The Bible stands every test we give it for its author is divine. By grace alone I expect to live it. Bible stands, though the hills may tumble, it will firmly stand when the earth shall crumble. I will plant my feet on its firm foundation for the Bible stands. Amen. Thank you for your good singing this morning. You can take your hymnals now and set them aside and grab a Bible, okay? If you don't have a Bible, you're welcome to borrow one from the back. I encourage you to have a Bible out as we study the Word of God. It helps you to pay attention to what we're looking at. It also helps you to see that I'm not just making it up. And so it gives good accountability to the preacher if the people take the Word of God, open it, and look through it, and see what God has to say about it, okay? Open your Bibles to 2 Timothy and chapter 3. 2 Timothy and chapter 3 and following. Paul said in 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 15 that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." Paul said the custodian of truth is the church. They're the ones that are to stand for what is true. And you think about pillars, how important is a pillar to a building? Or how important is a foundation to a building? You destroy the pillars, you destroy the foundation, what don't you have anymore? a building. It ceases to exist. If you can knock those pillars down, if you can break the foundation up, it's not going to stand. You think about Samson. Remember Samson? Blind Samson? After he had sinned against God, he told the source of his strength. It was God, but it was in his Nazirite vow. And he broke his Nazirite vow as they cut the locks of Samson's hair. The Philistines broke in. Samson tried to resist them. What happened? He wished not that the Spirit of God had departed from him. He didn't have the power of God. So poor blind Samson, because he had his eyes put out by the Philistines, is made to push and to grind corn like an animal. He is made sport of by the Philistines. They take him in and they mock him. And oh, there's big Samson, you know, that did all these great things. And God's being mocked too. But at the end of his life, Samson says, Oh God, revenge me of my adversaries, my enemies. And he asks God to give him his strength back. And in Judges 16, 29 and 30, it says, And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, the house of the Philistines. and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which slew in his life." Why did Samson succeed in destroying the house? Because he destroyed the pillars. And the whole house was standing on those pillars. Okay, that was good that that house fell. That was the enemy of God, but it's not good when the Word of God falls. It's not good when the custodian of truth changes and tries to adapt and adjust, and instead of the rock-solid pillars of God's Word, they begin to prop them up with two by fours, right? Or something weak. Something that won't last. And you think about how our world is doing that. And Satan's not a fool, is he? Is Satan dumb? Satan is a wise serpent. Wise to evil. He's wise to destroy. And you think about what Satan has done. We've got churches that embrace evolution. And what has Satan done? He's kicked out a pillar. Because what does God's word say? Kids, say it with me. Genesis chapter 1. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. But now the world says, evolution. And so the church echoes and goes, yeah, evolution. And it's like the church doesn't think, they just go, no big deal. Let's say evolution. But what's the problem? The problem is that the Bible says, in the beginning, God, not in the beginning, mass, right? In the beginning, God, in the beginning, God created. It talks about without him was not anything made that was made in John chapter one, verse three. OK, what happened? A pillar was destroyed. Why would the modern church condone abortion? You think about it, there's churches that they say, OK, and they're starting to make it, they're kind of capitulating to the world's view and saying, you know, abortion is OK. But what's the word of God say about abortion? In Psalm 139, 13 through 16, the psalmist David said, for thou hast possessed my reins. Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. What is David at that point as he's speaking about it? He is a fetus. A fetus is in the womb of the mother. But we know as Christians and as believers in the word of God, that that fetus is a person, that that fetus is alive. They're just unborn. You know, in the womb, who was I? You know who I was? Ben Shor. That was me. I didn't become Ben Shore when I was born, did I? No. I was developing, yes, but it was me from the beginning. Right. That was my life. If I had died, say perhaps my mom had had a miscarriage, who wouldn't be here today? Ben Shore. Right. That was me. Now think, this is what David's saying, I will praise thee, for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous art, thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest part of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect, and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. And at first you might think, what was he saying? He was saying, before I was even born, when I was in the womb, the blueprints for my life was there. Thine eyes did see my substance. In thy book, all my members were written. What are my body members? Well, here they are. My hands, my feet, my head, right? That's me. And God says, in thy book, all thy members were written, which in continuance