I want you to open your Bibles
to the book of II Peter, II Peter chapter 1, II Peter chapter 1. We'll begin reading at verse
16, For we have not followed the
cunningly devised fables, that is lies made up by men and made
to look like the truth. When we made known unto you by
the preaching of the word, by the written word of God, the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. For he, the Lord Jesus Christ,
received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came
such a voice to him from the excellent glory that were on
the mouth of transfiguration. The Lord Jesus transfigured before
them, and God spoke from heaven and said, This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased. This man, this man standing here
before you in flesh and blood like you are, this man is my
beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice came
from heaven, which came from heaven, we heard. I'm not giving
you secondhand information, Peter said. I heard it with my own
ears. We heard it when we were with
him, Holy Mount, verse 19, we have also a more sure word. Now look up here. This is what it's talking about. You've got it in your hand, or
on your lap. This is what it's talking about.
Something more sure than the revelation of God in His glory,
visible to Peter's eye when he was with the Lord on the Mount
of Transfiguration. Something more dependable, more
sure than the voice he heard with his own ears when God spoke
from heaven. A more sure word of prophecy,
this book. If you don't get anything else
out of what I have to say tonight, take that home with you and learn
to treasure this book. This is more beneficial, more
substantial, more revealing, more compelling, more authoritative,
more powerful than if you had the Lord Jesus himself standing
right out here on this hill, transfigured before your eyes
with Moses and Elijah talking to him and God speaking from
heaven. That's a statement. That's a
statement. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy where unto ye do well, you would be smart to pay
attention, that you take heed, take heed to this word as a light
that shineth in a dark place. until the day dawn and the day
star arise in your hearts. Search this book, read this book,
pay attention to this book, heed this book until God reveals Christ
in you. Read on. Knowing this first,
that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. Now let me tell you exactly what
that means, lest I forget to do so later. passage I'm reading right here
1st Peter chapter 2nd Peter chapter 2 verses 16 through 21 these
verses right here must not be interpreted standing alone by
themselves every word of phrase, every sentence, every chapter,
every book in Holy Scripture is to be interpreted in the context
of the whole revelation of God. You understand Scripture by Scripture. I once heard a fella speak one
time, and it was a very good statement. He said, you hear
something, just throw it at the Bible. Just throw it at the Bible. If it bounces back, it ain't
so. If the Bible just takes it in, that's truth. Everything
in the Word is to be understood in the context of all the revelation
of God. So when you read in Scripture
statements that seem to contradict the Gospel of God's grace, seem
to contradict other things, read the whole book of God and you
get the understanding of it. Read on. Verse 21, for the prophecy,
this Word of God, came not in old time by the will of man,
That is, this wasn't developed by men conjuring up some ideas
and putting them together. But holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. These men who gave us this word
of prophecy, and the word not talking there as it's used, prophecy,
about future things, it's talking about the revelation of God,
the declaration of God's truth, this word, was inspired by God
the Holy Ghost, and men spoke the word as most of Paul's epistles
were spoken by him, not written by him. They were written by
a secretary, somebody who wrote down exactly what Paul said.
They were spoken by these men, these holy men, who were moved
by the Holy Ghost. Now this is what that means.
As man was inspired of God to speak the word of God and he
gave it out, the word was written just as if God the Holy Ghost
had taken that man and inscribed the word with his own hand. That's
how thorough, how complete inspiration is. But pastor, the scriptures
written by John, and those written by Paul, and those written by
Peter, and those written by Amos, and those written by Isaiah,
all by distinct characteristics. God used the men, and used their
personalities, and used their character. But the Word written
is the very Word of God. This book is God's Word. perfect, infallible, without
defect, without flaw, without fault, without error, without
contradiction of any kind. Well, I can show you lots of
contradictions in the Bible. Stop by my office and let's talk
about it, we'll see. There's not any there, there's
not any there. Anything that appears to be contradictory
to you or to me, is only so because of our feeble, weak, finite minds,
not because there's a contradiction in the book. This word is absolutely
true. I endeavor to preach truth to
you. I endeavor to preach to you as
I am directed by God the Holy Spirit. But I would never suggest
or imply that what I preach to you is the very Word of God. This is, this is. Every word
in it. But history doesn't back up things
like that. Science, science won't allow
you to really believe everything written in the book. This is
not a book about science. It is not a book about history.
