Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Body

In any study of doctrine, or study of anything having to do with creation, really, one must always start with God’s Word

But First, Doctrine

What is Doctrine?

According to the Open Bible Sense Lexicon, Doctrine is “a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school.

Christians accept the Bible, and therefor Biblical doctrine as authoritative because of who gave it to us.

This is necessary to understand for us to be able to accept God’s Word as authoritative

According to the New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition:

In the O.T., the Hebrew word translated as ‘Doctrine’ means “what is received”

The Hebrew word that refers to the idea of a body of revealed teaching is generally rendered as “law”

In the N.T. there are also two words that are translated as ‘Doctrine’, the first meaning both the act and the content of teaching

The second can also mean the act and the content of teaching, but refers more to the teaching of Jesus which He claimed to be divine.

We recognize only the Apostle’s Doctrine as being from God

We are encouraged to obey Doctrine as delivered to us in Scripture

So we discover that Doctrine is extremely important

We need to know it

We need to obey it

Now, God’s Word

The general outline for this is taken out of the Lexham Survey of Theology

John 1:1 - States that God’s Word and God are one and the same

God’s Word carries all the power and all the authority of God Himself

God’s Word contains everything we need to know:

How to make sure we’re in proper covenant relationship with God at all times

How to live this life in accordance with God’s plan

How to make sure that we spend eternity with Him.

But God’s Word contains even more than that!

It contains all of our covenant promises

It contains the revelation of who God is and what His will is for us (Specific Revelation vs. General Revelation)

It contains the history of the entire universe, but focuses on the history of this one little planet; Earth.

God’s Word doesn’t encompass every bit and scrap of knowledge in the universe, but it is a complete revelation of truth.

Everything we need to know is contained in God’s Word

If God’s Word don’t have it, you don’t need it!

God’s special revelation, the revelation of his saving purpose, takes many forms, some of them unwritten.

But God also intends to give his revelation in permanent form.

According to Genesis, the patriarchs erected memorials so that later generations could visit the places where God revealed himself to their ancestors.

In the book of Exodus, when God consecrated Israel to be his special covenant people, he produced two stone tablets, on which were Ten Commandments, written by the very “finger of God” (Exod 31:18).

Note that God was not only the author of these commandments (the commandments were his words, expressed in the first person) but the publisher as well, since he inscribed the commands by his own finger.

The tablets then were placed in the holiest location in Israel, the inner court of the tabernacle (and later the temple), underscoring the fact that as his very word, these documents partook of God’s very holiness.

This procedure was similar to the custom in other nations when a mighty emperor would make a treaty with a lesser king, putting it into writing and preserving it in a holy sanctuary.

God gave more holy words through Israel’s history.

Words of God’s inspired prophets were written down and added to the holy document.

In the New Testament we learn that Jesus and the apostles reverenced this document as God’s word and therefore as a document with ultimate authority.

Further, Jesus appointed and equipped his apostles to speak with the same authority, an authority sometimes delegated by the apostles to others of their company, like Luke, James, and Jude.

This authority extended to their writing.

Today all branches of the Christian church accept the Old Testament covenant document together with the New Testament words of Jesus and the apostles as “the Bible,” indeed the holy Bible, the written word of God.

As God’s own word, the Bible is the supreme authority for all areas of human life.

In both Testaments, God urges his people to reverence his holy written word as their ultimate criterion of truth.

Different Subdomains of Bibliology

Inspiration - The divine action that creates an identity between a human word and a divine word.

Authority - The Bible’s authority comes from its source, namely God, and governs all areas of human life.

Truth - Because God is a God of Truth and cannot lie, His word, every word, is altogether truthful.

Canon - Recognized generally as the divinely authorized collection of books that God has given to govern His people.

Those books in our bible today are recognized as canon.

Clarity - We understand that the Bible is sufficiently clear to leave people no excuse for disobedience to the commandments of God.

Sufficiency - We understand that the Bible contains all the divine instructions and principles necessary for human decisions.

Necessity - God’s Word is absolutely necessary and without it we simply cannot know any truth, specifically who God is and what He requires.

Translation - As everybody does not speak every language, translation of God’s Word from the original languages have been, and continues to be necessary so that every person might understand who God is, and what He requires.

Interpretation - Helping people to understand and apply what thus sayeth the Lord.

Rule of Faith - We’ll discuss this in depth in our study on Obedient Faith.

Inspiration

In general vernacular, inspiration can mean many things

I was inspired to help you out today

That classical musical piece really inspires me!

You are my inspiration to keep going!

In Scripture however, inspiration literally means “God-breathed”.

When God breathed into Adam and he became a living soul.

When God speaks to us the Words of life

God’s Word is given to us directly from God or through His chosen vessels.

Tables of Stone which contained the Ten Commandments

The preaching and writings of the prophets

The Words of Jesus

The preaching and writings of the apostles

Authority

I’m not going to mince words in this section

God is the absolute and supreme authority in all of creation

God created everything ex nihilo

Everything is God’s, including you

God’s Word is law.

Period.

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.”

Truth

You won’t find any human being’s opinions on right and wrong here

You won’t find any human being’s ideas of truth and error in here

You will find truth from God here.

Not just religious truth, but general truth that spans all of reality.

The Bible is inerrant not simply because there are no errors in the text, but more because God cannot make mistakes

What if we find something that contradicts scripture?

We don’t accept the bible as inerrant because we’ve answered every possible criticism, but because we presuppose the bible to be true to the exclusion of everything else.

Otherwise, scripture is not our ultimate source of truth.

We’re now judging the bible based on our “higher understanding” of truth.

Have you applied the same criticisms to this understand of truth as you are to scripture?

Believing in scripture ultimately requires faith, but so does EVERY belief system.

You can’t prove everything you believe to be true beyond a shadow of doubt!

At some point you have to accept something on the basis of faith.

People do not apply their criticisms equally.

The Canon

Those books of the Bible recognized as being God-breathed.

It’s these writings, and only these that have all the characteristics of God’s Word

Other writers have, through ignorance, deception or maliciousness, written works and passed them off as coming from God when they were not from God.