[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Line Upon Line Ministries podcast.
Line Upon Line is committed to the expository ministry of God's Word for the life of the local church.
I'm your host, Mark Williams. On today's episode, we're going to share the remainder of the interview with Brother John O. Sims, as well as another classic sermon from Brother David.
Before we jump into the content of the podcast today, I would encourage you to go to our website, www. Lineuponlineministries.com and check out some of the new resources that have been posted under the archives of Brother David. If you have additional resources of Brother David that you'd like to share with us and add to this archive, we'd love for you to send those our way. You can email those to
[email protected] Today we finish the interview with Brother Jono Sims.
And Brother Jono has been a faithful pastor of Shelbyville Mills Baptist church in Shelbyville, Tennessee for the last 25 years.
And we have enjoyed the last two episodes with him talking about Brother David and his friendship with him and also expository ministry.
This was such a long and fruitful interview. We have three parts to it. And so in this final part we continue to talk about expository ministry in the local church. So enjoy the rest of this interview with Brother John O. Sims. I pray it's an encouragement to you.
[00:01:46] Speaker C: Like I mentioned and we don't have to go deep into this because we know don't want to take a whole lot of time. I could talk about biblical counseling and stuff like that for all day long, but that expository preaching bleeds out into other parts of ministry.
We don't preach the word from the pulpit and again, expect the Holy Spirit to do is work through that to change lives and all that. And then when we sit down one on one with somebody, go, you know what you need?
ABCDEFG or whatever, whatever this latest fad is to deal with the problem you're facing right now, it's got to be the same. Have you had, what does the private ministry of the Word look like for you? Like, is that, do you do much counseling? Do you do one on one down to discipleship mentoring?
[00:02:38] Speaker D: For years I did it all. Yeah, the pick and the shovel.
For years I did it all. Brother which is not really very healthy. But in the early years, sometimes you have to just do what you have to do.
Obviously the goal is to train other men so that they can come alongside you and help you but it's the same, the same thing you do in the pulpit. And I may not have four points and three sub points, but when a person comes to me on a marriage issue, I'm going to take them to, you know, the word of God. I'm going to tell them what Ephesians 5 says. If they've got an issue with a wayward child, I'm going to take them to Colossians and Ephesians.
You know, if they're having aught with their brother, I'm going to take them to Matthew chapter 18, right?
You know, if they're struggling between a couple of decisions, I'm going to take them to the Proverbs and I'm going to give them the wisdom that I've learned. If it's a financial issue, I'm going to teach them the principles that I've been taught from God's word.
So basically, counseling, brother, is just telling people, thus saith the Lord, this is what the scripture says. And you build your house upon the word of God and you don't depart from it. It's sad to watch people do it and you know they're going to pay for it when they do it. And that's one of the saddest things about counseling. I would just say this. People that have been people, people that have been with you for years, less and less and less need counseling because the word more and more and more has taken hold right in their family. But I'm always willing to meet with anybody. But we have gotten to a point to where, you know, our associate pastors can do some counseling. And brother, literally maybe a half of our deacon body, we did new thetics training in our church. Actual Jay Adams, we used his literature and we actually had about 30 people in our church go through that certification. And I don't know that they got the. But they actually went through the curriculum that, you know, we did that for years.
And so whenever we have a brother in our church, let's say a guy comes to me and he's struggling with pornography. Well, I've got three or four go to guys that have been through that book Walk of Repentance. And so I'll just say I'll initially meet with him and counsel with him and I'll say, now these two brothers are going to be your accountability group for the next til y' all complete this, you know, this book and then we'll meet again. And so, you know, again, that's the fruit of expository preaching, is that it raises up Mature brothers and sisters. And I've got a lot of women in my church that can meet with a young mother and talk to her about children issues, discipline issues, how do you submit to your husband's authority, how do you lovingly follow his lead?
And so it's a process because all.
[00:05:42] Speaker C: Of those topics you've preached through, they've all been preached. It doesn't change between the pulpit and, and the counseling room.
[00:05:50] Speaker D: The only thing I'd say is that there is a little bit of a dynamic, a big dynamic in the church that the Lord is constantly adding to his church and he's also constantly pruning the vine. And so the makeup of the body, it does change a lot over time. So I've got a lot of people in my church never heard me preach through Romans.
[00:06:16] Speaker C: That's true.
[00:06:16] Speaker D: I preached through the Gospel of Matthew for seven and a half years. We've probably got, I'm going to say 60% of our church didn't hear that.
[00:06:23] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:06:24] Speaker D: And so they didn't hear when I taught on divorce, they didn't hear when I taught on what a biblical marriage looks like.
So we're going to, until I get to that, we're going to have to meet with them and probably do some personal private counseling because I can't go, I can't tailor my pulpit just to their specific need.
[00:06:42] Speaker C: You just be preaching the same message.
[00:06:43] Speaker D: Over and over and over. Yeah. And so there is a place, brother. And I've said this for years, and smaller churches can't do this because you've got a limited budget and I know you're trained and certified in nouthetic counseling and I think that's an awesome tool as a pastor.
But I've said this for years. I think one of the best ways a church could spend its money would be to have a full time paid biblical counselor on their staff.
And that's all he does, he's the go to guy.
Because I will say this respectfully, Brother Mark.
When you're shepherding the flock, you're preaching two or three expositions a week. You got a family, you got kids, you're expected to be at some committee meetings. If you have however your churches function and operate, then you've got this member that's got a burn in their saddle. You have to deal with her, you have to deal with him.
You can get burned out. Sure.
I'll say this, I don't know if this is your experience or not, but this is mine. Nothing drains me more than one on one counseling.
It is the most. I can preach 10 sermons and not be tired. But one one hour counseling session, and, man, it's. It just depletes you because you're just, you know, it's just so intense.
And so if a brother can raise up some guys in his church and some gals that are trained and effective at helping with that counseling load, that is solid gold.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:24] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:08:25] Speaker C: I agree with that. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And you know, for. Specifically for counseling. But. But when we just raise up men and women who know the word, they're mature, who are mature in the word, that becomes more organic.
[00:08:45] Speaker B: Anyway.
[00:08:46] Speaker C: You have those smaller groups, you have the moms that get together and they're counseling one another just in daily life.
How do you discipline your kids whenever they do this? Let me tell you what, what the Word says and how I apply that practically in my life.
[00:09:05] Speaker D: I think this is the first time you and I have talked about this. But people that know me and follow some of the things that we've said, I would say next to expository preaching, the next big component part of our church is small groups.
Our small group ministry is graded by gender. It's graded by age.
So we have women teaching women. We have men teaching men. Why did you do that? Titus, Chapter two. Titus says, so we don't just do stuff.
If you ask me, I should be able to say we did that because of this passage of Scripture.
And so most of those small group leaders have been with us a good while. And what are they doing? What are they doing in the small group? They're going through books of the Bible. They're teaching God's Word verse by verse. And they're kind of like the first line of defense when someone has a marriage problem or a child problem or a discipline issue.
So that small group leader kind of. They're a gap. They're a bridge in the gap between. I'm just one man. I'm not omnipresent.
I'm not like the Lord Jesus, and I never will be.
I can only be at one place at one time.
And truthfully, brother, let's be honest, I can only do one man's share of ministry.
[00:10:19] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:10:19] Speaker D: I can't.
[00:10:20] Speaker C: Well, and that's why I'd like to heard at the true Church conference, the. The idea of every member ministry is so important.
[00:10:28] Speaker D: Equip the saints to do the work of the ministry.
[00:10:32] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:10:32] Speaker D: And so counseling comes along with that.
[00:10:35] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:35] Speaker D: Now, sometimes, I'll be honest. This is fair. Sometimes a Lay person will come and they'll say, pastor, I'm in over my head on this one. I need some help. I.
I just. I'm not equipped. I'm not equipped to deal with that.
[00:10:47] Speaker C: Right.
[00:10:48] Speaker D: Maybe it's a sexual abuse thing or the law gets involved, you know what I'm saying?
And they don't. And they're right to pump the brakes. They're right to bring that to us because we're dealing now with some big issues here, you know, and the law is going to have to be involved and this type of thing.
