Unboxing
What if there was a box that contained all of the answers to your deepest questions?
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How Good is Good Enough?
Transcript:
00:00
Hey friends, today we’re starting a brand new six week series. We’re calling the series Unboxing. So here’s the question that we’re going to be asking and answering throughout the series. What if there was a box that contained all of the answers to your deepest questions? That’s what we’re going to be unboxing in the next six weeks. So in the first two weeks, we’re going to unbox some of your religious questions. The first one today, we’re going to answer the question, how good is good enough for God?
00:28
That’s a great question. It’s kind of like the fundamental question of religion. And we’re going to tackle that today in just a minute. Before we get to that, let me just kind of tell you where we’re going in the rest of the series. Next week, we’re going to answer the religious question. Is there only one true church? Some people claim that there is. A lot of people wonder if there is. We’re going to tackle that in week two. Then in the next two weeks, we’re going to answer some Bible questions. We’re going to, the first one is.
00:57
Is the Bible just another book on the shelf or is there something special? Is there something inspired about the Bible? Spoiler alert, believers, Christians think that there is something special. We’re going to talk about why in week number three of the series. And then in week four, we’re going to answer the question, does God still speak through prophets? In other words, you know, is there a person, a man or a woman that God is going to sort of pick out and say, okay, I want to…
01:24
I want to speak authoritatively through you. I’m going to give you some new revelation, some new insight, something that I’ve never given anyone else before. Is that a thing? You know, some world religions were started because, you know, a guy claimed that God spoke to them and gave them a revelation. Islam was started like that. Mormonism was started like that. How should
01:51
How should people think about that? Like, what’s the right way to think about that question? We’ll cover that in week number four. Then in week five of this series, we’re gonna answer the first of two life questions, and here it is, this is a big question. If God is good, then why does evil exist? You’ve probably wondered this. You know, God’s a good God, so why do bad things happen in the world? I mean, the Bible says that God is caring and loving, and all that is true, then it doesn’t seem caring and loving.
02:20
You know, sometimes when you turn on the news, so we’re going to answer that question in week number five of the series. The technical word for that is theodicy. And we’ll get into that in the penultimate lesson in the series. And then the ultimate, the final lesson in the series is going to, we’re going to be talking about this on Mother’s Day. And so here’s the question we’re going to answer. What does God really think about women? Some churches…
02:49
you know, seem to hold women down and they have Bible verses that justify that. What does the Bible really say about it? We’re going to talk about that on Mother’s Day. So a lot of ground to cover in our unboxing series. I hope that you’ll join us for this entire series. And if you want to talk about this with your family, with your small group, with a mentor,
03:11
You can find discussion questions and talking points to go along with all of the podcast episodes. You can find all of that at our website, pursuegod.org forward slash unboxing. So check it out. But for now, let’s get into lesson number one in the series. And we’re going to answer the question today. How good is good enough for God? Now this is the fundamental question of religion because every religion
03:39
answers this at some point, like how do I get to heaven, you know, if the religion has the concept of heaven, or maybe the concept is enlightenment or nirvana or whatever, but every religion has an end, has a goal. And almost every world religion offers a pathway to that goal through good works and personal efforts. In fact, this is the main difference between biblical Christianity
04:06
and every other religion in the world. Biblical Christianity is the one religion that teaches something different, that gives a different answer to the question, how good is good enough for God? Every other religion says that you have to keep a list of rules, that you have to work your way toward heaven. We call that a works-based religion. Every other religion essentially has some form of works.
04:34
that gets you into God’s good favor or gets you to enlightenment or whatever the end of the religion is, the goal of the religion, but Christianity is different. Now before we look at what Christianity says, why don’t we just do a quick survey of a few popular world religions. And let’s start with Hinduism. Okay, so Hinduism does not have a singular concept of salvation, but it has a lot of
05:03
spiritual liberation from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Okay, so these paths include devotion, knowledge, and selfless action. And so salvation in Hinduism, this spiritual liberation is achieved when an individual realizes their true self as one with the ultimate reality or the Brahman. So,
05:33
You use these paths, you go on these paths and you’re devoted, you’re seeking knowledge, you’re trying to be selfless. So in essence, in Hinduism, let me just sort of summarize it. How good is good enough for this kind of liberation? Well here it is. It all depends on you. You have to work to be good enough. You have to show your devotion and your knowledge and your selfless action.
06:03
working through these multiple paths until you’re spiritually liberated. But the point is in Hinduism, it all depends on you. Now Buddhism is somewhat similar. Salvation in Buddhism is the cessation of suffering and the cycle of rebirth achieved through the elimination of desire and ignorance. And so in Buddhism, the goal is to attain enlightenment, what they call nirvana, by following the noble eightfold
06:32
path, which includes principles like right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. And so once again, if you want to get this right, if you want to achieve Nirvana, if you want to attain enlightenment, it all depends on you. You have got to, you have to follow
07:02
the noble eightfold path in Buddhism. What about Islam? In Islam, the plan of salvation involves belief in the oneness of Allah, God, and the prophethood of Muhammad. So you have to believe Muhammad’s a prophet, you have to believe in the oneness of Allah. Muslims believe in living a righteous life according to the teachings of the Quran. And so salvation is achieved through faith, repentance, and good deeds.
07:32
with the ultimate reward being entry into heaven. Now, salvation in Islam isn’t guaranteed solely by faith or deeds, but is ultimately dependent on the mercy and the judgment of Allah. So if you’re a Muslim, you strive to live a life that’s pleasing to Allah and to follow the teachings of Islam and the hope, the eventual hope, the goal, someday maybe you can attain salvation in the afterlife. But now listen, here’s the thing. In Islam, it depends on you.
08:02
You have to achieve it through your repentance and through your good deeds. And in fact, it’s not guaranteed. You know, you have to still depend on Allah for his judgment, for his mercy at the end of the day. So that’s what Muslims believe. So notice in Hinduism, in Buddhism, in Islam, for each one of these religions, and these are major world religions, they all teach some
08:29
form of again what I’m calling works based religion. You’re getting to that goal, that end goal for your religion, nirvana or enlightenment or salvation or whatever the religion calls it, it requires you to do things. I like to call that a checklist. And by the way, I want to note the similarity of Mormonism to Islam. I don’t know if you’ve checked out our
08:53
unveiling Mormonism podcasts, I encourage you to check it out. We’ve got tons of content on that really unpacking Mormonism, but Mormonism is very similar because a Mormon believes that we’re saved by grace after all we can do. They talk about words like grace and faith and Jesus. It’s all the same language of Christianity, but really in essence, it’s kind of like Islam because it’s all about work. It’s a combination of having faith in God.
