God’s Own Defense of Scripture, Part 1

The Bible, the Word of the one true and living God, is the truth and the only source of truth that convicts of sin, warns of judgment, saves the sinner, purifies, cleanses, matures the believer and gives the hope of eternal glory. And because it is the revelation of God by which God does His work to His own ever-lasting glory, it is the priority for the church and for every believer. It is also always under attack, always under assault by Satan and his demons and the people in the kingdom of darkness. Attacks on the Bible have never ceased, they’ve only accumulated through the years.

In the early years, the Bible was attacked as to its veracity, its truthfulness, as to its inspiration, its inerrancy. It was attacked as to its completeness. Is it all the revelation we have? Or isn’t God giving more? Aren’t there more revelations in visions and dreams and words of wisdom and words of knowledge? And is the Bible the singular inspired text of God, or are there not other texts that are equally inspired of God? Is the Bible relevant? Is not the fact that it is an antiquated book, an ancient book, if you will, written in another context in other languages in another time, in another place, doesn’t that set it on the shelf and make it virtually irrelevant to this modern world? And is the Bible actually comprehensible? Is it clear? Can it be understood?

Through the years we have gone to battle on all these kinds of issues. The early part of my ministry here was directed at the issue of inerrancy. Is the Bible inerrant? That is, in its original autograph without error in all that it says and all that it affirms? That battleground launched a ten-year effort by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy to defend the inerrancy of Scripture. A hundred scholars were engaged in that formidable effort, defending the inerrancy, the inspiration and thus the authority of Scripture down to every inspired word.

Then came another wave of attacks in the next decade, coming from those people who didn’t believe the Bible was all the revelation there was. There was more revelation. There were dreams and visions and experiences and the voice of God. And revelation was continuing as God was speaking. And that was very, very dominant in the Charismatic Movement.

There was associated with that a kind of spiritual movement, a kind of an inner-voice movement where people began to develop the idea that you could listen for the voice of God and He would speak to you quietly, privately in your own heart in some kind of quasi-audible fashion, giving you verbal direction, by directing your thoughts in a certain way. And this, too, was the revelation of God. And if you wanted to really live the Christian life, you had to learn to listen for the voice of God apart from Scripture.

In more recent years there’s been an attack on the clarity of Scripture, coming from the emerging church, telling us the Bible is not clear in anything to speak of, and so we want to be open and generous and all-embracing and have a conversation with everybody because we can’t be sure about anything.

But in the middle of those kinds of battles, there has been another battle that just goes along all the time, and that is assaults on the sufficiency of Scripture, as if somehow the Bible wasn’t enough. You need more than the Bible to make the gospel attractive. You need more than the Bible to solve your marital problems. You need more than the Bible to get a grip on your own life. You’ve got certain kinds of personality quirks that can only be resolved through psychology. We have been embroiled in battles for the sufficiency of Scripture throughout the years, it is an issue that is not only an issue in our culture, but it’s been an issue all over the world, everywhere I have gone. Of necessity I have preached on the sufficiency of Scripture that the Word of God is true, it is inerrant, it is inspired, it is complete. It brings all revelation to an end. Nothing more is needed than the truth of the of the Word of God applied by the Spirit of God. It is clear and it is sufficient...it is sufficient. Not all these attacks, by the way, come from people outside Christianity, most of them come from people who call themselves Christians, liberal theologians, experientialists, existentialists, pragmatists, occultists, cultists, etc., etc., all claiming to represent God and attacking Scripture’s inspiration, inerrancy, historicity, canonicity, uniqueness, power, clarity and sufficiency. And so we’re always going to need to go back and defend Scripture.

How do we do that? Well there are two possibilities. You could defend Scripture from outside Scripture, then you would make human reason the ultimate determiner of Scripture’s truth. Far better to let Scripture defend itself and then you let Scripture be the ultimate determiner of its own veracity. And so we take what is called a presuppositional approach to the defense of Scripture, we presuppose the truthfulness of Scripture. We assume it to be so. And any faithful, diligent exercise in studying Scripture will yield the fact that this is truly the Word of God, we let Scripture speak for itself, not trying to defend Scripture from outside Scripture, but from inside Scripture. Let God speak in defense of the Word which He has written.

This book has to be treated with a great amount of sacredness. Listen to the testimony of God, Psalm 19 verse 7. “The Law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true, they are righteous all together. They are more desirable than gold, yes than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Thy servant is warned. In keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Thy servant from presumptuous sins, let them not rule over me. Then I shall be blameless and I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.”

