Well tonight we are going to go over it is part three of our series
Which is titled the nature the purpose and the power of scripture
So what we've been going over we've been going over the origin of scriptures
We've learned about how the Bible is a gift from God
The words and the pages of scripture they are divinely inspired and we talked about how the Holy Spirit
Played a key role
Into the writing of scripture we had talked about how scripture is God breathed and what's very interesting is how we talk about
God breathed the breath of life into us when we're born if you will and in the same manner in the same way
God breathes his life into the word of God and so we've been going over that and tonight
We're gonna go over the titles and the names of scripture
Oh, we also before we get into this we also talked about the
The authors of scripture we went over the prophets we went over the apostles
We went over the idea of Christ being the center of it all that Christ is the creator the redeemer and the sustainer
Just as a little sneak peek. We'll be doing a sermon series on Christ the creator redeemer and sustainer
I have found in
In studying philemon and in preparing these Bible studies that there's this repeated language in there about
Creator Christ the creator Christ the redeemer and Christ the sustainer keeping things together
We also talked about the mystery of Christ to the mystery of the gospel and one of the big things with that is this idea that
The word of God being divinely inspired right as time is going on the writers are writing in there
The writing the word of God down
It wasn't known at the time but we get to see what was revealed and that's this mystery of the gospel
Well, the mystery revealed is that Christ
Provides salvation for everyone instead of just God's chosen people instead of just the Jewish people it is a
Way for everyone so there we talked a great deal about the language of the mystery of the gospel the mystery of Christ
And so this is where it brings us to the titles and the name of scriptures
You have we have our sheets. I don't know if you had one there
Yeah, it's okay. Feel free to get one
But before we go any further I want us to just go ahead
Let's open in a word of prayer and then we'll get right to it
So father we thank you for your holy word
Your word has life in it. It is the story of redemption. There is so much wisdom and insight knowledge
That we can learn and the word of God is a means for us to
Have the knowledge of who you are have that saving knowledge to be able to make a decision for you
And it also has the ability for us to grow in you to grow closer to you and to exhibit lives that are holy
There's so much that we are blessed with we're blessed with this gift of life and we're blessed with the
Life-giving word so we thank you for just giving us the time and this opportunity for us to come together and study your word
It is truly a blessing and I'm reminded of when scripture says that when two or three are gathered in my name in your name
There you are with us. So be here with us tonight as we are just going through
a couple verses
The more we study scripture the more we find connections and we learn more about you
So may our minds be open to learning more about you and may our hearts
Be moved to live and love like you it is in Jesus name that we pray we all say together. Amen
So tonight we will be going through
the original plan is
to go through
eight nine verses but in writing this just going over the first three was a task and
Certainly you'll there will be a lot of really good depth in
This idea of the title and the names of scriptures. So the first question I want to ask you
I'd like to put it on the slide here
Feel free to interact or oh there's the sheet sir
If you want to grab a sheet, it's right on the table right as you come up the stairs
Yes
So I want to ask you how many different names or titles do you think of when you think of the Bible?
Right? I know immediately I think of the word of God, but what what are some other names you can think of?
So we are going over that first question on your sheet
So what I was mentioning is you'll have on your sheet the
Kind of the outline of what we're doing and there's questions for reflection our discussion
Feel free to answer the questions as they come along or just write them down. It's really up to you
Which way you prefer to?
and
As I was mentioning there are eight nine verses about the titles and the names of the word of God
That we will be going over and as I was writing all of this together
I found that the first three were very challenging and very insightful
So this will be part one of the titles and the name of scripture
I didn't realize there's such depth just on the name of the word of God
So I was asking
How many different names or titles for the Bible? Can you think of I mean it could be something you've called the Bible or something?
You've heard I'm kind of curious
So feel free to answer or reflect on your
Yeah, so and and that's okay
You know there's there's some phrases that you may have heard of before it may be growing up the good news the gospel message
and
You'll find in here. There's a couple names of scripture the first one here. You'll see is the implanted word
And that's going to be in James 1 21. We won't go there yet
But the implanted word and then the second one
I thought was very interesting is this idea of spiritual milk
Some translations and we'll go further into this
Say spiritual milk of the word and others just call it spiritual milk and it's this idea that
milk you receive nourishment from the word of God
Okay, that makes sense, but it's just interesting. There's a translation difference
So we'll go over that and then of course the word of God which is found in Hebrews 4
12 so what I'd like us to do
Since this is a Bible study, I'd like us to go. I'm gonna put it on the slide here turn your Bibles to
James chapter 1
Chapter 1 verse 21 or page
1199 in the ESV Pugh Bible
feel free to use
really whatever
Translation you prefer
But I do have the option of having the page number as well and one of the things as you get used to
seeing the the page number
on there
So it's gonna be James chapter 1 verse 21 and it says in here
therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and
receive the meekness
receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls
now contextually
You have James the brother of Jesus, right? He's reminding the brothers
previously to be quick to hear right to be slow to speak and slow to anger and
in the previous verses you're seeing this call to really
Behave if you will to be more like Christ, right when we're talking about the brethren
We're talking about brothers and sisters in Christ. It is this idea of being more like the Lord
It's a call for James to put away filthiness and and rampant wickedness if you will which is some pretty strong language
So the Greek words that are used in this verse you have filthiness, which is something that is dirty or something that is filthy
Obviously, there's other translations of that. I'm just going with what the Greek is defining it
And then you have
rampant wickedness
So it's this idea of an abundance of evil or an abundance of wickedness or naughty behavior
if you will and we see here that James
he's writing to the 12 tribes to turn from their evil ways and to
receive in meekness
Receive in meekness. So what do you what do you mean meekness, right?
