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Summary

Let's go to Hebrews, the 11th chapter, a good way to find Hebrews, it's just go to book of Revelation, last book, slowly start working your way backwards, you're going to cross the John, you're going to cross the Peters, you'll hit James as you're going left, and then you're going to hit Hebrews. Let's go to John, first John chapter three, verse nine, first John chapter three, verse nine. Let's go to John chapter 19 Matthew Mark Luke and then John John chapter 19 verse 30 John 19 verse verse 30 when Jesus had received the wine he said it is finished. Here Paul writing under the inspiration of the Spirit says this, now you have observed my teaching my conduct my aim in life my faith my patience my love my steadfastness my persecutions and my suffering the things that happen to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra what persecutions I endured yet the Lord rescued me from all of them indeed all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted but wicked people and imposter will go from bad to worse deceiving others and being deceived but as for you continue in what you have learned and firmly believe knowing from who you learned it and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus all scripture is inspired Greek there means exhaled by God all scripture is exhaled by God and is useful for teaching for reproof for correction for training and righteousness so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient equipped for every good work the scripture then is trustworthy for doctrine for our faith and for our life and we're going to see in this class how God balances truths we'll see how one truth makes another truth more clear and we're going to example that we're going to examine the narrow middle of scripture and how if error is made you wind up in the ditch on either side the devil tries to manipulate our struggle to stay on the narrow middle so Satan is at work with regard to this let's go to Matthew the fourth chapter please Matthew chapter four very first book in the New Testament Matthew chapter four verse five Matthew four picking up in verse five and there we read then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle that's Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple saying to him if you are the son of God throw yourself down for it is written he will command his angels concerning you and on their hands they will bear you up so that you will not dash your foot against the stone Jesus said to him again it is written do not put the Lord your God to the test notice here how Jesus fights temptation he fights temptation by the work look again here at at verse five if you're the verse six if you're the son of God throw yourself down for it is written he will command his angels concerning you and on their hands they will bear you up so that you will not dash your foot against a stone well there's a promise here in scripture right there's a promise that God will protect his people God will protect his people that's a truth isn't it however look how Satan uses the word here turn over please to Psalm 91 an easy way to find the book of Psalms is just open up the scriptures to the middle Psalm 91 verse 11 and it's interesting here that when Satan quotes scripture Satan just leaves out a little bit here of Psalm 91 that he's quoting so when Psalm 91 verse 11 it says for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways on their hands they will bear you up so that you will not dash your foot against a stone interesting there in Matthew the fourth chapter that what Satan eliminates is to guard you in all your ways the assumption here in Psalm 91 is that our ways will be in accordance with God's word God does not promise to protect me if following the 11 o'clock service I say I'm going to blindfold myself and walk across northwest highway as an expression of faith in the protective hand of Almighty God no that would just simply be dumb right that would be dumb so we've got the promise God will protect you but Satan leaves out the part in all of your ways assuming that you will enact in accordance with what God wants you to do which would not be put a blindfold on and walk across northwest highway faced with the promises of scripture faced with the truths of scripture we can be tempted to overemphasize one truth and thereby fall into air for example we can overemphasize the grace and love of God so that we then say since God is so loving filled with grace there is no hell you see that's where you overemphasize one promise and you fall in the ditch of air we can overemphasize the grace and love of God so that we wind up in the ditch of the error of universalism that says everyone in the end will be saved no matter what it is they believe or don't believe that's universalism in the end God's going to save everybody and the argument of the universalists is because God is so loving and gracious see what happens that's not dismissal of scripture denial you make arguments that it is but it's an overemphasis of one truth to where one falls then in the ditch of air why do we wind up in so many ditches the reason why one can wind up in so many ditches why one can stray from the middle of scripture where we see God balancing truths and we have to hold those truths together one of the reasons why we can wind up in the ditches is we listen to reason where reason takes control where the word of God should be in control now is is reason a blessing well sure it is is reason a gift of God absolutely reason provides order in life by helping us make reasonable decisions have you ever heard the phrase or used to use it yourself what would you use your head use your head here or I didn't use my head when I when I made that decision well that's just simply referring to reason reason is helpful in the study of of scripture as you're comparing passages as you're looking at the meaning of words as you're tracking down things in scripture reason is helpful but when it comes to theology and remember what theology is the Greek word for God is Theos T-H-E-O-S so you've got God written in theology is the study of God when it comes to theology reason must have the role of servant to the word of God reason doesn't want to accept that role why because our reason is corrupted by sin so we want to elevate our reason above the word of God have you ever heard as you're talking about something a matter of faith with someone and they say to you I don't care what the scripture says I know what I think you see that's the elevation of a person's reason above the scripture where the person says well what seems sensible to me the sharpest conflict between the fallen reason and the word of God is found in the doctrine of salvation that is the sharpest conflict between our fallen reason and the word of God it's right at the doctrine of salvation let's go to first Corinthians the first chapter Matthew Mark Luke John, Acts and then Romans first Corinthians first Corinthians chapter 1 will pick up in verse 18 for the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it's the power of God for it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart where's the one who's wise where's the scribe where's the debater of this age has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world for since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom God decided through the foolishness of our proclamation to save those who believe or in Romans the third chapter Romans the book right before first Corinthians Romans chapter 3 verse 5 pull dismantles reason here so Romans chapter 3 verse 5 but if our injustice serves to confirm the justice of God what should we say that God is unjust to inflict wrath on us I speak in a human way by no means for then how could God judge the world but if through my falsehood God's truthfulness abounds to his glory why am I still being condemned as a sinner and why not say as some people slander us by saying that we say let us do evil so that good may come their condemnation is deserved Paul is addressing the absurdity that we should go ahead and sin so that God has opportunities to show his grace and love to us see that's a fallen reason who says this is fantastic forgiveness to God God likes to forgive so I'll give him opportunities to forgive me it's a win win right it's a win for us and it's a win for God we're all happy we'll just sin up a store you see Paul takes reason in correct use and dismantles it he knew the narrow middle between contempt for God's gift of reason on the one hand and enthronement of reason over God's word on the other hand and he avoids the ditch by holding to the truth think of think of Satan's blatant attacks just blatant attacks on the word with regard for example to the Ten Commandments the murderer who reasons that his own life will that his own life and well-being are somehow threatened by the continued life of his enemy therefore his enemy should be murdered see that's reason go on a stray the two people having sex outside of the marital union or the adulterer who says but we love each other we love each other how about doctrine Jesus says this is my body this is my blood reason says Jesus could not have meant that so plainly so is doesn't mean is because it doesn't fit reasonably how can you have bread and wine and say this is my body and this is my blood that doesn't fit reason and so reason leads you then into a symbolic understanding with regard to holy communion because it's more compatible to reason to say that when we come forward to communion what we're receiving is a little bit of wine or grape juice and bread and that is a reminder of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross that seems reasonable but Jesus did not say did he he didn't say let this piece of bread remind you of the cross ahead let this wine remind you of my blood that will be shed he said this is my body and this is my blood and he refers to bread and wine so we take scripture then at face value and we say if scripture says bread and wine body and blood we say what is communion Luther wrote holy communion is the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ given with bread and wine for the forgiveness of sin is that hard for our head to wrap around sure but is that what the scripture says yes and so we bow to the authority of scripture and reason becomes the servant of the word we see in scripture where the word is ignored all together in Catholic doctrine you have the creation it is non-scriptural of purgatory where one goes to work off their sinfulness to make themselves worthy enough for heaven that the sins are forgiven prior to baptism but now you've got to work off the sins with regard to after baptism and so you go to purgatory to work that out that makes sense to the reason right it makes sense to a reason that's used to works righteousness works righteousness is all about us around us in our society it makes sense to us that indeed we then have to work off our salvation is it scriptural absolutely not absolutely not reason says well Mary must have been without sin after all her womb held the savior that sounds reasonable is it scriptural no praying to the saints to intercede for us that sounds reasonable because why not get a few friends here that can kind of help us out before the Almighty right does it sound reasonable sure is it scriptural no reason can act even more subtly reason can pretend to defend one truth of God in order to dismiss another for example Kelvin held up the truth that indeed our salvation is totally the work of God we contribute nothing to it it is totally the work of God what Christ has done for us on the cross totally the work of God faith is a gift Kelvin held up that we contribute absolutely nothing to our salvation but Kelvin falls in the ditch because he then says God chose some to be saved and some to be damned so he falls in the ditch of error why because there's the overemphasizing of one truth and that is God's action in our salvation what Kelvin ignores is what scripture says that if we don't believe then it's totally our own fault and so by overemphasizing one truth you wind up in a ditch what what's the Lutheran middle what is what does Lutheran say if you believe it's totally the work of God if you don't believe it's solely your own fault well how do you resolve that by reason well you don't because if you resolve it by reason you're gonna you're gonna let go by overemphasizing one truth over the other so you let the word stand as it is and you know God has got it figured out in God's own mind and that's good enough for me you too we just let God be God so then you have Arminius who comes along Arminius reacts to Kelvin Arminius says that we are the ones that are responsible for our salvation because we accept what Jesus Christ did on the cross with our free will we accept what Jesus Christ did on the cross what happens with Arminius Arminius just falls on the other ditch right just falls on the other ditch and what Arminius denies is our original sin how scripture says we are fallen and blind and dead and enemies of God period so what can happen then is Satan can work very subtly and can lead to the over-emphasis of truth which actually winds you up in air where reason comes in and says what is reasonable for us instead of reason submitting to the authority of the word Luther said this when something in the Bible conflicts with my reason I simply doth off my doctor's cap and assume that the Holy Spirit the ultimate author of the scriptures is a little smarter than doctor Luther got it right right he puts reason in place in the weeks ahead by God's grace we're going to stay on the on the middle road affirming the truths of scripture so that the ditches we don't wind up in because our eyes are riveted on the word of God so we're going to take a look at the Lutheran middle between doubt and presumption between carnal security and despair between an exclusive emphasis on God's providence or on God's promises concerning prayer the middle between good works and bad works the middle between idolatrous love of the world and ungrateful contempt for the world the middle between the universal priesthood of all believers and the office of the minister the middle between the doctrine of election and the great commission the middle between our anticipation of heaven heaven and serving Christ in the here and now it's great to have you as part of this class we'll continue next week Gracious Heavenly Father, it is a joy to be in your house on this year day. But I like to think that if somehow they could come to us today, if somehow they could come to us today with a word of encouragement, a word of encouragement for the parent or for the grandparent, if they could somehow come today with a word of encouragement, I like to think that they would say, you know that slogan that Nike has? So that the name of Jesus, every need should bend in heaven and on earth, every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father, the name that's above every name.

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