Is the Bible enough? It depends on what you mean by the word
“enough.”
2 Peter 1:3-4 and 2 Timothy 3:16-17 clearly say that the
Bible IS enough. It says that Christians have been given all that they need for
life and godliness. And that the Bible is enough to convict you, correct you,
train you, and make you complete, ready to do any and every godly thing.
However, this doesn’t mean that there is a direct Bible
verse or quote for every single situation you encounter in life. Rather it
means that the Bible is enough to equip you so that you will have the wisdom to
deal with every single situation in life.
They Bible is more than “enough.” Because the Bible is more
than a tool for you to use. The Bible makes you a tool for God to use.
2 Peter 1:3-4 says Christians have been given all that they
need for life and godliness. They have the divine power to know God’s grace,
the divine promises to grow in God’s grace, and the divine nature to live in
God’s grace. And the word of God is the means of this grace. As 2 Timothy
3:16-17 says, the Bible is enough to convict you, correct you, train you, and
make you complete, ready to do any and every godly thing.
However, right after 2 Peter 1:3-4 tells you that you have
what you need, 2 Peter 1:5-7 tells you about several qualities that you must
make every effort to add to your faith. You see, you have all the parts, and
you have all the tools, but building your life with the Bible is not automatic,
it is “some assembly required”.
Impatience doesn’t work. It only makes it worse. And it is
ironic. Impatience magnifies your wait time, multiplies your wait pain, and
misdirects your mindset. Instead of doing what’s right, you focus on what’s
wrong. You amplify your frustration, fortify your stubbornness, and intensify your
foolishness. Impatience is an attack on your mind, your time, and your trust.
The only thing you need to be impatient about is your impatience.
Grace isn’t a license to live a sinful lifestyle. Grace is
the motivation to live a repentant lifestyle. And you demonstrate faith by
living faithfully.
Some say it’s time for the rapture. But they’ve moved the
date from the end of September to the beginning of October. And say you’re not
ready if you don’t believe their date.
Others say it’s a great revival, based on the funeral of
Charlie Kirk. And the true gospel was proclaimed by some at the event, amen.
But some of it was a hybrid mix of humanism and false religions uniting politically
under the guise of “God”.
What if it’s not the rapture, or revival, but the revelation
of the antichrist? You see, “antichrist” doesn’t just mean “against Christ.” It
also means “in place of Christ.” So, people can say they believe in Jesus, and
still have a different Jesus than the Jesus of the Bible.
With all the hostility in the world today, might we be
deceived by the advent of a once impossible peace, and a sudden unity sweeping
the earth? Could we be spellbound by an agent who claims God, but denies his
truth?
Remember, when you don’t believe that you can be deceived,
that’s when you already are.
Mercy is when you’re spared from trouble you’ve earned.
Grace is when you’re given favor you haven’t earned. And we all need mercy and grace.
But too often we don’t actually like mercy and grace. Because we want it for
us, but we don’t want it for others. We want Jesus to pay for our sins. But we
want others to suffer for their sins. If you turn to Jesus in faith, you’ll
receive mercy and grace. But would you be happy if God gave your enemies mercy
and grace? Or do you just want them all to burn?
People say, “Lord, change me.” But when he starts to do it, they
don’t want to go through it. We want instant change with no pain. Me too. But
changing who you are and how you are means something old must go, to make room
for something new. The Bible calls this repentance. It’s a change of heart. A
change of mind. A change of direction. A change of life. It’s not necessarily
pleasant. But if repentance doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t heal.
Sin makes you
think things that aren’t true. It convinces you that the darkness is actually
the light. The Bible talks about the deceitfulness of sin. Sin deceives you
into thinking it’s good for you. And people fall for that because it feels
good. It gives you some fun, meets some felt need, or offers some kind of
instant relief. But sin is a lying thief. Sin says if it makes you happy, it
can’t be that bad. But it gives you happy while it steals your peace. And your
joy. Because sin is an idol. And idolatry is the enemy of joy. Because sin’s pleasure
is fleeting, and it’s never enough. And it keeps demanding more sacrifices to
it. So, sin is the ultimate dissatisfaction machine. And sin violates your
conscience, and eventually makes it unreliable. It starts by saying something
is a “necessary evil.” But then it begins to look more and more necessary and
less and less evil. Because sin makes you love a lie.
How do you know if you’re moving in fear? Let me tell you
something that is helping me tremendously.
