Transcript

Sermon Transcript: What God Says About the Word

2/16/2020 Jeff Schwarzentraub 43 min read

Well, good morning. Thanks for choosing to worship with us today. We're so glad that you're here and as we continue our worship, let's go before the Lord and pray and ask the Lord to speak directly to us through his living and active word. Would you join me this morning? Lord Jesus, we give you all the glory, honor and praise Lord, we thank you for who you are. And Lord, we thank you for your word that reveals who you are. And so Lord be helpful to us today as we look into your word to see what it is that you say about your word. Lord, we want to hear your testimony about the word of God. Lord, be helpful to me as I proclaim, be helpful to us as we listen. And Lord, our desire is that we get a greater picture of who you are with a greater desire by faith to put into practice what you show us.

And now for all of those gathered here, who desire to hear the Lord speak to them and by faith to believe what he shows you by putting it into practice and obedience. Would you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen. Amen. I am so excited about this series because there is such an assault on the word of God. And if you say that you believe the entire word of God, you're going to have people say to you say what. You really believe that old fashioned book. You really believe that, that thing is true. And we spent last week talking about the testimony of what the word says about the word. So, in other words, not what do I say about, but what is the Bible itself speak about the Bible. Today we're going to take a look at what does God have to say about the word.

And as we continue to journey in this series, my hope is that you'll see from the word what God has to say about the word so that you will have conviction to make a decision about what you personally believe about out the word of God. Now, last week I spent about 60 minutes talking about what the word says about the word. And I had several people saying slow down. You talk too fast. And I said, we already spent 60 minutes and I didn't have an hour and a half. So, thanks for bearing with me. But I wanted to give you a little bit of a recap of what we talked about in case you weren't here last week, just spending a few minutes on what we said, that the word says about the word. And as we talked about the Bible, where we see in Genesis one and two, the creation story, then we saw Satan come on the scene and we began to talk about what the enemy desires to do in your life.

Whether you're a Christian or a non-Christian, there are four doubts that he wants to lay in your mind. And the first is this, Satan wants you to get to doubt God's word. The enemy wants you to doubt God's word. In other words, the written word is the revelation or testimony about who God is and what he says about himself. And Satan's desire, whether you're a believer or a nonbeliever is to ask yourself this question, have God said, did God really say, indeed has God said? He's getting you to doubt his word. That's where he starts. If he succeeds in that, then you will go to point number two, which you will doubt God's goodness. If you doubt God's word, you will always doubt God's goodness. When you talk to somebody and they talk about, God's not really good. If God were good, then why this, if God were good, then why that?

It's because they themselves doubt that the word of God is true. Revealing that God is a good God. If you doubt God's word and you doubt God's goodness, you're also going to doubt God's justice. You're going to doubt that God's a holy God. That his holy righteous and true. You will out the fact that there's any justice for your sin. You will doubt the fact that a loving God would ever send anybody to hell who disobeys him. You'll doubt his justice. And if you doubt God's word and you doubt God's goodness, and you doubt God's justice. Ultimately you'll doubt God's authority, which means when Jesus said all authority and heaven on earth has been given to me, therefore, go. You'll doubt that he has that authority. You won't live under the authority of God's word. You will live out your own authority. And that's what we spent a lot of time talking about last week and how the enemy to this very day continues to work in your life, to get you to doubt God's word.

And the reason that you don't need to doubt God's word is because we talked about what the written word testifies. Last week we gave the reasons why the written word testifies is true and believable. We said this, that first of all, the written word testifies that it is eternal. That this book that you hold in your hand, that I'm holding in my hand is an eternal book. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our Lord stands forever. That's Isaiah 40 verse eight, Jesus said in Matthew, 24:35, "Heaven and earth may pass away but my words will never pass away." We even looked at Psalm 19 and took a look at all of the testimony in Psalm 19 about the word, how it's right. And it's sure. And it's true. And it's guess what else? It's perfect. So, the word testimony about the word is that the word is eternal.

Then we took a look at this, that the word of God is inspired. The word of God is inspired. And by inspired, we didn't mean like inspiring, like it fills me up and it's kind of like that song I heard last week, I'm totally inspired. We took a look at second Timothy 3:16 that said "All scripture is God breathed." That's what inspired means. It's God breathed. It's the [inaudible 00:05:04]. God breathed. And is useful for teaching rebuking and training and righteousness so the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. That every word on every page from Genesis one through revelation, 22:21 is God speaking his word to us. He inspired it all. And we said, this word is infallible, which means this word is trustworthy. We took a look at second Peter chapter one versus 21. He said, "But above all, you must understand this, that no prophecy ever had its origin in the will of man, but men were moved by the holy spirit, spoke from God."

In other words, while we're reading about the 40 authors that pinned this book over 1500 years, even when we'd read what John wrote or what Paul wrote or what Peter wrote, ultimately, it's not what these guys were saying. It is what the holy spirit was saying through these men, which means it's infallible. God testifies that his word is completely true. God testifies that his word is infallible, it's trustworthy, which means this, the written word also testifies that it's inherent. That means there are no errors in the by Bible. You will talk to people that, oh, look at all the contradictions in the Bible, ask them to point a couple out. Most cannot. We'll talk about some of the ones that are seeming contradictions when we take a look next week at the history of the Bible. But for right now, there are no errors. I've been studying this for 30 years.

