Sola Scriptura

Introduction

Well, good morning! I hope you’re ready to dig into the Word together…I hope you have your Bibles, something to take notes on as we start this new sermon series this morning…because listen, these next five weeks, the things we’re gonna talk about, they’re crucial to our faith, and they’re foundational in our Christian life.

And so, if you have your Bibles, keep ‘em open to 2 Peter with me this morning…we’ll get into that in just a moment…but before we do that…I promised we’d start reciting our 2024 church verse by memory this week…and so let’s do that before we begin this morning. Remember, our passage, it’s Acts 2, 42 through 47 but we’re just gonna recite verses 42 and 43 for the next several weeks. And so, if you’re ready, I’ll get us started…you finish it up:

Acts 2:42–43 (ESV)

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

[Prayer]

Alright, this morning…we’re starting a new sermon series called The 5 Solas…maybe you’re familiar them. Maybe you’ve heard that term before…but what the Solas’s are, they’re five fundamental pieces of theology or doctrine that are absolutely crucial and foundational to our Christian life. They’re non-negotiables…as Christians, we must affirm these 5 things that we’re talk about over the next five weeks…which teaches that salvation, its communicated through the Scriptures alone, and from grace alone, in faith alone, in Christ alone, all for the glory of God alone. That’s the five Solas that we’re gonna talk about. Of course this morning, we’re gonna start with the first one…through the Scriptures alone.

If you’re familiar with church history…one of my favorite topics to study and read about…then maybe you’ve heard about the Reformation and the breaking or the separating of the Protestant church from the Catholic church. At one point, every Christian domination, they stemmed from the Catholic church. A lot of us we understand Catholicism, we understand how distorted their view of the gospel really is…how they really emphasize works and being a good person and how ultimately it takes away from the work Christ did in redeeming us…and for those of us that understand Catholicism, its really hard to believe that at one point, the Catholic church, it was godly…it was Christocentric…it was God honoring…it was all those things…but at some point, like so many things before it, it became more about man and power.

And listen, there were several men during this period, about 500 years ago, that began to recognize what was going on in the Church. The Pope and the Cardinals and the Bishops…all the priests…they were fighting to maintain power…and to do so, they kept the people ignorant of truth…they discouraged things like reading the Scriptures…they refused to translate the Bible into languages that would allow the Word of God to be more accessible to people. The Bible began to become less authoritative in the church and more open to interpretation by other church leaders. People followed their leaders blindly. And listen, there were men…men like Martin Luther, who stood up and spoke out against these other powerful leaders…Guys, almost every powerful nation was under the influence or the control of the Pope and the church in Rome. And so, speaking out against these things, it was a big risk…and listen, the men that initiated the Reformation, these were godly men…they didn’t wanna split the church…they didn’t wanna create conflict or confusion…they just wanted to honor God…they wanted the church to be what it was intended to be…and because of that, they thought it was worth the risk to split the church over these issues that we’re gonna talk about. They thought it was important enough.

And listen, we don’t have a ton of time to give you the complete history of the Reformation and all the men that were involved…I encourage you to go and read up on it yourself…there’s a great book series called the The 5 Solas that goes into great detail…but know this as we dive into these ideas over the next several weeks…know that you’re here this morning, able to sit under the teaching of God’s Word, freely…know that you’re able to go home and read an English version of the Bible…because men like this fought for you to have this right…men gave their lives so that people like us could understand the great riches of God’s mercy and grace…they did these things so that we could be discipled and disciple others properly. And listen, the five things we’re gonna talk about…it’s what the Reformation was built on and it’s what essentially split the church over 500 years ago.

