WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:02.319 Happy fall semester. 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:06.080 Beautiful Sunday morning out for us to gather together. 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:07.280 I'm glad it's raining. 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:09.839 All the gardeners, gardeners, you're all glad it's raining. 00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:11.279 The rest of you are miserable. 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:14.720 Thank you for the preaching break that I got to receive. 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:17.440 Thank you for the preaching team that filled in while I was gone. 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:22.480 While I was gone, my wife Christy actually became ill right in the middle of that time. 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:27.359 And so she had a virus attack her vestibular nerve and her inner ear. 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:34.719 And so she got really, the doctor said, gnarly vertigo, medical term gnarly, was used. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:37.600 Which meant we were in the hospital for a little bit and then we're back home. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:38.880 It's been about three weeks. 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:40.799 She's about halfway back. 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:42.719 And some of you are aware of that. 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:45.200 So thank you for your prayers and texts, emails, calls. 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:46.560 Thank you for the food you brought. 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:51.119 We had a pound cake show up at our house that it changed my life. 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:54.159 I was like, I think it's gonna be our new communion bread. 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:56.960 I'm like, this is really, really important. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:08.079 For the next five weeks of this semester, we're gonna ask the question like what like what makes what makes this Bible so important? 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:10.239 Why do we keep coming back to it? 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:13.519 Why is the Bible unique? 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:25.760 In biblical times, uh from ages five to ten, their West Side Elementary or Due West Elementary or whatever elementary school it is, it was called Betzefer, House of the Book. 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:34.000 And on the first day of school, that little five-year-old kindergartner, that version of it, would sit down, and the rabbi teacher would give them a slate. 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:38.719 And on the slate, the rabbi would pour honey all over it. 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:42.640 It was this incredibly rare luxury to have. 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:52.560 This was imagery from Ezekiel, Ezekiel 3, 1 through 3, and he said to me, Son of man, eat whatever you find here, eat this scroll, and go speak to the house of Israel. 00:01:52.719 --> 00:02:01.359 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat, and he said to me, Son of man, feed your belly with the scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it. 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:05.920 Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey. 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:20.400 So that rabbi teacher would spread that honey on that slate, and he would say to these children at age five, these children would know this, age five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, may the words of God be like honey to your soul. 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:23.520 May they be that sweet, that good. 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:33.599 So when we read the New Testament and Jesus or Paul or somebody else is referring to the Old Testament and God's word, they are speaking with such respect and affection. 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:36.000 It's this good. 00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:46.240 Now, when I was a kid and a young teenager, and I would hear the Bible read, or maybe I read it, or I ended up at some sort of Sunday school or something, it felt so distant. 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:48.879 I would hear it or I'd read it, and I didn't care. 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:49.919 I just didn't care. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:51.280 It was like a phone book to me. 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:52.639 It didn't mean anything. 00:02:52.879 --> 00:03:04.879 And then as a teenager, I gave my life to Christ, gave up into Jesus by God's grace, that I needed a savior, forgiveness and righteousness outside of me, God's love to me. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:10.639 And then I went home and I started to read the Bible, and something happened. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:17.199 Because what used to mean nothing, all of a sudden started to mean something. 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:19.280 Maybe that's happened to you. 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:25.599 Now the Bible's not always easy, but what I want to say this morning is the Bible is unique. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:27.680 Here's what Paul says to Timothy. 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:32.479 So this is a mentor to mentee, 2 Timothy 3, 14 through 17. 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:39.520 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it. 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:51.439 So he's saying, like, hey, the stuff I've been teaching you, like, pay attention to that, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 00:03:51.680 --> 00:04:02.879 All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training and righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:11.840 Point number one is this the Bible is written by many people, yet the Bible is God revealing himself. 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:18.079 So the human authors wrote out of their own personalities, out of their own experiences. 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:21.920 That's why James sounds so different than Paul. 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:29.759 And the gospel writers, they were not modern journalists, but they were historians by ancient standards. 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:39.199 It's unfair for us to look at the Gospels and the writers of the Gospels and take our modern journalism ethics and put them on top of an ancient practice. 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:44.639 But by the ancient practices of history keeping, these guys did it right. 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:56.480 The commentary on this passage worded it this way: inspiration communicates the sense that these human authors were carried along by the Holy Spirit as they wrote. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:02.800 And that the Holy Spirit breathed into them in a way that ensured that their words would be God's words. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:10.000 So remember, Paul is a Jewish boy, so all scriptures God breathes is what he said in that 2 Timothy. 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:15.680 Now, what's interesting in that is he extends that, he kind of connects it back to his teaching. 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:17.519 He says, like whom you believe it. 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:22.079 Well, you've been learning whom you believe it, like my teaching and the sacred writing. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:26.720 So he doesn't call his writings scripture, but he gets a little close here. 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:31.199 Now, Jesus validates the Old Testament. 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:44.879 So if we believe in Jesus and Christ and the Christ's resurrection, the objective reality of that and history, and then he treats Scripture of the Old Testament, that validates the Old Testament, but the New Testament didn't exist in the time of Jesus. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:53.680 So hundreds of years go by, and books and letters are circulating through churches, through the Christian church. 00:05:53.920 --> 00:06:01.680 And the Bible is forming, not by a group of men suddenly at a certain year and a certain time just putting together a bunch of books. 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:10.720 The Bible is forming over time as the early church accepts and denies letters and books. 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:13.600 That's how the scriptures came to be. 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:21.759 And then a group of people got together and said, like, this is this is the canon, this is the Bible, this is the set of books. 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:37.759 A few years ago we had a brick grill island built outside of our side door, kind of on our back deck, and the brick mason showed up and he dug that foundation, he put in a foundation, and then he starts to lay the bricks row by row. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:41.199 And every row he would set a plumb line. 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:42.720 Here's a picture of a plumb line. 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:46.959 The plumb line is that white level line. 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:55.279 Now, the Mason and the brick, neither of them get to determine what level is. 00:06:55.680 --> 00:07:00.079 Level is a truth outside of them that they have to adjust to. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:02.240 That's what the plumb line is. 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:07.680 The brick doesn't know what level is, the plumb line declares what is true. 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:11.680 The plumb line is true and the brick adjusts to it. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:13.680 That's what canon means. 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:15.680 We get all these words for the Bible. 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:18.319 The Bible, God's Word, Scripture, canon. 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:19.600 Those are the main four. 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:23.839 That word canon is a standard, a measuring read. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:27.759 It is true and we adjust to it. 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:32.399 Now, our Bible has 27 New Testament books. 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:34.800 It has 39 Old Testament books. 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:48.000 It is written over 1,500 years by different people and different cultures, and yet everybody is telling the same story of Jesus. 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:54.399 So over hundreds of years, those early writings and letters are circulating through the church. 00:07:54.560 --> 00:08:02.639 And the church is dismissing writings that are not by eyewitnesses of Jesus or by disciples of those eyewitnesses. 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:10.000 And by the mid-second century, early church leaders have recognized a core New Testament canon. 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:19.040 All this Old Testament is pointing to Jesus, and now we have Jesus, and now the writings from Jesus and his disciples are forming the New Testament canon. 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:21.360 Those selections were made on three dynamics. 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:23.680 Number one, apostolic origin. 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:24.879 Who did they come from? 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:27.199 An eyewitness or a disciple of an eyewitness? 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:29.439 Second, Orthodox teaching. 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:33.519 So everybody is saying this, but this dude is saying this. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:36.399 So we're not going to accept this other. 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:41.919 The Orthodox teaching is forming and then widespread use. 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:45.039 What has the church accepted? 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:47.039 Alright, so let's nerd out. 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:49.440 Bible nerds, you'll be very happy this next section. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:51.919 Here's what we have in this book. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:52.960 Let's look at this. 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:54.559 I'm going to read most of this. 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:56.879 We have unity of authors. 00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:03.440 40 plus authors, 1,500 plus years, three languages, one story. 00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:09.360 Unity of narrative is existing in this diverse range. 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:10.879 We have unity of authors. 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:12.480 We have textual preservation. 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:13.440 Here's what I mean by that. 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:18.000 We have 25,000 plus New Testament manuscripts. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:20.399 Remarkable consistency. 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:27.440 Ancient Jewish culture had a strong oral tradition, emphasizing accurate memorization and the recitation of that. 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:29.440 So scribal precision. 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:33.200 There's no tape recorders, there's no computers, there's no iPhones. 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:39.360 The way that they passed history and information down was a strong oral tradition. 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:48.480 The retelling and the retelling and the retelling of the same story and then scribal precision of that story. 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:50.639 We see this in the Dead Sea Scrolls. 