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Lesson 3: The Holy Bible, Authority

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Mark Twombly

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Summary

The authority of the Bible is inseparable from the authority of God himself. We are reminded that what we believe about the Bible is what we believe about God, and how we treat the Bible is how we treat God. This lesson explores the biblical doctrine of authority—what it is and how it is demonstrated—building on previous weeks covering inspiration and inerrancy.

Key Lessons:

  1. God and His word are not separate things—to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.
  2. The same creative power that spoke the physical world into existence is the power that births new spiritual life in believers.
  3. Obedience and revelation are connected: the more we obey what God has revealed, the more He reveals to us.
  4. The church does not define truth but is defined by the truth—it is the pillar and support of truth only as it submits to Scripture’s authority.

Application: We are called to examine our lives for evidence that God’s word is truly authoritative over us. This means obeying immediately and not delaying, shining Scripture’s light into every area of life (even uncomfortable ones), and allowing God’s word to produce visible fruit such as peace, humility, and willingness to receive reproof.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What areas of Scripture do you tend to resist or chafe against, and what might that reveal about your view of God?
  2. How does the connection between obedience and deeper revelation challenge you in areas where you feel spiritually “stuck”?
  3. If someone observed your daily life, what evidence would they see that God’s word holds authority over you?

Scripture Focus: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (Scripture is God-breathed and profitable), Psalm 138:2 (God magnifies His word above His name), Hebrews 4:12-13 (the living and active word that pierces and judges), Psalm 119:56-60 (obedience as precious possession), 2 Peter 1:16-21 (the more sure prophetic word).

Outline

Introduction

Good morning everyone and welcome to October. Is this the first Sunday in October for us? Yeah. We’re well on our way. Good to see you this morning.

Setting the Table: Scripture’s Call to Love and Obey

We’re going to continue in biblology defending our doctrinal distinctives and talking about the authority of the Bible. And I’m so excited to interact with you guys today around God’s word because all of us are seated at his feet, aren’t we? Listening to him. I have a role to play. You have a role to play, but it’s all about him and his word.

As we’ve done, let me just walk through a couple of passages to wet our appetite and set the tone, set the table, if you will. Paul said this to Timothy as he was discipling him and preparing him for ministry. He says, “But you continue in the things you learned and became convinced of, knowing from whom you learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

All scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

2 Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.”

For those of us who are parents, these verses have particular encouragement. Sometimes it’s hard to tell when we’re teaching the scriptures to our children the impact that it’s having. And so we see this impact coming maybe much later in the life of Timothy.

Going back to the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 11:1: “You shall therefore love Yahweh your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his judgments, and his commandments all your days.”

As I was preparing for this, I recognized that the Lord just brought to my attention the indelible connection between loving God and obeying him, right? And we’re going to see a little bit more of that.

Solomon’s Divided Heart: A Warning

This is really interesting. So much of David speaking to his son Solomon. And interestingly, if you’re a fan of the proverbs, some of those proverbs are not Solomon’s words, but they are David’s words to his son Solomon, which is really interesting. Here’s one of them back in 1 Chronicles 28: “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and a delighted soul. For Yahweh searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.”

Isn’t that what we want, brothers and sisters? A whole heart and a delighted soul. And did Solomon have that? I think we look back and we say he really didn’t. David had that whole heart toward God, but Solomon’s heart was divided.

As I thought about it, I’ll give a few thoughts about this that I thought were really helpful as I looked at it. We are so enamored with Solomon’s prayer for wisdom. We think of it as such a noble thing. And I think that it was right. He had a humility before God where he said, “I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m young and I’m inexperienced,” as his father had told him and prayed for him. So he prayed for wisdom. But what did he pray for wisdom for? Give me wisdom to rule your people, to rule well. It wasn’t wisdom to know God.

“Isn’t that what we want, brothers and sisters? A whole heart and a delighted soul.”

It’s interesting—something of a pragmatic prayer when you look at it.

And even by that point in his life, Solomon had already compromised and made a marriage covenant with Egypt.

Obedience Unlocks Understanding

And so he was already compromised when he prayed that prayer. That wasn’t the kind of wholehearted prayer that we hear from David. So that’s a warning to us honestly that when we pray for our understanding and knowledge of the scriptures, it wouldn’t be just simply a practical thing.

God’s word gives us life and is sufficient for all of life. We’re going to talk about that in the next few weeks. But let’s not miss its goal that we would know and love and be delighted in him as our treasure.

Let’s never forget that Jesus said this very simply: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my father. And I will love him and will disclose myself to him.”

We’re going to explore this a little bit later when we see the connection between our willingness to obey and our obedience and that unlocking more understanding for us. The more we obey what God gives us, the more he gives us to obey. It’s a wonderful thing. For this is the love of God. The Apostle John said that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. We struggle sometimes to believe that. But when we think about God’s law, we think about all the things that we’re going to be talking about today. Let’s not lose sight of that.

And then in Psalm 119:2, the sentiment of the psalmist is, “My soul keeps your testimonies and I love them exceedingly.” We love them because we love him. Amen.

“Let’s not miss its goal—that we would know and love and be delighted in him as our treasure.”

The Kingship of God and His Commands

May this be true of us. And with that, let me pray. I’ll just say this too. Thinking about one of the things I’ve been thinking about a lot lately with some of the reading that people have encouraged me in is the kingship and the kingdom of God.

