need to consider a couple of
things as we get started today. First, as a church, as a people,
we hold to the sufficiency of scripture. We hold to the pillar
of a reformation, brothers and sisters who died defending the
faith, sola scriptura. We hold to the authority of God's
Word as that which regulates all that we do as God's people,
that is effectual unto salvation, unto the knowledge of God entirely. We hold that the Word, the written
Word as it is, is a divine letter, has divine authorship. Every
jot, every tittle, every line, every comma, every breath, it
is for the glory of our Father. It is for our good. It is an
opportunity for us to remember that we exist in Christ because
of the Word of God. But friends, there is a war among
us. And that war, though we could
look at it, and if we are on any type of social media or any
type of blog, we can find all different things that we're fighting
over. We can fight over evangelism. What is it? What does it look
like? How are we supposed to do it?
We can fight over saving faith. What does it do? How does it
work? We can fight over the free will
of man. I'm my own person. I'm not bound
by sin. I'm not bound by anything. We
can fight over what the Scripture teaches, how we should dress,
what we should eat, We could fight over what kind of music
we should listen to. We could find ourselves fighting
over what color our carpet should be, to what the polity of our
local assemblies should look like. We see every turn some
argument, everywhere in Christendom. I would suggest that there are
more arguments within the so-called body of Christ in our world,
just our nation. Let's just make it home, bring
it home. than there are any other arguments
anywhere to be found. Now that's an incredible claim,
but I said that I'd be willing to bet. It doesn't mean that
I know. It doesn't mean that I actually have even looked at
it that thoroughly. But I am pretty certain, especially
during this election year, that there are more professing Christians
arguing and debating frivolously amongst the fodder of social
issues, political issues, etc. than any of us collectively are
defending the truth of Scripture. And we might ask, well, is not
the Bible the rule? Is it not the tool? Is it not
the authority? Yes, it is. But if the Scriptures
indeed are the authority of the church, why then is it so common
to see the church trying to undergird Scripture with interpretation,
pretext, and everything in between? Why is it that we are willing
to subject ourselves to autonomous thought and liberal ideas, social
issues, Cultural mandates rather than the rule of God. For years, in my lifetime, Christianity
in the American culture has been boiled down to segments. I'm a Christian teacher. I'm a Christian father. I'm a
Christian churchgoer. I'm a Christian pastor, I'm a
Christian mother, I'm a Christian seamstress, I'm a Christian lawyer,
and the list goes on. And we like to take the title
of Christ, we like to take the adjective of Christian, but yet
there is no real evidence of Christ's authority in the lives
of many people who live as Christians. And it's easy. Get around the
coffee table, get around the water cooler, get around the
beloved at the end of the service and we talk. It's easy to go,
man, so and so, look at those people over there. Not in here,
but I mean, you know, over there. Not the ones who are part of
the church, but the ones who aren't. Look at those over there. They just
need to get it right. They just need to get saved.
They just need to get serious about their relationship with
the Lord. Jesus is first. He's the King. They need to get
it right. Why can't they get it right,
like we got it right? Why is my neighbor lost and I'm not?
It's because I'm smarter, isn't it? No. That's arrogant. That's blasphemous. Because I'm
not smarter than my neighbor. It's because the grace of God
in His infinite wisdom has revealed things to me that He's yet to
reveal to her, though many of you have visited with her. She
knows, he's heard, but why can't she believe? It's not because
she's not smart. It's not because she doesn't
understand. It's because the Word of God and the Spirit of
God through His Word has yet to open her eyes to really see. So what's her hope? Her hope
is that we're praying for her and that we continue to teach
the Word of God to her. That's the authority over her
life. That's the authority over our lives. Now it has been argued,
and I will concede to this argument as valid, that I am not an expositor. You're like, what? I am not an
expositor by definition. Let me tell you what an expositor
is by definition. A verbal commentator. And quite
honestly, I'd rather read the schematics of a dental drill
than read some commentaries. They're more interesting. Wow,
I didn't know that much resistance was there. That's neat. I would
rather read a logic board schematic than read most commentaries.
I'd rather be in the dental chair than hear most sermons. Not because
I don't think they're done well or entertaining, it's just they're
not, there's no power there. It's much like Dr. John Piper
said years ago, what commentary have you ever seen the word O
written? O. Oh, but yet we'll say that when
we taste mama's apple pie. Oh, that's some good pie. But yet do we say that in the
context of hearing God's Word preached? Do we say that in the
commentary of the outline of God Blessing, Hodge, and systematic
theology? You know, systematic theology
bores my mind. When I read those textbooks,
it bores my mind. Because I just want to hurry
up and get to the point and let me get out of the book and into
the Bible. Some of you, as we start our Reading Through Revelation
study, 16 weeks, starting Tuesday night, you're going to be very
excited about the premise of learning this letter. And some
of you, three or four weeks in, are going to go, I want to hear
some preaching. And I hope you all do. I know
Jesse will. He'll be sitting over there spinning
around on his head. Breakdown. That's where Ezekiel
gets it. Don't let y'all think. Ezekiel likes to spin it on his
head because Jesse likes to spin it on his head. They're exactly
the same. Because once we've had a taste of the Word of God,
we want to hear and see more of it. And I'm not dogging commentaries. I'm not dogging preachers who
preach truth. I'm just saying that let's be
careful to define things the way we should be. In 2007, I
had a man tell me that he says, you talk about exposition, but
yet you don't preach that way. And what he meant was, you don't
take the text, outline it, and say what it says. You expound
upon it in such a way that it's not error, but just like, yes,
last week, brothers pray for us. There's no argument there
to preach, is there? And so exposition by definition
would be that I take the argument, brothers pray for us, it's just
a statement. But the implications of that
statement are bound within the context of the entire letter.
