WHY I AM STILL A FUNDAMENTALIST!

Transcription

1 WHY I AM STILL A FUNDAMENTALIST! Jer 6:16-19 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. (17) Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. (18) Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. (19) Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.! I. In our text God is warning his people about their current attitudes about religion. They had left the old paths and had begun to reject the messages of their preachers.! I So God allowed them to reap the fruit of their philosophies. And as I read this, I see where we have some of the same problems going on in our fundamental churches today.! Scores of Christians and preachers alike are beginning to leave some of the old doctrines and positions that conservative Christians have held to for many years.! A. In fact, they look at the doctrines with a critical eye and assume that somehow they can see truth that so many others did not see.! B. In all of their intellect, they have begun to almost mock their spiritual forefathers and assume that they are somehow smarter than they were.! C. Nowadays, I hear our young people say the same things that Harry Emerson Fosdick said in the early 1900 s:! 1. The fundamentalist controversy threatens to divide the American churches as though already they were not sufficiently split and riven.! 2. And just as Fosdick charged Fundamentalists as intolerant, bigoted, uncharitable, and legalistic, some of our young fundamentalists are doing the same thing.! 3. But What did Fosdick really believe?! a) He rejected belief in the virgin birth, the inerrancy of Scripture, and the literal return of Jesus Christ.! b) He decried the fundamentalists as being intolerant for demanding adherence to doctrines that science, reason, and a modern world could no longer sustain.! c) His sermon/paper, Shall the Fundamentalists Win? set off what was called the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy.! d) When Fosdick battled the fundamentalists of his day, he battled nothing less than traditional or conservative Christianity.! e) He battled Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, and others who had been standing in the fundamental doctrines of the Scriptures.! f) Fundamentalists were those who insisted upon the key tenets of historic, orthodox Christianity what they defined as the fundamental doctrines of the faith.! D. Young fundamentalists today are moving away from the historic positions of fundamentalism:! 1. 13% either believe in annihilation or believe that hell is not a literal place and eternal in duration.! 2. 48% of the responders disagreed with the statement Fundamentalists need to preach against loose music standards.! 1 of 8

2 3. 62% agreed with the statement, Fundamentalists have majored on the minors.! 4. Only 55% agreed with this statement, I am a convinced fundamentalist and I have no intention of ever leaving fundamentalism. That means 45% of the responders are not convinced fundamentalists.! IV. So yes, they are some problems with many of our fundamental churches.! A. In some cases, there are pastors who have elevated themselves to the point that their people practically worship them. And nobody would DARE question their actions or preaching.! B. In other cases, scandal in our midst has caused a lot of unfair criticism. It is unfair because the same types of scandals exist in every other denomination, sect, and religion on earth.! C. Almost every reference made to fundamentalists in the media is negative. And recently, we have been lumped together with terrorists and psychopaths.! V. And then there is the problem of infighting amongst fundamentalists.! A. Just about any fundamentalist newspaper you read will ridicule someone else for not believing just as they do.! B. There was a time in the early years when fundamentalists prayed together, worked together, and fellowshipped together.! C. They did not always worship together because they didn t always agree on a few things. But they didn t go around bad-mouthing their brothers either.! 1. There IS a difference between worship, fellowship, and friendship. I can have fellowship and friendship with someone who is not a fundamentalist.! 2. But we don t worship together because we differ in some areas which prohibit that.! D. But in the early years, Fundamentalists were too busy fighting modernism to get in to fights with one another.! E. Now, I am afraid that today, it s the other way around.! VI. In the 30 years that I have been saved, I ve noticed that some so-called fundamentalists suffer from a severe lack of charity which we are to have for all men.! A. I ve not yet met any fundamentalists that I would consider legalists, but I have met plenty of formalists!! 1. A legalist is one who believes you must work to be saved.! 2. A formalist judges your spirituality based upon THEIR particular list of do s and don ts. And often they use some 1/2 of a verse or broad principle to prove you are not spiritual.! B. So yes, in many fundamental churches, there are some very real, and often serious problems.! C. Problems with sin, problems with pride, problems with formalism, and problems with liberalism.! D. Some of my dear fundamental friends get all worked up over things that are not fundamental:! 1. pants on women, Bible translations, which college is truly fundamental, who we should like and who we shouldn t,! 2. do we watch TV or not, music, or how we should handle some of our social issues. theaters, cards, and so on.! 2 of 8

