you Good morning. Sorry, we’re three minutes late. I know, I know. Let’s begin with prayer. Our Father in heaven, what a joy it is to know that you have made this day holy, that you have set aside, that you’ve consecrated it, and that you’ve given it to us as a great blessing. And so, Father, as we come from a work week of six days, and now, Lord God, we enter into the first day of the week when you’ve called us to rest in Christ. And so we ask, Lord God, even now during this hour, you’d help us to do just that, to rest in the finished, the completed work of our Savior, the Lord Jesus, and help us to fix our minds, our hearts upon Him this day. And Father, we ask even now that you would Convict us of how we know that your word is light, is truth, is from you. Guide and direct our hearts this morning, Father, for your glory.
And we ask all this in Jesus’s name. Amen. If you’d open up your copy of God’s Word to John, John chapter 3. And this is the chapter in which Nicodemus comes to Christ. Let’s give attention to the Word of God. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, We know that you are a teacher come from God. For no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born? Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound. but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
We’ll end our reading there this morning. Praise be to God. Amen. Well, what are we studying? Westminster Confession of Faith, which ultimately is a scripture. Yes. Good. That was the easy question for the morning. So what have we learned so far in our study of the scriptures using the Westminster Confession of Faith? Just anything. We’ve studied a little bit about general revelation, right? What’s general revelation? Nature, creation. It speaks to us, Psalm 19, right? And then we talked about special revelation. What’s special revelation? Word of God. Don’t be shy. Just speak up. We’re all friends here, right? All right, and so, can we know everything about God and Jesus from looking at the trees? No, so we need special revelation, right? That makes holy scriptures to be most necessary, so we need it. That was one of our first lessons, I think that was our first lesson.
And you have to apologize, I’m using some slides from a class wherein there were some Spanish speakers, so you’re gonna see a little bit of Spanish, not a lot. I’m sorry. And so we talked also about inspiration, right? What is it, what is inspiration? Yes. Yes, good. Okay, okay, and we we asked that question is Chris Cashion inspired whoa Okay, that’s the right answer I didn’t Oh, and that’s very kind. I forgot to ask that. You are inspiring. I think that’s helpful. OK. Thank you. That’s kind.
But I’m not inspired. And so this morning, as the word is opened, I’m not bringing new revelation. Right? If I were to say that to you, what should you do? Run. Yes. Run. Bring up charges. OK. So inspiration. The men who wrote the Bible were writing as pens, we talked about pens yesterday, we heard about pens yesterday, as pens of God, writing scripture, writing his word, okay. All right, so we talked about that and we already had this reference this morning, very good.
Okay, so that chapter in the Westminster Confession ends in that Scripture is the only rule of faith and life, right? The only rule of faith and life. So if we want to learn how to live before God, where do we go? Scripture, right? There are a bunch of books back there in that room that’s called the pastor’s office, boxes that were moved from Maryland. And there are some Bibles there. But other than the Bibles, is there anything in there that is the only rule of faith and life? No. They’re helpful. I find them to be very helpful, but they’re not the only rule for faith in life. That’s what we have in the Word of God.
All right. So good. You guys are doing great. So now we come to Chapter 5 of the Westminster Confession of Faith. And so we’re going to have a pop quiz this morning. How do you know? You girls ever have pop quizzes in school? I really didn’t like those. But this one, you’re going to like. OK? Pop quiz. Ready? Ready.
How do you personally know that the 66 books which we call the Bible are the Word of God? Because the Bible tells me so. OK, well, there are several answers to select from. You jumped the gun. Hang on. Is it multiple choice or no? It is. It is multiple choice. OK, so here’s the scenario.
You are at work. You’re at school. You’re at the grocery store. You’re at the gas station. And you have an opportunity. There’s someone there who is interested in knowing how they can know about eternal life. So the door has just been opened. The window is open. And you point them. to the Word of God. See, this is how you can know. This is where hope is found. This is the book that tells you you’re a sinner, you need to be saved, and there’s a Savior, Jesus Christ. Now they’re gonna ask you that question. Well, how do you know that’s true? How do you know that that is what you claim it to be, the Word of God? How do you answer that question? That’s kind of foundational, isn’t it? How do you know?
