The B-I-B-L-E. Is It Really the Book for Ye and Me? Part 2

The B-I-B-L-E. Is it really the book for ye and me? Today is part two of that topic and some pre-Christmas special right here on the Christian Worldview Radio program where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. I'm David Wheaton, the host, and our website is thechristianworldview.org. Well, before we get to the preview for today's program, today is going to be the last new program of the year. The next two weeks over Christmas and around New Year's, we're going to be airing some previously aired programs that came earlier this year. So I just wanted to say a couple things before we start that our end of the year print letter should be arriving in your mailbox soon.

We will also email it to the email list, distribution list, and we'll also post it on our website as well. And in that it has a letter to listeners and also a resource guide that you can order resources here at the end of the year. And just a thank you to so many of you who encourage us by your notes, by your support of this ministry, and we're just thankful to God and to you for having another year of broadcasting the Christian worldview.

It has been many years now and it is only by God's grace that He has brought us thus far. One more thing as we come up to Christmas, just wanted to mention a few reminders regarding COVID. We've had a lot of friends, listeners contact us who have gotten COVID some more seriously than others, some have had to go into the hospital and so forth, some pretty serious situations. And so I would encourage you before you start getting together on Christmas gatherings to go to our website, thechristianworldview.org. We have a link there to the COVID quick reference guide that Citizens Council for Health Freedom has on their website. And it's very good.

You know Twyla Bray, she's been in the program many times and her organization put this out. It would be really helpful for you to read. So you're really up to date on what's going on with COVID, what's the best way to avoid getting it, what to do if you do get it. And just a short summary, keep your immune system strong during this time of year. Everyone's spending more time indoors.

You're going to be getting together with others now. You can keep your immune system strong by taking things like multivitamin, vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc, quercetin, those kinds of things are mentioned in the guide. Also sleep is really important. That's how God designed us to be restored. So make sure you're getting good enough sleep and also exercise too, getting fresh air, not just being inside all day.

It's easy to sit around a lot this time of year. Being careful with your hygiene. Social distancing I think does work. You don't want to be on top of a lot of people in very close proximity.

Keep a little bit of distance. Order ivermectin in advance. If you don't have that, do not wait until you get COVID to try to get it because you won't be able to get it in time. We've heard this over and over and over again that someone gets COVID, then they start trying to find ivermectin. And by that time it's too late. That really needs to be taken within the first several days. For sure the first week of getting COVID. Some that we've known have had to go to the hospital and there's a whole process for what to take and what not to take.

Again, refer to that guide that's linked on our website thechristianworldview.org. And the final thing I'll say is with regard to the COVID so-called vaccines because they aren't truly vaccines. They don't inoculate you like previous vaccines and they're made up of different substances than typical vaccines. We are against these vaccines for three basic reasons.

From a religious standpoint, they were developed using stem cells from aborted babies. Number two, we're against them from a civil liberty standpoint. We don't believe that the government or an employer should be mandating that you put something into your body against your will, otherwise you lose your job or can't go here or there or buy or sell. And finally, we're against them from a health standpoint. There have been more adverse reactions from these vaccines than any vaccine in American history. So our position is we will inform you of what we know about these so-called vaccines so you can make an informed decision for yourself.

Alright, enough on the COVID front. Let's get to our topic for the day, the B-I-B-L-E. Is it really the book for you and me? Now, last week in part one of our series on the Bible, we heard some sound bites from a sermon by Pastor Alistair Begg addressing important questions about the Bible, such as these. How exactly is the Bible the, quote, inspired word of God or God-breathed? Does the Bible have the central place in our own personal lives and also in our church as well?

In other words, is it read? That's the most important part of the service is reading the word of God. Question number three, what is the structure of the Bible going from the Old Testament to the New Testament and the law and the prophets and the gospels and the letters and revelation?