In Psalm 19, starting in verse 7 and running to the end of the chapter, I want to call your attention to three specific emphases. One, the sufficiency of Scripture. Two, the value of Scripture. And three, the right response. That’s what we’re going to look at.

Now just backing up a little bit, you say, “What about the opening six verses?” The opening six verses of Psalm 19 are also about God’s revelation, but not His written revelation. The opening six verses are about God revealing Himself in creation. “The heavens are telling of the glory of God. Their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech and night to night reveals knowledge. There’s no speech nor are there words, their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth and their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, it rejoices as a strong man to run his course. Its rising is from one end of the heavens and its circuit to the other end of them and there is nothing hidden from its heat.”

What is that talking about? That is talking about the fact that God has revealed Himself in creation. The heavens tell of the glory of God. Who would not conclude that God is all glorious who looks into the heavens? The expanse of the universe declares the work of His hands. Every day, every night is a declaration of the mighty power of God. He is revealed in His creation. And it runs all through the conscious life that exists on this earth that God is a great Creator and has told us a lot about Himself in His creation, about His power and His design and His order, His intelligence, etc. He uses an illustration of the sun. The sun literally rising from one end of the heavens and its circuit to the other end of them, nothing being hidden from its heat.

What he’s talking about is something inside that’s now known to be true, that the sun has a massive orbit from one end of the infinite universe to the other and it drags our entire solar system with it. These kinds of discoveries that we make clearly indicate the greatness and the power of our God. God has then exalted Himself in nature. He has revealed Himself in nature. As Romans 1 says, we can know His eternal power and Godhead. That is that He is the sovereign God and that He is powerful.

But more importantly and savingly, God has revealed Himself in Scripture. There is His unwritten revelation and His written revelation. And when you come to verse 7, the transition is made from God revealing Himself in nature to God revealing Himself in Scripture...in Scripture. The structure of these verses from verse 7 through 9, notice it there, is a series of parallel statements, verses 7, 8 and 9. Here there are six titles for Scripture...the Law of the Lord, the testimony of the Lord in verse 7. In verse 8, the precepts of the Lord and the commandment of the Lord. In verse 9, the fear of the Lord and the judgments of the Lord. Six titles for Scripture. Scripture is Law, testimony, precepts, commandment, fear and judgments. There are also six characteristics of Scripture. Notice, it is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean and true. And there are six benefits of Scripture. It restores the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, endures forever and a final one, produces comprehensive righteousness. That’s what it means when it says righteous all together. It converts, it makes wise, it brings joy, it enlightens, it purifies, it is relevant in every time, it endures forever and it produces comprehensive righteousness.

This is magnificent. Here you have God in His inimitable way speaking the vast glories of Scripture in brief sentences. In a few words He captures the magnitude of the full sufficiency of Scripture.

Please notice one other component here. Six times is repeated this phrase “of the Lord, of the Lord, of the Lord, of the Lord, of the Lord, of the Lord.” Lest there be some confusion about who is the author. It is redundant. Six times the covenant name of Yahweh, the covenant name of the Creator/God is used. Here then is God’s own testimony to God’s own revelation in Scripture, God’s witness to the sufficiency and the adequacy of His Word which restores the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, endures forever and produces comprehensive righteousness. This is sweeping even in just a few statements.

Let’s take them one at a time. First of all, the Law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. It is called the Law, torah, favorite biblical word for Scripture. It identifies the Scripture as divine law, divine teaching, divine instruction. The term means teaching. That is to say it is God giving instruction to His creature. Divine instruction, relative to man’s life and conduct. It is a complete explanation of God’s will for man’s life. When you buy an appliance or you buy an automobile, or anything that is at all technical, you get a manual along with it, you get an operator’s manual so that the manufacturer can direct you and instruct you in the proper use of what it is that you now possess. The Bible is the manufacturer’s manual for the proper operation of humanity. It is God’s instruction for how man is to live. It is God’s law for man’s life. That is one way to view Scripture.

It is that. It is not only that, there are six descriptions of Scripture, but this is true of Scripture. Scripture is like a many faceted diamond, we’re going to look at six of those facets as we examine this Psalm. It is God’s manual for man’s life. If man is to be everything that God wants him to be, if man is to reach the fulfillment of God’s intended creation for him, if man is to enjoy the fullness of God’s blessing, he must then abide by the instructions given by the manufacturer. And this is the only manual...the law of the Lord. As such, notice please, this characteristic, it is perfect, it is perfect. James calls it the perfect law. So he uses this same idea. It is perfect.