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:59.600 So the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in 11 caves in Qumran, just by the Dead Sea in Israel. 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:02.480 This is the Qumran Caves, a whole bunch of those caves. 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:09.360 Inside those caves, a shepherd in 1947, in that cave one, he found the first scroll. 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:24.399 Archaeologists later uncovered thousands of fragments of around 900 manuscripts, including copies of the Old Testament dating as far back as 250 years before Jesus BC. 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:40.799 The Dead Sea scrolls, what they give to us as Christians, is they show the reliability of the Old Testament by showing that its texts are accurately preserved in that process that the Jewish people use for scribal precision. 00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:43.279 Over thousands of years. 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:50.000 Over 5,800 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament exist, far more than any other ancient text. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:53.279 So if you're gonna love an ancient text, you need to give the Bible a look. 00:10:53.919 --> 00:11:02.799 Some dates all the way back to 150 years from Jesus, which is unusually close for ancient literature. 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:05.679 So we have unity of authors, we have textual preservation. 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:17.279 Third, what is so unique about this is we have prophecies fulfilled, meaning we have a whole series of prophecies in the Old Testament, hundreds, thousands of years before, coming true in the New Testament. 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:21.200 The chances of this happening are extremely low. 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:22.480 Extremely low. 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:25.360 Now, maybe you still don't believe the Bible. 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:28.159 I can't argue you into the Bible, believing the Bible. 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:29.279 It just won't work. 00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:36.000 But maybe, maybe, you at least can recognize that it's quite unique and it is worth your investigation. 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:38.240 Now, if you like to nerd out, Dr. 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:42.000 Michael Kruger is RTS president, reformed theological president. 00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:50.799 He has given his life to the canon, the Bible, how was the Bible formed, who decided the canon, who decided the Bible, why should I trust that? 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:53.440 He all the information you would ever want. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:12:02.559 Here are three great books by him Canon Revisited, The Question of Canon, Surviving Religion 101, all of which, all of which you can dive deep. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:07.200 Point number two the Bible gives us what God thinks. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:11.200 We don't always need an extra word. 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:15.039 Twenty-five years ago, I was in a college ministry. 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:23.840 I'd had a Pentecostal charismatic band, and on one ends one Wednesday evening, we're in leadership meeting before the main service. 00:12:23.919 --> 00:12:29.759 And so there's like 50 of us, a big college ministry, 50 of us on this leadership, and we're in a chapel and we're praying. 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:32.720 We're praying for God to move, God do something, change people's lives. 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:33.360 I mean, we are in it. 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:37.039 We are, you know, we're college students, we're praying, God's gonna move, and you know, let's be passionate. 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:38.879 We're like, we're going for it, going for it, going for it. 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:39.919 We're praying, praying, praying. 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:45.279 I'm praying, my head's bowed, I'm praying, and then I hear somebody pop over here, they'll speaking in tongues. 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:47.200 And I'm like, I didn't grow up that way. 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:54.240 If you've ever been in that setting and you didn't grow up that way, immediately you're like, whoa, what is and I'm like, huh? 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:55.440 Who is that? 00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:56.720 And what's going on? 00:12:56.879 --> 00:13:02.159 Like, and then somebody else pops up, and somebody else pops up, and everything in me is somebody didn't grow up that way. 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:12.320 I'm like, I don't know about that, and I'm like, you know, God, I'm a jerk, you know, God help me, forgive me, you know, help me be open, help me be open to your move, you know, I'm doing all that. 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:20.720 And I and as I'm feeling just all my cynicism and all my jerkiness is just like coming up inside of me. 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:22.960 I it's like, okay, I'm just gonna read the word. 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:25.120 I open up to a psalm. 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:37.120 And as I'm reading the psalm, a friend of mine, one row up, he pops up to interpret the tongues because in a setting, this is what happens when he speaks in tongues, and somebody else interprets it, so he pops up, he interprets the tongues. 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:48.480 And what he says is almost verbatim what I was reading at the same time in the book of Psalms, of which cynical rust is like, why don't we just read Psalms? 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:56.000 Okay, here's my point before everybody who's charismatic has a problem with me. 00:13:56.240 --> 00:13:57.360 Here's my point. 00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:02.159 My point is this we love to look for something else. 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:10.720 Now, tongues is not my thing, but you put me in a mountain valley standing in a river, I hear God saying all sorts of stuff. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:22.000 And maybe it's you reading Tim Keller or Valley of Vision, and you hear God say, whatever it is, we have to take it and go back to the scripture, to the source. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:24.159 We don't always need a new word. 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:25.440 We have the word. 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:34.000 And any new word of encouragement from the Holy Spirit, which we should be open to in your heart through a friend, maybe speaking in tongues in your private setting, I don't know. 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:35.039 Amazing, have it. 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:37.440 Thank you, Holy Spirit, that you still speak. 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:39.120 We're gonna be open to that. 