What is the structure of the Bible and what is the main theme of the Bible, which we heard last week is the coming of the Redeemer, Jesus Christ? And finally, we discussed why the Bible is different and better than all the plethora of Christian books that are constantly coming out. Now, you can listen to part one by going to our website, so I won't repeat what we went over last week, but this week in part two, we are going to hear more sound bites from this message series by Alistair Begg and discuss where the rubber really meets the road when it comes to Scripture, how to accurately interpret it. In other words, discovering what God intended to communicate as He got to those who wrote the various books of the Bible. And it's not about what the Bible means to you or me, but it rather is about what God means in the Bible. That is the calling that we have. Scripture commands us in 2 Timothy 2 15 to accurately handle the word of truth. If we in the church mishandle Scripture, misinterpret it, that misrepresents God and misleads men and women.

And what could be more serious than that? So I'm glad you joined us today in the Christian Real View to discuss how to accurately handle the word of truth. And we're going to get to a portion of the program on Christmas regarding Christ coming into our world. Last week, we mentioned this passage where Jesus is praying to His Father in John chapter 17, one of the great insights into how Christ talks to His own Father. And in John 17 17, Jesus prays this, sanctify them, referring to His disciples and believers by extension, sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth. And while the Bible makes that claim over and over again to be the word of truth, the question we have to answer is, can we trust this word of truth? Are we going to believe in this word of truth? And this past week, Pastor Stephen Lawson, in a Bible study from 1 John, talked about the importance of the truth being so integrated into every part of our life.

It's our foundation for how we think and live. Everything in the Christian life begins with the truth. You cannot be saved without knowing the truth. You cannot know God without knowing the truth.

You cannot know Christ and you cannot follow Christ for one step without knowing the truth. You cannot grow spiritually without knowing the truth. You cannot stand strong in this world without knowing the truth. You cannot resist temptation without knowing the truth. You cannot witness to anyone without knowing the truth. You literally cannot do anything of any eternal value in your spiritual life without knowing the truth. The truth is that important. You can know the truth and not be saved, but you cannot be saved without knowing the truth. What does the word truth mean? In one word, the word truth means reality.

Truth is the way things really are. Truth is whatever God says something is. Sin is whatever God says sin is.

It doesn't matter the polls, doesn't matter the preacher, doesn't matter whoever. All that matters is what does God say sin is. And salvation is whatever God says salvation is.

Heaven and hell is whatever God says it is. The truth is that important to your Christian life. You are at a complete standstill without further installments of the truth in your Christian life. It's the engine that's driving your Christian life. It's the steering wheel that's guiding your Christian life. I just love the way Pastor Steve Lawson teaches so clear, so black and white, all the things he said. You can't be saved, sanctified.

You can't overcome temptation. You can't witness about Christ if you don't have the truth without knowing the truth. He said, truth is reality, the way things really are. Truth is what God says, not what the world around you says, not just what highly educated people say. Nothing is truth unless it corresponds to what the Bible says.

And that really is what we are after here on the Christian Real View Radio program. We're after the truth according to Scripture. We want to accurately handle the word of truth. We don't even imagine that we have a corner on the truth. We actually want to be corrected if we're not speaking the truth, because as he said, the truth is the most important thing. Now, we need to stand firm on the truth because there's such an attack on the truth all the time. This is what Satan has done from the very beginning.

In the garden, has God indeed said, questioning, changing, perverting, corrupting the truth of God's Word? And just this past week, I read a column with a good example of this attack on truth going on up in Canada right now. They have now made a law against so-called, quote-unquote, conversion therapy, enlarging the definition of that term to go way beyond some sort of unbiblical, coercive, threatening approach to getting someone not to be a homosexual, to also include what a pastor would do in counseling or any encouragement of anyone to try to help someone come out of the sin of homosexuality or transgenderism. I'm going to just read the preamble to this new law in Canada.

It's called Bill C-4, and it came out December 8th, 2021. The preamble is, whereas conversion therapy—now, they define this very broadly—causes harm to the persons who are subjected to it, whereas conversion therapy causes harm to society because, among other things, it is based on and propagates myths and stereotypes about sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, including the myth that heterosexuality or cisgender gender identity—that's identifying with the gender that you were born with—and gender expression that conforms to the sex assigned to a person at birth are to be preferred over other sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions. And whereas, it goes on to say, in light of those harms, it is important to discourage and denounce the provision of conversion therapy in order to protect the human dignity and equality of all Canadians. So we know what this bill is refuting, what it's attacking, what it's undermining. It's undermining God's Word, the truth of God's Word, which says just the opposite.

