2026 Summer Gospel Meeting: James Luedecke - Trusting the Scriptures as Our Only Source of Authority.

I want to thank you for being back with us this

afternoon as we continue our series of studies

concerning restoring New Testament Christianity

and the desperate need and our desire to simply

go back to the Bible to find our faith, find

our doctrine, and find our practice in the church

today. This morning we introduced this topic

by talking about maintaining a mission mindset

that mindset being the the idea the principle

of restoring the New Testament Church and we're

going to turn our attention that this afternoon

to an essential ingredient in that effort and

that is trusting the authority of the scriptures

trusting the Bible the scriptures as our soul

and singular source of authority in religion

today you know I made a comment a statement this

morning that establishing scriptural authority

is so very important We cannot hope to be the

church that Jesus built if we don't test everything

in our faith, in our worship, in our practice.

We have to test everything by the Word of God

to make sure it's true, to make sure it's genuine,

to make sure it's a part of that initial plan

and pattern that the Lord delivered us in the

New Testament when He set up His church. And

so I want to spend some time focusing more in

depth in regard to that idea this afternoon.

We have to understand that the scriptures are

our only authority. We have to understand the

proper way to approach those scriptures and how

to properly interpret them to arrive at the truth

God wants us to know. Now, in a perfect world,

and spoiler alert, we don't live in a perfect

world, but in a perfect world, I would grab my

Bible just like you would. And we would open

it, and we would read it, and we would study

and meditate on it, and we would all arrive at

a singular faith, a unified doctrine, and a common

practice. In a perfect world, that's how we would

come to faith and how we would teach doctrine

and how we would live out our practice for the

Lord. However today we look around us and we

realize that you know many many people call themselves

Christians and many people go to the same Bible

that I read that you read but In the end, we

don't arrive at the same place, do we? In our

faith, in our doctrine, in our practice. We see

many different faiths around us. We hear many

different doctrines. We see many different practices.

And this is evidenced by the many different churches

that we see around us. Now, we all call ourselves

Christians, and we all say we love God, and we

all say we're following the Bible. But at the

end of the day, we don't get to the same place,

do we? And that's a problem. This is not the

will of God. Because we know the will of God.

It's revealed to us in Ephesians chapter 4. When

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he clearly explained

and spoke to them about a unified singular faith,

not a divided faith. In Ephesians 4 .4, Paul

said there is one body, just one. Not 12, not

20, not 200. There is one body and one spirit.

Even as you're called in one hope of your calling

there's one hope there's one Lord one faith one

baptism Just like there's one God and father

of all who is above all and through all and in

you all and so The Bible speaks of a simple singular

faith that we should all be striving for Earlier

in the in this chapter. He encouraged us to strive

to maintain and keep the unity of that faith

But we live in a world that is divided in religion

We live in a world where there are many different

faiths, many different doctrines, many different

practices. Why is that? That's something we're

going to talk about and try to understand better

this afternoon. So long as we maintain an honest

and unbiased approach to the scriptures and as

long as we employ a proper method of Bible interpretation

I believe with those two essential steps we can

arrive at the truth, the truth God wants us to

understand about that singular faith, doctrine,

and practice that we all need. And so we're going

to give careful attention and analysis to our

approach to Scripture, how we should approach

the Scripture, preparing our hearts and preparing

our minds before we even crack the cover of the

Bible. And then we're going to talk about, once

we open the Bible, we're going to talk about

some basic principles of proper Bible interpretation,

because both of those ingredients are necessary

for us to arrive at the truth God has given us.

Let's talk first about approaching the Word of

God with honesty. Before we even open the Bible

and begin reading and studying, we have to prepare

our hearts and minds to approach the Word of

God with honesty. Some of the ideas that we're

going to have to buy into wholeheartedly and

not hold anything back. Because we got to buy

into the idea of trusting that God is always

right. That's what trust is, isn't it? Trust

is something that teaches us, it reminds us that

I have my own way of thinking, I have my own

way of feeling, I've got my own think so's, I've

got my own opinions, I've got my own preferences.

But trusting God and the authority of the Scriptures

means that My think -so is my opinions my feelings

my ideas have to go by the wayside If they aren't

in agreement with what God reveals in his word

and faith is trusting that God is always right

We're not we're not always right. I have been

wrong. Have you ever been wrong? I have been

wrong Because I'm human and That's part of the

human experience, the fact that we can and we

sometimes are wrong. But we need to trust that

there is one who is always right and that that

one is God. You know, in Romans 3 -4, Paul speaks

to this. He makes a passing statement here in

this verse. He says, let God be true and every

man a liar. Even if every person on the face

of the planet disagrees with God, guess what?

He's still right. He's still right. His word

is still true. Even if everyone rejects it, does

that change it? The Word of God remains the same.

