By Scripture Alone

Pray for Mahi, & Robbie, & Raudel

2 Timothy 4:1–5 (CSB)

1 I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing and his kingdom: 2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching. 3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. 4 They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5 But as for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

If a Tornado Siren were to go off right now, what would be our reaction?

Would we run for cover immediately? Or would look outside to gauge the weather?

If the emergency signal went off on our Tv’s or radios Went off, would we immediately think the Russians are attacking, or do we scan our available resources for more information before frantically running around trying to protect ourselves?

If a Fireman were to barge through those doors right now, telling us we had to leave this building because it was on fire, would we leave immediately as he commands?

Or would we look around and try to smell or see smoke before we leave?

I am going guess, that the answer would be, we would try to find smoke, or evidence of fire first.

I would also guess that before we run to find shelter from a tornado siren, we would first gauge the weather, etc.

And we would most likely scan our resources to find out WHY the emergency broadcast goes off instead of anything else.

Switching gears, now How many know who Brad Pitt, & Angelina Jolie are?

We could probably name some of their movies huh?

How many know who John Wayne is? We could name his movies too?

How many here are Football fans?

For those who aren’t , how many know who Tom Brady is? Dale Earnhardt?

We may not know who they are but we know they are sports people?

Paula Deen? Bobby Flay? Gordon Ramsay? They are cooking show stars

Em-inim, Beyonce, Dick Clark?

I have a question for you all? What was it that Dick Clark said about salvation?

Was it Tom Brady who said, the heart of man is wicked?

Who did John Wayne say would be saved Oh, thats right, it wasn’t those people who said that stuff

Who was it,

(Snap fingers)

Thats right Jesus, said those things Jesus,

yeah, I like Jesus don’t you ? He’s a good guy huh?

I mean he saved me from eternity in hell and all that. He helps me out when I find myself in trouble and can’t get out of it.

You knowJesus found himself in a few trying situations too.

Like remember when He was tempted in the wilderness by the devil? When the devil would say something like, “Hey if you really are the Son of God, do this or do that”

BTW How many temptations were there?

What did Jesus do to answer the devil? Chances are most of us don’t know do we ?

Thats not good. We know what famous people do, and we even follow their careers and Progress. We know the shows they appear on. We may not know them personally, but we know quite a bit about them, and they have nothing to do with our eternal salvation. Nor of the need for a savior.

The person of Jesus whom is our eternal Savior, we know little about. There is a problem here!

From our own mouths we confess we do not know.

Earlier I asked about what we would do if this alarm went off

Or that If the tornado siren went off, we would go look at the weather.

If the emergency signal went off, we’d want to know why. If a Fireman told us we had to leave, we would want proof.

We would want to dig into the information so we know what’s going on. So, if Jesus says, “the end is coming soon,” and we really believed He is telling us the truth, why aren’t we digging into his word to know what’s really going on?

I think the topic of Eternity is way more important to me than Brad Pitts new movie, or How John Wayne is going to take care of business in a pretend world made for the specific purpose of entertaining you. Even if just for a few short hours of life here on earth.

The truth is, some of us don’t really care.

I see some on the phones when preaching is going on. I see some trying to fidget time away.

Making many excuses for why they can’t make it to church for worship on Sunday, or participate in this function or that program.

Or even worse, something else was going on in their lives that took priority over worshipping God their creator and Savior, with their congregation.

I get it, maybe you don’t like the message, maybe it’s me. Maybe you already know this stuff, etc. Why does it matter?

Because it is up to you to determine what is right or wrong based on God’s hand book, The Bible.

In this world, especially today, we are confronted with a myriad of differing points of view on almost every subject in under the sun.

Some are on the left, and some are on the right. Some are even in the middle.

There are many divisive issues facing the world today, especially in our own beloved country, that we as Christians are going to have to face.

They are so uncomfortable at times, because they can divide even households, let alone a church congregation.

So, because of this, it our responsibility as believers to know what our Supreme authority says about any given issue, before we form an opinion.

If you are a Christian, then it goes without saying, Our Supreme Authority is Scripture.

“It is Written Jesus Said”

What God actually said about it, seals the deal.

Regardless of our own personal preference on the matter.

For instance, to borrow from another preacher who said this,

When the pharisees tried to trick Jesus by asking Him if it was right to pay Taxes to Caesar or not, Don’t you wish Jesus would have answered differently?

We don’t have to like the answer, but we must know the correct answer. Like if you got this answer wrong, and went with your preference or your gut, you will go to prison for not paying your taxes.

In the days leading up to the protestant reformation, the Catholic church ruled.

They were the absolute power in regards to Spiritual matters.

