Well, tonight, the focus of our
study tonight will be another historical theology overview
of a critical issue that ties in wonderfully with this entire
conference. And the subject that I have been
asked to address, and I am happy to do so and embrace it, is the
Puritan commitment to sola Scriptura. Arising out of the Reformation
of the sixteenth century, there was sounded a trumpet blast that
rallied the hearts of God's people. That trumpet blast was a clarion
call known as sola scriptura, which is Latin for Scripture
alone. It really served as the foundation
for four other solas. sola gratia, sola fide, sola
Christos, and sola Deo gloria. And these five all fit together
really as one statement of truth, one declaration of the true saving
gospel of Jesus Christ. Now think of it this way, think
of a magnificent ancient temple and the foundation upon which
everything rests is sola scriptura, everything that we believe, everything
that we obey, everything that we embrace and hold dear in the
convictions of our soul is based upon this sturdy foundation of
sola scriptura. Rome said, we accept Scripture
but it is Scripture and...Scripture and church traditions, Scripture
and ecclesiastical hierarchies, Scripture and the church councils,
Scripture and papal authority and the Reformers said, coming
back to the Bible, no, it is sola Scriptura, it is Scripture
alone. And if anything else is added
to the foundation of the church, it will be like...it will be
cracks in the foundation and it will not hold up the teaching
and the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the same
time, they said no to the Anabaptists and to the Libertines who wanted
to add their dreams and their visions and their new revelations
and their prophetic revelations. And the Reformers said, no, it
is Scripture alone. Upon this foundation are three
massive pillars. which really framed the gospel
and uphold the gospel in its most basic and elementary proposition. Sola gratia, sola fide, sola
Christos, salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in
Christ alone. Rome wanted to add good works
and church membership and church attendance and baptism and marriage
and last rites and indulgences and Mary and the treasury of
merit and etc., etc., etc. And they just backed up their
dump truck and kept adding and adding and adding all kinds of
rubbish. And the Reformers, because they
came back to the Word of God, Scripture alone, they said, no,
salvation, the one true saving gospel is by grace alone, through
faith alone, in Christ alone. And when that is in place, when
this foundation is in place, and these three immovable If
sturdy pillars are in place, then the roof and the pinnacle
over the hole that points upward is soli deo gloria for the glory
of God alone. That is the entire Reformation
in a nutshell. That is the entire forest in
a small acorn. That is the entire matter reduced
to its most minimal parts but everything resting upon sola
Scriptura. The Reformers, if you will, built
a wall around this foundation. There could be no intrusion,
there could be no additives, there could be nothing augmenting
this pure foundation of sola scriptura. After they passed off the scene,
the next giants to step into a long line of godly men were
those known as the Puritans. That Puritan age really began
in the middle of that same century, the sixteenth century with the
ascendancy of Queen Elizabeth to the throne of England and
the removal of Bloody Mary from her reign of terror as she had
brought back her Catholic beliefs and put to death some 288 of
the greatest, finest preachers, men and women this world has
ever known. And the first to be burned at
the stake by bloody Mary is the man whose picture is always in
the front of my preaching Bible, John Rogers who was burned at
the stake in 1555 by bloody Mary. After Mary's reign, It became
a new day with Elizabeth on the throne and there came now the
new movement known as the Puritan movement which sought to purify
within the church of England and bring the church back to
the purity of sola Scriptura, sola gratia, sola fide, sola
Christos, sola Deo gloria. It was these Puritans who were
so mightily used by God, few movements in church history have
ever been more Bible-centered, Bible-oriented than was the Puritan
movement. And tonight, I want us to consider
their commitment to sola Scriptura. And I want to do so under three
