[0:00] Amen. Have a seat. So have a seat. All right, if you've got your Bibles, please open up to two places. John 17, with one hand, the Gospel of John, chapter 17.
[0:14] With the other hand, 2 Corinthians, chapter 13. John 17, 2 Corinthians 13.
[0:36] If you have a Bible, you can do this. You can get two places at once. Amen. All right, John 17. And Jesus Christ here is just before his crucifixion, the night of.
[0:48] He's heading to the Garden of Gethsemane. He's praying to the Father from verse 1 on. And he makes this statement. We want to pull this out. It's a familiar verse, verse 17.
[1:00] John 17, verse 17. Jesus Christ says, Sanctify them through thy truth. And what's the next four words? Read it with me, will you? Thy word is truth.
[1:12] Thank you. Thy word is truth. Isn't that something interesting that he throws into this prayer to the Father? As he's talking about leaving them. He's talking about the son of perdition.
[1:25] He talks about them, God being in them, and I in them, and one in them, and so forth. And he says, Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Saying that to the Father.
[1:35] Now come back to 2 Corinthians 13. And look with me at verse number 8.
[1:47] The Bible says, For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.
[1:57] If the Lord Jesus Christ declared, this isn't my position or opinion. If he himself, God in the flesh, declared that God's word is truth.
[2:09] Not was truth, but is truth. And we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. I want to state clearly that I believe, and I always have as far as I know, that this Bible right here on this platform and on this pulpit is the truth.
[2:28] It doesn't just contain it somewhere in there and truth throughout. But I believe this King James Bible, this English presentation, I believe it is a presentation of the truth of God in English, pure and powerful.
[2:46] I believe it's the truth. And the Bible says we can do nothing against the truth. Now some people may not understand that thought. They may think, oh sure you can, you can misrepresent the truth, you can lie.
[2:59] But you can't change or alter the truth if it's truth. And what Jesus Christ said is, Thy word. So we're not talking about what men say to each other and shake hands on and covenants and laws of the land.
[3:13] We're talking about something that is established by God. His word is truth. And as a result, we can do nothing against the truth.
[3:25] We can't change the truth. We're powerless against it, to fight against it, to dissolve it, to alter it. Man can conceivably change words, can pervert the truth, could lie.
[3:43] But that doesn't change the truth, does it? For example, if you get a crayon out of a crayon box, and it says whatever Gary's favorite color is, chartreuse.
[4:01] I was going to say lavender. Gary's favorite color is white. We all know that. Now, if we was going to have a color on it, and you color it, and you say, yeah, that's definitely it.
[4:13] Now, if we were to unwrap that little sleeve, and we took off a different crayon and put that on, would that change what that crayon is, that wax, that color?
[4:25] Would the identity or the statement on it change the truth? It wouldn't do anything. You can't do anything against the truth. You can pretend. You can cover it up. If God declared something, and it says it's truth, you can't change it.
[4:40] If God created them male and female from the beginning, man can't change that. Man cannot change biology, the laws of biology, of life.
[4:51] He can do nothing against it. The only thing he can do is for it, as far as attacking it or taking it down. He can do nothing against the truth.
[5:03] When I went to Bible school, Dr. Ruckman used to say that this book runs the world. It runs the world. He would say things like, that book's a ticking time bomb about to go off, and the world doesn't even know it.
[5:19] What God has declared is the truth, will take place. What he says is going to take place will take place, and man can do nothing against the truth. He can't get away, oh, it says we're going to do this, well then, let's do our best not to do that.
[5:35] No matter what path or avenue man takes, he's going to end up right where God said he's going to end up, because man can do nothing against the truth. Now, I want to declare right now that my subject this morning is a little bit more on the intellectual side, and I'm not doing this intentionally, it's just the nature of the material this morning.
[5:57] You don't have to understand the Bible to believe it. You don't have to understand everything it says to believe that it's truth. You can just take by faith that this is the words of God, and that's a great position to be able to take.
