Trinity Baptist Church

The Fundamentals

The Bible: God Speaks To Me

Hebrews 1:1-2; 2 Timothy 3:16-17

 

For the month of August, I want us to focus on some fundamentals.  That is an extremely important word and concept. 

 

We recognize the importance of fundamentals in almost everything we do.  School is getting ready to start back up and teachers know they will have to spend some time covering, once again, the fundamentals of their subject. 

 

Think about the all important ability to communicate, to read, to speak, or to write.  One thing is essential to communication in any language and that is the alphabet.  From the time they are able to make sounds, we start trying to teach our children their ABS’s.  Why?  Because the ability to put letters together in an understandable way is a fundamental of communication.

 

We teach children how to count.  Why because those numbers are fundamental to so many things we will need for the rest of our lives. 

 

Coaches start with the fundamentals.  if your playing basketball, you need to know how to dribble and pass and shoot.  The fundamentals are used in the greatest of plays on both ends of the court. 

 

in fact, virtually every interest and occupation in the world recognizes the necessity of the fundamentals. 

 

Notice: (slides)

Now in like manner, there are some fundamentals of Christianity and we are going to take a look at four of them over the next few weeks.  And I know some of you are going to be insulted by the simplicity of these presentations. 

 

But as I think about the number of new and young Christians in our congregation, I feel strongly urged by the Holy Spirit to cover these four essential.  And I trust that will be a refresher to those of us who’ve been around longer and will  reassure us that we are on the right path as we continue to grow in the Lord. 

 

Now obviously any study of the fundamentals of Christianity begins with God.  if we are going to develop a growing relationship with God then we must know who God is and how we can have a relationship with him and that is what this series is all about.

 

But as you probably noticed by the title of the message, we aren’t focusing on God today, but on the Bible.  That may be a little surprising.  Why would you start with the Bible and not with God?  it’s the old chicken and egg dilemma.  Why not start with God?  The reason is the revelation is essential for knowing God.   Let me explain that.

 

Contrary to popular thought, the most important question about God is not, "is there a God?"  in fact, unless there is an affirmative answer to the most important question about God, it doesn't matter whether there is a God or not.

 

The most important question about God is not, "is there a God?"  The most important question about God is this: "If there is a God, has that God spoken?"  Do you know why that is the most important question?  The only thing that I can know about God, personally, is what he chooses to reveal to me.  I can look at this universe and surmise that behind all of this there must be a designer.  There must be a supreme being. 

 

in fact, Psalm 19:1 says, "The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship."  

 

So I can look at this universe and come to the conclusion there must be a supreme being out there.  He must be very wise.  He must be very strong.  He must be very powerful.  Any true, honest scientist that really looks at the facts has to admit that this couldn't have just happened. 

 

And people have been doing that for centuries.  Go to virtually any pagan religion in the world and you will find them acknowledging the gods and goddesses of the sun and moon and heavens.

 

But if you try to dig deeper, without the Bible, you are left frustrated.  Who is this supreme being?  Does he have a name?  What is he like?  Does he know me?  Can I know him?  Does he care about me?  Does he have a plan for my life?  Can I have a relationship with him?  There are only two ways I can have an answer to any of those questions and they are either, I can make something up or that God can speak to me.  So in order to have the truth about God, God must reveal himself to me.

 

That means if God had insisted on keeping silent, we would know nothing about God in a personal way.  God cannot be known unless he wills to be known and desires to make himself known. 

In Job 11:7, God makes that very observation when He asks Job:  "Can you solve the mysteries of God?  Can you discover everything there is to know about the almighty?"  And the obvious answer is “absolutely not”.  Anything anybody says about God, apart from what God says about Himself, is pure speculation. 

 

I was reading the other day about a college student who was taking a course in ornithology: the study of birds.  The night before the final exam he spent all night studying.  He basically memorized the textbook.  He knew his class notes backwards and forwards. 

 

The next morning he went in to take the test and he took a seat on the front row.  On the table in front of him was a row of ten stuffed birds.  The problem was each bird had a sack covering the body and only the legs were showing.  The student wondered what it was all about. 

 

When the class started, the professor told the students that they were to identify each bird by looking only at the legs.  They were to give its name, species, genus, habitat, mating habits, etc.  The professor had not told any of the class this is the way they would be tested.  They had never studied just the legs.  

 

The longer this student looked at the legs of these birds the angrier he got, because they all looked the same.  He had stayed up all night studying for this test and now he had to identify birds only by their legs.  The more he thought about it the madder he got and finally he just went nuclear. 

 

He stood up, marched up to the professor's desk, slammed the exam paper down on it and said, "This is a ridiculous test.  How can anybody tell the difference between these birds by looking at their legs?  You are the biggest idiot I've ever known in my life!" 

 

He turned around and was storming out of the room and the professor, after regaining his composure, shouted at the young man, "Wait just a minute!  What's your name?" 

 

The student turned around, pulled up his pants leg and said, "You tell me buddy.  You tell me!" 

 

The only thing we can really know about God, personally, is what God tells us and that is why the term "revelation" is so important. 

