Burk Parsons - The Bible's Teaching on the Nature of Preaching

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Well, several months ago, just about a year ago, when putting together the plans for this conference,
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I asked to join us for this public crimes conference.
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And one thing that I'm very sensitive about is the fact that I think sometimes we, in conferences that we get together, us reformed folk, we tend to have the same folks time and time again.
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And glorious, wonderful teaching. But a lot of times we don't get the opportunity to get some of God's glorious message from folks that are up and coming.
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And certainly one could say that one of the reasons I invited Burke Parsons here is because he would take the average age of all of our speakers down to about 35, as opposed to...
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So just averaging things out here. But also, let me tell you a little bit about Burke.
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Burke is the associate pastor at St. Andrew's Chapel, which is
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R .C. Sproul's church. And he's been serving there for a number of years. He is also the editor of Table Talk magazine.
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So for those of you that get Table Talk every month, and I won't tell you where the majority of reading for this is by me, but every morning
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I start off with Table Talk. But each month, Burke always shares wonderful articles in Table Talk.
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And I certainly have appreciated his ministry. As well, Burke has a new book that has just come out,
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Assured by God. If you have not picked up a copy of this, make sure that you do.
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He is the general editor, and he also writes one of the chapters in the book. And let me just read you the back here, if I can, and hopefully this will spur you on to buy one of these copies.
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It states, Nothing stimulates Christian service more than humble assurance of God's saving grace.
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Many of us are immobilized by lingering doubts about our salvation, or worse, by a false security.
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Is assurance of salvation reserved for the super -spiritual? Is it a sure sign of presumption?
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What are the benefits of assurance, and the dangers of an unsure faith? Separating truth from error, and viewing assurance in relation to its larger family of biblical doctrines, the contributors to this volume demonstrate its significance for grateful, productive
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Christian living. Contributors to this also include R.
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Albert Moeller, Richard Phillips, Sinclair Ferguson, Joel Beek, John MacArthur, Keith A.
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Matheson, Jerry Bridges, and some guy by the name of R .C. Sproul. So do make sure that you take the opportunity, it's back here in the
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Alpha and Omega table, to pick up one of these copies. You'll be blessed. And as well,
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I believe we have two copies on consignment to the Kainter Brothers, is that correct? No, okay. But if you could, make sure that you do pick up a copy of that.
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And folks, you don't want to hear me talk again. So let me introduce to you, please, Reverend Burke Parsons.
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Welcome him. These microphones, you feel like you're going to trip.
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It's like walking out in the hallway with all the Army recruiters. It's like a gauntlet.
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You feel like you're going to get pummeled. But I appreciate that, Mike. Thank you very much.
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I've known Mike for a few years, and he has been a faithful and consistent fellow, and a faithful and consistent friend.
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I am young, and folks are always surprised that I have to fill the pulpit for Dr.
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Sproul when he is not in town or away, that sort of thing. And someone asked me this past week, well, how often do you get to preach?
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I said, well, I'm not sure I would phrase it like that. I would say, how often do I have to preach? It's a daunting thing, as you can imagine, to stand in that pulpit.
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But that gets right at the heart of what we're dealing with here, this conference, this weekend. And I would say that it gets right at the heart of the actual title of this conference, which is
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Pulpit Crimes. And I would suggest to Jim and to Mike that when you choose these titles for these conferences that you at least choose titles for these conferences that are appropriate titles.
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And what I mean by that is simply this, that the title Pulpit Crimes is really completely inappropriate because we don't have pulpits any longer.
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Pulpits have been tossed out back with the pews and the hymnals and so forth. We don't have pulpits. We have lecterns, we have podiums like the one
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I'm standing in front of or standing behind here somewhat ironically. But we don't have pulpits anymore.
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Nevertheless, we are here to help and to promote and to encourage lay people and pastors who are here to think seriously about these things.
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So as we think seriously about them, let's turn to the Word of God. I'd like for you to turn with me to Colossians chapter 2.
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Paul's epistle to the Colossians. We'll be looking at chapter 2 verses 1 through 10.
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Now as probably is the case in most of your churches, or at least some of them, it is the case at St.
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Andrew's where I'll be preaching tomorrow to services in the morning at 9 .30 and 11 for all of those who, well that's
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I should say today's Friday, correct? So that'll be Sunday. And I know some of you are leaving to go on a boat.
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But I'll be preaching Sunday and the next Sunday as well as Dr. Sproul is away in Lexington right now with Albert Mohler.
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Second, pardon me, Colossians chapter 2. We'll be looking at verses 1 through 10 this morning. Let's turn our attention to the
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Word of God. For I want you to know what a great conflict
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I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love and attaining to all the riches of the fullness of assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the
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Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
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Now this I say, lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
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As you therefore have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
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Beware, lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
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For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power.
