One God Pt 1

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone. It is Tuesday, August the sixth, twenty twenty four. It is currently eleven eighteen am Central time. I apologize I have for some reason when I said August the sixth, I almost said twenty twenty three. I corrected that. You probably wouldn't have even noticed. But in my brain was like, why did I think it's twenty twenty three? Like is what made me? Where did the three come from? Right? So let's do that again. Good morning everyone. It is Tuesday, August the sixth, twenty twenty four. It is currently eleven eighteen am Central time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas.

0:57 That's one of the funny things about public speaking is you may get ready to say something and then you catch yourself and you correct it. Nobody, nobody listening even has a clue what's going on. But in your brain you're going, wait a minute, why did I just say that? What? Wait? Did I mess something else up? Like? What's good? You? And you start trying to process everything that's going on while at the same time you're trying to think about what you're going to say next. So sometimes, at least this is my theory. Not all public speakers would would would agree with this. Sometimes I think you just acknowledge, Hey, my brain was doing this, and then you just you just correct it. You just even though there's really nothing to correct, you just go ahead and acknowledge it, because once you acknowledge it, then in your brain you can now get back in your typical way of speaking. As you're speaking, you're thinking about what you're getting ready to say next, as you're thinking you're getting ready to say you you then can get back in that flow because if anything messes it up, then then there's at least a period of time where it seems awkward, at least in your own mind. So, yes, for some weird reason, I was going to say, it's twenty twenty three. Have no idea why. That's one of those things that happens, But it is very much twenty twenty four. Maybe I wish it was twenty twenty three. No, not really, I was twenty twenty three better than twenty twenty four. I don't. No, I think I'm happy it's twenty twenty four, and before we know it will be twenty twenty five. But before we get to twenty twenty five, we have a challenge in place, right, we have a challenge in place for

2:29 the year of twenty twenty four. And remember what that challenge is. In fact, now I gave you the challenge initially at the end of twenty twenty three, but all of twenty twenty four is all about the Sermons two point oh app. The Sermons two point oh app. You're supposed to download the Sermons two point oh app and then we have the Sermons two point oh app sermon Challenge, where every single day you open up the Sermon's two point oh app and you do what you choose a random sermon. Sometimes I'm giving you very specific things to look for, sometimes giving you very specific things to listen to. But for the most part, every single day you're listening to a sermon from the Sermon's two point oh app.

3:11 You write down the sermon, the name of the church, and then you write out a summary of what that sermon was about, what was the goal. By the time we get to the end of twenty twenty four, you have a notebook filled with one sermon for every single day of the year. Now, some days you may be listening to five sermons to make up for the days that you did not listen to any. But hopefully, when it's all said and done, it really works out that you basically have one sermon for every day of twenty twenty four. Now, what will that mean, I don't know. Is it going to mean you're better off spiritually? Hopefully? Is that you've gained a lot of knowledge. I think I think we can be absolutely sure of that you've gained a lot of knowledge. You've definitely heard a lot of what's going on in churches and how churches are handling Word of God in preaching, and you probably will be able to It will be interesting when it's all said and done. I mean, I don't even know how many people are actually participating, but it will be interesting by the end of the year to see people try to assess what they gained from participating in the challenge.

4:20 Hopefully it will prove to be very beneficial. Now, as a part of that challenge, for this week, you're supposed to be listening to the twenty twenty four Salt and Light Conference. I think there's currently thirteen sermons in the series, the twenty twenty four Sault and Light Conference. It was held at Tyler Primitive Baptist Church. This Tyler Primitive Baptist Church, the twenty twenty four Salt and Light Conference, you're supposed to be listening to it and remember this entire conference for twenty twenty four. Their focus was Ephesians chapter four, verse five. Ephesians chapter four, verse five, where we read these words one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and in you all. That is the focus of the conference.

5:17 So I challenged you a part of our other, a part of the sermon's two point oh app challenge, I guess necessarily challenge. I'll say I gave you an assignment as a part of your challenge that all of this week, it's Ephesians chapter four. Read it, read it, read it, and read it as you're listening to those sermons. And then I came along and said, well, since this is Ephesians chapter four, and Ephesians chapter four begins with the word therefore, then we're going to have to spend some considerable amount of time kind of looking at the structure of Ephesians. What is the therefour four And what we identified is this that the therefore in Ephesians four one is a transi traditional therefore because it's transitioning from the philological exposition to the practical exposition. The practical exposition and Ephesians four, five, and six flows from the philological exposition, which teaches us that our theology must ultimately be worked out in a practical way, right in a practical way.

6:24 And so many times our practical living out our theology actually demonstrates that our practical living things out in many cases is actually contradictory to the theology we hold. And so what we want is a practical living out to the theology in a consistent way. And I'm not just talking about well, you know, we sin and we felt. I'm talking about just being radically inconsistent with your theology in very practical ways. And we talked about that yesterday. We spent almost I think we spent almost an hour looking at the structure of Ephesians, looking at the thilological exposition, and then trying to see how it plays out practically. So what I challenged you to do as you're reading Ephesians four. Everything in Ephesians four you need to stop and go Okay, now, wait a minute, how does this connect to the philological exposition of Ephesians Chapter one, two, and three. For example, when it says, I, therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called with all lowliness? Okay, what is it about the philological exposition that should bring us a lowliness of mind, a lowliness of attitude? So then you'll connect it there, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Now, I don't know if in this conference they do that.

7:43 I don't know if they are like, Okay, here's what we're covering in Ephesians four, but we're going to constantly demonstrate how this is flowing from the philological exposition and chapters one, two, and three. I don't know if they're going to do that, because, as you know, when I review sermons, I don't listen to them first. So I've challenged everyone to listen to the all the sermons for the twenty twenty four saltan Light Conference. So guess what, I need to get busy listening to them. So I've grabbed the first one, and I'm like, well, i'll listen to it with you live on the air. I think that's a good idea. So are you ready. Let's listen to it together. Well, I'll offer critique analysis, I will offer agreement or disagreement. I will offer counter perspective, and hopefully by by the time i'm done, well you've heard their message, you've heard my critique, and you can draw your own conclusion. All right, so are you ready? Hopefully that was Okay, that's about an eight minute review. There's a lot more I could say there, there's a lot more, but there you go. And also, I know I also give you another assignment on the words salt and light, but we won't get into that right now. We'll pick an appropriate time and how to work on that. I'm still thinking about what to do with that. I've given you an assignment, but I won't do I won't say anything about that here, but trust me, I have not forgotten that assignment either. We've got a lot going on. Okay, so here we go. The one thing we can we can't worry about all the things we have to do.

