Sunday, February 2, 2014
an
Back to Basics
Give me the Bible – 1
What is the Bible?
In our study of getting back to the basics, we now turn to the
word of God. The next few
lessons will address some fundamental elements of scripture.
Today we want to talk about the Bible in general.
We will identify what the Bible is and notice some things it
tells us about itself.
a.
The Bible is the account
of God’s work and purpose for this world and his creation.
It is the story of the fall of man and his redemption.
It is a book whose focal point is Jesus as our Savior (He is even
described as “the Word” – John 1:1-4, 14, cf. Rev. 19:11). It is a book
about how to live that can transform lives for the best.
b.
The word “Bible” is from
the Greek word, “Biblos” which means “book”.
The word is actually found about 45 times (40 verses) in the New
Testament, referencing books as we use the term (Acts 19:19, 2 Tim.
4:13), scrolls (Rev. 1:11, Luke 4:17), the “book of life” (Rev. 3:5,
22:19, etc.), various books of the Bible such as psalms and Isaiah (Luke
3:4, 20:42), etc.
c.
Facts about the Bible
i.
It is a collection of 66
books (39 in the OT and 27 in the NT), written in 3 languages by about
40 different men from all different backgrounds – city and country, rich
and poor, etc., on 3
continents, over a period of 1600 years – yet with a united message
centering around the coming of our Savior.
ii.
It is divided into the
Old and New Testaments (What is a testament? A Covenant)
Something we need to clearly understand and distinguish.
iii.
It contains different
literary styles as diverse as its authors– law, history, poetry,
proverbs, parables, narrative, letters, apocalyptic writings, prophecy,
etc.
iv.
It was the first book to
be mass produced (the Gutenberg Bible).
It is the number one best seller of all times.
According to Guinness World Records[1]
- around 5 billion copies having been produced since 1815.
One source says that about 50 Bibles are sold every minute.[2]
As a whole, the complete Bible has been translated into 349
languages, with more than 2100 languages having at least 1 book
translated.
d.
It is called: (Sound
Doctrine Volume I)
i.
The book –
Heb. 10:7,“Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the
book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God.’ ””
ii.
The Law of the Lord – Psalm 19:7, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting
the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;”
iii.
The Word of God – Heb. 4:12;
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and
spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart.”
Luke 11:28, “But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear
the word of God and keep it!”” Eph. 6:17,
iv.
The Word of Christ -
Col. 3:16“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom,
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Colossians
3:16, NKJV)
v.
The Gospel
– Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it
is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew
first and also for the Greek.” The
word gospel means “good news.”
In Greek it is actually the word from which we get our word
evangelize.
vi.
The word of life – Phil. 2:16“holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in
the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.”
vii.
Words of the Lord – Psalm 12:6, “The words of the Lord are pure words, Like silver tried
in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times.”
viii.
Holy Scripture, scripture – John 5:39, “You
search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and
these are they which testify of Me.”
Romans 1:2, “which He promised before through His prophets in the
Holy Scriptures,”
Acts 17:11, “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica,
in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the
Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”
The word “scripture” is a word
that simply means, “writings” or a portion of a document.
ix.
Oracles of God – 1 Pet. 4:11,
“If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If
anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies,
that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom
belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
Rom. 3:2,
“Much in every
way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.”
Heb. 5:12. “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you
need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of
God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.”
The word “oracle” means
a saying, a message, an utterance.
In other words, it is a way of saying it is God speaking (more on
this next week).
a.
Inspired
– 2 Tim. 3:16, 17. The word
“inspired” means, “God breathed.”
The idea is that God is behind its message.
We will discuss this in greater detail in our next lesson when we
talk about the Bible as inspired and understandable.
This text also describes it as
profitable.
Thus it is useful.
b.
Truth
– John 17:17, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”
Truth means that which is actual, as in what actually happened.
It means that which is upright and dependable.
IT is the opposite of that which is false.
Psalm 119:151, “You
are near, O Lord, And all Your commandments are truth.” (, NKJV)
c.
As a sword
– Eph. 6:17, “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God;”
Heb. 4:12, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and
spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart.”
The word of God is our offensive weapon with which we can engage our
spiritual enemy.
d.
As perfect
– Psalm 19:7, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;”
James 1:25, “But he who
looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a
forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in
what he does.” The idea
of being perfect is that it is not lacking (complete) and it is without
error.
e.
Living and powerful – Heb. 4:12, “For the word of God is living and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of
soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart.”
God’s word is not dead and ineffective.
It works at accomplishing its purpose.
The Bible can change lives and convict hearts.
f.
As a lamp (light) – Psalm 119:105
“Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”
One of the contrasts the Bible
frequently uses is light and darkness.
Light being that which is good and darkness that which is evil.
Light exposes. God’s
word exposes our sins and the path in front of us.
It also exposes (reveals) God is in our lives to others (Matt.
5:14-16).
2 Pet. 1:19, “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you
do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day
dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;”
g.
Food –
Matt. 4:4, Jesus said, “Man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth
of God.”
1 Pet. 2:2 – “as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word,
that you may grow thereby,”
Also, Hebrews 5:12-14 –
which speaks of milk and meat.
h.
A mirror
– James 1:22-25
“But be doers
of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone
is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his
natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and
immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the
perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful
hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”
A mirror reflects the image of
that which it is placed in front of.
The point of James is that we use the word of God to reveal who
we are in God’s eyes.
i.
A fire –
Jer. 23:29, ““Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a
hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”
Fire both energizes and purifies.
The word of God can spark zeal within us and it can certainly
purify our hearts if applied, cf. 1 Pet. 1:22.
j.
A hammer –
Also Jer. 23:29. A hammer is
a tool used to break down things and to build them up.
Similarly, the word of God can break through the hardened heart
and be used to build it up again.
k.
Seed – Luke
8:11 in the parable of the Sower says, “The seed is the word of God.”, 1
Pet. 1:23-25 says,
“having been
born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word
of God which lives and abides forever, because “All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers,
And its flower falls away, But the word of the Lord endures forever.”
Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.”
l.
Enduring –
again 1 Pet. 1:25. The word
of God is indestructible.
Man has tried to destroy it in every conceivable way but without
success. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”
(Matt. 24:35)
m.
Perhaps there are other
descriptions of God’s word, but these are sufficient to demonstrate the
impact it can have in our lives.
BUT, it must be said that for God’s word to be effective and
accomplish the results of these descriptions, it must be applied.
Matt. 7:21-23, James. 1:25
a.
It reveals God to us as
we discussed in our last lesson – Rom. 1;16,17.
It is through His word that we learn how much He cares about us.
b.
Give us life and lead us
to salvation – John 20:30-31, “And truly Jesus did many other signs
in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book;
but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
1 Cor. 15:1-2
“Moreover,
brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which
also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved,
if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed
in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:1–2, NKJV)
c.
It can give us faith –
Rom. 10:17
d.
It can make us complete
- 2 Tim. 3:16-17
e.
It gives us “all things
that pertain to life and godliness.”
2 Pet. 1:3-5
f.
As such, it is a
resource that governs how we live our lives for good, how to manage our
relationships, etc.
g.
It can be a source of
refuge in troubling times
h.
It gives us hope in a
world that is drains the hope out of us.
And there you have it.
Much more can be said about the Bible and how important it is to
us. Dwight L. Moody said,
“The Bible was not given for our information, but for our
transformation.” That about
sums it up! What effect has
the Bible had in your life?