The Clarity of Scripture with Dr. John MacArthur

of course pastor macarthur that means you must be millions years old [Applause] some of our staff are going to say to me I can't believe you said that pastor MacArthur and his wife Patricia live in Southern California and have four married children Matt Marcie mark and Melinda they also enjoy the enthusiastic company over there 15 grandchildren one less than we have you got another one to catch up to us we have 16 grandchildren but I know what that's like and so dr. MacArthur like to welcome you here to the Answers in Genesis conference oh thank you very much privilege to be here what Ken said is absolutely true the masters university is celebrating its 90th year of existence and we have not deviated one millimeter from the original doctrinal statement of the institution when it was founded 90 years ago in fact we've intensified it and beefed it up and made it even stronger and when people asked me with so many schools drifting in such less time than 90 years how have you been able to sustain the integral to the institution for nearly a century and the answer is very simple it is our view of Genesis one two and three that anchors the institution we don't give there so we're not about to give anywhere else that's the most assaulted portion of Scripture and with the most with the most power at least from the perspective of an enlightened scientifically minded generation as you've heard Ken say in the last session people think that science has disproved the scripture we feel that God was the only one there when he created so we have an eyewitness account and science has nothing to do with creation nothing at all because it wasn't a scientifically explainable event it was a miracle so we've stood on that all of our faculty all of our staff and that's a filter for people coming in you don't come to the Masters University to teach or to be a part of that school unless you affirm six-day creation and can tolerate John MacArthur and for some that's the killer right there and that's it and by the way I'm very low-tech I just had my mind blown with all those graphics going up there I hope you'll be sufficiently entertained with just looking at a talking head for the next hour I'm reminded of this the student at Washington University st. Louis who took his final exam in a science class and there was only one question the question was how do you determine the height of a tall building with the barometer and the student wrote in his in his exam book and handed his exam to the professor after about five minutes and professor waiting for the rest of them opened it up and it said this go to the top of the building take a long rope tie the barometer to the rope lower the barometer with the rope to the ground measure the length of the rope and you have the height of the building with the use of a barometer so the professor didn't think that that demonstrated any knowledge of physics so he said that that's an unacceptable answer could could you try that again and he said yes there are many answers many many answers then he said go to the top of the building leaned over the edge dropped the barometer time its fall with a stopwatch and by a simple proportion of an equation you can tell the height of the building with the use of the barometer the frustrated professor said I'm going to give you one more opportunity he said yes sir ten minutes later he came back and he had written this go to the bottom floor take your barometer and your pencil walk up the stairs each time you put the barometer against the wall make a mark go all the way to the top and when you get to the top go back count the marks and you have the height of the building in barometer units the frustrated professor said that's it I'm done he said oh no no there's even better answer he said the best answer is go to the basement find the building superintendent and say sir if you tell me how tall this building is I will give you this fine barometer I'm low tech I remember when the LA Times came out with an article when I did the study Bible and the heading of the article was man rights Study Bible by hand that's actually what was in the Los Angeles Times newspaper man rights Study Bible by hand it's a good thing I'm low-tech because the Bible is low-tech it's a book it's a book and it's a book that's been under assault I've felt some of that assault even recently as our schools have as well we're so thankful to the Lord for what he's doing at the Masters University in seminary by the way there's some information out there also some grace to you folks here who would give you a I think a CD and an opportunity to receive a book from our ministry but one of the things that you do if you're in ministry for half a century's I've been you defend the scripture constantly you're earnestly contending for the faith once delivered for this to the Saints this is just a way of life for me and for the most part I have found myself defending the integrity of Scripture not against those outside the church but but against those inside the church the Apostle Paul said to the Ephesian elders he said look after my departure of your own selves perverse men will rise up and lead many astray Satan knows that disguised as an angel of light and his emissaries disguised as Angels of Light is the best way to confuse and and corrupt the church one of the ways of course that we find from the very beginning and you heard that in Ken's talk a little while ago Genesis chapter 3 a good place to start open your Bible to Genesis chapter 3 and just to remind you I don't want to spend a lot of time on this particular text but enough to say that prior to this event in the garden there had been no questions did you get that there were no questions there was Adam and Eve walking and talking with God but there were no questions there were no dilemmas there was no confusion but there is a question here for the first time in the creation on earth