God remains true and everyone on the face of

the planet is wrong, including ourselves if what

we believe is not in line with Scripture. We've

got to trust this. We've got to believe this

wholeheartedly that God is always right. And

as I just mentioned a moment ago, we've got to

be open to the idea and the possibility that

we might be wrong. I've been wrong before. You

know, I've been in a process of learning and

growing and gaining understanding since the day

I was born. Do you know how much you knew the

day you were born? You knew nothing the day you

were born. Since the day of your birth to today,

you've been in a process of learning, growing,

and gaining an understanding. And you know, along

the way, sometimes we find out that what we thought

was right really wasn't right. What we thought

we were certain was true really wasn't true.

Have you ever been there? I've been there. I've

been there. And here's the funny thing about

it. The funny thing about it is that I didn't

know I was wrong. I thought I was right all along.

I thought I was right. And that's I think that's

what the Proverbs are speaking to about mankind

in Proverbs 21 to where it says the way of of

a man is right in his own eyes. We always think

our way is right, but we also have to be open

to the possibility that we might be wrong. We

might be wrong. The Bible says in Proverbs 16

25 this is something we need to take notice of.

Proverbs 16 25 it says there is a way that seemeth

right unto a man. There are many religious ways

that seem just seem right to man. But what does

the Bible tell us? It tells us the end thereof

are the ways of death. We have many Bible examples

of that. It just seemed right for Nadab and Abihu

to offer strange fire before the Lord. And you

know they died in Leviticus chapter 10 verse

Leviticus 10:1–2

1 to 2. They died doing something that seemed

right to them, offering strange fire. Just seemed

right to King David and his servant Uzzah to

move the Ark of the Covenant in an ox cart. Just

seemed right to them. and Uzzah died doing something

that just seemed right, moving the ark of God

in an improper way, an unscriptural way. So you

see there are many ways in religion that just

seem right and sometimes our ways might seem

right and feel right and we might think we're

right but we always have to be open to the possibility

that we could be wrong. We have to be humble

enough to admit that. Here's something else we

got to do as we approach the Word of God. We

got to go to the Word of God to be true truth

-seekers, sincere in that effort. We've got to

be seeking truth. You know what we can do if

we're not careful? We can go to the scriptures

just to seek validation of what we already believe.

You ever done that? I'm going to tell you something.

I'm going to confess something to you. I've done

that before. I've done that before. Made up my

mind what was right and I've got to go to the

Bible to find a verse to back it up. Right? It's

easy to do if we're not careful. I've done that

before. It wasn't right. It was wrong. I'm going

to try not to do that again. I'm going to try

to be more of a truth seeker than a person who

just goes to the Word of God to seek validation

for what I've already determined is right. No,

I go to the Word of God saying, Lord, show me

what's right, even if I'm wrong. Please open

my eyes to that which I cannot see. Please help

me to find your truth. If we go to the Word of

God not looking for truth, just looking for validation,

that's what we'll find. We'll find validation

for what we want to believe. But we could miss

out on the truth. I think this was a problem

with the children of Israel in the days of Isaiah.

Isaiah chapter 30 verse 9, God told his people

Isaiah 30:9

through Isaiah, he says that this is a rebellious

people, lying children, children that will not

hear the law of the Lord. They didn't want to

hear the law of the Lord. Which say to the seers,

see not, and to the prophets, prophesy not unto

us right things, speak unto us smooth things,

prophesy deceits. They wanted to hear prophecy.

They wanted to hear teaching, right? But they

didn't want to hear the law of the Lord. They

wanted to hear what they thought was right and

what they believed was right. And they told the

prophets, even if you have to tell us lies, just

tell us lies. Prophesied deceits. And we don't

want to be guilty of that. We don't want to be

like the people in Isaiah's day. We want to be

more honest in our search for truth. We want

to approach the Word of God with honesty and

sincerity in our heart. Here's something else

we got to do. We got to be willing to buy into

this principle wholeheartedly as well. When we

seek the truth, I believe the Lord will help

us find the truth. And when we find the truth,

we need to accept the truth no matter the cost.

Sometimes it's not convenient. Sometimes it's

not to our advantage to accept the truth. change

where we've seen that we're in error and make

a change sometimes that's not easy sometimes

it's hard sometimes it's difficult sometimes

it comes with the consequences that are difficult

to deal with but you know God would have us to

seek the truth learn the truth and accept the

truth no matter the cost Bible tells us in Proverbs

23 23 by the truth and sell it not also wisdom

and instruction and understanding when you find

the truth you buy it you invest in it and you

don't sell it out for anything. No matter the

cost, we need to be seeking truth and following

after truth because that honors God. God is a

God of truth. He's not a God of lies. You know,

Satan's the one out here spreading religious

lies and if we're just buying into lies and believing

lies and following religious error, we're not

honoring God. We're actually giving honor to

the enemy of God, to Satan. So we have to approach

the Word of God honestly. Here's something else.

