Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / The Spiritual Battles in Your Bible Reading

Transcript

The Spiritual Battles in Your Bible Reading · Pastor John Piper's answers

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Happy New Year twenty twenty five, as we launched this
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: podcast into year number thirteen. Thirteen years of this What
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: an amazing ride, all made possible by the grace of
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: God and by your involvement in listening and sending us
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: your questions, and for praying for us, and for financially
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: supporting us as well. Thank you for your role in
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: making this podcast happen for many. This new year comes
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: with a blank, fresh Bible reading slates. I have a
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: new one on my desk right now that I just
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: printed out twelve hundred empty boxes to check off in
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: the year ahead for readings per day for three hundred days,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: and it's about fifteen minutes of reading per day per
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: three hundred days. Pastor John and I will be again
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: using the Navigator's Bible Reading Plan in twenty twenty five.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: It's the same plan we used last year, and this
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: is our invitation to you to read the entire Bible
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: with us in twenty twenty five. For some this will
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: be your first attempt. Welcome along, and if not, welcome back.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: You can find the Navigator's Bible Reading Plan online by
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: searching for it. Find the printable PDF of the schedule
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: printed off and join us in twenty twenty five. On
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: the podcast this year, we have a couple of dozen
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: interesting questions lined up to ask Pastor John that coincide
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: with the day's reading. You don't have to read the
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Bible with us to be blessed by those episodes, but
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: I think if you do. If you do the reading,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: I think you'll find extra benefit in the topics we
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: address this year coming up. So here we are, the
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: second day of January, setting out to read the entire
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Bible in twenty twenty five, something you've done several times,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Pastor John, even with this reading plan. So what challenges
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: lay ahead of us and what blessings can we expect ahead?
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: These are the questions being asked by a listener named Mike. Hello,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Pastor John, I have been blessed by your ministry for
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: many years. In the year ahead, I hope to read
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: my Bible from cover to cover for the very first time,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: using the Navigator's Bible reading plan that you use. I
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: feel a little excited and a lot intimidated, and enormously
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: unprepared for the year ahead. I've never done anything like
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: this before. What's your advice for me and what obstacles
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: must I expect to overcome to pull this off in
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Well, amen, and praise God for what Mike is resolving
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: to do. I just what an hour and a half ago,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: was reading my reading plan reading. So I've been on
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: this system for good night what twenty five years? I
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: don't know. I love this system. I try other things,
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: and I genuinely come back to it. So good Mike.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: You should be excited, and yes, you should be intimidated.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: You are insignificant ways unprepared. Me too. That's why we're reading,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Paul said. It's all inspired precisely to make us prepared
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: that the Man of God may be complete equipped, or
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: we could say prepared for every good work, including Bible reading.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: So you got to read to get prepared to read, right.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: So that's okay to be intimidated by reading the Bible.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: So what should you expect? I'm to give you three
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: negatives to scare you off and ten positives to suck
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: you back in. So number one negative, expect opposition. Satan
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: hates the Word of God and will disincline you, blind you,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: distract you, bore you. He will fight with all his
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: might to keep this from happening. So pray and fight
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: and ask God to make all four of those things
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: that Satan tries to do to backfire, to blow up
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: in his face as you become a stronger warrior against him.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: So your heart inclined, your blindness removed, focus instead of distraction,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: excitement instead of boredom. So that's expect opposition Number two.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Expect to be shocked. The outrage of sin and it's
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: graphic descriptions and the horrors of god judgments and the
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: failures of God's people are appalling in the Bible. The
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: Bible is stunningly graphic in its description both of our
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: outrageous sin and God's breathtaking judgment on sin. You will
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: want to throw up if you have any kind of
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: sympathetic engagement with the Bible at times when you see
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: what God ordains against sin in this world. So expect
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: your views of man and God to be blown up
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: in a good way. Number three negative. Expect to be
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: confused for three reasons. Number one, God conceals many things
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: that we'd like to know Deuteronomy twenty nine to twenty nine.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: The secret things belong to the Lord our God. But
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: the things that are revealed belong to us and to
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: our children, that we may do his words. So there
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: are things you're gonna want to know, and God says, Nope,
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: that's my business, not yours. Number two reason why you're
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: going to be confused. What He has revealed is often
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: hard to understand. Peter said that flat out in Tewod
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Peter three sixteen, as Paul does in all his letters
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: when he speaks of them in these matters. There are
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: some things in Paul's letters hard to understand, which the
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: do the other scriptures. Tewod Peter, three sixteen. There are
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: some things in Paul's letters that are hard to understand,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: which we should not expect to find easy. So we're
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: going to be confused at times. And Number three reason
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: why you're going to be confused is that Christ has
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: given teachers to the church. Have you ever thought about that?
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: That in the New Testament, he didn't just give a
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Bible and say now we don't need any teachers because
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: we've got the Bible, we've got the Holy Spirit, so
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: no human beings need to be teachers in the church.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: He didn't do that he said in every church there
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: should be elders. Those elders must be apt to teach,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: which means people need explanations for what they see in
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: the Bible, and teachers are called to figure things out
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: and help the others. So just unless you're one of
