Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / God’s Book—God’s Voice Msg 322 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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God’s Book—God’s Voice Msg 322 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Back in Isaiah 65, 16, the prophet Isaiah calls God
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  Speaker 1: the God of truth. Our Heavenly Father reveals His truth
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  Speaker 1: to us primarily through the Scriptures, God's Word. In Matthew
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  Speaker 1: chapter 4, verse 4, Jesus attested to the truth and
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  Speaker 1: the authority of Scripture when He said, man shall not
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  Speaker 1: live on bread alone, but on every word. that proceeds
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  Speaker 1: out of the mouth of God. God desires for every
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  Speaker 1: person on earth to come to a knowledge of the truth. So,
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  Speaker 1: not surprisingly, He reveals His truth to us through His Word.
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  Speaker 1: In preparation for today's message, listen carefully to 2 Timothy 3,
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  Speaker 1: verses 16 and 17. I'll read these two verses for
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  Speaker 1: you from the Amplified Version. Every scripture is God-breathed, given
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  Speaker 1: by His inspiration, and profitable for instruction, for reproof and
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  Speaker 1: conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience,
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  Speaker 1: and for training in righteousness, that is, in holy living,
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  Speaker 1: in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose, and action.
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  Speaker 1: so that the man of God may be complete and proficient,
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  Speaker 1: well-fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work. What is
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  Speaker 1: your final authority in life? When you're cornered and you're
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  Speaker 1: really up against it and you're forced to face reality,
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  Speaker 1: upon what do you lean? Now, don't answer too quickly.
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  Speaker 1: Think about it for a few moments. For example, you
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  Speaker 1: discover that on your side, about the level of your
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  Speaker 1: belt line, you have a dark mole. On occasion, it bleeds.
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  Speaker 1: It's becoming increasingly more sensitive. You're disturbed about it. You
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  Speaker 1: finally talk yourself into seeing a physician. The surgeon probes
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  Speaker 1: and pushes, asks a few questions, takes a few x-rays,
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  Speaker 1: and finally says to you with a frown, I don't
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  Speaker 1: like the way this looks, and I don't like the
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  Speaker 1: way it feels. I have to remove it, and we'll
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  Speaker 1: have to do a biopsy, but I should tell you,
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  Speaker 1: it may not be good. He does that, and it isn't.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, he tells you, it is melanoma. It is
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  Speaker 1: the worst kind of cancer. How do you handle that?
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  Speaker 1: Upon what do you lean? To whom or to what
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  Speaker 1: do you turn? Here's another. It's in the middle of
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  Speaker 1: the night and your phone rings, say one or two
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  Speaker 1: in the morning, and it's a police officer. He tries
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  Speaker 1: to be tactful, but it's obvious that someone you love
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  Speaker 1: very much has been in a terrible head-on collision. And
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  Speaker 1: he tells you he has the unhappy and unfortunate responsibility
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  Speaker 1: of asking you to come and to identify the body.
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  Speaker 1: And indeed, it is your loved one. What do you
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  Speaker 1: do in the hours that follow with your grief? What
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  Speaker 1: do you do? Here's another. You've worked very, very hard
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  Speaker 1: in your business. It's been marked by integrity, diligence, sacrifice.
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  Speaker 1: You've given up so that the business might grow. You've
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  Speaker 1: plowed what little bit of profit you've made back into
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  Speaker 1: the business, and you've maintained your integrity all along. And
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  Speaker 1: you discovered in the process of a few weeks that
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  Speaker 1: your product, which has taken much of your life and labor,
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  Speaker 1: is soon to be obsolete. In fact, it appears that
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  Speaker 1: within the next few months you may lose everything. Where
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  Speaker 1: do you turn with the awful news of financial bankruptcy?
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  Speaker 1: Upon what do you lean? Just one more. You've been
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  Speaker 1: married 25, 26 years. You and your partner have reared
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  Speaker 1: three now adult children. One is about to finish college
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  Speaker 1: and The other two are gone. You're thinking that the
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  Speaker 1: future holds for you some refreshing and relaxing moments. You've,
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  Speaker 1: as it were, paid your dues. You've worked hard. You've
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  Speaker 1: given yourself to this marriage. And your partner sits down
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  Speaker 1: some dark evening and says, I can't keep something from
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  Speaker 1: you any longer. There's someone else in my life. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to be married anymore. I.
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  Speaker 1: I don't love you. I don't want to be in
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  Speaker 1: this home anymore. I'm divorcing you. What is your final authority?