And here's what you should know. If there are any errors in the Bible, there may as well be a hundred thousand errors, because if it did, it didn't come from the word of truth. If the Bible can't be perfect and true and have errors in it all at the same time. So, the biblical testimony about itself is there are no errors in this book. And ultimately what we talked about when we're talking about this Bible, when it comes to the written word, the written word testifies that it's supernatural. Everything about this book is supernatural. We are learning about an infinite eternal, holy God, that we otherwise would know nothing about. I mean, take the greatest miracle story in the entire Bible. It's Genesis chapter one, "In the beginning, God created the heavens the earth." How did he do it? In six days. "All things were created by him and for him, thrones, dominions, and rulers and authorities."

And you get to Genesis 131 and you see that all that God had made, he said was what? Very good. Now, if you believe that miracle story, which I do that got supernaturally, created everything that we see and don't see in six literal days, what else is hard to believe about the Bible? If you believe that? I don't know that Jesus walked on water. Really. I mean, he created everything out of nothing. He came and walked on a little bit of a pond that he created out of ... Why is that hard to believe? Why is it hard to believe that Jesus fed 20,000 people with five loaves and two fish if he created all the vegetation out of nothing back in Genesis one? Why is it hard to believe that when a man is paralyzed from birth, he says, pick up your mat and walk? He already created humankind and created life back in Genesis one.

If he can create everything out of nothing, then there's no story in the Bible that's all that miraculous. But it is supernatural. And so that's what we talked about in this book was that the written word is both eternal, inspired and fallible and errant, and supernatural. And we ended last week by talking about how this written word, the graphy of scripture reveals the living word or the Logos. in John chapter one and verse one, it says, "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God. And the word was God." And when it's talking about that, it's not talking about the graphy anymore. It's not talking about the written word. It's talking about the Logos, the living word. And in John, 1:14, it says, and the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. So, what you see in the new Testament is all that the scripture has been writing about is embodied in the person, the God man, Jesus Christ.

And this is why we ended last week. We look at Hebrew 4:12 for the word of God, the Logos of God, the living person of God. It's living an active, sharper than any two edge sword. It penetrates to divide both soul and spirit, joints in marrow and judges the attitudes and intentions of the heart. Means when the written word is studied or proclaimed or taught or memorize the written word revealing the living word has the potential of dividing you at the deepest place in your life, soul and spirit. Well, what's your soul? It's everything you are. It's what's eternal. It's what's going to live forever. It's your personality. It's your characteristics. It's your upbringing. It's who you are. And how many of you know, God sometimes has to get or soul out of the way so he can tell you what he wants to get done.

So, God can speak to your spirit because your personality and your soul and everything, this is who I am. This is who I am. God's like, get that out of the way, because here's what I want you to do. Now go do that. He even judges the attitudes and intentions of your heart. So, when you study the word and you hear the word, there's sometimes what God will show you that you did the right thing, but your motivation for doing it was wrong. Yeah, you gave to the church, but you gave begrudgingly and God's like, I'm glad that you gave, but I didn't like the way that you gave. Now, next time I want you to give cheerfully. I saw that you forgave them, but you didn't forgive them with the right motive of heart. I want you to truly forgive them.

So, forgive them. I mean, the word of God has the way of speaking to you not only about who you are, but about mode that nobody else, even yourself sometimes will understand. And the written word reveals the living word, Jesus Christ. Now, today, what we're going to talk about is what does God say about the word. Let's review. Last week we talked about, you may not believe the Bible. You may say the Bible is just a bunch of made up stories by a bunch of men and who really care. But that's not the Bible's testimony about itself. The Bible's testimony by itself is everything that we're communicating to you is completely true. And it's perfect and there's nothing wrong with it. And it's going to end endure forever. And you'll know that someday. That's the Bible's testimony about itself. Now, what does God say about his word?

If the word became flesh, then we're going to take a look at what does Jesus say as the living word about his written word and how do these things combine? We're going to talk about four areas today about what the living word believed about all of the written word. Now, when I say believed, I not only mean believed, but I mean believes. Because when we talk about the living word, we're talking about the one who was, who is and who is to come. So, when I say believed, it means, yeah, he believed it. He believes it. He'll always believe it. So, the living word, let's talk about number one. The living word, Jesus Christ believed that all the written word testifies about himself, the living word believed all the written word testified about him. If you open your Bible to John chapter five, John chapter five and verse 39, Jesus is having an encounter with the Pharisees, which we're going to see all morning.

He always was talking to them. They were the religious leaders of the day. They were the ones who thought they knew all things because they actually studied the written word. They studied the scriptures. And here's what Jesus says to them, "You search the scriptures because you think that in them, you have eternal life. It is these that testify about me. And yet you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life." Here's what he says. He says, "You diligently study the scriptures because you think by studying the scriptures, you have life." Jesus is saying that's wrong. It means this, you can study the Bible every day for the rest of your life and still go to hell. You can know exactly what the word of God says and still go to hell. Jesus was saying, you study the scriptures, that's good.

But these are the very scriptures that testify about me. Well, which ones? Well, everyone from Genesis chapter one through the end to Revelation, they all testify about Jesus. Here's the claim he's making. Everything you read in the word of God is a testimony about me and who I am. So, you study the scriptures because you think in studying you have eternal life. Yet these are the very scriptures that testify about me. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. Here's what he's saying. The book can't save you, but the author of the book can. That's what he's talking about. And here's what he's saying. I know you're not saved because I'm God and I don't have a relationship with you. And so you can study the word all you want. But these are the very scriptures that testify from the beginning to the end completely about me.

