Jesus Loves Me - For the Bible Tells Me So, Part 1

Have you ever been in an earthquake?

I mean, it is scary. I've been in the aftershocks where my house was shaking and we had seconds to get outside to find shelter. When your life is shaking, where do you find shelter? I want you to know there's real hope regardless of where you find yourself on this day. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge is an international discipleship ministry featuring the daily Bible teaching of Chip Ingram. We're nearing the end of our new series, Jesus Loves Me, taught by our guest speaker, John Dickerson. For the last several messages, John's used the classic children's song, Jesus Loves Me, to reveal the essential beliefs of the Christian faith. And today, John's going to focus on the phrase, for the Bible tells me so, and unpack how God's word can be our guide no matter what's happening around us. And be sure to listen in after the teaching as John and Chip join us here in studio to share some additional application for us to think about.

Well, with all that said, here's John for today's talk. What can you do when your world shifts or shakes? I don't know where in life you've had something unexpected, unwanted, something that didn't go the way you planned. If you're alive and breathing, chances are there's been something in the last week and there are things in each of our lives where our world just shifts or it shakes. And we're trying to figure out how do we be stable?

How do we keep moving forward? Maybe you're like me. I have known some different people in my life. I remember growing up, our family, we had this family friend, and he had gone through something.

It was actually a health condition one of his relatives had, and when his world shifted and shook, he just never quite recovered from it. We all know those people who they've been through something difficult and they just never quite get over it. And then we know those other people who've been through really difficult things and maybe the scars even show on their body, but somehow they grow stronger through it.

Somehow in that difficulty they're able to kind of rise above it. I've learned that change always leads to one of two things in our lives. We either grow or we have a setback. And change is inevitable. And so the question is how do we make sure when change does come into our lives that we actually grow, that we actually move forward?

How do we stay focused on what matters and keep moving forward? Well we're going to look into God's word to answer this, and it's a really interesting answer to this question because the context of this is written to a young Christian, a guy named Timothy, who was leading a church in a city called Ephesus, and his mentor Paul the apostle is writing to him. And this is Paul's final letter. Paul knows he's about to go to heaven, and Paul warns Timothy. He says, Timothy, as you try to follow Jesus, there's going to be difficult times, and here's what you can do when your world shifts and shakes. The passage starts this way.

Mark this. There will be terrible times, okay? Good news, everyone. There will be terrible times, all right? There will be terrible times in the last day. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money. People will be boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful for what they've been given, unholy in their relationship to God. They'll be without love. They'll be unforgiving. They'll be slanderous. They'll be without self-control. Thank you, Paul. This is super encouraging. The list goes on.

It says this. People will be brutal, not lovers of what is good. They'll be treacherous. They'll be rash or impulsive. They will be conceited, not humble or teachable. They will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. And some of these people will even pretend to be Christians or followers of Jesus. They'll have a form of godliness, but they won't have the power of Jesus. Obviously, this is the negative part of the text, okay?

And this relates to when our world shifts or shakes. And Paul says to Timothy, Timothy, as you try to follow Jesus, there's going to be times when people who are all these negative things interrupt the work of God, when they discourage you, when they actually come in and even destroy the work of God. There will be times when some of them even pretend to be a Christian and they come in and they just do spiritual damage and emotional damage. And the list goes on and it says this in verse 13. Some of these will be evildoers and even imposters. They'll go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. So here's the problem.

Now what's the solution? Paul's going to say here's how you as a follower of Jesus can stay stable and secure when your world shakes because of the people around you. And here's the answer starting in verse 14. But as for you, and we often point out here that, you know, we can't control what the people around us do. Whether it's national level politicians or the neighbor across the street, we can't control what people around us do, but we always can control what we do.

And God doesn't expect us to be responsible for other people's choices, but he does tell us we're responsible for ours. And Paul says to Timothy, Timothy, when your world shakes because of evil people around you, you won't be able to control them. But as for you, focus on yourself in that sense.