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:43.919 But we take it back to the source, to the scriptures. 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:52.159 And that word from the Spirit will always be confirmed by the Scriptures, or else it is not a true word. 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:53.600 And you have to accept it. 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:54.639 That's that person's problem. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:02.399 And if you're not hearing the Spirit, a word from the Spirit. 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:13.360 What I hate about those settings, oh, what I hate about those settings, and probably I overreact, is I hate the feeling like, oh, if you're not doing this, you're not a mature Christian. 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:15.039 I mean, I hate that. 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:16.639 I hated it then, I hate it now. 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:22.639 Like when we say Jesus is enough, like we actually really believe Jesus is enough, no matter how your gifts are working out. 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:27.440 So, like, the idea, like, well, I'm not hearing a word from the Spirit, that's fine. 00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:28.000 You know what? 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:28.960 Read the Bible. 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:37.360 Like, you'll hear from the Spirit because the Spirit will speak through what is already written that the Bible gives us what God thinks. 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:38.960 The word for us. 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:40.799 Point number three. 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:44.799 Because the Bible is powerful, we approach it to receive. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:46.960 We're always approaching it to receive. 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:51.519 That's the tone here from Paul to Timothy, verse 14 and 15. 00:15:51.600 --> 00:16:00.879 But as for you, continue what you've learned and firmly believe, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood has been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you. 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:01.919 They will make you. 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:06.639 See, we're receiving, make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:10.639 Paul tells Timothy, be loyal to all that that you've learned. 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:17.919 And then verse 16 the purpose of the scripture is to be useful, helpful, build you up. 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:22.080 And it's gonna correct you and challenge you and convict you, but it's gonna comfort you and heal you. 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:25.679 And most of all, the story of the promise of Jesus over you. 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:27.919 Like we say, you're more broken than the originally thought. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:35.039 We're more sinful than originally, but all of our sin is put upon Jesus on the cross, and his righteousness is given to us, and that's all we need. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:36.879 And that's not just a sentence, that's scripture. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:40.320 You should take, when we say that, take it back to the scripture, see if it's true. 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:47.440 Twenty-seven years ago, when I was in college and I was a college sophomore, I lived at 123 Easy Street in Athens, Georgia. 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:50.720 That's a real address, and I lived there, I lived in the back bedroom. 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:53.840 Two things happened, two things happened in that back bedroom. 00:16:54.080 --> 00:16:58.799 The first thing is I fell in love with the Seinfeld TV show, 10 o'clock on TBS. 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:00.000 Anybody old enough to remember that? 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:05.279 10 o'clock on TBS every single night pre-Netflix, way before Next Place. 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:08.319 I'm still doing that every night about 10 o'clock. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:09.519 I'm still watching the Seinfeld. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:11.839 That happened in that back bedroom, first conversion. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:16.880 Second conversion is the book of Romans came alive to me. 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:19.119 I had probably heard that read before. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:20.480 Didn't mean that much. 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:22.240 Something happened, though. 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:26.559 And all of a sudden, something that didn't mean anything started to mean something. 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:29.200 Because I couldn't get my act together. 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:33.759 Like, even as a Christian, I couldn't, I wasn't quite the Christian I wanted to be. 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:37.680 And then Romans 7 explained me. 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:40.799 Like it explained me to myself. 00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:44.000 Listen to it, just see if it explains you. 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:46.160 Romans 7, 15 through 20. 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:50.079 For I do not understand my own actions. 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:56.720 For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 00:17:57.440 --> 00:18:01.599 Now if I I do what I do not want, I agree with the law. 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:03.200 That is good. 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:08.319 So now that it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells within me. 00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:12.240 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh. 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:17.119 For I have the desire to do what's right, but not the ability to carry it out. 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:20.000 Or I do not do the good I want. 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:23.519 But the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:25.519 And I'm like, oh, okay. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:26.960 That's me. 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:29.519 That's me when I was 20. 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:31.759 That's me at 46. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:34.000 It's gonna be me at 80. 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:38.240 Now Paul keeps the story going. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:40.880 Praise God, verse 24 and 25. 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:43.680 Paul says, Wretched man that I am. 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:46.319 Like, oh, this is so true about me. 