the serpent more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made said to the woman indeed has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden that's the first question ever appeared in the created world it starts humanity down the path of questioning the Word of God that's the very beginning God's Word should be questioned you have a right to question it in fact not only do you have a right to question it but you have a right to know that God doesn't always tell the truth in verse 4 the serpent said to the woman you surely will not die not only should you question God's Word but you should also know he lies he doesn't tell the truth you won't die well you know the result of this it led to the fall the fall came because of questioning God's Word the assault on scripture continues from there and it will continue until the new heaven and the new earth the assault comes on many levels it is an assault on the authority of Scripture it's an assault on the inerrancy of Scripture it is an assault on the sufficiency of Scripture we'll talk about that tomorrow but I've been asked to point out an area of assault that I think we might be a little bit less clear on and that is the perspicuity of Scripture that's that's a word theological word that means clarity the attack on the clarity of Scripture look there are attacks on the word of God that are blatant flat-out denials that pretty much was what the liberal world was doing back when I was a part of what was called the Council on biblical inerrancy there were a hundred scholars that were called together by Jim Boyce in Chicago and for 10 year period we worked on producing as many written defenses of the inerrancy of Scripture as we could that was a monumental effort by a marvelous Corps of theologians there were only two pastors in the group myself and Jim Boyce 98 scholars from seminaries which sadly speaks to the issue that scholars have left the church and isolated themselves in many cases in ivory towers for 10 years they came out with a defense of the inerrancy of Scripture but the attacks didn't go away more recently the attack is on the clarity of Scripture everybody from Andy Stanley saying we need to unhitch from the Old Testament and we don't need to obey its commands and we certainly don't need to be expositors of the Bible nobody wants to hear that to amillennialism and replacement theology result from attacks on the clarity of Scripture so let's let's begin where we have to begin let's look at Scripture as it gives testimony to its own self very simple to formulate what the Bible claims for itself 1 all Scripture is God's revelation to mankind all Scripture is God's revelation to mankind it is let me say it again revelation that is it reveals hebrews 1 says God has spoken in the past in many ways through many means and has in these last days spoken unto us by his son so all Scripture is God's revelation to mankind all Scripture is inspired by God says the Apostle Paul Peter says holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit 1st Peter 1:21 so the Bible is God speaking the Bible is God communicating that is why it's called the Word of God so we have to start with that we ought we give to the to the scriptures the honor and a respect that we give to God I would I would perhaps introduce a thought to you that you might not have had the father has glory the Sun has glory the Spirit has glory and the scripture as the word of the Trinity has glory as well God does not need to be defended as Father Son and Holy Spirit and there's a sense in which the scripture doesn't need to be defended either it has its own glory you open it up and it reveals itself to be true the Bible is God speaking God communicating and so when we approach the Bible we are approaching the very word of God and we must seek to understand it in order to get the message now listen the meaning of the scripture is the scripture if you don't have the meaning you don't have the revelation it's not what you think it means it's what God meant it to say once in a while you hear somebody say well this verse means to me stop what would it mean if you didn't live if you didn't exist because you are not the interpreter of God's intended meaning so how do we get to them to the revelation we have to get to the meaning that demands an accurate interpretation in the plain normal sense of language as you would interpret the meaning of any document we cannot misinterpret the meaning we cannot add to it or take away from it or shall be added to us the plagues that are written in it says they end of book of Revelation so the meaning of the scripture is the scripture and we have to cut it straight and rightly divide it and if we don't do that then we we ought to be ashamed right and the default normal sense of any passage in Scripture is the right interpretation this again is revelation now it's a very popular thing to perpetuate error and misinterpretation by denying that Scripture is clear this sort of began and in past centuries with the Roman Catholic Church Roman Catholic Church has said the Bible is unclear the Bible is impossible to interpret the only possible interpreter is one endowed by God himself to be the infallible interpreter the only true interpreter and on the 40th anniversary of vatican ii in honor of verbum Dei the Word of God a group of Catholic leaders issued an edict saying that not all of the Bible is true but what is true is not subject to any person's interpretation that's the Catholic view that God has revealed but not in a way that anybody can understand that's kind of the historic attack on the clarity of Scripture let me move a little bit more into our day let's talk about post-modernism post-modernism has seeped into evangelicalism and basically post-modernism likes to talk about truth as something fluctuating something personal something intuitive you have your truth I have my truth there's no absolute truth so you have evangelicals saying