Sermon for 12/11/2005
The Book of Books
Introduction:
A minister was visiting one of his members. The lady of the house was trying to impress him about how devout she was by pointing out the large Bible on the bookshelf and talking in a very reverent tone about how it was the “Word of God.” Her young son interrupted the conversation, “Well, if that’s God’s book we better send it back to him because we never read it!”
WBTU:
A. Beginning in January we are starting a sermon series based on the Bible reading plan in the Lookout Magazine that is on the table in the foyer. This Bible reading plan will also be published in the bulletin and newsletters. I am going to be preaching on Scripture that you have read the previous week in my sermon each Sunday. We are going to read the Bible through in a year, a little section each day, and I can guarantee that it will change your life.
B. The Bible itself says in (Heb 4:12 NIV) For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
C. But how can we know that this book is the Word of God. After all, it was written by people and because of that it must contain errors. I am sure that we have heard it many times that the Bible cannot really be the Word of God. We have heard from supposed Bible scholars about how the Bible is somehow defective.
D. Dean Davis, director of Come Let Us Reason, a Bible teaching ministry, after a lecture in a senior citizens center, had a man come and ask him, “How can you possibly believe that the Bible is the Word of God?”
E. Dean Davis, obviously a quick thinking man, answered him and said, “Sir, there is one piece of evidence above all others that persuades me that the Bible is God’s Word. It’s called the unity of Scripture. The Bible is actually a collection of books- 66 of them, written by more than 40 authors, over the course of some 1,500 years; yet it is one unified book. The unity of the Bible is so intricate and so beautiful that no mere mortal could possibly have produced it. It has to be the product of a single divine Mind working through the different authors. It is this amazing unity that persuades me that the Bible is the Word of God.” With that, the man turned and walked away.
F. Dean Davis attempted to point this man to the Biblical order. Order. Webster’s Dictionary defines order as an arrangement of different objects integrated into a system according to a definite plan.
G. When we come to this definite plan this implies that there is a designer. Order implies and reveals design and design implies and reveals a designer. Order always indicates personal intelligence, purpose, and power at work.
H. Dean Davis expanded on that theme in a recent article in Christian Research Journal called, “Apologetics and the Unity of the Bible.”
Thesis: The Bible is one story, about one God, who is administering one plan of salvation, that is centered around one person, who is attested to by one body of signs, and who is worshipped by one people, according to one worldview.
For instances:
1. One Story
A. The Bible tells one story. This story has a beginning, middle, and end. It tells us the creation, the Fall of Mankind, and the restoration of mankind through the righteousness of Christ.
B. This story has many characters and many themes. It has a plot and many subplots. There is rising action, developing conflict, apparent defeat, and unexpected deliverance and final victory. There is romance, mystery, comedy, and tragedy.
C. The Bible displays an outstanding literary unity that reveals the hand of one Author. Now the Bible is more than a story, it is not fiction, it is history. It is based on facts of the past.
D. AT my high school they had a class called The Literature of the Bible. We looked at the Bible from the viewpoint of a piece of literature. What is interesting to note is that the story of the Bible is where many lesser stories get their beauty and truth!
E. Many people sense that their lives have significance and meaning. They feel like they are part of a much bigger story and in the Bible they find their part in the universal story. For everyone who plays his part in the story well, there is a happy ending.
F. Many people look at the Bible as a book of history. It is full of dull, uninteresting facts of the past. Yes, it is a book of history, but what makes it so exciting is that is a book of His story, God’s story.
2. One God
A. In the Bible’s one story, one character towers above all others: God. Part of the drama of the story is that as it unfolds it reveals more about God, including His names, attributes, purposes, plans, mighty works and mysterious ways. Then, as the story nears it climax, something of wonder is unveiled: the one God is actually a Trinity (Godhead) of persons- Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
B. The Bible, unlike other ancient writings, displays a consistent theological unity. This is consistent with the fact that all humans intuitively know that there is, and can be, only one God. It is not surprising, then, that His Book reveals that part of His mission is to expose and dethrone every other so called god.
C. (Phil 2:9 NIV) Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, (Phil 2:10 NIV) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (Phil 2:11 NIV) and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
3. One Plan of Salvation
** The Bible reveals that God is always acting according to a plan, a plan to redeem mankind. Not many plans but one plan, we need to be thankful for even one plan.
