Does The Bible Teach "Scripture Alone" (Sola Scriptura)?

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Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel.

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So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. If you would, turn your Bibles to Matthew, Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 15.

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Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 15. Just one of a few texts we're going to be examining today.

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So as you get there, I wanted to do, we, the elders, wanted to do some messages as you prepare for our study through Philippians on important issues in terms of body life and our life as believers.

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Just practical, very important foundational truths and issues we wanted to explore.

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And so as we prepare to get into Philippians, I really felt that this is a particular truth that needs to be examined and understood by all of us.

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This is not simply an issue, sola scriptura of high theological thinking, something way out there, like sola scriptura, philosophically speaking, and it's way out there.

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And, you know, if you're reading Bovink, it gets deep and it gets heavy and all the rest. And some people might say, well,

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I'll check out, I accept the truth. This is something that meets us at every moment of every single day.

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This particular truth, sola scriptura, is really the foundation from which everything else in your theology comes from.

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Sola scriptura, it's the ground, that truth that holds everything else up. This is not simply something that's for the theological debate in terms of Roman Catholicism versus Protestantism or reform theology.

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The truths underneath sola scriptura really go into all aspects of life and in sanctification, the issues of how we live and move in this world today in our communities, issues regarding the state and its power, philosophical issues between Christianity and atheism.

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All issues come really down to the truths contained within sola scriptura.

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So this is something that will meet all of us every single day in every aspect of our lives.

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So it's a very important truth and a particular text to start with today, just to give some footing here is the gospel according to Matthew chapter 15.

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It's a controversy between the Lord Jesus and the Pharisees and scribes, and it has to do with something that would be seen essentially as a divine tradition handed down.

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It was authoritative. You have to obey this. This is the teaching of the elders. You got to obey this.

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This is what the church has taught essentially in the Jewish church of that era.

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And so this is how the Lord Jesus handles a controversy between a tradition of men and the word of God.

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How do we test? How do you know what's ultimate? So Matthew chapter 15 verse one here, now the words of the living and the true

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God, then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders for they do not wash their hands when they eat?

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He answered them. And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition for God commanded on to your father and mother and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.

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But you say, if anyone tells his father or his mother, what you would have gained from me is given to God.

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He need not honor his father. So for the sake of your tradition, you have made void the word of God.

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You hypocrites. Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me in vain.

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Do they worship me teaching as doctrines, the commandments of men, as far as the reading of God's holy word, let's pray together.

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Father, I pray. Please bless today, Lord. I'm not worthy to be up here teaching this and I only cling to Christ and this glorious and amazing truth is something that your people need to know and understand.

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So I pray that you'd work through a jar of clay, like me, teach your people, Lord, use this message from your word to firm up our commitments to your word, to your voice as the center, as the reference point, as the foundation, help us

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God guard us from error in Jesus name. Amen. Pastor James is talking about how he will look at me and from the from the congregation and give me that it is hard.

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I will say having your teacher and your hero and your mentor always sort of sitting there watching you in the front row as you're teaching.

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It's really not fair, but there's another flip side to that coin because he's my teacher, my mentor, my hero of the faith and all the rest.

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If anything is wrong and when I'm teaching, you can blame him. So, so there you go.

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I want to talk about this day. I know this is a condensed thing here. We're doing a standalone message on a very important subject.

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Now, there are a lot of resources that you need to have in your library on this subject.

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And I really hope that you get them because you need to have this particular truth, this pillar holding everything up.

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You need to have it in your mind and your heart. You need to know why you need to know where, where does it say that in the

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Bible? How do I know that this is true? This particular truth, we need to be ready to defend.

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And I will say die for, yes, this is one of those truths. Some truths are peripheral truths or doctrines or things we can argue over as Christians.

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They're not things that you want to cut your brother or sister's throat on, cut their legs off. You don't want to destroy your brother and sister over.

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There are certain things that we want to hold with a very loose grip. This is not one of those things.

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This is a truth you must be willing to die for. Sola Scriptura. Scripture alone is the sole infallible rule of faith and practice for the church.

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It's very important to know this truth. Again, why do we believe it? Where does it say that?

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Now I'm going to talk about the importance of this particular study. Again, single standalone message, so much.

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Get these books into your library, Sola Scriptura by Pastor James White. There's another book. It's very good.

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A lot of different essays in the book. It's, I think it's called Sola Scriptura. Dr. White has an essay in there. R .C.

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Sproul, just a bunch of guys. Very important. You need to get William Webster and David King's three volumes set on Sola Scriptura.

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There's a biblical defense of it. There's a historical overview of the doctrine itself in history.

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Three volumes set. Have it in your library. Take your time. So again, one standalone message is not enough to do justice.

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So I want to do a smattering of things and talk about the importance. Where does it say that? All the rest.

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But it's important because we need to not assume that everyone knows or understands this doctrine.

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So we talk about reform theology. We talk about the Solas of the Reformation.

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Sola Scriptura is in there. Sola Christus, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Soli Deo Gloria.

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These we say are the five Solas. We say these are pillars. You're going to know these. And we glory in these truths and we ought to glory in these truths because they come from the word of God.

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But I think it's important because, like I said at the beginning of service today, whoever thought that Calvinism would be cool, right?

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Or reform theology would be cool. It's interesting because we have seen over the last decade sort of some moments where this becomes sort of a cultural thing.

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Reform theology, the five Solas who wear the t -shirts. We get the mugs, you know, all the rest.

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It's sort of a movement that's a community and a culture rather than something that's really centered around this.

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Because what God says here and here and here, there was a richness to the Reformation.

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The Christians who were protesting what had happened in Rome and what they were now teaching, they weren't just part of a crew that said, this is my clique.

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We believe these things because we just happen to like these truths. This was deep theology they were doing.

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This was deep, rich, very, very focused theology that they were doing.

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If you read some of the writings and arguments of the reformers at the time when they were debating against Erasmus or any of the best that Rome had to offer, it's hard to follow some of those arguments because they are so rich, so deep, so detailed.

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A lot of times you just get overwhelmed with the wealth of biblical argumentation, logical argumentation, and commitments to scripture.

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It's some deep, deep stuff. But for them, it wasn't the cool clique. It was because this is something you die for.

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Why? Because Jesus taught it. Because Paul taught it. Because Peter taught it.

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This is something that preserves the life and health of the church, the people of God. Not simply because it was a clique or a community or because it was cool or because it was something fancy you put on a t -shirt.

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They weren't marketing this. It was something that came from scripture and it was, again, something worth dying over.

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Now, we need again understand the importance of not assuming that everyone knows or understands this doctrine.

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I was reminded of this fairly recently when we were on our mission to Salt Lake City, Utah. We were there.