We have to be aware of before we even crack the

cover of the Bible to read it We got to be aware

of the problem of bias You know we are all subject

to different biases aren't we I? Want to share

some things with you that? Some ingredients that

form a dangerous recipe for bias that we all

need to be aware of the first one is family traditions

We've all got our own family traditions. We've

got things that we were taught from our parents

and our grandparents and our great -grandparents

and things our families have done for many, many

years, many, many generations. And, you know,

we have a tendency to want to follow in the pathway

of our family and follow family traditions. But

we have to be careful of that because just because

our family has done something for 100, 200 years

doesn't make it right. That's not the true test

of whether or not something is scriptural or

not or true or not Just because our family has

done it for so long the scriptures are the true

test of what is what is right in the sight of

God And you know Jesus says we got to love him

and his truth more than we love our family That's

not always easy to do sometimes that puts us

in difficult situations But Jesus said this in

Matthew 10 37 he that loveth father or mother

more than me is not worthy of me He that love

a son or daughter more than me is not worthy

of me. We got to love God's Word more than we

love our sacredly kept family traditions. Here's

something else we've got that is a part of a

dangerous recipe for bias. We have different

influences in our culture that might skew our

thinking more than you might imagine. One of

the probably easiest ways to discover this Pull

that culture has on us. We like to say oh, no,

I would never let my culture influence me. Okay,

that sounds good But if you go visit another

country a different culture Your eyes are open

very quickly to things that are different not

wrong, but different in the way people walk talk

live and Sometimes it helps us to see that in

our culture, our 21st century modern American

culture has more of an influence on us than we

might like to recognize or admit. In Acts chapter

Acts 10:28

10 verse 28, this is Peter and you know Peter

felt the pressures of his culture. When he went

to Caesarea into the house of Cornelius, remember

Peter was a Jew and Cornelius was a Gentile and

for Jews of that time the culture was Jews didn't

go into and have company with Gentiles. That

was the cultural expectation. That was the norm

at his time for his people. And we see the tension

of that in Acts chapter 1028. He, that's Peter

said unto them, he says to Cornelius in the Gentiles,

you know how it is an unlawful thing for a man

that is a Jew to keep company or to come unto

one of another nation, but God has shown me that

I should not call any man common or unclean.

Peter goes into the house of Cornelius and says,

you know, everything in... in my being is telling

me I shouldn't be here because that's what my

culture has taught me. I shouldn't be in the

house of a Gentile. He says on the other hand

God is teaching me and he has shown me that I

shouldn't discriminate against Gentiles. I shouldn't

call any man common or unclean. So Peter was

even subject to these cultural influences and

we're not immune from them either. We need to

be aware that they form a certain degree of bias

within us. Here's something else that causes

us to have bias and that's our past experiences

You know as we go through life a lot of our past

experiences Shape and form the way we think the

way we feel and the way we view the world even

the way maybe we view our faith But we got to

remember past experience is not a test for whether

or not something is right or scriptural that

that test Falls squarely on the Word of God and

the Word of God only here's an example of that

From John chapter 1, this is Jesus calling his

John 1 · chapter mention

disciples. And the Bible says that Jesus called

Philip. Philip was one of the first disciples

of Jesus' cause. And Philip went and found Nathanael.

Jesus called Philip and Philip goes and finds

Nathanael and he says unto them, We have found

him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets

did write. Jesus of Nazareth. That's John 1 .45.

Philip meets Jesus. He knows he's the Messiah.

He goes and finds Nathaniel. He says, hey Nathaniel,

we found the Messiah. It's Jesus of Nazareth.

You remember Nathaniel's response in verse 46?

Nathaniel said unto him, can there be any good

thing come out of Nazareth? Nathaniel no doubt

had had some past experiences with people from

Nazareth. And maybe it was part of their culture

too. Maybe the cultural... influence on them

was the idea that you know there ain't nothing

that can good that can come out of Nazareth and

Philip says that this Jesus the Messiah is from

Nazareth and Nathaniel can't hardly believe it.

Nazareth? Did you say Nazareth? Really? Nazareth?

Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? That

gives us a glimpse doesn't it into the bias that

Nathaniel had. Maybe partly due from his culture

and maybe partly due from his past experience

and we're not immune to those same influences.

In addition, we also have our own individual

ideologies, our individual and unique ways of

thinking about things. There's nothing wrong

with having individual ideologies. But you know

the Bible tells us it's dangerous to lean too

hard on our own understandings, isn't it? Proverbs

Proverbs 3:5–7

3 verses 5 to 7. Trust in the Lord with all thine

heart. Lean not into thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him and what he shall

direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes.

Sometimes we are maybe too wise in our own eyes.

And instead of leaning on our own individual

think -sows and ideologies we need to lean more

on the Lord and let he be the one that directs

our paths through his word. And then last but

not least. We've all got personal preferences.

And my preference might be different than yours.

And that's OK. There's nothing wrong with that.

But our personal preferences have to always yield

to the will and the ways of God. We had to be

willing to put aside our personal preferences

to obey God and to follow His word. And, you

know, we see the illustration, the example of

Naaman. Remember, Naaman was a Syrian who had

leprosy. He went down into Israel. He saw the

prophet Elisha. Elisha told him if he would just

go dip himself seven times in the Jordan River,

he would be cleansed and cleaned of his leprosy.

