1 John 4:1-6

Today may be a bit more academic than normal, but crucial and needful for both the newest Christian and the oldest as well as beneficial for the non-Christian.

The passage we come to today deals with a topic that is foundational to our faith. . . the doctrine of the Bible.

Test the Spirits to see whether they are from God . . . they are from the world and the world listens to them; we are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

WE, US, US - Apostles - those whom Christ had given special authority . . . ability to recall . . . eye witnesses (no modern apostles) . . . New Testament

We are the Authority, don’t listen to others who do not have the authority that Christ gave to us - the 12, not me

Perhaps the most crucial and monumental doctrine in the history of the Church

The Bible as Authority (Sola Scriptura)

Only the Bible as our Ultimate authority - only infallible authority

507 years ago as of about a week and a half ago, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of All Saints Church in Vittenburg, this was the spark that started what we now refer to as the Protestant Reformation.

Every church, the possibility of . . . , that isn’t Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox began at this moment - Churches of Christ included of course.

Many of you dont know this or have any of the issues I am about to mention, halelujah, but Churches of Christ have been known to claim that we are not indeed the product of the Protestant Reformation like all these other churches are, where their signs say things like “Established 1878,” you have likely seen coc signs that say “Established 33 A.D.,” which isn’t elitist at all. Because we say we are not new, we are part of the church that has always been; but of course every church believes that about themself, every church believes they are just an extension of the body of Christ from the first century, all they are saying of course is that that part of the ancient body has been meeting there since 1878.

The churches of Christ are CLEARLY the historical result of the Protestant Reformation, there were no Christians having church of Christ like church during the medieval times when the Roman Catholic church took over for good. Speaking purely historically, if there was no Protestant Reformation, there is no church of Christ. Not debatable historically.

“Well Rene churches of Christ are different because we wanted to restore the church to what it was at the beginning!

YES! YOU KNOW WHERE WE GOT THAT FROM? LUTHER, CALVIN, ERASMAS. The reformers alongside Luther.

The Motto of much of the Reformation was “ad fontes” - Back to the fountain

“All that we have attempted to do is to restore the first purity . . . and to bring every practice of faith back to its biblical fountainhead.” The church of Christ . . . . JOHN CALVIN

We didn’t invent that idea! In fact it was an extremely common montra during the time when churches of Christ became a thing.

One church of Christ scholar wrote of us saying, “In (our) zeal to reject tradition, (we) actually became part of a long tradition in Christian history whose substance was rejection of tradition”

We just want the Bible! YES! That is largely the foundation of the entire protestant reformation and every denomination you passed on the way here this morning.

Historian Mark Noll identifies the Diet of Worms (Vorms) – 1521 – Start of Protestant Reformation and one of the very most crucial moments in Church History.

Martin Luther (37) had written these things, back to the Bible, get rid of unbiblical practices, salvation not by works, He was summoned by the Emperor of Rome to Recant – confess publicly to his mistakes to what he had written about the Gospel, the nature of the church, and the current state of Christendom

Luther wasn’t the first to seek to reform the church and point out some evils, others who had done so for centuries before and were killed for it, and they tried to kill Luther for it, but he was the most significant and the first to do so in a loud and public way – thanks in large part to the printing press.

The Emperor of Rome demanded that Luther recant. Luther responded that if anyone there could show him with the Scriptures that what he said was not true, he would recant right away and repent, the first to cast his books in the fire.

Mark Noll says, “With these words, Protestantism was born”

“Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason, for I do not trust either in the Popes or the councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves, I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted, and conscience is bound to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything.”

That is what made protestants protestants and still does today. Protestants would obey the Bible before all other authorities.

Immediately upon leaving the Diet, he began work on the first ever German translation of the Bible. — a Bible into every hand, not just the priests

Europe and Christianity would never be the same.

We, coc’s, have largely disconnected ourselves from the Protestant Reformation and Christian History, we are cutting ourselves off from a fountain of knowledge and wisdom. Well Rene tradition and what people before us wrote and said isn’t the Bible, but my Dad’s words and Grandfather’s words aren’t the Bible either but they sure have helped me live biblically.

