Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] There are many times when messages are delivered to us.
[00:00:08] Sometimes those messages come by text. Other times they come from a person coming over to you. Sometimes your brother, your sister comes in and says, mom says, whatever, fill in the blank.
[00:00:26] But have you ever had somebody deliver a message to you that seems odd?
[00:00:40] You know what's normal?
[00:00:44] You know, the regular expectation.
[00:00:48] It's like your brother comes outside and says, mom says, stay outside for another hour.
[00:00:56] Like, well, I thought you were about to say, mom says, come in and eat. Right? It's like, wait. This is the normal time for the different message.
[00:01:05] When you have strange messages, what do you want to do?
[00:01:14] You get a message that's unexpected, that's out of the ordinary. What do you want to do when you get a strange message?
[00:01:22] Kids, you can answer this one.
[00:01:27] You get a message that's unexpected, that's a little bit weird. What do you do?
[00:01:33] Yeah, what?
[00:01:36] Investigate. Exactly. Man, That's a good word.
[00:01:42] Investigate. You want to find out one way or another whether it is true.
[00:01:49] That's the. When there's a. When there's an unexpected. When there's a strange message that's given, you want to find out whether it is true.
[00:02:01] And today we're going to see the importance of the Bible in our lives.
[00:02:10] And it is the rule. It is the message by which we judge all other messages. It is how we investigate to see whether what we have been told is correct, whether it is accurate, whether it is true.
[00:02:26] Especially when what we hear seems a little strange, when what you hear is a little strange, that's when you want to go to Scripture and see.
[00:02:38] Is that right?
[00:02:39] We're going to learn the importance of investigating.
[00:02:48] Now, the Bible is our only infallible rule of faith and practice as Christians.
[00:02:57] Infallible meaning without error, without mistake.
[00:03:02] You can trust it absolutely.
[00:03:05] And so if it's the only one, that means that there's no person, there's no other book, there's no other message that you can trust as completely as Scripture.
[00:03:20] It's the perfect guide, and it's the only perfect guide for what we are to believe and how we are to live. And we're going to see this play out for us in Acts 17, how it's stressed how Scripture is central to a proper understanding of all things.
[00:03:44] So I'm going to read a couple of verses from the very beginning of Acts 17, then a couple verses from the middle.
[00:03:52] Please stand for the reading of God's word.
[00:03:55] Acts 17, verses 2 and 3, and then verses 10 through 12.
[00:04:02] And according to Paul's custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead and saying, this Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.
[00:04:27] Verse 10. The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. And when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now, these were more noble minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the Word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
[00:04:51] Therefore, many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men. This is the word of the Lord.
[00:05:00] Please be seated.
[00:05:07] So it's absolutely essential that we hold Scripture as our highest and only infallible judge of all actions.
[00:05:20] All teachings, all thoughts, all teaching must necessarily agree with Scripture.
[00:05:33] We see this importance in verse 11 when it says that the Bereans were more noble minded than those in Thessalonica.
[00:05:43] What exactly was noble minded about the Bereans?
[00:05:49] Well, it was that they received two things. They received the Word with great eagerness.
[00:05:55] That's the first thing. And they examined the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. So there are people that Paul spoke to and the men who were with him.
[00:06:09] As he was sent out by Jesus Christ to be the apostle to the Gentiles, he still regularly went to the Jewish synagogues to begin his work, to begin proclaiming the Gospel in a new area. He first went to the people that God had chosen, whom he had set apart in the Old covenant and called them to faith in Jesus Christ under the New Covenant. The New Covenant in Christ's blood.
[00:06:39] There is much in the Old Covenant that pointed to the coming of the Messiah to the one Jesus Christ.
[00:06:49] And yet the Jews were not prepared to believe many of them. And so there are places where the Jews get angry and try to kill the Apostle Paul.
[00:07:04] And there are places like Berea, where their commitment is to the Bible first and foremost.
[00:07:13] And because of that, error is corrected. Even though they might have started with the same presuppositions as all the other Jews, when they hear it, they look into the Scriptures and they see, ah yes, this is accurate.
[00:07:32] This is a correct teaching from the old Scriptures. Even though it wasn't expected, even though it was different from what I was looking for, even though it was different than what I wanted, now I see that it's true in Scripture. So because they searched Scriptures, that's the main reason why they were able to receive it with eagerness.
[00:07:56] It was the Same good news that was proclaimed, the proclamation that Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead and that Jesus is the Christ.
[00:08:10] Right. This is what we saw in verse three.
