And at the end of the day, in our culture, the Bible is just like a lot of other

books, written by humans. They have their own interpretation, and I have mine.

And if I'm into what they're saying, that's great. But if not,

hey, each is entitled to their own opinion.

In other words, for the most part in our culture today, the Bible doesn't make

much of a difference in the lives of people.

It doesn't move what I call their life needle too much.

Now, where culture is right is that, yes, the entire Bible, 39 Old Testament

books, 27 New Testament books, were written by some 40-ish different human authors.

But it goes way deeper than that.

2 Timothy 3.16 reveals how the Bible was written.

All scripture is inspired by God. That's how the Bible was written.

Inspired by God, which means because God is in control of everything.

He prepared and prepped people to sit down and write exactly what he wanted written.

Every word written exactly as God wants it through his inspiration.

Humanly, humans, they physically, they wrote every word of the Bible.

Each author, his own personality, his own style, his own dialect,

his own temperament, own handwriting, wrote every word of the Bible exactly

as God told him to write it.

2 Peter 1, 21.

No prophecy ever came by the will of man.

Instead, men spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

The Bible is not human interpretations.

The Bible is not a bunch of human ideas and opinions. The Bible is God's revealed

word, God's ideas, God's opinions, and scripture says what God says.

Look at the Bible that you are holding. Matter of fact, pick it up.

If you didn't bring one, look at your neighbors. Or look at mine.

And certainly, if you need one, you see me after. And we will make sure you take care of that.

And if you have one and you didn't bring one, let that be a lesson to you. Now, you're holding it.

Just thim through it. It's hard to do that on your phone, I know.

Do it again. Thim through it again. Now smile,

smile real big, as you ponder the fact that you are holding the words of God in your hand.

What is God's Bible?

What's the role for it in your life?

Psalm 119 105 your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path,

you are holding the guide for your life that prevents you from stumbling that's

the metaphor being used here to describe god's design for the bible's role in

your life to act as a life on a darkened path so that you can see.

And it seems to reason, follow along with me on this one, it seems to reason

how well your path is lit depends on how much light it's getting.

Now you can write that down.

All scripture, all the Bible is inspired by God.

Anything that God wants you to know about him, he has told us right here in the Bible.

Anything that God wants you to know about life and how to live life.

It's found right here in the Bible, which means what one incredible gift that we have been given.

Now, if there are any strong, enthusiastic amen sayers around here this morning,

just in case, the preacher could say something like,

the Bible's 66 books of the Old and New Testament are totally inspired by God,

totally infallible, totally and completely sufficient for spiritual growth,

and totally the absolute authority over all matters, all things, and all peoples.

A preacher could say something like that and get this thunderous amen from the

charged up amen Christians.

I know sometimes we compare first service to second service, but y'all just lost.

I should be thankful for those who did it. But even if you are like most of

you, apparently, the quiet sitting types who say your amens under your breath, amen,

It doesn't change the fact. The Bible is the absolute authority over everything.

Now that's, oh, you're getting on board. You're getting better. Warming up.

But that's a sentence that not everyone believes. The Bible,

the absolute authority over everything. Skeptics don't believe that.

Skeptics are going to say, hey, wait a minute here. How does the Bible validate itself?

Doesn't saying the Bible is true because the Bible says it's true Doesn't that

seem to be a little bit self-serving?

Well, that's a great question.

I'm going to give an answer in two words and the use of a chart.

And I hope the chart is helpful. Here's the two words.

Faith and facts. Faith first. Romans 10, 17.

So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.

When a person hears the word of God, when they read the word of God and believes

what it says, faith is given to them and God is the giver of this faith.

It is a complete miracle that it can happen.

So faith is a big part of believing that kind of a statement.

And two, and there's a chart that I want you to see with it.

And two, so when we have this inspired word of God, like that's what the Bible claims.

And we've already looked at these two verses right here. And it speaks of God's

inability to lie, like by faith this is true.

And then the second word is facts.

Skeptics and curious people of all types, they should consider and look at the facts.

Fact number one, fulfilled prophecies.

Like the Bible claims that that has happened. Some 2,500 prophecies are found in the Bible.

Approximately 2,000 have already been filled, including 300-ish some about Jesus,

his birth, his life, and his death.