things like here's a quote from an evangelical pastor in Chicago certainty is idolatrous I have been forced to give up certainty if there is a foundation in Christian theology it's not found in Scripture theology must be a humble human attempt to hear God never about rational approaches to texts now you hear a lot of people saying you need to listen for the voice of God if you if you stand in a corner somewhere and contemplate your navel and listen for the voice of God you're going to hear nothing if you want to hear the voice of God open your Bible Brian McLaren who was a leader of the emergent Church said clarity is overrated shock and ambiguity often stimulate more thought than clarity even Tim Keller recently has become an advocate of what's called speech act theory speech act theory means that we don't pay attention to the words we rather look at what they do famous English teacher Leslie Newbegin said the gospel itself is not a matter of certainties sometimes this is called the hermeneutics of humility whom I'm too humbled to say I know what it means however that denies that the Bible is revelation that makes it concealment instead of revelation and the sinners inability to comprehend spiritual truth in Scripture is a moral sin against God for which he is guilty Romans 8:7 the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God nor indeed can it be there's nothing wrong with God's revelation there's something terribly wrong with sinful man's ability to understand what he has revealed there are a couple of passages in the Gospel of John that I want to show you and we'll see how far we get with this but in in John chapter 3 in verse 19 familiar verses this is the judgment that the light has come into the world scripture is light not only the incarnate truths but the written truth how many places in the psalm particularly Psalm 1 9 do you hear that the scripture is light so the light has come into the world and Men loved the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil for everyone who does evil hates the light doesn't come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed but he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested saving been wrought in God the problem is not that there's no light the problem is that the love of sin blinds the unbeliever to the light and even more dramatic portion of Scripture is in the eighth chapter of John where our Lord is confronting the religious elite in Israel and he says to them in John 8:42 if God we're your father you would love me for I proceeded forth and have come from God or I have not even come on my own initiative but he sent me then this why do you not understand what I'm saying why can't people understand the Bible it is because you cannot hear my word you do not understand because you cannot understand why you are of your father the devil and you want to do the desires of your father again like it says in John 3 that's the hatred of the light he was a murderer from the beginning does not stand in the truth because there's no truth in him whenever he speaks a lie he speaks from his own nature for he's a liar and the father of lies so you're of your father the devil who is the archetypal liar of all Liars therefore verse 45 because I speak the truth you do not believe me and then in verse 47 he who is of God hears the words of God for this reason you do not hear them because you are not of God it is not that God has not revealed himself it is not that the Bible is not light it is not that the Bible is not clear it is that sinners Hey the truth they hate the truth the truth is available it's available to anyone who loves the light now as we think about this I want to take it a little further and we'll get over to first Corinthians in a little while but I want to introduce some serious issues with regard to how the evangelical movement as such rejects the clarity of Scripture first I give you a little taste of post-modernism which denies that there's any actual absolute truth even in Scripture that you sort of have to bring your own truth to it and your truth is as true as anybody else's there's another approach that deeply concerning in the contemporary evangelical church and it's what we'll call the Christocentric hermeneutic some used to call it the Christological grid it sounds very noble it is very dangerous but the christological grid essentially says look you you have to find Christ in every text you have to find Christ in every passage so that rather than an inductive approach to the Bible you have a deductive approach to the Bible you bring your theology you bring your Christology to the Bible and you push Christ into every text this was very popular in some old allegorical forms rabbinic algorism from the Old Testament picked up by some New Testament interpreters very very much a part of the traditional Lutheran approach to handling the Word of God it looks for Jesus Christ in every text Jesus has to be in every passage Jesus is the hermeneutic and what this does is then ask every single passage does this like what Jesus would say or does this sound like what Jesus would do no he wouldn't say that and he wouldn't do that so we get hell out of the Bible we get judgment out of the Bible so it does on the one hand impose Christ on every text which is a violation of that text where Christ is not present in that text and it makes Jesus the excuse for eliminating what you might be offended by somebody asked me one time the study of a tabernacle what what is the what is the board in the back of the tabernacle to indicate and I said to hold the roof up it sounds very noble to say I have a Christological hermeneutic it sounds very very Christ honoring to say I want to find Christ in every text but the problem is Christ is not in every text that leads to a very dangerous hermeneutic and that's the hermeneutic will call New Testament priority New Testament priority this is very popular today the idea is that the New