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I. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE SCRIPTURE? Paul referred simply to the Old Testament. But we are not to suppose that the Old and New Testaments are different Scriptures. The only difference is that in the New we have a clearer explanation of that which may be found in the Old.

II. WHAT IS THE AUTHORITY OF THE SCRIPTURE? The difference between this and the best of other books is that it was written, not by man, but by God; though holy men of old wrote the Book, they wrote it as they were moved by God the Holy Ghost. This Divine authority is supported by ample evidence.

1. Historical.

2. Experimental.

III. WHAT SAITH THE SCRIPTURE?

1. For the head. It unfolds —

(1)  The doctrine of the Trinity.

(2)  The plan of salvation.

(3)  The judgment to come.

(4)  The eternity of future rewards and punishments.

2. For the heart.

(1) It proclaims every kind of encouragement to turn from the error of our ways. It assures us of —

(a)  The love of God to each soul.

(b)  His forbearance with sinners.

(c)  His desire to make men happy.

(2) It secures for those who have turned —

(a)  The sympathy of Jesus.

(b)  The comfort of the Holy Ghost.

3. For our life — our way of living. It testifies —

(1)  To the impossibility of a double service. "Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

(2)  To the necessity of holiness. Without it "no man shall see the Lord."

(3)  To the vanity of this world compared with the next. "What shall it profit a man?" etc.

IV. HOW ARE WE TO KNOW THESE SCRIPTURES? By searching them —

1. Prayerfully.

2. Daily. Conclusion: What an awful responsibility rests upon every man who does not consider what the Scripture saith! It is just as if you were walking in a dark place, not knowing your road, and someone were to offer you a light, and you were to refuse to take it. Not long ago I happened to be visiting in a great castle, situate on the top of a hill, near which there was a very steep cliff, and a rapid river running at the bottom. A person, anxious to get home from that castle late one night in the midst of a violent thunderstorm when the night was blackness itself, was asked to stop till the storm was over. She declined. She was begged to take a lantern, that she might be kept in the road, but she said she could do very well without it. She left, and, perhaps frightened by the storm, she wandered from the road and got upon the top of the cliff; she tumbled over, and the next day the lifeless body of that foolish woman was found washed ashore from the swollen river. Ah! but how many such foolish ones are there who, when the light is offered, and they have only to ask, "What saith the Scripture?" are prepared to say, "I have no need of that Book; I know right from wrong; I am not afraid; I fear not the end."

(Bp. Williers.)

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KJV: What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?

WEB: What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh?