G1 Conference Session 2: Scott Hollingshead - "Living Under the Authority of Scripture"

G1 conference 2021.

My name is Scott.

I'm a lead pastor at docks a church in Rockland, California.

And it is so good to be with you today.

Even through this means of technology.

This has been something I've been looking forward to a long time.

And I only wish we just could have done this earlier and could have done it in person.

But rejoicing in God's providence that he would allow for so many more people to

take Part of this event and I'm excited to come to you today because I have the privilege

of preaching on Maybe my favorite subject in the whole world, which is this.

The title of the message is living under the authority of Scripture can change your

life and I got to say this and I I don't sounds a little self -serving and.

And it may be that but here's my thought.

I think the whole conference is driving you towards Making the subject of my

message a reality in your life.

Like I am convinced that the reason ultimately that you are being supplied with a robust

Genesis apologetic is so that you can Submit yourself to the God of the

Word by submitting yourself to the Word of God.

And so I'm excited to bring that truth because I am as confident as ever I am a product of the

reality of the very message I'm preaching.

Namely that living under the authority of God's Word can change your life.

And so in the short period of time I have with you I want to show you that that's actually God's

intention all the way really from the beginning of the Bible in Genesis all the way through to

the end the book of Revelation and I want to show you that five evidences.

Five evidences that the Word of God the scriptures can change your life.

So if you've got a pen pencil you want to write some of these down would encourage you to do that number.

One first reason first evidence that I have that the Word of God can change your life is this

God spoke creation into existence.

Okay, God spoke creation into existence.

Okay.

What does that have to do with me?

Well.

There is a rhythm that God establishes in the book of Genesis.

And God said and there was and God said and There was God

Creating everything that is out of nothing by his own word.

The psalmist testifying to this in Psalm 33 said it like this.

By the Word of the Lord the heavens were made and by the breath of his

mouth all their Hosts.

Verse 9 says.

For he spoke and it came to be he commanded and it stood firm.

You fast -forward.

The same concept comes up in the New Testament in the book of Hebrews.

Talking about how our faith plays out you and I were not there for the creation.

Account to actually see it take place.

And so we trust it by faith in the Word of God.

Hebrews 11 3 says.

By faith.

We understand that the universe was created by the Word of God.

So that what is seen was not made out of things that are.

Visible.

It becomes so clear in the Bible as you see.

This is God's process of bringing things into existence out of nothing.

My first conclusion to this piece of evidence that God spoke creation into existence is this.

If God can speak creation into existence Can't he change your

life by his word?

If God can make everything that is by his word.

Then changing your life by his word doesn't seem to be that difficult now does it.

But if you're not on that train yet Let me give you a second piece of evidence.

It's not just that God spoke creation into existence, but that is that God number two God sustains all

things by his word.

Hebrews 1 in the New Testament talks about Jesus coming.

Jesus being the exact imprint of the Image of God right the radiance of the

glory of God and by his word He upholds the universe.

Hebrews 3 says it or 1 3 says it like this.

He upholds the universe by the word of his power.

Everything that is Adams this chair that you're sitting on the pen that you are Writing with the TV that

you're maybe taking this in on or the laptop or whatever.

It is all of that holds together by the word of God

in Colossians 1 17 with Supports that as well by saying in him in

Jesus all things.

Hold together.

Listen if God can create all that is by his word.

And if God can sustain all that is by his word.

Then trust me when I say he can change your life by his word.

Now the question is though.

Why isn't that happening more often right like what's up with that?

What happened that made it that we're discussing that we're discussing the subject where I'm even having this

conversation with you.

Why isn't it just automatically happening?

And I think that's such a Important question to answer.

And if I were to break it down one of the best verses in the Bible that talks about that is Romans 3

23 and it says for all.

Have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

That every one of us has sin going all the way back to our first parents, right?

If you have a good Genesis apologetic, then you hold fast to a historical

Adam and a historical Eve and it becomes clear from our first parents onward

that we are born in sin because of the Rebellion of our first parents

rebelling against God's Word not to eat of the tree that they were forbidden to eat from.

They chose to disobey the Word of God and that sent humanity Spiraling into the

place that we are now where us born sinners then engage in and live

out our sinfulness such that we invert our Worship of the Living God and

worship and serve created things instead of the Creator who is to be forever praised.

Amen, and so we don't look out at the creation and see the power of God and recognizes.

Majestic.

Greatness instead.

We look out at creation and make some sort of futile attempt to explain it by some sort of man

-centered evolutionary theory it is the epitome of the futility of the

mind and so we as sinners that have fallen short of the glory of God

That have not lived up to the standards of God's Word that have more than not lived up to the standards of God's Word.

You and I have rebelled against God's Word and we have no hope of Reconciling ourselves to

the God of whom his word has been rebelled against by us.

And so what does God do.

God could leave us where we are in our hopelessness in our despair in our sin?