[00:11:05] Speaker C: And so there's definitely difference.
[00:11:07] Speaker D: There is.
[00:11:08] Speaker C: That happens between every member. Ministry counseling and discipleship and deep pastoral counseling. That's right.
[00:11:13] Speaker D: No doubt about it. No doubt about it. And some of that has to, by default, fall to the pastor.
No doubt about it.
And we don't shrink back from that. We gladly do that. We do it with joy. But it's still. I still maintain what I said. The congregation needs to be aware that pastor's a heart guy, too.
And he can get discouraged, too.
The pastor's not just the old gray mare that you can just put more and more weight on her back.
There needs to be some brothers in the church that are sensitive to know man, our pastor, his heart's been burdened. He's been under a weight.
I can see it on his face. Like, let's. We gotta get our pastor a break.
We gotta get him some time off.
We just can't keep driving him like this. He's gotta have a break. And so the congregation's gotta be mature enough to have realistic expectations of what they can put on their pasture and load him down with, you know, long term.
[00:12:15] Speaker C: Right, right.
Short, short term, you got those seasons that happen. But when it. If it's the same again and over and over and over again, it's.
It's tiring.
[00:12:24] Speaker D: It is.
[00:12:25] Speaker C: And you have more. More experience in that than I do. I just. Even in my short, shorter tenure in ministry, you know, there's moments where I'm like.
[00:12:35] Speaker D: And I'll tell you, brother, I don't know any other way to say it than say it. And this is new ground for me. This is new ground. And that's the thing about it, is you always embark on new ground. I'm dealing with things today I've never dealt with before. And this last season that I've come through, just recently, this last season that I've come through hit me harder than anything I've ever been through, brother. And you think after 35 years you build up a library, you build up a resistance, you build up a resiliency. Well, you do build up knowledge, but you still got a heart, and you still got emotions and you still got feelings, and you're still a human.
And, brother, this last one, this last season that I came through, I just haven't bounced back like I used to.
And I don't know if that's age.
I'll tell you what I think it is, Brother Mark. I think a lot of tread has been taken off my tires through 35 years.
And, you know, I don't know that there's anything perhaps different, maybe, except to just say, to maybe a layperson watching or listening to this man, be aware of it. Sometimes just your pastor knowing that you care, sometimes just your pastor a kind word. Sometimes just, you know, maybe taking your pastor out to eat and just listening and loving on him and letting him. Letting him bear his heart. Sometimes just a compassionate word or a card or giving him a break can be like changing the oil in your motor. It just prolongs his ministry.
A man can't just grind, grind, grind, grind, grind all the time. Sooner or later, no matter how godly you are and how biblical your ministry is, you still got two lungs, you still got kidneys, you still got blood vessels, you still got blood pressure. You still. I mean, and so we have to. That's a whole nother thing that churches have got to learn.
Their pastor is a gift from God. That's what Ephesians says. He gave some.
That word gave is a gift from God. He gave some pastor teachers. And we have to be a good steward of that gift and make sure that we help him have a long ministry and not just, you know, die with a heart attack or high blood pressure or whatever else.
[00:14:50] Speaker C: Right? Yeah, for sure.
[00:14:51] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:14:53] Speaker C: Well, I mean, this has all been just extremely encouraging, even just for me.
Whoever is listening, I'm sure they'll be encouraged as well. But just as a younger pastor, less tenured pastor, you've given me some good wisdom.
[00:15:13] Speaker D: I pray so. And by the way, brother, that's an open invitation. Just like Brother David told me years ago. I don't know what I have that could help you, but whatever I have, the answer is yes. And I'll help you any way I can, brother. It'd be a great joy to do that.
[00:15:31] Speaker C: Specifically, there's one thing that you. You've already done over this last. Well, I don't have how many months ago it was now, but your.
You were preaching through Psalm 23.
[00:15:43] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:15:44] Speaker C: And which, by the way, I listened to some of the other sermons, but. But you sent me one on purpose because it was about anointing my head with oil and it was dealing with some of the psychology and counseling of the day.
That was an extremely encouraging sermon for me.
I know you just put out a commentary for that one, didn't you?
[00:16:12] Speaker D: Right.