So, pop quiz. Answers, multiple choice. It looks to me like the Bible is from God. You’re using your reason, maybe a scientific method, testing it. It just looks to me like the Word of God. Human reason. Number two, the church says so. I go to a church every Sunday and they tell me there at the church that these 66 books are the Word of God. Second answer. Third answer, my parents said so. And so I believe it to be so because they said it. And then finally, number four, other. Okay, all right, so, all right. No one wants to take one, two, three? All right, okay, let’s jump into this. Pop quiz is, we’re gonna be talking about the pop quiz throughout our lesson this morning.
Paragraph five, we may be moved and induced by the testimony of the church to an high and reverent esteem of the holy scripture that may move us, right? Last week, and we may have some slides in here, I can’t remember if we do or not, we talked a little bit about the canon, right?
And how the canon was recognized. And that goes way back to some guys that lived a long, long time ago, right? And then you get the councils of the church coming together and creating lists of those books that they recognized as being the Word of God.
And so the question is, is that what you rely on, to personally know that this is the Word of God? We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the church. The divines recognize that. And so they begin this paragraph, which is all about how do you know that this is the word of God with this? You may be moved by the testimony of the church. They’re not saying that that’s wrong to be moved by that, but is that the basis? Is that the foundation? Is that how you answer the person who’s asking that question? How do you know? How do you know? There it is, that term Bible canon refers to that collection of books that are considered authoritative and sacred within a particular religious tradition. The word canon comes from that Greek word kanon meaning rule or standard.
Bible canon varies among religious groups. Well, it does. So the Roman Catholic Church includes the apocrypha in their canon. The Apocrypha is a collection of books, letters that we would not understand to be the very Word of God. From the Gospel Coalition, as for the Old Testament, there are good reasons to think that there was an established corpus of books by the time of Jesus. The first century Jewish historian Josephus offers that 22 lists of Old Testament books. which were accepted appeared to match our 39 book collection. For Josephus, at least the Old Testament canon seems quite settled. Again, a list. The testimony of, now Josephus is not part of the church. He was not a believer. We don’t believe that. We don’t understand that.
But he understood that the Jews had accepted what we have today as the 39 books as the canon. And so we would think of the Old Testament church as part of that testimony of the church. The canon, also called the Muratorian Fragment, is an ancient list of New Testament books, the oldest such list we have found. This is from gotquestions.org. The original document, which is probably written in Greek, is dated about A.D. 180, lists 22 of the 27 books that were later included in the New Testament of the Christian So some books, according to this list, were not included. Do you know what some of those were?
James. James was not included in the church’s list in one of the books. Why? There are some questions about what James was saying about faith. Right? It’s not just faith. You’ve got to work. That was what some people were understanding James was saying. You got to work for your salvation. That’s not what James was saying. But for that reason, I believe it was kept out from the church’s perspective of the canon. So how do you know?
Again, the Catholic Church was confirmed by the Council of Rome, 382, Synod of Hippod, 393, two councils of Carthage, 397, 419, the Council of Florence, 1431, 1449. And finally, as an article of faith by the Council of Trent, 1545, really recently. That was kind of a joke. Those established the Catholic biblical canon consisting of 46 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament. Wow, where did they get this 46 from? Where’d that come from? Apocrypha. 27 books, New Testament, total of 73 books.
We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the church to a high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture. Is that the foundation? Is that the basis for you? No. No. Why not? Why don’t we just go to history, look at what the church has done? They did a lot of work, right? Why don’t we just do that? Yes? There’s a question, born again, that doesn’t mean it can’t be conclusive. Oh. Born again in the spirit. Yeah. OK. Born again. OK. That’s maybe why we read John 3. Okay. This is gonna be a reoccurring theme.
But if you’re relying upon the church, who are you really relying on? Men. And are men infallible? Unless you’re the Pope. Okay, unless you’re the Pope. Unless you’re the Pope. Okay. Okay. No. Men are fallible. Men are fallible. We get things wrong. We’re sinful. We’re corrupt. Right? And so we don’t want to rely on men. All right. So we’ve crossed that one off, right? That’s not the right answer. Okay. All right. Good.
So Stephen Nichols writes this, we must distinguish between recognition and establishment. Do we establish the canon? Do we determine what is the word of God? Do we do that? No. That’s what he’s writing. He’s writing there’s a difference between recognizing it and establishing it.
