You Can Trust God's Word | May 4, 2025 AM

Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.

The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us

or contact us at mylibertybaptist.org or just

look us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this

message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

You know, in many ways it's hard to know who to trust anymore,

isn't it? It used to be that there were

certain entities, that there were certain organizations that

were standard bearers for trust. Over the centuries, the

government has proven over and over again that while they

should be obeyed and they should be prayed for, as we are told in

Romans chapter #13, that they cannot be looked anymore as the

authority for truth. May I remind you that it was the

government not that long ago that couldn't even define what a

woman was. And I have the utmost care for

those that deal with gender dysphoria.

I really do. But I do believe that there are

institutions that are fueling this pandemic by not affirming

the truth of Genesis chapter. God created man in his own

image, in the image of God created he him male and female

created he them. John Adams said in 1798.

Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious

people. It is wholly inadequate to the

government of any other. And so where the governor, or

rather the government rather at one time, could be more of an

arbiter for truth, that is not necessarily the case.

Or. But downstream from that,

government fueled education has often proved that agendas are

far more important than academics in many circles,

aren't they? Of course, the Internet full of

truth, isn't it? I'd wait for that, some of you

to catch that. But yes, it's like Abraham

Lincoln once said, 75% of the things on the Internet are

false. I was worried that was going to

go right by all right, somebody caught that Abraham Lincoln said

75% of anyway, all right, moving on.

But miss truth blogs, podcast, social media, there's so much

it's hard to tell what's true, what's not.

And even AI, artificial intelligence that's out there

today, you know, it just gleans off of the Internet and repeats

what it finds. And so it cannot be trusted even

as it's given the the keys to more and more of our systems

that we deal with and dispenses more and more information.

Now look, I'm not saying that there are not good and godly

people that work in some of these institutions.

I'm thankful for the people who do work in those places and

honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I am so thankful for them. And I'm not trying to take

anything away from them or their testimony whatsoever.

But what I am saying is that as a whole, these institutions

cannot be trusted in the way that they were maybe even just a

generation ago. But we can trust religion,

right? Because religion is always true

and right, correct. If only that was the case.

We're looking at a series right now in Sunday school talking

about false religion. And there's more flavors of

false religion than baskin-robbins has flavors,

isn't there? There's just so many different

false religions that are out there and even believe it or

not, from doctrinally sound churches.

Some have been disillusioned. There are some people even here

this morning, I wouldn't name names, people who've had

testimonies of going to doctrinally sound churches that

overtime changed and at one time would preach one thing and the

pastor would get up in the pulpit a year or two or three

later. And to say to disregard what he

preached before because he has something new from the Word of

God or really something new from his own mind.

It's hard to know who to trust anymore.

So the answer is you can trust me.

Oh, wait, no, that's not. No, that was in there.

Never mind. So who do you believe when you

can't fully trust the establishment, the government,

education, centers of knowledge like the Internet or even

religion? Who can you trust?

Well, I think you understand where we're going with this

already. In a world where there's so

little to trust, be confident this morning that you can trust

the word of God. In a world where there's so

little that's out there to trust, even in the name of quote

UN quote, religion or quote UN quote, Christianity, you can

trust this book that you have in your hands this morning.

And that ought to give us a lot of confidence and a lot of joy.

Would you stand pleased for the reading of God's Word?

Second Peter chapter #1 Second Peter chapter #1 First number

sixteens, where we'll pick up in our series, says, for we have

not followed cunningly divide. Let's try that again.

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.

For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when

there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory.

This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

This voice which came from heaven, we heard when we were

with Him in the Holy Mount. We have also a more sure word of

prophecy, where until you do well, that you take heed as unto

a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and

the day star arise in your hearts, Knowing this first, that

no prophecy of the Scriptures of any private interpretation.

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but

holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

You could trust the Word of God because it is the Word of God.

Why don't you be seated? And we'll look at this more as

we pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you

for this morning. And once again we come to you

asking you to do in Your Word what we cannot do on our own.

