In Mike Davenport's sermon on 'The Authority, Sufficiency, and Clarity of Scripture' based on the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, he emphasizes the self-authenticating nature of the Bible, which rests solely on God's truth and not on human testimony. The sermon underscores that God, the ultimate author of the Bible, ensures its truth and righteousness, with human authors writing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Davenport cautions against yielding ground in apologetics, urging believers to stand firm on 'Thus says the Lord.' The sermon also highlights the church's role in fostering a high reverence for Scripture, noting the Bible's heavenly nature, practical efficacy, majestic style, harmonious message, and the full revelation of salvation. Despite these attributes, full assurance of its divine authority comes through the Holy Spirit's inward work. The sermon affirms the sufficiency of Scripture for all matters concerning God's glory and human salvation, while acknowledging that understanding requires the Spirit's illumination. Finally, it touches on the circumstances of worship, emphasizing that while the Bible doesn't specify all details, worship should be guided by scripture and Christian prudence.

Well tonight we're going to continue in the first chapter of the SLBC. It's called many things. The SLBC, the 1689, the Confession. And it is the 1689, the second London Baptist confession of faith. And so we're going to continue in chapter one with of the Holy Scripture, of the Holy Scriptures.

We're going to pick up in paragraph four. It reads, the authority of the Holy Scripture for which it ought to be believed dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God, who is truth itself, the author thereof. Therefore it is to be received because it is the Word of God." So what the writers of the confession are really driving at is the Bible is self-authenticating. It is self-authenticating. It says that it's not dependent to receive authority from the testimony or ability to argue on its behalf and This it says whether it be a man or even a church Now we are to proclaim the Word of God.

We are to stand behind the Word of God. But the authors are saying the authority for which it is to be believed depends not on the testimony of any man or any church. Why? Children, who is the author of the Bible? Who's the author?

God. God is the author. And God is true. Every word He speaks is true. Every thing that proceeds from this true God is true and it is righteous altogether.

And so it depends wholly upon God. And they interject here before they say, but wholly upon God, the author thereof, after talking about depends upon God, they stop and say, do not forget this attribute of God he is truth itself just like we study today God is love God is truth God is truth in him is no error And that's why the writer to Romans in Romans chapter 3 Paul says this let God be true Let God be considered true and every man a liar Because it's not dependent upon us God is the author of scripture Now there are many human authors who took pen to paper. But so that we don't think that they are behind it and the authority is based on the apostles, Peter says that men wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit and we dealt last week Scott dealt last week with the fact that the Bible is inspired any of you young kids Remember what he talked about what is inspired actually mean God breathed it means God breathed God is the author and so paragraph 4 it just wants to set that in stone We must see God is the author now Let me give you a word of caution in apologetics in Apologetics the basis of arguing truth right in apologetics don't give up ground already gained Okay, don't give up ground already gained It's not upon us to authenticate God's Word.

And when we discuss these things with men, when we argue about these things with men, we need to come with, thus says the Lord, not with, well, this is what I think. Well, this is the way I understand it now we're fallible men women and Sometimes we don't get the understanding right But that's when we need to lean on Scripture. All right Scripture God's Word is what wins the day and it is self-authenticating So don't give up ground already gained God has spoken it's his word and we can do nothing to boost or strengthen that authority so the strength of our argument rests in God's testimony of His own Word. So that's paragraph 4. Now paragraph 5.

We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church of God to a high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scriptures. Okay, we may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church of God to a high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scriptures. And so we see here that they don't expect the church to be silent. Well, here's the word, read it for yourself. God has said it.

No, the church has a duty. The duty of the church is to be the pillar and ground of the truth. To what end? To move and induce in men a high and reverent esteem, Not for us, not for our wisdom, not for our ability to understand the Scriptures, but for the Scriptures themselves, a high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scriptures. This is our duty.

This is what we are to do. Now in this next part, if you're like me, sometimes the wording that these highly intelligent men speak to me, and I have to scramble the words just a little bit it helps me so they start out with an argument here and then give the reason for the argument at the end of this next section and the heavenliness of the matter the efficacy of the doctrine and the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God, the full discovery it makes of the only way of man's salvation, and many other incomparable excellencies and entire perfections thereof, and he gets to his argument, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God. So looking at it in reverse order we ask the question what are the arguments whereby the scripture abundantly evidences itself to be the Word of God? How is it self authenticating? How is it?

Well they give this list of things they start out with the list and then tell what the list is for it's just sometimes It's just for me maybe it helps me to understand the argument and then to see the list and here's the list So it says the heavenliness of the matter the heavenliness of the matter It is what we can call otherworldly It's otherworldly. It just doesn't deal with just the mundane Just the things of this life It calls us to a higher calling It calls us to think about God who is in the heavens it argues for a cause greater than man himself it deals with heavenly matters second the efficacy of the doctrine the efficacy of the doctrine its doctrine is practical and It's effective It's practical and it's effective in other words when men see the Bible and they see us, they should see the effect of that Scripture that it self-authenticates itself and it's working out in our hearts. We saw that today, right? The Scriptures say God is love. Well, how is the natural man to understand that the scriptures are really true They should look at us and see a reflection of that love That's the case and they'll see that this is effective Wow, these people really have latched on to the fact that Christ loves them that he died for them And look at them They're laying down their lives for one another They give the shirt off of their back.