Receiving in mildness or humility, right? Well, what are we talking about? We're talking about the implanted word here
Now that's an interesting choice of word the implanted word
It is the only time in scripture that that word actually shows up, which is very interesting
We know word being logos or logos
translated as word
But the type of word is talking about the implanted word and saying, okay, which is able to save souls
So what does that mean?
You find that the word word is the similar as the beginning of John 1 1 in the beginning was the word
But like I said implanted is something that's unique
It's the only time and all of scripture that that word shows up
So since there's no other times that this word shows up that makes it a little more difficult because
Oftentimes you see certain words or phrasings that are used in scripture. You can find connections with other scripture
So we have to really go further to figure out. Well, what do you mean by implanted?
And there exists a on your sheet if you go let's see here
No, not on your sheet. There's a beautiful connection
Which is found in Colossians 3 16 which we won't even go over through tonight
But it's talking about the indwelling of the word of Christ let the word of Christ dwell within you
So there's parallel there, but there's another parallel that we find with the implanted word
Which is found in the parable of the sower. So I'm gonna put that on the slide
It's on the back of your notes here the parable of the sower in the seeds some of you may know this one
It's obviously a different a
Difficult parable to go over because like any parable there are truths that are
Sometimes they're easy to understand sometimes they're difficult to understand and they have deep truths in them
So in this particular parable, it's found in Matthew, Mark and Luke not in John
But by reading all three of them I put this on here for you as
Additional reading we're not gonna go through every every
Instance that this shows up, but I found it very interesting on the back of your notes in Luke chapter 8 verse 11
You don't have to turn there. It's just on the back of your sheet
The parable is this
The seed is the word of God and I found that to be very interesting, right?
We're talking about the implanted word which is found in
James chapter 1 verse 21 and then we see this parable
with the parable of the seed and the soil and
In Luke chapter 8 verse 11 you see it explicitly saying
the seed is the word of God and so
Let's think of it God
God desires for us to be saved right to come to the knowledge of
Knowing who God is and we know that Christ is the way the truth and the life
So the word of Christ that is mentioned in Colossians 3 16, which we're not going over, but we will
it's this idea that
Faith comes through hearing and hearing through the word of Christ
so
You have the word of God, which is the seed which is implanted
So when we're talking about the implanted word
We're talking about the seed that leads us to knowledge of having faith in Jesus Christ
Belief in the Lord and further that seed will grow which will
Allow for us to grow in the faith. I found that to be such an interesting
Connection there it was certainly a difficult one finding
What in the world do you mean the implanted word?
And so the question that I want to put on the slide here is
You know when we think about the parable of the sower and seed
What type of soil is your heart and and do you need to work on your heart?
And that's certainly a question that
You know we can all think about there's the different types of soil and
The main one we need to focus on is the good soil right not not the thorns right not on the
Wayside or the roadside but focusing on good soil which is receiving the seed and allowing the seed to grow
in us so to speak and so I just thought that was very interesting so take time to either
Answer it in on your notes or feel free to answer the question out loud
What is that? What is that verse where it says to?
Keep keep the word in your heart right?
It's slipping me right now
but
Holding on to the word is something that is very important to do that if you don't understand the word
Sometimes you have to really work at it to try to understand it and other times you have to just put it to the side
In working on this implanted word one
This was one I worked on a few hours to try to understand what in the world the implanted word meant
which is why there's the mentioning of
When we hear about faith comes through hearing
Hearing through the word of Christ right so there's a lot of this parallel with the seed being implanted by
It comes through the word of God it comes from the word of God and that comes from the
Preaching and the teaching of God's word
So on one end you have the planting of the seed and then the second part when we're looking at the
Parable of the sower and the soils the seed is
How does that grow? How does that seed?
What does that turn out to be right?
Will the seed grow on go on good soil and grow?
