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[0:00] Amen. People get saved. Last night, a 40-year-old man, around 40, I think, a guy named George, right about right there at the end of the second message, prayed and asked Jesus Christ to forgive his sins. I don't know about you, but that floats my boat. I go to Moscow to see that. I go to China to see that. Amen. To see Jesus Christ reach in and pull somebody out of the horrible pit.

[0:27] Amen. So, praise the Lord. It's an honor and a privilege to be here. I'm not doing you a favor. On the contrary, you're doing me one by letting me do what God's called me to do. Thank you for the inquiries about my wife. She's at home with my youngest daughter and our two-week-old grandson helping out there. So, she'll catch up with me at some point, hopefully. Amen. But that's where she is today. Take your Bible. Go to 2 Timothy chapter 2.

[0:57] 2 Timothy chapter 2, and we're going to look at verse 15. Do I take it all this is good, right? You can hear me and everything? Okay, good.

[1:14] 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 15, the Bible says this. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. When I was on federal probation over 30 years ago, our church had a little Bible institute. So, I was working a job and doing my community service and going to Bible school every other night of the week. And that right there, that verse is, I will call it the flagship verse of the Charity Baptist Bible Institute. That was the verse.

[1:53] Everything was centered around. It was driving on the importance of study. It wasn't just a good idea. It's Bible. Amen. And only the King James Bible has the word study in that verse, 2 Timothy 2.15.

[2:10] Everybody seems to try to find the need to reinvent the wheel and try to improve on things. And they usually don't improve it. They complicate it. So, the New King James Version, the New American Standard Bible, and the Christian Standard Bible, instead of staying study, it says, be diligent.

[2:34] Listen, be diligent. I mean, it says, be sober, be diligent. Your adversary, the devil, walk in the... I get that. It's a good word, but it's not the same as study. Amen. The New Living Translation takes the word study out there and puts work hard.

[2:51] Amen. I'm for that. Nothing wrong with working hard, but that ain't what it means. And the NIV and the RSV will say there in that verse, do your best.

[3:02] In other words, do your best, I guess, to be approved unto God. When I thought about that, it says in John 14 and verse 26, Jesus Christ said, But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

[3:23] That's why it's important to be in church. That's why it's important to be where the Word of God is being taught and being preached. That's why it's important to study the Word of God yourself. You put it in, then the Holy Ghost has got something to work with.

[3:36] If you go buy a brand new computer, but you don't put anything on it, you ain't going to get nothing out of it. All right? So some of those versions say, do your best.

[3:46] My thinking is this. If your best, if my best, would get the job done, you wouldn't even need the Holy Spirit bringing things to your remembrance, teaching you all things.

[3:59] If your best would do the job, listen, you wouldn't even need God at all. You could just get together and start building a tower and get to heaven like God, like they tried to do in Genesis chapter 11.

[4:14] Didn't work so good. Amen. We need God. We need God so much more than He needs us. And here's why. It says in 1 Corinthians 2 and 14, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them.

[4:32] Because they are spiritually discerned. There's people with a lot higher IQ than me in this room. Amen. There's people a lot smarter than us that have read through the Bible, dissected the Bible, tried to explain the Bible.

[4:47] And what they do is, when they can't figure out what it means, they change it. And they'll go wherever they got to go and make it line up with their capability to understand it.

[5:00] Amen. That's a natural thing. But the Bible's not a natural thing. Bible Christianity is not a natural thing. It's a supernatural thing. And there's some things that aren't going to make any sense until you get the Holy Spirit inside of you.

[5:15] They're spiritually discerned. Proverbs 9 and verse 10 says, But the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

[5:27] Knowledge of the holy does not come from Google. Knowledge of the holy does not come from YouTube. Amen. Knowledge of the holy comes from the Word of God.

[5:41] Amen. So you do well to just obey the command, our text for this Sunday school lesson, study, to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

[5:57] Let's pray. Father, I love you. And I thank you for those that have come out today. I thank you for that good turnout we had yesterday. And it represented more than just an opportunity to fellowship and hear preaching.

