What is the Bible's message?

Q: What does the Bible say about inspiration?

The Bible states that all Scripture is inspired by God, meaning it is free from error and authoritative for teaching. The Bible, as stated in 2 Timothy 3:16, declares that 'All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.' This means that every part of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is divinely inspired and authoritative. This inspiration guarantees that the Scriptures can be trusted as a reliable source for teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. Furthermore, the unity of the Bible—written by approximately 36 different authors over a span of 1,500 years—underlines its divine origin. Despite the diverse backgrounds and contexts of these authors, the central message remains consistent, highlighting God's redemptive plan through Jesus Christ.

Q: How do we know the Bible is true?

The Bible's truth is evidenced through its internal consistency, prophetic accuracy, and the transformative impact it has on lives. The truth of the Bible is affirmed by its unity and the remarkable consistency found within its text. Over 36 authors wrote it across 1,500 years, yet share one cohesive message of redemption through Christ. Additionally, the prophetic accuracy demonstrated throughout the Scriptures, especially concerning the life and ministry of Jesus, solidifies its truth. Moreover, countless testimonies exist of individuals transformed by the message of the Gospel, further attesting to the power and truth of the Scriptures. As believers approach the Bible, they understand that it is not merely a historical document but a living testament of God's interaction with humanity and His redemptive work.

Q: Why is the message of Jesus Christ important for Christians?

The message of Jesus Christ is vital as it encompasses the essence of the Gospel, providing hope and salvation for all who believe. The importance of the message of Jesus Christ lies at the heart of Christian faith. The Scriptures reveal that from Genesis to Revelation, God's plan centers around Christ—His life, death, and resurrection—and the redemption He offers. This message is not just a historical account but a declaration of God's love for humanity and the means by which sinners are reconciled to Him. It is through understanding and believing in this message that individuals receive salvation and eternal life. Furthermore, reflecting on this message nourishes Christian growth, guiding believers in their understanding of grace, mercy, and the fulfillment of God’s promises.

Q: What role does the Old Testament play in understanding the New Testament?

The Old Testament provides foreshadows and prophecies that reveal the coming of Christ, enhancing our understanding of the New Testament. The relationship between the Old and New Testaments is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of Scripture. The Old Testament contains numerous types, shadows, and prophecies that point toward the coming of Christ. For instance, events such as the Passover lamb and the sacrificial system serve as significant foreshadows of Jesus' atoning sacrifice. The New Testament, in turn, reveals and fulfills these Old Testament typologies, elucidating how they culminate in the person and work of Christ. Understanding this connection deepens the believer's appreciation for God's sovereign plan and the continuity of His redemptive story throughout Scripture.

Q: Why is it important to read the Bible as centered on Christ?

Reading the Bible with a focus on Christ reveals its true purpose and helps believers understand God’s redemptive plan. It is essential to approach the Bible with a Christ-centered perspective because this is the key to unlocking its true meaning. The Scriptures, from beginning to end, point to the person and work of Jesus Christ, making Him the central figure of God’s redemptive narrative. If we read the Bible merely as historical accounts or moral guidelines, we miss the profound depth of its message. By focusing on Christ, believers can see how each book contributes to understanding God’s grace, mercy, and the fulness of redemption through Him. This perspective not only enriches personal study but also deepens the communal experience of worship and learning within the church.

