to get service started.
If you would find a seat, grab a hymnal.
Our first hymn, number 405, The Banner of the Cross.
Hymn number 405, 405, The Banner of the Cross.
405, there on the first.
This time we'll open with a word of prayer
that you'll bow your heads with me.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day
for, again, another opportunity to gather together,
to sing praises unto you and to learn from your word.
Lord, I just pray this evening, as always,
that you'd be with us for the service,
that everything would be done decently and in order,
that we would have ready hearts and open ears
to the message and that you'd fill pastor with your spirit.
These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
For our next hymn, number 202, My Redeemer.
Hymn number 202, 202, My Redeemer.
202 there, on the first.
♪ I will sing the redeemer ♪
Please raise your hand.
We'll come around.
Bible memory, verse of the week,
Genesis chapter number one, verse 18 on the inside.
Our service times are listed there on the top.
Sunday morning at 10.30, Sunday evening at 4.30,
and our Bible study on Wednesdays at seven o'clock.
Below that, all of our soul winning times are listed there
that meet here at the church.
And then below you'll see our year to date
soul winning statistics and baptism statistics.
We also have our upcoming events.
This upcoming Friday is our chili cook-off.
And I think there's gonna be more people competing
this year than last time.
So we're really looking forward to that.
Got our judges in place and our prizes.
So make sure to join us at 6.30 p.m.
on Friday for our chili cook-off.
Then our next event is below that on the right,
our Pacific Islander soul winning.
That is November 8th on a Saturday.
We'll meet at the location listed there
for four hours of soul winning at a apartment complex
that's gonna be really receptive, Lord willing at least,
with lots of Pacific Islanders in that area.
Then November 16th is our men's preaching night.
November 22nd is an Oklahoma City soul winning marathon
that'll meet here like our normal rally,
but we'll have a second round in the afternoon.
November 23rd is our one year anniversary,
and Pastor Jonathan Shelley will be preaching
both services for us.
So make sure to invite your friends and family.
It's gonna be a great weekend at Anchor Baptist Church.
Then November 26th is our Pi Fellowship.
December 5th, our Yukon Christmas Lights Fellowship
at the Chisholm Park in Yukon at 6.30.
Then December 12th is the Ladies Christmas Party.
December 19th, Christmas Caroling in Yukon.
And December 31st, our New Year's Annual Party on Wednesday,
I believe it is this year, but whatever date
December 31st is, we'll have a men's preaching night
and potluck and games afterwards.
So definitely lots of events coming up in the winter.
Some people hate winter, but you know,
we got lots of events coming up, so I love winter.
Looking forward to it.
On the back, of course, is our prayer list.
Please let us know if you have any requests,
as well as our visitor card
and our online giving QR codes there.
That'll be it for announcements.
We'll go ahead and go to our third song this evening.
Him this evening, number 207, only a sinner.
Him number 207, 207, only a sinner.
207 there, on the first.
♪ God had a good one ♪
♪ He raised and He showed him right ♪
As the offering plates are being passed,
turn if you would to John chapter number one.
John chapter number one.
In the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God and the word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made.
In Him was life and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness
and the darkness comprehended it not.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light
that all men through Him might believe.
He was not that light,
but was sent to bear witness of that light.
That was the true light,
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
He was in the world and the world was made by Him
and the world knew Him not.
He came unto His own and His own received Him not.
But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on His name,
which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the world was made flesh
and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
And we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth.
John bare witness of Him and cried, saying,
this was He of whom I spake, He that cometh after me
is preferred before me, for He was before me.
And of His fullness have all we received
and grace for grace.
For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
No man hath seen God at any time,
the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,
He hath declared Him.
And this is the record of John,
when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem
to ask Him, "Who art Thou?"
And He confessed and denied not,
but confessed, "I am not the Christ."
And they asked Him, "What then, art Thou Elias?"
And He saith, "I am not, art Thou that prophet?"
And He answered, "No."
Then said unto Him, "Who art Thou?"
That we may give an answer to them that sent us,
"What sayest thou of thyself?"
He said, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
"make straight the way of the Lord."
As the prophet, as said the prophet, Esaias,
and they which were sent of the Pharisees,
and they which were sent were of the Pharisees.
And they asked him and said unto him,
"Why baptistest thou then, if thou be not that Christ,
"nor Elias, neither that prophet?"
John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water,
"but there standeth one among you whom ye know not.
"He it is who coming after me is preferred before me,
"whose shoes latch it I am not worthy to unloose."
These things were done in Bethphara, beyond Jordan,
where John was baptizing.
The next day, John seeth Jesus coming unto him
and saith, "Behold the Lamb of God,
"which taketh away the sin of the world.
"This is he of whom I said, 'After me cometh a man
"'which is preferred before me, for he was before me.'
"And I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest
"to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water."
And John bare records, saying, "I saw the Spirit
"descending from heaven like a dove,
"and it abode upon him.
"And I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize
"with water, the same sent him to me,
"upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending
"and remaining on him, the same as he which baptizeth
"with the Holy Ghost.
"And I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God.
"Again, the next day after John stood,
"and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus
"as he walked, he saith, Behold, the Lamb of God.
"And the two disciples heard him speak,
"and they followed Jesus.
"Then Jesus turned and saw them following,
"and saith unto them, What seek ye?
"They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say,
"being interpreted, Master, where dwellest thou?
"He saith unto them, Come and see.
"They came and saw where he dwelt,
"and abode with him that day,
"for it was about the tenth hour.
"One of the two which heard John speak
"followed him, and Andrew,
"one of the two which heard John speak and followed him
"was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
"He first findeth his own brother Simon,
"and saith unto him, 'We have found the Messiahs,'"
which is being interpreted, "the Christ.
"And he brought him to Jesus.
"And when Jesus beheld him, he said,
"'Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah.
"'Thou shalt be called Cephas,'"
which is by interpretation a stone.
"The day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee,
"and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, 'Follow me.'
"Now Philip was of Bethsaida,
"the city of Andrew and Peter.
"Philip findeth Nathaniel, and saith unto him,
"'We have found him of whom Moses and the law
"and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth,
"the son of Joseph.'
"And Nathaniel said unto him,
"'Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?'
"Philip saith unto him, 'Come and see.'
"Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him,
"and saith of him, 'Behold, an Israelite indeed,
"in whom is no guile.'
"Nathaniel saith unto him, 'Whence knowest thou me?'
"Jesus answered and said unto him,
"'Before that Philip called thee,
"'when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.'
"Nathaniel answered and said unto him,
"'Rabbi, thou art the Son of God,
"'thou art the King of Israel.'
"Jesus answered and said unto him,
"'Because I said unto thee,
"'I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou?
"'Thou shalt see greater things than these.'
"And he said unto him,
"'Verily, verily I say unto you,
"'hereafter you shall see heaven open
"'and the angels of God ascending and descending
"'upon the Son of Man.'"
Let's bow our heads forward in prayer.
Father in heaven, we thank you for this day, our church,
and we just ask that you would
look over all of us in the building,
help us to receive your work,
help us to apply it to our lives,
help us to love you,
and we ask that you fill our pastor with your Holy Spirit.
We love you.
- Amen, well, we are in a great chapter this evening,
John chapter number one.
I wanna read quite a few verses here
before we dig into it.
