How Firm a Foundation - Luke 6:46-49 - November 27, 2022

 Luke 6:46-49 How Firm a Foundation

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 6, verses 46-49, that’s on page  863 in the pew Bibles.

Over the last few months it seems like we have been talking a lot about old time Sunday school and flannelgraph and all of that. Well I’d like to teach you all or maybe remind some of you of an old timey Sunday School that I remember from my youth.

“The wise man built his house upon the rock, The wise man built his house upon the rock, The wise man built his house upon the rock, and the rains came tumbling down.

“The rains came down and the floods came up, The rains came down and the floods came up, The rains came down and the floods came up, and the house on the rock stood firm.

“The foolish man built his house upon the sand, The foolish man built his house upon the sand, The foolish man built his house upon the sand, and the rains came tumbling down.

“The rains came down and the floods came up, The rains came down and the floods came up, The rains came down and the floods came up, and the house on the sand went SPLAT.”

Let’s pray together.

As you may have guessed today’s text from the Gospel of Luke concerns the wise and foolish builders, the one who built his house upon the rock and the other that built his house upon the sand.

Let’s look at the text and try to discern the Lord’s message for us today.

46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Now again, just like last week, we can’t remove this parable from its context. Jesus had been teaching on blind guides and those that followed them, on the hypocrisy of examining our brother’s and sister’s faults without dealing with our own, and, most recently, good trees bearing good fruit and bad trees bearing bad fruit.

This parable about the wise and foolish builders is most closely related to that last one, knowing a tree by its fruit.

Now just to state the obvious, we all want to be good trees, right? We all want to bear good fruit? And likewise, we all want to be wise builders with houses that don’t go SPLAT?

I love that song, and there is a third verse but it misses Jesus’ point in this parable, and pretty much the one point of this sermon.

I’m happy to give away the ending at the beginning. What is the rock that the wise builder built on?

Our Sunday School answer is: Jesus, the song’s answer is: Jesus, build you life on the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessings will come down…

But is that what Jesus said? No, it isn’t.

Jesus asked a very important and introspective question, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?”

We all said that we want to be good trees that bear good fruit, here is a question that will expose whether or not we are in fact a good tree and whether or not we can bear good fruit.

JJ vanOosterzee wrote that this question from Jesus exposes a “fourfold relation to the Lord; there are men who 1. Neither say Lord! Lord! nor do His will; 2. say, indeed, Lord! Lord! but without doing His will; 3. do His will, indeed, but without saying Lord! Lord! (upright but anxious souls); 4. as well do His will, as also say Lord! Lord! The last, the concurrence of deed with word, is in every respect the best.

It’s clear that two of these conditions do not make for good trees, it is impossible to be a good tree without confessing Jesus as Lord, without saving faith in Him. It is the other two conditions that Jesus is most concerned with in this parable, saying Lord, Lord, but without doing His will, and doing His will as well as saying Lord, Lord.

As Martin Luther said, “It is faith alone that saves, but faith that saves is not alone.”

So what is the rock that the wise builder built on?

46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.

Other places in the New Testament say that Jesus is the Rock not made by Human hands, the Chief Cornerstone that the church is built on, but here Jesus says that the rock that the wise builder built on was His Word, calling Him Lord, Lord, hearing His words, AND doing them.

I want to point out that Jesus does not make a distinction between the two houses other than the fact that one has a foundation and the other doesn’t.

This reality still exists in the world and, most troublingly, in the church.

There are those who build lives of apparent faith, those who appear to have a relationship with Jesus because they do all the right things and seem to say all the right things. They faithfully attend church, they know all the words to the songs, they have a lot of Scripture memorized, and seem to have the Lord’s best interest at heart, they know all the right things to say. These are the folks that JJ van Oosterzee said, “do His will, indeed, but without saying Lord! Lord! (upright but anxious souls).”

So how do we know for sure which one we are? Christian Ludwig Couard, a German Lutheran theologian born in 1793 wrote on “The confessing of Jesus Christ in Christendom. It comes to pass that 1. With many the confessing of Christ is wholly wanting (they deny the Lord); 2. with many this confession is the thoughtless language of custom (they are Christian in name); 3. with some only an assumed pretence of godliness (hypocrites); 4. with others a matter of the heart and expression of living faith (true Christians).”

And that’s all well and good but how do we really know if we’ve truly built our house upon the rock?

The rains came down and the floods came up… And the house on the rock stood firm…

It is adversity that exposes the true nature of our building, whether or not we have a firm foundation.

John Calvin wrote, “True piety is not distinguished from its counterfeit till it comes to the trial.”

When the rains come tumbling down, what happens then? When trials come we often ask the question, why me? Why is this happening? Why God, what are you doing? He is exposing our foundations.

Jesus didn’t say that it wouldn’t be hard, that the trials were a piece of cake. Nowhere in Scripture are we instructed to paint on a smile and trip around like giddy idiots. But if our life is built on the Word of God, if our understanding of the world is based on how God has defined it in the Bible, when trials come our house will not collapse. Exposing our foundations is a good thing, Jesus bring the rain!