09:24
but also doing good works. Now, some people think that that’s what Christianity teaches, but it’s not. And to see what Christianity teaches, we really need to take a look at one more world religion, and that world religion is Judaism. So remember, think about this, Jesus was Jewish. Don’t forget that. Jesus was Jewish. Christianity…
09:50
came out of Judaism. Jesus came and He preached to Jewish people. His ministry was mainly to Jewish people. It didn’t open up the message of Christianity, didn’t open up really to the Gentiles, the non-Jews, until about Acts chapter 9, Acts chapter 10. So for most of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Jesus is doing ministry among the Jews for the most part. Now, this is for another message, this is for another episode. Jesus wanted
10:17
Christianity to reach everybody, the whole world, not just Jews. But I think it’s important to understand the link between Judaism and Christianity, and really specifically the key difference between them, because this is going to give us insight into the question that we’re trying to answer today. So what I want to do today is I want to start with the words of Jesus from…
10:41
his famous Sermon on the Mount. And then we’re going to explain Judaism in the context of what Jesus says. It’s Matthew chapter five and verse 17. Here’s what he teaches. He says, don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. Now, when Jesus is talking about the law and the prophets here, and he’s talking mainly to a Jewish crowd,
11:10
and they know exactly what he’s talking about, he’s referring to Judaism. And so let me just, let me give a summary of Judaism in a nutshell. For those of you who are listening, who maybe don’t understand the Jewish faith. So here’s a quick little summary. First, number one, God chose Abraham, this guy named Abraham, and he made him a bunch of promises. You can read about that in Genesis 12, but basically he said, Abraham, I’m going to make you into great nation. And he’s talking about the nation of Israel.
11:40
So Abraham was a father of the nation of Israel. He says, I’m going to give you a promised land and I’m going to bless the whole world through your seed or through your descendants. Okay. So that’s Genesis 12. Then God gives the 10 commandments to Moses. Remember, I’m just giving you kind of the big picture view of this. So fast forward to Moses. So Abraham, Genesis 12, and then Moses, we read about him in Deuteronomy. God gives these 10 commandments to Moses. We’ll read, we read about him in Exodus as well, because he leads the
12:09
the people out of Egypt and toward the promised land, you know, the land that he had promised to Abraham. Now these Ten Commandments were, this is what Jesus is referring to in general terms when he says, I didn’t come to abolish the law of Moses. He’s saying, I didn’t come here to say those Ten Commandments were a bad idea. He said, no, I came here to fulfill those Ten Commandments in all the writings of the prophets. Okay?
12:36
Think of the Ten Commandments as the rules to live by in the land of promise that the Israelites were about to enter. Think about it almost like a constitution. The Israelites are about ready to go into a promised land. They’re going to set up their government and they’re going to live in the land flowing with milk and honey. I mean, they were like, this is going to be awesome. But Moses is like, it’s only going to be awesome if you live the way God wants you to live.
13:03
So see, now this is starting to sound like every other world religion, isn’t it? I mean, this is essentially what every world religion is. What are your rules you’re supposed to live by? Well, if you want to know the basic rules God wants us to live by, read the Ten Commandments. Those are the rules. So that’s kind of the basis of Judaism. And by the time Jesus is preaching the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, the Jewish people have been trying to live these rules.
13:31
live according to the Ten Commandments and all the other laws that were added to the Ten Commandments this whole time. But here’s the problem. And if you read the Old Testament, you’ll see that this is the problem. The people kept breaking the laws over and over and over and over again. I mean, if you want to know a summary of the Old Testament, if you’ve never read the Old Testament, here’s a good summary of the Old Testament. God tells the people how He wants them to live, and then the people failed utterly over and over. Every single generation
14:00
failed to live according to God’s laws, every generation. Judges 21 and 25 gives a great summary of this. It says this, In those days Israel had no king, all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. What a great summary of the failure of the people of God in the Old Testament to live up to the Ten Commandments in the way that God wanted them to live. They just kept failing.
14:27
Everyone did whatever they wanted to do. Now, by the way, it seems like time has, times haven’t changed. That’s true today as well. It’s like everyone just wants to do their own thing, follow their own truth. No one wants to, wants to be obedient to some other objective standard of right and wrong. I mean, this has been going on since the beginning of time. Okay, so there it is. There’s, there’s the summary of Judaism. Judaism is
14:54
You know, it’s got these patriarchs like Abraham and Moses. It’s got these rules like the Ten Commandments, but it’s got this consistent theme where the people kept failing to live up to the rules. And then that’s the problem. And here we have Jesus in Matthew 5, 17 saying, look, don’t misunderstand why I’ve come. I didn’t come to get rid of the law.
15:16
I didn’t come to get rid of the writings of the prophets, and the prophets generally were the people who were trying to call people back to the law. Like, guys, why aren’t you following the law? This is what God wants you to do. Jesus is saying, I didn’t come to get rid of the law. He’s saying there’s nothing wrong with the law, there’s something wrong with the people. That’s basically what Jesus is saying. And that’s why he says this in verse 20, Matthew 5 verse 20, just a couple of verses later in the Sermon on the Mount, he says this, but I warn you.
15:44
unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Now there’s the problem. So Jesus is getting at the answer to our question for today. How good is good enough for God? And Jesus is answering the question in the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, He goes on. He goes on and He…
16:13
And he lists some examples in Everyday Life in Matthew chapter 5. You can go read it for yourself, but I’ll give you a quick summary. He says, you’ve heard don’t murder. That was one of the laws in the Old Testament. You’ve heard don’t murder, but Jesus says this, but I’m going to tell you something new, that anger is the same thing as murder. Like anger is basically murder at the heart level. And so if you’re sitting there listening to the Sermon on the Mount, you’re like, oh man, I thought I was a sinner before. Now I’m really screwed up, right? Because
16:41
I’ve never murdered anybody, but I’ve been angry with plenty of people.” And he says, you’ve heard, don’t commit adultery. But I say lust is the same thing as committing adultery in your heart. So that you’re already listening to the sermon on the mount, you’re like, oh, great, so I’m not an adulterer, but I’ve lusted before. I thought I was doing pretty good, but apparently my good isn’t good enough. He goes on, he says,
17:05
You’ve heard the punishment much must match the crime, but I tell you, you should turn the other cheek. He’s like, and you’re, again, you’re sitting there listening, feeling worse and worse about yourself as you listen to, as you read the sermon of the month, he says at the end, he says, you’ve heard love your neighbor, but I say love your enemy. Like what? I have a heart. I have hard enough time loving the people I like. Now you want me to love the people I don’t like, or you want me to love the people who have offended me?
17:31
And so Jesus finishes this whole section in the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5 with this crazy statement. It’s Matthew 5.48. Go read it for yourself. Here’s what he says, but you are to be perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect. So there it is. There’s the Christian answer to the question, how good is good enough? Here it is in one word, perfection. Only
18:00
Anything less won’t work for God. Now, this leaves us in a pickle. God requires perfection, but people are far from it. Not just in the Old Testament, but even you, even me. Every single one of us fails to live up to the law. I mean, we don’t just fail to live up to the 10 commandments, kind of the surface of the law, we fail to live up to under, under, kind of at the under the surface, right? The heart behind it.