So that in the umption of the Holy Spirit, through the divine
grace that is given Paul to write these words, all understanding
of the implications of brothers, pray for us, is there for the
reader. And if it's there for the reader, it's there for the
preacher. So exposition cannot be an outlined commentary of
just simplicity. It's a bold proclamation of divine
heralding. It's something that takes place
that proves that the Bible, not the commentator, that the Bible,
not the educator, that the Bible, not the preacher, nor the church,
is the authority. The Bible is the authority. The
Bible rules all things. The Word of God. Without it,
there is no salvation. So hence here I am in an expositional,
non-expositional sermon. Verse 27. Look at this. And next it's going
to blow your mind because I'm going all the way back up to
verse 23 to preach 28. It's a doxology. And it proves the point of the
letter. Here, I put you under oath before the Lord to have
this letter read to all the brothers. Now why that? Keep in mind, Paul
wrote this letter personally to Thessalonica. To the saints,
the brothers and sisters of Thessalonia and Jesus Christ. Grace to you
through our Lord Jesus Christ. And as we see, verse 28, the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. I put you under oath. So Paul intended, not just here
but other places, that the letters that he wrote would not be hidden,
would not be kept. He might have written to Timothy,
but it was not his idea that Timothy would fold that up in
his coat pocket or his tunic or whatever he wore. roll it
up between his big toes on his sandals, and it would just be
his private, personal, little passionate love letter from Paul.
But yet because the authority of the spoken word of the apostles
was as if God spoke, it's interesting things, then therefore when they
wrote down what they said orally, when they wrote it down on paper,
it became eternal. Not to just be moved from one
ear to another on the hearts of men, but eternally preserved
in the language of men. And the Bible was not written
in our language. The Bible was not written originally
in the tongue of Englishmen or Americans. That big Bible that I preached
out of last week, is written in a European English. The words
are different. They're spelled different. There's
words in there that don't belong in an English dictionary because
they're not there. Merriam-Webster does not have
them. Why? Because they're two separate
countries. And though there are a kinship in the vernacular,
they're different. Much like Québécois in French.
Or Creole, for crying out loud. What is that? Or Yiddish in Hebrew. Not the same language at all. The Word of God has been written,
and it is eternal. And not one jot or tittle shall
pass away, it shall remain. Because that which we have before
us in the canon of our Scripture is indeed the Word of God. It indeed contains the very thought
of God. Unless it's a paraphrase like
Eugene Patterson's message, He brought that up last week
and that's been on my mind all weekend. Brother Greg brought
it up again this morning, or last night. Eugene, I mean, who
gives us the right to change the rule of God? Who gives us
the right to change the Word of God? Just because we don't
understand the word propitiation doesn't mean we have a right
to change it. Just because we don't like the idea in our syntax,
because it's a little difficult when it translates to English
from Greek, haintheos, in God, but it's because we don't like
that in John 3, doesn't mean we get to change what it means. And so Paul wants this letter,
as all the letters he wrote, read to the entire assembly.
Often. Why? Because in these letters
contain the grace of God for the sake of the unity of the
faith, for the sake of the glory of God's name, that he might
be praised through the hearing of the Word, through the salvation
that comes from the Word, and through the preservation that
is empowered through the Word. There are many more things that
we could find to occupy our time this day if it were not for the
Word of God. I'd be fair to say that most
assemblies of Christians around this world, not all, but a majority
of them would be fair better to go and just do something different. Because it is very frustrating,
having been someone in their shoes, when you work 90 hours
a week in the work of ministry, so-called, you don't have time
to worry about a text like this. You don't have time to worry
about putting under oath before the Lord to have this letter
read to all the brothers. That's really a 45-second point. And Paul wanted all of them who
loved each other and prayed for each other because they were
trusting in the Lord to sanctify them fully, he wanted them to
read this letter to them so that they would be encouraged. Let's
pray. It's an amelie. It's a daily
devotion. It's a 45 second nothing. But
what difference does it make? And I think that's where preaching
has to really attack us head on. Bible reading has to attack
us head on. It has to take our worldview
and put it into subjection to the Word of God. When we hear
the Word of God, no matter what it may be, even the genealogies
of Matthew, God forbid we preach through those. So one of the reasons I've never
touched it from a preaching perspective is I'm not going to preach Matthew
over John, so if I'm going to hit the hard road and do a five-year
message series, I'm going to something John wrote. That's
just me. But, you know, have I taught Matthew? Yes, but never
preached through it. Because what would you do there?
I mean, what would you do in Matthew? How would you preach
that? Have you read it lately? Most
everybody gets to reading Matthew about March when they're doing
their through the Bible reading and doing this, the Old Testament,
the Psalms and whatever. So they get to Matthew sometimes
in January. But I mean, here we already got
this. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David,
the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac,
and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah,
and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez, and Zerah, and
Tamar, and Perez the father of Ezron, and Ezron the father of
Ram, and Ko, and so on, and so on, and so on, and so on, and
so on, and it goes all the way down to verse 17. And I've never heard a sermon
on those 17 verses. You know what's crazy about that? There's
a sermon there. There are many sermons there. These names are
there for a reason. Why? Because the people who read
this gospel needed to see that Jesus Christ was born through
the lineage of David, the son of Abraham. Why? Because this is a divine writing.
This isn't a history lesson from a bunch of old fogeys sitting
around telling what they remember. This is the voice of God. And
if God said that this is important, then we listen to it and ask
why. What difference does it make
that He said to put under oath these people to have this letter
read to all the brothers? I mean, can you imagine that?
