I hope you young people especially
pay attention. I will try to make this clear. But really, in reality, I can't
make it clear. The Holy Spirit has to. Look at 1 John 5, verses 9 and 10. Says that we receive the witness
of me. And. Most everyone believes. Most things that they hear from
most people. We do. We believe. What people tell us what we read
in the newspaper. We do. If we receive the witness
of men, he says, the witness of God is greater. The witness
of God is greater. And this is the witness of God.
This is the witness of God, which is greater, which he hath testified
of or concerning his son. The testimony of God. It's what
God has to say to men. His son. God speaks in son language. You understand God, you've got
to understand S-O-M-I. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath this witness in himself, this testimony in himself. All right, see if I can, as my
pastor would say, make good on this. Everybody has an opinion about most everything. And most
everyone has an opinion about God. Some believe there is a
God. Some people believe there is
not a God. Are you with me, young people?
Some believe the Bible is the Word of God. Others believe it's
not the Word of God. It's just men wrote it. A young lady asked me that. How
do you know that this is the Word of God and not just something
men made up? That's a good question. We ought
to try to answer that. I'm not afraid to try to answer
that. And I will try to do so this
morning. You see, I believe that this book is the very word of
God Almighty. I believe that. And I'm going
to give you some reasons why. Some reasons why I believe that
God Almighty wrote this book, and not me, but God did. All
right? All right, he says, and the reason
I believe everything I believe, and the basis or the reason for
everything I'm going to say this morning, comes from this book. Comes from this book, primarily.
But there are also reasons out there. There are proofs. See, I believe God is. How do
you know? I'm going to tell you. I believe
this is his word. I believe God wrote this book.
How do you know? I'm going to tell you. I believe
God came down here. How do you know? I'm going to
tell you. I'm going to tell you. All right? God is not without proof. It
seems so pitiful to have to say something
like that. Prove God. Nevertheless, I believe,
I believe. Now let me, let me say this first
of all, about faith. I'm talking about faith. When
you believe something, that's faith, right? When you believe
something, that's faith. Faith now, biblical faith. Faith in God, faith in Christ,
faith in God's Word, biblical faith now, is not with these
eyes. It's not with the reason. It's
not with this mind. But it's spiritual. It's inward. It's inward. You see, no man
has seen God at any time, and this preacher has never seen
God at any time. Anybody that says they have is
a liar, because the scripture says that. No man has seen God
at any time. No man has seen nor can see.
But God can be seen, or that is understood somewhat, known,
or firmly Be firmly persuaded that he is, that God is, without
seeing him with his eyes. How do you see him, preacher?
Well, through this book, through this book and other ways. But
you see, faith is not with these eyes, and faith is childlike. Listen to me. Our Lord said this.
Christ said, except you, he was talking to adults, he said, except
you be converted and become as little children. And he was talking
to some intelligent, educated adults. Garnet, he was talking
to the most educated men of his day, the wise scholars and so
forth. And he said, except you become as little children, not
knowing so much, not having so many preconceived ideas and notions
and thinking you know everything. Unless you come before this book
and sit down like a stupid, yes, unlearning, ignorant, unknowing
child and say, teach me. God's not. He's not going to
teach you. But if you do, by his grace,
come in that way, Lord, I don't know. Teach me. He'll teach you. And he says, you believe. He
said, if you believe, you'll see the glory of God. The world says, well, you show
me, I'll believe. God says, believe and I'll show
you. That's what faith is, Amy. That's
what faith is. The world says, seeing is believing.
God says, believe and you'll see. And that's what he said
in Hebrews 11. He said, faith becomes the evidence
of things not seen. How do you know this? I just
know. How do you know? I know that faith becomes the
evidence. I'll go into that more in a moment.
But this faith is supernatural. Faith is the gift of God. Faith
is the gift of God. It says, by grace are you saved. By grace are you saved through
faith, through believing. Preachers at all times call on
people to believe. Well, wait a minute, they can't, unless God, the Holy Spirit,
gives them faith. Faith is the gift of God. It's
a miracle. It's a miracle. I had men after
men stand up in front of me when I was a young fellow and say,
Believe, believe. There was no way I was ever going
to believe. Until God one day said. Believe. It's a miracle, so I'm not here
to explain faith or to. Rationalize things. Or prove
things to you in such a way that you just say, OK, that's I accept
those facts. I believe that didn't make you
believe. You believe facts. But it's a relationship with
a person. It's God Almighty actually revealing himself to you. It
really is. And he does so through this book.