but where it speaks of science and where it speaks of historic
facts, you understand this and understand it well. If what you
have been taught to believe about science contradicts this word,
I don't care who the scientist is, I don't care what his degrees
are, I don't care how many laboratories he's got, if what he says contradicts
the word, what he says is false. When it speaks of history, If
you find a historian says, no, that's not the way things are.
Whatever the historian says that contradicts this word, it's false. Where this book speaks, it speaks
with infallible accuracy and with precise accuracy. This is the word of God. I make
no apology for declaring it emphatically and declaring to you that this
book, the pages of this book are the Holy Scriptures. which
are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which
is in Jesus Christ. With unswerving confidence, I
declare in the words of the apostles, all scripture, the whole book
of God is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for
doctrine. That is to say, we get all our
doctrine out of this book. Not out of a creed, not out of
a confession of faith, not out of a book I've written or some
other man's written, only from this book. This book alone is
profitable for doctrine. And for reproof, to reprove that
which is false and erroneous. And for correction, to correct
our thinking and to correct our ways. For instruction in righteousness,
you won't find out anything about righteousness anywhere else except
in this book. that the man of God may be perfect,
complete, entire, whole, thoroughly furnished, thoroughly furnished,
furnished throughout the entirety of his being and his thinking
and his emotions, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. This book alone is verbally inspired
the inerrant Word of God, the Bible, a message from God our
Father to the fallen sons of Adam and the subject of the book
is Jesus Christ God the Eternal Son and it's written by God the
Holy Spirit. This book stands as the most
remarkable witness to itself you'll ever find. This book is
the greatest standing miracle in the world today. I know folks
deny the inspiration of scripture and they decry and denounce us
as foolish for believing it. But I say to those people, give
me a reasonable proof of your denial. Let such men explain
the peculiar nature and character of this volume, if you can, in
a way that will satisfy any rational, sane, reasonable person. The
Word of God stands unshakably on its own ground. It's not our
job to prove its infallibility. It's not our job to prove its
validity. It is our job to believe the
Word and proclaim its message no more. I repeat, this is an
amazing fact, just the existence of this book, just the existence
of it. Never was an order given from
any man to plan the writing of this book. Never was there any
concerted effort on the part of men to write the book. The
Bible was gradually developed little by little through the
centuries. And that's one of the great mysteries of time.
Little by little, part by part, century by century, it came out
in fragments, in small portions, written by men. Men who were
separated over a span of 1600 years, separated by continents,
separated by hundreds of miles, who never knew one another, who
never spoke to one another, who never were even aware of one
another's existence. And it was written by such men
in a day when there was no such thing as mass communication like
we have today. It was written by these men all
unaware of what others were doing for the most part. And yet it's
a book that's completely unified with one message declaring one
God, one savior, one redemption, one salvation. and in all its
details in perfect symmetry and in perfect harmony so that it
all just fits. Now you deny inspiration and
explain that to me. Deny the inspiration of scripture
and give me some reasonable sane reason for the existence of such
a book. It can't be done. The Bible itself
is its own best witness to its infallibility as the book of
God. It has been scrutinized and analyzed
and criticized by men and women of every generation for more
than 2,000 years. Many, many, many have been the
attempts to discredit it. and denounce its teachings, overthrow
its authority, and destroy its existence. But here it is, as
fresh, as powerful as it has ever been. Our politicians argue
about the Constitution of the United States. Some say it's
a living document. By that they mean it's something
that just, the meaning of the words change from generation
to generation on how you read it and how you are to interpret
it in the day in which you live. But that's not a living document. That's men who try to alter the
words of men to make them mean what they didn't intend. Others
say it's just a written document, factual, and you stand by the
word. That's accurate, but neither
of them properly describe this book. This book is the written,
factual word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Living? Well, it's just ink. processed wood and fine leather
with gilded edges. That's all it is to the unregenerate
soul. That's all it is to the person,
the man, the woman, or the child who doesn't know God, but not
to the believer. Don't you find it amazing as
you read through the Scriptures how that God speaks by His Word
to you in your life circumstance and concerning the very thing
you are presently experiencing it, be it good or bad, and speaks
to you as fresh as if He just came down, sat down beside you
and said, let me tell you now about what you're going through.
