Online Bible College ES101-06

A Passion for God

God’ss Word

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The Purpose of God’s Word
The Bible has been compiled by God for a specific purpose. Once that purpose is
understood, it provides a sweeping context for every single chapter and verse in
the Bible. What is the ultimate purpose of God’s Word?
The Bible has been masterly crafted by the Holy Spirit to reveal God himself. Like
a letter written from a loved one, the Bible is the communication of God’s heart.
In it he reveals his love, his concern, his counsel, his guidance, his plans and his
purpose for your life.

Read Jeremiah 29:11

Just prior to their exile in Babylon, God declares his great love for Israel. His
words to them are the same to us also. God declares that “he knows” the plans he
has made for us, but he doesn’t leave it there. He actually reveals those plans to us
so that we can know them too, and the place he reveals them is the Bible.

A Manual for Life

Read John 20:31
John explicitly states the purpose for which he wrote his account of the life of
Jesus: “So that you may believe in him and in him might have life.” This purpose
holds true for the entire Word of God.
The Bible is your manual for life on three levels:
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Ü Firstly, the Bible reveals Jesus, who is the key to life (read John 5:39-40;
John 17:3).
Ü Secondly, God’s Word actually brings you to the “born again” experience
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of a new life in Christ (1 Peter 1:23). And the Bible continues to impart
life to the one who hungers after God (John 6:63).
Ü Thirdly, the Bible contains the instructions that make your life work
(1 Thessalonians 4:1-2).

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Common sense wisdom tells you,

“When you want to fix something,
read the instructions first.” In the
The Lord and
same way, God has enscribed within His Word
the Bible clear instructions so that we
can live life the way God intended. Read Isaiah 55:10-11
This passage describes what happens
Read 2 Peter 1:3-4 when God speaks into adverse circum-
stances. You cannot separate God’s
These two verses summarize the en- Word from God’s will. God’s Word is both
tire purpose of God’s Word. Note an expression of his will and also a ve-
how the verse starts off: “His divine hicle of his will. When God sends his
power has given us everything Word into our lives, that Word will fulfil
the purpose for which it was sent.
we need for life and godliness.”
This single phrase unlocks the heart Read Psalm 138:2
of the Gospel. In Christ, we receive a
The Lord and his Word are inextricably
package which includes salvation, linked. Both are exalted. Both are power-
righteousness and the power to live ful. Both are eternal.
a life pleasing to God. The Bible’s
Read 1 Peter 1:23-25
whole message essentially expounds
this one phrase.
Take note of how the secret to life and godliness is revealed: “Through our knowl-
edge of him.” This is the fundamental purpose of the Bible – to reveal God. A
personal discovery of “his own glory and goodness” is the foundation upon which
your own “life and godliness” is built.
Next (in verse 4), Peter describes the mechanism by which God’s “divine power”
is released to bring “life and godliness” – the “great and precious promises” of
God’s Word. Notice also that it is through “his own glory and goodness” that
God’s promises are revealed in God’s Word.
The promises of God in his Word can be numbered in the thousands. The Bible is
saturated with promises made by God in his covenant with you. These promises
include many of God’s covenantal blessings, such as forgiveness (1 John 1:9),
salvation (Romans 10:13), healing (1 Peter 2:24), power (2 Timothy 1:7) and
eternal life (John 10:28) – as well as some that we don’t normally consider “prom-
ises,” such as persecution (Mark 10:29-30; 2 Timothy 3:12) and the “shaking of
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everything that can be shaken” (Hebrews 12:26-27) .

But whatever type of promise it may be, it will always have the same dual pur-
pose:
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Ü “So that...you may participate in the divine nature” – enabling

you to be conformed to the nature of Christ himself (Romans 8:29).
Ü “So that...[you] may escape the corruption in the world caused
by evil desires” – enabling you not to be conformed to this world (Ro-
mans 12:2).
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Thus, in summary, the reason God has given you these “great and precious prom-
ises” is to cause you to participate in his own divine nature (i.e. “his own glory
and goodness”) and the escape the corruption of sin (i.e. that which causes you to
“fall short” of God’s glory and goodness – Romans 3:23). Therein lies the incred-
ible secret to life and godliness revealed in the Bible. Like two sides to one coin,
these two imperatives – not just turning from sin, but also turning to God – re-
sound in the message of the Bible.
Note that this passage in 2 Peter 1:3-4 shows the two principal functions that the
Bible performs in this powerful work of transformation in your life:
Ü The Bible reveals God’s nature – the foundation upon which life and
godliness is established.
Ü The Bible reveals God’s promises – the means by which life and godli-
ness is established.
God has revealed his nature and his promises in the Bible for a very important
reason – by yourself, you have have no ability to comprehend God’s nature or
discern his requirements for your life. It takes an act of divine revelation to make
God known to you. To understand why this is the case, we need to first take a look
at what the Bible reveals about the condition of man’s heart and mind.

