1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,700 You're listening to City Church Manchester. We are a church that invites 2 00:00:05,700 --> 00:00:11,880 everyone to enjoy Christ for the glory of God. If we can serve you in any way 3 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:19,440 then visit our website at citychurchmanchester.org to find out more. 4 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:28,320 My words reading from today is from 2nd Timothy chapter 3 from 13 to 17 so verse 5 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:35,920 12. In fact everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be 6 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:40,560 persecuted while evildoers and imposters will go from bad to worse 7 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:45,680 deceiving and being deceived. But as for you continue in what you have learned 8 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:51,720 and have become convinced of because you know those whom you learned it and how 9 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:56,040 from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you 10 00:00:56,040 --> 00:01:02,040 wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is God 11 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:06,920 breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in 12 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:11,440 righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every 13 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:16,160 good work. May the Lord bless the reading and hearing of his word. Well good 14 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:20,600 afternoon everyone. Welcome my name is Ralph I'm one of the pastors here at 15 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:27,120 City and it is my pleasure to be able to start this new series looking at what it 16 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:33,240 means for us to be a reformed church. So let us bow our heads and let us pray 17 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:48,200 together. We have just sung where else can we go Lord where else can we go you 18 00:01:48,200 --> 00:02:00,200 Lord have the words of eternal life. That is true. Where else can we go except to 19 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:05,120 you alone and we pray that as we turn to your word today that we would experience 20 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:11,400 exactly that by the power of your spirit that here we might find the words of 21 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:17,720 eternal life. Amen. Well as Matt explained over the next four weeks we're going to 22 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:21,320 be doing something a little bit different because we're having a series 23 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:29,680 looking at just one of our church values. Our values at City Church they're like 24 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:36,040 the DNA of the church. They're the genetic code that you'll find written 25 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:43,640 into every bit of what the church is and taken together they spell out the word 26 00:02:43,640 --> 00:02:50,160 gear. Okay that's a way to to easily remember it gear. So the first three of 27 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:57,200 our church values they're pretty simple. The G stands for gospel driven. The E 28 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:03,320 stands for excellence. We want to do things excellently because we serve a 29 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:09,520 God who has given his very excellent best for us in Jesus Christ. And the A 30 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:15,080 stands for accessible. We want to be as accessible as possible for a diverse 31 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:23,240 group of people. So far so good yeah pretty straightforward. But our fourth 32 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:37,880 value is a bit more tricky. The R stands for reformed. Now what on earth does that mean? 33 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:42,680 Well let me put it this way. City Church is quite a new church. We were 34 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:48,440 only started eight and a half years ago and as a new church we do lots of things 35 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:56,120 differently. We try things that churches have never tried before. But there is one 36 00:03:56,120 --> 00:04:08,040 thing at City Church which is definitely not new. What we believe. We believe as a 37 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:13,520 church what Christians have believed down through the centuries and when we 38 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:19,600 say that we are reformed what we're doing is we're positioning ourselves 39 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:28,080 within a certain historical line of belief. We're saying that we believe the 40 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:34,480 same things as the reformers believed back in the 16th century. That those men 41 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:41,040 and women whose religious revolution turned the world upside down and gave us 42 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:47,680 most of the things that we most value in the Western world today. But it doesn't 43 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:51,400 stop there. We don't just believe the same things as the 16th century reformers. 