a Bible survey, Journey Through
the Bible, if you want to call it that, or a Guide to the Scriptures,
where we'll give an outline of the books of the Bible. And tonight
I want to do the introduction, and everybody, about everybody's
got a copy of this, and if you don't, you know, and what I'll
do is I'll try next Wednesday to have, next Wednesday's lesson,
and give it to you, and you can keep these things, and then you
can review them and have the whole survey together when we
get done. But, you know, as we go through
the Holy Scriptures, and it tells us that all of them, all the
Scriptures, that means from Genesis 1-1 to Revelations 22-21, all
Scripture is given by the inspiration of God. Ever been of it? Not
a one iota of it is not. We cannot pick and choose what's
inspired of God and what isn't. And I want us to go through the
Holy Scriptures and go book by book. We'll go through Genesis
and Exodus and Numbers and Leviticus and Deuteronomy and Joshua, and
we'll go right on through. And I want us to go through these
and show the message, see the message. of each book and how
it relates to the whole Word of God. And I hope, as we go
through these scriptures, I pray that the Lord will help us to
see clearly the message of this blessed book, the message of
it, from beginning to end. And that message is Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Now, I read a book today from
a fellow I've never met, but I've heard him preach several
times, been on his website several times. And he just published
the book, and I got it yesterday and read it today. And the title
of the book is Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. The man, he has
the message. He knows the message from Alpha
to Omega. He never missed a beat. He knows
the message. And that's what he knows. If
you know the Bible and what the Bible says, you'll come to the
conclusion that the message is of Jesus Christ and Him crucified
from Genesis to Revelation. And if we do, if we're able to
see that, we'll be able to see the whole of the Revelation. Now, what I mean by that is,
is that Eventually, God enables us to see the whole of the Revelation.
You know, God starts, and we see a little light and a little
light and a little here, a little there, a little this, and then
all of a sudden, as you start seeing that the message is Christ,
and you can find Him all through the Bible, then you see the whole
of the Scriptures concerns the Lord Jesus Christ. You see the
whole picture, not just bits and pieces of it. And I tell
you, you know, the Scriptures tells us that the New Testament
is in the Old Concealed. Now, this New Testament, these
39 books that's in the New Testament, they were in the Old Testament
concealed. Everything in them that's in the New Testament was
already in the Old Testament. And then, when you take the New
Testament, the Old Testament is revealed and made known in
the New Testament as it's brought out. And I tell you, the Old
Testament comes alive. It comes alive. Most folks say,
you know, the Old Bible. That's not an Old Bible. It's
an Old Testament and a New Testament. And the New Testament and Old
Testament, the Old Testament will come alive when we see the
pictures and the types of our Lord Jesus Christ as He brought
out in the New Testament as you see in the Old Testament. For
instance, you have the Passover lamb. And then John says, Behold
the Lamb of God. And then Paul says, Christ, our
Passover, was sacrificed for us. So you see that rock. that they
drank water out of Moses, Paul said that rock was Christ. And
so we can see in the Old Testament and explained in the New Testament,
brought out. And oh, and don't come alive
until we see those things, the works. Now listen to me, the
works and the laws and the ceremonies and the rituals of the law of
Moses come alive and live only in Christ. If you don't see the
tabernacle and the rituals and the priesthood and the prophecies
and the sacrifices and the tabernacle and the rituals, if you don't
see Christ, they don't come alive until you see Christ in them.
And that's what I'm saying. And if we look, if we read the
Old Testament, read the Scriptures, there's nothing more than a history
of ancient people and ancient things that happened Centuries
and centuries or millennia ago, you know what it'll be? Just
a textbook. Have no meaning to us. Have no life to us. And if
we read it as nothing more than just a bunch of prophetic messages
hidden in there, and we're looking for some mystery to bring out
concerning Israel and the time clock, God's time clock on this
earth, and how God's going to bring this to pass and that to
pass, then that won't do us any good either. And I'll tell you
this also. And if we take this book, this
scriptures, and if we read it just to find the answer to all
of our questions, we'll all be disappointed, because there are
some things, beloved. But if God enables us to read
it and understand it as a picture, a portrait of what's happened
in our own life experience, of God's redemption and grace given
