THE NOBLE BEREAN: Volume One January-March 2005

                                             The Authority and Sufficiency of Scripture

                                                          By Michael C. Gaudiosi - The Noble Berean

PREACH THE WORD, NOT ENTERTAIN THE MASSES

In writing this first edition of the newsletter, I prayed where I could begin. The Lord graciously pointed me to 2 Timothy 3:16-17 which states “ 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 perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works”. This scripture alone should be enough for this newsletter, but I will expound further.

This passage of scripture clearly states that the Word of God alone is all that we as believers need for life and ministry in the church, and also life and ministry outside of the church. Sadly, the trend that I see happening is that the church is no longer satisfied with the preaching of God’s Word alone, but rather is looking for some kind of extra-biblical experience in the form of signs, wonders, entertainment...etc. 2 Timothy 4:2– states: Preach the word ; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. Notice it says PREACH the word, not to entertain or seek signs and miracles! Exhort will all long suffering and doctrine!! Why is this so important? Take a look at the next verse in 2 Timothy 4:3 - For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. Apparently, that time has come! To some, preaching the Word of God alone is not enough!

It is the preaching of the Gospel and the Gospel ALONE that has the power to change and transform lives. The Apostle Paul stated in Romans 1:16: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth ; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 1 Corinthians 1:18 states: For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. Verse 21 of this same chapter says that …it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe (1 Corinthians 1:21). This is how faith comes about. Jesus said this in reply to doubting Thomas in John 20:29 - Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed . Notice He says those who believe without seeing are blessed! Jesus rebuked Thomas for his constant need to see a sign! Jesus said to Thomas you believe because you have seen. It is more of a blessing to believe without seeing. How is that done? By the preaching of the Word. Romans 10:17 - So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 2 Corinthians 5:7 - For we walk by faith, not by sight . Compare what Jesus said to those who wanted a sign in Matthew 12:39 - But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign ; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. He certainly didn’t call the sign-seekers blessed!

On the Day of Pentecost, in Acts chapter 2, the Apostles were given the baptism of the Holy Ghost as promised by Jesus. Acts 2:1-4 - And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. This phenomenon attracted many Jews who were in Jerusalem for the feast. They all marveled at how they heard the Apostles speaking in their own native language. Acts 2:5-8 - And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? They heard the Apostles in their own native tongue speaking forth the Word of God. Acts 2: 11 - … we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God . Notice it says they HEARD them SPEAK the wonderful works of God, in their own language, not ecstatic heavenly language or babbling, nor were they begging God to do more signs and miracles! They simply preached the Word of God! Still there were some people who either did not want to understand, or did not believe, simply mocked and said that these men were drunk. Acts 2:13 - Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine .

Peter then spoke and explained to the people what was happening by quoting the prophet Joel. (Acts 2:16-18). As you read through Acts chapter 2 you will see that the emphasis is not on the sign miracle of tongues, or any other miracle for that matter, but rather the emphasis was on the preaching of Christ and the finished work of the cross. Acts 2:36 Peter stated “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” This message of the cross so stirred the people, that in verse 37 they asked what they needed to do! Acts 2:37 - Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? The Holy Spirit convicted the hearts of the people through the preaching of the cross. How did Peter respond? Did he ask people if they wanted to receive Jesus in their hearts? Did he ask people to raise their hand if they wanted to receive Jesus as their Savior? Did he do an alter call and have people come forward for prayer? That would be the typical response in most churches today. However Peter did not do any of these modern day methods. Instead he told them in Acts 2:38 – “ … Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Peter told them to REPENT and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sin, not to repeat some superficial prayer! It was the need for repentance, which was only given through the Lord Jesus Christ! As a result, 3000 people were converted and entered into eternal life in Christ Jesus! This was only accomplished through faith in Jesus, and faith came to the people not through signs and wonders, but of the preaching of God’s Word! Again I repeat Romans 10:17 - So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God! A similar situation occurs in Acts chapter 3; Peter and John healed a lame man (Acts 3:6). This attracted a lot of attention and again Peter preached about Jesus and the cross, and the same message was spoken…REPENT! Acts 3:19 - Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. As we have seen in Acts chapter 2, the emphasis was on THE LORD JESUS CHRIST not on the healing of the lame man. Again, as a result, 5000 more people saved! Acts 4:4 - Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed ; and the number of the men was about five thousand. What is key here is again that the people HEARD the word and then believed!

The preaching of the Gospel was paramount! The signs and wonders occurred only as a means to validate and confirm the word preached by the Apostles. Mark 16:20 says: And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following . Amen . Who was it that went forth preaching everywhere? The Apostles of course! The Lord was with them confirming the word they preached. This is also further explained in Hebrews 2:3-4 - How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will? God is bearing witness to whom in this passage? Again, it’s the Apostles! These sign gifts occurred to confirm that the Apostles were true messengers of God and not another bunch of false teachers, as there were many around at that time. Keep in mind that these sign gifts were necessary at that time since the New Testament had not yet been completed. Today these sign gifts are no longer needed in the church because we now have the full revelation of God through the completed canon of Scripture.