[6:12] You don't have to understand it all to believe it. However, in an attempt to understand it, you can study it. You can do that. That's something you can do is study the words of your Bible to understand its truth.
[6:25] This is a holy book. On the outside, it says Holy Bible. Now, I don't believe every book that's printed that says Holy Bible on it is holy by any means.
[6:35] I think there's been some things going on in the last hundred plus years. But that aside for the moment, this is a holy book that we possess. It is high. It is lofty.
[6:47] It is wonderful. Its contents are far above us, and they are literally from out of this world. These words. Literally.
[6:58] Now, there are three, I believe, three views on the Bible. I think you can boil it all down to this. There's three views on this book.
[7:09] And how it came to be and why it exists. And the first view is what some would say that it's man-made. It's man-made. And there's even authors that have declared their authorship to it.
[7:22] And man put that book together. There's no God. There never has been. And God, or I'm sorry, man just imagined it all and wrote it all. Fantasy and reality blending together in some cases.
[7:36] History, whatever. Man will take that view. Some men will take that view. Bible, no use for it. It's man's words, not God's. That's one view. I don't think I have to spend too much time on that this morning.
[7:49] There's a second view. Others will say, no, there is a God. We believe there is a God. And we believe that God revealed truth to man. We believe that.
[8:00] But from that moment of revelation, truth then has been subject to man. Subject to man's potential error.
[8:13] Truth has been subject to, in its original presentation it was flawless. When God revealed it to man originally through Moses or through David or through Hosea.
[8:25] When God gave his word to man, it was pure. But as man copied it, man lost it.
[8:37] Man misplaced it or destroyed it or burned it or accidentally or purposely altered it. Sometimes man translated it into another tongue.
[8:51] And the view then is that, well, we still have in our book, in our Bible, the ideas that God gave. We still have the thoughts and kind of the storyline. But we're too far removed from that perfect revelation to believe that we have the words.
[9:09] That we have a perfect Bible. And in theory, mechanically speaking, that makes sense. That God did in fact give it perfect through those men.
[9:22] The revelation was true and accurate. The scripture was written down with authenticity and accuracy. And then if God just took a step back and said, good luck with that.
[9:36] Do your best. Then we can conceive and theorize that down through the ages, translations, some material was twisted or lost.
[9:47] Some manuscripts were out of existence or misplaced and destroyed. Different kings, different rulers and emperors despised the word of God and commanded them to be gathered and burned.
[9:58] And so we could theorize that, yeah, what exists today is the best that we could do. But we can't put our faith in every word of it to be the truth.
[10:10] That's a second thought. There's a third view of the Bible that you have on your lap. And another group, and this is where I stand wholeheartedly without apology.
[10:20] And that is, I believe that God did in fact reveal his truth to mankind in the form of written scripture. But that the same God who miraculously gave his word through inspiration, retained his word as he promised he would through preservation, and kept his words around on this planet for man to read, to learn, to seek, to study, to memorize, to obey.
[10:48] And God did that, and I believe God intends on keeping his words here long after I'm gone. And so there's a third group.
[10:59] One says it's man-made. Another one says God did give it originally, but it's not really, you know, good luck finding it perfect. And then there's a third group who actually has a book in their hands that says, I believe this is perfect.
[11:12] I believe it's what God gave for me. Now, of those three views, only one of them can be backed up or is based upon the scriptures themselves.
[11:24] Only one of them is based upon the scriptures. Come back with me to Psalm chapter, Psalm 12. We'll look at Psalm 12 and Psalm 19 for a moment. We're still in the introduction, so we haven't even gotten anywhere yet.
[11:53] Just letting you know. But it'll get going here pretty soon. Psalm 12. Let's notice two verses. As I said, one of these three positions is based upon the Bible.
[12:08] The other two are, at the very best, they're humanistic. They're looking through the eyes of man saying, there's no God. I can't touch him. I can't see him. No God. And the others say, okay, no, we believe God gave his word, but then humanly speaking, it just makes sense to me that this is what we have and I can't trust it because copies, you know, on all of that history there.