So receiving the implanted word right it's the word of God it comes from hearing
So the it says that the implanted word has the ability to save souls
Now I found that very difficult because when you're reading that you're like, okay
You need to receive the word with humility
It's able to save souls. Are you saying that is that a works-based?
verse or not
It's not because the implanted word goes onto the soil
Well, what what becomes of that? How are you going to respond by the hearing of God's word?
so oftentimes when we think of the imagery of
Throwing the seed onto the ground. Well, not every seed is going to plant and that's like us the soil
Are we going to absorb the word of God and respond to it by?
faith by the manifestation of
Receiving the word of God the fruits that come from it. So there's a lot of that language that's found in the word of God
So when we speak of this it's us responding to God's word it also has to do with our heart
It has to do with us having the good soil hearing the word
understanding it and accepting it and I wrote here what James is saying is
James is saying in this verse turn from your evil ways and receive the seed the implanted word
Let it take root if you will and it has the ability to save your soul because James is writing to an audience where
Some are unbelievers some are believers
So the transformative power of the word will be able to save your soul
If you are already a Christian if you will you'll have the growing stage right where we go from the
spiritual milk of the word into mature
Being a mature Christian. So there's a lot of tie-ins there
James is writing to that wide audience. So there's the ability to save souls and
And
Realize that the implanted word that is God's word that is being preached it is bring it's being taught
The word must be taught to the new believer. It must be preached to the new believer
And it's also to the seasoned Christian, right?
Every day that we are a Christian we study God's word. We hear God's word. Hopefully
Hopefully we grow and we learn as we are going and
Certainly if you're not being challenged or you're not growing then it may be
It may be your heart. It may be where you're at in life
There's a lot of different variables, and I'm not saying that in a critical tone
I'm just saying always be on that trajectory of growth and if you're in a season where you're not growing
That's not always a bad thing
Try to you know keep on a trajectory
It might just be the season of life that you're in where you're having a dry spell if you will
But it's always this continual growth and the seed that is growing in in you if you will absolutely
absolutely, you know
part of being a Christian is
when we talk about the
transformative power of the gospel, right
part of it is
realizing, you know
The role of Jesus Christ, right his redemption his death on the cross and what that means to you and
How you respond to that so you believe in Jesus Christ and you are saved
So from the non-believer standpoint it is
Responding to that to responding to Jesus's call
When you're talking about the heart of a Christian
After he's been saved
It's allowing for God to I
Always use the word working in and through you
Because when you think about the joy that comes from the Lord the peace that comes from the Lord a lot of that is
They call it working on your salvation and I always don't I don't like those kind of words, but it's talking about you're already saved
there's a there is the process of
sanctification as opposed to justification and what that means is
You being saved that is the start
From that starting point there is the purification the cleansing the cleaning up the seeing of of the intentions of your heart
if you will
because one thing that you'll notice is
oftentimes
when you read scripture in
The same way it convicts you or moves you to make a decision for Christ
It will also convict you and move you to change your behaviors
So think about the Christian who let's say they just became a Christian and they're still living a sinful life
Let's just say that
Well, if they continue on it, there will be a time where the Holy Spirit will convict them will move them and say hey
You need to clean up your act. You need to stop
stealing you need to stop
cheating on your wife you need to stop
Sitting or whatever it is and just you allow for that transformation and I think one of the difficult things
you know
being in pastoral ministry is
On one end you want to see people change but on another end
You have to allow God to work through them and I've seen it very often where and I'm not
criticizing any pastor or mind you when I'm saying this but sometimes you'll see
It's like don't you realize you need to change now, right? You got a turn from your your sin or whatever it is
well
Yes, but it's the balls in their court
Your your your job is to preach and teach the word of God and allow for the Lord to convict people
Now if somebody is convicted and they want to have a conversation. That's very different right having that discussion
but I do think
God does work on your heart part of it as you're growing there's growing pains, right sometimes I
Do do I have you know, I don't want to change God. I don't want to you know
I don't want to do the right thing whatever it is
That can be very difficult and
It's just
How do you respond to that conviction and sometimes we're not ready sometimes we are ready so there's a lot of that in there
So I hope I hope that answers your your question. Yes
so when we think of
Let's say you're on you're with all of your friends, right and
Let's just say all of you are
Let's just say alcoholics, right and all of you are living a certain lifestyle always getting drunk always doing something
You come to the Lord
You make a decision for Christ you might still drink let's be honest here
There might still be times you get drunk and still hang out with your friends. You may even try to minister to them as you're growing
There comes a point where it's like
They're not changing I
Need to pray for them and it is frustrating, right when you see that they're not changing and maybe they're slowly making that and
They're not where you're at in terms of you know
attending church and and the community there is I
Always like how
When we talk about the church that it is a community of believers
It is the body of Christ where we help each other
Whatever is going on right when we talk about prayer requests and prayers answered
There's the celebration of when God answers prayers and then there's the time where we need to pray and ask God for divine intervention in
Whether that's God's healing hand or whether that's wisdom to make a decision