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This is the word of God for God's people. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.
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Lord, we ask that your word would not be something that we merely think about, but it would be something that we believe and it would be something that we act upon.
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Lord, transform our lives by it and use it this morning for your glory. In the name of Christ, we pray, amen.
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You have all read, I hope, Hamlet by Shakespeare. I'm not used to these pulpit microphones, you have to understand
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I'm used to these lapel mics, that sort of thing, or as Dr. White calls them, the Britney Spear mics.
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I call them Backstreet Boy microphones for another reason. But in truth, I'm going to try to stay close to it here.
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Some said, but you're a Presbyterian. I said, well, not really. I'm a Presbyterian small piece, St. Andrew's Chapel is an independent church, indeed in the
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Reformed tradition, nevertheless an independent church, and I'm proud of that. But the question before us, as Hamlet didn't put it, but at least referring to his famous soliloquy, when he said, to be or not to be,
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I will say, to preach or not to preach. That is the question, whether to snobbler in the pew, to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous sermons, or to take arms against a sea of troubling homilies.
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To sleep for chance, to daydream. That is the question before us.
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The question is whether we preach or not preach, and whether you, as lay people and churchmen and women, hear preaching or you do not hear preaching.
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What is it that we do on the Lord's day? What is it that we are there to do? We are there, first and foremost, to worship
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God. We're not there, first and foremost, for our own whims and fancies. We're not there, first and foremost, to hear the words of mere men.
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We're there to hear the word of God and to worship the God whose word it is we are there to listen to, to act upon, to respond to.
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But indeed, this whole concept of tradition trafficking, which Dr. White does well to explain, thankfully, in his new book,
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Pulpit Crimes, in a subsection somewhere in pages of the 90s or the early 100s. Don't turn to it now, please.
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Put that book down, gentlemen. He sees I'm looking. Yeah, put it down. All right. He's the fellow who reads his study
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Bible while the pastor is preaching. He's looking at his notes, saying, well, is this right? Is this right? But that gets right at the point.
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That gets right at the point because too often, what we're doing is not listening to the word of God being preached.
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We are thinking about other things. And too often, those standing in the pulpits are not preaching the word of God indeed.
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Now, Spurgeon said that all originality and no plagiarism makes for dull preaching. Now, of course, he said that in jest.
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But indeed, too many preachers and too many so -called pulpiteers, as Pastor King mentioned last night, are too consumed with their own traditions, too consumed with their own eisegesis, reading their own ideas, their own traditions into the text, that what they're actually doing is preaching their own traditions, giving people in the pews their own traditions, their own words, their own thoughts.
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I was talking with someone recently about their church and talking about the pastor who's no longer there.
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And he said, well, one thing I love about that pastor is that every Sunday, every Lord's Day, he poured out his heart.
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He gave me his heart. That sounds nice, doesn't it? That sounds really cuddly, doesn't it?
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But the truth of the matter is, and as I spoke to this person, I said, understand that what we're not looking for here is the heart of the man.
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It's wonderful that he poured his heart out, but we're not looking for his heart. We're looking for the heart of God. Oftentimes you see behind pulpits, you see a little inscription on a plate of some sort that says, please, sir, give us
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Jesus, not yourself. And too often pastors and pulpits throughout this country and throughout the world are consumed with giving people themselves, giving people their own hearts.
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As Pastor King spoke last night on Sunday morning services, pastors are too consumed with giving people their own jokes and stories and so forth, and not the word of God.
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So let us turn our attention to the word of God this morning. Paul gives to the
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Colossians several admonitions throughout this text, and he says, for I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you.
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I'm concerned about you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged.
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He says, I'm here concerned, people of Colossae and people of Laodicea, that you hear my heart.
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You've not seen my face. You don't know me. This is not the best way of communicating. I'm writing you a letter, but I want you to hear my concern.
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I want to encourage you, he says, being knit together in love and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God.
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That's an important point Paul brings up here, as he says that we are to attain to this. We are to understand this in a full assurance of understanding as it pertains to the knowledge of the mystery of God.
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Now, too often in churches and folks who are in evangelical churches throughout this country, many folks who have swapped their faith for a bumper sticker or a fish on their car, not that fishes on cars or bumper stickers are bad things, but when you've swapped your faith for such things, then you've actually duped yourself into thinking that I don't need this faith.
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I don't need this faith. I simply need a fish. I simply need a bumper sticker. I simply need a t -shirt. I simply need a star on my shirt when
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I come to church. I simply need an attendance record at this conference or that and so forth.
