Unashamed (part 2)
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I study my Bible like I gather apples. First, I shake the whole tree that the ripest may fall. Then I shake each limb, and when I have shaken each limb, I shake each branch and every twig. Then I look under every leaf. I search the Bible as a whole like shaking the whole tree. Then I shake every limb--study book after book. Then I shake every branch, giving attention to the chapters. Then I shake every twig, or a careful study of the paragraphs and sentences and words and their meanings.
Sounds very tedious. Sounds very careful. Sounds like a lot of work. But is it worth it? More than worth it… it is an absolute privilege to study God’s Word. But it seems in todays culture the value and even use of the Word of God has diminished to the point that even those who hold it in high regard still don’t hold it high enough. Man how high are we supposed to hold it then? As high as anything in all of creation… and even higher than all that is in the heaven. Cause when heaven and earth passes away His word will still remain. This is the absolute primacy of the scriptures
Oh but Shane you can’t do that. You hold the Bible way too high. In one pastor group meetings I attended… I asserted the primacy of the scriptures so much so that one pastor accused me of Bibliolatry. Idolizing and worshipping the Bible not God. You worship Gods Word not Christ. I use to take issue with that but I don’t anymore… fine call it Bibliolatry. Call it Bible idolatry if you wanna. If I worship the Bible, then I do what it tells me to do and the Bible tells me to worship Christ. So no matter what I give my heart, my mind, my passions, my desires, and my sacrifice to my Lord and Savior, my Prince of peace, my King of kings, the Alpha and Omega Christ Jesus forever and ever.
It is the reality of the supremacy of the scriptures that we have got to recapture. Lets look at this today.
I will speak to kings about your laws,
and I will not be ashamed.
How I delight in your commands!
How I love them!
I honor and love your commands.
I meditate on your decrees.
The grass withers the flower fades but the Word of our God stands forever.
Absolute Truth
Supremacy
Salvation
The first thing we will look at today is the real nature of truth and how it is only the scriptures that can bring it. Second, we will see how the scriptures are so supreme that its use will never put you to shame on the highest stage. Finally, we will see the content of the Word of God and see why so many delight, love, honor, and meditate on it.
Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to suffer from a devaluing of the living Word of God, it is the scriptures and the power of the Holy Spirit that will cause us to recognize its supremacy of scripture and why so many throughout all of history delight, love, honor, and meditate upon it.
I. Absolute Truth
- Definition of Truth: The propositions of the 66 books of the Bible and its logical implications.
A. That which corresponds to reality. The popular definition for truth. Why is this a problem? Because we just don’t know what is really real. Especially when using human effort, intellect, and ingenuity. This is not a new thing… remember Pontius Pilate. “What is truth?” This has always been an issue… it does not take long with a quick study of the topic of truth in philosophical studies to realize that it is virtually impossible to attain it with human effort. Why?
B. Example: All swans are white. Can we make that truth statement? Something as simple and common sense than that? No. You can’t say all swans are white because you have to have seen every swan alive. No you would have to have also seen all the swans that are dead. Oh and you will have to see all that swans that will still come in the future. And now there is black swans. So this is what is happening now… the truth is being adjusted. So all the swans I have seen are white. But even still are you sure? Can you really trust your observations? Could one of the swans you observed was mistaken for a swan? Did you really see what you really saw… when you were counting the white swans in the pond could you have made a mistake in counting… could you have counted a white duck by mistake? Yes. Uh oh. So you can’t really say its true for sure.
C. But I know for a fact that I am married to my wife… R U sure? She could be lying to you and playing you and actually married with another family. I graduated from the university of Colorado with a degree in business, but how do we know it was real… how do we know you did not cheat, the professor gave you grades you did not deserve, maybe it was a computer error and you should not have graduated but you did.