Lord, it's not my idea. It's not my plan to allow my

personality or my own thoughts to be what changes people's

minds here today. And Lord, it's if that's the

case, then it'll be very short lived, if anything at all.

Lord, I do ask that Your word is what shines through.

Your word is what convicts us, is what changes us, what

encourages us. And Lord, what may very well

grab the heart and attention of someone here today who is not

saved to help them to understand that they need salvation through

Christ alone. Thank you for this time and

blessed as we continue. And we ask it in Christ's name,

Amen. In our text, Peter pivots the

conversation that we've had really for this whole text thus

far about adding to our faith. And he talks about the

foundation upon which we are to add to our faith.

How do we know what the faith is?

How do we know what to add to? How do we know what we can

trust? And so as we get into verse #16

and beyond, Peter starts with what the Scriptures are not.

And he says this first. He says these Scriptures that

you have here are no fable. What you are seeing here is not

a story. In fact, I try to be careful

sometimes to not even call these Bible stories.

And listen, I'm not trying to be weird about it.

I know that we can call them Bible stories and it's not

wrong. But these are accounts from the

Word of God because they are. Because they are.

I can't even catch that. All right.

Hopefully they didn't until I just made it even worse.

Don't translate any of that, all right?

But what I would realize is this.

These are real things that happened here.

These are real things. That word fable here in the

Greek is the word mythos. Guess what?

We get that word from myth. That's what we derive it from

today. So what are some common myths

from antiquity? We have the Iliad and the

Odyssey. You have Thor and his hammer,

Hercules and his strength, and many, many others.

But you can go to today and there's still some myths out

there today, isn't there? The Sasquatch.

The Loch Ness Monster. Sorry, Diane.

The Bermuda Triangle. The Bridgewater Triangle,

there's some myths out there even today.

They're fables, they're stories. And what Peter is saying here,

in essence, is we're not hunting Sasquatch.

We're not chasing legends, spinning fables, or passing down

campfire stories that when it comes to the issue of Jesus

Christ, he really lived, He really died, He really rose

again and really lives today. And every single one of us must

call upon Jesus Christ to save us.

This is no fable, friend. Now why would he say this?

Well, in many ways it's just common sense.

Ask yourself this question. If this wasn't true, why did

nobody recant specifically of those disciples who are being

spoken of here? If this was true, why didn't

they recant specifically when 10 out of the 11 original apostles

died? Now, we know the Bible doesn't

tell us how all of them died. In fact, it doesn't tell us how

most of them died. However, 10 out of 11, other

than John, who died of old age and exile, I believe other than

that, we find that history tells us 10 out of 11 of these.

Or rather, yeah, 10 out of 11 gave their life and martyrdom.

Peter was crucified upside down in Rome under Nero's reign.

James, the son of Zebedee was killed by the sword on orders of

Herod Agrippa in Jerusalem. We find that in the book of

Acts, Andrew was crucified on an X shaped cross in Greece.

Philip was martyred by crucifixion or hanging.

Bartholomew flayed alive and then beheaded in Armenia or

India. Matthew was killed by the sword.

Thomas was speared to death. James clubbed to death.

Thaddeus killed with arrows or club in Persia.

Simon Zolotes martyred, probably by crucifixion or by being sawed

in half. You don't think if this was a

fable that one of them wouldn't have said, don't kill me?

It's not true. Yet every single one of them,

firm in their faith, firm in what they saw and what they

heard and what they believed, were willing to go to death.

Why? Because there's no fable.

Even Paul, who died at Nero's command, said this, which could

apply really to all these men in Acts 2024.

But none of these things move me, neither count I life my life

dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy

and the ministry which I've received of the Lord Jesus to

testify the gospel of the grace of God.

Paul knew to some extent what was coming down the Pike.

He didn't know at what time, he didn't know in what manner, but

he knew the Holy Spirit had revealed that there were some

troubles ahead. But he said this, It doesn't

move me. Why didn't it move him?

