God Has Revealed Himself Through the Scriptures

[00:00:01] So we're in the third week of a series, How Can I Know God Exists? And the title of tonight's message is God has Revealed Himself through the Scriptures. [00:00:09] Last week we began our journey of exploration looking at the first six verses of Psalm 19 where the author, directed by the Holy Spirit, proclaimed the heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech. Night after night they reveal knowledge. [00:00:26] So David basically is telling us that if we want to know God exists, just look up and look around at all that he's made. [00:00:33] God's creation is his general revelation of himself to humanity. [00:00:37] And standing under the stars tells us God is powerful, he's eternal, he's wise. [00:00:42] But creation can't tell us about his covenant name, his moral requirements, or how to be saved from our sin. [00:00:51] The next five verses of Psalm 19. David moves from the God, the general revelation of God as seen in his creation to the specific revelation of God found in the Scriptures. [00:01:00] Before we begin to dissect the verse the next five verses of Psalm 19, I want to comment on some of the incredible facts about the Bible. [00:01:08] When David speaks of the Scriptures, all he had access to was the Pentateuch, the first four books of the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and maybe Job. [00:01:19] The Bible we hold in our hands today has both the complete Old and New Testaments. [00:01:23] And as I was studying over the past week, I discovered something fascinating. This is something that you guys may have been exposed to, but I got exposed to for the first time. And it's something called Bible Connections Diagram and it should be up here. [00:01:37] Has anybody ever seen that before? [00:01:40] Well, good, because I was amazed what it is. It's a data visualization created by two men and it maps out 63,779 cross references across the 66 books of the Bible. [00:01:55] Every single cross reference link is drawn as an arch connecting two chapters. [00:02:02] The dense web of lines visually demonstrates how different parts of Scripture references or quotes echo one another, revealing the internal harmony found in your Bible. [00:02:13] Now that is something that is just amazing to me. 63, 779 Cross references where one section of the Bible can be connected to another. [00:02:24] Speaking of its, of its unity and its consistency, why is this so incredible? [00:02:31] Well, Pastor Josh Howerton says if the Bible was written by one author, we'd probably proclaim he was the goat, the greatest author of all time. [00:02:41] But you see, our Bible consists of 66 books written by 40 different authors from all walks of life. Fishermen, Shepherds, a government worker, physician, prophets and priests, a guy who made tents for a living, kings, peasants and a cup bearer. [00:02:58] 40 different authors written by these men over 1500 years who lived on three different continents United Europe, Asia and Africa. And they wrote in three different languages, Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic, with amazing continuity and without one contradiction. [00:03:17] That is absolutely amazing. It is more than amazing, it's miraculous. [00:03:26] As I shared last week, the Bible consists of one scarlet thread running through it from Genesis to Revelation, the story of God's plan of redemption for humanity. That is the one plot line that runs through it from beginning to end. [00:03:39] So the big idea tonight is our Bible is not just incredible, it's miraculous. Something that only a sovereign God could orchestrate. [00:03:48] I do not believe that an honest seeker of truth could come to any other conclusion from the God who created all things is the One who established, maintained and preserved his written word so that men, women and children of all generations could understand him. That he exists, what he is like, his will and his ways and the plan of redemption that he established for us all. [00:04:09] Two passages found in the New Testament testify to God being the author. [00:04:13] In 2 Timothy 3:16, it says, All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness that the person of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. [00:04:26] And that word God breathed affirms God's active involvement in the writing of Scripture, an involvement so powerful and pervasive that what is written is the infallible, authoritative word of God. [00:04:38] And then in first Peter 1:2021 says, above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things. [00:04:47] For prophecy never had its origin in human will. But prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. [00:04:56] What God did was he used writers, personalities and styles within the historical context in which they live to convey and preserve for all generations what he wanted us all to know. [00:05:08] The Bible is God's word to man, not man's word about God. [00:05:14] And let me say that one more time. The Bible is God's word to man, not man's word about God. [00:05:22] Turn in your bible to Psalm 19 where we can look for more evidence of God's existence through his miraculous Bible. [00:05:29] We're going to take a Look at Psalm 19, 6 11. [00:05:38] And David writes, the law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. [00:05:42] The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. [00:05:45] The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. [00:05:49] The Commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. [00:05:52] The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. [00:05:55] The decrees