Knowing How the Scriptures Use Us

well i recently returned from my undergraduate alma mater after being there for uh hours and hours of board meetings and this time because of scheduling we were in a conference room that had a window that looked out into the plaza of the college and of course it's this time of year where everyone is packing up their stuff and we saw for two days here people with their luggage heading out to the parking lots and getting picked up and getting in taxis and all the rest and heading away from the campus and i thought about that as i thought about my last day as a student there on that campus and leaving and it took me back to the more dramatic day which was the first day i was ever on that campus and i was absolutely lost i didn't know what i was doing i didn't know the campus map i hadn't been there for any visitation day or you know i was just i was clueless and and thankfully my college had anticipated my bewilderment uh just as every college does with something called freshman orientation week which is helpful because when you don't know anything about where you're supposed to go or how it works or where the dining hall is it's good to have some people there with t-shirts that immediately see you pull up with that sense of confusion and ignorance and now they spot you and they're there to help and they come they see your duffel bag and your backpack and they look at your paperwork and say okay you go this way and in my case up to the 16th floor of the dorms over here in this building and then we're going to show you around into the library and about your meal cards and here's how you get to the dining hall and all those things were definitely needed i needed a helpful guide to get me around when i didn't know which way was up we uh in the christian life more than we choose to believe we are playing that role in this world as people are bewildered about what we believe about what god has taught what the bible teaches we've been studying acts chapter 8 and we see a great example today as we've broken up this narrative about the ethiopian eunuch coming to faith in christ and philip being that guide he was a guide as he saw the bewilderment in the eyes of this ethiopian official who was in this chariot going along this desert road and he was opening the scroll of isaiah and didn't understand what it meant and he was a much better uh bible school freshman than i was because he knew that he didn't know and he said i need some help i need a guide and by god's grace and through philip's preparation he was able that day to walk this ethiopian from the text that he was wondering and confused about all the way to faith in christ and we'll look at his response to the gospel next week but i want to look today if you take your bibles at this very interesting passage and have you think about what if god had tagged you to step up and answer somebody's question about the bible ultimately in need of a clarification regarding christ in the gospel would you be ready for that matter of fact i would like you to think if god had tagged you as the passage last week helped us to think through and said hey here is a guy who's confused about an old testament passage and what he really needs is for you to explain isaiah 53 to him i just wonder if if it wasn't philip but your name was in the text and you were called into that chariot to sit down next to him how would that narrative have played out how would that have gone this is not peter this is not the preaching pastor this is philip philip was in charge of setting up tables for the hellenistic widows in the church so it's not as though god tapped a a seminary grad to do this he he tagged this guy who was in the church as a servant like many of you are today and he says i need you to explain this confusing text to this guy and ultimately clarify where he needs to be with christ i want you to think about your role and think about how ready am i to answer questions in other people's lives regarding the truth of scripture so let's dive into the middle list we broke it up into a few parts here but let's look at the middle of this narrative in in chapter 8 verse 30 we're going to read and study through verse 35 this morning as the english standard version puts it here it goes so philip verse 30 ran to him that ethiopian official and heard him reading isaiah the prophet and asked do you understand what you are reading you understand it and he said talk about a good bible student here he comes how can i unless someone guides me i don't get it i can't and he invited philip to come up and sit with him pretend that's you here can you explain this now luke breaks into the narrative here in verse 32 and tells us about the text that he was reading and records it here for us isaiah chapter 53 this specifically is verses seven and eight and he quotes it this way it says now the passage he was reading was this like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shears is silent so he did not open his mouth in his humiliation justice was denied him who can describe his generation for his life is taken away from the earth and philip i'm sorry and the eunuch said to philip about whom i ask you does the prophet say this about himself or someone else it's already odd that he's speaking about this person in the third person so it doesn't seem like it's about him and yet we have examples like of jeremiah breaking into a lament about his role in the nation as a prophet and how embattled he was and so maybe it's like that jeremiah passage where it seems like everything fits together well that he's talking about himself in the third person and how hard it is to be a prophet now is that what's going on here of course all the rest of the context would help us understand that this is far different than just it's really hard being a preacher these days it gets into all these things about being crushed by the lord becoming a guilt offering for the sins of people justifying by the death the lives of other people being raised from the dead even though they were in the grave they come out and see their generation their offspring i mean what this is really odd if this is about isaiah so is it about him is it about something else verse 35 and philip opened his mouth which i pray that you will this week beginning with this scripture whatever the question might be whatever the biblical idea might be the confusing thing about christianity or the bible might be and he told him the good news about jesus that's what this series been about eight weeks on advancing the gospel right gospel advancement we're talking about how we in our generation are to be philip to our co-workers and our neighbors and our extended family to be able to preach the good news to them that's our job it's not about the preachers curriculum and the thing that preachers are supposed to do this is about every person in the church regardless of what your role might be in terms of service for the church to be useful to god to help guide people through the truth to christ they got questions about it you say well my friends don't have any questions about the bible my friends are not reading the bible well before you go there let's first start with that idea of you being on the campus as someone who should be experienced and kind of know your way around with a t-shirt on that says here i'm here to help ask me i need you to start identifying yourself the way that philip here is going to be identified let's just look at that word again at the beginning of this passage it says how can i verse 31 unless someone guides me phillips running up there's a connection a relationship verse 30. he asked the question so he starts the conversation do you understand what you're reading and he says how can i unless someone guides me that's a very important word used a few times in the new testament to describe people that are trying to guide other people into the right understanding of the truth i need a guy that he says and so he said philip why don't you be my guide number one on your outline it'd be good for us to think of ourselves this way you need to see yourself as a bible guide if you're a christian here this morning you are a guide to other people and you might as well wear a t-shirt that says if you have questions about the bible ask me we're going to pass those out at the end of the service that at least ought to be your mindset we have no t-shirts for you we get a lot of free t-shirts here at compass