headings. I want to make this simple and
I want you to see where we're headed. These three headings
regarding sola scriptura, it was defined by the Westminster
divines. Number two, it was diluted by
the Quakers. And number three, it was defended
by John Owen. England's Calvin. That's where
we're headed. I want to begin first now with
sola scriptura defined by the Westminster divines. And before we begin to look at
Perhaps the most remarkable statement, doctrinal statement of fidelity
to the written Word of God, especially its place in history, I want
to set before you some distinguishing marks just out of the Scripture
itself, of sola Scriptura. In other words, before we get
to church history under this heading, I want you to think
with me, what are those distinguishing marks out of the Bible itself? regarding sola scriptura, Scripture
alone. It would have to begin, first
of all, with the inspiration of Scripture. The Bible says
of itself in 2 Timothy 3 verse 16, all Scripture is inspired
by God. Every jot, every tittle, every
chapter, every verse, every book within the canon of Scripture
is God-breathed, it has come out of the mouth of God. It was not the authors who were
inspired, it was the Scripture that was inspired. The authors
were merely the instruments in the hand of God who would record
what He intended for them to write using their own temperaments
and their own personalities and their own vocabulary and drawing
upon their own background and experience, they nevertheless
wrote precisely what God desired them to write. Jesus said in
Matthew 4 and verse 4, man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Every word
of Scripture comes out of the mouth of God. It is as though
divine revelation in the Bible has come down from God above. In Hebrews 4 verse 12 we read,
for the Word of God is living and active. This book is alive. This book has the life of God
within it because it is the very breath of God. It is inspired
by God. Jesus said in John 6, 63, the
words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. A second,
not only the inspiration of Scripture, but the inerrancy of Scripture
is involved in and included in sola Scriptura. And because the
Bible is God-breathed, it is therefore the Word of God and
because God is holy, God cannot lie. God is truth and every Word
of God is true. And Titus 1 verse 2 says, God
cannot lie. Are there some things that God
cannot do? Yes there are. God cannot sin. God cannot deny Himself. God
cannot lie. Hebrews 6 verse 18, it is impossible
for God to lie. Jesus prayed in John 17, 17,
Your Word is truth. Proverbs 30 verse 5, every word
of God is tested. So we uphold with the Puritans,
as we will see in just a moment, the very inerrancy of the Word
of God. Let God be found true, let every
man be found a liar. A third, the infallibility of
Scripture, that all is recorded in Scripture must come to pass. The words of the Lord cannot
fail. Isaiah 40 verse 8, the grass
withers, the flower fades away, but the Word of the Lord endures
forever. Jesus said in Matthew 5 verse
18, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter
or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Jesus would say the Scripture
cannot be broken. John 10 verse 35, and then forth
the authority of Scripture. that because the Word of God
is inspired, it is infallible, it is inerrant, it comes with
the authority of God Himself. When the Bible speaks, God speaks. And when God speaks, He speaks
with sovereign authority in His Word. Psalm 19 verse 7 that has
already been read tonight, the law of the Lord is perfect. They're not the suggestions of
the Lord. They're not the options of the Lord. They are not the
considerations of the Lord. It is the law of the Lord and
it is binding upon every man's conscience and life. Psalm 19
verse 8, the commandment of the Lord is pure. It is the very
commandment of God to every man and to every woman, that is why
Paul would say in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 15, for this we say to
you by the Word of the Lord. Fifth, it's perpiscuity. Sola Scriptura means that the
Word of God is clear, it is understandable. It is a lucid revelation. Matthew 22 verse 31, Jesus said
to the Pharisees, but regarding the resurrection of the dead,
have you not read? Do you have two eyeballs? Do
you have two brain cells that are connected between your ears?
