Sola Scriptura: The Formal Principle Of The Reformation

Turn with me if you will to the second epistle of Peter 2nd

Peter chapter 1 One of the texts we'll be looking at in our examination of the

Word of God this evening 2nd Peter chapter 1 Before we look to the

Word of God. Let us pray together Our gracious Heavenly Father we would ask that during these few moments these fleeting moments that we have together once again, you would meet with us as you have this day already that you will help us to understand that you will

Strengthen us in our service for Christ in this coming week. We do pray these things in Christ's name this morning we recognize the fact that This is

Reformation Sunday that it is well the Sunday at least somewhat close to that day when we recognize the beginning of a

Very complicated process It was not a process that led solely by perfect saints of the

Lord It was not a process where everybody involved had pure motives. They were always either all good or all bad

There were people involved with the Reformation who had bad motivations on both sides

There is no question about that But we recognize that God acts in history and when he acts in history

Especially in a major way that there are going to be people involved with that act of God that are going to have

Different motivations and in fact, I I know that around here. We have made it plain over the years

That while we call ourselves reformed Baptists, we don't do so with stars in our eyes

I know as much as I am very thankful and indeed I am very thankful for the work of God and in people like Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli and people like that.

I happen to know I recognize They wouldn't have had fellowship with me If I held the views that I hold today,

I undoubtedly would have been banished from Wittenberg I would have been banished from Geneva at best

And at the worst of times would have found myself either in prison or maybe getting my third

Baptism as they liked to refer to it. I Recognize that I try to remember that as I look back at people in the past I try to judge them within the context that they lived one of the great mistakes

I think that we take people of the past and we retransport them into the present and we judge them on the basis of the standards that we have the knowledge that we have and That frequently will result in somewhat of an unfair analysis

I know that I desire to be judged in the future in a fair way by those who will look at the work that I've done and therefore

I must extend that kind of of fairness and Maybe even the term grace to others as well

But we look at this great movement and we recognize in it that God brought to light

The gospel with a level of clarity that in many ways had not been seen since the days of the

Apostles themselves and Given the fact that now you had the printing press you now had

New technologies that would allow these truths to go far and wide the world has been greatly blessed

By what God did at that time in history We saw this morning that the material principle of the

Reformation that which which was preached that which Grabbed hold of the hearts of men was that message sola fide

Faith alone the empty hand of faith the denial that there is anything that you and I can bring to God That in some way could earn his mercy earn his grace earn his favor

But we did not speak much about the formal principle of the

Reformation and that was the great truth of sola scriptura and just as there are a plethora of Modern denials of sola fide even amongst those who call themselves

Protestants Let's be honest with you. That term is about as useful anymore as the term evangelical is

All these terms which can start off having a very defined meaning over time that meaning decays

That meaning changes that meaning broadens so much that eventually it doesn't really tell you anything anymore and what it does is it brings about a need for a new definition new terminology to Identify the truth in the midst of all the the many manifestations of error that mankind managed to come up with over time

And so just as there are many denials of sola fide today From what's called a new perspective on Paul and the federal vision and things like this that have arisen just over the past number of decades

And the next decade there will be something I can't tell you about because no one's thought of it yet There are always these new things and we are every generation is called to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the

Saints That's what makes it precious to the next generation that they have had to fight for it Just as we have had to fight for it

And if all the battles were won then you wouldn't have to fight for these things anymore And what good would that be obviously the church once it becomes complacent in its battles?

Is on its way to falsehood in and of itself but the other truth of The Reformation that was so foundational that was that was not what caused

Luther to begin preaching what he was preaching is not what caused Zwingli to start preaching what he was preaching but it did not take either one of them very long to recognize

What the true foundation of their proclamation was and and this had already been discovered by Jan Hus in his short life

Before he had been burned by the Council of Constance the century before by John Wycliffe the great morning star of The Reformation the one that heralded the coming of that Reformation he himself had said that if all the the bishops and all the friars

In the world were to unite in saying something that would not have the same authority as something that's taught by the

Word of God He saw that there was something different about Scripture over against tradition

He saw that there was something that needs to be recognized about the nature of Scripture that gives it an authority

That all the traditions of men all the confessions of men all the creeds of men to never have anything but a shadow of that authority that indeed the authority of a creed or a confession is only as great as its fidelity to what is found in Scripture itself and So Luther had to discover this as he began to struggle with indulgences and purgatory and and the whole doctrine of justification

He was forced to recognize that the authority behind these false teachings that he was rejecting was an authority that fundamentally overthrew the ultimate authority of the scriptures themselves and Hence you had the arising of the the controversy at that time

Over the concepts of Sola Scriptura and certainly today that remains the same situation

Certainly when it comes to the issue of Roman Catholicism the single topic

I have debated more times against Roman Catholic apologists than any other has been Sola Scriptura.

