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by starting i'd like to let's sing number 244 him 244. all right 244. oh my god [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] our striving would be losing we're not the right man on our side the man of god [Music] christ jesus lord his name from h2h the same and he must win [Music] to undo us we will not fear for god hath willed history to try through us the prince of darkness grimm we tremble not [Music] [Music] sure [Music] above all earthly [Music] the spirit and the [Music] [Applause] [Music] the body they make [Music] his kingdom is forever all right well let us pray our great god and our heavenly father we thank you and we praise you for this lord's day this day of rest this day to come together and gather in your house to worship you and to to be with with each other to fellowship and to hear your word and and to look into your word and father we thank you for this and we we we give you much praise for this opportunity to to to do so so lord as this morning as we look into the confession and particularly into what it teaches us about your word lord i pray that you would open our hearts and our minds to receive these truths and that it would be a means for our edification it means to to bolster our faith and it means that to bring honor and glory to your name so bless us lord bless help and and aid in teaching the material help us to to to understand it and to comprehend it and lord we pray this all in the name of our savior your son the lord jesus amen all right so we'll be looking at uh chapter one of the confession today and i'm going to do things a little bit differently probably than what maybe typically is done but um go through the first the first five paragraphs of the of the chapter won't look uh much in depth at two and three um but uh briefly just kind of as a real quick overview but um but paragraphs one four and five and then uh pastor butler hopes to take up uh two and three in more detail uh next time two weeks from now so um so i'll read the the the chapter i think we'll just read the first five paragraphs there is a lot of material to go through i'm not sure we'll get through everything that i that i hope to but uh so we'll just read the first five paragraphs and then um and then look in in more depth there so so chapter one of the holy scriptures paragraph one the holy scripture is the only sufficient certain and infallible rule of all saving knowledge faith and obedience although the light of nature and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness wisdom and power of god as to leave men inexcusable yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of god and his will which is necessary unto salvation therefore it pleased the lord at sundry times and in divers manners to reveal himself and to declare that and to declare that his will unto the church and afterward for the better preserving and propagating of the truth and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption of the flesh the malice of satan and of the world to commit the same holy unto writing which maketh the holy scriptures to be most necessary those former ways of god's revealing his will unto his people being now ceased under the name of holy scripture or the word of god written are now contained all the books of the old and new testaments which are these we won't read all the whole list familiar with those all of which are given by the inspiration of god to be the rule of faith and life the books commonly called apocrypha not being of divine inspiration are no part of the canon or rule of the scripture and therefore are of no authority to the church of god nor to be any otherwise approved or made use of than other human writings the authority of the holy scripture for which it ought to be believed dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church but wholly upon god who is truth itself the author thereof therefore it is to be received because it is the word of god we may be moved and induced by the testimony of the church of god to a high and reverent esteem of the holy scriptures and the heavenliness of the matter the efficacy of the doctrine and the majesty of the style the consent of all the parts the scope of the whole which is to give all glory to god the full discovery it makes of the only way of man's salvation and many other incomparable excellencies and entire perfections thereof or are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the word of god yet notwithstanding our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof is from the inward work of the holy spirit bearing witness by and with the word in our hearts that's as far as we'll read there so um so basically this chapter then it deals with one of the main tenets of the reformation the one of the one of the five solas that uh that came out of the reformation this being sola scriptura and and what is meant by solar scripture is basically what it's what's summed up in the first line of of paragraph one that that the holy scripture is the only sufficient certain and infallible rule of all saving knowledge faith and obedience so so basically that everything everything that we need to know and understand for saving faith and obedience to god is is contained in the scriptures there's no extra biblical revelation necessary and and this was uh this this was in response as basically the majority of the confession is response to a certain um heresy doctrine that was taught in not necessarily just the roman catholic church other churches as well are other other ideas that were coming there but this was particularly the roman catholic um practice of of holding traditions over scripture things like prayers to mary and the saints the selling of indulgences the doctrines of transubstantiation those those kind of things so if you remember um luther at the diet of worms that sort of famous quote of his there that he says unless i am convinced by the testimony of the scripture so that's what he was really going back to really standing on the truth of the scripture there and and later the catholic church actually in at the council of of trent they said the following they said the synod following the examples of the orthodox fathers receives and venerates with an equal affection of piety and reverence all the books both of the old and new testament seeing that one god is the author of both so so that's that's fine but then it says as also the said traditions as well those are appertaining to faith as to morals as having been dictated either by christ's own word of mouth or by the the the holy ghost and preserved in the catholic church by a continuous succession so so basically they're saying that these traditions because the church affirmed them they have the same authority as the scripture um and that's what it's it's dealing with here and then at the at the time of the writing there was also um a massive quaker movement that was that was uh that had happened and they um and they believed in gifts of you know prophecy and the continuance of of divine revelation um you know that was given to certain