And there are still others that haven't, like the ones that says he's coming

back again, after 300 already predicted and happened, and now that one?

Maybe we should give that some consideration.

Then there's historical events, the fall of Babylon, the rise of the Persian

Empire, rebuilding of Jerusalem.

A lot of facts. The Bible also claims to have unity, despite having some 40-ish

human authors, all with diverse backgrounds and covering 1,600 years from the

time of starting to write it to the end.

And yet it maintains this one consistent theme that's focused on the redemptive plan of God.

Very consistent unity all throughout

it fact three historical and

archaeology discoveries the history books are full of support for finding that

the bible claims are true the archaeology stuff it continues to dig up new evidence

and it's always going to be confirming of the bible it has so far nothing against

it ancient manuscripts another fact,

there are 5,000 plus copies of manuscripts from the original writings of the Bible.

Including up to just less than 100 years ago with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

That's a lot of facts to consider for support of the Bible claims.

Let me go a little bit further with these ancient documents,

because if we compare the Bible to other ancient copies,

the Bible comes out looking really good let

me show you this chart start with julius caesar i've heard

of him roman empire probably a dictator military genius and he was known for

writing down his his strategies recorded them all none of them exist anymore

but now we have some copies of them to be exact it sounds like there are 109

of them that exist with the earliest ones coming after the original writings

of 1400 years that's a big gap.

Follow along with me. Then we have Herodias, Greek historian,

known as the father of history.

He was the first guy who was like, let me take this history stuff and record it seriously.

251 copies, starting as early as 950 years after the original.

Homer, the Greek poet, 1,800 copies.

As soon as 400 years after. Now, this is interesting.

Most of the experts who deal with this kind of stuff, best I can tell,

they will say 99% authentic.

True it's going to be right and then

you get this one new testament 5 000

copies as soon as 200 to 300 years after the originals simply said there are

a lot of facts to validate the bible hardly anyone questions all these other

ancient documents and if the same measures are going to be used to validate the Bible,

then the Bible far exceeds the others.

Like skeptics, curious people who don't know God yet, they should consider these facts.

They should ask God to give them saving faith.

Believing not only in Jesus, believe in the Bible.

Now, let's bring experiences into the picture.

They come in so many different shapes and sizes.

Life is full of them. Impossible to name the total number of experiences going on in life.

If you think about it, life is one experience after another,

stacked and stacked and stacked and stacked upon each other,

often with many experiences going on at the same time.

You know what I mean? Like that is happening, even in this room.

Some of these experiences are amazing, and they get labeled as such,

as mountaintop experience.

Some experiences are with growing anticipation, growing excitement.

Sometimes they are referred to these really big ones, these really huge upcoming

experiments, and they are listed as bucket list experiences.

And yet, other experiences are horrible.

And I'm not just talking about like eating broccoli and going to the dentist.

I'm talking about like real horrible, life tragic things that we have on.

And then still, there is the everyday, normal, day in, day out experiences that a person experiences.

It is this continual series of experiences over and over.

And all these experiences, the good ones, the bad ones, the easy ones,

the hard ones, all of them make up what we call lifen.

That's slang. Jenna, one of our people who go to the early service,

she told me about that word, lifen. What's that?

It's how we live life. How you doing, Jenna? I'm lifen.

All right, living life.

And these experiences, they come with tons of emotions and feelings wrapped in them.

And they shape us. They shape our personalities. They influence our decisions.

And let's not forget the old adage, experiences are known to be great teachers.

We learn from them.

So how is it that experiences are a modern American problem?

Here's how. If a person, if experiences are the foundation for making a person's worldview,

then letting experiences shape a person is dangerous because experiences are

limited and prone to air.

Not to mention the emotions and the personal feelings that are attached to these

experiences. They are subjective and unstable.

Jesus teaches this exact principle. He does it at one of the end of his famous

sermon called the Sermon on the Mount.

And so turn your Bible to Matthew chapter seven, or look up here on the screen.

One wants to look at this principle that he has.

In the big picture, his principle, it has two theological values.

The first one is this, it has an eschatology value.

Don't let that word scare you, right? Eschatology, it means it has the principle

concerning itself with a person's death, their judgment, and one's final destination.

