Reformed Baptist Church in O'Fallon, Missouri
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The Wheel: the Word Part II

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

The Word and the Church

I want to talk today about the Word, but I want to talk about the Word more in its corporate sense, because as we celebrate our church’s anniversary, we have to understand that the Bible is not just a personal possession. You may have your Bible, but the Bible isn’t yours. The Bible is God’s, and God has given His Bible to the church, not just to you. If you’re part of the church, you get the Bible too. But we have to understand that there’s a corporate dimension to this whole discussion that we have about the wheel and the Word, that one spoke called the Word. We’ll talk more in the future about practical application of the Word to the individual Christian, but I want to say a few words today about the corporate aspect of the Word. The church today is not in good shape in spite of apparent prosperity.

We know that many evangelical churches are, or should I say have, thank you very much, have essentially abandoned what I would call a high view of Scripture. As I’ve shared before, when I interviewed a local pastor whose church went through a crisis, they had a crisis, I believe it was over the issue of abortion, and there was a big church split, and he commented to me—this was a large church in the area, thousands and thousands of members—and he took his church out of the Methodist denomination. And he said, what we realized is that for years, we were part of this denomination, and we’d been sending our tithe money, and we were associating with this organization. And then when these social issues confronted us, we realized that we couldn’t really, we couldn’t reconcile the position of the leadership with the Scripture, and then we realized as we dialogued, that is the word, as we dialogue, we realized that the problem wasn’t abortion or the problem wasn’t homosexuality, the problem wasn’t female ordination. We realized the problem was that the church leadership had abandoned a high view of Scripture, that the church leaders, meaning the denominational leaders, had already abandoned the fact that the Bible was fully inspired. And so having abandoned that position, inevitably certain things resulted. Now it took time. He said, he related to me, he said, we’ve had people in this church for 25, 30, 40 years who are now elderly, who for years have been faithful, been tithing every week, supporting the church, supporting the denomination, and then they wake up one day and realize that the leadership had abandoned the Scriptures that they loved. And this has played out not just in the Methodist denomination, but all across America. And in 1973, I believe it was, in the early to mid-70s, Harold Lindsell wrote a book called The Battle for the Bible. If you’ve not read it, it’s a wonderful book. It’s not academic, so all of you can read it and enjoy it. But what he does, what Lindsell did, what he had the audacity to do, is not only make assertions like evangelicalism is abandoning the Bible, but he actually had the audacity to name names. And what he did is he showed how many evangelical spokespersons, public names, professors in seminaries, leading pastors in big churches, how when you looked at what they said in writing, they had in fact abandoned a high view of Scripture. And of course, he lost a lot of friends because he did this.

A High View of Scripture

Francis Schaeffer was involved in that whole tumultuous time, and he understood likewise that this is in many ways the watershed or the fundamental issue. I want to read a quote by him. He says, we must say, this is Francis Schaeffer, that if evangelicals are to be evangelicals, we must not compromise our view of Scripture. There is no use in evangelicalism seeming to get larger and larger if at the same time appreciable parts of evangelicalism are getting soft at that central core, namely the Scriptures. Now this is written probably back in the late 70s, early 80s. And Schaeffer saw, he foresaw, which is why some people refer to him as a prophet, he foresaw what was happening to the evangelical church in America, which was to say that externally it was prospering and growing and things looked good, the TV ministries, the radio ministries, the publishing houses, and all the things that go on in America. But in fact, on the inside things were decaying and there was an apostasy, if you will, from basic tenets of the faith. He goes on to say, we must say with sadness that in some places, seminaries, institutions and individuals who are known as evangelical no longer hold to a full view of Scripture. The issue is clear: is the Bible true and without error wherever it speaks, including where it touches history and the cosmos, or is it only in some sense revelational where it touches religious subjects? That is the issue. The issue is whether the Bible gives propositional truth where it touches history and the cosmos. The issue is, when the Bible speaks, does it speak truly? And does it speak truly about everything that it addresses? The difficulty today is that some will profess faith in the Bible, but they don’t mean that. What they mean is that God will speak to you through the Bible in a mystical way. But the Bible is kind of a hodgepodge of religious documents, and it’s not really inspired in a full sense. It is worse today than then. Because many leading voices in evangelicalism not only do not hold a high view of Scripture, they acknowledge they don’t hold a high view of Scripture, and they’re proud of it. And so you will get spokespersons like a Brian McLaren or someone like that, who’s extremely popular, or a Rob Bell. Hey, the question is, is Rob Bell going to hell? Well, you never read his book, I guess. He can’t go to hell because he doesn’t believe in it. But he’s an evangelical. So now what we get is the leading spokespersons of the newer generation saying that, yeah, we have our Bible and God speaks to us through our Bible, our sacred writings. The Muslims have their Bible, God speaks to them through their sacred writings. The Hindus have their Bible and God speaks to them through their sacred writings. And every faith community has its own documents and books, etc. And God uses these to communicate to that faith community. That’s not what’s called orthodoxy. That’s not historic Christianity. And that’s not what the Bible teaches. But these are people who are lauded and applauded. And so it’s one thing for a generation ago, a professor, to say, you know, I’m not sure about some of the stuff, but I’ll just keep that to myself. Well now, it’s almost a badge of honor to acknowledge that you understand that the Bible’s not really that different than other sacred writings. But God gave it to us, to the church, and God will use it in our lives, but it’s really not that different. We’ve come a long way, baby.