Listen, the reason I think this topic’s important for us to talk about…its because if we don’t familiarize ourselves with history…if we don’t devote ourselves to learning from those that came before us, we’re prone to repeat history, right? And if we’ve learned anything about mankind, our tendency, its to do the same thing over and over again. I mean just take Israel for example…this isn’t just something that happened in the Catholic church…it happened in the Jewish faith as well. God gave Moses His law and over the next 1,500 years the Jewish leaders they added over 613 laws to it. And listen, as a result, by the time Jesus came…the Jewish people were so disconnected from God, they couldn’t even see Him standing there among them in the flesh…They made the Jewish faith all about them…all about rule keeping…even to the point where they began to argue with Jesus about His own Word. They distorted it and added to what God instructed…and listen, when Jesus came…He brought about reformation. In the same ways, He instructed His disciples to rely on the Scriptures alone…and He taught them that salvation, its through God’s grace alone and faith alone…it was through Christ alone…and all for the glory of God alone…And for a period of time, the church that was set up, the Catholic Church, they did great things for the kingdom of God…until they too began distorting the Word in the very same ways the Jewish people did. Guys, there’s been a pattern throughout human history…and if we’re not careful, we’re gonna see the same thing happen in the Protestant faith…Guys, this isn’t about being Baptist…this is about being followers of Christ…and as a body of Christ, it’s our responsibility to either maintain truth or drive reformation.

If we’d just open our eyes around us and see the church for what it is and what’s happening inside the church…we’d see the same exact thing’s happening in our world today…I mean the Lutherans and the Methodists, certain major sects of those denominations they’re affirming things like homosexuality…they’re ordaining people with these tendencies into gospel ministry to indoctrinate others on their own way of thinking. We see more and more denominations allowing women to pastor and shepherd God’s people when we see clearly that the Scriptures speak about this being man’s role and man’s responsibility. We see more and more denominations beginning to accept doctrines that support work-based salvation. In the same ways as the Jews and as the Catholics, we’re becoming more and more about us and less and less about Christ. We’re challenging the authority of Scripture and many Christians are believing that they have the ability to just interpret it anyway they want…we’re challenging the idea that salvation’s solely dependent on the grace of God and only through faith…more and more of us, we’re showing that we believe salvation’s more than about Christ alone…it’s Christ plus other means…and it’s no longer about the glory of God alone…but all for man’s praise. If we don’t look back and if we don’t see what’s happened throughout history, we’re bound to repeat to it.

And you might be sitting there thinking, “Pastor Steven, it’s not that bad. The world and the church, they’re not that bad.”

Listen, I have a video for us to watch real quick. And listen, I watched the entirety of each of these sermons just to make sure I didn’t take any of them out of context and trust me when I say this…they were even worse than the clips I put together. But check this video out, and then ask yourself, “Do we really need a reformation today?”

[Video 3:10]

Guys, we desperately need a reformation today. If you were to go back 500 years ago…the church, it was bad, right?…but what’s happening today, is far, far worse. We need reformation…and we need to get back to what’s important…that’s why theology and doctrine matter so much. That’s why its so important that we look at things like our doctrinal statement…it’s why we’ve done that…We need reformation, and guys, we need to help initiate it…if we don’t, this is the church we’re gonna leave behind for our kids…a church that doesn’t revere God.

And so, this morning…in beginning this sermon series…again, we’re talking about the five things the original Reformation was built on and this morning, we’re gonna start by talking about the Scriptures alone…or Sola Scriptura…and to help us examine this idea, we’re gonna be using a passage in 2 Peter this morning.

I actually only have one point for you and two subpoints as we walk through this…Number one, we must constantly be reminded of the truth of Scripture…and then the two subpoints…because it was written by eyewitnesses…and because it’s God’s supernatural revelation.

And so, if you’re there with me in 2 Peter…let’s look at this first point together.

I. We Must Constantly Be Reminded of the Truth of Scripture (vv. 12-15)

We must constantly be reminded of the truth of Scripture.

Look at verse 12 with me again. Peter writes, “12 Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.”

Listen, any good teacher…we got a couple of those in our church family…any good teacher, they recognize the value of repetition, right? I mean research, it shows us that within an hour after hearing a spoken message, people forget up to 90% of what they heard. Meaning, a lot of us, we’re gonna forget up to 90% of the sermon message this morning after we leave. I believe that’s why God inspired Moses to write Deuteronomy 6:4 through 9.

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (ESV)

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

We just talked about this passage a couple of weeks ago…but what was Moses saying to the Israelites?…If you’re gonna teach your children the ways of the Lord, its gonna take repetition, right? And listen, if you’re familiar with the Israelite nation, even despite all the warnings and all the reminders, throughout all that time, they still had a great memory for all the wrong things and they had a poor memory for all God’s truth, right? That’s why Isaiah said, “For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the rock of your refuge.” That’s Isaiah 17:10.

