[0:00] How many mornings do you get on the scale and say, what do I weigh today? You know, we find that number important.! If you're like me, I take my blood sugar every morning.
[0:11] ! Everything!
[0:31] You gotta, here, give me a social security number on this. You know, and it's like, matter of fact, if you're old enough like me, do you remember when the social security cards came out?
[0:45] You got your card, it said, not for identification purposes. That's all they use for identification purposes now. You have to have that number. There's so much so that it used to be, you know, when I was a kid growing up, I had to apply for my social security number.
[1:01] Not anymore. When you're born, there you go, kid. You may not be working for a few years, but there you go. We got your social security number. Those numbers are important if we're gonna do things in life.
[1:14] How about your checking account or your credit card numbers? Don't wanna let those out to anybody either. They're important numbers. You need to know. When you go to the bank, don't know those numbers, you're not getting any money.
[1:28] You gotta have that information. Insurance card. Insurance card. Insurance card. Your policy number. Or if you're on Medicare, those Medicare numbers. Don't let anybody have those, but we want them on every piece of paper you got.
[1:41] So, numbers are important to people. Even things that we do in life. Notice the picture I have up there.
[1:52] That's the only way I would ever paint. By the numbers. I am not an artist. I have a lot of creative bones in my body. So, I'd have to do the paint by the number thing there.
[2:06] And that's how I'd accomplish it. You ever buy a bookcase from Walmart or from Ikea or someplace? This one and this one connect.
[2:17] Okay. This one and this one. You gotta follow the numbers. And they got the numbers attached. Okay. You go put it together by the numbers. Numbers are so important to us.
[2:29] Numbers are important in our Christian life as well. Notice the numbers 316. One day, I don't know why I did this, but one day I was reading and I noticed a certain verse.
[2:43] And I was like, oh, that's one of those important verses in life. And it's 316. And then, you know, we all know John 316 and there's some other. So, we're going to look at some numbers this morning.
[2:54] 316. And I want you to notice, you can live the Christian life with two numbers. 316. Take your Bible and go with me to 2 Timothy 316.
[3:09] I did not put all the verses up on the screen today like I usually do. Because first of all, I want you to look at them. I want you to go to them. But I want you to see these numbers in your Bible written on a page and realize just how important.
[3:28] And there may be others. There may be others. After I get done, you may go look for some others. But look at this. Like I said, I was studying it. And now, suddenly, I got this.
[3:39] Well, this is 316. And John is 316. And I wonder if there are any other 316s. So, 2 Timothy 316. 2 Timothy 316. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
[3:57] An important verse. Verse we all know. Verse we've all heard. You heard people preach on this verse. It's an important verse. All scripture is given by inspiration of God.
[4:09] Let's have a word in prayer. Father, I pray this morning that you would help us as we look at these passages, that we would understand just the importance of just these few verses we're going to look at to the Christian life.
[4:21] Lord, we cannot have a Christian life without these verses. We cannot have the Christian life we should have without these verses. Lord, I pray that you would just help us to open up this morning and to see that you have given us everything we need to live the Christian life.
[4:40] And you've done it in basically a few verses. There's other things we need to learn and other things we need to take care of. But to just to be a Christian, if we know these verses, we can be a Christian.
[4:51] Lord, bless now, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. That word inspiration means God breathed. God breathed.
[5:03] You know how important that is? God gave us his word. God breathed out his word to us.
[5:14] In 1 Peter 1.21, it talks about the fact that he gave holy men of old the things that he wanted them to write down and the things that he wanted them to say. He gave it to us.
[5:25] He, I always look at it this way. When God created Adam back in Genesis, what does it say he did? He breathed into him the breath of life.
[5:39] God breathed into Adam's, he formed Adam's body. He breathed into him the breath of life. He says that you have the word of God. The word of God is God breathed.
[5:51] It breathes into you life. If you're going to be a Christian, you have to have God's breath coming into you. You ever see somebody that's in trouble?