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  Speaker 1: How do you handle that? I've worked with people for
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  Speaker 1: 25 and more years and I've seen them in the
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  Speaker 1: worst kind of crisis. I've seen some who could not
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  Speaker 1: take it and they took their lives and I've buried them.
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  Speaker 1: I've seen others who lost their minds, and I've visited
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  Speaker 1: with them and tried to help them through it. I
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  Speaker 1: have seen some dodge the reality of the pain and,
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  Speaker 1: in fact, live most of their later years denying the
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  Speaker 1: awful truth of what they've had to face. But I've
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  Speaker 1: observed in these years that people usually do one of
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  Speaker 1: four things when they are faced with information like this.
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  Speaker 1: I call this popular crutches upon which people lean. The
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  Speaker 1: first I would call, for lack of a better title, escapism.
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  Speaker 1: Most people, at least initially, escape the reality of the pain.
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  Speaker 1: They run. They either run mentally or they literally run
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  Speaker 1: in physical ways, through alcohol or drugs. They deny the
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  Speaker 1: horror of what has happened physically. They refuse it to
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  Speaker 1: take its toll on them. They escape. Secondly, I've noticed
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  Speaker 1: many people turn to cynicism. They face it. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: they live in it. And they turn the surprise into disillusionment.
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  Speaker 1: And they let that fester into resentment. And finally, it's
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  Speaker 1: downright bitter for them. And they look for someone else.
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  Speaker 1: to get back at or even with. They become victims
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  Speaker 1: of their own lack of forgiveness. Whether it's some other person,
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  Speaker 1: whether it's God or whatever, they turn to cynicism. They
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  Speaker 1: ship the faith in trying to deal with it. Third,
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  Speaker 1: the most common of the four is humanism. They listen
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  Speaker 1: to the counsel of man. They get their logic and
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  Speaker 1: their reasoning from a man or a woman or a book.
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  Speaker 1: They turn to self-help, people's opinions, self-realization. They try human reasoning.
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  Speaker 1: And all of that counsel and all of that logic
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  Speaker 1: is based on the horizontal wisdom of man. And it
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  Speaker 1: leaves them empty, leaves them lacking, and they do not
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  Speaker 1: really come to terms with the truth themselves. of what
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  Speaker 1: they could learn through that. Humanism. Fourth, rare, but it
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  Speaker 1: does occur, is supernaturalism. Some people turn to mediums. They
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  Speaker 1: seek information from the other world. They get in touch
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  Speaker 1: with witches and wizards. They try astrology and other marks
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  Speaker 1: of superstition. They even move into the occult as they
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  Speaker 1: are trying to cope with their world of pain. Escapism, cynicism, humanism,
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  Speaker 1: and supernaturalism, however, do not provide a nice final authority.
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  Speaker 1: They leave you in quicksand. You become, in fact, more
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  Speaker 1: confused than at the beginning. What is your final authority?
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  Speaker 1: To what, to whom do you turn? Now, you know
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  Speaker 1: where I'm going with that. And I'd like for you
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  Speaker 1: to see it for yourself in several passages of the scriptures.
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  Speaker 1: And I have in mind first Psalm 119. If I
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  Speaker 1: could have one wish for God's people, it would be
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  Speaker 1: that God's people return to the word of God. That
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  Speaker 1: would be my wish. That God's people would realize God's
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  Speaker 1: book has the answer. The Bible is the authority. The final,
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  Speaker 1: if I may, resting place of our cares, our worries,
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  Speaker 1: our griefs, our tragedies, our sorrows, our surprises, our feelings.
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  Speaker 1: Turning back to the scriptures. will provide something that nothing
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  Speaker 1: else will provide. Psalm 119 verses 81 and following, I
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  Speaker 1: read about a man who goes through similar situations. The
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  Speaker 1: specifics may be different than I've described, but generally speaking,
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  Speaker 1: he's been hurt. He's suffered pain. He's going through hard times.
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  Speaker 1: He says, my soul, verse 81, Psalm 119, 81, my
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  Speaker 1: soul languishes for thy deliverance. I wait for thy word.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, I think it's meaning I wait for
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  Speaker 1: the truth of it to come to pass. I wait
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  Speaker 1: for help to return. I I wait for the wisdom
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  Speaker 1: to take its shape and to make sense in my life.