[00:16:14] Speaker C: But that, that kind of encouragement just to just, hey, there's something you might be interested in. And so I listen to that one. Listen the second one.
You made a couple of podcasts out of it, and I went and listened to those.
But what you did there was show, like the Scriptures. Yes, you teach them, you preach them, and. But they're sufficient there. And you don't just.
The Bible isn't sufficient to give you good preaching fodder.
[00:16:45] Speaker D: That's right.
[00:16:46] Speaker C: It's to live your life.
[00:16:49] Speaker D: I'll tell you, you brought this up a minute ago, and I'm so glad you said that, because I was going to say this, and I just lost my train of thought. And this could be a podcast all in of itself. We could do it. So I know I don't want to do that, so I'll just be as brief as I possibly can and say this.
In good churches like Shelbyville Mills, like Tumbling shows, where there's a solid exposure, like Grace Life Church and Muscle shows, solid exposure in the pulpit, line upon line, precept upon precept.
There are tons of people in my church, and I'm sure your church, that have a therapist, the millennial, this generation. It's cool to have a therapist. Everybody has a therapist. Everybody has a life coach, and they just lean on that. And the most of it is the most gobbly goop mess you've ever heard in your life.
And our churches are full of people that are popping pills like Tic Tacs.
Psychotropic drugs are. We are the drug culture.
And here's the deal, they only treat the symptoms.
They sedate and they stimulate. They sedate and they stimulate. Just like when I was coming up. Quaaludes did, and cocaine did, and marijuana did, and alcohol did. Maybe they're FDA regulated. They're a little bit safer, they say. But if you heard the commercials, when they talk about the side effects of these things, it's unbelievable. And now you have to take this drug to offset suicidal thoughts. But this drug could also cause suicidal thoughts. And so here's the deal.
It's the fruit of trying everything under the sun, except the one thing. God ordained, His Word. And it just grieves me. And I'm talking good people that are saved, that I love, that are turning to secondary and auxiliary resources that are not going to solve the problem.
It's only going to stretch that rubber band out, and sooner or later, it's going to contract.
[00:18:56] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:18:57] Speaker D: And I know a person who has lived their life, and I'm trying to be as anonymous as I can. Sure, sure. They have taken every psychotropic. Matter of fact, the word said to me was they're taking the maximum allowable dose of psychotropic medication that the FDA will allow the maximum. And there has been electroshock therapies. And my heart breaks, literally. I'm not saying this condemnatory.
[00:19:21] Speaker C: Right.
[00:19:22] Speaker D: But after all of that, after all of that, no better for it. No better.
These things don't fix the problem.
There's lots of things you can do today that make you feel better. But is that the goal, or is the goal to deal with the root problem and get victory over it?
[00:19:42] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:19:43] Speaker D: That's why biblical counseling is so important. And the shepherd, he anoints our heads with oil. He helps us think right.
And not give ourselves over to anxiety and not give ourselves over to depression.
And even though I preach this in my church, there's people that still disregard my counsel and go to the Freudian therapist and go to the drug.
I'll tell you this. And I'm done. Mark.
Since I've been in my 30s, I go to the doctor every year for an annual exam. I think that's a wise thing to do. I get a full physical exercise, everything checked out. And I try to be healthy. I ride a bicycle a lot. I ride a lot of miles every week. So I try to be healthy.
[00:20:25] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:20:25] Speaker D: My doctor's been my doctor for 25 years. And every time I go in, every single time, he'll say to me, are you dealing with anxiety?
Are you dealing with depression? And it's like the next thing he wants to do, he's going to flip his pattern and write me a prescription. No blood test, no mri, no scan of anything. No quantifiable scientific diagnosis. It's just. I can give you something to help you with that. Yep. And that's where people are living their lives. And, well, sure, I'm dealing with some anxiety, but I'm dealing with it.
[00:20:59] Speaker C: Right.
[00:20:59] Speaker D: I'm praying, I'm fighting, I'm struggling through. And I always believe you're better to fight and to struggle. Some days it's pretty, some days it's not.
[00:21:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:10] Speaker D: Charles Spurgeon dealt with depression but he fought it, and he didn't give himself over to substances. And Psalm 1, one ungodly counsel.