The Great Awakening revivalist Jonathan Edwards stated in his Charity and Its Fruits : “ The canon of Scripture being completed when the apostle John had written the book of Revelation, which he wrote not long before his death, these miraculous gifts were no longer continued in the church. For there was now completed an established written revelation of the mind and will of God wherein God had fully recorded a standing and all-sufficient rule for his church in all ages. And the Jewish church and nation being overthrown, and the Christian church and the last dispensation of the church of God being established , the miraculous gifts of the Spirit were no longer needed, and therefore they ceased; for though they had been continued in the church for so many ages, yet then they failed, and God caused them to fail because there was no further occasion for them. And so was fulfilled the saying of the text, 'whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away." And now there seems to be an end to all such fruits [i.e. extraordinary gifts] of the Spirit as these, and we have no reason to expect them any more”.

2 Corinthians 3:10-12 states: For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. In other words, Paul spoke plainly the glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ! We live in a society where preaching is considered a negative. You may have heard people say something like “don’t preach to me!” or “I don’t need to hear your preaching”…etc. So the church has also taken this ideology that preaching to people is negative, therefore it has resorted to different means to present the Gospel, such as entertainment, drama skits...etc. However the Word of God says the exact opposite as we have already seen. Romans 10:13-15 says: For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

SOLA SCRIPTURA – THE SCRIPTURE ALONE!

The Scriptures are to be the only standard of truth that we use to discern the things of God. One cannot simply rely or trust their emotions, feelings or past experiences. If we were to base truth on our feelings or experiences, then these become irrefutable and now you borderline on relativism. What I mean by this is that in my years in the church, I have heard some say that when they had an encounter with God, they felt a warm sensation, or others have said that they were “slain in the spirit” for several hours and felt such love and peace. While others said that they felt something like an electrical shock…and so on. I have heard it all! The problem here is that everyone’s different account of experiences becomes truth that you cannot refute! There is no one single standard to base truth on, and therefore it all becomes relative! Just because you feel or experience something or an unusual manifestation happens, does not always mean it is of God! We MUST discern ALL things by the Scriptures (The Bereans in Acts 17:11). The Apostle Paul says in 1Thessalonians 5:21: Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. God’s Word ALONE is ABSOLUTE!

We cannot and must not go beyond the Scriptures! 1 Corinthians 4:6 states: And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written , that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. Paul is telling the church at Corinth that the Scriptures are to be your ONLY standard of truth, not your own opinions or the opinions of other men. I have heard it said many times that there are a lot of gaps in the Scriptures and we do not have all exhaustive knowledge of God, so we really can’t discern everything if we do not have all the information. Deuteronomy 29:29 addresses this: The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. In other words, we have ALL the revelation and knowledge of God that we will ever need in the complete canon of Scripture!

To put it simply, the Scriptures are enough! This is the full and complete revelation of God! Proverbs 30:5-6 says: Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. What this passage is saying is the Scriptures are ALL YOU NEED! No further need of “new revelation” from God as some TV preachers keep saying! Again, to quote Jonathan Edwards, this time from his Some Thoughts: “ One erroneous principle, than which scarce any has proved more mischievous to the present glorious work of God, is a notion that it is God's manner in these days, to guide his saints, at least some that are more eminent, by inspiration, or immediate revelation. They suppose he makes known to them what shall come to pass hereafter, or what it is his will that they should do, by impressions made upon their minds, either with or without texts of Scripture; whereby something is made known to them, that is not taught in the Scripture. By such a notion the devil has a great door opened for him; and if once this opinion should come to be fully yielded to, and established in the church of God, Satan would have opportunity thereby to set up himself as the guide and oracle of God's people, and to have his word regarded as their infallible rule, and so to lead them where he would, and to introduce what he pleased, and soon to bring the Bible into neglect and contempt”.

Edwards states that going beyond the written Scripture is dangerous because it opens the door to the devil and deception comes in. Sadly, Edwards last sentence that the Bible is treated with neglect and contempt has already come to pass in most churches today. The point here is that many believers today say they “stand on the Word” but when it comes time to “stand on the Word” they usually do not “stand on the Word”! They look for signs, manifestations, healings, drama, entertainment, new revelation and so on, and looks down upon preaching and sound biblical doctrine. Scripture alone is just not good enough, and as a result, the church has taken a pragmatic view of the way it does things. “If it gives the desired result, then we’ll do it, no matter if it’s biblical or not”! A better example of this is “The Purpose Driven” series of books by Rick Warren, which we will examine in a future newsletter. I want to end this with the following Scriptures: Psalm 138: 2 states: I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. If God exalts His Word even above HIS OWN NAME , how serious is He about the Scriptures? Think about how Jesus closed out the book of Revelation.

Revelation 22:18-21: For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Psalm 119:89 says it much better than I could in a simple newsletter: For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.

Enough said!

SOLA SCRIPTURA! The Scripture ALONE! May the Lord bless you!