[6:07] And it represented a solidarity of spirit here in Southern California. And that's important. And like I said to them men last night, you couldn't get people to drive 150 miles, amen, for a men's meeting in Ohio with 50 Bible-believing churches in that 150 miles.

[6:28] But I saw some people make some effort and labor last night and go out of their way and dedicate a Saturday and get out there in that traffic and pay those expenses because they wanted to hear from you.

[6:39] The Bible says, iron sharpeneth iron. And I know I got sharpened last night and I trust others did too. Thank you, God, for people that are still standing in a place where it's not as easy as it is in other places.

[6:52] I pray that you'd just give me the wisdom to work through this outline, Lord, in such a way that it'll be pleasing to you according to your will and blessing to your people. And I love you today, Lord.

[7:02] Now thank you for this privilege in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Amen. So I saw this somewhere and printed it out. And the question was, why are so many Christians biblically illiterate?

[7:16] Amen. You don't have to know any Bible to get saved. You got to admit you're a sinner. You got to believe in your heart that Jesus Christ went to the cross to make a way for your sins and be forgiven. That's all you need. That's what I got a hold of 34 years ago in a county jail and I couldn't find John 3.16 without going to the contents.

[7:33] Amen. But, boy, Bible Christianity starts with salvation. And God's given us a book to tell us what He wants to know. And that's what's lacking so many times in so many Christians' lives these days a real relationship with the Bible.

[7:50] And so, this thing says this. It says, most Christians know enough about the Bible to be dangerous. And if you stop and thought a second, you can think of verses that get thrown around and misquoted all the time and used to justify all kinds of sin.

[8:07] And so, Bible sales in America is a massive industry. Still. Amazing. 2.5 billion dollars a year. That's Bible.

[8:18] That's all of them. Amen. Yet it is the best seller that few read and even fewer understand. Man, it's just fashionable to have one, to own one, to have it on the shelf to give it as a gift.

[8:31] But not near as many people as ought to be are spending any time with that thing. Amen. Listen, there's more to Bible Christianity than just taking it off the shelf and carrying it into church once a week. If you come once a week.

[8:43] Amen. People strip it down. Preachers, strip it down, twist it, misread it, subtract from it, supplement it, and even overrule it. And unfortunately, 95% of the congregations of America won't even realize it.

[8:59] That's why it's important to have a personal relationship with your Bible. Amen. And Americans just don't know the Bible the way they once did, the way they should.

[9:10] The evidence is overpowering that contemporary Christianity is Bible-ish. I hate that. Is that a suffix? Ish.

[9:20] What time are we going to start? Ten-ish. That ain't... What does that mean? I don't like that ish thing. I got daughters, younger daughters, a lot younger, and they'll throw it and I'm going, that kind of irks me.

[9:34] I don't say nothing. I get it. But it's a crying shame that American Christianity is Bible-ish. Amen. And in worse, many cases, it's Bible-less.

[9:45] And you can experience that in contemporary Christian music. Sometimes you hear something on the radio and it ain't even based on the Bible. Amen. Everyone has an opinion about the Bible.

[9:57] Did you ever notice that? A politician's attempt to use it when it's advantageous to them. Grammy Award winners quote it. Amen. Being in horrendous, vile, perverted, immoral films.

[10:12] And then I just want to thank Jesus for letting me win this Oscar. That makes me want to puke. Amen. But there's something about it. It stirs up some little soft spot when you drop God's name.

[10:24] It's not okay with God. All right. Hollywood tries to portray it on the big screen. I spend very little time with anything that comes out of Hollywood.

[10:35] The only good thing about Hollywood is you can drive down there and park your car and hand out gospel tracks. Because boy, do they need it. Amen. There's a movie. I don't watch movies, but there's a movie that came out a few years ago and I gave it a try.

[10:52] I rented it at Redbox, which seems to have gone the way of the dinosaur. And it was called Noah. And I got that. Pretty simple story.

[11:02] Pretty cut and dried. How do you mess that up? And boy, did they mess that up. I wouldn't even ask for a show of hands, anybody, you saw it or not. But they had big rocks turning into angels and Noah got on the ark, but one of his sons didn't.

