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The Authority of Scripture

Sunday, January 21, 2024
Pastor Jojo Ma

 

John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth.

I.          What authority does mean [Definition]
II.        What authority does not mean [Clarification]
III.       What authority means for us [Application]

I.         What authority does mean [Definition]
Tim Challies: “The Bible is the Supreme Court of all truth, and all other lesser authorities must align with it or be rejected.” 

“The Bible is the Supreme Court of all truth, and all other lesser authorities must align with it or be rejected.”

If you disbelieve or disobey God’s Word, that is the same as disbelieving and disobeying God Himself. How you and I respond to Scripture is how we respond to God.

If God, the highest authority, has given us His Word, then it must have authority over us. Our doctrine of Scripture ultimately is tied to our doctrine of God. The Bible is God’s Word with God’s authority. Reject His Word, reject God. Disobey His Word, disobey God.

2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God.

1 Cor 14:37 The things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.

Jn 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth.

The weakness of the American church today is that we don’t really know God very well because we have not been spending time in our Bibles.

“The Bible is the Supreme Court of all truth, and all other lesser authorities must align with it or be rejected.”

II.        What authority does not mean [Clarification]
First, the authority of Scripture does not mean the Bible speaks authoritatively on everything.

Whatever the Bible does speak on, it does so with absolute truthfulness and this means we can fully trust it. Truthfulness and trustworthiness go together. God’s Word is truth so His Word can be fully trusted.

Second, the authority of Scripture does not mean lesser authorities have no place in our lives.

The world is general revelation and the Word is special revelation. They are both revelation from God but they are not equal. Special revelation, God’s written Word, is the ultimate judge of what we learn in general revelation, in the world.

III.      What authority means for us [Application]
First, because of Scripture’s authority, Christians should humbly test all thingsActs 17:11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the Word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Second, because of Scripture’s authority, Christians must not only receive the words of God eagerly but respond to the words of God obediently.

1 Thes 2:13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the Word of God, which is at work in you believers.

Is the Bible making a difference in your life because it is sufficient, clear, and authoritative?

The authority of Scripture keeps us on the straight and narrow and reminds us whose voice we must most listen to.

Wayne Grudem: “We are to seek to trust the words of Scripture, for in doing so, we are seeking to trust God Himself. And we are to seek to obey the words of Scripture, for in doing so, we are seeking to obey God Himself.”