In his sermon, Tom Ascol emphasizes the importance of confessional preaching, which is deeply rooted in sound doctrine as highlighted in the pastoral letters of Paul to Timothy and Titus. Ascol argues that preserving pure doctrine and silencing false teachings are vital for the health of a church, asserting that a robust confession of faith serves as a faithful summary of biblical teachings. He highlights that Christianity is inherently confessional, with creeds and confessions providing clarity and coherence to a believer's faith. Ascol also addresses common concerns about confessionalism undermining scriptural authority, arguing instead that it safeguards and reinforces sola scriptura by providing a framework within which scripture is interpreted. He discusses the historical and contemporary benefits of confessionalism, such as aiding in church unity, discipleship, and protecting against heresy. Ascol concludes by urging pastors and churches to adopt and study confessions to articulate their beliefs clearly, fostering a healthy, doctrinally sound Christian community.

What a joy to be here and have an opportunity to participate in this conference. Brian, thank you so much. It was a wonderful, wonderful encouragement. I think the Puritans said if a man had one or two friends, he was a rich man. And certainly it's true.

And just looking back over my lifetime, I can resonate with how good friends have kept me and helped me and served me very, very well. Well, as Scott mentioned, the topic I've been assigned is firm foundation of confessional preaching. And so I've gone back through the pastoral letters where we see the Apostle Paul speaking to Titus and Timothy and encouraging them in their gospel ministries as ministers of the gospel, pastors of churches, leaders of others who are pastoring churches as well. And in those letters, it's amazing to see how many times the emphasis is placed on doctrine. I've counted them up before, I forget exactly now, but it's dozens and dozens and dozens of times that the word doctrine is used in those three letters.

And if you were going to write a letter to a pastor, a young pastor, who wanted to do well in ministry and he had made his heart known to you and you wanted to encourage him, what would be the first thing that you'd say to I mean there's all kind of things to say to a young pastor about the responsibilities that he has and the challenge that will come up and could well encourage him to make sure that he loves his people and that they know that he loves them. That's good counsel or you could caution him not to try to change things too quickly because sometimes zeal can outstrip knowledge and you can leave people in worse shape than you found them not intentionally but simply because you weren't thinking and being wise about that or any number of other things that you could say that might encourage a young pastor. But the thing that the apostle Paul says to Timothy in the first letter that we have from him to Timothy and our New Testament is different than what even most modern books on pastoral ministry say or emphasize whatever they talk about pursuing success and being effective in ministry.

The first thing Paul tells Timothy to give attention to is to make sure that pure doctrine is being taught in the church at Ephesus where Timothy is stationed. Let me read first Timothy three verses first Timothy one verses three through seven, first Timothy one three through seven. As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons by swerving from these have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law without any understanding either of what they are saying that they were not aware of the things about which they make confident assertions.

I mean Paul had spent the better part of three years in Ephesus helping that church to get established to get on a firm footing and when he writes this letter to Timothy probably around the year sixty four eighty or so it's only been about five years since he has left that church yet in that brief period all kinds of threats have emerged within the church dangerous threats that if they're not addressed in the right way, can submarine the work of the gospel there and leave the people seriously injured. And so Paul urges Timothy to remain in Ephesus in verse three so that he could charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine. In other words, Paul says, Timothy, I want you to tell people in emphasis to quit teaching what they're teaching. In fact, I want you to command them not to teach anything contrary to that which had been taught, which Paul himself had taught. Why does Paul do that?

Why does Paul make this a priority, a place in his letter, the first emphasis, the first exhortation that he gives? Because Paul knows that to thrive in a church sound doctrine must be preserved and false doctrine must be silenced. One of the most helpful ways that I know for a pastor to pursue that goal is by having a conscious commitment to a confessional understanding of scripture and to let his preaching flow out of that confessional commitment. Here's what I mean. I believe a pastor should adopt for himself and lead his church to adopt a robust confession of faith.