Some would also argue that hey were the absolute power in the world at the time as well.

In those days, the church, which was the ruling power, decided what was politically correct, what was sacred, what was holy, what you could and couldn’t say etc.

Much like what we are seeing in this very country today. The powers that be, are even creeping in little by little into matters of the spirit and religion as well as in the secular realm.

Trying very hard to “Control” what we can say and preach from the pulpit.

In fact, heard a soundbite just yesterday that there is even a movement gaining traction in Israel, the Holy Land attempting to prohibit any teaching, in the name of “Jesus.”

To be fair, I have not fact checked this revelation, but, it does seem plausible given what is happening currently in many countries of the world already, even in the country to our north. Canada.

Because of this power to dictate what words could be used, and what we as believers should be compelled to do, Martin Luther nailed his thesis to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg on Oct. 31, 1517 AD in opposition to those ruling powers of the day.

The differences in Protestant Christianity & Catholicism are punctuated by what has come to be known as the 5 Solas by (X Alone)

SOLA GRATIA,("Grace Alone")

SOLA FIDE, ("Faith Alone")

SOLUS CHRISTUS, ("Christ Alone")

SOLI DEO GLORIA, ("To the Glory of God Alone")

SOLA SCRIPTURA, ("Scripture Alone")

When I give talks about the differences, I always mention that these are the chasms which eternally separate the two worldview's. “Christianity & Catholicism”

Now, we can’t go into all 5 of them today, but I want to address one specifically that is relevant for todays message.

“Sola Scriptura” By Scripture alone.

See, we protestants hold the Scripture, the word of God, to be Supreme. In the Latin it is referred to as “Sola Scriptura.” That means, according to “Scripture alone”

Now, If you are a Christian, and saved by His grace alone!

What then, do you actually know about the Scriptures?

Because in them, you will find the ability to prove the existence of God. You will be able to defend your faith against the evil thoughts and temptations of this world

2 Timothy 3:16–17 (CSB)

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Joshua 1:8 (CSB)

8 This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.

Psalm 119:105 (CSB)

105 Your word is a lamp for my feet

and a light on my path.

What is the word then?

JESUS is the Word, He is the LOGOs that came down from heaven

John 1:1 (CSB)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The reason our lives can get out of control at times is because of a lack Of Bible knowledge.

Hosea 4:6 (CSB)

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I will reject you from serving as my priest.

Since you have forgotten the law of your God,

I will also forget your sons.

Lack of knowing what the Bible says about things can help us to avoid, or willfully engage in them.

The Bible has the answer for all of Life’s dilemmas. No matter what we may be going through, the answers are in scripture.

In English, the acronym fits superbly “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth”

The old saying that Kids don’t come with an instruction manual is true, but a manual does exist AMEN.

Its called the Bible!

Guess what, the more time you spend in it, the more interesting it gets.

You will have many of these moments, “Oh, thats Why?”

The Word of God should reign supreme in your Life

And if it does, then you know Jesus, because the only way to know Him is by spending time with Him in His Word. After all, He is the Word!

Now, back to the wilderness where Jesus was tempted.

Where He confronted everything you and I face everyday and how He dealt with the Devil in the wilderness.

The Bible says He was tempted three times. In Matthew, Luke & Mark we find the story.

The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for forty days. The devil came to Him trying to capitalize on His hunger, and conditions.

The devil said, “If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into food Jesus answered with, ‘It is Written” Then quoted scripture.

Then He tried to get Jesus to worship him, to which Jesus again quoted scripture, with, “It is written”

The Third time, the devil tried to get Jesus to take command, but Jesus responded again with scripture, “It is Said” So, Jesus was tempted three times.

Those three areas that were tempted are

Self Preservation, (Forget everyone else, Lets do the best for ME!)

The Ego, ( After all, you’re awesome, You deserve this or that)

Self - Sufficiency (I’m going to do things MY way)

Self, self, self,

Remember, Paul told us that when we accepted Christ, we Died to ourselves

We are now alive in Christ.

Our opinion on the matter should be, “It is Written”

So the next time the devil comes at you, trying to manipulate your use of logic, on any given issue wether biblical or worldly issues.

You tell him,

Get Thee behind me Satan, for you couldn’t do it to Jesus

And since He lives in me, you can’t do it to me either

And then quote the scripture that you have learned that best fits your particular issues at the moment,

You & I have a weapon to fight back.

It’s called the WORD of God, and its printed nice and neat for you in every common language

and in this generation, We even have it on our phones…

So, then, YOU are without excuse,

Because Jesus went to the cross an innocent man, and died for each one of us in here today, and for those watching. We owe Him our life and eternity, we should know what He says about anything facing us before we form an uninformed opinion