Because it wasn't a fable. Because it was real, just as

real as the air that's coming into your lungs right now, just

as real as this metal building that we sit in, just as real as

the ground upon which our feet is on, is the reality of who

Jesus Christ is. And Peter says in verse #16

right out the chute, this is no fable.

But he continues, and he says this.

He says they were eyewitnesses to what happened with Jesus

Christ. Go back to verse #16 Let's read

starting from verse #16 Once again it says, For we have not

followed cunningly devised fables.

We may don't unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus

Christ. But why witnesses of His

Majesty? For He received from God the

Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to Him

from the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son, in whom

I'm well pleased. This voice which came from

heaven, we heard when we were with him in the Holy mountain.

Now these disciples watch Jesus work.

They watched him live, they watched him preach, they watched

him teach, they watched him perform miracles.

They were eyewitnesses of His Majesty.

The word majesty is a word that we often use when we talk about

the word of God, but it's one of those, I think we don't always

truly understand what it means. The word majesty, according to

the 1828 dictionary, says it's greatness of appearance,

dignity, grandeur, dignity of aspect or manner, the quality or

state of a person or thing which inspires all or reverence in the

beholder and applied with particular propriety to God and

His works. When those disciples saw Jesus

Christ, you know what they saw? Majesty, they saw something that

no one else had ever done before, and by the way, that no

one's ever done since. Why?

Because He was very God. But it wasn't just that they

sold this. Did you catch in verse 17 and 18

that it seems to be talking about a specific event?

It talks about the voice of the Father being heard.

It talks about the Holy Mount, and we ask ourselves what

exactly is it Speaking of here? And we would see that it's

talking about the amount of transfiguration.

Do you remember when Peter and James and John saw Jesus

transformed and got a glimpse of Him and his full glory?

Save your spot here, but go over to Mark chapter #9.

So put your ribbon there and go down to Mark chapter #9 I know

we I exhausted you this morning, Sunday school, going from

chapter to chapter, but I think we need to see this Mark chapter

#9. Now the account of the Mount of

Transfiguration is found in Matthew and Mark and Luke.

We'll just look at the book of Mark here this morning.

Mark Chapter 9, verse #2 it says, and after six days Jesus

Mark 9 · chapter mention

taketh with him. Peter.

So here's the connection to what we just read.

And James and John and lead them up into a high mountain apart by

themselves, and he was transfigured before them.

His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, so is

no fuller on earth can wipe them.

And there appeared unto them Elias, Elijah with Moses, and

they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and said to

Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here, and let us make 3

tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for

Elias. For he wished not what to say,

for they were so afraid. By the way, this isn't my

message, but when you don't know what to say, sometimes it's good

just to not say anything. Peter says I can't think of

something to say, so I'm going to say it.

And that was pretty good summary of Peters life, wasn't it?

At least before Acts chapter 2. And there was a cloud that

Acts 2 · chapter mention

overshadowed them. And a voice came out of the

cloud saying, This is my beloved son, hear him.

And suddenly when they looked roundabout, they saw no man

anymore, save Jesus, only with themselves.

And if they came down from the mountain, he charged them that

they should tell no man what things they had seen till the

Son of man were risen from the dead.

Can you imagine what it would be like to see Christ in just a

portion of his gloriousness? It says He's transfixed.

Before them. He was shining, exceeding white

as snow, as no fuller. That that would be someone who

would dye cloth, that no one would be able to dye cloth in

such a way to make it that radiant white that Jesus was

right there. And it says, Can you imagine?

Could you imagine what it would be just to see a little bit of

that? And here is Peter back in first

Peter, rather second Peter chapter #1 and he says, listen,

this is no fable. We saw it with our own eyes.

And not only did we see His Majesty of his life within our

eyes, but we were on the mount. It was me and James and John,

and we weren't together. We saw him standing with Elijah,

and we saw him standing with Moses.