So if you are a person who's concerned about your final destination and where

you spend eternity, then this principle is going to be of importance.

And the second principle, it has a daily practical theology value,

meaning it applies to our everyday decisions and experiences.

And again, if that matters to you, this principle is going to matter.

So here we go. Jesus is coming to the end of his sermon.

He has already preached on a lot of topics.

He has taught about lust, lying, divorce, anxiety, wisdom, the purpose of life,

and the importance of obedience to God's unchanging principles.

All of that has already been covered in his sermon.

In many ways, if you think about it, it sounds like a sermon series he could

have named Modern Israel Problems, because it sounds exactly like the topics

in the series that we've been talking throughout this time here.

And here's how he ends this sermon.

With a parable, look at Matthew chapter 7, verses 24 to 27.

Matthew 7:24–27

Therefore, that's a word that lets you know the preacher's about done.

So Jesus is using that word. I'm not using that word. Jesus is using that word.

Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like

a sensible man who built his house on the rock.

The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house.

Yet it didn't collapse because its foundation was on the rock.

But everyone who hears the words of mine and

doesn't act on them will be like a foolish man who built

his house on the sand the rain fell the rivers rose the winds blew and pounded

that house and it collapsed and its collapse was great jesus ends his sermon

by telling a story about two men,

one built his house on a rock another built his house on a sand i don't know

perhaps jesus being a carpenter like that was a trade of his maybe he saw this

kind of situation in real life a time or two in his lifetime and he thought

this is a good teaching principle.

The house built upon a rock weathered the storm, and the builder is called sensible and wise.

But the house built on the sand collapsed during the storm, and the builder is called foolish.

You can't miss the fact that the storms were coming to both builders.

This is not like just one doesn't get any of them and the other does. No, they both have this.

And the meaning of this parable is easy to understand.

Proper foundations are necessary with

a literal house it is unwise to

build on the sand we kind of know a thing or two about that here in florida

like that doesn't make much sense it's a concern that we always have because

that kind of foundation is potentially unsteady and that house is eventually

going to suffer some kind of damage and certainly if the conditions worsen a total collapse okay,

And if you stop and think about it, who would spend all that money,

all that time, all that work, and building a house like that in the first place

if you knew it was going to collapse?

But in contrast, it is wise to build one's house on a solid,

firm foundation. That's the lesson of the parable.

But to be clear, really, really, really clear, Jesus' sermon is not concerning

itself with flood zones and blueprints and building code violations.

That's not the point. It is a spiritual meaning.

Look again at verse 24. It wraps it up right there.

Everyone who hears the words of mine and puts them into practice is like a sensible,

wise man who built his house on the rock.

Everyone is building a life on some kind of foundation and the principle jesus

teaches is that there is a good solid foundation firm foundation and there is

a bad collapsing foundation.

And the difference between getting this principle right or wrong is the difference

of your life collapsing or not collapsing.

Not only earthly collapsing, eternally collapsing or not collapsing.

And it seems right here in good

old USA, many are building their lives on experience as their foundation.

And it comes with this heavy, heavy, heavy influence that's connected with their

emotions and feelings associated with these life experiences.

An experience foundation is going to rely on gut instincts.

It builds itself on being connected with one's true inner self.

It makes its own set of beliefs and it uses subjective reasoning as perceived

by the experience as to what is true or not.

That is a dangerous foundation, ready to collapse.

In contrast, a biblical foundation relies on scripture.

It builds itself on being connected to God's laws, his precepts,

statutes, and judgments.

It's a foundation that believes what God believes.

And it uses objective reasoning, perceived by God as being true,

as its rock-solid foundation.

So I want us to look at a few specific examples of how these two different foundations look.

And I will tell you, I have had a hard time coming up with what experiences do we want to use?

What do I want to use as examples? Really, really, really battle with that.

I came up with, I'm coming up with four, and truthfully, I'm trying to take

this wide, broad stroke.

And from what you do with it from

here, like, there's a lot of homework available to you if you want to.

Here's example number one. This is what I mean. I'm calling it the marriage experience.

The Bible's got a lot to say about it. And this is just a little. There's more.

