Sola Scriptura (Part 2)

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 Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry.

Our theme here is taken from Galatians 2, verse 5. Oh, I guess our announcer just read that, didn't he?

I never remember what the announcer said. I just remember the English beat music. And basically, I'll repeat it.

We did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

That is to say, the theme of the show is to stand up for truth, which means you have to, by definition, stand against error.

We want to be direct. We want to be provocative, controversial, but mainly we want to be biblical, and we want you to think with a biblical worldview, a view that looks at the gospel and sees the gospel as the solution for the problems of mankind.

In our studio today, we have our guest host, our Tuesday host. Today being another Tuesday, pastor, friend, and relic,

Steve Cooley. Thank you very much. Any songs you'd like to sing today? No, but I was recently unearthed, you know, in Siberia, so that makes me a relic.

We've been doing this. I don't know. Some kind of iconoclastic stuff is going through my mind.

I don't know. He's older. You are 50 years old now. Oh, shanks very much for announcing that, shattering that illusion.

Everybody thought I was 12. And Mike's going to be 50, what, in a month.

Maybe by the time this show plays. Yeah. It might just be. Lord willing. Sola Scriptura, Sola Christus.

What are the other solas, Steve, in our five solas? Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, and Sola Deo Gloria.

All right. We're talking about the five solas of the Reformation. Last time we looked at Sola Scriptura, part one.

We'd like to talk a little bit more. While we were off air, we said, have we already covered that topic completely?

What did we say last time? It was several weeks ago. We don't remember what we said, so we're going to do part two today.

So if you put all these together in some kind of CD tape cassette deal and you want to play them all and we basically repeat it ourselves, we're going to keep repeating ourselves until you learn the first time you hear it.

And you'll know that you need to hear it twice, obviously. Sola Scriptura, we believe in that doctrine, and this doctrine affirms that Scripture is inerrant.

It affirms that Scripture is the only authority, the highest authority.

There are no other authorities. There are no other binding things on the conscience of man or the doctrine of the

Church. And everything we need to know, we believe, is found in the Scripture. Scripture alone, only

Scripture. And so this is what we're talking about today. Yes, we are.

We mean by this— That's dead air, Steve. That's not good. We mean by this, if you come up with a creed, maybe that's the

Apostles' Creed, maybe that's—what's that guy's name in Rocky? Nicene.

In this corner, Nicene. Wasn't it Apollo Creed? Oh, yeah. I was pulling for his brother,

Nicene Creed. It's a tag team match. Apollo has just touched the hand of Nicene.

He's down for the eight count. Boris Rass—Boris von Rasske. What was that guy's name back in the 60s?

I don't know, but— Vern Ganya. He's down and he's out. Creeds such as—even excellent creeds—1689

London Baptist Confession, Westminster Confession, they are not equal to nor above Scripture.

They cannot bind your conscience. Where they're biblical, we believe in them. We believe that the

Scriptures teach that no matter what experience you have, it is the final authority.

When the Scriptures speak, God speaks. And so today, Sola Scriptura, we'd like to talk about pragmatism, mysticism,

I'm sure there'll be some kind of Roman Catholic issue come up, not because that's our only drum that we're trying to beat, but this did stem out of a reaction to Roman Catholicism back in the 1500s.

Absolutely. And, you know, the idea of—we mentioned this last time—tradition and magisterium or church teaching being equal.

Well, they wouldn't put it this way, but, you know, you can only understand Scripture in light of church teaching and church tradition, which is just false.

You know, I mean, the idea, I mean, the Roman Catholic Church chained the Bible, you know, to places to refuse—it was a crime to read the

Bible, because they didn't want people to know what was in Scripture, because the only way you could possibly understand

Scripture is if the church taught it to you. You know, the Holy Spirit couldn't be your teacher.

There was no 1 Corinthians 2 .14, apparently. You know, it had to be the church and the church alone teaching

Scripture, and that's just wrong. But, you know, just talking about the sufficiency of Scripture, and this verse doesn't pertain directly to Scripture, but 2

Peter 1 .3 says this, His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

And when you think about that, what does all things encompass? It means that we have everything that we need.

