Amen. All right, we're there in 1 Thessalonians chapter number 2, and like we've been announcing,
we are going through a series on Sunday nights called Declaring Doctrine, and we're just simply
going through a systematic study of theology, of major doctrines in the Bible. This is the type of
study that is usually done in Bible college or seminaries. I don't believe in either one,
so I figure we'll do it in church, which is what God actually established, and I think it's good
because the point is this. You say, why would you spend these weeks learning doctrine? Because I
don't want you to be carried about with every window doctrine. I want you to know what we
believe, but not only what we believe, also why we believe it. So if you remember, we started three
weeks ago, and we're going to spend many weeks in this series, but the first week we talked about
the importance of doctrine, and then last week we started with the doctrine of revelation, and we
talked about specifically general revelation, and how God reveals himself to mankind generally,
just through creation and through conscience. Today we're going to talk about the doctrine of
the Word of God. Tonight, the doctrine of the Word of God, and I'm going to give you four statements
that I'd like you to write down, and I would encourage you to take notes as we go through
this series, and again, if you've got a baby sitting on your lap, I understand where you might
not be able to do that, but if you're able to take notes on the back of course of the week or
whatever, I'm going to give you four statements, and we're going to go through this and kind of
learn about the doctrine of the Word of God, and what it is that we believe about the Word of God.
So here's statement number one, or point number one, and it's this, the revelation of the Word
of God. Because if you remember last week, we talked about general revelation, God reveals
himself through nature, through creation, and he reveals himself in man through conscience. But
that's not the only way that God reveals himself, that's just a generic or a general way, and if you
remember from last week, and I'm not going to re-preach that sermon, but God reveals his wrath
is revealed through, it's made manifest through the things that are seen through the heavens,
they declare the glory of God. When we're talking about the revelation of the Word of God, we're
talking about specific revelation, how God specifically reveals himself to mankind. So
we've got the revelation of the Word of God, what does that mean? Well it means a couple of things.
First of all, it means that the Bible is the Word of God. Are you there in 1 Thessalonians 2? Look
at verse number 13. 1 Thessalonians 2, 13, the Bible says this, for this cause also, thank we
God, without ceasing, because, notice what Paul says to the church in Thessalonica, he says, when
ye receive the Word of God, which ye heard of us, and I want you to notice there that he says,
which ye heard of us, and we're going to come back to that thought later in the sermon, he says,
ye receive that not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually
worketh also in you that belief. So I want you to notice that Paul said, when you heard the Word
from us, when you got these epistles that we're writing and we're sending to you, you did not
receive those as the Word of men. And today many people say, oh, the Bible's just written by man,
and the Bible's just, they're documents that were written by men, but he says, you received it as it
is in truth, the Word of God. And as Bible-believing Christians, here's what you and I believe about
the Bible. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God, and we believe that the Word of God is
given by specific revelation that God revealed his Word to man. Now, you're there in 1 Thessalonians.
I'd like you to keep your place there, because we're going to come back towards that part of
the Bible, but go with me just real quickly to the book of Ephesians. If you go backwards from 1
Thessalonians, you're going to go past the book of Colossians into the book of Ephesians, and I'd
like you to go to Ephesians chapter 3. Now, I debated whether I should even go here tonight
because of the fact that I'm actually going to preach an entire sermon out of Ephesians
chapter 3 just in a few days on Wednesday night. That just happens to be the chapter we're in.
But I felt like I needed to go here for this sermon as well, so God must have orchestrated
that, or God wants us to look at it a couple of times. But I want you to understand that the
doctrine of the revelation of the Word of God is this, that God revealed his Word, that God
revealed his Word to certain individuals. Now, here's why this is important. Today you've got
the charismatic movement in the Pentecostals wanting to tell you about their word of faith,
that God has revealed a certain word to them, and God told me to tell you that if you give
$100, he's going to give you $1,000 or whatever. All of that is a lie. All of that is false prophets
preaching lies that they have not heard, preaching peace when there is no peace, because of the fact
that the Bible teaches that God revealed his Word to certain individuals. Ephesians chapter
number three, look at verse number one. For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for
you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you word,
and we're going to cover that on Wednesday night, notice verse three, how that by, notice this word,
revelation, he made known unto me the mystery as I wrote a four in few words whereby when ye read,
ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. And I want you to notice, I'm just showing
that to show you that Paul said, hey, the mysteries that I received from God, the writings that I've
got from the New Testament, those were given to me by revelation. God revealed those truths to me.