[00:21:22] Speaker C: Right.
[00:21:23] Speaker D: And so there again, brother, but expository preaching even helps us to control the way we think and our emotions. That's right.
[00:21:36] Speaker C: That's right.
That conversation is a difficult one to have. In churches.
[00:21:43] Speaker D: People think you're crazy.
[00:21:44] Speaker C: Well, they either think you're crazy or they think that you don't care.
[00:21:48] Speaker D: Or MD Stands for medical deity. The doctor said it, so it has to be right. And by the way, I'm not a doctor, but what they're doing with psychotropic drugs is not science.
It's sedating and stimulating and that.
[00:22:01] Speaker C: And that's the thing that most people don't realize is, is that even, even those that are.
[00:22:07] Speaker B: Well, most of the prescriptions are written.
[00:22:09] Speaker C: By a general practitioner that's not even a psychotherapist or anything like that. But even those, they would. They would tell you this, this does not fix the problem.
[00:22:21] Speaker D: It masks it.
[00:22:22] Speaker C: It will mask it. It will make you feel better. Yeah, but they, they would, they'll never tell you this is going to fix it because it can't. It doesn't. That's not what it's meant to do.
Frustration with it is not that people don't believe me or that they don't, you know, they don't follow my counsel. That's. That is frustrating, but at the same. But, but my biggest thing about it is it just makes me feel sad.
[00:22:46] Speaker D: It does me. Breaks my heart like, because, you know, it's a trap.
[00:22:50] Speaker C: You're stuck.
[00:22:50] Speaker D: You're stuck. And here's the thing I want to say to anybody listening, this was Christ. This was the apostles, this was the disciples. This is what the church is supposed to be.
Don't choose the easy path.
That's the thing. Sure, it's easier to pop a pill today, but the fruit of that won't be easier on down the road. Do hard things.
[00:23:10] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:23:11] Speaker D: Struggle, fight.
Put on the whole armor of God, you know, battle, do war. But don't give yourself over to the easy fix because that's a trap. It's going to end up enslaving you.
[00:23:25] Speaker C: That's right.
Well, brother, I appreciate that conversation. Like I said, I could talk on those kinds of topics for sure, for a long, long, long, long time.
Just kind of as a close to this part of ministry, if you could give just one piece of advice, and I know you probably have already said some of this, but to somebody who's already committed who's already qualified, but a young man going into ministry. You could just give them one piece of advice. What would it be?
[00:23:54] Speaker D: The one piece of advice would be find a brother not perfect.
Find a brother that has a long track record of applying truth in the local church and hang out with him as much as you can.
That would be my counsel.
Don't make decisions without consulting with him.
Don't make any major changes in your church without first talking with him. It'll save you a world of trouble.
[00:24:25] Speaker C: So have yourself a Paul.
[00:24:27] Speaker D: That's it.
[00:24:28] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:24:29] Speaker D: Have yourself a brother who is a practitioner. Now, this isn't the brother that teaches in the seminary. Perhaps this is not just the theolog.
I'm talking about a practitioner. I'm talking about a brother who has actually, he could pull up his shirt and show you some scars on his back where he has applied truth in the church.
Look, that's where you're going to be. You're going to be boots on the ground. You're going to be at a locale. That's what a local church is, with a group of baptized believers supposed to be, who have jobs and children and kids and questions and problems. And you're going to have.
That's when it gets real. And so you need a brother that's been at real for a long time.
And you just.
A brother that you can call, that you trust, that you can speak in confidence to, that you can seek counsel from invaluable.
And then things like the true church conference, things that undergird you, your faith and build you up, make you see that you're not crazy.
You form networks of brothers that are like faith and that encourage you, that you can ask the hard questions to. And they won't think you're crazy because you bring up election or you bring up predestination or foreknowledge. They're not going to brand you and label. Oh, watch out. Now. He asked me this the other day, but, you know, but even if you do ask a crazy question, they still love you and they're just trying to help you. They don't want to hurt you.
That would be the most important, singular thing I believe a young man could do to just save him a world. I wish I'd had that. I made a bunch of bonehead.