but that's a theoretical t-shirt that i want you to put on this morning i am ready to see myself as not just a student of the bible so that i can sit back and go wow i've really got a lot of great spiritual truths in place to live my christian life and it sure is nice because i got all my questions answered no no no it's not about you getting your questions answered that's important leads you to faith in christ but now as a christian i see myself as entrusted with the message of reconciliation well i got the gospel well to get people to rightly understand the gospel they've got questions they're confused pastor mike i already told you none of my friends read the bible wrong your friends do read the bible may not be genesis through revelation may not be that they're opening up a printed book of the bible but let me turn you to romans chapter one and remind you that god is constantly speaking to every non-christian associate in your sphere of activity every single week he is constantly speaking give you four ways as the starting of the book of romans is getting us to chapter four which is the justification by faith i'm going to be justified made right before god by my trust in the messiah that transfer of trust going to make me right before god my sins forgive and that's how it starts how blessed are those whose sins are forgiven that's a great great thing in chapter four but we've got three chapters of preparation and part of this is that no one should have an excuse about not knowing the basics and the basics are learned in four different ways in chapters one through three so let's take a look at them one in chapter one two in chapter two and one in chapter three let's start in the middle of chapter one romans chapter one drop down if you would to verse number 19. romans 1 19 for what can be known about god is plain to them who's them look at verse 18 those who are in the threat of god's wrath god's judgment so god has got non-christians in view here and god the god information they need you're thinking well it's between genesis and revelation well it is it's their propositionally clearly taught but the bible says god's already making it known to them right he's made it known to them and it's plain he's even describing it it is a plain communication of his truth to them how can that be because god has shown it to them you don't think your your co-workers are reading the bible they're reading the bible they're reading the the other category that we would call god's revelation we call it in theology the difference between special revelation and general revelation well general life is not much help oh it is help as a matter of fact verse 20 says his invisible attributes the things about god we need to know that he's a creator that he's holy that he's just that he's loving those kinds of things oh they've been they've been seen right the power of god the divine nature of god have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world god has put it all on display the billboards are there in the things that have been made how clear is god communicating how much are your non-christian friends reading god's book well they're reading it every single day so much so that they are without excuse they can't say i didn't know i never read the bible i i can't be i can't be judged the bible says there's enough information coming through general revelation for everyone to have enough information to know some basics about god god information god attributes that assemble together in my mind to make me know that i need christ that's important and here's the thing they're interpreting that book of revelation every single day and they talk to you about it sometimes they might even muse about being inquisitive about it you're there to be their guide you ever have a co-worker talk about what a beautiful day it is i mean maybe one of those days when they really mean it what a beautiful day what a nice day to go walk them it's beautiful out there there's god speaking to them it's not like they're saying hey i read isaiah 53 this morning i don't understand it would you help me but they are saying man i read the book of creation this morning man i was really impressed with that maybe they get up early and before dawn like i did the other day and saw the moon setting over this aliso you know mountain range over here this hill this this uh ridge before you get to the ocean and i saw just and it always looks so big right when it's down by by the horizon and just like that's an amazing thing this giant satellite a moon that makes no sense that it would ever be put into orbit around this this planet you don't know anything about the moon it's a fascinating satellite that not only does things in our tides and makes things work here in our in our a little ecosystem of earth but there's no rational explanation as to how it got here there's no evidence as to how it got here it's just an amazing thing and it's beautiful people take pictures of it i mean it was dumb enough to take my my phone out and try and take a picture which looks like a dot one once i looked at the photo but i was so impressed with that i'm thinking you know non-christians are impressed with that they might even say it man i saw the moon as you could see that it's just cute it looked huge do you understand what you're reading it'd be good for me to start a conversation they might see something that's put out national geographics about some hubble telescope pictures and looking at the the the satellite uh uh universes out there right look look at the solar system here and the galaxy over there and these are amazing photos like we've never seen before it's amazing i'm in awe of that okay well the passage goes on we won't take time to read it but they get around to basically worshiping the created things rather than the creator but you're supposed to step in and go hey let me help you interpret that guess what isaiah 53 is not about it's not about isaiah right philip had to say no i know you're reading isaiah 53 it's not what you think it is right it is about christ and creation is about god matter of fact jot it down if you don't know it by heart psalm 19 verses 1 through 6 god says he's declaring every day his glory from the heavens right from the sky from space right he's he's pouring forth speech every day in creation when your co-workers hear about maybe the news story is some some hurricane in florida right or some some big tornado in kansas or we have some big earthquake here we're all talking about the amazing like how does this work the destructive power of the universe or some volcano on some island somewhere right here's what you should say do you know what you're reading do you understand what you're reading do you see here in creation some things that you need to understand and and you need to filter it and interpret it through what god has revealed in the clear propositional statements of the bible you're a bible guide you to bring them onto the campus if they're wandering around across the street saying no no here are the signs to the school here's how you get in here's how you get around in this thing called god's revelation god is speaking in creation you know where we're going if you know your bible go to chapter two he's also speaking them every day internally look at verse 15 of chapter 2 romans chapter 2 verse 15. they again look back talk about people that have no they've never been to a bible study these are the gentiles that don't have the jewish torahs they're not reading isaiah 53 but they show that the work of the law this is romans 2 15 is written written that's communication written on their hearts well how is it written on their hearts well because that software that communication that revelation from god is manifest in their conscience while their conscience also bears witness right it's actively bearing witness their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them you get some co-worker that's down you start asking questions maybe they trust you kind of confidant tells you about their guilt they feel guilty about something they've done feel guilty about it you might want to ask do you understand what you're reading do you understand what you're reading i'm a bible guide i'm here to help you understand your conscience and how that's put there that ethical moral communication of god that is written on your heart god is speaking to you in that hey when you were falsely accused right and you sat there in your