Biblical Authority

Today we're looking at clear biblical truth is the core value.

And I'm going to take you to a story in Luke chapter 5.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

By the way, does everyone have a worship God?

Alright.

No, we're out again.

Amen.

I tell you, the Lord's been blessed and it's filling up.

And we're going to get us more room soon.

So just keep coming.

It's awesome.

But on that worship God, I've, this is kind of the way your pastor used to teach.

A lot of people don't, and I don't usually say a whole lot about it.

I don't want anyone to think I'm bragging or whatever or something like that.

But I did have the blessing and the privilege of being the dean of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary for almost 12 years.

And also taught pastoral theology, taught evangelism, and taught Christian life and evangelism, should I say, and church planning.

So had some of the best years of my life in ministry, Susan and I spent, she was over the Consumer Science Department at Liberty.

She still teaches in the doctorate program at Liberty online.

And uh, but one of the things I loved teaching more than anything was biblical authority, and that was one of my lessons in my Christian life and evangelism class.

And this is basically part of the outline that I would teach those precious students that were freshmen.

I taught over between 35 and 40,000 freshmen at Liberty University over those years, and not counting the seminary, the graduate students.

And so today I'm going to take you to my one of my classes, and it's going to be exciting because we're going to understand what biblical authority really is, and how we are to respond to that biblical authority in our lives.

So, one of the things that I love more than anything is understanding that God's word being the authority and direction of my life is the final say-so.

Can I get an amen?

What's wrong with America today, there is no absolute truth in America anymore.

None.

People can lie and not think twice about it.

People can make up the truth and not think anything about it.

And far as the Word of God, they have no clue what it really means or what it says.

But today we're going to be looking at biblical authority.

But before we get into this passage in Luke 5 with the disciples, here's I was reading, I was, I was going back, going through some of my notes on this class that I taught a lot at Liberty.

And I remember some of the research that I had done in England.

There was a group there at the college of British, actually, well, it was a private school of about a thousand kids or more, and they were asked the question about the Bible.

And here's some of the British children's understanding of the Bible.

Here's what they said.

Noah's wife was called Joan of Ark.

The first, excuse me, the fifth commandment of the Ten Commandments is humor your father and mother.

Now I love this one.

Here's one about Lot's wife.

Lot's wife was a pillar of salt by day and a ball of fire by night.

And when Mary, the mother of Jesus, heard that she was to be the mother of Jesus, she went out.

Hey, she went out and went off and sang the Magna Carter.

And then he said, Iran is the Bible of Muslims.

That's pretty close.

Now here's a classic.

A Republican is a sinner mentioned in the Bible.

I wonder what they think about the Democrats.

And then the natives of Macedonia did not believe, so Paul got stoned.

Now here's one.

I'll close with this one.

The first commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.

And we've been taking commandments ever since.

All right, let's go.

Let's go to Luke 5.

You know, I'm kind of like Mark Twain.

Mark Twain wrote, I used to love to read his writings, it's not the parts of the Bible I don't understand that bothers me.

It's the parts I do understand that gives me fits.

Is that not true, folks?

Is that not?

And then 1 Thessalonians 2.13 says this you received the word, not as the word of men.

This Bible is not men's Bible.

God used men to write it, but it's God's word, and he controlled every principle and thought written.

And I'll prove that this morning.

But notice what he says.

But the words of God, it's not, he said, you receive the word, Paul said, not as the word of men, but the word of God, now watch, which effectively works in you who believe.

And that's what we want to talk about this morning, is how does the word of God work in you and me as we believe?

And the way I want to do that, there's a beautiful story here in Luke chapter 5 of our Lord coming into the lives of the disciples, and his words literally changed their life.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

I meant they were going about their own business when Jesus showed up that morning.

And really, it's a lesson in God's word and what God's word will do for you and me when we allow it to have the same authority in our lives as did the disciples in their lives.

We can have that same result.

And I really believe that with all my heart.

So, there's five observations in this passage of Scripture in Luke chapter 5, verses 1 through 11 that we want to look at.

Luke 5:1–11

And first of all, let's look at the first unbelievable lesson.

And we see those in verses 1 through 5.

And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of the Ganeset, which is also the lake of Tiberius, and saw two ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their nets.

Now the setting here, they had been fishing all night.

And they had not caught anything.

Not one fish.

Not one.

