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1948. The Reality and Relevance of Christ

The Daily Platform / Bob Jones University
The Truth Network Radio
January 15, 2025 5:00 pm

1948. The Reality and Relevance of Christ

The Daily Platform / Bob Jones University

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January 15, 2025 5:00 pm

Dr. Alan Benson concludes a series called “Truth For Life” which has been a study of the doctrine of the Scriptures. The text is from II Timothy 3:10-17.

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Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina.

The school was founded in 1927 by the evangelist Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. His intent was to make a school where Christ would be the center of everything, so he established daily chapel services. Today, that tradition continues with fervent biblical preaching from The University Chapel platform. Today on The Daily Platform, we're concluding a study series entitled Truth for Life, which has been a study of bibliology or the doctrine of the scriptures. Today's sermon will be preached by Dr. Alan Benson. The title of his sermon is The Reality and Relevance of Christ. Take your Bibles and turn with me to a classic text.

I don't want to give you anything new today. I want to reinforce our faith. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. I'm going to take just a moment. I know you don't want my personal story.

There's very little value in it, but I do want to share it with you because I think at some point it may be helpful to you. I was a young pastor and ended up in my first pastorate, doing everything I knew to do with all the energy and vigor that I could do it with, and I found myself in a crisis. My daughter's second birthday, and at 10 o'clock at night, I got called to the church, and there assembled were all of my deacons, and they asked for my resignation. I sat there and walked through a meeting for several hours listening to empty accusations, and all I knew to say was, gentlemen, if I resign, it's an admission to all of those things, and I can't do that. Church meeting was called on Sunday.

That was Thursday. On Sunday, we went through a four-hour meeting. I still have it recorded, and I have never had the courage to go back and listen to it, but at the end of that meeting, a question was called, and a vote was taken, and I was no longer the pastor. I remember asking if my last act as pastor could be that I could lead the congregation in prayer, and I did that, and what ensued was like a funeral. The church lined up like I had just lost a spouse, and they all came and they hugged me and said, we're so sorry. We just didn't know what to do.

We went home. A group of people reached out to us and said, you know what? We came to the church because of the preaching and the teaching.

Would you please help us? And I said, I cannot. I cannot be your pastor. I will not be a part of a church split, but I want to help you, so I will, but at some point, and so we started what became a church plant. The Lord worked incredible ways. We had a place to meet, and people gave the first week.

I think there were 20 people, and at the end of that service, I asked for sacrificial giving, and we had $9,000, and so we did that, and it was amazing, and we wrote a church constitution, and we elected deacons, and we did all these things. We moved three different buildings, and God got us settled in a place, and one morning, I was standing in my bathroom, and I called my wife in. Do you guys know my wife? Everywhere we have been, when it came time for us to leave, the question I was posed with was, could you please just leave Michelle? That's our lives.

She is the much better half. I called my wife in, and I said, babe, you know what? I'm all done, and she looked at me like, all done with what?

Shaving? And I said, I am all done with ministry. She said, okay. Why? And I said, because I'm going to be honest with you.

I have no idea what it's really all about. I have done everything I've been taught to do, and it didn't work, and I don't think I can do that anymore. And truly, she is God's greatest gift to me.

She, in wisdom, said to me, okay, I'm your wife, and I'm going to live with you. But before you leave the ministry, why don't you see if you can figure out what it's all about? So I ensued on a process. I was in the greater Detroit area, and I formulated questions, and I got meetings with every form of clergy that I could get over the next three months. Catholic priests, Anglican ministers, Methodist ministers, Baptist ministers, Church of God, Church of Christ, everything I could, and I walked them through my questions. And at the end of three months of exploration, I was convinced of one thing, that though we were different, every one of them was just like me, in that we were doing what we were taught to do, and we weren't sure why.

Now that's not true of everybody, but that's where I was left. And young people, I will tell you the reason I'm in ministry today is because of what happened next. I had a crisis of faith, and I decided that before I gave up on ministry, I needed to ask God what it was all about.