individuals um there so that's also partly what it's dealing with so um so so now paragraph one and this this generally has to do with with this concept of of sola scripture but um but what i want to do this morning is kind of hone in on on one particular word in that in that paragraph and spend a bunch of time there um as as with the the entire confession every word is i i find very chosen very very specifically and has a lot of meaning in there that's why every year we go through go through this and if there's always a different angle you can come at it from and and that kind of thing so every every word is just very very very particular so um that that word that i want to look at in in a lot of depth this morning is the word certain um in the first line there that it's the only sufficient and only certain um uh uh rule of all saving knowledge so um i think this is this is this is foundational here how do we know that that the book that we have here you know that we call the bible is is the inspired word of god and i think it's of it's of utmost importance because because if we're if we are going to believe what this what the confession teaches about the about the bible and what the bible itself you know teaches about it um then that it is the soul authority um in all manners concerning saving knowledge faith and obedience to god then then we should be you know certain and can we be certain you know that it is that that it is the word of god so so so you know are we able to be certain of that now now you'll you'll probably hear me say a lot is that i that the christian worldview is not a blind leap of faith it's not we you know we're just we just we we believe this in without a a rational um rational truths that we're understanding you know the the the christian worldview is rational truths that our rational minds can comprehend you know god does not ask us to to put our faith in him without reasonable grounds to do so so um you know what i want to do this morning is to give a practical um rational explanation for why we believe that that the um the bible is the word of god but before we get into that i want to actually look in at paragraphs four and five because that they give they give a coming out of looking at this off we're not um it's not evidentialism where we're looking at this and saying okay now because of all these proofs now we can determine that it's the word of god um that's that's not the purpose of it so i want to look at paragraphs four and five first because they give us the right uh you know the right understanding of of what um how we're coming about this when we use various evidences to to understand it as the word of god so um at the end of paragraph four here it says therefore it is to be received because it is the word of god and now one thing i want to i want to um point out here is that it it does not say that um that we receive it because it says it is the word of god but because it is the word of god and that's a big that's a big difference because the bible isn't the only book that claims to be the word of god the book of mormon uh makes us claims the the quran makes those claims as well and we don't grant that argument to muslims or to or to um you know to mormons that that well your book says it's the word of god so then it is but so so we we we have to be careful that we don't use that same argument um ourselves so um this argument sometimes it it's called the the self-authentication of the bible that the bible authenticates itself to be the word of god and the proof you know is in the bible itself and now now what's what should be mean and what and what it often is meant by that is that is self-authentication is that's it's used to describe the way that the bible contains in itself in the various events recorded in it uh proof we can use that word or validation i like um better is validation of the of the authenticity as as the divine revelation from god and you know and and and to that i say amen but but sometimes and this is self-authentication is used in in the argument that it it says it's the word of god therefore therefore that makes it the word of god and i think that we we need to be um careful of of a position like that because it's not very defensible um it's sort of shaky shaky um you know grounds to to ground our faith and to be able to defend our our position and our belief in that when we're if we were to deal with say an unbeliever or mormons or muslims you know to deal with that you can't just say you know well it's my book says it's the word of god so um and and and god himself did not do that either as well and when we when we look in the bible we see god's revelatory acts that he that he when he makes himself known he doesn't he doesn't um he he gives validations as well i think of moses at the burning bush right moses said to him how how how when i go back to the people how are they going to know that that this this is yahweh of israel talking to me and so god gives him these signs these these supernatural things that moses is able to to do to validate that that god it is in fact god doing you know god god revealing himself god speaking in there think of also nicodemus when when nicodemus came to jesus at night and he says he says no one no one can do these signs that you do unless god is with him so he understands that as jesus was doing these these signs these these supernatural um miracles and things like that it was it was validating that he was in fact you know what he was saying was was was authenticated by as the word of god in there um and and one of the one of the clearest um clearest verses mark 16 verse 20 that said it says here it says and they that's the apostles they went out this is after the ascension of christ they they went out and they preached everywhere the lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs and then also in second peter 1 verse 19 uh he says and now so he was that this was this was him retelling that he had been um present at the transfiguration of christ and he says and now we have the the the prophetic word confirmed so he he had that the and he also audibly heard the word of god um there saying this is my beloved son so through that through that supernatural event he says we have this this prophetic word is is confirmed so so god god gives miracles as signs miracles and and supernatural events as as signs to confirm his word and and it's but it's important to understand now that that that that we don't take miracles and supernatural events um to to prove the existence of god but rather it's authenticating those who are who are claiming to speak the word of god and it gives us reasonable grounds to believe it as such because a supernatural event the only explanation for that is the existence of a supernatural being so when they were saying god god is god is god is god says thus says lord and this sign happens then that that approves um and authenticates what they're saying so back to paragraph forge and then um so so we accept the the authority of the bible because it is the word of god now that now so so what i'm saying is the authority