Congregation, let's turn again to Galatians 1, and let us focus briefly by way of introduction on what Paul says in verses 8 and 9 of Galatians 1, where the apostle uses extraordinarily strong language, where he says this, "'But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again. If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed. And you know that for a Hebrew, as Paul was, to repeat something like that in such strong language means that he wanted to emphasize this as strongly as he possibly could. What Paul was saying to the Galatians, this gospel that I have preached unto you is not a gospel that we can tinker with. Because in verse 7, he talks about those who were troubling them and would pervert the gospel of Christ. And so Paul is saying, if we tinker with the gospel, if we tinker with the scriptures that contain the gospel, God's curse will rest upon us. And that's strong language. What does that mean, boys and girls? What does it mean to be accursed, to have the curse of God rest upon us? That means the ultimate demonstration of God's wrath. When God's curse rests upon a person or upon a nation or whatever it may be, that means that his judgment, the manifestation of his wrath, is inescapable. So what Paul is saying, there is nothing that so deeply offends God as when we tinker with His words. There's nothing that so offends Him as when we misrepresent His word and when we replace it with the words of men. A gospel, that Paul says, is a gospel that perverts us. And what gospel was it that the apostle preached? Well, for example, when we turn again to the last chapter of Romans, where Paul is now in Rome, we read it a few weeks ago. Let me read it again from Acts 28, verse 23. And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging. And here it comes, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets from morning till evening. And then in the last two verses of Acts 28, we read, And so, very simply put, Paul is saying, anybody who brings a message that is not ultimately about the Lord Jesus Christ, a message that does not revolve around Him, a message of which He is not the very center and the very content, is not the biblical gospel. And in light of that strong declaration by the Apostle Paul, we will look at Article 7 of our Belgian Confession. And this is the sixth article in this confession that deals with the Scriptures. So, very evidently, when the Reformation came about, and when this confession was written by Guido de Bres, this was a very important issue for the Reformers and the men of the Reformation. They realized that the church can only prosper, the church can only function well if it has a proper view of the Scriptures. And so this final article of the six that are given there is article seven, which speaks of the sufficiency or the perfection of the Holy Scriptures to be the only rule of faith, the only standard of faith. We believe that those Holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God and that whatsoever man ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently or fully taught therein. For since the whole manner of worship which God requires of us is written in them at large, it is unlawful for anyone, though an apostle, to teach otherwise." That's why we just read again the verses from Galatians 1. Then we are now taught in the holy scriptures, nay, though it were an angel from heaven, as the apostle says, for since it is forbidden to add unto or take away anything from the word of God, it does thereby evidently appear that the doctrine thereof is most perfect and complete in all respects. Neither do we consider of equal value any writing of men, however holy these men may have been with those divine scriptures. Nor ought we to consider custom, or the great multitude, or antiquity, just because it's been done for a long time, or succession of times and persons. We would say today historical precedents, or councils, or decrees or statues as of equal value with the truth of God. For the truth is above all. For all men are of themselves liars and more vain than vanity itself. Therefore, we reject with all our hearts whatsoever does not agree with this infallible rule which the apostles have taught us, saying, try the spirits whether they are of God. Likewise, if there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house." Thus far, Article 7 of the Belgic Confession. And so, we will simply then focus on the Holy Scriptures as the only rule or the only standard of faith. We will focus on three things. First of all, the perfect sufficiency of those Scriptures. Secondly, the divine authority of those scriptures. And finally, the exclusive value of those scriptures, because the article stresses very, very plainly that we can never put the writings of men or the sayings of men on the same level with the word of God. So those scriptures, they are perfectly sufficient. They have divine authority and they are very exclusive. And so in this article congregation, what Guido de Bras is simply doing, he is articulating in clear language what we now know as the sola scriptura principle of the Reformation. Let me explain what that means. So boys and girls, those are two Latin words. And the word sola means only, and