The Church & the Bible

Transcript

GRM 1147
01/10/2016
The Church and the Bible
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

I want to take some time today and this evening to talk to you about some foundational matters that we look at from time to time together as a church family, which are reminders. Want to bring before us what we are about as a church, why we do what we do, how we function. It all centers, of course, on what God says the church is to be. Turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 3. Part of the confusion that comes and takes over the church in time is confusion about what the church is to be. What are we to do? As we have talked about on other occasions, there are always new books coming out, trying to say this is what the church is, this is what the church is to do, this is how the church ought to be functioning in our day, in our culture, in our society. But we come to the Word of God to find out what He says is the role and responsibility of the church. And he writes to Timothy who was a young man trained and served with Paul.

And we read in 1 Timothy 3:14, “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long. But in case I am delayed,” Paul has left Timothy at Ephesus, the church there to help get things settled. And Paul was anticipating coming shortly but in those days that's always unsure. So he says, “in case I am delayed I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God,” in God's family, “which is the church of the living God.” So we understand what the church is. It is God's family, those who have been born again by faith in Christ, have become children of God, those He has redeemed, the church of the living God. And here is what the church is to do. What is the church? It's the family of God. What is it to do? It is “the pillar and support of the truth.” It is a place where the truth of God is proclaimed, defended, where error is opposed. It's not complicated, it's not even confusing. It is very clear—the church is about truth. And that's what we are going to talk about, truth. And what happens often is the church begins to take the truth of God lightly. You know how it is. If you have been a believer a while, yes, it's just something we do, it gets included in our activities. But God is talking about our being passionate and committed to His truth.

I was reading an article and talking about some of the issues that face the church. And talking about unitarianism and its development in the church. Unitarian denies the trinity, denies the deity of Christ. And we have a unitarian church in town. Their theology very broad and inclusive, but denies the basic doctrines. The Word of God is foundational that there is one God eternally existing in three persons—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They deny that. That began in the 17th century. We won't go into the details, they mention the man here and his dates, and then it was in the 1700s, began in the 1600s and then carried in the 1700s and it really began to take hold. And this person writes, noting, I believe this is from Earnest Pickering's book on biblical separation which I highly recommend to you if you have not read it.

Is it not strange that a system such as unitarianism would spring up among the churches that were founded by the Puritans. Puritans, those who were committed to biblical truth, many of them who died for their stand for the truth. Suffered such great persecution in the 1600s. The churches they established, for example, in New England here began to be overtaken in the 1700s by unitarianism. So is it not strange that a system such as unitarianism would spring up among the churches that were founded by the Puritans. An author friendly to unitarianism has a startling answer. So here is one who would be supportive, sympathetic to unitarian. It began because of a mood of compromise. He writes, they love to emphasize, the unitarians, the points of agreement rather than the points of difference. They were willing to make concessions for the sake of the churches. Obviously they found persons in the more orthodox churches who bought their affable and winsome approach, and didn't recognize that it came with a venomous poison. Once started, how did unitarianism make such spectacular progress? Was it not immediately spotted for what it was and denounced by orthodox leaders?

Here is what one man wrote. “The progressive tendencies went silently on and step by step the old beliefs were discarded.” Those beliefs that we just sang about, a focus of the cross, the old rugged cross and what was accomplished in the death of Christ on that cross. Began to be accepted by individuals, by churches. And those who are proponents of unitarianism point with pride to the fact that unitarianism rose in New England without an open fuss. It just began to be accepted and nobody was openly making an issue against it. Many churches became unitarian instead of trinitarian and crossed the boundary without knowing it. In many churches there was not even any debate over theological changes. It was a natural, peaceful evolution. Keep in mind we are talking about churches that were started by the Puritans. And if you have read any Puritan literature, you know the forcefulness the Puritans in standing for the truth, in preaching the truth and adhering to the truth. Now the churches they started just became part of the natural process.

