God’s Word – Divine or Human (Last Sermon at Fellowship Bible Church) August 16, 2009
Posted by roberttalley in Bible, Holy Spirit, Inspiration, Old Testament, Peter the Apostle, Religion, Second Peter, Sermons.1 comment so far
Most of my readers I do not know but you come by often. The sermon blog will continue but I will be at a new church, Grace Bible Church in Lansing, Michigan. I trust you will continue to check in for the weekly sermon.
Finally, to the members of Fellowship Bible Church in Castleton, Vermont I say, “Thank you for your generosity and graciousness. I trust that I have been as much a help to you as you have been to me.”
Divine or Human?
2 Peter 2:20-21
Introduction: It is appropriate today that the subject today is the Word of God. It was the advertisement written by the pulpit committee of this church that emphasized the teaching of the Word of God that drew me to apply to this church. Every good thing that has happened in this church during my time here can directly be connected through the transformation worked by the Word of God in my life or in the life of some other person or persons. Also, every failure can directly be connected to disobedience to the Word of God in my life or in the life of some other person. I cannot think of an exception.
The reason every true spiritual success can be tied to the Word of God is simple. It is God’s Word and not my word or your word. It is from God. This is what Peter is reminding us of here. You can have confidence that God’s Word, in this case, the Old Testament and what had been written already of the New Testament, will change you because it is God’s Word.
“Peter, how do you know that this is God’s Word?”
Peter’s answer is found in verses 16-20. God’s Word is not confirmed by human inspiration but by divine signs (verses 16-20). Peter says in verse 16 that the message he declared was not cunningly devised, that is, it is not derived from human wisdom. Mankind has written many wonderful works of literature. When I read certain works of literature, I find them inspiring.
I own the history of the Civil War as written by Shelby Foote. He draws you into the conflict and makes you wish you could have been there to see with your own eyes the battles and events that he describes. His history is cunningly devised.
When I was in junior high school, we had an English teacher who would read Edgar Alan Poe, O. Henry, or Mark Twain. The gang of guys I sat with were not particularly literary and the language of some of them was very inferior but we found as she read to us that these men wrote things cunningly devised.
When you go to a play or a movie or watch a TV show, occasionally the words which are being spoken take over the movie and you forget the actors and become enthralled with the words. That is a wonderful experience, cunningly devised by men and women.
But human inspiration, no matter how cunningly devised is vastly inferior to the Word of God because only God’s Word is confirmed by divine signs. That is what Peter is trying to tell us in verses 17-19a. God’s Word is confirmed. Peter mentions specifically the transfiguration of Christ but there are many other examples. The events of Christmas confirmed the prophecies of Christ through the exactness of their miraculous fulfillment. The resurrection of Christ confirms along with the other miracles that He performed that He is the Messiah of the Scriptures. Jesus said to the doubters, if you do not believe my words, believe me because of my works.
When men write, there may be scientific or historic confirmation but when God writes, the confirmation is miraculous. That is why the apostles were given the ability to perform miracles and why on occasion, the early believers spoke in tongues, to confirm the Word of God.
God’s Word, unlike human inspiration, is worthy of an active faith (verses 19-20). That is why that confirmation is necessary. We need to know what we can believe. We need to know what is worthy of an active faith.
Charles Darwin wrote his books and people began to believe and put their faith in his theories. When they did, men changed. No longer did it really matter what we do. To survive as one of the strongest was the new meaning of life. God was no longer necessary. But Darwin’s theories are doubted even by evolutionist and have proven unworthy of active faith.
But God’s Word has brought spiritual liberty and freedom and high morals everywhere where it has been obeyed. Peter describes it beautifully. It brings light into darkness. Remember though that obedience to the Word of God means faith in Christ. Obedience to the Word of God is not keeping the Ten Commandments or following the Golden Rule. Obedience is faith in Jesus Christ. That is what the Scriptures preach and teach and only through the Jesus of the Bible can one come to God (1 Peter 1:6-12).
God’s Word is disclosed clearly by God. Any human inspiration is a corruptive additive (verse 20). That is why I emphasize when I preach and teach that we must understand what God is saying through a careful but thorough reading of individual Scripture passages and their context. Great literary men are sometimes very obscure. You know they said something but you are not quite sure what they said. I remember going to a play once in Chattanooga. It was a relatively modern play. It was very funny, very literary, very cunningly devised. It was a lot of fun but I could not tell you what the playwright was trying to say because he was trying his hardest to say it in such a way that you could not truly understand it. But God speaks clearly. That does not mean that we always understand what God is saying. It is sometimes difficult because it was written during ancient times in ancient languages through ancient thought patterns for ancient readers and “most” of us really are not that ancient. But for those who take the time to simply read and study their Bibles as God’s Word through men to men, it reveals God clearly.
God’s Word is revealed only by the Holy Spirit’s working through holy men (verse 21). These men did not sit down and decide they were going to write Scripture. God decided they would write Scripture. The Holy Spirit inspired them. He used their wisdom, He even used their language abilities but the words are His. If you study the chronologies of Chronicles, you will see that even the scribes, who wrote name after name after name, were well aware of the awesomeness of the task before them. They were penning God’s Word. Their motivations came from God, the message came from God, their meanings came from God. That is how that holy men through the Holy Spirit produced the holy Word of God.