Testament interprets the Old Testament again that sounds very noble it even sounds very right after all Jesus went back to the Old Testament the law of the prophets Moses and spoke of the things concerning himself which were written there in the Emmaus Road encounter and then later that day with his disciples in the upper room aren't we right in saying the New Testament interprets the Old Testament no we're not but it's almost a kind of a simplistic mark of bad preaching that people read Christian ideas into the Old Testament they read New Testament ideas into the Old Testament but because they are New Testament ideas and and the Old Testament is the Word of God they sort of had the ring of truth this is spiritualizing I don't need to illustrate it you you all know what it was what it is taking an Old Testament story and in and of itself having no virtue you you read into it some New Testament Christian idea perhaps the most popular one currently it's huge because of the passion conferences is the story of David and Goliath and the basic application of that is of course that you know we are all David's but in the strength of Christ we can slay our Goliath which is a brew brutal mistreatment of that text and the intention of that text you you cannot assume that the Old Testament has no meaning until you get to the New Testament it remember it was to the Old Testament reader light it was light to my path read psalm 119 and see if you think David is wandering around in a fog about the meaning and virtue and value of Scripture not at all not at all or joshual11 89 or some 19 which we'll talk about tomorrow the New Testament priority hermeneutic ignores the purpose of the Old Testament revelation it it has a way of stripping the Old Testament of its own revelation its own inspiration its own authority and it makes the Old Testament a book of riddles it leaves Old Testament writers and Old Testament readers in the dark if they don't know what anything meant until the New Testament so if the New Testament is the true interpreter of the Old Testament then a fatal blow is dealt to the perspicuity of the Old Testament and yet this has been popular for a long time George Sheldon lad who many years ago was a professor at fuller seminary still very popular as a theologian said this and I quote the fact is that the New Testament frequently interprets the Old Testament prophecies in a way not suggested by the Old Testament context did you get that it's been around a long time he goes on to say so the Old Testament expectation of a kingdom on earth could be reinterpreted by the New Testament to refer to spiritual blessings in the spiritual realm end quote that seems innocent enough in fact that's exactly what all amillennialists believe they all believe that that is exactly what all replacement theology advocates believe that the church has replaced Israel that when God promised to Israel a future national salvation when God promised an earthly Kingdom and even drew out the details of how that kingdom would function and how animals would act in that Kingdom and how people would act and how long they would live that cetera et cetera what God was saying to them what they thought he was saying to them was not at all what he was saying to them so that was not revelation that was just complete befuddle not the Old Testament is so unclear as to seem to promise the future salvation of the nation Israel and an earthly kingdom of Messiah with explicit details fulfilling promises given to Abraham and to David and reiterated through the prophets but since the New Testament is the interpreter of the Old Testament those promises were not for an earthly Kingdom and they were not for national Israel but rather they were simply reinterpreted to refer to spiritual blessings in the church that's an attack on the Old Testament as revelation the result is amillennialism and replacement theology replacement theology is the idea that the church replaces Israel but no New Testament author ever claims such interpretive power over the Old Testament nor does any New Testament writers understanding of the Old Testament cancel the original meaning of the Old Testament in its context and offer some kind of new explanation that replaces it you cannot impose postmodern relativism on the scripture you cannot impose a Christological hermeneutic on the Old Testament because the theology is not a hermeneutic that's eisegesis not ex to Jesus and you cannot declare that what God said in the Old Testament is not at all what he meant and call it revelation there's another popular assault on the clarity of Scripture census planner Latin term census planner what that means is that there's a deeper meaning in the text there's a deeper meaning this goes way back into into the rabbi's this challenge is the clarity of Scripture by attacking authorial intent we talked a lot about that and training students you hear people say see if I can illustrate you hear people say we need to bring the bring the Bible into modern times wrong you don't want to do that you're gonna end up with the message which is not the Word of God and it's not the Bible it's like Grape Nuts which is neither grapes nor nuts I don't even know why they follow them the idea of the expositor is not to bring people into to bring the bible into modern time but to bring modern people into bible times faithful interpretation of scripture demands that you create the context that's why we talk about contextual literal historical grammatical interpretation you have to go back you have to know the original languages you have to have access to history and traditions you have to reconstruct this scene in all of its accurate historic setting well whatever the Bible meant listen whatever the Bible meant when it was written is exactly what it means and that will never change throughout all eternity imposing Christ on the text is not a legitimate way to make it mean something else and imposing new testament