According to the Scriptures - Christopher G. Brenyo

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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1 Corinthians 15

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This is God's holy and infallible word.

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Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which

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I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 2 For I deliver to you, first of all, that which

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I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures, and that he was seen by Cephas and then by the twelve.

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3 After that he was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained to the present, but some have fallen asleep.

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4 After that he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 5 Then last of all he was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

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6 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

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7 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not

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I, but the grace of God, which was with me. 8 Therefore, whether it was

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I or they, so we preach, and so you believe."

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This is the word which is able to sanctify us, to transform our lives and hearts.

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Holy Spirit, we pray that you would illumine our understanding. It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.

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Please be seated. Today we are looking at that same section in 1

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Corinthians, the very first few verses, particularly verse 4 today, and we're going to talk about Jesus dying and being buried and being raised from the dead on the third day.

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But the emphasis is going to be a little bit upon this phrase that keeps popping up in this section, according to the scriptures.

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The essential truths about Christ's death, burial, and resurrection on the third day are in accordance with God's special revelation.

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The holy scriptures reveal these truths to us. It follows that we should have a high view of scripture.

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It contains in it all that we need for life and godliness. The entirety of our lives should be shared, or should be shaped,

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I should say, by the Bible, by the scriptural teaching, and we should be inspired to worship

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Him, to give thanks to Him, to love our neighbor, to have great joy in the present and great hope for the future.

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So today let's look at verse 3 and 4 again. Paul says,

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I deliver to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins.

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And last week we asked that question, why did Christ have to die for our sins? But this phrase, according to the scriptures, is very compelling.

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It goes on in verse 4, he says, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.

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Now, in scripture, when you hear or see repetition, it should give you some cause for investigation.

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Why does He say according to the scriptures, according to the scriptures? Is there something significant about that?

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Well, let's first look at the narrative. We're going to read a brief section from Luke chapter 23.

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Turn to Luke 23. I'm going to try to connect the dots between this idea of the truth, the historical events about what happened at the time of Christ's death and burial and resurrection,

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Paul's theology, his description here, and this doctrine of scripture.

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I'm going to try to put all those three together and link those together. Luke chapter 23.

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We begin reading in verse 33. This is following under that heading,

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Christ was buried. Luke 23. And when they had come to the place called

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Calvary, this is verse 33, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.

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Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. And they divided

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His garments and cast lots. And the people stood looking on.

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And even the rulers with them sneered, saying, He saved others, let Him save Himself, if He is the

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Christ, the chosen of God. The soldiers also mocked

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Him, coming and offering Him sour wine and saying, If you are the

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King of the Jews, save yourself. And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.

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This is the King of the Jews. Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed

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Him, saying, If you are the Christ, save yourself and us. But the other answering reviewed

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Him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?

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And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong.

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And he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. And Jesus said to him,

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Assuredly, I say to you, Today you will be with Me in paradise. Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.

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Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. When Jesus had cried out with a loud voice,

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He said, Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit. Having said this,

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He breathed His last. So when the centurion saw that what had happened, he glorified

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God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man. And the whole crowd who came together to that sight, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned.

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But all his acquaintances and the women who followed him from Galilee stood in the distance watching those things.

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Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man.

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He had not consented to their decision indeed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the

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Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

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Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before.

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That day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew near. And the women who had come with him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how his body was laid.

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Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils, and they rested on the

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Sabbath according to the commandment. Now, it's important that we understand, children, it's important that you know that these are essential elements of the

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Christian faith. We have to believe that Jesus really died on the cross and that he was buried.

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One of the things that is kind of overlooked in the discussion about all the things that happened with Christ is the fact that he was buried.

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We think about the crucifixion, and we skip over to the resurrection, but he was actually buried in the tomb.

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Of course, there's a lot of discussion and mystery about what occurred in those days, but the important thing for us on the essential level of doctrine is that he was really dead.

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He was really put into the grave. It wasn't an act. He didn't have a fainting spell.

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Some of the other religions, like Islam, says that he swooned.

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There's some non -Christians who believe in things like that. It's very essential to our doctrine that we understand that Jesus really died on the cross for our sins.

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There's something else. These events were anticipated by the scriptures themselves.

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When Paul says Christ died and he was buried, according to the scriptures, we have to ask ourselves, what are some of the scriptures?

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What is some of the prophecy that was being fulfilled with Christ going to the cross at Calvary?

