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[0:00] So we have been, this is our fifth Bible study on the nature, the purpose, and the power of Scripture. And there's definitely been a lot that we've gone over.

[0:13] This is the third installment of the implanted word, spiritual milk of the word, the word of God, the word of Christ, and the word of truth. We've went over the titles of the Bible. You know, all of these names are so important and it's good for us as Christians to go over because it helps us with our understanding of God and understanding of His Word. And so just going over the the titles of the names of Scriptures that helps us just in our walk with the Lord. When we look at God's Word, we want to read, study, and just apply it to our lives. And I find what's so great about Scripture is where you're at in life, how God speaks to you through His Word. It may be different when you're a teenager than when you're, you know, 45 years old or whatever. Even if you're going through a, let's say it's a bad season or something, and then you're going through a good season. You read it again. So there's a lot of depth in there. Tonight, we're going to learn about the oracles of God and the holy Scriptures, which is also found in God's Word. So just so many different titles for Scripture. One of my favorites has been talking about the word of Christ having that dwell within us or the idea of the implanted word. When we talk about faith comes through hearing the word of God. It's like a seed that is planted within you and that seed will grow and you will have the grow in the knowledge of who God is to believe in the Lord. And then that same growing faith, if you will, that same seed will help you in your growth of with the Lord and knowing His Scripture as well. So what I want us to do, I want us to pray real quick and then we'll go ahead and get started with learning about the holy Scriptures and the oracles of God. So let's pray together. Father God, we thank you for giving us your word. We thank you for giving us the ability to open the pages of the holy Scripture. You give us the ability to read, to study, and to apply your word to our lives. We know and or we should know that your word is truth and that your word is life and we'd rather be challenged with truth than to find something that's easy that's not truth. There's so much that we can learn from your word. So much that we can learn about who you are, learn about your son Jesus Christ and the wonderful biblical insights that can just help us grow in you. We ask that tonight you can help us have a better understanding of the holy Scripture, Scripture, sacred writings, and the oracles of God. We ask that you're with us tonight as we delve into your word. We know that you are with us so we ask that you speak to us tonight. It is in

[3:35] Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. So tonight we are in your notes. You'll see that we are finishing up the just the titles and the names of Scripture. So it's finally, we finally gone through a big portion of them. There's some other ones in there but that's the main emphasis of this was going over the titles and the names of Scripture. And our first verse that we're going to go over is going to be on page 1116 in your ESVP Bibles. It's going to be Romans chapter 1 verses 1 through 2. So like we've done before we are going to go over the context. It's very important to know what is contextually going on in the Word of God but then also the connections that we find in Scripture.

[4:38] Okay so book of Romans. We'll just read chapter 1 verses 1 through 2 so just right at the beginning of Romans. So it says here Paul a servant of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. Alright so we're just going to stop right there. I know there's a lot more depth into that and Romans is one of the very very deep books that we can spend years on. There's one church I've known that has gone over over a hundred sermons going over Romans so I realized there's a lot more into this but we're just going over those first two verses and when we're looking at these these two verses the first question that comes up is what do you think it means that Paul was set apart for the gospel of God? How might you also be set apart to share the good news of Jesus? Now granted I understand that Paul is addressing himself as the apostle but the idea of being set apart is something that we can look into. So take time to go ahead and write some thoughts or at least think about it or feel free to respond. I want to give you a couple moments as we go. We'll go into that. Yep it's a very good question. I wanted to ask it before we go further into it. It's just to kind of challenge you a little bit but it's definitely a good question. Are we called to be like Paul? Are we called? Because in the verse you're seeing here called to be an apostle, someone who's set apart for the gospel of God. So would that mean being set apart as being an apostle or perhaps for the gospel of God? Well we start off these first two verses right. We have Paul who's addressing himself as the servant of

[7:01] Jesus Christ. Some translations would say bond servant or slave but he's saying he is establishing his apostleship. One who is used to serve the Lord right. He is serving his giving his life and his dedication for the cause of Christ and it goes on making mention that he is called specifically to be an apostle. So the word apostle is defined in the Greek as an ambassador of the gospel. I found that definition to be really good right being an ambassador for the good news. One who has been commissioned to be a delicate. Yeah so there's the it's being specifically called forth by God right. So when you're looking up the Greek definition there's certain definitions that are very easy. Okay well we should all be ambassadors of God or we should all we should be delegates but the specific thing that's different with apostleship is being appointed by the

