you see on your sheet, the final authority of the Bible. That's kind of the gist of the message or the teaching this morning and one of the things that I was talking to Brother Fred before church here and we send out the emails for you. You get them whether you know it or not. Well, hopefully you get them. I've had people tell me that they don't get them anymore and I trust me, unless I just double check your email, I haven't changed anything. The emails are all the same. But notoriously, emails just quit. I don't know why. They just don't get through sometimes. So maybe give me another email address if that's the case for you or something. But in their email, you get a PDF version of the lesson every week. And Brother Fred was telling me that he's been remiss in saving them to his computer. That's fine, they're still there. If you go back and search, they're still there. You can save them. The idea with these lessons and the sheets, particularly, is so that you can take these and use these. I was deathly afraid of preaching as a younger person. If you had speech class, I opt out. It was a typical story. Every man is like that probably. I don't know about the ladies too, but there was no reason for me to get up in front of a room and talk to anybody. you know, let alone one-on-one. But over time, God will begin to give you gifts and talents and abilities. And whether you even think you have that gift or talent or ability, you can still develop skills. Right? Is that okay? You can develop a skill. Does that sound right? You can learn to talk. and talking, and I guarantee you can. Because when I sit across the table from you in fellowship, you'll talk and talk and talk and talk, right? But as soon as you get in front of somebody, you say, I can't do it. Well, you're lying. So you say, well, I can't study. I can't put notes together. Well, I gave you the notes. That's my point. It's not to get on you for not talking. It's to get, you have the notes, right? And you can take these things and you can run through these things with people. And you can add to these things and you can cross things out if you don't like them. You know, I give you my thoughts on paper. You can cross them out if you think they're wrong. I've had people challenge me plenty. It's OK. So we're going to but we're going to talk about the Bible. Now, I was just in Mormon country and I didn't get attacked by any Mormons. It was safe. We went to Temple Square and you can go right into where they have their temple building and their offices far exceed their temple. in stature. I mean, they're huge. When it says, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and this is our office building, and it's, you know, I don't know how many stories high and massive, I'm like, what are they doing in there? You know, that's bigger than most businesses. But anyway, nobody tried to convince me of anything, but if you look on your paper, the first sentence with the multitude of conflicting religious messages out there, there must be a standard by which to judge the truth, right? I mean, that is the question you will get. What makes you right? What makes your religion right? Now, I don't have a religion. I have the Bible. And that's your answer all the time. That is your answer. I don't have a religion. I'm not religious person. I don't even denominational. We're going to have a Baptist history conference here coming up very soon. I trust you mark that down and be sure to be here. Clear your calendar for that. It's going to be very, very important. Very good. But I'm labeled a Baptist, just like I'm labeled a Christian. You understand? I'm labeled, as you'll see in a moment, a biblist, a biblist or however you pronounce it, because I believe the Bible. The Bible is my final authority in all matters of faith and practice. So you can call me whatever you want. That's fine. That's good, because if you can identify me as a Christian, then I must be doing something right. Right. So but but why? Why? Because there's a standard out there that defines what religion ought to be. And we use the word religion use loosely understand there. That's what the world would call it. And so the Bible is that standard. The standard is the Bible. But the Bible makes some outrageous claims. And you're going to be challenged on the Bible. You're going to be well, you say the Bible is your final authority in all matters, faith and practice. Well, the Bible. And they'll go on to tell you what's wrong with the Bible. And even our fellow Christians are involved in that practice today to where they're telling us what's wrong in the Bible, the mistakes that are in the Bible and that that should be and what that shouldn't be. And the original languages say and all that kind of thing. And whether they know it or not, they're undermining the faith of the of of the people coming up behind them, because it happened to me. and this is not the gist of the lesson here today but I would just tell you I sat in a high school biology class and I love my teacher he was a great guy he was a fun guy but one day but he would at night he would teach us in the day and at night he would go to Bible school and he would come back to class and he said before we have and it was a Christian school before we have class I want to just tell you guys what I learned in Bible school last night and he would say you know now open your Bible and he said now what I found out is that really should be And he says, so if you really want to know the Bible, you ought to learn Greek. And I said to myself, not to him, not to anyone around me, I said to myself, as a rebel, you know that all young teenagers are typically rebels because that's in your flesh to be one. And so all you have to do is light that fire a little bit and you'll propel them further. And so I said to myself, well, then fine, I won't learn the Bible because I'm not learning Greek. And if my parents have been telling me all along that this is the Bible, but now you're telling me that I don't really have it. You say, well, you were just an 18 year old kid. Yeah, that's right. I had enough sense then to realize that was garbage and I'm not going to do it. Now you say, well, that's not happening to my kids. You don't know what's happening to your kids. One day when they go a different direction and you look back and you say, well, we've been in church all of our lives. Well, what kind of church? One that lifts up the Bible as the final authority or one that undermines it? Every single service just to show how smart they are. So the Bible makes some outrageous claims. It either speaks with authority when it makes those claims or it is one big lie. There's no middle ground. You understand that? So you can't take the Bible and say, yeah, now there are some hard passages in that Bible. There are some things I don't understand. In fact, there's more I don't understand than what I do understand. And I and I study the Bible. And hopefully you do, too. But as you do, I even tell pastor, even as I read the Bible, I'm like, and I don't mind admitting that to you. I don't always understand what I'm reading. But you know what I do believe? It's God's word. In fact, one of the claims, the very first one on your paper is it claims to be God's word. That's what it claims to be. So let's look at that. Let's go ahead and look at some passages here. Look at the ones. Turn to Proverbs. I give them there so you get a head start on me. Proverbs 22, verse 20 and 21. Now I have them written so I can beat you. If you don't want to turn to him, I'm not going to wait, because we've got a lot of places to turn this morning. And I wanted to fit it on one side of the sheet. Brother Ruckman, when he has notes throughout his commentaries, if you read his commentaries at all, he only puts the references many times. He doesn't write out the verse. And I'm like, well, you've got the whole book. The book can be as long as you want. Give me the whole verse. But the reason for it is, he says, because I want you to turn in the Bible and do some work. I did the work to write the book. You do the work to turn at least turn to the passage. And you know what you don't have today? You don't have people even bringing their Bibles to church. They're not even in church. They're not even willing to turn in the Bible. They're like, well, you turn for me and I'll just listen. And that's one of the things I don't like about the sheets giving you the sheets is because you just look at me and you may not look down at the paper. Just do the work. And let's turn a little bit this morning. OK, I'm not getting on you, please trust me. But Proverbs 20, verse 21, 20 and 21, 22, verse 20 and 21. Have not I written to thee? excellent things and counsels and knowledge, that I might make thee know the certainties of the words of truth, that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee. Sounds to me like God is saying, I have written something unto you. Sounds to me like he says, I haven't just written unto you, I've written to you truth. And it sounds to me also that he is saying that you can take that truth and give it to someone else. So we're all on the hook to be able to give out the truth. We're not excused because I'm shy or I'm a woman or because I'm not called to preach or whatever the excuse can be. We're all supposed to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ and we're all supposed to take what's written and we're supposed to give it out. Now turn to 1 Thessalonians 2.13 and look at that. You might want to have these things ahead of time so you don't have to wait every time I say them. 1 Thessalonians 2.13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when you receive the word of God, notice the phrase, the word of God, it's assumed in the Bible that what you're reading is the word of God, which you have heard of us. You have received it not as the word of men. We don't want that. We don't want a denomination. But as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. So the Bible makes the claim, the outrageous claim to be God's word. People say, well, if there's a God, then, and fill in the blank, if there's a God, then strike me with lightning, right? If I'm wrong, then strike me with lightning. He hardly ever does that. I don't know if he ever does that. Maybe you can give me a story of someone who that has happened to. But if there's a God, then let him give me this or give me that or show me some way. Well, you're all wrong. If there's a God, then he has told you, I have given you a book. A book that you can read and you can know all about me from. All right. So that is that is a claim in the Bible that we have the word of God. So it's not outrageous for us to think that this would be our rule of thumb for what is the right religion or how to know God and how to serve God correctly. It also claims to be eternal. Notice these passages. You might know Psalm 12, 6, and 7. I hope you've already began to turn there. But if you don't, you want to commit this one to memory. It is Psalm 12, verse 6. The words of the Lord are pure words. They're pure words. Now, we're not going to get into this morning about proving the King James Bible. We're assumed right now this morning, I'm assuming that you are already in that place. And if you're not, then you just go ahead and assume that that's where I am. OK, because we're not going to. There's more we could go into weeks and weeks of proving the King James Bible to be the word of God. But just know this. The words of the Lord are pure. So if you have 300 different versions of that, then it's not pure. You can make it whatever you want. And so 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. Who's responsible for keeping the Bible according to this verse? The Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. So God's responsible for that. Well, you know, God can make the whole world and God can make the, you know, the human body and God can make the sun and the stars and the constellations and God can make gravity and God can make all these amazing things and that can be preserved and it can still be in motion today and we can still marvel at all that. But the one thing God cannot do is preserve a book. I don't believe that. I believe the Bible makes some outrageous claims here and it's claiming to be God's word is claiming to be eternal. Psalm 119, the next reference, Psalm 119, 89. Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Forever. It before you and I were ever born, before we ever had a brain, before we ever went off to college, where they tried to steal our faith from us and tell us that the Bible is uncertain and it's only intact in the originals, which are nonexistent. God has already said before you and I ever arrived on the scene forever. Oh, Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. And people will say, yeah, in heaven, John. Well, what good I would ask you, what good does it do to be up there when I'm supposed to have it here to guide my life? God has also put it here for us. There's no doubt in my mind. As we'll go on, you'll see that if you don't believe that. Matthew 24, verse 35. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. So we all know we look forward to a new heaven and a new earth, right? We know this will pass away. Of course, the world is trying to tell you it's going to happen through global warming and whatever. Fine. Let's just go along with it. It will pass away. but my words shall not pass away." Why would God say that? Is that to tease us with the fact that it's up in heaven and they'll never pass away, but you'll never get a chance to read it? No, we have a final authority in all matters of faith and practice. We have a Bible and God is assuring us that it's intact and it's forever and it will never pass away. Well, I've been told by many scholars and educators and PhDs that it has passed away. And at best, all we have are copies. And at best, these men tried their best to write it down as best they could and preserve it for us. But Psalm 12 told us it's God's job to do it. Right? All I'm doing, trying to do this morning, this is a very simple lesson. This is a lot of repetition for us. But all I'm trying to do is lift up the idea that you have a final authority in your hands today. And you don't have to doubt that it's somewhere else. And that I hope I have what I need to have. 1 Peter 1.25 is the last reference. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word by which the gospel is preached unto you. We'll get to this in a moment. But do you know you trust the word of God for the gospel? What is the gospel this morning? The gospel is, yes, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. How do you know that? Because the Baptist Church preaches that? No, because the Bible told you that. Well, what if your Bible has mistakes in it, as they say? Then we're all in trouble. That's right. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. First Peter 125. Now it also claims some other things. It claims to hold the world together. Now, no book can do that, right? No book can hold the world together. But you understand the Bible makes the Bible. The Bible makes the Bible. God makes the Bible personal. It makes it alive. We'll see that in a moment. It says that it holds the world together. Hebrews one, three. Have you turned there? I hear the pages going. I see you, but I want you to see these things. Mark them down. who being the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person, and upholding all things, not just the world, but you and I and everything you see, upholding all things by the word of his power, when he by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. So according to the Bible, it makes some claims about itself. Now, according to the Bible, you could scoff at the Bible for saying this, or you can trust it and believe it and understand there's power in that that book. Now, a biblist will get to in a moment. A biblist is someone who's accused of worshiping a book rather than the author of the book. But I'm here to tell you something. I not that we worship this book. I don't bow down to this book. But I without this book, I would not know how to worship. You understand? And they will criticize you for that. And they'll say, well, you just worship a book and you're King James only. And because of that, you're even worse. Right. But this book, according to this verse right here that we're looking at and others that we'll look at coming up holds everything together. This book, say, how is that possible? I don't know. I don't know. All I know is that if my eyes were opened because they're not open right now, I'm a sinful being and I'm in a sinful body. I'm a born again Christian in a sinful body. My eyes were open. I would see things that would blow my mind. It would blow your mind. And to think that this book has some kind of I can almost envision this book sitting right here and all kind of spiritual power coming out of it. You understand we're not going to get into this morning, but you understand what inspiration is, because many people don't. Many people think that inspiration is that when God said something and it was pinned down, that that was inspiration at that time in that one specific time. That's not inspiration. The Bible definition of inspiration is that as God's words go forth, they don't return void. And as God's words go forth, they breathe life into whatever they hit. And the spirit of God goes forth and teaches the words of God. And we get our faith through the preaching of the word of God. Right. Faith coming by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So it's inspiration as it goes out. The only way that inspiration can take place is if the very pure words of God are being preached and being taught and being read. And so it's not far-fetched for me to think that there's some spiritual power coming off this book right now. It's just paper. It's just a leather cover. It's just ink. Yeah? But it's God's words. I can't explain that. You can wipe that from your memory if you don't like that, okay? But that's how I think. It claims to hold the world together. It claims to discern. It discerns the thoughts of the heart. If you're in Hebrews, just turn over a page or two to Hebrews 4 and verse 12. You know this verse, who being the brightness of his image and the express image of his person and upholding all things. Oh, I'm reading the wrong verse. For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Now, the Bible says that not to trust your heart because it's deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Well, I tell you who can know it. A book can know it. This book. You say, well, you know, that's that's not worded very well, because it says it makes it sound like the Bible is the discerner. That's exactly right. That's exactly how it's written, and that's exactly what it means. The Bible is discerning. Say, well, that's just a book. Again, that's just paper and ink. You're wrong. That book is alive. That book is powerful. That book is inspiring. That book is God's word. And so what happens is as it's read and as it comes off, leaps off, don't we say that? Oh, there's always something new when I read the Bible. It's like it speaks to me. Don't we ever say that in the Bible? And it is the spirit of God is moving as the words of God are read. And so as that's happening, it's discerning you. It's discerning your heart. It's discerning your thoughts. That's amazing. Now, no other book can do that. You read psychology all you want, and you can praise all the different psychologists you can name, and you can say, they get me. Nobody gets you like the Bible gets you. Nobody gets you like God gets you. It claims to be alive. and predict the future. John 6, 63, it is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, now we're reading the words that he spoke unto you, right? They're in the Bible. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. That's inspiration. That's one of the ways you and we won't get into this morning, but the Bible defines inspiration. The colleges, I'm telling you, they all have it wrong. I haven't talked to one person out of the colleges and out of the schools that teach the Bible that know what they're talking about when it comes to inspiration, because they do not use the Bible definition. The Bible defines what inspiration is, not your college, not your denomination. All right. And this is one of them here is that the Bible is alive because the words that I speak into you, they are spirit and they are life. Second Timothy two nine, wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even under bonds. But the word of God is not bound. Now that's something. If you know history at all, you read about the Inquisition, and you read about the Dark Ages, and what you'll find is the Roman Catholic Church trying to dominate the world, where the Pope says, wherever I step my foot, I claim that ground for Rome. World domination. I mean, that's their religion, world domination. It's demonic, it's devilish. We've covered it many times in here before. But the idea is that they