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I've only selected two under this heading because they're probably the two most prominent ones.

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The first one is found, going to the left in the Bible, in Isaiah 53. Let's go there.

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I want to point out something to you about this text, Isaiah 53.

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This is the suffering servant passage. It's very familiar to us.

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I'm only going to read through verse 12. I want you to pay close attention to verse 9 and to verse 12.

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Isaiah 53, a prophecy about our

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Lord. Beginning at verse 1. Who has believed our report?

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And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground.

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He has no form or comeliness, and when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him.

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He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

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And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him.

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Today, in our liturgy, we had elements of this verse, at least in principle, this idea about the suffering

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Christ. We sing man of sorrows very regularly in our time of communion. This is where this idea is taken from.

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Verse 4. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

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Again, another hymn that we sing in the church. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.

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The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.

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Oh, we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the

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Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.

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And he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

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He was taken from prison and from judgment. And who will declare his generation?

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For he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgressions of my people he was stricken.

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Now, I want to pause here. This is almost 800 years before the

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Lord was crucified on Calvary. It is amazing how much detail exists in Isaiah 53.

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So we get some sense about this phrase that Paul uses repeatedly in our section according to the

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Scriptures. That there was a way that Christ had to die, and there are a whole host of details that we're not even going to get into, hundreds of details.

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And all of them are found to be true in Christ and all the events that happened surrounding his death, burial, and resurrection.

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Now I want you to listen carefully now in verse 9. And they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death, because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

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We just read in Luke that Jesus was crucified with the wicked, and his grave was with the rich.

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Joseph of Arimathea was prophesied about that he would be the one to take

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Jesus' body and put him in his own tomb. That detail, though small and seems fanciful in a way, it's remarkable that that would come true in the life of Jesus in the immediate aftermath.

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A person like Joseph of Arimathea, we just read it, he was buried with the rich, and he says in verse 12, let's keep reading verse 10, it pleased the

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Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, just the language of this is astounding.

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If you know this section in John Rose Scripture, for Isaiah to be speaking in this way about Christ, it's phenomenal.

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He shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

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He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.

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Christ bore our iniquities on the cross. He was delighted to do it, but the joy set before him was union with his people, perfect communion forever because of his righteous sacrifice.

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Verse 12, therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul unto death.

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He was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

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The soldiers are gambling for his clothing. The Messiah is prophesied to die in the midst of criminals.

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Jesus is predicted will be buried in a rich man's tomb. All of that written hundreds of years before Christ was born.

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Let's turn over to Psalm 22, probably the most striking Messianic Psalm in Scripture, probably on par with Psalm 2.

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Psalm 22. And again,

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I want you to catch the details because of the language of Paul. It says these things happen in accordance with the

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Scriptures. Psalm 22. I'm going to begin reading in verse 6.

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But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised by the people.

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All those who see me ridicule me. They shoot out the lip. They shake the head, saying he trusted in the

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Lord. Let him rescue him. Does that sound familiar from our text, the narrative of Luke?

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Let him deliver him since he delights in him. Verse 9. You are he who took me out of the womb.

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You made me trust while on my mother's breasts. I was cast upon you from birth.

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From my mother's womb you have been my God. Be not far from me for trouble is near.

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There is none to help. Many ghouls have surrounded me.

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Strong ghouls of Bashan have encircled me. They gape at me with their mouths like a raging and roaring lion.

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I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax.

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It has melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd. And my tongue clings to my jaws.

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You have brought me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me.

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The congregation of the wicked has enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet.

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A belief of memory serves me right. A number of years ago I did a study on this subject. And there was no crucifixion as a common practice for execution a thousand years before the death of Christ.

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How could David write these words?

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And how could they be fulfilled in the life of Christ? They pierced my hands and my feet.

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I can count all my bones. They look and stare at me. They divide my garments among them.

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Again, that reference. And for my clothing they cast lots.

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But you, O Lord, do not be far from me. O my strength, hasten to help me.

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Deliver me from the sword. My precious life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen.

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You have answered me. That's another reference to the second part of our study today on the resurrection.

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Many people believe that this reference to saving from the lion's mouth is nothing less than a reference to Satan.

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And that anticipates the resurrection of Christ. The gripping jaws of death.

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But we remain on the Lord Jesus. He's going to be raised from the dead.

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And all this is happening a very long time before Christ appears. He died.