[12:31] What does the Bible say? Psalm 12, verses 6 and 7, where the Bible reads, the words, right? The words, whose words? The words of the Lord.
[12:43] That's important. The words of the Lord are pure words. Amen, amen. As silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times.
[12:54] That's how pure they are. Verse 7. Thou shalt keep them. Keep as in protect. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation, next two words, forever.
[13:12] That's a promise in the Bible that God will keep and preserve his pure words forever. It's no surprise that these two verses in some way are altered in every other version that has been put out in the last 120, 30 years.
[13:35] Where the Bible says God's pure words will be preserved, that he will protect or keep them, they change it to make it say something else about the faithful children.
[13:49] They take the emphasis off the words of God, of the Lord. Now there's a promise, come to Psalm 19, that God will not only preserve his words, but they'd be his words that are preserved and that they'd be pure forever.
[14:03] So if God's telling the truth, Titus chapter 1 says God cannot lie. If God told the truth, then he did in fact preserve his words and keep them and they exist.
[14:21] All right, Psalm 12. I'm sorry, Psalm 19. Let's read verses 7 through 10 and watch how the psalmist David here describes his love and belief, his faith in the word of God.
[14:32] Verse 7 says, The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.
[14:46] The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous, not just in theory, not just in part, not just in their stories.
[15:00] No, true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
[15:11] Moreover, by them is thy servant warned. And in keeping of them, there's great reward. Now let me ask you a question. Did David have the originals in his possession when he said that?
[15:25] You know what David was? He was a Bible believer. He believed that what he possessed was holy scriptures. And it wasn't the actual scrolls or parchments that were penned by Moses.
[15:40] This is years removed from that. David did not have in his kingdom, in his throne room, the original scrolls. What he had was copies of copies of copies.
[15:51] And he believed that they were perfect. He believed that they were sure. He believed that they were right and pure and clean and true and righteous altogether.
[16:04] And he believed they would endure forever. David was a Bible believer. And he didn't have the originals. David matched view number three.
[16:14] That God revealed his truth to mankind in written scripture. And that he's preserving it forever. Now the first two views I mentioned, man-made or just originals only.
[16:27] These two view the word of God as just a collection of words bound in a book. And they're just held together by the cover. Although the Bible says the word of God is not bound.
[16:38] And they feel that really these are just letters printed on a page. An assembly of letters making up words printed on pages.
[16:51] And that's all this is, is a book. And if that were the case, then consider this. The scripture would be subject to man or to physical elements.
[17:03] In a sense of, theoretically, you could throw them away. You could burn them. Could we not gather all the Bibles on the planet and destroy them and burn them?
[17:14] I mean, isn't that a theory that it's possible to do that? I mean, someone would say, well, no, it'll never happen. But is it theoretically possible to destroy these Bibles?
[17:27] Could you destroy yours? Could you burn it if you wanted to? If we could get rid of all these copies, then the word of God would cease to exist. Or, or the letters and the words on the page before us, man could manipulate them and alter them and change them.
[17:48] And then it would cease to be the pure words of the Lord. The words of the Lord are pure words. But if man changes them and switches them and allows them little by little, things to be input and extracted, verses to be removed, words to be changed.
[18:08] If that were the case, would it cease to be the pure words of God? But the Bible says that none of this is possible about the word of God.
[18:18] It says that you can't destroy it or change it. It says that it'll stand forever. Which is view number three. That God preserved, God gave it and preserved it.
[18:29] So what exactly is this book in front of us? I want to preach to you not too long here this morning. I want to preach to you a message called The Two Natures. The Two Natures of the Word of God.
[18:44] The Two Natures. I want to submit to you that this collection of words on your lap is merely a physical representation of something that exists in another realm.
[18:58] You're going to have to pay attention on purpose this morning and listen and consider and weigh these words. I believe that this is a representation in the physical arena of something that exists in another realm.
[19:13] It's a depiction of something that is eternal. That never changes. That will never pass away. Now I get this from the Bible. So let's study this.
[19:24] Look at 1 Peter chapter number one. What exactly is this book? 1 Peter chapter number one.
[19:46] I want to show you three things in this verse that express what I'll call the primary nature of the Word of God. And it's not its power.
[19:58] It's not its ability or its effectiveness or its holiness even. But three things here that express its primary nature. 1 Peter chapter one.
[20:09] Let's look at verse 23. The Bible says, Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
[20:25] There are three things right there in verse 23 that express the primary nature of the Word of God. Number one, it is incorruptible. Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God.
[20:39] That's the incorruptible seed. It says it's incorruptible. Secondly, it's alive, which liveth, the verse says. And it's also eternal, abideth forever.
[20:52] The Word of God is incorruptible. The Word of God is alive. The Word of God is eternal. Now let's look at those three things and understand why that expresses the primary nature of the Scriptures and why I say what I do about it.
[21:12] First of all, it says it's incorruptible, yes? Meaning it's incapable of corruption or impossible to corrupt. I don't believe it's referring to the perversions or the copies of the Scriptures that Paul said, we are not as many which corrupt the Word of God.
[21:30] It's not that reference, but rather let the Bible express what it means. Look at 1 Corinthians 15. You might want to keep your place there. But 1 Corinthians 15, what does it mean to say corruptible?
[21:43] Or incorruptible? Or incorruptible? The Word of God is incapable of corruption.
[21:58] It is incorruptible. And here's a little example of this. As the Bible explains to us what corruption is a reference to. 1 Corinthians 15, and here's a reference to your body that you are temporarily, currently housed within.
[22:16] The Bible says in verse 42, So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption. That's a reference to death and being buried. It is raised in incorruption.
[22:29] It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown in natural body. It is raised in spiritual body.
[22:40] There's a natural body. There's a spiritual body. Now, et cetera, et cetera, through the passage, he's referring to your natural body of flesh. And he says it's sown in corruption.
[22:53] What does that mean? That means this body can corrupt. In Acts chapter 2, when Peter quoted David in the Psalms, he was referring to Christ, saying that his body would not see corruption.
[23:08] He was going to be resurrected in three days. It would not corrupt. What does that mean? It means it wouldn't deteriorate. It wouldn't break down. The body breaks down in the ground. It corrupts.
[23:19] It goes back to dirt. Back to the dust. That's what corruption is. In James chapter 5, I'll just read this. You don't need to turn if you don't want to or if you do, hurry up.
[23:30] Because I'm going to read James 5, verses 1 through 3. Go to now, ye rich men. Weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. For your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
[23:44] Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you. What's corruption? It's the breaking down of the metal. It's the rust. It's the moth-eaten garments.
[23:57] It's deteriorating. It's falling apart. That's what corruption is. When your material riches are corruptible, they're like what Christ said in Matthew 6, where moth and rust doth corrupt.
[24:10] So don't lay your treasures up on earth. But something that's incorruptible is incapable of corruption. It is incapable of those things, physical elements affecting it.
[24:22] Are you following me so far? So your body can be affected by disease, and it can alter and destroy your body. It can be affected by death.
[24:34] Material things can be affected by water and by rust and by fire. Those things can destroy or corrupt a physical thing. But the Scripture, the Word of God, is incorruptible.
[24:49] It's not subject to those elements. What I'm saying is it's not physical. The Word of God is not physical. You have a representation of it here in a physical form.
[25:02] Just keep that in your mind, and we'll move on. Peter also said something else. We read it. I'm trying to rush back there. Peter said, Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God which liveth.
[25:18] The Word of God liveth. So it's alive. That's interesting. How can a collection of words printed on a page be alive?
[25:30] You ever wonder that or think about that? How can life exist in words? How can life exist in a book? These are like, you know, natural elements.
[25:45] Paper from the trees. Ink. How is it that the collection of these words together on this page can be called alive? Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12.
[25:56] The Word of God is quick. It means it's alive. You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. The Word of God claims that it's alive, that it's living.
[26:10] But it's comprised of non-living matter, right? So isn't that weird? Or is it? Here's a few thoughts. You don't need to turn. I won't turn for time this morning.
