A little something from my after-lunch reading... and it strikes right at the heart of an issue we were talking about at our Bible study last week.
The Word of God is the VERY BREATH OF GOD.
So often people are ready, possibly in part because they are uncomfortable with some of the things that Scripture says, or for some other reason, to disregard the Word as being of God in any real sense. I'm shocked at the number of people I run into who buy the lie that Scripture is no more reliable than any other ancient near eastern document - but when I consider what the Scriptures say about human nature, the shock gives way to sadness and resignation.
If we give up the Bible as God's inerrant and fully inspired word, we have no ground on which to base our views of Him and His Christ - and perhaps that's JUST what motivates people to reject the idea. They like THEIR Christ better than the Bible's. He's nice & neighborly, and would never utter a stern word.
The good doctor, preaching on 2 Peter 1:19-21, adds the following:
...It is only as God has revealed Himself and His character and His holiness in this Book that we really know anything about him.
But not only that, God has here revealed His own thoughts concerning man, and life, and the world. Here we are told how man came into existence, how all man's troubles are the result of sin, what God has done about sin, and what God is going to do about sin. Here is a map of history. Here is a philosophy of the ages. Here we are told what is going to happen in the days that lie ahead - and that, you will remember, is Peter's immediate point here. He has been telling these people about the return of Christ, about the Second Coming. How can I know that this is going to happen? Well my ultimate and only answer is this. I find it is stated in this Book, and I bleieve that this Book is not the imagination of man, but God the Holy Spirit speaking through man. As I read it I am confronted by the fact of Christ: I am confronted by these inspired, authentic records, and I believe what I believe about Him because I find it here; and I therefore believe when I am told that He is coming again. I either accept this Book and its verities, or else I base my life and view of the future upon the thoughts and ideas and insights and understandings of men. And as I am confronted by these alternatives, I say for myself that I am driven to believe this Word, which is not of man's will, but which is the product of men moved, borne along, inspired, carried along, driven and guided by the Holy Spirit. Here is a Word which in truth and in fact is the Word of God Himself. It is not private interpretation, it is not human understanding; it is God speaking. Let him who is wise hear the Word of God.
How do people decide what God is like? They FEEL this, and they FEEL that.... or they find truth in the Word of God alone. The extent to which we all fail to describe God properly is the extent to which our description is based on our emotional attachments and feelings apart from Scripture. We cannot conjure up a right image of God in and of ourselves... for any such picture is flawed from the start - it has the wrong source. When I hear people tell me about how they are certain, because they feel that Christ is this or that way, that Christ would never condemn anyone, I am struck in the gut.... they're relying on themselves to decide such an important question about Christ!
This is also a call to us, who claim to value Scripture as that perfectly inspired record... let us check ourselves and our opinions against the holy bedrock of God's word. May God help us.
Posted by toddpedlar at November 22, 2004 04:35 PM | TrackBack