The Battle for the Bible

Martin Luther said, if I profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefront besides is merely flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point. So I think the church is due for a new battle for the Bible, and I think we will see a new battle for the Bible. And lines will be drawn again, and it will become clear who stands with the Scripture and who does not. And I agree, in our day, that point, meaning the point where the battle is, is the question of Scripture. Holding to a strong view of Scripture or not holding to it is the watershed of the evangelical world. And the reason this is true, and it will always be true, is because from this foundational proposition of what you believe about the Bible, everything else flows. That’s why it’s called a watershed. If at the top of the mountain you have a drop of water, it hits the top of the mountain. If it goes to the left, it will go into the ocean. If it goes to the right, it might go into the desert. There’s a divide. And so where we stand on Scripture ultimately is going to determine really the future of the church.

Another Jesus, Another Gospel

Now some people will say, well, isn’t it about Jesus? Isn’t it about Jesus? It’s not about the Bible? The answer is yes and no. Let me go to 1 Corinthians for a minute, chapter 11, and I’ll explain my answer. Did I say 1 Corinthians? Just checking, making sure you’re paying attention. I meant 2 Corinthians 11. Pardon me? Just checking?

Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me. For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

(2 Corinthians 11:1–4)

Now notice here that you can have a Jesus, and you can have a spirit, and you can have a gospel, and they can all be false. That’s what Paul is saying. This is not denial of Jesus. It’s not denial of the gospel. It’s not denial of the Spirit. It is corruption of Jesus, corruption of the Spirit, and a corruption of the gospel. That’s what it is. And so, if I say, do you love Jesus, you say, I love Jesus, and then you begin, I say, wow, well, what’s Jesus like to you? That’s one of those home group questions I’ll talk about. And you start telling me about [audio unclear] But unfortunately, that’s often what happens. And so Jesus is a certain person. Jesus said certain things. Jesus does certain things today, and Jesus is who Jesus is. Not who I think he is, not who I make him to be. Jesus is who he is. That’s why back in the day when the big Lordship controversy went on, some of you know what I’m talking about. Can you have Jesus as Savior but not as Lord? And a bunch of books were written. John MacArthur, he’s always jumping in these frays, right? He likes to argue. And the phrase that was around was you have to make Jesus Lord of your life. And my assertion was always you don’t make Jesus Lord of your life because he is Lord of your life. You recognize he’s Lord of your life but you don’t make him Lord. He is the Lord. And the reason he’s not [audio unclear] femininity or masculine because we like masculinity, Jesus is who he is. And so the same is true of the gospel. The gospel is the gospel. Now evangelicals disagree on many things and we can disagree on whether we have communion with leavened or unleavened bread. We can disagree on that and I can still fellowship with you. But when you start changing things like, well, God isn’t really three persons in one, or Jesus is only God, or other things of this nature, then you’re changing things that are so fundamental that we really can’t have fellowship because you believe a different God or you have a different gospel.