Here's Stetser. I stand in making history today. I'm going to quote a man I've
never quoted from the pulpit. The difference between us and
the papists is that they do not think that the church can be,
quote, the pillar of truth unless she presides over the Word of
God. We, on the other hand, assert
that it is because she reverently subjects herself to the Word
of God that the truth is preserved by her and passed on to others
by her hands. John Calvin. We are not the keepers of the
Word. The words keep us. We are not the guardians of the
oracles of heaven. What does Peter say? We are kept
by God in heaven for Him, by His power. We are being guarded. We are
not guarding God's name. His mighty name guards us. And
friends, I will just say that I believe that passages like
that teach us not only the authority of God's Word to the
church, but on the antithesis it teaches us that when we do
not submit to exposition, when we sit under the preaching of
God's Word that is in particle, we have no substance. Is the
nucleus the body? Is the electron able to form the structure of
the matter in which it rests? No. If you take just one piece
of a cell away, what happens? It dies. It dies. It cannot exist in part. The
Word of God cannot exist in part. Paul did not say, be sure to
teach them about the Second Coming, brothers, and, you know, see
ya. He said, read the whole letter.
written to them so that we as the church of this day, two millennia
later, are able to be blessed and encouraged and supernaturally
equipped and supernaturally strengthened and supernaturally rejoicing,
because God is now also talking to us through the words that
He wrote to the Thessalonians. And we do it in the fullness
of its context, or we make it a particle, and when we pull
the particles of God's Word away, we actually sin against God. When we subject the church to
a particle of pretext, that's the adverse of being the whole
of context, we sin against God. Because we say to God, I think
this is more important than all of this. And this particular
piece is more essential than that particular piece. And my
wisdom and my prayer and my preaching calendar is more effective than
the Word. I've had somebody ask me before
in years past, do you really think that sitting here and teaching
this entire chapter of this book is worthwhile to the people who
are listening to it? You know, some of them are bored,
and I said this and it sounded so ugly, but you know how I am.
I don't mean for it to be, but it just... I said, let the boards
be bored. Let the dead bury the dead. Let
the boards be bored. Let the weak Just let it do it. Their only hope we have is that
while they sit there bored, that God in His mercy might open their
ears to hear what they've not wanted to listen to. I saw that
thing that I tweeted out, 140 character limitations of explanation. See, Twitter is good in that,
because I would tweet 5,000 words, and your phone would die. Bing,
bing, bing, bing, bing. It'd be bad. But 140 characters,
that's it. A dead man cannot enjoy a meal,
a dead man cannot enjoy the fellowship of a meal, a dead man cannot
enjoy the taste of the meal, he cannot savor it, just like
a dead man cannot savor the Word of God, but it is indeed, as
many of you called out, the Word of God that would bring him to
life. Inviting to worship did not mean to imply inviting to
this assembly. You cannot ask a dead man to
worship or to eat, because he cannot do it. So in this, is an answer to why we should
not yield ourselves to particle preaching. It is why we as a
church hold to exposition and the rule of exposition as the
most healthy, most reliable, the safest, and the most glorifying
way of teaching God's Word. Andy Stanley said seven years
ago in his book, Communicating for a Change, that people who
preached exposition were lazy and should not be in the ministry.
Oh, how about the fire under his hiney this week? A few weeks
back. Now James White, I found out,
is looking at that. Is it all week in the dividing
line that you said? I mean, he's probably going to have 12 hours
on a 30-minute video of rebuttal. Why? Because Andy Stanley and
people like Andy Stanley have actually now publicly said, we
don't need Scripture. In a nutshell, Scripture isn't
the rule, Scripture is a tool. Use it when we want to, don't
worry about it. Much like Rob Bell made the assumption
a decade or so ago that we don't know who or who isn't going to
be saved. Who's to say that cult members
aren't saved and atheists aren't saved? You know what? I don't even think there's a
hell. Became a universalist. Or like the other famous pastor
who would go on to say, does it really matter that Jesus is
divine? Does it really matter? He was born of a virgin. Let's
just say Jesus had a dad, and I think his name was Larry or
something. Silly. Does it change the man that he
was? Yes, he's condemned. He's going to hell, just like
anybody else who was born in this world. Because the only
reason we're not condemned to the justice of God is because
Christ, though He was completely human, He did not bear the mark
of sin They do not bear the authority of sin over his life. But he
who knew no sin took sin so that we might be the righteousness
of God. So Christians, in my lifetime,
have lived their lives in segments, parted by the nature of their
schedules and their purposes. And so on and so on. And many
of us throughout certain seasons of our life, sometimes during
days, are considered seasons, we use the Word of God as a tool,
as a guide, as a rule, or as a resource. And we should not
look at the Lord's Word that way. Is it something to guide
us? Yes. Can it be used as a tool?
Yeah. Is it a resource? Absolutely. Just by the mere
physical aspects of how it's prepared. But it's much more
than that. And we argue that not only is
exposition necessary, I believe it's mandated. Let me give you
some thoughts on that. What do you think the reading
of this letter was like? What do you think it was like
for these Christians in Thessalonica to get news? Hey, Paul sent a
letter. Pass the word. Hey, did you hear
what? Paul sent a letter. See, that
didn't mean anything to us. We can just by abstract walk
around close to a proximity and the world knows we're there.
It auto checks in. James is at Starbucks. How'd
you know that? Your phone told me. Grace showed
me the idea. If you take a picture now with
the new iOS update, if you take a picture with the tag, the geotag
on locations, that picture now, any other iOS customer, anybody
that has an iPhone that has an ability to see that picture on
your Twitter feed or your Facebook page, because of the coding inside
that picture, it actually zooms right to your house from a satellite
image or wherever that picture was taken. Ain't that sweet?
I love it. Everybody's going to be required
to snap a photo every few minutes around. I mean, can you imagine? We don't even have to talk to
each other anymore. We just look. And everything
we carry with us updates our lives. I'm in the bathroom now.