And you remember Naaman's response to that? He

says, you want me to go dip in the Jordan River,

the stinky muddy river of Israel, the Jordan

River? Naaman said, are not Abana and Farpar

rivers of Damascus, rivers back in his hometown,

are they not better than all the waters of Israel?

May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned

and went away in a rage. He was angry that the

Lord told him to go dip himself down in the Jordan

River. He said, I got a lot better rivers back

home. I'm going back to Syria. I'm going to go

dip in Abana or Farpar. As his personal preference,

wasn't it? He preferred the rivers of his home

country. You think if he'd went home to dip in

a banner and far far he'd got the cleansing of

his leprosy I don't think he would have because

you know God wasn't gonna bless his disobedience

God bless his obedience, and he told him go dip

in the Jordan River Luckily one of his servants

talked some sense into him and convinced him

to go to the Jordan River he dipped down seven

times and He was cleansed his preference had

to yield to the will of God And so we got to

be aware of bias All of these things, in some

form or fashion, to one degree or another, can

form a dangerous recipe of bias. And if we have

bias in our heart, in our mind, before we even

go to the Word of God, what chance do we have

of arriving at the truth it wants to teach us?

You know, earlier in the lesson we had this...

illustration on the screen and we had a straight

arrow from me, the stick figure, to the Word

of God and then a straight arrow from the Word

of God to the faith doctrine and practice that

it teaches us. And in a perfect world, that's

the way it would work for all of us. But if we

approach the Word of God with dishonesty and

bias in our hearts, you see how it's hard for

us to arrive at the truth? If I go looking for

it to teach one way that I believe, I'm going

to end off way down here. Where if I go to the

Word of God with a bias, it's going to skew my

understanding of the Word of God. I may hit the

Word of God at a glancing blow, but I'm going

to end up way over here, away from the truth.

And this is why so many people end up so scattered

in the religious world because they approach

the Word of God with all kinds of dishonesty

and bias in their hearts. And that's why we have

such a divided religious world today in which

we live. So let's move on and talk about the

second key ingredient as far as trusting the

scriptures as our sole authority. We have to

use principles of proper, sound Bible interpretation.

Once we do prepare our heart and mind to go to

the Word of God with the right heart, once we

open the Word of God and start reading it, this

is where the work of properly interpreting the

scriptures comes in. And I'm going to share Several,

I'm going to have to move fast. We can talk about

just this the rest of the week. We can give a

whole gospel meeting just to this. I'm going

to have to move a lot quicker than that and just

quickly summarize some of the most basic principles

of Bible interpretation that will help us make

sure we arrive at the truth of God's Word. The

first one is this. We have to admit and believe

that the Bible contains all that we need. The

Scriptures are profitable. They will thoroughly

furnish us, completely equip us with all that

we need. That's what Paul told Timothy. All scripture

is given by inspiration of God and is profitable

for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and

righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect,

thoroughly furnished. It means completely equipped

unto all good works. That's 2nd Timothy 3, 16

to 17. Notice here the scriptures tell us that

they are profitable for four things. The scriptures

are profitable for doctrine. Doctrine is that

part of God's Word. which teaches us and reveals

the will of God to us and we need doctrine. Scriptures

are also profitable for reproof. Reproof is that

part of God's Word which exposes and condemns

us of our error when we go astray from the will

of God. Scriptures are profitable for that. The

Scriptures also provide correction and that correction

is profitable because correction is that part

of God's Word that convicts us to restore what

is right in the sight of God and return to Him

and walk in paths of truth. Scripture provides

that correction that we need and then it also

provides that instruction in righteousness. Instruction

in righteousness is that part of God's Word that

shows us how. specifically how and practically

how we can return back if we've went astray into

past that please God. And the scriptures provide

all the doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction

in righteousness that we need. It contains it

all. We don't need other books. We don't need

other writings of men. We don't need modern -day

prophets. We don't need modern -day revelations.

We have all we need when we open our Bible. And

I want to point out something in passing while

we're talking about the scriptures being profitable.

You know, I told you this morning we're going

to use a simple four -step approach in analyzing

certain doctrines and certain practices in Christianity

today. We're going to do that later in the gospel

meeting. But I mentioned today our first step

in that four -step process was going to the original

pattern and seeing what is revealed therein.

Doctrine is found there in God's Word to help

us understand that original pattern. So we're

going to use the Scriptures doctrine to understand

the pattern God gives us in the New Testament.

The second step is studying some church history

to understand how error slowly evolved and how

men strayed away from the Word of God. Well,

the Scriptures provide some reproof in that regard.

The Scriptures will reprove us and show us. how

we've aired and how we've went away from the

truth. Scriptures also provide us with that correction

and we're going to look at our modern -day practices.

And if we find that they're not in line with

the Word of God, the Word of God will give correction

to us and help us see our need to change and

to restore and get back to serving God according

to the Scriptures. The Bible provides that correction

that we'll need at that third step in our process.

