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Hartstone Men’s Retreat – 4/13/2013 – Pastor Doug Thompson

"God’s Final Word"

Jeremiah 23:25–31 25I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 26How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, 27who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal? 28Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. 29Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 30Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. 31Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’

Intro:Sola Scriptura vs. Sola Experientia – the current madness vs. the historic faith.

How firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!

What more can He say than to you He has said,

To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

That’s just another way of expressing the Reformation slogan: “Sola Scriptura!” Scripture alone is the foundation of our faith, and it contains all we need to know for salvation and holiness. So “What more can He say, than to you, He has said?”

A: Nothing more! God has said all He has to say to us in this Book. This is what Sola Scriptura means.

Q: Then is God still speaking to Christians today, apart from the Bible?

I’m going to tell you right up front, the answer is NO. NO. NO. Even though the majority of Christians today would say, “Yes.” You hear what I hear: “Oh, God spoke to me this morning. . . God gave me this neat verse . . . God showed me that I should quit my job – or go fishing . . . God gave me this song . . . ”Really? I read a survey that said that one in three American adults believe that God speaks to them directly. Henry Blackaby wrote “Experiencing God” which teaches Christians how to hear God’s voice. He says, “you come to know His voice as you experience Him in a love relationship. As God speaks and you respond, you will come to the point that you recognize His voice more and more clearly.” All apart from the Bible.

Bethel Church up in Redding is a hotbed for this stuff. They are into such weirdness that you can hardly even call it Christianity. I saw a Youtube the other day of their youth band Jesus Culture (which the youth in your churches listen to, by the way). The girl singer in the band rambled on for 20 minutes about meeting Jesus and what He said to her. He appeared like a cartoon character – literally – and it was the silliestnonsense I’ve ever heard. I don’t think she quoted Scripture once – she just had an experience, and a brand new word from Jesus, just for her! And 1000’s of kids were on the edge of their seats as she was telling them that what they needed in their lives was an experience like she had. Let me tell you, that’s an invitation to open yourself up to the doctrines of demons.

None of this squares with Sola Scriptura, but even so-called Reformed Christians are teaching that the gift of prophecy is still with us, and God is still speaking, apart from the Bible – that’s why Sovereign Grace churches have the “prophecy mic” at their services, just in case someone gets a fresh new word from God during the service.

I honestly believe that this might be the most serious issue the church faces today: think with me, if God is not giving new revelation today, then any so-called prophecy is a false prophecy, a misrepresentation of the God that Dr. Fox has been speaking to us about, and misrepresenting God is idolatry. This is what God said to Israel about those who would speak in His name when He had not spoken—

Ezekiel 13:9 9My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord God.

Men, this is a battle over the very foundation of our faith. Do we have a firm foundation or don’t we? What are the boundaries of our faith? Is it the Bible, or the Bible plus? We have to know.

Let me tell you: the Bible is God’s final Word to man.Yes, God still speaks authoritatively today in His Word--it is a living Word.But it is a complete Word and therefore, a finished Word. This means that He does not speak apart from this Word. The Bible you hold in your hands is God's personal selection of the special revelations He determined that the church would need until Christ returns. And if it is all we need, then there can be no new revelations from God.Listen to this statement from the Westminster Confession of Faith. It’s 350 years old, but it’s right on the money:

"The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequences may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men."

The Cambridge declaration, penned just a few years ago, says this:

"We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation, which alone can bind the conscience. We deny that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience can ever be a vehicle of revelation."

This is the historic, orthodox position of the church. Before we see what the Scriptures have to say about this, I want to show you what a mess we have when we allow for on-going revelation.

I. The fallacy of on-going revelation.

A. These revelations are often wrong.

Forty years ago, in my Jesus Freak days we were at the "Jesus House" praising God when a new girl walked in. My friend Steve walked up to her and said, "God just spoke to me and told me that He sent you to play the piano for us--hallelujah!" She said, "I don't play piano." We all just shrugged our shoulders and went on. God spoke, but He was wrong, “oh well?”

