Catechism Questions 4 and 5

Baptist Catechism Questions 4 and 5:

Question #4: What is the Word of God?

Answer #4: The scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, being given by divine inspiration, are the Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

Question #5: How do we know that the Bible is the Word of God?

Answer #5: The Bible evidences itself to be God’s Word by the heavenliness of its doctrine, the unity of its parts, its power to convert sinners and to edify saints; but the Spirit of God only, bearing witness by and with the Scriptures in our hearts, is able fully to persuade us that the Bible is the Word of God.

__________________________________________________________________________

INTRO:

First off, the Bible is not going to teach you how to change the brakes on your car, it won’t tell you how to build a computer from scratch or steps to make the perfect jump shot, but the Word of God tells us commands that will ultimately glorify him and It also warns us if we don't obey His Word.

So starting things off, what exactly is the Word of God? The word of God is broken up into two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The OT talks to us about creation, the fall of man and the history of the Jewish Church which includes prophecies of what is to come in the NT and ultimately fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

The NT records the life, teachings and mission of Jesus Christ and the ministry of his disciples in promoting the spread of the early Christian Church.

What I like about the OT and NT relationship is that we can see how we can always use the OT to commentate on the NT and vice versa. We can always let scripture define scripture. That is one thing that we need to focus on: Scripture defining scripture. Not you defining what you want to define, but scripture defining scripture.

Scripture distinguishes the true God from all the false ones because he speaks and he is not dumb like other idols and false gods.

Speech is the content of God’s knowledge, and truth is the internal standard that governs God’s speech.

What is the Word of God:

Three characteristics of the Word of God:

Infallible meaning; incapable of making mistakes, perfect.

Outlines what God commands of us, He tells us what to do, the benefits if we follow and the consequences if we don't.

God Breathed; meaning yes he used people to write the bible it was solely inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Infallible:

God’s words are truth, he cannot lie, even when every man is a liar.

John 17:17

17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

God is the absolute definition of truth and therefore His Word is absolute truth. Scripture has always and will always survive the test of time. Look at all of the empires that have fallen since Christ. Rome, Greece, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, etc, etc. and if we are not careful the United States of America.

The only unchanging authority that has stood the test of time is God’s Word. That is why we need to know it, we need to have the confidence that this book is the definition of absolute truth.

Romans 3:4

4 May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar as it is written “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”

Psalm 51:4

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

We live in a world today that is constantly telling us that the Bible is either wrong, outdated or you name it. They are trying to teach us that God doesn't know what is best for you because it may hurt your feelings NOW or make you question if you are in the wrong or not. The entire world can tell you that God has been unfaithful to his promises and that just shows you that the entire world is wrong and God is true.

As Christians we need to have the knowledge and courage to stand up for God’s word. I feel that Christians have the hardest time defending their doctrine. Mormons do it easily, muslims do it, Jewish people do it well too, but if you press a Christian on a hot topic they go “uh um uhhhh”. For us it should be the easiest thing to do since our word is the only truthful source and that leads me back to our topics of the first week about your relationship with God. HOW IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD?

Numbers 23:19

19 God is not man, that he should lie,

or a son of man, that he should change his mind.

Has he said, and will he not do it?

Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

As men we are unreliable, we are fallen people. God on the other hand is reliable and immutable (meaning unchanging over time). He does not change therefore his Word always comes to pass.

Outlines what God commands of us:

God literally tells us commands that as believers we must follow. Before we get into this you can’t do these commandments and boom you’re saved. Like I said a few weeks ago, Faith comes first and then works. Not the other way around. Here is the thing nonbelievers listen to God’s commandments but still don't end up in Heaven. This just shows us that we need to accept Christ as our Lord and savior.

Matthew 7:22-23

22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many [a]miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

John 10:9

9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

Here is the perfect verse to back this up. It all starts in your faith. God has to work into your heart.

He doesn’t say: pray 1,543 our fathers

He doesn’t say: oh you never committed adultery or murdered anyone so you’re good to go

He does say: Anyone who abides in me will bear fruit.

Now that we got that out of the way let's see what God commands of us.

Ephesians 5:25

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

Is one of my favorite passages in the bible and I want to dig a little deeper into what this commands husbands to do.

Right off the bat the one thing that comes to most people's mind is : Of course I would give my life up for my wife’s.

We are to lead them to holiness and purity

Expose our wives to the Word of God

Never lead her into sin; (Pattern of Sin)

Never do anything that could produce strong temptation

If you love your wife you are going to hate anything that defiles her, anything that steals her purity. (Music, Movies, Clothing, People)

You are to be humble, unselfish love

Understanding her sensitivity, needs, anxiety, goals and her heart.

Sacrificing love that meets needs.

When I hear “give himself up for her” I think:

Death to his dreams, pride, personal desires

That is what God is commanding us to do as husbands.

Romans 1:21-25

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

This passage is so poetic to what is going on in today’s world. First off, People know that God exists. They know of God, but that doesn't mean anything. Satan knows God, demons know God. Having the knowledge of God existing doesn’t save.

In these verses we have people not glorifying God and not being thankful to God they have also become idolators who are violating the first and second commandments.

1st: You shall have no other Gods before me (Polytheism)

2nd: You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in Heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. (Idols)

Self is the true object of worship for the unbeliever

Verse 24 God responds to the wickedness of men who reject what may be clearly known to him. He will harden their hearts and give them up to their own sins. Their own hearts. I don’t want an unbelieving heart. That sounds horrible. To the unbeliever that is what they want!

