In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the power of the word of God in transforming lives. He highlights that external conditions or organizations cannot bring true communion with God, but only the message of the Bible can. The preacher encourages young children who love the gospel truth and want to be part of the family of God, assuring them that it is through the word of God that their souls will be quickened. He emphasizes the importance of adhering to the teachings of Jesus Christ, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount, and challenges the congregation to examine their hearts and live in humility and love towards others.

Take time to behold it, speak oft with thy Lord, thou may'st cheer for it. Did you have your Bibles the 2nd Corinthians and chapter 3? I would like to in the opening minutes of this discussion this evening help you understand the difference between an implicit and an explicit faith. I know these are two words that are probably beyond your meaning vocabulary to present times. If you'd just stick with us for a little while, I'm sure it won't take long for you to catch on to what we're talking about. The subject assigned to us tonight is the Sola Scriptura Physician of the Anabaptists. It was Jesus who said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God. And it is that every word that we want to take root in our hearts tonight and spring up to a life everlasting. And there is nothing else save this word of God that can bring forth fruits unto righteousness. There is no other way, nor other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, saved out of the word of God. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God, and all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. The Bible tells us that when we see Him coming in the 19th chapter of Revelation, He has a name, and His name is Carl, the word of God. It's all better saved, or saved by this word, which liveth and abideth forever. This is not written on law tonight, or written on paper tonight, or written on sand this evening. But it is that law according to this chapter which is written, if you are a child of God, enough fleshy tables of your heart, and a part from the inscription of God's total law and responsibility, His will in your mind tonight. You are not a child of God. Do we begin again to commend ourselves, or knee we as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? I will tell you right here this evening, there are plenty of people who are not commending this meeting tonight, nor those who are here this evening. But we do not need commendation from men. The affirmation, the confirmation of the Spirit of God in the heart of man is what will give witness with the Lord Jesus Christ that we are children of God. Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read of all men. Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in the fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ, through God, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiencies of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, for the Spirit giveth life. Are we afraid of that Spirit which can do nothing but quicken a man? But if the ministration of death, written and engraved in stones, was glorious, so that children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his covenant, which glory was to be done away, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? Were it the ministration of condemnation be glorious, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious hath no glory in this respect, but a reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we exclaim plain as a speech, and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that children of Israel cannot steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. But their minds were blinded, for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away. In the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their hearts. Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open faith, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed unto the same image from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord. We're talking tonight about an implicit faith. It was unique among Anabaptists, who had a faith that came from within the person. I am afraid tonight of any religion, of any organization church-wise, who gives a person a formula, a pattern, an explicit position and says, By the time these five steps are mastered, we receive you. By the time this position is reached in your life, by the time you have ascribed a certain code of conduct or ethic, by the time you have matched up in this conformity, by the time you appear as we appear, or whatever it might be, then now you are, as far as we're concerned, qualified for inception into the church, into the body of Christ. Listen, that is the way men joined the Freemasons. You can get into the grange that way. It's possible to join the Kiwanis Club with such a man. That's the way it's possible to join organizations. For no one comes into the church of Jesus Christ except that living Word of God takes root within his heart. Can you imagine the difference? As we said here three weeks ago, the difference between that tree that has the life and sap and vitality within its stem, within its roots, and through its branches, producing then the glorious fruit, edible and nourishing to those who partake of it. And then compare it to some other dried up shrubs. There it is, all stalk and stem, standing along the side that says, I wish I had beautiful fruit like that on me. Would someone please come along with a glue bottle and put glue all over my branches? Would someone take some Christmas balls and hang it on my tree branches so I look like I'm producing fruit too? If you don't have the Word of the Lord, the Holy Spirit having written the law of God in the fleshy tables of your hearts at night, any attempt you would make to conform to some external position is futility before God. Explicit, putting on the outside. Implicit, coming from within. And that life which is born from the inner heart of a man cannot be hidden, nor gained said. What is sola scriptura? Martin Luther claimed to believe it. So did Ulrich Zwingli. So did John Calvin. They all claimed to believe that the Bible was a sole rule for faith and