And yet here I am standing in front of you as God and you don't even realize that the very scriptures you're studying are testifying about me. And you refuse to come to me to have life. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No one comes to the father, except through me. You hear the audacity of the claim. Here's the audacity of the claim. The audacity of the claim that Jesus made is that all scriptures testifying about himself. When you read from Genesis onward, he is testifying about himself. Well, why is that a big deal? Well, go back to Genesis chapter one and verse one, "In the beginning, God created the heavens in the earth." How'd he do it? He spoke and everything came into being. Who spoke? Jesus was saying, that was me. I did that in six days.

I spoke, everything came into existence. That's me that the Bible's talking about. Well what about in Exodus when he had a deliverer? Who delivered the people from Egypt? Well, that was Moses. No, no, no, Jesus's like that was me. I was in the pillar of cloud. I was in the pillar of fire. Moses may have held up his staff, Moses didn't part anything. Who do you part of the Red Sea. Who do you think brought Israel through? Who do you think collapsed to sea and killed all the Egyptians. Who do you think provided quail? Who do you think provided food? Who do you think provided everything that they need? That was me. Everything in the scripture is testifying about me. Now you may not believe that. You may not believe the written word. You may not believe the testimony of the living word, but here's what Jesus believed.

Jesus believed that all the written word was true. And Jesus believed that everything in the written word testified about who he was, and who he is, and who he will always be. That's why there's so many new Testament writers. When they write about out the person of Jesus, they write as if he is indeed God. In the book of Hebrews chapter one versus one to three, it says this, "God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days, he has spoken to us in his son who he appointed air of all things through whom he also made the world." There you go. Who made the world? Jesus did, his son. And he, Jesus is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature and upholds all things by the word of his power.

Jesus Christ is the exact representation of God. When you see Jesus, you see God. That's the testimony that God has about the Bible. That the Bible reveals that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God and there is no other, and all scriptures testify about him. That's why in the same book in Hebrews chapter 12, verse two, Jesus is referred to as what? The author and the perfecter of our faith. Because who else is there to talk about except God's son. It's Christ in us, the hope of glory. That's why we have hope. And everything in the scripture is testifying about Jesus. Let me just give you an example. If you turn your Bible back to Exodus, chapter three, for those of you that have been in church for a while, you'll know this story. This is where God is calling Moses to deliver his people.

And it was an interesting story because Moses saw this burning bush, which was really not that big of a deal in a desert to see a bush that burns. But this burning bush was not being consumed. It was just burning, but it wasn't going anywhere. Moses said, this is a strange site. I'll go over and see what it is. And when he gets to the bush, the bush speaks, says, Moses, take off your sandals. You're on holy ground. Got to talk to you. And what we learn is that God is actually speaking through the bush. And God did call Moses to go and serve him. And in Exodus chapter three, verse 13, after he's been called, Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel. And I will say to them that God of your fathers has sent me to you. Now they may say to me, what is his name?"

"What shall I say to them?" So, as Moses is hearing the call of God to go to Egypt, he's like, okay, now when I go, I'm going to see my fellow countrymen, the Israelites. And I'm going to tell them that their God has sent me to call them out of bondage and go with me. Now, when they say, what's the name of your God? What do I tell them? What's your name? He wants to know God's name. And God answers. In Exodus 3:14, God said to Moses, "I am who I am." And he said, "Thus, you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am has sent you." So, what's the name of God? I am. I am, that's his name. So, when he goes to Egypt to talk to Israel, he saying, I am sent me to you. Now keep that in mind because of the scriptures testifying about Jesus.

So, we're going to see here in a moment who was the one that was talking in the bush. It was Jesus. If you turn your Bible ahead to John chapter eight. In John chapter eight in verse 47, Jesus begins one of his conversations. And he says this, "He who is of God, here's the words of God. For this reason, you do not hear them because you are not of God." So, he's telling the people that are listening to him. I know you and we don't have a relationship and you're not of God because people that listen to me know God, because I'm God. The Jews answered and said to him, "Do we not rightly say that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?" All the religious people that day believe Jesus was demonized. Believed he was a liar. Why? Because he was constantly going around saying he was the only way of salvation that he was the only God and that everything in their scripture testified about him.

So, they're saying back to him, we're right in saying, you're not really a pure breed Israelite. And we're totally right in saying you have a demon, right? And here's Jesus's response, Jesus answered and said, "I do not have a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. But I do not seek my glory. There's one who seeks and judges truly, truly I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." He's like, no, I don't have a demon. And as a matter of fact, I honor my dad and you don't know my dad. And as a matter of fact, let me go one step further. Anyone who keeps my word will never see death. If you believe what I'm saying to you, you will never, ever die. That's his claim. Now they're really going to get fired up at him.

Because notice what they say now. The Jews said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died and the prophets also, and you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death." So, what's he saying? Abraham is the greatest Israelite of all time. It's who God called to form the nation. He's dead. All the prophets that we read about in scriptures. They're dead. Now you are here saying if you keep my words, you'll never taste death. Now we know you're demonized. Now we know you're a lunatic. Hey, now we know you're crazy. They say, "Surely you're not greater than our father, Abraham who died. The prophets died too. Whom do you make yourself out to be?" Here you go. Ready? Jesus said, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me of whom you say he is our God."