have taken the word of God through the centuries and burned it and tried to get rid of it. And it's still, the Bible said, and I have the statistic with me today, I think over six billion King James Bibles in the world today. over six billion. I think the Roman Catholic Church failed. I think God won. And so what happens is the Word of God, according to this verse, is not bound. Well, how can that be? Because it's God's Word. It's alive. It can't be bound. You can't stop the Bible. All right? You can't stop the Bible. Galatians 3.8 and the Scripture, Galatians 3.8 and the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham. Now I'll stop there. But the scripture, read that verse, Galatians 3, 8, read that, and the scripture foreseeing. Well, that's just great poetic English. And, you know, we don't really take that literally. Well, the Bible says what it says, and I'm not going to try and explain it away or use my brain to try and justify what I'm reading. I'll just read it for what it says. I take the Bible literally. It says the scripture foreseeing. It's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and it foresees your future. It foresees what Abraham's future was. It foresees you read the book of Revelation. It foresees what's going on. You say, well, again, it's just the Bible. It's just a book. It can't do that. It's let me can I tell you something we'll get to in a second, but this book, you know, the verse, hopefully, you know, first, John five, seven. This book is part of the Trinity. No, no, no, no, no. That's not right. You know, God, the Father, God, the Son, God, Holy Spirit. It's Jesus is the word. It's part of the Trinity. This book is alive. And when you criticize it and when you tear it apart and when you write a new one and you say it's just the same and you can better understand. That, to me, is close to blasphemy, and I get the argument all the time. Well, they're good people. Good people use the NIV. Good people use the ESV. Hey, listen, you need to separate some things out in your mind. You need to realize that you need to separate people from what is good and bad. OK, just because somebody you like that person just because they're OK and that they may really love God, they may even have the spirit of God in them and they love the Lord and they're saved. But that doesn't mean they can't do wrong. And just because they drink, is that OK? Just because they cuss, is that OK? Just because they listen to contemporary Christian music, is that OK? They use the wrong Bible. It doesn't make it OK. They can be well, they're good people and they just love the Lord and maybe even more than me. Well, then learn from them where you can, but let them know what they need to know. OK, it's not about you need to separate that in your mind. Well, it must be OK because, you know, Charles Stanley uses it. I've heard that I love Charles Stanley, not me. I like him. He's OK. You know, he's not my stripe. He's a good guy. I'll see him in heaven. I don't doubt that. But you know what? He promotes the NIV. I think it's the NIV, right? The NIV. Well, guess what? He's wrong. Hey, he's wrong. He's a man. People turn me off right there, right? Okay, we'll move on from there. It claims infallibility. The Bible claims to be infallible. Now, come on, what what book ever claims infallibility? John 10, 35. Are you there? If he called them gods under whom the word of God came and the scripture cannot be broken. And I'm not going to read on, but that's the phrase I want you to see. And the scripture cannot be broken. Well, that's a mistake in your Bible. Wrong. You're wrong. I don't care what's behind your name. You're wrong. I'm not throwing you out of the ministry. I'm not telling you you're a heretic necessarily. Well, maybe a heretic. I'm not telling you you don't love God, but I'm telling you you're wrong. The scripture cannot be broken. Don't try to make Moses' crossing over the Red Sea the Reed Sea. Well, you know, miracles happen and phenomenons happen and enough wind could have come and it could have... Just trust God that it was a miracle. Right. The scripture cannot be broken. The scripture is right every single time. And whether you and I understand what it's saying or not, it doesn't matter. It cannot be broken. Now, here's the thing. Are you a biblist? A biblist is someone who declares the Bible to be their final authority in all matters of faith and practice. Raise your hand if you're a biblist today. I'll raise mine. That's what I am. Now, that's a derogatory term in a lot of people's minds. I've been called that by a Baptist. Well, you worship a book. Well. What? What what do you worship? I worship God, I worship Jesus Christ. How do you know about God and Jesus Christ if you didn't get it from the book? And if I can show you that the book is part of the Trinity. And it's flesh, the word became flesh and dwelled among us, you know, John one, don't you? The word became flesh. Well, that's just no, that's just what it is. Now, I know you can take this Bible and you can burn it. You can throw it in the trash. I've dropped one in the toilet before. I've spilled coffee on it. You can get rid of this book, but you can't get rid of this book. It endures forever. Now, so I'm a Biblist. Someone who declares the final authority in all matters, faith and practice, but it is often used in derision against KJV only as you know, to KJV only as right. A KJV, a King James version that you noted right there. If they say version, I don't say King James version. I say King James Bible because it's the Bible. Now, Bible just means book. You know that, right? Bible is a French word. It just means book. So, the King James book. Scripture is often the word you might want to use, but it doesn't matter to me. The King James Bible. If you use the King James Bible, then you're not a Biblist, because you only use it. It's the one you prefer. It's the one you study from. It's the one you were raised with. I use the King James Bible at this church. We use the King James Bible in this pulpit. If that word, three-letter word, use, shows up in their vocabulary, they're not biblists. It's not their final authority in all matters of faith and practice. Something else is, like their alma mater. or their education or their Greek and Hebrew learning. Right. That is. But they use the King James Bible. Now, you should be a believer of the King James Bible and you should be using the word Bible, not version. And you should be understanding that I'm a King James only. That's what makes you a King James only. I discovered that once at a Baptist church, sitting before church, sitting at a table, and I was discussing something about the Bible, just not thinking twice about it. And I said, you know, well, the Bible says and he says, well, what it really means is I said, well, yeah, but what the Bible says and what that really means is. And he says, oh, I know what you are. And I said, what? He says, you're a King James only. And I says, well, yeah, that's this church, right? It's King James only. We