were fashioned. It's future. They were being fashioned when as yet there were none of them. So who is it? Me. In the womb. But yeah, again, our world says abortion. Why would modern churches condone homosexual marriage? If that isn't something that's current, right? and saying, it's fine, homosexual marriage is fine, and the church is embracing it. And what is grievous is that the world applauds and says, oh, that is great, look at you as a church, you're saying that homosexual marriage is right. But you know, what does, again, the Word of God say? Genesis 2.24. Is that the beginning of the Bible? Genesis? Chapter 2? It is. Genesis 1 was creation, right? Genesis 2 is male and female, created be them. And it says in Genesis 2, 24, Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband. Ephesians 5, 33. And then modern churches say, ah, homosexual marriage is fine. And what have they done to the Word of God? They've taken a foundation pillar, a foundation of the family, a foundation of the sanctity of marriage, and they have given it a kick. And they've broken down, again, a pillar. Why would modern churches say that all religions are good, when Jesus said, in John 14, verse 6, Is Jesus the only way to go to heaven? Yes. And again, churches say, hey, that's great. This church joins with this church, and this church joins with this church, and we're all on the same road going the same direction. And I can say this morning, there's only one way to get to America. Well, let me say there's two ways. But there's a third way that's not viable. You can go by plane, you can go by boat, but you can't go by car. Am I lying? Do I hate people in cars? No, you just can't drive to America. And if you want to get there safely, You know, fly or take a boat. Right? It's the same with heaven. You can't say, oh, you're not being loving. You're saying their way is not right. Yeah, it's not right. It's not right. Because of what God's Word says. And so again, they've taken this foundational pillar of Romans 10. 13 and 14 verse 17 says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Children, think about this. Can somebody in Africa get saved without somebody telling them about Jesus? No. What's the burden for missions? It's that somebody needs to go tell them about Jesus, because hell's real, heaven's real, and Jesus is the only way to heaven. Just because there's difficult places, we can't go, oh, you know, there must be an exception. No, the Bible says if you seek me, you'll find me, if you search with all your heart. There's a young man, I've read his biography, his name's Samuel Morris. Samuel Morris was the son of a chief in a tribal village. You know what? He cried out to God. And say, God, I believe in you. Help me to know you. And it's an unusual story, but God directed him to a missionary that was there. And that missionary introduced him to Jesus Christ and Samuel Morris got saved. Why? Because he sought God. So there's ways God can work in these areas that we look at. But that's far out there. Yes, we need to get there. Papa New Guinea, Ben and Laura Childs. They've gone to this tribal village to reach people. Why? Because they need to hear about Jesus Christ. We've got friends in South Africa. Why are they there? Because they need to hear about Jesus Christ. We've got friends in Nepal. Why are they there? Because they need to hear about Jesus Christ there. We've got friends in Thailand. Why are they there? Because they need to hear about Jesus Christ. Friends in China. Why are they there? Because they need to hear about Jesus Christ. But again, the world has come. They've kicked out this pillar of the truth of the Word of God. The only possible reason for deviation from the Bible is unbelief that the Bible is the authoritative Word of God. Isn't it? Because would it make sense for a church to look at this book, know it's from God, and say to God, I know this is from you, but I'm going to disobey it. It doesn't make sense. What do they have to do? They have to say, ah, that's not really what it means. Don't they? They have to come to a position of unbelief in what the Word of God expressly says to hold that position. As a child, you probably remember this, and children, you certainly remember this, but your brother comes to you or your sister comes to you, and they say, Dad said that you're to do this. And if you don't want to do it, you say, you look at them in the States, we say, take a hike. You know, just go hill walking, you know, get out of here, right? We say that, you know, we're in a dangerous position, aren't we? If that message is really from our dad, you know, you think about it this morning, the world is in, and a modern church is in a difficult position when they take this book and they say to the messenger of it, take a hike. Worse yet, imagine I beat up my brother, I beat up my sister because they came to me with a message from God. That's worse even yet. And that's what the world's doing, aren't they? They're taking the messenger from God and they're abusing the messenger from God. Is that supported by scripture? You know it is. Think about Jeremiah. What happened to Jeremiah because he preached the Bible? He came saying, thus saith the Lord. He said, you've got false prophets. They're prophesying lies. That's not true. This is what God said. And God said, judgment. And then the world goes, ah, we don't like to hear about judgment. So Jeremiah, we don't like your message. And you know what they do? They take Jeremiah, they put him down into a dungeon