Inspiration

Review

Turn to Isaiah 40:8.

Last week we saw that throughout human history, God has chosen to reveal specific truth about Himself to specific people at specific times. If God did not reveal this truth, we would not otherwise know it. We identified that there have been at least ten ways in which God has revealed information. It included dreams, angels, prophets and apostles, among others. Nine of those ways would have been subjective, ultimately, only one would be objective.

If I dreamed a dream, you could not verify what I claimed.

If I received a message from an angel, you could not factcheck what I said.

If I walked this earth with Christ but you did not, you would only be able to hear of my experiences without ever having lived them yourself.

This lead us to conclude that the Word of God is the greatest objective revelation from God to man. Peter himself asserted in 2 Peter 1:19 that it is superior to any experience of revelation that he ever had, including the experience of being on the mount of transfiguration. The Word of God was and remains a more sure word of prophecy - a more stable, a more firm, a more trustworthy revelation of God than any experience that Peter could ever recount to his fellow believers.

Introduction

I want to start off tonight where we began this series - in Isaiah 40:8.

Read Isaiah 40:8.

All across God’s created earth, there is a slow, continual process of change. In this chapter, Isaiah used grass and flowers as examples.

We’re enjoying the green hues of springtime grass, but before you know it, winter is just around the corner.

Grass springs up, but then it withers.

Flowers burst forth in pretty bright colors this time of year, but soon enough they fade away also.

All the world is under a slow, continual, process of change from one condition to the next.

Isaiah says that even people are subjected to this process as well.

Read Isaiah 40:6-7.

People change. People come and go. Everything about us is so transient and fleeting - so temporary.

We see this in small things like grass and flowers, but it happens on a much larger scale as well.

Over the last number of years of going to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, there’s one thing I’ve come to appreciate and its something that the locals know all too well and it is this: those islands are not much more than glorified sandbars.

They’re constantly shifting. The NC Department of Transportation is regularly having to rebuild the sand dunes that protect NC 12, the main road that runs the length of the barrier islands.

Years ago, you could go to an area called the tri-villages and you’d have to walk a couple hundred yards across the beach to get to the ocean. Last couple of years, a number of houses have been washed away because the beach has eroded so much at that particular spot. It’s a big problem down there.

Why? Because the barrier islands are constantly changing.

According to Isaiah, that’s true of creation and it’s true of people as well, but notice the contrast that he draws in verse eight.

Read Isaiah 40:8 again.

The Word of God is the high mark of God’s revelation. Unlike creation and unlike people, it doesn’t change. It is final and complete. God has said everything that He has intended to say about the past, about the present, and about the future.

Speaking of Quakers, "if their ‘private revelations’ agree with Scripture, they are needless, and if they disagree, they are false." - J.I. Packer.

https://bibchr.blogspot.com/2017/02/john-owen-on-private-revelations-or-was.html

Turn to and read Hebrews 1:1-2.

Revelation reached its pinnacle with Jesus Christ.

He was the living word, and revelation was completed with Scripture, the inspired written word.

Turn to and read 2 Timothy 3:16.

Next slide here:

Inspiration: "The process whereby the Holy Spirit influenced the writers of the Scripture to accurately record His Words, the product being the inspired Word of God." - Strouse

Inspiration: Is where God the Holy Spirit superintended [moved] chosen men in such a controlling way that what they wrote was exactly what God wanted, even to the very words of Scripture. - Camp

Don’t let anyone tell you that Scripture is just a bunch of myths and fairy tales compiled by different men. This verse tells us that God was the source of Scripture and the author of it.

Read 2 Timothy 3:17.

Paul’s words to Timothy are so instructive. A man or woman who submits to Scripture will be a mature Christian and be exactly what Christ wants them to be. They will be mature, equipped in every way.

Application: are you submitted?

This series will accomplish at least the following objectives:

We will study what the Bible says about itself.

We will learn about the history of the Bible.

We will learn about the structure of the Bible.

We will learn important terms relating to the Bible, such as revelation, inspiration, preservation, canonization, illumination, and interpretation.

We will learn why we have chosen to use the King James Version at our church.