Well, I can't think of any place
I would rather be than at a Ligonier National Conference. It really
feels like a foretaste of heaven to me with brothers and sisters
in Christ from all over the country, all over the world, so many different
church backgrounds, and we're all just fused together in this
conference, one mind, one heart, one soul, one passion, one purpose,
one truth, one gospel. And I think that there is an
energizing that takes place within our hearts and souls as we fellowship
together. Proverbs says, as iron sharpens
iron, so one man another. And I think that's what happens
at a Ligonier conference like this is that we really sharpen
one another, we edify and build up one another, we hear the preaching
of God's Word, we sing together, and we fellowship together. So,
I just am thankful that you're here. I'm thankful to be a part
of this. I trust that you'll make this
an annual part of your Christian calendar and keep coming back
to these Ligonier conferences. They are, A, if not the high
point for me in the course of a year of preaching in various
places. and I'm just so thankful for
what God is doing in our hearts in these days as we meet together. The topic that has been assigned
to me is, Here I Stand. Now I invite you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16. This message will not be an actual
exposition of this passage, which is what I normally do, just moving
phrase by phrase through a passage of Scripture. This will be a
topical exposition, really a theological exposition, as well as a historical But I want to have a text as
a launching point, and this will be the first passage that we
will actually look at in a little bit. But I want to just set the
cornerstone, and everything in this message to be brought into
alignment with this one cornerstone. 2 Timothy 2, excuse me, 2 Timothy
3, verse 16 and 17. The Word of God reads, all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable
for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness,
so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped, for every
good work." The date was April 18, 1521, and Martin Luther has been summoned
by the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, to appear before the Imperial
Diet in Worms, Germany, there for the express purpose of officially
recanting his writings. Despite the warnings of friends
not to appear, Luther fearlessly traveled to the city of Worms.
In fact, he preached his way from Wittenberg all the way to
Worms, stopping in the various villages and towns along the
way. It's been estimated that it was the greatest preaching
journey since the missionary travels of the Apostle Paul. There the political and ecclesiastical
hierarchy of the day gathered to confront Luther in what would
amount to be a heresy trial. This German professor turned
reformer was shown his books on a table. The prosecutor, Johann
Eck, representing Rome pressed Luther with two questions. As on the table, all of his books
were there. The two questions were, Martin
Luther, are these your books? And number two, will you recant? Sensing the magnitude of the
moment, Luther retired for the evening and reappeared the next
day. And Luther spoke these now famous words, which are a trumpet
blast in the ear of every believer. Unless I am convinced by the
testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason, for I do not
trust either in the Pope or in councils alone, since it is well
known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves I
am bound by the Scriptures, the Scriptures I have quoted, and
my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will
not recant anything since it is neither safe nor right to
go against conscience. I cannot do otherwise. Here I stand. I can do no other. God, help
me. That was a shot heard around
the world. By this bold assertion, Luther declared that the Bible
has highest authority in the life of the church and is to
be the ultimate and supreme authority above popes and above councils.
This was the public declaration of what would soon come to be
known as sola scriptura, which is Latin for scripture alone.
To this point, the Roman Catholic Church had espoused Scripture
and tradition, Scripture and ecclesiastical council, Scripture
and the Pope, Scripture and. But Luther courageously took
this stand, and he said, it is Scripture, and it is Scripture
alone. He stood and defied the Pope
in Rome. He stood against Cardinal Cajetan
at Augsburg. He was resilient before
Martin Eck in Leipzig. He burned the papal bull in Wittenberg. He was immovable before Johann
Eck at Worms. He confronted Erasmus publicly
in writing with the bondage of the will. At each of these points
of conflict and controversy, Luther stood squarely on holy
scripture alone. He stood as an evangelical atlas
upon the Bible alone. He stood as a German Hercules.
