Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast,
where we are proclaiming the truth to the
world. In this podcast series, we're
going to be looking into biblical
words that have great significance to our
faith. The name of this series is
called the word of the week, where
once a week, we will dive deeper
into these words that we are familiar
with in scripture. So come along with me.
Let's study the word of the week.
Pastor Josh here, the word of the
week is inspiration. Now, we're going
to be talking about the inspiration
of scripture here in this lesson, and
I want us to think about what this
means. It means simply this, that
God produced the word, that the source
of scripture is the Lord himself.
Many people oppose scripture by saying
that it's a product of man, that it was
something that man created and then
attributed to God later on. And so
what we need to understand is that
scripture shows us that the Bible
comes from God. And that's why it
is important to realize the infallibility
of scripture. It's perfect because it
comes from God. There's no mistakes.
There's no contradictions. If the
Bible was a book created by Mandev,
it would have mistakes. Why? Because
we are all fallible. It would have contradictions.
There would be issues when it comes
to its teaching, because there would
be an imperfection somewhere found
in those teachings. But what we know
is that scripture is infallible. We
know that it has no mistakes. We
know that it is perfect. We know
that it is trustworthy because it
comes from God. The Bible is axiomatic
in the fact that it proves itself. And
we know that in two Timothy, chapter
three, verse 16, we are told that
all scripture, and I always try to
emphasize with folks that it says
all scripture, not part of scripture
or some scriptures or scriptures that
we feel comfortable with. It says
in two Timothy 316 that all scripture
is given by inspiration of God. Now,
we heard that word inspiration. And
sometimes we can think of an artist
being inspired by nature to paint
a beautiful picture, or a musician
being inspired by something in their life,
in creating beautiful music. But
that's not what this term inspiration
is all about. Actually, this word in
the Greek is the phrase inspiration
of God. And there's really two words that
are put together in the greek thea,
which means God and which means breathe.
So theop nustos means God breathe.
And so all scripture is God breathed,
created by God, given from God to man. It
says that all scripture is given
by inspiration of God and is profitable
for doctrine. That's teaching for reproof,
that is showing us where we're wrong,
but also for correction, so that
we can move away from those wrongdoings,
and so that we can walk in that right path.
And it says, for correction and for
instruction in righteousness. And
so we're taught how to walk in righteousness.
After we are told where we're wrong
and where we need to change, then
it says in the next verse that a man
of God may be perfect or complete,
mature, thoroughly furnished unto
all good works. And so what we're
told is that we have to see scripture
from the concept of this being a
message from God, his literal word.
And so one thing that we could think
about here as we listen to this and
as we meditate upon the truths of
inspiration, is that we have to know
that the source is from God, that
the source is perfect, that the content
is perfect, and that it's profitable
not just for our daily living, but for
teaching us how to live, teaching
us where we're wrong, teaching us how
to fix that, teaching us how to stay
in that path, and ultimately teaching
us what the truth of the gospel really
is. Romans 1017 says, faith cometh
by hearing and hearing by the word of
God. And so we know that there is
this source of scripture which is
God. And we know that as the source
being perfect, the message is perfect.
And this message has power to change
our lives. Hebrews chapter four tells
us this truth. And I think that this
is so important to understand. It
says, for the word of God is quick.
That means alive. The Bible is alive.
It's a living book, and it's powerful.
So powerful, it has the power to change
us. It has the power to convict us.
It has the power to comfort us. Now,
we know that ultimately, it's the
power of God in his word. But it
says that, and it's sharper than
any two edged sword, piercing even to
the dividing asunder. That's of soul
and spirit and of the joints and
marrow, and is the discerner of thoughts
and intents of the heart. This speaks
of is the convicting power, the pointed
convicting power of the word. It
can divide the soul and of spirit,
of joints and of marrow. It's discerning
the thoughts and intentions of our heart.
I think that this is so important
for us to understand, because a lot of times
we think that change can come in
our lives without the word, or that
conviction will come without the
word. And we know that the Holy Spirit
is ultimately the one doing the convicting
and the comforting. But we know the
heart of God. We know his will for
our lives when we adhere and follow
scripture. Another passage of scripture
that we can go back to when it comes
to this idea of the source is two.
