Jesus the Alpha and Omega of Bible Study - Chapter 14

1:49Before we get started, I just want to take a little bit of what's going on currently in the news. This may make sense to some of you, but Amy Coney Barrett, right? What's going on with that? Supreme Court nomination. Can't hardly miss the news without talk about her. Listen to what she says. I believe Americans of all backgrounds deserve an independent Supreme Court that interprets our Constitution and laws as they are written. Yeah, seems pretty basic. Interpret the laws as they are written. But as you know, one of the biggest issues in this country right now is: how should the Constitution be read?

2:39How? That's the issue that has divided America. How? Do we go down the living Constitution approach, the living? We talked about this earlier, but I just bring it back to your mind. The idea there is that words are going to undergo a constant process and change. In meaning, just as time goes on, words change. With substantial passage of time, it becomes difficult to grasp the earlier meanings and to avoid reading the words with the later meanings they have assumed. Since the meaning of words shifts and standards are expressed by their means, there results a shifting in the meaning of the standards, however firm they have been fixed. In other words, the Constitution is changing. As words change, the Constitution, the meaning of the Constitution, changes. That is the living approach. That is the liberal approach. That is what is being argued. How should we approach? It's interesting when Amy Coney Verrett says, this is how she reads it. And this is, she says, I interpret the Constitution as a law, that I interpret its text as text. And I understand it to have the meaning that it had at the time people ratified it. So the meaning of the Constitution is fixed in the meaning of the words that were used when it was adopted. Just so that meaning doesn't change over time, and it's not up to me to update it or infuse my own policy views into it. In other words, what she's saying is, I come to the Constitution, I read it in the meaning of the words that the words had at the time. That's how I read it. The Constitution.

4:32The big shift, the big split is what should be wrong with this? Reading it in the words of reading it in the meaning of the words that were given. Why should that even cause any kind of concern? Well, because what happens is that your approach to the Constitution dictates, is going to say something about how you let the Constitution govern. So, this idea of reading text on a page, regardless of your political views, is very important.

5:14But I submit to you, we've been dealing with this in the church long before this issue has been being dealt with in the Constitution. How do we interpret the words of Scripture? Do their meanings change? Does the meaning of Scripture change or is it fixed? Certainly, the alpha part of this book that we've talked about is we've spent a lot of time looking at how Jesus read the scripture. Jesus most certainly saw meaning in the text at the time it was written, and it is so straightforward that he could say, go and learn what this means. There is a singular meaning fixed in time through the words that were.

6:00Adopted at the time by the Spirit of God and communicated in its setting to that audience. That's how Jesus interpreted the scripture. That's what the first half, the alpha. We start with Jesus. We look at Jesus and follow his approach. But already, there's going to be an outcome. The way you approach the scripture is going to drive an outcome. And so, looking at scripture, reading scripture the way Jesus reads it sets you on a trajectory for a certain outcome. And that's what I want to talk to you more about. It's what we've been talking about. Jesus, the Omega of Bible study. Scripture is revealing a divine personality, the divine personality. God is being revealed. God is being revealed. And then God takes upon himself flesh and he walks among us. And so God is revealing himself. You see that in the Old Testament. Then he takes upon flesh. We see him in the New Testament walking among us.

7:15And so he is transforming us through the words of scripture into his image. So I want to spend a little time tonight just getting a vision, having looked at these things that Jesus said. This is the beginning point, the ending point. Now, let's bring this home. How are we to approach scripture? How are we as a church to relate to scripture? So, here's a vision. This will be familiar to some of you. As Christians, my hope is that we will not primarily be known for what we are against. Isn't that the way Christians are characterized a lot today? What we're against.

8:04But my hope is that we will not be primarily known for what we are against, but whom we love. That's what I would love for us to be known. When people know me, I hope that they know me for who I love, whom I'm drawn to, not what I'm against. Whom do we love? We love the Christ of Scripture, the Christ revealed in Scripture. Why do we love the Christ revealed in Scripture? Well, Paul said it very well. For God, who said, Light shall shine out of darkness, is the one who has shown in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. In the face of Christ, we see the Glory of God, and he has shown his light into our hearts. Why do we love him? Because he has shown his light into our hearts, and we know God.