This is the doctrine of revelation. Go to the book of Revelation, if you would, Revelation chapter
number one. Should be fairly easy to find, last book in the New Testament, Revelation chapter
number one. Revelation chapter number one. If you've got a Bible that has headings or notes,
oftentimes the book of Revelation is referred to as the revelation of St. John or the revelation
of St. John the divine. Here's what I always kind of chuckle when I read that, because in
Revelation chapter one and verse one, here's what the Bible says, the revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass and he
sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John. You say, what does that mean? Here's what
that means, that God revealed certain things to the Lord Jesus Christ and then he sent and
signified it by his angel unto his servant John. So how did John get the book of Revelation? It was
revealed to him through a supernatural process. How did Paul get revelation? It was revealed to
him through a supernatural process. See, we believe in the doctrine of the word of God and
what that means is that we believe in the revelation of the word of God, that God revealed
his word and that what we hold in our hands as a Bible is not a book that was written by men. Men
were used to pen it down, but it is as it is in truth the word of God. It is the Bible. The Bible
is the word of God and the Bible was revealed by God. So we said number one, the revelation of the
word of God. God revealed his word to mankind. Now God reveals himself, God reveals himself
generally to all mankind through creation and conscience. We talked about that last week,
but then God specifically reveals himself to us through his word. There's a second aspect to this
doctrine that you need to understand. I'd like you to write down. If you kept your place there
in 1 Thessalonians 2, I'd like you to, from 1 Thessalonians, go to 2 Timothy. So if you're in
first, if you kept your place in 1 Thessalonians, you're going to have the book of 2 Thessalonians,
then the book of 1 Timothy, and then go into the book of 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 3.
When we're talking about the doctrine of the word of God, there are certain concepts you
need to understand about the doctrine of the word of God. The first is the revelation of the word
of God, that God revealed himself specifically to mankind through his word. Secondly, you need
to understand the inspiration of the word of God. 2 Timothy 3, 16, the Bible says this,
all scripture. Now the word scripture is just a Bible word referring to what you and I would
call the Bible or the word of God. All scripture is given by, and I want you to notice this word,
inspiration of God. Now what does that mean? Usually when you and I see this word inspiration,
or when you and I use it in our modern vernacular, when we talk about someone being inspired or I
received some sort of inspiration, what we're talking about is like an emotion that we received
where you heard some song and it touched you a certain way, or you heard a poem, or you heard
something and you were inspired by it. But that is not what the Bible or the biblical definition
of the word inspiration. The word inspiration has to do with your breath. One of the definitions
of the word inspiration, if you were to look it up and I'll just read for you, it's literally,
the definition is to breathe in air or to inhale. And here's what the Bible means. When the Bible
says that all scripture was given by inspiration of God, it means this, that it was given from the
breath of God, that God's breath, that God's inhale and exhale took process in giving us the
word of God. You say, what does that mean? Here's what that means. It means that our Bible, the
Bible was not only given by revelation to man, but that the inspiration of the word of God means that
the Bible was spoken by God. God spoke his word. See, when I stand up and I speak, I open my mouth
and I inhale and I exhale and there's inspiration, there's breath in the inhaling process of speaking
and the Bible tells us all scripture was given by inspiration of God, meaning God spoke, God
literally opened his mouth and spoke his word and he says, because all scripture was given by
inspiration of God, all scripture is profitable for doctrine, which is what we're studying on Sunday
nights, for reprove, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be
perfect throughly furnished unto all good works. Go to Exodus chapter number 20. Exodus chapter
number 20. Let me show you this in the book of Exodus. We're going to look at a lot of passages
tonight. Just be ready to just flip through your Bible. We're studying. If you're going to study
the doctrine of the word of God, you're going to have to flip through the Bible, okay? Through the
word of God. Exodus chapter 20. Now, Exodus chapter 20 is a famous chapter that's known for
the Ten Commandments. It's one of the two places in our Old Testament that we have the Ten Commandments
and it's not just the Ten Commandments. There's a lot that goes into that and a lot of descriptions
and things, but I want you to notice how the chapter begins. Exodus chapter 20 and verse 1.
Exodus 20 and verse 1. The Bible says this, And God spake all these words, saying. And then we go
on and he gives us all these verses, giving us the Ten Commandments. And here's a point that I want
you to understand and maybe you've never thought about this. When the Ten Commandments were given
on Mount Sinai, God did not just give us a book that was written down or just told somebody write
these things down. God actually spoke those words. That is the doctrine of inspiration. The Bible
was spoken by God. You don't have to turn there. I'll read to you from Psalm 68. You go with me to
the book of 2 Peter in the New Testament. If you start at the book of Revelation and head backwards,
you've got Revelation and Jude, 32 and 1 John and 2 Peter. You go there. I'll read for you from Psalm
68, 11. Psalm 68, 11 says this, The Lord gave the word. Great was the company of those that published
it. Who gave the word? The Lord did. Who spoke the words? God did. All scripture is given by
inspiration of God. The inspiration of the word of God means that God spoke those words. And here's
what it means. And here's what I want you to understand. And you might want to jot this down.