So faith is supernatural. It's supernatural. All right? Now, let me say this. Let me
say this. The world thinks your teachers
in school, the leaders in our day, the scientists, the And
all these people, even theologians, they will tell you, they tell
us, everything we read, everything is permeated. They tell us that
this Christian religion is without foundation. It's without any
proof. It's without any solid It's without
any, that is just, Karl Marx said one time, he said, religion
is just the opiate of the masses. In other words, it's something
to drug people from reality. A crutch that they lean on. You
know, there's some fellow named Jesus that's going to come get
them and take them out of all their trouble. And they say it's just some drug,
some opiate. of the masses, people are in
such trouble as groping at anything and want to believe something.
Well, we do have a firm basis for what
we believe. Substantial proof, more than
those who don't. And that brings me to my first
point. It says the witness of God is greater than what men
are telling us. If we believe the witness of
men, if you believe your teachers concerning evolution, if you
believe philosophers concerning man, if you believe the scholars
of our day concerning who God is and so forth, the witness
of God is so much greater than them. So much clearer, so much
louder if we had ears to hear. It sounds from the mountaintops.
It shines from the sun. The witness of God. What is this
witness of God? Look at Romans chapter 1, okay?
Romans chapter 1. Young people, turn in your Bibles
to Romans chapter 1 with me. What I'm talking about is creation.
God's creation bears witness of God himself. Psalm 19, verse
1, says, The heavens declare his glory, his person. The heavens, the stars, the stars. I wish we had three hours this
morning and the capacity to sit and listen as we talked about
God's marvelous creation and considered his wonder, the things
his hands and all their paths and meanings
and purposes. It's a purpose to every star
in the heavens. The stars. Oh, my. When I consider thy heavens,
the works of thy fingers, everything. Look at Romans chapter 1. God
Almighty made all this. Only a fool can't recognize that. Romans 1 says, verse 20, the
invisible things of God from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
or that is, his eternal power and Godhead. The fact that God
is, that there is an all-powerful Creator, who made all things,
is clearly seen. That fact is clearly seen by
the things around us. Clearly seen. And the Scripture
says only a fool would say, no, I don't believe that. I believe
that all this just happened one day. It takes more faith to believe
the theory of evolution than it does creation. That there
was a big explosion and everything just happened like it is. It's laughable. It's utterly
laughable. And then that what 1 Corinthians
1 says, "...hath not God made foolish the wisdom of men, professing
themselves to be wise?" Scholars, the most intelligent people of
our day, think that this marvelous creation called man and everything else just happened. just happened, accidentally. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became the most foolish people on earth. Fools! Fools! Doctors who opened up
this body, this amazing thing that David said, I am fearfully
and wonderfully made. every capillary and blood vessel
and nerve ending, this jealous substance that has all these
thoughts and ideas and creativity and glory of the human brain.
It just happened. Computers don't just happen.
This thing is of infinite more glory and wonder than the largest,
greatest computer on earth. It just happened. Tell me, show
me the man or the woman that says that, and I'll say, you
are a fool, an utter fool! Creation. Man. Man. Foolishness. And you know, here's the thing,
young people. Why do people, smart people,
choose to believe evolution over creation? Why? I'll give you a couple of reasons.
Because, you see, men are trying to do away with God. Men and women don't want to believe
in God. Why? Because if God, you see,
if God is creator, if God is all-powerful, if God is sovereign,
if God's controlling all things, if God created everything, that
means he owns everything. You people, you own some things,
don't you? Colleen Hammond, Andrew Young. Everyone in here owns
some things. That means you're sovereign over
what you can do with it, what you want to do. And you do. And nobody can tell you what
to do with it. You own it. Right? God created all things. He owns it. He owns it. And here's another reason. If
he created man, what does that mean? Some of you have dogs, don't
you? You have dogs. You bought them. You might have
even bred them and raised them. They're yours. You own those
dogs. You're the master. They're the dog, right? What
does that mean? Those dogs want to do what you tell them to do. Maybe. If they're good dogs,
they will. But they're yours. You
own those dogs. You can do with them what you
want to. You can have them put to sleep. Or you can take them in the house
and the bed with you. Right? Well, God says, I created
man. And he calls him a worm. And
God says, now I can do with you as I believe. I can snuff you
out. Or I can exalt you to the stars.