Craftiness and Subtlety

And the thing we have to see here in this warning from Paul is that the warning isn’t that the danger is going to come as a frontal attack. That’s not how it works. The danger comes in terms of, as it says in verse 3, that they would be deceived by craftiness, by subtlety. And that’s how it always works. So when you think about the account, he talked to Eve, and he said, well, did God really say? He didn’t directly attack God first. He attacked God’s Word first. What did God really say? Well, maybe God didn’t. And then he says, well, you know, okay, yeah, God said that. But, you know, the reason he said that—I mean, do you appreciate what’s happening here? What’s happening is the devil is expounding the Scripture. He’s teaching the Bible, if you will. He’s explaining to Eve the nature of God’s Word. It’s an astounding thing. It’s an astounding thing. We see the same thing happen in Matthew 4, when Jesus was tempted. “If you are the Son of God.” This is amazing. He’s not going to say, the Bible’s not inspired. Oh, are you going to believe the Bible? Fine, I’ll use the Bible to undermine the Bible. That’s craftiness. Craftiness. And so it’s not an all-out frontal attack on the Word of God necessarily. It usually begins with subtle things, subtle doubts, subtle suggestions, subtle ideas that kind of creep in and then over time we end up with a Bible that is full of errors, a Bible that is not really inspired in the traditional sense of that word. And so we have many, like in the Corinthian situation, who will profess Christ, but it’s questionable whether it’s the Christ of the Bible. I mean, we have so many different kinds of Christ around, right? We have the communist Christ and we have the latte, you know, the Starbucks Jesus, you know that guy? I mean, everything’s cool. I mean, we have so many different kinds of Jesus out there, that if you’re not really immersed in the Word—every one of us has an innate tendency to make golden calves. Anybody hear me? We all have this. We all have an innate tendency to make God and Jesus into an image which is conformable to our own reason versus seeing God and Christ as He truly is. You see, one of the reasons we actually need a Word which is external to us: we need the Word to correct our tendency, or then over time we would build golden calves. We have to keep in mind that when we talk about the Bible, when things like reading the Bible—by the way, does anybody remember the five fingers of the Word Hand? Come on, stand up and say I’m somebody. Come on, somebody stand up and say I’m somebody. Good, but you’re reading your notes. No, good, I appreciate that you take notes. That’s awesome. So hear, read, memorize, meditate, study—what was the other one? Study? Yeah. Why do all that if the Bible is not inspired?

What Inspiration Means

So a few words about that. What do we mean when we say it’s inspired? Do we mean I get warm fuzzies when I read it? Does it mean I get comfort when I read it? Does it mean I get religious insights when I read it? What does it mean? In 2 Timothy 3, if you want to turn there, we better turn there. 2 Timothy 3, second, not first, just checking, just testing you guys. 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul says:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

(2 Timothy 3:16–17)

So the Scripture is God-breathed. That’s where we get the word inspired. The interesting thing about the word inspired is that the actual Greek word doesn’t mean inspire or breathe in, it actually means to breathe out. So the Scriptures are expired? They’re expired? Wait a minute. That means that God breathed them, they came out of his mouth. They came out of God. That’s the expiration. But the truth and the life of God’s expired word then is inspired, is breathed into the writings. Okay, that’s why we use inspiration and not expiration. So, we say the Scriptures are inspired, meaning that God superintended the process of their collection and writing, so that what God wanted to communicate was accurately communicated to those who would read the documents. I believe that the Scriptures are inspired in the sense—and it’s not only that God breathed them out, but that every word in every part of the Scripture is free from every error, in everything that it teaches. That’s my position, and some people call me a fundy because of that. That is, I’m a fundamentalist, and I think it’s fun to be a fundy, aren’t you? But I believe that I’m just echoing the Scriptures themselves, because David says in Psalm 119, “I have chosen the way of truth; Your ordinances have I laid before me.” “I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right.” “All Your commandments are faithful.” “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.” “I esteem all of Your precepts concerning all things to be right.” “Righteous are You, O Lord, and upright are Your judgments.” “Your testimonies are righteous and very faithful.” “Your word is very pure.” Over and over and over in Psalm 119, which is a hymn in honor of the Word of God, a hymn lauding the Word of God, over and over the psalmist says that God’s Word is true, it is right, it is pure, it is faithful, it is settled forever. And Jesus summed up Psalm 119, in John 17, when praying to the Father, he says, “Your word is truth.” Boom. Not truth and error, not truth and myth, but “Your word is truth.” We believe here at Liberty and we affirm that the Bible is fully inspired and without error regarding every subject that it addresses.