[11:18] And one of the guys, two bouquets, maybe dug a hole in the side of the ark because that ark was made out of mud. And what do you call it? Stowade on the ark.

[11:28] I'm going, where did they get this story? And the sad thing is, it's not, I know what the Bible says. But the sad thing is, people watch that and thought they were getting some Bible facts.

[11:41] That's a sad thing. Amen. One problem remains. Most people are oblivious to the Bible's basic content, meaning, and message. No one in the world is in such a mess.

[11:53] I'm going to tell you, Christianity is in a mess. And to a large degree, it's because we don't study to show ourselves approved unto God. Amen. Amen. There was an ad many, many, many years ago.

[12:05] And it went like this, we've come a long way, baby. And I think about that and I think, yeah, we've come a long way, the wrong way. Amen.

[12:16] So our topic, Sunday school hour, it seemed like a good time to break this verse down a little bit. And it started out with the words study. Study. So we say, read your Bible.

[12:27] You should read your Bible. But, you know, let's kick it up a notch. Let's realize that we've got a command from the Bible to study it. Amen. You can study it. It's fun. Well, I mean, when I got saved, you had to get a concordance and you could track a topic, a subject, a person through this big, thick book and a little fine print.

[12:47] You could run references all over it and you could study your Bible. Now people are doing it on their phones. Amen. All the time. Amen. Should be easier to study. Amen.

[12:58] So there's more to it than just reading. Go to Isaiah 28. Now I am going to let you turn some verses. And I'm going to ask the pastor what time you want me to be done.

[13:13] Alright. I'll do my best. No, I will be done at 10 of them. I hope the Lord is. Amen. Isaiah 28 verse 9 says, Whom shall he teach knowledge?

[13:23] And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts. Amen. Understanding doctrine.

[13:34] That's what we're talking about there. And it requires studying that book. And the reference is, is a mature Christian to a newborn. Amen. A newborn baby doesn't study nothing.

[13:45] Amen. And, but if you've been saved any time at all and you've been given the inspired word of God, you've got an opportunity to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. Amen. In the next verse, verse 10 said, For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.

[14:03] To get all of that means you've got to have to open that book in Genesis and develop a relationship all the way to Revelation. There's no chapter on, this is the chapter on this subject or that subject or that subject. God's got that thing tied together in such a way that no man can take credit for authoring it.

[14:20] Amen. That way he gets the glory. God reveals things incrementally, line upon line. It amazes me, my wife's been saved 47 years and longer than me and I'll come out of the back and she'll be in the living room every morning.

[14:35] She starts the day with her Bible and she'll say, Look at this, I can't believe this. And she'll read me a verse that, well, both of us have read dozens and dozens, maybe dozens of times.

[14:47] And she'll say, Look at this! And I go, Susan, that's like always been in there. She goes, Yeah, but I saw it differently today. As you mature in the Lord, God will take something you're familiar with and shine a light.

[14:59] Isn't that amazing? You know what that means? That means, no matter how smart you are, you will never master this book. Amen. John chapter 5, there's other admonitions about the importance of studying.

[15:15] It says in John 5 and 39, Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.

[15:25] This book testifies of Jesus Christ from Genesis to Revelation. And I tell you, you could go around and get people that have been saved 30, 40 years and couldn't bring Jesus Christ out of Genesis.

[15:37] Amen. And they should be able to. Amen. Amen. All right. And so Acts 17, 11, and Paul says this, These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, that in they received the word with all readiness of mind.

[15:54] Did you get saved? Did you receive the word? Amen. And it says this, And searched the scriptures, whether those things were so. You know, organized religion across the world is people show up, maybe with the best of intentions.

[16:10] I'm sure most of them, many of them do anyway. And somebody gets, whether, I guess I'm going to say behind a pulpit, however different religions might do it. And those people sit there and put 100% of their faith and trust that that guy is telling them what the Bible says.

[16:28] And that's why you've got some heresies that are as rampant as they are, and you've got some terrible things that have gone on in the name of the Lord because people are just taking it hook, line, and sinker, have no reason, never even admonished that they have a responsibility to see if that's really what the Bible says or not.

