Bible Overview 1

You ever wish God would just speak to you and tell you exactly what He wants you to do—what He expects you to believe? Like, just once and for all, loud and clear, tell you what this life’s for? What does it all mean? Where’s it going? What is absolutely true, and what isn’t? What can we count on?

Wouldn’t that be nice? 

Oh yeah. Surprise! He did. Most of us even have a few copies laying around. 

The Word of God. The meaning of life. The hope for mankind. The only absolute truth to be found in this strange, confusing world. Reliable, trustworthy, powerful, clarifying. It tells us who God is, what He wants from us, and more importantly, what He promises us.

But people are like, “whatever.” Not for me. Not really interested.

People think they know what’s in the Bible. They think they know what it says, but most people don’t have a clue. They’ve heard a few verses, they’ve heard a few sermons, so they think they got the basic idea. But they’d be shocked if they actually cracked it open and read it.

It’s not a neat little collection of stories about heroes and villains with clear moral lessons. It’s not Aesop’s Fables. There aren’t many good guys. These are not bedtime stories for children to teach them good manners and how to be nice. The Bible isn’t squeaky clean, it’s not G-rated. Parts of the Bible would be rated-R, if not X. It’s quite earthy and real. No subject is off limits. It makes no attempt to be suitable for polite conversation.

It’s amazing how everyone has heard of the Bible, most people have at least one copy, but the majority of them don’t really know what it says. Some people think it’s probably boring—and some parts of it kinda are, like when it goes into great detail to give us the lists of names of real people who begat real people, or descriptions and instructions for some elaborate projects—like the ark, or the Tabernacle or the Temple or how to do the various sacrifices. I think those sections are fascinating but I’ll concede that they’re not real page turners. The vast majority of it is anything but boring, though. Anyone who reads it with an open mind will find that they could never exhaust the implications of even a single verse in their lifetime. Everytime you read it, it will be a new experience. In the history of the world there’s never been anything else like it—no other writings have continued to speak so clearly to generation after generation. It never gets old. It’s always as fresh and relevant as the day it was written.

I’ve asked you to join me in reading the Bible cover to cover over the next year. Today I’m going to give a brief overview and explanation of how it all fits together. I think it will help us to get the most out of our time in God’s Word.Prayer: Father in Heaven, You have spoken to us through Your Word. Handed down through the generations, entrusted to us to preserve it for the future church. Thank You for the words of life, the words of hope, the words that challenge us and comfort us, give us direction and salvation. Help us to never take Your Word for granted. Help us to hear, to listen, to obey and to be transformed. We pray in the name of Jesus, who is the True Word of God made flesh. AMEN.

A quick tour of the Bible. It’s not really a book, as in one book, it’s really library of books, all written a long time ago to a specific audience for specific purposes—when you read the Bible, you’re always reading someone else’s mail. But even though none of it was written to us, it was all written for us—so we could understand who God is and how He wants us to think about Him. On any particular page of the Bible we might find things that God has promised us, things that He expects us to do, or not do, descriptions of the world as it is or as it should be. Some stories, some rules and regulations, some poetry and prayers, some sermons, a little philosophy, several letters to the early church, and a few really psychedelic apocalyptic visions about how the world is going to end and begin again in a new creation. All tied together with the Gospel thread that God is saving the world and restoring it through Jesus.

There’s two parts, an Old Testament and a New Testament. It might be more helpful to think of them as the First Testament and the Second Testament, like Act One and Act Two of an epic story. The Old Testament is also known as the Law and the Prophets—it’s the first 39 books, Genesis to Malachi—everything written before Jesus was born in Bethlehem—Act One starts with God creating the universe, Act Two starts with Him entering the world He created and taking on flesh. It should be at least interesting to you that the entire world, whether they are Christian or not, divides time into before and after Jesus was born. Everything before Jesus is BC, and counts backwards to His birth—that’s the Old Testament for our purposes. Everything after Jesus was born is AD, and the 27 books of the New Testament were all written by eyewitnesses of Jesus’ ministry within the first thirty years or so after the crucifixion and resurrection. We continue to live in this New Testament, Second Act, and will continue to until Christ returns on the last day. The Bible reading plan that I’m recommending we all follow this year jumps back and forth between the Old Testament and the New Testament—we are people of the New Testament, and the whole point of the New Testament is to help explain how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament. It all points to Jesus.

So, the Old Testament: the first five books are the books of Moses, also known as the Pentateuch. He wrote them to explain to God’s people how they got to be in the situation they were in. God had created the world, mankind had sinned, and God had a plan for how He was going to save them. It’s the story of the people of God, it describes how God wants His people to be different from all the other people in the world, how He expects them to live and treat each other, how they’re to worship Him and how they’re to love each other. He’s preparing them to be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, who would bless the entire world and lead all people to worship Him.