Can you not process the information, the clear revelation in the Word
of God? In Matthew 19 and verse 4, Jesus
answered and said, have you not read who created them from the
beginning, male and female? No, God has so clearly spoken
in His Word that no man can render the excuse, well I did not understand
what God was saying. God has not stuttered in His
Word. God has spoken with precision and with accuracy and it is an
understandable message. We need the illumination of the
Holy Spirit, yes. But any shortcoming in understanding
the Bible is not on the part of the Bible, it is a part on
the part of man. But what God has said, He has
said with abundant clarity in His Word. And what a difference
that was with Rome. Rome said, the man in the pew,
the woman in the pew. cannot understand the Bible. That is why we will not translate
it into your language. That is why the preaching will
be in Latin. That is why we will tell you
what to believe because you are incapable of understanding the
Bible. And the Puritans and the Reformers
said no. The plowman in the field will
know more of the Bible than the Pope in Rome. that the Word of
God is marked by perpiscuity, it is crystal clear in those
matters dealing with salvation and godly living. Sixth, sola
scriptura implies the sufficiency of Scripture. that the Word of
God is able to accomplish all of God's purposes here upon the
earth as the Word of God is brought to bear upon the issues and the
men and individuals of this world. Isaiah 55 verse 11, God says,
My Word which goes forth from My mouth, it will not return
to Me empty. without accomplishing what I
desire, without succeeding in the manner for which I sin it.
God's redemptive purposes will be carried out in this world
by the Word of God which is sufficient to do all that God desires to
do in this world. The Word of God is powerful to
convict. It is powerful to convert. It
is powerful to conform. It is powerful to console. It is powerful to correct. The Word of God is powerful,
it is more powerful than any other object that you and I will
ever hold in our hand. Peter says, for you have been
born again, not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable,
that is through the living and abiding Word of God. There is so much life in this
book that when this book is planted within the soil of human hearts,
having been prepared by the Holy Spirit of God, when God by His
sovereign grace causes that seed to germinate, it brings forth
eternal And it is this book alone that sanctifies and conforms
believers into the very image of Jesus Christ. Seventh, sola
scriptura implies the immutability of Scripture, that it will never
change. It is forever the same. Psalm
119 verse 89, forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119 verse 160, every one
of your righteous ordinances is everlasting. Listen, right will always be
right. Wrong will always be wrong. The way of salvation will forever
be the way of salvation. God's revelation is unchanging
because God Himself is immutable and unchanging. So a Scripture
implies also the invincibility of Scripture, that it is a superior
weapon in the hand of the man or the woman of God as it is
wielded and used. God says in Jeremiah 23, 29,
is not My Word like a fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer which
shatters a rock. Hebrews 4 verse 12 says, for
the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged
sword. What a powerfully penetrating
instrument is the Word of the living God. It is an invincible
weapon. And finally, sola scriptura implies
the finality of Scripture. that there is no new revelation
to be given to man after the close of the canon of Scripture,
that we have the faith once and for all delivered to the saints,
Jude 3. Revelation 22, 18, I testify
to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book,
if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which
are written in this book. All of these truths are inherent
within this statement of sola scriptura. And why this would
be so very important for this conference and for our understanding
of the Word of God is this last element of the exclusive finality
of divine revelation in the written Word of God. God has brought
the consummation of His message to us in special, redeeming,
sanctifying revelation in the truth of His written Word. As the Puritans convened in 1643,
called by the English Parliament, they were charged to write what
would become the doctrinal statement that would govern the land. And
in 1646, they completed their draft and their ratification
of the Westminster Confession of Faith. There were 121 scholars
and theologians, pastors and teachers, along with another
30 key laymen. They met in over eleven hundred
sessions. And as they wrote the Westminster
Confession of Faith, the shorter and the longer catechism, they
began their Westminster Confession of Faith. with chapter 1. Chapter 1 is entitled, Of the
Holy Scriptures. And their doctrinal statement
written those many years ago would be even more finely tuned
and advanced than what had been written earlier, a hundred years
earlier by the Reformers. As new challenges were being
