Sola Scriptura (Part 3)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour ,� so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the

Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King. Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Avendroth.

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Avendroth. It is Saturday here real -time at about 5 p .m.,

and I was negligent in recording the show�s something.

What are you thinking about? Someone gave me a while ago a little book called Martin Luther�s Little Instruction Book.

It is printed by Honor Books, HB, Honor Books, and who put this together?

A classic treasury of timeless wisdom and reflection, Tulsa, Oklahoma. It doesn�t say anybody�s name on here.

It just says Luther. I�ll just pick a few and let�s see if they�re any good. Faith is the yes of the heart and conviction on which one stakes will.

Sounds good to me. When the Spirit of God, I understood these words, �The just shall live by faith.�

I felt born again like a new man. I entered through the open doors and great paradise. It is astounding that I should believe

Him to be the Son of God who is suspended on the cross, whom I have never seen, with whom

I have never become. Underneath that quote is, �Whom having not seen, ye love, in whom though now ye see

Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of joy.�

Your faith comes from Him, not from you, and everything that works faith within you comes from Him, not from you.

Okay, so far so good. I like this. God creates out of nothing, therefore until a man is a nothing,

God can make nothing out of him. Hello. Hello.

I�ve not said hello for some time. People want to, they think I�m swearing maybe instead of saying heck no or the equivalent.

They think it�s that. It is not. It is hello. It means hello. And grandma would answer the phone, hello.

Grandma, it�s hello. Well, that�s what I said. Hang up. Call back.

I know. Grandma, you just said hello again. No, I did not. I said hello. She didn�t have any other accent.

This lady from Sweden didn�t talk with a Swedish accent. She was fully Americanized and her name was

Nona, Nona Anderson. I do not know her maiden name.

The other grandma that I had, Hedvig Erna, her maiden name was

Clausen, Clausen. But Nona�s name, I don�t know. That�s a very good question.

Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com if you want to ask me a personal question. I get regularly emails about many things including, here�s a big one.

Pastor Mike, thanks for your show. I love the people at our church but I�ve noticed the slide, the slippery slope.

It�s starting in the pulpit. What do I do? I just got an email from someone and they said the pastor wants to have mock weddings during sermon times and dressing up and stuff like that.

And he says, well, the Bible doesn�t say I can�t do it. Therefore, I can. And he gets perturbed if I call him on it and tells me

I�m wrong. I, as a pastor, don�t like it if people just leave right away, you know, the first thing that goes wrong because then nobody stays.

And I would like it if somebody from the church that I pastor goes to another pastor and says, well, what do you think

I should do about such and such? If that pastor said, well, you know, hang in there and talk to the pastor and discuss this, that and the other.

I would appreciate that. But if I start dressing up, riding horses into the sanctuary or, you know, doing a bunch of drama plays and acting and showing shmeagle videos from Lord of the

Rings, then you know what? You might want to say, you know,

I don�t want to like to joke about cancer. I�ve just gone through all this stuff. But you might want to say maybe he has a brain tumor. I guess that would be one option.

But the other option is, this guy�s off his gourd and he�s playing to the people and a pastor should never play to the people.

He should say, I�m preaching for God and his glory. I hope the people like it, but if they don�t, they don�t.

Come what may. It is truly quorum Deo, an audience of one. And I guess maybe it�s easy for me to say now that I�ve been doing this for 20 years

I was 20 years ago in terms of pastoral ministry. But if the people don�t like the message in the book of Hebrews, I will try to convince them that they should like it.

I will try to convince them that Hebrews is in fact inspired and inerrant and profitable, sufficient,

God�s word, God breathed. But if they say, give me something else or we leave.

Again, probably in my old days would say, don�t let the door hit you on the way out. I would try to convince them that�s not good for their soul.

But if it�s you leaving or me changing, I�m the one who has responsibility before God to preach the word.

And I don�t have the responsibility to keep you here or to cater to your whims or wishes or whatever else you�ve got going on mentally.