[8:04] Lord if you will. So then there's this idea of being set apart. Now being set apart is being defined as someone who is appointed by the Lord right. So there's that nice little connection with apostleship and being set apart. So Paul is going off with the establishment of his God given authority that God had appointed him to be an apostle. Paul has been chosen to serve the Lord and to be that ambassador for Christ. I know that there's some Christians that I know who love using that same similar kind of language of being an ambassador for Christ being a representation if you will when you're living and I think that's fine but that certainly would be a little a little bit more a little different than what we're talking here specifically with Paul's apostleship. So then you see the language of the gospel of God. Now this language the gospel of

[9:07] God is saying that it's the when we think of the gospel we're thinking of the good news that comes from God. Well what is the good news right? The good news of God is the revelation it is the redemption the telling of Jesus Christ.

[9:25] Okay because when you're looking contextually in these first two verses you see later on the prophets in the holy scriptures promising beforehand then you have the gospel God. So there's like this separation between the Old Testament and the New Testament if you will and I found that to be very interesting that we see that there is that separation there and as we have previously gone over in our study we talked about the mystery of Christ and the mystery of the gospel where the Lord was hiding the coming of Jesus Christ.

[10:04] God had to hide the coming forth of his son so that the prophecy could be fulfilled and I always think that's very interesting that why didn't God just reveal it just immediately well there had to have been the divine appointment the time frame in which how everything would play out. When we think of God being outside of time and space I know that's very hard for us to wrap our minds around because we like timelines we think of being in one place at once but God existing outside of that when he's putting his hand into time if you will it's all setting how Christ would come into motion so there's things that were hidden to the to the Jewish people they didn't know about what was being foretold they might have known about specific prophecies but it was hidden until the appropriate time right the specific time where Christ would be born to fulfill prophecy so that's something it's definitely a harder one but we know biblically that yes Jesus Christ had to be hidden if you will but eventually revealed and we are blessed to know about the good news of the gospel or the in this sense the gospel of God and since Christ came Paul's mission right is to tell the world about Jesus Christ right he's being appointed by God to spread to tell the world about Jesus Christ that salvation is free to all who believe so this good news is life-changing to all who hear it to be appointed by God to go out into the world and to tell the good news or to be given specific spiritual gifts when you think of those who are called to be pastors or those who are called to be evangelists or those who are called to be teachers I always have found it very interesting that if you neglect that that's not a good thing that God will eventually lead you to certain things I know in my own story there were times where I was I don't know if God really wants to call me into just ministry at all there were times where I was discouraged or times where let's just say leaders failed me but the lesson I had to learn is that leaders can and sometimes they will fail you but God doesn't fail you and it took me a very long time to realize that but I'm glad that over time I did because we shouldn't put our trust in a specific person like a human a normal everyday human but rather our trust should be on Jesus

[13:08] Christ and I think you know I think a great deal of Pontius Pilate when he asks the question what is truth and he doesn't stay long enough to find the answer out you know because Christ could have answered but he does go out and say I see no wrong that this man did and tries to have him released so a light bulb did go off but I whenever I've read that I've kind of wanted Christ to be like hello you know I am the truth you know but it's just even even when even if you neglect God's call for your life God will work on your heart God will work on you and I have found that when you follow God's call there's a lot of peace that comes through it there's a lot of there's a lot of things that go for you when you're listening to him and you know we talk about submission we talk about following God's will and way you know going back to our verse and with the