Make you a son. And men say, I don't want somebody
like that. I don't want a God like that.
So they're willing to ignorant of creation. They're willing
to ignore creation. Listen to me, young people, listen,
all right? To be God. Everybody talks about
believing in God. But unless the God you believe in is absolutely the creator
then he's just a helpless bystander like everybody else, isn't he?
Unless he's in absolute control, unless he's sovereign, then he's
no better than I am. He's no more powerful than I
am, and I'm not going to worship that God. And that's what the
Scripture says about their God. The God that they believe in
is like unto them. He's just like them. He tries
things and fails. He wants to and can't. That's
not God. Not the God of the Bible. He
creates. He destroys. He gives life. He
kills. He wounds. He heals. He's God. He's God. Here's another reason. God's creation. God's Word. The
Bible. God's Word. The Bible. Look at
2 Peter chapter 1. God's creation proves that God
is. God's Bible, God's Word, 2 Peter
chapter 1. Turn over there with me. All
right? 2 Peter chapter 1. Stay with
me, all right? 2 Peter chapter 1. Look at this. You got it? 2 Peter 1. Look at verse 19.
And this is what the young lady asked me. How do you know this
is the Word of God and not just something men made up? Verse 19 says that we have a
more sure word of prophecy. Where until you do well that
you take heed, it's like a light shining in a dark place, until
the day dawn and the day star arise in your heart. Knowing
this first, remember this one thing he said. Remember this
first. No prophecy of a scripture is
of any private interpretation, any personal interpretation.
I hear people say that all the time. Oh, that's just your interpretation.
No. No, it's not. It's what God said. Verse 21, the prophecy, the word
of God came, where'd the word come from? Not in the old time
by the will of man. Men just didn't get together
and say, let's write a Bible. Oh no. But holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Moses one day was sitting
there and God said, Moses, get your pen. I haven't learned letters. I'm
not eloquent. I don't know. I've been to school. I've been
keeping sheep. Get your pen. Get your quill and a little ink. Start writing. What do I write?
Listen. In the beginning, God. And five
books later, Moses dropped his pen. Wow. That's what I say when I read
it. That's the very finger of God. The Word of God dates back
3,500 years. The very first entrance, entry,
into this book that you have is 3,500 years old. The Book of Job, we believe,
is the oldest book in all the Bible. Job, we think, was penned
first, or that is, collected first. The book of Job. Some
believe Job was before Moses and so forth. At any rate, 3,500
years ago, the first word was written. And then, over a period of 1,500
years, this book was being compiled. Oh, my. Have you ever played
that silly little game where you whisper something in somebody's
ear, and they whisper it in somebody's ear, and they whisper it? I think
you used to call it gossip, didn't you? It still goes on. Everybody
plays it every day, except they do it through a phone. See, it's
gossip. You tell one thing, he calls
another, and they call another. Before, it's all over with. After, it's
been heard by 183 people in three minutes. It comes back to you and you
say, I never said that. That's not what I said at all. That
doesn't even resemble what I said. Fifteen hundred years. What would
a story be like? Fifteen hundred years later,
repeated by so many people. What would it be like? This one
is the same. Very same story. To the word. To the letter. Exact and changeable. That's one way I know it's God's
word. Written by forty different men, or that is, forty different
men were used by God to take dictation. That's all it is,
take dictation. Take a letter, Paul. Take a letter.
