Are you concerned about how you handle God's Holy Word in this fallen world? Acts 17, verse 11 says about certain disciples in a city called Berea, these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the Word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Hello again, I'm Wayne Shepherd welcoming you back to Encounter God's Truth, a Bible teaching outreach of Whitcomb Ministries, Inc. Our motto states that God's Word is true from the beginning to the end. That's also a good reminder in light of today's theme as we look in-depth at the eternal nature of that Word and thus how we are to approach it in the manner it deserves as we go about our ministries. Our teacher is Dr. John Whitcomb, noted author and professor of theology, and we're drawing near the end of our series called God's Truth Service. Dr. Whitcomb comes now to deliver this message and he begins by developing an important question. Friends, we have seen so clearly, so repeatedly in the Bible, that God's truth is infinitely more important than mere human love and affection, important though that may be in our home, our family, in our community. But the question we now face is this. What happens when God's revealed truth is compromised? Well, depending on how much truth is compromised, there come into view the horrible prospects of what? no spiritual growth, or even no salvation. You know, we had six children in our family, and a couple of our boys really worried us at times. We lived near a little lake that froze over in the wintertime, and one of our sons came to us one day and said, Dad, Mom, how close to the edge of the ice can I skate before I fall in?" And we, of course, were horrified. I mean, you've already fallen in, dear one. The very mentality, the attitude of coming as close as you can is an invitation to disasters. And I wouldn't want any of us falling into a frozen lake under the ice, would you? Well, that's, of course, fully recognized, fully recognized everywhere, the dangers of coming close to disaster deliberately. Well, let's put it in the spiritual realm, shall we? How close can you get to apostasy, unbelief, and still be saved? Let's think about that. We want to be very careful here about this. Number one, If they are saved at the conference, the rally, the meeting, the campaign, it is only because not all of the gospel was compromised. They heard something that was sufficient by the mercy of God through the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit to believe and to be saved. As a matter of fact, none of us preach the total gospel, everything about the gospel, everything, every time we tell somebody about the Lord. Here, careful now, but the Holy Spirit often overrules our limitations to bring people to the Savior. That challenges us. What is the gospel? What do people have to know to be saved? Well, of course, Paul addressed that, didn't he, in 1 Corinthians 15? Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preach to you, which you also received, in which also you stand. by which also you are saved if what you hold fast the word which i preach to you unless you believed in vain see this borderline situation many of those corinthians were professing believers but not actual believers and paul knew that he was deeply concerned about that wasn't he he said for i delivered to you as of first importance what i also received that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. In other words, if you want to know how, when, and in what way these all took place, the scriptures will fill in the details by the Spirit of God. Inspiration, yes. Friends, I have always been amazed. I'm sure some of you have too. How much did the Philippian jailer have to know to be saved? You remember how Paul and Silas were thrown into that dungeon. What a horrible night they experienced. And yet, nevertheless, they sang and prayed, and everybody heard them. And the earthquake opened the doors, and the jailer was terrified. He was ready to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, this is Acts chapter 16. Now listen carefully. Do yourself no harm, for we are all here. He called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. After he brought them out, he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household. My, that's a very minimal message, is believe in the Lord Jesus, and you'll be saved. And so they spoke the word of the Lord to him, together with all who were in his house, and he took them that very hour of the night, washed their wounds, the jailer did, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. And I say, well now, Lord, that's very fascinating. Of course, you understand the jailer had heard them singing that night in the prison, singing praises to Jesus. Doubtless he had heard them preaching in the streets. You remember that was why they were captured, apprehended and beaten and thrown into prison because people were hearing the gospel, remember. And so people were believing and the master saw their hope of profit was gone when this demonic girl gave testimony to the fact that they were true preachers of the word of God. I would be amazed, wouldn't you, to know exactly how much that Philippian jailer had to know had to believe to be saved, he and his household. Well, friends, we would have to agree on this. If a genuine decision is made, it could be because the person had already heard the true gospel from someone else who prayerfully sowed this divine and powerful seed of God's word. Truly, saving faith can only come from hearing, and hearing by the word of God, Romans 10, verse 17. Faith comes by hearing. and