I�m supposed to be the leader and to preach the Bible. 2 Timothy 4 .2 will ring like a clarion call in my ears forever,

Lord willing. Preach the word. It doesn�t say drama the word, drama the word, dramamine the word, play video clips to enhance the word.

It doesn�t say mime the word. It doesn�t say canoe the word.

It doesn�t say skydive the word. It doesn�t say entertain using the word.

You get the drift. It says preach the word. That�s exactly what we�re going to do on Sunday morning.

And if you don�t like that, then I don�t know what to tell you. You want your ears tickled. There are plenty of those churches down the street, small city.

But when people have pastors that will do the opposite and capitulate, you should meet with the pastor, say thank you, wrap up your duties and move on.

I�m sorry to say it, but that is an unforgivable offense. That is to play to people, play to the crowd, play to social agendas, play to getting more people in, play to the carnality of people, play to whoever�s the loudest, play to the people that have the money, play to people.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. I have a mission from God, a command from God, a charge from God, a duty from God, a stewardship from God, and I�m going to discharge it.

Kick me out, kill me, take away my 401K. You can do whatever you want, and I�m not trying to be a tough guy.

I�m just saying this is a non -negotiable. It�s a non -starter. And when the pastor gets up and starts playing all these games and starts doing all this stuff at junior church, and now it�s

Sunday for the youth ministry, they get to take over the entire church. This isn�t novice time, neophyte time, practice time.

There should be reverence and awe. There can be joy, too, in singing, preaching, and giving.

Obviously, this does not have to be sober and somber all the time, unless you�re preaching lamentations week in and week out.

We�re talking about the joy of heaven. We�re talking about the joy of forgiveness. We�re talking about Jesus, the God -man. Who does these things?

Who acts like this? You know, I know Jesus isn�t going to come walking through those doors.

Didn�t Patino say Larry Burr is not walking through those doors when he was the coach of the Boston Celtics? By the way, it might be good this year.

When I was in Santa Cruz, I always wore my Celtics cap, lid. Now that I�m back here, it�s back to Lakers stuff.

Will they ever be good? Does anything good come out of being cool? Where do the

Lakers even play now? Staples. I don�t even think they�re in the forum. How many years ago were they in the forum? A long time ago.

This is not time to practice stuff. It�s time to preach. Pastor studies the

Word diligently. Are we not told that he should do that in 2 Timothy? And then he preaches the

Word. I think it used to take me 50 hours to get a message done when

I was in seminary. And then, you know, you could get a couple done in 30 hours, you know, in the week.

That�s how long I had to study every single week for a New Testament message in the morning and an

Old Testament message at night. 25, 30, 35 hours. And that�s assuming

I could figure out what the passage meant and said. It is much easier today to preach sermons because I have accumulated knowledge and data.

If you do study that long, for that many days in a row, for that many years in a row, 25 years

I�ve been doing this, then you�ve got some accumulated data and you know how to put together a sermon and you can understand flow and segues and pausing and eye contact and other things.

But the non -negotiable has to be, does the guy preach the Word? And I guarantee you, here�s the punchline, the sad gut punchline, is if the pastor�s doing all that other stuff and showing shmeagle videos and everything else,

I can already tell you what his theology is like. It�s man -centered. It�s not like a guy is preaching the glories of God and the transcendence of the

Eternal Son and then all of a sudden goes, �Well, you know, I think I�m going to do some drama. I think

I�m going to let the kids take over today. I think I�ll play some videos. I think it�s going to all be PowerPoint and we�re going to have people dressed up like the

Mod Squad.� No, that�s not what happens. You just don�t fall out of a tree.

You got to climb up at first and you climb up a tree of preaching bad man -centered sermons one proverbial step at a time.

That�s how you get there. And if I would go back, so this writer from overseas across the pond writes and talks to me about this very issue of what the pastor is doing.

The pastor didn�t just start doing this. It�s the whole slow boil frog deal, etc.

I get all that, but it�s like, okay, there�s a time. If the pastor is ashamed of the gospel and you can�t fire him, while I believe in elder leadership and elder rule, you can have the final say with your feet and walk.