And by the way, that'd be pretty incredible to see Elijah and

Moses standing there. But you know what?

None of it was important compared to seeing Jesus there.

And what does God say? The Father says listen, hear

him. And in the companion passage, as

he mentions in second Peter chapter one, this is my beloved

Son in whom I am. Well, please.

They saw him like this. You know, you think about it.

How could you ever doubt him again if you saw him in that

moment? How could you ever doubt?

I never feel like that. Like man, if I saw Jesus like

this, that would get that would get my spiritual batteries

charged for the rest of my life. I'd never doubt again.

But may I remind you that we have a little bit of a problem

with our memories when we see God works.

May I remind you that was the Israelites that about a week or

so after the Red Sea that said we're going to die.

We have no water and you want to just grab one of them by the

robe and say, what's the matter with you?

Do you not remember what you saw last week?

But their memory was short. Later they would build a golden

calf while the mountain still smoked from God's presence.

And they said, Moses is gone. What are we going to do?

Let's build a calf. Elijah.

Remember Elijah we just saw a moment ago?

He saw the fire fall down from heaven and a couple days later

he's running away from Jezebel and says, Lord, take my life.

I'd rather be dead than alive. And of course, the disciples,

Peter saw this and it wasn't that long after that he denied

Christ three times. Now before we start to think,

boy, those people are pretty lousy.

I'm glad I'm not like them. We have to get to a place where

we remind ourselves we have a difficulty with our memory as

well. Can I remind you, if you're a

child of God today, God's been good to you.

Every single person, man, man, Even though even the Baptist

have to say Amen to that, right? I mean, God's been good to you.

Amen. I can say it.

I can say Amen. All right.

I know that. Hey, God's been good to you.

He saved you. He's cared for you.

He's not just provided for your needs, He's provided for your

wants to. It seems like everybody got here

in a car that semi worked. It seems like everyone's going

to go home and probably have something to eat.

Seems like everyone's going to go home and there's going to be

a home that's there. God's been good to us, it's so

good to us, but then we get into a little bit of trouble and we

say, well, what's he going to do this time?

I feel like we have some of the same problems that the

Israelites have. And if we were to base our faith

on human experience, the problem with that is this is that human

experience starts to fade. It starts to dim.

We start to forget some of the details, and over time what

happens? We start to doubt.

I'm so glad that our Heavenly Father does not require us to

live. On human experience, to be able

to truly understand what the Christian life is all about.

So what do you mean by that? That we don't live by human

experience? I mean, listen, I know we have

experience. That's part of being a person,

right? We experience things.

But do you realize that Peter is saying here, listen, I saw a

Jesus Christ and I didn't just see him, I saw him glorified.

And he could probably even add here, and I'm not trying to add

to the word of God, but understand He could say I saw

him for those 40 days before he ascended into heaven.

I saw him in His Majesty. But when he comes down to human

experience and all those things, he says this, you know what you

can really trust? You could trust God and His Word

and you realize that we may not have had the experiences of

Peter. You may not have had the

experiences of Paul. We may not have seen the things

the Israelites saw in the Old Testament.

But you have a more sure word of prophecy right in front of you

in the Word of God, the combined Canon of 66 books that Paul did

not have, that Peter did not have, that those Old Testament

Saints did not have, that you have with you today.

What a privilege and what a joy to be able to have the Word of

God. And So what does Peter say?

He says you can trust God and His word.

Our faith and the word is not based upon myths.

It's not based upon second hand testimonials.

It's not even based upon what we can remember within our own

brain. No, no, verse 19 says back in

our text, if you want to go back to second Peter chapter #1 we

have a more sure word of prophecy.

See that word sure doesn't mean sure as in Are you sure about

it? Although I would say that the

word of God should make us sure. But when it talks about that

word sure, a more sure word of prophecy, it means this

something that's firm, as in you're on sure footing.

Listen, if you're trying to live the Christian life by what you

see and experience, that's not sure because experience is

again, dim. Memories forget.

