Lord willing, I would like to
bring three or four messages out of this 17th verse of Romans
9, but I would like to stick to this thought, the scripture
saith. Here, personality is ascribed
to the scripture. The scripture saith. Now, somebody says it was the
Lord who said this. The Lord said to Pharaoh, even
for this same purpose have I raised thee up. Yes, the Lord did say
that. The scripture saith. And this saying of the scripture
was said before the scriptures were written. Yet the scripture
saith unto Pharaoh, personality is ascribed to the scriptures.
Whose personality? God's. And when we say God said
something and we say the scriptures say something, we're saying the
precise same thing. In Galatians chapter three, we
read where the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
by faith. And then we read that the scripture
preached before the gospel to Abraham, saying, in thee shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed. Now, that statement
was made 430 years before the book was written. The scripture
saith. Now this book you have holding
in your lap that I'm attempting to preach from claims to be divinely
inspired. Second Timothy 3.16 says, all
scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for
doctrine, for correction, for reproof, for instruction in the
righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly
furnished unto all good works. The scriptures claim to be inspired
by God, every one of them. Now somebody says, Didn't men
write the Bible? Yes, they did. Turn with me for
a moment to 2 Peter chapter 1. Beginning in verse 16. Peter
says, For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when
we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received
from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a
voice to him from that excellent glory, this is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mountain."
Now he's talking about the transfiguration. When the divinity of the Lord
Jesus Christ literally burst through his humanity, and he
began to shine as the Son, and his fate, can you imagine seeing
that? They witnessed this. They experienced
it. They saw it. Peter is saying,
I'm relating to you what I have seen as a personal witness. All three of us saw this. But
look what he says in verse 19. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy. Now, whatever you've experienced, This is better. Whatever you
experienced, I don't know what it was. It
may have been true, maybe it wasn't. Peter says, this is more
sure than what we experienced when we saw him on the holy mount. Now, this gives us some idea
of the majesty and the importance of the Holy Scriptures. We have a more sure word of prophecy,
wherein to you do well, that you take heed as unto a light
that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day
star arise in your hearts, knowing this first. Now, that word first
means this is what is most important. This is where we got to begin.
If we can't begin here, Just forget everything else. Knowing
this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation. Somebody says, well, that's your
interpretation. Well, scripture says it's not of any private
interpretation. 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. Now somebody says, but that can't
be scientifically proven. Now, the Bible is a history book. Now, it's a divinely inspired
history book without any error, but it is a history book nonetheless. It was written by credible witnesses
like Peter, who were riding while other credible witnesses were
alive who could verify what they were saying. And they were relating
in this book not only events like creation and the calling
of Abraham, but also supernatural events. I love to think of the
Lord telling his disciples to go to the other side of the lake
while he sent everybody away. And they got into the boat and
started shipping. One of them says during while
they were rowing, and they knew the Lord was going to meet him
on the other side, and they saw the Lord walking, and they said,
did the Lord say how he's getting to the other side? They watched
him walk on the water. This was seen by witnesses, a
supernatural event. When he said, Lazarus, come forth,
he that was dead came forth, and it was witnessed by many
people. these supernatural events that
were written of. Here's my favorite. Dead Friday,
raised from the dead Sunday. And he appeared to 500 witnesses
at once. But none of this can be scientifically
proven. You know that objection is ignorant. Let me tell you why. The scientific method says this,
it has to be something observable, measurable, and repeatable. That's
the scientific method. You can't do any of that with
history. You can't observe it, it's already happened. You can't
use the scientific method to prove Abraham Lincoln was the
President of the United States, can you? can't be done. It can't
be observed. It can't be measured. It can't
be repeated. We don't use science or the scientific
method, and I'm thankful for the scientific method. I mean,
we need that. It's a good thing. But the Bible
doesn't need to be proven scientifically. 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. This is the Word of God with
every word exactly as God said it. And you know the Bible doesn't
try to prove itself. It speaks authoritatively. In
the beginning, God. created the heavens and the earth. It makes no attempt to prove
the existence of God. It simply says, in the beginning,
God. Somebody says, well, I can't
believe that. Well, I can. I can. And I do. And I tell you what,
to me, to believe the other theory, if God didn't create the universe,
all the different theories people come up with, those are harder
to believe. and then believing that God created
the heavens and the earth. How do you think life came into
existence? The only, and I don't believe
this because it's reasonable, but the only reasonable explanation
is God created the heavens and the earth. Isaiah chapter eight,
verse 20 says, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak
not according to this word, the law and the testimony, the Bible. It's because there is no light
in them. Now, if we don't have an it is
written, or thus saith the Lord, or the scripture saith, what
are we left with? My opinion, your opinion, both
of which don't measure up to a hill of beans, do they? Thank
God for the holy scriptures, the scripture saith. Now, thus saith the Lord is the
preacher's only message. Paul said to Timothy, Timothy,
preach the word. What does God's Word declare?
