Infallibility and Inerrancy of Scripture

Good evening. Thank you for being here this evening. I want to be able to just start out with a quick overview of what we have studied so far. Where we are is that we've been in this fourth lesson of this 10-lesson systematic theology and bibliography, right? So if you flip to the back of your sheet, you'll be able to see that outline there and where we are. Lesson four, we're going to be studying the terms of infallibility and the inerrancy of Scripture.

So what I'd like to start out with is just a quick little history. This is not going to be a history lesson, but I just want to introduce these terms as far as where we've been as a Church here. According to this guy named Mark Ross, who wrote an article in the Reformation Study Bible, he was talking about how the term inerrancy was not commonplace in Church history until the 19th century.

When you think about that, the 19th century and the 1800s is when a lot of the seminaries were kind of going more liberal with more textual criticism and things. And so the Bible was under a high amount of scrutiny. Not only just scrutiny, because the Bible, it is true and it can withstand the highest amount of scrutiny, but there was a lot of doubt that was creeping in. And so a lot of these people that were getting educated and being challenged were introducing this doubt to try to bring the standard of the Bible into question, introducing this term of inerrancy.

And so fast forward a little bit. At that time, in the year 1853, there was the New Hampshire Baptist Confession of Faith, which our Church bases our statement of faith on. And so what I want to be able to do real quick is read the first paragraph of our statement of faith as it is related to Scripture. And I want you to get your ears open about when you hear the terms of inerrancy and infallibility.

So the first paragraph of the New Hampshire Baptist Statement of Faith is what our statement of faith is based on. Paragraph one, of the Scriptures. "We believe that the Holy Bible was written by men, divinely inspired and is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction. That it has God for its author, Salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter." Meaning it is inerrant and fully sufficient for faith and practice, that it reveals the principles by which God will judge us.

"And therefore it is and shall remain to the end of the world the true center of Christian union and the infallible standard by which all human conduct, creeds and opinions should be tried." That's the first paragraph there in our statement of faith. And another quick note, so that was based on 1853. Then there was in 1978, 1976 maybe, give or take a couple years, the Chicago Statement of Biblical Inerrancy was written.

Over 200 theologians in the evangelical realm signed this. There is a book called Explaining Biblical Inerrancy by R.C. Sproul and Norman Geisler. If you want any more background to that Chicago Statement, we're not going to get it here tonight, but there's a book for that. I can show it to you after this. So just a quick little history lesson with that, because nowadays today in 2024, we are faced with even more critics, not just the scholars and the theologians that are out there that may be coming to our Church, but they're among us.

They're in the mainstream Church, and so they're in our neighborhoods as far as how people think about the Bible. And so people are thinking about this and inserting their own ideas of God. They're leaving parts of God out of the Bible. And so this will not go on forever, and only we know that only the words of God will endure. So let's look at your worksheet there.

We're going to start on truth number one. If you can fill in the blanks here: as Scripture is inspired, it is infallible and inerrant. As infallible, it is wholly reliable and trustworthy. As inerrant, it is true and without error in its claims. So real quick, these two terms, infallible and inerrancy — the definition for infallible is that one who cannot err, one who cannot fail. Inerrant is one who does not have any failure or any error in it.

So an example for this is like if I were to take a test and get 100% on the test, I have not made any errors on that test. So I would be an inerrant student, but I would not be an infallible student. So I still have the ability to err and make mistakes, but at that particular time I did not err. So between the two terms, infallible is a lot stronger than inerrant. You can kind of see throughout all of history, Church history, that the term infallible was the reigning term. Inerrancy kind of crept in from the bottom and is now trying to challenge it.

So that is one thing that is so powerful about the Chicago Statement of Biblical Inerrancy — it draws a line there. The term infallible does not even get touched as far as drawing the unity in the Church and where that goes. These are terms worth fighting for when we are talking about Scripture here, infallible and inerrancy. So for truth number one here, the two important words for infallible are reliable and trustworthy.