Just young, immature zeal I had.
I would have been much better off if I'd have had a brother set me down and, you know, jerked me up a notch or two here and helped me out in that regard.
[00:26:25] Speaker C: Well, amen. Thank you brother. Appreciate you spending some time today and just getting to talk about David and ministry and again, it's been a joy to me, an encouragement and I'm really looking forward to tonight.
[00:26:39] Speaker D: I am too.
[00:26:39] Speaker C: And Wild Game Supper and seeing what the Lord does with that.
I appreciate it.
[00:26:46] Speaker B: The recommended resource for today's podcast episode is a book called Biblical Eldership by Alexander Straub.
Now this book is helpful in thinking through leadership in the church, what it means to be a pastor and what it means to be a pastor, particularly within the local church. What does it look like to shepherd God's people in teaching and preaching in expository ministry of the Word? This resource is an encouragement both to the novice pastor and the pastor who's been serving faithfully for decades. For this resource and more, visit our
[email protected] store since we finished Brother David's series on Philemon in the last episode, I decided to share a standalone sermon in between series on this episode. This sermon is from 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 23 on the inerrancy of the Word of God.
[00:27:52] Speaker A: The text says, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever.
All flesh is as grass as and all the glory of man is as the flower of grass.
The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away but the Word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you.
Last night Russell Moore spoke of the sovereignty of God in conversion.
He will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy.
This morning our dear brother Conrad spoke of the Spirit in conversion.
Unless the Spirit quickens, there'll be no conversion.
The sovereign God and the Spirit of that sovereign God have chosen to use certain means in bringing about the conversion of a sinner.
And the means that he has chosen is the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Where there is no proclamation of the Gospel, there are no conversions.
I have three items in my sermon now, in case I lose some of you before I'm finished, I want to give all three of them to you.
In a nutshell.
Number one, I want you to see that the prime mover the Bible is God.
Number two, I want you to see that the perpetuity of its matter is good.
And number three, the power of its ministry is great.
Throughout history there have been movers and shakers, men who have the ability to envision, initiate, and implement a concept, men who are able to get A job done.
We often refer to these as prime movers.
Every great political, social and religious movement has had its prime mover.
The great theological institution. Institutions in Southern Baptist life have had their prime movers.
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville had its James Pettigrew voice.
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth had its BH Carroll.
These individuals, more than any others, were responsible for the existence of these schools.
Now, in a similar, yet far greater world way, I need to tell you there is a prime mover behind the existence of the Bible.
It's not Moses or David or Isaiah.
It's not Peter, Paul or James.
The prime mover behind the existence of the Bible is God.
He envisioned the plan, he inspired the people, and he inspected the product.
The Bible is the Word of God.
Now, to say that the Bible is the Word of God presents us with stupendous theological implications.
I want to suggest two.
Number one, if the Bible is the word of God, this implies a divine essence.
Our text says that the Bible liveth.
Imagine that the Bible is a lie.
Not the words or the ink or the paper by themselves are alive.
But these words and this message, when interpreted and applied by the Spirit, become alive with the supernatural saving power of God Almighty.
It has a divine essence.
Number two, if the Bible is the word of God, this implies that the Bible has a definite inerrancy about it.
Sophisticated academic credentials are not required to believe in the inerrancy of Scripture.
And for that matter, one is not required to be an ignorant redneck fundamentalist to believe in the inerrant of Scripture.
Sufficient scholarship exists and abounds among Baptists upon which to build and maintain a position of inerrancy.
[00:36:23] Speaker D: However.
[00:36:25] Speaker A: It is the opinion of this country preacher that occasionally the rank and file among us needs to be reminded that the inerrancy of the Bible does not stand or fall based upon human scholarship.
The inerrancy of the Bible shall stand or fall based upon the character of the God who wrote it.
If you believe God is true, immutable, and incapable of error, and you believe the Bible to be the word of that God, you can then logically conclude that the Bible itself partakes of those same characteristics.
And for me, it's just as simple as that.
I am aware, though, that for many of the weaker brethren among us, it is not as simple as that.
Some of them say it was God who spoke, and what he spoke was and inerrant. But it was errant fallen man who wrote down what God said.