of the Lord are firm and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold and much pure gold. They are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. [00:06:04] By them your servant is warned. In keeping them there is great reward. [00:06:09] So in the first six verses of the psalm, in verse one, David identifies the name of God as El. [00:06:16] And it's the only time that God is mentioned. [00:06:19] But now David shifts terms from the general God of power to the covenant making, promise keeping God. And he calls him Lord, which in Hebrew is Yahweh. [00:06:30] David identifies God as Yahweh six times in the verses that we just read. [00:06:36] Yahweh is the covenant name God used to introduce himself to Moses at the burning bush. [00:06:41] Let's take a quick look at that encounter. [00:06:44] So if you remember the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, you'll see that God's people are oppressed by Pharaoh. And he's calling Moses God's calling Moses to lead his people who are in slavery, to freedom. [00:07:00] Moses is kind of skittish. He's not feeling he's up to the task and he's looking for a way out. And he actually wants God to choose someone else. [00:07:08] Have you ever felt like that? [00:07:10] You know, like God? You're asking me to do something that's just too big. [00:07:15] I know I have. [00:07:18] Well, in Exodus 3, 13 and 14, Moses asked, what if? The Israelites ask, who is this God who has sent you? What should I tell them? [00:07:27] God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you ought to say. The Israelites, I am has sent me to you, and I am. Translated in the Hebrew is Yahweh, the name by which God wanted to be known and worshiped in Israel. [00:07:42] The name that expressed his character as a dependable and faithful God who is always true to his promises and who desires the full trust of his people. [00:07:51] And just as a side note, you know, there's a lot of skeptics out there today. The critic critics of biblical Christianity that you can hear claim that Jesus never actually claimed he was God. [00:08:03] But Jesus uses this name I am for himself in the New Testament seven different times. [00:08:09] And when he did, the Jews of his time, who knew their scripture, claimed that he was committing blasphemy. A mere man was claiming to be God. [00:08:18] They picked up stones and stoned them to death. And we see over and over that his enemies knew what he was Claiming that he was claiming to be God. [00:08:27] He clearly claimed it. His followers worshiped him, and his enemies condemned him for blasphemy. [00:08:32] And in two weeks, we're going to take a closer look at Jesus to further understand how God has revealed Himself through His Son. [00:08:41] In our text today, we have possibly one of the greatest summations about the Scriptures in all the Bible. [00:08:46] So let's read verses seven through nine and kind of dissect that the law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. [00:09:00] The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. [00:09:03] The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. [00:09:06] The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. So in these three verses, David gives us six different nouns as to what the word of God is called, six adjectives to further describe it, and six realities of the power and the impact it has in a believer's life. [00:09:24] David's not being redundant just to be redundant. He's trying to help us understand what the Scriptures and the power they have to transform lives. [00:09:33] Let's walk through each one together. As we do, I want you to ask yourself, what other book could possibly have this kind of impact in a person's life? [00:09:42] I believe David reveals why the devil wants to keep you away from it, because it has that kind of power. [00:09:49] So in the first part of verse 7, he says that the Scriptures are the law of the Lord, which basically are rules for life. They're laws that establish boundaries and yet they liberate us. They're laws that are freedom. [00:10:02] And he says they're perfect, they're all comprehensive, they're complete. Everything needed to understand God, his will and his ways. And he says the impact that it has is that it refreshes or it revives. Or one version says it converts the soul, that the word of God has the power to totally transform a person from the inside through the Holy Spirit in His word that we become born again, we become a new creation, we become a workmanship of God. [00:10:28] In the second part of verse 19, it says that the Scriptures are the statutes of the Lord, which mean his testimonies. It's kind of like his witness in a court of law. There is self revelation of Himself and His nature. [00:10:41] And he says that the statutes are trustworthy, they're reliable, they're without error, they're incapable of being wrong. [00:10:48] For God cannot lie, he cannot be confused or he cannot be inaccurate in what he says, and it says it makes wise the simple, you know. And we probably all can say that we started out rather simple minded folk. [00:11:05] Uncertain is how to live. Uncertain about our choices and our decisions. [00:11:09] The world says, leave an open door, to have an open mind about everything. But when you leave an open mind about everything, nothing sticks because you never end up with true convictions. [00:11:19] And he says this is what the word of God can do in a person's life is it can establish true convictions that are based on the word of God. [00:11:28] When the word of God, the gospel of Jesus, saves you through the Holy Spirit, you're born again. And as you read God's word