Part of the chapter that I want to focus on is beginning there in verse number 14 where the bible reads, "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou has learned them. And that from a child, thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." At the very beginning of this chapter, he said, "This know also, that in the last days, perilous times shall come."
He begins to describe those dangerous times that would come. He really describes the world in which we find ourselves living in 2015. Then after that big long description about how bad things are and how bad things are going to get in the last days, He says in verse 14, "But," in spite of all that, He says, "Continue in the things which thou hast learned, and has been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them."
What's God saying? We want to know what we've learned. We want to be assured of it. We want to know where it's coming from. He says that from a child, Timothy had known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Then He says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect." Perfect meaning complete, not lacking anything, without missing anything. He says, "May be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works."
What I want to preach about this morning is the subject of all scripture being profitable for doctrine today. This is a foundational type sermon, but it's important that we lay down strongly the foundations of our faith that we know what we believe, why we believe it, where it's coming from.
One of those foundational truths is that the bible that we have today as is in my hand here, a King James bible, 66 books, that first of all, this book is the word of God, and that all scripture is contained in this book. If the bible says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine," if God says that the scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus, we need to know what are the scriptures, where are the scriptures.
Is this book containing all the scriptures, some of the scriptures? Are there other things outside of this book that's a scripture, or are there things within this book that are not scripture? Today, the bible is under attack. We know and believe and stand on the fact at this church that this book is the word of God, that everything in this book is the word of God, and then anything outside of this book is not the word of God.
Yet, those doctrines are under attack today. The bible says in Psalm 11:3, "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" What greater foundation is there than the word of God? Jesus said, "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, shall be liken unto a wise man that built his house upon a rock."
When you build your life on the word of God, the sayings of Jesus Christ, you're building upon the rock. That's the foundation. Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Christ Jesus, but if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Therefore the devil has always been out to attack the foundation of our faith even all the way back to Genesis 3 when he said, "Ye, hath God said."
He questioned God's word. He wanted people to doubt whether God's word was really God's word. First of all if you would turn to John 7, because I want to talk about this morning first of all how do we know that these books in the bible are God's word. Why do we believe that? Then number two, we want to look at each part of the bible, and we want to come to the conclusion that Paul gave us in 2nd Timothy 3 when he said that all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and that all of it is profitable for doctrine.
Meaning that Genesis is profitable for doctrine. Exodus is profitable for doctrine. Leviticus is, not was, is profitable for doctrine, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges. All the books of the New Testament, all the books of the Old Testament, they are the timeless word of God, and are profitable today for doctrine.
First of all when determining what is God's word, the number one consideration is found in Hebrews 4:12. You're in John 7. We're going to look at that in a moment. Hebrews 4:12 says this, "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."
Some of the things that we see about the word of God in that verse is that the word of God is powerful, and that the word of God is without comparison because it's sharper than any two-edged sword. There's no other book. There is no other word that could hold the candle to the word of God. If something is going to be the word of God, if you're ever going to convince me that something is the word of God, it better be powerful. It better have power, because the bible says, "The word of God is powerful."
Just logic would tell us that if God is the creator of the universe and if God created all of these magnificent animals and plants and all the beautiful things that we see in nature, and he created our minds that are more powerful than any computer, and if He created us to be living souls and to be made in His image, and to have basically free will which is amazing in and of itself, then we would have to believe that any book that He writes is going to be an amazing book.
If the author is the supreme being of the universe who has all knowledge, omniscient, then anything that He wrote would be amazing, and anything that is poor literature that is just junk, that just doesn't make ... It can't be from God, because God doesn't put out poor quality work. Everything that God made in Genesis 1 when He looked upon it, He saw that it was very good.
The bible says in John 7:44, "And some of them would have taken him, but no man laid hands on him." This is people that wanted to see Jesus get arrested. Certain law enforcement officers were sent with a warrant for Jesus' arrest, and they're told, "Arrest Jesus." It says some of them would have taken Him, but no man laid hands on Him. Then came the officers to the chief priest and Pharisees, and they said unto them, "Why have you not brought them?"
They're basically looking at those officers and saying, "Look, we ordered you to go arrest this guy. Why are you coming back without Him?" Look at the answer. The officers answered, "Never man spake like this man." That's the truth right there. When God speaks, there is no comparison. No one else can speak like God speaks.
When Jesus Christ even His earthly form preached the word of God, when people heard that word come out of his mouth, they said, "Never man spake like this man." They came to arrest Him. On their way to go arrest Him, they heard the preaching, and they couldn't do it. They were so blown away by what they heard. See, God's word is powerful, isn't it?
Never man spake like this man. Look at verse 47, "Then answered the Pharisees, "Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed on Him? But these people who knoweth not the law are cursed." When they say "who knoweth not the law," they're not talking about not knowing the bible. When they say the law, they're talking about their law also, which is not just the bible. It included all of their traditions and all of the junk that they had tagged onto it, which would later be written down as the Talmud.
Basically, they're appealing to the experts here. Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees? I mean, what do the scholars and the experts and the scientists say? They don't believe on Him. You see, the officers believed the word. Why? Because they heard it, and the bible says, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Those who tried to refute the word, they appealed to so called experts who are never what they're really cracked up to be.
The rulers and the Pharisees, have they believed on Him? Case closed if they didn't believe on Him. Flip over to chapter 10 of John, just a few pages to the right in your bible, John 10:1. Remember what the sermon is about. If we want to talk about the authority of all scripture, if we want to talk about the inspiration of all scripture, you know what I figured out, how do we know what scripture here?
Look at John 10:1, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." Verse two, "But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out."
"And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. This parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they were, which he spake unto them."