I don�t think you take it lightly, but when the pastor takes the word of God and God himself lightly without gravitas, without weight, without reverence, without glory, it is, to use the

Latin, tuteloo. Is that Latin? I don�t know. Well, there�s my little 11 -minute intro little rampage.

See, we start off all sweetly and nicely with the Luther quotes, and then it is launch.

Fast and loose, people play with the word of God. And it means when we�re visiting as people who are visiting as summer guests, it means we get up and walk out.

That�s what the Abenroths do. I remember one time I told the kids, you know, this is going to be kind of weird, so if you see

Daddy get up, you just follow me. That�s the cue. Daddy gets up to walk out, you come along.

So when I get up to go to the bathroom, they all follow. Just kidding. Talking about sola scriptura, five solas of the

Reformation. Soli Deo gloria, to God alone be the glory.

Sola fide, faith alone. Sola gratia, grace alone.

Solus Christus, Christ alone. And sola scriptura, the Bible alone.

We�ve looked at a couple words the last couple days to help us with this idea of sola scriptura.

And one word was sufficient. The other word is authoritative. Authoritative, John 6, 43, and following.

Jesus answered them, �Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.

It is written in the prophets, and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the

Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God. He has seen the

Father.� So to set this up, God woos people.

He doesn�t, you know, caveman them into the kingdom. He draws them by the illumination of the

Word. They�ll be taught by God, internal illumination. That�s how people come to the

Lord. And when I think about the authoritative word, it is written in the prophets.

That�s verse 45. It is written. That�s the point. When Jesus is talking to these people who are grumbling among themselves, he goes to the scripture because it is authoritative.

They might not like it. They might not love it, but this is true. Same thing in chapter 7, verse 37 and following.

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, �If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said.� See the authority there? �Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive. For as yet the

Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.� This is the language of Jesus in the wilderness as well.

It is written. In the middle of the feast, Jesus says, as the scripture has said.

That carries the authority. I�m the fulfillment of the feast of tabernacles, and come to me if you�re thirsty, and I will give you spiritual refreshment.

And then waters flow out of you, depending on how you take the reading.

It is written. Devil�s quoting scripture.

He knows it�s powerful, but then he torques scripture out in the wilderness. Jesus doesn�t say, �Oh yeah, there are other things that trump scripture, tradition, some ecclesiastical counsel.�

Vatican II quote, �It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition, sacred scriptures, and the teaching authority of the

Church, in accord with God�s most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, that altogether and each in its own way, under the action of the one

Spirit, contribute effectively to the salvation of souls.� What�s the real authority?

The Bible? No. Tradition? No. It�s the

Church. How do you know what the scriptures teach? You got to go to the

Church. How do you know what tradition teaches? I don�t know. You got to go to the Church. Who�s the authority? The Church.

No wonder John Eck, the Roman Catholic theologian, said, �The scriptures are not authentic except by the authority of the

Church.� This is Pius IX who says in 1870, �I am tradition, sola ecclesia.�

It would be dangerous to have Roman Catholics think sola scriptura because if they did, they leave the

Catholic Church. �I go to church ,� Luther said. �Hear what my priest says, and him

I believe.� That was the problem. But the Bible, in and of itself, has authority.

No priest gives the Bible authority. No pastor gives the Bible authority. No pope gives the Bible authority.

No scribe gives the Bible authority. The Bible itself has authority.

And scripture can be understood. It can interpret itself as a means to show itself.

It is self -authenticating. It�s clear.

It�s its own interpreter. Scripture interprets scripture. It is the final authority. You have scripture for a master instead of me?

From there you can learn whatever you would know. John Chrysostom says, summarizing

Paul to Timothy, �When you talk about scriptures, you�re talking about God�s Word, God Himself and His Word.�

If you got a question, what did the Bereans do? Go to God�s Word. Not the authority of tradition or the leadership.

Did Christ rebuke and get after the Pharisees for adding tradition?

