Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. In 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11,
Paul says, now all these things happened unto them for examples
or types. Now he, in this 10th chapter
of 1 Corinthians, had mentioned 10 different events in the Old
Testament. They were historical events that
actually happened. And he says all of these happened
to be types of the gospel. And so we go on reading. Now
all these things happen in them for examples or types, and they
are written for our admonition. That's the purpose for being
written. They are written for our admonition. I've entitled this message, The
Purpose of Scripture, The Holy Scriptures. Now, let me say at
the outset, we're not going to be considering what I say is
the purpose of scripture, but what the scripture says is the
purpose of scripture. Now, first, what is meant by
the Scriptures, the things that are written? What is meant by
the Scriptures? Well, Genesis 1, verse 1, through
Revelation 22, verse 21, make up what is called the Scriptures,
the 66 books, 39 books of the Old Testament, 27 books in the
New Testament, the Holy Scriptures. 2 Timothy 3.16 says, all scripture,
Genesis 1.1 through Revelation 22.21, all scripture is given
by inspiration of God. Literally God breathed. As Peter said, holy men of God
spake as they were moved. by the Holy Ghost. This book called the Bible is
God's Word. It's not man's word, it's God's
Word. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. Now, If God can create the universe
from nothing, and he did, it's a lot easier to believe Genesis
1-1 than to believe all the theories man have of their origins, the
origins of the universe and the origins of life. some kind of
primordial stew where there was some kind of chemical reaction
and all of a sudden out popped this one cell organism and all
of life comes from that. Now that takes some faith to
believe that, some blind faith. Or to believe, I mean even in
the Big Bang, somebody calls the Big Bang. I don't believe
in the Big Bang, I believe the Genesis account, but it takes
more blind faith to believe all the theories that men have than
what the Bible declares in the beginning, God created the heavens
and the earth. And he inspired a book. The Bible
claims inspiration of God. The Bible is true. Therefore, it should be believed. The Bible is true. We believe
it's true. Now somebody may think, isn't
that circular reasoning? No, we got to begin with the
Bible. That is the starting point of
truth, the Bible. Somebody says, well, I know the
Bible is true because there's evidences that it's true. There's
been archeological digs that prove that the historical narratives
in the Old Testament are true. That doesn't prove anything.
We don't, that would make science and archeology the starting point
rather than the Bible. We begin with the Bible, what
saith the scripture? That's all that counts. What saith the scripture? The Bible is the starting point
or the place of truth. We look to the scriptures alone. We don't look to confessions
men have written. There's been all kinds of confessions
and creeds, but what are they? They're human documents. They're
not inspired by God. They might have much truth in
them. But they're human documents. We look to that which God has
inspired. Isaiah said, to the law and to
the testimony. If they speak not according to
this word, it is because there is no light in them. We look to the scripture alone.
Let me give you an example. How would you ever know that
God is one God in three distinct persons without the scriptures? We'd never know that. How could
we know how God could actually be just, absolutely and flexibly
just, and yet justify someone who's ungodly? How can we know
that glorious thing without the Scriptures? Now, we find this
phrase some 80 times in the New Testament as it is written, referring
to the Old Testament Scriptures. Now, all Scripture is given by
inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. What doctrine we
believe is because it comes from the Word of God. We do not go
to the Bible to try to prove what we already believe. You
can pull things out of context and prove anything you want that
way. No, we go to the Bible to find out what to believe. This
is the religion of this book. The holy scriptures that reveal
the character of the living God and how he saved sinners. All
doctrine must come from the Bible. It's profitable for reproof or
evidence is what the word means. What is the evidence something
is true? Is it in the Bible? And for correction, we need to
be corrected all the time because we think wrong and we need the
Bible to correct our thinking. For instruction and righteousness,
Paul says, only in the Bible do we find out how a sinner can
be made righteous through the work of Christ on the cross.
