"The Bible..." by Hiram Kemp

There are books, and then there's this book,

also known as the book. There are many helpful books that man's

given to us, but there is one heavenly book that God's given to us,

and there's no other book on the face of the earth that's anything like it.

Just think about the great depths that God has gone to to get this

message to us. Men didn't write the Bible on their own and wouldn't have come

up with the idea apart from divine inspiration and aid.

No, the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that Scripture

2 Timothy 3:16–17

is literally God-breathed. It comes from God, and then it fully equips

us for every good work. Prophecy didn't come in old times by the will of

man, but holy men of God spoke as they were carried along by the Holy

Spirit, 2 Peter 1:20-21. The Bible is a unique book,

2 Peter 1:20–21

but it's not just unique in the depths that it took God to get it

to us, but also the depths that men have gone to and gone through to

preserve it so that we might still have it. Long before the printing press,

monks in caves and in monasteries that we'll never know their names worked

for countless hours to continue to copy out manuscripts by hand so

that you can hold the Bible in your hand that you're holding today. William Tyndale

translated the Bible out of the Greek and Hebrew and into English at

the cost of his life as he was strangled to death for doing so.

Because the authorities at the time forbade him from translating it.

Chicago University Press says that the Bible is the most influential text

in Western history. Oxford University Press says it's been the

most important text and the most translated text in all of the ancient world.

In 2023, at an auction in New York, a rare edition Hebrew

Bible was sold for $38.1 million.

There's no other book like the Bible. Like the psalmist says in Psalm

Psalms 119:10

119:10, your words are more precious to me than

gold. Yes. Than much fine gold. Psalm 119

and verse 72 says about the Bible, the law of your commandments is of

more worth to me than many gold or silver pieces.

But then this begs other questions. Why have people

gone to so great depths to make sure that we have the Word of God

and that we have the Bible? Why has the Bible been so translated and

so cared for and meant so much to so many people down through the centuries

and down through the years? And more than that, Why has God given it to

us? This morning I want to look at the text of Scripture and see what

the Bible says about itself to us so that we'd have a greater appreciation

for it and ensure that we're engaging and acting with the Bible in the way

that God would have us to. Because the truth is, there's nothing wrong with the

Bible, but there may be plenty wrong with our approach to it. Because for

some people, the Bible is a mere religious prop that accompanies them to worship

services like this one once a week. For other people, the Bible

has great religious and spiritual nuggets and it belongs on a sort of self-help

shelf but has nothing to offer us as it relates to historical accuracy and

things that really happened. Other people are in great doubt of the

Bible and not impressed with the Bible at all because as far as they're concerned,

it's on par with other religious texts also fighting for relevance

and significance. They can't determine which books are in, which books are

out, and as far as skeptics are concerned, Nobody can interpret

the Bible with any consistency or regularity. And to all of

those things, we should open up Scripture and see what it has to

say to us. And I promise you, if we do this honestly, when we get

to the end of our study, it won't be the Bible that's changed, but it'll

be us. This morning, let's notice what God says to us about the Bible,

why he gave it, and how we should engage with it. Number 1, the Bible

is meant to be read. This should kind of be a no-brainer, but the Bible

was given to us by God so that we could read it. This is fundamental

and foundational. In passages like Isaiah 34:16,

Isaiah 34:16

the prophet says, seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read.

Ephesians 3:4, Paul says, I wrote these things

Ephesians 3:4

down so that when you read, you might understand my knowledge and

the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons

of men, as it's now been revealed to us by his holy apostles and prophets

by the Spirit. You turn your Bible to the Old Testament and you get to

Deuteronomy 17, and it's there that God anticipates that a

time was coming when Israel was going to want a king of their own.

And in Deuteronomy 17:18-19, God says when he will

Deuteronomy 17:18–19

sit upon the throne, he will copy out a copy of the law

given to him by the priests or approved by the priests, and he will read

it all the days of his life. And he's to do this so that he

won't be lifted up or exalted above his brethren. Priests were to make sure

that every king that came to the throne in Israel copied out

by hand his own copy of the Law of Moses and then studied

it and then read it all the days of his life because the Bible was

meant to be read. And you might think that this point's assumed.

