Please take out your copy of God's Word and join me in 2 Peter chapter 1.
I believe that we can get the answers with all of their complexities and all of their applications worked out in our minds to these three questions.
We will have a firm foundation on which to build a life that is pleasing to God.
I settled in on these three questions after being asked a question many years ago.
A man that was a missionary, many of you know, Jay Whetstone, asked me over tea at his house one afternoon,
what do you hope to accomplish with college students in their three to four years in Dahlonega?
And I didn't really have an answer.
I could have begun to talk through some things.
I mean, there was stuff on my mind, oh, well, we want students to do the following.
But what he was asking was, what's your plan?
Is there a system in place for young people when they come and give you some of their time while they're at school in Dahlonega?
So I didn't have a confident answer, but I knew that I should.
There should be some things, some anchors that I would say, yes, we want to make sure that college students know certain things.
And so in rolling that around and considering most important things, I kind of settled in on these three questions,
which we answer all the time around here.
This is not the first time we've taken up these questions.
But I thought it would be helpful for us to do so systematically over the next three weeks.
And those questions are, what is the Bible?
What is the Bible?
And what is the church?
And there's so much confusion about the answer to these three questions.
You may think already, oh, I know the answer to those three questions.
You may find that you don't.
I knew that if we could get answers to these three questions concreted in the minds of college students or anyone for that matter,
we would be doing quite well together as a church.
And so we've been about that.
We weave the answers to these questions in and out of all sorts of things that we do.
But specifically, I want to stop and think about these things before we get back to our normal verse-by-verse exposition of a book of the Bible.
So the question that I want to ask and answer, at least in part, right, with the best of my ability, my frailty this morning,
what is the Bible?
And I want to look largely at 2 Peter 1, verses 16 through 21.
And we'll look at some other texts as well this morning.
So before I read this, beloved, I want to remind you that this is God's Word to us.
It was written for His glory and our good.
And so we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
Peter writes, verse 16,
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
For when He received honor and glory from God the Father,
and the voice was born to Him by the majestic glory,
this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.
We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven,
for we were with Him on the holy mountain.
And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed,
to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place
until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
Knowing this, first of all,
that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation,
for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man,
but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
What an astounding text.
Let's look at its context a bit before we proceed.
Following Peter's greeting,
Peter tells his readers in chapter 1, verses 3 and 4,
that God's divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness
through the knowledge of Him who has called us to His own glory and excellence,
by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises,
so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desires.
So Peter says to his hearers, those who are in the faith,
we have been granted power for life and godliness through, what?
Through knowledge.
We have been granted precious and very great promises.
His promises made already, given to us,
wherever those promises once made in the Scripture.
We have been granted to become partakers of the divine nature,
and we have escaped from our sin.
By the Scripture, this knowledge that comes to us,
given to us for all things concerning life,
pertaining to life and to godliness.
And he goes on then to instruct his readers
to make their calling and election sure
by pursuing holiness
and seeing that holiness,
the holiness that's being birthed in them as they pursue it,
as evidence of their standing in Jesus Christ.
to make sure they're in the faith,
to be confident of it by pursuing Holy Scripture.
He says in verse 10 and 11,
Therefore, brothers,
be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election,
for if you practice these qualities,
you will never fall.
For in this way there will be richly provided for you
an entrance into the eternal kingdom
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
And so it's in this context that Peter says
in the beginning of verse 16,
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths
when we made known to you the power and coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And he goes on to say,
but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
It's a good try, Cheyenne.
It was good.
I thought you had her settled too.
Verse 17,
For when He, being Jesus Christ,
received honor and glory from God the Father,
and the voice was born to Him by the majestic glory,
This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.
We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven,
for we were with Him on the holy mountain.
And what is Peter referring to?
The transfiguration of Jesus Christ.
When they went up with Him,
James and Peter and John on the mountain,
and Jesus' image was changed,
made more glorious,
they got to see this happen.
And God spoke over Him,
This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.
What an astounding thing to be able to witness.
What an incredible thing that these three men,
the only three in history,
were able to see.
And you can read about that in Mark 9,
2-7,
Matthew 17,
Luke 9,
they're all accounts of what happened.
It's amazing.
It's an incredible thing
that they were witnesses of.
But then Peter does,
in verse 19,
the most astounding thing.
He says,
And we have the prophetic word
more fully confirmed.
We use, typically,
I think almost all of us are using
the ESV translation of the Bible.
If you have the ESV 2001,
which I do,
and my brain went,
what,
as I copied and pasted out of Lagos,
this text,
ESV 2001 says,
And we have something more sure,
the prophetic word.
We have something more sure,
or we have the prophetic word
more fully confirmed.
Peter is saying,
We have a greater confidence
confidence in the Scripture.
We were with Jesus
on the Mount of Transfiguration.
We heard God speak from heaven,
but we have a greater confidence
in the Bible.
It's incredible.
What an astounding thing
that he is saying.