Verse one, the Bible says,
"In the beginning was the word,
"and the word was with God,
"and the word was God.
"The same was in the beginning with God.
"All things were made by him,
"and without him was not anything made that was made.
"In him was life, and the life was the light of men,
"and the light shineth in darkness,
"and the darkness comprehended it not.
"There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
"The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light
"that all men through him might believe.
"He was not that light,
"but was sent to bear witness of that light.
"That was the true light which lighteth every man
"that cometh into the world.
"He was in the world and the world was made by him,
"and the world knew him not.
"He came unto his own and his own received him not.
"But as many as received him,
"to them gave he power to become the sons of God,
"even to them that believe on his name."
In my opinion, this is the most epic of intros
when it comes to the four gospels.
John just starts out so powerful and so beautifully,
just introducing you to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it does so without even mentioning his name.
And of course, I want you to stay there in John chapter one,
but let me just read a verse for you in John 20 verse 31,
where the Bible says, "But these things are written,
"that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
"the Son of God, and that believing,
"you might have life through his name."
So the whole purpose of John's gospel
is basically that people would get saved,
that people would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and that they would have life through his name.
And Jesus is introduced to us in John chapter number one,
in this beautiful, poetic, epic fashion,
even though it's not even giving us his name yet.
Of course, we know it's talking about him
because verse 12 talks about how the word was made flesh.
So we know it is about Jesus.
But in this introduction
that we're introduced to Jesus in John,
we're not given his title of son of God,
son of man, you know, Jesus Christ.
He's introduced to us in verse number one
with this pretty interesting description here,
and that is the word.
He's given us this description as being the word.
And so the title of my sermon this evening is this,
Jesus is the word.
I wanna give you us several lessons
that we could draw from this verse in John 1.1.
Number one this evening, Jesus is the word.
The word is God.
Jesus is God.
Part of what this verse is trying to communicate to us
is that Jesus Christ is not some created being.
It's not like, oh, here's just this good man
who was born in the world, who's done some good things,
who has some good teachings for us.
Right off the bat, the gospel of John
is just screaming to us that Jesus is God,
that Jesus has eternally existed.
Go to Colossians chapter one, Colossians chapter one,
of course, we just read where it says
in the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God, and the word was God.
So if Jesus is the word, which everyone agrees
that's who this is talking about here,
we learned that Jesus is both with God
and is God at the same time, explaining his deity,
also making a distinction between the persons
of the father and the son, Jesus Christ,
but they're both God.
Colossians one, verse 14, it says here in whom,
that's in Jesus, we have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins,
who is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of every creature.
Notice this, for by him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones
or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by him and for him.
So Colossians one just gets very vivid to us
that Jesus Christ is the creator of the world.
See, there's a false doctrine out there
that teaches that Jesus came into existence
as the son of God, that he has not eternally existed,
that Jesus is like this created being kind of similar to us.
Mormons will teach this, that Jesus Christ
has not eternally existed as God, as the creator,
but that he was created by the father.
And he's basically on the same level as Satan in their minds.
They say that Satan and Jesus were both created beings.
No, false.
Guess what?
Jesus is the creator.
He is the one who created all things, both visible
and invisible.
So God has created the world.
He's created the scientific laws of this world.
He's also created things like love.
He's created power.
He's created human government,
just anything you can think of,
both visible and invisible.
Jesus Christ was the creator of it.
Now, keep your place in Colossians 1 and go to Psalm 33.
Psalm 33.
Psalm 33, look at verse six.
The Bible says, notice this phrase,
by the word of the Lord were the heavens made
and all the hosts of them,
notice this, by the breath of his mouth.
So we already have in Colossians 1,
the Bible telling us that Jesus Christ is the creator.
He created all things.
The Bible says that God created all things by Jesus Christ.
Well, how did he do that?
Remember, he spake this world into existence.
And in John 1-1, we learned that Jesus is the word.
Now, there are people who would look at John chapter number
1, and the Greek word for word there is logos.
And people like to geek out on the Greek, if you will,
get all nerdy on the Greek.
And for example, Catholics will look at John chapter number 1,
and they'll say that that word, word there,
only applies to Jesus's title.
But they would not put any connection
between the canon of scripture, the words of God
that we hold in our hands today to the Lord Jesus Christ,
where what I believe is I believe
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the word of God,
and the word of God is Jesus Christ.
How do you describe Jesus?
What is his essence?
What is he like?
Well, it's all summed up by the words of God.
That's how you can know Jesus is through the words of God.
Why?
Because Jesus is the word.
No one is saying that this leather is him.
No one is saying that these pages of paper is Jesus.
No one is saying that the ink on this page is Jesus.
That is a straw man.
But Jesus is the word.
And the word is Jesus.
And the word is God.
And Jesus is God.
This is what the Bible says.
Now here's the thing.
People wanna, you know, harp on the Greek here and say,
well, logos is only referring to the title of God.
So when in John one, it's saying all things were created
by him, all things were made by him.
And without him was not anything made that is made.
That's only talking about the person of Jesus Christ.
Whereas I would say that's talking about the person
of Jesus Christ and the words of God themselves.
That this world was created by God speaking it
into existence.
The words of God created this world.
Jesus is the word.
Jesus has eternally existed.
The words of God have eternally existed.
And the reason I had us go to Psalm 33 is because okay,
so we saw in John one that Jesus created all things.
Then we see in Psalm 33, it says by the word of the Lord
were the heavens made.
Now is this talking about the person, the title of Jesus?
Or is this talking about the actual words of God?
Because if you wanna make the argument
and try to stay with me here,
if you wanna say that the Greek word logos is only a title,
well, you have a problem then
with how the Bible uses the word, word,
elsewhere in the Bible.
Because here it's saying by the word of the Lord
where the heavens made, this is not a Greek word,
this is a Hebrew word.
I'm gonna try to pronounce it right.
I think it's pronounced D'var, okay?
That's like it's anglicized version
of how it's written, D'var.
Now D'var is not gonna be just a title for Jesus Christ.
It's talking about literal actual words.
And I'll prove that to you not by going back to the Hebrew,
but by just simply showing you other places of the Bible
where this word, D'var, is used for words.
Stay with me here, go to Genesis one,
or I'm sorry, Genesis 15 verse one.
So they wanna say Logos, that's only the title of Christ,
that has nothing to do with the actual words of God,
that has nothing to do with the canon of scripture.
Okay, well, let's see how the word word
is used elsewhere in the Old Testament.
Genesis chapter 15 verse one.
Notice what it says, it says after these things,
the word of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision,
saying, fear not, Abram, I am thy shield
and thy exceeding great reward.
Which one is this talking about?
Is it talking about the words of God?
Or is it talking about the person of Christ?
This one, I can make an argument for both.
I can see how you can make an argument
for it's the words coming out of God's mouth
or how maybe it's the person of Christ
coming to Abram in a vision.
Of course, we do believe that there was Old Testament
appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ,
his pre-incarnate appearances.
I have no problem with that.
But here, I think you could make the argument
that it's both the words of God and the person of Christ.
But let me show you a few other ones that are more clear.
Deuteronomy chapter number eight.
Deuteronomy chapter eight, we'll look at verse three.
