827. God Wrote a Book

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. The school was founded in 1927.

The evangelist Dr. Bob Jones Senior's intent was to make a school where Christ would be the center of everything, so he established daily chapel services today. That tradition continues with fervent preaching from the University Chapel platform. Today's message will be preached by Dr. Nathan Crockett, director of ministry training at Bob Jones University please turn to Psalm 19 Psalm 19.

Yesterday was a big day for our family. My oldest son Sheppard turned five years old. A few months ago and he was still for he and Liliana help me on a Saturday so I wanted to thank them for their help.

I told him I would take them out to dinner to any restaurant they wanted. I knew that they were not aware of Ruth's Chris steakhouse in restaurants like that.

They chose Golden corral and on our way to Golden corral in the back of the car. Sheppard asked me said daddy do you know what Eagle eyes are and I said you mean Eagle eyes. He said no Eagle eyes, there's this girl in my class will call her Sally to protect her identity and she's a five-year-old girl in my class and she has Eagle eyes which means she can see through anything she can see through brick walls.

It's like super x-ray vision. Like a superhero.

It's really cool. She has Eagle eyes and I'm telling the truth.

I did not want my son to be deceived by every wind of doctrine and the site of man and cunning craftiness.

So I told him I said Sheppard. She doesn't actually have Eagle eyes but that she did and said Sheppard this is the same girl that tells you she has a pet dinosaur at home.

He said I know she has Eagle eyes and sore.

She's like a superhero. It's amazing and I said Sheppard how you know that. He said she's five years old and five-year-olds know everything I said Sheppard on 35 years old. She doesn't have Eagle eyes and she doesn't have a pet dinosaur and he thought about it and he said daddy I think you're wrong. My teacher said she has Eagle eyes and my teachers, older than you are is a wonderful teacher and she is older than I am and I said Sheppard. I think your teacher probably said she is Eagle eyes. She probably is really good eyesight, but she can't been in the Golden corral parking lot for a couple minutes at this point Lillian chiming in her support for Sheppard that she doesn't know who this girl is. And I thought the conversation was over about a week ago.

I'm sitting on the couch and Sheppard were talking about something.

I think dinosaurs came up or something is like that. I've been meaning to tell you. You are right Sally doesn't have Eagle eyes, I said how did you find out.

He said we are playing this game or your blindfolded and you're the pin the tail on an animal and she Put in all the wrong spots and I realized that she had Eagle eyes she could see right through the blindfold so she doesn't and he said she also doesn't have a pet dinosaur and said how did you find out. He said what you kept telling me to have her bring it to show and tell and she never could.

And someone also told me all the dinosaurs are dead so I don't think she is a pet dinosaur is proud of my son for seeing through the five-year-old fraud in his class and then he said, but that she really does have a pet bear, how do you know who you can trust.

How do you know who you can trust Dr. Pettit has asked me this morning to talk about divine revelation had you turn to Psalm 19 where he read the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament show with his handiwork day and today under speech, and night on the Tonight Show with knowledge there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. The eight Psalm when I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the Son of Man that the visit is 10 revelation is God pulling back the curtain. It's like this morning if I'd taken a big framed picture and I had it covered with a blanket. We were at a camp.

I would maybe have done this and I had it sitting up here and at this point in the sermon. I ripped off the blanket and you solid big picture of my family. My wife and my three kids.

What did I do.

I revealed that picture to you I didn't stand up here and create the picture. I didn't paint the picture.

The picture was there all along. I just pulled back the curtain and revelation. Whether it's general revelation or special revelation is God choosing to pull back the curtain you showing us something that was there all along that would theologians refer to general revelation and special revelation they're talking about two specific categories general revelation. Very simply, is general and its audience. Everybody gets to everyone who's ever lived is born with a conscience there born inside of creation. Special revelation is very specific and specialized in its audience not everybody has had the Bible translated in their language, not everyone saw the incarnate Jesus Christ. It's also special and its content.

There are things about God that you went know just by looking at the sunset or the sky retrieve their general revelation points us toward special revelation, we find the gospel of Jesus Christ to God's given us different types of revelation general revelation everybody gets it special revelation. Certain people have his word in their hands and praise God for that is as part of the need for Bible translators to extend this so that every tongue and tribe and nation could read the special word from God. Now, where do you go for information and assess the students before if you wanted to know what the capital of a certain state or the year that Charles Dickens wrote a book, almost inevitably, the place to go for information is Google you just google it right there certain things that you maybe one find in Google. Maybe some of you young ladies are going in a couple months to an artist series with the young man and maybe this is your first artist series because he turned out all the other guys are constantly asking you out and you are going this time to this artist series and you're wondering do I bring a gift. Not sure I mean if I bring a gift. And he doesn't want to look desperate. But if I don't bring a gift. And he doesn't look ungrateful when I do, I doubt you're going to Google it. What does a Bob Jones University girl due on a first date in our series.