[6:02] What are the first, one of the first things they do? Come mouth to mouth, right? Get that breath going. Try to get that breath going again. It's so important. He says God breathed into us.
[6:13] God gave us his word. And that word is so important. He says it's profitable for doctrine. Profitable for doctrine. Everything we believe about the Lord Jesus Christ, and almost everything we believe about a lot of different things, comes from the Bible.
[6:31] God gave us his word so that we could live this life, here and the one to come, the way he wants us to. I mean, you think about the doctrines.
[6:42] He says it's profitable for doctrine. Where do we learn about Jesus Christ? The Bible. Where do we learn about salvation? The Bible. Where do we learn about our eternity? The Bible.
[6:53] How important is the Bible to living the Christian life? We have to know the Bible. And the thing about it is the Bible doesn't carry every topic in life, but it does tell the truth about everything it does cover.
[7:10] If you want to know the truth, go to the word of God. There's a lot of people who don't believe that. They don't think the Bible tells the truth. They think it's all made up.
[7:21] It's a myth. It's a fable. It's all these things. There have been so many people who have thought that. Over 100 years ago, there was a man by the name of William Ramsey. He was an English scholar.
[7:32] He believed that the book of Luke and the book of Acts, which was also written by Luke, were false. They told about things historically that nobody else knew about.
[7:44] They had found no evidence for those things. And so Ramsey set out to prove that those books were lies. They were written sometime after. Somebody had filled in the blanks.
[7:57] So he went to Greece. He went to Turkey, Asia Minor, and he started doing research. He found everything that those two books said was absolutely true to the minus detail, the smallest detail.
[8:14] He looked for boundary markers. He looked through writings. He looked through city records. He looked through, and he found out those books are absolutely telling the truth.
[8:26] Those places that were mentioned that we have never heard of before, they actually have things. One of them was that he was looking for a city. And he went to a place, and he actually found, you know how we have markers for cities?
[8:38] You know, this way, from there. He found one. They had the name of the city on it. And he's like, the Bible's true. He became a Christian.
[8:50] You say, yeah, but that was over 100 years ago, and that was one guy. He didn't know all the things we know today. Okay, let's make it more modern. Most of you have heard of a guy by the name of Lee Strobel. Lee Strobel was an investigative journalist for the Chicago Tribune.
[9:06] His wife got saved at a Bible study. He was an atheist. He said, I don't believe any of this stuff. None of it. And he set out to prove to her and himself that it's all made up.
[9:20] Today, Lee Strobel is one of the leading biblical apologists in the world. He goes out proving people that the Bible is true. Jesus Christ is who he said he is.
[9:32] Another guy by the name of Josh McDowell, you've probably heard of. When people try to prove the Bible wrong, they usually find out it's true. And he says it's profitable for doctrines. It's profitable for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
[9:46] You want to know what's right and wrong? Go to the Bible. You want to know if you're doing wrong, how to correct it? Go to the Bible. You want to know how to live your life the right way? Go to the Bible.
[9:58] And how important is the Bible? You don't have to go here, but let me read you another verse. John chapter 12. John chapter 12 and verse 48.
[10:09] John chapter 12 and verse 48. Listen to what this verse says. He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him.
[10:23] The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. When it comes time for us to go to either heaven or hell, where does he say we're going to be judged by?
[10:41] Words. His words. This Bible. This is what we're going to be judged by. Jesus Christ is called the word. He gave us this Bible. He says, you need to know the word of God.
[10:55] The importance of the word of God is so important. The importance of having it in your life. The importance of believing it. You want to live the Christian life, Christian life by the numbers?
[11:06] You start here. You start here. The word of God. Do what? Too cold? The second thing.
[11:24] You probably have to get closer. The second thing. The importance of Jesus Christ. John 3.16. John 3.16.
[11:37] Okay? That's a verse you all know. You say, I don't need to turn to that. Well, you probably don't. You probably can all quote it for me. But John 3.16 says this.
[11:49] For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
[12:01] God so loved. See, the importance of Bible doctrine is to learn that it says, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Think about that verse.