Consequently, you have to allow for Some margin of human error.
I like to ask these scholars, just how wide must the margin for human error be?
And I have discovered it depends on upon which scholar you're talking to at the time.
I like to follow that up with this.
How much wider do you suppose the margin for error must have been when God spoke through Balaam's donkey?
Surely if you have to allow for some margin of human error and you progress from lofty intellectual man down to a common brute beast, the margin for error would get wider, to say nothing of when God spoke through an inanimate object like a burning bush on the backside of the desert.
Other of the lower critics suggest that the Bible is inerrant when it addresses soteriological or spiritual matters, but when the Bible addresses scientific and historic matters, it ceases to be inerrant.
I, for one, am amazed that men of such high degree could purport a position that is so ill conceived, illogical and lacking basic intelligence.
Does it seem reasonable to you that the God who created the universe deposited the gold in the hills of California and the coal in the hills of Kentucky and the oil in the Middle east and cut rivers out of the rocks, that that same God could not speak with accuracy on the subject of of geography and geology?
Does it seem reasonable to you that the God who hung the stars in place the sun to rule by day and the moon to rule by night, that that same God could not speak on the subject of astronomy with absolute infallibility?
Does it seem reasonable to you that the God who created time would not be able to address the most minute historical item without absolute accuracy?
Brethren who have difficulties with the inerrancy of the Scriptures have a much larger theological problem.
Their greater problem has to do with the sovereignty of the God who wrote the Bible.
I mean, if you want to cure life. Low blood pressure.
Among critics of inerrancy, you just suggest to them that God Almighty can overrule the volition of a man on earth, that God Almighty can take into account man's education, take into account man's environment and man's experience, that God can add to this equation man's natural affections and affinities, and that God can sovereign protect against man's proclivity to err, and that God can prevent man's propensity to sin, and that God can preside over man's penmanship until errant man has written down the inerrant Word of God.
And yet, beloved, that is precisely what God has done in giving us his word.
I would submit to you today that he rules in the army of heaven and on earth. None can stay his hand nor say unto him, what doest thou?
The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord. He turneth it whithersoever he will.
He made proud Babylonian monarch Nebuchadnezzar get down on his hands and knees and for seven years eat grass like an ox until Nebuchadnezzar declared there is a God in heaven who rules over the affairs of men on earth.
Do you remember when God was encouraging and instructing the Israelites regarding the festivals? He said this when you are camping out in booze, celebrating the festivals, do not worry about your houses or lands. Your enemies will not desire your houses nor your lands when you're keeping the festivals.
How could God make such a promise as this? I'll tell you how.
The God of the Bible is not limited by man's volition or his natural tendencies.
God would supernaturally restrain the natural tendencies of Israel's enemies.
Now, if God can and often does do that with unwilling subjects, how much more could God blow the wind of His Spirit across the sails of willing subjects like holy men of God and bear them along until they had written down the inerrant word of God to men?
I tell you, the Bible does not stand or fall based on scholarship. The Bible stands or falls based upon the character of the God who wrote it.
God is the prime mover of the Bible.
[00:45:57] Speaker B: Inerrancy of Scripture is another vital doctrine for the church today. The Scriptures are inerrant. They are without error.
They're infallible.
Scripture is the truth. What would our lives look like if we spent more time looking at, studying, memorizing the truth of God's Word in our daily life?
Perhaps we would find ourselves being able to notice falsehoods and overcoming them with the truth of God's Word More quickly. I would encourage you, if you don't already, to establish a daily quiet time, daily time studying God's Word so that you will know the truth and his truth will set you free.
Now let's get back to Brother David's sermon on the Word of God from First Peter, chapter one, verse 23.
[00:46:53] Speaker A: Now here's the second item in my lesson.
I want you to see that the perpetuity of its matter is good.
There is the suggestion in this text of a contrast between the frail, feeble, fleeting existence of a man and the constant continuance of the Word of God. The illustration. The analogy is clear.
All flesh is as grass and the glory of man is as the flower of grass.
Man at the pinnacle of his power, man at the peak of his prestige and pride, is like the flower of the grass.