And here's what you can do. You continue in what you've learned. In other words, in the teachings of Jesus, continue in that. So the more your world shifts or shakes, the more you say, okay, how does Jesus call me to live? That's my center. That's my stability.

That's what will keep me secure when everything around me shakes. Continue in what you've learned and what you've become convinced of. And in Timothy's case, Paul says, you have known these things for a long time. In fact, from infancy, Timothy was raised by a mom and a grandma who loved Jesus.

In fact, if you're a single mom or a single grandma, Timothy's a great inspiration because Timothy, apparently his dad either was out of the picture or was not a follower of Jesus, but his mom and grandma raised him to love the Lord. And Paul says, don't forget all the things you've learned and that you've known from the Holy Scriptures, that is the Word of God or the Bible. These things, the Holy Scriptures, are able to make you wise for salvation through your faith in Jesus Christ.

And now Paul's gonna add a little more on to what keeps you stable when the world shakes around you. And Paul says this in verse 16. He says that all scripture is God-breathed. In other words, the words in this book, the Bible, they're not just ancient words.

They're historically valid, but they're even more than that. They're supernatural. They're living and they're breathing. And when you breathe in the words of God into your soul, they bring life and they can bring you power and stability. When you don't know what to do, they'll bring you direction. When you know what to do, but you don't have the power to do it, the Word of God will bring you power.

These words are actually breathed of God and they're kind of mystical and supernatural in that sense, but they're also really practical. They're useful for your very real decisions of what do I do in this job? What do I do in this dating relationship? How do I parent this child? How do I be a better spouse? How do I deal with my shame? How do I deal with my guilt?

How do I forgive that person who wronged me? Well, there are God-breathed words in this book that if you will take them in, they will practically help you in all those situations and in any situation you can face. They're useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in right living or righteousness so that the servant of God, that's you, may be thoroughly equipped, have every tool you need to do the work of God in your life. So what's the answer to our question of what can you do when your life is shifting or shaking?

Here's the answer according to this passage. Scripture will stabilize you and Scripture will strengthen you when your world shifts or shakes. Now some of you are in here and you've experienced that and so you're like, oh yeah, I remember when I was in the hospital and I thought I was gonna die and God gave me a verse and I just clung to that verse and that's what got me through it. Some of you are like, oh yeah, I get this. Others of you, and you're not unspiritual if you feel this way, you're like, okay, I get the idea, but I've never experienced that before.

And if that's you, I just wanna encourage you to stay engaged with this message because you can start to experience this. There was a time in my life if you're thinking, okay, that's just like a big old book of old stories and I don't understand it. How is that gonna stabilize me? How is that gonna help me in a time of crisis? If that's what you're feeling, I have felt that way too.

There was a time in my life where this idea didn't make sense to me. But as I stepped out in faith and said, okay, God, if you say this is what will stabilize me and help me, I'm gonna look into your word, I'm gonna seek your word, give me the wisdom I need in these crisis decisions and in these difficulties and I've now experienced this and I wanna share it with you today in a way that you can experience it too. The reality is that as a follower of Jesus, your salvation, your relationship with God depends completely on your faith and the moment in your life where you say, this I know, Jesus loves me, this I know. And you having that moment where you say, I believe in Jesus for me. In fact, last weekend was so fun because we had two people who made that decision for the first time in their life. One of them, he came up after the Saturday night service, he's 19 years old and he just had tears running down his face and he said, I've known about Jesus, but today's my day where I decide for me, I need Jesus to forgive my sins.

Such an awesome moment. We had a middle-aged man come forward and he said, I've been in church for about 10 years and I've always just kind of gone along with it because it's what my wife believes. I've decided for myself, Jesus is my Lord, he's my savior, he's the God of my life and I've claimed him to forgive my sins.