And when we see other passages, we mentioned 2 Timothy 3 .16, 17 last time, about God, you know, being

God -breathed Scripture. And it is sufficient, it is God -breathed, it is everything that we need to understand all that we need for this life.

We don't need anything else. Here is the issue. I know Pastor Steve will agree.

What is the source— I agree. Okay, sorry. —of Q? What is the source of religious truth for the people of God?

It is the Bible, and the Bible alone is our authority. And I find it interesting,

Pastor Steve, that at the very back of the Bible, at the end of the book of Revelation, which happens to be at the end of all the books of the

Bible, if you add or take away from these things, this is not a minor deal.

These curses are added to you. There's a lot at stake here, isn't there? Yeah, but some people say, well, wait a minute, that's not the last verse of Revelation, and what about the remaining verses?

Are those cursed somehow? You know, I mean, does that really conclusively prove anything?

Doesn't it just refer to the book of Revelation? You know, on those kind of issues,

I don't even know where to go. I think as all scriptures inspired in 2 Timothy 3, by God, God, breathe, he's talking about the

Old Testament there, of course, but he's also, by inference, isn't he talking about the

New Testament as well? And Paul talking about Peter's writings, and Peter talking about Paul's writings, and, you know, it goes back to this,

Steve. If you look at the word of God and you realize what it is, you wouldn't settle for anything less.

I think of Deuteronomy 32, the word of which Moses spoke was written that people can and must listen to it and learn it.

In this word, they can find life. That's basically what's the summary of that.

Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you on this day, so that you may command your children to carefully obey all the words of this law.

They are not just idle words for you. They are your life. Steve Well, I was going to add to that another

Deuteronomy verse. Paul You're not adding to the scripture, though, are you? Steve No, I'm not. My life's verse. Deuteronomy 29, 29.

Paul In the year 2929. Steve Everybody knows the first part. Paul If man is still alive. Steve The secret things belong to the

Lord our God. But here's the important part. But the things that are revealed, what things are revealed, the scripture belong to us and to our children forever.

Why? Well, it tells us that we may do all the words of this law. Scripture is very specific about scripture.

It tells us that we ought to obey it and that we ought not to add anything to it. And so when we look at Roman Catholic teaching, it's problematic in the extreme, being that it really subjugates, it subjects scripture to church tradition and church authority.

Paul Second Vatican Council, quote, This tradition which comes from the apostles develops in the church with the help of the

Holy Spirit, for there is a growth in the understanding of the realities and the words which have been handed down.

For as the centuries succeed one another, the church constantly moves forward toward the fullness of divine truth until the words of God reach their complete fulfillment in her.

Steve Which says right there, scripture is not sufficient. you know, it's not enough. We're getting more and more understanding, not from Scripture, but from, you know, the

Spirit allegedly leading the Church in new directions. Roman theologian

John Eck quote, this is gonna blow Steve's gasket, the Scriptures are not authentic, comma, except by the authority of the

Church. Was he a closer for the Red Sox, Eck? Oh, that was

Eckersley, sorry. I don't think it was John Eckersley, I think that was somebody else. Dennis Eckersley. Yes, absolutely.

Okay. And he had a long hair mustache. Yeah, I remember him. Okay, well. How about this,

I'm still in the gasket blowing mode. Yeah, okay. This is going to be an arrogant statement made by someone, and it will definitely, definitely get a reaction out of you.

Pope Pius IX, First Vatican Council, around that time in 1870, he said this, three simple words.

He didn't say, I am legend. He said, I am tradition. Yow. I am tradition.

Wow. This is not some fiddler on the roof with Tevye singing tradition, I am tradition. Tradition. Yeah, I mean, and basically, how could you be more boastful than that?

Why not just say, I am scripture? I mean, what he's saying, when he says, I am tradition, is I am authoritative.