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  Speaker 1: I wait for your word. Notice he waits for God's word,
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  Speaker 1: not human reasoning, not his own feelings, but for God's
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  Speaker 1: word to help him. My eyes fail with longing for
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  Speaker 1: thy word. While I say, when will thou comfort me?
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  Speaker 1: It isn't always sudden. He doesn't come swiftly at every
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  Speaker 1: cry of ours. Verse 85, the arrogant have dug pits
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  Speaker 1: for me. Men who are not in accord with thy law,
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  Speaker 1: all thy commandments are faithful. They have persecuted me with
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  Speaker 1: a lie. Help me. Here is a man being criticized.
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  Speaker 1: He's under the gun. They almost destroyed me on earth.
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  Speaker 1: But as for me, I do not forsake what? Thy precepts.
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  Speaker 1: I come back to thy word, O God. Verse 89. Forever,
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  Speaker 1: O Lord. Forever. Thy word is settled in heaven. Thy
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  Speaker 1: faithfulness continues throughout all generations. 92. I love it. If
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  Speaker 1: thy law had not been my delight, I would have
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  Speaker 1: perished in my affliction. You ever been there? If I
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  Speaker 1: hadn't had the eternal foundation of the book of God,
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  Speaker 1: I would have been finished. The Bible talks in terms
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  Speaker 1: of right and wrong, good and bad, yes and no,
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  Speaker 1: true and false, sinful and holy. doesn't corner you in
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  Speaker 1: grays and leave you with a fuzzy wonderment about life.
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  Speaker 1: It says, this is the way it is. That is
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  Speaker 1: the way it is not to be. This is the
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  Speaker 1: way to walk. Do not walk there. It tells you straight.
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  Speaker 1: It provides the kind of solid foundation I need and
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  Speaker 1: you need. Now, thinking about this and realizing the importance
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  Speaker 1: of establishing ourselves in the word, a couple or three
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  Speaker 1: things seemed important to me. First, it seems important to me,
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  Speaker 1: and I think it would be to you, that we
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  Speaker 1: know the identity of the Bible. By the way, Bible
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  Speaker 1: is never found in scripture. Never. It's not a biblical term.
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  Speaker 1: So what does the Bible call itself? What is its identity? Second,
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  Speaker 1: what about What about its truthfulness? Is it really inerrant?
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  Speaker 1: I understand there is some sort of inspiration about it,
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  Speaker 1: but is it free from error? And thirdly, can I
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  Speaker 1: really rely on it? Now that I know what it
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  Speaker 1: is and now that I have heard what it said
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  Speaker 1: about its own veracity, can I rely on it? Does
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  Speaker 1: it come through when I am wall to wall with reality,
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  Speaker 1: facing the horrors of my life? Let's look. The book
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  Speaker 1: of Luke, chapter 24, the last chapter of that gospel,
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  Speaker 1: is a good place to turn for the identity of Scripture.
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  Speaker 1: And we won't linger in all of these places. We'll
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  Speaker 1: just stop and take a look, make a few comments
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  Speaker 1: and pass ideas. to yet another, just to get a
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  Speaker 1: general understanding of the identity of scripture. Jesus is speaking
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  Speaker 1: in chapter 24, or he is speaking of Jesus, verse 27,
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  Speaker 1: beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, Jesus explained
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  Speaker 1: to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.
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  Speaker 1: That's an identity. That's a title, the scriptures. Drop down
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  Speaker 1: to verse 32. And they said to one another, these
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  Speaker 1: same two men who later reflect upon it, were not
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  Speaker 1: our hearts burning within us when he was speaking to
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  Speaker 1: us on the road while he was explaining the scriptures
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  Speaker 1: to us? Very interesting term translated the scriptures, graphe. We
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  Speaker 1: get our word graph from it. It means that which
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  Speaker 1: is written in In other words, the sacred writings. Now
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  Speaker 1: I linger here because I think it's significant that God
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  Speaker 1: didn't simply think his message. He didn't simply speak his
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  Speaker 1: message or reveal it for men and women to read
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  Speaker 1: in some physical manner. But he wrote his message down physically.
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  Speaker 1: He put it in the language of people so that
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  Speaker 1: it could be read. He graphed his word. The scriptures.