We doubt, but we have a sure word of prophecy here.

I remember after my surgery about four years ago, some of

most of you knows, maybe some do not, that surgery on my jaw and

that they had to remove 7 inches of bone in my leg and not

replace it to be able to rebuild my jaw.

And I remember it was about maybe a month after my surgery

that we went to Lake Winnipesaukee.

We went to a lake, sorry, Marsha, we went to a lake and

there's a beach there at Weirs Beach.

And I remember walking out in the sand, and I hadn't really

thought about the fact that my leg wasn't right, you know, And

it was the first time I had walked on ground that was not

sure. And because my leg was not sure

and the sand was not sure, it was one of the most miserable

experiences that I've had in my life because I couldn't walk in

the sand. Just about anybody can walk in

sand. But I realized I can't go any

further because if I keep walking, I'm going to fall flat

on my face. Why?

I was not sure in my footing and the ground itself was not sure.

It wasn't firm like the ground that we have here or like the

road or like a sidewalk or even your lawn.

It was not sure. Listen, this word that we have

upon us is so sure that it's the solid rock that you can build

your life upon. It's not going back and forth.

It's not vacillating. It's not here one day and there

the next. It's not the thoughts of man

that change about every two minutes, but it's a sure word of

prophecy. You can be sure in it, but

understand you can be on a right footing because of this prophecy

verse #20 says this. It's so sure that you can't make

it say what you want it to say. You see that knowing this first,

that no prophecy of the Scriptures of any private

interpretation. You know what this means.

I can't look at the Word of God and say, well, I believe it

means well, hold on a second. I want this to say, well, my

opinion about this is no, we have to humbly come to the Word

of God and say this. I am not going to change the

word of God, but I'm going to allow the word of God to change

me. Well, pastor, I mean, some of

the things it talks about in this book are pretty old

fashioned. Oh, I'd say they're a lot older

than you think. In fact, they're so old that

they're eternal old. Pastor, this is 2025 and human

sexuality has changed and the way people live has changed and,

and people don't live this way. One man and one woman having

having their physical contact within the bounds of marriage

that that's, that's not good for 2025.

Well, it may not be good for 2025, but it's eternal truth.

And you can't change it. You can't get around it.

I mean, taking God's name in vain.

What's the big deal about taking God's name in vain?

Everything you watch on TV, everywhere you go, everywhere

people say, I mean, it's not that big of a deal, right?

Well, it's big enough of a deal that it remained the top of the

10, pretty close to the top. Why?

Because that's an eternal truth and we can't change it based

upon what we, you know. This is a sure word of prophecy

and we can't make it of any private interpretation.

Well, this is what it means to me.

You know, God, humbly I ask for your Holy Spirit to show me what

this word says and show me where I'm wrong in connection to this

word so that I can get right. Listen, this is the level by

which you make sure probably could use those things.

This is the level by which you make sure your life is straight

because I've told you before when it comes to our house and

hanging pictures and doing things like that.

And my wife asked me to do this thing is the only thing she

asked me to do around the house because all I need is a hammer

and a nail. That's all I need.

And I still can't do that right? Because I'll look at it and I'll

say that's straight. She said, did you get out the

level? I don't need the level.

Anyone with two eyes can tell that that's straight.

She goes, I really think you should pull out the level.

And then we've done this for over 20 years and we still have

the same conversation. I pull out the level, the

bubbles off to the side. We don't talk for a few days.

And that's just the way it works.

But it looks right. But it's not how many people

say, you know what? I, I feel like I'm pretty good.

I feel like I'm doing all right. I feel like, you know, I love

the brethren. I feel like I've got my life

under control. I feel like everything's the way

it ought to be. But then when you start to get

into the level of the Word of God, you say, whoa, I'm not

where I thought I was. So no private interpretation.

You don't change it, it changes you.

Then look at verse #21 For the prophecy came not in old time by

the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by

the Holy Ghost. Why is it so firm?

Why should we keep our hands off of twisting it?