hearing by the Word of God. So friends, today, think of what's happening when the gospel goes forth. In many churches, sad to say, many so-called Christian ministries that can be seen on television, internet, or however, have compromising situations involved in which people are representing an authority system that is not in harmony with the Word of God. And we wonder, well, now, what's going to happen when people hear a mixed message and are encouraged to go to a church or to a school or a ministry that is not really in harmony with God's words? Some cult, for example. What happens to people who hear that kind of thing? And especially as we're asking a question now, what happens to teachers in theological schools? in churches that are not teaching the truth of God's Word. How can people be saved? Well, here's my suggestion in the light of what God tells us. Such people must be prepared to give an account someday to the Lord. whose great commission to the church has been compromised and thus betrayed. You remember the great commission teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, not what you think is best, but what I have commanded. And someday at the Bema for born again Christians, we'll give an account. Maybe many of us will lose a reward or a crown because we've compromised the message of salvation. As you think back in the Old Testament, King Saul lost his kingship, why? because he compromised God's commands. God told him to do a certain thing. He compromised the known will of God, 1 Samuel 15, 11. He was no longer the legitimate king of Israel, the first king. Even earlier, Moses, who was faithful in all of God's house as a servant, Hebrews 3 says, a truly great prophet of God, Numbers chapter 12, was excluded from the promised land, now listen carefully, because he failed on one occasion to communicate God's truth, God's word, God's will, God's plan to the people of Israel properly. Numbers chapter 20. What happened? Instead of speaking to the rock to produce water, he angrily struck the rock with his rod twice and denounced God's people as rebels. God graciously gave the people water anyway, but listen now, Moses was privately and severely chastened by the Lord. Is that what you and I want? Listen to James chapter three, verse one. This is very sobering. Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment. Yes, to whom much is given, friend, much also is required. I thank the Lord for the years he's given me, over 60 years now, to teach God's word on a theological graduate school level, in many schools, churches, mission fields even. But my, how accountable I am for what I've said, how I said it, why I said it, my attitude, my perspectives. Did I give glory to God? Was I faithful to the word? Was I just giving my opinion as if it was God's authority? Someday that'll be confronted, won't it? James says that not many of you become teachers. Why? We shall incur a stricter judgment, for we all stumble in many ways, James says. This is a member of the half-brother of Jesus, who is the pastor of the church in Jerusalem. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. How many such teachers are there? Now, if we put the bits into the horse's mouth so that they may obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by what? A very small rudder, wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also is the tongue. And I say, Lord, help me to control my tongue. May it be connected with the heart that has been instructed, disciplined, illuminated by your spirit through the what? The word of God, the washing of the water by the word. The word of God is living and powerful, friend, sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, a joint and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. There's no creature that's not naked and open before the eyes of him in whom we believe. And I say, Lord, help me to realize that I am responsible for how much of the gospel message is communicated. Even when I give out a tract, Lord, in a friendly, gracious way, Help me to say something about Jesus, even if it's just for a moment, building hopefully upon what somebody else may have said or somebody else praying for this person. I can't do it all myself. I am part, a small part of a corporate entity called the Body and Bride of Christ. Help me to do my part, my share in getting that message out of salvation. Friend, the ultimate eternal issue is this, how much of God's truth do we need to know to be saved? How much compromise can a person indulge in and still see enough light to be born again? You know, from the very beginning of the world, God has made it clear that there's an infinite difference between light and darkness, truth and error, and only in the light, in the truth of God, can anyone ever be saved. So at the beginning of the world, He had to tell Adam and Eve what? Satan is your enemy, not your friend, as we've seen before. He's the one who deceived you, and he is your enemy. Thank you, Lord, because when Adam and Eve understood that, and that their child would crush the serpent's head, they believed. Adam named his wife, your mother of all living, and they were born again. And God, of course, as we know, gave them a visual aid of their salvation. He shed the blood. of an animal and took the wool, the coat of that animal, the body hair, and covered their bodies to symbolize what? They didn't need clothing to be warm, but clothing to symbolize the fact that they were covered by the blood, the first sacrifice, of course, in world history, which was later implemented and infinitely confirmed by the blood of Jesus on