Well, good morning. It's good to see those of you who are able to make it out this morning. And I give you a very warm welcome and happy new year to all of you on behalf of the deacons and the minister. It's good to have Darren Dewey back again with Helen and Daniel. It's lovely to see you in our service this morning. Now, we will wait around the Lord's table for communion at the close of this service. Now this evening, do try and get along if you can, but please don't put yourself in any sort of danger. We will hold our service God willing. If that changes, please look at the church website or Facebook page and we'll try and update that. But at the minute, we are having our evening service. then there will be no tea tonight, just people will be keen to get home. We were to have our New Year prayer meetings tomorrow and Tuesday, now what we're gonna do, we don't know what the weather's gonna be like, so we're gonna push those back to Thursday and Friday. So our prayer meetings will now be Thursday and Friday at half past seven, and there won't be anything on Tuesday because of that. The Ladies Fellowship is on Wednesday at half past seven, and there will be an epilogue by Catherine Campbell, and it's the first Ladies Fellowship meeting in the new year. If you haven't been, do try and come along. It's a time of fellowship and a cup of tea, and there is a little card on the display board at the back that you can use to invite others to that. Now, again, we don't know what the weather's going to be like, so do check the church website and Facebook page for that. So as I said, Thursday and Friday then are prayer meetings. Next Sunday, our meetings are at 11 in the morning and six in the evening and our pastor will be taking both of those services. A couple of other announcements. The AV team are looking for some more people to help out with the AV. So if that's something you'd like to get involved in or if it's something you want to know more about, then please speak to any of the team or give your name to one of the deacons. Also on the 17th of January, Saturday the 17th of January, we're having a message church training. There will be, it's from 10 to three, there will be tea and coffee. Bring your own lunch and we'll supply the tea. So we need to know how many are coming and there's a sign up book just outside in the foyer. Many of you would know John Rainey who used to come to the church and just heard this morning John went to be with the Lord. So our thoughts and our prayers are with the family circle at this time. Also I have a card from Dan and Philip Steele. And they say thank you for your prayers, phone calls, and support over the last few years during Benny's illness. And they thank those who attended her funeral last week. And then finally, it's the church secretary's wife's birthday, so we wish her a happy birthday. happy birthday and if there's anybody who can give me dinner this afternoon I'd be more than delighted to come. So these are all announcements and they're all of course made God willing. Thanks so much Billy. It is good to see you here this morning and special greetings have already been expressed to those of you who are sitting at home in front of a roaring fire with a warm cup of coffee and we aren't resentful at all. Well, Louise was supposed to be taking part in the praise this morning, but she hasn't been able to make it because corn money is impossible. So, special greetings to those of you who are at home, and can I encourage you that when we pray, will you bow your head and pray? When we open up the Scripture, will you pull up the Bible and read it? And when we join together in singing, please lift your heart to the Lord in singing as well. Now nobody's there to hear you make any mistakes or sing wrong notes, but you can sing with your heart and lift your heart to the Lord. And we look forward to seeing you all next Lord's Day. We're going to start with a song which is very well known. Standing on the promises of Christ my King through eternal ages let the praises ring. During the introduction please stand and we'll sing together. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of my Savior. Standing on the promises of old. Now Sharon's going to come to the front and any boys and girls who are coming please come right now we have a song we want you to do and there's actions involved. Are you on your own Sharon? Oh dear. No, we want the actions to be done so that everyone in front of you can join in. Okay, okay, our God is so big, so strong, and so mighty, there's nothing that he cannot do. Okay, we'll sing this through a couple of times, and all the boys and girls join in, and those who used to be boys and girls as well. All right, here we go. so big Our God is so big, so strong, so mighty. There's nothing that He can't do. The mountains are His. The rivers are His. The stars are His. And we are His. Our God is so big, so strong, so mighty. There's nothing that He can't do. I was going to ask them if any of them had made a snowman this morning, but I couldn't ask. But I was going to tell them, of course, that it's God that made the snow. And we see the wonder of the snow, and we love its beauty, and we just don't like to drive in it. So it's difficult enough. Now we're going to have our song for the offering and again it's a song which you'll know I'm sure it's a song of testimony he is my everything he is my all he is my everything both great and small as we sing this through we'll keep our seats while the offering is received but sing well He is my everything. He is my all. He is my everything, both great and small. He is my glory. Ain't everything new? He is my everything. He is my Savior And He sends me free Now listen while I tell you He is coming. Father we thank you for the fact that the Lord Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever we bless you that all our Savior was to us in 2025 he will be to us again in 2026 we thank you Lord indeed that you are our everything And we know, Lord, that as we bring our offerings to you right now, we're just giving you back something of what you've first given to us. Nevertheless, Lord, we do want to pray that you will take this offering and use it for the work and witness of this fellowship, and also, Lord, further afield, wherever the name of Jesus is named and loved and proclaimed. And we bring this, our prayer, in his worthy name. Amen. Now Louise was asking about a particular chorus that we're going to sing right now because those of us who are on mature years are going to remember this and this morning we have Scotch Broth on the menu. Anybody know the chorus Scotch Broth? Yeah, I thought so, I thought. Now it's always very precarious whenever you mention a song that talks about food, especially on a Sunday morning, you know, it starts you thinking early about your Sunday lunch. Scotch Broth is a medley of choruses that are Joined together, all the ingredients are piled in so that we can enjoy the old, old story it is ever new. There's all in there. You know them, don't you? Okay. Keep our seats as we sing this a couple of times through, the old, old story. Oh So sing your best. Can you put your hand up, please? No, not all of you, man. Not all of you. OK, now listen. We'll have two seconds. Time through. And well, you know the chorus well, and I'm sure you're going to give your very, very best, OK? The Old, Old Story. Here we go. The old, old story we'll tell you. The old, old story we'll tell you. I love you Now one of the main purposes of our worship on the Lord's Day is to prepare our hearts for what the Lord's going to say to us through his words. So there's gonna be a couple of courses that we're gonna sing together, and they're quieter ones, reflective ones, and they're little prayers, really, asking the Lord to come to our hearts and prepare us for whatever it is he's going to say this morning. The first is Our Father, let me be yours, and yours alone. We'll sing that one through once and then turn your eyes upon Jesus and look full in his wonderful face. And before we do, we'll sing that one through a couple of times. When the introduction is played, please stand and remain standing for both of these short songs. Shall we stand? and yours alone May I be forever yours, forever yours alone Please remain standing as we prepare to sing Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. I'll sing this through a couple of times and then Robbie will come and bring the message for this morning to our hearts. Good morning. Can I add my best wishes for this happy new year and the way ahead, and we want to see God glorified in it all. I'm gonna do something which I have never done before. And no, it's not preach a short sermon, just in case you're wondering. I've done that before. No, I'm gonna give you the way ahead over the next lot of months. The thing we're going to look at is why we believe what we believe. I think it's very important as we start a new, new, new, new year. But let us pray before we get much further, shall we? Lord, we wanna thank you that we're here in your presence. We wanna thank you that you are the living God. Your word is living and active. You are what our world needs. And so, Lord, we pray as we unpack your word, as we look into your word, as we come to you week after week, day after day, would you thrill our hearts with who you are and what you have to say? Amen. I think it's important. There's a couple of questions that need asked. I mean, I asked myself this, and they're these. As Christians, what do we believe? And why do we believe it? And how do we know it? Now, don't go back and go, we've touched on this 17 weeks and prepared to give an answer. This is going to be a bit different because I think it's very important. Within our world, there is many debates on how we know the truth. If I could have up the PowerPoint, because I want to give you the way ahead at the minute. I just want to show you what we're going to be looking at. We're going to be looking at what's known as the five solas. Okay, the five solas. Now, I'll explain that in a minute. Don't panic. It's not going to be very heavy. This morning will be more of a teaching rather than a preaching. Who knows? I may drift into preaching as well. But this is going to help us lay out over the next five weeks Because there's five sullas, five weeks. What we believe, why we believe it, and how do we know we believe it, okay? So before we, I tell you what they are, I just sort of put them up just so you know. I want to read the passage that we're going to be springing from. Okay, because the psalmist seeks to give us an important answer to those questions. Now, it's one that we've, it's a psalm that we've touched on before, and I'm not gonna unpack it as I did before. We're just gonna spring from it as we look at the first solo. But here's the passage we're gonna look at. Psalm 19, verses seven through to 11. Psalm 19, verses seven. through to 11, it's one of the Psalms that I, part of the Psalms that I really love. It says this. Psalm 19, starting at verse seven, says, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting, or as some say, restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward. Excellent, we're gonna spring from there, but Psalmist outlines this great declaration of God's word, known as his law. He uses, as we've seen before, lots of different sort of names, his commandments, his statutes, his laws. He goes into this great thing, but we're gonna unpack this. Now, just before you go, just so, for those who are taking notes, or if you wanna go back and watch the recording, here are the five solos that we're gonna be looking at. Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus Christus, and Soli Deo Gloria. Now, I know that means a lot to you, because you're very good with Latin here, you know. I mean, I grew up speaking Latin in Rathcool. Not. So in case you're wondering what they are, because I was, the first one we're going to look at today is Scripture alone, okay? Sola is alone, so scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone. and the glory to God alone. So over the next five weeks, that's what we're gonna be unpacking. Because I believe as we look at those, we're gonna see that they are the very heart of the gospel. They are the very heart of God's desire. They are the very heart of what is seen from Genesis through to Revelation. And you may ask why we're doing this. because straight after this, and again, I don't often do this in advance, but I think I have to, just so I don't backtrack. After this, after we do the last one, we will be looking at the end times, because I've been asked many times to do teaching on the end times. So after this, we'll go straight into the end times, and that should take us through until the Lord's return. Right, so we shall move on. These are a great thing. These were given in the 16th century. These weren't around from Genesis. You'll not find these written out in this form in Scripture. You don't hear the psalmist saying, But I think you'll find from reading Psalm 19 that the Scripture is very much at the heart. The law of God is very much at the heart. But these were brought out in a very cultural and theological setting in the 16th century. Many will know it as the Reformation. We're not going to get into too much history, but this is where they sprang from as they emphasized where the church was beginning to error and how to come back to what was at the heart of the gospel. What was the heart of scripture? What is salvation all about? And this is where they came from. And that's why I think it's important that we look at this at the very beginning, because I have often said, and I'll say it again, I could be wrong, but Scripture is never wrong. I'm not the final authority, and in case you're wondering, the deacons aren't the final authority either. Scripture is, and that's where we go with this. This is why we keep preaching Scripture. So these five solas that we will look at will emphasize that scripture is our sole authority, that salvation comes by God's grace through faith in Christ alone, and it's all for God's glory. So that's what we're gonna look at over the five weeks. So I hope you're getting ready for it, because it's gonna be a great five weeks. Now, I wanna give you a bit of a hint where we're actually going today. Let me just have a look. Put my glasses on so I can see where we're going. We've got the three points. What is meant by scripture alone? What is scripture's position in relation to other things? And what is the purpose of holding scripture alone? Now, in case you're wondering what on earth that second point is, one of the most dangerous statements you can hear in any church, okay, and I was told this, I've been told this almost every single year, is we've always done it that way. Commonly known as tradition. Now, I'm not saying tradition is wrong, please don't misunderstand me, but that's what that means. How does Scripture stand in relation to other things? And we'll get there very soon. So, we're gonna move swiftly on to what is meant by Scripture alone. I'm gonna put up a few statements, I'm gonna put up a lot of Scriptures, we're gonna fly through a lot of Scripture's at a very fast rate, okay? So we're gonna look at this. So we're gonna see that Scripture alone refers to the belief that Scripture is the only infallible rule for faith and morals, or as some would say, faith and life. Not our only authority in Christianity. Christianity, for example, that's why we have church leadership. But scripture is the only infallible rule, meaning it doesn't make mistakes. It doesn't make mistakes. As the psalmist said, your word is pure. It's true. So scripture is our only infallible rule. It's important to note we say alone, scripture alone, sola, not only. Okay, that's the mistake you'll hear. And then when you go onto the internet, if you go onto the internet and you type in sola scriptura, you'll find out a whole heap of people come on and go, oh, these people think it's only scripture. That is not what this doctrine, that's not what this belief means. We believe that scripture, the word of God, the breathed word of God is we'll get to. shortly, is the only infallible rule. It does not make mistakes. So, whatever this book says, stands. It stands in your generation. It stands in my generation. It stands in my kids' generation. I don't care who sits as prime minister or president. This is the only infallible rule. It does not break, it does not err in any way. I feel like saying amen just there, but we'll carry on a bit more. Okay, so we have creeds, catechisms, confessions, constitutions and councils. They all have an element of authority over us, but they're not infallible. They do make mistakes. Okay, so that's why I'm trying to make a distinction here. I want to labor this, because I'm not against creeds, I'm not against councils, I'm not against constitutions, I'm not against anything like that. What I am saying is they are subordinate to Scripture. Scripture is the only infallible rule. Okay? Does not make mistakes. I want to make that clear before we go on. It was said that Scripture is our most reliable witness to revelation to God in history and therefore should act as the rule against which we measure all other teachings. You hear time after time, and I'm sure we protect the pulpit with passion, because you get a lot of teachings out in the world. You get a lot of people saying, yeah, but it doesn't mean that. What it means is, and they go down a whole different route. Scripture, I will take every teaching and I will hold it next to Scripture, and if it doesn't match up with Scripture, that teaching gets put in the circular filing cabinet. And that's why I've challenged you, be you here or you're listening online, I've challenged you, don't take what I say as gospel, check it with the word of God. The word of God is the only infallible rule for us. Okay, so I wanna practice what I preach. And that's why I'm saying this is the only rule. Now, why do I say this? Well... 