I'm taking out the trash. Look what my neighbor's dog did.
I mean, who hasn't seen dog poo? Why don't we show a picture of
it? That's the world we live in. But in Paul's day it wasn't
like that. In Paul's day they were separated
by distance. They were separated by obscurity. They were separated by violence
and hostility. They were separated. Paul had
to leave Thessalonica because his life was in danger. The apostles
had to leave this infantile church, orphaned in some sense. We gave
you the foundation of the gospel and you received the Word of
God with power and with much persecution, with fear and the
power of the Holy Spirit. And you've heard the Word of
God and you've believed. And so, we want to see you, he
writes. I love you with all the affection
of Christ, he writes. I pray for you every day. I praise
God for you every day. I long to know what it is that
you're going through. So much so that I was in Athens
and I needed Timothy desperately. But in order to pacify my heart,
And to put my spirit at ease, I left myself alone and sent
Timothy to you so he could report back to me. I put my ministry
on hold and my life in more danger than I might send that young
brother so he can look and report and bring this letter to you."
So imagine, Paul wrote a letter.
Paul wrote a letter. Chills would run up their spine
and they would be excited. Oh, we've missed Paul. Paul brought
us life through the gospel of Jesus. Paul preached and heralded
the truth of God on the streets of this city. And they hated
him. They stoned him. They pulled his beard out of
his face. Remember that big patch where he poured his beard? I
mean, you know, it's all speculation, but it happened. Imagine what
it was like to hear that letter and the anticipation that came
upon the believers of that city as they were thinking, we have
missed the resurrection? We're being put to death? What's
going on? Where's the apostles? What are
we going to do? We're just going to stand in
Christ. They taught us this, we're going to stand in Him.
They taught us the power of God, we're going to stand in that.
And all of a sudden now here's a letter that put it all at ease.
How exciting it must have been that morning when they spread
the word that Paul's letter has come. How full the houses must
have been. How many times they must have
had to go from home to home to teach this letter hidden from
public view. How many opportunities it must
have taken before everybody who was saved in that city actually
saw and heard the words of Paul and were encouraged by the teaching
of this word. How long did it take? And how
passionate were the hearers of God's Word, and they didn't even
know it was God's Word. We know it's God's Word. We print
it right there. Holy Bible. And yet all across the world,
mostly in this nation, the doors of these great tabernacles, cathedrals,
warehouses, buildings, occupied spaces of mass, tens of thousands
of square feet, open to the public and say, we are the called, assembled
ones, ecclesia, we are the church! Come hear the word of the living
God! And it's like, crickets chirp. You've got to beg people to come.
You've got to feed people to come. I hold you under oath before the
Lord Jesus to have this letter read to all the brothers because
Paul knew there was nothing more effectual in their lives than
hearing what he has written to them. I ponder this often. Like I pondered
the week before last just how amazing it must have been And
what Paul, if he had just written a journal, how glorious it would
have been to read the journal of Paul as he asked these Christians
to pray for them. That's all he said. He didn't
unload all the details of his burdens because they didn't need
to know it in order to pray. They prayed to a God who knows
the intricacies of all humans. They prayed for Paul. But I would
love to know what Paul was working through. I would love to just
sit there, and you know why God did not do that? Because I would
care more about Paul's circumstances than I would his teaching. We're
interested in that. That's why a picture of this
gets more shares and likes on Facebook than a segment of text. Behold the Lord your God. Like,
like, like. Amen. Look at Abigail dancing
during the service. 500 likes. 20,000 shares. T-shirts, memes.
I've got my spirit on now. I mean, you know, it just, everybody,
that's what we do. We are more interested in the
ongoings of our lives than we are the truth of God, and that's
the way we are. And what saves us from that? The Word saves us from that.
Saves us from just surrendering to that type of idolatry. It'll never stop, church. But what else do you think we
should do if not preach the Word? What's the purpose of gathering?
What's the purpose of studying this text if it's not to learn
it, if it's not to hear it? What else should we do as the
church if not preach the Word? By whose authority should we
stand? By what authority? By whose mind should we speak? With what worldview should we
talk? What will overcome? the corruption of the world.
What will overcome murder? What will overcome hatred? What
will overcome bigotry? What will overcome misogyny?
What will overcome all of the damning things that we see fall
out before us? What overcomes terrorism? What
overcomes Islam and cults and world religions? What overcomes
unbelief but the Word of God? Nothing. For Jesus Himself, though He
was God, did not take Himself as the authority on Scripture,
but subjected Himself to the authority of God the Father through
the written oracles." So here's God, as a man, submitting
to the written Word. Holy moly! And we have a hard
time with it in our culture. And friends, I believe that amongst
most congregations, grace through church is a lot more mature in
that understanding. But it's still there. It's still
there. We do fail in understanding and
receiving the Word of God in its absolute authority. So let
us answer the question, what shall it be today? Is the
teaching, the preaching of the Word of God in its fullness required? And if so, why? Well, let's look
at first the authority of Scripture. I mean, we know the text in 2
Timothy 3. For what? All Scripture is what? Breathed out by God, and is profitable
for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training
in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped
for every good work. You know what's wrong with seminaries
today? Professional degrees. And what's wrong with pastors
today? They've learned how to administer. They've taken, I don't know,
my MDiv was 92 hours. That breaks down to like 300
papers. That's insane. What was required
if I had done, I don't know, let's say a degree in leadership,
one class in theological studies, one class on a Bible, one class
in theology. One class. Why would we study anything but
biblical studies and theological studies? If everything I need
is in the Word of God, then any training that I would receive
should be focused on making the Word of God the prominent position
of authority in my role. The authority of Scripture is
that all Scripture is breathed out by God. Not all commentaries. Not all sermons. Don't mistake
my commentary for this sermon to be God's Word, except that
it agrees with God's Word. And then you say, well, God's
Word agrees. The pastor is telling us that God's Word says this,
and it agrees with it. But I'm not in some trance up
here and God just speaking through me, some absent-minded puppet. I have all ability to derail
everything. I could very easily get a rabbit
and chase him around this room until it's time to go and never
say anything worthwhile. The authority of Scripture is
clearly shown. Jesus rebukes the Pharisees by
their traditions. You know, that's what's happened.