Oh, I've debated Sola Fide and We've debated the Mass and Mary and the papacy and all these things but though it always keeps coming back to Sola Scriptura and When I debate

Muslims it always comes back to the sufficiency of the Bible as the Word of God Really in almost every single dispute it all comes back to well the first apologetic question

What was the first apologetic question in all of Scripture? Has God said?

That's what the enemy said in the garden has God said and That really remains the question to this day

In our day the secular world says you people are crazy You look to an outdated book that was written by 40 different authors in different languages over 1 ,500 years in the pre -critical pre -scientific age

People who lived out in the desert and didn't know anything about modern science and you look to that How silly can you be and the question remains has

God said now? There's no question about Jesus's view on this topic not at all.

I mean unless you just simply throw out everything the New Testament says about what Jesus said and by the way if you do that then

You have no idea what Jesus said I? Mean you have to become a total skeptic. We have no earthly idea what

Jesus message was We don't know why he got himself crucified under Pontius Pilate We just we just can't know you just become a complete skeptic

But if what we have in the New Testament even begins to approximate what he actually did teach then there is no question of the fact that as a

Jewish teacher of his day he held the Old Testament Scriptures in the highest esteem and In fact you remember when he was arguing with the

Sadducees, and they were trying to trip him up He said to them have you not read? Have you not read what

God spoke to you saying and he quoted from the laws of Moses Specifically from the same book.

We were just reading from from Exodus Have you not read what God spoke to you?

Well that was 1 ,400 years earlier and yet from Jesus's perspective those were the very words of God Spoken to these men so that they could be held accountable

For what had been written down 1 ,400 years earlier Jesus answered any debate with what the

Scriptures say it stands written Did not David say by the Holy Spirit over and over and over again?

He goes to the Scriptures and in arguments of the

Pharisees about the role of tradition He makes it very clear that no matter what tradition you claim you have including traditions that the

Jews said came from God Were given to Moses and passed down outside of the

Scriptures in oral tradition such as the Korban rule That even those that claimed divine authority in that way had to be tested by what?

Stood written in the Word of God itself see Matthew chapter 15 there's no question what

Jesus's view was and When we have people standing in pulpits we have people standing behind lecterns in schools that were started by our predecessors people like you and I who believe that the

Bible is the Word of God and Gave of their life's monies to found these institutions, and we have people standing in those places

That deny the authority of the Word of God they deny its consistency they deny its inspiration you know that you're living in a day of great conflict and great apostasy and That's the day in which we live

Now when we think about sola scriptura We need to remember what it meant then and make application today because the issues are the same

If it's a religion that's denying it. It's because they want to substitute another authority

If it's the secular world that denies it It's because they don't believe that there is a supernatural realm from which

God could speak in the first place Even though they do make the rather odd argument that given what we believe that God's one who made us as a to as communicative beings

God made us as individuals who can speak and desire communication with one another I'm not sure why God couldn't do it if he made us that way he must have that capacity

Doesn't make much sense given the starting premises the argument, but anyways Sola scriptura does not mean

That everything that could ever be known about God Every truth that man could ever know is contained in the limited number of words

Just over somewhere between five and six hundred thousand words. I think grand total. I'm just going off the top of my head

There is a hundred eighty seven thousand in the New Testament, and I think it's around four hundred thousand some odd in the Old Testament Those are not enough words

To communicate to us every single truth that could ever be known I Don't know if brother

Callahan remembers this but the example he used to use is is you can't get the information

To what was it rebuild a Borg Warner? Automatic transmission 350 or something like that out of the

Bible. I remember that see people do listen to you brother even decades later And the scary thing is my son could probably actually

Imitate brother Callahan actually saying that much better than I can it's a very frightening thing to see personally, but anyways the fact is

That's not contained anywhere. You can look in your concordance all you want. There's nothing about automatic transmissions, and there are some people say see

That disqualifies the Bible from being the Word of God because it is not an exhaustive Compendium of all knowledge and that of course is not what solo scriptura means and we've never claimed that It's also not a exhaustive compendium of all religious knowledge there are

Limitations to revelation God himself has said the things that reveal belong to you and your children forever But the secret things belong to the

Lord our God and even even this morning Remember what Paul said in scripture reading this morning.