This is a divine book. This summer we had the opportunity to memorize a section of God’s Word. Did you do it? It is the Word of God. It is not a Shakespearean sonnet or a political speech by Patrick Henry. Those are cunningly devised. It is not a lofty document like the Declaration of Independence or a beautiful New England description by Robert Frost or Emily Dickinson but the Word of God, worthy of faith, confirmed by miracles. What did you read this summer? What have you written down or memorized so that you would not forget it? Was it the Word of God or the words of man? Did you give yourself this summer to the Word of God or did you waste it on the cunningly devised inspiration of men? If you want light in the dark places in your life, turn to and learn the Word of God.
I am not saying that human wisdom has no value. It does and you should not ignore human words but give yourself to the Word. You have the autumn before you. Begin now! Read His Word! Hear His Word! Memorize His Word! Meditate on His Word! Study His Word! Feast on His Word!
Questions regarding yesterday’s Sunday School class July 28, 2008
Posted by roberttalley in Bible, First Corinthians, Religion, Signs and Wonders.add a comment
Good morning!
Thank you for your questions arising from the Sunday School class yesterday. Since I will not be able to follow-up since the class will be resuming with John and there was another question that I thought also to be important, I am going to answer them one at a time in an email, also posting the answer on my blog so that anyone might respond there if they should so wish.
I’m going to take the questions in this order. The easiest, the most important, and the most difficult. That is, of course, my opinion. The three questions are…
1. A question was asked about knowledge, is not knowledge that which is deemed “God’s Word?”
2. Could you provide me with express scripture that indicates that membership in a church is commanded? I can not seem to find it.
3. Is it not a threat to the inerrancy of Scriptures when we claim that certain teachings in the epistles are cultural?
These are all good questions but I will start with the first one in this email and get to the other two as I have opportunity.
1. A question was asked about knowledge, is not knowledge that which is deemed “God’s Word?”
Answer: The exact question was this, what is the difference if any between a word of knowledge and the gift of prophecy?
The phrase “word of knowledge” is mentioned only once in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 12:8 (although it is likely that 1 Corinthians 13:2, 8, and 14:6 are all referring to the same gift). It is near the beginning of a list of nine miracle gifts. Some of these gifts, like healings, tongues, and interpretation of tongues are fairly easy for us to understand but the Scripture does not give us any help in differentiating between a word of wisdom or a word of knowledge or a prophecy. All that seems clear is that it is likely some type of miracle gift.
The question that you have is this, does knowledge here refer specifically to the “God’s Word.” I am assuming that you are referring to the Bible, the canonical Word of God. In that case, based on 1 Corinthians 13:8, I would say no because it indicates that the gift of knowledge will pass away but we know that not one jot or tittle of God’s Word will pass away.
However, if you mean that knowledge here refers to a word from God, then I would say “yes”, if that word of knowledge meets the preconditions set down in 1 Corinthians 12:1-4.
Certainly, we cannot always assume that the word “knowledge” refers to “God’s Word” in the canonical sense. If it did then we would have to interpret 1 Corinthians 8:1 to mean that the Word of God(knowledge) puffs up but that love does not. Obviously, that cannot be the main meaning of the word although there are contexts in which the word knowledge might be an equivalent of the Word of God.
Follow-up on sign seeking September 11, 2007
Posted by roberttalley in Bible, Faith, Religion, Signs and Wonders, Will of God.add a comment
Yesterday received this comment,
“Whilst waiting for an answer to prayer, is asking God for a sign as encouragement) in the meantime, a form of unbelief? Will God give the sign or He will regard it as not trusting Him?”
I gave a short answer yesterday in the comments here.
Question: Is it unbelief to ask for a sign while waiting for an answer to prayer?
Answer: It certainly could be. When we pray in God’s will, we assume that He will do what is best but there are a number of situations that can drive one to doubt God on some level and ask for a sign.
- Impatience.
- Desperation for an answer.
- Lack of confidence in His Word.
- Lack of faith that He will answer our prayer exactly as it should be answered.
Certainly we are not commanded as Ahaz was to seek a sign. Ahaz, by the way, refused to seek the sign and he was known for not having faith. So the fact that someone seeks or refuses to seek a sign tells us little about their spiritual condition.
Most often God gave signs without them being sought for. Many signs were not believed anyway. What is the attitude that causes you to seek a sign? If God refused to give you the sign, would you walk away from Him? Many do.
This brings us to the second question. Will God give the sign or will He refuse in regard to our unbelief? I don’t think I should presume to speak for God. It is possible that He sometimes gives signs. He can do what He wants but He has already given us His Word and proclaimed it sufficient. If He gives a sign, it would not be because we need it but because He had a reason to give one. But if I have the Word of God, why would I desire a sign? In other words, we do not need signs but rather God’s Word and God’s church both of which were given to us for encouragement and guidance.