It is a good and faithful summary of what the Bible teaches about key doctrines. And then I think pastors should use that confession to help them expound the text of scripture and to teach the doctrines of scripture to the church sound doctrine is vital to a healthy life. Doctoral foundation gives a good foundation to a devotional life. The relationship between Jesus said it quite simply. You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

There's no freedom without the truth and without embracing the truth rightly when you do embrace truth rightly, Jesus says you will experience freedom. This is why he prayed in his high priestly prayer in John 17 that the Father would sanctify his disciples by the truth. We grow as the truth is embedded within us more and more. Then he adds, your word is truth. The apostles of Jesus continued to emphasize this same relationship between truth and life.

We see it in their writings. We see it in Paul's admonitions to Timothy in 1 Timothy four. He says, keep a close watch on yourself and the teaching and the teaching. Peter, Timothy will do this. He'll save himself and the people that he leads.

Paul instructs Titus to appoint elders in every city on the island of Crete. And each one of those men must meet clearly defined standards of character and conduct, including they must be thoroughly grounded in revealed truth. Paul says in Titus one, such a man must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict. That's part of the job of an elder of a pastor of an overseer of a church and we can't do that if we are not clear in our own thinking about doctrine and a good confession of faith will help you to articulate with clarity the truth of scripture in support importance of truth and its relationship to Christianity that is healthy can be seen in the structure of many New Testament churches where we find the apostles first writing truth, doctrinal statements, indicatives and the church of Ephesus and the church of Rome. So Paul is looking for the imperatives.

You can see this very clearly in the letters to the church at Ephesus as well as the church at Rome where Paul spends the first half of both of those letters just laying out excuse me, doctrinal foundations. These are wonderful, glorious truths. And then he pulls the trigger. So then, now on the basis of truth, live this way. In Ephesians, for example, the first three chapters, he deals with wonderful teachings of the election and predestination, depravity, regeneration, union with Christ.

And then in chapter four, he pulls the trigger by saying, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Therefore, because of truth, because of doctrine that I have taught you that I want you to understand. Same thing happens in Romans in the first 11 chapters. Paul deals with the doctrine of sin. He deals with the reality of our universal depravity for Jew and Gentile justification was taught both in Old Testament and now it's fulfilled in its completion in New Testament and the coming of Jesus Christ.

He speaks about union with Christ, he speaks about remaining sin, He speaks about the work of the Holy Spirit, election, predestination, the future. And then he comes in chapter 12, I appeal to you therefore brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Christianity is more than a way of life. It is a way of life that is grounded in and arising from truth, truth that God has revealed to us. Specifically, it's the truth God's revealed to us in Jesus Christ.

That's the gospel of Christ, the whole Bible that builds the case for the gospel telling us who Jesus is and what Jesus has done and why that is significant, why it matters to everyone. It's only by receiving the truth, who Christ is, what he's done that's been revealed to us in scripture, that anybody ever gets made right with God. There is no salvation apart from the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so we who are ministers of this gospel must see ourselves as truth brokers. Proverbs 23, 23 says, buy the truth and do not sell it.

And Isaiah laments in Isaiah 59, that truth has fallen in the streets. It's stumbled in the public squares. Paul pronounces a curse that the people of God who have been trained by faithful pastors should be prepared to pronounce even on angels or apostles if angels and apostles were to show up and teach contrary to the gospel that Paul taught them in Galatians 1. That's why one of the reasons I'm a Baptist is that passage, It's not elders he's writing to, it's churches, church members, which means that elders have to so train their church members that the church members will be responsible. But if Gabriel showed up and started saying things contrary to the gospel that's been revealed that the church members would be equipped to say anathema to you, Gabriel.

Truth matters. The gospel matters. Doctrine matters. Theology matters. What that means, brothers, is that our doctrinal teaching must be precise.

We must labor to teach the doctrines found in God's word as simply and accurately and clearly as we can. And being confessional helps with that. Confessionalism is simply a commitment to defining and adhering to and defending clearly stated truths that are found in scripture and are sincerely believed. And I wanna make just three points about this confessional approach to pastoral ministry and preaching, and then try to draw out a couple of practical advantages for pastors who would give themselves to a robust confessionalism. The first is that Christianity is itself inherently confessional.

Every Christian has a creed. Every Christian has a confession. Credo simply means I believe and if you're a Christian then you say I believe. We are believers and hence every Christian has a creed or confession. Now granted not all confessions and creeds are well thought out by the Christians that have them though they should be.

