WEBVTT 00:00:00.719 --> 00:00:06.639 Well, it's our second week on a series about the Bible, the uniqueness of the Bible. 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:09.119 Last week we talked about the authenticity of the Bible. 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:10.880 How did we even get the Bible? 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:11.839 Where did it come from? 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:13.119 How did we get these books? 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:14.720 We talked about that last week. 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:18.719 And today we're going to talk about the power of the Bible. 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:20.879 What can this book do? 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:23.280 Hebrews 4 12, that we just read. 00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:24.000 Let me read again. 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:38.399 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:42.479 So point number one is this the Bible is historical answers. 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:47.439 Forty years ago when I was a boy, I grew up on Mr. 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:48.079 Rogers. 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:50.320 What you grew up on, you grew on some show. 00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:51.039 I grew up on Mr. 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:51.520 Rogers. 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:53.119 That was the show I grew up on, always watching. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:58.240 I loved how he always came into his house and he would change his shoes and put on the sweater. 00:00:58.320 --> 00:00:58.799 I love the change. 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:01.119 I still change my shoes like five times a day. 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:03.840 You should have a pair of shoes for every part of the day. 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:05.920 I just firmly believe that thing came from Mr. 00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:06.640 Rogers. 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:07.439 Mr. 00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:12.079 Rogers always said, you are special just the way you are. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:12.480 Right? 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:13.680 That's what he said over and over again. 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:15.680 You are special just the way you are. 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:19.920 Now, years later, some critics came along and they said that Mr. 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:22.319 Rogers was placating kids. 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:23.920 He was placating young people. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:25.840 He was promoting laziness. 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:28.560 He was creating entitled millennials. 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:32.159 So if you're wondering where it came from, you know, it's old people would say, oh, it came from Mr. 00:01:32.239 --> 00:01:32.879 Rogers' fault. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:34.000 That's where it happened. 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:35.680 But we have to ask, like, what did Mr. 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:36.560 Rogers actually mean? 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:37.359 What did he mean? 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:41.120 We can't just project what we think he meant on top of his words. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:45.920 What did he actually mean at that time to those people? 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:47.680 We have to ask, like, what else did Mr. 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:48.959 Rogers teach? 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:52.799 What is the context of this that he said? 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:57.439 And then it's much more likely that we would conclude something like Mr. 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:05.760 Rogers was saying that you have worth just as you are beyond or more profoundly than your achievements. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:08.879 That's much more likely contextual once we think about Mr. 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:10.400 Rogers as a whole. 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:12.159 Now I love a Bible study. 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:13.599 I love a discussion. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:17.599 I love to open up the Bible, read a verse, and what does this mean to you? 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:18.719 And what does this mean to you? 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:22.319 And let's share, let's open up our heart, what does this mean to you, right? 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:23.360 We're gonna do a. 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:28.319 But there has to be a question before that. 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:35.199 We have to read the Bible and understand the Bible through the lens of what did God intend to say? 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:39.280 We can't just project everything that we think or feel on top of it. 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:42.560 Meaning this, we read the Bible, right? 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:54.400 We read it in church, maybe you read on your own, you read a devotional, we read the Bible, and then we ask, what did God intend for this to say to those people at that time? 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:56.080 Now that can be tough. 00:02:56.159 --> 00:02:57.599 That might take some studying. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:07.840 Maybe you need a study Bible, maybe you need a commentary, maybe you need a little help for that to figure that out, but that's an important step because then only then can we ask, what does it mean to me? 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:13.520 Because the Bible can never mean something it was never meant to mean. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:23.120 Our job is to say the context, the history, the literary style, the setting, who is this person who's writing it, and then we can say, what does it mean to me? 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:27.120 This is the difference between exegesis and homilytics. 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:35.039 You can use these words this week, impress your other friends, especially with a Christian friend, you know, make them feel like they go to a really shallow church, you go to really deep, profound church. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:37.120 We were talking about exegesis in our church. 00:03:37.199 --> 00:03:38.319 You know, you can use these words. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:39.439 Here's what these words mean. 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:44.240 Exegesis is what did this passage mean to those people at that time? 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:48.560 Exegesis is the work of studying that, of figuring that out. 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:53.840 What does this mean to these people at that time from this person who's speaking it or writing it? 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:59.360 Now, homilytics, a lot of times homilytics is used more like with preaching, it's a term used in preaching or homiletical bridge. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:10.719 Homilytics is given that exegesis, what it meant to those people at that time, given that, let's bridge it over to me, 2025 and Marietta, what does that mean for me today? 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:20.879 So there's a bridge from what did it mean then, exegesis, and then that homiletical bridge over to you, what does this mean for you now? 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:24.160 You're doing that process all the time. 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:29.920 When you're in a Bible study or a small group or a devotion, but that whole process is really needed. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:33.920 Don't just skip the first step and just project everything you want the Bible to mean for you. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:36.959 You need to first ask that exegesis question. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:39.920 Yesterday morning, this really came home for me. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:42.879 I was out hiking up the back of Kennesaw Mountain. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:45.279 I was about halfway up, pretty secluded trail. 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:49.600 I look up, there's a 20-year-old young lady hiking down with a little dog. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:52.319 And as I get near, we're about to cross each other. 00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:57.279 She steps to the side, she pulls her dog toward her, and she says, Hey Russ. 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:00.079 And so I look up. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:03.360 I don't know her, but I figure, well, she must come to redeem her. 00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:06.800 So I stop, I look her in the eyes, I say, Good morning. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:08.240 I said, How are you? 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:11.759 And she was terrified. 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:14.399 Didn't know me at all. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:21.199 And this was the point that I realized that her dog's name was Russ. 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:38.639 Which means that I'm a creepy old man on a secluded hiking trail, looking a 20-year-old girl in the eyes, saying, Good morning, how are you? 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:46.240 Now, she should could have said, hey gus, like I'm open to that at this point. 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:48.079 I've been reviewing it in my head. 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:50.000 There it was definitely an us. 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:55.759 It was either ru hey rus or hey gus pulling her dog to the side. 00:05:56.079 --> 00:05:57.199 So let's think about this. 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:11.360 I hear hey Russ, which I took to mean, hey Pastor Russ, you don't know me, but I know you and I go to your church and I love your church so much, and I want you to stop and talk to me pastorally on this secluded wooded trail. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:13.519 That's what I took it to mean. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:21.040 What she meant by hey Russ was, hey Russ, my dog, let's let this old guy through. 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:23.279 That's what she meant. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:26.959 Now, I can't project what I meant on top of what she said. 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:30.160 What she said has original meaning from her in that context. 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:33.360 So I don't get to say, well, my meaning is what is true. 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:37.120 What is true is what she meant as the speaker. 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:38.720 That's exegesis. 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:44.000 It is exegesis to say what did she mean when she said this in the original context. 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:53.439 Now, to homiletical bridge over to me in 2025, Marietta, if I was to learn from this young lady, hey Rust, and I was like, oh, what are the lessons for me? 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:58.879 I could say something like, Well, be polite but careful when on a secluded trail. 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:03.360 Like that would be a lesson I could learn from what she did and what she said. 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:07.360 I also learned this week about the Kassa people in India. 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:13.439 I don't know if you know about these people, their land is mountainous, it's gorgeous, it's one of the wettest places on earth. 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:17.600 And the construction of bridges over all these rivers and creeks was very, very difficult. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:32.639 So they learned that they could plant a rubber fig tree on each side of the river and let the roots grow out, slowly merging the roots together, tie them together, and they would have a living bridge. 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:39.120 This is actually a really, really good metaphor and illustration for us when we think about reading the Bible. 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:51.199 That it's a living bridge, because the word is living and active, of what did it mean to them at that time, 2,000 years ago, 3,000 years ago, sometimes more in the Old Testament. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:57.839 Now, the living bridge over to me, homilytical bridge, what does it mean for me and Marietta right now? 00:07:57.920 --> 00:08:00.160 I think there's two bridges, really, when we think about it. 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:02.240 The first bridge is them to us. 00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:03.360 That's what I just covered. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:04.399 That's that homilytic. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:07.920 Exegesis, bridge it over, bridge them to us. 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:09.600 And we're asking those questions. 