be turning in your Bibles this morning to 1 Thessalonians, first chapter of 1 Thessalonians. And sorry, it would be the second chapter of 1 Thessalonians. I'm just going to read one verse of Scripture here this morning to begin with. It won't be the last one unless the Lord takes me home right quick. But we're going to begin with this one verse, and 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 13. And we're going to really just center in on one phrase. And we'll reveal that in just a moment. But it says, For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye 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. And the phrase that we really want to look at is this. I guess it is the two or three phrases actually. It says, Ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, what? It is the word of God. How do we begin to explain or how do we begin to give emphasis to the fact that this is the Word of God? Because we were singing that song, verse 20, song number 21, hymn number 21, almost chose that this morning as a closing hymn. But one of the things that it says in there, in the fourth stanza, in the third line, it says, he speaks. And there is an exclamation point after that. It says, an eternity filled with his voice, re-echoes the praise of the Lord. I hold a book in my hand. But it's not just a book. I can walk over somewhere and pick up a book. I can pick up this book. That's a good book. Or I can walk over and I can pick up one of these pamphlets, and they're good pamphlets. They have a lot of good words in them. But it's not the Word of God. This book is the Word of God. There is not any other Word of God. There is only one Word of God. There is only one Word. And we quote John 1 many times, but once again, how deeply do we think about it. That in the beginning was not a Word, but The Word. The only Word. The Word. In the beginning was The Word, and The Word was with God, and The Word was God. We need to reverence this Word because it is the Word of God. Let me try to put it this way. When we read this Word God Himself, the Almighty, the Holy, the Righteous, the Just, the God, the only God, may as well Himself be standing here in front of us and speaking these words because it is He that has given it unto the apostles and the prophets and those that have spoken this word It is the God, the only God, that has given these words, as the Apostle says in our text, when ye received the Word of God, which ye heard of who? Ye heard it of us. but ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God." Now, that ought to make us tremble a little bit. If God Himself appeared here in any form, He might be in a burning bush. He might be in the form of a priest like Melchizedek. He might be in the form of an angel. He might be in the form of a man, such as the Lord Jesus Christ. But whatever form that he might appear here in front of us, what kind of reaction do you think that we would have? Would we have a nonchalant? A ho-hum? Attitude at the presence of God? I don't think so. How many places do we read in the Scripture that when God appeared, what did they do? They bowed down. They prostrated themselves. They quaked in fear. Because this is the God that the apostle Paul speaks of when he says that He dwells in the light unto whom no man can approach. Well, what if God appears in the form of the Word? Have you heard the term gospel hardened? What does that mean? Doesn't it mean that people have heard the gospel preached so many times until it just simply has no effect upon them? Could it mean like the Apostle Paul was talking about having their conscience seared over with a hot iron? Could it mean like the old adage, familiarity breeds contempt? But dearly beloved, this is what has been upon my mind and upon my heart for a while now is that I'm afraid that too many times we take exactly the same attitude toward this word. We either pick it up and read it as though it were just another book or we pick it up and we read it nonchalantly, unprayerfully. We pick it up and we read it and we do not tremble at it. But we take it for granted. Well, we've read it so many times. It's always available to us, right? in more than one form. I mean, it may be in this book, or I almost can't really see, but I'm pretty sure Joel's back there looking on his iPhone or whatever he called that thing. He's reading, but he's reading the Word on it, right? It's still the same Word, It doesn't really matter in what, again, what the format is. It's still the Word, the Word of God. But we pick it up and we read it as though, well, it's just so many words. We don't look at it as the Word. We kind of look at it as a whole lot of words. Or maybe sometimes a few words. But it's not that. It is the Word of God from Genesis, the first chapter, to Revelation, the last chapter. And we ought to tremble at it. Listen to Isaiah 66. Verse 1, Thus saith who? The Lord. Now, I don't know how many times statement is made or others that are very similar to it, but multitudes of times in the Scripture, it is, thus saith the Lord. It is His Word. He draws attention to it. He emphasizes it over and over. And many times in the same verse, He will say it more than once, this is the Word of the Lord. This is God speaking. It's not me speaking. It's not J.T. speaking. It's not Bruce or Jerry or Joel or Dale Burris or even you ladies when you read that. It's not you. It's not your words. It's not your word. This is God's Word. the One that is high and holy and lifted up, whose name we is reverend. But how do we approach it? Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool." Do we get any kind of sense of the majesty and the glory and the power of God as we read those few words? What in the world does it mean to us? Where, he asked, is the house that ye build unto me? And where is the place of my rest? For all these things hath mine hand made. This is God speaking. And all those things have been, saith the Lord. Here it is again. But to this man will I look." Who is he going to look to? Even to him that is poor and of a chondrite spirit and trembleth at what? Yeah, at my word. That trembleth at my word. When's the last time that we trembled at the Word of God? How important is the Word of God? It's so important that we ought to every time, really, that we even think about the Word of God. Every time we pick up the Bible, Every time we speak the Word of God, we ought to tremble at it. That's a marvelous thing. When God appeared, And he spoke to his saints in the Old Testament days, what we call the Old Testament. They trembled. There was nothing nonchalant about them. There was nothing. that was easygoing, if you will. There was always a measure of fear there because they were in the presence of God. Most people today are like Pharaoh. We'll have to give the people of Israel this credit. Moses went to, or God called Moses, and Moses went to that burning bush, didn't he? And what did God tell him first of all? Take off the shoes of thy feet, for the ground on which you tread or stand, it's holy ground. But he told Moses, I'm sending you to Pharaoh to lead my people out of Egypt. I've heard their cries. And Moses asked him, well, who shall I say sent me? And God told him, he said, say unto them, I am has sent thee. I am that I am. And the people of Israel evidently understood something about that, and they did embrace Moses then as their leader. Pharaoh wasn't that wise. When Moses went to Pharaoh, and said, the Lord, God commands you to let my people go. What was his response? Yes. Who is the Lord that I should obey him? But how many today have exactly that very same attitude and that very same response in their hearts. Sometimes it's done out of ignorance. Some little ones like these that are sitting back here know very little, really, of who God is. And so, consequently, there's not much fear in them. But as they grow and get older, You trust that there will be a fear of the Lord. Because it's a matter of not just life and death, but it's a matter of heaven and hell. And those that deny, those that say in their heart, there is no God. Oh, what dangerous ground they stand upon. Because they're standing upon holy ground, but they're standing there with their shoes on their feet and defying God. And they're ultimately saying, we do not believe in you. And they would shake their fists at him and dare God and blaspheme his holy name. On the other hand, there are those that we, as the Apostle did, we thank God without ceasing. Because why? Because when you received the Word of God, which ye heard of us, That's the amazing thing. One of the amazing things is that we get to speak God, the Almighty, Sovereign God, holy and just and righteous and majestic. The Lord of lords and the King of kings. as with the apostle. The apostle talks about how he has been entrusted with the Word of God. We, you and I today, those of us that believe we have been entrusted with the Word of God as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, we've been entrusted with the Word of God. But what are we going to do with it? How will we treat it ourselves? Will we reverence it? And when I say reverence it, I'm not talking about making an idol out of this book. But I'm talking about, again, understanding that this is the Word of God, and it is the revelation of God, and it is God's means of grace towards us that we might know Him. It just really kind of makes me mad and sad at the same time every time I hear somebody that's supposed to be a preacher of the Word and gets up and starts to belittle doctrine. Because every time you belittle that doctrine, what you're actually saying is, oh, that doesn't matter. God's Word doesn't matter. I do want to read, yes, a few verses of Scripture. that I think hopefully, again, will emphasize these things to us. Exodus chapter 19. Verse 14, And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. Well, it doesn't really matter about your clothes, does it? Who cares? Today, we are very likely to come to the place that is called the House of the Lord in immodest and immoral clothes. And oftentimes, People will come and their clothes are not clean. But again, J.T., that's all been done away with, hasn't it? It's no longer any good. We're friends with God. And many others of the same nature, though they're not the same name, But these people washed their clothes. And he said, unto the people, be ready against the third day. Come not at your wives. In other words, these people were to make themselves clean because they were going to be in the presence of God. They had to prepare themselves to worship Him. They didn't get up on Lord's Day morning