They love each other and they come from different backgrounds And so they see the efficacy the effectiveness of the doctrine as it's worked out in real life thirdly the majesty of the style the majesty of the style Though practical in its application its message and the way that message is conveyed is majestic Did we not see that in Isaiah? How wonderful the words of Isaiah? Poetic in many sorts it had a majesty about it it must be taken seriously or attacked with vehemence that's the thing it's The majesty of the style it must be taken seriously or it must be vehemently attacked. There's no way that yeah, okay, whatever The majesty of it was it requires her response and people will respond People will respond they know the majesty with which it's not just the words of men It's not the words of men Bring any other book bring the cron Bring the Book of Mormon's Joseph Smith's book bring that into an argument and see with what power and vehemence People respond to that then bring out your Bible and see what men do with that There's a majesty to it. It bespeaks something other than this world.

Also, the consent of all the parts, the consent of all the parts, it is harmonious in its message. It agrees with itself. Many human authors over thousands of years of time and yet there is a consent of all the parts, not some, not many, all. Why? Because they wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit So the parts agree men have tried for centuries to tear it apart to find problems And they've been unable to because of the consent that agrees and think about that Thousands of years separate some of these authors It's not one man that wrote this even one man If I were to write something there would probably something in there that would disagree with itself This many authors human authors over a long course of time and yet its parts Have a beautiful consent together Next it talks about the scope of the whole.

The scope of the whole is an argument where it abundantly is evidenced itself as the Word of God. So we see that Though the messages and the themes of certain books may vary from others Right the message of Isaiah is a different message than what we've been hearing from first John It's dealing with a different people Isaiah was dealing with a stubborn people a stiff-necked people that were were sick from head to toe and he's saying behold your God John's writing to those that he says but you know these things you believe these things you've believed in God you've overcome the wicked one I'm convinced of these things, you know these things you have the Spirit and you have the love of Christ But yet the scope is the Same in this and they tell us what it is. It gives all glory to God It gives all glory to God What did we see in Isaiah? Behold your God? What have we been studying in first John?

We saw it even today Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us in this that we have a perfect love and we should glorify God Then it talks about the full discovery it makes of the only way of man's salvation It's the full revelation of what God requires of man and of what Christ did to fulfill those requirements. So it's the full discovery, not portions. God didn't give us a little bit and then send us off and say figure out the rest It's all in his scriptures the full discovery the full discovery of the only way of man's salvation. It's clear. Clear.

The writers end with, and other incomparable excellencies and entire perfections They said we didn't cover it all You can't with the scriptures and so many other Excellent ways so many other Perfections The Bible shows itself to be the word of the living God So then the writers go on to say yet Not withstanding Okay, not withstanding in other words even after all of these wonderful discoveries Of the bible authenticating itself even after the church whose testimony is these things are true Believe these things We want to move you and induce you to a high reverence for the scriptures Not withstanding all of these things. They're true our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts. So in spite of all that even natural man in his unconverted state can attest to and witness full full persuasion full assurance of its truth and authority come only through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And notice that the spirit does not work apart from the word. He works with the word.

Right. The Spirit bearing witness by and with the word in our hearts. Remember what Christ said, that when the Spirit comes, what will He speak? He will speak all of my words to you and what did Christ say all that the Father had given to him? So the Holy Spirit applies the word he speaks through the living word First Corinthians 2 10 and 12 say this but God has revealed these precious promises To us through his spirit for the spirit searches all things Yes The deep things of God for what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of a man which is in him even so no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from God that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

So this book is a closed book without the Holy Spirit. It's a closed book. He searches out the deep things. He makes these things known. When the Spirit comes, He will do what?

Teach you all things. That's the job of the Spirit. So then paragraph 6. Paragraph 6. The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life is either expressly set down, very clear, or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture unto which nothing at any time is to be added whether by new revelation of the Spirit or traditions of men.

So We have here the testimony of the sufficiency of Scripture for all things regarding God's glory, man's salvation, and for faith in life. Everything necessary for these things are found within the pages of Scripture. Now the writers declare that without the Spirit that man can never understand these Scriptures. We'll see that in this next section here But what they want to hammer home first is the sufficiency for all of these things We don't need to look elsewhere. God has made it abundantly clear And so here's where the spirit comes in that we just talked about at the end of the previous paragraph Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the word.

So let's stop there for a minute. The spirit is necessary. These things are clearly set down. But the word they use is savingly understand. Savingly, man can never savingly understand these things apart from the Spirit of God.

