[0:00] Take your Bibles now with me if you would, and let's go over to Jeremiah chapter 30. Jeremiah chapter 30. It is amazing to me that God takes the time in Jeremiah chapter 30 and through about 36 to kind of give us an insight about how we got our Bible.
[0:24] And I try my best to just preach the Bible. But I can't read Jeremiah 30 verses 1 and 2 without thinking you ought to get a hold of how you got a Bible.
[0:36] And I want you to go with me through the Bible. I just want you to fall in love with the Word of God. I think you already are in love with it. But I think that if you think about how God did all this, you'll even be more in love with it.
[0:52] So read with me again Jeremiah chapter 30 and verse 1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, I want to have the time this morning to take you through all the times the Bible says that.
[1:06] I'm not just about Jeremiah. I'm talking about everybody who's writing. They just start off saying, boy, God told me this. God told me to write this down. This is what God wants me to say. We believe that.
[1:17] We hold it in our hands. We come here a half a dozen times a week. And we sit down and we say the Bible because we believe that the word that came to Jeremiah came from the Lord.
[1:30] Then it said, thus speaks the Lord God of Israel. And then he told him, he said, I want a book written. I want you to notice that.
[1:42] He said, I want a book written. Write all these words in a book. You've heard all I've said to you. I want them in a book.
[1:53] So you got the book of Jeremiah. You got a book. Now, you might notice it wasn't Jeremiah's idea. You might notice.
[2:06] He said, write. That's an imperative form, a command form. Jeremiah, you write. Write thee all the words that I've spoken unto thee in a book.
[2:17] So here in just a few verses in Jeremiah, we'll be around some other, quite a bit of other parts of the Bible. They'll keep up with you, I'm pretty sure, on the screen. But you're going to find out that God wrote this book, the whole one, all 66 books.
[2:31] Go with me, if you would, to Jeremiah chapter 36 and verse 1. It is God telling Jeremiah to write his words, his words, capital H words, God's words in a book.
[2:46] Jeremiah 36, 1, it says, That sounds a lot like chapter 30 and verse 1.
[3:01] Take thee a roll of a book and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel and against Judah and against all the nations from the day I spake unto thee from the days of Josiah.
[3:17] You know, these days. He said, now, Jeremiah, I've been giving you a lot of messages and you've been preaching against Israel and Judah and all the nations and all their wickedness. I want you to write it down in a book.
[3:30] I want you to write it down in a book. And the way it happened was God spoke to Jeremiah. But if you look in chapter 36 and verse 4, Jeremiah had a secretary.
[3:43] He had a scribe. He had a guy that worked with him. Verse 4, Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Nariah and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord which had spoken unto him upon a roll of a book.
[4:00] Now, no one here is shocked by the words roll of a book. They didn't have books put together with fancy printers. They were scrolls. And so you kind of understand that, I'm sure. In Jeremiah chapter 36 and verse 17, they asked Baruch, this wicked king, and all the guys that were hanging around with him, they said, How did you write all these words at his mouth?
[4:25] And Baruch answered and said, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth. That's a smart lick. Amen.
[4:36] And he pronounced them and I wrote them with ink in a book. I think that's funny, personally. Anyway. God's humor. The truth is clearly taught in other parts of Scripture.
[4:52] In Jeremiah, Jeremiah says, I'm writing this down because God told me to. And if you'd like to know how I did it, he told me. I told Baruch.
[5:03] Baruch took an ink pen. Of course, it had been a quill, probably, but he took it. He wrote it with ink in a book. Now, here's some things we know about our Bible. Now, you're going to move around your Bible a little bit, but it won't hurt you.
[5:15] 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 21. You need to mark this down somewhere. God's will was to give us a Bible. And it was not man's will.
[5:28] It's not the plan of man to give us a Bible. There wasn't a Catholic church convention that said, let's get a Bible together. There wasn't a writing.
[5:39] There wasn't a bunch of men in a Sanhedrin in the Old Testament said, let's get a Bible together. The fact is they don't like the Bible. On the whole, people don't like the Word of God.
[5:50] It is a book that was given by God. In 2 Peter 1, 21, the Bible said, this prophecy came not in the old time by the will of man. You should underline this.
[6:01] It came not in the old time by the will of man. It was not that a man made a decision. Jeremiah claims. He told me to write it down.
