is given by inspiration of God. Now, the word inspiration is the word in the Greek, theonoustos. Theo means God. Noustos means breathed. So, all Scripture is God-breathed. Every word in the writings of God's Word, all of it is God-breathed. Now, there are three words I want you to understand, because what we're looking at in chapter 36 in Jeremiah, it talks about the revelation of God, it talks about the inspiration of the Word of God, and it talks about the illumination. Now, what those three words simply mean, revelation is what comes from God down to man, and it's God revealing what He wants written. So the prophets were writers. They had a revelation. God revealed to the writers, the prophets, men of old, and they recorded God's Word. What God wanted recorded. God used their personalities, who they were, where they worked, whatever they were in life, over a long period of time, and He used each one of them, but He recorded His Word. There is that inspiration, which I just mentioned, and that's what man writes down, what God wants written down. So what we've got written down, that's God breathed, that's the inspiration. The revelation, it comes from God, God gave it to man to write. When it was written, it's been inspired. Then there is the illumination. What illumination is, is when man receives the light of that which God has written. As each and every one of us have got God's Word in front of us, you know what? It takes the illumination by the Spirit for us to receive this. You know what? You can't understand God's Word if you're not illuminated by the Spirit of God. As man receives light of that which God has written, he is illumined by the Spirit of God. Now, as we get into the Word of God, and I've got a purpose in saying this, because what we're going to look at is something about what's happening with God's Word. One thing we've got to understand is that Satan, since the very beginning, tried to pervert God's Word, as God said. You know, he tried to twist God's Word. Down through the centuries, he's tried to destroy God's Word. But God's Word is reliable. You can look over the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years and see the reliability of God's Word. God's Word is written in unity. We've got 66 books, written by about 40 different writers, over a period of about 1600 years, and there's not one contradiction in there at all, though some people would try to say, this contradicts, you know what, the contradiction is not here, it's up here. So there's no contradiction with God's Word. There is perfect unity with God's Word. All the historical facts are facts. In other words, there are some people who say, well, such and such a king never lived. I remember, I can't remember which king it was, and I remember how archaeologists said, well, that's just not true. That king never lived. There's no record of that king. During an archaeological dig, they dug up brick after brick after brick. It might have been Sargon. I can't remember which king it was. But every one of them had the imprint of that king's name on that brick. Boy, you know what? It just shows God's Word is true. God's Word is true. The historical facts are there. The scientific facts are there. Everything is very accurate, absolutely accurate. The prophecies there, all prophecies have been fulfilled or they're going to be fulfilled. There's not one prophecy that's ever failed. You can look at the Word of God, look at its universal influence. You can go to just about any country, you can go to any country, you can find God's Word. Might be harder to find it in some countries, but you know what? God's Word is renowned. It's the most printed book, it's the most available book in all the world. It has universal influence. But it is also indestructible. Now, you know what? You might say, I can destroy this Bible. You know what? You can destroy it, but I still have a Bible. You can't get rid of the Bible. Think about people down through the centuries who thought they could get rid of God's Word. You can go all the way back to around 1528. There was a man by the name of William Tyndale. And he printed and translated, printed in English the first Bible. Tore it into English and had it printed. And he was not a rich man, he was not a wealthy man, but what he did, after he had that and he started handing out those Bibles, he didn't have much money, so when he ran out of money, there was a cardinal, not a Louisville cardinal, but a Catholic cardinal. who wanted to get rid of all those Bibles. So he went to the printer that William Tyndale used and he says, I want to buy all those Bibles that are out there. And the printer says, I know who's got them all and I can get them from every one of them if you'll pay for them. The Cardinal said he'd pay for them because he hated the Word of God. He didn't want people to read the Word of God. So the printer collects all these Bibles by the help of William Tyndale and they sell them to the Cardinal. And what happens, William Tyndale got all the money, he paid off all his debts, was able to print out much more Bibles, and when the Cardinals, when he went out there amongst the people, he noticed there was more Bibles than before, and he was totally frustrated. He went to the printer, and he was fussing at him and asking him, Why? And you know, it's all because of the hand of God. You cannot destroy God's Word. I don't care how hard you try, you cannot destroy God's Word. There was another man that was back in the 1700s, Voltaire. You might have heard of the French philosopher. Voltaire was an atheist. He didn't believe in God, didn't want nothing