Special Revelation

Alright, take your Bibles if you would please and open them up to John chapter 1. Last week was natural revelation. This week is special revelation and I'm so thankful for our elder team who has committed to teach through systematic theology in the next two years. Your faith will grow in the next two years so thank you for your commitment in that and want to give you a pretest tonight. Alright, to test your knowledge and you can yell it out if you want to but I'm going to ask you ten quick questions, keep up if you can and all you have to do is say general or special.

So I'm going to read a verse or I'm going to make a statement and you have to discern whether or not it's general revelation or special revelation. And you do that and we'll run through it rather quickly. Okay, so it's a really good test. You have a fifty-fifty chance of getting it right. The only downside is everybody's going to hear you say it wrong if you get it wrong but just be bold to do it anyway because at the end of the lesson you'll definitely know the difference. Alright, so everyone has a chance to answer out loud and when I make this statement then I want you to reply general or special when I refer to you.

Okay, so Psalm 119 declares that the heavens are telling of the glory of God, general or special? Look at the birds and the bees and the trees, the weather and even the water, don't they make you marvel, special or general? I'm going to have trouble stumping you guys.

Psalms 103 verse 12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed your transgressions," special. Alright, John 1:14, "And the Word became flesh," general or special? Man, you guys are hard to stump. Alright, Colossians 1 says this, "In Christ we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins." Alright, the Bible says again, "God's law is written on their heart." In Romans 2:15, ooh, got some people there, general.

You can see creation and know that God exists. General. "Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples and these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ." John 20 verses 30 and 31, special. Alright, and then — I'm sorry, I can't even read my own handwriting.

A building proves there is a builder as creation proves there is a creator. Man, you did a good job teaching last week, David. These guys know it. And girls, fantastic. Last one, Hebrews 1:2, "In these last days God has spoken to us by His Son whom He also made the world." Alright, if I couldn't stump you with that test, turn to Isaiah, hold your finger in John chapter 1, turn to Isaiah 40 verse 8 and I want you to tell me what this is.

Isaiah 40 verse 8, is it general or special? Isaiah 40 verse 8, "The grass withers and the flowers fade but the word of our God stands forever." I'm getting conflicting answers. The grass withers and the flowers fade but the word of our God stands forever. It ends in special and starts with general, so you're all right. Good job, alright, good job, yes, yes, yes. Alright, take your fill-in-the-blanks and let's get as far as we can tonight.

What you need to know about special revelation is that it leads to salvation. Special revelation completes general revelation. It provides what nature, reason, and conscience can't. I'll say that again, it provides what nature, reason, and conscience can't. Special revelation reveals God as Redeemer. So this is special revelation and you've turned to John chapter 1. Verse 5 says, "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overtake it." And then in verse 10, "He was in the world and the world was made through Him and the world did not know Him."

By way of application, when you think that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, not only life but light, by way of application, we then are to proclaim the Gospel because nature can't. You can look out at nature and see that there is definitely a Creator because it works, it's working, and that merits the fact that there is a God, there is a Creator. But let's talk about that word light in verse 5 for just a moment.

In John 1:5, "And the light shines into the darkness." In the Greek, this now carries the meaning of expressing light, okay? So Jesus is light. From Him there is light that is being expressed. Metaphorically, it means to reach the mind. And so you have heard of the term enlightenment, okay? You've been enlightened. Well, when Jesus turns on the light, so to speak, you're enlightened and you understand. There is comprehension there. So light enables the mind's eye to discern. So light is the illuminator.

Now the opposite of this is man in his lost state, and darkness is incapable of even discerning or understanding the light. If you want to take a separate note other than what's on your outline, 1 Corinthians 2:14 says this, "But the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned." And so in darkness, light cannot be comprehended. It takes Jesus as the light to reveal Himself to people, okay?

Job chapter 19 verse 25 says, "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand last on the earth." So number one again, if you're filling in the blanks, special revelation completes general revelation. It provides what nature, reason, and conscience can't. Special revelation reveals God as Redeemer. And a side note for those of you who like to go back and fill in every blank and take notes or if you're watching online, these outlines will be available below in the comments section. So you can click on it and download this outline in future times as well. Pretty cool. Thank you to our teach team.