[6:12] Jeremiah doesn't say, I was sitting around one day and I got to thinking. I could be famous. I could get this on the Amazon number one bestselling list. I could get this in the New York Times. I think I'll write a book. That's what happened.
[6:23] Jeremiah was there and he was preaching these messages and telling everybody what God was telling him. And God said, time for you to write it down in a book. Look at verse 2 Peter 1, 21.
[6:35] Not in old time, came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And what happens is, this is the sword of the Spirit.
[6:49] It's the Word of God. The Holy Spirit of God is going to direct and work that. Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. You have God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.
[7:00] And we just baptized in the name of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. And the Holy Spirit of God said to Jeremiah, I want you to write my stuff in a book.
[7:12] It was never man's design or plan to write the Bible. Your Bible was written by 40 or so writers over 1,500 or 1,600 years spread across several different continents.
[7:25] And yet they'll put together a book. They'll put together a book that you hold in your hands and it won't contradict itself. And it won't make mistakes. And it'll be in harmony. And it'll be because there's one author and a whole bunch of writers.
[7:40] You ought to write that down if you don't know that can remember it. I do not believe that the Bible was authored by any man. I believe it was the Holy Spirit of God. That's the will. That's 2 Peter 1, 21.
[7:52] Not in old time by the will of man. I'll show you that from the Bible in just a minute. It was written by 40 writers over at least three continents, 1,500 or 1,600 years.
[8:04] These were holy men of God that the Holy Spirit of God impressed on them to write down his words. Look at 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 13 with me.
[8:18] 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 13. Which things also we speak. And the Holy Spirit has him write this down and say, Not in the words which man's wisdom teaches.
[8:31] Now you could go to Harvard or UGA or Georgia Tech or Princeton or Yale or any other university across the world and you could get a lot of what man thinks. And you could write that in a book and you could make money selling that book.
[8:44] But the Apostle Paul, who's the writer God used in 1 Corinthians 2, 13 said, That's not what we do. We tell you what the Holy Ghost teaches.
[8:55] Why don't you write that down? Underline that. What the Holy Ghost teaches. Comparing spiritual with spiritual. Maybe my favorite verse of all that you'll look at with me today is in Acts chapter 1 and verse 16.
[9:10] In Acts chapter 1 and verse 16, I really hope you'll look this verse up. And you can put stars and arrows and points and underline it. Look at what the Bible says. Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled.
[9:24] This scripture. That's what we call the Bible. This writing. It needs to come true. This is the phrase that jumps off the page at me. Which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake.
[9:40] You see what happened there? The Holy Ghost used David's mouth and spoke those psalms we've been preaching through. The Holy Ghost of God used David's mouth and spoke the psalms which we've been preaching through.
[9:55] The Holy Ghost used the mouth of David. And he spoke concerning Judas which was God of them that took Jesus. I just need you to catch this.
[10:06] It wasn't David writing that psalm. It was the Holy Spirit of God speaking through the mouth of David that wrote that psalm. That's a pretty clear picture of everything that happens that gets you a Bible.
[10:21] You know if you're tearing down all of society. David's one of those guys you'd probably tear down his statue. He wasn't that good a guy in lots of ways. And if you had the book of Psalms written by David you might could criticize it.
[10:32] But in the book of Acts it says pretty clearly it really wasn't David. It was the Holy Spirit speaking by the mouth of David. If you see that say amen.
[10:44] The Bible is the word of God and not of man. And you know this passage of scripture as well as anything. But look at 2 Timothy 3 16 and 17. And Paul writes to Timothy and says you've known these words.
[10:56] Your grandmama and your mama talked to you about them. They made you wise unto salvation. And I need you to understand that all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
[11:07] It is that God breathed. God moved. God spoke. God touched. And God used these men to write down all scripture.
[11:19] Underline that. All scripture. That's the reason. If you've been attending Vision a long time. You've been through books that you know good and well. You just don't like reading. Like numbers.
[11:31] You think you don't like reading it. You should have been me preaching it. Sometimes I'd read a chapter and I'd say man. 12 times he writes the exact same thing. Changes one guy's name.
[11:41] This guy brought. This guy brought. They all brought the same thing. I'm like I could have wrote that in one verse. And I remember praying and saying Lord what in the world do you want me to say? He said well maybe you ought to realize that I realized what every one of them did.
