Romans 10 and Hebrews chapter 11. And we're going to start in Hebrews 11. and that we return to a lot of scripture tonight and so i need you to hang on and uh... we're gonna do our best to get through the stuff i think it'll be a help to you here is chapter eleven let's look at it says verse one now faith is the substance of things hope for the evidence of things not seen for by it the elders obtained a good report he's gonna talk about a bunch of elders here uh... you know it able you know i can know and so forth Verse number three, through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. So that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Okay, I want you to think about those four words in verse three. Through faith we understand. We share something in common with those who believe that the world was made through the process of evolution. We share something. We both believe, both the evolutionist and the biblicist believes that the way that the earth started was the way it happened. They believe that by faith. An evolutionist believes it by faith. And they say, well, no, we have evidence. No evidence is something that you can record and review. If it's truly a scientific process, you can repeat the process. And evolution was never, as far as the start, the big bang, was never observed. No one ever has claimed that it was observed. No one even pretends that it was observed. It just, somewhere along the line, something happened and got it started, and now here we go. We also believe what we believe by faith. Just as the evolutionists accept that the world began somehow by faith. In other words, they put trust in that which they cannot see, nor can anyone see. We also, as believers, in the Word of God, we believe and understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God through faith. Who was there? I wasn't there. You weren't there. In fact, mankind wasn't there, only the angels were there. According to Job, the sons of God were excited and shouted for joy on the day of creation. But you and I, we were not. So we believe it based on what the Word of God says. Now, let's continue. He talks about faith. And he goes on to say, verse number six, So, without faith, you can't please God. We say, well, if I could, if God would just come to me and would just say it to me, then I would believe. Well, he's already given them two shots. He's already given mankind two shots at that. One was in the Garden of Eden when God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. And what happened? They said, I mean, we love you, God, and all, but there's something really cool over here. They turned away from walking with God. They were the only two people on the planet. And then when the Word of God incarnate Jesus Christ showed up, no, if I could just see Jesus. If you could just see Jesus, you would be faced with the same choice that the people who did see Jesus were given. Believe who he is or not. You see, it's always a matter of faith. Why? God wants to work through faith. He wants you to trust Him. Aren't all relationships built on trust? If your spouse lies to you, can you continue a relationship indefinitely? If your child lies to you, can you allow that child to continue living in your home for the rest of time? There comes a point when no trust, no relationship. You want to have a relationship with God, you're going to have to trust Him. And so we're going to look at this. Faith is absolutely essential to having a relationship with God. But faith, when people say faith, we're not talking about, you know, believing in Santa Claus. Just believe. And if you believe, there is enough. You know what we have to believe in? We have a Bible. Now, the Bible will challenge you. The Bible has things in it that are hard to be understood. There are things that you will wrestle with, just like Jacob wrestled with the angel. And it's okay, it's okay to wrestle. But there comes a point when you have to surrender to God. If you are unwilling to surrender to God, then you will, the Bible says, you will rest the words of truth to your own destruction. You will destroy yourself if you do not surrender to the Word of God. People say, I saw Jesus in my grilled cheese sandwich. There was Jesus. I saw Jesus in the waterfall. And all of a sudden, a beautiful face. Look, I don't know what you saw or didn't see. Maybe you saw the name Jesus in your SpaghettiOs. Great. Great, I'm not telling you that you didn't see it. I'm just simply saying that's not what God said He gave you to express Himself. What God said that He gave you was His Word. And your whole Christian life is gonna come back to the Word of God. Now let's go to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. Look at verse number, let's look here. Verse number. I'm sorry, verse number 12. It says, "'For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.'" How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? You can't call out the name of a God that you haven't believed on. How shall they believe in Him of whom they've never heard? How can you believe in a God you've never heard of? And how shall they hear without a preacher? How can you hear of a God until someone tells you about that God? And how shall they preach except they be sent? Why would anyone go and tell other people about a God? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? Not everybody that hears, believes. But watch this, verse 17. So then, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Okay, notice, he said without faith in Hebrews chapter 11, it is impossible to please God. So you're gonna have to have faith. Where do you get the faith? By hearing the word of God and believing it. You say, well, that's cyclical reasoning. I know. Circular reasoning. You're exactly right. You're exactly right. You see, when Jesus showed up, Jesus said, are you going to believe what I said or not? If you don't believe me, believe what I do. Well, guess what some people said about what Jesus did? He's doing miracles by the power of the devil. See, it came back around. Are you going to believe what I said about who I am? It comes back to faith. Well, I want more faith. You're going to have to get into the Word of God, and you're going to have to believe it. Well, no, no, no. I want to go and study and study and study and study and learn so I can learn the veracity of the Bible, the integrity of the biblical texts. I want to understand the manuscript lines. I want to say, I want to be a... Hold on a second. At the end of the day, when you get it done, you're going to be still sitting here with some book somewhere determining whether or not you believe it is written by God. at some point. I'll take it even further than that. If you were to go back and watch the Apostle Paul, who wrote the book of Romans, and watch him as he took this little quill and dipped it in ink and began to write on the manuscript, if you were to see him do that, you still would have to express faith in the fact that that was the Bible that he was writing, that it was the very words of God that he was writing. You see, it's faith all along the way. And you say, well, I don't like that. Well, I don't know what to tell you. By the way, here's a little snark for you. I guess God's supposed to treat you differently than everybody else he's ever worked with. No, God's going to treat you the same way. Now, aren't you glad that God knows who we are and that God works with us in a myriad of ways to bring us to where he wants us to be, but it's going to be to the same place? Why? There's only one God. and that God has spoken. By the way, that is the most important attribute of God. What's the most important attribute of God? Some people would say, well, it's His power. No, no, no, it's His love. No, no, it's not His love, it's His holiness, because His holiness defines what His love, the boundaries of His love. And those things are all good guesses, but I'll tell you this, we would not know anything about the power of God or the holiness or the love of God if He had not expressed it to us. You ever met someone who lied or heard about someone who lied about having a girlfriend? How about, what's his name, Jesse Smollett that made up this whole thing about having a girlfriend? Anybody hear about that? And it was going on for years and he talked about, oh yeah, she's over here and she's there. And then it came to light that he did not have a girlfriend at all. He was making up the entire thing. You say, well, that's really weird. Yeah, you know what's even more weird? People who come up with their own ideas of who God is. They have an imaginary God. They say, well, I can't believe in a God who wouldn't. And I kind of think God is like this. You know what? Your guess is as good as mine. This is, by the way, why people come up with things like the Great Spaghetti Monster. Seriously. If we're coming up with stuff, why not make it weird? You don't have to come up with stuff. All you have to do is look in the book of God and decide whether or not you're going to believe it. There's a lot of Christians who struggle with that even though they believe the Bible, they don't really believe the Bible. Why? Because it's a challenge. God did speak. If God didn't speak, there'd be no creation because creation is done by the breath of God. If God didn't speak, we would have no specific information about God. Because the only specific information we have about God is what we get from the Word of God. Some people would say, well, no, we can see in creation. And I would ask you, who told you that creation expresses the character of God? Where did you hear that the creation talks about God? You heard it from the Bible itself. Isn't that wild? See, it's circular reasoning only because God is bringing you back to the point that you need to be. He keeps bringing you back around. You say, well, I want to prove that the Bible is true or untrue before I ever read it. Forget it. Forget it. It's not going to happen. You need to read the Bible and say, God, if this is true, prove it to me. You say, well, I don't read the Bible sometimes because I have doubt in it. Well, then you're not going to be reading. If the devil knows that, he's going to be coming after you, trying to make sure he can keep you from the Word of God. You see, it's not a matter of, well, I'm not sure if I'm even saved because I have doubts. Listen, why would you have doubts if you weren't saved? Could it be that you have greater doubts because you are saved, because you are born again? Could very well be. You have to come to God. It does not say in Hebrews chapter 11 that unsaved people who are not born again have to come and believe that Jesus is in order to be saved. It says him that cometh to God must believe that he is. You know what that implies? To whom does that apply? To unsaved people and to save. to the children of the devil and the children of God. You have to come to the Word of God with faith. And as you do, God will begin to work. Because see, what God's trying to do is He's trying to be in charge of your life. That's what He's trying to do. But He's not going to force it. He is going to make you submit And I say, make you submit. He doesn't really make us, but he will continue to bring things in our life that will just kind of narrow it down and narrow it down until we say, okay, God, you're in charge. And the truth is, being a believer in the word of God doesn't answer all of your questions. Why? You're gonna keep having questions that you don't have an answer to. And that's okay. That's okay. Because am I the only one here who has questions about the Bible? There's lots of questions in here. I don't understand why. But when I don't understand, I have to determine whether I'm going to say, not that's it, the Bible's not true. Or I'm going to say, God, you're right, and I'm wrong. You say, well, that's intellectually dishonest. Well, I guess it is. I guess it is. is that the worst thing you can possibly imagine is being