The Futility of Godless Thinking

Read Romans 1:18-21
From the moment of man’s fall, the human mind has been distanced from God
and clouded by what the Bible calls “futile thinking.”

Read Psalm 94:11

Read Ephesians 4:17
The word “futile” in the original Greek has the meaning of becoming “void of
result” or “useless.” It is this handicap of mental “futility” that requires that God
reveal himself supernaturally. No matter how long we may study or how cleverly
we may philosophize, we will never reach a true understanding of God through
our own mental resources.
The Bible describes man’s heart as “deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9).
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This means that outside the scope of God’s revelation, your heart will trick you
and deceive you into thinking that all is OK, when it is not. In its most depraved
state, man’s heart will turn truth upside down, calling darkness light and light
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darkness (Isaiah 5:20). The Bible tells us, without pulling any punches, that man’s
mind, unaided by God’s Spirit, is incapable of understanding or even compre-
hending God.

Read 1 Corinthians 2:14

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So what does this mean practically. It means that if you are to know God, you are
in need of a revelation of God by God. Only God can reveal himself to you. And
the way that he has chosen to do this is through his Word.
Now it’s important to understand that God’s Word is not the only place where
God reveals himself. God often and effectively reveals himself through:
Ü Nature (Psalm 19:1-4; Romans 1:19-20)
Ü Experiences (Job 42:5)
Yet both these revelations of God are incomplete. Nature does reveal God’s “in-
visible qualities” – just enough so that “men are without excuse” – but it is a
distorted lens. Because creation is presently under the curse of man’s sin (Gen-
esis 3:17-19; Romans 8:19-22), the message we get through the natural world
is mixed and sometimes contradictory. It is true that the majestic peaks of a mighty
mountain range reveal something of God’s splendor and majesty, but what of a
devastating earthquake? How many people have railed against God because of a
so-called “act of God” – a natural disaster that has brought grief and ruin to them-
selves, their family or their friends?
Likewise, while it is true that when we come close to God, we begin to experience
his glory and goodness, our experiences themselves cannot be the sole lens through
which we view God. Experiences are subjective, and a poor measure of God’s
nature. How should we react when something bad occurs? What happens when a
loved one dies suddenly, or a time of great personal distress is endured? Experi-
ences, if unsupported by scriptural truth, can also be a distorted lens.
This leaves but one way for us to obtain a clear, undistorted image of what God is
really like. If you are to see a clear image of God, he must reveal himself to you.
And the only undistorted lens through which we can view God with clarity is his
Word.

The Seven-Fold Purpose of God’s Word

The Word of God (energized by the Holy Spirit) has a seven-fold purpose in your
life:
Enlightening
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Read Psalm 119:105

Read Psalm 119:130
Under the illumination of God’s Word, we see ourselves in the light of God’s ho-
liness. The Bible sheds light on behavior and actions that displease the Lord and
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lights up the path that God has designated for you to walk.
Convicting
Read John 16:7-11

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The Holy Spirit’s mission is to “convict” the world. When spiritually “convicted,”
a person suddenly realizes that sin has been committed and that they are guilty
before God. Through the Word of God, the Holy Spirit will convict your heart
regarding three things:
Ü Sin – “because men do not believe in me.” The rejection of God’s plan of
salvation in Jesus Christ is the prime sin and the most serious one, for it
exposes a person to the judgment of God. The eternal destiny of a human
life hinges upon the receiving in faith of the Lord Jesus Christ (read 1 John
5:11-13). The Holy Spirit’s mission is to expose any pattern of thought or
behavior that is an affront to God.
Ü Righteousness – “because I am going to the Father, where you can see
me no longer.” Jesus is the standard of righteousness against which our
lives are measured and the Holy Spirit has been sent to convict us of the
stark reality of this fact. Compared to the righteousness of Christ, our own
acts of righteousness are like “filthy rags” (read Isaiah 64:6).
Ü Judgment– “because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”
Note that the judgment of which the Holy Spirit convicts is the judgment
of Satan. The judgment that took place at the cross (read Colossians 2:15)
is the pivotal theme of the Holy Spirit’s work of conviction and is the core
thread of the entire Word of God.
As long as we are open to the Holy Spirit and to his Word, we will experience this
ongoing conviction process. This is a sign of spiritual health, for the Holy Spirit
never leaves us in a place of conviction, but leads us into his answer for our lives.
The Bible’s amazing answer to sin, righteousness and judgment is the other side
of conviction.