[12:15] God so loved. God so loved. There's a lot of people in this world today who thinks that nobody loves them. God so loved that he sent his son to die on the cross for us.
[12:31] You know, one of the things I love about this verse, for God so loved. Just like Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God created heaven.
[12:42] There's no explanation of God. No telling about who God is. God created us with an understanding of who he is. We know who God is. We know that there's a God. He's always there and always has been.
[12:54] And he so loved us. You ever think about how much God loves us? He sent his only begotten son.
[13:04] There's a story about the longest and simplest love letter ever written.
[13:16] The longest and simplest. It was written by a French painter, 1875. He was in love with the sound of the words, Je vous aime.
[13:31] Je vous aime. Means I love you. Sounds better than I love you. I love you son. You're okay. But je vous aime. Just kind of has a flow to it, doesn't it?
[13:41] So he wrote a letter to his girlfriend. Je vous aime. 1,875,000 times.
[13:56] Now if I'm the girlfriend, I'm going, this guy is nuts. But anyway, he wrote that letter to his girlfriend. But it wasn't just that. He loves saying the words.
[14:09] So he would say the words. He had a scribe who would write them down. Je vous aime. And then he wanted the scribe to read them back to him.
[14:20] Je vous aime. So here's what je vous aime. Write it down. Je vous aime. Je vous aime. Je vous aime. Je vous aime. 1,875,000 times.
[14:35] By the time they were done between the two of them in the writing, 5,625,000 times. This guy was in, no, I guess not infatuated.
[14:47] He was in love with this girl. Or at least he was in love with the sounds of the words. God says, I love you so much. I love you a whole lot more than that French painter did.
[15:01] I love you so much that I gave. I gave. Isn't that what love is all about? Those of you who are married, isn't that what love is all about?
[15:12] Giving yourself for the other person and them giving themselves for you. That's what love should be about. It's a giving of yourself. God gave.
[15:22] There's a marble statue in St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
[15:34] It stands there and it shows Jesus on the cross. And underneath it, there's an inscription. It says, this is how much God loved the world. God gave.
[15:46] What did he give? He gave his only begotten son. He gave his son. We have an illustration of that in the Old Testament between Abraham and Isaac. Giving of your son.
[15:58] Why? So that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life. We can have everlasting life through what Jesus Christ did on that cross.
[16:11] God gave that to us. So that we might have eternal life. The importance of the Bible.
[16:26] The importance of Jesus Christ coming and giving his life for us. Let me show you another one. Acts. Just one book over. From John. Acts chapter 3 and verse 16.
[16:38] Acts chapter 3 and verse 16. In Acts chapter 3. Peter and John had been out by the temple. And as they're out there, they see this man who's lame.
[16:52] And they go over and they talk to him. And he's begging for alms and stuff. And Peter says, no silver and gold we don't have. But what we have, we'll give to you. And he says, in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.
[17:05] And then Peter's carrying a conversation there by the temple with some others. And they see this man who's been lame. And he's up. He's walking around. He's jumping up and down. He's doing all kinds of things.
[17:16] And they're like, what happened to him? Acts 3.16 says this. And his name. Talking about Jesus. Through faith in his name hath made this man strong.
[17:29] Whom you see and know. Yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. The importance of faith.
[17:41] The importance of faith. Faith strengthens the Christian life. Faith strengthens the Christian life.
[17:52] See, it's by faith we're saved. You know, we come to God through faith. How important is it? See, we read the word of God. We learn about Jesus.
[18:03] We put our faith in him. That's the Christian life. By the numbers. He strengthens us. He says there he gives us. He has perfect soundness.
[18:16] He says he gives us perfect soundness. What does that mean? Well, you ladies that come to the Bible study. You've been studying about doubt.
[18:29] Let me read you a little poem about doubt and faith. And see if it makes a difference in the way we think about faith. Doubt sees the obstacles.
[18:39] Faith sees the way. Doubt sees the darkest night. Faith sees the day. Doubt dreads to take a step.
