The Word of God

[0:00] 1 Peter 1.23 Born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.

[0:23] As the flower of grass, the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.

[0:37] But the Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you. Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word.

[1:00] That you may grow thereby. And so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God.

[1:16] The Word of God. Voltaire, the French atheist philosopher, said, If we would destroy the Christian religion, we must first destroy the Bible.

[1:27] He said that before he died in 1778. We're witnessing today a famine in the land of Australia. A famine of a hearing of the Word of God.

[1:39] Of a lack of faith, a lack of solid biblical preaching in the pulpits of our land. An abundance of half-truths. A dying need for sound doctrine. We're commonly seeing a neglect of the teaching of God's Word.

[1:53] Where it's minimised. Where it's disregarded. The most important book in the world. The most important book. God's authoritative self-revelation to man.

[2:04] The Word of God. It's been said that a mist in the pulpit puts a fog in the pews. We want to be known as a strong biblical church.

[2:16] As a Bible-believing, Bible-proclaiming, Bible-following church. A church that loves the Word of God and obeys it. That wants to fully declare the whole counsel of God.

[2:28] The Word of God. Strongly stood for, fought for, contended for, and lived for. We see some things in this passage that I'd like to highlight.

[2:40] About the message of the Bible. The message of the Bible. We stand for the Bible and its message of salvation. Born again of the Word of God.

[2:52] Being born again. Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God. This message is the message of salvation.

[3:03] Salvation. It has absolute transforming power. From life to death. As we trust its message. As we trust the proclamation of the Saviour through its pages.

[3:17] It has a transforming power. Radical power. And the Word of God lives and abides forever. Forever. Hebrews 4.12 tells us of the Word of God.

[3:31] For the Word of God is quick. Living. It's quick. And it's powerful. Powerful. And sharper. Sharper.

[3:43] Than any two-edged sword. Piercing. Even to the dividing asunder. Of soul and spirit.

[3:53] And of the joints and marrow. And is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Message of salvation.

[4:07] Second thing. In its message it has a preservation. It has a preservation. It lives and abides for how long?

[4:18] Forever. Forever. There's a preservation of the Word of God. The Lord Jesus says. Heaven and earth shall pass away.

[4:28] But my words shall not pass away. Matthew 24. Verse 35. Peter says that this living seed is incorruptible.

[4:44] Incorruptible. I know years ago I had some seed packets in the tool shed. And they were well past their use by date.

[4:54] But I said I will try anyway. And it was a total failure. They were corruptible seeds. But friends this is incorruptible seed. Incorruptible.

[5:06] It cannot corrupt. God's truth is unchanging. And it is absolutely reliable. 100% like his salvation. God preserves his Word.

[5:18] Despite the enemy's attacks. Despite the enemy's efforts to discredit the Bible. To undermine confidence in God's Word. We can know for sure. That the scriptures we have are the inspired truth.

[5:33] They exist today. God's Word exists today. And we hold it in our hands. Today. Faithfully and accurately copied. And now translated into our own language.

[5:47] The grass withereth. And the flower fadeth. The flower thereof forth away. But the Word of the Lord endureth forever.

[5:57] It's permanent. It's permanent. It's eternal. It is forever. Forever. Forever. God preserves his Word.

[6:08] We can have confidence in that. In Psalm 12. Verses 6 to 7. It says. The words of the Lord are pure words.

[6:19] As silver tried in a furnace of earth. Purify it seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.

[6:34] Ever. Pure words. Preserved. Kept by Almighty God. Like silver. You know. I don't know if you've got some silver on your hand or around your neck or in your house.

[6:46] But this is as pure as silver. Seven times. Fire in the furnace. Kept by God. God. And we can have a trust in the incorruptible Word of God.

[6:59] Not of corruptible seed. But of incorruptible. In contrast, man is inclined towards corruption. Man is inclined towards not preservation but to corruption.

[7:12] And we see that through the Word of God. We're told of a danger that will happen where the Word of God can be attacked.

[7:24] It was attacked right from the beginning. As we saw in the garden. When the enemy came and slithered along and said, Hath God said.

[7:35] You know. And the snake, the evil one. In 2 Corinthians 2.17 it says we read of some which corrupt the Word of God. We dare not tamper with God's Word.

[7:49] This isn't something we want to mess with. We dare not tamper with it. In Romans 1.25 it says of some who changed the truth of God into a lie.

[8:01] We dare not cast doubt upon God's Word. In 2 Corinthians 4.2 it says in part, Some handling the Word of God deceitfully. We're seeing that today.

[8:12] No matter what Bible they use. Using the Word of God deceitfully. We read in 2 Peter 3.16. Some who are unlearned and unstable rest the Scriptures unto their own destruction.