to do with God. He said Christianity is going to be wiped out in so many years, I think he said 25 years, and the Bible is going to be gone. Nobody will ever know about it again. You know what? He died. And within 25 years, the Geneva Bible Society was using his home to print Bibles. You know what? You can't destroy God's Word. God always has the last word when it comes to His Word. And that's what we want to look at tonight. You know, when we think about that, I was thinking about the song we sing with the little kids sometimes, this little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. His Word is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path. This little light of mine, this is my little light, I'm going to let it shine. And you know what? It's your light too. You've got to let it shine. Let the Word of God shine in you and through you that others might see. Because you know what? That's the only way they're going to be illumined, enlightened by the Spirit of God is through the Word of God. So I want you to notice in Jeremiah 36. Jeremiah 36. I said all that to say this to get into this chapter. 36 in verses 1 and 2, what the Word of God tells us, it talks about God's Word being written. It says, It came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Take thee a roll of a book. In other words, that's a scroll. And right therein, all the words that I have spoken unto thee, against Israel, against Judah, against all the nations from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah even unto this day." In other words, it's over about a 20-year time period. All the prophecies that Jeremiah prophesied, God says, I want you to write them all down. And so he's writing 20 years' worth of prophecy. Now, you know what? Here he's writing, but what he's writing is God's Word. what God wants written. I want you to listen to a little verse. You don't need to turn over there. I'm going to turn over to it quick, and by the time I get there, I'll be left there by the time you get there. In Hebrews chapter 10, and down in verse 15, the Word of God says this, Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us, for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more." Now, what I point out with that, it says the Holy Ghost said that. It's the Holy Ghost that gave that words. It's the Spirit of God that gave those words to be recorded, which is God's revelation. That is a quote from the book of Jeremiah. In other words, what Jeremiah wrote, everything he wrote concerning those prophecies, all God had him to write, it is God's Word. It wasn't Jeremiah's word. Some people would say that was just Jeremiah speaking. It was God's Word. And God's Word testifies to it that it was God speaking. So here is the very words of God. And notice why the Word of God was recorded and why it was written. What was God's purpose in that? In verse 3, the Word of God says this, It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purposed to do unto them, that they may return every man from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. In other words, all those judgments that Jeremiah prophesied about, the reason he kept preaching judgment He says right here that they may turn every man from his evil way, and I may forgive iniquity in their sin. Look in verse 7. In verse 7 also, the Word of God says, it may be they will present their supplication before the Lord and return every man from his evil way, for great is the anger and fury that the Lord hath pronounced against his people. In other words, God wants people to repent. God desires people to repent, therefore judgment is preached and the Word of God talks about judgment and condemnation and sinners and how they need to repent of their sins and turn to the Lord and how they'll find forgiveness of their sins as God promises. So here's the reason for God having His Word written down. It is recorded, notice in verse 4, then Jeremiah called Baruch. Now, Baruch is the executive secretary. And he's the son of Nebriah, 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. He's writing on a scroll, and as he writes on a scroll, he can scroll some more and write some more on that scroll. So Baruch's responsibility is writing. And verse 5 and 6 says, Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up, I cannot go into the house of the Lord. Therefore go thou, or you go, and read in the roll which thou hast written from my mouth the words of the Lord in the ears of the people in 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." In other words, Baruch's responsibility now is to take the word that was recorded from Jeremiah, from God, and take it to the people. He's supposed to go proclaim it in the temple. He's the one that's got the responsibility of carrying the Word. And notice how it's received. In verse 8, Baruch the son of Noriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the Lord in the Lord's house. So he did it. He read the book. He read the words in the Lord's house. 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, to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem. Then Baruch, in the book of the words of Jeremiah, then read Baruch, in the book of the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Jemariah the son of Shaphan, the scribe in the inner court at the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house in the ears of all the people. So as he's reading the Word, there's the writing of God's Word, but notice how God's Word is received. In verse 11, when Micaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the Lord, now this is a godly family. Shaphan and his descendants, Micaiah and all his sons, they're godly people. 