Text – Job 36:22,23

INTRODUCTION

When I was a young boy I used to lay awake at night wondering about God. Not that I was a pious young man, by any stretch. I would contemplate what He must be like. In my young mind I would wonder whether He looked like me -- or whether His appearance was so huge and foreign that He couldn’t be seen from just one point of view. I was curious about where He came, whether or not He was a part of a race of gods, did He kind of float around in the universe or did He have a "place" of some kind. Yes, I was kind of weird – but, oddly enough, I never doubted the existence of God; I just didn’t know what He was. I didn’t know how to relate to Him.

I didn’t have what you would call a religious upbringing, but my parents belonged to big Methodist church in suburban central Ohio, and I must have been a member there because they gave me a Bible – it was a Revised Standard Version that I still have on my bookshelf. It has a presentation page dated September 8, 1957 and it is signed by Rev. Kenneth F. Clark, Jr.. I can’t remember who he is, I don’t even have a face in my memory associated with this name from my past. …But he gave me a Bible when I was 9 years old, like – I imagine—he gave to many other children who attended Worthington Methodist Church.

Being, I think, a fairly normal (though admittedly weird) young man I made attempts to read my Bible – I even dedicated myself reading it cover to cover, although I can’t remember getting farther than the story of Noah and the Ark. But again, oddly enough, I never doubted that the Bible Rev. Clark had given me was the Word of God; I just couldn’t understand it. I didn’t know it related to me.

So, without religious training and completely ignorant of the Scriptures, as a boy of 9 or 10 years I KNEW that God existed and that the Bible was His Book. And, you know – I don’t think my life experience has been that much different than anyone else, ever. I believe that all of us, being created as the image-bearers of God, carry in us the conviction that God is and that His truth is revealed to us in the Holy Bible. I hope to demonstrate that conviction in this message.

Today, I am going to try to make you better theologians. I say "better", because we are all theologians. We are not all equal as theologians, but we are all theologians.

So, today it is my goal to continue your theological education while inspiring you all to live godly in Christ Jesus. A lofty goal, admittedly. But it is the desire of every preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ to edify those who hear the message, and be some small means of God’s grace in bringing all of us to a more complete understanding of the Word of God – even though we who are privileged to preach the gospel know how profoundly we lack, and what sinners we are.

Now, we Evangelical types make much of our view of the Bible; and, we Reformed Evangelicals even more. This morning, I want to begin to help us see clearly the importance of not merely how we view the Scriptures, but how we use them, and apply them in our lives every day. However, in order to accomplish this goal we must first be able to view God correctly. The Word of God cannot be separated from the God of the Word.

SOME ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

In order to know who God is, we must first know what God is. Actually, it is easier for most of us to understand the "who" part because "who God is" is in large part relational, i.e.: God the Father. We relate to the fatherhood of God.

What we do not relate to, are many aspects of what God is -- what His character is. Some of His attributes that He does not share with His creatures are so beyond us that we do not have a clue as to their real nature. We may define them, but we don’t share them. You’re familiar with the movie "Clueless?" That is the entire human race when we talk about the "incommunicable" attributes of God.

So, what is God that we should bother paying attention to anything He says?

Our confession is excellent on the subject:

"There is but one only,[1] living, and true God,[2] who is infinite in being and perfection,[3] a most pure spirit,[4] invisible,[5] without body, parts,[6] or passions;[7] immutable,[8] immense,[9] eternal,[10] incomprehensible,[11] almighty,[12] most wise,[13] most holy,[14] most free,[15] most absolute;[16] working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will,[17] for his own glory;[18] most loving,[19] gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin;[20] the rewarder of them that diligently seek him;[21] and withal, most just, and terrible in his judgments,[22] hating all sin,[23] and who will by no means clear the guilty.[24]

"God hath all life,[25] glory,[26] goodness,[27] blessedness,[28] in and of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made,[29] nor deriving any glory from them,[30] but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them. He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things;[31] and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever himself pleaseth.[32] In his sight all things are open and manifest,[33] his knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature,[34] so as nothing is to him contingent, or uncertain.[35] He is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and in all his commands.[36] To him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience he is pleased to require of them.[37]

"In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost:[38] the Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father;[39] the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.[40]"

So, there – in a very well-put and concise nutshell – is what God is; His attributes, if you will. Now, let’s narrow our focus and look at some specific traits of God relating to His Word.

