WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:04.240 We're in our fourth week studying the uniqueness of the Bible. 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:08.960 This morning we're talking about the Bible as one big story. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:16.879 Now I grew up on Star Wars movies, those early 80s, late 70s, Star Wars IV, five, and six. 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:25.519 I loved Luke when he was training to be a Jedi with Yoda, you know, and then we learned Vader was his father. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:27.120 You know, I hate to break the news to you. 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:28.239 Um that's part of the story. 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:31.039 Star Wars IV, Luke joins the rebellion. 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:34.479 Five, Luke trains with Yoda, Vader's his father. 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:39.759 You know, Luke's uh Star Wars VI, Luke confronts Vader, and the rebels bring down the Empire. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:41.039 So those are those three movies. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:46.560 There's three movies that came after, there's three prequels, there's nine movies total. 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:54.240 There are subplots, there are conflicts, but all of it makes up one big story. 00:00:54.399 --> 00:01:00.079 And the big story of Star Wars is the Skywalker bloodline shaping the fate of the galaxy. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:03.439 Subplots, conflicts, all sorts of stuff, all weaving together. 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:05.359 One big story. 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:07.519 Incredibly similar to the Bible. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:14.879 That the Bible is subplots and conflicts and all sorts of different things going on, weaving together one big story. 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:22.719 Point number one is this the Bible is a meta-narrative, one big story, of God's rescue of us in Jesus. 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:27.359 We can see Christ in every book of the Bible. 00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:30.719 Here's a list that I pulled from the Gentle Reformation blog. 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:32.159 You can look this up this week. 00:01:32.319 --> 00:01:34.480 I won't go through every single one of these. 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:37.439 This wouldn't, that would be, it'd take a little bit of time. 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:40.719 But in every book of the Bible, we can see Jesus. 00:01:40.879 --> 00:01:44.959 Those books before Jesus is on earth are all foreshadowing and pointing toward. 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:49.359 Those books after Jesus are all explaining his life to us. 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:51.920 We studied the book of Leviticus a year ago. 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:54.879 Christ is the final burnt offering of Leviticus. 00:01:54.959 --> 00:01:56.560 We study the book of Nehemiah. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:59.040 Christ is the wall of safety. 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:08.479 Hosea, Christ is the forsaken husband, the book of John, the New Testament, Christ is the word made flesh, the book of Ephesians, which we're going to study next, coming into the fall. 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:10.159 He's the forgiver of our sins. 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:12.240 The book of Peter, he's the chief shepherd. 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:15.360 The book of Revelation, he's the first and the last, he's the Alpha and the Omega. 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:30.000 All one story, a whole bunch of books of the Bible, subplots, conflicts, all weaving together, one big story, all driving to Jesus or coming out of Jesus and explaining Jesus to us. 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:34.080 And the lobby of Christ Community Church in Nashville, Tennessee. 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:39.280 That's the church that my mentor, Scotty Smith, he planted that church and pastored it for 20-something years. 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:43.120 And in their lobby, they have this painting by David Arms. 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:45.439 This painting is called God's Story. 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:52.639 And Scotty had David Arms, he commissioned this painting when they were going through the story of the Bible. 00:02:52.960 --> 00:03:02.080 This painting's a great way for us to ponder the story as we think about each panel of this piece of artwork. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:10.319 That first panel on the far left is creation when everything was as God meant it to be, Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:14.719 Life was perfect joy, perfect harmony. 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:19.280 We were in close, perfect relationship with God and with each other. 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:21.199 No conflict. 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:25.759 Everything, everything is working. 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:33.919 And then the second panel is the fall, that tragic intrusion of sin and death that we see in Genesis 3. 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:38.159 Resulting in the brokenness of all people and a broken world and broken bodies. 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:40.800 I am wearing these more and more. 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:47.199 Anybody else there? 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:50.240 Late 40s, 50s, you're just carrying these around. 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:52.400 You got 10 pairs and they're scattered all around. 00:03:52.479 --> 00:03:53.599 It's coming for all of us. 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:55.360 It's coming for everybody. 00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:57.599 Our bodies are broken. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:04.080 This summer and this fall, my my wife got sick with vertigo, and we're still processing through that. 00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:05.759 Some of you were kind with so many meals. 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:06.879 Thank you for that. 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:10.879 And I knew she was getting better when she began to get mean again. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:15.039 And I said, Oh, you're you're bossing me around again. 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:16.319 Like you're feeling better. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:18.240 I can tell because you're mean again. 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:20.160 You were just way too nice for too long. 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:22.079 I was very, very worried. 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:22.879 Right? 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:24.319 Our bodies are failing. 