at 10, 30, 11 o'clock or whatever and never have had a thought about God, and all of a sudden, you know, oh, well, we're in church. No, they did. They washed their clothes even. And then in verse 16, and it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that was in the camp was laughing and having a good time. No. What did they do? They trembled. Of course they did. The mountain smoked, didn't it? But they trembled at the Word, at the voice of God, and that voice of God is described in the terms of thunder and lightning. Now, how many of us hearing a loud clap of thunder, just pay no attention to it. Don't you tremble a little bit? Guess what? A person that knows it's thundering and lightning is a very, very foolish person if he just goes out in that kind of an environment and tempts God. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God. And they stood at the nether part of the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether what? On a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. That's right. Our God is a consuming fire. That's the way the writer of Hebrews ends the twelfth chapter. Our God is a consuming fire. In fact, in that twelfth chapter, he makes reference to this very incident. Verse 19, And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai on the top of the mount, and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount, and Moses went up, and so forth and so on. But here God speaks, and guess what? The people heard the voice of God. In 2 Samuel, First, chapter 22. Second Samuel now, chapter 22. First, in verse 1, it says, And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song. in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saul." And then drop down to verse 14. It says, "...the Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice." Now one day, it's not only going to be the people of God that are going to hear that thunder. It's going to be every soul from Adam to the last one that are going to hear that thunder But it's going to mean a different thing to them than it does to us, I hope. I trust that that is so. That thunder to us means deliverance. But guess what? The psalmist said there is forgiveness with the Lord that he may be feared? Does that make sense? Absolutely. Don't fear their fear, not man's fear, but do fear the Lord, but listen the person that knows that God is a forgiver of sins and has forgiven his sins, he trembles at the very idea that God, the mighty God, the holy, just, and righteous God could forgive his sins. And he understands and realizes that the only way that God can forgive his sin is because that Jesus has taken upon Him that sin. Does that make you tremble a little bit? And when you think back about where you came from, the pit, as Isaiah puts it, from which you were digged, the rock from which you were hewn, scared me to death every time I think about what I was. and the path that I was taking, the place that I was going to, it makes me fear if God had not had mercy on me. And sometimes, even now, I think about those sins that I have committed against my God, my Savior, my Lord, those sins that I have committed against Him even now in the flesh. Those are not in the Spirit. Those were in the flesh. But where I was, those sins I committed in the Spirit, JT. that there are fleshly sins. And we do confess them. And it makes me tremble to think, if I've done this sin, am I really a child of God? And then I understand a little better why the apostle said, work out your own salvation with what? Fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And we rejoice in that, knowing that if God is working out in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure, then it means that the Spirit of God abides within us. But guess what? It's not God that's working out those fleshly sins in us. But you say, Bruce, sin is the only thing that belongs to us? Doesn't belong to God, does it? My sin doesn't belong to you. Self-centered. But that thunder of God, that thundering voice, means for us that believe, deliverance. But that thundering voice to the unbeliever is going to be exceeding loud and full of destruction. Well, we need to hurry on here. Psalm chapter 18. Just read a few more scriptures here. Try not to dwell upon them very long, but Psalm chapter 18. Again, we read these words in verse 13. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the highest gave His voice. Hail stones and coals of fire. Anytime words like that the Lord speaks, it ought to make every soul under the sound of it to tremble. But does it? You know, again, that's the strange work of God, isn't it? The only ones that will tremble under it are those that God has regenerated and in whom is His Spirit. Psalm 29. Give unto the Lord O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory thundereth. The Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars. Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh them also to skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn. The voice of the Lord divided the flame of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness. The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve and discovereth the forest. And in His temple doth every one speak of His glory. Does that give you any sense of the power and the glory, the majesty, the fullness of the voice of God? And how many other scriptures are there How many other times does God speak in that same manner in this book? And yet how few are there that tremble at that word. Exodus chapter 20. verse 18, Exodus chapter 20, verse 18. And all the people saw the thundering and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, lest we die. Now, we're shamed then, right? We have a tendency to shame them. Why do we shame them? Oh, well, they should have desired and delighted to hear the Word of God. Well, and yes, they should. But let me tell you this, they at least had enough sense, they had enough understanding in them to fear the voice of God which is not what many have today. Oh, how much we need the mercies of God. to break the complacency, to break the hearts. How much, how much do we tremble at the word of God? and reverence because it is the revelation of God. And I tell you again that if God were to appear here in person, there would not be one that would not fall down on their face. Not one. Not the youngest and not the oldest. They would all fall down before Him. And that's the essence, again, of why and what the Apostle Paul declares when he says that every need shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And dearly beloved, that confession is not going to be made with people standing up and staring God in the face. How arrogant is man that he thinks they can do so? Revelation 4, for the sake of time, Verse 6, And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal, and in the midst of the throne and round about the throne were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, the second beast like a calf, the third beast had the face of a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. Now let me tell you something first of all. The first thing is we lose everything that we ought to be gaining by this because we are trying to figure out who these were. Instead of bowing under the Word of God and understanding that Whatever else these are, they are a magnification of the worship of God. And they are showing forth the fear of the Lord in those that worship Him. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him. Now, we read about this where? Yeah, in Ezekiel. And they were full of eyes within, and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to Him that sat on the throne, who liveth forever and ever, then the four and twenty elders do what? They fall down before Him that sat on the throne and worship Him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. In chapter 5, verse 6, that I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood what? A lamb. And who is that lamb? He is the Word of God. He stood as a lamb slain before the foundation of the world. But now, where is He standing? Standing in the midst of the beast and the four and twenty elders He stood as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vows full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof. For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by what? Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. Verse 11, And I have beheld and heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, the beasts, the elders, And the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And we could go on reading in all of these and how many times in the book of Revelation alone do we see talk about this voice of thunder? Well, we didn't read it, but in chapter 4 and verse 5, right? In chapter 8 and verse 5. In chapter 11 and verse 19. In chapter 19 and verse 6. In chapter 16, verses 17 and 18. And we will read one last one in Revelation chapter 10. verses 1 through 3. And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillar of fire. Now who is this? It's the Word. And he had in his hand a little book open, and he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot on the earth. He's ruler of all, isn't he? And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roared. And when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voice." And that was the voice of the righteous God. How do we think of God? even when we speak the name. In his mercy, may he give us a right vision for who he is. Be thou my vision. And that's what we're going to close with right now. Hymn number 39. Now here's the thing. Nobody, nobody will ever tremble at the voice of God, except those, first of all, who have seen His glory by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, until again the day of judgment, and then they will tremble. Oh, how they will tremble. They will tremble so much, in fact, until they will call for the rocks and the hills to fall upon them and to hide them from the face of the Lamb. How terrible is that day going to be? But all those that have been As the old song says, washed in the blood and made clean. Rejoice to hear how clear that thunder is. There's no mistaking it, is there? There's just no mistaking it. It is so loud. and so precise. Sometimes I get aggravated at these young people because the schools don't teach them diction anymore. They don't know how to pronounce words. What they know to do is slur. And it's so hard to understand them. But God's Word is not that way. God is not that way. When God speaks to His people, my sheep hear my voice, and they know me, and they follow me. What a blessing!