18:30
You know, that’s why Jesus was talking about lust, not just adultery, and why he was talking about anger, not just murder, because we fail to live up to it at this fundamental level. The Bible says that we are fundamentally flawed every single one of us. And that means that every single one of us is doomed. Not a single one of us is good enough for God. Now, the apostle Paul explains it like this in Romans chapter three,
19:00
Verse 20, he says, for no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. Now this is crazy because Paul, the guy who wrote this in Romans three, used to be a Pharisee. One of the guys that Jesus was talking about in Matthew five, verse 20. Remember, Jesus said, unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the Pharisees, you’ll never enter the kingdom of heaven.
19:29
Well, Paul was one of those Pharisees. A Pharisee was like a religious leader who was a Jewish religious leader who was really, really good at keeping the law. He was really good at it. And then he met Jesus and he realized the answer. He learned the answer to this question, how good is good enough? And here’s what he’s saying. You can’t be made right with God by doing what the law commands. Paul tried and he couldn’t do it. He was trying to get to God through his own good works. In fact, he explains it a little bit later in Philippians.
19:59
chapter 3, actually a little bit earlier in Philippians chapter 3 verses 5 and 6, he says this, I’m a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin, a real Hebrew if there ever was one. I was a member of the Pharisees who demand the strictest obedience to Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church and as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without a fault. So what Paul is saying is I was really, really good at keeping the letter of the law.
20:28
But here’s what he says in verse 7, and I’ve been reading the NLT this whole time, the New Living Translation, but I’m going to shift to the New International Version because it really helps us to calculate exactly what Paul is trying to say here. Here’s what it says, Philippians 3.7 in the NIV. It says, but whatever were gains to me as a Pharisee, whatever were gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
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Now I like the language that the NIV uses here because gains and losses are like financial terms. You know, when we’re asking the question, how good is good enough? I mean think of it in financial terms, like how much money do I need to enter the kingdom of heaven? You know, how much, and really the money of heaven is righteousness. So how much righteousness do I need in my account? How much righteousness do I need in my account?
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in order to make it into heaven, right? So again, let me read what Paul says in Philippians 3.7, but whatever were gains to me, financial gains in terms of righteousness, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. And here’s how the Pillar in New Testament commentary explains this. The shift from plural gains to singular loss indicates that Paul is not giving different values to each of his assets, discounting them at different rates.
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Some are marked down 50%, others down 90%. No, because of Christ, Paul has counted up all of his assets and considered them to be one huge liability. I love that. The commentary goes on, it says, after his conversion to Christ, Paul recalculates the value of all the advantages of his family and his accomplishments, his social class, his moral achievements, and then he enters the new bottom line. Here it is.
22:23
all add up to one overwhelming disadvantage, one huge loss. Let me read that verse again. But whatever were gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. So he used to put them in the asset column on his bottom line financial statement, and now he realized that all those things that he thought, all the laws, all the accolades, everything that he thought was going into the asset column, it turns out…
22:53
Those all went into the liability column and he was actually bankrupt before he met Jesus. There’s a famous parable that illustrates this concept. It’s actually a, it’s actually a Mormon parable. It’s what, it’s what I’ve heard Mormons use to describe their concept of how good is good enough. It’s their answer to the question. How good is good enough? The story goes something like this. A dad goes into the bike store with his son.
23:21
And he wants, he wants to buy his son a bike, but he wants his son to like learn a lesson and feel like he’s earned it. Okay. So the son has been working, you know, for months, he’s been, you know, saving up his, his allowance and he’s got, you know, $3 and change in his pocket. The dad goes in, he talks kind of privately to the, uh, to the, to the store owners. They say, how much, how much is that bike there? The, the, the guy’s like, well, it’s 200 bucks. Like, all right. Well, hey, could you kind of
23:51
Could you kind of work with me here? And so, so he says, all right, son, put up your money, put up your money on the counter and he puts his, all of his change up on the counter, he puts up $3. And it’s woefully short of 200 bucks, right? But the dad kind of slips the rest of the money to the, to the owner. And the son walks out of that store thinking that he, that his, that his $3 and change was worth something, but he feels good about himself.
24:21
Right. He feels pretty proud about himself. He feels like he’s earned it. But what really happened? Well, well, the, the dad paid for it. And again, in Mormonism, the dad paid for the lion’s share of it, but at least the kid paid for some of it. And that’s the Mormon concept of how good is good enough. Some of you can put $3 and change up on the table. Some of you might put a hundred bucks on change. Some of you maybe are really, really, really good. And you put up 150 bucks and change.
24:50
And so see, the Mormon concept of salvation is that you’re saved by grace after all you can do. So grace is like what Jesus makes up for you. So you do everything you can, and that’s not quite going to be good enough, but at least you brought something to the table and God makes up the rest of it. Look, that is not at all the concept of salvation in biblical Christianity. Here’s how Paul explained the math.
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to the church in Ephesus. It’s Ephesians chapter two verses eight and nine. Here’s what he says, “‘God saved you by His grace when you believed, and you can’t take credit for this. It is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we’ve done, so none of us can boast about it.'” Now think about the word gift. You know, if you’re reading that in your paper Bible,
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then underline that word or highlight the word gift. It’s okay. You’re allowed to do that. You’re allowed to mark up your Pibles. Okay. Think about the word gift. How much do you pay for a gift? Nothing. That’s the math. Exactly nothing. Once you pay for it, it is no longer a gift. As soon as you try to pay for it, it’s not a gift. I’ve got a pastor friend who was doing a summer outreach event. It was a hot day and there was a guy that comes up, they had a booth there and they were giving away water for free, ice cold water for free.
26:16
on a hundred degree day. And a guy comes up to my pastor friend and he says, I’ll take some, how much is the water? And the pastor said, well, it’s free. He’s like, no, no, no, no, no, I’m gonna pay for it. How much is it? And the pastor said, well, it’s free. I mean, the whole reason they were doing that is because they were trying to explain what we’re trying to explain in the episode today, how good is good enough. And he said, it’s free. And the guy said, well, I won’t take it if it’s free. Well, then you can’t have it.
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He kept trying to give him a buck for the water and the pastor wouldn’t take it. And the guy walked away that day thirsty. He was too proud to receive a gift. Wow, think about that. Paul had to learn this lesson as a Pharisee. God saved him by grace when he believed. Paul was trying to take credit for it and he realized it was a gift from God. Paul realized by personal experience, he could not earn it, not a single cent.
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He had to be completely dependent on Jesus because it was a gift. Now, two things about a gift. Number one, if it’s a gift, then you can’t boast about it. You see how that works? That’s exactly what Paul is saying. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we’ve done, so none of us can boast about it. Paul used to be in a religion, Judaism as a Pharisee, he used to be in a religion where he would boast about it, he would brag about it, he felt like he’d earned it at least a little bit.