Our faith is inherently creedal. It's necessarily so. Well if it's inevitable and necessary that you have a creed in order to be a Christian, then you should try to think carefully about what your creed and confession is, what it is you believe so that you can declare it simply and carefully. Well, the Bible demonstrates the inherent confessionalism of our Christian religion. We see it going back to the Old Testament.

In Deuteronomy six, in the Shema, which begins in verse four, here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. This affirms the two fundamental truths that were being taught to the people of God in that Old Testament era, that there is a God and there's only one God. And that was a confessional commitment that was simply taught. In 2 Timothy chapter 1, Paul writes in verse 13, follow the pattern of sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us guard the good deposit entrusted to you the pattern of sound words. That is something identifiable.

That's something that has precise content and meaning sound words, healthy words, something like a creed or confession. Paul says a good deposit, valuable message that Timothy had received from Paul, that when Paul referred to it, Timothy could bring to his mind the things that Paul had said to him, like a creed or confession. Jude three tells us to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. The faith, that system of truth that can be contended for like a creed or confession. Brothers, what we have in the Bible is not just a box of doctrines, but what we have is a body of divinity.

It is truth that coheres together, revealed from our God, that teaches us what we need to know about him, about ourselves, about this world, and about the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, there are obviously sections in the apostolic letters where the authors intended for the recipients of those letters to keep in mind summary teachings of important truths. Five times the apostle Paul in his pastoral letters uses the phrase, this saying is trustworthy. Here's a faithful, trustworthy saying. He's highlighting teachings that we can call confessional statements.

We see it in the scriptures. For example, 1st Timothy 4, verses 7, 8 and 9, Paul says, "'Have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths, "'rather train yourself for godliness. "'For while bodily training is of some value, "'godliness is of value in every way "'as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The same is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance five times. We have those kinds of state sayings by the apostle Paul.

It's an apostolic emphasis and consequently it's not surprising since it is such an emphasis in the apostolic writings that we find from the earliest history of the Christian church, statements that are fashioned into creeds and confessions. The early 20th century Baptist leader E.Y. Mullins noted that the best of our creeds and confessions have arisen out of a deep religious affection. He writes this, The great creeds which have powerfully influenced the life of mankind have all arisen in periods of great religious energy and deep religious experience. They are like the lava which comes hot from the volcano.

Volcano and inner power expels them. And we see this in the history of the church for the like the Apostles Creed that was built off the old Roman creed of the second century and then further refined over the next several centuries that just summarizes apostolic doctrine. The Nicene Creed in the fourth century was an elaboration of those beliefs that were summarized in the apostles' Creed, expanding on the Trinitarian nature of God. In the Reformation era, which was marked by a revival of sound expository preaching, it witnessed also an explosion of confessions and catechisms to distinguish Protestants from Catholics, and not just that, but Protestants from each other. You think of Luther's large and small catechisms and the Augsburg Confession or the Belgian Confession of 1561 or Heidelberg Catechism, 1563.

And in the post-Reformation era, the same kind of emphasis is there with the canons of Dort, the first and second London Baptist Confessions of Faith, the Westminster confession, the Savoy Declaration, all of these, and literally dozens and dozens of others, are recognized confessions that were formulated by pastors throughout history to serve churches and associations by declaring what they understand the Bible to teach. So by formally articulating their doctoral convictions and making them accessible and available to be examined, they were able to identify themselves and not passively sit back and let other people identify them, as well as being able to distinguish themselves from the beliefs of others. I love what the late 18th, early 19th century English Baptist pastor Andrew Fuller says about this. He writes, the man who has no creed has no belief, which is the same thing as being an unbeliever. And he whose belief is not formed into a system has only a few loose, unconnected thoughts without entering into the harmony and glory of the gospel.

Every well-informed and consistent believer, therefore, must have a creed, a system which he supposes to contain the leading principles of divine revelation. By being intentionally confessional, pastors and the churches they lead can help make the implicit explicit. They can take what is inherently and inevitably true that they believe and carefully articulate it to try to help people from misunderstanding what they believe. So Christianity is inherently confessional. But secondly, confessionalism helps provide for a healthy Christianity.

