John 16:13-15 Pt. 2: Guided in the Truth: How the Bible Works

Psalm 119:1–3 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!

Intro

The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12).

Living and active… Something dynamic… powerful… never returning void and always accomplishing its purpose (Isaiah 55:11).

Something that Paul says is at work in you believers (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

That is… the Word… the Word itself… is the thing at work.

And its at work in you as something powerful… life-giving and life- transforming.

Jesus said Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth (John 17:17).

The Word of God is living and active at work in you believers to sanctify you in the truth and conform you to the image of Christ.

The question is How?

How does the Bible Work?

Jesus said, When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth (John 16:13).

For the last few weeks we’ve been looking at the Doctrine of the Word of God and how the Helper… the Holy Spirit guides and sanctifies through the Word.

Its through the Spirit’s Illumination and application of the Word that we grow in our love… faith… and discipleship to Jesus Christ.

So how does it work and how do you read the Bible for the most Spiritual Profit?

How do you go from reading the Word as just words on a page making little to no difference in your everyday life to reading the Word powerfully and effectively…

To stop wondering “What difference does this make?” and start reading the Word to change… grow… and strengthen your faith in Christ.

My goal here is to bridge that gap… that disconnect… between reading the Bible, sermons, and studying the Word… to your everyday life…

That hopefully… by seeing how the Word of God works in your life… you can stop spinning your wheels and start growing in Christ.

While still using biblical hermeneutics… rightly handling and interpreting the Word of Truth like we looked at last week… How does the Word of God work and how do you read the Word for the most Spiritual Profit and grow in Christ?

Profitable

And the first thing you need to know is that reading the Bible is profitable for you and your spiritual growth.

And when I say reading the Word I mean knowledge of the Word in general.

That man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).

And speaking to Timothy, Paul says that bodily training is of some value, but godliness is of value in every way (1 Timothy 4:8).

That’s good to work out and get strong.

But if you want to be strong and grow strong in your faith then you have to train yourself for godliness.

None of us wants to be weak but if you want to get strong in your faith then you’ve got to get yourself in God’s Word.

And that’s because 2 Timothy 3:16-17…

2 Timothy 3:16–17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Profitable… its the same word Paul used 1 Timothy 4:8: but godliness is of value in every way.

Scripture is what trains and grows us in godliness.

And that’s because it is profitable or beneficial for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

Teaching

For Teaching…

It instructs us in the Truth and Sound Doctrine.

Salvation… God’s grace in Christ and what God expects of the Believer…. how you and I might live a life that is pleasing to Him.

Reproof

For Reproof…

This is conviction and pointing out our sin.

Correction

For Correction…

The Bible doesn’t just show us where we’ve sinned but what true godliness looks like.

This is the other side of repentance… we turn from our sin to live a godly life.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10).

Training in Righteousness

And finally… Training in Righteousness.

How to live out Scripture and walk in holiness in our everyday life.

Complete

And what is the purpose of this… the goal of all Scripture…

The Word of God is at work in you… what is the Word of God working towards?

That the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Its the same idea as Ephesians 4:13… mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).

Christ-likeness… Godliness.

What the Bible calls Conformity to Christ (Romans 8:29, Colossians 3:10).

That is the goal of the Christian… to put off the old man and put on the new (Ephesians 4:20-24).

Train yourself for godliness… Christ-likeness… which of value and profitable in every way and all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable toward that goal that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Scripture trains us towards godliness.

No wonder Jesus said Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).

What this says is that Scripture must have a central and priority place in your life.

You should feed on it… meditate on it… as your daily food.

Take the Word of God and plant it in your heart… make it your highest standard and only authority.

Because as you read Scripture… as you immerse yourself in Scripture… feed on Scripture and train yourself in the Word of God… the Spirit… by the Word… will work in you to guide you and sanctify you in the truth.

Works?

How?

By renewing your mind.

So we looked at how the Word is profitable and what the Word is working towards… conformity to Christ… here we look at how the Word… as the Sword of the Spirit… actually does it (Ephesians 6:17).

Turn to Romans 12:1.

Romans 12:1–2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

So we are talking about godliness…

Christ-likeness… Living a life that is glorifying to God.