own heart indignant about the fact that i didn't do that hey do you understand what you're reading god is speaking to you in that in you excusing yourself in that situation because you know that you're innocent of what you've charged that's god at work we're not we're not relativists right we don't believe that whatever the majority of people think about me well that's true see they know that it's written on their hearts that they know that god is speaking to them god wrote a book and it's a book of nature it's a book of conscience the internal conscience of human beings the moral direction and compass in their lives now can creation be wrongly read absolutely we're supposed to get in before they start bowing down to creatures and becoming so infatuated that they worship and make an idol out of creation same thing with conscience and we just let this internal guide become some subjective rudder for their lives so we have to get in there and say well let me tell you what the conscience is doing you got to go and recognize that god wants you to understand it in light of what he's revealed and there's so many things that are going to testify to the truth of god's written law and he's written a part of that the essence of part of that on your conscience so i got to get in there and i got to be their guy don't walk into that room that's not the right room walk in over here you're on the right path at least in sensing that there's something here let me just explain to you what it is and as long as we're in chapter two let's get the third one here in verse 17. the jews of course as compared to the gentiles at least theoretically in this discussion are those that do have the law they're reading the scrolls and he says hey you that have been to sunday school if you call yourself a jew or rely on the law and you boast in god and know his will you can see this dripping sarcasm about to start here and approve what is excellent because you're instructed from the law and if you're sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind and light to those in darkness an instructor of the foolish a teacher of children having in the law this information this holy book the embodiment of knowledge and truth you then who teach others do you not teach yourself that's how the chapter started the hypocrisy of those who pull out the law and they say look i can quote these things when i am in a pickle or i'm in a situation where i need to say hey they're wrong have you ever heard a non-christian quote things like hey don't judge lest you be judged those are the holy words of christ those words all down to every jot and tittle as it's put every every stroke of the law every letter of every word he says my words jesus said will never pass away instead of the old testament isaiah 40 said of christ in the gospels what i say will never you are quoting holy scripture and you're doing it in a way that by the way is not quite the way christ intended for that axiom to be stated as a matter of fact when they say that say do you know what you're reading do you understand what you're reading people in hurt they've seen enough television shows and movies to watch at least five or six or seven or eight or nine scenes through their life of some pastor or priest standing by a gravesite quoting psalm 23 not a non-christian that knows psalm 23 at least in our culture that you're going to rub shoulders with in your office and they think perhaps you know i'm going to hold on to god he's my good shepherd and get me through the hard times even though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i'll fear no evil they're quoting holy scripture and you need to say oh this is not foxhole really do you understand what you are reading do you understand what you are quoting there's a lot of golden rule you ought to treat others right the way you want to be treated i've known a lot of non-christians that have stated that my job as a bible guy do you understand what you are reading i want to take you to rightly understand that well by the way in our day if you're thoroughly thoroughly impressed with our culture or you're a product of our generation in the epistemology and philosophy of our generation all this sounds really really abrasive to you because you're thinking well i'm going to walk in with all the answers how can i do that you can because there is objective truth if you're unfortunately been your brain has been washed by thinking that everyone has their own truth and their own truth is valid even if they conflict with other people's truth then you don't understand reality matter of fact you don't want your surgeon or your accountant to be relativists right you just don't you want them to play by rules that everyone agrees upon the general accounting principles you'd like that to be the reality for your tax guy that's the realities that we live with when it really matters and if we want to say now everything else morality ethics god religion afterlife that's all just up to whatever people think or want well there is a god and he is who he is and he's revealed himself he's revealed himself most clearly within scripture and that needs to be rightly understood don't just quote scripture without knowing what you're saying matter of fact he's reflected that pretty clearly with some basics about his attributes in creation he's speaking morally and ethically in your conscience fourthly chapter three romans chapter three all my friends don't read the bible i bet they read the headlines though don't they do you think they ever read the headlines do you ever think they throw up their hands and say things like verse 12 all have turned aside together they've become worthless no one does good not even one i mean they lose hope right they groan at the headlines matter of fact they look at the violence they say their throat is an open grave they use their tongues to deceive the venom of abs is under their lips their mouths are full of curses and bitterness anyone's got a twitter account knows the reality of these things right everyone sees it their feet are swift to shed blood verse 15. and in their paths are ruined in misery the way of peace they have not known those are biblical commentaries on reality and when they read the news about the palestinians and the is the israelis fighting on the temple mount they're like i don't get it why can't we have peace we can't have peace here's one thing i think it was chesterton or someone's pitholi said right you want the most empirically evidential proof of the bible right it's it's this it's that all have sinned every skeptic should be able to say i see what god is saying in the bible and when they read the headlines and they groan over it and they wonder why we can't peace in the middle east or or unity in our culture you need to say hey do you understand what you're reading do you understand what you're reading because you know what a lot of people struggle with the whole issue of evil and why it exists even when those tornadoes when they're impressed with the power of a storm or a hurricane or a typhoon they still struggle with why does this happen why does it become such a violent expression of nature if god has created a world for us to live in then why are these issues of birth defects and why are people you know smacked by these by these hurricanes and have their houses fall down on them why are there tornadoes why are there volcanoes on these islands why does this happen such a hostile thing you know what we have the answer to that we have to ask do you know what you're reading when you see crime when you see violence when you see abuse when you see catastrophe in moral evil and natural evil you know i want to be able to say hey do you know what you're reading do you understand i'd like to guide you to think rightly about the problem of evil it's clear in the bible as to why it's there it's clear why natural evil becomes the frame for moral evil in genesis chapter 3 i'd like to help you understand that my non-christian associates they don't read the bible they do read the bible god is speaking them every day creation conscience scripture they know enough of that just kind of rubbing shoulders with everybody in the world and certainly they know about the problem of sin they've grown about it all the time they wish the world were different than it is all of these things we have answers to philip says i can i can answer that for you and so you and i need to say that's my job i'm a