[26:22] Colossians chapter 3 says, Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. It's interesting to me to notice that the Word of God is given credibility for being alive or for, I should say like this, action verbs are associated to the Word of God.
[26:45] Action. It's doing something. It. The Scripture. The Word of God. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. It doesn't say, memorize the Bible. Meditate upon it.
[26:55] It says, let it dwell in you. So who's doing the dwelling? Or what? The Word of Christ is doing the dwelling in the action, in the present tense.
[27:07] Look at, well, Psalm 119 verse 130 says this, The entrance of thy words giveth light. It giveth understanding to the simple.
[27:17] What does? The entrance of thy words. The entrance of God's words coming in gives light. Gives understanding.
[27:28] It's the words that are given credit for the action. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13. I will read this because I know I'll mess it up. I'm going to go there quickly.
[27:40] 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. 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.
[28:03] The Word of God effectually worketh in you that believe. Who's doing the action or what's doing the action? The Word of God's doing the action, working.
[28:15] It doesn't say God will work in you. It gives the Word of God the credit. It says, Which effectually worketh also in you that believe. In 2 Timothy 3 verse 15, the Apostle Paul told Timothy, That from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
[28:40] James says that the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls. Peter said, Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but by incorruptible, by the Word of God.
[28:52] Do you see how all these verses, these scriptures saying it's alive, it's doing something, it's able to, capable of working, and of giving light, and dwelling in you, and opening your eyes, and saving your souls?
[29:07] So just understand, over and over, the Word of God, the scriptures are given credit for an action, and it's not a mistake, and it's not one author saying it that way, or one way of looking at it.
[29:20] It's showing us that the Word of God is alive. It liveth, and abideth forever. And how is that possible? Again, we'll try to get to that, here as we conclude.
[29:34] One more thing in 1 Peter chapter 1, was he says, Which liveth, and abideth forever. So it's eternal. Incorruptible, alive, and eternal.
[29:48] The Word of God, liveth, and abideth forever. Now Peter wasn't the only one, if you kept your place, go back there, to 1 Peter 1. He wasn't the only one to talk like this.
[29:58] This is not a belief that Peter just picked up on his own. 1 Peter 1, and we'll start again at verse 23, and finish the chapter.
[30:15] Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass.
[30:27] The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but the Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word, which by the Gospel is preached unto you. You know who Peter's quoting?
[30:38] Does anybody know who Peter's quoting there? He's not making that up. He's quoting a prophet. Does anybody know? Does your Bible tell you? Isaiah.
[30:49] Peter's quoting Isaiah, chapter 40. All flesh is as grass, and he goes on to talk about the Word of the Lord, enduring forever.
[31:00] Peter believed that. So did Isaiah. So did David. We've already read what David said. Thou wilt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.
[31:12] In Psalm 19, we read it, that they're enduring forever. Psalm 33, verse 11. The counsel of the Lord standeth forever. The thoughts of his heart to all generations.
[31:26] Psalm 119, 89. Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119, 152.
[31:38] Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them forever. Verse 160. Thy word is true from the beginning, and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever.
[31:54] The Lord Jesus Christ believed it too when he said in Matthew 24, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
[32:05] My words. Not my thoughts. Not my ideas or teachings. My words shall not pass away. Now how could any of these men, any of them at all, know that this were so?
[32:19] That this were true? How could they say that? If I build a house and complete it and step back and say, alright guys, I want you to look at that. That house is going to stand forever.
[32:30] Who could ever say that in the history of this world? What if I would write some things and then in my writings say, and by the way, these words will never go out of print and never out of circulation.
[32:48] These words will be here forever and ever and ever. How could I ever say that about my writings or my words? How could David and Isaiah and Peter and so many others claim it about what they wrote down?
[33:01] That they're writing the word of God and it will be here forever. How could any man in any phase of human history declare that about what he penned?
[33:12] How could he know that to be true? Nothing can overturn it. I believe Solomon put it well, what they believed, by saying, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever.