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, we all know for all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. I think that's very important. Again, we've touched on that in the past and we're not going to unpack all of that, but there is a key phrase. I'm not even going to try and say the Greek or we might be here forever. The Greek means God breathed. Okay, some will say God inspired, but the Greek actually means God breathed. 2 Peter 1 verse 21 says, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke, or they say men spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So what we're saying here is when we say Scripture alone, we mean these 66 books that have been given by God. The Holy Spirit inspired, moved, and carried men along. They spoke, they wrote, they gave God's inspired Word of God that cannot be broken and is infallible. That is what we mean. There is nothing else like it. For example, church is not God-breathed. Church is God-created. Scripture is God-breathed. The church stands on the truth. The church should be preaching the truth. The church should defend the truth. But the truth, the Word of God, the 66 books, are the only inspired, breathed-out Word of God. It is unique in all ways. That's why I say we always come back to Scripture. So that's the uniqueness of it. I think it's very, very important that we see that the primary purpose of reading Scripture is not to know Scripture, but to know God. The whole purpose is the revelation of God from Genesis right through to Revelation. How does God reveal himself? How does God show himself? In which way does God act with his people? His people being Israel, his people being the church. How does God act? Has God changed? No he hasn't because God does not change. So how has God revealed himself? And that's why when we read Scripture, it's not to amass knowledge or facts about the 66 books. It's to get to know God more. Does our heart beat when we read Scripture? Do we get excited when we see God? Because that's what Scripture's all about. That's what we mean, that this unique, infallible, special God-breathed, The collection of 66 books that we have here reveal God like nothing else, and it's on which we stand. So Scripture reveals God. Scripture reveals the plan of salvation. Scripture reveals the centrality of Christ. Yes, Scripture reveals the centrality of Christ. He didn't only turn up in Matthew, he was there in Genesis. You've heard me say this many times. You heard Darren said, he said last week, Christ was around before time began. He is central to the whole thing. He's key to the plan of salvation. So scripture reveals the centrality of Christ. We have here what is, that Sola Scriptura does not only teach the very doctrine, and wording must be found in Scripture. For example, you will not find every doctrine we hold in Scripture. Or should I say, outlined. For example, if somebody could tell me afterwards, Pointing me afterwards, I would love it, because I haven't found it yet, the word trinity in scripture. And that's another argument. Oh, you can't believe in trinity because it's not in scripture. That's rubbish. Every doctrine is explicitly taught or is implicitly taken out of scripture. I have argued with Jehovah's Witnesses many times on the trinity, and I've taken them through scripture after scripture after scripture. And I can hold fast to doctrines, even though it's not in there by name, I can hold fast to doctrines because it's in there at the heart. Scripture declares the truth, and I hold fast. The Westminster, I never thought I'd ever comment on the Westminster, no. That's the one there. He says this, the Westminster Confession puts it this way, the whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith and life is either expressly sat down in Scripture or by good and necessary consequence, it may be deduced from Scripture. So everything, every doctrine we hold, If you're an Orthodox and you stand on Scripture, you're born again Christian, you know what Scripture teaches, every doctrine we hold is found explicitly in Scripture, or like the Trinity, we can get it from Scripture, okay? Nothing we hold true here, nothing we hold is not found in Scripture, no doctrine we hold. All Scripture is from Scripture. Okay, so now we're gonna go through a lot of scriptures very, very fast because it says that scripture is all we need for faith and morals, or faith and life. Okay, I'm gonna prove this. It is often said that if you give someone a Bible, if they open it up and they read, they will be able to hear, read, and understand how to get saved. You don't have to be a scholar, you don't have to know Greek or Hebrew, or Aramaic, if you read scripture, you will know how to be saved. That proves it. For example, I'll take you through them very quickly. It says this, that we know Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 6, 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. through Jesus Christ our Lord. 2 Peter 3, 9, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Picture that, you now know that we've all sinned, we've all fallen short, we don't hit the mark, we miss the target, all of us. That means we all deserve death, but God doesn't want us to die. He wants us to come to life, and you have to ask, why? Well, I'm glad you