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29th of December in the Year of our Lord 2024 - A.M.
All right.
Good Lord's Day. He is risen. All right. We're going to be, well, there's several announcements today. So first of all, we had a plea hearing scheduled for a disciplinary matter, but it is going to be rescheduled due to a family emergency on the, for the person who is involved.
We also have this Thursday, we'll be, the Reese's will be hosting some hospitality for Whiskey and the Word. We're looking at potentially breaking it up into a couple of groups this time, going back to men and women, but we're not quite sure.
We'll get back to you quickly. The monthly council meeting is next Lord's Day. That's the stated usual time on the 5th. We will be reading Exodus 19. We will be singing Psalms 12 and 13. We will have the deacon, Deacon Schaffer will be giving a psalm meditation on Psalm 13 today.
And we will be continuing in the main teaching on 2 Timothy 3. And if you have the, if you don't have the handout, please raise your hand if you need the handout. You got it? Okay. All right. So let's begin with a call to worship.
Please stand for the reading of God's Word. The call to worship is from Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4 through 9. Hear, O Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
And these words, which I command you today, shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house, and on your gates. You may be seated. Let's pray. Father, we come before you and ask that you would cause your glory to be displayed powerfully.
That your name would be holy to us. That we would value you and your glory. That we would seek first your kingdom and your righteousness. And Father, we pray that you would cause your kingdom more and more under the kingship of Christ to be manifest and visible in the earth.
We ask that you would cause the kingdom of grace to grow, to increase, for the government of Christ to be increased in the earth. And we ask that you would cause him to be acknowledged as the king of kings.
That magistrates would bow the knee. We ask that you would cause many men to come, to be quick to run to the temple of God. That they would desire to see the truth and to participate in the ordinances that have been given in your holy word.
Father, we pray that you would cause the church to be matured. To be filled with those who desire to work together. Father, we ask that you would cause an increase of faith and hope and love. That we would be motivated more and more out of gratitude for the forgiveness that we have in Christ.
To see your glory manifest in the earth. Father, we pray that you would cause the law to be useful. That you would cause it to be useful to us. That we would see our guilt and our need of salvation. That you would cause the law to restrain the wickedness of men in the earth.
And that you would cause the law more and more to be useful to us as a lamp unto our feet. We pray that you would give us a heart to promptly and sincerely obey you. Father, we pray that you would bless us with all provision.
That you would give us all of the capital goods and all of the things that are necessary for our immediate consumption. And all of the things that allow us to enjoy the good things of this life that you provide.
We ask that you would give these things to us. And help us to see our children and our wives. And to see our houses prosper with these things. And that we would have the joy of seeing our friends blessed.
We pray that you would cause our daily bread. All the things necessary for us to do all of our duties to be provided for us. Father, we confess that we are breakers of your law. That we are ungrateful.
That we do not glorify you as we ought. We do not search out the knowledge of you as we should. So we ask that you would forgive us. That you would forgive our breakings of your law. And you would forgive our failures to do what you command.
We ask that you would forgive the sin of Adam imputed to us. And that you would do all of this. Looking upon the blood of Christ as a satisfactory payment. Father, we pray that you would look upon us as righteous.
Because of Christ's perfect obedience. Father, we ask that you would forgive these things. And that you would help us to be quick to forgive each other. That you would cause us to look upon each other charitably.
To interpret each other in the best way. That you would help us when we see failings. To be careful to consider if we can cover faults in love. Or whether they are things that must be extirpated. And Father, we ask that you would help us when we do engage in conflict.
And when there are offenses that must be rebuked. That we would be quick to repent. And quick to forgive. Father, we ask that you would help us to be a people who repents biblically. And fully and properly.
And that we would be when we are those who sin. That you would cause us to be quick to go through a full process of repentance. And to search out those that we have offended. Seeking to know what must I do to see things restored.
What repentance is lacking that I might be restored. Father, we pray that you would help us when we are offended. That we would be clear. And not add things beyond what your word requires. That we would be wise to know.
And moderate to exercise our rights. Knowing what the minimums and maximums are. In terms of what we can require of people. To see them restored. That we would not be a foolish people. Who never sees any discipline.
And we would not be an over rigorous people. Who require the maximum of everything all the time. Father, we pray that you would help us to do these things rightly. Father, we know that we are surrounded by temptations and causes for stumbling.
We ask that you would help us to remove those causes. To remove those temptations. To put our lives and time and space and relations in good order. To remove temptation. Father, we ask that you would help us to be strong.
When we confront temptation. When we fail to prepare properly. When we trip over things. Or when we even go headlong into temptation as fools. That you would forgive us. And deliver us from evil. That you wouldn't just forgive us.
But that you would deliver us from the power of evil. Father, we also come before you. Knowing that there are many difficulties and sufferings. In this life that we face. And Father, we ask that you would help us to overcome opposition.
To resist the adversary. To endure. To overcome. Father, we pray that you would help us to deal with various difficulties in life. Mr. Marsh's father, we know, is in trouble with his health. And we ask that you would convert his father.
