uninspired phrase, I'm talking
about something that's not in the Bible, but it's great. And I don't know of anything
I enjoy more than this phrase, near, so near to God, nearer
I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
son, I'm as near to God as he. Dear, so dear to God, dearer
I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
son, I'm as dear to God as he." And that can only be understood
in the light of the gospel. Tonight, Lord willing, I'm going
to be preaching out of the last two verses of 1 Corinthians 7
and the first six verses of Romans chapter 7, and I've entitled
the message, Bound, Dead, and Free. I'm looking forward to
bringing that message. Now would you turn for a moment
to Psalm 82? This is what the Lord quotes in that passage I
just read in John chapter 5. God standeth in the congregation
of the mighty. He judgeth among the gods. He's calling men gods. Why? How long will you judge
unjustly and accept the persons of the wicked. He's talking about
the judges and he calls them gods because of their position
to render judgment on people. And he's saying your judgment
is wrong. You're being unjust. Defend the
poor and fatherless. Do justice to the afflicted and
needy. Deliver the poor and needy and
rid them out of the hand of the wicked. They know not, neither
will they understand. They walk on in darkness. All
the foundations of the earth are out of course. I have said,
This is God speaking. You are gods. And all of you
are children of the Most High, but you shall die like men. and
fall like one of the princes. Arise, O God, judge the earth,
for thou shalt inherit all nations. Now this is where God calls men
gods. It's because of their position
of judging, and he says you're unjust in your judging. Now the Lord uses this passage
of scripture. Turn back to John chapter 10, verse 30. Christ says, I and my Father
are one. Not close, but one. One in substance, one in person,
one in essence, one in purpose. Jesus Christ is God. One with
the Father. And all you'll ever see of God
is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. I and my father are one. Jesus answered them, many, no,
verse 31, then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
Jesus answered them, many good works have I showed you from
my father, for which of these do you stone me? The Jews answered
him saying, for good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy,
and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. And here's the Lord's answer,
Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law, we just
read it from Psalm 82, I said you are gods. If he called them
gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scriptures cannot
be broken. That's what I've entitled this
message. The scriptures cannot be broken. Him whom the Father
sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphemous, because
I said, I am the Son of God. If I do not the works of my Father. You know, he raised the dead. He controlled the weather. He
created matter, brought matter into the universe that was not
there before. Who's the only one who can do that? God. You know, I think of just in
the previous chapter, he gave a man sight who was born blind. Who's the only one that can do
that? God. He said, if you don't believe
what I say, believe the works. You see them. But if I do, though
you believe me not, believe the works that you may know and believe
that the Father is in me and I in him. I've entitled this message, The
scriptures cannot be broken. The scriptures. Oh, may God give
us a word from his word. The scriptures cannot be broken. I want to make two introductory
statements to that title. The scriptures cannot be broken.
Number one, God is spirit. He's not confined to space the
way you and I are. He's not confined to time. He
is spirit. You cannot see a spirit. We read in the scriptures, no
man has seen God at any time. God is spirit. Now the atheist may say, I cannot
see God. Believe in something I can't
see. I've got to have empirical evidence. I've got to see it
before I can believe it. Well, the problem with that is
that you can't see God. He's spirit. He cannot be seen. He doesn't have a body. The Lord
Jesus has a body, I realize that, but God cannot be seen. God is spirit. So if you're thinking,
I can't believe unless I see, God can't be seen. He is spirit. Now here is the second statement. God is spirit, he can't be seen. And the second statement is this,
men are liars. All men are liars. No man can be trusted absolutely. All men are liars. You call me
a liar? Yeah. Yeah, I am. I've called myself
a liar. I know that this is true with
regard to men. They cannot be absolutely trusted. I mean, you think about the scientific
method of proving something. built into the scientific method
of having to have something observable over and over and over and over
and over again is because men can't be trusted. They'll manipulate
the facts, they'll manipulate things for their own self-interest,
and they can't be trusted. Every man has his point where
he can sell out in order to further his own cause. All men are liars,
and you can't really trust a man to tell you the absolute truth
about God, number one, because he doesn't know it, and number
two, you can't trust him to tell the truth anyway. Now, that's
just so. God can't be seen. He's spirit. I was talking to someone not
that long ago, and they said, I just can't believe something
that I can't see. What do you believe? Could you
see the creation of the universe? Or could you see when life began?