He was a modern day Athanasius saying, Contra Munda, against
the world. He stood as one man against the
world and against 1,000 years of dead tradition. Luther boldly
asserted, the Holy Spirit is the author of this book. He said, they are God's Scriptures
and God's Word. We attribute to the Holy Spirit
all of the Holy Scripture. Moreover, Luther asserted Scripture
alone. He wrote, God would hold us solely
to His Word that we may learn to despise the great cry, church,
church, fathers, fathers. The church cannot err. The church
cannot err. Luther said we should learn to
put out of sight church, fathers, temple, priesthood, Jerusalem,
God's people, and everything, and listen only to what God tells
us in His Word." Luther took a strong stand on the Scripture
and was willing to pay the price that for Luther would mean a
price on his head, knowing that it would cost him his very life. Luther courageously declared,
"'From the year of our Lord, 1518 to the present time, every
Monday, Thursday at Rome, I have been by the Pope excommunicated
and cast into hell, and yet I live.'" This is the honor and crown we
must expect and have in this world." In other words, to stand
publicly for the Word of God and to suffer for it is a badge
of honor and a badge of discipleship. A servant is not above his master.
And if they persecuted our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, so
will they persecute us as we stand upon the authority of the
Word of God. Luther said, I bear upon me the
malice of the whole world, the hatred of the emperor, of the
pope, and of all their retinue. Well, on in God's name. I will fight it out, said Luther. He was the bull in the china
shop. He was the icebreaker ship who
plowed up the frozen tundra so that the rest of Europe could
follow in behind him. like Luther, we too live in an
hour in which there is a crisis of authority yet again, as biblical
truth is yet under constant attack. We talked about that yesterday
in this fiasco in Dallas. We see the frontal assault on
the Scripture on every side. Liberal denominations and liberal
seminaries attack the inerrancy of the Bible, denying that it
speaks with unvarnished truth. Modernism and pragmatism attack
the sufficiency of Scripture, insisting that human wisdom needs
to be added to divine wisdom. The emergent movement attacks
the perpiscuity of Scripture, claiming that the Bible cannot
be understood with certainty. The charismatics and non-cessationists
attack the finality of the Bible, adding their supposed new revelations
to the written Word of God. The cults attack the very message
of the Bible itself, distorting the person and work of Jesus
Christ. Rome still attacks the singular
authority of the Bible, adding its tradition and ecclesiastical
councils and papal decrees. On and on and on, the attacks
continue to pound like the endless waves of the ocean against the
beach, rising up, fomenting in its hatred against the singular
authority of the Word of God. But I want you to know that the
Bible is a rock, it is a refuge, it is a fortress, it has not
budged one inch to the relentless attacks that have been brought
against it. It stands stronger than it has ever stood, and the
man and the woman who stands upon the Word of God can stand
against the world. because the Scripture is immovable.
And when we stand upon an immovable foundation, by faith in that
foundation, we too become immovable. As we are confronted with these
relentless attacks on the Bible, we as believers in this century
must remain strong in the faith and say with Luther, here I stand. I can do no other. God, help
me. Now in this message, which is
entitled, Here I Stand, I want to give you two main headings.
There will be some sub points under these two main headings. I didn't come all this way to
lay up. I'm firing at the pen. I've got my coach with me right
here. All right, here are the two main headings. where we must
stand, number one, where we must stand, number two, why we must
stand. Number one, where we must stand.
