How has God spoken to us?
The Bible • Sermon • Submitted
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· 11 viewsWhat is the Bible, an exploration of the doctrine of the Word of God, the inspiration of scripture, and the authority of scripture.
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What is the Bible? The Bible is God’s written word to mankind. God in His infinite love chose to reveal Himself to all His creation.
Biblia means “books” BIBLE. Derived through Latin from Gk. biblia (‘books’)
A term synonymous with ‘the Bible’ is ‘the writings’ or ‘the Scriptures’ (Gk. hai graphai, ta grammata), frequently used in the NT to denote the OT documents in whole or in part
Mt. 21:42, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures?’ (en tais graphais);
The parallel passage Mk. 12:10 has the singular, referring to the particular text quoted, ‘have you not read this scripture?’ (tēn graphēn tautēn);
2 Tim. 3:15, ‘the sacred writings’ (ta hiera grammata), v. 16, ‘all scripture is inspired by God’ (pasa graphē theopneustos).
In 2 Pet. 3:16 ‘all’ the letters of Paul are included along with ‘the other scriptures’ (tas loipas graphas), by which the OT writings and probably also the Gospels are meant.
The Bible is made up of 66 individual books, written by 40 different authors.
Old Testament has 39 books
New Testament has 27 books
-To understand the scriptures you must come to God with a “child-like’ faith. You must believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then transfer the trust you have in yourself, your intellect, talents, abilities, money, and power. You must humble yourself, and put all your trust in Jesus Christ.
“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”
Children’s Ministry is the greatest evangelical ministry in the church, yes right here, right now. This is the greatest opportunity you’ll ever have in your entire lifetime. God will use the scriptures you learn to bring remembrance and application to everything you will go through in the future.
-we have an incredible promise from God that His word doesn’t come back void, it will accomplish everything it is set out to do in your life.
So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
What is the major reason why evangelical Christians believe that the Bible is God’s Word written, inspired by his Spirit and authoritative over their lives? It is certainly not that we take a blindfold leap into the darkness and resolve to believe what we strongly suspect is incredible. Nor is it because the universal church consistently taught this for the first eighteen centuries of its life (though it did, and this long tradition is not to be lightly set aside). Nor is it because God’s Word authenticates itself to us as we read it today—by the majesty of its themes, by the unity of its message and by the power of its influence (though it does all this and more). No.
The overriding reason for accepting the divine inspiration and authority of Scripture is plain loyalty to Jesus.
We believe in Jesus.
1. We are convinced that Jesus came from heaven and spoke from God.
He said so:
Mt 11:27 “No one knows the Father except the Son”
Jn 7:16 “my teaching is not mine, but his who sent me”
Jn 3:11 “we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen”
2. We must believe what Jesus taught for the simple reason that it is He who taught it.
3. We are to bring our minds into submission to His mind.
4. We want to conform our thoughts to His thoughts. It is from Jesus that we derive our understanding of God and ourselves, of good and evil, of duty and destiny, of time and eternity, of heaven and hell.
As Christians, our understanding of everything is to be conditioned by what Jesus taught. And this everything means everything: It includes his teaching about the Bible. We have no liberty to exclude anything from Jesus’ teaching and say, “I believe what he taught about this but not what he taught about that.” What possible right have we to be selective? We have no competence to set ourselves up as judges and decide to accept some parts of his teaching while rejecting others. All Jesus’ teaching was true. It is the teaching of none other than the Son of God.
What, then, did Jesus teach about the Bible? We have to remember that the Bible consists of two halves, the Old Testament and the New Testament. And the way he endorsed each is different—inevitably so because the New Testament had not yet been written.
God has spoke to us through: The Bible, God’s Written Word
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
The OLD TESTAMENT
Jesus made several direct statements about the Old Testament’s divine origin and permanent validity.
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
“But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.
When God wanted to communicate specific messages, it was not necessary for Him to appear in person.
He spoke through the mouth of a prophet. The man of God would open his mouth and say, “Thus says the Lord.” God would take control of his mind and mouth. In fact, sometimes in studying the Prophets it is impossible to isolate God from the prophet who spoke.
‘I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
Then the Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
It is amazing to notice other ways God put His message across.
Sometimes He communicated by the casting of lots. God wanted Jonah to take a short ride in a long fish, and God wanted to make sure it would happen that way. So the pagan sailors on board the sinking ship cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. God made sure Jonah got the short stick.