to us. If we read it, if we see God's
redemption and grace in us and in our experience, and from this
book, then it becomes a living book. When I pick up the scriptures
and read it, I see me. I see my experience. I see God's
redemption. When I look at Abraham, I see
God calling me. When I see God choosing Abraham,
I see God choosing me. When I see God trying Abraham,
I see God trying me. When I see Adam naked, I see
me naked with a big leap of self-righteous religion. You see what I'm saying?
It's got to come alive to us. And, oh, beloved, that's only
when it's alive. And if God will enable us to
see in the Old Testament the pictures of our Lord Jesus Christ,
of His great work of redemption, pictures of His love for us and
grace given to our souls, Oh, this blessed book will become
precious beyond description. Now, I want to tell you how important
this is. The Bible, how important it is. Now, listen, you know,
this is so important right here. The Bible, now I'm just introducing
this subject tonight. We'll get Genesis next week.
The Bible is not a how-to book. The Bible is not a how-to book.
That's not what it is. If you want a how-to book, go
buy a how-to book. If you want to know how to do
something, get you a book that says how to do it. The Bible's not
one of them. The Bible's not a road map. My
brother used to play the guitar and we was in Pentecostalism.
He'd get up and sing, the Bible is my road map. And the Bible's
not our road map. It's not a road map. No, no. It's not a road map. It's not
a calendar of events. It's not like picking up, well,
I want to get you such and such a place, so I've got to find
out how to get from here to there. That's not what this book's about.
This book's about a person and about making that person known.
This book is talking about redemption in Christ and grace given to
sinners in Christ, of God coming in Christ. And we got to see
that message. And beloved, the Bible's not
a calendar of events. It's not a code of conduct to
tell us how to lay down a bunch of rules and regulations on how
to live. It's not a book about science.
It's not a book about morality. It's not a book about history.
It's not a book about politics. It's not a book of philosophy,
or at all. It's not even a book about prophecy,
or church dogma, or even theology. The Bible is an H-I-M book. You know what that is? Hymn book. H-I-M. I never will forget the
first time. I don't remember who said it
the first time they said it. This Bible is an H-I-M book. It's
got a scarlet thread running all the way through it. It's
an H-I-M book. Hymn book. Christ book. It's
about hymn. The Lord Jesus Christ. From beginning
to end. It's the declaration. The declaration
from the very first verse of Genesis to the last of Revelation,
it's a declaration of the redemptive glory of God in Christ. Now listen,
if you take the preeminence of Christ, God said He gave Him
preeminence above all things, gave Him a name above all names.
There's no other name whereby a man can be saved, must be saved.
And you take the preeminence of Christ out of the Bible, And
all you have is just another book. You take Christ out of
it, and you just have another book. And I tell you, if you
use the Bible for any other reason than to declare Christ and Him
crucified, you're abusing and misusing the Word of God. Let's
look over here in Revelations with me just a moment. Revelations
chapter 1, verse 8. Let me tell you what I'm talking
about. And Gary wrote a little article, a little paragraph,
I'm going to put in the bulletin this week, Lord willing, on Alpha
and Omega. But look what it said here. in
Revelations 1.8, talking about, take Christ and His preeminence
out of the Bible, and all you have is just another book. And if you use it for any other
reason than to declare Christ to be crucified, you're misusing
it. Look what it said, because He's
the Alpha and the Omega. Look what it said in Revelations 1.8, I
am Alpha and Omega. You know what that is? That's
the Greek alphabet. Alpha's the beginning. Omega's the ending.
And watch what he says about himself. I'm the beginning and
I'm the ending. How can you be the beginning
and the ending at the same time? Well, he is. And the Lord said
this. He said, I'm which is. I'm right
now. And I'm which was. And you know what? I'm he which
is to come, the Almighty. I read something the other day. And this is one of the most astounding
things, it just clicked. You know we talk about Christ
coming out of eternity? Coming from eternity? But that's
not right. Eternity came out of Christ. Eternity came through Christ. He said, I give eternal things. Eternity comes out. He didn't
create eternity. I mean, He didn't come out of eternity.
Eternity came out of Him. There wouldn't be no eternity
if it wasn't for Christ. Huh? So He's the Alpha and Omega. So, beloved, it's not just enough
to preach the book. Oh, God help us to be true to
the Word. But God sends us to preach a message out of this
book, out of this blessed Bible, and the message of this blessed