Being confessional is no guarantee that a church will be spiritually healthy or that a pastor will remain spiritually healthy. But confessionalism is a great aid to spiritual health and disregard for confessional fidelity works against spiritual health. I know there's all kinds of concerns about having a robust confessionalism. People say, well, if you're gonna tie me to a confession, then You're keeping me from having any kind of freedom to really have serious engagement with the scriptures. I just have to accept what somebody else has said the scripture teaches and therefore my conscience is bound.

Well, I understand that concern but it's not true because a well articulated confession or creed is adopted and it's adopted voluntarily. It's not imposed. And so if a church is confessional when someone is seeking membership in that church, they are being asked to seek membership into a church that is intentionally confessional and if that gives them hesitation or they can hesitate but nobody's going to coerce them to believe this but rather we're going to say this is what we believe and if you believe with us like this then come in. Another concern is that confessions and creeds might undermine scriptures authority. I mean don't we believe in the Sola Scriptura and So shouldn't that lead us to say no creed but the Bible?

Samuel Miller summarizes that concern when he writes, the Bible say those who urge this objection is the only infallible rule of faith and practice. It is so complete that it needs no human addition. It's so easily understood that it requires no human explanation. Why then should we desire any other ecclesiastical standard? Why subscribe ourselves or call upon others to subscribe any other creed than this plain, inspired, and perfect one.

And that's a pretty common objection to creeds and confessions, that we have the Bible, We don't need anything but the Bible and It sounds more spiritual than it is because if that is going to be carried out Then you don't need any other books You don't need any other preachers just read the Bible because we have everything we need just in the words the Bible And you're gonna have to deal with those passages in the Bible that talk about teachers and how God gave teachers to the church and the need to be corrected in our misunderstandings at times. But I do think that that concern is more significant and because it's more prevalent and it warrants more careful response. I mean, scripture and scripture alone is indeed breathed out by God. It is the sole final authority for that which we are to believe. And that is absolutely true.

However, it is not true to say that scripture is our only authority or that scripture is the only way that God speaks. God has two books. He speaks in creation, in nature, as well as in Scripture. And so sometimes in our attempt to honor Scripture and it's being set apart from all other sources of authority, we can misspeak and misunderstand and say more than what we should say. Scripture is holy, it is infallible, it is inerrant, and scripture alone has proper authority to be lord of our consciences.

While scripture is indeed inerrant, scripture is not the only thing in this world that is inerrant. I once had an inerrant math test only once but I made one hundred on it. I'm not infallible at math, but that document was completely accurate. And you can have good, accurate statements that are true and inerrant, that do not mean they carry with them the authority of Scripture as having been breathed out by God or supplants the authority of Scripture. When Luther stood before the Diet of Worms in 1520, he was called upon to recant his evangelical convictions in the books that he had written, you know what he said.

And it's still true for us today that we should believe this. Unless I'm convicted by scripture in plain reason, I do not accept the authority of the pope and counsels because they contradicted one another. My conscience is captive to the word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right or safe. Here I stand.

I can do no other. So help me God. Amen. When asked about the Reformation, he said look said the word did it all. Luther was in no danger of denigrating the authority of God's word, But Luther wrote two catechisms and Luther helped to formulate the Augsburg Confession of 1530.

Confessionalism is no threat to sola scriptura. In fact, a good confession safeguards sola scriptura. Every good confession will have a strong statement on scripture's singular authority above all other authorities. In the 1689 second London Baptist confession, the very first words of chapter one say this, the Holy scripture is the only sufficient, certain and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith and obedience. I like what J.W.

Or J.L. Winnals in the nineteenth century said as an American Baptist statesman, he wrote, the use of a confession of faith so far from disparaging the authority of the Bible as a standard really exalts it. It insists upon a correct interpretation of the word of God, a cordial reception of its truths, and an entire submission to its directions. Some confuse sola scriptura with solo scriptura or nuda scriptura, and that is the bare scripture. In other words, there's no other truth than scripture.