And that you would heal his father. Father, we pray also for Deanna Parrish. That she would be healed of her sickness. We pray for the Humphreys. And that you would, in particular, bless them with a speedy delivery.
Soon.
And that you would protect mother and child. Father, we ask that you would provide these things. Knowing that you are powerful to give. Father, we ask that you would do this. Knowing that you have the authority to grant.
Father, we ask these things. And we do it publicly. That you might give and get glory for it. Father, we praise you that one of the things we have prayed for. With the healing of my wife. That you have granted.
And we thank you for that. And we give you praise and glory for that. Father, we ask that you would continue to bring glory to your name. By giving lawful answers to lawful prayers. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Please open your Bibles to the book of Exodus Chapter 19. Deacon Rodriguez, please come forward. Please stand for the reading of God's Holy Word.
Exodus Chapter 19. In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day they came to the wilderness of Sinai. For they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness.
So Israel camped there before the mountain. And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel, You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.
Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel. So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. Then all the people answered together and said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do.
So Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you and believe you forever.
So Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. Then the Lord said to Moses, Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes, and let them be ready for the third day.
For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base.
Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow. Whether man or beast, he shall not live. When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near the mountain.
So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. And he said to the people, Be ready for the third day. Do not come near your wives. Then it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunderings and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.
And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
And the Lord said to Moses, Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the Lord, and many of them perish. Also let the priests who come near the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them.
But Moses said to the Lord, The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you warned us, saying, Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it. Then the Lord said to him, Away, get down and then come up, you and Aaron with you.
But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest he break out against them. So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them. Please open your Psalters to Psalm 13.
Deacon Walker.
Psalm 13, to Chief Musician, a Psalm of David. How long, Lord, will you forget me? Will it be forever? Oh, how long will it be that you will hide your face from me? How long will my soul take counsel, having sorrow in heart?
How long will my most bitter foe exalt himself over me? Oh, Lord, my God, please consider, and so then hear my cry. Enlighten my eyes, lest the sleep of death overtake me. And should my enemy now say, I have prevailed against him, and should those who now trouble me rejoice when I am moved?
I have all my confidence set firmly on your mercy. My heart within me will rejoice in your great salvation. I will now surely sing aloud my praise unto the Lord, because the Lord has dealt with me in a bountiful way.
You may be seated.
All right, Psalm 13. So Psalm 13 is colloquially known as the How Long Psalm. So it's a Psalm that those who seek the Lord will understand more and more as they progress through their Christian life. When undergoing trials of various types, we may cry out, how long?
And this is the Psalm for those times. So the outline of this Psalm, in our Psalter, there are six metrical verses, and it's really three pairs of two. So metrical verses one and two are expressing anxiousness.
Three and four are expressing David's prayer. And five and six are expressing David's expectation. So let's look at the first part about expressing this anxiousness. So metrical verse one, how long, Lord, will you forget me?
Will it be forever? Oh, how long will it be that you will hide your face from me? So how long is an interesting phrase. So for any of us, how long could just be an expression of impatience? Like, how long is this gonna go on?
And while the Lord often does use trials to teach us patience, to wait on him, the cry of how long can also become a statement of grief rather than just simple childlike impatience. So it's how long must I wait in this line versus how long must the wicked rule over us?
So David asks, will it be forever? And of course, it's not going, the all-knowing God has not totally forgotten us, cannot forget us. But he can withdraw a blessing for a time. And for the elect, that is a terrible feeling.
And David goes on to explain that in the next part of the verse. So metrical verse two, how long will my soul take counsel having sorrow in heart? How long will my most bitter foe exalt himself over me?
So David is expressing here one of the most troubling aspects of being in sorrow. At times, not only are we in sorrow, but our foes are joyful at our sorrow. And so that temptation there is to further respond with ungodly wrath or despair.
And the enemy takes joy in seeing the righteous distraught. The enemy takes their joy in that. What else, though, do they have to take joy in? And this is where David finds himself. So from here, we move to David's prayer.
This is the second of the three parts of the psalm. So metrical verse three, O Lord, my God, please consider, and so then hear my cry. Enlighten my eyes, lest the sleep of death overtake me. So when we find ourselves distraught, our first turn should be to the Lord.
David cries out not initially for removal of the trials, but to enlighten his eyes. So for King David, he's likely referring both to physical death, to be spared from it in this circumstance, but he's also calling out for the enlightening of his mind, his understanding, so that he would not give way to despair.
And that's what we need to remember. Without the Spirit upholding our minds, we will give way to utter despair. The second part of his prayer, And should my enemy now say I have prevailed against him?
And should those who now trouble me rejoice when I am moved? So this part of David's prayer is for God's glory. He's asking God to not allow, to disallow, the wicked to prevail over him, not simply for his own benefit, but he doesn't want them to be able to rejoice in defeating the righteous.
He's asking God to display his glory by saving David in this. And that's what God does. Christ was not defeated. God's people will not be defeated. They will endure much, but not ultimate defeat. And we now move into the final portion, which is looking at David's expectation.
So he says, I have all my confidence set firmly on your mercy. My heart within me will rejoice in your great salvation. So David displays his understanding of the Lord by stating what he believes will happen.
