Knowing God is Loving God Part 4 | Scripture

Sunday Morning | March 1, 2026 | John C. Majors | Louisville, KY

In Part 4 of Knowing God is Loving God, Pastor John taught from Psalm 19 that we come to know God through two forms of revelation: general and special. General revelation (Psalm 19:1–6) declares God’s glory through creation, but as Romans 1:18–20 explains, humanity suppresses and excuses this truth—making it sufficient to convict but not to save. For salvation and true transformation, we need special revelation—God’s written Word (Psalm 19:7–11)—which enlightens the eyes (Ephesians 1:17–18) and fully satisfies the soul. Pastor John emphasized that Scripture is SATISFYING: Sufficient to equip us (2 Timothy 3:17), Authoritative in guiding truth, Trustworthy and living (Hebrews 4:12), Inspired and inerrant—breathed out by God (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21)—Self-authenticating because it reflects God’s perfect character (1 John 1:5), and ultimately For You, calling believers to obedience and transformation (Psalm 19:11; Romans 12:1–2; Hebrews 1:1–3). The central message was clear: if we truly want to know and love God, we must treasure, trust, and obey His Word.

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Transcript

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Thank you. Isaac. Good morning everyone. I love that song. That's a great way to transition into our message. Holy, holy, holy. We can't say it enough. The fact that the angels around the throne say it for all eternity tells us that we can't say it to ourselves enough. We talked about God's attributes last week, and the whole point of this series we are in is to help us get to know God better. We want to know God so that we can love him. You can know a lot about someone without knowing them, but to get to know them, you've got to ask them. You've got to get connected with them, to really know them and to fully love them. And we know according to Scripture, when you know God and when you love God, that leads to you loving others. And so we're continuing in this series. What does it mean to know God? What does the Bible say about God? What does he say about himself to us today? The way we're going to dive into that, the topic we're going to address is the Bible. What do we how do we need to view the Bible? What role does the Bible play in us knowing God and loving God and loving others? And of course, every week we look at the Bible. We look in the Bible. This week we're talking more about the Bible as a whole of what it tells us about God. In fact, I was reminded of a of a movie. I don't often reference movies because that's a gamble, right? You never know. Do I remember everything that was in that or not? Or did I see it all it. So I'm not going to mention the movie. I just remember the beginning was a guy who, in high school was chubby, out of shape, not very popular, not very athletic. 20 years later, his friend hadn't seen him in 20 years, sees him. And of course, he's actually is the actor Dwayne The Rock Johnson. What happened to you, man? It's been 20 years. How did you go from the chubby guy that seemed to have nothing going for him to the Rock? How did you go across from that? How does that happen? And he said, well, look, it was it was really easy. Let me just tell you how it happened. Just one thing. I just did one thing. This is all I did. Tell me, what was it? I'd love to know. All I did was for 20 years, every day, six hours a day. I just worked out that was it. That's all. And his friend was like, yeah, thanks. That doesn't really help. That's that's not really what I want to do. But if you want to become if you want to be named the rock to get to that place, unless Jesus nicknames you that as he did with Peter, unless that happens to get to look like that, there's no shortcut. You don't just stumble into that somehow accidentally. And as we're looking at this topic of Scripture today, and here's the thing I want you to hear today more than anything else. If you want to grow in knowing God and loving him and connecting with him, experiencing the fullness that he has for you in this life, there are no shortcuts. It doesn't just somehow happen because you might think about God occasionally. There is only one way, and we're going to drive at that today. And it's at the end of the day, it's being in God's Word. And so I'm going to spill all the beans on the front end here. I've got one objective today, and that's for you to leave today with a greater burden, a greater passion, a greater fire like you've never had before to be in God's Word. That's the goal. That's everything I'm driving at today is that you come leaving and you go, I got to be in God's word. I got to be in God's Word. Nothing else matters. That's the hope. Because there's nothing else that will change you for the good, like God's Word. Hebrews 412. The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, joint and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. God's word is alive. We got to get it in us. So it goes to work in our lives. And so we've got to be in it. And so that's the goal today. Now why God's word? Why do we need God's Word? Well, first let me back up in step and just ask, how do we know anything about God? Okay. How would you know anything about him? Well, God's word tells us there's two ways. The first is it's called general revelation. In fact, if you have a Bible, turn to Psalm chapter 19. We're going to see pretty much most of everything. We're going to talk about today is going to be anchored in Psalm 19, rooted in Psalm 19. What does God's Word say about God? What does he say about himself to us? General revelation is this idea that everyone can know something about God. Even if you don't have a copy of God's Word. All right, so Psalm 19, let's just read the first 5 or 6 verses here. Psalm 19, verse one, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out throughout all the earth and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and like a strong man, runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and it's circuit to the end of them. And there is nothing hidden from its heat. Here's the point of these first six verses. And if you don't have a Bible, by the way, I'm going to be reading from it a fair amount today. And I don't put the words up on the screen, because I want you to look in a copy of the Bible. We have those in the lobby for you. Grab one any time, slip out and grab one because I want you to be turning in the Bible. But these first six verses are pointing out the reality of general revelation. Everyone who has ever lived should look at creation and go, something must have made this happen. This can't have been some random by chance accident. The complexity, the beauty of it all makes all of humanity or should make all of humanity pause and go. There's got to be something else out there. There's got to be something bigger than me that caused this to happen. That's general revelation. Even if you've never heard of Jesus or God, even that specific name, you should pause. Creation screams out to us and it affects everyone. Even talks about how the ends of the earth are reached by the heat of the sun. Everyone experiences the reality, the truth that creation speaks to us all. But there's a challenge with that reality of general revelation. In fact, part of the problem is, is that many of us who see that don't want to acknowledge that. In fact, the phrase that is in Scripture is suppress. Many of us suppress the truth. If you flip over to Romans chapter one, Romans in the New Testament, few books in Paul speaks to this specifically Romans 118. He says, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. His invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made, so they have no excuse. Yeah, creation screams out there is a God. And the problem is often times we say, but I don't like that. I don't want that to be true. I don't want anybody telling me what to do. I don't can't believe personally that there's a God, so therefore there must not be. And I'm going to suppress that truth. I'm going to try to deny the obvious. But the second challenge with that we can do that. The problem is you don't have an excuse. In fact, in modern times, in modern language, we would say ignorance of the law is not an excuse from the law. If, let's just say in theory, you might get pulled over for speeding. Just random example. I don't know if that has ever happened. Anyone here? Probably not in this church, but if it does happen and you get pulled over for speeding, maybe just randomly, you were going 20 miles an hour over the speed limit, let's say. And you say, officer, I'm so sorry. I did not know that that was the speed limit. Please forgive me. And he or she will say, too bad. It doesn't matter. You should have known. It's your job to know. Ignorance of the law is not excuse away from. I'm sorry. I didn't know it was wrong to kill somebody. Too bad. We are without excuse because the heavens declare there is a God, and it is on us to go figure out what that means. In fact, some will say this idea of general revelation, God revealing himself to us is enough to convict, but not say it's enough for us to go. I know there is a God. I know I must seek him, but to be really delivered from our sin, to find fullness in relationship with God, we've got to move beyond just general revelation that there must be some God out there too. And here's the in your outline, the word specific revelation or special revelation. You can use either one. We go from general revelation to specific. There is a God, but who is the God? That's the difference that we're talking about, not just some random unknown God out there, but to a personal God. An example of this would just be in your own life. The fact that I exist means I must have parents. They must. There must be some parents out there because I exist. I'm alive. Someone must have made me. That's general revelation. But specific revelation are my parents are John and Pam Majors. I know them, I know probably where they will be sitting every week in about the same seat given 1 or 2, unless someone random comes in and makes a move somewhere else and didn't know that that's their spot, right? You know what I'm talking about. I have a key to their house. I know the garage code. I know when the coffee and bacon are probably hot, and I might just happen to stumble by at that time. I know they love me. Sometimes I wonder why, but. And I love them and they've poured into me. And we have a relationship of love that is specific, not just general parenting. Well, these are my parents. These are people who care about me. And so there is a God and we want to know him personally. So what does he say about himself to us? How does he reveal himself to us in his word? Here in Psalm 19, he talks about the difference between special revelation and or general revelation, and now specific or special revelation. The way we know anything about God is through His word, him telling us about himself. And so the next set of verses get into this and you'll see the phrase the word of the Lord, the testimony of the Lord, the precepts of the Lord. All these are euphemisms for the word of God, the Bible. So look at verse seven with me back at Psalm 19. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold. The word of the Lord is more to be desired than gold, much, even much fangled, sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned in keeping them there is great reward. All of these verses speak to the power of God's Word, the way he speaks to us in purity and truth, in righteousness, both what it is and what it does in our life. And the key verse here in this section right now is verse eight. Because without verse eight you won't see it. We will continue to suppress the truth even when presented with God's specific revelation to us. We rejoice in heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. And so this is what we all need. In fact, Ephesians 118 talks about this. Paul is praying that the eyes of your hearts may be enlightened. And you know what I'm talking about. There are times where the obvious truth is right in front of you, and you're just blind to it. You can't see it until God opens your eyes to it, until he reveals the truth of His word to you, until he peels back the blinders that we've put ourselves over our eyes. And I remember, and many of you have experienced this, maybe people for years around you were telling you, you've got to know Jesus. You've got to come to follow him. And you didn't want to hear it. And maybe you couldn't hear it. But there came a day where you did hear it. That can happen to the oldest and the youngest. I remember as a five year old here, hearing the gospel, growing up in this church over and over again. You'd hear it. And I knew even at five years old, I was created by a God who loves me. And yet I rejected him because of my sin. And I needed someone else to come and pay the penalty for my sin on my behalf. In fact, I needed God to do that, and that's why he sent Jesus. And Jesus died on my behalf. Listen, even a five year old can understand this. They hear it week after week after week in their Sunday school class. And Jesus died. I knew he died for me, and he rose again for me. And because of him, if I trust in him and believe in him and repent of my sins, I can have forgiveness in him, and I can walk in eternal life with him forever. As a five year old, I can understand that, and I can say it probably pretty similar to that. It's such a simple message that anyone can understand. And yet also, you can spend the rest of your life plumbing the depths of who God is. I mean, here we have in our midst today, Friday, Larry Piercey turn 90 years old. Larry, do you mind waving your hand or standing if you can? Larry's right over here. 90 years old, still leading. Probably our largest Sunday morning class here at the church. Still excited about God's Word. And Larry would tell you, I still have so much to know about God's Word. I feel like I'm just scratching the very first layer of what is there. That comes when God has enlightened our heart. He has opened our eyes to who he is. We have to have that and to know him. Now I have in your notes if you have a copy of the notes. I had a bunch of letters I was going to walk through today about what it means to understand God's Word, because here's how we know God's Word. We've got to understand some things about it to apply it to our lives. I'm going to do is cover two letters. I realized I was starting to turn it into a seminary classroom by trying to cover too much, and we don't need that today. And maybe some of us do need that. Maybe you need to know a whole lot more than I'm going to cover today. Listen, I've got plenty of resources I want to put in your hands. I promise. I'd love to, but today, this morning, I've got one goal. And that's to increase your burden to be in God's word. And so I'm just going to cover two letters to tell you why God's Word is so important. We're just going to look at letter I and those notes. We're going to look at letter A. We're going to start with letter II because that lays the foundation for a letter A. And there's two words there. We're going to look at God's word is inspired and it's inerrant. These are very important words to understand about God's Word, because there's plenty of other churches that don't believe these words are true about God's Word. God's word is inspired and inerrant. And so let's talk about inspired first. And by that I don't mean it's inspiring, which it is. But that's not what that word means in particular when I'm talking about it right now, what I'm talking about is God's Word comes from God. It is created by God. It is written by God. In fact, in your notes we have the verse second Peter 121, which talks about the fact that men who wrote God's Word were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So it wasn't just men writing God's Word individually, separately. God was also intricately, intimately working through them, carrying them along through the Holy Spirit to create His Word, which is how we can trust that it all fits together. It's not just 66 completely separate books written by 40 authors over 1500 years that have nothing to do with one another, and we randomly collected them all together. Now listen, God had his hand in every word written on the page, and he was overseeing it through every step of the way. And he knows where it all points to, which is Jesus. And he knows it all fits together. His word is inspired. He created it, in fact, that the word that is often used for that is also in your notes. Second Timothy 316 All Scripture Scripture is breathed out by God, profitable for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete. All Scripture is breathed out and God's breath is what has life. God breathed life into His word. He did it with Adam when he created him. He breathed the breath of life into him and gave him life. He did it with the dry bones in Ezekiel. He breathed life into them. It's his breath that brings life. And so when we talk about Scripture being inspired, this has the life of God in it. And if you want real life and you know the difference, you know the difference between I'm just living, I'm just barely existing and I'm alive. You know what I'm talking about. You've had those moments where you go, I am fully alive today. If you want to know life to its fullest, this is where you find it. This is it. There is no place else. This is it. Because God's life is in here. So it's inspired, but it's also inerrant. And we could use the word true instead. It is truth. It is without error. All that it affirms is true. Scripture is true. We can depend on it. There's a list of verses I have in your notes here John 1717. This is Jesus, your word is truth. Jesus calls God's Word true. And when we talk about Jesus, when we talk about God first John one five God is light and anything, and in him there's no darkness at all. It's not like he struggles with sin and puts that aside to share some truth with us. No, he is completely true, pure, holy. He can be nothing else than that. And then one of my personal favorites, Proverbs 30 verse five, every word of God proves true. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. We can come to God's Word confident. That was one of the words in last month's memory verse. Confident and His Word is true. We can depend on it. We can come to it knowing that we will find in God's Word what we need. And remember, there are no shortcuts. Just because you randomly open a page and try reading it once, doesn't mean you'll see everything you need to see. There are no shortcuts. You got to be in God's Word, but you can trust that it's true. Letter I inspired and inerrant. And all this sets up the reality of letter A and what we need with letter A is to recognize that God's Word is your authority. For the Christian, God's word is our authority. It's authoritative. It's the thing we lean on for everything we do. God's word is your authority. Everything we do in this church, we bring it back to God's Word. We try to. I'm sure we don't get everything right. I'm sure we get some things wrong, but our hope is that we're coming back to Scripture to answer any question we have, and we try to be open and upfront about that. All our beliefs are on the website, all our even our bylaws and how the church is governed our on the website. We're not trying to there's no secret knowledge here. We're trying to keep from everyone. And once you attain to a certain level within the club, we tell you what we're really about. No, it's all out there and it's it's all right here. This is our authority. And because God's Word comes from him, because it's trustworthy, this can be your ultimate guiding authority in life. And the question is, if it's not, then what is? If it's not this, what is it? Because it's going to be something. Something will guide you in life. Well, what is it? If it's not this, you may not know. To be fair, is it just simply your feelings? I go with what I'm feeling. That's what I follow. Well, does that ever lead you astray? No one. Come on. More than once I hear you. Well, just say more than once. We don't need to go farther than that, right? Yeah. Is it your feelings? I feel it, therefore it must be true. It must be good. Well, come on, is it your reason? I use my intellect. I use my reason to figure things out. And that's what I go by. Have you ever been wrong? Has your reason ever been misguided? Where does your ability to reason come from? And what is the reasoning you've developed based upon? Look, we all have something we call our authority, whether we realize it or not. What's it going to be? Is it going to be whatever wind of doctrine passes through? That's what Ephesians 414 talks about. You've got to be. The reality is, a boat has to be anchored to something solid. It can't be anchored to itself. What are you going to be anchored to? What is your foundation that when you don't know what else to do, where do you go? I think most people are really struggling because they haven't settled that. And when they don't know what else to do and when life is overwhelming and when they're wracked with anxiety or guilt or fear or depression and they don't know what else to do because they don't know what their authority is, they don't know where to go. And the reason why I'm hammering on this so much today. Because as I thought about it, the people I know who are the most stable, who make it through the seasons of anxiety, yeah, they have things that make them worried, but they don't. It doesn't become debilitating. The people who hit hard times but don't let it overwhelm them. The people who aren't, they might be afraid, but they're not walking in fear. The people who I admire are the people who are in God's word. They're in God's Word faithfully every day. And they pray, and they come to Christ and they depend on him. And the opposite is true. Those who go, I'm completely ate up with anxiety. I'm completely overwhelmed by fear and depression and listen. And by the way, I know I'm way overstating a lot of things here. All right, look, I know there are chemical imbalances. I know all that. I'm not I'm not trying to look past all that and just impose upon you something here that may not be fully true, but many often when I ask them, how often are you in God's Word? How often are you praying? I really struggle to do either consistently. There's a common pattern between the two. And so I just want to plead with you today. The solution for most everyone is right in front of you. If you had cancer and I said, I've got the magic cure and it's almost certainly guaranteed, just take it regularly every day. I don't know, I struggle to do that. I hear you, the struggle is real. It's real for me too. But do it. His word is life. It is here for you every step of the way. It's inspired. It's true. It's your authority and there is nothing else. Listen, I know how derailed some of us can get if you just. Let's just say. Imagine how you would be tomorrow if you went the rest of today without eating. Would your family want to be around you? What if after 2 or 3 days, how would you be? You probably would be immobile, curled up in a ball in the corner of your room and nobody would be anywhere near you. We don't even have to go that far. By the way. Some of you miss one meal. That's all it takes. If you didn't get dessert and you're like, I'm out, leave me alone, right? And yet we easily go even a day without God's word in our lives. And we wonder. We wonder why I can't figure it out. Why am I struggling? And it's been weeks without food. This is my burden today that you get in God's Word. And here's why I look back at Psalm 19. Yes, you can trust it. Yes, it should be your authority. Yes, it is inspired. It is the Word of God from himself. And it also goes to work in your life to change you. In fact, Romans 12 talks about it transforms you. Don't be conformed to the image of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And so look at Psalm 19. We saw what God's Word is. Look at also what it does. Look at verse seven. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. God's word will comfort you. He will restore you. Being in His Word is what will revive your soul. Also, the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple anyone lack wisdom? James says, let him ask and it will be given him. If you're wondering what to do, come to him. Come to his word. Come to him in prayer. Ask, beg. Come to him. Verse eight. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart, bringing joy to the heart. You're struggling to find joy. This is where to find it. God's word will bring you joy. And then verse 11, by them is your servant warned, God's Word will protect you, it will guide you, it will protect you. And you know what I'm talking about. How many times could you look back and go, if I had listened to God's Word, I would have been protected from some stuff I wish I hadn't gone through. In keeping them, there is great reward if you want to experience life to its fullest life abundantly, life everlasting. If you want your life transformed, follow His word. Martin Lloyd-Jones was a preacher in the 1930s in Wales, Great Britain, and it was a pretty poor industrial area at the time. But as he began to preach and in fact try to recover the reality of God's Word being inerrant, inspired, true, dependable, which had many churches had strayed from as he began to preach, that it stirred a revival in the area, and it began to change people. And he started to overhear women in the supermarket. And when they talked about their husbands, they weren't putting them down. They were talking about how they now preferred to go to the prayer meeting more than anything else, God is at work. But he knew something special was happening when he heard the story of a boy who came to his teacher and he said, teacher, I just want you to know the most amazing thing happened in our home last night. Last night we actually had a meal in our house. What are you talking about, a meal? Doesn't everybody get a meal? No, many times we don't. Most of the time we don't. But last night we had mashed potatoes, we had gravy, we had meat, we had cabbage. I didn't know that was such a delicacy. But for him it was. We even had rice pudding. He was glowing. And she said, what happened? He said, my, my dad came to know the Lord and all that money he would spend on alcohol he brought home to us so we could eat. He transforms you. He changes you. And his word is the means by which that happens. There is no other way to know him. If you want to know Jesus and follow him, you got to turn to His word. Because at the end of the day, when we talk about God's Word, I'm not just talking about letters on a page. I'm not just talking about ink on paper. The word is Jesus. Hebrews one. In the former days, God spoke to us through prophets through many ways, but now he speaks to us through His word. Jesus. Jesus is the word. That's where all of this is pointing to, so that we can know him. And in him is where you will find life. Life abundant, life everlasting. And so I'm going to do something today. I'm going to ask you to make a commitment. Okay? I don't do this very often. I did it once last year where I asked everyone to make a commitment to come to church every Sunday that month, I'm going to ask you to make a bigger commitment today, and I'm going to pray. Before I do that, I'm going to give you a second to chew on it. And here's the commitment I'm going to ask you to make. God's word is so important. It's so critical. It will change you if you're in it. I'm going to ask you to commit to every day in March to read God's Word and to pray on your own every day, to not miss a day, every day in March. And I'm going to ask you specifically, if you don't, if you already have some Bible reading plan you use, and that's not a struggle for you, that's great. If you don't, I'm just going to ask that you simply read the is Bible reading plan in March. It's like a chapter a day. It might take five minutes to read. Those are out in the lobby. They're on our website. They're easy to access. We're just going through the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs right now. Really easy. And pray five minutes a day, find a window at some point and build that consistency. In the month of March. I'm going to ask you to commit to that today. I'm going to pray for that before I ask for that commitment, so you can pray about it and think about it and consider it. It is a big commitment, but it's worth it. It's worth it. God will work through that in your life. And some might say, you know, John, I don't know. I don't know if that will really work or not. You're right. You don't know because you haven't tried it. Try it. Get in God's word. Let God's Word get to work in you. Watch him move in your life through it. God, I pray for everyone here that there would be a renewed passion for your word, that every person leaving here today would leave with an overwhelming burden that I have got to be faithfully in your word, committed to reading your word, to getting to know you through your word. Would you give us the courage to make that commitment today? Would you give us the courage to keep that commitment to lean on one another, to encourage one another? If you want to see God move in this church, start by having him move in your life every day. This month. Love you Jesus. Amen. All right, so here's what I'm going to do. If you will commit to every day in the month of March, 30 days, right. March as 30 days, right? Or 31. So I'll give you one free day. I messed up there. You get one free day. Every day I'm going to be in God's Word. I'm going to read at least the church Bible reading plan. I'm going to pray five minutes. If you do that, will you stand? And here's what I would encourage you to do. I know it might feel a little weird. Look around to someone that you know that you can trust and go to them after and say, Will you help hold me accountable to this? Will you encourage me? Can I text you when I'd rather just go on to sleep and not do this? And will you encourage me? All right. Well, listen, go and have a seat,