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:26.319 Like one day you feel great, and then something happened. 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:27.040 Anybody else? 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:28.480 Does anybody else have an issue? 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:30.319 Anybody have an issue with your body? 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:31.519 Anybody have an issue with the rod? 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:32.879 Anybody have an emotional issue? 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:34.319 Anybody have any emotional issues? 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:35.680 Anybody have a spiritual issue? 00:04:36.399 --> 00:04:39.519 Anybody uh fail at things that they wish they didn't fail at? 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:41.439 Anybody think about things they wish they didn't think about? 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:45.439 Anybody uh wish they had one motive, but really they have another motive? 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:51.279 Anybody do something over it and over again and then you kick yourself and beat yourself up afterward? 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:52.879 It's a fallen world. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:55.680 Adam and Eve's sin would pass to all people. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:58.959 We're born into this dead condition and to a broken world. 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:01.680 Romans 3.23, for all have sinned. 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:04.560 I have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:07.759 So we see our created dignity, back to the painting. 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:16.240 We see our created dignity in the first panel, but in the second panel, we're reminded of the story that we're not perfect, we're broken. 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:18.079 And we experience that brokenness. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:20.800 But yet we get a third panel, redemption. 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:24.720 God's astonishing promise to redeem all of us. 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:32.079 That he cares enough, he loves enough to love us in our mess while we disobey. 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:36.800 And that is through grace alone, by Christ's work alone, Ephesians 2, 13 and 14. 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:46.240 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off, you've been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace. 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:56.079 So our performance is not our peace, he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. 00:05:56.240 --> 00:05:57.600 So it's by his work, not ours. 00:05:57.759 --> 00:05:58.959 Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:01.439 For by grace you have been saved through faith. 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:07.519 This is not of your own doing, it's a gift of God, not a result of work, so that no one can boast. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:25.199 So we have creation, we have fall, we have redemption, and then the fourth panel on the far right of the artwork, we have restoration, the fulfillment of God's plan, that He wants to gather and cherish a people forever in the new heaven and the new earth. 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:34.560 That there is a day when all of our longings will come true, when we will not be ailed by the brokenness and the sin that we know in this world and in our bodies. 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:37.839 Revelation 21, 1 through 4. 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:50.639 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more, and I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:55.839 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. 00:06:56.079 --> 00:07:00.879 He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:05.199 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:13.839 And death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:21.040 All those longings and of our hearts that were put in there in the creation will come true one day in restoration. 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:26.959 Point number two is this God's story unfolds through the Bible and in our hearts. 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:34.800 Meaning, God's story, this meta-narrative, is the way in which we understand ourselves and our own stories. 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:47.040 It helps explain ourselves to us that we have dignity and that we have worth, and yet we're not perfect, we're sinners, and yet then God loves us in that redemption. 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:49.439 Fourth panel, we're looking forward to restoration. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:54.639 God's story helps us make sense of our own beings, our own hearts. 00:07:54.959 --> 00:07:59.759 And we can make sense of our own hearts and lives only as we find our place in God's story. 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:03.680 As we study the Bible as one story, we can ask ourselves some questions. 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:08.319 Here are four questions we can ask ourselves anytime we hear the Bible or we read the Bible, we do a devotional. 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:16.879 If we're reading in the Old Testament, we can be asking ourselves, how does this passage point toward or foreshadow the work of Jesus to come? 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:19.120 That's what the Old Testament's building toward. 00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:27.680 The New Testament's reflecting back on that work of Jesus, and we can ask ourselves, how does this passage help me understand the life and the work of Jesus? 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:32.080 Third, how does this passage help me see how good Jesus is for me? 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:41.200 And then fourth, is my heart trusting in the story of this world, performed, and then you are accepted? 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:45.360 Or the story of the gospel and Christ you are fully accepted? 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:48.399 That question will change your life. 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:55.440 That question will revolutionary, radically free you and give you peace. 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:57.840 It's a question we should ask every morning. 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:03.279 Is my heart trusting the story of this world, perform and achieve and accumulate, and then I'll be accepted? 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:11.279 Or am I trusting in the story of the gospel that in Christ I already am fully loved and fully accepted? 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:18.399 Point number three is this the Bible is one story about Jesus filled with the dynamic of law and gospel. 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:22.240 We could also say filled with demand and relief. 