And the next three months were a journey for me of searching the scriptures to see whether these things were so. God, what do you say about church? What do you say about the role of a pastor? What do you say about salvation? What do you say about spiritual growth? And I am in ministry today because I believe the Bible.

I really want this series to leave you somehow in that place. That the sure foundation of your faith is in the trustworthy Word of God. And so today I really just want to explore with you this passage of Scripture and talk about two things in the minutes that we have, the reality and the relevance of God's Word. The reality and relevance of God's Word. So look at 2 Timothy chapter 3, Paul writing to Timothy in one of his most personal letters, these pastoral epistles, he says, but thou has fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch and at Iconium and at Lystra. What persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. What a testimony. He's saying, you know what Timothy, you as much as anybody, you really know me and you know what I believe.

So follow on. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Your faith is going to be tried, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived. He creates a context for what he's about to say. You know my life, you know what I suffered, you know what I believe, and you need to understand that this is the normal pathway of those who will hold to the faith and you need to understand that the context in which you hold that faith is going to get worse and worse.

So do you really believe it? And thus he says in verse 14, but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and has been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them. What things? Paul's great advice? Paul's strategy for ministry? Paul's seven tactics for how to build a megachurch?

No. Look at what he says. Verse 15, and that from a child thou hast known the, tell me the next two words, the holy scriptures, which are able. Last week Dr. Rathbun talked about the power of the Word of God.

Here is a direct statement. They, the scriptures, are able. Friends, statements like that are not made of any other book. They are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. And now these all too familiar verses.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness so that the man of God may be perfect, completely outfitted, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Really what I want to do today is just two simple things. I want us to understand, again, what is the Bible and what should we do with it? I asked these two questions right from the beginning. Two simple statements.

I'll rehearse them again. You will never truly understand God, the world, or yourself without knowing the Word of God. You're wrestling with what to do in life. You need the Word of God. You're wrestling with your identity.

Who am I? You need the Word of God. The level to which you inform your mind with God's truth is the level at which you will truly understand life. Go read the wisdom literature and you'll hear that announced over and over and over again. And so today I really want us to do two things. Comprehending the reality of God's Word. Has God actually spoken?

And I really want to do one simple thing. I wish I could bring into you a plethora of great figures throughout history and let you hear every one of their personal testimony about the validity, the integrity, and the trustworthiness of God's Word. I wish I could do that for you today. Many of you would say, wow, that's what it would take. That's exactly what it would take. And I would tell you that if they did that and we prayed and we walked out of chapel, you would be in exactly the same position as you are right now. Because the decision about the authority of the Word of God in your life and about whether or not God has actually spoken is a faith decision. And it's a decision that every one of you must make individually. And I want to actually do something by way of a witness that actually is stronger than all of those other witnesses put together. You see, the Scriptures are self-attesting.

But within that self-attestation, there are individual witnesses. And one of the things that I hear when we get right down to the line is, okay, okay, okay, okay. I accept Jesus, but that whole Bible thing. So today, I really, with regard to the reality of God's Word, I want you to hear what did Jesus say.

So hang on, I'm going to blitz you, okay? I don't want you to hear what Alan said or all those other witnesses. What did Jesus say?

Because I believe that Jesus leaves us no other choice to either reject Him and the Bible or to accept Him and the Bible. So Jesus Himself testified to the inspiration of the Old Testament. He testified to the final authority of the Old Testament. Did He really? Where did He do that?

Hang on. Matthew 21, 13, and said unto them, it is written. Matthew 21, 16, and Jesus said unto them, yea, have you never read? Matthew 21, 42, Jesus saith, did ye never read in the Scriptures? Matthew 22, Jesus answered and said unto them, you do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. Luke 4, 4, Jesus answered Him saying, it is written that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God. Luke 4, 8, and Jesus answered and said unto him, get behind me Satan, for it is written. John 10, 35, the Scripture cannot be broken. Jesus, without apology, believed in the authority of Scripture. He testified that Old Testament prophecy would be fulfilled.