2 Timothy 1:7 says – God did not give us a Spirit of fear
but of power and love and self-control. People love that verse when they’re anxious
about something, or afraid they’ll suffer needlessly, when they need courage, or
when they feel alone. And it says God has given you the Holy Spirit to lead you
away from fear and into faith. Amen.
Now, notice that the Spirit leads you from fear into faith through
power, love, and self-control. And the verse puts self-control after
power and love. And this is the test that helps you see if you’re actually
being led by the Spirit or not. Because you can be bold, and passionate, but if
your actions are dominated by your impulses, you’re not being led by the
Spirit. You’re moving backward into fear.
And you move forward by having faith in what this verse
teaches.
Too
often, our traumas and tragedies define us rather than refine us. And we live
in defeat and thrive on drama. Instead of passing from victim to victor. And if
you want to get unstuck, if you don’t want to stay a victim, but rather, become
a victor, you have to pass the stress test.
Stress
comes to us all. It can be life changing, one way or the other, when it starts
with some kind of traumatic event, crisis, situation, or season of life. And
you don’t want to stay in the place of post-traumatic stress without
experiencing post-traumatic growth. Romans 8:28-29 tells you that God is working
all things together for your good, to make you more like Jesus. And that means
dealing with stress can be the instrument of your growth in God’s grace. Romans
5:1-5, James 1:2-4, and so much of the biblical narrative illustrates and
proves this point, that stress can become a strategic inflection point used by
God to grow your faith, and give you a victory that you might not yet
understand. And in a way that you cannot as yet see.
You
don’t have to fossilize in your failures and frustrations. God is not done with
you yet. What seems to be falling apart, can actually be God bringing new
things together. What you may consider limitations do not have to be
liabilities. They can be liberties. They can set you free from yourself.
Over
the years of my life, I’ve made many mistakes and left many situations in a bad
way. Because of that, there would be people who, if they saw this, would say,
“No way, not that guy, don’t listen to him. You don’t know what that guy was
like. What that guy did.” Well, I don’t have to deny what that guy was like, or
what that guy did, to say that I’m not that guy anymore. And you know what, I’ve
never really been just that guy… I’m God’s guy.
Hebrews
11:6 says – And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever
would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those
who seek him. Faith will act on the fact of who God is and what he says you
should do. And pleasing God means drawing near to God under pressure rather
than retreating to your old self. You keep walking away from Babylon and keep
walking toward Jerusalem. You move into new growth by applying your faith. And
that means your faith grows as you act on the fact that God will reward you as
you reengage instead of retreat.
And
that trauma can come in the form, not only of tragedy, but also of triumph.
Sometimes the issue is that you think you’ve achieved the growth because you
had the triumph. But the goal isn’t your triumph as much as the goal is God
himself, your relationship with him, and your character becoming more like his.
That is what the real victory is, the growth of your faith. And this victory
isn’t about you conquering the world, it’s about the world not conquering you.
However, this kind
of study isn’t an exercise in futility, but humility. Because all of this
uncertainty teaches us, and grounds us, and strengthens us in the main thing we
need to be certain of. God himself.
You see, even if
God tells us the future, and writes it down for us, we still can’t fully
discern all the details of it. We just know the basics of it. And we know we
can trust him in it and with it. This is the way that it is, not only with
prophecy, and eschatology, but our own personal lives and the lives of our
loved ones and church family and everything else. Fear God, trust God, love
God; that’s the answer to all our questions. Amen.
If you’re not a Christian, you’re a slave. But if you are a
Christian, you’re still a slave. Just a different kind of slave.
Romans 6:17-18 says that Christians can thank God, because
they were once slaves of sin, but now, they have been set free from sin and have become slaves of righteousness.
And Hebrews 2:14-15 says that the death of Jesus delivers
Christians from being slaves to the Devil and the fear of death.
So, you can be a slave of sin, the Devil, and the fear of
death. Or you can be a slave of righteousness, Jesus, and eternal life.
Titus 2:11-12 says that the grace that saves us also trains
us, in godliness, righteousness, and self-control. Godliness is about your
relation to God. Righteousness is about your relation to others. Self-control
is about your relation to self. But you have to apply your faith if you want
grace to work. You see, grace is opposed to merit. But grace is not opposed to
effort. You are saved by grace through faith. And you grow by grace through
faith. You have to work to grow through God’s training.
Titus 2:13-14 says Jesus set us free from having to live in
sin and become eager to do good works, while we eagerly await the hope of
Jesus’ return. Grace sets us free from having to work for our salvation. But
when it comes to sanctification, grace doesn’t set us free from work. Grace
sets us free to work. God is training you. But how are you responding to his
training? Apply your faith, do the work, and you’ll grow in grace.