And Jesus, needing a place to preach and teach, because all these hundreds and hundreds of people there, he said, he entered, he actually saw these two boats and said, hey man, that'll be a great pulpit.

That'll be a great platform.

So I'm going to go and sit down in the boat, and I'm going to get them, he's thinking this before he tells them to push out a little bit, so that my voice will bounce off the water.

Have you ever been on a lake early in the morning and there's some fishermen out in the lake, and you're on the bank and you're just sitting there relaxing and maybe reading your Bible there by the lake?

And you can almost hear every word they're saying, and they're way out in the middle of the lake.

Sure you can.

Because it's a natural, natural.

Thank you.

A natural amplifier.

It really, yeah, a microphone.

Boo, it bounces.

So he goes, and here's what he says.

Look at it.

This is good.

So he enters into one of the ships, verse three, which was Simon's, and prayed him, and the word pray in the King James mean he asked him, that he would thrust out a little from the land, and he sat down and taught the people out of the ship.

Now, when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a great hall, a great catch.

And Simon answered and said unto him, Master, we have toiled all night.

We've worked hard all night.

We've fished all night, and have caught nothing.

Nevertheless, at thy word, your word, Lord, I will let down the net.

So the first observation I want us to see this morning.

Jesus makes request of us to see how we will respond.

Jesus makes request of us to see how we will respond.

Now, this is pretty exciting to me.

Jesus comes into the disciples' lives, and he asks certain things of the disciples.

Now I want you to notice something.

He's very interested in our response, and here's why.

In this story, Jesus gradually, what's this, asks the disciples, first of all, for obedience.

And that's really usually the way God's word speaks to me and to us.

He doesn't just come up and just slap you.

He usually, lovingly and gradually gives you what?

Direction in your life through his word.

That's the way he does it.

Thy word is a what?

Lamp unto my feet and what?

A light unto my path.

So he gradually and lovingly comes in, and notice what he did here.

I like this.

First of all, he asked them, number one, can I get in your boat?

And then he asked them to take the boat out.

Then he, hey, to the middle of the sea, and then he asked them to let down the nets.

He gradually unfolded his will for them.

In other words, God doesn't just all of a sudden throw up on this TV or up on this monitor his whole will for your life.

If he did, you would panic.

You would.

You would panic.

If he had thrown up when I was running from the Lord, his will for my life, I would have run harder.

Yes.

Amen.

No, he gradually, and let me show you what I see here.

Man, this is so sweet and so powerful.

As with the disciples, he makes general requests of them.

And he is, watch this, vitally interested in their response.

Which brings me to the second thing I want to give to you.

Not only does Jesus make requests of us to see how we will respond.

Now, notice though, when he does this, what happens sometimes.

And this is good.

Number one, he will interrupt what you're doing.

He will interrupt what you're doing.

Notice they were washing the nets.

He interrupted their work.

Sometimes he's going to interrupt you when you're doing what you know to do so that you can do what he wants you to do.

Hello?

Did you get that?

I said sometimes he will interrupt what you're doing so that he can get you to do what he wants you to do.

That's happened to me more than once.

I had my plan.

I knew what I was going to do.

I was going to buy another SERPRO and go into full-time evangelism after I resigned from higher academics.

I had it all figured out.

And then a phone call from my friend David Wilson interrupted what I had planned to do.

I had it all planned out, except Susan wasn't on board.

She said, I'm not helping you one iota with a SERPRO.

First time in all our marriage she'd ever said she wouldn't help me.

She's always been my best partner.

That was a clue, but I'm stubborn.

Yeah.

You can do it if you want to, but I know what that means.

So, but, and notice the other thing, that's verse two.

He interrupted their word.

Then, hey, verse five.

Isn't it amazing he'll come in when you're just tired and you don't want to do it?

You're not interested in doing it.

I'm not gonna do that.

You want me to do what?

Launch out into the deep?

I've been out there all night.

I don't want to do that.

Lord, get somebody else.

I'm not listening.

I'm tired.

Notice what else?

They were discouraged.

Verse 5.

They had toiled all night and not caught a thing.

That's their livelihood.

They were def hey, they were discouraged.

They're complaining a little bit.

Isn't it amazing how God is so interested in you and what you're doing?

Now notice he's interested in what you're doing so he can get your attention to do what he wants you to do.