brought to bear upon the church at that time, they needed to
be more explicit, they needed to be more definitive. in what
they believed about the Scripture. And it is a doctrinal statement
in this first chapter that has stood the test of time and has
become a restatement of what the Bible says concerning itself. Now, I want to walk us through
a few of these statements so that you will see how...how committed the Puritans were to
sola scriptura. And there will be some statements,
some sentences out of it put over my head on the screen. And
I have gone through these and pared them down and thinned them
out. so that they are understandable and easy to read as they were
originally written and as they stand to this day. There is a
greater breadth about these sentences and these paragraphs. But to
aid our communication, I want you to see and to understand
what the greatest Puritan minds brought together in a statement
of sola scriptura and what I want you to note is in chapter 1,
section 1, they begin with a statement on the cessation of any new revelation
and they were determined to state that they will believe only the
Bible. So please note, in the first...in
the first section of chapter 1. They saw it necessary for
the preserving and propagating the truth that would make the
Holy Scripture to be most necessary. In other words, it has to be
written down so that the message is preserved and so that the
message can be propagated far and wide with a uniformity of
statement God had the Bible recorded and put into writing. It goes
on to say, at the end of this first section, those former ways
of God's revealing His will unto His people being, note the last
two words, now ceased. This is front-loaded at the very
outset of the Westminster Confession of Faith. There is no room for
any wiggle room whatsoever. These Puritan divines who gathered
perhaps the greatest generation of believers who have gathered
in the United Kingdom, they began with this cessationist statement. In section 2, they speak of the
inspiration and the authority of Scripture. And number 2, all
holy Scriptures which are given by inspiration of God, not God
and man, not inspiration by man. but inspiration of God, it would
be 100 percent the pure, unadulterated, unvarnished truth of the mind
and the will of God revealed to man. And then it concludes
to be the rule of faith and life. Please note that word, rule,
that it has the authority over our lives to rule us, to govern
us, to dictate to us which we gladly would submit to. In the third section, they were
careful to state the books commonly called Apocrypha are no part
of the canon of Scripture. They confined this divine inspiration,
they recognized that it was...that it is contained within the 66
books of the Bible, 39 in the Old, 27 in the New. The fourth
section reads, the authority of the Holy Scripture ought to
be believed and obeyed. Again, it is a statement of the
authority of the Word of God. And it is ruling power over the
lives of men and women. In the sixth section we read,
of its sufficiency, the whole counsel of God concerning all
things necessary. Did you hear that? All things
necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life
is in Scripture. There's no need to look anywhere
else. There is no need for anything else to be added. There is no
need for any appendixes to be supplementing the divine revelation
in the written Word of God. They affirm the Scriptures that
I have already read to you that all things necessary for salvation
and sanctification for the glory of God is found in our Bible. This is a very important point. And at the end of this presentation,
John Owen will be the one who will step in to answer the threat
of the Quakers and he will build his case upon the perfection
and the sufficiency of the Word of God when he will say, away
with your dreams and visions, away with your new revelations,
we have the all-sufficient written Word of God. in this sixth section
also is another cessationist statement. It says, nothing...you
understand what nothing means? Nothing at any time. You understand
what any time means? Is to be added whether by new
revelations of the Spirit or traditions of men. Do not be bringing your thus
says the Lord into this house if it's not found in chapter
and verse. And I know that's a reflection
of your own heart and your commitment to the written Word of God. And
number 7 and 9 deal with the perpiscuity of Scripture, how
abundantly clear this book is. Note number 7, those things which
are necessary to be known, believed and observed for salvation are
so clearly propounded and opened in some sense of Scripture or
other. Everything that you need to know
to be saved is clearly stated in the Bible. Everything you
need to know to follow the will of God is clearly stated in this
book. Everything that you need to know
to live in such a way to bring honor and glory to God is spelled
out with crystal clear clarity in this book. Listen, this book
is not hard to understand, it's just hard to swallow. What part of by grace alone,
through faith alone, in Christ alone, how does that get over
your head? Why even a child can come to