bible guide that's my job i want to get you into the bible i want you to help you understand what god has said god has spoken here he has been very clear let me help you understand it well i'm only going to be very good at it let's get you better at it let's get you better at it take a look at this text go back to jerome or acts chapter 8. in acts chapter 8 here you have and i i tried to at least get you to think what it might have been like to have someone say hey i'm here in you know isaiah can you help me with this passage it'd be like oh man i don't know that's going to be hard and so the passage of the quote unquote happened to be reading was like a sheep he was led to the slaughter like a lamb before it shears his silent so he doesn't open his mouth and it's humiliation justice was denied him who can describe his generation for his life is taken away from the earth i mean is this isaiah talking about his death no it's not isaiah matter of fact i've studied that passage before and it is about the messiah and the messiah has come and he's christ i mean that's something that guess what philip knew he was able to we know that's going to end starting with this passage beginning with this scripture he went on so that means that meant he covered it logically he explained it what if philip had grown up saying you know what i really like i like the law of moses man and i even like some of the history the early history of israel and i like i like the stories in samuel in first technique but the prophets are how much i i don't like those and i know a lot of people struggle with questions about who's this and what's that and how does this go and when is this is this a prophecy is this past they worry about i don't worry about all that i just don't worry about that i mean i just i i'm convinced of theism i'm convinced of the need to trust in yahweh i'm convinced there's a coming messiah but i don't want to get into all that it's kind of like my illustration of the welcome week people if i get on campus and go hey you know what uh it says here i'm in uh this this dorm on this floor and can you tell me where that is and the guy going i never go to that side of the campus my dorm's down over here i hang out on that side of the campus oh your t-shirt said you could help me yeah i can show you my dorm i don't want to see your dorm where do i where am i supposed to live or i say you know what i'm kind of a mama's boy i send packages to my mother every week can you can you tell me where the shipping and receiving is ah you you need to you do that oh what a sweet guy you are but you know what i never send any packages i don't know where i don't even know i never go to the mail center but your shirt says you can help me yeah but i don't i don't i don't have it i don't see a need for that no but i do do you understand what i'm saying if i say where do i make a copy right in the library i know on these floors i have the library but where's a place where i can make a copy of something i never make copies i just stay late in the in the library and i just i study there i never even i never make copies and take them back to their i don't worry about that well yeah but i do and i'd like to know what here's the thing some of you love to study the bible in the areas where you like to study and some things you think i never worry about that that whole creation evolution thing i i we're here it doesn't matter god was involved it's it i don't worry about it okay how about one of your co-workers worries about it i'll bet someone you run into is going to want to know what is that all about you know i don't read much of the old testament i just stay where christ is ninja well you know your non-christian friend and colleague is going to say well i was reading in leviticus or someone told me leviticus says and you know i don't i don't really read that oh wait a minute is your bible guide which of course you are and you should be you should see yourself as that i i can't see philip being much good by saying i don't really read isaiah right so it's not helpful right there are things that you know that the world is asking and you never really make it personal by thinking i'm gonna have a co-worker that asks me this but you think i i don't really i'm not the historicity of the bible manuscript evidence you know how the bible came to be i don't know i just don't really worry about that i trust the smart guys at my church that have figured that out so i don't i've never read anything i don't study that you may be reading a passage like this saying i never have anyone say answer my bible or theological questions or ethical or philosophical maybe god's not reaching into the toolbox to grab you for those things because you're just not sharp and i don't mean you're dumb you got all it takes to be sharp it's just that you haven't gone through the hard work of having that edge filed down and made sharp you've got to know your bible you need to know it better than you know now you you don't just need to know your bible well enough to be a christian and to get through your christian life you need to know the bible well enough to become a christian get through your christian life and help other people answer their questions so that they can come to faith in christ and when they have problems that you don't have be able to use the bible to understand how that problem has come to be and how to get them out of that problem you need to learn the bible way more than you need to know the bible you need to learn the bible well enough to be able to help other people or you're going to sit in the tool drawer just collecting dust number two you need to get to know the bible much better much better much better here we go again just wants us to be bible scholars i want you to be bible scholars busted right busted yep that's what i want you're absolutely right and i'm not being sarcastic we need to master the book and all the implications well i can never do that you can do better than you do now notice the point read it carefully get to know the bible much better i could have written know everything you can know about the bible not what i'm saying well if really philip is going to be prepared he better be ready to to exegete nahim chapter 1 and leviticus chapter 23 as well as isaiah 53 well yeah maybe he didn't but god picked him up to get in this chariot knowing that he knew isaiah 53 and could respond to that question and all i'm saying is you'd be much more useful to the lord the more you know so i want you to know more you've got to know the book better and all the things on which it's based and everything that helps us think through the implications of it and what it would say to this movement or that fad or this this theory or this philosophy or the way this group says we ought to do church we ought to know that we ought to know the bible i had a choice to make as a pastor to look at this passage and get into the details of isaiah 53 and work through it and even some of the nuances between the septuagint and the masoretic text and how this is all laid out and i thought i can do that i can roll up our sleeves and do bible study in isaiah 53 or i could do something pastorally that i think may be more important and that isn't you and i make a commitment to be more like phillip which means we're not going to sit here and exegete isaiah 53 although we could and i have and you can look those up but it's for us to think about do we know enough to be more useful this year than we were last year so i want to help you through that this may seem an odd part of the sermon but let me help you through it i'm going to do it with a series of letters let me give you some letters okay can i start with this give you three letters to start with sub points ready cbi let's start with those three letters cbi guess what cbi is intended to do well you can quote the second point to get to know your bible much better that's what it's designed for well i go to church you go to church that's great good for you right i've never read your papers i've never assigned textbooks and then quizzed you on whether or not you knew that material and got it well and weren't sleeping through it thinking sports when you were reading those paragraphs i've never had that chance to have that kind of interaction with you professors at cbi have the chance to do that with you as you matriculate through a classroom and you learn important things that will help you when someone at work