A marriage built on a biblical foundation is anchored in a covenant commitment

to Christ rather than the shifting stand commitment of circumstances.

Here's how. This is what I mean. When a couple, when they prioritize sacrificial

love, service, and the teachings of the scripture, this is what happens.

A marriage, they are going to view their union of marriage as an act of worship.

They're going to see, oh, this

is a reflection that Christ has in devotion that he has to his church.

And this kind of foundation, it is going to provide stability during the trials,

during the rains and the rising rivers and all of that.

And it's because the relationship, it is going to thrive. It's going to exist.

It's going to maintain because it's relying on divine strength and enduring

grace instead of my emotions.

In contrast, a marriage that's going to be built primarily on experiences and

feelings, that is fragile from the get-go.

Because it's going to start with this unpredictable nature of emotions.

When a relationship is driven solely by romance or personal satisfaction,

like I am concerned about what I am getting out of this or what I'm not getting

out of this, it is going to struggle to survive.

Passions are going to rise and fade and come and go. Conflicts are going to come and go.

And yet once a person starts thinking only of their self, man,

do the other options start looking better and better.

And what's the old phrase go? the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

And the better it looks, the more they want out. And it is the possibility and

the real reality of a marriage collapse.

And we see this in our culture, human reasoning and cultural conformity.

They will always justify the situation.

Haven't you heard, maybe even said, comments like, I deserve better than this.

This is not fair. If you only knew my situation,

the spark is gone. I just don't love her anymore. He doesn't meet my needs.

That's collapse talk.

Example two, I'm going to call it the moral ethical experience.

There's so many morals and ethical experiences in there. I'm going to just use

lying as the one I'm picking today.

From a biblical perspective, lying is fundamentally immoral because it contradicts the nature of God.

He is defined as truth, capital T truth. And scripture explicitly condemns bearing false witness.

It labels lying lips as an abomination to the Lord.

Like the Bible's view of lying is much more than, oh, it's just a social error. No.

The Bible calls it a transgression and an offense against God.

Building a foundation on the

bible keeps us from

collapsing when it comes to our morals and our ethics conversely a morality

of lying built on experiences often often it's going to operate through the

lens of situational ethics where

rightness the rightness of an action is determined by its consequences.

Lie. If a lie presents unnecessary pain, then lie.

If lies, if lying will minimize consequences, or better yet,

no consequences, oh yeah, lie.

Lying becomes then subjective based on one's circumstances.

And building your morals and your ethics on this type of experience is a great collapse.

And here's the interesting thing with morals and ethics.

So oftentimes, it can look good from the outside.

Like there are a lot of moral people living, doing really good things.

And if the motivation of it doesn't come from like the motivation that we find

in some of these verses, it misses the mark.

Example three.

I'm calling it the sex experience. Specifically, the lesbian,

gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, LGBTQ,

from a biblical foundation, explicitly forbids same-sex sexual acts.

And it even goes further in acknowledging that any sex,

heterosexual included, is reserved only for marriage relationships divinely

ordained by God between man and woman.

I think week three, we hit that a little hard, that topic of that.

However, the LGBT community, based on their lived experiences,

they identify themselves as inherently good because of their love,

sacrifice, care, partnership, and support for each other.

And it gets to the point that with a reprobate mind, they claim that God supports

and encourages these kinds of relationships.

Now listen, I have some of these people in my life and goodness,

God is my witness. I love them and want to love them.

But this is building a foundation and it's going to collapse.

Yet they need the gospel.

And in case you're not familiar with the term reprobate mind,

it is a word that's used in the Bible and it describes someone as being corrupt.

And here's the thing. Often it is associated with people who have a knowledge

of God, like they even know some of his commandments.

However, they have no inkling, none whatsoever, no desire to please God with it.

That's a person with a reprobate mind and building a foundation of sand, on sand.

Example four, I'm going to call it the entertainment and leisure experience.

I think it's very obvious that the Bible views entertainment and leisure as

potential gifts from God, like they are a good thing.

Renewal is good. Relaxation is good. Activities are good. provided.

Use these verses as your guide. There's some moderation there,

and it is done in a way to glorify him.

Scripture encourages pursuing wholesome activities while discouraging anything

that leads to sin or addictions.