"And you have not come to know him, but I know him. And if I say that, I do not know him. I will be a liar like you. But I do know him and keep his word." In other words, here's what Jesus is saying. I know my dad, I and my dad are one. I know you don't know him because you don't know me and you don't know my dad. And I could be a liar like you and say, I don't know God, but since I am God, I definitely know him. And I know my father because he and I are one. So, I could lie like you, but I'm not going to lie. And I'm going to tell you the truth that I am God and whoever keeps my word will never die. And then just to kind of put it in there a little further says this, "Your father, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it and was glad."

You want to know about Abraham. Let me tell you about him. He rejoiced to see the day I would be here and he saw it. He's glad. So, the Jew said to him, "You are not yet 50 years old. And yet you have seen Abraham." I mean, you're a nut. Abraham's been dead for generations. The prophets have been dead. Now you're talking to anyone who keeps your words will see eternal life. And what you're saying is that Abraham and Abraham rejoice to see your day. Now we know you're a lunatic. You're not greater than our father, Abraham. You're not greater than the prophets, are you? You've seen Abraham. What did Jesus say? Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly I say to you before Abraham was born, I am." What's he saying? He said, remember that story in your scriptures about the bush that talked to Moses.

That was me speaking to him. Remember when God called Abraham to form a great nation. Who do you think the one that called him was? It's me. I'm the eternal God of the universe. And if you keep my word, you will never die. Of course, I'm greater than the prophets. Of course, I'm greater than Abraham. Because every single one of the scriptures testifies about me. So, what did they do? The very next verse, so, they picked up stones to try to stone him, but he alluded them. I mean, Jesus was a dead man walking. All the [inaudible 00:22:38] he's ever did was read scriptures and pick up stones. That's what they spent their whole time doing. Because he angered them so much because they were looking for God to be different than Jesus. When Jesus was standing right under them as the God man in full flesh saying here I am and I came for you and they rejected him.

So, what is God's testimony about the word? God's testimony about the written word is that everything in the Bible testifies that Jesus is indeed the Christ. And if you understand that when you read the word, you will see the Bible like you've never seen it before. Just to give you a little foreshadowing for next week. Think about Isaiah chapter 53, where the prophet 750 years before Jesus was born, says he would be pierced through for our transgressions and wounded for our in inequities and by his stripes, we would be healed. Jesus Christ fulfilled that prophecy perfectly. Or how about this? This little town of Bethlehem. This one that was out in the far reaches that nobody even thought about. That in Micah five chapter two God said, "Through you though your smallest of all, I'm going to birth my son through you." Jesus fulfilled that prophecy.

I mean, and if you start looking in the Bible for how all this works, you will see this in fresh ways. I mean this stuff just kind of fires me up. So, I'll give you a taste for next week because I just get fired up about this. So, think about this in Genesis chapter 22, what you have is for a long time, God had promised Abraham that he'd be the father of great nation. So, many would be his descendants. They would outnumber the grains of sand. They'd outnumbered the stars in the sky. Here was the only problem with that prophecy. He didn't have any kids. And when he got to a place where he tried to have a kid through someone that wasn't his wife, God said, that's not the promise. I'll give you the promise. Your wife's going to get pregnant and you'll have a son, which may not seem that miraculous.

Unless you realize that Abraham at this time's a hundred years old and his wife is 90. She laughed when she heard the prophecy. And yet what did God do? They got pregnant. And what happened? They were given the promised son. Promised son's name was Isaac. And through Isaac, all the nations of the earth were going to be blessed through him. That's where the seed was going to come from. But God was testing Abraham. And at one point he asked him, he said, hey, listen, take your son. You're one and only son. I want you to sacrifice him to me. And at this point in Abraham's life, he's like, all right, if that's what God's going to do, then he's got a plan that's bigger than mine. So, I'm going to be obedient to God. So, we get to Genesis chapter 22 in verse six, where you see the father Abraham and his son, Isaac.

And it said, "Abraham took wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son. And he took in his hand, the fire and the knife. So, the two of them walked on together. Isaac, the son spoke to Abraham, his father and said my father. And he said, here I am my son. And he said, behold, the fire and the wood. But where's the lamb for the burnt offering. Abraham said, God will for himself the lamb for the burnt offering my son. So, the two of them walked on together." What do you see? This is a real story that really happened that Abraham took his real son up. But when you start peeling it back and saying, well, how does all the scripture testify about Jesus? What do you see? Here's what you see. You see a father taking his promised son, putting wood on his back, walking up a hill with him to offer a one time sacrifice for sin.

That he's going to sacrifice his own son. What happens when they get to the top of the hill? He gets laid on the wood and right about the time he is ready to slay his son, God speaks to him and says, don't touch that boy. And all of a sudden there's a ram that's caught up in the thicket and they tie the ram down. And the ram makes the covering for sin. Why? Because the story wasn't finalized yet because in the new Testament, what do you have? You have a son that's talking to his father as he's carrying wood on his back all the way up to the cross. And he eventually gets nailed on it. And he tells the father, if there's any other way, I let it be. And the father says, no behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

So, what do you see back in Genesis 22. Foreshadowing of the coming Messiah. You see it all over the place. There's all sorts of these things if you're looking for who is Jesus and how's he at work. It's telling us the story. There's so many more, but we got to move on. So, here's the deal. These scriptures testify about Jesus. And if you believe that your life has changed. And John chapter seven, verse 37 in following, here's what Jesus says. John 7:37 in following. He says, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me as a scripture, said from his inmost being will flow rivers of living water." What's he saying? He's like, if you really believe that I'm the Christ. If you really believe that by believing in my words, you have life in my name. Guess what?

