In this sermon, the speaker begins by addressing the audience and mentioning that the sermon is part four of a series. They encourage those who have missed the previous parts to catch up online. The speaker then shares a personal anecdote about seeing a friend and emphasizes their loud and passionate preaching style. They read from 1 Timothy 4:16 and discuss the importance of paying attention to oneself and the doctrine. The sermon also touches on the sufficiency of the word of God and references the Westminster Shorter Catechism. The speaker concludes by discussing the concept of being servants of sin or righteousness.

You know, we're still getting past the feelings that kind of grip us whenever we hear about doctrinal matters. It's almost like that, ugh. You know, we start thinking immediately of dry-crusty theology that doesn't have any relevance to today's life, but that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the practical workings of the Word of God. We're talking about the biblical foundations that are really quasi-asleep in today's Christian culture. And so what we're doing is, is that we're bringing back before the church the true biblical doctrines of Jesus Christ, because we need to have a solid biblical doctrine, because if we don't, we'll just fall for anything. We'll be tossed to and fro by every other wind of doctrine, by everything that comes upon the scene of religious fanfare today, and there's a lot of them. There's a lot of things that are creeping around there underneath the banner of Christianity that is not Christianity at all. And we have to have a biblical foundation, because we will be enticed to follow after these movements of man, these movements, well the Bible calls them doctrines of demons, and we'll follow after them, because they do have an appeal and a charm to them. Satan doesn't come to you with green boogers dripping out of his nose, and fangs sticking out, and these big old pointed horns and a pitchfork with a red suit with an ass on his chest, saying I'm the devil, I'm here to get you. It's not the way he comes, he comes disguised. He comes disguised as an angel of light. And so doctrinally, the enemy comes doctrinally as something that, that makes man feel good in his lost condition, that has all types of, of workings of power to draw away those that are wavering, or those that are, are not given to the true fundamentals of the doctrines of Jesus Christ. And we'll fall prey, we'll fall prey. And I made mention last week that the threat of the church today is not pornography, the biggest threat, it is a threat. The biggest threat of the church today is not adultery. It's not talking with a nasty tongue. It's, listen, it's not bitterness. I was going to say it's not unbelief, but I guess unbelief and apostasy go hand in hand. But the greatest threat today in the church is doctrinal heresy. That's the greatest threat of the church today. If you go and you read the second epistle of Peter in the second chapter, if you'll go over and read Jude's writings, and you go and read the writings of Jesus Christ in regard to the end time, you'll see that there's a, a, a, a doctrinal apostasy that takes place, a falling away from the faith as the apostle Paul mentioned in his letter to a young Timothy, a falling away, seducing spirits, doctrinal, demonic doctrines that come up that are very enticing, that, that gratify a people that have itching ears to hear fables instead of truths. And beloved, we are in that hour, we're in that hour. And I'm not, I don't have time to go back and preach the other three or four hours unless you want me to, that I've already preached. Because if you want me to, we can just postpone the gun shooting class today and we'll just preach all afternoon. But I don't think that would be convenient. In fact, I think the only audience that would be here would be me and Vernon. But other than that, but we're going to go back to our foundational scriptures and we're going to go on from there. I'm going to launch on into part four. Those of you that have not been here for part one, two, and three, you're still going to be able to get something out of this. If you'd like to have the first three parts of this message, you can either get those free online at procreatecommunitychurch.org and you can just download them and listen to them. Or if you want one in hand by a CD to see Mr. Malter in the sound booth directly after the service. And those do not cost anything. We don't believe in charging people for the gospel. We don't even make people give their money when they come to church here. Who'd have thunk? And it's kind of odd for today. There's so many hands stuck out in the church that we believe in sticking our hand out and providing for you, sowing to you, and giving and imparting into your life so that you can be victorious for Jesus Christ. Isn't that awesome? Verse 16, the Bible says, know you not that to whom you yield yourself servants to obey his servants, ye are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. But thank God or but God be thanked that you were servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, which was delivered you being then made free from sin. You became servants of righteousness. What? Because they obeyed that form of doctrine. We talked in the very first message that there is an inseparable link between being set free from the power and the tyranny of sin and true biblical doctrine. Beloved, I know this to be true that apart from true biblical doctrine, there is no salvation. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by what? Biblical doctrine, the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the hearing of the word of God. And can you be saved apart from faith? No, you are saved by grace through faith. Amen. We're saved by the grace of our God, but it's through faith when we trust and believe him. And beloved, how shall we believe in him who we've not heard? Well, if we need the biblical preaching of the great doctrines of Jesus Christ back in the church today, if we're to overcome and if we're to keep ourselves free from being polluted by tainted doctrine, which is so rampant in the culture that you and I live in first Timothy chapter four, go ahead and turn over there. These are just two foundational passages of scripture that we have been reading every week. I got a little bit of a cold thing going on here. So if I'm not as loud as I normally am, just say, thank you, Jesus. But no matter how quiet I might be, you will still be able to hear me. Stacy reminds me of how loud I am. Yesterday, I saw one of my good buddies, the chief Jordan pulling into the only apartment. He wouldn't hear me as I scream. Hey, we're laughing. He about come that high off a seat of his car. And I'm just by by God's gift, have a loud voice. And then on top of that, I'm passionate. And so loud voices mingled together with passion sometimes makes for a very exciting church experience. First Timothy four, 16 says this, take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine, take heed unto thyself and to the doctrine and continue in them. For in doing this, thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee. Let's pray together. Father, we just invite you. You're the true revelator when we ask that you reveal your word to our hearts, Lord, that we would not be bogged down by dry Christian weighty theology. But Lord, let the living doctrines of Jesus Christ be revealed to our heart as the Holy Spirit works together with the word of God, confirming the word of God with signs and wonders, even revelatory knowledge of the word of God. Lord, reveal yourself to us through your word this morning. We pray in Jesus name. And everybody said, amen. Go ahead and turn with me in your Bible to the 119th chapter of the psalm. Last week, we started talking about the sufficiency of the word of God. We've been dealing and talked about in the last several weeks, what is man's chief end and going back about 400 years and reading some historical documents. And many of you here are familiar with and acquainted with the Westminster Shorter Catechism is where a group of men, godly men got together and lined out the fundamentals of the faith on paper. These are the doctrines of Jesus Christ. The first, the very first article of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is, is what is the chief end of man? And the answer that is, is that the chief end of man is that God is glorified and that he is enjoyed forever. That man glorifies God. Carrie, you don't want me drinking your water? Somebody pray for me. That's okay, sweetheart. I'll drink a lot worse than that. Then the chief end of man is that we might glorify God and enjoy God forever. The second article of that catechism says this, how might we glorify God and enjoy him forever? And the answer is, is that it's summed up in the old and the new testaments that apart from the word of God, that we cannot, we cannot glorify God. God is glorified through his word, taking root in our hearts and our lives, and that we by faith begin to act upon it. That's how God is glorified and that's how God's enjoyed. And so launching forth from that, we're talking about the sufficiency of the word of God, the importance of the word of God, and we're living in a culture to where the word of God is not embraced as it was a few hundred years ago. We know that in the, in the, the very constructive years of our nation in the United States of America, that this nation was built upon the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is a nation that has been built upon the authenticity of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah of God, that God is the Lord, the King, the judge of the United States of America. And this nation was built by men and women of God that have come across the big ocean to seek freedom whereby we might worship and glorify God in a land where we're not bound by, by government to worship God. We're not bound by, by, by all types of laws and infrastructures to where we're forced to do this or to do that. But we have a nation where we're free to worship God as we, as we have been called by his name. We're living in a day to where those freedoms are being challenged. They're being challenged. In fact, we're starting to see a, a move, uh, is very demonic that is challenging the word of God. And, and we're starting to see that it has infiltrated even down into evangelical churches to where we see now that the word of God is not esteemed as inerrant. The, we read some polls last week and it was very shocking about the amount of ministers coming out of seminary that don't even believe the word of God is, is divine. That it's just something that's been written by man, that it's full of errors and contradictions. Beloved, there's nothing in this book that contradicts. The contradiction is in our minds. The contradiction is in our faulty theology. The contradiction is in our lack of, of truth that we have rooted in our heart. God does not contradict himself. God does not contradict himself. My friend, God is perfect in all that he says and all that he does. And this word is inspired of a holy and majestic God. Listen to me. I realize that even with the