WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:00.880 Well, good morning. 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:05.839 We're in our third week on a series talking about the uniqueness of the Bible. 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:08.720 In our first week, we talked about the authenticity of the Bible. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:10.400 How did we end up with these books? 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:11.919 Why do we call this the Bible? 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:14.640 Why do we consider this to have authority in our lives? 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:17.120 Last week we talked about the power of the Bible. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:22.399 How does that word and the scripture work in our lives and have power to change us? 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:31.839 And today I woke up excited to preach today because I'm preaching on something, 25 years of preaching, and I have never preached on this subject. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:45.759 And yet, every time I or you read the Bible or hear the Bible, you are dealing with the topic of today, even though when I tell you the topic, you are gonna think this there's nothing more boring than this topic. 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:50.560 Because we're gonna talk about the literary genres in the Bible. 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:52.640 The literary genres of the Bible. 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:55.759 Here's what I mean: I have a box in my garage. 00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:07.680 And as my children, as my three girls have given me Father's Day cards and birthday cards and different stuff like that throughout the years, you know, I read it, leave it on the kitchen counter for a while, and then I take it out to this box in the garage and I put it in this box in the garage. 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:10.879 I went out, I took a few pictures of kind of stuff that's in that box. 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:13.439 You know, the cuddle gift cards, one of my favorites. 00:01:13.599 --> 00:01:15.519 So waiting for my wife to give me something like that. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:16.480 That would be amazing. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:18.159 That's a separate subject. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:20.879 But you know, you got all sorts of different stuff like this. 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:24.879 But there's other types of writing that my girls have done, right? 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:27.920 Like in English class, they write stories. 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:33.200 They've written letters to friends, or they're away at camp and they've written a letter back to us. 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:38.159 At this point, for my oldest daughter, we're writing college essays, application essays. 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:40.159 All different types of literature. 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:41.840 Those are different literary genres. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:43.359 The Bible is the same way. 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:47.680 There's all different literary genres that make up this book. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:51.840 We have books of the Bible, but these books of the Bible are made up of literary genres. 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:55.040 Here's a little bit of an overview, a little bit of a seminary class here for us. 00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:58.000 A little bit of an overview of types of literary genres. 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:02.640 When you hear the Bible or you read the Bible, you're doing your devotion, you are dealing with these things. 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:06.560 We have narrative history, which is storytelling, Genesis and Exodus. 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:12.800 We have poetry, which is Psalms and Song of Solomon, and we get parallelism, we get metaphor, we get emotion. 00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:17.039 Proverbs is wisdom literature, practical lessons for reflecting on life. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:22.000 We have prophecy writings in Isaiah and Jeremiah, that's poetry and narrative blend. 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:25.520 We have apocalyptic writings, that's what the book of Revelation is. 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:30.080 And that's symbolic visionary literature about the end of times. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:31.759 We have legal material, right? 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:34.960 Detailed commands and statutes and ordinances. 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:37.120 The book of Leviticus filled with that. 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:39.039 And we have letters in the New Testament. 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:47.280 We see all sorts of letters that are written by Paul and James and Peter and John and doctrine, Christian living, pastoral teaching. 00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:48.639 Let's start with this. 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:49.439 Point number one. 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:55.439 The Bible is filled with meaningful, literal, and figurative language. 00:02:56.479 --> 00:02:59.840 Jesus uses figurative language when he teaches. 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:01.280 We read it in John 10. 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:02.080 Let's read it again. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:05.599 Listen to the figurative language that's used. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:07.840 John 10, 14 through 16. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:09.520 I am the good shepherd. 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:17.360 I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. 00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:21.039 So you and I are a sheep, in verse 15. 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:23.759 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:28.159 I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice, so there will be one flock, one shepherd. 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:35.840 Now we know this is figurative language, and we know it because we know that you are not a sheep. 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:38.479 You're a person. 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:40.400 But Jesus says you're a sheep. 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:42.000 So he's using figurative language. 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:42.800 It's not literal. 