And sometimes we lose sight of that because we’re not familiar with kings, right? We live in a democratic republic and we don’t have a king who can just say whatever he wants and have that all get done, right? That’s obvious that we don’t have that.

But through most of human history, people grew up with that and they understood that if a king decreed something, it was not optional. We lose that, I think, with our Lord. When God gives us his commandments, they’re not simply suggestions.

They’re not even the best suggestions. They’re commands and they are not optional and they are for our highest good and his greatest glory. So with that, let me pray.

“When God gives us his commandments, they’re not simply suggestions. They’re commands and they are not optional.”

Father, I praise you that your word is an expression of your love to us. Our obedience, which you work in us through it, is an expression of our love to you.

Make that true today, Father. We trust you to enliven your words to our hearts today by your spirit, that our love for you, our understanding of what your word is, and our desire to please you would be magnified as you magnify yourself to us by your word. Show us how, like Mary, sitting at your feet and listening to you, would be seen as our greatest need, our greatest desire, our greatest benefit, and for your greatest glory.

Amen.

Overview of Bibliology Series

All right. Well, as we continue, here’s our outline. We’re going to give an overview of where we’ve been and where we’re going in bibliology.

We’ll walk through Calvary’s doctrinal statements. I mentioned this last time that if you’ve been a member for a while, it’s time for a refresher. That’s a great document. I just reading through it again did such good to my soul. Reading those scriptures was so helpful.

We’re going to talk about what authority is and then what authority looks like—how it’s defined and how it’s demonstrated. And as always, we’ll spend a little bit of time on implications and application because you’ll hear me repeat this every week: as Jesus said, if these things, you are blessed if you do them. That’s where the real blessing lies.

God is not interested in information only. I think it was Moody who said God’s word is not given for our information only but for our transformation. Amen. And we experience that here. May we experience that more.

The five classic categories of bibliology are authority, inerrancy, clarity, necessity, and sufficiency. We’ve already covered inspiration and inerrancy two weeks ago. Today we’re going to drill down on authority. Next is perspicuity and sufficiency. I remember when I first heard the word perspicuity, I didn’t know what it meant.

“The five classic categories of bibliology are authority, inerrancy, clarity, necessity, and sufficiency.”

Perspicuity means clarity. I find that kind of funny. And then necessity. They all kind of overlap. I don’t want to do this necessarily in a compartmentalized way, but there are particular implications and applications for each that I think are really worth our consideration. With that, let me just review a little bit of what we’ve covered in the last couple of weeks.

Review: Inspiration

Inspiration means from God, not merely inspirational. All scripture is God breathed. Right? We saw that in 2 Timothy 3:16. I think there are many, even many professing Christians, who would say that the Bible—it’s inspiring. It’s motivating. It does something to me. But they wouldn’t necessarily say that it is inspired in the way that the Bible talks about itself, that it is actually from God. So it is from God, not merely inspirational.

“Inspiration means from God, not merely inspirational.”

And in the biblical doctrine book we went over this definition, which I think is really helpful.

Inspiration describes the process of divine causation behind the authorship of scripture. It refers to the direct act of God on the human author that resulted in the creation of perfectly written revelation. And so I think that verse there is worth reading and reflecting on. Again, I commend it to you for memorization. Really helpful, even as you talk, as we reassure one another about what God’s word is and as we talk with unbelievers about what God’s word is.

This is really helpful, and I think it addresses some objections that people have and we are tempted to believe.

Review: The More Sure Prophetic Word

Second Peter 1, starting at verse 19. I’m going to back up a little bit to verse 16 because this is so helpful. This is the whole thought.

“For we did not make known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ following cleverly devised myths. You hear this term a lot. People refer to the Bible as myth. We be very careful how we understand that. It’s not cleverly devised myths, but being eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory: ‘This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.”

Just pause there for a minute. Can you imagine being there for that? Gets us excited, right? Just the thought of experiencing something like that.

Well, I think we can be even more excited because of what comes next. “And we have a more sure prophetic word to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the morning star arises in your hearts. Know this first of all that no prophecy of scripture comes by one’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

2 Peter 1:21: “No prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

The Holy Spirit’s Role in Illumination

What? The disciples had something that we don’t have, and that is the physical presence of Jesus. But we have something that they didn’t have, and that is the internal dwelling of the Holy Spirit by which he illumines the word to our hearts. Jesus himself said that was better. Amen. And here it says this word is more sure and even better. Sometimes it’s hard for us to believe that. But let’s understand that as God’s word does its work in our hearts.

When we see in this passage that men were moved by the Holy Spirit from God, last time we were together on this, we talked about the various ways that happened, right? In many portions and in many ways it says in Hebrews, but all of that initiated and directed by God through human authors. When we talked about inerrancy, inerrancy means that scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact.

We talked about how even though we don’t have the original manuscripts, we have very strong evidence—stronger in fact than any other historical documents that exist. And so it’s important for us to recognize that and to understand the role of faith in all of that.

In fact, Mike Hammer, you mentioned something about what about those passages that are kind of bracketed and weren’t in the original manuscripts and we don’t think were.

“We have something that they didn’t have—the internal dwelling of the Holy Spirit by which he illumines the word to our hearts.”