scriptura means simply scripture. So what that simply meant is that for the Reformers, if there was one thing they wanted to recover, it's that Scripture and Scripture alone would be that which would govern the church. Because when the Reformation came in the 15th century, it was not that Scripture had altogether vanished. Scripture was still there, even though, for the common person, it was very, very difficult to find. Boys and girls, maybe you know the story of Martin Luther when he became a monk, that for the very first time in his life, he read the Bible in the library. But what they had done is they had chained that Bible so that no one could take it away because the Bible was so very, very rare. And yet it was there in that library. that Luther began to discover what the Bible was really teaching. Because what had happened, very gradually, over a long period of time, is that the church placed the tradition of the church, the teaching of the church, at the very same level as the Scriptures themselves. Even worse than that, imposing tradition upon the Scriptures, thereby misrepresenting the Scriptures and introducing all kinds of errors into the church. And so the whole idea of the church being governed by a pope as the representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know from Matthew 16 and from all the other passages of the Bible about Peter that the Lord Jesus never appointed Peter to be the pope of the church. The idea of the worship of Mary, the idea that she was born sinlessly, the worship of saints, and many other things, the idea of relics, the idea of indulgences, that you could actually benefit from the merits of others, and you could go on and on. All of that did not just suddenly appear. In other words, when we get to 1517, it's not that all of a sudden all of these errors manifested themselves. No, this happened gradually over a long period of time. So by the time Martin Luther is born, is that the Word of God was made of none effect And the result was that the people were robbed of the Scriptures. They were robbed of the Word of God. They were mistaught. The Word of God had been corrupted. The Word of God had been perverted. And so, one of the most dramatic things of the Reformation is that it was a rediscovery of the Scriptures. That's what happened. And God, of course, marvelously directed Luther's life, that he became a student of the Scriptures, a teacher of the Scriptures. And the more he studied the Scriptures, the more he taught the Scriptures, the more he realized that what was going on in the church did not line up with the Word of God. And as a result, the Reformation came about. Gradually, the light began to dawn, and God not only raised up Martin Luther, but many other men. But they had one thing in common, they had an absolute passion to restore the scriptures to its rightful place in the church, and to give the scriptures again to the people as it had been taken from them. And that's why one of the most wonderful things that Luther did for his own people, is to translate the Scriptures into the German language, so that for the first time, his people were able to read the Word of God in their own language. And it is that principle of Scripture alone that the Heidelberg or that the Belgian Confession wants to emphasize one more time. We have looked at so many different aspects of the Scriptures. We have looked at the difference between what we call general revelation in nature and what we call special revelation. We've seen that because we now live in a fallen world, we need special revelation. Before the fall, there was no need for a Bible. There was no need for a written record of the Word of God. It was very obvious, Adam was able to read that elegant book of nature and to read in it who God was. But in our fallen state, man has now become blind and ignorant, and therefore, we need that special revelation, we need the Scriptures. We've seen how God, in a marvelous way—and we will briefly look at that tonight—superintended the whole process whereby the written Word has come into our possession even today. We have seen the clear confession of the Reformation, that we embrace all of Scripture, that Scripture is the 66 books beginning with Genesis all the way to Revelation, and that those 66 books comprise the entire Word of God. And so now we are focusing on the sufficiency of those Scriptures. And so even the title itself tells us that Guido de Bra is saying we don't need anything other than the Scriptures. The Scriptures are sufficient. And they are sufficient for what? Can we find every answer to every question in the Scriptures? Is that what the Bible is? There are certain things that we would like to know, and the Bible does not tell us. I mean, for instance, the Bible does not tell us how many days Adam and Eve lived sinlessly, how long they were in what we call the state of rectitude. We don't know exactly when the angels were created. We don't know what happened exactly to Lazarus when he died for several days, his body was in the grave. We have no idea what happened during that time, and so there are many other questions. The Bible is not a puzzle book. The Bible is not a science book. The Bible is not an astronomy book. No, it