King James translation translated in 1611 for the first time translated, you know what? That was the first time that the word of God was, even when God was speaking to these great men of God and they were putting it on paper, the word of God existed for eons before those men ever had the revelation of what to write down. The Bible says in the beginning was the word in the beginning was the word. Now you try to figure out when that beginning was, and you're a whole lot better theologian than I am. Not that I'm a very good one anyway, but in the beginning was the word. The word of God has always been, amen. And there's no fault in this word. It is completely without error. You can, you can stake your life up on the, up on the word of God as it, as being an infallible word. It's a word that has tried and true. And listen, you and I both have experienced the power of the word of God at work in our lives. We've seen as a mysterious, miraculous work in our lives. It's a miracle. Gina, you're a miracle. You're a miracle. God has saved you by his grace. You've seen, and we have seen with our own eyes, the power of the word of God and it's work in the lives of those that have been called by the name of Jesus Christ. The word of God works. The word of God is without error. It is true. It is blameless. It is sovereign. Amen. And Psalm 119 verse 89, we're going to read a couple of scriptures and then we're going to kind of launch into this forever. Oh Lord, thy word is settled in heaven forever. Oh Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Is there ever a time to when the word of God is going to, to lose its power toward humanity and even toward, toward the kingdom of heaven? Never a time. Never a time. Isaiah chapter 40. Go ahead and turn over to Isaiah. Next week is Easter. The following week, I'm going to begin a dissertation in the pulpit upon man's radical depravity as being one of the doctrines of the faith that we're born radically, radically depraved, meaning that we're born dead, spiritually dead, completely diseased and cut off, alienated, cut off from Christ. We're talking about that as being one of the doctrines of the faith. But today we're going to continue talking about the word of God and its sufficiency. In Isaiah 40 verse eight, the Bible reads the grass withereth and the flower faded, but the word of our God shall stand. It doesn't say fall. It shall stand forever. The word of our God, beloved, let me tell you, the word of God is God's ordained means to govern and to bless our lives, to bless our lives. Now let's go into this. Let's talk about this. The chief end of our redemption is what? Is it, is it saving us from hell? It's the glory of God. All of my life, I was taught that I should get saved so that I don't have to go to hell. I was never taught what the Bible teaches that I am born again. I am regenerated by the inner workings of the Holy spirit of the living God, that I might glorify God in the new birth. I am saved for his glory. And do I participate? And do I receive benefits ascribed to that salvation? Most assuredly why I'm not going to go to hell. You're not going to go to hell. If your trust is in Jesus Christ for your salvation. Amen. If you're living your life, walking hand in hand with Jesus Christ, if you have Jesus, you have life. You're going to live forever in his presence, but beloved, the word of God stands forever. So the chief end of our redemption or our regeneration is the glory of God. But the means towards that end is emphatically the word of God. The, the, the means towards the end, the end is what redemption and regeneration unto the glory of God, but the means towards that end is the word of God without, without any challenge. Now, throughout the changing corridors of time, there exists an immutable fortress whereby the very saints of almighty God may not only find refuge, but all that they need that pertains to this life and godliness. And that immutable fortress is the word of God. The word of God is an immutable fortress whereby we as God's chosen God's people, those that are called out of darkness by his, by his own voice into his light. That's where we have all that we need that pertains to this life and to our godliness. And that is the word of God, the inerrant word of God. There are a lot of misnomers. You don't know what a misnomer is a mistake. They're, they're, they're the wrongs. A misnomer is a wrong. It's a wrongful pretense, a wrongful mindset. And there are a lot of wrongful mindsets out there today concerning the word of God in our religious culture. Now you'll hear me mention time and time again, religious culture. I'm not going to call them churches because they're not. I'm not going to call them Christians because they're not. It's a religious culture. You go and do yourself some study on what these great saints in the old Testament had to contend and deal with. They dealt with religious culture then too. They're constantly dealing with the Greeks and their mythology and constantly dealing with this or with that. But we're still dealing with that kind of spirit today. But the preeminent vice, the preeminent misnomer is, is this, that God's word is a good source of religious art, sacred anecdotes, but it's neither infallible nor inerrant. Well, this is the stuff that we're running into out there, my friend, in, in, in our religious culture, in our religious, there are people gathered today and what they're calling a church that they do not believe this word is sufficient. They do not believe this word is inerrant. They do not believe this word is perfect. How can you attain a perfect