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:28.720 One day this summer, while I was on break, I woke up and I stretched a little bit and I had a little breakfast. 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:35.279 I walked outside, I stared at my grass because I like to stare at my grass and how's it growing, and what I need to do to it, and looked at it, and it's looking pretty good. 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:41.279 And I come back in, and one of my daughters was in the living room, first thing in the morning, I don't know why first thing watching the notebook. 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:45.679 You know, just a nice early morning entry to the day, watching the notebook. 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:51.120 I sit down and I start watching uh the notebook, but I think I'll just watch like five minutes or so. 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:53.120 An hour later, I'm sucked in. 00:09:53.279 --> 00:09:54.720 I am into the story. 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:58.080 I need I need to know if Allie's gonna marry Noah. 00:09:58.159 --> 00:09:59.919 I mean, I just really I had to know. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:01.279 I hadn't and I'd already seen it. 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:04.399 I'd already seen it once before, but I had to finish this. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:10.080 He goes to war, he writes those letters, maybe it's too much information if you've seen it, but you've had a few years. 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:11.519 Will they stay together? 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:12.720 Will she marry him? 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:14.240 Will she marry that rich guy? 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:15.840 Who he was pretty nice too, right? 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:17.840 Like you're kind of like, it's a pretty good catch. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:20.000 But she's in love with Noah, right? 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:24.159 The story's about Noah and Allie, and within that story, there's a dynamic. 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:26.399 It's one story, Noah and Allie. 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:28.799 And in that story is a dynamic. 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:31.120 The dynamic is love and fear. 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:38.720 Love of Noah, fear of her parents' approval, fear of people's approval, fear of being poor. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:43.919 One story filled with an ongoing dynamic that must resolve. 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:46.399 And this is how the Bible is similar. 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:54.480 One big story about Jesus, his glory, his goodness to us, and it's filled with a dynamic, and that dynamic is playing out. 00:10:54.639 --> 00:10:58.879 500 years ago, the reformers called this the law-gospel distinction. 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:03.919 We could say it this way: the meta-narrative, the one big story is about the goodness of Jesus. 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:18.159 The dynamic within that story that is constantly in the scriptures, constantly at play in our hearts and our lives, is the dynamic between law, who you should be, and gospel, who God is for us in Jesus. 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:20.960 And these two things do resolve. 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:22.480 And they must resolve. 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:26.080 But we get to see throughout the scriptures how they resolve. 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:28.240 And it's all the way through the scriptures. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:29.039 Look at this. 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:31.360 We'll work our way through some examples. 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:33.919 Creation and fall, Genesis 1 through 3. 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:37.759 Law, God commands Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:41.759 Gospel, God clotes them after they do this. 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:46.559 God clothes them with the garments, providing a covering that they could not have made on their own. 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:50.240 So law exposes sin, gospel provides mercy. 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:54.480 Abraham and the promise in Genesis 12, 15, and 22. 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:58.799 Law, Abraham's tested to sacrifice his son Isaac. 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:01.120 Gospel, God provides that lamb. 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:04.480 So righteousness comes not by his work, but by faith. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:07.759 The point, faith, not works, secures God's blessing. 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:13.919 Moses and Israel, in Exodus and Deuteronomy, the law, the Ten Commandments, the covenant, they demand obedience. 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:17.600 Good, holy, rightful instruction for life. 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:19.679 And yet nobody lives up to it. 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:28.000 So we have gospel, God provides sacrifices for Israel as they continue to fail throughout the Old Testament, pointing us to our need of Jesus. 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:31.200 So law reveals sin, gospel gives atonement. 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:34.960 The prophets, the prophets of the law pronounce judgment on rebellion. 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:37.759 The gospel, they promise restoration and a new covenant. 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:39.919 Law convicts, gospel restores. 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:42.240 And Jesus' ministry, he shows up. 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:44.399 Early on, he preaches that Sermon on the Mount. 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:44.879 Remember that? 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:45.679 Matthew 5? 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:46.480 What does he do? 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:48.559 He intensifies the law. 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:56.000 He says stuff like, You've heard it said, don't commit adultery, but I tell you, do not even lust in your heart. 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:58.159 He intensifies the law. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:00.720 He's not saying the law means nothing. 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:04.960 He's saying, in fact, the law is everything, it is pure holiness. 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:09.840 And at the end of that Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, I didn't come to abolish the law, I came to fulfill it. 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:11.759 He's saying, I am your righteousness. 