No. Does that mean you don't believe
it is? Of course not. God is spirit. Men are liars. Now that being the case, we need A book, a written revelation,
written by God that can be trusted. And we have that in the holy
scriptures. And the Bible claims to be God's
word. Second Timothy chapter three,
verse 16 says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Every word penned by the inspired
writers, they were being inspired by the word of, by the God, the
living God to say it exactly as he would have it said. All
scripture is given by inspiration of God. Now the Bible is either
the inspired word of God or it's the word of man. No in between. It doesn't contain the word of
God. It is the word of God. Or it's simply something like
Shakespeare or Milton or something like that, a sinful man, a beautiful
composition of literature, and nothing more. Peter said, the
scriptures have no private interpretation, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The scriptures. Now, The Lord uses the scriptures
when they accuse him. You're a man and you're making
yourself God, calling yourself the son of God. He said, would
you say I'm blaspheming simply because I call myself the son
of God? When in the scriptures, God calls unjust judges gods. God uses that language. I think
of what the Lord said to Moses, with regard to Pharaoh, he said,
you're going to be to him a god. And Aaron's going to be your
prophet. There, the language is used. And the Lord says, if
I demonstrate who I am by my works, I don't even have to say
I'm God for you to see I'm God. I create matter. I raise the
dead. You know, I love thinking about
this. We've made so much progress in medicine How, what a blessing it is to
be able to, the Lord using things to heal people, medicines and
so on, but something man's made no progress in is raising the
dead. It hadn't happened, but Christ
could raise the dead. He's God. I proved by my works
that I'm God. So is it a wrong thing for me
to call myself the son of God when even In Scripture, God calls
unjust gods because of their position. If God gave these unjust judges
the title of gods because of their office, why do you consider
me speaking blasphemy if I call myself the Son of God in light
of the glorious works that I perform that prove I am God? And then he uses this term that
I love, The scriptures cannot be broken. The scriptures, the holy scripture
inspired by God, what we're looking at this morning, what a blessed
privilege. The scriptures cannot be broken. God said in Psalm 138 verse two,
thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. I don't even know how to comment
on that. But there it is. The scriptures cannot be broken. The Bible, in the original language,
is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God. Somebody says, how
do you expect me to believe that? Oh, I don't expect you to. I do, though. If God can create
the universe from nothing, he can easily inspire men to write
a book, inherit and keep it preserved, and we're looking at it right
now. The scriptures cannot be broken. Now I wanna give you
two scriptures that I think show the majesty of the scripture
before we go on. Would you turn with me to Romans
chapter nine? I could quote these, but I just
wanna read them to you so you see with your own eyes what is
being said. Verse 17, Romans chapter nine,
verse 17. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, Scripture had not yet been written. God is speaking to Pharaoh. And God says to Pharaoh, even
for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my
power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy. Whom he will, he hardens. But it doesn't say God said it.
It says the scripture said it. You cannot separate God and scripture. Isn't that glorious? Turn to
Galatians chapter three. Verse eight. Galatians three
verse eight. And the scripture, foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before
the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be
blessed. Now, this is God speaking 400
years before scripture was written. And when God speaks to Abraham,
it says, scripture speaks to Abraham. And the scripture foresees,
only God foresees, the scripture foresaw that God would justify
the heathen through faith. And then we're given this glorious
message, this simple definition of the gospel. In thee shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed. All of God's blessings
are in the Lord Jesus Christ. will bless you as you are in
Christ. If you're not in Christ, you
do not have the blessing of God. All of God's blessings are in
Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. Oh, the scriptures. They cannot be broken. This is the word of God that's
quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. The
only appeal is it is written. What saith the scripture? As it is written. To the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to this word, it's because there's
no light in them. The scriptures. cannot be broken. I love, I've already quoted this.
Second Timothy 3.16 says, all scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable. And he names four things, for
doctrine, for proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Now let's think of these things
real briefly. For doctrine, does the scripture
teach it? It's no good if it doesn't. For
reproof, what that means is proof. Can you show me from the scriptures
that what you believe is true? That's all that counts. For correction,
I think the best illustration of this is do you know in any
given day there are 100,000 airplane flights? What keeps them from
crashing into one another? Well, you've got some correction
going on. They have a specific arc that'll take them to their
destination, and the wind's beating against them, and the air traffic
controller is always correcting them to make sure they stay on
that arc. I need to be corrected to continually
look to Christ and look nowhere else for instruction in righteousness. Oh, the Bible tells us the only
way of righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus Christ as my only righteousness
before God. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. The scriptures cannot be broken.