Let me read to you a quote from J. Gresham Meacham. He was a very scholarly and intellectual leader within biblical Christianity in the days of the battle between modernism and fundamentalism. Connected with Princeton Seminary in the days of its battles. Believe he died in the late '30s, around 1938. Some of his works are still available and very worthwhile. He writes, again men tell us that our preaching should be positive and not negative, that we can preach the truth without attacking error. But if we follow that advice we shall have to close our Bible and desert its teachings. The New Testament is a polemic book almost from beginning to end. And then he goes on to say it is what men have felt compelled to stand against error that they have had the greatest impact for truth.

Now before we talk about truth, as I am working on this my paper came yesterday. Some of you get the local paper and saw the article, Bringing Opposing Ideologies Together. Conservative and liberal Christian ministers unite for Bible study. How many of you saw the article? Okay, and I'll share some of it with you. I would have if you had all seen it. And what we have is a man who claims and as far as I know, at least I thought of him in this realm, an evangelical Bible-believing Christian, pastoring a local church. He is getting together with the pastor who is an unbeliever from the biblical perspective. He calls himself a liberal. They are getting together for Bible study.

And the article starts out, Christians today find themselves with a classification in front of their faith—a conservative or a liberal. So we talk about conservative Christians, liberal Christians. And the distinction has created a deep line in the sand between people who believe the same principles but differ, sometimes vehemently, on what God wants them to do. Right away we have lost our way in this article. We are talking about liberal Christian and a conservative Christian, and by conservative in this context here we are talking about people who believe the authority of Scripture and its absolute finality and one who does not. But now the article talks about them, they are people who believe the same principles. I even got out the dictionary and looked up the word principle. Maybe I have gotten foggy in my elderly years. We are talking about foundational matters. This article says they believe the same principles. We do not!

I met on different occasions with the previous pastor of this liberal church and he is since deceased. And he was adamant, “I do not believe the writings of Paul. They are the writings of a man.” And on we went. He did not believe the Gospel. I'll share something else with you in a moment.

And such differences provide good fodder. What we are to do, we agree on the foundational things, the principles, but what we do, how we carry out those principles, that provides for a talk show. So the conservative pastor has started a Saturday morning talk show. And to be honest he did invite me when he was planning that radio show to be a guest, which I declined. But it was gracious of him to invite me. He calls it Friendly Fire and the show features faith leaders. Faith leader, what is a faith leader? A leader who is faith. In what? Atheists have faith, they are adamant in believing there is no God. We use this term faith leader, faith people, people of faith, the community of faith which is meaningless. But it's a subtle way of breaking down our barriers.

The conservative, I'll call him that, evangelical says rather than me characterizing what others think, I talk to them and find out what others think. Thursday the evangelical, trying not to use the names, I'll probably spit it out before I'm done. The conservative pastor, the evangelical pastor and fellow Christian minister, the one from the liberal church, will host a lunch hour Bible study, Friendly Fire. We can think differently and still love alike. There is no friendly fire here between a Bible-believing Christian and the promoter of theological error. The predecessor of this present pastor, and they were cut from the same mold and served together before the death of the preceding pastor, we were on a program a number of years ago in Omaha. The liberal pastor kept trying to imply that he and I had things in common. I finally stopped the discussion and said to the moderator, I want to make one thing clear before we go. So-and-so, I mentioned him by name, and I have nothing in common theologically. We are theological enemies, we stand for something totally different. This is the Gospel I believe that he opposes. There is no friendly fire here. What is friendly fire? Like this is a game? Two friends playing a game?

They are going to host a lunch hour Bible study at the liberal church. And then they will share the pulpit at the liberal church next Sunday. They have opposing views on most of today's hot button issues—same sex marriage, assisted suicide, gun control to name a few. These two said they hope to model that Christians on different sides of the theological spectrum can still show respect and even have fun exploring their differences. I don't even know what to say to this. You get together with the enemy of the Gospel and we're going to have fun talking about our differences, over things like gun control, same sex marriage. Those aren't issues of importance, the foundational issue is, “what must I do to be saved?” Is this the Word of God with final, absolute authority or is it not?