I want to lay out for you six non-negotiable cornerstones where we must stand upon the
Word of God. and not move one inch. And if
we do move so much as one inch, we have put a foot on the slippery
slope that will cascade down into oblivion, where we must
stand, number one, upon the inspiration of Scripture. This is the high
ground. This is where it begins. The
church and every believer must be firmly convinced that the
Bible is the inspired Word of the living God, that when the
Bible speaks, God speaks, that the voice of God is heard in
pages of Scripture. 2 Timothy 3 verse 16, which I
read at the outset of this message, all Scripture. From Genesis to
Revelation, everything that would be added even after this pastoral
epistle, all Scripture, the word Scripture means the writings,
the holy writings of Scripture in the canon. All Scripture is
inspired by God. Theonoustos, that means God breathed. The Scripture is breathed out
of the mouth of God. Jesus would say, man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the
mouth of God. In the truest sense, the doctrine
of inspiration is really the doctrine of expiration, that
it is breathed out of the mouth of God. There is a primary author
and a secondary author. The human authors were the secondary
authors, the instruments whom God picked up to record these
Scriptures. But there is only one primary
author, capital A, and that is God Himself. It is God who speaks
through the Word of God. The Scripture is not the product
of God and man. In the truest sense, it is the
product of God. Jesus said in Matthew 5.18, "'For
truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the
smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law until
all is accomplished.'" The smallest letter in the Hebrew language
is a yod, which is like an apostrophe. In our English language, it's
like an eyelash. Jesus said, down to the very
apostrophe and eyelash, the Word of God is inspired, it is infallible,
and it will all be accomplished. The smallest stroke is just a
little extension from a letter to distinguish one letter from
another. It would be like distinguishing, in the English language, a lowercase
l from a lowercase t. It's just a line that distinguishes
the two letters. And Jesus claimed that the inspiration
and the infallibility of the Word of God was extended down
to the smallest stroke that would distinguish one Hebrew letter
from another to the smallest Hebrew letter in the entire alphabet. If Jesus was wrong about this,
then Jesus was a sinner. And if Jesus was a sinner, He
is nobody's Savior. This is a matter not just of
scholarship, it's a matter of lordship. Jesus has said, down
to the most minute detail, it shall all be accomplished. We
must stand on this impregnable rock. In 2 Peter 1 verse 21,
Peter writes, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human
will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. Moved by the Holy Spirit. It's
the same word that's used in Acts chapter 27 when Paul was
on board that ship that would suffer a shipwreck, and the wind
just drove and blew the ship in a particular direction. overpowering
even the direction of the sailors who were trying to guide the
ship. So it was that the Holy Spirit of God moved upon the
human authors such that they recorded all that God intended
without any error whatsoever. The inspiration of Scripture.
Luther believed firmly in the sixteenth century in the inspiration
of Scripture. Luther said, Scripture, although
written by man, was neither of man nor from man, but from God. Luther said, we must make a great
difference between God's Word and the Word of man. He said,
the Word of man is a little sound. It flies into the air and soon
vanishes. But the Word of God is greater
than heaven and earth, yea, greater than death and hell, for it forms
part of the power of God." You want to know why Luther could
stand so strong in that hour of confrontation and conflict? Because he was so deeply rooted
and grounded with a fundamental commitment in the inspiration
of the Word of God. But second, not only the inspiration
of Scripture, the inerrancy of Scripture, that as the Bible
speaks, it speaks pure, unadulterated truth. It is impossible for God
to lie, because it is the very Word of God itself. Titus 1 verse
2 reads, "...in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie,
promised long ages ago. Are there some things that God
cannot do? Absolutely there are some things that God cannot do.
God cannot die. God cannot lie. God cannot sin. Hebrews 6 verse 18 says, it is
impossible for God to lie. The very Word of God is inseparably
connected to His own nature and His own being. In Psalm 12, verse
6, we read, the words of the Lord are pure words. We would
ask, how pure are they? The psalmist says, as silver
tried in a furnace on the earth refined seven times. the background for this. There
would be a precious metal that would have some false alloys
in it, some impurities in it. They would put it into a smeltering
process, into a fiery furnace, and the heat would separate the
impurities from the pure silver or the pure gold. And then they
would come and just gather the impurities off the top and what
would remain would be a pure precious metal. The psalmist
David is saying that the Word of God has been so tested by
God seven times, a number for perfection, that there are no
impurities whatsoever in the Word of God. Psalm 19, verse
7, the law of the Lord is perfect. That is to say, it is faultless,
free from blemishes. It is upright, blameless. Psalm
119, 160, the sum of your word is. When you add it all up, pull
it together, bottom line, the sum of your word is truth. Proverbs 30 verse 5, every word