Jesus, the most superior revelation of God (last in the series on the Word of God) September 2, 2007
Posted by roberttalley in Bible, Falling Away, Hebrews, Jesus, Religion.add a comment
JESUS, THE WORD
Hebrews 1:1-2:4
We finish today our series on the doctrine of the Word of God. The Word of God can be summed up in one person. Jesus Christ, the Word. Jesus is called the Word in John 1 and Revelation 19:13. Jesus was not sent with a word from God but was sent into the world as the Word of God. This is one of those concepts for which we do not have an adequate word in English to express but we can understand it better through the beginning chapters of the book of Hebrews and we can also understand what it means to you and to me personally.
TO WHOM IS JESUS PRESENTED AS “THE WORD”?
There were some to which the letter was written that the author was not certain whether they were saved or not. Sometimes we look at people’s lives and we find it hard to determine if they have trusted Christ. This book was written for such people.
Another characteristic of these people is that many were disillusioned with Christianity. Some of you are disillusioned with Christianity or at least with the church. You feel you are not being fed, your needs are not being adequately met, your spiritual experience is not full enough. That is what these people were going through. You are drifting away. Some of you been drifting long for a long time. You have been drift so long that you and others wonder about your salvation.
There are, however, some of you who have just started drifting. Your focus is not on Christ. This book says, “Turn back to Jesus and anchor yourself in Him. If you drift away, there is no escape for you.”
THE PROBLEM…
Ligon Duncan puts it this way, “The author of Hebrews says, ‘Look, if you thought that you tried Jesus, and He wasn’t satisfying, you never knew Jesus. So what we’re going to do is, we’re going to point you right back to Jesus again and ask you to be reintroduced to Him. Because once you know Christ, there is nothing beyond that that you need. There is no more that you need to tack onto the Lord Jesus Christ.’” (from his introductory sermon to the book of Hebrews).
INTRODUCING JESUS
The Position of Christ was Obtained for Our Sakes (1:2-8, 10). Jesus has not always held the same position in God’s kingdom.
He began as God (verse 3a). Actually Jesus did not have a beginning. He is God. He is Jehovah. He is the beginning as well as the end. He is the reflection of the Light that is in the world. He is the spitting image of God the Father because He is God the Son.
He continued as the Creator (compare verse 3b with verse 10). We are also told how He created the world, by the word of His power. It is with that same power that He maintains the world and when the world is burned to dust and ashes, He will remain.
He became man to purge or purify us from our sin (verse 3c). This is what we celebrate during the Lord’s Table. Jesus came and became man to purify us. He said, “This is my blood, the new covenant, which was given for the remission of sins.” Christ came not to be an example but to solve the sin problem. In solving the sin problem, however, He made Himself the greatest example that their could ever be.
He inherited the universe because of His death, resurrection, and ascension (verses 2, 4-8). When Christ became man, He set aside His inheritance and came and earned it. He died to save man and ultimately the universe from sin. He rose to subject sin and death and hell to His will. He ascended to take His place on the throne with His Father, waiting for the day when He returns to claim for His own what is His.
HIS CHARACTER
The Person of Christ is the Motivation of His Work for Us (1:9; 1:3). Why would Jesus do such a thing? Because of who He is. We sang last Sunday night the song, “Above All”. I love that song because it emphasizes the price that He paid to ransom me from sin but His ultimate motivation was not me but came out of His own character. He saved me from sin, not because of who I was but because of who He is.
His Person is revealed by His attitudes (1:9). Jesus is a very black and white thinker. He loves what is good and hates lawlessness. His attitude towards everything and everyone: you, me, our neighbor, everything is wrapped up in His love of righteousness and His hatred of evil. If He had not hated evil, totally and completely, there would be no reason for Him to die. But there He was. He desired to lift up goodness and destroy wickedness.
His Person is revealed by His actions (1:3cd, 2:1-3a).
Jesus being the Word and bringing cleansing to those who trust Him is an essential in understanding who He really is. If Jesus had not paid the price on the cross, we would never have understood His holiness nor His mercy. Romans 5:8 says that God commended, proved His love in that while we were yet sinners, He died for us.
Cleansing is limited to those who trust in Christ. We were unclean before God because of our sin. That was my situation and that is the situation of every person born, Jew and Gentile. There is, however, hope. Jesus shed His blood to cleanse us from our sin. That is how that Jesus gives purges and purifies us.
TRULY KNOWING JESUS WILL KEEP YOU FROM DRIFTING AWAY
The Promises of Christ are the Anchor that Keeps us from Drifting Away (1:1-2a, 2:3-4).
The promises of Christ are better than the prophets in material and in manner (1:1-2a). That was a long time ago but now we have a current message from a current messenger, Jesus Christ. That is why this book is so precious. We can hear from Jesus daily. We can meet with Him. We can learn from Him.
They are better than the law given through angels because of the material and of the manner in which they were given (2:1-4). When God gave the law through Moses, we find that angels were also somehow involved in the giving of that law. That is what the writer of Hebrews is referring to. Jesus’ message is more direct, it is more stable. It cannot be improved upon.
They are better because they have been confirmed by eyewitnesses and miracles (2:3-4). We spoke about this two months ago. We can have confidence because of the eyewitness and miraculous confirming testimony from those times.
They are better because they bring salvation (2:3). The law could never save but Jesus can and does.