Number two, special revelation instructs the guilty conscience, the guilty conscience, that although man merits condemnation, God will have mercy on him and offer salvation. And so special revelation then instructs the guilty conscience. And the law helps us to see that we are guilty, guilty, guilty.

Psalm 103, 11 and 12 says, "For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy towards those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." By way of application, turn to your Maker who alone can redeem you. And if you are able to comprehend that you are a sinner in need of a Savior, turn to your Savior. Come to Jesus. Come to Christ. And recognize that He is drawing you by the power of His Holy Spirit out of darkness and into the light.

And then as we are children of God, we're children of light and we live in the light and do what's right. And I promise you, it'll always be all right. When you fight your sin nature, okay, just because you get saved doesn't mean you're sinless or sin free. You still got that sin nature to fight. I encourage you to run to Jesus even still. Run to the light. Deny the flesh. Take up your cross and follow Him.

Biologically, you have a bent toward sin. And then even spiritually, you have a rebellious nature that wants to rebel against God. And so you have these two things against you. And even more, the flesh, the world, and the devil — Martin Luther says — is a triad that's against us obeying God. And so just realize that if you have been drawn and you comprehend at all Christ, that is the Creator who has, through His illuminating power, reached into your dark mind and soul and is bringing you from darkness and into light. And now we simply submit to His power and get on board with His process.

It's amazing how God enables His will to happen. Don't fight against that. Just simply obey. Be that branch that's connected to the vine and allow His nutrients to flow through you. Stay tapped into the source. It's amazing the life that you have in Christ and it starts with God revealing Himself. Isaiah 44, 21 and 22 says, "Remember these, O Jacob and Israel, for you are My servant. I have formed you. You are My servant, O Israel. You will not be forgotten by Me."

Verse 22, "I have blotted out like a thick cloud your transgressions and like a cloud your sins. Return to Me for I have rescued you." Here rebellious Israel is being called to return to Christ. And sometimes we have to do that in a moment. I'd like to say it like this: you can gauge how spiritual you are by how fast you repent. You can gauge how stubborn you are by how reluctant you are to repent.

Does it take you days to come out of a sinful disposition? Does it take you weeks? Does it take you months? I would recommend that you repent of your sin as you do them. Walk with Christ. Repent of your sin. Confess your sins as you do them. How many of you have been in my office? Anybody? Yeah, lots of you. You have seen a really cool piece that was made for you. And I say it like this, "Fess them as you does them, don't bunch them." Do you understand Appalachian language? Let me translate. "Fess them as you does them, don't bunch them." It means confess your sins as you do them. Don't let them bunch up. "Fess them as you does them," all right?

That's good spiritual application advice, Appalachian-style. They speak a different language up in the mountains, whether they realize it or not. But we need to apply that good old-fashioned common sense to our life. And as soon as you're pricked by the Holy Spirit inside of you, realize that that's not you. You do not desire God. But once you've been saved, the Holy Spirit of God is going to be enlightening you continually, not just under salvation, but under sanctification, and to live for Him. This special revelation is so special, and it continues in your heart and mind.

Number three, special revelation reveals the way by which God's mercy is given to men through Jesus Christ, the only Mediator between God and man. So that's way, Jesus Christ, and Mediator. In John 1:14, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Also, 1 Timothy 2 and verse 5 says, "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus."

Now, here in point three, I want you to know that we cannot approach a holy God as unholy beings. We need a Mediator. We need one who is capable of being in the presence of God and yet being joined to man. We need one who is willing and one who cares enough to do this. And Sunday, we ended up in the book of Ruth and talked about how Boaz redeemed Ruth. And Boaz as a type of Christ redeemed Ruth, a Moabite, an Israelite redeeming a Moabite. And in that genealogy, you see that God sovereignly brought in a Gentile into the line.

And so now Jesus is of this lineage of David, of Jesse. And now the Moabite line, the Gentile, has been grafted in. And so now He has both in His lineage — both Israelite blood and Gentile blood. And so He is the only perfect sacrifice, not only as the kind of blood that runs through His veins, or lineage, but He is also God incarnate. And so it merited His worth to be able to pay for the sins of the whole world. And so this is the perfect Mediator.

Don't overlook the fact that Jesus cares enough to step into this position. How many of you like to get in between an argument? Like if somebody is in — you know, there's friction between the two — how many just like to go and intervene? Nobody really likes to get in between an argument. But believe me, the wrath of God upon sin is intense. And yet Jesus stepped in and He took that on. He's the perfect Mediator. Thank the Lord for His mediating work.

