1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:05,960 Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives. 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:09,040 The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist 3 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:13,040 Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us 4 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:17,280 or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look 5 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,760 us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,040 message from God's Word will be a blessing to you. 7 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:27,720 You know, we're considering this idea of the word of God. 8 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,440 This is a holy book that we have in front of us, isn't it? 9 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:32,560 It's not just any book. It's a holy book. 10 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,400 But you know, there are a lot of religions that are out there who 11 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:37,640 would also say that they have holy books as well. 12 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:41,000 Let's be honest that we know that this is the word of God, 13 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,840 but yet there are other religions who would also try to 14 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:47,080 lay claim to the fact that they have the word of God or that 15 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:50,160 they have a holy book. Whether it's the Quran or 16 00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:53,640 whether it's the Talmud to Judaism, the Book of Mormon, 17 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:57,720 Scientology, ecology, has Dianetics, the Mahayana sutras 18 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:01,600 of Buddhism, and even others like universal Unitarians. 19 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:05,160 They have no holy text per SE, but they believe that their 20 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:09,080 sacred texts are all of equal value, whether they're poems or 21 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,280 traditions or other writings. Basically, whatever is holy to 22 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:16,720 you is what is actually holy. And so, sure, we can stand up 23 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:19,600 here with some authority this morning and say we have the word 24 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:21,800 of God. But someone in a mosque could 25 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:25,280 say the same thing this morning. And someone in a Christian 26 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:28,480 Science organization could say the same thing this morning, and 27 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:31,520 someone in a Mormon church could say the same thing this morning. 28 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:35,320 And so we ask ourselves, sure, we can trust the word of God, 29 00:01:35,320 --> 00:01:39,600 but why do you know that you can trust the word of God? 30 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:41,400 Sure, we can trust the word of God. 31 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:44,240 We looked at that last week, didn't we, that you can trust 32 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:45,880 the word of God. But the question is why? 33 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:50,080 How do we know it's God's words? How do we know it's not just the 34 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:54,600 ramblings of 40 some men who wanted to put their spin of life 35 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,480 on to parchment and somehow ended up into the book that we 36 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:00,080 carry around today? How can we have hope in this 37 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:02,480 word? How do we know that we can base 38 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:07,320 our life upon this book and it's upon the very words of God? 39 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:09,960 It's a important question, isn't it? 40 00:02:10,199 --> 00:02:11,920 I mean, if we're going to live our life after this book, we 41 00:02:11,920 --> 00:02:13,680 ought to know why we can trust this book. 42 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:16,840 And so while last week, yes, again, we saw Peter who 43 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:21,040 explained to us that this was no fable that we were reading, that 44 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:26,920 this was the eyewitnesses of 12 men, 11 men who saw the majesty 45 00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:29,320 of God, of course, in the general sense. 46 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:33,360 But then also how three of them saw him transfigured there on 47 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:38,160 the mount and saw him and Elijah and Moses all together. 48 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:41,520 And they're saying, but yes, but we have a more sure word of 49 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:44,160 prophecy. We have something even better 50 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:47,480 than eyewitness account, because eyewitness accounts can fail, 51 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:49,880 can't they? They can diminish over time. 52 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:54,000 But we have the word of God within us in our hands today. 53 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:57,440 But why can we trust God's word? I hope that we can give you some 54 00:02:57,440 --> 00:02:59,160 answers to that here this morning. 55 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:00,840 We stand pleased for the reading of God's word. 56 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:03,880 We're in second Peter chapter #1 we'll read the same text that we 57 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:06,160 did last week. Different message, don't worry, 58 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:08,440 just the same text from a different direction. 59 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:11,840 Second Peter chapter one, verse 18, or rather 16, says, For we 60 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:14,040 have not followed cunningly devised fables. 61 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:17,480 We may known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus 62 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,920 Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His Majesty. 63 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:25,000 For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when 64 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:27,680 there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory. 65 00:03:27,920 --> 00:03:30,720 This is my beloved Son, and whom I am well pleased. 66 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:34,120 And his voice which came from heaven, we heard when we were 67 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:38,400 with him in the holy mountain. We have a more sure word of 68 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:41,920 prophecy, where until you do well, that you take heed as unto 69 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:44,800 a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and 70 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:46,880 the day star arise in your hearts. 71 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:50,040 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of 72 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:52,880 any private interpretation. You can't make it into what you 73 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:55,720 want it to be, nor can I make it into what I want it to be. 74 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:59,840 For the prophecy came out in old time by the will of man, but 75 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:03,520 holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 76 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:05,360 And much of the answer that we're going to see this morning, 77 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:07,600 it's concentrated on verse #21 isn't it? 78 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,320 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but 79 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:14,720 holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy, the 80 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:16,640 Ghost. We could trust the Word of God. 81 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,240 But this morning I want to see why we can trust the Word of 82 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:21,760 God. We'd be seated and let's pray 83 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:28,840 together this morning. Heavenly Father, we do thank you 84 00:04:28,840 --> 00:04:30,480 for this morning. And I thank you for those who 85 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:31,720 are here. I really do. 86 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,080 I thank you for their attendance to your word and to your church. 