The Word of God and Conviction, Obedience — John Dennison

Now, good morning. Once again, before we read from the scriptures and God speaks to us, we will speak to him in prayer. Our Father, we are thankful for the Lord Jesus that we have been meditating on today already.

We are amazed at the one who practiced what he preached, who was the faithful one, always consistent, and his appreciation of thee was unchanged in the darkest, most difficult, most painful experience.

We recall that even when he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He continued on to say, thou art holy. We are amazed at one whose thoughts of thee were unaffected by the experiences of his life, and his appreciation for thee was infinite.

Give us more of the heart of our Lord Jesus as we consider his meekness and we think upon him today. Give us hope now as we turn to the what thou dost have for us as we depend upon thee in the worthy name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen. Now turn, if you would please, to the second letter to Timothy, Timothy chapter three. Second Timothy chapter three. And while you're turning, I will thank the assembly here in Garnevillo led by its overseers for the invitation to be here for your conference this year, and the added blessing of being able to share with Sandy and Jason in the ministry of the word of God this weekend.

Scripture’s Authority and Sufficiency

We'll read first of all in second Timothy chapter three, verse 15, and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works.

So we have read about the scriptures. Now I would like to read about the effect or the use of the scriptures by the Lord Jesus. So we'll turn to Matthew chapter four, please. Matthew chapter four, Matthew chapter four, verse one.

Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward and hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

But he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taking them up into the holy city and set him on a pinnacle of the temple and saith unto him, if thou be the son of God, cast thyself down for it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee.

And in my hand, they shall bear the up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone. Jesus said unto him, it is written again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taking them up into an exceeding high mountain and show them all the kingdoms of the world in the glory of them and set unto him all these things while I give thee, if thou would fall down and worship me.

Then Jesus saith unto him, get thee hence Satan for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leave with him and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

And one final reading in chapter 12, Matthew chapter 12, verse one. At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn and his disciples were at hunger and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat.

But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. And he said unto them, have ye not read what David did when he was in hunger and they that were with him, how he entered into the house of God and did eat the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them, which were with him, them, which were with him, but only for the priests.

Or have you not read in the law how that on the Sabbath days, the priests and the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless. But I say unto you that in this place is one greater than the temple. But if he had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice.

You would not have condemned the guiltless for the son of man is Lord, even of the Sabbath day. And when he was departed, thence he went into their synagogue. Now for my part in the conference meetings this weekend in the will of the Lord, the burden that I have in my heart is to speak a little bit about the word of God.

And to look at three areas that at first glance might appear to be independent and unrelated. I want to look at the word of God and our convictions. And then I want to look at the word of God, relationship to elders, the word of God and administration.

And then finally, I would like to look at the word of God and submission. Now these three subjects have been coming before me and I've been provoked to study them a little bit more and to look at them again because of a question that I have asked at times and also a question that I have received and I have been asked myself.

And the question is this, can elders in an assembly make up rules? Maybe only people from Arizona ask those kinds of questions. But can elders make up rules? And you see the question is a question about what are rules really?

And how do we know what can we use as guidance in our lives? It's a question about elders and the word of God and their use of it. Can they suspend the word of God and add rules? But then there's the implied part of that question, which is if elders were to make up rules, would we be obliged to submit to them?

So there you have the three subjects that are loosely connected by this question that I will circle, try to circle back to, can elders make up rules? But I want to look now at the whole concept of rules and direction and specifically conviction in our lives.

I want you to notice that we have read in 2 Timothy chapter 3, we have read about the greatness of scripture, the greatness of scripture, because we have read there about its authority. All scripture, it is not that it is written by great men.

Yes, it was written by holy men, according to Peter, but that's not what makes it great. It is great all scripture, all scripture, not just the ideas, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It has the authority when we are reading it, as if God were present and he is speaking to us today.

As the Lord Jesus was speaking to his disciples and had that authority, the word coming out of his mouth, that's the same sense in which all scripture, the word of God has that kind of authority. It is the inspired, the God-breathed, God-spoken word that we have in the Bible.

But it goes on to speak to us about its utility and profitability. Paul says all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. That's the instruction, the teaching to tell us how we should go.

For reproof, to stop us when we're going the wrong way, if you will. For correction, to bring us back into the pathway. And for instruction or training in righteousness, to keep us, not just to put us in the right pathway, but to keep us there.

And all the, it's profitable, it's useful. The word of God, what he is saying, will provide absolutely everything we need. It's all in the Bible. And just to emphasize that, he talks about its sufficiency, that the man of God might be perfect, that the man himself, everything he needs for himself, he will be complete.

And not only that, he will be, he'll be equipped, he'll be truly furnished for everything he has to do. So everything he is and everything he has to do, it all is found, there's enough in the Bible for him.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God and it's profitable. Look what it can give us. Doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction and training in righteousness. And that the man of God, the man of the hour, the man in crisis, elders, leaders, any man or woman of God, you can get the idea here.

Everything we need is found in the word of God. So no surprise that the end of the Pentateuch and the end of your Bible, even as we have it today, the last book we are reminded about the dangers of adding to the word of God.

You remember the first adding to the word of God, how that went. The Lord said to Adam, do not eat of the tree. Eve said, well, if we don't eat, maybe we'll just add a little bit to that. It'll give us better protection.

And she says to this, to Satan, we are not to touch the tree. How good did that, how well did that work out? Adding to the word of God never enhances the word of God, it only takes away from it. It never makes it more effective.

And so adding rules to the word of God will not produce greater holiness. The word of God is sufficient. Exactly what's here is sufficient that we will be fully equipped unto every good work. But what about taking away from the word of God?

What about taking away from the word of God? We are equally warned at the end of our Bibles about taking away from the word of God. Well, I think you can remember that in the temptation that we have read, Satan quoted the book of, from the book of Psalms.

And he was taking, he did not quote the Psalm completely, the part, he left out a key part of that. I learned something from that. It is of the devil to take away from the word of God. It is ineffective to add to it, and it would be of the very devil and please him very much to take away from the word of God.

I hope that if nothing else this weekend from our, let's look at these subjects, that God will impress us again of the greatness of Scripture with its authority, its utility, and its sufficiency. Brother and sister, whether you are an elder or whether you are newly saved, whether you're young or whether you're old, do we need anything else other than the Bible, the word of God?

It is, it's sufficient. But I want to remind you, not only its sufficiency, but I want you to remind you of its necessity. Look at what he says. Behavior is a result of belief, and belief is founded on biblical basis.

Or the other way, it's biblical basis that gives us our beliefs, and that's what results in our behavior. So if we don't like the behavior, we have to check whether the belief is right. And if we don't like the belief, we have to go back and say, is the biblical basis right?

You say, is that really what he's teaching? Look at the first part. He says, Timothy, you remember, you remember, you remember what the behavior was when you were a boy? Do you remember what the belief was?

And do you remember the basis when it comes to the issue of salvation? He says, from a child thou hast known, his mother and his grandmother gave him the basis, thou hast known the Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise, the belief, and the salvation.

What was the behavior? Through faith. He put his faith in Christ. You see, it is the basis that provides the belief, that allows us to put the confidence, the knowledge, the conviction that gives us the reason to behave.

Now, what about after you're saved? Not just becoming a Christian, what about being a Christian? He says, let me start now with a basis again. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it's profitable to...

What will it give you? What will that Bible give you? It will give you the doctrine. It will give you the beliefs. It will give you the training in righteousness, that the man of God will be thoroughly furnished unto all good work.

There's behavior. If we do anything to shortcut or to go around God's plan of having biblical basis to form our beliefs, our convictions, and that will result in behavior, we are going to miss out on God's direction for our lives.

Whether that is me as an individual, whether that replies to me as a husband, or as a father, or as an elder, or as an individual before God. May God help us to appreciate here that this is the pattern of God, the greatness of Scriptures.

My dear brother, dear sister, do you realize how much you need the Word of God? That God would give us the basis for our beliefs, our convictions, which will affect our conduct, and we will see that even in the life of the Lord Jesus.

Biblical Basis for Convictions

So, the greatness of Scripture. Going back to the question of rules, does that not just put a little bit of fear in you? Does it not put a little concern in you? I'm not talking to elders for the moment.

Have you as a Christian ever tried to add rules to the Word of God? This is what God says, so I'll make it a little bit more extreme, and that way I'll stay away from that. Never works. We are insulting God when we do not follow and appreciate the greatness of Scripture with its authority, its utility, its sufficiency, and its necessity in our lives.

But now, you say, well, the Bible is the basis, but how do you get out of the Bible guidance to make decisions and to form convictions in our lives and for guidance in the assembly? Well, there has never been a man who is more perfectly guided than our Lord Jesus Christ.

That's why I read him. The Lord Jesus is using the Scriptures and showing how Scripture can guide us in the way he uses it in the temptation and in Matthew chapter 12. What is the first way that God is guiding the Lord Jesus in the temptation in the wilderness?