says i don't understand why if god's so good there's so much evil in the world studying the bible and the understanding of sin and its origins and what god has done to curse the fabric of the universe those are the kinds of things you would learn to be much more apt and fluent and and conversant if you studied more formally well i'm old i can't go to college yeah you can i i don't know what our oldest student is but we're happy for you to break our record and we'll get you in the classroom right there's something for be the oldest cbi student and i'm not here at all you can accuse me of it but you'd be absolutely dead wrong i'm not all trying to be self-aggrandizing or pat myself on the back or our team or our our our church but i am saying this do you know how privileged you are to have 120 feet away across that street over there to have an institution that is ready to have you apply and then register for class to give you an education that is a top drawer bible school education that is even at a bargain rate if you want to talk about money that is one-tenth of really what it would cost you to go and take those very same classes by the same professors at other schools i've taught in a number of seminaries across the country and i don't think there's a better deal going on in terms of per unit cost than what you're getting here and we just had we had a meeting last week by the way looking at our budget guess what we're losing massive amounts of money on cbi right and you know what that's my intention not because i'm into making bad business decisions but that's my intention because our goal is to keep all of this affordable and it's all going to be transferable but it's affordable so in that affordable model we're saying this we're just going to trust that god's going to bring some wealthy donors and benefactors to give money to underwrite all this right we're in the red big time and we will be and that's our we expect that until god brings um people to make that happen and and we trust god in that it's going to happen we're going to work toward it but we're going to trust her but when you say hey i want to take a college level course on say i don't know theology one that's being taught and offered and if you were awake during announcements you heard that we're going to have theology one taught by pastor elliot and he's going to come and take us through the basics of the first levels of theology right you're gonna do that three unit class for a hundred bucks a unit for 300 bucks plus a registration fee that's bargain level you get a strip mall college anywhere in southern california it's gonna be five six hundred dollars a unit you wanna go to a university a a well-known respected bible college somewhere great well you get the same assignments the same kinds of lectures the same kinds of assignments and papers and reading and same textbooks and and you're going to pay 10 1100 to fifteen hundred dollars a unit and again all i'm saying and if you can't afford it fine talk to us we'll figure out a way to make it happen and we'll trust that god brings more benefactors to underwrite all the expenses but what's the point we're offering things and i just want to say how blessed you are to not have to travel somewhere except for walking safely across the street to get into classrooms to learn the bible two classes this summer deadlines coming up quick right we got the book of matthew how well do you know the book of matthew maybe how matthew is utilizing the old testament in ways the other gospels aren't why was it written the way it is what about these problem passages how do we understand the difference between the sermon on the mount and someone on the plane how do we figure that what if someone has a good question about the jewish nature of this text and how do we deal with people's inquisitive nature about the gospel or some saying of christ or how about jud don't judge lest you be judged how do i know what we're gonna have the two shriners brought in patrick and tom to come in and teach that class those are some of the top professors in the country coming here and you can audit some of these classes dr whitney's coming in don whitney who wrote the book on spiritual disciplines coming in to teach a class on spiritualism oh well there's a class i can take because i want to learn how to do better have a better prayer life and do better devotions instead of the bible memorize about great that's good and i'm just trying to say you're not just trying to get around the campus yourself you should take these classes always to say i want to go deeper not only so i can get my christian life arranged and make sure i know how to get to the to the mess hole right to the to the cafeteria dining hall i want to be able to help other people get to places that maybe i've never even been so i need to learn we've got theology one we got the matthew class going on this summer and then in the fall listen to the lineup in the fall you tell me what embryonic bible institute has this kind of lineup and i'm not doing this to blow the you know cvi horn i don't care what the title or the name is i don't even care who's running it but the bottom line is in what three semesters here's here's the lineup for the fall new testament survey anybody use that new testament greek i know you hear people talk about greek all the time maybe you're good to learn a little greek apologetics the spiritual disciplines class with dr whitney that you can audit an evangelism class evangelism training a teaching the bible class how to teach the bible a biblical counseling set of classes i don't know i just think that's a pretty decent offering that when you get to heaven and god says well there's a lot of people i would have loved to use you to lead to christ answer their questions and benefit their life but i couldn't because you were such a dull tool in in the drawer and you go well i didn't have any opportunities to learn anything man pastor mike was my pastor i i knew nothing i was i was so deprived yeah but didn't pastor mike get up one day and tell you there's a place right across the street with a lot of great professors that are teaching and training i don't it would be a waste and i don't mean this economically because we're not in it to ever even be in the black but here's the thing be a waste for those classes that are so good to be filled with five six seven students per class that would be horrible give us the problem not only of trying to wheel your wheelchair in there because you're 102 years old how about you give us the problem of having way too many people signed up what are we going to do where are we going to put all these people i encourage you and here's my my strong exhortation to you when you go out here and grab your cookie and coffee after the service look over your shoulder to the left it's right over here in this corner you'll see our welcome booth for all the the people that come to our campus and don't know where they're going and then right next to that is a cbi a compass bible institute booth our leaders are out there our registrar's out there our director is out there professor or two might be out there you talk to them about signing up get the list get the information learn how you can apply and register for a class i'm exhorting what are you doing there are churches all over the place that would love to have the advantage of you driving and parking in your regular parking spot here in our parking lot and walking into a classroom with the kind of of careful thoughtful training that we need to be able to say i know the bible better this year than i did last and i dare you to take a cbi class c b i let me give you three more letters ready d b r you know those letters dvr daily bible reading church is big on that i got my own plan listen it's like us having some kind of fitness thing here right and we've got trainers here and you go i got my own exercise routine you know most people that say that most people not you i know because you get this great workout thing in your garage right no but most people use that as a cover to not really do what we're doing well i'm really hardcore i'm going to read more than you can read our section of the scripture five six times in in a day just do that if you really want to do more reps but master the material that is there every morning you go to our website right after you go to compassbibleinstitute.org go to compasschurch.org and see the most prominent first orange