principles on the text as if they are the interpreter is not legitimate either this is kind of a gnostic approach we don't talk about Gnostics so let's just say it's a charismatic approach there's some kind of deeper meaning the idea is that men see one thing God's intention is something else that is not true that means that scriptures just riddles but we're hopeless often run into this with the book of Revelation one of the things I do at the Masters seminary with our doctoral Ministries guys that we have in a doctoral ministry program so many of them come from seminaries where they didn't get their eschatology right so I spend an entire day and take them through revelation and it's it's really an incredible experience they come from you know all over the map in terms of eschatology as if it didn't matter and it doesn't matter I think the end of the story matters don't you I think the beginning matters in the end matters and they can both be interpreted literally so we just take them through the book of Revelation well what does this say well well it says there's going to come judgments famine and world what do you think that means famine and war well it's gonna be a third of the earth it's going to perish what do you think that means third of the earth are gonna perish this guy's gonna robe like a scroll heavenly bodies are going to come careening out of space what do you think that means don't tell me 70 AD when the Romans invaded Jerusalem give me a break I just take them for one whole day and by the time we get to the end they're converted they are pro-israel pre-tribulation --all millennialist it's not that hard I'm not that smart all of these wrong ways to approach scripture are convenient for people who want to change the meaning of Scripture six-day creation is a casualty to this assault well yeah God didn't mean days didn't really mean days even though he said the evening in the morning was the day and even though it says in the Old Testament looking back God created in six days as soon as you start tampering with all of that you have assaulted the clarity of Scripture and if we can't take Genesis at face value and we can't take the Old Testament at face value as a revelation that meant what it meant and will always mean what it meant then we are hopelessly lost in tampering with Scripture if you tell me it doesn't mean this then who's the authority if you try to tell me it means something else you are the authority and it means that Jeremiah Ezekiel Isaiah Zachariah all of whom promised national restoration salvation for Israel and the earthly kingdom of Messiah were wrong and they had no idea what they were writing all they could do was misunderstand it was impossible for them to understand because there was no New Testament so you don't have progressive revelation at all the Bible doesn't go from from error to truth it goes from incompleteness to completeness it's progressive revelation but it is revelation and here's what's even worse not only did God not reveal himself and his plans clearly he actually deceived the Old Testament writers he deceived him maybe Satan was right can't trust God because God knew those promises were not true he knew that he was giving false hope even the disciples in acts 1 were still deceived when they said will you at this time reveal the King to Kingdom to us we can't underestimate the power of attacking the clarity of Scripture Romans 1 turn to it for a moment I'll just give you some illustrations of this the wrath of God verse 18 is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness maybe you know what the wrath of God is there's a lot of different elements of God's wrath there's eternal wrath that's hell there's eschatological wrath as defined by the prophets in the book of Revelation and the Olivet discourse there is cataclysmic wrath like tsunamis and hurricanes and earthquakes there is sowing and reaping wrath that's the inevitable result of sin that unleashes the wrath of God but none of those is in view here what's in view here the wrath of God that's revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness there is a special wrath of God reserved for people who have the truth and suppress it what is the assumption that even the unbelieving world is responsible to know the truth and guilty for suppressing it so that we don't even need to say that the Bible is clear but only to those who believe know that the unbeliever is culpable for the rejection of Scripture because of its clarity because that which is known about God is evident within them God made it evident to them in other words scripture connects with what God has put in man as he says in chapter 2 the law of God written in his heart and then verse 20 since the creation of the world his invisible attributes his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood through what has been made so that they are without what without excuse and this is exactly what Ken was talking about earlier when the Apostles ministered to the Jews when the Apostles preached the gospel to the Jews they preached from the Old Testament when they preached to the gentiles they started with creation they started with creation Mars Hill Act 17 as he said that's where they had to start and there is in every person's mind looking at creation an obvious reality somebody made this the equation nobody times nothing equals everything is insanity you're on the level of somebody who thinks he's a poached egg so you have the law of God written in the heart and then you have reason and reason functions on a cause-and-effect basis in effect leads to a cause and that's how reason works and so when people have the truth the truth about God that is visible from the creation in the law written in their hearts and they suppress the truth again this is the this is the culpability of all sinners even though they knew God they didn't honor him as God or give thanks they became empty in their speculation their