Matthew 26, thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and He shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels? But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled? Mark 14, I was daily with you in the temple teaching and you took me not, but the Scriptures must be fulfilled. John 13, 18, I speak not of you all, I know whom I have chosen, but that the Scripture may be fulfilled. John 17, 12, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled. You say, I believe some of the Bible, but I don't believe that old prophecy stuff.

I don't. Jesus did. You say, well I just can't buy all those miracles. Did Jesus believe and testify to the authenticity of Old Testament miracles? Matthew 12, 40, Jonah and the fish. 12, 41, Nineveh's response. Matthew 19, creation of Adam and Eve. Luke 4, Elijah's famine. Luke 4, 27, Naaman's healing. Luke 17, 26, the Noahic flood. Luke 17, 28, the destruction of Sodom. Luke 17, 31, the judgment on Lot's wife. Luke 20, the burning bush.

John 3, the brazen serpent. John 6, 49, manna in the wilderness. I am telling you, Jesus without apology said, the miracles of the Old Testament are real. You say, yeah, but what about the New Testament? Well, Jesus Christ actually testified to the inspiration of the New Testament and he did so by prophesying of the completion of biblical revelation. John 16, how be it when he, the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth. He will show you things to come. Verse 25, these things have I spoken unto you in Proverbs, but the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in Proverbs, but I shall show you plainly the father. He carries that out then in a process through choosing certain men through whom he would give this revelation. And in John 16, 13, he says, how be it when the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you, the apostles, into all truth.

Acts 9, 15, but the Lord said unto him and Ananias go thy way for he, Paul, is a chosen vessel unto me to do what? To bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. You see, Jesus preauthenticated the New Testament scriptures when in John 15, 20, he says, remember the word that I said unto you, the servant's not greater than his Lord.

And if they have persecuted me, they'll persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. He added in John 17, 20, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word. I asked you a question, does the Bible say faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God?

Yes, it does. How will they believe by their word? Whose word are they speaking? He is authenticating that God is speaking the New Testament. So the question is, with regard to believing that God has spoken, do you believe Jesus?

We don't get to divide those lines. Do you believe that God has actually spoken? 2 Timothy 3 and 16 says, all scripture, the word scripture is the Greek word grafe, that which is written down, is given by inspiration of God. That word, depending on whether or not you want to pronounce the P, I don't think it is, is thea-nustos, God breathed. It is the only place it appears in the Bible.

In fact, you'll have a hard time finding it in any earlier Greek literature. God breathed that which is written down. Peter testified to that when after talking about the transfiguration, he said, we have a more sure word of prophecy than eyewitness accounts of Jesus being transfigured.

What is that? It is the scriptures. You can't say, well, I believe Jesus, but all that other stuff, because either the Jesus you're saying you believe is lying, or the scriptures are actually God-breathed.

Do you believe? You see, this is the reality of God's word, but then secondly, I want to leave us with this thought, comprehending the relevance of God's word. Since God has spoken, how should what he has said impact my life? Friends, this is the question we need to ask over and over and over. This is the everyday question of living in light of the reality that God has spoken.

I am just about to lie. Since God has spoken, how should what he said impact my life? You see, this is the reality of living out of faith. This is where belief is translated into behavior, and I ask you this question, do you believe that what you believe is really real? The test of that is whether or not you live it. Will you with submitted heart say God has spoken, and what he has spoken must change my life?

So the next time you're sitting alone without any accountability and you're put again in that position of vulnerability, and yes you can in autonomy, human autonomy, click and begin to be immoral. You must ask yourself this question, but has God spoken? And how should what he has said impact my life?

