Proclaiming the Authority of Scripture in Today's World

manner he said if ever you see a lion being attacked you needn't defend him all you need to do is to open the gate and let him out and I think that many of us have often forgotten that we become so nervous for the word instead of preaching it instead of asserting it instead of proclaiming it and never was there such an opportunity for doing that as there is in the modern world because with the world as it is today the fact of the matter is that there is no explanation of our world as it is this morning which is in any way adequate save this how do you explain civilization soall as it is in this 20th century now there is no adequate explanation except this that man is a fallen creature that man is in sin that man is a creature of lusts and passions that man is being governed by the God of this world the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in the children of Disobedience it is the only explanation and I say we've never had such a glorious opportunity of asserting the message of the Bible it says it from beginning to end that things are as they are because man has fallen from God and is under the wrath of God [00:22:27]

now here is the interesting thing the world in general is beginning to say that now there are men and women saying that now who would have scouted the very suggestion 30 years ago you remember how during the last war a man like the late Dr jod changed his opinion and was honest enough to say so he said he'd now come to believe in evil and he'd come to believe in God in the 30s he didn't believe in God nor in evil he didn't believe in sin nor any of these things at all he then wrote a book and said he'd come to believe in evil and in God how would he come to believe it oh not because the Bible taught it he said the war had made him believe it that as he examined the phenomenon of hitlerism and as he saw the things that were happening in the in the world he said he was driven to believe that there was such a thing as evil an evil power an evil force sin and that in turn it led him back to God now there are many others who are saying the same thing but still you notice they don't believe the right things because the Bible teaches them but because the war or circumstances or an atomic bomb or something else like that has made them believe it [00:23:58]

and thus we arrive at this ludicrous position you will find that these people say ah they say we have come to believe in these doctrines but of course we can't go back and believe the whole Bible we can't go back on what fire criticism has discovered for us they say we can't go back to that precritical position it's done such marvelous things it's given us such marvelous new insights they say and then you read their books to discover what the new insights are and the new insights are the things that we evangelicals have always been proclaiming the men who denied our doctrine of sin and of men in a for condition the of the of of of the devil and of evil spirits and of Salvation The Men Who denied all that 30 years ago and were now believing it still refuse to recognize the authority of the scriptures with all their bursting about their new insights they have simply had to come back by the pressure of events and circumstances to what we have always asserted for the book and the doctrines which it teaches and proclaims [00:25:14]

very well then I said there was never a time when it is so easy to assert the authority of the scripture here it's been saying it throughout the centuries when men were saying that men was going from good to better and evolving towards Perfection that there'd Never Be Another War that man were so marvelous now he'd never do things like that again the Bible went on saying yes while he's in sin he'll still do it and two world wars have proved that the Bible is Right preach it assert it don't defend it say this is the teaching Where Have You Been that's the way to assert the authority of the scripture well now then that brings me to a specific claim what is it that we claim for the scriptures let me put it like this we claim that the entire Bible is the word of God we reject This Modern deception which says that the Bible contains the word of God we say the Bible is the word of God and that we mean by the authority of scripture that property by which it demands faith and obedience to all its declarations [00:26:33]

why do I thus refuse to divide the Bible into two sections that which is true and that which is false that which is divine and that which is human why well for these reasons there is no such distinction drawn in the Bible itself I defy anybody to show me any such distinction the Bible comes to us and offers itself to us as a whole nowhere does it say this is important that isn't the whole comes as one piece not only that here's another very important point so often the Revelation that God has given us is a revelation in terms of History and through history that's why these incidents like the fall and the flood and the call of Abraham the crossing of the Red Sea all these things they're vital it's God revealing himself yes but through historical events oh the modern man says I believe in Revelation but I don't believe in your history but God has revealed himself through history and so thus you see some of them who are more logical than the rest they even carry that principle into the life of the Lord Jesus Christ himself [00:27:29]

there is this popular movement on the continent of Europe today which talks about the demythologizing of the gospel and of the scriptures they even take all the miraculous out of Christ they say of course we can't believe things like that science makes it impossible but we're holding on to the teaching but the teaching came in an historical person in historical events and if I reject the history how do I know that I mustn't also reject the teaching what have I it's all here inextricably intermixed the Revelation is in terms of history and through history so if I throw out the history I'm throwing out the Revelation but still more important there are certain vital doctrines which are absolutely dependent upon historical facts let me give you just one illustration you go to the fifth chapter of the epistle to the Romans and there you'll find the Apostle in the second half of that chapter working out that amazing and most glorious doctrine of the Union of the Christian believer with the Lord Jesus Christ but you remember how he does it he does it in this way he says as in Adam so in Christ he establishes this Doctrine by taking us back to the Garden of Eden and to the creation of one man Adam his whole case depends upon that history in other words I can put it like this if I reject the Biblical teaching concerning sin and the fall of men as given in the first chapters of Genesis I cannot see how I can possibly accept the Biblical teaching with regard to the doctrine of the atonment why was it necessary for Christ to come why had he to die upon the cross If the fall isn't effect who fell how many fell was it one or was it many has men never Fallen at all you see simply stretching upwards you see you cannot separate the doctrine of the fall from the doctrine of the atonement and the moment you believe the doctrine of the Fall you're back in history you're back in early Genesis and ah but people say what about science I say I don't care what Sciences here is the teaching of the scripture here is the only explanation [00:29:05]

but you see that leads to other vital arguments all this was accepted and taught by by The Inspired Apostles now we as Christians are established upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets and if they're wrong at this point well my whole Foundation is shaky and I don't know where I am these men accepted the whole let me go further if you say that your Authority is the Lord Jesus Christ the son of God well then I say that you've got to realize this that he accepted the whole of the Old Testament he accepted the early chapters of Genesis you needn't take my word for that I can I I you can find it in Matthew 9194 where he says God made the man and woman at the beginning and he said for this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife he believed it he accepted it therefore if you're are going to take his authority how can you reject this you see the danger of thinking that you can pull out the teaching and reject everything that doesn't conform to science [00:31:02]

but finally at this point and under this heading I would direct your attention to this there is nothing which is so precarious and so dangerous as to base your position upon socalled knowledge or socalled science did you know that 30 years ago these authorities who claimed that they they rarely did know and could prove it said quite definitely and categorically that there had never been such a person as Bel Shazer who mentioned in the Book of Daniel by today they have to admit that as the result of archaeological discoveries Bel shazzar was an historical person now that's only one there are many other arguments read the latest books on archaeology now I don't want to claim too much for it but I can claim this much that these investigations that are being made in that part of the world are one after another supporting the Biblical history the flood the fall of Jericho and all these other matters they're been substantiated and yet you see clever educated people 30 and 40 years ago said of course we can't possibly accept that history science scientific investigation has proved that it's all wrong these things cannot be found but by today they're having to accept them don't you see what a precarious thing it is to put on one side the authority of this book and to base your position upon what men teach [00:32:41]

let me give you one other illustration a 100 years ago and after biologists and others were teaching with an absolute dogmatism they were saying it was a fact that the thyroid gland had no function whatsoever the pituitary gland in the brain they said was nothing but a vestigial organ now they didn't say that they thought that they said this is a fact but you see by today we know that you can't live without your pituitary and thyroid that they're absolutely vital to life my dear friends let me appeal to you as one who had a certain amount of scientific training beware of face basing your position upon the supposed certainties of modern knowledge or of science it's constantly changing these men put forward their theories they can't prove them so that as you face this whole question I say be very wary be very careful but come let me mention to you some of the detailed arguments to which I referred if you're interested in detailed arguments these are the arguments that the Protestant fathers used to aduce in order to show the authority of scripture they said the Majesty of the God who speaks of himself in the scripture the truth of scriptures the Sublimity of the Mysteries revealed the Perfection of the teachings and the precepts the manner of speaking profound simple clear brief the power of scripture to move the hearts of sinful men its capacity to maintain its truthfulness in face of time and opposition and one of the best of all the remarkable Harmony between the old and the New Testament the Fulfillment of Prophecy you remember how Peter used that argument he said we have not followed cunningly devised fables in preaching to you we were with him on the mount but I've got something better we have a word of prophecy made yet more sure 2 Peter 1:19 well here it is and this that though the Bible has been written by some 66 different persons there are 66 different books rather in the scriptures written over as long a period of as, 1600 Years yet the doctrine is the same in every one of them it doesn't matter where you go you'll find the same teaching the same message the same Doctrine there are more than 40 writers 66 books 1,600 years duration in the composition and yet there's only one theme one argument one statement there is this Unity of the scripture Now isn't it a pathetic and a tragic thing that people can ignore all this evidence and say I can't believe your scripture because of this little detail this little problem that I've got here or there and his problem is raised by supposed modern knowledge now you see what I meant by talking about starting with the whole and not with the parts you face the whole message the whole case of the Bible and then when you come back to the early chapters of Genesis you say well now what do I do now well what I do is this I say scientists geologists say this or that they can't prove it it's only a theory and until they can prove it I am believing this I continue to believe it I don't understand certain things I admit it frankly but I'm not going to reject the whole because I don't understand the part I believe the whole message and I am certain that finally I and all others shall find that all the discrepancies vanish there can be no contradiction with between the scriptures and true science because both come from God you and I are not able to see we don't understand I'm almost tempted to make a reference I heard a man giving a lecture a few weeks ago and he talked about these billions and billions and billions of light years and the length of time it takes for light to come from the Sun to the Earth and he spoke thus in these tremendous terms well I have only one thing to say whether you agree with it or not for myself I just don't believe it you see they're aware of what happens up to a certain point then they assume that it's the same from there on but they don't know and they're acting on an assumption and thus they can talk gbly about billions they don't know I don't know and therefore I don't believe their assertions here I find a complete case here I find I say the authority of the Son of God himself and I cannot reject this while he believes it I trust to him and so I come back to the scriptures and this is how I approach it I go to my Old Testament and I find that everywhere it claims to be the word of God this is what I read the Lord said the Lord spake the word of the Lord came unto me do you know that that phrase the word of the Lord came is used 3,808 times in the Old Testament all the writers suggest it they're all saying this isn't my idea this isn't my theory this isn't the result of my investigation they say this is what has given the Lord has revealed it to me the burden of the Lord and you know the Jews accepted it the Jews accepted the scriptures as the word of God the Apostle Paul a Jew himself puts that perfectly in Romans 3:2 he raises the question what Vantage then hath the Jew much everywhere he says For unto them were delivered the Oracles of God not the writings of men but the Oracles of God but I say towering above it all is this great fact the Lord Jesus Christ patently accepted the whole of the Old Testament he says it is written he quotes scripture to Satan he quotes it to the people he says that heaven and Earth shall pass away but this word shall not pass away he hasn't come to destroy the law of the prophets but to fulfill he says all these things have spoken of me and you remember after his resurrection he took those unbelieving disciples through Moses and the Psalms and the prophets and showed how every one of them were talking about him and pointing to him he accepts the whole of the Old Testament and you cannot read your new testament without seeing this from beginning to end the whole of the New Testament is on the assumption that the entire Old Testament is correct listen to the two famous statements of this all scripture says Paul to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16 all scripture is given by inspiration of God is in breathed by God and is profitable for teaching Doctrine proof Etc that's the attitude all scripture not bits of it not not parts of it not teaching only but the entire scripture given by inspiration of God and Peter again in 2 Peter 1 20 and 21 he says this that no scripture is of no prophecy is of any private interpretation but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and let's be clear as to what he means when he says that no no Prophecies of any private interpretation he does not mean and is not saying that no man can interpret scripture himself privately without the aid of the church what he means is this that when those prophets wrote they were not only giving their own private