then that's vested in the bible as the word of god it comes from the highest authority god himself and so there's no higher authority to to tell us to receive the the truth claims to obey the commands in there there the word of god is the highest authority as that as the ultimate in fact the the only standard of truth because it says god is truth right that's what the confession says there so so we don't we don't submit to the authority of the of the bible because because any church tells us so or because our our rational or empirical thought tells us to but because because god tells us to so so the authority the authority of the message in the bible comes from the from the fact that it is the very word of god and there is no other authority so so maybe you're thinking well now now you just you just you're starting to sound like the argument you just presented that you said was you know was was was faulty that you know we believe the bible is the word of god because it says it is the word of god but this is this is not a question here of uh or it's a question of of authority that that it's dealing with here now not not veracity or the truthfulness so because as believers we we know and we are convinced that um that it is the word of god that's already been established in our hearts as as that through the work of the holy spirit and that's what paragraph 5 is going to teach us on there is that it's already being established as the word of god and and therefore so it's dealing with the the authority of of it and that there is no higher authority to which we subject the scriptures for for um for to to know it to accept it as as the word of god so when we when we engage now in a rational argument you know as to why we believe the bible is the word of god it's we're not subjecting our or subjecting the bible to the tests of our of our rational minds or or archaeological discoveries or anything else to determine its its veracity and then therefore give it the authority um and and submit to to its its claims you know it it's not that hey this all checks out now i i can approve it and i accept it as as the word of god so rational argumentation rather it serves two purposes um one it's it's to to to build up the faith of of believers you know to to to give us the confidence that what we believe is not is not a blind leap of faith but it is a rational um we we do we do have reasonable grounds to to believe it so you know the world will often tell you that you know oh why would you believe a book that's 2 000 years old or or you know whoever whatever they want to want to say it's full of contradictions all that kind of stuff try to try and shake our faith whereas you know we can we have this understanding that no it is actually it does make sense to to believe it and the second reason then is is as john calvin says here he says it's to stop the mouths of the obstreperous so basically um you know it's to silence those who the word obstreperous you know someone loud unruly and and defiant um you know someone who's being that way towards the word of god we can we can give them a a reasonable defense as as as as peter says you know for why we believe what we believe so it's not to reason someone into the kingdom of heaven it's it's not to convince someone through through you know solid argumentation to become a believer but it's to give that that apologia that you know that peter says that that reasoned defense that he says it's first peter 3 15 for the for the reason of the hope that is that is in us and now paragraph five speaks to that uh exactly to that point there it it it says you know that that we we can be we can be moved by all these evidences all these all these different different um different things that we see whether we be it you know we'll look at the in detail more later but we can be moved but full persuasion and assurance is from the holy spirit so we can be impressed by by you know solid solid argumentation you know that it that where as a confession says it abundantly evidences itself to be the word of god you know or or like the confession sort of alludes to as well that you know being being in a church being around around the bible maybe maybe raised with the bible having a you know a reference for it and um you know but and seeing the the consent of all the parts but we can't we cannot truly believe it and come to a saving knowledge of the truth without our hearts being regenerated by by the by the holy spirit because saving faith um involves understanding and believing all the all the truths that are contained in the scriptures and i think we if we should if you turn to chapter 14 paragraph two it speaks to that and i think we should i'll read that quickly together because it um because the understanding that saving faith and and and saving faith includes believing the entirety of the bible so chapter 14 paragraph two by this faith a christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the word for the authority of god himself and also apprehendeth and excellency therein above all other writings and all things in the world as it bears forth the glory of god in his attributes the excellency of christ in his nature and offices and the power and fullness of the holy spirit in his workings and operations and so is unable to cast his soul upon the truth thus believed and also acteth differently upon that which each particular passage thereof containeth yielding obedience to the commands trembling at the threatenings and embracing the promises of god for this life and that which is to come but the principle acts of saving faith have immediately immediate relation to christ accepting receiving and resting upon him alone for justification sanctification and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace so so so like i said saving saving faith involves understanding and believing the truth claims of scripture there so so so truly accepting the bible as the word of god and having saving faith go go hand in hand and we all see of course as reformed christians we understand the work of the holy spirit necessary for saving faith but it's that same that same work necessary to un to to accept the bible as as the word of god so if you remember back to back to nicodemus again he was impressed by the works of jesus right he had that he he was um yeah he he was like no man can do what you do unless god is with them and and but yet jesus says well unless unless you're born again you cannot see the kingdom of heaven so in order to see the king kingdom of heaven then one must believe all the truth claims of scriptures and in order to believe the truth claims one must be born again or or regenerated and obviously that comes because of our because of the depravity of man because like the bible says we're at enmity with god by nature we're suppressing that truth we're dead in our sins so we're not we're not reasoned out of the kingdom of of darkness into the kingdom of the son of god's love but whether we're we're rescued right we're apprehended we're transferred conveyed by the power of god um like ephesians 2 says according to the to