3. John 8:31 (NASB)
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had
believed Him, "If you continue in My
word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
and you will know the truth, and the truth will
make you free."
4. “What is a Christian? Christians can be described
from many angles, but… it is clear that we can cover
everything by saying: True Christians are people who
acknowledge and live under the word of God. They
submit without reserve to the word of God written
in ‘the Book of Truth’ believing the teaching, trusting
the promises, following the commands. Their eyes
are upon the God of the Bible as their Father and
the Christ of the Bible as their Saviour.” J.A. Packer
5. John 1:1 (NIV)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. He was with
God in the beginning. Through him all things were
made; without him nothing was made that has
been made. In him was life, and that life was the
light of all mankind. The light shines in the
darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6. John 13:18-26 (NIV)
“I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have
chosen. But this is to fulfil this passage of Scripture:
‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’ “I
am telling you now before it happens, so that when
it does happen you will believe that I am who I am.
Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send
accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the
one who sent me.”
7. John 13:18-26 (NIV)
After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit
and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is
going to betray me.” His disciples stared at one
another, at a loss to know which of them he
meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus
loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter
motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which
one he means.”
8. John 13:18-26 (NIV)
Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord,
who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom
I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it
in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he
gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. As soon
as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
10. Jesus Revealed in the Bible
Heb 13:8 NIV Jesus Christ is the same yesterday
and today and forever.
11. Jesus Revealed in the Bible
Heb 13:8 NIV Jesus Christ is the same yesterday
and today and forever.
•Gives Reason to the Past
12. Jesus Revealed in the Bible
Heb 13:8 NIV Jesus Christ is the same yesterday
and today and forever.
•Gives Reason to the Past
•Illuminates the Present
13. Jesus Revealed in the Bible
Heb 13:8 NIV Jesus Christ is the same yesterday
and today and forever.
•Gives Reason to the Past
•Illuminates the Present
•Provides hope for the future
14. Psalm 40:6-8 (NIV)
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire— but my
ears you have opened— burnt offerings and sin
offerings you did not require. Then I said, “Here I
am, I have come—it is written about me in the
scroll. I desire to do your will, my God; your law is
within my heart.”
15. Eph 3:10-11(NIV)
His intent was that now, through the church, the
manifold wisdom of God should be made known
to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly
realms, according to his eternal purpose that he
accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Editor's Notes
This message was inspired David Bisgroves sermon The Disciple and the Bible.
Every person lives under a “word,” every person is a disciple (follower) of something. Every person relies on word to find answers for life. Every person ascribes higher authority to some word, for many it’s science or philosophy but every person has a logos that they give the status of sacredness to. Sacred = (of writing or text) embodying the laws or doctrines of a religion.
Ralph Waldo Emmerson essay entitled Self Reliance published first in 1841 he wrote "No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution; the only wrong is what is against it.” (https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-only-law-that-emerson-can-hold-sacred-1102663)
We live in the world of “Be true to yourself” of “Just be You” or “Live your truth” like in “Serena Williams is being punished for speaking her truth.”
We stand and proclaim “I am the truth” which puts us squarely in opposition with Jesus that proclaims ““I am the way and the truth and the life.” John 14:6
You choose are you the truth, is your experience and understanding sacred or is He the truth, is what He says sacred.
Christians are those that chose Jesus is the truth.
Christians live under God’s Word, they submit to His word. People don’t like the idea submitting to anything. People love to choose their truth, to pick out little bits of this and that to form truth. We write our own Bible by compiling pieces of the Bible, Freud, the Huisgenoot, Sowetan and the Cosmopolitan or Men’s Health etc. I determine what is truth. How can we believe in ancient text a book that was written between 3500 and 2000 years ago. What can we learn from the ancients? We live in an evolved world, with technology and science, old books and words are quaint and interesting but they don’t have authority and are definitely not to be submitted under.
Christians don’t live by an Old book they live by that which has always been and will always be.
The Word is Christ, He is the Logos by which we live. The Bible is the revelation of Christ. Christ is the reason of the Bible. The Bible is not firstly a book of History or a science journal or psychology, sociology or anthropology. The Bible is Christ’s Story. From beginning to end the scripture reveals Jesus. It is not about you and how you should live or a book of law for human living it is about Christ. He is the one that ties it all together. Because Christ is at the center of the scripture writings over a 1500 years by about 40 authors. In may different places and contexts.
But it is held together by Christ, if you remove Christ as the central reason for scripture then it becomes a loose collection of sayings and historical records. Some of which becomes irrelevant and even problematic as truth statements. But if you understand it is about Christ you discover the pattern that unifies the diversity. He is the why of the scripture. We all come to life and ask why (like a four year old). We want to know what is the reason behind all that we see. It si when you find Christ that you find the reason the One that connects the whole Bible.
He does the same for our lives. He is the one that connects all the different aspects of your life together. He ties History together.
Psalm 41:9 Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me.
Here Jesus showed the Disciples how even the hardest times He gives order to the chaos. This hard experience of betrayal and death has purpose and meaning because Christ is to be found in it. He shows them that David’s experience of betrayal was part of Christ’s experience of betrayal.
But not only does he connect the past to their present experience He also gives sense to the future by revealing what Judas is going to do. When it happened they could remember He told them it was to come so that even then they can know Christ is revealed in all these events and they could find hope.
The Bible is therefore changes your whole life Hebr 4:12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
God’s Word penetrates our hearts, it is not an outer law, a set of rules. By the Spirit it is Christ that dwells within us and turns our hearts towards Him. We become alive with Christ so we can live in Christ and for Christ. The Bible animates your life, it brings you into Christ’s story and gives unity and reason to our lives. It gives us the why but not as an explanation as a living relationship with the truth. If the Bible is about me and how I should live then it becomes about my achievement and therefore condemns (the Pharisaical Spirit). But it is about Christ and about He has done and is doing and will do, then if I receive the Truth by faith then I find myself in Him. The word is a stumbling block for those who seek it as a law but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal.
Romans 9:32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.
33 As it is written:
“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
The Word is extraordinary, it is beautiful and brutal, It is real and fills our imagination. It is gentle and overwhelming.
The Word is summed up in Christ on the Cross.
Eph 3:10-11 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You and I the church preach the Word, the manifold wisdom of God which is Christ Jesus. We topple the powers of this world and see them also submit to Christ. It is about Him. Our past our present our future summed up in Him.