Sermon Tone Analysis

Turn to 2 Tim.

3:16 - it will take a while to get there …

Our topic today from the Believe series is the Bible.

Our main idea is -

I believe the Bible is the Word of God and has the right to command my belief and action.

That’s a powerful statement - especially in a world of pluralism, relativism and tolerance.

To assert that the Bible is the ultimate authority is absurd to those caught up in the world’s system.

Pluralism: The belief in many ways to heaven.

Relativism: The belief there are no absolutes.

Tolerance: No one has the right to say what is right and wrong.

The Bible is the Word of God and has the right to command my belief and action.

I don’t have to ask who believes that statement because the evidence is in how one lives.

One’s view of Scripture is evident in how one engages the Word and consequently, how one engages life.

The Bible is the Word of God and has the right to command my belief and action.

That puts the Bible in an entirely different category than any other piece of literature in the world.

The Bible is unique.

It is the number one bestselling book of all-time.

It is the most loved book around the world, but also the most hated.

It has been banned, burned and criticized, but also it has been translated into nearly every language and transported into almost every nation and tribe - sometimes even smuggled across borders illegally.

Thousands throughout history have been tortured, imprisoned or killed while attempting to disseminate the Bible or defending its preservation.

The Bible - also known as the Word of God - it comforts, encourages, inspires, and transforms.

It provides purpose and hope.

It is a light unto our paths - it guides, teaches, corrects and trains.

It convicts, challenges, judges and condemns.

It divides families, friends, nations.

But it also unites families, friends and nations.

It reveals the best of humanity, and the worst.

It reveals the wickedness of human nature.

And it reveals the sovereign God of this universe - Yahweh.

It reveals the supremacy and deity of His Son, Jesus Christ.

It reveals the outpouring of His Spirit into the hearts of His people.

The Bible reveals God’s character, His plans and His purposes - His love, His grace and truth.

The Bible is authoritative.

It contains wisdom for all life settings - relationships, finances, civil and moral laws - provides guidance for family structure, work ethic, right and wrong, good and bad, justice.

The Bible tells us who created us, why we’re here and where we’re going.

It accurately reveals the past, present and future.

It accurately reveals scientific and medical truths.

It has led to hundreds of archeological discoveries that were once thought to be myths.

And accurately reveals in great specific detail historical people, places and events.

The Bible: One volume, assembled in 66 books - 1,189 chapters.

Written in 3 languages by 40 different authors all divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Written over a period of 1,400 years by runaways, shepherds, kings, farmers, fisherman, poets, traitors, murderers, priests, prisoners and a doctor.

From beginning to end it has one theme - God’s love for and redemption of humanity.

The Bible is not a book to put on the shelf or to just have an app on your phone.

It is the Holy Bible.

The Living Word; the revealed Word of God.

Augustine called the Bible, “Letters from Home.”

It has also been called the greatest love letter of all time and

God intends for His people to read what He has written.

When I write my wife a love note - there’s an expectation that she’ll read it.

I anticipate her reading and responding to it.

And through that note I hope to change her day - make it better, put a smile on her face, encourage her ….

And when she reads my note, it gives me great please.

God expects us to read His written Word.

And it pleases Him when we do.

The Bible is to be read, studied, meditated upon.

We are to know it, understand it, live by it and proclaim it.

See,

The Bible is personal - To engage the Bible is to engage the Living and True God.

To ignore the Bible, is to ignore God.

A relationship with God is a package deal - Father, Son, Holy Spirit and His Word.

The Bible does not give us the option to pick and choose what we like and don’t like, what to keep and what to discard, what to believe and what to ignore.

After a few hundred of years of councils and examination of texts, the Bible was finally assembled into one volume by the church leaders in the 4th Century - they called it the Canon, or kanōn in Greek.

That comes from

Canon (κανώνa, kanōn): ruler, measuring rod or a standard of measurement.

The church leaders recognized that the Bible is the standard of measurement by which all are called to live - hence the Canon.

It tells us who to worship, how to worship, who to love, how to love and how to live.

And there are no ands, ifs or buts about it - it is the standard for all.

Marin Lloyd-Jones, one of the greatest preachers of the 20th Century said,

“I am not big enough to be an authority; I am too fallible to be an authority.

No man is capable of being such an authority.

I either submit to the authority of the Scriptures or else I am in a morass where there is no standing.”

~ D. Martin Lloyd-Jones

He understood that the Bible is authoritative, and it has authority over our lives - our beliefs and our actions.

We are to submit to its authority; learn from its teachings; conform to its truths.

Our minds, our hearts, our attitudes, our actions, our worldviews are to be founded upon and transformed by the Word of God.

When there is conflict between what the world says and what Scripture says, we are to go with God and His Word.

To pick and choose what to believe and what not to believe in Scripture is to disregard its authority and disrespect its author.

Martin Lloyd-Jones said,

“So we are entirely confined to the Scriptures, and we can add nothing to them.

Neither must we take anything from them.

We are in no position to pick and choose from them.

We cannot say, I believe this and I reject that, I rather like the teaching of Jesus, but I do not believe in miracles; I admire the way in which He died, but I do not believe that He was born of a virgin or that He rose in the body from the grave.

The moment you begin to do that you are denying revelation.

You are saying that your unaided human intellect is capable of judging revelation, and sifting it and finding what is true and what is false.

That is to deny the whole principle of revelation, of the apostolate, and of this unique work of the Holy Spirit.”

~ D. Martin Lloyd-Jones

I believe the Bible is the Word of God and has the right to command my belief and action.

Let me ask, what are you and I to do with God’s Word?

We are to meditate on the Word.

The Word of God should be like a hamster wheel - going around and around in our minds throughout the day.

Meditate - chew upon, digest, ponder, contemplate.

Martin Lloyd-Jones -

“If we want to be ‘strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might’, one of the first things we have to do is to read and to take in and to masticate thoroughly this Book.”

~ D. Martin Lloyd-Jones

We are to saturate our lives and our families with the Word.

Just talk about the Word ….

We are to like the Word

- when you like someone, you enjoy them, and you’re inclined to be with them and take pleasure in their company.

It takes time and effort to like someone ….