44 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:57,040 You see those 16th century reformers they weren't claiming to have discovered 45 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:08,680 new truths. Rather they claimed that they had rediscovered old truths. Truth that 46 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:13,280 had been lost when the church in Rome decided to turn from what the Bible 47 00:05:13,280 --> 00:05:21,440 taught and to instead trust in the traditions of men. So when we claim to 48 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:26,520 be reformed we're standing in the tradition of people like John Calvin and 49 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:32,360 John Knox but it doesn't stop there. It goes all the way back to Augustine in 50 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:37,640 the 5th century, Athanasius in the 4th century, Irenaeus in the 2nd century 51 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:44,200 and right back to the Apostles themselves. That is the claim when we say 52 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:50,160 that we want to be a reformed church. In other words if you want to understand 53 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:58,200 what this means simply it means this. You will never hear a new thing taught at 54 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:05,720 City Church. You will never hear a new thing taught at City Church. Nothing that 55 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:13,600 Matt or I say up here will be novel or original or new. Now what we are seeking 56 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:19,560 to do is take the truth that Christians have taught and believed down through the 57 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:28,600 centuries and apply it to our very different world today. But I guess we 58 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:33,600 probably want to know what are the specifics of reformed teaching that 59 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:38,440 we're talking about here. Well over the next four weeks we're going to focus on 60 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:47,440 four specifics. How God speaks through the Bible, how God saves through sovereign 61 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:54,720 grace, how God transforms through Christians seeking the prosperity of 62 00:06:54,720 --> 00:07:03,960 their city and then how God orders through complementarity. So first up 63 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:11,200 today how God speaks and our passage today 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 14 to 64 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:18,320 17 tells us this. Let's get our bearings of where we are in in the Bible. In 2nd 65 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:23,920 Timothy Paul is writing to his young apprentice Timothy and chapter 4 of the 66 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:28,240 letter suggests that Paul is facing imminent execution. So these are very 67 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:36,800 probably Paul's last words to Timothy which means they're important. Just 68 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:41,640 before the passage we had read Paul warned Timothy against the danger of 69 00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:49,600 false teachers verse 2 of chapter 3. Don't be like them Paul warns chapter 3 70 00:07:49,600 --> 00:08:00,320 verse 10. Don't be like them. You are to be different. Follow me Paul says not 71 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:11,480 them and that will mean verse 14 sticking with the Word of God. Now we're 72 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:15,320 going to unpack these verses today by asking two simple questions. This is it 73 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:20,280 this is really straightforward. Two simple questions. What is the Bible and 74 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:26,560 what does the Bible do? That's it. What is the Bible and what does the Bible do? So 75 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:32,760 first up what is the Bible? Verse 16 tells us it says that all scripture is 76 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:43,480 God-breathed. Now the Greek word used there in the original, theonevmatos 77 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:53,400 literally means God-spirated. God-spirated. Some older translations 78 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:59,960 like the old King James Version read all scripture is given by the inspiration of 79 00:08:59,960 --> 00:09:05,800 God but that doesn't quite do the original justice. You see it's not that 80 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:11,000 God inspired the writing of the Bible like I inspired my daughter Sophie and 81 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:16,160 her brilliant artwork for GCSE. That's not quite what's being said here. It's 82 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:23,040 more than that. What Paul is saying here is that the words of the Bible were 83 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:30,400 literally breathed out by God. Just as these words you're hearing hitting your 84 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:35,400 ear drums right now are breathed out by my mouth so the words of scripture were 85 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:44,640 breathed out of God. These words we have here in the Bible in our hands today 86 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:53,120 they are God's words breathed out of his mouth. They were put down on 87 00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:59,800 paper on papyri in fact by human authors and yes they bear the marks of their 88 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:06,320 human authorship with 40 different writers across three continents across 89 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:11,320 1,500 years writing in three different languages. That's why within this book we 90 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:17,680 have lots of different grammar and syntax and style and genre but from 91 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:26,600 beginning to end all of it is God's own words. 92 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:31,960 I guess it begs the question what's this the scriptures but what are the 93 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:38,960 scriptures here that Paul is talking about? I think Paul is talking about two 94 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:44,120 different things here. He's first of all talking in verse 14 about what Timothy 95 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:52,040 had learned from Paul himself. You see Paul had seen the risen Jesus. He'd been 96 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:58,600 taught by Jesus one-on-one and as a result Paul ended up writing almost half 97 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:04,480 the books we find in our New Testaments today and Paul is saying here remember 98 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:08,600 the good news about Jesus that you learned from me Timothy. That's what he's 99 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:17,480 saying in verse 14 but remember also verse 14 what you learned from