Valuing the Word of God as Absolute Truth 11-9-08 (Eric M.)
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
Psalm 119:43-50 (NIV)
Do not snatch the word of truth from my mouth, for I have put my hope in your laws. 44 I will always obey your law, for ever and ever. 45 I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts. 46 I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame, 47 for I delight in your commands because I love them.48 I lift up my hands to your commands, which I love, and I meditate on your decrees49 Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope. 50 My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.
Let’s pray. Father… your words to us today are the very source of comfort, guidance and truth. Even as we read it and study it we gain greater understanding of who you are and what you are doing. Yet., God,… we will never fully comprehend everything there is to know about you and your ways. It is with that humble acknowledgement that we turn today to your word and ask for your Spirit to draw us and speak to us and show us in a greater way how big you are, how grand you, how reliable you are, how faithful you area and how worthy of worship you are. Grant us ear to hear and hearts that are open, we ask in Jesus precious name Amen.
Today we continue our series on the values that make up our church mission statement. So easy enough the title of today’s message is Valuing the Word of God as Absolute Truth.
Introduction:“It’s just a book! It’s just a book!” shouted the professor. Rice paper pages dropped to the ground of the classroom as the professor tore them out of a leather-bound Bible he was holding. The students in the introductory religion class sat in stunned silence. This was not what they expected in their religion class. The professor (who taught New Testament) wanted to graphically get the point across to his students that they were studying just another book: a book of spiritual value certainly, but a book, nonetheless with printed and bound pages like every other book. Unfortunately, the professor had lost sight of an important fact; God’s Word does not just consist of letters printed on a page in black ink. Rather each word, each sentence, each paragraph and each verse in the Bible is filled with the breath of God.
The values of our mission as a church is based on the belief and trust in how we view not only who God is, but what he says. "The B-I-B-L-E yes that’s the book for me. I stand alone on the word of God, the B-I-B-L-E." If we are going to carry out what the Lord would have us do, we must understand what he is saying for us to do. And we must know that it is Him saying it. And we must do it the way He says we are to do it.
We’ve been talking about values. Values are that which we hold high in importance in our life and living. If we say we value family, we will raise a family and spend time and effort into it. If we value time alone, we will spend efforts in carving out and enjoying that time. It’s something that is important.
As a church we have been saying that we value certain things that are of high importance and out of those important things, we have this mission, this vision for what the church is to do. Today, we are looking at the valuing the Bible as absolute truth and the central truth that I want each of you to walk out of here with is found in the following statement:
“Since the Bible is God’s Word, we know it to be absolutely true and without error and are to value everything it says”
For the rest of our time we are going to unpack this statement so that we have a clear understanding of it. So first off in your notes:
I. The Bible is God’s Word
Let’s read this verse together…
“All Scripture is breathed out by God…” 2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV)
How do we know that this collection of 66 books are the very Words of God? How do we know that what this professor was so dramatically demonstrating wasn’t true that this book isn’t just another book? Well we know this in two primary ways:
1. The Testimony of Scripture Itself
What does the Scriptures say about itself? I mean we understand at a very young age that Jesus loves us this we know because the bible tells me so. In this children song from Sunday school we place the very reason we know Jesus loves us on the Bible. And while this is good that the Bible tells me so… what else does the bible tell me so? What other simple yet profound truths are we to put our faith into simply because the Bible tells me so?
Let me ask this before we go on…with a show of hands how many here believe that the Bible is the Word of God? Well, what does the bible say?
1. We see that the Bible recorded various instances of God talking. It recorded God’s words in direct conversation.
Exodus 20:1-4
The most familiar in the giving of the Law on Mt Sinai
And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
Genesis 1:28-30
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.”
And it was so. And then after the fall Genesis 3:9-19 we see he spoke to both man woman and even the serpent.
God had long talks with Abram starting with his first call.
Genesis 12:1-3
The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Turn to Exodus 3:1-7 (READ)
The Bible records the conversations between God and Samuel, God and Elijah. Even the poetic response to Job. Large portions of the legal code in the first five books in the Bible are viewed as conversations God had with Moses. Many of the Prophets had recorded conversations they had with the Lord.
The point is this, in the Old Testament, God frequently and directly communicates with people through actual spoken words, not just ideas or thoughts. Through these conversations, there is a clear call for absolute belief and absolute obedience in these manners.
• So the Bible recorded God’s words in direct conversation.
• It also recorded God’s words in the prophet’s declarations.