asked that, because in Ezekiel 18, 32, it tells about the heart of God. It says, for I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies, says the Lord. Therefore, turn and live. He wants us to turn and live. Ezekiel 33, 11, say to them, as I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his ways and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways, for you should, for why should you die? Oh, House of Israel. God's passion, God's heart is for those who have missed the mark, us, to turn and live. Then you go, but yeah, that's great, but how did he show that? John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave. give his only son. Now we begin to see how he works out his desire that all should live. Mark 10, 45, for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. We're back on the Romans 5, 8, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. John 14, 6, Christ said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Back to Romans 10, 9, and 10, that if you confess with your mouth that Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart, one believes on the righteousness and with the mouth, a confession is made onto salvation. Wow. Secret saints should stay quiet. This thing should transform our lives. We believe Christ died and rose again. Acts 4, 12, there is no other name under heaven given to man by which we must be saved, the man Christ Jesus. Right there, that list, if you give scripture to anyone, he should know how to be saved. Oh, that's what we need. Scripture is clear for faith and morals or faith and life, without a doubt. So scripture is all we need. It is trustworthy. Now while I was doing this, I came across a few people who would argue, and there will be those who will hush over old arguments about how scripture's fictitious, and we don't have a real one, and all the rest of it. Again, I've just noticed the time, and it's going very quickly. But I think it's very important that we understand that Christ himself said, on the road to Emmaus, beginning with the law and the prophets, he revealed everything, what? concerning himself, the centrality of Jesus. Could you picture that? Bible study, as you walk seven miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus, and Christ opens up from Genesis right through, and he says, here's all about me. But you notice what he used, the prophets and the law. There is a threefold, division within the Old Testament, the law of the prophets and the writings. And I think it's very important we understand this, that they came about, they were agreed, they were approved, they were canonized as it was said in around 100 BC. So in between the Old Testament and the New, they were canonized, they were accepted as to be read in synagogues in the temple when the second temple was built. before the second temple was destroyed, they were there to be read. They would have been read in the synagogues around the second, around 100 BC that they were approved. In fact, there's lots of dates I would like to go into, but I don't want to go into too much. So as I say, it was approved around 100 BC, and Christ would have held fast to the Old Testament. So when you hear Christ saying, have you not read? He's talking about the law, the writings, and the prophets. The Tanakh, as the Jews would have called it. And many people have argued that this came about in A.D. 90. Now, I just want to put this out here. I know I didn't want it to be a history lesson, but it's turning into, I'm sorry. But Josephus, the guy we love when to quote about Christ's resurrection and who Christ is, the Jewish historian, Durian, before 1890, he had a list of books that consisted, his was 22 books, but we split some of the books, and his list of 22 is exactly the same as the list of R39. So way before they think it was approved in the fourth century, fourth and fifth century, century, it was around at Christ's time, the canon of the Old Testament. Now, I want you to get excited about this because, let me just see, I want to speed through this a bit. The New Testament is also exciting because many people think the New Testament is a bit confusing, that nobody really ever used the New Testament. you know, and all the rest of it. But we're told that even in the first century, they were quoting the New Testament, what we have as Scripture. For example, in 2 Peter 3, 15 and 16, it was considered Peter, he writes, and he says this, and considering that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation, as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles." So, his epistles were around by that time. This was written. His epistles were going around the churches, and Peter goes, well, they're a bit hard to understand. I realized, but don't worry, he starts quoting them as Scripture. You also have in 1 Timothy, and again, I got excited when I seen this. I mean, I'm sorry if I get excited, but that's the way it goes. 1 Timothy 5.18, Paul quotes from the gospel of Luke. He quotes from Luke 10, seven. So you have the New Testament writers beginning to quote other letters that we have in the New Testament. So nobody can say that they weren't being used before the fourth and fifth century, because by the end of the first century, they're being quoted. quoted among themselves, and indeed, we think of 1 Corinthians 11, verses 23 to 25, when we think about communion, Paul quotes from Luke, Luke chapter 22, when he says, this is my body, this is my blood. So again, you've got Paul will quote Luke. You've got Peter quoting Paul. You've got them all. You've got Christ quoting the Old Testament. That's why this is the only infallible rule. This was what the church stood on and built on. And I love the way, again, I'll not spend any time here, but the Christians became known as the people of the way. We know this in Acts 9 too when Paul was