Where Does the Bible “Fit” in Today’s Modern World?
Matthew 5:13
August 14th
2011 AM
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
I.
Introduction (Matthew
5:13)
A.
Let’s be honest. We have lost
our savour – our effectiveness as Christians
1.
Not for lack of “biblical
knowledge”
2.
But for lack of backbone
a.
The courage to live by the
very words that this world is crying out for
b.
The courage to live by the
very words that we claim to believe!
B.
Throughout history…
1.
RELIGIONS have multiplied, but
so has abuse and disgrace at the hands of some of the most religious, and most
devout
a.
Remember the Pharisees? They
crucified Jesus and persecuted His disciples
b.
Have you paid attention to the
continuing awful news stories of pious men and women of the Catholic Church?
c.
Have you forgotten about all
the murderous crusades?
d.
Have you forgotten about all
the burnings at the stake because of simply disagreeing with the official
doctrines of the Catholic Church?
e.
And that is just one
denomination!
2.
POLITICIANS have risen to such
great power, but only to enslave their peoples, and destroy their neighbours
a.
Every one of the leaders of
the middle east, and
b.
The Bolshevik Revolution of
1917 promised freedom and prosperity for all Russians through communism – yet
all Russians got were labour camps and mass starvation!
3.
ATHEISTS and agnostics have
taken over almost every school and university, only to oversee the most
murderous wars of the past 100 years!
4.
Every attempt at
“enlightenment” by the human race has only enslaved, and slaughtered more people
than ever before!
5.
No one has found anything that
does not harm and ruin life, except for this Book, the Bible
C.
But, the effect of this Book
is amazing!
1.
Its effect on a nation is
amazing!
a.
Not as an ornament, or a
symbol, but as the foundation for every law, for every custom, for every master,
and for every servant.
b.
This Bible has been behind the
building of the greatest nations, and its rejection has caused the most ruin!
c.
It made tiny
d.
What our world needs once
again is to lean upon this Book of books
e.
Not because of its words alone
on a page, but because of its absolute LAWS, its boundless PROMISES, and most
importantly, because of its Almighty Author! God Almighty!
2.
The effect of this Book on a
single, solitary life is simply marvellous to watch!
a.
It convicts hardened,
sin-cursed hearts, bringing grown men to their knees in repentance
b.
It convinces the most
self-righteous and arrogant of men and women that they are wrong
c.
It corrects wicked thinking
d.
It cleanses a heart filled
with sins and Satan
e.
It starts people all over
again, but this time, with God!
f.
ONLY the Bible can do all
that!
D.
What a Book the Bible is! It
has its place today! At the very centre of the life of a nation! It is the devil
who is behind all the efforts to put the Bible into a museum behind a glass
case, when it was written to save souls, forge lives, bless families, and raise
up great nations!
II.
Review
A.
Last week I taught you all…
1.
How a group of uneducated,
unorganised, poor Jewish people could turn their world upside down in the first
century! Without the internet. Without media. Without Television advertising.
Without any money at all
2.
Is it possible that
Christianity could do it again? Could turn THIS world upside down for God? Could
actually effectively make a difference?
3.
Not only CAN it, but we must!
B.
Our World is a Mess
(1John 5:19) – I don’t even have to tell you that!
1.
Violence that once was only on
the streets of third world countries is on our streets
2.
Wars are only on the increase
3.
Divorces, Domestic violence,
absolute distrust amongst people, wicked living
4.
Well, Humanism is NOT the
Answer
a.
Stalin murdered over 30
million Georgians in his “purging” of the 1930’s
b.
Mao tse tung forced march over
30 million peasants to their death in the last 1940’s
c.
Hitler enacted his “final
solution” resulting in the murder of over 6 million Jews, 9 million Russians and
5 ½ million Polish
d.
And the killing hasn’t
stopped!
1)
Today, 56 million have died at
the hand of the Humanistic “Me First” Philosophy that has slaughtered 56 million
unborn babies in the
2)
And over 20 million in the
3)
4)
5)
Someone worked through all the
statistics and came to a colossal number for the total number of abortions for
the last 60 years and put it at 900 million!!!
6)
THAT is the fruit if HUMANISM
– ME first! God last!
7)
Listen to the words of Barak
Obama! At a town hall meeting in
5.
Religion is NOT the Answer
a.
22,000 religious groups in the
world
b.
Atrocities unmentionable at
the hands of multitudes of religious zealots
6.
Feminism is NOT the Answer!
