Live from Buffalo Creek, just a little later. Hang in there. I was going to preach on one of the questions that I answered, but it's going to require more than one sermon. So I thought tonight I would just do what I love doing. I'm going to dip into Psalm 119. We're going to look at one verse. If you remember, we left off at verse 88. And if you can kind of wrap your mind around that octave, those eight verses, they were all about the psalmist going through trial and persecution and difficulty and how he had to rely on God in each place, in each verse. Verse 89, it's almost like he's crossed the river of affliction, he's on solid ground, and he makes a statement that this is one of the most famous verses in all the Bible. Verse 89, Forever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. How glorious it is to read these verses and understand just how sure the Word which God inspired, how secure it is, how settled and faithful it is, how protected it is by Almighty God. Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven." Notice the words that he uses, forever. We speak of forever when we talk about God and what comes from God. He is from everlasting to everlasting. He has never had a beginning. He has never had an ending. before time or space or matter ever existed, God was and is. It's very difficult for us to wrap our minds around that truth because we are reminded of our own mortality each and every day. We get sick. We have friends, loved ones that die. We're reminded that we're in this body of flesh that is so transitory. Some days we feel good. Some days we feel bad. And one day we're going to die, unless the rapture happens. None of that can be said of God forever, O Lord. It's the only person in the entire universe that that can be said of and ascribed to. God is forever! And how wonderful it is to know that God has loved us forever. Have you ever thought about that? that God's love is everlasting. He said, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee. So God, in the realm of eternity, in forever, determined to set His affections upon you. and choose you in Christ and orchestrate every precise detail that would bring you to life and faith in Jesus Christ and then prepare you for glory and take you all the way in to forever. Forever, O Lord. This is who we're connected to. This is the author. of the author of the book that we ascribe to as the authoritative, infallible Word of the living God, it's settled forever in heaven by God Almighty Himself. That ought to cheer our hearts. As I thought upon this today, it just thrilled my soul that I, though I'm mortal, God has made a way that I am going to taste of glory. I'm going to see Him in the person of Christ face to face. and I'm going to bask in His glory and rejoice in Him throughout all eternity. He's the manifestation of the Godhead bodily. One day, the very person who redeemed me is taking me all the way into His presence where I'll never, ever be separated. It's forever. That's eternal life. The moment that God gave me the grace to repent and believe, and He gave life, spiritual life to me, and the truth of the Gospel was manifest in me, and He opened my heart, opened my eyes, changed my will, I became a partaker, practically speaking, of eternal life forever. Right then, right there. I don't have to wait until I die to get it. I got it now. And you would think when you preach the gospel to people with this idea of being with the One who is forever in heaven, resplendent in majesty and glory and love and compassion and kindness, you would think sinners would flock to the Christ that they would fly to the cross of Jesus. But instead, they reject. And the sad thing is, people who are not saved, who do not hearken to this eternal Word, they're going to live on forever in damnation, in the lake of fire, The smoke of their torment will ascend up forever and ever and ever, the Bible says. What a horrific thing to reject Christ. God's Word is as eternal as He is. It's His mind and His will put in words. He inspired what was in his mind, his heart, he inspired men to write exactly what he wanted us to know. And think about everything that had to, every piece that had to come together and had to fit to where we've got 66 books in one. that reveal the heart, the mind, the salvation, the glory of God. Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven. And I am so happy tonight that God is immutable. I mean, compare men to God. His word is forever settled in heaven. Man's word, you can't count on it from one day to the next. Aren't you so glad we are not in an election year? I mean, I am. Everybody lies. Everybody. I don't care Republican, Democrat. Independent, whatever, communist, socialist, they're all liars when it comes to election time. God's not like that. He's immutable. Forever His Word is settled in heaven and you can bank on that. Man's words are fallible. They're temporal. They're changeable. They are often full of deceit, but not so with God. Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven. The world in which we live is constantly changing. It seems as though there is nothing that is secure or stable. People governed by emotions and circumstances are fickle and unreliable, even the best of men. But not so with God. How refreshing it is for the saint of God to take refuge in the blessed book of God that is forever settled in heaven. Let me guarantee you something. If you will get in this book and pray that God will put this book in you, it will benefit your life greater than anything that you possess. You don't have another thing in your world that's worth more than this holy Word of God that is forever settled in heaven. How do we value that? Do we value something that has eternal worth? It tells you everything you need to know. about God, about salvation, about how to live, how to raise kids, what marriage is about, how to interact with others, how to be a witness to the law. Everything is in the book! So why aren't you in it? How often do you neglect reading the Word? Studying the Word. Meditating upon the Word. Praying over the Word of God. Asking God continually, as you open up the book, open mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Lord, I want to be connected to you through your Word. It's forever settled in heaven. It's eternal and immutable. It is a solid rock upon which we can firmly stand. We should never apologize for the truth that's in the Word of God. We should stand upon it rejoicing that we have a divinely inspired Word of God In these latter days, there have been many who want to criticize and destroy the Word of God. Infidels. Sadly, some of them are very religious and scholarly in the scholastic professorial realm. Thank God. for preachers who stand on the Word of God, who preach it as it is, without apology. All the infidels of the world could not destroy the infallible Word of God. Try as they may. It is forever settled in heaven. It will never be lost. It will never be stolen. It will never lose its veracity, its truth, its authoritative power, forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven. This is what you have in your lap tonight. Something that is of eternal worth. The testimony of the Lord stands sure and has been preserved throughout all the ages. It amazes me when I think about the eternal Word, the eternally begotten Word of God, the living Word, Jesus Christ, that God in His Word would determine to send His living Word, that the Word would become flesh and dwell among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The eternal Word, Jesus, became flesh in order to redeem us. and save us, and manifest and reveal to us the glory of the Godhead, the glory of salvation. And I'm connected. I'm in union with Him. I belong to Him. He redeemed me with the blood of the everlasting covenant. That's why I am absolutely sure that I have everlasting life. The Word secured it for me. And it's forever settled in heaven where nothing can corrupt it. You know that passage in Matthew 6 where Jesus said, Verse 19, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The Word is forever settled. It will never be corrupted because God inspired it. The Bible says in Luke 21.33, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Word shall not pass away. 1 Peter 2.24-25, The grass withereth and the flower fadeth thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever." And notice, that word is settled, meaning that the word of God is not fickle nor uncertain. It is settled, determined, fixed, sure, immovable. And the Word of God is the very thing that God uses to settle you, to establish you, to strengthen you. Have you ever thought about this in that chapter where Peter warns us about the devil who walketh about seeking whom he may devour. In chapter 5 he says, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom resists steadfast in the faith. In the faith of what? the faith of God's elect, the faith in the Word of the living God, faith in Christ, the faith that is the system of truth found in the Word. That's how you resist Him. "...whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who have called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, listen to this, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Forever, O Lord. Thy word is settled in heaven. And how that ought to bring rejoicing to a child of God.