2000 years of Christians who were filled with the Spirit, and loved the Lord, some of the most brilliant men that have ever lived that wrote prolifically, for too long coc cut ourselves off from them, like a teenager that refuses to heed the wisdom of his elders.

TRADITION ISNT INFALLIBLE, but it is Important and worthy of our consideration.

Focal Point – Sola Scriptura - Listening to the apostles

We see that here in our text

Test the Spirits to see whether they are from God . . . they are from the world and the world listens to them; we are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

The Bible as Revelation

Why? Why do we care what a 2,000 year old book says? We are going to give that ultimate authority?

I had a muslim friend ask me the other day, if I found in the Bible that I had to dress like Jesus to be faithful, would I do it, and he was shocked when I said Of Course.

Why would we give a book that much power over our lives? Why is listening to this book the test of your Christianity given here?

You see it is because this is not just a 2,000 year old book, (much older in the OT), these are the very words of God. We aren’t giving authority of our lives to a book, but to our God, and when he speaks, we say “Yes sir”, and He speaks here. . . the only place you can hear him speak clearly is here.!

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

2 Peter 1:20–21 ESV

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.

John 10:35 (ESV)

Scripture cannot be broken

O I WISH GOD WOULD JUST SPEAK TO ME . . . cough cough

O I WISH GOD WOULD HAVE JUST SOMEHOW TOLD ME WHO HE IS OR HOW TO KNOW HIM AND PLEASE HIM . . .

HE HAS!

I’ve said many times, we so often wish we got to hear from God like Abraham or Moses . . .

Christianity is based upon Revelation

God has chosen to reveal himself to us – Chronicles of Narnia CS Lewis

The only way we can know anything about God is His decision to reveal it

One of the primary differences between God and the false gods referred to in scripture is that we have a God that SPEAKS! So obviously, whatever HE says is the ultimate authority.

Jeremiah 10:5

Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”

Deuteronomy 31:9, 12

Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests. . . Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law,

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To JESUS the authority was the Scriptures

Matthew 4:3–7

And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

Matthew 12:3–5

He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry... Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?

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Matthew 19:4

He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,

Matthew 22:31

And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God:

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Paul recognized that what he was writing was the words of God 1 Cor 14:37

1 Corinthians 14:37 ESV

If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.

The NT writers saw each other’s writings as SCRIPTURE, God-breathed.

2 Timothy 3:15–4:3 – nothing else is spoken of in this way

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. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

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The only way you can know anything for certain about God

Submission to God means submission to what God says

Acts 17:11 ESV

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

The Bible as the Path to Joy

The Bible isn’t there to kill your joy, it is there to bring you joy. The world is lying to you about where your joy lies. . .

When I was younger I remember my view of the Bible basically being like this: You are standing at the bottom of the mountain of life and it is pitch black outside so that you cannot see, but you must start walking upward even though you aren’t even sure which way that is. Right before you begin, someone comes up and says here is a flashlight, and I said, what? Now I have to carry this all the way up too?

Deuteronomy 10:13 ESV

and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?

And of course the Bible is the path to your Joy, its your path to know the God for whom you were made.

The Word

Never returns Void - Is 55:10-11

Is our Spiritual Nourishment - Matt 4:4

Builds you Up - Ac 20:32

The Power to Transform - 1 Cor 1:18

At work in Believers - 1 Thess 2:13

Alive and Active - Heb 4:12

Never Dies - 1 Pet 1:23-25

So John writes here, here is how you can know what is true, Test it against what God has REVEALED.

C.S. Lewis has spoken to the Narnians about himself.

But the news is actually even better than that, far better, it is not simply that God has written us a book to teach us about himself, God wrote HIMSELF into the story. . .

Just telling us about himself was never going to be enough, just giving us instructions . . .