The flower of the grass springs up later and dies sooner than the stem that bears it. But the Word of God endureth forever.
This great truth is compounded by the fact that no king and no army has ever marched in defense of the Bible.
This truth is compounded further by the fact that emperors and monarchs and armies have marched in an attempt to destroy the Word of God from the face of the earth.
Today, the attack upon holy Scriptures comes from a source you would not expect.
It comes from higher criticism. It comes from those who should know better. But I want to tell you this afternoon that when the memory of these critics has long since been forgotten in the annals of history, when they in their memories have been flung into the outer realms of oblivion, the word which we preach will still be living on.
It's alive and it endures forever. It is my happy privilege to point you preacher men today to something you can get your hands on, something you can get your teeth into, something that you can bring to your people on a regular basis. And have confidence that when the purpose driven life is no longer remembered among Southern Bo Baptist, that the Gospel of saving grace in Christ Jesus is still going to be around.
I want to tell you that when the latest man has passed off the scene, the Word of God is still going to abide.
Give your people something that will be an anchor for their soul.
Give your people something that in this day of vacillation, in this day of mutability, give them something that will anchor their soul. Give them the Word.
Preach the Gospel of Christ.
The perpetuity of its matter is good.
But now I want to come to speak of a third idea.
I want you to consider that the power of its ministry is great.
And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you. Here Peter equates.
I thought I'd gotten the gift there for a moment.
If I had, I wanted to go with it.
Alright, pay attention.
In this text, the Apostle equates the Gospel with the Word.
This is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you.
The problem with having folks in Baptist institutions who do not have a high view of Scripture is that you soon run the risk of not having the Gospel in our Lord's day. The Herodians rejected and denied all Scripture.
The Sadducees rejected the supernatural parts of Scripture.
The Pharisees added tradition to the Scripture.
But I would submit to you that Neither of these three classes had the gospel and neither of them had salvation.
Do you know what the power of the ministry of the Word of God is?
It is not to be subject matter for theological debate.
The Word of God has been given us to preach for two primary reasons.
One, it is God's means of revelation of the gospel, of saving grace.
You don't learn about the Gospel in the Reader's Digest or the Ladies Home Journal or watching Larry King on cnn. You don't get it from any other source, but from the Word of God.
Number two. The Bible is God's means of regeneration.
We are born again, not of corruptible seed. Hallelujah for that great truth. We are born of incorruptible seed by the Word of God that lives and abides forever.
Now listen to me. The best way to get at this business of preaching the Word of God is verse by verse exposition through books of the Bible.
Some of you have come to this conference today guilty of topical preaching, reading a portion of an obscure verse, departing from it, and never more returning, preaching a vision out of your own head. I want to tell you that's not the gospel.
That's what Benny Hinn does.
That's what Paul and Jan do. That's not Bible preaching. And furthermore, Bible preaching is not skyscraper preaching where you tell one story or on top of another story on top of another story. That's storytelling.
I want to tell you Bible preaching is where you read a portion of God's holy word and you give a good faith effort to explain it, to expound it, to elucidate it. You illustrate it, you argue it, you apply it. You try, by God's gracious help to organize it in such a fashion that the folks can follow you logically down through the text. And you do it week after week, month after month, year after year, until the chief shepherd shall call you home and give you your reward. I want to tell you, if you want converts in your church, the best place to begin is, is to have a renewed confidence in the Bible as the Word of God and begin to preach it, verse by verse, line by line, precept upon precept. Here a little, there a little. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. And whatever text you happen to be in. Find a way to the cross and present the Gospel. Gospel of Jesus Christ. Bring those claims of the cross to bear upon those who hear and trust the sovereign God by His gracious spirit, to bring life to those who hear.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you for your word.
Would you write it indelibly upon our hearts and before our eyes for Jesus.
[00:56:55] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:56:58] Speaker B: Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Line Upon Line Ministries podcast. I pray it has been an encouragement to you in your walk with the Lord. As always, be sure to check out our website, lineuponlineministries.com for more resources. Be sure to sign up for our email list so that you can stay connected and informed about what's going on with lineupon Line. And God bless you as you continue to study and to minister God's Word.