These lawmakers in Canada have believed a lie. They've rejected the truth that's revealed in Scripture, which then leads them and others away from God and therefore salvation. This is a horrible direction to go. It ultimately brings judgment upon people. That's why it's so serious. It's not just simply about homosexuality and transgenderism. This leads people away from being in a right relationship with God and brings judgment upon them.

What can be more serious than that? So Canada is criminalizing those who disagree with the homosexual transgender movement now, but what they're going to attack next is going to be the Bible, because that's the foundation, the source for those who oppose homosexuality and transgenderism. So Canada is a very religious liberty loathing country at this point, and it makes one wonder how close we are in the United States to this becoming our law here. The Christian Worldview with David Wheaton returns in just a moment. The original stalwart souls who created a colony in the howling New England winter just so they can worship according to the dictates of conscience had far more influence on world history than they could have ever imagined.

You see the seeds of liberty, both religious liberty and civil liberty, and the idea of self-government and rule from within, all these are within that body of pilgrims. The proceeding is from The Pilgrims, a 57-minute documentary of the inspiring story and faith of these Christians who great ly impacted our nation. You can order the DVD for a donation of any amount to The Christian Worldview. Go to thechristianworldview.org or call 1-888-646-2233 or write to Box 401, Excelsior Minnesota 55331.

That's 1-888-646-2233 or thechristianworldview.org. David Wheaton here, volunteer host of The Christian Worldview radio program. Listeners are often surprised to learn that we as a ministry pay for airtime on the radio station, website, or app on which you hear the program. The primary way this expense is recouped is through listeners like you donating to the ministry or becoming a monthly partner.

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And be sure to specify in which station, website, or app you listen as that helps us decide whether to continue on a given outlet. Thank you for your support. Welcome back to The Christian Worldview. Be sure to visit our website thechristianworldview.org where you can subscribe to our free weekly email and annual print newsletter, order resources for adults and children, and support the ministry. Now, back to today's program with host, David Wheaton. Now we need to get to these sound bites from Pastor Alistair Begg on this sermon series he did in the Bible.

And the first one has to do with how we actually hear from God. And this, incidentally, answers the question that I get all the time. Could we have a service where all we do is sing? No.

Why not? Think about it. What God has to say to us is much more important than what we have to say to him. And indeed, we have nothing to say to him until first we have heard from him. And that, in the passing, is one of the reasons why perhaps our whole approach to the study of the Bible and the praise is upside down, traditionally so.

But little comes after having heard from him. We're talking to him before he speaks to us. It presupposes that we've been listening every day of the week, but if we haven't, then we arrive cold, uneducated, uninspired, and are exhorted to praise a God with whom we have spent no time in the preceding seven days. Now, this is a very interesting first sound bite because, as we see in the evangelical church today, the, quote, praise and worship, the music has become much more prominent and longer during the weekly service, probably up to half or more of the time. And the sermons are getting shorter and shorter. So what does that tell you? What it tells us is the worship experience, what we do toward God, ostensibly, is more important than hearing the Word of God preached to us.

And Alistair Begg says just the opposite. No, you can't sing rather than just hear the Bible preached. We need to hear from God because what God has to say to us is far more important than what we have to say or sing to him. It was also interesting what he said about the fact that if you go all week without reading your Bible or hearing the Word preached and just come to church every Sunday for a little sermonette, that's not going to lead to you being a very grounded believer. You need to be in the Word on a daily or at least regular basis, hearing the Word preached from sound teachers who know how to rightly handle the Word of truth. So you're not relying on a 20 or 30 minute message on a Sunday for your spiritual nourishment. So then onto the next soundbite, knowing that we have to hear from God, from his Word. Well, how do we actually understand and properly interpret his Word? How are we supposed to understand it?

Let me give you the answer in one word, properly. The Bible does not have a special esoteric spiritual meaning, which can only be gleaned by setting aside the plain grammatical and historical sense. You'll find people like this all the time. They pop up in Bible studies all over the place. Well, I believe that what this is saying is, because I such and such and so on, they say, Well, listen, sir, if you could just maybe make a cup of coffee or something, just sit over there in the corner for a little while, we'll come back to you.

