Let's turn together to the book of 2 Peter, 2 Peter, the first chapter, 2 Peter 1 verses 19 through 21. The quest tonight is not to explore every dimension of argument for the inerrancy of Scripture, for the inspiration of Scripture more particularly tonight, but to begin to crack open the door, to begin to open the box or whatever it is that you might have in your mind's eye of starting a journey together where we will gain absolute confidence that the Scriptures which we hold are true because they are inspired by God in such a way that they are without error and that they are completely sufficient for all of life most importantly for salvation. And that all of our confidence can be placed here and that we owe no apology in the sense of being afraid to confess that we believe these Scriptures to be the inerrant word of God without fault, without error and we are unapologetic in our preaching from them. Let's look together at 2 Peter, 1 verses 19 through 21. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts knowing this first of all that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. May the Lord bless the reading of His Word, the hearing of His people. We live in a time where people are not afraid of prophecy and they are not afraid of speculation, they are not afraid to read horoscopes to look in newspapers, its entertainment whether it is fortune cookies or whether now it is television shows which are all about prophesying and seeing into the future. Perhaps you remember the Bible code that came out where by binary digits I believe is what it was or hexadecine or whatever it was, the future was being told because of this Bible code. Nostradamus has been popular, then he's been forgotten, then he's been popular again. Now apparently the Mayan calendar is what will dictate our future and if you haven't seen the movie which I have not we will all pass away from this earth by cataclysmic destruction in 2012 so you might want to go ahead and take that vacation you were planning on. The Da Vinci code was popular by a book by if I've got his name right, Ron Brown I think and then as the Da Vinci code began to wane in cells they decided to resurrect it with another follow up movie and remind us that we were supposed to be paying attention to the architectural symbols which would tell us the secrets of scripture. Well we have other documents that we rely on a little bit more profoundly this morning I read from the Westminster Confession of Faith the first part of paragraph one in chapter one let me read the second half this evening of that one paragraph. It pleased the Lord at sundry times and in diverse manners to reveal himself and to declare that it declare that his will into the church and afterwards for the better preserving and propagating of the truth and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption of the flesh and the malice of Satan in the world to commit the same unto writing which makes the holy scripture to be most necessary. To protect his people to protect the church against the flesh the malice of the flesh to protect the church against the world which would crush the faith of believers God has given the church the scriptures. So that no matter what assault comes against us when we feel our knees begin to buckle and when we feel the weight and the pressure of the world because they call us silly for believing in God silly or still to believe in a resurrection and silly or even more than that that our souls will reside with God in heaven forever that we can turn to the scriptures and say but thus sayeth the Lord. Now if we aren't convinced that thus sayeth the Lord makes it true then we remain in a quandary and the assault of the world against us remains effective but God has said I do not leave you to institutional memory or speculation I leave you with my sure word. And to paragraph four of chapter one the authority of the holy scripture for which it ought to be believed in obeyed dependent not upon the testimony of man or church but holy upon God who is truth itself the author thereof and therefore it is to be received because it is the word of God. Here the writers of the confession are saying the word of God is authoritative not because the church said so even though the church does have authority and such things not because learned men have said so not because it's been held through the ages but because it is the word of God. Our God has spoken and if God has spoken and we have that word left for us it is authoritative to every believer in condemning to every non-believer. It's not something that can be set to the side it's not something that can be taken or left depending on our whim or our fancy or how we happen to like it or if we understand it it is the word of God whether we understand it or not. It is the word of God whether we appreciate it or not it is authoritative for our life and it is that word by which man will be judged whether we like it or not. It is absolute and it cannot be set aside as Christians we believe the Bible we profess to believe we say that there are 66 books in our Bible as we have it here conveniently bound together in a cover. They are made up of the first in the New Testament and we believe them to be in errant we believe and teach that they are true that they are without error and more than that that they are not lacking in anything that they are complete. We don't deny that all the parts are not equally clear we don't say that in picking it up and reading for example if you were to explore revelation we're not saying that that is as clear as the six days of creation in Genesis. We don't deny that there are parts that remain just out of the reach of those who aren't well studied in the Scripture but we do say that they are inspired they are necessary they are in errant and the Scriptures are complete. We insist that when they are rightly interpreted and applied they are without error. We also teach that the Scriptures are inspired the central passage to define and support that doctrine of inspiration is 2 Timothy 3, 16 which says all Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training and righteousness that the man of God may be competent equipped for every good work. Let me say a word about using Scripture to prove Scripture to be an errant. Some would say you can't turn to the Bible and say the Bible teaches that it is itself an errant that's what you might call circular reasoning and the answer to that is this if you were in a court of law if you were in trial somewhere and they were calling up witnesses wouldn't they call the defendant or give the defendant an opportunity to testify on his own behalf. And wouldn't that testimony carry some weight and if that testimony came with some particulars wouldn't the legal counsel then seek to say I know that my defendant's word is true because he said he was at such and such