All Scripture Inspired by God

The old cliche goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."  From the perspective of someone who has never owned a horse, what I draw from this adage is sometimes we are incapable of making animals or anyone do what they are unwilling to do.  A horse is a big, strong animal, and for a horse to drink it must be willing to stoop to the level of the water and utilise muscles to swallow.  Leading a horse to water may sometimes be a bridge too far, much less forcing a horse to drink!

I recently considered something Jesus said in regards to willingness and faith.  He spoke of poor Lazarus being comforted in Abraham's bosom while a rich man was tormented in Hades.  The rich man asked Abraham to send Lazarus from the grave back to his brothers to warn them they were headed to eternal damnation so they might avoid torment.  Abraham replied in Luke 16:31:  "But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.'"  Abraham was convinced the Law and prophets contain all the necessary facts, wisdom and power bring a person to a place of repentance for sin and faith in God, but the sticking point is one of willingness:  people are unwilling to believe.  To receive salvation and walk in wisdom people must be willing to believe, to submit to the truth of God's word and the Gospel declared to them.  Even miracles and reliable eyewitnesses are incapable of making a stubborn sinner believe who is unwilling.

This leads to another observation:  professing Christians who do not believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God.  Because they are unwilling to be confronted and submit themselves to the word of God, they adopt a faithless and blasphemous position that follows this pattern:  God's word was penned by fallible people, so the Bible has mistakes and is not wholly reliable.  This is a ludicrous position that undermines their own salvation and asserts God is incapable and unable to communicate His word through human beings when God's word expressly says otherwise.  Gone is any chance of determining the accuracy of prophecy or theology when the Bible itself is hopelessly out of plumb and crooked.  2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."  Ironically, these self-righteous hacks who foolishly claim the Bible is not the pure word of God assert they are the ones to rightly sift the wheat from the chaff and instruct others by the dictates of their own corrupt hearts.

It is dishonest for people to assert they cannot be convinced by the truth of scripture when it is actually a matter of the will:  they will not submit to God's word that has been carefully communicated, miraculously delivered and preserved by God.  How many times in the Bible does the "word of the LORD" come to people who speak it faithfully to people who will not receive it?  This rejection of God's pure word is nothing new.  God regards His word highly as it is written in Psalm 138:2:  "I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your word above all Your name."  Jesus said it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle (stroke of a letter) of God's Law to fail (Luke 16:17), and Peter affirms the accuracy of godly prophets in 2 Peter 1:21:  "...for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."  Those who dispute the accuracy of the Law, Prophets and New Testament and will not hear them, such will not believe--even if Lazarus rose from the dead to rebuke them.  Praise God He is able to do what man cannot!