Somebody say that's good, preacher.

How do you know he's interested?

What does he start talking to them about?

Fishing.

That's what they do.

They fish.

So he talks to them about fishing.

Which brings me to the second observation.

Jesus then challenges them to trust and obey him.

He challenges them to trust and obey him.

Interestingly enough, he came and he begins and he understood their fishing and that they had fished all night.

They hadn't caught anything.

In fact, you go to John 21, you'll see this happen again.

Except he's on the beach and they hadn't caught anything all night.

And he asked them, do they have some meat?

And they say, No, we don't have any meat.

And he says, Drop the nets again.

And about that time, Peter understands who it is on the beach.

And he says, Oh, it's Jesus.

And he just leaps out.

Peter had a way of getting out of the boat.

Can I get an amen?

Notice all the other disciples were not interested in jumping out of the boat.

But Peter was.

Did it twice.

One in a storm.

Is that you?

Yeah.

Can I come?

Come.

The other disciples looked and said, I ain't getting out in that rough weather.

So we see, he's interested in and watch what happens.

This gets really good.

Then he began to make requests to them.

Requests that were very important to their lives.

Watch this.

Things that they knew about.

The question was, could they trust him?

Could they obey him in areas which they already knew?

Oh, ho ho! Repeat that, preacher.

Can I obey the Lord in areas of my life that I know everything I need to know?

Now, we're not talking about Saturday morning, Sunday morning, you ought to be in church on Sunday though, but Saturday morning, fishermen.

We're talking about professional fishermen.

We're talking about men that have been fishing all their lives.

They did it for a living.

And now Jesus is going to tell them how to fish.

And Jesus is a carpenter.

Hello.

You know what I you know what Peter meant when he said, Lord, we've already done that?

When he said we've been fishing.

I think in the back of his mind, but he was smart enough not to say it, he probably said, Why don't you just go back and mind your own business and do what you know to do?

Now you would never say that to Jesus with your words, but in your actions.

Hello.

I really knew, and I've never made this statement to Susan that I wasn't.

I knew Jesus didn't want me to go buy a surpro.

But I was trying to do what I wanted and not what he wanted.

Well, I was I justified it.

I was going to preach on the weekends.

I was going to help churches, and they didn't have to pay me anything.

I just go help them.

I had it all justified out.

And I'm sure Peter, I'm sure Peter had to say, wait a minute.

Lord, do you understand?

We fished all night.

Lord, we know where the fish were supposed to be.

We caught them there.

They were not there.

We kept fishing.

We kept fishing.

They are there, Lord.

Hmm.

Could they obey him in areas which they already knew something about?

Now we would never wonder if we can trust God in areas that we are uncertain about.

I mean, when we go in a place and we get caught in situations that we know nothing about, what's the first thing we do?

Lord, help! Lord, I need your help.

I need your direction.

I don't understand this.

I don't know what's going on.

Lord, help, help, help, help.

But if we know what we're doing and we, hey, invite in what we're doing and want to do, we don't need your help.

The question's always about whether we can trust God in areas that we're pretty sure about.

That's the main thing.

And here we see Jesus walks into their lives and he says, Trust me.

Trust in the Lord with all thy heart.

Lean not on thy own understanding in all thy ways, acknowledge him, and he'll direct your paths.

Proverbs 3, 5, and 6.

Then that brings me to the third thing.

We struggle in the areas where we have control and experience.

It's hard for us to let go.

We want to do it our way.

The moment when Jesus walked into the disciples' life, look at it.

And through his word or the voice of the Holy Spirit begins to challenge them and challenge us in the areas where we are secure, where we have control, there's a tendency for us to struggle.

They were struggling.

Look at Peter.

When the master walked into Peter's life and said in verse 4, I want you to cast your nets into the water.

Notice the first thing he said.

We've already done that.

We've already done that.

I want you to cast your nets into the water.

The first thing he said, we've already done that.

We've been fishing all night and we've caught absolutely nothing.

In southern Alabama slaying, Peter would have looked at the Lord and said, been there, done that.

But notice.

We all relate to that, by the way, too.

But every one of us knows what he's what it's like for God to walk into our life and tell us to do something that we thought we were already doing.

And hey, but the Lord said, and I love it, he said, but Lord, I don't think I really need to listen in this area.

Peter's saying, Lord, I'm a fisherman.

I don't need to be taught this.

I know what I'm doing.

Brings me to number four.

We're called to give God's word final authority in every area of our life.

Even if it doesn't make sense, can I get an amen?

Or can I get a know me?

Verse 5 after Peter said, I want you to know, Lord, we've been doing this all night, and we've already tried.

Hey, there, we've tried this, been there, done that.

He said, But if you tell me to do it, I'll let down my net.

Hallelujah.

But God, if you tell me to do it, I'm gonna do it.

I'll let you be the final authority in my life.

And that brings me to a very simple question.

When we hold God's word in our arms and we begin to read it, look at it, meditate upon it.

The psalmist said, I meditate on thy word day and night in Psalms 1 and 2.

When we begin to hold God's word in our life, does it change us?

Do we obey it?

Is it really the final authority within our life?

Is it really?

Is it our final authority?

Is the word of God the final authority in your life?

That's the question you've got to answer.

Is it?

Listen to what Chuck Colson said in one of his books.

And he was talking about the fact that so many of us have Bibles and yet the Bible doesn't change us.

Listen to this.

81% of the people surveyed in a recent poll said that they were evangelical.

That means they believe in the death, burial, resurrection of Christ.

They believe the Bible's the Word of God.

And yet only 42% of them knew that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount.

That's pretty bad.

And then he said 48% of them could name the first four books of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Only 48%.

And then listen to this.

Out of the 1,382 people that were surveyed, less than 1% of them said that their lives were directed and truly changed by the Word of God.

In other words, many of us read it, but it has no effect on us.

It doesn't change us.

It doesn't guide us.

It doesn't direct us.

I was reading about a guest lecture at a university and listened to what he said.

I won't call his name because you know him, but the only thing they asked him before he made the lecture was not to talk about the word of God and the Bible.

He noted how strange it was to speak at the university and be asked not to talk about the Word of God or the Bible.

Especially when that evening, after he had spoken that morning at the university, he went to the prison ministry, and the first words from the warden were, as you talk to the prisoners, could you please talk to them about biblical principles?

Seems to me like the carts before the horse.

Here's what Chuck Colson said in his book.

Then we can talk about it.

Seems to me like we're building the hospital down at the bottom of the cliff instead of putting the fences at the top.

Seems to me that we don't really understand what the Word of God will do and how it can change our life, which brings me to the fifth point in this passage.

Consistent obedience produces consistent results.

Consistent obedience produces consistent results.

If you're willing and obedient, you should eat the good of the land.

But if you refuse and rebel, you should be devoured by the sword.

Isaiah 1, 19 and 20.

The book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that's written therein.

Then now watch this.

Then shall I make the way prosperous, then shall ye have good success.

Wow, folks, that's a promise from God's word, Joshua 1.8.

Powerful statement.

Consistent obedience produces consistent results.

Turn with me in your Bible to 2 Timothy chapter 3.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

One of my favorite passages I taught the preacher boys at liberty in pastoral theology, especially on the section about the authority of God's word in our lives.

In 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 15.

2 Timothy 3:15

And by the way, verse 13 there, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

So when you think about this country can't get any worse, it will.

But there's hope.

Because look at verse 15.

Well, verse 14 says, But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned from the Word of God in Jesus, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.

In other words, you can be assured that the word of God is true.

Can I get an Amen?

It is absolute truth.

And then I love what he says to Timothy in verse 15, and that from a child, Timothy, thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation.

You get saved through the word, through faith which is in Christ Jesus, and you grow through the word.

You get justified through the word, and then you get sanctified through the word.

Can I get an amen?

From a child, listen to me, parents.

We got a lot of young couples in this church that have parents.

Why do you think we have a one us?

Why do you think we have children's church?

Why do you think that we do all that we do in the summer for the kids to teach them the word of God?

Listen to me.

I've been saying this now for however many 40 plus years I've been in the ministry.

The greatest thing, listen to me, mom and dad.

Listen to me.

The greatest thing you can give your children is not, hey, hey, the greatest thing, I meant the greatest thing, you say a great education, a great this, a good this, a good job, a good.

No, the greatest thing you can give them that they'll never, never, never regret, or or or they'll never wish they had not been taught it, is you teaching them the word of God.

And that from a child, Timothy knew the holy scriptures.

Deuteronomy 6 is all about we're going to be talking about a in the couple's retreat.