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And he realized that there’s no place for that in the kingdom of heaven. He had to come and receive the gift like a child and he had nothing to boast about. He could only boast in Jesus. And that just, that, that levels out the playing field. Doesn’t it? None of us can boast about it in Christianity. Christianity is a religion where there’s no boasting, at least there shouldn’t be because every single one of us is saved exactly the same way. We can do nothing to earn it.
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Here’s the second thing about a gift. You don’t have to wonder if you’ve done enough to earn it because you can’t earn it. That’s the beauty of it. I mean, contrast that with Islam. Remember what we said at the top of the episode, salvation in Islam isn’t guaranteed solely by faith or deeds. So if you’re a Muslim, you’re gonna strive to live a life that’s pleasing to Allah, and you’re hoping that you’ve done enough. Mormons feel the same way. They hope that they’ve done enough, but they don’t know for sure. They’ll never know for sure.
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If you are in a works-based religion, you can never know for sure if you’ve done enough work. There’s no assurance in a religion like that. How good is good enough? You’ll never know. But see, in Christianity, you can know. Let’s close with a couple more verses from Romans chapter 3, verses 21 and 22. Man, these verses are so powerful and it really drives home the point.
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that I’m trying to make today. Here’s what Paul says, but now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law. And here it is, ready? Romans 3 22, I love this verse so much. It is so clarifying. And if you’re someone who is really wrestling with this question, how good is good enough? Here’s the answer, Romans 3 22, we are made right with God.
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by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. Now that is so powerful, it speaks for itself. I wanna read it again. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. You notice it has nothing to do with works. It has nothing to do with keeping a list of rules. It has to do with what Jesus did and with just trusting Him for it.
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In fact, I love that Paul ends with this. He says, this is true for everyone who believes no matter who we are. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Pharisee who lived a really pretty clean life up into this point like Paul had, or if you’re a drug addict or a drug dealer or someone who’s you’ve been in the gutter and you’re so ashamed of your past life. Look, here’s what Paul is saying at the foot of the cross, the ground is level and grace is available to everyone. And grace is a gift. You can’t work for it.
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You can’t boast about it. It’s a free gift and you have to simply come to the giver of the gift to receive it. So the Bible’s answer to the question, how good is good enough for God reveals the difference between Christianity and every other religion, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, they’re all workspace religions.
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It’s about what you can do to reach enlightenment, to earn nirvana, to become righteous, to get to heaven, whatever, whatever the end goal is. Christianity has a different message. You can’t do anything to save yourself. People have tried, they’ve always failed. From the Old Testament to today, here’s the only way that you’ll get to heaven. The only way.
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is to receive the perfection of Jesus. Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life, and only His perfection will do. That’s what is required for God. And the only way that you can get that is by faith. You know, if you’re listening today and you have never trusted Jesus for salvation, and you wanna learn more about it, maybe you’re listening to this episode and you’re saying, I’ve never heard it so simply.
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I’ve always complicated in my head. I’ve been trying to work for my salvation. I just want to encourage you to check out our Pursuit series. You can find it at pursuegod.org. It’s a 12-week series, but especially pay attention to Lessons 4, 5, and 6. That’s where we talk about what sin is, that we’re all broken in need of a Savior. And then in Lesson 5, we talk about why the biblical Jesus was perfect and sinless.
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And then in lesson six, it’s such an important lesson. That’s where we talk about what we’ve been talking about today, that’s where we talk about how you can place your faith in the Jesus of the Bible, how you can trust in the Jesus of the Bible. In fact, we have a little sinner’s prayer in there where we encourage you to walk through that, maybe with a mentor or a Christian friend who’s going through that series with you. So today, if you have never trusted in Jesus for salvation, you’re not good enough.
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to go to heaven, but you can fix it by turning to Him in faith. Check out that series, PursueGod.org, slash go. It’s called The Pursuit to learn more about placing your faith in Jesus and having the assurance of your salvation.
- Almost every world religion offers a pathway to heaven through good works and personal efforts. Christianity is different.
- Jesus taught that there’s nothing wrong with the law; the problem is people. Perfection is required for God; anything less won’t work. Matthew 5:17,20,48
- This leaves us in a pickle. Not even a Pharisee could reach perfection. Romans 3:20, Philippians 3:5-7
- The answer is found in the perfection of Jesus. We only get that by faith, and this is a pure gift from God. Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 3:21-22
- Read the talking points above as a group, including scripture references. What are your initial thoughts about these points or about the podcast lesson (see audio above)?
- What makes Christianity different from other world religions? Why do you think people are inclined to think they can earn their way to God?
- Reread Judges 21:25 and Romans 3:21. People did what was right in their own eyes. How is this idea still true today? What was the ultimate reason God gave us the law?
- What does Ephesians 2:8-9 tell us about our works and salvation? How have you understood your own “goodness” in the past?
- What does it take to be good enough for God? Have you responded to the gift Jesus offers?
See Also:
Is There Only One True Church?
Transcript:
00:00
You know, several religions claim to be the one true church or the exclusive path to heaven. But what does the Bible say? Is there really only one true church? And if not, then do all roads lead to heaven? These are the questions we’re going to be exploring today as we’re in the second part of our unboxing series. Last time we talked about, you know, how good is good enough for God. I hope you…
00:27
I hope you listened to that episode. If you didn’t check that one out first. Today we’re going to answer the question, is there only one true church? Now I think it’s probably good for us to start by defining our terms. Before we can answer the question about whether or not there is one true church, we should probably make sure we’re all on the same page about what the church, quote unquote, church is and what it isn’t. So first of all, the church isn’t a building. Now I know sometimes in our vernacular, that’s what we say, hey, I’ll meet you at church
00:56
We’re going to church kids, but actually the church is not a building. Also, the church isn’t an organization. It’s not an institution. Maybe when you think about the church, you’re thinking about, you know, the organizational church, the institutional church. That’s not what we’re talking about biblically. And that means it’s also not a denomination. You think about all the Christian denominations in particular, denominations like Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran.
01:26
Presbyterian, Assemblies of God, just to name a few. In fact, by some counts, some of the experts, when they try to include all the different denominations and in split offs and independent churches and all that kind of stuff, a lot of religious experts believe that there are, this is crazy, that there are more than 30,000 Christian denominations worldwide.
01:55
Wow, 30,000. Let me just list 10 for you. Just thinking about the Baptists, okay? If you just think about the Baptists, there are hundreds of Baptist denominations and fellowships and split offs, right? So like the SBC Southern Baptist, that’s the biggest one. The American Baptist churches, the ABC USA, the Conservative Baptist Association of America, CBAA.
02:25
or the National Baptist Convention USA, or how about the National Baptist Convention of America? That’s actually different. You’ve got the Baptist Union of Great Britain, you’ve got the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada, you’ve got the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, you’ve got the National Baptist Convention of Nigeria. Again, I’m just giving you a few examples. Or one of my favorites, the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, the G-A-R-B-C. I mean, this is just
02:54
to name 10 of the Baptist churches. We’re not even talking about all the other denominations. So it’s actually not hard to believe that there are over 30,000 Christian denominations worldwide. But here’s my point, this is not what we’re talking about when we use the word church. We’re not talking about institutions or organizations or even denominations. In fact, I wanna give a definition from our Sistio.