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 Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes. Then Micaiah declared unto them all the words that he heard." In other words, he received the word of the Lord. And as he received the word of the Lord, he took it to heart, and then he went and shared it with others. Notice here, it's kind of like pre-evangelism here. He's going out sharing the good word of God in the ears of the people. And therefore all the princes sent Jehudi, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shalamiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in your hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Nehariah took the roll in his hand, and it came unto them. And they said unto him, Sit down now, read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears. Notice here he's continuing to share the Word. Here is the importance of exposition. In other words, when we come to God's Word, it is important to read it verse upon verse, chapter upon chapter, to keep it in the context. You don't hear me preaching, coming over here and saying one verse of Scripture, coming over here and another verse of Scripture, and going back here. You know what? It's Scripture upon Scripture, verse upon verse. It's expository-type preaching. That's what he's doing with Jeremiah's Word. He's sitting down reading Jeremiah's Word that was recorded. He's taking it from the scroll, and what he's doing, he's reading through that scroll all that's been recorded. Now, that's important. That's how we need to hear the Word of God. And as they hear it, notice in verse 16, Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and the other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words. And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, how dost thou write all these words at his mouth? Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all 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." In other words, they are taking precaution. They know it's God's Word, but they're telling Jeremiah and Baruch to go hide. Now they've got a reason for telling them to go hide. This is a message of judgment. And the king, Jehoiakim, he's a little irrational at times. He don't always do what's right. hear this message of judgment, certain people received it, but certain people don't receive it. Isn't that true when we tell them the gospel also? You tell somebody they're a sinner, some people get mad at you. Some people don't want to hear it, yet some people receive it, and they are receptive to the good news then. Notice here, the word's read, the word is received, people feared, and then people shared. They read it, People received it, they feared, and they shared the good Word of God. But I want you to notice, we see some people receiving God's Word. Notice what it says, after Jeremiah and Baruch went and hid. In verse 20, the Word of God says, And they went into the king, into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishaim, 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 Elishema, the scribe's chamber. And Jehudai read it in the ears of the king and in the ears of the princes which stood beside the king. In other words, the word of God is being proclaimed again. It's being read again. Word after word, verse after verse, sentence after sentence. And so notice what the old king does. Now the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month. In other words, it's a little cool. And there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. He's got the fireplace kicked up. Now I want you to listen. Back in Jeremiah 26, Jehoiakim's name is mentioned back there in verse 22. And it says, Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely El Nathan, the son of Achabor, and certain men with him into Egypt, and they fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him into Jehoiakim the king, who slew him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people. You hear what Jehoiakim did? He got this prophet that went down to Egypt, brought him back, and then he killed him, murdered him. So Jehoiakim, this is why these men who heard the word and they feared, they told Jeremiah and Baruch to go hide. That's why they also hid the word and they just shared the word with the king. So the king sent for the scroll. The scroll was brought. And after it's brought, it's read. Here's the king sitting with the fireplace going. And the Word of God says, it came to pass that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife 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. In other words, he didn't even wait for the whole thing to be read. Every three or four pages or so, he would take it and cut it with a penknife, cut it into strips, send it into the fire. He burnt the Word of the Lord. He didn't want to hear it. He didn't want nothing to do with it. He's trying to destroy God's Word because God's Word is condemning him and his lifestyle. This is censorship, isn't it? And notice what it says in verse 24, "...yet they were not afraid." In other words, they were mocking God and mocking God's servant. Nor did they tear their garments, neither the king nor any of the servants that heard all these words." When you hear God's Word, you know what? Some people are like that still today, aren't they? Mocking God's Word. I did a little Google search this afternoon. I looked up something like, destroying God's Word. And there were certain people that have written on different posts that I've read of how I've burned a Bible