faith in Jesus Christ. Now notice what they go on to
say in this same section in 7, that not only the learned but
the unlearned, both the prince and the pauper. may attain unto
a sufficient understanding of them." If there is any veil,
it is not over the Scripture, the veil is over the darkened
minds of men. In section 9. Continuing with this perpiscuity,
the infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture
itself. What that is saying is Scripture
is the best interpreter of Scripture. And if something is unclear in
one place, it is abundantly clear in another place and these clear
passages shine light on the unclear passages because the Bible never
contradicts itself It speaks with only one voice. Thomas Watson,
my favorite Puritan perhaps, said, as only a diamond can cut
a diamond, Scripture interprets Scripture. And then finally,
number ten, is a final summation. In this first chapter on the
authority of the Word of God, and just to nail this down, they
said, the Supreme Judge by which all controversies are to be determined
and are to be examined can be no other but the Holy Spirit
speaking in the Scripture. Not speaking in your revelations,
not speaking in your dreams and visions, not speaking in your
tongues. speaking in the Scripture alone
and the Word of God will be the highest arbitrator of all matters
in the life of the church. This is the commitment of the
Puritans in 1646 as they drafted this extraordinary document. After meeting over eleven hundred
times over the course of those three years. as they took their stand on the
Word of God. The church has always been the
strongest when it takes this stand on the Word of God. This
is always the high ground in every era of church history when
the church stands firmly upon sola Scriptura. And if the church
takes one step off of sola Scriptura, she puts her foot on the slippery
slope and it is a matter of time until she descends downward into
liberalism, into ecumenicalism, until she comes down to agnosticism,
ultimately to atheism. The high ground is sola Scriptura. Every denomination that goes
astray goes astray at this point. Every seminary that goes astray
goes astray at this point. Every church that goes astray
goes astray at this point. Every denomination, every seminary
and every church that is strong in the grace of God is strong
in being anchored upon sola Scriptura. It is non-negotiable. We're not
just dogmatic about this, we're bull dogmatic about this. The Word of God is not up for
debate. Now second, not only defined
by the Westminster divines, but second, I want you to know, sadly,
diluted by the Quakers. Whenever God opens the windows
of heaven to bless His people, the devil opens the gates of
hell to blast. And whenever God is doing His
greatest work, you can be sure that the devil is right there
to bring in his counterfeit religion. And while the Puritans were meeting
in Westminster, In the 1640s, at exactly that same time, exactly
that same time, virtually across town, the devil was doing his
work. And at the same time, there arose
in the 1640s a fringe group that would come to be known as the
Quakers. This radical sect was also known
as the Religious Society of Friends. And they claimed to be receiving
new revelations. They claimed to be receiving
prophecies. And with that, they were being
led astray into hyper-emotionalism and into mysticism. And that
is where it always leads when you pull up anchor from Sola
Scriptura. They were led by a man named
George Fox and they organized and had their first meeting in
1652. And at the heart of the Quaker
theology was this message that one can be saved apart from the
Scripture, that there is an inner light
in all man. And this inner revelation makes
salvation for all humanity possible. And they called this light within
the indwelling Spirit. And they claimed that the Spirit
was even in unbelievers. And as they gathered together
as unbelievers, they claimed that they had the Holy Spirit
within them. And to walk into a Quaker worship
service, there was not an ordained pastor. No one would step into
the pulpit with the Word of God and expound and proclaim the
written Word of God. They would all sit in a building
like we're sitting and they would be encouraged to meditate. And as you would feel prompted,
you may just stand up and speak. and give direction to everyone
else's lives. Women were encouraged to stand
up as well and to preach to the men. And out of this commitment
to be open and uncautious. to continuing revelation by the
Spirit, they were led into all kinds of mystical experiences
and bizarre patterns, not the least of which was going naked
as a sign, a sign of judgment. And in June of 1654, two Quaker
women, Elizabeth Fletcher and Elizabeth Levins, visited Oxford. In order to bring the Quaker
message to the university town, these two women began to preach
to the student body at Oxford to warn the students of the evils
of study. and to give their minds to the
intellectual world of academia and to the study of the Bible.
And they sought to persuade them that all they needed was the
inner light given by the Holy Spirit. They did not need the
library. They did not need the classroom.