Peter, chapter 1, second Peter, chapter
one. And you could start in verse
number 19. This is Peter speaking
through the inspiration of scripture.
And he says, we also have a more sure
word of prophecy now in context.
What is he talking about? He's talking about
the glory of seeing Jesus on the
mount of Transfiguration. And then
he shifts gears and he says, but
we also have a more sure word of prophecy.
Whereunto ye do well, that ye take
heed, meaning it is good for you
that you listen to this and obey
this as unto a light that shineth
in a dark place until the day dawn and
the day star arise in your hearts.
So the word of God shines light into
a dark place. He says, knowing this
first, that no prophecy. Now, when
we see prophecy, we're talking about
scripture, because he says the prophecy
of scripture. So the preaching or
the proclaiming of the truth in scripture,
no prophecy of the scripture is of
any private interpretation. Meaning
scripture doesn't come from someone's
own interpretation. It's coming from
God. This isn't just a man's way
of thinking, worldly wisdom contrived
in the heart of some fallible man. No, it's
coming from God. He says, for the
prophecy came not in the old time
by the will of man. So the word did
not come from the will of man. But
I, holy men, men that were set aside
for a specific use, that's what that
word holy means, set apart. So holy
men of God spake as they were moved
by the Holy Ghost. This speaks of
that understanding of inspiration.
And so the source of scripture is it's directly
from God. God breathed inspired by
God. And so the reason why I want
to stress that here in this lesson is
because if we think of scripture
in any context, outside of being a message
directly from God, we can begin to
question its value. We can begin
to question its application to our lives.
And we could even look at two Timothy,
chapter three, verse 16, and say,
you know what? I don't really believe
that all scripture is given by God.
Just maybe parts of it, parts of
it that make sense to our society
today. And we've seen people go off
track when it comes to this. Okay,
I will adhere to this because this
makes sense in our culture today.
But our culture has changed. And therefore
this part of scripture, we don't
need to take anymore, or at least take
as it's read here. I would be very cautious
to take that stance when it comes
to interpreting scripture, because we
could really see that, you know what?
Anyone can change anything. Culture
changes. I think we can all admit
that culture has changed over the
years. If you've lived long enough
to see decades pass, you've realized
that different decades bring about different
trends and different mindsets and
things that we accept in our culture
today. 50 years ago would have been
something that would repulse many
folks in our culture. But what we
can see is that though culture changes,
scripture does not change, and the
principles in scripture do not change.
The message that God has given us
in the gospel and in purity and in
righteousness have not changed. And
so the way that we can understand
that is by going back to the uncompromised
truth of scripture, that it is coming from
God and that God wants us to understand
it. God wants that to change our
life. And if we want to grow in faith,
first of all, if we want to have
a relationship with God in faith. But
if we want to grow in faith, as Romans
1017 says, faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. That
is why it is so important for you to
study the word of God on your own.
You know, there are a lot of people
that would say, you know what? You
can't understand the word. So let
me explain to you the word the way
that I understand it, and you have
to believe exactly the way that I
believe. Well, I think that's a danger,
because the Bible does tell us for
us to have a personal time with God
through scripture, to know him in
a personal way. Now, there is a time
and a place to hear teaching. There
is a time and a place to have someone
explain something to you. But if
we rely on somebody else for our
intake of scripture completely, we
are missing out on the joys and the
blessings of being. As it says in
that one passage in two Timothy,
a person of God, a man of God, a woman
of God, thoroughly furnished unto
all good works. You know, there is
something to be said about digging
into the word ourselves and mining the
depths of scripture on our own. I
know that there is a passage of scripture
that is very near and dear to my
heart when it comes to the word of
God, and that is psalm 119. Psalm
119 has a lot to say about the word of
God, and I think that it would be
a great passage of scripture to study
when you are thinking about what
it means to study the word of God. Psalm
100 1911. Thy word have I hid in
my heart that I might not sin against
thee. And so there is an importance
to memorizing and meditating and living
upon scripture, because when you
hide God's word in your heart, it
allows us to fight those temptations.