I will come live in. And when I live in you, I will be the living water that pours through you to everybody you come into contact with. Amen. I mean, Jesus was constantly talking about the fact that he was God and that all scripture testified about him. So, what does that mean? That means salvation is exclusive through him. There's no other way to get to God except through him. There's nobody else that's made that claim. There's nobody else that said everything in this book testifies about me. Nobody's made the claim. Everything spoken in this book was me speaking. There's nobody that made the claim that I fulfilled everything in this book. That's exactly what God was saying. It's exactly what Jesus was saying about this book. That's why this book is trustworthy and true. Even when Jesus was leaving his disciples in John 14, he told him he was going to go prepare a place for him.

And if it wasn't so he wouldn't have told them. And the disciples asked, well then where are you going? How do we know the way? And what did Jesus say? You know the way. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No one comes to the father except through me. So, Philip speaks up and says, "Well, Lord, just show us the father. And it is enough for us." And Jesus says to Philip, "Have I not been with you so long? And yet you have not come to know me, Philip. He who has seen me has seen the father. How can you say, show us the father? Do you not believe that I am in the father? And that the father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, but the father abiding in me does his works."

"Believe me, that I am in the father and the father is in me. Otherwise believe because of the works themselves." What's he saying? If you've seen me, you've seen my dad. Because the father's in me and I am in him. Everything I speak, I'm just speaking what he says. Everything I do, I'm just doing what he says. If you've been with me, you know the father. I and the father are one. That's his testimony. So, you need to understand if you're going to say I don't believe the Bible. I don't believe it's true. You need to understand that the Bible testifies that everything we're talking about is true. And God himself, the living word, testifies that everything the Bible says is about him. And that he's the one true God. That everything testifies about him. Number two, the living word believed all that the written word testifies to the truth.

Notice this. The living word, Jesus Christ believed that all the written word, the scriptures testified to the truth. In John chapter 18 Jesus is standing before Pontius Pilate. And Pilate ask him, "So, you're a king. Are we really to believe that you're a king." And Jesus answered him in John 18:37, "You say correctly that I'm a king, for this I have been born. And for this I have come into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice." Why was Jesus born? Jesus said, "I'm born because I'm the king. And I'm born because I came in the world to testify to the truth. And anyone who believes my words believes the truth." What does Pilate then say? What is truth? Man, can you believe that? I mean, they lived in a generation where people thought there wasn't such thing as absolute truth.

In the first century, they didn't believe that there were absolutes. Man, you ever see that in our culture? How can you really believe absolutely that's true? There's no such thing as absolutes. Absolutely are just made up. It's whatever you want to believe about something that's true. You can't say it's absolutely true for all people. To which my responses are you absolutely sure about that? I mean, at the end of the day, there has to be absolute truth. If you don't believe in absolute truth, you can say you don't believe in gravity, but if you step off a high building, gravity is still true. Whether you believe it or not, Jesus is saying I'm true. Whether you believe me or not. The Bible says that the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and on the earth and under the earth of Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father. That's truth.

Whether you believe it or not, you will bow your knee and say that Jesus Christ is Lord, because that's what the word testifies to. Jesus said in John 17:17, "Thy word is truth." Everything Jesus said, he's the way the truth and the life. That's why he said heaven and earth may pass away. But my words will never pass away. That's why he says in Luke 9:26, "Whoever's ashamed of me and my words, I'll be ashamed of when I come." For the believer, you don't need to apologize for the book. You don't need to apologize for the word of God. You don't need to cower in a corner thinking that what you hold in your hands is not all that important. What you hold in your hands is the written testimony of God that reveals the living God that is living and active and among us, who is sovereignly ruling everything.

And he is the truth. Whether people believe it or not. Amen. That's the truth. And guess what? Jesus speaks to everything. I mean, it's so interesting. I mean, one of my stories ... I mean, when it comes to the Bible, if you talk to people about why they don't believe the Bible. One of the stories that they'll take you to is Jonah. I mean, you really believe that a man was swallowed by a fish and stayed in his belly for three days. I mean, come on. It's just a myth. It's a fairy tale. That's what most people will say. So, let's take a look at what God says about the story. If you turn your Bible to Matthew chapter 12 and verse 38, it's interesting because he is having another encounter with the Pharisees because they're not liking him very much. And it says, "Then some of the scribes and the Pharisees said to him, teacher, we want to see a sign from you."

Now that shouldn't make you laugh. Now, who are they asking for a sign? Here's who they're asking for a sign. The one that they've seen heal people. The one that they've seen cause the lame to walk. The one that they've seen give recovery of sight to the blind. The one that they've seen feed 5,000 plus people in the wilderness with five loaves and two fish. The one they've seen raise people from the dead. I mean, here's what they're saying. Just give us a sign and then we'll believe. What more do you want? You got God standing right in front of you. And you've seen them to all his miracles. And yet you're still asking for a sign. Notice what Jesus says, "But he answered it and said to them an evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign." An evil generation, a wicked generation. One who doesn't believe in God.

One who has adulterated their spiritual vitality in Christ for some other God's. They always want to sign. Give me a sign. Give me a sign. If you show me Jesus, if he shows up, then I'll believe. No you won't because only an evil and adulterous generation searches for a sign. But Jesus is like, okay, I know you're evil and adulterers but I'll give you a sign. And yet no sign will be given to it. But the sign of Jonah, the prophet. You want to sign? Let me tell you about a sign. I'll tell you about Jonah since you don't be leave anything anyway. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a sea monster. So, the son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. You want to sign? Jesus says, here's what God says.