Take fourteen of them. from God the Holy Spirit. Forty
men over a period of 1,500 years didn't know one another. They
didn't collaborate. Isaiah didn't know Malachi and
say, What are you going to say? I don't know what you're going
to say. Well, let's put our stories together. They didn't know one
another. Moses didn't know Jeremiah. Paul didn't know Isaiah. Paul
quoted him a lot. He didn't know these fellows. They did not know each other,
but it tells the same story. Moses wrote of me," Christ said,
Jesus Christ. Moses, what are you going to
write about? God's son. Paul, what are you
going to write about? God's son. There's nothing else
to it. John, God's son. What's the theme
of your book, James? God's son. That's how God spoke. That's the language he spoke
in. Matthew, what about you? God's son. Any differing stories
you know, they're all with one accord. Forty men say, God's
son! That's what we're going to write
about. This is the testimony of God
concerning his son. That's what this is. This Bible
is a hymn book, an H-I-M book. It's his story. It's not Jewish,
his story. It's that Jew named Jesus, his
story. His story. Well, this word, how
do I know it's the word of God? I'm not just talking in flowery
language here, but 3,500 years, it dates back, written by 40
different men, or dictated by 40 different men, 66 books, and
it all tells the same story. And that's just marvelous, isn't
it? That's just marvelous. Jesus
Christ in type, picture, and person. It is written by uneducated
men. What kind of book would you get
if you asked, if we asked Lauren Elizabeth
to write a book? What kind of book would we get?
A totally undiscernible mess of scribbling is what we get. We might get an intelligible
word every now and then, Mom, or something like that. What
kind of book would you get if uneducated men wrote a book? You'd get the most glorious book,
the most wise, intelligent, marvelous mystery that the wise scholars
can't figure out. How do I know it's the Word of
God? Ignorant fishermen. Sorry, fellas. But these fellas
who'd never been to school, fishermen, the only school they'd been to
was the Sea of Galilee, how to cut bait and how to fish That's
all they'd ever learned in all their life. And they—God used
them to write the most glorious, wise—even in its prose, even in its poetry, even in its—it's
the beauty of the language. Who was David? The Psalms are
the most glorious, beautiful literature ever written. Even
for pure literary value, the songs, the experts will say,
there's nothing like it. What was David? A shepherd, a
sheep, a man who walked around following sheep. It wasn't David's words. David's
sitting on a hill, and God said, David, write a song. What'll I write? I'll give you
the words. to be a song and be singing through
eternity. Write a song, David. Write a bunch of, write a hundred
and fifty. Ah, it's God's word. The word
has endured the test of time. Show me a book, somebody show
me a book that's a thousand years old. Are there any books of men
a thousand years old? Josephus, the history book, the
only one I know of that has any age to it at all. But other than
that, any books of men, a thousand years old? What about two thousand
years? The last entry in this book was
nearly two thousand years ago. Two thousand years, has it endured
the test of time? The test of time? You know, people
have tried to destroy this book, Hannah. Y'all listen. People
have tried to destroy this book. Men have said, I don't like this
book. I don't like this Bible. I don't
believe in this God. I don't believe in this Jesus
Christ. Let's do away with it. These people that are following
this person named Jesus Christ, let's put an end to this. If
what they're saying is so, we're in bad shape. Let's put an end
to this. Let's burn this Bible. And they've done it for years.
Every time, like William Tyndale would make a copy, translate
a copy from the original, and some evil men would get all the,
they'd round up and have a book burning. They'd burn all the
Bibles. All of them. Can't do it. They have tried,
they have literally tried to do away with all the Bibles.
How come you can't? God's got the master copy. Scripture says, Forever, O Lord,
thy word is settled. Where is it? In the Vatican?
In a vault? In heaven. God says, Destroy
them all. Go ahead. Go ahead. Destroy them
all. He led them. Burn them all. Burn them all. Now we're done
with that. God says, Now, write another one. same thing, second
verse, same as the first. It has stood the assaults of
men across time. This book, there's young people
right here this morning who are ten, nine years old, younger
than And some in here who are in their
seventies. This book speaks to both of them
the same way. I do my best when I'm preaching
to make everyone understand it, but I just can't do it. I just
can't do it. God's book will speak to the
simplest, the unlearned, the same as it will to the wise and
intelligent, in the same way. It crosses these barriers. read
by the same people. Where are the books? Where are
the, do you, anybody in here, Brother William Hodges, do you
read books by a male Seton? Do you, is that what you read
before you go to bed tonight? Vicki, do you, what about, do
you read books about Russian, by some Russian authors? Is that
your favorite reading? Do you even know Russian? No.