Yes, because they added tradition to the Bible. It is authoritative because it is the very words of God.

And this is found in John chapter 10, is it not, in verse 35? �If

He called them gods to whom the Word of God came, and scripture cannot be broken.�

The Word of God and scripture tied together, strapped together, linked together as one.

Jesus quotes Psalm 82 for a reason, a very dramatic reason.

Scripture is sufficient. Scripture is authoritative. That means tradition isn�t authoritative.

That means the magisterium isn�t authoritative. That means the Pope is not authoritative. That means councils and creeds aren�t authoritative.

It�s the Bible. And finally, scripture, sola scriptura, not only does it mean that the

Bible is sufficient and authoritative, but it means it�s true. It contains truth. Pilate says, what is truth?

We live in post -post -modernity. This is such a truth that it both saves and sanctifies.

John 17, 17, �Sanctify them in truth. Your word is truth.� Truth itself, it doesn�t point you to another truth.

It is truth itself, and it sanctifies. It helps you grow in grace.

The way to grow is through the Word of God, reading your Bible. I know you have a

Bible, but as the Gallup Poll said, Americans revere the

Bible, but by and large, they don�t read it. Matthew Henry said, �We shall not only be called into account for the truth we know and did not apply, but also for the truth we might have known.�

Patrick Henry, dying, said, �Here is the book, the Bible, which is worth more than all others that were ever printed.

Yet it is my misfortune never to have found time to read it.� The Scriptures give eternal life,

John 5. They also sanctify, John 17. This reminds me of 1

Peter 2. �Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the Word, that by it you may grow in the respect of salvation.�

To hanker, to desire, to ache for, to go after. It is intensive.

It is emphatic. You yearn. You require. You implore. You entreat.

The pure milk of the Word. It�s not watered down. It�s not drugged down.

It�s the living, imperishable seed that 1 Peter 1 would talk about.

It�s the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, Ephesians 6.

And how do you grow? Via the Word. The Spirit of God applies the Word, and you grow.

�The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.�

You�re not going to grow via gold and silver. It is through the Word of God, which should be your delight.

See it in verse 2? �By it you may grow in respect to salvation.� That�s what happens.

You�re sanctified by the Word because it is truth, and you begin to think about truth properly.

�Sola Scriptura� means that the Bible is sufficient, authoritative, and true.

Now, the big implication with this is, and I have like a minute to talk about it.

We would all say as Protestants, it�s clear that Rome adds tradition and the Magisterium to the

Bible. But we, I don�t think I do it, because I�m so old.

No, but here�s what happens in evangelicalism. We add mystical experience, personal experience, and we elevate it to the

Word of God. So the Bible is not sola scriptura. The Bible is prima.

It�s first and new revelation. God speaking, still small voices, is secondary.

Scripture is true. Scripture is authoritative. Scripture is reliable. Can you say that about your feelings?

Can you say that about your subjective thoughts? We could talk a lot about psychology and how it goes against the sufficiency of God�s Word.

But what about mysticism? What about communication with the Holy Spirit outside of the

Word? What about Thomas Muntzer, who complained that Luther was, quote, �one of our scribes who wants to send the

Holy Ghost off to college.� I�ve heard a lot of people criticize seminary because it just gets you all messed up.

It makes you less charismatic. Calvin said of people that would act like that, when the fanatics boast extravagantly of the

Spirit, the tendency is always to bury the Word of God so that they make room for their own falsehoods.

That is true. So on No Compromise Radio today we talked about sola scriptura. The Bible�s sufficient.

The Bible�s authoritative. I�m snapping my iPad here case. And the Bible is true. Therefore, read your

Bibles. Therefore, praise God that you have a Bible. Therefore, have the same idea about its authoritative power that Jesus did.

I don�t think you should quote verses to Satan, but you can sure learn from the

Messiah how to think about Scripture properly. Don�t forget, we�re going to Israel February 2018, but slots are filling up.

Email me info at nocompromiseradio .com. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God�s Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We�re right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.