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:48.000 I can't quite get it all together. 00:18:48.079 --> 00:18:48.960 I'm a sinner. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:52.400 Who will deliver me from the body of death? 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:56.160 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. 00:18:56.720 --> 00:18:57.200 Thanks be. 00:18:57.599 --> 00:18:58.480 Who's gonna deliver me? 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:00.079 Who will deliver you? 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:01.920 Jesus. 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:09.680 God's one-way love to you in Jesus, not your performance or your record or your record after you become a Christian. 00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:15.039 A one-way provision of forgiveness and righteousness in Christ alone. 00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:20.000 A few months ago we were traveling and we went into a gas station. 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:26.079 Now I grew up in a family that when you went to the gas station, you stayed in the car. 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:28.319 You were not allowed out of the car. 00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:30.559 Dad gassed up, dad paid. 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:37.759 I had no idea that there were families in that gas station getting snacks, having a great time. 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:38.559 Right? 00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:40.000 There's two kinds of families. 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:44.000 There's there's stay in the car family, and there are gas station snack families. 00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:45.680 Gas station snack families? 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:46.400 You out there? 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:47.359 Y'all are having a great time. 00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:48.160 I'll be honest. 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:51.759 Y'all are it's it's more fun. 00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:53.119 It's more fun. 00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:54.960 And I didn't know this. 00:19:55.119 --> 00:20:01.519 I did not know this until I got married, and I discovered because I married a woman from a gas station snack family. 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:07.279 And I mean, they're spending 20 bucks a pop, but they're having a great, great time. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:15.920 Three months ago, we walk into a gas station and Christy looks at our girls and says, Hey, uh, you know, grab something you want. 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:17.680 And I'm like, you know, okay, we're doing that. 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:18.400 There's 20 bucks. 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:19.440 Well, I might as well get in. 00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:20.960 I'm gonna get in on it if we're doing that. 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:24.640 We're gonna get so I start looking around and I see this bag of candy. 00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:27.839 I haven't noticed this bag of candy for 30 something years. 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:30.640 Werther's original. 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:32.559 Right? 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:36.400 Nobody under 70 eats this candy, I think. 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:44.640 I grew up with my grandpa having Werther's original in his pocket, and he would, gramps would give you one. 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:46.640 And it was just such a sweet moment. 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:49.759 So I saw these in that gas station, and I got a bag. 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:52.559 I've I now have a bag in my car, I have a bag in my backpack. 00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:55.200 I got them all over, right? 00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:56.319 They're amazing. 00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:04.559 If you had one, just like they're it's like a buttery caramel with like creamy, like it. 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:12.079 It's it's like the best grandfather in the world has come and just given you like a hug, a reassuring hug. 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:13.440 It's gonna be okay. 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:14.880 That's what that candy says to you. 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:17.440 It's like, I'm okay, it's gonna be okay. 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:20.960 Okay, that's what the rabbi was saying with honey. 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:22.640 That's what he was saying. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:29.519 This this comfort, this love, this luxury that's more than you can imagine. 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:30.400 Right? 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:31.200 And what did he say? 00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:35.359 May the words of God be like honey to your soul. 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:38.640 Like a like a warm grandpa hug. 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:46.240 My prayer for us is this in the next few weeks we're gonna study the uniqueness of the Bible is that we would just love it more. 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:48.480 That we would just dive in more. 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:53.920 And anything else we read that is so good and so amazing that we'd be taking it back to the Bible. 00:21:54.079 --> 00:22:00.480 Any other word we get from the Spirit, from a friend, we'd be taking it back to the Bible. 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:04.960 And we allow it to speak life and love, the provision of Jesus for us. 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:06.240 Let's pray together. 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:09.359 Heavenly Father, thank you for your spirit that still speaks. 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:12.160 May we always take a new word back to your word. 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:17.039 May your word be the foundation of our hearts and lives and minds. 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:20.480 It is enough to be helpful to us. 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:22.720 Thank you that you are our helper. 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:24.480 You are all that we need. 00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:30.960 And no matter how we are feeling this morning, that in Jesus we are doing just fine. 00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:48.160 And thank you that you do not love us or approve of us or forgive us or say we're righteous based on our performance, but only on the work of Jesus on the cross, your grace to us, one way love in which we take comfort and we heal and we grow. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:49.440 In Christ's name we pray. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:50.000 Amen.