And it's not time to do an American Church history class. It's not
time to talk about the Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening.
It's not time to talk about Charles Finney and D.L. Moody and Billy
Graham. It's not time to talk about these things. But what's
happened is that the Word of God is too easy. We must do something
else. Because people are not hearing
the Bible. So we must do something else.
We must provide something else, people say. We must challenge
them in a different way. If they don't want to get saved
because they hear the good news of Jesus Christ, maybe they want
to get saved because they want to be a better dad. Maybe they'll
love their kids more than they love their own souls. See how
that sounds? And that's what we do. That's
what I've done. And when God shows us that only
through His Word, only through the teaching of His Word, comes
all ability to understand, to live, to produce wisdom, we question
it. Jesus questioned, when the Pharisees
questioned Him in Matthew chapter 15, and they said, why do your
disciples not wash their hands in accordance with the traditions
of the elders? He believed that. Here are the
Pharisees, the rulers of Israel, and they're walking around following
Jesus with a checklist. Yeah, look at that. Lord of the
Sabbath, he is. They don't even wash their hands. They don't
wear their hair the right way. They don't put on the right kind
of sandals. Those aren't the right brand. You think I'm joking? I bet it
was that petty. I bet they found anything they
could to try to trip Jesus up. And Jesus answers them in Matthew's
Gospel and says, why do you break the commandment of God for the
sake of tradition? For God commanded, honor your
father and your mother. And He also commanded, whoever
reviles father or mother must be put to death. But you say,
if anyone tells his father or his mother, What would you have
gained from Me as given to God? He need not honor His Father.
So for the sake of your tradition, you have devoided the Word of
God. For the sake of the tradition
of finding the answer to the felt needs of a culture, we have
devoided the Word of God. For the sake of the tradition
of a 30-minute church service, we have devoided the Word of
God. For the sake of the tradition, for Lord help somebody who won't
listen to an hour's teaching, or go through 40 or 30 weeks
of a particular text without boredom, we have forsaken and
made void the Word of God. That's the problem here. The authority of God's Word comes
above the traditions of men. Traditions and thoughts are not
authoritative. Paul even gives that application
in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 when he says, and I've applied all
these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit. Brothers, that
you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written. Don't
add to the Word of God. The Word of God is the authority
over the church. We are subject to it. The Word
of God is the authority for the church. Not only should we preach
this way because it's the authority, but we should also preach this
way because it is the example of Scripture. It's an example
of Scripture. I don't know who was in a conversation
recently about street preaching. I think it was, yeah. And a lot
of people were chiming in, well, I hate street preachers and this
is not, it ain't biblical. And we've heard that for five
years at Grace Truth. It's not biblical, it's against
the law, we shouldn't do it, it's hateful, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah. Even pastors saying that there
is no prescription in the Bible for open air preaching. Beloved,
start in Genesis and let's just keep going. In Genesis, I can
show you 12 examples of open air preaching. How? Any sermon that was preached
in the context of these pages were preached in the open air.
Every one of them. Peter did not get a big tent
and put a bunch of walls around it and ask people to come and
if they showed up, they got to hear what they wanted to listen
to. He stood out in the middle of the public market and he preached
and 3,000 people got saved. The authority of the Word of
God is for the church. And when the church gathers,
it is time for the church to be equipped to do the work of
the ministry through the teaching of the Scriptures. In Ephesians
chapter 4, it talks about the gifts that God gave to the church.
And He gave the what? The apostles and the prophets
and the teachers and the evangelists. What's the unifying thing with
all four of those offices? They teach. They teach the Word
of God in order to equip the saints to do the work of the
ministry. How can I have a dog come in here and be the church? We'll use the language that the
Scripture teaches. How can a pig be a Christian? And Brother Hanson, on Facebook
this past week, they've got like nine baby pigs birthed on their
farm. Those pigs are not going to hear
the gospel. They're not going to be saved. They're not going
to teach others to teach others to share Christ. They're going
to wallow in the mud, eat their slop, and in a few short months,
they'll be in my freezer. And we will eat them. And they
will be tasty. They're pigs. They can't be Christians.
So in that same way, the Bible teaches us that we aren't to
throw pearls to swine. Wow, that's harsh. Take it up
with Jesus. Take it up with Jesus. It's not
for me to question Him, I'm just to repeat what He says. Jesus
is the authority, not me. It's like I've always taught
my children when one of the younger reminds one of the older of what
they're supposed to be doing, and they're like, you don't tell
me what to do, and I step in quickly. Who gave that command? You. He said, it don't matter if that
cat tells you what I've said, I've said it. You obey the cat. Let's get on video though, because
that's amazing. The example of Scripture, God has always preached
through His people to the public. Evangelism, sharing the good
news, it's always been open air. It's always been expositional. In Acts chapter 6, what happens
there? Little Stephen, what does he
do? He starts all the way from the beginning. Homeboy preaches
the whole Old Testament in one sermon. The whole thing! I'm
like, no! That ruled out that idea that
we didn't need to look at the Old Testament anymore that I
had years and years ago. Nah, it's just reference. Nah,
he preached it. Gospel preached the Old Testament.
