The World Darkens, but the Word of God Shines: Part 2

Well, we've offered up our praises to our Lord now. Now we come to this part of the service of worship, as we continue our worship, to hear from heaven.

We don't hear from heaven from a so -called private interpretation of New Revelation, do we?

We hear from heaven by opening up this wonderful book. It's been opened already to the book of Numbers, and we just finished that.

Brother Willem has read that last wonderful chapter, and we'll be going into Deuteronomy. I love the

Scripture reading. I just get as much from that as we go through this portion of 2

Peter. And I want to say, from the start here, this will be by no means an exhaustive exposition of this text.

We can take a whole series to go through the

Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, through the Bible, the entirety of the Bible, on the

Word of God. You know that as well as I do, especially

Psalm 119. How long would it take us to go through that? 176 verses.

Amazing. The Mount Everest of Psalms. But the Word of God has much to say about the

Word of God. So the Apostle Peter would continue this study.

The world darkens, but the Word of God shines. The world darkens, but the Word of God shines.

This will be the last of this series as we've looked about the

Word of God. And Lord willing, next week we will go into chapter 2, into the heart of this epistle, where he exposes the false teachers and their heretical teachings in this epistle.

And he does it by the Word of God. And it's interesting, this transition is perfect because as God is always a

God of order, He's giving us the truth. The truth is the

Word of God. And now when Peter is speaking about the prophecy of Scripture here, he's speaking in his mind what he has in his mind is the

Old Testament prophets. But the New Testament apostles was basically incorporated in that as well as inspiration.

We're going to look at what inspiration is. We're going to break that down.

We're going to look at those confirmations in which Peter gives. So, if you're not already there, we continue our study through 2nd epistle of Peter.

And we're looking at chapter 1. And I'm reading just three verses, verse 19 through 21.

We're going to technically focus on verse 20 and 21 today because we already looked at verse 19.

But hear the word of the living God. And so we have the prophetic word or also a prophetic word confirmed.

We have a more sure prophetic word basically. Confirmed, which you do well to heed.

You do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

Verse 20, Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, origin.

Verse 21, For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the

Holy Spirit. Amen and amen. And may God richly bless the reading of His holy word from our ears to our hearts.

Let's please bow with me in prayer as we seek our Lord's face now. Our Father and our

God, oh how we thank You for Your precious word to us.

What a gift. There's nothing more valuable than Your word.

The written word and the living word. The incarnate word, the

Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest gift of all. The word of life, the revelation from You personally,

Your love letter to Your people. Our prayer is

Lord, as Jesus prayed for His disciples, sanctify us, oh

Lord, by Your truth. Set us apart, set us apart. Your word is truth.

Lord, we need Your help, we need Your grace, because we cannot rely upon our own strength, especially when it comes to worship, because we need the strength and the power of the blessed

Holy Spirit that we may apply these great truths, not only hear them, but apply them, to ever be pleasing to You, that our lives would be changed from glory to glory, from faith to faith.

And it's all for Your glory, Lord. It's all for Your glory. We ask this in Jesus' name,

Amen and Amen. Last Lord's Day, we observe from our text, from 2

Peter chapter 1, verse 19 to 21, three simple but very powerful affirmations about the word of God.

First is that the word of God is a sure word. It is a sure word.

Verse 19 says, And so we also have a more sure prophetic word confirmed.

The second point that we looked at is that the word of God is a shining word. It is a shining word, in verse 19b, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

And the third point is, the final affirmation that is found in verse 20 and 21, which will be our focus today, is that the word of God is a

Spirit -given word. It is a Spirit -given word. This is really deep waters, because it is the

Spirit of God, that really, that moved upon these prophets of old, these men of God, and carried them along.

They carried them along and led them to, as God was breathing upon them, use them as a vehicle to speak thus says the

Lord. So that is Peter's focal point. And he says,

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. What he is talking about is the origin of it.

And this is what he is thinking of as the Spirit of God has given him this. Prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the

Holy Spirit. So in these final two verses of the chapter,

Peter, by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, emphasizes that the prophetic

Scriptures originated with God, and not with man. Aren't you glad?

No man came up with this. Men were used, and it is not mere men.

These were chosen men. They were chosen specifically from God, and for God's purpose.

So in other words, the Scriptures originated with God and not man. That is a powerful thought there, because that is actually what the

Word of God is. So they were divinely inspired. In other words, God breathed.