the working of his mighty power which he worked in christ when he raised him from the dead that that same power that we are we are brought into the kingdom of of heaven so and and second corinthians 4 6 it is god who commanded light to shine out of darkness and who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of christ jesus or jesus christ sorry so all all this then of course is done through the work of the holy spirit in our hearts enabling us to to understand and to believe the revelation that is in the scriptures so so we we we have to keep that in mind as we go through the the the evidence the evidence that we find in in in scripture um you know for the for the truthfulness of the bible um keep that in mind you know it's not it's not that we are um you know subjecting our subject in the the bible to a test of human reason as ultimate authority so our our confidence does not come from the fact that we've reasoned it out to be the word of god and and then since everything checks out then you know we we determine it to be trustworthy that that's not what we're doing and neither is it a way to argue or to reason someone to to faith in christ you know we we understand as reformed believers that you know the bible teaches a man's heart must be regenerated before we can have saving knowledge of the truth of scripture so rather it's to bolster our faith and it's to enable us you know to give a a defense for for uh the the reason of the hope that is within us the defense for why we we believe the bible to be the word of god so now i want to look uh we'll go through that um through a defense then of of why we would why would we believe it um and and so then um looking firstly then i want to look at just the the manuscript evidence that we have of of of of the bible so um different different manuscripts that have been found through all the archaeological um excavations and things that are going on so currently there's about 66 000 um manuscripts and and versions or translations of the bible so there's there's about six thousand greek manuscripts in in existence um some and some of those are dated back to within a hundred years of the of the original so very we're talking very close so there's going to be they're going to be very very accurate of course so um there's about 10 000 hebrew manuscripts so so pieces fragments that they found written in the in the hebrew um there's there's uh you know the of course when i say a manuscript that does that doesn't mean the entire hebrew canon is is is there and they have ten thousand copies of this this is just all different pieces um that they have they're just the fragments of of of text fragrance of of of different books you know and then and then all the rest there are just are just different versions different translations of the bible not in the original languages um many are the the greek septuagint which is a greek translation of the old testament that would have that was very common in jesus day that was what they would have used um latin syriac coptic and many other ancient languages so uh the dead sea scrolls are are very important fine there's 200 um 200 just over 200 manuscripts of the old testament there they were there um they have every every single book is contained there except uh the book of esther um there's a and there was a 95 percent accuracy uh with the with the the the already existing already discovered manuscripts that were there and these ones come from much earlier they're dated much earlier so so very very accurate there and like and that five percent is is the majority of that five percent is scribal errors like just a spelling mistake kind of a thing so very very amazing just to see that that accuracy that that that we have within there so to give you some perspective then of other historical documents there are uh caesars caesar's gallic wars there's 10 10 manuscripts of of that that they have at all um only 10 and the earliest one is dated about a thousand years after the original was written um aristotle there's only five manuscripts from him the earliest dating 1400 years tacitus he was a historian 20 manuscripts and and again about a thousand years plato seven manuscripts twelve hundred years from from the earliest is 1200 years so the the one with the highest and by far i didn't write it down but that's uh homer's uh iliad that is he's there's about 540 manuscripts of that one so and that's that's the most you know so so when we look at we look at that and then you compare it with 66 000 that we have we have you know it it's it's very clear very obvious and that the the bible was not just a book that was found on you know on a shelf in a monastery somewhere you know that that somebody said hey let's put this into mass circulation not at all it's a very very well attested by far more than any other historical document out there ff bruce says there's no body of ancient literature in the world which enjoys such a wealth of good attestation as the new testament so he's speaking to the new testament in that particular instance but but the the idea there is the same with you with the entire bible we have such a wealth of evidence there's just no there's no reason to not at least acknowledge it as what we can what is contained here is is a historical document that that is very very um trustworthy as far as as far as just being being a historical document not not some sort of you know theory that that uh that it was you know some monks got together and wrote this book one time that that's that's just um ludicrous to think that so so when we so we have all these evidence all these evidences all this manuscript to know that without what we have here is is genuinely written when it was written you know those those dates of course the dates are given a little bit of you know there's they're not all pinpointed but but generally speaking very accurate so what about the now the historical reliability of it you know when the bible says that this and this happened you know did can we can we trust it as it yeah did that and that happened as far as just just historical now so um some of you may be familiar with it it's quite a quite a common um popular man named uh william ramsey he was a british scholar and he was he was part of a school uh two billion i don't know how to say that word but they really they really question everything about about the bible especially the old testament but just about the bible as it you know being being being the word of god so he he decided that he this is in the early 1900s and he decided that he was he wanted to check out is is it historically accurate he was sort of the he was he was the at the time he was the authority on the history of of asia minor so so very very well respected for for just knowing the history there so he set out then to determine um the book of acts particularly is it historically accurate so he went through he traced the missionary journeys of paul went through and he like i said he started out as a skeptic he was part of this this uh this school there that was they were very skeptical at all of it all but by the end he