They did not need their professors. God would just speak to them
inside their spirit. That message fell on deaf ears. One of these women unclothed
herself, walked around Oxford half-naked, bare-breasted, claiming
it was a sign of judgment against the hypocritical students. Such a bizarre act. Clearly shows
the inherent tendency in their movement to exalt what they thought
was the Holy Spirit, but to go off into bizarre, irrational,
illogical patterns of behavior. But what is more bizarre than
running around half naked is the outlandish claims and freakish
actions of so many in today's Charismatic Movement. What we
just saw paraded before our eyes today during the question and
answer is even more bizarre in my estimation than these women
who took off their clothes and walked around naked. Listen to
Marilyn Hickey, TBN televangelist, one of the guest speakers at
the International Charismatic Bible Conference. There's an
oxymoron for you. And I quote. What do you need? Start creating it. Start speaking
about it. Start speaking it into being. Speak to your billfold. Say,
you big thick billfold full of money. I'll give you the footnote on
this if you want. Speak to your checkbook. Say, you checkbook
you. I told you this is beyond going
naked. You checkbook you, you've never
been so prosperous since I owned you. You're just jammed full
of money, aren't you? Well, that's not all that was jammed
full of something. Kenneth Copeland, you talk about
bizarre. You don't have a God in you,
you are one. Don't be disturbed when people
accuse you of thinking you're God. Pray to yourself. That is beyond running around
naked. You have the same creative faith and ability on the inside
of you that God used when He created the heavens and the earth.
Yeah, just create your own little universe for you to live in,
your own little fantasy world. Kenneth Copeland said, God is
a being that stands somewhere around six foot two inches tall. There's a high view of God for
you. He said, I don't preach doctrine. Well, we believe you on that. I mean, we're walking forward
on that one. I don't preach doctrine, I preach faith. Yeah, faith in yourself and faith
in the devil. Kenneth Hagin says, the believer
is as much an incarnation as was Jesus Christ. Fred Price
in this town says, have a Rolls-Royce faith. And Benny Hinn says, are you ready for some
real revelation knowledge? You are God. He said, Christians
are little Messiahs. Christians are like gods. He
said, never ever, ever go to the Lord and say, if it be Thy
will. He said, we Christians possess
power in our mouths to heal or kill just as witches possess
it. You're right on that one. He said, we are little Messiahs,
everything that Jesus ever was. I'm telling you, you take one
step off of sola scriptura. You take one step off of sola
scriptura and you have put your foot on a theological banana
peel. You are on a slippery slope.
It is inevitable you are headed down, down, down until you crash
at the bottom. That's what this Quaker movement
was about. And there was a reason why they called them Quakers. Because in their services they're
given to all of this shaking. In fact, as they came
to the colonies, some places in the Midwest they were actually
called shakers. Well this leads me to number
three, sola scriptura, defended by John
Owen. It was by no coincidence that
on that very same campus at Oxford University, sitting as the Vice-Chancellor, placed there by Oliver Cromwell,
the Lord Protectorate of England, presiding over all of the academia
of the prestigious Oxford University, the towering intellect and the
theological genius of John Owen. God had him there. And if anyone
could dissect Quaker theology, it would be the great Puritan
John Owen. It was John Owen who would become
the personal chaplain to Oliver Cromwell. It would be John Owen
who would preach to Parliament. It would be John Owen the day
after Charles I had his head cut off and the end of the monarchy,
John Owen addressed Parliament. This brilliant man whose theological
writings now take up twenty-three volumes in a pastor's gave himself
to combat this charismatic, emotional departure from sola scriptura
with its new revelations and John Owen affirmed the deeper
issue which was sola scriptura. He cut through the chase, he
got to the bottom line and tried to...and did address this issue
of sola scriptura. It would be in 1659 that Owen
responded to this Quaker affront by writing one of his most important
works. The title of it is, A Defense
of Sacred Scripture Against the Fanatics. Chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter
3, chapter 4. I want to zone in on chapter
3. The title of chapter 3 is On
the Perfection of Scripture. And John Owen will state his
case for the lunacy of these charismatic excesses based upon
the sure foundation of the perfection of the Word of God. John Calvin