[8:26] This word rest, it's got the sense of twist, pervert, distort. We want to guard against a resting, a distorting, a perverting of the Scriptures.

[8:37] In 2 Corinthians 11.4 it tells us some who preach another Jesus, another Gospel. It tells of another Spirit. Yet God has promised to preserve His Word.

[8:51] He's promised it. Pure words. Preserved. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. God has promised to preserve His Word.

[9:03] So where is it? It's right here. It's a message of salvation. It's a message with preservation. It's forever. It's a message with authority.

[9:16] It is the Word of God. The Word of God. This book is stamped with authority. It's authorized. It's stamped with God's authority.

[9:29] Where the Word of a King is, there is power. Ecclesiastes 8.4. This is authorized, not like King James, but King Jesus. Amen. This is the Word of God.

[9:40] Hallelujah. It's the Word of God. It's got the authority. It's the Word of God. That's what it is. It's got authority. Where the Word of a King is, there is power.

[9:53] The ultimate source of authority. Of authority. Most of the laws of the world have come in some measure from this book.

[10:03] It's got the authority. The authority. Man is not the source of authority. Man's ideas are not the source of authority. Church tradition is not authoritative.

[10:14] The authority is the very Word of God. That we teach and that we hold fast. It's God's revelation. It's a unique revelation of divine truth that we hold between these covers in our hands.

[10:31] And we can see yet today a rejecting going on. A rejecting of God's authority. There's a rejection. They can't even understand what marriage is.

[10:43] You know, the soul relationship of a man and a woman committed for life. In God's sight. Marriage. They want to redefine the most essential things of life.

[10:55] There is an authority in the Word of God. This says how to live. What to do. It's God's revelation. And we reject it at our peril. People do not believe in the authority of God's Word.

[11:09] As Satan posed the question to Eve. Yea, hath God said? Genesis 3 verse 1. Yes, he has. We've got his authority.

[11:20] We've got God's Word on it. God's Word. Truth is not shaped by the church. But the church should be shaped by the truth. God's Word.

[11:31] That's what we need to be led by. And abide by. And be founded upon. God's authority. It's totally true and trustworthy. We can know that we have the authoritative Word of God in the English language.

[11:46] We have God's revelation of himself to mankind. And it's been preserved for us. God's Word. Infallible. Inerrant. And verbally inspired.

[11:59] Now there's a controversy today, as people would know. That sadly, virtually all modern versions have come about the last century from flawed texts.

[12:12] Flawed texts. Only a handful. And these handful of flawed texts, they disagree constantly. In fact, the two main texts disagree with each other over 3,000 times.

[12:23] That's the two main texts disagree with one another 3,000 times. And yet, this is what largely modern Bibles are based on.

[12:34] That's why it's that we've got to be cautious, people. We've got to be cautious. As of now, I'm told that we have 64,000 manuscripts in the world today that support the King James.

[12:47] 64,000. And we have, on the other hand, three... Yeah, that's what I said. 64,000. Three. On the other side.

[12:58] Three complete manuscripts and 46 fragments that support the Alexandrian text. We've got to think about that, people. That's why it's called the majority text.

[13:11] 64,000. Three. And 46 fragments. Someone has said, things that are different are not the same. Something is wrong.

[13:24] There's a difference between the 64,000 and the three. And two of them can't agree with each other 3,000 times. People, we've got to be careful about what we read. Amen. We've got to be careful about what we take in.

[13:36] Things that are different are not the same. So, has God preserved His Word? Didn't He say He's going to do that? He said He's going to do that. In Proverbs 30, verse 5, it says, Every word of God is pure.

[13:49] He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him. Every word of God is pure. It's inspired. The Word of God we can hold in our hands.

[14:01] It's breathed out by God. We can trust it. Holy men of God were moved by His Spirit. In such a way that we have an authority that we can rely on today.

[14:13] Friends, these writings are in spite of God. It's inerrant and we can have confidence in its authenticity. The Bible is without error. Without error. It's correct in every statement that it makes.

[14:26] It's infallible. Which means the Bible is effective in everything that it does. When the Bible is used, it always works. When all else fails, read the instructions.

[14:41] You know, I know you get that kit kind of furniture and I tend to kind of just pull it out the box and start putting it together. Then I find the instructions.

[14:52] That's how we like it in life sometimes, isn't it? You know, we wonder, why am I in such a mess? Because we're not following the Maker's instructions. And friends, we need to trust in God's Word.

[15:02] God's Word. It will never fail us. It will see us through life's challenges. It's incapable of error. We can have a total confidence, 100%. And the Bible is sufficient.