By way of application, we only find grace and truth in Christ. There are so many things pointing to Jesus. It cannot be ignored. It's Christ and Christ alone. We say that, but it is such a rich, meaningful concept that we could spend the rest of our lives comprehending. Sola Christus. Christ alone. John 1, 16 to 18 says this, "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."

So here we see grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Through Jesus, He's the Mediator. All right, number four, special revelation declares Jesus Christ as God's perfect Son, the exact image of this invisible God. So God is Spirit — invisible, eternal, all wise, always present — but He has revealed Himself in the image of His Son. And the fill-in-the-blank for number four is: only Christ removes our sin and makes us right. Only Christ does that. And so Jesus is God's image.

Do you wonder how bad it is to make for yourself a graven image? I wonder all the time how in the world the Israelites had it in them to make for themselves a graven image. I mean, not only did their ancestors, whom they knew of through testimonies coming down through their great-grandparents, tell of the parting of the Red Sea and the manna coming down, just all the provisions out of Egypt — all that stuff — and yet they made for themselves graven images.

Well, that's bad, but I've often thought as well that it's worse than just bad. It's worse than breaking one of the commandments. It communicates that Jesus is not God and that He is not the sufficient image. If Christ is the image of God and we go and make for ourselves another image, then we are communicating to God that Your Son is not a sufficient image, that I don't believe that He is all that we need. And so to make an image — it's idolatry, but it's also blasphemous. It's a very, very, very bad thing.

Look to Jesus. He's the image. And so by way of application, to see the revealing of God, look to the Son. To see Jesus is to see God. To see God is to look to the Son. Hebrews 1, 1 to 3 says, "God, who at various times and in various ways, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son." Pause right there.

This is a great verse to refute the charismatic chaos and the Pentecostal problems and all that kind of stuff because the authority is where now? Where is the authority? The Word, exactly. The Word of God is Christ. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God," John 1:1. And then in verse 14, "The Word became flesh." So the authority now is not by an Old Testament method of God speaking through a prophet, okay? It's not through a New Testament way of God speaking through an apostle.

It is through Jesus incarnate who has made Himself revealed to us through the Word of God. And so now the authority is upon the Word of God. So you can't say, "Well, I kind of feel like this is the best thing to do." You better check that against the Word and say, "Well, let's look up Jeremiah 17:9." Exactly. "The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, who can know it?" Let's go to the Word of God. Let's bring ourselves under Jesus. Let's bring ourselves in submission to the authority of the Word of God because Hebrews 1, verses 1 to 3 says that it was by that way in times past through the fathers by the prophets. Now in these days, it's by His Son. And John 1:1 communicates that the Word of God is Jesus.

I'll continue to read. Verse 2 says, "Was in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power. When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." Amen.

Number five, special revelation declares Christ as the sole and final authority in revealing God. Christ is both the revealed and the realization. Have you ever had a realization before? God hasn't. Has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God? Yeah, nothing has ever occurred to God. He's never had that light-bulb moment before. But the authority of God's Word is the authority, and it is the revealer of truth, and it provides realizations. And the realization of all God's revelation — the last three fill-in-the-blanks in number five — are nature, history, and Scripture.

Nature, history, and Scripture. Let me read point five all the way through again for you. Special revelation declares Christ as the sole and final authority in revealing God. Christ is both the revealed and the realization of all God's revelation in nature, history, and Scripture. 1 Corinthians 1:30 says, "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God — in righteousness and sanctification and redemption."

When Christ here becomes our wisdom, okay, He is imparting to us truth. As we delight in Him, He gives us the desires of our heart. He gives us motives. He gives us wisdom. I just wish I had more. I wish I could invest myself more. I wish I could learn more. The more I ask for wisdom, the more I gain it. The more I sit at the feet of Jesus by studying the Word of God, the more I gain it. And so we should be people of the Word, really, really diving into it as much as we possibly can. And if you learn something, write it down and review it and go back to it. Gain more wisdom and keep it.

