Hello, everyone, and welcome to our part two of the Bible as sole authority for faith and practice. Now, last week we laid a foundation concerning this lesson, teaching some of the simple truths about the Word of God and WHY it should be and needs to be our sole authority for faith and practice. We're going to get into this first particular distinctive, if you will, this first particular distinctive in our foundation series, this online series that we're doing for really for anyone who wants to partake in it, but primarily for our Calvary Baptist Church of Cardiff. And so we're looking at this first distinctive. It is the foundation of our faith. So when we look at the fundamentals of our faith, if you will, and again, guys, when I use the word fundamental, make sure you don't buy into You know, those who have equated fundamental with fanaticism, that's a bit ridiculous, to be honest with you. It's a very weak interpretation. It's a weak definition. It's a weak excuse to reject foundations, if you will. Without foundations, this building would not stand. The fundamentals of a building are the footers that are dug and the concrete that is poured. poured in there. The fundamentals of many sports. You take American football. The fundamentals of that sport are not the throwing of the passes and the touchdowns and all this and that, but it's simple blocking and tackling. Those are fundamentals. What it means is basics. The basics, the foundations of what the Christian identity is. We are addressing biblical, historical, doctrinal Christianity. We are not addressing religious ideologies that have done nothing but be anti-scriptural in the things that they teach. And as we get further on into this online lesson, you'll find, or this series I should say, you'll find out that when you look through the lens of the Word of God, when it becomes your sole authority for faith and practice, the things and the actions of your life, how you practice your life, how you practice your Christianity, Anything that you practice and call it Christianity, which is outside of the precepts and the doctrine of the Word of God, that is no longer Christianity, but rather religion. And Jesus Christ was very adamant when He spoke against the traditions of men and the rudiments of this world. He said they were evil, that they were wicked. and we know that they are. Peter calls them damnable heresies, guys. So we must look at this foundation, this first distinctive, if you will, as the foundation of our faith, the doctrine of the Bible as sole authority for faith and practice. It is the foundation of biblical Christianity. All, and I said all, all Bible doctrines rest on this very one distinctive. Anything that you practice within and without the church lies in this very distinctive. Without it, nothing will stand. And the idea of being a Christian without adhering to this very premise is an impossibility. So holding to this truth, guys, holding to this truth, it removes opinions, it removes private interpretations. Now that is important. It removes and exposes false teachers as well as the doctrines they teach, the religiosity they hold to. the traditions that they have applied through councils of men, creeds that are created by those same councils, and trying to apply in a so-called church, whereas it is not, but rather an institution. So what does it mean, guys? What does it mean that Scripture is authoritative for the Christians' faith and practice? What does that mean to us? Well, historically, Bible-believing Christians believe in the verbal and plenary inspiration of the Old and the New Testaments. They believe the Bible is a direct revelation from God, and I say they, we, when we're going back historically, I wasn't alive when obviously when the New Testament was inspired by God to the men of God who wrote it. But it says, you know, they believe, guys, the Bible is a revelation from God, and yet the Bible is infallible, it is inerrant, and it is God's Word written to mankind. So what is verbal inspiration, verbal inspiration? It means that the Holy Spirit guided and controlled the men who he used to author the scripture. Not only the ideas of God were conveyed, but the actual and complete works, I mean, sorry, words came from God. God so directed the hand of man in writing them down in a way that they are his words and not the men's words. That is a verbal inspiration. What does plenary inspiration mean, plenary inspiration? It means the entire Bible, the Word of God. Every part of the Bible is equally inspired of God and the scriptures we have now all fall under God's intended revelation. There are no new nor further revelations today or tomorrow. So remember, the Bible does not contain the Word of God. It is the very Word of God. That is why when you adhere to that idea, That is where you're going to be able to look through life, through the lens of the Holy Scripture that God has given us. And that's when you'll be able, it will begin to... unveil to you not only its great weight in eternity, but guys, everyday living. I mean, the decisions, the choices, the actions that we have in our life and everything that we do and say, once looked through and viewed and stipulated by the Word of God, you'll find out not only will your life be blessed, but guys, it'll be much easier in the long run. That doesn't mean you're not going to suffer or have problems or issues, but it simply means that you know what you're going to do and why you are going to do that. We need to understand