[33:30] These words that we have and hold and preach and read and study, they're not merely the words of Moses and Samuel and David and Peter and Paul and others.
[33:44] No, they're not merely those words of those men because they received them from a source that's outside of our planet. Actually, they received them from a source that's outside of our physical realm.
[33:56] They received these words from a spirit. They received these words whose source is neither subject to time nor matter.
[34:09] And as a result, the primary nature of the scriptures or of the word of God is not physical.
[34:21] It's spiritual. I'm trying to speak on the two natures of the word of God teaching you that its primary nature is spiritual. It exists in another realm yet is presented to us in the form of written scripture.
[34:36] Maybe we can understand this by some illustrations here. The Lord Jesus Christ, probably the perfect one. He is in John chapter 1 the eternal word. In the beginning was the word, capital W, referring to his person.
[34:51] And the word was with God and the word was God. Verse 14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. The word was manifest in the flesh. That's called a mystery in the Bible.
[35:03] To us, it's a paradox. How can Jesus be all God and all man? It's called the mystery of godliness in 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16.
[35:14] How that God become a flesh, all God and all man. Yet that kind of pictures for us some eternal, almighty, incorruptible, spiritual being existing and representing himself in the physical arena that you could touch and hold and feel and hear and understand.
[35:35] the Lord Jesus Christ is the best illustration, his two natures. The Bible also says that if we're in Christ, we're a new creature. And then Paul teaches there's two natures to the born again believer today.
[35:51] You have your old man and your new man. The corruptible, wicked, filthy, wicked sinner that's inside of you that you are and were born as and then the new man that God placed inside of you, his Holy Spirit.
[36:03] The new man is an eternal and immortal new creature that's dwelling inside of a corruptible house of clay that's headed for the dirt or headed for a change.
[36:17] But the inner man never corrupts and the inner man possesses eternal life. The new birth is spiritual in nature. The new man is spiritual in nature and so it is with the scriptures.
[36:31] There's two natures. This book here is a physical representation. A physical representation that we can receive and touch and read and study and learn from.
[36:45] It's a physical representation of something that's spiritual, living and eternal and it's the words of the Most High God.
[36:57] Now come to John, we're almost finished, come to John chapter 6 and let's put two verses on this, John chapter 6 and 1 Corinthians chapter 2.
[37:09] Can you burn the Bible?
[37:34] Can you destroy it from off the face of the earth? Well maybe the pages you can destroy but the word of God is incorruptible. It exists beyond this world.
[37:46] Heaven and earth shall pass away and so will the paper and so will the leather cover so will the ink because the word of God is not bound by the ink and paper.
[37:58] The words of God are spiritual in nature, they are alive and eternal and they exist regardless of whether you have it in your hand. John chapter 6 look at verse 63 this is a truth we need to understand.
[38:14] Verse 63 Jesus said this it is the spirit that quickeneth what's that mean? It makes alive. Remember James said the body without the spirit is dead. It's the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing.
[38:29] The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life. The words the Lord Jesus Christ speaks are alive they are the word of God they are eternal they are not subject to ink they are not confined by language even and that's a whole other topic here.
[38:56] Now come to 1 Corinthians chapter 2 1 Corinthians chapter 2 the words are spirit that's what I want you to believe from the Bible the words are spirit and they are life.