I remember the first time I studied Psalm 19, many, many years ago, I wanted to really know what perfect meant. So I went back and I got all the Hebrew lexicons off my shelf and I remember spending several hours chasing this word “perfect” all over the place, trying to wring out of it everything that I could so I would have a grasp of it. And after many hours of study, I came to the conclusion that what it means is perfect. A bit disappointing after all the effort, but that’s exactly what it means...perfect.

But, let me take you one step further. Not perfect as opposed to imperfect, but perfect as opposed to incomplete. Not perfect as opposed to imperfect, though it is that, but the primary thrust of this Hebrew word is not about perfect as opposed to imperfect, but it’s about perfect as opposed to incomplete. The best Old Testament scholarship gives this meaning, this Hebrew word means all sided...s-i-d-e-d, all sided so as to cover completely all aspects of life. It is comprehensive. It is sufficient. It leaves nothing out. Yes, that is a feature of being flawless, but it says much more.

To say something has no flaws doesn’t say that it’s complete. Yes the Scripture has no flaws but the issue here is that it lacks nothing. Here is the manual for man’s operation written by the manufacturer which leaves nothing needed out. And as the all-sided, fully sufficient, comprehensive, complete law of the Lord, it has the power, here’s the last phrase, verse 7, “to restore the soul.” This is the effect, the impact, or converting the soul...some of your texts may say. The Hebrew term can be translated restoring, reviving, refreshing, or converting. What the world really means is a total transformation...total transformation.

So, we’re starting to build a really interesting case here. We’ve got the Scripture which is God’s instruction for man’s life. Nothing is left out. It is comprehensive. So comprehensive that it can totally transform...what?...the soul.

Now this introduces us to a Hebrew word nephesh...nephesh. What does it mean? Probably in your Bible, if you have a New American Standard or New King James or one of those more contemporary translations, probably if you were to look at a Hebrew Bible and compare it with your English version, you might find that the translators have translated nepheshabout twenty different ways in the Old Testament...person, self, heart, mind, soul. They translate it all kinds of ways but it always means one thing, the inner person...the inner person...the inner person.

So what do we learn in this first statement? The law of the Lord, Scripture, is sufficient to totally transform the whole inner person. Powerful statement...powerful, powerful statement. It’s able to save. It’s able to regenerate. It’s able to convert. It’s able to transform. And that gets repeated all through Scripture. The sacred Scripture, 2 Timothy 3:15, the Scripture, the sacred writings, able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation. It is able to convert you. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, Hebrews 4:12 and 13, and it can cut you wide open and unbare your sin. And then it can regenerate and redeem and restore you. The Scripture then is utterly sufficient for the conversion, transformation, restoration, spiritual birth of the soul. Peter puts it this way, 1 Peter 1:23, “Being born again not of corruptible seed but by incorruptible by the Word of God.” We are regenerated, born again, given life by the Word of God which lives and abides forever. And this is the Word by which the gospel is preached to you. That’s why Paul says in Romans 1, “Not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, it is the power of God unto salvation.” It gives life. It’s powerful. It gives life.

Color me confused, but “the Bible... saves the sinner”?

When you say "the Bible" are you referring to the canon or do you mean the word of God? Paul says that it is the word of God which:

from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. (II Timothy 3:15)

From the article:

The law of the Lord, Scripture, is sufficient to totally transform the whole inner person. Powerful statement...powerful, powerful statement. It’s able to save. It’s able to regenerate. It’s able to convert. It’s able to transform. And that gets repeated all through Scripture. The sacred Scripture, 2 Timothy 3:15, the Scripture, the sacred writings, able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation. It is able to convert you. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, Hebrews 4:12 and 13, and it can cut you wide open and unbare your sin. And then it can regenerate and redeem and restore you. The Scripture then is utterly sufficient for the conversion, transformation, restoration, spiritual birth of the soul. Peter puts it this way, 1 Peter 1:23, “Being born again not of corruptible seed but by incorruptible by the Word of God.” We are regenerated, born again, given life by the Word of God which lives and abides forever. And this is the Word by which the gospel is preached to you. That’s why Paul says in Romans 1, “Not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, it is the power of God unto salvation.” It gives life. It’s powerful. It gives life.

Paul says in I Corinthians 1:18, For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. In verse 21, he continues, For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. It is the spoken word of the Gospel that leads us to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. The gospel that sacred Scripture continues to teach.

Does that help?

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