This is a no-brainer. The Bible's a book and of course you're supposed to read

it. But a lot of people don't engage with the Bible this way. Some people

treat the Bible sort of like a lab rat. It's to be inspected. It's to

be dissected. It's to be broken down in little parts and pieces. But never

read. Other people treat the Bible as sort of like an aesthetic.

It's beautiful. You know what? It looks good on their coffee table next

to other books or on a shelf in their office or maybe one of my

favorites, on their dashboard of their car. Maybe they think that won't get them a

ticket or in an accident but don't read the Bible.

For other people, the Bible is not to be read. No, the Bible is a

family heirloom. Somebody really close to them died at some point.

And one of the things they left behind for them was their Bible, and they

keep it in a nice place tucked away and safe. And if you ask them,

they proudly profess, this is my dad's Bible. Yes, but the question

is, is it yours? Have you taken it in and made it a part of

you? Have you started reading it and digesting its teachings? Because that's

what it's there for. Job says, I've desired the words of your mouth more than

my necessary food. Job 23 and verse 12. Jesus says, man cannot live

by bread alone, but instead by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of

God. Matthew 4:4. The Bible's supposed to be read. This passage in Deuteronomy 17,

Matthew 4:4

yes, originally it was spoken to kings, but down throughout the Bible you

can just note the passages where this same idea is spoken

to the nation of Israel on the whole and the church, as Christians are told

to read and engage their Bible.

Nehemiah 8:8, it says, we read to all of the people

Nehemiah 8:8

out of the book of the law with distinction. And cause them to understand the

reading. Paul says, see that this letter, 1 Thessalonians 5:27,

1 Thessalonians 5:27

is read to all the holy brethren. Colossians 4:16,

Colossians 4:16

when you read this letter, make sure you also read the letter that we

left to the Laodiceans. And in Joshua 8:33-34,

Joshua 8:33–34

when the people finally get into the land of Canaan, Joshua copies out

the law and he reads it before all the people because God

wants us to engage the Bible But we do this by reading. New Testament scholar

David Neuhaus says, the reason why today we struggle with biblical literacy

probably more than any other generation is because we've raised

a generation of Bible quoters and not Bible readers. And what Neuhaus

is talking about is Bible is supposed to be memorized. Quoting Scripture and

learning the Bible by heart is a great thing, not to be despised, but we've

raised a generation of Bible quoters rather than Bible readers. Neuhaus means

this: If you know John 3:16, if you know Ephesians 2:8-9,

John 3:16 Ephesians 2:8–9

if you know Philippians 4:4, but somebody says to you, hey, have you ever read

Philippians 4:4

all of John? Or maybe, have you read the book of Philippians? Or have you

read all of Ephesians or all of Romans? If your answer to those

questions is no, then you're not engaging with the Bible the way the Bible was

primarily meant to be engaged, and that is God gave it to us so

that we might read it. In John 20:30-31,

John 20:30–31

Jesus says— or John writes about Jesus— Truly, many other signs did Jesus,

but these are written so that you might believe that he is the Son of

God, the Christ, and in believing have life through his name. But that only happens

when we engage the Bible properly, and that happens when we read.

Just about every home, even apartment complexes,

you've got a fire extinguisher. You probably walk past the one in your house

hundreds of times every year. You don't even think about it. It's on the wall,

it's under some cabinet, and you never think about it. In fact, You could get

to the end of your life and there's a possibility that you could proudly profess,

I've never used a fire extinguisher in my house ever a day in my life.

And then just think about the Bible in relation to American homes. The average American

home has 4 Bibles in it, to say nothing of all the electronic

copies that are available at our disposal. What a shame to get to the end

of your life to say, you know what, I've walked past it hundreds of times,

but I've never used it. I've never had a need to use it.

And I've gotten to the end of my life and I really haven't engaged or

read the Bible thoroughly and sincerely. You know, the Bible was not

given to us to primarily put out fires in our lives. God gave us the

Bible to light a fire in our lives and change us as people.

Psalm 119:104, your word is a lamp unto

Psalms 119:104

my feet and a light unto my path. Why did God give us the Bible?