03:22
series lesson number 10. If you haven’t checked out Sis Theo, check it out. It’s really valuable. It’s really helpful to learn systematic theology and lesson 10 was all about the church. Here’s how we defined it in that series. The church is neither a building nor an organization. It is a people, the community of all those who stand in a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I want to read that again. I think it’s really important.
03:51
to get on the same page about this as we’re answering our question today. The church isn’t a building, it’s not an organization, it’s a people. It is the community of all of those who stand in a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The Greek word for this in the New Testament is the word ekklesia, and it literally means the assembly of the called out ones, those who’ve been called out of the world.
04:19
by the proclamation of the gospel to gather around Christ, those who have placed their faith in Jesus. So when we say the church, or if I say I’m a member of the church, we’re talking about this, we’re talking about those who have responded to the gospel call, those who have responded to the free offer of salvation in Jesus. In fact, Jesus said it like this, John 10 verse nine. He said, yes, I am the gate, those who come in through me,
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will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. So Jesus is talking about, He’s like inviting people to be a part of this movement, to be a part of this people. In fact, in the Old Testament, several times in the Old Testament, God is saying this to the Israelites. He’s saying, I just, I want to be your God and I want you to be my people. Now, the Old Testament doesn’t use the word ekklesia.
05:16
But by the time Jesus comes and dies and rises again and then, you know, commissions his disciples to start the ecclesia, to start the church, this is what he’s talking about. It’s a fulfillment of this heart cry of God from the Old Testament. I want to be your God and I want you to be my people. He’s calling a people out to be his children from among the world. He’s calling people out to say, you are my treasured possession.
05:44
So let’s go back to the question for today. Is there only one true church? So if the church is a people called out by God, it’s not an institution, it’s not a denomination, then in one sense, the answer is yes. In the capital C sense of the global community of true believers,
06:09
Everyone who’s responded to Christ, in one sense, yes, there is one true church. But in another sense, I would say no. There’s not one true church in the sense that there’s only one institution or there’s only one denomination that gets it right. In fact, literally just yesterday I had a conversation with someone who listens to our podcast. He was debating with me on baptism. He basically is part of a church.
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where they believe that you have to be baptized to be saved. And as we were talking through this, and he was being kind in his words to me, but he was very firm, he was very opinionated, and I got the idea that he’s part of a certain denomination, I’m not gonna name it right now, but he’s probably part of a certain denomination that teaches that you have to be baptized in their church to be saved. So I asked him this question. I said,
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Do you believe that your denomination is the one true church?” And I appreciated his honesty. He said, yes, yes I do. So basically he was saying, if you’re not baptized in my denomination, if you’re not baptized in my church, then you aren’t part of the capital C church. So I think that that’s incorrect. I don’t think that that’s biblically true.
07:30
I don’t think there’s one organization or one institution or one denomination that gets it all right. I don’t think that you need to be baptized into one particular denomination. So the answer to the question is there’s only one true church in that sense, institutionally, organizationally, denominationally, I would say no, there’s not. But in the sense that Jesus calls us and invites us to follow Him and to be a part of His people,
07:59
His capital C church, I would say yes, that you might be in denomination A or B or C, one of the 30,000 plus denominations, and you can be a part of the capital C church if you’ve trusted in Jesus for salvation. But you can also go to any one of those churches and not be a part of the capital C church because I think there are people…
08:27
sitting in our churches, even in my own church, there are people sitting in our churches who have never trusted Jesus for salvation. So just because they go to a church building on a Sunday morning, just because they might even be a member of that church, maybe they were even baptized in that church, if they haven’t trusted Jesus for salvation, if they haven’t gone through the gate, John 10, if they, like Jesus said, those who come in through me will be saved. He said, I am the way, the truth and the life. So it’s only those who have.
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come to Jesus through faith that are part of the capital C church. So by the way, this is a good warning to everyone who’s listening. I really encourage you to examine and to see if you are in the faith. Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ? Because if you haven’t, then you are not a part of his people. You are not a part of the church.
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And Jesus has invited you into that. Jesus wants you to be part of His church. Whatever denomination you choose, whatever local church you worship in, Jesus really cares about this global movement. And when I say global movement, it’s not just, you know, every nation, every tribe, every tongue, it’s also spanning all these generations from the early church until now, even into the Old Testament, all of God’s people, you know, like Abraham, for example.
09:50
He wasn’t a part of any particular denomination, but Abraham was called by God. He responded in faith to the promises of God. And so it was credited to him as righteousness. He is a part of the capital C church, as is Moses, as is David, as is Paul, as is Peter, as is James and John, and people like St. Augustine and Martin Luther. I mean, just think about all these people throughout history who have trusted in Jesus for salvation,
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denomination they’re a part of, if they have come in through the gate, then they’re a part of the church, and that means that you are a part of that church as well if you have come in through the same gate. And Jesus prayed for all of us in John 17, verses 20 and 21. He’s praying to the Father, you know, He’s getting ready to go to the cross, and here’s what He says. He says,
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I’m praying not only for these disciples, the 12 disciples who are with them, he says, but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will be one, just as you and I are one. Remember, he’s praying to the Father. As you are in me, Father, and I am in you, and may they be in us, so that the world will believe you sent me.
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Isn’t it cool that Jesus is praying for the capital C church right there? He’s praying for the disciples in real time, and he’s praying for you and for me, for anyone who has believed in the message of Jesus, anyone who has come in through the gate. And then Paul said this in Ephesians chapter four, writing to the church in Ephesus, verses three to seven, he says, make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit.
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binding yourselves together with peace, for there is one body and one spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all. However, He has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. And so,
12:09
Paul is saying this, I mean, think about this, he’s speaking to the church in Ephesus. This was back in the time when there were no denominations. Now I don’t think that means that denominations are necessarily wrong. Some people think, some people teach that denominations are wrong, that denominations are proof that there’s not unity. I think that that’s not true. I think denominations, Christian denominations show us that though we might have differences on the fringes.
12:39
There is unity, there is oneness when it comes to who we worship. As long as we’re worshiping the same Jesus, we have the same faith, we believe in the same kind of baptism. So it doesn’t matter if you’re baptized in a Southern Baptist Church, a Methodist Church, a non-denominational church, an Assemblies of God church, if you’ve trusted in the one Lord, the Jesus of the Bible, then that’s one baptism. That’s the same God and Father that we worship. So the denominations might be structured different.
