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Scripture: The #1 Authority on Salvation

October 15, 2017 Speaker: Mitchel Kirchmeyer Series: Five Truths About Salvation

Passage: 2 Timothy 3:14–17

Why can we trust Scripture as our #1 authority on salvation? Because what Scripture says, God says. Since God breathed these words out, what’s true of God is true of his words. Because God is perfect, Scripture is 100% trustworthy. Because God is light, Scripture is understandable. Because God is a provider, Scripture provides all we need to know. Because God is wise, Scripture points to Christ.

What is the most important thing for us to be sure about? There are many things we can be unsure about. How many miles are between earth and the moon? Who won an Emmy award last year? How many runs did the Cubs score?

There are even things about Christianity we can be unsure about. What do all the symbols in the book of Revelation refer to? When was the book of Jonah written? How old was Jesus when he was crucified?

But there are some things we must be sure about. One of the most important topics we must be sure about is our salvation. How do we get saved? How do we know if we are saved? Those are questions about which we need to have certainty.

Series Introduction
Today, we are beginning a five part series called “Five Truths about Salvation.” Each week, we will cover a different truth about our salvation. These five truths came out of what we call the Protestant Reformation.

Five hundred years ago on October 31, 1517, a Catholic monk named Martin Luther nailed a document to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany. The door of the church building was like a bulletin board. This document is famously called “Luther’s 95 Theses.” His intention was to start a conversation about some errors in the church of his day but what it sparked was a revival and a revolution. This year, 2017, marks the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation so we are taking five weeks to learn about the five core truths that capture the heart of the movement.

As we study these five truths, we are learning about our heritage as "gospel people”. Luther and others were named “Protestants” by their opponents because they were “protesting” the Catholic church. But actually, they referred to themselves as evangelicals. “Evangelical” comes from the Greek word for “gospel.” They were “gospel people.” They were recovering the true gospel message - the true good news - that had been lost in the teaching of the Medieval Catholic Church. The message about Jesus that we know today is thanks to the men and women who gave their lives - in some cases literally because they were burned at the stake as heretics and false teachers - to make these truths about salvation clear once again. These five truths are that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone which we know about from Scripture alone all for the glory of God alone. Some of these truths may sound so familiar to us that we simply take them for granted but they were not always so familiar.

In addition, today, we simply take for granted the fact that we can read a bible in our own language and that we have dozens of translations from which to choose. In the 16th century, the only bible available was in Latin and only Catholic clergy could read it and had access to it. People didn’t have their own bibles.

Sermon Introduction
In this first message, we will be talking about our knowledge of salvation. How do we know about God? How do we know about salvation? How do we know how to get saved?

We will be looking at 2 Timothy 3:14-17 and as we do so, the big question we will be answering is: why can we trust Scripture as our #1 authority on salvation? Why can we trust Scripture as our #1 authority on salvation?

First, I’ll tell you about Martin Luther and how Scripture played such a big part in starting the Protestant Reformation. Then we will look at 2 Timothy 3:14-17 to answer our big question. Let’s start with Martin Luther, but keep that big question in mind: why can we trust Scripture as our #1 authority on salvation?

Martin Luther
There is so much that could be said about the time in which Martin Luther lived and about Martin Luther. For these five messages, I am only going to be able to give you snippets of the lives of these “gospel people” of the Reformation.

Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483. In 1505, he became a Catholic monk. In 1515 he was transferred to Wittenberg, Germany to oversee the teaching of theology in the university there. Around this time, Pope Leo X - the leader of the Roman Catholic Church - started using the sale of indulgences to rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

What are indulgences? To understand indulgences, we need to understand Roman Catholic teaching on salvation. Our problem is that in God’s law court, everyone one of us is guilty and deserving of punishment. We have all broken the law. How do we get out of this mess? How do we get saved? How do we become righteous when we are unrighteous? We all need our relationship with God to be made right, but how does this happen? I heard someone use a helpful illustration once to describe how salvation works in the Roman Catholic Church. Of course, it doesn’t explain everything perfectly but it gives you a picture. Here’s my version of it.