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He was buried. The historical narrative contains all these essential truths that must be believed.

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We must believe that Jesus died for our sins. We must believe that he was buried and that he was raised from the dead.

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And we look now that we can learn about this in a place like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53.

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Let's turn back to Luke chapter 24 for the second part of our narrative discussion on the resurrection.

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The next several weeks we'll be talking about the doctrine of the resurrection. We're going to talk about everything I can speak about on the subject here.

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But just to expose it to you in this context. There's a strong connection to that psalm we just sang in Psalm 16.

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We begin reading in verse 1, Luke 24. We finished 23 and the narrative moves on to the idea of the resurrection.

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Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they and certain other women with them came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.

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But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the

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Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.

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Then as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead?

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He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying,

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The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

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I want to stop here. Church, as crazy as it sounds, we absolutely have to believe that that tomb was empty.

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We can't believe this is just a good story, a nice little story to wrap up the life of Jesus. We have to actually believe that our

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Lord is not in that tomb. There's never going to be an archaeological discovery that shows us the bones of Jesus.

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It's never going to happen. They may find David's bones. They might find Jacob's bones.

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They might find somebody else or the other patriarch's bones. They will never find the bones of Jesus in any tomb anywhere, because they're not there.

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They didn't stay there. They are in heaven now, in a glorified state.

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Let's continue on. Verse 9, it says,

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They returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the leaven, and to all the rest.

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It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.

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And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.

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But Peter arose and ran to the tomb, and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves, and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.

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And the narrative goes on from there. The great biblical theology of Jesus, given to the two men on the road to Emmaus.

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He starts at Moses and the prophets, and tells about how everything in the

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Scripture speaks to the things concerning. Himself. What we have to understand is, this plan that was set in motion to redeem

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God's people, didn't start with the birth of Jesus. And in fact, it didn't start with the created order of the world.

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It started before that. God purposed in time past, eternity past, to redeem his people, and to do it through Christ.

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This has been the grand plan that has been executed flawlessly.

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Perfectly. In perfect timing. All of these prophecies, all of these hundreds of things coming to pass.

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And so Paul says, Christ died, and when we think about the way he died, we must understand he died in accordance with the

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Scriptures. Everything has happened according to prophecy.

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Everything has happened according to God's Word. Nothing has happened outside of those boundary lines.

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And all of those things with great precision, incredible, impeccable timing, have found their realization in the person of Christ.

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Let's turn back to Psalm 16 really quick. I'm saying it today. Psalm 16.

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Incredible. Again, about a thousand years before Christ. There's some places in Scripture, a place in Job, speaks to the resurrection.

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I know that my Redeemer lives. What can that possibly mean? And there's something else like that here in Psalm 16.

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We can read in verse 5. O Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance in my cup.

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You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.

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Yes, I have a good inheritance. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel.

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My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me.

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Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices.

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Now again, here's the verse. My flesh also will rest in hope. For you shall not allow my soul to remain in Sheol.

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You're not going to allow me to stay in the grave. David is saying, I believe in the resurrection.

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But we've had no resurrection yet. It hasn't happened. It's going to happen in Christ.

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I believe that my soul will not remain in the grave. Today, brothers and sisters, do you believe that absolutely, that your soul will not remain in the grave?

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It won't. If you believe in Christ. The promise that David, this hope that he clings to, is realized in Christ.

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Christ is the firstfruits. Christ is the one who's risen first. So we all get risen with him.

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We learned about this this morning in our Sunday school. We learned that we belong to Christ.

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We have union with him. He's the mediator of the new covenant. And our union and identification with him assures us that we will have the resurrection with him.

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His resurrection is my resurrection. I will be risen because Christ is risen.

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And we can say, hallelujah, amen. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being raised from the dead.

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Now, let's go back to our text. In 1 Corinthians 15. It's important to understand the prominence in place of the resurrection and the life of the church.

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I'm not going to have you turn to these references. I believe it's very prominent in the

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Sermon at Pentecost. The issue surrounding the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus at Pentecost.

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I believe that there's something big that happens by Paul in Acts chapter 13, where he declares

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Christ's resurrection from the dead is a fulfillment of Psalm 16.

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So the psalm we just read, Paul in Acts 13, I believe, 33 through 35, is saying effectively, you know that psalm, that mysterious thing that David says in Psalm 16?