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We did, of course, the famous coolant debate with the atheists, which was fun. Dr. White is a little bit crazy, and so he stacks these debates and talks right on top of each other.

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So we had to talk one night with a very well -known Latter -day Saint scholar, and then he had a discussion the very last night with a man by the name of Lee Baker, who was for a long time a well -known name in the ex -Latter -day

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Saint community. He was a Latter -day Saint that converted to Christianity, and almost immediately he was taken as sort of a celebrity and a star.

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He was once a Mormon. Now he denies it. He talks about all the ways that it's wrong and it's false, and he demonstrates that it's false, and now he's a

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Christian. He's a Christian, so he must believe all the things that are fundamental to the

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Christian faith—the Trinity, justification through faith, the importance of Sola Scriptura. And what was clear in that debate is that Lee Baker has now apostatized from Christianity—so from Mormonism to Christianity—to some version of Judaism today.

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And in that debate, it was during the question -and -answer time period. You can go listen to it for yourself. It's on our channel,

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Apologia Studios. When he's questioning Pastor James over the issue of Sola Scriptura, he brings it up and he calls it

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Sola Scripturas twice. So he doesn't even pronounce it properly, but then as he tries to define it, he doesn't really even understand the doctrine itself.

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But he said that he was on a radio program one time as a, quote, Christian, and he was asked to defend the truth of Sola Scriptura.

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Now if he doesn't know it today, 20 years later, he certainly didn't know it then either. So we have to make sure that we understand these truths.

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And it's not simply a cultural thing that you adopt. Same thing happened with this apostate, and that's what he is.

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I don't mean that as an offensive term. It's someone who's left and abandoned their profession of faith in Jesus, an apostate.

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He also didn't understand the Trinity. When he was debating the issue of the Trinity or trying to bring it up against Pastor James in the debate over the text of Scripture, interesting, he was talking about how the

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Old Testament mentions that there is only one God 80 some odd times, over and over and over again, there's only one

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God, there's only one God. And you, Pastor James, you believe in the Trinity. The Bible says there's one

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God. And every Christian in history who knows the doctrine of the Trinity is going, huh?

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That's how you start articulating the doctrine of the Trinity. Monotheism, strict monotheism.

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There is only one true and living God, none before and none after.

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And yet, here's a man who was taken in by the Christian communities in Utah, propped up and said, this man now represents

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Christianity, and he doesn't understand today the doctrine of the Trinity or Sola Scriptura.

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Didn't understand it. So the question has to be asked, do you understand these truths?

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Do you know why you believe them? Do you believe in just because when you came into church, when you got saved, you heard people talking about, we believe the

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Trinity. So you said, okay, great. We believe the Trinity. Do you believe Sola Scriptura because you came to a reformed church and you said, this is cool.

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I like this. And apparently beer for the young wrestlers and reformed.

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And so Sola Scriptura, believe that. Great. Sola Grantia, don't quite know how to pronounce that, but got that too.

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So fine. Got the five solas, put it on the t -shirt. I've adopted it. That's not why we believe these things.

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I believe in Sola Scriptura because Jesus did. I believe in Sola Scriptura because that's what the apostles held to.

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I believe in the Trinity because the Bible teaches it not because church history shows that the

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Christian church has always held up the doctrine of the Trinity and fought against error with the Trinity and all those things.

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And that's the, the essential part of Christian faith and confession that God is triune one

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God, eternally existent three persons, father, son, and Holy spirit. We don't believe the

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Trinity because of the church simply declaring by their own authority. This is the truth.

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We have to believe in the Trinity because God says in his word. Now there are a myriad of voices, a lot of voices every single day we're going to come into conflict with.

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So who are you going to believe? You're going to believe Joseph Smith. He claims God spoke to him.

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How do you know that God didn't speak to Joseph Smith? How about Charles Taze Russell?

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How about judge Rutherford that wants to have Bible and track society? How about Islam? Is Muhammad a prophet or no?

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How about Roman Catholicism? Have you read the council of Trent? They make specific declarations about justification.

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Are they right? Are they wrong? Was that official apostasy for Rome or are they right?

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How do you know? There's a myriad of voices. When you listen to Eastern Orthodoxy today, popular movement of people departing to Eastern Orthodoxy, not understanding many times as you listen to them, these particular truths from scripture, a myriad of voices, or how about we go to other elements?

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Cause we get the religious claims, right? We talk about a Mormonism. We go, okay, get the

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Bible out for that. I understand that scripture is going to refute that. I use the word of God there. Jehovah's witnesses come to your door or they're at sky

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Harbor airport. It weird. Um, the other day I was walking through and Jehovah's witnesses.

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I'm like, this is an awesome opportunity. I'm going to be here all the time. Um, Jehovah's witnesses, we get it.

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Get the Bible out to come to your door. I'm ready to go. Islam. We get it. Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy.

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But how about other questions that solo script Torah actually does connect to?

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How about the claims of alcoholics anonymous? How about the claims of alcoholics anonymous?

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Is addiction a disease? Is it merely a brain disease of addiction?

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They make all kinds of claims and alcoholics anonymous solo script Torah does actually relate to that as well.

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Do I listen to the voice of Dr. Bob about addiction ultimately? Or do I listen to the voice of God in his word about our nature?

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What the problem of addiction is? How do we define addiction? How do we get free from addiction? Ultimately, we have to also ask the question related to other issues.

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Like however, like how about the constitution is the constitution ultimate?

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How do we know what's right about the constitution and what may be wrong about the constitution?

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How do we know how to properly define those things? Solo script Torah actually relates to that as well in terms of how do

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I know the truth? What's ultimate? How about the issue related to Roe v.

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Wade? How do we define life? Is it true that we can execute a child in the womb?

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Is that the image of God or no? Do we see that as ultimate or do we obey God rather than men?

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These questions can go on and on, but these do relate to us and they touch every aspect of our lives.

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We need to answer this question of course in two ways. Again, standalone message. I'd love to do this for six weeks, but standalone message.

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We need to answer the question biblically and philosophically, biblically and philosophically.

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Now, a quick definition, if you haven't written it down, if you don't know what a quick definition is, solo script

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Torah is the claim that scripture alone is the soul.

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Listen closely. Very important. Don't lose this because people that apostatize away from the faith and fall into other areas seem to always miss these specific words.

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Scripture alone is the soul infallible rule of faith and practice for the church.

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The soul infallible without error rule of faith and practice for the church.

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Now, if you've been an apology at church for really any bit of time, you know that an apology at church, we do our catechism every

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Sunday. We're a confessional church 1689 all the way, baby. 1689 London Baptist confession of faith.