going to Damascus to bring people who were people of the way to prison. We know that the Jews were known as the people of the book. They were known as people of the book, and likewise, Christians became known as people of the book. Why? Because this became a saying by the Muslims when they defined Jews and Christians, that they were the people of the book. How I would love today for people out there to look at Christians and go, they're people of the book. They hold fast to the truth. They don't water it down, but they hold fast and it governs their life. Faith and morals, faith and life. I would love to have that heard. So again, that's the important thing here. What is Scripture's position? in relation to other things. I think that's a very important thing to do. We'll be very quick here. Three passages, we got where Christ refers to tradition. You'll have those who will have a thing called MTS, the Magisterium, Tradition and Scripture, and they hold them all equal. Unfortunately, that's not the biblical way, that's not the scriptural way, that's not the church's way. There is one infallible rule, scripture. And even Christ says himself that in Matthew 15, one to six, and in Matthew 19, he squares off against the Pharisees and he challenges them because they raised their tradition above scripture. They raise their man-made traditions above Scripture, or on a par with Scripture. And Christ says, you're not doing it right. You've weakened Scripture by forcing your own traditions in there. That's why I said the most The most dangerous thing you can say in a church is, we've always done it that way. I think we should always, and it's a challenge on my own heart, that we should always be open to the move of the Holy Spirit, that whatever he wants to do, we follow, because he is God and he inspired the truth, and we want the word of God to go out in powerful ways, because it's the only infallible rule. In fact, in John 10, 35, Christ himself said that scripture cannot be broken. Scripture cannot be broken. And so here we must understand that in relation to tradition, Scripture stands above this. Now what in our day, I want to introduce you to another guy, we like singing his hymns, and I had to come across, I had to deal with this when I went to Cornwall, it's known as the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. Okay, scripture, tradition, reason and experience. And here's the reality, we all have an element of truth. from tradition, because we as church do certain things, by reason, we incorporate our minds and we think about what we read or we should, and by experience, we walk with Christ and we have an element of experiential understanding and truth. But here's the difference. John Wesley said that they are all secondary. Scripture takes primacy of place, the only infallible rule. We learn by tradition, we learn by these other things, but they are not infallible, only scripture is. So here's what, here's where we're going. We're gonna look at how that relates to the grace of God, having faith in God. We're gonna see how that relates to Christ, and how all this relates to the glory of God, and you can only do that by putting Scripture first. So what, lastly, because time has gone, is what is the purpose of Scripture? I think it's very important, and this is all to do with Scripture alone. This is why we're starting here. We will preach Scripture, we will stand on Scripture, we will present Scripture, we should defend Scripture, because it is the only infallible God-breathed truth. Now I want to, again, I'll put up a lot of scriptures there, but I just want to put out this. The Psalmist said, the one that we started with, that scripture, if I could use that collective term, is to convert the soul, make wise the simple, to give joy to the heart, to give light by which we see, to warn us that it's enduring and it's true and it's righteous, and they are to be desired more than gold. That is the purpose of scripture. It's to warn us, hence end times. It's to convert us, bring us to the truth, that there's no other name under heaven given to man by which we must be saved. There's only one way to be saved, and that's to shed blood of Christ. It points us in a clear way. Scripture is central, Scripture alone. I could go through all of these passages, and I want to leave them up there. Please, if you're taking notes, take notes. I want you to look up each passage, because that is about the centrality of Scripture and what they do. And one of the things I love about this, it acts 15, what's known as the Jerusalem Council, when the word began to spread and the Gentiles began to get saved, and there was a bit of tension, they're not doing it the way we do it, you know, they should all be circumcised, and they all got together and they all had a chat, and Peter stands up and goes, actually, that's for us, you keep the moral law. That's in essence what he said in Acts 15, the moral law. Not the civil or ceremonial law, the moral law. Scripture is the only infallible rule for faith and morals. We cannot get away from Scripture, and even in the first century as the church began to spread, there was this desire that our life was governed by the law of God. And of course, I love the brains, and that's why I challenge you all the time. The brains, listen to Paul, and went, oh, that sounds nice. Let's see what Scripture says. And Acts 17, they studied, they checked to make sure whatever Paul said lined up with Scripture. That's why I'm putting it out here. That's why we started how we started this year. This is why my heart is, you do not hold anything higher than Scripture, and you do not take anything on face value. Does it line up with Scripture? Scripture alone is God's breathed truth, and the words of Paul is clear. They are very clear in Galatians. Even if I come, and preach a