WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.600 Hello and welcome to session five of our Foundations class. 00:00:03.759 --> 00:00:08.400 And in this session, we're going to be talking about the importance of the Word of God. 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:13.759 The Bible, as the Scripture claims for itself, is inspired by God. 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:17.199 And we find this in 2 Timothy 3, verse 16. 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:34.960 So if you look on your notes there, it reads all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for notice these four things for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:38.240 And so the Bible makes its own claim about itself. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:39.439 It is the word of God. 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:44.240 And that word inspiration, it means literally God breathed. 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:46.320 God breathed out the scriptures. 00:00:46.479 --> 00:00:48.240 He breathed out his very word. 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:56.880 And so the scriptures are not the result of man's opinion, man's inspiration or man's inspiration. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:02.640 They are literally the actual utterances of God Himself. 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:09.519 Therefore, it is sufficient for us to, as we say, for faith and practice, for life and for godliness. 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:13.840 You know, Clement of Alexandria, one of the early church fathers, uh, said this. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:25.599 He said, They that are ready to spend their time in the best things will not give over seeking for truth until they have found the demonstration from the scriptures themselves. 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:30.560 In other words, he's essentially saying that the Bible is self-validating. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:48.239 By taking in the Scripture, which is the actual Word of God, we'll find that it has power to do what it says it can do and to bring us to transformation that it claims for itself and has uh great abilities and it and it proves itself basically as the idea. 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:49.920 Uh so let's look at this verse. 00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:59.599 Circle the four words uh there, the uses of the word for first of all, the for doctrine, which simply means uh instruction or teaching. 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:01.280 So circle for doctrine. 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:02.159 And what does that do? 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:05.120 What does the Bible do for us there talking about teaching? 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:07.519 It shows us the path we're to be on. 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:20.080 Uh thinking of the of our life as a path which we need to be on in order to get to the right destination for doctrine tells us that the Bible is the way that we get there. 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:22.479 So we that's an important one. 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:32.800 The second one, it says it uh the Bible is useful for reproof or reproof, which means to prove to prove out or to convict us of something. 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:40.960 So I just think of that when we're thinking about this path that we're on, uh, for reproof means the Bible points out where we are wrong. 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:45.840 It tells us where we're off the path, and it's very uh good at doing that. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:54.319 Sometimes we'll read in the scriptures, and it is very uh uh convicting and it shows us the things that we need to make adjustments for in our life. 00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:58.560 He goes on to give us a third thing that the use of the Bible is for. 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:07.280 It's useful for correction, literally a uh a restoration to an upright or right state. 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:12.960 In other words, uh it it puts us back and adjusts our life and character. 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:17.120 It puts us back on the path that we have gotten off from. 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:20.400 Uh so it's capable of doing that, has power to do that. 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:46.159 And then the last one, he says the Bible is useful for instruction in righteousness, actually a word that refers to the to the practical training of children and includes not only our education and discipline, it is uh useful for basically telling us what is right, what is wrong, not just theory or principles, but actually practices. 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:47.919 How do we live this out? 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:54.240 And uh 2 Peter 121 describes further the process of how men pen the words of God. 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:56.960 Maybe you've wondered how do we get the Bible that we have? 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:04.879 Uh here it tells us for itself, 2 Peter says uh no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:10.240 That is, they don't give uh their own uh meaning of what it actually means. 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:16.319 They can't uh it didn't come from them, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:28.079 But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit, which is basically say God used men, human men, to communicate the thoughts and words of God. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:30.879 The Holy Spirit then was the one that did this. 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:45.120 He uh superintended or oversaw the process of the writers being the authors of the Bible that wrote those words down and that produced the words that God actually said to them. 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:58.480 And so they are produced in the personality and the the temperament and all the nature of the person that's writing it, the author, while at the same time they are writing down the actual words of God Himself. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:11.839 So we can almost well, we can say that the Bible has a dual authorship, both the human author, but most importantly, the the words of God Himself, with all the the authority his speech carries. 00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:13.279 So this is important. 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:16.879 So the Bible, we say, then, is the Word of God. 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:18.480 It's inspired by Him. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:22.480 Second thing is we want to see is that the Bible is accurate. 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:29.199 It's good to know that when we read the Bible that we're not reading something that has mistakes in it, and that we can trust it. 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:35.040 Psalm 197 says, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:38.800 The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple. 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:51.199 So the Bible has the ability to tell us the exact truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, and it is uh reliable for faith and practice because it is accurate, and we can trust it. 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:54.240 I want you to circle the words perfect and sure. 00:05:54.639 --> 00:06:02.959 The word of God uh is perfect, as it says here, meaning with without any error in its accuracy and it's sure in its truthfulness. 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:15.120 So we understand what the words mean in practice when we think about uh, you know, someone who is um r needs to be restored or uh making someone wise. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:19.759 But theologians have a different uh or an additional perspective on this. 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:25.519 Uh those words kind of giving us uh some insight into the trustworthiness of the scripture. 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:40.319 Perfect, according to the way that the theologians say we should think about this is that it refers to the scripture being what is called inerrant, and uh simply means in the original copies of each manuscript there were no errors. 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:41.360 There are no errors. 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:46.560 Of course, we do not have the uh the original manuscript, but we've got tons of copies. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:54.160 And it's interesting because 99.9% of the manuscripts, and there are thousands of them, are uh still without error. 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:58.720 When they've been compared, they've found uh just just minor discrepancies. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:02.560 And they're minor, they don't have anything really that affects our belief. 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:07.920 But so uh even the in the copies we can say that the Bible is is accurate. 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:11.279 It's uh it's very close to what probably we had in the original. 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:29.120 So even literary critics who claim no faith in the claim of the truth of the Bible, they will say and they will attest to it being the most completely reliable of any book transmitted from antiquity in terms of its actually remaining unchanged and dependably accurate. 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:42.480 And that's a s that's an amazing statement that even non-Christians would say it's very accurate in what we have from the dependency or the standpoint of someone who's just objectively looking at it. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:44.079 And then he says it's sure. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:57.279 In other words, the Bible is unfailing and is an absolutely trustworthy guide for our belief in God and our Christian behavior. 00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:15.360 A little illustration of that, in uh September of 1938, a man who uh was uh living on Long Island in New York was able one day to satisfy a really uh great ambition, he had a lifelong ambition for purchasing uh for himself a really, really nice barometer. 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:20.639 And of course, in those days, those weren't easy to get, and so this was sort of his uh his great desire. 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:33.440 And so he bought it, and when the instrument came home, arrived at his house, uh he opened the box and he was so disappointed to find that the indicating needle on the barometer was seemed to be stuck. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:37.039 It was pointing to the sector marked hurricane. 00:08:37.600 --> 00:09:08.240 And he thought, wow, uh and he so he shook the barometer several times, and uh this new owner with that instrument, the C set had sat down and wrote a scorching letter to the manufacturer, the store where he had purchased it from, and on the following morning he went on to work, and on his way uh there he mailed the letter, and when he got off work, he came back to his house only to find the barometer was missing, and so was his house, because there really was a hurricane. 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:09.840 There was a hurricane. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:17.120 And so that analogy of what the Bible points to, what it points out to us, is always true. 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:19.679 Uh so we can say that it's accurate. 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:22.879 The Bible also secondly produces a regeneration. 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:27.279 That idea of regeneration means to be born again. 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:28.960 We use that phrase born again. 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:32.399 It's a biblical term, but it means to be made alive again. 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:50.879 So 1 Peter 1, verse 23 says exactly this it says, having been born again, not of corruptible, which is perishable seed, but incorruptible, that is imperishable seed, through the word of God which lives and abides forever. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:57.200 Uh the word of God doesn't go away, it doesn't fade away, it it is uh it lives, it goes on forever. 00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:03.759 And in the beginning it was God's spoken word, think about this, that created physical life in man. 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:06.320 He created Adam and Eve. 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:17.039 And in the same way, uh when we're talking about being born again, it creates new life, spiritual life, a new birth in spiritual sense in man. 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:24.399 First Thessalonians 2 verse 13 says, for this reason we also also thank God without ceasing. 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:38.639 Because when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you received it, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God which also effectively works in you who believe. 00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:44.480 Let me ask you, when you read the word or hear the word of God, do you read it just like any other book? 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:52.399 Or do you think of it actually as the very words of God that you're holding in your hand or hearing from someone who's speaking it or teaching it? 00:10:52.799 --> 00:11:00.720 This is uh a significant difference than any other book that has ever been written in all the the uh history, all of human history. 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:05.039 Circle that word then w the word effectively. 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:07.679 Uh when something is effective, what does that mean? 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:08.399 What does it mean? 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:11.039 It means it produces the intended result. 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:28.000 Uh and I just think of sometimes, you know, have you ever had the experience of uh of using a product, for example, to clean something that was dirty or stained, and you spray that product on and trying to remove it, but you look again in the spot or stain is still there, it doesn't remove it. 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:30.399 A stained countertop, for example. 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:35.600 Uh the point is you have to use the right product if you want results. 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:45.600 And we're talking about when we're want to see our lives transformed, we have to use the word of God because it's the only thing that has the ability to bring that transformation. 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:49.600 The word effectively comes from the Greek words in and work. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:12:01.360 The Bible works in us, essentially meaning that God has God's word has power to work in us within a person to bring regeneration, to bring new life. 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:14.960 Uh whoever hears the word of God, whether they're not a Christian yet or they are a Christian, if they receive it as from God and not from man, the word continue it works in them, and then as a Christian, it continues to work in us. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:21.759 It starts by leading you to Christ, but it keeps working to make you more and more like Christ. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:23.440 So that's very important. 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:29.360 The Bible then has uh ability to produce regeneration in us, new life in us. 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:43.679 And then the third thing that you want to come to today is that not only is it accurate, not only it has ability to uh bring new life and regenerate us, it has the the Bible uh is is ability to cause us to to grow. 00:12:43.919 --> 00:13:04.159 Deuteronomy eight, verse three says, So he humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that a man that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:05.840 So what's this referring to? 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:17.600 It's talking about this idea that uh in in uh the the time when God let the people go through the wilderness, oh ancient Israel, and they didn't have food in the wilderness. 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:23.360 And so he provided what uh was called in the Old Testament manna is bread from heaven. 00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:25.759 It literally meant uh what is this? 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:27.440 Because they didn't know what it was. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:35.200 Uh but God provided them food, and uh it was enough to uh kind of satisfy them for one day. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:48.960 In fact, God told them, Don't gather too little of it and and don't gather too much of it, don't let it uh you know, eat eat the day's amount of bread for that day and don't keep any of it overnight. 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:50.399 And what what's the point of that? 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:51.279 Why did he say that? 00:13:51.519 --> 00:14:00.960 Because he wanted to to communicate that he what he sent through his uh provision, the bread, was meant to be fresh. 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:20.639 And uh so you go back and look at that, it's an interesting story, but it's a great picture because it tells us that we need to be in the Word of God every day, and that we shouldn't uh depend on some old lesson we've learned, or we try to keep that as uh something that that doesn't bring uh what we need for that day. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:35.840 The Scripture compares daily bread, which is our sustenance for physical life, to the Word of God, then, the implication being that the Word of God is nourishment to our spiritual man, just like bread is nourishment to our physical man. 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:42.960 So our bodies need physical nourishment every day, so then our spirit needs nourishment, spiritual nourishment every day. 