Sermon Tone Analysis

Authoritative words are words that impose obligations on the lives of their readers and hearers.

To say that the Bible is authoritative is to say that it governs all areas of human life.

What do we mean by authority?

The discussion of authority involves the source, the content, and the implications:

Source: God

Content: Information (About God, the world, people, sin, judgment, salvation, etc).

Directives: What we must do; think 4 fold gospel as a guide: What must we do for salvation, sanctification, healing, preparing for the coming King.

(Instructive, didactic)

implications: cost of sin, need of obedience, benefits of obedience, consequences of disobedience

The authority of Scripture means that all the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.

IV.

The authority of the holy scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God, (who is truth itself,) the author thereof: and therefore it is to be received, because it is the word of God.i

X.

The supreme Judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.z

God is by nature the supreme authority in the universe, governing the lives of all his creatures.

When he speaks, creatures must obey or bear the consequences of disobedience.

The Bible is his word, and therefore human beings must obey all aspects of it in every area of their lives.

The Westminster Confession of Faith, 14.2, says that by saving faith, “a Christian believeth to be true whatever is revealed in the Word, for the authority of God himself speaking therein; and acteth differently upon that which every particular passage thereof containeth; yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life, and that which is to come.”

This is not to say that the content of Scripture measures up to human standards of what is right and wrong, true and false.

Rather, Scripture is itself the very standard, the ultimate criterion of what is true and right.

Nor should we restrict the authority of Scripture to some narrow sphere of human life, such as religion or worship.

Scripture governs the religious life, but before God all of life is religion in the sense that we are to do everything to the glory of God.

Scripture is the supreme guide as to how to glorify God in all of life.

So however difficult it may be in a social environment, the Christian must be bold to obey the Bible, not only in church, but in the workplace, in intellectual life, in science, philosophy, law, politics, the arts, culture, commerce, and entertainment.

Believers must, of course, respect the fact that Scripture focuses on redemption rather than general culture.

But that redemption itself is cosmic: the removal of the fall’s curse from all creation and the reconciliation of all things to God.

The Bible’s authority extends over all areas of human life.

All the Words in Scripture are God’s Words

This is what the Bible Claims for itself

We are convinced of the Bible’s claims to be God’s Words as we read the Bible

The Words of Scripture are self-attesting

to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God himself.

Thus, Jesus can rebuke his disciples for not believing the Old Testament Scriptures (Luke 24:25).

Believers are to keep or obey the disciples’ words (John 15:20: “If they kept my word, they will keep yours also”).

Christians are encouraged to remember “the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles” (2 Peter 3:2).

To disobey Paul’s writings was to make oneself liable to church discipline, such as excommunication (2 Thess.

3:14) and spiritual punishment (2 Cor.

13:2–3), including punishment from God (this is the apparent sense of the passive verb “he is not recognized” in 1 Cor.

14:38).

By contrast, God delights in everyone who “trembles” at his word (Isa.

66:2).

Throughout the history of the church the greatest preachers have been those who have recognized that they have no authority in themselves and have seen their task as being to explain the words of Scripture and apply them clearly to the lives of their hearers.

Their preaching has drawn its power not from the proclamation of their own Christian experiences or the experiences of others, nor from their own opinions, creative ideas, or rhetorical skills, but from God’s powerful words.12

Essentially they stood in the pulpit, pointed to the biblical text, and said in effect to the congregation, “This is what this verse means.

Do you see that meaning here as well?

Then you must believe it and obey it with all your heart, for God himself, your Creator and your Lord, is saying this to you today!”

Only the written words of Scripture can give this kind of authority to preaching.

From the Christian & Missionary Alliance Statement of Faith: The Old and New Testaments, inerrant as originally given, were verbally inspired by God and are a complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men.

They constitute the divine and only rule of Christian faith and practice.

From the Calvary Chapel Statement of Faith: We believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God.

We believe the Bible is the final authority in every area it addresses for every individual Christian, as well as for the church collectively.

(2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:21, John 10:35)

Be sure to get to question 4

1.

If you want to persuade someone that the Bible is God’s Word, what do you want that person to read more than any other piece of literature?

2. Who would try to make people want to disbelieve something in Scripture?

To disobey something in Scripture?

Is there anything in the Bible that you do not want to believe?

To obey?

If your answers to either of the preceding two questions were positive, what is the best way to approach and to deal with the desires you have in this area?

3. Do you know of any proven fact in all of history that has shown something in the Bible to be false?

Can the same be said about other religious writings such as the Book of Mormon or the Qur’an?

If you have read in other books such as these, can you describe the spiritual effect they had on you?

Compare that with the spiritual effect that reading the Bible has on you.

Can you say that when you read the Bible you hear the voice of your Creator speaking to you in a way that is true of no other book?

4. Do you ever find yourself believing something not because you have external evidence for it but simply because it is written in Scripture?

Is that proper faith, according to Hebrews 11:1?

If you do believe things simply because Scripture says them, what do you think Christ will say to you about this habit when you stand before his judgment seat?

Do you think that trusting and obeying everything that Scripture affirms will ever lead you into sin or away from God’s blessing in your life?