I'll give you a sign. I'll give you the sign of Jonah. What did God believe about Jonah? That Jonah was a real prophet. He was a real man that was swallowed by a real sea monster that stayed in a real belly of that sea monster for three real days and then was vomited out on the land and went and proclaimed to Nineveh. And Jesus said in the same way that story's true. I too am going to go into the belly of the earth for three days after I'm crucified and rise from the dead. That's true. Hey, evil and adulterous generation would sign you want? Jonah. The one you do don't believe. I believe because I was there. I watched all Nineveh repent. And he goes on to say this, "The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold, something greater than Jonah is here."

What's he saying? On judgment day for are all those who say, I didn't believe that stupid story about the fish, even about 120,000 Ninevehites that are going to be there like, we believed it. Not only do we believe he was swallowed by a fish, we saw him come teach to us about who God was and we all repented and believed in him. And that's why we're here in heaven. So, we totally believe that story. And they're going to condemn you because it really, really, really happened. And Jesus saying, guess what? Someone even greater than Jonah is right before you. What was he saying? Again, I'm God. I've given you every sign you ever want. If you believe his written word and you believe who the written word testifies to, there's enough evidence for you to believe that Jesus is the Christ. And just so you know, I mean for you skeptics out there, we'd say, well, I don't know that I believe in that stuff.

Here's all you have to do to prove Christianity wrong. Do one of these two things, prove that the Bible is not true or that Jesus didn't rise from the dead. That's it. If either of those things, if the Bible wasn't true or if Jesus didn't rise from the dead, I wouldn't be a Christian. I wouldn't. My whole faith is centered on the fact that the Bible testifies that Jesus is God's eternal son and that he is the perfect one. I warn you in advance. If you have a sincere mind and you go to do it, you'll probably be one of the greatest staunch defenders of the Christian faith because nobody's ever been able to prove it wrong. Jesus was saying everything I'm telling you is the truth. Well what's Jesus have truth on? Everything. He comes back in Matthew chapter 16 verse four and he repeats it.

The Pharisees and Sadducees came testing Jesus, asking him to show them a sign from heaven. That's what they always did. But he replied to them, hey, when it's evening, you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red. And in the morning there'll be a storm today for the sky is red and threatening. Do you not know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but yet cannot discern the signs of the time. Then he says this an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign and a sign will not be given, except the sign of Jonah. And he left him and went away. He always used Jonah as a sign. He always chose the most incredulous story to say, I totally believe it because I was there. And it happened. And your faith, the reason you're not believing has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that you don't believe that I am the Christ.

Now what's Jesus have truth over? Everything. Everything. If he created everything out of nothing, which he did and he did in six days and he rested on the seventh, then he's authoritative over all his word. I mean, think about this. When it comes to Jonah, we don't believe it. When it comes to marriage, we don't believe it. This is what Jesus said about marriage. I mean a lot of people say, well, Jesus never really said anything about that. It's all these other writers in the Bible. Yes he did. In Mark chapter 10 in verse two. And you can read this in Matthew 19 as well. Some Pharisees came up testing Jesus and began to question him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife. Can you believe that? I mean, this is going to be hard for you to believe, but in the first century there were people who were married that thought they shouldn't stay married.

They're like, oh we have reconcilable differences. We need to get out of this thing. And so there were different teachers of the day and some were saying, hey, if your spouse burns your toast, or if she does something bad, just send her away. That's fine. Others were like more spiritual. Hey, if it's a really big deal, then you can do it. Not a big deal. What's Jesus going to say? So, Jesus is going to go back to the word. And he answered and said, what did Moses command you? And they said, Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away. So, yeah, so we can do that because Moses told us it was okay.

But Jesus said to them because of the hardness of your heart, he wrote you this command. He's like, I didn't write you this command. I didn't say it was okay for you to divorce. I've never said that. Moses permitted it, because there was so much going on in marriage that he wanted to protect the women of society to give them a note so that they could remarry or do things. And there was so much immorality he permitted it. But Jesus is going to say, that's not the way I intended it. So, what does he say? But from the beginning of creation, now, why would he go back to creation? Because he created everything. He was there before human beings existed. So, he's going to go all the way back to when he started the universe to tell us what marriage should be. And here's what he says. He said, but it wasn't this way from the beginning of creation. God made them male and female.

Goes right along with Genesis one and two. He's going to talk about gender. He's going to be authoritative on gender. How many genders are there according to God? There's two. Dos, if you're Spanish. I mean there's two. Male and females. Psalm 1:39 goes so far as to say for you are created in your mother's womb. So, when does life start? In utero. I'm not making a political statement here. I'm just telling you what God says about life. And what God says about life is it's created in utero and to stop life in utero is called murder. According to the God of the Bible. So, this is what Jesus says. So, he is going to say, there's two genders, there's male and there's female. And then what does he say about marriage? He says, "God created a male and female for this reason, a man should leave his mother and father and the two shall become flesh."

So, they're no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together let no man separate." He quotes Genesis 2:24. He says divorce was part of your culture. I never permitted it. I never created that. Moses allowed it because of your immorality, but here's what marriage is. It's a man and a woman united as one till death do you part. And it's permanent. I mean, if you want to know what God has to say about any subject, God's willing to speak on it. Now, oftentimes because it's truth, it hurts our pride and it hurts who we are. And we don't like what God has to say. But the reality is he's either telling the truth or he's not. Is he authoritative over creation? I mean, Colossians 1:15 and following he says, "For by him, all things were created. Things in heaven and earth, things visible and invisible, whether it's Thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities. All things were created through him and for him."