9:12We've seen the glory of God, we've caught a glimpse of that glory, and it has filled our hearts. So we love the Christ of Scripture. So, my vision for myself and for the congregation that I lead is that we would be a people who glorify God by loving the Christ of Scripture with all our beings. I hope that's what we're known for: being a people who love the Christ revealed in these scriptures with all of our beings. We're all in. I hope that's what people see about this church. I hope my preaching always reflects this and drives you to this point because he has shown in my heart. And we fellowship together because he has shown in our hearts.

10:09You see, Christianity was born out of the love for the Christ of Scripture, and it can only flourish under the same conditions. Christianity was born because people loved Jesus, and it'll only flourish in those congregations where people love. Jesus. So, how does loving the Christ of Scripture manifest itself today? Okay, so we're on board. We want to love the Christ of Scripture. I know that in my mind now, what does that look like in my Monday? What does that look like in our corporate life together? Well, I think there are three primary commitments. We express our love for the Christ of Scripture by growing in our commitment to biblical truth, biblical community, and biblical mission. You probably see this on every bulletin you pick up when you come in: truth, community, mission, right?

11:12That's a value. That's how we express our love for the Christ of Scripture: is number one, being committed to biblical truth, biblical community, that community that was born from the truth, and then being on mission, taking that truth. Talk to me about each one of these here quickly. But it's important to talk about biblical truth. Obviously, it should go without saying that you cannot really see Christ at all unless you're can't see the Christ of Scripture unless you understand the words of Scripture properly. So, there must be an emphasis upon biblical truth. And we've spent time, I don't know if you saw on the news, but Sergei Torup was arrested. He was, he says he's Jesus.

12:12He got in Siberia, the church of the Last Testament. Well, that's it, the Last Testament. He's a former traffic police officer who has declared himself Jesus reincarnated. I guess that's what happens if you lose your job and you want to shift and talk about a career change, right? One day a cop, the next day Jesus, you know. Well, so, but he was, he has been arrested by the Russian authorities. This is just a couple weeks ago.

12:43And so here he is. He's, who is this guy? Well, just another one, another imposter, but it's a mixture of Orthodox Christianity and environmentalism. So you see him out there by the tree and strict vegan diet, and everybody's got it. But this is in the news: a Christ, a person who claims to be Christ arrested. And there are many other Christs. And Jesus said, false Christs and false prophets are going to arise, and they're going to show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Obviously, this Russian police officer wasn't too convincing.

13:33But the times are coming that Jesus says that false prophets, false Christs, false prophets will arise, show great signs. We've been dealing with false prophets from the beginning, right? We're reading 1 John. False prophets, real. Biblical truth. Let's take it back to the Reformation. How do we, if we're going to learn, if we're going to see the Christ scripture, how do we see? Well, a commitment to biblical truth. I don't know if you can see that picture very well, but this picture illustrates the main principle of the Reformation, you know, 1500s. Martin Luther, you remember the principle sola scriptura. And you can see what's happened. There's scales in there, and on the one side, you have all the relics, you have relics, you have the priesthood, you have all the saints, you have keys, you have all kinds of Catholic paraphernalia. You even have the devil holding it down, all that in one side of the scales. And what do you see on the right side? What's in the one side of the scales? It's the Bible. And what is it depicting? The Bible has. Has more weight than all these other things combined, that the scripture has more authority. And so that was the whole principle, the emphasis of the Reformation was biblical truth. Let's let the scripture speak. It has authority, and we are not ashamed. We are not afraid to go where the scripture takes us.

15:28And that's the Protestant vision. If we go back to that time, I liken it to this idea of a painter. If you think about a palette of paints, and you think about what the early reformers were doing, they were wanting to paint a picture of salvation, God, paint a picture of Christ. Let's liken it to paint a picture of Christ from the palette of Scripture alone. So if you have scripture and you want to understand the image of the divine personality using scripture alone, let's understand, let's paint the portrait we see based upon scripture alone.