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:45.039 Every word in the Bible is not literal. 00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:50.159 It's figurative, it's a metaphor, but it's a metaphor for us to understand something that's true. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:55.120 And that is like a shepherd to his sheep, is like Jesus to us. 00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:57.520 Oh, Jesus cares for me. 00:03:57.919 --> 00:04:02.560 Oh, oh, like a shepherd guides and protects and sacrifices himself for his sheep. 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:04.159 Oh, that's like how Jesus is for me. 00:04:04.319 --> 00:04:05.360 He guides me. 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:07.439 And he cares for me and he protects me. 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:09.919 And he sacrifices himself for me. 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:18.879 Oh, just like a shepherd knows every sheep within his flock, Jesus knows every single one of us. 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:23.120 Oh, so this creator, God, who created everything, he's also personal. 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:27.680 We get all that from the figurative metaphor language, right? 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:33.279 The literary device teaches us that he knows us personally. 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:35.199 We get that all from the metaphor. 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:41.279 All right, point number two is this the Bible is filled with meaningful literary genres. 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:43.839 In the mid-1900s, C.S. 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:46.639 Lewis was a British scholar, theologian. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:48.079 He wrote all sorts of books. 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:50.879 He sold more than a hundred million books. 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:56.160 He's probably the most famous Christian writer that's ever historically lived. 00:04:56.639 --> 00:05:02.720 He's most famous for two different books, Mere Christianity, which is a nonfiction teaching book. 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:09.600 And then a total different genre, The Chronicles of Narnia, which is allegory, fiction, parable. 00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:11.600 And he wrote other literary genres. 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:14.240 He wrote letters in a book called Letters to Malcolm. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:18.319 He wrote Personal Narrative, which a biography called Surprised by Joy. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:22.000 After his wife passed away, he wrote another biography called A Grief Observed. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:26.160 He wrote poetry in his book that was published called Spirits in Bondage. 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:27.519 You see what I'm getting at? 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:33.439 One guy writing different literary genres that make up his work. 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:37.439 And yet all those works are all for one purpose. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:39.120 Who is this God? 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:41.279 What does he think of me? 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:43.360 And how do I walk with him? 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:46.160 Now let's nerd out even more. 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:55.759 In 1987, a theologian named Trimper Longman wrote a book called Literary Approaches to Biblical Interpretation. 00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:58.000 Not your evening reading, right? 00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:09.199 But incredibly important because every time you have the Bible taught to you or read to you, or you hear it, or you read it, all of us are making certain decisions about what we're hearing. 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:14.879 And this actually can explain why you were taught certain things at certain churches in the past. 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:17.279 Longman says this. 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:29.600 But we don't want to claim everything is literal, because then we have to be sort of absurd. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:38.959 Here's what he says we want to learn with literary sensitivity and theological integrity. 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:48.000 Longman teaches that by recognizing the literary genre you're reading or hearing, you can better understand the Bible. 00:06:48.879 --> 00:06:49.279 Right? 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:52.240 You don't have to think yourself an actual sheep. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:55.519 You can understand that's a metaphor and you can learn from that. 00:06:55.759 --> 00:07:06.959 Now, on the spectrum of literal to figurative, we can somewhat think about this as conservative to liberal, not politically, but theologically. 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:12.800 Typically, the more literal that you treat different passages, the more conservative you are. 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:18.240 And typically the more figurative you treat different passages, the more liberal you become. 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:21.600 And all of us are on this spectrum somewhere. 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:24.879 Every church you've ever been to is on this spectrum somewhere. 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:27.759 I am conservative side of midpoint. 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:28.800 Just that's where I'm at. 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:32.800 You're somewhere else, we're all on this somewhere, but that's where I'm at. 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:46.720 And so that means when I read the book of Revelation, I treat it as an apocalyptic literary genre, not entirely literal, which means I don't believe in a rapture before a thousand-year reign of Christ. 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:49.680 We talked about this when we went through the book of Revelation a couple years ago. 00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:59.680 Now, in Southern evangelical America, what's been taught in the last hundred, two hundred years is predominantly that premillennialist view. 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:02.480 There's a rapture, there's a thousand years reign of Christ. 00:08:02.639 --> 00:08:04.079 Now, where do we get that? 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:05.839 Literary genre. 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:10.959 So we end up believing what we believe based on literary genre. 