1. "It seems that God's Word so represents Himself that it is an appropriate object of our praise."

2. "The Bible tells us about God. We as a whole congregation believe this. It's not just you or me as individuals."

3. "We have a statement about the Bible because this is how we know all the other truth that we know, including the truth about God."

4. "The human authorship of these books is an insufficient explanation for them. The more I know it, the more it is obviously not able to be explained as merely a human book. Truly human words can be truly divine words."

5. "Consider the joy that we have in knowing that God, our Creator, the Judge of all the earth, has spoken to us. This is not a normal run-of-the-mill kind of blessing, but this is a kind of mother of all other blessings."

6. "The Bible is not filled with enigmatic guesses or mysterious riddles. Here in the Bible we find no unfounded suppositions, no mere human intuitions and attempts. This book is God's guidance to us."

7. "The purpose of the Scripture is not merely to inform us, but to save us."

8. "If you're reading the Bible and you don't understand it, read it again. And after that, read it again. Your reading a passage ten times in a row will tell you more about it than any book you're going to go read on it."

9. "Our unity comes not from our family or our nationality, not from our race or our status, not from our gender, or our wealth, or our poverty, or our politics, but from our shared new life in Christ, our shared status as adopted members of a family to which none of us naturally belong."

10. "The Bible is increasingly on the wrong side of history. No, the Bible is on the right side of history. And every year the Bible has existed, it's looked like it's on the wrong side of history to many, many people. This is not a new situation."

Observation Questions

1. According to 2 Timothy 3:16, what is the origin of all Scripture, and what four things does Paul say Scripture is profitable for?

2. In 2 Timothy 3:17, what is the stated purpose or result of Scripture being profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness?

3. In Psalm 56:10, what does the psalmist say he does in response to God's word, and how does this connect to praising God Himself?

4. What warning does Proverbs 30:5-6 give about God's words, and what does it say happens to those who add to them?

5. According to 2 Timothy 3:15, what are the sacred writings able to do for Timothy, and through what means does this wisdom come?

6. In Acts 17:11, how did the Bereans respond to Paul's teaching, and what standard did they use to evaluate whether his message was true?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does the sermon argue that the Statement of Faith begins with a doctrine of Scripture rather than a doctrine of God, and what does this ordering reveal about the Bible's foundational role for all Christian belief?

2. How does the sermon explain the relationship between human authorship and divine inspiration of Scripture, and why is it important to affirm both that the Bible was "written by men" and "breathed out by God"?

3. The sermon states that the Bible has "salvation for its end." How does this purpose shape the way we should approach reading and studying Scripture, rather than treating it merely as an information source?

4. What does the sermon mean when it calls the Bible "the true center of Christian union," and why does it argue that unity cannot be found in bishops, conventions, or church structures?

5. How does Jesus' treatment of the Old Testament (such as quoting Genesis 2:24 as God speaking in Matthew 19) serve as a model for how Christians today should regard and handle Scripture?

Application Questions

1. The sermon challenges us to examine how much time we spend in God's Word compared to other sources of information and entertainment. What specific adjustment could you make this week to prioritize reading and reflecting on Scripture?

2. If the Bible is "the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried," how might this truth change the way you evaluate news, social media content, or advice you receive from others?

3. The sermon emphasizes that our unity as Christians comes from our shared life in Christ and submission to Scripture, not from family, nationality, race, or politics. Is there a relationship in your life where you need to pursue unity based on the gospel rather than allowing other identities to divide you?

4. Martin Luther described studying the Bible like shaking every branch and looking under every leaf of a tree. What is one passage or book of the Bible you have been avoiding or skimming over that you could commit to studying more carefully and repeatedly?

5. The sermon presents the gospel invitation: that Christ died for sinners and calls all to turn and trust in Him. If you have trusted in Christ, who is one person you could share this message with this week? If you are still considering the gospel, what is holding you back from responding to this invitation?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Psalm 19:7-14 — This passage celebrates the perfection, trustworthiness, and life-giving power of God's law, reinforcing the sermon's teaching that Scripture is a heavenly treasure worthy of our delight.

