07-01 – – Good News: The Word God Gives Us

(We had some technology problems today that prevented us archiving the audio and video for this sermon.)

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Grace to you, and peace, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

This is the second message in a series of ten sermons that I have put together. This second message is called: Good News: The Word God Gives Us.

One of the ways you can remember what the Bible is really all about is by turning the word ‘Bible’ into an acronym, an abbreviation of a phrase. If you take the letters B – I – B – L – E they could stand for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. Now that’s not really what Bible¹ stands for, but it’s a good way to remember what the book is about.

Here is what God teaches us about His Word:

First, you must understand this: No prophecy in Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation. No prophecy ever originated from humans. Instead, it was given by the Holy Spirit as humans spoke under God’s direction.²

Every Scripture passage is inspired by God. All of them are useful for teaching, pointing out errors, correcting people, and training them for a life that has God’s approval. They equip God’s servants so that they are completely prepared to do good things.³

From your guiding principles I gain understanding. That is why I hate every path that leads to lying. Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.⁴

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy in this book: If anyone adds anything to this, God will strike him with the plagues that are written in this book. If anyone takes away any words from this book of prophecy, God will take away his portion of the tree of life and the holy city that are described in this book.⁵

God tells us that His Word is the one place where we can go, and rely upon every word as true, pure, reliable, and trustworthy. The Bible is that place where we find absolute truth. That is truth that is true even if no one believes it. If the whole world were to abandon the Bible and no one ever read it again it would still be truth. On every page, every word, would still be God’s Word, unchanged, unvaried, and unmoved.

A common misunderstand about the Bible that is often stated is, “Since the Bible has been translated over and over again there’s really no way to know what the actual original authors wrote because people add things to it all the time.” To back up such statements people will often show two English translations of the Bible and say, “See the words aren’t the same.” So if the words change with every translation how can we believe this stuff?

First we have some rules about translations. We always use a translation that comes from the original languages. When we sit down to make a new English translation we don’t pull out another English translation and just start rewriting it.

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the New Testament was written in Greek. When we sit down to write a new English translation we go back to the original Hebrew and original Greek and translate from that to English.

So if that’s true, why do the words change in every English translation? Translation is a challenging task. It is not a process of this Hebrew word equals this English word, so you just look up each word and write down the English equivalent. Sometimes a single Hebrew or Greek word requires several English words to say the say thing. Those of you who know another language understand that better than others. It is never a one for one, word for word, process.

Let me give you just one example. You all know the 23^rd Psalm. You all recognize the words:

“Surly goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”

That’s the old King James translation. Well that’s actually a little bit of a mistake. Because the best translation is:

“Surly goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life.”

God is not a puppy that follows you around. We cannot get to God ourselves, so God comes to us. He pursues us. He chases us down when we wander away. Understand that both words mean to come from behind but they have slightly different meanings.

So there you go. Now I’ve shown you that the Bible does have mistakes. So can you still trust it? Yes. We teach and confess that the Bible, as it was written down by the original authors, is perfect and free of all errors. All translations will have subtle problems and differences. That does not mean your faith is at risk. If I never told you about the difference between “follow” and “pursue” your salvation would not be up to chance. So understand that the various translations of the Bible are simply different people picking different English words to say the same thing.

So with this understanding, that the Bible is truly trustworthy, what does the Bible teach us? Well there’s a lot of stuff in the Bible but it all boils down to really two points. One: God commands you to be perfect, holy, and sinless. Two: God saves you from your sins.

Listen to what the Bible says:

Tell the whole congregation of Israel:
Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.⁶

That is followed by chapters of rules and regulations that go on and on. Command after command is issued by God demanding perfection from His people. In fact the Law of God is what causes us to sin.⁷ If God had not given all those laws there would be no Law to break. God purposefully compounded the Law making it harder and harder; making it impossible to obey. Why? So that He could show us how much He loves us by saving us. Listen to what the Bible says:

God loved the world this way: He gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world.⁸

I’m not ashamed of the Good News. It is God’s power to save everyone who believes, Jews first and Greeks as well. God’s approval is revealed in this Good News. This approval begins and ends with faith as Scripture says, “The person who has God’s approval will live by faith.”⁹

That Good News is the Gospel¹⁰ of Jesus Christ. That Jesus, the Holy Christ of God, came to fulfill all of the Law for you, so that you could be restored to everlasting life with the Father. The Holy Spirit now hold you in that faith until the day you see your Lord face to face.

The Law of God condemns us all. You, me, all of us. Everyone, whether they believe it or not, is under the Law. Everyone, whether they believe it or not, has been saved by Jesus Christ. There are only two things that can keep you out of Heaven. They are: unbelief, and unrepentance. No one else, and nothing else, has the power to take you from God’s saving hand.¹¹ Only you have that power to abandon what God has given you. Only you can choose to go to Hell by rejecting the free gift of Heaven through salvation in Jesus Christ.

That is the message of the Bible. That is what the Bible teaches. There’s a lot of stuff in that book. All of it all points to your salvation. The entire Old Testament is a record of God’s Law and your need for a Savior whom God Himself has promised will come. Every faithful person, born before Jesus, is a Christian, a Christ-ian, because they believed in the coming Christ. Every faithful person, born after Jesus, is a Christian, a Christ-ian, because we believe in the Christ who has come.

That is what the Bible does. It all points to the middle. It all point to Jesus the Author, and Perfecter of our faith.¹² He is the One who gives us faith, and He is the One who makes that faith perfect.¹³ It really is all about Jesus. It really is all about God who has come to pursue us, to save us.

How does that happen? How does the Gospel, the Good News, set us free? Listen to what the Bible says:

Christ is the fulfillment of Moses’ Teachings so that everyone who has faith may receive God’s approval.¹⁴

Christ paid the price to free us from the curse that the laws in Moses’ Teachings bring, by becoming cursed instead of us. Scripture says, “Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed.” Christ paid the price so that the blessing, promised to Abraham, would come to all the people of the world through Jesus Christ and we would receive the promised Spirit through faith.¹⁵

Does this mean, then, that the laws given to Moses contradict God’s promises? That’s unthinkable! If those laws could give us life, then certainly we would receive God’s approval because we obeyed them. But Scripture states that the whole world is controlled by the power of sin. Therefore, a promise based on faith in Jesus Christ could be given to those who believe.¹⁶

The Gospel, the Good News, is that Jesus took our place. It is we who should have been punished and forsaken by God, but God could not endure being separated from His children forever. So He took our place. He suffered for us. He endured what all the faithful will never have to endure, God’s wrath against sin. Jesus kept all of the demands of the Law that would be impossible for us to do. We are now free, forgiven, and the price for our freedom has been paid.

That is the complete fulfillment of that promise God gave to Adam and Eve. You are saved. You are clean. You are holy, because Jesus had made you that way.

To God be the glory.

Amen.

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