different gospel. Or an angel comes and preaches a different gospel. Let him be accursed. There's no other gospel, Scripture is clear. There's no other way, Scripture is clear. There is no other person we need for salvation than Christ alone, his shed blood. And so Scripture is the place that we start, Scripture alone, because it presents very clearly, very simply, that a child right through to the oldest member can understand the path of salvation. Very simple. So as we close, we have looked at scripture alone. We preach the scriptures, we defend the scriptures because they are the only inspired God-breathed. We defend them, we stand on them because they show us how we are to be saved. We preach them because they are the only infallible rule for each and every one of us. So I will challenge you, and I want you to challenge me, that as the Word of God goes out, as the Word is preached, be a good Berean. You measure it with Scripture. And if you think I'm wrong, or if any preacher from this pulpit is wrong, come and challenge it and go, but the Word of God says, everything has to be governed by the Word of God. I remember, and with this I will close, I remember when in my first church in St. Ives, we had a guy come and he talked about how Jonah wasn't real. It was just a story. And I thought, he said this during the kids' talk, and I thought, did he just say what I thought he said? His big mistake was he said it another two times during the sermon, and on the way out, I still waited on him, and on the way out, all the guys, I knew these two guys, they went for him. They were like pit bulls, they went for him. And he turned to me and he says, at the end, it was only me and him, he said, do you realize what two of your men did to me? They came and they said that what I said wasn't in Latin scripture. And I looked at him and I said, well, if you're gonna, If you're gonna say stupid things, it's not in Scripture. You deserve to be challenged. If it's not in Scripture, we don't preach it. We don't want it. Scripture alone. We stand on Scripture. We don't modify it. We don't water it down. It is the only rule by which we stand. Once we understand that, we understand grace. We'll move on to grace next week. Very important. Scripture alone. We're going to have our final hymn now. And again, as I say, I hope we will be inspired to go deeper into the Word of God because it is His only inspired truth. And it's the truth on which the church has stood since its inception. So we're gonna stand and we're gonna sing our final song, which I believe is Come People of the Risen King. Do you understand it? ♪ With those whose joy is for His Son ♪ ♪ And those weeping through the night ♪ ♪ For those who cannot find a place ♪ ♪ Where the Son of Man can find His place ♪ ♪ For His perfect love will reign forevermore ♪ Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! Be joyous, be joyous, let every heart be joyful. Let us just pray. Lord, we wanna thank you that we stand on a sure foundation. We stand in you, we stand because of you, but we know this because of your word, your word that has been established, that written word, and because of you, that living word. Lord, again, we pray that if anything has not been from you, take it away. We don't want that, we want only what your word says is true. Help us stand on your truth, defend your truth, proclaim your truth, that we may see you build your church. We ask this in your name, amen. We come at this point to remember. We remember the death of Christ. I always say that because I remember because he is alive. He is not dead, he is alive. Therefore, we can remember in light of his resurrection, but also in the promise of his return. There's so much that gives us joy when we come to this point. So we're gonna, we come to this wonderful time when we remember, but let us just stand and sing together, shall we? As we come to this, a wonderful time of remembering, and as I thought about what could we share that has not already been shared, it struck me. Nothing. This is an old story, yet ever new. It's new because of the person it engages with. And I wanna take you back to the very first morning, if I may. And we're gonna go to that Bible study, at least the beginning of it. And I wanna read from Luke 24. We touched on it as we looked at scripture alone. And I think this is so important that many times when we think about this wonderful sacrifice of our Lord, we think about it in terms of John 3.16, or we think about it in terms of John 15.13, or what's known as the Roman road that we looked at this morning in various times. But I love Christ. When he says this, he's speaking to his disciples. We know the story so very well. The resurrection has happened. They've left Jerusalem. They're walking the seven miles towards Emmaus. Christ interjects into the conversation. and he asks what has happened, and they can't believe that he doesn't know, or is not aware, which I thought was quite funny, since he's got the nail-scarred hands. They don't seem to realize. And this is what Christ says to them in verse 25 of Luke 24. He says, I love that. He said, At Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. It is such a fascinating passage, that in and of itself, and I've touched on it a couple of times in the past, but as we came to this scripture alone, Christ elevates. The very breathed Word of God revealing the very heart of God, which was, as Paul said, revealed before the foundation of the earth. That this was at the very heart of God the Father. This was the obedience of God the Son. And for every follower of Christ, the Spirit makes this. makes this remembrance of the cross and resurrection of Christ the very source of our salvation. This is where we claim salvation, Christ's death and his resurrection. But it strikes me, the pattern here, they have just seen