Lent - Day 2

Larger Catechism – Day 2 of Lent

Question 3:  What is the word of God?

Answer:  The holy Bible, made up of the Old and New Testaments, is the word of God.  It is the only authority for faith and obedience.

Question 4:  What evidence is there that the Bible is the word of God?

Answer:  The Bible clearly shows that it is the word of God by its majesty and purity, by the agreement of all its parts, by its unified aim to give all glory to God, and by its illuminating power to convince and convert sinners and to comfort and build up believers unto salvation.  However, only the Spirit of God, testifying by and with the Bible in our hearts, can completely persuade us that it is truly the word of God.

The Bible is either the word of God or it isn’t the word of God.  What you or I believe about it does not impact whether it is the word of God or not!  Amazing isn’t it.

Here at Evergreen we are in the midst of a long sermon series on “Christian Apologetics.”  Christian apologetics is about giving a defense about what we believe as followers of Christ.  Each week we are looking at an “argument” or “criticism” that people can have against following Jesus.  We recently spent two weeks looking at whether the Bible can be trusted.  If the Bible can be trusted then it likely is the word of God.

We looked at what the Bible says about itself.  We look at what 1^st century Roman and Jewish historians had to say about Jesus and his followers.  We looked at the vast number of ancient papyri of the biblical texts.  We looked at the accuracy of those who created new scrolls (they believed they were copying holy texts and so they were EXTREMELY accurate in their work).  We saw that the Great Isaiah Scroll found at Qumran (the Dead Sea Scrolls), which was 1000 years older than any previous ancient copy of Isaiah, had virtually no changes (there were some spelling errors).  We saw that archeology is confirming the places and events found in the Bible.  We saw how eyewitness of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection were still alive when the New Testament books were being written.

Even with all of the things we learned about the Bible, its history and its reliability, it is not me or you that determines if the Bible is the word of God!  God is the one that has told us that the Bible is the word of God.  2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that “all scripture is God-breathed” – inspired by God.  John 1 in speaking about Jesus says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning… The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

You and I can know for ourselves that the Bible is the word of God when we sit under its teaching and authority, submitting to God, obeying his commands (like Jesus told us to do) and allowing God (by the Holy Spirit) to transform us into the person he wants us to become.  We will never come to the conclusion that the Bible is the word of God if we do not submit to God, his word, his commands and decrees.  But ultimately, it is God who determines that the Bible is his word.

A couple of weeks ago an elderly lady that was looking for a church stopped by Evergreen (it was during the middle of the week).  In giving her some information about Evergreen I handed her a copy of the “Essentials” of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.  The “Essentials” state what we believe about the Bible, God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, sin, salvation, Christ’s return, etc.  She stated that she did not believe the Bible was word of God.  She did not believe the Old Testament or the New Testament.  Needless to say, she opted not to have Evergreen become her new church home.  If the Bible is the word of God that lady (and many, many others) are in BIG TROUBLE!  If the Bible is not the word of God then all of humanity had better live it up now because this is all there is and we all are in big trouble.