The Whole Story

Introduction

I owe the illustration of the introduction this morning to a young sister in Christ, Heather Sanchez. I performed her wedding on a beach in Pensacola a year and a half ago. And she posted this thought. Consider your, or something somewhere, I’ve changed it a little bit. Consider your favorite book or movie of all time. Now suppose in the reading of that book that someone removed chapters 2, 6, 8, 10, and 13. Would it still have the same effect? What about the development of the story and the characters of the story? Or your favorite movie of all time. Let’s say that an hour into the movie, a 30-minute segment is missing. Or a 45-minute segment or two 15-minute segments somewhere in the movie, or just take it out and spite the whole thing splice back together.

Are you going to miss some of the plot in the storyline? Is it going to have the same effect? And as she offered that illustration, she concluded, this is how today’s Christians are treating the Bible. We find parts we like, parts that accommodate our lifestyles, parts that make us feel good. We don’t mind grasping the whole story because we get what we want out of it. Take the time to understand God’s word for what it is, not for what we want it to be. Do you know the whole story? Do you know God’s whole story in regard to our redemption? Now, this lesson is going to assume that you at least understand that we live under the new covenant era, that the New Testament speaks to us about our faith and practice.

And the Old Testament was for the nation of Israel to prepare them to be a schoolmaster to lead them to Christ, Galatians chapter 3 and verse 24. This is going to assume that you already understand that. Some don’t even understand that about the story. Do you know the whole story? Are there just some parts that you like and you’re comfortable with, and you’re content just to know that and to be in the dark about the rest of the story? That’s Paul Harvey used to say. Well, we need to know the whole story in 2 Timothy chapter 3. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, thoroughly equipped unto every good work.

Let me tell you some observations that I have about that. That the more parts of the Bible I study and understand and commit to memory, the better my appreciation of the whole is. We need to become aware of the parts of the Bible that we presently may not be aware of. Because understanding of all of its parts, and the more parts that I get figured out and understand, and I see that in relation to the whole, the more I’ve come to appreciate the message as a whole. And the more that I ingest and then digest of this message, my ability to understand all of its constituent parts increases also. The more you ingest and digest, the better able you’re going to be able to grasp the whole story.

And another observation, that this will allow us to appreciate and to know and understand what discipleship really means. What it means to be salt and light in our world. I understand that Jesus isn’t wanting to just save me and offer me immortality.

From the inside out and to redeem me from foolish living.

Or to walk wisely, making the most of your time because the days are evil. And then he says in verse 17, do not be foolish or ignorant, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do you know the whole story? As Jesus would quote Deuteronomy 8 and verse 3 in his defeat against the adversary and the series of temptations there. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by the whole story. Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And even in the old covenant, questions like this were raised. How shall a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to thy word. And that’s the totality of it. Thy word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

And finally, Jesus in his prayer before his betrayal in John 17 says, Sanctify them in thy truth. He says of his disciples, set them apart unto thy truth. Thy word is truth. And then the verse nobody could recall three days later after I preached it, the ones that I quote all the time that you should now have, Mike’s grinning. John 8, 31 and 32. If you abide in my word, then you are disciples of mine, and you shall know the truth. And the truth shall make you free. One great danger that this illustration of the book that we tear chapters out of, or the movie that we take segments out of, one great danger in approaching the Bible is if we put blinders on and see only certain parts that we want to see.

1. Sinners Need Salvation, God's Grace Provides

Instead of seeing the entirety of the message. My attempt this morning will be to relate to you in six scenes the whole story of the Bible. And if in any way I fall short in summarizing God’s message of salvation to us in these six scenes, I’ll add a seventh scene, but I’ve tried to be fairly comprehensive so that we can see the whole story. And I want to start this morning with scene number one, and a lot of people will agree with this part of the story. Have an interest in this part of the story and would say amen to it. That sinners need salvation, and God’s grace provides the answers that we need. A lot of folks won’t balk at scene number one. They’ve seen a lot of bad in people, they’ve seen a lot of bad in our world, and there needs to be a solution to that.