salvation with an imperfect word? Come on, beloved. The word of God is the only means say only it's the only means whereby redemption is wrought. And it's the only means whereby sanctification is secured. And it's the only means whereby glorification is granted the word of God. Am I getting a little bit loud for you? There's no other means ascribed whereby mankind is made fit for his purpose in creation apart from the word of God. And as I have previously stated in this series of teaching, it's impossible for us to glorify God apart from his word. God's word is the means whereby we glorify him and enjoy him forever being. So it's our privilege. Not only is it our privilege, it's also our duty to be good stewards of the word of God, that we might rightfully divide the word of God, that we might rightfully apply the word of God. And by such appropriation, we glorify God, we glorify God. There's an attack today against the infallibility of the word of God in our generation that is far from subtle. It's pronounced. I get email updates on this stuff all the time. You know, that's how. We can ordain homosexual ministers because we don't believe in the infallibility of the word of God, we don't believe what God says about homosexuality being an abomination. We've created a God after our own imagination, after our own devising, and isn't the God of the Bible. The Bible is useless to those people. If this thing is flawed, we should cast the whole thing away, but it's not flawed. It's perfect. The word of God stands perfect. The word of God is immutable. My friend, the word of God is powerful. The word of God is pure. Every word of God is pure. There's an attack against the infallibility of the word of God. Even in evangelical churches, the word of God is under scrutiny so as to undermine its divinity, also to undermine its relevance in modern society. I hear this all the time, especially in this emergent church theology. If you're friends with the emergent church, my friend, you're not going to like me, but I'm standing on the side of truth. All they talk about is relevance, what's relevant to our culture. We have to change the structures, we have to change the spiritual DNA of the word of God to meet today's needs in our culture. Beloved, how about we use the word of God to change culture, to become the kingdom of our God, to where the kingdoms of this earth become the kingdoms of our God, and not to cower down and to manipulate the word of God, to try to gather a crowd that will accept something that they might think is relevant. Beloved, if this is not relevant to our culture, let it all pass away. Let it all pass away. Man, beloved, the effect of this quaint subversion is noted by the very deterioration of the value that we place upon the word of God in our daily lives. And I know it's easy for us to point our finger to California, to the emerging church, but it's in our homes, it's in our hearts, because we also have a deteriorating value placed upon the word of God in the practical workings of our daily lives. Listen to me, friend. Our children are vastly unfamiliar with the word of God, except for a few colossal Bible stories that they were taught in Sunday school or children's church, as the parents have simply deemed it archaic. They've deemed the word of God unworthy, or in light of current routines that we practice, such as soccer and baseball and sporting activities that occupy all of our time, they begin to captivate and subjugate our hearts. We can spend four hours at a baseball game and we can't spend 10 minutes on our knees with our children and teach them the Bible. And we think that the relevance of the true word of God to our lives is of utmost value. We got quiet. Mom and dad, when was the last time you set your children down and systematically taught them the hallowed themes of God's immutable word for an hour? It's my case in point right there. We've abandoned the eternal word of God to follow after other practices, all of which hold no eternal value. We chase after sporting events day and night with our children, but to set them down and to instruct them upon the saving, the soul-saving statutes of Jesus Christ is all but foreign to us. It's all but foreign. Listen, I'm not trying to make anybody mad. I'm trying to expose truth. The influence of this atheistic culture has transcended and gone beyond the secular. Now it's beginning to infiltrate the sacred. Are you with me? If the word of God, my friend, listen, if the word of God is the only means whereby we might glorify God and enjoy him forever, should it not be the very cheap aim of our parental duties regarding our children? Should it not? But here we are dangling from a noose that is flowing from the gallows of cultural expectation. All the while we hope to evade death and retain life both for ourselves and our children. Culture has taught you that your children have to play every sporting event that's available out there to them. But what did the culture teach you about setting them down and teaching them the Bible? Nothing. Beloved, could it be that we're seized upon by culture more than we would like to admit and confess to? It's very much true. Beloved, can we neglect the only means whereby God is glorified and hope to please him by some other way? Can we hope to please him by some other way? Beloved, we would be absolutely foolish to assume that both we and our children will escape if we neglect so great of a salvation that comes by neglecting the word of God. The value of the word of God can only be increased in our lives by a revelation, a revelatory understanding of the origin