87 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:38,080 And I do pray that what I give them today will be worthy of 88 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:42,320 their attendance, that it will be, it will be worthy of of 89 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:47,040 their listening and, and for their for their to take heed to 90 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:49,320 Lord, not because it's from me, but because it's from you. 91 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:52,000 But Lord, may I say rightly what needs to be said? 92 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,240 And Lord, may we know for sure by the time this message is 93 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:57,920 done, without a shadow of a doubt, that we can trust your 94 00:04:57,920 --> 00:04:59,440 word, Lord, because we can trust you. 95 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:02,880 And so thank you for this time. And we ask it humbly in Jesus 96 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,080 name, Amen. Well, last week we did take a 97 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:08,880 good long look at why you can trust God's Word, that this is 98 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:12,720 no fable, as Peter said, that they were eyewitnesses of the 99 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:15,320 glory of God. But this morning I want us to 100 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:19,600 take what we see in our text and to examine it and to expand upon 101 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:23,440 it from other Bible passages so that we can know not just that 102 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:27,480 we can trust God's Word, but why we can trust God's word. 103 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:29,800 And there's three reasons I want us to look at this. 104 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:34,000 And the first is this you can trust it because of Revelation. 105 00:05:34,280 --> 00:05:36,760 You can trust it because of Revelation. 106 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:38,880 And you say, pastor, so you're saying we can trust the Book of 107 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:41,680 Revelation And yes, you can trust the Book of Revelation is 108 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:44,560 the final book of the Bible is the 66th book. 109 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:48,920 But I am saying more that in a specific sense that we can trust 110 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:53,400 the word of God as a whole, all 66 books because of the Holy 111 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:58,600 Ghost involvement in revealing to us the nature and the word of 112 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:00,240 God. That's why it says at the in and 113 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:05,040 verse #21 that these men spake as they were moved by the Holy 114 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:06,040 Ghost. What does that mean? 115 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:10,160 That the Holy Spirit revealed some things to these men, who in 116 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:13,440 turn wrote these things down. These men in and of themselves 117 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:17,160 were unaware of these truths until the Holy Spirit brought 118 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:19,720 them to their light and inspired them, as we'll see in just a 119 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:22,360 moment as well, to write the words of which they wrote. 120 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:26,920 Well understand this. We have no way of knowing God on 121 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:29,360 our own without Him revealing to us. 122 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:32,840 We have no way on our own, with our own senses of truly 123 00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:37,480 understanding who God is without him revealing Himself to us. 124 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:41,640 Now we can learn more about the world through observation and 125 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:44,880 experimentation, and that's what the scientific methods all 126 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:46,520 about. And by the way, I'm not against 127 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:48,120 science. Sometimes people say, well, 128 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:49,680 you're a Christian, so you must be against science. 129 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:51,880 No, I'm certainly very much for science. 130 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:55,720 I'm just against when science tries to remove God from the 131 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:58,520 world, because you can't remove God from the world and come to 132 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,920 any conclusion that is good and right because, well, he put this 133 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:04,440 world into place, didn't he? And he didn't just evacuate this 134 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:06,800 world after he put into place. Hebrews chapter one verse 3 135 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:11,000 tells us he still holds every molecule in place in this entire 136 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:13,360 universe that that we, our mind came in handle that. 137 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,320 We can't even figure that out, but yet that's the God of whom 138 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:18,760 we serve. But this world in many ways we 139 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:22,520 can observe and we can experiment and learn more. 140 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,240 For instance, I've had a piece of wood up here today. 141 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:31,280 We could look at it, we could burn it, we could cut it, we 142 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:34,280 could observe its rings, we could analyze its chemical 143 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:36,000 compositions. In fact, I was thinking about 144 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,200 taking a chainsaw and just going right down the, no, nevermind, 145 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:39,320 we're not going to do that this morning. 146 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:42,360 But the idea is you can learn a lot about, well, a piece of wood 147 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:44,200 by observing it. And there's a lot of different 148 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:46,720 ways to be able to observe it. And there's a lot of different 149 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:49,000 things in this world that we can't observe and we can learn 150 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:52,240 more about because God gave us the senses to be able to 151 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:54,280 observe. And God gave us the mental 152 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:57,000 capacity to be able to take those observations and to 153 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:00,720 formulate them into thoughts and to be able to formulate them 154 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:03,640 into truth. But, but listen, we cannot do 155 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:06,640 that with God. We cannot do so in the sense 156 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:10,200 that we observe Him for who He is and write down, yes, He is 157 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:12,160 truth. We observe Him and say, yes, He 158 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:13,960 is love. Yes, we observe Him and say, 159 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:16,720 yes, He is our Savior in and of ourselves. 160 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:20,200 Listen, we can't go to Him to make those observations. 161 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,960 So what has He done? He has revealed Himself to us so 162 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:26,560 that while we cannot go to Him, we could put it this way. 163 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:29,360 He has brought those truths to where we are so that we could 164 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:32,000 understand, because He wants you to know Him. 165 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:35,559 Think about that. The God of the universe wants 166 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:38,159 you to know Him. Now you say that, well, sure, He 167 00:08:38,159 --> 00:08:40,120 wants the world to know Him. Of course He wants the world to 168 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:42,280 know, but He wants you to know Him. 169 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,240 That He didn't just reveal these things for the world, He 170 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:49,760 revealed them for Adam Rivero, He revealed them for Bethany 171 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:53,600 Rivero, He revealed them for Victor Rivero, my father, we can 172 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:56,280 go on and on with each and every one of us here that he wants you 173 00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:59,160 to know him. So he revealed himself through 174 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:02,200 the word to us. We can't do this with our own 175 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:04,440 human reasoning and senses. Job understood this. 176 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:09,280 He said in Job 11 verse 7, can't thou by searching find out God? 177 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:12,280 Can't thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? 