I love it when the Lord faced the tempter. In Luke chapter
4, Satan trying to tempt the Son of God, the Lord of glory.
You know, the Lord could have just I think if I was the Lord
and I had the power he did and the tempter came and tried to
tempt me, I'd torture him. All the things that I'd do, I'd
do something about it. But you know how the Lord answered
him every time? It is written. Look at the great respect the
Lord put upon the scriptures when he said to Satan, In answer
to his temptations, it is written. Does that give you and I any
idea of the importance of the scriptures that cannot be broken,
that cannot be dissolved? You know, the seven sayings of
the Savior on the cross are all simply quotations from the scripture. Paul defined the gospel. He said, moreover, I declare
unto you the gospel. And he said, it's how that, don't
miss this, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures, according to the Old Testament scriptures. God said, I've spoken it, I will
bring it to pass, I have purposed it, I also will do it. The scriptures cannot be broken.
Now, I want you to turn for a moment to Revelation, or Psalm 19. When the Lord faces the accusation,
his answers from the scriptures, that the scriptures cannot be
broken. Now look in Psalm 19, this speaks
of God's two books. Here's his first book, Creation. Verse one, the heavens declare
the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech
nor language where their voice is not heard. Everybody from
the light of creation knows that God is God. The invisible things
of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, even
his eternal power and Godhead. So that they are without excuse.
Creation says somebody all powerful made this place and nobody made
him. He's eternal. Everyone is faced
with that. Somebody says, I don't believe
that. There was a time when you did. There's no such thing as
an atheist. I know people proclaim to be
atheists, but not really. I love that saying, there are
no atheists in foxholes, and there's not. I mean, everybody
is made at some point to see God is, and creation says he
is. Let's go on reading Psalm 19. Their line has gone out through
all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them
he has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom
coming out of his chamber and rejoices as a strong man to run
a race. This is talking about the sun.
His going forth is from the end of the earth in a circle under
the ends of it. And there is nothing hid from
the heat thereof. That's God's first book, the
book of creation that says God is. Now he speaks of his second
book. the Word of God, the Scriptures. But what he says in verse 7, the law of the Lord, that which
is recorded in writing, the law of the Lord is perfect. It's complete. It's entire. It's what Paul was talking about
1 Corinthians 13 when he said, when that which is perfect is
come, that which is in part should be done away. Now what does this
mean? God's word is a closed revelation. Nothing new, nothing can be added
to it. It's perfect and it's complete.
Somebody says, I got a new revelation from God. You're a liar. You
did not. All that God has to say is in
this book. When somebody says, God told
me this, you're lying. What God says is in this book. He does not speak apart from
this book. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. It is perfect, complete. The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul. The only way that you and I are
going to be born from above, born again, is by God's Word
through the Holy Spirit begetting life in us. That's why Paul said
to Timothy, preach the Word. Preach whatever God's Word declares.
Preach the Word. God's Word is perfect, complete,
entire, converting the soul. Verse two, the testimony, or
verse seven, the testimony of the Lord. God's word is his testimony.
It's what he bears witness to, what he testifies of. The testimony
of the Lord is sure. It's absolutely trustworthy. Making wise the simple, making
them wise unto salvation. Remember that when Paul said
to Timothy of a child, 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. Oh, don't you love the word of
God for that? Makes wise the simple, simpletons, people who
are spiritually stupid. It gives them the wisdom of salvation
that's in Christ Jesus. Verse eight. The statutes of
the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. Shall not the judge
of the earth do right? Yes, he will. And that rejoices
my heart to know that whatever he does is right. If he sends
a man to hell, it's right. If he saves a man, it's right. Whatever he does is always right. We trust his character. I don't
understand what he's doing, but he does. And whatever he does
is right. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. He goes on to say in verse eight,
the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes, giving
light as to who God really is. You know, the only way I know
who God really is is through the light of the scriptures.