foolish heart was darkened professing to be wise they became fools exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for an image and so forth so what is the wrath of God what wrath comes on people who have the truth the law of God written in their hearts the knowledge that there must be a creator and then compound that by adding the presence of the scriptures and the gospel what happens if they suppress that you can see it in our country the wrath of God well what what does that wrath look like go to verse 24 the language here is language to be used turning over a guilty criminal for punishment God gave them over see it in verse 24 verse 26 God gave them over verse 28 God gave them over this is the expression of that wrath so when this rash wrath is unleashed on a culture I want you to see what happens verse 24 give them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity so that their bodies would be dishonored among them the first thing that happens when God unleashes his wrath on a society that has had the truth and suppress the truth will be a sexual revolution a sexual revolution once they've exchanged as verse 25 says the truth of God for a lie worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator blessed forever amen so what happens when God unleashes his wrath of turning over a society to his judgment the first step is a sexual revolution look at the second step in verse 26 for this reason God gave them over to degrading passions for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural in the same way the man abandoned the natural function of the woman burned in their desire toward one another men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error venereal disease AIDS the second thing that shows you the wrath of God against people who have had the truth and suppress it is a homosexual revolution so the first thing will happen in this category of God's wrath a sexual revolution and then a homosexual revolution starting to sound familiar people say this country is in danger of divine wrath no we're in the middle of it in fact we've reached stage 3 what is stage 3 verse 28 they didn't see fit to acknowledge God God gave them over to a depraved mind what's that I used to wonder what that is that's when you're a man and you think you're a woman your brain isn't even functioning a depraved mind is a mind that doesn't function that this is the ultimate insanity gender fluidity transgenderism a sexuality and out of it comes son righteousness wickedness greed evil and all the things that are listed there look the scripture is clear the law of God written in the heart human reason demands that there be a creator in our society we've had the scriptures we've had the Bible we've had the gospel we have suppressed it as a culture and God has unleashed his wrath we're 30 40 years past the sexual revolution we're right nearly past the homosexual revolution into the reprobate mind where our culture looks like the Jerry Springer Show and I remind you verse 20 says and sinners are what without what without excuse the sinners law and conscience are an ally to the gospel an ally to the gospel that's why they the reformers the Puritans preached the law that's all you've got in the heart of the sinner how do you preach sin to the sinner you have an ally in the heart the law of God written in the heart and the conscience that excuses or accuses this is the only ally in the reprobate heart that we have and so how important it is that we strike devastating blows against the conscience of sinners like Paul did with Felix in acts 24 reasoning of righteousness self-control or the absence of it and judgment so the Bible is even clear enough for sinners to be held culpable it is even light in some measure to those who rejected I could say more things about this but that's what your pastor always says when he's just run out of material beloved we could go on and on and you know he doesn't have another note or another thought think about what our Lord did when he ran into the common people during his ministry and they didn't know who he was they didn't understand what he was saying he never said this oh I get it the Old Testament wasn't really very clear I understand but whether he was speaking to highly trained scholars or untrained common people he always said this have you not read have you not read have you not read have you not read have you never read in the scriptures Matthew 21 42 you are wrong because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God if they knew their Old Testament the only Bible the Apostles had if they knew that they would have known the Messiah and they would have known about his coming and his death which is detailed in NIH's eya 53 and his resurrection doesn't mean they could have known everything they didn't even the disciples needed Jesus to go to the Old Testament and explain everything to them I think I think that Emmaus Road in that first night after the resurrection in the Upper Room according to Luke 24 when the Lord went to the Old Testament explained everything I think that was the greatest moment in the New Testament experience of the disciples what made a difference between Peter the well denier who virtually did exactly what Judas did only he ended up repentant what made Peter moved from a denier to the great preacher on the day of Pentecost what made the difference you say well the coming of the Holy Spirit that's true but what you see in Peter I'm not gonna take time to show this what you see in Peter is on the day of Pentecost he starts preaching and he's just pulling Old Testament texts out of everywhere everywhere because that night in the upper room after the resurrection the Lord went to the Old Testament explained the things concerning himself there and he got the whole picture in its fullness and he just was drawing all these Old Testament throughs together that were being fulfilled in Christ and then you come to Stephen Stephen was like