that. and we need to hold on to it. And when I go back and I say this to you, that there are no new or further revelations today or tomorrow. When God closed this book and gave it to, and there's no more revelation, the revelation is done with. The final revelation, if you will, was given in the final decade to the Apostle John of the Isle of Patmos, which is the revelation of Jesus Christ, the final book of the Bible that was written. It was inspired, given by God, to John. He wrote it exactly identically the way God wanted. We have it exactly identically today in our AB 1611, the way God intended for us to have that. Now, what does that mean to us? That means when someone in any other group setting stands up and saying, thus saith the Lord, God just spoken to me and said such and such and such and such, they're confused, They have an issue, or they're just lying. One of the three, guys. It doesn't work like that. Prophetical visions do not apply to our world today. Why? Because we have a completed Word. We have a perfect and errant and fallible Word of God. So outside of that, guys, anything outside of the Scripture, okay? Guys, it is not coming from the plenary inspiration of the Word of God. Thirdly, we find out that the Word of God is infallible, and that's very important for us to understand. Every guideline and or instruction given to us by the Scripture is true and proper. And none of them are outdated. They're not improper. They are not archaic, as many like to say today. None of them are to be set aside for the times or the culture we live in. We are to obey them completely and obey the completed written word of God. That's what infallible means. This book here is perfect. All right. Fourthly, we find the Word of God, we find it in its inerrancy. God has kept His Scriptures from error. In other words, if there is an error, it is not His Scripture. Back up on that just for a second. When we look to apply the Holy Scriptures as our sole authority for faith and practice. That means there cannot be any errors in here, because if we are practicing and living out by faith the Word of God in our life, and then all of a sudden there's an error, and our faith and trust is in this, then we have a problem. There is no errors here. There is no mistakes. There is no true contradictions in the Word of God. I know people say, well, there's apparent contradiction. There's not. There is easily summed up by which, by where dispensationally those scriptures add up. I know on a few versions, they inaccurately describe the brother of Goliath and they remove the brother of from the Old Testament there, making it appear that Goliath got killed twice. That's not in the AB 1611, that's in some of the modern versions that they have produced through what's known as the critical text that came out of the Sinaiticus and the Vaticanus, but that's for another time. So the Word of God has its inerrancy. It is infallible. It is the plenary and the verbal inspiration, and we must understand that. How do we find that in Holy Scriptures? Well, 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17 says, that the man of God may be," watch this, "...throughly furnished unto all good works." Okay? So, we are given it by God. That word, inspiration, has been quite the controversial word. People want to claim dual inspiration for this, and this camp argues with that camp, I'm not part of that, I'm not going to get into all that. nonsense and try to be the loudest shark in the water. I am going to tell you this, that the word inspiration only shows up in the Bible twice, once in the New Testament, the other time in the Old Testament, and both of them in the book of Job, both of them in Job as well as 2 Timothy. There's another word associated with it, and that's the word given. So at the end of the day, all scripture is given by inspiration, okay, of God. It is God-given. And you can sit and argue your camps if you'd like to, that's fine. I don't do that. It is an error. It's given by God, it's not given by men. 1 Peter 1, verses 23-25 says, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. By the word of God, okay, which liveth and abideth forever for all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass wither than a flower, fadeth away, thereof fadeth away. Verse 25, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. So guys, we preach the gospel. The gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that to be true, 1 Corinthians 15. So we understand that's the gospel. How do we understand that? We understand it through the Word of God. If, therefore, the Word of God was born from incorruptible seed, we couldn't have faith in that gospel. If you can't have faith in that gospel, you can't be saved and born again, which makes all of it a lie. And we know that it is not. So, therefore, we are given the perfect Word of God. We are given the perfect gospel. We are given it in its inerrancy and its infallibility. 2 Peter 1, verses 20 through 21 says, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but Holy men of God spake, watch this, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Okay. Moved by the Holy Ghost. Very clear. Very clear. If all of that is true, and we understand that the inerrancy of the Word of God, and that's where we put our faith and practice in our life, it's our sole authority for faith and practice, how do we learn more? Well, you learn more by being in church. You get under a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching, preaching church. If you're in any other type of organization, it does not teach the infallibility and the inerrancy of this scripture here. If the teachers preach or hold or practice anything contrary to that which is in the confines of this rightly divided word of truth, if that be the case, then you need to remove yourself and find a Bible-believing preaching, teaching church, if you will. But you also have responsibility yourself. You have your responsibility to study 2 Timothy 2, verse 15. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be in a shame, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. So, how do we rightly divide the Word of Truth? And again, that's not really for this particular lesson, but just to give you a 30-second little just thought on that. It's a square peg in a square hole. It's a round peg in a round hole. you rightly divide the word of truth according to proper dispensational teaching, and you apply the scripture where it belongs, and stop applying what was meant for Israel into the church, and stop applying what was meant for the first century or the first week church age in the transitional period, especially when it was a solely Jewish church at that period of time, i.e. Acts 2. Stop applying those things just as Paul rebuked the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 14, made it very clear to them what they should and should not do, ended the chapter by saying, let all things be done decently and in order. If there is no order in it, if it's chaos, God's not involved. God is not involved in chaos. He's not bringing you by the rough waters. Psalm 23 says, He leadeth me by the still waters. Do you understand? So I'm saying all that to say this, guys, square peg, square hole, round peg, round hole, and that's how you apply the scriptures in your life so that this Word of God is the sole authority for faith and practice. And again, you need to study the Word of God, but at the same time, You need to be in a Bible-believing, Bible-preaching, Bible-teaching church that will not back down to the way the world is today or back down to the culture that they may be living in. The Word of God is pure and proper for every century, every millennia. Amen? So many believers hold to the purity of the Word of God in preservation. However, historically, biblical Christianity took this belief and applied it into their life fully. They applied it to believe in the scriptures as sole authority for faith and practice. And this is why I use the phrase biblical Christianity or Christians. Going back to Acts chapter 11 where the disciples, born again individuals, were first called Christians. They were first called Christians because the life they led. The world gave them that name. I know we've touched on that several times. The world gave them that name, okay? The thing about it is we know many of them that will hold to the purity of the Word of God, but they do not believe or live as if the Bible is their sole authority, and that is contradictory to the Holy Scripture. The key foundation to Christianity is to hold to the Word of God not as your final authority, but rather your only authority, okay? So historically speaking, historical biblical Christians and historical Baptists, if you will, teach and believe everything in the Bible is true, but also everything which is needed for faith and practice is in the Bible, okay? Biblical Christians or biblical historical Baptists reject the concept of additional revelation as the completed Word of God and His instructions are found within His Word. We do not need extra revelation. We do not need a spoken word of this and that from today because we have a completed word of God. Doctrinal Christians, if you will, do not accept the ideology of church councils. They do not accept the ideology of human traditions or other leaderships as spiritual authorities. Soul authority is the word of God. Now the scripture teaches, all right, teaches that God has given us legitimate human authorities, which have certain areas of control over our lives. And we see that in Romans 13, verses 1-7, 1 Peter 2, 13-16. As a matter of fact, 1 Peter 2, verse 13 says, Submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. Whether it be to the king as supreme, or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God that with well-doing he may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God." So obedience to human authority. Guys, as expressed in its limited arena, is the obedience to the will of God. We need to understand that. That is true. We find that with pastors. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 7 and 17. Verse 7 says, Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering their end, I'm sorry, the end of their conversation. That's their lifestyle, the end of their lifestyle. Consider how they live watch them as that example verse 17 says obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls and they as they that Sorry as they that must give an account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you Okay, so here we're finding that there are limited human authorities guys as expressed in a limited arena That is that obeying them and fall under that obedience is the will of god. We're pleasing god civil government same thing I've already mentioned romans chapter 13 We find in romans 13 verses 1 through 7. The bible says let every soul be subject unto the higher powers For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a tarry to good works, but to evil, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the saint. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. It goes on to verse 5 to say, wherefore, ye must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. Verse 6. For for this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due, custom who custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. Very simple. Civil authorities, civil government. Titus 3 once has put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates and to be ready to every good work. All right, so these are the limited authorities in our world today. The Word of God is still our sole authority, but God has also given other authorities in our life and in our world, such as pastors, civil government, parents. I mean, Hebrews 6.1, children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Colossians 3.20, children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. And there's many, many, many other verses that we find. So your parents are our authorities. There are limited authorities with employers and employees. Titus 2 says in verse 9 through 10, says, So I want you to think about this. We as individuals, if you work for someone, if you are an employee to someone, you are to adorn yourself in the doctrine of God and our Savior in all things, which means you should be the best employee that you can be. The Bible is clear, it says not purloining. The word purloining means to rob or to steal, and that doesn't mean just, it's really not even referring to material things, but more along the line of time. time. I ask you, what time are you robbing from your employer? Well, if the Bible, guys, if the Bible is your sole authority for faith and practice, you won't purloin at work. You'll get your job done, and you'll be the best that you can be at it. The same thing applies not only with employees, but also And with employers as important we see both of them in ephesians 6 verses 5 through 9 It says servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh And fear with fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as unto christ not with eye services men pleasers But as servants of christ doing the will of god from the heart with uh with goodwill doing service as the lord and not to men So you're serving guys You're serving your employer as you're serving the Lord Jesus Christ. You're pleasing Jesus Christ as you become a good and great employee. You're not lifting or exalting that man or woman as your employer, but rather serving the Lord Jesus Christ, adorning yourself with the doctrine of God, pleasing the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible goes on to say there in Ephesians chapter six, in verse seven, it says, with goodwill due in service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free." Now, here's the kicker for employers, okay? In verse 9 it says, "...and ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening, knowing that your master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him." So as an employer, We have to be mindful and understanding that our employees, we need to treat them with respect and with kindness and with love. Treat them the same way that the Bible is telling them to treat us. Now, here's the catch. You're not to treat them that way if they treat you that way. Your responsibility as an employer, when the Bible is your sole authority for faith and practice, is to treat them the way the Bible dictates you treat them then, despite what they do. And if they just can't cut the mustard, then of course you let them go. But what I'm saying here, guys, is we have these limited authorities in our life, in this world today, but all of the authority comes from the word of God. All authority is given by God. So their authority is real, but it is limited. Their role in society is given by God, and it's intended to maintain order and structure, whether it's parents, civil government, whether it's pastors, whether it's employers, whether it's employees, any of those things. The doctrine of sole authority leads directly to the doctrine of separation of church and state. If the word of God is our only authority for faith and practice, then the state cannot become our spiritual authority, nor should it ever become our spiritual authority. Over the affairs of the church or the spiritual lives of individual Christians. That is is 100% Against the Holy Scriptures Peter and John made this truth very clear. We see this in Acts chapter 4 verses 18 to 20 It says and he called them and commanded them not to speak and at all at all nor teach in their name in the name of Jesus. Sorry Verse 19 says, So you have this religious authority, limited authority mind you, in this transitional phase with the new birth of the church, Peter and John are speaking of the things that they have both seen and they have heard. And yet the religious crowd over here, without a religious authority, commanded them not to do so. And they simply sat back and said, well, you go ahead and judge it for yourself whether it's right on the side of God. But all we can do is speak what we have both seen and heard. Peter and the apostles soon reaffirmed this truth to the local rulers. In Acts chapter 5, verse 27 through 29, it says, And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, saying, Did not we straightly command you that ye should not teach in this name? And behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God. rather than men. So we have to understand, guys, that