God Breathed:

Every single word that is written in the Bible is inspired by God. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit inspired the words that we see today.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

16 All Scripture is [a]God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for [b]training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Sometimes God told the authors the words to say,

Jeremiah 1:9

9 Then Yahweh sent forth His hand and touched my mouth, and Yahweh said to me “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.

but often he would use their minds, vocabularies and experiences to produce His own perfect infallible, inerrant Word.

When scripture speaks, God speaks.

God is equipping man through his Word. Everything we need to know is in this book. God’s perfect book. As believers we have to know that God will always equip us with what we need. Maybe not what we want, but he knows exactly what we need in order to glorify Him.

2 Peter 1:21:

21 for no prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God

I really feel like this verse hits this topic home: As scripture is not of human origin, neither is it the result of human will. The main emphasis of this verse is that no part of Scripture was ever at any point or time produced because men wanted it so. The bible is not the product of human effort.

Now that we know what the Bible is We are going to talk about:

How do we know the Bible is the word of God?

The Authors tell us that

Through absolute and divine truth

Scripture is undefeated

The Authors tell us that

First and foremost knowing that the Bible is the inerrant word of God is something that we as believers need to have the utmost confidence in. Plus, when you have authors that are literally telling us yes I am the guy that put words on paper, but it was God that inspired every single word that should carry some weight.

Deuteronomy 18:18

18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

Galatians 1:11-12

11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.[a] 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Paul is telling us that if humans did in fact write this book and preach human doctrine they would be just like any other human religion: works based on man’s pride. It is only through the revelation of Jesus Christ that we are saved and we are able to know true Scripture. Revelation can also mean revealing what was kept secret. Yes, Paul knew who Christ was, but only met him personally on the road to Demascus.

During this time most Jews did not study the Scriptures themselves; they relied on human interpretation of scriptures as their religious authority and guide… Sounds familiar (Catholic church).

That is why we (As a church) always want you to be reading yourself and making sure what we teach here at Capital is of sound doctrine.

Through Absolute/Divine Truth

It is important to discuss the divine attribute of truth. God is himself truth. All his words are true therefore His word is true.

The authority and divine truth of Scripture are fundamental doctrines that we learn and preach about yet we have so many professing Christians that do Not believe that and the ones that do have a hard time defending that doctrine.

Why is it necessary to have Scripture that is Absolute truth?

Why is it necessary to have the inerrant Word of God in order for the Holy Spirit to save and sanctify?

If you look around in the world today we have people that think they can manipulate the Bible in order to fit their worldly desires. They don’t treat the Bible with the utmost authority, with the authority of an absolute and divine truth that it is.

God’s Word is the final authority of His church. Nowadays you have pastors, pope’s and other church leaders that think they are on the same level of authority with scripture. That is why as reformed we believe in sola scriptura: Only Scripture. Scripture is our ultimate authority.

1 Peter 4:11:

11 Whoever speaks, as one speaking utterances of God; whoever serves as one serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and might forever and ever. Amen.

“Utterances of God” meaning that every word that is written down is from the mouth of God.

What happens if we don’t use or believe in the absolute truth or the divine truth of scripture?

Well whatever man touches breaks. Man can do no good without God. If we move the needle just a little bit and a little bit there when and where do we stop? We don’t and we are seeing that in today’s world.

Truth cannot be subjective; there is no such thing as your truth or my truth, there is just THE truth and more specifically God’s truth.

The Bible is God’s truth regardless of whether a person believes, understands, or likes it and Scripture warns us if we add or take away from it.

Proverbs 30:5-6:

5 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

6 Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

Scripture is undefeated

Lastly, we have Scripture that is undefeated.This point wraps up the importance of divine truth and is in my opinion one of the top ways to defend Christianity. If we are going to talk about God and His Word we need to take time and talk about its track record. Most people consider anybody that has never lost the GOAT. Except for God and His Word.

John 19:28:

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the scripture, said, “I am thirsty.”

BECAUSE Jesus was in fact the one and true Messiah and Son of God, he knew what he had to do on earth in order for everything to be fulfilled.

OT prophecies were always fulfilled in the NT. Whatever that was supposed to happen as a sign to prove that Jesus was the Son of God was proven in the NT.

Raising Lazarus from the dead, giving sight to the blind man. These were all prophecies in the OT that came true in the NT.

Everything from raising people from the dead to riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.

Whatever was said in scripture has always come to fruition. There is a reason that God’s Word has always stood the test of time.

Matthew 27:51

51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.

Exodus 27:33

33 And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy.

Hebrews 9:3

3 Behind the second curtain was a second section[a] called the Most Holy Place,

And this is what we call letting scripture define scripture. References after references.

2 Cor 2:14-17

14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ, and manifests through us the aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. 15 For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 16 to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not like many, [a]peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.

Everything in scripture leads us and points us at Christ.Salvation is only through Christ. It doesn’t point us at Mary, Joseph, Moses, Abraham, David or ourselves. If it did then we are having a completely different conversation.

Once we are called into Christ our hearts change, our minds change and our soul changes. What we once wanted doesn’t matter as much. It is a sincere love for Christ. Everything in Scripture points us to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. It's undefeated. So I am going to ask you once again. How strong is your relationship with God?