until he's sunk deep in the mire of the dungeon. But he's just a messenger. Think about Elijah when he preached God's message. Yes, he stood on the mountain and he said, God sent fire and God sent fire. But in the next chapter, what happened? He's fleeing for his life from a wicked king that says, queen that says, I'm going to kill you. Why? Because he's a messenger of God. And she didn't want to hear the message that God had. Isn't that like a world Jesus? Why did they hate Jesus? Because Jesus came authoritatively speaking forth the message of God, saying, I am the anointed one. I am the one that's come from God. And the world says, ah, we despise that. We don't want that. And so they killed Jesus. You think about Stephen. We read about Stephen's chapter 7 of Acts. And you read about Stephen. What does he preach? He starts in the Old Testament, and he preaches to the cross. He's going through the word of God, the word of God, the word of God. The Jews say, we hate that, we despise that. What do they do to Stephen? They kill Stephen. Paul, how many times was Paul beaten? How many times was he whipped? Because he gave forth God's word. You know, this morning, I want to just let us all know, don't be surprised that the world stands up against the authoritative message of God. But because they stand up against it, it does not mean this morning that this isn't true. It means just like they always have, they reject it. Noah. Think about Noah. Was Noah a preacher of righteousness? Yes. Hebrews chapter 11, right? A preacher of righteousness. But did the people repent? No. Again, we just got to look at the Word of God this morning and say, you know what? We've got a divine message. We can't deviate from it just because our world doesn't like it. And so, what I want to do this morning is encourage us that we have a message from God. Young person, don't be deceived because the world says evolution. Don't be deceived because the world says homosexual marriage. Don't be deceived because the world says abortion. Don't be deceived because the world says anything against this book. stick with this book. And that's what we'll talk about this morning. How do we know that this is God's Word? How do we know that we have a message that is authentically from God? And so let's pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help us this morning as we look to God's Word. Father, I thank you that we do have the Word of God this morning. But Father, your Word gives us truth that helps us to understand that this is a divine book. And Father, this is not a message that the world likes. The world would absolutely hate this message that I'm preaching this morning because they view it as intolerance. They hate absolute truth. But Father, I'm so glad that we've got truth. Father, I'm so glad that we have a word that tells us that we're sinners and that Jesus Christ died for sinners. And Father, you love us so much that you crucified your son. Father, you don't want us to go to hell. You're not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Father, you don't want us to be in unbelief and to wreck our lives with sin like drunkenness and adultery and fornication and Lord abusing our bodies and cheating and stealing and lying. All the things that mess up society. You don't want us to go there. And Father, I praise you that we can have victory. We've sung this song at camp this past week. Victory in Jesus. Father, I praise you. Your word gives us victory. And Father, just because the world has rejected this book and hates this book, give us grace this morning to understand this is the Word of God, and to love this book. And Father, if anybody's listening that's lost, that if they die today, they go straight to hell, I pray the Spirit of God would give them reason to believe this book is the very Word of God, and that it will meet their need. And Father, that you love them, that they can be saved. And Father, it doesn't matter what sin they've committed, they can be saved. And Father, we praise you for your love and thank you for your help now as we look to your word. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Okay. Verse 13 said, But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. So the danger is this, they're deceiving, they're being deceived, and the Bible even speaks about, in the end times, if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived. But it's not impossible. Right? Praise God. But it's so deceptive And we look at it, we struggle with it, and go, everybody believes this, but this is what God says. So we have a choice. What are we going to believe? And so I want to encourage us to faith this morning in the truth of the Word of God as God gives it. So God's Word comes with assurances, first of all. God's Word comes with assurances. The Spirit of God verifies the truth of God's Word. Verse 14 says, but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of. He's saying they're deceiving and being deceived, okay? And they're not interested in truth. They're not interested in truth, okay? But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, right? Continue it. So he's saying to Timothy, Timothy, yeah, it's all over the place. The deception's all over the place. But continue thou in the things that thou hast learned. And then he says, and has been assured of. I want to ask you this this morning. How was Timothy assured that the message he had was authentic? Can I say this this morning? If Timothy, because Timothy was saved, he had an assurance inside