God's breath was upon them. No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation.

And he begins with knowing this first. Now that is an emphasis. That means that is a call to recognize

God's truth as the ultimate priority. Namely that the

Holy Scriptures is not of human origin, as I just mentioned, but that the

Apostle contrasts humanistic ideas with God's Word.

How do we know this? Well, if you look back in verse 16, he says this, for we did not follow cunningly devised fables.

We did not follow cunningly devised myths, stories.

When we, speaking of the other apostles as well, made known to you the power and the coming of our

Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Beloved, this assures us that God's message is infallible, and I love this, that it is incapable of any mistakes or errors.

It's hard to believe that this has been a controversial debate among evangelicals of our day, but it has.

The liberals has come in and used of Satan, and I'll say it plainly, they are used of Satan, because that Satan's target is the

Word of God, to twist it, to take away its truth, and to deceive people.

It's come right in the church. But God's Word is an infallible, and is incapable of any mistakes or errors.

We believe that. In other words, it is inerrant. It's free from error.

It's free from falsehood. It's free from any deceit whatsoever. It is also infallible, and the infallibility and inerrancy cannot be separated.

You cannot separate that, for the inerrancy of scripture is the result of the infallibility, of His own

Word. Nothing's like it. Scripture in its entirety, is absolutely true.

It is truth, straight from God. So when we open up this Bible, and read this

Bible, it's not, as Brother Villum, spoke of numbers, his voice was coming through, but that is

God's Word. God is speaking. It wasn't his ideas, it was not preacher's ideas, not my ideas.

As Brother Keith brought the scriptures from Revelation this morning, that's not man's

Word. It is God Almighty. Straight from God. That's why when we say, hear the

Word of the Living God. Now, scripture in its entirety, is absolutely true, and it's reliable.

I like that. It's true, but it's reliable, in all of its teaching. Wonderful scripture from Proverbs 30 verse 5, says this, the first part of it, every word of God is pure.

Every word of God is pure. Matthew Henry says this, there is not the least mixture of falsehood and corruption in it.

He goes on to say, the words of men are to be heard, the words of men are to be heard and read with jealousy, and with an allowance, but there is not the least ground to suspect any deficiency in the

Word of God. It is as silver purified seven times. Psalm 12 verse 6.

Without the least dross or alloy, the

Word of God is very pure. Psalm 119 verse 140. It is sure, and therefore we must trust to it, and venture our souls upon it.

God in His Word, God in His promise, is a shield, a sure protection, to all those who put themselves under His protection, and to put their trust in Him.

Amen. And he goes on, that exhortation is wonderful. I wish

I had the time to carry you along and read the rest of it, but if you can look it up, Matthew Henry has a wonderful devotion on that, and if you need it,

Brother Keith would be glad to send it to you, because that's where I got it from. Thank you, Brother Keith. He gave me permission to use that too, so I give him credit there.

Okay. He says this. Don't miss this.

Knowing this first. First. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation.

That's 2 Peter 1, verse 21. Peter is speaking about all Scripture, primarily, like I said, from the

Old Testament, then by implication to all of the apostles of the

New Testament. Now the apostle Peter is dealing with the origin, and this is so critical, because that is where the

Scripture originates from, is God Himself. And God was moving upon the

Old Testament prophets, to speak

His word, the prophetic word, and not with the way that men would interpret it. Now, some liberal translations thinks this, the way that men interpret it after it has been given.

That's not what he's talking about. The point really is that when the prophets sat down to write, as God, the

Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, was breathing upon them, they did not give their own private interpretation of it.

It's not like they were just sitting down and comparing Scripture with Scripture, in which we are to do that, but as the inspired writers of this,

God Himself was breathing upon them. So, even with the events, and they never came up with their own conclusions, even though God was using their minds and their personalities, within the writing of it,

God Himself was breathing upon them to write this. So it's inspired of God.

God breathed. So, in other words, the interpretation, that word interpretation is critical, because it does not refer to necessarily the explaining of the

Word of God, by those of us who had the Bible written in written form.

Rather, it refers to the way in which the Word of God came into being. That's what he's referring to.

He is speaking about the origin of it. And there's a reason he's doing this. You go to chapter 2, we know that reason.