How I'm saved by the righteousness of Jesus Christ being my personal
righteousness before God. You're not going to find that
anywhere else, but in the Bible. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. I think of the honor. The Lord
put on Scripture when he was tempted by the devil after he
had fasted for 40 days, and the devil tempts him. He says, if
you're the Son of God. Prove it. Command that these
stones be made bread." And the Lord could have just destroyed
him. He could have torn, but what
did he do? He answered the devil's temptation
with this, it is written. Look at the honor the Lord placed
upon the Holy Scriptures. It is written, man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God. So Satan changes his strategy. He goes to the scriptures. He
said, if you're the son of God, prove it. Because it's written,
he'll give his angels charge over thee. Remember, he took
him up to the top of the temple and said, jump off, prove it.
Because the scripture says he'll give his angels charge over thee.
It's less than any time you dash your foot against the stone.
If you're really the son of God, prove it, jump off. And the Bible
says the angels will catch you. That'll give proof. And how does
the Lord answer this? It written. Thou shalt not tempt
the Lord thy God. And then Satan shows him all
the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. I don't understand
how he did this, but he did it. He said, this is all delivered
to me and to whomsoever I will, I give it. If you'll bow down
and worship me, it's all yours. And the Lord replied, It is written,
thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve. Now look at the honor the Lord
places on the scripture. I think of that Psalm 138 to
thou has magnified thy word above all thy name oh the glory of
the holy scriptures if we don't have this book all we have is
my opinion and your opinion All we have is hear what I think,
or here's what it means to me. That kind of thinking is foolishness
and nothing more. What saith the scripture? Now, like I said in our text,
Paul spoke of 10 historical events that took place. He talked about
being under the cloud and the parting of the Red Sea, manna
coming from heaven, water coming from the rock, Israel's rejection
of Joshua and Caleb's testimony, lusting for meat, the golden
calf, committing fornication with the daughters of Moab, the
brazen serpent, the death of the ten spies. There's ten historical
events that literally took place in the Old Testament. And he
says, these are types. to admonish us. We continually
need to be admonished. We think wrong. Every thought,
natural thought we have is wrong, and we need the admonishment
of Holy Scriptures. Now, one of the things that came
to my mind that demonstrates this is in Galatians chapter
4, when Paul tells us that the events of Genesis chapter 16,
when Sarah told Abraham to go in to Hagar, her servant, that
they could have a child because she was saying God's promise
won't come to pass unless we do our part. You go into Hagar
and we'll have the child. Abraham agreed and Ishmael came
out of that. And Ishmael's never acknowledged
by God to be a son. And Paul tells us that those
events in Genesis 16 represent the two covenants. Law and grace. You know, I would have never
read Genesis chapter 16 and thought, huh, that's law and grace. I
wouldn't have seen that had not God the Holy Spirit told us that.
And every passage in the Old Testament is given to teach some
aspect of the gospel. Now, I love this scripture, to
him give all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever
believeth in him shall receive the remission of sins. That's
the purpose of scripture, to him give all the prophets witness.
The Lord said in John 5.39, you search the scriptures. In them
you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify
of Me." All of them. I love when the Lord said to
his disciples after the resurrection and beginning and Moses and all
the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures, the
things concerning himself. He said, all things must be fulfilled,
which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets
and in the Psalms concerning me. When Peter preached that
message on the day of Pentecost, he begins with this. These are
not drunken, as you suppose, seeing it's nine o'clock in the
morning, but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. He begins with the Old Testament
scriptures. In Paul's first recorded message
in Acts 13, he gives a brief history of what the Scriptures
said took place. And then he said with regard
to the death of Christ when they had fulfilled all that was written
of Him. Everything that took place was
written aforetime in the Holy Scriptures. They took him down
from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher, and that was according
to the scriptures in Isaiah 53. Now, in 1 Corinthians 15 verses
3 and 4, when Paul says, I declare unto you the gospel, he says
this. It's how that. Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures, according to the Old Testament
Scriptures. When Abel brought that blood
offering to the Lord and God had respect to it. It wasn't
because there was anything intrinsically valuable in that blood of that
lamb, it's because of the blood it pointed to, the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. When Abraham rejoiced to see
that ram that was offered up in the room instead of his son
Isaac, that was how Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures. What about the Passover lamb? God said, you get in the
house with the blood over the door. When I see the blood, I
will pass over you. What was God looking for? The
blood. He wasn't looking for your works
or your efforts. He was looking for the blood.