Maybe. But right now, our concern here is to understand the Bible properly. We're not really interested in what it means to you. And if you've been reading your Bible during the week, saying, Well, I got nothing out of it because it didn't mean anything to me, what did you expect to happen to you? I mean, if you're reading a book of Leviticus, what do you really think is supposed to happen? Well, what it's about, you need to stand back from it. It's like certain paintings. You can't see them up close.

You have to take them in the process. And when you stand back and you realize what God is conveying of his holiness and of his power and of his grandeur and pointed into the nature of substitution and sacrifice, then suddenly all these elements begin to take on form. Now, we've all heard someone say that. Well, what the Bible means to me is—or the person who, as Alistair Begg mentioned there, who believes there's some special esoteric meaning. In other words, Scripture is only to be understood by a small number of highly informed people. They always have these different and these new interpretations that no one else has discovered for the last 2000 years.

Stay away from those kinds of teachers. As he said, stand back and look at the whole of Scripture. Get a good overview of what's going on in the Bible. This is why I think it's extremely helpful just to read through the Bible on a regular basis.

Even if you're not studying it in the original language word by word and studying one sentence per day, that can be good, but that doesn't give you the big overview of Scripture as it would if you were reading whole chunks of it, whole books of it, the entirety of Scripture itself. That will help you understand who God is and how he has worked through history from the Old Testament into the New Testament with Christ and beyond. That's why it's so important that I tell you how you need to understand the Bible. The reason that people make those applications is simply because they refuse to accept that the plain meaning of a passage is the plain meaning of a passage. They're unprepared to accept that the main things are the plain things and the plain things are the main things, and they have the idea that the plain meaning must always defer to some hidden spiritual interpretation. Incidentally, that is why you can write a book that is fairly true and straightforward, and only ten people buy it and read it, and those are all members of your family. Or you can write a book that takes a notion, spins it into an interesting dimension, and retire in the islands.

Why? Because of the perversity of the human mind. The idea that perhaps in this secret notion, in this strange meaning, in this little idea, there is the answer to spiritual fitness. Well, this explains why the Christian book industry churns out all these books with a new perspective on Paul or the shack or something like that, and people just eat it up. Oh, something new and different than the traditional Orthodox interpretation of Scripture let me have at it.

Like Alistair Begg said, the main things are the plain things, the plain things are the main things. The way to interpret a passage is on the basis of its straightforward sense. In order to do that, you have to interpret it first according to its original meaning. According to its original meaning. So Paul writes to the Corinthians, at a certain point in time, at a certain place, a certain latitude and longitude, we must first understand the historical context to which he writes in Corinth before we start making application here in Cleveland.

If you go immediately to application in Cleveland, without first understanding why Corinth, then you can make the Bible say just about anything you want it to. If you're going to interpret it according to its straightforward sense, not only do you have to pay attention to its original meaning, but you have to pay attention to its literary form. Its literary form. Am I reading poetry or prose? Am I dealing with a parable? Am I dealing with history? Am I dealing with allegory? Am I dealing with a metaphor with a simile?

Because it makes a difference, doesn't it? 2 Chronicles 16, 9 speaks of the eyes of the Lord ranging to and fro throughout the earth. Now, unless you understand that that is a figure of speech, that it is a metaphor, then you will inevitably conclude that two great cosmic eyes scan the globe intermittently, and that somewhere or another, out in the solar system, there are two gigantic eyes looking all around. Is that what it is saying? A person says, Well, I'm taking the Bible literally. Therefore, yes, it is. My dear friend, you're taking the Bible literalistically. To take the Bible literally is to take it in the genre in which it is conveyed. And this is clearly a metaphor. What it is teaching is the omniscience of God.

It is a picture to convey a truth. This is another important point that we need to interpret scripture according to its original meaning. What God inspired that author to write to the group or person he wrote to at a specific time and place. So you need to understand the context of the time it was written before going on to application for today. And this is why it can be helpful to have a good study Bible from a trustworthy pastor who can give you the context for, let's say, why Paul was writing to Timothy or the Romans that can give you that original context of the time it was written.