It says, "And he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger
"and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not,
"neither did thy fathers know, that he might make thee know,"
notice, "that man doth not live by bread only,
"but by every word that proceedeth
"out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live."
Now, what word is this talking about?
Actual words that come out of the mouth of God?
Or is this a title for Christ?
This is for sure talking about actual words
that come out of the mouth of God.
So this same word, the same Hebrew word d'var
that's used in Psalm 33 to say,
by the word of the Lord where the heavens made
is the same word here that's talking about words
that come out of the mouth of God.
This is why I believe,
this is one of many reasons why I believe
that in John 1, 1, when it's saying Jesus is the word,
it's not only saying that Jesus is God,
but it's saying that Jesus is the words of God
and that the words of God is Jesus.
People scoff at this and say like,
you're saying that all the words of God is Jesus?
Yes, I believe that these words of God
have eternally existed in the person of Christ
because Jesus is the word.
Jeremiah 1, Jeremiah chapter number one.
Jeremiah 1, look at verse four.
It says, "Then the word of the Lord came unto me,
saying, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee.
And before thou camest forth out of the womb,
I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet
unto the nations."
Go back to Colossians 1.
So again, Jeremiah chapter one,
that same exact Hebrew word is being used there
to describe God literally speaking words.
We see God literally speaking words.
That's referred to as the word of God.
And that exact word is described
as having created the world.
God speaking the world into existence
by the word of the Lord were the heavens made.
You cannot separate the words of God from Jesus Christ.
And this is what the Catholic church wants to do.
And the Catholic church gets so angry at this doctrine
that we say that Jesus is the words of God.
You know, it's not surprising to me
that a satanic religion that teaches wrong about salvation
and wrong about pastoral qualifications
and wrong about idolatry
wants to de-emphasize the words of God, right?
They just want to worship a Jesus
that is subtracted away from the actual words of God.
Well, guess what?
You don't get to do that because Jesus is the word.
Jesus is God.
Colossians 1, look at verse 17.
It says, "And he," that's Jesus,
"is before all things,
"and by him all things consist."
Verse 18, "And he is the head of the body, the church,
"who is the beginning, the first born from the dead,
"that in all things he might have the preeminence."
So notice, the head of the church today is Jesus.
It's not a man in a dress.
It's not the pope.
It's not the guy that calls himself father
who takes on this papal, you know, inerrancy,
believing that the pope is somehow inerrant
and that he is the vicar of Christ,
that he's the representative of Christ in the world,
that he is the head of the church.
And Catholics will unironically call the pope
the head of the church.
They will say like, "The pope is the head of the church."
And they'll say that completely being serious.
They're sitting there blaspheming Christ.
They're not even knowing it really.
But they are blaspheming Christ
when they say that the pope is the head of the church.
No, guess who the head of the church is?
Jesus.
And I've always preached this and I always will.
How is it that Jesus is the head of the church
in a practical manner?
Jesus is not going to come down and preach a sermon for us.
He has not written me a church manual
for me to follow outside of the Bible, right?
He has not come and given me special revelation,
special instructions.
You know, you must have your evening service at 4.30.
You must do this, you must do that.
That is not how Christ is the head of the church.
He is the head of the church through his word.
Why? Because Jesus is the word.
So when a church today wants to put Christ as the authority,
they have to put the Bible as the authority.
And it's crazy to me how Catholics will mock this idea
that we say that the Bible is our final authority.
And again, they will unironically mock that
and be like, wow, you need to have the church
as your final authority.
You need to have studied men as your final authority.
They'll mock sola scriptura, which here's the thing,
like, I'm not a fan of Martin Luther.
We're not Lutherans.
We're not followers of all these different Protestant sects.
But what's wrong with the term sola scriptura,
saying only scripture, scripture alone?
There's nothing wrong with that phrase.
That's a great phrase.
And in fact, you cannot have Jesus
as the head of your church
if you do not have the Bible as the head of your church.
If you have a church where man is making decisions
and councils are getting together
and we're voting on church doctrine
and it's in contradiction with the Bible,
then you don't have Jesus as the head.
You have man as the head.
Now here's something that Catholics do
that I would say definitely would contradict this doctrine
is the Pope could do something called speaking ex cathedra.
Who's ever heard of ex cathedra?
It's a mode of speaking that the Pope can do.
And what it means is that he is making a formal pronouncement
on a matter of faith or morals with the full authority
of his office as the Pope claiming papal infallibility.
So basically when he speaks ex cathedra,
the Pope is claiming to be speaking
the words of God infallibly.
That what he is saying is just 100% the truth of God.
The term ex cathedra is Latin for from the chair.
It refers to the Pope speaking as the supreme pastor
and teacher of the universal church,
invoking his authority to define a doctrine definitively.
This is a rare occurrence and is considered binding
for all Catholics.
So notice Catholics do not have Jesus
as the head of their church.
In fact, they will tell you that.
They will tell you that the Pope is the head of the church.
And instead of Jesus being the final authority,
how is he the final authority?
By what the Bible says, by the words of God,
the Pope, some man, is the final authority
by speaking ex cathedra,
by making some sort of proclamation,
and he gets to interpret definitively for us
what the Bible says.
Even if he's wrong, like when he gets up
and commands celibacy as a doctrine of God for priests,
even though the Bible says that's a doctrine of devils,
all Catholics now have to submit to that
because he's speaking ex cathedra.
And so Catholics do not have Christ
as the head of their church
because they have allowed a man
to usurp Christ's position as the head.
There's a few characteristics that have to be met
for the Pope to speak ex cathedra.
One, it has to be authority.
The Pope must speak as the head of the church,
not as a private individual or a scholar.
So he can't be like having a private conversation
with someone and that'd be ex cathedra.
It has to be like in his formal capacity.
He must clearly intend to define the doctrine.
So he has to basically say like, I'm going to speak
ex cathedra, I'm going to define this.
The teaching must pertain to faith or morals
and the pronouncement must be intended as final and binding.
This concept was formally defined
at the first Vatican council in 1869
in the document Pastor Aternus,
which established the dogma of papal infallibility.
I like how it describes here
that this weird Catholic document described the doctrine
of papal infallibility
because the Bible certainly does not describe it.
Nowhere in the Bible do we see the office of a pope,
do we see a man speaking infallibly.
In fact, the Bible says, "God forbid, yea, let God be true,
"but every man a liar as it is written,
"that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings
"and mightest overcome what thou art judged."
See, we believe that every single man is a sinner.
Let God be true and all of us liars.
Hey, let our opinions be brought low below that of God's.
His ways are higher than our ways.
His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
And so we don't have this idea
that man can somehow be infallible and speak for God.
No, Jesus speaks for God how?
Through his words.
And if you want to hear Jesus speak, you read the Bible.
And if you want to hear him speak audibly to you,
you read it out loud or you listen to an audio Bible.
That's listening to the voice of God.
That's listening to the voice of Jesus Christ.
Go to Hebrews chapter one, Hebrews chapter number one.
Hebrews one, verse one.
This is a really important doctrine.
And so I hit this often, but this is a really good verse
to know where this is in your Bible.
It says, "God who at sundry times and in diverse manners
spake in time past unto the fathers,
unto the fathers by the prophets."
Right, so in olden times we saw,
hey, the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah
in a dream, in a vision.