Because the human authors were simply human penman who were

inspired by none other than the Holy Spirit himself.

Now, next week, we're going to look at what the doctrine of

inspiration is. I want to talk about what that

is and why it's important for us.

We're going to learn not just that we can trust God's Word,

but why we can trust God's Word. And we're going to focus on

verse #21 more next week, but suffice it for the moment to

understand this. The Bible was written over a

period of roughly 2000 years by 40 different authors from three

continents who wrote in three different languages.

Shepherds, kings, scholars, fishermen, prophets, a military

general, a cupbearer, and a priest all penned portions of

scripture. And yet it has incredible

harmony that it does not contradict itself in one word.

It is the most popular book that's ever been printed, and

the Guinness Book of World Records has said that it's sold

somewhere. Not sold, but has printed

anywhere from 5 to 7 billion with AB copies, and the next

highest book hasn't even achieved a billion.

There's no book like it, friend, and there's no book upon which

you can trust for this life. And there's no other book that

you can trust for your afterlife than the Word of God.

How do we know we spend eternity?

Well, it doesn't come by human reasoning.

It doesn't come through philosophies.

It doesn't come from natural observation.

What we understand about salvation has been revealed to

us through the Word of God. You know, I trusted religion to

be able to give me the answers for salvation.

Just religion in general. That's how I grew up in the

Lutheran Church. You do enough, you get baptized,

you take the Lord's Supper, you keep your nose clean, you'll be

in heaven. It's only one problem.

I found out that's not what the Bible says, that it's not about

what I do, but it's about what Jesus Christ did on the cross.

And perhaps today you are putting your faith in yourself

or in some other doctrine to achieve salvation.

Friend, the answers to this life and the answers of the life to

come are all found in this book. This book says that sin is real.

It's a violation of the holiness of God.

This book says there's consequences for sin.

It's a place called the lake of fire.

This book said that Jesus Christ showed his love toward us and

that He died for us so that no one has to go there, so that all

we have to do is accept the gift of eternal life through Jesus

Christ our Lord. If you were trying to find what

the answers to life and the life to come are, there's no other

place than you can look than this book.

See, Pastor, there's got to be other truth out there than

what's in this book. And the answer is there is.

But the truth that's out there doesn't violate the truth of

this book. If the truth out there violates

what this book says, then it's not truth because it doesn't

come from God. So you, you sound pretty certain

of that. Oh, I'm not trying to be cocky

about it. I'm not trying to be arrogant

about it. I just know this truth is real.

It has to be somewhere and we find it in the word of God.

And to me it's indisputable. You know, the good news about

this morning and we're getting ready to close.

That's not the good news, by the way, but the good realize that

came out. She said, well, pastor, that is

good news. You're going to find out.

It's not as good news you thought, because I probably

still have a few more minutes. But the good news this morning

is this. I believe many of you already

believe this. I don't know that you would be

here this morning if you didn't already believe that the Bible

has the answers to life. I really do, unless you're

searching for salvation. In that case, I want you to

understand you're amongst friends here today that want you

to be born again. And we want to help you with the

Bible. Not with any other book, not

with some sort of theology that's apart from the Bible or

in some catechism, but the Bible and the Bible alone will tell

you how to be saved. And we'll help you by just

taking you to the Bible. But I believe probably this

group is pretty firm on this already.

But there's a couple thoughts I want to give you before we go.

You know we're supposed to live this book, right?

I mean, that's what we're supposed to do.

It's not just a, it's just a book of facts.

It's not just a textbook. It's a life book.

But you know, you can't live what you don't know.

You can't live what you don't know.

Sure, you might believe that this this book is what you're

supposed to base your life upon, but how can you do that if you

don't know it? First Timothy, or rather Second

Timothy 215 study to show thyself approved unto God, a

Workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the

word of truth. Do you make it your life's

business to be someone who studies this book?

You want to know it better than your favorite TV show, Then your

team starting lineup, the lyrics to your favorite song, your

daily schedule, or even your phone's home screen.