only use King James. No, he goes, no, you're King James only. You only believe the King James Bible. You don't believe anything else but the words in the English Bible. And I'm like, well, then, yes, that's what I am. I had never heard that word before, but I heard it. I was accused of it at a Baptist church. So they're accused of worshiping a book instead of the author of the book, but it is impossible to separate God from his word. Consider the following statements in Scripture. Again, you're gonna have to turn to some of these if you don't know them. Now John 1, we won't turn there because in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. You know that chapter, you should have those verses memorized. How can you explain that? I don't try to explain that, I believe it. I can't explain the Trinity, I believe it. I can't explain the Spirit of God inside of me, I believe it. I can't explain the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but I believe it. And I can't explain how the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. But if I read in the book of Revelation, which is on your sheet here coming up soon, that is his name, the word of God. That's his function. Jesus Christ, the word of God. Right. So. So consider the following verses. The Bible claims to be Jesus. First John 5, 7, a disputed verse amongst scholars. Right. It should not be in your Bible because it's not in the oldest manuscripts. Well, then the oldest manuscripts are wrong. Throw them away. All right. First John 5, 7. For there are three that bear record in heaven. There's three in heaven that bear record. The father. the word and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. Now, I can see why they want to get rid of that out of your Bible, because that proves my entire point this morning and it disproves them. But it's in there and there's no disputing the fact that it's there. And notice that Jesus is the word. That's why Jesus. Oh, it should be Jesus there. No, it's the word, because you don't understand the Bible. You claim to teach it. You claim to know it, but you don't read it evidently, because if you did, you'd understand his name is the word of God. And so when the word is stuck in there rather than the name of Jesus, it's not a problem for me. So Revelation 1913, we just mentioned it, and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called. The word of God, that's Jesus's name. As well as Jehovah, that could blow some of those scholars minds. Jesus is Jehovah. We won't get into all that, but Hebrews 1-2, am I going too fast? Hebrews 1-2, it says, "...hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds." How is it that we're being spoken unto by His Son today? Well, that's just the apostles. We believe in apostolic succession, you see. He spoke to the apostles, and so, therefore, I'm an apostolic Lutheran, or I'm a Roman Catholic, or whatever you are, because the apostolic succession. I'm a Pentecostal, our apostle. Here's our apostle. You've heard that before. Someone's an apostle. Well, that means apostolic successions mean that you have to rely on the church, the church fathers, for what it is that Christ had to say to the original apostles. And it was passed down faithfully because perpetuity of the church and all that garbage. Now, you say, what's wrong with that? Well, I don't want to get into that this morning. That's a Baptist briar thing, perpetuity of the church. Maybe we'll get into that sometime. The idea is that you've been spoken to by the Son right there in your lap by the King James Bible, by the Word of God. The Bible also claims to give eternal life. This one, when I got a hold of this, it really changed in my mind about the Bible. 1 Peter 1.23, make sure you turn to these two verses if you haven't turned to any of them. 1 Peter, I'll wait for a second, 1 Peter 1.23. You know, I often say I rest my soul when I'm talking to people who want to debate me. I stake my eternity, I stake my soul on what I'm saying. I better really believe this. I better not. I think I'm a little smarter than just to repeat a mantra that I was given as a kid, and I'm just going to repeat it, and that's the best I can come up with, so that's what I'm going to stake my soul on. Where are you going when you die? Well, you know, I better have a better answer than, well, you know. Where are you going when you die? On what authority do you answer that question? Now look at verse Peter 1.23, being born again. That's a good thing, right? We want to be born again. Are you one of those born-agains? I hear that. Are you one of those born-agains? Is that your sect of belief? Are you a born-again? Yeah, I'm a born-again. You must be born again. So if I'm going to be born again, look at being born again, not of corruptible seed. We know what the seed is, the word of God, right? Jesus said that. The sower went out to sow and he sowed the seed. The seed is the word of God. He told his disciples flat out what the seed was. You being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth, liveth and abideth forever. Well, if I'm one of those born agains, then guess what? I had to be born again by the word of God. Now, people say, can you be born again with an NIV? Don't they ask that? Well, can't you be saved reading an ESV? Can't you be saved reading an NIV? Well, here's what I really think. I think that you know enough King James Bible to take me in an ESV or an NIV to show me verses that can lead me to salvation. That's what I really believe. And I'll tell you what else I really believe. I am born again by one Bible. If this Bible upholds all things, didn't we read that verse? It upholds all things. It upholds the universe. It keeps the atom from exploding. It keeps me alive. It keeps you alive. It's inspiration. It's God-breathed. It also, according to this, 1 Peter, it also saves me. I'm born again, not of corruptible seed. Now, see, the NIV is corruptible seed. Say amen to that. Well, we draw the line there. You know, we don't want to get too offensive. Well, you better get offensive. It's offensive. Jesus Christ was offensive. He said, you know what He said about Himself? They hate me. Why do they hate you for statements like that? I'm not born again of corruptible seed. If you're trusting in something that doesn't uphold all things by the word of His power. I mean, I'm just reading the verse. You decide. Okay, now I can show you in those Bibles things that will help you get saved. I can show you from a gospel track back there how to get saved. You can hear someone just loosely witness the Word of God to you and you can get saved. The Spirit of God is what does the saving, right? But according to that, I mean, does the convicting of that, right? But according to this, we're not born again of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever. So I stake my eternity on the claims made in this book, this book, the King James Bible. You know, I believe in eternal security. That's a that's a weird Baptist doctrine. But you know, I believe it because it's this what this seed told me, the seed of this word of God told me and not what you reading if you're reading anything else, because I can show you in those Bibles where you need to be continually saved in those Bibles. And if you don't believe it, then your problem is you just don't believe it. You don't even believe what you're reading in the other Bibles that you claim are easier to understand. You don't even believe what they're saying to you. You just gloss over it like you do everything else, because you have a made up Jesus in your mind how he ought to do things for you. And somebody told me eternal security. So whether the Bible I'm reading denies it or not, I still believe it. Well, you got some shaky faith. You're not established on any final authority in all matters. The Bible is not your final authority. It is some figment in your mind. So that's 1 Peter 1.23. Look at 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. You should know this too. Verses 1-4. 