Trinity Baptist Church

Getting off the Plateau

The Final Say

Psalm 119:105

 

Back in my early years as a pastor, Chuck Swindoll was one of my heroes. I still love to read his books and use his quotes.  He remains one of the most popular authors and Bible teachers of our day.  He is now 80 years of age and still serves as Senior Pastor of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, TX, 

 

He made a statement some years that stuck with me and not only summarizes what I want to say to you today, but hopefully will motivate you to listen to the way I want to say it.

 

He said, "If I can have only one wish for God's people, it would be that all of us would return to the Word of God, that we would realize once and for all that His Book has the answers.  The Bible is the authority, the final resting place of our cares, our worries, our griefs, our tragedies, our sorrows, and our surprises.  It is the final answer to our questions, our search.  Turning back to the Scriptures will provide something that nothing else on the entire earth will provide."

 

I was reminded of just how valuable the Bible is as I came across an interesting fact about the history of communication.  In more modern times, we’ve grown accustomed to instant access by telephone and now the Internet.  But in the late 1800’s, the fastest way to send a message was by the newly developed Pony Express.  This innovative enterprise was created by the Russell-Majors-Waddel Company. 

 

Young men were hired to ride 8 hours and 80 miles per day on horseback delivering mail. The primary route was the 1,946 miles between St. Joseph, MO and Sacramento, CA.  The two cities were linked together by 190 stations, so that mail could be delivered in 10 days.  These men rode 6 days a week at that time for a very big salary of $125 a month. 

 

Each man was outfitted identically with a bright red shirt and blue trousers.  Standard gear was designed to reduce weight and included an ultra light saddle, a Colt revolver, a lightweight Winchester, and a Bible. What I found intriguing was that while they were trying every way they could to reduce the weight, they still thought it important that every rider still have a Bible in his saddlebag. 

 

In the nineteen months the Pony Express operated, those riders traveled 650,000 miles, and delivered 34,754 pieces of mail, and only lost one bag.  And on every trip the riders carried a copy of God's word.

 

Unfortunately that same kind of respect is no longer afforded the Bible today.  In 2009 the Barna Research group conducted a survey to determine the number of adults in America who have a “biblical worldview”.

 

They defined a biblical worldview as “believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth;

 

God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today. So keep in mind, for the sake of this particular study, anyone who held all of those beliefs was said to have a biblical worldview.

   

Overall, the research revealed that only 9% of all American adults have a biblical worldview. Among the sixty subgroups of respondents that the survey explored was one defined by those who said they have made a personal to commitment to Jesus Christ that is important in their life today and that they are certain that they will go to Heaven after they die only because they confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior.

 

Labeled “born again Christians,” the study discovered that they were twice as likely as the average adult to possess a biblical worldview. However, that meant that even among born again Christians, less than one out of every five (19%) had such an outlook on life.

 

In a recent article, “Why So Many Churches Hear So Little of the Bible” Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, KY, commenting on the decline of biblical authority in our churches, wrote “Indeed, in many churches there is very little reading of the Bible in worship.

 

For a country that was founded on biblical principles and the consensus of a Christian worldview, we have witnessed a rapid retreat from the acceptance of biblical authority as our rule for life, and a corresponding decline in biblical literacy.”

 

 

Is it fair to say this is because the reading of Scripture is no longer an integral part of most church worship services?

 

There was a time when Bible reading was an integral and important part of a Christian worship service. During the first fourteen hundred years of the church, Bibles were transcribed by hand making few available and for the common man unaffordable. The only access a poor man had to the Word of God was when it was read in church. That changed around 1439.

 

When Johann Gutenberg invented his printing press with movable type the ability to mass produce all sorts of written material exploded. Books that had been scarce and expensive became available and affordable. Chief among these was the Bible. The Gutenberg Bible rolled off the press around 1454 and was the first major book printed.

 

Technology has not slowed down. I have a Bible app on my IPad that offers 1139 versions in 864 languages. There are 46 different English versions available and it’s free! Talk about availability and affordability.

 

There has never been a time in human history that the Word of God has been more available and affordable. So, if the Scriptures have slipped from their place of influence, it is not because of inaccessibility or oppression; they simply are not being read.

 

The lack of biblical literacy is apparent in the comments you hear or read. “My god would not do this” or “my god would do that,” and the list goes on. This god many speak of is the one they have fabricated in their own mind, a god they have imagined, because their god is nothing like the God who reveals Himself in the Bible. Instead of believing they are created in the image of God, they create a god in their image.

 

Moses declared, “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other,” Deuteronomy 4:39. The reason people worship the god of their imagination is because they have rejected the God of revelation, the God of the Bible.

 

I think it goes without saying the decline in the moral condition of our country is directly related to the change of attitude regarding the authority of Scripture.  But is it possible there is a companion truth we must admit also and that is the declines and plateaus we are experiencing in the church are directly related to our own response to Scriptural authority as well?

 

I would assume there is no question that those who are members of this church, and most members of most conservative, evangelical churches, understand the value of the Bible. If nothing else, we certainly pay lip service to the inspiration of the Bible and the importance of the Bible. 

 

But the question I want to raise today is not: Do you see the Bible as valuable?  But, do you see the Bible as applicable? If we are going to get the church off the plateau and halt the decline that is seen today, we are going to have to get serious about applying the truth of the Bible to our personal lives.

 

And if the church will ever make a difference in the dark world surrounding it, we must first reaffirm our own commitment to Biblical authority in our lives. 

 

So let me put the question to you in a more personal way.  What has the final say in your life? When you get right down to it and you are gut-level honest, how do you make your decisions? 

 

Do you intentionally and habitually make sure what you say and what you do is in agreement with Scripture or do you just decide what’s best based on your experience and feelings and circumstances? 

 

When it comes to establishing a standard for your personal morality, what sets the standard?  When you need a compass to find your way out of an ethical jungle, how do you determine where north is?  When you're on a stormy churning sea of emotions, which lighthouse do you use to show you where to find the shore?

 

Do you ever find yourself in the dilemma of saying, “I know the Bible says this, but I’m going to do that”?  When you lie down at night and try to go to sleep are you ever plagued by your conscience as a child of God because you know your behavior has violated your beliefs? 

 

When you deal with your finances or your disagreements or you sins, do you rationalize and apply human logic or do you simply obey God’s Word?  You see, there is a vast difference between seeing the Bible as authoritative and even confessing it to be so and surrendering to its authority. 

 

 

One of the charges that God brought against His people through the prophet Hosea was that they had treated His word like a stranger.

 

Listen to Hosea 8:12

 

A stranger didn’t have a home in Israel; he had no permanent dwelling place.  He was allowed to live there but he had no voice in how things worked. 

He had no "say so" in the affairs of Israel.  He possessed no vote.  Whatever opinion he might have about important decisions was ignored, and God said, "That’s how you treat My Word.  You have treated it as a stranger.  It has no voice in your daily affairs; it casts no vote. You are ignoring what I have to say."

 

It’s easy to let our commitment to the Bible become nothing more than empty words.  It's easy to become a church where you take the Bible literally, but you don't take it seriously; where you are orthodox but you are not obedient. 

 

I love the way Eugene Peterson phrases Colossians 3:16 in The Message.  He says, "Let the word of Christ--the Message--have the run of the house.  Give it plenty of room in your lives."  That is to be our desire.  We want God's word to make itself at home in our church and in our life. 

 

Now, in order to do that, you must understand not only what the Bible is, but what the Bible does.  So to focus our thoughts today, I want to take you to a very familiar verse of Scripture.

 

Psalm 119:105

 

Here, the Psalmist uses this metaphor to tell us both what the Bible is and what it does.  Let me show you what I mean.  First we are told the Bible is a lamp for our feet and as such,

 

 

We hold in our hands a Bible.  It is a library of sixty-six different books, long and short, written in 3 different languages, recorded by forty different authors, including people with Egyptian culture, people with Jewish culture, people with Greek and Roman culture, people with no culture.  It was written in all sorts of conditions by men who were priests, prophets, princes, peasants, warriors, statesmen, herdsmen, poets, publicans, physicians, fishermen, historians, lawyers, chroniclers, philosophers, orators, autocrats, exiles, rich, poor, evangelists and apostles. 

 

It was written to Jew and to Gentile, Greek and barbarian, to bond and to free, to men and to women, to young and to old, to individuals, congregations and the whole world.

 

It was written in the rush of the city and in the hush of the country; written in palace and in prison, written in prosperity and in adversity, written in the height of national glory on Mount Zion and in the depth of national shame beside quiet waters.

 

Its books contain prose, poetry, prophecy, history, type, antitype, sign, symbol, miracle, parable, biography, philosophy, description, travel, exploration, legislation, invitation, exhortation, denunciation, argumentation, commendation, indignation, prayers, blessings, curses, oration, consolation, impassioned appeal, logic, letters, hymns, romance, tragedy, jubilee, sermons, lyrics, proverbs, epigrams and axioms. 

 

It is the Holy Word of God.  We call it the Bible.  Actually, the word “Bible” is not in the Bible.  The Bible speaks of itself among other things as the Scriptures.  The word “Scriptures” comes from the Greek word graphen which gives us our English word graph and it means "that which is written." 

