"Do You Really Believe?"

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.

Which is absolutely ridiculous because the scriptures are our source. Is it not?The scriptures is how we know. Whats the point? I remember in my undergrad studies in philosophy there was an and continues to be a real problem with coming up with the definition for what we understand as truth. That which corresponds to to reality. That which correlates to reality. Possible world theories, categories…on and on. But, I would define truth as the 66 books of the Bible and its logical implications. Oh there he goes. Here he goes with the Bible stuff.

It is amazing because the statistics show a failure to distinguish of what I call… the belief and the want to believe dynamic. We say that we believe some thing, but in reality we want to believe it. So much about Christianity today falls into this category. We want to believe stuff, but in reality we simply don’t. In reality we think we believe but in reality, we want to believe it. Sure we know it. We like it, but do we really believe it? This is a contributing factor to the waining respect and reading of the scriptures by Christians today. We don’t really believe that the Bible is the only source and the only way anymore. One of my friends who was literally transferred by his finance company all along the Bible belt. And he would constantly tell me that they cannot find a church that preaches the Bible anymore. In modern evangelicalism, spiritual formation is not shaped by the scriptures, theology is not based on scripture, christian worldview is no longer seen through the lens of scripture anymore. And how can this be? I mean if we really believed that the Bible was really the Word of God we would not do this. If we really believed that the scriptures were the very breath of God we would not do this. If we really believed that the promises of scripture was yes and Amen the Bible would the scriptures really be collecting dust on our table?

Ah, but maybe we do believe it. But we like the life coaching and psychological methodology because they help us accomplish our purposes. The scriptures accomplish His purposes. If its not unbelief, then it is sin. Yet the Bible continues to be the Source. Yet the Bible continues to be the light. Yet the Bible continues to speak. Yet the Bible continues to accomplish His will. Yet the Bible continue to increase our faith. This is why the great Charles Spurgeon said, “A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.” We continue our church series today… what we do and why we do it. Why is the Bible our lens for worldview.

John 6:68 ESV

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,

The grass withers the flower fades but the Word of our God stands forever.

Faith Distinctions

The Only Source

Words of Life

The first thing we will look at today is the believe/want to believe dynamic making clear the difference between actually believing or wanting to believe it. Second, we will see how no other method but the scripture can be a source of truth. Finally, we will see the scriptures outline for us our greatest problem, our greatest weakness, and our greatest hope that we find in the gospel.

Thesis: Though sin, the pattern of this world, and the continued pressure of current culture may cloud our worldview blurring our biblical vision, it is the truth of scripture and the power of the Spirit that will increase our faith to believe, to rest and to hope in the gift of grace given to us by Christ the Lord.

I. Faith Distinctions

- The difference between believing and wanting to believe.

A. Am am truly of the opinion that we do have a crisis concerning faith. I ask the question… what do you think our world would be like if we actually believed what the Bible has to say. What if we really believed that the promises that God gave us in the scriptures? I remember I was counseling a young man regarding problems that he was having in life and now he was having a crisis. And I kept telling him it is because he has no faith. He kept telling me with the tone of offense that he absolutely believed. And after much struggle he would finally admit that he really didn’t believe. Something so important here and so desired because of the many implications of faith that it is really hard to admit today that we are faithless.

B. The scriptures declare it… O ye of little faith. All we gotta do is look at our world and the professing Christians in this world and how we act, how we behave, what we do, and how we respond to circumstances in our world. How we act and behave in the realm of social order… you think we really believe that Jesus is alive and at the right hand of the Father interceding for us? How we act when we face difficulty and trials… you think we really believe that the testing of our faith develops perseverance and that it must finish its work so that we will be mature complete and not lacking in anything? You think that how we act when we worry and stress about our day to day living… you think we really believe that he will provide all our needs according to His riches in glory and that His eye is on the sparrow?

C. Do we really believe that … When the storms of life come, the wicked are whirled away, but the godly have a lasting foundation. The hopes of the godly result in happiness, but the expectations of the wicked come to nothing. Do we really believe that… Riches won’t help on the day of judgment, but right living can save you from death. The godly are rescued from trouble, and it falls on the wicked instead. Godly people find life; evil people find death. Do we really believe that … The LORD detests people with crooked hearts, but he delights in those with integrity. Do we really believe that… Pride leads to conflict; those who take advice are wise. Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time. People who despise advice are asking for trouble; those who respect a command will succeed. Do we really believe that… There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death. Backsliders get what they deserve; good people receive their reward. Only simpletons believe everything they’re told! The prudent carefully consider their steps. Do we really believe that… Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people. Gentle words are a tree of life; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit. Better to have little, with fear for the LORD, than to have great treasure and inner turmoil. Do we really believe that … Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city. Unfriendly people care only about themselves; they lash out at common sense. People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the LORD. You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.

D. If we really believed it don’t you think things might be a bit different in our world today? And we look at the fruit of the church as a whole today why would we think that we we. Most of us believe that we believe. But Shane how do we know that we don’t. Two things that the Bible gives us to know that we are deceiving ourselves.

James 2:14–17 NLT

What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

E. If there is no good deeds, if there is no fruit, if there is no action then there is no faith. We are saved by faith alone, but how do we know that we have faith? Our deeds. So if you do not see the fruit of the Spirit working in your life or deeds in accordance to the commands of Christ you should be concerned. We should be alarmed.

