(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

sermon and through the Word of God and that we would understand to a greater degree this great doctrine that I'm going to be speaking about this morning of the verbal inspiration of the Bible and I just pray that you'd bless the sermon and in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Now this is a great story in the Bible. It's really one of the most interesting chapters in the whole book of Jeremiah, I think. And the part that I really wanted to draw attention to was this roll of a book that Jeremiah writes in. Look at verse number two and we'll quickly go through this. But the Bible reads in verse number two, take the roll of a book and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, this is the Lord speaking of course, and against Judah and against all the nations from the day I spake unto thee from the days of Josiah even unto this day. Now understand that this book that Jeremiah is writing at the mouth of the Lord is the Bible. I mean, it's the book of Jeremiah is what we're looking at. Look down, if you would, at verse number four. Then Jeremiah called Barak the son of Neriah and Barak wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord, which he had spoken unto him upon a roll of a book. So what happened? The Lord spake to Jeremiah and said, write this down. Jeremiah took the word that the Lord spake to him and he spoke to Barak and said, write down these words. Okay, you follow me so far? And look at verse number five. And Jeremiah commanded Barak saying, I'm shut up. I cannot go into the house of the Lord. Therefore go thou and read in the roll which thou has written from my mouth the words of the Lord and the ears of the people in the Lord's house upon the fasting day. And also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. And then if you go down a little bit to verse number 10, the Bible reads then Barak, then read Barak in the book, the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord in the chamber of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, the scribe in the higher court at the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house in the ears of all the people. When Micaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan had heard out of the book all the words of the Lord, then he went down into the king's house and on and on. Look at verse number 13. It says, then Micaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard when Barak read the book in the ears of the people. So the Lord told Jeremiah, Jeremiah told Barak, and now Barak has read it to Micaiah. Now Micaiah is declaring it into the ears of all these other people. So it's gone through about five different people right now. Look, if you would at verse number 14, it says, therefore, all the princes sent and script down and says unto Barak saying, take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people. So Barak the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand and came unto them and they said unto him, sit down now and read it in our ears. So Barak read it in their ears. Now it came to pass when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and another and said unto Barak, we will surely tell the king of these words. Now here's the, here's the funny part of this story. Now I can't help, I can't help but laugh every time I read this story. Look at verse number 17. And they asked Barak saying, tell us now, how didst thou write all these words at his mouth? And so listen to what Barak says. And Barak answered them, he pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth and I wrote them with ink in the book. It's like, what don't you understand about this? But you know what's so funny is that people don't understand that the Bible is written by God and that's what we're going to talk about this morning. People don't understand that the Bible is God's word. How in the world does that work? How in the world could God use a man to write down his word and it be accurate? Well, how in the world did Jeremiah speak to Barak and he wrote it down accurately? He said, well, here's what I did. I got a piece of paper and I got on a pen with ink in it. I mean, he's being really specific. I don't know what you're, can't figure this out, but I got a pen with ink as an ink pen. Okay. And I got a paper. He pronounced words with his mouth. He opened his mouth and he's moving it like this. He said, Jeremiah. And I wrote down exactly what he said. They still, it's like, I don't get this. You know what? Unbelievers never understand the doctrine of verbal inspiration. People who aren't saved. That's their problem. The problem is that they're unbelievers. And the Bible says that the God of this world had blinded them. The God of this world is Satan. Of course. The Bible says the God of this world had blinded them. Blessed the glorious light of the gospel should sign in and they'd be believe on Jesus Christ and be saved. See the unbelievers out there, they don't understand this doctrine of verbal inspiration because they're not saved. And it seems silly to those of us that are saved, but when we tell somebody, look, the Bible's not written by a man. The Bible's written by God. It doesn't matter whether it was spoken by the Lord to Jeremiah and then he spoke it to Barak and then Barak wrote it down and then he hands it to Micaiah and then Micaiah reads it. Hey, it doesn't matter. It's the word of God. How hard is it for somebody to say something and somebody else writes it down and it's accurate? What don't you understand about it? Do you not understand the pen or the ink or the pronouncing with your mouth? And so it's silly in the story and every time I read that, I just, I laugh. You know, it's funny. And you know, you can tell that Barak is kind of being a smart aleck to these people who are questioning what are they questioning? The inspiration of God's word. They're questioning whether it was really spoken by Jeremiah because they knew that Jeremiah was speaking God's word. And then if you would flip it. Well, before we leave this chapter, something else interesting if you go down a little bit and then I'll get into the rest of the sermon. But look if you would at verse number 23. Actually look at 22. It says, now the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month. This is when they're reading