is sufficient for what? It says, we believe that those Holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God. In other words, God has given us the Scriptures to communicate to us about Himself. God has given us the Scriptures in order that we might know His will. God has given us the Scriptures that we might know His thinking. And then, specifically, what thinking? Well, and that whatsoever men ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently taught therein. So what the Belgian Confession is simply saying, as it repeats what the Word of God is saying, is that God had a singular purpose in giving His written Word to the children of men. And that singular purpose was that through those Scriptures, we might know the way of salvation. That's the reason God has given us His written Word. The goal in giving us that Word is that through those Scriptures, we would be directed to the only way of salvation that is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Without the Scriptures, we would not know that way. Without the Scriptures, we would not know that there is a Savior for sinners. That's why Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3, verse 15, we've quoted that several times, when he writes to Timothy, and that from a child, thou hast known the Holy Scriptures. So for him, of course, that meant the Old Testament Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. This is exactly what the Belgian Confession is saying. And this is exactly what we need to understand, is that when you read your Bible, is God gave us that Bible out of concern for our salvation. We actually read that in Article 3. It says, And afterwards God, from a special care which He has for us and our salvation, commanded His servants, the prophets and apostles, to commit His revealed Word to writing. And boys and girls, I asked you at that time, what does your Bible mean to you? Hopefully you have a Bible laying on your nightstand. What does the Bible mean to you? Have you ever, do you ever think about it that that Bible is God's special gift to you? That God, out of a special concern for your spiritual well-being and for your salvation, has directed events in such a way that you have a written copy of his word in your possession? he's given you those Scriptures so that by reading them—and I hope you do. I hope you read your Bible every day, and you read your Bible prayerfully, and that you will read it with this request, Lord, use thy own word. As I read the Bible, use it to make me wise unto salvation. Lord, bless the reading of thy word, so that I too may be directed to the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom alone salvation is to be found." And so, the Belgian Confession is simply saying, when it comes to salvation, The Bible is perfectly clear. When it comes to salvation, the Bible does not leave us in the dark as to what that salvation is. The Bible reveals to us what Peter boldly said when he stood before the Sanhedrin. when he was summoned before them, when he boldly told these men, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. That's why one of the distinguishing marks of the Bible is that the Bible is also transparent when it comes to the way of salvation. It means it is clear. It does not leave us in the dark. There's an official word for that that we use in theology, and I will give you that word, and I will spell it for you. And again, I will explain to you. We call that the, listen carefully, the perspicuity of the Scriptures. Now, that sounds like a very difficult word, that it is a word that we don't normally use. So let me spell it, okay? P-E-R, S-P-I-C-U-I-T-Y. Perspicuity. What that word simply means is that God's Word is crystal clear when it comes to the plan and to the way of salvation. When it comes to the way of salvation, the Bible is not some obscure riddle book. The Bible is not a book that makes it nearly impossible for us to discover what it's all about. When it comes to salvation, the Bible is perfectly clear. That's why, as we have already seen, the formation of the Bible was very carefully governed by God Himself. In other words, the Bible as we now have it in its totality, all 66 books, the whole process in which that written Word of God came together was very carefully governed by God. One theologian put it this way. He said, we have a predestined Bible. Again, I will try to explain to you what that means. A predestined Bible. The word predestiny means that which has been determined before. And so what that word simply means, that from all eternity, God has decreed, God has planned, and God has purposed the recording of His Word. So, in other words, the Scriptures did not just come together in an arbitrary way, a little here and a little there, and then finally we end up with 66 books. No congregation. This was precisely governed and directed by God. In Acts 15, verse 18, we read, "'Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.'" And that is simply another way of saying everything that God does in history has all been eternally determined. And so we have seen the whole process by which the Bible came together, by which we now have what we call the canon of Scripture. And so boys and girls, do you remember? What