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But we above all people shouldn't swap our faith for such things, but those folks within evangelical churches throughout this country and throughout the world say, you reform people.
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You delve too deeply into the mysteries of God. You think that you understand God's mind and God's ways far beyond what he's given us.
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You try to delve into those deep passages in the recesses of Scripture when you shouldn't be. Plainly, Paul tells us in Ephesians and in Colossians here that we are to attain this full understanding, this full assurance.
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We are to understand those mysteries that God has given to us and Paul unfolds them for us.
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Nevertheless, we are not to go beyond the mysteries. We are not to add to Scripture. We are not to bring our own ideas and opinions and traditions into Scripture, thereby trafficking, if you will, our own ways and means and modes of doing things, protecting our people, programs, projects, and public image and not protecting the
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Word of God. That's what we're called to do. But it's not only a call for pastors, it's a call for the people of God.
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Going on, Paul says very plainly, this is something that we are to understand regarding both the
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Father and Christ in verse 2, and then in verse 3, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
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Verse 4, now this I say, lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words.
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I say this, listen again, folks, if you haven't woken up yet. Verse 4, now this I say, lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words.
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Words that are empty in and of themselves, but the way in which they're spoken, the way in which they're used, the way in which they're so carefully crafted by those using them, want to persuade you, want to trick you, want to deceive you, want to dupe you, if you will, with their words.
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I say this, I'm giving you this admonition, people of Colossae, lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words.
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Verse 5, for though I am absent in the flesh, he says it again, yet I'm with you in spirit.
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And then he says something interesting, rejoicing. I'm not with you in the flesh, many of you have not even seen my face, he says, but I'm with you in the spirit, and not merely with you in the spirit apart from you,
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I'm with you in the spirit rejoicing, to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith.
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He was complimenting them, encouraging them on their assurance.
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He was complimenting them on their steadfastness in the faith that they were not being moved in the faith.
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Why were they not being moved in the faith? Why did they have a solid, assured faith?
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Why was their church not moved? Paul continues on in this encouragement sort of admonition, he says in verse 6, as you therefore, in this way, such as you have been this, as you therefore have received
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Christ Jesus as the Lord, so walk in him. Paul says in other passages like Galatians 5 .25,
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you know, the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit. And in that passage, he says, well, since we live by the spirit, let us walk by the spirit.
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He says it all over the place, since we know these things, let us live in such a way. The entire epistle to Rome, if you look at the chapter outline of the entire epistle, you see in the first 12 chapters,
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Paul gives us the deep doctrines of the faith. He unfolds, if you will, the mysteries of God, doesn't he? But then in verses, chapters 12 through 16, he says, so walk then, so live this way.
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Now that you understand these things, so live in this way and be this way.
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Too often we make much ado about the first 11 chapters of Romans, but we do not spend the adequate time on those four remaining chapters, which give to us the method and means of all the doctrine and theology that we found through the first 11 chapters.
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Paul says throughout his epistles, since you know this, walk this way. And I will simply say, folks, for those of us who are informed, for those of us who are more concerned to take out our 38 specials, five shooters of the points of Calvinism and shoot every
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Arminian and semi -Pelagian down with them, we need to be on guard. We need to walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, making sure that what we know is lived out.
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That is one of the greatest concerns I have for reformed churches and reformed people in this country, that our head knowledge does not become a heart knowledge and a heart knowledge becoming a life knowledge, if you will.
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Since we understand these things, let us walk this way. You know Christ, thus walk in him, verse 6.
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Verse 7, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
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So he is complimenting them and encouraging them, saying continue in this way, keep doing this. And then he gives them this final admonition in this passage, beware in verse 8, lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit.
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Now let's stop there for a minute. I want to point out a couple of things. Paul uses two words here that are unique to this passage.
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In fact, he doesn't use these words in any of his epistles and not only are these two words not used in any of his epistles, they are not used anywhere else in the
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New Testament. Look at these words. He says, beware lest anyone cheat you.
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Now the main idea of this word here is that we're not to be cheated. We're not to be, if you will, taken captive.
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The literal translation is that one would be kidnapped or carried off, if you will. Let no one cheat you.
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Let no one take you captive. We're not to be taken captive, people, by mere persuasive words.
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We're not to be taken captive by the words and the flowery messages and, if you will, those traditions that are inserted at every point possible in order for us to be good and nice people.
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We're to take the word of God wholly and fully, as Pastor King spoke on last evening from Acts 20. We're to be taken captive by the word of God.
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Beware lest anyone take you captive or cheat you through philosophy. Now that's a common word.