178 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:14,400 You'll remember Job had a lot of questions, didn't he? 179 00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:16,920 And then once God came down and started asking a few of his own 180 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:19,000 questions, Job said this, never mind, mind. 181 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,560 I rescind all my questions. I see who you are Lord, and you 182 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:25,120 are in control. First Corinthians chapter 2, 183 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:28,160 verse 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the 184 00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:30,640 Spirit of God. They're foolishness unto him. 185 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:33,920 Neither can be known them because they are spiritually 186 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:36,360 discerned So in and of ourselves, because these are 187 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:40,240 spiritual things that we can't on our own in our flesh discern 188 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:43,440 them. But God in his love, God in his 189 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:47,600 mercy, God in his grace has revealed himself to us. 190 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:49,480 And he's done this in a a couple different ways. 191 00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:53,120 First of all, there's a general revelation, a general 192 00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:55,080 revelation. He reveals himself through 193 00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:57,760 natural things. He's accessible to all men. 194 00:09:57,760 --> 00:09:59,560 He's revealed himself through creation. 195 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:01,440 He's revealed himself through history. 196 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:04,480 He's revealed himself through our consciousness that these are 197 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:07,720 things and entities of which he's revealed himself to all 198 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:11,120 mankind. Psalm 97, verse 6, the heavens 199 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:15,000 declare the glory of God and the people see his glory. 200 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:18,960 Psalm 19 one through 3 the verses we were right before what 201 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:21,080 our brother Brian just read a few moments ago. 202 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:23,880 The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament show with 203 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:27,240 his handiwork day on today utter a speech and night under night 204 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:30,080 show with knowledge. There is no speech nor language 205 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:33,200 where their voice is not heard, meaning this that God's general 206 00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:36,320 revelation through creation cuts across all societies. 207 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:40,320 It cuts across all languages, it cuts across all races that all 208 00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:42,960 can look at this world and say this wow, there must have been a 209 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:45,920 Creator who made all this if their minds and hearts are truly 210 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:49,640 open to that of which they see. And even the truth of God is 211 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:51,280 written under the consciences of man. 212 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:55,040 Romans 215 which show the work of the law written in their 213 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:58,440 hearts, their conscience also bearing witness and their 214 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:02,360 thoughts the mean while accusing or excusing one another. 215 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:06,200 We can even look at the history of the world and we can see 216 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:10,200 times and seasons where we say wow, only God could have done 217 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:12,720 this. Of course we see through the 218 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:16,520 history of Israel recorded to us in the word of God, but we also 219 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:18,320 see through the history just in general. 220 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:22,680 You can go all the way back to the times of the medieval ages 221 00:11:22,680 --> 00:11:25,800 and see Charles Martel in the Battle of Tours and consider the 222 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:29,400 fact that if they had lost that battle, that Islam would have 223 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:33,040 come across all of Europe and who we are as a country today 224 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:35,320 would be very different and the world itself would be very 225 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:36,920 different. I believe God had intervened. 226 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:41,680 Could be the Spanish Armada back in their battles, or even some 227 00:11:41,680 --> 00:11:44,480 of the stories that we've heard from the Revolutionary War and 228 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:47,760 how our country, I believe, has been uniquely placed for such a 229 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:49,840 time as this. You know, I believe God reveals 230 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:52,200 himself through all these different things in a very 231 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:54,120 general way. The Bible teaches that. 232 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:57,560 But what I really want us to get down to when it comes the Word 233 00:11:57,560 --> 00:12:00,400 of God is not just general revelation, but special 234 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:03,120 revelation. And that's what's being talked 235 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:06,400 about here when it says that we have a more sure word of 236 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:09,080 prophecy. For the prophecy, verse 21 came 237 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:12,640 not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake 238 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:14,640 as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 239 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:19,040 You see that there were probably 40 or so authors of the Word of 240 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:22,720 God who did not of their own dream up what we call the Bible 241 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:26,040 today or in their own thoughts have just created this fable 242 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:28,560 which turned into the Bible which people are following 243 00:12:28,560 --> 00:12:30,520 today. Don't know that the Holy Spirit 244 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:35,680 directly revealed self to these holy men of old through dreams, 245 00:12:35,680 --> 00:12:38,520 through visions, through audible voices, or through angels. 246 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:42,880 And this is how God spoke to men like Paul, or Daniel, or David, 247 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:47,160 or Asaf, or Peter, that God spoke to them. 248 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:50,600 He revealed Himself to them in a very real way. 249 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:54,640 Hebrews 1 verses one and two. God, who at sundry times and 250 00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:58,680 divers manners spake in the time passed by unto the fathers, by 251 00:12:58,680 --> 00:13:03,040 the prophets, hath in these last times spoken to us by His Son. 252 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:05,480 By the way, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with 253 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:08,200 God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning 254 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:09,800 with God. What do we see? 255 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:13,360 That there were men who were given this special revelation 256 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:17,240 from God and that these were penned for us to be able to read 257 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:19,600 today. Now I will say this, this type 258 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:23,040 of revelation is not how God communicates with us today. 259 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:26,280 Well, why would that be, Pastor? It would be very dangerous for 260 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:29,560 me to get up and say this. I have a special revelation from 261 00:13:29,560 --> 00:13:30,960 the Lord. Well, why would that be 262 00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:33,080 dangerous? Well, if I was to say something 263 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:34,920 of that nature, what I'm saying is this. 264 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:39,680 What I'm about to tell you is on equal standing with the word of 265 00:13:39,680 --> 00:13:43,240 God you have in front of you. Listen, I can't say that to you 266 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:46,320 today in any way, shape or form. I can't tell you before that I 267 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:48,560 have a new word from you, from God. 268 00:13:48,560 --> 00:13:51,560 No, what I can tell you is that we have a very old word. 269 00:13:51,560 --> 00:13:54,080 We have a very timeless word. This is the second week in a 270 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:55,280 row. Drop this stuff. 271 00:13:55,280 --> 00:14:02,120 We have a very old word that I happened to stick some things in 272 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:04,320 the back of it that I probably shouldn't do during the week. 273 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:07,160 But we have this very old, very timeless word that we have 274 00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:09,640 before us and we have no new need for. 275 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:12,240 Listen, you say, well, wouldn't it be great if we had something 276 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:14,560 new today? We have a more sure water 277 00:14:14,560 --> 00:14:18,600 prophecy that's before us. Even Paul or Peter says this. 278 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:21,560 Listen, I was on the mount. I saw those things. 