[15:14] It's sufficient. It's sufficient as our guide for salvation. As our rule for faith and conduct and doctrine. It answers everything of life's challenges.

[15:25] It defines and guides how we are to believe, how we are to think, what we are to say. It's comprehensive. It's cross-centered.

[15:37] It's holy. It's inspired. It's infallible. It's invincible. It's indestructible. It's inexhaustible. It's impossible to improve.

[15:49] It's never failing. It's eternal. It lives and abides forever. Ever. Forever. God's Word. It's got authority. So we see, just to recap thus far, this message is marked by salvation.

[16:03] Salvation. It's marked by preservation. God's kept it and delivered it to us. He's transmitted it to us in our language today.

[16:15] It's got authority. And lastly, it's the Gospel. It's the Gospel. Peter writes, this is the word by which the Gospel is preached unto you.

[16:28] This word is the Gospel. The Gospel. The Gospel. The Good News. The Message of Christ. Luke 24, 27. It says, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, the Lord Jesus, it says, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

[16:47] Now, I love the New Testament, but I know there's some here that especially love the Old Testament. Right through the whole book. From cover to cover. Jesus is there. Yeshua is there.

[16:59] Jesus is there. Our Lord is there. Our Saviour is there. His cross is there. His coming again is there. It's Jesus, Jesus, Jesus in 66 books. Jesus is there.

[17:11] The living Word of God is in the written Word of God. It's the Gospel. It's the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour. As you read the Bible, look for Christ there.

[17:21] He says, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Look for Jesus in your Bible. Look for Jesus in Genesis. He's there.

[17:32] Right through to Revelation. Search the Scriptures. Witness the glory of Christ the Messiah, the Supreme Sovereign, the Suffering Servant, and the sweet Saviour.

[17:43] He's there. From pages all over the book. Now, how will you read your Bible? Some will read the Bible in just a casual, careless way.

[17:57] Just flitting here and there. Or you can read the Bible and dig deep into it. It's been said, read like a bee, not like a butterfly. Read like a bee.

[18:08] So, let me explain. The butterfly, all of the beautiful colours, and just shines so bright, and flutters and flies from flower to flower. It flutters here and flutters there.

[18:19] And we're fascinated by the sight of a butterfly. But in that same field, there is another worker. Bzzz. Another worker with his brown vest and his business-like flight.

[18:31] We may not have noticed him. His fluttering neighbour darts from here to there. But the plotter stops everywhere. Bzzz.

[18:44] Wherever he stops, he either sends honey or makes it. And if the flower is deep, the bee goes down to the bottom. If it is shut, he opens it up. He explores and discovers the sweet nectar there.

[18:57] The butterfly has no patience for such details. Yet bees are patient with details. Hard workers finding nourishment where it appears there is none.

[19:08] Such labour is very profitable for the bee. So, friends, read your Bible like a bee. Dig deep. Spend time there. Search for that sweet nectar. And be enriched.

[19:19] Be nourished. Be blessed by God's Word. More to be desired are they than gold. Yea, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

[19:32] Psalm 19, verse 10. Desire it. Crave it. Search for it. This is sincere milk. In other words, it's unadulterated.

[19:43] There's no preservatives. It's not being homogenised or pasteurised. It's just like Brad's cow's milk. You know, it's just the real thing. You know, nothing artificial about it. Nothing added.

[19:54] Nothing subtracted. It's pure. It's genuine. It's sincere milk. That's what it says it's going to be. God's Word. And so, we want to have that love of the Word.

[20:06] As a bee loves honey. We want to search for it. Crave for it like a little baby would crave for the milk. We want to crave the Word of God.

[20:17] For our teaching. For our instruction. So we can grow thereby. It's been said the decline of doctrine occurs in our churches when any one of three things take place.

[20:27] The decline of doctrine. First, when drama and entertainment becomes more important than preaching the Word. It's a danger. When drama and entertainment becomes more important than preaching the Word.

[20:41] Secondly, when the pastor's goal becomes making people happy instead of holy. You know this is taking place when he shifts his sermons from, this is what God says, to this is what I think people want to hear.

[20:56] Thirdly, when the pastor spends more time addressing felt needs over spiritual needs. Spiritual needs. You've got to guard against such things.

[21:07] Drama and entertainment. Or the Word. Making people happy. Or making people holy. Felt needs or spiritual needs.

[21:19] We don't want to be guilty of compromising the message. Of delivering a non-offensive gospel. You know, I've upset some people lately. I have.

[21:32] I don't want to upset people. But if it's God upsetting people, then I can't help that. I can only be a messenger. And if the message is strong, if the message hurts, then so be it.

