The Bible is divinely inspired, meaning it is God-breathed, setting it apart from all other books. This inspiration is demonstrated through instances of God breathing life into Adam and the disciples, and is explicitly stated in 2 Timothy 3:16-17. While the Bible accurately records the words and actions of both faithful and unfaithful individuals, including lies and sinful deeds, its authority rests in God's direct pronouncements. Understanding the distinction between accuracy and divine authority is crucial for a solid faith, especially when encountering challenges to biblical inerrancy.
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We want to turn tonight to Second Timothy chapter three, and we want to read verses sixteen and seventeen. Second Timothy three, verses sixteen and seventeen. At our last business meeting, a number of young men were there, and we proposed that on Wednesday night that some of these young men minister the word. and I'm very happy about this and I have made up a list for the coming month and on next Wednesday night Patrick is going to Patrick Rudd is going to minister on Wednesday night and then this will all be in the bulletin the following Wednesday night will be vacation Bible school and Neil Roberts will minister on the sixteenth and I had someone written down for the twenty-third, but that person told me that I should remove their name, so I'll have to put someone else in there.
And then Eric Rudd is going to minister on the thirtieth, which is the last Wednesday night of the month. Now, in case that interferes with your schedule, you'll just have to let me know. I didn't get in touch with everybody before. I made the list. The only one I got in touch with is Patrick because I knew he was going back to school. And there are others that will also be used on Wednesday night. Now we're in Second Timothy chapter three, verses sixteen and seventeen. We're dealing with a subject of the inspiration of Holy Scripture.
There are, we want to look at this from probably different angles than you have thought about and I'm doing this in order that we're acquainted with a subject because the doctrine of the inspiration of scripture is important and it is a controversial subject among God's people today is the word of God inerrant in the original autographs the doctrine of inerrancy is linked to the doctrine of divine inspiration. And because of this, we need to know what we mean when we talk about the divine inspiration of Scripture.
Second Timothy chapter three, verse sixteen says, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. That is teaching. Doctrine is teaching for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished, unto all good works. Now let us pray together. Our Father, we thank you that you have given us an inspired, authoritative book. We thank you for the revelation of thy mind to us so that we who have read and who have heard are without excuse.
We thank you that you are the God who has been pleased to reveal yourself to man. You are the creator. Man is the creature. You are infinite. But man is so finite, so small, a lot smaller than he really thinks he is. We pray the old God that as we study together, that the words of our mouth and the meditation of our hearts will be acceptable in thy sight. We ask thee, our Father, for those who are going through special trials. We think of Mrs. Hopkins at this time, who's in the hospital, and we ask you to undertake for her.
We think of Mr. Regerton's father, who was just admitted today. We ask on his behalf. We think of Barbara Lowe who laid her father away today. And we ask you to comfort her and to bless her in a unique way. And we thank you for your mercies extended to her. And we just rejoice that we can ask and receive on behalf of one another. We pray for those of our assembly who are out of work. And we ask you to undertake for each and every one of them, whether it's our brother Ricky Bailey or Mr.
Keenholz or Johnny Lindley, we ask on behalf of each one. And we thank you that we can ask and receive, not because of who we are, but because of the interest that our Lord Jesus has in his people. We thank you that we're the people of God, not by our choice, but by yours. And that makes it all the better. And we rejoice in the knowledge that you have chosen us, even though we didn't choose you. And we thank you that finally we did choose you after we were convicted of the Spirit of God, of our desperate condition, and our great need.
We pray tonight for our missionary family that's laboring in various places. We think of Mrs. Patterson there in the Virgin Islands and ask you to undertake on her behalf. We not only think of her, but we think of Sarah Murdoch and the Stephens and the other missionaries connected with the Stephens who labor there in La Paz in Bolivia. Well, Sarah's in Cochabamba. And then we also remember a dear brother who labored for many years in Cuba, in the Bahamas, and finally in Puerto Rico, our brother Layton.
Wherever he is, will thou graciously our father minister to him, undergird him, and bless him abundantly? We think of the various needs that are about us here. We thank you for those who have taken up the subject of the precious child ministry and ask you to undertake in their behalf. Not only do we pray for the precious child ministry, but we pray for the word of God as it goes forth over the air, whether it's our own little broadcast or the men who broadcast over the Bible broadcasting network. Will thou be pleased, O God of our praise, to bless the word and make that word a rich blessing to those who hear.