D. Leonardo DaVinci said that the experiment is perfect but data collection is not. You need to keep checking the data over and over again to get the right data. But can you do the same experiment again over and over? Can you step in the same river twice? Can you light the same match twice? Can you collect data from the same hurricane twice? Can you tell me if eggs are good for me? Can we tell the difference between a death from COVID 19 or asthma? People are now saying that the earth is flat. We cant tell the difference between men and women. And we claim to know what is true? We claim to know what is reality? How do we know we are not just a brain in a vat or stuck in the matrix?
E. Ok … so them we can’t know anything for sure then. Relying on mankind? No. And furthermore… relying on man’s mind, intellect, and ingenuity without God, not only can you not be certain, but you cant make sense of anything. Shane I know for a fact that 2 + 2 = 4. But so what. Why should I care? That person is a guy and that person is a girl. But so what I don’t think so. But that would be a lie, so what if it is? Who says lying is wrong? But Shane there is a perfectly logical reason for all of this… yeah so. So what if there is? Who says that I need to live my life being logical? I don’t want to be logical. Without God you can’t assert truth and you cant make sense of any of the truth you give anyway? So our culture throws out God and we wonder why all of this is happening.
F. Ok … So what makes the Bible any different. It seems then that the only way that we could know truth is if we know everything about everything and anything to be able to make that truth statement. Could a person say all swans are white if they saw and confirmed beyond doubt every single swan that ever lived, is living, and will ever live in the future. Yeah. Do we know anybody that knows everything about everything and anything? So there is another way to know truth. If someone who knows everything about everything and anything tells us. Did someone who knows everything about everything and anything tell us what is true? Guess what it is called? The Bible.
G. The propositions… Has to be a statement that can be judged true or false. Dog is not true or false, but the dog is white is. The propositions that come from all of the 66 books of the Bible… Genesis through Revelation. This is truth. And its logical implications… there is no proposition that says that Solomon is the son of the king of Israel. But is that true? Yes its implied. So… truth should be the proposition of the 66 books of the Bible and its logical implications. As does the Bible confirm this? You bet it does.
The sum of your word is truth,
and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.
And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.
Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.
H. But you gotta prove it Shane… And if I use human efforts, intellect, and ingenuity to do this… I can make a case for it, definitely, but it will still be limited and lacking. But the Bible is self authenticating and has left us a trail of non stop confirmations of this fact… The Bible is unique. The Bible is extraordinary. The Bible is more than amazing. The Bible is… and I am expanding a quote from Voddie Bauchman… The Bible is a reliable collection of historical documents, written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses, reporting supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claimed their writings are Divine and not of human origin. Written by approx 40 men from different backgrounds over the course of 1500 years. Over 25,000 NT manuscripts in Greek Latin Coptic and other languages from the 1st century to the 16th century with numerous variants but clearly not one article of faith or precept of duty is affected at all. With all that there is… the message of the scriptures are not altered in any way… at all. No assertion of contradictions has ever been confirmed. It has survived every skeptic. Survived every attack. Every attempt to annihilate it has failed. Every time it is attacked… when the dust settles the scriptures are still standing. Heaven and earth will pass away but the Word of God will remain forever. Nothing else in this world even comes close.
II. Supremacy
- Nothing else in this world compares.
A. This is why when it matters the most… when we are before even the highest of powers and authorities in the world, when we speak to them the Word of God we will never be put to shame. This is why the psalmist says that he will not be ashamed. This is not the law and propositions of men. It is the mind of God. Of course no one can find fault with the very breath of God.
Of course not! Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say about him,
“You will be proved right in what you say,
and you will win your case in court.”
B. This is why before the grandest of people on the grandest of stages, we do not rely on our wit, our intellect, and our ingenuity. We speak the Word of the living God. If we do this we will never be put to shame.
C. One of the things I loved to watch was John MacArthur on Larry King. King would have other Christian leaders on and the secular opponents many time made them look bad. Just humiliated them. Some of the smartest and brightest in the world was on the show and spoke against Christian leaders. And I can remember saying… thats shameful. But that never happened with MacArthur. And it is not because he is super smart, which he is, but that guy rested on and declared scripture all the time. He spoke the Word of God to them and was not put to shame.