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:15.360 And you can listen to our Revelation series to get all that broken out. 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:19.759 Here's my point the genre has an effect on you. 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:24.800 What you understand the genre to be, is the book of Revelation literal? 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:27.920 If so, you'll probably end up being a premillennialist. 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:28.959 And maybe you are. 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:29.680 That's great. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:37.440 If you believe it's apocalyptic and some of it's figurative, you may end up being a covenantal amillennialist like me and not believe in a rapture. 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:40.480 How do you see Genesis chapter 1? 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:46.000 Are the days literally 24-hour periods? 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:50.080 Or is Genesis 1 poetry? 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:52.159 And the day is a season of time. 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:58.559 Well, I believe that Genesis 1 is poetry, Genesis 2 and 3 are historical narrative. 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:08.639 So what that means for me, it means I believe a day in Genesis 1 is a season of time, which means that I'm not a literal creationist, I'm a progressive creationist. 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:12.480 I believe there's a progressive process between these seasons of time. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:15.759 And then we get to say Genesis 3, I believe that's literal. 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:17.679 It's a historical narrative. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:19.440 So I believe in a literal snake. 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:22.240 I believe in a literal Adam and a literal Eve. 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:26.720 Listen to the difference between, say, Genesis 1 and Genesis 3. 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:30.080 Just listen to it of how it's written. 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:32.559 Genesis 1, 3 through 6. 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:36.559 And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:39.039 And God saw that the light was good. 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:41.279 And God separated the light from darkness. 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:44.159 God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:46.559 And there was evening and there was morning the first day. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:52.879 And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:54.240 And it goes on, right? 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:57.279 And God said, and he saw it was good. 00:09:57.440 --> 00:09:59.039 And God said, and he saw it was good. 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:00.960 And God said, he saw it was good. 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:05.679 We get this repetition, structured pattern, and rhythm. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:06.879 It's poetry. 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:08.320 It's Hebrew poetry. 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:12.639 That same writer in Genesis 2 and 3 switches genres. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:16.159 Total different feel in 2 and 3 than chapter 1. 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:17.679 Because he's switching genres. 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:20.799 He moves into a historical narrative, storytelling. 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:21.679 Now listen to this. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:24.080 Quite different of Genesis 3, 1 through 7. 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:29.919 And listen for, you hear plot, you hear dialogue, you hear sequence of events. 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:31.919 Genesis 3.1. 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:36.559 Now the serpent was more crafty than the other beasts of the field that the Lord God had made. 00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:41.759 He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:51.679 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die. 00:10:51.840 --> 00:11:01.360 But the spirit the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:10.000 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:13.840 And she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:17.120 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew they were naked. 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:20.799 And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loinclaws. 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:24.639 You could hear the difference, total different genre, different style of writing. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:26.720 And here's what we can learn. 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:34.799 We let the genre shape how you read and what you expect a passage to teach you. 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:37.840 Here's just some ideas, rough guidelines. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:42.720 Narrative invites us to see God's work and history and learn from the characters. 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:48.320 Poetry invites us to see God's attributes and personally worship or lament. 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:53.600 Wisdom literature invites us to learn and apply general life principles. 00:11:53.919 --> 00:11:58.480 The law reveals God's moral standards, call for obedience, our need of God's grace. 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:05.600 The epistles, all those letters in the New Testament, they explain the life of Jesus, our need of Jesus, and teach the Christian life. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:11.200 And all these genres, all these genres are telling one story. 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:15.840 That we don't have the ability to get our acts together. 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:23.200 We are sinners in need of a rescue of God's grace to us, this one-way love to us and Jesus. 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:38.639 Now, what we talked about last week is how we're constantly bringing meaning from what that author meant thousands of years ago to those people at that time, and we're bridging that over to my life in 2025 and Marietta. 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:41.440 And we're making that bridge constantly. 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:44.240 I showed you the image of this bridge in India. 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:46.879 There's these Casa people in India. 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:49.919 Their land is filled with mountains and rivers and gorges. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:51.360 It's one of the wettest places in the world. 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:53.200 It makes construction extremely difficult. 00:12:53.360 --> 00:13:01.679 And the way that they've solved bridge building is they plant a rubber fig tree on each side of a river, and then they build a bridge out of the roots. 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:14.639 And what we said is that this bridge that we are making of what the Bible meant 2,000 years ago, 3,000 years ago, 4,000, we're bridging that over to Marriott in 2020. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:17.200 It's a beautiful image for us to understand. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:19.600 We're constantly bridging. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:22.960 And so we said there's two bridges that we use in Bible study. 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:25.200 The first bridge is this them to us. 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:28.720 What did this mean to those people at that time? 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:33.039 Now, part of that, what we call exegesis, part of that work is literary genre. 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:35.279 Now, part of that can be very overwhelming. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:37.360 Even at this point, you're like, hey, I just want to read my Bible. 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:38.159 Like, this is a lot. 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:39.600 Like, just let me read my Bible. 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:43.519 But that's also why there's people who've given their lives to this. 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:51.840 You don't have to do all the work, but you can find experts who have written theologians that write things called commentaries. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:57.200 For me, I use John Stott commentaries because I don't want 30 pages on two verses. 00:13:57.279 --> 00:13:59.600 I want like four pages on a passage. 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:03.279 I need somebody who's done the work to bring it down to me a little bit. 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:08.240 There's a commentator series that I use all the time called the Bible Speech Today. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:11.919 Now, next week we're going to talk about the Bible as one story. 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:18.240 And then the next week after that, Labor Day weekend, Pastor Matt's going to preach and he's going to help resource us. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:19.519 Resource us. 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:21.039 How do we study the Bible? 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:22.080 Like, how do we do that? 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:22.879 Where do we do that? 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:23.840 What does it look like? 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:24.799 What should I use? 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:28.559 Like, like if I want to figure out what the literary genre is, how do I even figure that out? 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:30.960 Is there somebody who's like studied ancient literature? 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:35.519 Yes, there's people who've studied ancient literature that can be helpful to us. 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:38.080 So the first bridge is all that exegesis. 00:14:38.159 --> 00:14:39.759 What did it mean to those people? 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:43.679 Okay, how does that fit into the Bible story of Jesus? 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:45.519 And then what does that mean to me? 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:46.639 What does that mean to me? 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:47.679 We're all doing this work. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:49.360 I don't want to do it, I just want to read my Bible. 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:50.159 No, you're doing it. 00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:51.200 You're already doing it. 00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:53.600 We're all doing it all the time. 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:57.360 That's the first bridge, 2,000 years ago, to us today. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:01.360 The second bridge we talked about is from the head to the heart. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:05.840 That we're meditating those scriptures past just information? 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:08.000 Oh, well, that's the historical dare to da da da. 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:13.919 No, we're gonna get past just information down into our hearts. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:18.480 What does this say about God as Him being my creator and my Savior? 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:20.480 What does this say about me? 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:24.320 About my created worth and yet sinful condition. 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:28.320 What does this say about my need of God's grace in Jesus? 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:32.799 How can my heart trust more in God's goodness to me in Jesus? 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:38.639 So we learn something in our minds and then we're meditating it down into our hearts. 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:47.679 And point number three is this the Bible is literal, the Bible's figurative, and it's always personal. 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:53.200 There's a story in Luke 24 where two disciples are walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:54.879 Here's an image of that walk. 00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:58.240 If you're to walk it today, this is what it would look like, this road. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:00.159 It's about a seven-mile walk. 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:02.639 These two disciples, they're puzzled, they're confused. 00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:03.759 Jesus has died. 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:09.519 They've heard that he's risen again, he's alive, but but they're saddened by what happened, they're confused, what have they heard? 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:15.919 And then Jesus comes alongside them and walks with them, but for some reason they don't recognize them. 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:20.159 Now, this is a historical narrative, literary genre, so we treat all this as completely literal. 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:22.240 These three men are walking down the street. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:24.480 Jesus begins to converse with them. 00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:27.679 He begins to explain the scriptures to them. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:31.759 He explains Moses, he explains the prophets. 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:38.080 He's weaving together, helping them see how the scriptures are telling a story of their need of him. 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:42.799 And then we get Luke 24, verse 32. 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:52.559 They said to each other, these two disciples, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road? 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:55.600 While he opened to us the scriptures? 00:16:56.799 --> 00:16:57.679 Isn't that interesting? 00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:01.519 He teaches in the scriptures, he's explaining a lot. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:07.279 So they're getting a lot of mental information, but a bridge occurs down to their hearts. 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:09.359 It becomes impersonal. 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:14.960 Did not our hearts hurt? 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:17.440 It always becomes personal. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:26.480 The disciples are saying, I had a life-changing encounter when these scriptures came alive to me. 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:31.200 They felt accepted and loved in this Jesus. 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:36.079 And what do the scriptures really mean? 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:42.559 Well, we summed up last week is what John Calvin said 500 years ago. 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:49.519 He said all scripture, when correctly understood, testifies of Christ. 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:59.200 See, Jesus is all the forgiveness you need for all the ways Sam said it in the liturgy of our confession prayer. 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:00.160 We don't love you. 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:02.400 Jesus, we don't love you like we should. 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:03.680 We don't love our neighbors. 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:09.920 We just like that's that's enough today to feel like, yeah, okay, I'm not living up to what God has asked me. 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:12.880 I don't love God like I should, and I don't love my neighbor. 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:14.079 At least I love myself. 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:15.680 I love myself a lot. 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:21.119 I need Jesus for the forgiveness of all that sin, plus a lot of other stuff. 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:30.559 And not only that, I'm not like starting at zero, I'm starting as a beloved child, daughter, son of God because Jesus' righteousness is given to me. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:42.799 And what that means is it means your devotion to the Bible and your ability to perfectly understand the literary genre and get that homilytical bridge over to what it means for you in 2025, Mary. 00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:46.799 Wonderful, I want you to learn that, I want you to get better at that, I want the scriptures to come alive to you. 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:50.400 But that has nothing to do with how much God loves you. 00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:53.359 Or forgives you or how righteous you are. 00:18:53.680 --> 00:19:00.720 The length of your Bible study, how deep it is, how frequent it is, has nothing to do with how much God loves you. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:02.799 Nothing to do. 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:12.240 Because how much God loves you and accepts you, and how forgiven you are and how righteous you are, that's a whole separate thing because that's completely in Jesus. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:16.319 He just can't love you anymore. 00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:18.559 Because he already loves you fully. 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:23.759 Something burns within us when we hear something like that. 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:29.359 When we're relieved of the achievement, performative Christian faith. 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:32.720 Something stirs within us. 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:49.599 That story of the scriptures, when we see it's not a book of list of rules for us to do, but even the rules are either an expression of how much God loves me or a way to break us down for us to see that we need Jesus, that all this is one story of God's rescue. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:20:07.759 The more we see, doesn't that something in your heart sort of come alive that you could be like you could be loved like that before you get your act together, before you understand the Bible, before you have your perfect Bible studies and understand the literary genres of the Bible, like before all of that, you could be completely, perfectly loved. 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:16.079 There's a safety there because it's not based on your performance or your devotion or your spiritual discipline. 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:20.480 Author and Pastor Tim Keller says this about Luke chapter 24. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:21.759 I'll close with this quote. 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:33.279 You have in your heart a longing for purpose, a longing for infinite love, a longing for significance and security that nothing in this world can possibly satisfy. 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:37.279 Your hearts are not going to be satisfied until you find him. 00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:47.119 And the way you find him is when some particular scripture you see that it is really about him and what he has done. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:49.039 Let's pray together. 00:20:50.079 --> 00:21:17.599 Heavenly Father, we're so thankful that our relationship with you is rooted in what you have done for us, not what we do for you, and that everything that we do for you, our love of others, our spiritual disciplines is not for love, but because we have already been fully loved by you and this Jesus, that Jesus really is enough for all the forgiveness we ever need and all the righteousness we ever need. 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:23.359 May we rest all the more in your sufficiency of Christ for us. 00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:25.119 In his name we pray. 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:26.000 Amen.