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:18.159 Paul explains that by saying that our sin is put upon the cross and his righteousness is given to us. 00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:21.519 So Jesus intensified the law. 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:23.759 He offers rest and forgiveness to sinners. 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:25.200 He is the gospel. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:27.759 Heightened law drives us to the gospel. 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:30.000 Paul's letters explain Jesus. 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:38.480 Paul says that law shows sin and brings a curse, but gospel, God's righteousness is revealed apart from the law through faith. 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:41.200 Paul frames everything in this law, gospel distinction. 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:42.720 Lastly, the book of Revelation. 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:46.399 We see law and the final judgment on sin, but we see gospel. 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:50.399 God creates a new heaven and a new earth, wiping away all tears. 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:53.440 The law awards and the gospel comforts. 00:13:53.759 --> 00:14:02.799 Priest and author Paul Zahl, in a book called Grace and Practice, a great book to understand this law, gospel distinction, this dynamic that's playing out in this big story. 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:06.480 And he says this every time we hear the Bible, read the Bible, do a devotional. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:11.440 We can ask the question is this passage demanding law who I should be? 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:13.679 Or is it giving gospel? 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:21.600 And then he says this, because this is what we have to remember as we read, because we're going to read law, we're going to read gospel, and we're going to read this dynamic. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:26.559 The law, it guides us, but it drives us to the end of ourselves. 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:29.759 And the gospel drives us into the arms of Christ. 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:32.000 Now, here's how it resolves. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:34.080 I love this quote by C.F.W. 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:36.080 Walther, 19th century Lutheran. 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:38.240 Here's how he explains how does this resolve? 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:41.840 Who you should be and God's promise of righteousness and forgiveness. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:43.120 How does this resolve? 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:47.440 The gospel does not require anything good that man must furnish. 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:55.440 Not a good heart, not a good disposition, no improvement of his condition, no godliness, no love either of God or men. 00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:59.039 It issues no order, but changes a man. 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:05.840 It plants love into his heart and makes him capable of all good works. 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:08.320 It demands nothing, but it gives all. 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:11.600 Should this fact not make us leap for joy? 00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:16.879 The law is the F-150 without an engine. 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:21.600 Like that brand new, beautiful F-150, unbelievable it is. 00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:25.200 It's perfect, but it has no power. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:27.600 It can't move. 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:31.279 The gospel's the power to move. 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:40.240 The gospel is the very power by which we can begin to live obediently, not just by behavior, but from our hearts. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:44.799 What that means is it means we do not obey because we're told to. 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:47.039 We don't obey because we're afraid. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:49.759 We do not obey to be loved. 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:53.440 We obey because we're already loved. 00:15:55.679 --> 00:15:58.080 And we get all of that in the story of the Bible. 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:00.639 And that dynamic that's playing out. 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:08.480 Where the law shows us our needs and the gospel, this Jesus, that the whole story is about this Jesus gives us relief. 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:12.720 This week I saw a reel of one of the bears up at Brooks Falls. 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:14.080 You know, we're moving into the fall. 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:15.039 The bears are there. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:16.240 You've been wondering about it. 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:16.799 There they are. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:18.480 We talk about it every fall. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:23.759 And so they come out of hibernation in June, May, June, and they go to Brooks Falls to feed, right? 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:30.240 If you've been with us for years, you know about our bears at Brooks Falls in Alaska, and they go there and they feed all summer. 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:31.759 They get fatter and fatter and fatter. 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:33.840 We have fat bear wheat coming up the end of September. 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:35.519 We'll talk about it again, don't worry. 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:38.080 And so they're there feeding right now. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:44.000 And so what I look at on my Instagram reels, I look at bears and fly fishing. 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:44.960 I don't know what you look at. 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:47.440 Those are the things that I look at and I scroll. 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:49.600 So I saw this reel uh this week. 00:16:49.679 --> 00:16:50.480 I wanted to show it to you. 00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:00.720 And you I watched it like five, six, seven times, something like that. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:02.240 That's for the teenagers. 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:09.440 Um, maybe 10 times, maybe 20 times, but I watched it a lot, and then for 30 minutes, I watched other stuff. 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:12.480 Like I was just watching other bear stuff. 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:14.960 I was really deep into the bears, and I saw another reel. 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:17.119 I want to show you this reel of all the fish. 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:20.079 This is why that bear was jumping off. 