was the first written Scripture? What was the first Word of God that was actually written down? Before that, the Word of God had never been written down. When did it happen for the first time? It happened for the first time when God gave the law to Moses. So God was the first, by his own finger, to write down his word, to record the scriptures. So those two tables that Moses took down with him from the mountain, they were the very first written scriptures. And then we see how God uses Moses. By the time Moses dies, he has recorded what we now know as the Pentateuch, which means the five books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And so when Moses died, the children of Israel had a written word of God. And those five books of Moses already contained the whole plan and the whole way of salvation. Then we see how the Psalms are added, how God moves David and others to record the Psalms. They are added to that canon. Then we see the ministry of the prophets, how God specifically directed those prophets to record His Word in writing. Think of Jeremiah. Think of what King Jehoiakim did with the written Word of God. He was so angry, and he hated it so much that he took that scroll, that barrack who was Jeremiah's secretary, he took that scroll and he shredded to pieces, threw it in the fire. But what happened is God directed it that that which Jehoiakim had destroyed, that it would be re-recorded. That tells us how very important it is to God that His Word was recorded, that His Word was preserved in written form. And so by the time the Lord Jesus comes, we have the five books of Moses, we have the Psalms, and we have the prophets. And that is what we call the Old Testament canon. And that was the Bible which Christ so clearly endorsed. the Bible, which he expounded through his own preaching. Because the next thing we need to realize is something that I try to emphasize to you as often as I can. Because often when we think about the written Word of God, when we think about the written Scriptures, we think of the Holy Spirit, and rightfully so. Because we know that Peter writes that those holy men of old, those prophets, they were moved by the Holy Spirit to record the Scriptures. And yet we need to realize that the Spirit who moved those men, who moved Moses, who moved the psalmists, who moved the prophets to record the Scriptures, that Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we need to realize that ultimately our Bible is a gift of Christ Himself. And so it is Christ as the living Word of God. As you know, God can only be known through His Son. His Son is the person of revelation. John 1, 18, no man has seen God at any time. But the Son, which is in His bosom, He has declared Him unto us. He has revealed Him unto us. So who is it? in the history of the Old Testament. Who is it that moves these men by His Spirit to record the Scripture? It is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And so there we see how also in the gift of His Word, we see Christ's work as Savior. Christ, who eternally agreed to become the Savior of sinners, is also the one who is ultimately the author of His own written Word. He is the one who moved these men. He is the one who directed them by His Spirit because He would come in the fullness of time to save sinners, and that's what He still does. But He knew that in order for us to be saved, in order for us to know about Him, we would need the written Word of God. So we could actually put it this way, that Christ has given us His written Word to acquaint us with Himself. Because, as Peter said, there is no other name given under heaven that we might be saved. Turn with me to John 20, verse 31. John 20, verse 31. John writes there, but these are written, listen, read carefully, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, And, this is important, that believing ye might have life through his name. There you have it. These are written. These scriptures are written for one purpose only, and that's what the Belgian Confession is emphasizing. We must look at the Bible as having been given to us for one ultimate purpose, and that is to make known to us the very person of the Lord Jesus Christ, to know Him, that we might believe on Him, and that by believing on Him, we might have life. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6. For God, who commanded, The light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts, and here it comes, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And how do we obtain that knowledge? We obtain that knowledge through the scriptures. That's why when Jesus came into this world, when the Word became flesh, as John tells us, We notice how absolutely committed he is to his own Word. He bound himself to his own Word. Time and again, he emphasized his own Word. And so, when the devil tempts him, he certainly, as the eternal Son of God, as the living Word of God, he could have simply confronted the devil But how does he confront him? By quoting his very own word, and time and again. So when he preaches his Sermon on the Mount, what is he doing? He is explaining his own word. When he teaches his disciples, when he opens for them the Scriptures, when he shows them that everything