[00:08:13] And it's reasoning from the Scriptures is what it says in verse two.
[00:08:18] And it was Paul's custom is what we see in verse one. So again, it's just the same thing happening. And it's the same thing that Paul and Silas do in Berea.
[00:08:32] The result is very different.
[00:08:39] The result is very different, but same gospel message, same proclamation, same good news. That's what gospel message means. It means there was good news. Now, you might think anybody who receives good news would receive it with eagerness.
[00:08:56] But if it's not the good news that you were looking for, it might make you mad.
[00:09:03] And that's what happened with many of the Jews. It was only by their searching of scriptures daily to see whether these things were so that they were willing to accept this good news that they received with eagerness.
[00:09:23] So Paul is teaching them about Jesus.
[00:09:28] They not only believe, they continue to test his words against the Old Testament in their studies.
[00:09:38] Now, God's word never changes. That's one of the beautiful things about it that's emphasized many places in scripture. Isaiah 48 says, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.
[00:09:58] What does it mean that it stands forever?
[00:10:02] Well, it means that you can trust it.
[00:10:08] You're not on shifting sand, you're not on loose gravel.
[00:10:18] When you put your foot on it, it's not going to move.
[00:10:21] It stands forever.
[00:10:27] It also means that it's not going to fade away. The contrast, of course, is between the grass that withers, the flowers that fade, versus the word of our God. Now, flowers are beautiful grass, wonderful.
[00:10:42] Rather have grass in my lawn than weeds, than thorns and thistles.
[00:10:53] In some sense you might think, well, grass can be depended on. It's been around for a long time.
[00:11:02] But even grass fades.
[00:11:06] The word of our God stands forever means that it is absolutely, surely always true.
[00:11:20] I said that scripture emphasizes this in many places. It's kind of funny because it's scripture talking about scripture.
[00:11:27] All through the Bible, Old and New Testament, you can find references to scripture itself.
[00:11:37] Jesus loves to quote scripture When Satan tempts him, what does Jesus do? He quotes scripture.
[00:11:46] When he's teaching, what does he do? He quotes scripture.
[00:11:53] Matthew 24:35 says, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
[00:12:04] Heaven and earth are a lot more stable, solid, lasting than grass and flowers, aren't they?
[00:12:16] 1 Peter 1:25 says, but the word of the Lord endures forever.
[00:12:21] And this is the word which was preached to you.
[00:12:26] This is the word that has been preached to you.
[00:12:29] All of you here right now have heard the Gospel proclaimed. Have heard the very word of the Lord preached to you.
[00:12:39] That Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the one promised in the Old Testament, the Savior of sinners.
[00:12:49] This is what Paul was proclaiming in Thessalonica and in Berea. It's what's proclaimed to you now today.
[00:13:00] And this is the word of the Lord which endures forever.
[00:13:06] You can utterly rely on it because you can utterly rely on God, who himself is not changing.
[00:13:19] There's a wonderful little article booklet by B.B. warfield, who was at Princeton back in the day when Princeton was a Christian institution.
[00:13:33] And the title is it says, Scripture says, God says.
[00:13:42] And the whole point is just to demonstrate that all through the Bible when you read it says, when you read Scripture says that is synonymous with God, says that. Those three phrases are used interchangeably throughout Scripture.
[00:14:06] The word of our God stands forever.
[00:14:11] My words will not pass away. The word of the Lord endures forever.
[00:14:16] This is the word which was preached to you.
[00:14:20] What word?
[00:14:21] The Logos, Jesus Christ has been preached to you.
[00:14:27] What will you do with that message? Will you be a Berean who searches the Scriptures, who searches what God has said to see whether these things are so? Or will you be one who becomes angry that it's not what you wanted to hear?
[00:14:43] I wanted something different and so therefore I'll be angry.
[00:14:55] There are many things that we can draw out from this.
[00:15:02] One of them is that because Scripture is the only infallible rule, that means that we are not bound by anything or anyone beyond Scripture.
[00:15:20] Our consciences are tied first and foremost to what God has said, not what any man has said.
[00:15:29] Now you might be sitting here thinking, well, Joseph, you always teach about authority and the necessity of submission to authority.
[00:15:37] And I would say yes.
[00:15:39] Why?
[00:15:44] Because Scripture says it.
[00:15:48] You see, it's not just a power trip.
[00:15:53] It's not just a self reinforcing or building up of the authority of the pastors or the elders or something like that. You know, like, hey, it's very important that you listen to me.
[00:16:08] No, who cares about me if I'm not preaching this?