intellectually dishonest i'm not suggesting that god is dishonest what i'm simply saying is there comes a point when it's either going to be you that's right or god that's right it can't be both You're going to have to make a choice. As we look at this tonight, I want to challenge you. The whole discussion on, is the Bible true? Which Bible is pure? The whole thing must begin with faith. Could you write in the front of your Bible, I believe that this book is the perfect word of God. Because everything else that you believe is going to flow from that point. And if you can't do that, then you ought not to be holding it in your lap. You ought to get rid of it if you can't believe that this book is the Word of God. Every other doctrine flows from that doctrine, the doctrine of biblical preservation. Now, we're going to look at some scriptures. Take your Bibles back to the middle of the Bible, Psalm 119. Psalm 119, let's look at verse 9. Jeremiah said there was a came a point where he was kind of fed up and frustrated Then I said I will not make mention of him nor speak anymore in his name He got tired of being a believer But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones And I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay The Word of God is alive And it's going to keep working on you. Look at Psalm 119, look at verse 9. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word? With my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. So apparently, if you'd want to stop sinning, you've got to have the word hidden in your heart. In other words, you gotta love God's word more than you love your sin. That's what keeps you from sin. Look at verse number 42. Psalm 119, 42. It says, so shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me, for I trust in thy word. Verse 57. Thou art my portion, O Lord. I have said that I would keep thy word. Look all the way down to verse 89. Verse 89. Is it a coincidence that the longest chapter in the Bible is about the Word of God? It's not. Look at verse 89. Forever, O Lord, thy Word is settled in heaven. And let me just remind you. You say, well, I believe that His Word is settled in heaven. Where did you read that it was settled in heaven? How do you know that this word, if you don't believe that this book is perfect, then how would you believe, how could you even know to believe that there was a perfect word forever settled in heaven? Unless it was settled on earth. Do you follow what I'm saying? It's amazing how many things we take for granted outside of the Bible and we can't take them outside of the Bible. They're only true because they're in the word. I want to study God. I'm not really into the Bible. I want to know God. Well, forget it. You can't know about God unless you read his word. Now look at verse number 103. 103, he said, how sweet are thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Verse 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Look it down in verse 140. 140, he said, thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it. 147, I prevented the dawning of the morning and cried, I hoped in thy word. Verse 160, thy word is true from the beginning and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever. And one more, 172, my tongue shall speak of thy word. for all that commandments are righteousness." I want to make a parallel here between the Word of God and the incarnate Word of God, the Son of God and the written Word of God. We're going to look at some scriptures to see that there is hardly a papers-width difference between them. One is connected with the other. is unable to be disconnected. Take your Bibles to the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, John 6. John 6. John 6, look at verse 57, "'As the Living Father hath sent me,' this is Jesus speaking, "'and I live by the Father, Notice, he's talking about the Father's alive, and so I'm alive, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. Now, what has religion done? Religion's come along and said, he's talking about a cracker. No, he's not. I'm not trying to be unkind or disrespectful, but you're making something superstitious and put significance on something that God did not signify as important. You gotta read this passage, John chapter six, what he's talking about. He said, I live by the Father, you're gonna live by my words. Isn't that interesting? Jesus Christ was the Word of God. He was and is the Word of God. He was the expression of what the Father wanted to say to the world, Jesus. And then you have Jesus. What does Jesus want to say? His words. And eternal life flows from God, the author of life, through the Son, Jesus Christ, who is the life, to us. Look at John chapter 6, verse 57. He that eateth me shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, hello, manna, physical, and are dead. He that eateth of this bread shall live forever. What is he talking about? Keep going. These things said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples when they heard this said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? They're hearing cannibalism. They're hearing, hey, let me take a fillet knife and cut off a little piece of my skin here and give it to you. They're going, we don't even eat pork, let alone humans. That's what they're thinking. When Jesus, verse 61, knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? Well, certainly it did, because they were looking at it the wrong way. He goes on to say, What and if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? Here's the thing, if you eat me up, but then somehow I disappear, how are you going to keep eating on me? If it's the physical body that we're talking about, what if I ascend up? What are you going to do then? That's a great question, guys. If in the Eucharist, the elements are transformed into the very body and blood of Jesus Christ, at some point, wouldn't that be gone? You say, well, it's a miracle. It's a miracle. Of course it's a miracle. You have to say that because you don't understand it. You don't understand it because it's not written in the Bible. Okay, what are we talking about? He tells us, verse 63, it is the spirit that quickeneth. What does he mean by that? Quickeneth, that means to make alive. Verse 57 says, he that eateth me, even he shall live by me, verse 63, it is the spirit that quickeneth. You're going to live by the words. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak into you, they are spirit and they are life. Now hold your place in John 6. Look back at John 4 when Jesus is talking to the lady at the well, the Samaritan woman. Look at John 6, I'm sorry, chapter 4, verse 24. It says, God is a spirit. and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. God is a spirit. Now flip back to John 6, 63. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit. Let's look at another one. Go over to John 14. John 14. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Now, did you notice the question that he's asking? He said, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? Everybody wants to know, what is the way to God? What is the way to know God? Well, some people say, well, it's this church. It's this particular denomination. It's this template. It's this confirmation class. It's this baptism. It's this communion or Eucharist. Jesus said, I mean, Thomas, do you want to know the way? Listen carefully. I am the way. How do you get to God? Jesus Christ. Now, it's not simply a matter of saying, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Jesus is not a magic word that you, he's not just a name. When you are speaking about Jesus, you're speaking about not only who he is, but what he did. And what did he do? He came from the Father. He offered himself on the cross to pay for the sins of the world. He went into the grave and he came out of the grave through his power of resurrection. That's what we say. Jesus is the way to heaven. He's the way to heaven because I couldn't get to heaven because of my sin. Jesus came, paid for my sin, and then he died and he was risen, he rose again to prove that he was innocent and that I could also be innocent of my sin. I trust that. That's what he means by the way. And so when I trust Jesus Christ, I can be made righteous before God. He's the way, the truth, and the life. But think about this, 2 Samuel 22, 31, as for God, His way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. Psalm 19 tells us the law of the Lord is perfect. His way is perfect. He said in John 14, 6, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. John 17, hold your place. Look at chapter 17. Look at verse 17. John 17, 17. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. So which is it? I thought Jesus said, I am the truth. And here he's saying, thy word is truth. It's both. It's Jesus and the Word. God is a spirit. The words that I speak into you, they're a spirit. Look at John chapter 6, verse 63. John 6, 63. We saw this verse just a moment ago. But when Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, notice here He says, it is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh, profiteth nothing. The words that I speak into you, they are spirit, and they are life. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. The word that he spoke is life. So it's the words that God's speaking to us. That's how we come to know God. When we doubt the words of God, we distance ourselves from God. And by the way, again, doubt is nothing new. It's nothing to be surprised at. The very first human beings were taught to doubt the Word of God. And how did the devil do it? He did not say, God's lying to you. All he said was, yea, hath God said? Are you sure that this is what God said? And then he insinuated in saying that, that God was not saying everything. that there was more than just the Word of God. There was something beyond what God said that needed to be understood and appreciated and God was holding out. Isn't that what he insinuated to Eve? And so then what does Adam and Eve go, you know what? I'm gonna trust Satan's word about God's word. And so what happened? The fall of man. Sin entered into the world and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men. We all have to deal with the effects of sin because somebody doubted the words of God. Now we could look at them and say, how dare they? They ruined everything. But aren't you and I the same way? We have the words of God. They didn't even have a written Bible. We have it. We look at it and we say, I don't know. If you were to be able to find, through some miracle, to find a Christian bookstore today, it's not as easy as it used to be, and you were to walk in and say, I'd like to have a Bible, what would be one of the first questions they would ask you? What version? Let me just ask you a question. Do you think that that's God's idea? I'll give you a challenge. If you start with the Bible, go to the Bible and find anywhere in the scripture where God gives people options on his word. Where God says, I'm gonna tell you this way, but if you don't like that way and you'd rather it be this way, I'll give it you this way. Are there multiple copies of the 10 commandments? Yes. But can I tell you what happened? Moses got mad and destroyed the first copy. So what did God do? He wrote them again. And he comes down. You know what's interesting about both of those copies? We don't have them anymore. They're both gone. It always comes down to faith. See, Moses had to trust that God's word was enough when he brought the commandments down. And when he saw those people worshiping around that false idol, he said, Lord, I appreciate your word and all, but we're talking about real people who have real problems. He got mad. You ever get mad at the world and people around it? You say, man, I know what the Bible says, but I don't think this is powerful enough to deal with these real problems. Well, you know how Moses felt. What did God do? He didn't reinvent it. He gave it again. Why? It is