They go on. The evangelical minister says, “I believe it's like a target and you have the center circle and that's something you die for. Then you keep moving out, the other circles aren't as important.” I don't know what he would die for. You are getting together for friendly fire with a man who denies the Gospel. If you won't die for that, what will you die for? I had a pastor come see me a number of years ago, we were in a conflict. He said I just want you to know that I wouldn't support you where you are going with this, not something I'm going to die for. I said, “Before we part I would like you to tell me what will you die for?” It gets lost. This is just not that important.

We go on. The liberal Christian says that rather than seeing differing interpretations as right or wrong, judge on them what is whole and loving. We don't have right and wrong, let's just use the standard what is loving. Rather than focus on conservative or liberal, right or left, he says he hopes the Bible study and worship service will lead people to ask the more important question, are you an authentic Christian? He said I think this evangelical Christian is an authentic Christian. We can revel in our presence together because we are both authentic Christians. The conservative Christian says by definition if we call ourselves Christians, we are part of the same family. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Just because you call yourself a Christian doesn't mean you have been born again, doesn't mean you have new life in Christ, doesn't mean you have died with Christ, been buried with Him, been raised with Him to newness of life. How can this evangelical say by definition if we call ourselves Christians? Do you know what that means? That means all distinctions now between what we would call Bible-believing Christians and non-Bible-believing Christians, because “Christian” has become a general term, all Protestants are Christians in the general use of the word, Roman Catholics are Christians. Mormons say they should be considered as Christians. Just because you call yourself Christian doesn't make you a Christian. I may call myself the lineman for the Philadelphia Eagles. That doesn't make me a lineman with the Philadelphia Eagles. That makes me delusional. What can you say?

By definition, if we call ourselves Christians, we are part of the same family. You know what the church is? It's the family of God. Now you see what we've done. We've blurred the definition of what is the family of God—it is everybody who calls himself a Christian. And I take that as the starting point. For whatever differences we have there is a lot of overlapping interest. This is our community and we need to create a nice safe place for people to live. You see the evangelical church ought to . . . This is in our city. Churches depart from a commitment to the truth, they are no longer passionate for it. The pastors are no longer passionate for it. It's a game. We can all get along, we can all be Christians. We can make our community a safe place to live. Isn't it wonderful? It is totally unbiblical. That's why I read you J. Gresham Meacham. Nothing changes, the devil breaks down. Well, I'd like to get along with everyone, don't you think it is good that we can talk to everyone. We can have a dialog between those who disagree as the evangelical pastor concludes the article. I believe that is important for the faith community to model. Imagine the prophets of the Old Testament coming to the false prophets and saying we can get along, we want to model. You claim to be a prophet, I claim to be a prophet. The fact that you are a false prophet and I am a true prophet, that doesn't mean anything. We can have some dialog and fun together as we talk about things. Imagine Paul calling a conference with the Judaizers and saying, “you claim to believe in Christ and I claim to believe in Christ. We have our differences but it's important that we model for the faith community that we have respect for each other's views.”

You know who is giving up something here. Not the liberal, not the unbeliever. Let me read you their doctrinal statement from the liberal church, the unbelieving church. Somebody downloaded it for me this morning. We are Christian. This church, they name their church, strives to blend tradition, innovation, the historical and the contemporary. Our worship services have a quality that echoes through the ages and yet speaks to the present and points to the future. Our religious life is shaped by five guiding principles. We are Christian, open-minded, spiritual, evolving and diverse. Then they pick up those points.

What does it mean, we are Christian? Christian means we perceive in Jesus the divine qualities of love, peace, joy and justice. It does not mean we think Jesus is the only path to God. Could it be any clearer? Do they believe the Bible? Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.” We are Christian. It does not mean that we believe that Jesus is the only path to God. What is there to dialog about? Gun control? This is an evangelical pastor in our city, I don't even know where I would begin with him. What would I say? Christian means we eagerly explore the Bible for its spiritual wisdom contained in symbol, metaphor and history. It does not mean a literal or heavy-handed approach that uses the Bible to prove we are right or righteous. We are open-minded, means we understand faith as a quest not a clutch reality. Open-minded flies above the tired distinction between conservative and liberal and does not refer to one's specific beliefs, but how one relates to those beliefs. In other words, what you believe is not important, what you do is. So if we can agree on social justice, that's what matters. Of course the liberal pastor is fine, if you want to believe in Jesus, that's fine because we don't believe there is only one way. So we're not opposed to your way as long as you don't say our way is wrong because we believe every way is a way.