your mum 100 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:23,080 Eunice and your grandma Lois, two women were told about in chapter one of the 101 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:29,200 letter. Remember Timothy what they taught you when you were a tiny boy they taught 102 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:33,520 you verse 15 the holy scriptures. That's the Old Testament that's the 103 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:39,600 books from Genesis through to Malachi. So the scripture that Paul is talking 104 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:43,760 about in verse 16 that is all God-breathed that is the Old Testament 105 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:51,200 writings yes but it is also the New Testament writings as well. It is all 66 106 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:59,920 books of the Old and New Testament combined. The whole Bible is the very 107 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:07,720 word of God. Now that has two crucial implications for us today. Two things 108 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:12,160 that lie at the heart of what it means when we say that we are reformed as a 109 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:21,880 church. Firstly it means that the Bible has authority. The Bible has authority. 110 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:28,600 This was so so important at the time the Reformation in 16th century. You see for 111 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:37,600 the past 1,000 years the church in Rome had been a massing power for itself. It 112 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:43,360 had built up a body of church tradition. They called it the Magisterium and that 113 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:49,800 was authoritative on how Christians were to live in the church. Now it wasn't that 114 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:55,520 the church denied the Bible was its authority. What the church in Rome did 115 00:12:55,520 --> 00:13:02,760 instead was to put the Bible on the same level as its own tradition its own 116 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:09,600 interpretations of the Bible. So it meant that they had the Bible on one hand and 117 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:12,840 they had the bishop and the Pope's interpretation of it on the other and they 118 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:18,720 said we hold both as being authoritative. Neither one is sovereign over the other. 119 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:28,040 They're equal. The only problem of course is that that made church tradition 120 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:34,560 authoritative. In fact it made the Pope's interpretation of Scripture 121 00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:43,600 authoritative. Why? Well because if the Bible and someone's interpretation of 122 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:49,880 the Bible are equally authoritative then inevitably the person's interpretation 123 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:54,880 of the Bible will trump the Bible itself. 124 00:13:54,880 --> 00:14:04,840 Because the person's interpretation can change while the Bible is fixed, static, 125 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:12,760 complete. Do you see? That's why the Pope in the 16th century was able to develop 126 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:18,040 his despicable practice of indulgences to fund the building of St. Peter's 127 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:24,280 Basilica in Rome. He told naive church members all around Europe that if they 128 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:29,680 gave their money into his building funds then they can free their loved ones out 129 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:35,480 of the chains of purgatory. It was a devilish thing to teach but he could say 130 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:44,720 it because he said what I say is on a level with what the scriptures say. And 131 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:50,600 that sort of false teaching that adding to the Bible it is inevitable if we 132 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:57,480 deny the supreme authority of the scriptures. Scripture and Scripture alone 133 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:04,640 has authority in the church because Scripture and Scripture alone is God's 134 00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:14,120 Word. Well what does that mean for us today? When you come here on a Sunday I 135 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:23,120 hope I hope you keep your Bibles open or your Bible app open on your phones when 136 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:31,480 you come and listen to me preach. I hope you do because my words they are not 137 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:38,080 God's words and you need to check everything that I say against what you 138 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:43,360 find here in the Bible. If it doesn't line up then you do not need to listen. 139 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:50,920 It can go one ear in and another ear out and that is fine. But if it does line up 140 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:57,040 with what we find here in the Bible you better listen because God himself is 141 00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:04,480 speaking to you personally here and now. It's why Bible teaching is absolutely 142 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:07,880 central to everything we do at City Church whether it be here on a Sunday 143 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:11,520 whether it be a midweek in a quip whether it be on our weekends away or in 144 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:16,240 our elders meeting. The Bible is always central because you know who leads City 145 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:24,200 Church. It's not me and Matt and Eric. It's not even the other elders. It's not 146 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:28,760 even you yourselves as members who lead City Church. No the one who leads City 147 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:36,760 Church is God himself as he speaks through his Word in the scriptures. This 148 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:43,240 