And then you went on to talk about, it's important also to understand the literary form, whether it's a narrative or poetry. Don't just jump in and pluck a verse out without understanding the context in which it was written and pluck that verse out as a proof text for some application that you want to apply in your own life or to our society today. The next soundbite by Alistair Begg gives a critically important principle that's not mentioned enough today that scripture must interpret scripture.

If you're pulling out some interpretation of a passage that contradicts other portions of scripture, you're getting it wrong, and you need to go back in and interpret scripture in light of other scripture. Scripture needs to be interpreted by scripture. There is a harmony to the Bible. There is a unity to the Bible.

There is a self-consistency to the Bible that you would expect given a single divine author. And when you interpret scripture with scripture, you need to interpret it according to the purpose of scripture. What is the purpose of scripture?

Oh, come to this eventually. He says to Timothy as a young man, he says, you should be paying attention to all these things. You should be thankful that you've known the Bible for a very long time, the Bible which is able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. What is the purpose of the Bible?

It is to make men and women wise unto salvation. It's not a book about astronomy. It's not a scientific textbook. It's a book that has been written to make us wise for salvation. So we should be very, very careful then about trying to extrapolate scientific terminology and deductions from a book that does not have that as its express purpose. And we need to understand a passage or a writer in relationship to their purpose.

I can illustrate this for you easily. People come to me from time to time, they say, well, I found a contradiction between James and Paul. I find that what Paul is saying is that it's all grace, and then I was reading James, I read his little five-chapter thing, and it seems to me that he's saying it's all works.

And it's an obvious contradiction. Well, it is an apparent contradiction until you interpret scripture with scripture, and in doing so, you acknowledge the fact that you have to understand the purpose of the writer. What is the purpose of James in writing his letter? It is to address a group of people who are going around saying, My morality and my social involvement is irrelevant. All that matters is that I have faith in Jesus. And James writes to them to say, You better be very careful of a sterile faith. You show me your faith without works, and I'll show you faith with works. So he's addressing people who are tempted to say, All I have to do is believe in Jesus, and nothing matters.

He says, Oh yes, everything does matter. If you're a snob, you call in question your commitment to a humble Christ. If you simply say, Be warm and do nothing to help, then you apparently haven't understood what it means to prefer your enemies and to love those who despise you. But when Paul writes to the Galatians, he's writing to a group of people who have got the exact opposite problem. He's writing to a group of people who are so convinced that on the basis of their own good works and their own good deeds, they're made acceptable to God.

They keep themselves going by what they do. And Paul writes to say, It's not what you do that matters, it's the grace of God that matters. Now, how do you understand that? According to the purpose of each writer. And therefore, it's obvious that you need to interpret other passages in the light of passages that deal with the same theme. So Alistair Begg explains this really well, and you hear this charge often that Paul says salvation is by faith, and James says faith without works is dead, so there's a contradiction of Scripture.

Which is it? Well, both are correct. You need to understand the purpose and the audience to whom each of them was writing. And he mentioned that in that soundbite. Paul was writing to those who were thinking they could be justified based on their good works. Paul refuted that. James is writing to those who are exhibiting no good works as evidence of true saving faith. And as Alistair Begg said, there's a harmony, a unity, a consistency that stems from there's one divine author of Scripture, which is God. So as we apply the principle of Scripture, interpreting Scripture, we should never come out with an interpretation that's going to violate another portion of Scripture.

The apparent contradictions we think we come up with should be resolvable. An example he gave with Paul versus James, it's not versus, it's Paul and James give a fuller picture on what it means to be saved and how good works are evidence, but not the means of true saving faith. The Christian Worldview with David Wheaton returns in just a moment. Recent guest Cal Beissner defines economics as moral philosophy applied to marketplace relationships. So it makes sense that as our nation's judgment of what is right and wrong has moved away from biblical morality, our economic policies have gone the same wrong direction. So what is the Christian worldview on economics? Cal Beissner has written an insightful 56-page softcover booklet titled Biblical Foundations for Economics that shows how economic principles and policies need to be based on the Bible to achieve the greatest human flourishing. For a limited time, we are offering biblical foundations for economics for a donation of any amount to the Christian worldview. To order, go to thechristianworldview.org or call 1-888-646-2233 or write to Box 401 Excelsior, Minnesota 55331.