One way to think about this is like a bank, like an old school bank. When you think about where you are going to put your money, you want to put your money in a place that is reliable and trustworthy. So when you look at that, like an old school bank, you have a really tight safe, you have bankers that know what they are doing, you have competency, you have all those types of things to be able to make something trustworthy and reliable.

And so when we think about the Bible, I was drawn right into Genesis chapter 15. If you want to open there, in Genesis chapter 15, we see the encounter that Abraham had with God. And this is the point when God is making a promise to Abram at that time. And so what He ended up doing was making a promise. He said, "Bring me," in verse 9 there, "So He said to him, meaning God, bring me a three-year-old heifer and a three-year-old female goat and a three-year-old ram and a turtledove and a young pigeon." And if you read on, what actually took place was that it was a cut in half of the ram and the goat and put them on opposite sides of each other.

And as you read on, Abram went to sleep and God had a torch that passed through these broken carcasses. And so what this text is saying here, and it's also mentioned in Genesis 22, and it's explained to us in Hebrews 6:13, is that God is swearing by Himself in this. And so there's no other higher form of reliability and trustworthiness than God Himself, and we see that here in the text. And so let's keep reading here in the sheet. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God." And so that's where our reliability and trustworthiness comes from, is from God Himself.

Flip over on the back. We have some Scripture here we're going to go through. So it's important to be able to get back and reinforce this point of infallibility, being reliable and trustworthy, and inerrant, being true and without error in its claims. So in Exodus 34, verse 6, it says, "Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in faithfulness and truth." What a great God that we serve, explained there in chapter 34 of Exodus.

In the New Testament in John 14:6, "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" In John 17:17, "Sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth." Also in the New Testament, Romans 3:3 through 4, "For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not. Indeed," and here's the key part, "let God be true, but every man a liar, as it is written, that you may be justified in your words and may overcome when you are judged."

And then the last one for this truth is in Titus 1:1 through 2. It starts out with this letter: "Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgment of the truth, which accords with godliness and hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began." Key phrase in that is "cannot" — doesn't have the ability to. That goes back to the infallibility of God.

And so the application for this truth is: as God is trustworthy and true, so is Scripture.

Let me read for you the next verse, Numbers 23, verse 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? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" So what a great God that we serve, to be able to fall under His care, and we know that He is true and trustworthy. And so I know this past week, many of us are reflecting on John Thompson and his death, and maybe even reflecting on our own lives, on whether we are living a life that is honorable to God.

And so when we're going through these things and through these ideas, we ask ourselves, who can I trust? Who can I trust with my deepest and potentially darkest thoughts? And we know that Christ is sufficient. We look to the cross, and we look to Him for a saving grace. We know that His word is reliable. We know that His hands are infallible. And so we can lean on Him and trust in Him. Going back to the term, we can, quote unquote, take it to the bank. We can take it to God. And so we can think about that — to Him be the glory. Amen to that, right?

All right. Point number two is that Scripture is trustworthy in all its parts. It is the historical record of Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, who was crucified, buried, and resurrected. Last week, we had a quote by Voddie Baucham about asking the question, why would I believe the Bible is true? This idea of the Bible being true and the credibility of it, we're going to actually go in more detail next week as well.

But a quick definition of the Bible is it's God's plan of redemption for the fallen man. And so when you have the entire Bible kind of summed up in that one phrase of God's plan of redemption for the fallen man, the person of redemption is of the utmost importance. And so when we look at this truth here, it is absolutely critical that God provided us with a historical record of the Savior, of Jesus Christ.

And so it's beautiful when you think about it. It's like if God were to have words that would be delivered to His fallen creatures, showing that He would love them, He would give them a comprehensive view and provide so many different ways to add validity to the historical record of Jesus Christ. And that's what we've gotten. So let's look at 1 Corinthians 15:3 through 8. What a great chapter 1 Corinthians 15 is.