book is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. There's not a page
of this book that does not speak of Christ. God came over yesterday, and
he was talking about genealogy. And the only reason genealogy
is in these scriptures, that God keeps track of who began
who began who began who began who, was to trace, so you could
follow who Jesus Christ came through all the way down to the
time that He came. That's the only reason there
was, to show where Christ would come.
And so you, the one body said, Mr. Spurgeon said he could preach
Christ anywhere. He said, well, let's Mr. He picked
out a place and he opened it up and it wasn't nothing but
genealogy. Mr. Spurgeon picked down there and he started on
genealogy, started going down through the genealogy. Next thing
you know, he got to Christ, took Christ all the way down through
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Mary and Joseph and come right
on down into Christ coming. That's what we're talking about.
And the Old Testament, the Old Testament scriptures, they speak
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They point us to the Lord Jesus
Christ. They call us to faith in Christ.
From the time that God announced in the Garden of Eden that the
seed of the Lord would bruise and crush the serpent's head,
Christ our Lord is the central fact and figure of the Old Testament
from start to finish. In fact, Genesis 3.15 says this,
I will put enmity, and this was given in a curse to Satan. He
said, I'll put enmity between thee and the woman, and between
thy seed and her seed, Christ being the woman's seed, and it
shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Christ
crushed the serpent's head on the cross, but Christ's heel
was bruised when he was on that cross. And beloved, you take
Abraham, You take Jacob, you take Moses, you take David, you
take Solomon, and all the prophets in the Old Testament, and especially
in Genesis, they spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham. Our
Lord said, Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and so on in his
class. How can that be? Abraham was hundreds and hundreds
of years before you ever come into this world, they said, to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Look with me over in John, just
a minute. John 5. I want you to see this. John 5, all talking
about the scriptures being Christ. And, you know, I'm just trying
to give you an introduction here. We will. We'll see this as we
go through these books of the scriptures and go through this
Bible survey. Our Lord Jesus said here in verse
37, John 5, 37, talking about the witnesses to
him and the Father himself. which hath sent me, hath borne
witness of me." And that's what our Lord says about them. Now,
He's talking to the Sanhedrin. He's talking to seventy men,
Jews, who knew the Scriptures, understood the Scriptures, studied
the Scriptures, labored in the Scriptures. And He says, you
have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape.
You never heard the voice of God as many times as you read
the Scriptures. As many times as you got up and prayed, as
many times as you sat down and read from Isaiah, he said, you
never heard it, never seen him shake, never seen him by faith.
And look what he says, and you have not his word abiding in
you. For whom he has sent him, him you believe not. Now look
what our Lord says, search the Scriptures. And what that means
is you do search the Scriptures. You search the Scriptures all
the time. You look at them, and you look for a Messiah. You look
for a Savior to come. But I tell you, beloved, you
saw me, and you did not see me. You saw the Savior that should
come, the Messiah that should come, the Lamb that should come,
the seal of woman that should come. You saw the ark that should
come. You saw the rock that should
come. You saw the raging serpent that should come. You saw Him
that was promised should come. And you searched him, looking
for him, and you missed him with the scriptures in your hands.
He thought, boy, if I search these scriptures, I'll find out
how I'm supposed to live, I'll find out how I'm supposed to
approach God, I'll find out how I'm supposed to do to get God
on my side. He said, and I know how you missed
him, because they testified me, and you have not come to me.
And if you don't never see Christ in the scriptures, you'll never
come to Him. You cannot come to an unknown
Christ, an unrevealed Christ. And our Lord Jesus told His disciples
on the Tobias Road after His resurrection, and He said in
Luke 24, 27, He said, And beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things, what? Concerning Himself. And then
after he left those at the man's house, they went running back
and all of a sudden he appears amidst them. And this is the
first thing he said to them. He said, don't be afraid. And he said
unto them, you remember I told you these words when I was with
you. I was with you for three years
and I told you that all things must be fulfilled, which were
written in the law of Moses. That's the first five books.