Declarations are made by prophets from God. They start with introductory statements like “thus says the Lord…” and a standard conclusion like “says the Lord.” This statement is found hundreds of times in the Old Testament and in the world at that time was identical to the phrase “Thus says the king…”. When the subjects of the king heard such an edict with this introduction, that edict was not challenged or questioned it was simply to be obeyed. As a result, when prophets made declarations of ‘Thus says the Lord…” they were claiming to be the messengers of the sovereign King of Israel, God himself, carrying the very authoritative words of God. If they didn’t they would be considered false prophets. Look at these recordings…
1 Kings 14:17,18
Then Jeroboam’s wife got up and left and went to Tirzah. As soon as she stepped over the threshold of the house, the boy died. 18 They buried him, and all Israel mourned for him, as the LORD had said through his servant the prophet Ahijah.
2 Kings 9:36
They went back and told Jehu, who said, “This is the word of the LORD that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel’s flesh.
Jeremiah 37:2
Zedekiah son of Josiah was made king of Judah by … 2 Neither he nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the LORD had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.
Notice this verse
1 Samuel 15:1-3
Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the LORD sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the LORD. 2 This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
But then in verse 18...
And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.’ 19 Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?” So the Bible recorded God’s words in direct conversation, as well as the prophet’s declarations. These verse don’t claim that all the word in the Old Testament are God’s words. They only point to specific sections of spoken and written words of the Old Testament. But when we see the written record of God’s words that are collected in these 39 books we see a large portion of the Old Testament where it is said, these are God’s word and they are recorded.
What else does the Bible say:
2. We see the Bible reaffirms all of the Old Testament as God’s Word through New Testament passages.
Moving to the New Testament we see how Jesus viewed the OT.
Let’s read this verse together: Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Luke 24;44
The three fold structure of the Law, Psalms and the Prophets referred to the Jewish Scriptures (which was all there was at the time) which are the same as the Protestant Old Testament.
In Matthew 23: 36 Jesus alludes to “the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son Barachiah”. Abel of course is mentioned earliest in Genesis 4:8 which is the first book in the Hebrew bible and Zecharaiah is mentioned toward the end of 2 Chron 24:21 which was the last book in the Jewish Scriptures. (which had the same books as our Old Testament just in a different order.
In Mark 12:36 Jesus said… “David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared…” then David is quoted in Ps 110:1. So here Jesus is saying David spoke by the Holy Spirit.
In Matthew 19;4-5 Jesus answered the Pharisee concerning the problem of divorce by referring to Gen 2:24 as something said by God, though these are words of the biblical narrator and not a direct quote from God himself…“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh?’” (ESV)
Jesus viewed the entire OT Scriptures as the very words of God; narrative, quotes, prophetic and Psalm and all. And truly as we trust in the fact that Jesus Himself is God the Son, we must by faith see the OT the same way.
In the verse at the top of the section in your notes… 2 Timothy 3:16 we see the words “all Scripture” The word “Scripture” is mentioned 51 times in the NT… each time, it is referring to the entire OT writings as a whole. So.. the OT writings are regarded as God’s word in written form.
Many other passages in the NT speak of attributing to God what was written. (2 Peter 1:19-21, Matt 1:22, Acts 2:16-17; Psalm 69; 109 Luke 1:70; 24:25; John 5:45-47; Acts 3:18,21; 4:25; Romans 1:2; 3:2; 9:17 1 Cor. 9:8-10.)…
But what about the New Testament? What else does the Bible say? Well the testimony of Scripture itself says:
3. We see the Bible recognizes New Testament writings that had the character of God’s Word
The confidence we find in the NT writings being the Word of God is realizing that the Lord Jesus Christ himself promised an empowering from the Spirit of God “whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”(John14:26).
He also said in John 16:13 “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
In these verses the disciples are promised amazing gifts to enable them to write Scripture. Along with the office of apostleship which is seen as equal authority as OT prophets, the NT collection of 27 books are recognized as God’s Word
Turn to 2 Peter 3: 14-16. In Peter’s letters we see there is a willingness of one of the authoritative commissioned apostles of Christ himself to recognize Paul’s writing as Scripture. Very early on the history of the church shows that Paul’s letters were considered God’s written words , the same authority as the OT.
In 1 Timothy 5:18 Paul quotes Jesus’ words as found in the book of Luke and calls them Scripture.” Many of the letters (Mark, Luke, Acts, Hebrews, and Jude) written by close associates of the apostles were authorized by them as God’s word.
If we don’t see the Bible as God’s Words, then it is just a deep book of philosophy, it’s just a story telling collection of literature. It’s just an outdated book of old fashioned advice. But we must see this differently. We see from the recordings of conversation and declarations of the prophets, to the NT reaffirming the OT authority and the NT apostles writing and recognizing the character of God’s word, that the testimony of the Scriptures them self as being the Word of God, is the only way to view the Bible. God breathed his word. From that same metaphorical mouth came the words, “Let there be light” and created the first day as we know it. The words of God are powerful.