practice. Sola means only, as in the word solo. A solo poet is a person who flies alone across the country. A solo singer is one who sings a part by him or herself. Solo is alone. That's the English word that comes from this Latin sola. Scriptura is scripture. Only the scriptures, only the Bible is the position we're talking about. That's what sola scriptura means. The Bible is the authority. There is no other authority. There's no other direction for my life. There is no church or statement or hierarchy or ministerial body or anything else that can take the place of God's Word to be the sole and final authority for my life. The Bible being sole authority, we take the words of chapter 22 of Revelation literally when it tells us not to add to it, nor to subtract from it. Because not only is it only authority, it is all authority. And so this Bible, this New Testament of the Bible, I want to make that clear, is the final rule for faith and practice. Or as the church statement says of some of the brethren that are present here tonight, the only infallible rule of faith and practice. Anything else is fallible because it began with man. This is infallible before it came from the very mouth of God. What is it not? A sola scriptura position. I want to make it clear that in that the term used in Latin is sola scriptura. And we're not saying this evening that a person can pick up this Bible and peruse through its pages and attempt to practice its message and arrive then at a safe position in Christ Jesus. I want to, in that case, be careful that you understand that there is no life within me apart from being born by the Spirit of God into the family of the Lord. And so I want you to understand, if I may just use so tonight, a difference between the way I intend for the rest of this evening to use the terms Word of God and Scripture. By Scripture I mean what is here that would give you some direction and guidance for life. And you could, by the powers of your flesh. And there have been monasteries across this country and across the world, I don't care if they're Nestorians or who all they have been across the history of this world, who have tried to take this book, have tried to take these letters, have tried to make them applicable in their life. But they resulted in being a valley of dry bones, void of life and breath. There was no life in them. They had a dead limit. They did not have the Spirit to quicken us and give us life. In this regard, I'll quote from an Anabaptist brother, if I may. Here is a man about to be murdered, about to be tortured to death. He was talking to his inquisitor. This man, Jacques, asked his inquisitor, Point Blank, whether he had the Spirit of God in his heart so that he would know the things of the Spirit. The inquisitor replied, No, I will not answer this. Meaning that he was not willing to be confronted with that question. You have the Spirit of God in your heart. Jacques knew that to have ever so much word knowledge, to take this Bible and try to follow it, apart from faith that comes from the living Spirit within us, will not produce the fruit that God has desired. And so we're looking for, we're explaining tonight, the Word of God, which is ever and forever accompanied by His Spirit. For Jesus told us that He shall take the things of mine and show them unto you. When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. And so a book like this, a message, a sermon, apart from God's Spirit quickening your heart tonight and descending upon you as a Spirit descending does and being received in your heart, will not make this Word alive in you. What is it not? When I talk about a soul's scriptural position number two, it is not a lack of discipline. Oh, you don't believe in a standard then. Oh, you people believe in liberty. Oh, you people believe in lucidity. You don't believe in discipline. No, we don't believe in a lack of discipline. I would challenge any one of you this evening to take your Bible, open it to the very first words of Christ, the very first words that He utters, and ask yourself whether your life matches the simple teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ as He gives them to us, for instance, in the Sermon on the Mount. I would ask anyone here to examine your heart to see whether you esteem everybody else in this building tonight better than yourself. I would ask you to examine whether or not you consider, excuse me, whether you love your neighbor as yourself. But Jesus made the requirement even higher than that. He said, love as I have loved you. Oh, there's no one in this room that loves yourself tonight as much as Christ has loved you. We're not asked only to love others as that puny and soulless love and carnal love that we can dig up within ourselves. But we are told to look at the way Christ loves and love just that way. It's one more thing that you cannot do apart from the Spirit of God be within your heart. It is not a non-disciplined way. We had a lesson here some time ago about this view of discipleship. You heard what the brother said about looseness here. He was just up here 15 minutes ago. It's not a matter of throwing off those restraints which bring us in, which hold us into gospel order and gospel simplicity. It's rather a perfect life and challenge and joy and freedom in it. I want to deviate the next section of this outline by just asking you a question tonight. I don't care how plain you are or how plain you're not or how rigid your life is regulated by some system or code of conduct or standard or call it what you will. But I want to ask you this question this evening. Jesus was a need-meter. I ask you, in the name of the Lord Jesus, when you meet a soul with spiritual needs, under temptation, under the burden of sin, in spiritual difficulty, mind in turmoil, spiritually confused, call it what you will, do you have in your heart the spiritual equipment, the grace of God, the living life to minister to that soul, or do you not? Are you able to take that one, that soul, that person, and lift them on, preach them on to a higher and nobler walk with God? Are you able to challenge his heart that he feel refreshed and revived and challenged and quickened because of those moments he spent in your presence? Is that soul encouraged onward? How do you minister to that need? Dear brothers and sisters tonight and