Second London Baptist Confession of Faith 1.6
Truth for Life • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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-We have been using creeds and confessions to help us summarize some important points of belief, faith, and theology, and as of late we have been talking a lot about what it is we believe about Scripture. Using the Westminster Confession and the 2nd London Baptist Confession as our springboards, we have learned that Scripture as contained in the 66 books of the Bible is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible standard and rule for practice and faith. Because Scripture is the revealed Word of God, it is the ultimate authority for those things upon which it touches, and is inerrant and infallible in all that it contains.
-Because God has bestowed it with His authority, all people are obligated to believe it and conform their lives to what it contains. While there are many external and internal evidence and arguments that can prove what we believe in Scripture, our assurance of its truth and reliability comes from the internal witness of the Holy Spirit within our hearts.
-Quite often I have noted that when we say Scripture is sufficient, that does not mean that it touches upon every possible subject. You can’t use Scripture for a textbook to learn Spanish, for example. However, for the subjects that it does touch upon, you are able to find what it says. The next paragraph that I’d like to look at tonight says this about Scripture:
Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century I. The Holy Scriptures
The whole counsel of God concerning everything essential for His own glory and man’s salvation, faith, and life is either explicitly stated or by necessary inference contained in the Holy Scriptures. Nothing is ever to be added to the Scriptures, either by new revelation of the Spirit or by human traditions.
Nevertheless, we acknowledge that the inward illumination of the Spirit of God is necessary for a saving understanding of what is revealed in the Word. We recognize that some circumstances concerning the worship of God and government of the church are common to human actions and organizations and are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian wisdom, following the general rules of the Word, which must always be observed.
-So, this paragraph tells us that everything essential for these particular subjects are found in Scripture. For God to receive glory from a fallen, cursed creation required that He reveal Himself to that creation as He had withdrawn His direct, relational presence from that creation due to sin. God is everywhere, but He is not directly and immediately revealed. He has revealed Himself through Scripture, and it is from Scripture that creation can discover who He is, why He deserves glory, and what it is that gives Him glory. For example:
4 For the Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise; he is more awesome than all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are worthless, but the Lord made the sky.
6 Majestic splendor emanates from him; his sanctuary is firmly established and beautiful.
7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the nations, ascribe to the Lord splendor and strength.
8 Ascribe to the Lord the splendor he deserves. Bring an offering and enter his courts.
9 Worship the Lord in holy attire. Tremble before him, all the earth.
-Part of this deserved glory is because He paved the way of salvation, and Scripture gives the whole counsel of God with regard to everything necessary for mankind’s salvation. For example, it tells of the need for salvation:
10 just as it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one,
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
-And it tells us the means of salvation:
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”
12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.”
-The Scripture gives everything essential for faith and life—what to believe and how to live accordingly. This paragraph notes that some of the whole counsel of God explicitly states what it is we are to believe and act upon for salvation and faith and life. The Bible makes some things perfectly clear, and you can’t miss it—it just lays it all out before us.
-For example, the virgin birth is just put out there. Luke 1:26-38 describes the interchange between Mary and Gabriel where Mary acknowledges she has never been with a man, and Gabriel describes that the Holy Spirit will overshadow her and conceive the child. And then Luke 2 describes the birth. Then there is Matthew’s account, and he mentions:
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
-This is explicit. You don’t have to dig for this doctrine. The Scripture is also explicit about how we are to live. The Ten Commandments are laid out for us. The Sermon on the Mount is there for all to see. But then it says that the whole counsel of God has everything essential, but sometimes it needs to be found by necessary inference contained in the Holy Scriptures. There are things that are not spelled out for us, but if you dig in the Scriptures you find the principle and can infer God’s truth and purpose from that.
-To look at it from a doctrinal standpoint, you will not find a verse or passage where it explicitly says that God is Triune. Nowhere in Scripture does it say that there is one nature and essence of God, but there are three persons within the Godhead. But then, how in the world did we come up with a doctrine that God is Triune—three persons with one nature and being and existence? We inferred it from what is contained in Holy Scriptures.
-For example, we know that there is only one God:
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!
6 This is what the Lord, Israel’s king, says, their Protector, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies: “I am the first and I am the last, there is no God but me.
-We understand that God the Father is God:
6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
-But we also understand that God the Son is God:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God.
2 The Word was with God in the beginning.
-But then, the Holy Spirit is God. In the incident with Ananias and Sapphira:
3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of the land?
4 Before it was sold, did it not belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God!”
-Peter says you lied to the Holy Spirit and equated that with lying to God. So, we have verses that say there is one God, but then we have verses that say the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Spirit is God. How do we reconcile that? There is one Godhead with one nature, and three persons.
-But it is not just theology and doctrine by which we find necessary inference, but we also look to Scriptures for principles by which to live. Yes, there is a lot that is explicit like do not murder or do not commit adultery, but even those need some explanation and expansion as Jesus tells us that murder involves hating someone without a cause or looking at someone lustfully. But there is a lot in life that Scripture that isn’t personalized to our specific situation, but there are inferred principles to guide us. No, Scripture doesn’t tell us the specific person to marry or with whom to pursue a business partnership, but it does tell us:
14 Do not become partners with those who do not believe, for what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship does light have with darkness?
-And because Scripture contains the whole counsel of God that contains everything essential, the paragraph says that nothing can ever be added to Scriptures. The canon of Scripture is closed, and God does not speak in this way any longer. It says nothing can be added by new revelation of the Spirit. No one can come along and say that the Spirit has given them a revelation and it be on par with the canon of Scripture. This is where many of our more charismatic brethren go astray. Whatever you think you got from the Spirit does not have the same authority of Scripture. To say that it does undermines the authority of the Bible and denies its sufficiency. Scripture is the authority and filter through which everything goes through.
-But, the paragraph does recognize the work of the Spirit with regards to the whole counsel of God. The Spirit is necessary to illuminate our spirits and minds in order to understand Scripture. We are told:
14 The unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
-Those who do not have the Spirit cannot rightly understand God’s Word. But, Paul tells us just beforehand:
9 But just as it is written, “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him.”
10 God has revealed these to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
11 For who among men knows the things of a man except the man’s spirit within him? So too, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God.
-The Spirit who inspired the Scriptures also illuminates the Scriptures so we are able to understand. Now, the paragraph realizes that there are things that the Bible does not touch upon that is left to the light of Christian wisdom, following general rules of the Word. Scripture doesn’t tell us how to conduct our worship services (that it has to contain this element or that element) although it does provide wisdom on how it should be conducted properly. It doesn’t necessarily tell us the exact form of church governance, but the wisdom it provides and guidance it gives I believe leads to a congregational form of ecclesiology.
-So, to summarize what this paragraph teaches us, on author says:
How then does the Bible act as sufficient for faith and life? The answer is that as we search the Scriptures to discover its teachings and learn its principles, and as we live in the Spirit, we have God’s guidance leading us to fact every decision with wisdom. The Spirit leads us through the written Word, sovereignly helping us to discern truth and wisdom and apply the truth to specific issues in life. As we prayerfully seek to be filled with the Spirit and the Word of God, we can live confidently in the guidance of God through the Word.
-Let us pray specifically for that tonight...