He begins by saying that despite all the trouble, he has no doubt that salvation will come. And that's what we should remember in our own trials. Our Savior has come. King David was looking forward to what we already have.
And he ends his prayer with, I will now surely sing aloud my praise unto the Lord, because the Lord has dealt with me in a bountiful way. So David finished the psalm on a very different note than it began.
From how long, how long, to the Lord has dealt with me in a bountiful way. The salvation was greater than imagined. And this is what the psalm helps us to see. Trials are difficult, but trials are temporary.
They're temporary. We will see salvation. It is glorious. And God's salvation is permanent. So Psalm 13, the how long psalm, is for when we're enduring a trial. We can use the psalm to sing. We can reflect on its meaning.
And it addresses our feelings in the situation. It gives us a form of prayer to the Lord, and also what we can expect to have happen. Any comments, questions, or objections? Thank you.
Please stand for the singing of Psalm 13. Psalm 13, to the chief musician, a psalm of David.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. How long, Lord, will you forget me? Will it be forever? Oh, how long will it be that you will hide your face from me? How long will my soul take counsel, having sorrow in heart?
How long will my most bitter foe exalt himself or me? Oh, Lord, my God, please consider, and so then hear my cry. Enlighten my eyes, lest the sleep of death overtake me. And should my enemy know, say, I have prevailed against him.
And should those who now trouble me rejoice when I am moved. I have my praise unto the Lord, because the Lord has dealt with me in a bountiful way.
Please open your Bibles now to 2 Timothy 3, starting at verse 14. 2 Timothy 3, starting at verse 14. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for 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 complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom. Preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables.
But you be watchful in all things. Endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. You may be seated. The text that we have just read is a text that emphasizes to you not only that the Scriptures are the Word of God and that they are sufficient, but they also emphasize to you what ought to be taught by teachers.
And therefore it provides for you a rubric to judge teachers. There is a great temptation amongst teachers to scratch the ears of the people that hear them. There is a desire in the hearts of men to receive praise from men.
There is a desire to entertain. There is a desire to give things that people will find interesting and comment upon. There is a desire to get men to praise the teacher. And on the part of those who listen, there is a desire to be entertained.
And a desire to find teachers who will entertain. And so there is a need for teachers to be courageous, to speak the Word of God in the face of opposition, to speak the Word of God when what it says is unpopular, to speak the Word of God in its whole counsel, and to not skip over things and to not choose to not deal with things as they come up in the Scriptures.
There is a need to give the whole of what has been given. The whole counsel of God. And there is a need for those who listen to develop a discerning taste. To develop a competency to judge. To tell light from darkness and bitter from sweet.
There is also a need as you deal with the world to know what they need to hear. And a need as you engage with other Christians to know what things they need to hear. And so the Scriptures are that. And we must have a high view of Scripture.
And that high view of Scripture is not merely that the Scriptures are the Word of God, and not merely that they are therefore infallible and the truth itself, but that the Scriptures are the whole of the truth that is available to us with certainty until Christ returns.
Certainty is a very important thing. If something's infallible, you can be certain that it is right. Certainty, that the Scriptures teach a thing and therefore that it is true, is a valuable commodity.
The Scriptures provide for us the Word of God and therefore provide us with certainty of what is revealed. And as you try to engage with certainty and engage with the idea of locking things down, there's a tendency to view detailed reasoning and careful argumentation and the details of disputes as tiresome or boring.
Beloved, the way you go from merely hearing sermons and thinking, did I enjoy it or not? To instead transitioning to, that was good and it nourished my soul. The way you go between the two is by thinking deeply about the content.
And when you think deeply about the content, if you hear the same pavlum over and over again, put in nice and flowery words, you will begin to despise that shallow and profligate teaching. But if you love the truth and recognize that God is infinite and there is an infinite amount to learn about Him, you will love it when depth is sought.
And that rather than merely the entertaining points, instead those things that are necessary for stability are provided. The difference between having right opinions and having knowledge that you are certain about is the ability to prove it.
How valuable is it to be able to prove a thing? The value of it is that you can nail it down so that when the winds come it doesn't just blow over the side of the ship. When you nail it down, it doesn't move around.
When you nail it down by argumentation, it's stable. Beloved, we emphasize much here at Puritan the need to do private worship and family worship. It is possible to do that in a shallow way. Now, it's much better to go from no worship to a shallow worship.
No worship, far worse. But when you have been in the kiddie pool for a while, it is valuable to learn to swim. And so the way that you go to a deeper worship of God beyond just singing a psalm, reading a text, and praying is to think about the text more deeply.
To not just think, I'm not sure what this says, but it said something. To going, I don't know what this says, let me try to think about what it actually means. Let me have certainty about the interpretation.
Let me dig into it. Let me think about it. In family worship, it looks like talking with the members of your family about it. That's called holy conference. That's sort of a meditation out loud. If you have small children, well, the kiddie pool is for kids, right?
So if you have small children, of course you're going to provide for them the children's pool. They're children. So I'm not rebuking you with small children for having a shallow family worship and building the habit in there.
