This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is day five together of our look at 1st Peter chapter 1, and today we're
going to take a little different look at the verses we looked at yesterday,
verses 19 to 21. Because these verses are some of the strongest verses in the
entire scripture about the inspiration of the Bible. You listen to drive time
devotions, I hope, many, many days, or maybe you're just starting to listen.

It means you have an interest in God's word, it means you want to trust in God's
word, but how do you know you can trust? How do you know that God's word is from
God? The word for that, by the way, the theological word for that is inspired,
that God inspired his word, and so because of that I can trust his word.

Now I know, we're bombarded with words every day, words with varying degrees of
authority behind them. I mean, if you're driving down the road and you see a
billboard that says pull off at the next off-ramp, you may pull off, you may not
pull off, but if you see a flashing red light in your rear-view mirror and you
hear a voice from the police car behind you saying pull off at the next
off-ramp, you're going to probably pull off. Of all the voices that you hear
calling to you every day, none of them speaks with more authority than the
Bible.

Because God said it, and because he knows and controls everything, every word in
the Bible has immeasurable authority behind it because God inspired it. But what
does that mean that God inspired it? Well these verses explain that, this idea
of inspiration.

Now let me just make that clear. Norman Geisler has said this about inspiration,
"Inspiration does not mean simply that the writer felt enthusiastic, like Handel
composing the Messiah, nor does it mean that the writings are necessarily
inspiring like an uplifting poem. As a process, it refers to the writers and the
writings being controlled by God, and as a product, it refers to the writings
only as documents that are God's message.

" So what does that mean when we say these are God's message, these can be
trusted? What does it mean when we say the Bible is inspired? Well let's look at
some truths from these verses in this first chapter.

First, inspiration means that God wrote the Bible through people. Verse 19, "We
have heard the word of the prophets made more certain, and you do well to pay
attention to it as to a light shining in a dark place. " So this word, Peter
says, came through the prophets, it came through people.

And here's Peter writing about this, and God's inspiring him even as he's doing
that. He is writing as a prophet, so the Holy Spirit's inspiring him even as
he's talking about inspiration. Now the details of how God used people, how God
inspired people, are a matter of great debate and conjecture, because none of us
were there, we didn't see how it happened.

One thing is very obvious as you read the Bible, God didn't use people as
robots. You can clearly see people's personalities and passions and past history
in what they wrote. God created a perfect Bible through real people.

He moved them internally to create a word that will last eternally. Now if you
doubt that God could create something perfect through a fallible human being,
I'd remind you that Jesus was born into this world through a faith-filled but
imperfect woman named Mary, and Jesus was perfect. So God can work through us to
create perfection.

First, inspiration means that God wrote it through people. Second, inspiration
means that the Holy Spirit is the author. Through people, but the Spirit's the
author.

Listen to verses 20 and 21. "Above all, you have to understand that no prophecy
of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation, for prophecy never
had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried
along by the Holy Spirit. " Again and again you see in Scripture that Scripture
is said to have been written by the Holy Spirit.

Just a few Scriptures, Acts 1-16, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the
Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David. So David may have written it, but the
Holy Spirit spoke it through him. Or Ezekiel 11-5, "Then the Spirit of the Lord
came upon me, and he told me to say.

" So who wrote the Bible? God did. He worked through people, but ultimately he
is the author.

Now I think the fact that God created a perfect book through so many imperfect
people is one of his greatest miracles. Splitting the Red Sea, it's nothing
compared to that. When you hold a Bible, when you read a Bible, it is a miracle.

You have to be careful to see that the authority in God's Word is in God's Word
and not in your opinion or my opinion about God's Word. God always has a way of
humbling us when we try to speak for him rather than allowing him to speak for
himself. And so sometimes people will take a verse and say, "This is my
interpretation of it.

" It doesn't even fit the verse. And so you have to believe this. No, you got to
go back to God's Word.

It's the source. Remember that a church bishop of a century or so ago pronounced
from his pulpit and in a periodical that he edited that heavier than air flight
was impossible. It was contrary to the will of God.

This guy's name was Bishop Wright, and you got it right. His sons were named
Orville and Wilbur, the inventors of flight. So God humbles us when we make
these proclamations that aren't in his Word.

It's his Word that we can trust. Now let me just get theological for a moment
here with you. There are two words that are important to understand when it
comes to the inspiration of God's Word.