the cross. by which means they were saved in advance, in retrospect, like Romans 3 tells us. Saved those who had sinned beforehand in the finished work that God knew that his son would accomplish on the cross. Now think of Noah, for example, in this case. Chapter 11 of Hebrews. By faith, Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, only God could have told him this, friends. He had to believe what God said about the future, the flood, the need of an ark to be saved. In reverence, he prepared an ark. In other words, in total obedience to God. He had no clue, no signs around the world that a flood was coming. And was laughed at, ridiculed, I'm sure, for many, many years. In fact, God told Peter to write this concerning Noah, remember. The long suffering of God continued while the ark was being prepared. Oh, what faith it took on his part to do this. in those circumstances. Yes, in reverence he prepared an ark for the salvation of his household by which, now listen, he condemned the world, see the choice he made, God's word or the world's opinions and theories and attitudes. He condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. Now what is faith? Hebrews 11, one, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. How can we believe something we can't see? That's a profound question, and the answer is biblically clear. We can see God's truth because we have God's image and likeness. No animal can, humans can. We are designed by the Spirit of God in creation and procreation to be capable of believing the light when we see it. This is the condemnation, that light has come into the world. and men love the darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil. You see, friends, we don't say to God, well, I didn't know the difference between light and dark, or truth and error, or revelation and human opinion. We can't say that to God. He knows our hearts, doesn't He? He will not condemn anyone for what they can't do. We are to believe His word because of who He is in the light of the fact that he created us in such a way that we can understand his word and his will for our lives. Now, when you go back to the book of Genesis chapter 12, look what Abram had to do. God said to him, Genesis 12, one, go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house. Go get out, separate yourself from these pagan influences and surroundings. You remember Tara, were told by Joshua, worshipped other gods, his father, Abram's father. So he believed God, you see, and went to that land, the promised land, and became what? The ancestor of the people, the chosen people of Israel. And God said, I'll bless you, just trust me. I'll make you a great nation and make your name great, and so you should be a blessing. And I'll bless those who bless you, But wait a minute, the one who curses you, I will curse you. See, people had a visual aid right before their eyes of a man of God whose message must be believed. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And that includes all of us today who are inheritors of the seed of Abram, namely Jesus. Matthew 1.1, Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. God is infinitely concerned, dear friends, that people know the truth, sufficient to be saved, yes, but truth that will transform our lives, moment by moment, day by day, for His glory. Abram believed God, and God said, come out from these pagan influences, and I will take care of you, I'll teach you, I'll use you to change the world forever. Friend Abram was not a perfect person either. He compromised him, especially concerning the identity of his wife on several occasions. He was not sinless, but he basically, in his heart, loved the Lord. Now, the opposite was his nephew Lot, who was a true believer according to the New Testament, but he refused to leave Sodom. He had to be dragged out of that awful city before it was destroyed. God spared the whole city of Sodom and of Gomorrah and the other cities in the plain until Lot God's servant could be led out of the city, you remember, by those angels. And he distorted the word and will of God in his life and his home. No wonder his wife and his daughters were a tragedy too. What kind of an example was he? What kind of a truth communicator was he? And I say, Lord, we don't have to be perfect. None of us are perfect, not even the Apostle Paul. But we say, Lord, help us not just to know enough to be saved, That's a bad, dangerous attitude. How close to the edge of the ice can I skate without falling in? How far away from the edge can I get to fulfill the purpose and plan of God for my life? I want to know Him in full, totally, as He may permit me to, by the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit. Sanctification is what it's called, not just salvation. Salvation brings us into the family of God. the true Church, the Body and Bride of Christ. But God's will through the Holy Spirit is that we grow in knowledge, in love of God, step by step, to emulate His character, to reflect His realities into a dark, dark world system. So I say, Lord, I think I understand now the infinite importance of truth, not just our emotions, our feelings, our perspectives, but God's light, God's truth, God's will, God's word. for our whole life, our whole conduct, our speech, our thinking, our attitudes, our perspectives, our motives. And that is how God blesses people, friends, that in a way we can't even begin to imagine. And I want to be able to say, don't you like the apostle Paul, Lord, I have fought the good fight. I didn't surrender. I didn't give up. I have finished the course. I didn't deviate from the course you laid before me. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. Not for me only, Paul said, but for all those who love his appearing. Friend, do you love his appearing? Do you want to fight the good fight? Do you want to finish the course? Do you want to keep the faith and be crowned by God in that great day that could perhaps even begin today? Yes, indeed, we should each desire to receive that crown of life. May the Lord help us all to finish the course and keep the faith. Encounter God's Truth is always available online at sermonaudio.com forward slash Whitcomb. You can also find out much more about our ministry at Whitcomb ministries.org and facebook.com forward slash Whitcomb ministries, where we provide many regular updates and lots of additional information. Now we've come to that time in the program when we pose a question to our speaker, and by the way, you can send us a question for this segment through our Facebook page. Again, that's found at facebook.com forward slash Whitcomb Ministries. But Dr. Whitcomb, you made reference in your message to the vast array of teaching that is available to people today through all kinds of media and technology. We know that there are differing levels of quality in all of that material. How should listeners go about evaluating the teaching they hear through these means to know if it's valuable in a biblical sense? Wayne, this is obviously a very practical question, is it not? It, of course, deals with the daily struggle that all of us have, morning, noon, and night, to turn off things that distort God's Word and will and turn on God's precious Word to listen to Him, turn away from the darkness and turn toward the light. Every human heart Remember, created in His image and likeness has that capacity, that ability to turn from darkness to light, from error to truth, and our eternal destiny is determined on what choice we make, our choice. God, of course, knows from all eternity what's gonna happen, but we are responsible. Listen to how the Apostle Paul spoke to his favorite devoted disciple, Timothy. And if it was true of those days 2,000 years ago, friends, how much more is the danger and the importance, the relevance of this command to us today. Listen carefully. 2 Timothy 2, verse 15. Paul said to Timothy, be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed. Doing what? Handling accurately the word of truth. Accurately. Cut a straight line. Use, of course, the ability that God has given to us through the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, to understand what God meant by what he said in the only book he's ever written, the Bible. And you know what that takes? Diligence to present ourselves approved to God. A workman, we're workmen. We have a job to do. We have been given an assignment by God, the Holy Spirit, to mastermind his word. Now we can use all kinds of excuses. But when the bottom line is this, we really are doing what we want to do. Do we have the amazing power? Think of this, friends, what power it would take to turn off the television, turn off these distractions, distortions that affect our minds in a subconscious way, and to encourage with the right attitude, faithfully and prayerfully, our spouses, our children, our grandchildren, our friends, our neighbors, turn from error to truth. Now, what would you think of a doctor who said, well, it doesn't make any difference what you eat or what kind of tablets you take or medicines. Of course not. He deserved to be sent to prison for that. He says that you better be careful or you could kill yourself. Right. Engineers. I mean, do you have a ruler? Do you have a measuring stick to know what you're doing when you build this building? Is it going to have a foundation that'll hold up the house? You say, well, we don't bother with those kinds of things. Well, you wouldn't want to use that kind of a contractor, would you? In the military, what kind of training are you going to get? Do you know the difference between a friend and an enemy? Do you know how to use your weapons? Or you could kill yourself if you're not careful with these things. In every realm of life, it seems almost in every realm, except in the church, in preaching, in theological seminaries, in teaching, where truth and error are just sort of mixed openly, and who cares? That is an infinitely serious problem. May God help us, dear friends, to do what? Be diligent, yes, self-disciplined, to present ourselves approved to God. By doing what? Now listen, handling accurately the word of truth. May God help us, therefore, to be part of the solution to the problem that sweeps the world today, confusion, error, darkness, compromise, and hold faithfully to the precious, inspired, infallible written word of God, the Bible. Well, we all want to be part of God's solution to the problems of this fallen world. Thank you, Dr. Whitcomb, for those heartfelt words. If you enjoyed today's program, let me encourage you to visit sermonaudio.com slash Whitcomb, where we make available more than 1,100 of Dr. Whitcomb's sermons, lectures, interviews, broadcasts, and articles. And you'll always find new material and information. You can also read a blog written by Mrs. Norma Whitcomb when you visit windowforwomen.blogspot.com. The ladies in our audience will especially want to read these warm devotional thoughts from Mrs. Whitcomb. Next week, we'll study our concluding lesson in this series entitled, Examples to Follow in Truth. So now, for Dr. John Whitcomb, I'm your host, Wayne Shepherd, inviting you to join us then for another edition of Encounter God's Truth.