Oh caption you now Brother Boyle's better because he's the one who read it, but what did

Paul say knows man caught up the third heaven He heard things that men should not speak

So he knew things they're not the Bible not revealed there So solo scriptura is not a statement that that we know

Everything Jesus ever said because the Bible specifically says that's not recorded here There was a day

Undoubtedly when the disciples walked up to a fork in the road, and they said Jesus which way should we go? He said we'll go that way

We don't know which way that was so I guess that denies solo scripture no that denies a misidentification

Of solo scripture, we don't know the color of Matthew's eyes We don't know what size of Sandal Judas war there are questions you can ask that we don't know the answers to But that has nothing to do with solo scripture and has nothing to do with the

Bible's ability to function The way that God intends it to function When Peter wrote to the early church here in 2nd

Peter He talked about his experience on the Mount of Transfiguration and He heard things we don't know everything that was said do we on the

Mount of Transfiguration I Mean the father speaks out of the cloud Moses Elijah there

Jesus is there he's transfigured before them and There's there's talking going on and there you know you've got the law the prophets the fulfillment in Jesus Wow, I'd like to know what they were saying wouldn't you?

And it's the Bible incomplete because we don't know Well only if you think that the Bible's role is to give us an encyclopedic revelation of everything there is to know

Could you come to that conclusion? but he's talked about it and When he says that Verse 19 he then says so we have the prophetic word made more sure

To which you 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 But know this first of all that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own

Interpretation for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God What does that text saying

Well, we have a more sure word than Peter's own personal experience on the Mount of Transfiguration Because he you can't share his personal experience

I Mean, you know about it. Obviously the Christians knew about it. It's part of the gospel record

But they weren't there But what we do share together is that which God has given to us in the scriptures?

And he says that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation You need to understand what that means that many many times that's been used by Roman Catholics For example to say if you can't interpret the

Bible on your own has nothing to do with Peter's talking about nothing whatsoever do with Peter's talking about he's saying that the source and origin of scripture is not from a

Prophet sitting around and he contemplates God This is very much sort of the

Hindu way of thinking You contemplate the greater universe and you come up with wise sayings and it comes out of yourself and your wisdom

No Scripture never came about as a matter of one man looking at the world and interpreting what the world is about It doesn't come from mankind

Because no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will there was never a day when

Peter went out or David went out on the hillside and he said oh, what a beautiful day it is

I think I'll be inspired of God to write a song that will be a part of the people's

Hymns forever and it'll be a part of the Word of God. I think I'll be inspired today No No prophecy was ever made by an act of human will

Now certainly Paul decides to write a letter to the Romans But Paul did not sit down saying

I'm going to write scripture today God give me the words to say Instead the description you have at the end of verse 21 literally is but men

Carried along moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God now men spoke

Men spoke we do not deny that My Muslim friends really struggle because they they read

Paul and Paul says to Timothy bring the cloaks and the parchments and They look at something like that and this is just this is just Paul telling

Timothy it's getting cold Could you bring the the jacket? I left someplace and could bring the parchments either either to write on or to read one or two maybe both

This is this is just this is just Paul talking to a friend about you know travel issues

How can that be the Word of God? Well, interestingly enough the Quran says that the

Psalms were given by God as well and boy There's a lot of personal stuff in the

Psalms My heart is broken or I rejoice or or my enemies is surrounded all sorts of personal stuff like that in the

Psalms There's inconsistency in the Muslim perspective But the point is they're expecting if it's called the

Word of God, it's just simply God in heaven speaking But that's not what we have here men

Spoke and they spoke in their own language Paul did not know English and he did not write in English But I can guarantee you

When you look at the Greek New Testament, and there are a number of you who are learning Greek right now press on Remember Greek without works is dead

Only a few of you got that one, but that's okay. It's alright Press on in your in your studies

If you read, thank you very much brother. I appreciate that It's almost as good as an amen, but it's a good it's a it's a good chuckle anyways