button you're going to run into and it's not give just so you know right the first button you're going to run into is the daily bible reading because that's what we want you to do don't make me quote the stats about how many people go to church for years and years and years and years and years and years and years and have never read the whole bible from cover to cover because you would be depressed and i don't want to depress you i want to motivate you and that is to read the bible every single year if you've been a christian around this church for seven years five years three years well then you've read the bible through i hope at least seven times five times or three times because you're in it with us every single day every morning get up and read the dbr understand it someone asked you at work i heard that somebody on twitter said there's this verse in in leviticus about xyz man if you've been here seven years doing what you should be doing which is reading the daily bible you say well i've read that passage at least seven times in the last few years and i'm telling you uh yeah i've struggled with it too or i've thought about it here i'm worried let me get you some answers you are going to be at least familiar with this book that we're basing our eternity on cbi dvr how about this one cb cb what's that compass books compassbooks.org compassbooks.org that's our website which right now is lame i will admit it because all it says is here's our bookstore here's the hours and it's right there by the table for cbi just look over the shoulder the people at the table and right behind glass walls you'll see the compass books well here's the thing just had our meeting this week about the budget we're going to take this this bookstore not only because of our 2020 plans it's a different story we're going to make it bigger and put in a big lobby over here because of our 2020 campaign which we're about into the next phase of that but that's not what i'm talking about talk about that bookstore whether it's in its current place or whether it's in the corner of a bigger lobby lobby what we're going to do is we're going to move it into an online sale selling position because here's the thing i know it's easier for you to click on amazon and get all your books delivered to you but i don't know if you know but bezos doesn't really like all the books we recommend i don't know if you know that some of them he doesn't like and you know what they've been increasingly militantly banning books they don't like guess what i bet half the books on my reading list every week eventually will not be available for you to click on and have sent to your house we're working on that investing more money in that website being able to make compassbooks.org a place where you can get all the recommended books that our pastors have read and vetted we we like can't bet every single word and approve every word but we're going to make it to where you can click on it and have those books sent to you or your friends in nebraska or or canada or whatever we'll be able to send them out it's going to be a start and we're going to start slow but we're going to get this thing going but better than that it's right there this morning i mean you're less than 80 yards you know you're not even that you're 40 yards away from our bookstore after you go get your donut here your three stops now you go to the cbi you talk about signing up for class right then you go into the bookstore and it's going to be crowded and you start praying for 2020 giving so that we can make sure we get the big bookstore built and then you say i need to find a book here you need to be reading christian books every single day you should have one in the morning you're reading one in the evening you're reading you should have one sitting by the throne in the bathroom that you pick up and you read depending on your your your movements you may read it twice a day maybe once a day but you're gonna read it and there's so many books you know every week i give you a list of books i don't know 14 15 books i say these would be good to read matter of fact anybody have the printed worksheet flip it over flip it over i get books every single week let me see what i put down this week j adams comment to the council right you getting the idea that god has put you in a place to be able to take biblical truth and actually get it into other people's lives that's a good book it's a classic hopefully you've heard people talk about it if you haven't read it you should read it it's in our bookstore go buy it after the service alexander david alexander zondervan's handbook to the bible that book cute that that's a good one to put in the bathroom it's got articles and charts and pictures it's so good to be able to say i'm gonna get a better handle on the entirety of scripture from genesis to revelation a book like that just put it somewhere prominently in your house so you pick it up and you read it gleason archer's book new international encyclopedia bible difficulties why did i put it there i put that one there this week because some people are going to ask you questions at work and say i don't get this part of the bible it's hard here's a good working title for this book weird parts of the bible you need to explain that's that would be a good title for this book and gleason archer so good so careful very concise but tries to deal with every issue in the text and it you know obviously may leave out a few that you have wondered about but all the big ones are there for you to say okay i need to be able to figure out the difficulty of this passage how do i square this particular you know rendering of of the historical events of the resurrection in this gospel with that gospel how does that fit this good book abner chow herman duke of the biblical writers learning to interpret the scripture admiral chao is trying to help people who are trying to rush from whatever old testament passage to christ and that's certainly where we're going in this text that's what philip did but how do you do that without really running roughshod over the intention the original intention of an old testament text that may be on another level for people that are in cbi but that's a good book and an important book fairly new book crispin's book i bet none of you have probably heard about this one few of you gerard crispin the bible panorama that's another good one for your bathroom it's got short it's got 1183 chapters in it that sounds like a lot i think it's that many as to how it follows every chapter of the bible and in every single one of these it just gives you a quick rundown of what are the main themes what are the main characters what's this chapter about how does it fit in the whole of the book that'd be good for you to handle on the word of god there's a guy you know michael bars wrote a little book called bible survey for kids the only reason i put that on there is because some people read that as they try to give it to their kids they go man i learned more about the bible than i've ever learned before just by trying to teach it to my kids i tried to act like to my seven-year-old that i knew all this stuff but some of it was new to me it was helpful to learn about the minor prophets or the historical books are very simple but maybe if you've never done that it's in our bookstore i'm saying i go on and on i go through all of these but the point is you need to get good christian books i know i say it all the time but go buy a book today please go buy a book cbi dbr cb how about this one fpr.org fpr.org as in focalpointradio.org fpr.org that'll take you to our website that has tons of this stuff from me blah blah blah blah blah blah blah in your ears while you're working out on your elliptical on the treadmill and you can hear more sermons from me if you dare that may help you kind of think through parts of the scripture you hadn't thought through before or maybe it's topical you go looking through and just search topically and you say i need to know some if you don't know where to start start with the one that says focal point you as in university focal point you is nothing but 13 semesters of thinking logically and systematically through the christian faith i mean it's almost 300 hours of lectures so you'll get really fit listening to this series and all i'm saying is put it in your headphones and as you're working out taking your walk doing your thing at least get some good bible in your mind because