Ultimately, the Bible encourages using wisdom and a lot of discernment when

it comes to these types of experiences.

And in contrast, entertainment and leisure built on experience and feelings,

yes, they also seek renewal and relaxation. That's true.

But there is no emphasis on glorifying God and how they go about these activities

and what these activities are, it comes with an attitude of, if it feels right, do it.

And there is no mind of accountability of having a higher authority for one's

actions and experiences.

It is a foundation that's going to collapse.

Every life experience we encounter, whether we encounter it directly or through

the influence of someone else, every experience is to be taken as said in 2 Corinthians 10, 5.

Taking every thought captive to obey Christ.

Because everyone is building a foundation.

The point of this verse is to remind us that we are in spiritual warfare.

Do not believe for a second that Satan is not trying to use our experiences

and our feelings to deceive us.

He is the king and the father of deception.

How many people are held captive by the idea that they are a product of chance

in a godless universe and they have zero purpose.

How many minds have been blinded to the gods of this age?

How many tricks does he have up his sleeves to misguide people, including Christians?

It is imperative that the word of God be in our lives to be so much so that

we commit to it, to like verses in Romans 12 too.

Do not be conformed to this age. but be transformed by the renewing of your

mind so that you may be able to discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

How do you get these experiences right? How do you reject the culture's experience

and their patterns and their values and their thought system?

Daily, renew our minds. Not Sunday morning only, daily. Fix your mind on scripture.

Align your heart Align your behaviors to God And what he says That's what a

wise, sensible builder will do,

So I started with a question at the beginning Ask the question again now And

include the word therefore Because I'm about done,

Therefore What role does the Bible have in your life?

Let me read to you Psalm 119. Kenan read it once. I didn't know he was going

to do that. How cool is that?

I want to read it to you again. And then I want us to pray through these verses.

You pray yours. I'm going to be praying mine. You can agree with me.

We'll work through that. Here's what the verses say again.

How can a young man keep his way pure? Or, and again, you can,

I think you're allowed to swap the young man and put you in there, your age.

How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping your word.

I have sought you with all my heart. Don't let me wander from your commands.

I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.

Lord, may you be praised. Teach me your statutes. With my lips,

I proclaim all the judgments from your mouth.

I rejoice in the way that you revealed your decrees as much as in all riches.

I will meditate on your precepts and think about your ways.

I will delight in your statutes and I will not forget your words.

Let's pray.

Father, I would ask that you would make it a priority for us to even ask such a question to you.

How? How are we to go about keeping my life pure?

You are such a good and gracious Father, and you give us an answer right behind

the question by keeping your word pure.

I tremble, Father, at the next sentence. I have sought you with all my heart.

Don't let me wander from your commands.

Father, if there's one thing I know about myself, is that I am prone to wander.

To seek you with all of my heart is going to take a Holy Spirit miracle.

I want to take you serious and your word serious. Help this to be more and more true in my life.

Help me to indeed see the treasure of your word, that it keeps me from sinning.

It keeps me from building on a foundation of sand and collapsing things.

Indeed, Father, I ask that you would help me be quick to praise you.

Help me to be a good student as you teach me your statutes.

Guard me from letting me be my own teacher. Guard me from letting culture be my teacher.

With my lips I proclaim all the judgments from your mouth I rejoice in the way

you revealed your decrees as much as in all riches father is that true do I

see your word as valuable as other riches of this world,

it can be done,

again I cry out to you for help in this.

I will meditate on your precepts and think about your ways.

Father, I don't know. I don't know if my mind thoughts were put on a screen

and I looked at them and I evaluated them.

How much of it is really meditating on your precepts?

I need your help.

I delight in your statutes. That's what makes me happy. There's joy there.

God, would you help me make that be true? And so, I will not forget your words.

Oh, I see that, Father. I see the only way I cannot forget your words is if

I first learn your words.

I am utterly in need of your help.

Help me with priorities. Help me with the scheduling of life.

Help me to be able to do this, that indeed I can enjoy and delight,

read, study, comprehend your word.

And build my life on a foundation that is firm for your glory and certainly my good.

In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Deuteronomy 29, 29. The secret things belong to the Lord our God,

but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever,

that we may do all the words of this law. That's good news.