Preach it. Preach it publicly. Preach it
unashamedly. Preach it gloriously. Whatever God says, that's what
I preach. Does the Word declare that God
is absolutely sovereign, the creator of the universe, the
controller of all things? Then preach it. Does the Word
declare that men are dead in sins, unable to save themselves? Is that what the Bible teaches?
Then preach it. Does the Bible teach that God,
before time began, elected a people and they must be saved? If it
does, preach it. Does the Word declare that Christ's
death is successful? That if He died for you, you
must be saved? Then preach it. You see, the
preaching of the Word is the preacher's only message. I don't
ask you about my ability to preach, but I do ask you this, am I preaching
the Word? Am I preaching what God says
in His Word? That's all I ask. This is the
preacher's, the true preacher's only message, the Word of God. Thus saith the Lord is all that's
authoritative in the church." Not what so-and-so said or what
this theologian said or that theologian said, and I've got
to be honest with you, I do not like the word theology. I don't
even like it. You know, preachers use it, you
know, theological terms and theology, the study of God and so on. It
just seems too academic to me. It's, I don't even like that
term, theology, where this is what the theologians say. I don't
care what the theologians say, what does the Word say? And I'm
not saying that in reference to being down on learned men
and so on, but the point is, is the study of God, it makes
it, it almost makes it out like you can intellectually figure
this thing out. I'm gonna study the Word and I'm gonna find out
what it means. I can't even know what the Word means unless God
the Holy Spirit reveals it to me. This is a supernatural book.
It's not something you can just up and figure out and conquer,
and that's why I don't like this term theologians, like it's some
kind of learned academic, you know, if you're smart enough
you can kind of pull out what everything says. No, no, I don't
care anything about what theologians say, and I don't care anything
about what church catechism says, and all the different creeds
and so on. What does the Word say? That's
all that is authoritative in the church. And you know, I think it's interesting
how that at least 120 times we read in the New Testament, as
it is written, referring to the Old Testament. As it is written. As it is written. That's how
they would verify what they were saying. It's written. Thus saith
the Lord is all that's needed for reproof, rebuke, correction,
and instruction and righteousness for the saints of God. If there's
a, thus saith the Lord, I hear. Now you may correct me, and I
may have a good attitude, and I may have a bad attitude. It
depends on what kind of day I'm in. You might correct me, and
I'm thinking, thank you for that. I needed that. I needed that
correction. Another time you might correct me, I think, who
do they think they are? That's just, that's called flesh. But
when the word corrects me, by God's grace, I respond to God's
Word, and that's really all we respond to for correction, the
Word of God. And thus saith the Lord is the
only real ground of comfort. Let me give you an example of
what I'm talking about. The scripture says, Whoso believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now let me ask you a
question. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? Do you believe he's God's prophet?
Do you believe he's God's priest? Do you believe he's God's king?
Do you believe that? You say, yes, I do. I really
do. You know what the Bible says?
It says you're born of God. It says you've been born of God.