And it has much bearing for us today.
Oh, wouldn't it have been glorious
to be on the Mount of Transfiguration?
It wouldn't have been grand
to behold such a thing.
Peter says,
We have a more sure thing.
We have a greater confidence
in this text.
My prayer for us this morning
is that we would have
the same kind of confidence
that Peter had in his Bible.
So here's the summary answer
to the question,
What is the Bible
for our consideration this morning?
The Bible is God's
inspired,
inerrant,
authoritative,
clear,
necessary,
and sufficient word
to mankind.
I'm going to break that
into six statements
to make it easier to digest.
And I've included those
on the back of your bulletin
to aid you this morning.
Before I say anything else,
I just want to point out
that I misspelled
the word inerrant,
which I realized too late.
It is spelled
I-N-E-R-R-A-N-T.
And maybe God,
in his providence,
permitted such a thing
so that I can make the point
that he's inerrant
and I am not.
Such creative ways
to keep me very humble.
So, anyway,
now you know how to spell
inerrant properly
and not the way I spelled it.
First,
the Bible is God's
inspired word
to mankind.
The Bible is unlike
any book
ever written.
At the most fundamental level,
it is both
authored by human beings
and by God.
The word Christians
have commonly used
to describe this process
is this word
inspired.
This means that the Bible
is the product
of God inspiring
and using
human authors
to write
his perfect
holy words
without error
or defect.
speaking through
men's
personalities,
through their
circumstance,
and through their
pens.
Two passages
that explicitly tell us
the Bible is God's
inspired word.
First,
2 Timothy,
chapter 3,
and verse 16.
Which is,
all scripture is
breathed out
by God.
You may be
familiar with
this.
The Greek word
used there for
breathed out
is actually the word
expired.
Much the way we say
that a person dies
when they expire,
they breathe their
last breath.
The emphasis here
is that it comes
literally from God.
It is God
breathed.
And where we pull
the word inspired
is breathed
into.
God breathed out
but into
men who
pin down
his
very
words.
The second text
text is from
our text this
morning.
2 Peter,
chapter 1,
verse 20 and
21.
Peter says,
knowing this,
first of all,
that no prophecy
of scripture
comes from
someone's own
interpretation,
for no prophecy
was ever produced
by the will of
men,
but men spoke
from God
as they were
carried along
by the Holy Spirit,
as they were
inspired to write.
the Bible
originated
not with the
will of its
human writers,
but with the
will of God
the Holy Spirit.
Over 3,000
times,
biblical writers
claim to have
received their
messages from
God.
God the Holy
Spirit
inspired,
breathed out,
or originated
the scriptures
through human
writers.
So to be
clear,
this does not
mean that God
dictated the
Bible to its
human authors,
right?
That he spoke
in all cases
audibly,
and they just
pinned down
exactly what he
said.
In some cases,
this is the way
we receive the
text.
But rather,
they wrote
with their own
creativity,
and in their
own styles,
and their own
vocabulary,
accomplishing all
along exactly
what God wanted
them to accomplish.
The word
carried along
in 2 Peter
is the same
word used to
describe Paul's
ship in Acts
that's carried
along by the
storm,
and then he's
shipwrecked,
and there's a
wind that drove
them outside of
their course.
A ship has
sails to catch
the wind,
a keel to
prevent it from
tipping over,
a rudder to
steer it to
some degree,
but ultimately,
a ship goes
where the wind
carries it.
So, this is
our understanding
of the
Scripture being
inspired,
given to us
by God
Himself.
And there's a
lot of doubt
in our day
about this.
How do we
know?
How do we
know that the
very copy you
have before you
is God's
inspired word
to mankind?
I want to make
briefly,
I hope,
for you,
an argument
for the
Old Testament
and an
argument for
the New.
As I'm doing
this, if your
brain is panicking
because of the
length of the
definition I gave
you, we're
going to move
much more
quickly through
some of those
other doctrines
of Scripture.
But this one I
think we need
to spend some
time on to
make sure that
we can get
God's inspiration
of His word.
So, an argument
for the Old
Testament.
The Lord
Jesus Christ,
the one who
we say to be
followers of,
validated the
Old Testament's
inspiration by
quoting from
all three
sections.
The law,
the prophets,
and the
writings.
Commonly
understood Hebrew
categories for
the Old
Testament.
He endorsed
the inspiration
and authority
of the Old
Testament in
detail.
We've studied
through the
Sermon on the
Mount,
Matthew 5,
verse 17,
18.
He elevates
it.
He doesn't
do away
with it,
but He
helps us
to properly
understand it.
And the
Old Testament
promises are
made,
and the
New Testament
promises are
fulfilled.
We get the
proper lens
by which to
view the
Old Testament
through.
We don't
discard it,
but we
continue to
pick it up
and understand
it through
the lens
of Jesus
Christ.
The Bible
of Jesus'
day is
what we
call our
Old
Testament.