He reveals Himself in His Word. There is a perfect unity, a solid
message given in the scriptures to God's saints. A marvelous,
marvelous heavenly revelation. How firm a foundation, ye saints
of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word. What more can he say than to
you he has said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled. But there is a religious movement
afoot in our day which threatens the authority of this book in
the Church of Christ. That which is called Christianity
today is plagued with a Pentecostalism Pentecostalism that has been
branded by some for the last 30 or 40 years as New Pentecostalism. Pentecostalism is no longer the
obviously fanatical small sect of holy rollers looked upon with
disdain and contempt by folks with good sense. I remember when
I was just a boy, Oral Roberts had tent revivals all over the
place and he came to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, pitched a big
tent. Back in those days, everybody
in the world laughed at him. Everybody, everybody. Wound up
building a huge religious empire and there were doctors and lawyers,
smart folks. Smart folks followed him, followed
him and swallowed his line, hook, line, and sinker. This day, this
militant, aggressive, Pentecostal nonsense has infected every denomination
of what's called Christianity. I don't know of a single exception,
not a single exception. Baptist and Presbyterian, Methodist
and Catholic, Everywhere, Anglican, Episcopalian, everywhere. There's
even one group, a whole denomination of folks, who call themselves
people who believe in the sovereign grace of God, who are utterly
given over to the charismatic nonsense. Sadly, most preachers
are afraid to denounce it as the heresy it is. I recall years and years and
years ago, I was at a meeting of some preachers. I was just
a young man. I was still in college. And folks started to deal somewhat
with the Pentecostal nonsense. And they talked about our Arminian
brethren and our Pentecostal brethren. And my brother Harry
Graham, he stood up after the meeting was over. He said, fellas,
if you're not careful, you're going to love yourselves right
out of the truth. gonna be so loving, so kind, so gracious.
I'm here to lift a clarion voice tonight, and I've been working
on this for a good many weeks, to utterly expose the horrid
heresy of Pentecostal doctrine. Modern-day Pentecostalism strikes
at the very foundation of our faith, the Word of God. It's
offering the religious world a new approach to authority and
a new approach to truth. The Pentecostals boldly claim
that they have apostolic gifts and apostolic powers. They speak
of receiving a word from God. They speak of seeing angels and
talk about speaking in tongues and performing miracles, healing
men in their bodies, healing men in their finances, healing
men and women in their troubles. This Pentecostalism is the supplanting
of Scripture. If these men and women have the
gifts they claim to have, if they have the gifts they claim
to have, if they have apostolic gifts, they also have apostolic
authority and they can receive apostolic infallible revelation
from God as the apostles did. That's the danger and that's
precisely what they claim. The Pentecostal claims that when
a man is speaking in tongues, when he's in the Spirit, as they
say, and when you read about John in the Spirit on the Lord's
Day, they think of that as being some kind of a, just a trance, and God begins
to speak through him. That's not what John experienced.