is it. This is why it is taught week in week out at the church because this God 149 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:50,800 speaking through his Word is what leads our church. The Bible is God's Word. It is 150 00:16:50,800 --> 00:17:04,840 authoritative and I need to ask you do you believe that? Do you? Do you live that? 151 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:13,240 Let me ask you. When was the last time that you did something you really 152 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:23,040 really didn't want to do simply because the Bible told you to do it? Perhaps it 153 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:30,640 was forgiving someone who'd hurt you really really badly. Maybe it was 154 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:36,600 attending church on a Sunday when there was a really good 430 game on the TV. 155 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:40,800 Maybe it was helping out a church member after you'd had an incredibly rough 156 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:49,240 hard day at work. When was the last time? And when was the last time that you 157 00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:53,760 didn't do something that you really really wanted to do simply because the 158 00:17:53,760 --> 00:18:01,840 Bible said that you must not do it? Maybe it was intentionally pulling away from 159 00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:07,160 from a non-Christian colleague who you'd started to feel romantically attracted 160 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:12,840 to. Maybe it was deciding not to watch that Netflix series that everyone else 161 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:16,760 has been watching because you know that watching it is bad for your sexual 162 00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:27,120 purity. What is authoritative in your life? Are you your ultimate authority or 163 00:18:27,120 --> 00:18:38,000 is God the ultimate authority through his word? Now the second implication of 164 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:44,600 the Bible being God's word is that the Bible is without error in everything 165 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:52,640 that it affirms to be true. The Bible is absolutely true and trustworthy. That 166 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:56,080 flows out of two facts about the Bible. Fact number one that the Bible is God's 167 00:18:56,080 --> 00:19:01,440 word, we've already seen that. Fact number two is that God does not lie or 168 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:07,960 make mistakes. So Job chapter 37 verse 16 tells us that God is perfect in 169 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:14,520 knowledge. Isaiah chapter 46 verse 10 says that God knows the end from the 170 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:24,000 beginning and John chapter 17 verse 17 tells us that God's word is truth. So we 171 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:28,680 learn from these verses that God knows absolutely everything. God does not lie 172 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:35,320 which must mean, it must mean that God's word written the Bible is both true and 173 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:41,760 without error in all that it affirms. That is the reform view of the scriptures. 174 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,720 It's what John Calvin held, what Francis Turreton held, the view of Jonathan 175 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:53,000 Edwards and B.B. Warfield. It's the reform view. This does not contain any 176 00:19:53,000 --> 00:20:00,920 error in what it intends to affirm to be true. But we need to be careful here. 177 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:08,880 People are quick to poke fun at what is often called the doctrine of inerrancy. 178 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:13,360 They say well you can't really believe that, not in the 21st century. I mean 179 00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:19,320 what about the unscientific parts of the Bible? Like I've read Psalm 19 and I know 180 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:26,280 in verse 6 of Psalm 19, King David, he talks about the Sun making its 181 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:31,760 circuit through the sky but we all know that's not true. The Sun doesn't go 182 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:35,360 around the earth. That's only what foolish people 3,000 years ago believe. 183 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:39,000 We all know the earth goes around the Sun so that's clearly wrong. There's 184 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:48,200 clearly an error in the Bible. Psalm 19 verse 6. We can say that but only if 185 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:54,440 you're also willing to say that the BBC News website is factually an error. Every 186 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:57,240 morning when you look up the weather report on this and it reports the time 187 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:02,720 the Sun sets and the Sun rise. We all know that the Sun doesn't set or rise, it 188 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:11,480 just is. But of course both King David 3,000 years ago and the BBC today, they 189 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:18,200 are writing phenomenologically. They are recording in writing what they see not 190 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:25,840 what scientifically is. Other people don't go for the unscientific parts of 191 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:30,760 the Bible. They instead go straight for the gospel accounts such as the 192 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:34,600 resurrection accounts. We looked at some of those last Sunday on Easter Sunday 193 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:37,800 and they pointed to different accounts, the four different accounts and they say 194 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:43,960 well which one is right? Was there one angel at the tomb like 195 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:47,720 Matthew and Mark say or was there two angels like Luke and John said? They 196 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:55,480 can't both be right. But of course each of those gospel accounts they are just 197 00:21:55,480 --> 00:22:02,400 different eyewitness accounts of the one same event. Mark and Matthew they 198 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:07,200 focused on just one of the angels. Luke and John focused on two of the angels. 