And they know enough about the Bible and a belief in a creator, things that perhaps they were instilled within them from the time that they were a child, that they will give assent to this message as a source of salvation. It’s interesting the consciences that we have that are trained and molded by our surroundings and the teachers that we have, including the principles of right and wrong that our parents instill within us. Our consciences are one of the great signatures of God that say to us, we have a creator. Interesting story on 60 Minutes last Sunday night of the young man that escaped camp 14 in North Korea. That’s odd. Awesome story. He was born in a camp of political prisoners in North Korea. It’s all he ever knew.

It’s a three-generation camp. They’re going to weed out the dissidents. Three generations. He’s born in prison. His parents, because they were hard workers, were given conjugal rights, and he was born in prison. That’s all he ever knew. He thought things outside the prison were like they were inside the prison. But he had to follow the prison rules. And he was, he was convinced that’s what he was supposed to do. Follow the prison rules. That’s what he was taught. That’s how his conscience was instructed. He turned in his own mother for trying to escape because that’s what you were supposed to do. And he didn’t have much relation with her like normal motherhood and being a son. But it was a wonderful illustration of how the conscience works, even when you grow up in an environment like that.

And so some people, because their consciences have been trained, and our society is influenced by this message of the Bible, they sort of like this. This sort of fits with them, like the parts of the story they like. This sort of works. Sinners need salvation. God’s grace provides. Ephesians 2. A lot of people are experts in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For by grace have you been saved through faith, not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And people want to read those verses and say, see, I don’t have to do anything to be saved. God’s done everything. That ignores the context of Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. That ignores the context of the book of Ephesians.

That ignores the context of the rest of the New Testament. But that’s the conclusion they come to. That’s what they want to hear. God’s done everything. But remember, even in verse 8. For by grace have you been saved through faith. What is that? And that’s the essential part of it, too. And that’s why I say the rest of the book of Ephesians of the New Testament gives us further clarification, and we’ll see about that in a moment. But people want to wrap their minds around that. Jesus died on a cross, don’t have any problems with that. He did that for me, and I have salvation as a result. But not everybody is automatically saved, are they? Because Jesus died on the cross, everybody in the world is saved.

2. The Saved Have Obeyed and Continue in Faith

Universal salvation. Is that what the Bible teaches? Not consistent with the rest of the message, the rest of the story. So apparently people have to respond in a certain way of some kind in order to be saved. Scene 1, this is not the end of the story. What does the rest of the story say about those sinners who are saved by the grace of God through faith? The saved are those who have obeyed, and they must continue in faith. Again, let’s see what the rest of the story. Some people never progress beyond chapter 1. But let’s look at some passages. In 1 Peter chapter 1, Peter is writing to saved individuals. The chosen who are scattered abroad in various places. And he says, in verse 17, and I really could have gone back to verses 14 and 15 when he says you need to be holy as God is holy.

But he says in verse 17, you need to conduct yourselves in your sojourn here.

In 1 Peter chapter 2, he’ll call them aliens again. In other words, this is not where their home really is. It’s in heaven. They’re aliens and strangers. You need to conduct yourselves as sojourners here. How? In fear. Reverence for God. He said, because you’ve been redeemed with the precious blood of a lamb, without spot, and without blemish. And then he says, through him your believers in God. Okay, that sort of ties in, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, doesn’t it? But then look at verse 22. Since, okay, what does it mean to be a believer in God, redeemed by the precious blood of Christ? Since you have in obedience to the truth, purified your souls. Now, if you want to get the whole story of salvation by grace through faith, you’ve got to include 1 Peter 1 22.

You have to. Since you have in obedience to the truth, purify your souls. For a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart. Now that’s part of the story, too. We’ll get to that in a moment. For you have been born again because of this obedience to the truth. And you purified your souls. You’ve been born again of the imperishable seed, which is the story. The living and abiding word of God. And this is the word that was preached to you. He said, You can’t get a faith that obeys out of this story. It’s there. Jesus is the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey him. You can’t get obedience out of this story. Hebrews 5 and verse 9. Even those Christians, the Hebrews that he’s writing to in Hebrews chapter 10.