[00:16:14] What good am I if I don't have God's word?
[00:16:20] Who needs me?
[00:16:23] You certainly don't.
[00:16:26] But it is Scripture itself which says we are in need of fellowship with one another. We are necessitated.
[00:16:36] It's made mandatory.
[00:16:39] It's good for us to have authorities over us.
[00:16:44] But the first authority over us is God and what he has said.
[00:16:49] And nobody can gainsay it, nobody can change it. This is the problem with Islam.
[00:16:56] Muhammad came and said, oh, yeah, we fear God. And now let me change what he has said.
[00:17:03] The word of our Lord doesn't stand forever. I'm going to make modifications to it. Now, this is the same issue with the Mormon Church.
[00:17:13] Different man, different age, different continent, same error, placing himself above God's word.
[00:17:25] And so we are not bound by anything or anyone beyond Scripture.
[00:17:30] Now, it's true, there is good and necessary inference.
[00:17:37] Now, I'm using some phrases here this morning that I hope you'll remember that will kind of stick in your mind just because they're a little bit odd, but they're historical formulations. So when I speak about how Scripture is the only infallible rule of faith and practice, that's an old, old quote summing up what Scripture itself says about itself.
[00:18:08] This new one is another old phrase, good and necessary inference.
[00:18:15] Well, it's, you know, again, it requires a little bit of explanation, but an example will clear it up.
[00:18:24] Nowhere in Scripture do you find the word Trinity.
[00:18:29] You can't find the word Trinity anywhere in Scripture. And yet the doctrine of the Trinity is understood from Scripture.
[00:18:41] It's because of passages that we read in Scripture that speak of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit together acting in unity and yet distinct.
[00:18:56] One God in three persons sums that up. The word Trinity sums that up. But it's only by good and necessary inference that we come to it. It's by searching Scriptures and studying them and understanding them. You don't, you know, I love the catechisms, okay? I love Westminster, the Heidelberg. They're great. They teach you systematically some wonderful things. And in there you'll find a simple, you know, question.
[00:19:26] How many persons are in the one God? Three persons. Who are they? The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Great. But you know, what you don't get is you don't get a catechism in here.
[00:19:40] You don't have it laid out in a systematic theology.
[00:19:45] And so it requires study.
[00:19:48] It requires searching the Scriptures to see whether these things are so, to come up with a system of doctrine and understanding what it is teaching us.
[00:20:00] It's very good for you to read Scripture, you kids. I hope you're learning. I hope you're daily in the Word.
[00:20:07] If you're not, you need to be.
[00:20:09] Every one of you that can read, you ought to be reading the Bible.
[00:20:18] But as you read, there will be many things that you don't understand.
[00:20:24] That's okay.
[00:20:25] Now, the point is not that Scripture is somehow magical and if you just read it, you're going to be fine.
[00:20:36] Everything will just like magically happen to you. That needs to happen to you.
[00:20:40] No, it's very different than that.
[00:20:43] If you read scripture though, and you seek understanding, if you read scripture and you seek the Lord, he will be found and he will grant you understanding.
[00:21:00] This is what happened with the Bereans.
[00:21:08] There are other places.
[00:21:13] Where man has sought to place himself on an equal footing or even above Scripture.
[00:21:22] The Roman Catholic Church places the church itself on an equal footing with the Bible as an authoritative rule.
[00:21:30] This is an error.
[00:21:32] And it's an error that's contradicted by Scripture itself. If you search Scripture to see whether these things are so, you will find, ah, no, only.
[00:21:44] Only Scripture can be trusted to stand forever.
[00:21:52] It is perfect.
[00:21:56] Now, on the opposite side, but in very similar error, there is in fundamentalism, a tradition of placing the traditions and commandments of men on a level with the Bible.
[00:22:12] Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch types of commandments.
[00:22:20] Again, it's an error.
[00:22:23] We're not bound by anything or anyone beyond what Scripture says, but we are bound.
[00:22:33] And by bound I mean required.
[00:22:35] Required to listen, required to obey, required to heed. We are bound by every word of the Bible, regardless of what anybody else claims.
[00:22:48] And that includes when they say that we have freedoms beyond what Scripture allows.
[00:22:55] You see how there are opposite errors.
[00:22:57] On the one hand, binding us more tightly than Scripture does, and on the other hand trying to say, oh, no, no, you don't have to worry about what Scripture says. You're more free than Scripture makes you.
[00:23:15] They may say you have freedom to believe or do many things.
[00:23:20] In fact, this is a common way of attracting people into a church.