[14:13] Apostle Paul God had called him right God calls us to different capacities he calls us with obviously the Lord calls us all to know him to have that relationship to believe in the Lord Jesus what specifically God calls us to do upon that foundation in faith that's gonna look different you know when we talk about pastors evangelists right we talk about even gifts right when we think of speaking in tongues we talk about all of these different ministries that are out there I sure hope that the people who are utilizing these gifts they have been called and they have been gifted correctly to use those gifts so back to the verse in Romans is saying that the gospel of God is the revelation of Jesus Christ coming into the world and that verse is saying he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures and something that we can take away in all of this kind of piggybacking off of what we've been talking about is that our God is consistent and our God is constant he doesn't change we do our culture changes right if we think of you know scientific discoveries or we think of what was acceptable in culture at one time period is not acceptable to another is something that is pretty crazy right you see fashion trends go in and out you see different things are changing but yet God doesn't change and God provides his way and it's up to us to decide are we gonna follow his way are we not gonna we're gonna follow the ways of the world or we're gonna follow the ways of God he's the same yesterday today and forever so the holy scriptures in this context in Romans is talking about the Old Testament and how they are connected with the gospel counts of Jesus Christ and there is a similarity that we find with the holy scriptures and just the word scripture when you're seeing holy scriptures it's the emphasis on the divine inspiration that comes from the Lord right when we think of just scripture it's talking about the Old Testament I want us to turn there's gonna be two verses we're gonna turn to the first one is gonna be Matthew 21 42 it's gonna be page 983

[17:09] Matthew 21 42 Jesus said to them have you not read in the scriptures the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone this was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes so here we have it's right after the you have the parable of the two sons and the parable of the tenants right so Jesus is mentioning the scriptures right the Old Testament if you will the Pentateuch even then we go on into John chapter 5 John chapter 5 39 I'll put that on the screen so John 5 39 this is when Jesus is speaking to the speaking to the

[18:16] Pharisees you search the scriptures because you think that in in them you have eternal life and it is they that bear witness about me yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life so it's this talking about there's the mentioning of scriptures right searching the scriptures they point to Jesus Christ and we're thinking of the Old Testament we have to think about how when we're talking about the mystery or how God was hiding things all of it was to point to Jesus Christ to the the changer of history right by providing salvation for all and although it's not saying the holy scriptures it is talking about the scriptures none yeah nonetheless and then that brings us to a next question is what stood out to you or what stands out to you about the way

[19:19] Jesus quoted and referred to scripture in Matthew 21 42 and John chapter 5 verse 39 what can we learn from his example here so I want us to think about these two verses take a moment to reflect right or say what comes to mind when you get so caught up in rituals or rules right you can get think of the energy that you put into something right when you're putting so much energy into woodworking or energy into quilting or energy into working out you eventually get to a point where this is the way things have to be done and there's no other way the same can apply to religion if you will I know it's simplified of do versus done right which is a very simplistic way of looking at it but the Pharisees had had been stuck in their way so much that even when Jesus is pointing it out to them they still rejected and and how interesting is that it's no different than even the disciples of Christ when you think about

[20:44] Peter out in the sea right when Jesus is walking on water and I think of the old the cartoons or the old videos where he's sinking out in sea right and then Jesus is pulling him up and Jesus is asking well why did you doubt well I mean that's you that's your own disciple what yet there's still that doubt or when Peter is denying Jesus or when Thomas is doubting you have all of these I think that's just people you know we all have I think we get set in our ways at times what is it it's in John where he heals the Jesus heals the blind man and the Pharisees are asking the parents what is it that has happened and the parents say ask him he can speak for himself he's an adult and the reason why they did that is because if they had spoken on their kids accord they would have been kicked out of the synagogue which is very interesting there's a similarity that we can see and unfortunately even in churches you don't dress a certain way you're not welcome in this church you don't behave a certain way how is that any different than the Pharisees saying if you believe this certain thing or if you whatever it is you're not allowed to come in so I would say they're more focused on their religion their tradition their structured belief system if you will that they when truth is being revealed to them they don't want it you know what I like the law right when when you search the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life which is a very hard verse in of itself right well we find we can have eternal life in belief about Jesus but to search the scriptures thinking that they have eternal life without Christ so to me that would be that would be very interesting you can search the scriptures and try to find eternal life without the Lord that's kind of a scary verse if you think about it you know so we're mentioning the scriptures the holy scriptures in the context of these verses it's talking about the Old Testament right the prophets the Pentateuch but we can also read when scripture is mentioned or holy scriptures it can also mean the entirety of our Bible in any case though these verses should help us with our faith in understanding and I think this is a very critical point that the Old Testament should not be a book that is neglected or overlooked it is something that should be studied it is something that helps us understand how things were done compared to how things are a big example is and what actually I'll bring this up a little bit later is Levitical priests where you had to offer sacrifice right to atone for your sins if you will well in Hebrews it mentions that Christ was the high priest so to speak and there was the once for all sacrifice so there's no longer a need for Levitical priests and we find that in scripture and so in order to understand that though we have to know what do you mean the high priest if like if you completely cut out the Old Testament and you read that that Jesus is okay he's becoming the high priest and that he died for our sins okay well I don't understand what high priest means you have to have that context that connection that's found with the Old Testament so the entirety of the Bible it all of the books it's helpful for us in understanding who God is and the growing of our faith we need to establish what matters first and foremost is having faith in Jesus Christ by believing in him and receiving the gift of salvation this gift is free for all who believe and just like how Paul is sold out for Christ he wishes to tell the world of the gospel of God we too should be encouraged to share in the good news of the gospel and now I'd like for us to turn to 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 15

