Sunday
Morning Bible Study
April 11, 2004
Introduction
Have you ever …
Been in a strange room when the lights have gone out, and you don’t know
how to get around the room?
Walked along a forest path at night with only a flashlight, being grateful
that you had your flashlight so you wouldn’t trip over things on the trail?
On our honeymoon we spent our first night at a friend’s cabin up in Big
Bear. We’d never been to the place
before. We got there late at night. There were very few lights in the area. We couldn’t even figure out how to turn the
lights on in the cabin once we got inside because we couldn’t find the
switches. It was all a bit spooky.
or how about …
Illustration
The passengers on a commercial airliner have been seated and are awaiting
the cockpit crew to get them under way. A murmur is heard in the back of the
plane, and a few passengers on the aisle glance back to see the pilot and
copilot, both wearing large, dark sunglasses, making their way up to the
cockpit. However, the pilot is using a white cane, bumping into passengers
right & left as he stumbles down the aisle, and the copilot is using a
seeing-eye guide dog. As they pass by the rows of passengers there are nervous
giggles heard, as people are thinking that it must be some sort of practical
joke. But a few minutes after the cockpit door has closed behind them the
engines start spooling up and the airplane taxis out to the runway. The
passengers look at each other with some uneasiness, whispering among themselves
and shifting uneasily or gripping the armrests more tightly. As the airplane
starts accelerating rapidly, people begin panicking. Some passengers are
praying, and as the plane gets closer and closer to the end of the runway,
passengers become more and more hysterical! Finally, when the airplane has less
only a few seconds of runway left, the shouts of horror fill the cabin as
everyone screams at once, but at the very last moment the airplane lifts off
and is airborne!!! ...Up in the cockpit, the copilot breathes a sigh of relief
and turns to the Captain: “You know, one of these days the passengers are going
to scream too late, and we’re gonna get killed!”
When you live in a dark, uncertain world, it’s nice to have some light to get
around.
(Psa 119:105) Thy word is a lamp
unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Thy word
word – dabar – speech,
word, speaking, thing
There are three aspects to the “Word” as to how God wants to speak and direct
our steps.
1. The spoken word – the Spirit
This is when God speaks directly to His people. Sometimes spoken through a prophet, or
someone whom God is using.
We see this in the Bible when God would give a message for the people
through a prophet.
Sometimes spoken directly to our heart.
Though I absolutely believe God speaks to us individually, I do have some
concerns.
I think there are some people who hear “voices” in their heads and claim
its God.
I think there are times when people claim that God spoke to them simply so
you can’t argue with them and you have to go along with what they want to do.
But along with these concerns, I am concerned that we don’t end up plugging
our ears and not listening to what God wants to say to us. God speaks and He wants us to hear.
Jesus said,
(John 16:13 KJV)
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into
all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.
Illustration
Does God Still Speak To Men?
A young man had been to Wednesday night Bible Study. The Pastor had shared about
listening to God and obeying the Lord’s voice. The young man couldn’t help but
wonder, “Does God still speak to people?”
After service he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed
the message. Several different ones talked about how God had led them in
different ways. It was about ten o’clock
when the young man started driving home. Sitting in his car, he just began to
pray, “God.. If you still speak to people speak to me. I will listen. I will do
my best to obey.” As he drove done the main street of his town, he had the
strangest thought, stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said
out loud, “God is that you?” He didn’t get a reply and started on toward home. But
again, the thought, buy a gallon of milk. The young man thought about Samuel
and how he didn’t recognize the voice of God, and how little Samuel ran to Eli.
“Okay, God, in case that is you, I will buy the milk.”
It didn’t seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk.
He stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started off toward home. As he
passed Seventh Street, he
again felt the urge, “Turn down that street.” This is crazy he thought and
drove on pass the intersection. Again, he felt that he should turn down seventh
street.