in Moses and the Psalms and the prophets, it's all about him, he binds himself to his very own Word. That's why we know that the Bible we have is sufficient. That's why we know there is nothing lacking in those Scriptures, because we know who is the author of those Scriptures. We know why He gave us those Scriptures. We know He himself is the great theme of those Scriptures. He said to the Pharisees, go, read your Bible, search your Scriptures, because you are reading them the wrong way. Go and read them again, search them, for they are they which testify of me. That's why the Bible has absolute authority. That's why, boys and girls, the Bible is not like any other book. In that sense, there is no other book like the Bible. And we believe and we confess that that Bible of ours, that Bible that's on your nightstand and hopefully it's not collecting any dust, that Bible is the word of the living God. And really, if we believe the doctrine of inspiration, which we have already confessed, that in the original languages, The Bible is inspired word for word, even to the point where a word is singular or plural. It is inspired word for word, and it is inspired in its totality. From Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, from the first to the last verse of the Bible, all of it is the inspired Word of God. If you remember, again, it's a mouthful, we call that verbal plenary. Verbal means word for word. Plenary means in its totality. Well, if that's indeed the case, then we know that when we open our Bible, that this is no less than God speaking directly to us. Some people say, I wish that God would speak to me. Well, congregation, God speaks to us all the time. And so when you open your Bible, when you read your Bible, God is speaking to you at that very moment. You don't need to wait for some special revelation. God is speaking to you at that moment. And God wants you to take His Word seriously. He wants you to read it as the Word of God. Congregation, boys and girls, if we really think about that, then you will treat your Bible with the utmost respect. Because then the question is, why do you have a Bible? Why is it, boys and girls, that since you were little, you have learned about that Bible? Why have you learned the stories of that Bible? Why do you have a Bible? That's not accidental. It is God who has directed your life in such a way that you have a copy of His written Word in your possession. And so, he wants you to understand that you have that Bible, because he wanted you to have that Bible, because of his special care for the salvation of your soul. That's why, boys and girls, congregation, the fact that we have a Bible, is a matter that should greatly humble us. Because, ultimately, the privilege of having a Bible, even that was purchased by the blood of Christ. If Christ had not come, if Christ had not given Himself There would be no Bible, there would be no message of salvation. And so the very fact that we have a Bible that shows us the way of salvation, all of that is connected to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why, when you open your Bible, and when you read your Bible, you can say, Lord, help me to understand what it is saying. Open mine eyes. We read that in Psalm 119. You know that that's that psalm where the psalmist in so many ways tells us how much he loves the Word of God, how special that Word is to him. Have you ever read that psalm? And have you ever said to yourself, I understand that man. I understand his longing, his yearning to know the Scriptures. But you see, in other words, when you open your Bible, you don't have to ask yourself, does God mean me? Does God have something to say to me? Yes, boys and girls, He does. Whenever you have that Bible, whenever you read it, God is speaking to you. And so that's why you may ask, Lord to enable you to understand what you're reading, to enable you to see how it all speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, how in every way it speaks of the way of salvation. And it's really a wonderful thing, once you begin to understand that everything in the Bible all points to one person, namely the Lord Jesus Christ, how the scriptures will be opened unto you. Our wife and I right now, we're reading through Genesis, and we are reading the story of Joseph, a wonderful story. I'm sure, boys and girls, that you enjoy reading that remarkable story. But the question is, what does that story have to do with Christ? Well, some of you may know Now, Joseph is a wonderful example of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in many ways he was. But there was something else going on. Why did God send Joseph to Egypt? Why did God use him to preserve Jacob and his family? Why did God cause the promised seed to come to Egypt? Why? Because if they hadn't come there, they would have perished. They would have died. And boys and girls, what would have happened if Jacob and his family would have died? What would have happened? There would have been no Savior. There would be no salvation. And so because Christ had to come, Christ had to be born, that's why God led Joseph in this way that made no sense to him until finally he saw God's remarkable hand in bringing him to Egypt. And he