Because the false teachers would come up with their own private interpretation of what the

Word of God would be, to deceive people and to pull people in to distrusting the truth.

False teachers never get up and say, I've got a false message today. No, they get up and they come across like they have the truth, right?

Well, it's a cloak. But what Peter is focusing on, here's the truth.

You can count on it. It's reliable. And it refers to the way in which

God came into, His Word came into being in the first place. Now, I read a commentator on this as I was studying this,

D .T. Young. D .T. Young writes this, Quote, So the text rightly understood asserts that Scripture is not human, it's ultimate origin.

It is God's interpretation, not man's.

We often hear of certain statements of Scripture as representing David's opinion, or Paul's opinion, or Peter's opinion.

But yet, strictly speaking, we have no man's opinion in those holy writings.

It is all God's interpretation of things. No prophecy of Scripture represents any individual's interpretation.

And then he closes with this statement from Scripture, Men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. End quote.

2 Samuel chapter 23, verse 1 and 2. You can turn there with me if you like, but it's a wonderful passage, and it speaks about the last words of King David.

It's his last words recorded, and by the way, it's the Holy Spirit of God that had this recorded.

But notice what the text says. In verse 1 and 2 of chapter 23 of 2

Samuel. Now these are the last words of David. Thus says David the son of Jesse.

Thus says the man raised up on high. Speaking of David. The anointed of the

God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel. Verse 2, notice verse 2.

The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue.

That is from the Word of God itself. The Spirit of the

Lord spoke by me. Notice that. He was used as an instrument, but it was the

Spirit of the Lord that spoke by him. And His word was on my tongue.

So the Holy Spirit is the divine instrument of revelation and inspiration. Another reference here

I have is Zechariah chapter 7, verse 12. Zechariah chapter 7, verse 12.

Yes, they made their hearts like flint. Speaking of Israel. Refusing to hear the law.

They refused it. They refused to hear the law, and the words which the

Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets.

Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. Because they refused the word of the

Lord. Again, the Scripture speaks, the Holy Spirit of God served as a vital function in the divine revelation here, and the inspiration of God's word through human authors.

And that's basically what happened. Now, I do want you to turn with me to a very familiar passage.

And I know you're well familiar with this, but it's the Apostle Paul himself. And his text on the word of God from the pastoral epistle of 2

Timothy chapter 3. Please go with me there. 2 Timothy chapter 3. We'll go looking at two verses.

And this is going to be the content I would like to give to us today to focus on.

And then at the end of the message, I'd like for us to take this passage and look at this passage and glean upon it and give application to our personal lives as we study and meditate upon God's word.

Because as a child of God, this is something we do daily, isn't it? It's prayer, going to the

Spirit of God and trusting upon God, not our own wisdom, but in God's wisdom.

And we gather that wisdom from the word of God. His truth. But 2 Timothy chapter 3,

Paul the Apostle makes a Scripture that's very closely related to what the

Apostle Peter gives us. Notice in verse 16, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God.

Inspiration, it's God -breathed. It is profitable. Notice, number one, for doctrine.

Two, for reproof. Three, for correction. Four, for instruction in righteousness or training, discipline in righteousness.

There's four important affirmations there. And then he speaks in verse 6 -17 for the reason that the man of God, mainly the minister, but it applies, can also apply to God's people as well.

But he's speaking to young Timothy as a minister. That the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

For every good work. Now, the Apostle Paul here is affirming, just as Peter does.

And 2 Peter in our text, verse 20 and 21, chapter 1, that all Scripture is

God -breathed. The Greek word is theopynios, pinos, astos.

I hope I pronounced that right because these Greek words are not easy for me. Theopynios, pinos, pinos, astos.

And basically it's wrapped up into two words if you were to take that Greek word apart.

Theop means God. God and theopynios,

I hope I pronounced that right, meaning to breathe. To breathe. So the Scripture is the very life and the very breath of the

Word of God itself. Now, in other words, it means down to every single word of the original manuscripts.

The original manuscripts. We won't go into the discussion of translations. That's another topic all of itself.

And there are some translations stronger than others. You have to kind of do a study on that.

But we're talking about the original manuscripts here. The Bible itself that is compiled in basically 66 books into one volume.

One book, the Biblos, is absolutely without error, without any falsehood in it.

Absolutely true, trustworthy, and infallible. That is true not only when it speaks of salvation.

