October 8, 2017
Morning Worship
Text; 1 Peter 3:15
Subject: The Foundation Series
Title: Part 1 – Know What You Believe
The story is told of a man who was asked what he believed about God and the bible…
“I believe what my church teaches.”
“And what does your church teach?”
“The same thing I believe.”
“Well, What do you and your church believe?”
Well that’s simple. We believe the same thing.”
I looked at several surveys on the Internet this week to find out how much American Christians know about what they believe and what I found out was pretty alarming.
First of all, there has been a steady decline in the last few years of the number of evangelical Christians who believe that the whole bible is the inspired Word of God. And that is exactly where the problem begins. If this book that we hold dearly is not God – breathed, then there is little reason for us to see what it says about life and eternal life.
But – if you claim to believe what the bible says and really believe that is the Holy Spirit inspired Word of God, then, shouldn’t you be able to, at least on the most basic level, be able to explain what we believe and why we believe it.
Secondly – there has been a steady increase in the number of people who believe that the bible, the Torah, the Koran and the writings of Buddha and other eastern religious leaders all convey the same truths, just in different ways.
Thirdly – there is an increasing number of people who believe that even though the bible may be the Word of God, it has very little impact on society.
Maybe we never think about those things… Maybe we just keep coming to church to hear the preacher preach and just trust that he’s got it right.
1 Peter 3:15, Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
I believe this is God’s word…
I believe it is for me…
I accept it as mine…
And I will appropriate it to my life today…
We just finished in our Wednesday night bible study 2 Peter 2. That whole chapter deals with false teachers and about how easy it is for Christians to be led astray by those teachings. And it appears that the reason is that those false teachings that Peter was referring to appealed to the sinful nature. Now who wouldn’t be inclined to follow someone if, especially for new Christians, you thought that being a Christian meant that there is no required change in your life. You can keep on doing what you have always done and have heaven in your view at all times without any cause for alarm. That sounds pretty appealing doesn’t’ it? But it’s not true.
2 Peter 2:1-2
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
2 Peter 2:17-20
17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.
19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”
20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
That is one of the reasons that we must have a solid foundation to build our faith upon. If your foundation is not built on God’s word then you become a target for the enemy to deceive. Listen, I have said this many times before… the Assemblies of God did not save me. It was the grace of God that I accepted by faith that saved me. It was because of the testimony of others who believed and the prayer of a sister for my salvation and then the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the conviction of my sin that moved me to confess my sin and then accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
Now, having said that, I could have been saved and then stayed in my previous church. But doing so would have placed me in danger of being deceived, because that church group does not believe that the whole bible is the inspired Word of God; just that parts of it are inspired.
After I was saved and began to read the bible on a regular basis, and began to develop a foundation through that bible reading and understanding given by the Holy Spirit, those foundational truths became so strong and so sure that I knew that what I was reading was real and my faith was being built on truth.
And all of those truths that I began to understand are highlighted in our Assemblies of God statement of fundamental truths. There are 16 truths mentioned that are the foundation of who I am… not because I am A/G, but because I am a bible believer.
Jesus said these words…
Matthew 7:24-27
24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."
the word “rock” in verse 24 is the Greek petra (pet'-ra) … a (mass of) rock … as opposed to Petros (pet'-ros) … a (piece of) rock.
Interestingly enough the word translated “sand” in verse 26 is ammos (am'-mos) n.
1. sand (as heaped on the beach)… You know, you can pile sand up and sculpt it so that without careful inspection or from a distance it would appear to be a mass of rock. But if you look closely and dig a little deeper you can see that it is an illusion. That is the case of many unbiblical and traditional teachings. They look good without close observation.
So what is it that becomes our foundation? The “sayings of Jesus”. His words which we must equate with the scripture as a whole… Everything that we are, everything that we believe, has its foundation in this one truth – The Bible is the Inspired Word of God.
How can we get to the point where we believe that fact – where we can base everything we are on that one simple truth.
1. The bible itself says so.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Peter 1:20-21
20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things.
21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
2. Prophecy fulfilled… Of all religions in the world Christianity is the only one that can make this claim. While some may claim that non-Christian religions have fulfilled prophecy the truth is that these religions cannot make this claim. Proof of true prophecy…1) True prophecy must have fulfillment. Jesus Christ fulfilled over 100 specific prophecies with His first coming. 2) True prophecy must be specific… 3) True prophecy must be more than an educated guess… It must be something that no one could foresee because of the world events of the time… Biblical prophecy is the only prophecy that meets these criteria.
3. Jesus and the apostles believed the scriptures were inspired…
2 Peter 3:15-16
15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.
16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
1 Corinthians 14:37
37 If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord.
Galatians 1:12
12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
So if you are going to build your foundation, what do you build it on?
It has to be the inspired Word of God.
The firs thing you must do is get that set as your foundation. If not, then everything that you say you believe has been set up for failure, because of the door of doubt you have opened.
If you are not absolutely convinced that this book is true your faith will never be built up to receive whatever God has promised. You can say the words and use all the Christian cliches and quote all the right verses, but if you are not convinced that the Spirit of the living God wrote this book you have given the devil the foothold that Paul says we should not do.
James 1:5-8
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
So can you say today with all honesty and in faith,
“I believe this is God’s word…
I believe it is for me…
I accept it as mine…
And I will appropriate it to my life today…”
Once that has been established in your life the table is now set for God to work in your life.
It is then and only then that you can respond to God’s word the way Jesus said we could.
Set these next passages as a foundation for you to stand on God’s word… write them on the door posts of your heart… set them in your mind…
Mark 11:24
24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
1 John 5:14-15
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