So that we would read it. This phrase, knowing something

by heart, it comes from the Greco-Roman world. In the time of the first century

in the ancient Near East and in the Greco-Roman world, they thought that not the

brain but the heart was the storehouse of ideas and thoughts. And so

they thought if you really want to know something well, you just rehearse it so

many times so then eventually it's written not in your mind

but ultimately on your heart. And sometimes we as Christians,

we like will proudly profess, you know, I know a couple of things about the

Bible but I don't really know it by heart. And the

question is, why not? Or when are we going to get started? Because if you

read the Bible, That's the point. Jeremiah says, your words were

found and I did eat them. Jeremiah 15 and verse 16. Here's what

we all know is true. We know by heart the things that have our heart.

Think about the things you know easily and instinctively. It's because

those are the things that have your heart. Colossians 3:16, Paul says,

Colossians 3:16

let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.

Because he gave us the Bible so that we would read it. A friend of

mine wrote an article this week called If I Don't Read My Bible, And he

just listed maybe 20 things. I'm just going to share with you some of them.

He says, if I don't read my Bible, I close my mind to God's communication

with me. Hebrews 1:1-2. If I don't read my Bible, I'm going to lose sight

Hebrews 1:1–2

of what's most important in my life. Matthew 16:26.

Matthew 16:26

If you gain this whole world and lose your soul, it profits you nothing.

If I don't read my Bible, I fail to see who God truly is.

If I don't read my Bible, I'm going to lose my zeal for God.

When your life starts feeling like things are spiritually out of whack, we've got to

start asking ourselves, how have I been or how have I not been engaging with

the Bible? Because above all, he wants us not to just snack

on it, not to glance at it, but to gaze into it and to read

it. Here's number 2: the Bible is complete.

God would have us to appreciate that his Word, the Bible, is complete.

The Old Testament ends with this idea of there's going to be a Messiah that's

coming. Malachi chapter 4 and verse 5 and Malachi chapter 3 and verse 1

Malachi 4 · chapter mention Malachi 3 · chapter mention

last book of the Old Testament, talks about the expectation of a coming Messiah.

Hundreds of Jews in between the time of Malachi and Matthew have

this idea— it's written down in historical documents— that God was not communicating

by inspiration to anybody during that time period. But once the New

Testament age comes, God reveals his will to his apostles and his prophets,

and they wrote it down. In John 16 and verse 13,

Jesus says, howbeit when he, the Spirit of Truth, has come— talking about

the Holy Spirit— He would guide the apostles into all the truth.

They wouldn't speak their own thoughts, but the Holy Spirit would declare to them the

things that are to come. Jesus's words in John 16 and verse

13 are very important in their specificity. Jesus says the apostles

would be guided into all the truth. That means if the apostles were guided into

all of it, nobody was going to come along after them and give

us any more. Near the end of the New Testament, Jude verse 3,

Jude says the faith has been once for all delivered to the saints.

That means God wasn't going to give it out to us in spurts and in

spats at various times. It was once for all time delivered

to the apostles and the saints, and there's no more revelation coming.

The second thing to appreciate about the Bible is your Bible

is complete, and the Holy Spirit anticipates that

people are going to struggle to believe this truth. And so at the beginning of

the Bible, in the middle of the Bible, and at the end of the Bible

there are these warnings: do not put anything else into the Bible that God

never did, and don't take anything out. Deuteronomy 4 and verse 2, Moses writes,

do not add to the Word of the Lord and don't take anything away from

it. Proverbs 30 and verse 6, Solomon says,

don't add to the Word lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

And Revelation 22, verses 18 and 19 says, if you add to the Word,

Revelation 22:18

God will add the plagues to you, and if you take out of the Word,

He'll take your name out of the holy city. The second thing to appreciate about

your Bible is it's complete. And this is becoming

a harder point for even Christians to accept. They go to Kroger, they're checking

out, they look next to the candy bars, and there's a National Geographic saying,

hey, we found some lost books, and they're enamored with it. Do you know how

many people every week reach out to me? They're enamored with this idea of,

hey, what about the Book of Enoch? And what about the Gospel of Judas?

And what about the Gospel of Thomas? They're just sort of infatuated with this idea

that, hey, I don't know about the Bible, maybe we don't have all the books,

failing to appreciate that Enoch never wrote anything down.

Judas was a villain and a traitor, not an author, and the Gospel

of Thomas is 100 years too late to be included in our New Testament.

