Discerning Faith: Understanding Scripture and Our Calling

help you understand the flow of the of of the bible but you also need to go to a bible study you need to go to church you need to listen to sermons you need to start reading books about the bible and it's a fascinating and wonderful journey i think when you reach a point where you think all right i think i now understand the overall trajectory of the bible and that doesn't come quickly it took me many years it took me through seminary to see the unity of the biblical message [00:11:30]

well the moment we die our soul and body separate by soul i mean whatever you think of when you say that you're alive what what does that mean what does it mean that you're self-aware what does it mean to say you have self-consciousness that's what that's what the soul is and that continues after death so your body dies but your spirit your soul continues and you you you wake up as it were uh in heaven uh where jesus body is right now [00:13:38]

trusting in one's self-righteousness is a constant temptation because the gospel is really humbling it's saying that we are justified we are reckoned righteous in god's sight without any contribution of our own and so we need to cast our well there's a hymn it's an old hymn cast your deadly doing down down at jesus feet stand in him in him alone gloriously complete [00:15:42]

and i think that one of the things that we need to do is to preach the gospel to ourselves every day every morning we should remind ourselves what is the nature of my standing and relationship with god and how is that so and to remind ourselves of justification by faith alone apart from the works of the law but self-righteousness is a constant struggle [00:16:14]

prayer how often do you pray how fervently do you pray how often do you read the bible do you do you read it with some degree of regularity and are you thrilled and captivated by what you read what is your relationship to others are you always are i always wanting to be number one i always try to outwit somebody um are you always on the defensive [00:17:08]

flee to jesus and ask him to give you a heart that loves him more um you know we're not we're not saved by these things these things don't contribute to our salvation but there are evidences that we are saved and and i think that when ever we're convicted about our sin we need to take that to jesus and ask him to fill us with his holy spirit [00:18:15]

yes i'm not all together happy i think i'm with sinclair ferguson that i'm not altogether happy with with the phrase means of grace it it it is too it is too likely to become something mechanical or something even worse legalistic maybe but generally speaking what we mean by the means of grace is things like worship the sabbath the reading of scripture the preaching of scripture the baptism the lord's supper and that those are the ordinary means of grace by which we grow by which we are fed by which we are nourished [00:19:57]

people are always wanting to do something different you know we've done this now for so many years let's do something different let's liven things up let's let's think outside the box as to what we can do to help us grow and those questions are not necessarily wrong um but there are uh there are things that god has laid down there's a pattern that god has laid down there's a there is a way in which god has given us the a b and c and d and e and f of how we grow as christians how we advance as a christian community [00:20:47]

and they are going to church and um singing hymns and psalms and reading the scripture and listening to sermons and engaging in prayer and receiving the sacraments and these are the ordinary means of grace and is there an element to where these these things are very ordinary it's it's bread and wine it's water it's reading it's not necessarily the flashy thing that some people are seeking after it's something that any community can do [00:21:30]

uh everyone has access then to a bible they have access to preaching they have access to prayer they have access to bread and wine and water so you know it's it's it's meant to be something that every christian in the world unless they're in extreme circumstances can do [00:22:16]

there are those in our community who believe that jesus can't come until the gospel has been preached in all the world jesus talks about it in matthew 24 and 25 that before he comes the gospel will be preached in all the world what does that mean does it mean that the gospel must be preached in every people group i don't have the number in my head but there are let's say there are 5 000 people groups let's say there are 8 000 people groups there are different numbers people do it in different ways [00:25:32]

but of those people groups maybe a third of them still have never heard of the gospel they are discernible people groups with a discernible language and a discernible way of life and and and things about their community that that uh that are distinguishable but they haven't heard the gospel now if you believe that [00:26:06]