Paul's swan song, his last writing to us in the book of 2nd Timothy where he's saying his goodbyes. It's near the end of his life. And he has some things for this young man in the ministry who has been his protege and who has learned under him. And he's got something real important here to us today at Victory Baptist Church in Crossville, Tennessee in 2025. Notice he says in 2 Timothy 2 verse 8, remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer even unto bonds. But the word of God is not bound. Let me tell you about the Apostle Paul. There were people that misunderstood him, wrongly accused him, got some of his intentions wrong, got some of his motives wrong. There were people that lied on him and got him in trouble to the point that he was in jail, he was tied up, he was in bonds. And in the middle of all that, he says this, he says, the Word of God is not bound. Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that Your Spirit will come down and bear witness to the truth of Your Word, and I pray, dear Lord, that You'll help us to understand this great truth, that Your Word is not bound. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Now, bound means tied up. You can't get free. You can't do what you want to do. You do not have your freedom. Let me tell you about the Word of God. All you have to do is sow the seed of the Word of God and let God take it from there. Now, it's good to water it, so to speak, with prayer. It's good to follow up where you can. But for one reason or another, you can't. You sow the seed of the Word of God, and it does not have any handcuffs on it. You don't know what it might do. Cast thy bread upon the waters, thou shalt find it after many days. Now the Apostle Paul is in a mess. He is in prison, he is unto bonds, and yet he knows what he's doing. There are no bounds on it. So I want to talk today about the bounds that the Word of God does not suffer. All right, the first one I want to point out here is the Word of God is not bound by circumstances. Now here's Paul, and he's in a bad circumstance. He is suffering trouble for Jesus Christ and his gospel falsely accused, wrongly jailed, or even if it is, it's because of unjust laws, even if he is guilty of it, it's unjust laws that he's guilty of. Did you know people have been thrown in jail for stuff that they should not have been thrown in jail for? That does happen. There are some laws that are not good, and you know what we should do? We should obey God rather than man. Paul is in one of these places, and yet he says, the Word of God is not bound. I'll read to you a passage that we've looked at recently here, but we'll read it again because it's relevant to this discussion. Philippians 1, verse 12. He says, but I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places. and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill. The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel, what then? Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." He is writing to these Philippians, and he's in prison there too. And he says, now wait a minute, before you get all discouraged, I want you to understand. What's happened to me is furthering the gospel. And he said, it's being heard in the palace. How in the world is it heard in the palace? God said, let me get you in prison. I've got some contacts there and he'll get up to the palace. And he said, and in all other places. So it was getting a bunch of the common people too. It reminds me a little bit of Joseph in the Old Testament. You know how Joseph got to Pharaoh? If he would have went up and knocked on Pharaoh's door and said, let me in, I want to talk to Pharaoh about some things. Save my kinfolk when a real bad famine hits here in a little while. It wouldn't have worked. But the Lord got him in prison and he came across Pharaoh's servants And one of Pharaoh's servants goes back to him, and Joseph said, hey, when you get where things are well with thee, think on me and tell, because I haven't done anything wrong, and I'm wrongfully jailed here. And the guy forgot him for two years, man. But the Lord made the whole thing work out, because when he did it then, it was just not too long before that famine hit. Pharaoh brought him up. He was able to interpret the dreams. All that unfair stuff, wrong accusations, and all those things, and lo and behold, it worked out for good. And all of Israel was saved, and Joseph and his family were reunited. And what's going on with Paul here? Paul says in Philippians chapter one, he says, this is going to the furtherance of the gospel to the palace and to the common people. And yeah, there's some people that just want to fuss and fight about the gospel. and all the details all the time, and there's other people that do it for love. Either way, the word of God is getting out there, and I rejoice in that. It's not bound by circumstance. Who in the world would have thought the word would get out better by Paul being in jail? Who in the world would have thought Israel would have been saved by poor old Joseph getting thrown in jail, and then after he'd already been in there a while, he had to wait two more years. But God's word and God's will can go on just fine without it. All right, now this is probably the most important point in many respects, and that's this. I want to say that the word of God is not bound by the originals. Now, if you've ever studied the history of how we get the Bible, you've no doubt heard of the original manuscripts. I was brought up in fundamentalist circles, and I loved