And in the fourth step in the process, we're

going to talk about steps that we can take to

restore the original pattern, to get back to

serving God and worshiping God and teaching the

things that were a part of Christ's church from

the beginning. And the Scripture will give us

instruction in righteousness to help us see what

we need to restore the pattern that God has given

us. So the idea that the Scriptures are profitable

for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction

in righteousness will be intertwined in this

four -step process. And the Scriptures will provide

us with what we need to use this four -step process

as we go to later lessons in this series. Here's

a second principle of Bible interpretation. It's

very simple. Scripture can't contradict Scripture.

God will never contradict Himself. We know one

verse of Scripture will never contradict another.

Here's an example. This is just one example.

Some people today in religion point to Acts 21,

8 to 9 as... Proof, Bible proof and authority

for women preachers in the church. And you remember

this is the point where Luke goes into the house

of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the

seven, and Luke abode with Philip for a time.

And the Bible says in verse 9, Acts 21 -9, that

the same man Philip had four daughters, virgins,

which did prophesy. Now some people point to

that verse and they say, here it is. Here's proof

positive. Philip had these four daughters, they

prophesied, and that's authority for women preachers

in the church. However, we go to other passages

of Scripture which seem to teach the exact opposite

of that, like 1 Corinthians 14, 34 to 35, where

the Bible says, let your women keep silence in

the churches, for it's not permitted unto them

to speak. They're commanded to be under obedience,

as also saith the law. And if they will learn

anything, let them ask their husbands at home.

for it's a shame for women to speak in the church.

Now what do we have here? Do we have two different

verses that contradict each other? Does one authorize

women preachers and the other condemn it? No.

There's a way to properly interpret both of these

scriptures in such a way that they don't contradict

one another. They fit perfectly well together

in harmony and agreement. We'll talk more about

that Lord willing Saturday night. We're going

to talk more about the role of women in the church

as part of that lesson. But we have to we have

to be good students of the Bible We have to analyze

it very carefully and do it in such a way that

we're never putting scripture against scripture

Because God will never disagree with himself

and scripture will never contradict itself We

need to understand some basic things about the

differences between The different covenants God

has had with mankind Specifically the difference

between the old covenant the law of Moses and

the new covenant the gospel of Christ Got an

illustration here. We'll move through it quickly.

It's on the back of your handout that you have

for this evening. This is the cross. Before Jesus

died on the cross, God's people, the Jews, lived

under the Old Covenant. It was a covenant that

was given to them when they received the law

of Moses at Mount Sinai. They lived under it

for about 1 ,500 years until Jesus died. When

Jesus died, that Old Covenant law was taken out

of the way and a new covenant came to replace

it consisting of the gospel of Jesus that began

to be preached after he died on the cross at

Calvary. The Old Covenant was for a specific

nation of people, the Israelites, the descendants

of Abraham, the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

the children of Israel. They were a party to

that Old Covenant. Gentiles were not a party

to the old covenant law. However, under the new

covenant that we live under today, the new covenant

pertains to God's people, all Christians from

all nations all over the earth. When the children

of Israel received the law at Mount Sinai, Moses

brought that law down from the mountain and found

the children of Israel disobeying that law, worshipping

idols, and as a result of that, 3 ,000 people

died because of their idol worship and their

rebellion and disobedience. But you know when

the gospel was first preached in Acts chapter

Acts 2 · chapter mention

2 on Pentecost Day like we studied this morning,

instead of 3 ,000 people dying, Bible tells us

in Acts 2 .41 that 3 ,000 people were saved from

their sins through the preaching of the gospel.

Hebrews 10 .1 tells us the law was a shadow of

better things to come in Christ. Colossians 2

.16 -17 says that The law was a shadow of good

things to come but the body or the substance

is of Jesus and we are enjoying that present

-day substance or body that was foreshadowed

under the law of Moses. The Old Covenant law

is no longer binding today. We don't live, worship,

or live according to or worship according to

the old covenant law of Moses because when Jesus

died in Colossians 2 14 he was blotting out the

handwriting of ordinances that was against us

which was contrary to us Jesus took it out of

the way nailing it to his cross today the new

covenant is binding upon Christians we're not

bound by that old covenant law Also in Galatians

3 24 Paul said the law was our schoolmaster our

instructor to bring us to Christ that we might

be justified by faith, but after that faith has

come After Christ has come and died for our sins.

We know are no longer under The law that the

schoolmaster was Galatians 3 24 to 25 and we

could say a whole lot more about this But but

we need to have a basic understanding that they're

two different covenants and you know a lot of

people get mixed up in a lot of religious confusion

today because they fail to see a difference between

these two covenants and understand which covenant

we live under today. Here's something else that's

so very important if we're trying to establish

scriptural authority for our faith doctrine and

practice. We got to understand exactly, technically

how we go about establishing scriptural authority

for something. And I believe scriptural authority

is established in one of three ways, either through

a command through an example or through a scripture

which infers or implies that God wants us to

do something. Now, let me give you an example

of what we're talking about. We need to be looking

in scripture for commands, examples, and scriptures

that infer or imply. We're gonna take our practice

of the Lord's Supper, okay? We observed the Lord's

Supper this morning, and rightfully so, because

Jesus Himself commanded us to remember Him by

taking the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is

authorized by a command, a command from Christ.