THE DOCTRINE OF SCIRPTURE

We read in Scripture that God cannot lie.

Numbers 23:19 "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

We read also, referring to Jesus Christ: John 14:6 6 Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.

Again, we read in Malachi: (3:6) 6 "For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

With these three portions of Scripture we are confronted immediately with an astounding and multifaceted decree:

1. God speaks the truth, and the truth only;
2. access to God is through Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ only;
3. Jesus Christ is explicitly identified with the Godhead, and God, as The Truth; and,
4. these facts will not change because God is unchangeable.

These few sentences of the doctrine of God are extremely important for our proper understanding of the doctrine of Scripture. Essential, actually. God says He cannot lie, so He cannot. Jesus is the only way, the truth, and the life, so He is. God is immutable, so that settles it forever. There is nothing outside of God that can alter in the slightest the will and work of God – ever.

This is difficult for us to comprehend because neither you nor I are God. I know that sounds simplistic, but you and I are constantly acting as if we were God – amen? So, you can take this for a gentle reminder. As creatures, we are dependent, and interdependent, on a whole world full of other peoples and events created and orchestrated by God. We are constantly weighing options, considering uncertainties, changing our minds, and doubting decisions we have already made. Thankfully, God suffers from none of this, and even expresses His displeasure with all this sort of double mindedness in James, chapter one.

Understand that there is no such time as "before" God. There is nothing that can contribute to His being in any way. God is not a creation of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, but the cosmos so lovingly revered by Mr. Sagan is indeed the creation of almighty God.

When we see the photographs from the Hubbell telescope we are in awe of the vastness and the incredible beauty of the those areas of the universe that we had only supposed were even there! The great triune God, our loving heavenly Father, made it all, beloved – and He made it with the mere effort of speaking. The one and eternal God, who was, and is, and is to come; the Creator of the universe, is forever one, yet in three persons. This God who cannot lie is, therefore, forever truth, and everything that He is and does is truth.

Now, I have said all of that to say this: God therefore can speak only an infallible word.

INFALLIBILITY

One of the distinctives of our Christian faith is our doctrine of infallibility. So much so that the only religions on earth that have any doctrines of inerrancy or infallibility are those which imitate or borrow from the Bible. Christianity, though – the religion of the Book – mandates it. Why so? Because we have a high regard for ancient religious literature? Not hardly. Christianity is the religion of the Book (that’s with a capital ‘B’), because God, our God, is the God of the Book. The God who speaks in and through the Bible speaks a "necessarily" infallible word.

God is God through and through, beloved. What do I mean by that? Simply this: God is internally and eternally God, all knowing, all wise, all perfect IN ALL OF HIS BEING. 1 John 1:5 says this: And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. God, beloved, is God (with all of His attributes!) through and through.

This means that the perfection of God in all that He is, is also manifested morally. He is morally perfect. This is why God is able to be without sin. Understand that this doesn’t mean God is simply so clever that He can appear to us to be perfect when He really is not. God cannot lie, ergo God cannot sin. Many religions claim a god or gods who are very smart. Very many religions claim a god or gods who are not only morally inadequate, but morally reprobate -- and their adherents delight in these so-called Gods. The Christian doctrine you hear preached from this pulpit week in and week out is based on this one paramount fact: the Biblical doctrine of infallibility is an inescapable result of what the Bible teaches about who and what God is and His revelation to man. (Repeat?)

Our God, beloved, is the God of the Word. Psalm 138:2 says: "I will bow down toward Thy holy temple, And give thanks to Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth; For Thou hast magnified Thy word according to all Thy name." This says, beloved, that everything that God SAYS (that is, His Word) is backed up by everything that God IS. His name and His Word cannot be separated.

IMPOSTERS

Now, let’s look at how the nature of God effects the claims of what I believe are the only two major written works – other than our Bible – that have adherents who believe these works are in some sense "inspired."

We are talking about Mormonism and the Book of Mormon, and Islam and the Koran. Both of these works are given as true and historical. Both have much criticism with which to deal and with which we have no intention of examining today.

But, both works claim to be in harmony with the Bible, so both begin by making a claim to a "final" place in the history of revelation. This means they claim that the final truth in history is in them or will come through them.