"Then said Jesus unto them again, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9I am the door. By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."
Jump down to verse 26 of chapter 10, "But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." Flip over to chapter 16, what's he saying there? He's saying, "My sheep hear my voice. They don't know the voice of strangers. A stranger will they flee from."
What's the bible teaching here? It's an important doctrine that those who are saved can recognize the voice of the shepherd, and can discern it from the voice of strangers. People [will scuff at this 00:10:51] today when you use this as a proof of God's word, when you say, "Well, I know it's God's word because of the Holy Spirit and his leading, because of the fact that I'm one of His sheep, and I can discern the voice of the shepherd and the voice of strangers. I can tell the difference as it were."
People will scuff at that. The bible says in John 16:13, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he will shew you things to come." The bible tells us there that one of the ministries of the holy spirit is to lead us into all truth, to guide us into all truth.
Go if you would to 1 John 4. The holy spirit will guide us into all truth. Whatsoever he shall hear the bible says, that shall he speak. It says, "He shall not speak of himself." Meaning that the holy spirit isn't coming up with his own things to say, but rather we do not speaking of himself. Rather, it says, "He'll take of mine, and show it unto you."
The bible says, "Whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come." Jesus later said, "He'll take of mine, and show it to you." Why? Because the holy spirit will take God's word and use that to speak to us, and because the holy spirit is within us, he will guide us into all truth, and we're able to discern the voice of the shepherd from the voice of strangers.
Look at 1 John 4. The bible says in verse 4, "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error."
Is it true according to the bible that God's people are able to discern God's word? He says, "Look, if you're saved, if you're one of the sheep, if you're one of God's people, you are able to know what is God's word and what is not God's word. You are able to discern that, and the holy spirit will also help you to discern those things."
Number one, the first criteria for something being God's word is that it has to be powerful. It has to be something where when we hear it, we recognize it as God's word and God's spirit testifies to us that it's God's word. You say, "Well, it doesn't sound like a very scientific way." Who said it was scientific? You need to stop worshiping the God of atheism known as so called "science," which is mainly a fraud.
Obviously, parts of it are true. There are some truths in every lie, but most of what's taught today as Science is a lie and is a fraud, where they'll basically try to tell you what happened billions of years ago and call that science. Real science has to do with observing things in the natural world, and quantifying things, and studying things that can be proven, not philosophizing about where the universe came from. That's not science. That is philosophy. That's religion.
If you would, and that's a whole another sermon in and of itself, but go to Matthew 24. Actually, go to 1 Peter. You're already in 1 John. Just go to 1 Peter. I'll read for you from Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. This verse is found exactly the same in all three places. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."
That verse is found identical in three places, Matthew, Mark, Luke. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Here is another criteria. Besides just God's word having power and being recognized by the children of God as God's word, because they are able to discern that which is a counterfeit from the real thing because they're saved, because they're of the sheep, because they have the holy spirit also to help them.
Secondly, God's word is preserved, because Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." That which passes away is not God's word, because God's word will not pass away the bible says. Ecclesiastes 3:14 says, "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it. And God doeth it that men should fear before him."
Look at 1 Peter 1:23, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."
We see here that God's word is preserved. It's going to abide forever. It's not going to disappear and fall off the face of the earth. Number one, God's word is powerful. Number two, God's word is preserved. Number three, God's word is productive, because God's word brings salvation. That's what we saw in 2 Timothy 3. We see it again right here that we're saved by the word of God.
It's the word of God that is that seed that brings salvation. The sower soweth the word. God's word is productive. We know God's word by the fruit of God's word. This is how we know God's word. This is how we discern God's word. You say, "OK, here we are with the bible in our hand, and it has 66 books in it."
Some people will question. "Hey, are all of these books legitimate?" Other people will try to add other books. When I was a child, it doesn't seem like this was as big, but it seems like more and more the attack on God's word is growing, where people would want to throw out certain books and add other books, like for example books that they want to add.
They'll talk about, "Hey, you need to read the book of Enoch or the gospel of Thomas, or read the Apocrypha," or whatever they want to add to this list here. Then other people would want to take away from, and say, "Hey, the scriptures that the Apostle Paul wrote, those aren't really scripture." They'll say, "Hey, the book of Jude is not legitimate, or the gospel of Luke is not legitimate."
They'll try to take away from this list. The question becomes, "How do we know that this list is the right list? How do we know that these 66 books are the right 66 books?" Here is what the Catholics would try to tell us. You probably had a Catholic try to tell you this if you go out [sowing 00:17:51] and knock on the door of a Catholic, who's a really hardcore died in the wall catholic, here is what they'll often brag to you and claim. "We're the ones who gave you the bible."
Have you ever had them say that to you? "You wouldn't even have the bible if it wasn't for us. We are the ones who actually gave you that list of books, that 66 books list. We are the ones who picked which one would be included and which one would be excluded." Have you had people tell you that?
Most Catholics don't know what they believe. I'm talking about the ones who actually believe in it, the ones who go to church more than two times a year, and actually care about it, and not just having a shrine to some goddess in their front yard that they're bowing down to, but that actually are into the religion. That's what they'll try to claim. "We gave you the bible."
Here is what's funny. Just think about this. They claim that they gave us the list of the New Testament books in 397 A.D. that that's when they gave us that list. Just stop and think for a minute. When did Jesus walk on this earth? He died around, what, 33 A.D. When was the New Testament written? It's written in the first century. If you think about it, these guys only lived so long, Paul, Peter, James, John.