16:18That is opposed to additional sources. You think about other sources. If you have a palette and then you start, in addition to the scripture, you start throwing some traditions. Some philosophy, some whatever, liberation theology, some experiences, you just start going on political correctness, you start science, all this kind of thing, you just start putting all of these different colors and textures on the palette, and then you start painting a picture of Christ, you might have some similarities, right? But you're going to have some vast differences. And so, and that's what the reformers were doing, wanting to understand the person of Christ from scripture alone. And what happens when you mix in all of these other sources, you start getting different pictures of Christ. For instance, you get the picture of the Christ who has to come and be physically ingested in order to provide spiritual benefits. Listen, this scripture alone caused a big stir in Europe, didn't it? And because what happens is the image of Christ becomes very different, and then the image of God becomes very different. But that's what happens when you add tradition, but then you just start going down. You can have that, there's the Jesus that has a love affair with Darwin. You can mix the two, right? Then there's the Jesus that's. He's got the science wed to science, right? And he's he's looks like Einstein, but kind of like Jesus, right? So there's a mixture. Then there's the militant Jesus that emerges. Then there's the Jesus that just gets along and coexists with every religion out there, right? And then there's that Jesus that's just your buddy. Yeah, I mean, he's just cool, right? But you start, you can get so many different images of Christ depending on the source. But when you use scripture alone, these aren't Christs. These images that I've shown you, they are not Christs at all. They're caricatures. Oh, you might see some similarities because some of the thoughts come from the scripture, but they're gross deviations from the Christ revealed in scripture.

19:01And so, what I want us to be is a people who glorify God by loving the Christ of Scripture with all of our beings. And that's going to start with a commitment to biblical truth because that's how we see him. That's how we behold him today. Second commitment, expression of loving the Christ of Scripture with all of our beings is being devoted to biblical community. Those who love the Christ of Scripture will naturally have an affinity for the community he gave his life to establish. If you love the Christ of Scripture, you will love what the Christ of Scripture loved. And guess what the Christ of Scripture loved? He loves his people.

19:50Loving the Christ of Scripture involves a church routine. And understand that routine. Get that word routine. God is interested in our routines. He's interested in your routine. He's interested in our church routine. He is a God who loves routine. Just look in nature. He is a God who loves routine. Planets and motions, clocks, times, seasons, he loves routine. And he loves a church routine that exalts Christ in all aspects of its corporate life. That is what our routine should be. That is why certain things we do. That is why certain things we don't do, because some things don't honor or exalt Christ. We don't want to play it close.

20:46We want to exalt him in the totality of our being, and we want our community to reflect that. And the deeper you have for the love, or the deeper your love for the love. Christ, the stronger your commitment will be to nurture biblical community. And as you grow in Christ's likeness, you will just become more and more aware of how much he loves the people sitting next to you and how much he has called you to take care of, to look after, to serve.

21:31So I want us to be a people who glorify God by loving the Christ of Scripture with all of our beings. This is going to take a commitment to biblical truth, biblical community, but also a commitment to biblical missions. There's a lot of kinds of missions out there, Brandon. And there are some that really do exalt the Christ of Scripture, and there are some that do not. Biblical mission is devoted to making disciples from all the nations, all the nations, regardless of backgrounds.

22:11Biblical mission makes disciples through systematic teaching. There is no other way. Biblical truth, why is there a thing called mission? Because there are those who do not worship Christ. There are those who do not know him. And so we make him known by going and Proclaiming biblical truth. But the emphasis of the Great Commission, I'll read it to you again: the Great Commission in Matthew 28, verse 19: go therefore and make disciples. That's what we're to do: make disciples from all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. This is where the emphasis is. Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. Think about that. Teaching them all. You make disciples, you baptize them, you take them, you bring them into the community of faith, but you're not done. Evangelistic efforts are not done by just bringing them into the community of faith. You're to bring them into a biblical community and you're to systemize, systematically teach them all that Christ commanded. Make disciples, make them learners and followers.

23:27And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. That's the kind of mission he's with. But the emphasis, as I said earlier, of the commission is upon the arduous task of securing wholehearted obedience to Christ. Now, that's a task we're not going to be able to pull out. Pull off. Go out and, oh, yeah, go into the nations and bring them to a place. Place where they wholeheartedly love the Christ revealed in Scripture. Christ went to the cross because he loved the Father's will. And that's the kind of disciples he wants us to make.