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We use it commonly here, but it is a word that Paul uses one time. It's a word used here only in Colossians 2.
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As we see, the breakup of this word, you know it well, probably, phileo, love, sophia, wisdom.
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It's the love of wisdom, but it is the love of wisdom itself. We love philosophy. We appreciate philosophy.
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We appreciate those who have taught us philosophy throughout history, but we don't love philosophy as an end in and of itself.
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We don't consume ourselves with philosophy as an end in and of itself. It is philosophy by God and for the sake of God, much in the same way that Thomas Aquinas said, adeo docteur, adeum docet, adeum ducet.
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Theology, doctrine, proceeds from God. Our doctrine and what we know about God comes from God.
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And let me ask you, friends, where does it come from? Is it from some audible voice that we hear at night when our heads are upon our pillows or after we've done this or that or we've sat around for a while worshiping?
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No. Theology and doctrine proceeds from God through his word.
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And as it proceeds from God, it teaches us about God. But it doesn't stop there.
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It leads us back to God. Our theology from God comes from God, teaches us about him, and turns our faces back to him in worship.
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That's what theology does. And if it doesn't do that, mind you, ladies and gentlemen, if your theology and your doctrine doesn't do that, it could be that your theology is not biblical theology.
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It could be that your theology and your doctrine is made up merely of the traditions of men. So, take this warning from Paul to the
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Colossians. Beware lest anyone cheat you or kidnap you or take you away through philosophy and empty deceit according, now listen, according to the tradition of men.
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According to the basic principles of the world, those things which are elementary, those things which are simply set in a very easy row like an alphabet of sorts.
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Those basic principles. Let no one deceive you. Let no one take you captive. But as Luther said before the died of Worms in 1522, he said, my conscience is held captive by the word of God.
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Not by the traditions of men. Not by my own understanding of things. My conscience and our consciences, ladies and gentlemen, should be held captive by none other than the word of God.
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Look at Acts chapter 20 with me briefly. It was covered last night very well. I want to point out one interesting thing.
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The passage that was covered. We look at verse 27. These Ephesian elders are exhorted.
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And here we read this passage in verse 27. Let me just look at that one verse particularly.
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Chapter 20 of Acts verse 27. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.
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I have not shunned to declare to you. I have not been ashamed. Paul says throughout his epistles, he tells
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Timothy as well, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me his prisoner. He says in Romans chapter 1 verse 16,
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I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God. I'm not shunned, we read here in Acts.
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I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Now this is interesting. Because we don't simply read here the counsel of God or parts of the counsel of God, but the whole counsel of God.
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Now the Reformers, as you know, were concerned not only about sola scriptura, which every one of us here would affirm, but very rarely do people understand and very rarely have people understood and studied this doctrine of tota scriptura.
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It's not merely scripture alone, but it's all of scripture. It's the whole of scripture.
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For that is where our messages and that is where our interpretations, our hermeneutics, that is where what we know from scripture is learned.
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Comparing scripture with scripture, that great hermeneutic recovered during the Reformation. We are to understand scripture, dearly beloved, by looking to scripture itself, not by looking to the world around us, not by looking to the traditions that we've established for ourselves within our churches.
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As Dr. White points out in his book, anytime something is done in the church twice, it becomes a tradition.
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But in truth, we are to look to scripture itself, for it is indeed the scriptures itself that give to us that only infallible rule.
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The Baptist Confession of 1689 says, the Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith and obedience.
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Listen, if you didn't listen the first time, the Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain and infallible rule of all saving knowledge and faith and obedience.
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And you say, but aren't you quoting from a confession or a creed? Aren't you quoting from a tradition?
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Aren't you giving to us those things which are apart from the Bible? Well, yes. Creeds and confessions and those things that we hold dearly are apart from the
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Bible. They are separate from the Bible. Recently, I was asked about the new printing of the Reformation Study Bible that Ligonier Ministries is involved in.
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And they asked, well, during this reprinting, what should we include in the Bible? Should we include this, that and the other, different notes and so forth?
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And one question came up, well, should we include the confessions and creeds in the back of the
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Bible? Should we include the Westminster Confession and the catechisms? What should we include there? I said, don't include any of them.
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Let people buy a separate book because they shouldn't be, in my opinion, put within the same
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Bible. I even have a problem with study Bibles, if you will, because I can't hold this up, can I? And say, this is the Word of God.
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This is the Word of God and to some degree, the comments and traditions of men. Now they help us and the
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Reformers did well to help us. But I will say, folks, that we need to be so careful that that nice dividing line in our study
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Bibles between the text and the commentary does not get erased. And this is a problem, ladies and gentlemen, not only for Baptists, it's a problem for Presbyterians, it's a problem for every group who calls himself a
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Christian. And why is that? It's because we want to protect certain traditions because certain traditions are right.
