His Book: The Truthful Witness

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GBGV #2

Pastor David Staff

His Book: The Truthful Witness Scripture: Psalm 119:151, 160 John 17:17

The political convention was in chaos. Each delegation wanted something different. Some favored states rights, others wanted a stronger central government. Larger states wanted greater representation, and small states wanted an equal voice. Debate dragged on and on. Finally the committee chairman admitted the situation was hopeless. After weeks of fruitless effort, the oldest delegate rose. Addressing the chairman, he said "The small progress we have made after four or five weeks is melancholy proof of the imperfections of human understanding. I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth - that God governs the affairs of men". Citing the Bible he added, "And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it improbable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured sir in the sacred writings that "except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in political building no better than the builders of Babel. The speaker? Benjamin Franklin. It was a remarkably ironic declaration. For most of his life, Ben Franklin, was never considered devout. But here, at a knotted moment of political impasse, Franklin turned to the scriptures in a time of crises…for truth. At 81 years of age, using the Bible for his examples, Benjamin Franklin brought a clear vision to the convention, one that eventually brought the delegates together, and a great document was produced, the Constitution of the United States of America. Is the Bible true? What I mean by that question is, “In this sacred library of 66 books, breathed out by God over 1,500 years through over 40 different human authors…can you find the truth?” ü Can you find truth to guide delegates at constitutional conventions? ü Can you find the truth about where the universe came from, about our world, about the human race, and where history is actually headed? ü And can you discover who you really are by listening to God’s voice in this library? In here, can you really find the truth about masculinity and femininity, and sexuality, and singleness or marriage and family? ü Will the Bible tell me the truth about how to wisely manage my heart, my body, my money?,…how to pilot my future and career?...or the truth about the kinds of people to hang with, the best choices to make, and identify the dark roads to avoid at all costs? ü Can this Bible really teach me what is right, and what is wrong regardless of the shifting situations around me? Can it accurately assess religions and philosophies? Can it actually sort through all of the swirl of competing opinions and set my heart in wisdom? “Wait a minute, Pastor Staff! Time out! Can we stop long enough to clarify what you mean? What do you mean by truth?” Thank you!…That’s a helpful question. It’s helpful because today most people are skeptical about truth. People love to say, “Well, it depends,” or “What’s true for you isn’t true for me...and that’s OK.” I mean what the word means. TRUTH = “the true or actual state of a matter.” TRUTH = a verified or indisputable fact. 1|P a g e

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TRUTH = what actually is. And here is what we must realize. Speaking through His Word, the Bible, God makes an unapologetic TRUTH claim, and it does so over and over and over again. Psalm 119:150

They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose; they are far from your law. 151 But you are near, O LORD, and all your commandments are true. 159

Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life according to your steadfast love. 160 The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.

Psalm 43:3 Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Jesus said, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32 John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. And then prayed, John 17:17-18 (Father) Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. Last week, we noted that John 3:16 contain the most important 26 words in human language: For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. This week, we add to that. The book you hold in your hands is the most important library of 66 books in the world. Through the sacred library of the Bible, the world of humanity has the truth -- and can hear God’s voice truly -about what is most important in life. WHAT MOST IMPORTANT TRUTH DOES GOD SPEAK ABOUT? To limit our scope this morning, let me put a finger on the following: 1. God speaks about Who God truly is Someone has suggested that there are 19 major religions and thousands of smaller ones. Depending on who you ask, the Hindu religion alone has as many as 330 million gods. 2|P a g e

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www.godchecker.com offers a list of some 4,000 “gods, goddesses, and spirits from around the world. They even provide a daily feature of “the god of the day.”i It seems we Americans have a number of gods. Howard Snyder, former professor of history and Mission at Asbury Theological Seminary suggests we have 7.ii Our gods, observes Dr. Snyder, are those idols about which we invest devoted time and attention, we rarely question or evaluate, we publicly show our devotion, get greater attention than most other things, and shape our behavior. The top 7 American gods are #7 #6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1

National Security Money, riches, and wealth Guns the Automobile Fame and celebrity Collegiate sports Professional sports…America’s top God at the moment”

Snyder finishes by quoting God says, “You shall worship no other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Ex. 34:14). “I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols” (Isa. 42:8). “There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god” (Psalm 81:9).