24:17Yeah, it's impossible, but by his spirit, right? That is why he is with us. Jesus' disciples are a people. I appreciate Morris's comment here. Jesus' disciples are people for whom a life has been given in ransom and who are committed to the service of the Master, who not only took time to teach his disciples, but who died for them and rose again. Those who are disciples of such a leader are committed people. And of course, this is the kind of disciple that he looks for in his followers to make. We are to make disciples. We are to make a committed people.

25:06And the means by doing that is teaching them what the Christ of Scripture has to say. Loving the Christ of Scripture inevitably expresses itself in a sacrificial disposition for biblical missions. Strengthening biblical communities. Listen, biblical missions is about strengthening. Strengthening, bringing people in, and strengthening biblical communities, because it's in the biblical community where the systematic teaching is going to take place. So many missions fall flat if the evangelistic effort doesn't make the connection to the local church where the Christ of Scripture is loved dearly. Missions fall flat if there isn't a community where they're going to grow. And oftentimes, we're so we can be part of efforts that are so quick to get excited about seeing someone come to Christ and then leave them and go on to find somebody else to bring to Christ. No, the task is upon teaching them all, to bringing them to the point where they find their complete satisfaction in Christ and in Christ alone.

26:25The purpose of biblical mission is to make him known among the nations, to bring about worship where worship is not. That's what mission is about. The mission of the church, commissioned by Jesus Himself, is to pass on his words from one generation to the next. And it is Jesus who envisioned a systematic and expositional approach to teaching biblical truth in the context of a local community of believers. That was in Jesus' mind. Systematic. Exposition, teaching biblical truth in the context of a local community in all of our routine.

27:11That is to be a fundamental element that if you're here for any length of time, you should grow in your understanding of scripture, you should grow in your ability to love one another and serve one another. And Jesus is actively present with such ministry endeavors. This is where his heart is, this is what gets him excited, this is what gets the father excited. And so he said, this is where I'm at. He loves people. So, vision, biblical truth, biblical community, biblical missions. That's how we express our love for the Christ of Scripture. And we give ourselves and our entire beings to these three efforts. And if an activity doesn't fit under one of those categories, it needs to be abandoned.

28:18You'll find the ministries of the church nicely summed up under those three major categories. Jesus is very much about truth, very much about Community and very much about mission. But I want to talk to you a little bit about the amazing presence of Christ. He promises to be with such ministry endeavors. Those of you who been around know that this is probably one of the passages in Mark's gospel that has impacted me the most. Remember, we spent many years in the Gospel of Mark. Just want to read to you Mark chapter 10, verse 32.

29:07They were going, or they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them, and they were amazed. And those who followed were fearful. Now, to give you a little bit of a context, what's happening here, Mark chapter 10, fascinating, wonderful passage of scripture. At the beginning of Mark chapter 10, Jesus is speaking about marriage and divorce. And coming out of that teaching, it's very apparent: God is reconciliation-minded. God reconciles. Jesus reconciles.

29:52He is so, he is not divorce-minded at all. He is reconciliation-minded. And then you keep going in. Chapter 10, and the question about here comes this rich young ruler who, what must I do to follow you or to have eternal life? And he says, go sell everything, give to the poor, and come and follow me. But he is one who had great property, so he was grieving. And then the disciples are perplexed over this. And they said, We've left everything. And Jesus says, Yes, I know. And you will be rewarded.

30:38Even with persecutions, you will be rewarded. And then he says this, and he's going up to Jerusalem. And as they're going on the road up to Jerusalem, he's walking ahead of them. Now, where is he going up to Jerusalem? He's going to be crucified up there. This is that final Passover. He is going up to Jerusalem. And Jesus was walking on ahead of them. And they were amazed. And those who followed were fearful. Okay. Why were a question? Why were they fearful? Well, that's easy to explain. They know that he's on a collision course with the principalities of this world. They know that he's going to be ambushed, that he's going to collapse. With the powers that be, with the false religious system that has rejected him. He's going to take them on and he's going to go right up there. And they're fearful because they know that Christ is leading them into a collision and they're going to feel the pain of the collision. So they're afraid. They're afraid for themselves. They're afraid for him. They see a collision. And Jesus sees it all coming as well. So that's why they're afraid. But the question is: why were they amazed? Why were they amazed? Here they are watching him go up. There was something in his step, something in his cadence.