a century earlier, as we looked at yesterday, would address this
very same issue with the Libertines and with the Anabaptists with
theological precision by tying together the Word and the Spirit
and the apostolic issue and that miracles would accompany the
Apostles because new revelation was given. John Owen would take
his stand upon a different defense. He chose to argue the perfection
of the written Word of God as it is from Genesis to Revelation
that it has everything that the church and everything that any
believer would ever need in their spiritual lives to have revelation
from God. It is already in the Bible. There
is nothing to be added. It is perfect as it stands. And any attempt to add or to
augment to the written Word of God is actually an attack against
the perfection of Scripture. And John Owen began his defense
with this statement, and I've distilled it down, and trust
me, these are lengthy, full sentences and weighty paragraphs and I've
distilled it down to make it easy for us to process. He writes, the Scriptures are
the settled. That means immutable, eternal,
unchangeable, ordinary as opposed to extraordinary revelation. These are the ordinary means
of grace. perfect, meaning it cannot be
improved on, nothing is lacking in the Word of God, and unshakable
rule in every generation, on every continent, in every age,
in every place, for every church and for every believer. for divine worship, which as
Dr. MacArthur has explained in this
conference, is our highest duty before God, leaves no room. You understand
what no room means? No room for any new revelations. And if you are seeking any of
these charismatic new revelations, it is because you have no understanding
of the perfection of the written Word of God. John Owen then, as he mounts
his defense, says, what is the practical use for Scripture?
Meaning of what good is it to us? If it is so incomplete as
to need poor mortal men to be continually adding to it, where
is its perfection? And the answer would have to
be if you're trying to add to it, you are making a statement
that it is not perfect already but it claims to be perfect.
It claims to be inspired and errant and sufficient for all
of God's purposes. John Owen then lists seven consecutive
paragraphs and I've reduced these down as he walks through in this
treatise, a defense of the sacred Scripture against the fanatics. God has revealed in the Bible
everything that is needed for our salvation and to enable us
to worship Him. That is the sufficiency of Scripture.
Everything that you need under the ministry of the Holy Spirit
is found in your written Bible to lead you to Christ and to
lead you to godliness and to lead you on to heaven. A statement on the perspicuity
of Scripture. All of this is revealed in the books of the
Bible, whether expressly laid out there or deductible. In other words, it's either explicit
or implicit, but it is stated in Scripture and it is done so
in a very clear fashion. In other words, God knows how
to communicate. God can communicate better than anyone in this room.
And what God has said in His Word is abundantly clear in the
important matters of salvation and holiness. Number three, there is absolutely no room for
new revelations. That is exactly how the book
of Revelation concludes in Revelation 22, 18, that if anyone adds to
this book, the plagues written in this book will be added to
them. That is a serious indictment and warning that God places for
anyone to add revelation to the consummation of the revelation
in the written Word of God. There is absolutely no room for
new revelations for our salvation and the acceptable worship of
God. Number four, he says, it is most
supreme arrogance and pride for mere men to propose novel matters
of faith or practice not revealed by God Himself in His Word. He
says it is the epitome of arrogance and pride. As if you need some
special private revelation, like you're someone really special,
that you're better than everyone else in the world, that just
has to operate by the Bible, that you think you are so special
that God would have to give you a private little mystical revelation
just for you, how self-centered you are. It is arrogance, it
is pride. No, what God has said to everyone,
He says to you. as the teachings of the fanatics,
that is those given to these new revelations and these hyper-emotional
excesses as the teachings of the fanatics contain matter alien
to the Scriptures. This is Owen's counsel to his
generation. shun them as diabolical, useless,
groundless and false. It's from the devil and you don't need what he's
selling. Number six, this inner light,
this supposed inner intuitive subjective message from the Holy
Spirit in you, not coming through the written Word of God, Owen
says would divert attention from the perfection of the Bible.