Our problem is that in God’s law court, we are all guilty and deserve punishment. So imagine a bathtub with a line on it. If you want to enter heaven, you need to fill the tub up to that line. That’s when you are totally righteous. The problem is, everything you put into the tub just drains out because the plug isn’t in the drain. How do you fix it? You need to get baptized. Baptism puts the plug in the bathtub so you can fill it. That begins your justification - it begins the process of becoming righteous. Baptism clears you of your guilt so you have a clean slate. It brings you into the channel of God’s grace so that you can start to become righteous.

With the drain plugged, now you can fill it up. You do this through good works and by partaking in the sacraments of the church - confession, the Eucharist, confirmation, and so on. You are working with God’s grace to become righteous. But if you consciously rebel against God again after you’ve been baptized, it pulls the plug and all that you have filled up drains out. You can replug it and fill it up again through penance. You go to a Catholic priest, confess your sin, they pardon you for your sin, and give you a prescription of good works to do in order to take away the punishment for the sin you committed.

When you die, if you don’t have the tub filled up you go to a place called purgatory. This is a place only for believers in between death and heaven. You can’t enter heaven until you have filled up the tub. Baptism forgives you of the eternal guilt for your sin, but there is still punishment for sin and if you haven’t satisfied that punishment through good works and the sacraments, you need to spend time in purgatory to purge you of those sins. Once you have been purged of your sins, you are able to enter God’s presence.

Going back to indulgences. Indulgences were documents that could be acquired which signified the canceling of punishment for sin that would otherwise require time in purgatory. The pope has the power to take Christ’s righteousness and the righteousness of other saints, and apply it to you so you can spend less time in purgatory and enter heaven. This could be applied to you or to others and it would take years off time in purgatory. So let’s say you are worried about your dad who has died. He was baptized and faithfully attended Catholic mass, but he also had his rough edges. You know he is going to need to spend time in purgatory to be purged of those sins. You, as a loving son or daughter, can buy an indulgence to lessen his time spent in purgatory and hurry him on to being in God’s joyous presence.

Around 500 years ago, Pope Leo X allowed indulgences to be issued when someone gave money to fund the rebuilding of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Luther is teaching in Wittenberg and into his area comes Johann Tetzel who was an especially exuberant salesman of indulgences. Luther already disagreed with indulgences but this put him over the edge. He writes up a document of “95 Theses” listing issues he sees with indulgences and the Catholic church. His goal was to start a discussion in order to reform the church from within. But his posting of this document ended up being a spark that grew into a wildfire across Europe. In it, he questioned the authority of the pope, particularly in his power to forgive people of sin in purgatory. This led to several debates where authority was at stake. Who has the final say on matters of salvation?

One of the most significant debates was with a man named Johannes von Eck. There, Luther’s views on authority were made clear. Who gets to say what is truth? Who gets to say how salvation works? In the Catholic church, there are two equal authorities: Scripture (or the Bible) and church tradition. Both of these are considered to be without error. Both speak with equal authority and legitimacy. Church tradition is established by the pope and by church councils down through the ages. For Luther, he saw that Scripture and church tradition contradicted one another. But if both are equal in authority and both are without error, which one trumps the other? For Luther, the answer was clear: Scripture is our highest authority and it trumps whatever church tradition or popes or councils have to say.

In fact, he told Johannes von Eck, councils have made errors. And popes have made errors. Even more, councils have contradicted one another. Popes have contradicted one another. The only 100% trustworthy authority we can look to is Scripture alone.

Eventually (Spring 1521), Luther was called before an official congress (diet) of church leaders and secular lords in Worms, Germany. There would have been various issues they were discussing and the issue with Luther may have even been a minor one. It’s been four years since he posted his 95 Theses and he has written a lot to explain his views and since the printing press had just been invented in 1450, Luther’s writings are being spread throughout Europe. At this congress, his writings were laid out on a table. He was asked if they were his and whether he defended them all or rejected some. He asked if he could have a day to think about it. When he returned, he explained what they were about. He was ordered to recant - to renounce and deny what he has written. His questioner in summary said to him, “Do you think you are the only one who understands Scripture? Who are you to question Tradition handed down by the church? Answer simply: do you or do you not renounce your views in these writings?”

