Introduction

• Proverbs 23:4-5
• All these physical possessions are temporary.
• Ecclesiastes 2:10-11
• Materialism: “focusing on immediate, physical treasures and neglecting eternal, spiritual treasures”

What makes me feel secure?

• Psalms 52:6-9 – The unrighteous would not make God his strength.
• Does your security come from your relationship with God?
• Proverbs 11:28
• Judges 7:2 – God reduced the size of Gideon’s army to provoke faith in God.
• Jeremiah 9:23-24
• Nothing we can do compares to anything God can do.
• I Timothy 6:17-19
• We must retrain our brains. The most important thing is our fellowship with God.

Am I jealous?

• II Corinthians 12:20-21
• I Corinthians 3:3-4
• Acts 5:12-18
• Acts 13:42-45 – The Jews were jealous of the crowds the apostles were drawing.
• James 3:13-18 – We want this wisdom that comes from above.
• Proverbs 27:4

Where does my time go?

• Luke 8:14 – Materialism robs us of spiritual treasure by redirecting our time and resources.
• Luke 12:13-21 – Wealth is not necessarily wrong, but don’t neglect God.
• How many minutes do you spend focusing on spiritual things?

Learning the truth about salvation

Don’t follow man-made, invented doctrine.

• Mark 7:1-3 – Jesus rebukes the scribes and Pharisees for teaching as doctrine the traditions of men.
• How do we avoid this problem? Go back to book, chapter, and verse.
• Galatians 1:6-9
• Much of Bible study is our attitude – having a humility to carefully consider the scriptures.

Don’t go back and pick things out of the Old Covenant.

• Matthew 5:17 – Jesus fulfilled the law and prophets.
• Hebrews 8:6-13; 10:9 – Jesus brought the Old Covenant to its rightful conclusion. Everyone is now accountable to God under the New Covenant.
• Romans 10:1-4
• Romans 15:4

Don’t just believe what your family believes.

• Matthew 10:32-39

Don’t just go along with the “experts.”

• Who are the experts?
• Matthew 16:6, 12 – Jesus warned about the experts of the day.
• Matthew 23:1-15

Don’t just do whatever is acceptable to modern society.

• Romans 2:16
• John 12:48

Don’t expect the Holy Spirit to miraculously move us or inform us of truths not revealed in the Bible.

• John 16:13 – Jesus was speaking only to the apostles here.
• I Thessalonians 2:13

Introduction

• Thomas Campbell: “Where the Bible speaks, we speak; where the Bible is silent, we are silent.” (1800s Restoration Movement)
• Do you have a “book, chapter, verse” faith?

“Book, chapter, and verse”

• Luke 1:1-4; Acts 1:1-3
• The original documents were not divided into chapters and verses. Chapters weren’t added until about 1227 A.D., with verses added in 1555 A.D.
• Chapters and verses aided cross-reference and public reading, which helped knowledge of the Bible to expand during the Reformation.
• II Timothy 3:14-17
• Luke 4:17-19
• Luke 20:27-39 – Jesus used the scriptures to correct their misunderstanding.
• Acts 4:5-11
• Acts 15 – The dispute about circumcision went back to Amos.
• Acts 17:10-12 – Those in Berea searched the scriptures to confirm Paul’s teaching.
• Although the phrase “book, chapter, and verse” is not in the Bible, the concept is present throughout the scriptures.

Where is the authority of your faith?

• Colossians 3:17
• II John 1:9-11 – Don’t go beyond the scriptures. We must have proof for what we practice from the Bible.
• I Corinthians 4:6
• I Peter 4:11 – Speak as the oracles of God – minimize yourself and magnify God.
• I Corinthians 2:4-5; 1:18

Establish the pattern of sound words

• II Timothy 1:13-14
• Hebrews 8:5-6
• Everything we do must follow the pattern set forth in the Bible.

Growing in the knowledge of the truth

• II Peter 3:18
• I Peter 2:2
• Romans 10:17
• If you can find book, chapter, and verse for what you are doing, you know you are on solid ground.
• John 8:31-32
• John 20:30-31
• Matthew 15:7-9

Matthew 19

Matthew 19:1-12 – Marriage and divorce

• Jesus went all the way back to Genesis, to the law before the Law of Moses.
• See Proverbs 17:9. Here is one thing that can separate intimate friends – gossip about a spouse.
• See Acts 2:47. God also adds people to the church. Just like we should not drive a wedge between married people, we should not drive a wedge between a man and God.
• Matthew 19:10 – We must be careful not to try to make rules we think are better than God’s rules.

Matthew 19:13-15 – Jesus and little children

• See Mark 10:16. Jesus blessed the children.

Matthew 19:16-26 – The rich young ruler

• God will require that we do some things we don’t want to do. Jesus told the man a hard thing because Jesus loved him and that’s what the man needed to hear. The man grieved because he knew how much he did not want to do what Jesus told him.
• Zaccheus (Luke 19:1-10) had a similar story to the rich young ruler, yet with a very different outcome.
• What would it look like for me to do what Jesus asked of the rich young ruler?

Matthew 19:27-30

• The disciples certainly had their faults, but in a short time, they had come a long way.

Introduction

• Isaiah 13:11
• Deuteronomy 12:8, 1, 4

What is presumption?

• Proverbs 21:24 – “Pride” can be translated as “presumptuous.”
• Exodus 21:12-14 – To purposely cause a death is different in God’s eyes.
• Numbers 15:22-31 – God’s laws about accidental versus willful sin.
• Deuteronomy 1:43-46 – The Israelites acted presumptuously.
• I Timothy 1:12-14
• Pridefully and deliberately choosing to sin.

Honesty: I need to recognize it in my own life.

• I Corinthians 10:1-13
• We are supposed to learn from the examples in the Bible. The Israelites knew it was wrong to worship idols. Why did they do it? It appealed to their lusts.
• Psalms 19:12-13
• Acts 7:51-58 – Steven was trying to get them to be honest with themselves.

Humility: I need to get over myself and honor God’s word.

• Proverbs 11:2
• Deuteronomy 17:9-13
• Nehemiah 9:9-10, 16, 29
• James 1:21
• Hebrews 10:26-31
• Will I humble myself enough to obey God or will I just do what I want to do?