We're going to read just verses 3 through 8 here. "For I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received, 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 remained to the present. But some have fallen asleep. 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." And so we see kind of purpose in God's word here, in its infallibility, in its inerrancy, how it can be trustworthy by giving us the answer and the historical record of our Savior.

And not only was it a record of the actual current events of the actual person and work of Jesus Christ, but it was prophetic. We read in the Old Testament, we're going to get into later the impact of that. So the application for point number two here is, trust Christ who foretold His resurrection.

Flip over on the back, and we can read 1 Timothy 3:16. "And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory." What a great truth this is, to be able to have this historical record of Jesus Christ. Not only just that it happened, but it was highly embraced by some of the people that were there.

That was recorded, some people were preached to, He was seen by angels, and all the things there in that verse. And so not only that, but Jesus foretold His resurrection. Read with me in Mark 9, verse 31, right below the application. "For He taught His disciples and said to them, 'The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.'" This is Jesus — I'll just kind of use a term from today — Jesus is calling His shot.

Just like Babe Ruth, when he would be up to the plate, he was calling his shot. He was going to hit a home run at this bat. And so let me just tell you a little bit the weightiness of this foretelling that Jesus did about His resurrection. It's like if Babe Ruth were to call his shot months prior and would tell the same inning, tell the count of the pitch, and be able to do all that months prior. What headlines that would make if Babe Ruth or any player were able to do that and tell exactly where that ball was going to land.

This is the kind of prophetic record that we have, where not only were there former prophets that foretold of this 24-hour period of the crucifixion and the death, burial, and resurrection, but Jesus Himself, when He was here in the flesh and you could hear His voice. And so a lot of the witnesses recorded this foretelling. And so we can trust Him for this reason here, for foretelling His own resurrection. What a great God that we serve.

Point number three is that as the Word of God made flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ is our infallible authority. Jesus taught that Scripture was without error and is eternal. Flip over in your Bibles to John chapter one. As you're doing that, I'll restate the truth: as the Word of God made flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ is our infallible authority. Jesus taught that Scripture was without error and is eternal.

In John chapter one, let me read the first five verses. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him and apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it."

So we have here where God came to us as a human. He was the God-man. It wasn't before the fall, but it was in the period where there was still sinning, and He was born of a virgin mother. Very, very important to be able to know this, that He was real. He was in the flesh. He was the Lord Jesus Christ and He was our infallible authority. He walked among other people. He talked with them as we talk with each other today. He had feelings and emotions. Yet Jesus lived as an infallible authority — infallible meaning He was unable to fail.

He took on this great task. He had so many temptations and so many things around Him. Adam and Eve just had one tree, and Jesus had several, quote unquote, trees and fruit all around Him. And He paved the way to be able to be the only Savior of the world, where it was all up to Him. And He was unable to fail. He's our infallible authority, absolutely critical, so unique, that He can be the only Savior of the world here.

And so read with me in Matthew, right below the truth there in point three, Matthew 5:18. "For surely I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law until all is fulfilled." So Jesus taught in these verses that His word would endure, meaning His promises would hold true today for those of us in Him. Thinking about the promises that He has given to us.

The application for point three is: infallible teaching rests on inerrant grounds.

Flip over on the back and look at point number three. We have Matthew 24, verse 35. "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away," which is mentioned twice. It's important. Luke 21, verse 33. "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away." And in Luke 16:16 through 17. "The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time, the kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is pressing into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail."

And then in 1 Peter 1:22 through 25. This one's going to hit home in a few minutes. "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the word of God, which lives and abides forever, because," quote from the Old Testament, "all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and its flower falls away. But the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word which by the Gospel was preached to you."

I remember when, you know, when things were getting crazy in COVID time, when everyone was getting quarantined, I went to this verse, repeated a few times throughout Scripture, about the endurance of God's word. And we have to be able to bank on and trust His word and understand what it means that it's infallible — God's word cannot fail. And so anything and everything around us can be going crazy, but God's word is trustworthy. God's word cannot fail. And so we must understand and hold to these truths here.