39 first
books that
we have
in our
Scripture.
It was not
structured the
same way we
have it
structured today,
but it was
the same
nonetheless.
Luke 11,
you might
want to
turn here
with me.
Luke 11
and verse
49.
In this
text,
Jesus is
indicting the
Pharisees.
So this is
what He's
accomplishing as
the indictment
of the
Pharisees,
but He does
something really
unique,
something that
should draw
our attention
and help
us to see
what was
Jesus'
Bible?
What's He
referring to
as He
references the
Scriptures in
His ministry?
So here's the
text.
Therefore,
verse 49 of
chapter 11,
therefore also
the wisdom of
God said,
I will send
them prophets
and apostles,
some of whom
they will kill
and persecute,
so that the
blood of all
the prophets
shed from the
foundation of
the world
may be charged
against this
generation.
From the
blood of
Abel to
the blood
of Zechariah,
who perished
between the
altar and
the sanctuary,
yes,
I tell you,
it will be
required of
this generation.
So He's
saying,
He's
indicting
them for
all of
the prophets
that had
been killed.
And He
uses two
names.
Abel,
who here
Jesus is
saying is
the very
first prophet.
Genesis
chapter 4,
verse 10,
And the
Lord said,
What have
you done?
The voice
of your
brother's
blood is
crying to
me from
the ground.
Right?
Here Jesus
calls Abel
the very
first prophet
who was
killed by
his brother
Cain.
The second
is a man
named
Zechariah.
So from
Abel
to Zechariah,
Zechariah,
and remember
this was
not written
in English,
so it's
not A to
Z.
It's not
what Jesus
is accomplishing
here for
us,
although it's
cool that
that happens.
From Abel
to Zechariah,
why is
he the
bookend?
Why is
he the
other
end?
Why from
Abel
to
Zechariah?
Here's
where we
read about
the death
of Zechariah.
Second
Chronicles
chapter 24,
verse 20
and 21,
Then the
Spirit of
God clothed
Zechariah,
the son of
Jehoiada,
the priest,
and he
stood above
the people
and said
to them,
Thus says
God,
Why do
you break
the commandments
of the
Lord so
that you
cannot
prosper?
Because
you have
forsaken
the Lord,
he has
forsaken
you.
Very
prophetic.
They didn't
like it.
They conspired
against him
and by
command of
the king
they stoned
him with
stones in
the court
of the
house
of the
Lord.
So this
is the
Zechariah.
So Abel,
Genesis
chapter 4,
Zechariah,
2 Chronicles
chapter 24,
but
chronologically,
walking through
history,
the timeline,
chronologically,
the last
martyr of
the Old
Testament was
Uriah,
whose death
is described
in Jeremiah
chapter 26.
Chronologically,
so Jesus
isn't following
chronology then.
He's not
saying from
the very
first one
to the
very last
one
martyred.
So why?
Abel to
Zechariah.
This is
cool.
The Jewish
Bible of
Jesus'
day was
ordered
differently
than ours.
Our Old
Testament is
grouped by
literary
type.
Jesus'
Bible was
ordered in
a different
way.
1 and 2
Chronicles were
one book,
just called
Chronicles,
and was
written as
an overview
of Israel's
history with
a particular
emphasis on
David and
the temple.
It was
placed at
the end
of Jesus'
canon,
this Old
Testament
Bible that
they had,
to help
God's people
look forward
to a better
David and
a better
worship.
It was
placed at
the end
there.
It was
meant to
make them
expectant of
the coming
Messiah.
So in
Luke 11,
when Jesus
says,
from the
blood of
Abel to
the blood
of Zechariah,
he's
indicting
the generation
for the
death of
the prophets
of his
Bible.
They would
have gotten,
they knew
in the reading
of their
scripture,
Abel was
the first,
Zechariah was
the last,
as they would
have read
it in order
as it was
printed,
read to
them in
that day.
Are you
catching
this?
This was
the Bible
of Jesus'
day.
The Old
Testament is
the scripture
that he's
referring to.
This is
the scripture
that Peter
is referring
to.
He's saying
you would
do well
to pay
attention
to it,
to these
New Testament
Christians.
Catching
that's
important.
There are
many people
in our
day that
are trying
to undo
that,
that are
trying to
say to
us that
the Old
Testament
ought to
be used
merely for
history and
inspiration.
I quote.
It's so
much more.
It's still
God's
inspired
word.
This was
the text
that New
Testament
Christians
had,
this Old
Testament.
Jesus'
Bible is
what they
had in
their day.
It is a
precious book
that should
be read
and rightly
understood,
and that is
not an easy
thing to do.
It is an
ancient,
ancient text.
Trying to
sort through
promises
already fulfilled
and promises
yet to be
fulfilled is a
challenge of
the Old
Testament.
But because
it's a
challenge,
we should
not dismiss
it.
Because it's
a little
hard to
understand.