told his brothers, he said, the reason I had to come here is so that you would survive. And the reason why Jacob and his family had to survive is so that ultimately the Lord Jesus Christ would be born. So when you read your Bible, ask yourself that question all the time. That also means that when we read our Bible, we should have the utmost respect for what it tells us. We should recognize that because it is God's Word, It has an authority that no other human writing does. Take your Bibles and turn with me to Deuteronomy 31, verse 12. Deuteronomy 31, verse 12. So this is at the end of Deuteronomy, and Deuteronomy is a Latin word that means repetition of the law. In other words, before Moses died, he reviewed with the people everything that God had revealed to him. So Deuteronomy 31, verse 12, gather the people together, men and women and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear and that they may learn and fear the Lord your God." And here it comes, "...and observe to do all the words of this law." Now, the word law does not just refer to the Ten Commandments. The word law is often used in the Old Testament to describe the Word of God, the recorded Word of God. So that's why they were all called together, and they were instructed by Moses to learn and fear the Lord your God, and to observe all the words of this law. Turn to Joshua 1, verse 7. Joshua 1, verse 7. And here God Himself is speaking to Joshua. He's speaking to Joshua after Joshua now has the responsibility of leading the people of Israel. What does he say to Joshua? He says, only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left. And so that means that because it is the Word of God, we must take all of it seriously. We must surrender ourselves unconditionally to all that is written in the Scriptures. And that's why the Belgian Confession continues to say in the second paragraph, for, since the whole manner of worship which God requires of us is written in them at large, it is unlawful for anyone, though an apostle, to teach otherwise than we are now taught in the Holy Scriptures. So in other words, the Belgian Confession is saying that not only has God revealed Himself in those Scriptures, but in those Scriptures, He tells us precisely how we are to worship Him. As a matter of fact, that should be our response to the reading of the Scriptures. Turn with me to Nehemiah 9, verse 3. Nehemiah 9, verse 3. Nehemiah 9, verse 3. The people have now come back from Babylon, and then we read this. And another fourth part, they confessed and they worshipped the Lord their God. So, first they read the Scriptures, and then they worshipped God in response to the Scriptures. That's how it always ought to be. We are not reading our Bible correctly, we are not reading it profitably, unless our reading of the Scriptures produces worship. And then we have to confess with shame that far too often, and I include myself, we read the Word of God casually. We read it casually after the meal. We read it casually in the morning. We read it casually before we go to bed. But do we worship? Because that's the proper response to the reading of the Scriptures, and the confession says that the whole manner of worship, the whole manner in which we are to worship God, all of that is governed by the Scriptures. And so, we do not worship God according to our imagination. We do not worship God according to our own ideas. No, we must worship Him in a manner that's pleasing to Him. We must worship Him in conformity and in harmony with His very own Word. We call that the regulative principle of worship, and we will deal with that later in the Belgian Confession. I'm not going to unpack that now. But it simply means this. We must be regulated in our worship, not by human ideas, not by human notions, but we must be regulated by the Word of God. So we must do what God commands us to do. Not as some would have us believe today. If God does not forbid it, it's okay for us to do it. No, God does not leave us into the dark. God does not leave this to our imagination. And why not? Because we would go astray. We would end up worshiping a god of our imagination. We would then be worshiping a graven image. The only way we can properly worship God is by submitting fully to his precious word. This was understood by the apostles and they faithfully implemented that in their teaching because Christ specifically explained those scriptures to them in great detail even before he ascended. And so it is the task of the church until this day to see to it that that Word will always have its proper place. It is to us that the Word of God has been committed. Paul writes in Romans 3, verse 2 about the Jewish people, unto them were committed the oracles of God. Paul writes to Timothy, Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust. And that's what God has committed to our trust. That is what God is asking of our generation. That's what God is asking of us as your pastor, elders, and deacons as consistory, is to see to it that that Word always will have its proper place. that we will do everything in our power, and of course we are weak and fallible men, but that our goal must always be to honor those scriptures, to uphold those scriptures, to proclaim