the character of God written down. That's all it is. You can't get rid of the Bible any more than you can get rid of God. This idea of, well, we have all these different versions is a dangerous idea because what it does is it puts the customer in the driver's seat. It says, I can choose. I'm going to be smart enough. Well, I'm not smart enough, but the guys I watch on YouTube are smart enough to figure out which of these is the Word of God. What do you end up with? You end up with division. You end up with all kinds, and listen, I'm not talking about defining the words. That's the whole purpose of having the word is to understand it and to apply it to your life. Of course you need to define the words, but you don't need to change the words. If you change the words, what do you end up with? You end up with a decision, this word or that word. And can I just tell you how it always goes? We all make decisions and say, I think it should be this because of A and B and C and D. You're making a decision, but you're gonna make it based on your intellect, not on your faith. If you're gonna have a relationship with God, it's gonna be on faith. And you can kick and scream and squirm and whine and complain till the cows come home and it's not gonna change. Why? God's gonna be in charge. Listen, you know what the devil tells you about God? God wants to be in charge because he's a meany head. because he wants to dominate you and he wants to make you be confined and bound and tied up in a dungeon somewhere so he can laugh at you. That's actually how Satan is. That's not how God is. And Satan is the meany head who does that and lies and says that God does that. You're going to have to surrender to God, but when you do, you're talking about a God who loves you, who understands your frame. He knows that you're made out of dust. He's going to work with you. He's going to help you. But at some point, you have to surrender your will and say, OK, God, you get to be in charge. I'm going to trust your word and not mine. The Bible tells us, Psalm, let's look at Psalm 18. Let's look at Psalm 18. Psalm 18, talking about how God and His Word. are the same. Psalm 18, look at verse 28. Psalm 18, 28. For thou wilt light my candle, the Lord God, the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. For by thee I have run through a troop and by my God have I leaped over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all those that trust in Him. For who is God? Save the Lord. Or who is a rock? Save our God. It is God that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect." God is perfect, His way is perfect, and His Word is perfect. It effectually worketh... Let's look at 1 Thessalonians 2. You need to see that verse. Go over to the New Testament. I told you we're going to look at a lot of Scripture tonight. 1 Thessalonians. if I can help you. Yes, page number 987 in your Pew Bible if you're looking at the Pew Bible. Look at 1 Thessalonians 2, look at verse 13, "'For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe.'" The Word of God is different than electricity. There are probably some similarities, but it's different. If you walk into this room and you go to turn the light on, does it matter whether or not you believe that the light is going to turn on? Will that determine, your belief or unbelief, determine whether or not the light comes on? No. It will not. But the Word of God is that way. Now, I'm not saying that the Word of God is true if you want it to be true. That's not what I'm saying. The Word of God is true regardless. Notice, he says, as it is in truth, the Word of God. It is true. But, notice, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. You see, the power will come on whether you believe it or not. Why? God will provide, that power is there. But in a sense, in a sense, your belief that it could turn on is when you trust the Word of God. You see, you do have faith that electricity is being produced at the power plant, and you do have faith that if you punch that button or flip that switch, the light will come on. Now, your belief in it or not is not going to determine whether or not electricity is being powered. But I will tell you this, your belief in this book or not will not determine whether or not it's powerful. But what will determine the power in your life is whether you actively engage your faith by saying, I'm going to trust what God said. I'm going to say, God, you said it and I'm going to believe it. And you say, well, I can't, I can't, I can't. Okay, be stressed out. Guys, it doesn't matter how long you live your Christian life, it doesn't matter how many apologetics books you read, it doesn't matter how many creation scientist blogs you read, it doesn't matter how many times you go to a seminar so you can bone up on your intellect in order to understand the Word of God, you're gonna come back to this. Without faith, it is impossible to please Him. You might be the smartest individual on the planet, but you're gonna have to trust God. And when you trust God, you're gonna feel vulnerable. You're gonna feel open and naked. And can we just say, maybe that's what you're afraid of. You're afraid of not being God. Sounds kind of silly when you say it that way, doesn't it? You're afraid of not being all knowing. What's gonna happen to you if you're not God? Maybe you're not as important as you think you are. But on the flip side, maybe he can take care of some of the heavy lifting and you can just trust him and follow him. Wouldn't that be kind of cool? Instead of being stressed out 24-7 about trying to figure out how everything works and how, and if it's not worked, then I can't make, I can't trust him and just say, you know what, God, I'm going to use my brain because he said, well, I should love the Lord, the God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I'm going to do that. But Lord, this is as far as my mind goes and I'm drawing a blank here. I'm trusting you. I'm trusting you. And guys, you never grow