But if you read the Greek New Testament Then you know that the person who wrote

Hebrews Did not write first John Now you can tell that even in the

English translation, but let me tell you something. You can really tell it in the original language I mean

I can tell the difference between Paul and John and Mark and Luke and That's why when you ask so who wrote

Hebrews and well It's a whole lot more like Luke than it is Paul I guarantee you that and one thing that's absolutely certain is

John did not write it There's just no question about it. There's different styles. There's different different vocabulary all sorts of things like that There are differences in what we find fine men spoke

What they spoke? Was from God God Intended us to know that it's important to care for one another and that it's appropriate for Paul to express his desire to Timothy That he bring the cloak and the parchments

There is nothing wrong with that being the Word of God. We can learn from this We can understand the importance of these things to Paul as he's in prison and his desire to continue in the apostolic ministry

There's no problem that being the Word of God But you see they are moved.

It's literally carried along by the Holy Spirit as they speak and Therefore as they speak the

Holy Spirit guides them so that while they are the ones being used as an instrument

They're not just simply they're not just simply an automatic typewriter They're not like dragon dictate if you know what that is.

I have that on my computer It's a pretty cool program make some funny errors at times, but it's a pretty cool program and I can just sit there and I put a headset on and I can just start talking and there it is on the screen and Most of the time it's exactly right

You have to keep an eye on it because you can get yourself in trouble But it's it's normally just is that what is that what

Peter was that what Paul was just all sudden Just start writing there's a lot of people who think that's exactly what scripture is that the person was irrelevant

It's not what it says, but it does said does say men moved by the

Holy Spirit carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God this describes the nature of scripture and explains why sola scriptura must be true why

Because the foundational truth of sola scriptura is that scripture is absolutely unique in its origination in nature

The normal text that people look at it's either this one or Paul's words that all scripture is they are new sauce

It is God breathed and as such is profitable for all the things the man of God needs to do in the church

There is nothing other than scripture that is they honor sauce

Nothing when my Roman Catholic opponents tried to deny sola scriptura they inevitably have to place the quote -unquote divine traditions of the

Roman Magisterium on the same level they might try to differentiate but functionally

They are elevating something else to the level of being they honor sauce

God breathed I don't like the term inspired I've seen a number of translations, but inspired is a

Latin term in sporados Which means to breathe into something and that's not what we're talking about It's not that God took human words and breathe something special into them.

We use the term inspired That was an inspired performance That's that's not what

Paul was saying and that's the only place where the term is used in the New Testament It literally refers to the very breath of God the origination of this comes from God himself and So it is the nature

Remember what Jesus said have you not read what God spoke to you? That's the same thing

Paul thinks that's the same thing Peter is saying here And that's why you must believe in sola scriptura

Because nowhere in the scriptura are we told that there's anything else that is of equal authority in fact

Allegedly divine traditions that allegedly come from God are specifically subserviated to the authority of the inspired words of Scripture in the teachings of Jesus himself and So unless you're going to call unless you're going to be honest about it and be like the

Mormons anyways and say well We have more books of Scripture We have the

Book of Mormon. We have the Doctrine and Covenants. We have the Pearl of Great Price Really at least you're honest at that point

At least the the Muslims are honest, and we've got a whole new book of Scripture that we needed something more Then of course you have to ask well then what do you teach about Jesus and you discover that none of them have the truth about Jesus because as Jesus is described in Scripture remember

Hebrews chapter 1 in the olden times God spoke To the fathers by the prophets, but now in these last days.

He's spoken unto us by his son So why would he then have to go back to the old ways you have to make the revelation in the

Sun? Insufficient and lesser than whatever revelation you're now going to put forward and so the revelation of the very

Son of God becomes inferior that which comes through Muhammad or Through Joseph Smith and the prophets of the

Mormon Church or whatever else, but at least they're being honest and saying we have more Scripture Most groups are

Afraid to do that Most groups recognized well boy if I start saying

I'm actually giving Scripture I'm putting myself on the same level as as as Paul and John and Jesus and I I Have a hard time with that and and so what they do is they find more subtle ways.

