The Creeds and Confessions of the Church and Sola Scriptura

Good evening. Tonight we're on lesson number 18 in ecclesiology, and this one is linked to last week. Last week in lesson 17 we looked at the church's authority and the priesthood of the believer, and we said that the officers of the church have no real authority other than saying "thus says the Lord," right? Taking the Word of God, because Christ is the true governor of the church. We are governed by His word, and that's where we take our direction. That's where we take our commands from the Word of God. Tonight we're going to be taking that a little bit further, and we'll be looking at how the church has its authority in relation to what we call creeds and also confessions. That would also include catechisms and even church councils. This will also be reaching back all the way to unit number one when we did bibliology and we studied about the inerrancy of Scripture and the inspiration of Scripture and the authority of Scripture.

Historically this goes back about 500 years. In the time of the Reformation, remember there was only one church — it was the Catholic Church — and Christian Mass was done in Latin. No one could understand what was going on. The gospel had pretty much been lost, so to speak. It wasn't being faithfully proclaimed in understandable language, and the Catholic Church was teaching doctrine that we're not saved by faith alone but it's through our works and through our participation in the sacraments. And so when the Reformation churches rediscovered the gospel, so to speak, and they rediscovered the authority of Scripture, those two things were key to the Reformation. In fact, all the churches that came out of the Reformation — all the Protestant churches — those two issues, how we're saved and where our authority is derived from, were central. And they were codified, if you will, in what was called the five solas of the Reformation. Sola is Latin for "alone" or "only." And as you remember, the first solas — you can put them anywhere you want to — but we're saved by Christ alone, or salvation in none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. And not only saved by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ being our perfect sacrifice for us, but we're saved by grace alone. We can't merit Christ's — we can't earn it, we can't buy it, it's freely given. So we're saved by Christ alone, we're saved by grace alone, we're saved through faith. That was one of the key tenets of the Reformation, that it's our faith that justifies. It's our faith that connects us to the object of our faith, Jesus Christ. Faith alone isn't salvific, but it's salvific only in that it connects us to the Savior — Jesus, who alone is the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world. And also we know that the fourth sola is that we're saved for the glory of God alone. Because it's a free gift, because it's something given to us, we can't take credit for it, right? It's only God's grace and therefore it's only His glory. We magnify God for being our Savior.

Then the fifth sola is what we call sola scriptura. And that's simply that our authority is based only in Scripture — Scripture only. It's not found in the Pope, it's not found in creeds, it's not found in church councils, but it's found in the Word of God alone. However, the Reformation greatly respected various councils. There were some very good councils in times past — the Council of Chalcedon, the Council of Nicaea, right? There were bad councils, like the Council of Trent during the Reformation, that says if you believe that you're justified by faith alone in Christ alone, that should be anathema — I mean, go to hell, that should be cursed. This is literally what the Council of Trent said. So how do you determine the good councils from bad councils, right?

And these councils also produced very helpful statements of faith that we call creeds. When we studied theology proper in Unit 2, we discussed the Trinity. And when we did so, we looked at the Chalcedonian Creed and also the Creed of Nicaea, right? When we studied — I'm sorry, not soteriology — Christology, we looked at a creed called the Athanasian Creed that talked about the deity and the humanity of Christ, right? And those creeds can be very helpful to us to clarify. But do we put a creed above Scripture? In other words, how do we work this out? And that was one of the key things that they wrestled with during the Reformation. So we'll be looking at that tonight: how do we balance Scripture as being our sole authority and also respecting and utilizing creeds and catechisms — things that can be a benefit or an aid to the church?

So let's begin with Bible Point Number 1. The church is that great company of persons whom Christ has saved and whom He dwells — to whom and through whom He reveals God, and in whom He exercises spiritual dominion. This is our definition. It's saying that we are a regenerate church, that Christ has united Himself to us, that He dwells within us. He's revealed Himself to us. He reveals Himself through us, and He exercises His dominion over us. That's the key to church authority, right? And how does He exercise His dominion over us? With the Word and the Spirit, right? The Word of God is the written revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by His Spirit and Word He exercises His dominion.