the Bible to the king. And there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. And it came to pass that when Jehudah had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the pen knife and cast it with the fire that was on the hearth until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. So what happened? This book that was written and everybody's been hearing it. I mean, it's been preached to all the inhabitants of Judah that were gathering together on this fasting day at Jerusalem. So everyone in the whole nation came together. That's when Jeremiah had specifically instructed Barak to read the book of Jeremiah to them. When they were all gathered together, he reads it to them. They're afraid. They tell the princes, they read it to the princes. They were afraid. Then they take it to the king. Well, when they begin to read it to the king, the king only gets through three or four pages, the Bible says. And after he's read about three or four pages, he says, would you hand me that book, please? Will you hand me the book of Jeremiah? And he takes a knife and he cuts the book of Jeremiah in pieces and throws it in the fire and didn't even finish listening to the Bible. And of course they're pleading with him saying, don't do it. Don't burn it up. But look what the Bible says, if you go down a little bit to verse 27, then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after that the king had burned the roll and the words which Barak wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah saying, 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, look, what's the big deal? Does God seem to really care that it's been burned up? Oh, it's burned up. It's gone forever. We'll never see the book of Jeremiah again. Wasn't that too bad? I mean, it was such a powerful book. I mean, think about how all the people, they heard it and they were trembling and they were afraid. And they said, we got to tell the king, we got to change our ways. We're living in sin. We're wrong. But alas, it's gone forever. The king cut it up and threw it in the fire. No. What does he say? He says, well, take another roll and just write it down again. And I'll tell you the exact same words again. And I'm going to add to them some more like words, which is obviously a little more content of the book of Jeremiah that came later, because not all of the book of Jeremiah had been written at this point, but this is several chapters of the book of Jeremiah. When it's burned, he adds more and then later on, he's going to add more and more. And of course we have the completed copy 52 chapters in the book of Jeremiah. Now, did he seem to care? Well, you say people who don't understand this doctrine of the inspiration of the Bible, they say, well, the accuracy of the Bible is only in the originals. Well, here's one original that we don't have for sure. You know, oh, it's only, you've got to go back to the originals. You know, you can't trust your King James Bible. You've got to go back to the originals. Well, can I tell you something? The originals are gone. You might not know that this original got burned up in the fire. The tablets that the original 10 commandments were written on by the, by the hand of God, by the finger of God that Moses brought down from the mountain, he threw them on the ground and broke them. Okay. And did you know that there's no Bible manuscript that is even from a time when anyone who wrote the Bible was even living? I mean, all the disciples and Jesus and all of them were probably dead around 100 AD. There's no Bible manuscript that goes back before 100 AD in existence on the face of the earth. The originals are gone. And why in the world would God spend 1600 years speaking God's words through holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost to deliver us the word of God over the course of 1600 years, revealing it little by little. And then it's completed about 100 years after the birth of Christ with John writing the book of Revelation so that it could be around for a few hundred years and then it could get lost somewhere. No, my friend, God has preserved the word of God for us in this generation. But let's look more at the subject of inspiration. Turn to the New Testament, if you would. Actually, before we get there, I'm sorry. Turn back to Jeremiah Chapter 1. Let's stay in the book of Jeremiah just quickly and we'll see how did we get the Bible? How has the Bible come to us today? Was the Bible written by man or was it written by God? Let's see this doctrine clearly taught from the Bible. Look at Jeremiah Chapter 1 verse 4. Then the word of the Lord came unto me saying, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou came us forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee. And whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. That is the doctrine of verbal inspiration from the Bible. God taking his words and putting them in the mouth of a man who spake the word of God and then someone else wrote it down, word for word. That's the doctrine of inspiration in the Bible. Now look at verse number 5. Verse number 5 is so critical to understand because people will say, Well, you know, if you read books written by the Apostle Paul, he kind of puts in his own little personality. You know, oh, well, when you read the Gospel of Mark versus the Gospel of Luke, they're expressing themselves in their own personal way. No, they didn't. It's the word of God. Why then, you say, well, why then does the book of Jeremiah have a certain character to it and the book of Isaiah has a certain character? And yes, you can tell the difference between a book that Paul wrote and Peter wrote. Well, the answer is in verse number 5. Because before he formed these men in the belly, he said, I knew thee. He said, 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. See, God formed these men in the womb. God created men that would be proper vessels to bring us his word. See, he didn't get the personality of the word of God from Paul or from Jeremiah or from Isaiah. He created Jeremiah to fit the book of Jeremiah, which was already written before the world was ever created before the foundation of the world. 