It Is Written December 7, 2025

It Is Written
Romans 15:4-13
St. Peter’s Anglican Church
December 7, 2025

This past December 2nd, was the 152nd Anniversary of the Reformed Episcopal Church.

On the day of our founding, the organizers adopted the Declaration of Principles … which you can find on the next to last page of the Book of Common Prayer. They used to be on the first page … but that’s another long story.

The first Declaration says:

“The Reformed Episcopal Church, holding “the faith once delivered unto the saints,” declares its belief in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the Word of God, and the sole Rule of Faith and Practice; in the Creed “commonly called the Apostles’ Creed;” in the Divine institution of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper; and in the doctrines of grace substantially as they are set forth in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion.”

While the placement in the Book of Common Prayer has changed, the Principles have not.

Notice again, the first thing that is stated:

“The Reformed Episcopal Church, holding “the faith once delivered unto the saints,” declares its belief in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the Word of God, and the sole Rule of Faith and Practice;”

If you look on the denominational website of the Reformed Episcopal Church, you will find that under “Authorities” the first one that is listed is “Holy Scriptures – 2 Timothy 3:16 … which say:

““All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,”” .

And we read also in the Articles of Religion, number 6: entitled “Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation.”

“HOLY Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.”

The Bible … the Holy Scriptures … the Word of God … whatever you want to call it … is the foundation of our faith.

As the Article of Religion says: HOLY Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation.

This is emphasized in the Collect for the Second Sunday in Advent that we prayed a few moments ago —

““BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.””

Do we realize how blessed we are to have the Word of God at our fingertips?

Do we take advantage of the privilege that we have … having the Word of God readily available for our reading and studying?

Do we realize that people have died in order to have access to the Scriptures?

The first thing that we must acknowledge and understand is that the Bible IS the WORD OF GOD.

It is NOT enough to say that it contains the Word of God.

Why do I say this? If we say that the Bible only contains the Word of God … it means two things … it means that not everything in there is the Word of God.

If this is the case … then what you accept from the Bible becomes a matter of personal opinion or choice … in other words we accept what we want to accept and we reject what we want to reject … and there is no standard.

If someone wants to believe in alternate lifestyles … that’s their choice and their opinion

If someone doesn’t want to accept that Jesus is God … that’s their choice and their opinion

If someone says that Jesus is only a moral teacher … that’s their choice … if the Bible only contains the Word of God.

It also means that truth from God can come from other places and people … such as church leaders … or even those who are Pastor/teachers.

One large mega-church with thousands of members has now said it’s ok to have women Pastors … which we believe is in contradiction to the clear teaching of Scripture.

I have told you before … that when I was interviewed for acceptance at Reformed Episcopal Seminary .. I was asked “do you agree to test everything that we teach by the Word of God?”

Here were three men … with about 100 years of faithful Biblical teach between them saying … don’t take our word for what we teach … but test what we teach by the Word of God.

I ask you the same thing … test what I teach and preach by the Word of God.

Test whoever follows me by the same standard … the infallible Word of God!

ASK? What does the Bible say?
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This year — 2025 — is a year of Jubilee in the Roman Catholic church … which is the supposed anniversary of the Incarnation of Jesus … two-thousand and 25 years ago.

This tradition is rooted in the biblical instruction of Leviticus 25, where a Jubilee year (occurring every 50 years) involved the cancellation of debts, the return of land, and the freeing of slaves.

There is no evidence that the Jubilee year was ever celebrated by God’s people — the Israelites.

Currently, in this Jubilee Year in the Roman church … there are certain “Holy Doors” in St. Peter’s in Rome and in minor basilicas … which are churches with special privileges granted by the Pope … these doors are only open during the year of Jubilee.

During the year of Jubilee, the people are encouraged to either make a pilgrimage to St. Peter’s in Rome (NOT US, by the way!) or to designated churches in their local diocese … and go through these doors.

By doing so they will gain a plenary indulgence — which is a remission of the punishment or sins or a reduced time in purgatory.