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  Speaker 1: We're grateful we have a book that contains the very
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  Speaker 1: mind of our God in written form. From Luke's gospel,
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  Speaker 1: turn to the next, John chapter 17. And look at
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  Speaker 1: verse 14. 17 14 of the gospel of john it's
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  Speaker 1: a chapter of prayer it's the longest recorded prayer of
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  Speaker 1: the lord jesus christ in all the bible while praying
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  Speaker 1: he says to the father verse 14 i have given
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  Speaker 1: them thy word and the world has hated them because
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  Speaker 1: they are not of the world even as i am
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  Speaker 1: not of the world i do not ask thee to
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  Speaker 1: take them out of the world but To keep them
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  Speaker 1: from the evil one. They are not of the world
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  Speaker 1: even as I am not of the world. Now the verse.
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  Speaker 1: Sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth. I
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  Speaker 1: am so grateful that verse is in our Bible. Now
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  Speaker 1: that is an absolute statement from the lips of Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: If you have to have it in red letters. That's
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  Speaker 1: in red letters. That is an underscoring of the veracity,
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  Speaker 1: the reliability of scripture. This is not human counsel. It
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  Speaker 1: is divine counsel. It is honest. It has integrity. It
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  Speaker 1: is absolute. It is timeless. Your word, O God, is truth.
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate what James Montgomery Boyce once wrote. We talk
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  Speaker 1: about the word of God as truth. We are right
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  Speaker 1: to do so. But we have to acknowledge when we
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  Speaker 1: speak along those lines that the world of our day
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  Speaker 1: no longer strictly believes in truth. And he adds, Francis
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  Speaker 1: Schaeffer has said the same thing in more philosophical terms.
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  Speaker 1: He's pointed out quite rightly that today, unlike previous generations, people,
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  Speaker 1: though they speak of truth and falsehood, are not speaking
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  Speaker 1: of truth in the biblical sense or even in the
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  Speaker 1: traditional sense. To mean that which is true now and
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  Speaker 1: will always be true universally. Rather they mean, and this
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  Speaker 1: will sound familiar, rather they mean that which is true
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  Speaker 1: now but not necessarily tomorrow. or yesterday. For it may
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  Speaker 1: be true for me, but not necessarily for you. In
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  Speaker 1: other words, truth for contemporary men and women is relative.
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  Speaker 1: Now that sounds familiar. I mean, after all, a thinking
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  Speaker 1: person shouldn't cut off his head when he starts getting
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  Speaker 1: serious about religion. There are lots of things out there
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  Speaker 1: that we have to consider. There are lots of things
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  Speaker 1: beyond the bounds of this book. Surely there are. But truth,
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  Speaker 1: real truth, truth you can rely on, truth that will
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  Speaker 1: never turn sour, that will never backfire, truth you can
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  Speaker 1: really rely on, that's in this book. That's what this
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  Speaker 1: book is about. That's why this book provides us with
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  Speaker 1: the constant and the needed truth. crutch. Do you turn
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  Speaker 1: to it for truth? The longer I live, the more
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  Speaker 1: I realize there are more and more people on this
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  Speaker 1: earth that have an amazing ability to twist truth. They
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  Speaker 1: have an amazing ability to change things so that white
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  Speaker 1: isn't really white. It's a kind of a light gray.
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  Speaker 1: Black isn't really black. It's sort of a dark gray.
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  Speaker 1: And in the grays, I'm sort of left to make
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  Speaker 1: up my mind with my own moral values. standard or
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  Speaker 1: my own ethical compass the direction I want to go
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  Speaker 1: and no one's going to lay any trip on me
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  Speaker 1: because nobody knows where the lines are and therefore I
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  Speaker 1: am left not free no not free but in bondage
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  Speaker 1: what does it take to free me it takes truth
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  Speaker 1: it takes truth you will know the truth and the
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  Speaker 1: truth will set you free I have lived just long
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  Speaker 1: enough to realize that I desperately need truth in my life.
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  Speaker 1: I've gotten just enough intelligence to be dangerous. I've gotten
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  Speaker 1: just enough man's wisdom not to trust in it. I've
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  Speaker 1: gotten just enough authority to begin to question it myself.
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  Speaker 1: I need truth. I need God's yes and God's no
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  Speaker 1: and God's light and God's dark. I need it. His
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  Speaker 1: word provides it. Now, you know, in all of my study,
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  Speaker 1: and I've checked with a number of books in this preparation,
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  Speaker 1: I did not find one that made much of the
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  Speaker 1: next verse I'm going to have you look at. And
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  Speaker 1: it's surprising because it's one of the best. 1 Thessalonians
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  Speaker 1: chapter 2. We've looked at Luke 24 and we've heard
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  Speaker 1: that the Bible is God's written scripture, the sacred writings.
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  Speaker 1: We've seen in Jesus' words of John chapter 17 that
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  Speaker 1: God's book is truth. I find in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2,
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  Speaker 1: just one verse, verse 13, that this is God's message.
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  Speaker 1: This is in fact God's word. 1 Thessalonians 2.13, for
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  Speaker 1: this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you
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  Speaker 1: received from us the word of God's message, you accepted
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  Speaker 1: it not as the word of men, but for what
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  Speaker 1: it really is, the word of God. Isn't that great?
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  Speaker 1: Isn't that great? Which also performs its work in you
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  Speaker 1: who believe. When I stood to speak and I delivered
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  Speaker 1: to you God's message and I unrolled the scrolls and
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  Speaker 1: I pointed out the truth of what Moses has written
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  Speaker 1: and what Jeremiah has said and what Amos has pointed out,
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  Speaker 1: when I presented that to you, you didn't take that
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  Speaker 1: as the word of man. You saw it for what
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  Speaker 1: it really was, the word of God. Now, ladies and gentlemen,
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  Speaker 1: that does something to you. That does something to you.
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  Speaker 1: When you realize that the readings or the print that
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  Speaker 1: you are reading is in fact God's message, God's word,
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  Speaker 1: it stands alone. It's all by itself. Think of it
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  Speaker 1: this way. God's book is, as it were, God's voice.
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  Speaker 1: If he were to make himself visible and come and
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  Speaker 1: stand in this place where I'm standing and speak to you,
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  Speaker 1: his message would be within this book. His message of
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  Speaker 1: truth would tie in exactly with what you see in scripture.
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  Speaker 1: His opinion, his counsel, his commands, his desires, his warnings,
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  Speaker 1: his very mind in this book. Now, one more, and
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  Speaker 1: it's the practical side of this identity. 1 Peter 1,
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  Speaker 1: and I commend you for going from passage to passage.
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  Speaker 1: I commend most of you. Some of you have stopped.
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  Speaker 1: Let someone else next to you go from passage to passage.
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  Speaker 1: Look at this one in 1 Peter 1, verse 22.
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  Speaker 1: Referring to the same graphe, the writings, the same truths,
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  Speaker 1: Referring to the same message of God, Peter says, verse 22,
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  Speaker 1: chapter 1 of his first letter, since you have in
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  Speaker 1: obedience to the truth purified your souls, look at that,
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  Speaker 1: just in passing, look at the standard for obedience. How
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  Speaker 1: do I know what to obey? You obey the truth.
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  Speaker 1: Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your
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  Speaker 1: souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love
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  Speaker 1: one another from the heart. For you have been born again,
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  Speaker 1: not of seed, which is perishable, but imperishable. That is,
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  Speaker 1: through the living and abiding word of God. For all
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  Speaker 1: flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the
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  Speaker 1: flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls off,
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  Speaker 1: but the word of the Lord abides forever. And this
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  Speaker 1: is the word which was preached to you. Here was
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  Speaker 1: another reference to the Everlasting nature of God's message. You
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  Speaker 1: realize there are only two eternal things on earth today?