You have to judge your children, build the habit. Five minutes is the great start to going from zero to five minutes. The point is that when you are by yourself or when you're with your wife, then you really must think more deeply.
And you must recognize I don't know what this text means. And I need to figure it out. When you run into stuff and you have no idea what it means or you're not certain about it and there's multiple possible interpretations, the way you wrestle with God is by reading it, carefully considering it, studying, looking at what other godly people have said, to try to get help on that argumentation.
You pray for understanding. And if you can't figure it out, come to your pastor. Come to your deacons. Come talk to somebody about it and seek help with it. When you're meditating, when you're thinking deeply, it generates questions.
One of the symbols of thinking deeply is having questions. One of the signs that manifests itself is having questions. Think about that. When you've studied hard and you've had significant growth in your life before, didn't you have lots of questions?
Nailed it. So that idea that when you're growing, that there's a need to get questions answered, that reality, it's not just that asking questions means you're growing, but if you're growing, you'll have questions.
And so there's a need to get questions answered there. So as you study, questions come up. Questions generate questions as you get them answered. People stop asking questions when they start to feel like searching for answers is fruitless.
There's a great value to asking questions if you get useful answers. And so this idea of the need to get questions answered as you study. So this certainty, this ability to grow, is something I want you to see the value of.
Chapter 3, verse 14 says, But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you've learned them. We talked about this before. Who did Timothy learn it from?
He learned it from God. God is the teacher. And that from childhood, you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Faith in Christ Jesus makes you wise for salvation.
And we learn from God both in the terms of His Word, the Scriptures, but also in terms of the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit to teach. So those are things we talked through before.
Now, I want to move with you.
To the next page here. Actually, look at the bottom of page 2 of the outline. I want to remind you of this because there are so many people that claim to be even Reformed who will deny what at the bottom of the page is said in Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 1, section 6.
The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life is either expressly set down in Scripture or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of men.
This is called the first principle. Let me remind you of something. It's a good thing. It's a thing that's worthy of remembrance. Whatever you prove a thing by, that thing by which you prove is the higher authority.
The thing by which you prove is the higher authority. Is there anything higher than God? Is there anything higher than His Word in terms of how we know?
No.
There is a first principle. That first principle is God's Word. God's Word is the starting point. And we will find this principle repeated in Scripture over and over again. The first principle that we start with is that the Bible is the Word of God written.
And we must begin there and we must know that we learn because God teaches. There are a few things we have to recognize when we talk about the idea of what comes first. When we talk about knowledge, we can become very confused.
Because when we talk about knowledge and how we know things, sometimes we just talk about the experience. You remember times when you learned a big lesson in your life. These are very strong memories for people.
When you had something that was bothering your soul, that was scourging your soul, that you were unhappy about, a problem you couldn't solve, some problem you couldn't figure out, something that troubled you, that thing was a big deal.
And when you got the answer to it, it was very memorable. And you can tell the story. You can say, I remember I was going through my life, this was happening, this was going on, I was being troubled by this, I was thinking about this stuff, and this happened, that happened, and I just was ready to hear.
And this guy came to me, and he was a friend of mine, and he told me blah, blah, blah, and he pointed me to these Scriptures. And I read that, and I remember it was like light shone on me. You've got stories of times where you had some problem and the answer came, and it was like life to you.
Sometimes that's your conversion, going from unbelief to belief. Sometimes it's just some problem you had in the Christian life that you couldn't figure out. And some of those things might even be things you remember from before you were a believer, where you think you got an answer, and then you were disillusioned by something that wasn't from God's Word.
That process is called the psychological process, or your experience, the existential process that you go through. And so when we talk about how do you know, a lot of people give that answer in terms of the experience.
And you need to recognize that your experience is not a reason why you can defend something as true. So when we talk about the Bible as being the first principle, we're not talking about it being the thing that you first experienced that brought you to a knowledge of God.
The other thing we can talk about.
In terms of coming to knowledge,.
Go to page three. We can talk about, if you look at sub-point C, Roman numeral two, we talk about metaphysical causation of knowledge. Metaphysical causation is what are the things that effectually brought something about.
Remember this, God controls everything, so God causes everything, right? We sometimes deal with people in the world who don't believe in God, or they claim to not believe in God, and what do they do? They will claim things like, well, the metaphysical causes of my beliefs are like brain fizz, right?
If my neurons have electrical charges and chemical reactions in a certain way, it causes me to have certain thoughts. Those people think the metaphysical cause of their beliefs are a bunch of atoms and electrons and maybe lipids and quarks moving around, doing stuff.
And so the thought, communism is bad, is really just a certain combination of electrons, protons, and neutrons moving around in a certain way with a certain type of fizz. So that right there, that idea that the metaphysical cause of certain thoughts is a bunch of material interaction is one metaphysical view.
The other metaphysical view you might have is the soul is immaterial. So either the thoughts you have are just material chains of causation, or it's immaterial. And so then when we have this idea of the immaterial thinking that occurs, the Bible teaches, and what we would call the Reformed faith teaches, that the causal chain is ultimately God causes the thoughts.