The best defense to temptations and attacks
in our life is by scripture, by quoting
scripture, by living scripture, by
trusting in scripture. We even see
that example with Jesus in Matthew,
chapter four. When Satan comes to
tempt him, what does he do? He quotes
scripture over and over again. In
scripture. We see that there is an
importance to setting our hearts
on the word and trusting in the truth
of God's word. Another passage of scripture
was actually in the same chapter
in psalm 119, psalm 119 105, it says
this, thy word is a lamp unto my
feet and a light unto my path. So.
So the word of God is the light.
We already mentioned that reference.
The. The word of God is a light unto our path
in a dark world. It can be the path,
and it can light the way so that
we don't stumble, so that we don't step
in traps, and so that we don't fall
into the dangers of the wisdom of
this world. There's so much more
that we could talk about when it
comes to this area of inspiration.
For the next few lessons here on the word
of the week, we're going to talk more
about the Bible and more about different
principles of studying the word.
But I think that a good place to start
when it comes to the understanding
of scripture is that idea, belief, doctrine
of inspiration. God breathe. The
word of God comes to us not as a
help book or a guide to doing certain
things in our life, a pragmatic way
to, you know, basically adhere to
so that our life is better. But no,
it is the word of God that is directing
us in everything that we do in our
belief system. So it's not just a
suggestion. It is commands from God.
And one of the things that we can
see when it comes from the perspective
of our relationship with God is that
God says if we love him, we will
keep his commandments. Well, how
can we know his commandments to keep
unless we know his word, unless we
study his word, unless we value his
word, unless we put a premium on
the word? We even see in the book
of acts that it says that the Bereans
sought after the word after they
heard the preaching. They sought
after it. So I would encourage you, when
you listen to preaching, and first
and foremost, the preaching should
come from the word of God. So many
times today, we see that preaching
does not come from the word it comes from
opinions of man or a culture. And
certainly we can insert cultural
things within our preaching, but it has
to be based in scripture. And so the
first step is to hear good, solid
biblical preaching. The second part
of it would be to test that against
the word of God, test the preaching that
you are intaking to the word to see
if the preacher is preaching the
truth. And so that's the most important
thing that you can do when it comes
to deciding whether or not a teacher
or a preacher is, is a quality preacher,
is to see, does it match up with the
word of God? Does it match up with
the truth that I am reading? And
of course, we're going to talk more
about this in the study. But there's
the idea of interpretation. So after
inspiration, there's interpretation,
because some people could say, well, you
know what? I believe that this is
inspired by God, but I'm interpreting
this much, much more differently than
you are interpreting this. And so that's
another thing that we're going to
study in this series is the understanding
of interpreting scripture. So right
now, we're studying today the inspiration
of scripture, but later on, we're going
to study the understanding of interpreting
scripture. But we got to start with
the beginning. And the beginning
is that this is coming from God, the source,
God his word. All scripture is given
by Theopneustos. Inspiration of God.
God breathes. And so I think that
that's a good start for our study
here when it comes to the word of
God. And I hope that you learned
Something Today or you were just
reminded of something that you already
knew about the inspiration of scripture.
If you have any questions about this,
if you have any thoughts that you
would like to share or have clarified,
please reach out to me. I can be
found at my email address. Josh J
o s H Masaro massaro@middletownbaptistchurch.org
and you can send me any questions, and I would love
to discuss these things with you
and maybe even bring up some of the
questions on air during a podcast
so that we can clarify this for more
people. So hope you have a wonderful
rest of your week. Looking forward to
hearing from you. Looking forward
to continuing to present the word of
God and proclaiming the truth to
this world. Hope you have a wonderful
day. God bless you. Take care. Hey,
I really appreciate that you listened
to the word of the Week podcast. If
you have any questions about the
podcast or about our church, Middletown
Baptist Church, you can find more
information about us on Facebook
or YouTube, or you can find the podcast
on nbcpodcast.org dot. You can contact
me directly at joshmassaro@middletownbaptistchurch.org
sta tuned for future word of the week episodes,
where we dive deeper into words that impact
our life according to scripture.
Thank you so much. God bless and we'll talk
to you soon.