of the word of God and the purpose of the word of God. We're going to talk about those two things for just a little bit and then I'm going to be quiet and leave you alone. The origin of the word of God, we need a revelation of its origin. You may be like, I don't know what the origin of the word of God is. Hold tight. And the purpose of the word of God. And again, it might sound somewhat bizarre for us to insinuate that we do not fundamentally understand the origin of the word of God. But it's one of, if not the greatest revelatory deficiencies of our religious culture today. I can tell I've already made you folks mad. I'm not getting any amens in any of this anymore. My little feelings are hurt. One of the challenges that we face in prior on fire team ministries that aggressively confronts us on a daily basis when we're working with at-risk youth, kids that are in trouble, is the challenge of their minds believing a lie that the Bible is of man and not of God. And if this is not the greatest challenge that we're confronted with, it's in the top five. And why are we so often amazed by this challenge? It was the original challenge that was proposed by the adversary in the garden of Eden in Genesis chapter three, one. Now the serpent was more subtle than any creature that God had made. And he beats to the field with the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, yay, half God said, this passage is very self explanatory, but an emphasis needs to be drawn upon the words, yay, half God said the argument really wasn't upon the reality that something had been said, but who was the author of the Senate? Who said it? The Lord God commanded man saying, are you with me? The Lord God commanded man saying God spoke the challenges today is, and it was even then an original temptation. Who was the author of what was said? We're facing that challenge with our work with at-risk youth. We face it sometimes with adults. How do you know that God said, how do you know that this is infallible? How do you know this is the inerrant word of God? How do you know this is not of a man? Some man just wrote it down. Are you with me? The very same thing that the devil tried to do in the garden of Eden. It wasn't God that said that after all, it was probably somebody else. And they were probably mistaken here. We don't mind. He probably don't mind. And this challenge is alive. Now, as God said, as God said, beloved, if you've not been challenged by that voice, you're soon to be challenged. The challenge is that the word of God finds its origin solely with man and being. So listen to this. This is the reason this is important. If this has its origin with man, it has no authority to govern us. It has no authority to instruct us because it's unqualified. It has no equity. There's no justice in it. So let's clear this up once and for all in our minds, in our hearts. In John chapter one, verse one and two, in the beginning was the word. The word was with God. The word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. Beloved, this word's divine. This word God has said in the beginning was the word. The word was with God. The word was God. This is not just what God said. This is who God is. This one down to verse 14 and the same became the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Who's that? Jesus Christ. That's why I talked about the word is capitalizes personal pronoun. Christ is the word. Now our wrongful beliefs concerning the word of God are the very corridors down which our doctrinal troubles flow. The antiquitarian value of the word of God cannot be measured and it cannot be quantified. The word of God was with God in the beginning. It would be wrong for you and I to assimilate that the word is from God or something abstract or independent from God. God did not give his word. God was his word. God is his word. The word of God was not something that God gave that was separate from himself as it was the very essence of himself. It was not something he gave apart from he gave himself. We have the very word of God, the very inerrant word of God. The word of God is not flawed because God is not flawed. And when we have the word of God, we have God. We've got to get our thinking correct. Whenever they're challenging the authorship of the word of God, they're questioning and denying the very existence of a holy God anyway. Amen. Why is it important for me to even talk about this today? Why do I have to bring this up this morning and use energy and strength to address this? Beloved, there's coming an attack of the adversary. If it has not already come that wholly undermines the authority, the authenticity and the infallibility of the word of God. This challenge is coming to confront what you believe and what you've always believed concerning the word of God. It's coming to confront and to challenge. And if you think that you're far beyond that, take heed when you take, thank you stand lest you fall. This challenge will search us out. Not when you're full of faith and victory, but when you're assailed by weakness, whenever you're succumbing to adversity, whenever you're facing lack, both provisional and spiritual, when you're in going through times and seasons of hardship, when you feel vulnerable and whenever you feel all alone, and it's within these conditions that we will begin to hear the hissing lie of the serpent's challenge. Has God said, is this word infallible? Is this the inerrant word of God throughout the scriptures and throughout history? We find great men and women of God being assailed by hardship, relentless thoughts of doubt, relentless thoughts