279 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:23,920 But I have something even more sure than that. 280 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:28,480 I have the Word of God, that's why it says in First Corinthians 281 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:31,680 chapter #13 and verse #10 But when that which is perfect is 282 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:35,440 come, that which is perfect, not who is perfect which is perfect, 283 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:36,920 what is that? The word of God. 284 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:40,320 When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part 285 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:43,600 shall be done away. Now listen, to be sure, God 286 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:46,720 still leads and guides and directs the believer today 287 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:48,600 through the indwelling Holy Spirit. 288 00:14:48,600 --> 00:14:52,280 But I will say this, he is not still speaking Scripture to his 289 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:54,880 people today. Listen, that's where you get a 290 00:14:54,880 --> 00:14:57,480 Joseph Smith. That's where you get the cults 291 00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:00,800 that say, well, listen, I know what God said before, but he 292 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:03,120 told me something new now. And if you want to hear what 293 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:05,240 God's saying today, you've got to follow me. 294 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:07,320 That's a very, very dangerous thing. 295 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:09,680 Listen, we follow Christ and Christ alone. 296 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:13,080 We follow his word and his word alone, that I am not giving you 297 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:16,640 extra revelation here today. We're led by the Holy Spirit, 298 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:18,160 but the Holy Spirit lead us through what? 299 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:22,280 The word of God that He is our teacher, that He is our guide, 300 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:26,600 and God reveals himself and we can trust His Word because of 301 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:29,600 this revelation. Now not only can we trust the 302 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:31,560 word of God because of revelation, but we can also 303 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:35,720 trust it because of inspiration. So first we see revelation, but 304 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:39,320 then we also see inspiration. And the word inspiration 305 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:42,040 literally means this God breathed. 306 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:45,760 It means God breathed. Look again at verse #21 For the 307 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:49,040 holy, or rather the prophecy came out in old time by the will 308 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:53,560 of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the 309 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:54,480 Holy Ghost. So what? 310 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:57,600 What does that mean? They were inspired to be able to 311 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:00,760 write the things of which they were right writing. 312 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:04,840 And and this is a a doctrine that was affirmed not just in 313 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:07,280 the New Testament but also in the old as well. 314 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:09,640 For instance, Jeremiah chapter one, verse 9. 315 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:12,360 Then the Lord put forth his hand, and he touched my mouth, 316 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:16,960 and the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in 317 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:20,120 thy mouth. Psalm 86 or 68, verse 11. 318 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:23,520 The Lord gave the word. Great was the company of those 319 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:25,720 that published it. What did the prophets always 320 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:28,160 start their message with? Thus sayeth the Lord. 321 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:29,880 Thus sayeth the word of the Lord. 322 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:31,520 A burden that came from the Lord. 323 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:34,240 It always was this. When the prophet spoke, it was 324 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:36,600 always this. This has come from the Lord. 325 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:40,560 It was ensured that what they were saying was inspired from 326 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:43,000 the Lord. For Ephesians chapter 3, verses 327 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,400 3 through 5. How that by revelation He made 328 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:48,440 known unto me the mystery, as I wrote a four and a few words 329 00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:51,080 whereby you read, you may understand my knowledge in the 330 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:54,440 mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known 331 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:58,440 under the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy 332 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:01,320 apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 333 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:05,680 Second Timothy 316 all Scripture is given by inspiration of God 334 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:08,640 and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for 335 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:11,359 correction, for instruction and righteousness. 336 00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:15,240 Meaning this everything you need in this life comes from the word 337 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:17,599 of God. For doctrine, what's right, for 338 00:17:17,599 --> 00:17:20,520 reproof, what's wrong, for correction, how to get things 339 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:23,319 right and for instructions and righteousness, how to stay 340 00:17:23,319 --> 00:17:24,800 right. Once you get right, that's 341 00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:27,240 everything you need in the spiritual life and how is it 342 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:30,440 given to us by the inspiration of God. 343 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:36,200 Now define biblical inspiration. Is this divine authorship using 344 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:41,560 human penmanship? Divine authorship using human 345 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:43,800 penmanship. Now, when we say that Peter 346 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:48,360 wrote these words, he was using the pen and he was writing, but 347 00:17:48,360 --> 00:17:52,600 was he giving us his thoughts? No, he was inspired by the Holy 348 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:53,840 Ghost. That's why we could trust. 349 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:57,800 Listen, we know when Peter spoke on his own, and we can't trust 350 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:00,440 those words, can we? Because he spoke a lot on his 351 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:04,000 own. I'll never deny you, and that's 352 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:08,120 just one example of many, but when he was filled with the Holy 353 00:18:08,120 --> 00:18:12,400 Ghost, in a very unique way, he was able to write these words. 354 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:17,720 The revelation of God-given through inspiration to human 355 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:19,960 penman. Now, there's a lot of different 356 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:22,280 ideas about inspiration. I'll be honest with you. 357 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:25,800 I've, I've, I write, I write quite a bit. 358 00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:29,040 There are times that when I write, it's just, can I tell 359 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:30,160 you? There's times I write the, the 360 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:33,360 word writer's cramp sometimes feels mild to the way that I 361 00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:36,200 feel in front of a keyboard because it's like I'm sitting 362 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,680 here and nothing's working. The words don't, words aren't 363 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:41,520 working. It's like I'm not even 364 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:42,840 acquainted with the English language. 365 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:46,960 There are other times I write and sometimes it's coming out so 366 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:50,000 quick that I don't think that my 50 words a minute typing skills 367 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:54,320 can keep up and I feel inspired. And is there a level of 368 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:56,160 inspiration that can be said to that? 369 00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:59,680 Well, sure there is. Are Shakespeare's writings 370 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:01,680 inspired? They could be. 371 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:05,520 Are others types of authors and different things inspired? 