It's almost comical how obsessed we are with the lost books and

we never find our way to the books that have already been found and

authenticated and verified. Just ask somebody that's infatuated

with these lost books, hey, have you read the whole Bible? I mean, Genesis to

Revelation? Nope, haven't read that. Have you read the whole New Testament? Maybe Matthew

to Revelation? Nope, but I heard that they found some manuscript in Egypt in

a cave under a hamster's bunk bed, and I'm really interested in that.

Are you interested in what you do have though? Because the whole Bible's complete.

When I say the Bible's complete though, I also mean the Bible's

enough. This is God's final revelation to people.

Yes, in the person of Jesus Christ, but revealed through Scripture, Hebrews 1:1-2.

Hebrews 1:1–2

It means that the Bible is fully sufficient. It means if you have a Bible,

you have everything you need to please God, 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

2 Timothy 3:16–17

If you study about ancient backgrounds and cultures, it'll shed a lot

of light on the Bible. I mean, if you learn how people lived back then,

what they ate, and how they went about their lives, if you can learn something

about the language and the keywords Hebrew and Greek and Aramaic,

it'll enliven your Bible study. If you have the money, the time,

and the resources to take a trip across the seas to the places where people

like David and Abraham and Paul and Jesus walked and lived,

it'll enliven and enlighten your Bible study. But if you do none of those

things and you take 100 pennies and you walk to the nearest

dollar store and buy the cheapest paper copy of this book that you can find

and read it and practice it all the days of your life, you'll know enough

to see the author in peace when your life is over. 1 Thessalonians 2:13,

1 Thessalonians 2:13

Paul says, when you receive these words that you got from us, you receive them

not as the word of men, but as they really are in truth, the word

of God that works effectually in those of you that believe it. The Bible is

complete, and it'll complete us if we allow it. Here's number 3:

the Bible reveals the truth. Jesus just comes

out and says this in John 17:17: sanctify

them in the truth. Your word is truth. Psalm 119 and verse 160

says the totality or the sum of God's word is completely true.

And we need to appreciate the Bible for what it is. The Bible reveals the

truth. And the idea behind this is the Bible is revealing the truth because

we wouldn't have come to it on our own. There's no way we would have

known the truth had God not given it to us. God reveals it so

that we'll know it in its totality. What this means apologetically

is this: wherever the Bible speaks to a subject,

it's correct and it's accurate. It means when the Bible speaks about scientific

things like the life is in the blood, Leviticus 17:11,

Leviticus 17:11

the Bible's right. Whenever the Bible talks about historical people,

there really was a Caesar Augustus and a governor named Quirinius in the

time of Luke chapter 2 and verse 1. And when the Bible talks about morality

Luke 2 · chapter mention

and human behavior, it's always right. But when we say that the

Bible reveals the truth, we also mean practically, this means

when we encounter the Bible, we should brace ourselves.

This means that we should brace— the Bible probably should come with a label out

on front that says, read this book at your own risk, because sometimes

truth has to wound us before it can help us. You start reading

the Bible and there are going to be some uncomfortable truths that God shares with

us. Galatians 4:16, Paul says, am I therefore become

Galatians 4:16

your enemy because I tell you the truth? The Bible reveals

the truth to us whether we like it or not. Think about how

an X-ray machine works. An X-ray machine doesn't really

tell you what you want to hear or what you think you want to— it

just reveals what's going on inside of you. It just says, hey, here's what's wrong.

In fact, the X-ray machine isn't even designed to condemn

you. It's just to say, hey, here's what's going on with your life, and if

you want to make changes, you can change. You can't get mad at the x-ray

machine. It's just doing exactly what it's designed to do. The same thing's

true about a mirror. A mirror is really not designed to tell you what you

want to hear. You might put this on and say, this used to be my

favorite shirt. It's not a medium anymore. It's a smedium. It's too small for you.

You might be mad about that, but at the end of the day, guess what?

You can't change it. God's telling us in his word, hey, here's your

reality. Here's your life, and I want you to focus on the truth that I'm

revealing to you and be courageous enough to make the changes.