The only way I really know who I am is through the light of
the scriptures. I don't get a true view of who I am apart from the
word of God. The only light I have concerning
how a holy God can love and accept somebody like me and see me as
without guilt is through the light of the scriptures, the
light of how God can be just and justify the ungodly. Aren't
you thankful for the light of the Bible? It enlightens the
eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean. The fear of God. That comes from
his word. You'll never find the fear of
God apart from the word. And the fear of God is the, I
reckon it's the best definition of what a believer is. He's somebody
who fears God, who has deep respect and reverence and awe before
God. The fear of the Lord is clean.
It's eternal. If you ever fear God, you'll
fear him forever. You'll fear him in heaven. And
that's not a slavish fear of mistrust. That's that reverence
and awe of the glory of this person. The fear of the Lord
is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than
gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than the honey and
the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant
reward, and in keeping them there is great reward. You know, in light of the Word
of God, who can understand his errors? His own personal, in
light of, I don't understand how bad I am, and you don't either.
None of us understands in that sense. Who can understand his
errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults,
faults I don't even know about, but they're still there. That's
what happens in light of the word. The scriptures cannot be
broken. Now in light of the word of God,
I don't like what they call confessions of faith. I had someone write me recently
and they said, can you give me a confession of faith concerning
what your old church believes? And I don't want to be a smart
aleck when I say this, but we should believe the Bible. It's
the Word of God. I was listening to a man recently
and he was preaching on what is called progressive sanctification.
That was the title of his message, progressive sanctification. And
that is the belief that by grace you become progressively more
holy and less sinful. I give grace the credit, but
through grace I become more holy, less inclined to the flesh, less
inclined to sinful desires. They're weakened. They're weakened,
and I don't have them like I used to by grace. And to prove his point, you know
what he went to? The 1689 London Baptist Confession. And that taught that. You become
progressively more holy and less sinful. Can you get that from
the Word of God? No. It's not taught. You see, as far as that goes,
if you believe in progressive sanctification, you don't really
believe in the new birth. you believe you're improved by grace. Your whole nature becomes better
and more holy and less sinful. That's a complete denial of what
the new birth is in the first place. But the point, I don't
like these confessions because they're written by men. They're
man-made documents. And all of them are subject to
error because men wrote them. But with the Bible, we've got
the inspired, infallible Word of God, the Scriptures that cannot
be broken. In John chapter 5, verse 39,
the Lord said, you search the scriptures, in them you think
you have eternal life. If we can just figure out how
to keep these rules, we're in good shape. And they are they,
the holy scriptures. Genesis 1-1 through Revelation
22-21, they are they which testify of me. When Clare was reading the Psalm
91, and it even included the words, he shall give his angels
charge over thee, lest at any time you dash your foot, they'll
hold you up. And that's what the tempter used
to tempt Christ with, but that Psalm, yes, we were involved
in it, but that Psalm was Christ, the first person, as all of them
are. Everything in the Bible is with
regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want to close by having
you turn to Luke chapter 24. The scriptures cannot be broken. Luke chapter 24. Now this is
after the resurrection of Christ. Luke chapter 24. Verse 25. Luke chapter 24, verse 25. Then he said unto them, O fools. You know, if you called me a
fool, I'd probably get offended. I'm smart as you are. But when
the Lord says that, yeah. Yep, that would be me. He says
this to his disciples. These are people who believed
on him. But yet he says, Oh, fools and slow of heart to believe
all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ Was it not necessary
for Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his
glory? Now, think of that statement.
There was a necessity for Christ to suffer these things. Why?
It was God's purpose. He purposed it. Why? Because
he's guilty. He took the sins of the elect
and they became His sins. And He became guilty of the commission
of those sins, although He never committed them, yet He became
guilty and deserved the wrath of God. Ought not Christ to have
suffered these things? And was it not necessary for
Him to enter glory? Because He put away those sins
and the justice and righteousness of God demanded His resurrection
and He entered glory. Was there not a necessity in
these things? Look what verse 27 says, and beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in, how many of the
scriptures? All the scriptures, the things
concerning himself, all the scriptures are the things concerning himself."