32:16They're watching him march right up into Jerusalem. Jesus sees it all coming, like an avalanche of evil coming upon him in its most brutal and vicious form. He sees it all coming, and what's he doing? He is marching up there. He is ready to get on with it. There isn't a hint of falling back, falling behind, fearful at all. He is, it's light going into the darkness. It doesn't know retreat. It goes. It's amazing. His cadence said something about it. Who he was and says something about the presence of the one who is with us.

33:15The Spirit is amazing. I just give you a few things just to note here. The intensity with which he confronts evil is amazing, and you could see that in his step as he's going up. He is confronting evil, he's going to deal with it, and there is an intensity with it. The extent to which he goes to reconcile is amazing. We're talking about being divorce-minded. Now, he is reconciliation-minded, he is justified to leave them all behind, but instead of being content to divorce people, he goes to deal with their sin. And he goes, the extent to which he goes to reconcile is simply amazing. And you can see it in his step. He is going up to reconcile people to God and to himself.

34:11The simplicity of his submission to the will of God is amazing. This is the father's will. This is the son who absolutely loves his father's will and the simplicity, and you can see it in his step as he marches up and his love. For the Father's glory is amazing. He's going up because he knows God is good. He knows His Father is good. And He delights to make His Father known, even if it means being crucified naked publicly for the sin of the world.

34:51He says, This is the God that loves you. He loves the Father's glory. His deep humility is amazing. He's going up and He knows what's coming. And He goes anyway. King of kings, who speaks worlds into existence, bowing to the dictates to the abuse and the lies of sinful men. The humility of the cross. Listen, if our Lord can go to the cross and be humbled, listen, we can carry out whatever he has for us, right? No matter how humiliating or humble our service needs to be.

35:52His humility is amazing. And his willingness to suffer is amazing. All this you see in his Step. This is what amazed people as they followed him. And his love for people is amazing. All this, all this, this is the spirit of the individual who promised to be with us in ministry endeavors, such as biblical community and biblical mission, proclaiming biblical truth. This is the one who delights. Get a sense. This is the presence. This is the personality of the individual that promises to be with us in ministry endeavor. And there's something fearful and amazing.

36:48And I think we can, as we face the 21st century, we can go forward knowing there's going to be collision. Fearful, but amazed. Amazed. Instead of fearful, trusting, we know who he is. Well, something to say about these disciples. This little ragtag group of disciples, well, they followed Jesus into Jerusalem. They were scattered, isolated. Rejected, despised, disappointed, and they were beaten down from without and within. They experienced utter defeat and all the emotions and loss that go with it. They felt it all. They went up hoping one thing.

37:47They saw their world turned upside down. They experienced loss, humility on a level that you and I have never experienced. They experienced utter defeat within and without. But then three days later, they witnessed the resurrected Christ. 50 days later, they received power from on high in the upper room. And consequently, they left Jerusalem with the same spirit that Jesus had when going up to Jerusalem. They went out from Jerusalem with that same spirit that was marching up to Jerusalem. And they turned that Roman world upside down by proclaiming biblical truth, nurturing biblical communities, and sacrificially giving themselves to biblical missions. That's who they were. That's what they did.

39:02And as we look at our 21st century and the uncertainties that lie ahead, I am reminded of one of the most, I don't know, memorable moments, I should say, in seminary. Dr. Thomas had been teaching for 50 years, 60 years. He taught John MacArthur. He had John MacArthur as a student. And I caught him at the twilight of his life. He was also one of my professors. And we had these long hours together where we would have these discipleship times where we would just sit and talk for hours. And on one of these occasions, he and I had been talking for hours. And we've been talking about the state of Christianity in the 21st century. And Dr. Thomas, he was saying, you know, he said, things have changed so much. In fact, after talking a long time about the different attacks coming against Christianity, he said, he looked at me and he said, you know what? I don't know how you guys are going to stand today.

40:27I don't know how you're going to stand. He says, that you. To be, talking in the latter part of the 20s, you know, the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, he said, we knew the attacks that were coming against Christianity, and we knew how to deal with them. We knew how to prepare students to. And so, when he said, whenever I went to a graduation, I was excited because a whole new crop of men were going out to proclaim biblical truth, and they had been trained to deal with these issues, and they knew how to deal with them. And I knew they would. He said, But now there are attacks coming from so many different places that he said, I don't know how you guys are going to stand today.