199 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:11,600 Just as some eyewitnesses to a road traffic accident just speak about the 200 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:14,780 driver in a car that crashed into the other car, whereas others mentioned the 201 00:22:14,780 --> 00:22:18,520 driver, the passenger and the two kids in the back. They are different eyewitness 202 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:28,480 accounts that are each true of the same event. You see the Bible is without error. 203 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:37,080 Unlike us, we make errors all the time. The Bible never does. Which means and 204 00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:42,040 this is really really important for us today, the Bible rightly understood, 205 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:46,960 that's a really important caveat, we must rightly understand this word but when we 206 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:53,240 rightly understand it, if it comes into conflict with what people generally 207 00:22:53,240 --> 00:23:05,360 believe, the Bible is right every single time. No matter how unpopular that makes 208 00:23:05,360 --> 00:23:12,960 us today. And boy we know it makes us unpopular don't we? On matters of sin and 209 00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:20,040 sexuality, on topics of gender and judgment, justice and hell. 210 00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:26,960 These are not comfortable truths to believe today. But that is central to 211 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:34,160 what it means for us to be reformed, to be trusting in God not in our own 212 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:41,120 judgment or opinion. To be standing in continuity with Christians down through 213 00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:48,200 the millennia not going with the latest fad or claiming that the Bible somehow 214 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:52,680 needs to catch up with where we are today as sophisticated 21st century 215 00:23:52,680 --> 00:24:00,760 people. And we believe that what we have here is the Word of God which means it 216 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:08,800 is the authority over our lives and over our church and it is always true. But 217 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:15,760 secondly what does the Bible do? Nearly 400 years ago 121 clergymen came 218 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:20,400 together in the Westminster Abbey and they came together to formulate a 219 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:24,600 document that became known as the Westminster Confession of Faith. It is 220 00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:29,120 widely regarded as being the definitive statement of reformed doctrine and 221 00:24:29,120 --> 00:24:34,040 listen to what that confession said about the Bible. It says this the whole 222 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:39,560 council of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's 223 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:45,360 salvation, faith and life is either expressly set down in scripture or by 224 00:24:45,360 --> 00:24:52,800 good and necessary consequence may be deduced from scripture. So the Bible 225 00:24:52,800 --> 00:25:00,320 tells us everything we need to know for salvation and to live in a way that 226 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:09,200 pleases God. God's Word is powerful. We know that don't we? If we've read the Bible we 227 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:15,720 know that. Think back to Genesis chapter 1. How was the earth, the sun, the stars, 228 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:25,080 the moon created? God spoke and it happened. In the Old Testament how did 229 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:32,520 God create a people for himself? By his Word God called with a word Abraham out 230 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:39,080 of Ur-de-Kaldeans. In the New Testament we see Jesus healing the sick, casting out 231 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:44,200 demons, stealing a raging sea, even raising a little girl from the dead. How 232 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:53,120 does he do it? With an Aramaic word, talifah kum, little girl get up. Right here in 233 00:25:53,120 --> 00:26:02,640 our hands we have the most powerful thing in the whole universe. We have the 234 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:07,880 very Word of God. And if we're Christians here this 235 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:14,600 afternoon we've experienced something about power firsthand. What do I mean? 236 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:22,880 Well we've experienced this power to say. The Bible doesn't tell us everything we 237 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:27,000 want to know about everything. It will not tell you how many penguins there are 238 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:32,000 in Antarctica. It will not tell you how many cells there are in a human body but 239 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:39,040 it does tell us everything we need to know about the most important things. It 240 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:49,040 gives us verse 15 wisdom. Wisdom that enables us to put our faith in Jesus for 241 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:57,480 salvation. Now notice how that works in verse 15. Our salvation hasn't been won 242 00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:04,920 by the Bible. We are not saved, verse 15, in the Bible are we? No we are saved in 243 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:16,520 verse 15 Christ Jesus. You see the Bible is God the Holy Spirit's chosen means, 244 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:24,120 his tool, his instrument to bring us to faith in Jesus Christ. And that's because 245 00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:29,960 every part of the Bible from beginning to end holds up Jesus. It floodlights 246 00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:36,000 Jesus. Every page from Genesis to Revelation is like a