CHALLENGE FOR THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR
Young people, during this next year you are going to face all kinds of challenges to your faith. Some of those challenges will be people: friends, teachers, parents, classmates who like you and classmates who do not. Some of those challenges will come out of the new situations in which you find yourself. Some of you are entering high school, other of you are looking to the near future when you will be out of high school. Some of you are entering middle school and at the beginning stages of puberty. In all of these and other new situations, your faith will be challenged spiritually, emotionally, physically, or in some other way. You need to understand that Jesus is God’s Word to you. Tim Keller put it this way, “…the gospel [of Jesus Christ] is not just the ABC[s] of the faith, it is the A to Z.”
You need to anchor your being to Jesus Christ. You need to be absolutely convinced that Jesus is the only way to purpose in this life and in the life to come. If you are not sure, then you come to me and I and others in the congregation will make it a priority to teach you about Jesus Christ. If you are sure, then you need sometime in the next week to tell those with whom you go to school, “I am a Christian! I am a follower of Christ!” You do not need to preach them a sermon. Just saying you are a Christian will scare some of them half to death. You need though to anchor yourself to Jesus Christ and tell those with whom you have daily contact that you are a follower of Christ. Then you need to invite them to youth group or to Sunday morning church. Stand for Jesus. You will get questions. We will help you with those questions. Be convinced in your mind though that there is no one but Jesus Christ worthy of your devotion and follow Him openly and publicly.
John MacArthur: “I will never forget a particular lady who came into my office and informed me that she was a prostitute. She said, ‘I need help.’ And I said, ‘I guess you do.’ She said, ‘Please, I’m desperate.’ So I presented the claims of Christ to her. Then I said, ‘Would you like to invite Jesus Christ into your life?’ She said yes, so she prayed and evidently invited Christ into her life. I said, ‘Now, I want you to do something. Do you have your book with all your contacts?’ She said she did. I said, ‘Let’s light a match to it and burn it.’ She looked at me and said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘If you want to live for Jesus Christ, and you’ve truly accepted His forgiveness and met Him as your Savior, then you need to prove it.’ She said to me, ‘That book is worth a lot of money. I don’t want to burn it.’ She put it back in her purse and looked me right in the eye and said, ‘I guess I don’t really want Jesus, do I?’ Then she left.” from “The Tragedy of Neglecting Salvation” by John MacArthur
“GIVE THE MORE EARNEST HEED…LEST YOU DRIFT AWAY”.
Again from John MacArthur: “Explorer William Edward Perry and his crew were exploring the Arctic Ocean. At one point they endeavored to move further north, so they charted their location by the stars and began a difficult and treacherous march north. They walked hour upon hour, and finally, totally exhausted, they stopped. They took their bearings and discovered that they were farther south than they were when they started! They then realized that they had been walking on an ice floe that was travelling south faster than they were walking north. I wonder how many people think their good deeds, their merits, and their religiosity is taking them to God when in fact they’re on an ice floe taking them away from God faster than their own efforts are taking them any closer. They will wake one day to find, like William Perry’s crew did, that they’re in the midst of a disaster.” from “The Tragedy of Neglecting Salvation” by John MacArthur
If Jesus is the Word, as He is, a word requires a listening ear. The phrase, more earnest heed indicates a response. In this verse, the response is anchoring your soul to the Word of God, to Jesus Christ, the Faithful and True Word.
One thing about a promise. You must believe it and respond appropriately. If you neglect the promise, if you are careless about it, as it says in verse 3, there is no escape for you. The cleansing that He offers is yours for all eternity. Only Christ, our Great High Priest who sacrificed Himself can provide cleansing. He did this by Himself without any help from man or angel. Anchor your soul in Him.
How God Reveals Himself in Affliction and His Word August 26, 2007
Posted by roberttalley in Bible, Martin Luther, Psalms, Religion, Sermons, Suffering.1 comment so far
THE GOOD BOOK
PSALM 119:65-72
Martin Luther is reported once to have said something to this effect, that he would not live in Heaven without the Word of God; and with it he could get along just fine in hell. He would certainly agreed with those who call the Bible, “the Good Book”. This is also the message of the acrostic poem that we are looking at today, “God’s Book is a Good Book.” What is it that makes the Bible a “Good Book”?
The Bible is a good book because it teaches a good God’s good dealings with humankind (verses 65, 68).
GOD IS GOOD! GOD IS IN CONTROL
We received a prayer letter this week from Steve and Becky Diem, missionaries going to Resistencia, Argentina who we support financially and prayerfully. I would like to read two paragraphs written by Becky in which she tells about God’s working in their lives:
“A friend of mine has been trying to have kids for about five years, and her husband isn’t saved. We went out to eat…We were talking about God’s control and plans for our lives. I felt like the Lord wanted me to challenge my friend to give her situations to the Lord. I asked, ‘Have you given it to the Lord yet?’ To make a long story short, her husband has been doing a(n evangelistic) Bible study with us for the past month, and she is two months pregnant. God is good! God is in control!”
