The Bible claims to be the Word of the Living God! When you put somebody on the witness stand, you must listen to what he has to say. And when we are looking into this most vital issue and the center of all controversy in your day and mine, we must have the defendant state his case. That we propose to do in this message – let the Bible speak for itself and give us the claims it has within its covers as to where it came from and Whose Word it is. Now I believe that is vital, and I want you to notice these Scriptures.
In 2 Timothy we have one of two letters the Apostle Paul wrote to his son in the ministry. He is telling the young preacher Timothy some things he is going to come up against. In the third chapter he wants Timothy to recognize that in the last days perilous times shall come, and he is telling us the kind of people Timothy will have to deal with. He will bring to us the fact that Satan is in this warfare and then he will talk about evil men and seducers waxing worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Read verses 14-17: "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures [Paul called the Old Testament the Holy Scriptures!], which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus." (Then Paul makes this tremendous statement.) "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."
Then listen to this old preacher talking to the young preacher in chapter four, verses one and two: "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom; preach the Word." Preach the Word! Now it's Somebody's Word. In the verses beforehand, he says it is the Word of the Holy Scriptures. In other words, Paul absolutely claimed that the Old Testament was the Word of God and he told Timothy, "Now the only weapon that I want to see you staying with in all these conflicts and attacks of Satan is the Word of God. In the light of the fact that God is going to judge the quick and the dead at His appearing, I want you to PREACH THE WORD!"
Continue reading at chapter four, verse two: "Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears [they will like for folks to brag on them!]; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry."
Here in this charge of the old preacher to the young preacher is the definite, purposeful statement from the pen of Paul, the great apostle, that the Old Testament is the record of the revelation of God to man. Now he couldn't make that statement of the New Testament, for he was just then helping to write it, but the books go together, and altogether they constitute the 66 books of what men call the Bible. Someone has said that "this Book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword and the Christian's charter. Here in this Book Paradise is regained, heaven is opened and the gates of hell closed. Christ Jesus is its great object and subject. Our good is its design and the glory of God its end. This Book should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, read it frequently, read it prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory and a river of pleasure. It is given you in life, will be opened at the judgment and remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility; it rewards the greatest labor, and condemns all who trifle with its holy contents."
It has been my good pleasure down through the years to know some people who have had great faith, satisfying faith that the Bible is the true record of a Holy, Loving God to sinful men. I am thinking now of a dear old white-haired lady way up in her 70's, who lived down in the state of Texas. I remember when I was a student soon after I had been saved and started preaching, one weekend I went to preach for another preacher and this preacher was greatly loved. He sent a letter by me and I found out later that this letter disclosed to the little congregation his resignation. I remember that I preached a "whale" of a big sermon, you know, that Sunday morning! The people sat there and wept just like their hearts would break. I thought I was such a big preacher, but I learned later that they had passed the letter around. The people had found out that their beloved shepherd had to leave them and their hearts were broken. They had not heard anything I had preached that morning!
After the service this dear old white-haired saint of a woman asked me to go home with her out in the country for dinner. She fed me enough to kill a mule, and after the dinner she entertained me by talking. I didn't know the dear old woman sort of took a shine to me! She was very blunt spoken and said, "Son, I have sort of taken a liking to you. It might be that the Lord will make something out of you." She said, "You are just a kid, and you don't know what it is all about." That is the way she talked to me! But she continued, "I am way up in my seventies now, and I have known the Lord Jesus for over 57 years, and I have been walking with Him. I am a widow. I have been alone for these many years, and I am poor." But she said, "I want to tell you something that I hope may be a blessing and a help to you as you go down through your ministry. You don't know whether the Bible is so or not. You have heard that it was, but you don't much know it. But I do. For these many years I have been testing the great promises of God in the Word of God, and for 57 years that has been my practice and has been my joy." Then she said, "Son, this old white-haired woman can tell you this – every one of them is true! Every one of them is true! I know they are true, because they have been made real in my own experience. Praise the Lord!"
Somebody wrote that verse, "Every promise in the Bible is true," but we don't know that except by experience. I've thought of that dear old saint of God many, many times. By experience she had plowed through all the controversy, and she had found in the Book the revelation of a Holy God in Christ Jesus. She had found out the promises of God are "yea and amen," and that God makes good all of His precious promises. This has been a blessing to me down through the years. I can truly say that I have tested some of the great promises of God's blessed Book, and bless your dear heart, I know they are true! They are true!
I shall never forget when I was ordained. I remember my dear friend who has been in glory now many years preached the ordination sermon. I was just a young fellow, and of course, knew "everything," therefore knew nothing much! I was full of vim, vigor and vitality, and I thought that if they would just turn me loose on this old world about a year, I would have the whole outfit converted. And there I was. I remember that preacher standing up there, and among the things he said in his ordination sermon, he said, "Son, you don't know what you are getting into. You are yet able to believe, but there will be nights when you will walk the floor. Your wife can't comfort you; your loved ones can't comfort you. The heavens will be dark, and you will want to die. You will never know what heartaches you are letting yourself in for. You don't realize the opposition of Satan or the absolute depravity of men, even good men." He said, "I just want to remind you of one thing: Rolfe, always be as narrow as the Bible – don't be any broader than the Bible. Let your mind be taken captive by the revelation of God to men that we call the Bible. And preach the Word! Preach the Word!" And so I have given you something of what somebody else said of the Bible.