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Certain traditions are good. Paul tells the Thessalonians, he says, stand fast and hold firm to those traditions which you have heard, to the
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Epistle and to the Word of God. Listen to those traditions. There are certain traditions are good, but understand, it is only the traditions that come from the
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Word of God that we should remember. It's only the traditions that are part of the pure preaching of the
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Word of God that we should so dearly covet. So why do we refer to creeds and confessions and if you will, these things that are extra biblical?
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Because we believe them to be, generally speaking, good and accurate summaries of the
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Word of God. A. A. Hodge says very plainly in his book, the outlines on theology, he says, the matter of all these creeds and confessions binds the consciences of men.
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Now listen, it binds the consciences of men only so far as it is purely scriptural.
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And because it is so, the form in which a matter is stated on the other hand, binds only those who have voluntary subscribed to the confession and because of that subscription.
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So if we subscribe to a confession or a creed, then we need to stand by that creed, but only and ever in so far as it purely gives to us the
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Word of God. I want to think about that one word for a second. The whole concept that Hodge brings to us about is it purely adheres to or purely holds to the
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Word of God. What are the marks of the church? Is it not the pure preaching of the
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Word of God? Most churches today don't even hear about the marks of the church.
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What are the marks of the church? Calvin said very plainly in his Institutes, he said, wherever we see the
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Word of God purely preached and heard and the sacraments administered according to Christ's institution there, it is not to be doubted a church of God exists.
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Wherever we hear the Word of God purely preached, it didn't say simply preached, but wherever we hear it preached with purity, wherever we hear the
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Word of God given to us unabashedly without shame whatsoever. Turn with me to Mark chapter seven.
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Another passage I want to cover briefly. Jesus is addressing the Pharisees and the scribes and incidentally as we see from Matthew chapter 15, it is the first place, this is the first narrative in the
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Gospels where Christ calls the Pharisees and the scribes hypocrites. If we look to this passage, folks,
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I want us to be thinking about ourselves, our own situations, our own congregations, our own lives.
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Because conferences like these and conferences like the ones that Ligonier Ministries holds, too often there's a danger with those coming is that we simply, if you will, preach to the choir.
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We simply preach to those who understand and agree with everything that's been said. But if we do not challenge you here, if there is not some sort of admonition with encouragement, then you'll be sitting there scratching your heads, asking yourselves, well, so what, pastor?
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So what, Dr. White? So what, what are we here for? Are we here simply to hear those things that we already agree with and understand and are cheering you on about?
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No, there's that indeed, but there is also the entire aspect of what we're here to do, to challenge and encourage.
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So listen to these chastisements that Jesus gives to the Pharisees and the scribes. Looking at verse one of chapter seven, then the
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Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to him having come from Jerusalem. Now when they saw some of his disciples, he bred with defile, that is with unwashed hands, they found fault.
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For the Pharisees and the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way.
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Now the holding to the tradition of the elders, holding to this long held tradition, this
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Mishnah. Well, I was in Iran a couple of years ago. I met with the Center for Interreligious Studies there in Tehran, had the opportunity to travel to Qom, which is the center of training for all
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Shiite Muslim clerics. Met hundreds and hundreds of clerics and had tea with the vice president of the parliament in 2004 before the hardline party came to power and the current president
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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power. I noticed something very interesting as we walked into the mosques and to some of their places of worship there in Tehran and throughout
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Iran, I noticed that Shiite Muslims wash their hands in a certain way and Sunni Muslims wash their hands in a different way with their arms and hands turned in different directions according to the traditions of their elders.
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That's certainly not a part of the Quran anywhere. But to wash their hands and to cleanse themselves with certain rites and these are the traditions that they hold so dearly.
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It's interesting that the Pharisees were chastising Jesus and his disciples for much of the same thing.
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They don't wash their hands unless they do it in a special way, holding to this tradition, to these Mishnah.
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Verse four, when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold like the washing of cups and pitchers and copper vessels and couches.
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That's nice, verse five. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat bread with unwashed hands?
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Now I can ask the same question but in a similar and different way. I might say to Jesus and to his disciples, why don't they wash their hands before they eat?
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Don't they know that's disgusting? When we come in from outside, we come in from working. When we come in from petting the dog and so forth, what do we do?
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We wash our hands. It's a good thing to do. It's an appropriate thing to do. But that's not legalism.