Back on the front, at the bottom, we have John 10:34 through 35. "Jesus answered them, 'Is it not written in your law, "I said, you are gods"? If He called them gods to whom the word of God came — and the Scripture cannot be broken — do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, "You are blaspheming," because I said, "I am the Son of God"?'" Real quick, what Jesus is doing here is pointing out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, because He's pointing back to Psalm 82:6, when the Psalmist — I believe it is Asaph — is giving a title for the judges in that time when that Psalm was written.

The title of being a god. And so that was sacred Scripture. And so Jesus was pointing out that, well, if you're calling it blasphemy for me saying that I'm the Son of God, well, the judges were also called the sons of God too, according to Psalm 82, verse 6, given a divine title in that way. So Jesus was making it very clear that His claims about Himself are consistent with Scripture.

One thing about the power of God's word and the power here of Jesus' infallible authority is really found in the Gospel and about how this is eternal. I want to read you a quote here that I've heard through Stephen Lawson, who quoted Charles Spurgeon. I point that out because I think some people say, give a random Spurgeon quote, and you're like, well, I really kind of wonder if Spurgeon really even said that. So I'll just say that Stephen Lawson quoted Spurgeon. He's a historian and everything. So it gives me a little more credibility that Spurgeon actually said this.

So Spurgeon here in this quote was referring to John chapter 10 and talking about "My sheep hear my voice and they will follow me," the words of Christ. And he's teaching from this infallible and inerrant word. Charles Spurgeon here says, quote, "Oh, I love God's 'shall' and 'will's.' There is nothing comparable to them. Let a man say 'shall.' What is it good for? 'I will,' says a man, and he never performs. 'I shall,' says he, and he breaks his promise. But it is never so with God's 'shall.' If He says 'shall,' it shall be. When He says 'will,' it will be." Now He has said, and Spurgeon is referring back to John chapter 10, when He's saying they will know my voice and they will follow me.

Spurgeon continues: "Now He has said here, 'Many shall come.' The devil says, 'They shall not come,' but they shall come. You yourself say, 'We won't come.' God says, 'You shall come.' Yes, there are some here who are laughing at salvation, who can scoff at Christ and mock at the Gospel. But I tell you, some of you shall come yet. What? Can God make me become a Christian? I tell you, yes, for here rests the power of the Gospel. It does not ask your consent, but it gets it. It does not say, 'Will you have it?' but it makes you willing in the day of God's power."

Spurgeon preached an infallible word from an inerrant word of God. And so shall we. We need to understand the weightiness and the gravitas of God's word. When God says that He shall have His people, He shall have His people. When He knows that you'll be resurrected one day, you will be resurrected one day. And so when you're in Christ, we can trust in His promises because of the infallibility and the inerrancy of His word that He has given.

And so friends, our word, our commitment does not mean anything compared to God's declared word. Peter said at the very end of those verses — if you flip over on the back, you can see that last part of what Peter said. He says, "Now this is the word by which the Gospel was preached to you." This word. Now this is the word — an infallible and inerrant word. And you can feel it by understanding the Gospel in this way. And that's how Jesus preached. We must be declared righteous by God's word in His electing power, or we are not saved at all.

Truth number four. Just getting warmed up here. This blows me away, point number four here. The Lord Jesus Christ taught that Scripture is entirely true, not only in matters of faith and practice, but in every detail of its historical claims. After you finish writing that down, you can take a look down here. These items here, and a lot of these items here, you can kind of see — okay, these are some of the things that get challenged.

Like, oh, that's figurative language. You can kind of see how that gets kind of tossed away into bad interpretation. You know, like, oh, like Jonah, and, you know, Sodom's — Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt. And so you've got to understand the Scriptures in that way. But what is the hammer for this section here is the references, and who spoke these words. Jesus Christ Himself — Jesus validated each and every one of these that are listed. Thank you for highlighting these, David, in this worksheet. This right here, I feel like, is the gold of this lesson right here.