He turns the hearts of kings wherever he wishes, like channels turn water. So then we have the first one is this idea of psychological or kind of the experience you're running through. The second one would be what are the causes in terms of strict causation in the nature of reality.
And then the other one, the third one, that we're really talking about when we talk about a first principle, we are talking about how do you know? What argument can you give? What are the reasons you would argue for why you believe?
How are you certain of this? And that's epistemological causation. So epistemology is the study of knowledge. When we talk about things being epistemological, we're talking about the rational defense or apologetics, being able to give a defense of why.
Now, sometimes people want to separate logic from the word of God. Well, in the beginning was the logos, and that word logos is the word we translate word, right? In the beginning was the word. Well, in the beginning was the logic.
Logic is a part of words. It's a part of this thinking system. It's the wisdom of God. God is rational. He's eternally rational. His wisdom is eternal. By his wisdom, he created. His word includes logic.
Logic is an attribute of God. He is logical. Logic is the way God thinks. So when we think about how do we know, we know that God doesn't contradict himself. The scriptures cannot be broken. God is a God of truth and not a God of lies.
He speaks the truth. He cannot lie. For that to be true, there has to be something there metaphysical. The very nature of God is such that he can't lie. If he says the thing, it's true. When he speaks, worlds are made.
You might go, there's not a world there.
Yes, there is.
When he says it, it's true. So when we are thinking about how do we know, we come back to what God has said and reasoning from it. And meditation is thinking about the meaning of God's Word and the reasons why we are certain that what it says is rightly understood and is true.
Now, the Word of God.
Is the cause of our knowledge in terms of how we know. And we don't start with something else. We start with that the Bible is the Word of God written. And it's a defensible position because the denial of it leads to absurdity.
Think about that for a second. When you deny something and it leads to absurdity, it's alternative is false. It's contrary is false. What you're stuck with is this idea of I've got to accept this thing or else I have to be irrational.
So you might say, well, does that mean I'm making logic higher than the Word of God? No, remember, logic is a part of the Word of God. When you use logic to disprove a thing, you're using the Word of God to disprove a thing.
And so we start with this idea of needing to have a word from God and we are stuck in a place of ignorance apart from it. Here's a part of why. The Bible's the first principle. How many possible first principles could there be?
There's an infinite number of possible first principles. I can start with the first principle, the sky is orange. Sometimes it is. But as a first principle, it's not particularly useful. It doesn't help me to know what's true broadly, or to know what's real broadly, or to know what's good broadly.
We start with the Word of God, and it gives us answers to all of these things. But more importantly than that, if there's an infinite number of possible first principles, then we need someone who already knows to tell us which one's true.
You need a mind that knows everything to know all of the wrong ones and to know the true ones. And so we need a word from God. The probability of you selecting the right one out of an infinite number is 1 over infinity, which means zero.
So you need a word from God. So we're dealing with how do we know, and we must rely upon a word coming to us from a mind who already knows. Go to page 4. This is historically what is taught, the idea that the Word of God is certain and nothing else is.
Calvin, in his Institutes, has this famous line where he says, look at the top of page 4, nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts. So nearly all the wisdom we possess, and really all of the true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts, the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves.
This is called the double knowledge. The double knowledge is the knowledge of God and the knowledge of self. And when we think about what the Bible teaches, what does it emphasize? It teaches us how to know God, and it teaches us about ourselves, and the law of God teaches us about ourselves, what we're designed for.
So what rule has God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him? This is from the Shorter Catechism. The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.
What do the Scriptures principally teach? The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man. Do you see John Calvin teaching this? Do you see this taught here in the Westminster Standards?
This idea that there's two major areas for our wisdom. The knowledge of God and the knowledge of self. And this is also what's taught in the Scriptures. In Ecclesiastes 12, at the end of the book, Solomon says this is the end of the matter.
This is man's all. Fear God and keep His commandments. John Calvin stole it from God by stealing it from Solomon. The Westminster Assembly stole it from John Calvin who stole it from Solomon who stole it from God.
The wisdom that we have available to us is the knowledge of God and the knowledge of man. And the law of God teaches us about ourselves. Calvin also in the Institute says, it is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he's first looked upon God's face and then descends from contemplating Him to scrutinizing himself.
You don't know who you are until you know God. One of the things that the Institute says that's fantastic is this idea that if you just look around at yourself and go, what about me is better than other people?
Then you say, you know, I'm pretty good compared to other people on the choice places I've chosen to emphasize in comparison to them. Because the darkest brown looks white next to blackness. But when we look upon God, it's like staring at the sun.
And our eyes, all of a sudden, everything else looks like darkness in comparison. The knowledge of God is necessary for us to rightly interpret ourselves. Calvin says also, as long as we do not look beyond the earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue.
We address ourselves in the most flattering terms. But should we once begin to raise our thoughts to God and reflect on what kind of being He is and how absolute the perfection of that righteousness, wisdom, and virtue that formerly delighted us by its false show of righteousness will become polluted with the greatest iniquity.