I would say less honest ways To bring in an external authority and and they're not going to want to say it's they are new stuff

It's God breathe, but in reality That's what they're saying Because that's the only way that you could undo the final authority of Scripture It's the only way you could do it bring in something that has the same nature as Scripture now, it's interesting

Probably the most common argument that is used by those who try to deny sola scriptura today from the

Roman Catholic perspective If they'll say well, you can't believe in solo scriptura

Because That way you don't know what the canon is You can't believe in solo scriptura unless you have an infallible authority that defines what the canon is

Now they get away with this because let's face it. I mean, we're weird and If you show up,

I see some of you smiling and you took that as the loving compliment that it was meant to be We we bear that that title.

Well We have discussions of this We have discussions of the canon of Scripture and we've talked about the apocryphal books and we've talked about what the canonization

Process was and and and all the rest this type of stuff and and and I've preached on this very subject in the past And so it is something that we talk about and I would hope

But those of you who've been here for a lengthy period of time you've heard the pastor preaching You've heard me preaching and teaching you've heard brother

Callahan teaching and in the Sunday school class that you would have some knowledge of how we understand the issue of the canon of Scripture and The fact that it's not some external revelation to that it is a part of God's Inspiration of the word the canon in fact comes into existence

Because God is the author of it. In other words as soon as God writes one book it can't exist

He infallibly knows the nature of that canon God infallibly knows what he's inspired and what he is not inspired and since it is his purpose

That we as his people know what he's given to us Then he communicates that to us with sufficient clarity so that we can know what the scripture is and it's not without making that another

Revelation we don't need a 28th book of the New Testament called index or table of contents or something like that But most

Christians Roman Catholic or Roman Catholic people most Christians whether they be

Liberal Protestants don't even think about this. It's just sort of a tradition doesn't matter but Evangelicals who might engage with Roman Catholics on the subject of this issue

That's just not something that's talked about a lot. I mean we got 66 books and Your books you got a book called

Bell on the Dragon. Wow, that's pretty weird And that's that's pretty much the the depth of the discussion that people have had and so they get away with it

They get away with it. Despite the fact that actually shoots their own position. I Found a picture that my host took of me while at this very moment while this was happening

But one of the most interesting experiences of my apologetic Life was took place in Massachusetts I Had done a debate at Boston College With Jerry Matitix on the subject of the

Apocrypha and he and I had both thought man We're gonna put people asleep with this one ended up being one of the most interesting debates

Well the rowdiest debates ever did actually I mean it was Boston College there's a bunch of monks sitting out there and monks, you don't get excited about things, but anyways,

I Had been told that a radio Interview I was supposed to do I think the next

Monday morning had been canceled Well, I had been given wrong information. And so I and my host were driving around out in Southbridge, Massachusetts We have to turn the radio on and there is the program and they're wondering where I am

So we go zooming back to the house and and jump on the phone I call in and there's still plenty of time.

That's supposed to be like a two -hour program and so Jerry and I start going back at at the very same subject and Out of the blue.

I had not thought of this. It was not prepared as I said I had just run into a house from a car and jumped on the phone and and and and all

I you know I was trying to grab luggage and pull Bibles out and stuff like that sitting on the edge of a bed and In the midst of all this

I Came up with a question for Jerry and this question is repeated so many times now

That I actually heard it on a Roman Catholic apologetics program in 1996

Called the white question. I've got a question named after me. That's pretty good. I suppose that's a some accomplishment in life

But all of a sudden I said to Jerry so Jerry How did the believing

Jewish man Know that Isaiah and 2nd Chronicles were scripture 50 years before Christ and that's exactly what happened on the radio to silence

Now I'm an old radio guy dead air is not a good thing People start changing the station as soon as you get dead air

That you don't want that to happen even an interview It was silent

What was the question again? How did the believing Jewish man know Isaiah and 2nd

Chronicles were scripture 50 years before Christ now? Why would that be relevant and why was he stumped and why is any?

Meaningful fair Roman Catholics stumped to this day by that question It's real simple if their argument is you need to have an infallible guide an infallible external source to define the canon for you

Well, what was the infallible external source 50 years before Christ About some

Roman Catholics say it was the Jewish Magisterium Really? Well, there's no question about the fact the

Jewish Magisterium rejected the books. You've canonized in 1546 called the Apocrypha So if they were infallible then why aren't they infallible now?