If you remember your church history … it was the selling of plenary indulgences that was the trigger for Martin Luther to nail his 95 theses on the Wittenberg Chapel door.

This teaching of indulgences is not found in the Scriptures … but NOT ONLY is it not found … it makes salvation a work of man … It makes salvation something that we do.

As such … it is contrary to the clear teaching of Scripture that salvation is by grace alone.

We read in Ephesians 2:8,9: ““For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.””

And it is the words in Romans 1, that was the Scripture that set Martin Luther on the path to the reformation of the church.

““For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.””

And so … we believe … as stated on the day of our founding that the REC … declares its belief in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the Word of God, and the sole Rule of Faith and Practice;
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We have God’s Word … where He speaks to us … and gives all things necessary for life and godliness … as Peter tells us in his first letter, where he says:

““Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,””

You’ve hear me say this before … we live in a world that God has created … and He has given us the instruction manual — The Holy Bible — in how to live in the world that He has created … AND …

… how to gain access to the world to come … or as our Collect states … so that: “we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.”

I can give you all the statistics concerning God’s Word — written by 40 different authors over a period of 1,500 years … with one theme from the beginning to the end … the redemption of mankind through the Lord Jesus Christ.

I can tell about all the times that Jesus quoted from what we know as the Old Testament.

I can point out all the prophecies concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ from the Old Testament that were fulfilled in his birth … life … death and resurrection.

It’s all there!

And so we have God’s divine revelation to us … which He has preserved for about 3,500 years despite the many attempts to get rid of the Bible.

If anyone says the Bible has contradictions … ask them to show you one!

If anyone says that the Bible is a fairy tale … ask them to prove it! And they can’t.

So … as a Pastor … and as Christians … we accept the Bible … for what it is … that it is God’s Word TO US and FOR US.

As Peter tells us: ““For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.””

He … along with John, Matthew, Mark, Luke and Paul were all eyewitnesses to the person and work of Jesus Christ … and that is what they wrote about … and that is what they all died for.

Now … look how our Collect begins: “BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning;”

Then we read verse 4, our Epistle lesson: ““For whatever things were written before were written for our learning …””

I love how our Collects … and our Book of Common Prayer in general is based on the Scriptures … and in this case … almost a direct quote.

We should all be reminded of 2 Timothy 3:16,17:

““All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.””

In the Collect … we are given specific instructions as to what to do with God’s Word …

““Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,””

Five specific things … hear … read … mark … learn … and digest … what God has revealed to us in … as the Collect says … thy Holy Word.

These specific things that we are to do — which are really self explanatory — indicate that God’s Word is something that should be part of our everyday lives … not just something that we put on for an hour on Sunday.

As a result of our hearing … reading … marking … learning … and inwardly digesting God’s Word … as part of our everyday lives …

… our actions and reactions will reflect what we have read and learned …

… and it will be a witness to those around us in our families … and those we come in contact with.

Why do we do certain things … why don’t we do certain things?

The other benefit of reading and studying God’s Word … is that it will help you recognize false teaching.

The US Secret Service not only protects the President and other elected officials … it is also tasked with looking out for counterfeit currency.

You probably know that they are trained to do this by studying over and over legitimate US Currency … so that … when they see counterfeit currency that can recognize it immediately.

The same holds true for our faith and what we believe … if we know what is in God’s Word by hearing … reading … marking … learning … and inwardly digesting it … we will know when someone strays from the truth.

So we see the absolute importance of God’s Word … and the blessing it is for us to have access to it.

And as we see … it not only benefits us as we live our Christian lives here on earth … it helps us to hold on to the blessed hope of everlasting life … as our Collect says.

Again … remember what Peter says:

““Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,””

So I ask … do we take advantage of what we have?

Is God’s Word a daily part of our lives?

If it is not … I would encourage to begin making it an everyday part of you life … because in it … God has given all things that pertain to life and godliness. AMEN