This is an evangelical church? You have people that at one time attended Indian Hills, the pastor of that church at one time did. What happens? Where does this go? Where will the church, if Jesus Christ does not come, in the city of Lincoln where will the evangelical churches be in future years? Because this is the thinking, we've learned we can get along with the far left liberal. They'll put in their doctrinal statement, being a Christian does not believe we think Jesus is the only path to God. We don't have anything to talk about with those people but to tell them the Gospel. They are going to have a joint worship service. Is this evangelical pastor going to stand in the pulpit and say, I must begin by telling you that you are lost, you are without hope in the world, you are a sinner in rebellion against a holy God, there is an eternal hell at the end of the road you are on. But I come to tell you about a Savior, come to tell you about the meaning of the cross that some of you are wearing as a decoration around your neck, that Christ died to pay the penalty for your sin and there is only one Savior and there is only one way to be saved—to turn from your sin and believe in Him.

Turn over to Galatians 1, this is all introduction. It is wide. We keep going back and going over some of the foundational issues otherwise in all that goes around us in our evangelical “friends,” we begin to lose our moorings because we don't want to be thought as the unkind, intolerant, belligerent ones. We want to get along, too. Here is what Paul says, writing about the false teachers that he had to deal with. These are what we call Judaizers. We have talked about them before. But according to Acts 15 these are Jews who profess to have believed in Jesus Christ. They did not deny He was the Son of God, they did not deny He died on the cross and was raised from the dead. They said that alone was not enough to save you. You must also be circumcised and keep the Mosaic Law.

Here is what Paul says in verse 6, after talking in verse 4, “Christ gave Himself for our sins that He might rescue us from this present evil age. I am amazed,” verse 6, “that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different Gospel, which is not another Gospel like the one I preached.” It is totally different. “Only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the Gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a Gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is accursed,” anathema, condemned to hell. “If you didn't get this let me tell you again. As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a Gospel contrary to what you have received, he is cursed to hell.”

Do you know where the man who is pastoring this church who says we claim to be Christian, but that doesn't mean we think Jesus is the only path to God. Whatever he calls the Gospel is a false Gospel, it's not the biblical Gospel. He is cursed to hell. And those who follow his teaching are traveling the road that leads to hell. What is there to dialog about? I could care less about talking with him about homosexuality and homosexual marriage, it is irrelevant. The issue is the Gospel. By this kind of getting together, then we're going to do a worship service. If no man can come to the Father but by Me, Jesus said, how can you join together in worshiping with a pagan? It's like Israel thinking that they could combine the worship of Jehovah and Baal. What do you think is going on? This is not a game, it's a war. We can't have fun together, you are a child of the devil, I am a child of God, not because I'm better than you but because by His grace I have received by faith the salvation that He has. You can, too. What did Jesus say to the religious leaders of His day? You are of your father the devil. That doesn't create much dialog.

We don't want to draw a line in the sand, we want to draw it in the concrete. It won't change, truth is truth. Everything that opposes truth is error and comes from the devil. These false pastors who call themselves Christians are of their father the devil. Anybody who teaches that Jesus is not the only way of salvation, and it is only by faith in His finished work, this is proclaiming demonic teaching and not biblical truth.

That took longer as an introduction. I want to just talk to you about biblical truth, we'll talk more about this tonight, about that the Word of God is truth. We go over this but I look at churches who claim to have believed the same thing we believe. I was asked after the previous hour, is there a difference when you came here as a young man. I don't know whether he was telling me something or not. But when I came as a young man and what I preached. No. You know what the difference was? I could get together with the other evangelical pastors and we talked about doctrine. They were interested in doctrine and what the Bible says. Now I get invited to a meeting and they say you can come to our meeting if you agree not to talk about theology. Well if this is where you are going, I don't doubt you don't want to talk about theology.