 

I think it significant that God didn't simply think what He wanted to tell us.  He didn't just verbally speak His message or just reveal it through dreams or clouds.  He made sure His word was written down.  I believe the reason for that is He wanted us to have something we could hold in our hand and place in our heart to guide us in what we believe. 

 

He not only wrote it down and gave it to us, He sent His Son as the incarnation that Word. It is the Written Word; He is the Living Word. Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." (Mt. 5:17, NIV)   

 

So Jesus is to be our pattern, our model, and our example.  The Lord Jesus made it plain that He lived under the umbrella of the authority of God's Word. 

 

He never said or did anything that would contradict Scripture; He was going to make sure He fulfilled every single part of it because even in His life the Bible had the final say; the Bible was the last word. 

 

 

 

Now of the Scriptures, Paul said in

 

2 Timothy 3:16-17

 

I find it fascinating that Paul, a New Testament apostle, wrote Timothy, a New Testament pastor of a New Testament church, in a New Testament city, and told him that the Old Testament was sufficient for every aspect of his church. 

 

Now if the Old Testament was sufficient for Timothy and his church, how much more sufficient is all of Scripture for us who have both the Old and the New Testaments?

 

No wonder the Psalmist said God’s Word was a lamp to guide us.  And I want you to understand why it is so important that the Bible guide us in what we believe. The reason we need God’s lamp for our feet is because we walk in a dark world. 

 

And if we aren’t careful, we can get off track and wind up wrecking our lives. Think about the imagery of this verse.  The Bible is to be a lamp for our feet.  If you’re walking in the dark, you need to see where you are stepping.  Otherwise, you’ll get off track or fall in a ditch or step in a mud puddle. 

 

You need to mark it down big and plain and never forget that anytime you get away from the authority of the Bible and let anything except the Bible have the final say, you are destined for a disaster. 

 

There are two primary mud holes Christians can step in.  One of those is legalism.  That means you’re reading things into Scripture that aren’t there. 

 

In Matthew 16:6, Jesus warned about the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."

 

The Pharisees substituted their opinions for God's Word, and their ideas actually took on the same and even more authority than did Scripture. 

 

When that happens you get concerned about whether or not women wear pants to church or if a man’s hair is too long. You get hung up on the way people dress or whether or not you use hymnals. 

 

Listen: everyone has a right to their opinion, but no one has the right to elevate their opinion to the status of Scripture and impose their opinion on others.  When that happens, you’ve gotten off the path of God’s Word and stepped into the mud hole of legalism. 

 

Then there was the leaven of the Sadducees and that represents the opposite extreme which is the mud hole of liberalism.  In particular, the Sadducees denied the resurrection.

 

When a church gets away from the Bible as its guide, it's not that they won't believe anything; it's that they will believe everything. You’ll hear the liberals talk about keeping Scripture relevant and making sure it’s up-to-date.  After all, God didn’t understand the coming pressures and norms of the 21^st century.  So we have to keep it relevant.

 

And if there is something you don’t like or disagree with, then just ignore or disregard or trash that part of the Bible.  Explain it away as being only for a first century audience or a particular geographic area.  

 

I read a true story that was told by an orthopedic surgeon in Miami who, while in medical school, had a teacher whose lectures constantly contradicted the textbook. 

 

After one particular class he walked up to the professor and said, "I have been reading my text and I have been listening to your lectures, and there are various points at which your lectures disagree with the textbook assigned for the class."  The professor said, "Really?  Bring me your book and show me where there is disagreement."

 

Well the student went to several pages and pointed to this contradiction and then that contradiction.  The professor said, "Write those page numbers down for me."  The student did.  Then with that as a guide, the professor calmly, yet purposefully, ripped the pages out of the book, wadded them up, tossed them in the trash can, handed the book back to the student and said, "There, now it agrees with me." 

 

If the Bible will be our guide, then we must conduct all that we do in this church and in our personal lives according to the truth of the Scripture, and to not do that is to risk disaster.

 

Let me tell you why that is so important.  What you believe will determine how you behave and that’s where the second part of our verse comes in.  Not only is the lamp of God’s Word to guide us in what to believe,

 

2. The Light of God’s Word is to Govern How We Behave

 

 

I find it intriguing that this verse relates both to our feet and to our path.  That says to me God is extremely interested in my walk. 

 

In fact, Psalm 37:23 says: "The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord, He delights in every detail of their lives."    

 

Proverbs 2:20 says, "Walk in the way of goodness and keep to the paths of righteousness." 

 

Did you know that is precisely why God gave us the Bible?  He wants to guide our steps and make sure that we stay in the way of goodness and righteousness and blessing.  That is exactly what will happen when you obey God’s Word.    