all those of you present here this evening, if you don't have the spiritual capacity, the spiritual joys and love to minister to these demands, you need a visitation of the Holy Spirit in your heart. I don't care what the external business looks like. And I am satisfied to include into the family of God. I am satisfied to include into the body of believers, all those who meet that qualification. They have life to minister to the needs of man. And I'm not talking only about putting a dollar bill in someone's wallet or filling their gas tank or giving them a bag of potatoes. I'm talking about ministering to the spiritual needs of man, something that cannot be done apart from the Spirit of Christ. For all this other business, there's plenty around us that can take care of. I want you to know, I don't care how good a farmer you are. There are people a nicer can that can farm better than you can. I don't care how good a hog raiser you are or a jerryman you are. There are people around here that will do the job better than you. But there are those things that cannot be done better than what a child of God anointed by the Spirit can do them. And in those things, the Bible teaches us to excel to the edify of the body of Christ. And brethren, that is criteria number one for entry into the household of faith. Let every soul be examined on that basis. I say, sola scriptura is not a lack of discipline. By the time you're late, conforms to that requirement. Conforms to the ministration of grace and the life of a man. By the time your life meets that requirement, you will not be an undisciplined person. You will be broken and contrite and an earthen vessel which contains a treasure, the ecstasy of the power of which is of God and not of man. The Anabaptist was born because of their thirst for the scriptures. Because, as Simon Stokes said, as is quoted on the back of your program under this evening's topic discussion, Mr. Ulrich, you have not the right to leave this matter to the council. The matter is already decided. The Spirit of God decides it. And he was not talking to some vision or dream. He was not talking about some supposed revelation that he expected was going to come his way. He talked about what the Spirit of the Lord has shown him from this passage, from this word, which cannot be understood apart from spiritual discernment that God gives to those who love him. One Anabaptist brother said that he expects and hopes to be able to learn 100 chapters from the New Testament by memory. Do you know that when Jacob D. Roy was in discussion and in confrontation with Friar Cornelius, the discussion was something like this. The Catholic inquisitor was telling him, strange thing you are. You pick for vendors and tinkers and room makers and factors and weavers. You have no education. But as soon as someone takes a little bottle of oil, and you get a drink out of it, misunderstanding Anabaptist practice in a terrible manner, all of a sudden you learn how to read. And he said, if the devil and his mother do not have a part in this matter, I don't know anything about you people. And dear brother Jacob quietly assured the man that you are right. You know nothing about that. For you ascribe to the devil that simple process whereby we teach our people how to read. Why did they teach their people how to read? Because they knew that for a man to live, he had to understand and draw light from the source of this book here. I'm not satisfied. If you're depending upon this meeting to meet your spiritual needs, I'm afraid you'll sink till we see you again. If you're depending upon a gospel presentation, regardless of how clear and life bringing it might be, to minister to your soul, I want you to know that I cannot take a breath tonight of air. I cannot eat a meal tonight that should last me until next week at this hour. But life with God is a continual communication, a continual fellowship, a continual breathing, a continual feasting, as Christ our Passover already sacrificed for us. Yet they taught their people to read. I'm marveled at that. In illiterate Europe, under persecution, how did they take time for it? I know a little bit about school work. I know how hard it is to teach a child to read. How do you teach an adult to read in conditions like that? It goes to show, brothers and sisters, the regard and respect these people have for the Word of God. I would like you to speak to the Bible tonight and to quote some history. I was asked to teach some history this evening. And so if you'll bear patience with me, I'm going to just give you a couple of quotations to show you the position I'm going to hold forth before you at the close of this discussion this evening concerning my vision for the return to the Scripture-only position is not something we concocted ourselves. It is something we believe we can substantiate from God's Word, and it is that which has always stood the test of history back here 450 years ago, as we practice in the present time in some of the persecuted areas of our world. We hold that all things should be proved to ascertain what is founded on the Holy Word of God, for this will stand when heaven and earth pass away, as Christ Himself said. Michael Sattler, in prison waiting his terrible death, wrote to the congregation back home in words like this, 1527, And let no man remove you from the foundation which is laid through the letter of the Holy Scripture, and is sealed by the blood of Christ and the many witnesses in Christ. Here's an interesting note. A father writing to his young, unconverted, and innocent children before his death. They hopefully will have this letter in their possession when they come to the years of accountability, and are able to take this letter from their father, who is now deceased, and read it. Here's what it says. My children, how you are to love God, the Lord, how you must honor and love your mother, and love your neighbor, and fulfill all other commandments required of you by the Lord in the New Testament will teach you. Whatever is not contained therein, believe not, but obey everything that is embraced in it. And right before he was taken out to die, he turned to those persons responsible for his death and said, You citizens bear witness that we die for no other reason than for the true word of God. There's some young children here this evening. I