But the Pentecostal imagines that a man in these spiritual
trances, when he's in the spirit, his body becomes the instrument
of the Holy Ghost. And he speaks the very Word of
God. The Lord's given me a word for
you. Now hear what he says. Pentecostal's terribly heretical
doctrine. is received easily because of
his ability in the eyes of men to perform miracles and wonders
and speak in an unknown tongue. After all, who would dare question
such a man's authority as a speaker for God? I do not, please hear
me, I do not deny that God performs miracles. I'm standing here because
of unceasing miraculous things. Things I could point to you and
show you that obviously God intervened. I do not deny that men have power
to perform miracles. They may, they may. 2 Thessalonians
2 is to be understood literally, and I believe it is. The Lord
God sending a strong delusion gives messengers of Satan power
to perform signs and lying wonders. If Revelation 17 is to be understood
literally, and I believe it is, the Lord God gives those false
witnesses of the beast power to call down fire from heaven.
That's power, bud. power. Well, you can't really
believe that's so. Let me give you a personal example.
I've had in recent months, I've had several folks speak to me
concerned about my denunciation of tongues and apostolic gifts
and those things, and gifts to heal, gifts to perform miracles,
and ask questions. And As if somehow I'm denying
the reality of those things. But I've experienced this. I
was here and I prayed and I asked the Lord to heal me and he did.
And I know it's real. I know it's real. I don't even
address that. I don't even address that. We
do not interpret what God says in his word by what we experience
in time. Did you get that? If you do,
you will delude yourself. We do not interpret what God
says in his word by what we experience in time. We interpret what we
experience in time by what God says in his word. Lindsay, that's
all the difference in the world. That's all the difference in
the world. Well, how can you, how can you deny this? I don't
deny anything. I read what God says in his word.
When I was a young man, before God saved me, I was 15 years
old, I was pumping gas at a service station, washing cars and changing
flat tires and that kind of stuff. And it was back in the early
days when folks first started driving, commonly driving around
in air conditioned vehicles. You folks who are mechanical
will understand this quickly. I had a fellow pull in one day
and asked me to check his water. I was a 15 year old boy, I didn't
know anything about stuff. popped open the hood, took off
the radiator cap, about time I got it nearly off, that whole
thing just exploded all over me. Just, I mean, scalded me. Right here, right down the tip
of my fingers. When I pulled my shirt off, it
pulled the skin off with it. And I had third degree burns. Doctor said I'd be scarred for
my life. And I have a dear aunt, good Baptist lady. She had a
remarkable gift. She could blow fire. She could blow fire, and she
did. Find a scar? Find one. Oh, that was of God! Not hardly,
and I hope she hears this message. The superstition of the witchcraft
was that she could pass it on to one man. Pass it on to two
men, a man who had to pass on the gift to two women. After
God saved me, she decided to pass the gift on to me. And immediately
when she told me what she did, I said, that's witchcraft. That's
sorcery. What you do is you just blow
the fire and you... Wave your hand over it and you
keep repeating, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost, amen. I baptize you in the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, amen. It worked,
didn't it? That don't mean it's of God.
You understand what I'm telling you? We do not interpret the
word of God by our experience. We interpret our experience by
the word of God. The attitude of the Pentecostal
toward the Word of God makes the Word of God of secondary
importance at best. You listen, I don't suggest that
you do, but if you just insist on listening to the nonsense,
listen to some of them, or read what they write. You will find
they have horribly pathetic views of the person of our God. Their
views of men, of man, are exalted views of man. Their views of
Christ are always sissified, and the views of the world always
carnal. And the word of God, at best,
becomes secondary. So that in these charismatic
outfits, there is hardly a reference to scripture. They'll read it,
talk about the Bible, lay it down, talk about experience.
No exposition scripture, no teaching of the scriptures, but rather
they wait on a word of knowledge, a vision, a miracle. And they'll
clap and applaud and jump up and down when they see somebody
throw their crutches away or get up out of a wheelchair or
whatever. Get excited. I mean, the place
will just erupt. And then you read to them about
the sacrifice of the redeemer and the grace of God and they'll
sit there and go to sleep. How come? Because those things
are irrelevant. The only thing that really matters
is my experience and my feeling. Now, let's look in the Word of
God here in 2 Peter 1. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy. We have in this book something
that indescribably supersedes the miraculous that you can see
or experience. Something that indescribably
supersedes a vision or a word from man. Something that indescribably
supersedes things passed along by tradition or by religion.