 

Now in it’s original language, the word revelation carries the idea of an unveiling.  A revelation is when something is uncovered or revealed that was previously hidden.  it is when a curtain is pulled back and enables us to see what lies behind it. 

 

That is where the Bible comes in.  The Bible is a revelation from God of truth about God that we would have never otherwise known.  That is why it is absolutely imperative that you understand that this book is not just an ordinary book.  it is the word of God.  You have got to understand the relevance and the importance of God's revelation in this book. 

 

if God has not spoken, then this book is both irrelevant and unimportant, but it is deeper than that.  if this book is both irrelevant and unimportant, so is life. 

Now obviously the subject of the Bible is very broad and comprehensive so let me just focus on one aspect today.  Here’s what I want you to take home with you:

 

The Bible is how God has chosen to speak to me.  Therefore, I can only know God as He shows Himself to me in the Bible.  That means

 

1. To know God I must look to the Bible

 

I never cease to be both amazed and amused at the hundreds of the world's space scientists who are spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to make contact with life in outer space.  They claim to find ufos.  We monitor sounds, hundreds of thousands of light years away, trying to hear if there is anyone else out there.  There is this insatiable thirst for a word from another world. 

 

And yet for thousands of years, God’s people have possessed a word from outer space.  We have a word from beyond space from the very One who created space. 

 

God has spoken.  He has spoken in three ways.  He has spoken naturally in the skies.  We read about that earlier in Psalm 19.  The stars, the sun, the skies, all speak of the glory, the greatness and the power of God.

 

However, God knowing the natural Word through the natural world would not be sufficient for us to know Him.  So what did He do?  God spoke spiritually through the scriptures. 

 

 

Listen to Hebrews 1:1

 

In other words, every time a man of God would sit down and write out the Word of God, he was putting down what the Spirit of God led him to say.  And human men were used down through the years to reveal the very words of God. 

 

2 Peter 1:20:21

 

So God spoke naturally through the skies.

He spoke spiritually through His Scriptures and

 

God has also spoken physically through his son.

 

Hebrews 1:2

 

Jesus is God in the flesh.  There has never been a greater word from God than the Son of God.  The only way we know the son of God is through the Word of God.

 

That is why the only way you can know God personally is through looking at the Bible.  I want you to look at this book in a totally different way than maybe you have ever seen it before. 

 

In effect, this is God's autobiography.  Do you know what the purpose of this book is? It is so you and I can know God.  This book is, first of all, a book about God.  It tells us all we need to know and all we will ever need to know about God: who he is, what he is like, what he does, how we can know him and what his plan is for our life.

 

 

 

God's revelation is intensely personal.  He doesn't just want us to know facts about Him, he wants us to know Him.  When you open your Bible, you are not just engaging in an academic study.  You are trying to understand and know a person.  When you read the Bible, you are looking at God and God is looking back at you.

 

That is why it is so vitally important to read the Bible.  That is why you need to get into the Bible, so the Bible can get into you.  it is when you begin to read this Bible, study this Bible, and understand this Bible that you begin to know God.

 

Here’s the second thing:

 

2.  To Grow in God I must Learn the Bible

 

God not only wants us to know him, but He wants our knowledge of him to increase.  That means God’s revelation to us is personal. 

 

When your children were all first born, they didn't really know you.  That relationship must be developed.  It has to grow and mature and become. 

 

That is exactly what God wants with you.  The more you know God the better you will love God.  The apostle Paul even tells us in Colossians 1:10 that if we are going to lead a life that is "worthy of the lord and pleases him in all respects" that it must be one in which we are increasing in the knowledge of God."

               

By the way, that is why we ought not to see our Bible study as an obligation, but rather an opportunity. 

 

Every day, as you spend time in God’s Word, you have the privilege of sitting down with the creator of the universe Who loved you enough to die for you and learning more about Him. 

As you read this Bible, more and more, you will grow more and more in your knowledge of God.

 

Now don’t miss this:  You can only know God and grow in your knowledge of God through the word of God.  Think about this.  The only way we can be sure we know God is to have a sure word from God. 

 

Remember, all we can know of God is what he reveals to us.  That is why it is so important that the Bible not be just an ordinary, run of the mill, dime a dozen book, but indeed, what it claims to be: the word of God.

 

Let’s try something:  If you have a Bible today, take that Bible right now, put it in your hand, look at it and then realize you've got to make a decision about it.

 

Either this book is just another book written by men or it is the very Word of God. 

 

Now while you are deciding, listen to 2 Timothy 3:16.

 

Those three words in English "inspired by God" are one word in Greek that literally means "God breathed."  In other words, when the Bible calls itself "inspired" it means that you have on its pages the very breath of God.  It is the word of God.  It doesn’t just contain the Words of God; it’s not just about God. 

 

It is the Word of God.  It’s the Word of God when you read it. It’s the Word of God when you ignore it.  It’s the Word of God when it is studied; it is the Word of God when it’s left alone on the shelf. 

It is the word of God when you obey it.  It is the word of God when you don't.  It is the word of God when you believe it is the word of God and it is the word of God if you don't.