[00:23:27] Oh, you know, your grandma's church, your parents church was really uptight and like intense about obedience and stuff like that.
[00:23:39] We're a different kind of church. Open, accepting, not all about doctrine. We're just about Jesus. What was Jesus about?
[00:23:51] The word of God is eternal and true.
[00:23:58] And so when you read the Bible, nothing else overrides it.
[00:24:07] Your common sense doesn't override what Scripture says.
[00:24:14] Your logic doesn't override what Scripture says.
[00:24:19] Pop culture sensibilities don't override what Scripture says.
[00:24:27] A feeling of being led by the spirit doesn't override what Scripture says. You are to test the spirits to see whether they are from God. And how do you test the spirits when you feel led or when somebody says, well, I really feel, I prayed about this and I really felt led that I was supposed to do this.
[00:24:51] You test that spirit by the word of God, just like the Bereans did with the Apostle Paul and Silas.
[00:25:00] This is how you test.
[00:25:03] God doesn't contradict himself.
[00:25:06] The word of the Lord stands forever. And therefore, if the Spirit or God is leading you into sin, it isn't the Spirit, it isn't God's word.
[00:25:27] The Spirit is the one who gave us the Bible.
[00:25:34] Now, there are many benefits knowing Scripture.
[00:25:41] The first is that if you have been reading scripture from the time you were young, if you keep reading the Bible and it's just been sinking into, you've been hiding it in your heart, memorizing it, you will not be easily led astray because those words will come back to you. When faced with a question, when faced with challenge, when faced with a temptation, when faced with a lie, you will have the truth hidden in your heart.
[00:26:21] You will not be easily led astray. If you know what the Bible says, it's going to be very hard to trick you.
[00:26:32] Now, there are many benefits of studying Scriptures beyond just the long term. You will grow in wisdom and in not being able to be tricked. In the short term, you can study Scripture and benefit because it will confirm the truths and commands you already know.
[00:26:54] It will strengthen and encourage you in your faith, and you will come to know the Scriptures better.
[00:27:10] Now, there are ways of searching scripture wickedly that might be surprising to you, but there are many people who have read Scripture in order to seek way to disprove it.
[00:27:31] There are many people who have searched scripture very carefully, turned over every rock, looked for every subtle logic that they can find to justify themselves in sin.
[00:27:57] There are ways of searching the Scripture wickedly. Herod searched the scripture wickedly.
[00:28:04] When the wise men came from the east to worship the king that had been born, whose star had appeared, all of Jerusalem was in an uproar. Herod talks to them, says, when did this star appear? Then he asks the people who knew Scripture, where is the Son of David supposed to be born?
[00:28:33] And he got this answer from Scripture, Bethlehem, so that he could what, murder all of the infants?
[00:28:45] Searching Scripture for wicked ends, wicked intent.
[00:28:52] You are not to study Scripture in order that you may sin.
[00:28:58] You are to study Scripture in order that you may find out whether these things are so.
[00:29:06] And then to redouble your commitment to living by them, to running after them, the things. The Word is a light to your path so that you will not stumble.
[00:29:31] We often face difficulty, though, as we're studying scripture. We run into things in the Bible that rub us the wrong way or that we don't want to obey.
[00:29:46] We run into things that go counter to our very system of theology that we've been taught.
[00:29:56] One of the most beautiful things that I have ever heard of is when people are committed to Scripture first and foremost, and it ends up changing their whole theology.
[00:30:13] I know personally a couple of pastors and heard of a number of others who, while preaching through Romans, came to a true understanding of the fact that God is sovereign even in our salvation.
[00:30:37] It's inescapable in Romans, and yet they were preaching in churches that rejected that doctrine.
[00:30:48] They themselves had rejected that doctrine.
[00:30:53] People in their churches would have said that was a doctrine, a teaching from Satan.
[00:31:01] They make it to Romans 8, Romans 9, and their commitment to the scripture, searching Scripture to see whether these things are so totally changes their very theology.
[00:31:25] What a beautiful thing.
[00:31:31] Risk of your job as a pastor to preach scripture when you're, whoa, but that's what it says.
[00:31:43] And you say, nobody's going to like that here today.
[00:31:47] Well, but here it is.
[00:31:53] It's a light to our path. It's the truth. It's what God says. And so it's. I can't not say it.
[00:32:03] I want you to be the same way as those pastors that I just described. That when you're reading scripture and you come across them and you're like, oh, I don't like that.
[00:32:18] Doesn't really agree with my whole idea.