That’s what Paul’s getting at when he says present your bodies as a living sacrifice.

The life is lived in the body so Paul is saying offer all of our life as spiritual worship.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Paul says be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

So the renewing of our mind is how you and I are transformed which coincidentally is the same word Paul used in 2 Corinthians 3:18 to talk about our sanctification and being transformed from one decree of glory to another in the image of Christ.

In other words be transformed and conformed to the image of Christ… put off the old self and put on the new… by renewing your entire way of thinking…

Your entire way of viewing and undertanding the world.

You need a whole system reboot.

Our minds are how we see and perceive the world around…

How we understand and determine what is true and beautiful and good.

What is life and what is life worth living for?

And so in this way, the mind is the classroom of the heart.

The mind… how we see and understand and perceive the world around us… teaches the heart what to love… hope… long for and desire.

The mind as the classroom of the heart, teaches and determines the heart’s affections.

What we want most and what we should live for.

In our sin we are spiritually blind.

We love our sin because we are blind to the truth of God.

We see sin as the true, the beautiful and the good and we think that sin is better than anything worshiping God could have to offer.

We need renewed minds.

We need a new way of thinking and understanding the World to redefine what is true, beautiful and good not according to our fallen nature, but according to God’s Word and then reorient our hearts, our lives, and our affections towards that.

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth… Be transformed by the renewal of your minds.

We are sanctified and conformed to the image of Christ the more and more our minds and our lives are shaped and renewed by and conformed to God’s Word.

Sanctification is nothing more than more and more of your life being lived in conformity to God’s Word from a renewed mind that sees the lie of sin and the True and the Beautiful and the Good of God’s Word.

This is why the Bible emphasizes the mind so much.

We must teach the heart what it is meant to desire and love and long for by taking every thought captive and making it submit to the will of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).

By Setting [our] minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth (Colossians 3:2).

We need renewed minds because we need a new godly way of thinking.

We need new minds that say Sin is bad… God is good.

I don’t want to be wise in my own eyes… I want to obey and listen to God’s Word (Proverbs 3:7, Genesis 3:6).

So that from that new mind that is transformed by the Word of God we begin to long for and live out a godly life.

Be Transformed

This is the Word of God and the Spirit at work in you.

Through the Word the Spirit illuminates the Scriptures and renews your mind.

He gives you a new heart with new affections and desires that no longer wants live for sin but love God and live for Him.

And we are transformed by the renewal of our minds the more and more we live out and surrender ourselves to God’s truth.

We offer our bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God the more we live our lives according to God’s Word.

Goal

Basically the goal… of Scripture… Christian Maturity… the Holy Spirit at work in you… the Helper who guides you in all truth…

Is to be so transformed by the renewal of your mind… that you think and react according to the Word.

That you are so saturated in the Word that when a temptation or life circumstance comes up your immediate reaction is the Word.

What does the Word say?

The goal is to basically be so saturated in the Word that we live out the Word without even thinking about it.

That’s what it means to be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

That your natural, knee-jerk reactions are not the Old Man, but the New.

Christian Maturity is when more and more of your life is lived according to God’s Word.

That your default way of thinking and living looks less and less like your Old Sinful Flesh and more and more like by God’s Word.

That’s what we should all be aiming for.

To be so transformed that our first thought… gut instinct… natural reaction… whatever you want to call it is God’s Word.

That we filter everything… all of our life… through the lens of God’s Word

Summary

So how does it work?

How does the Spirit use the Word and wield the Sword of the Spirit in our life? (Ephesians 6:17).

What does that look like? How do we be transformed by the renewal of our minds?

Because that’s what it says… its a passive verb… its something done to us.

How do you passively obey a command?

By surrendering… by surrendering more and more of your life to God’s Word.

By knowing the Bible and taking it in in such a way that you bleed the Word.

Psalm 119:11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

So here’s the question… how do you do that?

How do you read the Word for the most spiritual profit.

How do you plant God’s Word in your heart and make God’s Word profitable for you?

Reading for Spiritual Profit

Read It

First, you have to read it.

You can’t be transformed by the renewal of your mind apply the Word of God to every area of your life if you don’t know what it says.

You have to read the Word.