Again, the website is thechristianworldview.org. When it comes to your healthcare provider, what are some words you would use to describe your experience with them? Comfort? Peace?

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We just thank God that He's allowed us to have that kind of peace to be in a situation where I can focus on things that are far more important than what are we going to do about healthcare. Want to be part of a growing, caring community of Christians who faithfully share each other's medical needs each month all without the use of insurance? Find out more at SamaritanMinistries.org slash TCW.

That's SamaritanMinistries.org slash TCW. Thanks for joining us on The Christian Worldview. Just a reminder that today's program and past programs are archived at our website, TheChristianWorldview.org. Short takes are also available and be sure to share with others. Now, back to today's program with host David Wheaton.

Okay, we just have a couple more sound bites from this message by Alistair Begg. And the next one has to do with how there's a progressive, a further revelation in Scripture. So something that is introduced, perhaps in the Old Testament, gets more fully developed, maybe in the Prophets, and then in the Gospels, and then in the Epistles in the New Testament.

It'd be the same problem of reading the Gospels and never going on to read the Epistles. Because in the Gospels it is clear that Christ died. But it is really only in the Epistles that it becomes perfectly clear why Christ died, that he died for our sins, and that he died for our sins according to the Scriptures. According to what Scriptures? According to the Old Testament Scriptures. So you read Peter, and he says Christ died.

Well, he said, we know that. I saw it in the Gospels. He died for our sins.

Oh, that explains it! And he did so according to the Scriptures. Oh, that makes sense of Isaiah. That's why he was saying he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, he had never opened his mouth.

He was wounded for our transgressions, and he was bruised for our iniquities, and the chest has been the broadest peace was upon him. I read that, and I hadn't a clue what it meant. And I saw it in the Gospels, and I wondered, perhaps this is how it fits. And then I read the Epistles, and the Epistles said Christ died, got it for our sins, understand it according to the Scriptures. And suddenly you're reading from the back to the front.

It begins to make sense. Now we played that soundbite last week of how Alistair Begg said reading from the back of the Bible to the front can be helpful because you're getting a fuller picture in the New Testament of things that were introduced in perhaps a slightly more obscure way in the Old Testament. But again, this goes to the point of the importance of reading the entirety of Scripture. This is why what Andy Stanley said about we need to unhitch the Old Testament from the New Testament is just an egregious error.

All Scripture, Old Testament and New Testament, is inspired by God. Themes that are introduced in the Old Testament are important to understand as they get developed throughout Scripture and are more fully made clear in the New Testament. And again, this is why reading through the Bible in its entirety several or many times during your life is going to give you a deeper understanding of not just Scripture, not just gaining more knowledge about the book itself, but about who God is, what His character and nature are, about who His Son is and how we can be right with God through Jesus Christ, about the nature, the sin nature of man and the explanation for what has gone wrong in the world. All these things the Bible addresses in its entirety. So read the whole thing, read the whole book, realizing that if you are a believer, God has given you the Holy Spirit inside of you to guide you into the truth of God's Word.

And that's what Alistair Begg says in this final soundbite. Ultimately, the Bible can only be interpreted for us by the Holy Spirit, because true understanding is not natural to us. Milne is right when he says, what we understand of God's truth is related less to the capacity of our brains than to the extent of our obedience.

What we learn of God's truth is related less to the capacity of our brains than to the extent of our obedience. And that, my dear friends, is why it is that a young Christian begins to lap this older believer, because the older believer, thinking that they simply sit on the pew and flatten out their posterior over time, never taking seriously the Bible, never absorbing its truth, never applying it to their lives. And suddenly this young believer comes along, and they're so crazy to think, you know, if you go to the morning service, presumably you go to the evening service too. After all, God's Word is preached, and apparently you do what the Bible says. Yeah, you believe and you get baptized, so let's get baptized.