that God had abandoned them. The taunting voice of the, of the, the, they heard the taunting cries was where is your God? Where is your God? And it's the very same voice that cries out in the night hours. Has God said, is this inerrant? Is this Bible infallible? And if the adversary can rob you of truth by convincing you that the word of God is fallible, flawed, and of human origin, the very total sum of who God is and what God has said will soon be choked and your heart will be left shipwrecked and undone. Isn't it amazing how the devil never comes to fight you whenever you're at your strength, the pinnacle of your strength. He always comes to challenge you and what you've always believed and trusted when you're at your weakest moment, when you're going through hell on earth, whenever your body is stricken with sickness, when your mind is stricken with hardship, when, when you're going through circumstantial obstacles and, and, and situations that, that are, are less than pleasing. It's then when you're weak, when you're vulnerable, when you feel alone and no one understands that the adversary slips in and, and, and laces his little, his little bony arm around your neck and draws you into his own bosom and says, half God said, is this Bible really working for you? Is this God in whom you say you trust hearing your prayers, then why are you going through what you're going through? And where is your God to save and rest? I thought your God would save you. I thought your God would rescue you. And my friend, if you are not bolted to the anchor of Jesus Christ, you will fall prey and begin to question and doubt the sovereignty of God and his word, the immutability of the word of God. And you'll begin to succumb just as our original parents in the garden succumb to the taunting voice of the adversary, half God said. David experienced this in Psalm 71 in verse 9 to 12. He said, cast me not off in the time of old age. What do you go through when you get older? Oh, Papa, you turned 71 today. Do you ever have any challenges in your thoughts? Does the enemy come in and latch on to you in your mind more so now than when you was a young man full of strength? Not that you get more strength than I got still, but cast me not off in the time of my old age, forsake me not when my strength felleth. For my enemies speak against me and they lay wait for my soul to take counsel together, saying, God has forsaken him. God has forsaken him. Persecute and take him, for there is none to deliver him. He says, oh, God, be not far from me. Oh, my God, make haste for my help. And there's been times, friend, I know you've experienced it. If you've not, you soon will. In times of perplexing circumstances, in times of sickness, in times of trial, in times of sorrow, the adversary will slip in. And even those that are joined together underneath the banner of his lies and treachery and begin to his lies. Where's God? This Bible that you say is true is working for you now, is it? Is it working for you now? Where is your joy that you've been promised? Where is your peace? Why have you not slept the last few nights, my friends? Could it be that this Bible that you say is true is flawed and it does not uphold thine soul? For thine soul aren't downcast. It is not. It is not God's word. And beloved, there's some of you understand what I'm talking about because you've heard that voice. You've had those thoughts and the enemies coming to challenge the very foundation of foundations that this word is God, that this word is God. And it's true. Let every man, let every circumstance, let every voice be alive. But this word is true. This word is true. Whether I'm sick, whether I'm perplexed, whether my mind is weak, whether it is strong, this word is infallible and unchanging. It is true. It is God's word. Secondly, we must receive divine revelation concerning the purpose of the word of God. Now travel back with me to the second chapter or the third chapter of 2nd Timothy. I'm getting close to being done. Hallelujah. That means I'm going to preach two more hours. He did that on purpose because he wants me to preach. It's reverse psychology. Oh, friend, we must defend the truth. We must defend the truth. 2nd Timothy 3.16, I just love the 3.16, don't you? John 3.16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Luke 3.16 says, He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire. I like those 3.16, 3.16, 2nd Timothy 3.16 says that all scripture is given by the inspiration of God. Man, if you just have three 3.16s, you can be born again. God loves you. He saves you. He fills you and gives you good doctrine. What else do you need? All scripture is given by the inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. It is profitable for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Oh, friend, listen, the purpose of the word of God is to equip the man of God unto completion. That word perfection there means to be complete, spiritually complete, lacking in nothing, my friend, unto the glory of God, unto the glory of God. The origin of the word of God is God. The purpose of the word of God is God too. Isn't it amazing? Everything here, even though it reflects upon changes and stirs the heart, changes the heart of mankind, it ultimately reflects to the glory of God. Everything in the book, everything in the book, the universe centers around God and not mankind. Say, law, the universe centers around God and not man. And if your heart is bound with by and in love with emergent theology, the lie that you're believing is that it centers around you. The universe does not center around you. Listen