These are the words Luther spoke in response:

“Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they often err and contradict themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. I cannot do otherwise, here I stand, may God help me, Amen” (God’s Word Alone, 45).

Luther would not bind himself to anything but Scripture. Even if the whole Catholic Church was against him. Scripture alone was his highest authority. Scripture alone was what he trusted.

2 Timothy 3:14-17
For us today, we need to ask ourselves: who or what is the #1 authority in our lives? Who gets the final say? Who calls the shots?

Sometimes we say, “That guy is an authority on this topic.” That means, they know a lot about it. They have the credentials to speak on that topic. They give guidance and insight that can be trusted. When it comes to our salvation, we need to know who is the authority on the topic.

Let’s return to our big question: why can we trust Scripture as our #1 authority on salvation? Why can we trust Scripture as our #1 authority on salvation?

This is where Luther stood and so should we. But why? We turn to 2 Timothy 3:14-17 for our answer. These verses accurately summarize what the whole bible claims about itself. The apostle Paul is writing to a young pastor named Timothy. Paul has invested much in the life of Timothy and views him as a son. Here, Paul warns Timothy about those who don’t live a godly life and exhorts Timothy to stay on the path of godly living. To do so, he gives Timothy confidence in Scripture as his guide.

For our purposes this morning, we are going to focus on our big question: why can we trust Scripture as our #1 authority on salvation? Why is Scripture alone our highest authority? Why does this book have the final say when it comes to the truth about God, salvation, and godly living?

The main answer is: Because what Scripture says, God says. Because what Scripture says, God says. We can trust Scripture as our #1 authority on salvation because what Scripture says, God says.

If our biggest problem in life is that we enter God’s law court guilty of breaking his law, who is the best person to tell us what we need to do to be forgiven? If our biggest problem in life is that we are relationally separated from God, who is the best person to tell us how to heal the relationship? The answer is God. God is the only one who can tell us how to be forgiven, reconciled, justified, and saved. We can’t make it up ourselves. We need to hear from him.

If you read through the bible, the claim of this book is that these are not simply the words of men and their reflections on God. The claim is that every word is the very word of God. These authors had the audacity to write, “Thus says the Lord. If you disobey these words you are disobeying God himself.” What this book says is what God says. How could they claim that? Paul sums it up in verse 16: “All Scripture is breathed out by God.” God breathed these words out through human authors. These words come from the mouth of God. That’s why after Scripture readings we say, “This is the word of the Lord.” And we give thanks to God that he has spoken them.

So we can trust Scripture as our #1 authority on salvation because what Scripture says, God says. These are the very words of God. And as the words of God, they have certain attributes. God’s words are identified with God himself. What is true of him is true of his words. There are at least four attributes we can say about Scripture because it comes from God.

First, because God is perfect, Scripture is 100% trustworthy. Because God is perfect, Scripture is 100% trustworthy. In verse 15, Paul calls Scripture the “sacred writings” or “holy writings.” God is holy - he is perfect, he commits no errors, he doesn’t lie. Therefore, we can trust what he says. His words are holy, perfect, and without error. They do not lead astray. Often, the words “inerrant” and “infallible” are used to describe the bible. “Infallible” means “incapable of making mistakes” and because God is infallible, so is his word - he doesn’t make mistakes when he talks. That means the bible is “inerrant” - it is “without error.”

God gave us the bible so that we can know him. Just like you can’t know another person unless they chose to reveal themselves to you - to tell you about themselves - so too we can’t know God unless he chooses to tell us about himself. Our relationship with God is one built on trust. God never lies so what he says in the bible is always true. We can trust that he isn’t deceiving us. What we read in this book is 100% trustworthy. We can trust what it says about salvation.