United to Christ, the church is a temple of God's indwelling. The church's sole authority and lawgiver is Christ. The headship of Christ and the authority of His word necessitates that no church council, creed, or confession can add to or take away from the laws of Christ. Councils and creeds and confessions can be helpful, but they can't add to the commands of Christ nor can they take away. They can only support and republish, so to speak, what we call the law of Christ. Scripture alone is a true reflection of Christ's direct and absolute sovereignty over the hearts of His subjects.

How do you know the will of Christ? You go down to a curiosity shop and buy a Magic 8 ball and shake it to try to figure out what the Lord wants you to do? Where do we find the revealed will of Christ? In the Word of God — exactly right.

The conscience of the believer must be held captive by the Word of God. We recall when we discussed in anthropology that everyone has a conscience — it's an organ that God gave all humanity, and that conscience either accuses us or excuses us. Either it says you're doing wrong or it says you're right. And it does so only by the standard that it knows. The standard of this world is why people can say, "I'm acting according to conscience and I'm fighting for the right to abortion." Their conscience is misinformed — it's dead-end. However, if our conscience is captive to the Word of God, that means we're under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we let the Scripture inform our conscience, then our conscience becomes the veritable voice of God, essentially. It's saying amen to what Scripture says, right? And when you're going against it, the Holy Spirit convicts you and says, "No, you're not living according to the Word of God."

The application for number one: where must the church look for its directives and guidance? Through the Scriptures. But where do people often look? They often don't wait to go to the Scriptures — they go to other sources of authority first. They may go to TikTok and they're looking for what some famous influencer — who may or may not even be a Christian but claims the name of Christ — says and the directives he or she gives on how to live our lives before the Lord. They may go before some purple-haired preacher on TBN, you know, that is a word of faith preacher. He's not even preaching according to the Word of God. No, we must go — not to man, not to councils, not to creeds, not to the culture, not to whatever Oprah or whoever your influencer is — we go to Scripture and Scripture alone.

Point number two: as Scripture is God-breathed, it alone is a record of God's special revelation. We learned about this in bibliology — special revelation. There are two types of revelation. There's general revelation, which is what we observe in nature. When you observe nature, you can't help but know that there is a God, there is a creator of this world. The book of Romans says that everyone just through the light of nature stands condemned because we know there's a God, we know He's holy, we know He's orderly, and we know that He has created us. Now, we are accountable to Him, right? But that's all it gives us. It's enough to convict us but not enough to save us. It doesn't give us the gospel. General revelation does not. But special revelation does. Special revelation declares Christ as the sole and final authority in revealing God.

In the book of Hebrews — we've been going through that for the last couple of months here on Sunday mornings — in the very first chapter it said God, in various ways and past times, spoke through the prophets, but now He has spoken in these last days through His Son. He's a concluding revelation. His Son is the express image of God, the exact copy of God. He's the visible God as we see in Jesus Christ. He's the exact image of the God who is invisible.

Christ is both the revealer and the realization of all of God's revelation in nature, history, and Scripture. Think about nature. We talk about nature as being part of general revelation. How is that even possible? It's through Christ. In Him all things were created by Him and for Him and in Him. All things exist, and apart from Christ we would have no general revelation. What about history? Think about all the places in the Old Testament where we see an incarnate God in the angel of the Lord — who wrestles with Jacob, who meets with Gideon, right? The commander of the Lord's armies, who is worshiped as God, right? That can only be through Christ, because Christ is the mediator of the Father. There is no other mediator than our Lord Jesus Christ. And He is the sole and final authority in Scripture. Was it not the Spirit of Christ, the one who illuminated men's hearts, who wrote God's holy word down? Yes. So He's the only revealer of God — both the revealer and the revelation of God in nature, history, and Scripture.

We depend on Scripture for our knowledge of Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide our understanding of it. The same Holy Spirit who inspired Scripture will guide us to understand it. Christ says, "I'm going to send you another, a Helper, and He's going to lead and guide you into all truth. He's going to take the things of Me and He's going to apply them to your heart."