There's no other source of truth beside the Bible. Our affirmation of Sola Scriptura recognizes that the Bible is the final, absolute, highest authority by which any human opinion or practice can be evaluated. Again, listen to the way the Second London Confession puts it. The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined and all decrees of councils and opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit, into which Scripture, so delivered, our faith is finally resolved." You know what one of the great ironies is about those who protest against confessions and creeds? No creed but the Bible.

Is that that's a creed. It's a pretty poor creed, but it is a creed. I believe in no creed but the Bible. Nearly every ancient heresy has been promoted by those who affirm the Bible's authority. They believe the Bible.

The problem is they mistake what the Bible actually says. And if their mistakes are serious enough, those mistakes can lead the people who follow them and believe what they teach straight to hell. So far better to have a healthy, thoughtful confession that safeguards both the authority and the teachings of God's word. Well, there are benefits to confessionalism, many, many benefits. Benefits to pastors who adopt them and to churches who would adopt them.

A good confession enables a church to declare and defend its doctrinal commitments. By having a confession of faith, the church says, or the pastor says, I'm pre-committed to certain things. I'm not looking for truth in these areas. I believe I found truth together with those who have put the confession together. If it's an ancient confession, a historical confession, you can say I'm just standing in the stream of those who for hundreds or perhaps longer have affirmed the very things that I firm.

Such a confession can safeguard a church and help it in times of controversy, can protect it from wolves. When outsiders come in and want to lead a church to embrace something contrary to the confession, a church, a pastor can say, no, this we believe. We are on record of believing this. We've seen this happen multiple times in the church that I'm pastoring. One time a guy who attended for a while had been a dispensationalist, heard some things being taught at the church and from that went into full preterism full preterity Saddens me today, but he will still tell people he's a leader in the full preterist movement He'll say yeah, Tom Askel taught me my preterism.

So please don't say that, you know, because I don't believe that's heresy. But once he got it, he came back to the church and he was just convinced that everybody in the church be excited about his heresy as he was. And so he said, I just want to sit down with the elders and you guys just come to the table, but promise me you'll come with with just an open mind. And we said, that's not gonna happen. We're convinced, we're already convinced.

And so we are not going to pretend like we're coming and you've got truth and we've got truth and we're just kind of try to figure it out. We're coming with truth that says you're a heretic and we're willing to have a conversation with you because we want to see you rescue you but we're not coming on neutral terms. We had Seventh-day Adventists, same thing, tried to persuade us against the Lord's Day as the Christian Sabbath and we said look we're coming to this not looking for truth we're coming to this being convinced of truth and they went away thinking these guys are just closed-minded well some things yeah we are you know we're willing to be convinced if you can show up for scripture but we're not thinking that you're going to do that because we're pre-committed to something that has been held by, in our case, the Second London Baptist Confession, our confession for more than 300 years. When prospective members join the church that is confessional, then they can have that confession set before them to read it and to express, yes, I'm either in agreement with this or as we say, you're willing to acknowledge that this is the way the ministry is going to be going in this church.

This is what you're going to be taught. And you are committing yourself not to teach against it. You're committing yourself not to object to it. So they don't have to be a full blown theologian and understanding the intricacies of our confession, but they need to be willing not to be upset by what they are going to hear because we tell them from the outset. If anybody tries to pass out literature or do anything contrary to the confession, then we can simply remind them, you came into membership on these terms and you agreed not to do that.

And they can be helped to be corrected. Church officers in a confessional church are called upon to acknowledge before the congregation that they believe this confession. We require our elders and deacons to stand before the congregation and vow before God that they have joyfully adopted and will defend the, submit to and defend the confession of faith of our church. Well, it can help churches in times of controversy and in establishing the direction of ministry. Another benefit is that a good confession can be a helpful tool of discipleship, of just helping Christians to grow.

Listen to what Spurgeon said when he published a special edition of the 1689 Confession in 1860 for his church in London. He said, this little volume is not issued as an authoritative rule or code of faith whereby you're to be lettered or fettered, but as an assistance to you in controversy, a confirmation in faith, and as a means of edification and righteousness. Here, the younger members of our church will have a body of divinity and a small compass, and by means of scriptural proofs, will be able to have a reason for the hope that is in them. So be not ashamed of your faith and remember that it's the ancient gospel of martyrs, confessors, reformers, and saints. Above all, it's the truth of God against which the gates of hell cannot prevail.