[25:37] I'm gonna put that on the slide here it's gonna be page 1182 at the beginning of our study we went over verse 16 that all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training in righteousness right and the language that was used about the origin of scripture was talking about how God breathed in his breath of life right we have received this inspirational book this divinely inspired book right which makes the Bible elevated and we should always look at scripture as unlike any other book that we have we think of Shakespeare we think of science books textbooks I mean I have a big accounting book that I'm not studying right now but I needed something hard to write on we have all of these different books with information but it's very different than the knowledge that we receive from God the wisdom that we receive from God the divine insights the learning about Jesus

[26:50] Christ and his life his death his burial his resurrection all of that so we went over that verse in the very beginning that I think that was the first verse we went over is how scripture is breathed out by God right God breathed life into us and he breathed out his breath of life so to speak into the words of God so we'll see that connection but also there are two there are three words I want you to look at here in verse 15 at least in the ESB it's saying the sacred writings so it says here how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus then it says all scripture is breathed out by God what does your translation say in that in verse 15 so second Timothy chapter 3 verse 15 holy scripture okay so what's very interesting is that in the

[27:54] I might have mentioned these outlines I originally got from a little book it's from the 1920s it's called the outline Bible studies it's by I think his name is William Baker they're very very difficult to find that book in that in the original outline it will say holy scriptures because the writer was using the KJV and there is a discrepancy well maybe that's the wrong word there's a difference in translation for that wording for childhood being acquainted with sacred writings now when you see in verse 16 how all scripture is breathed out that is the same word that we have been using for the John 539 the Matthew 21 verse and the Romans verse that is the same Greek word for scripture the Greek that is used for specifically for second Timothy chapter 3 verse 15 it's a different word but it can mean holy scripture it can mean sacred writing so it's it's not the exact word but it's similar okay so that's just something to keep in mind that traditionally it has been used to mean holy scriptures there are some translations that say sacred writings there's a kind of a debate on which one to go with because it's slightly different but at the end of the day it's I would say it's really the same thing it's referencing the Old

[29:35] Testament at that point so how he's because when he's writing to Timothy how from childhood you've been acquainted with we would call it the holy scriptures I think that's very accurate so another way to call it would be you've been trained with the sacred writings so it's just kind of another way of saying it's just a kind of an odd word that's being used here let me go to the so the question I had on here is in what ways is scripture able to make us wise but hold on to that question before we go into that yeah the ESV is saying sacred writings but regardless it's still referencing the Old Testament so how you translate that it's still mentioning the Old Testament it's just not the same exact word so I'm thinking the reason why they're doing that is because it's not the same consistent scripture word that's been used as the other ones yeah because there is a it's a separation between the entirety of scripture and and the way that's written if it lets assume it's holy scripture well that would be the same as saying the Old Testament right as we've been talking about if it's sacred writings well he would just be saying these are the sacred writings of the prophets it's just another way of saying that when you're going into verse 16 when it's talking about all of scripture that would be used as the entirety of the Bible right like what you're talking about with pastors evangelists teachers and all of that so it's just something it's a very interesting thing when you find a slight variation in the Greek language or when you're using the Old Testament a slight variation in the