God's done something for you. John said in 1 John chapter 4,
who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of God. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the eternal Son of God, the second person of the blessed
Trinity, the creator of the universe, the only savior of sinners? Do
you believe that? Well, the Bible says this is
the victory that overcomes the world. Peter said, We believe and are
sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Can
you say that? We believe and we're sure that thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. You know, I really do believe
that and that gives me such comfort. I really do believe that. Do
you? I believe He's the Christ. I believe He's the eternal Son
of God, the uncreated sovereign of the universe, the second person
of the blessed Trinity. And you know, the Lord tells
me in that, I'm a believer. I'm a believer. What hinders
me from being baptized? If you believe with all your
heart, you may. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. If you believe that, you are
born of God. Thus saith the Lord, is the only
sword we use to confront the Lord's enemies. Now, when the
Lord Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil with those three
temptations, How did he answer each one of them? And this is
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is he who is God. I want you to think of what he
uses. Now, I would have just, you know,
I guess if the devil would have tried to tempt me, I would have had
being all powerful. I would have just started torturing
him or tormenting him or doing something, you know, blowing
him away or I'd do something like that. You know, what do
you do? You come to me like that. But how did the Lord answer the
devil? Every time It is written. You look at the high place the
Lord gives, the Holy Scriptures. It is written. Now, there are many who say they
believe the Bible is divinely inspired. There's a lot of people
who would argue for that. Sure, I believe the Bible's the inspired
Word of God, but it seems like they don't pay much attention
to what it says. They'll fight for its inspiration, but yet
not stand for what it says. Now the
Bible, let me say this about the Bible. I mean, I'm going
to look at some scriptures where it says the scripture saith.
But let me say this about the Bible. The Bible is a book that
cannot be understood apart from Revelation. Me and you can't figure this
thing out. The only way we can truly understand what the Bible
says is if God reveals to us what it says. Scripture says,
then opened he their understanding that they might understand the
scripture. We will not understand the scripture
apart from him opening my understanding. In John chapter eight, verse
44, the Lord says, why do you not understand my speech? even
because you cannot hear my word. You lack the ability to hear
my word. and you won't hear it unless
I'm pleased to make it known and give you this understanding
where you yourself understand the scriptures. He said later
on in that chapter, he that's of God heareth God's words. You therefore hear them not because
you're not of God. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
them, neither indeed can he know them. He lacks the ability. I
don't care if your IQ is 180. That's not going to help you
in understanding the scriptures. We're totally dependent upon
the revelation of God. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him,
neither indeed can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned.
May he open our understanding as we look at some scriptures
on the Scriptures. Well in our text, I love the
way it says, for the Scripture saith to Pharaoh. Even for this
same purpose have I raised you up." Scripture has a purpose.
Lord will, and I want to preach on that next week. What is the
purpose of God? Somebody said, well, how can
you deal with something like that? Well, the Bible tells us. The Bible tells us
in no uncertain terms what the purpose of God is. We would know
it if the Bible didn't tell us, but the Bible tells us what the
purpose of God is. And he says to Pharaoh, even
for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my
power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth. Now the first time the word scripture
is mentioned, is found in Daniel chapter 10, verse 21, where we
read of the scriptures of truth. The scriptures of truth. Now, do you want to know the
truth? That's just the name. You can
look that up if you want, look at it later. I'm just, there's the
phrase, the scriptures of truth. That's the first time scriptures
were ever used. Do you want to know the truth? You and I will
not know the truth apart from the holy scriptures. The scriptures
tell us who God is. The scriptures tell us who we
are. My view of myself doesn't come from looking within. Now,
when I look within, I see some bad stuff. I see some real bad
stuff. But you know what else? Sometimes
when I look in, I see good stuff. You know what? I don't trust
any of that. I trust what the Bible says about me. If you want
to know the truth about yourself, don't look within. You may see
some bad stuff, but you probably see some good stuff too. At least
I'm not like that. Don't believe any of that. Hear
what the Word of God has to say about you and what the Word of
God has to say about salvation. The scriptures of truth. We will
not know the truth apart from the scriptures. Now, while our
Lord was hanging on the cross, eight different times it says
something took place with him that the scriptures might be
fulfilled. It's almost like, I mean, those guys who were crucifying
him, it's almost, they didn't know what they were doing, but
it's almost like, what do we do next? Let's look it up. Psalm 22 says we do this.
Okay, here we go. I mean, it's just so clear from
the scriptures they did exactly what God's word said they would
do. You know, crucifixion had not
been invented when Moses said, cursed be everyone that hangeth
on a tree. And he was speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. When
he said, I thirst, he said so in fulfillment of the scriptures.
When they parted his garments and cast lots for his robe, the
scripture said that would take place. The vinegar he drank,
he drank because the scripture said he would drink it. The piercing
of his hands and his feet were foretold in the scriptures. The
cry, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me was all foretold
in Old Testament scriptures. I like to think of that Ethiopian
eunuch reading Isaiah 53. What a chapter. A great chapter
on the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid
upon him the iniquity of us all. Oh, what a wonderful chapter.
