It Is Written.    Romans 14:11

“It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’”

Our focus this morning is the Authority of the Word of God for our lives. As we begin our consideration of our text we want to consider this:

When Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts, he was running hard for a second term in office. One day, after a busy morning chasing votes (and no lunch) he arrived at a church barbecue. It was late afternoon and Herter was famished. As Herter moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the woman serving chicken. She put a piece on his plate and turned to the next person in line.

"Excuse me," Governor Herter said, "do you mind if I have another piece of chicken?"
"Sorry," the woman told him. "I'm supposed to give one piece of chicken to each person."
"But I'm starved," the governor said.
"Sorry," the woman said again. "Only one to a customer."
Governor Herter was a modest and unassuming man, but he decided that this time he would throw a little weight around.
"Do you know who I am?" he said. "I am the governor of this state."
"Do you know who I am?" the woman said. "I'm the lady in charge of the chicken. Move along, mister."  Bits & Pieces, May 28, 1992, pp. 5-6.

We should understand that Christ the living Word and the Bible the written Word, are one and the same. When he says, “It is written.” He is speaking about the Bible, Himself, His Word.

Paul wrote to Timothy about the Scripture and this is what he said in 2 Timothy 3:16-17:

¹⁶All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. ¹⁷It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.

The word for inspired comes from the Latin and means “inbreathed”

The Greek word used here is one that combines two thoughts: God (theos) and breath (pneustos).

The word theos, God, is found in theology, theophany, atheist, Dorothy, Theodore and

The word for breath is pneuma from which comes pneumatic, as in tires that have air in them, pneumonia which is a disease of the lungs. The Apostle Paul under the influence of the Holy Spirit writes to Timothy that Scripture is God breathed…that is, inspired.

Just as God breathed into man after his creation and made him a living soul, so God breathed into the writers of the Bible so that each one of them could write the Holy Scriptures.

Note this important distinction in our consideration of this text:  The Bible teaches us that the Scriptures are the inspired Word of God. Nothing is said about the writers being inspired men. Only their writings are inspired.

Inspiration applies to the Bible as we have it. Moses lost his temper and killed a man, but that does not alter the fact that God kept him from error in recording facts already known, or new facts received directly by revelation from God.

David committed adultery and murder, but that does not alter the fact that God spoke through him that his prophecies of things to come and that his revelation about Christ were divine writings because of God’s inspiration.

How did God speak to those men who were to give us the inspired Word of God?

To Isaiah, God spoke in audible words. (The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears” (Isa. 22:14)

To Daniel, the Lord came in the middle of the night in a vision revealing divine secrets (Daniel 2:19).

What God revealed to Daniel was sealed up until the time of the end of the world. This revelation was given to John on the Island of Patmos and we have it as the Book of Revelation. The word revelation comes from apokalupsis which comes from two words apo (which means “off”) and kalupto (which means “to cover”). The word means to take off the cover, to unveil. On the Island of Patmos, God took the cover off the revelation given to Daniel and allowed John to see future world events.

We don’t know how Paul received the truth he shares with us in his letters, but we know that he received it by direct revelation from Jesus (Galatians 1:11, 12). Someone has said that after his conversion to Christ, Paul went out into the wilderness to be alone with Christ. When he went out there he took with him Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. When he came back out of the Wilderness he brought with him Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, 1 & 2 Timothy and 1 & 2 Thessalonians. All based on what Jesus revealed to him.

What are we to believe about the Bible? Is every word of the Bible true? The Bible does not teach that every word in it is true. The Bible does teach us that it is a record of facts and a revelation of God. If someone in the Bible lies, it is recorded as a lie. The truth is that a lie was told. The Bible contains many stories of fallen and faithless human beings whose deeds were likewise faithless.

Inspiration merely assures us of the accuracy of the Biblical accounts. It does not mean that the Bible approves the utterances of deeds of the characters in a particular story. Take the friends of Job for example, they go on and on with paragraphs of “encouragement” for Job. God’s estimate of their utterances: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge.” (Job 38:2) God specifically denies that these men are telling the truth. What is true is that this is what these men actually said to Job.