of God is tested, and the implication is, and without any impurities. This is where Luther stood. This
is where you and I must stand. That God has spoken, and that
God has spoken what is exactly true in His Word. Luther maintained,
if God has said it, it must come to pass. For no one should ask
whether it is possible, but only determine whether God has said
it. Luther said the Holy Spirit cannot
contradict Himself. Luther said Scripture will not
contradict itself or any one article of faith. Luther said only Scripture is
to be considered inerrant. We must stand upon the authority
of Scripture, not just its inspiration and not just its inerrancy, but
the authority of the Word of God, that it has the right to
rule our lives, that the Scripture is sovereign because God is sovereign. And every knee must bow to Scripture
and the truth that is recorded in His holy Word. Psalm 19, verse
7, it is identified as the law of the Lord. Not the suggestions,
not the options, not the preferences of God, but the divine law of
God by which every life is measured. The next verse, Psalm 19 verse
8, the Bible is referred to as the commandment of the Lord. The sin of the Pharisees was
that they elevated their tradition, the tradition of the elders,
above the authority of the Word of God. And Luther understood
that the Pope cannot be raised above the authority of Scripture,
nor any man, not even himself, but that Scripture is the judge
and arbitrator in the life of the church. Luther insisted that
preachers must, quote, prove their claims with the Word. When
they extolled the authority of the fathers, of Augustine, of
Gregory, and likewise of the councils, our answer is, those
things have no claim on us. We demand the Word. Luther said,
as those speaking to the Pope, my dear Pope, you must not lord
it over Scripture, nor must I, nor must anyone. The devil takes
that attitude. Luther said, Scripture alone
is the true Lord and master of all writings and doctrine on
the earth. God's Word must be supreme or
nothing. In other words, there is no moderating
position for the Word of God. It is either sovereign over the
life of the church, or it is to be discarded as ancient myths. Fourth, the perpiscuity of Scripture. This is to say that the Bible
is written in accessible language with an accommodating style,
and it is not to be withheld from the people. In the time
of the Reformation, the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church
said that the people were too uneducated, too uncouth, too
uncultured to understand truth. Therefore, they withheld the
Word of God from the people and said, we will tell you what you
need to know. Luther burst onto the scene saying,
no, the Word of God is clear. It is lucid. It is an understandable
book. It must be brought to the people,
and that a man can take the Word of God, and he can understand
what God is saying. Psalm 19, verse 8, the commandment
of the Lord is pure. That is to say, it is understandable. It is cogent. It is coherent. It is unambiguous. It is not
obscure or oblique. Jesus repeatedly appealed to
the Pharisees asking this question. Have you not read? Do you not have eyeballs? Do you have brain cells connecting
between your ears? Have you not read? Anyone can
read and understand. Do you not know that He who created
them from the beginning made them male and female? Regarding
the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken
to you by the Lord? Have you not read in the law
that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath Luther insisted upon the perpiscuity
of Scripture. He said, there is no clearer
book that has ever been written on earth than the Holy Scripture.
Luther said, there is not on earth a book more lucidly written
than the Bible itself. He said, everything there is
in the Scripture has been brought out by the Word into the most
definite light and published to all the world. He said, the
meaning of Scripture is in and of itself so certain and accessible
and clear that Scripture interprets itself, tests, judges, and illuminates
everything else. It is such a bright shining light
in a dark world that not only can we see this light and what
it says, but it gives us the light to understand everything
else. Now we believe in the perspicuity
of Scripture. We believe in the clarity of Scripture. That is
why every ministry in the church must be a Bible-teaching, Bible-proclaiming
ministry. Luther, in fact, went on to say
the church should never meet for any gathering unless the
Word of God is heard. Fifth, the sufficiency of Scripture. Luther took his stand upon the
sufficiency of Scripture, and so must we. Psalm 19 verse 7,
the law of the Lord is perfect. This word also means whole and
complete, lacking in nothing. It is a comprehensive revelation
of truth from God to man. Isaiah 55 verse 11, God says,
My word which goes forth from My mouth shall not return to
Me empty without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding
in the manner for which I sent it. Whatever God is doing on
the earth, He is doing by way of His Word. No one is saved
apart from the Word of God. No one is being conformed in
the image of Christ apart from the Word of God. No one is equipped
for ministry apart from the Word of God. And no one is growing
into conformity with Christ's likeness apart from the Word
of God. Everything good, everything eternal
that God is doing in this world, He is doing it by extension of
His Word. 2 Timothy 3, 17 says regarding
the Scripture that the man of God will be adequate. That means
made complete, capable, proficient. He will be adequate, equipped
for every good work. He will be competent to counsel.