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We have a rule of faith that we actually go over every Lord's day before, uh, before the message itself.

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We talk about a catechism question and answer, but we always go back to the scripture and memorize scripture together.

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So we know that there are actually other rules of faith. We use them. The Westminster confession of faith.

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Christians have used in history, the 1689 difference. Ours is better. Um, that was a joke for all the

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Presbyterians in the audience. You know, I love you. Okay. You guys are like, it's better cause you copied it.

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But, um, you also have the apostles creed and I see in creed, you have confessions who

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Christians have rules of faith. So did you hear it? Sola scriptura is the teaching that scripture alone is the soul.

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Listen, infallible without error, rule of faith and practice for the church.

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So here it is ready taking notes. What solo scriptura does not teach us.

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Listen closely. These are important elements to this truth. Sola scriptura does not teach us that there aren't other rules of faith possible.

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Again, Westminster, you've got, um, the 39 articles of faith of the Anglican church when it was doing basically all right.

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And so you see some solid truths in there. You see a rule of faith, their confessions of faith. Again, in history, you've got the apostles creed.

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And I see in creed, all these different creeds that are solid, beautiful, amazing things. And why, or how do you know they're amazing and beautiful and wonderful?

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Cause they're articulated that way because it's historic because the church believed it. You know that it's wonderful because it's based on the truth of scripture, the word of God.

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There can be rules of faith like the 1689 London Baptist confession of faith.

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However, the 1689 London Baptist confession of faith is only true in so far that it actually agrees with the infallible rule of faith, the word of God.

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Now, what is solo scriptura also not teach us. It does not teach us that we can't learn from church history.

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When we say scripture alone, we're not saying as pastor James often says that we have just us and ourselves under a tree with our

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Bible. Nobody else around just us, just me, my own interpretation. This is the only thing, me and the

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Bible. That's not solo scriptura even in history. That's not what Christians have meant by solo scriptura that it's just you and your

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Bible off on your own. And you don't even have the benefit of the church. Don't need the benefit of the church. You don't need teachers.

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That's not solo scriptura. If you believe that scripture alone is the sole infallible rule of faith and practice, then you go to that Bible.

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And what does it say? Jesus did. He created a church. And what did he give? He gave apostles.

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What else? He gave teachers, right? What else? He gave administrators and people who are evangelists and all the rest.

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God gives us the church. He gives you pastors with authority, local authority, not ultimate authority in the church.

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You see that. So when we say solo scriptura, we do not mean, and this is by the way, let's make a confession as people who would be historically called protestants, which is what we are.

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Let's make a confession. People have perverted and distorted this particular doctrine to the degree that you've got people.

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I know people personally who have professed faith in Jesus Christ as savior and Lord. They say that they're saved, but they haven't been a part of a church in 40, 45, 50 years.

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They never crossed the doors. Why? Well, cause all I need is the Bible. That's it.

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Just Jesus, me and the Bible, the word of God. That's it. I don't need the benefit of the church. None of those things. Solo scriptura does not teach that we cannot learn from church history.

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It does not teach that the church is insignificant. We need to remember this.

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We stand on the shoulders of giants, giants, better men and better women than we are.

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And we can learn from church history. And this is a beautiful thing. Please hear me on this.

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It's one of my favorite things, honestly, about the word of God and the church and what takes place in history. So if you've checked out, come back for a minute, cause

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I absolutely love this. I'm thrilled about it. The church is filled with the spirit of God.

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Amen. Yes. Jesus says, I won't leave you as orphans. I'll be with you. He gives us the spirit of God, the spirit of God and dwells us.

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He guides us into all truth. That's the role of the spirit of God. So the spirit of God that Jesus was talking about,

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God, the spirit he's given to the church. He guides the church. He protects the church.

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He convicts the world of sin and righteousness. Holy spirit of God has not left the earth.

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He didn't reappear during the time of the reformation. The spirit of God has been active in the church through its duration, guiding and protecting, teaching and training the church.

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So when we look in history, you're going to see fallible men and women saying some amazingly truthful things through the power and direction of the spirit of God.

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You're going to see inconsistencies. This is really important. Oftentimes you hear people talking about church history and they'll talk about the fathers, right?

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All the church fathers, a second century, third century church father. It's interesting. That was 200 years after Christ.

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That's the church infancy, right? Those are the, we should call them the church babies, right?

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The church history babies, right? If you want to talk about it in terms of like the work of the spirit of God and all that God does is sanctify his church, we need to be cautious elevating church fathers to the status of authority next to the apostles.

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Everyone hear me on that? That is vital. These are fallible men at times who in some places, you'll see them saying things that are glorious, amazing, consistent with Jesus.

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And at other times you'll see the early infants of the church, the church fathers, you'll see them saying things that you're like, okay, that was weird, right?

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So you're going to be cautious, not elevating fallible men to the status of ultimate authority.

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However, we at Apologia Church, we'll hear us often quoting from amazing men of God in history that even died for their faith and the glorious truths that they were reciting at the beginning of the second century.

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It's amazing. It's a blessing. This is one of my favorite things. If you look at the debates taking place in the second century of the church, all right, so not long after Christ died and rose again and ascended and was seated not long after the destruction of Jerusalem.

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If you look at some of the early debates in the infancy of the church, whether it was Christians debating against the

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Gnostics or whether it was Christians debating against the Marcionites or as Christians debating against Sibelius, whatever the case was in the second century of the church,

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I challenge you on this point, when you listen to their debates or watch or read their debates and their defense of the

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Trinity or their fight against Marcionism or whatever the case was,

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I challenge you, would you rather today in the 21st century, would you rather debate alongside, say, a

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James White on the Trinity or a Michael Brown on the Trinity or whatever the case may be, or would you rather stand side by side with Tertullian and do that debate?

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I'll tell you, praise God for his sanctification in the church. Please hear me on this.

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This is very, very big. God, as he gets his people around his word, we get into the word of God and we are sharpened.

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We are challenged because we have gifted teachers. We get powerful insights to the word of God.

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As time goes on, the spirit of God sanctifies, grows the church through the word of God.

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But listen to this, praise God for the heretics in his sovereignty. God allows false teachers and heretics to actually at times infiltrate the church or war against the church.

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And because of that, the church gets around the word of God and we're able to be sharper in our communication of divine truths because of the error.

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So, for example, in the second century of the church, when you see Christians debating, fighting with the truth of the

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Trinity against error like Sabellianism or whatever the case may be, when you listen to their arguments, they're not as sharp or as clear as they were by the time you get around the error of Arius.

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Or the time we are in now, where you have Christians who have the whole history of the church behind us and the church gathering around the

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Bible, we're able to now sharply communicate these truths about the Trinity in a way that is even better than when we were in the infancy of the church.

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So, Sola Scriptura does not teach that we can't as Christians grow on the basis of the word of God, sharper in our communication of the word of God.

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What Sola Scriptura does say? Sola Scriptura does say that the nature of scripture is that it is one.

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God breathed. That is the nature of scripture.

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God breathed. Help me out here now. Where's the verse that says scripture is God breathed?

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Well, I know. Okay. Now look at you guys, fancy apologians. You guys are like, that's Theanoustas, Pastor Jeff. I know that one. I know some

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Greek. Yeah. What is it in Greek? It is what? Theanoustas. And what does it mean? Breathed out by God.

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But what's the, what's the reference? 2 Timothy 3 .16.

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You need to know the reference. 2 Timothy 3 .16. All scripture is

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Theanoustas. It is breathed out by God.

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The picture there is put your hand in front of your face. And as you're talking to your hand, you feel the breath hitting your palm that is breathed out.

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So when scripture talks about the word of God, it says all scripture is

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Theanoustas. It is breathed out by God. So what is scripture? It's from the mouth of God.

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It's God's revelation. It is God breathed. All scripture is God breathed.

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That's the nature of it. How about the origin of scripture? The origin of scripture.

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I want you guys to go in your Bibles and I want you to go to Peter's epistles.

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So number one, we talk about the nature of scripture as God breathed.

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And as you go to your Bibles to, um, second Peter chapter one, second Peter chapter one, you'll see verse 16, very important from the apostle here.

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Chapter one, verse 16, second Peter one 16. For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our

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Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when we received honor and glory from God, the father and the voice was for when he received honor and glory from God, the father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory.

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This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the holy mountain.

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And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place.

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Catch that. What's he talking about? He's talking about the mount of transfiguration. Can you imagine being there for that amount of transfiguration,

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Moses and Elijah show up at Peter saying here, his testimony is this. Look, I was there.

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I was a witness to this. I got to be there and see it. Here's my testimony.

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But what does Peter actually say? He says in verse 18, we ourselves heard this very voice, voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

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And we have here it is the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

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Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man.

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But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the

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Holy Spirit. So here the apostle is comparing his witness on the mount of transfiguration and what he actually saw.

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But he says there's something more sure. What is that? The word of God, which comes from the

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Holy Spirit of God, holy men of God spoke. Some translations say as they were carried along by the

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Holy Spirit. So we know from Paul that scripture is God breeds. We know from the apostle

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Peter that scripture, its origin is from the Holy Spirit of God. People are carried along by the

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Holy Spirit to write or say what they wrote or said. We know that Holy Scripture does say that scripture is the infallible rule.

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It's the infallible reference point for all questions regarding truth. Here it is.

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Are you ready? This is the nuts and bolts of it. God spoke, God spoke.

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That's why I believe it. So I think we're afraid of that today. In my radio debate that I had with Andy Stanley, we were talking about the issues of God's law today in the life of the believer.

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One of the things that was like, um, it was like a quick clip that was passed around a lot.

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Andy Stanley was getting kind of frustrated at a particular point. He wasn't using a lot of scripture to demonstrate his position, but at a particular point he got kind of frustrated.

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He's like, all right, why do you believe? Like, why? Why do you believe what you believe?

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And I said, the word of the living God. He was like, all right, I guess.

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Like, we're afraid to say that today as evangelicals, as Protestants.

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It seems like we're afraid to actually have that as the starting point. Why do you believe what you believe?

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Because God says. Why do you believe that over here in the area of abortion?

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Well, because God says, why do you believe it over here in this area of the religious debate? Because God says, why are you living your life like that as a family?

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Why are you as a husband doing this or as a wife doing that? Why are you doing this? Well, because God says, or how about this?

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Cause we all know it. Moms and dads, parents, right? And you have the kid in front of you.

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They're having a sinful moment. What's the ultimate thing you finally go to? What do you say? Hey, God says, and what's the probably most commonly quoted in the

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Christian household, honor your father and your mother for goodness sakes, right? What do we say every time?

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Because God says, now watch if the child says to you as a parent, right?

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So it's time for a beating. No, I'm just joking. Okay. It's just kidding.

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Okay. We'll edit that out. No, I'm just joking. I mean, a Christian beating, a very loving, a loving, you see their, their heart is connected to their butt cheek.

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And so it goes one direction. Okay. I'm not talking about a real beating, a very

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Christian, loving beating, a gracious spanking. There you go. Okay. Also, why do you spank your kids?

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Because God says, okay. Um, hi, CPS. No, I'm just joking here.

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Um, but you know, that that's, this is where the debate rage rages. I told you, solo scriptura has, has a lot to do with all of not life, not just the debate between us and Rome.

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This has solo scriptura is happening in the moments of the debate with the child, right?

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Stop arguing with me. And they keep coming and you say, honor your father and your mother. Why? Because God says, now that's the end of the debate, right?

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What did I just do as a dad? When my child is in sin, I just appeal to an authority above me, right?

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You see me as an authority right now, but apparently my authority is not doing it for you.

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Right? At that moment, my child was just not that into me. Right? But what do

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I do as a dad? I say, God says, honor your father and your mother, right?

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Love your neighbor as yourself. What am I appealing to? I'm appealing immediately to the ultimate God says, and that is the fundamental thing for believers.

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God says that is the ultimate claim of solo scriptura because God says now just a quick side and we're going to get right to the text here and we're going to do a brief.

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I don't have a lot of verses to give to you today because it's a standalone message, but just as a side to answer some questions, the church did not create the

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Canon of scripture by authoritative declaration. This is important. I know I don't have time to develop this a lot today.

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I just need to say it in the discussion of solo scriptura because it does come up. People talk about solo scriptura.

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Well, you don't have the scriptures except for the church telling you what the Bible is. By the way, that is fallacious and not true.

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That's not how we know what the Bible is or have the Bible. The church didn't create the

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Canon of scripture by authoritative declaration. I don't believe in these 66 books because the church made an authoritative declaration.

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Here's your Bible. You believe that we've created the word of God. That's not how it happened historically.

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That's not what it looked like. Here's the truth. The word of God created the church.

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The word of God created informed the church. It wasn't the other way around.

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The word of God created the church. The church is the passive recipient of God's revelation.

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The church is the passive recipient of God's revelation. Okay. Important. I know

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I can't develop that a lot today. I just needed to say that in this discussion on solo scriptura quick thing.

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Let's do it fast. Go to Genesis where the conflict began, where the conflict began.

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Genesis chapter two and look at verse 15.

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You know what? It's a famous section. Genesis chapter two, verse 15.

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It says, the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

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And the Lord God commanded the man saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but other tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.