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. And so you see that the men were created after the Bible. The men were created to fit the Bible. The Bible wasn't created to fit their little personality. Okay, their personality was made like the book that they would be used to write down. And so that's clear to see from that chapter. And the Bible says that God put his words into his mouth, clearly, in verse number 9. See Jeremiah 5, verse 14. Flip forward in your Bible a little bit to Jeremiah 5, 14. The Bible reads in Jeremiah 5, 14, Wherefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will put my words, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people would and it shall devour them. Again, God is saying, I'm going to put my words into your mouth. And then flip back, if you would, in your Bible to Isaiah 51, just a few pages to the left in your Bible. Isaiah 51, 16. The Bible reads in Isaiah 51, 16, And I have put my words in thy mouth. Isn't it still consistent in the Bible? Now a lot of people, when they're thinking about the subject of the inspiration of the Bible, that all scripture is given by inspiration of God, the Bible says, and is profitable for doctrine, for proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Hey, they're thinking of a man, you know, writing the Bible. That's often the emphasis. Like, well, was God guiding their hand as they wrote? You know, I've heard people say that. But really, it goes a lot deeper than that. The Bible says that clearly throughout the Bible that God put his words into these men's mouth. And the Word of God was spoken, then written. Okay, understand that, that the Word of God was verbal before it was written down with a pen, it was spoken by men of God. The Bible's clear on that. Flip forward to Isaiah 59, 21. The Bible says in Isaiah 59, 21, here's a great verse. Boy, mark this verse in your Bible, know where this verse is. Isaiah 59, 21, As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, my spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth. It's not just my word, my words. Every word is important. Word for word accuracy is important. My words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever. So how long is every single word in the book of Isaiah going to be accurately word for word preserved? He said, well, Isaiah is going to be preserved as long as you live, the book of Isaiah, will be in the mouth of you. It'll be in the mouth of your children. It'll be in the mouth of your grandchildren. And you know what, Isaiah? It's going to be in the mouth of people all over the world forever. Tell me something. Do you believe that the copy of the book of Isaiah that you have in your hand has every single word that God spoke, that God put in the mouth of his eyes? Do you believe that you have every word of the book of Isaiah in your hand this morning? Because if you don't, then you need to read Isaiah 59, 21 again, because he says there that these words will be in your mouth forever. People always attack the verses in the Bible that deal with the preservation of God's word. For example, Psalm 12, 6, and 7, the words of the Lord are present tense, pure words. The words of the Lord are pure words as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. You know, you pick up an NIV, which obviously the writers of the NIV did not believe that the Bible is preserved. That's why they changed the Bible. They don't believe that the words are important, but they believe that the thoughts are important. Well, let's look up the same verse in Psalm 12, 6, and 7 and see what the NIV says, the piece of trash that it is. The Bible says, and the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay purified seven times. O Lord, instead of thou shalt keep them, you know, keeping the words of God. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. Talk about God preserving his word. This is what they changed it to. O Lord, you will keep us safe, okay, and protect us from such people forever. See how they just destroyed the preservation of God's word? Well, I've never looked this up, but let's flip over. We like to be spontaneous here, so let's flip over to Isaiah 59, 21 in the NIV and let's see what it says. The Bible says, my spirit who is on you and my words that I put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth. And oh, man, they forgot to change this one. Even the NIV says that every word of the book of Isaiah is supposed to still be around. So they tried to pervert all the different verses in the Bible that dealt with the preservation of God's word. But oh, I'm sorry, Mr. NIV, you missed one, because Isaiah 59, 21, even in your stupid Bible, says that the words of the book of Jeremiah will be preserved forever. Why are you messing with them then? Why are you changing it? Why is it different? Why do you revise the NIV every couple of years and come out with a new edition? I'll tell you why, because you don't believe the Bible. You're like the unbelievers in the book of Jeremiah who said, how in the world can Baruch write down words at the mouth of Jeremiah? How can he take a pen and paper and write down what somebody else says? Hey, listen, you're an idiot, Mr. NIV. You're an idiot, Mr. New American Standard. You're an idiot if you can't understand the doctrine that God spake words through the mouth of a man and another man wrote them down. If you can't understand that, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe you just need to get saved. Maybe you just need to put your faith in Jesus Christ and say, I believe the record that God gave of his son and click on God the liar. See, that's what it comes down to. This doctrine of inspiration is not just an intellectual debate. It's a doctrine of do you believe the Bible when God says I preserved my word from this generation forever and every word of the book of Isaiah will be preserved according to chapter 59 verse 21. Flip forward in the New Testament now to 2 Peter chapter 1 and we'll see how consistent the Bible is about this. We saw that in the Old Testament. Let's look at just a great passage in the New Testament, 2 Peter 1 16. It's very interesting and I'd never really, I'll be honest with you, I never really fully understood this chapter until I was studying for this sermon and I sat down as I was studying for this sermon and I really just, something just clicked in my mind about this chapter that's so interesting what Peter is saying here. Look at verse number 16. The Bible reads, for we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He