Sermon Series: “The Tenets of the Faith”
Sermon #1: “Statements 1 & 2”
Sermon Text: II Timothy 3:16-17
INTRODUCTION: This sermon series has been written to help us better understand our new constitution and by-laws for Forest Christian Church.
Now, it may seem strange to preach about a document that, historically, has been for business used only for business purposes.
But my goal is to show that those who undertook the task of compiling this document did so with the Word of God as their authority.
And over the next few weeks I am going to attempt to expound on the Scriptures that we used to write the “Statement of Faith” found in Article II, and show you how we attempted to take a ‘business’ document and transform it into a ‘biblical’ document we can now use for conducting church business.
QUESTION: Have you ever heard the phrase, “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything?”
I believe that thought was on all our hearts when we began compiling this new constitution; I know it was on my heart.
As a group we agreed that, for too long, the church has not made a solid statement concerning its core beliefs.
And because of the dangers facing the church today (such as the liberalizing of the truth of Scripture) we decided our new document needed a portion dedicated to the truths we stand for in this church.
STATEMENT 1:
We believe the Bible is the Holy Spirit inspired Word of God, that it is inerrant in the original manuscripts and that it is authoritative in all matters of faith.
1. We began our statement of faith with an affirmation of where the church receives her authority
a. It is vitally important that we understand that our only authority in matters of faith is the Word of God
b. This excludes church tradition and mad-made doctrines as authorities, and puts authority where it belongs: With God
2. The phrase “inerrant” simply means to be “without error”
a. The Bible was written totally without error
b. Today we have many translations of the Bible, and (sadly) some are full of errors
i. There is a new Bible that was just released which takes out all references to male and female – a ‘gender neutral’ Bible’
ii. Illustration: “Hymnals” Some of you may remember that the Hymnals we purchased years ago were ‘gender neutral’ referring to God as “it” or even “she” and we traded for the ones we have now, which are more traditional.
c. The words “original manuscripts” is important in our statement concerning inerrancy
i. If we have two translations (i.e. NIV & NASB) that contradict one another at a certain point, we must look to the original manuscripts written in Hebrew and Greek for our answer concerning the contradiction
ii. NOTE: I understand most of us don’t read Hebrew or Greek, but with the assistance of concordances and computer programs it is easy for anyone to find out the original wording used in Scripture
3. We go on to use the word “authoritative”
a. There is an old Latin phrase “Sola Scriptura” which means “Scripture alone” and it is at the core of this first statement, even though it is not mentioned
b. This historic doctrine was one of the main reasons for the church splitting away from Rome during the reformation
c. The church at Rome had placed ‘tradition’ on the same level as ‘Scripture’ and many dangerous and false doctrines came as the result
4. QUOTE: We have affirmed here in our first statement that we believe that God’s Word only is our authority
Why did we affirm this? Because this truth is affirmed in the Scripture itself.
Let’s look at the Scriptures we cited in the statement:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 “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.”
Paul writes to Timothy explaining why it is essential for the Scriptures to be the Church’s authority because of it having:
A. Proper Author (…given by inspiration of God…)
i. Traditions are man-made while Scripture alone is God inspired
ii. This can be literally translated as “God breathed”
iii. The Holy Spirit is the author, having breathed into the writers God’s infallible Word
B. Proper Power (…is profitable…)
i. Only God’s Word can be used to:
1. Teach correct doctrine
2. Reprove of sin
3. Instruct in righteousness
ii. No other document is capable of doing these things
C. Proper Equipment (…man of God may be complete…)
i. A preacher is “complete” with the Holy Scriptures because within them lie the instructions for the work of the Kingdom
ii. If the Holy Scriptures were all we had for ministry, we would be more than equipped for the task
2 Peter 1:20-21 “knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
In this Scripture Peter teaches that no part of Scripture is of private opinion, but men wrote as the Holy Spirit inspired them to write:
A. The word “interpretation” actually can be translated “origin”
B. Even in cases where the apostles spoke in the form of opinion, we must understand that they were being moved by the Spirit.
C. QUOTE: This verse again affirms our statement: the Bible alone is our authority – not the traditions of men – this is important because the rest of our statement of faith builds on the core belief that Scripture is our only infallible authority.
Illustration: “Lincoln’s Thoughts on the Scripture” In 1864, Abraham Lincoln was honored by the Committee of Colored People. On this special occasion, he was presented with a Bible. He responded to this gift by declaring, “In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it.”
STATEMENT 2:
There is one God eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus the Christ is God the Son and is both God and man
I. In this second statement we shift from our affirmation of Scripture’s authority to our affirmation of the nature of God as revealed in the Scriptures
a. This is another vital part of our document because it shows our understanding of the “Holy Trinity” and the “Divinity of Christ”
b. This is where many ‘sects’ and ‘false religions’ differ from biblical Christianity
c. They teach some form of the nature of God, but not the nature of God revealed in the Scriptures
II. Our attempt in statement 2 is to affirm our belief in God’s Tri-unity (3-in-1)
Why did we affirm this? Because this truth is affirmed in the Scripture.