And so special revelation declares Christ as the sole and final authority in all areas of life, especially truth. "Sanctify them by Your truth; Your word is truth," John 17:17. And so as you continue to sit at the feet of Jesus and sit underneath His light — His illuminating light, His truth — the truth of the Word of God will sanctify your life. We say it all the time around here: if you're the same person now as you were five years ago, I would encourage you to walk closer with Christ, to seek Him more, to study the Word more, to truly invest yourself into the Word of God and study and obey.

Number six, special revelation is recorded as Scripture. Okay? We depend on Scripture for our knowledge of Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide our understanding of it. God has revealed Himself to us in Christ through Scripture by His Holy Spirit. And so the fill-in-the-blanks are Scripture, Christ, Scripture, and Holy Spirit. John 20, verse 30 and 31 says this, "And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."

One of the most important concepts that you can dwell upon and truly believe in and lean on is the sufficiency of Scripture. Not just the authority. You believe that it's inerrant, you believe that it's God's Word. Well, I would simply say even the demons believe, right? But they don't do. They don't behave like it. They don't adhere to it. Every single one of you truly believes without even thinking that the chair you're sitting on will hold you. You're leaning upon it. But when the Scriptures say something, you should adjust your life to actually lean upon it, depend upon it. And believe me, it will uphold you. It will uphold your life.

God brings us to a crisis of belief often in our life, to where we have to choose, "I'm either going to do it my way, and I'm going to try and force my way through at this particular juncture at work. I'm just going to have to step on somebody to get a raise. I'm just going to have to lie, cheat, and steal to get a little bit more for my family. I'm just going to have to be a little mischievous behind the scenes and fudge some numbers in order to get ahead in life."

You see how now you have abandoned and not leaned upon Scripture. All of those things are breaking clear verses in the Bible, that which you know — as I'm talking, I'm hoping these verses are just triggering in your mind. We can't do those types of things. We can't act like the world. We can't be the world. We're strangers in this world. We're separate from this world, but the sufficiency, the reliability of Scripture makes you do what is Christlike. It makes you be, makes you separate, makes you different, and in the end you depend upon God to give you the blessings that He wants you to have — not that which you think you deserve — but at the end of the day, do you trust God?

Do you want to get what He has for you? Then do it right. Don't cheat on a test, right? Depend upon God. Put your work in and do that. It's so easy to cheat on tests today with technology and media and all that kind of stuff. If you're in school, work hard, do your best, and be righteous. Do the right thing. I promise you it'll work out. This is you depending upon Christ and truly activating the sufficiency of Scripture.

You just simply say it in your inner being, "I believe in doing what's right. God is a rewarder of righteousness and a punisher of evil and sin, and I'm going to separate the two and I'm going to live in the light and do what's right and it'll be all right." So as you truly believe that Scripture is God's revealed truth, then you will adhere to it.

Now, Colossians 3:16 says, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." This is how you hide God's word in your heart. You're constantly dwelling on the Scriptures. You're constantly singing about Him. And by the way, good worship songs sing about Him, okay? Not about what we desire, you know — you are not the object of worship.

And I'll just be a transparent warning to you tonight that our local Christian radio station, Z88.3 and others, choose songs over and over and over that make you the object of worship, as if God died to bless you, as if whatever you ask Him you're strong-arming Him by saying "In Jesus' name." That's not Christianity.

Christianity is submitting to an all-powerful, all-loving, all-wonderful God according to His Word. And so, in other words, the Scriptures are sufficient. So much so that when the rich man in Luke chapter 16 begs and pleads for truth to be told to his brothers — do you know what the reply is? Turn to Luke 16. You've got to see this. This is so powerful. You want to see Jesus giving a parable, perhaps even an actual story, about the sufficiency of Scripture. I want you to see Luke chapter 16 for yourself. And this is powerful, guys. You know that God spoke through prophets, through Old Testament saints, and through the apostles to achieve His word. Now we have a compiled 66 books of God's Word. Here, Luke is recording a parable that Jesus told.

And in chapter 16, in verse 24, you'll see this case. Luke 16 and verse 24, "And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.' But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things. But now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.

And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you are not able, and none may cross over from there to us.' And he said, 'Then I'm asking you, Father, that you send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'"

"But Abraham said," — and here it is, if you want to underline the sufficiency of Scripture being demonstrated in the most intense way, this phrase here — "They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them." Isn't that amazing that Jesus is saying, even if someone was to be raised from the dead and go and tell them firsthand, "Repent and believe the Gospel," Mark 1:15 — even if somebody were raised from the dead and went to tell them — it is not as potent and powerful as what God has already written by Moses and the prophets. The Word of God is sufficient, and we have it even clearer in the New Testament.