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Think about the context for a second, right? God creates all these spectacular things. It's really amazing.

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And I just got to say as a side, I was driving home this week after doing some ministry, um, in the place that should not be named with people who shall not be named.

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Um, pastor James got that. Um, it was Doug Wilson. I love him.

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Um, we were filming stuff up there and I had to drive back through snow, Idaho, Utah, went to salt lake, uh, all the way down.

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And I just have to tell you, there were several times on this drive, which was actually very dangerous and very exhausting, but several times where I had moments where either the sun was coming down or whatever it was doing.

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And I was in these spaces where I was thinking to myself several times, oh my goodness, every day,

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God gives the most banging, amazing, incredible sunsets. It's better than any artists could do.

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And mine that I get to view is in 3d, right? We look at these amazing paintings. Pastor James this week was looking at like Monet or whoever in Colorado.

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He's like, hmm, there's some, hmm, there's beautiful lines. And right. We got people, sorry,

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I'm just kidding. People like people do like, you know, they sit in front of that, you know, sip wine and look at, you know, paintings that go on to the next one.

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And people like put like a banana on the wall and duct tape and $150 ,000 like art. It happens right.

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Weird. I'm like, I am in the wrong job. Right. People can put bananas on the wall and just, it's amazing.

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Okay. Um, that was a joke by the way. Um, but people look at these paintings that human beings create that are just on a canvas and they're just like, it's spectacular.

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It's amazing. The artistry and the skill, but every day you're driving around in God's creation and looking at God's creation, especially these amazing

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Arizona sunsets. It's the most incredible thing imaginable. And it's, you're in it like you're in it.

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It's not just a canvas, right? You're in it. It's all around you and the lights and the purple and, and the green and the red and all these crazy colors.

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And every day God's like, and there's another one and it's no problem. There's another one. Here's this beautiful mountain range and it's all glorious.

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And it's incredible. And all of that, watch God creates all of that beginning of creation.

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It's all amazing and it's huge and it's beyond them. And there are these creatures put in the garden, right?

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And God says, you can do this, but don't do that. And he offers no explanation, right?

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God's not going, um, this, but not that. And he doesn't offer arguments to Adam and Eve, his creatures.

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He doesn't offer arguments. He doesn't appeal to any authority above himself, outside of himself.

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He doesn't say, um, this tree, but not that one because he says, right?

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Because that I do that with my kids. Why do I need to obey you? Because God says, honor your father and your mother.

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I appeal to an ultimate authority outside of myself. When God gave a command in the garden to his creatures, he never appealed to something above himself.

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He said this, but not that. He didn't appeal to the why questions, right?

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Like, well, here's why you don't want to eat of that particular fruit. He didn't say because it tastes bad, right?

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Like here's a, I'm saying this one, but not that one. And here's why it's icky. He didn't do that because it tastes bad.

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He didn't say, well, here's why, because it'll make you fat. Didn't say that either.

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He doesn't appeal to anything like, well, here's why you don't eat of that tree because it's durian fruit and no one should ever eat that under any circumstance.

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If you don't believe me, I dare you to try it. I dare you go to Lili's market and go buy some.

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And I want to hear about it. Make sure you film it. Actually, I want to watch you do it, but God doesn't do that.

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He doesn't say this, but not that because it tastes bad. It'll make you fat. He just says this, but not that the day you do, you'll die.

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What's he saying? He makes a declaration. If you do it, the day you eat of it, you'll die. You'll surely die.

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So this, but not that. And if you do the day you do, you'll die. Now watch the story as it progresses.

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Genesis chapter three. Now what happens? Here's another voice conflicting with God's voice.

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What's God say this, but not that the day you do, you'll die. No appeals above or below or outside.

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No reasons why no trying to rationalize with his creatures to say, you really should believe me because a, b, c, d arguments.

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God says this, that die. And here's what happens. The serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the

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Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

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How does this conflict always begin? Half God said, there you go.

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That's that's what has plagued humanity since the beginning. It is that fundamental challenge to God's word.

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God says this, but not that this is what's going to happen. And here comes the crafty serpent that says what half

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God said. Now, let me, let me, let's, let's, let's examine it. Did God really say let's question, let's challenge that declaration.

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Let's challenge the claim. God said it, but did he really say half God said that?

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Did he really say that? Did God actually say you should not eat of any tree in the garden?

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There's deception happening there. And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the tree of the trees, the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, let's do it.

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There it is. But God said, you should not eat of the, of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden.

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Neither shall you touch it lest you die. And here it is now again, what's plagued us from the beginning half

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God said, and then the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you'll be like God knowing good and evil, very important here in terms of the knowing good and evil part.

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A lot of strange understandings of that particular portion, like knowing good and evil, like then you really get to experience it.

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No, then you'll be like God. You'll be the one that determines what is right.

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And what is wrong. You'll say it. You'll know it. Then that's, you'll know that it'd be your knowledge.

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You'll determine what's right. And what's wrong. God knows that if you do it, then you'll know for yourself, what's right.

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And what's wrong half God said, there's the challenge. Now, here's what I want to ask as you do this, let's think about it now quickly again, standalone message.

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We don't have a lot of time here, but I want you to examine this. How should Eve and Adam have handled this conflict?

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This God says this, but not that you'll die. No reasoning above himself.

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No, trying to give them convincing argumentation, this, but not that I'm God. Here's my word.

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The servant comes in and says, what half God said, God really say that starts to question

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God's authoritative word. And then Satan denies it. You won't die.

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That's not true. God makes the claim die. Satan says, won't die. And Satan says, when you do your eyes will be opened and then you'll know good and evil for yourself.

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Now, how should Adam and Eve have handled that conflict?

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Should Eve had said, Hmm, I don't know. I don't know.

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I don't even know if I'm going to like it now. I won't eat it. Cause I'm not even really sure

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I'm going to like how it tastes now. Watch this. What if Adam and Eve had not eaten the fruit because they thought it looked icky and they actually said,

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I'm not going to eat it because I think it looks icky. Would they have obeyed

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God in that moment? Because they said it looks icky. Or what if Eve had said, one thing

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R .C. Sproul said on this particular tax, what if she said, I might get fat.

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What if she did that? What if she didn't eat of the fruit because she thought it would actually mess up her appearance.

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She didn't eat it externally. She's obedient, right? She didn't eat of the tree, but was she actually obedient?

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No, because the obedience is connected to the authoritative word of God on what moral basis ought they to have actually moved forward in that they should have moved forward with this.

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God says, and that settles it. God says, he spoke this.

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That is the foundation. He said, therefore, I believe that I'll obey that.

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So where's this conflict begin of solar script Torah. It begins in the garden half.