and apply it to your life in obedience, it begins to reshape your ethics and your choices, your priorities and your decisions, how you treat people, your business dealings, your friendships, the people you choose to date, what you live for, how you handle your money. [00:11:48] The wisdom of the world often leads to bondage and dead ends. The word of God makes you wise and godly. Wisdom leads to freedom. [00:11:57] You see, the only time that the Bible is really restrictive is when it comes to sin. [00:12:04] The third thing David says in the first part of verse 8, he says that they're the precepts of the Lord. Their, their principles for life, a guiding principle that directs your actions and your moral behavior. [00:12:15] God's word is to be authoritative for life. [00:12:18] And he says it's, it's right, it's always correct. It's always outlines the right path to take. It gives much needed direction, it's principles for right living. It reveals the righteousness of God and how to be right with him and others. [00:12:33] Psalm 119, 105 says, Your word is a lamp under my feet and a light unto my path. [00:12:39] In second Timothy 3, 16 it says, all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. And I saw a simple illustration of this once where it says that teaching is how to walk in God's path. [00:12:53] Rebuking is how you've strayed from God's path. [00:12:57] Correcting is how to get back on God's path. [00:13:00] And training is how to stay on God's path. [00:13:04] And David says, the result of that is it gives joy to the heart. [00:13:09] Jeremiah 15:16 says, when your words came, I ate them. They were my joy and my heart's delight. [00:13:16] And I think for Christians we can always tell when we need to spend more time in the Bible. [00:13:23] It's when we lose our joy. [00:13:27] You know, you have more of a tendency to be Negative or critical or judgmental, or maybe cynical about people in the world. [00:13:35] Internal condition of your heart, the depth of your joy and the peace and security. [00:13:39] It depends on what you fix your mind and heart on. [00:13:44] It's a difference between your difficult circumstances, becoming insurmountable problems are becoming opportunities to increase your faith as you wait on God to work. [00:13:54] And that's when what happens when you stick close to the Word of God and you allow the word of God to be saturated in your mind and your heart. [00:14:03] The second part of verse four, David says that the Scriptures are the commands of the Lord. [00:14:09] They're not suggestions or good ideas, but they're to be obeyed. [00:14:15] And I shared this illustration once before. And our approach to obeying God's word can be like when I would tell one of my sons, Stephen, to clean his room. [00:14:24] And an hour later he comes back to me and says, dad, I've spent some time in prayer and I'm contemplating what you said for me to clean your room. [00:14:32] And I'd say, that's great, Steve, I appreciate that. [00:14:36] Or, dad, I memorized what you said and studied it in the Greek to get a richer, fuller idea of what you mean when you say, clean my room. And I'd say, you're amazing, son. [00:14:46] Or, dad, I've invited several of my friends over tonight to study what you told me to do. We're going to study what it means to clean your room. And I'd say, steve, I'll be praying for you and your friends tonight that your study proves profitable. [00:14:59] No, I wouldn't. [00:15:01] There's no way any of those responses would be mine. [00:15:05] Each of my sons would have to understood clearly that what I told him to do was to be acted upon immediately. [00:15:12] Our problem is we often treat God and his Word as mere suggestions and not commands. [00:15:18] Something we have to pray about some more, something we have to discuss with others, some more, something that we have to learn in Hebrew or Greek. [00:15:30] Well, David says that his commands are radiant. [00:15:34] They. They shine brightly, they illuminate what otherwise is hidden in darkness. And I believe it has an impact on your countenance that you kind of become radiant the more time you spend in the Word. [00:15:45] It has an impact on your countenance, on your outlook for life. [00:15:52] Then in verse five, the first part, he says, the fear of the Lord that the Scriptures teach us in Proverbs that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. [00:16:00] And as we are in God's Word, it shows us why and how to revere God and hold him in awe. And respect and how to worship him not only in word, but also in how we live. [00:16:09] He says they're pure, they're holy, they're godly, they're clean, they're not tainted by sin or immorality. And he says they endure forever, that they're immutable, they're unchanging, they're always true and always right. [00:16:22] And what that means is that within the Word of God there is absolute truth, which means it's truth for every person in every place and for all times. [00:16:33] God's Word is timeless. [00:16:37] And then the second part of six, chapter 19, verse nine, the final one, says the decrees of the Lord, his judgments, final authority in all things. They're firm, they're. They're solid, they're stable, they're steady, they're unmoving. [00:16:52] And he says they're righteous, that they're always right, never in error. [00:16:57] God is never wrong in his declarations. [00:17:00] Every word that David uses to describe the Scriptures in that way is that way because God is that way because the Scriptures reflect His nature and his unchanging character. [00:17:15] The problem is, is that man thinks that the revelation of God is always evolving, that