The word of the Lord came unto Moses,
came unto Abraham in some sort of a dream.
That was a legitimate way in which God spake
in time past in the Old Testament.
But notice what it says,
"Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son
whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the world."
See, by my belief, by our belief here,
that Jesus is the word
and that the collective words of God
that have always existed,
by us believing that the words of God is Jesus
and Jesus is the word of God,
we actually can say authoritatively
and believe that Jesus Christ does still speak to us today.
He does still have words to us today,
but it's through the Bible.
Now, here's the thing.
If you deny that Jesus is the word
in the sense that the Catholics do,
where they'll say, "No, the word logos in John 1
"that's only talking about his title,
"that has nothing to do with the canon of scripture.
"Jesus is not the word in the sense of the words of God
"or anything like that."
Well, then here's my question.
How is God speaking us today?
Because if God's not speaking to us through his word
and Jesus is not the word of God, according to them,
well, then how is Jesus speaking to us today?
How is God speaking to us today?
That'd be a sad state of the world.
You'd either have to come up with false doctrines
that God is coming to private individuals
and giving private individuals apparitions or visions today,
or you just have to say that God
isn't speaking to us anymore.
But you know what?
I do believe that God is speaking to us today in 2025,
but guess what?
It's through the Bible because this is the living word today.
Jesus is the word.
The word is Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ has not left us
and is just not speaking to us anymore.
No, he's still speaking to us through his word.
He's still communicating to us through the Bible.
Look at verse three, "Who being the brightness of his glory
and the express image of his person
and upholding all things by the word of his power,
when he had himself purged our sins,
sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high."
Another thing that we can learn from that verse in John 1.1,
you know, in the beginning was the word
and the word was with God and the word was God.
So the word there, it's talking about who?
Jesus Christ.
We know that he is God.
We know that he is the word,
but also it says that he was with God.
Why?
Because this idea of modalism or oneness,
saying that basically Jesus is the father
and that Jesus just puts on different hats
and acts in different roles, that's a false doctrine.
That is heresy.
Jesus Christ is 100% God and 100% man.
You know, God the father is 100% God,
but these are distinct separate persons, one God.
Jesus is the express,
meaning the exact image of his person.
So Jesus Christ is the image of God the father's person.
People get angry and upset about calling God a person,
saying that there's personhood within the Godhead,
but this is the language that the Bible literally uses.
That Jesus is the expressed image of his person.
So oneness, modalism, that needs to be rejected.
That's heresy, that's false doctrine.
Go to Genesis 1 while I read for you 1 John 5, 7.
It says, "For there are three that bear record in heaven,
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one."
Many modern versions don't even have that in the Bible.
It's such an important verse.
The fact that we have the Father, his own individual self,
the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.
In Genesis 1 verse 26, "And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea.'"
God is creating and he says, "Let us do this."
Why?
Because there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy
Ghost.
So they, collectively, are creating the world.
It'd be kind of weird if I was making dinner and I'm at home alone, by myself, and I'm
just like, "Let us make macaroni and cheese."
You'd be like, "You need to go to mental hospital."
Right?
But you know what?
The Jesus of modalism is like this weird, mentally unstable person who's praying to
himself, who's like, "Father, not my will be done, but actually my will be done."
It's like, "Myself, myself, why have you forsaken myself?"
And it's just like, this is the Jesus of modalism.
It's weird.
It makes no sense.
actually makes sense is that there's three persons, one God.
You say, give me a perfect analogy,
help me to fully wrap my mind around it.
No, because it's God, it's deity.
You know, I'm glad that my little human mind
cannot fully understand all the intricacies of deity.
Now look, there's some pretty good examples I've heard.
I like the example of the egg.
You know, you got the shell, you got the white,
you got the yolk, you know, the shell is not the yolk,
the yolk is not the white, but you know what?
The shell is an egg, and the white is an egg,
and the yolk is an egg.
You know, I like that analogy, that's fine,
but at the end of the day,
I just care about what the Bible says.
And go ahead and philosophize and logic your way
and whatever you wanna do,
but I just believe what the Bible says.
And Muslims will mock, you know,
how could God have a son?
Shut up, you worship a pedophile.
That's my answer to that, all right?
Let's go to, if you would, 1 Timothy chapter number three.
1 Timothy chapter number three.
But look, I do believe
that there is a connection in John 1, 1,
that when it says Jesus is the word,
I don't believe that is simply using that as a title.
I do believe that there's a connection
to the actual words of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I don't think you could separate these things.
Number two, Jesus is 100% man and 100% divine.
And the Bible is 100% man and 100% divine.
Why?
Because Jesus is the word.
And the word of God is going to reflect
all the attributes of Jesus because Jesus is the word, okay?
So I constantly see Catholics on X saying,
the Bible was written by man, the Bible was written by man.
And look, there is some partial truth to that
in the fact that human hands pen the word of God,
that holy men of God, they are moved by the Holy Ghost.
But guess what?
The Bible, like Jesus, is 100% human and 100% divine.
And it's important not to emphasize one and not the other.
Look, Jesus was 100% man and 100% God.
1 Timothy 3 verse 16, "And without controversy,
"great is the mystery of godliness.
"God was manifest in the flesh."
If your Bible there, instead of the word God says he,
you've got an NIV or some sort of modern version
that takes out the word God there
and weakens this doctrine of Jesus being God
because it just says he was manifest in the flesh.
You know, I like that the King James says God
was manifest in the flesh.
'Cause you know what that means?
That means Jesus who is the word made flesh is God.
He was justified in the spirit.
Seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Go to Hebrews chapter number four,
Hebrews chapter number four.
So Jesus, 100% God, we just saw that.
Also 100% man, Hebrews 4.15.
For we have not in high priest,
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy and find grace
to help in time of need.
That therefore is there for a reason.
It's that why is it that we can come boldly
to the throne of grace to obtain help,
to find help in time of need?
It's because we have in high priest,
that's not just has never experienced
what we've experienced.
No, he's gone through what we've gone through.
He's felt what we have felt
because he fully lived the human experience.
He was fully man, he was fully God.
Go to second Timothy chapter number three.
Now I'm gonna show you some verses proving
that the Bible is 100% human and 100% God.
Second Timothy chapter number three, verse 16.
The Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness
that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
So, you know, what's another claim that the Catholics make?
Oh, you know, we gave you the Bible.
Catholics gave you the Bible.
Catholics gave you the scripture.
Really, because the Bible here says
that all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
Who is the source of the scripture, Jesus?
God is the source of the scripture.
It's given by inspiration of God, meaning the breath of God.
It does not originate with man.
See, the Bible teaches, "Forever, O Lord,
thy word is settled in heaven."
The word of God, the canon of scripture,
has eternally existed, and God spake it.
God gave it by inspiration of God,
and it's profitable for all those things.
Go to 1 Peter chapter number one.
1 Peter chapter number one.
1 Peter one, look at verse number 20.
It says, knowing this first,
that no prophecy of the scripture
is of any private interpretation.
Oh, you know, we need the church
to interpret the Bible for us,
'cause you can't just read the Bible.
You can't just have the Holy Ghost teach you.
Well, the Bible says that no prophecy of the scripture
is of any private interpretation,
for the prophecy came not in old time
by the will of man, but holy men of God spake,
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
So the will of man, meaning man did not sit down one day
and postulate and form the thought process
of the word of God.