And what did they do when they heard the words that they knew
in chapter 7 when he preached? They covered up their ears and
they screamed and they stoned him, hit him with a rock and
killed him over and over and over and over again. Jeremiah, the beloved pastor,
everywhere he went, they tried to kill him. He never even got
the colloquial good sermon, pastor. I enjoyed that. Yeah, I saw you
sleeping. It was a good nap for you, wasn't it? I mean, you know,
it used to irritate me. I enjoyed that sermon. I would
go, what about it? I wanted to know. And people
are like, that's a little off-putting. Would you just take the compliment
and praise God and move on? Trying to be holy, see? I mean,
you know. Put God's glory in the right
place on my face. It is funny, but it wasn't then.
The example of Scripture is that all of the teaching that was
done was done from the text. Not in particle. Not in part.
Preaching is all of the Word. The grace of God given through
the Word alone. To the church of the Thessalonians
in God the Father, grace to you and peace. And the very last
verse, as I've always made comment, verse 28, the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ be with you. Paul understood that the grace
of God supernaturally infused itself with his people as they
read the words. Did you hear that? God's grace
doesn't come through the clouds. God's grace doesn't come through
my hug. God's grace doesn't come through
a nice long debate. God's grace doesn't come through
logic, or reason, or philosophy, or psychology, or counseling. God's grace comes only through
the black and white print of the Bible. So for us to teach
it any other way than thoroughly, verse by verse, chapter by chapter,
book by book, is subjecting the church to a particle Christianity,
to a force field or a shield that is easily penetrated by
the enemy, as we see in Ephesians chapter 6. Preaching must be
the entire message. Teaching must be whole. And I
believe if it's not whole, it's wrong. Now you might say, well,
what about... I mean, I've heard you teach on Romans 3, but you
never went... Listen, the Bible teaches itself. And in the context
of some things that Paul may, for example, like this particular
verse, 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, is a very good complement to
the reality that shows that the Bible is authoritative in the
life of the church and is worth listening to. That's why Paul,
the reason Paul wrote verse 27 is because of 2 Timothy 3. That's why I used it. But I didn't
take it out of context. And I didn't come in here today
and talk about homiletics. How to make application. That's
a class you take in seminary and you get out of it fast. Depends
on who you've got. And you hate that guy, and then
you take another guy, and take another guy, and you're like,
OK, I get it. I'm just not going to learn anything. Had to take
the sermon, put it all together, put the little seasons on it,
sprinkle some garnish up there, give them a three-point outline.
Bam! They go home transformed. It'd be like me trying to take
Philippians 4.13 and rile us up for a work day. We're going
to lay floor. We're going to cut grass. We're
going to go out and wash the sodding off of widows' houses.
Philippians 4.13. I can do all things through Christ
who gives me strength. I don't care if you've got a
15-inch laceration in your back with 9,000 pounds of titanium
bolts. God can give you the strength.
Climb that scaffold, son. I mean, that's terrible, but
I've heard that. I've heard people use Jeremiah
29.11 out of context and all these other places with, my people
who were called by my name. National Day of Prayer, it's
been their motto. That verse and those verses had an audience.
And those verses had a purpose. And those purposes are intrinsically
married to the context. To preach them out of the context
is to say God said it. And when God didn't say what
I said He said, I make Him a liar. And to make God a liar is not
a good thing. You know why most pastors don't
preach verse by verse? Because they're not taught that
way. Most pastors don't preach verse by verse because they don't
have time. It's the most laborious thing you've ever seen in your
life. When you get over there into some text that tells us
to not do all things without grumbling or complaining and
all you've done all day is complain in your spirit, that's a frustrating
text. You better be glad you're a week
or two ahead in the study. Because if you're not, you're
going to skip it. I'm not going to sit here and
preach to you if I've got a choice. Let's say I'm going to preach
on these topics over the next six weeks. Oh, no, I'm not preaching on
that. I'm not standing here a hypocrite. I'm not preaching on that either
because my good friend who sits in the front row, he's doing
it. Oh, yeah, that guy, he gives like a million dollars a year.
I'm not going to preach on that and make him mad. You see what I mean? When you preach to the Bible,
you can't skip it. You can't get over it. You can't hide from
it. You cannot pretend that you look
like, well, whatever. Exposition. or nothing. Because Satan did
that. What happens when exposition
isn't the rule of preaching for the church? Is it the rule of
what? It isn't the rule of teaching
and feeding the church. Scripture gets twisted. Satan
twisted Scripture, didn't he? It is written. It is written.
It is written. You notice that the devil in
the temptation of Eve questioned that which God had said. Why?
Because what God has said is the authority. It wasn't Eve's
thoughts. It wasn't Eve's personal philosophy. It wasn't her autonomous realism. It was the Word of God. And then
everything became subject to the Word of God. So therefore
the devil had to take God's Word and cause doubt in Eve's mind
that God's Word was not authoritative. There was an ulterior motive
behind God's Word. or a hiding, or a half-truth. With Jesus, he tempted Jesus
through the twisting of Scripture by offering Jesus that which
was actually due Him. Food for His body, protection
from the Father, and worldwide glory. Wow! It already is. The devil didn't
even own that to do. But he tempted Him by the Word of God. When
we don't preach exposition, we're able to abuse the church. We're able to abuse the church.
I can take many, many verses that I've learned through the
years, and I can add to the Word of God. Like, for example, at
a church I've served, in which I've served, I can show you in
their documents that if you want to be an elder, you must tithe
10%. And the Malachi 3 verse is, do
not rob God. That's abuse. Or submit to your elders, Hebrews
13. Do what I say or God will kill
you. I've heard pastors say that.