When you think about Adam and Eve, take the first one: Adam and Eve as our first parents. Well, you go back to Genesis, you can have an argument about something like that. But, hey, Jesus said it in Matthew 19:4 through 6, Mark 10, verse 6. Who's this guy, Abel, you know, being the first martyr? It's actually, if you correct the passage, it's Matthew 23, verse 35.

Noah and the flood — everyone talks about, oh, Noah is this mythical creature. Well, you must think Jesus is a madman, because Matthew 24:27 through 38, Jesus referenced Noah. Also, the destruction of Sodom and Lot's wife — Jesus said it, Luke 17:26 through 32. Talking about Abraham, John 8, verse 56. Moses as the giver of the law, Luke 24, verse 44; John 7, verse 19. So you kind of get the point here where Jesus is, time and time again, it's not just like once or twice kind of a thing — Jesus is referencing the historical claims back in what we call the Old Testament. There are time and time again, all throughout the Gospels, where Jesus has validated what has taken place prior to Him coming to earth as the God-man.

And so the application for this is: trust all of God's word in every detail. At this point here, when you think about trusting in God's word, we haven't gone that much farther outside of Scripture. We can trust God all throughout all sixty-six books of the Bible. When you refer back to the Old Testament, hey, Christ validated that, the prophets validated this. And so there's so much to be able to put our trust into in every single detail of Scripture.

So not only does God claim the entirety of Scripture is true in every detail, we must believe that. To not believe this would be to sell God short. You're not just selling Scripture or your idea of Scripture, but you're selling God short when you don't believe in the entirety of Scripture and what is written as infallible and inerrant. You may be like me some time ago — when you think about the application of this, think about where I was some time ago before coming to this Church, allowing room for science and allowing room for various articles and TV shows and whatever that crept into my mind and had authority over God's word on how I thought about various historical claims.

We need to instead be trusting what Christ said, validating Jonah, validating Noah, validating Adam and Eve. These are very foundational. We need to not allow these earthly, manmade, however academic they may sound — we need to hold true to the infallible and inerrant word of God. So we must continue to have a high view of God and a low view of ourselves and other men.

So I would encourage myself here and encourage all of us to keep coming to Bible study here. Take the word of God seriously, like we do here at this Church. We want a high view of God. John 3, verse 30. John about this says, "He must increase, but I must decrease."

Point number five. Jesus and the New Testament authors also regarded the Old Testament as completely true in all its promises, which are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Think about the many times that you have read the New Testament, and you come across the phrase "it is written" or "it was said," and it goes back to a Psalm, or it goes back to any part. There are a plethora of Scriptures in that way where we have the apostolic word of the New Testament that is validating what the Old Testament has been able to set in all its promises, which are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

So it once became popular — I don't know if it still is or not — but there's been a theologian that has said about unhitching from the Old Testament. You may have heard that once or twice. So when we do that, you think about this truth here: when you unhitch the Old Testament, you're unhitching the very words of Christ. You're unhitching the very words of Christ who quoted the Old Testament. If you're unhitching the Old Testament, you are unhitching Christ Himself. And that is not wise.

So let's read some Scripture here in point five. Matthew 26:54 and 56. "How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen thus? In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, 'Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and you did not seize me. But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.' Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled." So Jesus, towards the end of His last hours, is going back to pointing out — you know, you think about your own last words, your last words are going to be much more important. I think in your minds you want to be able to say very important things. And here Jesus, in some of those last moments, points out about Scripture being fulfilled — Scripture of the prophets.

Flip over on the back. We can read another verse from Matthew chapter 5:17 through 19. "Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For surely I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

And then in Luke 24, which is one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture, is the road to Emmaus. I love this passage. Luke 24:44 through 45. "Then He said to them," Jesus saying to the men here that He's walking with, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me." And He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

We're going to get more into a couple of lessons down the road talking about the canonicity of Scripture. This is one of the go-to verses. But there's a lot more to that than just that one verse. But that is one of the verses where Jesus — He has resurrected at that point, at the very end of the Gospel of Luke, and He spent some time with these two gentlemen, and He points out that everything that the prophets talked about in the Scriptures, what they knew the Scriptures to be at that time, has been fulfilled. And what a great record that is.