2. Psalm 119:97-112 — This section of the longest psalm demonstrates the psalmist's love for God's Word and its role in giving wisdom, guidance, and life, echoing the sermon's call to treasure Scripture.

3. Matthew 4:1-11 — Jesus responds to Satan's temptations by repeatedly appealing to Scripture as the final authority, modeling how believers should rely on God's Word as the supreme standard.

4. Hebrews 4:12-13 — This passage describes the living and active nature of God's Word and its power to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart, supporting the sermon's point that Scripture reveals the principles by which God will judge us.

5. 2 Peter 1:16-21 — Peter affirms the divine origin of Scripture, explaining that prophecy came not from human will but from men carried along by the Holy Spirit, reinforcing the sermon's teaching on divine inspiration.

Sermon Main Topics

I. Introduction: Is It Appropriate to Praise God's Word?

II. Faith in the Bible Is a Shared Conviction, Not a Private Conclusion

III. The Bible Is Both Human and Divine in Authorship

IV. The Bible Is Perfect, Complete, and a Heavenly Treasure

V. The Bible Has God for Its Author and Salvation for Its Purpose

VI. The Bible Is True Without Any Mixture of Error

VII. The Bible Is the Supreme Standard for Conduct, Creeds, and Opinions

VIII. Conclusion: A Prayer from Psalm 119

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Detailed Sermon Outline

Well friends, the text that we suggested you study for this article of our Statement of Faith is found in 2 Timothy 316-17. It's reprinted on the front of your bulletin.

In it we read these words, All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. That the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Some during these last few months have been more pressed than ever. I know that just reading through the reports of the staff who've been phoning around as you've graciously taken the phone calls. It's so interesting how the younger members seem surprised by being phoned, some offended, some startled, some scared. The older members relieved, like they're having a memory of the way life used to be. Thank you so much for calling me.

Many of you have shared details that we have been able to pray for, and it's given me a sense of what's going on in the congregation more than I've had probably since we were about 150 or 200 in membership. I know that because of that, that some of you have been pressed very, very hard in these days, as we were just thinking about even in praying. At the same time, I know that others have had more discretionary time to read and reflect.

I'm wondering how you've been doing taking time to read and reflect and to pray in God's Word. Friend, God's Word is worth our thinking about.

Should we praise God's Word? I remember as a child singing Holy Bible Book Divine as a hymn. What do you think? Is that appropriate to sing a hymn to the Bible?

Some people have charged that praising the Bible amounts to a kind of bibliolatry. That's taking the word Bible and adding it to idolatry. Well, what should we think? Well, it's very interesting. In Psalm 56:10, we read, In God whose word I praise.

In the Lord whose word I praise.

It seems that God's Word so represents Himself that it is an appropriate object of our praise. Well, we want to spend some of our time together this evening praising God for His Word, and to do so, we want to more carefully consider what the Bible is. Let me tell you one way to follow this through whatever sunny sprinkles we may have.

If you take your program, whether it's a paper copy or on your phone, and you look at that article we just read together, I'm literally just going to walk through this article and make some observations about what this summarizes we know and believe to be true about the Scriptures. And I'll do this in the form of a kind of catechism with questions. Question 1, Is faith in the Bible and its teaching just my private conclusion?

Well, look at the very first word there, we. No, faith in the Bible and its teaching is not just my private conclusion. This is not merely subjectively, individually what I think. Like when I had someone answer one time in a class, I asked what God was like and someone began to answer, well, I like to think of God like this. Well, it's all very well and good that he liked to think of God like that, but that doesn't necessarily tell us what God is like.

No, the Bible tells us about God. We as a whole congregation believe this. It's not just you or me as individuals.