We shouldn't
just do
away with
it,
but we
should get
in there
and do
the work
of understanding
it because
it's God's
inspired word.
The Old
Testament.
Okay,
the New
Testament.
Make an
argument for
the New
Testament.
A little
more difficult.
the Lord
also prepared
his disciples
for the
coming of
the New
Testament.
John 16
verse 12
says he'd
given the
spirit that
will lead
them into
all truth.
And so
he endorsed
it in
principle.
I'm going
to lead
you into
all truth
in principle
to the
apostles.
Paul received
revelation
pertaining to
redemption.
Galatians 1
verses 11
through 17
and expected
his writings
to be
received as
from God.
2 Thessalonians
chapter 2
verse 13
and verse
15.
Peter
classified
Paul's
writings
with the
inspired Old
Testament.
2 Peter
chapter 3
verse 16.
So we get
these hints
in our text
that's equating
it with the
Old Testament
as the
scriptures.
But how do
we end up
with our
New Testament?
How were
the books
that we
have,
the 27
books of
the New
Testament,
considered
and put
into the
canon of
scripture,
giving us
a total
of 66
books?
Well,
they were
considered
by this
criteria.
First,
the book
had to be
written by
a recognized
apostle.
Paul or
Peter would
be a fantastic
example of
that.
Secondly,
it had to
be written
by or
written by
somebody
associated
with the
recognized
apostle like
Luke or
Mark.
Third,
it went
through the
criteria of
truthfulness.
Deuteronomy
chapter 18
verse 20
and 22.
If a prophet
claims to be
speaking from
me and what
he has said
is not true,
then he has
not spoken
from me.
So they
were carefully
rolled around
and waited
and looked
at,
examined,
is this
consistent
with the
truth we
already have?
It went
through that
filter before
it was
considered to
be part of
the canon
of scripture.
Faithfulness,
much like
truthfulness,
right,
to previously
accepted
canonical
writings.
Again,
is it
contradictory in
any way to
other writings
that we've
already
affirmed
as
scripture.
Fifth,
confirmed
by
Christ,
prophet,
or an
apostle.
We have
some examples
of that.
Luke
chapter 24
verse 44,
2 Peter
chapter 3
verse 16.
Peter talks
about,
in that case,
2 Peter,
Paul's writings
being scripture.
And six,
the church's
usage
and
recognition.
The church
used these
writings,
these New
Testament
writings,
and was
deeply
edified by
them.
They were
believed
over time
that they
were from
God.
And so
the final
acceptance
of the
recognition
of the
66 books
of the
Bible
as
scripture
took place
at a
gathering
of church
leaders
called the
Senate of
Carthage
in
A.D.
397.
So quite
a bit
of time
after
Jesus'
life,
death,
and
resurrection.
Now,
there could
be much
criticism
of the
Bible
at this
point.
Oh,
so many
years
later,
I would
counterpoint,
but look
at the
time they
gave
to
carefully
weigh
and measure
and see
these works
out,
see them
edify in
the church.
The claim
is always
that the
church
made the
Bible,
selected
what it
did and
didn't
want to
be
contained
within
it,
but we
like to
rather think
in these
terms,
the church
did not
make the
Bible,
but rather
the Bible
made the
church.
And they
were merely
recognizing
that,
verifying
its use
and its
veracity.
Now,
to be added
to this,
in much
less measure,
it's worth
mentioning
our own
experience
with the
scriptures,
what John
Piper calls
a peculiar
glory.
The longer
I spend
studying the
Bible,
the more
flawlessly
I see it
fit together.
Even
pieces written
thousands
of years
apart,
the more
it feels
like the
work of
God.
how
would
such
a
magnificent
work
come
together
in
this
way,
written
by so
many
people
across
so
much
time,
if it
were
not
inspired
by
God.
The
more
I
study it,
the more
astounded
I am
by its
interconnectedness
and all
of its
beauty.
I know
that's not
something you
can break
your life
on,
me saying
it feels
like God's
word.
You
shouldn't
bank your
life on
that.
But for
me,
in addition
to more
objective
arguments,
I have
to say
it feels
like what
it claims
to be.
God
illuminates
the text
to me.
He makes
it come
alive as
I pick
it up
and read
it.
Paul wrote
in 1 Corinthians
chapter 2
verse 14,
the natural
person does
not accept
the things
of the
Spirit of
God,
for they
are folly
to him,
and he's
not able
to understand
them because
they are
spiritually
discerned.
So those
of us who
have the
Spirit of
God,
and I
know this
is a
difficult
claim to
make to
someone who's
not a
follower of
Christ,
we have
the Spirit
of God,
and the
Spirit of
God leads
us to
the truth,
and where
do we
find the
truth?
God's
inspired
word.
So what
we do is
we put the
truth in
front of
people as
often as
we can,
that the
Spirit might
awaken them
to the
truth of
the gospel.
So we
contend that
the Bible is
God's
inspired word
to mankind.
