Sinclair Ferguson

He wanted the Scriptures to shape his life in obedience to his Father.

He wanted to mine the Scriptures for equipment in order to be able to instruct and teach others.

He wanted to live by every word that came out of the mouth of God.

And he believed in the absolute authority of Scripture.

And that's why it was said of him that he spoke with authority and not as the scribes did.

I owe a very great debt to the man who was my minister when I was in my teens.

But when he noticed I had come to believe that the Bible was fully inspired and finally authoritative, he took me aside one day and he said, you know, how you view these issues doesn't really affect the way you preach.

And I had heard very few people preach at that point in my Christian life, so I wasn't able to debate him on the basis of personal evidence.

But I'd become convinced he couldn't possibly be right and that it must affect the way people preach.

But I couldn't point to other preachers and say, listen to their preaching and you'll be able to tell the difference.

But then in my later years as a teenager, I did hear other preachers.

And even as a teenager, I could tell the difference.

Only when and where the Scriptures are believed as absolutely reliable will we hear the kind of preaching that God intends us to hear.

That's why it's so important to be under a ministry where the Word of God is believed to have come from the mouth of God.

That explains the authority of the preaching, the fullness of the preaching, and the benefit of the preaching.

And only then do we begin to understand what Paul was speaking about when he wrote to the Thessalonians and said, I'm so glad that you received the word of God, not as the word of men, although it had come through men.

but as it really is the Word of God."

And then he added something I think is very significant.

He said, you received it as the Word of God, which is at work in you, believers.

And that's the big difference.