Well, who did all that? Jesus. He's authoritative overall. That's why when he rises from the dead, before he goes back to heaven, he says "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." I have authority over all things. I'm an expert on all things. I have all wisdom on all things. You know why? Because I'm God. And everything in the scripture testifies about me. That I'm the living God. I know everything. That's who he is. He testifies that he's the living word, that the written word testifies to. He testifies that everything is truth. And finally this number three, he testifies that he is God. The living word believe that the written word testifies that he is God. There are some people out there that say, well, Jesus never really claim that he was God. There's not really that claim. Well it's all over the place that he claimed that he was God.

If you go to John chapter 10 in your Bible, Jesus is having yet another encounter with his favorite friends of the Pharisees that he genuinely did indeed love, but never responded to them that way. And Jesus answered them. And he said, "I told you, and you do not believe that the works I do in my father's name, these testify about me. But you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. And I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they will never perish for no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. I and the father are one." Here's what Jesus is saying. Now, listen, I have the words of life.

And those who believe in me are my sheep and they follow me. And when they follow me, no one can snatch them out of my hand. They are protected forever. And they belong to my father, no one can snatch him out of my father's hand because they're protected forever. Because I and my father are one in the same. Now notice the next verse. I mean, it's not going to surprise you. "Then the Jews picked up stones again to stone him." I mean, that's all they did. I mean, they had to have great knee joints and stuff. All I did was kneel and pick up stones. Jesus answered them. Here's what he said. "I showed you many good works from the father. For which of these are you stoning me?" Was it for raising Lazarus from the dead? Was it for giving sight to the blind? Was it restoring a cripple?

Just tell me what it was. And the Jews answered him, "For a good work we do not stone you, but for blaspheme. And because you being a man, make yourself out to be God." Here's why we're stoning. You we're stoning you because we're looking at you, you're a man. Jesus was fully man, but he was also fully God. And Jesus kept testifying that he was God. And that there was nothing wrong testifying to the fact that he was God, because guess what? He's God, he's the God of the old Testament. He's out of the new Testament. That's why even when you read the book of Revelation, the title is the Revelation of who? The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Everything is about Jesus. Now he's going to take this obscure passage. If you go back and study this in Psalm chapter 82 and verse one, here's what he's going to quote.

He said, "Jesus answered them, has it not been written in your law? I said you are God's." So, Jesus is going to use the word of God to defend the fact that he's God. Now the way that the word God are used in Psalm chapter 81 verse two is the lower case G speaking of human judges, that God is the true judge who appointed men, little G gods who failed to provide the true judgment of God. Isn't it true that in the word that you say you believe that God referred to human agents as god's? Isn't that true? Now they're like, well look, I guess it says that. And then he says this. If he called them God, to whom the word of God came and scripture cannot be broken. Meaning the whole words in errand. And if the word speaks of little G gods, that my father called human agents Gods, do you say of him whom the father sanctified and sent into the world, you are blaspheme because I said, I am the son of God.

If the scripture testifies that God uses the word Gods to describe human agents, not as deity, but as those who are performing, supposed to perform justice, that didn't. Then is it wrong for me who's actually the living son of God, who's been sanctified by God and sent by God to call myself God? I mean the scripture would even testify that I'm God is what he's saying. And then he says this, "If you do not believe the works of my father, do not believe me. But if I do them though, you do not believe me, believe the works so that you may know and understand that the father is in me and I am in the father." What's he saying? Again, I'm God. The father's in me and I am in him.

This time they weren't seeking to stone him. Now it says, "Therefore they were seeking again to seize him and he alluded their grasp." Jesus was a dead man walking entire three years of earthly ministry. Because every time he came into Jerusalem and was claiming, he was God, they wanted to put him to death. He had to sneak away. He had to do all this, until the right time came. Everything the scripture testifies to is not only about Jesus, but it's Jesus being the truth and Jesus being God. That's the truth. And if he's God, then there are no other gods. It's just Jesus Christ, the righteous one. I love this in Mark chapter 14, when Jesus is appearing before the high priest, right before they're ready to crucify him. And Caiaphas the high priest is asking him who are you? And who do you think you are?

And how come you don't answer me when I ask you questions? And all this kind of stuff. He finally gets to a place where he says, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed one? Are you really the Christ? Let's just cut to the chase. Notice what Jesus has answered. "I am." Have we heard that anywhere else before? Are you the Christ? I am. I have always been. I am right now and I will always be. And then he goes on to say, and you shall see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. What's he saying? Caiaphas, the high priest. The highest religious ruler of the day is like, are you the Christ? Are you not going to answer me? Jesus goes, I am. And the next time you see me, you'll see me coming on the clouds in judgment with all my power and you will be bowing to my authority.

And at that point Caiaphas rips his robe and the crucifixion began. Why? Because Jesus Christ claimed he was God. Guess what? He is. He is. He's the God of the universe. That's why there's no others. He said, well, Pastor Jeff, then what does that mean for everybody else around the world? It means anybody else, anywhere at any time can repent of their sins and trust that Jesus Christ is Lord and have life in his name. But he's the only way of salvation. That's what the scripture testifies. And that's what Jesus himself testified. We studied the book of Colossians a little bit ago and a couple of scriptures you can write down from Colossians. And Colossians one verse 19, it talks about his deity, after it talks about him creating everything it says, "For it was the father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him."