[11:54] I thought well maybe that's what you're doing. Because you could have just said they all brought. But you didn't. All scripture. It's given by inspiration of God. That's why we come here. We believe God inspired it.
[12:06] And it's profitable for doctrine. For reproof. For correction. For instruction. And righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect. Mature. Complete. Thoroughly furnished.
[12:17] Totally everything you need. Unto all good works. Now. Well Jeremiah wrote that. And we see that God spoke to Jeremiah.
[12:29] And Jeremiah dictated it to Baruch. And Baruch wrote it down on a piece of paper. And so it's very possible that Baruch and they lost that.
[12:39] But the Bible gives me some promises. That you can't destroy the word of God. You can't destroy the word of God. Matthew 24 35 said heaven and earth.
[12:52] They'll pass away. But my words. They shall not pass away. So you can mark this down. The scripture is more permanent. And more protected.
[13:04] Than the whole planet you live on. And by the way. The planet and the sky. Will both be burned up by holy fire.
[13:14] But the word of God will still stand. We study this book. Because we believe it's the word of God. The Bible says in Jeremiah.
[13:26] You got to go back to Jeremiah 36. You got to go back here. It's just funny how God does stuff. I mean he's God. So he can do anything he wants to. But in Jeremiah.
[13:37] He gives the word to Jeremiah. And then Baruch takes the word. Goes over and gives it to this wicked king. And his cronies. And they decide that they will destroy the word of God.
[13:48] Jeremiah 36 21. You have your Bible there? So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll. And he took it out of Elishamah the scribe's chamber.
[14:01] And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king. And the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king. Now the king was sitting in his winter house.
[14:12] That's pretty nice. He's got a summer house and a winter house. And it's September. And there's a fire on the hearth burning before him. And it came to pass that when...
[14:24] He definitely wasn't in Georgia with a fire going. But anyway. And it came to pass that when Jehudi had rid three or four leaves, he cut it with a pen knife.
[14:36] And he cast it into the fire that was on the hearth. And he did that till all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. That's pretty bad.
[14:47] He basically took a copy of the word of God, started cutting it up, throwing it in the fire. And he did that till he burned the whole thing Jeremiah had written so far. And so now you've got to be thinking to yourself, well, we lost the word of God.
[14:58] Very next verse says, The shocking thing was there was no respect for the word of God in the room because they were not afraid. I mean, you ought to realize this is a book that ought to scare you.
[15:10] It's true. And it's right. And he said they weren't afraid. They didn't tear their garments. They didn't show grief. Not the king or any of his servants that heard all the words.
[15:22] And a couple of these guys here made intercession in verse 25 to the king that he would not burn the roll. Please don't burn the roll. But he would not hear them.
[15:34] And the king commanded for them to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord hid them. Now you get on, if you would, to verse 27.
[15:45] Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after, you circle that word after, the king had burned the roll and the words into which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah.
[15:57] Now, I don't know if you recall back in the old, old, old days, you know, like 10 years ago, when you had a computer and it didn't always auto save everything you did. I've been known to be typing a whole document.
[16:09] And I get to the end of it, I'm ready to try to save it and it just, and I'm like, how do I get that back? My computer crashes at the wrong time.
[16:19] So, man, we've lost the word of God. It's been cut up. It's been thrown in the fire. But God does the auto save. And look what happens, if you would, in the verse.
[16:32] After, he's cut it all up and it's all gone. After that, in verse 28, he said, get out you another piece of paper. Get out another scroll. Get out another roll.
[16:43] And write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which the wicked king burned up. Verse 29, And you tell that king, Thus saith the Lord, You burned this roll, saying, What hast thou written?
[17:01] Thou hast burned this roll. You see, he burned the roll, God rewrote the roll. He burned the roll, and God rewrote the roll.
[17:12] I mean, wasn't that hard? I mean, God doesn't forget stuff. Amen. And Jeremiah goes in and says, Hey, they burned the roll. And he said, Well, get another piece of paper. I'll dictate it to you again. And he tells Jeremiah what to write.
[17:23] Jeremiah tells Baruch, And they make a whole new copy. I'm thinking Baruch's about like, My hand's getting tired, but I'll do what the boss says. And God has promised he's going to destroy. See, they're mad because Jeremiah's telling him that Babylon's coming after him.