13:08
in terms of polity. Maybe there’s a difference in terms of worship style. There might be a difference in terms of leadership structure. There’s all kinds of things, what I would say, on the fringes, and that’s fine, but there’s still unity. Jesus prayed for all of us. Paul in Ephesians 4 is saying that we all worship the same Lord. Now we can…
13:37
miss out on the core fundamental doctrines. I think there are certain doctrines that every Christian church believes and puts forward. Let me just list a few off, and I’ll put a link to this in our show notes today. We have a topic at Pursue God called Five Doctrines That Every Christian Believes, and today I want to talk about it in terms of every Christian church believes. Now, there are more than five doctrines that Christian churches believe, but
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But these are five great ones to start with. In fact, think about the church that you go to and make sure that your church is an agreement with these core fundamental doctrines. Again, there might be a disagreement, some divergence on the fringes, but in the fundamentals, we all believe at least these five things. Number one, the Bible is God’s word. So Christians believe that the Bible is infallible.
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It’s sufficient for all we need to live the Christian life. 2 Timothy 3 verses 16 and 17 says, “‘All scripture is inspired by God. “‘It’s useful to teach us what’s true “‘and to make us realize what’s wrong in our lives. “‘It corrects us when we’re wrong “‘and it teaches us to do what is right.'” I hope that you’re a part of a church that has a high view of scripture, that you see that scripture is authoritative in our lives. That…
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If you go to a church that takes a low view of Scripture, in other words, maybe the pastor gets up there and says, well, this is what the Bible says, but I don’t think that’s really true anymore. That’s not a church that’s healthy and biblical. I would look for a different church if your church doesn’t believe that the Bible is God’s work. Number two, Christian churches for centuries have believed that God is three in one. Now, the word for this is the Trinity.
15:32
And we don’t find the word Trinity in Scripture, but the concept of Trinity is all over Scripture. And here’s what that means, that God exists eternally as three persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and all three persons are equal and eternal. So there’s one God in being, in essence, but He exists in three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. If you want to learn more about
16:00
the Doctrine of the Trinity, you can check out our Trinity series at PursueGod.org. I would really encourage you to go to a church that teaches this. Because if you don’t believe, and this really is related to the third doctrine, that Jesus is fully God, right? If you don’t believe that Jesus is fully God, then the object of your faith, we’re saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, the object of your faith matters. So if you believe that Jesus is like,
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you know, like a demigod or a JV god, it wasn’t fully God, then I don’t think you have the Jesus of the Bible. Christian churches for millennia have believed that Jesus is fully God. That’s the third doctrine. Doctrine number four, I mentioned already that we’re saved by faith in Jesus Christ, that we’re all broken by sin, that we’re all in need of salvation, we’re saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ.
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God saved you by His grace. When you believe you can’t take credit for this, it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we’ve done, so none of us can boast about it. We talked about this last week, how good is good enough for God? Go back to that. That is a fundamental teaching of every solid Capital C, well, not Capital C church, of every solid local church that’s part of the Capital C church, if you are a part of a church that teaches something different, and actually that’s the guy that I talked to yesterday.
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His denomination is, I would say, is on the fringe, it’s cultish. His denomination teaches that you have to be baptized to be saved. That is so dangerous. Baptism doesn’t save you. Faith in Jesus saves you. We’re saved by grace through faith alone. Baptism is something that we do in obedience to the message of Jesus. If you go to a church that teaches something else, I really encourage you to prayerfully consider.
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finding a more biblical church. Okay, one more doctrine. Every Christian church believes that there’s life after death. Part of the fundamental teaching of the early church is that we will be resurrected just as Christ was resurrected, that he was the first one to be resurrected and we will too be resurrected. Those who have put our faith in him, we will be resurrected to eternal life. Now, how does that actually work out, you know, in terms of
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the end times, pre-trib, post-trib, mid-trib, you know, pre-millennial, all millennial, post-millennial. We get into this, we’ve got some series on this at pursuegod.org. Those are fringe issues. Those are, that’s where denominations can differ. But every biblical church believes that there is life after death. And so those are just five doctrines that every Christian church believes. And again, here’s the point. There might be differences.
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doctrinally in terms of fringe matters, that these core doctrines, like what we believe about God’s word or God’s nature or Jesus himself, or how we’re saved or eschatology, what happens at the end of everything, like all of these things are fundamental core beliefs that every Christian church believes. And so if you’re a part of a denomination or a local church that believes these fundamentals, whatever, whatever your church teaches on the fringe issues is not as important.
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If you believe these fundamental core doctrines, then you are part of the capital C church. So there’s one true church in the sense of the capital C church, but there’s not one true denomination, there’s not one true institution or organization that gets it all right. Honestly, the truth is every single church, every single denomination, I’m sure gets something wrong on the fringe. My denomination, we have core beliefs and we have other…
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other beliefs that maybe would be distinctives on the fringe, I’m sure that we don’t have it all perfectly right. I’m sure we don’t. And I’m sure whatever your church is, I’m sure you don’t either. So I think we need to have grace on the fringes, but I think we need to really stand strong on these core fundamental beliefs. Not just…
20:18
institutionally and denominationally the church you go to, but individually, I think you need to make sure that you believe the core doctrines that Christians have always believed, and that you give grace on those distinctives, on those fringe issues. Now, I want to finish the episode today by just sharing with you three analogies that are used in the Bible to describe the church. Each of these word pictures helps us to understand
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the importance of the church and the importance of being part of the church. Because here’s the thing, I don’t want you to get the idea that, you know, that because there’s not one right denomination or one right organization or institution, I don’t want you to lower your view of the church or the value of the church. I think it’s important for us to respect the role of the church and our involvement in it. So, number one.
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According to the Bible, the church is the bride of Christ. Talks about this in Ephesians 5 verses 22 all the way to 33 even. And here’s what I take away from that analogy. You know, I don’t think we should talk smack on Christ’s bride. If you saw my wife at church and you started just bashing her, I would have something to say to that. I would not be okay with that. That’s my bride. Is she perfect? No.
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She’s not perfect. But for you to talk smack about my wife is going to cause a problem between us. And here’s the thing. I think there are a lot of Christians who, and even non-Christians, but I’m talking to Christians first. I think there are Christians and non-Christians who speak ill of the bride of Christ, and I don’t think Jesus is okay with that. He knows his church is imperfect. He knows that there’s not…
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one denomination, there’s not one local fellowship that’s perfect. And the reason is because you go there or I go there or humans go there, and humans are imperfect. We’re all sinners. And remember, the church is a people. It’s a people who have been saved by grace, but people who have been saved by grace are still imperfect. We still make mistakes. So the church is imperfect. But I still think we need to respect and speak highly of the church and the role of the church.
