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Search The Scriptures: July 15, 2001
THE MATTER OF AUTHORITY
INTRODUCTION:
A. Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I am J.R. Bronger and on behalf of the Danville
church of Christ, I welcome you to the Search the Scriptures program. As you know Search
the Scriptures is a no nonsense approach to bible study. The Danville church of Christ takes
seriously the charge of Jesus to Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
The Danville church of Christ endeavors to specialize in being a church patterned after the
teaching of the New Testament. Therefore, we are diligent in our efforts to make known the
gospel of Christ in this community. Also, let me tell you about some other things we have
planned in the near future. The Danville church of Christ will have a booth at the Hendricks
County Fair beginning July 22. That’s just one week from today. My friends, I hope you will
stop by and see us and take advantage of the many bible tracts we will be distributing. Also, you
might want to test your knowledge of the bible on our bible quiz computers. Also, the week
immediately following the fair the Danville church of Christ will be conducting a Vacation
Bible School. This VBS will be held from July 30 through August 3 at 7:00 nightly. I can
assure you that our VBS is designed for people of all ages. We will have classes available for
young people ranging from one-year through senior high school - but we also will have classes
for adults. Dale Robins will be with us to conduct the VBS and to teach our high school students
and we have invited some excellent gospel preachers from our area to be with us to lead our
adult studies. So, I trust that you and your family will plan on being with us July 30 through
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August 3 at 7:00 P.M.. And, the week before that we hope you will drop by our fair booth and
say hello.
B. Also, let me remind you, if you hear a sermon or a topic discussed on Search the Scriptures
you would like to have, either on cassette tape of CD we will be happy to give it to you
absolutely free of charge. We will even pay the postage. Just write to us or call us and let us
know which sermon you would like. Please place your order by the date the program aired, and
be patient with us because we are a little backlogged in our requests. And I make you this
promise, if you request a tape or CD, we will not use the occasion to send you any unsolicited
material nor will anyone call on you without your specific invitation. Also, if you have any
questions or comments, or if you would just like to browse our web site, you can do so at
www.danvillechurchofchrist.org.
C. Now, with these announcements behind us, let’s get into our bible study for this morning. In
going through various denominational church manuals one thing strikes me as odd, and that is,
almost without exception all claim to accept the bible as the final authority in religious matters.
For example, The church manual for The Church of the Nazarene says, “We believe in the . . .
inspiration of the Holy Scripture . . . revealing the will of God concerning us in all things
necessary to our salvation, so that whatever is not contained therein is not to be enjoined as an
article of faith.” Sounds quite impressive doesn’t it? Also, J.M. Pendleton author of the Baptist
Church Manual said this about the bible, [it is]“the supreme standard by which all human
conduct, creeds and opinions should be tried.” Also, The Book of Discipline of the United
Methodist Church says, “The Holy Scriptures containeth all things necessary to salvation; so
that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man
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that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to
salvation.” I read each of these statements with a great deal of amazement. Each one should be
admired, because no one who respects the bible could possibly take issue with any of these
statements. However, all these admirable statements coming out of these churches are nothing
more than empty words. Not one of these denominational churches (nor any other
denominational church for that matter) has an ounce of respect for the authority of the scriptures.
The bible - to them - seems to be nothing more than an enigmatic old book that is to be confined
to houses of worship. And, if it is read at all, its teaching is categorically ignored or worse even
impugned. The religious world would not be as divided as it is if men truly accepted the bible as
the sole standard of authority in religion. If men and women would just consult the bible’s
teaching in all things, and then respect that teaching as law, then you would see those who claim
to follow Christ united in matters of faith and doctrine. All professed believers would be unified
under the blood tarnished banner of Christ. After all, Jesus prayed in Jn. 17:20-21, I do not pray
for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word; that they all may
be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you; that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that you sent me. In these verses, Jesus prayed for all who believed in him to be
united in belief, practice, worship and in all things. But, this oneness (or unity) is only possible
when we respect the words of scripture as our final jurisdiction and authority. We may not have
the luxury that those who lived and walked with Jesus had, and that is the privilege of asking the
Lord directly what his will on a given subject was. Many believe that we could solve all
religious problems if Jesus were on earth today, so that we could ask him directly. Now, while
we may not be able to ask him personally - as those who lived in the first century did, we can
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certainly consult his will. We can open and read our bibles to find out what the Lord’s will for us
is. That is, if we wish to know of the Lord’s will - we can refer to the bible - and in it we can find
the answers to what the Lord’s will is on any religious subject there might be. The apostle Paul
said in Gal. 1:11-12, but I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached
by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it
came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. Paul said all that he taught had been given to him
by Jesus Christ. He didn’t learn it from commentaries nor from seminaries, instead he was taught
it by the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why he could say in 1 Cor. 14:37, if anyone thinks himself
to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the
commandments of the Lord. All that has been written within the peripheries of the New
Testament are the commands of - and the will of Christ. This is further explained in Eph. 3:3-5
when Paul says, how that by revelation he made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly
written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery
of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been
revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets. My friends, we have the New
Testament of Christ, and it has been written by inspired men in such a way that we can read it
and when we read it we can understand it. If, therefore, we have any desire to know the will of
God we can read that will in the scriptures. Ladies and gentlemen, the New Testament of Christ
must be the sole standard of authority that we have in all religious matters. The bible says in Col.