And in the prophets. And in the Psalms, concerning
me. And oh, beloved, if we can fail,
and how in the world can anybody fail to recognize that the blessed
doctrine and message of the entire New Testament is the Lord Jesus
Christ? Because He was preeminent in
all the types and prophecies of the Old Testament, and He's
preeminent in the New Testament. Now you know he only, just to
illustrate to you, he gave us two ordinances of worship that
he gave us in the New Testament, and both of those are designed
to call our attention to him and our relationship to him.
Baptism, the first. Baptism is only for believers.
And what does that baptism symbolize? It symbolizes our burial, our
resurrection, our death, our burial, and our resurrection
with Christ. And what it does, it portrays
the fulfillment of all righteousness by our Savior's death, and burial
and resurrection as our substitute. And that's why Paul says, no
you're not. That so many of us, as we're
baptized into Jesus Christ, we're baptized into His death. When
you go into that grave, you're saying, I've died with Christ.
When He was crucified, I was crucified. When He went in the
grave, I go in the grave. When He comes out in newness
of life, with a new life, new person, new resurrected Christ,
I'm coming out of that grave. And that shows that I'm going
to walk with Him, talk with Him, confess Him. And then the Lord's
Supper, the second one, it symbolizes the broken body and blood of
our Lord Jesus Christ and His great work of redemption. And
it says that when he had given thanks, we've done this just
last Sunday night, when he had given thanks, he'd break it and
said, take heed, this is my body, broken for you. When he's crucified,
broken for you. And every time you take that
bread, remember me. Took the cup and said, this is
the blood in the New Testament, which is shed for many. When
you take this cup, when you drink it, you remember me. And every
time we do it, we're saying, Lord, I want your death to be
magnified in my life. I want your blood and body that
was broken and shed for me. And so in all of these things,
take us from ourselves and show us and focus us on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And beloved, when we read, and
study the history of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament.
We ought to try to remind you, and I hope you remind yourselves,
that the Lord has not given us a history of a little nation
in a remote part of the world. Most people think that the whole
world revolves around a Jewish bunch of Jews over in Israel
right now, and always has. But that's not true. It never
has been true. Now, God's going to protect His
people and not say, I'll show you this But here's the thing,
the only reason that God raised up that nation, He raised up
that nation as a vehicle for the accomplishments of His purpose
and grace of redemption in Christ. That's the only reason He raised
that nation up. There were lots of nations greater than Him,
but He raised them up for one reason. So that through the nation
of Israel there would be a Jew born. of
the seed of Abraham, who was the son of David, and would be
born in Bethlehem. And he'd be the same one, the
seed of the woman that was promised in Genesis 3.15. Noah had Shem. Shem had Terah. Terah had Abraham. Abraham had
Isaac. Isaac had Jacob. Jacob had 12
sons. They became Israel. Stayed in
Egypt down there with us down there, 70 souls. 4 and 35 years
later, 2 million of them come out of there. And you know when
you go down through there, Solomon, all of them just go right down
the line for one reason, to show that Jesus Christ would be the
Son of David and Abraham's nation. And I'll tell you something,
there's a great difference Between the nation of Israel and God's
Israel. Great difference. You know who God's Israel is?
That's God's elect people. That's God's elect people. I
go to New York City and see all them Jews with them big black
hats on and them curly hairs hanging out under their hats
and under their shawls and all that. And I say, you know, I'm
the son of Abraham. They say, you sure don't look
like one. I said, I know more about him than you do. You know, I'm a true Jew. It's
not he's a Jew outwardly, but he that's born inwardly, whose
circumcision's not of the flesh, but of the heart, whose praise
is not of men. Oh, he's been circumcised. He's
living for God. He's dedicated to God. He's a
son of Abraham. But our praise is not of men.
Our praise is of God. God says, Here's My children.
Huh? And, O Beloved, the whole Old
Testament. was written so that we might see in all the vivitites
and shadows and pictures what the New Testament declares to
be true. And all things that happened to Israel in the Old
Testament, they came to pass and were written down in the
book for our comfort and our advocation. All things were written
aforetime for our learning and our admonition that we through
the scriptures might have comfort and hope. And I tell you, I'm
grateful that God does things the way he does. Ain't you? You know how many children, you
