SCCC - Sermons: 18 February 2007: THE DIVINE WORD: TRUTH INSPIRED!

SERIES: 3 of 4 on God’s Word
TOPIC: God's Word; bible, scripture
TITLE: THE DIVINE WORD: TRUTH INSPIRED!

TEXT: 2 Timothy 3:16-17

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

The first message in this series directed our attention to "THE LIVING WORD: TRUTH INCARNATE."

There we looked at the word as a living organism, God's Word and God's Son being one and the same, God divine and human … without division.

Then we looked at man as he searches for truth … as he is confronted by the Living Word of Truth, his sin nature simultaneously denying the very truth searched for!

We also asked the question: IS THE WORD OF GOD AUTHORITATIVE? We answered with a confident YES!

IF THE AUTHOR IS AUTHORITATIVE, THEN HIS WRITINGS ARE AUTHORITATIVE! [Matthew 7:29]

The 2nd message turned to “THE VISIBLE WORD: TRUTH REVEALED."

We should have examined how God reveals Himself, and how the word of God is a revelation of God about Himself. We would have found the truth to be a person; the visible word ... Jesus ... "TRUTH REVEALED."

Today we turn to the inspired truth of 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

The Bible is not just the cleverly created work of man, but rather the divinely superintended work of Almighty God Himself.

IF A THING IS INFALLIBLE IT CAN’T BE THE WORK OF A FALLIBLE CREATURE (man) RATHER IT MUST BE INFALLIBLY PRODUCED!

IF GOD IS THE AUTHOR AND GOD IS INFALLIBLE, THE WORK OF THE AUTHOR IS INFALLIBLE; THEN WHAT HE SAYS OR WRITES IS INFALLIBLE (i.e., without error).

This is where the rubber meets the road; where the incarnate and revealed and inspired word of the living God meets the believer.

FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: What must we know about inspiration?
CONCISE OUTLINE:

I. WE MUST KNOW WHAT INSPIRATION ISN’T!
II. WE MUST KNOW WHAT INSPIRATION IS!
III. WE MUST KNOW HOW INSPIRATION PERTAINS TO US!

TRUTH CLAIM: The text literally says "All Scripture is God breathed" and points back to Genesis, creation's beginning, where God breathed life into the dust of the earth and man became a living creature. [Genesis 2:7]

[STRONG (edited)] G2315 θεόπνευστος, theopneustos, theh-op'-nyoo-stos; divinely breathed in: - given by inspiration of God … pneustos (breathe) being related to pnuema (spirit).

The God who gave life to inanimate dirt is the same God who has given life to the inanimate and abstract content of what we call "the Word of God."

Any wonder we claim it has profound and eternal importance to mankind? Any wonder the umbilical cord of our faith is firmly attached to the very cover of your bibles?

FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: What must we know about inspiration?
EXPANDED OUTLINE:

I. WE MUST KNOW WHAT INSPIRATION ISN'T!

Many theories about the Bible have been proposed these past 3,000 years.

A. The Bible is not the result of man's natural effort!
“no prophecy was ever made by an act of will, but [as] men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
2 Peter 1:20-21
It is not the superior intuition or insight of natural man into the realm of spiritual and moral truth. Not human speculation about God, independent of God's influence (revelation).

It is not the heightened perception of man resulting from centuries of contemplation about God's existence [no guru on Mountain tops here].
B. The Bible isn't the result of recording man's traditions!
Not man’s fallible record of fallible traditions which “contain” elements of truth, mixed with personal and subjective elements.
[COFFEE] Those who see the Bible as errant but inspired ... meaning the Bible contains God’s truth, but is mixed with the errant writings of errant authors won't like the true story of the pastor's wife who poisoned three husbands with her coffee. There was plenty of good coffee in there, but a little arsenic killed them all.
So too an error in God's Word …
C. The Bible is not the result of a God-alone action!
The Bible did not come about by way of God overpowering the personalities of the writers, like a typist does a typewriter, making it do what it’s told to.
D. The Bible is not a religion-only thing!
The Bible’s truth is not restricted to spiritual matters alone, excluding such things as history, science, and philosophy; there are a minimum of five genre’s present (history, prophecy, poetry, lyric, and doctrine).