It's true when it speaks of ethical values in which we need to hear about those ethical ethics.

It is true of morality and the way we are to live, and purity and righteousness.

But it's also without error on every subject that it speaks of, including history or whatever you may think of as the cosmos and the divine order of all things.

You know, I've heard people come up to me about aliens, and it is something. They're so discontent about what is right in front of them, the

Word of God. And the only thing I can read about aliens in Scripture is that the child of God in Israel was aliens.

We're aliens. We're the aliens. Okay? They look at me like, what?

How am I talking about these little creatures out on Mars? I said, no, no. There's nothing in Scripture about that.

All I can tell you is about the cosmos that God created the worlds, and He upholds the worlds by what?

The Word of His power. The Word. And that's Christ. Christ is the one that holds this universe.

You say, you mean to tell me He has that much power? Look, Jesus, when He said He has all power, all authority,

He means all, not some. So the Christ that we stand before, the

Christ of the Bible, is the Christ of Revelation, not some bambi -pambi Pollyanna Christ that's preached in most churches today.

It's the Christ of Revelation. It's the Christ that has all authority and all power, that has preeminence and upholds the worlds by the

Word of His power. Incredible. But it's powerful. And here

Paul says all Scripture, all Scripture is what? Given by the inspiration of God.

It's breathe out. The literal translation means breathe out by God.

Scripture is breathe out by God. So MacArthur notes, I was reading his commentary on this, he says, quote, it is important to note that inspiration applies only to the original autographs of Scripture and not the

Bible writers. Not the Bible writers. There are no inspired

Scripture writers. Only the inspired Scripture, so identified, is

God with His Word that when Scripture speaks, God speaks.

End quote. So we have the Scriptures, as Paul says here.

And I'd like for us to go through this and unpack this a little bit. I'm not going to comment much on it, but I want to just give some short comments on it.

But the Scripture is those four affirmations, those four great truths that can give to us, and we're going to look more at this at the application, but I'm going to give some content here.

It is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction, and righteousness.

Those four things, let's look at. Doctrine. It is profitable for doctrine.

Well, for divine instruction, doctrinal content of both the Old Testament and the

New Testament provides everything that we need, as Peter says, for life and godliness.

For life and godliness. Everything that we need is right here before us.

And we need to make sure, by God's help, that we find this a priority in our lives to open up the

Word of God every day we live. And if we find that difficult, get to the

Word of God some way. I have a very busy schedule. A lot of times

I'm up very early, and I'm in a hurry to get to my work.

And I make sure that I'm not speeding on the road like most people are late, and you know how that goes. They'll run over you to get to work.

But trying to be disciplined in it and trying to be on time. And a lot of times

I spend my time, I put on a... I used to have a cassette, not a cassette, yeah, a cassette.

I go back to those days. D .B., he can tell you a little bit about my age. I got a DVD player, a

CD player, I'm sorry. Or now you can hook it up with a Bluetooth on your phone, connect it to your car, and listen to the

Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by God's Word. So I make it a point personally to hear

God's Word. Every day I'm going to work. And a lot of times I can get in several chapters, especially

Alexander Scorby, he goes through it quite quick. But it's wonderful.

It's been such an edification to me every day when I start going through the book of Psalms, hearing the

Psalms. And sometimes I'll go over it again and again and again and again just to soak it up and meditate on it.

But it's profitable. The Scriptures are profitable for doctrine, for instruction.

And here he provides everything that we need in life and Godliness. Now, it's also profitable for reproof.

Reproof, what does that mean? It means basically it's profitable to rebuke for wrong behavior.

It rebukes us. And a lot of people don't like that word rebuke, but rebuke is really a loving thing.

It's such a loving thing because God cares that we be rebuked for our wrong behavior and our wrong belief.

A lot of times we could be wrong on something, and we need to admit to it, but the Word of God exposes where we are wrong.

In other words, the Scripture exposes our sin. It brings to light.

It's the perfect law of liberty. Like looking in a mirror. We see who we really are.

And this Scripture is so powerful, folks. As I read this morning, the Word of God is quick.

It's living. It comes after me, Luther says. It chases me.

It brings me down, and it cuts me up, but it also heals my wounds as well.

But here, he's speaking about that reproof that exposes our sin, that it can be dealt with, and with confession and repentance.