And left in our sin you and I would die and stand before the Living God who spoke all

things into Existence and be cast rightly so judged for our sin and cast into eternity

in hell.

But this is what's so amazing about God and this is why I'm so in love with God and this is why it's so clear

God loves us and This is why it's so clear that he can change us by his

word.

The third evidence that the word can change your life is that God sent the word

Jesus Christ.

God sent the word to those who had disobeyed his word to live

faithfully in Perfect obedience to the word in his own life.

This Jesus this God man, the second person of the Trinity took on human

flesh and dwelt among us.

In the language of the book of John in the Gospels is that the in the beginning was the word?

Talking about Jesus and the word was with God and the word was God

Eternally existing as God and by verse 14 John 1 says.

And the word became flesh.

God took on a bod y 'all.

He took on human flesh and it says he dwelt among us and we've seen his glory.

It's like everything God ever wanted to say to us in a person.

The word that it communicated that it created all things and sustained all things now

made flesh in the person of Jesus.

Jesus himself is the word and he was sent to save us from our sins

to save us from our Disobedience to the word of God which leads me to my

fourth evidence that the Lord can change your life.

Not just that he can speak creation into existence and does and has not this that he

sustains all things by his word.

Not just that despite our disobedience of the word He sent the word Jesus Christ for

us, but number four God saves us through the word.

This is his plan.

This has been his plan.

Then he would save us by the word of God.

Now the reason why an Unbeliever comes to the Bible in his

board comes to the Bible and finds it irrelevant comes to the Bible and finds it to be

not helpful is simply because.

The Word of God to a natural person does not register.

1st Corinthians 2 verse 14 says it like this.

He says the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God and guess

who inspired the Word of God.

All scripture is God breathed and profitable inspired first Peter by the Holy Spirit.

So first Corinthians to all a natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are Folly to him

and he's not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

So what does God do?

He sends preachers to proclaim the Word of God.

That's folly to those who are perishing but to those who are being saved the gospel that gets proclaimed

about a God who is holy and a man who is sinful and Christ who is a Savior who delivers us

out of our bondage to sin and Reconciles us to God.

Through the proclamation of the Word God brings people to himself.

God saves people from their sins.

He does it through the rock solid Word.

He brings that conviction that leads people to Jesus.

Here's what the Word does in our salvation.

Jeremiah 23 29 says my word isn't it like a fire?

Declares the Lord and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces.

So what the Word of God does is by the Spirit of God brings conviction about sin to

the heart and God by his spirit opens our eyes.

Second Corinthians 4 Says that the God of this world has blinded the minds of

unbelievers.

To keep them from seeing the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But then you go two verses later and what's so stunning about it is he uses the same language as

Creation to talk about how God saves people from their sin.

How God reconciles people into right relationship with himself.

By saying for God who said let light shine out of darkness.

Has shown in our hearts.

To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the

face of Jesus Christ.

The God is supernaturally involved through the proclamation of the Word to remove the blinders on the

eyes of unbelievers so that they might actually see the Word of God as Revealed in the

pages of the Word of God and you might see your sin for what it is and you might see

Jesus for who he is and you might turn from your sin a gift of God's grace and

Receive by faith as a free gift the work of Jesus Christ on your

behalf who lived a.

Perfect life.

One that you have not lived.

Right the Word of God you have transgressed.

He fulfilled all of the righteous requirements of the law.

Perfectly he then died.

A sinner's death for the wages of sin is death and rose for our Salvation.

For anyone's salvation who puts their faith in the Word of God.

Jesus is the Word and God saves through the Word.

It's why Peter can say in first Peter 1 23 since you have been born again.

Because that's what you need to be.

You need to be born again.

You don't just make a decision for Jesus.

Jesus changes everything about you.

And how does he do it?

Through the living and abiding Word of God.

Loved ones.

This is God's plan to save you through the Word that is being

firmly supported through this conference to give you the Confidence that you can place your

trust in the God of the Bible and submit your life to the Word of.

God.

Last evidence five evidences.

God can change your life.

God spoke creation into existence.

God sustains all things by his Word.

If he can do that he can change your life.

That's nothing to him in comparison to those things.

Number three.

God sent the word Jesus because we were lost in our sin dead in our trespasses.

Then he saves us through the Word of God bringing us through the proclamation of the death

burial and resurrection of the Word of God to a life -giving faith in Jesus.

And number five.

Fifth evidence is this.

God sanctifies through the Word.

God changes us through the Word.

God conforms us into the image of his Very son, this is

what he does by the Word of God.

He takes dead spiritually dead sinners and transforms them entirely.

To make them.

To redeem the image of God that's in them.

John 17 17 says it like this sanctify them in the truth.

Your word is truth Jesus says of course praying to the

Father.

And perhaps one of my favorite verses that explains the Sanctification process the power of the

Word of God to literally change us from the inside out such an awesome picture.