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:11.600 What did this mean to those people at that time? 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:14.879 And then we're saying, how does this fit into the biblical narrative as a whole? 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:19.040 Like every part of the scripture is part of a bigger story, so how does this fit into that? 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:21.439 And now we've done that work, we've done that study. 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:23.120 What does it mean to me? 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:25.199 What is it saying to me? 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:29.360 So we have that first bridge, 2,000 years ago to today. 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:33.519 But then there's another bridge, there's a second bridge, it's gonna be much more difficult. 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:38.720 We're much more resistant to this bridge, and this is the bridge from the head to the heart. 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:43.600 The second bridge is from the head to the heart, and we need to meditate the scriptures into us. 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:55.360 That's not just intellectual ascent, it's not just information, but we're actually learning something, and we want it to be more than a thought, we want it to be more than just information, we want it to get into the core of who we are. 00:08:55.840 --> 00:09:04.000 So we might ask or journal or pray questions like, what does this say about God as He's my creator and my Savior? 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:06.080 What does this say about me? 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:07.440 About my created worth? 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:09.039 What does it say about my sinful condition? 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:11.840 What does it say about my need of God's grace in Jesus? 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:16.320 How can my heart trust more in God's goodness to me in Jesus? 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:20.320 So we learn something in our minds, we bridge it to our hearts. 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:25.519 Point number two is this the Bible works in us with a surgeon's precision. 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:28.159 Back to our verse, Hebrews 4.12. 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:39.919 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul, spirit, of joints, and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:43.519 All three of our girls came into the world by C-section. 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:45.519 That might be too much information for you. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:46.080 It's true. 00:09:46.240 --> 00:10:00.320 We all gathered in a surgery room, five or ten people in there, and my wife would be on the table there, and they they'd say, Well, you know, you can stand up by her head, and they'd have a sheet up by the belly, halfway up, they'd have a sheet up, and they'd say, Would you like to watch? 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:03.679 No, I really don't want to watch you cut my wife open. 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:05.600 That's not something I need to see. 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:15.519 Um, and so I would sit down right at her or her head, I'd be right next to her, and the surgeon three times just would slice her open. 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:17.600 Cut her open. 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:20.320 Reach in and grab a baby. 00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:21.600 That's wild. 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:26.000 Pull a baby out into the world, and then carefully stitch her up. 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:29.519 What an amazing process. 00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:31.600 What surgeons can do, right? 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:36.720 He took a sharp tool and with precision cut. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:39.519 And equal precision, it appealed. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:48.080 This verse in Hebrews is about a people, it's written to a people that they're gonna give up on living a strong faith. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:49.519 That's the exegesis. 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:51.440 They're giving up. 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:53.360 I'm gonna give up living on strong faith. 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:59.679 That's what the writer's writing to them, and he's writing to them in these truths of, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's worth it. 00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:01.600 Stay strong, stay strong. 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:03.600 And he's cutting into them. 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:05.919 The truth cuts into us. 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:13.279 It gets to the area of false belief, it gets to the area of sinfulness, it gets to the bad motive, the bad behavior, and it speaks to that, right? 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:19.840 It convicts, it challenges, and then it corrects, and then equally it comforts and it appeals. 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:23.919 It's powerful, living and active. 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:30.399 Point number three is this the Bible is helpful to me and to you as it is divinely powerful. 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:36.399 It's not just a historical book, it's a personal book, and it's divinely powerful. 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:37.279 Right? 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:43.200 The Hebrews 4, 12 is that it has the power to divide soul and of spirit. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:48.000 This isn't a verse teaching, uh, let's let's decipher the difference between soul and spirit. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:48.960 There's other verses for that. 00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:51.600 This is much more poetic in language. 00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:58.399 The writer's saying the scriptures can get into the inmost part of you. 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:03.679 The inner part of you, your thinking and your motives, and your intentions. 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:05.279 Right? 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:08.399 We could say that the Bible has effective power. 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:11.519 It has power to get in us and affect us. 00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:15.679 A month ago, my wife bought two new lamps. 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:17.919 She got them shipped to the house. 