You know, who did that?
Joseph Smith.
Joseph Smith came down and out of his own heart,
out of his own idea, wrote the Book of Mormon
and through a lot of plagiarism of the Bible.
You know, he did that.
But the word of God, the actual scripture,
it came not in old time by the will of man.
No man sat down and decided to come up with this idea,
decided to come up with these laws.
No, God spake these laws.
God gave these laws.
Now, did he give them to men?
Yes, he did.
Did men physically write down the words of God?
Yes, except for the 10 commandments
that were literally written by the finger of God.
But just because man is the vessel by which God is,
you know, getting these words on paper,
does not mean that man wrote the Bible.
It is completely accurate to say that God wrote the Bible.
And in fact, my Bible on the end, on the end right here,
it just says the word of God.
That sums it up pretty good, doesn't it?
It's just the word of God here.
And well, if you will, actually I'll just read for you,
Exodus 20 verse one, the Bible says,
"And God spake all these words saying."
So you get to Exodus 20, who spake these words?
Is man coming up with this?
No, it says, "And God spake all these words."
Go to, if you will, Psalm 119.
Number three this evening,
Jesus has eternally existed
and the words of God have eternally existed.
Now, again, I don't see why people have such a problem
saying that Jesus is the word
and not just referring to his title,
but actually referring to the words of God
when both have eternally existed.
Now think about this for a second.
If Jesus is not the word,
if Jesus is not the words of God, the actual words of God,
then how would it be possible for the words
to have eternally existed?
Are you saying there's a fourth person of the Godhead?
I mean, think about that.
If the word of God has always existed,
what, you have the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost,
and the words of God?
Are we adding a fourth person to the Trinity now?
It wouldn't be the Trinity anymore.
It'd be the whatever quantity.
I don't know how you would even say that,
but that would be four people.
No, it's just that the words of God have always existed
because Jesus is the word and the word is Jesus.
Look what it says in Psalm 119 verse 86.
All thy commandments are faithful.
They persecute me wrongfully.
Help thou me.
They had almost consumed me upon earth,
but I forsook not thy precepts.
Quaken me after thy loving kindness.
So shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth forever, oh Lord.
Thy word is settled in heaven.
Thy faithfulness is unto all generations.
Thou hast established the earth and it abideth.
Forever, oh Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.
You know, what I believe, I do believe that God in heaven
had settled the canon of scripture
before the foundation of the world.
I believe that God knew the contents of Genesis
to Revelation from before the foundation of the world.
Now, this is not to say that God, you know,
forced people to do certain things.
You know, I believe that God obviously has foreknowledge.
He knows the way that people will act.
But just because he knows the way people will act
does not mean he's forcing people to act that way.
I believe he knew exactly how, you know,
the Apostle Paul would react on the road to Damascus.
I believe he knew all the people that would forsake
the Apostle Paul during his ministry.
I believe that he knew that Peter would deny him.
I mean, I believe that God knew all these things
from before the foundation of the world.
And I believe that he settled the scripture
before there ever was an Adam,
before there ever was an Eve.
I mean, Revelation talks about the everlasting gospel.
I don't think that God was kind of just rolling
with the punches along human history.
And this is kind of like the idea of dispensationalism
is that God, he kind of racks his brain
to make up a plan and man surprises him
and catches him off guard.
And he's like, oh crap, you know, Adam and Eve sinned.
I've got to come up with another plan here.
And then things change in human history.
And he's like, all right, you know,
who's going to go die for the sins of the world.
And it's like, all right, Jesus, you can go ahead and go.
And, but someday in the great tribulation,
he's going to change the plan again.
And it's going to be by works.
You know, I don't believe dispensationalism.
I believe that God has already known the end
from the beginning, the beginning to the end.
I believe these books have been settled
from the foundation of the world forever.
In fact, Oh Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.
And people argue about, you know,
Oh, what about the extra books that were taken
out of the Bible?
They weren't settled in heaven.
You want to know what the original manuscripts are?
It was the 66 books that are settled in heaven.
Right here in verse number,
or go to Micah chapter number five, Micah chapter number five.
But see that actually, if you read Psalm 19
and you realize that Jesus is the word,
that actually makes sense to understand
how the word of God could have always existed.
Because again, if Jesus is not the word,
then what is this extra thing that's not God
that's eternally existent?
That doesn't make any sense.
You know what is just eternally existed?
God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
God has eternally existed and nothing else, right?
But his words have eternally existed, why?
Because Jesus is the word, because the word is Jesus.
Micah chapter five, look at verse number two.
It says, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephrata,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,
yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me
that is to be ruler in Israel,
whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting."
Right, so Jesus Christ, he's not created,
he's always existed.
Let me just read a few verses for you.
Titus one, two, "In hope of eternal life,
which God that cannot lie promised before the world began."
Right, why is God promising eternal life
before the world began?
Because he already knows the beginning from the end.
He already knows man is sinful.
He already knows man needs a savior.
He already knows that we can't get there by works.
And so Jesus' sacrifice is good for all generations,
all humans that have ever lived,
because God knows in advance it's gonna happen,
so it's as good as done to him,
even in the Old Testament.
Verse three, "But hath in due times
manifested his word through preaching,
which is committed unto me
according to the commandment of God our savior."
Notice, "In due times manifested his word through preaching."
How is Jesus manifest to the world through preaching?
How is the word of God?
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Jesus and the word of God, you cannot separate these things.
Go to Romans 4.
Revelation 14, 6 says, "And I saw another angel
fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel
to preach unto them that dwell on the earth
and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people."
It's the everlasting gospel.
Jesus Christ's sacrifice, God knew
that he was going to give his only begotten son
from eternity past.
It's always been that way.
Romans 4, verse 17, here's a great verse
to help us conceptualize this a little bit.
Says, "As it is written, I have made thee a father
of many nations before him whom he believed, even God,
who quickened at the dead."
And notice this, "Calleth those things which be not
as though they were."
So notice God, excuse me, God is saying to Abraham,
"I have made you a father of many nations."
Even though physically had that come to pass yet, no.
But yet he says, "Hey, I have made you a father
of many nations."
Why?
Because he call it those things that be not
as though they were.
Because God knows the beginning from the ending.
Because the whole story has existed from eternity's past
and always will exist.
Why?
Because the word of God is eternal,
because Jesus Christ is eternal.
Go to Hebrews chapter number seven.
Hebrews chapter number seven.
It's kind of like how the Bible says that we are past
from death unto life.
And it's like, you know,
we haven't shed our physical bodies yet.
We haven't experienced that physical death yet.
But you know what?
We're already passed from death unto life.
And it's seen as if we already are having
our glorified bodies because it's promised to us
and it will happen to us someday.
Hebrews 7 verse 22, it says,
"By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
And they truly were many priests
because they were not suffered to continue
by reason of death.
But this man, because he continueth ever,
hath an unchangeable priesthood.
Wherefore he is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by him,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
So Hebrews 7, it's comparing and contrasting Melchizedek
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it goes on, tells us all these things about Melchizedek,
but it says of Jesus, he ever liveth.
And what's the point of making here number four
is that Jesus Christ is alive today
and the word of God is alive today.
Why? Because Jesus is the word.