big gigantic hand 247 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:45,000 pointing out at you and saying here is Jesus. So when we're in the beginning in 248 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:54,040 Genesis chapter 3 and we read this child of Eve who will crush Satan's head. 249 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:59,840 That's Jesus. We go forwards a few pages to Genesis chapter 22. We read of a ram 250 00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:06,000 who dies in the place of Abraham's son Isaac. That's Jesus. Or we go forwards to 251 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:10,800 Exodus chapter 12 and then we find a lamb dying in the place the firstborn of 252 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:16,920 every Israelite family. That's Jesus. We move on through Exodus and we get to the 253 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:23,480 tabernacle the place where God dwells with his people. It's Jesus. We move on 254 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:29,000 and we get to the Kings and we find the shepherd boy, the little boy called David 255 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:34,560 who represents his people the nation in fighting against their great enemy and 256 00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:41,360 wins. Who's that? Jesus. The little shepherd boy becomes a king. He becomes a 257 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:46,360 king who is forsaken. He cries out my God my God why have you forsaken me? Who's 258 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:56,480 that? Jesus. We get to the prophet Isaiah. We read about one to come who will not 259 00:28:56,480 --> 00:29:00,800 break the bruised reed who will not snuff out the smouldering wick. Who's that? 260 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:09,560 It's Jesus. We get to Isaiah chapter 53. We read about a man of sorrows by whose 261 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:16,200 wounds we are healed. Who's that? It's Jesus. We get to Zechariah. We read about a 262 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:21,480 mighty king coming in not on a warhorse but on a donkey of peace into his city 263 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:30,840 to reign. Who's that? It's Jesus. You see the whole Bible all of it from beginning 264 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:39,320 to end has been given to us to make us wise for salvation to lead us to Jesus. 265 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:48,120 Have you seen that my friends? Have you read this book the Bible? Have you let it 266 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:58,560 draw you into Jesus? Have you found here wisdom in the man who was crucified in 267 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:05,000 your place taking the punishment that you deserve for your rebellion against 268 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:11,160 God? Have you found truth here? Have you found life here in the one who went into 269 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:15,440 the grave but the grave could not hold him and he was resurrected to new life 270 00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:23,840 three days later? Will you find salvation here today my friend by letting it lead 271 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:33,920 you to putting your trust in Jesus? What does the Bible do? It is the Holy Spirit's 272 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:41,600 tool for bringing you and I to salvation. That's why we preach it every single 273 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:45,560 Sunday here at City Church. That is why every single sermon you will hear at 274 00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:50,760 City Church ends up with Jesus and his work not because we're shoehorning it in 275 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:59,480 but because every passage speaks about Jesus and his work. Because the Bible has 276 00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:08,640 been given to lead us to Jesus and his salvation. Secondly, God uses the Bible to 277 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:15,360 transform us. Again the Bible is an instrument, it's a tool. It is the God, the 278 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:19,120 Holy Spirit, who transforms us from the inside out as Christians but the way he 279 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:26,000 does that is through the Bible. So do you want to grow as a Christian? Do you really 280 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:33,560 want to grow as a Christian? Well how often do you read your Bible? How often 281 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:40,940 do you listen to good sermons? How many Bible-soaked Christian books have you 282 00:31:40,940 --> 00:31:47,120 read in the last year? Some research was undertaken by the Center for Bible 283 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:53,360 Engagement. They surveyed almost 3,000 Christians asking about their Bible 284 00:31:53,360 --> 00:32:00,800 reading habits and the results were astonishing. They found that those who 285 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:04,600 read the Bible four days a week or more, that's just half the days in a week, those 286 00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:11,760 who read the Bible four days a week or more were 40% less likely to be bitter in 287 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:18,360 their relationships, 32% less likely to be destructive about themselves or 288 00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:26,520 others, 30% less likely to overeat or mishandle food, 60% less likely to feel 289 00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:37,160 spiritually stagnated, 59% less likely to look at pornography, 228% more likely to 290 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:46,960 share their faith with others and 231% more likely to disciple someone else. God 291 00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:54,160 the Holy Spirit uses God's Word, the Bible, to transform us. Look at verse 16 292 00:32:54,160 --> 00:33:02,680 again. The Bible is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in 293 00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:08,160 righteousness. There are two pairs here, both negative and positive, both dealing 294 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:13,720 with what we believe