[31:24] Hebrew language so I did want to point that out I think that's a big reason why I make mention that we shouldn't neglect we should not neglect the Old Testament because when even though we're living in the New Testament time where let's say post Christ's death and resurrection I don't like using post so much but after the fulfillment of prophecy that doesn't invalidate I know there's the verse that says when Christ said I did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it right well we're not looking at the Old Testament as something we throw away we can still reference it even with the prophecies that are being fulfilled and I mean granted you find Christ referencing the Old Testament you find a lot of references so that helps you with that and I hope that that all makes sense sacred writings it's it's the same meaning it's the same it's just some translations would say sacred writings others would say holy scripture and the all scripture is the same as the Romans 1 to the John 5 39 and the

[32:42] Matthew 21 42 so it's it's interesting when you find a slight variation and that's okay both of them are speaking of the Word of God that's that's the main point of this and in researching this and preparing this lesson when we go over all of scripture right the divine inspiration of the Word of God it's just remarkable that God has been there in scripture and he's known all along when we talk about prophecies being fulfilled in the Old Testament are all of them fulfilled well no some of them are still yet to come and I don't believe that God is wrong I don't believe that God is a liar I do believe that God fulfills his promises he fulfills the prophecy will be fulfilled one way or another it's just the timing and see that's it's unfortunate when people are like oh well there you know let's just say there's five prophecies that are not fulfilled not yet that that's the big thing right I want us to turn do a slight turn actually no it's in the back of your notes there's two verses that weren't I just want them there for reference Philippians 2 16 it makes mention of the word as the word of life I love that kind of language and then following John chapter 6 verse 63 where Jesus says the words that I have spoken to you our spirit and life the mention of all scripture makes mention to all of the inspired word of God all of these names and these titles are connected with one another they help us with our walk with the Lord and now it's time for us to turn our Bibles and learn about the oracles of God it's our final part but before I go any further are any of us pressed on time so oracles of God it only shows up three times in the Bible now the word oracles shows up four times in the Bible but I'm going to specifically focus on oracles of God three times in the Bible and they should all be in your notes Romans chapter 3 verse 2 Hebrews chapter 5 verse 12 and 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 11 so I want us to go ahead and turn to Romans chapter 3 verse 2 it's going to be page 1118 and we'll just begin with verse 1 all right here we go Romans chapter 3 then what advantage has the Jew or what is the value of circumcision oh that's a tough question to ask right much in every way to begin with the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God okay so that's where we see oracles so what significance does the word oracles have in referring to the word of God why is this an important descriptor before we go any further I want to ask that question take a moment and think about this question it's defined as an utterance a utterance yeah it's something that is spoken so that's your hint but we'll go further into it I just wanted to see if initially there's anything that comes to mind when we're talking about oracles I know there's a company out there named oracle and then oracles you might hear it more in antiquity like Greek mythology or Roman mythology so it's unusual to find it in scripture though but there's a reason for it and it's very interesting so yeah take a moment and just so when we're looking at this verse Paul is asking the question right in verse 1 about what the advantage the Jews had and he answers this question by saying that the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of

[37:33] God so the oracles so think about that God giving something entrusting the oracles what are what are the oracles it's defined as the utterances of God or the words that are spoken by God what you'll find very interesting is that oracles are talking specifically about divine messages revelations or word to God's people doesn't this sound very very similar to something else to perhaps the word in the beginning was the word does that sound sounds very similar right so what it is is the difference between logos and logea logei a as opposed to logos or logos logea or logea and depending on who you ask very similar words so logos we've gone over previously has to do with the word right in the beginning was the word and the word was with God right we learned about the word became flesh right we learned about the word of Christ

