The Worth of Scripture

Intro

Qualities of God’s Word

The Bible is infallible in its totality

The Bible is inerrant in its parts

The Bible is complete

The Bible is authoritative and final

The Bible is totally sufficient for your needs

The Bible accomplishes what it promises

The Bible provides assurance of salvation

If any of the above words are new to you, here are a few definitions you might find helpful:

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If any of the above words are new to you, here are a few definitions you might find helpful:

Inerrancy: The Bible is free from error in all it affirms.

Infallibility: The Bible is unfailing in its purpose.

Sufficiency: The Bible contains all needed information for Christian living.

Authority: The Bible carries the right to prescribe beliefs and actions.

The Benefit of Knowing God's Word

The Bible remains the only source of divine revelation and power that can sustain you as a Christian in your walk with God. Note these significant promises in the Scripture.

The Bible is the source of:

Truth: "Sanctify them by Your truth; Your word is truth" ().

God's blessing: "But He said, 'More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it'" ().

Victory: "...the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" ().

Growth: "As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby" ().

Power: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek" ().

Guidance: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" ().

Possibly using the deodorant story from high school. God gives you exactly what you need in His word, you don’t get into it and it is something different than what it says it is.

I want to tell you that The Word of God has worth in our lives today, this is not just some old leather bound book that needs to sit on the shelf, it applies to your life today.

God’s Word:

1. Reveals

Genesis 1:1 ESV

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

from the very beginning we start to see Scripture give us who God is.

God’s Character

Deep down, we all want to know more about God in different respects, from just wandering what He thinks about us, to what is He really like.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “Our supreme need is to know God” (God’s Ultimate Purpose [Baker], p. 342; he said this often in his writings). He meant, of course, to know God well, to know Him deeply, to know Him truly, as He is revealed in His Word.

There is a legitimate sense in which every believer has come to know God. Jesus prayed (), “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” If you have eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, you have come to know God. And yet there is another sense in which we need to know God far more deeply than we do. After many years as a believer, the apostle Paul said that he had not yet attained to knowing Christ as he ought, but he pressed on toward that goal (). And if that was true of Paul, who wasn’t exactly an average believer, how much more is it true of us! As the prophet Hosea wrote (6:3), “let us press on to know the Lord.”

Since the Bible is God's Word, studying it is a way to know God better. Through His words we come to know not only the nature and attributes of God, but we also come to understand His plan for each of us. In a larger sense, we also come to know God's plan in history, His sovereignty, His providence, His love and more.

There is only so much we can learn about God apart from the Bible. But with it we can know God better.

Our Nature as Sinners

Scripture says that we are born sinners and that we are by nature sinners

states that we all come into the world as sinners: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” says that all people who are not in Christ are “sons of disobedience.” also establishes this, saying that we are all “by nature children of wrath.” If we are all “by nature children of wrath,” it can only be because we are all by nature sinners — for God does not direct His wrath towards those who are not guilty. God did not create the human race sinful, but upright. But we fell into sin and became sinful due to the sin of Adam.

We learn who we are, and it brings us to the realization of the Need for God.

2. Kindles

Faith In Us

By grace are we saved through faith. There is no salvation without faith. And no one in this room has saving faith without the Bible. The Holy Spirit does not awaken and strengthen faith apart from the message of Christ. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (). There is no other way that faith comes.

When you hear the Word, it is something different then you have ever heard, when The Holy Spirit is drawing you unto the Lord, when you hear these words from God you can’t shake it, it brings about a real knowledge of your need for God and His grace in your life. It shows you there is more in this life than what you have, it shows you God’s Perfect nature and your sinful one, and that true fulfillment in life is not in the things of this world, but in Christ.

so it kindles that curiosity to know God more, to grow in your faith more and more.

3. Gives

The Word of God gives us what we need when we need it, and points us to the source of it all, which is Christ.

The Holy Spirit

Paul says in , “Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?” The answer, of course, is “by hearing with faith.” Notice the word “hearing.” It is telling us that a word had to be spoken here.

This continues to be the way God pours out his Holy Spirit on believers for all our ministry. The command in , “Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,” is parallel with the command in , “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. . . singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.”

Being filled with the word of Christ and being filled with the Spirit are parallel, because the Spirit comes where the word comes and fills us with faith.

And when the Spirit comes, he comes to make much of Jesus. Which means he comes to ignite joy in our hearts over the glory of Jesus. And there will be no greater joy than the fullness of joy in the glory of Jesus. Which means the word of God is worth more than anything this world can offer.

Freedom

Mark 8:33–35 ESV

But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

Freedom is not the right to do as one pleases, but the power and capacity both to will and to do as one ought. True freedom is never freedom from responsibility, but responsibility not only for choice, but right choices. Freedom is an inner contentment with who we are in Christ and with what we have. It means to covet only heavenly treasure. It means the willingness and ability to allow God to be in control of your life. It means single-mindedness which turns the control of one’s life over to Christ which in turn frees us psychologically and volitionally to follow the Lord. It means the liberty for self-responsibility to both God and man under the grace of God.

A train is a good illustration because it is only effective when it is on the tracks for which it was designed. Tracks don’t inhibit a train, but enable it to run freely as long as it is running under the power of the steam or fuel of its engines.

shows that true freedom flows out of total commitment to Jesus Christ. In losing our lives in devotion to Him and His purposes, and in turning control of our lives over to Him, we find true freedom—the freedom to be what we were designed to be and thus experience true joy.

shows that true freedom flows out of total commitment to Jesus Christ. In losing our lives in devotion to Him and His purposes, and in turning control of our lives over to Him, we find true freedom—the freedom to be what we were designed to be and thus experience true joy.

Victory over Satan