Let's open our Bibles, please, to Matthew's Gospel, the fourth chapter, Matthew chapter 4. We want to read verses 1-11. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward and hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone. But by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down. For it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him." I want you to notice verse 4 and verse 7 and verse 10, where Jesus answers. And when He answered, He said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. But He says, It is written. Now, verse 7, Jesus said again unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. For it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Three times over, his answer was, It is written. It is written. We want to bring you a message this morning on infallibility and where to find it. You know, in the storms of life, in the sea of life, in the stormy seas that we all are on from time to time, we need sometimes to get our feet on the good earth, or terra firma we call it. Or better still, we need our feet on the solid rock to set our feet upon. When we think of something concrete, something solid, something we're talking about infallibility. You know, as I was contemplating on bringing this message this morning, about 5.30 this morning, I was thinking about concrete. I don't know why it came across my mind. but the thought of concrete because of stability, solid rock, good earth, impalability, something that we can depend upon. And you know, I got to putting that together in my mind and I thought, what is concrete anyway? It's gravel, and sand, and cement, and water. And it makes concrete. And I was thinking, how does that apply to something solid for us? Well, I thought about the gravel. I thought, well, the gravel may represent the rough places of our lives. I mean, you know, really rough times. And then the sand may represent the smooth things of our life. And then I thought, well, you put the cement in there, but you have to add water. Now, the Bible speaks of two things there that I want to bring out. First of all, water is symbolical of the Word of God. It says, the washing of water by the Word. So we're talking about the Word this morning. But what is it that cements it together and makes it concrete? And that is Jesus Christ Himself is the one that holds it together. He's the cement. that holds the Word of God together for us in good times and in bad times, so that we find that the Bible says that by Him all things consist. The word there in the book of Colossians means that they are glued together or held together. And by the way, that passage of Scripture is talking about the whole universe, that by Him all things consist or are held in their place. So I thought, I got to thinking, that might make a good illustration for what I'm about to say this morning. So we want something concrete, don't we? We want something solid to stand upon. Infallibility and where to find it. We find it in the Word of God. Now some try to find infallibility in the Pope. Some others try to find an infallible church. Some church that's infallible. By the way, when you talk of churches, we find that they've all made a lot of errors. Paul had to write to the Galatians and correct them. The Corinthians correct them. There's one over in the book of Revelation that had to be corrected. Jesus corrected one over there very definitely that was in error. And we find that churches even in the Bible were not fallible. We talk about they were fallible and not infallible. So, we talk about, where are we going to find it? We don't find it in a man, we don't find it in the church, but we have the infallible Word of God, the Bible. And Jesus quoted, it is written, we have the Old Testament prophets saying, thus saith the Lord. They didn't say, I believe, or I say, or I think. And by the way, I'm not here this morning to tell you. that I think this. I'm just here this morning to try to expound the Word of God. I would just like now to speak on this infallible book, the Bible. It is written. The Word of God is the unfailing weapon against all our spiritual enemies. In the book of 2 Corinthians, let me give you a passage of scripture. Chapter 10 and verse 4, it says, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." So it says, the weapons of our warfare, they're not carnal. They're not guns and swords and spears or tanks. They're not carnal, but they're mighty through God. Now, we're talking about the weapons of our warfare. The Bible says that we're to take the sword, listen carefully, in Ephesians chapter 6, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Now, if you have God's word, and you know God's word, you have all the protection And you have the weapon of offense as well as all the defense you need, as described in Ephesians chapter 6. But you have the greatest offensive weapon that you could have in your hands. Now, Jesus chose the unfailing weapon when he was assailed by Satan in the wilderness. What did Jesus do? We just have read it. He had a great choice of weapons, but what did he use? He simply said, it is written. And by the way, he quoted three times from the book of Deuteronomy. He could have used all the Old Testament, but he used one book. He was as much as saying to Satan, I have a whole arsenal out there, and I'm just going to concentrate on these three little grenades here. I don't need all of it. I mean, three quotes from the book of Deuteronomy. When he said, it is written, he could have quoted Isaiah. He could have quoted the prophets. He could have quoted in Exodus. He could have gone back to Moses. He could have gone to Elijah. He could have gone to any of them and see what