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, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth and we are into Year 8,

Daily Radio, 8 years. Thank you for praying for me.

I appreciate that. I was given brachytherapy for the prostate cancer that I have, and the seeds, essentially, they last a little longer, but essentially last for 90 days regarding half -life.

And you can do a lot of things during those 90 days, but you�re not allowed to ride a bicycle, a road bicycle, because of the saddle, because of the seat.

So, day 90 finished last Wednesday, and this Wednesday, rather, in real time, and I rode the bike on Thursday.

Ouch! I haven�t been on the bike for a while, and then I rode today as well. I have 40 days of purpose, so I did 40 miles because I also have this book in front of me, �40

Days Through the Prayers of Jesus.� Everything�s 40, so I rode 40 miles on Thursday and I rode 40 miles today.

Today was a lot faster, it was about a mile per hour faster, trying to get my legs back.

I�m still kind of tired because of the radiation, but I will go to New York City for an

MRI in December. They will monitor the PSA levels, and I�m hoping it worked.

It didn�t work. Well, it didn�t work, but I�ll give it a try. Fun to be on the bicycle, fun to,

I think I listened to, don�t tell R. Scott Clarke about this, but I think I listened to, I don�t know, five

Idolcasts today about gnomianism, antinomianism, neo -gnomianism, and I listened at 1 .5

speed. That�s the only way to fly, and you listen to NOCO at 1 .5 speed, do you not?

Yes, you do. We�re talking about the solas of the Reformation. If you�d like to go to Israel with us, that is

February 2018. Make sure you email me, info at nocompromisedradio .com,

to get the information. You can fly from wherever you want to get to probably New York City, then fly over to Tel Aviv.

Remember that Modest Yahoo song about I�m Tel Aviv -ing? Well, you can do that with us.

When you get over to Israel, there are about 10 ,000 Modest Yahoo�s, old -school

Modest Yahoo�s. He�s today, you know, I don�t think quite as conservative as he was.

Sola Scriptura, one of the five solas of the Reformation. Talking about tired,

I just got the tired wave. Ever notice that? It�s kind of like just a wave of being tired. In front of me,

I also have this, I have a little angel. Somebody gave me an angel, a little angel pin, and it�s got an angel with, it�s either a robe or a dress on, this is about an inch long.

And the angel�s hands look clasped, like they�re praying, there�s two wings, and then the angel looks like a girl.

Now the top thing there, I think it�s a halo, but maybe it�s just where you put your little, you know, choke chain necklace.

Remember the choke chains? When I was a kid, we had some other kind of beads, and you could make some kind of cool bead necklace.

And remember choke chains, who would want to wear a choke chain, some kind of choker.

Now training dogs, there was a choke chain, was there not, and you could put it around your wrist and tighten it up, and then if it loosened on its own, that was the right way to put it on the dog�s neck.

If you flip it around and tighten it against your wrist and it stayed tight, that�s a junkyard dog choke chain.

You don�t want to do that. You don�t want to hurt your dog. And speaking of noco and dogs, my little dog,

Jetty, she�s about 12 years old, Parson Jack Russell. She often comes here into the studio and sits by my feet and has been like a wonder dog and jumping and running and lived the life of about five dogs already.

She�s 12 now and she has Lyme�s disease and her back leg doesn�t work so well.

I love to throw a stick far into the pond and she swims and gets it and then repeat.

We just keep doing it over and over and over. There's few things in life to me that are as peaceful and wonderful as sitting by the fire on a cold

New England night and laying by the fire is the dog passed out, right?

They�re typically hyper dogs, the Jack Russells, and here just satisfied with all the swimming.

Well her back leg, since it doesn�t work because of the Lyme�s disease, I throw the stick in and then she grabs the stick and then like twists over, tilts over on her side because that one leg doesn�t work, it�s like lame, it�s palsied or something, seemingly.

And she just starts to like sink. So I thought she was going to make it to the shore and my wife and I were taking her for a walk and I had just received the brachytherapy and kind of walking gingerly and I threw the stick in.