Maybe someone wrote a blog about that, but probably you'll talk to a friend may be a senior roommate who is engaged to really nice looking guy.

She did it right.

She figured it out. She knows the answers.

I want to talk to a friend. What if you go on several dates with that guy and things are progressing.

Hopefully somewhere pretty quickly along the line, you're not just me talking to friends or to be talking to whom do your parents to your family.

Sometimes we get information from our family sometimes and I don't know if any of you have done this before, but there is actually this building on campus near our seminaries. It's called a library. It's full of thousands of books in the digital age. You know we we seldom think of actually going to a library and pulling a book off the shelf, but we find information from books, your average American gets a great deal of their information from the media.

They come home from a long day of work. They sit on the couch in the turn on the TV, but all of these sources of information are flawed right they sometimes give misinformation is everything on the Internet.

True no dear friends ever give you bad advice. Yes, I had a family member. This was decades ago who went to Bob Jones and had some less than kind roommates.

One time they knew he was listening and and apparently if I understood his story correctly. At that point there were these trash chutes at the end of the halls were you put your trash and would slide down the chute into a big dumpster, but he didn't know what they were, therefore, in these guys decided to have a trick with with my relative, and they started talking and they said you know the girls at Bob Jones are incredible. I mean they are so thoughtful I just I can't believe they do her laundry for us and the guy says you all you have to do is take your dirty clothes and put it in trash bag and put your name and room number on it you put it in those laundry shoots at the end of the hall.

Somehow it goes to the other side of campus they wash them. They dry them they fold them in two days later, they're sitting outside your room folded and clean. It's also my relative thought this is great.

Most all my clothes are dirty to take small put them in a garbage bag ties it up with his name and room number on it and throws it in the trash. Several days later realizes he didn't have any clothes left. You can't always trust your friends even even your parents and as reliable as the information we get from our family tends to be even your parents would be the first to tell you they're not perfect book sometimes of misinformation. The media seems like it has more misinformation and accurate information. Most the time. There is one place in the world where you can go to find the mind of God.

And it's always perfect and that's God's word, his special revelation to you. God's word. Second Peter 120 and 21 says this knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, how did we get it holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

God used holy men to write the very words he wanted to reveal to us. God pulled back the curtain and writing his word. I got three main points today, and they're very simple and they build on each other first one is this God wrote a book you say Nathan, I know that all my life missing my three-year-old daughter, Lily, and she knows that the Bible is God's word. But isn't that remarkable doing this glibly Passover that this is incredible. God wrote a book about who your favorite author is who you enjoy reading.

Leo Tolstoy wrote an epic book about struggle that your rationality of human motives. A search for meaning leadership loss, death, searching for meaning in life. I recently talked to one of my students who told me that if it were not for reading Leo Tolstoy's war and peace, he would not be studying for the ministry. That book uncovered him. The depth of human emotion.

Leo Tolstoy wrote a book Stephen Covey uncovered seven habits of highly effective people and wrote a bestseller about it. Stephen Covey wrote a book, Rick Warren is a pastor of a large church out West wanted to please God by living a purpose driven life Rick Warren wrote a book Dale Carnegie found some insight into how to win friends and influence people. Dale Carnegie wrote a book Joanne Rowling return home to her native United Kingdom after a divorce in Edinburg. She wrote the first book in her series Harry Potter and the sorcerer's Stone and kids and adults all around the world can't get enough of her seven part Harry Potter Potter series JK Rowling wrote a book the infinite God created the world with his words.

He created everything you've ever seen and everything you ever will see. He spake the word and it came to be the one and only the true and all-powerful God. I mean he is infinite in his power. That's what we call him omnipotent on my post and he's infinite in his wisdom. He's omniscient. He's infinite in regard to space is omnipresent God wrote a book. I think it's fascinating.

Not only that God wrote a book, but that God choose to write which is to write a book and he knew about all the technology to be coming our way. He knew about Blu-ray players knew about the Sony PlayStation for an 1831 Joseph Henry created the first telegraph by sending electric pulse. More than half a mile to strike up well over series of wire 1876 Alexander Graham Bell with the help of Thomas Watson invented the telephone 1923 Vladimir's work and creates the cathode ray tube which would be used in early television sets, 1969, the precursor to the Internet was created, God knew about all that. But God chose to write a book that my second point is this. Not only did God write a book. But God wrote a book about himself.