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God said, no, God didn't say what we have there. Watch our two voices. What are the voices in the garden?

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You've got the voice of the creator himself, the eternal God, and you've got the voice of the devil.

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God says one thing, and you put the devil's words next to God's and they conflict.

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That's how they should have handled the conflict. God says, but you're saying you're wrong serpents and they should have obeyed

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God. So that classic contrast begins at the very beginning of our

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Bibles. It's the foundation of all the rest. The fall enters, sin enters, death enters, and it enters at this point of the voice of God versus another voice.

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So how should they have handled that conflict? Solar script Torah. God says, that's the rule.

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That's the foundation. Quick thing, old Testament, just a working out of this truth, this fundamental truth in scripture,

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God says, and test everything else by that standard. If you look at Deuteronomy chapter 13 in the law of God, Deuteronomy chapter 13,

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God gives his people a test for prophets, dreamers of dreams, those who actually give you truths from God.

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And here it is. We've quoted this thousands of times outside of the Mormon temple in Mesa, Arizona, and in Salt Lake city in Deuteronomy 13 one, here's the test for God's people.

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If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder and the sign or a wonder that he tells you comes to pass.

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And if he says, let us go after other gods, which you have not known and let us serve them.

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You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the

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Lord, your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord, your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

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So here in this particular passage for God's people, God says this, if somebody comes and they have this miraculous ministry, it looks so legit.

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Like they're making legs longer. People are getting slain in the spirits.

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People are rising from the dead. I mean, the miraculous is in their midst. God says, if even the wonder comes to pass, however, the prophet or dreamer of dreams leads you after other gods, gods, which you have not known.

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That's how you know they're a false prophet. So again, here's another example of that classic contrast in scripture, that conflict.

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You've got the voice of God laid down as the foundation and the other voice must be tested by the previous revelation.

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It's in the garden. It's in Deuteronomy 13. How were the people of God to know whether this prophet or dreamer of dreams was representing the true

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God? Here's the answer. If they lead you after a different God, different from how

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I've revealed myself to you, that's how you know they're a false prophet. Now watch, how does this work out in our conflict in the world?

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Well, you see this conflict happening between us and Latter -day Saints, us and Islam, us and the watchtower, us and Christian scientists, us and David Koresh and all the rest.

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What do we do? We say, what are you saying? Okay, but God says this. So when

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Joseph Smith says in the King Follett discourse, we've imagined and supposed that God was

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God from all eternity. I will refute that idea and take away and do away the veil so that you may see.

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And he says, you've got to learn to become gods yourselves the same way all gods have done before you.

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Now, did you know that in Joseph Smith's early ministry that there were claims to the miraculous in his early ministry?

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Many claims to the miraculous happened often. It happens often in many different cults.

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So here you have people who are claiming even the miraculous in early Mormonism, but how do you know

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Joseph Smith was a charlatan, a fraud, a false prophet? Because God says.

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When Joseph says that God was not eternally God and that you could become a god one day yourself, you look at the

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Bible itself and it says Psalm 90 verse two, from eternity into eternity, you are

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God. Joseph Smith's a liar. He's a fraud. He's a charlatan. Why? Because God says, and then

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Joseph says. When you look at the scriptures, you know that God has already said over and over again, before me, there was no

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God formed, neither shall there be after me. I am the first and I'm the last. Besides me, there is no

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God. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is no other God. I know not one.

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Joseph Smith said that there's many gods, a plurality of gods, and you can become one one day.

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That's how I know Joseph Smith is a false prophet. And you go down the line, you take

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God's word and you compare it to Muhammad's word, God's word, and you compare it to Charles Taze Russell's word,

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God's word, and you compare it to the word of your governor, God's word, and you compare it to the word of your mom and dad, and you test and you see, is this the truth?

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How do I know? Because God says. That's the foundation of Sola Scriptura. Scripture is the breathed out revelation of God.

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The origin of it is the spirit of God carried people along to write what they wrote. It is the very voice of God, God speaking quick thing.

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You know this, you've heard it a lot from this pulpit. When Jesus was in an early controversy, what did he say?

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He said, have you not read what was spoken to you by God?

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What does the Lord Jesus do with scripture? He equates the reading of scripture with God speaking.

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Have you not read what was spoken to you by God? Powerful truth there.

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Now, just a quick thing from the new Testament itself. Again, today's a smattering of verses. That was old

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Testament as an example of the test they were to actually apply to teachers and prophets and the new

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Testament, not exhaustive. You've got the apostles formula. Number one, the apostles formula.

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If you noticed, just look at book of Romans, the book of Romans, read the first four chapters of the book of Romans and notice how the apostle

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Paul and inspired apostle actually buttresses his point.

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How does he, well, how does he demonstrate his points? Not on his own authority as a lot of charlatans often do.

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What do they say? Well, this is true about God. Well, how do I know that? Because I'm speaking for God, because I know because I'm the prophet, because I'm the leader.

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I'm the one who's given this guy. I've gotten this revelation on my authority. What's the apostle

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Paul do in Romans? When he is making his point about the gospel, he actually points where to the old

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Testament revelation of God. And he says, what, what does the scripture say?

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He roots his arguments in the words of the living God. He said, what does the scripture say?

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Scripture says, God says in scripture, you see the apostles appeal to that as their foundation scripture teaches.

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Therefore you can believe that this is true. One note as a side note, uh, neither the

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Lord Jesus or the apostles ever quoted from the Apocrypha with the divine formula of what is scripture say anything like that?

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Were they aware of the Apocrypha? Of course they were. Did they quote from the Apocrypha at times?

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Never with the divine formula. They saw it as sometimes useful historical information. The apostle

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Paul even quoted from a Radice of Cilicia and Epimenides of Crete. These are pagan poets and prophets.

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It's not saying that they are actually inspired, but in scripture, when the apostles are appealing to something is true, they say, what does the scripture say next?

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We look at two points here and we're almost done here. One, when the Lord Jesus had a conflict, we read this at the beginning.

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Look at Matthew 15. When he had a conflict in his day, he could have appealed because he's

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God in the flesh to his own authority. And at times he does, he has that right.

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Yahweh has that right. Yahweh in the flesh can speak authoritatively.

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Jesus can appeal to his own authority. And it was one of the things that shocked them is when he stands up in the synagogue and he's preaching and he's teaching, the people are like, wow, he teaches as one having authority and not like our scribes.

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Why? Because the scribes would say something like, well, you know, this is true because rabbi so -and -so says it because rabbi so -and -so says it.

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Jesus comes in and he uses his own authority as the son of God, as God in the flesh.

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However, he teaches us something important here in Matthew 15, very important. I already read it, so I won't read it again.