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  Speaker 1: Only two. People and God's word. Everything else is going
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: to be burned up. Everything else. That kind of sets
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: your priorities straight, doesn't it? I love the story that
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Charlie Tremendous Jones tells about walking down into his basement
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: after the flood has come. and brought in the water
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: and brought in the mud and all the gunk and
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: all of his awards and all of his plaques and
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: all of his honors, you know, four, five, six feet
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: under mud. And he said, I stood there and I
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: heard the voice of God. He said, Charlie, not so tremendous, Jones.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: Don't worry about all this. I was going to burn
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: it up anyway. The stuff we put on the shelves.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: The things we put frames around. The stuff we shine.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: We want to show off. The things we're so interested
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: that people know about us. It's all going to be
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: burnt up. But the truth will abide forever. Grass will come, flower,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: and it'll wither and die. But his written message, the truth,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: will abide forever. Now wait a minute. Hold it. How
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: can I get so excited about something that was written
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: by men? I mean, no problem with the giver of truth.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: By the way, let me toss at you three doctrinal
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: terms you need to remember. Revelation, inspiration, illumination. Simple. You'll
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: remember them forever in this simple illustration. God's giving his
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: truth is revelation. From heaven to earth, he gave his truth.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: That's revelation. When men received and recorded his truth, that's inspiration.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: God gave his truth, that's revelation. When people received and
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: recorded his truth, they wrote his truth, that's inspiration. Today,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: when we understand and apply his truth, that's illumination. Receiving
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: and recording the truth, is inspiration. Discovering new truth for
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: our lives and understanding it and applying it, that's illumination.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: Revelation has ceased. Inspiration has ceased. But illumination is going
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: on right now. Isn't that a great thought? Right now,
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit is incessantly at work instructing you and
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: challenging you and warning you and thrilling you and affirming you.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: And giving you hope and direction right now because he's
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: at work. But it's that link. And if you've watched
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: enough track and field as I have, you know that
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: the critical point is the handoff. In those relays. That
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: first guy can come out of the, what do you
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: call them? Come out of the stops. Starting blocks. That's right.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: I was thinking that, but I just had my mind
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: on inspiration and illumination and revelations. He jumps out of
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: the starting blocks and he gets a run on that
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: other guy. And he just reaches out with the baton
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: and he drops it and races over. That's a critical
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: point of the relay. So the critical point of your
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: confidence in the Bible is that inspiration. Don't ever doubt it.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: That's the watershed issue. Always has been, always will be.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Not revelation, not illumination. It's the handing off of truth.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: And that's where the critics attack. How can I believe
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: that God, who is perfect... And his word, which I
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: understand now is perfect, could be that if the handoff
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: went to human beings. Okay, from 1 Peter, go back
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. Very,
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: very important part of the subject on God's word. Timothy
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: has just been exhorted regarding the times in which he lived,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: which are marked by difficulty and depravity and deception. Verses
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: 1 to 13. He says in verse 14 to his friend,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: Paul does, You, however, continue in the things you have
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: learned them, and that from the childhood you have known
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: the graphe. There's our word again. You have known the
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: sacred writings, which are able to give you the wisdom
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Now,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: having said that about the scriptures, Paul adds, Timothy says,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: All graphe, all the writings of God, all scripture is,
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: our text reads, inspired of God. If you carry the
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: new international version of scripture, you see it as literally
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: as we can render it in English. God breathed. Is
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: this good? God, when it came to giving mankind his word,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: breathed out his word. It says in verse 16, all
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: scripture is God-breathed, not inspired like a Picasso, not inspired
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: like a work of sculpture by Michelangelo, not inspired like
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: a great composition by Handel, not inspired like a masterful
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: literary piece, a masterwork by Shakespeare, but God-breathed. All scripture
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: is breathed out by God and is profitable. Now, wait
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: a minute. This still doesn't answer it. I hear you.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: I can hear those wheels turning. When I breathe out
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: my message to my secretary, she takes it and she
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: writes it down and goes back over it with me
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: and then types it up and gives it to me
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: and I sign the letter and it's called Taking Dictation. Right? Well,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: wait a minute. If you know much about the Bible,
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: and most of you know enough to know this, that
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: you realize that it's got all different kinds of thumbprints
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: in it. Peter doesn't sound a lot like John, and
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: John doesn't sound like David, and David's writings aren't like Samuel,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: and Samuel is altogether distinct from Jude, or for that matter,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: any of the other apostles. So somehow, there was the
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: preservation of each writer's personality without corrupting the text. So
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: we have a Bible full of human personality and style,
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: and yet it's God who breathed out His message, and
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: it came in written form from the pens of men
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: who differed. In style. How'd he do it? How'd he
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: make that happen? From 2 Timothy, turn back to Peter's
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: words in 2 Peter 1. I get excited all over
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: again when I talk about things like this. Some of
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: you are thinking, oh, when is lunch? But we'll get there.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: I'll be through about 4, 4.30. We'll get there. 2
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: Peter 1, verse 19. So we have the prophetic word