a place on this day and I can bear evidence that that is true. I know that my defendant has grown up this way or his character witness is buried out by his own word because I've discovered this to be true but all that's dependent on the testimony of the witness who is the accused. In this case when the Bible is on trial can we say the Bible must remain silent in its own defense. It's not circular reasoning it's one part of a defense of Scripture is to let the Bible speak for itself. Let the Bible explain why it claims to be an errant and how it can prove that that is true. And then we might gather in other evidences to support that we can look at history we can look at architecture or archaeology rather as they are digging through old cities and digging up the dirt with every spade that is turned. Doesn't it prove something else in the Scripture to be true? We can look at the lives of people that are changed and the Scripture tells us all of these things. So we take the Bible and we put it on a witness stand we let it speak for itself and then we see that all that it says is born out not to be untrue but true. And so it's perfectly legitimate to let the Bible speak for itself. We can entertain the argument that there should be other arguments made but the Bible cannot be pressed out of the debate. The Bible makes no distinction in itself between parts when we talk about the Bible and old or new testament or gospels and epistles. It doesn't make a distinction between them. No one doctrine is said to be all true while another is partly true. All doctrines are considered to be true. No one is given a heavier weight than the other. We focus on God is love, God is love and we love the sentiment around God is love but the Scripture itself tells us that God is many other of his attributes. We're drawn to the God is love and it's a perfectly legitimate and important teaching of the Bible but it does not rise above the God who is righteous, the God who sees all. God who is merciful, the God who provides, all of these are also put forward as God as any other doctrine. Some would say the doctrine of predestination trumps the doctrine of the free autonomy of man but both of these are taught in the Scripture. It's up to the reader by the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Spirit to reconcile these but one does not diminish the other. God desires for his people to be a moral agent, able to examine and able to think through and able to have a conviction. But we also know that the dead cannot bring themselves to life and so we have to also understand the activity and the work of God. One doctrine does not trump the other, they are both pressed forward as being important and authoritative. All Scripture is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, training and righteousness that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. The entire Scripture is to be taken as God's Word which is delivered to us in words. Martin Lloyd Jones put it in his book titled Authority This Way. The whole Bible comes to us and offers itself to us in exactly the same way and as a whole. There is no hint, no suspicion of a suggestion that parts of it are important and parts are not. All come to us in the same form. You know where you hear this precept, this beginning principle most often violated. When people will say, I've really got no use for the Old Testament, I'm just a New Testament Christian. The whole Bible comes to us and it is all God's Word. We do not dismiss any of God's Word. We do not toss out any of God's Word as if it's devalued by us. How can we say we devalued any of God's Word? We don't understand God's Word if we say that. And the only crime would be to say, I don't care to understand it, I'm sticking with this. Once we realize that we then must reassess our appreciation of God's Word. The Bible is true in all of its doctrinal teaching, concerning man and sin and salvation. It's true concerning history as well from creation to Pekiah's reign, to the resurrection and finally judgment. And we must defend the Bible in all points. We cannot leave anything undefended. All of it must be defended. We cannot say, well that part we're just going to let people go the way they want. All of it is God's Word. All of it must be defended. All of it. We cannot allow for a single part to be tarnished or dis or not used or not respected. Second Peter 1, the Apostle 1st is pointing out, there have been events in history that have validated biblical prophecy. We have something more sure, the prophetic word. The prophetic word from which there is an assurance that comes from. History has validated biblical prophecy. Scripture sets prophecy in a position before us which causes us to make Scripture to be valued and high. In fact, a prophet is also a subject to a bar that is set very high. In Deuteronomy 13, 1 through 3 and 5, I'm just going to touch on those for you and encourage you to look at those. If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder. And the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass and if he comes to pass, let us go and he says something like, let us go after other gods which you have not known and let us serve them, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. But that prophet or dreamer of dreams shall be put to death. The standard that is required of one who would say that he or she is a prophet is the bar set so high that if that prophecy is proved to be false, then that prophet is to be stoneed as to be killed. The prophets might occasionally be right in the prophecies that they give you, but only God is right all of the time. One of the more dramatic prophecies in Scripture occurs in Isaiah 44 and 45. And that prophecy was written around 700 to 680 BC. Babylon had just come into power and there in those prophecies Isaiah was predicting that Babylon would surround Jerusalem and take them captive. Remember now Jerusalem is a place where there is some military power at this time. Babylon was just coming into power. There wasn't the perception of a threat that prophecy was fulfilled 100 days later, 100 years later, I'm sorry, in 586 BC. 100 years after the prophecy, that state, Babylon came and laid siege and carried away Jerusalem. But there's more than that. Isaiah prophesied that Babylon would be conquered by Persia. Babylon, who was just coming into power, Isaiah is now saying will be conquered by Persia. At that time, Persia was an infant nation. And the king of Persia, we learn, will allow the Jews to return to Jerusalem. You hear how far reaching and how detailed this prophecy is. That's a remarkable prophecy all by itself and any single part coming true, coming true, would be convincing, but there remains yet another prediction, offended to this. Isaiah 451, thus as the Lord is anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped. This prophecy