1 Corinthians 15 is the gospel. It's the definition of the gospel in the King James Bible. Moreover, I declare unto you the gospel. Well, there you go. I mean, here it comes. Moreover, I declare unto you the gospel. Well, what is it? which I preached unto you, and it should be preached, by the way, and which ye also received, and wherein ye stand. Okay, that means if you're saved, you're standing in this belief, by which also ye are saved if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. That's what other churches are doing now. They're not keeping this in memory, they're turning the whole King James Bible away, they're going to other Bibles, and they're providing, you know, repent and be baptized to be saved. Or endure to the end to be saved. So verse three, for I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, Paul received it directly from Jesus Christ, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Why did he throw that in there? Why didn't you say because Christ died for our sins? He says, according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. So you're saved according to the scriptures. Because, listen, you ever played the phone game? Because that's what the Catholic Church plays, the phone game. Just listen to the church fathers, and we'll tell you what the Bible says. You're too stupid to know. I mean, the church has had 2,000 years of practice now, and we've passed it down, passed it down, passed it down, and we know better. You can't expect to just pick up the Bible and read it for yourself. And a lot of denominations, whether they say that plainly or not, that's what the Catholic Church actually says to its people. But that's what they want you to think, because most people don't even come to church with a Bible, and they're just like, uh-huh, uh-huh, well, my pastor says, well, my church says, I have no, who's your final authority? Well, my church says, well, my denomination believes, well, our pamphlets say, and you may not even say that, but unwittingly, that's what you're doing. So it better be according to the scriptures what you believe. Now, I'm taking a long time, and I can see that this is gonna, but we'll see where I go here. Now, I like this one. It claims to be more sure than the very voice of God and miracles. Look at 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1, verse 16. Peter himself, one of the apostles, The first Pope said this, 2 Peter 1, 16. It says, for we have not followed cunningly devised fables. That's where I would write in your margin other Bibles, modern Bibles. Cunningly devised fables, that's the best definition you can make for that. When we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God 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 am well pleased. Remember Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration hearing the voice of God. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Peter heard that. The Bible records he heard that. I believe he heard it right. It's not the phone game where we pass it down and we get changed as we go. And this is the voice. And this voice which came from heaven, we heard, verse 18, when we were with him in the Holy Mount, we have also a more sure word of prophecy. Where unto you, you do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day start rising in your hearts. You know what Peter said? Forget about that. Forget about what I heard. You have something more sure than that, and you better take heed to it. So the word of God is more sure than the voice of God coming down in thunderous fashion and saying, this is my beloved son confirming who Jesus was, him glowing, you know, with his glory. But Peter said there's something more sure than that, because, you know, visions and I had a vision last night and I had a dream last night and God told me, well, there's something more sure than that. You know, I don't have to believe you, that you had a vision or God told you something. You know, a lot of people are in the ministry because God told them, and they shouldn't be in the ministry. God never told you that. Well, I'm here, I'm in the ministry, look how successful, I don't care. You're denying the Word of God, you're cutting down the Word of God, you're not using the Bible as your final authority. God never told you to do that. So you don't have to believe, you have something more sure than that. Even when God himself validated it through scripture, through Peter, that I was there and scripture confirms it, he said, but yet there's something more sure than that and it's the sure word of prophecy and that's what the book is. And then look at Luke chapter 16 verse 31. Luke 16 31. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, what is that? That's the Bible, right? That's the Old Testament. If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. So not only the voice of God is trumped by the Bible, which is the voice of God, the more sure word of prophecy. See, people get thrown by that. Is there a better salvation in the Bible? I mean, you're telling me the Old Testament salvation is not the same as the new? Well, that's heresy. Well, the Bible says there's a better way. You understand? The Bible says, didn't we read Psalm 12, where it said the Bible was purified seven times? You say, well, God always does things perfect the first time. Well, evidently not, because God purified the Bible seven times. When you purify something, doesn't it get better? That's a thought that most people haven't had. And when God, when Jesus came and God provided him a body and it was no longer the body of a goat or a lamb or a bullock or a ram, wasn't that better? Yeah, it was better. And we have a more sure word of prophecy. Can you wrap your brain around this? I mean, that, yeah. And so there are things, even miracles, you say, well, Jesus wrote from the dead. What could be more proof than that? The Bible. Moses and the prophets, Moses and the prophets could have took care of you if you just would have believed you wouldn't be burning in hell right now. Rich man, you wouldn't be burning