out of that. Unless you want to tell me that Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham all were somehow beneath you. I think their faith was probably greater than any of our faith here. And they had to do what all of us have to do. Trust God by faith and act. Trust God by faith and live. effectively work within you that believe. Let me take a couple more here for you. We talked about how God is perfect. I want you to look over and look at Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1. Towards the back of the Bible. Hebrews chapter 1, page 1004. Hebrews 1.8, Notice, but unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Talking about Jesus Christ. And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They, the heavens, shall perish, but thou remainest. And they all shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail." Talking about the Son of God. Thou, Lord. Everything else is going to change, but he said, thou art the same. Now, look over in Matthew chapter 24, the last chapter in Matthew, verse number 35. Matthew 24. Look at verse 34. 24-34, Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. The words of God and God Himself are said to be unchanging. The theologians might say immutable. immutable. Unchanging and unchangeable. That's why He said, forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven. God's Word is eternal. Look at 1 John 1, flip back to your right. Almost to the book of Revelation, 1 John 1. 1 John 1 verse 5, This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. God is light. What did he say there in Psalm 119, 105, which we read? Thy word is a what? A lamp unto my feet, and a what? A light unto my path. God is light. His word is light. He says in Psalm 119, 130, the entrance of thy words giveth light. It giveth understanding. It's simple. God wants you to know more of Him, and He's going to tell you more about Him in His Word as you come back to His Word and as you believe it. We talk about reading the Bible. We talk about you need to read through your Bible. We have a plan to read through the entire Bible in a year. But guys, I'll just remind you of something. You can quote the Bible. and not believe the Bible. You can have it memorized and not believe it. Hey, do you know all the scribes and the rabbis and the Pharisees that Jesus encountered? Here Jesus is, the author of the Word, and they didn't believe that what he was saying about the Word was true. He wrote it, and they didn't believe it. It's possible for you to have a Bible, for you to sit down and you say, well, I try to read the Bible and nothing happens. Well, then something's off with your faith machine. You may sit down to the Bible and the first thing you're thinking about is, well, I don't understand how that works. I don't understand how that works. Can I just give you an idea? Every time you run into something you don't understand, write it on a piece of paper. I'd understand this." And then get back to reading and doing your best to invest in the Word. You see, you read long enough and God's going to give you something you can hang on to. That doesn't mean you're not going to have a notebook full of things you'd understand. But can I just again say, get in line behind the other millions of believers who have questions about the Bible that they can't understand. You see, God never told you to be able to understand first. He said, through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed. Why? I wasn't there. You weren't there. But because we have God's word on it, through faith, I go, oh, I know what happened, and I wasn't even there. You say, well, who do you think you are? I mean, obviously, I'm nobody. But I have a really, really important book. And the book tells me what God wants me to know. I trust it. You ever been embarrassed when you're talking to someone and said, no, no, no, no, no. She said, I would never. And someone's standing there and goes, no, she did not say that. And the person's listening, they go, well, were you there? No. Over here, she says, yeah, I was there. Which one are you going to trust? You're going to trust the one that was there. There's a lot of things you think about God, a lot of things you imagine about God, and you're going to have to ask yourself, who was there? Who's actually in charge? Who was the first witness of these events? You're going to choose somebody. And I can just tell you, it's going to be two categories, a man or God. You're going to believe a man who could be manipulated and who could be deceived by Satan, or you're going to believe God. God cannot be manipulated by Satan or deceived by him. You're going to have to trust him. And it's going to come down to a book at some point. It's going to come down to a book. God is light. God is eternal. Look over at 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1, back over towards the book of Revelation. No matter how hard you try, you're not going to be able to separate this book from God. If you try to do so theologically, you're going to end up in heresy. If you try to do so devotionally, you're going to end up in idolatry. You say, well, you know, I don't really understand the Bible, so I just listen to a podcast and they talk about different things about God. Why would you listen to a podcast about God, but you would not read what God said? Listen, you're not a baby anymore. You don't need someone to spoon-feed you. See, what you're really saying is, I want to listen to something that makes me feel a certain way. Right? I want to feel, and then I'll think. No, the Lord said, through faith, we understand. So what God's after is not your good feelings. He's after your faith. Now, good feelings come and good feelings go. Let me ask you this. How many of you know a good, solid Christian who has gone through cancer? Raise your hand. I know a ton. A good, solid Christian. Let me ask you this. Why did God allow them to get cancer? I thought that they were walking with God. Were they a solid