[16:46] And this crowd ain't that crowd. I'm not the only one with a Bible this morning, I trust. If you're in here without a Bible, we'd be happy to let you use one. Amen. I might even buy you one.

[16:58] Amen. Can I get a discount? Okay. No. It's important to look up the verses when the preacher tells you to look up the verses. That way you develop a relationship to maneuver and navigate through your Bible.

[17:09] And we need to see if they're so. It says, they search. Listen, the Thessalonians, I love that church. They had a great testimony for growth. They had a great testimony for giving.

[17:20] Amen. But the Bereans were noted in Acts 17 as being more noble for one reason. They searched the Scriptures daily.

[17:30] Daily. It's important to open your Bible daily. Can I get a little amen out of that? Amen. Amen. And you know why Christians fall for the stuff they do?

[17:41] They don't search the Scripture at all. They search the Internet. Amen. I ran and took a guy out in, well, I ran and took a guy where?

[17:54] I think he was in Minnesota. Nice young man. Never met him before. I'm up there every two years. So he had showed up in that period. Real nice fellow. Smart guy.

[18:05] And he said, Brother Spurgeon, he said something complimentary. And I said, but I disagree about something. And I said, okay, you know, I'm trying to help.

[18:17] And he says, I believe the earth is flat. And that's a little thing going on, the flat earther thing. Maybe you're a flat earther. I do not agree with you. I would love for you to show me the verse or verses.

[18:29] That's all. If you can show me, maybe you'll win me over. But we're going to form our opinions and our doctrines on the Bible. So the guy said that and I'm not going to discourage him blowing out of the water and say what I really think about that.

[18:41] I said, okay, then give me your verse. Give me a verse. And he said, oh, I don't know what it is right now. Before you ever confront a preacher with something like that, maybe you should know your verse.

[18:54] And so I said, well, you find it. I'll be here all week. And I turned to talk to somebody and no, before that conversation got off the ground, he had it because boom, boom, boom, it was right there in his phone. Amen.

[19:06] And he showed me a verse in Job about a seal being flat. And I read it and I thought, what? But I was kind. And I said, son, I'm pretty sure that doesn't have anything to do with what you're using it to prove.

[19:22] I was 100% sure, but I'm being gracious. And I said, but I'll tell you what, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. If that's what that means, there's another verse that'll bear witness to it.

[19:35] When you find that, you come back and we'll talk. And of course, there wasn't. Amen. What are you saying, Brother Spurgeon? Never found a doctrine on an obscure verse.

[19:47] Scripture bears witness to Scripture. Line upon line, precept upon precept. People get things all the time and say, oh, this must mean this. Okay, maybe. Then let's find the verses that back it up.

[20:00] And that's how God got this thing set up so that we're not all left field all the time. Amen. Study. It's important. I don't like it, but you're supposed to do it.

[20:12] And it says, study to show thyself. So you do this for your own Christian growth and development. It says in 1 Timothy 4 and 15, meditate upon these things.

[20:24] Give thyself. holy to them that thy profiting may appear to all. This is how you, again, grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. Your relationship with the Bible, your relationship, if you're saved, your relationship with Jesus Christ is personal.

[20:39] Amen? Amen? Amen? It's not corporate. God's all of the world. Yeah, He's all of the world that He gave His only begotten Son to make sure that we have a way that we can call on Him. But it's a personal thing you've got to do.

[20:51] If thou, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Listen, there's a lot of discussion about pronouns these days.

[21:01] Not in my circles. That's all pretty clear. But thou is a personal pronoun. It means you. And this isn't us. It's you. Your relationship with Jesus Christ is personal.

[21:13] Therefore, your relationship with the Bible should be personal too. It says in Titus, Second Titus. I think I said that one time in a church.

[21:24] And I caught my mistake. But when I looked up people were looking for it. I said, if you can find Second Titus, I want you to raise your hand. I'm going to get your King James Bible. Amen? But it says in Titus, Chapter 2, and verse 7, In all things.