That's not the point of that. You do what I say to do because
it comes from the Bible. You're obeying God, not me, for
crying out loud. Don't obey me. I might have you
moonwalking out the window or something. Or standing a wall. Obey the Lord! But we can abuse
it. Exposition protects the church
from that. Half-truths. Just like I can
do all things through Christ, if we don't preach through the
text like it's written, we can actually begin to define terms
on our own. We can say, I know what love
is. God loves the world, so He loves me. I know what love is.
Our neighbor, as we evangelize the culture, oh yeah, God loves
me. God loves the world in this way, that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whosoever is believing in Him would not perish but have
eternal life. And whoever is not believing is condemned already,
for he is not believing in the Son of God. That's what John
3, 16 teaches about the love of God, that God's love is only
seen, period, at all in the giving of the Son for our sins. Which
is where the power of God lies, and the good news of Jesus. How
do we know that? We teach it in context. God does the work of goodness. An incomplete use, just like
in John 3, it's incomplete to teach it erroneously. John summarizes it this way,
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this
book, if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues
described in this book. If anyone takes away from the
words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share
in the tree of life. and in the holy city which are
described therein." Revelation 22, 18 and 19. Friends, for us
to play with God's Word, we tamper with the very name of God. And
so ultimately, I believe that a text like this, being under
the oath to share and read this letter to all the brothers, exercises
an absolute divine authority of Scripture, shows us in complete
unity of the example of Scripture, and most ultimately, gives us
the ultimate reason for Scripture altogether. Why is it preached? To what end? People getting saved! Well, no, that's a connect-the-dot. People growing in the Lord. Now
that's a connect the dot too. Fighting temptation. It's true,
but that's not it. Why is the Word of God taught?
Why is it read? Why is it preached? Why is it
studied? To praise His glorious name.
It gives glory to God. It gives glory to God. The glory
of God and His gospel power, His majesty, His attributes,
His person, His magnificence, His beauty, all of it, it comes
from the Word of God. God's not flying over Detroit
and showing Himself in a vast array of sparks and fire. Even the Israelites, when they
walked out of Egypt by supernatural means. I mean, come on, folks! Supernatural, amazing feats of
creativity, creation, judgment, mercy. They walked out of Egypt
after the firstborn everything, crickets, dogs, people, firstborn
everything died. They walked out of Egypt that
day with a tornado of fire in front of them. I mean, have you ever been in
a tornado? Yeah, it's not a fun thing. It's
scary. Imagine it actually being on
fire and being your guiding light. Yet God, in His presence, manifested
that for them, and they still were not in awe of His glory. They still were not enamored
by His majesty. And miracle after miracle, Lazarus
was raised from the dead, beloved. Lazarus was raised to life from
a decaying corpse and the Jews saw it. They witnessed it. They
were there. They followed Jesus and watched
it. And the first thing out of their
mouth, we need to have a deacon's meeting. We need to have a meeting. And we need to kill this man. We need to kill him. God raised
him from the dead. We need to kill him. That's sort
of stupid. But the Word of God was the authority. Jesus spoke Lazarus. Jesus told the Jews in John 5. He told the Jews in John 11.
He told the Jews in John 12 that the authority of God's Word,
the ultimate matter that was at stake here, is that God would
be glorified. That He would be glorified. That
the Word that they knew in their hearts would condemn them. He
tells them when they are arguing with Him, when He talks about
how He is going to pass judgment on all men and raise all men
to life, when they hear the words of the Son of Man and raise out
of the graves, He said, some unto everlasting life and some
unto everlasting judgment. And they argue with Him. Who
are You? By what authority, by what testimony
do You come speaking this to us? Do You know who we are? And Jesus says, you know what? I'm not going to bring indictment
against you. In like a few minutes they're
thinking, about right. It's about right. You better
get it straight. He said, Moses is going to do it. For he wrote
of Me. He wrote of Me. The Word is Me. All of it is me. I created... I mean, if I were Jesus, I'd
be like, boom! I'd have blown up in front of Him, this big
fiery... I mean, you know, that's not what He did. He subjected
Himself to be obedient as a slave unto death, and He died, and
He went into the grave, and He suffered the consequences of
sin. And God raised Him to life. That
was the boom. He was vindicated! The Word of
God is alive! Preaching is what gives life. Preaching in the manner of exposition. contextually, is where one is
filled with the Spirit of God. Preaching is where one is enabled
to proclaim that which God has certainly and clearly said. Preaching,
the fullness of the text of Scripture, reveals God, expresses God for
the purpose of glorifying the Lord, for glorifying the grand
measure of His immeasurability. to the praise of His glorious
grace. Exposition, teaching the Bible through the Bible exposes
holiness. What do you mean exposes holiness?
Friends, we don't want to see that. We don't want to see righteousness
in our fallen state. We like it when other people
live in darkness the way we do. I may feel insecure in my sin,
but when I've got a buddy with me, all bets are off. I'm fine. Preaching is how God saves lost
people. Not gospel presentations, not
checklists, not outlines. Preaching the Word of God. Preaching the Word of God in
context is what secures the saints for eternity. It's what seals
us. It's what holds us. It's what
keeps us in line. Preaching the Word of God in
context sanctifies the Bride of Christ, prepares us to be
without blemish, or spot, or wrinkled, because it continually
empowers us with the grace that we need to stay in the faith,
not to Him who is able to keep us from stumbling. Now to Him who is able to fill
us with all His fullness. Now to Him who is able to keep
us blameless, as Paul has just read, just written. Through the
Word of God alone are we kept. The teaching of the fullness
of the Word of God solidifies the truth of Christ. It holds
the foundation of absolute truth against the lies of all the world.