And my wife�s like, �Yeah, don�t throw the stick in.� And I did anyway. If she wouldn�t have done it, I wouldn�t have thrown it in, but she said.

And I thought I�m going to have to get in. So she�s sinking down. I was sinking down, sinking down, or the

Berlitz commercial in Germany. What are you sinking about?

This is the German Coast Guard. Remember that? If you don�t know that, you should pull that up. German Coast Guard, Berlitz, English language.

Mayday, mayday, we are sinking. We are sinking. This is the

German Coast Guard. What are you sinking about?

I�ve watched that thing a hundred times. It�s still funny. And of course, some of you tune in just to hear me laugh.

I rode the bike this morning, went to the beach for the little lake beach for the Bethlehem Bible Church Beach Lake Day.

The little kids know that I�m the monster, the sea monster, monster of the Black Lagoon, creature of the Black Lagoon.

And so I had to go do it again this year. 57, I�m getting too old. Where are the young people? Where�s the youth pastor when we need them to play with the, you know, four -year -old kids on the beach with the sea monster?

You put all the sand on your head and it kind of oozes down in your face. Well, I had to take my shoes off and set my iPhone down to go rescue

Jetty, the no -co dog. So she�s at home now. She�s resting. I give her some stuff. I did take her.

I said to Kim, we�re in Santa Cruz. And I said, when we were in Santa Cruz, I said, I�ll take her to the like the chiropractor, dog chiropractor one time because it looks like her back�s messed up.

I didn�t know it was the Lyme�s disease. And so I�ll take her one time to get like this an adjustment.

Maybe that�ll all work. I mean, I need chiropractic adjustments. So I went to this kind of foo -foo chiropractor dog deal, are there any other kinds?

And before you know it, it was blood tests and urine tests and you ever, how do you get a urine? How do you get a urine sample from a dog?

Well, I now know, I could have figured it out, but I had no idea. Never asked, never needed to know that information.

And you have a pan and you chase that dog and then you get what�s in the pan. So much for me.

Sola Scriptura. What are some words that can help us with scripture alone?

It is just as important today as it was 500 years ago during the Reformation. Scripture alone.

And the first word we looked at, and I want to carry on a little bit more with that today, is the word �sufficient.�

Scripture is sufficient. John, the Gospel of John, he writes everything that was necessary for you to believe on the

Lord Jesus Christ. You didn�t need any stories of Jesus that are outside of scripture, any traditional things, any added scripture to come to a saving knowledge.

You get that information, and can it add to your faith in any way, shape, or form? The answer is no.

Scripture is sufficient. Yes, Jesus did other things, but you don�t need to believe in those things.

You need to believe in the ones that are found in the Gospel of John and, of course, the other Gospels. But there�s enough in John for you to come to saving faith.

Sola Scriptura implies you don�t need an addendum.

You don�t need neo -orthodoxy, where, you know, if it�s only scripture when it turns into scripture, when you have the right view of it.

Scripture is sufficient. If you had three areas of belief, you know, tradition, magisterium, and the

Bible, then what, the Bible would have about 33 % weight and a third?

Or how do you deal with that? You don�t need anything else. You can�t say the Bible is great, but you need something else.

Scripture alone. Nothing is on par with scripture. It can tell you the way to eternal life, the written word.

Now, if you go to John chapter 5, there are some words from Jesus that show you just how important scripture is in your view of scripture.

The Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

The Father, he bears witness to Jesus� teaching,

Jesus� miracles, right? The witness of the Father bears to Jesus in Jesus� name is of course indirect, but Jesus insists, so writes the commentator, this same

Father has himself testified concerning me. The personal nature of this divine witness to the

Son is clear. The writer goes on to say, all such gracious revelation from the

Father is understood by the New Testament writers, not at least John, to serve as witness to the

Son. While you might hear Moses� voice, you�ve never heard God�s voice.

While you have never seen his form, maybe Jacob saw the outlying form of God, Jesus is the manifestation of God.

And what about God�s word dwelling in you? Joshua, maybe the psalmist, you know, hide

God�s word in his heart and meditates on it, but Jesus is the very word of God.