We have a threefold testimony given to us here of the gospel
of God's free grace. The Apostle Peter writing by
the Spirit of God tells us that we believe the gospel upon the
divinely affirmed testimony of the inspired apostles. That's
the first thing. Look what it says. We have not
followed cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. What we preach
to you about the person and work of God's darling son is not something
we invented or other men invented, but rather we were eyewitnesses
of his majesty, for he received from God the Father honor and
glory. when there came such a voice
from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom I am
well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven, we heard and when we were with him in the Holy Mount. Now be warned, Pentecostalism
is denial of the sufficiency of scripture. Pentecostalism
adds speaking in tongues and ecstatic visions, performing
miracles and holy trances to the message of the Bible. In
other words, it makes everything in the book to be subject to
interpretation by experience, not the other way around. Pentecostalism. Never seeks enlightenment from
the written word of God, by the spirit of God, but rather seeks
an additional word from God. Something more. Something more
than the gospel. Something more than grace. Something
more than salvation by grace. Something more than Christ. Something
more than redemption. We need something more! no. Oh, no. These deluded souls fully
believe that there are prophets and apostles today who have the
powers and the gifts that God gave to Moses and Aaron and Elijah
and Elisha and the apostles. The modern miracle workers flat
out deny the sufficiency of God's Word. Now, don't take my word
for it. One of their men years ago as far as intellectual
things are concerned was Henry Frost. He wrote a book on miraculous
healing. I'll give you just one statement
and if you want to see the whole context I'll give it to you,
you'll be glad to. He says, we are not to say that the Word
of God is sufficient. It is not a sufficient revelation
of God. It is not a sufficient authority. It is not a sufficient
book of doctrine and creed. We must have miracles and revelations. The charismatic looks upon those
signs and miracles and wonders as being superior to, more powerful
than the word of God, because after all, these are newer, these
are fresher. These miraculous gifts, they
tell us, will cause people to believe. Well, if men won't just
receive a word preached, but if they see a miracle, then they'll
believe. Our Lord Jesus said, if they
receive not, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither
would they believe though one were raised from the dead. performance
of miracles by the Apostles and by our Lord Jesus was never intended
to convey faith to anyone. In fact you read of many in the
Scriptures who experienced miracles who never believed. And the Scriptures
tell us plainly they did not believe. They pretended to be
disciples because of the loaves and fishes. Got got a free lunch
every day and loaves and fishes and pretended to believe but
the Lord didn't trust him He didn't believe them. He didn't
commit himself to them The signs and wonders and miracles were
given by God the Holy Spirit to the early church to confirm
that Jesus is the Christ and given to His apostles to confirm
them as the messengers of Jesus Christ. Once the apostles died,
once John died, all apostolic gifts ceased. All of them. Nobody has ever had such gifts
since the death of the Apostle John. Not one. How can you say
that? The only people in scripture
who were able by the laying on of their hands to convey those
gifts were apostles. They're the only ones. I've preached
a good many ordination sermons in my lifetime and I made a determination
as a young man, no matter what other folks do, I'm not going
to pretend I have apostolic authority because most of the time Preachers
will kneel or bow and preachers will come by and lay their hands
on his head like they were popes and gonna confer a blessing on
him. I like what Mr. Spurgeon said, I don't see how
you laying your empty hand on my empty head is gonna do anything.
But we don't have those gifts. But didn't they impose hands
on men in the New Testament? Yeah, apostles did. Apostles
did they had the gifts and they could convey the gifts. Well,
how do you know nobody else could? Philip was present on the day
of Pentecost when God the Holy Ghost was poured out to confirm
that Christ is the Messiah that he had accomplished his work
as the Redeemer and Philip received those gifts but he being an evangelist
was sent to Samaria and preached the gospel in multitudes believed
and And Philip waited until the apostles came who conferred on
those men in Samaria the gifts of the Holy Spirit because only
the apostles could do so. We don't need such gifts. We have God's Word. We don't need another revelation
from God. Our faith in Christ does not
hinge to any degree on what we experience in time. Our faith
in Christ is faith in God's word. That's all. That's all. Now, let me get to the nub of
this. Folks say, well, you've got to
have evidence that you're filled with the Spirit. You've got to
speak in tongues. You've got, oh. Pay no attention to that
nonsense. Believe God. That's all. I don't understand the, I just
don't understand the Bible. Let me get a new translation.