Questions: Why should I trust the Bible, is it not just a translation of a translation . . . wasn’t it written down too late . . . didn’t the Roman Catholic church just decide which books were authoritative, didn’t myth creep in to the Bible

It’s also important that you don’t believe the lies that modern people tell that what we have in our Bibles is different than what they had in the first century

Lie 1 - it has been a translation of a translation . . . the NT was written in Greek, we still today have over 5,000 ancient Greek manuscripts, (by the way thats about 4,000 more copies than any other text from the time period and we have manuscripts that are dated within 100 years of the original, while the closest copy we have of Plato or Aristotle is over 1,000 years after),and we still know Greek, so we can see that the Bible hasn’t been altered.

We teach and read in school Homer’s Iliad or Odyssey, Plato and Aristotle, and we have full confidence that what we have is the same as what they wrote, we have FAR BETTER HISTORICAL EVIDENCE that what we have in our current Bibles is what they actually wrote.

Lie 2 - Early Christians didn’t believe the things you do, that was added to the Bible later.

No, the Bible is a collection of eyewitness accounts of what happened in history, written to other people who could walk and check out what they said. Apostle criteria Acts 1 - eye witness.

Remember 1 John 1:1-2

1 John 1:1–2 (ESV)

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, ...we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life

We have a creed in 1 Cor 15 that even non-Christian scholars will date to within the first 5-10 years after the cross that says Christians were already teaching that Jesus died on the cross and rose again.

Lie 3 - Christians didnt have a Bible until the Catholic church decided which books it liked 300 years later

Its also a lie that Christians didnt have a Bible for hundreds of years, they didnt have them all binded together like we do now, but the Christians knew the writings of the apostles were Scripture when they very first received them just a few years after Jesus, and had an almost complete full list of those books by the end of the 1st century.

The Bible is a reliable collection of historical documents, written down by eye witnesses, during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They report to us supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claim that their writings are divine rather than human in origin.

He hasn’t just written a book into the story that teaches us about Himself, he actually wrote himself into the story.

Luther was brought to this point largely because of his own inner awareness of insufficiency. He was deeply aware that he was a sinner, that he wasn’t righteous, and that he wasn’t doing enough. (AND HE WAS A MONK!)

Romans 1 – how could God’s righteousness be “gospel” – good news? It is holy and wrathful!

1:17 – (The Gate to Paradise) From FAITH

This led him to begin protesting certain church practices that went against the message of the free gift of grace through faith in Christ

Prime example is the 95 theses – Oct 31, 1517 (nailed to the door – wasn’t a big deal, not like we imagine it was like community bulletin board) he wasn’t trying to start a new thing, he was just seeking reform – wasn’t yet saying the Pope was the antichrist or the other thing he would. . .

1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ``Repent'' (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

2. This word cannot be understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, that is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.

Theological disputes flourished. First full exploitation of the printing press.

Luther called Pope antichrist- since he was keeping people from understanding the gospel

Luther appealed for leaders to throw off the Roman tyranny

Luther condemned the sacramental system outside of baptism and the Lord’s supper – arguing this had become works of self-righteousness

Luther argued the Christian must do good works, but it is as a result of salvation and not for it.

“A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all”

(Biography – Long)

He also shortly after got married – clergy – married – emphasizing family

One of the emperor’s officials rebuked Luther there for setting himself up higher than the church councils – and asked the key question – What if everyone simply followed their own conscious and interpretation – “We will have nothing certain”

This was at least somewhat True – debates began immediately about church practice, baptism, communion, worship, how predestination works, etc

Denominations - Draw

All found basically the same gospel – righteousness by Faith

Conversion – from proud self reliance to trusting acceptance of God’s grace

(This is much of what led to churches of Christ – we can disagree, agree on Gospel)

Luther wasn’t trying to start a new branch, he was trying to Reform the catholic church – He spoke out against the obvious things like indulgences, but his primary focus was the Gospel.

Sola Scriptura led to other Solas of the Reformation

Sola Christus – In Christ Alone

Sola Deo Gloria – For the Glory of God Alone

Sola Gratia – Grace alone (Rom 11:6)

Sola Fide – James 2.

We did a 17 week Church History Series on Wednesday nights last year . . .