But now I want to call the Bible to the witness chair, and I want the Bible itself to speak. I think it is dead certain that internal evidence is the best evidence on earth – what somebody knows inside. Here is a Book now, and without any shadow of doubt it is the center of controversy. Everything we believe and everything we hope for has just gone down the drain if the Bible is not a true and trustworthy revelation of the mind, and the will, and the purpose and character of Almighty God. So that is the issue. If the Bible is not a record of God's revelation to man, we know very little about God. If the Bible be not a record of God's revelation to man, we know nothing whatsoever about the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this is vital. So we are calling for the next few moments on the Bible itself, and we are saying, "Bible, you sit down in the witness chair and you swear to tell the truth, so help you God." I want us to look within the covers of the Bible and let it speak for itself. Time would fail me to begin at the beginning and go to the end. We are familiar, of course, with the thundering note that dominates the whole of the Old Testament: "The Word of the Lord came to me," Ezekiel would say. "The Word of the Lord came to me," Isaiah would say.
We read, "The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah," and so on. God will say, "Go tell them what I have said." All the prophets and all the writers say, "Thus saith the Lord." This is what God said about it. The Bible just says, "This is God's Word." Isaiah 43:1: "But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name,' thou art Mine."
When we come to the New Testament, time would fail me, of course, to go into all the books. I want to call your attention to a statement in the Scriptures that the Holy Ghost led the Apostle Paul to write, "A-L-L, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Timothy 3:16). Now that is Paul's claim. He says, "Timothy, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God." By that he meant all of the Old Testament. How much more he meant, I am not in a position to say, but I do know he meant at least all of the Old Testament that we have is inspired – it was given by direct inspiration of God.
Look at that expression, "is given by inspiration of God." Here the Apostle Paul used a certain, definite, particular Greek word, which literally interpreted means, "God breathed on purpose every Word of the Bible." Now that is what Paul said God did. He said, "Timothy, you can just put this down. I am telling you, don't you depart from the Word, for that Word was given on purpose. Every Word of Scripture. God breathed it on purpose: God gave it on purpose.'' Do you see it? "Paul, you are telling me," asks Timothy, "that the whole of what we call the Bible is God saying something on purpose because He meant it, because men are to live by it and be judged by it? Yes, sir, Timothy, that is exactly what I am saying!"
We have here in the New Testament this expression that Paul dares to claim that the Bible is a Book of purpose, that all Scripture is God-breathed, that all Scripture came from God on purpose. For without a doubt, any Greek scholar will tell you that this expression, "given by inspiration of God," literally interpreted means, "All Scripture is breathed on purpose by Almighty God."
Now why did Paul use this particular word? Paul used such an expression as this, "All Scripture is God-breathed on purpose." God breathed on purpose every Word that came from the lips and pens of prophets in the Old Testament. Paul, under the inspiration of God, under that God-breathing-on-purpose of the Holy Ghost on him, is telling Timothy the plain, simple truth. "Every Scripture, all Scripture, is God-breathed-on-purpose, because God meant it that way." He wrote this word down here, "All Scripture is God-breathed-on-purpose," because that is exactly what the Holy Spirit had revealed to him!
The only other explanation of the use of this Word by God's servant, the Apostle Paul, is that God did purpose it, and the reason Paul used this Word is because it is so. The Scripture is breathed upon by God on purpose, the Bible is a purposeful Book. God meant to give us a revelation of what He wanted us to know, what was good for us to know. The Bible is the result of the purposes of God, not to conceal Himself from man, but to reveal Himself to man. So when we pick up this blessed Book, we are looking into a Book that God wrote to His prophets on purpose, and we can have confidence that the thought, and the material, and the Word, and the symbol, and the teaching, and the prophecy, and the exhortations – the whole business of it – came right from the heart of a purposeful God! Therefore we can with confidence approach the Scriptures and say, "Well, bless God, that is what God said, and He said it because that is so, and He said it because He meant it."
Exodus 31:18: "And God gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God." Exodus 32:16: "And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables." Exodus 34:1: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the Words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest."
Therefore, I can stake the destiny of my soul for time and eternity on the Word of the Living God, because I believe we have the Word of the Living God, and I can trust what God has to say. Those words entered into the Bible are recorded on purpose. God meant exactly what He said, and if you believe that to be true, to be God's Word, you will fling yourself out on its promise to be saved. That is all I have, bless God! I believe when I open the Word that I am not looking at the wisdom of man but the revelation of Almighty God, and that He had these words put in there (glory to God!) on purpose, and that I can stake everything on them! I can join old Abraham and believe God. I can join Paul when the Lord Jesus spoke to him on the Damascus road, and I can believe Him. And I can have confidence because I have staked my whole self for time and eternity on the written, God-breathed, eternal, true, immutable, irreversible Word of the Living God!!
Isaiah 45:22-23, 25: "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by Myself, the Word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.... In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory."