I
was four years old when I got my first Bible. I couldn’t read so my mother read
me stories. The first one I remember was the story of David and Goliath. I
learned growing up in the church that the Bible was God’s Word. But as I grew
older, I began to question that fact.
2
Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for
teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
2
Peter 1:20-21 says, “Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture
comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by
the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy
Spirit.”
The
Bible says of itself that its source is God, not humans. What are the things
that cause me to believe this as being true?
First,
I know Jesus. I talk to Him, and He speaks (not out loud in an audible voice).
I share my life with Jesus, not as a theological concept but as a real person.
In
knowing Jesus, I have come to trust Him. I also have come to know four
essential things that enable me to trust Jesus and trust that the Bible is
really God’s Word.
Jesus
is God.
John
10:30 says, “I and the Father are one.”
John
14:8-9 says, “Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough
for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not
know Me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say,
‘Show us the Father?’”
Since
I know through my relationship with Jesus that He is God, then it enables me to
trust what He says. Jesus points to the Bible as God’s Word.
Raise
the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing Jesus as the one true God.
Second,
Jesus is love.
1
John 4:8 and 16 says that God is love. The essence of God is love and since
Jesus is God, then He is love. Jesus came into the world because He loved us as
His human creation according to John 3:16.
In
know Jesus as God and knowing He loves me, then I can trust Him.
Raise
the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that Jesus is love and thus came to
die for me because He loves me.
Third,
Jesus is good.
In
Mark 10 Jesus encounters a wealth young man and the young man calls Him good.
In verse 18 Jesus asks the young man why he calls Him good because only God is
good.
Jesus
is God and so He is good. We see Jesus’ goodness in His healing of lepers, lame
people, blind people, and all kinds of sick people. We see it in how Jesus
deals with marginalized people like the woman at the well, the woman caught in
adultery, and demon possessed people.
Raise
the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing Jesus is good and being enabled, as
we come into relationship with Him, to live that goodness out in our lives.
Fourth,
Jesus is faithful.
1
John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Jesus
as God is faithful and He does not lie, so I can trust Him and what the Bible
says.
Raise
the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that Jesus is faithful and being
about to trust all that He says and all that He promises.
Do
I understand everything about life? – No!
Do
I understand everything about the Bible? – No!
Do
I understand everything about Jesus? – No!
I
know Jesus and I trust Jesus and I believe the Bible is God’s Word. I know and
trust and believe because Jesus is God, He is love, He is good, and He is
faithful.
Knowing
Jesus and Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,
Joe
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