want to just give you a little encouragement. Some of you here love the gospel truth, and you love to hear good preaching. I know there's some here like that tonight. And you love the Lord, and you love to sing. I know there's some children here like that this evening. And you probably wonder, when will I be brought into this family of God? When will I become part of this household of faith? You children in that category, I want to talk to you this evening just for a little while. Here's a little child, a young, I don't know how old he was. We don't have his age. He was brought before the civil Lord. How came it, they asked, that he, that is, the church leader, the itinerant apostle, that came around from farmhouse to farmhouse, from wood thicket to wood thicket, from cave to cave, and ministered to the gathered saints, otherwise scattered as he passed through his journey. They referred to him when they said, that he did not baptize you. The boy, a mere lad, yet a dear child, replied, My Lords, when the teacher presented the faith to me, and had questioned me, he well perceived that I was still young in understanding, and bade me search the scriptures still more. But I desired that it be done. That is, he desired that baptism take place. He then asked me whether I knew that the world puts to death and burns such people. I replied, I know it well. He then said to me, Hence I pray you that you have patience for this time until I come another time. Search the scriptures, and ask the Lord for wisdom, for you are yet a youth. What a challenge! What a testimony! I'm sure that as that traveling evangelist moved along to the next place, I'm sure he had his heart and eyes marking the spot, when once again he would return to that place to see if that boy would be there. But that boy was not there. He was killed. He died before the water that caused his outward face. Why? For he held to nothing other than this living word. Now what else are you holding to tonight? I have a lot of other quotations here from history, and I don't feel led to read them. Be impressed, brethren and sisters, friends and whoever you are that are present here tonight. It doesn't matter what the Anabaptists did, what they didn't do. It does not matter tonight what the Anabaptist position was. It does not matter what the Mennonite position is tonight. It does not matter what the church's position is, what the hierarchy's position is tonight. It does not matter. There's only one thing that matters. It matters what the Bible position is on every subject. I say, let all other voices, including my own, be judged by what is here. In that regard, I read these following words by both Ezra Hubmeier. Zwingling pointed to the authority of the church as sufficient authority for infant baptism. But Hubmeier answered, you must ask the scriptures, not the church. For Hubmeier, the scriptures must always be over the church and not the reverse. The church is under the judgment of the scriptures. Hubmeier put it this way, if I did not believe the gospel, I would never believe the church since the church is built on the gospel. So Christ says, thou art Peter, and on this, that is, the faith that thou believest and professest, the faith that thou believest and professest, I will build my church. Therefore, we must first be instructed in the word of God, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, that on this foundation we may build gold, silver, and precious stones. That is faith and profession. Thirdly, the church is based on this, our faith and profession, and not our faith in the church. We taught that as good as we could back a few weeks ago, but on the proclaimed word of God, that God himself is and has become man. This is clear to me tonight. I trust it's of challenge to you. One more note on Anabaptist history before I move on to a more spiritual, New Testament discussion. The Anabaptists did not believe in a flat Bible. What do I mean by a flat Bible? They believed in the progress of doctrine. That God revealed himself in sundry times, in diverse manners, spake unto the Father, by the prophet, but hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath made heir of all things. And there was a time when the hardness of man's heart required a law to be engraved upon stone, and for a mountain to shake, and for lightning and thundering to take place, and for the darkness and tempest to come. There was a time when a veil needed to be over a man's face. We read it this evening in 2 Corinthians 3. But you're not come to such a mountain that quakes and trembles, but you're come unto man's Zion. There's a progress of doctrine. There is a requirement that is held forth for us in the New Testament that was not required back here. And it was that basic misunderstanding of how there's a higher law required, a higher possibility, a higher prerogative, a higher privilege, a higher freedom for the children of God, in this our time, that what was possible there to lead to such things as this, as such monstrosities, such caricatures, such mutations, if you please, as this in church life. The polygamy, divorce and remarriage, red-handed war, the swearing of oaths, priesthood. It's because men do not realize that we have moved away from the tights and shadows into a perfect fulfillment realization of the coming of Christ. And so we do not build Christian practice tonight upon what we find in the Old Testament, but rather upon what we find in the New Testament. Jacques replied, the law of Moses was not our guide, but the teachings of Christ. What was commanded in the law is not commanded in the gospel of Christ. And so he's trying to tell this Catholic man here that we are to hold to a position that's of the New Testament. Come together often, a letter to a persecuted church. If you cannot all meet at once, let half come, or even a quarter. When you read, read mostly in the New Testament and the Psalms. You must know that God spoke to the Jews through Moses and the prophets in a hidden manner. But when Christ himself came, he and his apostles eliminated all things with a much clearer understanding. Christ said quite openly that the law and all the prophets are summed up in these two commandments. Love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. Although it is good to read in the prophets and in the books of the kings