You will notice, and this is speaking of being able to take a nap, some of you will have heard this. You learned it in Sunday school without any question, but allow me just to repeat it. The first thing the Lord Jesus uses as guidance in his life, in the situation, what formed his conviction and a result, his conduct, were precepts.

By precepts, we mean commands. The Lord Jesus looks into the Bible, into the Old Testament, and he finds commands, and those commands form his convictions, and as a result, it impacts his conduct. Look at the availability of precepts in the Bible.

The Lord Jesus uses positive commands. He says, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and thou shalt serve him only, quoting from two places in the book of Deuteronomy. So, there are commands in the Bible, and they are positive.

Some of the Ten Commandments are positive. Honor your father and mother. There are positive commands. There are positive commands in the New Testament, too. The Lord Jesus said, this do in remembrance of me, but the Lord Jesus also uses negative precepts, negative commands.

Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. The Bible is full. The New Testament is replete with negative commands as well. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not take the Lord's the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Let him that stole, just speaking of stealing, let him that stole, New Testament now, steal no more, command positive. There are positive and negative commands, and so you get the idea here that the availability of precepts in the Bible to guide us, there are a lot of commands in the Bible, a lot of commands.

I wonder how many of us, and don't think I did, I've done this, how many of us have ever made a list of all the commands in the Bible? Don't we just have that at hand? God has given plenty of commands to guide us, precepts, their availability.

And the Lord Jesus says, it is written. The inspired Word of God has the authority. It is written. But now, let me come to the hardest part and likely where we start to get this issue of conflict sometimes.

I want to talk about the availability of precepts and the authority of precepts, but I want you to think about, I'm sorry, I want you to think about the application of precepts, the application. Sometimes it's a direct, it's a direct, it's just obvious.

Satan says, bow down and worship me. The Lord Jesus says, I know a command about that. And he says, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. So there's certain ones that are just so direct, you can't miss it.

Other ones have to be discerned. Other ones have to be discerned. So this whole quoting and jumping off a temple and what's this all about, what in the Bible would apply to that? Oh, this is a temptation.

And thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Sometimes you have to take up a command, a precept, and you have to apply it. You'll realize now, that the actual, does the Bible ever say that the Lord Jesus was not to be the first one doing base jumping, you know, jumping off of buildings?

Thou shalt not base jump. There's nowhere in the Bible where it says that. But you see, you find a command that is relative to the situation, and it can be applied. And so you understand now, you understand now when it comes to a situation, well, let's see, let's see now, okay?

And Chicago Bears are starting their, yeah, Sunday morning at 10 o 'clock, they're having a, it's a really good game. It's my two favorite teams. You got any commands in the Bible that have to do with that?

Does that say anywhere in the Bible, thou shalt not, thou shalt not stay home on Sunday morning and watch the Chicago Bears on television? Well, what the Lord Jesus did say is, do this in remembrance of me.

Does that kind of relate to that? Does that kind of settle the issue? See how you take a command, and you bring it in, and it applies to the issue. And so you see, when it comes to precepts, they're available in positive, negative forms.

They have the authority because it's part of the Word of God, but we have to have the courage to apply them. And sometimes, going back to my question again, it is in the application of precepts where you can find some disagreement.

Not very often with precepts, but commands, but that is the important part. Not to just simply say, well, the Bible never doesn't say anything about it. Are you sure the Bible doesn't say anything about it?

Precepts. But then I want you to notice that the Lord Jesus goes on, and He uses principle. He uses a principle. Well, actually, He didn't go on. He actually started with a principle, which is interesting in itself.

At the first temptation, the tempter came to Him and said, if thou be the Son of God, He had just been declared the Son of God by the voice from heaven, since you are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

And He answered and said, it is written, thou shalt not make stones into bread. No. He said, it is written, this is a principle now, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

What is the principle? The principle is this, that personal need has to be submitted to the Word of God. That the Word of God has to take precedence in my life over my own personal desires and needs. And that's a principle that you will find here, and you will find it all through the Word of God.

This is the very principle that Adam and Eve failed on, isn't it? Why, their own desire and their own need? Instead of giving in to the command of God, thou shalt not eat. They didn't take that command in it, and they fell and they sinned.

Now the Lord Jesus, faced with similar temptation, He uses not a command like Adam and Eve had. He uses a principle. Now let me talk about the availability of principles in the Bible. Probably the majority of guidance we get from God comes from principles in the Bible.

