You've all played a game called "gossip" that points out the weakness of spoken words:
A minister, a few years ago, tells his associate: "Next Sunday, at 10:00 p.m., Hailey's comet will appear here. This happens only once every 75 years. Have the SS classes arrange everyone outside to watch this phenomenon. If it rains, then cancel this day's observation and have everyone assemble inside to see a movie about this comet created by our God.
-The SS tells the teachers, "Next Sunday, at 10:00 a.m., the minister will appear in our parking lot with Hailey's comet - something that occurs once every 75 years. If it rains, the minister will cancel the comet and order us all into the phenomenal fellowship hall for a movie about God."
-A SS teacher told his class, "When it rains next Sunday, our phenomenal 75 year old preacher will cancel all classes and appear in the fellowship hall with Bill Hailey and the Comets."
I'm a writer. If I don't write it down, I won't get it done. I'm one of the few people I know who brings note cards to the dinner table just so I'll remember what to talk about! Ha!
A written word is a good thing. It can't change. It doesn't depend on my memory to say what it means.
-Have you ever thought about what a great thing it is that God gave us His word in written form?
The truth we’re going to dwell on today is one that's very near to my heart. I really want for us to regain the reputation for being a people of the Book - especially today when so many churches feel free to let it go. 2 truths:
I. The Bible is Inspired
We hear the word inspiration used a lot. Someone might say, "You're words were inspirational!" or "Your actions inspired others to follow." Maybe you sing a song and someone will say, "That song inspired me to not give up!" That's one way we talk about inspiration -- another way of saying, "It motivated me." That's "inspiring."
Now, when we talk about something being "inspired," that's a different story.
If I listened to Dinelle or Marsha or Cindy or Joni playing the piano on Sunday morning, and it motivated me to take up piano lessons, then I got up here and tried to play chopsticks for you, would you say that music was "inspired?" Let’s try it! I feel “inspired” to play something right now! (attempt this)
-Was that inspired playing? Sort of! But there has to be more to "inspiration" than that!
*II Tim 3:16-17
-Hear this: The Bible claims for itself that it's inspired by God. Does that mean that God just motivated people to write some really good things, or does it go beyond that? The answer to that question completely controls the way I regard this Book.
The word here, that we often refer to as "inspired" literally means the "out breathing" of God. Peter says it another way, *2 Pt 1:20-21.
-Inspiration is the supernatural influence of the HS on men which insured that they wrote exactly what God wanted them to write for our salvation and service.
Is God able to do that? He made a donkey talk to deliver a message to Balaam! He spoke from a burning bush to Moses! He made a floating hand write a message on the wall to Belshazzar.
-Heb 1:1 "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways"
1. God used humans give us His word -- about 40 different humans, over a period of about 1500 years. But recognizing how He did that is important. It's the difference between really interesting writing, and writing that's the very breath of God.
2. Was it God, overseeing that every note I played on the piano was the right note, or was it me, feeling really moved, attempting to get up here, untrained, and play this morning?
3. Was it Godly men, motivated to attempt to set the truth into words? Or was it God making sure that everything they wrote was exactly what He wanted? Or was it somewhere in-between?
In the NT, time & time again, the writers look back to the OT and talk about it being the very words of God. At least 56X the NT quotes from the OT and says that God said that -- not just Moses or David or Jeremiah. All throughout the NT, the writers of the NT regard the OT as God's word, not just good writing.
Acts 4:25: "You spoke by the HS through the mouth of your servant, our father David, (Ps 2)."
In the same way, Jesus looks back and believes the story of creation, as it's found in Gen, to be true. He believes the story of Jonah, as it's found in the book of Jonah, to be true. He says in Jn 10:35, "the Scripture cannot be broken," When He was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, His reply each time was a quotation from the OT: "It stands written..." Jn 17:17 "Your word is truth." (DYBI?)
But Jesus not only looked back to the OT, He gave us reasons to accept the NT as God's word too. He promised the Apostles that the HS would remind them of everything He had said to them. He promised them that the same HS would "guide [them] into all truth." (Jn 14 &16). We call that the "inspiration" of the Bible.
-Then, as the NT writers wrote, they said their own writing was more than their own.
*Gal 1:11-12 *I Thes 2:13 *2 Pt 3:15-16 - What Paul wrote was Scripture, just like Gen. and the Ps. and Ez. were "Scripture."
The Bible is inspired. The HS oversaw the process of writing the Scriptures so that what was written was exactly what God wanted to be written. That means that when I pick up the Bible, it doesn't just contain the word of God, it doesn't become the word of God, it is the word of God for us. It isn't just "inspiring" writing, it's inspired writing.
Some of you are thinking I'm hammering the point. "OK, OK, what's the big deal? Why get in a huff over people who have a pretty good attitude toward the Bible but don't 100% accept all it says?
• After all, does it matter if the Israelites really crossed over the Red Sea on dry ground?
• Does it matter that God really did create the world in 6 days, or maybe did He use evolution?
Let's face it, some parts of the Bible are fairly hard to accept by human reason. Is it really necessary for me to believe all of that?"
-It all goes back to this question of inspiration. Did God inspire this book, or not?
Ill - Let's say I have a Bible, and I turn to Gen 11 and read about how God gave many different languages to mankind. Now, that's an interesting story, but doesn't it sound an awful lot like an old legend attempting to explain something that just happened by nature? I mean, there didn't have to be a miracle for languages to develop, did there? It doesn't have to be there, does it?