[38:54] Christ being the word well this is slightly different the logea right this the I'll just say the oracles the oracles is more of a broad term that speaks of the things that have been said the more of the messages that have come from God the words they're spoken from God so it's similar but they're not the same so when we're thinking of oracles versus the word the word is more specific to Christ the oracles would be more of like the sayings of old the sayings of God the divine inspiration if you will so it's a more of a broad overview so historically oracle has been like I was mentioning antiquity right the oracles of what did Zeus say right or what did another God say so it's more of that kind of language that was used so I find it to be very interesting that that word is being used especially I mean when we're looking at the fact that this is written the book of Romans being written to Rome right so you have to think part of the audience would be the Romans who worshiped other gods so using the word oracles would make a lot of sense so these are words that are spoken and words that are divine that come from God the sayings of God so the oracles of God in this sense right like I said they are divine words that come from God and they were entrusted to the Jewish people and what a privilege it must be to have the words that are spoken that were written down into the holy scriptures if you will what a blessing that must be to have that and at that time in the Old Testament the Jews had access to that but then that goes into the mystery of Christ Christ being revealed the mystery of the gospel that it is no longer hidden but it is now open and available for all who believe so it's just a wonderful connection with the Old Testament to the New Testament and as we go so there's a couple more verses because I want to show you the oracles of God as there's only three verses total I want us to keep in mind that these are they're speaking of God's words right but it's different than the word of God this is more of the sayings right this is more of the words of God messages divine revelation so I want us to turn to our next verse it's going to be page 1190 in it it's gonna be Hebrews let's see Hebrews chapter 5 verse 12 I put that on the screen so it's page 1190 in the ESVP Bible alright so Hebrews chapter 5 verse 12 for by this time you ought to be teachers you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of what of the oracles of God is that consistent is that what all of our translations say the oracles of God you need milk not solid food now you've heard me mention in sermons about how going from milk to solid food from being a baby Christian to becoming learning the deeper things of God and his word and I'm gonna put a question up here but I just want to say this much it's very interesting how in the context of this

[43:01] Hebrews passage of why you're going from milk to solid food right typically it's oh you're a new Christian you need milk of the word then you're gonna grow but for this one it's more like a rebuke you need someone to teach you again the basic principles right we need to go over it with you again so the question that comes up is why do you think the writer of Hebrews emphasizes going back to the oracles of God I kind of gave you a little bit of an answer but want to ask you around for those who are struggling spiritually what should this teach us so take a moment and write in your notes or think about an answer on that well you bring you bring up a very very good question here so you have some churches and mind you when I talk about other churches I'm not criticizing them okay you have some churches that are focusing on the basics right come to the Lord Jesus make a decision for Christ that is the most important thing about us as churches what about growing in Christ what about learning about what it means to be a Christian I really like the I think it's

[44:26] Rick Warren that has the book that says I'm a Christian now what right it's at least that title is very true though where it's like okay I'm a Christian well now what do what what has to happen after but unfortunately I think there's a number of churches out there that they focus on everyone making a decision for Christ rightfully so but they stop there and they focus on well let's let's just bring in as many people as possible or let's mobilize people to go serve the community these things are fine but there has to be depth in what you do there has to be what you don't want is you know when you hear people talk about I know a lot of people like to talk about false teachers and false theology and whatnot but if you teach your congregation the word of God do you really think you'd have a problem with that you know what does the word of God say and what does it mean and how does that apply to our lives sometimes we'll find things like I don't know how this is applying but there has to be this sense of discipleship there has to be this sense of spiritual growth I would say part of it is sometimes they're they're not getting it that's very that's very normal right some some congregations they're just here and they made a decision for Christ and they don't want to go any deeper that's a possibility the other possibility is the infrastructure of the church not having things available for someone to go deeper in the word and I'm not saying membership because I know a lot of churches will say oh well that's what memberships for well yes and no it's part of it but I mean when is the last here's a challenge for you have you ever been to a church that has preached on song of Solomon think about that okay all right all right so okay we got one which is a great praise God but Ecclesiastes Job like why are these not taught now I know song of Solomon is a very very difficult book I understand that I'm not denying that I'd like to go over it one day but the thing is most churches are teaching the Gospels which is fine and I like I said I'm not criticizing them for doing that it's what is the consequence of not going more in-depth in the Word of God I encourage every church I go to whether I whether I'm a pastor or whether I'm just a congregant is have a church that is what you're about learning the Word of God learning a truth of scripture how to defend the Word of God how to share in your faith those kind of things it's not just about oh let's have the latest and greatest rock show let's have the fog machines and and lasers and it's not all about that you know it's knowing the you got to know the book you got to know why you're a Christian okay you come to know the Lord come to know the the depths of scripture that's why I've always found it such and and I think that is my favorite verse in scripture is it is the glory of God to conceal a thing the glory of kings is to discover that thing and part of the role of a pastor or a teacher even is to help the congregation learn these deeper things of God I think that's a wonderful thing but churches that aren't teaching it's very sad there is another organization I

