Turn to Psalms 138, if you would,
the 138th Psalm. Now, as I mentioned in my prayer,
we are looking into this book that Don wrote, titled, Basic
Bible Doctrine. In the last two weeks, we've
looked at Chapter 1, which is, why study doctrine? Why study teachings? And as our
brother Todd Neibert wrote in the foreword that he put in Don's
book, he says, there's only one doctrine. This entire Bible,
all of the pages that I just mentioned in my prayer that were
inspired, but yet guided and written by the Holy Spirit, is
all about one thing. Christ. Christ. Christ and Him crucified. Oh,
I can't wait to get to the message that I think is developing for
the 11 o'clock service. I'm still not sure on it. I know
that's kind of weird how you'd think I'd have it ready by now.
I'm still working out my mind. But the whole thing is about
the one subject, Christ and Him crucified. That's what all the
teachings, the doctrines, the basic doctrines, and we went
through and we looked at The difference, what he means by
that, the different doctrines, they all point to one thing,
and that's Christ and Him crucified. Election. That's a teaching. That's one of the teachings of
the Bible. That God chose a people unto Himself before the world
began, as we read in Ephesians chapter 1. Well, how does that
show us to Christ and Him crucified? That brings us to the fact that
God has mercy on whom He will have mercy. It's not our free
will that gives us the mercy of God. It's Him. It's all of Him. If it's not
of Him, then He's not God. So we looked at why study doctrines. You have to study the different
teachings. The teaching of total depravity.
If you don't teach total depravity, then you can't see where Christ
died for those who cannot save themselves. You can't see where
all of salvation is in what Christ did on the cross. Irresistible
grace, that's another one. And we looked at all of that
during the last one. So we've come to chapter 2, and I'm going
to break chapter 2 up into three different studies. We're gonna look at the word
of God, and here in Psalm 138, verse two, Don puts his thoughts
together on chapter two into this verse. I will worship toward
thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness,
for thy truth. I'm reading this slow because
I want this to sink in. I want every word of this verse
to just grab a hold of us. Grab a hold of our spirits. This
is where our peace is. I will worship toward thy holy
temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy
truth for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. Did you catch that? has magnified
what? This right here. The very word that he says in
the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the
Word was God. Don takes the thoughts from that
and he writes this. He says, I do not pretend to
know all that is implied by that statement. I like Don saying
that. You know why? These are statements that he
makes that a lot of people miss. A lot of people come off thinking
that Don was, oh, you know, he was all thinking he was such
a big guy. He was a big guy physically,
but big guy, you know, he knew all, he did all this studying.
He was way above this. He was, you know, and they put
him up on this pedestal that he should not have ever been
put up on. They don't hear his words like this. I do not pretend
to know all that is implied in that statement. but I am sure
of this, God Almighty intends for us to understand that he
has a very high opinion of his word. If you read that, you can't
miss that, can you? What does he say there? Thou
hast magnified thy word above all thy name. It is something of indescribable
value, writes Don, A book to be revered, honored, read, believed, and
obeyed. It has not been given to us to
be an ornament or a decoration to adorn our coffee tables at
home or communion table at church. The volume of Holy Scripture
came from God and it shows us the way back to God. Read it,
study it, believe it, obey it. Know it in your head, store it
in your heart, show it in your life, and sow it in the world
around us. This blessed book, the Bible,
is and must be the Word of God. Before studying the glorious
truths of Holy Scripture, we must have a firm grasp of the
fact that the Bible is indeed of divine origin, inspired, infallible,
and authoritative. Unless we recognize that fact,
we have no authoritative basis for believing anything taught
in it. In fact, Don says, I am certain
that the reason for all the fuzziness, the instability, The confusion
among religious people in our day is that they fail to recognize
the absolute authority of God's word in all matters of faith,
all matters of practice, and in all matters of doctrine and
conduct. As we face the heresies, the
speculations, the skepticisms, and the ignorance of the religious
world around us, as well as that for the secular world, we need
to be sure of our ground. Doctrinal spiritual ignorance
has always led to spiritual bondage. Turn over to Isaiah 5, verse
13. Isaiah, verse 5. Look at the warning the Lord
gives us here in Isaiah chapter 5 verse 13. Therefore my people. That's you
and I. He's talking to us. Therefore my people are gone
into captivity because they have no knowledge and their honorable
men are famished and their multitude dried up with thirst. That's
a warning for us, folks. That's a warning for us. You
know, God's people can never be lost. We can go through some
pretty terrible stuff. Syria can come in and take over. For what? Being used of God to
bring trouble to our hearts. We can never be lost. from eternity,
for our eternity is based on our Savior's sacrifice of himself
for us. But that does not mean that God
would not allow Syria to come in and take over for a while.