372 00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:07,480 Sure they are. But that's called general 373 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:10,200 inspiration. It's not the inspiration that 374 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:14,240 comes because someone is writing down the very words of God. 375 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,200 That's much different. You know, we're not just talking 376 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:19,880 about Peter just felt this burst of energy and all of a sudden he 377 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:21,520 started writing things which turn into the Bible. 378 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:24,160 No, no, he was being moved by the Holy Ghost. 379 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:27,760 That's much different than a general inspiration. 380 00:19:28,360 --> 00:19:31,680 There's also a thought process of partial inspiration that God 381 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:34,520 only inspired part of His word. There are some that say the 382 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:37,080 Bible contains the word of God, but they're not willing to say 383 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:39,840 it is the word of God. Listen, this book does not just 384 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:42,800 contain the word of God. It's the very word of God. 385 00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:44,840 We don't just believe in partial inspiration. 386 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:47,320 By the way, if it's partially inspired, what parts were and 387 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:50,200 what parts were? Well, I sure hope John 316 is in 388 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:53,880 that list, or I sure hope Romans 10/10 is in that list. 389 00:19:54,120 --> 00:19:56,960 I sure hope Ephesians 289 is in that list. 390 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:00,040 If it's only partially expired, then how do we know the parts 391 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,000 that tell us that we're sinners in need of a Savior and the 392 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:05,160 Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins? 393 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:06,800 How do we know? They say, oh, you can know. 394 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:09,160 And my answer would be how can you assure me this? 395 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:12,400 There's this thought process of partial inspiration, even a 396 00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:14,960 thought process of neo Orthodox inspiration. 397 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:17,760 Just the thought of that kind of gets sent shivers down my spine 398 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:19,080 without even knowing what it means. 399 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:21,840 Neo Orthodox inspiration. But there's a group of people 400 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:23,800 out there that would even claim to be Christians who say 401 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:26,320 something like this. The Bible is not the word of 402 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:30,160 God, but when it's mixed with your own life experience and 403 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:32,960 your own perspective, it then becomes the word of God. 404 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:38,480 So my question is this. So God's word on its own is not 405 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:41,280 God's word, and he needs my help to make a God's word. 406 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:44,040 That doesn't sound like much of A God, does it? 407 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:47,720 God does not need my help to be able to inspire His word. 408 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:53,520 You know what he wants from us to read it, to live it, to learn 409 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:55,800 it. You know, we don't believe in a 410 00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:58,920 general inspiration or a partial inspiration or a neo Orthodox 411 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:02,200 inspiration, but rather what we would call a verbal plenary 412 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:05,800 inspiration view meaning this, that God revealed these things 413 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:08,360 verbally to these men. And plenary means, complete 414 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:11,720 means from cover to cover that we believe it is all inspired. 415 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:13,600 Well, Pastor, some of it's just unbelievable. 416 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:16,400 You're talking about a flood that covers the whole world. 417 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:19,560 You're talking about a creation in six days. 418 00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:22,240 You're talking about the Red Sea standing up in heaps. 419 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:24,440 So you're talking about the blind seeing. 420 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:26,960 We're talking about the the Book of Revelation. 421 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:29,360 All the things that don't even make sense in the Book of 422 00:21:29,360 --> 00:21:30,680 Revelation, I don't even understand. 423 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:35,760 Listen, it came from God, so I trust it because I know where it 424 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:38,160 came from. I know the source, and that's 425 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:41,280 got to be good enough for me. Listen, when my human reasoning 426 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:45,120 does not line up with the Word of God, do I trust my human 427 00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:47,320 reasoning or do I trust the word of God? 428 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:52,720 I have to entrust the fully inspired Word of God, which 429 00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:57,240 reveals God to us. I want to be careful how I say 430 00:21:57,240 --> 00:21:58,360 this. I want to be clear how I say 431 00:21:58,360 --> 00:22:00,560 this. There's a lot of churches today 432 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:03,800 who will not stand upon that foundation of which I've just 433 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:05,000 told you the last several minutes. 434 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:07,640 They'll say something like this, that the Word of God was 435 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:10,560 inspired. As far as the originals, well, 436 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:13,160 may I remind you that we have none of the originals today. 437 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:17,600 And if all we can trust was the originals, then we don't know 438 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:20,320 that what we have in front of us today is actually the Word of 439 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:23,480 God because we don't have the originals. 440 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:25,600 We have the copies of copies of copies. 441 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:28,040 You say, Pastor, that's troubling to me. 442 00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:32,440 And, you know, on its face, it would be troubling, except we 443 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:35,240 don't just see that we can trust this word because of revelation. 444 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:37,680 And we don't just see that we can trust this word because of 445 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:40,600 inspiration, but we also see that we can trust this word 446 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:44,480 because of preservation. Because of preservation. 447 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:47,920 I heard somebody say once, well, you know, if you were to take a 448 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:52,640 Xerox of a document, and then once that was removed from the 449 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:56,280 copier, you put that up on the top and then you made a copy of 450 00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:58,440 the copy. And then you remove that and you 451 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:00,280 took the copy of the copy and place that up. 452 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:03,040 If you did that 10 or 20 times, what would end up happening? 453 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,240 Eventually that copy would just probably turn about black, 454 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:08,000 wouldn't it? Because every time it would add 455 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:11,240 a little bit of an image to it. And over time you would end up 456 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:13,240 losing what was there. And someone said, isn't that 457 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:15,600 exactly what happens with the word of God? 458 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:18,680 And my answer would be when you're talking about man, yes, 459 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:21,400 but we're not talking about man. What? 460 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:23,960 We're talking about man and his limited abilities and his 461 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:25,400 limited machines. Sure. 462 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:27,640 That's exactly what happens, that you're playing a game of 463 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:30,320 telephone from this person to this person, this person, this 464 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:31,960 person. And by the time you get around, 465 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:34,520 you know, you started with that somebody like someone else, and 466 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:36,560 you get to the end and you find out that they hate someone else. 467 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:40,040 That's not what we said, but that's what makes the game 468 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,880 funny. But we're not playing a game of 469 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:45,520 cosmic telephone with the Heavenly Father. 470 00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:49,040 We're not here making copies of copies off of a Xerox machine 471 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:52,560 that's somewhere up in heaven. But yet we believe that God is 472 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,880 so big and we believe that God is so great, and we believe in 473 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:59,760 God's promises that he's told us that we can trust the word of 474 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:03,520 God today, not just the original copies quote, UN quote, but that 475 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:06,040 you have the very word of God in front of you today. 476 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:10,720 It doesn't make sense, pastor. You're really speaking. 477 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:14,360 It doesn't. We're talking about God, and 478 00:24:14,360 --> 00:24:15,360 we're not just talking about God. 479 00:24:15,360 --> 00:24:17,760 We're talking about God's promises to man. 480 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:20,600 Go to first Peter chapter #1 we're going to look at a couple 481 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:21,800 places very close to where we are. 482 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:24,800 First Peter chapter #1 the pastor. 483 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:26,360 You're passionate about this. Well, listen, we're talking 484 00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:28,320 about the Bible. We're talking about the 485 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:30,080 foundation of everything we believe. 486 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:32,560 And there are so many churches that will tell you, you know, we 487 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:34,560 believe the Bible, but only so much. 488 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:37,760 And friend, if we don't believe the Bible for what it is, then 489 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:39,280 what do we have here this morning? 490 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:42,120 Why are we meeting here? We ought to just all go out to 491 00:24:42,120 --> 00:24:43,920 brunch together like everyone else is. 492 00:24:45,360 --> 00:24:46,840 But I don't like brunch, so I don't want to. 493 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:49,200 You know why? Because we've got something 494 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:50,240 else. We got a more sure word of 495 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:53,600 prophecy in front of us and we can believe it from cover to 496 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:55,520 cover. First, Peter chapter one, look 497 00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:59,960 at verse #23 it says it's being born again, not of corruptible 498 00:24:59,960 --> 00:25:02,360 sea, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and 499 00:25:02,360 --> 00:25:04,960 abideth forever. For all flesh is, is grass. 500 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:07,760 In the glory of man is the flower of the grass. 501 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:10,240 The grass wither at the flower thereof falleth away. 502 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:13,120 But the word of the Lord endureth forever. 503 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:17,680 And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. 504 00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:20,280 He says this. The things of this world, they 505 00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:24,880 die with this world, but the words of God they endure. 506 00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:29,240 Go to second Peter chapter #3 Get a little ahead of ourselves 507 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:31,760 here, because we'll be here in, you know, 3 or 4 years. 508 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:34,440 But second, Peter chapter #3 that's not true. 509 00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:41,840 Verse #15 An account that the long-suffering of our Lord is 510 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:46,080 salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to 511 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:50,960 the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you, as also in all 512 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:53,880 his epistles Speaking of them. And those things in which are 513 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:56,320 some things hard to be understood, which they that are 514 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:59,560 unlearned and unstable, rest, as they do also the other 515 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:01,360 Scriptures, unto their own destruction. 516 00:26:01,360 --> 00:26:04,640 Now, first of all, I just want to throw this in just for a 517 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:07,520 moment. I love Peter's transparency 518 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:08,880 here. And again, he's speaking by the 519 00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:12,240 inspiration of Holy Spirit. Peter is talking about Paul's 520 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:14,280 epistles, and he says this, some of the things he says are hard 521 00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:16,440 to understand. So if you ever get into the Word 522 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:18,160 of God, he said, you know what, it's a little bit difficult. 523 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:20,600 It's a little bit hard for me to understand exactly what's going 524 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:22,640 on. Do you realize that the apostle 525 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:25,160 Peter says some of the things Paul says are hard to 526 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,800 understand? I thought people be happier 527 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:30,280 about that than that. He's like, maybe you all 528 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:31,360 understand it. I don't know. 529 00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:33,920 That gives encouragement to me because sometimes I read some of 530 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:35,800 these things. I should get more of this or I 531 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:39,120 should understand more of this. Peter himself said, you know 532 00:26:39,120 --> 00:26:42,840 what, Paul, he looks at things a little bit differently, but I 533 00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:44,760 have trouble understanding that. But what is he saying? 534 00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:48,720 He's still saying this. He says that with the epistles 535 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:52,440 that he wrote are what they calls them his epistle speaking 536 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:55,520 them of those things in which things some are hard to be 537 00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:57,960 understood, which they that unlearned and unstable rest, 538 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:01,560 which means they twist them as they do also the other 539 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:05,080 scriptures. What is Peter saying here? 540 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:11,280 He's saying this that all of Pete Paul's epistles are the 541 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:13,400 scripture. Now let me ask you this. 542 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:16,280 When he's talking about this, do you think he's talking about 543 00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:18,280 only the original letters that Paul wrote? 544 00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:21,520 How many people were reading the original letters? 545 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:24,760 Well, Corinth would have read Corinths, the churches of 546 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:27,360 Galatia would have shared Galatians, Thessalonica would 547 00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:30,000 have read Thessalonica. I mean the actual letter, but 548 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:33,480 copies were made and circulated. Paul even reveals that that 549 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:34,880 copies would be made of these things. 550 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:39,000 And what is said here? Those are all the scripture. 551 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,000 Why? Because God is big enough to 552 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:47,320 preserve His word, preservation is promised. 553 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:51,440 Psalm 12, verses 6 and seven. The words of the Lord are pure 554 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:54,800 words, as silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified 7 555 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:56,880 times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, 556 00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:01,120 Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. 