Cleave fast to the word of God, which is here mapped out for you. And good confession can help you in worship as well, can help you to say things, to articulate truth from the word of God that has been hammered out in concise statements. I and the other pastors of our church regularly will cite something from the confession or another confession or creed in order to just underscore the point that is being expounded from God's word. Well, there are other benefits to confessionalism, but let me just simply move to this third point that I want to make here is that the recovery of robust confessionalism is a great need in our day. I think healthy confessionalism will save us from a lot of headaches, and it will put us on a trajectory to pursue great health.

Thomas Oden in 1995 in his book Requiem, prophetically said, the rediscovery of boundaries in theology will be the preoccupation of 21st century Christian theology. And that's certainly true. I look at what's happened just in the couple of decades of the 21st century, and I think that some of the ways that good conservative evangelical churches got steered into bad paths could have been avoided with a robust confessionalism. The so-called social justice movement duped a lot of good men and a lot of organizations and a lot of churches by promoting ungodly ideologies that are clearly outside the boundaries of Protestant reformed, I would argue, Baptist Christianity. Ideas like white privilege and guilt-inducing structural racism and intersectionality, which defines your oppressiveness or being oppressive in terms of its own scales of ideological commitments rather than on the law of God.

I think if churches had had a really good grip on what the second line of confession sets forth in chapters 19 and 21, the fallacy of those ideologies would have been exposed pretty quickly. God's law defines sin. Guilt is accrued by violating God's law, not by failing to measure up by newly manufactured statuses of virtue and righteousness. Listen to what chapter 21, prayer, verse two says in that confession. God alone is Lord of the conscience.

He's left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are in anything contrary to his word not contained in it." All that guilt inducing stuff that was thrown into evangelical circles, 2013, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, all of that was contrary to what our confession faith says. I think about the government overreach in 2020 with the COVID stuff wreaked havoc on churches, magistrates seeking to enforce restrictions, prohibitions on worship, telling us how we could sing or not sing. Other kind of tyrannical policies that came. Listen to what the confession says, 1689 chapter 24, paragraph three. Civil magistrates being set up by God for the ends aforesaid, subjection in all lawful things commanded by them ought to be yielded by us in the Lord, not only for wrath, but for conscience sake.

Yield subjection to civil magistrates in all lawful things. What does that say? That the law of the land is subject to a higher law. There are laws that come from God and only to the degree that the civil magistrate having been given a lane by the God of that law, operates within that lane and does his job as a servant, a deacon of God, is he to be subjected to. When he gets outside that lane, when he starts making laws that are not in keeping with the higher law, We're not to subject ourselves to that.

Well, my time's gone, so let me just close with this wonderful statement by B.H. Carroll. He was the founder of My Alma Modern Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. And then his commentary on Ephesians four, this is what he wrote. All the modern human cry against dogma is really against morals.

The more we reduce the number of the creeds articles, and the more we, the number of the creeds articles, the more we undermine practical religion. A church with a little creed is a church with a little life. The more divine doctrines a church can agree on, the greater its power, the wider its usefulness. The fewer its articles of faith, the fewer its bonds of union and compactness. The modern cry, less creed and more liberty, is a degeneration from the vertebrate to the jellyfish.

It means less unity and less morality, and it means more heresy. Definitive truth does not create heresy, it only exposes and corrects. Shut off the creed and the Christian work will fill us, will fill up with heresy, unsuspected and corrected, but nonetheless deadly. So brothers, let's be confessional. Adopt a confession, study it, lead your church to study and adopt such confession, and let's declare to the world this we believe and help the world understand that our commitments arise from the word of God, and those commitments have been articulated as simply and as carefully as we know how.

Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the way that you have made your words so readily available to us. Thank you for your spirit who teaches us the word and guides us through the word to Christ and we thank you for those on whose shoulders we stand today, men who have seen the importance of confessing the faith once for all delivered to the Saints and we want to be such men ourselves. Be faithful stewards in our day of the things most surely believed among us.

So to that end we pray you would help us In Jesus' name, Amen.