He says in verse 36, you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. James writes to believers. And he says, All that remains of wickedness we need to remove and to receive the word, the whole story. Receive the word implanted, which is able to save our souls. He’s writing to those who are already in Christ, and he says, you need to weed out and remove all that remains of wickedness. More on that in a moment. And receive the word, and I’m falling off the pulpit. That’ll get your attention. Well, I’ll get back on now. That’s the second time that’s ever happened to me. Can I continue where I was? Man, I was right in the middle of that.

Receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. Now, what follows that? You tell me what follows because I’m all discombobulated. Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves, he says. If we’re merely hearers, that’s not good enough. The man who is a doer of the word, this man shall be blessed in what he does. The same, those who have been saved by grace through faith, have obeyed and continue in the faith. They continue in their belief, these passages would say. And then there’s 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. This passage came to. There’s a lot of passages I could turn to, but this one really comes to me. Again, he’s writing to brethren. He identifies them in verse 1. He says, I exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God, just as you actually do walk.

3. God Cares About How We Worship

He says, Excel in that. Excel still more. And then in verse 3, for this is the will of God. Your sanctification, that is your set of heart to God to serve him. That is that you abstain from sexual immorality, that you know how to possess your own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, he says. And verse 7, for God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but he says, in sanctification. You can’t have scene one without scene two. And going on from the specifics of that is scene three. There are things God cares about as a result of these admonishing words about our response to grace. God cares about how we worship. As we saw last week, he’s not pleased with just any worship that we might send his way.

Now I’ll offer you just one passage since we talked about this last week, and we’ll move on quickly to point four. I offer to you 1 Corinthians chapter 11. This will be suffice, this will suffice to make the point. 1 Corinthians 11. Paul is writing again to believers, those who are already in Christ, who have been baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. They’re in Christ. And he’s talking to them about the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper, the two elements involved, the bread, the fruit of the mind. And we read that passage a lot, verses 23 through 26 as to what those represent. And then he says this, but you better be careful how you do it. Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner.

Hopefully nobody did that this morning. Shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. And that sounds serious to me. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself. Now that doesn’t sound good. Eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. If he does not discern the Lord’s body. Some see a play on words there, that it involves the Lord’s body, his physical body, his flesh and his blood, or and even their attitudes toward each other, his body. That the church is his body. If they were having problems with their attitudes toward people, some people see a play on words in that.

But either way, we need to pay attention as we partake of the way we worship, even in the Lord’s Supper, because we can drink and eat judgment to ourselves. And I’ll tell you what the scriptures say, the whole story says to us. God cares about how we worship. That it must involve, number one, the right acts and the right attitudes. Coming to God’s throne requires two important things. Number one, great reverence. Profound respect for him. I hearken back to Terry’s, the audience of one. We come here to come into the presence of our God together. And that ought to be done always with profound and awesome respect. And secondly, going with that, we should come very thoughtfully and carefully and diligently to the throne of God.

4. God Cares About What We Believe

We have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken, the Hebrew writer says in chapter 12 and verse 28. And we thus need to serve him acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Listen, a part of this is scene three. God cares about how we worship. And beyond that, God cares about what we believe. It’s not just the things we do, it’s the things that we even espouse or believe. Two exhibits here, and again, I’ll do this briefly. The Galatians in chapter one, Paul says, you’ve believed another gospel. You’ve embraced error. Who has bewitched you? Oh, foolish Galatians, chapter three and verse 1. He goes, this persuasion, you know, you who are trying to bind circumcision as a part of the new covenant.