And I could just see in his eyes, he had a new identity, a new life, a new birth. And to do that, you don't have to memorize the Bible, you don't have to know a bunch of scripture to become a follower of Jesus and to be eternally saved and secure. But as you get adopted into the family of God, now as a follower of Jesus, the scriptures are what will keep you plugged into the power to live a new life in all these different areas of your life, your career, your finances, your health, your thoughts, your emotions, your habits, your old things that you regret, all that stuff. How do you now live in this new way of life?

Well, the word of God will guide you into this new way of life. We talked at the beginning of this series about these core essentials of the Christian faith and how they plug us in to God's power. You might remember if you were here on week one, I told you a story of a time when I was traveling to Europe when I was a journalist and I had an American power plug and I was trying to plug it into the wall, but in Europe, the outlets are shaped differently. And I learned this, that plugging into power is not complicated. You don't have to have a PhD, you don't have to know much, but it is precise.

There's these two or three prongs, they've got to be in the right place. And we learned that when it comes to connecting into the power of God to change our lives through Jesus, it also is not complicated. You don't have to go to seminary, you don't have to memorize the Bible, you don't have to learn a whole bunch of things, but there are a few really important things that do need to be in the right place. And so to learn those few things, we've used this very simple kid's song, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. And what we're learning in this series is that you can kind of carry around the core beliefs of Christianity just by knowing this song. Whether you're tucking in your grandchild at night and they say, what does it mean to follow Jesus? Or you're sitting on an airplane next to a coworker?

Or you're laying on your back in one of those MRI machines where they put you in to scan your head and you're wondering, who am I? What do I believe? This little song captures all the essentials of Christianity. And we've learned every word is rich with meaning.

We've learned this so far. We've learned that Jesus, when we say that, we mean that he's the one true God or the Messiah. He's not just a good man, he's God on earth. And that's why he has the power to save our sins. We've learned that when we said he loves us, it doesn't just mean that God has warm feelings toward you, that's true. But God showed his love in action when he came down and willingly died on the cross for your mistakes in mine.

We learned that when we say Jesus loves me, part of that word me is that I need help from above. Yes, I'm glorious because I'm made in the image of God and so are you. You are inherently valuable. And there's no mistake you can ever make or that anyone can ever do to you that would take away your eternal value. You're made in the image of God and yet every one of us is also corrupted or broken to some extent by what God calls sin, either sins that we've done or that others have done to us.

And we looked at those classic cars that were worth millions of dollars, even though they were decayed and rusted and wouldn't start up and work, they were still inherently valuable because of who made them and what they were. And that's true of every human being, whether they're in their mother's womb or an old, old person at a retirement home, every person of every tribe and tongue and nation of every nationality of every religious belief system, every person with disabilities, all people are made in the image of God and inherently valuable because God says so. And yet all of us are also broken by sin. And so that's why we need this good news of Jesus. That's why we need his work on the cross.

So we're glorious ruins, but we're being restored. Jesus loves me. And then we talked about those words, this I know, and the importance, just like that guy when he said, I've been in church for 10 years, I've heard all this stuff, but today's my day where I believe it for me. And when we say Jesus loves me, this I know, it means this isn't just some belief system for other people.

This is my identity. This is my belief. And I've believed in Jesus as my Lord to give me my identity and my forgiveness from my mistakes. And today we're wrapping up with this final phrase of the short little song For the Bible Tells Me So. For the Bible Tells Me So, it doesn't mean that we believe all these things just because the Bible tells us so. Now the Bible does tell us all these things and the Bible is always true in what it says, but we believe these things because we've experienced them in our lives. We've seen the power. We've seen the change in ourselves and in others, but For the Bible Tells Me So, it affirms these things and it tells us here's what we need to believe about Jesus. Here's what we need to believe about his love.

And then the Bible, as a follower of Jesus, we make it the authority or the standard for what we do in belief. In other words, every time we hit a fork in the road of decision in life, what do I do with my sexuality? What do I do with my finances? What do I do with my past hurts? What do I do with my time?