People say that if they had proof, they’d believe in Jesus.
But that’s not true. Because people can have an open mind and still have a hard
heart.
Jesus fed 5000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. But later,
his disciples wondered how he would feed 4000 people, even though there were 7 loaves
of bread and more fish.
A big crowd saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. But the
religious leaders didn’t care. Instead, they plotted to kill both Lazarus and
Jesus. And the big crowd followed Jesus into Jerusalem, shouting his praises.
Yet, just a few days later, they started shouting curses.
Jesus told the story of a rich man in hell, who wanted
someone to go back and warn his family. Jesus said if they didn’t believe the
Bible, they wouldn’t believe even if they saw someone come back from the dead.
And Jesus did come back from the dead, and people still don’t believe. Why?
Because people don’t need proof, they need repentance and faith. They need to
be born again. And they don’t want proof; they want their sin.
What
about people who do good things, but don’t believe in God? Hebrews 11:6 says – without
faith it is impossible to please God. Faith is what pleases God. It
involves both the inner motivation and the outer manifestation. In other words,
faith takes action on a heartfelt desire to please God. But Romans 8:7 says that human nature is hostile
to God. Romans 8:8 says that unbelievers cannot please God. Romans 8:9 says
that unbelievers don’t have the Spirit of God. So, unsaved people can do good things by
God’s common grace. And they can have good motives, in the sense of wanting to
help people and make the world a better place. But they cannot be consciously
dependent on God’s grace and desiring God’s glory. And so, at their heart
level, they do not desire to please God. An idea of God may be motivating their
life. But without the Spirit of God, the One True God isn’t in their life. Faith
in Jesus is what pleases God.
If you want to have true, lasting, godly impact, and be
rewarded by Jesus for it, in eternity, you must kill your longing for personal distinction.
Aim for faithfulness, not fame. God rewards according to your heart, not
people’s opinions. Hudson Taylor said –
A little thing is a little thing, but faithfulness to a little thing is a big
thing.
Are you ready to be nobody in this world, if you’re somebody
to God? What kind of distinction do you
need to be truly satisfied in God? Pray that God would grant you to seek your
commendation from him. Instead of
trying to make your name great, make Jesus look great. Stop trying to make a
name for yourself. Jesus has made a name for you. The Bible calls it Christian.
Christianity and salvation are about Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, who became a sinless man to pay the penalty of your sin and give you
the reward of his righteousness. On the cross, God treated Jesus as if he lived
your life so that he could treat you as if you lived his life. He takes the
burden of what you’ve done and gives you the blessing of what he’s done. He
takes your guilt, your shame, and your punishment. And he gives you his joy,
his peace, and his presence. He died in this life to give you eternal life. He
rose from the dead to prove it. And so, if you give him the right to your life,
he gives you the right to his life.
Here’s what I say to that…Jesus, I trust in who you are and
what you’ve done to save my soul. I give myself to you. Forgive my sins, and
grant me eternal life. Amen.
In John 13, we see Jesus wash his disciples’ feet. And he
asked them if they understood what he had done. Vs.13-17 say – You call me
Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and
Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For
I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to
you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor
is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things,
blessed are you if you do them. To be like Jesus as he washed feet means
more than just duplicating the physical act. It means being dedicated to humble
service. Not afraid to stoop down. Not afraid to get your hands dirty. Not
afraid to seem like less. Not afraid to be small.
All sins matter. But not all sins are the same. Every sin is
ultimately an offense against God, and so it requires nothing less than the
sacrificial death of the sinless Son of God to make atonement for it. Still,
while every sin is heinous, they are not all equally heinous. Some do more
damage, and are worse for you and others. Angrily running over my mailbox is
not as bad as angrily running over me. When Jesus said that to even look at a
woman with lust is adultery, he wasn’t saying you might as well go ahead and do
it. The sin in your heart is bad, but to add the act adds more sin. And Jesus
talked about some committing greater sin. There’s a difference in degree, a
difference in progression, and a difference in consequences. The person
struggling with sin is leaving God’s table and eating the world’s food. The
person who defiantly stays in the sin is having the devil over for dinner every
night, with a permanent place at the table.
People were waving palm branches as a
sign of deliverance and victory as Jesus entered Jerusalem. But just five days
later, when some realized he had a different agenda than theirs, they changed
their minds about Jesus, and changed their cry from “Hosanna!” to “Crucify
him!” And those palm branches turned into the cross.
