Paul Tripp: There really is a void in the human heart that can only be filled by God. The problem is we all work very hard to fill it in other ways. We all work very hard to find something that will somehow, someway give us ultimate fulfillment. That is why it is so important for the Bible to introduce us to the real God.

Kate Crowley: Welcome to Right Here, Right Now and today's program from Paul Tripp Ministries. Join us as Paul connects the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life. Now, here's Paul Tripp.

Paul Tripp: Well, I just got back from India, not an easy place to go. Well, India is the land of a million gods. You can't go anywhere in India without being confronted by idols. Stand on any corner and in one of the directions you look, you'll see a temple, or an idol, or a picture of one of the endless catalog of deities that make up the pantheon of Hinduism.

I tell you, it really is quite mind numbing. And the thing you soon learn as you hear about the mythology that surrounds each one of these false deities is that they are gods made in the image of man. These are flawed gods. These are gods that, in many ways, are more human than divine.

But just as you take that thought in, another thought hits you. These people have a hunger built inside of them for God. No, I don't mean that they naturally seek the one true God. What I mean is that they have a hunger for what is ultimate. They have a hunger for what is transcendent. They have a hunger for their lives to be motivated and defined by something bigger than themselves. These people are reaching up for and out for something; they just don't know what it is.

You see, human beings were made for relationship with God. We aren't natural atheists. There really is a void in the human heart that can only be filled by God. The problem is we all work very hard to fill it in other ways. We all work very hard to find something that will somehow, someway give us ultimate fulfillment. That is why it is so important for the Bible to introduce us to the real God.

Music: "Satisfaction (I Can't Get No)" by The Rolling Stones

I can't get no satisfaction
I can't get no satisfaction
I try and I try and I try and I try
I can't get no, I can't get no
When I'm drivin' in my car
And that man comes on the radio
And he's tellin' me more and more
About some useless information
Supposed to drive my imagination
I can't get no, no, no
No, no, no
Hey hey hey

Kate Crowley: This is Right Here, Right Now and today's important lesson, "What's So Important About the Bible Anyway?" That answer is coming up with today's study from Paul Tripp.

Why don't you take a moment and call a friend and invite them to join us on today's broadcast. And don't forget that at any time, you can log onto paultrippministries.org where you can pick up a copy of Paul's book, War Of Words, an in depth look at the power of words.

While there, be sure to check out other important resources including video, audio, and print materials dealing with marriage and parenting. That's paultrippministries.org. More later, and now, Right Here, Right Now continues with Paul Tripp.

Your Catalog of Gods

Paul Tripp: Well, fasten your seatbelts and put on your crash helmets--I'm about to offend some of you. And I'm doing that because I think it's my job.

Yes, you do it too. You have a catalog of your own gods. Now, I want you to understand what I'm saying here. I don't mean that you have a bunch of physical idols on your mantle that you light candles to every morning and evening. What I mean is that you look to created things to do for you what only the Creator can do. Let me say that again: what I mean is that you look to created things to do for you what only the Creator can do. And when you do this, these things begin to take a scary control over your heart.

Maybe you worship the idol of acceptance, and you don't even know it. Maybe you worship the idol of power, and you don't even know it. Maybe you worship the idol of success, and you don't even know it. Maybe you worship the idol of comfort, and you don't even know it. Maybe you worship the idol of pleasure, and you don't even know it. Maybe your idol is that dream that you had for your marriage or your career, and you don't know how much that is controlling you and the way you look at life. Maybe you worship the idol of control, and you don't know it.

Now, you may say, "Well how can I know what gods I serve?" Well, let me ask you this: Where do you tend to get angry? Where do you tend to grow quickly impatient? Where do you tend to get afraid? Where do you tend to fight with envy? The loss of 'what' makes you most afraid? Where do you tend to have the most conflict with others? Anger, impatience, fear, envy, conflict? Look for themes in those questions. When you examine your answers and you look for themes, you'll begin to see what is really controlling your heart.

You see, we all need the Bible to expose and confront our idolatry because you cannot be a sinner, which all of us are; and you cannot live in a fallen world, which all of us do, without somehow, someway serving a false god of some kind. The Bible is very important to us.

Because our idols aren't physical images placed in a temple of false worship, it's very easy to miss how great, extensive, and personally formative our idolatry actually is. Here, again, is where the Bible is so necessary. It not only presents to me a real world, and it not only introduces me to real people, the Bible confronts me with the one true God, and in so doing, exposes the myriad of idols that are in my life.

Where are your idols hiding in the dark corners of your life? What idols tend to hook and control you? What created things are you asking to do what only the Creator can do?

Music: "Gotta Serve Somebody" by Bob Dylan

You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody

Describing the Real God of Scripture

Paul Tripp: I want to attempt to describe for you the real God that's described in the Bible. The real God of Scripture is just simply unlike anything you've ever encountered before.

He really is. He's not some mythological hero, the kind that we think we would like to be rescued by. He's not a religious Superman or Spiderman. He's not the spiritualistic projection of weak minds who simply need something more to depend on than ourselves.

No, He is something very different than that. He is Creator, Sustainer, and Ruler of all that is; and because He is, He is the only thing in the entire universe that's worthy of our worship. When you encounter this God, the horrible, deceitful smallness of your idols is clearly exposed. The bright light of His glory shines literally on every page of the Bible. He is the one in complete control of the Biblical story. He is the chief actor in the drama. It is His voice that is heard first. He scripts the end of the drama, and every scene in between is dominated by His presence.

The great story of the Bible is actually His story. He is the only one who exists without a beginning. He is the only one who has no need for sustenance. He is the only one who has ever lived with ultimate wisdom but has never had a teacher. He made every single thing that has ever existed and had no raw materials to work with. He does not have one personal flaw whatsoever. He has never ever failed in any way.

Every word He's ever spoken is true. Every promise He has ever made is guaranteed to come true simply because He's the one making the promise. He has never been confused. He has never been dismayed. He has never had one single moment of discouragement. He has never been wrongfully jealous. He has never been wrongfully demanding. He has never become wrongfully enraged.

Now, I don't know if you have just taken in what I'm saying to you. Can you imagine being a person who has never been confused? Wow! Or never been discouraged, or never been demanding in a wrong way, who's never been sinfully enraged. What an amazing description.

He is the only one who has ever lived who is ever to be present everywhere all at once. There is no circumstance that's not under His control. Everything that exists continues to work because He holds it all together by the power of His will. He has the right and power to damn, but He delights in forgiving. He has the power to move mountains; He really does, but He's tender, gentle, and kind.

His knowledge and wisdom are beyond anything we could ever know or understand or imagine. Yet He speaks in words that are so simple, anyone can understand them. He is really the source of all justice; yet at the very same time, He's abundant in mercy. He is distant in His glory, yet ever present and ever near at the very same time. He demands our allegiance; but amazingly, He willingly gives us the motivation and the power to obey. He does call us to faithfully follow Him, but He patiently and tenderly gives us the time to learn and to grow. And on top of all of this, He daily gives us what we have not achieved and could never earn. He looms large over His story and as you get to know Him, you cannot be filled with anything less than awe.

But here is something amazing. After what I've just described, this seems almost impossible to consider; it seems almost irrational to think about, as if it could not be true. Here it is, this huge, grand, and glorious God, for the purposes of our redemption, became a man; the un-traversable line between Creator and creature was crossed by Him. God became flesh. The Lord of lords comes to earth as a second Adam, the Word of life, the final Priest, the Sacrificial Lamb. God is angry with sin, but He satisfies that anger, and He defeats the ultimate enemy of it all--death.

Now here's what this incredible meeting of divinity and humanity does. It demonstrates that all other gods are the counterfeits that they actually are. It reveals all other gods to be figments of man's imagination and physical images made by man's hands. It is only the real God, the God of ultimate glory, the God of incarnate grace, who is able to offer what is needed in the face of the horrible, personal, and environmental damage of sin.

That God, who is perfect, and powerful, and holy is God, but who also came in flesh as a man, reveals the emptiness of the gods that we all seek to replace Him with. The one created God willingly faced what we face. He is absolutely pure and holy; yet He paid the ultimate price for our sin. The One, who created life, faced death and walked away from it; and in doing that, He not only demonstrates that He is the only true God, He also demonstrates that He, alone, has the power to help us.

Music: "The Glory" by Avalon

In the solitary moment of His birth
On this barren dusty land
All of heaven kissed the face of the earth
With a miracle of love
God became a man
But he was sent away to draw his final breath
When he was only thirty-three
And in the shame of dying a criminal's death
He cleansed an angry world
And in his suffering I see
The glory of the blood
The beauty of the body
That was broken for our forgiveness
The glory of His perfect love
Is the heart of the story
The glory of the blood

Why the Glory of God Matters to Us

Paul Tripp: This amazing display of the awesome grandeur and glory of the real God is important to us as it's displayed across the pages of Scripture and preserved there for us. Why is it important for us? It's important because we are all so prone to worship idols. We're all so prone to let our hearts be ruled by an endless catalog of God replacements.

Listen to what a couple of portions of God's Word say about this. The first one is Psalm 115:

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name be glory, because of your love and faithfulness! Why do the nations say, "Where is their God?" Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him, but their idols are silver and gold made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak; eyes, but they cannot see. They have ears, but they cannot hear; noses, but they cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel; feet, but they cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them; so will all who trust in them.

It's as if the psalmist is mocking the idols of the nations and contrasting it with the utter glory of God. But he says something scary, "You become like the idol that you serve." A person who serves material things will become materialistic. A person who serves power and control will become controlling. A person who serves the god of acceptance or approval will become addicted to that acceptance and approval. You become like the idol that you serve.

And then Jeremiah 10, I love the power of this passage:

Hear what the Lord says to you, O house of Israel. This is what the Lord says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations, or be terrified by the signs in the sky; though the nations are terrified by them, for the customs of the people are worthless! They cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with a hammer and nails so it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do you no harm, nor can they do you any good." No one is like you, O Lord; you are great; your name is mighty in power. Who should not revere you, O King of the nations? This is your due; all of the wise men of the nations and all of their kingdoms, there is none like you. They are all senseless and foolish; they are taught by worthless wooden idols. Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. And what the craftman's gold has made, they that dress in purple. But the Lord is the true God.

There is one true God. Everything else that we would serve is like a scarecrow in a melon patch. You have to nail it to a platform so it will not fall down.

(Music Interlude)

Paul Tripp: God shows you Himself in the pages of Scripture. God willingly steps out from behind the curtain and lets you see Him for who He is. And as He does this, He invites you into His presence to hear His voice and to see His power. He welcomes you to taste His grace, to test His love. And why does He do this? So that you would know the clear difference between the one real God and all the false gods that are around you.

The revelation of God in the Bible is the only place to find real hope. He is the only one who is completely above everything we face; and yet because of personal experience, intimately familiar with it at the very same time. He reveals Himself to you and to me so that we would run away from our idols and run to Him for the rescue and help that only He can give us. He is Lord over it all. He really does have the power to help us.

So I would ask you this, "Where have you tended to turn your back on God and to run after false gods? Where have you been ruled by the things that should never rule you? Where do you need the rescue that only He can give?" The Bible introduces you to a real world. The Bible introduces you to real people. The Bible introduces you to a real God and, in so doing, offers you wisdom and hope and life. You can have that life right here, right now; you really can.

Kate Crowley: What or who is in control of your life? You have been listening to Paul Tripp and the freedom that can be found in the Word of God from our current series, "What's So Important About the Bible Anyway?" on Right Here, Right Now.

And if you'd like to share these words of hope with a friend, you can order a CD online. Just go to paultrippministries.org. CD copies are available for just five dollars. While you are there, check out Paul's book, War Of Words. In it, Paul looks at the power of words, the problem with cheap talk, and the importance of honoring God with all your speech. That's War Of Words, available at our website, paultrippministries.org.

And be sure and check out Paul's most recent blog. Again--paultrippministries.org, that's all one word, Paul Tripp, spelled T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org. You can order from the website or when you call us at 1-800-551-6595. That's toll-free: 800-551-6595.

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Next time we are together, Paul continues his discussion from the series, "What's So Important About the Bible Anyway?" as he addresses the topic of real redemption. That's on Monday.

For Paul Tripp and all of us at Paul Tripp Ministries, I'm Kate Crowley, reminding you that, in Jesus Christ, there really is help right here, right now. Have a great weekend.