my Bible-believing friends, and that's who I was closest to in my belief on doctrine and everything, and I sure loved them. But the church I went to, and the Christian school I went to, and a lot of my background was with some fundamentalists. Some of whom were good King James Bible believers like me, but some of whom were not. And they loved to talk about the original. Oh, but what about the original? Oh, but what about the original language? And what about the original manuscripts? And you know what? Those things are long since gone. Fortunately, we have in the scripture what God did with some of the original manuscripts. So we know how he deals with them. So let's take just a few minutes at the risk of being a little bit tedious, not too much I don't think, but a little bit tedious. Let's look back at Exodus chapter three and see what God did with some of the originals. I'm sorry, not Exodus three, Exodus 31. I missed my little slash there. Exodus chapter 31 verse 18, And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of commuting with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. Now, buddy, that's an original. You tell me what more original can be than the one written with the finger of God. Now, as we get a little bit further in this, we'll see that most of the originals came about by God inspiring a man to speak and another man wrote it down. And when that was written down the first time, that was your original. But boy, here is an original that's even higher than that. And it's written by the finger of God. I will admit to you, even though I don't lift up the originals like some of them do, it would be neat to see the original Ten Commandments written with the finger of God. I'd pay $100 to go in a museum and see that thing. I really would. I'd like to touch it. I really enjoyed that Bible museum and some of the old artifacts and things they had from some ancient churches were really fascinating to me. It was a real blessing. Can you imagine if you could see some artifact that the finger of God had written on? What an exciting thing. All right, look down at chapter 32 now. Chapter 32 and verse 19, here's Moses coming down with those originals. It says, and it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. And Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands and bricked them beneath the mount. He took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it." Oh my goodness! Moses broke the originals! Hey man, if the originals are so important, how in the world did we ever get the Ten Commandments when Moses broke the originals? And if there was any original, then boy, this would be the real one. It'd be the one directly written with the finger of God. So what does the Lord do here? Don't put too much stock in the originals. I appreciate them. They were part of the process. I have some reverence for, especially the one that was written with God's own finger. That is something. What about the place in the wall there, you know, when Belshazzar saw the fingers of a man's hand and it wrote on the plaster of the wall? My goodness, man, that would have been an impressive thing to see. But look what happened. Here in Exodus 34 now, Exodus 34. And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone, like unto the first, and I will write upon these tables the words that were written in the first tables, which thou breakest. And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount, neither let the flocks nor herds feed before the mount. And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first. And Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him, and he took in his hand the two tables of stone. All right, now look down at verse 28. Exodus 34 verse 28. And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He didn't eat bread or drink water and he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. So the Lord just replaced him. Isn't that something? The originals were lost and God replaced him. Now I'm not recommending that if God Almighty writes on something with his own finger that you go break it. I'm not saying that was a great idea. But you know what? Neither was the Word of God lost. Because God not only inspires His Word, He not only gives us His Word, He preserves His Word. Amen. We'll talk more about that in just a minute. Alright, even after the originals are lost, you still have them. You still have at least God's Word, that is. Alright, look at Ezra chapter 7. Ezra chapter 7. Ezra chapter 7, this is about 1,000 years later. 1,000 years have passed. A lot can happen in 1,000 years. The northern kingdom is gone and all their stuff. The southern kingdom is gone and all their stuff. The Ark of the Covenant is gone as far as we know. We're pretty sure Shishak, that Egyptian king, took it. We're not 100% sure, but something happened to it that had the tables of stone in it. And a thousand years passed. Now look at Ezra chapter 7. Ezra 7 verse 14. For as much as thou art sent of the king and of his seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of God which is in thine hand. The original's gone. And yet, here in a King James Bible, it's referred to as the law of God which is in thine hand. Now, in case That's not enough. Look down at verse 25 and watch the same thing. Ezra chapter 7 verse 25. And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges which may judge all the people that are beyond the river. You know why we don't correct the King James Bible? Because we think it's the Word of God in our hand. We don't think we have to have that original. We think God preserved it. a thousand years, fallen kingdoms, and everything else, different languages, language barriers, your language changes in a thousand years. If you look at English a thousand years ago, you'd have a hard time with it, wouldn't you? But the Word of God is not bound. by those things, all right? One more, this isn't the only time something happens to the originals. Turn in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 36. All right, Jeremiah 36, we'll start in verse four. Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Nehariah, and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord which he had spoken unto him upon a roll of a book. And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up. I cannot go into the house of the Lord. There's another man. He's shut up. He's incarcerated. He's in custody. He's not free. But the word of God isn't bound, is it? Verse six, therefore go thou and read in the roll which thou hast written from my mouth the words of the Lord in the ears of the people of the Lord's house upon the fasting day, and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. It may be they will present their supplication before the Lord and will return everyone from his evil way, for great is the anger and the fury that the Lord hath pronounced against his people. And Baruch the son of Nehemiah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the Lord in the Lord's house. All right, now if you go back to verse one, you see that's in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah. Now look in verse nine, and it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month that they proclaimed the fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem. Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord in the chamber of Gemariah. So in the fourth year, he read it in the more public assembly in the Lord's house. In the fifth year, he reads it in the chamber of Gemariah. I guess this was his Sunday school classroom or his classroom, whatever you want to call it. He reads it in there and a bunch of people hear it in there. The son of Shaphan the scribe in the higher court at the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house in the ears of all the people. When Micaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the Lord, then he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber, and lo, all the princes sat there, even Elisha, the scribe, and Deliah, the son of Shimeiah, and Elnathan, the son of Achbor, and Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah, the son of Hananiah, and all the princes. I mean, buddy, he lists them by name. Then Micaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people. Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand and came unto them. And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears. Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid, both one and other, and said unto Baruch, we will surely tell the king of all those words. And they asked Baruch all these words. And they asked Baruch, saying, tell us now, how didst thou write all these words in his mouth? Then Baruch answered them, he pronounced all the words unto me, these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book. Then said the princes unto Baruch, go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah, and let no man know where you be. Isn't that interesting? They knew that when all of a sudden the words that he had written in that book get read to the king, he might be in some pretty bad trouble. When you start preaching the word of God and teaching the word of God, you may be in some trouble with some people in authority. We got some pictures on the wall that tell a few stories of that, don't we? Amen. There's plenty of stories from church history where that happens. to the king and to the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishim of the scribe and told all the words in the ears of the king. So the king sent Jehudai to fetch the roll, and he took it out of Elishim of the scribe's chamber, and Jehudai read it in the ears of the king and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king. Now the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month, and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him, and it came to pass that when Jehudai had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the pen knife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king nor any of his servants that heard all these words. " Let me tell you something. When you take the Word of God and you cut it up with a pen knife and you throw it in the fire, you should be afraid. There are a lot of things, I will admit, that fear will cause you to do wrong. Fear should be guarded against in many cases. However, when it comes to opposing God Almighty, I believe the fear of God is a healthy thing. The fear of man bringeth a snare, but the fear of God is a wonderful Bible doctrine. They should have been afraid to be opposing God. However, that does not mean that, oh no, they've destroyed God's word, we'll never have it now, this guy threw it in the fire. God is who preserves his word. And he is stronger than any man that can cut up some of it and throw it in a fire. Way bigger, way stronger than him. So do not be concerned about losing God's trying to get rid of it. There's something wrong when you don't fear God. We know our Bibles. We got a lot of stuff right. There's some details we have wrong because we're