3:17, and whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks
to God the Father through him. As professed disciples of Christ we do not have the license to
consult anything else for our authority. We must consult only the words of the New Testament to
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know what Christ would have us to do. Once in the bible as Paul prepared some disciples for his
departure in Acts 20. He said to them in verse 32, so now, brethren, I commend you to God and
to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all
those who are sanctified. Note carefully that Paul commended these people to God’s word. He
did not instruct them to elect a board of apostles to take his place. He did not counsel them to
seek further revelation from God. He did not tell them to have yearly conferences to determine
God’s will in a changing world. Instead, he directed them to God’s word. This would be all they
needed. It genuinely would be a great thing if these churches to which I referred earlier did - in
truth - accept only the New Testament as their rule of faith and practice. But in truth none of
them are consulting the teaching of the bible in order to know the will and mind of God. When
faced with giving book chapter and verse for some favorite doctrine or some favorite church
activity, denominational churches are more than likely going to appeal to something other than
the doctrine of Christ to justify their deeds. Instead of consulting the words of Christ or his
selected apostles and prophets within the New Testament, these folks are likely to appeal to . . .
I. The Old Testament to provide them with authority for what they are doing. That is, whenever
some church cannot find authority for its practices in the New Testament teaching of Christ, it is
fairly common to find them reaching far back into the Old Testament for their authority. For
example, you will not find the modern clergy-laity hierarchy system that many churches have in
the New Testament. Neither will you find the burning of incense, nor Sabbath worship nor
instrumental music in the New Testament. These are all found in the Old Testament, but not in
the New Testament doctrine of Christ. And, any church dishonors Christ when it tries to justify
its faith and practice by the words of the Old Testament. Because the Old Testament was
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designed by God to be temporary. It was conceived by God to fulfill a specific purpose and it has
been replaced by the New Testament of Christ. Ladies and gentlemen, take a moment to consider
why the Old Testament was given, and how long it was to last. Gal. 3:19 says, it was added
because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made. In very
clear language we are told the Law (the Old Testament) was given because of transgressions and
it was only to last until Christ should come. My friends, Jesus is the Seed who was to come. Gal.
3:16 says, and to your Seed, who is Christ. Furthermore, this chapter tells us the objective of the
Law. It was constructed to lead the Hebrews to Christ. Gal. 3:24 says that therefore the law was
our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But, also note very carefully
verse 25, because we are assured in verse 25 that the tutor - that is, the Law - the Old
Testament, has been taken away. It says, but after faith has come, we are no longer under a
tutor. My friends, the Old Testament is not our guide and rule of faith today. It has been
removed and replaced by the New Testament. The prophet Jeremiah wrote of a coming covenant
that would replace the existing one found in the Old Testament. He quoted God in Jer. 31:33,
but this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the
Lord: I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and
they shall be my people. This prophecy has been fulfilled by the covenant of Christ in the New
Testament. This passage is quoted in Heb. 8:10, and the writer of Hebrews - under the direction
of the Holy Spirit - made this conclusion in verse 13. In that he says, a new covenant, he has
made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish
away. The obsolete, Old Testament, has now been removed, and we are not under its authority.
In speaking of the New having replaced the Old, Paul says in 2 Cor. 3:11, for if that which
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fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. Now, don’t reach the
conclusion that is both common and erroneous. And that is, the Old Testament is of no value to
Christians today. While it cannot be our source of authority, the Old Testament continues to be
beneficial. One of its uses is told to us in Rom. 15:4. For whatever things were written before
were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures
might have hope. We can learn from it, and we can derive comfort from it. But, we cannot
appeal to it for our authority. For our authority, we must consult the words of Christ. God, said in
Matt. 17:5, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear him! My friends, we are
commanded to hear Jesus, not Moses nor any other Old Testament writer.
