INTIMACY WITH GOD THROUGH THE BIBLE

 

 

1.    Many of us have gone into a dollar store and found all kinds of things buyable for just one dollar.

2.    From candy to toys, 100 pennies or 4 quarters can still buy a wide variety of items.

3.    In some of these stores a single dollar will allow someone to buy a copy of the Bible.

4.    This Bible will likely not be a hardback; the paper is a lot like newsprint; it is a full copy of the Bible.

5.    While many copies of the Bible are not expensive, every copy of the Scriptures is certainly valuable.

 

IF A PERSON WANTS INTIMACY WITH GOD, THE BIBLE IS REQUIRED READING.  NOT ONLY IS IT A REQUIRED SOURCE OF STUDY, IT MUST BE APPLIED IN A PERSON’S LIFE.

 

a)      We cannot get close to deity (God) without using the Scriptures.

b)      This is my proposition for this lesson and I want to make this point by using the Scriptures.

 

2)      For our reading we heard Ps. 119:11.

3)      David spoke about not “sinning against God.”  

a)      If we are not sinning against God, we are not violating the will of God.

b)      If we are not violating the will of God, we are not distancing ourselves from God.

c)      If we are not being drawn away from God, we are most likely being brought close to God.

d)      Following the will of God, which is expressed in the Scriptures, will bring us close to God.

e)      David realized how the process works so he said he had “hidden” God’s word in his heart. 

f)        He realized intimacy with God is found through the Word of God.

 

4)      We are familiar with many New Testament passages that tell us the Bible will bring us close to God.

5)      Perhaps we have never joined them together in the way being suggested this morning.

6)      Several verses we know remind us about this matter.

7)      Turning from the Old Testament to the New Testament, our attention is directed to Mk. 16:15.

a)      Jesus told the apostles to “go into the world and preach the gospel.”

b)      Why do that?  The answer is found in man’s relationship with God.

c)      We cannot get close to God without understanding and obeying what we find in the Word of God.

d)      The information we need to know and heed is the “gospel.”

e)      Thus, Jesus said “go preach it.”  This is the way that people can find and have fellowship with God.

 

8)      Paul said in Rom. 1:16 that heaven’s gospel is God’s “power to salvation.”

a)      If a person is saved, they have some intimacy with God.

b)      One person may have a closer relationship with God than someone else.

c)      In every case each saved person has have some level of intimacy with God.

d)      No matter what our level of closeness with God, much of it comes through the Bible.

e)      If God’s power to salvation is the gospel, a path to intimacy with God includes the gospel.

 

9)      Jesus once gave a parable involving a sower; one account of this is in Lk. 8.

a)      Jesus’ said this parable was about the “kingdom.”

b)      A person who is in the kingdom has some relationship with the king.

c)      It may be a close relationship or it may be a very distant relationship.    

d)      There is connection between a king and his subjects.

e)      In the spiritual realm, how does the kingdom relationship begin?

f)        Jesus said in Lk. 8 that “the seed is the word of God.”

g)      If we are old enough to be the church (the kingdom), we need to be exposed to the seed.

h)      When the right seed is planted and it begins to grow, our relationship with God is created & sustained.

i)        Without this seed or without the right seed we have no hope of eternity with God.

j)        Jesus specifically said in Lk. 8 the right and needed seed is God’s word (the gospel).

 

10)  Peter picked up on this theme in 1 Pet. 1:23.

a)      Peter said those who are “begotten again.”

b)      Jesus once said we need to be “born anew.”  We somehow need to get “into the kingdom.”

c)      We need salvation, justification, membership in the spiritual body (the church)  created by Jesus.

d)      What tool has God given to help us find these things?

e)      Peter said it is the “Word of God” – READ.

f)        God’s word is the means by which we find God and create a relationship with Him.

g)      Jesus once said (Jn. 6:63) that His words were “spirit and life.”

h)      Spirit and life sure sound a lot like having intimacy and closeness with God.

i)        Jesus said His words (what we now have recorded in the New Testament) are the pathway to these things. 

j)        Going back to 1 Pet. 1:23, Peter said God’s word is “incorruptible.”

k)      God’s word cannot pass away or lose its force.

l)        Some books are good for a period of time, but their value is eventually lost.

m)    A book may be a “bestseller” for several months, but it is eventually replaced.

 

11)  At the end of this month a brand new computer system is supposed to be launched.

a)      All the books written for the past systems will for the most part be useless.

b)      Hundreds of thousands of training manuals will be ready for the trash heap.

c)      God’s word is not in this category.  It is timeless and unchanging.

d)      Our world goes through a lot of phases (trends).

e)      For a time people may feel and believe that something should be done this way.

f)        Then in 5, 20, or 50 years people think we should use or do something else.

g)      The pathway to intimacy with God has been the Scriptures for more than 2,000 years.

h)      It was true in David’s time (Ps. 119) and even well before that.