[17:38] And in verse 31, God has promised he will fulfill everything he said, even if they listen or they don't listen. And the bad thing is, the old wicked king burns the roll, and he's like, I'll get rid of what God's saying about us.
[17:55] I wouldn't want anybody to know God said that. I don't like what Jeremiah's saying. So in verse 31, Jeremiah took another roll, and he gave it to Baruch. And God said, I got some extra words.
[18:06] We'll just go ahead and add the next chapter while we're doing it. So he tried to get rid of the word of God, but he couldn't get rid of the word of God. And when he did get rid of the word of God, God said, I can rewrite what you tore up, and I'll just give you some more, because I'm God.
[18:22] The Bible's been under attack throughout history. Men and women still take their pen knives of unbelief and try to destroy the word of God. And most of us show no fear while their friends attack the Bible.
[18:37] When I went to college in 1972, I'd never heard anybody ever say the Bible wasn't the word of God.
[18:49] I'd never heard anybody say there were mistakes. I had no idea Moses didn't write the books of the law, the Pentateuch. I'd heard it for all my life. I had no idea Daniel wasn't written by Daniel.
[19:01] I had no idea that Jonah wasn't swallowed by that big old fish. I had no idea none of that was true. And then I got to college, quote unquote Bible college. I'm sitting in class, and they start mocking the Bible.
[19:15] And I remember sitting there going, I don't get it. I don't even know why we're here. Why were we told to bring a Bible if it ain't real? Some of us still aren't holding on to the fact you have a copy of the very word of God in your lap.
[19:31] That's why you bring it. That's why you read it every day. That's why you memorize it. God has protected his word for us. God has protected his word.
[19:44] We have his promise. We have his promise that nobody's going to get rid of it. Nobody's going to get rid of it. The wicked king can cut it up.
[19:55] He can throw it in the fire, and God will take care of it. In John chapter 10, in verse 35, the Bible says the scripture cannot be broken.
[20:06] You will not get away with trying to hurt the word of God. The word of God will stand. It always has stood, and it will continue to stand. The word of God is more eternal than the planet you live on.
[20:18] The word of God is more protected than the planet you stand on. The Bible says in Psalm chapter 12, in verse 6, that God will keep his word. The words of the Lord are pure words.
[20:31] As silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times. You can mark it down. The words are the words that God needs you to have. He has gone through an entire process to make sure you have the word, and you will keep them.
[20:45] Thou shalt preserve them. God will keep them, and God will preserve them. God will make sure you have a copy of the word of God.
[20:57] Proverbs chapter 30, in verse 5, every word of God is pure. Don't be adding, verse 6. Don't add to it. The word of God is perfect.
[21:09] It's infallible. It's inerrant. When I was in college, I was a member of the Southern Baptist Convention, and there was a massive fight going on. Do we have a Bible?
[21:21] W.A. Criswell was like a hero to me, and he stood up and said, why do I preach the Bible's literally true? Another guy named Harold Linzel wrote a book called The Battle for the Bible.
[21:33] John R. Ross wrote a book called The God-Breathed Book, the Bible. You see, we have a Bible, and though they were fighting over whether that was true, the Bible still said it was true, and it outlived those worms.
[21:47] Psalm 19, 7. The law of the Lord is perfect. Perfect. Complete. Whole. Converting the soul.
[21:58] Boy, that's a truth. You know what changed everybody in this room? It was the word of God. You know what gave us life? It was the word of God. It's not just, you know what I like about it?
[22:10] It's alive. You know what I like about it? It can read the thoughts and intents of your heart. You're reading the Bible. Oh, my grandmother was an old hillbilly. Not sure she could read.
[22:22] I had an aunt say she could, but I never saw her read. Granddaddy always read to her. She loved me. She was the sweetest lady on the planet. I think the first time she saw Betty, she wanted to make sure she was saved.
[22:33] She was going to marry her grandson. And she'd hold her Bible up and tears in her eyes and she'd pull it open to the front page. She said, see all them hash marks? That's how many times Granddaddy's read it to me from cover to cover.
[22:48] Converting the soul. That's the one that the Lord is sure. Making wise the simple that don't understand. Amazing. Psalm 1830.
[23:03] The word of God has been tried and tested and you can trust God that he has taken care of it. In Matthew chapter 5 and verse 18, the smallest little mark in their language, the Hebrew language, was being discussed here.