Review: Inerrancy

We’re going to talk a little bit about that at the end because that’s helpful to understand what that means with regard to authority. The word itself says this: “The words of Yahweh are pure words as silver tried in a furnace on the ground refined seven times. And every word of God proves true. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.”

It’s interesting when you look at the Hebrew here. The word “tried” in Psalm 126 and the word “proves true” in Proverbs 30:5 are the same Hebrew word. They are pure and they always do what God intends them to do. His word, like God himself, is perfect and reliable.

I love Psalm 119:96, which says, “I have seen a limit to all perfection. Your commandment is exceedingly broad.” In other words, there’s a limit to the perfection that we see certainly in ourselves and certainly in creation in the fallen world, but there is no limit to the perfection of God’s word. And that’s exciting to think about as we go exploring day by day in God’s word. I hope that excites you as a recovering perfectionist. This is very helpful to me that there is something perfect that I can look to beyond myself and beyond any of us.

Psalm 119:96: “I have seen a limit to all perfection. Your commandment is exceedingly broad.”

Yes, God’s word is perfect. Because the Bible is inspired—that is, from God—and inerrant—that is, completely reliable—we have a firm foundation from which to understand and respond to its authority. It’s interesting you look at those three words: inspired, inerrant, and authority. Those are three concepts, three words that are very much under attack in our postmodern age, even among professing Christians attacking the inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of the Bible. I was recently made aware of a book called “The Sin of Certainty,” written by a Christian.

Think about that with regard to what the Bible says for itself. We need to be on guard against such nonsense and false teaching.

Calvary’s Statement of Faith: The Only Infallible Rule

From Calvary statement of faith, we’re going to spend a little bit of time here and walk through these verses, which is a rich journey in our statement of faith. We teach that the Bible constitutes the only infallible rule of faith and practice. Only is important, and I think we’ve established that infallible means it’s perfect.

But I think for those of us—I’m not one of them, but I know some of you have come out of maybe Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox traditions—where it is, yes, the Bible is the word of God, but there’s also this, right? So it’s important that we say that the Bible is the only infallible rule of faith.

Look with me. Let’s open your Bibles or your devices, hopefully your paper Bibles, and read some of these together and take a little journey. Matthew 5:17-18.

This is Jesus. I’ll go back to verse 17. “Do not think that I came to abolish the law and the prophets. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke will pass away from the law until all is accomplished.”

Matthew 5:18: “Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke will pass away from the law until all is accomplished.”

Psalm 119:128 says, “Therefore I esteem all your precepts concerning everything. Therefore, I hate every false way.” We talked last week or a couple weeks ago about being on the cafeteria plan. We can’t pick and choose. It’s all from him, all authoritative. Psalm 119:160 says, “The sum of your word is truth and every one of your righteous ordinances is everlasting.” So in the individual parts and individual words and in whole, God’s word is perfect and is authoritative.

Let’s go to Matthew 24:35. Quoting and referring to the Old Testament: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

It’s amazing when you think about church history, those people who have sought to destroy the word of God by burning these paper Bibles. Has that worked? I know of at least one case. I can’t remember the historical figure’s name who predicted that the Bible would be out of print within 100 years. His house, the building where he said that, is now the headquarters of a Bible society. I think God has a great sense of humor, right?

Scripture Cannot Be Broken

God’s word is infallible.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever. That’s Isaiah 40:8. No doubt what Jesus had in mind here. John 10:35.

John 10:35, if he called them gods to whom the word of God came and the scripture cannot be broken. We’re focusing on that phrase, the scripture cannot be broken. And as we saw in Proverbs 30:5, every word of God proves true. As history has marched on, there are so many things that people could not conceive of happening that the word of God predicted that have happened. The existence of Israel, for example, is a big one, right? It always proves true whether we see it in the present or not.

“Every word of God proves true. It always proves true whether we see it in the present or not.”

The Spirit Guides Into All Truth

John 16:12-13 again emphasizing the importance of the Holy Spirit in illumining God’s word to us. “I still have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.

For he will not speak from himself, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will disclose to you what is to come.”

This had a particular application to the apostles as they wrote scripture later.

Why did they? Why is scripture reliable? Is it because the apostles had a great memory? No, they probably didn’t. But the Holy Spirit brought to their remembrance and guided them to write the things that we have today.

“The Holy Spirit brought to their remembrance and guided them to write the things that we have today.”

Spiritual Depths Require Spiritual Discernment

I’ll also turn your attention to 1 Corinthians 2. I think we may have read this last time, but I think it bears repeating. So encouraging to us. We recognize that when we interact with the Bible, it’s not merely an intellectual exercise. Yes, we do love the Lord with our minds and we use our minds and we train our minds, but it’s beyond that.

First, 1 Corinthians 2:11. For who among men knows the depths of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, the depths of God, no one knows except the spirit of God. Now we’ve received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, so that we may know the depths graciously given to us by God. Of which depths we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual depths with spiritual words.

But a natural man does not accept the depths of the spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually examined. But he who is spiritual examines all things, yet he himself is examined by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he will direct him? But we have the mind of Christ. Wow. Isn’t that amazing?

1 Corinthians 2:14: “A natural man does not accept the depths of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.”

The spirit illumines. Even when I prepare to teach and teach, I’m hearing some of this stuff for the first time too, right? Because I’m not going merely by my notes. God, I’ve heard good preachers talk about this, that preaching is a spiritual exercise. How he works in the teacher, how he works in you, that’s God’s work. I don’t do that, right? I’m merely a channel.