and in Moses, it is not really necessary. One finds everything in the New Testament. Another quote. He showed his people a new covenant which they would need if their righteousness were to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. I'd like you to have your Bibles. Jerome is chapter 9. In the Sermon on the Mount is chapter 5 of Matthew. Jesus six times between verses 17 and 48 took six standards that were established by the Old Testament law and placed upon them the gift of grace, the ministry of faith and spirit and called forth a standard there. And those six simple words, those six simple thoughts called forth there a dogma, called forth there a position that a man cannot possibly live apart from the Spirit of God within his heart. Keep that in mind as we look at chapter 9 of Romans and read verses 30 to 33. What shall we say then? That the Gentiles which follow not after righteousness have attained in righteousness even the righteousness which is of faith. That Israel followed after the law of righteousness. Excuse me, but Israel which follows after the law of righteousness hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith. But as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at that stumbling stone as it is written. The old island Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. We said it according to what we've done about this brethren. The same words Jesus gave in that fifth chapter. Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now what was Jesus talking about? I want to make something clear here this evening. Jesus Christ recognized the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. He knew there was a degree of righteousness there and recognized it and gave credence to it. But he said your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. What was he talking about? There is a degree of external righteousness and external sobriety and external holy living that the Pharisees described to you. And Christ recognized that. It's for that reason he said they sit in Moses' feet and they give you some orders and some commandments that are for you to follow. But he said your righteousness must exceed that. Why? Because you must have in your heart the nature of God planted that will bring forth freedom to God which is what they did not have. And so he's telling us here that there is a people who never were taught the law as the Jews were taught it. They were taught how to ascribe to a certain code of conduct and how to regulate their lives by some external means to bring them into some holy walk with God. They never were taught that. But lo and behold they got Christ in their hearts and fruit came forth and they fulfilled the righteousness of God. Now here's a simple illustration. You might have a you might have a person that is given some external regulation. You can name it what you will. I don't care what it is. I don't really feel responsible when I feel it's wise to call attention to a particular one. But some regulation we're going to impose upon you and we've taught this child, this young person, this now young adult, this position, this condition from little one up. And so there came a time in life when they made the external change and took upon themselves the form of this conformity. You know what I'm talking about. When their lives weren't changed, their hearts were sane, there they are living in sin. But they have some kind of external position about them. They're trying to fulfill, they're trying to find the righteousness which is of the law. Lo and behold, over here you have somebody who has never taught these things, from little up never knew anything about it. But they had Christ born in their hearts and they were driven by that same spirit which drives every man to search this book. And there they found such simple teaching that now a child of God should be separate from the fashions of this world and live a modest and childlike and Christlike life. And they deserve it with all their hearts. And you see, immediately some changes start to take place within themselves. And they might not come up to or come out at the same place with this regimented regulated care that brought it. But lo and behold, the fruits of righteousness are there. We stand back and marvel, we can't understand it. How did it happen? Well, the faith of Lord Jesus Christ brings forth fruit unto God. Romans chapter 8, if you go one page back in your Bible, or forward, says this so very well. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not view, in that it was weak to the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and foreseeing condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. That verse challenges me to say something to you tonight. Do you have your ears tuned? Do you get every word here? I can come to you, apart from this book, apart from the life-giving message, and give you some kind of external condition whereby you can subscribe or enter into some communion, into some brotherhood, into some organization. And I can write these things down. There can be five of them, there can be five hundred of them. And I want you to know that every thing that I can give you to do before I receive you into this fellowship or church or group or whatever you call it, I want you to know, while you listen tonight, that you can do every one of those things by the power of your flesh. You need no Spirit of God to do any of those things. This is a sobering thought, and yet there you are. Well, you say, look, look, look, I've been brought under your control. I'll tell you what you remind me of, you carnal person. You're a saved soul living in that condition. I'll tell you what you remind me of tonight. You remind me of a lion in a zoo at Philadelphia. And there you are behind the door, and you've got a wall around you and a whole gin, and there you are in there, you look as tame as a kitten. But you've got a lion's heart in you. Let's open that door for a while. Let's let you loose. Let's turn you out and see if you're still a tame little kitten. You are what you are because of the law restraining you and holding you down. Turn loose and see if that heart is still conformed to holiness and discipleship and simplicity. Let the restraints be gone. Let the authority step aside for a while. Place you down in Egypt in Potiphar's house. Place