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Jesus loves His bride. He loves His ecclesia, the called out ones. This is what He did, He called us out. He set us apart from the rest of the world. We are His treasured possession. If you’re part of the capital C church, you are part of His treasured possession. The local fellowship you’re a part of, if it is a part of the capital C church, is a part of His treasured possession. So let us…
23:11
Let’s treat the bride of Christ with respect. That’s the first thing. Now, the church is also the body. Ephesians chapter four, verses 15 and 16, it says, instead, we will speak the truth and love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church, okay? He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow so that the whole body, see that word again, the whole body,
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is healthy and growing and full of love. So the church isn’t just the bride of Christ, the church is the body of Christ. He’s the head, we’re the body. And here’s the main takeaway with this analogy. That means that you need to be a part of the local church. This is talking about the local church. You know, in Ephesians four and in other places in Paul’s writings, he’s talking to specific local churches and what he’s saying is, look,
24:10
You shouldn’t just go to church on Sunday, check the box and go home. You should be a part of the body of Christ. I want to say that again to all of our listeners. You should be a part of the body of Christ. You should find a local body of believers and you should get involved. You should serve there. You should get involved in a small group there. You should be willing and ready to disciple people there. You should invite people.
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to your church services, and then you should be ready to disciple those people as you share the message of Jesus. I meet people all the time who say, I don’t really go to church, the mountains are my church, or nature is my church. I feel closest to God when I’m out there in the mountains or out in the ocean or something like that. Look, I think that’s good that you feel close to God in nature. You should. You should, because God created that.
25:09
You should worship God in nature when you’re on a hike, when you’re out there on the ocean or on the river or something like that. That’s awesome. That’s wonderful. But hear this, the mountains are not Ecclesia. The rivers, the ocean, that is not Ecclesia. You going on a nice long walk is not Ecclesia. The called-out ones, and there are local believers everywhere around the world, and there always will be.
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The called out ones are intended to come together and to support one another and to be a part of the body. God has given you gifts to use for the building up of the church. You might not think your role is important. You might feel like the church doesn’t need you or you don’t need the church. That is a lie. You are a part of the body of Christ and you should become a part of one.
26:07
and function in that. That’s what God wants for you. Now there’s one more analogy that God’s Word uses when it talks about the church, and it’s this concept of a family. Ephesians 2, 19, it says, So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners, you’re citizens, along with all God’s holy people, you are members of God’s family.
26:37
in the New Testament church, you know, Christianity started out of Judaism. You know, for the first eight chapters, nine chapters of the book of Acts, Christianity was almost like a sect within Judaism. It was like a Bible study within Judaism. And at some point, you read about this in Acts chapter 10, all of a sudden Christianity broke open to the gentiles, to the non-Jewish people.
27:05
And this is a pretty important theme all throughout the New Testament. That’s why it says here in Ephesians 2 that you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You’re citizens along with all of God’s holy people. What Paul is saying here is that being the treasured possession, you know, this concept from the Old Testament, you know, I want to be your God, I want you to be my people. The Jewish people thought that that was talking about the nation of Israel. And now in light of the New Testament, in light of the Ecclesia,
27:34
we realize that this is actually for everybody. This isn’t just for Jewish believers in Jesus, it’s for Gentile believers in Jesus. And this was a radical statement that Paul is making. He used to be a Pharisee. He’s saying, you Gentiles are no different than Jewish believers. Whether you grew up with Jewish background or Jewish religion or not, it doesn’t matter because we’ve all come.
28:00
into this new family. There’s this new family of God that’s made up of Jews and Gentiles and really so much more than that, right? It’s made up of white people and black people and brown people and you name it. It’s made up of all people from every tribe and tongue all around the world, all throughout history. This is what it means to be part of the capital C church. It means that you’ve been adopted into a new family. Now, that doesn’t mean that you’re
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Earthly family is unimportant. It’s still important, but your new family is more important. Do you think about it that way? Your eternal family, you are a part of a new family. I hope your earthly family is a part of that too. But this new family is what we’re called to as members of the capital C church. We now have brothers and sisters all around the world. Why?
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because we’re united through faith, through faith in Jesus. And so, I guess maybe the last question to answer for today is, how can you become a part of the capital C church? And I’ll just go right back to John 10, verse 9, Jesus’ words. He said, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.
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If you’re listening to this and you have never come in through the gate, you haven’t come in through Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible. I invite you to do that even today to come to Him and say, Jesus, I recognize I’m broken. I recognize I’m a sinner. I recognize that I’ve wandered from you and I want to do things my own way. And today I want to put my faith in you. I want to put my trust in you. Jesus, today I confess my need for you.
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The Bible says that the moment you do that, that you will be saved. I mean, Jesus says that here, you’re gonna be able to come in and find new pasture. Like, it’s gonna change your whole life. It’s gonna change everything for you when you become a part of the capital C church. And you can only do that by faith. If you wanna learn more about that or how to become a follower of Jesus.
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I encourage you to check out our Pursuit series. You can find it online, pursuegod.org forward slash go. We talk through in that 12 week series, we talk through all the basics of, of biblical Christianity and how to deal with your sin problem through Jesus, how to trust in Jesus for salvation and what baptism means and how that does fit in and spiritual disciplines and how to, how to become
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a part of the church and be on mission with Jesus and His other disciples. We talk about all of that in this series. So again, I encourage you to go through it with a friend or a mentor or a family or a small group. Find it all, pursuegod.org forward slash go.
- Several religions claim to be the one true church or the exclusive path to heaven. But what does the Bible say? This is the question we’ll explore today.
- The church is neither a building nor an organization. It is a people, the community of all those who stand in a saving relationship with God through Jesus. John 10:9
- There’s not one true church in the sense that there’s only one institution or denomination that gets it right. But there is one true church in the capital “C” sense of the term. John 17:20-21, Ephesians 4:3-7
- The Bible uses three analogies to help us understand the importance of the church: the Bride, the Body, and a Family. Ephesians 4:15-16, 2:19
- Are you a part of the capital “C” church? Becoming part of it is simple: trust Jesus for salvation. Check out The Pursuit series to learn more.
- Read the talking points above as a group, including scripture references. What are your initial thoughts about these points or about the podcast lesson (see audio above)?
- How do people in your life define what church is about? Why does the distinction matter that church isn’t about a building or organization but rather about the people?
- Reread Ephesians 4:3-7. What unifies the capital “C” church? What tends to happen when people start elevating other things above unity in Christ?
- Which analogy of the Church speaks most to you and why? What gifts do you bring to your church body?
- Have you trusted in Jesus for salvation? If not, what questions still need to be answered. If yes, how will you help someone else become a part of the capital “C” church?
See Also:
Is the Bible Just Another Book?