Another fascinating way God communicated to His people was through use of the Urim and the Thummim, though no one today quite knows what these objects were. All we know is that they fit into the breastplate of the high priest—perhaps they were beautiful stones or jewelry (Lev. 8:8). Somehow they were used to tell the will of God (Ezra 2:63; 1 Sam. 28:6).
God also communicated through dreams, as in the case of Jacob (Gen. 28:12–15), Joseph (Gen 37:5–10), the butler and baker (Gen 40:5–23), and Pharaoh (Gen 41:1–44).
Another very common way for God to communicate was through visions. Daniel had both dreams and visions to learn the will and purposes of God.At times God communicated by speaking audibly. For example, God said to Abraham, “Get out of your country; From your family; And from your father’s house; To a land that I will show you” (Gen. 12:1).
Think of the apostle Paul on his way to Damascus. All of a sudden the Lord talked to him from out of heaven. What a fantastic concept. God could send His voice across the sky, from heaven, to communicate with spoken words.
God has spoke to us through: The World of Nature
We can’t look at the beauty we see during the day or look at the stars of the night without concluding that Someone greater than us made it all. Everything cries of the existence of God and of His work.
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Nature reveals God’s power
When we look at the created world, we can only stand in awe of the tremendous power that must have been exerted in its formation. For example, one star, Betelgeuse, is twice the size of the earth’s orbit around the sun and is 500 light-years away. At 186,000 miles per second, it takes 500 years for its light to reach the Earth. This is only one star on the edge of a universe that contains billions of stars like it. All of this was made by God!
Nature reveals the Godhead
The Greek word for Godhead stresses God’s sovereign deity—the fact that He is God. The God who created the universe is sovereign. He runs the show. He is in complete control.
Nature reveals the wrath of God
We read that unbelievers are without excuse when they face God’s judgment (Rom. 1:20). It is evident everywhere we look that a curse is on the world—that it is under a moral sentence. The world groans as if in labor, awaiting its redemption (Rom. 8:22)
The revelation from nature is clear. No one can excuse themselves because of ignorance. There is no alibi for the atheist, and there is no excuse for the agnostic.
The Light Inside - A God Shaped Hole
Natural revelation is not confined to the creation which is external. Natural revelation also comes through our own conscience. This is internal revelation.
because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
People today, because of what they have on the inside, are conscious that God exists. Even Albert Einstein felt he had to believe in a cosmic power. He was convinced that a man who did not believe in a cosmic power as the source of all things was a fool.
The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.
God has spoke to us through: Special Revelation
God revealed Himself in visible form.
by Theophany- the visible appearance of God
He and two angels appeared to Abraham as visitors. Abraham greeted the guests and invited them into his house. He asked Sarah to prepare her best culinary delights (Gen. 18:1–8). Imagine Abraham and his wife fixing a meal to entertain God and two angels! In this instance, God assumed human form to appear to Abraham
God appeared to Moses in a burning bush (Ex. 3);
He also appeared as the Shekinah Glory in the Tabernacle (Ex. 33–40).
Jacob wrestled with a “Man,” who was in fact God in human form (Gen. 32:24–32).
Theologians call this a Christophany - a pre- incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.
The greatest theophany of all, in a sense, is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in human form to walk on earth and to dwell with men.
God is not a man, as the Bible clearly teaches. “God is Spirit” (John 4:24) but He has chosen to reveal Himself in human form, and most perfectly in Jesus Christ.
The New Testament
God has spoke to us through: The 12 Apostles
Apostle is the title which Jesus himself chose for the Twelve, in order to indicate their role. “He called his disciples,” Luke writes, “and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles” (Lk 6:13). Mark adds that he appointed them “to be sent out to preach” (Mk 3:14). The verb apostello means “to send,” and the mission on which he proposed to send them was essentially a teaching and preaching mission.
The Authority of the Bible The New Testament
No apostle was self-appointed, or even appointed by another man or men or even by the church. They were all personally chosen, commissioned and authorized by Jesus.
The essential qualification Peter laid down was that he must “have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us,” and in particular that he must “become with us a witness to his resurrection” Acts 1.21-22
The apostles were given a special inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
All Christians have received the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, to show Christ to us and make us like Christ, but Jesus promised the apostles an altogether unusual ministry of the Holy Spirit, relating to their teaching ministry. The Spirit would bring to their remembrance all that Jesus had said to them, and he would teach them “many things” which Jesus had not said to them because they had been unable to bear them. In fact, he would guide them into all the truth Jn 14:25–26 ; 16:12–13). These great promises evidently looked forward to the writing of the Gospels (in which Jesus’ teaching was remembered) and of the Epistles (in which Jesus’ teaching was supplemented).