[21:39] You don't need Greek and Hebrew to figure out what all means. It means all. It says, In all things, showing thyself a pattern of good works. In doctrine, showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity.

[21:53] Amen? Showing thyself. Romans, chapter 12, and verse 2, says, And be not conformed to this world, but be ye personal. Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Your mind is what gets transformed by the Bible.

[22:07] That's what reforms your mind. Transforms your mind is the Word of God. Amen? And so I just want to say study. Study for thyself. You've got to study. That was easy.

[22:17] But you study for yourself. The Bible says, Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. I can't emphasize more the importance of this being, Bible Christianity being a personal.

[22:29] Personal, in every aspect that's personal. Your obligation to other believers is personal. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of the mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.

[22:39] You've got in on something. Amen? You're not a loose cannon anymore. Amen? You're not a lone wolf anymore. And you've got a manual that tells us how to proceed for the glory of God and accomplish God's will and God's purpose.

[22:54] And thank God it includes us. I don't even get sometimes why He would include us after all the mistakes mankind's made for the last 6,000 years. Amen? Amen. All right.

[23:05] So you study for yourself not so you can impress others with how much you know or some nugget that you found. I travel around and I've been on the road 30 some years.

[23:17] And it's amazing to me that I get around some people that think they found something nobody ever saw before. And you might but it ain't worth a hill of beans. Amen? That's not how God operates.

[23:29] We'd do well just get a hold of what it does say instead of trying to figure out what it means. I'll amen myself. You know I'll do that. Amen. All right. Then it said approved unto God.

[23:40] Approved unto God. Study to show thyself approved unto God. That's who we ought to want to be approved. I want to be approved unto my wife. I want to be a blessing to my wife. She wants to be a blessing for me.

[23:51] She's better at it than I am. But I'm working at it. Amen. I want to be a blessing to my home church in Dayton, Ohio. I do. I want people to be happy when I come in the door.

[24:02] Amen. I want to be a blessing. I don't want to be a problem child. I don't want to be high maintenance. We got a lot of high maintenance church members. We call them drama junkies. I'll tell you what the whole thing about drama is.

[24:14] It's all about attention. The attention. I want to be the center of attention. That's what it is. I'm pretty sure there's some verses that indicate that Jesus Christ is supposed to be the center of attention in the church of the living God.

[24:27] Is that deep? That hard? No. Not at all. Amen. So we ought to want to be approved unto God. It says in Romans 12. I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice.

[24:39] Holy. Acceptable to God which is a reasonable service. Reasonable service. 1st Samuel 15 says that obeying the voice of the Lord is better than sacrifice.

[24:50] We want to go through the motions and do our little things but you know God wants to see if you've got enough faith to do it his way. Amen. And we want to say yeah but what about the rivers of Farbar and you know like Naaman did.

[25:03] What about this? What about that? Isn't this better? No. If it's not what God said it's not okay. Amen. Say how do you know? Got a Bible. Amen. I'm not too smart but I'm smart enough to understand that Bible is the inspired inerrant word of God.

[25:19] Amen. And his way his way say I said he wants you to do it his way. I'll tell you what his way is to do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifice God is well pleased.

[25:33] Amen. That's all he wants. He wants you to do it his way. Amen. Makes sense. Study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.

[25:45] Rightly divided the word of truth. The next words in the verse there we'll look at is workman. Workman. There's an old preacher from Houston, Texas named Jack Wood and I had the pleasure of getting to know him a little bit and I didn't really get to know him.

[25:58] I got to sit under his preaching a few times. I got to benefit from his wisdom. Went home to be at the Lord a number of years ago but he said this and he's a hard worker from Houston and a cattle rancher and rustler too I think and a lot of different things but he said one time he said God won't save a lazy man.

[26:15] He was trying to encourage his people not to be lazy in the work of the Lord but he said God won't save a lazy man but I beg to differ with Brother Wood because he saved a lazy man right here.

[26:26] For 37 years I tried to get out of doing work and just try to live life my own way and thank God he will save a lazy man but he doesn't want you to stay that way. Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 12 it says further by these my son be admonished of making many books there is no end and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

[26:50] Listen my wife reads everything. We have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of books at our home. She's read many of them and read many of them more maybe most of them more than once.