As Peter says Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation (1 Peter 2:2).

Plan

You can use a Bible reading plan.

That can be a Bible in the Year… just a book of the Bible… or reading just one reading chapter a day…

Make a plan or plan to fail.

Time in the Word won’t happen by accident… you’ve got to make time for it otherwise everything else will squeeze the Word out of your life.

This is part of our worship and devotion… how we say God comes first.

If we cant give God 20 minutes of our day… can we really say we are loving Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength with the rest of our life?

What you prioritize is what you worship.

And if you don’t know where to start you can find a Bible reading plan that I wrote on our website that works through the whole Bible in a year reading both the Old Testament and New Testament six days a week with a Psalm every other day.

Whatever you do just get in the Word.

OIA

And then when you read the Bible you want to read it in its original context like we talked about last week.

This is really is a part two of last week’s sermon so if you missed it you need to go back and listen to that because what you are trying to do is read the Bible in its original Literary, Historical, and Redemptive Context - how it connects to Christ and our salvation in Him.

You are wanting to find what the passage originally mean to Them/Then… the people it was first written to…to then build a bridge to what it means for Us Today.

Basically you’re looking for the Bridge… Theological Truth or Principle that is true at all times for all people everywhere so that by seeing what God was saying to them then in their original context we can see what theological principle or Truth God is saying to all people everywhere so that we can see how it applies to our lives today.

And you do that by asking three important interpretive questions.

What does it say?

What does it mean?

What does it matter.

Observation… Interpretation… Application.

Devotional Reading

And before you start thinking every time you read the Bible, you need to pull out 15 different commentaries and do all kinds of Greek Word Studies… let me encourage you.

Because all those things are definitely good and can help you mine its depths…

But I’ll tell you, my daily Bible reading looks a lot different than sermon prep.

It can be a lot simpler than what people give it credit for.

If you were to ask me how do I read the Bible I would encourage you spend most of your time in what I would call Devotional Reading.

If a passage grabs your attention feel free to mine its depths… but otherwise focus your attention on looking for One Big Thing.

Whether your reading 1 verse… 1 chapter or a whole book… what’s the One Big Thing that stands out.

The One Thing you can walk away with or take from Scripture?

What does this say about God?

What does it say about Us?

What does it say about Christ and His Work?

Even if you’ve seen that a thousand times before… if that’s the thing that stands out focus on that.

Trust the Holy Spirit is guiding you in all truth and wants your holiness more than you do.

Reading the Bible doesn’t always have to be some huge theological revelation or wee[ing and mourning over sin.

Those things are good.

But most days… its going to look pedestrian or simple.

Theological Truths the Spirit is bringing out that we might receive those truths and take them to heart.

Let me show you what I mean.

Say you’re reading John 3:16.

For most of us its one of the first verses we ever memorize.

So does that mean you just say been there done that?… Where’s the next nugget?… I already know that verse.

Or how do you using sound methods of biblical interpretation… What does it say? What does it mean? What does it matter?… What does this teach or promise us in Christ?… use One Big Thing to grow in your faith?

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Say you’re reading and the thing that jumps out at you is God so loved the world.

God’s great love, mercy, and grace in Christ.

You might pray and praise God for His love… thank Him for loving you and sending His Son to die for your sins.

Or say you focus on He gave His only Son.

The thing that stands out to you is Christ suffering and sacrifice our sins.

The Holy Spirit uses this verse to bring conviction of sin and so you repent of your sin…

You mourn for your sin.

You commit yourself to put your sin to death and follow Him.

Or maybe its the next phrase… that whoever believes in him should not perish and what stands out to you is God’s free grace in Christ.

Its nothing new… you’ve heard it before… but its what stands out.

So you focus on how we are saved by grace through faith in Christ… that this grace is a gift… Whoever believes… not the result of works so no one may boast.

So instead of just brushing over you thank God for His grace or maybe you repent of your self-righteousness and thank God for the perfect righteousness of Christ.

The full salvation and forgiveness of sins that we have in Him.

Or maybe its the words of eternal life…. that’s all you see…

All the blessings and benefits we have in Christ.

Forgiveness…

Cleansing…

Adoption as sons.

No condemnation.