know why they stayed in the wilderness for 40 years? Let me just focus
that. You know why Israel run around and when they left Egypt,
they could have been in Canaan in three days, four days at the
most. From the time they crossed the
Red Sea, they could have been over in Canaan in three or four days. But they walked around in the
same circle for 40 years. Forty years. Do you know why? Because there was a high-minded,
God-hating, Christ-rejected, murmured, complaining, would-rather-been
in Egypt that's been redeemed by God Himself. And there's a lot of people in
this world today that count the blood of the covenant as unholy
faith, and count it as common. And, beloved, the only people
that God took in that was true and faithful, that entered into
the promised land, that came out of Egypt, was Joshua and
Caleb. Everybody else that came out
there under twenty years old, they stayed in the wilderness
until everyone died. And God not only let them die,
but He killed an awful lot of them through the murmuring and
the complaining. And that's why God's got to give
you heart. You'll go back. If you have a chance to go back,
you'll go back. And let me give you quickly the order. I've got
to hurry here. What about the order? The Bible
has got an order to it. It's got an order to it. It starts
in Genesis, goes all the way through. It's got an order to
it. And we have this order for purpose. And I'll tell you this,
God hasn't given us a chronological order of the way things happen
in the scriptures. Not a chronological order at all. You know, I read
today, and I was reading in Samuel, over here's David playing the
harp for Saul, and he played for Saul for a long time, and
then you go two chapters later and Saul don't even know who
he is. And that's who he is. So it's not chronologically ordered.
And if you don't understand that, then you'll get confused. But
the scriptures are given to us, they're arranged in an order
for our benefit. Job was written, it's the oldest
book in the Bible. But yet, Genesis is the first
book in the Bible. Why isn't Job the first book
in the Bible? Because Genesis starts out at
the dawn of history and brings us from the time that God created
things. It starts out in the beginning. If you started in
Job, you wouldn't start at the beginning. You would start at
creation. So I tell you, the one reason
the scriptures are arranged the way they do is God providentially
gave us this order so that when we read the scriptures, we could
see, and hopefully by God's grace, see the connection of each book
to each book as we go along. And I'll tell you something,
beloved. There's no greater wonder, and I've told you this before,
and you all, I believe most of you believe it, that there's
no greater wonder, no greater miracle in the world than this
book that we hold in our hand right here. There really is. The Lord, in great mercy and
grace, gave us His Word in one book, inspired by Him. Huh? And oh, if we could just All
right. And I'll tell you, this is what's
so glorious about it. When you ain't got no education,
everybody want you to know, I don't have to know Hebrew to read this
book, though it was written in Hebrew, the Old Testament. New
Testament's written in Greek. I don't have to know Greek to
read it. Our Lord spoke in Aramaic. I don't have to understand Aramaic
to read it. God gave it to us in our language, so that I, with
the little education I got, I can read it and understand it. Huh?
And oh, so we can read it. What a miraculous book. And then
let me quickly give you some evidence of inspiration. I've
done that here recently, so I won't stay long on this. Let me give
you a couple of reasons. When it told us there, you know,
that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. One of the
most powerful evidences of the inspiration of the Bible is its
unity. It's what? It's unity. This Bible is unified. It's got
one message runs throughout its page. One message runs all the
way through its pages, and that's redemption. One person, one person
is portrayed, prophesied, presented, and proclaimed throughout the
book, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's the mystery
of it, that you have 35, 36 men over a period of 1,500 years, They wrote this Bible, wrote
all these words, and most of them never knew one another,
never met one another. They were from every walk of
life, and they were writing in different places to different
people, preaching to different people for different purposes,
under a lot of different conditions, and yet, you take all these...
Moses wrote hundreds of years before Abraham came. And yet, Isaiah wrote his prophecy
700 years before Christ came into this world. And he portrayed
Christ to where when He came, you could not help but see Him. And oh, beloved, and yet, there's
no error or no contradiction in it. There's only one way you
can explain that. God did it. Oh, the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of men, but holy men of God's faith,
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And let me show you its