said, look, this isn't some fairy tale, some story. We were there. We saw Jesus. We saw him die on the cross. We saw him after he rose from the dead. We put our hands in the, in the prints of the nails and so forth. And he says, for he received from God, talking about Jesus, the father honor and glory. When there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. They're saying we were there when Jesus was baptism at Jesus' baptism, when God, the father spoke from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. He said, I was an eyewitness. I was there. But look what he says. And this voice, which came from heaven, we heard when we were with him in the holy mouth. That's talking about the transfiguration. Okay. When he said the same thing again at the, at the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17. But look what he says. We have also, he's saying in addition to that, we have also a more sure word of prophecy where unto ye do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star rise in your hearts. Knowing this first, it's the same sentence. Notice the sentence begins in verse 19. It ends at the end of verse 20. Knowing this first that the, 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. What's he saying? He's saying we didn't follow cunningly devised fables. We didn't make this up. We were eyewitnesses. I mean, we heard the voice of God speaking from heaven, but he says, not only that, we have also a more sure word of prophecy. He said even more sure than that, even more sure than the voice that I heard from heaven. He says, I know that the old Testament scriptures are even more sure than that because he said it didn't come an old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy ghost. He said, I'm more sure. This is what he's saying. Read it carefully. He said, I'm more sure that the book that I have in my hand right now, and he's talking about the old Testament scriptures. This is before the new Testament was written. He said, I'm more sure that the book of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, he said, I'm more sure that this is God's word, 100% accurate, not of any private interpretation. Jeremiah didn't interpret the words and then write them down or Isaiah didn't put his little spin on it. He says, I'm more sure that the book that I hold in my hand is God's word than the voice that I heard out of heaven saying, this is my beloved son whom I'm well pleased. He said, this is a more sure word of prophecy. Some charismatic comes and says, oh, Jesus came and appeared to me. I heard the voice of Jesus. I was in bed and the whole room lit up and Jesus was there and he spoke to me and that's how I know I'm going to heaven because he told me so. And I say, you know what, my friend, I've got a more sure word of prophecy. I've got the King James Bible in my hand and this is more sure than your vision. This is more sure than some voice you heard because the devil himself is transformed into a minister of life, the Bible says. But this word of God, we know this is the truth. We know that it came not in of old time by the will of man, but holy men of God's faith as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And again, do you notice so much more emphasis is being put on the speaking than on the writing? Do you notice that? Look at Acts chapter one and we'll see it again. The Bible is very consistent about this. Acts chapter one, go back toward the beginning of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts. Acts chapter one, verse 16. See a great verse in Acts one, 16, the Bible reads, men and brethren, this scripture. Now what does the word scripture mean? Well, do you know what script means? That means writing something down. That's where the word comes from. Scripture is something that's written down. That's what the word scripture means. Have you ever heard of a script like in a play? It's something written down that they have and what do they do? They read the words off of the script. Script comes from a word, you know, in the Greek language and the Latin languages means to write something down. You know, you think of superscript letters, they're letters that are written higher up on the page or subscript if you do chemistry and so forth, numbers that are written a little bit below the line. And so for the scripture, so what are we talking about? Something that's written down like the Bible that you're holding in your hand. For men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas. So who's doing the talking? Is this what David said about Judas? No, this is what the Holy Ghost spake before concerning Judas, but whose mouth did he use? He used the mouth of David to speak his word. Just like he said in Isaiah and Jeremiah, I put my words in thy mouth. So the Holy Ghost was the one doing the speaking and he says now it's been written down. Now it's a scripture and it's a scripture that they had hundreds and hundreds of years later in Acts chapter one. I mean the book of Psalms was written, you know, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years before this, over a thousand years in fact. And so the Bible is clear here that the scripture that you have was originally spoken by the Holy Ghost through a man. That's why the Bible said holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Look at the end of the book of Acts. Look at chapter 28. That's Acts chapter one. Look at Acts 28. And you say, well, good night pastor. I already know that the Bible is written by God, but you know what? You need to know why you believe that and you need to have these things nailed down in your mind and understanding what the Bible is, where it came from, and how it came to us today. That's why God talks so much about it in the Bible. But look at Acts 28 verse number 25. The Bible reads, and when they agreed not among themselves, they departed after that Paul had spoken one word, well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers. So the book of Isaiah, was it written by Isaiah? Yes, it was written by Isaiah, but who spoke the words? God did. The Holy Ghost did. And whose mouth did he use to speak those words? Isaiah's mouth. And then Isaiah, or maybe even, maybe Isaiah had somebody else write it down. Who cares who wrote it down? Who wrote the Bible that I'm holding in my hand this morning? Who