God had done in opposition to evil forces. But he didn't. He just quoted, it is written. He had a choice of weapons, but he took none but the word of God. Sometimes you and I take the wrong weapons. We take the idea that we can argue it out and by reasoning we have the best answer and we can confront the devil on his own ground. We don't win the battle that way. Jesus could have overcome Satan with angelic force. Remember in Matthew, let me read this in Matthew 26, listen, after Jesus was betrayed, and in verse 53, he says, Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? That's Matthew 26, 53. Twelve legions of angels. They say a Roman legion was either thought of it to be from 4,200 to 5,000 or 6,000. And some say more than that. But say twelve legions of angels and there's 6,000 in one legion. That would be 72,000 angels. We find that in the Old Testament, let me read a verse of Scripture for you. In the book of 2 Kings. It came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians, this was Israel's enemy, and hundred, fourscore, and five thousand, and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. One angel, a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And Jesus said He could have called twelve legions of angels to His rescue. And if someone has multiplied this out in time and space and found that that is enough, That there's enough angels to have destroyed all of humanity upon the earth at any given time. So Jesus had all the force he needed in angelic power. But he didn't use that. Remember it said in verse 11, angels came and ministered unto him. He had enough at hand to do the job. He didn't use that. But he said it is written. We're talking about infallibility and where to find it. So he did not use angelic force. He could have used and exercised divine power. We know he was the sovereign and that he is the creator. The Bible says all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. He didn't use his creative power, even his Godhead, his sovereignty. And he shows us there that we're not to call on the aid of force, but we're to call upon, if Jesus used this against Satan's temptations, he said, it is written. What are we to use? Some other thing? We're not to go to human force or power, but it is written. Our Lord could have used and have unveiled his own glory. If he had just unveiled his own glory, look what would have happened. Remember the transfiguration? The Bible says He took with Him Peter, James, and John. You find it in Matthew 17 and Mark 9 and Luke 9. You find the story of the transfiguration. And it says, He took with Him Peter, James, and John. They went up into the high mountain apart, one of the Gospels says, to pray. And the Bible says He was transfigured before them, and His face did shine as the sun, and His reign was white as the light. And Peter and James and John fell to the ground and were blinded to the ground. They heard the voice of God out of heaven saying, This is my beloved son, whom I'm well pleased, hear ye him. So Jesus could have been transfigured and used his majesty and glory before Satan. And this would have caused him to fall back. Remember, it is betrayal. The Bible tells us in John 18, chapter of John, when they come to betray Jesus, when Judas comes to betray, it says in verse 5, chapter 18, They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also which betrayed him stood with him. As soon then as he said unto them, I am he, they went back and fell to the ground." Even when he was being betrayed. They came with swords and spears and just the fact that he said, I am. And by the way, the word he in that passage of scripture is in italics, which means it's in the original. It's not in the original Greek. because it's put in there. So he was saying, I am. Isn't that the word that God gave to Moses? He told Moses, you say, I am a sin to thee. So we find that at his word and his name that they fell back to the ground. We find that John in the book of Revelation in the first chapter In verse 17 it says, And when I saw him, this revelation of Christ in all of his glory, Christ glorified. In verse 17 he says, And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. What did John do? I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death." So John fell down before his glory and majesty. So Jesus did not use angelic force. He did not use his divine power. He did not unveil his own glory. Jesus could have argued with Satan on any point of the temptation and won the victory. But no, he didn't. He said, it is written. He didn't try to meet Satan on Satan's ground. He met Satan on his ground, on God's ground, on his own ground. You see, the devil will come along and try to argue with you. But Jesus didn't argue with him. He just said, it is written. He says, I'm not going to argue about it. It is written. I'm not going to reason about it. It is written. I'm not going to call the angels to my help because it's written. I'm not going to use any other source. I'm not going to use any other way. It is written. And he said three times over and he came back victorious. The Bible says he came out of the wilderness temptation in the power of the spirit. The reason he went in to the temptation, he was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And he came back the same way because he used the right weapon. It is written. He could have argued on any point and won the battle with all the choice weapons Jesus could have used. Does not this teach us that the very best choice is His choice, and His choice should be our choice? Our Lord used this weapon, and we're going to see when at the very outset of His career. He had not yet come into his public ministry. Remember, he