humans. There's some sins we commit. I hate it. I wish we didn't. What a wonderful thing when we get to heaven and we'll never sin again. But down here, even trying to do God's work, there'll be some sin mixed in because we're human. There'll be some selfishness mixed in. There'll be some foolishness and some mistakes mixed in. That's just the truth of it. But isn't that a blessing that in spite of those things and in spite of the enemy trying to stop us, God preserves his word. Now watch it happen. Verse 25, nevertheless, El Nathan and Deliah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the robe, but he would not hear them. But the king commanded Jeremiah, the son of Hamilech, and Sarai, the son of Azrael, and Shelemiah, the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after that the king had burned the roll and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah saying, take me again another roll and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned. You know what the Lord did? He just replaced the originals. This word, this Bible sitting on your lap, your King James Bible is not dependent on the originals. Those originals are gone. As far as I know, we do not have one shred of the original manuscripts. Again, I'm not speaking evil of them. I'm thankful that they were a part of the process. But I would not worship them by any means. No. I would not say, well, God Almighty got rid of them. What a shame. Did God make a mistake letting those things No, God knows what He's doing. He has taken upon Him the preserving of His Word. And sure enough, look down at verse 32 and see where it happens. Now don't you humans add anything to the Word of God? There's big warnings against the Word of God, but it is the Word of God. So if God said, well, that's okay, I wasn't done with that one anyway. Here, let me do the complete version now. And he added some things, that's up to him. He can do that if he wants to. Our Bible is not bound by the originals. It's not bound by circumstances, even if you're sick, even if you're in prison, even if you're too weak to do something if you're not smart enough to figure out how to do it. The Word of God is not bound by your circumstances. It's not bound by the originals. All right, I'll tell you something else about the Word of God. It is not bound by man's preservation. How would you like to be the one that was in charge in the ancient times of getting the Bible together and being sure nothing happened to any of it? Wouldn't that be a heavy weight? Who takes upon them that job? Psalm 12, verse 6. The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them for this generation forever. Who takes upon him the job of preserving the words? God. The word of God is not bound by circumstances, it's not bound by the originals, it's not bound by man's preservation. There were a number of people that made lots of copies of scripture and their hearts were right and they meant well and I don't know, they're human, maybe they made some mistakes, I'm not sure, I can't check it. But from time to time they'd get caught and people would destroy years of work into translating and copying out scripture. Back in those days, you know, they didn't have the nice printer hooked up to our computers that we have today. I mean, they were writing it out by hand. You know how long it would take to write out by hand the whole Bible and then do it again and again and again until you have hundreds of copies? And sometimes they'd find some of those and burn them all. Good night, if you can imagine such a thing. Sometimes they're originals, sometimes they're Copies, sometimes any number of copies that had been spread around. Oh no, we've lost the word of God. Well, yeah, if it was up to man. But Psalm 12, seven says, thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. All right, I'll tell you another thing. The word of God is not bound by languages. God gave the Old Testament mostly in Hebrew. Of course, that makes sense. They speak Hebrew. So guess what? He's spoken in Hebrew to them. What else would he do? Now there's that little bit of Aramaic in Daniel there, compared to the rest of the Old Testament. That's a small amount, but some of it was in Aramaic. But for the vast majority, it was in Hebrew. All right, now here they come in New Testament times. They're speaking Koine Greek, and you know what they do? They quote the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek a hundred times or more. It's a lot, a lot of times. And you know what? It's the Word of God because God didn't inspire the Old Testament, but not inspire the New. When it comes into a new language, that's the inspired Word of God. Technically, the wording in our King James Bible is given by inspiration. Isn't that the way the Bible says it? So the same words in Hebrew or in Greek are given by inspiration. I remember one time when I was at Bob Jones, a guy I could tell was kind of mad with me and got right in my face and said, do you believe the King James Bible is inspired? I said, well, technically, the wording in the scripture is given by inspiration, where it says all scripture is given by inspiration, so amen, I believe it's given by inspiration, because all scripture is. He didn't know what to say. I quoted this verse of scripture to him. He just turned around mad and aggravated. And what happened, he got talking to some people. Evil communications correct good manners. Yes, it does. But nevertheless, the language doesn't change it. When you take the Word of God and put it into