If then
the Bible is
God's inspired
word, then it
follows that it
is also his
inerrant word,
spelled properly
I-N-E-R-R-A-N-T.
Inerrant.
Just to prove I
wouldn't get out
in a Bible
bee on that
one.
The Bible is
God's inerrant
word to
mankind.
To say that
the Bible is
inerrant is
to say that
the Bible in
the original
manuscripts does
not contain
any error.
Because the
Bible is God's
inspired word,
then it cannot
contain error.
If we are
not able to
reconcile something
that seems to
be an error in
the Bible,
it must be
assumed that
there is
something wrong
with us,
not that there
is something
wrong with
the Bible.
Numbers 23,
verse 19,
says,
God is not
man that
he should
lie,
or a son
of man that
he should
change his
mind.
Has he
said,
and will
he not
do it?
Or has
he spoken,
and will
he not
fulfill it?
God can
not lie.
He would
not be
God if
he could.
He is
truth.
Therefore,
anything written
by him
must be
true.
So the
Bible can
be trusted,
and it
should be
trusted,
even when
it's difficult
to understand.
We put
ourselves
under it
and say,
I'm not
the most
brilliant person
to have
ever lived.
I hope you
know that
of yourself.
Many of us
act like we
don't.
But even
the most
brilliant person
to have
ever lived
is not
God.
So we
do the
labor of
getting in
there and
trying to
work this
thing out.
Understand it
as we
should.
So the
Bible is
inspired,
and because
it's inspired,
it's an
error.
And it
also means
that the
Bible is
authoritative.
The Bible
is God's
authoritative
word to
mankind.
When we
speak of the
Bible's
authority,
we are
saying that
the words
of the
Bible
carry God's
authority
since he
is their
author.
That makes
sense,
doesn't it?
God wrote
the book,
therefore,
it's
authoritative.
It carries
his weight
behind it.
So then,
to disbelieve
or disobey
the Bible
is to
disbelieve
or disobey
God
himself.
2 Thessalonians
3,
13-15.
Paul writes,
As for you
brothers,
do not
grow weary
in doing
good.
If anyone
does not
obey what
we say
in this
letter,
take note
of that
person and
have nothing
to do
with him
that he
may be
ashamed.
Do not
regard him
as an
enemy,
but warn
him as
a brother.
We ought
to tremble
when we
open up
this text.
When the
holy writ
comes out
before us
because it
is God
himself
speaking
to us,
directing
our lives
for our
good and
for his
glory.
We ought
to endeavor
to obey
it in
every way,
every jot
and tittle.
It ought
to bring
us great
pleasure to
do such
a work.
God's
word is
inerrant,
excuse me,
it is
inspired,
therefore it is
inerrant,
and it is
authoritative.
Fourth,
the Bible
is God's
clear word
to mankind.
The
clarity
of the
scripture
is a
doctrine
that I
run to
often as
I am
confused,
as I am
perplexed
by a
text.
I go,
oh,
but we
believe that
the Bible
is clear,
right?
That it
can instruct
simple
people.
The Bible's
clarity means
that those
who seek
to know
the truth
can know
it
by the
help of
the Holy
Spirit.
Those who
seek to
know it
can
by the
help
of the
Holy
Spirit.
A couple
of Old
Testament
texts
speak to
that.
Psalm
19,
verse 7,
the law
of the
Lord is
perfect,
reviving
the soul.
The
testimony
of the
Lord is
sure,
making
wise
the
simple.
Isn't
that good?
Isn't
that good?
And
throughout
the history
of the
church,
people who
most often
most readily
turn to
faith in
the gospel
of Jesus
Christ are
the simplest
of people,
not the
most brilliant
of people.
The most
brilliant of
people seem
to be their
own worst
enemies,
but people
who come
humbly
to the
text.
Lord,
make me
wise.
I am
but
simple.
Psalm
119,
verse
130.
The
unfolding of
your words
gives light.
It imparts
understanding
to the
simple.
Blessed
promises
found
in the
scripture.
That is
not to
say that
it is
always
easy.
It is
certainly
not.
As I
said before,
the Bible
is an
ancient
book.
It was
written
across
centuries.
It was
written in
languages
and cultures
that we
are not
first-hand
familiar
with.
Some
of our
great
difficulty
is trying
to
understand
the
context
into
which
the
text
was
written.
picking
up
translative
challenges
in the
text.
Although I
will tell
you that
more often
than not
when you
try to
deep dive
the
Greek,
the
English
words
are
really
great.
They
did a
good
job.
You
think,
I'm
going to
unlock
some
magic
in this
verse.
And you
go,
no,
that's
what the
Greek
word
means.
It's
what they
translated
it
in
English.
But there
is work
to be
done.
We have
to see
that the
Bible
wasn't
inspired
in
English.
no
version
of it
no
matter
what
somebody
will
tell
you.
This
is a
translation
of the
original
inspired
text.
And so
there is
work to
be done
in there.