[23:21] God said, I won't let one little spot be messed up. Matthew 5, 18. Verily, truly, I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.
[23:38] God keeps his word. It accomplishes his purposes. Now in Spanish, we have these marks that are called tiles and they're just little accent marks, just little things like an apostrophe above a letter so we know how to pronounce it.
[23:58] Most Hispanics don't really need it. Most Americans, we desperately need it. You don't put it on there, we're like lost in space because we're not sure where the accent marks and the jot was smaller than that.
[24:11] God said, I take care of my book. It's my book. It can't be broken. I take care of it. In Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 8, he said, the word of our God shall stand forever.
[24:28] Forever. I don't know. I'm going to hurry to get to the last thing I want to say to you, but let me just give you these verses for you to look up later. Psalm 119, 140. Thy word is very pure.
[24:43] Very pure. That's why your servant loves it. I can tell you pretty honestly, I think I probably average somewhere between 30 and 40 hours a week for approximately the last 40 years in this book that I have found nothing but purity.
[25:09] And I will tell you, I can say to him, your servant loves your book. His word endures forever. Thy word is, Psalm 119, 160.
[25:22] Thy word is true from the beginning and every one of thy righteous judgment endures forever. There's no need to worry about it when the king gets out a knife or the president or the chairman or whatever of any country decides they don't like the Bible.
[25:40] Psalm 119, 89 said, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy word is settled in heaven. God has it down and it's fine. I'm going to take the last little bit here and I just want to talk to you about the attitude you ought to have.
[25:58] I've given you the facts. If you believe anything that's written in this book, it's a perfect, pure, tried, tested, preserved word of God.
[26:09] If you could say amen to that, say amen. So what is the attitude you ought to have when you walk up to your Bible? I have grown up and around spooky country people and Peruvians and I've been told don't ever put anything on top of a Bible.
[26:27] I mean, ain't nothing that the Bible says. If I put my iPad up here on top of it, that's somehow wicked. That's not what it's, that's not the attitude we need. A taxi driver told me one time in Peruv, I said something about are you a good driver?
[26:40] He said, you don't have to worry about it. See that Bible? It's laying around on the dash. He said, that Bible take care of me. I said, I don't really think so. Then I grew up hearing about all them people that went to World War II and got saved because they had a Gideon Zoo Testament got shot in the heart and that Bible stopped them.
[26:55] And then all you dingbats on Facebook think every house burns down and all the Bibles are saved. Those are not the Bible attitudes. Here's some Bible attitudes I think you should have.
[27:06] You ought to know it is the very Word of God. You don't have to understand it, but you got to know it's God's Word. This is one of my favorite passages of Scripture, 1 Thessalonians 2.13.
[27:18] I really wish you'd mark it. I know it's a little bit long up there as you look at it, but it says, For this cause, thank we God without ceasing because when you received the Word of God, when you received the Word of God, which you heard of us, you received it not as the Word of men, but you received it as it is in truth, the Word of God.
[27:44] So Paul walks into that town and he opens his scroll and rolls it to a passage and starts preaching and they said, We'll believe that. And we won't accept it as Paul talking, but as God talking.
[28:00] But probably what just really challenges me and it's been the key to what I do in the ministry is look at this.
[28:10] It effectually works in those that believe. You need to underline that. Did you know how fair to get out something? If I get enough of this in a guy, it'll just work on him.
[28:21] You get enough of this in a guy, it'll effectually work. It acts on him. It changes his heart. It changes his mind. It changes his actions.
[28:33] It goes to work in him. It's the Word of God. It changes lives. There are various people in this room that like I have, have read the Bible scores of time from cover to cover and reading it every day of our lives.
[28:51] And it effectually, I love that, it effectually works in those that believe. Colossians 129, just for fun, no time, but the Holy Spirit works effectually like that too.
[29:07] Works mightily. Second thing is, when you listen to the Word of God, whether in preaching or your Bible reading, don't be dull of hearing. Go with me to Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 11.
[29:21] Something happens to you after you've been saved a long time and after you come to church a long time, and it really worries me about all of us in this room, and I'm not even playing at all. You can easily become dull of hearing.
[29:34] That's why you run the halls during the service. That's why you figure out where else to be. That's why you're on your phone. You're dull of hearing. You're like, I'm listening to you.