II. And, in addition to the Old Testament some churches look to the majority in order to decide
what will be their faith and practice. That is, whatever the crowds think about a matter will
become canon and church dogma. This is why many churches hold regular conventions in order
to update their doctrines. Their attitude is, that about every four or five years the thinking of the
majority will change. Therefore, every four or five years church doctrines need to be revisited,
revised and updated in order to reflect the changes of the majority of people who comprise those
churches. But, what many seem not to understand is, that Jesus warned us that the majority - not
only could be wrong - but were, in fact, wrong. In Matt. 7:13-14 Jesus says, enter by the narrow
gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many
who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and
there are few who find it. According to Jesus the religious majority is wrong. It is the majority
who are in the broad way leading to destruction. In the words of Jesus it is the few who are right
and the majority who are in error. If you would have lived in the days before the flood, and gone
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with the majority you would have drowned. Only eight souls were saved, the innumerable
masses died in the flood. If you had lived in Jerusalem the hours before Jesus was taken to be
killed and you went with the majority, you would have called for his crucifixion. Matt. 27:20
says, but the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for
Barabbas and destroy Jesus. My friends, don’t let the fact that the majority seems to believe
something be overwhelming to you. I refuse to be like these spineless politicians who seek our
votes. They will say anything they believe the majority wants to hear regardless of their
consciences. I lived in Tennessee when our former vice president, Al Gore, was campaigning for
senator. At that time, he was pro-life. Not only was he consciously against abortion, but he spoke
out against it and sought to ban it. But when he became persuaded that his political career might
suffer if he continued to oppose abortion - he was converted to the murder of the unborn. This is
precisely how many so-called preachers operate. They will preach whatever the masses wish. If
they sense the majority is against something - then so are they. If, however, they believe the
majority is for it, then they can be for it too. They will preach it - however the masses wish for it
to be preached. In describing these kinds of people Paul said in 2 Tim. 4:3-4, for the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because
they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears
away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. The majority of religious people want
fables, not sound doctrine. And, because of this, my friends, the majority cannot be our standard
of authority.
III. And neither can our parents be our standard of authority. Often men and women refuse to
question the religion of their upbringing. They remain loyal to the religion of their parents
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regardless of what that religion might be. More and more people are saying that if it was good
enough for mom and dad, then it must be good enough for them. Often we think that we would
be dishonoring our parents if we were to reject the church in which they raised us. But, did you
know just the opposite is true? If the church in which we were raised, is not the church Jesus
died to build, then instead of dishonoring our parents by embracing the gospel of Christ and
leaving the church in which we were raised - it actually honors them. It says that they raised us
to be honest and principled. If we were to become convinced that we were worshiping in error,
but refused to abandon that error. Then we are confessing that our parents raised us to be
hypocrites. We are saying that they raised us to violate our consciences and live dishonestly. All
people should honor and respect parents. But, when it comes to serving the Lord, we cannot
respect our parents’ religious beliefs over the teaching of Christ Jesus. He and his word must
assume first place in our lives. Jesus said in Matt. 10:37, he who loves father or mother more
than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of
me. This verse leaves no room for compromise. Jesus tells us that unless we are willing to love
him more than the wishes of parents or any other family member, then we are not worthy of
being his disciple. Think about it, my friends, if every generation followed their parents in their
religious beliefs, then we would all be idol-worshipers. Joshua challenged the people in Josh.
24:15 with these words. Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods
which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites,
in whose land you dwell. If these people did not decide to reject the idols of their fathers then
there would have been no Hebrew nation serving Jehovah. The raw truth is, the beliefs and
religion of our parents cannot become our standard of authority in religion.
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IV. Nor can the words of a preacher be that which determines our faith and practice. It is all
too common to hear of those who are placing their trust in the words of some preacher or some
priest or some pastor. Their reason for doing this is often expressed like this. “These are ‘men of
God,’ and they would not mislead me. So if they tell me this is what God wishes, then I will
believe them without question.” Ladies and gentlemen, have we forgotten the warning of Jesus in
Matt. 15:14? Listen to what the Lord cautions there. He says that they are blind leaders of the
blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch. Jesus is discussing Jewish
clergymen of the first century. Those men were misleading the people, and Jesus said they were
blind men guiding blind men, and that both would fall into a ditch. [That is, be lost]. Just because
someone purports to be a man of God does not make him infallible. His piety and scholarship do
not mean he is telling us the truth. He could be a blind teacher, and if we blindly follow him - we
will be as lost as he is. The apostle Paul said of false teachers in 2 Cor. 11:13-15, for such are
false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no
wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great
thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end
will be according to their works. Whenever we place our trust in men, we can be easily misled.