Shownotes: Why do so many churches and Christians make such a big deal of the Bible? Isn’t it just an out-dated, irrelevant piece of ancient literature? Shouldn’t we keep it on the shelf and use more modern books to teach us how to live? These are the questions we’ll explore today. But before we examine the Bible, let’s start with some fun trivia about all those other books on the shelf… 10 notable best-selling books of all time: Top three best-selling books of all time: So, back to the question we’ll unbox today: Think about how all of those other books were written: But this is what separates the Bible from every other book: it is not the product of one person’s ideas or creativity. Nobody had to dream up the storyline or characters, and no one had to read “On Writing Well” to turn out the best chapters and verses. The Bible, Christians believe, is unique because it alone was inspired by God. Here’s how Paul explained it to Timothy: 2 Timothy 3:16 (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 corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. Another passage: 2 Peter 1:20-21 (NLT) Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God. But how did this work? Inspiration means that the Holy Spirit superintended the process so that the very words written were exactly what the Spirit intended. They are both the words of the human author AND the words of God himself. This is why we can trust the Bible. It is not just the thoughts of humans, but God speaking to us, through the human authors. One more verse on this: 1 Corinthians 2:13 (NLT) When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But how can we trust that the Bible is reliable in the form we have it today? After all, it was written literally thousands of years ago. Are we sure there wasn’t some sort of “telephone game” going on? Here are two reasons we can trust the Bibles we have today (see Lesson 2 in The Pursuit for more): Textual Evidence The Bible is the most impressive writing project in the history of the world. It contains 66 books written by 40 different authors over the course of 1500 years, and yet it tells one unified story. Think about it: Moses, a Jewish slave raised in the house of a Pharaoh, wrote the first five books. John, a fisherman-turned- revolutionary, wrote the last four books. In between were books and letters written by shepherds, kings, prophets, tax collectors, doctors, and more. And the most prolific author in the New Testament was Paul – a religious Pharisee who zealously persecuted the Jesus followers before joining them. Most of these authors never met each other, and many of them were unaware of the other books and letters that would eventually be included in the Bible. Their writings spanned different cultures and languages over the course of 15 centuries, and yet the Bible amazingly reads as one story. From beginning to end it’s about Jesus, and the fulfilled prophecy is the glue that holds it together. Let’s take just a few examples: It was because of these kinds of prophecies that Jesus spoke these words to the religious leaders of his day: John 5:39 You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! The Bible amazingly tells one story, centered on Jesus, because it was ultimately inspired by the God of human history. Historical Evidence Ancient manuscripts and archeological digs have stacked up in favor of biblical reliability. The Bible was written thousands of years ago, long before printing presses and modern technology. Manuscript fragments of the biblical text have endured wars and weather throughout the ages, and the scraps that remain represent just a fraction of the originals. Are those remnants enough to provide a reliable testimony for modern-day readers? And how can we be sure that the message hasn’t been corrupted over the millennia? The good news is that the God who inspired the scriptures was also powerful enough to preserve those writings through the ages. Consider the manuscript evidence. Manuscript copies in the ancient world were painstakingly hand-written, and not all of them survived the ravages of time. Reliability of ancient writings is determined by the number of copies (or partial copies) of the work in existence. So how does the Bible stack up? See for yourself: The New Testament clearly has more manuscript evidence than any other ancient work. But how do we know that those manuscript copies are faithful to the originals? What if human authors changed the message, intentionally or otherwise? Modern archeology helps us answer this question, thanks to the Dead Sea Scrolls. In 1947 a shepherd boy discovered some ancient scrolls hidden away in remote caves in the Middle East. This led to even more discoveries in the area, and in the end almost 1000 manuscripts were recovered. Parts of almost every book of the Old Testament were found, and some of those fragments proved to be almost 1000 years older than the oldest manuscripts known at the time. This offers a perfect test for the reliability of our modern translations. The book of Isaiah provides the most compelling example, since the Dead Sea Scrolls contained a complete copy of the prophet’s writings. When compared to the Masoretic Text (the oldest copy previously known, dating back to about 800 AD), the Isaiah manuscript from the Dead Sea Scrolls was 95% identical! And the only differences were minor, often just variations in spelling. So the historical evidence stacks up in favor of the reliability of the Bible. But there’s more: One more question: Think about it: The Bible comes to us through translation. It was not originally written in English, but in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The Bible has been translated into many languages throughout the world, and continues to be. Many translations are available today that are clear, readable, understandable,and true to the original. We don’t believe that translations are inspired by God. Only the originals are without error, as spoken by God himself through the human author. But even though the original manuscripts are no longer available, God has preserved the biblical text to a remarkable level. We can trust the Bibles we read today. And here’s why: any translation you pick up is based on the large collection of existing manuscripts we talked about earlier. When translators (experts, by the way, not random volunteers and hobbyists) draw on the witness of these existing manuscripts, it creates confidence that our Bible translations have not been tampered with. Close: So let’s answer the question for today: The answer is NO! The Bible is different from every other book in history, and not just because it blows away the competition in the “Best Selling” category. It’s different because it is God-breathed, written by human authors but superintended by the Holy Spirit. So read it! You can trust it, and it can change your life. Hebrews 4:12 (NLT) For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
- The Bible is the best-selling book of all time, with an estimated 5 billion copies sold and distributed. Today we’ll answer this question: is it just another book on the shelf?
- The Bible is unique because it alone was God-breathed. Divine inspiration extends to the very words themselves, and to all parts of the Bible and all subject matters on which the Bible speaks. 2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:20-21
- Textual evidence points to the reliability of the Bible. The Bible contains 66 books written by 40 authors over the course of 1500 years, and yet it tells one unified story about Jesus.
- Historical evidence also points to the reliability of the Bible. Ancient manuscripts and archeological digs have stacked up in favor of biblical reliability.
- The Bible can be trusted, and it can change our lives when we read it with a teachable heart. Hebrews 4:12
- Read the talking points above as a group, including scripture references. What are your initial thoughts about these points or about the podcast lesson (see audio above)?
- Before listening to the podcast, did you believe you could trust the Bible? Why or why not?
- What evidence stood out most to you and why?
- Read 2 Timothy 3:16. What does “inspired by God” mean? Why does it matter?
- Read Hebrews 4:12. What do you think it means when it says God’s Word is alive and powerful?
- How does God’s Word have authority in your life? In what areas of your life do you need to submit to God’s authority more?
Shownotes: Some churches claim to have prophets who speak authoritatively for God. But is that really a thing anymore? If not, how do we hear from God? Let’s start with a passage that seems to answer the question: Ephesians 4:11 (NLT) Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Prophets in the OT Prophets in the OT were not mere fortune-tellers but messengers chosen by God to guide, comfort, and ultimately call people back to God. Prophets in the NT In the NT the Holy Spirit was given to every believer, and this caused prophecy to take on a whole new meaning and purpose. Two Types of Prophet The key to answering this question is to consider the two types of “prophet”. The first is capital “P” prophet = speaks authoritatively for God. It’s what we see here: Ephesians 2:19-20 (NLT) So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. Answer: God does NOT speak through capital “P” prophets anymore. But that’s different than the gift of prophecy in the local church. That’s what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 4, the passage we started with today. Now we’re ready to read it in context: Ephesians 4:11-12 (NLT) Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. Why do we no longer need prophets in the capital “P” sense? The ultimate “prophet” is Jesus himself. We’ll find all the revelation we need in Jesus. Look to him for your answers.Does God Still Speak Through Prophets?
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