Now, the Roman Catholic Church would establish, because there are two different categories that separate Protestants from Catholics on this issue. The church recognizes that which is canonical. It does not establish the canon. So when we talk about the canon in church history, we need to make that distinction.
Does that make sense? OK, good. That’s important, that distinction. between recognition and establishing? How do you know? That’s our question this morning. So here’s that second category. We talked about the church. We may, because the church has recognized it can, and we might think, OK, that’s what we’re relying upon. Saying, well, you know, OK, let’s look at some other things.
And the heavenliness of the matter. What is that, the heavenliness of the matter? That’s what all of Scripture speaks of, the heavenliness. It speaks of divine things. It speaks of supernatural things. It speaks of who God is. It speaks of who Christ is. It speaks of who we are in God, the heavenliness. All of Scripture is, I’ve got to be careful, it’s in the spiritual realm. There are certainly practical aspects in scripture, things that call us to live in a certain way, and that’s practical. But it’s always spiritual.
And so I think that’s what they’re speaking of when they speak of the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine. What does that mean, efficacy of the doctrine? It’s sufficient. It’s sufficient. And in its explanation, it’s very reasonable and efficient in describing its effectiveness. Yeah, it works. Scripture works. The efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style. Is there anything like Scripture?
I mean, if… Psalm 119, right? Each of the, I forgot, I think eight verses, it’s broken up into eight verses, I think it’s eight. Correct me if I’m wrong. I many times am. But it begins with a, each section begins with the same letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Each verse. Same letter, same letter, same letter. The majesty of the style. Psalms, poetry. the parallelism in Psalms. It’s wonderful, it’s glorious. The consent of all the parts, what does that mean?
Yes. Yes, 66 books, how many authors? 40 some, written over how many years? 1400, something like that. And it all agrees. It all stays together. It’s one theme. Well, there are lots of different themes, but sub-themes, which is to give glory to God, the scope of the whole, all of it, all of Scripture, its purpose. And that’s what it does. If you’ve been born again and you’re reading Scripture in the light of being born again, all of its giving glory to God. It all fits, right? The full discovery it makes of the only way of man’s salvation. Is there anything the Bible leaves out in terms of the way you can be saved? No. Is it clear? Yes. Only full discovery.
And many other incomparable excellencies, the entire perfection thereof are arguments whereby it does abundantly evidence itself to be the word of God. So as you’re using your reason, as you’re using your human reason, born again, Is that what you rely upon, to come to the conclusion that this, in fact, is the Word of God? You’ve studied it, you’ve compared the different parts, you’ve seen there are no errors in it, you have analyzed it, hours spent in it, and now you come to the conclusion, this is what you’re telling your friend at work or at the gas station or the grocery store, I’ve analyzed it, I’ve used my reason, I’ve come to the conclusion that, indeed, this is the Word of God.
Is that the answer? No? Why not? Yes. Yes. It’s human reason. So we cross that one off. Oh, wait. Okay. I mean, that’s part of our toolbox. Of course. All of these wonderful things, as our toolbox in evangelism, what I get concerned about is, well, unless they have the Holy Spirit, there’s no way I can explain anything to them. That’s where I start to get concerned. It’s just like, well, they’re not going to accept that they don’t have the Holy Spirit, so I just need to move on. Well, there is that section in scripture where the disciples were to shake the dust off their feet.
Although, there’s a distinction about what you’re talking about and the question we have this morning. The question we have this morning is, how do you know? Now, it’s only when you’re convicted that the Bible is the Word of God that then you can take it out with compassion and evangelize. How that’s received, I don’t know. We don’t know.
But it’s only when you’re convicted that this is the Word of God, I’m relying upon a strong foundation to know that. That’s when you can take it out. And until you come to that point, you’re on shaky ground. If you’re relying upon your human reason, I’ve established it. I’ve established these 66 books as the Word of God in my reason. Or I’m relying upon the church. upon men, that you’re on shaky ground. How do you know? And so this paragraph is being written to say, you know, these are good arguments. These are evidences. But is this what you rely upon to know it’s the word of God? OK, so good point. So what they’re saying here is, as you read through the Word of God, it’s evidencing itself by and through the reason that God’s given you so that you can see, oh yeah, I can see that this looks like the very Word of God through all of these things.