I? Think Jerry knew that the only other option is you don't need an external authority to define these things for you

But that's what he was arguing was his whole argument against all scripture was you need the Roman Church to tell you what scripture was

The problem is the Roman Church didn't tell you what scripture was until 1546 so evidently until 1546 nobody can know what the

Bible actually taught and yet all the great doctrinal controversies of the Trinity and everything else had already been worked out by that point in time and Evidently was done.

So without the scriptures, which of course is an absurd view of church history So No matter which direction he went

He would have to Blow a hole through the center of his own argument with whatever answer he gave

And you may say haven't they come up with any other answers since then it's been a long time Yeah, I was 1993

Coming up on Wow coming up on the 20th anniversary of that particular instance Wow Now, you know you're starting to get old

There was one someone actually said well they could have applied to the Urim and the Thummim remember the

Urim and the Thummim the The stones and the in the breastplate and they could have cast lots to find out what the books of Scripture were

Now, of course 50 years for Christ Not sure that those were even still around they may have been lost during the

Babylonian captivity But you're really saying that to know that is and second

Chronicles of Scripture They would have had to have gone to the high priest and cast lots to find out.

Well, this was this was divine Scripture That's what you're telling me. So when Jesus preached and held people accountable to these things

They could have literally said I Don't think that it's proper for you to hold me accountable for that because I haven't gone to the high priest to find out that's actually

Scripture remember that happening in Matthew. Yeah, it's in Matthew chapter 32 Think about Matthew for a second you realize why that was somewhat funny

It's impossible So he had no answer sola scriptura is simply the recognition

That God has given to us in his written word what he intends us to have

We may sit around go. Oh, I wish this was clear. I wish that was clear But everything that we need to live a life of godliness has been given to us in Scripture and Much of what causes us to grow in the grace and knowledge of the

Lord Jesus Christ is struggling with these very issues I don't know about you, but I don't think just simply having an encyclopedia that you can just look it up from A to Z and Say oh, okay.

Here's the entry this tells me how to do this. That's That's not how you bring people to maturity

You have to think things through you have to struggle with things you have to make Applications, that's how we mature and God has given to us a clear

Word of God, and he has preserved it for us down through the ages but remember

What was that first? apologetic question has God said

Has God said and that same question is asked of you every day the young people in this congregation

When you go to school when you talk to Other people your age you end up in university or college, whatever the context might be

You're going to be challenged Because they don't believe God's spoken They have this weird belief that God creates men and even though God speaks he doesn't

Weird thing when you think about isn't it? God makes us as communicative beings and then the heavens are silent.

It's not what Jesus believed You're going to be challenged on every level You're going to be challenged about the consistency of this book and I believe that we should be people who take seriously those challenges and if we've demonstrated anything by the fact that brother broils was reading about labors for washing of feet this evening and The fact that for almost ten years

We've been working through synoptic Gospels We could have gotten through the Gospels a whole lot faster if we didn't bother stopping and talking about those a little synoptic problems

It's so much easier Easier on me believe you me You see we demonstrate by how we handle the

Word of God in this place that we do take those things seriously There's a reason for it.

I Love the fact that brother brother Callahan brother David Callahan a little littler

Callahan Comes back from college one day and he says

Hey Remember when you talk about X Y & Z all the time now I know why you talk about X Y &

Z all the thing you told us that we'd be challenged in that I was challenged that in a Christian place. Yeah, I know

I Know I actually do teach out there once in a while We need to know this because we want to be people who are ready to engage our society

We want to be ready to be salt and light And that requires of us Things that didn't require of the generations before us because the context in which we live

Sola Scriptura the scriptures are the sole infallible rule of faith

We maintain that against those who present other rules of religious authority

We maintain that against those who deny that there is any revelation from God whatsoever and God by his grace

May he continue to make us strong in our stand upon the inspiration

Authority and sufficiency of Scripture. Let us pray together indeed our gracious Heavenly Father.

We do. Thank you for the Word of God And we thank you that you have established it forever

That you have preserved it for your people you draw our hearts out to memorize it and to study it and to love it and to Stand in awe of it

We thank you that it unites us together it gives a light to our path

You would pray that you would protect us from everything that would cause us to Embrace as authorities those things that are inferior to it

Or it you would protect us from the diminishment of faith

That comes from exposure to the things the world and the constant breaking down of that Image in which we have been created the very image of God May we know

That you have provided for us Everything that we need to live a life of godliness and that the