Let's talk about the Bible as truth. This is God's Word, this is review, a repeat. I try to cover it regularly with you. We just remind ourselves, this is truth. We're not going to go through every reference. Over 2,000 times in the Old Testament it is said, “thus saith the Lord” or “the Lord spoke.” It claims to be God speaking. Just come back to the book of Isaiah, and we'll just go to chapter 1. Isaiah 1. Verse 1 gives you the historical setting, the time of Isaiah. Then you come to verse 2, how does it begin? “Listen, oh heavens, hear oh earth, for the Lord speaks.” That's it. Heaven and earth have to listen, the Lord speaks. And here is what He says, “Sons I have reared up,” on you go. What do we have here? Verse 4, “Alas, sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity. They have abandoned the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away from Him.” But they are still going about their religious activities, still bringing sacrifices.

Verse 12, “When you come to appear before Me, who requires this trampling of My courts?” You come to the temple and bring sacrifices. “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, incense is an abomination to Me,” all these assemblies. Well, the Law called for these things but they come from hearts that haven't believed in Him. “I cannot endure iniquity in the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals, your appointed feasts, they are a burden to Me. I am weary of hearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you. Even though you multiply prayers I will not listen.”

We're going to have a worship service together? Doesn't matter what God says, I guess. We are learning to dialog as the community of faith. He goes on to emphasize this is the Word of the Lord. Down in Isaiah 1:10, “Hear the Word of the Lord.” He calls them rulers of Sodom, people of Gomorrah. What a slap in the face to these Jewish people, that God looks at you and He doesn't see people any different than He did to people of Sodom and Gomorrah, proverbial for their vile wickedness and destroyed by God. Down in verse 24, “Therefore the Lord of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel declares.” It is his constant emphasis, the Lord says, the Lord declares. And that is simply stating this is God's Word.

Come over to the New Testament to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews 1. Verse 1, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions, in many ways.” Do you know what the declaration here is? That it was God speaking in the Old Testament through the prophets, the fathers, the writers of the Old Testament, what is recorded there. And “in these last days He has spoken to us in His Son,” a fuller, clearer revelation than had been given before. Not different, not contrary, just fuller and more clear. We've seen as we've studied books like Hebrews, it's God speaking. Old and New Testament, God speaking, it's God's Word. As God's Word, it is truth because God is truth. Titus 1:2 says God cannot lie so every time He speaks, He speaks truth. That's it. Do you know what that means? Everything that is contrary to what God says is false. We try to get this blending here, this kind of let's not be so dogmatic. Be careful when you tell God not to be dogmatic. I mean, when He speaks it is not open for discussion, there is nothing to dialog about. He has spoken. If those who claim to be evangelical, Bible-believing Christians have gotten foggy on this, if the shepherds don't know where they are going, what is going to happen to the sheep? They sit in churches where they are not taught the Word of God with seriousness. They get some kind of psychobabble drivel and how to deal with the problems of your life, and how to get through this difficulty, and how to work with a difficult boss and all kinds of foolishness, when Almighty God has spoken. And the church is to be the pillar and support of the truth. Why are our services focused on the Word of God? What we sing has to be the truth of God? What we teach has to be the truth of God? I wonder, people go to these churches and they learn the Bible back in the day when churches taught, but now their children are being raised in churches that there is such superficial teaching going on. What will the next generation be? Where will they learn the basic foundational doctrines of the Word? The truth of the Word? And this is truth that will not change and you must plant your life on it, live by it.