Isn't that wonderful? That God, through His law, His Word, exposes our sin, and then we can take it to the cross, and there's where the remedy is.

Well, it's not only profitable for doctrine and for reproof, it's also profitable for correction.

For correction. That is, I love this, don't you? The restoration of something.

He restores my soul, David said, through the Holy Spirit, by the

Holy Spirit, to its proper condition. God is all about restoring us.

He just doesn't leave us in the mess and hurting and pain after He exposes our sin, and that should be painful.

It should be painful repentance. But like when Isaiah in chapter 6 caught and saw the vision of God after King Uzziah died, he saw the real king on the throne, the king of glory, the king of kings.

And then you know what happened. This prophet, this righteous prophet, pronounces a woe upon himself, a curse upon himself.

Why? Because it was God that was, in His holiness, exposed and He saw who

He really was. But God wanted to deal with it as well. And you read, go on and read it, after He was exposed and He saw

His sin, and He said, woe is me for I'm undone. God's got something. He goes to the altar there, and the seraphims take the tongues from off the altar, and they take a burning ember, and they purged

His lips, and they put it into His lips. What we sin with, purified it with fire.

And then, what does fire do? It purifies, it cleanses, it purges.

Think of that. It had to be painful. Put fire, could you imagine, in real life?

Taking a hot coal, burning, glowing red hot, and putting it to your lips?

And hearing it sizzle and singe? People said that would hurt. Yes, it would hurt. But what's it doing?

It's purifying. It's purifying that sin that came out from those lips.

This is a holy prophet? What does that place us? I'm telling you.

But what I'm saying is, God is into the restoring business, and after that,

He was cleansed. He was ready to say, Thus says the Lord. And then

He was sent and commissioned. And God says, Who will go for us? Us. And Isaiah says,

Send me, I will go. But He was cleansed. Well, basically the word correction only appears here in the

New Testament. That's interesting. But it was used in extra -biblical Greek language, of writing, listen to this, of writing a fallen object, or helping back to their feet, to those who had stumbled.

That's what correction really means. It's writing a fallen object, or helping back someone that has fallen and stumbled.

So Scripture not only rebukes the wrong behavior, but it points us the way back to godly living.

God wants us restored. That's why David said, He restores my soul.

He restores my soul. It points us way back to God. Psalm 119, 9 and 11.

It says, How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your word.

With my whole heart I have sought you. Oh, let me not wander from your commandments.

And then he says this, Your word have I hidden or treasured in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

That I might not sin against God. So God's word is profitable for doctrine, number one, two for reproof, three for correction, fourth, instruction in righteousness.

Instruction in righteousness. Scripture provides positive training, positive discipline.

Don't you love that? Positive training, positive discipline. The world thinks opposite of that.

They hear something hard from God. In this day we live in, it's hate speech.

But it's really love speech from God. Because God warns us and He loves us.

And He's warning us of the wrath to come. And He's warning us. And when we speak God's word, God speaks.

But when we speak that truth, we're warning their souls of danger. There's something dangerous on the other end.

There's a hell. Flee from the wrath to come.

There's a wrath. And we want to bring out the warning signals. It's almost like the very simple illustration that is given.

I've heard Ray Comfort use this many times. You know, he speaks to the person that's lost.

And he said, you know, if you was in a burning building and you're in there getting ready to perish and burn up,

I'm not going to stand back and do nothing. I'm going to run in with everything I have to rescue you.

Well, that's really the mission. That we give God's word. It rescues us from burning, from perishing.

So originally referred to here in training in righteousness, it basically speaks of a training of a child.

That's the intent here. In godly behavior, not merely rebuke or correction of wrong behavior, but all this is profitable to train, to help us by the

Holy Spirit in the way of truth and to the old paths in which God says, this is the way to go.

This is the way to go. And it's always Christ. It always leads to Christ. So the result is found in verse 27.

Don't you love this? That the man of God may be complete. This is what makes us complete. Thoroughly equipped for every good work.

I love that phrase, the man of God, don't you? He's speaking to Timothy about ministry.

That the man of God. He just didn't say just the preacher. No, the man of God.

Now, in context, the preacher should be the man of God. But the man of God can be the man of God.

Or a woman of God. Like I said, he's referring to ministry, but may be complete.

So everything God has called to him in the ministry. In other words, Timothy, the word of God gives this all profitable for you in your ministry.