The guys who wrote the bible, they all lived at the time of Christ, and so they all wrote it in the first century. We're being told that the Catholics, they're the ones who gave us the New Testament in 397 A.D. What doesn't add up about that? Are you going to expect me to believe that for 300 years, Christians are just running around, "I don't know what the bible is. I don't know which books. I don't know what to believe. I don't know whether Thessalonians is legit or not."
Do you really expect me to believe that there is no New Testament until 400 A.D.? No New Testament. It didn't exist until 400 A.D. That's ridiculous. That's bizarre. Manuscripts of the New Testament, scraps, fragments, before that in all different languages are out there, and so it's ridiculous to say, "Hey, there was no New Testament until 397."
Basically, what we have in 397 A.D. is a bunch of people getting together in a big important meeting, and deciding that which everybody already knew who had a brain in their head. I mean, it'd be like if we just got together and held a big council today and just made some big decision, and we just decided that there's only one God. It's like, "Well, we came up with that in 2015."
That's what the Catholics try to say. They try to sit there and say, "Well, we're the ones who came up with that list." In 397 A.D.? You're a little late there buddy. The religion has been around for 300 and some years. Those books that are already been believed and preached and read, that's why they're even still around 300 years later, because everybody's believing them, preaching them, reading them, translating them, evangelizing with them.
It's just bizarre that the Catholics will try to say, "We came up with that list." You know what? It's really not that impressive that you came up with that list, Catholics, because of the fact that anything you guys left out is a worthless piece of garbage anyway. They can easily be spotted as a fraud. If you doubt that the 27 books of the New Testament are the legit books, just look at the gospel of Thomas for five seconds.
It's the most ridiculous thing you've ever read in your life. Look up all these fake books, and they just scream out, "I'm fake." They scream out, "I am stupid. I'm a fraud." You say, "How do you guys scientifically define it stupid?" It's called the holy spirit guiding me. You pick up these books, and just immediately God's like, "No, this is not the voice of the shepherd."
Now, you say, "Well, I don't even understand what you're talking about." Maybe you're not saved. People that are saved understand when they hear God's word versus hearing an impostor, they can tell the difference. I got to say there's a six-year-old boy, so it's hard for me to understand what it's like going through life as an unsaved person, because I got saved at such a young age. My wife got saved as an adult.
Other people, they got saved later in life. They may be able to better discern the difference between what it was like before you were saved and what it's like after you're saved, and you have more discernment and your eyes are open, and the holy spirit is guiding you. There's a difference there. We that are saved, we are the Christians. We can read these fake books, and instantly know that they're dumb, that they're fraud, that they don't add up, that they don't match the rest of the scripture, and that they lack power.
Also, many of these so called other missing scriptures were not preserved. They were discovered later in the 1800's or in the 1900's. Then they're not God's word. Anything discovered in the 1800's or 1900's is not God's word, because it wasn't preserved. God wouldn't have let His real word fall off the face of the earth for 1,700 years. It doesn't make any sense.
Don't let the Catholics tell you that they gave us the list. Then here is also what they'll say. They'll say, "Well, if you trust us for the list on the New Testament, why don't you trust us on the Old Testament?" Because on the New Testament, they have the same list as we do, 27 books, but on the Old Testament, they have more books known as the apocrypha. They don't have 39 books in the Old Testament. They have more than that.
Here is the thing, the Catholics didn't declare the apocrypha as being part of God's word until 1546. It wasn't even the same. They'll try to say, "If we're right about the one, we're right ..." First of all, just because somebody is right about one thing doesn't mean they're right about everything. Even a broken clock is right twice per day. Twice per day you could look at a broken lock, it will give you the right time.
Just because they stated the obvious in 397 A.D. which books are legit, anybody could read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and see that they're the most amazing books ever written. Then they look at Thomas and say, "This guy is weird." Look, I'm not saying Thomas is weird, because Thomas is a great apostle and he's up in heaven face palming at what people are punning up in his name.
Think about it. How would you feel if you're Thomas right now? Here is the one thing you're known for doubting, doubting Thomas, and writing this weird new-aged mystical book, the gospel of Thomas. When we get to heaven, we need to pat him on the back and say, "Look man, we're sorry that you got such a bad wrap down here on earth." Someday, God's going to tell us the truth about Thomas that he's actually a great guy.
They stated the obvious in 397, but that doesn't make them right in 1546 when they said that the apocrypha is God's word, because it isn't. I want to get off this subject and get to the rest of the sermon, but one thing that people will often throw at you is they'll say, "Well, the King James originally contained the apocrypha, so therefore why isn't it God's word?"
Here is why it's not God's word. Pick it up and start reading it. It's junk. People will say, "Well, but the translators ..." The translators didn't consider it God's word. Here is the proof that the translators did not consider it God's word, because the 39 articles of the church of England, most of the translators were part of what church? Church of England.
Here is the 39 articles of the church of England from 1562. This is their doctrinal statement as a church. Article six of the 39 articles says this, "Holy scripture ..." The title of this article is "Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation." "Holy scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation so that whatsoever is not read there in nor maybe proved thereby is not required of any man that it should be believed as an article of the faith or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation."
"In the name of the holy scripture, we do understand these canonical books of the Old and New Testament of whose authority was never any doubt in the church."
Saying these are the books that are canonical. Nobody doubts these. These are just clearly understood to be God's word. Then it lists off the 39 books of the Old Testament. Then it says, "And the other books." First, it says, "Look, only that which is in the canonical books, that's all you need to be saved. That's all you have to believe. That's where all doctrine comes from."
It says, "These are the canonical books." It lists the 39 books of the Old Testament. Then it says, "And the other books as Hierome saith, the church does read for example of life and instruction of manners, but yet doth that not apply them to establish any doctrine such are the following." Then it lists the apocrypha.