an Old Testament scholar and he never said along the way in his great sermon oh by the way that's been reinterpreted by Jesus or no what what made Peter a great preacher of the gospel was a pure grasp of the truth of the Old Testament and then when you get into the New Testament you you get into the Gentile world and you have one letter in the New Testament written to Jews basically I mean one of the epistles Hebrews right Paul writes all these letters to Gentiles let me just process that these are the Greeks that you heard about to the Church of God which is at Corinth to the churches of Galatia to the Saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi and then Paul launches into these massive articulations of divine truth and the book of Romans built so much on the Old Testament Galatians built so much on the Old Testament written to Gentiles Gentile layman who were baby Christians and he expected them to understand everything you wrote Paul assumes that his hearers would get it it was that straight forward Colossians 4:16 and when this letter has been read among you have it read also in the Church of the Laodiceans and see that you read also the letter from Laodicea the Old Testament should have been understood by the Jews for sure the old testament could be understood by the gentiles when it was explained in connection with new testament revelation first century baby christians were the recipients of the new testament epistles written to the churches they had perhaps never even seen an Old Testament never read an Old Testament didn't read Hebrew may not have had any access to Greek Scripture is clear and true I want to close with just a few comments turn to the first Corinthians 1 there's so many numbers on that clock I don't know which ones apply to me you know when you listen to what Ken said and you see the daunting reality of the world around us it can be a little discouraging but I want you to look at first Corinthians 1 and he referred to it a couple of times to verse 23 but I just want you to get the big picture the word of the Cross is foolishness the word of the Cross is foolishness says it again down in verse 23 it's foolishness to the Gentiles uses the word foolishness again in verse 25 it's the word in Greek the gospel the word that contains the truth of the Cross is moronic foolish so I want to pose this question why do sinners reject the scripture why it's foolish to the Gentile world it's foolish I mean it's it's this foolish the crucified Jew rejected by the Jewish nation rejected by the Jewish literate rejected by the Jewish priesthood rejected by the Jewish high priests handed over to the Romans and executed on a cross like a common criminal this jus this crucified Jew is God the Creator the one and only true God in human flesh all other gods are demons masquerading as gods that was the message of the early church that's ridiculous and then this crucified God was rejected by his own people wants to be your master and demands that you be his slave there's a popular concept in the Roman world and in fact it's such a total slavery you deny yourself take up your own cross which means it may cost you your life and follow him at any cost that was the gospel message not exactly Jesus wants to make you healthy and wealthy this is moronic to a sophisticated polytheistic articulate religious world it's foolishness there's a reason why they saw it that way several reasons number one because of their nature they are identified as those who are perishing those who are perishing the perishing ones the perishing ones thought it was foolishness that's because that's the only way they could see it it was their nature to reject it they were dead in trespasses and sin blinded by their own depravity they are double blinded because the god of this world has blinded their minds lest the light of the gospel should shine unto them the perishing ones the category of those who are headed for hell cannot see it as anything other than foolish because of their nature secondly it's not only against their nature it's unreasonable verse 19 it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside where is the wise man where's the scribe where is the debater of this age has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world for since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God Wow it strikes a blow against human reason and therefore human pride now wonder they thought it was foolish that they couldn't understand it because of their dead nature the whole thing was completely unreasonable completely absurd and ridiculous and they were used to deciding everything on the basis of wisdom cleverness debate it was also unattainable verse 22 Jews asked for signs the Lord gave them signs they never had enough they were always looking for signs from the heavens they will get them in the end and the Greek search for wisdom but we preach Christ crucified to Jews a stumbling-block Gentiles foolishness why was the cross a stumbling block because they didn't need a dead Messiah they were righteous they didn't need a sacrifice they needed a king so this was contrary to the nature of unbelievers unreasonable unattainable and then add this verse 26 consider your calling brethren not many wise according to the flesh not many mighty not many noble but God has chosen the foolish of the world to shame the wise that God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things that are strong and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen the things that are not so he may nullify the things that are you want to know what the problem is it's all foolishness it's all a stumbling block to them because one they're dead in nature they can't perceive it it is unreasonable it is unattainable and its people are unremarkable wouldn't it have helped get this message across if the Lord hadn't picked the lowlifes I mean what what's the point not many wise not many mighty not many noble it's it's