3rd August 2026

3rd August 2026


I’m off for the next few weeks, and for our next series from September through December, we’re turning to Romans. We worked through the first three chapters back in the autumn of 2022, which is four years ago, and back then I had a skin head and not a single grey or white hair on head or in my beard. While I’ve changed, the good news is that we have an unchanging God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and his word remains as relevant today as it did to its first hearers. So over the next few weeks, I’ve picked some of the past devotions from the opening chapters that will hopefully give you a bit of a refresh so we can hit the ground running in September. 


Pray (ACts)


Read (Romans 1:24-32 (and if you have time 2 Tim 3:16, Eph 2:20, 1 Jn 1:3–4, 2 Tim 1:13, 2 Tim 3:16, Rev 22:18-20)).


Message (Alan Burke) 


Today we are going to focus not on the next passage in Romans, although we will get to that on Wednesday. We are going to think on the doctrine of Scripture. The reason why is because there are many who claim to be churches of Jesus Christ who have sought to get around certain teachings of Scripture and have sought to interpret many passages in ways that cannot be substantiated. This is how we will also begin on this coming Lord’s Day, for it is important that we know and understand two things. The first is summarised in WSC2. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him? The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments (2 Tim. 3:16, Eph. 2:20), is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him. (1 John 1:3–4). The second thing leads on from the first and it is summarised, yes you guessed it, in WSC3. What do the Scriptures principally teach? The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man. (2 Tim. 1:13, 2 Tim. 3:16).


These are two truths: the Word of God, all of it, contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how to glorify and enjoy him, and they principally teach what we are to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of us. These are not new truths, yet sadly in every generation, because of the sinfulness of the human heart, we try to, as the psalmist puts it, “burst their bonds apart and cast away their chords from us” (Ps 2:3), meaning we are trying to overthrow the rule of God in sinful rebellion, to have lordship over our own lives. 


The Bible is sufficient by itself (Rev 22:18-20). Those who truly know and love the Lord know that the Bible itself is sufficient (2 Tim 3:16-17). Sadly, there are those that claim to be churches of Jesus Christ that don’t hold to the Bible’s sufficiency; others who rejected the authority of the Word; others who have bit by bit chipped confidence in it away, and as a result, they have rejected God and have nothing to offer a broken world as a result. It breaks my heart; it should break all our hearts. Some say it is the Bible plus, the Bible plus tradition; there are others that hold the view and some of them, well-meaning, that  the Bible contains the Word of God but is not the Word of God; they believe that they can decide for themselves which parts are true and which parts are false. While there are others that hold the view and it’s a common held view today, who say that the Bible is the fallible word of man, but when people read it, God uses these fallible words by His Spirit, so somehow they may receive in their own minds the true Word of God. One man finds one part “inspired,” while another finds that another portion “speaks.”  


We need to understand and know that these views are not only dangerous but they are deadly. There are many who have the view that ‘Bible has to fit the current culture’; it’s sad, because those who say such things are actually living the Bible in a sense, for as 2 Timothy 4 warns, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine; instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” This is happening in our day and age; people are choosing to go after their own desires and rejecting God and His revealed truth. 


It is necessary for us to have an objective standard by which we may pattern our lives on. That is the Word of God; it is the rule that God has given us; it must be the supreme authority in our lives. God has given us His word, which He is the source and ultimate author of Scripture. Though written by human authors, Scripture nevertheless has the full weight of His authority. He is the author of the Bible and has given it to direct the belief and behaviour of His people. Our ideas about God and our conduct should be measured, tested, and where necessary corrected and enlarged by His word contained in the scriptures. It was through the recognition that the Bible cannot be subject to any person or group, however exalted.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q29 How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?
A. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit.
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