It says, "These are good books just to read for the historical value, just to get their moral stories. They're interesting, but he said, "No doctrine will be based on these books.? That was the official stance of the King James translators. What does the bible say? "All scripture is profitable for?"
Congregation: Doctrine.
Steven: They're saying, "Look, these books have nothing to do with salvation. These books should not be the basis of any doctrine. They're being included just for their historical value and just because they're nice stories that contain good morals." Most of the books of the apocrypha don't even claim to be God's word if you actually read it.
I picked it up and started reading it in the original 1611 King James replica that I have back there, that big giant book. That's the original 1611 with the crazy font and everything. You only have to read a few pages before the translators are putting notes in the column saying, "This verse is corrupt." It literally says that. Just a few pages in, "This verse is corrupt. Go to the book of Ezra to get the true story," and it tells you where you can go in Ezra to get the truth.
It says, "This is corrupt." There are all kinds of criticisms of the apocrypha throughout it in the King James. It's there. Look, the original King James is full of all kinds of stuff. Half the page is notes. It has less notes than a Geneva bible, but there's all kinds of notes and cross references, and then there is like an Almanac and how to find the easter forever chart, bible reading charts, maps, genealogies.
It's like when you get a study bible today, and it's got all this other stuff in it, but that stuff isn't God's word. The King James translators, the only thing that the declared to be God's word was the 66 books that we have. We can still say, "Hey, the King James version is the preserved word of God unto us today." Just because it had the apocrypha included in a special section where it was pulled out from the rest of the Old Testament, and put it in a special section for reference doesn't mean that it was ever believed by them to be God's word.
The only people who declared it to be God's word were the Catholics. They only officially did that in 1546. The apocrypha, you say, "Well, I don't know. Maybe the apocrypha is God's word." Are you saved? Go ahead and read a few books of it, and then come back and tell me it's God's word. You won't, because it's junk. You can tell the difference.
People that are saved can tell the difference. The 66 books that we have today are the true words of God, nothing added, nothing missing. It's all right here. Any book that people have cast doubt on, throughout the years, people have doubted James. That's one of the books that's often been doubted. Jude is another one that's often been doubted.
Here is the thing, James has some of the most powerful verses in the bible. We that are saved. We read James, and our heart burns within us. We know that it's God's word. When we read Jude, it's powerful. We know it's God's word. It is the criteria for those who are saved. We believe it because it is powerful. It's been preserved.
Any of these new findings that they're coming out with, they are not God's word because they haven't been preserved. Go to 1 Corinthians 14. Now that we've laid that down, "Hey, how do we know that the bible's God's word?" Because we read the whole thing, and it's powerful. It's preserved. It's been translated into all languages throughout the world. People believed it. Also, it's productive.
Look at the fruit of the King James bible? Look at the fruit of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Acts, Romans. What is it? Millions of Christians all over the world who were truly saved by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and trusting in salvation by faith alone, that's the fruit of this book. By the way, stop and think. What's the fruit of the modern versions?
Apostasy, liberalism, watered-down weak Christianity, that's been the fruit in America of the modern versions. You show me a red, hot, leather-lunged fire breathing preaching church that's going out and sowening, and knocking doors, and getting people saved, and baptizing converts all show you a church that's preaching out of the King James bible only.
You show me a rock and roll fun center. I'll show you the NIV behind the pulpit. I'll show you the Living translation, all these other scriptures. You know it's true. Somebody told me one time. "This church is right on everything. Except, they're not using the King James." I said, "That's impossible." Then come to find out the church has all kinds of false doctrine, because you can't have the right doctrine if you have the wrong bible.
These modern corruptions, it's another sermon in and of itself. They're not God's word, and that's why you see the lack of fruit. That's why you see the apostasy of those who follow them. Look at 1 Corinthians 14. I want to talk about the epistles of Paul. Now that we understand what's the criteria, there are people out there that will basically attack certain parts of God's word.
One of the popular trendy doctrine that's been coming up especially amongst the Hebrew roots-type movement is to say that the epistles of Paul are not God's word. They'll say, "Paul was a false apostle." This is what the Muslims teach also. The Muslims will say, "Well, Jesus is legit, but Paul was a false teacher. He corrupted it all."
That's what the Jews will often bring out. "It was Paul who corrupted everything," the Hebrew-roots movement. The epistles of Paul are under attack. Let's see what the bible says about the epistles of Paul. Look at 1 Corinthians 14:36, "What? Came the word of God out from you, or came it unto you only? If any man think himself to be a profit or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord."
Right there, we see that Paul is claiming that his epistles are scripture. Now you say, "Well, that's coming from Paul himself." Go to 2 Peter 3. First of all, let me just point out to you that Paul wasn't just writing letters here. He is claiming that he is an apostle. He starts out his epistles by saying, "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ."
He says, "If any man among you think himself prophet or spiritual, hey, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord." He's claiming that what he writes is authoritative as scripture. Then he says,, "But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant," which is a great statement.
Look at 2 Peter 3:15. It says, "And account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles." Notice that. "As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other, what, the other scriptures."
He says, "Look, our beloved brother Paul has written unto you in all his epistles." Yes, there are some things in his epistles that are hard to be understood that people who are unlearned or unstable will twist or wrest, but he said, "They do that with the other scriptures too." Look, what's he calling Paul's writings?
He's calling them scripture. He's saying, "Paul's writings are scriptures. The people who twist them are the same ones who twist other scriptures as well." Here, we have the Apostle Peter who walked and talked with Jesus, who was one of the inner circle of the three, Peter, James, and John. We see him sanctioning and approving all the epistles of Paul saying they are God's word, and that he wrote according to the wisdom given unto him by God. He was inspired by God. That's what the bible says.