And the fellow was sitting there in his chariot reading, and Philip
comes up to him and he said, do you understand what you're
reading? God, the Holy Spirit, had prompted him to do this.
He said, go join yourself to that chariot. And he said, do
you understand what you're reading? And I love the eunuch's answer. How can I, except some man should
guide me? Now remember, You're not going
to understand the scriptures apart from the preaching of the
gospel. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them to believe. Does that exalt the
preacher? No. It doesn't exalt the preacher at all. The preacher's
a nobody from nowhere with no ability. It's just God's way
of doing things. You see, if we could figure it
out, we'd feel good about ourselves, wouldn't we? I figured this out,
look what I've learned, look what I've developed. And you
know, there's nothing more passive than just sitting there and listening.
And God has manifested his word through preaching. And I love
to think of where Philip began at that same scripture, Isaiah
53, and preached unto him, Jesus. Wouldn't you like to heard that
message? Turn to Luke chapter 4 for a
moment at the beginning of our Lord's public ministry. Verse 16, and he came to Nazareth
where he'd been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into
the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.
What was he reading? The Bible. And there was delivered
unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah, And when he had opened
the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord." The year of Jubilee is what he's
speaking to. The year of Jubilee. Do you know
there's no historical evidence that the year of Jubilee was
ever practiced in the scriptures? It was commanded But there's
no evidence, there's not one example of it ever being practiced. And I can understand that. If
somebody owed me a bunch of money, I wouldn't like the year of Jubilee
to come along because that means I'm losing it all. The only people
who liked the year of Jubilee were people who were slaves.
who didn't have anything, who had lost everything. They liked
it, but the people in power, the landowners, the people with
money, they made sure it didn't happen. And there's not one instance
we find in all of the Word of God where this year of jubilee
was ever carried out. But look what the Lord says in
verse 20. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister,
and sat down, and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue
were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them,
this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears, the year of Jubilee. You know, I love the way the
Lord would say to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, have you not
read? You reckon they got under their
skin when he said that? Of course they'd read. Have you not read?
He said, you do err not knowing the scriptures nor the power
of God. There's two things that go together,
the scriptures and the power of God. The Lord said to the
Pharisees in John 5 39, you search the scriptures. And in them,
you think you have eternal life. If I can just figure out what
this means and keep these rules, I'll have eternal life. And he
says, you've missed the point, fellas. They are they which testify
of me. Every single one of them. And
you will not come to me that you might have life. Galatians
chapter three, verse 22, but the scripture hath concluded.
I love this conclusion, the scripture. He says the scripture hath concluded. under sin. You know what that
means? That means sin's over you. You're not over it. It's over
you. And you can't get out from under
it unless the Lord is pleased to deliver you and set you free. All are under sin. I like Romans chapter 4 verse
3. talking about Abraham and says, what sayeth the scripture?
Regarding Abraham, what sayeth the scripture? Here's so-and-so's
opinion, here's so-and-so's opinion, but let's leave those right now.
What sayeth the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it
was counted to him for righteousness. And he refers to Genesis chapter
15. He goes back to the Old Testament,
when God said, Abraham, you see the stars, so shall your seed
be. He didn't have any kids, but you know what? He believed
God. With no evidence other than the
Word of God, he believed he'd have children. He believed the
Messiah should come through him. Now he couldn't look at any evidence
that it would happen, but he believed what God said. And it goes on to say in that
same scripture, to him that worketh not, but believeth, this is what
the scripture says, to him that worketh not, but believeth on
him that justifies the ungodly. You know, I love that verse of
scripture, to him that works not. That describes a believer. He's somebody who's not working
to be saved. He knows he can't be. But he believes on Him that
justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness
even as David describes. He goes back to the Scriptures
again. Even as David described the blessedness of the man to
whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without work, saying, Blessed
are they whose sins are forgiven, or covered, whose sins are forgiven. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Turn to Romans 10 for a moment. I don't know what makes me quote
some of them and ask you to turn to some of them. I guess I think
if I ask you to turn to all of them, it'll make me preach too long. I don't want
to do that. Verse 11. For the scripture saith, there's the authority. For the
scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. That means two things. If I really
believe, I'm not ashamed of what I believe. I'm not ashamed of
who I believe. I'm proud of the gospel. I believe it's worthy
of God. I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed to confess Him
before men. I'm not ashamed to confess the
gospel, I believe, before men. By God's grace, I'm not going
to water it down. I'm not ashamed of it. I glory
in it. I love it. It's worthy of God.