 

All of scripture in its original form was breathed out by God, so that a writer wrote the scriptures precisely as God wanted them written.  Think about what that means:  If it is the word of God it has to be without error, because God is without error.  The end result of what men wrote was the very word of God on the printed page.  All the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, from the beginning to the end, is breathed out by God.  It is His word.

 

That is why it is important to read the entire Bible, for God's revelation to us is not only personal, it is progressive.

 

When you start in Genesis you are kind of starting at God 101, but you have to go through the entire Bible and go through it many times before you ever get out of the first grade.  You don't talk to a three year old the same way you talk to a thirty year old and that is why the first four words of the Bible are "In the beginning God."  That lets us know that the subject of the Bible is God, the author of the Bible is God, and the entire story of the Bible is about God.

 

Likewise, before Jesus came, the human race was in kindergarten.  After Jesus Christ came, the human race went to graduate school. 

 

In the Old Testament, God was teaching the a,b,c's and in the New Testament He was teaching the x,y,z's. 

 

This also means that God's revelation is perfect.

 

What I mean by that is it's complete.  There is nothing else that we need to know about God other than what is found in God's Word.  The Bible contains everything that we need to know about how to know God, how to live for God and how to please God.

 

That is why we reject any other book than the Bible to help us know God.  There is an interesting warning that appears three times in the Bible.

 

It is found in Deuteronomy 4:2.  It is repeated in Proverbs 30:6 and makes its final appearance in Revelation 22:18:19. 

 

All three say the same thing: we are neither to add to God's Word, nor to subtract from it.  I find it interesting that God has put these same three warnings at the beginning of the Bible, the middle of the Bible and the end of the Bible.  it is a reminder that we don't need anything else to know God except the Bible.

 

Now here’s how it works: the more you learn the Bible, the more you learn about God.  The more you learn about God, the more you love God.  The more you love God, the more you trust God.  The more you trust God, the more you please God.  The more you please God, the more he reveals himself to you.

 

Do you want to know more about God?  Then get in your Bible.  So to know God, I must look to the Bible.  To grow in God, I must learn from the Bible and finally,

 

3.  To Show God I must Live the Bible

 

It’s one thing to say the Bible is inspired and God-breathed and believe it was authored by Him and reveals who God is, but the big question is, "Is it relevant?" 

 

Let's assume that you believe everything I’ve said so far about the Bible.  What difference does it make?   

 

Listen to the rest of 2 Timothy 3:16

 

That word "profitable" literally means "useful."  it means "practical."  How is the Bible useful?  How is it practical? 

 

2 Timothy 3:16-17

 

When we look in the Bible (that is when we read it and study it) when we learn what we look at (that is we get it not just into our heads, but into our hearts) and when we live what we learn, the Bible will change our life.  The Bible was written by divine inspiration to give us divine information that will result in divine transformation.  The Bible is not just useful for a sermon on Sunday it is useful for life Monday-Saturday.

 

Everything God wants you to be and everything that God wants you to do that is really meaningful for eternity is found in this book. 

 

We are told four things this book will do for you, practically, if you try to build your life on the Bible:

 

First of all, he says it is profitable or useful because it will

 

 

That’s the word “teaching”.  Teaching refers to the  lessons of life.  Everything you want to know about what God says concerning money, sex, power, ambition, greed, anger, heaven, hell, salvation; it is all right here in this book.  In other words, when we read the Bible, we will know what is right.

 

Not only will the Bible tell you what is right it will

 

 

Notice the word “reproof” in verse 17

 

That word "reproof" carries the idea of confronting someone when their behavior is wrong or their belief is wrong and convicting them about it.  If there is anything in your life, any flaw, any fault, or any failure that is causing you to be less than what God wants you to be and do less than what God wants you to do the Bible will reveal it to you.

 

The Bible will tell you what is right and it will tell you what is not right, but it will also

 

 

According to verse 17, it is profitable for “correction." 

 

 

This word refers to putting something in its proper condition.  It referred to helping a person up who had just fallen to get up or to set an object upright that had fallen down.  When you get off the straight and narrow or stray away from God, this book will tell you how to get back to God.

 

Finally, the Bible will not only tell you what is right, what is not right and how to get right, it will

 

 

“It is profitable for training and righteousness." 

 

When I was growing up, sometimes, I would do wrong and my dad had a way of correcting me when I was wrong and showing me how to get right.  After a while, I learned it was better off just to stay right and that is exactly what the Bible will help you do. 

 

Now that’s really where God wants us to live.  Notice in the rest of verse 17, the reason God tells us what is right and not right and helps us to get right is sto that we can stay right and be available for “every good work.”  If you want your life built right, it must be built on God.  To build it on God you must know God.  You can only know God as he reveals himself to you and he has done that primarily and personally through His Word.

 

They tell me the Library of Congress is the largest library in the world.  It has 151,785,778 total Items in over 460 languages.  But watch this: 151,785,777 of those books are simply the words of man.  Only one is the word of God and that is the Bible where God has chosen to speak to us.