This point of power moves us to the second way we now the Bible is the Word of God.
2. The Testimony of the Spirit Within
Read this verse with me
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and of spirit, of joints and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)
If we are to strive as a church and as Christians to be a Word and Spirit church, we have to realize and understand that the Word and the Spirit are together. The Spirit and Word do a work inside of the reader of Scripture
• The Spirit of God witnesses to the Word of God (Jesus). The Spirit always calls us to hear what God says. Jesus said the Spirit was to come to bear witness of himself.
• The Spirit illumines the Word. He makes it clear for our understanding the content.
• The Spirit works with the Word and through the Word, not without or apart.
But there is an internal work of the Spirit testifying that the Bible is God’s word. It gives us a certainty that will rest our minds and heart in a satisfying way so that we will submit and yield and conform our lives to this truth. When the Holy Spirit is speaking in and through the words of the Bible to our hearts he gives us an inner assurance that these are the words of our Creator speaking to us. Throughout the NT we see alluded in the texts, the work of the Spirit in securing our confidence in the Word. One of them is…1 Thess 1:5, which says that Paul came with the Gospel not only in word but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.
Turn to 1 Cor 2:4-11
The theme of this passage is the supremacy of the power of God in revelation. The Spirit searches out things that go beyond what the senses perceive. Our faith in to “stand” in the power of God. God reveals the secret things of himself through the Spirit. The HS mediates the Word. In verse 13 it says:
“And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.” In this verse the apostle Paul links the apostolic teachings with the work of the Spirit. He’s pointing out that the Spirit is not just the source of the content, but of persuasive power in the words.
Apart from the work of the Holy Spirit a person will not receive spiritual truths and in particular will nor receive or accept the truth that the words of Scripture are in fact the words of God.
Let me ask you a question: Do you struggle with knowing if the Bible is God’s word. I‘ll take a strong guess that you haven’t read it lately. That you have not opened it. Do you know that when you open the Bible with an open heart to God working in your life, you will become convinced through time and exposure to what he says? Yes, there are other evidences which can help and that are useful and we’ll talk about that in a minute, but the final convincing in our lives comes from the testimony of Scripture itself and the testimony of the Spirit within.
We are unpacking the statement: “Since the Bible is God’s Word, we know it to be absolute truth and without error and are to value everything it says”
The second part of the statement:
II. The Word of God is Absolutely True and Without Error
Read with me 2 Samuel 7:28
“And now, O Lord God, you are God and your words are true…”The proclamation of David, is our proclamation, O Lord God, you are God and your words are true.
When I was a young Christian, I used to watch Charles Stanley on CBN station on Sunday nights. After his broadcast was John Osteen’s service. Now I know that some people don’t agree with Osteen (I don’t) and His son who has taken over the church in Houston TX, people have some criticism of him. But as a young Christian I watched that program periodically and always liked how they launched into their message. They’d have a declaration about the Bible. And it would go something like this: “This is the word of God. I am what it says I am, I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. I’m about to receive the incorruptible, indestructible, eternal word of God I will never be the same, never, never, never I will never be the same amen.” Those words, incorruptible, indestructible and eternal. They always struck me. That the Bible was incorruptible, that the Bible was indestructible. That is was the eternal word of God. What a proclamation of the power of God’s word
King David said you are God and your words are true! Do you have a proclamation about God’s word? The truth is, you do and how you live it out shows whether or not you believe it.
Ok well with a show of hands, how many of you believe the Bible is true but not perfect, that it does contain some errors?
Turn to Titus 1
The verse says God never lies, the translation is clear to say that he is the unlying God.
Hebrews 6:18 it says that it is impossible for God to lie. This is saying not only does he not lie, but that it is not even possible for him to lie.
Illustration: We should never view God as Obi Wan kenobi in the Star Wars trilogy: a wise old mentor who told Luke Skywalker that Darthand Vader killed his father and then later, when Luke realizes the Darth Vader is his father, Obi wan says, I told you the truth from a certain point of view. The verse in Hebrews says that God does not have the capacity to have any falsehood in him.
• Numbers 23:19 says “God is not man that he should lie.
• 1 Samuel 15:29says” the Glory of Israel (God) will not lie..”
Here is my profound statement: Because God cannot lie, and the Bible is God’s Word we know the Bible does not lie. Sounds simple right? The Bible tells me so.
