Lord's Day: February 8, 2026 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: It Is Written: Scripture Alone Topic: Authority Scripture: Romans 3:1–4, 9–20; John 9:34; Luke 6:39; Mark 7:13; 1 Timothy 3:15; Matthew 7:12, 29; John 8:12–19; Romans 8:16, 23–27, 34; John 1:1; 1 Thessalonians 2:2–13; 2 Thessalonians 2:15; Deuteronomy 18:9–14; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 John 2:2; 5:6–9; 1 Corinthians 4:6–12; Romans 11:16–24; Titus 1:9

May it never be! Rather, let God be true and every man a liar, as it is written, “That You may be justified in Your words, And overcome when You are judged.” Romans 3:4

17“Even in your law it has been written that the witness of two men is true. 18“I am He who bears witness about Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness about Me.” John 8:17–18

• There is no such thing as an infallible human authority, for all men and women are corrupted, fallen sinners, and liars.

I. What does infallible mean?

• Not capable of erring (making errors)—at all
• God-Breathed Scripture, Free Grace Broadcaster 239 (Chapel Library, 2017), https://www.chapellibrary.org/book/gbscfg/godbreathed-scripture.
• Some traditions dogmatically affirm that it is possible for some people to be infallible (the pope), or that some people lived on earth without ever committing any personal sin, even while still suffering the other effects of the fall (Eastern Orthodoxy).
• Romans 3:9-20

II. Of Fallible Men & Infallible Authorities

• John 8:12-19
• We as believers and as the church of God already have, not one, not two, not three, but four infallible Authorities—God and His Word.

III. Belief in infallible authorities is neither contrary to Scripture—it is Scriptural—nor is it anti-Protestant…

• As long as infallible authorities are restricted to God and His Word alone.

IV. Parallel Problems: Fallible Mediators & Authorities

• Those who impose so-called “infallible” churches, traditions, popes, councils, etc., undermine and replace the authority and power of God and His Word.

V. Why would you look to men for what God alone can provide?

• We cannot go beyond what is written, cannot go against what is written, cannot contradict what is written—the Jesus test, Scripture test, “It is written” test, Logos test, Logic test.

We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

• ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
  4712 Montana Ave
  El Paso, Texas 79903

Contact us at:

• web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
  call/text: (915) 843-8088
  email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

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

Lord's Day: February 1, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: First John Topic: Law & Gospel Distinction Scripture: Psalm 11:7; 1 John 1:9–2:2; Deuteronomy 32:3–4; 1 John 3:4; Romans 7:13; 1 Corinthians 5:6–8; Matthew 5:29–30; Romans 8:6–8; 1 John 3:8–10; Ecclesiastes 7:20, 29; Mark 10:18; Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:10–12; Galatians 2:21; John 1:29; Galatians 4:4–5; Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 2:22–24; Romans 5:19; 4:3–8; 2 Corinthians 5:20–21; Ephesians 4:20–24; Philippians 3:20–21

For Yahweh is righteous, He loves righteousness; The upright will behold His face. Psalm 11:7

• Two of the most important subjects in the entire Bible: sin and righteousness

I. “…so that you may not sin.”

• According to God, we are all sinners, born guilty under the Law of God.
• What is your life’s purpose? To not sin?
• Who are you a child of?
• The Belgic Confession, Article 22: The Righteousness of Faith

II. The Gospel According to Righteousnesses

• Are you righteous?
• The Bible describes different kinds of righteousnesses with respect to God and man, which summarize the entire story of the Bible, the whole counsel of God, and reveals the true gospel to us:

1. The Righteousness of God
2. Original Righteousness
3. Self-Righteousness
4. The Righteousness of Jesus Christ
5. The Imputed Righteousness of Believers
6. The Renewed Righteousness of Believers
7. The Culminated Righteousness of Believers

An Orthodox Catechism, Question 60: How are you right with God? Only by true faith in Jesus Christ.(a) Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments and of never having kept any of them,(b) and even though I am still inclined toward all evil [in my flesh],(c) nevertheless, without my deserving it at all,(d) out of sheer grace,(e) God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ,(f) as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me.(g) All I need to do is to accept this gift of God with a believing heart.(h) (a) Rom. 3:21-28; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8-9; Phil 3:8-11 (b) Rom. 3:9-10 (c) Rom. 7:23 (d) Tit. 3:4-5 (e) Rom. 3:24; Eph. 2:8 (f) Rom. 4:3-5 (Gen. 15:6); 2 Cor. 5:17-19; 1 John 2:1-2 (g) Rom. 4:24-25; 2 Cor. 5:21 (h) John 3:18; Acts 16:30-31

Join us on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

• ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
  4712 Montana Ave
  El Paso, Texas 79903

Contact us at:

• web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
  call/text: (915) 843-8088
  email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

Scripture quotations taken 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

See Carlos E. Montijo, ‘Series: Biblical Church Discipline’, ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church: El Paso, TX, January 2022 [accessed 25 October 2025].

Lord's Day: January 25, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: It Is Written: Scripture Alone Topic: Authority Scripture: Matthew 23:1–4; Luke 4:16–21; Exodus 18:13–26; Deuteronomy 1:11–18; Ezra 10:1–6, 10–12; Nehemiah 13:23–30; Matthew 7:29; John 8:14–15, 19; 1 John 2:23; John 9:39–41; Mark 7:13

2“The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3therefore all that they tell you, do and keep, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them." Matthew 23:2–3

• Jesus rebukes the scribes and Pharisees, who do not practice what they preach, insofar as what they preach/teach actually agrees with Moses and the prophets, the sacred Scriptures, the written Word of God.

I. The kathedra of Moses

• Moses’ seat is not some extrabiblical, “infallible” tradition or authority that is outside of or independent of what is written by God.

II. What saith the Scriptures?

• Exodus 18:13–26, Deuteronomy 1:11–18, Ezra 10:1–6, 10–12, Nehemiah 13:23–30

III. God always requires His leaders to be called and qualified, without hypocrisy.

• Both then, in Israel (kings, scribes, priests, prophets, judges, etc.), and now, in the church (pastors, elders, teachers, etc.)
• Pharisees and Sadducees emerged, and seated themselves in the authoritative teaching chair of Moses (Matt. 23:2-3)—but, were they actually called and qualified by God to do so?
• The scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees were denounced by Christ as hypocritical, unbiblical usurpers and abusers of authority.

We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

• ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
  4712 Montana Ave
  El Paso, Texas 79903

Contact us at:

• web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
  call/text: (915) 843-8088
  email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

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

Lord's Day: January 18, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: It Is Written: Scripture Alone Topic: Church History Scripture: Malachi 3:13–4:6; Acts 3:24; John 10:22–23; Luke 1:11–17; Matthew 11:7–15; John 10:27–29

4“Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and judgments which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel. 5“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Yahweh. 6“And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land, devoting it to destruction.” Malachi 4:4–6

• These words mark the end of the Old Testament, the last of the Old Testament prophets, and the beginning of the 400 years of silence.

I. These are “The 400 Years of Prophetic Silence,” the Intertestamental Period

• Although there was a glaring prophetic silence in Israel, there was also great political and spiritual change, and turbulence. No new Scripture was given at this time, though the entire Old Testament was eventually translated into what became the next universal language of the time—Greek.

II. No prophet had come to Israel during that time, no God-breathed Scriptures had been written.

• “So there was great distress in Israel, such as had not been since the time that prophets ceased to appear among them.” (1 Maccabees 9:27)
• John the Baptist

III. Now we have an historical, prophetic, biblical context to the apocryphal writings.

• The issues surrounding the apocrypha do focus on what they say and teach, but especially on how they are regarded and used by religious traditions and churches.

IV. What are the apocryphal books? Do they evidence God’s breath?

• None of the apocrypha claim to be inspired by God; on the contrary, some explicitly claim to be mere human writings, in part because they acknowledge that prophecy had ceased during that time.
• All of the apocryphal books were written during the 400 years of prophetic silence.

V. The apocrypha contain various errors and contradictions

Type

Count

Examples

Chronological

6

Tobit 14:15, Judith 1:1, Baruch 1:2, 1&2 Macc death of Antiochus

Geographical

2

Tobit 1:4–5 (Upper Galilee), Judith 1:1 (Nineveh)

Historical Figures

5

Nebuchadnezzar in Nineveh, Holofernes, Ahasuerus

Authorship issues

2

Wisdom, Sirach (post-Solomon)

Embellishments

4

Judith, Susanna, Bel, Tobit (as parable)

We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

• ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
  4712 Montana Ave
  El Paso, Texas 79903

Contact us at:

• web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
  call/text: (915) 843-8088
  email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

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

Lord's Day: January 11, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: It Is Written: Scripture Alone Topic: Scripture Scripture: Luke 11:45–52; Matthew 23:29–36; Zechariah 1:1; 2 Chronicles 24:20–22; Luke 7:28; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 25:46; Ephesians 2:1–19

49“For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, 50so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’" Luke 11:49–51

• Sometimes Jesus was confrontational

I. Which Zechariah?

• Zechariah 1:1, 2 Chronicles 24:20–22, Protoevangelium of James

II. Jesus does not include any martyrdoms from the Intertestamental Period

• Nor John the Baptist
• “So there was great distress in Israel, such as had not been since the time that prophets ceased to appear among them.” (1 Macc. 9:27, after Malachi)
• Jewish Talmud (Sotah 9:48b): “As the Sages taught in a baraita (Tosefta 13:3): From the time when Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi died, the Divine Spirit departed from the Jewish people, as these three were considered to be the last prophets.”