It's just going to draw you away into a fantasy world. It's going
to pull you away from where you need to be setting your anchor
in the written Word of God. It is going to bring you over
here into that which is useless and false. Number seven. The Bible is a complete and perfect
rule. Since the completion of the canon
of Scripture, there are no new revelations, none are to be expected
or admitted. He is closing the door shut and
locking it on any new revelations. And then he adds. If the Scriptures
are perfect and complete, and they are, if the Scriptures are
perfect and complete, then what need do we have for new revelations
and uncontrolled enthusiasm? That is a rhetorical question,
the answer of which is so obvious, Owen does not even bother to
answer his own question. It is a rhetorical question,
the answer is zero. And then finally, all these ways,
referring to the abuses of the Quakers in this inner light,
new revelation, mystical, intuitive, subjective impulses are uncertain,
dangerous, useless and totally unnecessary. They must be rejected
and shunned. One man who I read on this who
has written the preface to this defense of sacred Scripture against
the fanatics, Stephen Westcott, says, if John Owen was to view the scene of the
church today, if he was to see the craving and the lusting for
new revelation beyond the Bible, He says, it would all come back
to the root cause of being unpersuaded of the perfection of the written
Word of God. 1662 is a year that will live
in infamy in church history. It was in 1662, two years after
Charles II came back to restore the monarchy in England. As the
Puritans are trying to purify the Church of England and spread
its influence of sola scriptura throughout the United Kingdom, the English Parliament passed
the Act of Uniformity. that every preacher in the church
of England must subscribe to the prescribed public prayers
and ways of worshiping God and you must sign on. And the Puritan's conscience
was bound to sola scriptura, they could not violate their
own conscience. And on August the 24th, 1662,
one of the darkest days in all of church history, two thousand
Puritan preachers were put out of their pulpits in what is known
as the Great Ejection. They were forced out of their
ministries, forced out of their churches, forced out of their
pulpits. And then two years later... The
Conventicle Act was passed by Parliament that banned these
preachers from even preaching in private homes or in open fields. And then the next year they passed
the Five-Mile Act that barred these ejected ministers from
even coming within five miles of any city. And when it would come time for
them to die, even their bodies could not be buried within the
city limits, or within the church cemeteries. Whenever I go to London, the first place I go... is to Smithfield, one to stand
where John Rogers was burned at the stake by Bloody Mary and
then the very short distance to Bunhill Fields where the Puritans
were buried outside the city limits. It was a sign of rejection. It
was a sign of repudiation. They were considered as Christ
crucified outside the city. Bunhill Field is now within the
city of London. But in that day, it was an ignominious
sign of total rejection. And as you walk into Bunhill
Field, there you see the tomb of John
Owen. John Owen, D.D., Doctor of Divinity. There you see the tomb of John
Bunyan who wrote that classic Pilgrim's
Progress. There you see the tomb of Isaac
Watts, we heard that great hymn sung tonight, when I survey the
wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my greatest gain
I count but loss. There he lays. Thomas Goodwin,
other Puritan giants, many of whom have no headstones who were
just stacked one upon another, upon another, upon another as
they died in anonymity. They were willing to pledge their
life and their death. on sola Scriptura . May we here
tonight have a cessation clause in our personal statement of
faith. May we be not given to the excesses of this age. May
we stand on the Word of God and the Word of God alone, and may
the Word of God regulate and rule the entirety of our lives. May the Word of God regulate
our preaching of the Word. May it regulate our worship of
God. May it regulate our fellowship
with one another. May the Word of God regulate
our daily lives. May the Word of God regulate
our ministries, and may the Word of God regulate our steps as
we Hasten to the grave and may the Word of God and the Word
of God only be our rule of faith and our standard for what is
true in this world. May God give us much grace to
stand upon the Word of God.