From His Heart

Dr. Jeff Schreve: When our world goes through difficult times, and when we go through difficult times, if there is peace there that comes from Jesus, it doesn't come from you, it doesn't come from me, it comes from him, comes from his grace. That gets people's attention.

Larry Nobles: Thank you for joining us today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve. For most of the month, Pastor Jeff has been teaching through his seven message series Beyond Amazing, understanding the grace of God. And today he'll conclude the series with the final lesson, answering a very important question and a very personal question for you. Are you growing in grace? For the believer, growing in grace is not an optional thing. It's essential to a deepening relationship with your Savior. This is a wonderful series, and if you missed part one from last time or any of the broadcasts this month so far, you can listen again online at fromhishart.org.

Just click the listen link. Right now, open your Bible to 2 Peter for part two of the lesson Are You Growing in Grace? Here again is Pastor Jeff.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: So three truths concerning the the Bible, the word of God, as it relates to growing in grace. Truth number one, the Bible is our spiritual food. It's our food. Now, when we have a baby and we take that baby home, the critical thing for that baby to do is to eat. Peter says this in his first letter, as newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. And the Bible says of itself that it is milk.

Long for the pure milk of the word that by it you may grow with respect to salvation. It also says that it is bread. Jesus said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So the Bible's full course meal. It is milk, it is bread, it is meat. It is spiritual food, soul food for the soul of man. And here's the thing, we can take in the word every day. This is what James says about the word. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility, receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

There is power in the word of God. Hebrews 4:12 says it's living and active. And we put God's word, not only do we take it in, but we put it into practice. As we take it in, then we work it out. Jesus said, Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. You work out what God has worked in. James 1:22, but prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. Second truth. The Bible, not only is it our spiritual food, the Bible is our handbook of truth. How do we know truth?

From the word of God. That's how you know truth. Jesus, when he prayed his great high priestly prayer in John chapter 17, he said in verse 17 as he prayed to his father, he said, Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. Your word is truth. Truth is under major attack today. You know, we have uh people that they like to say, Well, that's your truth. Well, that's this is my truth. You're going to speak your truth, I'm going to speak my truth. Hey, there's just truth, and it's God's truth. And we either get on board with what God says or we're wrong.

You're you're believing lies because the truth is found in Jesus and his word. Now, Peter talks about the false teachers that were coming in. And he talks in chapter three about in the last days mockers will come with their mocking following after their own lusts and and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? You guys are talking about the coming of Jesus. Well, where is he? It's been 2,000 years. Where is Jesus? He's not coming. And they're mockers following after their own lusts, and they attack the word of God. Listen. How important is the Bible?

How important is the word? It is critical. Everything you know about God comes from this book. Everything you know about the kingdom of God comes from this book. Everything you know about his grace and his nature comes from this book. Everything you know about the heart of man comes from this book. This book is our handbook of truth. The Bible is critical for the Christian. It's critical for growth. Now, Peter says, very interesting, that the Bible can be hard to understand in parts. Did you pick that up? He's talking about Paul and Paul's writings. He said, Just as our Just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things.

What things? The coming of the Lord. In which are some things hard to understand. You read the book of Romans, and it's deep. And And so it's like, Ah, I'm having trouble understand this. Read about the second coming of Jesus. There are lots of different interpretations with the second coming of Jesus. Why? Cuz some things are hard to understand. And if what Paul wrote was hard for Peter to understand, he said it He didn't say he couldn't understand it. He says hard to understand, then you're in good company and I'm in good company. And so when you run across some parts of the Scripture that you say, I'm not sure what this means.

Here's the thing. The Bible never contradicts itself. If you have trouble with a part of the Bible, that doesn't mean that God made an error. It means that uh probably you with your pea-sized brain don't understand uh God with a massive-sized brain. You don't understand what he's doing. So I never come to the Bible and say, This is an inconsistency for me. God must be wrong because Jeff Schreve is so smart. No. So we just come before the Lord and say, Lord, this is hard to understand. Give me understanding. But don't throw out the Scripture because you can't understand it.

You can't figure it out. So the Bible hard to understand in parts. The Bible is attacked by the devil and his messengers. Attacked. So he says, Paul wrote according to the wisdom given him, as in all his letters, speaking in them of these things and what are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort as they do also the rest of the Scripture to their own destruction. Hey, what is what do we read about the devil? What's the first thing he does when he encounters a human being? Now, the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

And he said to the woman, Indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden? Question mark. He takes the word of God, he twists the word of God, he adds a question mark to the word of God. God said, From any tree of the garden you may freely eat. And he says, Indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden? The devil, that's how he works. He is a liar and the father of lies. And those who are on his team, his messengers, the false prophets and the false teachers and the wolves in sheep's clothing, they do what he did.

They cause people to question the word of God. They start asking questions about the word and they say, Well, the Bible's just it's it's not consistent and it it's it says one thing over here and another thing over there and see, you can't trust the word of God. Anybody Listen, I love what Adrian said. Uh any man, any woman, any boy, any girl, anybody anywhere who puts a question mark after the word of God is doing the work of the devil. Listen, we stand firm in the truth of God's word. And uh the false teachers come.

Peter says they're untaught, ignorant, unlearned, and unstable. They're not fixed, they're not anchored to the word. And what do they do? They distort the word. That literally means they put it on the torture rack. Have you ever seen in medieval times they had the rack when they'd have the torture room? I've been to the Tower of London uh where they have the Crown Jewels and they also in in the Tower of London you had the dungeon and you had the torture chamber uh and they would put people on the rack. You know what is being on the rack?

They tie your arms up, they tie your legs up, and they start cranking that apparatus that stretches you apart until you break, until you recant. You know, they would do that with you're a heretic because uh uh you're not following the the commands of the king and and you know, many godly people were put on the rack. People were martyred for their faith, they were killed for their faith in Christ. But when you crank that thing, you pull out people's arms out of their sockets. And uh uh you know, normally you would die, but if you didn't die, you would be crippled the rest of your life cuz everything was was distorted and pulled out.

That's what the false teachers do with the word of God. They put it on the torture rack. The untaught and unstable distort it as they do also the rest of the Scriptures to their own destruction, to their own damnation. The Bible says that evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. Now, we need to be aware that this is going on today because Paul told Timothy, Hey Timothy, preach the word cuz the time is coming when men will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

So what are we supposed to do? Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. That's the job of a faithful pastor. He tells you the truth. Thus says the Lord. My job is to deliver the mail. My job is not to open the letters and change the mail, and so it will say things a little uh maybe nicer or sweeter or Well, people aren't going to like that. I'm going to edit this out. God forbid that any pastor should do that. We say, Thus says the Lord.

If you don't like it, tough. I didn't write the book. I'm just telling you what it says. That's my job.

Guest (Male): Yes.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: We speak the truth in love. And we live in a world today that doesn't like the truth. They don't like the truth of God's word. They want God to be this God that's filled with bubble wrap and just going to be so so sweet and so nice and uh never a a sharp corner to needle me or anything like that. Listen, the word of God, when I read it, when you read it, when it's preached, it steps on our toes because it reproves, it rebukes. Those things aren't fun to be reproved and rebuked, but we need it.

And it encourages, it exhorts with great patience and instruction. That's how we're supposed to preach it. But here's the thing with the words, our handbook of truth, and it keeps us grounded and anchored in the truth. And we don't ever get away from the truth. So he says in verse 17, You, therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand that there are people out there, wolves in sheep's clothing, false prophets and false teachers that are going to distort the word, be on your guard, lest being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall from your own steadfastness.

Know that they're out there and they can have uh big degrees and they can be teaching at a seminary and they can pasture a big church and you say, Oh, he must be uh good and he must be right because he preaches at such and such church. Maybe he's good, maybe he's right, but maybe he's not. Jesus had 12 disciples. Did I not choose you the 12, he said, but one of you is a devil? That he said about Judas Iscariot. He's one of the 12. He's the most trusted of the 12. They made him the treasurer.