names Cyrus, the king of Persia, as the one who will return the Jews. That prophecy was made 100 years before Cyrus was born and 150 years before he was king, naming not only the nation, but the king who was 100 years unborn and 150 years from becoming king. And then saying that he would make a political decision to send the people back to Jerusalem, the same Jerusalem that the people receiving the prophecy, were sitting in 100 years, still before being carried off into captivity to Babylon. All of these came to pass, Ezra 1 records the fulfillment. Why would God make such a dramatic prophecy? Why would he go to such great lengths to include such detail in Isaiah 44? We find that God is contrasting himself to the false prophets. He's giving such dramatic detail to prove to the people that his word is true. He also wants to cause us, he also wants us to be in awe of him. Daniel also saw the major kingdoms that would rise up in a remarkable prophecy. He predated the mediocre in the Greek and the Roman empires, but he described them in remarkable detail. Prophecy is a part of scripture and what is true about the inspiration and inerrancy that we find in prophecy holds true for the rest. Peter's teaching in verse 20, that no prophecy as a matter for private interpretation has been misused by many, has been misused by the church. In part, that's the issue that divides the Roman church from the rest of Christendom. In verse 21, in verse 21, rather, is the key to interpret verse 20. Martin Lloyd Jones, again, provided the paraphrase for the interpretation of these verses, allow me to paraphrase these to help us understand. He said, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. Sometimes that word interpretation is also translated as determination, that means an interpretation or determination of the meaning, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Prophecy doesn't originate in a prophet's understanding, but by men of God as they are moved by the Holy Spirit. Prophecy does not come from man. Prophecy is given by God to man which man then relates. Now we go back and read verse 19 with greater understanding. We have heard something more sure the prophetic word to which you will do well to pay attention as a lamp shining in a dark place. The sure word, the prophecy of God, the sure word. Now we read that with greater not only understanding, but appreciation, because God gave such detail in the history of man, that all came to pass what should be our confidence in the scriptures.
It should be unfaltering. This prophecy is sure because the author is God who's spoken through the agency of prophets. How did he speak through the agency of prophets? Men were moved or inspired by the Spirit of God. The Bible is the revelation of God's will by true inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Of course we'll be remiss to neglect messianic prophecies. Only mention them here to round out our survey of the sure word of prophecy. Micah 5, 2 names Bethlehem as the city that the Messiah will be born in. Isaiah 53, 7 records for us the response of the Messiah to his enemies like a lamb before his shears he will remain silent. Jesus said his trial. They said do you not have a word to say for yourself? He said no. I do not speak my actions have already spoken. Isaiah 53, 9 talks about the Messiah being buried in a wealthy man's tomb. Psalm 16, 10 tells us that he will rise from the dead. Psalm 110, verse 1, that he will be seated at God's right hand. All of these pertaining to Jesus which were fulfilled in the New Testament scriptures. When we say that these prophecies in all of scriptures inspired by God, we don't mean that God, that these men rather took dictation from God's speech because we recognize there's variation in their stylistic differences between the writers that clearly show forth their personality. If we were good linguists and good studies of the ancient language, we might take a look and read through John and we would say now that's typical of John or we might read Paul who was a little more educated. We would say oh that's so typical of Paul. He always phrases things like that. In John for example, he has a tendency to go round and around and use circular reasoning. Introduce a topic, introduce another, introduce yet another, and then come back around and finish out his discussion on one topic in the second and the third. That's a stylistic characteristic of John that captures his personality in the transmission of truth. But what we do mean in the expression of truth is that because of the superintendents of God over them, there's without error. In this book and through the agency of men born along by the Holy Spirit, we are told how the world came to be. We're told the purpose of man, the work of God and human history. We are told words of wisdom in the way of salvation. In the pages of scripture we are comforted by the promises of grace and we are confronted by our own heart as David was who said my sin is always before me. Not one part of scripture has been disproved by history, by science, or philosophy. And in fact scripture has itself proved true in history, science, and philosophy. It is God speaking. It has been tested by the best minds that men have produced. And God speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit coming to us, causing our minds to be opened, it is apprehended by God's people. This will serve as our opening volley as it were in our defense of the scriptures, not to defend it against unbelievers, for they will never receive it. Just as the story and the scripture of Abraham's bosom and the Lazarus and the rich man, we know there when he asked can I go back and warn my brothers, that even if someone was raised from the dead they would not believe we can't hold this book out in front of someone and make these arguments and expect that they will give themselves because of the textual authority of this scripture. But we who are followers of Christ can have our confidence restored, renewed, and strengthened so that as we approach our corporate life together, as we approach one another, as we approach our own spiritual upkeep, we might recognize that it's the scriptures that are sufficient and nothing else. Nothing else will do for us what the scriptures alone are appointed by God to do. And as we learn and grow in our confidence of the scriptures, they will have that effect on us individually, on us corporately and on this church. The scriptures are where we turn the scriptures or what we are all about because in the scriptures we find Christ. And we will not find Christ anywhere but in the scriptures, for the scriptures are God's appointed means of showing us the salvation of God which has come in Christ Jesus our Lord. And as we learn and grow in our confidence of the scriptures, they will have that effect on us individually and on this church.