The Bible Doesn’t Say That | Hebrews 14:12-13 | Week 1

This sermon series dives into common misconceptions of what the bible says! In week one, Pastor Jason Jordan lays down the foundation of what the Bible is. 

Date: May 16, 2021
Series: Colossians

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Sermon Extras

THE REST OF THE SERMON | The Bible Doesn’t Say That | Week 1

Join us for our first Rest of the Sermon dive into our new series, The Bible Doesn’t Say That! “God will never give you more than you can handle.” “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” “________ happened because you didn’t enough faith.” Many of us have heard quaint sayings that are attributed to the Bible, however, upon a simple inspection of the scriptures we can find that the Bible doesn’t actually say these things. But before we should analyze what the Bible does and doesn’t say, we first need to agree on two things: 1) How we approach the Bible, 2) What the Bible is. So grab your bible and open up to Hebrews 4:12-14 and join us for our first Rest of the Sermon journey in our new series: The Bible Doesn’t Say That.

It’s All About Jesus!

Additional Resources | Can We Trust the Gospels?, Myths and Mistakes in New Testament Textual Criticism, NT Textual Chart

The Rest of the Sermon ➝
Sermon Notes➝

Pastor’s Comment

Thank you so much for listening in here at West Side. We often say that we love the word of God because it points us to the son of God. We hope these messages encourage you and equip you to love Jesus more. We also want you to be apart of a local church, we believe these messages are only supplemental, being apart of a local church is essential. Blessings.

Jason G Jordan

Lead Pastor, West Side Church

SERMON NOTES

“The Bible Doesn’t Say That” INTRO: Hebrews 4:12-13

INTRO> We begin a new series today that really birth out of a conversation with a church member while we were serving together setting up for Easter. Her and her husband were telling me about a particular conversation that they were having with their friend, who wasn’t a believer, maybe a believer? who knows! But during the course of the conversation I found that there was a particular pattern: Her friend would state an objection as to why they aren’t a believer or aren’t obeying the scriptures then, the young lady that I was talking to would say, “Well, that’s actually not what the Bible says….” then she would go on to explain her belief and why she believed it.

APP> That conversation had me thinking, “how does something like this keep happening? Misunderstandings and misrepresentation happens when you base your beliefs on assumptions. This is largely true of our area when it comes to the Bible. So statements like these make their way into scripture:

  • “The Bible says, God helps those who help themselves…”
  • “The Bible says, God will never give you more than you can bear…”
  • “The Bible says, forgive and forget…”
  • “The Bible says, don’t judge…”

APP> And as I thought about the conversation that sparked all of this, I began to see that the common denominator in many of these types of conversations is the scriptures, the bible.

When it comes to the Bible there are 5 types of people:

  • Those who reject it.
  • Those who are around it.
  • Those who are under it.
  • Those who are in it.
  • Those who have it in them. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” Colossians 3:16

APP> This is also the progression of discipleship, Which one are you?

Transition: Before we can know what the Bible does or doesn’t say we need to know what the Bible is. *ILL> Golfing illustration

 

CONTEXT> I want to do one simple thing today, from these verses in Hebrews about the bible under the heading 1) What it is 2 show you 3 things:

 

  1. What it is.
    1. It is the word of God. “word of God” = the very utterances of God.
      • God is not Silent! In the Theological sense this is called “Revelation” that God has Revealed himself. and he has done it 2 ways: 1) General Revelation- Psalms 19:1-2 2) Special Revelation
      • “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” 2 Timothy 3:16
      • Verbal Plenary Inspiration. Verbal- the very words of God, Plenary- all of the words of scripture. Inspiration- they very words are inspired.
      • “20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:20-21
      • “who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit…” Acts 4:25
      • Inerrancy- “The inerrancy of Scripture means that scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything contrary to fact.” – Wayne Grudem

APP> How can we know this? *Bible Chart

APP> Why is this important? If you reject God’s Word then you reject the God of the Word.

APP> Often times we fail to understand the Bible because we fail to stand under the Bible.

  1. It is alive. “living” it’s written in the present tense meaning “continually living” “3 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” 1 Peter 1:23-25
    • *ILL> The French writer, thinker, and philosopher Voltaire was born in France and was one of the leaders in the enlightenment. He hated Christianity and the Bible, he ended every letter he wrote to his friends, “Ecrasez l’infame” (crush the infamy — the Christian religion)” He made the statement: “What folly, what misery, what puerile and odious things they contain [and the Bible is filled] with contradictions, follies, and horrors…“To invent all those things [in the Bible], the last degree of rascality. To believe them, the extreme of brutal stupidity!…One hundred years from my day, there will not be a Bible on earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity-seeker.” Funny thing, Voltaire died sometime after, and his home along with his printing press was purchased by the Evangelical Bible Society because they needed a location and press to print bibles! His home and printing press was used to make bibles!
  2. It is active- The word “active” comes from the Greek word energes (active, effective or powerful, GK 1921). We see this power in psalm 29:4-5
    • Psalm 29:4–5 (ESV) — “4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. 5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.”

APP> When we open our Bibles God opens his mouth!

 

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,” John 5:39

Big Idea > The point of the Bible is to point us to Jesus.

 

“It seems to me that our greatest need today is an enlarged vision of Jesus Christ. We need to see him as the One in whom alone the fulness of God dwells and in whom alone we can come to fulness of life. There is only one way to gain clear, true, fresh, lofty views of Christ, and that is through the Bible. THe bible is the prism by which the light of Jesus Christ is broken into its many and beautiful colors. The Bible is the portrait of Jesus Christ. We need to gaze upon him with such intensity of desire that (by the gracious work of the holy spirit) he comes alive to us, meets with us, and fills us with himself,” John Stott, “Understand the Bible” preface page 10

 

So which one are you?

  • Those who reject it.
  • Those who are around it.
  • Those who are under it.
  • Those who are in it.
  • Those who have it in them.

 

Before we can know what the Bible does or doesn’t say we must know what the Bible is.

 

Big Idea > The point of the Bible is to point us to Jesus.