One of them I'm doing the ten killers of marriage, and one of the ten killers is that a couple does not build their house.

We did a baby shower here yesterday.

And except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain to build it.

Psalms 127, verse 1.

Psalms 127:1

It's the greatest thing you can give them.

I don't care what it costs you.

The greatest cost is you giving them a dynamic Christian education.

It never, listen, oh, thank you.

It never returns void.

Isaiah 55, 11, the word never returns voids, but it accomplishes where I send it.

God's word will accomplish in you and me and your children and their children.

Deuteronomy 6 promises, moms and dads.

God's purpose in their lives.

Can I get an amen?

That's the greatest thing.

I'm now getting to see it in my grandchildren.

I saw it in my children.

I taught now, I'm watching them teach it to their children.

Blesses my heart.

Alright.

In verse 16, here it is.

Fill it in.

All scripture is given by the inspiration of God.

God wrote it, not man.

And I'm going to show you that in a little bit.

And it's profitable for doctrine.

That's, hey, God's word teaches us.

The word doctrine means teaching.

For reproof, it rebukes us.

For correction, it corrects us.

For instruction in righteousness, it disciples us.

It directs us.

Now watch.

And then verse 17.

That the man of God or woman of God may be perfect.

The word there means complete, fully equipped, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

In other words, completely equipped to do what God tells them to do.

Man, that's good.

There it is.

Right there.

So let's answer a couple of questions this morning.

I always love to get answer questions and probe questions when I was teaching seminary.

Here's some common questions.

Does the Bible claim to be God's Word?

Absolutely.

Right there.

All scriptures given by the what?

That literally means God breathed it.

He breathed it.

He wrote it.

In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God.

John 1 1.

Now watch this.

2 Peter 1 21.

For prophecy came not in old time by the will of men, but by the will of God.

And it was written by men filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

And I'm going to show you that in a little bit.

The Bible's not half inspired, and it's not half uninspired.

It's not partly fallible and it's not partly infallible.

Now we have all of us have our favorite passages, but it's life-changing.

But it's all God's word and it's all God inspired and every part of it for a purpose.

Whatsoever things were written aforetime, Paul said, were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Romans 15, 4.

Now that's good, folks.

Really good.

Secondly, all of God's word is inspired.

Secondly, its instruction is alive and profitable.

We just went through it.

Thirdly, it is comprehensive.

These times.

There's times, you know what I've learned over all these years of ministry and just soaking up the word of God?

There's grace moments.

You know what a grace moment is?

Let me tell you what a grace moment is.

When God so gets your heart so full of a truth in the word that it's either so true to you because you've doing it that you can't help, but just have that grace moment where you're just thankful to God for the grace of God.

And because, see, grace is say, we're saved by grace, and we're also sanctified by grace.

It's just that moment that you know it's literally changed your life forever.

That's a grace moment.

That's a grace moment.

Or it's another time when when you God so overwhelms you because he's got a, just like he did with the disciples in this passage, here's a great example in the context that he had a purpose for them, and his purpose was not them to fish for fish, but to fish for men.

So he totally encompasses them with the grace of God through the word of God to redirect them for the purpose of God.

Whoa, that's good.

That's a grace moment.

He encompassed me and changed me and sent me to Westover.

That was a grace moment.

It was a grace moment when I left Open Door Baptist.

Actually, when I left Liberty as a student and went to Open Door Baptist Church, it was a grace moment.

Then I left Open Door Baptist Church and went back to Liberty to work at Liberty.

That was a grace moment.

And then I left Liberty and went to temple to be the president.

It was a grace moment.

And then when God moved me from temple and brought me here, it was a grace moment.

Where I knew God was radically going to give me the grace to change my life, my direction, my purpose.

That's a grace moment.

Thoroughly equipped.

Absolutely.

And that's what we see with the disciples right here.

There's a time, listen to this.

Here it is.

Especially to do a comprehensive work in our lives.

That's what a grace moment.

There's times are literally like the tide.

They come and they go.

They come and they go.

They come and they go.

Ecclesiastes says there's a time to sow, time to reap.

There's a time to be born, there's a time to die.

And there's a time for the grace of God, those grace moments.

And today's one of those moments.

And then number four, it can completely equip us for both life and ministry.

That's the word.

God's word has the ability to come alongside of us and enable us to do that which we perhaps could not do ourselves.

