Sermon Tone Analysis

Announcements:

CPT: God’s word is pure, points to God’s protection, and is complete.

Purpose: Encourage discipleship in the church through more Bible engagement.

CPS: God’s word is perfect and sufficient for all that you need.

Introduction

Attention - Is the Bible true?

That is the question that we are dealing with today in our God Questions series.

Last week, we talked about the evidence of creation, and how creation points to a Creator.

But with the Bible, what we are really asking is about special revelation.

The God that exists in reality, has he indeed specially revealed information about himself in a book?

When we are talking about the Bible, we aren’t actually talking about a book.

We are really talking about a collection of books.

I think of the Bible like a large bookcase in a library.

You walk up to the shelf in the library, and you can take any book off the shelf and start reading it.

The Bible is like that.

It is a collection of 66 books, 39 in the OT, and 27 in the NT.

It is a collection of books written over at least 1500 years.

New discipleship books - How to Study the Bible for Yourself by Tim LaHaye.

Illustration: In 2006, I picked up this small book called How to Study the Bible for Yourself.

We actually just got some copies of that book, if you’re interested.

It is in our Welcome Center.

I picked up this book, and it spoke about the Bible as something vital to our existence.

It quoted Jesus in Matt.

4:4 where he says, “Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

I thought to myself, that is it.

I am saying that I am a Christian, but do I really understand what I am saying?

The book had this Bible study plan, and I started using it.

Over the next year, I read through the NT multiple times, as well as some of the OT.

I actually brought the Bible I used in 2006 with me today.

It is a Bible that is dear to me, that I keep as a reminder of what God started in my life that year.

I started writing notes on the sides of this Bible.

What was incredible about the Bible is that, it wasn’t like any other book.

I could read the same book every day, the same words that I read yesterday, and there would be something new every day.

God would bring something out every day as I was reading and applying his word to my life.

I find the power of God’s Word as incredible.

You can read it every day and never run out of how God uses it in your life.

But what does that mean?

What does the Bible actually say about itself?

How can we know that the Bible is true?

We will be in Proverbs looking at two verses, Proverbs 30:5-6.

Scripture Reading

Pray

In looking at this question, is the Bible true, we’ll be looking at it through what the Bible says about itself.

As we look at these two verses in Proverbs, this says specific things about the Bible.

First,

God’s Word is perfect and refines a person.

State the point; Anchor the point; Validate the point; Explain the point

Text: Proverbs 30:5; Psalm 12:6; 18:30; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Ezekiel 2:2

God's Word acts like a refinery in our life.

When applied to our life, God’s Word brings out what he wants in our life.

God’s Word is perfect and shows us how to live life in obedience to God.

Prophecy shows the perfection of God’s special revelation.

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God’s Word acts like a refinery

In looking at this question, “Is the Bible true,” we will first look at the Bible’s claims about itself.

What does the Bible actually say about God’s Word?

In this, we are looking at Proverbs 30:5-6.

In verse 5, it says:

It’s first claim is that God’s word is “pure.”

Now that word for “pure” has to do with a type of refining or testing.

It’s the act of refining and purifying metal, especially silver.

Now, in refining metals, you have to treat the metal to a very high heat to remove the impurities from the metal.

When you are refining precious metals like silver, you need to separate the silver from the waste.

It is an intense process, but it is a necessary process to get to desired precious metal into its pure state.

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צָרַף (ṣārap).

vb.

smelt, refine, test.

Describes the act of refining metal or the act of God testing people or trying their hearts.

The verb ṣārap literally denotes the process of purifying metals (especially silver) by melting them.

This process is used as a metaphor for purifying or refining people (e.g., Isa 1:25; Jer 6:29; Zech 13:9; Psa 66:10).

The word is generally used to denote God testing people (Judg 7:4), including the Israelites (Jer 9:6; Isa 48:10; Zech 13:9; Psa 66:10), Joseph (Psa 105:19), and a psalmist (Psa 17:3).

The verb ṣārap can also be used to describe the word of Yahweh as being proven, tried, or refined (Psa 18:31; 119:140; Prov 30:5).

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The Bible says that God’s Word is like this refining process.

It starts to expose and purify what God wants to bring out.

His Word is doing this smelting process within the human heart.

The Psalmist also talks about this in Psalm 12:6:

The claim here is that as you apply God’s Word to your heart, the Lord uses his word to shape and mold you, to expose the waste and set it aside, and to purify your ways to bring out the precious metals of your heart, which is obedience to his word.

Evidence of refining nature of Scripture

Now is God’s Word able to refine a person?

What’s interesting about the Bible is that, as we walk about it, the Bible is an old book.

The most recent words in this book are 2,000 years old.

Some of the oldest words are 3,000 years old or older.

Yet, what’s amazing is that thousands of years later, it continues to change hearts, minds, and souls.

The message within the Bible has thousands of years of witnesses, of people taking a complete 180 degree turn in their life because of the message in this book.

It’s not a book that you complete.

Many books, you read it, say, “That was nice,” and then put it on the shelf.

It’s only the message in this book, the Bible, that never gets old.

Even those that read it through are never done.

The message in here is like a refining fire in their hearts.

They read and re-read and re-read, and God continues to use it to expose and develop people into how he wants them to be.

God’s word is perfect through it’s inspiration

The reason for it’s refining nature is because it is perfect.

The psalmist said it this way in Psalm 18:30:

The word of the Lord is able to purify because God’s way is perfect.

And that is really what the Bible exposes.

You know, everyone wants to do things their own way.

But if you want a life that is purified by God, you need to live your life according to God’s way.

The Bible exposes God’s way for mankind to live.

Paul told Timothy this about the Bible in 2 Timothy 3:16:

The description of all Scripture being inspired by God, that in the Greek has the literal idea of being God-breathed.

Now, when we are talking about the Bible, we don’t deny that it was written by men.