He will be equipped for evangelism. He will be able to comfort broken
hearts. He will be able to confront sinful
lifestyles. Everything in ministry that God
would call us to do, the Scripture equips us to fulfill it. And then sixth and finally, under
where we must stand, the invincibility of Scripture. That we must believe that the
Bible is a superior and invincible weapon in the hands of a skilled
handler of its message. No human weapon can match the
Word of God. No human weapon can resist the
Word of God when accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jeremiah 23, verse 29, God says,
is not My Word like fire? That is to say, it is able to
melt down and purify the most sinful heart. And then he says,
it's not my word like a hammer which shatters a rock. The most hardened hearts will
yield to the power and invincibility of the Word of God when it is
accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit. It has power to
convict, power to convert, power to cleanse, power to conform,
power to console, power to counsel, power to cheer. Ephesians 6 verse
17 says, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word
of God. What an offensive weapon is the
Word of God. As you recall in the armor of
God, every piece of that armor is a defensive piece except the
last one, which is the sword of the Spirit. We must unsheathe
the sword of the Spirit and wield it in the power of the Holy Spirit.
as we would fight the good fight. Hebrews 4 verse 12 speaks of
this invincibility of Scripture. For the Word of God is living
and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. It's living. This book is alive. It has the
life of God in it, and when it is received by faith, it is the
means by which God imparts eternal life to the dead soul. Luther
said, the Bible is alive. It speaks to me. It has feet.
It runs after me. It has hands. It lays hold of
me. Spurgeon said, this book has wrestled with me. This book
has smitten me. This book has comforted me. This
book has smiled upon me. This book has frowned at me.
This book has clasped me by the hand. This book has worn my heart. This book weeps with me. This
book sings with me. This book whispers to me. This
book is alive. Listen, I've read other books.
This book reads me. It is also active. The Word of
God is living and active. This word for active comes into
the English language out of the Greek as energy. Energis. This word is energizing. It is
powerful. It is effective. It doesn't just
sit there. It leaps off the page. It grabs
men by the lapels. It draws them up. This book is
so active. It edifies us. It builds us up
in the Lord. And it says, it is sharper than
any two-edged sword. No instrument on earth is as
powerful and penetrating as God's Word. It is far sharper than
the sharpest surgeon's scalpel. Every verse, every text, every
passage is razor sharp. It can cut through every human
facade, every human excuse, every human resistance, every human
mask of pretense, every human heart yields to this sharp-edged
sword. and it is not Scripture and any
other message that brings about such power. It is the Bible alone. Beloved, this is where we must
stand. This is where Luther stood on April 18, 1521, and this is
where you and I must stand in this hour and in this day. We
are standing on sinking sand. We must stand upon the inspiration
of Scripture, the inerrancy, the authority, the perpiscuity,
the sufficiency, and the invincibility of Scripture. And I want to say
again, if the church moves one inch off of this bold confession,
we are immediately on slippery slope. Once we yield this high
ground, it leads inevitably downward to liberalism, ecumenicalism,
universalism, humanism, agnosticism, atheism, until it finally empties
into the very bowels of hell itself. This is not incidental. This is fundamental to the Christian
faith. This is where we must stand.