had just been baptized. He was baptized, Matthew chapter 3, and he was led of the Spirit into the wilderness. He had not yet begun his public ministry. At the very outset of his career, he used the word, It is written. He had not come into full view of others. We have no record of Jesus from the age of twelve until this particular time, until he entered this public ministry, until he was baptized of John in Jordan. He appears on the scene at that time. It might teach young Christians, and it might teach you and I, who may still be young at heart in Christian service, one thing, that the strength and the power is what? In the Word of God. It might teach us how to get started. It was the beginning of his career. If you turn to the book of 1 John, let me give you this. 1 John chapter 2. John says in verse 13, listen carefully, I write unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you young men because you have overcome the wicked one. Look at that statement. You have overcome. I write unto you young men because you have overcome the wicked one. Isn't that what Jesus did? I write unto you little children, because ye have known the Father. Verse 14 is very important. I have written unto you fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you young men, because ye are strong. Listen, the young men are strong, and the Word of God abideth in you. And you have overcome the wicked one. How is it that the young men that are strong, and we're talking about strong in the Lord, overcome the wicked one? Because the word of God abideth in you, that infallible word that you need to have at hand and the weapon you need to use. So Jesus used it at the beginning of his ministry. You and I ought to use it. And young converts ought to use the word. I'm thankful that little Robert, the first Sunday he accepted the Lord, two Sundays ago, and last Sunday he had a new Bible. Brother Robert got him a Bible so he could start out. Right. I mean, children know the Scripture. We had that in Sunday school this morning. Paul told Timothy, and he says, That from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures. We need to teach them the Holy Scriptures. They're able to learn it. Someone says they don't understand. They understand a lot more than you think. You know, I've been up here preaching time and again, and some little girl on the front row here would, after the service over, show me everything I'd preached. I mean, have it written down, jotted down. An outline of the whole sermon. And how many adults can do that? Well, we find that that's the way it goes. They learn. And they're ready to learn. And then he not only used it at the beginning of his ministry, but he used it when no man was near. Think of you and I being all alone. He was alone with Satan in the temptation. No one was there. Think of you and I when we're alone, when we face trials. We need to use it then. When he was enduring personal trial, when you're enduring personal trial, you need to learn how to use the Word of God and hear that still, small voice. 1 Peter 1, verses 6 and 7. Let me read this for you. 1 Peter 1, verses 6 and 7 says this. wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations." Sometimes we're alone, we're in heaviness, and manifold temptations. Now, it says that the trial of your faith, okay, if you have faith and it's being tried, You had faith because you had the Word, because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And that the trial of your faith, the trial when you have the Word of God, yes, you're tried. So was Jesus, but He had the Word, didn't He? That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. So in the midst of trial, and even when you're all alone, You know, it's not the world that gives you so many problems and sometimes even Satan's presence to try to convince you of something wrong in your life and that you don't measure up and condemn you and cause you to doubt and say you don't belong to God. If you were a child of God, you wouldn't act this way. The devil has all kinds of ways of dealing with your mind. Have you ever heard someone say, well, now, if you were a Christian, you wouldn't act like that. Where's that voice come from? You are a Christian and you still act like that. And we all still have problems, but we have to have the word of God to help us through those problems. We're not perfect. None of us. You show me the perfect man, I'll show you only one. That's Jesus. He never was one perfect, but him, because even Adam, though he was created in innocence, he finally he fell. and became the federal head of the human race, and therefore all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and there is none righteous, no, not one." So we need to learn to use it when we are in the midst of trial and when we are alone. Now, quickly again, Jesus used this weapon under the most trying circumstances. No one to help or to sympathize. There was no one there to sympathize with him. You and I, sometimes we have a companion that can say, well, you know, you've got this problem. I'll help you with it. He had no one. So what did he look to? One thing. It is written. It is written. When he was terribly hungry and he had the power to do anything, he fed the children of Israel with manna from heaven. And now he was terribly hungry. He was afterward and hungered 40 days. And the Bible says that Satan wanted him to turn these stones into bread. And he said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And by the way, that's something you and I need to learn, too. We can live and we know we have to have food to sustain the body, but God's word will sustain us. And when the time comes, the need will be