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: made more sure, to which you do well to pay
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: until the day dawn and the morning star rise in
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: your hearts. Know this first of all, that no prophecy
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. But
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: look carefully. For no prophecy was ever made by an
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: act of human will. So, let me interrupt. Paul didn't
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: sit down one day and think, hmm, I think I'll
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: write 2 Corinthians. Or, hmm, I feel like Galatians. I'll
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: write Galatians. No prophecy ever came to pass because of
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: the impulse... Or the inner urging of the will of man. No.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: But in contrast to that, verse 21, the key word
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: is moved. But men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: from God. Now don't go any further. This is a
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: nautical term in the original. It's used often of ships
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: at sea. Used twice in Acts 27 of a shipwreck.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: When the ship had lost its sails and probably its rudder,
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: and it was at the mercy of the winds and
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: the waves and the swelling, rising and lowering sea, it's
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: moving along out of its own power. It's still a ship,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: but it's out of its own power. It's not going
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: on its own energy. It's at the mercy of the swells.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: and the wind. That's the word used here. So what
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: we have is God's breathing out his message to human
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: writers so that without their losing their own style or personality,
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: wrote his truth. And because he superintended the entire process,
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: no error was present in the original text right down
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: to the very words. right down to the very terms used.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: Paul Feinberg at Trinity Seminary has said, Inerrancy means that
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: when all facts are known, the scriptures in their original
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: autographs and properly interpreted will be shown to be wholly
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: true in everything they teach. whether that teaching has to
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: do with doctrine, history, science, geography, geology, or other disciplines.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: Can I rely on it? Is it reliable when I
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: go through those experiences I talked about at the beginning
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: of this talk? Back to Psalm 119. Enter woven through
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: this great psalm is one theme. I rely on thy word,
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: O God. In fact, interesting the way this psalm is
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: put together. We won't spend much time here, but I
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: just want to close with these few comments. Now look
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: at your Bible, Psalm 119. Some of you have older
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: versions of the Bible, some of the old King James versions,
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: some of the other even new King James versions will
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: include the little characters, which are Hebrew characters. See verses
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: one to eight, see the title above verse one says Aleph, Aleph.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: That's the Hebrew first letter in its alphabet. The next
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: eight verses are entitled Beth. That's the second letter in
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: the Hebrew Bible. All of the verses, all eight verses
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: begin with that letter. It's kind of a magnified, acrostic
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: piece of music. All verses 1 through 8 begin with Aleph.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: 9 through 16 begin with Beth. 17 through 24 begin
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: with Gimel. That's the third letter. And then Daleth, and He,
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: and Wau, and Zion, and Cheth, Teth, Yod, Koth, Lamed, Maim, Nu,
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: all the way through. You've got it all the way through.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: All 22 characters of the Hebrew alphabet, you've got it
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: put together. Why? Why? Probably to assist them in memory.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: Part of it is just considered beautiful poetry. But it
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: has a way of getting a ring to it when
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: you put those same letters beginning each one of those sections.
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: And we have eight stanzas in each one of those
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: sections in this grand hymn. God has established his precepts.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: He's given us a morality to follow. He's helped us
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: with grief, with ethics, with integrity, with criticism from others.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: feeling loneliness on and on and on. And he has
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: preserved it all. You could read right through this 119th
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: Psalm and you would probably deal in general with every
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: one of life's major experiences. And each time he comes
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: back and says, I rely on your word. Now, that
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: is something. This ancient, inerrant book is reliable right up
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: into today. I like what an old Baptist scholar named A.T.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: Robertson wrote. One proof of the inspiration of scripture is
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: that it has withstood so many years of poor preaching.
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: I like that. That's remarkable that this book is still
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: around after the way we've been handling it. You're in
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: Psalm 119. I want to give you three wonderful benefits
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: of relying on the Bible before we go home. Psalm 119, 98, 99,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: and 100. What benefits come my way when I rely
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: on this book? marvelous book. Verse 98, thy commandments make
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: First benefit I would call stability in the midst of storm.
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: I look into some faces right now who have been
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: through stormy times. And I see the marks and the
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: scars and the hurt and the pain in your faces.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: And you see them in mine. That's part of being
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: in the human race. But the wonderful thing about relying
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: on the book is that God's book gives you stability.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: It gives you that deep sense of purpose and meaning.
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: Even when you get the phone call in the middle
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: of the night. Even when your mate says it's over.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: Even when for some unrevealed reason bankruptcy strikes. And you
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: could name them all. No other counsel will get you
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: through in the long haul like the stability that comes
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: from God's book. Believe that. Believe that. I have stability
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: in the midst of storm. Verse 99. I have more.
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: Students will love this one. I have more insight than
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: all my teachers. For thy testimonies are my meditation. Doesn't
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: mean you can pull rank on your prof. I'd not
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: suggest that, that you try that. It says you will
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: have insight rather than intimidation. There are a few scenes
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: more intimidating than the scholarly world. You know what I've
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: observed about people who really know their Bibles? They aren't intimidated. Interesting. Interesting.