The application for point five is: the Scriptures testify of me. We get it, John 5, verse 39. Jesus is saying, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. It is these that testify about me." So very important, how the Scriptures have testified about our Savior.

Point number six is that inerrancy is the foundation of sound exegesis. So this term here is pronounced exegesis. I've heard it a couple of times. I don't want to mess that up now and get told later. But exegesis — the "ex" is like "taken out of," right. So taking the correct interpretation taken out of Scripture. The opposite that is often compared, to keep exegesis accountable, is eisegesis. Eisegesis is reading into the text your own intuition. I just recently saw something on Twitter about some guy — I won't name here — but he was using his intuition, saying that we all know deep in our hearts what this verse means. And like, well, that's a clear definition right there of eisegesis, right there, instead of using sound exegesis.

And we're going to also talk about hermeneutics later on — the science of interpretation. And so we're going to look more into that on our theology Wednesdays, to get more into hermeneutics. So you can see how we've even touched on a couple of things we're going to touch on later on.

There's so much here in this infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture. The phrase "sound exegesis" — the word "sound" is implying a consistency that results in a healthy way of interpreting Scripture. I'll just say it like that. And so when I think about "sound" I also think about like a tuning fork, right. And you want to be able to tune the sound, and that sound needs to be consistent. If it's not right, the frequency of that sound is going to go all over the place.

And so you want your exegesis — the way that you take the words, your interpretation out of Scripture — to be consistent from Genesis all the way to Revelation. And that does help out when we think about the importance of how we see Scripture as being inerrant. It is very foundational to having a sound exegesis, to be consistent, and when you're consistent in your interpretation, it produces a healthy spiritual life, and you want more of that.

I think that's why we keep coming back here to Bible study. We keep coming back on Sunday mornings here and the Gospel is preached in a sound way, where we hear Scripture being read and interpreted in a way where it's going to mean the same thing one way and the same another way if we pull out any Scripture. I just recently saw — that when we talked about this — it doesn't really matter if you have a holiday coming up, in that we just preach through the word and the Gospel comes out every part of Scripture. And so there's a sound exegesis in that. There may come a time where we may think that, okay, this sermon may be appropriate at this time for whatever reason, and we'll be able to do that. But the principle of that is understood here, about how inerrancy is the foundation of sound exegesis.

And so it shouldn't take us long to realize that we are all messed up. We are the opposite. We are fallible. We are errant. It doesn't take us long to figure that out. But when you do have God's word and you hold it up to your life, you can see a lot more of your fallibility and your errors. So what this does is that we have errors in every aspect of our lives, and what this means is that we need a Savior. We need a Savior — who we just talked about. It just goes back to that. We need a Savior. We cannot do it on our own.

So the opposite of infallibility for us is that we can err. We can fail, and we're fully capable of doing that. But bottom line is that we need a Savior. And when we realize that, we know and we follow His word. And so what a great thing, to be able to follow a commander, to follow a Savior, who is inerrant, who is infallible, who is perfectly competent in everything that He has said and recorded over time, that the Scriptures were written. So I'll leave this with you here. I believe we've covered the Scripture that we have.

Let me read the last verse right before the application. 2 Timothy 2:15. "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." I think we've covered that. And that's a great second letter to Timothy.

The application is: in careful exegesis, we honor God's word. And Isaiah 66, verse 2. "But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word."

Turn in your Bibles to Romans, like to close here, with Romans chapter eleven. This is a part in Scripture where I feel like it's appropriate to close when we talk about the infallibility and inerrant word of God and how God Himself is trustworthy, being infallible Himself, and without error. Let me read to you Romans 11:33 through 36. "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever."

Amen. God's word is infallible because He is God. He is trustworthy, so therefore His word is trustworthy. Thank you.