557 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:04,640 Mark 1331 Heaven and earth shall pass away. 558 00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:09,360 My word shall not pass away. Isaiah 40 verse 8 The grass 559 00:28:09,360 --> 00:28:13,480 withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall 560 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:17,240 stand forever. Christ is the Word. 561 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:19,320 Is He perfect? Yes. 562 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:23,920 Is He preserved? Yes, then so is our word. 563 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:26,440 By the way, and this isn't my message this morning, but I will 564 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,520 say there's a reason we use the King James Bible that we use 565 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:32,640 here at Liberty Baptist Church, because there are many modern 566 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:35,640 translations today that come from much different manuscripts. 567 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:37,600 And those who translated them say this. 568 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:40,440 We can't know if we have the Bible today, but we're just 569 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:41,800 going to do the very best we can. 570 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:43,840 And so this is an amended attack. 571 00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:46,360 I hope you know my heart well enough to know my thought 572 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:48,160 process with that and to know who I am. 573 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:50,640 I'm certainly always glad to answer questions about that. 574 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:54,320 But I will say this, from the beginning of the garden, Satan 575 00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:56,240 has done nothing but try to attack God's Word. 576 00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,800 And we're foolish to think that he won't do the same thing 577 00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:03,960 today, changing a word at a time, a word at a time, a little 578 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:06,280 bit here a little and there a little. 579 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,320 You know, he's always trying to attack God's Word. 580 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:10,880 And so that's what we see here say. 581 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:12,520 Well, pastor, I've never really thought about that before. 582 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:15,360 We're not, we're not just throwing that out there for you 583 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:16,560 to think about it, to pray about. 584 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:20,240 But God has promised to preserve his word and we can know that we 585 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:26,480 can trust God's Word. And again, like last week, I, I 586 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:28,360 have to come to the same conclusion that when it comes 587 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:31,240 this issue of revelation and inspiration and preservation, 588 00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:34,040 probably everyone in this room just about, if you're a 589 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:36,000 believer, you're saying, Yep, I agree with that. 590 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:38,800 I agree with that. In fact, I get in the feedback 591 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:41,360 here this morning, I've learned as a pastor over the 12 years 592 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:43,880 that I've pastored and preached 3 * a week, sometimes four times 593 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:46,680 a week with Sunday school, to not always take the feedback, 594 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:48,880 either good or bad that I'm being given during the message. 595 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:51,360 Because sometimes I think people aren't listening or don't agree. 596 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:53,320 And then they meet me at the door and say, that was 597 00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:55,000 incredible. And there's, sometimes I see 598 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:56,920 people nodding their heads and they nod them all the way their 599 00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:58,520 car and they drive off and I never see them again. 600 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:06,280 So I've learned not to necessarily trust that, but I 601 00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:08,680 imagine just from what I see this ward is a lot of people 602 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:12,080 say, yeah, I, I believe that. I believe God revealed himself 603 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:13,400 to us. I believe it's inspired. 604 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:14,480 I see what Peter said about that. 605 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:16,280 I believe in the preservation. Maybe if you don't even 606 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:18,560 understand all the thought processes about that, you just 607 00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:20,400 trust that God said he would preserve his ward and that's 608 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:22,240 good enough for you right now and praise the Lord for that. 609 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:27,200 But I would say this to you as an admonition to those of you 610 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:31,920 believers and unbelievers. But this can only bring us to 1 611 00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:35,320 conclusion. And that conclusion is this, if 612 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:39,120 you can trust God's word, then you can trust the God of the 613 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:42,880 Word. If you can trust God's word, 614 00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:45,320 then you can trust the God of the Word. 615 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:49,160 I found it often to be the case that if I was to ask someone 616 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:51,920 theologically, do you believe this is the word of God, they'd 617 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:54,680 say absolutely. But I'd say this, do you trust 618 00:30:54,680 --> 00:31:01,160 God with your finances? They'd say, well, not really. 619 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:05,880 Do you trust God? But this is His Word, 620 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:08,320 Absolutely. Do you trust Him with the 621 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:10,240 difficulties that you're going through, the trials that you're 622 00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:17,000 going through right now? Do you trust what He says about 623 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:20,520 holiness? Do you trust what He says about 624 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:24,200 prayer? Do you trust what He says about 625 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:25,800 burdens? Do you trust what He says about 626 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:27,760 encouragement? Do you trust what He says about 627 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:29,720 training children? Do you trust what He says about 628 00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:31,840 marriage? Do you trust what He says about 629 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:33,680 church? Do you trust what He says about 630 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:35,760 being a servant? And most importantly, do you 631 00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:38,400 trust what He says about salvation? 632 00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:42,440 Do you believe that He can do what He said He would do? 633 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:45,920 Do you believe He did what He said He did? 634 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:48,960 Do you trust in Him for salvation? 635 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:52,840 And if you don't know him as your savior, friend, the Bible 636 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:56,000 tells you how you can know for sure that you're saved. 637 00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:58,080 Listen, we're not talking about the Book of Mormon. 638 00:31:58,200 --> 00:31:59,680 We're not talking about Dianetics. 639 00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:02,320 We're not talking about the Quran. 640 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:03,720 We're not talking about any other book. 641 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:07,240 We're talking about the Word of God tells us what we can know 642 00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:11,000 about salvation, that we're sinners and need of a Savior, 643 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:14,960 but that Jesus shed his blood on the cross, just like we heard in 644 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:17,480 Psalm just a few moments ago. So that we have blessed 645 00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:20,600 assurance that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord 646 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:23,080 shall be saved. And if you don't know that 647 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:25,880 you're going to heaven today, or you're trusting in a church, or 648 00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:28,280 you're trusting in a philosophy, or you're trusting in a 649 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:31,120 sacrament, know this. There's only one you can trust, 650 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:34,000 and that's Jesus Christ. Why trust Jesus Christ through 651 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:35,400 the sacrament? No, it's Jesus Christ through 652 00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:38,760 nothing. It's Jesus and Jesus alone. 