And praise
God,
there's
great
kindness
toward us.
He gives
us people
who are
smarter
than us,
who do
this kind
of work
and put
it in
books
and let
us
reference
it
and
create
amazing
computer
programs
and
teach
and teach
and teach.
It's a
blessing
that we
get to
sit under
other
teaching.
I hope
it's a
blessing
to
you
that
you
sit
under
my
teaching
and I
labor
across
texts.
I joke,
although I probably
shouldn't because I should know Greek better than I do,
but that I learn Greek a week before you do.
I'm getting into it and working out meanings and trying to bring it to you in its greatest
accuracy.
So the clarity of Scripture doesn't mean that it's always an easy thing to do.
Christianity is itself an education as we try to pick up this book and know it and
understand it and understand it and understand it and understand it and that we might be obedient to our God.
This means that there are times that it will take a lot of work to sort out its meaning.
I'll give you the example of the issue of divorce and remarriage that we've been dealing with in the past months.
I won't say months, years, but I'm going to say months that I've been diligently working on it.
And we might, at the end of all of that, still not agree on exactly what the text
teaches.
But those things that are most important for life and godliness,
we can know
with great certainty.
What did Peter say in 2 Peter?
His divine power is granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness
through the knowledge of Him.
I'm back in 2 Peter chapter 1.
And then later he says, we have this more sure thing, this prophetic word,
which we will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place.
It lights our way, illuminates our path to the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts.
So the scripture is clear and it can be understood with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Fifth, the Bible is God's necessary word to mankind.
God created mankind to be in a relationship with Him,
walking under His instruction.
After the record of God creating man and woman in Genesis chapter 1,
we read in verses 28 through 30,
God blessed them and God said to them,
Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea
and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
And God said,
Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of the earth
and every tree with seed in its fruit.
You shall have them for food.
And every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens
and to everything that creeps on the earth,
everything that has the breath of life,
I have given every green plant for food and it was so.
So God gives Adam and Eve instruction.
He tells them what to do.
Be fruitful.
Multiply.
Fill the earth.
Rule over it.
He says subdue it.
Have dominion over it.
He gives them in the very beginning good instruction.
He tells them to have children and to care for the earth.
He'll state it again in Genesis chapter 2 verse 15.
Then God,
Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it.
And then in Genesis chapter 2 verse 16 and 17,
God gives them a command to not do.
He says,
You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.
For in the day that you eat of it,
you will surely die.
Again, good instruction.
I want good for you.
I put you on the earth for a purpose.
Do this, but don't do this.
And it's in chapter 3 of Genesis that the fall of man is recorded.
Adam and Eve decided not to follow the good word of God,
which is rebellion against him.
We are all guilty of this.
So you see that even prior to sin entering the world,
we were designed to live in relationship with God,
receiving his loving word to us and obeying it.
How much more needful we are now living with the repercussions of the curse.
We all the more need God's good instruction.
It is necessary for us.
Epistemology is the study of how we know what we know.
If you've been here long, you've heard me do this.
I'm going to do it super fast.
So if you've not been around,
I'll give you a fuller explanation sometime.
How do we know what we know?
And all of us have some framework that we come to the world with.
And it tends to run generationally.
So across the past generations,
my parents, some of you in this room,
not many of you in this room,
but some of you in this room,
would be considered modernists.
It's out of modernism that the scientific method arose.
So anything that could be measurable, tangible,
that's what's true.
It helps us to define truth.
It's measurable.
It's tangible.
And modernists tend to think in this way,
fairly locked in to this kind of thinking.
Faith becomes a challenge to them in that regard.
Or in some cases, some of the older generation,
they saw that church, quote unquote, worked.
And that became the very evidence for them.
Society's going well.
Church is part of that.
I will be part of church.
Church.
After the modernists emerged the postmodernists.
Creative names.
I fall into that category, postmodernists.
Believe that there is truth,
but we want to define truth for ourselves.
Truth is what we experience to be true.
So it's still based in something factual,
but I'm going to decide what is and isn't factual.
I want to feel it to be true.
A lot of weaknesses in that as well, to be clear.
I don't want to pick on the modernists.
Many of you in this room are now what we call post-postmodernists.
Post-postmodernists aren't sure that truth can be arrived at at all.
This is the age in which we live.
And just dip your toe in the world of social media,
and you will see that everyone seems to know, but no one really knows.
And there's a great deal of misplaced confidence in what is true.
And no matter how you arrive at what you think is true,
none of us are going to get it right,
apart from the revelation of God.
We need God to define for us what is true,
what is objective, what is absolute.
We all need a hook to hang our hat on.
Probably only the modernists get that in the room.
We need to go to something that is absolute,
something that speaks from without,
speaks into our lives and tells us what is true
and what is good and what is beautiful.
The Bible does this.
The Bible is necessary for our salvation,
and it's necessary for our sanctification.
Romans 10, verse 17,
So faith comes from hearing,
and hearing through the Word of Christ.