The Roman Catholic Church also believes Scripture is 100% trustworthy, but they believe that when the pope and Catholic councils speak officially that they are also 100% trustworthy. They believe their church tradition is 100% trustworthy - that it is incapable of making mistakes and has no errors. If the pope speaks officially on something, he is incapable of making mistakes. But there is no warrant for this in Scripture. We believe that Scripture is the only 100% trustworthy authority.

Second, because God is light, Scripture is understandable. Because God is light, Scripture is understandable. The bible often says that God is light. Light shines in the darkness. Things that are hidden and unseen become seen when light shines. Because God is light, his words are understandable. They are clear. God wants to be understood. A relationship where you can’t understand anything the person is saying isn’t much of a relationship. Understandable communication is essential. God communicates to us clearly because he wants to be known.

Paul assumes Scripture is understandable. At the end of verse 15, he tells Timothy that it is able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. And in verse 16 he says it is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. It wouldn’t be useful for these things if it wasn’t understandable. He even reminds Timothy that he was learning the Bible from childhood. This is a book that can be understood by children.

This doesn’t mean that we can read through the whole bible and understand every single verse immediately. What it does mean is that the bible was written in ordinary human language so that we can understand it. It also means that the main message of Scripture is clear. If you read the bible, you are going to easily understand: there is a God, he created us, we have rebelled against him, for that we deserve punishment, but he has made a way for us to be saved through Jesus.

God communicating clearly also doesn’t mean it won’t take work for the meaning to become clear to us. The Holy Spirit guided human authors in the writing of Scripture and he guides us in the reading of Scripture. He shines a light so we can understand God’s message. Some passages are more clear to us as readers so we use those to help with passages that are unclear to us.

The Roman Catholic Church believes that Scripture is unclear so it needs an infallible interpreter to make it clear and that interpreter is the church. But we believe God is light so he makes himself understandable and gives us his Holy Spirit to give us understanding.

Third, because God is a provider, Scripture provides all we need to know. Because God is a provider, Scripture provides all we need to know. Paul assumes this in talking to Timothy. He tells him the Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation. The Scriptures are able to give you everything you need to live a godly life. He doesn’t tell him to supplement Scripture with something else. Scripture is sufficient. God provides us with all we need to know.

God hasn’t left us in the dark. We aren’t left wondering, “How can I know him? How can I be saved? How can I live a life pleasing to him?” He has told us all we need to know. He hasn’t left us guessing, trying to piece it together ourselves.

The Roman Catholic Church believes that Scripture isn’t enough. They say we also need church tradition which stands as an equal to Scripture. But we believe that God is a provider so Scripture is sufficient.

Lastly, because God is wise, Scripture points to Christ. Because God is wise, Scripture points to Christ. Paul says in verse 15 that Scripture is able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. What’s really interesting about that is the New Testament wasn’t put together yet. He is talking about the Old Testament, written before Christ even came.

What we see here is that while the whole bible has many human authors, it has one divine author. The Old Testament prepared the way for the coming of Christ. It pointed forward to Jesus. The New Testament points back to Jesus. It all points to one person: Jesus Christ. And the whole goal is that we would be made wise for salvation through faith in him. God had a wise plan as he spoke to his people through the ages and it all points to Jesus as the hero of the story. All of God’s words that reveal him point to the Word who would most clearly reveal what he is like: Jesus Christ.

The big question we are answering is: Why can we trust Scripture as our #1 authority on salvation? The answer we see in 2 Timothy 3 is: Because what Scripture says, God says. Since God breathed these words out, what’s true of God is true of his words. So we can say because God is perfect, Scripture is 100% trustworthy. Because God is light, Scripture is understandable. Because God is a provider, Scripture provides all we need to know. Because God is wise, Scripture points to Christ.

Know that God’s Word is the #1 authority in our lives. The God of the universe who created us and everything else has spoken. God himself has answered the most important questions of life: is there a God? What is he like? How are we saved? Who are we? What are we to do with our lives? God has written a book. Just let that sink in. We get excited about our favorite authors publishing a new book because we really like their writing. God has published a book about who he is and how we can be saved. What more important book is there?