9:15 We can only focus on what we can do. And what we can do right now is grab one of the first messages from the twenty twenty four Salt and Light Conference. It's on Efusion, chapter four, verse five. We're going to see how they handle the verse, and I'm going to see how they handle it in light of the therefore that starts the very chapter. Are you ready? Here we go. I want to be mindful of your time where I preach. I have a clock to look at, so I'll adjust and use my phone. But anyway, I'm honored and humbled to be here, and thank you for your invitation. Let's pray, Holy Father, you know the congregation, you know the minister, and you know that we need you. We can have a little say, we can go through our worship, and

10:47 we can be as you describe the congregation at Corinth that want, upon one occasion that they came together for the worse and not the better. We don't want to do that, and so we ask for your divine presence on us all for your honor and your glory in Jesus' name. Amen. Brother Joseph has already read the text, and so I won't reread it for you. My part is to according to the schedulest talk to one regarding one God and one father of all. However, this section tells us how that a congregation is to be unified.

11:50 Okay, so all right, this is somewhat interesting. He's saying that this section is telling us how a congregation is to be unified. Now, remember Ephesians four to one has the therefore this is a transition. So the transition is we've gone from the theological exposition to now the practical exposition. Now just remember therefore, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you. Now he's begging them, pleading with them, teaching them, calling them to himself to beseech them, to encourage them, to challenge them to do certain things. But it flows from the philological exposition that came before. So I'm gonna pull up everything from the philological exposition from all of my notes yesterday. Okay, And if you remember, if you remember, if we go all the way back, remember if we kind of do a summary of Ephesians chapters one through three. Remember, chapter one is about the spiritual blessings in Christ. Chapter two, Paul explains how believers were dead in their sins but made alive in Christ by grace through faith. Paul emphasizes that Christ has broken down the dividing wall between you and gentile, creating one new humanity and reconciling both to God. I think this is in Ephesians two. I think it's eleven through twenty

13:21 two Ephesians two, starting in verse eleven. Therefore, remember that you want that you once gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands. But at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He himself is our peace who has broken, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation. So are unity comes from our redemption in Christ that is laid out in the philological exposition in Ephesians two. So now he is saying that in Ephesians four, the section is about how are we to be unified? Well, is it how we are to be unified? Or is it beseeching them to be unified, or that unity should now manifest itself in a practical way. As a result of the philological exposition in Ephesians two, which gave us the philological basis for our unity. We are unified in Christ Jesus.

14:39 So maybe we could argue this way. In our position in Christ, there is perfect unity. And if you are in Christ and I am in Christ, we are perfectly unified in Christ. We are one in Christ. There's neither jew gentile, there's neither male or female. No, it doesn't matter, race doesn't matter, culture doesn't matter anything, because we are one in Christ. We stand perfect in His imputed righteousness. We are declared perfect because of His imputed righteousness. We stand there perfectly unified, perfectly blessed, perfect, holy and righteous. But now that positional unity has to be made manifest, or we seek to make it manifest in a practical way.

15:27 So is he going to tell us how we're to be unified or is this going to be simply the challenge to be unified. Well, let's see how he handles this. Remember this was written to a congregation, and the Body is speaking of the congregation in all reality, and so the passage bearish testimony of Christian unity. We live in a day when people try to have e communical unity of various kinds and sorts. But you cannot be unified unless you are unified on the truth of the scriptures and the truth of the Gospel. And there.

16:15 Now see, you can't be unified unless you're unified on the truth of the scriptures, are unified about the Gospel. Now gonna, I'm gonna challenge this a little bit. Now we are unified in Christ Jesus period like, there is perfect unity in Christ. That's our positional unity. Practically, it's easy to say, well, we can't have any unity unless there's unity about the Word of God and unity about the Gospel. But here's the thing. Nobody agrees on the Word of God, nobody agrees on the Gospel, nobody agrees on anything. So so then then unity becomes very difficult. People have a hard enough time agreeing inside the church.

16:57 Now we should so on one thing. We have to We have to rely on the fact that we are unified in Christ Jesus. He's broken down that wall of separation. We are now one, neither June nor gentile, because we are in Christ Jesus. That is spiritual unity, practical unity. I guess you could say, well, there can be no practical unity unless we agree on this or this or this or this. But even if you say agree on the Word of God or agree on the Gospel, then you've got to say, well, what must I agree with you on the Word of God about? All right? Just what the Word of God is or on an interpretation of it the gospel? Well, who gets to define then what the gospel is? Is it the Calvinist? Is it?

17:37 The Armenian? Is it? Lordship? Is it non lordship? Who gets to who gets to? Who gets to? Is it? Pelagian? Semi Pelagian, Augustinian like? Who gets to decide? That becomes much more complicated. All right, but all right, let's see, let's see where he's going to go here. Therefore, congregational unity to be based upon unity accordingly, and. I understand congregational unity in a practical way. But here's what I think we should do. The congregational unity is first needs to be understood that we are one in Christ Jesus. We need to cling to our positional unity, right because because so many times our practical unity can disintegrate and fall apart relatively quick. Right, So, but we can say wh whoa whoa whoa whoa whah. All right, we disagree. We may never agree on this, but can we agree that we are one in Christ Jesus. Now how that should play out? And practically? Okay? But so I think he's looking very much at the practical application.