“I have been complaining about our small car for the past couple of months; it is very cramped on weekends with all the gear that goes along with two kids and deputation things. I started asking for a van from Steve. He said, ‘Why don’t you pray about it?’ I shared at a ladies tea how God had blessed Steve with an MP3 player that he had been praying for. I told Steve to start praying for a mini van. Yesterday we got an email from someone, and they gave us a mini van. God is good! God is in control!”
Update: Another excerpt from the same letter.
It is wonderful to know that God is good and that He is in control. It is wonderful to see God answer prayer. My wife and I have been where Steve and Becky are at and we can attest to how that the Lord works in the hearts and lives of his children, so that they may accomplish the work which He has for them to do.
WHOSE DEFINITION OF GOOD?
I want us today though to think about who is writing this in verse 65 – King David. Can it be said that God dealt well with David, according to man’s idea? This is the same David who hid for weeks on end in caves because King Saul had put a price on his head. Saul hatred for David was so great that an entire town was destroyed because the priest in the town fed David and his men. His friendship with Jonathan was broken off because of the hatred of Jonathan’s father for David. David ended up hiding with Israel’s enemies but because of fear, he pretended to go mad so that the Philistines would not kill him. He experienced an attempted coup twice during his reign, both times led by one of his sons and drawing after him some of his most trusted advisors. At least three times, because of David’s sin, people died through the judgment of God. How can this man write that God had dealt well with him. The answer is in verse 65. God dealt well with David because God acted according to His Word. As he writes in verse 68, “God is good and He does good and because He is good and does good, whatever He promises, whatever He warns, whatever He determines to do, it will be good. God’s character is not different than that of His Word. He never deals differently than His Word reveals. Good deals with everyone on the same basis – His Word.
BECOMING GOOD LIKE GOD
The more I learn and apply God’s Word, the more like Him I will become (verse 68). David does not just want to memorize and recite God’s Word. He wants to learn it and live by it and become good just as God is good. He does not want a “crisis relationship” with God but a daily relationship with God (adapted from Wiersbe). He wants to take on the character of God and the only way to do that is to become trained in the Word of God.
Warren Wiersbe writes in his book, Why Us?, “Now, we must be careful how we use the Bible when we are going though trials. Unless we are reading God’s Word regularly, listening daily to His voice, we aren’t likely to hear Him say much when the roof caves in on us.”
The Bible is a good book because believing it will teach you good discernment (verses 66, 69-72). The word rendered “judgment,” properly signifies taste. One of the keys of tasting is confidence. I was reading this week an article about a man who had to pass a test in order to become a judge at an espresso making contest in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was interesting to find out that some of the champion espresso makers sometimes could not pass the taste test to become a judge at the very competition that they had won. The article gave several tips for passing the test. (It did not say what you should do after drinking all that coffee.) The most important tip that was repeated over and over is you must have confidence in your discernment.
FAILING THE THE SPIRITUAL TASTE TEST
Spiritually, this is also true. You must have know and have confidence in the Word of God if you are going to develop spiritual discernment. Why is it that some people chase after the prosperity gospel of Joel Osteen? They do not have confidence in God’s Word when it says, “Lay not treasures for yourself on this earth but lay up treasures for yourself in heaven.” Why is it that some gauge their spiritual well being by how they feel? Perhaps because they do not trust God’s Word when it says, “If our hearts condemn us God is greater than our heart.” Why is it that church leader after church leader falls into sin? Because we are not confident that God’s Word can be trusted when it says, “Pride goes before a fall.” I could go on and on.
If you have confidence in God’s Word, you will learn to discern between the profit of physical benefit and spiritual benefit. You will learn that the beneficial result of the Word of God in your life is to be preferred to the prosperity of the wicked (#Ps 119:69-72).
In reading a part of the one hundred and nineteenth psalm to Miss Westbrook, who died, she said, “Stop, sir, I never said so much to you before—I never could; but now I can say, ‘The word of thy mouth, is dearer to me, than thousands of gold and silver.’ What can gold and silver do for me by now?” —George Redford, in “Memoirs of the late Rev. John Cooke”, 1828
If you believe God’s Word you will develop spiritual discernment. If you do not, then you will end up chasing rainbows and fighting windmills and investing your life in things that will not satisfy.
A GOOD BOOK FOR BAD TIMES
The Bible is a good book because it will teach you how to react to adverse circumstances/affliction (verses 67, 69-71).
Sometimes you will learn to turn from sin through affliction (verse 67). “Whipping will not turn a rebel into a child; but to the true child a touch of the rod is a sure corrective.” In the Psalmist’s case affliction worked an immediate, lasting, inward change towards God. When that happens in your life and in my life, God’s Word will give us an anchor that will keep us from drifting back into our sin. We all know of people showed up and committed or recommitted themselves when things got bad but they did not stick around. I know that every circumstance is different but what often happens is that those who have disappeared did not anchor themselves to the Word of God that was given to establish them and to make them strong.