We believe in what's called the plenary verbal inspiration. And it is this, that God spoke his
word, that all scripture is given by inspiration of God, that he opened his mouth and spoke it,
but that he spoke those words through man. Are you there in 2 Peter 1? Look at verse 21. 2 Peter
chapter number 1 and verse number 21. Notice what the Bible says. For the prophecy came not
in old time by the will of man. People say, oh, man wrote this book. Look, the Bible says it did
not come by the will of man. It was not man's idea to write the Bible. And by the way, man would not
write the Bible. Man likes to write books that tells you how good you are, how great you are.
Just try a little harder. You'll be fine. When man comes up with religions, you know what they
say? They say, oh, you just live a good life, and then you're going to become a god, or you're going
to go into some sort of a great state. You're going to become like a... Those are the kind of
books that men write. The Bible would not have been written by man. Man would not write a book
that says, we're all sinners. We deserve to go to hell. For the prophecy came not in old time by the
will of man. So how did it come then? Notice. But holy men of God, and I want you to notice
the emphasis. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Holy men of God spake,
the Bible says, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Go to Hebrews chapter number one. If you're
there in 2 Peter, just keep going backwards. You're going to go past 1 Peter, past James,
into the book of Hebrews. And here's what I want you to understand. The Bible was spoken by
God through man, but man actually physically opened his mouth and spoke it. Whenever you read
the Bible, whenever you read the Bible, whatever you were reading was actually first spoken by
someone. 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. And by the way, I'm not preaching on the subject of the King James
Bible tonight. We will hit that in this series. I'll do a sermon on the doctrine of the King
James Bible. But let me just say this. This is why you want to be careful about getting in arguments
about, sometimes people like to argue about the King James Bible, and they'll argue about King
James Bibles. They'll say, well, one has capital letters here, and it doesn't have capital letters
there. It doesn't have the same spelling here, the same spelling there. And there's a place for that
and capitalization. We can talk about that. And there's definitely arguments to be made there.
But just realize this, that when the Bible was given to man, it was given in oral form. It was
spoken. And none of these men were saying, space, capitalize, next word. They were speaking the word
of God. They were speaking the word of God as it was given to them through revelation. Holy men of
God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Hebrews chapter one, look at verse one. God,
who at sundry times and in diverse manners. That's just a fancy way of saying in different ways,
different times. Notice, spake in time past. Who spake? God did. God spake in time past unto the
fathers. Notice, how did God speak? By the prophets. Have in these last days spoken unto
us by his son, whom he had appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world. So notice,
God spake in time past by the prophets. And in these last days, God has spoken unto us by his
son. So when we talk about the word of God, what do we believe about the word of God? Here's what
we believe. We believe that God revealed himself through his word and that it was given through
inspiration. That God spake the words and that they were spoken through men. Go to Acts chapter
number one, Acts chapter one. I just want to give you some examples of this, because this is
something you'll find throughout the Bible. In fact, if you're aware of it, you'll begin to see
it throughout scripture. Acts chapter one, look at verse 16. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts. Acts
chapter one, verse 16. Do me a favor, when you get to Acts, put a ribbon or a bookmark or a bulletin
or something that we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it. Acts chapter one,
verse 16. Notice what the Bible says. Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been
fulfilled. Notice, we're talking about a certain scripture that needed to be fulfilled and he says,
this scripture must need to have been fulfilled. Notice, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David
spake. Do you see that? How was, David was one of the writers of the word of God. How did David
write it? Well, he first spoke it and it was revealed to him through the Holy Ghost. In fact,
the Holy Ghost spake by the mouth of David. His Bible says, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth
of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. Go to Acts chapter
four. Look at verse number 24. You're there in Acts one, just flip a few chapters over. Acts
chapter four, verse 24. Acts chapter four and verse 24, the Bible says this. And when they heard that,
they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, thou art God,
which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is. Notice verse 25. Who,
now notice, they're talking about God, right? Verse 24, Lord, thou art God. And they said,
Lord, you're God and you made heaven, you made earth, you made the seas, you made everything
that's in them. Then in verse 25, they said, who by the mouth of thy servant David has said,
why did the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? Now, hold on a second. That's a
quote from Psalm two. And here the Bible tells us that God actually spoke those words by the
mouth of thy servant David. So when we're talking about the doctrine of the word of God, what are
we talking about? What do we believe? Well, we believe in the revelation of the word of God,
the specific revelation that God revealed himself to mankind. And we believe in the inspiration of
the word of God, that God spoke those words and he spoke them through man and that God spoke his
word through men. Go to Jeremiah 36. Jeremiah 36 towards the end of the Old Testament. If you start
at the center of your Bible, you're more than likely following the book of Psalms right after
Psalms. You have Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah. Now, while you turn there,
I'll read to you from Psalm 23 just to give you one last verse on that subject. Now,
these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on
high, the anointed of God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel said, the spirit of the Lord,
this is what David said, the spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue. David
said, the spirit of the Lord spake by me. So if you asked David, David, did you write down the
words of God? He would say, no, I actually spoke the words of God. The spirit of the Lord spake by
me and his word was in my tongue. This is called inspiration. The words of God were spoken. They
were spoken by God and they were spoken through men. And it is after inspiration, it is after
inspiration, it is after God spoke his words through men that the scriptures were written
down. The scriptures were written down after they were spoken. Let me give you an example of this.
