The Inspiration of Scripture

Announcer:

This is Today With Derek Prince. The internationally recognized Bible teacher and author presents to you Keys to Successful Living.

As a continuation of last week’s series Laying the Foundation, Derek Prince will begin today his new topic ‘Authority and Power of God’s Word.’ In this teaching he will focus on importance of God’s Word and how its power and authority helps us to build a successful stable Christian life. Let’s listen now as Derek continues this series. Please listen at the end of today’s message for our address and this week’s special offer.

Derek Prince:

In my previous session I pointed out to you that there are two different ways in which the title ‘the Word of God’ is applied. It’s applied to the Bible and it’s applied to Jesus Christ; each of them is called the Word of God. This brings out the fact that there is a complete identity between Jesus and the Bible. The Bible is God’s written word; Jesus is God’s personal word. If we really want to be rightly related to Jesus, we have to be rightly related to the Bible. We cannot be rightly related to Jesus but wrongly related to the Bible. So this evening I want to deal with this theme which is obviously of great importance: the authority and the power of God’s Word.

To begin with the issue of authority, if you stop and consider it you’ll realize that the word authority comes from the word author. In other words, the authority of any work is the authority of the author; it’s the author who gives authority to whatever he produces. So we need to know who is the author of the Bible, who is the author of Scripture? The Bible clearly answers this question in 2 Timothy 3:16. It says:

“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 complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

So if you want to be complete and thoroughly equipped for every good work, the source of it all is Scripture. And Paul says all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. The Greek word is God-breathed. And the word for breath and the word for spirit are identical. So, it means all Scripture is inbreathed by the Spirit of God. In other words, the authority behind all Scripture is the authority of the Holy Spirit. He is ultimately the author. He used many different channels and many different instruments but behind them all is the authority of the Holy Spirit who is God Himself.

“So when we confront the Scripture we confront the authority of God Himself.”

Now it says all Scripture is inspired, not some. Some people would weed out the passages they consider inspired from those they don’t consider really authoritative. But that is not in line with Scripture because the Holy Spirit Himself says all Scripture is inspired by God and all Scripture is profitable. In other words, there’s no books that you can leave out and say they’re not important. Books like Ezra and Nehemiah are very important. The Song of Songs is very important. The prophet Nahum is very important. Don’t just focus on a few well known passages of Scripture and think that they are all that matters because that is not correct.

And if you want to be equipped, you have to be equipped by the whole Scripture. It will take you many years but it’s progressive. You can move on from strength to strength as you meditate on and study and apply the Word of God. And remember that Jesus said building on His foundations is hearing and doing the Word of God. Not just hearing, but hearing and doing.

And then as regards the interpretation of Scripture, there is only one authorized interpreter and that is the author. Out there somewhere you can find quite a number of books that have my name on them, I’m the author. If you’re not quite certain what they mean, I’m the best person to consult because I know what I meant. I may not have said it as clearly as I should have done but I do know what I meant. And if you want to know what any passage of Scripture means, consult the author. He’s the only one who is authorized to interpret Scripture.

“Peter says in 2 Peter chapter 1:20–21:
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation . . .”

No individual can say, ‘I know this is what it means.’ The only one that’s authorized to interpret is the Holy Spirit. And then he goes on:

“. . . for prophecy never came by the will of man but holy men of God spoke as they were moved [or borne along] by the Holy Spirit.”

Again Peter points out what Paul has pointed out, the authority behind the Scripture, the source of inspiration is the Holy Spirit.

Now you might say, and very reasonably, ‘But the men that wrote the Bible were in many cases very weak and fallible. And the Bible even records a lot of their sins.’ I think that’s a mark of the Bible’s accuracy that it records the sins of the people who wrote it. A lot of people today would hush up their sins and not expose them and try to present themselves as infallible. No author of the Bible does that. Even David, who was the author of most of the Psalms, his serious sins are recorded for all to read.

So then, how can the Bible be infallible if the people that wrote it were fallible? There’s a beautiful answer given to that question in Psalm 12:6, one simple verse. Psalm 12:6:

“The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.”