Maybe it's not an easy decision or maybe it's just the decision. You're not ready to make
There's definitely a lot of that and in terms of you know, I always encourage I want to encourage people to come to church even if your spouse isn't coming because
Hearing the word of God and we're talking about the implanted words some translations say the engrafted word of God
When you go back home you can be a light to your spouse and I know it's it gets on a very touchy subject, you know is is the husband or is this wife
Let's just say the spouse is the spouse a believer or not is the spouse where is their heart at and you know certainly sometimes the heart of a spouse does change
Sometimes it doesn't and that's a very difficult thing. I can think of one story that I know I know a family who the husband wanted nothing to do with the church
And in fact the wife faithfully came with the children and as time went on she would pray that her husband would change and the church prayed for this man because of how worldly let's just say
And over time God worked on his heart and it softened his heart the man became a believer in Christ the man became baptized in the faith now it's not to say it was smooth sailing not at all
But there was a progression and knowing him for as long as I've known him seeing from where he was to where he is it's just wonderful just seeing that the transformed heart you know and that's certainly a prayer
When we think of any family member or spouse that doesn't attend how can we pray for them a lot of life obligations right you have school right you have sports you have sometimes it's just as simple as having a job
You know there's lots of young people I know they get a job at let's just say Subway or Jack in the box and the boss says you're working on Sunday and if you don't you're out of there and that's also a tough thing
It's definitely a part of it is the culture we live in and the other part of it is if they don't want to go and it's certainly there's different sides to that but it is very unfortunate when you see young people young kids not coming to church
Let's go ahead and turn to 1 Peter I'm going to put that on the slide here 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 2 it's going to be on page 1200 and 4 in our pew bibles
and since we're talking about talking about children I'm on the wrong page I think this verse really sticks out here
like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation and in verse 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good
Now in this verse I said we're talking about the names of Scripture where is the word word in there right where is Holy Scripture where is that in here
Well what's interesting is that word spiritual that shows up in the verse we know the word milk obviously is literally milk right as like a newborn child drinks from the bottle or you think of an animal that's drinking their mother's milk if you will
so that's pretty self explanatory but the word spiritual it can be defined as spiritual or reasonable or some translations say of the word
and what I want to do I want to put this slide up here you'll find this slide there's differences in translations
and although it's not logos it is referring to the word it's just how it's translated
so in the in the new American standard Bible the King James the new King James and the CSB I think it's the common standard Bible
it is the milk of the word and in the NIV the new living translation our English standard Bibles the Holman Christian that's what it is Christian standard Bible not common
Holman Christian standard Bible and the I believe that's the amplified standard Bible uses the word spiritual milk it is they both mean the same thing it can mean of the word and it can mean spiritual
but it's talking about the spirituality that comes from the milk right the Greek word that is being used it's only twice used in all of scripture right the spiritual milk of the word or spiritual milk if you will
if you look at the back of your notes in Romans chapter 12 verse 1 you see written here this is this only other time where the word spiritual shows up
I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice some of us know this one holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship
that's the only other time that word shows up so it could mean the reasonable it could mean the wordly worship could mean one of those things at least
so regardless of the translation we can see that there is a call and this first Peter verse for us to begin on spiritual milk which comes from the word of God
we would say that that's the basic understanding of what the Bible is all about you know one of the big things that I've kind of learned as a pastor as I've been in ministry for so many years is that
you always have to go back to the basics because you cannot assume who is or who isn't saved or who knows the Lord and who doesn't know the Lord
that's a big reason why I always try and the sermons that I write or the sermons that I preach to always go back to Jesus and making that decision for Christ
even if we all know the Lord that's okay I don't know who saved and I don't know who who is or isn't saved and I cannot assume that everyone is even if that even if everyone is
there's also the time for you read a case of your life sometimes you need to go back to the basics when you're going through a trial or a tribulation sometimes it's good to go back to the basics
it's like when you learn music or when you're if you're an athlete or if you're a baseball player sometimes you have to go back over the technique the basics of your understanding of your craft
or something that you've studied or something that you're good at it's good to be reminded of the spiritual milk right okay
God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever believes shall not perish but have eternal life we probably some of us have probably heard that a thousand times
but when we talk about our hearts at times maybe our hearts have been hardened maybe there's a situation I know there's times where I've I've struggled and I needed to be reminded of that
maybe the Lord needs to work on your heart a little bit you know there's there is that so it's good to be reminded of the basics we all go from milk to that solid food if you will now that's not explicitly mentioned in the first Peter passage
but it goes on to solid food in Hebrews chapter 5 verse 12 through 14 which talks about you need milk not solid food right you need to go back to you need to go back to the basics
and sometimes when we become like the Pharisees we get so legalistic or we get so caught up in you know which translation is the best translation or you know all men need to shave their their beards or whatever when you start getting on to those things