[29:46] But you're not listening. You're not listening to the Holy Spirit of God that's speaking to you. The Bible says, of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing you are dull of hearing.
[29:57] You're not paying attention. You open your Bible to read it, and you read it because you're supposed to, and you memorize it because you're supposed to, and you study your lesson because you're supposed to. I don't mean this to be a smile.
[30:14] I've been preaching so long, I don't have to study another day the rest of my life to have good messages. I got a barrel. I got a barrel of messages. Preachers always talk about their barrel where they store all their messages.
[30:24] I got hundreds. I only got about 11 years to live according to the death clock. It's actually 10 years and 363 days today. So I ain't got long.
[30:36] I got plenty of messages, but I just love reading. I'll be reading the Bible study and I'll preach to you, and I'll go, I did not know that. My grandmother, just that ignorant hillbilly lady, she used to tell me, she said, son, how many times do we read it that he puts new stuff in it every time?
[30:53] You know he doesn't put new stuff, but you find new stuff. Say amen. Amen. You should reverence the word of God. In Acts chapter 17, verse 11, they were more noble because they received the word with readiness of mind.
[31:08] I'm alive, I lay awake and alert. I am paying attention. I'm going to learn what the word of God says, and I'm going to search the scriptures daily. You reverence the word of God by reading it, by memorizing it, and mostly by obeying it.
[31:26] You reverence in your attitude because you know it's the word of God and you know it's powerful. Not a more powerful verse about the Bible and the Bible itself than Hebrews 4.12.
[31:38] It's alive. It's quick and powerful. It's alive and it's powerful. And it's sharper than any two-edged sword. And I love this part. It's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
[31:52] You can read the Bible and it's like God, somehow, somehow, it's alive. Somehow, and it effectually works in you, but somehow, God knows who you are. Holy Spirit says, I got you.
[32:03] I got my book. Watch this. I'm going to make it work in you. No questions. No doubts. Just accept and move forward.
[32:15] We should delight in the word of God. Psalm 1.2 is the light in the law of the Lord. We should believe the word of God. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 2.
[32:27] It's a powerful verse right here. By the way, I was just thinking this morning when I was going back over the outline and I was just thinking, I don't know if I'll do it or not. So much Bible to preach and teach.
[32:39] But there's so many things in the Bible that no human being knew. They'd have figured out the 1700 and God wrote it 2,000 years before that. 4,000 years before that. But this book is by itself got stuff in it.
[32:55] Did you know the book of Daniel is hated because they say Daniel could have never written that book and got all that stuff so right so it has to be forged and written afterwards or it would have never been so right.
[33:11] It's like Daniel knew what happened. And they're like, so it couldn't really be Daniel that wrote that. So somebody wrote that in Bible day, in the New Testament days. I'm like, no, that's not what happened.
[33:24] You see, the word of the Lord came to Daniel and he didn't sell Baruch to write it but he said, just go ahead and write it. I'll get it right. And he did. Hebrews 4, 2.
[33:38] For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them but the word preached didn't profit them. They preached it but it didn't do them any good because it wasn't mixed with faith.
[33:54] Are you mixing your Bible reading with faith? You see, when you go to some Bible reading you've got to believe it's the word of God. You've got to humble yourself and say, God, I've been blessed.
[34:06] Last two weekends my grandson, 18 year old, comes up and says, brings his Bible and wants to talk to me. He has no idea what I'm doing. I'm like, bring it on, buddy.
[34:18] Yesterday he came in and he said, now how do you say Abdias in English? And I said, Obadiah? He said, yeah, that one. That's what I'm working on right now. And so we just sat there and talked about Abdias.
[34:29] It was a half Spanish, half Spanish. Do you understand? You've got to come at this book like it's the word of God. Amen? And you've got to believe it. See, if you won't believe the Bible, nobody can help you.
[34:42] In John 5, 46, he said, for had you believed Moses, you would have believed me. You know why people didn't accept what Jesus said? Because they didn't believe the Old Testament. That's what he said there.
[34:54] He said, if you don't believe what I wrote, how are you going to believe what I say? That's John 5, 47. They'll put that up there for you. If you won't believe what I say, it's because you don't believe what I wrote.