You may have heard this sometimes when somebody says, "I believe in the verbal,
plenary inspiration of God's Word. " What does that mean? Verbal means that God
inspired it all.

The words, not just the ideas. That he worked through human beings to inspire
the words. So every word is important.

I believe that this is true because Jesus, when he was arguing with the
Pharisees, sometimes would base an argument on a single word. Matthew 5, 18,
Matthew 22, 43 to 44, you can see where he looks at a single word as being
inspired. Verbal means every word is inspired, and plenary means all the words.

Not just part, but all the words are inspired. You may have been to a conference
where they have a plenary session, which means all the people, everybody comes
together. Plenary inspiration means all the words are inspired.

So when you hear somebody say, "I believe in the verbal, plenary inspiration of
the Bible," now you're going to know what they mean. To you personally, some
books, some portions of the Bible are going to be more inspiring than others. No
doubt about that.

Most people find Psalms more inspiring than Leviticus. But that doesn't change
the fact that all the Bible is inspired. Augustine gave us a clear warning of
the danger of our deciding which parts of the Bible are inspired when he said,
"If you believe what you like in the gospel and reject what you don't like, it's
not the gospel you believe, but yourself.

" So the inspiration is that God is the author. That's why I can trust it.
There's a third truth that comes out of these first two, and that is inspiration
means God's word is to be our final authority.

Since God wrote it through people, it's the authority. It's the final answer.
And we have, in verse 19, the word of the prophets made more certain.

And you will do well to pay attention to it because it is the authority for
life. It is the truth for life as to a light shining in the dark place. It is
the light that we need for life.

When you understand that God's word is inspired, it increases your confidence in
the Bible. When you understand that God's word is inspired, the truth behind
inspiration is the truth that you can trust God's word above your feelings,
above your values, above your opinions, above your culture, because God's word
is what's going to last. I was born into a certain culture.

I may have picked up ideas that are totally wrong from that culture. I was born
in a certain time. I may have picked up ideas that are wrong.

I was born in a certain family. I may have opinions because of that family that
are totally wrong, but God's word is always going to be right. J.

I. Packer defines the authority of God's word as when you treat God's word as
having decisive force for your life. That means that whenever there's a conflict
between what the Bible says or the way you feel or what you've been taught or
the opinions of others or what seems reasonable to you, whenever there's a
conflict between any of those things and what God says, God's right because God
loves you, because God is truth, because God transcends all those things.

The Bible is always right. God doesn't have to have any pride about that because
He is God. He just is always right.

Sometimes you'll hear people say that it's closed-minded to accept the Bible as
the authoritative truth. Belief in the authority of the Bible, it's not being
closed-minded, it's being right-minded. It's not closed-minded to say that on a
compass there's only one true north or that on a map there's only one
geographical destination that you're heading towards.

Since God inspired the Bible, it is not closed-minded to say that it has the
final say in your life. I've always loved what C. H.

Spurgeon said about this. He said, "I would recommend that you either believe
God up to the hilt or else not believe it at all. Believe the book of God, every
letter of it, or reject it.

There's no logical standing place between the two. Be satisfied with nothing
less than a faith that swims in the depths of divine revelation. A faith that
paddles around the edge of the water is a poor faith at best.

It's a little better than a dry land faith. It is not good for much. " I don't
want that kind of faith.

You don't want that kind of faith. We want the kind of faith that dives into the
depths of God's Word. But that's going to test you.

That's going to test me because sometimes I'm going to have to trust God even
though it doesn't feel like I should trust him. I'm going to have to trust God
even though I don't want to trust him in that circumstance. But he's always
trustworthy.

He's always trustworthy. And in every circumstance, you can know that whatever
he's saying to you comes out of his love for you. And so, Lord, we pray that
these words from Peter are about the trustworthiness of your Word.

They wouldn't just make its way into our intellect, but that they'd make their
way into our heart. God, we would trust your Word like that light that's shining
in the dark place. We'd run to the light.

We'd get out of the dark. If there's any place in my life, in any of our lives,
where we're standing in the dark right now, Lord, help us to see the light
through your Word. And right now, give us the faith to run to that light.

Thank you for the light of your truth. In Jesus' name, we thank you. Amen.

Join us next week as we look at chapter 2. We're going to see a warning that
will lead to a lifetime of spiritual health.