The rest of the Old Testament is how that played out—spoiler alert: they were really bad at it. They fail miserably in almost every way. They’re sloppy when they take the promised land, they fall into the worship of false gods, everyone just does what seems right in their own eyes. It’s a record of them failing to do what God had told them to do in the first five books and God making a way for them in spite of it. 

As you keep reading, you’ll come to the time of the kings. Saul, David—at the highest point, under king Solomon, Israel was the most powerful nation in the world, but that was short lived. Most of the kings were awful. Because of their sinful disobedience, they were overthrown by Babylon and taken as slaves into exile. Babylon was overthrown by Persia, who was overthrown by Alexander the Great and the Greeks who were overthrown by Rome. The prophets were very clear that the fall of Israel was God’s doing because the people were unfaithful—but also that He promised to restore the kingdom. As the New Testament begins, they are waiting expectantly for the Christ, also called the Messiah and the Suffering Servant, to come and save them. 

When you get to the prophets, always remember that they’re a glimpse into God’s heart. It can be a little confusing because the prophetic books need to be inserted into the historical books that tell us about all the kings of Israel and Judah. It’s also confusing because after the reign of Solomon the kingdom had a civil war and split into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. All the books of the prophets are a record of what God was saying during the rise and fall of the kings. They’re God calling His people to repentance and giving them hope for a time in the future that the Christ will come to make things good again, when He’ll bring peace and salvation.

Then there’s the writings of poetry and wisdom. Psalms is a collection of prayers and songs they used for worship and to ask God for help—it teaches God’s people how to pray, and is some of the most profound theology in the Bible. Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings and practical wisdom to help understand the way the world works and what kind of people we need to be if we want to live a life that makes any sense, or have any success. Song of Solomon is an erotic poem that describes love between a husband and a wife—a kind of marriage handbook. It was forbidden for young boys to read it until they were accepted as men in their community and ready to take a wife. I told you, some of the Bible is rated X, or at least NC-17, for mature audiences.

Probably my favorite book in the Bible is Ecclesiastes. When you read Ecclesiastes, remember that it was written at a time of prosperity, when people didn’t really think they needed God. It sounds like it was written by an ex-hippy who made his fortune in Silicon Valley and spends his days wondering about the meaning of life. In some ways, Ecclesiastes is the question that the rest of the Bible is answering. If you ever wonder whether God understands our post modern nihilistic culture—just read Ecclesiastes. There’s nothing new under the sun.

Another personal favorite is the book of Job, which is actually the oldest book in the Bible. Written long before Moses, it’s the story of a good man who loses everything and is tempted by the Devil to curse God and die. It’s a book that’ll give you some perspective on what it means to suffer and trust God anyway. We’re all going to face pain and trouble in this life—Job shows us that none of us have enough perspective to make sense out of it, all we can do is trust God, have faith that He is good and one day will redeem all this suffering. Plus, it’s got a conversation between God and the Devil—and there’s a dragon.

There’s about 400 years between the last book of the Old Testament (Malachi) and the first book of the New Testament (Matthew).

The New Testament is pretty simple: four biographies of Jesus, one historical account of the ministry of the early church, a bunch of letters that were written to the churches to be read in worship (which is kinda like the prophets in the Old Testament), and the last book is Revelation, which is a letter to the seven churches in Asia Minor written in the style of an apocalyptic poem. It ends with a vision of where this is all going—it started in a garden paradise and it ends in a garden city with jeweled walls and streets of gold. All things will be made new, no more tears, no more death, the salvation of the people of God will be complete. It’s the Revelation of Jesus Christ and it ends with triumph, victory and hope.

So why do we believe the Bible is true? The great theologian, Blackie Lawless, lead singer of the metal band W.A.S.P. said this about the Bible: “"People say that with The Bible, you're dealing with a book that was written by men. That may be true, but you're also dealing with sixty-six books written by forty different authors spread over two thousand years over three different continents, and most of these guys did not know each other, yet you see them finishing each other's sentences. It's impossible that any men could have written this without divine inspiration." The 66 books of the Bible perfectly work together to tell one cohesive story—the story of God being on a mission to save the world He created. It all points to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. From Genesis to Revelation.

We believe in the Bible because we believe in Jesus.