[27:04] Amen. Me I'm not a reader. I'm not bookish. I have to force myself. So if it comes easy for you praise the Lord. If it doesn't well you need to do it anyway.

[27:15] Sometimes you just got to force yourself. I got an office in Ohio I got a home and the office is right next to my garage and so you walk out dining room office garage and I'm supposed to study and I'm preparing messages and I'm trying to ask God you know what I'm supposed to do and there have been times I've been involved in studying and stuff and it's like kind of go you know into the zone and I hear a voice David David I'm going that doesn't sound like my wife's voice and I'll get up from my chair and I'll walk over and open the garage door and I'll walk out in the middle of the garage I got a motorcycle and and I'll be standing there and the voice stops I don't want to get too spooky here but I'll be standing in the garage and I don't even know why I'm there there's no project there's nothing I should be doing I'm just more comfortable in there than I am at the desk but this is what I'm supposed to be doing I have to force myself it's weariness to the flesh the verse tells us that some of you would amen that more heartily than others but truth the matter is amen that's why we don't we do other things that are weary to the flesh maybe if they're more fun to us but we're talking about getting closer to God through his Bible it says in Psalm 1 in verse 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law does he meditate day and night and the context is the blessed man of verse 1 that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful the blessed man delights in the law of the Lord and then it said in his law doth he meditate day and night you know what meditate means we're not talking about that old hippie stuff that went around here big in the 60s amen

[29:05] I'm older than I look or maybe not I don't know but but meditation's a Bible word and you know what meditate means it means think it means think about what you're reading that Bible you're not reading that Bible to put a check mark at the end of your little calendar I read through my Bible in a month or a year you're supposed to be thinking about what it says I can read through some places and just I've been there before and there's places I get still and it's like okay I'm not and if I gotta go back and reread it five times and that kills my whole you know desired progress for the day so be it I wanna get something amen God's blessing that amen I don't give him a lot to work with intelligence wise but again got enough sense to believe the Bible now let me say this if you're not a big studier like I've already confessed I'm not here's what you do avail yourself to as many teaching opportunities as you can that's why

[30:09] Sunday school is important that's why midweek or evening services however you do it Bible studies different places different churches do it different ways but that's why if you're not a big studier you're not spending a designated period of time and getting into it go somewhere where somebody else has done all the work bring a little pad and a paper amen when I started Bible school I hadn't read a book outside of a Harley manual for 15 years I started taking classes just so I wouldn't go places I shouldn't go as a brand new Christian and I got notebooks to this day that I can't even read I was trying to write down everything the instructor said and I said there's no way I don't even know what they're talking about 90% of the time and I didn't but I kept going and here's my reasoning maybe it's just old biker logic I figured if I got 10% of what was going on that 10% more and I got if I'd have stayed home eventually I'm up to about 30%

[31:10] I think now but I'll tell you what you need to avail avail yourself to all the teaching preaching you can get amen studying the word of God is the only way to keep this thing and flesh under control amen you still got an old nature it is not dead it lusts against the spirit amen Paul said it like this in 1 Corinthians 9 verse 27 but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I preach to others I myself should be a catchaway Paul was the greatest Christian on the planet no doubt about it and he did not take anything for granted he knew the doctrine he had the revelation of the dispensation of grace amen he was light years ahead of everybody else and he didn't just warn others he's telling you I'm careful too and we need to be careful so to strengthen the spirit of God within us he wrote to us this in 2 Timothy 3 16 all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction and righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works the formula is simple but it's in that Bible that we need to spend more time with it goes on that needeth not the verse closes to these words that needeth not to be ashamed