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:57.200 You know, if people could see the results of our own appetite for the Word of God, just like just like they see the results of our their physical appetite for food, I wonder what we would all look like. 00:14:57.679 --> 00:14:58.799 Interesting question, right? 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:16.879 Have you ever seen images of people, for example, who were rescued during World War II in the concentration camps, and they were just emaciated and uh and they they were basically skin on bones, and simply because they were malnourished, they didn't have the food that would sustain their bodies and they started to deteriorate. 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:22.080 Well, in the same way, this this can happen to us in the spiritual life, in the spiritual realm. 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:36.240 We could be uh emaciated spiritually, we can we can uh just not have much uh really going on with us physically healthily uh or spiritually healthily uh in what we need because we haven't been in the word of God. 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:47.919 So uh first Peter says it like this, first 1 Peter 2 verse 2, and it encourages us as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby. 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:53.200 We're talking about growing how the the word has power to make us and bring growth. 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:56.879 The word of God produces health, it produces life and growth. 00:15:57.039 --> 00:16:01.919 It brings us uh to greater and greater degrees of maturity. 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:08.559 How would it be if we if we stayed uh a child in the physical realm forever and we never grew up? 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:16.480 A lot of people are like that in their spiritual life, and you can have uh older saints who've never uh really grown up in the faith. 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:20.320 We can we can be spiritual babies because we've not been in Scripture. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:33.919 Timothy two, fifteen uh says this be diligent to present yours your self-approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:38.960 So there circle these two words, diligent and yourself in that verse. 00:16:39.200 --> 00:16:40.799 Diligent and yourself. 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:42.720 So what does it mean to be diligent? 00:16:42.960 --> 00:17:05.839 We're talking about the word of God, being diligent in relation to the word, according to Daniel Webster, then his dictionary definition, to be diligent means to be steady, to be earnest, to be energetic, to have energetic effort, to be devoted and take take pains to work and apply to accomplish an undertaking. 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:27.680 So, in the sense of what we're talking about when we're studying the Word of God, all of these things matter to being s consistent or steady, to be in earnest and to apply energetic effort to study, uh to read, to study, to memorize, meditate, you know, all these things that we're to be uh pursuing, how we're pursuing the word of God. 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:31.440 In addition, uh you have to make this effort yourself. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:35.759 That's why I had you circle the word yourself, because no one else can do this for you. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:38.000 No one else can study the Bible for you. 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:44.000 They can't listen to the word for you, they can't uh they can't meditate or memorize the word for you. 00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:45.839 You have to do this for yourself. 00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:50.000 And uh so really what you're doing is feeding yourself. 00:17:50.240 --> 00:17:54.960 And so it's so important that we don't depend on others, and I just encourage you to that. 00:17:55.039 --> 00:17:59.759 Don't depend on others to do the work necessary to benefit your spiritual life. 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:10.160 This is what we encourage here at Trinity Community Church, and that we have different options for you to pursue those things from coming to hear the Word of God on Sunday to reading the Bible. 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:19.519 We have Bible reading programs, uh, we have uh opportunities for you to take a take classes, to uh to be involved in Bible studies in small groups. 00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:30.720 Uh so just take that encouragement to invest yourself in the uh pursuit of the Word of God, and it will it will reap uh amazing benefits. 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:39.359 God is faithful, folks, and he's always gonna help us if we'll just cooperate with him and surrender what is to his uh to his desires for us. 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:50.400 So I want to just end our session today just by praying for us that God would increase that in us uh and that uh that he would show himself faithful in this area about the word of God. 00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:57.119 So, Father, we're thankful for your word and how it uh it is certainly uh something that comes from you. 00:18:57.279 --> 00:19:04.000 You've breathed it out, and yet you've used human authors to communicate these great truths through their personalities. 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:18.240 And Lord, we ask you as uh we think about how accurate the Bible is and how reliable it is, uh how we can look at it and we can just uh continue to grow in it, Lord, that you would give us a hunger for your word. 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:26.799 We pray that you would uh illuminate the scriptures for us and give us an understanding of what you have written in the Bibles that we have in our possession. 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:40.000 Lord, help us not to take it for granted, but be uh just really strong in pursuing uh through memorizing, meditating, hearing, reading all these ways, Lord, that we can pursue your word. 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:45.119 And we pray, Lord, that you would help us, Holy Spirit, and we ask it in the name of Jesus. 00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:47.279 We ask it in Jesus' name. 00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:48.079 Amen.