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That's realized and fulfilled in Christ. Of course, Psalm 22,

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Peter's second sermon, delivered on the Temple Mount, men of Israel, you put to death the prince of life, the one whom

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God raised from the dead. Listen to how many times the book of Acts keeps harping on the resurrection.

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Chapter four, the Sadducees came upon them. This is the apostles preaching early on in Jerusalem, greatly disturbed because they, the apostles, were teaching people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

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Acts four again, Peter before the Sanhedrin. Those are the spiritual leaders of the

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Jews. Those are the people who tried and convicted Jesus and sent him to Pilate. Jesus Christ, the

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Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.

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So this language is very pointed. That Christ, that one, that Jesus, the one whom you sent to death,

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God has raised him from the dead. Chapter four again, and with great power, the apostles were giving witness to the resurrection of the

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Lord Jesus. Acts 433, Peter again before the

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Sanhedrin. Next chapter, chapter five. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging him on a cross.

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Stephen before the Sanhedrin. Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the

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Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. When he said that, they rushed at him to stone him, accusing him of blasphemy.

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Peter preaching to Cornelius in his household at Caesarea. You know of Jesus of Nazareth.

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They put him to death by hanging him on a cross. God raised him up on the third day.

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He arose from the dead. Paul at Antioch, the first missionary journey.

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Men of Israel, God has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus. God raised him from the dead.

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God fulfilled his promise to our children in that he raised up Jesus.

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Paul at Mars Hill. He was preaching

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Jesus and the resurrection. Acts 17, 18. Paul's sermon on Mars Hill.

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It was previously in Athens, now on Mars Hill. God has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead.

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Paul says, I can tell you he's the savior. I can tell you he's the mediator. I can tell you he's the judge, because he's the one that's been raised from the dead.

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Now, I want you to see this important overlap. These events are prophesied before in Scripture dozens and dozens of places.

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They come to fulfillment. There are historical events where they actually happen.

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And the proclamation and explanation and the expounding of that truth also becomes the

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Scripture. So our doctrine of Scripture is based on a few things here. God has breathed out his words to his people in the book.

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Historical events have happened that show that these things are true and they come to pass.

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And now the interpretation of those historical events now make up the New Testament Scripture.

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It's very amazing when you think about it. Move on to an element here.

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Let's use this last one. Acts 26, Paul's defense before King Agrippa.

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And remember, he's going up the ladder in the courts of appeals. His life is on the line.

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I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the prophets and Moses said was going to take place.

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That the Christ had to suffer and that by reason of his resurrection from the dead, he should be the first to proclaim life both to the

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Jewish people and to the Gentiles. An incredible statement by Paul in Acts 26.

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He says, this is what all of the Scriptures have been talking about. And in the narrative,

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Jesus speaking to those guys on the road to Emmaus, he says, this is what all the

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Scriptures have been talking about. I'm going to come, I'm going to die, I'm going to pay for the sins of my people, and I'm going to triumph over sin and death and bring them with me in my resurrection.

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Well, what should we think about Scripture in light of this? In 2

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Timothy 3 .16, Paul says, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

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The man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

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So we have to ask the question, what do we really believe about the doctrine of Scripture?

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All of these things came to pass in the life of Christ. Everything that was promised and prophesied about came to pass.

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So how should we feel about the Scripture? How should we use the

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Scripture? And I'd like to close in this discussion, what do you believe about the

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Scriptures today? I found a good article from our friend

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Kevin Gardner, I guess he wrote this a few years ago, for Ligonier, and I've never seen it before, and it has a really concise and good summary about these issues.

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This is his article, I'll read it very quickly, and it touches on the issues that I think are important for us to consider and maybe something for us to act upon as a result.

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This is the words of Kevin Gardner, I'm going to paraphrase and shorten it a few places. This is Kevin Gardner's article for Table Talk some time ago.

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The doctrine of Scripture is foundational to the Christian faith, but there is more to say about Scripture than simply the

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Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it. If you don't grasp what the

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Bible is and how it came to be, you'll never fully grasp its meaning, since the meaning of the

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Bible is vitally important to our faith and life. We'll here briefly define a few key terms that relate to the doctrine of Scripture as the study of God's Word written.

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These are some things you might want to take notes about. I can post this article later for you on Slack in its entirety.

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But first, authority. The power the Bible possesses, having been issued from God, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, that's from our

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Confession, because of its divine author, the Bible is the source and norm for such elements as belief, conduct, and the experience of God.