What about something else? There's a fellow over in Japan
right now who's reading the same book I'm reading. It's written
in Japanese, but it's the same book. There's some natives down
in Mexico sitting in a little wooden chair right now with a
dirt floor, reading the same book that we're
reading right now. You see, it's God's Word. It
meets the needs of everybody. The same. They all need it all.
That's proof. That's proof that it is the Word
of the living God. It's beyond the power of man
to destroy it. As I said, the Master copies
in heaven. Here's some other reasons why
I believe it's the Word of God. It's new every time you read
it. Now I've read books like, I've read some books several
times. I've read Pilgrim's Progress five or six times. I've read
Warburton's book three or four times. Good books like that are
worth reading over and over again. But I tell you what, how many
of you have read Huckleberry Finn? 143 times. Anybody? 50
times. You read Hutt? If you don't what's there but
that's not sure that's a good thing for a thirty twenty in
a moment. How many times you read it. How many times you read that
second how many times you heard about a read that you stand.
How many times And you read it and say, wow,
I didn't see that. Well, and it's just as fresh
and just as new. And you say, that's great. Well,
you've heard it a hundred times. Well, it's just better now than
the first time I heard it. Some of you watch movies more
than once. And I, you know, I don't like
to do that. It's got to be an awful good
one. I mean, an awful good one. And still the second time you
see it, you think, well, it was good, but it wasn't as good as
I thought it was the first time. And the third time you think,
it's all right, we've got nothing better to do. The fourth time,
fifth time, you won't look at a movie or read a book like that. It gets old, doesn't it? This
doesn't get old. It's just new. How do I know
it's the Word of God? Because it's new, everyone. It's
brand new. It's like you've never read it
before. I mean, God's the one that wrote
it. God's the one that wrote it.
Another reason why I believe it's the word of God. Do you
read biographies? Some of you read in your history
book biographies of men like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington,
and men like that. You'll read biographies. And
whoever's writing their story, they just make these men sound
so good. They make Thomas Jefferson out
to be the most wonderful fellow to ever live. I'm telling you,
he's the most ungodly fellow to ever live. He got the Bible. Is this not
right, Ed Berry? He got the Bible and cut everything
out of it. He didn't leave. All the miracles
of Jesus Christ he could not rationally explain. He cut them
out. He made his own Bible. You think what a blasphemous
fellow that fellow is. He's not worthy of mention. Now, I'm not here to denounce
Thomas Jefferson. Thank God he used him to write
the Declaration of Independence, and then he threw him in hell
after that. Yes. But, you know, you read a biography,
and they'll talk about these fellows in such glowing terms. God writes about men. What about
an autobiography? Some people have the audacity
to write their autobiography when they're twenty years old. 22-year-old, where have you been? What are you doing?" Played basketball. Well, tell us your life story.
Well, I played basketball. When I was in grade school, I
played basketball. What did you do after that? Well, when I got to junior high,
I played basketball. And then what? What did you see?
Well, I went and played more basketball. And all my life I've played basketball. Yeah. Autobiography. How's a man going to write about
himself in an autobiography? What's he going to say about
himself? Oh, I'm, ooh, me? You want to know about me? Well,
let me tell you about me. I am, well, I just never cease
to amaze myself. Like Katherine Hepburn wrote
a book, and the title of it was, You know what God's men write
when they wrote this book? You know what they said about
themselves? You want to know that it's not the writings of
a man? A man's not going to denounce himself. A man's not going to
reveal his own hidden secrets. A man's not going to stand up
and tell you, oh, I did this, I did that, the most hideous
and torturous. A man's not going to do that.
These men did. Paul said, I was a blasphemer,
a persecutor, injurious. Isaiah, tell us about yourself.
I'm a man of unclean lips. Tell us about yourself, Job.
Woe is me, I'm undone. Write your autobiography, Ezekiel. Oh, I'm filthy. Daniel, what
about you? I ain't nothing to look at. Peter, an ignorant fisherman. John, what about you? The best
man. John, tell us about yourself." Nothing! Nothing. That proves it's God's Word,
doesn't it? That proves it's God's Word.