II. WE MUST KNOW WHAT INSPIRATION IS!

A. Definition
Inspiration is God's superintendence of the human authors, by His Holy Spirit, in such a way that, the authors composed and recorded without error, God's supernatural revelation, in the words of what we call the original autographs, while retaining their own personalities and styles.

FOR EXAMPLE:
[Jesus asked the Pharisees], “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They answered, “The Son of David.” So He responded, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying: ‘The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'? ... And no one was able to answer Him a word....’”
Matthew 22:41-46
So, even the Pharisees understood the inspiration of the Scriptures by God through His Holy Spirit!

This is what God means when He says through the apostle Paul, "ALL SCRIPTURE IS GOD BREATHED ..."
B. Limitations
Inspiration only applies to the original autographs! However, to the extent they’re faithful to them, our bibles are also inspired!
C. Reliability
[APPARENT] Any allegation of contradictions or errors in the Bible must be understood as apparent, not real.

Like the head of the Australian lizard, whose tail looks more like a head than the head; the tail has the appearance but not the reality.
The Bible is like that: people who claim it is fallible do not really understand inspiration and most likely do not know or understand the Lord!
• No prophecy of Scripture has ever failed to be fulfilled!
• No reasonable criticism has stood up to examination!
• The claim of fallibility denies God's infallible nature.
• In every case where the word has been accurately applied it has enhanced life!
When all the facts are known, the Bible will be found completely true in all that it claims and affirms to the degree intended by God. The Bible, quite simply, has the God given quality of being insulated from error.

III. WE MUST KNOW HOW IT PERTAINS TO US!

One group says, "[Scripture] is the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried." [“Scripture”; Baptist Faith & Message, 1999]
[BONES] Other folks do not read the Bible because, they say, there are too many things in it they can’t understand. They say these things trouble them. Of course this is just an excuse.

These same people will eat fried chicken. What happens when they find bones in their chicken? Do they excuse themselves, and say, "We can't chew the bony parts of the chicken; so we won't eat any of it?" Hardly; they merely enjoy their chicken and set the bones aside. Why not put at least this much effort into Bible reading? [2000+ Illustrations; e Sword]
Though not exhaustive in its inclusion of subjects, the Word is divinely-sufficient for use as a standard for all life and living.

In this sophisticated day, with its massive ability to communicate huge amounts of misinformation, we must labor to defend our faith.
[LOGIC] For anyone who believes in the virgin birth and the resurrection of Jesus, belief in the divine inspiration of the Scriptures is just another step of faith.

For anyone who doesn't accept the inspiration of the Bible, that individual's claim of belief in the virgin birth and the resurrection is open to suspicion.

He who miraculously created the baby Jesus without the agency of a human father, is the same One who wrote the Bible with the agency of a human author.
To the extent you allow for errors in the Bible, to that extent you weaken the Bible's divine nature.
To the extent you weaken its divine nature, to that extent you garble the revelation of God.
To the extent you garble God's message to man, to that extent you the lives of man.
To the extent you make the lives of men dysfunctional, to that extent you exclude God from the message.
To the extent you exclude God from the message; to that extent you deny God's authority over His creation and creatures.
To the extent man embarks on this sea of subjectivism, to that extent he sails with the fleet of uncertainty, following the winds of destruction!

APPLICATION/CHALLENGE: What if?

What is the probability you would be able to raise a child successfully if that child did not acknowledge your authority over him or her!
What if your every dealing with your child carried an element of distrust in it?
What if he acknowledged you as his parent but never listened when you spoke?
What if (when she did) she made whatever she wanted to of what you said?

These questions apply to us in our relationship with our Father, who is in heaven. And if Christianity is not a religion but a relationship, think what this means.

If His word has no authority or we make what we want of His word, we deny Him! Since Jesus is the Word and the is God we find ourselves in the state of denying both our Creator and our Savior.

It is His Word which gives us confidence in Him, allowing us to be the children He wants us to be! How can you say you believe in Jesus but not the Word?

Get it together! Do it today! Go home, take your Bible and ask yourself, "How can I say I believe in Jesus but not in His word????"

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