it's changing, that as we progress as human beings, that his revelations continue to unfold, that as we evolve and advance in knowledge and understanding, God does as well. [00:17:33] And quite often, those new interpretations of God's Word you can see in denominations that were once conservative and become more liberal in their theology often take on the beliefs and changes that are seen in our culture and in essence, within that. It's in essence saying that man knows better than God, so God's Word should reflect it. [00:17:53] But the nature, character and authority of Scripture is rooted in the nature and character and authority of God. [00:17:59] The Scriptures declare that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, which means he does not change because his nature is perfectly whole and complete. He has absolute knowledge and wisdom. He cannot lie nor change his mind. He doesn't need to grow or evolve or gain more understanding. His commands are always true and always right. And he always knows exactly how we operate best because he made us so. The commands that he places in His Word for us are never going to change because he knows our nature and what we need to best operate and be healthy in life. [00:18:39] Psalm 1910 says. [00:18:42] He says they're more precious than gold and much pure gold. They are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. [00:18:50] I couldn't help think of precious, the Lord of the Rings. [00:18:55] And then when I was thinking of honey, I started thinking of Winnie the Pooh. You know, I was like, but I did. I didn't go down that very. [00:19:04] David says that the scriptures are more valuable to him than all the wealth he could accumulate in the world. [00:19:11] And I think Jesus confirmed David's thoughts when he said, what good is it for a man to gain the entire world and yet forfeit his soul? [00:19:19] Then David paints another picture using honey, which was the sweetest and most delectable natural food in the ancient world. [00:19:25] It represented ultimate luxury, a food fit for kings. [00:19:32] So let's review the benefits. Let's bring all the benefits that he says can have in the Word of God, in a person's life who saturates themselves in the Word of God. And let's see if they really could be richer than gold and sweeter than honey. [00:19:47] He says the Word of God converts or revives the soul. [00:19:51] We could stop right there. [00:19:54] We could stop right there at our salvation and it would be enough to be richer than any other thing that we could ever have or earn or own. [00:20:03] But he goes on it says, he says it makes you wise. [00:20:07] He says it gives joy to the heart. [00:20:09] It gives you clarity in all things, which means it alleviates confusion and uncertainty about the most important questions of life. [00:20:17] He says it's trustworthy and unfailing that you can rely on God's word to steer you the right way, that you can know that his promises never fail. [00:20:25] He says it makes you right with God, that it gives discernment as to the right way to live. You can always be certain of what is right and what is wrong when you open your Bibles. [00:20:38] David's telling us that the Bible is not just a set of rules to follow, but is a source of deep personal delight, joy and soul satisfying sweetness. [00:20:50] There's a story told by H.B. charles Jr. He says a missionary told a story about a blind leper who, with a single stub on one hand, learned to read the Bible by Braille. [00:21:01] When he lost the soul remaining stub on that hand, he taught himself to read Braille with his tongue. [00:21:07] When a doctor told him if he continued using his tongue in this way, he would no longer be able to taste his food, the leper responded, the food I eat will still nourish my body. But if I can't feed on God's word, what will I have to nourish my soul? [00:21:25] I can't tell you how convicted I was when I first read that story. [00:21:33] I mean, can you imagine a man who goes from only having a stub and learns braille so that he can be saturated in the Word of God. And when he loses his stub, he uses his tongue to continue to be able to read braille so that he could be saturated in the Word of God. [00:21:56] I was convicted because of my own neglect of God's Word in my life. [00:22:02] If I was honest with you tonight, there are so many times in my life when I value food and other life's pleasures more than God's Word. [00:22:10] Why do I say that? Because I spend more time in those things and those things in them of themselves aren't bad things. [00:22:19] But God's Word is so much better. [00:22:25] When tempted three times in the wilderness by the devil. Each time Jesus comes back with us a scripture from the book of Deuteronomy and his first response is, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. [00:22:39] And yet recent statistics of Christians in the USA from Pew Research revealed that 80% of American Christians only read their Bibles at church on Sunday and only 19% read their Bible every day. [00:22:53] And we wonder why there's claims that most of the Christians in the United States are biblically illiterate. [00:23:03] And many Christians, as false teachers, are becoming rampant in our society, are falling prey to them left and right. [00:23:15] We're missing out on so much that God's Word can do in and through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. [00:23:21] And I must believe that this was what David was writing about when he said in Psalm 34:8, Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. [00:23:34] Lord caused me to think of Psalm 1:1:4 that David wrote. He says, blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the council of the wicked, who doesn't stand in the way of sinners, who doesn't sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law he meditates day and night. [00:23:49] He's like a tree that's planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. He's talking about men and women who delight in the Word of the God. And he says because of that, because their life is saturated in the Word of God, because they obey the Word of God, that they're not hearers only, but they're doers. They live by the Word of God, they feed on the Word of God, that everything they does prospers. And I'm telling you right now that that's not material Prosperity that he's talking about. [00:24:22] Let's read our final verse tonight from our main text, verse 11. [00:24:28] By them as your servant warned and keeping them there is great reward. [00:24:33] I want you to notice that in the first 10 verses of the psalm, it's all about God. [00:24:38] David never mentions himself until this verse 11 and he identifies himself as your servant. [00:24:46] David's acknowledging that he's a man who is under submission to the word of God. And he brings out that through the scriptures that we're warned that the Scriptures warn us. [00:24:58] The Bible will not only reveal which way we should go, but which way we should not go. [00:25:04] And let me illustrate that for you with analogy and a story. [00:25:10] So one evening, four teens, three high school football players and a cheerleader who was one of their girlfriends decided to sneak out of their house at 1am Their plan was to meet up and go pool hopping at a neighbor's pool who they had heard was gone on vacation. [00:25:27] The night was pitch black. There were no moon or stars that could be seen in the sky. And as they approached the home, there were no lights on in the home. [00:25:34] But there was a large privacy fence that surrounded the pool. [00:25:38] Of course, the first young man to climb the fence was a team star running back, the best athlete who wanted to impress his girlfriend. [00:25:46] The young man climbed to the top, believing the pool was just a couple of feet from the fence. He dove into the pitch black night and instead of a splash, all the other three kids could hear was a scream and what sounded like crunching bones as he went head first into an empty pool. [00:26:03] You see, the dad who took the family on vacation drained the pool before leaving so that repairs could be done while they were away. [00:26:11] All four kids, all they wanted was some harmless fun. [00:26:17] Result is that one of their good friends, the best and most important player to the football team's success in the end would be paralyzed from the waist down for the remainder of his life. [00:26:28] Let me ask you, was the privacy fence placed to restrict and rob these kids of fun or was it a boundary placed before them to protect them from harm? [00:26:39] I think the fence served as a warning. Danger. Do not enter. Do not go there. [00:26:46] In the same way David is telling us that the Bible can serve us to warn us of wrong paths, of dead end roads and destructive choices that could impact us for the rest of our lives. [00:26:57] The way of wisdom is to heed God's warnings. [00:27:03] HP Charles Jr says if you had a God who speaks to you always and always agrees with you, your God is you. [00:27:14] Let me say that one More time. [00:27:17] If you have a God who speaks to you and always agrees with you, your God is you. [00:27:25] I want to close with giving you some life application, some things that you could consider applying to your life as it relates to the Word of God. And the first one is pursue spending time in the Scriptures every day to serve as your daily connection to Christ. [00:27:41] You know, In John chapter 15, Jesus says a lot about remaining in him and abiding in Him. And in verse 5 he says, if a man abides in me and I in him, he'll bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. [00:27:54] And how we abide with Christ One of the ways we abide with Christ is through the Word of God. You know, we talk about a lot that salvation means a relationship with God. And that relationship starts the moment you place your faith and trust in Jesus. [00:28:07] And so the two aspects that we have a relationship is we get into His Word and we allow God to speak to us through His Word. And then also we pray and we talk over in conversation with one another. And that's how we live in relationship with him. And we get the opportunity and the privilege and the honor to do that every day with His Word. [00:28:28] The second thing, the next two are together on a slide is serve. Allow the Scriptures to serve as your mirror that reflects the condition of your heart. [00:28:38] Hebrews 4:12 says, for the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than a double edged sword, it penetrates, dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. That the Word of God can be like a sword that pierces us because it's speaking to the condition of our hearts and what's going on in our hearts and in our lives. [00:28:59] The third thing is it serves as the means by which you live an obedient Christian Life. And James 1:22:25 says, do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says. [00:29:12] Anyone who listens to the Word and does not do what it says is like someone who looks at their face in the mirror, then goes away and forgets what they look like. [00:29:19] But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and does what it says, not forgetting what they heard, but doing it, they will be blessed in