[39:09] 1 Corinthians chapter 2 notice verses 12 through 14 and you'll have to put your thinking cap on here to pay close attention to the words now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God he said we can know them which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because well they're spiritually discerned discerned you have to be quickened by the spirit to receive spiritual things we understand that in verse 13 notice closely the words which things also we speak not in the words that's the emphasis not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth implied are the words not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth but in the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth is the implication and what are those words that the Holy Ghost teacheth the verse closes comparing spiritual things with spiritual that is the words of God are spiritual things my words are spirit and they are life what's printed on a page praise God for it we wouldn't be able to hold it because we are physical creatures we need it in the physical realm but when we're out of this body do you think we're going to read our Bibles every day do you think we're going to need a book to go to the word of God exists outside of this realm and I can't speak to it outside of here because that's a whole other world and a whole other realm and I cannot relate to it but the nature of the word of God there's two natures the primary nature is that it's spiritual and not subject to time and not subject to matter not subject to language not subject to the working of man it's the Lord gave the word in the Psalms the the word of forever oh Lord thy word is settled in heaven it's established he inhabits eternity that's where his word exists that's with him and what he put down and gave to us praise God for it we can have and read and hold and believe that he gave us his words and that he's given their truth you can't kill
[42:03] God you can't cause God to cease to exist and so it is with his word it's incorruptible it's alive it's eternal and it possesses all the attributes of its author it is holy it is pure it is truth it is powerful it is immutable and unchanging you don't have to understand it to believe it you don't have to understand to believe that it is in fact what it claims to be a holy book it's not from man it's not by man you cannot change and alter nor affect it's truth we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth and Jesus Christ said to God thy word is truth now I told you at the beginning this was more intellectual than anything and it's not my intention to be intellectual but rather that this truth is something you can grasp a doctrine you can understand people always wonder well what if my Bible is it okay to burn a Bible or to throw it away because if it's broken or ripped or you know is it sacred and holy and some would say yes it's sacred and this is a conviction
[43:19] Sunday school no don't ever do that or like burn the American flag that's what you should do people believe different things about it because they don't understand the essence of the words and their spirit and their spiritual qualities the words of God are represented to us in our English language and I'd love to talk more on that that's a whole other study in itself I will finish by declaring without apology once again that I believe that this King James Bible on this pulpit that it is the words of God in English and I believe that every word of God is pure and that he did keep and he did preserve them forever and he preserved them in the language that is universal to the world for the end times the tongues that are being taught all over the world you remember Wednesday night how I read that missionary letter from Japan and how Brother Brigham said that in elementary school in Japan they're teaching the children English why would God if God's going to pick one language to perfectly preserve his words in it's a no brainer and then once you get to English
[44:29] God forbid Armenian could you imagine anyway hey you can speak if you want to there's purity in this thing it's a wonderful study if you've never done it to understand the time the era in which this was translated the purity and the flexibility that was there it's too much to talk about I gotta quit but I'll just say thank the Lord God for having a book we can trust and believe and stand upon realizing that it's it's not actually the binding and it's not actually this particular copy that is God's word as much as it is the representation of it in it's purest form praise the Lord for that just have a little maybe maybe your eyes open to the two natures of the Bible let's close we'll be dismissed here we're not gonna have an invitation just gonna let you dismiss and chew on that and leave and kind of a different topic and subject not normal but I hope it's something that you can enjoy and it it makes you want to get into that book a little further and love it and hold on to it let's pray our Father in Heaven thank you for the words of God thank you Lord that we can walk out of here with them under our arms that we can carry them with us that we're not reliant upon some theologian or some professor or teacher or some board of elders that declare to us what the truth is
[46:02] I'm thankful Lord I don't have to put my trust in man but like the Apostle Paul says that my my faith lies within the power of God and the Holy Scriptures Lord I pray that we'd care about that Bible as much as you do that we'd fall in love with it and read it and study and seek to know its truths and to allow it to transform us and to renew our minds and Lord as you've used men and women they've given their lives they've shed their blood so that this book could continue on on this planet we understand it's far beyond anything humans can touch but Lord let us be grateful for the work that's been accomplished because of it God I'm thankful for how it's changed my life and my heart that book is so pure it's so holy it has such power help us God individually to open our hearts to it to study and seek its truth Lord for anybody here that doesn't understand the material or have the faith and the trust within that holy book
[47:07] I pray you'd burden their hearts to seek these things out whether they're so to search them and to seek it out for truth's sake to know the truth and to rest upon the truth and Lord thank you again that we have Bible Baptist Church founded upon the words of God where all of our trust is in not in a man not in a family not in a ministry not in giving and tithing but in the book thank you for the book and we thank you for it in Jesus name Amen Amen you are dismissed this morning Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen бак