18:49 But he's not. He's not. Again. Therefore, if this section is about how about unity, this unity has to flow from the unity taught in Effhesions two, from the philological perspective, which is our spiritual one. That I'm gonna I'm gonna really emphasize that over and over, because as you go through Ephesians four, I want you to connect everything to the philological exposition in one, two, and three. I'm gonna, I'm just gonna. I'm gonna. You're gonna get tired of hearing me say that. All right, So here we go. Let's let's see how he he he maps all of this out. Uh. Also, there to have agreement in the congregation and to have a congregation functioning together must be according to the majority. When Paul wrote to the congregation at Carnate UH and talking about one who was disciplined. He was disciplined by the majority. And I bring that up because and Brother Zach probably remembers this. When Brother Poe Uh and Grace Chapel was constituted, he spoke about having unity within the congregation and he said that if say you vote on something and the majority rules, which well you're supposed to be scripturally.

20:19 Okay, the majority rules. Then in scripture the concept is that the majority rules. Wow, okay, all right, I'm going to all right, I'm gonna I'm gonna do something here. I'm going to grab I'm gonna grab what do I have? Okay, I can't grab my note Well, I'm gonna grab my notebook here, I'm going to grab my notebook, my journal, actually my leather bound journal. Love this thing. I'm going to use this, and I'm going to I'm gonna I'm gonna write something down because I think this is an interesting discussion, right, I'm going to write down as a question.

21:06 Does the Bible teach majority rule? Does the Bible teach the idea that the majority rules that that's how you that's how you come to the conclusion. Is it's based off the majority? All Right, I'm gonna. I'm gonna, let's let's ask Ai. I don't know if AI can be of much assistance here, but I'm going to ask it. Okay, So I'm going to ask. Does the Bible teach majority rule?

21:52 All right? You see here? Yeah, that does not help me very much here. All right, let's say it this way. Does the Bible teach the majority is right? All right? The Bible does not teach that the majority is always right. In fact, there are numerous instances where the majority is depicted as being in the wrong, and where following God's will requires going against the majority. Noah's arc Israelites in the wilderness, many prophets, Jesus teaching early Christians. All right.

22:41 So these examples illustrate the Biblical teaching emphasizing faithfulness to God and his commands over conformity to the majority views or practices. So with in a congregation, now this gets very complicated with in a congregation, does the majority rule? If a decision is being made, and let's say you have a congregation of say one hundred and seventy of the one hundred, say this is the right way. Now, maybe if it's not a scriptural issue, maybe if it's like which carpet to get, we're gonna do this with the building, We're gonna do that. Like there's not really a scriptural issue. Then I think you would say then the majority would rule because you kind of you if you're especially if you're congregating. Well, wet's see. Now this is kind of interesting because it wouldn't it depend on your church form of government. If it's congregational, lad, then the majority would determine right. Doesn't mean the majority would be right. If it's elder led, then it would be with the majority of the elder say, not what the majority of the congregation wants correct if it's led by Oh, this could get into a lot of interesting discussions here, but I think just from a I think it's very I think we at least need to distinguish this the Bible nowhere, and I agree with the AI here and the illustrations that give. I don't think the Bible in any way would in shape or form, would say the

24:13 majority is always right or the majority is the source of truth, because in many cases the majority is completely wrong. It's the minority that is right. But I think what we would have to say is that the Bible determines what's right and wrong, not majority or minority. Now, the only problem with that is nobody can agree on what the Bible actually says. So then the majority could be right, the minority could be right. You don't know who could be right, because well, everyone thinks they're right in their own eyes. So then just becomes complicated. I guess if you're not not scriptural issues, then I guess you would rely on the majority. If I guess if you're a congregational led type church, right in my opinion.

24:56 But anyway, the majority rules, then the do not say well they got their way. The minority's attitude should be, well, that's what they want, that's what I want to And when Brother Poe said that, I never will forget that always made a lasting impression upon me. All right. So in the church, according to this theory is that if the majority wins, if the majority wins, If the majority wins, then at least, according to this view, if the majority wins whatever issue there is, the minority should be should not just simply say well the majority won.

25:44 The minority should say, well, I'm glad this is what I want to. So if the majority wins, the minority just like that's what I want to and just immediately goes along with it. Now that sounds great in theory. Again, I think you have to be very careful how you articulate this. Right, if it's scriptural issues, I don't think you can just go, well, the majority said this, so this is what I want. The Bible would completely contradict that. But I guess if it's in non scriptural issues, right about what we're going to do this, or we're going to do this, or we're going to do this, or we're going to do this. But almost no matter what issue you face in the church, someone could come along and make it a scriptural issue, could they not. I mean, there's very few things that you can do in a church that someone would not then say, well, this is a biblical issue based on this scripture. I think you're wrong.

26:36 All right. I don't know what any of this has to do necessary with Ephesians four, as far as any of the texts he's supposed to be looking at. But if this is about unity, his argument is unity. Now again, the unity should be based off I'm going to go back therefore the unity whatever, if unity is going to be discussed here it has to be linked to the philological exposition of chapters one, two, and three, and the thiological exposition teaches a spiritual unity because we are in Christ. Now, how does that play out in practical ways? Well, his argument so far is basically majority rules. That's how you have unity. You have a majority, they make a decision.

27:22 The minority then says that's what we want to They simply go along with all Right, let's see. I don't I think this is just almost maybe a deal. This may be actually not help me. I don't think this is where he's going. So maybe he's just kind of throwing this in, which is going to kind of be frustrating because we almost just need to stop here and have this discussion. But you can, you can think out how all this would possibly play out in a in a in a practical way, let's see where he goes with this. But also the majority shouldn't say, well, we got our way. They should be supathetic to the minority. In other words, the purpose of congregation of worship is for the honor and the glory of God. It's not for individual personalities.

28:16 It's for the honor and glory of God. And Paul was writing this to the congregation at Ephesis for this purpose. And therefore he said that they were to walk worthy of the vocation with what they were called, and to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Another thing that I might say, and I know that I'm going to have to rush home, because I've got more down here than I can. They should endeavor to keep the unity of peace. But I think they endeavor based off the unity that we have in Christ. It must flow from that spiritual reality, the practical living. It out flows from the spiritual positional reality that is described in Ephesians two.