You learn how to deal with your enemy and the injustice of this world through the Word of God (verses 69-70). We find this so difficult. We look at those who are obviously not doing what they should. Sometimes they make our lives miserable. If you do not have the perspective on the world that God gives you in His Word, you will start mouthing complaints like “It’s not fair!” You will be open to the temptations of this world. That urge to get even with that jerk will grow until you either lash out at that person or so internalize your hatred that it destroys you from the inside out. God’s Word, though, teaches how to react to those people and to those circumstances. You might object that it is two hard. Certainly, for us alone, we cannot do it but we must submit to God’s will in His Word and the Spirit’s working in our hearts. We must learn to say with Augustine, “Let the word of the Lord come, let it come; and if we had six hundred necks, we would submit them all to his dictates.” —Augustine.
GOOD OUT OF BAD
You learn that God always intends good to come out of your suffering. Now God’s Word is a lot more realistic about what is good than the descriptions of the world that we prefer. The right guy gets the right girl and they have a few ups and downs but at the end everyone lives happily ever after until death do us part. No life long suffering because of the sins of youth. No unexplainable physical suffering. No mother’s who dreams for a child remain unfulfilled although through no fault of their own. Miraculously healings and answers to prayer are a daily occurrence. In our Christian fantasy world the real issues that people cry themselves to sleep over every night seem so easy to solve. Of course, it is wonderful when such things happen but God’s Word deals with the reality of life. It deals with the hum-drum as well as the exciting. It talks about people who suffer as well as those have their life go as planned. The Word of God is for those who never receive any relief from their suffering as those who seem to never suffer even though they live wicked lives.
Sometimes when bad things happen we say, “I know the LORD wants to teach me something but I am not sure what.” This verse 71 is an answer to that question. God lets affliction come into my life so I can learn His Word so that I can learn Him and become more like Him.
Warren Wiersbe also tells in his book, Why Us?, about a couple in a church where he pastored. “Years before…their little boy had contracted a brain disease that left him an invalid. He spent his entire life in bed, unable to speak, read, or use his hands creatively. When (Wiersbe) first visited in the home, the boy had become a man; but he was still lying in bed, wearing diapers, and he needed to have someone with him constantly.
“‘Pastor, don’t feel sorry for us because of Kenny,’ his parents (said). ‘People think he’s a burden, but to us, he’s a blessing from God. We’ve learned so much about God’s grace in taking care of Kenny’”
Whatever you may be going through (and it does not matter whether humanly speaking it is big or small) God wants to teach you to trust His Word, to trust His character, to become more like Him.
QUESTIONS
Believer, have you learned these three lessons? Have you learned that God is good and does good, not just in David’s life but in your life and in mine and He deals with you well, in a good manner, according to His Word?
Do you have confidence in your spiritual judgment? You can, if you know and are following God’s Word.
Is God’s Word governing the way you react during the tough times of life? Get in God’s Word.
What we have talked about today is how God deals with humankind. He wants to deal with you if you are not a believer in the same manner. He wants you, through thick and thin to learn of Him.
You need simply to trust Jesus Christ and Him alone. He is the only one who can rescue from sin, He and no one else. He died and was buried and rose again to rescue you. Won’t you turn to Him today?
A FINAL WORD FOR THE TROUBLED
Are you in trouble? One thing both believers and unbelievers share in common is trouble. We all have it in one form or another. We tend to compare our troubles to each other. That is not very helpful. Turn to God, not to get you out of trouble but to give you the forgiveness you need to become His child and the stability you need to glorify Him both inside and outside of any trouble that you might experience.
How to understand God’s Word August 25, 2007
Posted by roberttalley in Bible, John Bunyan, Martin Luther, Prayer, Psalms, Religion, Suffering.add a comment
Read Psalm 119:71 in connection with these thoughts from John Piper. They concern John Bunyan and Martin Luther. In it you will find Luther’s three rules for understanding the Bible: prayer, meditation, and… 
Historical Reliability of the New Testament August 22, 2007
Posted by roberttalley in Bible, New Testament, Religion.add a comment
I’ve been reading a book loaned to me by Larry. It is a good book and I had thought about reviewing it but then I came across this article by Craig Blomberg. This article does a great job explaining the historical reliability of the New Testament. By the way the book is “Fabricating Jesus” by Craig Evans. If the Da Vinci Code, the Gospels of Thomas and Judas, etc. bother you then both the article and the book are well worth reading.
How God reveals Jesus to us through the Holy Spirit August 19, 2007
Posted by roberttalley in Bible, Holy Spirit, Inspiration, John's Gospel, Religion, Sermons, Special Revelation, Trinity.1 comment so far
THE TEACHING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
John 16:12-15
THE BORED PASTOR
I must confess that I get bored easily. If I preach very long about a subject or from a book, I find myself struggling to get excited about it. This week in my regular Scripture reading, I came across a passage in Isaiah that the Holy Spirit used to wake me up and renew my conviction on the importance of the subject which we have been dealing with this summer, the Word of God. It is Isaiah 29:13-14. Jesus quotes verse thirteen in Matthew 15:7-9 when He criticizes as hypocrites those who elevate the traditions of men over the Word of God. The last part of the quote is, “And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” That is the difference between hypocrisy and reality. Hypocrisy claims to follow God but follows man. I do not know about all of you but I know in my life, that is a daily struggle. Sometimes I get very discouraged by my tendency to follow men rather than God.