[21:45] There's a place to rebuke. To rebuke. That's hard for me to do. I'd much rather give you a hug. But I want to rebuke you in love.

[21:59] Where it's called for. I must. Or I'm guilty before God. Woe to me if I preach not the gospel. We need a balanced diet. Sometimes that means it's a sword that cuts.

[22:09] Oh! You jabbed me again. A double-edged sword. With a cutting edge that's not dullened, but that's strong. That's short.

[22:20] Pure sound doctrine. We need the Word of God. People, we need the Word. We need to pray for it. Desire it like a babe would desire a mother's milk.

[22:30] We need the Word to be nourished to grow thereby. We need the Word to apply the Word. To apply the gospel to the nitty-gritty. To Monday morning. Through Saturday night.

[22:44] We need to apply the gospel to our walk in our daily life. To hold it fast. As Titus 1 verse 9. Holding fast the faithful Word.

[22:57] As he hath been taught. That he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. It's absolute truth. The Word of God. You can trust and have confidence in it.

[23:10] I want to urge you to have confidence in your Bible this morning. Confidence in the absolute truth. The Word of God. It converts the soul. It cleanses the heart.

[23:22] You can rely upon it absolutely. 100%. Absolutely. No doubt. When the original committee of 50 scholars completed their work. They wrote a dedication.

[23:36] And they spoke to King James and they said about the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God, they said, Desire the Word of God.

[24:03] Crave it. Long for it. That you may grow thereby. It's eternally relevant. It's always applicable and it's completely sufficient.

[24:15] For all of our needs. Let's diligently study the Bible. I've got a handout here that I'll leave at the close. We'll pass it at the closing song.

[24:27] Bible emergency numbers. You can stick this on your fridge. I've already given that a couple out. Bible emergency numbers. When in sorrow, call John 14.

[24:38] He says, I will never leave you or forsake you. I am with you always. That's not the one. He says, I will not leave you comfortless.

[24:49] I will come to you. You believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you.

[25:01] When in sorrow, call John 14. When men fail you, call Psalm 27. Not familiar with that one. When you have sinned, call Psalm 51.

[25:14] Cleanse me. Purge me. When you're in danger, call Psalm 91. Now, though 10,000 fall at your right hand.

[25:27] How does it go? Psalm 91. He's going to cover you. He's going to put you under his shelter, under his cover. When your faith needs stirring, call Hebrews 11.

[25:37] The men and women of faith. Friends, we can be encouraged by the word of God. Hang this on your fridge. You know, when you feel down and out, call Romans 8.31. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

[25:58] There's so many things we could say, but friends, the answers are here. The answers are here. I know years ago, the altar, Gideon's New Testaments used to look in the front.

[26:08] When you are just depressed, there's Bible for that. When you're rejoicing, there's Bible for that. When you're feeling hurt, there's Bible for that.

[26:22] When you need a friend, there's Bible for that. We can be encouraged, people, by the word of God. It's now and it's forever, this message. And you can have confidence in it.

[26:33] You can rely on God's word. It's a message marked by salvation. You can be born again if you obey the word of God. If you put your trust in the message of the Messiah.

[26:44] If you put your trust in the bleeding and dying lamb in your place. There's salvation here. There's preservation. It's a forever message. It's pure and it's precious.

[26:55] It's an authority in this message. It's the word of God. Or not when we read it. The gospel is in this message.

[27:05] The word by which the gospel is preached unto you. And desire it, friends. Desire it that you may grow thereby. Let us pray. Lord, just as that little baby is crying out right now.

[27:17] Let us cry out for your word. Let us cry out, Lord. Let it be fed by it. Let us be nourished by it. Lord, let it be milk that we all partake. Let it be meat that we can grow thereby. Let it be food for our souls.

[27:29] Lord, if there's any present that yet to trust you, let it be salvation even today. Salvation as we're born again by this incorruptible seed. It's precious. It's pure.

[27:40] It's the blessed word of God. We thank you for your word, Lord. It's your message to man. Lord, it's your good news for modern man. It's in these pages of scripture, Lord. We thank you that it is truth to us.

[27:52] It's truth that is life-changing. It is truth that is forever. Help us, Lord, to dig deep as a bee would. To search. To find that sweet nectar. To find that precious honeycomb.

[28:05] That is your word. That it is sweet. It is precious. It is blessed. Lord, we thank you for the word that you've granted to man. Help us, Lord, not to neglect it.

[28:16] Not let it gather dust on the shelf, Lord. But let it be a word that lives and abides forever. And most of all, it is in our heart. By faith in Jesus' name we pray.

[28:27] Amen.ยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยย