Month: July 2020
SCRIPTURE
INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE
“The Bible, at first sight, appears to be a collection of literature—mainly Jewish. If we enquire into the circumstances under which the various Biblical documents were written, we find that they were written at intervals over a space of nearly 1400 years. The writers wrote in various lands…not only separated from each other by hundreds of years and hundreds of miles, but belonging to the most diverse walks of life” Josh McDowell (ref#275, p17).
“…the Bible itself, fairly examined, is the best witness of its own inspiration” J.C. Ryle (ref#273, p4). The 66 books contained in the Bible “…all tell the same story. They all give one account of man,–one account of God,–one account of the way of salvation,–one account of the human heart” J.C. Ryle (ref#273, p9).
“The Bible alone gives a reasonable account of the beginning and end of the globe on which we live” J.C. Ryle (ref#273, p4).
“It boldly handles matters which are beyond the reach of man, when left to himself. It treats of things which are mysterious and invisible,–the soul, the world to come, and eternity,–depths which man has no line to fathom” J.C. Ryle (ref#273, p4).
“It is the book of the world, because He inspired it who formed the world,–who made all nations of one blood,–and knows man’s common nature. It is the book for every heart, because He dictated it who alone knows all hearts, and what all hearts require. It is the book of God” J.C. Ryle (ref#273, p13).
“Biblical authors spoke on hundreds of controversial subjects with harmony and continuity from Genesis to Revelation. There is one unfolding story: “God’s redemption of man” Josh McDowell (ref#275, p16).
SCRIPTURE
INFLUENCE OF SCRIPTURE
“Our convictions and values will come from society around us (the world), or they will come as our minds are renewed by the Word of God. There is no third option” Jerry Bridges (ref#192, p167-168).
FATHER, like no other book Your words change my very nature. Externally I conclude, by the actions of the HOLY SPIRIT, that the Bible is unique in that every book in it agrees with every other book in it. I also grasp the internal evidence. I feel in my reading that it is Your Word explicitly. The HOLY SPIRIT too, brings this to me. (ref#189, Dec 14th)
“The human task of thinking about God on the basis of his Word is the place where God ‘grants understanding.’ It is a gift….(Prov 2:2-6)” John Piper (ref#220, p285).
“…the word of God…performs its work in you who believe” (1 Thes 2:13 NASB).
“Many can bring the Scriptures to the mind, but the Lord alone can prepare the mind to receive the Scriptures” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, Jan 19th PM). “…the Holy Scriptures cannot be penetrated by study and talent is most certain. Therefore our first duty is to begin to pray, and to pray to this effect that if it please God to accomplish something for His glory—not for yours or any other person’s—He very graciously grant you a true understanding of His words….You must, therefore, completely despair of your own…ability and rely solely on the inspiration of the Spirit” John Piper (ref#220, p291).
“The Word of God…is the weapon that God designs to use in penetrating the kingdom of darkness and gathering the children of light…His whole redemptive plan for the universe hangs on the success of his word…” John Piper (ref#220, p222). “The great design…is to reveal the love of God to His people, and thereby recover their love to God, that they may love Him again who first loved them” A.W. Pink (ref#269, p128).
SCRIPTURE
THE POWER OF SCRIPTURE
“…’the Book’…is a fountain for spiritual thirst, food for the soul, a revelation of God, a living power and a two-edged sword” John Piper (ref#220, p292).
FATHER, the more familiar I become with Your Bible the more I approach it with respect and fear. One read through cements the fact that it is indeed a supernatural book. Ordinary books inform or entertain; the Bible changes my very nature. UTMOST LORD, I thank You for providing the SPIRIT who guides me as I read.
I can easily fall back into reading with the mind of my flesh, using my natural “sense and reason without the Holy Spirit…” (Rom 8:6 AMP). But by reading this way I’m only looking for information to help me. Without the SPIRIT to help, Your Word is external. It does not change me inside. It only gives me advice to act independently of You.
“…the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12 ESV).
“…the ‘word’ is pictured as God’s personal utterance, living, active, sharp, piercing, and discerning…with eyesthat expose….The Word of God then acts as God himself, so that one’s innermost thoughts and intentions are exposed. This happens constantly in Christians’ lives” ESV Study Bible (ref#125, p2367, [Heb 4:12-13]).
If the ESV translation is hard to understand, try the Message: “God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what” (Heb 4:12-13 MSG).
I praise You, LORD, that Your Word “is a sifter…of the reflections and conceptions of the heart” Kenneth S. Wuest (ref#37, p519, [Heb 4:12]). Its energy seeks to get into and stay with me. It has the ability to stir me and work in me to a degree that I can’t get away from it. Dietrich Bonhoeffer (ref#28, p83)
“We are being drawn more and more under the transforming influence of Scripture, or we are being progressively drawn into the web of an ungodly society around us” Jerry Bridges (ref#192, p171).
SCRIPTURE
AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE OR AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH?
“If the Word derived its authority from the church, then we would have to hold the church in higher esteem than God Himself. For whoever gives the credence and emphasis to someone’s words is superior to the person who speaks them. God has no superior, and therefore no one is in a position to give authority to His words” Wilhelmus a Brakel (ref#247, p29).
Thus, we acknowledge the Word to have divine authority solely because God is the One Who speaks:…(Isa 1:2). The Church merely functions as a herald” Wilhelmus a Brakel (ref#249, p29).
“If the Scriptures be not clear in themselves to all believers, but that all its perspicuity depends on the interpretation of the church, then our faith is to be ultimately resolved into the testimony of man. But that cannot be, for human testimony is not infallible and authentic, and therefore cannot [establish] divine faith and an infallible persuasion” Thomas Boston (ref#245, p40).
“…no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of private opinion. And why? Because it’s not something concocted in the human heart. Prophecy resulted when the Holy Spirit prompted men and women to speak God’s Word” (2 Pet 1:19-21 MSG).
“Deny that the Bible is, without any qualifications, the very Word of God, and you are left without any ultimate standard of measurement and without any supreme authority” Arthur W. Pink (ref#245, p1).
SCRIPTURE
BIBLICAL WRITERS
FATHER, now is the time I sit before a large table full of paper slips placed into subject piles all containing quotes about Your Holy Scriptures. Thank You for the honor to record what Your godly people have said about Your Book. But, all these quotes are written by men and women who don’t possess the SPIRIT in order to write Your exact words. Only men who have written the Bible fit that category.
“Sermons, and tracts, and theological writings of all kinds, may be sound and edifying, but they are only the handiwork of uninspired man. The Bible alone is the Book of God” J.C. Ryle (ref#273, p3).
“All the words in Scripture are God’s words” Wayne Grudem (ref#63, p73). “Its first line, its last line, all its teachings, understood or not understood, are by the same Author…Whoever may have been the writers—whatever their circumstances, their impressions, their comprehension of the book, and the measure of their individuality in this powerful and mysterious operation—they have all written faithfully and under superintendence…under the guidance of the same Master, for Whom a thousand years are as one day; and the result has been the Bible” Louis Gaussen (ref#246, p8-9, “God-breathed Scripture”).
“The apostles and prophets were the people to whom God revealed spiritual truth” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#189, Nov 7th).
“…no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:21 ESV).
“…when these…were written, it was not a case of a man in control of himself, using his natural powers and propensities and abilities, thinking things out and then writing as best he could. Not at all! The whole time, he was controlled by…the Spirit…this divine energy. This divine [creative impulse] came upon him, it held him and carried him, and he was borne along by the Spirit. And it was as a result of that process that…prophecies and…Scriptures came into being” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#250, p45).
“If the Bible is not inspired in the strictest sense of the word, then it is worthless; for it claims to be God’s Word” A.W. Pink (ref#250, p3, “The Impregnable Rock”).
LORD’S PRAYER PRAYERS
SCRIPTURE
THE INERRANCY OF THE BIBLE
“…the word of the Lord remains forever….’” (1 Pet 1:25 ESV).
FATHER, Your Bible does not and cannot have errors: the sinless CHRIST cannot error. He says the Bible is Your Word; therefore the Bible cannot error. Norman Geisler (ref#95)
CHRIST, GOD INCARNATE, in Your earthly ministry You advocated what had been written of the FATHER previous to Your coming. Time after time You preface Your subject with the words, “it is written” (Matt 4:4,7,10). You did not come to abolish what had been written, but to fulfill what had been written (Matt 5:17-18).
You say Yourself that the Scriptures cannot be set aside or annulled (John 10:35). Even the hard-to-believe Scriptures You confessed as true. Jonah was indeed three days in the belly of a great fish (Matt 12:40). Your FATHER’s word is truth and without error (John 17:17).
“My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right” (Ps 119:172 ESV).
The Bible does not and cannot have errors: OMNIPOTENT, HOLY, PERFECT, FATHER, You cannot error. You say the Bible is Your Word, therefore the Bible cannot error (ref#95).