provided for physical hunger, because he, after this temptation was over, went out and I'm sure was able to satisfy his physical hunger. and great danger on the pinnacle of the temple. Satan wanted to cast himself down. And by the way, did you know when Satan was doing this, he was using the scripture, he was quoting from one of the Psalms, and he told Jesus, he said, it is written, if you cast yourself down, he'll not suffer you to cast your foot against a stone. But Jesus had one that taught that. You know why? Because the devil was misusing it in the first place. This was a sin of presumption. You don't presume to do things just to see if you can get by with it. You don't presume to go out here and lay down across the railroad track and say, God promised to take care of me, and therefore, I'll just lay here, and when the train comes, it'll stop. It won't either. It's going to cut you half in two. And God has given you enough sense not to play with danger, and the sin of presumption. So, Jesus did not jump off the pinnacle of the temple because He said, It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And when you do something contrary to your own senses and your own mind and your own judgment that God has given you better sense to do, you're tempting God. Like these snake handlers. You say, Well, they get by with it. Well, some of them do. Some of them don't. But nevertheless, I'm not going to take up any serpents, are you? The Bible says, well, they'll take up serpents and not be harmed. Yes. And Paul did. He took up a bundle of sticks there on the island and he was bitten and he was not harmed. But he didn't go out there to get the serpent. He went out there to get the sticks to make a fire. And in the process of that, God protected him from that poison. And that's what God meant. He'll take care of you when when you're in danger. But he doesn't want you to throw yourself in danger just to see if he will. And that's what the devil wanted Jesus to do, is jump off the pinnacle of the temple. He would not do it. Then he was shown all the kingdoms of the world that were shown at his feet. Sometimes this has driven men to destruction, to show them all the riches and things of the world. By the way, Paul says, we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we'll take nothing out. The love of power and money and fame sometimes destroys men. He wanted them to sin. from the temple and on the high mountain. No change in his mode of warfare with Satan, neither should there be in ours. Jesus continued to use his one defense even though his adversary often shifted his point of attack. You see, the devil has more than one arrow, and he tries to attack you from every side. And even though it was shifted, he tempted him to distrust God for the bread. He tempted him to presumption by casting himself down. He tempted him to fall down in worship by offering him all the kingdoms of the world. But at every point, Jesus said, it is written. And we need not turn from the written Word. We cannot be in a position or circumstances or any situation in our lives in which the Word of God will not provide for us the weapon that we need. You say, well, preacher, I've been here or there in my situation, and I don't find the answer in the Word. You look in the Word, and the answer is there. The Bible says that the Word of God is given to us, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is proper for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Now listen, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished, throughly furnished unto all good works. That means completely. We need to hide it in our hearts. The psalmist said, Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. We need to meditate upon it. The Bible says to meditate there day and night, and you shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, which bringeth forth its fruit in its season. That's Psalm 1. You'll find that in the six verses. In Psalm 1, there's an introduction to all of the Psalms. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, the Bible says. Be rooted and grounded. Be established in the faith and in its truth and in its teachings. So we've seen the word that we should use. Now then, the second point of our message is, our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us to what use He makes of this word it is written. Remember, He says, If thou be the Son of God, was said to Jesus. First of all, He used it to defend His Sonship. He didn't say, Yes, I'm the Son of God and I'll turn these stones into bread. He said, it is written, to defend his sonship at his baptism. God says, this is my beloved son. He had already said that previous to the temptation in Matthew chapter 3. This is my beloved son, whom I am well pleased." The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove lighted upon him, but he did not say, yes, I was baptized back there just recently of John the Baptist in Jordan, and I heard God's voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved son. I am a son of God. He didn't try to reason with the devil from that standpoint. He said, it is written. Man shall not live by bread alone. You see, you can win an argument sometimes, but on the other hand, why argue when you have the infallible weapon? Why argue about it? You say, it is written. I'll just stop right there. He didn't have to say anything else. He didn't have to say, I was baptized of John, and God's voice said, I'm his beloved son, and I had the witness of it by the Holy Spirit coming and lighting upon my shoulder. And John the Baptist witnessed this. No. He didn't argue that from that standpoint. By the way, the devil would have you sometimes