Scholars will debate that this is too simplistic of an argument. Well this argument might very well be simplistic, but it is Scriptural and it is true. Therefore we shouldn’t hesitate to accept it and use it in our argument. Go ahead have your scholarly debates: The Bible tells me so.
“The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.” Psalm 12:6 (ESV)
• the attribute of purity is a term used to describe freedom from imperfections or impurities.
• The furnace pictured in this verse is extremely hot and would enable the silver to be purged from all impurities.
• The psalmist is expressing in a forceful way that the concept of absolute purity by using the word seven which is the “perfect” number of times.
• He is saying the words of God are totally free from impurity or imperfection.
Now there is a subtle, but profound difference that is noticed from what Jesus says:
Jesus says in John 17:17: Sanctify them in your truth, your word is truth.”
• Notice that he didn’t say : your word is true. He said God’s word is truth itself!
• This is a significant difference, because it encourages us to think of the Bible not simply as being true in the sense it conforms to a higher standard of truth. But rather to think of the Bible as being itself the final and ultimate standard and definition of truth. The reference point by which every other claims of truthfulness is to be measured.
Read with me Psalm 119:160
“The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endure forever.”
The sum refers to the result of collecting and evaluating all of God’s words. The result is truth. The word truth here means both epistemological truth (which is truth as opposed to falsehood and lies) and ethical truth (which is truth or faithfulness as opposed to sin).
What the Psalmist is saying: that as he adds together all the words of God, the result is truth that is reliable, honest, firm and able to be trusted and depended upon. That’s the God we worship and serve and glorify and honor. That’s his word that we read and study and meditate and adhere to. The Word of God is absolutely true and is without error.
Let’s go back to our statement which as we understand it, is becoming our proclamation. “Since the Bible is God’s Word, we know it to be absolute truth and without error and are to value everything it says”
The third part is the statement:
III. We Value Everything The Word of God Says
“Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life.” Deut 32:46,47
• These words of Scripture should be our very life!
• Jesus said that Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. (Matt 4:4) Is God’s word important to you? We need this value to be personalized in our lives so that it will spill out into our church and how we do the ministry here.
•
How do we do this? How do we begin to value on a greater level God’s word as truth.
Three things.
1. Consistently Hearing the Truth
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Romans 10:17
• Preaching reading studying the word. Memorizing, reciting, writing his truths. Have you ever read the Bible to yourself out loud.
• When we consistently hear the truth we will grow. Husbands, memorize Scripture that will encourage your wife and kids. Wives know the word well enough to quote it to your husband and children. Roommates and friends quote the word to each other when you are down or need advice. Give a card with a meaningful scripture written out by you.
Do these things to spur other believers to going back to the Word of God. We all know how this goes… in times of need we go to friends for help or loved ones we trust because we value their opinion and presence. But if we want to value the word of God have loved ones in your lives opening the Word up and sharing Scriptures that teach rebuke and guide and comfort.
2. Respectfully Revering the Truth
When we read this book there is an awe that we should have. Because God’s speaks to us today through it. And we know He doesn’t lie to us
• So when see the historical accounts of Creation, David and Goliath and Jonah we know that they happened and can adore Him
• When we see the prophetic predictions fulfilled to the smallest detail, we can eagerly anticipate Jesus’ faithful return
• When we read the divine descriptions of heaven and the new earth, we can anticipate a better future for all believers
• When we learn the relational wisdom it gives us, we can be assured God will be pleased in how we handle ourselves.
• When we see the worldly ways described in the Word, we can know that the Lord understand and will help us steer clear of that in our own lives.
• When we read the spiritual truth described in the Bible, we are to be fully aware of the reality of our sinful nature, the graciousness of our Lord to the believing followers and the wrath yet to come for all those who have rejected Christ.
Respectfully revere God’s word by acknowledging its authority and the ultimate standard that we see living this through
And then finally
3. Humbly Adhering to the Truth
“Blessed are those whose way is blameless who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statues. Ps 119:1-5
God‘s word is given to us uphold in our living. We need to pray for a godly conviction of living our lives in biblical manner. We need to stick to the ways of God’s truth in months and years to come. It’s not going to get easier in the end. Therefore we have to humbly live our lives not for ourselves but for the greater purposes of God’s will and his glory.
In closing let’s state this central truth together:
“Since the Bible is God’s Word, we know it to be absolute truth and without error and are to value everything it says”
Let’s pray: Almighty Father, we wish to value what you say to us as more important than our next breath, our next meal, our next paycheck. So we ask Lord to plant in our hearts a desire for your word that rejoices and treasures and clings to the truth. We ask that in Jesus name Amen.