The Canon of Scripture

That's not the way it works. If God doesn't speak, we don't know him. If God doesn't speak, we can't get to him. If God doesn't speak, we don't understand anything. We don't understand who we are, We don't understand the world around us. If God doesn't speak, then what do we do? Throw virgins into volcanoes and hope that that will end the thing? If God doesn't speak lost. Now there's a biblical witness to this, And what I want us to do is look at the biblical witness, and also I want us to look at our confessional framework. Here at the biblical witness and Hebrews chapter one, verses one and two. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. I want you to note this idea of God's speech coming to us collectively, says many times, in any ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. He spoke collectively to the people of God to the prophets, and then ultimately he's speaking collectively. He has spoken collectively to the people of God through the prophet, priests, and King Jesus. This is important and we'll talk about this later, because this idea of private revelation, this idea of private revelation, doesn't fit with the biblical account of God's speech. God speaks to his people. Amen. And when God speaks to persons, he speaks to persons so that that speech can be given to his people. He speaks to persons, and he validates persons so that individuals can bring God's speech to his people. Deuteronomy, chapter eighteen, verses fifteen to twenty two. Hebrews, we had that in the New Testament, but that it's not really a new idea. Look. Deuteronomy eighteen, fifteen to twenty two. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. It is to him. You shall listen, just as you desired of the Lord your God at horror on the day of Assembly, when you said, let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, or see this great fire anymore lest I die. And the Lord said to me, they are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words, that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. Again, God is speaking to persons to speak to people. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart, how may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken? Here it is when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord. If the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. There's your answer. Amen, would that people on our day would pay attention to this text because how many people are there out there who still have very I would say successful. I don't think you can be successful, but very lucrative ministries. Huh, very lucrative ministries, because people somehow just ignore the fact that they have made prediction after prediction after prediction that did not come to pass. We have entire bolt built on the predictions of people that did not come to pass. And the word couldn't be clearer. God speaks to his people through his prophets. And how do we know. We know because God authenticates them. Now, from a theological perspective, this is what we're not here. This is what we're not saying here. God is not saying I'm going to speak to my people. And here's how you will know. There will be an authoritative entity in Rome, and Rome will tell you if it's the word or not. That's backwards, it's not scriptural. God says, I am going to speak to my people. And the way you will know that I'm speaking to my people is what is spoken will come to pass. God is going to preserve his word and there is not going to be an entity or an institution that is going to determine this. Institutions become corrupted, Amen, even the priesthood became corrupted. This is why Jesus is turning over tables in the temple. You have all sorts of corruption, but guess what is not corruptible. The word of God is not corruptible. Amen. Now let's look at our confession. And I do want us to look at this first chapter in our confessions, confession on Holy Scripture, this chapter on Holy Scripture. And I want us to do this for a couple of reasons, because on the one hand, we come and we say, well, no, the Church didn't create the Bible. The Bible created the Church, right, And oftentimes what we do is we swing the pendulum in the other direction and we just go, yeah, so, you know, I just sort of get to determine everything for myself, not connected to history, not connected. That's not what I'm saying. And so we want to look at our confession here. And there are a lot of people who have problems with confessions because you go, well, wait a minute, you know institutions. You just talked about institutions and how institutions you know, could be corrupted. Yes, that's why they need to be held accountable by confessions. Huh, that's why we need to be held accountable by confessions. Right, Well, hold on a minute, you got why are you going to have a confession? If we've got God's word, we don't need a confession. We've got the Bible. Okay, Fine, let's open to Tobin. Ah. Wait wait, wait, that's not Bible. Why not, well, because the Bible is I don't look now, but you're actually confessing no confession, but the Bible. The first thing you have to do is tell me what you mean by Bible, which means you have to have a confession that at least says here's what Bible is. You follow me, No Creed, but Christ great, so that Jehovah's witnesses are welcome. No, no, no, they're not welcome. Well, why not? Well, because what they believe about Jesus what we believe about Jesus different. We believe Jesus is Ah. Don't look now, you're waxing confessional again. So we need to go here, all right? Because what's the first thing that we confess in our confession? What do we mean when we say Bible? Right, chapter