At the next intersection, he turned back and headed down Seventh. Half jokingly,
he said out loud, “Okay, God, I will.” He drove several blocks, when suddenly,
he felt like he should stop. He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He
was in a semicommercial area of town. It wasn’t the best but it wasn’t the
worst of neighborhoods either. The businesses were closed and most of the
houses looked dark like the people were already in bed. Again, he sensed
something, “Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street.”
The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the
people were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open the
door and then sat back in the car seat. “Lord, this is insane. Those people are
asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid.”
Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk. Finally, he opened the door,
“Okay God, if this is you, I will go to the door and I will give them the milk.
If you want me to look like a crazy person, okay. I want to be obedient. I
guess that will count for something but if they don’t answer right away, I am
out of here.”
He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear some noise inside.
A man’s voice yelled out, “Who is it? What do you want?” Then the door opened
before the young man could get away. The man was standing there in his jeans
and T-shirt. He looked like he just got out of bed. He had a strange look on
his face and he didn’t seem to happy to have some stranger standing on his
doorstep. “What is it?”
The young man thrust out the gallon of milk, “Here, I brought this to you.”
The man took the milk and rushed down a hall way speaking loudly in Spanish. Then
from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the kitchen. The man
was following her holding a baby. The baby was crying.
The man had tears streaming down his face. The man began speaking and half crying,
“We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of
money. We didn’t have any milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking God
to show me how to get some milk.” His wife in the kitchen yelled out, “I ask
him to send an Angel with some. Are you an Angel?” The young man reached into
his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put in the man’s
hand. He turned and walked back toward his car and the tears were streaming
down his face. He knew that God still answers prayers and that God still speaks
to His people.
Author Unknown
Isaiah wrote,
(Isa 30:21 KJV) And thine
ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it,
when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
2. The written word – the Scriptures
I believe that this is what the primary focus of Psalm 119 is all about,
the book we call the Bible.
The Bible can show us what is going on in our hearts:
(Heb 4:12
KJV) For the word of God is quick, and
powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of
the thoughts and intents of the heart.
It’s the Scriptures that teach us how to tell whether that idea we had was
from God, or whether it was last night’s pizza speaking.
Illustration
Flying Lessons
A pilot writes, “Early in my flying career, I had my first night flight.
Looking down into the darkness, I asked my instructor what we would do if the
engine failed. “Get the plane gliding in a controlled descent,” he said, “then
attempt to restart the engine and make a ‘Mayday’ call. The only difference
between day and night flying is that the terrain below will not be clearly
visible, so you should point the aircraft toward whatever looks like a clear
area and it should be pointing into the wind.” “Then what?” I asked. “Conserve
your battery, so don’t turn on your landing lights until you’re close to the
ground. If you like what you see, land.” “Okay, but what if I don’t like what I
see?” My instructor gave me a compassionate look inside that dim cockpit, then
said softly, “Turn off the landing lights.””
The good news, the plane isn’t going to crash. Don’t turn off the lights. If you don’t like what you see, then just
turn around.
Each time Paul would visit a new city
to preach the gospel, he usually went to the Jewish synagogue first. His favorite response came from the people
who lived in Berea:
(Acts 17:11 KJV)
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received
the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether
those things were so.
These people didn’t just take the preacher’s word for things. They checked what he said with the
Scriptures.
Illustration
John Bunyan wrote his immortal allegory Pilgrim’s Progress after mastering
the Scriptures and sensing that God had spoken to him again and again through
its pages. He said, “Although you may
have no commentaries at hand, continue to read the Word and pray; for a little
from God is better than a great deal received from a man. Too many are content
to listen to what comes from men’s mouths, without searching and kneeling
before God to know the real truth. That which we receive directly from the Lord
through the study of His Word is from the ‘minting house’ itself. Even old truths are new if they come to us
with the smell of heaven upon them.”
As important as it is to learn to hear God’s voice speaking to us, it’s
more important that we learn to know what God has already said in His written
Word, the Scriptures.
God uses the Scriptures to light our path:
(2 Tim 3:16-17 NLT) All
Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make
us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to
do what is right. {17} It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully
equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.