Guys, the reason I think Peter brings this idea of repetition up towards the end of his life, its because he understands the tendency of mankind. We have this habit of falling into all the wrong things and eventually doing what we feel is best for ourselves.

If you’re familiar with Peter’s letter here, he was just talking about salvation and God’s election…and starting here in verse 12, he shifts to drop a statement about the importance of truth…he’s talking about the importance of reminding people of essential truth. And in his statement here, he says that truth and authority it revolves around what’s been taught to him and those that followed Jesus…and that they’ve written that truth down so that it can constantly be used to remind believers or to stir up believers of what’s important.

Guys, based on Peter’s statement here…this truth, these Scriptures…they weren’t meant for us to put meaning on…it wasn’t meant for us to interpret…it wasn’t meant to change based on the changing culture around us…Scripture was written in such a way that it would always be relevant and it would always be understood through the illumination of the Spirit…and for those reasons, it would always be relevant in the church and would always be the sole authoritative source in the church for all time.

Listen, pastors don’t rule the church…a board of elders or deacons, they don’t rule the church…a leadership team or a powerful, rich family, they don’t rule or govern the church…Peter’s saying this because he’s showing us that the Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments…that’s our source of authority in the church. If I or if another leader goes against these inspired writings…you need to hold us accountable…this is why I’ve been saying for years now that you need to be in the Word daily, studying it…digging into it…learning it…so that you know what I’m teaching is true and good…it’s the same reason I began putting together a preaching team where guys from our church share the pulpit with me and meet with me throughout the year to hold my teaching accountable…because I don’t have authority in this church…only the Word of God does…its why our deacons have made the recommendation for us to have an elder board and a deacon board, to make sure we’re holding each other accountable to the only source of authority.

Guys, the Reformation, it was built on this idea of the Scriptures alone because that’s the only source of truth. It’s unchanging…its unbiased…it doesn’t care what you want. It’s always gonna give you want you need instead. Leaders on the other hand…we’re human…and we have the ability to fail into sin, into pride…we have to ability to grasp for power…it’s what happened in the Jewish faith…it’s what happened in the Catholic church…even today, the Pope, their leader, he has absolute authority…he alone even has the power to change Scripture…that’s scary, right? That’s what the Reformation fought against…that’s why it’s so important…it brought the focus back to the Scriptures because that’s what’s most important…that’s what Peter says should be used to stir each other up.

And look at this passage again…Peter reminds them of the truth of the Scriptures and he does it with urgency and with faithfulness.

He says, “Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities…” That “therefore,” he’s referring back to what he just discussed which was salvation…the blessed assurance we have in it…themes, Peter’s saying we should never forget. He didn’t want his readers to forget they’re saved, they’ve been redeemed. And he uses a future tense phrase here to show them that their reminder, its grounded in the Scriptures. He says, even through you know these things, you’ve been taught these things…I’m gonna use the little time I have, in this body, to teach it over and over to you…til you’re sick of hearing it. There’s urgency there…ground yourself in truth…don’t forget what you know and what you’ve been taught. Be reminded, strengthen what you know.

And he does it with faithfulness…he’s literally saying that God gave him this body, this opportunity…so that he could constantly remind them, right? And that he’d use that until Jesus took him home. He was gonna stand on truth and teach truth because it was that important…he devoted his whole life to the truth of what Jesus taught…and I love this, he says he recorded what he knew…he made every effort…so that after [his] departure, others would be able to recall these things. He devoted his whole life to the truth of Scripture. And remember, Jesus told Peter that he’d be the rock of the church…the foundation…the fore-father. It was through Peter, the church would be birthed. And what Peter’s saying here…he and others, as we’ll see in a moment…they compiled truth, they wrote it down…so that this church…it would always been governed by truth…it would be able to endure culture, and nations, and the shifting power of mankind…through the truth of Scripture.

The Scriptures alone, they’re authoritative and the Scriptures alone, they’re sufficient to lead us as a church…and for that reason, we must constantly be reminded of it’s truth.

Which brings us to our subpoints…why?…well Peter tells us because it was written by eyewitnesses and because it’s the supernatural revelation of God.

A. Because it was written by eyewitnesses (vv. 16-18)

Look at verse 16 with me again. It says, “16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

That “For” there, that kind of starts of this passage, it’s a word that’s linking this passage to the previous one…it’s explaining why Peter thought it important to remind his hearers of truth. …Peter, he was convinced of the truth he taught because ultimately, he says he and the other apostles, they experienced it. That’s why he says, “we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”

Eyewitnesses, it literally means “general observers” or “spectators.” And they were spectators of His majesty…which means “splendor” or “magnificence.” That word, in other places in the New Testament, it speaks to the greatness of God…and Peter says, he and others, they were spectators of God’s greatness…which for him, I believe was at its pinnacle at the Mount of Transfiguration…which he and John and James were privileged enough to be with Jesus…that was Matthew 17…but that’s what he’s saying here in verses 17 and 18. He’s an eyewitness to truth.

And listen, in writing these letters and compiling truth together, Peter says, “We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He’s saying, we weren’t false teachers…we didn’t come with tales…we were eyewitnesses and we communicated and we transcribed everything we witnessed.

Guys, in our world today…the standard when it comes to determining truth…it’s to speak to eyewitnesses. In criminal cases, the first thing police do, it’s to locate eyewitnesses, right?…people that were present, at the scene of the crime, when it happened. It’s why criminals do everything they can to make sure witnesses can’t testify…it’s why we have things like the “Witness Protection Program”…Eyewitnesses, they help us discern truth.

Guys, Peter says…those that were present, with Jesus, they wrote down their testimony and they compiled Jesus’s teachings together in what we know today as the Bible. And the thing about their testimonies, it’s that they all say the same thing about Jesus and man and salvation…there’s no verse or passage in the Bible that contradicts another verse or passage.

And so, in speaking about Sola Scriptura…why then would we try and place authority anywhere else?…why would we place that kind of authority on a man or a board made up of individuals?…I wasn’t there…I wasn’t an eyewitness…therefore, I have no authority on matters of truth. My job, its to teach what’s already been written down.

And listen, another thing about this…what it meant then, when these guys wrote these Scriptures…its what it means today. Peter or Paul or whoever, they’re not being jerks…these aren’t “yikes” passages as the lady said in the video…I won’t call her a pastor because that’s not what she is…She thinks she has authority…she thinks she has the ability to make her own interpretations and she doesn’t. God hasn’t given her that privilege. And listen, He hasn’t given me that privilege. My job, it’s to teach and interpret what’s already written down and to teach it in a way that the apostles intended. That junk about the Scriptures not applying to modern day times, that’s bologna…it means today what it meant when it was written. The reality is, we live in very different times…we live in a time where there is no absolute truth and people don’t wanna be told what to believe…so of course, when we communicate truth, when we put one meaning on a passage, people get upset because they wanna be the one’s to interpret it and they wanna believe what they wanna believe. Listen, this is partly what we argued about a year and half ago. Our job, it’s to make the Scriptures the authority in our church…and whether its easy or hard to follow, we devote ourselves to truth and we govern our body as the Bible instructs.

Sola Scriptura…its the Scriptures alone…it’s not our opinions…its not our beliefs…we look to the Scriptures, we constantly remind ourselves of it’s truth because it was written by eyewitnesses.

B. Because it is God’s supernatural revelation (vv. 19-21)

But we do that also…because ultimately…it’s God’s supernatural revelation.

Look at verse 19. Peter says, “19 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, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 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.”

Guys, listen to the words of Peter here…even though Scripture was compiled by eyewitnesses…Peter says, even that didn’t come from their own interpretation or their own will…it was all inspired by God…men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. We talked a lot about this a few weeks ago. We even looked at this passage. But guys, we hold to the Scriptures as our sole source of authority in the church because ultimately…it wasn’t just written by eyewitnesses…but it was breathed out by God…it’s His Words to us…its His instructions.

Going back to that video for a moment…if we believe Paul was just being a jerk and that those Scriptures aren’t relevant in our modern day context because it makes people around us feel bad…then essentially you’re saying you don’t believe these words were written down by God Himself through man…you’re saying you only believe, these words, they’re man’s words…and guys, that’s a slippery, slippery slope.