When Jesus walked the earth, He made it clear in His teaching that He affirmed the Old Testament. He said it was all about Him. He said He didn’t come to abolish it but to fulfill it, and that not a jot or tittle, not a stroke of the pen, would pass away from it until heaven and earth pass away—which is kinda like saying, never. We believe in the Old Testament because Jesus did. We believe in the New Testament because the disciples, who after the resurrection are called the apostles, wrote it so the church could understand and remember the teaching of Jesus. They considered the four Gospels and the letters of Paul to be on the same level as the Old Testament Scripture, so we do too. In other words, we believe in the Bible because we believe in the resurrected Jesus who bears witness to it—and because it bears witness to Him.

It’s always going to come down to faith, but if we believe in Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, then we have to believe in the written Word of God as well.

The Bible isn’t going to do us any good unless we open it. We have to put it in our head, in our heart, it has to be on our lips and guiding our steps if it’s going to make any difference. 

It’d probably be a good idea to listen to this sermon a couple more times, take some notes next time. Let it sink in. All of our NewChurch sermons are published on the website as text transcripts, audio podcasts, and YouTube videos. 

So as we’re reading the Bible from cover to cover over the next year, here’s some practical things to keep in mind:

It might be best to listen to an audio Bible. God says over and over in His Word to “hear the Word of the Lord.” It’s what I do. This time through, I’m listening to the NIVUK audio Bible on YouVersion—I think the British guy they recorded did a really great job of reading the text without being distracting or monotone. Also, when I listen, it keeps me from skimming over the boring parts.

You can find the Bible reading plan at NewChurchTX.com/Bible. It’s a link that will take you to the Bible app and a plan called “Bible in a Year.” Use your app, set reminders, keep up with it.

While you’re reading, just realize that there’s going to be some weird parts. You’re not going to understand everything. Actually, the weird parts are my favorite, those are the parts that really build my faith in God’s Word. Because if a bunch of people had just put it together pretending to have a revelation from God, they would have probably left those strange parts out. But life is weird—not everything fits neatly in place. So if the Bible is a true and accurate revelation from the God who made this strange planet, wouldn’t you expect it to have some parts that leave us wondering?

But most of it is clear as a bell. It says what it says and we have to deal with it.

We have to do what it says. We have to believe what it says. We have to let it challenge every part of our life. We have to let it comfort us and give us hope. It all points to Jesus, and faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ.

We believe the Bible is the Word of God. We believe it’s true. It’s reliable. It’s understandable. It changes us, it informs us, it challenges us, and it comforts us.

The Bible stands as the ultimate authority over us. We don’t stand over it and choose what parts we accept or deny. We believe it is the written revelation of God to mankind.

It never fails to do what God intends it to do.

Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is a love song to the Word of God. It says that joyful are people who obey God’s laws, who hear the Word of the Lord, who hide His Word in their heart so they might not sin against Him, verses 89-91 says:

Your eternal word, O Lord,

    stands firm in heaven.

Your faithfulness extends to every generation,

    as enduring as the earth you created.

Your regulations remain true to this day,

    for everything serves your plans.

And verse 105 says:

Your word is a lamp to guide my feet

    and a light for my path.

Jesus was constantly answering his critics with Scripture. He answered the temptations of the Devil with Scripture. Much of His teaching was explaining the true meaning of Scripture. For Jesus, the Scripture was the last word and authority on any issue. The last word on sexuality, politics, finances, war and peace and everything else.

In John 5:39 Jesus said,

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.”

Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:45-47)

Hebrews 4:12 says,

“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says,

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”

But it’s not going to do anything in your life if it stays silently in a closed book on your shelf. Like the blues song says, “Got a Bible in my hand, if I don’t read, my soul might die and it’s nobody’s fault but mine.”

You want a better life? You want joy? Direction? Purpose? You want things to go well for you? God has everything you need to know written down for you. Hear the Word of the Lord.

You want to be a better father? Mother? A true friend? A faithful son or daughter, brother or sister? Hear the Word of the Lord.

Do you want to do well at your job? Do you want to succeed and prosper and live a life that’s worth living? Hear the Word of the Lord.

Do you want to be a good citizen? A helpful member of the church? A person who makes a difference in the world? Hear the Word of the Lord.

Do you want to have hope that there’s more to this life than empty meaninglessness, followed by the sure and final sting of death and the grave? Then hear this:

Jesus said,

“I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die.” John 11:25

   In the beginning the Word already existed. 

      The Word was with God, 

      and the Word was God. 

    He existed in the beginning with God. 

    God created everything through him, 

      and nothing was created except through him. 

    The Word gave life to everything that was created, 

      and his life brought light to everyone. 

    The light shines in the darkness, 

      and the darkness can never extinguish it. John 1:1–5

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

AMEN.