And the most trusted of the 12 was a devil. Be on your guard.

Larry Nobles: Pastor Jeff returns in just a moment to conclude this message Are You Growing in Grace? It's from the series Beyond Amazing, understanding the grace of God. But first, we wanted to take just a moment to invite you to take a trip of a lifetime. Pastor Jeff Schreve will be hosting an incredible 10-day trip to the Holy Land this spring, April the 2nd through the 11th. And he'd love for you to join him. You'll visit breathtaking holy sites like the city of Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, the old town of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Garden of Gethsemane, and many more sacred places that help bring clarity and cohesion to the biblical story.

You'll come away from this extraordinary journey with a new perspective and appreciation for the Bible text. In fact, you'll never read the Bible the same way again. Find out more about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and learn all about the places you'll see when you go to fromhishart.org and click the Holy Land Trip graphic on the home page. All the information is there to answer all your questions. We hope to enjoy your company and be amazed at the spectacle and the worship to be found. Now, for the final thoughts on today's message Are You Growing in Grace?

From the series Beyond Amazing, understanding the grace of God. Here again is Pastor Jeff.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Listen, we have Christian colleges that are bailing out on the truth. We have universities, Christian universities bailing out on the truth, seminaries bailing out on the truth, denominations, whole denominations bailing out on the truth, Christian uh uh churches bailing out on the truth. Why? Cuz they get pressured by the LGBTQ crowd, they get pressured by the culture, and the culture says, We don't like the word of God, so you need to change the word of God. Well, I tell you what, in this church we ain't changing the word of God. We preach it. And we speak the truth in love.

And we hold to the word of God. It's our handbook of truth. And lastly, the Bible tells us of the inevitable trials of life. Hey, it's our food, it's our handbook of truth. And one of the truths it tells us is life is going to be hard. Man who is born of woman is short-lived and full of trouble. And James said, Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. So how is God going to grow me? He grows me through his word and he grows me through trials.

We don't like trials, we don't like difficulties, we don't like problems. But as Andre Crouch used to sing, If I never had a problem, I wouldn't know that he could solve them. I wouldn't know what faith in God could do. We grow through the trials, we grow through the difficulties. And God uses trials to help us grow in his sufficient grace. Paul had a thorn in the flesh. He didn't want it. Paul had tons of trials, but this one particular thing, this thorn in the flesh, whatever it was, concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me.

And he has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you. For my power is perfected in weakness. My grace, my unmerited favor, unearned favor is sufficient for you. And Paul said most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me. When I'm weak, then I'm strong. Listen, I don't know what you're going through, but no doubt everyone under the sound of my voice, you're going through something. You're going through something in your marriage, something in your family, something in your finances, something in your health. We all face difficulties.

Consider it all joy. Doesn't mean it is all joy. Means you put it in the joy column. You're going to say, I'm going to look at that as all joy because God is going to use this. He works all things together for good to those who love him, to those who are called according to his purpose. And his grace is sufficient for my every need and he has grace to help in my time of need. And so I just come before the Lord, boldly before his throne of grace. Lord, here's my situation and I don't like it.

And it is hard, but I'm putting it in the joy column and I'm trusting you for your daily sufficient grace to handle this. Just a few days ago on Thursday on the radio program I got to interview Jim Cymbala. Jim Cymbala is a hero of mine, the pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle Church. And he's been there for over 50 years now as the pastor. He said, Man, when I first started it was so hard. He said I I didn't know what I was doing. I'd never been to seminary. I didn't been hadn't been to Bible college.

I didn't know how to preach. He said I had about 20 people, the building was dilapidated. He said the people out in the pews were just they were just there. They hated the sermons cuz I was not very good at preaching. He said they were converting to other faiths while while I was preaching. He said I'd see red dots on the forehead thinking, Oh, that person's gone. They're going to be a Hindu, you know? And uh he's just kind of teasing. But uh he said he said this, You know, all you have is today. All you have is today.