[18:53] Faith soars on high. Doubt questions. Who believes? Faith answers. I. See, when we have faith, it changes our perspective on everything.
[19:08] When we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have faith in God's word. It changes our lives. Those of you who are saved, you know the difference that has happened in your life. You know the changes that have taken place by trusting the word of God and trusting Jesus Christ.
[19:23] By putting your faith there. How do you get faith? How do you get the faith to do that? Well, it's interesting. Most of you have heard of D.L. Moody, evangelist back in the 1800s.
[19:36] Moody said this. He said, If all the time I spent praying for faith was put together, it would be months. I thought that someday faith was going to come down and strike me like lightning.
[19:49] But faith did not come. One day I read in a tenth of Romans, Romans chapter 10. So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
[20:01] I had closed my Bible and prayed for faith. I now opened my Bible and began to read God's word. And faith has been growing ever since.
[20:13] He says, You want to have faith? Get into God's word. Why is it so important that we have the word of God? Because that's where faith is going to come from. That's where we're going to learn about Jesus. That's where we're going to learn about things that God has done.
[20:24] That's where we're going to learn about how salvation comes. That's where we're going to learn about the home that we have in heaven and the eternity that is coming. That's where we're going to learn how Jesus can help you in your everyday life. And the things that are taking place.
[20:35] He says, Open the Bible up. Read it. And your faith will grow. Faith in God's word.
[20:46] Faith in Jesus Christ. We have to get into God's word to have faith. What happens when we ask Jesus to come into our life? Number four. The importance of the indwelling spirit.
[20:58] Importance of the indwelling spirit. Look at 1 Corinthians 3.16. Right after Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 3.16. 1 Corinthians 3.16.
[21:18] 1 Corinthians 3.16. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?
[21:32] When you ask Jesus Christ to come into your life, he actually does come into your life. He comes in. And he says, you are a temple. When you think of a temple, what do you think of?
[21:45] Worship. You know, some people may think of the structure of the building, you know, but what is the temple? The temple is for worship. See, he says he comes to dwell in you.
[21:55] Your body has now become a place for the worship of God. Think about that for a second. You want to know how to live the Christian life? What happens if we start thinking about ourselves being the temple of God?
[22:11] That ourselves are the place where God takes up residence and lives. It says, there in the last part of the verse, it says, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you.
[22:24] Dwelleth. Think about what that word means. To dwell somewhere means to live in, to take up residence, to be at home.
[22:37] Is God at home in your life? God taking up residence in you and has you as a home. That's the way it should be.
[22:49] We should be living our life so that God feels at home in us. You want to live the Christian life the way it should be? Let God have control. Let God come in.
[22:59] Let him do his work. Let him live there and dwell there. Speaking of Dale Moody, I've got a few of those today. He was being considered, a group of pastors was considering whether they should invite Dale Moody to their city to hold evangelistic services.
[23:19] They had heard about things that he was doing in other places and how God seemed to be working and people were being saved and people were coming and churches were growing. And so they're talking about whether they should have him come or not.
[23:30] But like in every group, there's one guy, right? It's always one guy. And this one guy says, does Mr. Moody have a monopoly on the Holy Spirit?
[23:41] To which another man quietly said, no. But the Holy Spirit seems to have a monopoly on Mr. Moody. And that's the way it should be.
[23:53] The Holy Spirit should have a monopoly on us. Everything we do should be controlled by him. Everything we say should be controlled by him. I get so frustrated with Christians sometimes when I listen to things that they say and watch the things that they do and say, the Holy Spirit's living within you.
[24:09] Jesus is living within you. Do you really think that's the way he wants you to go? Is that really the way he wants you to talk? How do you get filled with the Spirit?
[24:21] Well, Moody again. One day, Moody asked that question. He was talking about the Holy Spirit and things. And he had a glass up there. And he put the glass up and set it right there.
[24:33] And he said, how do I get all the air out of that glass? Okay. He said, you stick a cover over it and then you take a pump and you pump and you pump the air out of it.