** The Eternal Covenant of Grace.
a. The New Testament reveals that even before the creation, God knew Adam’s sin and its consequences for humans and nature; but He also had a plan to redeem them. The writer of Hebrews called this plan the eternal covenant.
b. The Bible tells us that this covenant is an agreement between two parties: God and mankind; a promise to all who enter into it: forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God; a penalty for all who do not enter into it: eternal punishment away from the presence of God; the way by which God offers eternal life to mankind: God’s only Son, living and dying in behalf of His people; and a demand: simple faith in the person and work of Christ.
c. God determined that for many years the elements of this covenant would remain hidden in Him; only at the time He appointed- at the appearing of His Son- would He reveal it to the world.
4. One Person
A. Christ is the focal point of the Scriptures. The Scriptures revolve around Him.
B. (John 5:39 NIV) You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me,
C. (Luke 24:44 NIV) He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."
D. There is a unity regarding Christ in the Bible. It reflects God’s purpose that all people should honor the Son just as they honor Him. (John 5:23 NIV) that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
E. The New Testament places Christ in the midst, in the center of the disciples, the religious leaders, the crowds, Moses and Elijah, the 7 lamp stands, the 24 elders, and the very throne of God.
F. The heart of the Bible is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
5. One Body of Signs
A. How do we know that this is all true? By the miracles that testify of it.
B. In the New Testament, God shines a spotlight on Christ by means of His virgin birth, angel visitations, mighty miracles, and most importantly, His resurrection from the dead.
C. The Old Testament prophecies are quite astounding in accuracy and details about Christ many years before Jesus Christ was born. How could they speak of His divine nature and preexistence (Psalm 110), His virgin birth (Isaiah 7), His birthplace (Micah 5), His ministry to the poor (Isaiah 61), the details of his death (Isaiah 53), His resurrection (Psalm 16), His heavenly reign (Psalm 2 and 110), and His second coming in power and glory to judge and redeem (Daniel 7 and Isaiah 66)? Jesus Christ fulfilled all of them.
D. This is one of the main ways of directing lost sinners to Jesus Christ, for persuading them that the Old and New Testaments are a single, Christ-centered book that is the Word of God.
6. One People
A. God gathers a single people to worship His Son. This group of people is Jew and Gentile, male and female, rich and poor, slave and free, good and (formerly) evil; yet, because of their love for Christ, they are one.
B. The Bible pictures this unity by many images: they are a seed, a people, a nation, a race, a priesthood, a congregation, a bride, a body, a temple, a flock, and a new man.
C. Jesus named this people His church (the called out ones)- those who are called out of this world’s corrupt systems and called into God’s marvelous family, where we worship Him in spirit, truth, gratitude and joy.
7. One Worldview
A. A worldview answers the questions that we have as humans: What is reality? What is the origin of the universe, life, and man? Why is there evil and suffering in the world? What can be done about it? What is the meaning and purpose of life? How shall we live? What happens when we die? Where is history heading? How can we find truth?
B. The Bibles answers to these questions are far sounder than other world religions or philosophies. The thing that is different about the Bible is that it not only identifies the problems but it offers solutions. Many can identify the problems but they don’t have any solutions.
C. For example, it identifies reality: God. But it doesn’t stop there; it explains how alienated sinners may be united with that reality. It not only tells about an afterlife in heaven or hell, but it reveals the grounds on which anyone may be sure that they are going to one and not the other.
D. The Bible gives us a complete and unified view of all things: things past, present, and future; things above, upon, and beneath; things without and within; things human, angelic and divine. Reality can be seen and understood as a whole through the Bible.
E. So many people do not think Biblically and so they still have a lot of questions about life. The Bible identifies the important questions and then answers them.
F. (2 Tim 3:16 NIV) All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
So what?
A. This upcoming year 2006 we will be going over portions of the Bible. However, I ask that you go over the whole Bible, at least read it for a few minutes every day, because a 25 minute sermon is not going to give you the answers to life, the Bible will. It will change your life. Pick up the Lookout, take the Bible reading schedule home with you and read it everyday, listen to the Bible in your car, read it on your computer. Whatever is best for you, but just do it. I can’t make you drink, but I can make you thirsty.
B. The Bible tells us how we trust Christ for salvation. Plan of salvation.