Parents say, I know, I get stopped all the time. People say, it's good to see you again. Many years ago I attended Indian Hills and that laid the foundation and I learned the Word there and I am so thankful. My question is, are you in a church that is teaching that Word now? If not, get out. You don't have to come back to Indian Hills, but you better get in a church. Yes, I know, I learned all that stuff. Now we go to a church, not the same, but I'm glad I have the foundation. Where are your kids going to get it? Your grandkids? That's what happens to churches. I mentioned I was reading a book on the life of a man in the 18th century, the 1700s. He was part of the Great Awakening with John and Charles Wesley, George Whitfield. Daniel Roland was his name. He was a Welsh evangelist. What has happened to the churches that came out of that? It's like the Puritan churches, where have they gone? What happens? Do you know what happens? I came out of a Methodist background. There were times when Methodists taught the Word of God. But do you know what? I didn't hear the Gospel in the Methodist church, my parents weren't saved attending a Methodist church. They baptized me as a baby, considered me part of them but I wasn't saved. You think that wouldn't happen to our church. If we quit focusing on the Word, we get tired of the Word, we get bored with what God has to say. I want something more practical, more helpful in my daily life. There is nothing more helpful than what God says, that's truth.

Come back to 2 Samuel 7. This is the great chapter on the Davidic Covenant but we want to pick up verse 28, this is what David says about God under the direction of the Spirit of God. “Now oh Lord God you are God and your words are truth.” That's it. Your words are truth. They are not just the thoughts that God has expressed, the words He has expressed those thoughts in. They are truth. That's why we believe in what we call the verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture. We'll talk about inspiration in a moment. The full, every word, word of God. Your words are truth. Do we believe that? Really believe it? That is part of being an evangelical, Bible-believing Christian. You believe this is the Word of God, you would die for that. Then how are you dialoging with a man who denies that? And we're going to have some fun talking about our differences, this is not fun and games. We're talking about hell for eternity. The smoke of their torment will rise up into the ages of the ages. There is nothing fun to talk about here. No, I don't want to talk about homosexual marriage; no, I don't want to talk about the environment; no, I don't want to talk about social justice. I want to talk to you about God's truth and where you are going to spend eternity. And this is not a friendly discussion. I'm not opposed to talking to unbelievers and unbelieving pastors, I understand it. These are two enemies sitting down. We have nothing at the foundational level in common. We don't share the same principles. I am here to represent the living God and tell you His truth. Not popular, it's too narrow, we have to be tolerant and understanding. I understand this is God's Word. Everybody who opposes it is a child of the devil. I understand perfectly. God doesn't speak so we are confused, He speaks so there is clarity. This is the Word of God, it is truth!

Many verses we won't go to. Psalm 119:142, “Your Word is truth;” verse 151, “All your commandments are truth.” In fact Psalm 119:160 says, “The sum of your Word is truth.” Do you want to summarize this? This is the Bible, another way to say it is it is truth. God's Word is truth. Do you know what that means? Everything that opposes God's Word is error, it's a lie. This doesn't change. It's not, well, it's an old book.

Come over to Jeremiah 6:16, “Thus says the Lord, stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it. And you will find rest for your souls.” The sad thing is Israel said we will not walk in it. We want to be careful that the church doesn't repeat these errors. These things were written for our learning. We sing the song sometimes, Ancient Words. Find the ancient paths, get back on track. The church drifts, it just loosens its hold on the truth and pretty soon it loses the truth. And this word, I don't have to worry about, I understand but we live in a different day, the society is changed, the culture changes. Isaiah 40:8 says “The Word of our God stands forever.” Psalm 119:89, “Forever oh Lord your Word is settled,” stands firm, “in heaven. Heaven and earth will pass away, My words will not pass away.” This is the living and abiding Word of God that brings you salvation, that brings sanctification, the development of your life in Christ. Jesus prayed, “sanctify them in the truth, your Word is truth.” Do you know where the attacks of the devil are? They are on the truth. He doesn't care if we get together and sing and talk about how to be a better boss or how to deal with personal problems or how to get through . . . That's fine, good, he will even bring some good ideas for us. But what he is adamantly opposed to, and there is consistency, he's opposed to truth.