That command was given from Christ to Paul, and

then Paul wrote it to the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians

11, 24. Jesus told Paul, Paul told Corinthians,

take, eat, this is my body which is broken for

you. Jesus said, this do in remembrance of me.

That's a command. Verse 25 Jesus said this cup

is the New Testament in my blood this do ye as

oft as you drink it in remembrance of me that

is a command from Jesus when Jesus commands us

to do something We better be doing it and we

certainly have scriptural authority for it now

There's also certain elements concerning the

Lord's Supper that are established not by command

per se but rather by example Okay, we take the

Lord's Supper on the first day of the week I

don't believe there's a command where Jesus said

or the Apostle said thou shalt take the Lord's

Supper on the first day of the week there is

a scripture which teaches that in the form of

an example an Example we have the example of

a first century church congregation at Troas

Luke writes about it in Acts 20 verse 7 where

Acts 20:7

Luke says, Upon the first day of the week when

the disciples came together to break bread, Paul

preached unto them ready to depart on the morrow.

And he continued his speech until midnight. So

here's an example of a first century church that

Paul visited coming together on the first day

of the week and breaking bread, which is a reference

to the Lord's Supper. So by example, by a proved

apostolic example, we see here that the church

Jesus built came together on the first day of

the week to observe the Lord's Supper. The day

that we do it on is authorized by example. And

then last but not least, the frequency, how often

we take the Lord's Supper. That is not authorized

by command. I don't believe it's authorized by

example. I believe it's authorized by an inference,

a scripture that infers or implies it. And it's

the same scripture. Acts chapter 20 verse 7 says

Acts 20:7

the disciples came together on the first day

of the week. You know, every week has a first

day. Every week has a first day. And, you know,

when God told the Jews to remember the Sabbath,

to keep it holy, what did the Jews understand

from Exodus chapter 20 verses 8 to 10? Did you

Exodus 20:8–10

know there's no scripture that says take the

Lord's Supper every first day of the week? There's

no scripture that says every first day of the

week. I haven't seen it yet. But there's also

there also in any scripture where God told the

Jews to remember every Sabbath He didn't say

remember every Sabbath. Look at what God told

the Jews about the Sabbath He said remember the

Sabbath day and keep it holy six days shout that

labor and do all thy work But the seventh day

is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God The Lord told

Israel remember the Sabbath now every week has

a Sabbath. It's the seventh day And he didn't

tell him to observe every Sabbath is the word

every in that verse. Let's look Word every isn't

in that verse But you know what the Jews understood

from that verse they understood that every week

has a Sabbath and if it's the Sabbath We need

to remember it and keep it holy So guess what

every Sabbath the Sabbath was a weekly observance

among the Jews They understood that without God

saying every Sabbath in the same manner when

the Bible says that the example of the first

century church was to come together on the first

day of the week to break bread. We can understand

every week has a first day and we can understand

that it's the Lord's will for us to come together

every first day of the week and every first day

of the week we come around the Lord's table.

Again, there's no command for that. There's no

example of that but it's inferred or implied.

Through a careful study of the Scriptures we

can easily make that connection. that the Lord

wants us to take the Lord's Supper every first

day of the week. So, listen, we got to get in

the habit of looking for commands, examples,

inferences. We need to be able to find commands,

examples, or inferences for everything we do.

in our faith, in our doctrine, and in our practice.

Here's something else we have to recognize that

there is such a thing as the exclusion principle,

and the exclusion principle needs to be honored

and respected. How does the exclusion principle

work? It's very simple. God told Noah in Genesis

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6 -14 to build an ark, and he told him

a specific type of wood to use to build that

ark. Genesis 6 -14, God told Noah, make thee

an ark of gopher wood. Gopher wood. I have no

idea what gopher wood is. I know oak wood. I

know yellow pine. I have no idea what gopher

wood is. When God told Noah to build an ark of

gopher wood, guess which type of wood it needed

to be? It had to be gopher wood. Now, God didn't

find it necessary to say, Noah, I want you to

make this ark out of gopher wood. Not oak wood,

Noah. Noah don't even think about pine wood.

Noah don't think about cherry or birch wood.

That's not allowed. Noah don't even go looking

for any cedar wood. God didn't have to tell Noah

all the woods not to use, did he? All those woods

were automatically excluded when God said what?

When God said go for wood, that was the wood

it needed to be and all other woods were automatically

excluded. They were not... They were not permissible.