God has revealed Himself to us in Christ through Scripture by His Spirit. Christ died, was buried, and rose again 2,000 years ago. We have not seen Him with our physical eyes, but we've heard about Him, right? We've heard about Him through the Word of God, right? And we know Him because we trust in Him and He lives and abides in our heart just as Scripture promises. John 20, verse 31: "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." Scripture was given to us to reveal Christ so we can have life in Him through our trust in His finished work.

John 1:18: "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, who is in the very affection and heart of the Father, He has declared Him." Christ is the one who shows us who God is. He's the only revealer of God in nature, in history, and in Scripture.

John chapter 5: Jesus says, "And the Father Himself who sent Me has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form."

When God thundered at Mount Sinai, that was the voice of Christ. Again, He's the one mediator of God. "But you do not have His word abiding in you because Him whom He sent you did not believe." He's speaking, of course, to the rebellious leaders of Israel. "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of Me." What Scriptures were they searching? The Old Testament. Jesus is saying, "They testify of Me. Everything in Scripture is about Me. It's to reveal God through Me. But you are not willing to come that you may have life. Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you — Moses, in whom you trust." They claim to be faithful to the law of Moses, and He's saying, "Everything Moses did and wrote about speaks of Me, and you reject Me. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

Application for number two: why is general revelation insufficient for our salvation? Can we know God and know Christ from studying the moon? It's noble to look at. We can learn much about God's creative order through looking at nature. He designed it to be a cathedral, if you will, to point to Him and His glory, right? But studying the moon will not be able to tell you that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, He suffered under Pontius Pilate, He was crucified, dead, and buried, and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, right? And in Him alone we have life. That's why we need special revelation, right? So when your friend or family member says, "I don't go to church. I worship in my bass boat every Sunday," say, "You need to get in God's Word." That's where you'll find special revelation. That largemouth bass may give you a thrill, but it's no revelation, and it's nothing that can compare to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Point number three: as Scripture is God-breathed, it is infallible and inerrant. We talked about this when we discussed bibliology a couple of years back now. As infallible, it is wholly reliable and trustworthy. It is incapable of wrong. That's what infallible means. It's incapable of leading you astray. It's altogether trustworthy. It's never going to injure you. It's only going to tell you the truth and never lie to you. As inerrant, it is true and without error. You will not find an error in the Bible. People will often point to apparent errors, and then someone usually comes along and proves them wrong. This happened time and time again throughout history. They used to doubt that Jericho was even a place, right? Now they've dug up the walls, and they are indeed fallen. As inerrant, it is true without error in all of its claims.

Scripture always stands over us as God's testimony. You can think of Scripture as a giant mountain — an unmovable mountain that stands over you. It's greater than you can ever comprehend because it's God-breathed, and it stands over us as His unshakable, unmovable testimony, His revelation of Himself.

To try to stand in judgment over Scripture is to try to stand against God Himself. And you will play the fool if you do that, right? Let God be true and every man a liar, is what Scripture says.

2 Timothy 3:16 — I forgot to type the "2" there, I'm sorry, I did that earlier this morning. 2 Timothy 3:16: "All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God." Let me read that to you in complete. "All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness." Verse 17: "That the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."

2 Peter 1:21 — this is really the only verse that you need to know in regards to the inerrancy and infallibility of God's word. It says, "For prophecy never came by the will of man" — in other words, words being spoken saying "thus says the Lord" — "but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." That's what we call inspiration, right? The prophets, everyone recorded in Scripture, the Scripture writers, the authors of Scripture — they were moved by the Holy Spirit to record His divine revelation.

Romans 3:3-4: "For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?" Talking about all the promises that are in Scripture we find in the Old Testament. "Certainly not. Indeed, let God be true and every man a liar, as it is written, 'That You may be justified in Your words and may overcome when You are judged.'" No one stands in judgment of God, right? He's perfect. He's without error. He's infallible, right? We are the ones who are erroneous. We are the ones who are fallible. We are the ones who have fallen short.