For except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that do build. Minister to us tonight. Use this portion of your word and what he said about it to instruct us and to make us think concerning this precious book that we open at every one of our meetings and we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. I'd just like to say a word about Ms. Hopkins, who's in County Hospital. She's really filling up rapidly with fluids. Her arms are quite big from fluid.
It's all fluid. And they're starting to seep. The fluid is coming through. I don't believe she's going to be with us all. So remember her in your prayers. And she's gaining weight her normal weight is a hundred two and she weighs a hundred and forty three pounds so you know how much water and fluid is there so remember her and Charlie as well at this time and of course Mr. Edgerton that's Max father who is in the Lutheran home he has been taken to emergency with fluid problems I believe in connection with his heart so they need our prayers now when we come to the subject of the divine inspiration of scripture what we mean by that as recorded here all scripture is given by inspiration of God we mean that it is God breathed There are three times in Scripture where
we have a record of God breathing. In the creation of Adam, we read that God created and formed man out of the dust of the earth, out of dust of the ground, and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And man became a living soul. Here is the first instance of when God breathed and Adam was set apart. from all the other creation. Adam was set apart from everything else in the whole of creation. In John chapter twenty and verse twenty-two, when the disciples on resurrection night were in an upper room behind closed doors, our Lord appeared in the midst, and He breathed upon them, and He said to them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit, And these men were set apart from all other men, for they became the apostles of the Lord.
And then here, in Second Timothy chapter three, we read that the scriptures, the Bible, is God-breathed. It is given by inspiration of God, and that sets this book apart from every other book. Now, if The Word of God is only the work of man. And this is how it is used by many. Because God used over forty different men to be the human authors of this book. However, if this book is only the work of men, we can never lean upon this book for spiritual support.
If it is only a human work, if the Bible is only a human work, then it is only a compilation of human ideas about morality and ethics with a smattering of Jewish history. But you see, the Scripture claims for itself that it is inspired by God. Now, I stopped for coffee occasionally in a little restaurant called the Pepper Tree. For the purpose of discussing scripture with those who come in. And I get into quite a few discussions. And there's a lawyer that I talk with quite a bit.
And he made the statement to me. And someone else has picked it up and also made the statement to me. And of course I've let them make it. He said the book of the Revelation should have never been included in the canon of Scripture. And, of course, he said it in such a way that, you see, here's a man who is a lawyer, and he attends a well-known church in the city. And therefore, he made this statement, and I let him make it. Now, I'm waiting for him to make it again. You see, and I'm going to tell him the next time.
Now, you made that statement before. Now, may I ask you a question, which I know you'll say yes. And I'll say to him, now, you evidently have difficulty with the book of the Revelation. Can you name one thing in the book of the Revelation that is not mentioned somewhere else in Scripture? Now I throw that out to you as a challenge. And you will not find anything referred to in the book of the Revelation that is not found elsewhere in Holy Scripture.
And that may amaze you. What it does, it brings into focus all the other prophecies and symbols and types that are found in the Word of God and that puts them in their proper focus in Holy Scripture. It is rightly the last book of the Bible. Now I'm going to come back to that in a few moments. Now I'd like to talk to you a little bit tonight about methods used in inspiration. Now I might say some things that are going to startle you. And I don't want to be misquoted.
So I'm going to ask you to listen carefully. Now, there's a reason for this. A number of years ago, a young man who had been brought up in youth for Christ, and he had been brought up in fundamental circles, and he had been taught that there are no mistakes in the Word of God, and of course, he went away to college. When he got into philosophy class, the professor asked a question, a very simple question. Is there anyone here who believes that everything in the Bible is truth? That was a very simple question, wasn't it?
And of course, this young man, he was brought up, you'd always take a stand for the Word of God. But he should have listened a little closer to the question. And when he lifts, when he put up his hand, and the professor turned to a passage and he says, will you please explain that to me as truth? And when he did, that young man's footing was in one blow of a college professor. His footing was cut out from under him concerning his faith and his trust in this book.
And it took years. until that boy got back to a place where he could really trust the word of God and talk to others about it. Now it's important to get an education I'm aware of this. But it's far more important, friends, that we have our feet planted solidly on this subject. of the Word of God. Now nowhere does the Bible state that the men who wrote the Bible were inspired men.
The Bible doesn't say that. The Word of God only says that their writings were inspired. You see, Moses lost his temper and he killed a man. But that did not hinder God from using him to write. the first five books of the Word of God. Furthermore, David committed adultery, and then he committed murder to cover it up, and yet he definitely says that God spoke through him, and who of us has not enjoyed the Psalms like Psalm twenty-three and Psalm forty-six and other Psalms that came from the pen of David?