those scriptures, to defend those scriptures, to contend earnestly for the faith, as Jude writes in his epistle. And that's why we read that since it is forbidden, To add or take away anything from the word of God, it does thereby evidently appear that the doctrine thereof is most perfect and complete in all respects. So therefore, we do not consider of equal value any writing of men, however holy these men may have been with these divine scriptures. So what the Belgian Confession is not saying, that the writings of men are of no value. but it's saying they are not of equal value. And that's what exactly had happened in the Roman Catholic Church. They placed the writings of men, the sayings of men, at the very same level as the Word of God. And so the writings of men are valuable, but only insofar as they agree with the Word of God. Because We are fallen men with a darkened understanding. Even Paul had to admit in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 12, now we see through a glass darkly. That's why as we study the Scriptures, and as we are called to preach the Scriptures, we are called to be such diligent students of the Scriptures. Because what we say and what we write is only valuable insofar as it agrees with the Word of God. That's why Paul, when he stood before King Agrippa in Acts 26, verse 22, he said this, I continue until this day, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come. And so what Paul is saying, he said to Agrippa, what I'm telling you is the word of God. Not telling you, I'm not giving you my own word. I am saying nothing else but that which the prophets and Moses have recorded and said that should come. And so therefore, we have many valuable writings. And what a blessing it is that today, We have more of those writings available to us, but what determines their value? What determines the value of a book that is written by human beings? Its value is determined by its conformity to the Word of God. That's why, sadly, Most of the books that are in our public libraries, most of the books that you find in the libraries of universities are absolutely worthless. Why are they worthless? Because they contradict the Word of God. And so that's why we must judge. You must judge my preaching, just like the Bereans. They didn't just take what Paul said. They did their homework. They turned to their Bible, and they searched the Scriptures to see whether these things were so. They searched the Scriptures to determine what Paul was saying, whether it lined up with the Word of God. And so, the Confession is simply saying, even though we value what holy men have said, we value what they have written, but it's never at the same level as the Scriptures itself. And that's even true for our confessional standards. They are not equal to the Word of God. And why do we have them then? Why were they written at the time of the Reformation? For the simple reason it was necessary at that time, to clearly spell out what the Scriptures are saying. And so, a true confessional standard is but an echo of the Word of God, but its value is derived from the fact that it agrees with the Word of God and that it speaks the language of the Word of God. As we read Article 17 today, as it talked about the incarnation of Christ, I hopefully you notice how that Guido de Bred just quoted one passage after another, pointing out to us what the Bible has to say about the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why in Isaiah 8, verse 20, we read, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. And that's why the word of God warns us not to add or not to subtract from the word of God. We find that in the very last chapter of the Bible, written by the last apostle, when he wrote this, all the other apostles had died. He knew that when he died, that the time of inspiration would come to an end, and so, therefore, we have a warning not to add or to subtract from the Word of God. And so, congregation, we have focused on the doctrine of Scripture as it is articulated for us also here in the Belgic Confession. And so, again, let me conclude by simply asking you the question, what does the Bible mean to you? How are you treating your Bible? How are you reading it? Do you understand its value? Do you read it? Do you take it into your hands and realize it is the Word of God, God speaking to you, that it is that Word that God has given you out of care for your salvation, that He has given you those Scriptures to point you to His Son as the only Savior? is my life and your life evidence that we take the Word of God seriously. Because my friend, if you're still unconverted, if you're an unbeliever, that means you are still not taking the Word of God seriously. Because if you did, you would repent. If you did, you would seek the Lord. If you did, You would take refuge to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I want to send you home with that searching question. What do the Scriptures mean to me? Not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus said, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Are you reading the Scriptures? with an earnest desire that through reading it, you may be made wise unto salvation through faith that is in Christ. Amen.