this doctrine, following this doctrine of the Bible as our sole authority for faith and practice has often led to the persecution of Bible-believing Christians throughout the world. It often has. It's been persecuted by government authorities. It's been because these government authorities have become an authority unto themselves, and they do not understand that their power is limited and given by God in and of himself. And so they persecuted Bible-believing Christians. Religious institutions have persecuted Bible-believing Christians, I mean, for millennia, it's for two millennia now. And it's clear, it's very clear that the Bible itself teaches that we cannot get our source of spiritual authority from any other place than the Word of God. In doing so, guys, you become a better citizen, you become a better parent, you become a better church member, you become a better pastor, you become a better husband, a better wife, a better son, a better daughter, you become a better employer, a better employee. All of those things fall into play when the Bible becomes your central and sole authority for faith and practice. Matthew 15, 9 says, But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. We understand we cannot get our source of spiritual authority any other place than the Word of God. We are taught by Scripture. That the state has authority and has a role in society. Jesus said himself in Matthew 22, render therefore to Caesar the things which are Caesar's. So we are taught in scripture, the state and governmental rule has its place, its proper place in society, but it also teaches that we must give the Lord his proper place as well. And again, the same verse, he says, and unto God, the things that are God's. So guys, it is impossible as we get into the, you know, really and truly the very front edge of this foundational series online. You know, the fundamentals of the faith, the Christian identity. It is impossible. It is an absolute impossibility to overestimate the importance of this very one singular concept of the sole authority of the scripture in our life for faith and for practice. You know, when Jesus Christ prophesied and when he spoke of what the church was, he did so in Caesarea Philippi, and he was speaking unto Peter. And he said it like this, if you will, with the backdrop of the pantheon of this pagan religion that was the Roman religion who conquered Greece. from you know those Greek gods became the Roman gods and those same Roman gods in that that hewn out wall called the gates of hell there in Caesarea Philippi it later on became the quote-unquote Saints of papal Rome when it went from pagan Rome to papal Rome not Christian Rome by any stretch of imagination but papal Rome in the fourth century under Constantine but Jesus Christ as I say unto thee I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and And upon this rock, Jesus Christ speaking of himself, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He made it very clear, Jesus Christ did, that that under biblical Christianity, that even though there'll be persecution will arise and even though people will hate and so discord and murmur and all this and that, all of these things are true, but Jesus Christ made it very clear that the gates of hell or otherwise the religious religion in this world will not and shall not prevail against the church of God. It will not do it. Why? Because a true biblical Christian is gonna take this perfect, purified, preserved word of God, And it's going to make it his and her sole authority for faith and practice. Now, this may be new to you. It may be new hearing from you. But all I can say to you here today. As you may struggle with this concept, you may struggle with this idea. I hope that you do not. I mean, I'm open for any questions, you know, all the time. But take the PDF sheet that is here on the link, print it out, do whatever it is, whatever you need to do, fill in the blanks, study the scripture, study the words that are on there. And then whatever questions you may have, please get in touch with me, let me know. But here's what I do want to stress. This is the point that I want you to understand here in this lesson. At the very least, begin to apply it in your life. Begin to look at your role as a parent through the lens of the Holy Scripture. Begin to look at the role of civil government through the lens of Holy Scripture. Begin to look at the role of the church and the pastor through the lens of Holy Scripture. Begin to look at your role as a child, as a son, as a daughter, as a brother or as a sister through the lens of the Holy Scripture. Begin to look at your role in finance through the lens of the Holy Scripture. Begin to look at your role as an employer, as an employee through the lens of the Holy Scripture and begin to apply the precepts that are given. right here in the Word of God. And if you don't understand some, please get in touch with me. We'll explain it. We'll sit down and go over it. But just try it. Test it out, guys, because at the end of the day, the very foundation upon every doctrine we believe rest upon this singular distinctive right here of the Bible as sole authority for faith and practice. Thank you so much for being with us, guys. Look forward to seeing you again in our next part, our next installment, when we begin to address the autonomy of the church, okay, the autonomy of the church. It'll be a short one, and we'll move on to the two ordinances from there. God bless. Thank you so much.