it. That's Luke 16, by the way. You wouldn't be burning in hell if you just believe Moses. But you are looking for a miracle. But you had the Bible. And so charismatic Pentecostals, you know, whatever else out there, we're looking for something more than what the Bible actually says. Well, have at it, but that's not God. It claims to be the highest name of God. Look at Psalm 138. I'm just exalting the Bible this morning. All right, the Bible. You're a biblist, you worship a book. Well, call it what you will, but that's where I get my faith from. That's where I get my knowledge of God from. Where do you get it from? You might worship your denomination. You might worship your mother or your father or your heritage or your culture. or something, but you're not, everybody's putting their faith in something, science. Psalm 138, look at this. I will worship toward thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth. For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. I don't know what to do with that verse except believe it. Well, the name Jehovah, Jehovah's Witness, Jehovah is the highest name of God. Well, you didn't get that from the Bible. Because the Bible says, I will magnify thy word above all thy name. Now, we know Jesus is the word, because you know, turn to this Philippians 2, 9, I'm going to just read it. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth. So that word of God and Jesus, that's who it is. That's the highest name. At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow. It says, I have magnified thy word above all thy name. Well, call me a Bible worshiper if you want, but I'm just going by what the Bible says. And that's what it says. It also claims to be the proper way to worship him. John 4.24. John 4.24. Now you can see if you get down the sheet you get a little excited because you don't have to turn to these anymore, okay? They're written out for you. But that's because we're probably going to run out of time and you can read it for yourself. but it's a proper way to worship God. Well, what kind of church do you have? I watched a video when I was in Utah. There was a Baptist pastor there. I end up watching our church instead, but there was a Baptist church there, starting up, meeting in the basement of an apartment building. They were meeting at the Best Western, but they couldn't do that anymore, evidently, and now they were in the basement of an apartment, and there was probably very, very few people. I wanted to go. I wanted to encourage the guy. I won't get into all that, but I didn't go. Why did I say that? Oh, because they asked him on an interview on his webpage, I was looking at his webpage and the lady was interviewing, she interviews all the churches in Park City, Utah is where I was. And she's interviewing them and she's like, and one of the questions she asks is, what does your church have to offer? What does your church provide that would make someone want to come there? And what kind of membership would you like to have? What are you looking for in a member? Just, you know, basic stupid questions like that. You know, nothing to do with the Bible. It's just, you know, what does your church have to offer? Well, we have the King James Bible and we preach. Well, that doesn't sound too exciting. But that's what, but that's, he didn't say that, but that's what I would have said. But how do you worship God? How do you know you have a right church? Well, you're supposed to worship Him. How do you worship God? Well, according to most churches today, you worship Him like this, as you sing contemporary Christian music and have the drums going and the guitars going and have all the, you know, the spirit moving. That's how you worship God, right? That's what everybody thinks today. And all the religions are coming together under that umbrella. Well, we can all just get together and worship God in the music. Well, you can worship God in music. but it better be good music. John 4.24, God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit, that means you have to be saved, you have to have the Spirit of God, and in truth. Now what's the Bible definition for truth? Anybody know? Yes. John 17.17, the definition of truth, thy word is truth. So if we're going to worship God, hey, we're worshiping God right now. Why? Because we're exalting His Word. If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto myself. Right? We're lifting up the Word of God. That should do something for your spirit. The Spirit of God should be welling up inside of you saying, Amen, Amen, Amen. Whether you say the Word or not, you should be saying, Amen, this bears witness. This is true. The Word of God is speaking to me. Because you're worshiping God in spirit and truth, you're in agreement with God. Hey, there's very few times we're in agreement with God. We're lost. We're lost without God. And when we're ever in agreement with God, it's because of God. And so when we agree with God, he likes that. So we worship him in spirit. It's the way we worship. In truth, if the Bible is not present, if it's not in your hand, that's bad. But if it's not even coming forth from the preaching because they're reading from a book or they're reading a poem to you or they're telling a sob story or they're just tugging at your heartstrings or telling you how to have a great Monday, then you're not worshiping God. And especially if you're using the world's music and calling that praise and worship. So most people are calling it worship service and there has been no worship take place at all. So you have to be saved and you have to have the truth. It claims to be the source of faith. You don't have to turn to this, Romans 10, 17. So then faith cometh by hearing. We've quoted it many times already this morning. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. It's the source of your faith. Well, I have faith. Well, you better have some faith. But your faith comes from the Word of God. The only reason you have faith at all is because you heard the Word of God and it works inside of you and it's that seed that grows inside. The Bible talks about it growing, being watered, right? And that's the faith. All I'm telling you this morning is all of these things that we've mentioned so far, it all is because of the Bible. It's all because of a book. Words on a page with ink. It's more than that. It's everything you believe. It's your faith. It's how you worship. It's Jesus Christ in print. People say, what does Jesus look like? He looks like this. Look into the pages of the Bible and you will see Jesus. Don't look at the Catholic picture of the long-haired, sissified Jesus, right? That's not who Jesus is. You don't need a picture. In the Old Testament, you don't need an altar with hand-hewn out stones. Just get the stones that God made and you build that altar. That's what God is. He's right here. He's chosen, you understand? Listen, He's chosen to reveal Himself today through a book. He's not chosen to reveal himself through a dream or through something that he told you last