him. And if you're saved this morning, you have the same assurance. And it's a person. It's the Holy Spirit. And Timothy had the same witness that you and I have when he got saved. He had the Holy Spirit in his heart saying, this is true. And praise God, even before he gets saved in God's mercy, at times the Holy Spirit comes along to a sinner's heart and says, look, this is true. And you need to listen to this. And so it's not just that the Word of God says it. It's not just that God has given us You know intellect or understanding is that by God's grace He's given us a person inside that puts his finger in our heart and says look you need to listen to this message Because it is true 1 John 2 verse 27 says, But the anointing which you have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you. But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him. Okay, the anointing that is speaking about is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit in our hearts says to us this morning, we're saved, this is true. This is true. Have you ever had a time where you're reading the Bible, you believe something else, but you read the Bible and all of a sudden you're going, I was wrong. Right? That's how we got saved. We got saved when all of a sudden we realized, yeah, you know, I'm living for sin, self, the flesh, the devil. I'm against God. Hell's real. And even though I may have thought there was no such thing as hell, all of a sudden I am convinced of it in my heart of hearts. And so I repent and I follow Christ. And that's what Paul's saying. He's saying, realize you have an assurance inside that God has given to you. And so in ancient times, when the king would send a message, he would stamp it, wouldn't he? He'd take a cylinder seal, and he'd put wax on it, and he'd roll his seal in it. And anybody that knew the king's seal, when they received that letter, they'd go, ah, this is from the king. And this is like that. As we know the King's Seal this morning, it's internal. The Holy Spirit tells us this is from God. It's an assurance that God's given to us. You know, some people, and even this morning, you might think, I don't have that assurance. I read the Bible, and I don't feel like it's true. I don't think that it's true. Can I say this? That if you don't have the Holy Spirit, you probably won't. Why? 1 Corinthians 2.14 says, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. The natural man, the man without Christ, he doesn't have that witness. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness unto him. How many people look at the Bible and go, God created six days? Ah, whatever. How many people look at the Bible and say, this one man died for the sins of the world, and you're kidding me, he rose again? They're foolishness unto him. But those of us that are saved, I mean, we know the truth of the Word of God, and that it's just like God said. Who gave us that? God did. And so, Paul told Timothy, he said, Trust the assurance that God's given that this is the divine book, that this is the very word of God. And then think about this. It comes with assurances through the spirit of God, but also the source of God's word gives security. It says, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. Tell me some human authors real quick of the Bible. Luke, okay? John? Peter? Mark? Paul? Moses, right? Matthew? Yeah. Okay, are those good men? Or were they like Judas? Were they traitors? No. These were godly men that had integrity. These were men that, even though some of them perhaps were unlearned, like they speak about John. John's writings, they said, were very kind of low class as far as his scholarly ability to write. And yet God used this man because he was a man of integrity. Right? We can be excited this morning that God's word came through godly men. Yes, it came through God through them. And we'll talk about that in a second. And yet these men themselves were good men. Acts chapter 5 verse 30 and 32. It says, The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom He slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him. He just spoke about our assurance. He said, the Holy Ghost is a witness to whom God has given to them that believe him. You have that to understand this is a divine message. But he's saying, but realize who it came through. We are his witnesses. You know, I take great encouragement from the fact this morning that this book that we have was given to us by men who lived and died for it. What happened to the apostles? You know they believe almost every one of them died as a martyr. Is that important to me? It is important to me because they lived and died for what they believed. That means they weren't charlatans. That means they weren't hypocrites. That means they had integrity. They believed this message to be from God so much so that they died for it. Now I want to share a story real quick because it really kind of broke my heart at the meeting this week. It's the story of a pastor, and I think the story is from Fox's Book of Martyrs. And the pastor and his people were told that if they didn't repent or recant their position towards Christ, they'd be burned at the stake. And the pastor was going to be first. And they said to the pastor, Pastor, how will we know that God's grace is sufficient to keep us in the fire? He said, well, I'll tell you this. He said, God help him. by his grace when the bands burn off from my arms. If God's grace is sufficient, I'm going to put my hands up over my head and I'm going to