[35:07] Look at it. I used to pastor young people in the first church I worked in and they used to say, I just wish God had talked to us. I said, he did.
[35:20] They said, yeah, but I wish he'd just talk. I said, hey, a written contract is a whole lot better than a verbal one. Here's your written one right here. God doesn't lie. Titus 1, 2, and hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised.
[35:37] In Hebrews 6, 18, two unchangeable, immutable things. It's impossible for God to lie. And Jesus said, he quoted Deuteronomy 8, 3, we live by, not by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord does man live.
[36:01] I just think it's interesting. In the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah stops and says, well, he doesn't. It's really, gee, God, the Holy Spirit. He said, go ahead and let's explain to him what we did here.
[36:13] He said, I'm telling you stuff. I want you to write it in a book. And he'd go ahead and tell him that this dingbat thought he could get rid of my book. And so I just wrote it again. And I added more to it because it's my book.
[36:25] My power. My protection. So this week, why don't you get out your Bible and spend some time on you. In your Bible, you can get on your knees, sit in a chair, sit at the coffee table.
[36:39] It's not really your position. It's that you get in the Bible. Not a physical position you need to have, but you get in the Bible and you say, man, I want to hear from you, God. Why don't you, when you come to church tonight and Thursday night and all this week for missions conference and every service you come to, why don't you say, I want to hear God's word.
[36:58] I do not believe that I am teaching you a dead static book written about Jews. I am teaching you a living word. It's alive and powerful.
[37:10] And it changes our lives. Father in heaven, I love you. I thank you for the chance to serve you. And I pray, God, that you'd deal with your people and their attitude towards your Bible.
[37:21] I pray, God, that you'd help us to be servants of yours that love the word. I pray, God, you'd move right now. With your heads bowed and your eyes closed, some of you aren't saved because you haven't believed.
[37:38] You know all the stuff, but you haven't believed. And it takes the word of God and you believing in what God said. You could be saved today. You could trust Christ as your savior. You could know for sure you go to heaven when you die.
[37:50] If you're here and you know for sure you're saved. You don't know for sure you're saved. You can be saved right now. Now I'd like to say something to believers here. How much time do you spend in his word?
[38:03] What attitude do you have towards the word of God? What do you do during the church service? Are you Martha cumbered about with much serving?
[38:15] Are you saying, God, speak to me? Are you faithful to a Sunday school class, to discipleship, to any other place you can learn more Bible?
[38:26] What's your attitude towards the word of God? It is God's holy word. I'd like to ask you maybe to come and make a commitment to him and just say, I haven't been as faithful as I should, but today I make a decision that I'll read my Bible at least five minutes a day.
[38:46] At least five minutes. Just five minutes. That's all I challenge you to. If you'll read five, you'll probably end up doing more. Why don't you come and say, God, I'll be more faithful to the Bible. Why don't you be honest and say you let your Bible rest for days at a time?
[39:00] You don't spend much time in it, but today you're going to make a decision to be in the book. Would there be anybody else you just do what God said? Come on. Get up here and say, God, I'm going to be in the Bible.
[39:11] I'm going to read the Bible. I'm going to pray and we'll get a hold of you. Anybody else? Father in heaven, I just pray your name would be glorified. I pray you'd use this time. Make us fall in love with your book.
[39:23] May your name be glorified and magnified. With every head bowed and every eye closed, you can pray there in your seat. You can come forward and find a place to pray. Whenever you're finished, you can stand and sing with Stephen as he leads us in this song.
[39:34] There is a Redeemer, Jesus, God's own Son.
[39:50] Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One.
[40:01] Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son and leaving your Spirit till the work on earth is done.
[40:24] Jesus, my Redeemer, name above all names, Precious Lamb of God, O for sinners slain.
[40:47] Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son and leaving your Spirit till the work on earth is done.
[41:10] Thank you very much. You can have a seat. We'll have a couple of announcements to get you out here in just a second. I don't know how to say this to you without it just sounding totally redundant, but I don't know how you live without spending time in the Word of God.
[41:23] We live not by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. It takes discipline to read your Bible. It takes discipline.
[41:34] It takes work. It takes saying it's important enough for me to set aside time for it. And I know you work long hours. I know you have a hard time, but if it really is the Word of God, maybe you still don't believe it is, but if it really is the Word of God, why don't you get in it?
[41:56] Thank you very much.