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:22.559 Like, this is the amount of fish that are off. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:26.319 Wild, right? 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:28.240 Like, that's a lot of fish. 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:31.279 Like, I don't know if you're aware of how many fish are usually rivers. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:32.799 Like, that's a lot of fish. 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:35.839 I mean, that's nothing more exciting than what I just showed you to me. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:38.160 Like, there's nothing greater than that. 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:41.119 So, of course, the bears are there. 00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:42.559 Of course they're there. 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:44.480 The bears are there because the fish are there. 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:46.720 They want to nourish themselves. 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:48.880 They want to feed on that. 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:50.000 Goodness. 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:54.400 It made me think of that 1 Peter 2, 2, and 3. 00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:58.880 Like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk. 00:17:59.599 --> 00:18:04.480 That by it you may grow up into salvation if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:05.039 Right? 00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:08.960 Thinking of the bears, we're going to replace the metaphor very easily. 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:13.200 Like hungry bears crave fresh salmon, right? 00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:28.559 Like the metaphor is teaching us something like if we want to grow up, if we want to develop, if we want to mature, if we want to grow in this grace of God that already declares us beloved, if we want to grow in that, like crave the very thing that can grow us. 00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:32.319 And that's the story of God's redemption of us. 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:34.960 That's the good news that we have. 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:45.119 To linger longer, to nourish our souls, the more alive we come to the story of God's love for us in Jesus, the more we'll develop, the more we'll grow. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:48.400 I close again with that quote by John Calvin. 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:51.200 We've been closing all the sermons with this. 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:52.960 What do the scriptures really mean? 00:18:53.039 --> 00:19:00.079 Well, he says this, John Calvin, 500 years ago, all scripture, when correctly understood, testifies of Christ. 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:01.039 What's he saying? 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:03.759 He's saying meta-narrative, one big story. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:06.640 All the scriptures testify of Christ. 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:31.359 That Jesus is all the forgiveness you need, Jesus is all the righteousness you ever need, which means, like we said last week, that your devotion to the Bible, your ability to understand the literary styles of the Bible, your ability to understand the one big story of the Bible, your ability of the law gospel distinction to nerd out with me, your ability to understand all that has nothing to do, nothing to do with your position with God. 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:36.079 It has nothing to do with how loved you are or how accepted you are, how forgiven or righteous, nothing. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:37.119 It has nothing to do with it. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:37.680 Not at all. 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:47.839 How long your quiet times are, or how often they are, or how much you read the Bible or study the Bible or know the Bible, has nothing to do with how righteous you are, forgiven you are, accepted you are, beloved you are to God. 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:49.519 It has nothing to do with it. 00:19:50.400 --> 00:19:58.400 Which means that we don't have to score keep on how much or how many Bible studies we're having, because we do not study the Bible to be loved by God. 00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:04.319 We study the Bible to learn about the very thing we already have. 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:06.079 Right? 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:10.960 To grow in the wealth of the identity we already have in Christ. 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:16.240 That we're already fully forgiven, already fully righteous, already fully His. 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:17.839 He can't love you anymore. 00:20:18.079 --> 00:20:19.680 He can't love you any less. 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:21.680 Because He doesn't love you based on your work. 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:25.279 He loves you based on the work of Jesus for you. 00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:32.799 And that's why we want to nourish ourselves with the very truth and the goodness that has been proclaimed and is true about us. 00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:34.160 Let's pray together. 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:37.839 God, thank you for the story of the Bible. 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:40.480 That's our story. 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:42.720 That we are created, we have word. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:47.039 We know we have word, and yet we know we are not perfect. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:56.799 And thank you that in our imperfection, our sin, our brokenness, our mess, our inability to get our acts together, you sent Christ to die for us. 00:20:57.279 --> 00:21:06.319 Your love made flesh, your move of love to us, and the cross, an objective place for the forgiveness of sin. 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:15.599 And that none of this position with you or eternity is based on our work or our performance, but solely on the work of Jesus. 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:17.119 You are that good. 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:27.759 And in our days of being proclaimed righteous, and yet not always living that way, our hearts long for the day where the struggle is over. 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:39.359 We look forward to the day of redemption, the fourth panel, where our longings will be fulfilled, our tears will be dried up, all the sad things will be untrue. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:43.200 We thank you for the goodness of Jesus for us. 00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:50.160 Help us to see him all the more, and help us to continue to grow in the great wealth of the identity we have as your sons and your daughters. 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:51.039 In Christ's name. 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:51.680 Amen.