Titus chapter 1, verse 2 — Paul, "a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began." Saying Scripture is in accord with godliness because it's from God, and God cannot lie. Paul is preaching the gospel that he received from the Father. This is God-breathed Scripture from all eternity, the hope of the gospel. And it's from the God who cannot lie, and He promised that promise way before Paul was even born.

Application for number three — the question is: who has put wisdom in the mind? And I have a reference here, Job 38. Job 38 is where Job gets his dressing down from God. "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the world?" right? Where is the snow stored up? And listen to what He says in verse 36. "Who has put wisdom in the mind? Who has given understanding to the heart? Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven?"

If we rely on our own wisdom and we try to stand in judgment of the Scriptures — where do you think our wisdom comes from? It comes from God, right? So if we try to stand in judgment against God, He's not going to let us do that, right? It's a fool's errand to try to contradict the Scripture, to say there are errors in the Scripture. God is the one who is the source of all wisdom. He's the all-wise God, and He has written His word perfectly, right?

Point number four: as Scripture is God-breathed, it is sufficient and complete to lead us to know Christ and to show us how to live for Him. It's a sufficient rule for converting us and for our life of faith and the way we can practice a godly life. Scripture does not reveal to us all knowledge about God or the universe that we live in. There's a lot of science in Scripture, but it is not a science book. There's a lot of politics in Scripture — it's not a political manual, right.

Scripture does not reveal to us many things. Nevertheless, Scripture is sufficient to provide us with all things needed to know our Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. That's the primary purpose of Scripture — it's given to us so it reveals God in Christ. Scripture is sufficient to provide us with all things needed for us to grow in conformity to Christ. Not just to convert us, but for us to be made Christ-like. That's part of our salvation — our continuing sanctification. As Scripture is sufficient and complete, we can't subtract from it or add to it. The canon was closed with the last apostle. There is no new Scripture being written, right? Again, Hebrews chapter 1, the very opening verses — Christ is the one through whom, in these last days, God has spoken to us. Christ and the end of Scripture, right? Everything that God has chosen to reveal to us is in His word. You don't have to go to some charismatic guru hoping to receive a special rhema word from God. The Scripture is where we see God's revealed word.

Deuteronomy 12:32: "Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it or take away from it." God's Scripture is complete. We can't add to it. There's no new revelation that we can give. "Oh, well, let me inform God on something that He didn't tell you" — that's stepping outside of His prophetic word. We should never, ever do that.

Psalm 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." It's sufficient to light our way, to keep us from stumbling. It's sufficient to bring us to glory, right? The path that leads to God is Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Jesus.

The application for number four: should you look outside of Scripture to guide your faith? No. How about to guide your life in general? Yeah, exactly right. Your life as a Christian is your faith, okay? I'm not saying that if you want to get some understanding on how to do your taxes you can't read an accounting book and learn from that. But for a Christian, to live is Christ, right? And to die is gain. We can't even think of our life apart from Christ. So we look to His word in everything. And even in principles — when you're doing your taxes, right — that you are bearing true witness, that you're being honest, that you're rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. So even when you think, "Well, how could that apply to taxes?" — something as mundane as that — Scripture applies to all of life, right?

Point number five: as Scripture is God-breathed, it is given by God to be understood by His people. We talked about this back when we did bibliology, but it's called the perspicuity of Scripture, or the clarity of Scripture. It is given to reveal, not to conceal. All things needed to be known and believed for salvation are clearly set forth in God's word. All things needed to be known and obeyed for the church's worship, edification, and mission are clearly set forth in God's word. Scripture is clear and free from undue complexity or ambiguity.

Now, all Scripture is not equally clear. In other words, there are some parts that aren't so clear, right? The Spirit aids the church in rightly dividing it and guiding the church into all truth. We talked last week how, through the faithful interpretation of Scripture, we submit to one another, right? We look to God's word. We are faithful Bereans. We try to interpret it rightly. We help one another understand it, right? That's why we go to Sunday school. That's why we participate in Bible study. And we are enlightened by one another, and that ultimate enlightenment is coming through His Spirit working within us, right?