[48:25] I know the president of it's called discipleship journeys with Jesus his name the guy's name is Mark Allen Williams you can look him up sometimes he used to work with DCP I dynamic church planting international and he began an organization called the discipleship journeys with Jesus specifically because it is such a problem for churches to have discipleship programs that he created an entire ministry translating in different languages you know Zulu or Spanish or Korean and all these different languages so that churches can use it as a resource for discipleship well I love what he's doing but at the same time I'm like do you realize why he made that it's because there's not depth in teaching which is a very unfortunate thing and then I just the whole idea is for us to be mature we can minister to others we can discern what is right and wrong there's a lot of benefits in knowing the word of God that's a big reason why you want to have scripture speak for itself it's why you focus on the I keep saying this the context and the connections you need to have those things in place you don't want to just pull things out of a hat a great example is when scripture says all things are permissible well that's a complete blatant cherry picking of the verse so what happens as a joke what happens if a pastor get what happens if a pastor comes up and says all things are permissible because it is in scripture if you cherry pick that you could be leading someone down a very very wrong path what is that first Corinthians chapter 10 verse 20 thing 23 all things are lawful but not all things are helpful all things are lawful but not all things build up so it depends on the translation but I think the translation of that verse I've known is all things are permissible right so if you can imagine someone pulling that hey guys we can do whatever we want in the name of the Lord and everyone say amen well that's a clear cherry picking of that you have to look at the context and the Apostle Paul is actually saying that's not the case in that so yeah yeah it which is exactly like I've had people ask do you do book by book or do you do topical and the response to that is I do both I like doing book by book when I'm doing a topic I have to treat it as though it's an exposition that's why you hear me say it's a thematic exposition meaning the verses that I'm referring to I'm going to treat it no different than if I was doing a book by book so in other words it's still exposition but it's a theme so a thematic exposition you're having a topic that's being treated with the care of an exposition so you have if someone says oh are you topical are you expository that's the wrong question it's are you expository then are you a thematic exposer or are you a verse by verse or chapter by chapter line by line because you can be a you can have themes and topics that are not a biblical exposition but you can have some that are very have a lot of richness to them that's why with going over Christ as a creator redeemer and sustainer that's basically passages from Colossians the very beginning of

[52:18] Colossians so it's kind of you have to have that intentionality in that because if you don't have the depth of scripture or the wisdom of scripture you are you putting in something that's contrary to scripture and how easy is that to use you know it's just definitely something to think about so right so so check this out okay I'm gonna just read what I wrote so you can understand this this is a this is very interesting so this is a verse where it's a rebuke right some people who they should be at a place where they're able to teach but they're not so they have to go back to the basics right okay that is pretty cut and dry why is it being said though that's a harder question so what appears to be happening in these verses that are leading up to it has to do with Jesus being the high priest was offered as the atoning sacrifice this is to say that when Christ died on the cross paid for our sins once and for all let me show you okay let's go to chapter 9 okay so Hebrews chapter 9 verses 11 through 12 okay when Christ appeared as a high priest for the good things that have come then through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands that is not of this creation he entered once for all into the holy places not by means of the blood of goats and of calves but by what means of his own blood thus securing and I love these verses eternal redemption so you have to go a little bit further into understanding why that was being brought up but if you do go back to go back to chapter 5 in Hebrews I wanted to show you verse 9 so you can understand chapter 5 in Hebrews which leads up to that verse 12 okay for every high priest chosen among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God to offer gifts and sacrifice for sins the old Levitical priests right that's what he's talking about what they had to do he can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward since he himself is beset with weakness because of he because of this he is obligated to offer for his own sins just as he does for those of the people and no one takes this honor for himself but only when called by God just as Aaron was so also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest but was appointed okay appointed by the Lord by him who said to him you are my son today I have begotten you so that's from the father right verse 6 he also says in another place you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek okay verse 7 in the days of his flesh Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his reverence although he was a son he learned obedience through which he suffered right I think so it's mentioning the Gethsemane right take this cup away from me right but he ends up he was the son he learned obedience through what he suffered after being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him by being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek okay so that's setting the stage for that verse 12 about this we have much to say and it is hard to explain since you have become dull in hearing for through for though by this time you ought to be teachers you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God you need milk not solid food so what is happening here right so go we went back to the oracles of God of what is happening it was the misunderstanding of the high priest okay the writer is saying that these people don't understand why the