That's what he's saying. Because if you notice, this is like his last will and testament. He's passing the baton to him.

And this is what he's saying. This is where you need to spend your time right here. In the word of God.

The word of God is profitable for all this. For doctrine, for reproof, for correction, instruction, and righteousness.

That you may be thoroughly equipped. Don't you love that? Thoroughly equipped. It equips us.

In other words, it enables us by divine grace, by divine power of the

Holy Spirit, of all the demands of godly ministry and righteous living.

And again, it's just not for the preacher. It's to apply to the man of God in the ministry.

But it applies to all who follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we'll go back to 2

Peter 1 .21. We're going to come back and revisit that in our application.

But for prophecy never came by the will of man. Verse 21. But holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the

Holy Spirit. They were moved by the Holy Spirit. Now, Peter affirms here. The divine origin, the authority, and the prophecy in Scripture as I already said.

So as Scripture is not of human origin, it is of divine origin. Neither is it the result of human will.

It is of God's will. It's opposite of what man... And by the way, man would have never thought this up.

I don't know about you, but as I read and opened up the pages of Scripture, and I asked the Spirit of God to help me and lead me and teach me truth.

And the more I read it, the more... the deeper it gets. The more profound it gets.

But yet it's simple enough for a child to grasp it as well as the Holy Spirit would open their eyes as well.

But in other words, Peter is saying above all, first of all, above all, you must understand that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from just the prophets thinking of themselves or of themselves.

They didn't think this up. Or because they wanted to prophesy, even though they were compelled, like Paul said, woe be unto me if I preach not the gospel.

But he was compelled by what? The love of Christ. And to persuade all men of the fear of the terror of the

Lord. But it was the Spirit of God who moved upon these prophets of old to speak for God.

No part of Scripture was ever at any time produced because men wanted it like that.

The Bible is not the product of human effort. Aren't you glad? It's not the product of human origin.

Aren't you glad? Nor is it the product of human will. The origin is from God.

The will is from God. The effort is from God. Now, you can trust in that.

For prophecy never came by the will of man. But holy men of God spoke as it was moved by the

Holy Spirit. Basically, grammatically, this means that they were continually carried, born along by the

Holy Spirit. Again, MacArthur notes, though the human writers of Scripture were active rather than passive in the process of writing the

Scripture, God the Holy Spirit superintended them so that they, that using their own individual personalities, thought processes, and vocabulary, they composed and recorded without error the exact words of God, one had written, and the original copies, again he says, of Scripture are therefore inspired,

God breathed, and inerrant without error. End quote. Well, let me give some application to this before our time moves away.

Let me make some comment before I go back to our fourfold application to 2

Timothy 3 .16 -17. That's where I like to go because even though it applies so much to what

Peter is saying too because Paul emphasizes it well. So, the Bible, the

Word of God, is God's infallible and inerrant true witness of His will. It speaks of His saving will,

His saving work and redemption through Jesus Christ. And for this reason, Scripture is incomparable.

It is forever finished. The canon is closed. It's uniquely binding.

You know, think of it. I like this. No human words or even declarations of religious institutions can even be compared to it.

As much as we love our forefathers and the Constitution of the

United States, yes, that's good writings, but those were men. And even though they gained wisdom from God, they're not like this book here.

This is the inspired God breathed Word. So, in other words, all doctrines and commentaries and interpretations and explanations and traditions must be judged by this book.

Isn't that wonderful? Even the great writings of the Constitution as good as that is.

And there's some people in politics today, they place their trust in that. Don't get me wrong.

It's a fence and it is a protection for American citizens and rightly so.

But our forefathers based much of, many of them, not all of them, but based their faith upon the

God of this Bible. But this is the book that would judge us all, folks. It judges everything.

We're not the judge. I tell people that all the time. I'm not your judge. Let me quote a scripture. Give them the

Word of God. Don't give your opinion. That's why I like to say chapter and verse, chapter and verse. I'm going to give you

God's Word. God's Word must be received. It must be believed.

It must be obeyed. Why? Because it is the final authority in all things pertaining to life and godliness.

All things. It must be used in the church and as Redeeming Grace Church is a small church and is forming, it's yet nevertheless the church of Jesus Christ and as all churches, real churches, as the final authority in all matters for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.

This should be the compass. This should be everything that leads that church.