And in Colossians 2:9, it says, "For in him, all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form." He's God. That's why when Jesus and Luke 6:46 was saying, "Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do, as I say?" In Matthews gospel he said, there'll be many on judgment day will say, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy your name? Lord, Lord, did we not cast out demons? Lord, Lord, did we not heal? People like, why do you call me, Lord, Lord, when you don't do anything, I'm telling you. If I'm truly the Lord of your life, then my word is authoritative and submit to what my word says. That's what he's saying. That's who he is. He's the Lord of all. He is the son of man. He testifies all throughout the scriptures that he himself is God. And there is no one, but him.

And if you believe the written word that testifies to the living word and that the living word is Jesus Christ. And that the living word is all truth. And that the living word is God. It leads us to this final point. That the living word believed that all the written word testifies, he is central to all salvation. He is central to all salvation. Let me quote the most off quoted verse from the Bible. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life." That kind of sums up the entirety of the Bible. Why? Because the living word is speaking about the written word that he himself is the way to life. "For God to love the world that he gave has only begotten son that whoever believes in him would not perish", but what? Have what?

Eternal life.

Yeah. Eternal life. Most people think it reads, like if they believe in Jesus and they'll go to heaven someday, that's not what it says. Heaven's a byproduct. What is Jesus saying? The gift that Jesus wants to bring is not heaven. What's the gift Jesus wants to bring? Eternal life. Who is eternal life? Himself. Here's the gift. The gift is this, that God loved you so much that he sent his son into the world. That whoever believes in him would not perish, but would have him, would have eternal life. That the gift that Jesus is trying to give is himself. There's no such thing as I want to go to heaven. I'm just not that fond of Jesus.

Jesus is eternal life. With him you have life. Without him you don't have life. It's not that you pray a prayer so you can go to heaven. Everybody prays a prayer so they go to heaven. Who doesn't want to go to heaven? But the biblical view of heaven is it's a place for the Lordship of Jesus Christ to be served by all those who've repented of their sin and trusted him. And he's on the inside. So, if you never trusted Jesus, you would hate heaven. Oh, I think I'd like it. You don't like it now. Why would you like it then? It's the eternal life of God. That's why Paul says that the mystery of the gospel is this, it's Christ in you, the hope of glory. The mystery of the gospel is not that you get to go to heaven. The mystery of the gospel is that the written word revealed the living word and the living word wants to come and dwell in you.

Have you received the living word into your life for all who do have been given the right to become children of God. That's the gospel. See, he says this, that Jesus did not come into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. That he, who believes in him has not judged. He does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. In other words, if you haven't believed in Jesus Christ and welcomed him into your life, you're still under God's judgment. But God didn't send his son Jesus into the world to condemn you. You're already condemned. He sent Jesus into the world to save you. And he wants to come have relationship with you. This is why it says in John 3:36, "He who believes in the son has eternal life, but he does not obey the son will not see life. But the wrath of God abides on him."

There's so many places we could turn. I mean, I'll just make it real simple. In first, John chapter five versus 10 or verse 11, 12 and 13, here's the testimony. "And the testimony is this that God has given us eternal life. And this life is in his son. He who has the son, has the life. He who does not have the son does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life." Jesus said in John 14, "I am the way the truth in the life." In John 11 he said, "I am the resurrection in the life. Do you believe this?" In John 12 he said this.

He said, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto myself." Who is Jesus talking about? He's talking about himself. It's the Lord who saves. Church doesn't save. The word of God doesn't save. Who the word of God reveals is the one who saves. It's the author who saves. It's the living God who saves. It means this, and it's really tragic. It means you can listen to the word of God all the time and study it all the time and still spend eternity and hell apart from Christ, because you never knew the living God that the written word of God revealed, which would be a real tragedy. Which means this God wrote his word to us so that we might know that he is true in all that he says. That he's the only God. That he's the only way. And he's central to all salvation. People of every gender, people of every race, people of every ethnicity, people of every background, people of every height, and stature, and age. Jesus Christ is Lord over all.

So, here's the question. God so loved the world. He loved you so much he sent his only begotten son so that you would take his gift. And what's his gift? Himself. Will you repent of your sin so that Jesus Christ can come into your life, cleanse you and make you new? See, that's the question. So, the way I wanted to end was just by bowing our heads and letting us pray today and letting us say, do I really believe this written word that reveals the living word? And is this living word on the inside of me? Because you are spiritually dead and apart from Christ and Jesus wants to come in and give you life. So, let's pray here this morning. Lord Jesus, we believe your written word testifies that you are the living word. And we pray this morning, God, that you would do a work in our hearts.

And if you're here today and say, I don't know that I've ever done that. I don't know I've ever welcomed Christ in my life. And you can do that here this morning. By praying like this Lord, I believe that your written word reveals you. That you are truly God. I believe that I'm a sinner and separated from you. But I also believe that you came to this world, died on the cross for my sins and were raised from the dead. And right now I repent of my sin by confessing that you are Lord of my life. Lord Jesus, I want you. Come into life from now for all eternity. I welcome you. Father I pray for everyone who received your son this morning, that you would fill them fresh with your holy spirit and let them walk in your way.

And Lord, for those of us who know you who know that you dwell in us, Lord, give us an appreciation for your living word that is revealed by your written word and that we would not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ for it's the power of God under salvation for all who believe. We give you all the glory. We give you all the honor and we give you all the praise in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Can we give God praise this morning?