Notice, Scripture is our #1 authority but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a #2 authority or #3 authority. Scripture as our highest authority means anything else we look to has to come in line with Scripture. Our denomination's Statement of Faith is an authority in our life. The Apostle’s and Nicene Creeds written by the church are authorities. But they only carry weight if they agree with Scripture. They all serve to help us understand what Scripture says. They don’t stand on their own. They aren’t equals to Scripture. They must be tested by Scripture.

Even though God has published a book, we can still let it collect dust. Even though we have God’s Words, we can still look to other authorities in our lives. Why is this? It’s because we still believe an ancient lie. When God first created humanity, we believed his Word. We trusted what he said. But then an agent of evil in the form of a serpent came to the first humans, Adam and Eve, and asked: Did God really say? God had given them specific instructions and the serpent questioned those words. Can God really be trusted? Is that what he really meant? He even contradicted what God said. God told Adam and Eve that if they disobeyed him, they would die. The serpent said: you won’t surely die. Adam and Eve then decided to disobey. They put themselves above God’s Word, deciding for themselves what is right and wrong. Instead of taking God at his Word, they questioned it. To question God’s Word is to question God himself.

We deal with that same question today: Did God really say these words? Can God really be trusted? Luther was angry that the Pope and church councils would make themselves equal to God’s Word, and maybe we get angry at that too. “How could they do that? How dare they put themselves above God!” But we do the same thing. We make ourselves into little popes. We read the bible and we chose what to obey and what not to obey. We chose what to believe and not to believe. We’d rather be the #1 authority in our lives. We will consult the bible but we are going to have the final say. God’s word can submit to us. We’ll run it through our filters and decide what to obey and believe.

Instead of the bible being our #1 authority on salvation, we trust ourselves to make that call. The bible clearly says what saves us, but we look for other ways anyway, which shows we don’t believe what God says. Most Christians think, “That’s not true, I believe what the bible says.” But belief is proved by action.

Imagine Katie and I are leaving the house and I ask, “Hey, did you remember to turn the stove burner off?” She replies, “Yes, I turned it off.” Then I say, “I believe you, but I’m going to check anyway.” Do I really believe what she said? If I believe she turned it off, why do I need to check?

We do the same thing with God. We say salvation is by grace, but then we wonder if we have done enough for God to love us this week. We say that in Christ we are forgiven, but then we walk around with guilt and shame because of our sin. We say Christ has made us right with God, but we still put our good works on the scale every day to see if we measure up. We say God loves us and is with us, but then we try to do everything on our own. We say only because of Jesus can we go to heaven, but then hope we’ve done enough to be worthy of admission.

We all have things we say we believe but act like we don’t. We all know things that God has said that we don’t fully believe. We are going back in the house to check the stove burner. Take a moment. What is that thing for you? What is the thing you say you believe but act like you don’t?

What if we truly believed everything this book says? How would your life be different? What if you believed everything it says about God? About grace? About you? About other people? Our lives would be totally transformed.

Conclusion
The big question we are answering is: Why can we trust Scripture as our #1 authority on salvation? Because what Scripture says, God says. Since God breathed these words out, what’s true of God is true of his words. Because God is perfect, Scripture is 100% trustworthy. Because God is light, Scripture is understandable. Because God is a provider, Scripture provides all we need to know. Because God is wise, Scripture points to Christ.

As we go through this series, we are necessarily learning about the Catholic church then and now because we are all part of a movement that broke away from the Catholic church because the true gospel had been lost in it. All of our disagreements with the Catholic church come back to Scripture. This is the starting point. But this should alert us to the fact that many Catholics today need to hear the gospel. We will see this especially when when we get into the next three truths about salvation. Catholics often have a lot of guilt and are always wondering whether they have done enough to be saved. The truth that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is wonderful good news. I believe there are people really saved in the Catholic church. But their religion does not lead people to the true gospel as Scripture has revealed it.

These truths should give us comfort. God has spoken to us. He has given us a book that is 100% trustworthy and that is understandable, sufficient, and leads to salvation through faith in Christ. We can have complete confidence in Scripture because it comes from God.

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