[00:32:28] You say, well, Scripture trumps everything.
[00:32:34] Scripture trumps everything. And sometimes there are things in scripture like the Apostle Peter says about the Apostle Paul's writings that are hard to understand.
[00:32:44] The point is not to be blown by every passage you read into new trains of thought and systems of theology. The point is that when your system of theology and the passage seem at odds, you don't just go like, well, I'm going to just ignore that passage.
[00:33:04] No, you say, well, I don't know how they go together. I think this is right, but I know this is true. And so I guess I'll have to leave that up to God.
[00:33:17] But regardless, I believe God's word, so I know this is true.
[00:33:26] There are many people who claim what they are saying is biblical.
[00:33:30] But is it?
[00:33:32] How would you know if you haven't been reading the Bible? How would you know if you don't search the Scriptures to see whether these things are true?
[00:33:42] In John 5:39, Jesus is speaking and he says, you search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life.
[00:34:00] It's true.
[00:34:03] He then goes on. It is these that testify about me.
[00:34:10] This is the message that Paul is proclaiming. This is the message that I am proclaiming. The Scriptures are, are proclaiming Jesus Christ.
[00:34:18] If you search the Scriptures looking for some sort of salvation and you don't come away knowing Jesus, you have not searched the Scriptures deeply enough until you have found Jesus, you have not found the Scriptures. You have not found what the Word is speaking to you about.
[00:34:45] Think how sad it was that the Jews had the very words of God, knew that in them they could have salvation, and yet they had not understood them and they rejected Jesus Christ.
[00:35:02] We must take these words seriously.
[00:35:08] They're a warning to us that it is possible for us to hold on to Scripture very tightly indeed, but not in an appropriate way. Does that make sense?
[00:35:21] The Jews were holding on very tightly, but they were not coming to any understanding of what it said.
[00:35:30] In fact, we see the same thing in Matthew 23:23, when Jesus condemns hypocrisy.
[00:35:40] Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites.
[00:35:48] You tithe your dill and your mint and your cumin, but you have neglected the weightier matters of the law.
[00:35:57] They were very intent on on Scripture, but they were using Scripture itself as a blinder to keep them from having to face the weightier matters of Scripture.
[00:36:20] And so when I say it's possible to search the scripture wickedly, yes, you can be like Herod seeking, but you can also simply be using scripture to hide scripture from yourself, to distract yourself from what it is calling you to.
[00:36:43] To refuse to see how it confronts your sins.
[00:36:53] So if you're searching Scripture to see whether these things are so, you know that the big picture is that Jesus Christ has called us to repentance and faith in Him.
[00:37:14] The message of Scripture itself is simple.
[00:37:20] If you ever find yourself reading scripture in a way that says, oh, I don't need to repent, oh, look, I'm justified in what I'm doing, not in Christ Jesus and his blood.
[00:37:33] Oh, I'm justified. I'm right. You are not searching Scripture rightly. You are not finding the answer. You're committed to Scripture in a way that is abusing it.
[00:37:46] We are to be people of the book.
[00:37:49] Again, another old phrase, people of the book.
[00:37:54] Not people of the iPad, not people of the iPhone, not people of the short form video, not people of Instagram, people of the book.
[00:38:08] You do not search Instagram to see whether these things are so do you understand me?
[00:38:14] You search the Scriptures and you do not find the Scriptures in little pretty pictures with verse quotes on them.
[00:38:23] That's not the Scriptures.
[00:38:27] You open up the Bible and you read it because you cannot search the Scriptures in a little quote.
[00:38:40] You are to be People of the Book, which means you are to be people who read Scripture.
[00:38:46] Not just any old thing. Scripture. You read it apart from reading it. You cannot be People of the Book.
[00:38:54] We are not people of the Book because we go around wearing it on our head. We are people of the Book because we have hidden it in our hearts, because it comes out of our mouths, because we bring it into our eyes, because we eat it, we study it, we feed on it.
[00:39:15] Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. This is what you live by.
[00:39:24] This is why we are called People of the Book.
[00:39:28] And so we take God's Word seriously. We believe that life and death, heaven and hell hang in the balance on whether these words are true and whether they are ours.
[00:39:45] These words become yours when you take Jesus Christ as your Savior.
[00:39:53] And if you have not, then these words are not yours.
[00:40:00] You don't get them. You don't get any part of it, except for there is only condemnation left.
[00:40:07] The words of condemnation are the only thing that remains for those who refuse the main message of the Book, which there is forgiveness with our God that he may be feared.