Romans chapter 4, what shall we say then was gained by Abraham our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. What does scripture say? Abraham believed God and was counted to him as righteousness. It’s fully sufficient with regard to the way of salvation. Did Abraham work for his righteousness? No. Did Abraham work to attain favor with God? No. How did Abraham become righteous, ladies? I know. How? Pardon me? Yes.
Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Not his works, his belief. Yet notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit. Bearing witness by and with the word in our hearts. It’s got to be the word of God. communicated to us, convicted to us by and through the work of the Spirit.
That’s the other, that’s number four, right, in our quiz. Everything else is doing what? If you’re relying upon your reason, if you’re relying upon the testimony of the Church, If you’re understanding the 66 books to be the very word of God because your parents told you it was, what are you doing? Yes. And so who now becomes the judge?
Yes, in each of those instances, you’re placing something else over and above the Word of God, the Bible, to establish it as such. And anytime you put something over another, that thing which you put over it becomes more authoritative. So if I I’m explaining to my friend at the gas station, you know, I’ve I’ve done a lot of reading in the Bible. I spent years reading the Bible. And after those years of reading the Bible, I have concluded through my reason that this is the word of God. I’ve just placed myself as judge. Over God. I’m telling my friend, you can trust what I’m saying because of me, because I’m the judge.
Same thing with the church. If you’re relying upon the church because the church has put together this list of books, this canon, saying, well, I believe this to be the word of God because the church has put together this list, and so I trust the church. Well, you’re trusting the church more than the Holy Spirit. So that’s why each of these, their helps, they can be of comfort to us, right?
Their arguments, but they’re not the basis. There’s not what we rely upon to know that this is the word of God. It’s only the work of the spirit. This is such an important truth. When I teach the course on Reformed theology in Africa, this is a very difficult point for the men to grasp. Very difficult. Why? Why is this a difficult point to grasp?
They trust their family or parents Tradition. Well, don’t we want to be… Yes. Yes. Good. I think it goes beyond Africa though. I think it generally goes to Everyone born of Adam. Yes. Yes. We want to be the judge. I want to be the judge. I want to be in control. I want to be the one who says, yeah, I came to the right conclusion. I’m a pretty smart guy. I think that’s why.
So scripture attests to this, doesn’t it? As for me, from Isaiah 59, as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord, my spirit that is upon you and my words that I have put in your mouth shall not depart of your mouth. A spirit that’s upon you. My words that I put in your mouth. John chapter 16, Jesus Christ saying these things to his disciples in the upper room discourse as he’s about to go to the cross and then ascend and leave them. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. Spirit of God, it’s the Holy Spirit’s work in you. That’s what convicts you.
It’s not men. 1 Corinthians 2. What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him, these things God has revealed to us. How? Through the Spirit. So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. And this gets into understanding the word of God. And so those two things, your conviction that this is indeed the word of God comes to the spirit, and then your understanding of it also comes by and through the spirit. See how important the spirit is? See why we have a triune God? Now we have received not the spirit of the world, the spirit of who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
What a glorious thing. First John, chapter two, but you’ve been anointed by the Holy One. You all have knowledge. I write to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it. What’s John saying? You’ve been anointed by the Holy One. What is it to be anointed by the Holy Spirit?
Webster’s 1828. The use of oil and consecrations was of high antiquity. Kings, prophets, priests were set apart. That’s what it means in short. To be anointed by the Holy Spirit is to be set apart for God, for the work of God, to know God. That’s what it is to be anointed by the Holy Spirit.
Again, from 1st John, I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you, but the anointing you received from him abides in you. Again, convicted by the spirit that this is the word of God and the word opened to you by and through the spirit. Which then defends against false teachings and defends against Satan. Going to hear about Satan, Lord willing, this morning in the preaching of the word. But as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you, abide in him in the spirit. Again, from John 3, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher from God.
And so what was Jesus’s response to Nicodemus? He said, you don’t know God. So you can’t even see God. Because you haven’t been born again. And if he hasn’t been born again, then he can’t actually truly rely and understand that that what he had, what Nicodemus was teaching was actually the word of God.
He was a teacher of Israel. He had the Old Testament. He didn’t have the New Testament yet. But he had the old. Right? And he was an expert in it. Did he actually recognize that it was the Word of God? Was he convicted? No. Not yet. He needed the Spirit. And then John 10.