God, help me. You see, this is where the Bible becomes relevant. And maybe you're sitting here today and you say, I've tried and I've tried and I've tried and I've failed. So that's why what is said at the end of this incredible passage about God breathing out his word is so important to us. Because the Bible isn't a pill, it's not a vaccine against sin and temptation. It is bread of which we must partake, it is water of which we must drink, it is light of which we must allow to shine in the dark places of our lives.

And this is how we do it. Notice what he says of the scriptures. The inspired word of God is profitable for teaching doctrine, right beliefs. You must go to the Bible with a heart that first says, God I am fallen. I need you through your word and by your spirit to teach me what I should believe. You know that's a whole different posture than going to the Bible and saying okay now I know what I believe and I'm going to read the Bible through the lens of my own understanding. It's to come to the word of God and say God I do believe but like that father help my unbelief. Do you know that what God is saying here is that he will through his word show with power impact your thinking that he will help you to believe rightly. We have so many sources of information don't we? The first message I preach I talk about formulating a biblical worldview.

That's what this is. Say man there's so many voices I see so many things on the internet I hear and see so many things. I see people I respect doing things that I don't think they should be doing and all of this is informing my ethical choices in life. Young people run to the word of God and say God your word has the power to formulate how I believe. I'm submitting my heart please teach me how to believe. Formulate my convictions. But then secondly notice the inspired word of God is profitable for confronting wrong behavior reproof. Come with a submitted heart that says man I know I don't do everything right. God show me through your word where I need to change. Take your word God I come here daily not because I want to be justified in what I am presently doing but because I want to live justified because you have done it. I want you to transform my behavior.

I want to glorify you in whether I'm eating or drinking or whatsoever I am doing. I want that to be something that gives the right opinion of you so God show me where I need to change. Young people God will do that. Inspired word of God that is profitable for correcting wrong beliefs. You think anybody in this building has wrong beliefs? If all of you left and I was left standing here by myself there are people still in this building with wrong beliefs. Do you know that I have wrong beliefs about myself?

You leave it to me in my default mode I think much more of myself than I should. You see the word of God actually has the power to not just impact how I believe but actually to clarify my perspective on life. It'll help you see life rightly. That's actually what this is driving at correcting wrong beliefs. We see through a fallen lens because I'm a fallen man that is being changed from glory to glory. The word of God has the capacity to further that change so I begin to get a right perspective on life and thus I live with wisdom. And then lastly the inspired word of God is profitable for instruction in righteousness.

It doesn't leave me there it actually will help me know what to do to get from wrong behavior to right behavior. Young people I hope this has been a hope-filled series for you because you know what without the word of God there's not much hope in this world. All other wisdom is going to fail so I leave you with an old poem. Though the cover is worn and the pages are torn and though places bear traces of tears yet more precious than gold is this book worn and old that can shatter and scatter my fears.

This old book is my guide. Tis a friend by my side it will lighten and brighten my way and each promise I find soothes and gladdens the mind as I read it and heed it each day. When I prayerfully look in the precious old book many treasures and pleasures I see many promises of love from the Father above who is nearest and dearest to me to this book I will cling. Of its worth I will sing though great losses and crosses be mine for I cannot despair those surrounded by care while possessing this book so divine.

Young people love God and love Him by loving His word. Let's pray. God thank you for such a precious gift. May it not be a relic in the art gallery of our Christian lives. May it be a respite to the soul. May it be hope for the journey. May it be strength for the task and may it change us for your glory. We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. You've been listening to a sermon preached by Dr. Alan Benson which was part of the study series titled Truth for Life and today's sermon is the conclusion of that series. If you're looking for a college please consider Bob Jones University where our Christian liberal arts education will prepare you for the future. For more information about our more than 100 accredited undergraduate and graduate programs visit bju.edu or call 800-252-6363. And be sure to join us again next time as we hear another sermon from the Bob Jones University School of Arts and Sciences. or call 800-252-6363. And be sure to join us again next time as we hear another sermon from the Bob Jones University Travel Platform.
Whisper: medium.en / 2025-01-15 19:07:26 / 2025-01-15 19:16:49 / 9

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