It says he ever liveth to make intercession for us.
Verse 26, for such an high priest became us
who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners
and made higher than the heavens.
I really like verse 26, because I think there's
a couple of ways you could look at became us.
For such a high priest became us.
Speaking of Jesus, one way you could look at is
it was becoming to us, it was fitting for us.
I think that's the primary application that it's talking
about that, hey, it was fitting and becoming
that this high priest would be given to us.
But you can kind of look at it as a play on words too,
that Jesus Christ became us, meaning he was a man,
he was fully man.
Go to Hebrews chapter number four,
but that's just a side note on that verse.
Hebrews chapter number four, verse 12.
So Jesus, the Bible says, he ever liveth
to make intercession for us.
The Bible also teaches that the word of God is alive today.
Verse 12, for the word of God is quick.
That word quick does not mean fast.
It means alive, right?
Now the Bible says, you hath he quickened.
He's not saying he made you lose weight,
made you have nice running shoes,
and now you're faster on the track.
He's saying he made you alive.
He revived you, he brought you to life.
Well, it says the word of God is quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword.
Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit
and of the joints and marrow,
and as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
See, just like Jesus Christ is alive today,
the word of God is alive today as well.
Why?
Because Jesus is the word.
This is not just some book here.
This is not just man's wisdom and man's word.
No, this is the words of God,
and the words of God is Jesus Christ.
That's why we can say, you know,
and of course we're not talking about the paper.
We're not talking about the ink.
We're not talking about the leather.
But when we say like, this is Jesus Christ,
that's what we mean by that.
Is that the words of God are Jesus Christ
and that the words of God are living today.
That's why it says that it is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart.
If the word of God was not alive,
then how is it reading your mind?
How is it telling us what you do
and your reasoning behind which you do it
because the word of God is alive,
because the word of God is Jesus,
because Jesus is the word.
It's almost like John chapter one is true.
It's 'cause it is.
Go to 1 Peter chapter number one.
1 Peter chapter number one.
1 Peter chapter one, verse 23.
Being born again, not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible by the word of God,
which liveth and abideth forever.
Now, if this does not connect in your mind
that Jesus is the word of God
and the word of God is Jesus,
then I don't know what will,
because according to the Bible,
to get saved, you must have the word of God.
You must have the scripture.
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
How shall they hear without a preacher?
What is a preacher doing?
It's giving you the words of God.
It's expounding you the words of God.
It's not literally a preacher
bringing you the person of Jesus.
I mean, that'd be cool if when I went soul winning
and Jesus just literally tags along and I'm just like,
meet this Lord and savior right here, meet God, right?
That'd be nice, but you know what?
It's just as effective doing what we do
because Jesus is the word.
And if you're gonna discount the fact
that Jesus is the word in the sense of his actual words,
well, then you must believe
that it doesn't take scripture to get someone saved.
And look, there are some people that believe that
and that's insane.
That is insane to believe that someone can get saved
without hearing scripture.
Because what you're saying is that they don't need Jesus
because Jesus is the word, right?
So what are you gonna do?
If you're not gonna get someone saved with scripture,
what are you gonna do?
Just say the name Jesus
and think it has some sort of magical power over people.
No, no, no.
Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God.
The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.
We are born again.
I mean, is there any questioning
if this is talking about salvation in verse 23
of first Peter one, being born again,
what did Jesus say?
He must be born again.
Being born again, not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible by the word of God.
That's Jesus.
Notice how it's described,
which liveth and abideth forever, right?
So Jesus Christ has always existed
and he exists and lives today.
Jesus is not dead.
He has ascended to the Father.
He is alive today.
Okay, the word of God has always existed.
It's 100% man.
It's 100% deity, just like Jesus
and it continues to exist and live today.
Why?
Because Jesus is the word.
Look at verse 24, for all flesh is as grass
and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.
The grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away,
but the word of the Lord endureth forever.
And this is the word by which the gospel
is preached unto you.
Hey, Jesus Christ endures forever
and the words of God endure forever.
To say that we lost the word of God
or we don't have the word of God today
or we don't have all of it,
it's like saying that we lost Jesus.
That Jesus doesn't exist today or something like that.
No, as sure as Jesus exists today,
his words exist today.
The word of God liveth and abideth forever.
Go to 2 Corinthians 5.
2 Corinthians 5, number five this evening.
Jesus is perfect and the word of God is perfect.
And part of the reason why I feel like some people
struggle to believe in the doctrine of preservation,
because most people believe in the doctrine of inspiration.
They'll say, oh yeah, at one time in history,
in a far, far away place, once upon a time,
God spake his words.
God gave scripture by inspiration.
But they say, but along the way,
it's gotten lost in translation, right?
They'll say things like, you know,
you can't translate something from one language to another
without losing something in the translation.
Let me tell you something.
As someone who speaks multiple language, that's garbage.
That is a lie.
Now, here's the truth.
Yes, you will lose the word for word,
you know, vocabulary and sentence structure.
You can lose some of those things, idioms, stuff like that,
but no meaning is lost.
You know, for example, I know many don't speak Spanish,
but an example I like to give in Spanish is like,
esa comida no me cae bien.
What that means from a word for word literal translation
is that food doesn't fall on me good.
Now, who thinks that's actually what Mexicans say?
They go around and they're like,
man, that food didn't fall on me good.
Does anyone want to take a guess
of what they're actually saying?
What are they saying?
Kinda, they're saying that that food
didn't really sit well with me, right?
So that food didn't fall on me good.
They're saying like, that food doesn't sit well with me.
You know, there's an example in English.
When I say that food doesn't sit well with me,
am I saying it's not behaving
when it's sitting next to me in the pew?
No, I'm saying like, I don't really feel that good, right?
So yes, in translation,
you can go from one idiom in another language
and you kind of have to come up with a different idiom
to capture that meaning.
But guess what, you're not losing the meaning.
If I say in English, it's raining cats and dogs,
and I translate that into German,
and I just say, (speaking in foreign language)
and I just say, it's raining hard.
You know what, it means the same thing.
And people are gonna understand what I'm saying.
So it's like, oh, we gotta go to the special magical Hebrew
and the special magical Greek,
and you're gonna learn all these special magical things
that can't be captured in English, that's retarded.
That's not true.
Show me you don't understand how languages work
without telling me.
And it's so funny how sometimes people
who speak multiple language wanna drop that nonsense,
and it's like, what are you talking about?
That's not how it works.
No, folks, it is brought over.
God did preserve His word.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter number five, verse 21.
It says, "For he hath made him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him."
What is one of the attributes of Jesus Christ?
It's that He never sinned, right?
Now, He became sin for us.
He took on our transgressions,
but Jesus never lied, never stole.
He was never wrong.
He was always right.
You know, Jesus Christ is perfect
in every attribute you could think of with that word.
You know, imagine being the parents of the Lord Jesus.
And I'm sure that His parents had like chastised Him wrongly
or like said, you know, you did this to your brother
and mom and dad was always wrong.
That was the only instance in history
where the child was always right
and the parents were always wrong.
Every time Jesus was, you know, corrected
or rebuked by His parents, He actually was innocent.
He actually, you know, was right.
Jesus Christ is perfect.
And in the same way, the word of God is perfect.