III. Differing levels of authority within the canonical books of Scripture

• Law of Moses is the foundation for everything that follows
• All Scripture is authoritative, but the New Testament is the final written Word of God, making it more authoritative, the final, God-breathed, written Word that divinely expands on, fulfills, continues and abrogates, and interprets the Old Testament.
• Augustine: “The new is in the old concealed (hidden); the old is in the new revealed.”
• Beware: Inverted hermeneutic of Annihilationism, Conditional Immortality (Kirk Cameron)

• Louis Gaussen: “The whole tenor of Scripture places the writers of the New Testament in the same rank with the prophets of the Old; and even when it establishes any difference between them, it is always in putting the last in date above the first, in so far as one of God's sayings is superior to the saying that preceded it (not…in divinity, not in dignity, but in authority).”[1]

We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

• ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
  4712 Montana Ave
  El Paso, Texas 79903

Contact us at:

• web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
  call/text: (915) 843-8088
  email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

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] François Samuel Robert Louis Gaussen, God-Breathed: The Divine Inspiration of the Bible, ed. by John W. Robbins, trans. by David Scott, Trinity Paper, 57 (The Trinity Foundation, 2001), pp. 78, 84 .

Lord's Day: January 4, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: It Is Written: Scripture Alone Topic: Scripture Scripture: Acts 3:17–26; Psalm 119:41–48; Luke 24:25–27; 2 Samuel 7:12–17; Hebrews 11:35–38; Romans 3:1–2; Jude 3; Romans 16:25–27

“But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled." Acts 3:18

• The issues of the canon of Scripture and biblical authority are foundational differences between Protestantism and everything else.
• Basil Manly, Jr., The Bible Doctrine of Inspiration, ed. Timothy George and Denise George (Broadman and Holman, 1995).
• François Samuel Robert Louis Gaussen, God-Breathed: The Divine Inspiration of the Bible, ed. John W. Robbins, trans. David Scott, Trinity Paper 57 (The Trinity Foundation, 2001), https://www.trinitylectures.org/god-breathed-the-divine-inspiration-of-the-bible-p-88.html.
• John D. Meade and Peter J. Gurry, Scribes and Scripture: The Amazing Story of How We Got the Bible (Crossway, 2022).

I. What is a biblical prophet? The office of a prophet?

• “All the prophets,” including the New Testament prophets, are divine representatives, who speak for, and, beginning with Moses—write for—God, with supernatural aid, direction, and authority.

II. “The prophets” and “all the prophets” of Scripture alone

• Every genuine prophet spoke, and eventually wrote, directly or indirectly, of the coming Messiah and His kingdom, with divine authority.

III. Does the New Testament also quote apocryphal books?

• There is a difference between quoting something directly and alluding to something, and loosely resembling something as opposed to consciously alluding to it.
• Romans 3:2

IV. We normally understand Scripture and canon to refer to the same books.

• Some early church writers like Jerome, Athansius, Cyril, did not list apocrypha as part of the Old/New Testament canons, although they sometimes quoted them as (lower-tier) "Scripture."
• We have the same Old Testament that was entrusted to the Jews, which Jesus and His Apostles affirmed.
• The entire Old Testament speaks to, foretells, anticipates, looks forward to the coming Messiah who takes away all our sin.

We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

• ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
  4712 Montana Ave
  El Paso, Texas 79903

Contact us at:

• web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
  call/text: (915) 843-8088
  email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

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

Lord's Day: Dec 21, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: Seasoned with Grace Topic: Christ Scripture: John 1:1–18; Luke 2:19–20; Romans 12:1; Hebrews 13:15–16; 1 John 2:2; Isaiah 53:5–11; John 1:28–29, 35–37; Matthew 1:18–25; Isaiah 7:14; Luke 2:21–24; Leviticus 12:1–8

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

• Note: A part of the sermon was lost at around 50 minutes of the recording. We restored and merged the recordings that we did have.
• Jesus is our treasure, our marvel, our wonder, which we ponder in our hearts and bring praise, glory, and honor to Him by our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, offering our entire lives as a living sacrifice unto Him (Luke 2:19-20; Rom. 12).

I. The twfold meaning of Christmas: Two big picture, bookend truths

• The Hypostatic Union of Christ and the Gospel

II. What is the Hypostatic Union?

• Truly God, truly Man: “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God. Begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made (John 1). For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.” (Nicene Creed)
• Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man in one Person. The word “hypostatic” comes from the Greek hupostasis (ὑπόστασις), meaning “substance.” Both natures operate in harmony—without confusion, change, division, or separation.
• The Chalcedonian Definition
• God the Son is the subject and Person of the Incarnation, not the human nature of Christ: anhypostasis, enhypostasis.

III. The Gospel of God’s Propitiation

• Isaiah 53; 1 John 2:2; John 1:28-29, 35-37

IV. That is the second truth about Christmas—why Jesus was born

• The Virgin Birth: Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 2:21-24, Leviticus 12:1-8

We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am:

• ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church
  4712 Montana Ave
  El Paso, Texas 79903

Contact us at:

• web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church
  call/text: (915) 843-8088
  email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com

Scripture quotations taken 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