you need to check yourself you need to check your heart there's a I know it's a worldly saying but I think there's a lot of truth in it you need to check yourself before you wreck yourself right you need to check your heart before you do damage to yourself or do damage to others
and what I mean by that is you can really hurt another Christian you can really hurt a brother or sister in Christ if through legalism that's why you think of Jesus when he's rebuking the Pharisees so much if you will right these people who were so fixated on things outside of the word
that's why we have to focus on the milk of the word the basics and then grow from that and occasionally remind ourselves in other words it's okay to have milk with your meal if you're having a nice spaghetti dinner or a steak dinner or just chicken or whatever it's nice to have a glass of milk every so often
whether that's literally the dinner you have but also the truth when it comes to the word of God remind yourself of the basics from time to time there's no harm in that
and what we found with the James verse just like what we found in the James verse there is the call for Christians to turn from their evil ways so interesting right and I and that's contextually in the first Peter right where we're talking about you got to turn from your evil ways
we talk about James right there is the reliance that the spiritual milk or milk of the word it helps us to grow in our faith much like the implanted seed it helps us grow
now when it says grow into our salvation it's not talking about the this idea and this unfortunately some of these verses can get very easily taken out of context okay you know you have to work your way into salvation
you know you have to you have to work on your seed so to speak then then no no no no don't over complicate it and I know unfortunately with the book of James is very often misquoted
what we're talking about especially for the Peter passage is when it's saying grow into our salvation it is the continued growing that happens from being saved right when I talk about justification and sanctification right
once you're saved this is great now continue in the purification process continue in your salvation if you will right you're you're building upon that foundation if you will
and when we're talking about the implanted word that word the word of God will lead you to know Christ through faith and it will also lead you to grow to build upon that faith to build upon that foundation
and I think what's very sad is sometimes we get that little bit confused it's very difficult even explaining it now but all that to say implanted word the word of God will lead you to Christ
from leading you to Christ it will lead you to do good right it will make you more like Christ right when we talk about sanctification right talk being more like Jesus knowing that you're saved right
the milk of the word when we're talking about growing from drinking from the bottle if you will drinking the milk of the word of God also same thing growing from once being saved
I know that's a little more difficult here but it's something we need to keep in mind we need to consider
so I want to make that I wanted to just bring that up that it is receiving salvation and growing through our salvation growing in our salvation that's already existent
so when we make a decision for Christ it's the beginning of our new life in our new identity in Christ from the moment of being justified we are on a path where God will work in and through us
like how we talked about earlier making a decision for Christ that is the beginning you think of graduation right the commencement ceremony right is that the end it's not an ending ceremony
unfortunately I think culturally we think it's the end like oh you graduated yay you're good to go well no the commencement is the beginning of your education if you will and that's tough for students who have gone through a four year degree or whatever you know high school or college
what do you mean this is the beginning I want this to be over with but it's the beginning of a lifelong process so in this way it's you are saved that is the beginning that is the commencement if you will and from the commencement you are going to grow
you are going to learn more about what it means to be a Christian you're going to learn more about the word of God and hopefully Lord willing you'll produce fruit from that it's just like how scripture says they you will know someone by their fruit right
what kind of fruit are you producing I think about that even as a pastor how pastors are measured differently than other Christians and that's a very scary thing to think about what kind of fruit is going to be produced here and I hope it's going to be good fruit not nasty fruit you know
but the idea though is keep this in mind when we're thinking of the implanted word and spiritual milk that it's the commencement right you make a decision for Christ now begin your life in Christ so when you're saying grow in salvation right you're growing from that point when you make that decision and it's very beautiful language again unfortunately that's not easily understood by
let's just say baby Christians if you will and unbelievers they'll take that completely out of context they'll say well look spiritual milk of the word the implanted word I need to work my way to salvation see there you go they would take that out of context it takes very intentional effort to be able to understand this
so it's the in other words ongoing salvation you have the salvation you're saved in Christ ongoing salvation doing good in the name of God so we've gone over the idea that in this entire study we've gone over the divine inspiration of the word right the Holy Spirit had his hand in the writing of the Bible
the overwhelming feeling right and I know that's always a weird word you're getting overwhelmed right this sense of motivation if you will this inspiration to write the word of God and when we've talked about with
with the see sometimes the Apostles they would dictate to have the word written it's the same thing getting that overwhelming feeling from the Spirit and I mentioned at the beginning here that God breathed his life into man just as he breathed his life into humans just as he breathed his life into the world
I'm reminded of Genesis 2 7 which says the Lord formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life so God is the giver of life and to know that there is life in the word is very difficult language for a non believer if you think about it what do you mean the Bible gives me life it's just a book they'll think of things like that but
something that I'm learning as a Christian as a pastor is that sometimes unbelievers non believers yet to believers whatever they are people who aren't Christian things will be protected from others that are not Christian and that's very difficult when you think about that right because we know in scripture that God will give someone up to lost people
they'll be lost if you will right they'll be lost in their lust in their desires in their sinful ways we know about that but the idea that God would protect his word from evil people if you will or people who are not Christian yet that's a very radical belief you know it's an amazing belief to know that God protects his own word right and I just find great comfort in that because that encourages it should encourage all of us as Christians that when we
say the things that are revealed to us they're not always going to get I say they as in non believers right I'm not saying they're you know yes we're all equal in the eyes of God but what's being revealed to us is going to be different than what's revealed to them so when we're like when we've when I've talked about before the mystery of the gospel and the mystery of Christ well that was the revelation of
salvation being free to everyone that was a big deal if you're thinking about the Jewish people God's chosen people the bond right between the Jewish people and God that was exclusive if you will well now because of Christ salvation salvation is beyond the Jewish people it is beyond right now it is the gentile and the Jew that's why you see the language
there's neither Jew nor Greek there's no neither slave nor free right we're all one in the Lord right we're talking about who so ever believes in it's not just the Jewish people that they'll be saved but that everyone will be saved that's the mystery
that's not always understood by people right so some of the things were going over we have to realize that some of our friends who aren't Christian won't understand it and I know that's frustrating you want them to understand the things you do but you can't always assume that
so just as God breathed into his life into us he's breathed his life into his words I'd like for us to think of this question how does it feel to know that the same God who breathed breathed life into you also breathed his life into his word
what kind of feeling does that give you the connections in scripture are they should help us in our faith seeing things that I mean it's a big reason why I constantly say in sermons like you can't look at the Bible as one book you know it's not one I mean technically it's one book one author if you really want to get to
it's not one of the things that's technical because the Lord inspired the writers you could say that what I mean is you're talking over in different writers different time periods right things that why is that written that way you know
about Christ as the creator redeemer and sustainer it's very bizarre language to someone who's not really a believer what do you mean Jesus was at the creation of the universe what do you mean by that because when you're reading Genesis God said that there'd be light and there was light that's pretty cut and dry
I mean Jesus was there right and when you see let us make man in our own image for example and then you see other verses that talk about Jesus being at the formation of the world you're like well wait a minute like there's something more to this than just God the father if you will
the redemptive qualities I mean the redemption that comes through Christ the sustaining I thought that was such a beautiful language when I was preaching on the connection with the Kinsugi bowl right taking that which is broken and mending it together because in scripture it talks about that God holds things together
and that's such beautiful language of like what a caring God that we have that will hold us together and sustains us like that's very interesting language that we do rely on the sustenance of God we do rely on God to sustain us that makes sense but it's
you think of that when you think of the prophecies I mean the fulfillment of right when Jesus said that I did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it right talking about the fulfillment of prophecy even when Christ was on the cross you know those old
old Jesus movies right I love the like the Charleston Heston like era right when Jesus is on the cross and saying it is finished like how powerful that is it is finished right it is the fulfillment of prophecy like this is this is you're going to see Satan you're going to see on the third day what's really going to happen here and it's just
even the was it that when the Roman guards were casting lots on Jesus's garment it actually says that was a fulfillment of the prophecy you're like what that was that was very strange like that's so specific you would think you know but yeah when you see Jesus as the fulfillment of prophecy through the Old Testament you're talking about a hundreds of years that I mean
so I've got our third verse I know we're hitting the hour mark but if it's okay with you I wouldn't mind keep going we can keep this going and
let's turn to
it's gonna be Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 on page 1189
that's why I say it's about an hour
Hebrews 4 12
I'm at Hebrews 3 12 no 4 12
alright are we ready says for the word of God is living an active sharper than any two-edged sword piercing to the division of soul and of spirit of joints and of marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart
let's read verse 13 as well no creature is hidden from his sight but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account that is some scary language everything will be exposed
whoops
didn't mean to drop the Bible here so we find we find another title for God's word right the word of God which is probably the most common right the Bible the Holy Scriptures right the Holy Bible word of God that's probably the most common one that I personally use but
it's important that we realize from this verse that the word of God being living and active when we think about I want to put this up here this image this idea of the Bible being a double edged sword if you will
I want this to really stick out to us because when you read and study the word of God and you learn more about what God's word says you'll find maybe you've ran into this if not praise God if you have then you'll understand you'll see people take the Bible out of context right
you'll see people take something and it's blatantly like not even not even close to what the word of God says but the Bible is a it's a weapon
and when you look when you hear when you think of it like that right when it's sharper than when it's sharp and it's penetrating well like any tool or any weapon it can be used for good it can be used for evil when Jesus goes up into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil
well did the devil quote scripture or not the devil quoted scripture what does that mean means the devil can read right
I think people I think when we think of the devil we tend to either give him way too much power or we give him too little power it's finding that balance there but knowing from the 40 days in the wilderness that Satan the devil can read and can quote scripture is a very scary thing to think about
that the devil is like oh well scripture says this Jesus what are you going to do about it and Jesus like are you kidding me I'm going to rebuke you Satan but it is knowing that obviously Jesus the Messiah the Christ is going to not fall into temptation or not fall into sin if you will
there's also that other side knowing that the devil can quote scripture but he will quote it out of context if you will and that's something when we think about the devil being a liar
well it's the misquoting of scripture and when we look at this image of a sword if you will it is the reminder that the Bible is a weapon and we must be careful when we use the Bible
it's no different like if you're looking at C.S. Lewis to St. Francis or Charles Spurgeon or any writer theologian you have to make sure that what they're writing is in line with scripture and that certainly is a challenge because there's a lot of popular authors right
they'll just say what they want and sometimes you just have to at least be mindful because again it goes back to this that the Bible is a weapon it's a tool that we can learn how to use the tool right
we think of living in active right we think of that imagery right it's a good representation it can do damage to the enemy but it can also do damage to fellow believers if we are not careful right
that's why when you're learning how to use any tool you would need to make sure that you know how to manage it very well the Bible is no different with that
so yeah like any weapon or any tool we must come to realize we just have to be mindful of the word of God and you know
sometimes when someone is preaching something you might feel a weird way you ever had that feeling before you're like I don't know if that's accurate it might be by mistake it might be intentional
if you ever get that feeling check your Bible sometimes the spirit will move you and be like yeah okay that didn't sound right and yeah
and I would say when we look at this verse when we're talking about where is that in the verse of joints the division of soul and spirit of joints and marrow
it's that last part and the discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart
not only are we talking about discerning the thoughts and intentions of other people's hearts but also your own because further in that next verse it's saying
everything that is basically everything that's in darkness will be brought to light right oh I don't like that nobody likes that right
the intentions of my heart are going to be brought to the service to the Lord but that's what we call conviction though right
it's the exposure of that which is not holy or that which is not godly being brought to you that's what we're talking about right discerning the thoughts
and the intentions of your heart what is the heart behind what you do what is the
you know I put in here let me see if I can find it it's a little bit further along but
the word of God is so sharp that it penetrates even the most intimate part of our lives
the language that is used is the word of God is that it can separate or divide the soul and the spirit and the joints and the marrow
meaning that's how sharp and how penetrating or how deadly if you will
the word of God can be through let's see yeah through the hearing right hearing the word of God being preached right the preaching and teaching of God's word
the reading the studying the prayer right meditating on the word of God it can reveal our own motives it is to say that God will reveal us things about ourselves that we may not even know or understand
so if you want to talk about transformation turn to the word of God and just allowing for God to work in and through in your life
allowing God to reveal truth to you but I think also it's God will work right when we use the word in and through you
God will work in your life right in how you think think of the do not be conformed to the patterns of this age the patterns of this world
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind I always thought that was a weird verse I always thought it should say the renewal of your heart like in my opinion I would think that would be logically what it would say
but it says be transformed by the renewal of your mind I always thought that's a strange thing right because you're talking about transformation that happens well allow for God to work in your mind
you could also say that allow for God to work on your heart absolutely but for that specific verse it's talking about the mind
this looks familiar didn't we do Romans the one that wasn't in your notes
oh Romans 12 one no it's on the back of your back of your sheet the verse right before it there you go
Romans 12 one right I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God
which is your spiritual worship remember we were talking about spiritual of the word right milk of the word
do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern
love that right discerning me does the ability to know what is right from wrong discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect
part of it is the heart behind what you're asking part of it is you asking right
it's one thing yeah it's one thing to ask for a million dollars every day and say I mean I know we've all prayed that prayer let's be honest here
God I want a million dollars I'd like a you know but you know when you think of prayer you know it's asking the Lord to help you find something
I don't find any wrong in that you know asking the Lord to intervene in someone's life I think that's perfectly fine
it's really a balance of prayers you know being thankful for what God has given to you you know I always encourage people to go out in nature
and look at all the trees sunrise or sunset I remember when I was in Hawaii seeing the Hawaiian sunrise and saying the prayer of thanksgiving to God was
that was a very common thing that I did during that time but that's not to say you shouldn't thank God for a sunrise wherever you are though