You got to be familiar with this book, by the way.

You have to start from somewhere.

You don't just absorb it by osmosis.

Wouldn't that be nice? But you start somewhere and you

start small. But over a lifetime, God will

help you to grow through the power of His Holy Spirit.

But if it's important to you, you want to learn, don't you?

You know, if it's important to you, you want to learn.

And it's one thing to say I want I, I know this book is a life

book, but you can't live what you don't know.

I've mentioned before a few times that I've had the

opportunity to do baseball play by play the last couple of years

for town, for the high school. And I'll be honest with you,

when I started to do it, I knew nothing about it other than

trying to sound like Joe Castiglione.

And you know, that doesn't work very well because he's done it

for about 50 years. And I had, you know, played high

school baseball for about 3 minutes.

But I realized I needed to learn.

And So what did I do? I found a book.

There's not many books out there.

I found one book and I read it a couple times.

I found an online forum. I joined it and started reading

what other people said. I searched and I searched for

every scrap of information that I could find.

Then after every game, I would listen to what I did so I could

take notes and do better the next time.

You know why? Because I wanted to represent

myself well. I wanted to represent the team

well. I'll be honestly, this might

sound silly to you. I want to represent the Lord

well if I'm going to do it. The Bible says whatsoever you

eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.

I wanted to do it right because I was doing it.

But you know what? It was important to me because I

didn't want to look like a fool. Now, I still kind of did well

anyway, but they want to look like a fool.

Listen, do you have that same thirst for the things of God?

Because that's what we truly need.

We need it with every shred of our being.

You need it just as much as you need to draw that next bit of

oxygen. You need it.

Do you study the Word that way? Do you want to know more?

Again, don't compare yourself to other people.

That's a fool's paradise. Just say, Lord, what will you

teach me today? I want to learn.

And before you know it, you'll have 20 years worth of today's

and you'll look back and say, thank you, Lord, you've taught

me so much. And some of you realize you'd go

a whole lifetime and still not learn all of the riches from

this word. You can't live what you don't

know. And listen, you can't live what

you don't do. What does the Bible say?

Be doers of the Word and not hearers only deceiving your own

selves. James 122 You know, it's great

to know a lot about the word of God.

It's a lot better to do it. But a lot of people who know a

lot about the Bible but don't live much of the Bible, that's

not pleasing to God. That makes you an academic, not

a Bible believer. I will leave you with this.

I taught or I I was in high school and I took three years of

Spanish. It was a two year course.

I took three years of Spanish. I didn't even fail the first

year. I just did so poorly.

I wanted to learn more. Never mind you, my last name is

Rivero. I went through three years of

Spanish. I did all the reports, I did all

the conjugations of my verbs. I did all the homework.

I did all the conversations and to this day I only know the food

and how to find a bathroom. That's it.

You know why? Because as I was learning, I

really didn't have much of A thirst to learn more.

But also I never practiced it. My dad speaks Spanish.

He would ask me to speak to him in the house in Spanish, but I

didn't want to. I lived in Tampa where everyone

else spoke Spanish. I never used it.

And you know what? I look back today with regret

that I could be bilingual and I'm barely unilingual.

How many of us could say what a waste for me to sit in there for

three years and I got nothing? It would be a bigger waste.

Now, listen, I'm not trying to be unkind, but I want to probe

your thinking a little bit. I want to provoke your thinking.

Wouldn't it be a shame to sit in church for year after year after

year? But to not be different, to not

be changed, to not be better? Oh sure, we believe this word.

It'll change your life. Then let it change your life.

We believe it has authority. That be your authority.

We leave it. We believe it tells us how to

live. Then live how it tells you how

to live. This week, as we add to our

faith, make sure that you never forget.

You can trust God's Word. So live it and do it.

Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of

Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing

to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us

know by contacting us at [email protected].

Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,

MA. May the Lord bless you as you

grow in His Word.