what they do. And so James here has given us an analogy with the mirror that when we get into the Word of God, it's like becomes, it can become a mirror reflection of, of the condition of our hearts. But if there's something ugly that's being revealed about our hearts, what do we do? We don't want. We put it down and we run away. We don't want to face that. We don't want to look at that anymore. [00:29:44] And so God's speaking something to us, something that he wants to change about us, but we just forget and go on our merry way. [00:29:55] I think sometimes we intentionally neglect spending time in our Bibles because we don't want that mirror reflection, because we don't want to hear from God what he has to say about our hearts and our lives. [00:30:07] Maybe that's why your Bibles have been collecting dust. [00:30:13] The fourth area of application is allow the Bible to serve as the lens by which you accurately discern and speak truth into the culture. [00:30:22] And I personally believe that one of the reasons why our culture is, they'll say, kind of going to hell in a handbasket is because most of the Christians, most of us, don't speak truth into what's going on in the culture. Don't speak to the falsehoods, don't speak to the sin that's going on, the anti Christian, Antichrist, things that are going on. And that's when Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount, he talks about us, the followers of his being salt and light. [00:30:48] And that salt back then was used as a preservative on me to avoid decay. And so how are we salt, how can we be salt into the world? Well, we can be God's preservative agent to hold back decay in our culture by speaking and living the truth. [00:31:05] But he also says that we are to be light. [00:31:08] And sometimes I think that we're all just salt and light within churches on Sunday mornings or on Wednesday nights when we're supposed to take what we get on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights into the culture and begin to speak the truth that God wants us to speak into the culture so that decay might slow down or the light might expose the deeds that are being done in the darkness so that people can understand truth from falsehoods. [00:31:35] You know, I've heard it said that you can't legislate morality. [00:31:39] And it seems that the statement is often used to try to push Christians values out of the sphere of politics and culture. [00:31:46] I contend that every law that has ever been enacted reflects someone's morality. [00:31:52] What Christians must understand, I believe and decide, is whether they want laws that reflect pagan, godless values and ethics to pervade our culture, or if they want values and ethics based on God's word. [00:32:03] If it's God's word, then we alone are the conveyors of Biblical truth, the ones who are responsible to stand for biblical truth with the people in our culture. And we're to do that. Speaking the truth in love and too often people on Facebook Christians that I know are just argumentative and causing fights rather than sharing the truth in Christlike love and Holy Spirit so that maybe it'll have an impact and an influence. [00:32:33] 1 Peter 3, 15 says, but in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord. [00:32:36] Always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have. [00:32:43] You know, the funny thing about this verse, I think sometimes is that most Christians when they read it, think that their only responsibility is is to speak up if asked. [00:32:51] If someone asks, well, share the hope. If they ask, how often does that happen? [00:32:59] I contend that it's only after you've attempted to love and serve and befriend a person and through the natural building of relationship, you've listened to their story, you've shared your story. Will a person even trust you enough to ask you how can you live with such hope when that happened to you? [00:33:15] Or how can you live with such hope when the world seems to be crumbling all around us? [00:33:21] The only time they're going to ask is after you love them and serve them and invest in their lives, and they see something different about you and how you live because you're a man or a woman of the Word. [00:33:37] As Christians, we're not to be passive agents in the world, but salt and light is intentional. [00:33:45] And this leads to our final point of application. Number five Serve as the allow the word of God to serve as the power of God to see people around you transformed by the gospel. [00:33:56] In Romans 1, 16 says, For I'm not ashamed of the Gospel, for it's the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. [00:34:03] And I can proclaim that 44 years ago, there were two passages that the Holy Spirit used in my life to save me. [00:34:12] And the first was Ephesians 2, 8, 9, where it says, for it is by grace you've been saved through faith, and it's not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. And the Holy Spirit used that to say, that's revolutionary. [00:34:25] I always thought that it was about being good and doing good works and going to church and not doing bad things. And that was going to have me stand up before God in the end. You know, the kind of getting the boast with him, hey, I was a really nice guy, I was a good guy, and I did A lot of good things. And I went to church. [00:34:40] But right there it says it's not about that. It never has been about that. [00:34:47] It's by his grace, his unearned favor. It's a gift from him. As you place your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior. That's how you come relationship with God and know that you have eternal life when you leave this world. [00:35:02] The second one was 1 John 5, 11, 13. [00:35:06] John writes that God has given us a testimony. And the testimony is this. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. And I grew up believing that it was just kind of a crapshoot, you know, in the end when I stood before God, when I made the grade, well, maybe will he grade on the curve for me? [00:35:35] So I lived in insecurity of not knowing where I stood with God on the last day of my life. [00:35:43] Well, he writes that you can know that you have eternal life if you have the Son, and you have the Son if you've placed your faith and trusted in him as your Savior. [00:35:55] Those two passages changed my life forever. [00:35:58] And I've gotten a chance to witness that time and time again, either with people here or on the mission field when their eyes, the Holy Spirit's opened their eyes and reveals through the Gospel, through the Word of God. And I get to see lives transformed forever right before my very eyes. And I get to have a chance to be just a little part of that. And there ain't nothing better in all the world to close. My exhortation to the follower of Christ is not that you go home tonight and choose one of the five applications and begin to pursue. [00:36:29] The reason is because all five are intimately connected. [00:36:34] First you got to be saved by Christ before you can have a relationship with Christ. [00:36:38] And then you must have the connection with Christ each day to obtain any spiritual growth, development of Christ like character, eternal fruit in the lives of others. And as I said before, this is accomplished with a daily relationship through the Word, in prayer with God. [00:36:54] It's through your time in the Word that you begin to acquire the heart and mind of Christ. As you grow in your knowledge of him, you begin to fall in love with him, with a growing love and burden for hurting people who are far from God. [00:37:06] It's then that you begin to acquire acquired confidence to speak the truth in love to false destructive things in our culture and to speak the Gospel to those who need Christ after salvation. The remaining points of application are not to be attempted in consecutive order, but are to be seen as those you continuously seek to apply. You're with the Lord every day and you're moving in and out of these other disciplines and these other service opportunities and witnessing opportunities. But it all comes from salvation in Christ and then relationship with Christ that gives you the power to be part of Christ, transforming others in your world. [00:37:46] So if you're going to make a decision, I would say do this. [00:37:51] As a believer in and follower of Jesus Christ, I'm choosing to make God's Word top priority in my life and I'll pursue this commitment with other like minded followers of Christ. It's only then will the benefits, blessings and transforming power of God's Word through his Spirit be yours. [00:38:09] Let's pray and then we're going to move on to time of communion, so pray with me. [00:38:18] Dear Heavenly Father, we, we thank you that you made us to be in relationship with you and you loved us so much, Lord, that you left and preserved your Word, your precious Word for us to be in relationship with you, to learn of you and your character, your nature, your will and your ways for our lives, to learn your plan of redemption and the Gospel that has transformed almost all of our, if not all of our lives and changed us forever. [00:38:44] Lord, help us to walk out of here and being renewed in the idea that we've been given this precious book and help us to treat it precious, to want to be in it more than watching our favorite NFL team or our favorite movie or our favorite series or being scrolling on our phones or being on Facebook. Lord, help us to love the Word more than that and then spend whatever time we have left doing those things because none of those in them have themselves are bad. [00:39:10] But the Word is more precious than gold. It's sweeter than honey on the comb. [00:39:17] And I pray that you would cause us not only in our minds but in our hearts to really, truly believe that and begin to pursue you in a way that we truly do believe that we ask that in Jesus name, Amen. [00:39:31] So we're going to move into communion and the elements are up here and you have a choice whether or not you want to come and grab a cracker and dip it or you want to have, you know, prepackaged elements. [00:39:42] But you know, we remember when Jesus was his last supper with his disciples and he, he took the cup and the bread and he said, do this. Take this in remembrance of me. The, the wafer or the cracker or the piece of bread that you're taking represents my body that was was beaten and slain for you. And the blood, the cup that you're going to drink was the blood that was shed for the forgiveness of your s. [00:40:07] This is kind of a big deal, you know. This is something where we are acknowledging that our lives are identified with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That that is the substance of our Christian faith. And without that, there would be no Christian faith. [00:40:22] And because our Lord and Savior told his disciples and every disciple from that point on do this in remembrance of me, we're saying that Jesus, this is how much we value you. This is how much we worship you. This is how much we think of you and what you did for us that you went the full length to. To lay your life down for us. And now by taking communion, we're saying, Jesus, we identify with you and we praise you and worship you as our Savior and our Lord.