And so Jesus indicts these people, indicts the opponents, and it says in verse 39 of John 5, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about you, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

The scriptures bear witness to Jesus who gives eternal life.

When you study the Bible, the desired effect, the wonderful effect is genuine conversion.

Correct? I hope you say, correct. Jesus himself says, you studied the

Bible, yes, you studied the Bible a lot. Did the Jewish leaders of the day study the

Bible? Were they diligent students? I think we know the answer to that question.

But it doesn�t do you any good if you don�t see the content and what the ultimate meaning of the scripture is, and they are testifying about Jesus.

What�s said in the Old Testament scripture, the First Testament, talks about Jesus. He�s not saying this particular verse or Psalm 22 or something like that, but just in general, the law, the prophets speak of Jesus.

These Jews that Jesus is talking to don�t want to follow

Jesus. And so Jesus says, you�re not reading the Bible like you�re supposed to be reading it.

You�re missing. You study and search the scriptures and you know eternal life is found there, but eternal life is found in Jesus Christ, me, the

Messiah. You�ve been waiting for me, and here I am. You don�t really believe in Moses because Moses wrote of me, and if you didn�t believe in Moses, how are you going to understand what

I say to your face? The written Word of God is sufficient to reveal the way to eternal life found in Christ Jesus.

The same thing when it comes to eternal life. John 20 -21 and now

John 5 talk about the Word is sufficient. Everything you need is found there so that you might believe and have life in his name.

The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

Everything you need in the Bible, you have. Well, if the

Bible is sufficient, then what do we do with these additions? I�m going to give you the year the

Roman Catholic Church added something, and then I�ll tell you what they added. But here�s what I want you to remember.

Nothing that they�ve added can change the fact that if you read John�s Gospel, you have enough information there because it is sufficient.

431, infant baptism regenerates people. 500, mass, resacrifice of Jesus is for the remission of sins.

It�s pretty amazing. Prayers for Mary, dead saints and angels, 600 A .D. 786, worship relics.

995, canonization of dead people. 1000, if you don�t go to mass, it�s a mortal sin.

1079, celibacy for priests. 1090, rosaries, praying the beads.

Sale of indulgences, 1190. Transubstantiation, 1215.

Confessions to priest, 1215. Purgatory, 1438. 1545, tradition claimed equal in authority with the

Bible by Trent. Extra books needed, apocryphal books, 1546. Immaculate conception of Mary, 1854.

Infallibility of the Pope, 1870. Mary�s a co -redeemer, essentially.

Pope Benedict XV, 1922. And then 1950, assumption of Mary into heaven,

Pope Pius XII. Tertullian said, �If, for these and other such rules, you insist on having positive scriptural injunction, you will find none.

Tradition will be held forth to you as the originator of them, custom as their strengthener, and faith as their observer.�

They�re not found in the Bible. The Bible is sufficient. You don�t need anything else.

And this can play into the canon issues, and this can play into, of course, sufficiency of Scripture.

What does 2 Timothy 3, 15 and following say? �And how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

You teach the children the Bible and other people the drop Bible because it can make you wise for salvation.�

Does he not say in the same letter that the unfruitful machinations of the false teachers lead to what?

Quarreling, fighting, disputes, and just ungodliness. Not Scripture. �All

Scripture ,� 2 Timothy 3, 16, �is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.�

That�s all Scripture. What�s he referring to there? Think before you answer. I think two things.

The First Testament, the Old Testament, and Timothy. 1 Timothy, because this is 2 Timothy, and I think

Paul knew when he was writing 1 Timothy that it was Scripture. The Bible doesn�t contain the Word or become the

Word if you do this, that, or the other. The Bible is the Word of God. God breathed out divine inspiration.

God breathed into Adam�s nostrils a breath of life. The Savior breathed on the disciples, the apostles, and said, �Receive the

Holy Ghost.� And now, Paul is not saying, �Oh, what about the human authors?

They were inspired people. They wrote inspiring songs and hymns.� No, the writings themselves.

They�re profitable for all kinds of doctrine, correction, for instruction in righteousness.