29:13 Uh present in the time allotted. But this oneness of body and spirit and Lord and faith and baptism in God is a oneness in kind. It's a oneness in kind. In other words, the scripture talks about God's many and Lord's many. In Second Caribbeans, Chapter eight, it also talks about baptisms in plural. In Hebrews, it talks about one faith that the devils have, and so they have one faith, and therefore the they have the wrong kind of faith.

30:02 They have the wrong kind of faith. There's one body. And I'm persuaded that the body of Christ in the New Testament I don't have time to go into this is always the local assembly. Is always the local assembly. I know that's not according to modern Christianity, but anyway, I'll just leave that with you for if you want to ask me about it, feel free. I'll be glad to discuss it with you. Okay, Just from a purely preaching perspective, I'm somewhat confused in this. I don't really understand the approach here, right.

30:45 If the approach is okay, my job is to preach on one God, on one Lord, one God, one father of all, all right, And so he wants to turn this into unity. But the unity here, if we're gonna the practical apple of the unity, flows from the unity, the philological unity, and Ephesians too, because we have the word therefore the beginning of this section. So, but if you want to go, so he wants to go one Lord, one God, one faith, that these are a oneness of kind. Right. There There may be many lords, but this is the one Lord of this kind, one God. There are gods plural, but there is one God of this kind. Right, And I understand he's trying to draw a distinction. There are many baptisms, but there's only one baptism of this particular kind. Okay, drawing a distinction where there's times things are spoken of in a plural way versus in a singular way. Okay.

31:37 But my question would be, if this is found and a section dealing with unity, what does the one God, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father. Why is this emphasis on one of all of these things. How does it relate to then the unity of us or the unity of the congregation. I'm assuming that's where he's going to go. He just he's throwing out a lot of little different concepts. Let's see. It's just weird how he's kind of putting this together. But let's see where it goes. But though there are God's many and Lord's many, Paul went on to write in Second Corinthians, but to us there is one God and one Lord. There's only one that is described in the right kind. And much more could be said about that, but I don't have time to go into it, but just wanted to bring that to our attention. And by the way, complete and full unity cannot be attained when two different rules for authority is used. If brother Zach and I want to build a house, and he says twelve inches is a foot, say fourteen inches is a foot, we can't build a house together. We're not in unity. And I say that

33:08 by saying that a congregation in order to be unified, needs to have the same authority, the same authority. My authority is the Masuretic text and the Texas receptives the Maasuretic texts of the Hebrew scriptures, and the Masuretic text for the Greek behind the best English translation, the King James version. Okay, so all right, this this is interesting. He's he's not doing he's not even addressing that this unity in four flows from the philological exposition of unity in chapters one, two, and three. So the therefore has been completely thrown out of this, all right, But so let's go with this argument.

33:58 All right, So he kind of threw out the majority. Now if he throws if you throw in the majority rule, now he's seeing the real authority is scripture. So then that means the majority rule may not always be right, unless you're just gonna say we're only referring to the majority rule and non scriptural issues. But the majority is not always right if you're establishing that the real authority is the Bible. Now he's arguing the masoretic texts and Texas receptives. Basically, what he's saying is the King James is the authority. So we have to agree on the King James and then that is the authority. Well, let me make it very clear. I very much lived a good portion of my Christian life in the King James only world, right, in the independent fundamental Baptist world. I went to schools that were KJV only. I graduated from them, graduated from seminary that with KJV only, also went to Bible Institute. So a lot of my education, not all of it, but a lot of it was in that world.

34:53 But I've been in those churches, and those churches having the King James only as the authority fall apart and split all the time. All Right, So let me make it very clear. I don't care if you say it's the King James. I don't care if you say it's the NIV. I don't care if you say it's the ESV. You choose the translation and say this is our authority. Therefore we should be unified. No, it doesn't bring unity because here's the thing, nobody can agree on what it says. See, it's so it sounds so spiritual. Hey, we're in this church. We're gonna have unity because we have the same authority, and the same authority is God's word. Oh that sounds so good. But it doesn't bring unity. It almost always inevitably brings division because we can't agree on what the authority actually says. We can't agree. That's why we always have to fall back that our unity is found in Christ Jesus. Now the issue is I guess this is the question because you let's just say, I don't know who you are listening, but let's say you and I we disagree on almost everything. And there's a high probability some of you who listen disagree with me on about everything.

36:18 And that's okay. Let's say we disagree on everything. Now here's the real question. Can the reality of our positional unity? Can the reality of our spiritual unity that we have in Christ? Because we have been redeemed, the wall of that separates us has been broken down, we are now brought together. And that's primarily in Ephesians too, about jew and gentile. But let's just say that in Christ we are now one. We are unified positionally and spiritually. Can that spiritual unity overcome and help preserve unity practically in light of strong disagreements over pretty much everything. Can that positional unity in any way shape or form assists or help the practical disunity that we are going to inevitably encounter because you take two Christians, you open up the Bible, you say, I think it means this. Just count down five four three two. Someone's gonna say, but bub, but I think it means this, And then inevitably you have disagreement.

37:40 When you have different versions, You're going to have different authorities, You're going to have different rules, and a congregation needs to be saying the same thing. The preacher and the people need to be reading the same versions. You can have the same versions and get justice. I've seen so many church splits and independent fundamental Baptist churches that have the King James. So he's saying, if if we all have the same version, then we're gonna have unity in the church. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my entire life. In fact, I've seen King James. Only churches fight split and divide in some cases more than non King James churches. I mean, I guess in theory, hey, if we all reading from the same translation, there should be there should be agreement. No, we can't agree on what the King James says.

38:38 And to be in agreement. So I just leave that with you for whatever is worth. We live in a world where truth is defined by each individual's ideas and opinions, and to presume. To keep me from presumed presuming too much with regard to where you are, I want to ask you some challenging questions to answer to yourself. Do you believe there is only one truth regarding any particular subject?