and what we do. So on the one hand what we believe, the 295 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:18,160 Bible teaches and corrects us. It deals with what we believe, it deals with 296 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:23,960 doctrine, it teaches us about God, about sin, about salvation and judgment and the 297 00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:30,560 Bible corrects our wrong thinking too. It tells us that we are nowhere near as 298 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:38,800 good as we think we are and yet far more loved than we ever dared dream. And the 299 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:45,720 Bible transforms our lives as well as our thinking. Verse 16, it trains us in 300 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:51,800 righteousness and it rebukes our sin and that can be painful, that can be 301 00:33:51,800 --> 00:34:00,120 uncomfortable, but that is how God works. The Reformed tradition has a famous 302 00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:10,640 slogan, it's in Latin and it's this, semper reformanda, always reforming. You see we 303 00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:15,160 test everything against Scripture. We test what we believe against Scripture, 304 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:19,280 we test how we do church against Scripture, we test how we gather 305 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:22,760 together against Scripture, we test how we treat people, how we treat the weak, 306 00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:29,680 the poor, the vulnerable, we test it against Scripture. We want to be always 307 00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:36,240 reforming, always letting God's Word transform our lives because that is how 308 00:34:36,240 --> 00:34:42,960 he works in power. That according to verse 17 is how he thoroughly equips us 309 00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:49,960 for every good work. The Australian preacher David Cook tells a story of a 310 00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:54,320 young man called Ross who came to study at the the Bible Seminary that David 311 00:34:54,320 --> 00:35:01,240 Cook taught at in Sydney. Now Ross was of Italian descent, his father moved to 312 00:35:01,240 --> 00:35:08,360 Australia from Italy post-war as an immigrant and Ross was his parents fifth 313 00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:15,480 child but the first boy in the family, the eldest son and there was a tradition 314 00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:21,800 within Italian households that when the eldest son as a baby reached the age 315 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:28,240 when his fingernails had grown long enough to need to be cut, the tradition 316 00:35:28,240 --> 00:35:32,720 was that the father of the child would take the baby's hands and take a pair of 317 00:35:32,720 --> 00:35:37,440 scissors and he placed the baby's hand on something really valuable. Often it 318 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:44,560 would be a wad of Italian lira, lots of money and then he would snip each of the 319 00:35:44,560 --> 00:35:54,560 child's fingernails. On this occasion Ross's father took Ross's hand and 320 00:35:54,560 --> 00:36:03,360 didn't put it on a wad of notes but instead on a copy of the Italian Bible 321 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:08,800 because his father's number one concern for Ross was not that he would be 322 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:16,560 wealthy or successful but that he would be godly. Now when Ross reached the age 323 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:21,200 of 16 he was incredibly good at football, in fact he was so good at 324 00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:26,680 football by the age of 16 that he'd been selected to play for the Australian 325 00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:30,880 under 18 football team which is that every Italian father's dream to have 326 00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:37,760 their son play national football. Ross was totally engrossed in football. One day 327 00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:41,160 when Ross was leaving the house to go off to training his father stopped him 328 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:45,520 and said Ross have you read your Bible yet today? 329 00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:52,800 Ross looked at his dad in bemused, Bible? I'm off to go training, I'm about to play 330 00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:59,440 for the Australian national team. No dad I haven't read my Bible today and his 331 00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:07,440 father replied Ross you cut the Bible out of your life, you cut God out of your 332 00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:16,760 life. And Ross couldn't get that sentence out of his mind. A little while later he 333 00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:23,280 got converted, went to Bible college and is now serving in full-time ministry. You 334 00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:31,520 cut the Bible out of your life, you cut God out of your life. That is what we 335 00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:37,120 believe as a Reformed Church. The Bible is God's Word to us today. It is 336 00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:43,480 authoritative, it is without error. It is his instrument to save us and his 337 00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:50,760 instrument to transform us today. Let me pray. Heavenly Father thank you for your 338 00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:56,080 Word, the Bible. Thank you that it is your Word to us today. Thank you that it is 339 00:37:56,080 --> 00:38:01,960 your authority over our lives. Thank you that it is without error. Lord thank you 340 00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:05,680 that it is what you use to save. We're so blessed to be in a church where we've seen 341 00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:11,680 that salvation many many times over. And it's your Word to transform so Lord take 342 00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:16,000 your Word, Holy Spirit take your Word, let it deep down in our hearts and let it be 343 00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:36,320 transforming of us now today tomorrow and forevermore. Amen.