The Next Chapter - Taking God at His Word, Ch 6

God's Word is Necessary, Ch 6

Almost all people are looking for the same things in life. They express their desires differently and have a tendency to try to substitute what they think they want for what they really want. 

In the final analysis, folks want their lives to mean something. They want happiness and peace. They want to live forever. They want some form of affirmation. In short, they want to, whether they are aware of it or not, hear from something larger and more permanent than they are. They want to hear from God. And, they want an easy way to achieve all of those ends. 

The one thing we all truly need most, to hear from God, can't be obtained on our own. We need the help of an outside agency. God has graciously given us all we need to hear from Him in the Bible. We need the Bible. It's the only objective measure of our position in eternity and the only truly objective input we will ever receive from God.

It provides us with a different kind of wisdom than we can get anywhere else. It is a mature wisdom that is not of this world, but of heaven. If we are to become wise, God must speak to us. God reveals His wisdom in the Scriptures. If we want unfailing, faithful, true wisdom, it is in those things God has revealed by His Spirit in His word.

This wisdom comes from a different source than the one the world gets its wisdom from. It comes from God. The only being wise enough and knowledgeable enough to reveal God...is God. This does not happen by still, small voices inside us. Those "voices" can be too unreliable and we have a difficult, if not impossible, time being objective about what we hear. 

However, all believers do have the Spirit inside them. The Spirit illuminates the word. But we should remember that the word the Spirit illuminates is the Bible, not some secret knowledge or whispered feeling. The word is our guide, not our feelings or "leadings." DeYoung says, "...true spirituality is not something found inside us. It is something outside of us, created by the agency of God's transcendent Holy Spirit." In other words, The Holy Spirit helps us understand the things of God. Where do we go to hear the Spirit and to see the things of God? The Bible! In short, in order to know God, we need Him to reveal Himself to us. The only sure revelation of Him is found in Scripture. The only way to experience that revelation is through the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

This brings to us a different kind of love. Rather than empty adoration and overly-spiritualized expressions of devotion that may be more self-centered than many would like to believe, the truly spiritual person understands spiritual truths, according to 1 Cor 2:13. The primary and supreme truth we are to understand lies in the crucifixion and the meaning of the cross. The cross is the ultimate expression of God's love for His children. Only by the presence of the Spirit, as we pour through the Scriptures, will we fully understand the full love of God and see it in His most profound act of love, the sacrifice of His only Son. There's just no substitute for the Bible in having this revealed to us. It is necessary.

So far, we have seen four fantastic doctrines; the sufficiency of Scripture, the clarity of Scripture, the authority of Scripture and the necessity of Scripture. These alone should make the Bible a vital part of our day, supplanting worldly wisdom, worldly philosophy or self-centered introspection. 

Furthermore, Scripture should permeate our assemblies. If there is no substitute for the teaching and preaching of Scripture, why would the church ever consider bringing in worldly forms of entertainment or engagement.   

Our call, as believers, is to live according to the Scriptures. Knowing the Scriptures is necessary to walk in that calling.