Question number two then moves over to that next phrase, Believe that the Holy Bible... Do we need to agree about the Bible in order to be together in church?

Yes. Our understanding of this book, not like any other book, our understanding of what it is, is a basic part of our following Christ as individuals. It's part of what we have to agree on as a congregation together. The Bible, these 66 books of the Old and New Testaments from Genesis to Revelation and no others are what we mean by the Holy Bible. Even in the text that I began by reading, you'll notice Paul begins by writing in 2 Timothy 3:16, All Scripture.

All Scripture is breathed out by God. The very fact that this is the first article shows how basic it is to all of our other agreements. Wouldn't it make most sense to start our Statement of Faith with a statement about God? But we have a statement about the Bible because this is how we know all the other truth that we know, including the truth about God. So this is why we see that though we won't agree on everything in the Bible, we must agree on what the Bible is and how it functions among us.

So we believe that the Holy Bible... Now question three, was the Bible written by humans? Was the Bible written by humans? Well, the answer is yes. You see that next phrase was written by men.

We don't think that the Bible was written by God in such a way as to exclude the human writers as meaningfully being the authors of the book. We know that Paul wrote these two letters of 1 and 2 Timothy. And we can notice the differences in style between Paul and Luke or between John and Mark. These authors employed human languages like Hebrew and Greek and they used common expressions in those languages. So we say here it was written by men.

But question number four, does human authorship alone explain the Bible? No. You see that next, those next two words, divinely inspired. Friends, the human authorship of these books is an insufficient explanation for them. And let me just add my testimony as a soon-to-be 60-year-old who's been reading the Bible for decades.

The more I know it, the more it is obviously not able to be explained as merely a human book. Truly human words can be truly divine words. We believe each book to have been inspired by God, or more literally, as Paul puts it here in verse 16 breathed out. Ultimately, this book has a divine origin. God speaks, and He has spoken to us.

He's not left us to guess how to come to Him. We don't have to discern what His guidance is from what the clouds may look like temporarily. God has fully inspired these books. The actions that they tell of from creation to the consummation From the Exodus to Calvary are the actions of God. How He has created all this is by His powerful Word.

And the doctrines they teach are the doctrines of God. That's why we call this divinely inspired. But now, question five: what is missing from the Bible? Well, that's where we see these next few words. And is a perfect, perfect.

Nothing is missing from the Bible. The Bible lacks nothing that we need. It is fully sufficient for us. No additional revelation or tradition is needed. We just heard John Lee read to us from Proverbs 30:6, Do not add to His words.

Now the Bible is perfect. In the sense of being complete, lacking nothing needed.

And then question 6, How do we value the Bible? Well, it's that next word, is a perfect treasure. We treasure it. As a son treasures a father's wise and loving instructions. Friends, consider the joy that we have in knowing that God, our Creator, the Judge of all the earth, has spoken to us.

Friends, what an amazing privilege that is. I trust even underneath your masks you're happy about that. That you can understand that this is not a normal run-of-the-mill kind of blessing, but this is a kind of mother of all other blessings. That's why we study it as we do. Martin Luther said that, I study my Bible as I gather apples.

First, I shake the whole tree that the ripest might fall. Then I shake each limb. And when I have shaken each limb, I shake each branch and every twig. And then I look under every leaf. Friends, when we gather, normally that's what we do.

It is the joyful task of your teachers and preachers to bring some of those out to us every Lord's Day we can gather. How could we not treasure God giving Himself to us in His Word? So of course we view this as a treasure. Question 7. What kind of wisdom does the Bible give to us?

Well, look at that next word, of heavenly. Heavenly. This is not a treasury of temporary and passing wisdom and guidance, but of wisdom touching those deepest, highest, greatest, longest-lasting, eternal matters of our lives, matters having to do with our salvation and sanctification. Spurgeon said, Be much with the holy Word of God, and you will be holy. Be much with the silly novels of the day and the foolish trifles of the hour and whatever people are binging on Netflix and you will degenerate into vapid wasters of your time.

But be much with the solid teaching of God's Word and you will become solid and substantial men and women. That was the Living Bible translation of Spurgeon. But you get the point. The wisdom the Bible gives us is heavenly wisdom. About heavenly matters.

Question 8, how should we regard the Bible? Well, it's heavenly, that next word, instruction. The Bible is not filled with enigmatic guesses or mysterious riddles. Here in the Bible we find no unfounded suppositions, no mere human intuitions and attempts. This book is God's guidance to us.

It's not merely a collection of sayings which reflect back to us in beautiful form things that we already knew and thought before we read the Bible. No, friends, this is instruction. God is teaching us what we did not know before we began to read it. He is instructing us.

Is God the author of the Bible? Well, that's the next thing we say in our statement. You look there, that next line that it has God for its author. Yes, though as we've said, these books are the products of human authors like David and Solomon, God was supervising and leading these authors. The Bible is the Word of the living God.

It's very interesting. I can give you so many examples of this from the Bible. But in Genesis 2:24, we just have a statement at the very end of Genesis 2. In which we read, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. It's a familiar verse.

It's not attributed to anybody. It's just part of the narrative there in Genesis 2. But very interesting, when Jesus quotes this in Matthew 19, He introduces it in Matthew 19 saying, He which made them says.

Friends, Jesus treated the whole Old Testament as if it were spoken by God, as if it were God's Word. And we who follow Jesus, we follow Christ, we've learned how we treat the Bible from how Christ treats the Bible. As a gracious gift from God to us, as His Word, so that we can say that it has God for its author.

Question number 10, why did God inspire the Bible? Well, look at that next phrase, salvation for its end. There may be some of the articles in the Statement of Faith that are going to be more gloriously devotional than this one. But this would be the high point of this one. The purpose of the Scripture is not merely to inform us, but to save us.

You know, Juneteenth was a couple of days ago. And it's a strange holiday for those of you who don't know much about it. Because in one sense, it's the celebration historically of people in Galveston, Texas being informed over two months late that the Civil War had ended, and over two years late that the Emancipation Proclamation had been given.

And that they were in fact legally to be regarded as free. So a year later in 1866 the inhabitants of Galveston and elsewhere began to observe it as a celebration of their freedom. Well what we celebrate is not the delay in them finding out. What we celebrate is the freedom that they found that they had legally, that they were given. And friends that's the kind of celebration that we Christians should naturally like a celebration of freedom.

That's a Christian kind of celebration. Christians should love this. Especially because as good as a legal and physical emancipation is, it can point to an even greater, more complete, more long-lasting emancipation that we received in Christ. So the reason God inspired the Bible is to bring us the news. And the reason we gather every Sunday as we can In part, it is to celebrate this news.

It is our celebration of redemption. The news has reached us. We are free in Christ. You see that verse just before our passage, verse 15, in which Paul refers to the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation. See, and that says this Bible is the Word of life.

Friends, you may be here with a member of your family or a friend who's brought you. And you don't know that life. We would love you to know that life. We would like this to be your Emancipation Day from your guilt of sin before God. We would like you to understand that God made us in His image, that He made us specifically to know Himself.

But that because of our sins, we've been separated from God. But in His amazing love, He has pursued us. He sent His only Son to live and die as a sacrifice for us. On the cross, Jesus took the penalty that we deserved with our sins. He took it upon Himself for all who would turn and trust in Him.

God raised Him from the dead. He ascended to heaven where He presented His sacrifice to be accepted by His heavenly Father. And He calls all of us now to turn and to trust in Him. Have you done that? Do you know what that would mean for you to be given the new life that you could find in Christ.

Talk to whoever you came with today. Talk to a Christian friend here at this church. Let us help you see what that could mean in your own life. Because the whole point of this Bible, its end, we say here in our Statement of Faith, is salvation. That's you coming to know forgiveness from God in Christ.

Question number 3, or 11, Is the Bible true? Well, just look at the next phrase, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter. So yes, the Bible is true. The Bible is true and is constituted by truth. Though it at times reports sin and error, it never teaches that which is wrong.

Proverbs 30:5 that John read to us, Every word of God proves true. Jesus at one point in John 10 when He quotes the Old Testament Scriptures, He just says as an aside, and of course the Scriptures cannot be broken. He says in prayer to His Father, you, Word is true, John 17. Friends, the Scriptures teach no error. They are inerrant.

They never mislead us. They are infallible. They are therefore completely trustworthy. And reliable, even as God, whose word the Scriptures are, is trustworthy and reliable. That's why we say here the truth without any mixture of error for its matter.

Okay, going on to the next little bit there. What does the Bible teach us? What does the Bible teach us? What's that next phrase? That it reveals the principles by which God will judge us.

The Bible unfailingly teaches us about those actions and attitude which God calls us to, and to which He will hold us finally to account. Ever since Satan tempted Adam and Eve to think God's words to them were unclear, we have needed to steady ourselves to carefully hear and believe what God has revealed. Friend, if you're reading the Bible and you don't understand it, read it again. And after that, read it again. Your reading a passage ten times in a row will tell you more about it than any book you're going to go read on it.

The Bible is much more clear than you may think sometimes. Read it and read it again. God is able to reveal to us in our limited knowledge what He means to teach us. His Word is clear to us. He gives us His Spirit to help us understand His Word.

He gives us the local church and those gifted with teaching His Word to help us understand so we can be sure that it is effective and powerful. It reveals successfully the principles by which God will judge us. And then that next word and therefore is. So question 13, Does believing the Bible is true make a difference? Yes.

The Bible being all these things, it necessarily has a particular and special role among us. Question 14, Is the Bible out of date? No. Look at that next phrase, and shall remain to the end of the world. The Bible's role as God's Word is not a temporary thing or for a moment.

Rather, the Bible's unique role will continue until Christ returns. If you want to think more about the everlastingness of God's Word, read Psalm 19 or Psalm 119 as you go home this evening. The Bible's unique role will continue until Christ returns. And then this next phrase, the true center of Christian union... the true center of Christian union.

So question 15, what is to be the ground of our union with other Christians? Friends, there are so many things our world is telling us to take as our primary identity. No bishop, even in Rome, no convention, even in Nashville, no church structure, even the greatest group of elders, is the foundation of our unity. Only the Bible is our Atlas, or for the younger ones, our GPS, our umpire. Our shared authority.

You think of the example of the Bereans in Acts 17:11 where they searched the Scriptures to see if these things were true. How would they know whether they were following Paul's teaching? Is what he said consistent with what they knew God had already revealed in the Bible? Friends, our unity comes not from our family or our nationality, not from our race or our status, not from our gender, or our wealth, or our poverty, or our politics, but from our shared new life in Christ, our shared status as adopted members of a family to which none of us naturally belong. And that's why we give ourselves to careful listening to God's Word.

Insofar as we listen to this Word, we understand it and believe it, we will be united. We will know that unity. Insofar as we listen to other things more, our unity will decline. Your search for the unity you must need will not be found apart from the unity and forgiveness all sinners can find in the redeeming blood of Christ. That's what this book tells us, and that's what this book is all about.

This message is the true center of Christian union. Question 16 brings us to that next phrase, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct. How are we to decide how we should live? Questions of ethics and morality are settled by the Bible. It is as relevant today as it was the day it was written.

But mark, the Bible is increasingly on the wrong side of history. No, the Bible is on the right side of history. And every year the Bible has existed, it's looked like it's on the wrong side of history to many, many people. This is not a new situation. The Bible is true as the Word of God.

It is the standard above which there is no other. It is the Word of our supreme Commander. That's why Paul here in the text calls it profitable for training in righteousness. Or in the next verse in 2 Timothy 3:17, this is how he could be equipped for every good work. This is the supreme standard.

By which all human conduct is to be tried. Or question 17, How are we to decide what we should believe? Well, there's that next word, creeds. Creed is just from the word credo, which means I believe. It's just a statement of those things we believe.

In our case, things we believe that the Bible teaches. So questions of religion and theology. For example, is there a purgatory after we die? Such questions are not best settled by tradition, but by the Bible. Though 1 Timothy 3:15 refers to the church as the pillar and buttress of the truth, any church that would pit itself against the Bible's teaching forfeits that role.

Any true creed is simply a summary of the Bible's teaching.

And then you see those words and opinion. And opinions. How are we to decide, question 18, how are we to decide what we should think? Questions of truth and fact are settled by the Bible. So for example, while the Bible never discusses political freedom as we mean it today, it discusses doctrines that impinge on and undergird our discussion of politics and of freedom.

The very things that are filling the news right now are all things that are informed by what the Bible tells us about the value of people made in the image of God, about each person giving an account to God, about each person's right to own things, each person's right to justice, to ultimately hope in God, the instructions of family, the institutions of public rulers, etc. All of these kinds of opinions we learn important truths about in the Bible. And that last phrase, should be tried. So it's the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds and opinions should be tried. Question 19, how are we to decide what we should teach?

Friends, the Bible is our arbiter. We study it to increase knowledge and weigh claims of truth.

Therefore, Scripture alone is our final authority as a congregation. That is why the Bible is at the center of all of our public teaching. Even in a topical message like this one, we want the Bible's wisdom in us. So in our teaching, we get into the Bible. Reflecting on his education, Booker T. Washington said, Perhaps the most valuable thing that I got out of my second year was an understanding of the use and the value of the Bible.

Miss Natalie Lord, one of the teachers from Portland, Maine, taught me how to use and love the Bible. Before this I had never cared a great deal about it, but now I learned to love and to read the Bible. The lessons taught me in this respect took such a hold upon me that at the present time when I am at home, no matter how busy I am, I always make it a rule to read a chapter or a portion of a chapter in the morning before beginning the work of the day. John Jasper described his method of preparing his sermons. First, I read my Bible until a text gets hold of me.

Then I go down to the James River and walk it, and then I get into my pulpit and preach it out. Friends, that's what we intend to do in our devotion to God's Word. We intend to be captured by it and then to share that Word with you. We listen to God as we together study God's Word. Well, friends, that's just a quick walk through this first article.

In our statement of faith. I hope that's helpful to you. I know it's very basic, but sometimes the basic things are the most important things for us to think about to remind us what brings us together. In conclusion for this brief sermon, I just want to point out to you that the longest chapter in the Bible is all about this. It's Psalm 119.

A great psalm to read through, to pray for understanding of God's Word, and to praise Him for teaching us in His statutes and promising to sing of His Word. You know, there are people around the world who struggle trying to figure out what they can do. How can they cause the God of the volcano to calm down? Can we throw somebody in so He will be pacified. Friends, we're not in any situation like that at all.

The God of the universe who made us and will judge us has revealed Himself in His Word, and He has made that Word known to us. That's why we can say like the psalmist that His law is our delight. Friends, let me conclude this message by just reading the last stanza of Psalm 119. It's a prayer. And it can be our prayer this evening.

Psalm 119, beginning in verse 169.

Let my cry come before you, O Lord. Give me understanding according to youo Word. Let my plea come before you. Deliver me according to youo Word. My lips will pour forth praise, for your teach me youe statutes.

My tongue will sing of youf Word, for all youl commandments are right. Let yout hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen youn precepts. I long for your salvation, O Lord, and youd law is my delight. Let my soul live and praise youe, and let yout rules help me. I have gone astray like a lost sheep.

Seek youk servant, for I do not forget yout commandments. O God, this is our prayer this evening, offered in Jesus' name. Amen.