I cannot emphasize that enough. One cannot submit to Christ's authority and His Lordship without submitting to God and His Holy Word as the ultimate authority.

The pastor is not the ultimate authority. The elders is not the ultimate authority. The evangelist is not the ultimate authority.

The ultimate authority is the Word of God. And that's why we're to be studied with students,

Bereans of the Word of God to make sure that whatever is spoken behind this little podium is

God's Word. And if there's a comment and an interpretation to whatever has been said by God's Word, from God's Word, that is to be judged by God's Word.

You see what I'm saying? The Bible can only be understood, and also, this is important, when we are in right relations to the

Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God illumines us, not gives us new revelation, folks.

This is the revelation, all the revelation we need. There's no new revelation. There could be illumination, and that illumination is by the

Spirit of God that opens our eyes to this truth. I think people get mixed up with that, but the

Spirit of God is the old wonderful song that says, Wherefore does my teacher be showing the things of Christ to me? So as we read and study

God's Word, we need to always remember the God, the ordained, fourfold use of Scripture from 2

Timothy 3, 16, 17. You can write these questions down, but I use this as application as well.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, profitable for these four things. Doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction of righteousness that the man of God may completely, be thoroughly, be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

So we've seen in the text earlier that the content that is in, that we have the content, along with that content,

I'm going to give some personal application to these and give you some questions. When you and I are studying

God's Word, and I'm included, I'm preaching to myself here, and as we meditate and pray by the

Spirit of God to help us, because He's really the real teacher, He's the real person behind it that shows us

Christ. He will glorify Christ. Because in discovering and applying the answers.

Number one, here's the questions. What doctrine or teaching is God teaching me here in this text as I read the

Scripture? What doctrine? What kind of teaching? What teaching is God teaching me personally right here?

What is the path of sound teaching? What is the path of sound doctrine?

Healthy teaching. The truth. Actually, I think that would go along with it. What is the truth?

You know, we need to ask these questions. We know we always say to other people, what is truth?

Well, we know truth is Christ and it always goes to the incarnate Word of God.

There's the living Word and there's the written Word, but what I'm saying is when we ask the question, what is truth?

The Word of God can answer these to us. What is according to the

Scripture? What is truth according to the Scriptures? What is the Gospel according to the Scriptures? How is the

Scripture showing me the right way to think? How is the Scripture showing me the right way to live?

To think and live because you can't separate those two. As a man is, so is he.

As a man thinketh, so is he. So, it is doctrine.

Sound doctrine. That's two. Does this passage reprove me?

Does this passage rebuke me? Does it tell me that there is an area in my life, an area of my thinking where I have gotten off the path of sound doctrine or perhaps didn't understand it before?

How did it happen? How did I get off the path, if I'm off the path? Brother Keith brought out a very good point this morning from Revelation about being lukewarm.

How, in this old illustration, you can put a frog in lukewarm water and you can turn up the boiler and boil him alive without him knowing it.

Lukewarm is, well, I don't know about you, when I shower, I don't like the water too hot or too cold.

I like it lukewarm. Cold freezes you.

Too hot burns you. We naturally like lukewarm water because it's comfortable.

We become eased in Zion. And that's dangerous, isn't it? But how does the

Word of God reprove me? You know, when he spoke about that from Revelation, this is where I'm thinking, good night, this is the head of the church, this is the resurrected

Christ, the glorified Christ. And he's given a warning and a rebuke, but he doesn't leave them there, he tells them, buy from me.

So that's how we ask these questions. How did it happen? How do we get off the path of truth?

How is it that adversely affecting my relationship, my walk with God, and my communion with God, and my life, and also with others?

Third, how does this passage tell me that I need to be corrected in the light of what

I've read? How do I need to change my thinking and living so that I will return and repent to the right path?

Am I willing to submit to God's Word by His grace to conform my life to His truth? Will I now resolve to do so?

Will I make a decision and choose God over the other idols?

Four, and final, how does this part of God's Word instruct me in righteousness?

How does it instruct me in righteousness? How to remain on the path of sound doctrine and not stray away from it?

What must I do to remain in conformity to God's Word? To submit to God's Word?

Beloved, God's Holy Word gives us the answers to every one of these soul -searching questions, doesn't it?

And by God's help and grace, we must rely on the power of God's Word, the wisdom of God's Word.