What do I do with my life? Every time we reach a fork in the road of decision or of crisis, we look to the Word of God and we say, God, you've revealed your heart here. And we learned in me that my heart is often deceitful. I can't trust my own heart, but I can trust the heart of God. So anytime there's a crisis or a moment of decision, I will look to the Word of God and say, God, you tell me what to do because your word leads to life and freedom.

And very often what I think is best actually leads to death or to destruction. So that's what we mean when we say For the Bible Tells Me So. And my heart for you as a brother in Christ is I want you to grow in this life-changing power. There's so much power in this book to introduce change and growth into every area of your life.

But if it's closed and on a shelf, you're not going to be plugging into that power. You're not going to see the radical change and growth that God wants to bring into every area of your life. And what we're learning today is that as we look to the Word of God, it keeps us kind of in his repair shop.

It keeps us growing and learning and becoming refurbished in different areas of our lives. Here's an example. Here's the kind of repair manual that you might use if you were restoring a classic car. What's great about a manual like this is it's going to tell you how to remove each and every part, how to clean it, how to refurbish it, and then how to put it back together. In fact, I love this little line. This is an old book, but at the bottom it says here, thousands of crisp, clear illustrations.

And I love that because it's practical. If you have this book and the tools and enough time, you could restore one of the cars that are described in the book. And Scripture really is the same for us. If we'll stay in the Word of God, it will restore our thoughts. If we'll renew our minds in God's living, breathing words here, it will rebuild our relationships. It will refurbish our finances and our habits, our legacy. All the different areas of our lives that have kind of gotten decayed or in disrepair can be repaired ultimately by the power of God. He's the one who does the work, but he has a guidebook, a repair manual, a love letter called the Bible.

And let me share with you three things about it today. First is this, the same Scriptures that led me to salvation, those Scriptures will continue reshaping me and guiding me as I follow Jesus, the Christ. So whether you realize it or not, if you've placed your faith in Jesus, there was some Scripture along the way that God used to go down into your heart and bring about spiritual new life in you. Maybe it was the Scripture where it says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. Maybe it was the Scripture where Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father but by me. Maybe it was the Scripture where God says that he so loved the world that he sent his only son Jesus so that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have the gift of eternal life. Maybe it was the Scripture that says we're saved by grace through faith not by our own works that salvation is a gift of God.

I don't know exactly which Scripture it was and you might not either and that's okay but there was some Scripture, some eternal word of God from the Bible that you heard that went down into your heart that prompted you to say yes I need Jesus and you reached out to him. And what we learned in the passage we read today is that the same Scriptures that lead us to salvation we've experienced their power in that way they will continue to reshape us and to give power for our lives as we follow Christ. You've been listening to the first part of our guest teacher John Dickerson's message for The Bible Tells Me So from his series Jesus Loves Me.

Chip and John will join us shortly to share some additional thoughts on what we've heard. Let me ask you do you know the core beliefs of Christianity? Forget what churches, denominations or notable pastors say for a second. What do God and his word actually state are the essential truths of the Christian faith? Well in this 10-part study author and pastor John Dickerson will help us discover what those are. By using the simple children's song Jesus Loves Me John reveals what these lyrics tell us about God, his love for us, and the reliability of the Bible. So whether you're a new believer looking for guidance or you've been a Christian your whole life and need a refresher this series will encourage you. Learn more about John's teaching or his helpful resources by visiting livingontheedge.org. In fact Chip's joined me in studio now to talk a little more about the specific tools John has that go along with the series.

Chip? Thanks Dave. Before I come back with some specific application to today's message I just want to share something that I think will be helpful. I go to a church that's just filled with young people and then we've invited them to come to our home. And they're in their 20s maybe a couple in the early 30s and we we talk about all kind of things and what I realized early on was they have all these big questions about life and relationships and decisions but they don't know the basics of what it really means to be a Christian.