Matthew 19:4 says, "And he answered and said to them, 'Have you not read?'" Here He's talking about marriage and divorce. Jesus constantly does this when He's talking to the leaders of Jerusalem, when He's talking to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the Sanhedrin. They're always trying to trip Him up and get Him in a gotcha question. He says, "Have you not read?" He's assuming Scripture should be understood at face value, that it should be clear and it's communicating what God intended it to communicate, right? All throughout the gospels He's continually doing this.

Deuteronomy 33:3: "Yes, He loves the people. All His saints are in Your hand. They sit down at Your feet. Everyone receives Your words." It's as if God is our divine rabbi, right? Figuratively, we're sitting at His feet and He's teaching us through His word, right?

Psalm 119:130: "The entrance of Your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple." That means you can be a simpleton. You can be one of those people that in Texas, where I'm from, we say, "Bless your heart" — you know, that means you're kind of simple. But you know what? Even the simple can understand God's word.

2 Timothy 3:15: Paul writes to Timothy, "And from childhood you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." He had a godly mother and grandmother, Lois and Eunice, right? Who taught Timothy as a child. And if a child can understand and grasp that, there's no excuse that we as adults cannot, right? It's made to be clear. It's given to be understood. It's given to be received.

The application for number five: do you need a pastor or a priest to interpret Scripture for you? No. God has given you His word. It's plainly and simply written. He's given you the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you into all truth. Now, it does not mean that it's wrong to ask for guidance when you don't understand something. I read things in Scripture all the time that I don't understand. And I'll go to the languages and look at what the verse is saying in the original languages. I'll then go to commentaries and consult lexicons, right? We stand on the shoulders of giants — people who've already done the work — to help us have clarity and understanding. But the point is that you don't need a priest to bring the Word of God to you. God speaks to you through His word by His Spirit.

Bible point number six: as Scripture is God-breathed, it is authoritative. This is the crux of the matter that they dealt with in the Reformation, and it's the crux of the matter that every church must deal with. Authority adds something to that which is communicated. The thing added is a personal element of witness. So authority adds something to what is communicated.

I grew up with an older brother, two years older than me. And there were times when I was playing out in the backyard, having a fun time — it would be raining because it seemed like it always rained there on the coast — my brother said, "Come on inside." No. "You're not the boss of me. Make me," you know. But on the flip side, if my brother said, "Dad said come on inside," that's a little bit different, right? My dad had a dresser, and on his dresser he had one of those belts that was about three or four inches wide. Instead of having one set of holes, it actually had three sets of holes and three prongs. Get spanked by one of those just one time — you respect your dad, right? And so if Dad said it, then there's authority behind that. "Come inside," right? So that's what authority does. It adds to that which is commanded.

Scripture is God's revelation of Himself. It's not chicken soup for the soul. It's not a pleasantry book with some little things that can make you feel good and whatnot. It is God's revelation of Himself. God is the highest authority. God alone is sovereign over all things. What He says, we must do.

Scripture is therefore authoritative because God stands fully behind it. Scripture is authoritative over every form of ecclesiastical authority. That includes popes. That includes bishops. That includes hierarchies that some churches have, such as synods, right? This would include councils. This would include written authorities such as confessions or creeds. God is the highest authority over all things. This includes all churches, councils, creeds, and confessions. The church's teaching does not become God's word.

In the Catholic Church they say that the magisterium — the greater teaching of the church — is on par with God's word, because the pope they view as the vicar, or the stand-in, of Christ on earth, and therefore what he says is the same as what Christ says. And so when they issue a papal bull — it is a statement, a pronouncement that is to be obeyed, right? And also their councils would be authoritative because they were under the pope's blessing, right? So what they determined and said takes the value of Scripture. That's not true. The church can never — its teachings cannot become God's word, nor does the church's authority ever stand in the place of Christ and His word. The church is the representative of Christ. True, we're ambassadors of Christ, but we're just republishing His gospel, proclaiming His gospel, saying what He has told us to do in the Great Commission. We're not making up new laws. We're not making up new commands. We're just obeying the Great Commission. The authority of the church is found only as it is God's appointed proclaimer of truth. That's the church's authority. Just like the pastor's authority rests in "this is what God's word says," the church's authority in the same way rests in "this is the Word of God, this is the gospel for all people."

Galatians 1:8: Paul writes, "But even if we" — speaking of Paul being an apostle — "or an angel from heaven" — which would be kind of amazing if you saw an angel, right? — "preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed." Let him be anathematized. Let him go to hell — is what he's actually literally saying there in the Greek.

Matthew 7:28-29: "And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes," because He's the revelation of God and they recognized that.

1 Corinthians 4:6: Paul writes to the Corinthians "that you may not learn to go beyond what is written." Be careful. Don't take a person and idolize them saying, "Well, I follow Paul," or go beyond what is written in Scripture, right? Scripture is sufficient. The Word is not in a person. It's in Scripture.

1 Peter 1:22-23: "Having been born again, not of corruptible but incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and abides forever, because 'All flesh is grass and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass'" — quoting Isaiah 40 here — "'The grass withers and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.'" Now, "this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you." The unshakable Word of God is a mountain that stands over us.

Application number six: who is the ruler over the kings of the earth, according to Revelation 1:5? Christ. Speaking of Christ — He rose and He sits now at the right hand of the throne of God. He rules over every king of this earth. He's not waiting to come down here and take an earthly throne right now, according to Holy Scripture. He is the ruler over the kings of all the earth. That includes ruler of the church, right? "Kings of all the earth" is just a figure for all authority, right? At the name of Jesus, every knee must bow and every tongue shall confess that He alone is Lord.

Bible point number seven: as Scripture is God-breathed, it is the ground of the church, the beginning of the church, the progenitor of the church. The Word of God forms the church. The church does not form the word, but is a creature of the word. And we have Romans 10:17 — when we looked at that in the marks of the church — that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, right? It's the Word of God that forms the church.

The church receives its very shape and structure from being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets who rested entirely on Jesus Christ and testify that He is the Word of God made flesh. In ancient times, buildings were built around the cornerstone, right? Christ is our chief cornerstone. He's the one true foundation. And all the stones were rested on that cornerstone. And in doing so, not only did they receive their strength and their foundation by resting on Him, but they actually received their actual structure from that, right? A building can't exceed or go outside of its foundation, right? And so the church receives its very shape and structure in Christ, right?

As the church is a recipient of the apostolic faith grounded in the gospel of Christ, it must contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered for all the saints. The church must guard what was committed to her trust. The church must commit this deposit to faithful men to teach others. This is what we call discipleship, right? Taking the things that you have learned that's been committed to you — "Timothy, commit these things to other men who'll be faithful to teach others also," right? We do that in our homes, do we not? We teach children in the hopes that one day they will teach their children, right? That's how we honor God.

The church must always give Christ the first and final word in ascertaining the truth. We don't determine truth on our own. We look to Christ who alone is true.

Acts 17:11: "These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so." Who was He talking about here? What's that church name? The Bereans — exactly right. The Bereans listened to Paul and they received the word readily. They trusted him as an apostle, but they then searched the Scriptures daily — not only to verify that these things were true, but just so they could understand them even more, right? So they could understand God's truth. We don't passively listen to the sermon on Sunday. We expectantly listen to it, right? And when Scripture references are given, hopefully you're reading those or you're writing them down to study later on — to be just like the Bereans, to search to see if these things are true. And you'll find that it's amazingly true, because all of Scripture has one Author. No matter which book you're in, it's authored by God.

Application for number seven: receive instruction and search the Scriptures daily. Some people don't want to be teachable. I've met people in churches who will say, "Yeah, I've been to Bible school. I went to Sunday school when I was a kid. I come to church because I like the singing or whatnot, but I kind of zone out during the sermon because I know the golden rule. What else do I need? I know the ten commandments — that's fine, right?" No, we receive the instruction gladly. And then we search the Scriptures because we need to always be growing in grace, right? Always growing in conformity to Christ.