As we think about God and His holiness, we begin to see ourselves aright. The law of God is a mirror that shows us who we are and it shows us God's holiness. Calvin says, it must be concluded that the Word of God is the source of all wisdom, the fountain of all righteousness, and the treasure house of all knowledge.
Calvin's view of Scripture is the source of all wisdom, and the treasure house of all knowledge. Do you think, historically, it is the reformed view that Scripture is the only rule for faith and practice?
Do you think it is the biblical view that the Scripture is the only rule for faith and practice? Go to page 5. Westminster Confession 1 .6. Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word.
We were just talking about how do you know the reasons? How do you defend it epistemologically? And now we're moving to metaphysics again. What causes it? Do you have the power to argue men into having faith?
You do not. God takes the words, whether you argue well, or whether you argue poorly, and He does with them what He will. The Word of God does not return void. It always accomplishes the purpose for which it was sent.
It either softens and enlivens, or it deadens and it hardens. But God always does what He wants in the heavens, in the earth, and in the seas. He always accomplishes what He wants. I have a bunch of Scriptures here about illumination.
And I've put these before you a few weeks in a row. And the reason I'm doing that is I'm repeating for you, having those before you, because it's important. Because we are all inclined to worship ourselves and think, I am so smart, I have the power to figure it out.
The race of man delights to think that it is wise and smart and can figure it out. We need the work of God.
To give us wisdom.
We need the Word of God to give us wisdom. And we need the work of God in our hearts to give us wisdom. One of the glorious promises of the New Covenant is, I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they all shall know Me. You go, well, what are you doing up here yelling at us still then? Well, the result is going to be that God is going to use my inept communicating to write His law on your hearts.
Matthew 23 .10 And do not be called teachers, for one is your teacher, the Christ. Beloved, I'm mainly citing that right now to remind you, if you haven't read of The Teacher by Augustine,.
Do.
Get a copy. I think we have other ones. It's the little blue book. It's 30 pages of Augustine talking about the Holy Spirit being the teacher. Get it. Go through that. Meditate on it. So the rest of these things are all things that teach the power of God to illuminate hearts.
And I have the quotes there from Augustine again that I've given to you a few weeks in a row that are there. And now, go with me to page 6. The beginning of knowledge. These verses, beloved, have these stored up in your heart.
And do not let yourself be deceived about where knowledge comes from. Proverbs 1 .7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
Proverbs 9 .10. Which is the knowledge of God and of His law. The knowledge of what's good and how to get what's good. So those things there. So now, if we deal with the knowledge of God, the beginning of knowledge is the fear of God.
That means the beginning of knowledge and the beginning of wisdom are the same thing. Nobody has knowledge unless they have wisdom. Nobody has wisdom unless they have knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
When we talk about the fear of the Lord being the beginning of knowledge, that's true from an argument standpoint. You start with, once you know God, you then are able to know more. The knowledge of God is the starting point.
Unless you already understand who God is and believe in the God of the Bible, you're not going to believe that the Bible is the Word of God and you're not going to have a justification for it. God causes you to understand Him and causes you to know Him.
That's the starting point of your knowledge in terms of the defense. You start with the knowledge of God and His Word. Metaphysically, this is true, because God causes you to believe the knowledge of Him and it results in the rest of knowledge.
It's a metaphysical chain in terms of causation. And it's true experientially or psychologically in your life. You were going along not knowing your right hand from your left until God gave you the knowledge of Himself.
So this is true from an argumentative standpoint, from a metaphysical standpoint, and from experience of your life. So people want to talk about, well, what about Romans 1 and other passages like Psalm 19 that talk about this idea of general revelation.
The larger catechism in question 2 deals with that too. It talks about the appearing that there is a God. The very light of nature in man and the works of God declare plainly that there is a God. But His Word and Spirit only do sufficiently and effectually reveal Him unto men for their salvation.
The purpose of general revelation is to make men inexcusable. It's to make men inexcusable. And it's an appearing. It's not something that men can justify. Men have in themselves contradictory thoughts about the attributes of God, and they give those to other things.
This is important that you get this. Men have things like eternality and righteousness and purpose in their minds. And they make judgments about these things. And they apply moral authority to things like Vox Populi, Vox Dei.
They'll say the voice of the people is the voice of God. How do I know right and wrong? From culture or tradition or my society or my parents. Do you know what you do when you say that? When you say I know right and wrong because my society or my parents or my culture say so, or the government has made it lawful.
You've made those things God. If you say what's eternal? You think the universe is eternal. You think Jupiter, whether the god of the planet you pick, is eternal. Whichever one, if you make it eternal, you've made it God.
These things, as you misapply moral reasoning and misapply metaphysical reasoning, we make things into false gods and we condemn ourselves. That's not knowledge. That's a basis for inexcusability. It's not knowledge in the strict sense.
It's information that's manifest in the mind. It's an appearance to us. It's not something we can give a justification for. And we can't do it because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
And the fear of the Lord is also the beginning of wisdom. Until you have wisdom, you don't have knowledge. Men are blind until God makes them see. Men are dead and futile in their thinking until God gives them life and utility.
When people go through the Westminster Standards and try to take the term the Word of God and make it mean whatever they want, remember that it defines its own terms. Larger Catechism. Question 3 says, What is the Word of God?