authority. Look back over in the text where
we was at before, over in 2 Timothy. Let's look back over there a
minute. 2 Timothy 3.16. Let's look at
that again. You know, we've got to have authority. Gary was talking about that last
Sunday night we were here. He said, if you're going to have
a discussion with anybody about the scriptures, you've got to
decide that the final authority is going to be this right here.
It's got to be the final authority. It can't be left to your opinion
or your feelings or what you think or what you don't think
or what your church says or what your church don't say. This has
got to be our final authority, because this is the only authority
that we have. And what I mean by that, the
Word of God alone is our authority and our rule of faith, what we're
to believe. It tells us what we're to believe.
Now, you know, this is the thing about it. Most churches have a constitution and bylaws and
a declaration of faith and a covenant and all that. Well, beloved,
That here tells us what we're to believe. The Bible tells us
plainly what to believe. These things are written that
you may believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and that, believe me,
you might have life through His name. And then what about how
we're to live in this world? Our Lord Jesus says by this,
O shall all men know that you are disciples, you'll have love
one toward another. O no man, nothing but to love
one another. A new commandment I give unto
you, that you love one another. And when you talk about good
works, the Scriptures tells us that God created us unto good
works in Christ before the world ever began. And good works is
as natural to a believer as breathing is to the rest of us. Oh, but listen. And the Word
of God, look right here what it says here. In verse 16. The Word of God is alone profitable
for doctrine. What is this doctrine? Doctrine
just means teaching. The Bible alone is probable to
teach us doctrine, that we're to believe in what we're to preach.
And then it says, for reproof, to reprove us for our errors. When we have errors and we go
wrong and we have misunderstandings, or we're wrong about something
we believe or wrong about something we understand, the scriptures
will reprove our errors. And then it says it's for correction.
It'll correct our evils. And we have evil ways, and evil
thoughts, and evil feelings, and evil actions. The Scriptures
will correct those things. I can't correct anybody. I can't
even straighten myself out. I wish that fellow could get
straightened out. I feel like, who's going to straighten him
out? I can't do it. But the Scriptures can. Never ever have the put anybody
out of a church, or call anybody on the carpet, or call anybody
to the front, or bring charges against anybody. Never have,
and God help me, I never will. The place, the church, is a place
for sinners to come to hear the gospel, to be reproved, to be
corrected, and then to instruct us in righteousness. And there's
only one righteousness it can instruct us in, because there's
only one that's susceptible to God, and that's the righteousness
of Christ. Would you not agree with that? And oh, beloved, and
only the Bible, under the power of God's Holy Spirit, can make
us complete and furnish us unto all good works. And let me tell
you how old the Bible is. Consider this. I'm talking about,
we're going to go through each book, giving you a little introduction
here. We're so accustomed to reading the Bible and reading
the Scriptures, And here in that priest that we set up seldom
ever think about how old it actually is. Well, there's a fellow named
Herodias. He's called the father of history.
He's the oldest writings that you find as an historian who's
been preserved for us. And he was a Greek philosopher
and teacher who lived 300 years before our Lord came into this
world. But now, I'll give you an illustration of what I'm talking
about. But Moses, who wrote the first five books of the Bible,
had finished his work, and was with Christ in glory a thousand
years before Herodias was even born. And they talk about him, the
father of history. Moses was already in glory a thousand years
before he was even born. And that's how old the book of
Genesis is. You know how old it is? It's
the book of beginnings. It takes us back to the very
dawn of human history. And yet, as we read it, it's
up to date as this morning's paper. When you read about Adam,
and his rebellion, his sinfulness, and his nakedness, and his fiddlies,
and his death. And then you read about Abel,
and his brother Cain slaying him. You read about Enoch walking
with God, and oh, the whole world becoming lost, and in seeing
that the imagination of man's heart was only evil continually.
And you read and listen to the news today, and you say, oh,
it's just like it was in the days of Noah. We heard the awfulest thing this
week. A man took a little nine-year-old girl that's deaf and blind and
killed her. And then after he killed her,
He chops her up into little bitty pieces and put her in little