And apparently the people who got baptized, they joined the fellowship, and so they joined the fellowship, and they got involved, and they read their Bibles, and suddenly they are laughing you, and you're saying, why is it that they're a way ahead of me now? Well, it is because it's not directly related to the length of time you've sat listening to sermons or the length of time that I have preached sermons, but it is directly related to the obedience of my heart. This is so well said by Alistair Begg, that what we learn from Scripture is less due to the capacity of our brains, he said, than our willingness to obey it. Ultimately, it's about having a humble and soft heart, seeking closeness with God and a willingness to obey Him as He reveals His will in His Word. It's not simply about gaining knowledge, so you can be some great apologist or have your T's crossed and your I's dotted on the finer points of every doctrine. We need to come to Scripture praying to God that He would help us understand it through the indwelling Holy Spirit, that He would give us the power to apply it and to be obedient to Him as He reveals His will to us in His Holy Scripture. So this should be encouraging to you, to know that you don't need to go to seminary, you don't need to be the most intelligent person in the world, you just need to approach Scripture having been born again, because then you have the Holy Spirit to help you interpret it, and you need to approach it with a prayerful, humble heart. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, the Bible says, in that God meets each person where they are in this supernatural book, providing the truths that each of us need to learn at the various stages of our lives.

And so this transitions well to the next soundbite, not by Alistair Begg, but by Steve Lawson. We played a soundbite from him earlier in the program, and I want to play another one where he talks about some of the essential truths of Scripture that lead to salvation that really anyone can understand, even a child. But what John's referring to here is not a comprehensive knowledge of the full counsel of God. He's talking about that essential truth, those essential truths that are necessary to enter into the kingdom of heaven. I mean, you have to know the holiness of God. You have to know that you have sinned and fallen short of the holiness of God.

You have to know that the wages of sin is death. You have to know that you are a sinner, and that there is only one Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to know that He is truly God and truly man.

You have to know that He pre-existed His entrance into this world, that He is without beginning as eternal God. He took on the form of sinless humanity. He was born of a virgin, that He lived a sinless and perfect life, that He went to the cross, that He was lifted up to die, that the sins of all those who would trust Him were laid upon Him, and that He took our sins far, far away. He shed His blood and washed away our sins. He was taken down from the cross. He was buried in a tomb. And on the third day, He was raised from the dead. He walked out of that tomb, a risen Savior, Lord of heaven and earth. He is ascended to the right hand of God the Father. And whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. All authority in heaven and earth has been given unto Him. And there is salvation in no other name, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. You have to know that.

And you have to believe that. And you have to commit your life to that, that no amount of good works can contribute anything to the finished work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. He paid in full our sin debt with His death upon the cross. And because of our faith in Him, we have been clothed with the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. And we now stand, as it were, in the very presence of God faultless, with full acceptance in the family of God by God the Father. That is the essential truth of the Gospel. And not one of those sentences that I just said can be denied.

They must be fully embraced. I just love hearing good and accurate presentations of the Gospel as Pastor Stephen Lawson just gave there. Now I know it sounded like a lot of essentials you must know, but really if you could just whittle it down into about four categories. Who God is, that God is the Creator. He's holy.

He's the just judge of this universe. He created us to be in relationship with Him. We are created to worship Him.

Secondly, you need to realize who you are, that you're created in the image of God, but that each one of us, we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And the wages of that sin, what we have earned, the wages is physical and spiritual death. The consequences for sin is eternal separation from God. We are alienated from God because of our sin. We are a sinful man and He is a holy God.

And so the question is, how do you make that right? How can we be restored, reconciled to this holy God so we aren't justly judged for our sin, but instead receive forgiveness and eternal life with Him? And that's the third point, who Christ is. He's the perfect Son of God, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world that He came and which we celebrate at Christmas. He came born of a virgin woman, so He didn't have the sin nature we have. He never sinned. And He lived as a man, as our representative, but not just as a man, as a perfect sinless life.

He grew up and then offered Himself on that cross as our substitute. We deserve to be crucified for our sins and die and be sentenced to hell, but Christ paid the debt, the penalty, the punishment that God requires and we deserve. And that there's salvation in no one else. He's the only way, the only truth, the only life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.