Jeremiah 36, look at verse four. Jeremiah 36 verse four. Then Jeremiah called Baruch, Jeremiah 36
four. Now I asked you to keep your place in Acts, continue to do that. Also keep your place in
Jeremiah. Okay, I don't know if you're anywhere else, but I just need you in Acts and Jeremiah
because we're going to go back and forth a little bit. Jeremiah 36 four. Then Jeremiah called Baruch,
the son of Neriah. Notice what the Bible says. And Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah,
all the words of the Lord. So what happened? How did we get the book of Jeremiah? Well,
holy men of God, Jeremiah, spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And then Baruch wrote
from the mouth of Jeremiah, all the words of the Lord, which he, Jeremiah, had spoken unto him,
Baruch, upon a roll of a book. So how did we get the Bible? It was spoken by God, but it was spoken
through the mouths of men. Holy men of God spake. David spoke. His word was in my tongue, the Bible
says. They spoke the word of God through the Holy Spirit. And then once it was spoken, then it was
written down. Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah, all the words of the Lord, which he
had spoken unto him. Go to Romans chapter 16. Let me give you another example of this. If you kept
your place in Acts, keep your place in Jeremiah. But if you kept your place in Acts, right after
Acts, you've got the book of Romans. Romans chapter 16. Romans chapter 16. Paul wrote the
book of Romans, right? Did he? You say, oh, it's a trick question. God wrote the book. Well, of course,
God wrote the book of Romans. We know that. But did Paul write the book of Romans? Or did he just
speak under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost? Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost. Well, notice what Romans 16 verse 22 says. Romans 16, 22. At the end of the book of
Romans, Paul is giving all his greetings and telling people, say, you know, hi to this person,
that person. Don't forget that guy. Greet this person. Then in Romans 16, 22, the Bible says
this. I, Tertius. Notice, I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle salute you in the Lord. Now, wait a
minute. Did Paul write it or did Tertius write it? Well, honestly, God wrote it. But I want you to
notice that God spoke through Paul and then Tertius was like Baruch to Jeremiah, actually
wrote down the words. Because we believe in the revelation of the word of God, that God
specifically revealed himself to mankind, and we believe in the inspiration of the word of God,
which means that the Bible was spoken by God, it was spoken through men, and then the scriptures
were written down after they were spoken. Now, let me just say this and let me answer a question
that's often asked. And people will say, well, wait a minute. If God spoke the word, you know,
God spoke the word, then shouldn't the entire Bible just sound like one author? Because the
Bible doesn't sound like just one person wrote it. In fact, you've got different literary styles in
the Bible. The human author of the book of Acts was the same human author of the Gospel According
to Luke. Luke physically wrote the book of Luke and he wrote the book of Acts. And if you compare
those two books, you'll find that there are similarities in how they are written. If you
read the writings of Paul, you'll find that there are similarities in how they are written. If you
read the books that John wrote, you'll find that there are similarities in how they are written.