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The legalism and the traditions that the Pharisees and the scribes were bringing to Jesus, bringing to Jesus, mind you, and to his disciples was this whole bit about washing their hands in a special way because of the tradition of the elders, because of the
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Mishnah, because of what the elders had said you must do. He answered and said to them.
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Now Matthew, we see him call them hypocrites. Matthew 15, well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites as it is written.
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This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
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And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
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Therein is the problem. People too often in too many places in too many churches can end up honoring and worshiping
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God with their lips, paying lip service to the Almighty without having hearts that are cleansed and right before him.
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Why? Because they're too often teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
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For laying aside, verse 8, the commandment of God, laying it aside, you hold to the tradition of men, the washing of pitchers and cups and many other things that you do.
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He said to them all too well, you reject the commandment of God. For by adding to it, ladies and gentlemen, they're rejecting it so that you may keep your tradition.
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Verse 10, for Moses said, honor your father and your mother. And he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.
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But you say, if a man says to his father or mother, whatever profit you might have received from me is
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Corbin, that is a gift to God. Verse 12, then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down and many such things you do.
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Look at what Jesus says in verse 13 again, making the word of God of no effect by your tradition, through your traditions.
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How in the world can mere men make the word of God ineffectual by their own traditions?
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As if they could do it, if you will, they do it by adding to it, adding to the word of God and thus rejecting the word of God.
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When we bring first and foremost and fundamentally our own traditions into the pulpit, when you as the people of God simply rest in that and say, well, it's okay because he's a nice fellow.
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It's okay because he says a lot of good things. It's okay because from time to time we do hear the word of God.
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No, no, no. People often say, well, God said it.
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I believe it, that settles it. Folks, it has nothing to do with whether or not we believe it. We need to tell our pastors and pastors need to tell themselves and pastors need to tell other pastors that it's not first and foremost about how you say what you say and even if your people believe it to some degree, what's fundamental is that you give them the word of God, is that you give them what
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God indeed did say, for it's only then when indeed they can believe it.
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Nevertheless, it remains true. They make the word of God without effect by giving traditions, by giving their own words, by giving their own ways of doing things, their own modes, their own projects and so forth that they're trying to bring the people of God to think on.
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They make the word of God without effect. Now, Paul says in Romans 3, verse 3, don't make the faithfulness of God without effect as if you could.
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Romans 9, verse 6, it's not as if the word of God is without effect. There's another passage that we're all familiar with and I'd like you to turn there with me is
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Isaiah 55. I could simply quote this one verse that we're all familiar with, but I want us to look at the passage.
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Some of us haven't done it for some time and it's important that we do so. Isaiah 55, we'll simply read verses 11 and 12.
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As you're turning there, I want to quote Samuel Adams who is the father of the American Revolution. He said, And if we now cast our eyes over the nations of the earth, we shall find that instead of possessing the pure religion of the gospel, again, there's that word pure, this pure religion of the gospel, they may be divided into either infidels who deny the truth or politicians who make a religion of stalking a horse for their ambitions or professors who walk in the trammels of orthodoxy and are more attentive to traditions and ordinances of men than to the oracles of truth.
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Ligon Duncan, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Mississippi, speaks of Mark 7 and he says this, he says,
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It is important to note that Jesus does not critique the Pharisees for being too tied to old -fashioned practices, caring about what the
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Torah says too much or being too nitpicky about God's law. He charges them exactly with this, with ignoring
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God's law and attacking God's law by adding to it. That's what he charges them for and he'll charge us for the same thing if we are not mindful.
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Again, Isaiah chapter 55, you're all there now hopefully, verse 11, we read this prophet saying,
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So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. This the
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Lord declares, It shall not return to me void. It shall not return to me empty.
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Why? It shall accomplish what I please. When I send the word of God out, the word of God will accomplish what
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I please. It'll accomplish what I've purposed. It shall prosper in the thing for which
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I sent it. For you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. The mountain and the hills shall break forth in singing before you.
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And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree.
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And instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree. And it shall be to the Lord, for the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
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And why does all this happen? Why does nature explode with such jubilation?
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Because the word of God goes forth purely. Because the word of God goes forth without our own ways and our own means, our own whims and our own fancies, our own traditions being thrown into the mix.
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Thus nature becomes jubilant. Thus the world stands in revival.
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You ask me, how do we bring revival to our country? How do we bring the people of God to their knees in repentance?
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In every church, in every church that even picks up the Bible, in every church that even reads a passage from the
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Bible, how do we bring revival to this land? We do it by telling the pastors not to mess around in the pulpit, but to preach the word of God.
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It is the one thing that Jesus left with his apostle Peter, didn't he? In John chapter 21, didn't he tell
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Peter, Peter, feed my sheep? He didn't say, counsel my sheep, administrate my sheep, manage my sheep, give my sheep nice stories and nice jokes and illustrations and so forth.