When you take the time to listen to His voice in His book, He will clearly speak to you about WHO He is. 2. God speaks about the origin and purpose of the creation There is no better place to understand where this universe came from and why it is here than what God says to us in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. The ORIGIN of the universe God explains in chapter 1. Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:31/2:1 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. There is no doubt where all this came from. Psalm 33:6,9 (p.463) By the word of the Lord the heavens were made And by the breath of his mouth all their host. He spoke, and it came to be. He commanded, and it stood firm. 3|P a g e

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But why? Why did God create? He tells us in Genesis 2. The PURPOSE was to LOVE: to share Himself with us. A whole chapter where God Himself provides the following gifts of love: ü ü ü ü ü

A place of full provision to live A creation to manage and develop A command to obey in order to grow in our love for Him A companion to help us engage in and fulfill our calling A God who drew close every day for fellowship and delight and discovery

Creation was the intended place where God and Man would do life together…forever! A God who had inexhaustible delights to share with men and women who had the capacity to explore them inexhaustibly!

Which is why in this library, thirdly

3. God speaks about the unique value of humanity Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Only human life bears the “image of God” – Only image-bearers have dominion over all creation God places a unique value on “image-bearers” ü Their lives are never to be taken without justification ü Their souls are eternal ü They are worth loving, dying for, and redeeming The implications of how God values and how God speaks about human life, about “image bearers,” cannot and should not be dismissed. Nothing is more important to God than you. What you recognize to be true, what you love, what you give yourself to, and where your decisions will land you – is of indescribable value to God. The Holy Spirit put this song into David’s heart (Ps. 8, p.450): “What is man, that You are mindful of him? And the son of man, that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than The heavenly beings and crowned Him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over The works of your hands, you have put All things under his feet: In this library, God speaks to every generation about WHO GOD IS and WHY HE CREATED and WHAT HE VALUES. 4|P a g e

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4. God speaks about our rebellion against and recovery to Him Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 5. God speaks about the centrality of His Son Colossians 1:15-20 (p.983) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Or to put it more simply: Acts 4:11-12 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” 6. God speaks about getting ready for what’s next Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 (while we are) waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. 15 Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you. Declare what things? The grace of God is available. Renounce what is ungodly and worldly. Live like a child of God in this present age. And look up! Our great God and Savior could appear at any moment. CONCLUSION Kathleen Norris tells the story of a South Dakota rancher and his bride who received a leather-bound Bible as a wedding gift from the groom's grandfather. They wrote a thank-you note and stowed the Bible away on a closet shelf, out of the way. As time passed, the grandfather repeatedly asked the couple how they liked the Bible. The rancher 5|P a g e

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was confused as to how to respond. Hadn't he already expressed his appreciation? But the grandfather persisted. Eventually the young man dug out the gift; as he leafed through it, $20 bills fluttered out, 66 in all--one at the beginning of Genesis and in each succeeding book. But that wasn't the only treasure, or the best; the spiritual riches of Scripture transform our lives when we read and heed God's word. God did not write a book and send it by messenger to be read at a distance by unaided minds. He spoke a book and lives in his spoken words, constantly speaking his words and causing the power of them to persist across the years. A new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is . . . a book which is now speaking. A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)

Through the sacred library of the Bible, the world of humanity has the truth -- and can hear God’s voice truly -about what is most important in life.

Copyright 2016 © David A. Staff All rights reserved

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See also Encyclopedia of Gods: Over 2,500 Deities of the World by Michael Jordan http://www.churchplants.com/articles/6455-the-top-7-gods-americans-worship.html “Americans are fundamentally polytheists, worshiping at the shrines of many gods,” Howard Snyder. Or http://howardsnyder.seedbed.com/2014/02/02/americas-top-gods/ ii

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