[24:44] Moody says, yep, that's a good way to do it. You can do that except if I take all that air out, it creates a vacuum and the glass is going to shatter. Other people gave suggestions to things.
[24:59] Finally, Moody had that glass sitting there. He reached under, picked up a pitcher, filled it with water until it was overflowing. He said, no more air in there now. It's full of water.
[25:11] He says, we as Christians, we try to say, okay, God, help me because I need to get rid of this sin. I need to get rid of that sin. I need to get rid of this sin. And he says, we try to take sin out of our life and we try to do all these things and try to do good.
[25:26] He says, just let the Holy Spirit come in and fill you. When the Holy Spirit fills you, you don't have to worry about the rest of it. The sin will be gone.
[25:37] So often, we forget the importance of the Holy Spirit in our life. Let him do his work. Get in God's word.
[25:48] Read it. Let your faith increase. Let God's spirit come in. Do his work and see what your Christian life is like. Two more real quick. 1 John.
[26:00] 1 John. Go to Revelation in the back and back up about two or three books. 1 John 3, verse 16. I keep looking to see which verses.
[26:13] 3.16. You should know that. Okay. 1 John 3.16. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
[26:30] We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He says another thing about the Christian life. You love the people around you who are Christians who know him as their Savior.
[26:41] You have a love for the brethren. Too much Christianity does not do that. They don't have the love for the brethren that they should have.
[26:53] The willingness to be there. The willingness to help. The willingness to just come alongside at times. The willingness to do whatever God would have them to do. To love the brethren.
[27:07] Look around this morning. Just look around and go, do you love these people? I've had an opportunity to be in a lot of people a lot of people hang out with at times and stuff.
[27:22] There's some we haven't yet. We'll get there. And I would say I have a love. Would I give up my life? I like to think I would. To protect.
[27:34] To help. He says have a love for the brethren. However, what usually happens is more like this. To live above with the saints we love oh that will be glory.
[27:51] Won't it? When you get to heaven and around all the Christians and everybody oh that's going to be so great. To live below with the saints we know. Now that's another story.
[28:06] Sometimes we have trouble living with the people below. He says no. Have a love for the brethren. Watch over them. One more. Colossians.
[28:19] If you know where Galatians is from our past study Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. I'm going by it. It's a small book and I keep going past it.
[28:39] Colossians chapter 3 verse 16. Where did we start? 2 Timothy 3 16. All scriptures given by inspiration of God. Start with the Bible.
[28:52] As we live our Christian life where should we end up? Colossians 3 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
[29:09] Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. We started with the word of God. We end with the word of God. The word of God is so important in life.
[29:22] If I'm going to be saved I need to know the word of God and know who Jesus is and know what God did for me and know the fact that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and I need to have that faith in him and I need to have the Holy Spirit living within me.
[29:36] But how do I continue living the Christian life? Stay in the word of God. Let the word of God dwell in you richly. Notice that same word is used. Dwell. Take up residence.
[29:48] Be a part of your life all the time. He says look you ever seen people who really love the Lord?
[30:00] Really have a love for him and a love for his word? You'll find them usually walking along going about their business humming whistling singing a hymn doing all those things.
[30:17] He says let the word of God dwell in you richly and then what's going to happen? You're going to admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Living Christian life by the number you should start with the verses 316.
[30:33] Again there may be more in there than a 316. You go do some studies see what else it says. But those ones right there that gives you the basis for the Christian life.
[30:46] Not five of this and seven of those and that no just stick with the word of God and go with the 316s and the word of God. What does the word of God say?
[30:57] That's how I want to live my life. That's how I want to show Christ that I love him. You know if you're here this morning and you do not know Jesus Christ as your savior today would be the perfect time to take the word of God.
[31:12] Let me take the word of God and show you how you can know 100% that you are on your way to heaven. I can show you from the word of God how you can know that. If you're already saved do you love God's word?
[31:27] Do you love God? Do you love Jesus Christ? Do you love the Holy Spirit? Do you love the brethren? I want to close this morning thinking about that thought. Do we have a love for the things of God?
[31:42] Go to