guess what you do that for a year i'll bet next year you'll have a much better handle on the bible than you had the year before cbi dbr cb fpr.org how about this one this one doesn't really work but ca let's call it that christianaudio.com christianaudio.com a lot of times i'll talk about reading books some of you are like well i do have a long commute you know hard to hold my book up on the steering wheel when i'm driving okay listen go and listen to someone read it to you now this is like a christian bookstore so you can't trust everything in christianaudio.com but all it is is a collection of of audiobooks and i know you say well i'm on audible.com well guess what bezos has has control of that as well i'm not a conspiratorialist but i am saying in time the good books that you need aren't all going to be there but at least on christianbooks.com at least for today you can get most of the good christian books available that have been produced in an audio format you can get those books ready which is better than listening to me yak sometimes the way i do in in eloquent sentences and you can have a nicely written you know carefully systematically constructed set of sentences and paragraphs which i wish i could speak extemporaneously but that is what you're going to get in good christian books and i pulled it up yesterday i thought okay let me just make sure what's on there what's on the best-selling list the second one on this best-selling list i think was aw tozer's knowledge of the holy i bet all of you have heard us talk about that if you never read it have someone read it to you on the way to work right go to christianaudio.com and get knowledge of the holy uh i saw in there mere christianity i think was number four c.s lewis i don't know if you ever read any lewis but it'd be good for you to read some lewis be good for you to have someone read it to you mere christianity a basic fundamental you know protestant explanation of theism and why it makes all smiles make sense it'd be good good place for you to go ji packers knowing god that was in the top ten ji packers knowing if you've never read that book have someone read it to you in the car this guy will read it to you and you'll have it you'll have it on your phone and you'll be ready to go talk about books that i recommend talk about people like don whitney coming it was in in the top i don't know 25 don whitney's spiritual disciplines those spiritual disciplines have the book read to you before you go to the class in the fall well it costs money it does cost money yes i understand costly you go in and buy the book or you can join their club at 14.95 a month or whatever it is and i have no vested stake in this you understand but i am saying well i don't want another thing to ding my credit card well then drop hulu or netflix figure figure out how you're going to do this and and spend the 15 bucks a month right or don't get a latte one one day a week and go and get this in your phone and then you get four credits every month right and and most books you can get at least two books for that every month and you can have good christian books read to you cbi dvr right uh our compass books cb fpr.org download the app that's another thing to click on in that that will help you christianbooks christianaudio.com it's just some ways for you we could have explained isaiah 53 i want you to have a commitment to have your biblical knowledge sharpened so that if god calls you in when someone says i really don't know why god would allow or i don't really know why the world works this way or i don't really understand why my conscience does this i don't know why people can't be at peace i don't understand why the bible was written this way all of that you'll be greater prepared more aptly prepared to deal with those issues back to our text acts chapter 5. the eunuch said to philip about whom i asked does the prophet say this about himself or about someone else that's a good question philip opened his mouth and beginning with this scripture he told him the good news about jesus and not just about you studying about textual criticism or you know the problem of sin or you know theodicy or whatever it it's about you being able to lead people to christ it's about you being able to answer questions so you can navigate them to christ i mean ultimately even the welcome week people with the t-shirts should know it's really about him getting a good education that's why we're here i want them to get in the classroom and learn well that's the point for a welcome week person but the point for us right is not just for them to learn it's for them to come into relationship with god and that we should be able to do as the goal of all of our question answering we should number three we should get the inquisitive to christ we want to get them in relationship with christ we are proclaiming and have been entrusted with a message of reconciliation i want them to be reconciled to god and that means they have to trust in christ and so i want all of the biblical information that is codified from creation and conscience and even the problem of sin all of that in the bible i want you to understand it i want you to know it i want you to get it so that you can know christ it's like john 6 says all of these things jesus said the scriptures they're all written ultimately about me so that you would know me that's the point and so that's what we want not knowledge of christ and how many years he hung out in korea or galilee or judea it's not about that i may be good to know all that but it's so that you would know him personally have his righteousness clothing you so that when you die you stand before god and he doesn't say depart from me i never knew you that's the goal i love these two phrases beginning right with he begins with this scripture and then he goes from there that's the goal right of us being able to say whatever the question on the table i want to get you from there to christ because i can do that matter of fact let me end with this passage go to luke chapter 24 the same phrase is used of christ as luke describes his discussion with these people on the road to emmaus in verse 25 he christ said to them these guys on the road oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken man just studying christ and how he keeps pointing to the scriptures as this is it you have this and that parable about the the rich man in lazarus is like you have the scriptures i've given you my testimony yes it's reflected in creation and conscience and evil but you need to know here is my information oh foolish ones in slow heart to believe all the prophets have spoken that's what we want for people is that your desire so wasn't it necessary that the christ should suffer these things right death and enter into his glory which by the way there's two things you want headings is what does it mean to get them to christ christ in two ways not not through two pathways but to two two ways to think of him to suffer in this way as isaiah 53 goes on to say the lord was willing to crush him putting to death that he might offer his life a guilt offering that he might atone for the sins of many the point is that we suff we uh celebrate a suffering christ the suffering servant is crushed the sin of our lives should be punished and god has punished christ so that he will not punish us if we trust in him that that redeemer there's a heading right the i'm getting you to christ the redeemer and then the second phase look what he says here and to enter into his glory enter into his glory there is his exaltation here is his lordship his sovereignty over all things what am i leading them to cry to i want to get them to christ the redeemer and christ the lord christ the king i mean that's the goal i want my co-workers to have questions about this that or the other to get to the place of saying christ is my redeemer and christ is my king and so he is the guide and he guides these men on the road of emmaus here's the same exact greek phrase and greek same english phrase verse 27 and beginning with i'm going to start where they're at let's open up the bible beginning with moses and all the prophets he interpreted to them all the scriptures in all the scriptures the things concerning himself you need to know me as your suffering lamb who died in your place and the risen king entered into his glory which by the way i'm thinking about patrick schreiner who's coming to preach here teach in our cbi this uh this