And most importantly, how do I know this is—why do I believe
what I believe? And like I said before, and about this book, this book
Well, look at the text again. 1 John 5. Look at it again. 1
John 5. God speaks for himself here.
Look at verse 9. He says, This is the witness
of God. Now, if you believe men, the witness of God is greater.
And I've been talking about creation. I've been talking about his word.
This is the witness of God, which he hath. You got it? 1 John 5
and 9. This is the witness, the testimony.
This is what God's saying. It's what he has testified of
his son. The existence of Jesus Christ
in history is undeniable. The wise men have, well, everybody
has quit trying to prove that he did not exist. Proof is undeniable. One named Jesus of Nazareth walked
this planet. And you know what he said? You know what he said? He said,
I am that I am. This man said, I am from above,
you're from beneath. This man said, I give life. This man said, I'm the light
of the world. This man said, heaven and earth
pass away, what I say won't. This man said, I am God. I'm here. Who? Jesus. Jesus? God. That's the big, this is the,
this is the, this is what it's all about. This is why we're
here this morning. A person walked this planet named
Jesus, who lived in Nazareth nearly 2,000 years ago, and he
said some fantastic things. And people say he did some unbelievable
things. He lived on this world. Walked
this earth, died on a cross, and you know 400 people said,
he came out of the grave. 400 people saw him. Thousands
of people saw him made a bloody, unrecognizable mess. Saw a soldier
rip his guts open with a huge metal spear. Just ripped him
wide open and his bowels gush out. and take him, his body,
and throw it in a tomb. And three days later, four hundred
people said, he walked out of that grave. He walked out of that grave a
man. Christ said, I told you, I'm
not a man. I took a body, I look like a
man, but I'm more than a man. and the maker of man. In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. Without Him was not anything
made which was made, and the Word became flesh. Christ, Jesus,
that man from Nazareth, was God, is God, is God, is God. God Almighty said it from heaven,
Some said it thundered. Those who heard it said, it thundered
all right. God said, this is my son. Son. Hear him. My son. The son, you know, the center
of the universe. This is my S-O-N, center of life. In him we live
and move and have our being. He walked this planet. God bore
witness of him over and over and over as he walked this planet,
over and over and over again. And this book bears witness to
him. This book tells every step he'd take, every word he'd say,
every place he'd go, every miracle he'd perform, down to every single
thing that would happen to him in his death from the very plucking
of his beard, to the crowning of thorn, to the piercing of
his side, to the laying in the grave, and whose grave it was,
a rich man, to when he'd come out, and then where he'd go after
that, and how he'd come later on. This book tells all that. Men,
written by men, as Virgil would believe that stuff. This is my
son. This book is a hymn book. That's
how I know it's God's Word, and how I know God's Word, because
God's Word walked this earth. And in the witness of men, and
I talked about this earlier, the witness of men, four evangelists,
twelve apostles. These men saw him, signs and
miracles. And I said before, they were
fishermen. They were just plain old ordinary
fellers. just plain, ordinary fellows. If I wanted to find
somebody to tell the closest to the truth, if I wanted to
find somebody to tell my story, somebody that would stay closest
to the truth, I sure wouldn't tell a politician. I wouldn't
tell him. I wouldn't tell somebody who
had a lot of money. I wouldn't tell—I'd tell just
like an old cook. Like that. Plain, common, ordinary
fellow. Here, repeat this, Joe. Go tell
these people this, would you? You go tell them that? Okay. Now, he's got nothing. He's got
no money to gain from it. He's got no reputation to gain. He's nobody. Right, Joe? I'm not making fun of you. I'm
nobody, too. Common. He's common. Huh? They didn't have anything to
gain. These fishermen didn't have anything to gain by that.
Our Lord said, go in all the world and preach the gospel.
Why, Lord? Are we going to get rich? No, they're going to kill
you. Are we going to make money at this, Lord, in religion? Is
there money in religion? The Lord said, no, Peter, they're
going to crucify you. They're going to kill you. Are we going to be famous? No,
you're going to be infamous. They're going to hunt you. Paul,
go tell my story. Am I going to be famous? Everybody's
going to know you, all right? They're going to try to kill
you. Forty men will put a vow and shave their heads and not
rest until they kill you. Go. Tell it. That's how I know it's God's
Word. They didn't have anything to gain by it. Nothing to gain. They lost everything by telling
it. Religion's big money today. Telling lies is big money. It's
the same today, though. A man tell the truth, he's got
the same thing coming as before. When a man tell lies, he can
make money. A man tell lies, he can get famous. But these fellows didn't. They
told the truth, and it cost them dearly. It cost them dearly. These men saw him, and they told
him. Listen, you young people ought to read sometime, you ought
to read a little bit of what's called Fox's Book of Martyrs.
It's a story about men and women, yes, men and women, and even
young people. I've got a story down there,
Brother Barry gave me some books. I've got a story of a boy who
was just a teenager who was burned at the stake. I mean literally
tied alive to a stake, and they set him on fire. Why? Because he believed articulate
redemption. That's what he believed. He was
a five-pointer. He said, I won't renounce it. I believe. Christ died for his
elect, his sheep. They burned his body alive. Young people. Now, who's going
to do that for a doctor? Who, what woman? Women? Hebrews
11 talks about women receiving, watching their children being
tortured. What woman would, and I could tell you stories, couldn't
I? Those of you who read Fox's Book of Marks? Stories of women
tied to the stake while they did horrible things to their
children. They say, if you just recant, if you just renounce,
if you just say, I don't believe this, we'll let you loose and
let you have your baby back. And the women would say, I can't. I won't. That's of God. That is of God
Almighty. Huh? They saw those babies again.
Shortly thereafter, they saw them again, and nobody's going
to take them from them. They're going to be joined throughout
eternity. Yes, sir. And lastly, the witness
within. The witness of God, the witness
of men, the witness within. The witness within. How do you
explain the difference in people? The difference in people where
God Almighty really does a work. really begins to work. It's different. And it's more than just turning
over a new leaf. Most people who turn over new
leaves find that—you generally find out the other side is just
as bad as—the flip side is as bad as the other. It's rotten
on both sides. You don't find leaves, you know,
live on one side and dead on the other. New leaf on new life. life. A new creature in Christ. I've
been to Mexico five times now. You go down there, and in every
village, Pueblo it's called, every village, little Pueblo,
you'll find right smack dab in the middle of town, you'll find
a huge cathedral built with little pesos and scraping money up for
all those peasant people that live in rags and dirt floors
and no plumbing or electricity, who give all their money to this
huge Catholic religion to build these huge cathedrals to make
rich these priests who come out and sprinkle water and parade
statues before them, and they dig up the bones of their All
of these natives dig up the bones of their relatives and put them
in little boxes and burn candles to them if they say enough prayers
and give enough pesos, the same way in the United States. Pray
for the dead and their souls will be delivered, the souls
of their relatives will be delivered from punishment. And if they
do enough and they pray long enough and they stay in the church
and never leave the church, then they'll save their loved ones. Every village, huge, huge cathedral
of people living in garrisons, and there by the thousands on
their hands and knees, burning candles. The gospel comes, the gospel. You're going to hear it from
Walter Gruber in a couple of weeks, a man who's seen it firsthand. Comes
and stands out in the middle of the town center square. and says, Ho, everyone that thirsteth, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, come to Christ, he'll give you rest, and preaches the
gospel. And one by one, here and there,
they come. And they quit burning candles,
and they sweep the dirt floors, and they wash their their church,
and they get baptized, and baptism costs them down there. They are
excommunicated from the church and from their families. Their
families won't have anything to do with it. The minute they're
baptized and go under that water, they denounce their former religion
and say they trust Christ alone, not Mary, not the priest, Christ
alone, and their family says, You're no longer a member of
this, you're no longer a son. You're no longer my husband and
I." But they do it anyway. They do it anyway. And they say
with Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols? I've heard him and observed him. I've seen him change lives, throw
away candles and idols to worship the true and living God. intelligent. Men with no learning stand, stand
up and preach the gospel better than I can do it. Better than I can do it. A little
fellow named Jose with a gold tooth will stand up and admonish
and preach the gospel like he never heard it in Spanish. But as gloriously, oh my, oh
my, And experience will tell you. Experience tells me, experience
tells me that this is real. This is real. I wrote a friend
of mine one time that I grew up with. I grew up with a fella
and wrote him and, you know, he'd heard that I'd got religion. And I wrote him and, you know,
he thought it was just bad I got religion. And following the crowd,
and I wrote him back and I said, I said, tried to say, I said,
listen, you've known me longer than that. See, I never, I never followed
anybody when I was growing up. And young people, I advise you
not to either. Don't follow your friends. You
be the leader. Why should you wear something
called Billy Bob Smith's wearing it? Who's Billy Bob Smith? Why
should you go someplace? Why should you do something called
so-and-so's doing? Why? Peer pressure is what it's
called. I've got to do this, everybody
else is doing it. Why are they doing it? I don't know. Why are they wearing
it? Why are they piercing their nose?