It's almost like his autobiography. If you study the divine composition of Scripture you're gonna find out that it 66 separate books written by about 40 different human authors over a period of about 1500 years in three different languages know how many of you like to read. I hope if those you don't have your hand raised. I hope you do okay because this is college you do a lot of reading right if you like to read and someone comes to you and they say I know your reader. Let's say you knew nothing about the Bible. Missing this book, I want you to read. By the way, exactly 66 separate books written by 40 different authors over a period of 1500 years in three different languages but would you expect that book to be like long boring archaic ancient, disjointed, confusing, contradictory you would never expect it to become far and away the world's bestseller other books they number in the millions the Bible. They number in the billions. No other book comes remotely close. Why because it's a book that God wrote this is a book that God wrote about himself more than 100 years ago, Dr. James Alan Francis penned these words, he called it one solitary life. You never owned a home. He never held an office he never had a family. He never went to college he never put his foot inside a big city never traveled 200 miles from the place he was born. He never did. One of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself while still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him.

His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies he went to the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves while he was dying. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property.

He had left on earth. His coat when he was dead. He was laid in a borrowed grave to the pity of a friend 19 long centuries have come and gone and today he is the centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark. When I say that all the armies that ever marched all the navies that were ever built. All the parliaments that ever sat in all the kings that ever rain put together have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life in the Bible presents them to us to take in New Testament messages, you realize that the Old Testament reveals her need for perfect profit. A perfect Pres the perfect king. None of the Old Testament heroes were good enough, they all fell short. In fact, the last word in your Old Testament is the word curse. Who's going to save us. The Old Testament foreshadows the coming Messiah, and you turn you turn passes blank pages in your Bible, 400 silent years, and he turned the Matthews gospel in the very first verse he redoes the book of the generation of Jesus Christ to the Bibles about he's her perfect profit or perfect priest or perfect king. The Bible is not ultimately about facts. Some of you may be your math major and you love the fact you like Thomas Gradgrind and Charles Dickens hard times, just the facts, just the facts, just the facts.

The Bible is lots of facts but is not written so that you can win Bible Jeopardy the Bible is not primarily about events there number of events recorded in the Bible. Lots of you love parties you love events my wife's an events coordinator. She loves those kinds of things. The Bible is not primarily about events. The Bible is not just about platitudes is not a collection of magnets to put on your refrigerator. There many wonderful Proverbs and verses in the Bible that is not just about platitudes.

The Bible is not just a giant rulebook there commands their rules in the Bible. The Bible is not a 3000 page rulebook. The Bible is not primarily about facts or events or platitudes or rules. The Bible is about a person. It's about Jesus. God wrote a book about himself.

We often read the Bible looking to meet our felt needs and we miss the point that God is our need that he wrote a book about himself not only to God, write a book and not only to God, write a book about himself. But thirdly, God wrote a book about himself for us, God wrote a book about himself for us us in the second Timothy three all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable.

Paul goes on to write for things that Scripture is profitable for God wrote a book about himself for us. Scripture is the greatest story ever told. It's an incredible epic. It's the metanarrative Scripture narrates for us, creation, fall, redemption and restoration you're familiar at all with fiction you're very familiar with Narnia and middle earth. Perhaps the two most famous fictional worlds created in very possible those worlds would not exist for us. If two people did not meet J.R.R. Tolkien and CS Lewis at a faculty meeting at Oxford in 1926 he became very good friends are probably aware of the Tolkien was a Catholic. He was a firm believer in God and the veracity of Scripture, and on one famous walk with CS Lewis with the time was an unbeliever.

Tolkien told Lewis that the Bible is the true myth in the sense that it's not actually method all he said it's the great story that all the other stories in the world foreshadow and Lewis would later come to faith in Christ and some of you think Dr. Crockett. I know the Bible is this incredible huge marvelous overarching epic but that's my problem.

It talks about the great things but what about little old me sitting in my chaplaincy right here house that has a book like that, the world's bestseller world to transform lives. How does a book like that intersect with me. God wrote a book about himself for you. God wrote a book about himself or the 80-year-old widow who spends two hours a day on her knees. God wrote a book about himself or the successful businessman investing his money for kingdom purposes. God wrote a book about himself for the young mother of four who was just diagnosed with cancer. God wrote a book about himself or the college student who has no earthly idea how she's can ever pay for even the semester for the University professor who is wondering if his contributions of any level of significance at all for the four year old child not yet able to read but who believes in simple childlike faith that there really is a creator God wrote a book about himself or the young lady and Iran.

His faith in Jesus puts her in a life-threatening situation on a daily basis or for a line of Christian men on their knees about to be headed by Isis, animal, terrorist, God wrote a book about himself for you to realize that what we believe affects our behavior is thinking about appropriate application for a message like this and I think the application is fairly obvious. This is a book that we should read that we should treasure that we should meditate upon look at John chapter 6 I love this passage Jesus has told his disciples some hard things you see it there on the screen.