And never as before, as in this hour, are the pressures beginning
to be brought upon us regarding what we believe and where we
stand. We now live in a post-Christian
world. We are not surrounded by people
on the left and the right who would uphold our worldview or
our standard of authority. We must be rooted and grounded
in the Word of God just as Luther was, or we will have no place
to stand whatsoever. And we must be willing like Luther,
if need be, to stand alone where God places us. You may be the
only believer in your school. You may be the only believer
in your office. You may be the only believer
in your family. You may be the only believer
in your neighborhood. And we cannot cave in to the
pressures around us. With love in our heart and grace
on our lips, nevertheless, we must be rooted and grounded in
Scripture and to never apologize for the faith once and for all
delivered to the saints. The winds of opposition are beginning
to howl all around us, and it is only that tree that is most
deeply rooted and grounded in the fertile soil of Scripture
that will be able to withstand in the coming days. Let us encourage
one another to stand strong where Luther stood, where Scripture
itself says we must stand. Now finally, why we must stand. Why must we stand so strong and
never compromise our commitment to the inspired, the inerrant,
the infallible, authoritative, all-sufficient Word of God? Number one, to abandon a firm commitment
to the Word of God is to abandon God Himself. God and His Word
are inseparably bound together. Augustine said, when the Bible
speaks, God speaks. And to abandon the Bible is to
abandon God. 2 Timothy 3.16, all Scripture is
inspired by God. It is the very breath of God
Himself that is recorded in Scripture. It is the very word that has
proceeded from the mouth of God. But any departure from a firm
commitment to the verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture is to
take steps away from God Himself. Any denomination, any seminary,
any ministry, any church, any pulpit that departs from an unwavering
stance in God's Word has both feet firmly planted in mid-air. They have begun the process of
apostasy as they step away from this high standard of God's Word.
This is always the first point of departure. In apostasy, it
is a departure from the written Word that then soon leads to
a departure from the living Word. That leads to second, to abandon
the Scripture. A commitment to what we have
just articulated is not only to abandon God, but it is to
abandon God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. To depart from the written
Word is to depart from the living Word. There are some amazing
parallels between the written Word and the living Word, not
the least of which is that the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus
Christ as the Holy Spirit of God conceived in the womb of
Mary supernaturally so that she, a sinful woman, brought forth
the sinless Son of the living God. Even so, the Holy Spirit
of God so powerfully moved upon sinful men that what they recorded,
they wrote with perfection without any flaws or errors, the written
Word of God. There is an intentional parallel
between the written Word and the living Word, and to deny
the Word is to deny the Lord. Jesus Himself strongly asserted
the full inspiration and absolute inerrancy of Scripture. Jesus said in Matthew 5 verse
19, whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do the same. shall be called least in
the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches
them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Jesus
said in Matthew 24, 35, heaven and earth will pass away, but
My words will not pass away. To deny the truthfulness of what
Jesus just said would be to deny the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Luke 16, verse 17, it is easier
for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a
letter of the law to fail. Jesus said in John 10.35, the
Scripture cannot be broken. Jesus said in John 17.17, sanctify
them with the truth. Your Word is truth. Now either Jesus is telling us
the truth. or Jesus is a liar. We're back
to that trilemma that Jesus is either Lord, liar, or lunatic,
as C.S. Lewis set it forth. He is either
deity, deceiver, or deceived. A liar and a lunatic is no one's
Savior. And if Jesus is wrong about this,
then He is wrong about I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No, Jesus and His Word are inseparably bound together. And to deny the
Word of God is to deny the head of the church who has spoken
this Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. Third, to abandon the Scripture
is to abandon the truth. to depart in any way from a full
commitment to the inspiration and inerrancy and authority of
Scripture is to depart from the truth. The Bible is the Word
of truth, 2 Timothy 2, 15. The Bible tells it like it is. We spoke of that yesterday. The
Bible is the self-disclosure of God Himself. It is divine
revelation. It is the mind of God. It is
the will of God that is set forth. And to deny the Bible is to walk
away from the truth. It is to turn on one's heels
and to depart from the very truth that is revealed in Scripture.
To abandon the Scripture is to enter into lies. It is to enter
into error. It is to enter into darkness. It will ultimately be to enter
into hell itself, because without the truth, you can't get there
from here. Finally, number four, to abandon
the Word of God. Here I stand. Not only is it
to abandon God, to abandon Christ, to abandon truth. It is to abandon
the very gospel itself. To depart from the authority
of Scripture is to embark upon a path that abandons the only
way of salvation. To depart from the written Word
of God as the divine revelation, inspired and inerrant, is to
take steps toward the certain damnation of one's soul. At stake
is the eternal destiny of men and women. Ephesians 1.13 says
that after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your
salvation. That's what the Word of God is.
It is the gospel of your salvation. No one can be born again until
the seed of Holy Scripture is planted down within the soul. 1 Peter 1, 23, for you have been
born again, not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable. That is through the living and
enduring Word of God. All flesh is like grass, and
all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and
the flower falls off, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the Word which was
preached to you." If there is any compromise in the preaching
of this Word, or any compromise in what this Word is, there will
be a compromise in the reality of regeneration and the new birth. If we are to see a great work
of God's Spirit in these days, we who are the remnant, we who
are those who have not bowed the knee to Baal, we who are
those who are the blood-bought church of the Lord Jesus Christ,
we must stand firmly on sola scriptura. Every reformation
and every great awakening and every true revival has always
been preceded by and ushered in by a return to full confidence
in the Word of God. J.H. Merrill Dubinet, the great
historian from Geneva of the Swiss Reformation wrote, quote,
every reformation, every reformation emanates from the Word of God,
close quote. To abandon the Word of God is
to abandon any hope of any reformation, any revival, or any great awakening. God will honor the people who
honor His Word. If we are to see such a Reformation
in our day, pastors and preachers and pulpits must become fiercely
committed to sola scriptura and to preach the truth. And in order
to preach the truth, not only must there be a positive assertion,
but there must be a negative denial of the antithesis of that
truth. It is not enough for us to simply
say what is true by saying what is true. We are setting the plumb
line and defining what is not true. And we must then speak
out against that which is in error and is false and is a departure
from the Word of God. And would to God this debacle
in Dallas that someone would go there and stand up with that
plumb line and say, what is false and what is error in asserting
the truth of God's Word. Titus 1 verse 9 says, an elder
must be able to teach and to refute those who contradict. It is a sharp two-edged sword. It cuts both ways. It both builds
up and tears down. We must be like Nehemiah's on
the wall with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other."
Just help, help. Spurgeon took that as the title
for his magazine, The Sword and Trowel. And with the trowel to
be building like Nehemiah on the wall. with a trowel to build
up the work of God and with the sword to fend off the enemies
of God. Both are necessary. Calvin said
that a pastor must have two voices, one voice to speak to the sheep
and one voice to speak to the wolves. We cannot be soft-bellied in
this hour. We must fight the good fight.
We must stand firm on the Word of God. And we must be willing
to enter into conflict and to be able to not only state what
is true, but to say it again, to refute what is error. There
is no wiggle room with positive assertion and negative denial. Moreover, elders and pastors
must govern their churches by Scripture alone. Every tradition
in the church must yield to the authority of Scripture. So many
traditions are good. So many traditions are rooted
and grounded in Bible truth. But those traditions that would
fight against the Word of God or contradict the Word of God
must yield to the authority of Scripture. Our worship services
must be regulated and ruled by the Word of God. It matters to
God how we worship Him. Believers must live their lives
by Holy Scripture. The witness of the church and
the world must be to set forth the Word of God. God will honor
the preacher who honors His Word. God will honor the housewife
who honors the Word. God will honor the businessman
who honors the Word. God will honor the student who
honors His Word. As Luther found himself in the
turmoil of the Reformation, after he had lit the match and set
it to the bonfire that began to blaze. people came to him
and they said, Luther, explain what is happening. Explain the
Reformation. Explain how Europe is tottering
and teetering. Explain how the Pope now is beginning
to shake. Luther said this, and I quote,
and I close, I simply taught, practiced, preached,
wrote God's Word. Otherwise, I did nothing. And while I slept, the Word so
greatly weakened the papacy that never a prince and never an emperor
inflicted such damage upon it. I did nothing. The Word did it
all. Let us go into the highways and
the byways. Let us shout it from the housetops. Let us spread the Word of God
far and wide. Let us preach the Word. Let us
teach the Word. Let us bear witness of the Word.
Let us spread and share the Word of God far and wide. And let
us go to sleep. And let us let the Word do its
work. And let us say, in this hour,
as God would honor that Word, I did nothing. The Word did it
all.