Maybe its just one of those things or all of them.

But in that one little verse that all of us know you can still see all kinds of different ways the Holy Spirit might use that verse to grow and sanctify us in Christ.

Follow His lead.

Be transformed.

Look for One Big Thing or a couple Big Things.

That’s Devotional Reading.

It doesn’t have to be all Greek words and commentaries.

It can be simple devotional time in the Word asking:

What does it say?

What does it mean?

What does it matter?

And then taking that One Big Thing and praying about it and putting it into practice in your everyday life.

Matter?

And this is where the rubber really starts to meet the road.

This is where we get into how the Word of God works in your life.

What does it matter?

What is the application… what difference does it make in your life.

What are you going to do about it?

What implications does it have?

How are you going to put it into effect?

Hearers/Doers

This is the difference between reading the Word and growing in the Word in conformity to Christ.

The goal of studying the Bible is not just to read the Bible for information that goes in one ear and out the other.

The goal is transformation… to know and live the Bible… to be transformed by the renewal of our minds.

And that happens as we take what we read and put it into practice.

James says…

James 1:23–24 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

In other words, for someone to hear the Word and not do it… not live it… not put it into practice is like a man who looks in a mirror and immediately forgets what he looks like.

Its pointless.

Just before this, James talks about “the implanted word” and what he’s saying is that its foolishness to look at yourself in the “mirror” of God’s Word and not do anything about what it shows you. (James 1:21)

The goal is to know the Bible so well inside and out that it might change our thoughts and feelings… renew our minds… and we might put it into practice… that you may discern what is the will of God what is good, and acceptable, and perfect.

Likewise, Jesus said…

Matthew 7:24–27 Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

Usually when people read this passage they think Christ is the rock… that you need to build your life on Christ or else the winds of life will blow you down.

And that’s true but that’s not what this passage is saying.

Jesus is saying the one that hears His words and does them that is like the wise man who built his house on the rock.

If you want to build your life on the rock, you need to build your life on the Word.

Conversely And Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

And essential part of Bible reading for how the Word works in your life by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit is planting that Word in your heart and putting it into practice.

So its not enough to just read the Bible if we don’t take its truths and do what it says and allow the truth of God’s Word to transform our way of thinking and living.

So in addition to Reading the Word… if you want to make the Word of God most profitable to you need to

1. Pray the Word

2. Preach the Word

3. Follow the Word in all of your life.

First…

1. Pray the Word

In your Bible reading there needs to be time for Meditation and Memorization… taking the truths to heart.

To meditate on the Word means to chew on it whether you are memorizing a specific verse or some doctrinal truth.

Its not enough to just read the Word… we need to reflect on what it says and what its implications are for your life.

So many Christians read the Bible just waiting on something to happen…

Looking for some emotional response or spiritual experience… or some grand new revelation…

But the truth is the way the Bible works by the slow… methodical… application of the Word to your everyday life.

Taking simple truths… even ones you’ve heard a thousand times before… and putting them into practice.

That’s how you make the Word powerful and effective… not that its not powerful and effective in itself… its the Word of God!…

By His Word all things were created (Hebrews 11:3).

But the way Word of God is powerful and effective for you as you read it and apply it to your life.

Consecration/Prayer

This is where Consecration and Prayer comes in.

To consecrate something is to set it apart… to mark it off as holy.

And in prayer we consecrate ourselves unto the Word.

This is also by the way how Sermons work… or any study of God’s Word.

You read the Bible and you pray its truths and consecrate yourself and your life.

You confess your sin and where you’ve fallen short.

You ask God for help to live out this truth and put it into effect in your life.

Is it that God is sovereign? Then renew your mind and say God help me to trust you in this thing or this situation

Don’t just read the Bible and move on… don’t look at yourself in the mirror and immediately forget what you look like.

Consecrate yourself unto the Word in prayer.

Did not Jesus say several times in this upper room discourse we’ve been looking at John 14:14 “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it”? (John 14:13-14, 15:16, 16:23-24)

These are the prayers that God answers.

Prayers that offered according to His Word.

Pray the Word and consecrate yourself to live out the Word in all your life.