clap. Benson was there to hear this story. And the pastor said about this story, he said that when the pastor was, the fires were lit, the flames were burning up along his legs and actually flesh, he said, was dripping basically from his legs. And I know that's very graphic, but it needs to be graphic for this point. That really happened to somebody that loved God. And that's taking place, and the smoke's coming up, the flame's coming up almost so high they can't see him anymore. And the people are beginning to turn away. And he said there was something like 200 of them that said about that, 240, 220 in the congregation. And they're turning away, they can't watch any longer, and yet somebody couldn't help but turn back. When he turned back, this is what the man said, he said, the pastor's hands were just seen above the flames and basically he said it was skeletal, okay? But he said those hands went together and clapped. And every single one of those people turned around and walked up to the executioners and said, I'm next. And for the next three days, they burned that whole congregational line. I'm thankful this morning We've got a book of integrity. Why? Because of the source. You think about it. Again, these people died for this. This is true. This is no lie. This is no fable. Who would give their life for a fable? And yet, by God's grace, these men of God stood and died for this truth. You know, for your encouragement, let me say this as well. Some 3,800 times the Bible declares, God said, or thus said the Lord. It's from God. It's God's message. It's not man's message. 3,800 times either the Bible's lying or this is from God. So praise God. We've got assurance this morning. What else can encourage us about the authority of the Word of God? Well, think about this. God's Word saves. I've enjoyed I've watched some programs of rescues in the highlands. You see the helicopter, RAF helicopter go out and it's great. People are in trouble. They call, they say, we need you at this point. And a lot of times it's Ben Nevis or other highland mountains. And they get there and the winch operator is the guy sitting in the back. He's got the winch. He runs the cable up to the guys down below. One guy goes down, helps hook them up, and then comes back up, right? Do you know that whole rescue is dependent upon the integrity of the winch? If that cable does not have integrity, what happens? It's got rust or something, it snaps, and the victim perishes. So for him to be saved, that cable has to be strong, it has to be true. And think about this this morning, the Word of God saves. It shows the integrity of this book. The fact that it is able to rescue a life and save a soul, it shows that this book is true. Verse 15 says, "...and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus." The fact this morning that the Bible saves proves that it's a message from God. Because it has the integrity to rescue a life, and those of us that are saved know it's real. We know this morning what it is to be saved. We know how precious it is to have in our hearts the assurance that if we die today, we go straight to heaven. And that there's not a chance in this world that we go to hell. Why? Because God's Word saves. And Paul says to Timothy, from a child that has known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. So God's Word saves. That gives us encouragement that this is a divine book. What else? Well, God's Word claims to be entirely from God. Verse 16 says, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Okay, let me ask you a question. Kids, you answer for me because I think it's important to realize that even a child knows this. It says, How much of Scripture is inspired? From that verse, all of it. What's that mean? That means Genesis 1.1. That means Exodus 20. It means all the books of the minor prophets. It means Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It means to Revelation. All of it. Now, let's stop for a second. What's it mean to be inspiration? We think inspiration, ah, great idea, I was inspired. That's not it. Inspiration, this word in the Bible, it means God breathed. It's actually, I heard a good message on this, and it's actually expiration. It's actually God breathed out. God breathed through. What's amazing about the Word of God is even though you see the personality of the human author, you see the education of the human author, yet the message is from God. Explain this to me, how else could you have a book that's written over 1,500 years or 1,600 years and it all agrees, beginning to end? That's impossible. I mean, what other book is written in that way, right? It's because the human authors died, but God didn't. And God's the author. And so, God's given us a book that is entirely, claims to be entirely from God. Think about the Word of God. Is this book accurate scientifically? Yes. Evolution says no, but then we have to ask, is that good science? When's the last time you saw an explosion make something? Science is observable. We know explosions make nothing. Explosions destroy. Explosions never create. We know that. When's the last time that an elephant gave birth to a giraffe? When's the last time a dog gave birth to a cat? Evolution says they shall bring forth after different kinds. Where the Word of God says they bring forth after their kind. And what do we see? Observable science. They bring forth after their kind. Yes, the Word of God's accurate scientifically. The Word of God is accurate historically. It's accurate archaeologically. People say, ah, the Bible's not true. See, that place never existed. And you know what they find? That place or that person. And they go, yeah, that's pretty accurate. Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is. Otherwise, it would be on BBC. You know, here's the thing that grieves me. I see a program on the telly, and they say, myths, stories, legends. They slander the Word of God, but, you know, they never prove it. That it's wrong. Why? Because they can't. Because this message has integrity. Historically, prophetically, how many times did God say prophecies about the Messiah? I've heard 200. And you can look them up in the Old Testament and you know when they were written. And you can see when they were fulfilled in Christ. Right? This message is very accurate. Praise God. And it claims to be from God and it makes sense that it's from God. It's outsold every book every year. It's been translated into more languages than any other book. It's been accepted by the vast majority of mankind as the Word of God. I think this morning we could go, you know what? We've got a divine book. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it's profitable. Now, what else gives us encouragement about this book? Well, God's word not only saves people, but God's word changes lives. You ever seen somebody's life that's truly been changed by the word of God? It might be every time you look in the mirror, right? You say, I know I'm not what I used to be. Verse 17. says that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works. God's Word takes somebody from being a junker to being sober. It takes them from being in an immoral lifestyle to having a moral lifestyle. It takes somebody that's a thief and a liar to somebody that's telling the truth. We had a guy get saved in prison ministry, and the next week we came in, and he came up to me and he said, you know what? An interesting thing happened. I went to play cards with the guys, and I cheated. And he said, I was so convicted, and he didn't say convicted, it bothered me so much, he said, I had to go to him and apologize. Why? Because his life's different now. He can't do the same things that he did before he got saved. God's word changes lives. I ask people all the time, as I'm witnessing to them, I'll say to them, do you know anybody that's born again? Why? Because the best witness to this book is the fact of lives that have been changed. That's why we're burning to see souls saved in this community. So that our community can look and say, I've seen God's word change lives. We got a guy in the community, his name's Peter. I've spoken to him three years ago. And I asked him that question, do you know anybody that's born again? He was an atheist. And he said, yeah, there's a girl that I used to go with. And she got saved. She doesn't die. And I hate it. She doesn't tell dirty jokes anymore and she won't go out drinking. You know, I look at it and go, just let's talk logically. Is it better not to tell dirty jokes? Yes. Is it better not to get drunk? Yes. And he's upset. But her life has changed. You know, you've heard it before, but The Edinburgh newspaper 100 years ago said the Redeemed Drunkards Band gave short, pointed testimonies about the power of God to change lives. And they said this, a religion that can change drunkards into loving husbands and good fathers is a religion worth having. God's word changes lives. Look at Paul. Paul hated Christians. He hated Christ. He murdered. But he got saved. You can tell other stories. George Minsik was a member of Al Capone's gang. You guys have heard this story from me before. He got saved. He became a street sweeper. And he'd go into the prisons and witness the men that were in prison. So many men got saved and their lives changed so much that they took George Mensick's record against him, all the crimes he'd committed, and they burned it in a public ceremony. So this morning, we look at this book and we say, how do I know it's true? Not only does it save, but it changes lives. Isn't that precious? What a precious proof that this is a divine book. It's not pragmatism, because we've got other truths. We've got the fact that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. But it verifies the fact that it says all scripture is given by inspiration of God, because it changes lives. So we look at it as well, just a couple more points this morning. God's Word holds us accountable to God. Verse 1 says, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearance. Let me ask this morning, as a preacher, who am I accountable to when it comes to this book? The government? No. There's one person. It's God. Let me ask this morning, did John Knox and Martin Luther seek to please men? No. Why? Because they understood that God is going to judge the quick and the dead. They're going to give their defense before God. The world's not going to hold them accountable, God is, to the truth. So you think about this. How can the modern church hold its head up when it's bowed to political correctness, otherwise known as the fear of man, instead of standing for God's Word? Isn't that sad? How can they look at themselves in the mirror with any courage when they have disobeyed this book? Think about a doctor that knows about cancer. And he knows the absolute truth about cancer. He's fallen the cure to cancer. But the medical board that he's with, they said, no, you can't say that. You can't say that. And rather than have the integrity to stand against them, He bows down and says okay, and