to doubt your sonship. Say, now, if you're a child of God, if you're a son of God, why do you do this or that or the other and argue with him? Say, it is written, it is written what? That God's word says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. You believed on Christ, so you're saved. You say, it is written. For God so loved the world that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. You could say, it is written, and whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You could just quote, it is written. And that proves your sonship. You don't have to argue with the devil and say, well, you know, I'm better than I used to be, or I'm not improving too much, but still, I believe I'm a child of God, or I had this feeling, or I trusted the Lord. No, just say it is written. God's word will protect you when your sonship is on the line. The devil would try to have you to produce evidences that you're a son. You don't have to produce anything. Just say it is written. And then, of course, the scripture that refers to the fact that everyone that is a child of God is justified and pardoned and forgiven and accepted in the Beloved, and nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so, to defend his sonship, and secondly, to defeat temptation. He was tempted to distrust, to presumption on the providence of God, to be a traitor to God and to worship other gods, but he would not. And next, Jesus uses the word as a direction of his way. Even though he was hungry, he would still be guided by the word of God. This would direct him to his source and his need. Man shall not live by bread alone. It's written. He could have cast himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. But he would not misuse his special gifts and privileges to disobey God. We are not to turn the grace of God. You and I are not to use the fact that we are a child of God and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. Just because we are saved by grace, we are not to presume upon that grace. The Bible says, The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men. What does it do? It brings salvation, and it says, teaching us, listen carefully, us how to live. And it says, denying ungodliness. First of all, what we're not to do. And worldly lust. And how to live. Look, three things. Soberly, and righteously, and godly in this present world. How are we to live? Soberly. You have to live with yourself. That's inwardly. Righteously, you have to live with others. And Godly, that's upwardly, you have to live with God. So, you live with yourself, you live with others, and you live with God. Inwardly, soberly. Outwardly, righteously. Upwardly, Godly. And the grace that saves teaches you to live that way, and we have no right to try to turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. You know, every once in a while I talk to folks, and I can see they're just itching for a verse of Scripture that can justify them and their sins. I mean, you know, where can I find that Scripture that says this is okay? You're not going to find it, friend. If God is convicting you in your heart, and His Word is said, Thou shalt not, it means exactly that. And every time you start to commit that sin, it's going to say, Thou shalt not, and you're going to know it's wrong. And every time it tells you what it's right to do, you're going to know what's right. So you don't have to worry about it. But I've found folks that come up, Brother Joyce, doesn't it say this, so and so? Not hardly. You know, it just doesn't say that. I've quoted before where A lot of people want to justify. Now, you can go out of this world any way you want to and be buried any way you want to, but they try to justify a cremation, and they say, well, the Bible says ashes to ashes and dust to dust. The Bible doesn't say that, friend. It just doesn't say that. Now, if you want to be burnt, that's all right with you. And I'm not going to argue with you about it, but it doesn't say that. It tells us about Abraham, he was buried in the sepulchre. Joseph was buried, and Isaac, and all of them, and so on and so forth. And Jesus touched the bier of the young man that was on his way to the burial, the coffin. He touched the coffin, raised the young man, gave him back to his mother, so on and so forth. But that's another story. But I want us to see that a lot of people presume upon the grace of God and they try to turn the grace of God into lasciviousness and make up their own rules and regulations as to how to live. Now, I realize it's getting long and I have to hurry to get through this message because I'm nearly halfway through already. Now, the kingdoms of this world were offered to him, but he felt of no advantage. But he said, it is written. The Bible teaches that he kept on saying, it is written. Now, for personal maintenance, for maintaining his own spirit, he was in perfect calmness. By the way, when you have the Word of God at your back and at your side, you don't need to worry about not being strong. Because it's your strength. It's that infallible Word. You don't have to worry about it. Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. The Word of God is Hebrews 4.12, quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." And verse 13 there says, "...neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do so." God's Word is there, and it's quick and powerful. And it's used to vanish the enemy, to chase him away. You're to take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God against any assault of Satan. Now, last point of our message. As Jesus chose the weapon and taught us its uses, so he showed us how to handle it. How are we to handle it? First, with deepest reverence. First, let every word be law and gospel. Never trifle with the word of God. Pray for understanding of it. And sometimes it's a very personal word to us. Sometimes when you read a passage of scripture, it seems like that's just exactly what God is saying to you. And it's your answer at that point in time in your life. Paul says that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling. And so he wants your eyes to be enlightened. Secondly, always have it ready. Know where to find it. Make no mistake in quoting it. Do not quote it wrong. I've always taught folks here learning the Scripture. If you're saying the Scripture and you run across a word and you think or are doubtful that that's correct, go look at it before you start getting it in your mind. Make sure that you get it right. And by the way, quote the King James Version. Make no mistake in quoting it. Hide the Word of God in your heart. Jesus used one book of the Bible, but he had plenty more to use. You and I need more than just a little bit of ammunition. He was not short of ammunition, neither are we. He used three verses of Scripture from the Old Testament. Think of how many verses are in the Old Testament. And he well knew all the Scripture. Think of how much you and I should know of the word of God. And we not only need to have deepest reverence for it and always have it ready at hand, but understand its meaning, discern between its meaning and its perversion. There are people that pervert the scriptures and twist them and change them. Paul says there would be some that would pervert the gospel of Christ in Galatians chapter one. And he says twist the word there means to twist it or change it to mean some other way. But the gospel according to Paul and according to God's word is that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures it is written. He was buried. He rose again the third day according to the scriptures. So it is written. Learn its meaning and understand its meaning. The devil adds to it. The devil changes it. The devil takes from it. He perverts it. And you need to be able to discern which is right and which is wrong. We need to so know it and understand it that we may truly apply it to every situation. in our lives. Someone ask you about something? You can apply the Word of God properly. Learn also to appropriate the Scripture to ourselves, because it is food for our souls. Job of old said, I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. It is written, and it's food to the soul. It's a personal message to each and every one of us. It's bread on the table, and it's on the plate. But it must be in your mouth before you can assimilate it. And so, the Word of God, you say, well, preacher, there's the Bible. Yes, there's the Bible. It's preached. It's taught. So it might be food there on the table for you. So you say, I have it on my plate. Well, you must take it into your own personal being. It must become a part of you for you to appropriate it for yourself. You know, if mother calls the kiddos to dinner and says, food's on the table, it's time to eat. The children say, well, yeah, I know it's there. Well, they're not going to get it unless they go. They're going to go to the table. They go to the table. It's on the plate. They're still not going to get it unless they eat it. And that's exactly the way the Word of God is to you in the New Testament. Peter says, desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. We need to desire it and appropriate it to ourselves. Now, another thing quickly. We said we have to use it with deep reverence. This is how to handle it. With deep reverence and always have it ready and understand its meaning and learn to appropriate it for ourselves. And then quickly, stand by our text, whatever it may cost. Stand by the Word of God. Do not follow men and their diversions of it. Do not follow men or angels from heaven. If they preach any other gospel, Paul says, though an angel from heaven comes down, he says, let him be accursed if he preaches any other gospel. So you and I are to stand by it with our convictions. If we have people today, and I trust and I believe most of you do, that will stand by God's Word, appropriate it to themselves, and take their stand there and use it as it should be used, we'll have some victorious and wonderfully satisfied folks. Remember, lastly, that Jesus was filled with the Spirit. Now, Jesus is the author of this book, and the Word of God, apart from the Spirit of God, will be of no use. So you must pray that God will help you to apply it as it is to your heart and life. The Bible says all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. The Bible tells us we have a more sure word of prophecy. That's the word of God. 1 Peter 1.23, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Hebrews 4.12, the word of God is quick and powerful. We've already quoted it. Psalm 119, verse 89, for ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119.130, the entrance of thy words giveth light. Psalm 119.160, Thy word is true from the beginning." Psalm 119, verse 11, "...thy word hath a hidden mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." Isaiah 40, verse 8, "...the word of our God shall stand forever." I say, 820, to the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Ephesians 6, 17, And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Psalm 119, 105, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Psalm 119, verse 9, Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. Two more, Jeremiah 15.16, "'Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart.' And last of all, Jeremiah 23.29, "'Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?'