Bible point number eight: the church demonstrates its submission to Christ and His word through the faithful profession of Christ, preaching the gospel, and the practice of His commands. Profession of Christ means to profess who He is — to say, "I believe in Christ. He is the Son of God, who died for me and rose again." The preaching of the gospel is the publication of that profession, right? Where we tell everyone that there is no hope outside of Christ, that He alone can take away your sins, He alone can make you one with God. And the practice of His commands — it's not that practicing His commands saves us, not at all, but we do it out of joy and out of glad obedience because He is the sovereign one. He's the one who bought my soul, so I am His and I'm not my own.

Every true church must profess, preach, and practice all that is essential to the apostolic faith. Everything that we've learned in the Scriptures — that was committed by Christ to the apostles, that they wrote in the epistles — we are to profess that, we are to preach that, and we are to practice that. The church obeys the Great Commission in preaching the gospel, making disciples, and in celebrating the ordinances. We often think about the Great Commission solely in terms of evangelism, and in a way that's good, because in Southern Baptist life and in Baptist churches in general, when the word of God is discussing the call of God to all men, we immediately are drawn to Matthew 28, where Christ commissions the apostles, and in commissioning the apostles He's commissioning us, right? But it's not just evangelism — it's part and parcel and inseparable from it. Let's look at that right here.

"And Jesus came and spoke to them, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.'" He's the ground of all authority, right? It's right to tell everybody Christ is the authority. He's the one to obey. He's the one to bow your knee to. He's the one to trust in. "Go therefore and make disciples." This is where we're not only proclaiming, but we're instructing, right? We're taking what we have professed and we're committing it to faithful men. That's what making disciples is about. Start with the convert, you grow them up, you make them disciples — to the point where they will then witness to others, and then they will also be making disciples, right? "Make disciples of the nations, baptizing them." Here He's talking about continuing in faithfulness in the church ordinances, right? Celebrating the ordinance of baptism and the Lord's Supper. "Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you." Again, that's the instructional, discipleship aspect of observing all that Christ has committed to us. "And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." This is the promise that He is always with us in His work.

The application for number eight: obey Christ the King by making disciples in His name. If you're not having family worship in your home, you need to. That's how we're obedient to the Great Commission, right? And that doesn't matter what your home looks like. If you're the only person in your home, you can have worship in your home, can you not? With the Word of the Lord. If you don't have any kids at home, you can still worship with your spouse, you can worship with a neighbor, right? Start a small group even, right? We must have worship in our homes daily — reading the Scripture, daily praying, daily singing, daily fellowshiping — as God has commanded us to do. That's part and parcel of the Great Commission. That's what it means to be the church.

Point number nine: the church, in seeking to faithfully profess Christ, must preach the gospel and practice His commands, and may greatly benefit from properly using confessions, creeds, and catechisms to aid her in her mission. Because the Word of God is our authority, that does not mean that we should ignore confessions, creeds, and catechisms. They can be of very much benefit to us in many ways. Have you ever looked through a catechism before? Many of you have. They're simply a nice summary of Scripture and they're intended to be used in discipleship. They have catechisms for kids. Many of them start off with very simple terms. "Who made you?" "God made you." "Why did God make you?" "For His own glory." And each of those questions and answers comes with Scripture references. It's a way of teaching. That's what catechism is. It's instruction. It's making disciples, right?