That's how the exclusion principle works. When

God specifies something, it automatically excludes

every other alternative of that same thing, things

in the same category. Here's another example

of the exclusion principle. In Numbers chapter

Numbers 20 · chapter mention

20, God told Moses there in the wilderness, Take

your rod gather the assembly together thou and

Aaron thy brother speak to the rock before their

eyes and it'll give forth water They were in

the desert. They needed water. They were thirsty

God told Moses speak to the rock and there you'll

have water Moses went to the rock But he didn't

speak to it. Remember what he did. He struck

it with his rod twice It brought forth water

But God was not pleased Later God spoke to Moses

and said you didn't honor me Before the children

of Israel and it was actually because of that

rebellion and that sin and that disobedience

God told him you won't go into the promised land

Because you didn't follow my instructions I said

speak to the rock and you know when God said

speak to the rock that Excluded striking the

rock that excluded getting up and dancing on

the rock that excluded everything else And Moses

didn't obey he didn't honor the exclusion principle.

He should have been more careful Because speaking

to the rock excluded everything else We got it.

We got to be thinking about the exclusion principle

Okay, and here's the next logical step to the

exclusion principle this last principle of interpretation

I'll share with you this afternoon As part of

being good students of the scripture and trusting

it is our only source of authority We have to

develop a good ability to discern between matters

of faith matters of opinion. There are some things

that are truly matters of faith, things that

God has specifically spoken to us about and given

us guidance and scripture to guide us. But then

on the other hand there are a lot of things God

hadn't told us how to do or when to do or what

to do and there are areas of judgment or opinion

and we need to be able to draw a line clearly

between what are matters of faith and what are

matters of opinion. Now I've got a table here

to try to illustrate this, to help you understand

it. It's very, very important. It's also on the

back of your notes. I'll give you three examples

concerning three different aspects of our faith

and practice. First thing will be our church

assemblies. We are authorized by Scripture to

come together for edification. Hebrews 10 25

tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves

together. And that's why we've come together

today, to assemble to be edified. So our assembly

is authorized by Hebrews 10 .25. And I want to

tell you something. It is a matter of faith that

we come together on the first day of the week.

We have the example of the church at Troas. We

read that earlier from Acts 27. They came together

on the first day of the week. So we need to assemble,

yes, and we need to come together at the very

least on the first day of the week. Okay, that's

a matter of faith. What if I came in here and

I said and I told the church at North Warren

I said, okay, here's what y 'all need to do you

need to stop meeting on Sundays and The day you

need to assemble on his Tuesdays just Tuesday

Cancel your Sunday service and y 'all are gonna

have services every Tuesday If I came in here

and taught that and you know these brethren would

tell me number one. That's not right That's a

sinful violation of a matter of faith. We are

to assemble on the first day of the week So to

come together only on Tuesdays, that's that's

not permissible That's not allowed. However,

you know what? There is a matter of opinion or

judgment when it comes to our assemblies. And

it's not the day that we assemble, but it's the

time we assemble. What time are we going to come

together on Sunday? Is there a book, chapter,

and verse that says, Thou shalt come together

at 10 .30? I like 10 .30. That's what I was raised

to. I was raised, you know, back home. We worship

10 .30. I love it. But is there a verse that

says, Thou shalt assemble at 10 .30 on Sunday

morning? No, is there any verse any command example

of scripture that infers or implies God wants

a certain time of day or certain hour? No, you

know what that is that's going to be a matter

of opinion or judgment Congregation could make

a judgment to come together at 8 in the morning

10 30 in the morning 5 in the evening And that's

not something we're gonna get upset about and

divide about and fuss and fight about the time

that we meet Because it's not a matter of faith.

That's a matter of opinion Here's a second example

our practice of the Lord's Supper. It's authorized

by Christ in first Corinthians 1126 Concerning

Lord's Supper. Here's a matter of faith It's

a matter of faith that we take unleavened bread

and the fruit of the vine those are the elements

the Lord chose and by choosing the Unleavened

bread and the fruit of the vine. He automatically

excluded all other elements What if I came to

North Warren and said y 'all need to change your

the Lord's Supper instead of bread You need to

have fried chicken and instead of fruit of the

vine. You need to have soda pop What if I taught

that? These brethren run me out of the building.

That's a sinful violation of a matter of faith.

Jesus said bread and fruit of the vine. We can't

change that. That's a matter of faith. But you

know there are some elements concerning the Lord's

Supper that are a matter of judgment or opinion.

For example, how many containers are we going

to drink the fruit of the vine out of? We're

going to drink it out of one cup, drink it out

of two cups, ten cups, any number of cups. I

don't believe the Scriptures provide us with

enough information to determine how many cups

Jesus and His apostles used when He initiated,

when He instituted the Lord's Supper. And if

there's not enough information in the Scriptures

to discern or decipher how many containers they

used, we can't make a law saying it has to be

one container or two containers or any number

of containers. That's going to be a matter of

opinion and judgment. Every congregation is going

to decide and not make a law about it and not

be divisive about that. See the difference between

matters of faith? Needs to be bread and the fruit

of the vine. And matters of opinion, how many

containers we use. That's a matter of judgment.

Third and final example, our practice of water

baptism. We're authorized to baptize people.

People need baptism for the remission of their

sins. Matthew 28, 19, Jesus commanded his apostles

to go out, teach the gospel, and baptize people.

