Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Plenty of people claim to have answers and solutions to our problems.
Opinions are abundant wherever we look. But the Bible is different. It is, as D. Helm put it, the true and authoritative story of God as He enters human history. Biblical faith, far from being man-made, is a response to God's self-disclosure. He has turned on the light for us through His Word.
Scripture is reliable and trustworthy. It holds the answers for the greatest longings of our soul. Today we're tuning in to this message titled, Written Authority.
Let's listen in. This is the message, which was first preached on August 6, 2025. It's part of a sermon series through 1 Peter titled, Live as People Who Remember.
If you want to hear the whole message or other sermons in this series, you can visit www.delightingrace.com. This is what God has done for you. This is who you are in Christ. Those are the things we must remember and live as people who remember.
Because those are the things that transform our affections and our attitudes and thereby transform our actions. John 17, 17 again, Jesus in the garden praying, sanctify them, set them apart by your truth. What's the rest of the verse? Your Word is truth. It is the Word of God that transforms your life and mine. My life is bound to Scripture. Not only does it transform me, but it develops discernment so that I can recognize destructive truths. If I am not remembering what God has disclosed, then I will be susceptible to destructive truths. Things that are not truth but claim to be true and will lead me down a path of self-destruction. That is exactly why Peter writes 2 Peter.
All of chapter 2 is about that very thing. Destructive truths. And Paul said it with authority, didn't he? If anyone, even an angel comes and gives you another gospel, let him be what? Cursed.
It's not true. So what number four? The Scriptures most accurately, Scriptures is like a singular, okay? The Scriptures most accurately identifies and meets my needs.
I'm sorry if that's a grammatical flub there, but I hope your brain isn't twitching. The Scriptures most accurately identifies and meets my needs. Psalm 19, the Scriptures do what? They revive the soul. That's my psychological needs.
It makes wise the simple. That's my spiritual needs. It rejoices the heart. That's my emotional needs. It enlightens the eyes.
That's my intellectual needs. They are more to be desired than gold that meets the needs of my deepest longings and my deepest longings are satisfied through what's in Scripture. By them your servant is warned. They communicate loving boundaries, guardrails for my success.
And in keeping them there is what? Great reward. They lead me to my highest good and my deepest satisfaction. Peter said this very clearly.
He said it this way. 2 Peter 1.4, they grant us all things. All things. How many things?
All things pertaining to what? Life and godliness. The Scriptures most accurately identifies and meets my needs. Peter was, we sang the words this morning. Jesus said some hard things because he was a master at weeding out fair weather followers. And then after many people had left him, these people who considered themselves disciples of Jesus and they flew the coop, Jesus looks at his apostles and he says, are you going to leave me too? And Peter's answer was what? To whom shall we go? You have what? The words of eternal life. Nothing matches this.
Nothing. And there are many today, people who are influencers, popular household names deconstructing their faith. There's only one reason a person can deconstruct their faith. It's because they constructed their own faith. Religion is biblical.
Christianity is not a man-made thing. It is a response to divine self-disclosure. So what?
Number five. I must not go beyond what is written. I must not go beyond what is written. And that's taken a quote from go beyond what is written is from 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 6. All conversations, dialogues, public and private must be anchored in God's Word.
Not opinion, not conjecture, not imagination, not even tradition. Anchored in God's Word. Very, very important to understand this. We have a certain way we like to do things, don't we? Even when it comes to practicing our faith. And we have certain traditions of practice. Listen to this very carefully, please. Traditions of practice cannot share the authority of Scripture.
You with me on this? Traditions of practice do not, cannot share the authority of Scripture. I grew up in Columbia, South America. Their traditions of doing church were far different than what we're doing here this morning. But it was church. We made much of God and we heard from God. But there were kids running up and down the aisles in their underwear.
There were goats and chickens running up and down the aisle. You think you have a hard time focusing. Traditions of practice cannot share the authority of Scripture because if they do, that only results in pride and division. So let me close with this. Are you aware of the immense privilege lavished on us that God should turn His light on into our darkness? The immense privilege lavished on us that God should turn His light on into our darkness. This light rescues us from our delusions. It rescues us from despair. It rescues us from death.
And it is a colossal travesty that this book would be cracked open only on Sunday so that the rest of the week it just gathers dust on the bookshelf or the coffee table. You need to be consuming the Word of God, committing it to memory, meditating on the Word of God, studying the Word of God daily. Because you have the precious and very great promises of God in writing. And there's authority there. There's authority to be believed, to be brought to bear upon your life. We will read that in the first Psalm today. Stand with me if you would please.
Let's read this Psalm together. The highlighted, the bold part, that's just for emphasis. Okay? That's just for emphasis. So we're going to read this whole thing together.
This is not responsive. It's the whole thing. All right? Let's read it together. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not subtle, but are like a chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
There's a definiteness to that, isn't there? The whole book of Psalms, the hymn book of Scripture begins with this. What is written in God's word? What do we do with it? Does it have authority in my life?
It does. Let's sing together how firm a foundation. Some singers can come up if they want to sing. We're just going to sing two verses of this. How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is found in his excellent word. How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word.
But for many say that to you he hath sang, to you for refuge to Jesus hath fled. Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed, for I am thy God, I will still give thee aid. God strengthen thee, help me, and cause me to stand, compelled by my righteous, omnipotent hand. Father, we are so grateful that indeed you have made yourself known to us, and you have granted us your precious and vivid promises in writing. Father, forgive us, forgive us this morning, and rescue us from treating your word lightly. But Father indeed, may we recognize its authority, its authority to be trusted, and its authority to transform us. So Father, find us in pursuit of you through your self-disclosure, Father. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on Weekdays at 10 a.m.