39:22 Do you believe there's only one truth regarding any particular subject. I'm not talking about applications that can be made by a particular principle or truth, but there's only one truth to any particular subject. I'm absolutely baffled here about this approach to this text. It's like it's not even dealing with the text. I don't really understand exactly what's happening here. Maybe it we'll make more sense, okay, but I guess he wants Sorry, there's only one truth. There's absolute truth. Okay, that again, that sounds great. Well, the world doesn't believe in absolute truth, and they all think that their opinion is right, ladies and gentlemen. That's the church. The Church operates under the exact same premise. We just dress it up in our religious language, where we said, well, they don't believe in absolute truth, and they all believe that they're right and that their truth is right. And then what happens in Christianity?

40:20 He said, well, the Bible is the authority. No, we become the authority, and we believe our interpretation is right and that everyone else must submit to our interpretation. And if they don't go along with our interpretation, then they're a heretic, they're wrong, and they're going to hell. Everyone. The Christianity is the same thing. We are the authority, and we determine what truth is. You say, no, no, the Bible does. No, it doesn't. The individual reads, interprets, and then makes a dogmatic declaration that this is true, and if you don't believe it, you are Anathemas operates under the same premise. All we do is we disguise it in religious and theological term. No, no, no, No, it's not my opinion. It's God's word. It's not me saying this, it is God. And then the person over there saying it's not me saying this, it's God. And everyone says it's God. Well, guess what, it's all us because we can't agree. If it was God, then you think we would all speak the same thing and believe the same thing, and then there would be practically one God, one faith, one baptism. Oh, I know I just offended everyone, but I'm sorry. If you're living in you're living in a made up world. If you believe, we'll see the

41:51 world out there. They don't believe in absolute truth, and they are all their own authority, and it's ridiculous. And guess what it is in Christianity. I open the Bible and I say, the Bible teaches that baptism is by immersion, and it's only four believers. Someone must make a profession of faith, then they're baptized. The baptism doesn't do anything, It symbolizes what has already occurred. Someone else will take the same Bible and say, absolutely wrong. It is not an ordinance, it's a sacrament, it's a means of grace, and we baptize a baby at eight days old and it washes way original sin and they're born again, and others like no, no, no, no, no, no, you baptize.

42:37 It is a sacrament, It is a means of grace. But it only it places the seal of the Covenant upon them, and now they enter into the covenant community with that sell upon them. But it's not regenerative. It doesn't save them. No, no, it does. No, it shouldn't be. No, no baby baptism. No, I only only a believer's about baptism, immersion, sprinkling. We can go on and on and on and on, and nobody agrees. Everyone would say that it's God who says it, whether you like it or not. The reality of Christianity is that the individual is the authority, and that scripture becomes subservient to the person's interpretation. The person interprets the word of God, and that interpretation becomes authoritative, not the text itself. We are much more about people defining what truth is than the Word of God defining what truth is. Oh, I know, everyone's going to say, no, that's not true. No that's not true. No that's not true.

43:47 I know you're going to say it's not true, but then you're going to open the Bible, you're gonna read it. You're going to tell other people that they're not right, and then other people are gonna open the Bible and tell you you're not right. So who's right? If it's just the Bible, then shouldn't you not come to the same conclusion. If you don't believe that, why and what proof do you have that that's not truth? And I want an example. If we're talking privately, I want you to give me an example, and I want you to have some basis for your example. One truth on any particular subject. Secondly, do you believe there is more than one God? If yes, what's your basis for that? I'm not asking if you believe there are many different things or persons and considered to be God.

45:05 Matt, this is a baffling approach to this text. I'm really I'm kind of scratching my head here, going, well, why do I don't I don't bah blah blah blahlah. I don't really understand. Okay, all I can do is kind of follow. I'm trying to follow his I'm trying to follow. I'm trying to follow. That's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to follow, all right. So okay, so do you believe there's more than one God? Okay? Now this is a a Christian conference. You would think that we It's kind of an interesting approach. Really, it's kind of an interesting approach. Maybe I don't Maybe maybe somehow I don't know. I don't know what this is doing with the text. I'm trying. I'm trying to predict where this is going, and I'm having a hard time predicting where it's going. Maybe for you, you've already got it mapped out. Let's let's all I can do is say, let's see. I don't. I don't really know.

45:58 Question is do you believe there there's only one God? One God? In a release in a recent political assembly political assembly, there was a pagan prayer offered up to the highest of all gods. That's what this pagan prayer was at this recent political assembly, the pagan prayer. There's only one God, not one God that's highest of all others.

46:40 There's one God. There's one cause of all calls, that is without cause. Let that sink in. There's one cause that caused everything, and nothing caused that one calls to be. That's what we're talking about, one God, Paul said, there's one God and father of all. So do you believe there is only one calls that is without calls?

47:21 This is interesting because he argued that this section is really about unity, but he's almost turned this now into an apologetic for a monotheistic understanding. So is this an apologetic or is this somehow a calling for unity based off the philological exposition that happened in chapters one, two, and three. I'm a little perplexed at now how he's kind of like, Hey, this is about unity, and now he's kind of turning this into an apologetic argument. No, maybe it could serve as an apologetic argument. Well, what so, what is the real what is the purpose of the text, and what really are you attempting to do with this?

48:11 Is what I'm trying to figure out. If so, what is your authority? It can't be reason, It can't be ration the reason and ration would come to that conclusion. So what's your authority? It cannot be reason can be rationalizing something, So it cannot be that. So he's going to say it would have to be the word of God. But doesn't our reason don't we utilize reason to interpret the word of God? Like if you just say the Bible is the author authority, But I have to utilize my reason. I have to rationalize, I have to interpret, I have to examine, I have to exegy, I have to define, I have to determine purpose, context, original audience, original intent. I mean, that's all reason. All of that is reason. I read the Bible and then I reason out what it says, and then I draw a conclusion, which then I make a dogmatic assertion about. So you can say, well, if a reason isn't the authority, it's the word of God is the authority. Again, we're playing little games. It's my interpretation that becomes authoritative. People churches

49:44 divide over interpretations. Christians separate over interpretations. Those interpretations arrive from men's reasoning and rationalizing and interpreting, and then that becomes the authority. Well, we claim it's the word of God. But the other side that you're separating from, or dividing from, or debating or fighting, they would say, theirs is coming from the word of God. Well, the only thing you can the reason why there's so many difference of opinion is because then it's man's reason that really is the authority. Right, Your authority is right here, right here, this is should be authority. This should where we're going back to where we started.