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The Bible is authoritative on everything it speaks of.

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And this is a point I think is very important. We all say we have a big view of the

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Scripture. We believe in the authority of Scripture. But we only believe it, it seems, insofar as it agrees with us.

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We should be humbly submitting to the authority of Scripture that our lives might be governed by all that it teaches.

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Second, the autographs. There are original texts of biblical books that were issued from the hands of the human authors.

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Of course, those were inspired by God. We say the Word of God is infallible. We're talking about the originals.

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Could there be a misunderstanding between a Greek and an English word? It's possible. But God has preserved infallibly the truth of His Scripture and He's conveyed it and delivered it to us.

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We can have great confidence in the Word because we have so many copies of the original autographs.

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There's also a canon that's been formed. The authoritative list of these inspired biblical books are within a very short time of Jesus' death.

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The New Testament canon was affirmed by evaluating its apostolicity, reception, and teachings of books, but ultimately the canon is self -authenticating as the voice of Christ is heard in it.

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That's from John 10 and Westminster Confession articulates that chapter one.

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Inerrancy. We believe that the Bible affirms no falsehood of any sort, that it is without fault or error in all that it teaches, in matters of history and science as well as faith.

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Inerrancy allows for literary devices such as metaphors, hyperbole, round numbers, and colloquial expressions.

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Every week I say this is God's holy and infallible Word. Well, what is infallibility?

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That is the position that the Bible cannot err or make mistakes and that it is completely trustworthy as a guide to salvation and the life of faith and will not fail to accomplish its purpose.

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I believe that with the depths of my existence, that the Bible is infallible.

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It's the highest word I can use, that can be used, to describe its trustworthiness and its efficacy.

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The Christian church has traditionally taught this doctrine is based on the perfection of the divine author, so it would be impossible for God to speak in a way that would be erroneous.

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Does that make sense? It's infallible because God is infallible. We're all fallible, but God is not, so His Word is infallible.

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It cannot fail. Completely trustworthy. Inspiration. We believe

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God, through some process, worked through the human offers of the Bible to communicate

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His revelation and it comes from that text of Scripture God breathes, 2

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Timothy 3 .16 and refers to God as the ultimate source of the

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Scripture. When you talk about the inspiration of the Scriptures, we're not talking about men getting some good impressions and feelings.

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We're saying that God is the source of the Scriptures and inspired

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Paul and Timothy and John and Moses and David to write. God is the author.

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They are the means of His authorship. I also believe in the necessity of the

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Scriptures. You and I need God's special revelation in the

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Bible in order to obtain knowledge of the Gospel, the plan of salvation, which cannot be learned through general revelation of nature and conscience.

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We have to go to the nations with the Gospel and we have to go and translate the

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Gospel into all the languages of all the peoples so that they might hear the Gospel of Christ.

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That's why we go. We believe in the perspicuity of the Scripture and that means that the

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Bible is essentially clear. It has all that we need to know and believe regarding life and salvation clearly propounded and it's open in some place of Scripture or the other that anyone may understand them.

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The Scripture is clear enough that the simplest person could understand the Gospel and repent and believe.

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And finally, there are a few other elements but I want to end with sufficiency.

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We believe this Bible is sufficient. I preached a few weeks ago why I don't believe revelatory gifts and speaking in tongues are necessary because I believe in the sufficiency of the

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Scripture. I want infallible words of God. I don't want your impressions.

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You don't need my opinions. You need the Word of God. Hopefully, you and I will proclaim it in its faithfulness, in its truth and simplicity.

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Well, what do we do now? According to the Scriptures, essential facts to believe, important doctrines to hold to, confident source, look at the

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Bible, we say we believe these things, know these things to be true. What do we do now? Well, first, the first thought

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I had about applying this truth was related to our children. And I pray that our children would be like Timothy.

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We learn in 2 Timothy that from childhood, Paul said, you have known the

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Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ.

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I hope every child, I hope all of my grandchildren and great -grandchildren and great -great -grandchildren will know the

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Holy Scriptures. Because there's salvation, there's life, and all that we need for that in godliness there in the

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Word. Secondly, and I think this should bring some conviction to us, each of us should be running to the

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Scriptures for answers to the questions, problems, and trials that we face. I think we sometimes run to favorite authors and maybe in the

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Christian realm and we don't go to the Scriptures themselves. And even worse, we have problems, you're feeling depressed, you're having a hard time, you don't run to the

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Scripture, you type in something on Google. Why would we go to the wisdom of the world when we have the special revelation of God?