the cross. They've seen Christ die. His blood shed, his body broken. They've seen him buried. They've seen the stone, this two-ton stone put over the doorway. They've seen the ropes put in place and the Roman seal put in place to try and keep a dead person in the grave or to keep living people from stealing it. And they know on the morning of the first day of the week, the tomb was empty. And they can't believe, they find it hard to believe what the women are saying, that Christ is alive, we've seen him. They find it hard to compute, why? Because it's never happened before. I mean, I know Lazarus walked out of the tomb alive, but Jesus did that. He brought him alive, but he died again. Christ is alive. Wow. And so they're walking to Emmaus and I'm sure the conversation raged. And I don't blame them for not seeing Christ. I don't know how long Christ walked behind them. I wonder, and I don't blame them because we've all been there. You're engrossed in a conversation and you don't realize there's someone behind you. Isn't that true? So let's not be too hard on the disciples. They're engrossed in what's just happened and they're talking and they're wondering and they're mulling all this over and Christ is there and he interjects. But listen to what he says. He calls them foolish because they were slow to believe all the prophets had said. Not what he has said because he taught them that he had to die and rise again. But he said what the prophets said. He birthed his cross, he birthed the cross and the resurrection in the teachings of scripture. And then it says, and then he began with the law and the prophets. And I love the connection here, because we know about the Mount of Transfiguration. You have two guys that appeared with Christ who represent the law and the prophets as they're there. And Christ begins with the very breathed, inspired, breathed out word of God, and he says, did this not have to happen? Did not the Messiah have to die? Because this is in scripture. Why did he have to die? Because before the foundation of the world, it had been agreed. Now we can get into much discussion over that, but whether you believe, whatever you hold about that, there is one key thing that has to be held. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that was the plan before creation ever happened. This was the plan of salvation, should man sin. And man sinned, so this was the plan. And so beginning with the law, and the prophets, Christ said, this was the key. Can you picture going through Christ with the two Jewish men and they went through the Adamic covenant, the covenant with Abraham, the covenant with David, and he goes, oh, and by the way, then there's these prophets. He went through it all, their history, and said, did not the Messiah have to suffer and die? So as we partake of this, as we remember Christ's death in light of his resurrection and the hope of his second coming, let us remember that the Christ had to die. This was the plan of God all along. This was on the very heart of God and how he's gonna rescue his creation. through the blood of Christ, the resurrection of Christ. Right from the very beginning of Scripture, this is the heart of God, that he would take what was rightfully ours, he would take it upon himself, die our death, that he could give to us what we do not deserve, his righteousness. He could give that to us. all who believe. So did not the Christ have to die? And beginning with the law and the prophets, he told them, he expounded the scriptures. Please, after we remember, could I encourage you to get back into the scriptures and see the centrality of the cross, the centrality of Christ, and the plan of salvation that Christ bought for us. Amen. I'm going to ask Stevie to come and pray for the bread, please. Let's pray. Father God, as we continue in your presence here this morning, Lord, it's with thankful hearts, as we think of this special time in our service, that you sent your son to die for us, not that he was forced to come, but that he came willingly to die for us in full knowledge of the agonizing death that he would face. And so, Father, we can be nothing but thankful. And we thank you, Lord, that through that sacrifice, through the death on the cross, Lord, that we are recognized as righteous in your sight. and we can come into your presence. So we thank you, amen. As the Diggins bring you the bread as is our custom, please take and eat as the bread comes to you. We have remembered the broken body of our Lord, but it's not his broken body that saves. He has won peace between us and the Father by his shed blood. It is the blood of Christ that will cleanse from all unrighteousness. And so I want to ask Brian to come and give thanks for the cup. Gracious Lord, your word reminds us that even though our sins may be like scarlet, that they can be made white as snow. And we do not stand, Lord, with these emblems this morning, thinking that there's any worth or merits in any one of us, because even all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. but we thank you for the remembrance of that precious blood which the Lord Jesus shed on Calvary. That blood which your word says to us that if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We trust implicitly in that precious blood this morning and thank you for it in Jesus' name. Again, please retain your cup and we shall drink all together when everybody has received. Thank you. Our one church, the body of Christ with Christ as our head, let us drink and remember his death until he comes again. Let us pray. All glory and honor be given to you, living God, for your living word, that word that never fails. And thank you for the shed blood of Christ that will cleanse us from all sin. Help, Lord, help us always remember and proclaim your death and your resurrection to all who will hear. Amen.