653 00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:43,080 But for those of us who are believers today, listen. 654 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:47,520 Has God-given us his word? Yes. 655 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:51,520 Has God ever broken his word? No. 656 00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:55,280 Then why don't we trust him more? 657 00:32:56,440 --> 00:33:00,520 Because if we can trust God's word, then we can trust the God 658 00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:03,400 of the Word. I'll leave you with this 659 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:08,000 illustration. I had an uncle for many years. 660 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:10,960 I've I've mentioned him before and and I loved him dearly. 661 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:15,920 It's on my father's side. He was a relative that I would 662 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:17,600 see maybe two or three times a year. 663 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:21,520 And from a very young age, I, I maybe from four or five, I 664 00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:23,760 remember he would come to our house and he would always say 665 00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:26,240 this. He said, Adam, he says, next 666 00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:27,920 time I come over, I'm going to bring over a fishing pole. 667 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:30,880 He said, you know what we're going to do, we're going to go 668 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:34,000 fishing. He would say this to me all the 669 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,240 time. And you know, it's hard for a 7 670 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:43,360 year old to be jaded, but by about age 7, I'm thinking, I 671 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:44,680 don't think this is going to happen. 672 00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:49,400 And, and I don't fish today. I, I, I still don't fish. 673 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:52,560 I blame my uncle because all this time he promised me to 674 00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:54,560 bring the fishing pole. He never bought the fishing 675 00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:55,920 pole. We never went fishing. 676 00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:59,400 We never, we never even went past a body of water together. 677 00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:02,200 I'm afraid if, if we did, he probably would have said, hey, 678 00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:03,880 oh man, about that fishing thing. 679 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,560 He's like, he didn't want to bring me near a body of water, 680 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:09,520 either large or small, because he knew he hadn't done it. 681 00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:13,040 Listen, he would have been better not saying anything and 682 00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:17,880 it would have been fine, but he kept saying it over and over and 683 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:21,000 over again. And I don't know why, but you 684 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:26,159 know, it ended up being that in his life that he would tell me 685 00:34:26,159 --> 00:34:29,639 other things and I would struggle believing the other 686 00:34:29,639 --> 00:34:34,360 things too, because he kept not telling me the truth about the 687 00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:37,080 fishing pole. Even if you just said, look, I 688 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:39,400 forgot, I, I never remember. I need to write it. 689 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:41,400 It was never that. It's like, hey, the next time, 690 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:44,760 take it to the bank. We're going fishing. 691 00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:48,960 And today the only fish I know is from the Gordon's fisherman. 692 00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:51,840 That's all I know. He's up in Gloucester. 693 00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:53,679 He's doing a great job. All right, I don't know. 694 00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:57,000 I've never been fishing. Not, not in the last 15 years. 695 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:01,680 You know, I didn't trust a lot of the other things that he said 696 00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:04,800 because he kept breaking that promise. 697 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:10,200 May I remind you that God's Word has never been wrong in your 698 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:11,560 life. Ever. 699 00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:16,400 There's never been one time this word has taken you the wrong 700 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:19,400 direction. There's never been a time it was 701 00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:23,280 wrong in reference to salvation. There's never been a time it's 702 00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:24,680 been wrong in reference to trials. 703 00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:28,400 There's never been a time it's been wrong in reference to 704 00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:30,000 anything. May I remind you this book is 705 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:32,720 not a history book, but when it speaks of history, it always 706 00:35:32,720 --> 00:35:35,040 speaks truly. This book is not a book of 707 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:37,320 archaeology, but when it speaks of archaeology, always speaks 708 00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:39,040 truly. It's not a book of science, but 709 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:40,960 when it speaks of science, it always speaks truly. 710 00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:43,800 It's amazing to me how the world is always catching up with the 711 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:46,480 Bible. I just got an article a couple 712 00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:50,000 days ago from brother Vince sent me about the world saying, wow, 713 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:52,240 there are really sellers of purple that that there's this 714 00:35:52,240 --> 00:35:54,400 big place where they would make purple die. 715 00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:56,880 And it was very expensive and it was very luxurious. 716 00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:59,200 And wow, it's really surprising because the Bible talked about 717 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:04,080 that for about 2000 years and history just comes in the Bible. 718 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,240 It's right. And you're like, wow, it really 719 00:36:06,240 --> 00:36:09,680 it's right. We know this. 720 00:36:10,240 --> 00:36:13,040 It's, it's never steered you wrong ever. 721 00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:19,040 So then why don't we trust him like we should? 722 00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:24,800 If my distrust in my uncle's word caused me to distrust him, 723 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:29,440 then how much more so should our ultimate trust in the Word of 724 00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:33,200 God cause us to trust him? Pastor, I can't tie. 725 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:35,600 I won't make it. That's not what he says. 726 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:40,000 Trust him. Pastor, I can't give my burdens 727 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:42,600 to the Lord because I have to be able to figure them out myself. 728 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:45,680 That's not what he says. Do it. 729 00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:48,600 Pastor. I I couldn't share my faith with 730 00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:50,520 somebody because I I don't even know what to say. 731 00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:57,200 That's not what he said. Just do it over and over and 732 00:36:57,200 --> 00:37:00,040 over. He's proven Himself to be true. 733 00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:06,880 So believe him and live in that belief that God is who He says 734 00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:10,120 He is because He has a Word that tells us who He is through 735 00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:13,960 revelation, through inspiration, and through preservation. 736 00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:17,640 So as we add to our faith this week, let's remember that the 737 00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:20,360 only way we can add to our faith is through the Word of God. 738 00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:24,080 And we have the promise that through inspiration and 739 00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:28,760 revelation and preservation that you can trust God's Word. 740 00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:32,480 Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of 741 00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:35,400 Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing 742 00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:38,880 to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us 743 00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:43,480 know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org. 744 00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:48,280 Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton, 745 00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:51,120 MA. May the Lord bless you as you 746 00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:52,320 grow in His Word.