I'm reading one verse of scripture
to you this morning from the book of Psalms, Psalm 119. The
whole psalm is about the Word of God. The writer of this psalm
speaks of God's Word in every single one of the verses in this
psalm, 176 verses. And I read In verse 130 of Psalm 119, which
says, The entrance of thy words giveth light, it giveth understanding
unto the simple. Speaking of God's Word, or the
Bible, which we commonly call the Bible. People, this book
is the greatest possession known to man. the most precious possession
which a man can have is the Word of God. This is indeed God Almighty's
Word. And without God's Word, we would
be in ignorance. We would be ignorant of God. Though the heavens declare his
glory, the firmament showeth his handiwork, though the Creation
clearly shows His eternal power and Godhead, yet we would be
ignorant of the mind, the will, the purpose, the character of
God Almighty without God's Word. This is what tells us of God,
who God is. We would be ignorant of ourselves.
We believe what we want to believe about ourselves. The Scripture
says the heart is deceitful above all things. So we would be ignorant
of ourselves. We would be ignorant of salvation,
how we may know God, get to God, be with God. Without God's Word, we would
be under superstition. We would believe anything and
follow anyone and do just about anything in order to try to understand
or figure out life after death who God is, and so forth. We
would be ignorant without God's word. We would be superstitious
without God's word. Without God's word, that is,
if God does not reveal the word of truth to our hearts and minds
and give us faith in Jesus Christ, who is the word, without God's
word we will perish forever in our sins. And the word here says,
the entrance of thy words giveth light. Man is born in darkness
or ignorance, but when God Almighty sends his word into the heart
and the mind, it gives, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, it
gives the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face,
or that is, the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
understanding to the simple. The writer says, understanding
to the simple. If God Almighty reveals the truth
to someone, no matter how lowly, how uneducated, how young, how
simple, if God reveals the truth, then they understand who God
is and what salvation is more than, yea, They alone understand it. Those
who have the word revealed to them know more than the wise
and the educated, because God hides these things from most
wise, mighty, and noble. In 2 Peter 1, the writer says
this, 2 Peter 1, verses 19 through 21, and I read, We have a more
sure word of prophecy. Whereunto you do well that you
take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place. You do well, he said, to take
heed until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. In other words, you would do
well to listen to and heed the word of God as it is read and
as it is preached to you until God Almighty is pleased to turn
the light on. Verse 20, knowing this first,
that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
That is, no man sat down and decided what he would write. But God, verse 21, the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake
as they were moved or influenced by the Holy Ghost. Though men
were used to write this book, yet it is truly God Almighty's
word. And God's word is what a preacher
or teacher is told to preach and teach. Nothing else. Nothing
else. I read from 2 Timothy chapter
3 in which the apostle, the faithful apostle of God, tells a young
preacher that all the scripture is given by inspiration of God
and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction,
and righteousness. It's given by inspiration of
God. And he goes on to warn this young
preacher and all of us in chapter 4 of 2 Timothy, he says, preach
the word. Preach the word, be instant,
that is consistent, in season, out of season, that is, whether
popular or not, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering
and doctrine, scriptural doctrine. For the time will come, he says,
when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own
lust or evil desires or whatever, personal desires for whatever,
they shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears,
and they will turn away their ears from the truth and be turned
unto fables. He says the time will come. They
will turn their ears from the truth, the truth of God's word,
unto fables. That is, whatever anybody wants
to hear, whatever someone makes up that sounds good and people
want to hear it. Well, many, many false preachers
rose up just like was prophesied. Men and even women who were out
for money and fame. And as the population of the
world grew and the apostles and the early church leaders died,
the word of God, the actual written word of God, which in the original
was in the Hebrew and the Greek language, as written down by
the prophets and the apostles, the word of God, as the apostles
and early church leaders died, the word became very scarce,
hard to find. And for many hundreds of years,
the word of God, the Bible, was in the sole possession of just
a few. Those who were supposed to be
leaders of the church, they alone had copies, actual copies of
the original text. And for many hundreds of years,
this is a fact, But for many hundreds of years, the word,
the actual word of God, the Bible, was chained up in old buildings
called monasteries where so-called priests and monks and even popes
could read it, and they alone could read it. And since the
people did not have God's word to read, and these evil religious
leaders were not preaching but withholding it from the people.
But they preached and taught all sorts of things for money,
for power over the people. It became a very dark time. A very, very dark time. Commonly
referred to as the Dark Ages. Why is it called the Dark Ages? Why were these hundreds and hundreds
of years throughout Europe, long before this country was founded,
It was called the Dark Ages over there because there was no light
of God's word. For hundreds of years, God's
word was literally kept hidden from the people. And even there
were commandments made by these evil religious leaders not to
let the common man have copies or access to God Almighty's word. And that was prophesied in Jeremiah
23 and Ezekiel and other places that These false prophets wouldn't
steal my word, Scripture says, from the people for their own
evil purposes. Because the truth sets people
free. The truth sets people free from
these evil men and women who would bring them under bondage
to them and to their evil practices. But God Almighty in time began
to raise up some men. men who were in that wicked religion,
men whom God convicted of their sins by the Word of God. That and that only, God's Word,
is the only thing which will convict us of our sin. In the Word of God, these men
had chained up. They themselves were reading.
And yet God Almighty opened their eyes and minds and hearts to
the truth and gave them a desire to tell the people the truth.
the same truth, the same gospel which set them free, they then
in turn had a desire to preach it, to tell the people the truth
rather than withhold it from them. And these men, these are
the true heroes and men that we should look up to now, names
we should remember even more so than the founders of this
country, the so-called founding fathers such as Washington, Jefferson,
Franklin, and so forth. Names like John Wycliffe, William
Tyndall, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, names that
are unfamiliar to most in our day, which I wish our young people
were more familiar with these names than the previous ones. I mentioned. Well, God Almighty
raised up these men and they began to translate, men like
John Wycliffe and William Tyndale, began to translate or make copies
of God's word from the original Hebrew and Greek language into
the language of the common people. Because Latin, the language of
Latin, had become popular language and religion, that is, by the
leaders, and they would literally stand up and read these so-called
liturgies or Latin papers to the people, which the people
did not understand. And people, the very same thing
is going on today. And nobody understands what is
being said. Well, these faithful, true God-called
men began to translate the scriptures into the English language and
the common language of the people of their day so that the people
could read and understand God's Word. And there were many of
them who were burned at the stake, who were literally killed, tortured
and killed for doing so. Men who gave their lives so we
could have a copy of God's Word. And God raised up men after them
to preach God's word, the word of truth. Men who insisted that
God Almighty's word alone is what we are to believe and put
into practice. Scriptures alone was one of the
watchwords of the so-called Reformation. God's word alone is how we understand
who God is, what man is, what salvation is. God's word is called
a ruler. Everything is measured by it.
A scale. Everything is weighed in its
balances. A compass. A chart. A map. The only way to God. A light. The only thing which
exposes corruption and removes blindness. God's Word. Thank God if you have a copy
of this precious book. Thank God if you hear it faithfully
read and preached to you by a faithful preacher of the Word. And even
more than that, you thank God if you understand the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation. And remember, it is scripture
alone. God's word alone is to be believed. Nothing and no one else. And
I end this message by quoting from Isaiah 820, which says,
To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not, according
to my words, that is, God's word, it's because there's no light
in them. You find you a preacher who's
preaching strictly and practicing things strictly from God's word,
and God will give you understanding of the truth. Until next Sunday,
may the Lord bless His word through your understanding. Good day. uh...