you in Susa in the palace. Place you over there with Nebuchadnezzar with the three Hebrew children. And see how well it works there. This is what we mean tonight when we say that the sola scriptura position is not a lack of discipline. Oh, it's the discipline of the highest kind. I want you to know there's a tremendous difference between being restrained tonight or being concentrated. You're being held back and brought into order. You're like a dog at the end of a leash. But there's another way to live. It's possible to be constrained by the love of Christ working in your heart. Call and draw to him because of life within you. Are you experiencing that? This is the sola scriptura position as we understand it this evening. It is possible dear brothers and sisters and we love you tonight. Our hearts are out for you. We spent time in preparation for the souls that are here this evening. Dear brothers and sisters, it's possible for you to meet a savior without having met God. And there it is. The Valley of Dry Bones, chapter 37. The book of Ezekiel. And we ask this question. I ask you before Almighty God this evening. Can these bones live? I asked God that question not too many years ago about my own life. Can these dry bones live? The answer is yes. When once the breath of God blows upon those bodies and then there shall be life in them and they shall stand on their feet and they shall be a mighty army for our God. I call you. I invite you to experience the infilling of the breathing of Almighty God. The breath which blew, the wind which blew in chapter 2 of Acts. The word wind there, the blue in that chapter is the exact same word that Jesus used when the Bible says in chapter 20 that he breathed on them and said receive ye it all of you. That wind which blows, and you hear the sound of the trumpet, cannot tell for what to come, but the wind that goes, that is the breath of God which must blow into our hearts day by day. The man who says that prayer is the Christian's vital breath, understood what he was talking about. And there is no life apart from breathing and infilling the blessing of God. Why a sola scriptura position? Because it is this word that shall judge us in the final days. The words I speak unto you, they are spirit and life. The word which I have spoken shall judge him in that day. It is a foolish thing. You are foolish tonight. I am foolish tonight. If I regulate my life by anything except that which will someday judge me, I am a foolish man. For I shall stand here to be judged by this ever quickening word. And then all the excuses I can bring and all the kind words I can say and all the legality that I can bring to my support and education will suffice nothing if my life does not line up with this word. I am afraid of anything. I am afraid of anything that can eclipse from my coil of mind, and I've got a mind that's tending towards sin just like all of you have. I am afraid of anything that appeals to this coil of mind and give me a degree of security and give me the impression for a minute, give me the impression for a period of time that my life meets the requirements of God apart from this pure and living word that we find here. I am afraid to put in your hands this evening that which will give you a false sense of security that somehow you're right with God when actually this is far short of what this book is calling for. The love is not there. There is bitterness and anamorphosis and hatred in your heart. You don't know what it's like to go to bed at night with a perfectly free conscience towards everybody. And there we are, and yet somehow or another someone gave us a false assurance that we were right with God because of something they imposed upon our external. I am afraid of anything that will give us that position. So is Scriptura. What does it mean? It means the same thing that it meant to every one of those dear brothers and sisters of faith whose names are recorded in the eleventh chapter of Hebrew as the ones that say, by faith, by faith, by faith. And what did they do? I'll tell you what they did. Every one of them, by faith, opened their hearts to be obedient to one simple word of God, by faith. Know of being warned of God. How many times, you tell me, of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared in hearts and saved in his house. For which he condemned the world and became aware of righteousness which is by faith. How many times did Noah receive that message? That word of God came and he believed it and responded to it. Abraham, take this son, thy only son, and take him a three days journey to Moriah. And Abraham responded to that one word of God. And I know with you that he ministered to him in his tent. I know with you that the voice came all the way to him. I know with you that there were signs and wonders going on in those days that some of us have not seen in our time. If you haven't seen it, you haven't been in the right place. But every one of those folks, every one of those brethren, whose names, whose souls are now under that altar, are now part of that great chorus of angelic ones who praise and serve our God day and night. Every one of them are in the bliss and presence of God tonight because they obeyed one word from the Lord. Is that a reason why Adam and Eve fell and sinned? Because God gave them a simple word to obey. And they did not honor his word. They did not believe his word. That is why we take a sola scriptura position tonight. I know with you that any one of us who ever enters into the gates into the city will have done so because we studied and accepted and believed this word. And more than that, we had it written in the recesses of our hearts. I want to give you a challenge this evening. If you find anything in this book, in this New Testament, that is not part of your personal experience, I'll tell you what you need. There are others in this building tonight who have found verses in the Bible such as this. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds to Christ Jesus. They found verses like that. And they knew that their lives were not exemplifying that perfect peace. And they take this Bible and there it is on the floor and their faces down before God and plead and beseech his faith unto that hour come when perfect peace floods their souls. If you're not experiencing what this word of God teaches, you don't go on in that condition. You can write with God. Find out why it is the way it is. Every verse, verse by verse, this is why the child of God needs time to meditate. Come now to the scriptures, a verse or a short passage at a time. And look and let it pass judgment on your life as you go. I am afraid of anybody who needs anything besides the word of God to confirm and quicken and challenge and stimulate his faith. I don't care what kind of external signs you're looking for. Jesus calls you carnal. He said the wicked adulterous generation look for some external means to confirm their faith in God. They're not satisfied with that word which has been spoken. The word is the only basis for church authority. I want you to turn to Matthew 18. Verse 18 of Matthew 18. There are those who pick up a verse like this and prove that this is or indicate that this is proof that God like a puppet in glory is going to jerk around up there and bounce around in order to respond to what the church is doing here on earth. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask it to be done from them of my Father which is in heaven. May I simply explain to you tonight. Take it home like a study for yourself because this is God's word. If you have yourself the scriptures that ask that spirit which teaches all men 1 John chapter 2 verse 27 to anoint your understanding he will not disappoint you. And that is this. Don't you expect that I can run around here like all kinds of like all kinds of groups and peoples have done in years past and expect that God is going to honor all my petty decisions. And I have some kind of power like the Pope would claim to have that can move God in heaven. I want to give you an illustration. In the hospital of Columbia, some miles from here, not very far. My brother and I were there to give blood one evening and there was a Catholic girl who was a nurse student that evening and we were impressed immediately with the character of this girl and began to talk to her about the Bible. She said, you know, I began to question I began to question the validity of my faith and my position when this happened and she gave us this illustration. All the years I was going to the Brookfield School it was sin to eat meat on Friday. It was not a venial sin, it was a mortal sin. The Catholics put sin in those two categories. It was a mortal sin. And so she said we didn't eat meat because we knew that all those who would do so by decree of the church would be in hell. And we knew some kind of requiem mass or who knows what to ever get out of purgatory or somehow or another be free from this terrible torment they were in. But she said, my faith was shattered when a few years ago the Vatican decided to change the regulation concerning eating of meat. And she said the first question that came to my mind as she's talking to us as an honest speaker an honest person here before us, two brethren. She said, my first question was, what about all those people that are in hell tonight because they didn't eat until now? Well what was God supposed to do? Was God supposed to reverse the order? Pull those people out of hell now and put them into paradise because the Catholic Church changed the regulation? If you're going to take the position that whatsoever is bound on earth that God's going to bounce around in heaven and reproduce the same thing, you're standing on the same ground! I will tell you that God will bind in earth what is bound in excuse me, God will bind in heaven what is bound in earth if that which is bound lines up with His eternal Word of God. Who is of you that love your authority and you love your power and you love the investment of authority that someone has placed in you to call what you want to do? If for that reason you can bounce around and bounce God around and cause Him to do what you want Him to do, I want you to turn to John 20. I want to ask you why you're not teaching what the Catholic Pope also teaches from chapter 20 of John verses 22 and 23. And when he hath said this, he preached unto them and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, and whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. Now why don't you take that power upon yourself yet? The Catholics have their difficulty, they have their problem receiving the truth of that. As far as they understand it, they'll forgive you. When they forgive you, you're clear. If they hold your sins, you'll be held. But I want you to know that we consider a person a child of God because of the fruit of righteousness that comes from their lives. As God's Word teaches us, they will. On that authority, on that basis, we can go to a soul and say, I welcome you. I receive you into the household of faith. I see the fruits of God in your life. Your life is living in accordance with the doctrine of Christ. There is no authority apart from the Word of God. I'm not going to take time to read all these references tonight, but for those of you that came to learn, and I don't want to disappoint you, I want you to go home and do a little Bible study. I'm going to give you some references to study. You go home and check these out yourself. You can read 1 Timothy 4, verse 16, where the church through Paul is told to take heed to themselves and to their doctrines. For in doing this, they shall hate both themselves and them that hear. By having sound doctrines, you can set those passages as 1 Timothy 6.3 and 2 Timothy 3.16 where we learn that the Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is powerful for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, righteousness. And I heard this evening in your hearing that God will not share His glory with another, and God will not share that power or authority with any other. He has said there, what is the basis for reproof and instruction and righteousness? And there is no other. Study 2 Timothy 4.2 Study Titus 2.15 Study Hebrews 4.12 and add verse 13 with it, where that quickening storm, which is the Word of God, pierces, even dividing us under of soul and spirit. There is nothing else that I can preach here tonight that will quicken your soul apart from the Word of God. There is nothing else I can do, that can do it. I can get you conformed to some kind of outward extraneous externalism, but I cannot quicken your heart with anything else. Check 2 Peter 