bags and turn her all over the place and stuff water on her.
Why would a man do such a thing? Because man's heart's on evil
continually. And if God don't restrain a man,
there's not a sin that's in anybody's heart. And if God don't keep
it down, it won't come out. No telling what anybody will
do. Huh? It's awful to them. That's what,
we read the scriptures? We see that? Oh my, Joseph's brothers hated him? And then what you read about
these men, Abel and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph, and
you begin to think of these men as people you once knew yourself.
Say, I loved them. It seemed like I loved those
fellows. And their lives and how they lived in the scriptures
seem to mingle and mix with our own. The scriptures bring them
close to us and us close to them and them close to us. And then
let me show you, and I'll be done just in a few seconds here,
a few minutes. The Bible is not just a history
book. If that was the case, it wouldn't have any significance
over us or little influence. It'd just be facts recorded on
paper. But it's written to give us a specific message from our
Lord and from God Himself. And the message is clear and
simple, and also it's painful. What do I mean by that? Because
when you read this message and you hear this message and you
see it in the Scriptures, it's humbling. It's humbling. You know what it says about man?
It has nothing good to say about man. Not anything good to say
about man. Not one good thing to say about
me. A man without Christ is utterly and absolutely sinful. Without
Christ, he's helpless. Without Christ, he's useless. Without Christ, he's insignificant. Without Christ, he's vain. And, oh my, man in his best state
is altogether vanity. God calls us worms. Christ! It humbles you! By the time you
think, boy, I listen, I'm somebody, I'm part of something in this
world. Folks gonna look up to me. God don't look up to nobody. He looks down on people. And you better hope and pray
that He looks down on you in grace like He did on Noah, and
not in judgment like He did the rest of the world at that time.
Huh? And the first six books of the
Bible, Genesis through Joshua, shows us the work of God in chosen
sinners' lives and His grace in their lives. Adam, Enoch,
Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, and how He worked in the method of grace
does not change. And oh, beloved, let me say this,
and I'll quit. For instance, when you take Genesis,
it's called the book of beginnings. That's what Genesis means, beginning.
And every basic doctrine of the Scriptures, when you go to Genesis,
got fifty chapters in it, Genesis, when you go to Genesis, every
basic doctrine of the Bible is found first in the book of Genesis.
Huh? And here we see all the doctrines
of the Holy Scripture in seed. You know you have a seed plot
and you have this ground and you put all your seeds in it?
Well, Genesis is the seed plot of the Bible. election, predestination,
decree, depravity, grace, redemption, justice, mercy, law, retribution,
wrath, vengeance, everything, election, all of it is found
in the book of Genesis. And whether you find it there,
it'll just get bigger and bigger. And, O Beloved, in the beginning
we have a picture of redemption. God created the heaven and earth,
and however He was in darkness was upon the face of the deep,
and God moved by the Spirit and said, Let there be light. That's
the way He does us. Let there be light, and light comes. And
then after the end of Genesis, we have the promise of redemption.
Joseph said to his brethren, I'm going to die. I'm dying.
And God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land
unto the land that He swore to Abraham, and to Isaac, and to
Jacob. And He says, surely God will visit you. And sure enough,
He says, and when you're good, come down here and get my bones
and take them out with you. And everything between shows
us our desperate need of redemption, how God saves us through our
Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you, beloved, This
message, this glorious gospel, this glorious truth of Christ,
we'll see that in every book. We'll start in Genesis next week,
and I'll have them here for you, hopefully, and if our printer
works and everything works, we'll look at that.

What is the Bible's message?

What does the Bible say about inspiration?

How do we know the Bible is true?

Why is the message of Jesus Christ important for Christians?

What role does the Old Testament play in understanding the New Testament?

Why is it important to read the Bible as centered on Christ?

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What is the Bible's message?

What does the Bible say about inspiration?

How do we know the Bible is true?

Why is the message of Jesus Christ important for Christians?

What role does the Old Testament play in understanding the New Testament?

Why is it important to read the Bible as centered on Christ?

Sermon Transcript

About Donnie Bell

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