So, I decide that really isn't true like. In fact, I decide, as some have, that the whole first 11 chs of Gen aren't really true. Do they belong in the Bible? Do I really need them? (tear out 2 pages) Then I turn to the NT, and I read Jesus saying that to follow Him I must deny myself and take up my cross, and follow Him. You know, a lot of modern scholars have gotten together, and they’ve voted on the gospels and decided among themselves that only about 8% of the quotes credited to Jesus are things Jesus actually said, so I guess I can remove that one. (tear out a page)
Now, what's wrong with what I've just done?
It's not that I have somehow desecrated the Good Book. The book I just tore up wasn't a Bible -- it was a fake!
No, what's wrong is, when I decide that any part of the Bible isn't the word of God, I make myself the authority instead of God. When I feel free to not accept any one part of it, I'm no different than a person who holds it up and tears out the parts I don't like.
Ill - Jer 36, Jehoiakim, an evil king of Judah, had his officials bring Jeremiah's scroll and read it to him. Jeremiah had dictated it and had it written down. But it predicted the fall of Judah, hard days to come, and Jehoiakim didn't want to accept it. So, as a few columns were read to him, he cut them off the scroll and threw them into the fire, until the whole thing was burned. God wasn't pleased with the man who rejects His inspired word:
(Jer 36:30 31) "Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night. I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened."
I'm concerned about the person who rejects the word of God! The book of Jeremiah, and the rest of the Bible, is inspired. That means the Bible is authoritative. That means...
(II. The Bible is Authoritative) - I've Got a Reason to Listen!
This is the "Oh yeah? So what do you want me to do about it?" part.
I've got a reason . . .
1. To Study it. Thoroughly!
-When you read the local newspaper, what's at stake? What might you lose - a garage sale?
-When you study a book for school, what's at stake? What might you lose? A grade, a GPA, maybe even a scholarship and a career!
-When you take up and read God's word, what's at stake? Your life and relationships right now, your eternity, the future of the Church and the souls of your family and the people around you. I've got a reason to thoroughly study God's word!
-(2 Tim 2:15) Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. - Study it! KJV has the word "study" here, but if you study carefully, you'll find that it's not just talking about studying, it means to take pains, to be diligent, to do your best, so that you won't be ashamed of the way you handle God's word.
- Many church cornerstones contain a quote from (Pro 29:18) Where there is no vision, the people perish," But that v. isn't just talking about being a visionary kind of people who dream about the future, it's speaking of the presence or lack of a word from God. Finish the verse, and it reads like this: "Where there is no vision, the people perish, but he that keepeth the law, happy is he."
What's the big deal? The big deal is, God's word is inspired, and I've got a reason to study it thoroughly and to understand it to the best of my ability. I’ve got a reason…
2. To treat it all as equally true
-There are some parts of the Bible that are easier to picture than others. I can picture in my mind Jesus walking the Villa De La Rosa with the cross on His back more easily than I can picture Him walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee, but both accounts are equally true. If the Lord made the walls of Jericho fall, even though I have a hard time picturing that rationally, it's just as true as anything else in the Bible that I read.
I can easily accept the verse that says "Children obey your parents," but the verse that says I should love my wife just as Christ loved the Church is just as true.
If it's all inspired by the same HS, then it's all equally true and authoritative - then the black letter parts that Paul wrote are just as authoritative as the red-letter parts that Jesus spoke in the gospels. It's all equally true. (let me build on that idea:) I’ve got a reason…
3. To assume that if there's an apparent mistake, I'm the problem
-When I start with this foundation -- that the Bible is God's perfect, inspired word, then it completely changes the way I approach passages that are hard to understand or seem to contradict.
When I read, (1 Co 14:34) "women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says." and I don't like that - it doesn't seem to fit with the rest, what is my approach? Do I just assume it's a mistake because it doesn't fit with what I know or practice, or do I remember that it's the inspired word of God and somewhere in there my understanding, my limited experience, my feelings, my perception, is the problem? I’ve got a reason…
4. To trust it in everything it says
Some argue that the Bible contains historical errors or numerical errors, "but that doesn't matter because where teaching is concerned it's free of errors." A Bible that's not error-free is no Bible for me! If it's able to have errors in areas of science or history, it's just as able to have errors in the teachings of Paul or James or Jesus! Isn't God able to inspire an error-free Bible? Why would He do any less?
-So I've got a reason to trust everything it says, not just the parts that seem the most important to me. Creation? You bet! Worldwide flood? You bet! 10 plagues on Egypt? You bet! Red Sea split in 2? You bet! Sun stood still for a day? You bet! Jonah swallowed by a great fish? You bet! I’ve also got reason…
5. To hold up my life, our Church, other teachers and preachers, to its standard
I know you'll find this hard to believe... Preachers make mistakes. Teachers, make mistakes. Churches get into practices that aren't right.
There are differences of opinion that people can squabble over till the cows return to Hinkley Hill, but when it comes to things the Bible talks about, there's a standard that we need to all pay attention to.
(Acts 17:11) "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."
-The greatest compliment you can ever pay to this preacher is do what the Bereans did. They accepted God's word to be truth. And I invite you to hold me up to that standard. If I step outside it, you show me, so that I can correct it. You can share your opinion with me too, but that's different than God's word! Let's hold ourselves up to the standard of God's word. It's perfect. It supersedes our opinions and traditions. We've got a reason to listen.
Conclusion: The Bible is inspired. And when a perfect God oversees the writing of a book, it's going to be a perfect book. I believe it. Do you?
So when this perfect book spells out for me God's way to eternal life, I believe it.
When it warns me that there's a day of Judgment coming, and that every one of us will stand before the throne of God to give an account of our lives, I believe it.
When it tells me that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, I believe it.