Again, that teaches our distinction I talked about in the beginning. We’re not under the old covenant with the new covenant. They were trying to mix the two. They were trying to demand circumcision of the Israelites, descendants of Abraham, trying to bind that on these Gentile believers. He says, if you do that, you’re severed from grace. That tells us something about salvation by grace through faith, too, doesn’t it? That you can be severed from grace by simply believing the wrong things. This persuasion, he said, does not come from him who calls you. Who’s hindered you? In your obedience to the truth, you were running well. That also confirms the earlier scene number two, about the need for saving faith to obey. You were running well. Who’s hindered you?

He says, in this present state you are severed from grace. The whole story of Galatians. These are several churches he’s writing to here. Exhibit two. 1 John and 2 John. John’s warding off the Gnostic doctrine, and one of the things the Gnostics said is that Jesus, God didn’t really come in the flesh, because the Spirit and the flesh are separate. Because somebody who says Jesus didn’t come in the flesh, that’s the antichrist. Now that’s pretty bad. That’s the antichrist. That does not come from God because you know that Jesus came in the flesh. And so over and over again in 1 John, this is not what you’ve been taught. In 2 John, who he transgresses who abides not in the doctrine of Christ, and he has not God.

It’s not just about the things that we do, it’s even about the things that we espouse or believe. What we believe about morality. So we say, well, we’re church. We worship. We sing praise to God. But we don’t sweat the small stuff. People want to be engaged in fornication. I’m not going to preach about that. I’ll preach against that. People want to do that. We’re going to preach about adultery. Or if you commit adultery and you divorce your wife and you marry someone else, we’re not going to investigate that. We’re not going to look into that. It’s okay. Whatever you decide will be just fine. That’s the mentality today. But I’ll tell you what the story says. Fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. And those who approve of such erroneous things.

Who give them God’s feed back in our text of 2 John 9 through 11. God cares about fornication and adultery, even if churches don’t. We are to be possess our bodies as we saw in 1 Thessalonians 4 in sanctification, not in lustful passion. Our bodies are not for impurity, but to be a habitation of God in the Spirit. We can’t approve of these things. People say, homosexuality. A lot of people believe in that. It doesn’t matter if we grow into the minority in our position on that. God is against same-sex marriage. The Bible is opposed to homosexuality. It doesn’t matter if the majority start accepting it. And most churches start tolerating it. I’ll tell you, if we tolerate it, I’m telling you, God cares about what we believe.

And whether we’re talking about the way we worship, the introduction of instrumental music, that’s becoming commonplace. Used to be a time when people really respected the Bible. And most churches were opposed to instrumental music. I know that’s hard for people to believe. Even in denominationalism 200 years ago, most churches were opposed to instrumental music in that they thought it was a violation of the scripture. But not so today. Where’s your positive authority in the New Testament for such a practice? There’s no mention of it anywhere. Then there’s intoxication, materialism, the purchase of a lottery ticket. What could be wrong with that? And the lasciviousness that’s often involved in most modern forms of dance. Do you really think God watches dancing with the stars and says that’s okay?

5. God Cares About Our Attitudes, Not Just Our Actions

Do you think he approves of that? It’s immoral and lustful, lust provoking. Oh, but they all wear him, they wear modest outfits, I’m sure. Right? You think God cares about these things? He absolutely does. And the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to God for the destruction of fortresses, that we may take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Yes, all that we think captive. Scene number five. God cares about our attitudes. Not just our actions. As Sean was leading us in Rock of Ages Wednesday night, I noticed as the song talks about the blood that flowed from the side of Jesus. Be of sin the double cure. That’s sort of a part of that song you’ve got to think about for a second.

I’ve sung it a million times. Be of sin the double cure. Saved from wrath. And make me pure. What Jesus did at Calvary was not just a sin fix, it was a life fix. As I said in the introduction, he came to change us from the inside out. More than just redeeming us from sin and taking care of the mark of sin against us. God wants to mold and modify our attitudes after Jesus. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And what is that exactly? Not just some right actions like we’re taking in the Lord’s Supper, but our attitudes, as we’ve already seen. What are some of the things that illustrate the mind of Christ? I thought about sobriety. I mentioned intoxication a moment ago.