wrote this Bible? Nobody wrote it. It's printed on a machine. Do you see? I don't see, nobody writes with this kind of handwriting, okay? This is a printed page. The Bible wasn't written by God, it was written by a machine. See how stupid that is? See how stupid that is? No, no. I say, well look, this is the Bible, it's written by God. No, it's written by a machine. Nobody says that, do they? So why do they think that the guy who pinned it down a thousand years ago was any more responsible for the words on this page than the machine was? Hey, the machine was programmed by a man, and the man was reading words off of a page that was written off a page that was written off a page by someone who spoke God's word, who was the Holy Ghost using the mouth of a holy man of God who was chosen before the foundation of the world, who was formed in the womb, who was known before of God that was ordained a prophet as Jeremiah was in Jeremiah 1-5. Isn't that so simple to understand? God spake, man spake, God's words, God was speaking through the mouth of man, and they wrote it down. Who cares how it got to us today? God got it to me today. God got me this book right here in March, whatever the date is, 2007. Okay, the book that I have here came from God. How did it get here? Well, somebody had ink in a pen and they wrote it on a page. You're asking silly questions like they did in the book of Jeremiah. But look if you would at Romans 16, and I'm going to show you something else interesting that you may not have realized. Look at Romans 16, verse 22. Now quickly, stop everything. Before you look at Romans 16, 22, no peeking. Look at Romans chapter 1. Keep your finger in chapter 16. I said no peeking. Romans chapter 1, and look at verse number 1. Who's the author of the book of Romans? What's the first word? Paul. Every epistle of Paul except the book of Hebrews begins with the word Paul. 13 times you'll read Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul. And then what's the first word of the book of Hebrews? God. Okay. Well, you say, why is that? Well, because God wrote the book of Hebrews and God wrote the other 13 as well. And he just used Paul to write it. But look if you would, Paul is clearly the author here. Paul is saying that he's the one who's writing the book. Paul, and then he says in verse 7, to all that be in Rome. So from Paul to those that be in Rome. Now look at Romans 16, 22. What's Romans 16, 22 say? I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord. Wait a minute. Uh-oh. Who wrote this book? Was it Paul? I mean, he starts out telling us it's Paul, right? I get all the way to chapter 16. I think Paul's talking to me. And all of a sudden I'm like, Tertius? Who have I been listening to? Who's Tertius? He's not even mentioned in the Bible. I don't know who that is. Well, it's very simple. Tertius is the one who wrote it down. He was the barrack to Paul as barrack was to Jeremiah. Paul did not physically write down the book of Romans. Okay. Paul spoke the word of God in the book of Romans and Tertius wrote it down. Isn't that, isn't that clear in the Bible? I mean, the Bible is so consistent. I'll show you what I mean. Flip over to 2 Thessalonians, go toward the end of the Bible. So Paul did not pick up a pen and write the book of Romans. Paul spake as he was moved by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost by the mouth of Paul spoke the book of Romans and his scribe Tertius is the one who actually physically wrote it down. And so he says, Hey, Paul, can I give a little shout out, you know, in chapter 16, you know, can I say hi to some of my friends? Hey, hi, Tertius also salutes you in the Lord. But look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 17. The Bible says the salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle. So I write the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Now flip back. Keep your finger in 2 Thessalonians 3, flip back to 2 Thessalonians 2. And the Bible reads in 2 Thessalonians 2 in verse number 2, that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us and that the day of Christ is at hand. See, someone had written a letter to the Thessalonians pretending to be the apostle Paul. Do you see that? He said, don't be shaken in mind by some letter that looks like it's from us. Who's the us? Well, look at the first verse of 2 Thessalonians 1, 1 Paul and Sylvanus and Timotheus unto the church of the Thessalonians. So who's writing the book? Paul and Sylvanus and Timotheus is the one who's sending out the book. Okay. He says in verse number 2, don't be troubled by some letter that appears to be from us that says that the day of Christ is at hand. It says that Jesus could come back at any time. Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and on and on. That's to be saved for our Revelation series. And then at the end of 2 Thessalonians in chapter 3 verse number 17 is where he explains, he says, you will never get a letter from me, but that it contains in my own handwriting this signature at the end where I say the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. He says, even though I have somebody else write the letter for me, it'll always have my signature at the bottom. And I will always write the last sentence in my own handwriting. Do you see that? He, at the end, he wrote the part at the end of every Epistle where it says like, you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Amen. It's always slightly different every time, but he always writes that with his own handwriting. He has somebody else write the body of the letter. He writes that part flip over to Galatians chapter six, go back in the, in the new Testament toward the beginning, Galatians chapter six. Is this making sense to everyone? It's pretty simple that people spoke. That doesn't mean that they're actually the one who wrote it down with her hand and nobody wrote the one. I have my hand is printed on a machine. Okay. But it all comes from God. I mean, it's not that hard to understand that it's spoken by the Holy ghost, but look at Galatians six and we'll see this clearly in verse number 11. Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised only less they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. Now what's he saying? He's saying this letter is so important. It's so dangerous. This doctrine that's been creeping in. And this is what the whole book of Galatians is about. It's combating the faith plus works. You know, you have to have faith and to be circumcised and keep the law, a work salvation that's being taught. He says, it's so important. He says, I'm trying to express to you how important this is. He said, do you see how large of a letter I've written with my own hand? He says, I wrote all six chapters with my own hand. I didn't just sign at the end. He said, I wrote this myself because it was probably so urgent. I mean, he just didn't even have a chance to have the other guy write it down for him, his secretary, so to speak. He took the pen and he said, I wrote this with my own hand because it's so vital that you get this so dangerous what's creeping in. And so we see that the bulk of the books that the apostle Paul wrote were actually, you know, written by a scribe that he was speaking to. Does it really matter? No, it doesn't matter at all because the author is God. Look up the word author in your Bible. Look up the word author in the concordance. I believe it only occurs one time. Hebrews chapter 12, looking unto Jesus, the author. That's why it said Jesus, the author. That's the only time it ever says author. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith is what it says in Hebrews 12, two. Now look over if you would at Exodus chapter four, flip back to Exodus chapter four. And boy, we could go on and on with this sermon. I mean, there's so much in the Bible about this, but I'm just showing you the most interesting parts of it. And the most, the most vital scriptures to help you to understand this doctrine of verbal inspiration. Now understand what verbal means. The word verb verbal comes from the word verb, which means a word. Now, can you see the similarity between the word verb and word? Okay. The word word evolved from the word verb. Okay. Now in our language, the word verb is only an action word. Okay. But verbal inspiration means every word is inspired as opposed to somebody who says, well, I believe the Bible is inspired kind of like Shakespeare is inspired. Kind of like, I believe that these poems, they were inspired by nature. You know, such an inspiration to them. Okay. And they twist the meaning of words. Verbal inspiration means that every word of the Bible is inspired, which means that Holy men of God speak as they were moved by the Holy ghost. Like God inspired the words like he breathed out the words out of his mouth. That's what the word inspiration means. God spoke the words out of his own mouth is what it means. But look at Exodus chapter four, verse 14. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. And he said, is not Aaron, the Levi, thy brother. I know that he could speak well. And also behold, he cometh forth to meet thee. And when he see it, he will be glad in his heart and thou shalt speak unto him and put words in his mouth. And I will be with thy mouth and with his mouth and will teach you what you shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people. And he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth and thou shall be to him instead of God. Do you see that? He says in the same way that I've always given my word, where I speak through a man, Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy ghost. He said, in that same exact way, you are going to use Aaron as your mouthpiece. You're going to put your words in his mouth. How did he do that? How did Moses put his words in Aaron's mouth? Well, obviously he told Aaron, you know, say this, tell him, you know, let my people go. And then Aaron had a much more powerful speaking voice. You know, he was a much better orator. Moses maybe didn't feel as comfortable speaking in front of a large group. So Aaron says, let my people go. You know, Aaron says in a big booming voice or something, you know. Well, that's the exact same way God said that he delivers his word. He said, you're going to be Moses, like God to Aaron, where you're putting your words in his mouth. Just like I put my words in your mouth, the exact same way by telling you the words. And you spoke the words. Okay. Because we remember Jeremiah chapter one, God spoke verbally to Jeremiah said, well, I just think something got lost in the translation. You're not, you know, you're not listening to the sermon at all. Okay. It's so clear from the Bible that God preserves his word. How hard is it? You say something always gets lost in the translation. That is so ridiculous. That is so incredible than even what he actually believes that. I mean, here, here, take this pen. All right. I'm going to hand, I'm going to hand him a pen. We got to get simple. Just like in the book of Jeremiah, we give him a pen and a piece of paper. And why don't you write down for me something? Okay. Can you write something down for me, please? Can you write down? Can you write down? This house is big. Write it down. See, I don't think it's going to work. What do you think? Now I know who we're dealing. I know who are we dealing with here. Okay. If he could get it right, there's no problem in the world that Jeremiah or Moses or these guys couldn't get it right. Oh wow. Isn't this amazing? The house is big. That's exactly what I said. Isn't that incredible? How in the world was I able to speak words and pronounce them with my mouth? And he was able to write them down with a pen on a piece of paper. It's unbelievable. I think God's hand is really in this service. I think we've just witnessed the power of God. I think we've just seen divine inspiration. Hallelujah. You know, put your hand on the screen. Okay. Hey look, how, how hard is this to understand? And people, people that don't believe this, they call it mechanical dictation. Well, as also you believe in mechanical dictation. Yes. Okay. You know? Yeah. Dictation. Like when you dictate words to a secretary. Yeah. Mechanical dictation. I do believe that. I don't know what their point is with that. Okay. Exodus chapter seven, flip forward from Exodus seven. We'll see this again. Exodus seven one. I mean, wasn't God afraid that Moses was going to change his word? And then especially telling Aaron to say what Moses said, which is what God said. So it's going to go through three people. Come on God. It's always, you're always going to lose something. God. Good night in the book of Jeremiah went through five people