a new language, it is still the Word of God. Because those quotations from the Old Testament, I guess you could say in a manner of speaking, they're double inspired. Because they were inspired when he said them in Hebrew in ancient times, and inspired when he said them in the more modern times at that time. in Koine Greek? The word of God is not bound by language, is it? I'll tell you and I'm thankful for this one. The Bible, the word of God, is not bound by the sins or mistakes of its followers or its foes. What if its foes that were against the word of God and burned a bunch of copies could get rid of it? That could imprison Bible teachers and preachers and do away with them for a long period of time. Oh no. You know what it says about Herod? Herod was taken prisoner, some of the apostles, and yet the Lord killed him right in the middle of that famous speech in Acts chapter 12. And you know what it says at the end of that chapter? But wait a minute, big, mighty King Howard, Herod, the one that everybody thought was like a god, and they were bragging on him and praising him. He's stopping it, as powerful as he is. Yeah, well, the Lord just killed him and the worms ate him right in front of everybody. And the word of God grew and multiplied. There's a sin, there's an error of his foes, and it still went. How about Moses, the one who got the originals that we first looked at? Did he have any errors or sins? Boy, he sure did. He's a good man, don't get me wrong. Moses is absolutely one of my heroes. I'm not trashing on Moses, but I gotta admit, he was human. He had mistakes. He was the one that went and got the originals and then broke them. And then went and got back in another set of originals, and then lost his temper, and God told him, you can't go into the promised land. How about David? He loved the word of God, wrote many of the Psalms. Did he have any errors and mistakes? Did we say, oh no, David made a mistake, oh no, David fell into sin, Moses fell into sin. We can't trust him. The word of God went right on him. How about Solomon? Author of Proverbs, most all of Proverbs, probably all, maybe all of Proverbs. Did he fall into sin? Absolutely. You know what we're still teaching the young people back there? Proverbs. The word of God was inspired through Solomon, even though he was imperfect. How about Peter? Author of 1 and 2 Peter and the preacher. In Acts chapter 2, did he have some errors and some mistakes? Did that hinder the Word of God? No, the Word of God is not bound by those above. Now, do not get me wrong. Let's try not to make errors. Let's try not to sin. Let's try our best. But when we do, the Word of God goes right on. How about the Apostle Paul, author of most of the New Testament? Certainly the one talking most directly to us Gentiles in the church age. Did he make some mistakes? Were there not some disagreements? Was there not fussing? You remember in the book of Acts, where four times he was warned, do not go into Jerusalem. Do not go to Jerusalem. And you know what? He was so burdened for Jerusalem, he went right there anyway. and said, these arguments you're giving me, none of these things move me. And sure enough, he gets arrested, and he's on house arrest, and he loses two years of getting to travel around to all the churches. But, look at Acts chapter 28. Look at Acts chapter 28. First of all, in Acts chapter 28, verse 23, the Jews had been hearing about how this sect, about the Lord Jesus Christ, is being spoken against all over the world. And in their own house arrest was where he got to talk to them. In verse 23 it says, And when they had appointed him a day, there came many unto him, into his lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. So even though he, in my opinion, had made a mistake and went to Jerusalem, he got this opportunity where he got to tell all the Jews, and some of them believed it. And it changed a bunch of things. but he's still two years under house arrest. But then look down at verse 31, verse 30. And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house and received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding him. So not only does he tell all those Jews up in verse 23, and persuaded some of them. On top of that, for two years, they keep coming to him, and he's teaching those things with all confidence. I'm sure the Apostle Paul, if we could talk to him back in those days, would say, see there, I wasn't wrong. I had two years that I was able to teach and preach the kingdom of God with all confidence. Now, I still think that the Apostle Paul shouldn't have gone, but be that as it may, look, the word of God was not bound. Despite his disagreement with some other Christians, despite his mistakes that he made, despite his frailty of his body, the Word of God went out. And while he's sitting under house arrest, it's going all over that Roman Empire. The Word of God is not bound. Not bound by the sins or mistakes of its followers or its foes. is not bound by time. You remember when I was talking about that earlier and how Moses got those originals and a thousand years later we're reading about Ezra? And there they were. A thousand years didn't change God's Word. It's still good. It's not bound one bit by time. Let's see. I must have a scribal error Let's look at Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 8. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand. How long? Forever. Alright? Psalm 119. Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven. 1 Peter 1.23, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. You say, this is ancient stuff. This can't help anybody. Forever, it's good. Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled The Word of God will keep going. If you have a handsome, striking character, and you have a resonant voice, and it is so pleasant for people to hear you, but then you die and the worms get you, you know what? The Word will go on with the next one. And when this generation of preachers go, there will be some like Asher and Ethan that will come up, and the Word of God will go on. And if the Lord tarries his coming, which we hope he does not, and they were to die of old age, it'll go on into the next generation. Cause the word of God abideth forever. It's not bound by time and it's not bound by flesh. The Bible describes it this way. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Ethan and Asher will have different personalities. They'll have different idioms than me. They'll have different mannerisms than me. They'll have different gestures than me. It's not my flesh that is doing you any good if you hear that, if you hear something from my flesh. It is if I'm preaching and teaching the Word of God. But even if you're in a place where, God forbid, you don't even have a teacher or preacher for some time, and all you're doing is reading it, All you're doing is reading it. What in the world is more profitable than the reading of the Word of God? You know what? You're getting some spiritual help. It is called the sword of the Spirit. Isaiah 55, 11, So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper into things whereto I send it. Well, Lord, what do you mean? You gotta have a man down there to help you do it. Poor old Moses was all insecure. You remember when the Lord called him and said, all right, I got some things I want you to tell Pharaoh. Well, Lord, I'm not good with words, you know. And the Lord got angry at him. He sure did. He said, all right, I'll send Aaron, but you better start listening to me. And Moses got scared, didn't even tell Pharaoh the whole message anyway. And, you know, that's what we do. We just mess it up. We're humans. You know what poor old insecure, fearful Moses did when he got with the Lord there in Exodus 33 and 34? Him and the Lord were talking and he said, Lord, you still haven't told me who you would send with me. He was still worried about that in Exodus 33. That's the first thing he asked. Finally, the Lord said, my presence will go up with And he said, well good, because if your presence doesn't even go, don't carry us up hence. But Moses was that way. I'm glad it's not fearful flesh that we're counting on to spread the word of God. Amen. I'm glad it's the spirit of God. It's the sword of the spirit. And we're not counting on the man to be sure that we get the results. It's God. He said, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish. Then I already quoted Acts 12, 24, the word of God grew and multiplied after Herod died. Then again in Acts 19, 20, so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. Doesn't say the crowds grew, it said the word grew and prevailed. It's a spiritual thing. Then that may be the greatest verse on this particular topic is Hebrews 4.12, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. This book is a spiritual book. It doesn't perform a fleshy, physical, surgery on you. It does a spiritual surgery down to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Now you can come into church today and you can say, hey Brother Bob, good to see you, Brother Bob, just love you, praise the Lord, he's been so good to me and talk like that. But deep down inside be thinking totally different things. And I will never know it. But I'll tell you who does. The one that has this sword of the Spirit, that can get down to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Mark chapter 4, Mark 4, and he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up. He knoweth not how. The man is a flesh, and the Lord did use the man to plant the seed. That much I'll give you. For whatever reason, He gives us the opportunity to have a part in spreading His word by us planting the seed. But then, all the flesh does after that is sleep and wake up and sleep and wake up several times, and that seed starts to take root, and it starts to grow. You know what that tells me? That tells me the Word of God is not bound by flesh. There's something going on that flesh can't do. Alright, what have we seen today? We've seen the Word of God is not bound. It's not bound by circumstances. It's not bound by the original manuscripts. It's not bound by man's preservation. You know why we think the King James Bible is the Word of God? You think because hard to get us translation done. We thank God for that. Psalm 12, 6 and 7. It's not bound by languages. It's not bound by sins or mistakes of its followers or its foes. It's not bound by time. It's not bound by flesh. It is the Word of God. It is free. It will do the work. But this is what I do advise you to do. Get involved. That is a wonderful thing to do. That will be a blessing to you. That is one of the reasons that you are on this planet, to call out from among the Gentiles a people for His name, Acts chapter 15. But the Word of God, in spite of all your failures, in spite of your sins, in spite of your weakness, in spite of your flesh, in spite of your lack of understanding, The Word of God is not bound. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity to look into your Word, and thank you for these great truths.