Principles are truths that guide us, and they reflect divine values, truths that reflect divine values that guide us in our lives. And so, when it comes to the availability, again, sometimes they are explicit.

They are explicit. Let me give you an example. Remember with Saul in 1 Samuel chapter 15? And he went, and he was supposed to kill the Amalekites, and he didn't, and he brought all the animals back? What was the Word of God to him?

Behold, it is better to obey than sacrifice. There's a principle. The principle is the priority of obeying God over trying to be religious and give God something. It is much better to obey. It's a principle.

You can see it explicitly stated. Let me give you one in the New Testament. In the book of Acts chapter 20, Paul called the elders of Ephesus down to the port of Miletus, and he spoke to them there, and what did he say?

He quoted the Lord Jesus, a saying of the Lord Jesus. It's actually not found in the Gospels, but it was a saying of the Lord Jesus that was passed along, and what does he say? It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Do I need to explain that principle? It's pretty self-evident, isn't it? The Bible is full of principles that we can gather together, and they're explicit, but sometimes they're implicit. Sometimes you find a principle inside a command.

We already read one today. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. What's the principle in there? The principle is worship comes before service. Worship…. You see how you take a command, and out of that, you can see the principle that runs through all the Word of God, a principle that worship is the priority over service, and that's why in the assembly, very often, you will hear good brethren, and they will say, well, wait a minute.

Before we get this brother involved in preaching the Gospel, we've never heard him worship, and really, the principle in the Word of God is worship before service. You see, that's a principle that is guiding, brethren, implicit.

So, there are explicit principles, and there are implicit principles that we can gather together, truths that run through the Word of God that can guide us. But now, what about the authority, the authority of principles?

Could I just remind you again? Before the Lord Jesus used precepts, He used principles. So, it is not that commands are here, and then the lack of command, well, we'll use something that's kind of second class.

It's called a principle. No. To the Lord Jesus, principles have the same authority as precepts. They are equally…. They are equally authoritative. They are equally…. It is written. The same words are used.

And so, you can see that principles are interpreted, and they have that kind of authority. But we must obviously be careful on that, and you will understand that you can see principles very often in other places in the Word of God.

For example, do you remember what Paul said to the Corinthians? They had been receiving bad doctrine about the resurrection, the concept of the resurrection. So, he wrote to them, and let me quote from another version just to make this a little clearer for some of the younger people.

Bad company ruins good morals. There's a principle for you. Bad company ruins good…. Evil communication corrupt good manners. Bad company corrupts, corrupts. Bad company ruins good morals. You say, well, is that something that runs all through the Word of God?

That the people around you can have a negative influence upon you? That bad teachers will affect your beliefs and your convictions? What did the wise man say? He that walks with wise men shall be wise.

What about the one who walks with fools? He shall be destroyed. Same principle, different places, Old Testament, New Testament, runs through the Word of God. And as we gather these together, as an individual, as a couple, as parents, or as an oversight, we can go into all Scripture as given by inspiration of God.

But now, the challenge again when it comes to the issue of precepts is in the application of them. And the challenge again in my own life is the application of principles. And so often we'll say, well, the Bible doesn't say anything about it, does it?

Have you ever heard that? Have you ever said that? Have you ever thought it? Well, the Bible doesn't say…. Could I just ask you, just before you repeat that again, could you just make sure? Can I just make sure that God is really….

To say, well, God doesn't really care. Are you sure God doesn't care? Has He given us guidance in the form of principles in the Word of God? But I want you to think then about the other example we read of the Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 12, because in Matthew chapter 12, there the Lord Jesus, He is confronted with a challenge about His beliefs and His behavior and that of His disciples.

It is the Sabbath day, and they go through a field, and they pick up some corn or grain, likely maybe not corn itself, but they gather some grain, and they begin to open it up, and they begin to eat, and the Pharisees are aghast.

And they say, what are you doing? Because after all, gathering, why that's harvesting, and harvesting is prohibited. Just picking up in the corners of a field, even if you were poor, if you pick something up, they said that's the equivalent to gathering, that's the equivalent to harvesting, and harvesting is prohibited on the Sabbath.

And when they took them and they had to break them open to get the grains out, they said, look what you're doing, threshing, breaking the grain up, throwing it up in the air, and threshing the grain out, and the winnowing, that's prohibited on the Sabbath.

And when you take one in your hand and you break it open to get some food, that's, they said, that's, they said, look, you and your disciples are, they were actually adding to the Word of God. But can you see how subtle it was for them?