3. The Living Word - Jesus
(Heb 1:1-2 NLT) Long ago God
spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. {2}
But now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son.
Jesus is the Word of God.
(John 1:1 KJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God.
(John 1:14
KJV) And the Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
When Jesus returns, John records:
(Rev 19:13
KJV) And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood: and his name is called The
Word of God.
He is the Word that is also a light (as in Ps. 119:105)
(John 8:12
KJV) Then spake Jesus
again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me
shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
(John 9:1-25 KJV) And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which
was blind from his birth. {2} And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who
did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? {3} Jesus answered,
Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should
be made manifest in him. {4} I must work the works of him that sent me, while
it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. {5} As long as I am in the
world, I am the light of the world. {6} When he had thus spoken, he spat on the
ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man
with the clay, {7} And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is
by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came
seeing.
Keep in mind, this fellow has never seen Jesus. He was healed after having washed his eyes,
but by then Jesus had left.
Now after this fellow got his eyesight back, he became quite a
controversy. Jesus had broken the Jewish
customs by healing the man on the Sabbath day.
Here was this guy who had just been healed, but rather than giving God
praise, people were starting to argue about whether Jesus was a good guy or a
sinner.
(John 9:24-25 KJV) Then again called they the man that was
blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a
sinner. {25} He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not:
one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.
The Pharisees didn’t like what this guy was saying, and as a result, they
had the guy kicked out of the synagogue for having been healed by Jesus on the
Sabbath.
(John 9:35-38 KJV) Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and
when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
{36} He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? {37}
And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh
with thee. {38} And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.
Is your life confused? Are you
living in darkness? Do you need your
eyes opened?
You need Jesus.
unto my path
Lesson
It’s personal
We saw earlier this morning how Jesus called Mary by name.
As the Good Shepherd, He knows us individually by name:
(John 10:3 NLT) …and the
sheep hear his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads
them out.
From “Glorious Appearing” (pg.
211), “He loved us every one, as if there were but one of us to love”
Illustration
Have You Tasted My Jesus????
At the University of Chicago Divinity School each year they have what is
called “Baptist Day”. It is a day when all the Baptists in the area are invited
to the school because they want the Baptist dollars to keep coming in. On this
day each one is to bring a lunch to be eaten outdoors in a grassy picnic area. Every
“Baptist Day” the school would invite one of the greatest minds to lecture in
the theological education center. One year they invited Dr. Paul Tillich. Dr.
Tillich spoke for two and one-half hours proving that the resurrection of Jesus
was false. He quoted scholar after scholar and book after book. He concluded
that since there was no such thing as the historical resurrection, the
religious tradition of the church was groundless, emotional mumbo-jumbo,
because it was based on a relationship with a risen Jesus, who, in fact, never
rose from the dead in any literal sense. He then asked if there were any
questions. After about 30 seconds, an old, dark skinned preacher with a head of
short-cropped, woolly white hair stood up in the back of the auditorium. “Docta
Tillich, I got one question,” he said as all eyes turned toward him. He reached
into his sack lunch and pulled out an apple and began eating it. “Docta Tillich
...” CRUNCH, MUNCH ... “My question is a simple question,”CRUNCH, MUNCH ...”Now
I ain’t never read them books you read” ... CRUNCH, MUNCH ... “and I can’t
recite the Scriptures in the original Greek” ...CRUNCH, MUNCH ... “I don’t know
nothin’ about Niebuhr and Heidegger” ...CRUNCH, MUNCH ... He finished the
apple. “All I wanna know is: This apple I just ate—was it bitter or sweet?” Dr.
Tillich paused for a moment and answered in exemplary scholarly fashion: “I
cannot possibly answer that question, for I haven’t tasted your apple.” The
white-haired preacher dropped the core of his apple into his crumpled paper
bag, looked up at Dr. Tillich and said calmly, “Neither have you tasted my
Jesus.”
Jesus is the Word that lights up our path.
Open your heart to Jesus.
He is the one who died for our sins.
He is the one who rose again, conquering death.
He is the one who gives us life if we will trust in Him.