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But in a conflict with what it would have been seen as the tradition of the church, you need to do this.

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Why? Because the church has always taught this. You need to do this. Why? Because it's a tradition of the elders.

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This would have been seen in some way sort of as a kind of sacred deposit in a sense.

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Like this is our very sacred tradition. You got to do this to be right with God. You got to do this to be obedient to God.

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And Jesus handles that kind of controversy with this same contrast.

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He says, God says, and he quotes

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Moses, Old Testament. He says, God says this. He says, but you say that.

01:00:01

And so what does he do? He lines up God's claim with their claim.

01:00:07

And he says, thus, you make void. You invalidate the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

01:00:16

So Jesus gives us this premier example. How are we to actually even handle our own religious traditions?

01:00:26

He takes the word of God and says, this is supreme. Your tradition has to not make this void.

01:00:33

And he took would have been very cherished tradition by the Jews of his day.

01:00:38

And he says, not true. And you've actually voided God's word because of your tradition.

01:00:45

That's how Jesus handled a tradition in his day that was seen as a very valuable, beautiful religious tradition next.

01:00:53

And this is just a few pages away. Another example, Matthew chapter 19. Another example here.

01:00:59

This particular controversy is a little different. This particular controversy is related to a controversy over divorce in the first century.

01:01:09

Now, I have some messages on this. Encourage you to listen to them. Some good resources out there on this particular subject.

01:01:16

But in Matthew chapter 19, Jesus is dealing now with a particular form of divorce that was popular in this time period.

01:01:23

It was the Hillelite marriage controversy clause. It was the any cause divorce.

01:01:31

What they were saying was this. Hey, look, as long as you have a certificate of divorce, it doesn't matter what the reason was, any cause, as long as there's an official certificate.

01:01:43

So there was one school, Rabbi Hillel, that was the any cause divorce and another school of Rabbi Chemi, and they were known as the

01:01:52

Chemiites. And so this particular controversy Jesus is dealing with, he's dealing with a cultural, moral issue, cultural, moral issue.

01:02:03

This is like they're talking about what's happening at the legislature kind of thing. Like, is it really moral to be doing this in society and culture?

01:02:11

And what Jesus does in Matthew chapter 19, as they ask the question in verse three is this.

01:02:18

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, is it lawful to divorce one's wife?

01:02:24

Here it is. For any cause, there's the any cause divorce. He answered, have you not read?

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So what's Jesus do? I mean, he could have gone into an interesting debate about what's good for society.

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Right? We do that so much. Now there are good, healthy moments for like what's good for society.

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Like if we're arguing against abortion in our culture today, I want to stand in the word of God as the primary reference points, but then

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I can move my way out, of course, and incidentally talk about the kind of damage that abortion does in a woman's life, how it hurts her heart for the rest of her life.

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Even repentant sisters in Christ who have been redeemed and forgiven and cleansed and are righteous in Jesus at times still struggle with the consequences of that past.

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And it's always something that impacts. We could talk about how it destroys families and culture and society and how this is true about our day.

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We're killing all of our children at such a high rate that we cannot even match what's necessary to go on as a people because we're killing so many children.

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Our birth rates are so low because of abortion and how we think about children. It's changing actually our future.

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You can talk about those things. What's good for society, how it benefits society, of course, but Jesus actually says something else when he's dealing with a controversy, a cultural controversy in his day.

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He says this, have you not read, there it is, that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.

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So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.

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So the Lord Jesus here appeals to the word of God as the foundation. There's an example of how

01:04:33

Jesus handles controversy. What does God say? What are you saying? What does God say?

01:04:38

What is he saying? What does God say? What is she saying? What does God say? That's the foundation.

01:04:43

Next, I'll just point you to first Corinthians four, six. It's in your bulletins today, that formulation of the early

01:04:52

Christian creed. I think it's powerful. The apostle Paul to the church in Corinth and first Corinthians four, six says now brothers and sisters,

01:05:00

I've applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, do not go beyond what is written.

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So here you have in the early formation of the church and inspired apostle appealing to what is apparently an early

01:05:18

Christian creed. This is what they were saying to one another. They were saying this, they were confessing it.

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It was something they were passing along as a tradition, but it was a tradition that was rooted in biblical truth.

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And that was do not go beyond what is written. Another example.

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And it's a famous one. You know, it's in act 17 verse 11. Scripture pays a compliment.

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God and his word pays a compliment to the believers in Berea. Why it says they were more noble minded than the ones in Thessalonica.

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Why? Because when the apostle Paul came to them and inspired apostle with authority comes to them, preaching to them, it says, what about them?

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They searched the scriptures daily to do what? To see if what

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Paul was saying was true. So the brain Christians were saying, Paul, what's that?

01:06:16

Okay. What's that? And then they were going to the word of God to see if what he was saying was actually true, more noble minded than those in Thessalonica.

01:06:25

They were testing the words of the apostle Paul. How many of us, if Paul came in here right now and started preaching, you would just be like, like, just, just take it all in and not thinking critically ultimately, right?

01:06:38

Just accepting, but they're like, well, hang on now. Wait, wait, wait, wait, let me, let me see. Let me, whatever, like this. Let me see.

01:06:44

Let me, let me see. Where, where does it say that they're testing what the apostle Paul says?

01:06:49

Okay. Final points here. Philosophically speaking, if you don't start with,

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God says, if you don't start with God's self -attesting word as the starting point, listen, this is huge.

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You lose all meaning. You lose all appeals to purpose. You lose all beauty.

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You lose all truth. You lose all goodness, beauty, truth, goodness, gone without God's word as the foundation of it all.

01:07:19

What did Will Provine, the famous atheist professor say about the world apart from God?

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No God's revelation. No God is creator. He said, there's no meaning, no ultimate purpose, no ultimate meaning in life, no goal directed forces.

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The universe is going nowhere. And he says, there is no afterlife.

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He says, we live, we die, and we're gone. We're absolutely gone when we die.

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When you don't start philosophically speaking with God's word, God says he's the creator.

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We're the creatures. God says he made all this for his glory. God says the heavens declare the glory of God.

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God says male and female. God says, love your neighbor.

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When you don't start with, God says as the reference points, you lose everything. There is no logic apart from the

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God of scripture, no meaningful appeal to it. There is no appeal to scientific method.

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There is no uniformity in nature. There is no purpose. There is no governance. There is no sovereignty.

01:08:31

And there's no ultimate ethics either. How many of you guys have seen our discussions with atheists on the streets, or you've seen our discussions with atheists and formal debates.

01:08:41

When they get to the question of ultimate ethics or meaning, they'll even say, there are no ultimate ethics.