The Natural Man Cannot Understand

I remember over the course of my life, particularly as I was younger and I didn’t have quite the understanding of the sovereignty of God that I do now, I remember talking particularly in college. We would have these evangelistic Bible studies where people who were interested in knowing more about Christ would come, and those would often be really well attended for one or two weeks. That was typical. We would just walk through some passages in the gospels and ask some very basic questions.

Things like this. You’ll read something that Jesus said. What did Jesus say?

Bunch of blank stares. I remember thinking to myself, these are really smart college students who can’t answer basic questions. Why is that? This is why that is: because it’s not merely intellectual. It’s spiritual.

“These are smart college students who can’t answer basic questions. Why? Because it’s not merely intellectual. It’s spiritual.”

I remember getting so frustrated. Why couldn’t they see this? Right? Not understanding that they are spiritually discerned. Psalm 19:18 says as our cry, “Open my eyes that I may behold marvelous things, wonderful things from your law.” That’s what has to happen for us to see it. That’s God’s work. Let’s go further to John 17:17.

God’s Word Is Truth—Not Just True

This is why when you read through membership or you read the statement of faith, really take the time to read these verses and I hope this is an enriching exercise for you.

17:17, sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth.

We talked about that. We’re going to get into that even more as we progress. That God’s word is not simply true. It is truth. It is the standard by which all truth claims are measured. That’s different, right? It doesn’t just contain the truth. It is the truth. It’s the plumb line by which we measure all things. And we shine its light into every area of our lives.

“God’s word is not simply true. It is truth. It is the standard by which all truth claims are measured.”

Over the course of our lives, we’re afraid to shine that light, aren’t we?

The Living and Active Word

In some areas, we are. But God would have us to do that. 1 Corinthians 2:13, which we read, right? It’s spiritual. And then look with me also at Hebrews 4:12. Some of this is a very familiar verse.

What God’s word is and what God’s word does.

Bear with me just a minute here.

When it says that in 1 Corinthians 2:13, we speak the depths not in words taught by human wisdom but in those taught by the spirit, combining spiritual depths and spiritual words. Hebrews 4:12, familiar, I think, to many of us, right?

The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Right? That’s a spiritual thing, which is why I think many avoid or obscure it because it does judge our thoughts and intentions.

Hebrews 4:12: “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

The next verse says that all things are open and laid bare to him to whom we have to give account.

Profitable for Reproof and Correction

And that’s scary to us, particularly if we’re in sin. Before we end today, there’s a particular connection with that verse in Psalm 19 that I think will be helpful and exciting for us. And then 2 Timothy 3:16-17, we’ll probably repeat this every week. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, that the man of God may be equipped, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

It’s interesting. Some of us were at the men’s retreat yesterday, and we talked about the need to have hard conversations at times.

Notice what the word of God does. It’s profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, training, and righteousness.

Two of those we tend to avoid, don’t we? Reprove and correction. You miss that, you’re missing half of it.

So if we’re not receiving God’s word that way, I’ll put it a different way. To the extent that we are receiving God’s word that way personally as he convicts and reproves us, we will be better equipped to bring that as we minister the word of God to one another.

“To the extent we receive God’s reproof personally, we will be better equipped to minister his word to one another.”

It’s so important that we are willing to do that. We were talking about the theme of the conference, which had two themes: pride and hypocrisy. As we talked about pride, it got pretty intense and we recognized the need to receive reproof willingly.

In fact, if we look at Proverbs in particular, Proverbs 9 and Proverbs 27, Rightly Shaji, you were in our group as we talked about this. It was a great conversation that we not only receive it well, but we actually seek it out. As we do that daily with the word of God, we are well equipped to both receive and give as faithful stewards of his word.

So that was our brief, maybe not so brief, journey through the statement of faith. Well, let’s get into authority proper. What is authority? How is it defined?

Defining Authority: Grudem’s Definition

And I love this from Wayne Grudem.

It’s so helpful. All the words in scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God. I’m going to repeat that: all the words in scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.

“To disbelieve or disobey any word of scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.”

I think we’re establishing through this series that God and his word are not separate things. God comes to us personally and perfectly in his word, and we do ourselves and others a disservice when we separate those things. Right?

Think about this. Proverbs 13:13 says, “He who despises the word will be in debt to it.” Isn’t that interesting? And really in debt to him. And so given that we’re naturally all at a deficit, aren’t we in our natural disobedience?

I think it’s good for us to think about the implications of this.

What You Believe About the Bible Is What You Believe About God

What you believe about the Bible is what you believe about God. I think that’s true. I hope you recognize this isn’t an artificial thing. This isn’t a wooden thing. This is a personal thing because God speaks to us at his word. So what we believe about the Bible is what you believe about God. If you doubt or chafe against some things in the Bible, you may find yourself resisting God.

Anyone here struggle with the passages about judgment and hell? Yeah, we do. We’re not cold-hearted folk, right? We love people, but sometimes when you read that, we talked about this when we study the attributes of God.

I think it was A.W. Pink. He said, “We don’t do well to love some attributes of God more than others. Do you love his judgment, his wrath as much as his grace? Because both are perfect and they’re both from him.”