And I think if you could understand this fact
that Jesus is the word,
it'll help you better understand
the doctrine of preservation.
That it's not that once upon a time we had God's word,
but over the generations, it's gotten corrupted.
Over the generations, it's been lost in translation.
Over the generations, parts of it have been buried
in the earth and forgotten about.
You know, that's like saying
that Jesus has been forgotten about.
That's like saying that Jesus doesn't exist anymore today.
No, Jesus is the word.
The Bible's perfect because Jesus is perfect.
The Bible has eternally existed
because Jesus has eternally existed.
Go to Psalm 33 again,
and I'll read for you 1 John 3 verse five.
The Bible says, "And you know that he was manifested
"to take away our sins, and in him is no sin."
Very clear statement in the Bible
saying that Jesus has no sin.
Psalm 33 verse four, again, it says,
"For the word of the Lord is right."
Right, so Jesus is always right, Jesus is perfect,
Jesus is sinless, for the word of the Lord is right,
and all his works are done in truth.
He loveth righteousness and judgment.
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
Go to Psalm 19, Psalm chapter 19.
Now think about how this psalm could apply
to both the word of God and Jesus Christ.
Verse seven, the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.
What converts your soul?
Jesus, the word of God.
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
What makes us from being simple to wise?
The words of God, Jesus Christ.
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
yea, than much fine gold.
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Listen to how the Bible describes itself.
The Bible's not making the case to us like,
hey, this is pretty good.
This has some of the general thoughts and ideas of God.
This is kind of the best we can get.
I mean, the Bible's making the case to us
that this is perfect.
This is right.
This will convert your soul.
This will make a stupid person smart.
This will make, you know, the foolish,
or this will make the foolish wise.
You know, it says it's, the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever.
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
The Bible's claim that it makes of itself
is a lot different than some of the Bible apologists.
It's funny how the defenders and apologists of the Bible
make a much less lofty claim about the Bible
than the Bible does of itself, right?
Many will say today, oh, we've lost some of it,
some of it's not been preserved,
some of it's been corrupted.
Whereas the Bible's telling us, hey, this is pure,
this is perfect, this is right.
Why, because Jesus is the word.
And if you believe those things about Jesus,
then you must also believe those things about the Bible.
Psalm 12, Psalm chapter number 12.
Psalm 12 verse six, the Bible says,
"The words of the Lord are pure words,
"as silver tried in a furnace of earth,
"purified seven times."
Notice this, memorize this, underlying this.
Thou shalt keep them, O Lord.
Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.
One of the things that people miss
about the doctrine of preservation
is that God did not put this job of preserving scripture
into the hand of man.
He just didn't.
You know, when we produced the documentary back there,
the Preserve Bible,
when we were part of St. Fast Baptist Church, that is,
we did a lot of interviewing of people.
We went and interviewed a man who runs this Bible museum
and has all these ancient artifacts and Bible things.
And we were interviewing this guy.
We asked him, you know, who do you think's,
who do you think's job it is to preserve the word of God,
God or man?
And this guy was just like, well, man, of course,
it's man's job.
And that's the attitude that a lot of people have.
They think like it's man's job to preserve scripture,
but you know what?
It's not man's job.
The Bible says, thou shalt keep them, O Lord.
Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.
So look, I think there are a lot
of great scholarly arguments when it comes
to the discussion of preservation.
Do we have the full word of God today?
Can we trust the King James Bible?
Is this the word of God or not?
There's a lot of great scholarly arguments,
but you know what?
The most important one really comes down to faith,
because here's the truth.
If you believe that there is a God,
if you believe in Jesus Christ,
if you believe God spake the world into existence,
if you believe that all things were created by him
and by the breath of God's mouth, he created this universe,
well, don't you think that he's also powerful enough
to preserve his word?
And how crazy would it be to think
that God created the universe,
that the word of God was forever settled in heaven,
and Jesus Christ came and died on the cross,
and God went through all the effort of inspiring scripture
and giving it to men and having them write it down,
but then he just dropped the ball on preservation.
Oops, I mean, I did all this,
but I kind of forgot to preserve it perfectly.
I mean, is that what we're supposed to believe?
That's what the textual critics today want us to believe.
They're with us on all those other things.
Yeah, God created.
Yeah, God spake.
Yeah, words of God are given by inspiration of God,
but then we lose them at preservation when they say,
well, you know, you have to go to the original manuscripts.
The only way you could actually know what God says
is to go to the original manuscripts.
Well, that sucks 'cause there's only like 5,000,
you know, sections of original manuscripts alive today.
They're not even full of complete canons.
But you know what God has done?
He hasn't necessarily preserved
the actual stone from Exodus 20.
He hasn't necessarily preserved the literal parchment
that the apostle Paul and his helpers were using
in the first century to write down scripture.
But you know what he has done?
Is he's preserved his words.
And you know, this Bible, this specific Bible
was not printed that long ago.
But guess what?
These words have eternally existed
because Jesus Christ has eternally existed.
And when I say, hey, this is Jesus Christ.
This is how you get to know Jesus Christ.
Not talking about this physical book.
I'm talking about the words of God.
Of course, people want to straw man us
and act like that's what we're saying.
Those people are just completely dishonest.
I've never seen anyone make the claim
that paper and ink and leather is Jesus Christ.
Go to Matthew chapter number four,
Matthew chapter number four.
Look, Jesus is the word.
And if Jesus is alive today, then his words are alive today.
If the words of God have not been lost,
yeah, 'cause Jesus hasn't been lost,
'cause Jesus is the word.
Matthew four, verse one.
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted of the devil.
When he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights,
he was afterward and hungered.
And when the tempter came to him, he said,
"If thou be the son of God,
command that these stones be made bread."
But he answered and said, "It is written,
man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
Now, why would Jesus tell us
that man does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God,
if he did not fully intend for us to have every word
that proceeded out of the mouth of God?
You know, no, this is a promise
that we're gonna have every word of God.
Why?
Because the words of God have always existed.
They've always been settled in heaven.
God has preserved them for us today.
You know, what I take issue with
is not saying that Jesus is the word
because that's what the Bible says.
You know, what I take issue with
is modern versions of the Bible
that corrupt and twist this specific verse.
What am I talking about?
Matthew 4.4 in the modern versions.
It does not, Jesus does not say,
you know, man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God.
It just says, man shall not live by bread alone.
And then it's just over, next verse.
Well, that's not very helpful.
That's not a very profound statement.
That doesn't help us build any doctrine.
You know, you need to get a King James Bible.
It's like, how do I know that the King James Bible
is the one that's preserved?
Because this one's in my Bible and it's not in an IV.
And it's not in all these other modern versions.
You know, this is the Bible that God has preserved.
Go to Acts chapter number 10.
But you know, why I preach this doctrine,
one of the many reasons I preach this doctrine
is because I think when you understand this doctrine,
when you understand that Jesus is the word,
when you understand that the only way
that Jesus can speak to us today is through his word.
When you understand that the only way Jesus Christ
can be the head of the church is by us submitting
to what the Bible says.
You know what that should make you do
and what it does make Baptists do
is it makes us value and pay attention to
and give heed to and give preeminence to the Bible
rather than our own opinions.
And it's like, why is it that you see religions
like Catholicism just constantly, blatantly,
flagrantly violating scripture and they just don't even care
because they don't care that Jesus is the word
because why don't they care about the Bible?