50:39 See he's holding up the Bible. See, the Bible is the authority. And that's why we have thousands of different denominations. That's why we have church splits constantly, denominational splits constantly. That's why you can't get Christians to agree literally on in. This is my authority. It's not what I believe, it's what God's word says.

51:19 No, it's what you believe God's word says, because someone else will believe the opposite of what you think God's word says. So it's not God's word, it's what you believe. Don't say it's not what you believe. That that's such the oldest trick in the book, right, Hey, hey, hey, hey, it's not what I believe, it's what God's word says. So you better do what I tell you because it's not what I believe, it's what God's word says. And then someone else will say, no, no, no, no, it's not what I believe. It's what and some person is like, well, wait a minute, that church told me this, and you're telling me this, that church said this. You're telling that church said, you're telling me that that church says this, about saying you're telling me this, this, this, this, It's it's a never ending circle. It's a never ending cycle of people coming forward telling you what they believe the Word of God says, but then telling you it's not what they believe, it's what the word of God actually says.

52:10 But if it's what the Word of God actually says, then we should have one understanding. It's not my concept of God's word. It's not what I think God's word says. Is what God's word says. That is just that's categorically not true. It is what you think God's word says. They are preaching in a primitive Baptist church. Look up their philological understanding on a number of issues, like when he says he even said earlier he thinks the body of Christ only refers to a local congregation. He even acknowledges modern day Christianity completely disagrees with that which would speak of some invisible universal body. Okay, well, wait a minute. Both sides claim that's what the Word of God says, So then it can be well, this is what the word of God says. No, it's what you think the Word of God says. It's your interpretation, it's your belief. We have to acknowledge our part in it. Now.

53:25 I wish it. I wish it wasn't that convoluted. I wish it wasn't that complicated, and I wish it wasn't that messy, and I wish there wasn't never ending debate and division. But that's the world we have to live in. So we either have to blame it's God's words fault that it just cannot be understood, it cannot be interpreted, or we have to acknowledge that the issue is man and that the real authority is us and our interpretation, even though we want to pretend it's not what I believe, it's not what I think, it's what the word of God says. No, it's what you think think the Word of God says, And then what you think it says, you think, then that is the word of God, and then you're the way you think is the word of God.

54:08 Therefore you think you're always right because you the way you think is the word of God to you. God's word says in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. I don't understand that. I can't comprehend that. I can't explain that, but I believe it. Why do I believe it? Not because of creation scientists, though I admire the work that they've done. I believe it because God said it. And that's where I want to point our a teacher. What does the Bible say there's one God?

54:53 Why do you believe there's one God? Why do you believe it? And unless the scriptures that is the Bible, as you called I normally called it the scriptures. I like the writings, but anyway, I won't hold you accountable for that. But the Bible is the source of all truth. And you're lost in a sea of despair and all alone with your own philosophy unless you bow to the word of God. Let that sink in.

55:43 This may be the most I am so confused in this sermon. I don't really understand if this is an exposition of Ephusions four five. I don't know if this is really about Ephusians four five. I don't know if this is about unity. I don't know if this is an apollo legic. I don't know. If this is an issue about truth. I don't know if this is an issue about a subject about I don't know what this is. I really don't, but it's just driving me crazy that he's playing the same game that all Christians play. The Bible is the authority, the Bible is, You're the authority. Just acknowledge it. We want the Bible to be the authority. Theoretically, we want that to be true. We may strive for that.

56:27 But you pick it up, you read it, you interpret it. Then you declare this is the way it is, and anyone else who doesn't agree with that is wrong. And then you tell yourself that your interpretation isn't your interpretation, but it's what the Word of God actually says. Therefore, your interpretation now becomes dogmatic and infallible because now you're claiming that what you believe is what the Word of God says, and so you can never be challenged on it because you're like, no, that's what the Word of God says. No, that's what you interpret the Word of God is saying. I want to say that again. You are lost in a sea of despair and all alone with your independent philosophy unless the Bible is your authority. We live in a world of conflict, but the only adjustment is going to be in the Word of God. You know Hebrews eleven six, by faith we are normally quoting.

57:44 Let me just make it very clear. He's describing Christianity a never ending conflict for two thousand years, denomination after denomination after denomination after denomination, split, church split, fight, disagreement, theological wars over every issue. We can't agree if it's the regulative principle or the normative principle that should guide the church. We can't agree on the Lord's Supper. We can't agree on baptism. We can't agree on church structure. We can't agree on salvation. We literally we can't even agree on hermeneutical system. We can't agree on eschatology. We can't agree if Israel is actual of the nation or if it's the Church. We can't agree if certain promises go to the Church or to Israel. We can't agree, literally on anything. We are lost in a sea of confusion and despair, surrounded by competing philosophies known as interpretations, and just it's maddening. He's describing Christianity. He's not describing the world. He's describing Christianity.

58:55 Jeff went blank. Without need God for everything, even to preach, but without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek you. You must believe that. You must believe that. And if you don't believe the truth of the scriptures, you're calling God a liar. First John chapter five.

59:42 I don't know what to do. I'm just sitting here looking at Ephesians to see. This is why I told you to read Ephesians over and over and over and over, and then when you listen to all these sermons on Ephesians four five, you'll be you'll be equipped. That's why I went and did all the background work trying to help you understand how Ephesians went to two chapters one, two, and three were the theological exposition, the theological exhortation, and then when you get to Ephesians four, five, and six, now you have the practical exhortation, the practical driving home, the practical and now I'm sitting here and I have no clue what I'm listening to. I'm baffled. This is an it. Look, I'm not gonna say. All I'm going to say is I just don't understand the approach. Obviously, pastors can approach a text anyway they want because ultimately they're the authority, which kind of contradicts everything that we're hearing.

1:00:46 But it's just true. Verses nine through eleven. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God, which he has testified of his son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his son. And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life. And the life is in his son. So you can't separate Christ from the Father. But if you're not going to believe God, you're calling God a liar. You're saying I'm right, God's wrong.

1:01:48 And David said long ago, let God be true in every man a liar. But in practices is the way it works I'm right. If you disagree with me, you disagree with God. If you say I'm wrong, you say God is wrong. If you say I am right, you say God is right. I know Christians are gonna say no, no, no, no, no, no no no no, we don't say that. Yes, you do. You read the Bible, you interpret it. You think your interpretation is right. You think your interpretation is what God says. So now you and God are in perfect agreement. So now what you do is you take your interpretation, you preach it and say this is what the word of God says. And if you don't believe me, you don't believe God. Now what we say is no, if you don't believe this, you don't believe God. But it's your interpretation.

1:02:43 Everyone thinks their interpretation is right. Everyone thinks their interpretation is dogmatic. Everyone thinks their interpretation is infallible. They think it's binding. And if you don't agree with them, I'll well, I don't know what's wrong with these other people. They just can't read their our Bible. Now again, all I can do is keep speaking about this same issue because I can't really do anything with efusions for because I don't know what any of this has to do with the Fuesians for really, ultimately. Either about to God or we don't. In other words, I'm coming back to encourage you to know and to understand that either you are your own authority or God is your authority.

1:03:38 We are our own How do Christians convince ourselves that we are not our own authority? That is the most baffling thing to me. We are our own authority. We read, we interpret, and then we say this is the right way, and if you disagree, you're wrong. Now you can say, well, I put it this way, even if you push back on me, even if you push back on that, you've got to acknowledge there is a part of what I'm saying that is a reality. Look, I am with you. I want the word of God to be the authority.

1:04:19 I want the word of God to be true in every man a liar. I want that. I want us to pursue it. I want us to understand it. But we cannot deny the inevitable issue that we all face, which is we pick up a Bible. And once we pick up a Bible, then the entire system is now going to have and a flaw in the system and that flaw is you and I because we bring our thinking, our rationalization, our reasoning, our logic, our interpretive skills, our hermeneutical ability, our inability, and then we read and then we draw conclusions. Now, what we inevitably do is we we immediately assume that our conclusion is what the Word of God says. We never are willing to admit. No, this is what I believe it says, this is what I think it says. This is my interpretation based on my study as up to this point. That's why I inevitably tell you your past understanding is of no value in your presence study because your past understanding could have been wrong. So your present study, you throw out your past understanding. You look at it again, hoping you will get closer and closer to the actual text. This is why I've taught over and over and over Bible study methods, where we engage in serious methods that we can try to get to the text and remove ourself as much from it. This is why I talk about hermeneutical systems.

1:05:49 This is why I'm always talking about not just learning theology, but doing theology, coming up with hypotheses, challenging them, looking into this, looking into that, challenging this, questioning this, trying as much as possible to fight the inevitable reality of us being the authority. But when you do it that way, all you do is find yourself in never ending conflict with other Christians who will say, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong. That's all you ever hear is you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong. And trust me, I've been in ministry long enough to know people will get immediately you're wrong. Leave your church. You're wrong, Leave your church. You're wrong, because they think they are the authority.

1:06:42 And for congregational unity, God must be the authority, not you, not the preacher, not the deacon. Godge the authority, Godge the authority. One last question, and I'm stilling my introduction. One last question, Who or what is God? So I guess I will end with this because we're at sixty seven minutes. If this is only his introduction, then maybe he'll he'll handle all the stuff later on.

1:07:26 We're gonna have to listen, we'll have to do another we'll have to do another review and listen to the rest. But here's what I would say, is God really the authority in the church? He says, the pastor's not the authority, the deacon's not the authority, the people in the pew are not the authority. God is the authority. Okay, so God's the authority. Now how exactly does this work? Because the pastor is going to interpret God's word and preach it as if it's true, and he's going to say that it's God being the authority, not him being the authority. Then someone inevitably is going to be sitting in the pew who's going to disagree with what the pastor is preaching. Now is the pastor always right? They said, Well, the pastor is not always right. Well are the people in the pew always right? Well, no, they're not always right.

1:08:13 So if the pastor's not always right the people are not always right, then how is God the ultimate authority? Because if God's the ultimate authority, all we can rely on is on a written text that everyone has to interpret and then everyone says their interpretation is what God says. So really, who's the authority in this equation? We'll let him at least finish this point. Obviously, sermons can be preached on it. I've preached the series of sermons on who is God, and we can't do that today. But you need to know. You need to have a conscious awareness of who God is and that God is here. You need to have a conscious awareness of that. Now, we don't have time to go into all the attributes of God, such as his eternality, his simplicity. By the way, simplicity means that God is not made up of parts. He's uncompounded. Angels are spirits, but they're compounded. They're made up of parts because angels are here and not there. God's here and there. God's

1:09:45 here and there. He's uncompounded. He's uncompounded. Ladies and gentlemen, I have no idea what any of this has to do with Ephesians. I really don't. I don't even know how to analyze this. I don't even know how to I don't know what to do. And if this is all his introduction, I don't know then what the actual I don't know what this is introducing. This is I'm so white, I'm somewhat confused. I want to let finish this point so that if we do a second review on this, we can start at a very late, we can be done with all of this, So let's at least let it finish out. We don't have time to go into omnipotence, all powerful omniscience, a whole knowledge, love, joy, love, the attributes of God, and so time would fail us to go into that.

1:10:41 Time would fail us to go into the Trinity. But there is one. God in three persons, father, son, and Holy Spirit, one John five seven, and it's in the original text, regardless of these modern translations. Oh boy, okay, hey. On one hand, he said one God, three distinct persons, didn't say one God manifesting. He didn't go to modalism or Sibelianism, so that is awesome. The immediately goes to first John five seven. It's in the original. Okay, let me just make nobody has the original. Nobody has the originals, nobody, nobody. The original manuscripts are gone, they're bye bye, they're no more. We have copies of copies, of copies of copies. So the best he can say is that First John five to seven appears in some copies and doesn't appear and other copies. Now you can debate on which copies you want to go with, and when does it first appear, When does it show up?

