It Is Written: The Canon of Scripture Alone | Isa 55:7-11, Rom 15:4-6, 1Tim 3:15

Lord's Day: Nov 30, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: It Is Written: Scripture Alone Topic: Scripture Scripture: Isaiah 55:7–11; Romans 15:4–6; 1 Timothy 3:15; Luke 1:67–70; 2 Timothy 3:16; Isaiah 40:7–8; 1 Corinthians 4:6–7; Hebrews 1:1–2; Romans 3:2–4; Ephesians 2:19–22; Jude 3 7Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to Yahweh, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. 8“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares Yahweh. 9“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. 10“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what pleases Me, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:7–11 4For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through the perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5Now may the God of perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, 6so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:4–6 15but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. 1 Timothy 3:15 These passages tell a story of God’s providence and means of how he gave His Word to His people.Use the Jesus Test (Mark 7), the Berean Test, the Scripture Test, the “It is written” Test, the “Do not go beyond what is written” Test—no matter how divinely inspired or infallible a tradition may claim to be. I. How do we as Protestants know what Scripture is? The word canon means something straight, or something to keep straight; and hence also a rule, or something ruled or measured, a standard. II. There are three canons of Scripture The Divine Canon and the Church Canon—they must be distinguished.The Church Canon has two canons: Old Testament Canon and New Testament Canon, because God used different means and criteria to give each one to His people.God called, sanctioned, ordained prophets with authority, divine predictions, miracles, signs, and wonders in the Old Testament to confirm that the words were from God Himself, and similarly called, sanctioned, ordained apostles and prophets with authority, miracles, signs, and wonders to confirm the divine origins of the preaching, teaching, and writings of the Apostles and their prophetic associates. III. We can have certainty as to what the Divine Canon of Scripture is, using the means and criteria that God gave us to identify and receive the books He wrote down. What criteria did the early church use to identify and collect the New Testament?Generally, it was a bottom-up process, not top-down hierarchy.[1]Early church elders used Apostolicity (apostolic authorship and authenticity) to recognize what was God-breathed Scripture.Progressive Revelation IV. The canon of Scripture is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, shining examples of how God uses His church in history to be the “pillar and support of the truth.” The church is not the truth itself, nor is the church infallible. God delegated authority to her, primarily through apostles and prophets, so that the church could receive and collect God’s ultimate authority, the final written Scriptures, and the church is thus tasked by God to teach it, preach it, confess it, live it, apply it—to uphold the same faith that was delivered once and for all to the saints (Jude 3). We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am: ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church4712 Montana Ave El Paso, Texas 79903 Contact us at: web: ThornCrownCovenant.Churchcall/text: [phone]email: [e-mail] Scripture quotations marked LSB are from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com [1] Michael Marlowe, ‘A Brief Introduction to the Canon and Ancient Versions of Scripture’, Bible Research, n.d. [accessed 30 November 2025].