So here's what people will say. They'll say, well, Paul, obviously, look, you compare his books,
they sound like Paul, but they don't sound like Luke, but they don't sound like John,
but they don't sound like Moses, you know, so what's the deal here if God spoke the word,
shouldn't they all sound like God? And here's what you need to understand, and I'll use this
illustration for lack of a better one, but what you need to understand is that men were used as
the tool to bring the Word of God. In the same way that you and I, if I was going to write a letter,
write a note, in the same way that I would pick up a pen to write, God picked up men to write to
give his word. Now, I don't know about you, I'm a little odd when it comes to pens or whatever,
I've got a certain brand that I like, and I got certain pens that I like, and you know, if you
were to come into my office, you would find three different types of pen, or the same type of pen,
but three different widths in those pens, and the number seven is the one that I generally use if
I'm just writing notes, if I'm just writing a note to someone or whatever, I generally use the number
seven. If I'm going to write notes in my Bible, which I really like to write notes in my Bible,
because of the fact that the Bible pages are kind of thinner, I like to use the number five,
it's a little thinner and it's a little less thick, so if I'm writing notes in my Bible,
I use number five, sometimes if I want to write an angry letter to, you know, one of my staff
guides or something, I'm going to pull out that number ten, you know, please do this, or whatever,
you know, and you say, well, nobody uses pens anymore, in the same way you would use different
fonts, right? Usually, most people use Times New Roman if they're just writing anything,
but if you're writing an invitation to a marriage, you're going to use a fancier font, right? You
might use different fonts for different things. Here's the point, the Bible, and I don't have
time to develop this, I'm actually going to preach an entire sermon about this next week,
where we're going to go through and break the Bible down for you, because here's what you need
to understand, the Bible is divided into all sorts of different sections. We've got poetic books and
historical books, we've got apocalyptic books, we have all sorts of different writing styles,
and when God wanted to write a book like the book of Luke, which has an emphasis in it that Jesus
was a human being, and in the book of Luke, you find a lot of description about his humanity,
you find a lot of description about Jesus just being a person and being tired and being a human,
when God wanted to write a book that emphasized the humanity of Christ, he picked up a pen by the
name of Luke, who was a physician, who would kind of identify those traits in Christ. When God
wanted to write a book like the book of Psalms, which is a song book, he picked up a guy named
David, who was a musician, to write those songs. When he wanted a theological book like Ephesians
or Romans, he picked up an intellectual like Paul. See, God chose different men to write
different styles and different things. None of that disproves the fact that God wrote the book,
because here's the point. Regarding men's styles that are apparent in scripture, and look, they're
apparent, they're there, you can't deny it. Regarding men's styles that are apparent in
scripture, in the scripture writing, God used men, like we use pens or fonts, different types
for different styles. Now look, we don't understand how God does what he does, and we understand how
this works, but let me just say this. As far as I can tell, there's kind of two options here.
Either God spoke his word to match the men that he would choose to speak and write, or God created
these men to match the words that he would speak, but either way, it wouldn't be difficult for an
all-knowing, all-powerful, eternal God. Do you understand what I'm saying? If God created all
mankind, he already knows Paul's gonna write certain epistles, John's gonna write certain
epistles, David's gonna write certain books. Either God created those men to match his words,
or God matched his words with those men, but either way, God inspired and spoke through them,
that's clear. You say, but why does it matter? Here's why it matters. Because if God spoke the
words and the words are pure, if God spoke the words and the words are perfect, if God spoke the
words and the words that you can't fix them, there's nothing to add to them, they are everything
that we need, this is the inspiration of God. All scripture is given by inspiration of God.
It's source, it's God. God spoke the words through men. So what have we learned? Go to Psalms, if you
would, Psalm 12. Psalm 12, you open up your Bible just right in the center, you'll follow the book
of Psalms, Psalm 12. We're talking about the doctrine of the word of God, what is it? Well,
number one, we have to understand the revelation of the word of God, which God revealed himself
to mankind. The Bible is truly the word of God, and God revealed it to certain individuals. Then
we also believe the inspiration of the word of God, that all scripture is given by inspiration
of God. And what that means is that God spoke his word, and that God spoke his word through men,
and it was written down after it was spoken. Number three, when it comes to the doctrine of
the word of God, we believe in the preservation of the word of God. See, the Bible tells us that
God is responsible for preserving his word. Psalm 12, look at verse six. The words of the Lord,
this is inspiration, the words of the Lord are pure words. If God spoke them, they're pure.