1:11:41 How many manuscripts is it in? How many manuscripts is it missing? It's it's just ridiculous to say it's in the original based off what you don't have the original. Or in your show called King James Bible with marginal notes ch question mark Tony, I don't have time to go into that, but I am as confident at that as I'm standing in front of you. One John five seven is God's valid text you're understanding concerning God?

1:12:24 And please note he says, first John five to seven is in the original. He just made a dogmatic declaration while others would disagree. Now based on what authority. He can't say from the word of God's authority. Because we don't have the original manuscript, you're basing it off. Well, one translation has it, other translations don't have it, and he even acknowledges it any many King James. They have a footnote that says it may not be belong here. So why can't we see He's just becomes the source of truth. He says, God is the source of truth. Is God going to tell you if it belongs or doesn't belong? Oh? No, God's not talking to you. Okay, So then you're now making a dogmatic declaration based off your own understanding, your own belief, making yourself the authority.

1:13:17 After you just said the pastor is not the authority. You just made yourself the authority over a very complicated textual issue that there is very strong disagreement on. Is one of, if not the most important thing that will shape or determine your life. Your concept of God will determine in shape your life. And there's many, many, many rabbit holes I could go down in that. I've been studying this for several weeks, trying to shut gates here and gates there, keep me from running down that rabbit hole or that path after that rabbit.

1:14:15 All right, we're gonna stop there. I'm gonna shut the gate because I don't know what's going on. Okay, I don't really know, all right, So there you have it. I how I really thought it was gonna be about Ephesians four. I really thought we were gonna dig into Ephesians four. And then when he started going that this is about unity, I'm like, okay, good, So he's gonna show how this practical unity flows from the philological or from the from the philological exposition of Unity and Ephesians too. I see that therefore got left out. We go to five, it just says God, and then next thing, you know, I don't even know what happened. I don't really know what happened, all right. The mystery that I have right here in front of me is what happened to my pencil?

1:15:07 Okay that I know you. You're like, yeah, that's how distracted I am, because I was just like, I don't even know what to say here. So then I was like, okay, well, I have my notebook here. Remember I had my notebook earlier and wrote I wrote something down in it. Okay. So then I was like, okay, well, let me grab my notebook and i'll I don't know, I'm just as I'm listening, I'll try to do I got to I gotta think of something here. And then I realized I can't find my pencil. Look where did my pencil go? Right? I mean, I've got a pencil here, but it's not sharpened. I've got boxes of pencils here. I got boxes boxes, because I always have boxes of pencils, boxes, but none of them are sharpening. So I'm like where did my pencil go? All right? So yeah, that's how I was just getting so frustrated with that. Go listen to the rest of it, A right twenty twenty four, Sultan Light, this is the first message on one God, one Father, something along those lines. We made it through most of it.

1:16:00 Go listen. I'm gonna keep it paused and then we will we will try to finish that review. I was. I don't I don't know. I don't know what to say. I really don't know what to say. I know that I just probably ticked off. You know, I don't know half of Christianity. But the Christianity just lives in a delusion that we don't that you don't realize and understand that you're the authority. We want to say it's God's word, but it just it doesn't work that way. I always I look, as much as I obviously am not Catholic, because I believe when justification by imputed righteousness versus an infused righteousness, obviously I reject Catholicism. And as much as I love the Reformation and a lot of the theology coming from the Reformation, I've said before that there were unintended consequences that happened in the Reformation. Right. The Reformation ultimately became an argument over the authority of the Church to interpret the scriptures. And we can understand that what Luther wanted to do was say, no, the Church doesn't judge the scriptures. The scriptures judge the Church. The scriptures are the authority. I understand what Luther was trying to do.

1:17:05 So he disagreed with the Church, and he argued that his disagreement was based off scripture. So the scriptures were the authority. So he has to stand and he can do nothing because his conscience is held keptive by the word of God. Here I stand. Okay. I know I'm paraphrasing the famous statement. Okay, but it's the word of God, and it sounds good, and it's the rally cry, and it's our battle cry. The word of God Sola scriptora is the final authority. Yeah, we all say that. But the inevitable consequence of the Reformation was this. The Church lost the authority and even though Luther wanted to bring it to the Bible, it skipped over the Bible and that landed right in the lap of the individual. Now every individual can open the Bible and says, this is what God says, this is what He meant, this is the true and if you disagree with it, you disagree with God because my understanding basically is God's understanding. And guess what inevitably happened. Luther fought the church said the Bible's the authority, and within fifteen seconds, Okay, maybe that's a little bit of hyperbole, someone opened up the Bible said Luther, you're wrong. And then someone said no, you're wrong, and someone else said you're wrong. And then one group after another, group after another, group after another group in denomination after denomination after denomination after denomination, and fights and argues and philological wars and battles because nobody can agree.

1:18:37 Because inevitably, as much as we wanted to say sola scriptra, it became sola individual. The individual became the authority, and the individual interpretation becomes the right interpretation in their own eyes, and then they judge everyone else on the basis of their interpretation. And then we'll call everyone else heretics and apostates because their interpretation now is the right interpretation. They will judge their pastors, they will judge. You can take someone who's never been to Bible college, never been to seminary, has never even read a Hermeneutics textbook, And they will judge preaching, and they will judge teaching, and they will judge interpretation and say you're wrong and I'm right, and they will always say that they're right, and they will say, God, do you realize every Christian believes God is on their side and that their interpretation is God's interpretation? I don't.

1:19:39 I end, I don't know what else to say. The end, I don't know what else to say. You can email me all of your disagreements and all of your authoritative conclusions to newsif at yahoo dot com, newsif at yahoo dot com. And I know that you think God is on your side. Therefore I know that you think you're right and that I'm wrong. I just don't. I just think at some point Christians got to acknowledge the complicated, convoluted mess that we were just as just as confused as everyone else is when it comes down to truth. As much as we try to claim that we're not news I f at yahoo dot com, news if at yahoo dot com. I'm gonna go find my pencil because it's driving me crazy how a pencil could just literally disappear.

1:20:28 It's almost as if something nefarious is going on. Okay, I'll probably find it here in a minute, all right, but thank you for listening. Everyone, have a great day. I wish I could offer you more. I don't know what else to say, but there we have it. God bless