I like what the psalmist says in 19, David, in chapter 19, verse 10 through 14, more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey, than the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them your servant is warned. Your servant is warned. Listen to this, and in keeping them, there is great reward.

Verse 12, who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from his secret faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins.

Let them not have dominion over me, then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of the great transgression.

Verse 14, and he closes it like this, Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight,

O Lord, my strength, my Redeemer. See, the church of Jesus Christ must be controlled and ordered by the

Scripture. There was a book by a false teacher, Rick Warren, years ago.

He put out thousands and thousands of his books, sold, unfortunately. Purpose -driven life, purpose -driven church.

What about a Scripture -driven church? How about a

Scripture -driven church, not purpose -given? Because the Scripture is what gives us the purpose. Just not, okay, throw it out there,

I got purpose. Scripture gives purpose. God's inspired, inerrant, infallible

Word of God must be the sole authority of everything, even our infallible critic.

It should be our critic in every area of life and ministry. Deuteronomy 4 .2,

You shall not add to the Word which I command you, nor take from it that you may keep the commandments of the

Lord your God, which I command you. That goes right to Revelation 22 .19. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy,

God shall take away his part from the book of life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

That's serious. We can't add to it, we can't subtract to it, and how many times do you have people doing this?

That makes me tremble just to think that they're doing this. The Word of God was written to common people, folks, like you and me, just not to theological professors.

The writers assumed that common people could read it, understand it, apply it, and be led by the

Holy Spirit who inspired it. The humble individual that believes it and learns about God as he reads and meditates on God's Word, he does not need the experts of theology to show him the truth.

Even though that does not take away that there's the ministry of pastors and teachers and so forth because Ephesians 4 says, and he himself gave some to be apostles, prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.

For what? The equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ and so forth until we all come into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the

Son of God to a perfect man. Well, men die, the Word of God lives, experiences fade, the

Word of God remains, the world darkens and the Word of God shines brighter. Let me leave you with this before we partake of communion.

And I think this is a wonderful transition. And this actually, it's hard to find this, but the

MacArthur Study Bible had it printed in the Bible that he made comments on, but it originally comes from an old

King James Bible and they put it right in the front. And I read this years ago when I was first converted and I tell you,

I was so refreshing to read this again, but it's so sobering too and we need to hear this. Listen to this.

It's about the Bible, the Word of the Living God. This book, this book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers.

Its doctrines is holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, its decisions are immutable.

Read it to be wise, believe it to be saved, practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, comfort to cheer you.

It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pallet's compass, the soldier's sword and the

Christian's charter. Here heaven is open and the gates of hell are disclosed.

Christ is its grand subject, our good is designed in the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, guide the feet, read it slowly, frequently and prayerfully.

It is a mine of wealth, health to the soul and a river of pleasure.

It is given to you in this life, will be opened at the judgment and established forever.

And listen to this, and it involves the highest responsibility and will reward the greatest laborer and condemn all who travel with its content.

And as 1 Thessalonians 2 .13 says this, for this reason we also thank God without ceasing because when you received the word of God which you heard from us and even the apostles, 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.

It's sure, it's shining and it's spirit given. Praise His name.

Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this time. Lord, and we praise

You. And Lord, as the scripture says, You have magnified Your word even above Your holy name.

That text is absolutely staggering, Lord. You have magnified

Your word above Your name. And Your holy name, Your most holy name includes all that You are and all

Your holy perfections. All that You are in Your beauty, in Your holiness.

Everything that You are, that You've revealed of Yourself is in Your word.

All of Your attributes, Your holy justice, Your holy majesty, Your holiness,

Your greatness, Your glory. And yet, You have magnified

Your word above Your name. Lord, this brings us down to worship.

This brings us down that we tremble before Your word because even though it's the written word, it is

Your word speaking. It is You speaking the truth and speaks of the incarnate word, the

Lord Jesus Christ, Your eternal Son. And above this,

You have magnified Your word above Your holy name. You have set Jesus, Your Son, high above all other perfections of Your majesty,

Your beloved Son in whom You're well pleased. May we hear Him. May we hear

Him. Help us, Lord, now, by Your grace, as we continue to worship. May our worship be acceptably to You and to remember the sufferings and death of our

Lord Jesus Christ as we come to celebrate the

Lord's Supper. We thank You and we praise You and give You glory in Jesus' name.