one time, and if I ever see another one again, I'll burn another one. You know, the same type of belligerent attitude toward God's Word that was back in that day and time is still prevalent in our day and time. hear the king's command. Listen to what it says. Nevertheless, El Nathan and Deliah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll, but he would not hear them. They tried to intervene, but the king still wouldn't listen to them. So the king commanded, Jeremiel, the son of Hamilech, Saraiah, the son of Azrael, and Shalamiah, the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them." If you ever have to hide from somebody for your life, you better pray the Lord to hide you. Because then you will be hid. And that's what happened. God is the one who hid them. God's people told him to go hide, but it is God that hid them from the king. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after that king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote in the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, Take thee again another roll, write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned." In other words, you think you destroyed God's word, here it comes again. Notice it's being recorded once again. But it's being recorded this time with a little bit of extra oomph to it. And thou shalt say to Jehoiada, King of Judah, Thus saith the Lord, Thou hast burnt this role, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, Shall cause it to cease from thence, man and beast? Therefore thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim, King of Judah, He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. You notice the king was warming himself by the fire when he was destroying God's word. God's putting him out now, and the condemnation's coming down on him. And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the men of Judah all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they hearkened not unto me." So what Jeremiah does, he takes another role. gives it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Nariah, who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, had burned in the fire. And there were added besides unto them many like words, in other words, judgment upon Jehoiakim." Notice here, God judges sins of omission as well as sins of commission. He judges them both. But I want you to notice it's God who always gets the last word. It's the word of God that liveth and abideth forever. I read a story about an atheist that went to the Fiji Islands. And there was a chieftain there amongst the village people in these Fiji Islands in a particular area. And the atheist come up to that Fiji chief and he said, You're a great chief. I can't believe you believe those missionaries and you let them teach you about Jesus Christ and dying on a cross. That's just an old mythological story. And the chieftain looked at him and he said a few words to him. Then he said, I want you to look. I want you to look over here and there is a block there. You see that block? And the atheist said, yes. He said, that's where we used to take people and chop their heads off. You see that fire that's right over there, that's burning right beside that block? That's where we burnt the people and cooked them and then ate them after we cooked them. He says, if it were not for the missionaries that came and told us about Jesus Christ, you'd be going through that process. You reckon that atheist was a little bit more thankful? Probably not. You know, atheists are pretty hard-hearted. God's Word is tried and true. It's lasted for generations, and you know what? His Word endures forever. We're thankful for it. We're thankful that we've got the Word of God. I read another story about a man whose dog was lost. Anybody ever had a dog run off? That's aggravating, especially if you can't catch it. You had a dog run off last week. I remember him saying, this man heard a trick of how he could get his dog back. And what he did, he took an old shirt that he had worn and worn, he hadn't washed it, so he just stuck it out under a bush, and the next morning the dog was curled up under that bush. Now you know what, that probably works, because I find with our little dogs around the house, what they like, they like to get around where we sat. Anytime I get up, my dog gets my seat. You know why? It's got something to do with the smell that he's accustomed to. And so the dog returns to the owner. You might say that sounds like a foolish story. Well, it does sound like a foolish story, but it's a fact. You know, that's the way things work. How many times in your life have you come up to the Word of God just to get comfort? And He reveals truth to you through His Word. And as he does, it's comforting to your soul, just like that dog going to an old piece of clothing. Now, God's Word is precious to those who are God's people. It is very precious. And to those who hate it and want to try to destroy it, they can never destroy it. God's going to have the last word. He'll have the last word because His Word endures forever. Well, let's have a word of prayer. Father, we thank You that we can come and gather around Your Word, whether it be Wednesday night, Sunday, or Sunday evening. We're thankful that we can rejoice in truth, how You've preserved it through the years, and Lord, how we can share it with others. We know not all will receive it, but Lord, we know some will receive it. We pray that you would help us to continue to be a light to a lost and dying world, ever holding forth this little light of ours. Help us to let it shine. For Christ's sake, amen.