In 1974, David Wilkerson published a book called The Vision. It described all sorts of catastrophes that were supposed to happen in the next decade. They didn't happen. Oh well? And this is standard stuff for those who believe in contemporary prophecy, but God gave this test of a true prophet:

Deuteronomy 18:20–22 20But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ 21And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— 22when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

2. They are unverifiable--they can't be tested.

Have you ever asked a friend who claims to have had some private revelation, "How do you know that was God speaking? Could it have been your own imagination, or even the devil? How do you know it was God?"

The fact is, they don’t know, because all we truly know is what is contained in this Book. This is the canon, the test, the rule, the standard of truth. Experience is unverifiable. My eyes can deceive me, my ears can deceive me, but “Thy Word is truth.”D. Martin Lloyd-Jones said this—

Let us imagine I follow the mystic way. I begin to have experiences; I think God is speaking to me; how do I know it is God who is speaking to me? How can I know I am the victim of hallucinations . . . how do I know I am not being deluded by Satan as an angel of light in order to keep me from the true and living God? I have no standard. . . The evangelical doctrine tells me not to look into myself but to look into the Word of God; not to examine myself, but to look at the revelation that has been given to me. It tells me that God can only be known in His own way, the way which has been revealed in the Scriptures themselves.

This leads to another problem—

3. It does an end run on biblical counsel and Bible study.

A few years ago the wife of a well-known Pastor of a huge Southern Baptist Church divorced him. She said that while he was busy with his TV and radio ministries, and writing books, he had neglected her for years. When he was confronted by some of his deacons, he said: "The Lord told me to continue doing just what I am doing. . . If God wants me to move, He can move me instantly. . . If God tells me I'm finished at First Baptist, I'll move. I'm not going to step aside and step down in disobedience to God."

End of discussion. End of accountability. Just yesterday I read this from John Piper—

People who try to lead their lives by hearing voices are not in sync with Romans 12:2. There is a world of difference between praying and laboring for a renewed mind that discerns how to apply God’s Word, on the one hand, and the habit of asking God to give you new revelation of what to do, on the other hand. Divination does not require transformation. God’s aim is a new mind, a new way of thinking and judging, not just new information. His aim is that we be transformed, sanctified, freed by the truth of his revealed Word (Jn. 8:32; 17:17)

John Calvin wrote:“The fanaticism which discards the Scripture, under the pretense of resorting to immediate revelations is subversive of every principle of Christianity. For when they boast extravagantly of the Spirit, the tendency is always to bury the Word of God so they may make room for their own falsehoods.”

Jonathan Edwards hit the nail on the head: "As long as a person has a notion that he is guided by immediate direction from heaven, it makes him incorrigible and impregnable in all his misconduct." And it doesn’t matter what Scriptures you confront that person with, he has a higher authority, his own ‘private revelations.’ Just walk away.

4. God’s Word is undermined.

Mark it, the more a person pays attention to so-called new revelations, the more the Bible will lose its place in that person’s life. Why spend time in this old, boring Book when God can give you fresh new words! I remember another incident when I was a new Christian. I asked if I could read some Scripture to the other Jesus Freaks – Romans 10 – and the leader said, “Well, alright, butdon’t make it a habit – the Bible can quench the Spirit!”

When I worked for John MacArthur’s radio ministry, a young charismatic man wrote this in a letter:

"The greatest experience in love I have ever had was at the foot of the cross as the blood of Jesus Christ poured out over me. He filled me with His Spirit. He brought me across the veil into the City of Jerusalem into the Holy of Holies. There I beheld myself in Him, and He in me. I received the baptism as by fire and from this His love dwells in me. From this I have communion daily. I do not feel the need for study of the Scriptures, for I know Jesus as He has revealed Himself to me within; and as He dwells in me, there is the Word. I go to Scripture, and Scripture is vital and necessary--but neither central nor crucial, for I have Him--rather, He has me. Scriptures are a secondary source."

That’s not Christianity. That is paganism. Didn’t Jesus say that Satan snatches away the Word from people? That is exactly what happens when people “listen to the voice of God,” without their Bibles open.

One of the top-selling books today among so-called Christians is “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young. Listen to the description: “Jesus Calling is a devotional filled with uniquely inspired treasures from heaven for every day of the year. After many years of writing in her prayer journal, missionary Sarah Young decided to listen to God with pen in hand, writing down whatever she believed He was saying to her. . . . She knew her writings were not inspired as Scripture is, but . . .”

But what? She is saying what so many today are saying, “God still speaks, but not on the same level as Scripture.: I.e., There are two kinds of revelation from God, the inerrant, infallible kind, and the kind that’s not.”

I’ll get to that next, but this gal is making millions – from people who don’t want to read their Bibles when they can new words from Jesus. This is what she said:

“My journey began with a devotional book (God Calling) written in the 1930′s by two women who practiced waiting in God’s Presence, writing the messages they received as they “listened.” About a year after I started reading this book, I began to wonder if I too could receive messages during my times of communing with God.”

Well I did some research on this book, “God Calling.” This is what these two women said in the preface to their book of revelations from God:

“We felt all unworthy and overwhelmed by the wonder of it, and could hardly realize that we were being taught, trained and encouraged day by day by HIM personally, when millions of souls, far worthier, had to be content with guidance from the Bible.”

Those poor people who only have the Bible! Do you see what happens once you believe that God speaks apart from the Bible? And let me make it clear: This goes beyond being foolish to being blasphemy – which is claiming to speak for God when God hasn’t spoken. But instead of being stoned to death, Sarah Young is making a killing and misleading millions. *By the way, many of your wives read Beth Moore – she loves this book, and I know a major evangelical church in SR whose pastor and his wife both endorse this book. And let me say to you pastors, you have people in your church reading this poison. Don’t dance around this stuff, be clear, name names, warn your flock!

David Wells summed it up: “Granting the status of revelation to anything other than the Word of God inevitably has the effect of removing that status from the Word of God. What may start out as an additional authority alongside the Word of God will eventually supplant its authority altogether.”

II. The fact of finished revelation.

Men, I want to give you 4 reasons why the Bible is God’s final Word to man. The first reason I call—

A. Consistency.

Now I need to explain what I mean here. I mean that there is only one kind of revelation from God, it is inerrant, infallible, and it is now complete in the Bible.

People today are saying something different. They are saying yes, of course, the Scriptures are inerrant, infallible revelation from God, but now God is speaking in a different way; today, when a prophet speaks, he or she might make mistakes. The Old Testament prophets spoke the exact words of God, but beginning in the New Testament and continuing until today, the gift of prophecy isn’t like that. Amazing! Listen to the otherwise excellent theologian, Wayne Grudem:

“I have argued extensively elsewhere that ordinary congregational prophecy in New Testament churches did not have the authority of Scripture. It was not spoken in words that were the very words of God, but rather in merely human words. . . it has lesser authority . . . it does not threaten or compete with Scripture in authority but is subject to Scripture, as well as to the mature judgment of the congregation.

He wrote this—

"Prophecy can be impure; our own thoughts or ideas can get mixed into the message we receive. . . A person may hear the voice of the Lord and be compelled to speak, but there is no assurance that it is pollutant-free. There will be a mixture of flesh and Spirit."

"There can be a whole range of degrees of inspiration, from the very high, to the very low. . . One manifestation may be 75% God, but 25% the person's own thoughts."

Do you see what a hopeless situation this creates? If I am in church and someone stands up and gives one of these prophecies, am I only 75% obligated to obey it? What if I decide to obey the 25% that was wrong—and how do I know the difference? I use this illustration: if you had a brand new Costco-sized bottle of Tylenol, and you knew that only one out of the 500 tablets in there was cyanide—the other 499 were perfectly good—wouldn’t you regard the whole bottle as poison? The same should be true of so-called prophecies that could contain error.