On the other hand, where God speaks directly in the Scriptures there is not only complete accuracy but also absolute authority. In the first five books of the Old Testament, the phrase “the Lord said” occurs almost 800 times. Our approach to reading the Scriptures should be one of recognizing the accuracy and the authority of the Word of God over our lives. Surrender to the Word of God is the correct approach to it as we read it.

Those who do not believe that the Word of God is accurate or Authoritative will not believe that Jesus is the Son of God and what he said when he was here on earth. Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself, but because it contradicts them.

The Word of God uses some interesting symbols that reveal what God thinks of his Word and what he intends it to be for us:

The Bible is a lamp unto our feet and a light for our path. (Psalm 119:105) In the time of the Old Testament people had feeble lanterns or lamps that cast enough light for people to take a step or two. The image is that the Bible will give us enough light to take that next step toward home.

God tells Jeremiah, “Is not may Word like fire?” (Jeremiah 23:29) The fire will consume all that is false and all those who refuse mercy and grace he offers.

Jeremiah 23:29 goes on to say, “Is not my word like a hammer which breaks the rock in pieces?” His Word will be the standard for judgment.

The Word of God is “sharper than a double edged sword.” This is the offensive weapon in the hands of the believer. Jesus met the attack of the enemy with the words, “It is written…” Think back to the temptation in the Wilderness. Three times he was tempted by Satan and three times he said, “It is written…” That same weapon is available to us in the midst of spiritual warfare.

It is interesting that the word for “sword” is used in the ancient world for “a scalpel” a surgeon would use. Hebrews 4:12:

¹²For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are.

Paul writes in Ephesians 6 that the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. It is interesting that he uses the word “rhema” for the Word of God. That word tells us that the sword of the Spirit is the spoken Word of God. It is the Word of God that the Holy Spirit brings to our minds in the middle of some situation that is appropriate for the situation we are in. That specific passage of the Word of God is just what we need when we need it. That is the sword of the Spirit that will accomplish what God desires.

It is what is written for us, inspired by the Holy Spirit, that will accomplish what God desires. Get to know it. Memorize it. Make it part of your life and it will be there for the Holy Spirit to draw on when you need it. That is the rhema, the Word of God that is appropriate for the occasion, which is the sword of the Spirit.

The Word of God is also a mirror (James 1:23, 24). This is why the Bible is the most hated book in all the world, as well as the most loved. This mirror of God shows man his inner being. Blessed is the man or woman who can see himself as he really is in the mirror of God and turn to Christ for salvation, mercy and grace. The really neat thing about the mirror of God is that once we have come to Christ and we begin to take on the character of Christ, the mirror begins to show us that we have begun taking on the image of Christ. Remember, the Scripture tells that, “one day we shall be like him for we shall be with him.” That is what the mirror of God will reveal to us.

What a book!

It clearly reveals to us in every part that it has been written by God.

It is our authority and our life.

God breathed for us His Word …Designed by God as a guide for our lives to give us direction and purpose; a standard to measure our own thoughts, words and deeds. God expects us to believe it and receive it and obey it. And when we do we will be truly blessed.

Let me close with this thought:  People have all kinds of ideas about how we should live. They think that their ideas are such that if we will just follow their teaching we will be better disciples. The problem is that often times their intention is to control our lives. As helpful or as harmful as they might be, what they have to say about God and His Word are just their ideas. It is what they understand God to be saying. But remember, what they would teach us is not “written”. It is not the written Word of God.

God trusts you to read the Word, to meditate on it and to make it part of your life. In fact, he expects you to do so. And when you do, the Holy Spirit will help you to understand what it says, what it meant to the people who received it and what it means to you and I today.

If you are willing to invest your time and energy in understanding the Word of God, you will be able to do so. You will find that you are ready to show others the way, because the Holy Spirit has done if for you.

What is the value of the Word of God…the word that is written for us?

2 Timothy 3:16-17:  ¹⁶All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. ¹⁷It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.

It will teach us what is true.

It will show us when we have gotten off the true path of life.

It will show us how to get back on the right path.

It will equip us so that we will be ready to do all that God wants us to do for Christ and the Kingdom of God.

All we have to do is give “what is written” the chance to do so by reading, studying, meditating on and memorizing the Scripture.

--Dennis Gleason

 Sermon by Pastor Dennis R. Gleason -- September 25, 2005