Islam declares a great prophet yet to come, a king or warrior king known as an "emahdi." Mormonism teaches that continuing revelation comes through the twelve apostles who, at any given time, rule the Mormon church. So, the finality of revelation (in both instances) is denied. Instead of final truth resting in the enscripturated Word of God, it rests in the hands of MEN! This is truly a monumental, dramatic alteration in the faith – this is a total shift in the source of authority. In the place of the infallible work, we now have the binding authority of a group of men. "New revelations" supplant the Biblical one. Imagine, beloved, coming to church one fine Sunday morning and discovering that your Pastor, or Session, or Presbytery, or General Assembly, or Whatever – has decreed a New Revelation. It makes no difference at all how ridiculous or sublime the revelation may be, THIS IS HORRIFYING. And yet, millions of people all over the world are in exactly this situation every day of their lives. Suddenly, the idea of committing ourselves to the authority of the Bible is not merely rational – but essential. The Word of God is the final revelation because it was authored by the God of the Word – and reveals the consummation of the ages.

A Biblically orthodox theology, which we must all pursue, says the Bible is "verbally inspired," meaning that every single word is God-breathed; it says that the inspiration of the Bible is "plenary," meaning that the sum total of the Scriptures is God-breathed – there is no Book of the Bible that shouldn’t be there, there are no portions of Scripture which are not God-breathed. This means that God, who cannot lie, who IS truth, has spoken to us "Covenantally." We can depend on Him to keep His Word to us, because He is the God who keeps His Word – He cannot lie. So when God covenants with Abraham and says in Genesis 12:1-3

will be blessed through you."

… we can depend on His Covenant Word to be true.

C. Van Til, a modern theologian to whom we owe a great debt, puts it this way:

"… we may thus call this view of God and His relation to the world the covenantal view. As such it is exhaustively personal. There is no area in which man can find himself confronted with impersonal fact or law. All so-called impersonal laws and all so-called uninterpreted facts are what they are because they are expressive of the revelation of God’s will and purpose." (The Doctrine of Scripture, 1967, p. 37)

What Van Til is saying here is that in all of Creation there is no such thing as "nuetral" facts or events. Everything exists as an expression of what and who God is, and that He covenantally (He cannot lie, and He is truth) relates to all Creation, including you and me.

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE GOD OF THE WORD

The infallible God of the Word, then, is our Sovereign Lord. This is the basis of Biblical faith – this is the Reformed Faith. The God of the Word, is our Sovereign Lord. No theology has done more to champion the Biblical principle of Sovereignty, and infallibility, and inerrancy, than good, old fashioned Calvinism. In order to have a high view of Scripture, we must have a High view of God. If we have a small, impotent God, it follows that we will have a small, impotent Bible. (Repeat!). The reason we exalt the Scriptures all boils down to this: God is the Lord, He is Sovereign.

So, what happens when men reject the sovereignty of God? (pause) It is no mystery, beloved, they simply accept the sovereignty of man. Man’s reason then prevails over faith and the Lordship of God and Christ. Remember – there is no neutral ground, beloved. A rationalism then too prevails over Biblical presuppositions, and the Bible is replaced with what we confront today, namely a destitute, hopeless, futureless humanism. This is the world we live in today – a world where God is outlawed by a supposedly sovereign man.

SUMMARY

We are left then with this:

The infallible, sovereign God of Scripture can speak only am infallible Word, and this is what He has done. There is no other word possible from such a God. Humanism, whether secular or religious, requires a god who cannot speak, or who speaks with little authority, or with a confused tongue. The God of the Word, beloved, is not such a God. He is the Lord, the Sovereign King over all creation. His Word is the Creating Word, the Infallible Word, the Inerrant Word. When we affirm the Word of God as infallible, we affirm our faith that the God of Scripture -- the God of the Word – is He Whom He says He is, and that we believe His every Word, and by His grace, hope to live our lives based upon it.

Is this the God you worship today, beloved? I sincerely, prayerfully hope it is, for there is no other. If you have questions about the condition of your soul or your relationship with this God of the Word, please don’t leave this place without speaking to one of our Elders, they will be more than happy to speak with you about these or any other issues which may weigh upon your heart today.

or said to him, ‘You have done wrong’?

Let’s pray…

Amen.