Some might mislead us through ignorance. That is, they might honestly be mistaken, but their
honest error might be deadly. For example, several years ago in Kentucky and Indiana there was
a religious sect known as the Shakers. These people taught that one removed sins by shaking
them off. Therefore, they had religious ceremonies where those who were convicted of sins
danced and shook in an effort to remit their sins. My friends, it doesn’t matter how sincere those
preachers were - they were misleading those who heard them. Shaking no more remits sins than
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holding one’s breath washes away sins. And, then there are other religious clergymen who will
lie in an effort to bilk you of whatever they can get from you. Peter warned in 2 Pet. 2:1-3, there
will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying
the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow
their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness
they will exploit you with deceptive words. As hard as it might be to accept, we must understand
that some of these saintly sounding preachers are simply out to take our money. And they care
not that you lose your soul in the process. These are not my conclusions, but they are the
conclusions of the apostle Peter. Our attitude must be like those of Berea in Acts 17:11, they
received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether
these things were so. This is because neither the wisdom of a man, nor the collective wisdom of
all men can be our standard of authority. The only reason that denominations came into existence
and continue to exist is because of human wisdom. Church creeds and traditions exist because
people are willing to accept them as their standard of authority in religion. Did you know that
you cannot be a member of any denomination without accepting as your leader and master the
wisdom of men? What I mean by that is this. If you accept and follow only the bible, then you
will become only a Christian. After preaching to Agrippa - the words of Christ, Paul heard him
respond in Acts 26:28, you almost persuade me to become a Christian. Now, as far as the bible
shows, Agrippa never became a Christian, but the process by which he would have become a
Christian is by the preaching of the word of God. This is what occurred in Acts 11. There we
read in verse 19, some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come
to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. Those people who believed and
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turned to the Lord were called Christians in verse 26. This is what the pure word of Christ will
produce, Christians. In order to become something else, religiously, you must add something to
the word of God. For example, to become a Mormon, you must add the Book of Mormon. To
become a Jehovah’s Witness, you must add the Watchtower publications. To become a Catholic
you must add papal authority. To become a Nazarene, the Nazarene manual must be added. To
become a Baptist, the Baptist church manual must be added. To become a Lutheran you must
add the Lutheran Catechism and so on. You cannot become a member of any denomination by
accepting only the bible. Following only the bible will make you only a Christian. It takes
following the writings of uninspired men to become a member of any denomination. If we could
just persuade people to abandon these creeds and church manuals and disciplines then we could
all unite upon the words of Christ. Denominational churches could not continue to exist if they
were to discard their distinctive manuals. But, regardless of what they say about being loyal only
to the bible, you can rest assured they will not anytime soon abandon their distinctive creeds,
because they know what makes them unique is not the bible but their creeds and traditions. My
friends, I’ve always found it interesting - if not blasphemous - that churches say the bible, that
comes from the mind of God, was not written in a way so it could be understood. But then tell us
the creeds written by mere men can be understood. How is it that God could not give us a book
we could understand? But, then religious hucksters can write books men can understand? Do you
know what Jesus thinks of the creeds of men? He tells us what he thinks about them. In Matt.
15:8-9 Jesus says, these people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their
lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the
commandments of men. Does this sound at all like Jesus approves of the creeds and traditions
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and commandments of men? It will be the words of Jesus and not the words of men that will
serve to be our judge. Jesus says in Jn. 12:48, he who rejects me, and does not receive my
words, has that which judges him; the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.
CONCLUSION:
A. My friends, when it comes to what we are believing and doing in our service to God we must
consult the New Testament of Christ. We cannot be pleasing to God when we seek to live by the
Old Testament, or the majority opinions of men. We are not serving God when we seek to let
parents, preachers or creeds become our driving motivation in religion. I hope your desire is to
abide only within the confines of the doctrine of Christ, because if not, according to 2 Jn. 9, we
do not have a spiritual relationship with God.
B. With that, our time is gone for today. Please stay tuned for some important closing
announcements. And be sure to join us next Sunday morning at 7:00 as we again Search the
Scriptures. So, until then, for the Danville church of Christ this is J.R. Bronger saying
goodbye for now.