How did it start out? The temptation in the Garden. He said to Eve, has God said you'll die? You won't die. Start right out. God said this, I'm telling you that's not true. This is true. God says you'll die, I say you won't and wouldn't you rather have my line? In fact if you disobey God and believe in me, I tell you that you won't die but you'll even be smarter. We go back and say, who believes that? Now we have the evangelical church not sure what truth is and they have a Bible, yes we believe the Bible and they don't know half of what's in it, they never bother with it. And sermons end up being light drivel and throw in some verses. And the pastor is a good storyteller and he just is so interesting to listen to, he has a good sense of humor. I just find it helpful. What does that have to do with anything? This is God's Word. You know the prophets weren't so popular. Jesus said, “woe to you when all men speak well of you.” That's what they did with the false prophets. We want to fit in. This is truth, we have to proclaim truth.

Just a word on inspiration, we'll pick up here tonight. God has spoken, we ought to get this, it is written down, it's recorded for us. God intended that what He said be preserved so He directed that it would be written by human men. Now we sometimes talk about the human aspect and the divine aspect. It is God's Word but He has selected various individuals to be the recipients and writers so that as He originally gave it, He used their personalities, their characteristics to record exactly the words He wanted. So we can see differences in the styles and so on, but every word is the Word of God. He directed those who would write it.

How would it happen? Come over to 2 Peter 1. I'll leave these thoughts for you to mull over. 2 Peter 1:21, “For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” There you see the Spirit of God was in control. You say well you had men, men are fallible and men make mistakes. But God doesn't and don't tell me there is an Almighty God out here who would like to communicate to men but He can't do it because man is fallible and he keeps getting it messed up. God is so powerful, the One who has created everything, that He can control man as such, He can use his personality, his own human characteristics and have that person write exactly the words that He wants. They are moved by the Holy Spirit.

Come back to 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is inspired by God,” literally God-breathed, a compound word, the word for God and the word to breathe. It is God-breathed, it comes out from God and so it is profitable. And that's how it is. Not so difficult.

Take one more passage. John 14, Jesus said this is how His disciples would be able to write about Him. John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” It's not just that the Apostle John had a great memory. Some people say well, the passing of time, they might have gotten things confused. God never gets confused and God the Holy Spirit gave them perfect memory, perfect remembrance of what God wanted recorded. Amazing. We do that, we say, I'll jog your mind, remember when this happened? Let me tell you, we were here. You say, yes, now I remember. Do you know what? The Holy Spirit working in their minds and it all is just as clear as a bell. That's why we have the Scriptures written and they are correct. John 16:13, “But when He the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth and will disclose things to come.” This is God's Word. We'll talk more about it tonight.

We will die for this. I'm greatly offended and so should you be when one who claims to be an evangelical pastor, a Bible-believing pastor implies that we are Christians together with those who deny that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life; deny the truth of what Christ said when He said, “no man comes to the Father but by Me.” That's not something that we are open for discussion.

Now I want to be clear. You can attend this Bible-believing church, this conservative Bible-believing church or however you want to describe it, and hear the Gospel but that doesn't save you. Unless you hear and believe the truth that you are a sinner, lost and without hope and that Jesus Christ the Son of God suffered and died on the cross to take your place, to pay your penalty so that you by placing your faith in Him can experience the salvation that only He can provide. You could attend here every day of your life, hear every sermon I preach and die and go to an eternal hell. Raised in a Christian family, have Christian friends, do Christian things and be lost and go to hell. What a terrible thing. Jesus said many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, look at all the wonderful things we did in your name. And He'll say, depart from Me, cursed ones, I never knew you. What a terrible thing. Have you ever trusted Christ? Have you ever placed your faith in Him? If not, this is a great time to do it.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for Your grace in revealing Yourself, in speaking to us. Your grace in sending Your Spirit, opening our blinded eyes so that we could see and understand and believe. Your Word is alive and powerful, it brings salvation to the heart and life of the one who believes. Lord, pray that we as a church will be passionate about this truth, will hold it firmly in our grasp, will be precious to us, we will live for it, we will die for it. May our testimony be strong, that You might be honored. We pray in Christ's name, amen.