was he was fully fully convinced of that it was that it was impeccably historically accurate so no other history book was was as accurate there than as as the bible that we have so um so so now through that through not only him many others have done very similar things through that you know we can be assured then what that what we are reading is um is historically accurate r.c sproul says he says at no time in church history has the historical reliability of the new testament or old testament documents being as well established and verified as they are today there is no excuse to reject their historical veracity so so um you know and then of course this comes through all through the just the incredible amount of archaeological um excavations that are happening and i think rc sproul said something to the to the tune of every time a a spade of of dirt is turned over in the ancient or in the in the middle east in palestine you know more more uh um just often more more authenticates the the historical accuracy of the bible something something to that line so um so so now so so basically this this gives us the confidence that now that what we find in the bible is is is um is what actually was written down by the actual authors um of of the bible and and by by these actual characters in history so um again it doesn't it doesn't prove it as the word of god or authenticated as the word of god but at least now we know that the text that we have is historically reliable um you know but but we need to we need to understand that we need to have that established before before we can move on so um so then that that's what we would call external evidence now looking at things outside of the bible things in in in history and in um you know that that that that give us the evidence there of as as accurate and then now we can look at at the internal evidence look within the bible itself now to to and use the text itself to establish how that it proves itself to be the word of god evidence itself to be the word of god so um now sometimes you'll hear people say that they don't believe the bible because you can't you can't prove it scientifically you know we believe in science you can't scientifically prove the bible is is accurate well that's that's that's no that's that's ludicrous again because no historical event no historical literature or anything like that can be proved scientifically you can't scientifically prove your own birth dates you know like so so there's there's historical methods that that are used to to to prove it and that or to uh um to validate it so that's why that's why we've we've gone through there but but now then as we move forward then we look at you know like i said earlier when god when god validated his word he used supernatural signs and and miracles to do so because because supernatural events evidence that there is a supernatural being god you know so when apostle or a prophet claimed to be speaking the word of god the sign or the miracle affirmed that he was indeed telling the truth so miracles play uh play a very important part in the bible so and then of course the main miraculous event that that the apostles the early church you know that they used to prove their message um that jesus was the son of god that he was the messiah um was was the the resurrection of course so so now in our in our first step then to as as we look at you know the bible as the word of god um or any historical event let's say you wanted to prove your own birth date you would go eyewitness testimony that's that would be our first was were there any eyewitnesses that this in fact happened and turn to uh in your bibles now to first corinthians 15. first corinthians 15. uh starting at verse 3. so paul's speaking there here now he says for i i deliver to you first of all that which i also receive that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures and that he was seen by cephas then by the twelve after that he was seen by over 500 brethren at once of whom the greater part remain to the present but some have fallen asleep or or have died after that he was seen by james then by all the apostles then last of all he was seen by me also as by one born out of due time so so he's giving his his own eyewitness account here the of of the resurrection and then and then he's he's also saying that there's many other eyewitnesses that are still alive today to verify that that he was telling the truth you know he says there was over 500 of them some of them had had died but but there was many mo the majority was still alive you know and they all have these these corroborating stories then of seeing the risen christ so so when paul wrote this his his readers they would have been able to confirm this account with with hundreds of different eyewitnesses if they were doubting what paul said you know paul said i i've seen him but they said well you know we don't trust you he says oh you can talk to you know these 500 plus other individuals here to validate what i'm what i'm saying that they in fact did see it as well you know and then if if you remember the the explosive growth in the in the church in jerusalem after the resurrection there it was because of because of the the boldness of the apostles and sharing that that message you know they had they had seen the risen christ and they knew without a shadow of a doubt that this message was true so you know that jesus was indeed the the son of god because he had been raised from the dead this this supernatural event of of the resurrection you know that's and that's what the resurrection did paul says in romans in romans one through verse three to four concerning his son jesus christ our lord who was born of the seed of david according to the flesh and declared to be the son of god with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead so so that so he's saying that that validated jesus's own message his own claims about himself um you know that that he was the son of god right so um and then another another um passage to look at is second peter chapter one again when we're looking at still looking at eyewitness eyewitness testimony second peter 1 verse verse 16. he says for we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our lord jesus christ but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty for he received from god the father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased and we heard this voice when we which which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain and so we have the prophetic word confirmed which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts so um you know so so these these supernatural um events and miracles now that we have these were taking place as fulfillments now of of prophecies in the old testament so this is this is another way another uh another reason now then is is is the the the prophecies that that we have written many hundreds of years earlier by many different authors uh you know and and and that's what the that's what the apostles were using as well then to to validate their their message so um because their message was was one of