The sum of Your Word is truth and every one of Your righteous rules endures forever (Ps 119:160). You never lie (Titus 1:2); it is impossible for You to lie (Heb 6:18).
You are true even if we are all liars (Rom 3:4)—even if we are faithless, You remain faithful for You cannot deny Yourself (2 Tim 2:13). Your Word is Truth (John 17:17). The audacity of Your creatures to accuse You of allowing an errant book to represent You!!
You revealed Yourself in words and resided over them as they were written in an earthly Book for all generations to read. The Bible is the prime testimony of Your compassion and caring.
SCRIPTURE
INERRANCY
“…Scripture is divine in its origin, character, and authority, it must bear the marks or evidences of that divinity. If ‘the heavens declare the glory of God’ (Psa 19:1) and therefore bear witness to their divine Creator, the Scriptures as God’s handiwork must also bear the imprints of His authorship” John Murray (ref#250, p41, “Witness of the Spirit”).
“…the omniscient God, is the One who announces events beforehand. That is the proof of His deity” Alfred Martin (ref#260, p77). “Prediction of the future is the prerogative of God alone…prophecy is the seal which God has put on His Word to show its genuineness. It authenticates the Scripture” Alfred Martin (ref#260, p70).
“The Old Testament, written over a 1,000-year period, contains several hundred references to the coming Messiah. All of these were fulfilled in Jesus Christ…” Josh McDowell (ref#275, p141).
“Reformed theologians uphold the Bible as the inspired, infallible, inerrant, authoritative, and fully sufficient communication of truth from God to us. When they say the Bible is ‘inspired,’ they mean that the Bible was actually written by God through the agency of human authorship in a miraculous way that preserved the thoughts of God from any taint of human sinfulness (2 Peter 1:20-21) Carole J. Ruvolo (ref#228, p145-146).
“When they say the Bible is infallible, they mean it is incapable of error, and when they say it is inerrant, they mean the Bible, in actual fact, contains no errors. The Bible is authoritative because it comes from God whose authority over His creation is absolute (Isaiah 46:9-10). And it is completely sufficient because it contains everything necessary for us to know and live according to God’s requirements (2 Peter 1:3-4)” Carole J. Ruvolo (ref#228, p146).
“…the Bible is (in its original manuscripts) inerrant and infallible…” Arthur W. Pink (ref#245, p1, “The Impregnable Rock”).
SCRIPTURE
WHAT IS THE BIBLE?
“The Bible isn’t a series of stories. It isn’t a catalog of interesting characters. It isn’t a manual of theology. It isn’t a book of interesting wisdom principles. One story, with one hero, forms the cord that holds the whole Bible together. The Bible is essentially the story of redemption. This grand redemptive story, with God’s essential explanatory notes, is the main content of the Word of God” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Dec 9th).
“The message of the Bible is not to urge us to try to find truth; it is to ask us to listen to the truth, to God’s truth. For its whole point is to say that God, knowing Himself, knowing man, knowing everything, has devised and schemed a plan whereby men and women can be delivered out of their failure and sin and can be made citizens and worthy citizens of God’s kingdom. This is God’s plan” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#189, July 2nd)!
“…God’s faithfulness to his people convinces us that there is nothing missing from Scripture that God thinks we need to know for obeying him and trusting him fully….Scripture today is exactly what God wanted it to be, and it will stay that way until Christ returns” Wayne Grudem (ref#63, p68-69). “…He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words” (Heb 1:1-3 MSG)!
“O Word of God Incarnate”
O Word of God incarnate, O wisdom from on high,
O truth unchanged, unchanging, O light of our dark sky;
We praise thee for the radiance that from the hallowed page,
A lantern to our footsteps, shines on from age to age.
The church from her dear Master received the gift divine,
And still that light she lifteth o’er all the earth to shine.
It is the golden casket, where gems of truth are stored;
It is the heave’n-drawn picture of Christ, the Living Word.
It floateth like a banner before God’s host unfurled;
It shineth like a beacon above the darkling world.
It is the chart and compass that o’er life’s surging sea,
‘Mid mists and rocks and quicksands, still guides, O Christ to thee.
O make thy church, dear Savior, a lamp of purest gold,
To bear before the nations thy true light, as of old.
O teach thy wand’ring pilgrims by this their path to trace,
Till, clouds and darkness ended, they see thee face to face.
Author: William Walsham How, 1867 Wayne Grudem (ref#63, p72)
Bonnie's Prayer Affair 