he changes his position and says something different, and lies are lost. Sad, isn't it? If that's true. Now think about this, the modern church bows down to political correctness, they cut and paste from God's Word. Do they have any integrity? No. Because they fear men. You know, we don't heed a fear man this morning. We've got to preach the Word. Because God's Word holds us accountable to God. And God's Word is our message. Verse 2 says, Can I say this this morning? A church that does not preach this book is no church at all. You tell me, what did Paul say to preach? Preach the Word. If I were to go to the churches of our community and go up to the minister today and say, Pastor, tell me, did you preach this book? If they didn't, they're a disobedient guy. They've got nothing to say if they're not preaching the Word of God. The Word of God reveals what is wrong. It challenges us to deal with what is wrong. It encourages us to do what is right. That's what it means when it says, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all unsuffering and doctrine. You think about a church that doesn't believe the Bible, right? And the pastor gets up and he says to them, he says, I think that is wrong. And the people say to their pastor, well, pastor, why? Well, the pastor says, well, I don't know. I just feel like it's wrong. Is that effective? Is that an answer? Now, a friend of ours in Ireland that we've just gotten to know, he said he's recently gained some people to his church. You know why? They went up to the pastor and they said, Pastor, show us what the Bible says about this. And they got four different answers from the four different spiritual leaders in the church. Why? Because they're not following this book. And now they're so glad that they're in Brother McKinley's church because he's taking the Bible and he's saying, this is what God says. I don't have anything to say this morning to stand up here and just philosophize. That's empty. Why? Because that doesn't change lives. That doesn't save. What saves? What changes lives? The Word of God. The problem with modern churches, and I want you to think about this statement real quick, because this is what the modern church says. They say, we just need to love each other and get along. The great problem with our society is those who are intolerant and believe they are right. Okay, now let me ask you something. And I know I'm grouping the modern church into that statement, but by and large that's what the modern church says. Who says that? Is that something the government says or the Bible says? The government. So what are they preaching to their people? The government. Aren't they? They're not preaching the Bible. Because God's Word says sin is awful and sin has to be dealt with. And the biggest problem that we have is that we're not loving God the way we should. And we're not rightly related to God the way we should be. And we need to get right because God's Word is true. That's the message of the Bible. So God's Word is our message and then... God's word will face opposition. Verse 3 says, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves peaches, having itching ears. The people are crying out saying, we want to hear something else. Have you heard people say, we don't want hellfire and damnation preaching? I don't like that statement. I don't like it to be called hellfire and damnation, because what we preach is the love of God and the death of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world to protect them from hell. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But yes, the Bible does speak about hell. And because of that, we have to let people know the truth. But we don't exalt hell. We're not trying to scare people. We're trying to let people know there's a loving God in heaven that cares so much for their soul that he sent his son to be damned on the cross for them so that they could be saved from hell. That's a loving message. Okay. But people don't want it. So what do we do? Do we stop preaching it? We can't. We can't. We know from the Word of God that there's going to come a time where they don't want to hear it. And they want to make up their own ideas. But let me think with you about this. It says in 2 Peter 1, 20 and 21, knowing this verse, that no prophecy of the scriptures of any private interpretation. Can I explain what that means real quick? The kids are doing well, but I want you to stick with me to the end of the message. We just got a couple points left. And that is this. Nobody can open up this book, look at any part of scripture and say, that means this to me. That's mysticism. That's just this mystical idea that the Word of God speaks to me in a way it doesn't speak to you. No, the Word of God says what it means, means what it says. That's why we go to the Word of God and say, who should be a pastor? Who should be a deacon? How does somebody get saved? How do you raise Godly kids? What is our response to government? What is the way we interact with our neighbors? Because the Word of God so clearly speaks to all of those things, right? And it doesn't say one thing to you and one thing to me. It says the same thing to all. So let me point this out. When a pastor stands up and he badly wants to change the Word of God, and he says, the Bible says this. Let me ask you this. Did it change what the Word of God says? No. If he says it loudly and everybody in the world believes it, does it change the Bible? No. The only thing it does is it deceives the people that listen