01:08:48

I asked Dan Barker once, famous atheist on the radio. Dr. White has two or three debates with him, a well -known atheist.

01:08:58

I asked him in a radio debate once, I said, regarding rape. I said, well, in your perspective, like rape is not really wrong is it?

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And ultimately he said in the cosmic, cosmic thing. No, no, it's not really wrong.

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There's no ultimate purpose. Do you see how important God says is? Because if God says male and female, if God says valuable, if God says, love your neighbor, if God says rape is an abomination, then

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I have a foundation to say, um, contraire, Mr. Barker, it is evil.

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There is meaning there. And that deserves punishments. Do you see God says is the foundation without God's self -attesting word is a starting point.

01:09:45

You lose everything. Philosophically speaking. Now here's the thing too, to consider how do you settle disputes?

01:09:53

This is what always come up. I was just talking to my friend this week about this. I did an interview with him. Two questions always will come up when someone says this, but not that watch this, but not that two questions always asked one.

01:10:08

Why two says who? Like if somebody says you want to do this and you want not do that.

01:10:17

What does everybody ask? Why says who? Those are questions that are always going to be asked.

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You don't get away from them because you're an atheist. Why says who everybody will ask them and everybody will have a

01:10:34

God of their system. Notice this watch people are afraid to say as Christians, because God says scripture.

01:10:43

God says that's the foundation. We're afraid to say that today's evangelicals. We are, we're afraid, afraid to say in the public square, whereas afraid to say to the legislature.

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We are, we weren't always, but we are today, largely afraid to say that.

01:10:57

Please notice this. Please hear this. Everybody believes God says, it's just a question of which

01:11:04

God you see for the Muslim, they say what Allah says for the

01:11:13

Mormon. They'll say, well, Elohim says, God, the father says, and for the secularist humanist, they also have a

01:11:23

God of their system. If you say, well, why should we do this? Well, because Demas says democracy,

01:11:31

Demas, the people we've declared, is it right to murder unborn children in the womb?

01:11:39

People say, why says who? And the people today say, well, we have said we've declared via this court declaration or this law, we say it is appropriate and moral to do such a thing to a child in the womb.

01:11:57

You see, they haven't escaped the inescapable necessary thing.

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There's always an ultimate. And here's the thing. The ultimate is either going to be found in me.

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And you'll find this a lot as you do evangelism at ASU. You ask somebody, well, why, why are you doing that?

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And why are you saying I ought to do this? People will say, well, it's just my preference. I feel that it's true.

01:12:21

It's my standard for truth. There's no ultimate standards out there, but that's my standard. So I'm the

01:12:27

God of my system. I'm the ultimate appeal. You'll also have people that will say, my group is the ultimate.

01:12:33

God says, because the group says, or you'll have people appeal to the power of the state happens in China today, right?

01:12:42

Why? And says who? What do you think the Chinese government says? We say they're the

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God of the system. We're the ultimate voice or, and here's where this gets tricky.

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People might say, because the church says, how do you know that's true?

01:13:02

Well, because the church says that's a dangerous, dangerous thing. The church does say true things, but we don't believe truths because the church says the church holds the truth up, right?

01:13:18

We don't believe things because the church says we believe things because the Bible says the word of God says, but this will impact you.

01:13:27

This is my last word here. Just quick. It'll impact you every day. You might have a strong day today as a believer, worshiping

01:13:37

God here, have a beautiful moment of worship with God, broken heart over sin, fellowship with your believer.

01:13:43

And then on Tuesday, you get attacked with a slander. And then on Tuesday, the gossip.

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And then on Tuesday, the car runs off the road and kills a family member.

01:13:58

And then on Wednesday, you lose the job or whatever the case may be. There's going to be times where you're going to have a rough go, spiritually speaking, you'll have all kinds of broken, distorted self -talk.

01:14:14

You're not worthy. God's far off. You're not loved. He doesn't care about you anymore, right?

01:14:21

You should leave your wife, whatever the case, whatever it is, I deserve better. Like these are voices that will come up and sola scriptura, this fundamental truth of the word of God is the reference point.

01:14:33

As a starting point is something that had better be in your heart and your mind. If you want freedom, if you want healing, how are you going to handle the moments of loneliness?

01:14:43

How? How are you going to handle the moment where you feel a lack of pleasure and delight?

01:14:50

Because here's what can happen as a believer, a child of God, you can fall into loneliness, succumb to it completely and feel like God is so far off, right?

01:15:01

And you feel so lost and depression sets in, totally sets in. It's rooted in you now.

01:15:07

And you stop listening to this and you start listening to your circumstances. You start listening to external voices.

01:15:14

You start listening to your own inner monologue. And what do you do now? It's not that you don't need a

01:15:20

God. Now you start looking for other Gods to satisfy the loneliness, the lack of pleasure.

01:15:28

What do people do when they're broken? They have no pleasure, so where do they go? They go to the cocaine.

01:15:34

They have no pleasure, so where do they go? They go to the ecstasy. They have no pleasure, so where do they go? They go to the alcohol.

01:15:40

They have no pleasure, so where do they go? They go to the prostitutes. What is it? Idolatry.

01:15:46

What is it? It's worship. Something happens between here and there. Before I start worshiping the false

01:15:52

God something is wrong at the beginning Maybe I'm lost. Maybe I'm dead of my sins and trespasses.

01:15:59

Maybe I'm still in the flesh. I don't have the Spirit of God I don't know God right and something happens here to get me there.

01:16:06

Why do I pursue the false God? Something is wrong But as even as a believer when

01:16:11

I fall into sin something happens in between here and the sin Right and a lot of it has to do with What does

01:16:19

God say? I fall into this place of despair and depression and loneliness and lack of pleasure and all the rest and I feel lost and not loved by God and all the rest why because I'm believing my circumstances or my self -talk over God says

01:16:40

God says and you know, listen, you can say at church on Sunday Amen pastor

01:16:46

Jeff. That's the truth. That's the Word of God. I'm gonna believe that but you know when it really

01:16:52

Impacts you when it really matters is This Thursday morning after a bad day at work the day before or the bad news you got on Wednesday nights

01:17:04

See, that's when this that's when this becomes Sola Scriptura, it becomes something so much more valuable than the debate between the

01:17:13

Protestants and the Roman Catholics This is the substance of it all Everything is found in this foundation

01:17:23

And so think about it in all those categories all those ways of discussion and getting to the point

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God says and that's why I believe it. Let's pray father. I pray that you bless the message that went out today

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I pray you use it for your glory and for your kingdom. I Pray that you would take these truths

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Store them up in our hearts and our minds Let us be transformed by them and let us proclaim them with confidence in Jesus name.