That’s a little picture of how people used to purify metal. They would build a furnace of clay, light a fire in it and then put the metal there to be purified. So you’ve got three things in that picture. You’ve got the furnace of clay, which is the human instrument, just clay. You’ve got the fire which is the Holy Spirit which purifies the silver, which is the message. So that tells us how fallible men and women can be the channels to produce an inspired and an authoritative Word of God. Let me say that again. The clay is the human vessel. The fire is the Holy Spirit. The silver purified seven times, absolutely pure, is the message of God.

And the number seven in the Bible links us to two things, the Holy Spirit and perfection. And perfection is by the Holy Spirit.

So, the Bible, though it came through vessels of clay—weak, fallible, sinful men and women—has been purified seven times by the fire of the Holy Spirit. It is totally reliable.

Now we need to consider the attitude of Jesus Himself toward the Bible because for us who are His disciples, He is the pattern. How did He relate to the Bible? Well we looked at a Scripture this morning but we’ll look at it again in John chapter 10, John chapter 10, verse 35. We don’t need to look at other verses, just that.

“Jesus said . . . [And it’s in the context of a discussion with the Jewish leaders that we don’t need to go into]: ‘If He [that is God] call them ‘gods’ to whom the Word of God came and the Scripture cannot be broken . . .’”

And I pointed out this morning but I’ll say it again, there Jesus gives to the Bible the two titles which His followers have used most ever since, the Word of God and the Scripture. When it says the Bible is the Word of God it means it proceeds from God. It didn’t proceed from man, it came from heaven, from God. And when it says the Scripture it means that which has been recorded in writing. God said many things which are not recorded in writing but those that are recorded in the Scripture, in the Bible, are recorded for our special benefit. They contain all the things we need to know for our salvation.

So that was the attitude of Jesus summed up in that phrase that we looked at this morning but it will be good to repeat it: ‘The Scripture cannot be broken.’ Nothing can express the authority of Scripture more completely than that simple phrase ‘it cannot be broken.’

I would like to invite you to do again this evening what we did this morning, repeat those words with me.

“The Scripture cannot be broken.”

Say it once more.

“The Scripture cannot be broken.”

And now remember, God holds you accountable for what you’ve said, because He’ll expect you to accept the authority of Scripture in every area of your life.

Now let’s look at how Jesus Himself used Scripture. Here again He’s a pattern. We’ll turn to Matthew, the 4th chapter, and we’ll look at something that happened when Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. Matthew chapter 4, but we need to begin at the end of chapter 3. Chapter 3 at the end records how Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan.

“And when He came up from the water the Spirit of God [the Holy Spirit] descended like a dove upon Him and remained upon Him.”

Notice that, it’s important. The Holy Spirit remained on Him. The Holy Spirit has descended on some of us at various times but He hasn’t always remained on us because we have said and done things that He couldn’t remain on. But Jesus never said or did anything that grieved the Holy Spirit or caused that dove to fly away.

Announcer:

Join Derek Prince again tomorrow as he continues his message ‘Authority and Power of God’s Word.’ He’ll illustrate how Jesus used the Scripture to overcome temptation in His life and how we can do the same.

This week’s message is available on audiocassette, No. RC4161, and also on video. Our special offer again this week is Derek’s book If You Want God’s Best which explains the importance of listening to and obeying God’s Word.To receive your copy of ‘Authority and Power of God’s Word’ write today and include a contribution of $5.00 or more for the audiocassette RC4161 or $14.95 for the video teaching.

Include a gift of any amount for the book If You Want God’s Best.

Derek Prince also welcomes your letters and prayer requests. Our mailing address is Derek Prince Ministries, Box 19501, Charlotte, North Carolina 28219. That’s Derek Prince Ministries, Box 19501, Charlotte, North Carolina 28219. In Canada write to Derek Prince Ministries, Box 8354, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 5M1. The Canadian address again is Box 8354, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 5M1, and please give us the call letters of this station when you write.

This radio ministry is supported by your prayers and financial contributions. Remember that contributions in excess of the value of the material are tax deductible and we relay on them to keep this ministry on the air.