No, getting a new translation won't do you any good. It just
won't do you any good. I wrote to somebody a week or
two ago, they wanted to know about, they said, I just don't
understand the English in the King James. What translation
would you recommend? I said, I'll tell you what, you
send me a note and tell me which words you don't understand, I'll
be glad to explain them to you. That's not the problem. That's not the
problem. Folks get all kinds of new translations because they
want to find something that doesn't offend man, makes man look good,
makes God look little, and then they can get along. That's the
only purpose. The only purpose is to hold the
authority of Holy Scripture in contempt. There's no other purpose.
There is absolutely no other purpose. This book is the Word
of God. but it's written in Elizabethan
English. We don't talk that way anymore. So what? So what? I'll tell you what you do. I'll
make a recommendation to you. I don't know who teaches literature
at Center College or at University of Kentucky or at University
of Louisville, but go find them all and suggest to them. Just make this suggestion. It'll
be brilliant. They'll thank you for it. When
you teach Shakespeare this year, why don't you rewrite that in
modern English? Who would dare do that to Shakespeare's
most masterful works? Who would dare do that to God's
most masterful work? The problem's not understanding
it. The problem is not believing. That's the problem. And I'll
tell you what. I'll tell you how you'll come
to begin to understand this book. I promise you. Believe it. And you'll wonder what fool ever
thought this world just popped into being. You'll just believe
it. And you'll wonder what idiot
ever imagined that man just dropped out of a tree. You just read
the book and it just falls into place if you believe God. If you believe God. Now, here's what God says. believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now let
me tell you a little something about your pastor. Let me try to tell you. My heart is so full of iniquity. my life. Rex Bartley, there ain't
one thing in my life I can point to and say, now there's me a
reason for comfort. Not one thing. Nothing. Nothing. But Pastor,
you've had some remarkable experiences. Yes. There's not one thing, not
one thing. No amount of knowledge, No amount
of labor, no amount of devotion, no amount of prayer, no amount
of reading this book, no amount of feeling near God. There's
not one thing in me or in my history that would make me have
the slightest notion of an idea that I'm born of God. There just
isn't. There just isn't. No holiness,
no righteousness, no purity, no sanctification, no good works
that I can say, now here, this, this, this is surely, surely
proof that I'm God's. Oh no, oh no, oh no. There's just one question to
be answered. Just one. Just one. Dost thou believe on
the Son of God? And Bobby, when my heart's as
hard as stone and as cold as an iceberg, my eyes are as dry
as a desert, my mind is full of corruption, Yes. I believe that Jesus of
Nazareth is the Christ of God. And that's all my hope. And I'm not going to pay any
attention to anything else. I'm not going to pay any attention
to what anybody else says. I'm not going to pay any attention
to anything anybody else has experienced. I believe God. This is what God says. He that
believeth that Jesus is the Christ. He is born of God. You can have your miracles. You
can have your tongues. You can have your visions. I
ain't interested. But Brother Dunn, I'm not interested.
You need to hear this, I'm not interested. You need to say,
I'm not interested. But you don't know, I'm not interested. I'm interested in what God says
in this book, nothing else. Nothing else. This is what God
says. He that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Oh, may God give you grace to
trust His Son and go home with the full assurance of faith. I'm going to eat this bread and
drink this wine, remembering my Savior, with full assurance
of faith. Oh God, God help me for just
this little while not to look at me, not to think about anything
I've done, said, or experienced, only to Him. And I will remember
Him who loved me and gave Himself for me, confident that it's so,
because I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the
living God. Amen.