What did he promise he would do? When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. Who had to see it? God had to
see it. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. That's
how the Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
We could go on. Through the Old Testament, it's all how that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was
buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. You see the scriptures, the Old
Testament scriptures. You can't preach the gospel without
the Old Testament scriptures. You can't understand the New
Testament without the Old Testament. You can't understand the Old
Testament without the New Testament. The scriptures of truth. Now these types, every event,
of the Old Testament, every law was written for our admonition,
Paul says. We need continual admonition,
and that's what true gospel preaching is, admonishment. We are continually
tempted to look somewhere other than Jesus Christ as our grounds
of acceptance before God. We're continually tempted to
look within, to look at our works, to look at our intentions, to
look at our feelings, to look to our experience. And there's
only one place to look, not to yourself in any way, but to Christ
alone. And that is what the scriptures
admonish us to do. to look to Christ alone. Now,
I want to briefly, in our remaining time, give you what the scriptures
say its purpose is. Now, when the Lord was speaking
to the Sadducees who denied the resurrection, he said this, you
do err. not knowing the Scriptures, nor
the power of God. Now, I guarantee you the Sadducees
were students of the Scriptures and had many of them memorized.
Yet the Lord said, you do err not knowing the Scriptures, not
knowing what they mean. You see, God cannot be known
apart from the Scriptures. He reveals to us who He is through
the scriptures. Now, there's some things we can
know about God without the scripture. Paul said in Romans 1, verses
19 and 20, for that which may be known of God is manifest in
them, for God hath showed it to them. For the invisible things
of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power
and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." What's that
mean? You look at creation, and you see somebody made all this,
and he had to be all powerful for him to do this, and nobody
made him. You see that just from the light
of Scripture. Somebody says, well, I don't
believe that. Well, that might be the case, but there was a
time when you did. You see, no man is born an atheist. Every man through the light of
creation knows that God is. Now, he might not like that,
and he might change his mind and say, well, I don't believe
any of this stuff. But at one time, You knew God created the
heavens and the earth and that he is an all-powerful being and
he's an eternal being. Nobody ever created him. He always
is. We can know that without the
scripture. But we can't know how. We could never know God
as one God and three distinct persons without the scripture.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We could
never know whether God would forgive sin. We could never know
of God's justice. We could never know of God's
grace. We could never know of God's true character or his attributes
apart from the holy scriptures. He gave the scriptures that men
and women might be allowed to know him. Now, John makes this
statement in John chapter 20, and he's referring to the seven
miracles that the Lord did in the Gospel of John that the whole
book is developed around. And he makes this statement in
verse 30 of chapter 20. He said, "...and many other signs
truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not
written in this book." You know, the Lord did a whole lot of miracles
that never were recorded in the scripture. That's what John is
saying. But these are written, these
seven miracles that he recorded in John chapter seven, or the
gospel of John, these are written that you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might
have life through his name. Now here's the purpose of scripture.
God had the Bible written for this purpose, that you might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, God's Christ, God's prophet,
God's priest, God's king, and that believing you might have
life through his name. name. That's the purpose of scripture. Now somebody says, well, how
can I, how can I know if I'm one of God's people? Believe.
Believe the gospel. Believe who Jesus Christ is.
He's the Christ. He's the Son of God. He's the
uncreated Son of God. Now in Romans 4, Paul speaks
of the scriptures being written for this purpose. Romans 4.23, Now it was not written
for his sake alone that it was imputed to him. That's all about
Abraham. You remember Romans chapter four is about Abraham,
and we read in verse five, but to him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. That's where Abraham was. He
worked not. He knew he couldn't be saved
by his works. He believed on him who justified the ungodly.