And though they contain things necessary for the glory of God and the salvation of man, this is a closed book until the Spirit brings illumination. And then they turn and they say, And that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God in government of the church, common to human actions in societies which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence according to the general rules of the word which are always to be observed so they end with a recognition that there are Circumstances, I'd like to really focus on that word Circumstances there are circumstances of worship and the governing of the church of which the Bible is not real specific. Circumstances which they say are common to the actions of man or societies. And these circumstances of worship, not the worship itself, how we are to worship, but these circumstances, we are free to apply the light of nature along with and not apart from christian prudence over as a they say you can't just take the light of nature cuz our heart will draw us away there must be Christian prudence and not just prudence but Christian prudence there must be these things and that we would then be able to by the general rules of scripture come to a conclusion on the circumstances what these men mean by circumstances because remember these men held to the regulative principle all worship must be Regulated by the Word of God that all the corporate worship Regulated by his word if he hasn't said it don't do it If he said it you better do it if he said don't do it.

You better not do it So what do they mean by these circumstances? Well, let me give you a few examples when to meet We meet at 10 o'clock on Sunday morning Would it be wrong if we decided, you know what? Ten-thirty is a better time. Or eleven o'clock is a better time. Or maybe earlier, nine o'clock is a better time.

How about where to meet? Where to meet? The Bible doesn't tell us where we are to meet It doesn't tell us how to conduct the actual meeting. We know the element to be in the meeting prayer the preaching of the word singing But it doesn't really tell us, you know, we sing five songs on Sunday. Where do we get that from?

Why is it not four why is it not six why is it five These are circumstances of the worship of God. And they are things that we can look at in nature. We can look at what's good for timing, what's comfortable, what's right in terms of the light of nature in by Christian prudence and Yet through general revelation as well What are some of these general rules these the general rules Of the word which are always to be observed. So even in our circumstances What are some of these general rules? Well, how about this?

Let all things be done decently and in order Let all things be done decently and in order and some cultures This has been our experience our men are going tomorrow to Malawi. I was Jason and Michael When we first started going to Malawi and You have a meeting for four o'clock some people show up at five And I don't mean they just ran late and were providentially hindered. It's just part of their culture They just arrived there at time. That's not doing things decently and in order. They need to be different from the culture.

And so as we think of some of these circumstances, let's do things decently and in order. It's nice to show up at church in the, and there's actually rows of chairs. Imagine if we let all our four-year-olds instead of our 14 year old set up the chairs What would it look like when we showed up the church on Sunday morning? Some chairs turn this way in that way. We're all looking in different directions That's not decently in an order But do we have to have rows there to have to be eight seats in a row?

No But let things be done decently in an order. How about this? Let all that you do be done in love Love should dictate how we do things. If we ask the church, hey we're gonna start meeting at four o'clock on Sunday morning. That wouldn't be very loving.

Well, to some it may, but the most of us it wouldn't. Four o'clock on Sunday morning it's just it's not part of normal life you know I mean it's so many of us are still sleeping at that time And so we have to do things for the love of our brethren. What's good? What would be right? That's what they mean by circumstances of worship.

And then lastly and quickly paragraph seven all things in scripture are not alike plain in themselves. That surprises you doesn't it. All things in Scripture are not alike, plain in themselves, nor alike, clear unto all. I think we've kind of seen that going through Isaiah as a good compared to first John First John has been a little bit easier Than going through Isaiah. They're not all alike plain and understandable Yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture or other that not only the learned but the unlearned in a due use of ordinary means may attain to a sufficient understanding of them So the confession acknowledges two things first there are things in Scripture that are difficult to understand and don't feel bad because Peter told his readers that Paul was hard to understand sometimes said things difficult to understand because Paul was an intelligent man raised as a Pharisee in the law knew the law and God gave him some marvelous mysteries taking them to heaven showing him things God really opened up some hard things to understand but the confession also says that the things in it Concerning the salvation of man are not difficult to understand.

They're not difficult, praise God. They speak here of gaining a sufficient understanding of them. And this again is distinct from a saving understanding. Okay? These things, you can gain a sufficient understanding of them.

You still need the spirit to come and to illumine, to really bring those spiritual things home. But in terms of just understanding the bare facts it is so easy to understand concerning salvation that even the unlearned can understand by a proper use of ordinary means to gain a sufficient understanding of them. So this should give us hope, especially as parents, as we declare the gospel to our children. The gospel is clear. It is not difficult to grasp.

And the spirit is in no way hampered to open their eyes So bless God that he has made this salvation so plain and so clear And that his spirit is the one who illumines No gracious God. Thank you for this time. Oh God. Thank you for the scriptures Thank you for the scriptures Lord deepen our love for them But Lord we ask that more than that that because of the scriptures that we will have a deeper love for you For Jesus even told the Pharisees and Lord may we not be like the Pharisees that you search the scriptures for in them you think you have life but they speak of me but you will not come to me that you might have life so God we ask that most of all that we would see Christ on every page that we would be moved as we heard today that we would be moved as John told us by this perfect love make it to be so we pray in Jesus name Amen.