in one chapter. Come on. It's got to come on. When Jesus said to the devil, man, if I live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, come on. That went from Hebrew into Aramaic into Greek. Just in that one verse, Matthew four, four, aren't you afraid God that you're going to lose something in the translation? No, God's not afraid of that at all because God knows how to preserve his word. Look at Exodus seven one. And the Lord said unto Moses, see, I have made thee a God to Pharaoh and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. See again, he's explaining the, the, the, the relationship between Moses and Aaron is a picture of his relationship with giving the word of God to man. Thou shalt speak all that I command thee and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh that he send the children of Israel out of his hand. Now out of his land flip over to Deuteronomy forward in the Bible, Deuteronomy 18. It's kind of a Bible study this morning, but such an important subject to understand. There's so much confusion about the Bible. You know, well-known preacher that I know of just recently he said, well, the Bible is not inspired. Okay. This is an independent, fundamental Baptist, well-known preacher said the Bible is not inspired. It was inspired back then. Okay. But it's not inspired anymore. Okay. The originals were inspired. The originals are gone. And so he said, so the Bible is not inspired. He said, you need to understand the historic meaning of what inspiration is. This is what the historic meaning of inspiration is. That all scripture is given by inspiration of God and it's profitable for doctrine. This is the historic meaning. The historic meaning is that it's always been inspired. Okay. That's historic for you. 200 years ago was inspired. Okay. 500 years ago, it was inspired. See inspiration means that God spoke the words. You say ha ha ha pastor Anderson, you don't understand that it was only inspired when, when Jeremiah was inspired and spoke the words. Look, that's not when they even came into being. The words were breathed by God before the, in the beginning. I mean, the word of God existed in the beginning was the word. And so it was given to Jeremiah how many times? Twice. Once it got burned up and thrown in the fire. Well, you know what you, Oh, you believe in double inspiration. You believe in double inspiration. Well, read Jeremiah 36, double inspiration. He's inspired. He writes it down. It gets burned up in the fire. He gets inspired again. He writes it down again. I don't understand why these people come up with this study and you read the Bible because if you, if you have a Bible that's not inspired, then God didn't breathe it. So I wonder who breathed it. I think the devil breathed it. If you have a Bible that's not inspired by God, who did inspire it? Was it, was it, was it men? Was it man that inspired his own version of it? Was it, was it some translator that decided to put his own little spin on it? Or was it maybe Satan himself perverting and corrupting the word of God, which is the case in every translation except the King James Bible. But look if you would at Deuteronomy 18, is that where you are? Look at verse 18. The Bible says, I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee and will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. So how did he put the words in the prophet's mouth? First, he commanded the prophet. Do you see that? And that's how it says he put his words in his mouth. Does that mean he opened his mouth and stick words in it? No, he says, I'm going to command him. I'm going to, and he shall speak unto them. So basically God speaks to the prophet and the prophet speaks to them. It's all verbally inspired. Well, that's double inspiration right there. First he spoke it and then the other guy spoke it and it was all God's word. And it says, and it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name. I will require it of him much like Tertius was writing an epistle in Paul's name because it was Paul's word. It wasn't his words. He said, yes, I'm the one who wrote it down, but it was Paul's word. That's why it starts out Paul and he just signs it at the bottom. Well, let me tell you something. God's signature is all over this Bible that I hold in my hand. Although it wasn't physically written by God, it was printed on a printing press. Look if you would at 2 Chronicles, go forward in your Bible, 2 Chronicles 35. Pastor Anderson, you believe that the King James Bible is inspired by God? Yes, or else I wouldn't be reading it. I'd be reading something else. I'd be spending the rest of my life searching for the real thing if I didn't think I had the real thing in my hand. 2 Chronicles 35, 22, the Bible says, Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself that he might fight with him and hearkened not under the words of Nico from the mouth of God and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. So when Pharaoh Nico spoke to Josiah, he was speaking God's words. God put his words into Pharaoh's mouth and Pharaoh Nico spoke God's word. He was giving Josiah very good advice. He said, mind your own business, stay out of this. I'm fighting a war that God told me to fight. He was actually a man who feared God. And Josiah did not listen to him. Josiah went out to battle against him and Josiah died in that battle because he didn't listen to God's word out of the mouth of Pharaoh Nico. That was inspired by God because the Holy Ghost spake by the mouth of Pharaoh Nico. And then years and years and years later, when the book of 2 Chronicles was written, it was inspired again. When the scribe who wrote down 2 Chronicles transcribed the exact words of Pharaoh Nico, which were from the mouth of God, which had been preserved for hundreds of years from the time that he actually said it and it was inspired to the time it was actually written down and it was inspired. Now the Bible is very clear on this subject and I'm not afraid of terms like double inspiration. Hey, what do you want quadruple inspiration? I'll believe in it. Sign me up for it. Any doctrine that's about the Bible that I have being the word of God, preserved, quadruple, quintuple inspiration, whatever you want to call it, the Bible that I have in my hand is inspired by God and it's verbally word for word inspired by God. If I didn't believe