And so I hope that today you have seen that special revelation through God's Word is very sufficient, not only for salvation, but also for your life, and not only just for your life, but also for evangelism. It is enough just to read Scripture in public as people are passing by. You see street preaching going on? Oh, that is great. You see street preaching in the book of Acts and all over the place. Look what Jesus did too. Street preaching, street evangelism, personal discipleship — you see this. But even if you just stand in public and read the Word of God, it is sufficient unto salvation. It's amazing.

One quick story, and I'll close. Dr. Anthony Alvestre has been instrumental in helping us to become better at sharing our faith, and we go out and we do that. One time I was with him on a drive, and I just said, "Okay, I'm going to read John chapter 3." And so, standing there with a microphone and reading John chapter 3, in a party scene, groups of people were just walking by. And so I'm reading John chapter 3 sections of it, over and over and over.

And this one guy is walking by, had a beer in his hand, a bunch of a crowd there, and he goes to take a drink. He hears me and looks at me, and he kind of cowers down a little bit, and he walks with his head down. But he kept on walking, and I thought to myself, "The Word of God got to him," right? And later on, as I'm still reading, he comes back with the same crowd, and he doesn't have his beer anymore, but he's crying. And he walks over, and he says, "I've been called to preach and have been running from God for like 15 years. Thank you for standing out here and reading the Scriptures. I have fallen under conviction. I'm going to yield and follow the calling."

I said, "Well, praise the Lord." I'll be honest with you guys, there weren't like any special fluffy feelings going on inside of my heart, you know? In this day and age, so many have emotionalized our relationship with the Lord. Honestly, it's a walk with Jesus. Honestly, it is just flat-foot obedience. Oftentimes, we have the joy of being able to rejoice evermore, and again I say rejoice on the mountaintops of Christ and have cloud-like feelings with the Lord, but that is not always reality.

Oswald Chambers said it best, I believe, when he said that whether for the valleys or the mountaintops, we were made to walk with Jesus. And so I want to encourage you tonight, as you study God's Word, look at it from a realistic standpoint — we are just built to walk with Christ. Don't be seeking some climactic spiritual experience over and over and over again, and then fall into a pit, okay? Just walk with Christ. And the Word is enough, and as He leads us, I guarantee you, it will be God's will unfolding day by day by day.

So strive to remain in His will, little by little by little, and you will see special revelation unfold in people's lives, and that is a sense of inner joy and satisfaction that is better than a quick fix or a quick high or a mountaintop experience. Just to be able to see God working in your lives is a huge blessing to this pastor's heart. And as you do the same, I know that as you are developing spiritual children in the faith, when you go home at night and you pray for your disciples, that is one of the biggest joys that you could ever participate in, and that is God's process. Thank you so much for coming tonight.

Remember that Saturday, we have an event going on across the way, and so Zeke and Calvin are putting on this RC event. We're going to share the Gospel. We're going to share special revelation with all who come, and there's always 50% friends and 50% of us out there, and so if you would just come — even if you're not into remote control cars — come hang out with us in the breezeway and just be available to perhaps share special revelation, to perhaps share the Gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We would repent and believe the Gospel and be saved. Be ready to share those things and have conversations with people to make friendships and have relationships, especially those of you who are on the latter half of your life.

The wisdom of the saints is so important to be around the younger generation. The younger generations today do not have spiritual parents or spiritual grandparents, but you see that in the Word of God and how grandparents are supposed to be sharing the Gospel and God's way of life with their children and grandchildren, and so I pray that you would come and invest yourself into the life of others and continue to share special revelation.

Let me pray with you, and then you'll be dismissed. Lord, thank You so much for this wonderful time You've given us tonight underneath the counsel of Your Word, and I pray as we continue to study theology systematically, You would illuminate truth to us and refine us. God, wherever we have errors in our mind and heart, I pray that You would weed those out. Help us to know You more, help us to know You clearly and accurately. Continue to reveal Yourself to us, Lord, as we are faithful to seek Your truth. Thank You, dear Jesus, and I pray Your many blessings continually upon us as we obey You the best that we possibly can, and it's in Christ's name that we do pray. Amen.