Paul stated that his message was “the word of God” (1 Thess 2:13 ) and that the very words in which it was communicated were “not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit” (1 Cor 2:13).
Peter identified the good news which he had preached and by which his converts had been born again as “the living and abiding word of God” (1 Pet 1:22–25 )
John declared not only that what he and his fellow apostles proclaimed was what they had seen and heard.
What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
Final thoughts: Fundamentals to Christianity
1. Submission to the authority of Scripture is fundamental to Christian discipleship.
I am not implying by this that nobody who denies the authority of Scripture can be a disciple of Jesus in any sense at all. The facts are otherwise. There are followers of Jesus whose confidence in Scripture is minimal.
But I have to add that their Christian discipleship is bound thereby to be impaired.
Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
How can we WORSHIP God if we don’t know His character?
Jesus said, We must Worship in Truth
“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
How can we trust God if we don’t know His faithfulness?
Genuine Faith rests on the reliability of a God who has spoken to us.
The foundation of trust is TRUTH - God’s Truth and truthfulness.
How can we OBEY God if we don’t know His will?
Obedience is impossible if no laws or commandments have been given to us to obey.
How can we HOPE in God if we don’t know His promises?
Christian hope is not the same as secular optimism or positive confession. Rather, it is a joyful confidence about the future, which is aroused by and rests on specific promises about the return of Christ and the victories of God.
2. Submission to the authority of scripture is fundamental to Christian integrity.
The most integrating of all Christian beliefs is the truth that “Jesus is Lord”
For example,
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
A Christian is somebody who not only confesses with his lips that Jesus is Lord, but brings every aspect of his life under the sovereign lordship of Jesus—his opinions, his beliefs, his standards, his values, his ambitions, everything!
To us, then, submission to Scripture (for reasons already given) is part and parcel of this submission to the lordship of Jesus.
We cannot accommodate ourselves to the idea of a selective submission—for example, agreeing with Jesus in his doctrine of God but disagreeing with him in his doctrine of Scripture, or obeying his command to love our neighbor but disobeying his command to make disciples. Selective submission is not true submission at all.
3. Submission to the authority of Scripture is fundamental to Christian freedom.
Once again, many imagine that the reverse is true. To the secular world view submission and freedom are incompatible. If I am to be free, they say, I must rebel against all authority; to submit to any rule (whether intellectual or moral) is to lose my freedom. But those who say such things have not yet grasped the character of true freedom.
Intellectual freedom, for example, is not the same as free thought. What do you say of the flat-earther who denies that the earth is round? Is he free? Not at all. He is a fool. He is also a prisoner, in bondage to falsehood and fantasy. Again, What do you say of a man who denies the law of gravity and jumps from the top of the Empire State Building? His “freedom” becomes a synonym for suicide.
True intellectual freedom is found not in independence of the truth, but in submission to the truth, whether the truth is scientific or biblical. When the mind submits to the truth, it is set free from falsehood, from the human deceits and the devil’s lies, from its own subjective insecurity, from the shifting sands of existential experience and from the ever changing fashions of the world. Submission to truth is the true freedom.
Jesus himself clearly taught this. He said that whoever commits sin is the slave of sin and that, in contrast to this bondage, he could set men free. What was this freedom which he promised?
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
Freedom is found in discipleship, and discipleship is continuing submission to the Word of Jesus, for the Word of Jesus is the truth.
No wonder Paul wrote of his resolve
We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
4. Submission to the authority of Scripture is fundamental to Christian witness.
The contemporary world is in great confusion and darkness. Human hearts are failing for fear. Has the Christian church any word of assurance for our bewilderment, any light for our darkness, any hope for our fear?
One of the greatest tragedies of today is that just when the world is becoming more aware of its need, the church is becoming less sure of its mission. And the major reason for the diminishing Christian mission is diminishing confidence in the Christian message.
We Christians should affirm with great confidence that Jesus is the supreme Lord, to whom all authority has been given in heaven and on earth, and that he bids us go and make disciples and teach them all his teaching.
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
His commission is that we should proclaim his name as the crucified and risen Savior, and that on the ground of this one and only name forgiveness and new life are available to all who will repent and believe
Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. “You are witnesses of these things. “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
So I conclude,
1. That submission to Scripture is part and parcel of our acknowledgment of the lordship of Jesus
2. That submission to Scripture is fundamental to everyday Christian living.