It shuts down those lies. It silences the errors. We don't
have to debate people. We don't have to get our game
on and go in and tear the argument apart. Someone says to me, I
am an idiot for believing that Jesus Christ is surely divine
and there is no way that someone with any half of a brain could
actually believe those things. My response to them is that God
has made Himself known in a way that you cannot deny it. And
you, and everyone like you believe in God, but you suppress this
truth by acts of unrighteousness. And God, in His time, will turn
you over to a reprobate mind. Believe on the Lord Jesus before
it's too late." I don't have to debate. I don't
have to get my feelings hurt. Preaching and learning the Word
of God in its context saves us from temptation. It keeps us
serving each other. It gives us a satisfied soul. Is your soul satisfied today
in Christ? Or is there a lot of things in
your life that you wish would work out for you? Newsflash,
not going to happen. Your body may not be healed.
Your relationships may not mend. Your depression may not go away. And if they do, hallelujah, there's
another clip to follow up from just a few feet ahead. Well, this isn't very encouraging.
Yes, it is. Because the Sovereign God of
heaven who created us, the Sovereign God of heaven who became like
us, the Sovereign God of heaven who sacrificed Himself for the
sake of us and has been raised to life, solidifies our salvation
and it's taught to us through the Word of God. And if we seek
His face through Scripture, we have all satisfaction. Friends, the problem is we think
it's going to be just like an inoculation. Well, there was
a season in my life where I was in the Word all the time, and
now I've fallen out of the Word. Well, that's the problem. It's not a measles shot. It's
not a smallpox scar. The Word must be eaten every
day. The Word must be engaged every
moment. What you put in there now has
to be replanted tonight. It is a battle. It is a war. But friends, all that God has
said gives life. All that God has said glorifies
His name. All that God has said glorifies
His work in us. The Word of God contains the
power. All that we need is given to us through God's divine power.
Paul says in Romans 1, I'm not ashamed of the good news of Jesus
Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. Where is it? Right here. And
if it's right here, and we're saved, and we're transformed,
it's also right here, and it's right here. And not to quote a philosopher
and a psychologist, but the stinking thinking that continually radiates
through our mind is there because our flesh thinks we can handle
our mind. The Bible teaches authoritatively
and explicitly that the mind is renewed on the things of God
and transformed when we read the Word. Meditate on the Word day or night. And it's a war. And it's never going to stop.
But according to Ephesians 6, it's already won. It's won. To think that we need anything
but God's Word on matters of faith and life and Christ, I
believe, is to make one God Himself. Let me say that again. To think
that we need anything but God's Word on matters of faith and
life in Christ is to make one God Himself. It's to say, God surely did not
say. God's Word is good and true,
but right now I need something else. Right now, I need wine. Right now, I need sex. Right
now, I need money. Right now, I need power. Right
now, I need peace. Friends, those are idols. Right
now, I need the grace of God and the only way I'll get it
is to go to His Word and hear His voice. And any friend of
yours who you'd call upon in a time of need, who will not
bring the Word of God to you, does not love you, The long history of couch conversations
and mundane philosophies and mundane gossip and mundane conversations
that are not infused with the power of God are absolutely workless
acts of selfishness and self-pride. Because nothing makes me feel
better than to think I fixed you. Nothing makes me feel more
powerful than to say I have overcome my problem. It takes a very small
child of very insignificant ability to say, Daddy did it. Daddy fixed
it. How often do our children bring
us balloons that have burst and say, fix it. Oh, the faith of
a child. May our faith be that way in
God through His Word. You have an oath before the Lord,
brethren, to read this letter to all the brothers. The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Let's pray. Father, so many places I wanted
to go here and maybe in my labor I've overstepped it. But as we think about the close
of the service, Lord, and what we've heard thus far, help us
to be reminded of 2 Corinthians 4, where Paul teaches that church
that they are indeed powerful, because God's Word is with them.
And that the message of the cross is foolishness, We don't need anything else,
but Lord, You've shown us through Paul's teaching to the Corinthian
people that it's the foolishness that You desire. It is the foolish
word, it is the simplistic mindset that all I have to do is share
this Bible with people and they're saved and transformed and encouraged
and empowered. Father, that makes no sense to
our logical minds because it is illogical. But yet it is logical
because the Scripture is authoritative over us and powerful. So it's
the most rational thing we could do, though it fights against
the lostness and the blindness of the flesh of this world. Father,
Paul and the apostles would be enamored by the idea that many
people would say, well, how are they going to believe? And Paul
would answer them by saying, we do not lose heart. For we
have this ministry by the grace of God. And we do not twist Scripture
or practice cunning, but by bold statement of the truth, we stand
with our consciences bore open to you and to God. And if anyone
does perish, if they do not hear the Word, it is only because
the God of this world has blinded the eyes of unbelievers to keep
them from seeing the glory of God in Christ. But Father, You
tell us in that text, Lord, and as we pray this day, we praise
You for this. You tell us in that text, Lord,
that You, who said to the creation that did not exist, let there
be light, and light was. You also say to the dark heart
of the dead man, let there be light, and light is. And God, we cannot do anything
to purpose that in the hearts of each other except to share
that Word. You have shone in our hearts
to give us the light of the knowledge of Your glory in the face of
Jesus, Your Son, and we are elated. We are alive. And though we are
stricken and condemned and hurt and baffled, and disturbed, and
hated, and just persecuted to such a place in so many ways,
and we battle, and we war, and we fight, and we race, and we
run, and we're tired. Lord, the glory is Yours. The
salvation is Yours. The victory is Yours. And Your
Word is the only place where we will find this power. Put
it in our hearts this moment, Lord, to see this as effectual. A yearning. to not turn to the
TV, or not turn to the fiction, and not turn to the sport, but
turn to the Word, that we may have intimacy to hear Your voice,
that we might pray more effectively, that we might share our faith
and know all good things we have in Christ. Lord, that we would
be a people to celebrate the goodness of Your love through
the pages of Your Word. In Jesus' name, Amen.