There's one mediator between God and men, the man, Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live even if he dies and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. So those are the first three points that who God is and who we are and who Christ is and Christ ended that statement by saying, do you believe this?

Which brings us to the fourth point. Do you believe that? Here at Christmas, when we celebrate the coming of the Son of God into the world, do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the only Savior of mankind? He's your only hope to be saved. Repent, turn, confess your sin before God and put your trust, your faith in Jesus Christ alone and what he did for you on the cross as paying God's required penalty for your sins, satisfying God's wrath and justice over your sin. So you could be justly forgiven of all your sin.

You could be clothed with the righteous robes of Jesus Christ. God sees you if you've repented and believed in Christ. He sees you as righteous now because all of your past, present and future sins have already been paid for by Jesus Christ.

That's amazing. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5 21, God made Christ who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. If you have never made the decision that only you can make to repent and believe in this gospel, I urge you, I exhort you to do that. It's the most important decision you make in your entire life. It literally determines where you will spend eternity.

The Bible says in Romans, if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And the passage goes on to saying, and you won't be disappointed. Every year sometime during the Christmas season, we seem to watch Charlie Brown Christmas. It first came out in December of 1965.

That's 56 years ago. And I watched the portion of that Christmas special by Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, where Linus answers Charlie Brown's question toward the end of that special, where Charlie Brown is very distraught. He's bought this Christmas tree and it was kind of a pathetic looking Christmas tree and all his peers are laughing at him and so forth. And Charlie Brown finally cries out and says, can anyone tell me what Christmas is all about? And in one of the greatest moments in American television history, on network television that is, Linus actually quotes from scripture in Luke chapter two about what Christmas is all about. I guess you were right, Linus. I shouldn't have picked this little tree.

Everything I do turns into a disaster. I guess I really don't know what Christmas is all about. Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about? Sure, Charlie Brown. I can tell you what Christmas is all about.

Lights, please. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them. And the glory of the Lord showed round about them. And they were sore afraid and the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you.

You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest honor and peace, goodwill toward men. That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

He's exactly right. Jesus Christ coming into this world is what Christmas is all about. Don't be distracted by the Christmas movies and Santa Claus and everything else Satan in the world do to distract away from this most important advent, most important coming of the Son of God. I read some of the comments after that Charlie Brown Christmas video clip on YouTube. Without question, someone said, one of the greatest moments in television history.

Another person said, his speech lasts about one minute. It is widely regarded as the best part and most pivotal part of the whole special. It's the best one minute I've ever seen on commercial TV at Christmas. Another one, the Bible passage read by Linus at the play rehearsal was something Charles Schulz insisted upon being in there.

Otherwise he wouldn't give CBS permission to make the Christmas special. One more, years later, and this still brings tears, praise God in the highest for all eternity, for his unending love for us. The reason it's so powerful and so impactful is that it was simply the reading of the inspired and supernatural word of God. We thank you for a wonderful year of broadcasting. A thank you to all of our affiliate network partners who broadcast the Christian real view. We could not do it without you. Couldn't do without so many supporters to this nonprofit ministry. Thank you to my wife, Brody, who does so much behind the scenes. Thank you to Bobby, our technical director, also to Alicia for answering phones and fulfilling resources and Sue.

She's done it for so long and our board of directors and my parents and family who support us in so many ways. And most of all, thanks be to God for his indescribable gift of his son. So let's remember at Christmas, Jesus Christ and his word are the same yesterday and today and forever. Think biblically, live accordingly and stand firm. The mission of the Christian worldview is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We hope today's broadcast encouraged you toward that end. To hear a replay of today's program or to sign up for our free weekly email or to find out what must I do to be saved, go to our website, thechristianworldview.org or call us toll free at 1-888-646-2233. The Christian worldview is a listener supported ministry and furnished by the Overcomer Foundation, a nonprofit organization. You can find out more, order resources, make a donation, become a monthly partner and contact us by visiting thechristianworldview.org, calling toll free 1-888-646-2233 or writing to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. That's Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. Thanks for listening to the Christian worldview. Until next time, think biblically and live accordingly.