Jesus knew that these eleven men with whom he was spending His last night before His crucifixion would have similar struggles. He knows that even the leader among them, Peter would be tempted in his maturity to give way to the traditions of men rather than following God’s Word whole-heartedly. Although they cannot imagine this, He knows their weaknesses and that there is so much that they do not yet understand.
WE NEED A TEACHER OR GUIDE TO COMPLETE OUR KNOWLEDGE THAT WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO FOLLOW CHRIST.
You would think these men would have a complete knowledge of Christ. They have walked with Him, eaten with Him, they were by Him 24/7. Yet when these disciples were told by Jesus that He would be executed and buried and raised from the dead these disciples could not bear the truth because their understanding was incomplete. Christ tried to reveal their weakness to them but on the last evening before His crucifixion they all denied that they would forsake Christ.
The situation will soon change, however, and Jesus will die, be buried, rise from the dead, and ascend to heaven. Who will guide them then? Who will teach them? Who will give sense to all of these events in their lives? In our Scripture reading today, Jesus assures the disciples that even though He is leaving them, they will not have to fly blind but will have a guide, a teacher, the Spirit of truth to lead them in the way of truth.
Jesus is telling them that the day is coming when they will have access to all the spiritual knowledge and wisdom they need to honor and please the Lord and they will have that knowledge and that wisdom through the Holy Spirit. That is what Christ means when He says in verse 13, that the Spirit will tell you of things to come. He is not strictly referring to prophecy but to all truth past, present, and future that is built upon the truth of the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. These are the events that must happen before the Holy Spirit can come and begin to teach them.
It is important to understand what we mean when we say that the Holy Spirit is our teacher. We do not mean that He cannot or does not use human or other means to teach us. What we mean is that the Holy Spirit is our guide. When I prepare a lesson or sermon, there are a lot of different teaching methods and materials that I may use. In the same way, human agency is one of the methods through which the Holy Spirit teaches but the subject matter comes totally from the Father through Him.
When I was kid, we had some preachers who refused to study the Word of God in preparation for preaching because they wanted to be led by the Spirit of God. This resulted in an attitude of spiritual superiority that said, “Listen to me, I am getting my subject matter from the Spirit of God.” Often part of 1 John 2:27 where it states, “…the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you…” would be taken out of context and quoted. In fact, there were even ways to determine if someone got there message from the Spirit of God. If there was great emotional excitement, if the style of delivery fit the local culture, if (back in the days before there was air conditioning) the preacher’s shirt was totally soaked through with sweat, then you knew the message was from the Spirit of God.
We laugh but this danger shows up in many different ways. This is one of the main reasons that I am preaching this series on the Word of God. There are many who say, God has given me a unique experience, God has given me a dream or an impression, God has revealed this to me. If someone says, God has revealed something to them, you know one of two things must be true. Either they do not understand what it means to have something revealed to them and they are using the wrong word or they are crediting the Holy Spirit with something that comes from within themselves or, which is even worse, from Satan.
Here is a quote from Spurgeon on this same subject. (HT: carefulthought.wordpress.com)
WE NEED A TEACHER OR GUIDE WHO WILL DECLARE THE TRUTH OF CHRIST WITHOUT ANY CHANGE.
The Holy Spirit declares truth. He is called here the Spirit of truth. In fact, three times on this same evening Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth. Two weeks ago we saw that it is possible to discern the difference between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Jesus is saying that what the Holy Spirit reveals is always true and truth. This does not necessarily mean that He reveals something new. In fact, the words “tell” in verse 13 and “declare” in verses 14-15 mean that the Holy Spirit simply announces, reports, clarifies, and explains what is already known. He does not speak anything original. He does not “speak on His own authority.” (Jesus uses this same phrase to speak of His own words in relationship to the Father in John 12:49; 14:10.) The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit speak with one voice and both the Son and the Spirit have their message from the Father. Why? Because they are one.
(From Calvin’s commentary on these verses.) “Now arises a question, what were those things which the apostles were not yet able to learn?” What is it that was necessary for the Spirit to declare? Those things which are revealed in the New Testament.
Let me give you a few examples. One of the earliest epistles is the book of James. What happens in that book, is that James the brother of Jesus takes portions from the Sermon on the Mount and applies them to the everyday lives of Jewish believers. There are those who say that the Sermon of the Mount is not for believers today, that the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is for the millennial kingdom and technically they are correct, I suppose. (As a good dispensationalist, I am supposed to say that J .) James in his little book under the inspiration of the Spirit says, “Wake up! Just because Christ has not set up an earthly kingdom does not mean that the way you live is not connected to the way you believe. The principles Christ taught while here on earth still apply. Where did James get that? By revelation from the Holy Spirit.
Look at the sermons in the book of Acts. Those sermons could not have been preached before Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven. The apostles had to be taught by the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8 says that the Spirit would give them the ability to be witnesses. You might think that would be no hard thing since they had seen the death of Christ and knew the resurrected Christ and had seen Him ascend into heaven. Jesus points out though that they needed the Holy Spirit to teach them and guide them to tell what they had seen in a way that resulted in transformed lives.
Look at Paul’s letters to the Galatians and to the Romans. Justification by faith in Christ alone could not be explained until Christ had finished His work and the Holy Spirit had come to teach Paul the implications of that truth.