Christian before they got cancer? Then why did they get it? You see, God is not going to give you an opportunity to live a life free of the curse of sin in this world. Through faith. You see, they were trusting in God, and God is not only worthy to be trusted when everything is awesome, He's also worthy to be trusted when things are not awesome. It never was about your feeling about God. It was always about who God was and is and shall be forevermore. That's who you're trusting in. You're not trusting in how God made you feel at a certain meeting. You're not trusting in how a certain song makes you feel about God. You're trusting in God himself as revealed in this book right here. And as you trust that, you're going to have some really, really rough times where you don't feel good. You feel horrible. God didn't change. Your feelings change. But God never changed. Aren't you glad that your salvation is not based on how you feel about God? You wouldn't be saved for 15 minutes. You could never know for sure you're saved. My salvation is not based on how awesome I am or how well I'm feeling today. It's based on Jesus who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. I put my faith in Jesus. That's how I know for sure I'm going to heaven. It's not because I'm so great. I would say ask my wife, but please don't. Please don't. She's done that enough. Where are we? 1 Peter. Look at 1 Peter 1, verse 23. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Both the Bible and Jesus Christ produced a new birth. The Word of God is what allows someone to be born again. Look at verse 24, for all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. Anybody remember who won Oscar for Best Actor in 1975? It's kind of a gross decade to think about, isn't it? I was born in that decade. It was a rough decade. You know what? Nobody cares. No one cares. Who won the Super Bowl five years ago? You've got to be a savant to remember all the details. No one cares. Why? The glory, notice, the glory of man is as the flower of grass. How many flowers did you have in your yard last year? In your little boxes? You probably don't even remember the number. Why? Flowers come, flowers grow. Grass comes, grass goes. The glory of man comes and goes, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. God has given you a book to believe in, to trust in. Society comes and goes. Cultures come and go. How many millionaires are bemoaning the loss of their homes in Palisades and Pacific Coast Highway tonight? I'm not happy about that. I wish it never happened. Every time, I rarely ever donate. But when I saw the Red Cross, I said, I'm donating. Why? They were there for us when we had our house fire. My heart goes out to him. But can I tell you, it doesn't matter how many homes are built and how wonderful and beautiful they are, they can be gone like that. Why? It's life. It's this world. It's this broken, cursed, sin-filled earth. That's what it is. It always has been that way and it always will be that way. But the word of our God shall stand forever. The word of the Lord is what created this earth. It was our trusting the word of Satan that ruined it. How is trusting the doubts and the fears and all the nonsense that the devil deceives you with going to help your walk with God? He's been lying to you from the beginning as the father of lies. He's going to cause you to doubt the Word of God. It was the Word of God that made this world. Our doubting the Word of God ruined it. And the only restoration of this world is going to be through our faith and trust in the incarnate Word of God, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, who will come and who will enact what's known in the Bible as the generation. He is going to fix this world, and He's going to put it back. I don't know what it's going to look like, but I know it's going to be as awesome as He wants it to be. Take your Bibles to one... Let's see here. We can't keep going like this forever. We're going to have to... It's like sausage. We're going to have to just call it a day here at some point. I want you to look in John chapter 12. John chapter 12. good stuff. We used to say there are some good verses in the Bible. John 1.12, he tells us, but as many as received Him, to them gave He power. Now look at John 12. John 12. Verse 42, 12.42, Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. Isn't that weird? People that believed on Jesus but didn't want anyone to know about it. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. There's no other religious figure, quote unquote religious figure, that ever said, believe on me. I am your salvation. They said, follow what I say. Look at it. Look at Muhammad. Look at Buddha. Look at Hinduism. They don't claim to be the way, the truth and the life, the salvation that only they can give. They say, come and do what I say. Come and live the way I am teaching you and you'll grow and learn and eventually you'll go from rat to donkey and then eventually you'll go into some type of a lower form of human and then eventually maybe you'll become a god yourself. as if anyone could ever trace that or prove that. But here's what Jesus said. He said, I'm come for my Father. Look at verse number 47. And if any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him. The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in that last day. Both the Word of God, the written Word of God, and the incarnate Word of God can be received or rejected by the same groups in the same way. Look at chapter 5 of John. Chapter 5, look at verse 36. John 5, 36. He said, But I have greater witness than that of John. For the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me. 537, And the Father himself which hath sent me hath borne witness of me, ye have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his shape, and ye have not his word abiding in you. For whom he hath sent him ye believe not. Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me that ye might have life. He said in verse 44, How can ye believe which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? You see, in verse 46, you would have believed me. Why? You would have believed Jesus if you'd read what Moses said about Jesus. He said, if you're not gonna believe Moses' words about me, you're not gonna believe my words. If you don't believe my words, you don't believe me. God and his word are the same. Now we understand that God is not a physical book. Of course, God's not a physical book that you can burn in the fire. But the words that I speak unto you, he said, the flesh prophet of nothing, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. You see, those words are eternal. God's breath is eternal. It goes on forever. Once he spoke, he said, let there be light. And he never had to say it again. His word is eternal. And there just has been light ever since. It keeps coming. It keeps coming. See, God's Word is eternal. Because even if I were to gather up all the Bibles in this auditorium and put some gasoline on it and light the whole thing, God's Word wouldn't disappear for a second. It's eternal. He spoke it and someone wrote it down. Now, God preserved it for us by His Spirit But I want you to understand, Scripture itself, there's two times Paul uses the word Scripture. We'll look at it two more places and we'll close up tonight. Look at Galatians chapter 3. He employs this word Scriptures or Scripture twice in his letters and both times he really should have used the word God, so to speak. Look at Galatians 3 verse 8. It says, And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. Let me ask you, in the book of Genesis, when Abraham heard, In thee shall all nations be blessed, was he reading a scroll? What does scripture tell us? God spoke to him. Notice it says in verse 8, the scripture said to Abraham, in thee shall all nations be blessed. Isn't that wild? The scripture? Well of course we understand, he's saying that it was written in the scripture. Well yeah, but he's also saying that the scripture said it to Abraham. Isn't that crazy? Take your Bibles to Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. And look at verse 17. Romans 9.17, he says here, For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Go back to the book of Exodus. What do we find? We find God speaking to Pharaoh through Moses. And Paul said that was the Scripture talking to Pharaoh. What? There's no distinction between the written word and the incarnate word. God doesn't make a distinction there. He's saying, I want you to know me. I want you to know me. I'm going to come down and I'm going to talk to you face to face. But hey, even those that haven't seen face to face, hey, we have a more sure word of prophecy. Here it is, it's the same, one to one. Whatever I would have said to you while I was here on this earth, I'm saying to you today right here in this book. You don't have to long, oh, I wish I could have been there. And of course we all have had those thoughts. But Jesus Christ is just as real here today in His Word as He was when He walked around Galilee. And so what does that tell us? It tells us this, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby. Paul said to the Ephesian elders, I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up. It can build you up and help you to grow. Wherefore, laying apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls. You see, we're going to talk a little bit about this in the coming weeks, about the Word of God and the preservation of the Word of God. Where should we start? Well, I'll tell you where we shouldn't start. We shouldn't start with the works of men. We shouldn't start with manuscripts and the critical approach and the scientific approach and try to work our way back through the millennia, back to what may or may not have been written. We should start where God has always told His people to start, in faith in his word. We start here. Why would you even believe that God had ever spoken? It wasn't because somebody said, I heard somewhere many, many years ago, you know why you believe that there's a God? Because somebody told you God created the world and he wrote a book. And we stand here tonight trusting in this word and it is trustworthy, but you will never get outside the realm of faith. It will always be a challenge for you to come back and trust, am I gonna believe myself? Am I gonna be led astray and manipulated by Satan? Or am I gonna believe God? And if you'll trust in God, believe me, He will reward you. He rewards those that diligently seek Him, but without faith, it's impossible to please Him. My challenge to you tonight is this, humble yourself before the God of the universe, who is kind enough to write a book, Challenge him, question him all you want. He's not afraid of that. But be honest enough that when you get done with your questions, you listen to God's questions about you. You let God speak into your heart and into your life. And if you will do that, the Bible says you can grow, you can get stronger, you can get happier. I'm happy to tell you the doubts and fears that I've had about the Bible, God has answered over the years. Guess what? I've had new doubts that come up. Not a problem. I'm not trusting in my intellect. I realized a long time ago that you could scour the internet for years at a time and never come up with all the answers. But what I can do is I can rest in the everlasting arms. Lord, you've been faithful to me. Your word has been true since I ever came across when I was just a little kid. It's been the same Word. It's been trustworthy. It's been proven. I've jumped up and down on it, and it hasn't broken. I've seen people come against it, and it's staying the same. I've watched preachers that I respect challenge it and say, how can you believe the King James Bible is the Word of God? And yet, there it is, and it just keeps going and going and going. Why? It's the Word of God, which effectually worketh in you that believe. Let's bow our heads in prayer.