Peter says, “these words…these prophetic words, they’ve been fully confirmed…to which you need to pay attention.”

Guys, for over 2,000 years, people have tried hard to disprove the things of the Bible…and I’ll say this…they’ve tried and they’ve failed. God Himself, He’s preserved and He’s maintained and He’s fully confirmed the words of this book, they’re all true…they’re infallible…they’re all inerrant. And the reason for that…ultimately…its because its all a special, supernatural revelation from God Himself. And God gave us these words so that the church would never be governed by a person or people…authority would never rest on those that are still being made perfect…but that the church would always have a means to stay true and obedient.

Closing

Guys, as we close…I just want you to think back to that video. I know it may not seem like things are that bad, here in Cambridge…but they are! We have churches and denominations around us, that affirm everything we just watched. They’ve gotten away from Scripture as they’re sole authority in the church, and they’ve turned to other men and women…they’ve turned to their feelings, their own opinions…they’ve caved to the postmodernism culture around us…and if we’re not careful…we’ll do the same.

Guys, we need to start seeing the world around us and we need to start grounding ourselves in what’s important. If we don’t, our kids and our grandkids, they won’t inherit a church…they’re inherit the next Sodom and Gomorrah…and guys, we’ll be the one’s judged for it. We need to ground ourselves in the Scriptures alone. That needs to be our sole source of authority and that needs to be our sole source of truth.

Would you bow your head and close your eyes with me this morning?

Guys, the only way we’ll become a Sola Scriptura church…a church that solely relies on the Scriptures alone…it’s for us to devote ourselves to it…just like the believers in Acts 2 did…it’s to ground ourselves in its truth. You need to be digging into it…you need to be involved in the different small groups we’ve been discussing the last several weeks…and we need to start driving reformation around us…here in our community. We have to get past the idea that just because someone proclaims Jesus, they love and follow Him. If they love Jesus, they’ll obey His commands and they’ll affirm Sola Scriptura. We need to get serious about the Scriptures alone and begin redefining truth to the people around us.

And so, this morning…all I want you to do as you seek God…evaluate the emphasis you place in the Scriptures. Do you believe it with all of your heart, soul, and mind? Because that’s how Jesus says we’re to love Him. And do you know it well enough to stand your ground in our culture? We need reformation today…and for that to happen…we need a people that stand on God’s Word…and we need a people that can speak God’s Word.

But listen, if you’re here today and you don’t know Jesus. Let me tell you what the Scriptures say about you. It says that in the beginning God created man perfectly, in His image. It says mankind, they were created good…in fact, very good…it says they walked personally with God……but by the third chapter of the Bible, we see that man, in a state where they had everything they could’ve possibly have wanted, it says they choose to rebel against a good and holy God. And in doing so, they allowed that sin nature to impact the rest of creation…And so, every person born after, was born into sin, with this sinful nature…and every person has chosen, in the same ways, to rebel against God. We believe we know better than God. And for those reasons, because of our disobedience…because we broke the good standard of God…we brought on punishment…which of course is death. Every one of us, we’ll experience death and separation from God because that’s what we chose.

But the good news of the gospel tells us that God loved us so much that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus…who is God Himself…He sent Him to become like us. And He lived a life we couldn’t…sinless…and He went to the cross to take on our death…to wear the weight of our sin…Jesus took our place on the cross…and the Bible says He died there before rising again three days later. And it says that all we have to do to experience eternal life and be redeemed from our own mistakes, its to repent and believe…we just have to turn from ourselves…recognizing who we are…and turn to Jesus…recognizing who He is. And we believe in Jesus…we have faith that He’s everything He proclaimed and that He’ll do everything He promised…when we do that, the Bible says we will be saved and the Holy Spirit will take up residence in us.

And so listen, maybe that’s what you need to do today. Where you’re at…you just need to repent and believe…ask Jesus to forgive you and ask Him to fill you.

And so, listen…our deacons, they’re gonna come and prepare the Lord’s Supper for us this morning…Wendy’s gonna play…you take this time and just respond…I’m here if you need me, to pray with you…but you respond and I’ll close us in just a moment.

[Prayer]

Matthew 26:26 (ESV)

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”

Matthew 26:27–29 (ESV)

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”