What the people wanted was deliverance
from the bondage of Rome. What the people needed was deliverance from the
bondage of sin. They wanted political freedom and prosperity. But Jesus did not
come to save us from our social situation. He came to save us from our sinful
situation.
People want Jesus on their own terms.
But you can’t dictate terms to Jesus. He is the conquering King, who dictates
terms to you. And his terms are surrender! Jesus can save you, because he has
conquered sin, death, and hell. And when you’re saved, it’s because he has
conquered you! Yes, Jesus will take you as you are. But then he changes who you
are!
Are people better off having been with you? This is more than simply making sure that you don’t negatively affect people. This is also about positively affecting people. And that includes modeling repentance when you’ve done it wrong. Can people grow if they take your examples? Do you affect people in a godly way? This is not just about avoiding certain things around certain people. This is also about whether or not your life teaches others how to properly process, prioritize, and proportion actions, decisions, responses, and situations.
In other words, does your life teach prudence? Does what you do model and teach others how to live a godly life? Teaching prudence is not teaching avoidance; it is teaching the timely and appropriate application of wisdom. Knowledge is what to do. Wisdom is how to do it. Prudence is when to do it. Even though we won’t do this perfectly, we can do this purposely. And that is how you help people learn to discern, and to repent, and to grow.
Recently, I went on a painful journey. Me, my two brothers,
my nephew, one of my uncles, and one of my cousins, went to West Virgina, to
place the ashes of my mom and my dad up on a hill, where seven generations of
our family are. This is what they wanted. And as much as I was grateful to
fulfill their wishes, I was also full of grief.
Everyone must face grief. And avoiding it only postpones an
inevitable meeting. Grief will eventually find you and you’ll have to
face it. So, learning to face grief is important for your life.
My parents were Christians. And so, I can face the waves of
grief with more than sentiment and memories. I know I will see them again, and
forever. As 1 Thessalonians 4:13 says,
we do grieve, but not as those with no hope. We grieve with hope. So, I can
face grief with faith, and as Charles Spurgeon said, I can kiss the wave that
throws me against the Rock of Ages.
People who say they are Christians but who hate other
Christians are deceived. They aren’t really Christians.
1 John 2:9 says – The one who says he is in the light but
still hates his fellow Christian is still in the darkness. 1 John 3:15 says –
Everyone who hates his fellow Christian is a murderer, and you know that no
murderer has eternal life residing in him. 1 John 4:20 says – If anyone says “I
love God” and yet hates his fellow Christian, he is a liar, because the one who
does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has
not seen.
And people who verbally abuse other people aren’t acting
like Christians. 1 Peter 2:23 says that when Jesus was reviled, he did not
revile in return.
You can fool yourself, but you can’t hide a hateful heart.
When you revile other people, you reveal your heart. But if you will confess
your hateful sin, God’s love will heal your hateful heart.
Romans 10:9 says “if you confess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you
will be saved”. So why aren’t the demons saved? Because the demons confess
that Jesus is Lord. Mark 3:11 says whenever the unclean spirits saw him,
they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." And
the demons know for a fact that Jesus is risen from the dead. They were there.
James 2:19 says the demons believe in God and shudder in
fear. Demons know, believe, feel, and fear the truth. So why aren’t the demons
saved? Because they know Jesus IS Lord, but they don’t seek to honor, love,
obey, serve, or worship Jesus AS Lord. You see, you can have your intellect
filled with the truth, and you can have your emotions stirred by the truth, but
are your actions motivated and moving towards faithfully trusting the truth? Are
you different than the demons?
Now, a person
doesn’t have to believe the Bible is true before they can be saved, but
the Bible has to be true for them to be saved. Think about
someone who doesn’t even know there is a Bible. But then a preacher
comes, and that person receives Jesus and is saved. That new convert came to
faith through preaching about the Jesus we find in the Bible.
You can
experience something without knowing how to describe it. For example, a newborn
baby is alive, breathing, crying, and eating, before that baby knows how to
describe any of that. So, a new convert may not have known it, but they were
believing in the truth of the Bible when it comes to Jesus. And Jesus believed
the Bible was true. And he taught it.
Is it right to suffer consequences for doing wrong?
Most people say yes. Still, you might think your finite sins don’t deserve an infinite
punishment. But sin is much worse than you might think. Because you’ve
committed the ultimate injustice. You see, humans and their value are finite, but
God and his value are infinite. And the Bible teaches that ultimately, you’ve
sinned against God. But your finite worth cannot pay for sins against the
ultimate worth of an infinite God. So, this means your guilt never goes away.