They're not corrupted, they're incorruptible. The words of the Lord are pure words. As silver tried
in the furnace of earth, purified seven times, verse seven, thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou
shalt preserve them from this generation forever. Now, hold on a second. What do we believe? Because
up to this point, no one would disagree with anything that I've said. I mean, if you talk
to Christian scholars all over the place, they'd all say, yes, we understand the doctrine of
revelation, and yes, we understand the doctrine of inspiration. And they might even give lip
service to the doctrine of preservation, but please understand this. When we say that we
believe in the preservation of the word of God, what we mean by that is that we believe that God
is responsible for preserving his word. The words of the Lord are pure words, and the Bible says,
thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them. And here's where people, you know, I honestly
think people are either just being dishonest, intellectually dishonest, or they're evil,
because they'll say, well, the reason that we don't have a perfect Bible today is because man
messed it up. And here's what they'll say. They'll say, God gave us his inspired word and it was
perfect, but then when man began to translate it, they messed it up. Well, wait a minute. When God
gave us his word perfect, which everybody believes that? Most Christians believe that? Didn't he use
men? Last I checked, David was a man. Last I checked, Paul was a man. Moses was a man. John
was a man. Last I checked, all these men. So if God could use man to give us his inspired
word perfectly, couldn't that same God use man to preserve his word? Because whose job is it to
inspire the word of God? It's God's. And whose job is it to preserve it? He says, thou shalt keep them,
O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. So we believe in the
preservation of the word of God. What does that mean? It means that God is responsible for
preserving his word. And I want you to notice verse seven. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou
shalt preserve them. Notice what he says. This is David speaking through the inspiration of the Holy
Ghost. You often hear me say that. Maybe you never knew what I really meant by that, but here's what
I mean by that is that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And David said,
thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them. Here's what he said. From this generation,
from David's generation, he says forever. So who's going to keep the word of God and who's
going to preserve the word of God from David's generation when David said it, when David wrote
it forever? God is. And look, again, I'm not preaching on King James Bible. That'll come,
not next week, but the week after that. We're probably going to spend three weeks just on the
doctrine of the word of God really. We're going to talk about what the Bible is next week. And
we'll talk about the King James Bible the week after that. But here's the point. Here's the
point. This is one of the reasons, the preservation of the word of God is one of the reasons that we
reject modern Bible versions. And I don't have time to develop this and we'll talk about it in
detail in a few weeks, but here's what you need to understand. The modern Bible versions are based,
the modern Bible versions are based on manuscripts that were recently discovered. And when I say
recently, I mean the last couple hundred years. And those manuscripts are different than the
manuscripts that all mankind has had for hundreds of years, the received text that Bible versions
have been translated from since the time of Christ. And people say, well, we found these
new ones, they were hidden, they're older, so they must be better. And they translate
Bibles from those manuscripts. But wait a minute. If you believe that, if you believe that these
manuscripts that have been hidden for hundreds of years, if you believe that those are the word of
God and the word of God was hidden, then here's what you got to believe. That for hundreds of
years, there were generations upon this earth that did not have access to the word of God.
When the Bible says thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them, not from the 1800s
forever. David said from this generation forever. So here's what we know. The word of God has been
on this earth since the beginning. And by the way, the devil has been attacking the word of God
since the beginning, since the Garden of Eden. But we believe in the preservation of the word of God.
What does that mean? That God is responsible. God is responsible for preserving his word. Go to Psalm
119. Psalm 119. You're there in Psalm 12. Just flip over to Psalm 119, verse 89.
Psalm 119, 89, the Bible says this, forever, O Lord, forever, O Lord, forever, O Lord,
thy word is settled in heaven. There's no debate in heaven. There's no debate in heaven on which
manuscript is the right manuscript and which translation is the right translation. Forever,
O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Why? Because the preservation of the word of God
is something that God puts upon himself. Isaiah 40 and verse 8, if you kept your place in Jeremiah,
just right before Jeremiah, you have Isaiah, if you would go there. Isaiah 40 and verse 8,
the Bible says this, Isaiah chapter number 40 and verse 8, the grass withereth, the flower faded.
Things that are temporal, things that are of this world, they're going to wither away,
they're going to fade away, they're going to die, they're going to get corrupted. The grass
withereth, the flower faded, but the word of our God shall stand forever. So what is that? That is
the preservation of the word of God, that God is responsible for preserving his word. And if you
believe that, and if you really believe that, then here's what that means. And there's an
implication to that. Go to Jeremiah 36. Remember we were just in Jeremiah not too long ago?
Jeremiah spake, Baruch wrote the word of God. But I want you to notice something, that if you
believe that God preserved his word, here's what that means, and here's the implication to that.
God's preservation means that the originals are not necessary. If you truly believe that God,
the same God who choreographed the inspiration of his word through mankind, is the same God,
you must have a weak God. He can give us his word through man, but he can't preserve his word
through man. How does that make any sense? But if you believe in the preservation of the word of God,
the same God that inspired men and made sure they got it right, is the same God that can use men to
preserve his word. And in the King James sermon, we'll talk about how God did that and how we know
the King James Bible is preserved. But here's the point. What that means is that you don't need the
originals if you believe in the preservation of the word of God. Now, here's what's funny,
is that the originals are gone. They don't exist. They're not around. And even the modern Bible
version people will tell you, the originals are gone. You say, well, what are we debating about?