3 E. And yet, I remain a fundamentalist. Some of my friends have already decided to leave the fellowship of fundamentalists and I can t blame them and don t judge them.! V But I believe God wants us to be fundamentalists. Why?! A. Because a fundamentalist is one who takes the Bible literally and seriously. That s that thing that makes him a fundamentalist, and his religion doesn t matter.! 1. A Fundamentalist Muslim takes his Koran seriously.! 2. A Fundamentalist Hindu takes his writings seriously.! 3. A Fundamentalist Christian takes the Bible seriously.! B. In every case that I can think of, when a fundamentalist has gone the wrong way, it is because he didn t know how to, or would not separate his own opinions from the clear statements of the Bible.! VI So I am a fundamental, Bible-believing, independent Baptist.! A. And just saying that causes some people to dislike me before I ever open my mouth to preach.! B. So I want to take the time to tell you what that means. I make no apologies for what I believe because I came to my position by personal study.! C. I didn t try to identify with fundamental Baptists. But one day I realized, that s what I am.! D. So I want to define what a fundamentalist is.! E. Then I want to explain what I believe to be the fundamentals - that s what makes me a fundamentalist.! F. And I want to define what I believe to be the basic Baptist distinctives - that s what makes me a baptist.! G. Then I want to tell you what is right about fundamentalism and why I want to continue being one.! What Makes Me a Fundamentalist?! I. Definition - The word fundamental can describe any religious impulse that adheres to its basic tenets.! Christian Fundamentalism is a movement among Christians that holds to the essentials of the Christian faith.! A. Christian Fundamentalism does NOT say, You must think exactly as I do. Rather, it says, You must think of the basic tenets exactly as stated in the Bible.! B. At the same time, Christian fundamentalism is not shy about debating some of the finer points of theology either.! C. The problem is that today, too many people have majored on the minors to the point that some fundamentalists have made these things a standard for acceptance or rejection.! I So what are the fundamentals that we must believe?! A. The Doctrine of the Bible! 2Ti 3:16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (17) That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.! 1. It is literal, infallible, inspired, and preserved.! 3 of 8

4 2. Now folks, there is a lot of wiggle room in that statement. We can argue about manuscripts. We can argue about translations.! 3. 2 Tim 3:16, 17 does not say how you apply these beliefs, but you MUST believe it or you do not believe the Bible s statements concerning itself.! B. The Doctrine of God! 1Jn 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.! 1. He is eternal, holy, and creator of all things.! 2. The father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, there is one God.! C. The Doctrine of Christ! Php 2:5-11 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (6) Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (7) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (8) And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (9) Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: (10) That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; (11) And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.! 1. He is sinless God in the flesh, and the perfect sacrifice for our sins.! 2. He arose from the dead, ascended to the Father, and will come again soon!! D. The Doctrine of Salvation! Eph 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (9) Not of works, lest any man should boast.! 1. Salvation is by grace through faith in the atoning work of Christ.! 2. And by the way, you must repent!! Act 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;! E. The Doctrine of Man! Gen 1:26-27 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.! 1. Man is a direct creation of God. He did not evolve over millions of years.! 2. Man was placed in the garden of Eden to keep it but fell into sin and lost it!! 3. As a result, we are all born with a sin nature.! Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:! F. The Doctrine of the Church! 1. The church is a local assembly of obedient, baptized, believers.! Act 2:41-47 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. (42) And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. (43) And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done 4 of 8

5 by the apostles. (44) And all that believed were together, and had all things common; (45) And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. (46) And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, (47) Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.! 2. The church is the body of Christ and Christ is our only head!! G. The Doctrine of Last Things! Act 1:9-11 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. (10) And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; (11) Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.! 1. Jesus is coming again! Physically! Jesus is going to take the believers to heaven.! 2. Jesus will establish and reign in a literal millennial kingdom upon the earth.! 3. After the millennium God will create a new heaven and new earth.! IV. There are some things that we would consider important but they aren t really fundamental to our faith.! A. In other words, your faith will not be destroyed based up what you believe in some of these other areas.! B. We may separate on these areas in our worship on but should not separate in fellowship or friendship. For example:! 1. Bible prophecy - will Jesus come before, during, or after the tribulation? And many more!! 2. Bible Versions - Listen, I believe that the KJV is the best translation from the best family of texts, but this is not one of the fundamentals!! 3. Eternal Security - Though this is a very important issue and I happen to disagree with both extreme sides of the Calvinism versus Arminianism it is not a fundamental unless you begin to deny salvation by grace alone or deny the necessity of repentance.! 4. Baptism - The Bible clearly teaches immersion, but again, that is not a fundamental.! 5. Music or dress standards - I am a fairly conservative guy when it come to music and dress. But these things don t save you either.! C. Obviously, we could cite other examples as well. We may separate on these areas in our worship on but should not separate in fellowship or friendship.! What Makes Me A Baptist?! I. Many people do not really know what a Baptist is.! A. Some people think that just because we immerse, we are Baptists. There are others who immerse but are not Baptists. There are numerous other points to consider.! B. Some think Baptist is a denomination. Actually, this is NOT true. Baptist is a historical doctrinal position.! Historically, Baptists were not always called Baptists.! A. The name came into existence general use ca. 1641, but this was the result of the prefix "ana" being dropped from the name Anabaptist.! 5 of 8