When people walk away from the Lord because things didn’t go according to their plan, God somehow didn’t come through for them in the way that they wanted, or somebody who claimed to be a Christian did or said something awful to them, that’s evidence of a house with no foundation.

This is how we can measure what kind of tree we are, what kind of fruit we will produce, if our faith is in Jesus and our life is built on His Word, not just knowing His Word but doing it.

James 1:22-25 says, 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Paul wrote in Colossians 2:6-8,

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

Amen.

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!

Facts Overlooked - 2 Peter 3:1-8 - December 5, 2021

 2 Peter 3:1-8 Facts Overlooked

Good morning! We are going back to 2 Peter this morning, we are going to look at verses 1-8 of chapter 3, page 1019 in the pew Bibles.

Just as a reminder, all of  chapter two was dedicated to a warning about false teachers that have always been around and will continue to be; to be wary of them and to be sure to not be like them.

Here in chapter three Peter warns again of scoffers and he also has some very important reminders for his readers, which includes us. So let’s look at the text and let it speak for itself.

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Let’s pray.

Peter has written this second letter as a reminder, his goal was to remind his readers of the things that were most important. Verse two shows us exactly what that was: the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles…

Not to beat a dead horse but I would also remind you of our one sermon point from last week: get to know your Bible!

This is exactly where Peter starts off this new chapter. He didn’t stick that big number three in there anyway, that’s just for reference.

Remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, remember what the Bible says!

It will not only protect us from false teaching and false teachers but it will also protect us from people that Peter calls, “scoffers.”

If a false teacher is someone who teaches what is false, a scoffer must be… someone who scoffs…

As far as the Bible is concerned scoffers are not the good guys.

Psalm 1 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

There is 107 references to scoffers in the Bible and not one of them is positive, they reject wisdom, the reject rebuke, they get beat up a lot, but they never learn their lesson.

A scoffer, biblically speaking, is a person that mocks that which is most important. According to Peter these scoffers first of all, in verse 3, will follow their own sinful desires.

Martin Luther wrote, “These are our Epicureans and Sadducees, who believe neither one thing nor the other, who live as they think best and walk after their own lusts, considering permitted whatever suits their pleasure; examples of such are met on every hand.”

What Luther called, “Sadducees,” other scholars call, “Antinomians.” It’s time for some fun scholarly vocabulary! Don’t worry, even if you forget these words, their meaning will ring in your ears.

An Epicurean was someone who saw a pleasant and smooth life as the highest aim, while an Antinomian held that because faith alone is necessary for salvation morality is of no use.

These are two types of scoffers that were active in Peter’s day, and are alive and well today. They may not have their own websites but they certainly can be found everywhere, maybe even inside our own houses, maybe even inside our churches, you may have brought one to service with you this morning… even if you rode alone.

When we hold a pleasant and smooth life as our highest aim, we scoff at the will of God and His desire for our holiness. When we act as if sin has no consequence just because we’re already forgiven we scoff at Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

But Peter points out another kind of scoffer, one who scoffs at the promise of Christ’s return.

4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

We are in the season of the year that we call Advent where the world draws its attention to the First Advent of Christ. The word Advent simply means, “coming.” Advent celebrates Christ’s first coming.

But on the horizon is Second Coming, a Second Advent. Jesus is coming again.

Do you know how I know that? Just as Peter wanted to remind his readers: we know that because the Bible says so!

Jesus said in John 14:1, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

And in Luke 21:25, 25 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Matthew 24:29, 29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

Acts 1:9, 9 And when [Jesus] had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

1 Thessalonians 4:14, 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Hebrews 9:27, 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

James 5:7, 7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

This is by no means a comprehensive list!

But the argument of the scoffers is that that was all written 2000 years ago, where is He?

4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

By the Word of God the heavens and the earth were created, you can look that up in Genesis 1, and by the Word of God the world that then existed was deluged by water and perished, you can look that up in Genesis 7.

The word Peter used that we translate, “deluge,” is the Greek word from which we get our English word, “cataclysm.”

God intervened cataclysmically once, in the flood of Noah, and He will do so again, next time with fire.

According to Peter those scoffers deliberately overlooked the facts of creation by the Word of God, they overlooked the fact of the cataclysmic flood of Noah by the Word of God in which all of mankind except Noah and his family were destroyed, and they overlook the fact that by the same Word of God the heavens and the earth that now exist are being stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

But Peter has a reminder for the church. Scoffers overlook those facts, but you beloved, do not overlook this one fact, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary says, “People see time against time; God sees time against eternity. In fact time only seems long because of Man’s finite perspective.”

God’s eternal-ages-measurer differs completely from man’s hourglass.

Just as God the Father began creating on the day He intended, He started it raining around the ark on the day He intended, He sent the Lord Jesus to be born in Bethlehem on the day He intended, He will send Jesus back to judge the living and the dead on the day he intends.