Numerous books have been written demonstrating the fact that the
Bible's claim of divine origin, inspiration, and infallibility
cannot be denied. Assuming that you recognize this
fact, writes Don, I will show you, he says, four things about
the Bible which I trust will be blessed of God to your soul
and make the book of God even more precious to you than it
is already. Now we're going to look at one
of those things this morning. We'll look at the second point
that he wants to make next, no, not next week, the following
Sunday. and then we'll follow up the third Sunday with points
three and four. So the first one he wants to
bring out is the Bible is the inspired, infallible, inerrant
Word of God. This is the claim the Bible makes
itself. It makes the very claim itself.
We must either accept the claim in its entirety or reject it
altogether. Either the Bible is the Word
of God or it is horrible, evil hoax by which the souls of men
are deceived and ruined. The same must be said concerning
all other religious books that claim divine origin. If
the Bible is the word of God, then the Koran, the Book of Mormon,
and the claims of modern self-proclaimed prophets must all be rejected
as evil deceptions by which the souls of men are destroyed. The
Bible claims to be the inspired, infallible, inherited, complete,
sufficient, and final Word of God, and it takes but a casual
glance at Scriptures to see that this is the claim of the Bible.
We're going to look at several Scriptures in that. First off,
the Bible claims divine origin. It claims to be infallibly inspired,
though written by men who were both infallible and sinful. We'll
begin with 2 Timothy, verse chapter 3. Let's turn over to 2 Timothy,
chapter 3. The Bible claims, divine origin,
even though it was written by infallible men, or fallible men,
it was inspired by the infallibility, by infallible Spirit of God. Here in 2 Timothy 3, look at
verses 16 and 17. 2 Timothy 3. All Scripture, this
is God's Word. This is the Word that He inspired
Paul A sinner, O wretched man that I am, to write, but yet
this is the infallible Word of God. All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instructions and righteousness that the man
of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Here's another one. Turn over
to Hebrews chapter 1. Go to the right just a couple of pages
to Hebrews chapter 1. Just the other side of Philemon.
Look at verse 1. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in times past unto the Father by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.
Did you catch that in verse 1? How did he speak? He spoke through
the prophets. All of those prophets who wrote
the Old Testament, spoke of Christ, and we see that in another scripture,
but we'll look at that at another time. Turn over one more if you
would, keep going to the right, 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. We're talking about the scriptures
itself declaring itself to be the infallible, inspired, written
word of God. Look at verse 21. Yeah, for the prophecy came not
in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So we see the Scriptures themselves
declare themselves to be such. Isn't that what we just read?
Secondly, the Bible claims to be a necessary revelation without
which God cannot be known. Did you catch what God just said?
Without the Scriptures, God could not have been known. Turn over
to Romans chapter 10. Go over to Romans chapter 10. And we'll look at a couple of
verses there that show this, that prove this, that give us
God's Word declaring that very thing. Romans chapter 10, beginning
at verse 13, we read these words. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except
they be sent, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings
of good things? But they have not all obeyed
the gospel, For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by what? By hearing. By hearing the Word
of God. By hearing the Word of God. Look at another one if you would.
Go back to 1 Peter again, chapter 1. Go back to 1 Peter, chapter
1 again. Look at verse 21. 1 Peter 1, verse 21, "...who by
him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave
him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God." This is
what we're talking about, that the Bible claims it to be necessary
for revelation, for God's Word to be there, to be known. God
is spirit, writes Don, the external, self-existing, incomprehensible
spirit. Though his eternal power and
Godhead is evident from the things which he has made, so that all
without excuse he cannot be known unless he makes himself known
by special revelation through the word. Next, the Bible claims
to be sufficient. It claims to be the sufficient.