Because they thought they were applying the Word of God. That's why application of the Word of God, be it commands, precepts, or principles, we need to really search our hearts to make sure we're applying the Word of God correctly.

The Lord Jesus explains, going to explain now, no, no, no, there is biblical basis for the belief that we can eat something in the field on the Sabbath day, which is what we did, our behavior. What's it going to use now?

First Samuel 21, verses 1 to 6. It says, you remember, remember the example, the pattern you have, the practice you have, the pattern or practice you have, when David, when David and they went and they, they actually ate bread, the show bread, it was cooked fresh daily, and they took some of the show bread and they ate it.

See, it goes to an example in the Bible. But you see, when it comes to using a pattern like that, when they were in Nob and they did that, you have to be very careful about patterns. Just suppose, just suppose I, being young and not very experienced with a Bible, I want God to guide me in my life, to form, give me convictions about what should I do today, and so I open my Bible and I say, God, give me direction, give me some direction, and I don't find a command, and I don't find a principle, and I open my Bible and I turn to Numbers 22, verse 23, my eyes fall down on the page and it says, Balaam struck the donkey.

So I take my Bible again and I say, Lord, is this what I'm supposed to do today? Am I supposed to follow that, that example in the Bible? And I turn to the New Testament to find some different direction, and I turn to Luke chapter 10, verse 37, and it says, go and do thou likewise.

So now what am I supposed to do? I don't even have a donkey. Is God telling me my poor dog is going to get it today? You see, we must be careful how we use examples. Patterns in Scripture don't set them aside, but do they agree with principles that run through the Word of God?

Let me give you an example of one that's under challenge right now. Maybe not here in Iowa. Thank God if it isn't. That teaching is that when you have the New Testament, that examples are, follow me closely on this if you would please, are narrative, but they're not normative.

Do you follow what that means? They're a story, a historical record of what they did in the New Testament times, but it's not really the norm that we're expected to follow. So what they say is, how do… why do we break bread on the first day of the week?

Oh, says a brother here, well, I know. Acts chapter 20 there is very clear. Paul waited there in Troas, and on the first day of the week, they broke bread. You see, they say, well, that's just narrative.

That's not really to guide us. First day of the week, you say, well, is that example… does that agree with any precepts? Does that agree with any principles in the New Testament? Well, actually, you come to 1 Corinthians chapter 16, you'll find there when it came to the offering, the apostle Paul said in a command form, on the first day of the week, let every man lay by him and store.

He said this is… so he agrees with the command. And does it agree with a principle in the New Testament that we are in something new, the day of resurrection, the first day of the week? I don't have time to continue with that.

And suddenly you see that this is actually… this is an example, this is a pattern that fits and we can use, we can follow. You say, well, does it have any authority, an example like that? What did the Lord Jesus say?

He said to them, have you not read? Have you not read in the Scriptures? Patterns, examples in Scripture can guide us. We can turn to the New Testament, and we can follow their examples. If we do not have a specific command, it may not be a principle, but we see, first of all, you'll see an example, and then you'll see that it agrees, and agrees with what is carried out in the New Testament.

Patterns, Precepts, and Principles

But now, let me just quickly give you an example of how all these three things could come together. Practice, principle, and precept. I'm reading in the Old Testament, and I'm a young person, and I just met at this new job I started.

I'm single, and I just met this beautiful, beautiful, beautiful young woman. Extremely smart, articulate. Did I say beautiful? Talented, father's rich. She believes in God, but she's not saved. Lord, guide me in the Bible with something, please.

Should I pursue a relationship with her? I happen to be reading 1 Kings 11, verse 3, about Solomon, and he had 700 wives, princesses, 300 concubines. Who were all these wives? Women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites.

Women that didn't know God or the Bible. They didn't believe in God. They weren't Christians, if you will. And it says, and his wives turned away his heart. You say, well, that's it? There you go. Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute.

Remember, you're supposed to take a pattern like that, an example, and you've got to see, is there anything, do you see any kind of principle like that running through the Word of God? Well, you'll remember that when God said when they came out, they were not to take wives, foreign wives.

You remember when you get to the books, the book of Ezra and Nehemiah, and how they treated foreign wives? And you start to see this pattern, and you say, wait a minute, are there any commands, any precepts?

And you come to the New Testament, 2 Corinthians chapter 6, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. You say, well, maybe that was talking about religious separation. Does it apply to the situation I presented to you?

A precept, a principle, or a pattern, no matter which way you come at it, they come together. Which one has more authority in my, should have more authority in my life? Which one of those three should have more authority in my life?