F. If we are not loving our neighbor, if we are not loving our enemy, if we are not doing for others as we want done for us, if we are not walking in step with the truth of the gospel, if we are not living lives worthy of the calling, if we are not denying self and taking up our crosses, if we are fostering friendship with the world, if we are loving our lives even unto death. We should be concerned. We should be alarmed. Either we don’t believe or we wont believe.

G. Something else to signal unbelief or rebellion. How we respond to trials and difficulties of life. It shows us what we are really made of. It shows us what we really believe.

James 1:2–3 ESV

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

H. Its easy to be an angel as long as nothing ruffels your feathers. Its easy to say we believe, its easy to believe that we believe when we don’t believe when life is going great. Its hard to pretend when life turns upside down. Its hard to fake it, when there is pain. This is the man forget it. I give up. This is too much. I cant take it anymore. You don’t understand it hurts too much. God gave up on me. God lied to me. God left me. If we really believed, we would repent of our unbelief and feel sorrow for our rebellion and ask the Lord to increase our faith. Instead we believe we have been wronged and cheated and if God doe not make it right then forget him. I will not obey Him. Either we don’t believe or we wont believe because of sin.

I. Do we really believe today? Or do we just want to believe it because we should? Or do we really believe its true, but in sin we rebel. But no that our rebellion is not because we don’t believe because of lack of info, but unbelief that God is not really a good God. We rebellion because we do not believe that He is who He says He is.

II. The Source

- The Bible is the very definition of truth.

A. The definition of truth is simply the 66 bools of the Bible and its logical implications. There is nothing else that we can stand on. Though we have indeed tried. We tried rationalism… and it fails. We tried even irrationalism… and it fails. We tried evidentialism… and it fails. And today we are supposed to trust the science. Trust the science. And even in the church today, we trust the science over the scriptures. And I’m not talking about covid stuff. This has been going on for a while. In the end, we believe the bible is true because we believe it does not oppose our scientific discoveries. We can prove stuff though the scientific method. But science fails.

B. There is so many things I could say about what I call the prime authority of culture today. Science. Its like the Bible has got to be proven. Even we as Christians continue to provide scientific proofs to prove the Bible’s authenticity. But the Bible does not need to be proven. To prove the authenticity of the Bible by using Science is to subject the Bible to the authority of Science and that is not to ever be the case. To prove that the Bible is the Word of God is like trying to prove that you had a dream about sitting on the sand at Malibu eating a subway sandwich. How are you supposed to do that. If the Bible is our source and our foundation then its has to be our foundation. Prove to me Shane, you can’t and I won’t. The Bible is my foundation and what all things are to be judged. I will not subject the Word of God to anything.

C. Nothing by the will or effort of man can ever be put in the place the the very Word of God. The scripture has been and always will be the truth.

Romans 3:4 ESV

By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”

D. The Bible is our source of truth and it is enough. It is all we need.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NIV

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

E. If you ever sat down to do a truth study all methods bring us to the point of possibility to probability, but that is not truth. Can we ever say will certainty that all swans are white. Not only would we have to see and check every swan alive around the world, but we would have to have seen all the swans that ever lived and all the swans that will ever live. If that’s the case then no one could ever know… yes thais is why all methods and intellect of man cannot be a truth standard at all. If it were left up to us we could never know what is true. We would have to know everything and know one knows. But there is another way we could know truth. If someone who knows everything tells us. The Bible is the only possibility of knowing truth when compared to empiricism, rationalism, and irrationalism.

F. This is why we want our worldview how we see the world through the lens and understanding of what is revealed to us in the scriptures. Its the only way… Where else will we go… Jesus has the words of life period.

G. And today you might say… Shane that’s me. I am weak in faith today. I don’t really believe. What can I do. When we are weak in faith we go to the scriptures… why?

Romans 10:17 ESV

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

H. We go to the Word of God. Preaching the Word of God, teaching the Word of God, reading the Word of God, meditating on the Word of God. We pray to the Lord Jesus to increase our faith.

Luke 17:5 ESV

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

I. Again we go to the word of the Lord. Our world view must be a biblical one. If we believe something is wrong it is because the Bible says its wrong. If you believe something is right is has to be because the Bible say that it is right. Our hope must be from the scriptures. Our response must be from the scriptures. Our guide must be from the scriptures. Our purpose must be from the scriptures because it accomplishes His purposes. The Lord guarentees it.

Isaiah 55:11 NLT

It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.

J. Its the only way… Where else will we go… Jesus has the words of life period.

III. Words of Life

- The Wonderful truth of the Gospel.

A. And if we believe that all that is in the Bible is true, then we have a huge issue before us. The Bible our source of truth tells us that … All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one righteous no not one. There is not a person on earth who always does good and never sins. We were by nature children of wrath. And because of this, we have a huge problem. Its called the wrath of God. We were destined for destruction. The judgement of God is real and it is coming. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. It is eternal destruction.

B. And the Bible gives us another problem it points out our greatest weakness. Unbelief and it is unbelief that brings the judgement of God down upon us. O ye of little faith. Man if we actually had faith we could move mountains. Not only are we corrupted with sin, but we live life in ungodly unbelief and our unbelief incurs the wrath of God.

C. But Shane is there hope for us. The Bible makes it really clear… there is hope for us today. It is called the gospel of Jesus. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures … The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance… He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness...

D. And the promises continue… all who call upon the name of the Lord. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God...

E. We get all of this from our source of truth. There is no other way. It is a life a salvation by Grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone for God’s glory alone on the authority of the scriptures alone.