[57:02] Levitical priesthood right that offers sacrifices why it's no longer needed so because of this they had to go back to the basics so contextually yes they it's saying you need to go back to the basics and understand why you don't need a high priest so going back to the basics was going back to the oracles of God going back to the utterances of the Lord and it hits home when we think of nowadays that if we fell into a false theology if we learned something that was contrary to what scripture says even if we do fall into false theology we can always go back to the basics and have a refresher okay so all that to say even if we don't fall into false theology it's good to have a refresher at times right so it's good and I'm not saying always have milk but even if you are having that solid food it's okay to drink milk from time to time and be refreshed if you will with the truth of scripture so that's all of this is all connected and just kind of learning about how Christ as the high priest that's why we don't have the

[58:30] Levitical priesthood anymore so the question comes up do we need a high priest well according to these verses the answer is no and it's very clear in there so it's it's definitely there's nothing wrong with just starting over you know starting over with you know going back to John 3 16 or going back to in the beginning right going back to those right right and and sometimes it's necessary just to make sure that maybe it's to help check yourself as well it's just those kind I know we've been definitely going over a lot with this we have one more verse one final verse here it's gonna be 1st Peter chapter 4 verse 10 to 11 it's on the screen so 1206 first Peter chapter 4 verses 10 to 11 okay let's start at verse 7 okay the end of all things is at hand ain't that true right therefore what is what is Peter saying here be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers above all keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins show hospitality to one another without grumbling all right right without grumbling as each has received a gift use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that everything in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to him belong glory and dominion forever and ever amen very powerful verse there right so next question is what wisdom does

[60:45] Peter give here about using our spiritual gifts how can we ensure that we are relying on God's strength rather than our own when we serve so take a moment to think about that so we see that Peter is writing for believers to be prepared for the end times and it's a great reminder we don't know the time when Christ will return these verses are a reminder for us to be prepared nonetheless be prepared we can be prepared with Christ returning by having a relationship with him by the study of scripture sharing in our faith practice discernment there's many ways that we can prepare and when this verse says as one who speaks oracles of God Peter is speaking about ones who are able to speak the word of the Lord Peter is using the oracles of God he's talking about people speaking God's words it is an emphasis on the authority of God's word to those who speak it whether that's a pastor or a teacher an evangelist or someone who's prophesying those who speak from God's word they have to speak with the servants heart it's not for personal gain it's about doing the work of the Lord just like with those who have the ability to speak as serving

[62:31]  God and people we should serve with what God has given to us so this verse goes on to say that the strength that God supplies it's a reference to that God will give us the strength to be able to reach out to others to those who are in need and how God moves in us and through us it varies from person to person it might just be being present with someone and just being there listening to their story it might be going out in the street and holding a sign saying Jesus saves right it could be one of those I always have respect for people who do street ministry I mean that's it's a very difficult ministry to be able to do but God supplies with that how they're able to withstand being yelled at or you know whatever the public does right but whatever it is that God provides I think of I always think of the story of Abraham and Isaac that God will provide a sacrifice in the same way God provides for us what we need to be able to do his work well I think that goes with part of our final question right how do we steward the holy scriptures or the oracles of God today right being available for people is certainly one way right you know his word is now accessible to all believers right and how we live out our faith right how I do that or how you that how you do that it differs from person to person but it's still with that heart of being able to steward what God has given to us right to boldly go out into the world we think of the oracles of God or the holy scriptures that his word is available to everyone and I just find great comfort in all of that so with this final question feel free to write down in your notes or reflect on that that's our final question for tonight it's definitely something to think of well with that we have concluded our titles and names of scripture and it's all part of the the theme which this overarching theme is gonna keep going but the names of scriptures specifically that portion of it is complete well with with that yeah we'll be going into I think it's like the purity of scolch of the purity of scripture the the description of scripture I think it's what it is that would be the next one so well with that let's pray and then we'll we can go ahead and wrap things up Father God we thank you for giving us this time and this chance to delve in your holy scripture and learn more about the oracles that come from you the utterances the word the truth the wisdom and knowledge that comes from you we ask that you are with us as we go from this place may we be inspired by you and your word may we grow in faith to know you to grow in you and to be more like your son Jesus the Messiah Jesus the Christ be with us this week it is in Jesus's name we pray amen