2 Timothy 3.15,16

Pentecost 4

Hymns:284, 290, 291, 293

The Bible (which comes from the Latin and Greek word ‘biblia’ which means ‘books’ and which is the revealed word of God), The New Testament, The Old Testament (the two sections that comprise the Christian Bible), The Talmud (a compilation of Jewish, rabbinical oral laws and teachings that are in addition to the Old Testament), The Koran (the holy book of Islam which claims to hold the exact words of Allah which were given to Mohamad by the angel Gabriel), The Veda (the sacred writings of Hinduism)...how confusing! All of these books claim to be truthful and accurate and that what is contained in them must be believed if a happy life after death is going to be a possibility. How confusing. Which of these books can we trust? Which of these books contains the truth? Which is these books really leads to eternal life in heaven?

For you and me that book is the Bible and none other. Can we prove that the Bible is the only book that reveals the truth about God and about salvation? No we can’t. It’s a matter of faith. Either you believe it or you don’t. But in order to believe it is essential to look into these books, read them, study them, com-pare them, and it is the conviction of Christians that the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth and lead you to believe that the Bible is the Word of God and none other.

In our summer/fall sermon series this year we are using the gen-eral theme: First Century Biblical Doctrines for Twenty-first Century Biblical Christians. One of the objectives of this series is for us to deepen our faith and conviction that the doctrines of the first century have not changed because truth doesn’t change. That means that the doctrines, or what the church teaches today, are the same doctrines that were taught and believed by our fel-low Christians 2000 + years ago! And one of the foundational doctrines of the first century, and the twenty-first century is THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE, THE WORD OF GOD. How can we make this claim and what happens if we do not make this claim and faithfully apply it? This is what we will look at this morning.

One of the most important passages in the Bible from which we learn that it is the word of God is our text for this morning (read). Literally verse 16 reads, "All scripture is breathed out by God." Two other passages that help us to understand what the Bible is are these: 1 Cor 2:13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 2 Pet 1:20 - 21 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scrip-ture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

What do all of these passages tell us? They tell us that the Holy Spirit breathed into the writers of the Bible, and that would be Moses and the prophets in the Old Testament, and the evangel-ists and the apostles in the New Testament...the Holy Spirit gave the very words that he wanted these men to write down in the Bible. And this is what the Christians had in the first cent-ury, this is what we have in the 21^st century...the very words of God, word for word and without error or mistake in anything that is written in the Bible. This is why we call it the Word of God because even though sinful men wrote the wrote the words it was God who gave them the words to write. The Bible is nev-er referred to as the word of men but the Word of God. He used them to communicate his will, his mind and his heart to us in the same way that you and I would write our last will and testa-ment and have that read to those who survive us. I might tell my son-in-law attorney what to write in my will, and he might be the one to read my last will and testament to my family after I’m dead and gone. But those are my words conveying my will and my heart. In the same way the Bible is God’s will and testament to us, God’s Word which he gave to various men over a period of 1500 years.

When you read the Bible for yourself, when you hear sections of the Bible being read here in worship or in Bible study, your mind tells you that you are listening to God’s words and not just the words of men written by men.

Listen to the Word of God: The Lord said to Moses, Write this on a scroll (Ex 17.14). The Lord said to the prophet Jeremiah (36.2), Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you. The Lord said to the prophet Ezekiel (3.10,11), Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. Go now to your countrymen in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says.’" Jesus said to John (Rev 1.19), Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. God himself gave the words to the writers of the Bible. The doctrine of the Bible, that is, the teaching of what the Bible is, is that it is the Word of God, word for word, without error or mistake. God doesn’t make errors or mistakes. All Scripture is breathed out by God...

Jesus spoke about Adam and Eve (Mt 19.4-6) as real people. Jesus spoke about Jonah (Mt 12.39,40) as a real person and the large fish that held him in his stomach for 3 days as a real fish. Jesus spoke about Noah and the flood (Mt 24.37-39) as a real person and a real flood (story about J & G).

This is what the Bible tells us about itself; this is what we be-lieve, teach and confess. Why is this an important doctrine? For several reasons which we will look at for the next two weeks. But the most important reason is this: If Adam and Eve did not exist, if Jonah and the fish and Noah and the Flood are stories that did not happen, then we cannot be certain of anything writ-ten in the Bible which claims that these people and events are true. And if we can’t believe that everything in the Bible is true, neither can be believe anything Jesus said is true either, includ-ing what he tells us about salvation and forgivness!

Jesus the Son of God who became our human brother to pay for our sins. He is the Savior whose coming was promised from the time of Adam and Eve when they brought sin and death into the world so that sin and death would be defeated by him. Jesus did pay for our sins, remove the curse of sin and the fear of death when he died on a cross and rose again. These things are true and we can trust them because everything in the Bible is true, whether in the first century or the 21^st century.