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There are real issues, there are medical issues related to things like depression, I'm not saying they're unimportant, but there are a lot of issues in life where we bypass the

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Source, the One who created us and knows everything about us. We bypass that Source and we seek some lower human wisdom.

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I would like us to repent of that and start going back to the Source and taking those principles and applying them to all the areas of life instead of seeking some other way.

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Third, you need to build your house on Scriptural principles.

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What is the foundation that you have been building on? Start or reinvigorate laying a biblical foundation for your life.

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It seems as though we're often guilty of building our foundations on the seeking sands, not building on the rock, building on a shifting foundation.

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Fourth, I hope you'll accuse me of legalism today.

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I hope that's the accusation that will be leveled against me because I think everybody should read and meditate on the

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Word of God every day. I don't believe the Scripture says it exactly that way, but I believe your practice should be reading, meditating on the

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Word of God every day. We should be reading and praying through it together as a family, as couples, as siblings.

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And I can tell you for a fact, I know this to be true, there is nothing you can do apart from attending and being engaged heavily in a local church, there's nothing you can do that matches the effectiveness of this one practice.

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Of course, I think prayer goes with that. But reading the Word of God, praying through it, meditating upon it, there's nothing you can do to set your life on a good course than that.

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And finally, this is a lesson that's often learned the hard way.

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You become the company you keep. If you take in things that aren't good for you, you're going to become...

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If you have friends who aren't walking with Christ, you're going to be led to walk away from Christ. If you have friends that don't cherish

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Christ, you're going to not cherish Christ. If you have friends or have appetites that are worldly, you're going to be led away from Christ.

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The saints of old and those today who are walking in faithfulness are people of the

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Book. They are attached to the Scripture. So I ask you to flee from the worldly wisdom of this evil age.

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In summary, Paul said some things that are essential to our understanding of the

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Gospel today. He said these things happened according to the Scriptures and we believe them to be true as His people.

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We confess those things in a number of ways. If these things are true, it follows that the other doctrines and precepts set forth in Scripture are also true and we need to act upon them.

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Today, I'm hoping, praying, that our view, our doctrine of Scripture will be elevated and that we will be able to discern false teaching and not be blown and tossed by every wind of doctrine that comes through.

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May the Lord be pleased to do this work according to the means of His own

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Holy Word. Let's pray again. The Lord, we confess that we are forgetful people.

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We're quick to run to secondary sources. We run to popular sources.

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Media controlled by thoughtless, blasphemous people.

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And we get our information and our worldview from there. The Lord forgive us for this great evil.

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Our Bibles collect dust. We are not excited. We're not energized.

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We're not passionate about Your Word because we have ungrateful hearts. You have revealed

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Yourself to us. You've said, come and visit with me there. I will reveal my will to You right there in the pages of Scripture.

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And Lord, we've acted as if we can't be bothered with that. This is a heinous crime for one who loves us in this way.

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I pray that You would give us a hunger and thirst for righteousness as we pray in the prayers of the people.

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And we know that a big part of the mechanism of that happens through the study of Your Word.

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I pray that You would cause us to be hungry and thirsty for Your Word. Hungry to meditate upon it, to put it into practice in our own lives, to pray through it, to be challenged by it, to be comforted by it.

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That our minds might be renewed. That we might offer ourselves as living sacrifices to You.

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Lord, would You do something in us in the power of Your Spirit? Will You change the course of our lives and the course of this church and the course of the generations that will follow through a simple teaching like this?

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Would You be pleased to do it, Lord? We ask and cling to You, praying and not leaving until You bless us.

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We want to be Your holy people. We want to live in a way that's pleasing in Your sight, Lord. We pray that You'd energize our efforts in the study of Your Word.

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Lord, I pray today that we would be filled with thanksgiving, knowing that You have died on the cross for our sins and that You were really buried.

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And You triumph over all of this and authenticate all that has happened by being raised from the dead.

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Being sitting today at the right hand of the Father, waiting for Your enemies to be made

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Your footstool. O Lord, we rejoice in the victory and triumph that You have over sin and death, and the victory and triumph we enjoy as Your people.

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And so we come to Your feast with hearts filled with joy and thanksgiving for the victory that is ours in Christ.