Yesterday's gone, tomorrow may not come. All you have is today. Live today in God's sufficient grace and trust him no matter what. I like what Warren Wiersbe says. We never really experience the grace of God until we are at the end of our own resources. Why is that? Cuz God's opposed to the proud. He gives grace to the humble. And when you're humbled, that's when God can pour out his grace. And then secondly, God uses trials to show a lost world his saving grace. Therefore, beloved, verse 14, Since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation.

Be diligent. Make every effort to be found by him in peace. That means that you're you're not freaking out with what is going on in life. You're spotless and blameless, meaning you're walking with the Lord, you're dealing with sin, you're growing in your relationship with Jesus and and his holiness is yours. And people notice, Hey, you live differently, you act differently. How you act, how you react, it's like Jesus. And they recognize that. But the the thing that really caught my attention, be diligent to be found by him in peace. Just relaxed and calm, knowing that the Lord has this under control.

When our world goes through difficult times, and when we go through difficult times, if there is peace there that comes from Jesus, it doesn't come from you, it doesn't come from me, it comes from him, comes from his grace. That gets people's attention. And they say, Wow, I would be freaking out if what is happening to you were happening to me and you seem to be at peace. How is that possible? You can tell about tell them about Jesus who is mighty to save. Hey, make every effort to be found by him in peace. Robert Louis Stevenson shares the story about uh passengers on a ship in the middle of a storm and it's a dark night and it's a stormy night and the ship is going up and down and the passengers are hunkered down below and the captain is on deck along with some of the other crew and they don't know if they're going to make it.

And they're down below and they're uh worried sick thinking they're going down. And finally one passenger said, I just can't take this anymore. And he made his way up to the top to the pilot's house. And he got a glimpse of the captain and he came back down to the people. And he wasn't afraid anymore. They looked at him and they said, What did you find out? He said, I just went to the pilot's house. I saw the face of our captain and he smiled at me and there is nothing to fear. Listen, our captain is the Lord Jesus Christ who conquered death, hell, and the grave.

He's in charge of everything and there's nothing to fear. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. He is in charge. You don't need to be afraid. And hey, you can get COVID, I can get COVID, we can get COVID, you can get something else. Uh you can get monkeypox or the real name of that, moneypox. Uh it's just uh you know, all these gizmos to try and get Big Pharma more money. That's a different sermon. And anyway, you don't need to be afraid of any of that stuff. We just look to the Lord.

We know that he's going to take care of us. The Lord As Paul said, The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory. That's the testimony of every child of God. And listen, we grow in grace to the glory of God and we grow in grace until the day we die or until the day Jesus comes and takes us home and we can present to him a life that glorified him. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Larry Nobles: So how about you today? Perhaps you know that you've not been growing in grace. Maybe your sin has caused you to feel distant from God. Well, you can come back to him today. Confess your sin and re-surrender your life to walking by the power of the Holy Spirit. Or maybe you know that right now, this very moment, you're not a child of God. You have never in sincerity and repentance ask Christ to come into your life. Would you like to do that today? Well, then sincerely cry out to him in faith with a repentant heart.

And if you do, you'll be a child of God for now and for eternity. And your life will forever and ever be changed. If you'd like to know more about how to surrender your life to Christ and what it means for you today and forever, go to fromhishart.org, click the Y Jesus link on the home page. You'll find some free materials to download and some specific messages from Pastor Jeff that we pray will be a blessing to you and light the way for this new journey. Today's message Are You Growing with Grace? Is one of seven in Pastor Jeff's series Beyond Amazing, understanding the grace of God.

This series is our gift of thanks to you for your support this month of any amount. To find out more, go to fromhishart.org. Well, I'm Larry Nobles. Thank you for joining us today for the broadcast and we invite you to be here tomorrow as we continue our monthly theme about grace with a lesson called Will the Real God Please Stand Up? Here's part of what's to come.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Doubtless there's people and they believe lies about God. They believe that God is mean, that God is not worthy to be trusted, that God has an angry disposition, that God has a hair-trigger temper, that God is looking to find somebody having fun so he can stamp it out. That's what so many people believe about God.

Larry Nobles: That's on Wednesday when we'll again open God's word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from his heart.