Now the method that God used to communicate his truth to men who gave us the word of God are varied. To Isaiah, the words were audible. I want you to turn to Isaiah twenty-two and verse fourteen. Isaiah twenty-two and verse fourteen. Where we read this. And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts. Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord God of hosts.
Here Isaiah in chapter twenty-two is speaking of the burden of the valley of vision. And if you will study this little section in Isaiah, it is one of those crucial sections of the book concerning the prophetic scriptures. And he says that the word of God was revealed in his ears. Therefore God audibly spoke to Isaiah. Now to Daniel. In Daniel chapter two and verse nineteen. God spoke to Daniel in a night vision. And he revealed unto Daniel that which the king desired. That they would be able to tell him what he dreamed and also give the interpretation.
Daniel chapter two verse nineteen says then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision then Daniel blessed the God of heaven and It's an amazing thing when these men received a vision from the Lord it always resulted in worship You see but when you come to Daniel chapter twelve and Daniel chapter twelve. You'll notice that in the twelfth chapter, Daniel was told to go his way in verse nine, I think it is, for and seal up the book until the time of the end.
Verse nine of Daniel twelve. And he said, Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. And when you come to the book of the Revelation, the things that are brought in vision and in prophecy through Daniel and Seel are unveiled. So that's what the meaning of Revelation is. The word for Revelation in the Greek is apocalypse. it's the unveiling and that's what the Word of God says in the opening of the book the revelation or the unveiling of Jesus Christ you see so that which was sealed at the close of the book of Daniel the visions that God gave to Daniel are opened and unveiled in the book of the revelation now how the revelation was given to Paul how revelation was given to Paul We don't know.
But this is what he told the Galatians. And I want you to look at Galatians chapter one. Galatians chapter one and verse eleven. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. God revealed truth to the Apostle Paul.
Now, whenever God deals with man, there is always a matter of mystery connected with it, for the simple reason that God is a creator and man is a creature. God is infinite and man is so finite. In Isaiah, verses eight and nine, God says to man, my thoughts are not your thoughts. And your thoughts are not my thoughts. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so are my thoughts higher than your thoughts. And our Lord Jesus, when he spoke about the new birth, he said to Nicodemus, in John chapter three and verse eight, the wind bloweth where it willeth.
and you hear the sound of it but you can't tell where it came from and where it's going and so is everyone who is born of the spirit so when God revealed his truth to man the various men who wrote the scriptures he used various means in doing it to Daniel it was vision to Isaiah he spoke in his ears and to Paul the Lord Jesus gave direct special revelation. Now, the question we need to ask is this. Is every word in the Bible true? Now, did you get the question?
Is every word in the Bible true? No, it isn't. Now, I want you to, don't call me a heretic right away. I want you to think with me. Is every word in the Bible true? No. Now, some people taught this, but the Bible doesn't teach that. And we've got to be straight on this. And I told you about the philosophy professor and what he did to the young man. Now, if someone in the Bible tells a lie, that is recorded as a lie. The truth is that a lie was told.
But a lie just because it's in the Bible doesn't make a truth. When the devil said to Eve, in the day that you eat thereof, you're not going to die. That was a lie. But it is an accurately recorded lie that was spoken by Satan. Now, the professor's question, are there any mistakes in the Bible? Yes, a lot of them. There's a mistake of Adam. He ate of the forbidden fruit. That's a record. We have a record of what Adam did. And when I was sitting in an audience and that question was asked, are there any mistakes in the Bible?
I answered it from the afore. There sure are. Boy, and everybody was shocked. Except the speaker, of course, and I wasn't the speaker. Tom Taylor was. And he said, you want to know something. He said, Phil's right. He's right. There are mistakes in the Bible. You see, here's where the Bible doesn't need your defense in mind. It doesn't need us to go out and defend it. What the Word of God needs is for us to know exactly what its message is. You see. Now the Bible has many stories about faithless human beings.
And what faithless human beings did, their deeds are faithless as well. Now this does not mean that God approves the utterances of faithless people or the deeds of the characters of a particular story. You see, inspiration carries absolute accuracy. The devil's lies are recorded accurately. The wicked deeds of the people in the days of Noah are accurately recorded. The wickedness of King Saul and of Joab, who was the general of David's army, their deeds are accurately recorded.