view they were not expounding simply what they thought was the fact and as they understood and saw things they were not just giving their preview of history no no he says it's not any private interpretation it's not a human understanding what then holy men of God spake as they were moved carried along born by the Holy Spirit it wasn't the men it was the spirit using the men now there you see is the New Testament attitude towards the Old Testament and it regards it all as the inspired word of God as the Lord Jesus Christ did very well then says someone but what will you say then about the authority of the New Testament that is a very simple matter and I can put at you like this the authority of the New Testament is the authority of the Apostles they were the men who wrote the New Testament most of it and indeed you remember that when the early church came to decide on the Canon of the New Testament what to put in and what to put out they'd only got one test and the test was the test of apostolicity was the book written by an Apostle or directly under the influence of the Apostle if it was it could go in if it wasn't it stayed out it might have been an excellent book but it didn't come in if it hadn't Apostolic Authority now here is a thing I feel we often fail to realize even as Evangelical Believers our whole position in a sense depends upon the authority of the Apostles and that is why it's so clear so important important that we should be clear as to what an apostle was an apostle was a special men called by the Lord Jesus Christ himself who could bear witness to the resurrection and who was set apart by the Lord himself to teach and to preach with authority have you ever realized that listen to them in the book of The Acts of the Apostles they go around and they speak with authority they don't put forward theories they're not these philosophers like others simply men speaking with authority Christ is commissioned he commissioned sa of tsus on the road to Damascus he said I've called you to be a witness and a minister go and tell the people and the Nations and you know these author these Apostles claim that Authority they claim the authority in their preaching and in their writing listen to Paul putting it to the Thessalonians for this cause also thank we god without ceasing because when ye received the word of God which he heard of us he received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe Paul doesn't hesitate to say this though we are an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached let him be accursed is that just Paul's pride and egotism is just that is it just his natural arrogance is he just setting himself up not at all he's the humblest servant of the Lord that the world has ever known what he's saying is this look here the message that I preached un you wasn't mine I received it not of men I received it by the revelation of Jesus Christ it isn't my authority it his and therefore if an angel preaches something else let him be a cursive that's not arrogance that's an assertion of apostolic Authority and you see what these men claimed for themselves was this that they were infallible that what they preached and what they wrote was the word of God that it was infallible and that it must be accepted so Paul writing to the to the Corinthians says be ye followers of me that's not Pride he says I have received this follow what I am Telling You therefore that's what he means I have the authority of the Lord not my own authority and of course the interesting thing is that the apostles recognize this Authority in one another that is why Peter you remember in his Second Epistle tells those people as they read the Epistles of Paul to be very careful that there are some things in them hard to be misund hard to be understood which the unlearned and the unstable rest to their own destruction as they do also the other scriptures he refers to Paul's writing as scriptures on a par with the Old Testament scriptures but what is still more interesting is that the whole of the early church accepted this Authority the word of the Apostles was always a final word it was recognized that Christ had called them ued them with insight and understanding he' promised it in John 16 he fulfills it there the spirit will lead you into all truth and he had done so and they believed it and they submitted to the authority and you and I have still got to do the same same thing the church is built and founded upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets if you don't accept the authority of the New Testament scriptures what Authority have you got what Christ do you know how do you know you're right about him what you know about anything you must start with this and accept it the early church did hence I say the cannon hence all the teaching hence the history of the church yes and and hence also our answer to the Church of Rome which claims that the church has equal Authority with the with the scriptures and which claims that further Revelations have been made since to which we reply that is impossible because you can't repeat the apostles the apostles is a men who had to see the resurrection had to be a witness to it hence Paul's special experience on the road to Damascus no man is an apostle and Le has seen the Risen Lord and the pope hasn't no Pope has none of the Cardinals have there is no further Revelation the Revelation ended with the apostles you can't add to the scriptures they alone are a complete and a final Authority so that you see my friends it in the end comes back to this we either accept this Authority and Trust ourselves to it or else we trust our own brains our own minds our own reason and the socalled certainties of modern knowledge and modern science indeed it comes back to this you either believe and trust to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ or else you trust to the authority of men the authority of the critics don't imagine for a moment that you can pick and choose here and shed this history Christ the son of God in whom you claim to believe he believed it he accepted it so in rejecting that you're rejecting him you cannot separate the doctrine of the scripture from the doctrine of the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so our Authority is the Lord the Lord as I know him and find him and as he comes to me and speaks to me and offers himself to me through the scriptures his own word the word of the Living God let us make certain of the authority of the scriptures and beware of being Carried Away by every wind of Doctrine and the specious arguments of men who whose ultimate Authority is human knowledge and not divine revelation [00:42:54]