Let’s look at the Scriptures we cited in the statement:
Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”
Jesus, before His ascension, gave us the Great Commission, where He specifically named the members of the Godhead as:
a. God the Father
i. God the Father, the first person of the Trinity, orders and disposes all things according to His own purpose and grace (Ps. 145:8,9; 1 Cor. 8:6).
ii. He is the Creator of all things (Gen. 1:1–31; Eph. 3:9).
iii. As the only absolute and omnipotent ruler in the universe, He is sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption (Ps. 103:19; Rom. 11:36).
iv. His fatherhood involves both His designation within the Trinity and His relationship with mankind.
v. As Creator He is Father to all men (Eph. 4:6), but He is Spiritual Father only to believers in Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:14; 2 Cor. 6:18).
b. God the Son
i. Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, possesses all the divine excellencies, and in these He is coequal, consubstantial, and coeternal with the Father (John 10:30; 14:9).
ii. God the Father created “the heavens and the earth and all that is in them” according to His own will, through His Son, Jesus Christ, by whom all things continue in existence and in operations (John 1:3; Col. 1:15–17; Heb. 1:2).
iii. In His incarnation, the eternally existing second person of the Trinity accepted all the essential characteristics of humanity and so became the God-man (Phil. 2:5–8; Col. 2:9).
iv. Jesus Christ represents humanity and deity in indivisible oneness (Mic. 5:2; John 5:23; 14:9,10; Col. 2:9).
c. God the Holy Spirit
i. The Holy Spirit is a divine person, eternal, underived, possessing all the attributes of personality and deity, including intellect (1 Cor. 2:10–13), emotions (Eph. 4:30), will (1 Cor. 12:11), eternality (Heb. 9:14), omnipresence (Ps. 139:7–10), omniscience (Is. 40:13,14), omnipotence (Rom. 15:13), and truthfulness (John 16:13).
ii. In all the divine attributes He is coequal and consubstantial with the Father and the Son (Matt. 28:19; Acts 5:3,4; 28:25,26; 1 Cor. 12:4–6; 2 Cor. 13:14; and Jer. 31:31–34 with Heb. 10:15–17). [This outline of the Trinity taken in part from the MacArthur Study Bible]
Philippians 2:5-8 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”
This second cited Scripture deals with Christ humbling Himself from His position on high, becoming a servant and being the example of humble service to all of us.
I just concluded a series through Philippians where I spent time expounding on this verse, so I will not spend a lot of time with it now.
It is important to note, however, that it does give a clear picture of the eternality and divinity of Jesus Christ, again confirming that He is “God, the Son”.
There are many verses of Scripture which affirm the Trinitarian Doctrine we have in our Statement of Faith, all of which we did not add because of space constraints and redundancy. Some being…
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word [Christ], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 8:58 “Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM”
Colossians 2:9 “For in Him [Christ] dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;”
Even the OT prophets confirmed Christ’s Deity through their prophecies
Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
Jesus confirms His own Deity in the book of Revelation by saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last” (Revelation 1:11)
The doctrine of the Trinity, while itself a mystery, is essential to the Christian faith
Quote #1: This [doctrine of the Trinity] is the teaching of Scripture and this has been the historic view of the Church in all of its branches down through the centuries.—D. James Kennedy
Quote #2: “Apart from [the doctrine of the Trinity], doctrines such as the Deity of Christ, the incarnation, the personality of the Holy Spirit, regeneration, justification, sanctification, the meaning of the crucifixion, and the resurrection cannot be understood”—Dr. Loraine Boettner
Quote: #3: “[The Trinity is] a mystery indeed, yet one which explains many other mysteries, and ` which sheds a marvelous light on God, on nature, and on man”—Robert Flint
Illustration: “The Ocean in a Trench” “One day Augustine, when he was walking along the seashore, saw a little boy digging a trench in the sand. He walked over to the lad and asked him what he was doing. The little fellow replied, ‘Sir, I am making a trench.’ ‘Why are you doing it?’ asked Augustine. The little lad replied, ‘I am going to empty the sea into my trench.’ The great thinker, the greatest of the Latin Fathers, continued his walk and mused: ‘So the lad thinks that he is going to empty the sea into the little trench he has made in the sand. Sometimes we are like that. We propose to encompass the infinitude of God in the small limits of our mind.’” (From a sermon by W.A. Criswell)
Quote: When it comes to great mysteries such as the Trinity, we must remember that God is bigger and grander than we could ever imagine, and take on faith the truth of the Scripture.
CONCLUSION: These first two statements can be summed up in one short phrase:
“We believe in the God of the Bible and in His Word”