 

James, the Lord's half brother, said, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves; do what it says."  (James 1:22, NIV) 

 

Let me get personal for just a moment and ask you a question.  As you look back over your life, do you have any regrets? Anybody here ever made any mistakes?  Do you have any skeletons in your closet?  Have you ever done something and later wished you hadn’t or maybe you didn't do what you wished you had?  If you will think about it and be honest, for every time you failed or have a regret it was because you got out from under the authority of the Bible.  

 

They say Davy Crocket had a motto that said, "Be sure you are right, then go ahead."  Now that sounds like good advice, but it's very dangerous because even though you may be sure you are right, that's no guarantee you are.    

For years, I’ve heard people say, “Just let your conscience be your guide.” Well what if your conscience is wrong?  What if it is improperly educated or informed? The conscience is only reliable if it is educated by the Word of God and sensitive to the Spirit of God. In fact, I know a lot of Baptists whose conscience is so calloused, they can no longer be touched by it, and therefore it is worthless as a guide. 

 

We don’t need our conscience to be our guide.  We need God’s Word to be our guide and once we are properly educated by it and committed to it, then our conscience can be used by the Holy Spirit to alert us to the dangers and then draw from God’s Word the resources we need to guide our steps and govern our behavior.   

 

The truth of the matter is, you really can't live your life the way God wants you to live your life unless you live it according to His Word. 

 

I get so tired of hearing the so-called experts of our day try to tell this world what is right and wrong.  And we’re supposed to believe, and many do believe them, because they're "experts." 

 

It reminds me of a man who had two parrots and he wanted to know which was male and which was female. So he went to an ornithologist, a bird expert, and he said, "I understand that you are an expert on birds."  He said, "I am."  He said, "Well, how can I tell which one of my parrots is male and which one is female?" 

 

 

 

Well, the man with a great sense of self-assurance said, "Well, if you will notice every time the birds eat worms the male bird always eats the male worms, and the female bird always eats the female worms." 

 

The man said, "Well how do you know which is the male worm and which is the female worm?" Well the male bird will be eating the male worms and the female bird will eat the female worms.”  

 

For all the talking the world does, they only talk in circles if their counsel does not root to the Word of God.

 

I’m always amused when I read in Acts 27 about Paul trying to warn the expert sailors that it wasn’t a good idea to begin their voyage to Rome because there was a storm coming. 

 

Acts 27:10-21

 

HE goes on to tell them everything is going to be OK because God is seeing to it that he gets to Rome and they will receive the fringe benefits simply by going along for the ride.  

 

Listen:  I would suggest to our world that rather than listening to the so-called “experts” of our day, sit down with the average third or fourth grader who has consistently attended Sunday School in a Baptist church and let them tell you what is right and wrong because they’ll be on target a much higher percentage of the time. 

 

 

 

 

Why?  It is because there is only One who knows right from wrong, and it is the God who is always right.  He has given us this Book to not only to help us to tell the difference, but to do what is right and to avoid what is wrong.  Through His Word, He desires to guide and govern our lives. 

 

John Adams, the second President of the United States, kept a diary in which he wrote down his thoughts concerning the relationship of America to the Bible.  He wrote these words:  "Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited!...What a utopia, what a paradise this region would be."

 

I would suggest it is time to substitute the word church for the word nation and let the world see the difference the Bible makes in the life of a church, and not just any church, but this church, our church. 

 

I want us to see as a church how seriously we can take the Bible; how diligently we will study the Bible; and how rigorously we will apply the Bible and obey it, both in the way we do church and the way we live our lives. 

 

There is a true story of eighty soldiers from Ft. Dix who were fighting a forest fire that had gotten out of control, and they were trapped.  The flames had encircled them and they could find no way out.

 

A pilot was sent to survey the area from above, determine an escape route, and then air drop instructions to those 80 trapped men waiting below.

 

When they read those notes they didn't question his authority, they didn't argue with then plan, they didn't ask him what right he had to show them what to do, they didn’t talk about how narrow-minded he was to suggest there was only one way out of the fire.  They simply dropped their tools, and without hesitation, followed the instructions they had been given and their lives were saved. 

 

Now listen:  they were saved because there was a message from above, from the only person who could see their problem and provide the solution. 

 

We have that same kind of message today in this marvelous book called the word of God.  May God give us the wisdom to not only hear it, but to heed it, and in so doing, save many from the fire that awaits them.

    

Will you make a fresh commitment today to allow the Word of God to be a light to guide you in what to believe and a lamp to govern you in how to behave so that you, in turn can be the light and lamp that someone else needs? 

 

Let’s pray.