And eternal punishment DOES fit the ultimate crime.
Why do you need Jesus? Because only God can pay for sins
against God. Jesus is God, and his perfection will be the standard he’ll judge
you by. But he can also be your savior. On the cross, he sacrificed himself to pay
for your sins and buy your forgiveness. Place your faith in who he is and what
he’s done, and you’ll be saved. Otherwise, your punishment will fit your crime.
Ephesians chapter 5, vs.3-4 are talking about getting rid of
immorality, impurity, greed, and a filthy mouth. And the end of vs.4 tells you
how. It says that you put off impurity by putting on thanksgiving.
Immorality, impurity, and greed are connected. You lust
after immoral and impure things because your heart is greedy for more than you
have. And what’s in your heart will fill your mind and come out of your mouth. Lust
means I want more, and I want it right now. What can you do about it?
Well, when you’re greedy for unclean things, you need to clean
your heart with the opposite of greed. And gratitude is the opposite of greed. When
you focus on thankfulness, it begins to limit greed’s influence in your life.
And as gratitude becomes the regular pattern of your life, greed is replaced,
and those sinful patterns are destroyed. Thankfulness is God’s remedy. It has
the power to change the greedy lust gripping your heart. Amen.
A Valentine may play a love song for you, but God gives you
the sweetest love song in the universe. Zephaniah 3:17 says The Lord your
God…will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He
will rejoice over you with singing.
A Valentine may give you flowers, but God sent you the most
beautiful rose of all, Jesus. Song of Solomon 2:1 says I am the rose of Sharon,
and the lily of the valleys.
A Valentine may bring you chocolate, but God provides you
with something even sweeter, His Word. Psalm 119:103 says How sweet are your
words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
A Valentine may take you out to dinner, but God has invited
you to the most amazing feast ever given. Revelation 19:9 says Blessed are
those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
What is your greatest fear? And what are you afraid to face?
Well, I may be facing something overwhelming, something I don’t understand, or can’t
control. But I have a promise from God that he will face it with me. Hebrews
13:5 quotes Joshua 1:5 when it quotes God, saying – I will never leave you
nor forsake you. And Hebrews 13:6 quotes Psalm 118:6 when it says – So
we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man
do to me?”
When life says, “You don’t have
the strength”, the omnipotent God of all power says, “I will never leave you
nor forsake you.” When life says, “You don’t know where you’re going”, the
omnipresent God who sees everything says, “I will never leave you nor forsake
you.” And when life says, “You don’t know what to do”, the omniscient God who
knows all things says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Knowing God
is with me is how I face my fears with faith.
Most people are aware that pride can be a very dangerous thing.
But how many people are aware when they are full of pride?
Galatians 6:3 says if anyone thinks he is something when
he is nothing, he deceives himself. And Romans 12:3 says not to think
more highly of yourself than you ought to think. But how can you know if you’re
thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to think?
Here is a test for you…The more highly you think of yourself,
the more easily offended you are. Because Philippians 2:3 says in humility
count others more significant than yourselves. Therefore, the prouder you are,
the more easily offended you are. The humbler you are, the less easily offended
you’ll be.
So, can you pass the humility test? Because it comes down to
this: Who do you think you are?
You see, what you need is
Jesus, whether he gives you what you want or what you feel like you need. Jesus
in the center. Jesus as the aim. Jesus as the focus. Jesus as the goal.
Whatever else is going on. It’s not, “Jesus give me this,” but “Jesus give me
you, as I go for this, or go through this.” And “Jesus, if you’re not in it, I
don’t want it.” That is how you can have spiritual stability in rough waters. And
that is how you learn to trust him. John Newton wrote Amazing Grace, and he
also wrote “Begone, Unbelief!”, in which he said, “With Christ in the
vessel, I smile at the storm.”
Today
marks one year since my mom passed away. And I haven’t cried about it like I
did those first few months. But last night, I did. Because this old 1970’s TV
show showed up in my YouTube feed. And I remembered how, after we moved my
parents into our home, we would watch reruns of that show after supper. We
laughed in the 1970’s, and laughed again at the reruns in the 2020’s. And the
thought of all that laughing made me cry.
Revelation 21:4
says that when we get to heaven, Jesus will wipe away every tear from our eyes.
The reason we enter heaven with tears is because of the tears in this life. But if you receive Jesus as your
Savior, those tears of sorrow will be your last tears. And only tears of joy
will remain. But if you don’t receive Jesus as your Savior, your last tears
will last forever. You’ll only have sorrow, and no joy. Which will your last
tears be?