Concerning baptism, it's a matter of faith that

we immerse people. That's the example we have

of the Ethiopian eunuch. Philip took him down

into the water, baptized him, and they came up

out of the water in Acts 8, 38 -39. If I came

in here and taught that you could sprinkle people

for baptism, that would be a sinful violation

of a matter of faith. That's not the right mode

of baptism. The scriptural mode is immersion

in water. So I would never want to teach this,

that we can sprinkle for baptism. However, there

is a matter of opinion when it comes to the body

of water that we use for baptism. We can baptize

people in a river. We can baptize people in a

stockpond. I baptize people in the Caribbean

Sea, in the ocean. We can baptize people in a

baptistry. The scriptures don't specify. It doesn't

say thou shalt baptize people in a river or thou

shalt baptize them in a baptistry. If God doesn't

tell us exactly where to baptize them, we shouldn't

make that a matter of faith. That's a matter

of opinion. As long as we got enough water to

immerse people, that's all that matters. You

know, there's been a lot of division in religion

and even in churches of Christ through the years

because people at different times and at different

places fail to see a clear line between faith

and opinion. We've got people that take matters

of faith and say, oh, those things don't matter.

That's just opinion. That's liberalism. That's

lawlessness. That's taking laws that God has

given us and throwing them out the window. And

we don't want to be guilty of that. On the other

hand, we've got people who take matters of opinion

and move them over in the realm of faith and

they make laws out of opinions. That's legalism.

We don't want to be guilty of that either. We

need to be careful to draw a clear line between

what is faith and what is opinion. We can go

to the Word of God with all the honesty and sincerity

in our hearts and we can do our very, very best

to eliminate all bias before we approach the

Word of God. But if we go to the Word of God

with that honest heart, And if we employ an improper

method of interpretation, what's going to happen?

We're going to have a hard time getting to the

true faith doctrine and practice Jesus wants

us to have. And this is why a lot of people end

up scattered in a hundred different directions

in religion today because the methods of interpretation

they use are not sound, are not logical, they

don't apply them consistently. All these different...

Improper methods of interpretation send people

off a thousand different directions and prevent

a lot of people from ever coming to know the

truth that God would have us to understand. As

I close this evening, I want to close by asking

a question, a question I want us all to consider.

Where are we going to get our faith? Where are

we going to get our doctrine? Where are we going

to get our practice? Matthew 21 verse 23. When

Matthew 21:23

he that's Jesus came into the temple, Chief priests

and elders of the people came to him as he was

teaching and they had a question for him They

told Jesus by what authority? Doest thou these

things and who gave thee this authority they

wanted Jesus's authority for his teaching for

his doctrine They want to know where that authority

came from Verse 24 Jesus answered and said of

them I will ask you one thing Which if you tell

me I and likewise will tell you by what authority

I do these things Jesus said the baptism of John

whence was it? from heaven or of men and they

reasoned with themselves saying if we shall say

from heaven He will say unto us Why did you not

then believe him? If we tell Jesus that John's

baptism was from heaven we're in trouble because

we rejected John's baptism So he's got us 26

but if we shall say of men if they were to say

John's baptism was of men we fear the people

for all hold John as a prophet." So they were

going to have a hard time answering this question.

So they didn't. They answered Jesus and said,

we cannot tell. And, you know, Jesus said to

them, neither tell I you by what authority I

do these things. We learned some important things

about authority here in this passage. There are

only two sources of authority in religion today.

Either our faith doctrine and practice is from

God in heaven or it's from men on the earth.

It's from heaven or it's of men. If our doctrine,

our faith, our practice is from heaven, we're

going to find that it's clearly established and

authorized in the Scriptures. But if we go to

the Word of God and we can't find clear teaching

or authority for our faith, our doctrine, our

practice in the Bible, there's a really good

chance that that part of our religion is not

from God in heaven, it's from men. It's man -made

religion. I'm here to tell you there is no salvation

in man -made religion. There is no salvation

in religious error and false doctrine. There

is salvation in Christ. There is salvation in

His truth and His teaching and His doctrine.

And we need to be good and careful students of

the Scriptures. We need to trust the Scriptures

that they will lead us in a pathway that's pleasing

to God. And if we'll continue to look to them

as our only source of authority, we know that

we can be pleasing in the sight of God today

as we try to restore the New Testament Church.

As we mentioned this morning, to do that, to

restore the New Testament church, we've got to

go back to the Bible. We've got to go to it honestly.

We've got to interpret it correctly to find our

faith, to find our doctrine, and to find our

practice. This is the model, right? This is what

we want to be. We don't want to end up over here

to the right or over here to the left. We want

to go to the Word of God and let it lead us to

the truth that God would have us to understand.

That's my lesson for you this afternoon. I hope...

that these things have been good for us to know

and to be reminded of as we sort of build a foundation

today and maybe tomorrow night for going into

more detailed doctrinal studies of specific topics

later in the series. So thank you for being here

to help us lay that foundation today.