But God does not approve of what they did. You see, inspiration carries absolute accuracy as to the historicity of the accounts. Absolute authority. Absolute accuracy as to the behavior of sinful beings. who walk through the pages of Holy Scripture. But now that brings us to something else. Where God speaks directly in the Bible, we not only have complete accuracy, but we have absolute authority.
When God speaks directly in Scripture, we have complete accuracy. And we have absolute authority. In other words, in the first five books of the Bible, about eight hundred times we have the expression, the Lord said. And usually it comes like this, and the Lord spake unto Moses saying, the Lord said. In Amos chapter one, for instance, God is speaking directly through the prophet. And eight times in the first chapter of Amos we read, Thus saith the Lord.
And when we read a passage like that, you see, we have the very sentiments of God, and he stands behind the record, and he sanctions every thought that is expressed in Holy Scripture. Now that teaches us something concerning inspiration. We must, as God's children, distinguish between accuracy and authority. Did you get that? We must distinguish between accuracy and authority. Concerning accuracy, you see, fallible men make mistakes, and they're recorded.
Elijah made a mistake when he was under the juniper tree. He said, Lord, take my life. He not only made that mistake, but he said, Lord, they've passed on nine altars. I'm the only one who's really standing for you in Israel. And God had to remind him that there were seven thousand beside him, you see. You see, fallible men make fallible mistakes. Elijah under the juniper tree. Furthermore, Peter. an apostle in the second chapter of the book of Galatians verses eleven through fourteen he was influenced into legalism and Paul had to withstand him to the face and you have that Peter Paul debate there dealing with compromise in Galatians chapter two it just simply tells us that fallible men make mistake there we have accuracy God accurately recorded what Elijah said under the juniper trees, and what took place between Peter and Paul when Paul bestowed Peter to the face.
Now a good example of this is in Second Samuel chapter seven. Second Samuel chapter seven is a great chapter of the Davidic kingdom and the covenant that God made with David. Second Samuel seven. You have it again in Psalm eighty-nine and in some other places in the Word of God. Psalm sixty-eight as well. Now, you remember David went to the prophet Nathan and he said to the prophet, I dwell in a house of Sheba. But the ark of God dwells in a tent. That was a dwelling place of God. It dwelled in a tent from the time it was erected by Bezalel.
and a holia there in the wilderness. About five hundred years before, that tent was still standing there, and that's where the Ark of God was. It had to be repaired, I'm sure, many times. And David said to the Lord, and he said to Nathan the prophet, the Ark of God dwells in the tent, but I live in the house of Cedar. Certainly God deserves something better than me. I'm going to build a temple. Boy, he had it in his heart. He wanted to build it. And you remember the prophet Nathan? He said, go do all that he's in mine heart. The Lord be with thee.
Sounds good, doesn't it? Or that night God straightened Nathan up. He said, now Nathan, you go tell David he's not going to build the house. He's not going to build the house. Just because Nathan said it and just because it's recorded. You see, it's recorded accurately. But God says, he's not going to build it. His son Solomon, he's going to build the house for me. His son Solomon. You see, now that is authority. God said, not Nathan, oh no, Solomon.
I mean, not David, but Solomon. Now that is authority. You see the difference? between accuracy and authority. God corrected him. Now when a good man says and does what is not authorized by God, the words and deeds are recorded in Scripture, but it carries no necessary sanctions that they were prompted by God. Now in the will of the Lord, at a future time, next time I speak on a Wednesday night, I'm coming back. and we're going to take up divine inspiration. Beloved, we have a book here that is a marvel whenever you read it.
I'll never get enough, I'll never live long enough to preach everything I want to preach to the people of God. I'll guarantee you that. I get excited when I get into the Word. Now, When we study the scriptures, these are the two things. You'll find out in A.T. Pearson's book, Knowing the Scriptures, he said you've got to distinguish between accuracy and authority, and how true that is. And of course, when a person has never been taught that, and a college professor publicly pulls the rug out from underneath the feet, One who has been taught to trust the word of God, he can do a lot more damage in two, three minutes on a college campus, in a classroom that a number of good men can do in years.
And Satan is a past master at trickery. May God enable us by His grace to lay hold of these truths and not be ashamed of them. The more you read the word, the more you study the word, the less you're afraid to discuss the word with someone who appears to be, quote, an intellectual, unquote. We don't need to be afraid of what we believe.
We don't need to be ashamed. I believe that if we take time and listen to the questions, and we don't always have to answer the question immediately. It does us a lot of good if we give a person the courtesy or waiting a little while before we answer so that we're sure about what we say. I'm gone.