What I say goes. You know, you have to listen to me. And the whole idea of Roman Catholic teaching is that truth only comes from the

Church. You know, they would even say that the scripture put together, or was put together by the

Roman Catholic Church, that the Church infallibly selected the books that go in there.

And that's just wrong. I mean, it totally denies the work of God. You know, somehow the

Church takes, I would just say it this way, it takes the place of God in some cases. Well, there are other things that are vying for supremacy.

We believe it is by scripture alone, meaning the only infallible and inerrant authority for Christian faith is the

Bible. But other things besides tradition, like the Roman Catholics would use, creep in.

Like, charismatics using mysticism and subjectivism now is taking the place of the

Bible. Give us an illustration of that. Well, it reminds me of the old Beatles song, I've Got a Feeling. You know, I don't know if you remember that.

I do. I've Got a Feeling, deep inside. I think that was Let It Be. Wasn't?

Yeah, I just remember it was McCartney on vocals, you know, lead vocals. But anyway, I disagree. It wasn't as good. Lennon's songs were always the best.

I disagree. John Lennon said he hated Oh, Bloody, Oh, Blah -Dah. Yeah, but...

You have to hate that song, too. I don't really. Oh, you don't! Okay, sorry. No Compromise Radio, Pastor Mike and Steve, we're on WVNE.

Carrying on about McCartney and Lennon. But we digress. We're talking about, you know, charismatics and what they will allow to take the place of scripture, and talking about, you know, this kind of feeling -driven thing.

Well, I mean, here's something that you don't even have to be a charismatic to kind of say, you know, people will say this all the time to me, either

I do have a piece about something, or I don't have a piece about something. And what would you,

I mean, what do you say when people say, you know, I want to move to, I don't know, I'll pick a place,

Topeka, Kansas. I don't have a job. I don't have a church. I, you know, I just feel a real peace about moving to Topeka.

Well, I have a piece, and I actually have a license to carry that piece, and that will blow away your peace.

Well, here's what happens. We all need guidance. We're all weak. None of us are

God. We don't know the future, and many Christians, all Christians, want to please

God with their lives. And so instead of studying the scriptures, looking to find out what the scriptures teach, instead of praying, asking for wisdom from other people for decisions, people want to be subjective and mystic in making a decision, and then call that majestic, that mystic feeling

God. Basically, God told me this through audible words, through subjective feelings, through a burning in the bosom, and then they now get to feel confident

I'm making this decision with God's approval. There are lots of things we're not to make with God's approval.

We're to trust in our Heavenly Father and trust that He's leading us properly. Exactly right.

And this whole idea of, you know, I have a piece, or God told me, or, you know,

I feel led to, you know, I mean, you can have convictions about things.

God can—I was even saying last night, you know, that there was a certain weight on me. I felt a compulsion to do something, but it's something that I knew was biblical, you know, it was based on the

Bible. We don't go and say, you know, I feel like this is what

God wants me to do. For example, some Christian women, prominent Christian women, have said, God wants them to be happy, therefore they divorce their husbands.

Well, that would be a violation of Scripture. I don't care how much peace you have about it. The Bible says,

I hate divorce. Here are the only reasons you can divorce, and if you don't have one of those reasons, you may not divorce.

But I have a piece. I know God wants me to be happy. People use all kinds of issues like that.

We talked about it before, Steve. There's an open door. So translation, God opened that door, and therefore you're to walk through there, and that's how

He leads you and guides you. When God has told you in His Word, Christian, that sometimes open doors are just tests to see if you naively walk in them thinking it's

God opening them. Yeah, I mean, here's what I would say. Well, I had an open door. Well, what if it was a trap door?

Would you still walk in, you know? I know. Going back to Topeka, Kansas, I mean, not literally, but in your story, what

I would do if I was your pastor and you said you had a piece about moving to Topeka, I would ask a lot of questions.

Number one, is there a good Bible teaching church that you've found in Topeka, Kansas?

Wait a minute, are you saying that's the number one priority? Steve, we talked about this earlier today, and I know it's one of those things that gets your goat, gets your mutton, and people want to move across the country for money, for a change of pace, for better weather, and they go to a place, just assuming,

I'm sure there'll be a good Bible teaching church there. There are other things more important than the spiritual health of my family, and so we just like to have some warmer weather.

Yeah, and how does that work out for them? Newsflash, Topeka isn't warmer, and it's not warmer spiritually either.

Maybe there's a great church in Topeka, Kansas. There probably is. And if you're listening on No Compromise Radio and you're from Topeka, give us a call.

Give us a call, we'll send you a free t -shirt. We only have the ladies' sizes left. We are ordering some more t -shirts, and so these are gonna be double price, though, because they're gonna be double quality.

Double quality, with even better color. Better color, better quality, Hanes Extra Stretching Gore -Tex.

And a lifetime warranty, or two washings, whichever comes first. So many people say,

I believe in Sola Scriptura. I'm not a Roman Catholic. I believe in the final authority of the

Scripture. But they live their lives like that's not true. God told me something.

I just heard a guy on the radio, this radio station, just two days ago, Steve, and he said this.

Here was his little illustration. God told this particular woman to buy three soccer balls in a garage sale.

And then she went to the garage sale, bought the three soccer balls. God told her before her mission trip to pack the three soccer balls.

You know, it takes a lot to pack soccer balls when you're going over to Africa. Exactly. She went to Africa, and then there was this high school sport camp, and then

God told her to give the three soccer balls. And then this guy said on the radio, you've got to make sure you obey the

Word of God. Yeah. Well you know what, that's right on the second book. Buy three soccer balls?

The second book of Acts. You just have to... Oh, that's like Third Opinions 19.

People obey God? Hey, if you say, well what can I do for people there, and love them, and connect with them, and do kind things?

The Bible says, love your neighbors yourself, and I want to do that. Therefore I'll buy three soccer balls. But don't tell me that's God's will.

I only have one question for that person, Steve. Did you get a tax -deductible receipt since it was for the work of the kingdom?

Well I mean, did you, you know, why not four? Why not two? Why not twelve? It's Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Oh yeah, one for each one. Three in one. People come up with all kinds of things. You know, I mean, it's amazing to me that when push comes to shove, when you know, when you compare black and white, the

Scripture, with what people actually do, people who say they love Christ, ultimately will come up against either their own feelings, that they have a peace battle, or they want to be happy, feelings.

Don't even go with Morris Albert. I listen to that song thousands of times. I know it well.

I hit it with a holy passion. But the other thing is, you know, the other bump in the road a lot of people will roll across is the idea of pragmatism.

Well, it works. I don't really care, you know, for example, husband and wife. They're married, they have kids, and you know, the husband has the capacity to make $45 ,000 a year.

The wife has a job making $125 ,000. She's making almost three times as much money as he is.

How can she possibly quit? He should quit and stay home with the kids, because you know, the Bible may say things, but you know, ultimately $125 ,000 is better than $45 ,000.

Show me a family like that, and there are short -term, you know, exceptions, I'm sure, but overall in the long run, when the man acts like the woman and the woman acts like a man,

I'll show you a family that's upside down emotionally, spiritually. The Scriptures are clear, and it's just that we think they're dry or stuffy or we already know them.

It's old -fashioned. Yeah, they are the infallible rule. I see another way pragmatism sneaks into a church,

Steve, and that is when people with CEO -administrator kind of mentality, they come into the church and say, this is how we should run things now, because we know what works, and so we'll do things because they work, versus we are stewards of God and we will be faithful.

Well, and those are the kind of guys who wind up, as you're kind of indicating there, in leadership in a lot of churches, even elders or if it's deacon -led church, you know, in some kind of head deacon position, and then what happens is the whole thing unravels because they weren't chosen for their spiritual qualifications.

They weren't chosen according to 1st Timothy 3 or Titus 1. They were chosen on the basis of, you know, they've got this worldly experience that they can somehow kind of transform the church with.

If you'd like to study more about this doctrine of Sola Scriptura, type in your Google search engine, if you have an internet access,

Robert Godfrey, Sola Scriptura. I think he writes a great article about this very thing.

Sola Scriptura, Robert Godfrey, or you can email us at info at NoCompromiseRadio .com and we'll send you that link and any other information you need.

Steve, what about Scripture when it's silent about a topic? If we have this Scripture as in the infallible rule, our only authority, but Scripture doesn't address a certain situation, how would you talk to somebody about that?

And I'll tip my hand, there's a reason why God didn't tell us certain things. And tell us about contentment regarding that, and where God's silent, we're silent.

Well, I mean, you know, you say frequently, you know, good, better, best. The best, obviously, is if it's black and white in Scripture.

It's better before you go off and do things to get counsel about things.

If it's not clear in Scripture, there are some issues that are not clear. And then ultimately, you know, if neither one of those really kind of bear things out, then you need to go with wisdom, your own wisdom in some cases.

But you know, I mean, when you talk about silence, I'm just reminded, once I sat in on this marriage preparation class in my former church there in Grace Community Church, and Pastor Jerry Rag was teaching, and somebody, 18 year old kid, asked about birth control.

What does the church teach on birth control? And Jerry just looked at him and he said, Well, we teach exactly what the

Bible teaches. Nothing. Sometimes God doesn't want you to know about a particular doctrine.

I think of, Steve, this has nothing to do with Sola Scriptura, but it has everything to do with lots of families.

What about when children die when they're young? Maybe miscarriages, do infants go to heaven, in other words?

The Scripture speaks indirectly to the topic, but not directly, and so at the end of the day, you say to yourself,

I'm going to have to trust the Lord with all my heart. I'm not to lean on my own understanding. In all my ways

I must acknowledge Him, and He'll make my path straight. Some things you're not supposed to know.

You're supposed to just trust the Father. Don't you know that great story, Steve? I know you do, with Corrie Ten Boom's father, the watchmaker, and here they are in Holland, and they have to travel, and she opens the newspaper and it says something about sex sins, horrible sex sins committed, some crime.

She said, Daddy, what's a sex sin? And he was just quiet, didn't say anything, waited till they got to their destination, and then he said,

Corrie, would you please pick up Daddy's watch repair bag, which is heavy with all kinds of instruments, and she said,

Daddy, Daddy, I can't have carry it. Why, daughter? It's too heavy. And then he said, it's just like the word sex sin,

Corrie, it's too heavy for you to carry it. When you're older, I'll tell you. Some things we don't want to know, because God doesn't want us to know until we have a glorified mind, or they would kill us.

There are plenty of places in the Bible where you just go, boy, it opens the door to things that I'd really like to know, but there's just no clarity on it, and that's okay.

That is fine. What we don't want to do is ever read into the Scripture, go beyond Scripture, and say,

Thus saith the Lord, because then we're making the same mistake that Charismatics make. We're making it up, but as we go along, we're creating kind of a new scriptural basis without Scripture at all.

If someone says, this is equal to the Bible, you reject that thought and reject that person. If someone says,

God told me something, I want you to say this. Could you please tell me the chapter and verse? Because it's not chapter and verse,

God didn't say anything to you, that was your own gizzard fueled by the refried beans last night you had at 2 in the morning.

The foolishness of that is, you know, what does that imply? If God is gonna give a message to one person, you know,

God told me something, well, is that something that's beneficial to other people? Well, why isn't it in the Bible then?

Absolutely, and that one person that usually hears from God often isn't even baptized, often isn't even a member of the

Church, and is often so disobedient, why would God speak through that person? Right, and why would he give them a message for someone else?

That happens a lot too. Well, God told me you need to do, really? Why didn't he tell me that? See, there's only 20 seconds left,

I just got an impression. God has just told me through his Spirit, since I'm a sensitive person, that if someone asks you, someone else says out there that God speaks to them, they're not true.

I'd rather hear your impression of Johnny Carson. Well, he was from Nebraska, God bless.

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 bbcchurch .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.