Unless: Clarity
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The Bible in America Study reports that 62 percent of the people in the communities surrounding our churches would like to read the Bible more. Another study reports 87 percent of the people in our churches want help understanding the Bible better.
Yet Bible reading is waning. Recent studies demonstrate that in one generation the number of occasional Bible readers has fallen by 20 percent—the equivalent of 700 people per day. If this trend continues, by 2040 two-thirds of Americans will have no meaningful connection with the Bible.
Why the decline? Again, lets look at the common reasons for the decline of the important characteristics of scripture which is contributing to the decline of confidence in the Bible in modern evangelicalism.
The first way is silence… we just don’t talk about things in the scriptures that we have an issue with. Had an ex-girlfriend in Bible college who lived her whole life as a Christian not knowing that God will judge His people by His own hand. She just never heard it. Just some things we don’t need to tell people. Second, embarrassment… take judgement for instance. How many a preacher will say stuff like this… I don’t like the topic of judgement Its just rude of God to do, but since its in the Bible we gonna talk about it. In the end, we think we know better than God. Third legitimizing. Trying to legitimize what the scriptures clearly condemn. Homosexuality, trans, women pastors, sex before marriage, abortion, all kinds of things… it shows we think we know better than God. Let us help you with moral issues in the 21st century. Fourth, ignorance … so many things in the scriptures, we just don’t know so why try t figure it out. Its ambiguous, it’s too locked into their cultural context we can’t understand. So since we just don’t know… we do what we want. Which ends up being the pattern of the world because we are so culturally conditioned today. We do what we think is right. Fifth, we don’t read enough. We don’t read enough books about good theology. We do not learn… oh I know you all read, but I do look at your bookshelves when I go to your house. But Shane… that’s because I’m a Bible person… I don’t need to learn all that doctrine stuff. It’s all trivial and a waste anyway. Even pastors say stuff like this… I just believe the Bible. I just preach the truth of scripture not all that theology stuff. You know who else says this… Jehovah’s witnesses, Mormons, false teachers, heretics, false prophets. What makes us different is our theology. Our doctrine. So don’t you think that since it will affect the way we interpret scripture that its important.
And so here we are… suffering from a diminished appetite for the word of God. Now to be completely forthright it could actually be judgement happening on us. God will judge us by keeping us from the Word. Really?
“The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign Lord,
“when I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread or water
but of hearing the words of the Lord.
But it might not be… so today hear the word of the Lord. Hear the warning. Know the Lord. God taking His word away from us is actually judgement. So by us not reading the word and holding it close to our hearts, we are putting ourselves on judgement. Let check it out today.
And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.
The grass withers the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever.
It is Clear
Why We Misunderstand
Salvation is Clear and Here
The first thing we will look at today is the reality of all that is clear in the scriptures. The second thing we will explore is the many reason as to why we struggle to see its clarity. And finally we will look at the clearest message of the scriptures called the gospel of Jesus.
Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world contribute to the confusion and ignorance of what is clear in the scriptures, it is the power of the Holy Spirit and the truth of scripture that will bring to light what the Lord desires for His people to see and understand especially the wonders of the Gospel of Jesus.
I. It is Clear
- The Bible is written in such a way that all things necessary for our salvation and for our Christian life and growth are very clearly set forth in Scripture.
A. So think back to the very first time you read scripture. Right away… we saw how difficult some of it was and how easy some of it was. For me I started reading the King James at 13 so it was all difficult. Then in high school I got an NIV and a good friend who explained lots of it to me. But we find that some of it is straight forward and some of it is difficult. The Apostle Peter even tells us that there are difficult things in the Bible.
And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him—speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.
B. So not all of the scriptures will be easy to understand. But it will be a mistake, a mistake made by Rome, and a mistake by many who assert that it is too hard to understand to say that all of the Bible or even say that the scriptures in general is hard to understand. And remember that Paul says that some of the scriptures are difficult to understand not impossible to understand.
C. In our passage today, the people obviously needed to be able to understand the word of God enough to be able to teach it to their children. They were expected to be able to know it enough to be able to discuss it with each other.
D. But it becomes even more vivid.
The instructions of the Lord are perfect,
reviving the soul.
The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
The teaching of your word gives light,
so even the simple can understand.