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:21.360 I forget, I think she was at work that day or something, and she texted me. 00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:24.960 I said, Did the lamp, I see the lamps got there, and there's two big boxes on the porch. 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:25.679 And so I pulled them out. 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:32.320 I was gonna be the good husband, so I opened the first box up and I pulled out this new lamp, and it looked just like the old lamp. 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:33.679 I'm looking at them like. 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:40.720 But I replaced the old lamps with the new lamps. 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:42.960 Beautiful lamps, beautiful lamps. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:45.039 And all the lamps work the same way. 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:46.240 Every lamp works the same way. 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:47.759 Your lamps work the same as mine. 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:49.519 They have no power, right? 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:52.159 New lamp, old lamp, tall, short, it doesn't matter. 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:54.159 They have no power. 00:12:54.879 --> 00:12:56.159 They're receivers. 00:12:57.120 --> 00:12:59.279 And we're a bit like a lamp. 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:02.720 We submit ourselves to the word of God. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:07.759 We're not bringing power to generate all this transformation or salvation and of ourselves. 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:11.679 We're submitting ourselves over to say, will you do work in me? 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:13.759 Will you slice me open? 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:17.919 Will you root around in my thoughts the inner being of me? 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:19.120 Will you correct me? 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:20.000 Will you challenge me? 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:20.960 Will you comfort me? 00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:22.399 Will you heal me? 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:26.320 The Bible has effective power to do that kind of work. 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:28.799 Look what the Bible says about itself. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:30.480 God's word imparts life. 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:32.159 Psalm 119. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:34.159 Psalm 119 says several things. 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:39.759 Also says, God's word is a counselor, God's word is a source of strength, God's word gives peace. 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:43.519 Matthew 13 says, God's word bears fruit. 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:46.480 God's word has power and authority over the demonic. 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:47.360 Luke 4. 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:49.679 God's word builds faith. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:51.039 Romans 10. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:53.840 God's word is our source of nourishment. 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:55.360 1 Peter 2. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:58.000 It's what we feed our souls with. 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:00.480 Point number 4 is this. 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:01.200 Last point. 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:04.799 The Bible is alive for you to treasure. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:08.240 The Bible always talks about itself as being alive. 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:10.480 It's not just powerful, it's not just information. 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:11.679 It's alive. 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:12.720 It's living. 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:15.039 It's a treasure that's alive. 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:18.799 My family's like most teenager families in the world. 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:23.679 We have Outer Banks playing on the den television, just playing. 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:28.320 Sometimes there's a teenage girl in there, sometimes there's not, but it's just routinely playing. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:34.240 At first, I thought this show was like a risque 90210. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:38.559 It's like, oh, this is a more modern hip risque Dawson's Creek, right? 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:40.320 Like that's kind of what I thought it was. 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:42.639 But it is more than that because it's a treasure hunt. 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:43.840 And I love a treasure hunt. 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:48.559 There's treasure maps, there are bad guys, there are real treasures. 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:49.519 They're chasing treasures. 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:53.919 Five seasons, three main treasures, the royal merchant, El Dorado, and the blue crown. 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:56.320 But every treasure is an object. 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:57.759 It's just an object. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:14:59.679 It's not relational. 00:14:59.919 --> 00:15:01.279 And that's one kind of treasure. 00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:05.200 One kind of treasure is an object that has a lot of worth. 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:08.879 And it's one way we can think about the scriptures as a treasure. 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:13.759 But there's another kind of treasure that's relational, that's alive. 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:17.200 And as I was thinking about this week, I remembered the movie. 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:21.440 If you're old like me, you remember Romancing the Stone, 1984? 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:22.639 It's been a while. 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:24.879 That's Jack Colton and Joan Wilder. 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:27.519 I grew up watching this, we had it on VHS tape. 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:35.679 I think this was back when like my dad and I would we would get two VCRs and just like record from Blockbuster, just steal them. 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:38.639 We're just stealing, is what we were doing. 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:42.159 Huge library of VHS tapes at the Mastersons. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:50.799 And so Michael Douglas is Jack Colton, and they are after a stone, an emerald, a huge green emerald stone. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:52.960 It's the treasure, it's the stone. 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:55.039 But notice the title, Romancing the Stone. 00:15:55.120 --> 00:15:57.039 You can't romance a stone. 00:15:57.200 --> 00:15:59.279 Like romancing is relational. 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:05.120 And what we see in the movie is that the real treasure is actually Joan. 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:09.360 The emerald would have never changed Jack. 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:11.519 But Joan did. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:13.120 Because she was alive. 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:15.120 She was a treasure that was alive. 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:17.679 So she, as being alive, she could correct him. 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:19.279 And she is a little feisty in the movie. 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:22.639 She corrects him, she challenges him, she comforts him. 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:29.279 So we have a treasure, but it's not just like this object treasure that just sits. 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:32.320 We have a treasure that's relational when we come to the scriptures. 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:34.240 It can speak to us. 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:38.399 Two quotes to close us. 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:41.120 The first is by theologian Raymond Brown. 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:45.440 He'll summarize Hebrews 4.12 much better than the last 20 minutes that I did. 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:46.559 Listen to this. 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:49.039 The word not only lives, it works. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:53.600 It is an effective as well as perpetually relevant word. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:56.799 Its activity is such that it cannot return void. 00:16:56.879 --> 00:16:59.519 It must accomplish his sovereign purposes. 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:01.279 The word is energetic. 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:07.039 It is like a sharp sword cutting its way through this substance or that without any kind of difficulty. 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:11.519 This sword of the word can penetrate deeply into the human heart and mind. 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:16.000 It can scrutinize the unspoken thoughts and hidden conceptions of the heart. 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:25.119 It can reach deep down where, because of Earth's bewildering and preoccupying noises, no other voice can easily be heard. 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:30.319 This word probes more deeply than a mere human voice, however interesting or eloquent. 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:38.240 It goes to the inmost recesses of our spiritual being and brings the subconscious motives to light. 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:45.039 Now, John Calvin, 500 years ago, he summed up the Bible like this. 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:51.119 He said, All scripture, when correctly understood, testifies of Christ. 00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:54.160 So he's saying there's a meta story to the Bible. 00:17:54.400 --> 00:18:04.079 There's all different parts of the Bible and different types of literary structures, but all of it is telling, is a part of a bigger story of Jesus' rescue for us. 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:10.960 Paul says in the New Testament, all our sin is put upon him who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God. 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:18.880 That means that there's a transfer at the cross, that your sin and failings and inabilities, mine too, are put on the cross and his righteousness is given to us. 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:27.359 So all the forgiveness you ever need, all the righteousness you ever need, all the belovedness to be with God and secure and happy for him to love you is done in Jesus, not in yourself. 00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:29.839 Here's what that means when it comes to us talking to the Bible. 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:33.440 You don't have to score keep or scorecard your Bible studies. 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:35.200 That's amazing. 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:38.400 You don't have to feel bad if it's five minutes or no minutes. 00:18:38.559 --> 00:18:41.839 You don't have to feel bad if it's been five days or fifty days. 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:48.559 And you don't have to feel more righteous or self-righteous than other Christians because you have deep, long, wonderful Bible studies. 00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:54.880 Studying the scriptures gets to be an expression of the belovedness you already have in Jesus. 00:18:56.720 --> 00:18:57.839 Isn't that good news? 00:18:58.079 --> 00:18:59.359 There's a freedom here. 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:03.680 We don't read our Bible to be approved by God or accepted. 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:11.359 We read our Bible because we're already approved and accepted and delighted in by God in Jesus. 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:17.279 And we're just growing in the wealth of our great and deep identity that we have in Jesus. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:18.640 Let's pray together. 00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:26.480 Heavenly Father, we're so thankful for the freedom we have in Jesus, that we are not as we should be. 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:29.680 We don't read the Bible enough, we don't study it enough. 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:32.480 And yet you love us as you love your Son. 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:37.119 That we are forever forgiven and forever righteous of Jesus alone. 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:42.319 We thank you that the story of the Scriptures is not for us to do more and work harder. 00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:49.279 The stories of the scriptures is for us to surrender more and rest more deeply in Jesus. 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:54.240 Would you help us to want to read the Bible? 00:19:55.200 --> 00:20:01.279 Would you help us to treasure it, not for information, but as it is living and active? 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:06.160 And by your Holy Spirit, would you open our hearts to what it would have to say to us? 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:07.680 In Christ's name we pray. 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:08.640 Amen.