�Under what end ,� verse 17, �that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.�

That the preacher, that the Bible teacher can be equipped. This is the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture.

Everything a pastor needs is found in the Bible for his tools. Scripture is sufficient.

In other words, there�s no deficiencies in Scripture. Why is unto salvation? The Scriptures have the power to teach.

This is what God wants you to know about Him and life and the world. Reproof, you don�t measure up.

To correct, I�m going to stand you up straight again. Training in righteousness. So, 24 -7, you would understand what it means to live a righteous life.

And it makes you complete, are adequate, are capable, are fitted, young pastor, and then by implication, everyone else.

To thoroughly and fully equip for a task. God rigs out

His men with the Scriptures. When you think of sailing, and you�ve got to bring an extra sail, and an extra mast, and extra oar, and extra nets.

I don�t know what you have to bring. Citrus for scurvy. Everything God wanted to be in the

Bible for every generation. Think about it. Different people, in terms of cultures, and ethnicities, and skin colors, and where they live according to the equator.

And do they live in the jungle? Do they live in the urban jungle? All these different things. The Word of God is powerful and sufficient.

Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. That�s the language of 2

Peter 1, verse 3. No deficiencies.

And if there�s no deficiencies, why do you need some tradition? Why do you need a pronouncement by the Pope? Why do you need new doctrine?

Everything for salvation in spiritual life is found in the Scriptures. And the Reformers would talk about either explicitly or implicit.

Westminster Confession of Faith. The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man�s salvation, faith, and life is either expressly, set down, you know, what do you drink?

The essence of coffee. I hope you don�t say espresso. Either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence, may be deduced from Scripture, unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the

Spirit or traditions of men. Everything you need to know. Sound like what was going on in John 21, and John 20, and John 5.

Spurgeon. Evidently, they regarded the statements of Scripture as conclusive. They took the counsel of Scriptures, and so they ended the matter.

It is written was proof to them, positive and indisputable. Thus saith the Lord was the final word, enough for their mind and heart, enough for their conscience and understanding.

To go behind Scripture did not occur to the first teachers of our faith. They heard the oracle of divine testimony and bowed their heads in reverence.

So it ought to be with us. We have erred from the faith, and we shall pierce ourselves through with many sorrows, unless we feel that, if the

Scripture says it, it is even so. The Bible is sufficient.

If you go beyond Scripture, you're really going behind it, so says Spurgeon. Don't err from the faith.

How could Spurgeon, or any other man, think so highly of the

Word of God? Because it is God -breathed. It is alive.

It is... It has been penned by God. Spurgeon said, each sentence was dictated by the

Holy Spirit. It's the writing of the living God. Each letter was penned with an almighty finger.

If it's just man, that's one thing. But it's the Word of God. It is the

Word of God. God is the author. When you think about Sola Scriptura, you ought to say, sufficient.

In addition, the second word is authoritative. This is closely related.

Authoritative. Is the Bible authoritative? Is it to be taken or left?

Take it or leave it. Is the Bible authoritative? When you hear it is written, what kind of power comes behind that?

We're going to look at that next time in John chapter 6, verse 43 and following. For Jesus, the

Bible was not only sufficient but authoritative. I've been reading a lot lately about justification by faith alone.

And that's an important doctrine. The razor's edge between gnomism and antinomianism.

But what undergirds like rebar is the doctrine of scripture.

No wonder that doctrine is being so attacked because if you can attack scripture and somehow be successful not ultimately, of course, but in the minds of your hearers, then these other ones fall like the proverbial house of cards.

52 pick up. 66 pick up. 66 books that you're just picking up off the ground for no reason because they're not sufficient, authoritative or true.

Why bother? Mike Ebenruth is No Compromise Radio. If you have been encouraged by the show that would be great.

Sometimes I do need encouragement. I don't necessarily need it this week, but if you want to encourage,

I would read it anyway and be glad. I regularly get an email and think, you know, that made my day. So I just write to the person and say, that made my day.

If you've got friends that you want to turn on to NoCo Radio, you can tell them the style and format and I guess there's plenty of reruns they could listen to.

Right, Fred? ...on

Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org

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