 

12)  Bible book after Bible books hammers this point home.

13)  When we see this in passage after passage one begins to get the impression that this really matters to God.    

14)  In the book of James the writer spoke about the “engrafted word” and said it will “save the soul.”

15)  In the ASV “engrafted” is translated “implanted.”

a)      We know what it means to sow seed.

b)      The image in Jas. 1:21 is putting seed in soil.

c)      God’s word is interwoven in the human heart.

d)      It is to become part of our core person; mixed in with the very fabric of personality and being.

 

16)  Last night I made supper as well as desert.

17)  Teresa didn’t like supper, but she liked the desert.  In fact, she got into that before I did.

18)  The brownies that were made had a multiplicity of ingredients.

a)      All the ingredients were mixed (stirred together).

b)      After the mixing was done, it was not possible to separate what went into the mix.

c)      In a similar way, God’s word is to saturate our whole being.

d)      If and when we allow this to be done, we will become more and more like God.

e)      We will certainly be drawn closer and closer to God because His word will change our lives.

 

19)  Peter picked up on this idea in 1 Pet. 1:22.

20)  He spoke about the “truth” (God’s word).  He also referred to “obeying the truth.”

21)  He also said this:  “obeying the truth purifies the soul.”

a)      God is a holy and righteous God; He will not fellowship those wallowing in sin.

b)      What if a person is righteous; cleansed and freed from all sin?

c)      What if after that purification a person continues to strive after and do the will of God?

d)      Such a person will have fellowship with God.

e)      Think of 1 Jn. 1:7 – “if we walk in the light as he is in the light.”

f)        If someone lives as a Christian, there is fellowship.

g)      We have fellowship with other faithful Christians as well as God Himself.

h)      There is closeness with God as well as the people of God.

 

22)  Consider too this statement from Jas. 1:18 – a person is “begotten.”

23)  The ASV says “brought forth.”  That is, a person can become a “child of God.”

a)      How does a person become a child of God?  James said we are “begotten with the word of truth.”

b)      What is the word of truth?  The gospel or the Bible.

c)      What does this word do?  It makes someone a child of God.

d)      It takes a person who was distant from God and brings them close to God.

e)      What happens if a person old enough to know right from wrong does not surrender to this word?

f)        He or she cannot be a child of God and he or she will not be close to God.

g)      God’s word is a key and essential element in having an intimate relationship with Him.

 

24)  This principle is not new.  Consider the time of Noah.

a)      Noah was on very intimate terms with God.

b)      Noah wanted other people to have a close and personal relationship with God.

c)      What tool did Noah use to help people find this closeness?

d)      2 Pet. 2:5 says he was a “preacher of righteousness.”

e)      God is righteous; God wants other people to become righteous so they will be close to Him.

f)        We find that righteousness by learning and obeying the Scriptures.

g)      This has been the process for literally thousands of years.

 

25)  On the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 Peter wanted people to be close to God.

26)  God said He was going to give of His Spirit (Acts 2:17).

27)  Jesus personally added people to His church (Acts 2:47).

28)  Both things like a pretty personal and intimate actions.

29)  They were, and those who Jesus added were the ones who heard and obeyed the gospel.

30)  It was the Word of God that created and sustained a relationship to God.

31)  As the book of Acts continues we find that Jews were not the only ones who could be saved.

a)      They could be close to God, but a time came when Gentiles were also welcomed.

b)      How were Gentiles able to get close to God?  Cornelius provides our answer.

c)      This man had been praying and giving alms, Acts 10:4.

d)      He had been doing much but he was not intimate with God.

e)      A preacher had to come and “speak words” so he could be saved (Acts 11:14).

f)        David was a very smart man.

g)      He realized the importance of knowing and storing up God’s word in the mind in Ps. 119.

 

32)  In additions to Jews and Gentiles, there were Samaritans.

33)  If Jews and Gentiles could be close to God, what about this third group?

34)  Samaritans were also able to have a close relationship with God.

35)  Acts 8:12 says a preacher went to see people from this background and they also heard a message.

36)  It was God’s word and obedience to it that brought them close to God.

37)  In 2 Tim. 3:16-17 Paul said God’s word “furnishes us completely unto every good work.”

a)      Is closeness to God a “good work,” an “evil work,” or “something neutral”?

b)      It is a “good work.”  How is this good work accomplished?  The Scriptures.

c)      Some want to come close for God for comfort.

d)      That is a good thing, but let’s not forget what the Bible says.

e)      Rom. 15:4 says comfort comes through the Scriptures.

f)        God’s word is often given very little regard by people outside of the church.

g)      Even those who are members of the church can regard it too lightly.

 

38)  If we really want intimacy with God, the information we need is literally at our fingertips.

39)  Have we used it in the past for this purpose and are still using it?