I hope the Lord is giving us a reverence for the Word of God
because it's a reverence for Him. It's a reverence for His
Son, for His salvation. They can't be separated. Now,
look in verse 44 of this same chapter. And He said unto them, These
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled. It was absolutely necessary that
they be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and
in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he
their understanding. that they might understand the
scriptures. And he said unto them, thus it
is written, and thus it behooved Christ. It was necessary for
Christ. It was purposed for him as the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. It was necessary,
it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the third day
Verse 47, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached
in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem and you
are witnesses of these things. Now from the Bible, the scriptures,
we have this twofold message. The two R's, repentance and remission
of sins. That is a summary of the message
of scripture. Because of the Lord Jesus Christ,
him doing what the Bible said he would do, here's the two-fold
message. Repentance and the remission
of sins. That is the message of holy scriptures
that cannot be broken. Repentance and remission of sins. Now, what is repentance? What's it mean to repent? One of preacher's favorite sayings
are repent of your sins. Repent of your sins. Did you know that phrase is not
found in the scripture? Now, I want to have a change
of mind about sins, but the term repent of your sins is not found
in the scripture. And when preachers use that term,
repent of your sins, they mean stop sinning. Well, you ought
to stop sinning. I believe that. You ought to
stop sinning. Y'all don't ever sin again. I don't ever sin again.
But if repentance means stop sinning and don't commit it anymore. Have you measured up? Have you
done there? Have you succeeded in this thing? Have you ever
truly repented? Well, it means to be sorry for
your sin. How sorry? You ever been sorry enough? Have
you ever expressed enough remorse? No. The word means Simply this,
and I'm not being oversimplifying it, this is just what the word
means, a change of mind. A change of mind. There's a change of mind with
regard to God. I used to dislike the fact that
I was in his hand and he could do with me whatever he was pleased
to do, that I was in the hands of a sovereign God. I didn't
like that. I do now. Matter of fact, I love
it. I used to dislike the fact that
God was so holy that he must send men to hell because of who
he is. That's too strict. I don't like that. Now everything
with regard to God I love. My mind has been changed. I love
his character. I love his way of saving sinners. I love who he is. I used to think
that I had a free will. I used to believe that there's
something that I could do. I didn't know exactly what it
is, but one of these days there's something I can do to change
things and make things better for myself. I didn't, I didn't
believe I was totally depraved. My mind has been changed. I believe
that I am totally depraved, totally dependent upon Christ to do something
for me. My mind's been changed about
him. My mind's been changed about myself. My mind has been changed
about salvation. I believe that he is all in salvation. I didn't used to believe that.
My mind has been changed about his righteousness. I now believe
that his righteousness is the only righteousness there is.
My mind's been changed. I believe Christ is all in salvation.
Repentance. Repentance. Repent and believe
the gospel. Repentance. And the remission
of sins. The first R is repentance. This
is the message of the scripture. I better be preaching this every
time I preach. These two R's. Repentance, I might not even
use the word, but it better be the foundation of what I'm preaching.
Repentance and remission of sins. Everybody that doesn't believe
the gospel, believes that the remission or the forgiveness
of sins comes to you as a result of something you do. I've repented. I've believed. I've changed. I've done my best. I've asked. I've been sorry. Therefore, I'm
forgiven. It's the end of an equation. I do this, therefore God will
forgive me. Ain't no truth to that. Forgiveness is not the end of
salvation. The complete forgiveness of sins
is the beginning of salvation. He doesn't forgive you because
you did anything. He forgave you because Jesus
Christ put away your sin and gave you his very righteousness. That is where the remission of
sins comes from. The scriptures can't be broken.
They can't be dissolved. Your men have tried. They tried
to, was it Voltaire, the French philosopher, says we're gonna
get rid of every Bible. Didn't happen, did it? The scriptures
cannot be broken and how thankful we are for the message of scripture,
repentance and remission of sins. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
holy word, the scriptures that cannot be broken, that tell us
who you are, who we are, and who your son is, and how that
he is salvation. And Lord, we can't even understand
that apart from your spirit teaching us what you say in your word.
Cause your word only to be preached from this place. Cause your word
only to be received in our hearts. How thankful we are for the scriptures. And Lord, we ask that you would
work in us the gift of repentance to change our minds concerning
you, ourself, and thy salvation. And Lord, teach us what it means
that your salvation begins with the complete remission of sins
for Christ's sake. Work faith in each heart here
according to your will. In Christ's name we pray, amen.