I learned a long time ago that if you have the Spirit of God, this is good.

You want to write this down.

If you have the Spirit of God without the Word of God, you blow up.

But if you have the Word without the Spirit, you dry up.

But if you have the Word and the Spirit, you grow up.

Let me repeat that.

Somebody did wonder where I was going.

Now you said that's good.

Let me write that down.

If you have the Word, or excuse me, if you have the Spirit without the Word, you blow up.

If you have the Word without the Spirit, you dry up.

But if you have the Word and Spirit, you grow up.

And that's what He tells us, but to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Isn't that good, folks?

God helped the people.

I'm asking God to help us today to appreciate the Bible and the price that's been paid for us to have the Word of God.

Sometimes we just kind of take God's word for granted.

Let me give you some history of people's treatment of the Word of God.

This is very important.

Listen to me.

In 600 BC before Christ, King Jehoiakim is literally tearing the Bible up page by page, throwing it into the fire, and imprisoning all the prophets and priests.

Then 90 years after the death of Christ, in 90 A.D., the disciple John is banished to the Isle of Patmos.

He's in prison.

He's on the lonely island.

And why?

Because the word of God and the word of his testimony.

That's why he's there.

Revelations 12, 11.

And then in 300 A.D.

after the death of Christ, John Wycliffe, you've heard him, the Wycliffe Bible, listen to this.

Translates 300 A.D.

the Bible into English.

Then everyone who possesses a copy in English, are you ready for this?

Is killed.

They become martyrs.

As these martyrs in England are burned at the stake, they hold those scriptures, the Bible, close to their breast.

Forty years later, in 340 A.D., the church is still so upset.

Now listen to this, with John Wycliffe, that they literally dig up his remains and throw them in the river.

In doing that, they declare that the Word of God is never again to be translated into the people's language.

They believe it will be completely washed from the memory of men.

In 1536, William Tyndale, the Tyndale Bible, who has again translated the New Testament, is burned at the stake.

It is safe to say that literally thousands of people that have written, translated, and distributed the Word of God have literally died for their efforts, no doubt about it.

Let me show you this.

Are you ready?

This is great Bible history.

The Bible was written over a 1,500 year span.

It was written by 40 generations, by over 40 authors from every walk of life, including, watch this, kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen, and scholars.

It was written in different places, including out in the wilderness, in dungeons, in palaces, inside prison walls, while traveling on lonely islands in the midst of war.

It was written at different times, sometimes in peace, sometimes in battle.

It was written during, hey, different moods.

Some were writing from the heights of joy, while others wrote from the very depths of sorrow.

It was written in three continents.

Ready?

Asia, Africa, Europe.

And it was written in three languages: Hebrews, Arabic, and Greek.

It covered subject matters including hundreds of controversial subjects, yet, with harmony and continuity, from Genesis to Revelation, there is one unfolding story, and the story is the redemption of man through Jesus Christ.

This costs something.

This is not just a book you go and buy out of a store.

It's a living testimony.

It's a living book.

You know the difference between this book and any other book?

It's alive.

It is the spirit that quickens the flesh, profits nothing.

These things that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.

John 6, 63.

It's alive.

It's alive.

Voltaire, the French infidel, who died in 1778, literally traveled the world, especially enlightened Europe.

Now listen, speaking against the Word of God, and he predicted that a hundred years after his death, the Bible would never ever again belong on earth or ever be read again.

Well, Voltaire died 50 years later.

Woo! The Geneva Bible Society bought his home using his presses they have used to produce his, hey, that he used to produce his atheistic uh philosophy.

They have been producing Bibles ever since.

Amen.

You don't mess with God and win.

Amen.

Is that good, church?

Now do you understand why we believe in biblical truth?

Clear biblical truth.

All right.

Heaven and earth shall pass away.

But my word shall never pass away.

Matthew 24, 35.

As the grass withers, the flower fadeth, the word of God shall stand forever.

Isaiah 48.

Oh, forever, O Lord, my word is settled in heaven, Psalms hundred and nineteen eighty-nine hundred and fifty verses.

Last question.

How can I apply my study of the Bible to my daily life?

Turn to Ezra 710.

Ezra 710.

Oh, one verse tells us how to apply the word of God.

Four ways to take God's word and apply it.

Here we go.

Ready?

And Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.

Number one, here it is.

Ezra prepared his heart to approach God's word.

Ezra literally prepared himself in the way that he could approach God's word.

Search me, O God, know my heart, try me, see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting.

Let me get my heart pure, Lord, before I come into your presence through the word.

Notice the second thing.

Ezra prepared his heart to study the word.

As Ezra read it, he allowed his heart to be tender and open to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

John 5.39 says, Search the scriptures.

These are the scriptures that testify of me, Jesus said.

Wow.

Wow.

The Berean Christians were more better than those at Thessaloniki.

You know why?

Because they searched the scriptures gladly, and they searched them daily to see if those things were so.

Acts 17, 11.

Man, that's good.

Oh, Colossians 3.16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

In all wisdom, teaching, teaching us in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in our hearts to him.

Is there a melody in your heart today for him?

Wow.

Wow.

Man, that's good, preacher.

And thirdly, Ezra prepared to practice what he learned.

Ezra not only read it, but as soon as he read it, he practiced it.

He began to apply it to his life.

Ezra, look, look.

Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and then what to do it.

Be you doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

James 1.22.

You know what you deceive yourselves of?

You deceive yourselves of two things, the purpose of God and the power of God.

His word is with power.

His word is with power and purpose.

And you could throw the little third one in there, protection too.

It protects you from sin.

Thy word have I hid in my heart that what?

That I might not sin against thee.

That's good, preacher.

And then Ezra prepared to share what he learned.

When I taught this to preachers, and I taught it for years to preachers, I said, You want to know how to preach?

One verse, Ezra 710.

I said, You know what you got?

First of all, you've got to have a right heart.

You got to have a heart filled with the Holy Spirit with Jesus.

Then you've got to seek it.

You got to dig it.

You gotta go to the Word for all the precious gold and silver and the principles.

Then you gotta live it.

Now watch this, and I believe this with all my heart.

Then and then only are you prepared to teach it or preach it.

Teachers?

Any preachers, any of us can go get a good lesson.

You can be a good speaker, communicator.

You can communicate a good lesson.

But if it's not all in your heart, all it is, remember the word without the spirit is what?

Try.

I'd rather have an old country boy that doesn't know the difference between a subject and verb agreement, but filled with the Holy Spirit of God, preaching the word of God to people that need to hear the word of God.

We had the Lord's moving in that last song this morning.

I mean, he's moving, but I I just felt, I knew, I felt him come in.

He inhabits the praise of his people.

I'm telling you, folks, then you're qualified to do it.

Preach it.

I love what they said in Acts 5.

Here's what I want for our church.

Why don't we believe in clear and biblical truth?

Here it is, Acts 5.

They told the disciples, shut up.

You're filling our city with your doctrine.

And then in verse 42, they went on and said, In the temple, in every house, they cease not to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Everywhere they went.

Jesus is awesome.

Three key phrases.

Love it, live it.

Learn it.

Love it.

Live it.

Learn it, but grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I quoted this verse, and my wife fell in love with me.

Young men, you want a good, godly woman?

Learn the word of God.

Jeremiah 15, 16, thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy words were unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, for I'm called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.

She is sitting on the front row like she is right now, and she just went.

That's not what she said.

I imagine that.

But what I did notice, she went, she did this exactly.

She looked up at me and she said, That's my verse.

Nobody quotes my verse.

But I did.

And I knew then.

Mm-hmm.

I'm in now, baby.

I'm in now.

Is that not true, honey?

But it was the kids and the kitchen that they held the day.

Line your own bed.

Don't you don't share too much.

You know too much, hush, Darren.

You gotta love it.

And you gotta live it.

That's at the marriage street.

All right.

All right.

Last question, and I'm through.

Woo! Man, this is good.

Have you learned something about the Word of God this morning?

Is it not all?

Yes, is it not awesome?

Now watch this.

Here it is.

What convictions should I have concerning the Bible?

These are worth me giving to you, and I'm through.

Here we go.

Number one.

Even when I don't understand the Bible, understand it, I'll trust what God says.

Even when I don't understand it, I'll trust what God says.

Remember Naaman in 2 Kings 5?

Remember?

He had leprosy.

What happened?

His little servant girl knew that there was a prophet Elijah in another city that could heal him.

He said, Why don't you go see him?

He'll heal you.

He said, I will.