41:16He says, I can no longer attend a graduation ceremony without a sense of apprehension for you guys. Now, that's somebody who's seen a lot. And he's seeing a lot come against the church. And I've thought a lot about Dr. Thomas's words since then. And I've come to the conviction that the right response to our changing times will always come from those who love the Christ of Scripture with all their beings. I don't care what's taking place. If you're driven by this one, one principle, a love for the Christ of Scripture, you will respond. Rightly to your changing times. You may make some mistakes, but the overall pattern will be one of responding rightly.

42:15Because such people will let Scripture, not secondary sources, reveal Christ. You see, it's when your understanding of Christ gets off kelter that your whole life gets off kelter. When your view of Christ is off, your view of God is off, your view of God is off, your view of yourself is off. Of course. But those who love the Christ of Scripture will let scripture, not secondary sources, reveal Christ. They will read Scripture the way Jesus did. And they will not be afraid to let Scripture define who they are and how they are to think.

42:59And they will not be afraid to follow the Christ of Scripture wherever he leads. And they will love the church that Christ established. And they will sacrificially and benevolently give themselves for the eternal welfare of humanity. That's why I know that they will respond rightly. They will delight to put on. Christ-like godliness and find their complete satisfaction in God alone. But where do we get people like that? It's my prayer that God would give many to the church. Where do they come from?

43:50It is my prayer that God would give this century more, just like this. But where do they come from? Well, they're going to come from those places that are committed to biblical truth, who give themselves to local community and biblical missions. That's where they're going to come from, and they don't come from anywhere else. There is no other place. They come from the church. And I pray that God would give us more, that he would not be through with this nation, that he would not be through with our community, but that God would raise up many committed biblical truth, biblical community, and biblical missions as an expression of their love for the Christ of Scripture. And that is why I want us to be a people who glorify God by loving the Christ of Scripture with all of our beings.

45:02Just a reminder: how do we see the Christ of Scripture today? He's not walking among us. Well, we see him through the words of Scripture. He's the Alpha and Omega. He is the beginning point. We approach Scripture following Jesus' example. We want to relate to Scripture the way Jesus related to Scripture, and He is the Omega. We will be transformed into His image. This is what God expects His disciples to do. He expects us to honor Scripture, He expects us to read and interpret Scripture. He taught His disciples how to interpret Scripture, and He did so so that we would see Him, understand Him, and be able to follow Him today.

45:48And so, when you pick up your Bible and you begin to read, you're part of something so much bigger than yourself. Don't neglect your time in the Scriptures. Scripture consists of God's words that connect us to the glory of God in the face of Christ. And those scriptures are, as they are revealing Christ, as we are seeing Christ, this same living word is transforming us into His image. And God intends us to understand his words. Look, you don't have to be an expert to start reading your Bible. Just start picking it up, just start reading it.

46:49Scripture reveals to us the deep beauty of Christ. He is the perfection of humanity, he is the flowering beauty, and his beauty is contagious. And as you see him, you will be transformed into his image. So, once you determine to start your Bible study by looking to Jesus and end by looking at Jesus, then the story of God in your life is ready to begin. Got a couple minutes. Any questions? Thoughts. Well, it doesn't change my vision for the church to be a people who love Jesus with all of our beings. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the truth of scripture.

47:56We thank you for your church. We thank you for what you're doing. Here among us, as we open your word, and as we step through verse by verse, we're excited, our hearts are warmed, our souls are fed, Father. And as we see your name exalted, as we understand the ins and outs of how you deal with people, how you instruct what you did, what you expect, all of that is revealing who you are. So, Father, as a community, we want to honor you, we want to walk in your ways, we want to see you. So, Father, we ask that you would grant to us a greater ability to read your word, a greater love for your word, and Lord, just a greater desire to follow, and a greater contentment in knowing that we're loved by you, and a greater trust, just that we can put all things into your hands, regardless of what this century may bring us or what tomorrow may bring us. Father, we are equipped because you are with us.

49:25So, go with us now. Please grant. That we would grow in our love for you. In Jesus' name, amen.