one, paragraph one? The Holy Scripture is the only, sufficient, certain and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. What's the first thing we confess in our confession? That the confession is not the final authority. The Bible is amen. Although the light of nature and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God as to leave men unexcusable. Yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and his will which is necessary unto salvation. In other words, general revelation is enough to condemn you, but it is not enough to save you. Amen, you need something more. You need something else for that. Therefore, it please the Lord hundred times and in diverse manners, to reveal himself and to declare that his will unto his church. Remember what we said earlier. This in scripture we see this clear idea that God reveals himself to his people. He reveals himself to his people. What you don't see is isolated individuals right, who in and of themselves possess this revelation. When God reveals himself to persons, it is for the purpose of revealing himself to his people, to his people, and afterward for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh and the malice of Satan and of the world. Right, God's protecting us from the world, the flesh, and the devil. This is the other problem with the idea of individual revelation. We got to be protected from the world, the flesh, and the devil. One of the ways we do that is through this idea of revelation to God's people corporately to commit the same holy unto writing. So not only do we have the idea that God communicates his word to his people, This God who speaks, communicating unto his people, This God who speaks, speaking the world into existence, This God who speaks, who creates man in his image, and man is a speaking being, like God is a speaking being. So that now God can communicate his speech to his creature. Not only do we have this, but now we have the idea that God puts this in writing, which maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of God revealing his will unto his people being now ceased. Amen. So the good paragraph two under the name of Holy Scripture or the Word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testament, which are these, And then they are listed the thirty nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty seven books of the New Testament, and not the Apocrypha, and not the Apocryphal. Well, then there's a question why not the apocrypha Paragraph three. The books commonly called apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon or rule of the Scripture, and therefore are of no authority to the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved or made use of than other human writings. They're not Bible. We don't even haven't brought over in the subtulogy. They're they're not Bible. Right. Can they be useful tools, sure, just like any other written Josephus can be a useful tool. Right, But that doesn't make Josepha's scripture okay. And partly because of this idea of God's authoritative speech through those whom he has affirmed and confirmed to be bringing his authoritative speech to his people, for the authority of the Holy Scripture for which it ought to be believed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God, who is truth itself. Said it before, I'll say it again. God is not running for God, Amen. And the Bible is not looking for your vote either, the author thereof. Therefore it is to be received becau it is the word of God. Period. The Bible is to be received because it is the word of God because it claims and demonstrates that it is the word of God, regardless of what any individual or any institution says. Five, let's bring this into some imbalance. We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church of God to a high and reverent esteem of the Holy scriptures. This is so important. What did I say earlier? What is our tendency when we just look at the issue of the canon from this historical apologetic perspective, We raise our fists and we go roomed and create the Bible, and if we're not careful, we run away with this radical individualism. Huh. And now all of a sudden, I can read something in the text that I don't like, and I'm just like, now, God must not done that. So we may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church of God to high and reverent esteem of the Holy scriptures. And we ought to be the Church ought to do that. And the heavenliness of the matters, the efficacy of the doctrine, and the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God. The full discovery it makes of the only way of man's salvation, and many other incomparable excellencies and entire perfections. Thereof are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God. Yet notwithstanding our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority, thereof is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the word in our hearts. Listen, folks, there are people smarter than you, smarter than me, who have devoted themselves to the study of the Word of God. Amen. There are people who've done it for millennia. We have the writings of people who have devoted themselves to this study. And then we have the writings of other people who stood on their shoulders and benefited from their work and to get further. And then we have writings of other people who stood on their shoulders and benefited from their work and took it further. And so now we have all of these witnesses who are testifying to the beauty and the truth and the majesty of the Word of God. And it is incumbent upon us to receive this. That's God's blessing to us. Amen. So what we what we don't do, is we we don't make the opposite error. We don't say Rome didn't give us the Bible, right, no authority gave us the Bible. The Bible's inter So now I get the scriptures, and I say, I don't want anything outside of the Bible to have any influence whatsoever on my understanding of the Bible. That kind of intentional ignorance, it's false piety, it's prideful, it's arrogant. Amen, that's that's that's not what we do. Turning your bibles with me, I want you to see something here quickly looking. Galatians Galatious Chapter one, Glatious Chapter one, beginning of verse eighteen. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas or Peter, and remain with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother. And what I'm writing to you before God, I do not lie. Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in christ. They only were hearing it, said he who used to persecute us, is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy, and they glorified God because of me. Then, after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them, though privately, before those who seemed influential, the gospel that I proclaimed among the gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. That's the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul, taught by Christ himself, goes to Peter and puts before Peter and the other apostles what the Lord has given to him. Then, after fourteen years, he goes back in order to make sure that he was not an error. Who do you think you are? The apostle Paul himself humbles himself before the other apostles and brings the revelation that he has received before the other apostles to make sure that he is not in error. How dare we take this attitude that says I don't need anyone or anything. That's not a proper understanding of revelation and a proper understanding of the canon paragraph six. The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man, salvation, faith in life is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture. Either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture. In other words, there are things and ideas that we have, and you may not have that thing expressed exactly or precisely as we understand it, but it's necessarily contained in the scriptures. For example, you're not going to find the word trinity, but it's necessarily contained. Amen, it's there. You read the scriptures and you see it. It's there, onto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelation of the Spirit or traditions of men. Again, that would be pointed directly at Rome. Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word, and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God and the government of the Church common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence according to the general rules of the world. Or rules of the Word which are always to be observed. So what time do we meet on the Lord's day? Well, you know, the Bible doesn't say, huh, lees say on the Lord's day at eleven you shall gather, right, I mean, the Bible doesn't say that. But there are a lot of factors that go into people making determinations of when they're they're going to meet. Right. In certain cultures, they take in the factors of, you know, the daylight when it happens, and taking the factors of you know, being an agrarian society where certain things have to be taken care of before you can get away and you know, go to church. They take others. There are things that you take into account, right, But even those so based upon the principles that we find in God's Word. That's the point here. Why is this important? This is important because the fact of the matter is in all things, it's the scriptures and not the dictates of men in all things. And what that means is there are things that we find in scripture that are dictated clearly by scripture, and we hold those things up and that's a hill on which to die. There are other things that we don't treat that way. And there's no one with the authority to make us treat them that way. No one has the authority to say the hour at which church is much meat is eleven. And now all of a sudden that carries the weight of scripture. Nobody can do that, amen. And if they can't do that, then they certainly can't dictate the doctrine of the Immaculate conception. Huh. Certainly they can't do that. You can't just make stuff up. Okay, by the way, for those of you who don't have Catholic backgrounds or anything like that, right, because some of you are going, wait, did that brother just question the virgin birth? No virgin birth. That doctrine is that Mary was a virgin and she had son. The doctor of the Immaculate conception is that Mary was without sin and that's why she was chosen. Virgin birth, immaculate conception. Two different things, one biblical doctrine, the other damnable heresy. Okay, how do we make that determination? The scriptures? The scriptures all right? Eight? The Old Testament in Hebrew, which was the native language of the people of God of old, and the New Testament in Greek. Which at the time of the writing of it was most generally known to the nations. Being immediately inspired by God and by his singular care and providence kept pure in all ages, are therefore are Authitic, so as in all controversies of religion, the Church is finally to appeal unto them, but because of the original tongues. Are because these original tongues are not known to all the people of God, who have a right unto an interest in the scriptures and are commanded in the fear of God to read and search them. Therefore they are to be translated into the vulgar language of every nation unto which they come, that the Word of God, dwelling