Some people haven't always— listen, people don't like when God

starts telling them, hey, you gotta change your life. You know, there are people that

have changed religions because the Bible says something about their lifestyle or the way they

behave that they didn't like. People have changed churches and said, you know what,

I just can't go if you're gonna preach that, if you're gonna say this about

the way that I live. But the Bible's an x-ray machine. It just holds up

our lives and it doesn't tell us like an x-ray machine what's going on in

our bodies. Beyond that, it says here's what's going on with your soul. And if

you really want to allow God to, He'll do the work on you,

and it'll make a great difference as we allow it to transform us. Here's number

4: the Bible is challenging. If you have your Bible, go to 2 Peter chapter

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

3. Go to 2 Peter 3 and notice what Paul says in verses

15 and 16. 2 Peter 3. I think this is a point that people that

have trouble with the Bible need to hear those of us who believe it and

preach it say a lot more, because the Bible just says this. The Bible is

difficult in some parts and it's challenging. Peter's an inspired spokesman.

He gets to the end of 2 Peter and here's what he says about the

Bible. He says that this— the patience of God is evidence of his

long-suffering, even as our beloved brother Paul has written to us in

all of his letters. He says, and some of those things in

verse 16, they're hard to be understood, which the unstable and the

unbelievers twist just like they do the other Scriptures. Peter says

there are some things that Paul wrote that are hard to comprehend. Notice what he

doesn't say. He doesn't say impossible. He doesn't say everything that Paul wrote, but he

says, hey, there are some things in the Bible that are difficult.

This is important because you might start reading the Bible and you might start thinking

to yourself, well, this is kind of tough. I must be doing it wrong.

But that's not true. You might start reading the Bible and you come across some

things that challenge you, and you might think, if I don't understand this right off

or on the first read-through, to close the Bible and give up. No, the Bible

itself professes it's challenging. Endure hardness as a

good soldier, 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 3. It's called the difficult

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

and the narrow way for a reason, Matthew 7:13-14.

Matthew 7:13–14

Discipleship is called the crucified life in Luke chapter 9 and verse

Luke 9 · chapter mention

23. None of those statements, none of those ideas communicates anything

about ease, about comfort, about simplicity. It's challenging.

This doesn't mean the Bible was written in some secret code so

that nobody could understand it, but it does mean this: if you have a nonchalant

and a haphazard approach to the Bible, you should expect you're never going to

get much out of it. If you pick up the Bible one day and don't

read it for weeks and you come back and you say, hey, I'm always confused,

it's always going to be that way because the Bible is too rich,

too deep, and too important to be engaged with flippantly.

Maybe you know that table. That table is called— I'm

going to just call it the math table, okay. And if you have kids,

if you were a child at some point, if you're a parent, you know all

about the math table. The math table is where parental and child love

goes to be tested. At some point, you're raising your kids, they've got homework.

Look, they're at the table learning math, you're at the table learning patience.

And they're trying to figure out math, you're trying to remember math you studied 30

years ago, and there's this tension. And at a certain point, you start looking

at each other and you start wondering, I don't know if we're going to make

it. But you never say at the math table, you never say

at the math table, you know what, it's just too hard. You're never going to

learn how to count. We just aren't doing multiplication in this house because you know

what, it's working me up too much, it's working you up too much. We just

forfeit. No, you know what we do? We get tutors, we use tools,

we use techniques. You know why we do it? Because we say, hey, this is

essential. This is going to cost us. This is hard. But it's just got to

be done. And maybe you get to the Bible and you're reading Revelation and Zechariah

and Daniel, and you start thinking— look, people at the math table, when it's happening

in your house, you might be thinking we're the only people in the world struggling

like this in this moment. But you start talking to other people and it's not

just you. You start reading the Bible and talking to other people and you realize,

hey, I can't forfeit. I've got to get tools and techniques and tutors

and do whatever's possible to understand the Bible because I'm not the first person

that struggled and places with this difficulty. Daniel's an inspired prophet

of God, and 3 times in the book of Daniel— Daniel 7:15,

Daniel 7:15

Daniel 8:27, and Daniel 12:8— God reveals things to

Daniel 8:27 Daniel 12:8

Daniel, and Daniel's response: This is complicated. I don't

understand it. And yet, he professed

he believed and trusted in God, and he persisted.

