Revelation: God Speaking To Us

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Revelation: God Speaking To Us</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="21"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id286.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Inspiration: How God Revealed Himself"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Church Ministry</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org"><U>stan@stanbaker.org</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Revelation: God Speaking to Us</B></div> <div> <B>Series: Why We Can Trust the Bible, Part 1</B></div> <div> <B>Berean Bible Church, October 7, 2001pm</B></div> <bR> <div>      Question – does it matter what we believe, about God, the Bible, humans, sin, salvation, the future, etc.? If yes, theology is very important. In an age when it doesn’t matter what anyone believes, as long as we all get along, how do we know we possess the <I>source</I> of truth?</div> <div>      Even those who claim to be “born again” are not necessarily firmly grounded in the truths of the Bible. In his book which provides a statistical analysis of religious beliefs in America, George Barna cites several fascinating statistics which are based on a national survey. In chapter four he offers the statement, "The Devil, or Satan, is not a living being but is a symbol of evil." Then asking that segment of his survey respondents who have identified themselves at being Born Again, he states, "Do you agree strongly, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat, or disagree strongly with that statement?" The Born Again population reply with 32 percent agreeing strongly, 11 percent agreeing somewhat and 5 percent did not know. Thus, of the total number responding, 48 percent either agreed that Satan is only symbolic or did not know! Should it then be surprising that a few pages later Barna would receive some very startling responses? His next question, "Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and others all pray to the same God, even though they use different names for that God." Again, the respondents were asked to agree strongly, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat or disagree strongly. Of that population surveyed who identified themselves as Born Again, 30 percent agreed strongly, 18 percent agreed somewhat and 12 percent did not know. That is a total of 60 percent! (What Americans Believe, pp. 206-212).</div> <div>      What if the Bible was wrong? What if it was not really God’s word to us, but something that humans created and God didn’t have anything to do with? In that case, it would hold no authority.</div> <div>      The starting place for all theology and understanding is how we know that our sources are correct. Thus, the heart of the issue is how we know the Bible is God’s written revelation to mankind. It matters what Christians believe, and the source of our belief is God’s revelation to humans, the Bible.</div> <bR> <div> <B>What Does the Bible Claim for Itself? 3 Kinds of Revelation</B></div> <div> A. General Revelation – God has revealed himself in his creation (Psalm 19:1-6; Romans 1:18-20).</div> <div> B. Special Revelation – The Word, the Bible (Psalm 19:7-11; Exod 19:1-9; 1 Cor 2:6-16). Notice Jesus’ view of the Old Testament, their “Bible” at the time (Luke 24:44-46).</div> <div> C. Special Revelation – Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-2, God spoke in many ways in the past, but ultimately he revealed himself in Jesus Christ, the Son of God; Luke 9:34-36). How do we know about what Jesus revealed? (How would we do it? CD-ROM, DVD/video, audio, web site, storytelling from one generation to the next? God chose to have it <B>written</B>.) Luke writes as a historian about Jesus (in Luke, Luke 1:1-4) and about the continuing story of the church (in Acts, Acts 1:1). John writes as an eyewitness, one very involved (1 John 1:1-4, Rev 1:1-3).</div> <bR> <div> <B>This is God’s Word to the human race</B></div> <div> A. We must order our understanding of truth by it. (How do we know that we can have salvation?  How do we explain the evil in the world? How do we know the future, what God is going to do with this world?)</div> <div> B. We must order our lives by it!</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> copyright, 2002, Stanley Baker</div> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> </tr></table></body>