That was his only hope, that by what Christ did on Calvary's
tree, he actually justified the ungodly. Now, Paul tells us,
Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed
unto him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed, if
we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,
who was delivered for our offenses. That's why he died and was raised
again for our justification. This is written, not for him
only, but for us also. The righteousness of Jesus Christ
is imputed to us. If we find ourselves to be those
who believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,
we believe that He accomplished what He came to do. He put away
sin, God raised Him up, and He accomplished the complete justification
of all His people. Romans 15, verse 4 says, For
what things soever were written aforetime, There it is. Here's why. They were written
for our learning that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures,
might have hope. Hope. What a glorious thing hope
is. Now hope is not something you
can see. It's something that you can't see, but you believe. I have a hope that I stand before
God as one having never sinned. I can't see it in myself, but
I believe it because of what Christ accomplished for me. I
have a hope that everything that happens is working together for
my good and his glory. And I can't see that, but I have
a hope because that's what the Bible says. It's the comfort
of the scriptures that we might have. Hope, hope, not that I
can see, I can't see it, but I'm dead sure of it because it's
what the Bible teaches. What hope every believer has
because of the word of God. Now, in 1 Corinthians 4, verse
6, Paul makes this statement, and this is such an important
statement. I hope you can hear this as I would desire for all
of us to hear it, but he says in 1 Corinthians 4, 6, And these things, brethren, I
have in a figure transferred to myself, to Paulus, to myself
and to Paulus for your sakes, that you might learn in us not
to think of men above that which is written. that no one of you
be puffed up for one against another. Don't think of men above
that which the Bible says they are. But in my King James Version,
you'll find out of men is in italics. It was put there by
the translators, and I see why they would have thought that's
what it means. But we ought not think of men
above that which is written. But listen to it without those
words that you might learn in us not to think above that which
is written. Don't ever think above and beyond
that which is written. Don't try to come up with inferences
and doctrines. Well, this says this, therefore
this must take place and this must take place and go on and
on. No. We only believe what is actually
written. We don't believe from an inference
or a logical inference about something else. For instance,
I believe in predestination. Well, somebody says, well, if
you believe that, you believe people were predestined to go
to hell and that they're going to hell simply because God predestinated
them to. I don't believe any such thing.
I believe anybody that's in heaven is there because God predestinated,
the scripture says that. But I'm not going to use that
as a logical inference and think, well, that means the people in
hell are there because they were predestinated to be in hell.
People that are in hell are there because of their sin. That's
why they're there. It's because God is just. I'm
not going to believe anything above and beyond that which the
scripture actually teaches. You know, people say, well, since
the Old Testament children were circumcised and circumcision
is over, therefore we ought to baptize New Testament children.
And they baptize infants, supposedly from a scriptural logic. Well,
if in the Old Testament children were circumcised, then the baptism
takes its place. Where in the Bible is that? You
can't get that from the scriptures. That's trying to draw something
that the scripture does not teach. John said this in 1 John 1-4,
and I love this, these things are written that your joy might
be full. Oh, the joy and peace of believing. And he said in
1 John 2-1, these things write unto you that you sin not. It's never God's will or purpose
for you to sin. Don't try to think it is. But
then John goes on to say, If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he says, These
things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the
Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, that
you may believe on the name of the Son of God. God's Word was
written that you might believe on the name of the Son of God.
Believing on the name of the Son of God, you know you have
eternal life. And here's how you know you have eternal life,
because you believe on the name of the Son of God. You believe
who He is, and you trust only Him as everything in your salvation. Now, the Bible is God's Word,
and it's got a purpose for being written. The Lord put it so clearly,
you search the scriptures, in them you think you have eternal
life, they are they which testify of me. Every scripture is given
to testify of the person and work of Jesus Christ. May God
richly bless you, is my prayer. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send a request to todd.neibert at gmail.com
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