The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God, the only rule of faith and obedience. Whenever the Westminster Standards refer to the Word of God, they always, every time, mean the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.
They define their own terms. They're not playing around. It's Question 3. It's not hidden away. It's not tucked away. It's not hard to find. If you can read, you probably make it to Question 3. Question 4.
Go to page 7. How does it appear that the Scriptures are the Word of God? Notice appear again. How does it appear that there is a God? How does it appear that the Scriptures are the Word of God? This isn't proof.
This isn't proof. Appear doesn't mean proof. Because there's no proof higher than the Word of God. How does it appear that the Scriptures are the Word of God? The Scriptures manifest themselves to be the Word of God by their majesty and purity.
Do you think the Westminster Assembly is arguing that majestic style proves something is the Word of God? Did they think Handel's Messiah was going to be the Word of God? What things do they think are majestic enough to prove that?
They don't believe this is proof. They believe this is an evidence that brings it to a human mind. Not a proof. By the consent of all the parts. That's necessary. If the Word of God contradicts itself, then it can't be true as a system.
And the scope of the whole. What does it address holistically? Which is to give all glory to God. It all points to a common direction. By their light and power to convince and convert sinners. To comfort and build up believers unto salvation.
But, here's a metaphysical cause. The Spirit of God bearing witness by and with the Scriptures in the heart of man is alone able fully to persuade it that they are the very Word of God. This is metaphysical causation.
But also the witnessing by the Word is epistemological. Now we've got these terms. You've got to be clear on these. These are important if you want to have depth of understanding. Epistemological is the way you argue.
Metaphysical is the chain of causation. And psychological is what you experience. What you're going through. The stuff that runs through your mind and where you are in life. The Word of God is the epistemological first principle.
The Holy Spirit illuminating is the metaphysical cause of you believing. And the stuff you're going through in life is God preparing you to hear or preparing you to be hardened. Whichever one He wants.
Now, He can overcome the most hardened man. He can take a man who's persecuting the church and convert him on the spot like Paul. Paul was very hardened against the Lord Jesus Christ and the church. And when God makes a man very hardened against His truth and then converts him suddenly, He's making a powerful show of His conquest.
Other times, He takes men and gradually brings them to more and more submission. And in that case, He's making a show of His patience. He shows His attributes differently in different people's lives. And when He brings men to bow, He displays different things in the different ways He does it.
And when He causes men to stiffen their necks and jut their jaws and raise their heads in arrogance against Him, He shatters them. And He does it to display not only can He see through all of the hypocrisy, but He can destroy every arrogant thing that raises itself up against the knowledge of God.
God uses everything and every reaction for His glory. Men are sometimes dissatisfied with the effectiveness of the Word of God. Maybe if I had a different argument, a different mechanism, a different lullaby to lull men, a different trumpet to sound, we could win more people.
The Scriptures are the thing that the heralds are called to herald. If you herald something else, you're serving a different God. What you win men with, you win men too. My desire is to win men with the Word of God to the Word of God.
We are Puritans. If we wanted to just get a crowd together, we wouldn't have started off as Puritans. There are easier marketing methods with higher conversion rates. The label Puritan is a label that is meant to make men who do not want to serve the God of the Bible.
It's to make them run away. To save ourselves. The horrors of having to do battle with people we covenant with and we pour out our lives into and give our resources and care to to prevent them from coming in and then clawing out our eyes.
The label is meant to make it easy for the buyer. If they want to buy wisdom, we will offer it. If they want something else, there are lots of places they can go. The word scripturalist is another way of just talking about Puritanism in doctrine.
Are the words of God sufficient for us for life and doctrine? Does man live by other things or does man live by the word of God alone? Man doesn't live by bread alone. And man can live without physical bread if God desires.
He has the power to preserve men without water, without bread, without air. He can take men in the bellies of fish and give them life. The word of God is life. What do the scriptures principally teach?
The scriptures principally teach that man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man. If you say you can get the knowledge of God outside of the scriptures, then what are the scriptures for?
If you can get the knowledge of His law outside of the scriptures, then what are the scriptures for? Why did God waste all the paper? The genocide of trees in the publishing of Bibles that has occurred.
How many thousands of pages and gallons of ink have been wasted if we can go elsewhere to know Him and His law? The scriptures principally teach that man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It's the starting point. It's where it begins in you psychologically and metaphysically. That's the first thing in the chain is the fear of God is given to you.
Page 7 .5. Westminster Confession 1 .6. And that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God and government of the church common to human actions and societies which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence according to the general rules of the word which are always to be observed.
The idea here is that there are some things you have to apply reason to to draw out general principles from the word. We will talk about reasoning from the word in the second service this evening. We will continue through this handout.
Are there any questions or comments from the voting members for those with speaking rights?
Mr. Cordova?
So the question is you've been dealing with people who say you have to read the Bible, don't you? And so if you're going to get knowledge it requires you to use sensory experience, right? And so you're saying how do you argue against that?