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He said, feed my sheep. And with what are the people of God told to feed sheep with? His word.
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Last passage, John chapter 10. Look with me there. Most of you are familiar with this passage.
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You've looked at it time and time again. But I want you to look at this passage within the context that we're dealing with it here in this conference and in this time together this morning.
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Some of you come from the Roman Catholic Church, I know. And Roman Catholic Church, as you know, confuses these things.
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Confuses these things to such a degree that within their catechism itself, Roman Catholic Church says, sacred tradition and sacred scripture, these two are bound closely together.
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They communicate one with the other for both of them flowing out of the same divine wellspring, come together in some fashion to form one thing and move towards the same goal.
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Each of them makes present and fruitful in the church the mystery of Christ, who promised to remain with his own always to the close of the age.
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Such a thing is heretical. Never do the traditions of men or the tradition of the church, even though the
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Holy Spirit, we realize, of course, has worked through the church down through the ages. Never do the traditions of mere men come to the same place and the same authority as the word of God.
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They do not, they're not bound closely together. They do not in some fashion form one thing.
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The word of God is primary. And that is what must be preached. Keeping in mind what Jesus told
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Peter in John chapter 21, let's look back in John chapter 10 and see what
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Jesus told his disciples here in chapter 10, verses one through six. Most assuredly, truly, truly, barely, barely, amen, amen,
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I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
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But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice.
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And he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them.
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And the sheep follow him and they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him for they do not know the voice of strangers.
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Now we see within this passage and what follows so many tremendous doctrines flowing out of it.
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Those of you who've studied this passage in depth and heard it preached on, see the wonderful assortment of doctrines that we hear from this passage and what follows.
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But let me point out a couple of things here. Jesus says, how do they follow him? How do the sheep follow him out of the gate?
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Why do they follow him? Think back with me to Psalm chapter 23. What does the Psalm say?
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What does the 23rd Psalm say? Someone quote it. The Lord is my shepherd,
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I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures.
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Have you ever thought, and some of you have thought about this since you were a kid hearing that passage and memorizing it.
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Have you ever wondered why it says that he makes me to lie down in green pastures? Why doesn't it simply say he leads me to green pastures as he leads us besides still waters?
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You ever wondered about that? Well, why does it say that he makes us to lie down? It's interesting because right here within John chapter 10,
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Jesus says, they hear my voice. They won't follow the voice of a stranger. They won't follow the voice of a thief, someone who's coming, listen, and think back with me to Colossians, someone who's coming to cheat, someone who's coming to kidnap, someone who's coming to take captive, someone who's coming to carry away his sheep, but they will only listen to me.
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They will only listen to my voice. And Jesus says, they listen to my voice and the way in which the people of God hear the voice of God is not by hearing the voice of a man.
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How ironic, isn't it? It's by hearing the voice of God from his word.
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As we preach the word, as we hear the word, it should be the word.
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St. Andrews, when we stand as Don Kistler and his tradition has always done, when you stand for the reading of the word of God, you sit down for the preaching of the word of God.
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Is the preaching of the word of God to be the preaching of the word of God? Yes, indeed. But there is a distinguishing characteristic from what we are simply reading and what we are preaching.
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Yes, it is a tradition, indeed, that we have that you would stand in honor of the red word, for it is indeed the unvarnished, infallible, inerrant, authoritative word of God from the
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Holy Spirit himself. But when we stop reading and I begin talking or someone else begins talking, it takes on a different form.
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Nevertheless, our preaching and what we do and the reception of that preaching should be the word of God so that we can hear the voice of God, so that we can hear the voice of Jesus, for it is only his voice that will follow.
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I want you to look at something else in this passage. Jesus says that they hear my voice.
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They'll by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him. And they do not know the voice of strangers. They don't recognize it.
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They don't hear it. But back in verse three, Jesus says, I call my own sheep by name and lead them out and enable them.
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Jesus enables his people to come out and to follow him. As he said at the beginning of Matthew, calling his disciples, follow me, at the end of John chapter 21, after he said,
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Peter, feed my sheep, he says, follow me. What does all these things have to do with one another?
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Psalm 23 and John chapter 21 and what we see in Colossians chapter two, not being taken captive, not being cheated by those who come in to steal and to kill and to destroy.
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What do all these things have in common? Simply this, that Jesus Christ is the only one who is able to lead his people.
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He is the only one who is able to bring them out of the gate, out of the sheepfold. He is the only voice that his people will hear and follow.
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And he is the only one who will be able to lead his people out into the pasture and enable them to make them lie down.