that, I'd get a different Bible. Look at Psalm 138. Flip over to Psalm 138. Go forward in your Bible to Psalm 138. Psalm 138. You see, because if the Bible has not been preserved, then what do you base what you believe on? What do I base what I preach on? What is the church even about if we don't know what God actually said? And why would God say something and go through all the trouble to write it down if a couple hundred years later it was going to disappear into dust and everybody would just be guessing and trying to get as close as they could to the original. But look at Psalm 138 verse 2. I will worship toward thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth for thou has magnified thy word above all thy name. He says he put his word of more importance than even his name. In the day when I cried thou answered me and strengthened me with the strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth shall praise thee oh Lord when they hear the words of thy mouth. So all the kings of the world are going to hear the words of God's mouth when they hear Psalm 138 is what the Bible is saying there. Flip forward in your Bible to the book of John chapter 3. We're almost done John chapter 3. So how did God give us his word? Well God spake using the mouth of a holy man of God that was chosen to be a vessel to give us God's word and someone else who knows who cares who wrote it down and wrote it down again in many cases and wrote it down again sometimes. It doesn't matter who wrote it down it's who the author is which is Jesus Christ the author and finisher of our faith. But look at John chapter 3 verse number 30. The Bible reads he must increase but I must decrease. This is John the Baptist preaching. He that cometh from above is above all he that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is above all. Go down if you would to verse number 34. It's talking about Jesus for he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him. See how the Holy Spirit and speaking God's words are right hand in hand there? Well now flip over if you would to Colossians chapter 3 16. Here's the application. Everything we've learned so far is doctrine from the Bible. It's important to know these things but look at Colossians 3 16 and we'll see the application. Colossians chapter 3 verse number 16 the Bible reads let the word of Christ Colossians 3 16 let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord don't turn there but of course the famous verse and be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be filled with the spirit speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs so being filled with the spirit and having the word of Christ dwell in you richly with all wisdom go hand in hand that's why the Bible says in Joshua 1 8 this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do all that is written therein for that then shalt thou make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success psalm one blesses the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful but is delighted in the law of the Lord and in his law that he meditate day and night and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in the season his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he do it shall prosper and then Jesus said in John 15 7 if you abide in me and my words abide in you you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you so what's the moral the whole story here God gave his word by putting his word into the mouth of a special man that was used to speak those words Barak where we started the sermon he wrote down the same words but he didn't just write them down because if you remember he was able to speak those words from memory at a later time and another man spoke them to another man again and so just as the bible was inspired by God just as the word of God was given by God putting it into someone's mouth he says the words that he said right here in Joshua 1 8 this book of the lost are not the part out of thy mouth see just as they gave us the bible in that way God is saying that every born again child of God every believer should have the word of God in their mouth roughly pretty close no God wants you to memorize the bible word for word oh that's impossible look I think we proved it's possible okay you can get it accurate and so you ought to memorize the bible you want to be filled with the spirit do you want whatsoever you do to prosper do you want to make your way prosperous and have good success do you want to ask whatsoever you will from God and he'll do it for you he said if my words abide in you and you abide in me he said you shall ask whatsoever you will and I'll do it you want to have God's power in your life you want God to do something for you you want to be filled with the spirit in your life hey memorize the bible get God's word in your mouth like it was Isaiah's mouth like it was in Jeremiah's mouth like it was in Paul's mouth hey get God's word in your mouth not from some kind of a divine revelation where God speaks verbally to you as he did to them but a more sure word of prophecy where you pick up the bible and read the words of God and get these words in your mouth you need to have the words of God in your mouth as you go throughout the week Monday through Friday when you go out soul wedding hey have the word of God in your mouth when you go out soul wedding hey when you're talking to your friends and relatives trying to get them saved have the word of God in your mouth when you're doing your job when you're going about your daily business have the word of God in your mouth memorize the word of God hide it in your heart and speak it with your mouth day in day out day and night then you'll make your way prosperous and have good success let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father I thank you so much that I have the the words of God in my hand this morning the very words spoken by the mouth of God preserved to every generation preserved until the end of the world as you said dear God and here we are getting close to the end perhaps and we still have the exact words that you spoke what a treasure dear God help us understand the value of what we have and God help us to read these words and to hang on every word and to memorize every word of the bible to study the bible to speak these words help these words to be in our mouth