And you asked is that by saying that there's a metaphysical chain through the eyeballs but an epistemological reasoning chain in the mind? Is that what you're saying? Okay. I think that's close. The first part.
The metaphysical chain. If a man lays his eyes on the scriptures he opens it up. He reads a passage with his eyeballs. Does that cause him to know? Metaphysically. Are there people who have opened up the scriptures and looked on the pages with their eyeballs and not understood them?
Are there people who are literate who have not understood them? Are there people who are literate who have understood them who haven't believed them and therefore don't know them?
Yeah.
It's not the looking with the eyes or the hearing with the ear that is the metaphysical causal chain. It is the inward work of the Holy Spirit who goes where He wishes and cannot be seen but the signs of His activity are present.
It's the new birth and it's sanctification which man has no power to generate. We have no metaphysical capability of converting men and we have no metaphysical capability of bringing sanctification in ourselves or anybody else.
That.
That's the thing that people don't get. And I want you to get this, guys. The belief that you get knowledge through your experience is inherently Arminian. That's why Thomas Aquinas and other people who want to make man the center thing believe that salvation comes from themselves and their own merit and they also believe that there is this capability to get knowledge in terms of their own analytical capacity as opposed to saying God sovereignly brings it.
The Augustinian view of illumination that you can't make yourself learn and you can't make someone else learn. The book of Jeremiah makes a lot more sense when you believe that. He had to go and talk to people and tell them over and over again things they rejected.
And Isaiah was told you're going to go and preach and they're going to not believe you. Those things. It's not that Isaiah wasn't trained on Finney's models of revival. And it's not that Jeremiah was lacking a good enough worship band.
The issue was that God predestined their words to harden men. Okay, so that. Does that make solid this idea the eyes don't bring the knowledge?
Yes.
Okay.
Thank you.
So it's not a metaphysical causal chain. Of the photons hitting the page and bouncing into my cones and rods in my eyes that brings knowledge. That's not the metaphysical chain. That's an occasion. It's an ordinary means that God can use and can also use to harden.
That's the thing. When we talk about outward and ordinary means this is the historic reformed view. The outward and ordinary means the external stuff that we experience can be used to bring conversion and sanctification or it cannot and God sovereignly determines it.
Okay, thank you.
Mr. Nye, you had your hand up. Yeah, and it becomes knowledge after you're converted. General Revelation becomes knowledge after you're converted. And the content of General Revelation is contained in the Bible.
Romans 1 explains General Revelation. So I can be certain that the eternal power and divine nature of God are a part of General Revelation. And I can prove those things and I can show the denial of them to be absurd.
It's knowledge now. There's General Revelation and I know it. Why do I know it? Because I was converted and because I can show it in the Bible. And I can also go and confidently say every man has this information in their minds because the Bible tells me so.
Does that make sense?
Okay, anything else?
Let's pray. Father, we thank You that You are the one who is sovereign over knowledge and we ask that You would teach us. We ask that You would enliven us. We ask that You would quicken us. We pray that You would give to us a deep knowledge of Yourself.
Father, we know that the beginning of knowledge is the fear of You. That we cannot know anything without the knowledge of You. And Father, we know that there is nothing able to give us knowledge apart from Your Word and Spirit.
Father, we ask that You would give us knowledge. That You would use the preaching of the Word, the reading of the Word, the singing of the Word, and You would cause it to not be the mere pounding of the ears with sound, but that You would cause it to be used effectually by the power of Your Holy Spirit to give us knowledge and to cause us to bear fruit.
I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ.
Alright, I think we have Psalm 12. Please stand. Psalm 12. To the chief musician on an eight-stringed harp. A psalm of David. Remember, whenever you see anything about musical instruments in the worship of God, you're dealing with the public worship and the sacrifices, so it should remind us of the sacrifices and their meaning and the fact that Christ has paid for us as the ultimate sacrifice.
And it's to the chief musicians. We're talking about the leader of the Levitical choir. So again, public worship. The psalm of David. Help, Lord, because the godly man he daily fades away. And from among the sons of men the faithful disappear.
They speak to neighbors idly. Each one speaks vanity. Yes, with their lips of flattery and double hearts they speak. May the Lord cut off flattering lips and the proud tongues which say will with our tongue prevail our lips are ours.
Who's Lord over us? Because the poor are sorely pressed because the needy sighs to give the safety they desire our Lord says, I'll arise. The Lord's words are indeed most pure. They are like silver tried in earthen furnace seven times that has been purified.
Lord, you shall preserve and keep them forever from this age. The wicked prowl on every side and vileness is esteemed.
Help, Lord, because the godly man he daily fades away. And from among the sons of men the faithful disappear. They speak to neighbors idly. Each one speaks vanity. Yes, with their lips of flattery and double hearts they speak.
May the Lord cut off flattering lips and the proud tongues which say will with our tongue prevail. Our lips are ours. Who's Lord over us? Because the poor are sorely.
Pressed because the needy sighs.
The Lord's words are indeed most pure. They are like silver tried in earthen furnace seven times that has been purified. Lord, you shall preserve and keep them forever from this age. The wicked prowl on every side and vileness is esteemed.
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.