There are some things in the Bible that are challenging, but if you think about

what the Bible's designed to do, it wouldn't be any other way. The Bible's literally

trying to cut down deep into our hearts and change the innermost part

of us as people. Nothing about that process should be simple.

Hebrews 4:12 says, the Word of God is living and active,

Hebrews 4:12

sharper than any two-edged sword, and it divides the soul from the spirit,

and all things are naked and open before the eyes of Him to whom we

must give an account. The Bible can be challenging, but number 5, the Bible is

about Jesus. All of it. The first verse

in the New Testament and the last verse of the New Testament mentions Jesus by

name. But the Old Testament is equally important and it's also about Jesus.

And throughout the Old Testament, God is getting us ready for the coming Messiah.

And as we read and engage with the Bible, we should see that it's ultimately

telling us a story not about ourselves, but about the person and work of Jesus.

After his resurrection, Jesus is walking on the road to Emmaus, and in Luke 24:27,

Luke 24:27

it says he met 2 individuals, Cleopas and another disciple, and he

interpreted to them all of the things in the Law of Moses and in the

Prophets. Concerning himself. And Luke 24:44,

Luke 24:44

it says, everything written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and

in the Psalms had to be fulfilled concerning Jesus.

Everything in the Bible is primarily about Jesus,

and this is important for settling a lot of doctrinal disagreements and problems.

Was there really a global and worldwide flood? Listen, you can dig in the ground

and you can go and visit the ark in Kentucky, but at the heart of

it, this boils down to one thing: Did Jesus believe in Noah and the flood?

If Jesus did, that's good enough for me. Matthew 24:37-44.

Matthew 24:37–44

Do you really believe that Jonah was swallowed by a fish and came out 3

days later and lived to preach about it? Jesus believed in Jonah.

Matthew 12:39-41. It's good enough for me.

Matthew 12:39–41

Is God really serious in what he says about marriage, divorce,

and remarriage? I mean, a lot of guys have written books. A lot of people

have a lot of interpretations about that. The whole Bible's about Jesus. He's the only

perfect person who ever lived, and Jesus tells me about marriage in Matthew

Matthew 19:1–12

19:1-12, and whatever he says is good enough for me.

Here's number 6: the Bible applies to everyone, everywhere, for all

time. Sometimes people say about the Bible, you know,

we're reading other people's mail, and we should be careful not to take the Bible

too literally. I mean, that was then and this is now, and that was an

ancient time, and we should be careful not to try to read the Bible too

literally Because some of this stuff is cultural and it doesn't apply to us.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says all scripture is

2 Timothy 3:16–17

God-breathed and is profitable, and it'll make you complete for every good work.

But go to Romans chapter 4. I want you to see how Paul used the

Romans 4 · chapter mention

Bible. If you've got your Bible, go to Romans 4. It's important to see how

Paul used the Bible and how we need to use it so we don't fall

into this trap of thinking, you know what, that was a long time ago,

and people like that spoke a different language and wore different clothes.

And looked a lot differently than us. The Bible doesn't work that way.

Maybe some of it's good for us, but not all of it. Look at Romans

Romans 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4, and in Romans 4, Paul— start in verse 22— he's

talking about the faith of Abraham. And in Romans 4:22, he says, it was accounted

Romans 4:22

to Abraham as righteousness. In verse 23, notice what he says,

but this was not said for his sake only, it was accounted to him

for righteousness. But what in verse 24? But it was written also for

us, Listen, Abraham lived thousands of years before Paul in

a different culture, spoke a different language, and the passage that

Paul quotes in Genesis 12:1-3, Paul was not there when those

Genesis 12:1–3

words were written. Wasn't even around for thousands of years. Paul picks up

Genesis and this is how Paul's reading his Bible. He says, hey, that wasn't just

for Abraham, that was also for me. So when somebody says something

about the Bible today and we say, well, yeah, but that's it. Well, that was

back then. That's not our culture. That's not our time. The Bible's a living document,

and it wasn't just written for people back then. According to Paul and how he's

engaging with Scripture, it's also written for us. And it's right not just

to read the Bible and make general observations, but to get very

specific and see the Bible also has a message for me.

Here's the last thing, number 7: the Bible is meant to change you.

And this is where Bill started us in Psalm 19.

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord

is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart. The commandments of the Lord are pure, enlightening the

eyes. The Bible at its heart is designed to change

us inwardly as people. I don't know, some people do this differently. Do you

know the difference between cleaning up and straightening up? You know

the difference? Somebody says, we got company coming over, we're about to straighten up.

You know what straightening up means? All that means is get

everything out of view, okay? Make sure— no, throw it in the tub, throw it

in the washer, throw it in the garage. Straightening up just means getting out of

it. You know what cleaning up means? Cleaning up means you've got to like move

stuff around, wipe under dust. It takes more work. The Bible

is not designed to just straighten us up. The Bible's honest

with us. I told you the Bible reveals the truth, and there's something deeply wrong

with us on the inside. And scripture isn't just meant to straighten us

up. You don't come to church to be made a more model citizen, so you

can function better on your job throughout the week. Sometimes we use this terminology,

and I know what we mean, I sympathize with it. Give us something to take

with us throughout our week. That's great, but the Bible's trying to do something far

more than just giving us little nuggets to make us better-behaved citizens throughout the week.

Deep down inside, at the root of who we are, the Bible's trying to come

inside of us, break down everything that's wrong and corrupt, and change

us into who Jesus always wanted us to be. 2 Corinthians 3 and verse

18, Paul says we're all being transformed into the very same image

of Jesus from one degree of glory to another.

And maybe sometimes you look at old pictures, you pull them out,

maybe on your phone, and you just start looking and you see how you used

to look. Sometimes you think you look better back then or maybe better now,

but here's the thing, the pictures, they tell the story. They show you you've changed

over time and it's marked out in the pictures when you look at them.

Maybe your hair was different. Maybe there was more hair back then. I mean,

you just look at yourself and you can see, guess what, I'm a different person.

And you start looking at yourself and you can really see the changes.

I can't believe I used to be like that and look at me now.

And the Bible is trying to work on us in such a way that when

we finish our lives, we can look back through the snapshots

of memory and say, I was never like this before I started reading the Bible,

and it's completely changed and reformed the person that I've become. Look at me

then, but God, look at me now.

And as we sung right before this sermon, Mike led us, to God

be the glory, great things he has done. God wants to do a great work

in us, Philippians 1:6, but he does it primarily as we read and engage the

Philippians 1:6

Bible. The goal has never been to simply learn more. The goal's always

been to do more, to be a different person. We sometimes say practice

makes what? Perfect. But you know that's not true. I mean, you know at your

heart Practice doesn't make perfect. My grandma can't just work

her way to be the middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears if she practices hard

enough. It's never gonna happen for her. But here's the truth: practice

does make progress. Practice may not make you perfect. You're probably

not gonna be Jesus Christ by the— but practice makes progress. And the more we

keep coming back to the text and studying it and practicing it and

living it out, Romans 8:29 says, We become conformed

Romans 8:29

to the image of the firstborn Son. And that's always been

the point. That's why people have run across deserts to get this book. That's why

monks have spent their lives translating this book. That's why William Tyndale allowed them to

strangle him to death in the 1500s, because he said to the king on the

throne, when I'm finished, that plowboy in the field will know more of

the Scriptures than you, because people have to have this so they

can be the people that God wants us to be. To be. There are many

good books which man has given to us, but there's only one heavenly book that

God's given to us. The Bible is complete, but we're not,

and God's still working on us if we allow him.

Sometimes truth does have to wound us before it can

help us, and the truth in Scripture is we all reach an age, a stage

where we become accountable and we sin and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 3:23. But that's quickly followed up with the good news.

Romans 3:23

The gift of God is eternal life and salvation through our Lord

and Savior Jesus Christ. And if you believe Jesus is the Son of God based

on the divine testimony given in Scripture, you're ready to change and turn and repent,

confess Jesus is the Son of God, we'll baptize you and immerse you in

water for the forgiveness of sins, and you'll rise to live a new life,

be a new creature, and continue to read and study the Bible and

be more shaped like Jesus. In the decades to come, you'll look back and

you'll say, I can't believe I used to be like that. But look at me

now. Not because of us, but because of what God's done through us. Mike's gonna

lead us in a song. If we can pray for you, if you need to

be restored, if we can help you to walk in your spiritual walking journey in

any way, let us know how we can do it as together we stand and

sing.