And so we have to think about what do we tend to maybe chafe against or resist some of the truths of the Bible? That says something to us about what we believe about God.

How you treat the Bible is how you treat God. Wow.

“What you believe about the Bible is what you believe about God.”

Are we spending time listening, reading, sitting at his feet through his word? That’s an important one to think about.

How You Treat the Bible Is How You Treat God

I remember the booklet, some of you may have read it, called “My Heart, Christ’s Home.” Anybody know that booklet? It’s a great analogy of our hearts being the home in which the Holy Spirit dwells, in which Christ dwells.

There are certain rooms that we don’t want him to see, right? We don’t want him to clean up.

There’s one particular scene where the resident of the house rushes out the door. Jesus is sitting in the front parlor room wanting to talk with him, spend time with him. He just ran right past him, came back.

At the end of the day, he said, “I’ve been waiting for you. I’ve been wanting to talk with you, to speak with you.” Do we do that with the Lord? Do we just kind of move on with our day without hearing from him?

And so how we treat our Bibles is how we treat God.

“How we treat our Bibles is how we treat God.”

And how we talk about the Bible is how we talk about God. And so we need to talk about it again, not in a wooden way, but in a personal way.

It’s interesting. I’ve been to churches where you can read their document, their statement of faith, and you can see what they believe about the Bible. And that’s good stuff, right? But the real litmus test is how they treat the Bible as they preach it, right? That tells us what they really believe. How we treat the Bible tells others what we really believe about the Bible.

I heard one pastor say as he’s teaching something, “Well, I can’t caveat this enough.” He’s conditioning and just kind of not really saying anything. Not really boldly saying what the scriptures say, trying to condition it. What does that say about his view of God, right?

And so I think these are things that I would commend to you to consider. Back to the definition: all the words in scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.

Psalm 138:2—God Magnifies His Word Above His Name

Want to commend to you a scripture here that’s worth our focus on this. I think there is some variation in understanding of this, some controversy, most of which I think is not valid, but this is important to think about. Psalm 138:2: “I will worship toward your holy temple and praise your name for your loving kindness and for your truth and faithfulness. For you have exalted above all else your name and your word and you have magnified your word above all your name.”

I think that sometimes can make us feel uncomfortable. I’ve heard people try to say that it doesn’t really say that. Look at the Pharisees. They worshiped the Bible but they didn’t worship God. I think we talked about this last week. I think we recognized they didn’t worship God or the Bible.

They worshiped their own traditions by which they invalidated God’s word. They didn’t love God’s word too much as if that were possible. They loved it not enough. So I think we got to be really careful here. To say what the word of God says here, we don’t worship the Bible, but we worship God and his word is right there with him. And so why does it say according to what we see that in the New American Standard or above?

And I would say this: there is nothing higher than God. And while his name is a reflection of him, his word is a fuller expression of him.

“While his name is a reflection of him, his word is a fuller expression of him.”

So I think by this point we’ve established that God and his word are not separate things. God comes to us in his word. Psalm 119:102, the psalmist says about his word, “You yourself have taught me.” Psalm 19:141 says, “You are near and all your words are truth.” So this idea that they’re separate things is not an idea that comes from the Bible. And so we must regard his word as he regards it according to or even above his name. And scholars have viewed this as somewhat enigmatic. I believe God has designed it to be provocative to get our attention.

Spurgeon on the Preeminence of God’s Word

Right. And there is again while his name is a reflection of him, his word is a fuller expression of him. Certainly the word incarnate in Jesus is—let me quote Spurgeon here. Spurgeon in his commentary Treasury of David said something I thought really helpful about this passage.

It’s a little bit lengthy, but I’m going to read it to you in its entirety. He says this: “The word of promise made to David was in his eyes more glorious than all else that he had seen of the most high. Revelation excels creation in the clearness, definiteness, and fullness of its teaching.

The name of the Lord in nature is not so easily read as in the scriptures, which are a revelation in human language, specially adapted to the human mind, treating of human need and of a savior who appeared in human nature to redeem humanity. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the divine word will not pass away. And in this respect especially, it has a preeminence over every other form of manifestation.

Moreover, the Lord lays all the rest of his name under the tribute to his word. His wisdom, his power, his love, and all his other attributes combined to carry out his word. It is his word which creates, sustains, quickens, enlightens, and comforts. As a word of command, it is supreme. And in the person of the incarnate word, it is set above all the works of God’s hands.”

“His wisdom, his power, his love, and all his other attributes combined to carry out his word.”

I hope to demonstrate to you from the scriptures as we finish up today what that looks like. This might be a new thought to you. As the word of God is under attack by the world and certainly by the professing church, this is so important for us to embrace—going back to our understanding of what God’s word is and what it does. We understand what it is by what it does. It is living and active. So let’s get into a more formal definition.

A Formal Definition of Biblical Authority

And this is a longer quote, but I think worth our time. Don’t worry, I’m not going to read all of these verses. And you’ll have this in the slides that go out. This is from the biblical doctrine book by MacArthur and Mayhew.

The matter of authority is addressed frequently throughout scripture. The descriptions of God and the titles applied to him demonstrate his absolute authority over his creation. He is identified from the beginning as the creator of all things.

The titles Lord and God Almighty demonstrate his authority and power over all things. The nature of God expressed by his attributes equally affirms his authority. The Bible attests to God as the eternal, immortal, and only God.