you know that christ was the messiah christ was you know who the old testament says was going to come and and when the old testament prophets were speaking like like peter says i didn't we didn't read that i should quickly finish that then he says in knowing this first that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation for prophecy never came by the will of man but holy men of god spoke as they were moved by the holy spirit so um so the these old testament prophets writing the word of god saying this is this is the word of god claiming it to be a word of god prophesying these events that would that would that were to come in the future and now that these events are being fulfilled it's it validates what was written earlier there so that's what the if you think of in acts in acts chapter um in acts chapter 2 then peter giving his his sermon there he quotes several different old testament passages and saying look these are now being fulfilled here these are these are miraculous events that are being fulfilled in in the place of these prophecies that happened so many years before and that's and that's what he's using to validate his his message there so he quotes um psalm 16 which was written about a thousand years earlier prophesying the resurrection he quotes joel joel 2 which was approximately 800 years earlier which was talking about the outpouring of the holy spirit you know and that was manifested through this through this uh the the ability to speak in tongues a supernatural event again um psalm 110 he quotes speaking of the the ascension so so that's um so so then the fulfillment of of prophecy now is is what confirms um confirms the old testament it confirms jesus own prophecies about himself dying and and and rising again and it all confirms that as in fact that the the they were speaking the word of god so deuteronomy 18 verse 22 it tells us clearly it says when a prophet speaks in the name of the lord if the thing does not happen or come to pass that is the thing which the lord has not spoken the prophet has spoken it presumptuously you shall not be afraid of him so obviously then when it's implied then there is that if when it when it when it does happen he's claiming to be speaking the word of god and it does in fact happen then then you know of course then that that proves then or shows that it is the word of god and again remember like like in in we just read in second peter there was that you know the writers of the bible or the word they were not claiming to be speaking their own their own word they all claimed to be to be speaking the word of god thus says the lord we see that over and over again in the bible so so then so so then just to sort of sum this all up then now in um then that the the the reality of miracles and the reality of of these signs authenticate the claim to be the word of god so when someone was was speaking or writing and they said this this is the word of god then they had this supernatural sign to back up what they were saying that would that validated that they were in fact speaking the word of god or writing it down as as we have in our in our bibles now and then the the fulfillment of of prophecies also authenticates those claims now so so when the writer says you know thus says the lord in the future this is going to happen then when it when it when it did happen again it it evidences itself that it is in fact the word of god because no one of course nobody has the ability to foretell the the future like that so and then when we now when we have supernatural events so that that are the fulfillment of the specific prophecies you have you're both working together now you have miracles as a as a fulfillment of that prophecy um then that's that's doubly validating again then the word of god think things like the virgin birth for example right isaiah 7 um verse 14 he says the the lord himself will give you a sign behold a virgin will conceive and and and bear a son and you shall call his name immanuel right god with us now then when matthew in in in chapter one of matthew he quotes that there he says you know like it was written that that a virgin will will conceive and you know and now we have god with us so um so he's you know that's that's matthew again valid using that to validate his what he's what he's saying he's saying look this is this is in fact the word of god and then other things like you know of course the resurrection the the the main event there of of uh of a miraculous event in in fulfillment of a specific prophecy um the outpouring of the holy spirit though those those types of things so and then just sort of as a as an extra or a different another way to look at it now again going outside of the bible is looking at prophecies that were contained in the bible that the bible the bible gave us certain prophecies about but then that they were fulfilled outside of the biblical account the bible doesn't relate for us the the fulfillment of those prophecies but um but we see them in history through other various sources now so just just a few of those there's there's a lot of of different prophecies specifically to the nations surrounding israel and the different various cities and those those types of things and that are we find in the bible then when we look in history the various historians there then we see them fulfilled one is uh the destruction of of babylon in isaiah 14 verse 23 it tells that that part of that part of that destruction it would be that the babylon would be turned to marshes of muddy water it says and now when when they went to uh what in the the excavation of of babylon there's a massive section of babylon that they cannot get to because the water table has come up and and and everything is under is underwater at that point so it's a it's a it's a obvious fulfillment that you know babylon was part of at least parts of it that they can't get to now are were became you know marshland you know marshes of muddy water as our bible say um another one is that uh is in nahum 1 verse 10 prophesied that the the ninevites would be drunk at their just at their destruction when when when their um destruction came upon them they would be drunk and now as ancient historians tell us then that that the the king of nineveh was celebrating with his soldiers and he was giving them much wine it says and um and then there were some that deserted and they went and alerted the the the enemy army the babylonians at that time and then they knew oh the entire army is drunk and they attacked at that time and and and destroyed the the ninevites that there so again in uh extra biblical historian validating and showing that that the prophecy contained in the bible was was did come to pass so reason for us again to to understand this this prophecy this this word that it was in fact the word of god and now this probably my probably my favorite one is uh is the in ezekiel 26 12 and the destruction of the city of tyre is that it they prophesied that the rubble of of tyre would be cast into the water and and this was fulfilled in history when um alexander well first what happened was that the i believe was the babylonian king had had um besieged the city and the city um they they were they were tire was a port city right tyre was known for its uh its ships its fleet they were they were sort of the first ones to really be in to be uh what's the word mariners you know like sailors they were um so they had this they they were the leading ones in that regard they were right on the set right on the ocean and and so the babylonians uh besiege the city and what the what the ninja or the the residents of tire did was they got into their ships and they sailed out to an island that was about a half a mile off the shore and they just then they just set up and and live there now many years later so they were continuing to live there that the city was was destroyed by the babylonians who knocked over you know all the it was just a pile of rubble now now alexander the great several well more than several years i think it was 200 years later he came he came along and um and he wanted to go to the city of tyre that was on this island now and he wanted to make a sacrifice to their god and do some other things there and they said no you're not coming and and that just made him angry so what he did was he took all of that rubble of the city and built a causeway out in across that half mile um that half mile section of water a causeway to that to the new city that was on the the island with so taking all that rubble throwing it into the water building a causeway out there and then and then destroying the the inhabitants who had who had fled to that city so just an amazing fulfillment of such a such a unique prophecy in that we find in the bible so so that's just a that's just a few there's many many more different prophecies like that that we can find but but um but again just a few i thought i would point out now again just as a reminder as is kind of come to to to the end of this now is that you know subjecting the scriptures to our human reasoning is not is not so that we you know have the final authority to determine it to be the word of god but rather that it's it's serving that the purpose to to to build our faith that we do not believe you know cunningly devised fables like like peter says they're not not something that was just made up schemed up somewhere you know but we we we believe the you know the the the that it is the word of god that it's a it's a reasonable to believe it and then and then it also of course gives us the ability to give a defense like like peter says now you know to give a defense to anyone who would ask us for the the reason right the reason of the hope that is in us so so that's sort of the the conclusion there then of of this why we why we believe it it is uh we have supernatural events that that validate the claims to be the word of god when so when we look in in the bible we see how the bible the cell itself at the attestation of the bible when we look in the bible itself we see evidences through these events through these signs as the as the word of god so um and then just just briefly then to continue on this to get through this paragraph then um moving on now to the to the sufficiency of scripture so we looked at the certainty in the first in the first line there i'm now going to the word prior the sufficiency of scripture um so so so that is it is the sufficient rule of of saving knowledge faith and obedience so so teaching that it it contains all the information necessary all the information needed um to to for our for our salvation all the the reasonable grounds for our faith and and and for in the um the commands for our walk in obedience to to god so that's what it's uh that's what it's teaching there everything can be found within the word of god now does the bible itself teach this yes it does it turn the kind of the classic passage on that is second timothy iii return there second timothy 3 15 and 16. we'll get there and that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in christ jesus all scripture is given by inspiration of god and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction and for instruction in righteousness that the man of god may be complete thoroughly equipped for every good work so verse 15 then talks about how that it's it's um it's for the the knowledge and faith that the confession says right the rule of all saving knowledge and faith verse 15 teaches us that that it's you know the they're able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in christ jesus so that so the knowledge the the and the grounds for that knowledge and for that faith in christ and then verse 16 speaks to the um the the obedience that are that the confession says here so so so how do we live a life of obedience to god having believed the holy scriptures and having believed in christ how do we live in obedience that's what's found in verse 16. and another passage is luke luke 16 luke 16 28-31 that also it also speaks to that that is the um that is the parable of the rich man and lazarus and then at the end of the parable now in verse 28 um this you know the the the man is crying out and he's saying you know for if i beg you father if you would send send him to my father's house for i have five brothers that he may testify to them lest they also come to this place of torment abraham said to him they have moses and the prophets let them hear them and he said no father abraham but if one goes to them from the dead they will repent but he said to them if they do not hear moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead so so what what abraham then in the parable what jesus is teaching there is that you know the man's the man's brother brothers could be saved from this place of torment if they read and if they believe moses and the prophets so so he's saying you they have everything they need in in in this context it's even in the old testament um for their for salvation and to be to be saved from from ending up in this place of torment everything there was was they had it all they didn't need they didn't need someone to come from for to rise from the dead and to teach them something extra so so the so the idea then of the sufficiency then is that the bible contains all of the information all of the truths necessary for our salvation and for our walk in obedience to god and then we have the infallibility of the scriptures and the infallibility of it means that it's it's it's in incapable of error it's not possible to to err now now inerrant means without error infallible means not able to air so if you would if you were to get a 100 as humans we can be inerrant at times we can you know if you were to get 100 on an exam you you know we would call that an inerrant exam but you know that's you know the next exam you might not you you know you might not get a hundred you're gonna make mistakes and you make mistakes because you're not infallible you you are not you are not unable to make errors and that's what's meant by by the word of god when we call it when we say it's infallible means it's not it's not able to air it's not able to to to lead astray that kind of thing and that and