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If you will, Jesus breaks our knees. Not only gives us the mind, but he gives us the heart and the ability physically to bend our knees and to lie down and rest in his comfort, in his peace and the assurance that only he can give us.
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But it is Jesus who leads us. He doesn't stand at the back of the sheep, telling them to go forth, saying, you go, but he leads them.
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How many of you have seen the movie, Braveheart? Let me see your hands. Okay, most of you are Christians, that's good.
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How many of you get table talk? Okay, the rest of you aren't going to heaven. But in truth, you need to think about that movie,
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Braveheart, because at one of the last battle scenes, you have Edward, the first Longshanks, if you recall, was with his armies at Falkirk.
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And then you have the brave William Wallace with his armies. Now, there's a striking difference in that scene, in that movie, if you'll notice.
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Edward, the first Longshanks is where in relation to his armies? In the back, that's exactly right.
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And what is he doing to send his regiments and his armies into battle? He's simply raising his hand.
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The archers come and they offer their bows, their arrows to the other side. And he simply raises another hand, another regiment goes forth and so forth, but William Wallace is on the other side.
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And where is he in relation to his armies? He's at the forefront. He's at the outset of his army, leading them into battle.
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Now, in Hebrews, we read something very interesting, a passage that you all know. Jesus is both the author and finisher or perfecter of our faith.
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He's the author. Now, the word used there is an interesting word made up of two words in the Greek, archago.
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We have in English, we have archeology and so forth. Beginning or early things, right?
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Well, the word there can be used in its association with ago, which is I lead or to lead someone.
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Putting these together, it's someone who leads from the beginning, someone who leads from the outset, someone who leads from the front.
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It's used elsewhere in Hebrews and in the New Testament, a pioneer, a captain, someone who goes at the forefront and leads his people.
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Jesus doesn't merely stand back and say, you go, you go, you go, and you go here. He leads us.
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He goes at the forefront. Thus, he leads us beside still waters.
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Thus, he makes us able to bend our knees and to lie down in green pastures.
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That the only way we as the people of God have such assurance and have such comfort and have such knowledge, intimate knowledge with God himself is because we've heard the voice of God himself.
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We've heard the voice of the one whose word makes a difference and is effectual.
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The word of God goes forth, and it does what God intended it for it to do, people.
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It does all that God purposes. There was a young Colombian girl years ago who was given a little
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New Testament by her teacher in school. And she went home, and she began to read this
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New Testament. And one day, as she was reading it, her father came home from work. He was a miner, a mining engineer in Colombia, and he saw her reading this little
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Bible, and he said, you need to put that away. That book is filled with fantasies, stories, and lies, and I don't ever want to see it again.
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The little girl trying to take it into her room and privately read it further day in and day out until one day her father saw her with the
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Bible, and he took it from her, put it in his pocket, as he came home from work that day, went back to work after his lunch break.
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And that day, there was a collapse of the mine. All 31 workers were trapped inside of that mine.
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It took five days for the rescuers to get to those people who were trapped in that mine. And after five days, after they got to that mine, they went to that mine, they went to those men who had died.
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And they found one man who had this little New Testament clasped between his praying hands.
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And as they opened the Bible later and they saw the front page, they saw this little inscription to my daughter, keep reading this book.
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It is life. I will see you in heaven. That wasn't enough.
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They turned to the back of the Bible where you had this little prayer of confession, you know, the sinner's prayer that 90 % of us here prayed.
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And they see that little word there in the little line where the father signed his name, that he trusted
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Christ. But then they turned the page and they found the signatures of every other man who died in that mine.
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Ladies and gentlemen, the Word of God goes forth and it goes forth simply, but it goes forth. And it does what
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God intends for it to do. It converts souls. It changes minds. It transforms our lives.
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And indeed, it transforms all those around us. Let us be so committed to the
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Word of God that we're so committed to it and not to our own traditions, not to our own vain musings and whims and fancies of what we do in this
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Christian life. Folks, our lives as Christians is not first and foremost about this tradition and holding to that tradition so that we can be a good
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Christian and so that the general congregation will like us as being nice people.
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We're converted to know God Himself. And knowing God Himself, we're converted to know His Word. And knowing
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His Word, we will know it forevermore. Let us guard against it for His glory, not for our own.
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Let's pray. Our Father, we ask that we would be mindful of these things.
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I pray for my brothers and sisters who are gathered here this morning, Lord, that they would never forget
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Your Word, that we would dwell on this Word richly, that we would consume it, that it would be a part of who we are, that we would be known as people of Your Word, and that pastors throughout this country and throughout the world would be known as men of Your Word.