So he gets in his powerful chariot and they take off with his group.

And he goes to the prophet's house, Elijah.

And he has one of his servants go up and knock on the door to Elijah's house, and Elijah's servants comes to the door, and they tell Elijah's servant what he needs.

And know what Elijah does?

Elijah turns around, tells his servant to go tell Naaman, the big powerful general, to go dunk himself in the Jordan River seven times.

Have y'all read that story?

Two of you have?

Hey, it would help my preaching if you'd read your Bible.

Y'all never heard about the last week, nane in the city of Nain, where Jesus raised the young lad from the dead in the casket, either.

All right, hey, you know what he does?

He's a big powerful general.

He gets mad, he's insulted, he's prideful.

And you know what he says?

Well, you just go back and tell that prophet, if all I had to do was that, I would have dunked myself in my own water and it's cleaner.

He didn't even bother to come see me.

I'm a general.

The servant said, General?

We're already here.

Don't you think you ought to do what he says?

Okay.

It's not gonna do any good.

That old dirty water, what is it gonna do?

Well, you know the story.

Well, most of you maybe don't know the story, but then he goes.

And he dumps himself seven times, and on that seventh time he came up, and his skin was like a brand newborn baby.

Because he was obedient to the word of God through the prophet of God.

Man, that's good.

Number two, although it seems illogical, I obey what God had said.

It literally seemed illogical for them to go back out and fish again.

What about Mary?

When Mary turned to the servants at the marriage feast when they ran out of wine, and says, Whatsoever he saith to you, that is Jesus.

Do it.

Y'all thought Nike came up with that saying.

Jesus way ahead of Nike.

Just do it.

That was illogical to go fill water pots, big old water pots with water.

We need wine.

We don't need water.

It was illogical.

Then number three, last thing.

While human opinions vary, God's word is right on every subject.

Can I get an amen?

While human opinions vary, God's word is right on every subject.

That's why Job said, I have esteemed his word more than my necessary food.

Job 23, 12.

And that's why Jesus said in the Mount of Beatitudes, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

All you hear is politics, this, that.

Somebody asked me the other day, he said, Well, who you gonna vote for?

What you gonna do?

I said, I'm gonna tell you, it's easy for me to tell you who I'm gonna vote for.

I said, I'm gonna vote for the Bible.

He looked at me and said, Well, what in the world kind of answer is that?

I said, I vote for the candidate that votes for biblical morality.

Always have.

I'm 66 years old.

I go, I do my homework.

I don't let man or news tell me who to vote for.

Can I get an amen?

I do my homework.

I'm an educated man.

I'm I'm I may not be the smartest, but I'm I'm pretty smart, really.

And my wife's a lot smarter than I am.

I feel like Roger Dangerfield today.

You take who's running, you go check their record of how they voted on biblical moral subjects.

That's what you do.

And if they voted for abortion, I'm not gonna vote for it.

I'm not gonna vote for anybody who's gonna kill babies.

I'm not gonna do it.

Just not gonna do it, folks.

I'm sorry.

You can get mad at me.

You can say I'm bringing politics into the I am not bringing politics into the pulpit.

What I'm bringing is what I just preached.

Total biblical authority.

That's what you live your life by.

And when the righteous, and if we could get some politicians doing that, we would have the righteous in authority.

The people rejoice.

But when the wicked bear through, the people mourn.

What the book said.

So do that.

Do that.

We serve an awesome God.

And you know what I told them?

They said, Well, it's just getting worse and worse.

I showed you today, it's going to.

But let me tell you something else.

See this book?

You got your Bible.

Put it right here.

Put it right here.

Put it.

Hug that.

Hug that thing.

Hug that thing.

Hey.

Church.

I've read the last chapter.

We win.

If people can be burned at the stake, for this book.

Don't you think we ought to be able to have enough courage through the power of the Holy Spirit to live this book openly, unashamedly, and share it with people.

That's one of them, we'll get to it.

Our key core values is sharing it, serving at home and abroad.

Can't we do that?

Yes, we can.

Will we do that?

Yes, we will.

And we'll be a light that's so radiant in our community.

That people that want to hear the truth.

People, let me tell you, people won't, hey, when the tough, hey, when the times get tough and they're gonna get worse, let me tell you what good, godly conservative people won't.

And even liberals won't, when that gets really tough, they want to really know the truth.