We're just debating about the ones that we found in a trash can, in a basement, in a cave for
thousands of years, never been used. The ones that we found are older than the ones you have. Now,
wait a minute. We're not talking about the originals versus newer versions. We're talking
about translations that none of them are the original. And people say, we didn't have a word
of God. The King James Bible is something wrong with it. We need these new Bible versions. Well,
wait a minute. If you believe in the preservation of the word of God, you know that you don't need
the originals and you don't even need older or more ancient or older manuscripts? Let me
prove it to you. Jeremiah 36, verse 27. Jeremiah 36, verse 27. Then the word of the Lord came to
Jeremiah. Now, remember, Jeremiah spake, Baruch wrote the word. And then here's what they did.
They sent it to the king. Notice verse 27. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. After that,
the king, because they sent it to the king, and here's what the king did. Burned the roll,
and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah. So Jeremiah spake the word of God,
Baruch wrote the word of God, and they sent the originals to the king. Now,
why would you do that, Jeremiah? Send him a copy. Do a Xerox or whatever. No,
here's what Jeremiah knew. Jeremiah knew God's word is preserved. The originals are not really
needed. He sends the original to the king. The king reads it, doesn't like it, and he burned
the roll and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah. The originals were destroyed.
What do we do? Notice what he says. He says he burned the roll and the words that Baruch wrote
at the mouth of Jeremiah saying, and then notice what they did. Verse 28. Take thee again another
roll and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll which Jehoiakim,
the king of Judah, had burned. Even when you had the original of the book of Jeremiah,
you didn't have the original because it was destroyed by the king. But notice,
here the Bible teaches us that the originals are not necessary if you believe that God is
powerful enough to preserve his word. He said, what do we do? Well, write in it all the former
words. He said just write it again. Just write it again. Just write it again. Because the same
God that can inspire men to give us his word in a perfect way can use those same men and guide
those same men to give us a preserved word. So when we talk about the doctrine of the word of
God, we're talking about the revelation of the word of God, specific revelation God revealed
himself to mankind specifically. We're talking about the inspiration of the word of God,
that the Bible was spoken by God and that it was spoken through men and the scriptures were
written down after they were spoken. We're talking about the preservation of the word of God, that
God is responsible for preserving his word. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them
from this generation forever. And if you believe that, then God's preservation means that the
originals are not necessary. There's a fourth thought in regards to the doctrine of the word
of God, and it's this, the illumination of the word of God. The illumination of the word of God.
Now, have you kept your place in Acts? Go from Acts to the book of 1 Corinthians, if you would.
Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians. Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians. The illumination of the word of God.
What does that mean? And I don't want to spend too much time on this because I feel like I've
spent a lot of time on this recently, but let me give it to you because we're talking about
the doctrine of the word of God. Here's what that means. Unsafe people cannot understand the Bible.
Unsafe people cannot understand the Bible. 1 Corinthians 2, 13. Which things also we speak?
1 Corinthians 2, 13. Which things also we speak? Not in the words which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
And notice verse 14. But the natural man, the unregenerated man, the not spiritual man,
meaning there's nothing spiritual in him, there's no Holy Spirit, there's no new man,
the unsaved man, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. For they
are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.
The Bible is clear that unsaved people cannot understand the Bible. If you don't believe me,
go talk to the unsaved people about the Bible. They believe all sorts of crazy things about the
Bible. They don't understand the Bible. It's a spiritual book, and the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. And by the way, this is why in Acts, you don't have to turn
there, but in Acts 8, when you have Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, the Bible says,
And Philip ran hither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said,
Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I? Except some man should guide me.
It is I, Philip, that he would come up and sit with him. The illumination of the word of God
is this. Unsaved people cannot understand the Bible, and the only reason that you and I can
understand the Bible is because the Holy Spirit illuminates the truth of God's word to believers.