the weak the base the things that are not the absolute nobodies the people who don't even exist as far as the world is concerned they're nothing they're less than nothing they're arginase they never were born that's how we were relevant they are they're categorically in the perishing group the whole thing is unreasonable they can't attain it by wisdom and that's all they've got to work with it's people are utterly unremarkable they're just a bunch of nobodies and to make it worse their preachers are unimpressive chapter 2 I didn't come with superiority of speech or wisdom proclaiming to you the testimony of God for I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling and my message of my preaching we're not in persuasive words of wisdom but in the demonstration of the spirit and power so your faith wouldn't rest on the wisdom men on the power of God Paul says I was not impressive I was with you in weakness and fear sinners don't accept the Word of God it's contrary to their nature it's unreasonable its foolishness the stumbling block they can't attain it through the normal means that they use to gain everything else their own cleverness and wisdom its people are utterly unremarkable and it's preachers are unimpressive I remember being a Larry King one night sitting with Deepak Chopra the Hindu snake oil salesman who's also a cardiologist and he's convinced he's God he said that and the problem with that is she's pretty short and it's hard to be God when you're shorter than people who aren't God so I always had to have his chair cranked up so he could be at least as high as me because I'm not God and He is God but he was telling me something off the air and and I said yeah I know that yeah I know that I know that you don't know that you don't you don't have any idea what you're talking I said yeah I wrote a book on it to which he replied I would never read anything you ever wrote I I was so unimpressive why on the other hand do we believe the Bible why do we see it so clearly because back to verse 18 to us who are being saved we're in a different category there in the perishing category we're in the being saved category not only that we are the called verse 24 the ones who are being saved are the called that's an effectual call to salvation every time it's used in the epistles verse 26 consider your calling what do you mean by that I mean you were chosen verse 27 you were chosen verse 27 you were chosen verse 28 you are called and you were chill why do you believe the Bible because you are part of those being saved because God called you before the foundation of the world said his love upon you in time he called you because you were chosen so you can't boast verse 29 that how much brighter you are than everybody else verse 2030 says by his doing you're in Christ Jesus good news Wow who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness of sanctification and redemption so that justice is written let him who boasts boast where yeah I I'm part of the being saved group because I was called because I was chosen and because I was illuminated chapter 2 I was illuminated that whole starting at verse 6 all the way down and won't go through it but go down to verse 14 the natural man doesn't accept the things of the Spirit of God their foolishness to him he can't understand them because they are spiritually appraised but he who is spiritual given life by the Holy Spirit appraises all things yet he himself is appraised by no one no one can sit in judgment of us I love verse 16 who has known the mind of the Lord and that he will instruct him quoting Isaiah 40 then this incredible statement we have the mind of Christ that's why you believe the Bible you have the mind of Christ what does that mean it doesn't mean you know what Jesus wants you to do about your new job this is not seeking God's will you have the mind of Christ this is it you want to know what he thinks about anything here it is you have the mind of Christ you have the revelation and you have the internal teacher who authored the revelation then anointing from God so you don't need human teachers that is unregenerate human teachers we have the mind of Christ I know how God thinks I know how Christ thinks the Bible is crystal clear to me nothing that doesn't mean I understand every single interpretation of every single verse but I understand the Bible I have in my hands the mind of Christ and I have living in me the Spirit of Christ the good news is as we go out to proclaim the Word of God God has those who are being saved they are the chosen and they are the called and they will hear and they will believe and they will understand father we thank you for our time together in your word today so much to be said about your word it's hard to to stop that Lord it's not the end it's just another day with the treasure of your Holy Word in our hands may we feed on it every day plumbing its depth not that we might know theology but that we might know you and rejoice in that knowledge the deep knowledge that causes us to walk in your will and love you with all our heart soul mind and strength for this privilege we give you all the praise in the name of Jesus Christ amen [Applause] well I love that I walked right up here and there's everybody's clapping and thank you yeah now actually I have a handful of announcements before we break for lunch for those who did not receive their bag that has their book and all that sort of stuff in it we do have them right outside here there's a table out there right back behind there so make sure you snag your bag once again I want to remind you on the sheet that has the different lunch options at the very bottom if you're gonna drive off

Channel: Answers in Genesis

Views: 43,745

Rating: 4.7280335 out of 5

Keywords: Dr. John MacArthur, MacArthur, John MacArthur, pastor, Christian leader, Answes for Pastors

Id: wTSP-ri6Sk4

Length: 72min 23sec (4343 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 09 2018