effectual means by which chosen, redeemed sinners are called to
life, called to faith and everlasting salvation in Christ. Look over
at Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. Look at verse 11. Isaiah 55 verse 11, so shall
my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return
unto me void, but it shall accomplish. This is the power of God, the
word of God, the power through the word of God, it shall accomplish
that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing where into
I send it. Go back to Timothy again, this
time 2nd Timothy. This time go to 2nd Timothy chapter
3 verse 15. Paul, speaking to Timothy, says
this, and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures,
meaning that from when he was just a child, his aunt, I believe
it was, or his grandmother, taught him from the Holy Scriptures,
which are able to make, and you see it's declaring the Holy Scriptures,
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith
which is in Jesus Christ Jesus. One more, if you would, Hebrews
chapter four. Go over to the right just a couple of pages
to Hebrews chapter 4. One more. We're talking about
how the Scriptures are the sufficient effectual means of calling God's
children to life, God's children to faith, and God's children
to everlasting salvation in Christ Jesus. In Hebrews 4 verse 12,
we read these words, Take heed, brethren, lest there be any of
you an evil heart of unbelief. in departing from the Living
God. One more, if you would. Go to
the right again for the book of James. It's just one book. Right after Hebrews is James.
Turn over to James 1, verse 18. James 1, verse 18. We read, "...of
His own will begat He us..." And now look what it says next.
of His own will begat He us with the Word of what? Truth. His Word. His Word is what He uses to call
us out of darkness. To shine the light of His Son
in our hearts. We'll look at that a little more
in our next study, in our next message. That we should be kind
of first fruits of His creatures. So we see here again, the Bible
claims to be sufficient. It claims to be effectual, the
effectual means by which the chosen are called to life. The Bible also claims both authority
and finality as the word of God as we read in Isaiah chapter
8. Turn back to Isaiah again, this time chapter 8. Look at verse 20. To the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to this word, it is because there
is no light in them. Don goes on to say this, he says,
when we talk about inspiration, Be sure you understand what the
Scriptures teach about it. We sometimes speak of men who
wrote the Scriptures as being inspired. That's not totally
accurate. These men, those men who were
moved and carried along by the Holy Spirit as they wrote, but
they were not inspired, it is the Word of God itself. That
which those faithful men were employed to write which is inspired
by the Holy Spirit. We recognize, and the Bible carefully
shows us, the flaws of those men. The book was given through weak,
sinful men beings, human beings, but their weakness, their sins,
and their humanity does not affect the Bible's infallibility. We
see the personalities of the writers in their writings, but
their personalities did not corrupt the Bible's perfection. The Bible
claims to be and is the inspired, infallible, and errant Word of
God. A few believers have been asked,
what about all the places where the statements of the Bible are
contradicted, that prove and discoveries of science? Don says
this, he says, usually I respond by asking this question. Those
who want to dispute, well how can the Bible be correct if it
disputes proven science? You know, proven science says
we've been around here for billions of years. Their proven science,
which is nothing more than a theory, you take it all back to it and
carbon dating and all that stuff, is nothing more than theories.
Man's guess. We don't know anything, folks.
I've got to be honest with you. These guys who think they know
so much about how long the world has been around, rocks being
10,000 millions of years old, let me tell you the truth about
it right here. God made the world. And if he made it billions of
years ago, then it's billions of years old. If he made it 8,000
years ago, then it's 8,000 years old. And it is exactly how God
has made it to look the way it does. People that ask, what about all
the places where the statements of the Bible contradict what
we think is proven science? Don usually responds by asking
this, would you show me which statements you mean? Where? Somebody asks you about that,
remember to do that. Show me what you mean. Where
in the Bible does it dispute what science seems to be proven? That usually ends the discussion,
says Don. I don't know, but I'm going to
try it and see. I'm going to see if it works for me just as
well as it works for him. I do not claim, writes Don, to be
a scientist. I'm not even a student of science,
he says. Yet I do make this assertion
without the slightest fear of contradiction. There is not a
single point of contradiction between the statements of Holy
Scripture and the established facts of science. Remember what
he just said, the established facts. You know, we can take
an apple and drop it, and it falls to the earth. We can state
a fact. It is a fact that there is gravity
by that. You cannot state that it is a
fact that the worlds are billions of years old. Those are theories. That's what he's talking about. There's not a single point of
contradiction between the statements of holy scripture and established
facts of science. There's a great conflict between
the scriptures and scientific theories. But none between scriptures
and fact. The theories of science change
constantly and constantly contradict one another, but the facts of
science and the facts of the Bible are in perfect harmony. Next week we'll take a look at
the next step of Don's book and the four points that he's trying
to bring out.