This is how we come to faith in Jesus Christ.
The Scripture, whether preached,
or shared one-to-one,
or read,
is the Word of God
that is used as the tool
by the Holy Spirit
to birth faith in the Christian.
That I'm sharing with you
what the Word of God says,
that I'm reading to you
the Word of God,
that you're hearing it proclaimed,
sitting in a sermon,
listening to it on the radio.
This is the sword that the Spirit wields
to bring about salvation of God's people.
Not only that,
He brings about perfection,
sanctification,
this process of ever-growing holiness
in the life of a Christian.
There is, I would contend,
a one-to-one ratio
of people who are actively studying
and applying the Scripture to holiness.
And to those who are finding their lives
are struggling,
and they're finding themselves
caught in habitual sin,
or not doing the other altogether,
well, they don't do it well at all.
God has not told us
everything in the Bible.
The Bible doesn't contain
all truth for mankind,
but He has told us
everything necessary
for holiness.
That's why we call it the Holy Bible.
It's the absolute resource,
the authoritative book
on holiness.
Deuteronomy 29, verse 29.
The secret things belong to the Lord our God,
but the things that are revealed
belong to us
and to our children forever,
that we may do all the words
of this law.
He's given us what we need
to proceed in holiness.
Jesus prays in John 17.
Not too long ago,
Clay preached a series
through the High Priestly Prayer.
Jesus pray,
Jesus prays not that
God would take His disciples
out of the world,
but that He would leave them
in the world.
Verse 15, He says,
I do not ask that you take them
out of the world,
but that you keep them
from the evil one.
They are not of the world,
just as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them in the truth.
Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world,
so I have sent them
into the world.
And for their sake,
I consecrate myself
that they also may be
sanctified in truth.
There's the word of God
that gives us what we need,
equips us to go out
into the world
and live for Jesus Christ.
So, the Bible is necessary.
Sixth and last.
I'm moving.
The Bible is God's sufficient word
to mankind.
The Bible's sufficiency
means that it contains within it
all of the instruction
that we need
for our salvation
and our sanctification.
All of it.
We don't have to go beyond
the pages of Scripture
to figure out
how we ought to live
as followers of Jesus Christ.
That includes things like
how we conduct ourselves
as a church.
Many applications
of our living.
It has everything in it
that we need.
Beloved,
we far too often run
to extra-biblical sources.
Some good
that points back
to the Scripture.
Help us to understand
the Scripture.
I'm constantly promoting books.
Constantly.
Please be readers.
That's fantastic.
But read stuff
that points you back
to the Scripture.
Put you in this text
because it is sufficient
for the task.
We have a culture
that is looking
for answers everywhere.
Oprah Winfrey
has built a career
on this.
People need help.
She's ready to provide it
in any way
that tickles their ears.
We have pastors
in our day
that are doing
the very same thing
instead of taking people
to the text.
It is sufficient
for all of this.
I'll bring you back
to a text
that I read earlier
but I'm going to read it
in its completion.
2 Timothy 3
verses 16 and 17.
All Scripture
is breathed out by God
and profitable
for teaching,
for reproof,
for correction,
and for training
in righteousness.
All the ways
that we need
to give application
of this text
to our lives
that the man of God
may be complete,
equipped for
every good work.
Everything
that we are meant
to do,
all of it
is given to us
in this text.
It speaks to us
about our various
kinds of sin,
our sins of commission,
the things that we're
not to do
and yet we do them
anyway.
And then too often
ignored in the church
the things that we are
supposed to be doing
but we do not do.
It speaks to us
about both
sins of commission
and omission.
Shows us the way
in which we
should walk.
So the Bible
is God's inspired,
inherent,
authoritative,
clear,
necessary,
and sufficient
word
to mankind.
I hope you even
pick some of this up
each Lord's Day
when I get up
to preach
before I read the text
and I say,
beloved,
this is God's
word to us.
It's written for
His glory
and our good.
We would all do well
to believe its promises
and obey
its commands.
And
most of you
don't know
that I started
doing that
when we had a young
man who was a member
of our church
who's now moved away.
Good member,
faithful member,
left on good terms.
He was really
struggling with
the Bible's
inerrancy.
Particularly,
it's inerrancy.
He had read
so many garbage books
that had him
all confused.
And at the end
of it all,
as I'm speaking
with him
and trying to
bring him back
to and apply
the apologetics
for the Scripture,
what really came
down to it
is that he wanted
the Bible's promises
but he did not
want to obey
its commands.
He wanted all
the good promises
of God
but he really
wanted to live
his life
the way he wanted
to live his life.
And so,
the following
Lord's Day,
I kind of
in a flurry
just ripped
those two sentences
out,
put them at the
beginning of the text
to make the point
to this young man,
I want you to hear this,
you can't have it
your way.
You've got to take
God on his terms.
If you're going to
have his promises,
you have to obey
his commands.