It's because they're not worshiping Jesus.
It's a pagan false religion where they're praying to Mary.
Oh, we don't worship Mary.
We just bow down to a statue of her and pray to her.
Well, what the heck is worship?
I mean, if that's not worship, what is?
Look up the word worship in the Bible.
It's constantly paired with lowering yourself.
It's constantly paired with that.
You know, when people did that to the apostles,
they're like, stand up.
You know, how would you react if someone just ran up to you
and just bowed before you and got on the ground?
That's not appropriate to do to me.
Now, you know who that's appropriate to do to?
Jesus.
What's the, hey, you got the woman in the gospels
who she just, she drops herself at the feet of Jesus
and she just starts washing his feet
with the ointment that's on her hair, right?
Well, that would be inappropriate to do to me or to another man or to anyone really besides Jesus.
Why? Because he's God and he's worthy of worship. Mary's not worthy of worship.
The apostles are not worthy of worship. None of us are worthy of worship. But Jesus is.
But again, how do they get to that place? It's because they don't have Jesus as the head of their church.
They have the pope as the head of their church. If you want to understand Christianity, you want to get close.
You know, you want to get close to God. You really want to understand Christianity. You have to understand this.
It's all about Jesus. And if it's all about Jesus, what does that mean? It means it's all about the word of God.
And the more you read the Bible and the more you know the Bible, the more close you will be to Jesus Christ.
Acts 10, verse 43 to him, give all the prophets witness that through his name,
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. If you want to know Jesus,
you got to know the word of God. And what were all the prophets witnessing of from Adam in Genesis,
chapter number one, all the way through the entire Old Testament? Acts 10, 43 says to him, to Jesus,
give all the prophets witness. Who are they all talking about? They're all talking about Jesus.
Now it makes sense, you know, Jesus is the word. You want to know Jesus, you got to know the words
of God. When the prophets were telling people about God, what are they doing? They're giving
the words of God, which is all about Jesus. By the way, this also, this verse will help you
understand what it means to, to witness. It could be like someone bearing testimony of something,
not necessarily saying like they were seeing something. They weren't like witnesses of Jesus,
but they were bearing witness of Jesus. They were bearing testimony of him. Last verse we'll go to,
go to first Timothy chapter number four, first Timothy chapter number four. But look, Christianity,
it's about Jesus. Christianity, it's about reading your Bible. It's not Papal authority. It's not
Papal infallibility. It's not bowing down before Mary. It's not confessing your sins to a man in
a dress who has a 50% chance, basically being a pedophile, being some sort of pervert. It's not
any of those things. You know what it is? It's just reading the Bible and believing what it says.
And, you know, there's a reason why evil institutions like the Catholic Church did
everything in its power to keep the Bible away from people is because the Bible does not match
up with Catholicism. You know what matches up with the Bible? Biblical Christianity, being a Baptist.
You know why I'm a Baptist? Because Baptists have the Bible as their boss. Baptists submit to the
authority of scripture. And look, it's not about that name Baptist. I'm not saying that throughout
all of history, there's been a new IFB church in every place. I don't believe that, but I believe
in following names that align closest with what we believe. You know, when I hear the word Baptist,
I hear King James Bible, I hear salvation by faith, I hear you can't lose your salvation,
I hear baptism by immersion, I hear baptism after salvation, I hear hard preaching,
I hear priesthood of the believer, I hear all these things. That's why we're Baptists.
Folks, it's just a name. What is a name? It's a descriptor of something. You know why I like
being a Baptist? Because being a Baptist describes what I believe, and what is it that I believe?
What the Bible says. That's why we're a Baptist. Look, I'm not this Baptist brighter
that believes there was a Baptist who was saved by a Baptist, who was saved by a Baptist,
who was saved by a Baptist, who was saved by a Baptist, all the way back to John the Baptist.
No. I do believe that there's always been saved people. And I do believe that I got saved by
someone who was saved, who got saved by someone who was saved, who got saved by someone who was
saved, who got saved by Jesus Christ. I do believe that 100 percent. But I do not believe
this whitewash view of history that there's always been an underground Pastor Anderson somewhere,
and there's always been a great new IFB church somewhere. No, folks, you know William Tyndale?
William Tyndale, the guy who sacrificed his life to translate us the Bible? Guess what church he
was a part of? The Catholic Church. It's called the Dark Ages for a reason, because it was dark,
folks. And you know what? I think this view of church history, by the way, just to go on a
completely random rabbit trail that I don't know why I'm going on, but let's just ride with it.
This view of church history is actually encouraging to me because I realize that we actually have a
say in our generation and our church can be better than in times past. And Christianity can get
better in 2025 than in your blessed 1960s and 1950s. You know, we could align ourselves closer
to Christ by aligning ourselves closer to the Bible and not be like, well, 800 years ago,
there's all these weird groups and we're going to align ourselves. We're going to align ourselves
with the Anabaptists. We're going to align ourselves with all these weird cults. You know what?
We're aligning ourselves with the Bible. And you know what? I'm alive in 2025. I wasn't alive in
the 1400s or the 1500s, but here I am today in the 21st century. And you know what group of people
aligns with Jesus? It's the one that aligns with the Bible. They're called Baptists. That's what I
am. And you know what? If there was another group that aligned with the Bible and aligned with
scripture, then that's the group I'd be a part of. It's not about this mystical term Baptist.
No, it's the fact that Baptist is a name that describes something doctrines found in the Bible.
Oh yeah, I remember why I went on this tangent because Jesus is the word and the closer you are
to the Bible, the writer you are on doctrine, the closer you are to Jesus. What is Christianity all
about, folks? Following Jesus. That's why we have to exalt the Bible. That is why we let the Bible
tell us what to do. We let the Bible tell us what to believe. Finally, 1st Timothy 4.13, notice this,
"Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine." You know,
it is important for us as Christians to read the Bible every day. Why? Because Jesus is the word.
You want to get close with Jesus? You want Jesus to tell you his will for your life? Jesus, please
help me to know what to do in this situation. We'll give attendance to reading, give attendance
to exhortation. Hey, give attendance to doctrine. You want to know why doctrine is important?
What is doctrine? It's teachings. Teachings from what specifically? The Bible, from the word of
God. And hey, if Jesus is the word, I want to be right about what the Bible says. That's another
thing I love about Baptists. What I love about independent fundamental Baptists, yea, what I
love about the new IFB is that we exalt the Bible. We care about what the Bible says and we care
about doctrine. Why? Hey, it's a reflection of the fact that the people who love Jesus the most
love the Bible the most. Show me someone who loves the Bible. Show me someone who loves doctrine.
Show me someone who loves to memorize the Bible and listen to the Bible be preached and read the
Bible and share the Bible with others. It's someone who loves Jesus because Jesus is the Word. Let's
pray. Lord, thank you for this day and thank you so much for giving us your Son Jesus Christ,
for giving us your eternal words. Thank you so much that we have the everlasting eternal
words of God in our lap this evening, free to us, bound up nicely, so accessible to us.
We're so blessed, Lord, to have this. I pray that we would not take it for granted that we'd want
to draw a close relationship to you and to your Son by having a close relationship with the Word
of God. We love you in Jesus name we pray, amen.