plentifully in all they may worship Him in an acceptable manner, and through patience and comfort of the scriptures, may have hope. That may not seem like much to you, but it was a radical idea through radical aca. It's a radical idea for those who believe that the Mass should only be in Latin. It's also a radical idea for those who argue that if you are going to read Karan, you have to read it in Arabic. Although the overwhelming majority of Muslims in the world aren't Arabs. This is a radical idea. Translate the word why and why is this a threatening idea? Well, if the idea is that the church creates the Bible, if the idea is that the church is where the authority allies. Basically, instead of solar scripture, it's solar ecclesia. Right. If that's the idea, you don't need the Bible in your language. You just need me to tell you what to believe. But when God revealed his word to his people, he didn't speak to Moses in one language and didn't have Moses communicated to the people in another or you know, in the language that they didn't understand. When God wrote on the tablets, he wrote it in the language of his people. There wasn't some high ethereal ecclesial language, right, There wasn't some you know, Moses didn't come down going you know, God has given me the special language, and I will tell you the meaning of it. No, God revealed himself in the language of the people, so this revelation would be accessible. Nine. The infallible rule of interpretation of scripture is the scripture itself. And therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any scripture which is not manifold, but one it must be searched by other places that speak more clearly clear passages, interpret less clear passages. And finally, ten, the supreme judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of counsels, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits are to be examined. And in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Scripture, delivered by the spirit into which scripture so delivered, our faith is finally resolved. Amen, hallelujah, Praise the Lord again. When we had that sort of anti authoritarian, anti confessional bent, one of the reasons for it, supposedly is that the confession usurps the scripture. Nothing could be further from the truth. This was not usurpation of the scripture. This was the establishment of the fact that the Bible is central to everything that we are and to everything that we believe. This is the foundation upon which everything that we confess is built. And notice that the foundation is the Scripture. The foundation is the Bible. So when we talk about the canon, it's important that we don't just look at it from the you know, the historical standpoint. It's important for us to understand, you know, how the people of God in the Old Testimony it received the word of God, right, the prophets and the writings and the wisdom. It's very important to understand that. But why why did they receive that? They receive it because somebody collected it and said, oh, by the way, guys, here's what we're going. That's not why they received it. Same with the New Testament. We don't receive the New Testament because some council said, here's what you received. In the New Testament, it was received and accepted and already being used in the church. And what we see thereafter is an acknowledgment thereof because God validates his word. So let's look at this in the time that we have left the Old Testament. Cannon Eddy rooted in the doctrine of revelation. The God who speaks grows out of the authority of God's representatives, right, and that authority comes from God's speech acknowledged, immediately, acknowledged, immediately. That's important. When the prophets spoke and God verified his word, there was no need for a counsel or anyone else to gather and say, oh, by the way, here's what Isaiah said. And then you know it came to pass on this date. You know, here we are a meeting as a council. One hundred years later, one thousand years later. Whatever you know, can we now grant Isaiah the seal of approval? Because no, that would put authority in whatever group or agency or counsel, and not in God, who is verifying and validating his word recording speech Exitus seventeen fourteen. Then the Lord said to Moses, write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Write this in a book, record this, write it down Deuteron Me thirty one, twenty four to twenty six. When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, Moses commanded the Levites who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, take this book of the law and put it by the side of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, your God, that it may be there for a witness against you recorded, write it down again, not private interpretation, not holding onto this. And this is very important because if this is not the way that it happens, we may not be relying on counsels to later on verify and validate what the prophets have said, but without the writing, ultimately dependent on the prophets themselves. And when they are gone, what do we have Psalm one two eighteen. Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord. Amen. By the way, that's you and me, the people yet to be created, who praise the Lord, because he revealed himself, and he was kind enough to have his people record what he revealed so that we might have access to it Isaiah thirty and verse eight. And now go write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever. It's this from W. H. Green. Nor formal declaration of their canonical of their canonicity was needed to give them sanction. They were from the first not only eagerly read by the devout, but believed to be divinely obligatory. Each individual book of an acknowledged prophet of Jehovah or of anyone accredited as inspired by him to make known his will was accepted as the word of God immediately upon its appearance. Those books and those only were accepted as the divine standard of their faith and regulative of their conduct, which were written for this definite purpose by those who they believed to be inspired by God. It was this which made them canonical. Amen. Same thing, when we look at the Word of God in the New Testament, we looked at Hebrews chapter one. Let's look at Hebrews chapter two. Harry's on much of the same idea, Verses one through four. Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation. It was declared at first by the Lord, Amen, and it was attested to us by those who heard. While God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will, so we have the same thing in terms of New Testament revelation as we had in terms of Old Testament revelation. When you read the Bible, you realize that we don't have a sense in which signs and wonders are happening all the time and with everyone. God is doing something and revealing something. When we see these things, and when we see them in the lives of the prophets, God is validating and verifying. Amen. And now in the New Testament, what do we have. We have the apostles. First of all, we have Jesus, and Jesus is doing many of the same types of signs and wonders that we have seen before. If we just, for example, look at Oh I'm getting old, I'm getting I'm getting old. I'm just who am I talking about here? Elijah? Wow? In my mind, I was trying to go through books, but there is a book of Elijah, so I couldn't think of the name. Right. If we look at the ministry of Elijah and the ministry of Jesus, but many of the same signs that accompanied Elijah's ministry accompany Jesus's ministry. What is God saying there? God is saying, just like I've validated for you Elijah and his ministry, I'm validating for you Jesus and his ministry, the greater Elijah, if you will. Moses goes up on the mountain and he speaks to the people and he gives the people the law. And Jesus goes up on the mountain. He says, you have heard it said, but I say unto you, there's a greater Moses here. So God is doing these signs and wonders through Jesus, and it always amazes me. You know, Jesus did these signs in wonders, and so now the whole word of faith, theology, name and enclaiment and you know, Pentecostal world, they're basically saying, Jesus did these signs in wonders, so now we need to do these signs in wonders. Jesus was doing these things so that he could be validated and verified as the Messiah. I'm not the Messiah, amen, I'm not. He's been here, died, rose ascended. He's coming back, and you'll know him because he'll be carrying a sword on his thigh. Let me fire in his eyes, and he'll come with the armies of Heaven, not as lowly Jesus meeking mild Amen, I just like to believe the first people he's gonna get those people who's saying it a messiah. But what are we seeing though, we're seeing validation of the word of God. Jesus is the word of God in the beginning was the word. The word was with God. The word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Amen. We're seeing validation of the word of God. And then what we see after this in the ministry of the apostles, we see signs and wonders. Why because they're being validated and we're getting word of God from them and word of God through them. That's the point that the author of Hebrews is making yere. God doesn't hide from his people. He didn't hide from his people in the Old Testament. He didn't hide from his people in the New Testament. He's not hiding from his people. Now we have the word of God. Let me end with this, open again, this time open to two Peter, second Peter, Chapter one, and let's look a beginning verse sixteen. What's canon? What's authoritative? Why is it authoritative? Beginning verse sixteen before We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we've made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty, for when he received honoring glory from God the Father, and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory. This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. We are sels heard this very voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Amen. That's what gives us our cannon. That's what makes the word authoritative. Let's pray, Gracious God, our father, We thank you. We thank you for your word to us. We thank you that you are a god who speaks, that you have not left us to wander aimlessly in the dark, but that you have provided and preserved your word, and you've exalted about all things your name and your word. Grant by your grace that we might receive it as such, not because someone says so, but because you are the God who speaks, and you have spoken. Father, we thank you for those who have gone before us, who have given their lives to studying and understanding and interpreting and proclaiming your word. We are grateful for the great benefit that they are and continue to be to us. Grant that we might be mindful of them, and not just grateful for their work, but Grant that they might spur us on to recognize the need to do the same in our generation. Father, we thank you for those who have given their very lives to translate the Bible into our language and others. We are grateful that we have access to the very words of God. Grant by your grace that this word would find full acceptance, and that Christ might indeed have the fullness of the reward for which he died. Grant this, for we do pray it and ask it in his name. Amen.