[32:36] Romans 10 and 11 says for the scripture saith whosoever believe on him shall not be ashamed listen if you sure enough got born again that shouldn't be a secret that's not a personal thing you shouldn't have any problem being able to tell somebody that that's what according to the verse and this helps me 500 plus years ago people were burned at the stake for the word of God I've been to Great Fire Cemetery I've been to Edinburgh Scotland I've been to the beheading stone downtown I've been to the beheading stone in Sterling where thousands of Christians were murdered because of their stand for the faith of Jesus Christ who wouldn't recant and go back into the church of Scotland people made the ultimate sacrifice and he doesn't ask us to do all that but he does ask us to read the Bible I think we should I think it's fair enough don't you we have it in abundance and in our own language Ethiopian eunuchs reading it in Hebrew amen he missionary friend told me they were in Ukraine and Kiev way before this thing started and passing out

[33:46] Bibles downtown and there's a family there and some guy reaches in and they hand him a Bible and he started tearing pages out tearing pages out and giving them to people and they said well what are you doing that's the Bible he said we've been in darkness for 70 years none of my family has ever seen one page of the word of God and nobody's leaving here without something you can't even comprehend that in America you know that missionary said you don't have to tear that book up we got one for everybody they couldn't believe it you think that Bible meant something to them you better believe it you better believe it amen okay it says there in 1st Corinthians 3 and verse 1 and I brethren Paul speaking could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ I fed you with milk and not with meat for hitherto you were not able to bear it neither yet now are ye able that's sad but there's a lot of professing

[34:54] Christians I'm not saying they're not saved God made that real easy but that are in the milk stayed somebody asked one time brother Spurgeon why do you think there's so much sin in the camp so much sin among Christians 2000 years after Calvary and it says in Psalm 119 verse 11 thy word have I hidden mine heart but I might not sin against thee you think that might have something to do with it oh we got the forgiveness we got the savior and we got the routine some of us to go to church but if you're not hiding that bible in your heart you have no choice but to sin against God and the sad thing is you won't even realize it but the even sadder thing is you sure enough not going to help nobody else if you don't even know how to help yourself amen rightly dividing the word of truth the rules of rightly dividing very important first you see who's speaking and then who they're talking to and then what are they saying and if you don't rightly divide you'll wrongly divide that's all there is to it amen you might connect baptism to salvation there's verses amen you might believe you can lose your salvation there's verses

[36:12] I can show you all that if you don't rightly divide if you don't understand who's talking and where you're at in the bible and who the audience is I can say I can prove I can take the bible listen there's places in the bible says you can handle venomous snakes amen I was in West Virginia we were way back in the hills with my family we had a bus back then and we went into this church and one of the kids said dad they don't handle rattlesnakes in there do they and I said no I hope no they don't because I wouldn't be there and I go into the church I go into the church and the kids are all they're very friendly kids very nice and making friends and I see a box in that church that's different than I've ever seen and it was white and it was like and I'm like uh oh and I walk over there and nobody's paying attention to me and I walk over to that box and I'm like if that thing would have started rattling I'd have got them kids back in that car but there's people that believe that and there's pastors in some of them hills that die every year because that rattlesnake bit them oh he must not have enough faith that ain't what he didn't have enough of a little short on brains amen

[37:26] I'll amen myself you know I will wrongly dividing the word of God is not a good thing it's not a good thing amen uh it said it talks about in second corinthians four about uh handling the word of God deceitfully it says second corinthians second peter chapter three uh about them that are unlearned and unstable rest the scriptures to their own destruction we don't do that you're not gonna be if you don't do that you're not only not gonna grow and you can sort that out at the judgment seat of Christ but God's got you here to be a vessel meet for the master's use he wants to use us to win others and the only we're not trying to sell them anything we're not trying to con them we're not trying to convince them we're not trying to woo them we're not trying to don't them to ourselves the Bible said you know the truth and the truth shall make you free and we're supposed to and live it according to the Bible and boy it said that's how it finished the word of truth and that's what you got in your Bible is the word of truth and to me that's a great comfort because we live in a day and age where you don't know what to believe and I'll tell you what the more time you spend on the internet and that kind of stuff the more confused what somebody said years ago at a meeting

[38:44]  Christians these days are more mixed up than a termite in a yo-yo that works man they're saved might love Jesus but how you can't do anything for God amen so rightly dividing important verse thank you Lord for this hour pray you bless all that follows in Jesus name