D. With the many conversations I had with people, especially in the social media outreach, I made it a clear point to always defend with the scriptures. Many times I dealt with PhD’s from universities and as long as I stuck to the scriptures, I was never put to shame. Many will say … is that all you can do… Quote the Bible? I would say that its all that really matters. One guy said… I can do the same and he quoted harry potter. And I responded … sorry my friend Harry potter and the Bible not the same thing. Oh yes it is. I ask why. And he says, because they are just books. And he said why do you think they are different?
E. JK Rowling wrote a fictional story bout a young wizard. The Bible is a reliable collection of historical documents, written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses, reporting supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claimed their writings are Divine and not of human origin. Written by approx 40 men from different backgrounds over the course of 1500 years. Over 25,000 NT manuscripts in Greek Latin Coptic and other languages from the 1st century to the 16th century with numerous variants but clearly not one article of faith or precept of duty is affected at all. With all that there is… the message of the scriptures are not altered in any way. No assertion of contradictions has ever been confirmed. It has survived every skeptic. Survived every attack. Every attempt to annihilate it has failed. Every time it is attacked… when the dust settles the scriptures are still standing. Heaven and earth will pass away but the Word of God will remain forever.
F. Nothing comes close to even coming close to coming close to coming close to comparing with the Bible in anyway. No way and it has been this way throughout all of history. Why would we put our hope in anything else today.
Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.
G. Stand on the word of God today… it is the definition of absolute truth. It will not let you down. It has never let anyone down. It will never let anyone down. It has and always will reign supreme.
III. Salvation
- The truth will make us free.
A. But if this is the case why do we struggle with the Bible and Bible reading. If we really believed that the Bible was the source of truth and it is supreme in all that pertains to life and godliness whats the problem. I think for many of us today, we got to be honest with ourselves. Could it be that we really don’t believe that the Bible is God’s Word? Or… could it be that we just don’t think the Bible is supreme? Or could it be that we really don’t believe that the Bible is the Word of God but we are trying to convince ourselves that we believe it.
Keep me from lying to myself;
give me the privilege of knowing your instructions.
B. Or we do believe that the Bible is supreme and that it is the only source of truth and it is the inspired breath of God, but we don’t value the scriptures like we should and follow it like we should, because we just love our sin too much. We love our sin, that thing that so easily besets us. Don’t wanna read it because its too convicting, or it wont do for me what I want it to. I want to be rich and live in luxury and the Bible tells me to be content in any and every situation. I want to know how to defeat my enemy and the Bible tells me to love my enemy. I want to do what is best for me, but the Bible tells me to consider others as better than myself. I need God to take care of me, but the Bible tells me that my life is only to bring glory to God in all things, in all ways, in all circumstances. Because of the nature of scripture… its either one or the other. You either believe it our ya don’t. Jesus does not give us that option.
C. Because of sin… instead of delighting, loving, honoring, and meditating on the scriptures, we delight, love honor, and meditate on our sin. Lets be honest today. Lets not lie to ourselves today. We will finally be free when we just rest and trust in the Word of God.
D. Sin is real.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
E. It is there. It affects us all. It causes us to not run the race God has set before us. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one righteous no not one. There is no one on earth who always does good and never sins. And the wages of sin is death. We can do nothing to make it right as the wrath of God is being poured out on all flesh.
F. So can we be save from the wrath to come? You bet we can. The Word of God declares the gospel of Jesus. 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 into this world to seek and to save that which was lost. He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.
G. And the Lord grants us repentance and the the Lord grants us faith because of His grace and mercy so that… if you confess with you mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
H. Salvation is here and the Word of truth declares it. The grace and mercy of the Lord has given us the wonderful thing called the Word of God. And we see that there is life and life more abundant in Christ and in Christ alone. We will never be content, never be full of love, never be truly joyful, and never be truly happy unless we believe the Word of God and everything in it is true.