E. Now the important thing to get here is that the Hebrew for simple is not just describing a person with limited intellectual ability but also a person who lacks sound judgement. A person who always makes bad decisions. Now the scriptures are so clear and profitable that it can make a person like this wise. Amazing. For all of us who feel incompetant, ignorant, lacking in good judgement, meditate on the scriptures and it will make you wise. Reminds me of...
Yes, I have more insight than my teachers,
for I am always thinking of your laws.
I am even wiser than my elders,
for I have kept your commandments.
F. Now even Jesus makes this vividly clear with passages where he holds the religious leaders and even common people liable for their misunderstanding the scriptures or even the unwillingness to accept the scriptures.
Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
G. Let this be an eye opener for us … Jesus holds us responsible for not knowing or understanding the Bible. Not knowing or understanding the word of God is something the Lord frowns upon. He is not suggesting that all things are difficult and I know that its hard for us to understand so I understand why you don’t know it… Have you not read? Have you not heard? Did you not read? Why do you not know this… Nicodemus… are you not a teacher of the law? Why do you not know this?
H. Is the Lord saying this to us today?
II. Why Do We Misunderstand?
- The problem always lies with us and never with the scriptures.
A. Lets understand that unbelievers wont understand unless seeking or awakened to the truth.
But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.
One theologian writes, “Scripture is able to be understood by all unbelievers who will read it sincerely seeking salvation, and by all believers who will read it while seeking God’s help in understanding it.”
B. In reality, it is our own sinful disposition whether by deception, confusion, or just the influence of the flesh that causes us to muddy the waters.
And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
C. This is the reason why the scriptures warn us about false teaching, twisting the scriptures, listening to the culture, conforming to the culture. Many of the clear teachings of the scriptures get convoluted and confused because of the pressures of society and of the culture. Our culture today is clearly counter the principles of the Bible, but why is it that lots of what is clear is getting blurred? The Bible is clear on homosexuality, transgender, abortion, women pastors, greed, cheating, murder and on and on and all we see to be doing is clouding it all up. We are causing many to lose confidence in the Bible… for what reason? Why?
D. Well Shane we don’t want to be an offense to the world. I get it but it is clear in the scriptures that the message is offensive.
Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.”
And,
“He is the stone that makes people stumble,
the rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.
So we don’t preach because it offends people. The plain reading of the text just does. Mad at me on Tik Tok. But maybe we cloudy things up causing many to lose confidence in the scriptures because we are afraid of what they will do to us. We might get canceled. We might get assaulted. We might lose everything. But does not the Bible make it clear that we are gonna be persecuted for the faith?
Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.
Even to the point where you get canceled and lose everything you own. Do we realize that this is clear in the scriptures and a reality of our time in our culture.
E. In order to accommodate the culture are we willing to add to the confusion that sin and the pattern of this world is already doing in our society? In order to not face what the Bible tells us we are gonna face are we gonna bring more fog to the fog the minds of unbelievers are pumping into the playing field? Why are we willing to make unclear what the Bible absolutely makes abundantly clear?
III. Salvation is Clear and Here
- The gospel is the center of the scriptures.
A. The Bible is written in such a way that all things necessary for our salvation and for our Christian life and growth are very clearly set forth in Scripture.
B. And we see the good news of the gospel in the very first book of the Bible...
And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
C. The proto evangelium the first gospel promise. Given right after the clear transgression and fall of man. Another thing the scriptures make clear… the law. Pretty hard to argue with the 10 commandments. Pretty hard to argue with the wages of sin is death. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Hard to argue with eternal darkness. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. No one is righteous no not one… a lady tried to argue with me on this.
As the Scriptures say,
“No one is righteous—
not even one.
No one is truly wise;
no one is seeking God.
All have turned away;
all have become useless.
No one does good,
not a single one.”
“Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.
Their tongues are filled with lies.”
“Snake venom drips from their lips.”
“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
“They rush to commit murder.
Destruction and misery always follow them.
They don’t know where to find peace.”
“They have no fear of God at all.”
D. And the Bible also makes clear that there is salvation for us today. It is clear and it is here. How clear? Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
E. Want more clarity? All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. If you confess your sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All this clarity was written so that you believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God and that by believing you will have life in His name.
F. When it pertains to salvation it is clear and it is here. No need to cloudy the truth of scripture. The promises of God are yes and Amen. And we have hope and rest in His promises… Unless you don’t believe that the Bible is the word of God