summer in the matthew class he wrote a book recently called the ascension of christ which i'm in the middle of reading actually texted his dad tom schreiner and said you should be proud of your son it's a great book i'm really enjoying it the um book is about the fact that there are very few books written on the ascension entering into his glory and what are the implications in scripture about the ascension i mean we read about in luke 24 when we studied that not too long ago we read about and studied in acts chapter 1 not too long ago and what is it what does that mean what are the implications why why was it necessary couldn't we have skipped that part right the ascension i mean good books will do nothing but increase your understanding of scripture and in this case to know that we're presenting to our world christ the redeemer and christ the king the lamb of god and the lion from the tribe of judah drop down in this passage as long as we're here verse 44 and then he said to them these are my words i have spoken to you while i was still with you that everything written about me in the law of moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled and he opened their minds to understand the scripture i know it's more than just giving them information though you need to have the information but we're praying that god to open their minds and he said to them thus it is written that the christ should here's our two things again suffer right there's the the christ the redeemer the lamb of god that takes away our sin and on the third day rise from the dead the glorified christ the exalted christ the lord the king and here's our message that repentance for the forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed that's your job in mind we take the inquisitive there we're going to try and raise questions by asking them do you understand what you're reading beginning in jerusalem it's going to go to all the nations be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from jerusalem you are witnesses of these things every time you sit in a sermon every time you sit in a class every time you read a good christian book you are in the passive sense witnesses to these things and then just like a witness is also used in our language as a active verb you now have to witness to these things you have to get up raise your right hand tell you the truth hold truth nothing with the truth here comes the truth i'm going to tell you what it is god is investing in you not just to be satisfied in your biblical knowledge but so that you will take that knowledge to other people i know one of the stumbling blocks in our passages it's just too idyllic i don't have those experiences yes i need a guide help explain christianity to me but just like when i was a freshman on that first day of class i'll never forget it first day of school freshman orientation week i pull up i'd never been there i'd never been to some you know visit the campus week i was there because my dad told me i had to be there or i would not exist or whatever the threat was it was like you got to go to bible school i had no choice and so my bewildered look it was bewildered i didn't know what it was up i'd never been there i don't know anything about it but i get there and here come these way too happy and helpful people to try and help me you want to see have you seen a disgusted look on pastor mike's face right put it in a 17 year old body it was like i don't care i don't care what dormant i don't care where the library is i don't care where the dining hall is but just can you stop being so happy i'm not interested in your help i you know and there they were help help i was the opposite of the ethiopian eunuch i was the worst bible school freshman i did not want to be there some of you heard my testimony i did not want to be there was there under duress my daddy said i had to and so they dropped me off they literally spend what uh 45 minutes an hour you know and packing me we walked to mcdonald's across the street this is in downtown chicago and then they go see ya and they drove away and i'm like i hate this that was my idea can we help you find a library no but you know what happened in time their helpfulness their willingness they're willing to say hey i know you didn't really like it here i know you don't want to be here but you know if we can be helpful we want to be helped and and in time i guess it was october i think the second week or the yeah ninth somewhere in there so i got dropped off the end of august by october right i was you couldn't have pulled me away from the school when god had gotten a hold of my heart i became a christian my freshman year in bible school because god had broken me down not just because he was putting me on some you know afflicted death bed in part because i was being killed with kindness by welcome week people right it was like they just wanted to help and in time i was like i think i do need help i because something's going on in your life is not going on in my life i was fighting it you're going to be useful to god and god is going to bring you some ethiopians and they're going to be like help me guide me answer my questions and then you're going to be having the joy of seeing them baptized as we will see next week but then you're going to run into some saul of tarsus and they're going to throw rocks at you and they're not they're going to as he tells later to king agrippa in chapter 26 of acts i was kicking against the goats he says god christ says to him why are you persecuting me saul it's hard to kick against the gods and the gods right of this pushing back it's what a lot of people do but you know it's the consistency of guys like ananias and we'll read this in chapter nine of acts people like barnabas that keep saying let me be helpful can i guide you we're gonna see this in chapter nine but the blindness that god brings to him the literal blindness to remind us of just how we just need the scales to fall off our eyes and part of that just like it was literally for me literally for me as a 17 year old was the kindness of people that said i'm here to help if you have any questions i want to answer them do you understand what you're reading and they knew and they're able to take me from where i was to where i need to be and i'm just telling you be that person be philip this week get sharp i know it's going to take some time don't wait until you think you've mastered everything to start asking people do you understand what you're reading but get at it twofold i want to be willing to help i'm a bible guide i need to keep getting sharper and i'm praying that i can lead people to christ let's pray god help us all as christians in this world wanting to be found faithful we'd like to hear from you well done good and faithful servant it's not just because we've had great quiet times and learned things about the bible that we enjoy it's about us knowing enough to be helpful in the lives of other people we know it's not just an intellectual battle just as we read in luke 24 you have to open their minds to understand the scriptures but that's not going to happen with people that aren't willing to be helpful so god we would ask that you'd make us those kinds of helpful phillips with co-workers and people in our sphere of activity every week where we can say wow yeah creation let's talk about the creator conscience yeah let's talk about the law giver scripture let's talk about what those passages mean and even the evil in this world let's talk about how god is going to bring that to an end god we want to be the agent of truth and i know we need to be more immersed in it so i pray even now as we dismiss after this quick song that people get their donut their coffee but then they'd seriously look at what class they can take in cbi this year this summer this fall they'd literally go into the bookstore and buy a book today could let us be more of what we need to be so that when the questions come our way when the curiosity inquisitive nature of a non-christian says i just wonder about that we jump into action and be ready kill them with kindness be the kinds of agents that i've seen in my life that i know god many of us have benefited from let us be that helpful christian that's willing to answer questions in jesus name amen

Channel: Mike Fabarez

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Id: 1Mp4955Twm4

Length: 63min 11sec (3791 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 01 2021