Second…

2. Preach the Word

To be transformed by the renewal of your mind you don’t just pray the Word you preach the Word to yourself continually and call yourself to trust in its promises in your everyday life.

This is what we are talking about when we say we are to take every thought captive and make it submit to the will of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).

How much of your thought life is set on things above and not on your natural earthly way of thinking? (Colossians 3:2).

What’s running the ship in your everyday life?… Is it you or is it the Word of God?

The key to being transformed is to preach the Word and believe in its promises.

Doctrine

This is where our our doctrine of the Word of God as a whole really comes into play.

God’s Word is Authoritative… Inerrant… and Infallible.

Its Authoritative… its the highest authority in our life and we are required and obligated to obey.

Its inerrant… its wholly and perfectly true.

And its infallible… its wholly trustworthy. We can follow it and bank all of our life on what it says.

It cannot and will not ever lead us astray.

We can put all of our hope… all of our faith… all of our trust in it.

You can never go wrong obeying the Word.

Anxiety

For example. Say you’re struggling with anxiety.

The answer is not, “Do not be anxious.” How can you make yourself do that?

By preaching and believing the promises of the Word.

That God is good and your heavenly Father who loves you and is in control (Matthew 6:25-34).

Preach to yourself the Word and believe in those promises.

Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

The reason we get anxious is because you start trusting in your circumstances or ability more than you trust in God’s Word.

Its a matter of faith and putting the Word to work in your life.

Marriage

When you’re struggling with bitterness in your marriage and it’s not easy to love your wife like Christ loves the church or to submit to your husband as the church is to submit to the Lord…

Are you going to do what the word says or you’re trust your wisdom over the Word?

In our flesh we think, “I’ll show them… I’ll get them back for how wrong they are.”

When the Word says humble yourself… be gentle with your wife… and forgive 70 times seven (1 Peter 5:5, 3:7, Matthew 18:22).

If the Word is Authoritative, Inerrant, and Infallible then we will do what it says and not trust in our own wisdom.

Temptation

Likewise when Temptation comes… we fight with the sword of the Word.

Guard the borders of your own godliness.

Don’t just listen to sin and temptation.

When temptation comes Preach to yourself the Word.

God’s command regarding that sin… God’s kindness and grace leading you to repentance…

Renew your mind and your way of thinking by preaching to yourself the Word.

And finally, Number 3…

3. Follow the Word

This is where When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth… really comes into effect.

He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you (John 14:26).

The Holy Spirit works to bring the Word to bear and help us to follow it.

This is the Doctrine of the Illumination of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit illuminates the Word and brings it to bear on our life in such a way that He changes us from the inside out and gives us the power to obey.

When Paul says Be filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5:18, the parallel passage in Colossians 3:16 says Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

We are filled with the Spirit as the Word of Christ dwells in us richly.

As we follow His leading and prompting of the Word.

Nudges

This what I call the “nudges” of the Holy Spirit.

When the Holy Spirit brings the Word to bear on your everyday life… are you going to obey?

When that Scripture or truth or command pops into your mind are you doing to do something about it and put it into practice or are you going to be a hearer only?

How much of a push do you need to nudge you towards godliness?

Is it like pulling teeth or have you been transformed by the renewal of your mind?

Jesus said He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you (John 14:26).

When Scripture comes to mind with this inward pull or conviction of how you might apply it in a particular situation… whether that’s patience, wisdom, some comfort or promise… whatever it is…

That’s the Spirit guiding you in all truth.

Using the Word to sanctify you.

And how the Word works and transforms you is when you actually follow it.

Its the application of the Scripture in the heat of the moment so that in that moment we can either be transformed by the renewal of our mind or… grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30).

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth… are you following it?

Conclusion

We Read the Word.

Pray the Word.

Preach the Word.

And Follow the Word.

That’s how the word works and how we can make Scripture most profitable to us.

The Word “works” as we conform our minds, hearts, and lives to the truth of God’s Word.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).

Our goal is to be living, breathing Bibles… to bleed the Word.

To be transformed in the renewal of our mind… and conformed to the image of Christ… to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

So commit yourself to the Word.

Read it… Know it… And make it your aim live all of your life according to it.

All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable… that the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16).

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth (John 17:17).

Let’s Pray

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