Bible: End or Means?

Overview

If you read through the gospel stories, one of the things that strikes you almost immediately is how often Jesus Christ debated with those around him — not only how often he came into debates but how often he started them too. Today’s message comes from a series on some of these great debates when Jesus was on earth.

We’re looking at a passage in which Jesus is arguing about Scripture. He’s going to teach us about the Bible through a debate — surprisingly, a debate with diligent Bible students. He comes up to the most astute Bible students, and he says they are as dead wrong as people who don’t believe in the Bible at all. They are as deaf to what God is saying as people who are absolutely skeptical about the nature of the Bible. We learn four things: 1) God speaks to us; 2) how God speaks to us; 3) why we don’t hear what God speaks to us; and 4) how we can hear it.