night. He's chosen to reveal himself through a book. Now, I'm just going to jump down. You can read The Impossible Commands if the Bible hasn't been preserved. I'll just read the subtitles. Search the word. How can you search the word if you don't have it? That's kind of silly, Lord. You told me to search the word. Well, today, you know, it's 2021. We don't have it anymore. We have the general idea. We have 300 versions that all say the same thing. Well, then why do you have 300? Because someone's making a buck. That's the bottom line. Someone's making a buck. You don't need that. And, you know, the Flesh Kincaid, I think it is, the guy who made the reading scales for schools and all that kind of stuff, he said, he said that the Bible is written, that this King James Bible is written on a 7th grade level, 6th, 7th grade, depending what part of the Bible you're in. The Bible, the words of the Lord are plain to him that understand it, according to Proverbs. So, you know, we don't need easy to understand anyway. Search the Word. You can't do that. You can't study the Word if you don't have it. You can't preach the Word if you don't have it. And this is the one I think is really interesting. Revelation 22, it says, don't change the Word. If any man shall add unto these things, if any man shall take away from the words of this prophecy. Look at Proverbs 30. Add thou not unto his words. Look at Deuteronomy 4.2. Ye shall not add unto the words which I command you. Well, Lord, we've been doing that all along. It's easier to understand. Well, how can you add or not take away from something that you don't have in the first place? It must be here. It must be intact. Because Psalm 12 said, the Lord is responsible for preserving it. So I'm just stupid enough, by faith, to take it and believe that. You can call me whatever you want, a Biblist, a King James onlyist, or a nut job, whatever you want to call me. But I am just going to take, by faith, the Word of God over you. How about that? So why make so much issue out of God's Word? Well, I think we've kind of made that case, but let me just give you these three bullet points and we'll stop. Because it is the issue. It is the issue. Well, the issue is not, you know, what are we doing in Afghanistan? The issue is not our economy. The issue is not a lot of things. The only issue is the Bible. Because if you don't have the Bible, we're of all men most miserable. We don't know what we're doing, where we're going. We're just religious people and trying to satisfy our conscience. It is the issue. Every issue is subject to the Bible. Every issue falls under the issue of the Bible. Do you have the Bible? Do you know where the Bible is? Do you have a perfect Bible? If you don't, if the King James Bible is not the Bible, which Bible is the perfect Bible? Please tell me, because I'm looking for God. And the only way, and Buddha had a dream, and Muhammad had a dream, and Joseph Smith had a dream, and you know, the ones who write the Watchtower have dreams, and the Roman Catholic Church speaks ex cathedra on behalf, They all say something different. So I can't go by your dreams. I got to have something more than that. So everything is secondary to the issue of the Bible. If you don't have, well, your church, every time I come there, it's King James, King James, King James, all I hear the same message over and over, King James, hell, hell, King James, hell, you know? Yeah, that's right. Because if all, if you get, if that's all you ever get drilled into you, and that's when you get out there, that'll help you. You better get that settled. If that's not settled this morning, maybe today, hopefully I helped settle it for you a little bit. It's the issue. The other one is because it's under extreme attack. We've already mentioned it, but educators out there, be careful, be very careful when you send your kids off to college, if you send your kids off to college, you better have them indoctrinated fully, you better call them every other day, and you better correct what they're hearing from their professors, the smarter ones than dumb mom and dumb dad. Because you sent them off there because they had to learn something that you couldn't ever teach them. And I'm not being critical, I'm being a little bit, you know, facetious, but you send them off there and they go ahead and they hear about the King James, about what you thought it was. You're a King James only, we'll fix you. That's at Bible colleges, right? And so the educators and all the churches are attacking the Bible. You know, Jesus said in Luke 18, eight, right? He said, and I have it written down, so I'll read it to you. I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Faith, where's faith come from? Hearing and hearing by the word of God. Jesus says, When I come back, will I hear? Will I find any faith? What is that? That sounds like a great falling away first that comes before the rapture. It's already going to come. And so that's where I think where we're at. So it's under extreme attack. And then it's also the only revelation of God known to man. We've covered that. There's no extra biblical revelation today. So what you have, you have this church is gonna make a big deal out of the King James Bible. And we're gonna preach it, and we're gonna mention it, and you're gonna get sick of hearing it, and you're gonna say, what's the problem here? I think I better go somewhere more loving and something more, you know, that feeds me and gives me what... Well, if you're gonna worship God, you better worship Him in truth. And if you have to throw out the Bible and the message of the Bible to get what you're looking for, then that's what all the churches are knocking on people's doors right now saying, what are you looking for in a church? Oh, okay, okay. Well, then they'll come back next week and say, we got it. We got what you're looking for. We got the bowling alley. We just built the gymnasium. We've got the activities for the kids. We've got the pizza nights every Friday, the movie nights. We've got the music. That's all the things you wanted, right? Oh, the King James Bible on there. It's not on there. It better be on there. It better be the only thing on there. And then you know you have a good church. Now, I'm not trying to pat ourselves on the back, but I think we have a good church here. And I'm glad we thump on that message. And hopefully this helps you understand why we do. Alright, let's pray. God, thank you for the day. Thank you for the Word of God. Lord, we do thank you that we found it. Lord, because we're not smarter than everybody else. Lord, we had to be shown this. And Lord, we're easy to rebel and walk away from it. And we're easy to even listen to the other side and say, oh, well, it's OK. And Lord, we want to just take a stand. And Lord, when you come back, we want you to find faith right here. And Lord, we thank you for the word of God. We thank you for what it does for us. Thank you for we can trust our soul with it. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.