Even two holes in that? Why are they doing that? I don't
understand this. This can't be comfortable. What
about when you go to blow your nose? Why are they doing that? Why? Why don't I pierce your
nose or your ear or anything for that matter? Don't do that. That's stupid. That's plum stupid. Next thing
they'll be doing, women will be putting big plates in their
lips. But they did in Africa. Heard of that? Big plate, like
that. I got to get a plate in my left.
Why? Everybody else is doing it. You
see how ridiculous and absurd that is? Don't do that. Well,
by God's grace, I wasn't one to follow the crowd. And I wrote
him and I said, listen, I wasn't following the crowd. You know
me better than that. I'm not doing this because somebody
else is doing it. I'm not doing this because I'm
not following the crowd. My mother used to, Lloyd, my
mother used to think I ran around with bad company. In fact, I
was the bad company. I was the bad company. Other
mothers were warning their children about me. Don't run around with
him. And I wrote him and I said, listen,
you know me better than that. And it's the same fellow that
one time I told him, I said, I can disprove everything my
dad's been preaching for years. You know how bad old I was, about
18, you know, 17. I told him that. I can disprove
everything my dad, my 50, 40-some-year-old dad at the time, was been preaching
for all these years. I don't believe in this stuff,
this old religion stuff. I said that to him one time,
a long time ago. Well, I wrote him back after
the Lord dealt with him, and I said, listen, you remember
what I said? Well, I renounced that. I haven't begun, commenced
to begin to know half of what my dad's been pushing for all
these years. And furthermore, I believe every word of it. I believe everything he's been
saying, and more. Dad got smart overnight. And who did that? And I told
him also, I said, I wasn't looking for this. Probably I wasn't wanting
religion. I was having a big time being
a party guy. It was the life of the party.
I liked to be the life of the party. I wasn't looking for Jesus
Christ or religion. Didn't want that. Had a really
cramped my style. Thank God he cramped my style! And one day, he stopped my wild career. And he said to me, after hearing
the gospel a few times, he said, it's hard to kick against bricks,
isn't it? Hard to kick against bricks.
Hard. You're looking at a man who believes
what he wants adamantly denied. You're looking at a man who loves
now what he once hated, and who now hates what he used to just
dearly love. Explain that. A man who was not seeking or
wanting religion, but was completely satisfied and enjoying his former
lifestyle and what he was pursuing, and now it's the last thing on
earth I want to be opinionated, willful, stubborn,
a free spirit, never believed anything because other people
did, never. But now, what I once labeled old-fashioned,
foolish, and ignorant religion, I believe with all my heart. It is necessary I believe by
the grace of God I would not. Testify that. That. Because I say with Peter and
John I say. You can't help but tell the things
I've seen and heard. Can't. Tell me the truth. I'm telling. I'm telling you the cost you.
That's what I think, that's what I know. I know it's so. Experience
tells me that. And Peter said that, we read
that in 2 Peter, he said, no. Believers, beloved, he says, don't let these scoffers and
mockers Beware, lest ye be led away from the error of the wicked.
See, and you know these things. You know these things. How do
you know? I gave you plenty of reasons, but you know because
of experience. Don't you, huh? Nobody's going
to convince you otherwise. Why? You know. You understand
your husband? Yeah, you know him. Is Jesus
Christ your Lord? Yeah, you know him. You know
him. But grow in grace now in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. How? Right here, what we did
this morning. Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,
because to Him is going to be glory, both now and forever.
Amen. All right. Brother Joe?