Something hit me this week. You know, we emphasize don’t drink, don’t drink, don’t drink. I heard that as a kid. Good thing to emphasize. Because you need to do that to be right with God. You need to abstain from alcoholic beverages. But I’ll tell you, it’s more than just, okay, that’s a wrong act, and I’m not supposed to do that. This is about sobriety. 1 Thessalonians 5 talks about sobriety. What is that about? It’s not just, well, I’m free from intoxication. You cannot drink and still not be sober. Sober has to do with awareness. Sobriety is an awareness that God is present and watching me, that there’s a day of judgment that’s coming, and I need to behave accordingly. Sobriety is an awareness of the evil one who’s lurking about trying to destroy me like a roaring lion, ready to devour me.

When you’re drinking, you can’t be alert to that. In fact, he’s already got you. He’s got you in his clutches. Oh, I know you’re thinking about the judgment day when you’re drinking. Right? You’re supposed to think when you drink? I heard that. Really? You think people are thinking about the judgment day? You think they’re thinking about the impending end of the world that could be any time? You think they’re preparing for the judgment day? You think they’re thinking spiritual thoughts as they do that? They’re not sober. And we’re not sober. If we don’t think daily about the spiritual realm, if we don’t meditate on the things of God, if we don’t include God in our lives. And beyond sobriety, and this works hand in hand with sobriety, God focused in our lives.

6. God Cares About My Growth, Not My Present Plateau

Godliness. That’s not just being God like. I’ve said that so many times, but it’s important. It’s the idea of my focus in life is God. He’s foremost in my life. Purity of heart. It’s more about presenting God with goodness than just abstaining from immorality. And then there’s love. Love is more than just warm sentiment and feelings of affection, it is an active goodwill toward all, demonstrated in a good response for evil done. Love is unaffected by the foolishness of others or their treatment of me. More on that tonight. That’s your introduction to tonight’s lesson. Scene number five continues tonight. Finally, scene six. God cares about my growth, not just my present plateau. That’s actually encouraging. I like this part of the story because when I look at some of those other things, there’s some times when I’m not as sober as I ought to be.

Not as godly as I know I should be. Not as pure in my heart as he wants me to be. And not always expressing love in all of my relationships like I’m called to do. And so I look at myself and I see that I’m falling short in some of those areas. If these qualities are yours, Peter says, and are increasing, they will render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He wants our growth unto these things. And then he says, He will abundantly supply an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior to us. He who began a good work in you will complete it at the day of Christ. We are pressing on the upward way as we’ve sung, reaching for higher ground unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Conclusion

Filled up to all the fullness of God, Paul says to the Ephesians in Ephesians chapter 3. Well, that’s it in short order. The summary of the whole story. Now, as I wrap this up this morning, I want to tell you this story’s not going anywhere. It’s not going to weigh. And we can ignore it. We can act like it’s not relevant to my life, that I don’t need to do anything about it, or I can do something about it sometime later. This story isn’t going anywhere. I’ve noticed I’ve lived on this earth for 49 years. It’s still here.

It’s not going anywhere. It’s not going to disappear. You can ignore the gravity of a spiritually lost condition. But if you comply, the rewards and the promises are out of this world. Precious and magnificent promises, Peter says. To obtain an inheritance which is incorruptible, imperishable, undefiled, reserved in heaven for you. The awesome depths of which I cannot explain with words or the greatest eloquence that I can muster. To know what is the height and breadth and length and depth of the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge. And to know that and to comprehend that with all the saints. That’s what we do here together. We’re trying to grasp the greatness of the things that we’re involved in and the greatness of the love of our God that makes salvation possible.

To know with all the saints what is the length and the breadth and the height and depth of the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. It’s beyond our minds to fully grasp it all.

It’s a big story. It’s more than just seeing one. Let’s embrace the whole thing, not just chapters one and last, but all the chapters in between. Let’s see the whole story and act on it in our lives and be blessed by having done so. If you’re subject to the imitation, come now as we stand and sign.