Read Hebrews 4:12

The Amplified Bible renders this passage as follows:
“ penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life [soul] and the immor-
tal spirit, and of joints and marrow [that is, of the deepest parts of our na-
ture], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and
purposes of the heart.”
Washing
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Read Ephesians 5:25-27

The Word of God has a washing action (read John 15:3). Through his Word, the
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Holy Spirit renews your mind, conforming it to his way of thinking. As you ex-
pose yourself to the Word of God on a daily basis, the Holy Spirit will cleanse
your mind of the filth of this world’s thinking, which the Bible calls “depraved”
(read Romans 1:28) and “hostile to God” (read Romans 8:7).

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Read Romans 12:2

You cannot be conformed to Christ while still being conformed to this world. The
two objectives are totally opposed to one another. Therefore a major function of
God’s Word is to realign our thinking to God’s thinking. This new Bible-based
kind of thinking involves:
Ü The Right View of God (Isaiah 40:18,21-28; 1 Corinthians 2:10-16)
Ü The Right View of Yourself (Romans 12:3; Philippians 2:3)
Ü The Right View of the World (Isaiah 40:15-17; 1 Corinthians 1:20-31)
The Bible is God’s tool for “renewing your mind.” God so wants to renew your
thought processes that his way of thinking becomes your way of thinking.
Encouraging
Read Romans 15:4-5
Note again that this passage attributes to Scripture what is also attributed to God
– encouragement. Paul writes to the Colossian Christians with the express pur-
pose that they might be “encouraged in heart” (read Colossians 2:2). This is a
major purpose of God’s Word – not simply to make us feel good about ourselves,
but to encourage us to continue to persevere in our faith.
Instructing
Read 2 Timothy 3:16
Notice that Paul writes to Timothy and declares that “all Scripture” (not just some
of it) is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”
As the Navigators have so succinctly explained it:
Ü Teaching shows you the right path.
Ü Rebuking shows you where you’ve wandered from the path.
Ü Correcting shows you the way back onto the path.
Ü Training shows you how to walk on the path.

Read Psalm 119:133

Remember, it is not only the New Testament that has been designed by God for
“teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” In fact, the Scrip-
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tures that Paul is referring to when writing to Timothy is the Old Testament. The
whole of Israel’s history has been chronicled in the Old Testament, not just as a
lead up to the coming of Jesus, but also as exemplary instruction and strong “warn-
ings” for you.
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Read Hebrews 3:15-19; 4:1-11.

Read 1 Corinthians 10:6-12

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Defending
Read Luke 4:1-12
As you have noted before, when Jesus was tempted by Satan, he did not debate
with him or even entertain any discussion. He soley relied on the authority of the
Word of God.

Read Ephesians 6:17

God’s Word is described as a sword (read also Hebrews 4:12). When Satan at-
tacks, you can wield the full authority of God’s Word against him. But you can
only wield what has become written on your heart.

Read Isaiah 49:2

Perfecting
Read Colossians 1:24-29
Paul’s declared goal, toward which he labored so vigorously, was to “present ev-
eryone perfect in Christ.” This is the exact same goal of God’s Word. As Paul said,
he had been commissioned by God “to present to you the word of God in its full-
ness.” That commission was largely fulfilled through his letters, which make up
the bulk of the New Testament.

Read Ephesians 4:12-13

Paul’s purpose was God’s purpose – not just that we may be conformed to the
image of God’s Son as individuals, but that together, as the corporate Body of
Christ, we may reach “the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Read 2 Corinthians 3:18

It is in the pages of God’s Word that we meet with the Lord on terms so intimate
that the Bible describes it like “looking in a mirror” (see James 1:23-25).
The Amplified Version of the Bible translates 2 Corinthians 3:18 this way:
“And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the
Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being trans-
figured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one
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degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [who is] the Spirit.”
God’s Word acts like a mirror reflecting God’s glory. By revelation of the Holy
Spirit we see, in the Word, dimension after dimension of his glory. This cannot
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but impact us! We are changed by what we see – from glory to glory.

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