Look at Corinthians and Ephesians and Colossians. Paul needed the Holy Spirit to help him explain the importance of the body of Christ, the church, to the believers in those places.
Look at the letters to the Thessalonians, the book of Revelation, the prophetic sections of Matthew. None of those things were possible to understand, much less teach until Christ ascended and the Holy Spirit put to pen through the authors the truth in those books.
Go through every book in the New Testament and you will see that the men who wrote those books needed two things: the perspective of the work of Christ on the cross being finished through the resurrection and ascension of Christ and the guiding of the Holy Spirit to know how to explain, to declare the affect of that cross in us and in the world.
DOES THIS PASSAGE HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH US?
This now is where we in the 21st century come in. The Holy Spirit continues today to declare truth to our minds. Now there is a difference between us and the New Testament writers. There were some things declared to them that were inspired, God breathed. We do not need the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to us as He did to those early prophets and apostles. He has revealed all that is necessary in the Old and New Testaments. We do need Him though to declare to our minds the already revealed truth. This is what 1 John 2:27 means by “…the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you…” He is talking about the Holy Spirit declaring us to already revealed truth.
It is possible to see something and not recognize it, to hear something and not understand it, to feel something and not know what it is. The Holy Spirit is the one who make it possible for you to understand the Word of God. He does this, not by revealing hidden meanings or deeper meanings but by declaring the truth of His Word to us and then opening our minds to understand it. As I mentioned earlier, teachers have a place and the Holy Spirit uses teachers and other tools but you cannot understand the Word of God, you cannot apply the Word of God, you cannot be transformed by the Word of God unless the Holy Spirit who wrote the Word of God teaches it to you.
CONCLUSION: Tim Challies, a Canadian, told this week in an article on his blog entitled “Trusting the Instruments” about “ ‘…a program called ‘Mayday,’…It is a show about disasters, and most notably, plane crashes. It sounds morbid, I admit, but I find it interesting (though I’ll admit that it has made my children inordinately afraid of flying. They are now convinced that every plane crashes)…
…(One) night the show followed the story of a plane that had nearly crashed years before. The plane had been flying along just as it should and all appeared normal when suddenly it began to experience all kinds of strange problems. It gyrated across the sky, plummeting thousands of feet at a time and turning violently to one side. One and then two of the four engines stalled and failed, leaving the plane without the power it needed to maintain level flight. The pilot and copilot responded instinctually, doing their best to right the course of the aircraft. Meanwhile hundreds of passengers waited in abject terror, not knowing if they would live or die. The pilots fought valiantly and eventually found they were able to control the plane. Mysteriously, the engines started again and they were able again to provide sufficient power. The pilots directed the plane to a nearby airport and landed safely. Only a handful of passengers experienced serious injury though the plane sustained heavy damage from the immense loads placed on it during flight.
In the aftermath, investigators found that almost everything that had occurred had been the fault of the pilots. When the plane encountered some turbulence the plane’s flight manual told the pilots how to react. But they relied on instinct rather than the book. And then, when the plane began to experience further complications, they ignored the instruments that should have directed them to the source and solution of their problem. They swung the plane violently from side to side attempting to right it because they ignored the aircraft’s instrument that told them where the horizon was and how to keep the plane level. They ignored the instruments that told them that their engine problem was not as serious as they thought. Blinded by the stress of the situation, they ignored the manual and did things their own way. But for the hand of providence it could have cost them their lives and the lives of hundreds of passengers.”
INVITATION: Are you going to follow the Spirit of God or are you going to fly blind? Some of you are trying to be good enough to go to heaven. You are trusting yourselves, when God has given you the instrument of the Word of God revealed and illuminated by the Spirit of God. The last invitation in the Bible is this, “And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)” Jesus paid it all for you on the cross. The Spirit keeps inviting you to come to Jesus for forgiveness of sin. Would you come, today?
Believers, we have no excuse. People turn to dreams and programs and the things and wisdom of this world and all manner of other things looking for guidance. God has given us His Word as the instrument with which the Holy Spirit will guide us. Do you know His Word? Do you read it and study it and memorize it and let it permeate your being? If not, then you may be flying blind. Commit yourself today to God’s Word and to allowing it to transform you by the Spirit of truth.
Isaiah 29:13 with Matthew 15:7-9 August 16, 2007
Posted by roberttalley in Bible, False Doctrine, Hypocrisy, Isaiah, Matthew, Religion.add a comment
In my devotions, I am slowly reading through Isaiah and am understanding some things that I had easily overlooked before. Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13 in Matthew 15:7-9 when He criticizes the traditions of men that were being followed in his time. The last part of the quote is, “And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”
Is my worship, both the motivation for it and the expression of it governed by God’s Word or by men’s expectations and/or commands? Why do I obey God, fear God? The commandment of man? The commandment of God? That is the difference between hypocrisy and reality. The end of man’s wisdom is made clear in the following verse of Isaiah 29, verse 14 (which is quoted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:19). It will perish.
How important it is to follow God and His Word which will not perish but is eternal rather than to follow man whose best wisdom is illusory and ends ultimately in destruction.