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: those teachers, and unless you're God, you're going to run
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: into confusing things in the Bible that need you need
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: help from other people. So the implication of those three
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: pray for illumination. Do whatever digging in study helps you
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: put things together that you can put together, and what
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: you can't figure out, put on the shelf for later attention.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: And keep on moving. If you get bogged down with
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: what you can understand, you'll never finish the reading for
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: the day. Those are my negatives. Here are the ten positives.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: I'll just tick them off really, really quickly. These are
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: things you can expect. Number one, expect your faith to
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: be deepened and strengthened because Romans ten seventeen says faith
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: Or almost the same, expect your hope in God to
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: be made more unshakable because Romans fifteen four says everything
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: in the whole Bible was written for your hope. Number two,
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: expect God to do serious liberating work in your life
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: because Jesus said, you will know the truth. When you
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: read my Bible. You'll know the truth, and the truth
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: will set you free. Number three. Expect new power in
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: war with Satan, because that's the way Jesus defeated him
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: in the wilderness. He quoted Scripture to the devil, and
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: the devil could not stand before it. He won't stand
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: before you either. He's a liar, he's a deceiver. He
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: can't abide the truth. You're filling your head up with
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: the truth. You're going to be a valiant warrior more
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: than you dreamed against Satan. Number four, a deep sanctifying
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: work in your life because John seventeen seventeen says, sanctify
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: them in the truth. Your word is truth. Number five.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Expect to become a more loving person to those around
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: you because Paul in Philippians one nine says he prays
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: that our love may abound more and more with knowledge
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: and all desernment. And he said in First Timothy one
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: to five that the goal of his instruction, that is
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: the goal of the Bible, is love from a pure heart,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: so unified love for people growing in your heart as
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: you immerse yourself in the whole sweep of scripture. Number six,
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Expect that even though you are now saved in a
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: decisive way, you're going to go on being saved by
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: the scriptures. Most people don't think about this one Timothy
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: four to sixteen. Pay close tension to yourself and your
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: teaching the scriptures, persevering these, for as you do this,
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: you will save both yourself and your hearers. The Bible
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: is the means of God by which he goes on
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: saving us. Number eight. Expect joy, great joy, unshakable joy
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: that the world does not know, because Jesus said, these
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: things I have spoken to you, so you're reading them now.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: These things I have spoken to you that my joy
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: may be in you, and your joy may be full.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: So send the roots of your mind and your heart
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: down into the whole Bible, and your joy will become indestructible.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: Number nine. Expect to meet God. Meet God, not just
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: truths about God. Expect to meet God because it says
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: in First Samuel three point twenty one the Lord appeared
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: again at Shiloh. For the Lord revealed himself to Samuel
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: by the word of the Lord. He revealed himself by
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: the Word, himself by the Word, and he does that.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: He does that, expect to meet him. And finally, number ten,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: expect to see the glory of Christ. Tewod Corinthians three eighteen.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: We all, we believers, we all, with unveiled face, beholding
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: the glory of the Lord, our being transformed into the
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: same image, from one degree of glory to the next. Now,
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: how do we know that happens in the Bible, Because
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: if you follow the flow of false pulse thought from
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: three eighteen into four four and four six. He refers
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: to how we see the glory of Christ. Namely, we
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: see it in the light of the Gospel, of the
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: glory of Christ. To his the image of God, and
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: the Gospel is the written narrative of the stories or
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: the events and their meaning of the death and resurrection
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: of Christ. So, Mike, I will pray for you what
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: Paul prayed in Second Dessalonians one to eleven. He said
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: this to this end, we pray for you that our
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: God may make you worthy of his calling and may
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: fulfill every good resolve and every work of faith by
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: His power. This is a great resolve before you. You've
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: got a great intention on your heart, be valiant, make
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: a vow to the Lord to keep it, and you
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: will regret it.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Amen. Yeah, we can expect to be shocked as we
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: read of God's breathtaking judgment on sin, to the point
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: that you will want to throw up. That second point
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: is so point we can expect to see all over
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: the place in our Bible suffering and suffering screaming witness
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: to the cosmic rupture of our sin. That's something you've
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: stressed over the years, Pastor John. It is really changed
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: how I read the entire Bible, especially the Old Testament,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: but the entire Bible, the physical gruesomeness in the Bible
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: is there to illuminate the spiritual rupture over our sin
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: between us and God. And if you want more on
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: that essential point that we need to prep ourselves to
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: read some of the hardest things in the Bible, especially
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: the Old Testament stories, see the Aspectual John book if
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: you have that on hand, the ask pestor John book
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: on pages four and five and three eighty six on suffering,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: screaming witness to the cosmic rupture of sin. Such a
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: potent point that I summarize on pages four, five and
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: three eighty six. Thank you, Pastor John for welcoming us
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: into this new year and the blunt realities of what
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: we will face in the year ahead and the blessings
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: we can expect. You can find the plan online that
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: we're using. Just search for the Navigator's Bible Reading Plan online.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Find a printable PDF for the schedule, print it off,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: slip it in your Bible, and join us in reading
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: the entire Bible in twenty twenty five. Thank you for
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: joining us. I'm Tony Ranky. We'll see you on Monday.