I mean what's it mean when we say Jesus loves me or that I believe in the Bible or what are the major key doctrines? And so what I'm very excited about is my friend John Dickerson has developed a small group resource and he used that famous little song Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so and he breaks it apart phrase by phrase by phrase and has developed this really neat small group experience where people learn the basics but learn how those basics actually operate in today's world and if you don't know that you can sort of have this intellectual belief of yes I believe in Jesus and you know I read a few devotionals but you'll never learn to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and see your life change from the inside out unless you know the basic doctrines and then how they actually apply. So Dave maybe you could take a minute and let people know how they can get this small group resource and as we start a new year let me encourage you grab it do it and then pass it on. Thanks Chip. To sign up for this online small group resource go to Living on the Edge dot org.

This engaging study will deepen your understanding of the Christian faith and give you the tools to encourage others to follow Jesus and during this series we've bundled the small group study and John's book Jesus loves me together at a special discounted price. To take advantage visit Living on the Edge dot org. App listeners tap special offers. Well with that here's Chip and John to share some application. Thanks Dave. John I love the passage scripture that you taught in fact I recently taught this entire book and Paul's words to Timothy have always been really super helpful to me especially as a young pastor getting wisdom from him but at the heart of everything Paul talks about is this key core commitment to scripture and you said that scripture will stabilize and strengthen us when our world shakes for that person whose world is shaking right now maybe it's they've lost their job maybe it's one of the tragedies we hear about so often could you give them some practical ways to interact with scripture that could help their world get stabilized to get re-established if you will in a right view of life and God and themselves because John I gotta tell you I just keep meeting people who their world's falling apart and it seems like they go anywhere and everywhere to try and hold it together except this one place so would you help them understand how do you connect to scripture in a way to get your roots to go down deep to be stable to not be like that read that it goes back and forth as the wind blows you and I know that life can be very hard but God's word stabilizes would you help us understand what that looks like oh yeah Chip what a great question here's what I know God's heart for every person listening right now is that you would not be blown back and forth like a reed or a wave on the sea but that you would have deep roots in fact Psalm chapter 1 God says this blessed blessed and happy is the person who delights in the Word of God and then God gives a promise he says that person who delights in the law of the Lord their roots will go deep they'll be like a tree planted by streams of living water and they will have fruit in every season of life with green leaves that don't wither so I want to encourage you with this if you want to be stable in life intake the Word of God regularly make it part of your daily habit you can do that through worship music you can listen to the Bible while you drive you can read a little bit of the Bible every day yeah it's a lot like physical health it helps if you're eating healthy food and the Bible is daily sustenance the bread of life that we live on one day at a time but also the Word of God is a lot like medicine when you have a problem and you need to go to the doctor and get a prescription and I would encourage you to have some regular intake of scripture whether you're in a crisis or not but when you're in crisis when you have pain when you have an area of your life that needs healing insist on learning what God's Word says about your situation you know we've learned in the message we heard today that all scripture is given by God and is useful and in my personal experience one of the most useful things about scripture is using it as medicine whether I need help in my marriage or in my emotions or in a financial decision and so learn to become kind of a belligerent student of the Bible what I mean by that is this be really stubborn about saying I'm going through this and I've got to figure out what are the promises of God about this you can search on the internet you can talk to pastors you can use a study Bible there are hundreds of different ways to find the promises of God that apply to your situation and of course Living on the Edge has many many tools to help you with that but find God's promises for whatever you're going through and when you live that way your struggles your difficulties actually become opportunities to experience the promises of God and the power of God and that'll stabilize your life. Thanks John and a great way to get plugged in with some of our resources is through the Chip Ingram app. You can listen to past series, sign up for daily discipleship, download the message notes and more. Let us help you experience God in a new personal way starting today with the Chip Ingram app. We'll join us again next time as our guest teacher John Dickerson wraps up his series Jesus Loves Me. Until then this is Dave Drewy saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.