I'm proud of the gospel, I believe. I'm flat proud of the gospel.
It's so glorious. It glorifies God. It exalts Christ. You know what else? on Judgment
Day, I'm going to have nothing to be ashamed of. And it's not because of my not
being ashamed of the Gospel. It's because I have the very
righteousness and obedience of Jesus Christ as my righteousness
before God. And there will not be anything
for me to be ashamed of. That's what the Scripture says.
Whoso believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Turn to 1 Peter
chapter 2. Lord, deliver me from being ashamed
of the gospel. You know, Timothy evidently had
some problem there. Paul said, Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner.
I don't want to be ashamed of the gospel, do you? I want to
confess him boldly before men. And 1 Peter chapter 2. Once again,
he quotes the scripture. Verse 6, Wherefore, also it's
contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded. Now unto you therefore which
believe, here's the evidence of faith. Unto you therefore
which believe, he is precious. And beloved, he is precious. In Galatians chapter 4, verse
30, we read what's said in the scripture. Cast out the bone
woman and her son. All forms of salvation by works,
I don't care what they are, cast them out. Cast out the bondwoman,
her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son
of the free woman. First Corinthians 15. This is
a scripture I refer to a lot and I continue to, I believe
I'll continue to refer to it a lot. Verse three. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that
he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Now somebody
says, I preached that Christ died for our sins, and I preached
the resurrection. He was dead, and he was buried, and he was
raised from the dead. You know, if that's what you say, you're
not preaching the gospel. Now how can you say that? Well,
Paul didn't say it that way. He said Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures. According to the Old Testament
Scriptures. No vague nebulous view of the death of Christ where
you can't really tell what it means. No. Here's what it means
when Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture. When
you take that paschal lamb and slay it and put that blood over
the door, God says, when I see the blood, I will. pass over you." He didn't say,
when I see your faith, when I see anything about you. There's one
thing God was looking for, the blood. And what does he say when
he sees the blood? He says, I will pass over you
in mercy and grace. Now that's Christ dying for our
sins according to the scriptures. Paul said to Timothy, from a
child thou has known the holy scriptures. which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus. Now let me give a word of warning,
just a couple more scriptures. Turn to 2 Peter chapter 3. Verse 15, in account that the
longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, Even as our beloved
brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him,
hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking
in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood. which they that are unlearned
and unstable rest or twist as they do also other scriptures."
Notice Peter knew Paul's writings were scripture. But notice what
he says these people did. Those that are unlearned and
unstable rest as they do also the other scriptures unto their
own destruction. Now if I twist the scriptures,
I do so to my own destruction. This is a dangerous book. You
believe that? This is a dangerous book. We dare not add to it, or take
from it, or change it. Think of there in Galatians where
Paul says, he saith not seeds as many, but as one seed. You call it plural, seeds, you've
changed the meaning. Every word of God is written
directly as He would have it said. And this is the preacher's
credentials. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
2. It's the only message the preacher preaches, but this is
what tells whether somebody's sent of God. Look in chapter
2, verse 17. He says, For we are not as many
which corrupt the Word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of
God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. Chapter 4, verse
1. Therefore, seeing we have this
ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not, but have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness,
nor handling the Word of God deceitfully. but by manifestation
of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in
the sight of God." Now, what does the Scripture sayeth mean
to you? Is it final? If the Scripture says it, is
it final to you? Now, Paul had been run out of
Thessalonica for preaching the gospel, preaching the word of
God from the Old Testament scriptures. A riot took place and he came
to a place called Berea. And the scripture says regarding
these Bereans, these were more noble than they at Thessalonica
in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and
searched the scriptures daily whether these things were so. And that's what I want you to
do. You judge what I'm saying with the word of God. May God enable us to have this
high view of the scriptures to where we view the scriptures
with the same reference that we do God himself because this
is the word of God. Let's pray together.