The Holy Spirit illuminates the scriptures to believers. Notice 1 Corinthians 2, 13 again,
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but notice,
Which the Holy Ghost teacheth. Who teaches the word of God? The Holy Ghost. It is the Holy
Ghost that teaches the word of God. Go to 1 John, chapter number 2. 1 John, chapter 2. If you start
at the end of the New Testament and you head backwards, you have Revelation, Jude, 3rd, 2nd,
and 1st John. 1 John, chapter 2. Look at verse number 27. 1 John, chapter 2, verse 27. 1 John,
chapter 2 and verse 27. But the anointing which he have received of him abideth in you,
and ye need not that any man teach you, notice, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all
things, then that anointing is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is represented by oil and anointing
throughout the Bible. He says, But the anointing which he have received of him abideth in you,
that's the Holy Spirit, and ye need not that any man teach you, but the same anointing teacheth
you all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even, notice, as it hath taught you, ye shall
abide in him. See, the Holy Spirit illuminates the word of God for us. John, chapter 14, if you
would. John, chapter 14. We're going to look at three more passages, okay? Two of them are in John.
We'll do it quickly and we'll be done. John, chapter 14. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. John,
chapter 14. Look at verse 26. John 14, 26. Notice what Jesus said. But the Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, notice, he who, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter,
he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have
said unto you. Go to John, chapter 16. John, chapter 16, verse 13. John, chapter 16, and verse 13.
The Bible says this, Howbeit, John 16, 13, Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come. He,
who's he? The Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit. He will guide you in all truth. The Holy Spirit
will guide you in all truth. The Holy Spirit is the one that will teach you the word of God. The
Holy Spirit is the one that illuminates the truth of God's word to believers. Go to 1 Thessalonians,
chapter 2 is where we started this evening. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 2. We've been talking
about the doctrine of the word of God. What does that mean? Well, there's four concepts to that
doctrine. One is the revelation of the word of God, that is that the Bible is the word of God,
and that the word was given by specific revelation to specific people by God. Secondly is that we
believe in the inspiration of the word of God, that the Bible was spoken by God, and it was
spoken through men, and then the scriptures were written down after they were spoken. Thirdly,
we believe in the preservation of the word of God, that God is responsible for preserving his word,
and that God's preservation means that the originals are not necessary. And fourthly,
we believe in the illumination of the word of God, that unsaved people cannot understand the Bible.
And if you don't believe me, go talk to a Catholic, go talk to a Mormon, go talk to Jehovah's Witness,
go talk to any false religion that thinks they understand the Bible, and you'll be shocked how
much they don't understand the Bible, because unsaved people cannot understand the Bible. But
the Holy Spirit illuminates the scriptures for believers. Because of this, because of this,
we can agree with 1 Thessalonians 2 13, for this cause also thank we God without ceasing. For this
cause also thank we God without ceasing. Because when ye receive the word of God, which ye heard of
us, right, because it was spoken, ye receive it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the
word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. I'm not sure if you've really
understood or if I've done a good job at communicating the implications of the doctrine of
the word of God, but if you believe the things that I've showed you tonight, then here's what
you believe. That when you and I open this book, we hold in our hands the words of God. I mean,
you understand what I just said? The words that God spoke, these words that God gave you and I,
that God wrote, that God spoke and then wrote a letter and letters and instructions and he tells
us how to be saved. He tells us the need of salvation. He tells us how to be a good husband,
how to be a good wife, how to be a good steward, how to be a good employee, how to be a good father,
how to be a good mother. What he expects from us, what to do with our finances, what to do with our
emotions, how to win. He explains to us the things of the word of God. And here's what I'm telling
you. Sometimes I think you and I just intellectually say, oh yeah, this is the word of God. But in
application, we don't act like it. I mean, do you understand that when we open up this book,
we are opening up the mind of God, that God has spoken his word and revealed himself to you and
me. And yet, we skipped church for a football game. And yet, we open up the Bible and we act
flimsy about it and weak about it and we act like it's any little thing. Look, this is not a book
like any other book you read. When the Bible, when the word of God is open, there ought to be
a holy hush. There ought to be some respect and some reverence. Why should we show up for
Ephesians? Because it's what God wrote to you and I. Because it's God's revelation of himself to
mankind because he took the time to inspire it and preserve it and reveal himself. And it's
everything you need for life. So yes, we do not accept the Bible as a book written by men,
but we accept it as it is in truth. The word of God. And you and I would be wise to live like it,
to live like God has instructed us in his word. This power hits another word of prayer. Heavenly
Father. Lord, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to reveal yourself to us. And Lord,
we thank you that you would give us, that you would speak to us, that you would speak and
inspire your words. And that you would not just give them to a select group of select men, but
that you would preserve them for all mankind. And Lord, we thank you that at salvation you gave us
the Holy Spirit to help us understand it and illuminate it for us. And Lord, I pray that
every day you and I, that every day the people in this room, that all of us would stand up,
wake up every day and realize what a precious thing we have in the word of God. That we would
read it. We would study it. We would memorize it. That we would learn it and apply it to our lives.
Lord, thank you for revealing yourself to us. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.