He is described as omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and righteous. His wisdom is unsearchable. His sovereignty is over all his creation now and forever. This authority is conveyed to man through God’s word and is an unalterably authoritative message.

“This authority is conveyed to man through God’s word and is an unalterably authoritative message.”

And that’s a rich journey to think about, thinking again about who God is.

Goes on: the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit illuminates the believer so that he knows that the scriptures are the word of God. The biblical basis for this clarity is derived from two sources. First, the words of scripture are self-attesting because they claim to be from God.

Second, the Holy Spirit’s dynamic power applies the truth of scripture resulting in a confident assurance in the word itself. This ministry of the spirit is actuated through the reading and proclamation of scripture. That does not mean that all who hear it or read it believe, but it does mean that those who believe do so because of the convicting and illuminating work of the Holy Spirit.

I’ll say a couple personal words about this. I remember really thinking about this in my parenting and for Betty and I as we raise our kids in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

As a younger parent, I wanted to help establish in my kids the discipline of being in God’s word. And so what I would do, you can laugh at this because it’s kind of ridiculous when you think about it. I would sit down with them maybe once or twice and just walk through what I do in terms of just preparing your heart, confessing sin, reading, and then journaling, just kind of walking through that.

And it was like, “Now go do it.” Then I thought about the Holy Spirit who doesn’t do that with us, right? Think about what the Holy Spirit does. He births us to new life in Christ. He unfolds the understanding of God’s word for us, but he does something even more. He walks with us and enables us to do it.

Authority Demonstrated in Creation

Amen. And I thought, I think that’s what the Lord requires of me as a parent to walk with my children in the word. And that was life-changing. I wish I’d picked up on that earlier. Our younger kids have benefited from that more than our older kids. And praise the Lord for his personal work in us with the word. It’s amazing. It’s amazing.

All right. Let’s go through a few scriptures on how authority is demonstrated. First and foremost, it’s in creation, right? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep.

And the spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light. And you see all those things: the heavens, the skies, dry land, plants, sun, moon, stars.

I love it when he says, “And he made the stars also.” Just kind of throw that in. How many stars do we have? Trillions and trillions, right? Just by his word. Amazing. The power of God’s word. Waters, living creatures, birds, beasts of the earth, and man.

So we see first and foremost the power of God’s word to create out of nothing.

“We see first and foremost the power of God’s word to create out of nothing.”

Creation Out of Nothing

Out of nothing. Proverbs 3:19-20 says that by wisdom and knowledge and understanding, God created all things.

Hebrews 1 reminds us that he made this all out of nothing. He made what exists out of things which did not exist. The seen from what is unseen.

We see that that’s just amazing to think about and worship. And what we see in the world today, which is a fallen world, is still pretty amazing. Think about what that must have been like before the fall.

Psalm 33. I think we talked about this a little bit last week. By the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth, all their hosts. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap, he lays up the deeps and storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spoke and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. That’s the power of the word of God.

Psalm 33:9: “He spoke and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast.”

I mentioned earlier from Proverbs 3 and Hebrews 1. Yahweh by wisdom founded the earth. By discernment he established the heavens. By his knowledge the deeps were split up and the skies dripped with dew.

Are wisdom and discernment and knowledge tangible things? No, they’re not. But out of those things he made what is tangible, what we see. And by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was made out of things which are not visible.

When we create we create out of things which already exist. But God when he creates creates out of nothing. And that includes, we’ll get into this, our salvation.

Authority in New Creation: Salvation

I love this creation language.

In 2 Corinthians 4, God who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness” is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. The same creative power that created the world births new life in us. How else would we know God, know Christ, if he had not created this new life in us?

I was at the CCF conference on Friday. It’s a Christian counseling and education foundation. Our Katherine Gutierrez works for them. She’s there today at the conference. But one of the counselors was talking about this and he said somebody asked me, “How are you saved?” He goes, “I don’t know. I wasn’t there.”

“The same creative power that created the worlds births new life in us.”

How were you born? Does anybody know? Anybody remember that? Right. That is God’s work as he births new life in us.

Authority in Sanctification

And we do well to be really clear, really clear about that. God has shown the light of the knowledge of God in our hearts. And the same word of God that created physical life creates and provides the foundation for spiritual life. Let’s move on to sanctification.

I love this. We just read Proverbs 3:19-20 how God created the world through wisdom, knowledge and understanding. And then it says in Proverbs 24:3-4. This is kind of our theme verse for the Twambli family. By wisdom a house is built and by discernment or by understanding it is firmly established and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

Those same things that are foundational for creation are foundational for our lives.

“Those same things that are foundational for creation are foundational for our lives.”

They are the building blocks upon which we are to build our lives. We do well to remember that. And then Peter put this so strongly in 2 Peter 1. Seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the full knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence.

For by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. We’re going to get into this more when we talk about the sufficiency of scripture in a couple weeks.

God’s word gives us everything we need. And it equates his word with the knowledge of him. Again, I know I’m sounding like a broken record here, but it’s so important. The knowledge of him and that the full knowledge—that’s the Greek word epignosco which is an experiential and a relational knowledge not merely a head knowledge.

Authority in Glorification

The foundation of creation is the foundation for our lives in Christ. And then just glorification. Again we go back to God’s word being eternal. For you have been born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, that is through the living and enduring word of God. For all flesh is like grass and its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls off but the word of God endures forever.

But the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which was proclaimed to you as good news. And so the eternal word creates eternal life.

“The eternal word creates eternal life.”

So we see it in creation of the physical world. We see it in the new creation of our lives. And we see it in the sustaining and sanctification of our lives and the eventual glorification from beginning to end. It is decreed by his word.

Authority Demonstrated in the Church

There’s another way that the authority of God’s word is demonstrated, and that is in the church. You may not have given much thought to this because we’re such imperfect people and the way we carry out our faith—we’re in a constant sanctification process as the church globally, the big C, and as local churches. There’s a lot to do and a lot of growth to happen. But yet, as Jesus said, “I will build my church,” and he will do that and he is doing that.

I love what Paul said to Timothy here: “But in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”

I remember sharing this with an older saint, someone of a mentor of mine, who literally when I read this said that’s not true. Like, what do you mean that’s not true? I think what he was getting at is that it’s hard to believe that the church as manifested on earth is the pillar and support of the truth. It kind of seems not like that sometimes, right? We’re not so great sometimes, right?

We know that the Roman Catholic Church abuses this text by saying that the church defines the truth. The Bible is the Bible because we said these are the books that go in it, right? That’s not true at all. This passage is sometimes interpreted that way. And I would say this: there’s a lot to unpack here, but the church doesn’t define the truth, but it is defined by the truth.

“The church doesn’t define the truth, but it is defined by the truth.”

The Church Defined by Truth, Not Defining Truth

This is what a true church is. When it’s under and not over the word of God, when they submit to it and to its design. The Roman Catholic Church. How many of you come from a Roman Catholic background, right? I know some of you do. And it’s confusing because we go back to the word of God. God’s revelation, God’s authority, is the word of God, right? And the plus in the Roman Catholic Church is the magisterium, which refers to tradition and the structure, the authoritative structure of the people leading the church. You can see how problematic that would be.

Matthew Henry, the commentator from I think the 1700s, said this: “Not that the authority of the scriptures depends upon that of the church as the papists pretend, but the truth is the pillar and ground of the church. For the church holds forth the scripture and the doctrine of Christ as the pillar to which a proclamation is affixed, holds forth the proclamation, right?”

We are defined by the truth and upheld by the truth. We don’t uphold it ourselves.

“We are defined by the truth and upheld by the truth. We don’t uphold it ourselves.”

Authority Demonstrated Personally: Psalm 19 and Hebrews 4

Although in our Iron Man, we’re going through Ephesians, and it says some pretty audacious things about the truth, about the church, right? In Ephesians 1, it says that the church is the fullness of him who fills all in all. I don’t know about you, brothers and sisters, that challenges my faith. Kind of seems not like that sometimes as we look at our flaws. But yet, God is working in us. To him be the glory forever through the church says in Ephesians 3.

So we do well to remember that in reference to other traditions we talked about this last time. Do not add to his words, right? Lest you be proven a liar. There’s serious curses that come from adding. So again, I think we’ll cover this a little bit more when we talk about the sufficiency of God’s word, that it is enough.

So we talked about God’s word in creation, demonstrated in creation, in the new creation, from beginning to end, in our lives, in the church. And how about personally in you and I as believers? I want to make a connection that you might not have thought of between Psalm 19 and Hebrews 4.

Let me just read this, talking about God’s creation and about the sun. It says this: “Their line has gone out through all the earth and their utterances to the end of the world.” That refers to God’s revelation in creation. God’s revealed power says in them he has placed a tent for the sun. He’s talking about the heavens, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. It rejoices as a strong man to run his course. Its rising is from one end of the heavens and its circuit to the other end of them. And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

That’s referring to the sun. That’s figurative language talking about the sun immersing and shining on all things, right? And then it goes on to say, “The law of Yahweh is perfect, restoring the soul.” I think that transition is marvelous because there is nothing hidden from the heat of the sun. There is nothing hidden from the power and the light of God’s word.

Look at this in Hebrews 4. We just read this, right? “The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from its sight, from his sight. But all things are uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of him to whom we have an account to give.”

Isn’t that interesting? God sees everything and his word pierces everything. It’s an undeniable force. It’s a relentless light.

“God sees everything and his word pierces everything. It’s an undeniable force. It’s a relentless light.”

I’ve shared this with some of you before. When I came to Christ as an 8-year-old, this was terrifying to me. When I understood that God could not only see everything that I did at all times, but he could see my thoughts, absolute terror overcame me because I knew that even though I appeared to be a good kid—we talked about hypocrisy at the conference yesterday—I was pretty hypocritical. Knowing that God knew was terrifying. But now in Christ, hopefully something that we embrace and love.

So we note the power of the word. The sun is relentless in its reach and impact in nature. And so is God’s word in the hearts of men, limitless in its reach and in its impact.

With that, let me just give a couple slides of implication and application.

Bracketed Passages and the Canon

And Mike, you had asked, and this is an important thing for us to think about the bracketed passages that we see in your Bible, and they are listed here in Mark and John. When we talk about the authority of God’s word, are we to view those passages as authoritative? That’s a great question.

I have struggled with that over the years and there’s a lot to uncover here. I encourage you to look at some of the resources that we’ve recommended. But to summarize, internal and external evidence gives scholars virtual certainty that these passages were not part of the original manuscripts and are therefore not inherent scripture. Both the way they’re written and when they show up really indicate that.

They generally summarize truths taught elsewhere in scripture, but no doctrine or practices should be based solely on them. We hear about these snake handling churches in West Virginia and other places, and their entire doctrine is based on a passage that we’re not sure is in the Bible, and we ought not do that. I found it interesting that one of those passages is the story of the woman caught in adultery. You may stumble over that and say that might not actually be scripture.

But that is totally consistent with who we know Jesus to be, is it not? It’s not a contradiction, but I think it bears noting that it’s probably not worthy of the emphasis that it’s given. That make sense?

We just need to be really careful. In John 5, if you try to look up John 5:4 in the ESV, you won’t find it. That was a bit controversial, right? They knew that it wasn’t there. You can do it on your device right now.

It goes from three to five because they’re pretty well certain that verse is not there. So I just want to say a few words about that. We still want to be confident about God’s word, but those bracketed passages are not an occasion to not be confident about God’s word, but an occasion to be confident in it. We just need to be careful with how we handle them.

“Bracketed passages are not an occasion to not be confident about God’s word, but an occasion to be confident in it.”

Revelation Connected to Obedience

Some personal implications and application. We talked about this a little bit earlier. How is revelation connected to obedience? How is revelation connected to obedience? Just ask. How would you answer that question?

You look like there’s something on the tip of your tongue.

There’s something when revelation has come, you’re obligated to obey.

You’re obligated to obey and respond for sure. In the interest of time, I’ll just walk through these. Psalm 111:10 says, “A good understanding have all those who do his commandments.” Isn’t that interesting? Understanding and obedience go together. And if we read earlier in John 14:21, he who has my commandments, Jesus said, and keeps them, he it is who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and will disclose myself to him. The idea being that the more we obey what has been revealed to us, the more God will reveal to us to obey.

“The more we obey what has been revealed to us, the more God will reveal to us to obey.”

Is Your Life a Demonstration of God’s Word?

Sometimes when we’re stuck, we have to recognize there are many things hard to understand, but sometimes it’s because we’re not willing to obey what we have in front of us. Secondly, and this is important, how is your life a demonstration of the authority of God’s word? In other words, what evidence is there in your life that God’s word is authoritative?

Look with me at Psalm 119:56.

I’ll read all five verses. “This has become mine that I observe your precepts. Yahweh is my portion. I have promised to keep your words. I have sought to please your face with all my heart. Be gracious to me according to your word. I thought upon my ways, and I turned my feet to your testimonies. I hastened and did not delay to keep your commandments.”

There’s a lot here. Verse 56 talks about obedience as a precious possession. This has become mine that I can even do this, that I can obey.

And then in verses 59 and 60 we do well to obey immediately. What do we say as parents? Delayed obedience is disobedience.

“Obedience is a precious possession. Delayed obedience is disobedience—even more so with the Lord.”

Even more so with the Lord. If God gives us something to do and given the limited time that we have on this earth, we do it. We hasten and do not delay. We turn our feet to what we’ve been told and we hasten and do not delay to keep his commandments. That honors him.

Stewards of God’s Word

1 Peter 4:10-11, we’re going to hear a sermon on this in November.

It talks about spiritual gifts and how we are to operate. One of the phrases there says, “As each one has received the special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” And then it says, “Whoever speaks, let him speak as it were the utterance of God. Let him who serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified.”

We are stewards of God’s word and God’s resources. I hope you understand that. I’m teaching today. Greg’s going to be preaching later as we talk. We’re bound by the word of God, right? We feel this joyous constraint to not make things up, don’t we? And brother, don’t we feel confidence that we’re explaining his thoughts and his words and not our own ideas? It’s so wonderful that we get to do that, right? We can be confident.

I’ll just share something I think is worth thinking about again. How does God’s word manifest itself? How is your life? How is my life a reflection of the nature of God’s word? This verse really impacts and convicts me. Psalm 119:165 says, “Those who love your law have great peace, and nothing causes them to stumble.”

“We feel this joyous constraint to not make things up—we can be confident we’re explaining his thoughts and not our own.”

Closing Prayer

I’m kind of known as someone who loves God’s word, but I’m not known as someone who has an overflow of peace, right? And that’s kind of a problem. I think if the peace of Christ isn’t ruling in my heart as it says in Colossians 3:15, then God’s word isn’t having the impact that God intends. And I am really challenged by that.

Maybe you have a similar struggle in a different way. I encourage you to think about that. Examine your heart with God’s word. What areas is God’s word having an impact in? We can all point to areas where God’s word has had an impact and is having an impact. Praise God. But what are those areas where my life is not really displaying the beauty and the authority of his word? I commend that to you.

Let me close in prayer by sharing a little bit from the Psalms. In Psalm 19 at the beginning: “How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. How blessed are those who know his testimonies, who seek him with all their heart.” And Psalm 1: “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord.”

I want us to feel that. Let’s pray. Father, how blessed we are by hearing, understanding, and obeying your word. Forgive us, Father, for those ways where we have disobeyed and relinquished some of the blessedness that you have for us. I pray that your word would continue to save, sanctify, and strengthen us for our good and your glory. Amen. Amen. Thank you.

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