There's no perfect catechism. You'll find a catechism that maybe you agree with 99%, but there's something you don't agree with — well, skip that one little part that you disagree with, right? How about church confessions? Our church has a church confession — it's the New Hampshire Confession of 1834. We slightly modified it. In 1834, transgenderism and gay marriage weren't public issues. Unfortunately, that's something we have to face today. So we added a section on marriage and family. And when you go through our church confession, it not only clearly and succinctly states a nice summary of what Scripture says, but it actually has all the Scripture references too. It's a great way to do Bible study. If you're not sure where to begin, grab that New Hampshire Confession of Faith and go through it article by article — not all at once. There are 19 articles, I believe, in it. Go through one each week. Take your time. If you want to be especially blessed, go to YouTube. About three years ago, when we adopted that, Pastor Casey preached a sermon series on it — a 19-sermon series, one sermon on each one of those articles, explaining all the great fundamental doctrines of the church. So confessions can be great, right? A wonderful way to encourage us.

Same with church councils. The early church councils provided much clarity in regards to the Trinity — the Council of Nicaea and Chalcedon. In fact, when Nicaea came about, they wanted originally to use only scriptural terms, but they used some extra-scriptural terms because you won't find, for example, the word "Trinity" in Scripture, even though you find its contents in Scripture. And so those church councils came at a very important time — three, four hundred years after Christ — to help us put together everything that we had learned in the New Testament and to understand the Holy Spirit and God the Father and God the Son, that they are one God yet in three different persons, right? And so those can help clarify our understanding of faith.

These instruments are human-authored and are thus not given by God in revelation. So they're very different from Scripture in that they do not have God as their Author, right? They have human authors, and what do we know about humans? We're fallible, right? We fall short. These are the church's reflection on revealed truth. Thank God for men like Athanasius. Thank God for men in days past who were there to provide guidance for the church. And we stand on the shoulders of giants, right? When we look at these confessions, when we look at these creeds — such as the Apostles' Creed — of early church doctrine, when we look at even catechisms, many people use the Baptist catechism as written by Keach in sixteen-something, a long time ago, right? It's slightly modified, but it's a three, four hundred year old document. And the reason why it's still in use today is because it clearly and simply summarizes Scripture for us, right?

So these are the church's reflection on revealed truth. Doctrinal summaries can be a great aid in learning about God. They can be very helpful in family worship, personal devotion, and in making disciples. Likewise, they have provided helpful clarity in times of doctrinal controversy. Rather than being the cause of division, they have often promoted unity in the church. Well, here some people say doctrine divides — don't preach on doctrine. That's the farthest thing from the truth. Doctrine unites, right? It clarifies, it crystallizes what Scripture says.

However, confessions, creeds, and catechisms are not Scripture and are therefore not infallible. Scripture alone is our final, sufficient, and complete authority for the life of the church. So these are subservient to Scripture. In other words, they're good to use — and to the extent that they faithfully summarize and clearly state what is in Scripture, right? And if you use them for that purpose, knowing they're not Scripture, they can be a great aid for your faith, for your devotion, for your worship.

2 Timothy 4:3: "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 they'll be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." People will be swayed easily, okay? And that's where having something such as the New Hampshire Confession of Faith really comes in handy. Let's say that one of your children — just off the top of your head, maybe you're in the kitchen and you're cooking spaghetti or something — and they say, "Mom, explain to me the incarnation: how can Christ be fully God and fully man?" And it's like, "Okay, how about we sit down after dinner, we're going to grab the New Hampshire Confession, and we're going to look at a nice summary, and we're going to look at these Scriptures together." Well, you're not starting from scratch, right?

1 Timothy 3:16: here is an early confession that's actually found in Scripture. It says, "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory." Sounds a lot like the Nicene Creed.

Titus 1:9, talking about the elder, the man of God, he says, "He must hold firmly to the faithful word as it was taught, so that he can encourage others by sound teaching and refute those who contradict." We've got to hold fast to doctrine so that we can not only encourage our brothers and sisters, but we can correct and refute when necessary when wolves are trying to come in and divide the flock.

The application for number nine: why must we faithfully learn and teach sound doctrine? Why must we faithfully learn sound doctrine, and why must we teach sound doctrine? Yeah, to teach it you've got to learn it first, right? And in teaching, we're helping others live faithfully, and then hopefully they will teach others that same doctrine — that discipleship downline, committing God's word to faithful men and women who will then teach other faithful men and women, and hopefully on and on till Christ returns, right?