Go to 1 Corinthians 1. The epistles of Paul are stated by Paul himself and by Peter to be God's word, but the biggest reason we know that they're God's word is that number one, they're powerful. Number two, they are preserved. Number three, they are productive. They bring forth great fruit. What do we use more than anything when we're out sowening, and getting people saved? What's been the most common way to get people saved in the last hundred years?
The Romans wrote, right, from the epistle of Paul to the Romans, powerful book. Romans is considered by many to be the greatest book of the New Test. They're favorite book of the New Testament, and powerful. All of Paul's epistles are clearly God's word just by the power that they have. No doubt about it.
Then other people will sometimes make another error. We've talked about the fact that OK, all these 66 books are God's word. Then we've talked about the fact that other cheap imitations are easily spotted as such, a cheap imitation, by anyone who has the holy spirit living inside of them, but then even amongst those who will agree with us that all 66 of these books are God's word, a common error you'll find even amongst people would say, "Oh, I believe the whole bible."
They'll try to say that certain parts of the bible don't apply to us. In fact, huge portions of the bible don't apply to us. This is where it becomes important where the bible said all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.
There is a great teaching out there today even amongst independent baptists. Huge numbers of independent baptists will say that certain parts of the bible are no longer profitable for doctrine. On the extreme end of that spectrum, you have those who are called dispensationalists or hyper-dispensationalists. On the extreme spectrum, here is what they'll say, "The only books that we are to get our doctrine from today are the epistles of Paul. That's it."
They'll say, "Well, it's all God's word, but Paul is our apostle." They'll say, "We're Gentiles, and so Paul is our apostle, so we get our doctrine in the New Testament church age from Paul. He's our apostle." Who's ever heard that before? Sam Gipp is a big false teacher that will talk about how Jesus and Paul preached different gospels, and Paul is our apostle as Gentiles and so forth.
Look how foolish that is in light of scripture. Look down at 1 Corinthians 1:10. "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas."
Who is Cephas? Peter, Cephas is another word for Peter. "I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius. Lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name." How foolish is it to get up in 2015, and say, "Paul is our apostle," when he flat out rebukes people for saying, "I am of Paul."
"I am of Paul. He is my apostle I am of Peter. He is my apostle," but yet people actually say this today that Paul is our apostle. Do you want to know who our apostle is? Jesus, Hebrews 3:1 says this, "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus."
Look, if we're going to say, "He is my apostle," that's got to be Jesus. Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? No. We want to be careful that we don't exalt the epistles of Paul, and somehow say that they are more authoritative than else. It doesn't make any sense folks when you specifically rebuke people for getting behind Peter more than Paul, or Paul more than Peter, "He is our apostle."
No, no, no, everybody in the world has the same apostle, Jesus. Then everybody has these other apostles too to help us, James, John, Paul. It's not just one certain apostle. Here is what they're twisting. They're twisting Romans 11:13 where it says, "For I speak to you Gentiles, in so much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office."
You'd say, "See, he is the apostle of the Gentiles." What does it say right in that verse? "For I speak to you Gentiles, in as much as I'm the apostle of the Gentiles." What did Paul mean when he said, "I am the apostle of the Gentiles?" He's saying , "I'm speaking to Gentiles." Why? Because Paul spent his life traveling throughout the Mediterranean region and preaching the gospel to the Gentiles.
Remember, he kept trying to reach the Jews, and they wouldn't listen, so he shook off the dust off his feet and said, "I'm going to the Gentiles. From henceforth, I'm going to the Gentiles. God called me to go preach to Gentiles." When he said "I'm the apostle to the Gentiles," what's he saying? He said, "I'm going to go preach the gospel to Gentiles back then."
To say, "He's our apostle," no because we're not Gentiles living 2000 years ago. He didn't come personally to talk to us. That doesn't make any sense because Jesus told all the apostles to go into all the world. He told the 11 disciples, "Go teach to all nations." Just some of them stuck with reaching Jews, that was their disobedience. Everybody is supposed to preach the gospel to every creature, all nations.
To sit there and say, "Paul is our apostle," when it flat out says, "Don't say I'm of Paul," it just shows the ridiculousness of that doctrine. Here is where you'd say, "Why would anyone believe that or teach that? Because they want to reject the teachings of Jesus. They want to reject the teachings of Jesus, because you'll show them teachings from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and here's what they say, "We don't get our doctrine from that. We get it from Paul."
What in the world? How could you elevate anything above the teachings of Christ? Look, I think that Paul's epistles are on the same level as Christ's teachings, because the holy spirit gave the teachings to Paul just like Jesus spake by the power of the holy ghost. It's all from God. God is the author of the whole bible. That's why I'm not necessarily a fan of putting the words of Christ in red, because they put the whole thing in red.
In the beginning was the word, the word was with God. The word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. Who decides what is really out of the mouth of Christ? It's all from the spirit of Christ. It's all God's work. To sit there and say, "Oh, the teachings of Jesus don't apply, only the teachings of Paul." First of all, let me say this. There's no contradiction between the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of Paul.
See, that's the fallacy that people have going in. They go into it like, "Well, Jesus and Paul are teaching two different things. Which one do we believe?" No, here is the truth. They both agree in one. They try to say, "Oh, there is the gospel that Paul preached, which is salvation by grace through faith." Then they say that Jesus didn't teach salvation by faith.
How about this verse? "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Who said that verse? Jesus. Doesn't that sound like salvation by grace through faith? How about John 6:47? "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, He that believeth on me has everlasting life." Sounds like salvation by faith to me.
How about John 5:24? "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." Sounds like salvation by grace through faith to me. What about John 10:28? "And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." Sounds like the eternal security to a believer to me.
How about John 11? "I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." That's the same gospel that Jesus preached. It's the same gospel that Paul preached. Just because he preached it to the Gentiles is irrelevant, because he said, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also the Greek."
Isn't it interesting that the gospel that was the power of God to salvation to everyone that believeth was the same thing that went to the Jews first, and then it went to the Greek? It's not two different gospels. Paul's gospel, Jesus' gospel. Look, Steven Anderson's gospel better be Jesus' gospel, or it's the wrong gospel.
Paul's gospel when he says, "My gospel," he means the gospels he preached. We better all be preaching the same gospel, because there's only one gospel. If anyone preaches another gospel, let him be a curse. Paul said, "Even if I myself preach another gospel, let me be a curse." Remember that? He said, "If any man come unto you and teach any other doctrine, though we or an angel from heaven teach any other gospel unto you than that what you have received, let him be a curse."
If Paul was teaching another gospel, he cursed himself, which makes no sense. There's a false doctrine out there that wants to eliminate the epistles of Paul. There is another false doctrine out there that wants to exalt the epistles of Paul, and say that they're the only thing to get our doctrine from. No, all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine.
Go to Matthew 5. One of the reasons why these dispensational teachers teach this stuff, what you'll notice is that a lot of the architects of this doctrine are divorced and remarried, which I'm not here to attack you if you're divorced and remarried. My parents are divorced and remarried. Meaning that they married someone else, I'm saying.
They got divorced and married other people. I understand that there are a lot of people that are in that situation. The bible says forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. You can't go back in time and change the past, but you could follow Christ's commandment from here on out.
The person that you're married to right now, you can stay married to them, and till death do us part, and not break another vow like you broke the first one. Let me say this though, the bible teaches that if you marry, if you divorce your wife and marry someone else, you're committing adultery. If you divorce your husband, and marry someone else, you're committing adultery.
You marry. You're a single guy, and you've never been married, and you married a divorced woman, you just committed adultery. That's what the bible says over and over. Jesus taught that over and over. What they'll try to say is, "It doesn't apply." Even though it's found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke repeatedly, they'll say, "That doesn't apply."
Mark 12 doesn't apply. Luke 16 doesn't apply. Matthew 5 doesn't apply. Matthew 19 doesn't apply. Then they'll take a verse in 1 Corinthians 7, and twist it and say it's teaching something else. First of all, 1 Corinthians 7 is teaching none other than what Jesus taught. There's no difference in doctrine if you actually discern it correctly and read it correctly.
You can't sit there and try to pit the teachings of Paul against the teachings of Jesus. If they're both God's word, they need to both be true, but because a lot of these guys want to get divorced, remarried, divorced, remarried, and remain pastor even though they should be blameless in the husband and one wife, they want to go through all these divorced and remarriages, and remain pastor.
They embrace conveniently this dispensational teaching. Men like [inaudible 00:46:44] who abandoned his wife, and just left her high and dry and moved to another state and married someone else. Men like John Hagee who teach the stuff divorce, marry. Men like Peter Ruckman, divorced and remarried three times, who is basically ... Sam Gipp is Peter Ruckman's disciple. That's where the stuff is really coming from.
It cracks me up how people reject Peter Ruckman's cult-like teachings, but then they accept Sam Gipp when he teaches all of the same junk. He just repackages it a little differently. He's just not as smart as Peter Ruckman. That's pretty much the only difference between those two. Peter Ruckman was a lying false teacher, but at least he's smart. At least he could draw well with chalk.
Anyway, let's go to Matthew 5. Look at verse 17. Let's talk about another part of scripture that people sometimes like to throw out. There's people who are throwing out the epistles of Paul. Another thing that people will try to throw out is the Old Testament scriptures, and just try to throw out the whole Old Testament and say, "All our doctrine has to only come from the New Testament."
Anything you point to them in the Old Testament, they say, "Not for us. Not for us." What did Jesus say? Matthew 5:17, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I came not to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."
"Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same should be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
What we can see from that verse is that the bible teaches that there are saved people who are going to get this wrong, because he talks about saved people throwing out Old Testament commandments, and they're still going to heaven, but they're going to be the least in the kingdom of heaven if they're teaching that. Then there are those who do the commandments and teach them that would be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
This shows that people can be saved without keeping the commandments. You're saved by by faith, but those who keep the commandments are going to be called great. Those who teach men, "Hey, we don't have to worry about this stuff," are not going to be great. Now, here is where people get confused. The reason why people get confused is because we live in a day where many people are uneducated, simple stupid, whatever you want to call it, because of the fact that we've been dumb down through TV, video games, movies.
It used to be that people did a lot more reading. They did a lot more studying. They had a lot more intelligence, because they didn't just rot their brain on TV all day. They knew more. If you look at the man who founded our country fro example, they would graduate from the sixth grade. I was reading about Samuel Adams. In order to graduate from the sixth grade, he had to compose and deliver a speech in Latin.
He's living in America. His language is English, but they're studying Greek, Latin, and they had to get up and deliver a speech in Latin to graduate from the sixth grade. That's why sometimes you'll hear about, "This president, he only had a sixth grade education. He only had an eighth grade education." Yes, but it was more than your college education.
His sixth grade was like you getting your bachelors or masters. Seriously, because back then people did more study. They thought about things. They didn't just ra, ra, ice cream, cotton candy, video game, TV, just being an idiot. Kids today, they don't want to buckle down, and do any real school work or do any real reading or do any real study. We need to make sure that we don't fall into that trap of the world, where we become really dumb down.
Even as adults, we need to keep learning, keep studying, keep reading our bibles. Learn and not be an imbecile. So many people have been so dumb down, they want to dumb down the bible too. This is where a lot of these modern versions are coming from. "Oh, the King James is just too hard to understand." Maybe you're just too dumb.
It's hard to understand when you're stupid. Think about it. It's hard to understand when you're speaking texting language all day. "Oh, it's so hard to understand." I'd hate for you to have to do anything hard now, wouldn't we? It is God's word. Look, parts of the bible are easy to understand, very easy. Other parts are hard to understand. Good! Why would I want to read some super easy books my whole life? I'd be sick of it.
We want the bible to have some things that are easy, and some things that are hard. Here is something that's easy, being saved. He said, "You just come as the little child, the faith of a child." You just put all your trust in Him. It's easy. It's like drinking water. It's like taking a bite of a piece of bread. It's like going through a door. It's really easy, total faith in Jesus.
No works. [Inaudible 00:51:41] should boast. It's really simple. Here is what sometimes people make the mistake of thinking that everything in the bible is going to be simple. Everything in the bible is going to be easy. They want everything to just be super simple and super easy, and if you can't explain it to me in 10 seconds, well, I'm just not interested, because that's my attention span.
This is how sometimes people are. Thank God the gospel is really easy. It's really simple. You explain it to a little kid, and you they get it. That doesn't mean every concept in the bible is going to be equally easy. Some things in the bible are harder to understand. One of those things that's not just as super ... It's not that complicated, but this is something that people struggle with today, is they don't understand the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament.
It's like they have this really dumb way of thinking of just either we're going to just reject the whole thing, either we're just going to reject the whole thing, or we're going to embrace even the parts of it that were specifically changed in the New Testament. That's like, "Oh, I don't get it." God explained to you that the priesthood being changed. There is made of necessity a change also of the law.
There are some things that have changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament. There are whole chapters in the New Testament that teach us about that. A lot of the book of Hebrews is dedicated to teaching us that. Colossians is teaching us that.
We get some teaching on that in the book of Romans. All throughout the New Testament, there is teaching about the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament, but because people are dumb down, they either just have this all or nothing just, "I'm either just going to not listen to anything the Old Testament is telling me, or I'm going to just go back and re-institute stuff that God did a way with."
It's not that simple folks. You have to study the bible. Let me give it to you in a nutshell what the bible teaches. The bible teaches that there are certain things that have been changed in the New Testament. Anything that God did not specifically changed in the New Testament, we don't have the right to just change. Here is the rule of thumb. We follow everything in the Old Testament unless it's specifically is changed in the New Testament.
If it's been specifically changed in the New Testament, then we follow that. You'd say, "Why would God change things?" First of all, let me say this. God himself doesn't change. Who God is never changes, because the bible says, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever." Then the bible also says, "For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed."
We see that God doesn't change, but the reason why there is a change between the Old Testament and the New Testament is because the children of Israel did not continue in that covenant, so He made a new covenant. It was because of man's failure, not God's failure, that a new covenant was instituted.
Here is what is changed in the New Testament. In the New Testament, the ceremonial law has changed. In the Old Testament, there was a lot of ceremony and ritual that was pointing them toward the coming of Jesus. These would be your animal sacrifices. This would be the Levitical priesthood. This would be the incense that is burned in the temple and in the tabernacle.
This would be the ark of the covenant and those kinds. All these symbolic things that pointed unto the coming of Christ, those things are specifically done away. Another thing that is specifically repeatedly done away in the New Testament are the dietary restrictions, where in the Old Testament, they didn't eat pork. They didn't eat shrimp and things like that. In the New Testament, those things have been specifically repealed.
Another thing is the Sabbath Day. In the Old Testament, they were not to work on the Sabbath Day. Whereas in the New Testament, again, specifically repealed. I've done whole sermons on that. These are specific changes, but other than that, God doesn't give us the right to just take 80% of our bible and just reject it. The New Testament is only about a fourth or a fifth of the bible. Seventy-five, 80% of it is the Old Testament.
We don't just throw it out. We discern it. Even the parts that have been changed are still profitable for doctrine. Why? Because if we go to the part about an animal sacrifice, it's still profitable for doctrine. Why? Because it tells us something about the sacrifice of Jesus. We can go back and study those animal sacrifices, and use them to understand Jesus and to understand his sacrifice.
We can go back and look at the washings and so forth, and apply them spiritually in the New Testament of what they represent of us living a clean life and so forth. We can take the dietary restrictions and use them to teach New Testament truths. For example, the fact that every clean beasts in the Old Testament parted the hoof and chewed the cud.
There are all kinds of spiritual implications of that, of not just talking the talk, but walking the walk to be clean, the cud and the hoof. That's a whole another sermon of itself, but there are all these things that could be taught. We have to understand is that the things that were changed from Old to New Testament were not things that were intrinsically sinful or evil.
See, it was never intrinsically sinful or evil to eat pork. Think about it. Why did they have that commandment? If you would flip over to Genesis 9, why did they have that commandment not to eat pork? Because he's trying to teach them a symbolic truth. That's why he even instituted it later in history. If you look at Genesis 9, they were allowed to eat pork in Genesis 9.
Look at Genesis chapter 9. This is no getting off the ark. This is just one verse. I could point to other verses as well. In Genesis 9:3, it says this, "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you. As the green herb, have I given you all things." It's not going to be for another thousand years or so approximately that God's going to tell them only eat that which parts the hoof and chews the cud.
Why was it wrong under the old covenant to eat pork? It was wrong because God said don't do it. That's the only reason it was wrong. It wasn't that there's something wrong with pork. I happen to think that pork is one of the best meats. I've been to Chipotle hundreds ... I saw something in the news about some guy who's eating at Chipotle every day for the last 150 days.
I'm like, "Why is this news?" That's nothing. It's not like he's eating it for every meal. He eats there once a day every day, but that's pretty close to my life sometimes. The thing is I've been to Chipotle several hundred times, ye a thousand times. The most common thing that I order is the carnitas. If I don't get the carnitas, I get the barbacoa. Honestly, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with pork, or the, "Oh, it's bad for you."
Pork is the other white meat. Just shut up, and then don't hate me doing that. The thing is the reason why it was wrong is just because God said don't do it. If God says don't do it, don't do it. It's that simple. It doesn't mean that there is inherently something wrong, because if it was inherently wrong, then why did God let people eat it for thousands of years?
If you look at human history, the period where they're not supposed to eat it is about 1,600 years. How long has this world been around? Sixty-three hundred years approximately, we don't know the exact number, but we know that our earth has been around here for 6,300 years. About one-fourth of that time, there was a probation on pork. Why? Because it was for a specific time.
Right here, plain as day in Genesis 9:3, he says, "Every ..." Look at how specific this is. "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you. Even as as the green herb, have I given you all things." That's what they were operating under in the days of Noah. That's what Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were operating under. It's not until later when the ceremonial law came in with Moses, the old covenant, that anything changed with that.
We see that there are specific changes of things that are not inherently sinful. There's nothing inherently sinful about working seven days a week or eating pork, or not washing your hands, or whatever, because even Jesus said to eat without one washing hands [inaudible 01:00:32]. Then also in the Old Testament, we have all these moral laws that are given.
Those things haven't changed. Murder is inherently wrong. That didn't change. Adultery is inherently wrong. Even things like cross dressing, you'll try to show Christians today where the bible says, "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all that do so are an abomination unto the LORD thy God."
That's Old Testament. Hold on a second. Where did Jesus make any change, and say, "You have heard that it has been said by them of all time, thou shall not cross dress, but I say unto you be transgender." There's nothing like that. Do you really think Jesus died on the cross in order to deliver us from men's clothing, to deliver women from having to wear female clothing?
That's bizarre. People in their simplicity just wanted just throw out the whole Old Testament. It's all or nothing. Either we're going to offer a goat as an animal sacrifice, or we're throwing out the whole thing. No, it's not that simple. You study the bible and learn the difference. We see that the Old Testament teaching ...
You [inaudible 01:01:50] Leviticus on the homos, the sodomites, and what do they do? "Oh, that's Old Testament." Yes, so as love thy neighbor as thyself Old Testament. It's Leviticus 19. So is thou shall not commit adultery. Thou shall not steal thou shall not kill. All these great teachings of the bible are still in place.
What am I saying? What's the sermon's about? Here is what the sermon's about. This book is the foundation. This book is the rock of our salvation, and this book is the book on which we base our lives. Have faith that these are the 66 books that God wants us to have. Believe that. Don't get this weird thoughts of, "Oh, there's something else out there."
Ninety-nine percent of the people who are out looking for something have never even read this. They haven't even read this cover to cover, and they're like, "Oh, the lost books of the bible." Why don't you read the ones that are already there that are found? They'll say, "There's something else out there." Don't read the bible trying to figure out. "Well, I'm trying to figure out, some of these books don't seem legit."
This has been tested and tried and proven for the last 2000 years. We know that this is the word of God. Don't doubt Hebrews, James, first, second, third John, Jude. Ask the holy spirit whether it''s true or not, and you'll know the answer if you're saved. It's clear. We want to know that the book that we hold in our hand is, not was the word of God, is the word of God today, and that all of it is profitable for doctrine.
Meaning that we need to read the whole book, and skip nothing. I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands who's read the bible cover to cover, but it's a shameful thing that the vast majority of Christians in America today have not read the bible cover to cover. I know in our church, most people have read it cover to cover, because that's something that we emphasize here.
If you've never read the bible cover to cover, you need to start immediately and realize that all scripture is there so that we can be thoroughly furnished unto all good works. He said, "In the last days, perilous time shall come, but continue in what you've learned. Know who you learned it from, and that you've been assured of it that it's the word of God, and realize that all scripture is necessary."
Today in 2015 as we live in the last days, all of it is needed. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that preceded out of the mouth of God. You need Leviticus today. You need Numbers. You need Deuteronomy. I challenge you with this. If you've never read the bible cover to cover, take the table of contents of your bible right here, and go through and check off the books that you know for sure that you've already read.
Don't just keep reading Genesis a million times. Don't read Matthew for the 38th time if you haven't read the whole thing. Go through, and if you haven't done any of it, well then, you haven't done any of it. Start at the beginning. Read the whole New Testament. Then read the whole Old Testament. That's the order I would do it if I hadn't read it.
Go through and just check off every book you know for sure. Not like, "Well, I think I probably read Mark at some point." No, books that you know 100% sure that you read the whole thing. Check those off, and then start checking off the rest of them as you go. Keep checking them off until you've read the whole bible cover to cover.
You'd say, "I've already done that." Then read it again and again and again and again. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word Lord. It's a treasure. It's timeless. It's just as powerful today as it was 2000 years ago, Lord. There are all kinds of wolves and devils out there that are trying to destroy our faith in the bible, trying to bring out all these new discoveries and new scriptures, and new versions, and change what we believe, Lord.
Father, help us not to be deceived by anyone who wants to take away or add to the words of this book. Help us to be assured of the fact that these 66 books are your word, and that we would believe every word, read every word, and that we'd be thoroughly furnished unto all good works in 2015, in Jesus' name, we pray, amen.