6 B. The name was not meant to be a compliment. However, just as we wear the name Christian with honor, so wear began to wear the name Baptist.! C. We were called this because we would not recognize infant baptism, sprinkling, or baptism before salvation.! I With all that being said, what makes us a Baptist?! A. Bible is the sole authority for faith and practice.! 1. This separates us from many who believe that more is needed.! 2. When man begins to give direction that contradicts the Bible, we default to the Bible! When the religious leaders of Peter s day tried to tell him what to preach, what was Peter s response?! Act 5:28-29 Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. (29) Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.! B. Autonomy of the Local Church! 1. The Bible has much to say about local churches, cp. Revelation chapters 2 and 3.! 2. It is quite clear from the instructions given to these local churches that they are to govern themselves with Christ as the head and not men, whether that man be a pastor or a denomination.! 3. I am a Baptist and you can t tell me how to run my church!! 4. We are not independent to do as we please, but we are independent and unaffiliated, in order that we might do as God pleases.! 5. This is why we believe in a separation of church and state. The church governs its own self. The government governs the state. Neither one governs the other!! C. Priesthood of the Believer! 1. I can pray directly to the Lord and don t need anyone to talk to him for me!! 2. No earthly priests; no dead saints; only Jesus! (1 Tim 2:5,6)! 1Ti 2:5-6 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (6) Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.! D. Two Ordinances Baptism and the Lord s Supper! 1. These are memorial and symbolic. They are not sacraments which impart grace!! 2. They cannot save! They were given to the church to provoke us to remember what Christ did on our behalf!! 3. Probably more people have died for this distinctive than any other reason! E. Individual Soul Liberty! Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.! 1. Each person is responsible to God for himself. He must repent for himself, believe for himself, and obey for himself.! 2. The faith and obedience of my parents or friends will not avail for me.! F. Saved Church Membership! 6 of 8

7 1. The qualifications for membership in a New Testament church are regeneration and immersion, in that specific order (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:41,47).! 2. The New Testament knows nothing of an unregenerate church member.! G. Two Offices Pastor and Deacon! a. The terms elder and bishop apply to the office of the pastor (Acts 20:17,28; Tit 1:5,7). The terms are used interchangeably.! b. As far as we Baptists can see from the Bible, there are no other God-appointed offices.! c. Each church make appoint people to handle certain responsibilities, but there are only two offices.! What Is Right In Fundamentalism! I. First of all, I don t mean to sound prideful in being a fundamentalist and a baptist. And I don t mean to imply that anyone else is a second-class saint.! I IV. But I ve noticed that people are leaving our churches in significant numbers and I think most of the time it is because of the bad apples in our group.! The sad fact is that there are bad apples in every barrel and they will only be disappointed again.! But folks, there are some things right about us. It would be good to take a break from all the accusations and see where we are right and also why we are right:! A. We are right about salvation!! Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.! 1. You can t earn salvation. You can t even contribute. Christ is enough!! 2. If you believe otherwise, you are lost and in BIG trouble because the Bible says you can only be saved by Jesus.! 3. And since I am a fundamentalist, and a Baptist, I believe that the Bible is RIGHT!! 4. And that s why we fundamentalists are so pushy about evangelism. It is because we KNOW we are right and we don t want others to perish in hell!! B. We are right about separation.! 1. As I said before, we can be friends with other people, we can even get together for fellowship up to a point.! a) But there IS a point where we must separate. And when it comes to worship, we cannot change what we believe, or be silent.! b) We are fundamentalists and Baptists and we feel that we have the right to believe according to what we think the Bible teaches.! c) And so does everyone else. We may disagree very strongly! And we may even get a bit loud because we are so sure we are right.! d) But at the same time, we think that you should be able to believe whatever you want want as long as you aren t pushing it on someone else.! 2. At the same time, fundamentalists understand that we are living in a sin-sick world. And though we are in the world, we are not to partake of its sinful pleasures.! 7 of 8

8 a) As a result, we are the ones who are accused of causing division in the body of Christ.! b) But wait a minute! Let s get a biblical understanding of what the body is!! (1) The body is a local group of people so how can I be causing disunity if I separate from worldly or sinful denominations or other churches?! (2) The body (the local church) is supposed to be pure so I am not the problem! The backslider is the problem!! 3. We are RIGHT to separate! (1 Tim 6:3-5)! 1Ti 6:3-5 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; (4) He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, (5) Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.! Conclusion! I. Folks, I wish that there were no problems in fundamentalism but any time you have imperfect men, you have problems.! But let s not make the mistake of rejecting truths of the Bible simply because a group that you don t like believe it.! A. I have seen good people go the wrong way simply because they did not like what they saw in some fundamental churches.! B. And I would agree that there are some people out there that are mean-spirited, calloused, formalistic, and down-right hypocritical.! C. But there are also some charitable, tender-hearted, gracious, and sincere men of God out there too.! I As a fundamental Baptist, I have the right to separate from the bad and cling to the good. I make that choice on the Word of God. Not emotion. Not reason. Scripture alone. Sola Scriptura. 8 of 8