This is such a powerful verse. about Jesus as the shepherd, right? To him, the gatekeeper opens, the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own by name and leads them out. For they know his voice. Now, I’ve never seen that before. Maybe some of you have. A shepherd speaking to his flock and the flock just following. That’s the Bible. That’s how you know. I know the voice of Jesus. And it’s here in these 66 books. I know it. Everything else is a stranger. I don’t know them. But I know Christ because the Spirit has convicted me.
And then 1 Corinthians, for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. How can it become the power of God? Because the church told you? Because your parents told you? Because you’ve reasoned your way to it? No, no, not at all. It became the power of God by the work of the Spirit in you. How do you know? So what was the right answer to our pop quiz? One, two, three, or four? Four. Four. That’s it for yes, ma’am. It’s time for questions. Well, when Nicodemus came to Jesus, and Jesus said to him, you’re not born again. You need to be born again.
Was it not the Holy Spirit that drew Nicodemus to Jesus? Well, was the Holy Spirit involved? Yes, sure, certainly. Was he working at that moment in Nicodemus? I don’t know. Did Nicodemus come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to his salvation? I believe he did, right, at some point. But as he walks away from Jesus Christ in that episode in John 3, I don’t get the sense that he was convicted. I don’t get the sense that the Lord had changed his heart yet.
No, I’m not saying that. OK. I’m just saying that the Spirit can work in someone to use. God uses unbelievers, for instance. Oh, absolutely. Yes. Okay, I’m not going to contest that yeah, God is sovereign over all things right and so We’re not robots and yet He directs, He controls, He disposes, He governs everything.
The fact that I’m wearing this tie this morning, it was God’s governance that came to bear on that. Yes, sir? I was just going to say in response to that, there’s a distinction between the redemptive work of the Holy Spirit and this is kind of what you’re saying. Good distinction. Thank you. Yes, sir. Could have been. I think he was just amazed at what Jesus was saying and said, this is impossible. I thought you were a good teacher. This is impossible. OK. Oh, yes, sir.
So let’s say in the context of evangelism, when you’re speaking to somebody about God’s Word, how do you recommend that the balance between, I am convicted by the Holy Spirit that this is God’s Word, while also speaking to somebody who has never heard this before and obviously not having been born again is relying entirely on human reason for everything. So, is there a sense in which you argue to their human reason that it is God’s word and trust that the Holy Spirit will use that reason, so to speak, to Okay, I don’t think your work as an evangelist is to convince someone that this is the word of God. I think the point I was trying to make was You personally need to be convicted that it’s the word of God. And it’s only when you are convicted that then you can argue from it with passion, right? I know this is the word of God. The spirit has moved me, has convicted me. This is truth. And so now I can argue from it with passion and clear conviction. Now, I’m not trying to convince you that this is the word of God.
I’m trying to find a point of connection with you. And so it depends upon the person that you’re speaking with. But the person you’re speaking with knows, right, that they have been made by God. And so we can go to Romans chapter one, we know that, we know that they know that, we know they’re suppressing that in truth. And so we’re trying to find that connection point with them and press that home upon them.
And again, I would not be trying to convince them that the Bible is true. I’d be arguing from it and letting them know that everything that I’m saying to you is not my words, not from Chris Cashin. It’s from the word of God. And that’s just a that’s just a truth that I’m going to set before them. It is coming out of the word of God. This is this is what your maker has said. He’s spoken. And these are his words, not mine. So you can get angry with me, and that’s fine. But everything I’m giving to you is coming from the creator of the universe. And so that kind of answers your question, kind of not. But that’s how I would approach it. And again, you need to know what’s going to be your connection point with that person.
Where are they fighting against God, against Christ? Are they in sin? Well, they’re obviously in sin. But what is their sin? What is it that they’re pushing back against? And where do you go in the Bible to bring forth the truth to that person and speak truth? Whether they accept it or not, it’s a seed that you’re laying down, right?
So good question. All right. Very good. Well, we started late and finished a little early. So, let’s pray. Father, what a blessing it is to know that you’ve given us your very word in these 66 books. We thank you for the work of the Spirit who convicts and leads us in understanding and opening your word but initially in just knowing that this is from you. And so we ask Lord God, as we go to your word this morning, that you would help us, that you’d continue to guide us, that you would open it to us, that we would see more of Christ. We’d see more of you through your son. And you would bless us, prepare us to worship you now. Forgive us of our many sins, Lord. And we ask all of this in Jesus’s precious name. Amen.