Jesus said, therefore, so I am you that no man can come in to me except were given to him under the father.

From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the 12 will ye also go away. And Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life. Where else would you go you think you'll find the words of eternal life from Buddha or Mohammed or Confucius from secular atheism, or from communism or fascism or from money or from pleasure or if you pursue fame with their life, to whom shall we go. You have the words of life. Do you believe that God wrote a book about himself for you this Friday when you are playing in the snow. I was speaking at a conference in Minneapolis a couple hundred high school students.

Great conference.

Enjoyed my time. Dr. Bobby was also speaking. There were a great time together but I knew that school was canceled. My wife is texting me all the stuff about having fun playing in the snow with my kids and my flight back Friday night got canceled. Of course, and so there I am, Saturday, having great fellowship with Dr. Wood really want to be home as well. Finally got a flight back late Saturday night wanted to witness that my flight. There is about 380 pound man sitting in the seat next to me. Asleep and halfway in my seat sleeping as well so I didn't get a chance to witness to him. But load the plane. There had been ice out there lady in her 20s had fallen in her high heels. I was a couple people behind her. Ran oversight after she needed help.

She said no I'm fine when the stewardess got there and said are you okay she said not at all was threatening to sue all the stewardesses and stuff are working with her and there was a lady next to me you come in on a wheelchair was what an empty seat and her on the aisle. I was at the window seat and she was trying to flag down a stewardess who were all worried about getting sued because of the fall and she needed water because she can find a water bottle and she had heart medication she needed takes a variable to get a stewardess and she is going to take her to heart pills and she dropped one of them and can't find it anywhere size down by her. See China find this little pill for this elderly lady and we found that she took her heart medicine.

Then she went to sleep and I was thinking if she wakes up. I really need to witness to her, but I was also thinking of a chapel sermon. I really need to work on and I don't have a closing illustration I'm going back and forth with. I think of closing illustration witnesses lady.

I didn't know that she was gonna be my closing illustration when they came with drinks and she woke up and I got my sprite started talking to her start talking about the Lord and what I do and what the conference I just been at and she got this radiant smile on her face.

She accepted Christ as a young child and spent her whole life serving the Lord. She sung in churches all over the US. She's 88 years old I would've guessed her to be in early to mid 70s 88 years old. I asked her what she was doing.

She's had major problems with her leg for potentially facing amputation.

Her name is Phyllis. I told her I'd ask you guys to pray for for her and she's praying for me right now. She she also been she found out she has major heart issues and not long to live and she was flying to Charlotte. Her daughter lived in Greensboro's and pick her up and take her home to take her to Greensboro so she could spend just try to spend a little bit of time with each of her kids before the Lord took her home and we just talk for the rest of the flight. She told me about all the songs he loved to sing one of them was.

I'd rather have Jesus and you know would be singing at the day and she talked about the sufficiency of God's word in her life, including the time that her third child, a little daughter was born crippled and died as a four month old and through tears. She just told me Nathan. Every morning after she time for the next several months I would wake up in the Holy Spirit would give me a song to sing and he would lead me to exactly the right passage in his word and it would minister to me and I sat there on that plane and I just thought it really doesn't matter if you're 21-year-old at Bob Jones and you have no idea what the future holds for you or your an 18-year-old freshman and you don't even know how you got here what you're doing or your 35-year-old professor who really wants to get home to see his wife and kids or your an 88-year-old is walked with God.

Almost her entire life and you're about to walk the Valley of the shadow of death, God wrote a book about himself for you tomorrow morning when you wake up there's not gonna be any lightning bolt and I give you loudspeaker from heaven telling you that you have to open up the Bible there's not gonna be an email from communication saying that if you don't read the Bible this morning.

You'll get expelled from Bob Jones. No heavenly anvil waiting above your room ready to drop on your head if you don't crack the Scriptures. No neon signs or flashing lights, just a Bible on a desk, run yourself that if you realize that God wrote a book about himself for you than where else would you go spring. Father, we thank you for your word that it reveals to us who you are that it shows us your son Jesus Christ. How desperately we need him.

He is our great need. It shows us who Jesus is and why he came in what he did and what he will do in the future and what each of us need to do about that, and father. This morning we come to you with hearts full of praise for how incredibly good.

You've been to us and will be for the rest of our lives. We thank you that you wrote a book about yourself for us and father.

We just echo the words of Peter. We think where else would we go for you have the words of life we thank you for this, and we pray in Christ name, amen.

You been listening to a sermon preached by Dr. Nathan Crockett, director of ministry training at Bob Jones University. Thanks again for listening and we look forward to the next time as we study God's word together on The Daily Platform