Moving motherhood to the bottom of society hasn’t made things better –
especially not for the children that are handed off to the arms of others!
7.
Politics is not the answer. We
had better have learned this by now!
8.
The Media is not the answer
a.
Ted Turner, creator of CNN and
very wealthy said in a 1996 interview with Audubon Magazine that a 95%
population reduction would be ideal. Below is his quote. “A total population of
250-300 million people, a 95% decline from present levels, would be ideal.” He
said that because he thought humans were animals that need to be contained and
stopped from using up all the earth’s resources!
9.
Science is NOT the Answer
a.
I love science! I love
studying physics and astronomy, and biology
b.
But today, people are
constantly thinking that science has disproven God
c.
They are trusting science like
it has all the answers!
d.
Yet science offers no answers
– only pain killers, and smarter bombs!
e.
It can’t answer people’s
problems with anything more than drugs, bombs, and the internet!
f.
The Space programme has
discovered new cures, or found out where life came from
g.
All it has done is given the
world the illusion that it is more advanced than the Bible.
h.
Science is messing with
genetics and only making profits, not things better!
i.
Did you know that there are 77
cures developed from adult stem cells, but ZERO cures come from aborted babies -
and YET that is where all the money is!!!
C.
The world needs to see
Bible believing Christians (Philp 2:15)
1.
Not just religious people!
2.
But people who can influence
our generation for God, before it is lost!
a.
Christians are Light in this
dark world
b.
We need to live like light –
shine in our dark world – not hide what Christ put in us
c.
But Christians must choose to
walk as light - live as Jesus Christ told us how to live – as LIGHT in the midst
of a crooked and perverse generation
d.
We need to be that harmless
but effective influence that Jesus saved us to be!
3.
We have a lot of work to do
a.
Being not JUST Christians…
b.
But the kind of Christians our
world needs!
4.
I showed you last week HOW.
Download the message and listen to it again! We have all the tools to change our
world! The only thing we lack is a desire!
D.
Well, I want to motivate that
desire this morning, by looking at just how important the Bible is in even our
post-modern society of the 21st century!
III.
Message
A.
Our Hearts Need This
Bible
1.
Before we can talk about
anything else, we need to put the Bible back where it belongs – in our HEARTS!
2.
What our heart is (Jeremiah
17:9)!
a.
People can lie to themselves,
and believe anything they want to
b.
But the fact is…
1)
Our hearts are so desperately
wicked
a)
We are not messed up just a
little bit
b)
We are so wicked that none of
us even know how low we could go
2)
Our hearts are where every
problem comes from (Pr 4:23; Mark 7:21-23)
3.
What Only The Bible Does –
mark these and learn these truths!
a.
The Bible Exposes the Heart
(Heb 4:12) – cuts it wide open, exposing everything inside
1)
Counsellors won’t do it – too
deep, and too dangerous – only believe we are evolved animals working out our
need to procreate
2)
X-rays can’t do it. People
believe we are only flesh and blood! There is nothing more than muscle tissue
and chemical reactions!
3)
Only the Bible tells us what
is really in every heart! And it is beyond belief! Depravity! Filth! It is
simply BEYOND words what is in every heart in this room!!!
b.
The Law Convicts the Heart
(Acts 5:29-33; Rom 7:7) – makes us very guilty
1)
I had not known lust was sin
except the law said it (Rom 7:7)
2)
I would not have known a
grudge was wicked (James 5:9)
3)
I would never have thought
that withholding forgiveness was just as sinful as the hurt that needed to be
forgiven, except God had said so in His word!
4)
Who would have thought that
hating someone was just as bad as murdering them?
5)
Doesn’t anyone else here
realise just how much our hearts need to hear this Book? And learn its contents,
and obey its laws?
c.
The Words of Scripture
Converts the Heart (Rom 10:9,10) – transforms it! Doesn’t “patch it up” and make
it feel better! It changes it!
d.
The Truths of Scripture
Rebuild the Heart (Heb 10:16,17) – repairs all the flaws
e.
The Words Keep the Heart and
Mind Clean (John 15:3)
f.
What an amazing Book!
4.
Ask God to give you a heart
for His Law, for His words (Jer 24:7)
a.
So that you can say like David
in Ps 40:8 “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my
heart.”
b.
So that it can be said of you
like it was of king Hezekiah in 2Chron 31:21
“And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and
in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his
heart, and prospered.”
5.
And then get busier than ever
reading, and memorizing vast portions of this Book of books! Psalm 119:11
6.
Only then can the Bible affect
the world around us – when we allow it to affect US!