Submitting to the Word

That means, therefore, God is our Creator and because He has given us commands, we are duty bound to submit to His Word. This means that we are to believe what He has revealed. You know, I’ve witnessed to a lot of people over the years, and I believe many Christians don’t witness because they’re afraid someone’s going to say something like this, and, “You believe in the ark? Heh heh heh. You believe in like a literal Adam and Eve?” Heh heh. “Do you believe that there was a Jonah?”—because he said that Jonah was a sign of his death, burial and resurrection. So you can laugh at me, but you’re laughing at Jesus. I’m a follower of Jesus, and guess what? That means I don’t have the prerogative to [audio unclear]. I don’t have that option. I can’t say, well, you know, Jesus, he kind of embarrassed me on that point. We have to confess them before men, right? If we want to be confessed before the Father. If it’s the Word of God, then I believe it because He is my Lord and my Master and I am the student and the follower. And that’s the ultimate argument regarding this whole inspiration debate. It’s what did Jesus believe? Because the followers of Jesus cannot teach contrary to Jesus. But that’s what we’re trying to do in the church today. We’re trying to have Jesus, but not to have the functions, the commands, the exhortations that are in the Word of God.

So when we say we believe it—one of the most stunning experiences of my whole Christian life. It showed me how much people do not listen when I preach. I was preaching on the Sermon on the Mount. I was preaching on the texts in the Sermon on the Mount that talk about being reconciled to your brother, about dealing with anger. And if you have anger, Jesus said you’re in danger of hell fire, because it’s like a spirit of murder. Been preaching on it for weeks. And one of the individuals who was hearing all of these sermons was in my office dealing with a conflict with someone else. And when I alluded to the Sermon on the Mount, this individual was, the big word is they were nonplussed. You know what that means? They were speechless because they actually thought they were supposed to obey the Sermon on the Mount. I said, why do you think I’m preaching this stuff for fun? This is what Jesus told us to do. Jesus told us to do this. So you have to do this. And she got up and spit in the face of the other pastor in the room, but she’s a good Christian, you know. This is the Word of God, and if we profess that, then that means we stop doing the things it says you don’t do. We start doing the things it says to do and we get under it. It’s not a religious toy we play with. It’s a binding word on us. I remember preaching a sermon on anger, and by the time I walked from here to the back of the room after the sermon, there were two people arguing vehemently in the back room, angry at each other. The Word of God tells us how to live. And we are to live as it prescribes. It’s not enough for us. And this is a problem, this is a problem. Because we have groups and churches who are very proud about their orthodox position. And they cross all the T’s and dot all the I’s and we believe all the right things. But when you look at how the people live, and it’s perspective: there’s gossip, there’s anger, there’s division, there’s all kinds of things. There’s pride. Well, you know what? You can profess inspiration all day long. You don’t believe it. Because if you believed it, you’d put those sins away. You would put them away. Because you’d understand that God is telling you to put them away. So as we profess inspiration, we have to understand, we’re professing not just an allegiance to a doctrine, we’re professing our willingness to submit to the teaching of the Bible. And that we will do as it says. That’s what we’re saying. I can assure you that you can hear the Word, you can read the Word, you can study the Word, you can memorize the Word, and you can meditate on the Word, but if you do not then obey the Word, those things will not profit you. They will not profit you. And this is why so many Christians stall in their Christian life. They get to a point where there are issues that the Lord wants to deal with, He wants to change them, He wants to bring them under the Word in a certain area. It might be in your marriage. Some of you ladies, ladies, you don’t like the word submit? It’s in there. What are you grappling with in submission? It’s not submission to your husband. It’s submission to God. You’ve got to submit to God. It’s about God. Some of you guys, you love your hobbies more than your wife. You love your free time more than your kids. Some of you might even love your work more than your family. I don’t know. But the Word of God says to you, love your wife as your own body. You’re going to love your wife as Christ loved the church. You’ve got to get under that Word. We have to begin to live this out, or our profession doesn’t really mean anything, does it? So when we say the Bible is our standard, we’re saying not only that it’s fully inspired, but we’re saying that it governs our belief and our lifestyle. Our time is up, so let me say a couple things in conclusion. One is, if you believe, and some of you may not, some of you may have reservations, some of you may think that, you know, some of that stuff in Genesis is kind of weird, you know, the whole six-day thing, I don’t think I’d buy all that stuff. But if you believe the Bible is God’s Word, and it really does apply to every area, then it would seem logical to me that you would strive to renew your mind by the Word.

The Light We Could Have Had

[audio unclear] people who don’t have the Scripture. I think a lot of us are like a person that walks out of a dark room on a sunny day, like the glare, you know, give me some sunglasses. And I think a lot of times we’re like that as Christians. We’re wearing sunglasses when we read the Bible. There is so much light. And in this discussion about those who are responsible for the light that God has given them, and it relates to the question of those who don’t have a Bible, and their accountability to God, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I’ve been reading this one author who made the point that it’s not just the light that I have that you’re accountable for. And that’s what I’ve always said. It’s the light that you could’ve had if you wanted it. You know what that means? And I believe that’s true. It’s the light we could’ve had if we wanted it. Now that’s a huge difference. But what that means is that since you have a Bible in your home, that means that you and I are responsible to know everything that’s in it, because we could have known everything in it. Are you hearing me? Are you trembling yet? You see what I’m saying? Because see, when we stand before the Lord, we say, well, Lord, I didn’t know about that. “Well, I didn’t know I was supposed to raise my kids like that.” He will. It might not literally do with a Bible, but the point is, is that the light that God gives us isn’t the light that we have, it’s the light that we could have had if we wanted to have it. And so we, Christians, man, it is a blazing sun, this thing. It’s a blazing sun. But I have it now. And so what am I going to do with it? That’s the question. It’s going to sit on the shelf until next Sunday. I’m going to read it maybe once a week. Because whether I read it or never read it, it doesn’t matter. You have it now. It’s a blessing, but in another sense it’s a curse. Because all of God’s blessings are two-edged. Because every blessing brings a responsibility. You have it now. We have it now. What are we going to do with this thing? It’s living, it’s active, it’s powerful. What are we going to do with it? I know what we’re supposed to do with it. We’re supposed to hear it. We’re supposed to read it. We’re supposed to study it. We’re supposed to memorize it. We’re supposed to meditate on it. And then, then apply it. Then walk in it. Walk in it. That’s what we’re supposed to do. There’s a whole lot more I could say that I’d love to say because I love the Word. It restores the soul, rejoices the heart, makes wise the simple. It gives strength, liberty, hope, comfort, joy and peace. So the call for every one of us is to return to the Word, to come under the Word, to submit to the Word, to be governed by the Word. Because when we do that, then we will experience the wonderful joy and the benefits of the Word.

Closing Prayer

Let’s stand together and pray. Lord, I thank You for Your Word. I thank You that it’s true, it’s right, it’s good, it’s sure, it’s pure. And Lord, I pray for every one of us, myself included, that we would not only just be in Your Word, we would be under Your Word. We would revel in Your Word. We would be transformed by Your Word. We would be living words, living epistles, living letters as we renew our minds and as we bring our thoughts captive to Christ. That people would see the Word in us because Your Word is changing us. We thank You, Lord, that this work, this transforming work of Your Word is not what we do, but it’s ultimately what You do through Your Holy Spirit. Lord, make us a people that are open to the instruction, the conviction, the prompting of Your Holy Spirit, and that through Your Word and Your Spirit, Lord, You would change us and make us like Jesus Christ. We pray all these things in His name. Amen.