that's a that's an easy you know when we when we understand that the bible is the word of god then it it's a very simple step to you know to to understand that it's infallible because god as the author of the bible is not subject to error right in john 17 it says your word is truth you know god god cannot lie titus 1 verse 2. so very so so like i said it's a very simple step we understand as the word of god it's not god cannot lie it cannot he cannot deceive so so that it's it so basically is that it's it's it's in it's in infallible meaning incapable of error unable to deceive it is a completely trustworthy trustworthy as the word of god so so and then um so those so so now sort of backing up again a little bit a little bit farther out looking at the teaching of the paragraph as a whole just just briefly here um and the idea now is is the necessity of the scripture that's kind of what the paragraph as a as a whole is talking about the necessity of the scripture um and and the idea then is this is that is that redemptive revelation you know as given to us in the bible is necessary for salvation so so the so that one cannot be saved without knowing understanding and believing the truths of of the bible having that uh the and and the truth of the bible is what i mean when i say redemptive revelation how we are to be saved um how we can or to to be redeemed it is it is contained in the bible without the bible you cannot be saved without sorry when i say without the bible doesn't mean you you know people have to read the bible for themselves obviously through them through many languages are not the bible's not in that language but the truths contained therein is what is what is necessary for salvation and that's the the the confession goes on to tell us that you know nature and creation are they're incapable of giving us this this knowledge that is necessary for saving faith we can look at nature and and creation and we can deduce that you know that there must be a supreme being who created it all you know but that just that that just leads to to what's called deism you know that that there must be the only explanation is that there's a is a is a supernatural being out there who created it all um you know so so so nature can lead us that far but we cannot know who that god is um you know our place before him the way of reconciliation back to him without knowing the the truths that are contained in the within the scriptures themselves so um and turn a chapter 20 for a second um to it speaks to that as well chapter 20 paragraph two it says this promise of christ and salvation by him is revealed only by the word of god neither do the works of creation or providence with the light of nature make discovery of christ or of grace by him so much as is so much as in a general or obscure way much less that men destitute of the revelation of him by the promise or gospel should be enabled thereby to attain saving faith or repentance so so teaching out you know teaches us here showing us that that without knowing about christ there's there is no no way to be saved right the the um uh i forget the reference and acts but there's no no other name under heaven by which we must be saved now um we see this we see this concept in psalm 19 is again also a very a very um clear clear um description of how this how this is the heavens declare the glory of god you know but but it's it's the it's the the so they're declaring the glory of god but it's the the law of god that we find the second half of the song the law of god that is that is perfect converting the soul making wise the simple you know etc so um romans 1 verse 16 says that only only the the the gospel is the power of god unto salvation the gospel of that that message of the life and death and resurrection of christ and also first corinthians 1 21 first for since in the wisdom of god the world through wisdom did not know god so so again the the worldly wisdom you can come to all the philosophers you can come to the idea of a supreme being but they cannot know god so the world through wisdom did not know god it pleased god through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe robert shaw he says here the scriptures assure us that there is no salvation for sinful men in any other name but that of jesus christ that there is no salvation through him but by faith and that there can be no faith nor knowledge of christ but by revelation so so again it's affirmative we need the the truth as we find them in the holy scriptures the truth specifically of christ for that redemptive revelation for for salvation and again this this highlights the importance of of mission work not not only overseas but but around you know in our own our own uh locations as well as is is that you know man cannot be saved without having a knowledge of of christ and and that knowledge is in the contained in the scriptures so we ought to get that out there the the the bible or the confession tells us that creation you know gives leaves man inexcusable before god you know it evidence is enough to leave man inexcusable but yet it does not give that way of of redemption there so it's important as you know that god you know since god committed his revelation to to to writing and these writings that that we can be most assured are genuine and they're truthful they're affirmed by the signs and the miracles and the prophecy fulfillments that that we saw earlier then that that word needs to be spread through the world so that sinners can hear that message and by grace believe it and and be saved so um and then paragraphs paragraphs two and three they just basically uh affirm you know the canon of scripture as we as we have it in our bibles paragraph two gives a the positive affirmation of what is included paragraph three gives the the negative of what is what are what is excluded uh you know certain books that have that that were in question um in particular dealing with the apocrypha there because of the the roman catholic church affirming it as as inspired scripture um but like i said earlier pastor butler hopes to deal with that in in more detail next on the next time we go through the confession so um so so then in conclusion now that we can be assured that the bible is the word of god because because as believers we have our hearts are regenerated by the holy spirit enabling us to understand it and to believe these truths giving us that faith that comes from god and and to to accept them as the word of god and also we can be assured because the evidence that we find in history and in archaeology as well as the internal evidence in the bible itself they all they all affirm that fact so and it does it uh you know it gives us that the assurance that confidence of our faith and the ability to uh to defend it to anyone who would ask so that is that is all i i didn't leave any time for questions which is which is perfect because it's just kidding so but if there is any questions uh yeah there's a lot of information a lot of i know a lot going on there but uh if anyone has any questions feel free perfect all right well thank you all for listening