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: I'm going to talk in my next talk about the
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: importance of handling God's word correctly. I'm going to talk
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: about the importance of handling God's word accurately so that
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: you don't come across with half verses and partial truths
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: that you think are really true, but they're not. Nor
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: can you be battered in such a way because that
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: isn't really truth. It's a misuse of scripture. But I've
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: observed when people really get a knowledge of the scriptures
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: and they begin to rely on them and see them
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: work in their lives, they are less and less intimidated.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: They can face criticism and important people and strong words
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: and even be outclassed in an educational scene but not
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: intimidated because they have the truth which gives them insight. See,
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: insight is different. Insight is different than knowledge. Knowledge is
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: simply dealing with facts, information. Insight is seeing through, reading
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: between the lines, feeling what is not stated, knowing what
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: isn't obvious. It's like perception. I have perception. It keeps
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: me from being intimidated. Third benefit is Verse 100, I
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: understand more than the aged because I have observed thy precepts.
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: I have maturity beyond my years. I don't meet too
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: many people that say I'm very satisfied with my level
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: of maturity. Most people I talk to say, I'd love
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: to grow up. I'd love to be stronger in my faith.
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: I'd love to not to make the dumb mistakes I
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: see a lot of people around me making. I'd love
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: to be mature, the answer is in this book. You
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: will have understanding more than the aged as you rely
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: on this book. Well, how do you close a talk
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: like this? What do you say to simplify it all?
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: The marvelous, marvelous wrap-up I want to share with you
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: is that often it is the simple truth that holds
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: you together in the most complex situations. Not simplistic, but simple.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: The profound truth that the Bible gives us is like
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: arms around us on a cold night that simply hold
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: us dear and near. Karl Barth was privileged toward the
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: end of his life to take a trip around the world,
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: I understand, and it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime journeys.
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: He visited the great cathedrals and preached in some of them.
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: He saw scenes that many of us have only seen
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: in books and in our minds. He walked the shorelines
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: of many, if not all, the oceans. He sat in
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: quiet monasteries and on mountain sides and in chalets here
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: and there and came back home. Some of his favorite
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: friends got with him when he returned, said, Dr. Bard,
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: what was the most profound thought you had on all
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: of your trip? With a twinkle in his eye, Dr.
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: Bard looked at his group and said, hmm. most profound thought.
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: me so. Now that makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: When it's all said and done, if it weren't for
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: this book, I wouldn't know that Jesus loves me. And
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: neither would you. And that is profound. That is the truth.
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: Let's bow together, shall we? I'd like you to close
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: your eyes and just for a few moments blot out
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: all the interruptions and hurrying thoughts of the day. Just
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: be still with the Lord. Lord, This is God's book.
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: He's its author. He's written it so that we can
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: understand it, and he's graced it with variety and beauty
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: and color. He's preserved it from error so you can
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: count on it. Isn't it about time you do that?
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: Maybe there's a few... Just listening right now that have
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: heard for the very first time that somebody loves you.
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: His name is Jesus. And this book is full of
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: stories about him and events that transpired that he caused
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: to happen and he was a part of happening. The
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: most significant event was the dual event of his death
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: and his resurrection from the dead. And he did it
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: because he loves you. If there's never been a time
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: in your life when you said, yes, Lord Jesus, I
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: believe you love me. I want to love you in return.
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: I believe you died on the cross for my sins.
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: I believe you were raised bodily from the dead for me.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: I want to love you back. Come into my life.
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: He'll come in. because the Bible says so. If you
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: need someone to talk to, we have people who are
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: tactful and gracious, who've been down this road a long ways,
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: and they know with wisdom how to help you. Father,
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: I thank you that you, in giving us Christ, gave
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: us all things richly to enjoy. I pray for my
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: friends who hear these truths and struggle with believing them.
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: I pray for those who still battle with cynicism, who
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: are caught up in humanism, who have turned to the
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: practices of spiritualism. Lord, I pray that you would graciously
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: and yet firmly bring them to you and your word.
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: Show them that there is no other foundation than that
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: which is laid. Your precious word, how firm it is.
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Father, for helping us. understand that Jesus is
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: the light and that he loves us and for bringing
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: us to him. May those who have never met him
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: come to know him today. I pray on the authority
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: of the scriptures. And in the name of Jesus, amen.
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, God's Book, God's Voice, was copyrighted in 1985, 1987, 2005,
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: and 2011. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2011.
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: By Charles R.
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: Swindoll, Inc.
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide.
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.