to him. That's it. So don't be discouraged this morning. Say, they're changing the Bible. No, they're not changing the Bible. They'll never change the Bible. They can scream it from the top of their buildings. They can put it on every television program. They can put it in every school. But the Word of God stands. It's not changeable. Man can't change it no matter how badly they want to. And so, praise God this morning that we have an authoritative Word. But it came not in the old time by the will of man. It wasn't craftiness of men, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." And then the last thing this morning, we made it, okay? The last point is that God's Word will be rejected. It will be. So you might think this morning, but God's Word is being rejected, so it can't be from God. No. That's what the Word of God says. It will be rejected. I wouldn't be surprised to find that if I shared this message with some people that they hate it. They despise it. They think it's the furthest thing from truth. Because God's Word says I'll reject it. It says in verse 4, They shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. You know, I can say this morning our world wants Disney. They don't want Sodom and Gomorrah. They want to feel good, and this is great, and they just want to feel good about themselves. They don't want to be convicted about sin. They don't want to be accountable to God. But just because they don't want it, doesn't change the truth. But they're turning themselves into fables. These churches that contradict the Word of God, they're fables. But the Word of God is not a fable. 2 Peter 1, 16. It says, For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your heart. Peter saw the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ when he was changed in front of them, and God the Father let them see the splendor of heaven on Jesus Christ. But then Peter says to us, but we've got something even better, that's even more revealing. It says what? Where until we do well. as unto a light that shines in a dark place. You know this book shines. And don't be disappointed that today, oh, we're in such a dark day. You know the Word of God just shines brighter. It's just brighter. But listen to what the Word of God says. Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. That's what our world does. They've got people to see. They're coming in, they're saying, here's this bitter stuff and it's good. Here's this good stuff and it's bad. And God says, judgment. Woe unto them. They're going to be accountable. Don't worry. Someday they're going to stand before the judgmency of Christ. They're going to give an account. These ministers that are deceiving people, they're going to give an account. But every person that's deceived will give an account as well. What do we need to do? Stick with Splug. No matter what the world does, take a stand upon the word of God. Why? Because Psalm 119, 105, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. This is our light. I mean, it's dark in the world, but this will give us the light we need to go the way God wants us to go, to take a stand for Him. So let me just go over the points again real quick. Why do we know this message is from God? It comes with assurances. It saves. It claims to be entirely from God. It changes life. It holds us accountable to God. God's Word is our message. God's Word will face opposition. And God's Word will be rejected. You know, our world needs it. Let's not let them down. And our world would say, stop bothering us. But we've got to have the heart to say, you know what, even though you reject us, I love you enough to tell you the truth. And I love you enough to give you a chance to repent. Someday those people are going to stand before God. And God's going to be able to look at them and say, you had a witness. You had the life. Somebody stood up and told you the truth. You're accountable. for what you knew about this book. And I would warn us this morning, you know what, you're accountable this morning. If you've rejected anything from this book, you're accountable. Because we've, again, seen this morning, this book's from God. And God will hold us to account. So let's pray and ask God to bless His Word to our hearts this morning. Father, we're thankful that we have a divine book. Oh, I'm so glad, Lord, that I don't have to worry. I don't have to think, oh, I messed up somehow. I'm not thinking right. Father, I praise you that I know that this is the very Word of God. And our society looks at that and says, oh, that's dangerous. They say, oh, that's a problem. It's because they hate you. It's because they hate your message. It's because they don't believe in you, they reject you. And Father, look at society without God and society with God. And the proof is in the pudding. The proof is in the society. Lord, we're in a society that rejects God. It's immoral, it's wicked, it's drunken, it's homosexual, it's adulterous, it's lying and deceiving. Father, society that has been blessed by the power of God is a society which we saw in the early 1900s in Wales that shut down the pubs, that shut down the wicked dance places. And Father, that humbled their heart before the Almighty, where families were restored, children that had gone off into the world were brought back into loving relationships with their parents. It healed. And Father, that's what we need. But to get there, we've got to stand for this book. So give us grace to stand. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.