Again, Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” -John 14:1

Amen

Truth and Falsehood - 2 Peter 2 - November 28, 2021

 2 Peter 2 Truth and Falsehood

Good morning! We are going to look at 2 Peter 2 this morning, the whole chapter, that’s on page 1018 in the pew Bibles.

I know that a whole chapter is a big bite when studying like we have been but Peter is really only dealing with one topic in the whole chapter and it all really kind of works together.

So let’s start with prayer and then we’ll get to work.

Let’s pray.

So before we get to the text, let’s deal with the context. I just want to go over a few of the things that Peter has reminded us of before we jump into the deep end of chapter two.

So let’s remember Peter’s audience, the original recipients of this letter. They were predominantly Jewish Christians living away from Jerusalem in what is now northern Turkey. The fact that Peter’s audience were already believers in Jesus is important because it makes some of the things he says make more sense than if he was writing to people who didn’t know Jesus already. The fact that they were predominantly Jewish Christians makes a big difference, especially in our text for today because of the references to the Old Testament that they would have been very well acquainted with.

And that’s really the important point of the context as we look at this text today. Peter references several Old Testament accounts that were common knowledge to those Jewish believers. This is important because it should keep us from getting lost in the weeds. I think that will become clear when we read the text.

We also need to remember Peter’s statements that the Lord’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and goodness.

To further flesh out that idea, Peter says that we God’s great and precious promises, and we have the testimony of the Apostles, eyewitnesses of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ as well as the words of the prophets. This is all compiled in what we now call the Bible, both Old and New Testaments.

So knowing that we have all we need to live as Christians and everything we need to know is recorded in Scripture, armed with that understanding we can turn to chapter two and be a little more prepared for what is coming.

So let’s look at that together, 2 Peter 2.

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. 

Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, 13 suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. 

17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” 

The first thing that Peter points out here is that false teachers have always been around and that is not about to change. The Bible is full of accounts of false prophets and false teachers. Church history is full of examples, bookstores are full of examples, the internet is a never ending source of false teaching.

The church has been under constant attack, believers face a constant barrage of falsehood and the sad fact is that people believe the falsehoods.

Peter points out that false prophets and teachers have always been around and they always will be, and as sad as that fact is, Peter points out an abiding truth: the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials.

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. 

Peter points out God’s track record when it comes to rescuing the godly and punishing wickedness.

I got a little nervous at the thought of dealing with the fallen angels here in this text, who they are and where they are, but Peter references it as established fact. Satan was cast out of heaven and the angels that followed after him were as well. Peter’s point was not to deal with how and when and why that happened but simply points to the established fact that God knows how to deal with wickedness. 

He cast angels out of heaven, He destroyed the wicked in the flood while rescuing Noah and his family, He destroyed the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to make them an example of what will happen to the ungodly but rescued righteous Lot.

…the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment… and we can trust Him to continue to do it.

The other important point that Peter makes is how to recognize false teachers. We can trust the Lord to rescue the godly from trials, but we must also be equipped to recognize false teachers and false teaching to ensure that we stay in that group that he calls, “the godly.”

Peter says in verse one, “false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

Heresy and heretics are not foreign words to our vocabulary, but what do they really mean?

Heresy is simply false teaching and a heretic is someone who teaches or follows that false teaching.

Destructive heresies are false teachings that lead people away from trusting Jesus as Savior for the forgiveness of sin and denying Him as Lord by disobeying His Word.

What we must do is train ourselves to recognize falsehood, and Peter gives us several indicators to look out for.

In verse one Peter says that some false teachers will deny the Master that bought them. That Master is Jesus and He bought us with His own blood on the cross. Clearly denying Jesus and the price he paid for our sin is a clear indicator of a false teacher. Some false teachers profess to follow Christ but deny Him in their teaching and in their living.

Verses 10-19 give a summary of the tell-tale signs of false teachers: namely: pride, lust, and greed.

Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, 13 suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. 

17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.

I could go on and on, maybe even name some names of false teachers, but I think it would be more valuable to remind us all of the secret to recognizing falsehood and that is the knowledge of the truth.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness, by which He has granted to us His very great and precious promises, so that through them we may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

We have the promises of God, the testimony of eyewitnesses, we have the words of the prophets, this is the truth, and where can all this be found? In our Bibles.

We will only be able to recognize falsehood when we are well acquainted with the truth, and we have it right here in the Bible.

False teachers will tell you that the Bible is too old to be trusted, that it was written too long ago to be relevant today, that it doesn’t apply, that it can’t possibly be applicable to today’s culture, it was written by men and men are fallible and prone to weakness.

But we know that every word is inspired by God and is useful for teaching and reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness.

False teachers will promise liberty and freedom but deliver only bondage to sin, selfishness, pride, lust and greed, they promise more than the Word of God, as if all that we have been given by God, all that is available to us through faith in Jesus Christ, is not enough.

But God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, we have God’s Word the Bible the source of absolute truth.

Get to know your Bible and you’ll get to know the One who inspired it.

Get to know your Bible and you’ll be able to recognize falsehood.

Get to know your Bible and with God’s help you’ll be able to discern between truth and error.

Get to know your Bible!

Amen.