it's a reminder that you having another day of life is a blessing so thanking God asking God for healing in your life or asking God to heal those who are sick
there's nothing wrong with that when you start treating God like a genie in the bottle that might be a little bit different
and unfortunately I think a lot of people look at God like that you know things that are not important you know
yes exactly but definitely just praying for others, caring for others, asking God for sometimes praying before meetings you know praying before decisions being made
it could be a small decision it could be a large decision hey God I'm about to you know think of taking this going to this college
let me know if I need to go to this college or not you know we've been talking about this idea with the sharpness of God's word
Ephesians chapter 6 verse 17 I love this one because it just reminds us of the language when we're talking about the sword right from the word of God
and that is the sword of the spirit which is the word of God
it's a very powerful language right and there's much we've covered tonight I know this is a little bit longer than we've done and that's fine
we've talked about the implanted word right we have to consider the soil when we hear the word of God are we ready to allow for God to work in our lives right
to have that knowledge to make a decision for him we're going to allow for the implanted word to help us grow in the faith
we talked about the spiritual milk of the word right the spiritual the reasonable word being of the word that we go from being children of
being babies drinking milk knowing the basics right Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so I mean how much more basic can you get
you know good reminders going into more solid food right and talking about the mysteries of the Christ
one of my favorite proverbs is it is the glory of God to conceal a matter but it is the glory of kings of kings to reveal a matter
which talks about how God will hide things in his word and the glory of kings is the receiving glory like a king right when you think of a king's bounty
to discover a matter to find connections or find truths in the word of God you know that should be our pursuit ever since being a Christian
giving my life to the Lord I thought well shouldn't I read the Bible and I still have that mentality today where when someone asked me
what theologian do you subscribe to and I'm like I mean apostle Paul maybe Peter and I know it's a very difficult question because they're just saying
they're well read through the history of the church and what was the thought process in the 1800s compared to the turn of the century I get it
and there are good things that they've written I don't deny that but I feel that if you have verses like that
that the glory of God is to conceal a thing and the glory of kings is to discover that thing it's like go where the
not gonna say go where the money is at but go where the go digging if you will go mining in God's word to find truth from it as opposed to well
now there might be things that theologians and writers have discovered sure I mean that's fine I'm not anti theologian I'm not anti writer no there's certainly good things to find but
I just don't I personally don't put that as an emphasis so much you know I mean I guess if I have that random day what did Charles Spurgeon say about the mystery of God I mean I guess
I'm more interested on what does God mean when he says this you know but that's that's me personally I know some people will disagree with some people I've met will disagree with that but
yeah keeping keeping to study God's word and what's interesting is this is just the titles of the word of God so when I mentioned we've been going over a Bible study on the Bible like we're just talking about the title
you know we're not even and we've only gone over three of the I think it's eight or nine verses that we've had and the most difficult one was the idea of the implanted word followed by the spiritual milk
the Hebrews one is good right when you're talking about how sharp the word of God is so we talked about that and when we open our hearts to what God's word has to say it changes us
from an unbeliever hearing the word of God it gives us the knowledge of Jesus Christ who he is how he's fulfilled prophecy his significance in our lives we hear about faith comes through hearing
and I think sometimes we forget that's a basic tenant of the faith that I had to be reminded on it's like well how do people come to faith they have to hear the word of God they have to hear the good news of the gospel
they have to hear that Jesus came right just like I mentioned Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so that's that's simple
the word of God gives us knowledge of Christ and it moves us to the point of believing in him and receiving salvation God's word is powerful it leads us to him it leads us closer to him and it moves us it stirs our heart to action
God can do amazing things in our minds our hearts and it has the ability to transforms our life our lives so what I want you to do in closing is I want you to take a moment and reflect on one thing you can apply to your life this week
if you have any questions or if you want to take time to pray or reflect I'd like to just leave that open for you and just take a few moments and then we'll close out and pray
alright let us pray Father we thank you for your word and your love for us I pray that tonight you are with us as we go from this place may you inspire us through your word and just in our everyday living
I pray for transformation I pray for growth I pray for reconciliation and restoration
for Father God you love us so much you loved us first and you knew us before we were born you loved us so much that you sent your son Jesus Christ who is the way the truth and the life for your son Jesus is the Christ the Messiah
we ask that you transform our minds and our hearts let your word be preached let it be taught in this church and we pray that people may come to know who you are may they come to know your love may they live and love like you but first and foremost may they come to make a decision for your son Jesus Christ
may they believe in you and receive the gift of salvation and may you work in and through them to live lives that are glorifying and honoring and pleasing to you
you breathed your life into us just as you breathed your life into your word we are in awe of who you are and what you have done for us we love you we thank you we praise you we glorify you we honor you
thank you for all that you've done and all that you've continued to do be with us as we go from this place it is in Jesus holy name that we pray amen