1.19-21 The verses are quoted here in your hearing about four weeks ago, where Peter says We have a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well to take heed. There is no other authority except that which comes from the Word of God through His people. I must close tonight. What then shall we do? How shall we then live? May I say a couple things in a practical way, as you turn your Bibles to 2 John. You might say, well where are our standards then? I hear that question in your hearts. Where are church standards? Where are rules and regulations? Is there no place for them? Did the church meet together in Acts 15 and issue some decrees for to keep and were they not then taken by the apostles, by missionary tours across the Europe? And was not the church strengthened when they had this extra guideline to go by? I urge you to join me in a study of that passage, and I will tell you what you will find. You will find there that a group of people coming out of Jewish traditionalism, meeting for the first time the impact of a Gentile world coming to Christ. Antioch becoming a central place for mission activity instead of Jerusalem. Missionaries being sent out because of prayer and fasting from Antioch. Across the Europe, the Gentiles come to light as the Jews reject the truth and Paul and Barnabas come back to Jerusalem. What shall we do? We've got Jewish people saying, we keep this, we keep this, we keep this, and these people cannot be possibly part of the family of God unless they're maintaining this degree of external condition. And what do they do there? Paul stands up and shows how mighty things are being done. Peter had already given witness to the same body of people in chapter 11 and asked what happened when he was down at Cornelius' house. And James the spokesperson stands up and asks some very notable words. He says, we can't deny something's happening here. The words of the prophets are being fulfilled. The Spirit of God is falling out upon the church. There's a new day here. We better take a fresh look at some of these things, brothers. And here's what they did. They took the entire body of Judaistic doctrine. They took the entire body of Jewish regulation and reduced it, dear brothers and sisters, to four simple areas and they said they wouldn't have done that but they did it why? They did it because there's still those who have heard Moses preached in all the synagogues this word is going out. And so they reduced it to four simple requirements. And before the New Testament is over, Paul himself, progress of doctrine I'm teaching tonight, I'm not teaching a flat Bible this evening, Paul, before the New Testament was over, took those, took those methods and told the church it's a matter of conscience only. And asked the church, and we had that lesson last Saturday afternoon, to give consideration to the person who still feels that he must abstain from that blood or from that meat that was offered to idols, call it what you will. Decrease were to keep. I'll tell you what they did. They gave out across the church those areas that we will still retain in light of the condition that we still have a lot of Jewish influence among us at the church. I am perfectly satisfied this evening to see this position taken. And I hold it before you tonight as something that has worked in history. We have the position, we have example of this from Acts chapter 15 and 16. The church is rejoiced by the way when they saw their liberation from Judaism, which is what the Jerusalem Conference was all about. I hold before you this challenge. And I am satisfied with this position. To see the brethren come together and teach none other than the doctrines and commands of Christ Jesus into the lives of all those who hear. Let the words take root implicitly by a very change of nature and heart within a man. And then let some issue come up that needs the discernment and spiritual grace and scriptural searching of a spiritual brotherhood and bring them together and let them consider of this matter and see calling upon God how they will be led in a decision and understanding of the present need. And by discernment and by spiritual direction and by a study and harmony by a searching of this word. Pray before God for an answer for this present situation. Just like was done in the Bible pattern. Oh, that is so different. Brethren, that is a world of difference between deciding aforehand what all these issues will be and passing them on to our people and saying and spiritual vitality and walk with God immediately out of the question. And here we are. We open ourselves up before the word and say, Lord, teach us. We are humble people tonight. We are needy creatures. But this is thy church and we want to build it upon the apostolic foundation of Jesus Christ and the apostles. We want this word to give us direction. What shall we do? Here we have a sister and she gives us this testimony. And she has some areas in her life we are not quite sure of. Lord, teach us how to minister to this need. I want to see that kind of church regulation. By this prophet of brethren concerned for souls enough to lay aside what they are doing and come together for to consider issue by issue, moment by moment. By this so all men know that you are my disciples when they see that kind of love that you have one for another right now for the present need. But John sums up the whole message when he says these words. Verse 9 of 2 John. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. Sola Scriptura This is the blood of the new testament. This is the new testament, the new covenant of my blood. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. I am satisfied with the Lord Jesus Christ and his life-giving word to be the part of my heart, the faith and motivation for my life. I want the doctrine of Christ in here. I am afraid of anything that would subtract from his Lord. Steal away Steal away Steal away to Jesus Steal away Steal away home I ain't got long to stay here Steal away Steal away to Jesus Steal away Steal away home I ain't got long to stay here Steal away Steal away home My Lord calls me He calls me by the thunder The trumpet sounds within of my soul I ain't got long to stay Green trees are bending Poor sinners stand trembling The trumpet sounds The trumpet sounds within of my soul I ain't got long to stay here