He gives the evidence
of his promises
being fulfilled
in our lives.
This is what
2 Peter,
that's what Peter's
trying to communicate
to us,
right?
Live in this way,
make your calling
and election sure,
right?
And then you'll know,
you'll never fall away
because you're God's,
you belong to him
and it's this text
that communicates
that to us
and praise God,
he saw that,
right?
By the work of the
Spirit,
not because I wrote
a catchy phrase
but because I opened
up the text,
right?
Each Sunday,
I opened up the text
and I'm forever
grateful for that
in his life.
So some application.
Read and study
the Bible.
I hope that's the
first and most
obvious application.
But you cannot
read and study
the Bible
as if you would
read any other
book.
College students,
I think this is
especially entrapping
for you.
I know it was for me
when I was in school.
There's so much
you have to read,
right?
You're getting
information pumped
at you all the time.
Do not treat
the Scripture
like all the other
texts you have to
read, right?
This is a sacred
text, right?
Written by our
God for us.
He wants to meet
with you in the
Scriptures.
George Whitfield,
the great evangelist
on the front of your
bulletin, said,
the Scriptures contain
the deep things of
God and therefore
can never be
sufficiently searched
into by a careless,
superficial,
cursory way of
reading them,
but by an
industrious,
close,
and humble
application.
I fear
that the rise
of the
information age
and the way
information comes
at us so fast,
particularly
through social
media,
soundbite,
right?
The 24-hour
news cycle.
My word,
just information
is coming like
this all the time,
that we as a
people are losing
the ability
to sit and be
quiet and have
deep thoughts,
right?
To sit with
the text.
And we might
need to do
something dramatic
to discipline
ourselves back
towards being
able to really
read and study
the Bible,
right?
Just try to get
away from your
technology and
spend good time.
If you're ever up
here during the
week, you will
find me at times
pacing the parking
lot.
I've gotten pretty
good at not
running into stuff
and reading while
walking to get
away from my
computer.
It's constant
stuff dinging at
me all the time
and distracting
me away.
What if Satan
and his great
mastery of lies
has promoted
these kinds of
things?
I'm not saying
anybody who
invented any of
these things is a
tool of Satan.
But as working
us into a place
where we are so
even unable to
read God's word
and to think
deeply about it,
to really meet
with him in the
scripture,
right?
We might read
it to check a
box, right?
Beware the
Instagram Bible.
Somebody might
say, I read my
Bible every day
and it's some
post, some
meme that
somebody posts.
It's a half
of a verse
taken out of
its context.
You might flip
open an app.
These things can
be helpful to
us, but we
don't really
drink deeply
of God's
word.
It may take
some serious
discipline in
our lives.
Reading other
books, I will
tell you, helps.
You read other
books, point you
to the scripture.
It's a good
discipline to
have.
So read and
study the Bible.
Secondly, meditate
on and memorize
the Bible.
Meditate on and
memorize the
Bible.
And I will tell
you that if you
will meditate,
memorization follows
really easily
behind it.
Right?
That you really
roll a text around
in your brain.
That you really
think about what
it means.
I have member
health survey
results.
If you're not a
member of our
church, this is
something we're
trying to do
every year.
There's a big
disconnect between
everyone's, who
filled it out, idea
of what they know
to be true.
I read the
Bible.
I understand the
Bible.
I'm equipped.
I've got everything
I've got going on.
I'm solid on the
doctrines.
I totally get it.
There's a big
disconnect between
that and
obedience.
There's a lot of
habitual sin.
There's a lack of
sharing the
gospel.
There's a big
disconnect between
the two.
And I know that we
desire.
I know that we
are zealous.
We want to do
good works.
I don't think
anybody in here is
just lackadaisical
and lazy.
I think the
disconnect,
though, is we
say we
understand, we
say we read, but
we don't really
meet with God in
the Scripture.
We don't really
let Him sink
truth deep down
into us.
Let it take
root and
changes as a
result.
So there's a
challenge to our
church in this
way.
So read and
study it, meditate
on and memorize
it, and obey
it, and then walk
it out.
Don't just be
hearers, but be
doers of the
word also.
In closing, you
guys are familiar
with Martin
Luther.
October 31st,
1517, nailed
the 95
theses on the
Wittenberg
door because he
was in the
Scripture, because
he was meeting
with God in the
Bible and saw
the heirs of
the Catholic
Church in this
day, kicked
off the
Protestant
Reformation that
cried all
throughout it, and
we cry it to
this day, sola
scriptura.
The text, the
text, the
text.
He penned
this poem.
Feelings come,
and feelings go,
and feelings are
deceiving.
My warrant is
the word of
God, not
else is worth
believing.
Though all my
heart should feel
condemned for
want of some
sweet token, there
is one greater
than my heart
whose word cannot
be broken.
I'll trust in
God's unchanging
word till soul
and body sever.
For though all
things shall pass
away, his word
shall stand
forever.
Let's pray
together.