Isaiah 55 10 through 13 gives us this awesome picture coming on

the heels the back end of the Suffering servant who was to come and be

crucified and die for our transgressions as a Substitute for us and we get

to lay hold of the benefits by turning from our sin putting our faith in Jesus our confidence our trust.

Then Isaiah describes the work of the word like this in Isaiah 55 10.

He says first the rain and the snow come down from heaven and don't return there, but water the

earth.

Making it bring forth and sprout.

Giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater.

So shall my word that goes out from my mouth it shall not return to me

empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I

sent it.

Now the basic picture here is that in the ancient Near East you had rain was the difference between

life and death between food and starvation and what Isaiah is saying is

like the rain doesn't return to heaven without effectively bringing life and sustenance to the

crops.

Right.

So the Word of God does not return to heaven without doing its worth to bring life and

sustenance to the people of God.

Now it may take some time and that harvest may not fully break through right away.

Just like the rains effect on the ground, but it never fails to fulfill its

purpose.

And then of course We love the fact that the Word of God never returns void.

But what's the purpose?

What's that?

Mean it never returns void.

Well, he continues on for you shall go out in joy and be led forth in

peace.

The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing.

This is echoes of the Exodus and the people returning to the promised land.

This language of going out is like a Slave being set free like when you come under the Word of

God you're finally in the place you were supposed to be that every other place to

confide in to hide in to operate under is not is enslaving and the place that

sets you free is when you sit under the authority of God's Word.

And It says the creation is singing and the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

The creation is celebrating at the thought of sinners being made holy through the Word of

God and then he gives this really interesting picture

and he says instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress and Instead of the briar

shall come up the myrtle and it should make a name for the Lord.

Now.

Something going is going on here if the Thorn the rain comes down and the thorn bush becomes a

cypress and the briar becomes a myrtle.

You may not know much about plants, but let me just put it like this if you were to water a thorn bush What do you expect to

get from that?

Yeah, you would expect to get a bigger thorn bush, right which is even more frustrating if you have those already.

But in this case what he's saying is if you water the thorn bush something

radically Happens to the thorn bush.

It's transformed.

It becomes a new creation.

Something altogether different comes forth you fat rain of the Word of God falls on

the hearts of people.

Taking thorn bushes and making them into cypress.

Right taking briars and making them into myrtles taking these all these these kind of weed

dead looking Plants if you could even call them that and turns them into something

transformed entirely.

He's giving us a glimpse into what the purpose of the word is, which is to take us and our broken

sin stained.

Confused.

Reality.

And causing us to be born again fully transform new creations in Christ through

the Word of God.

That he sanctifies us.

It's the word that means we become more holy and here's the crazy part.

That as you live under the authority of the Word of God, the goal is that you become like

the God of the Word.

You live under the authority you become like the Word of God Jesus himself.

And this is all built into the narrative of the scriptures.

God's Word is what we come under authority and because we worship the God of the Word and as we submit

our lives to the Word we become like the Word like his son Jesus

Christ.

And.

I can testify to this because I've seen this in my own life God has taken a guy who grew up with

not a strong Christian background by any sense who knew nothing about the Word of God and

radically Transformed my life.

I'm talking about knowing nothing and Little by little as I position myself under the word

He took kind of my stilted early even Christianity That was filled with a few kind of cliche verses.

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength on the soccer field, right?

And just like by hearing the word in its context preached in an applicatory

way to my life I watched God like a wrecking ball come through my life and tear down the

scaffolds of the life that I had built and Began to rebuild my life such that

my entire existence is a product of the very Foundation of this message,

which is namely that living under the authority of God's Word can change your life.

I'll go one step further I'm confident of this.

The Spirit of the Lord is in it living under the authority of the Word of God will change your

life.

Loved ones there is no better place to be and there is no better conclusion to this

Conference than to submit yourself to the word to delight yourself in the word

to ask the Spirit who?

Superintended with the Word of God itself to give you eyes to see the glories

of God in the face of Jesus as revealed in the scriptures for your

good and for God's glory.

That's my prayer for you and Trust that as you continue in this

Conference that you will be richly blessed by what you come across.

Let's pray father.

Thank you so much for the opportunity get to preach your word and To let your word

speak from so many places in scripture and to see this pattern that you have to use your word

To change people by the word to become like the word your

son.

This is the pattern.

This is the play and it's the privilege that we as Those who call

themselves Christians who have turned from their sin and put their faith in Jesus Christ We are living trophies

of this reality that you take dead lifeless Spiritually dead sinners and bring them to new

fully transformed lives once lustful now pure once thieves now.

Givers.

Once angry now gentle because of Jesus.

Radically transformed.

God, I pray that you do that work in the lives of the people Listening here today and

that they may leave and spend their lives Living under the authority of your word.

We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.