to me. I could die today and there would only be a few people that would even miss me. Can you believe that the world would even go on? Come on. But beloved, what would happen if God were not here for one day? You can't even go there. How bad it would be because you're not capable of it. The living word of God is purpose to the resurrection of those that are dead in their trespasses and sins. The living word of God is purpose to the sanctification of those who have been regenerated by the Holy Ghost. The word of God is purpose for the glorification of those who belong to Jesus Christ. The word of God is purposed unto our completion, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works, unto the glory of God. All that we lack because of our degeneracy is completed or made complete by the word of God. It's amazing how we labor, asserting our ingenious to fill our lacking lives, all of which is in vain. We seek riches and honor and power to complete our lacks, but it's all into no avail. Solomon said this. He said, it's all vanity. In Psalm 119, verse 50, the Psalmist wrote, This is my comfort in my affliction for thy word hath quickened me. Thy word hath quickened me. That word quickened doesn't mean run faster. It means to come alive. It means to make alive as a child of God. My chief desire, my chief desire is to glorify my Lord. Being so, I must pursue the very means whereby I am made complete unto his glory. If I'm not pursuing the means whereby I'm completed to the glory of God is because I have doubted in my heart the means as the only means and thereby pursued other means towards this end, or I have pursued interests of my own desire unto my own glory, either pursuing the means unto the glory and honor of God, and the only means is the word of God. The only means is the word of God whereby we might glorify him, or you're pursuing other means, and the only end of those other means is self-glorification, which is an abomination to God. It robs God of his glory. It robs God of his glory. It's hard for our minds to grasp this truth because we've too often heard and pondered how we'll become lacking when we withhold the word of God from our lives, but the larger picture is is that it ultimately robs God of his glory. It's really not about how you will be lacking when you withhold the word of God from your lives. It's really not about how you will be lacking, and oh, you'll be lacking. You will not be equipped. You will not be furnished. You will not be perfect, but the problem is it's not about you being equipped and furnished. It's about God being glorified. So ultimately, we rob God of his glory by withholding the word of God from our hearts and minds, and I understand the challenge that this brings before us, the guilt that it declares, but nonetheless, it is true. God delights in his children's completion, perfection, their completion. Why? Because it glorifies him. It glorifies him. When we listen, when we neglect or withhold the word of God, the means by which we're completed in him, not only is that delight withheld, but we we rob God of his glory. We rob God of his glory. I don't like you. You're making me feel guilty. Good. We need to feel guilty for robbing God. Listen, guilt's not a bad thing in its right place. I thank Jesus that I felt guilty about my sins whenever he saved me. Aren't you? It wasn't fun at the time, but oh, the glory that I walk in now. God has saved me. He's cleansed me. My old is gone. The new has come. Thank God for those feelings of guilt, and by the way, listen, there's more to guilt than feelings. Guilt is a verdict, not a feeling. You feel guilty because you're condemned. Hello? People that feel guilty are not innocent. I don't like to go to church there because I felt guilty. Well, if you're feeling guilty, then that tells me that your innocency has long since passed and that your life is riddled with guilt because of sin. Hmm. As I yield myself to the sacred scriptures, beloved, I'm being transformed from my lacks to his provision, and this daily work is cutting away from me within me, those frustrating and inherited. Well, I use the word anomalies, but you may not know what that means. Listen to me, there are injustices that we received from Adam, our first parents. There's simple traits and habits, desires, because we're in the lineage of Adam, naturally born. It says here in the Psalm, my affection. It's not a physical handicap. It's not talking about a circumstantial hardship. More so than not, it's the inward condition that is corrupt and afflicted with simple tendencies and practical impurities. Yet, thy word has quickened me, made me come alive. The affliction that has grieved me, taunted me, assailed me is overcome, overtaken and conquered by the word of God. And the very life that comes to me as I yield myself to his awesome, wondrous precept comes through the word of God, comes through the word of God. Listen, it's imperative for us to rid ourself of our idleness and take heed according to the word of God, because therein is life and it's unto the glory of God. It's life under the glory of God. We've got to get back to the Bible. We've got to get back. And beloved, there's going to be challenges. The enemy is going to come and challenge the authenticity, the infallibility of the word of God. God said, or is it of man? Love it. This is not only from God, it is God. Let all men be counted as liars, but God, a God of truth. Amen. The word of God is the only means to whereby we can secure the end to what God has called us. And that's his glory. He has called us to glorify him. That's the reason you're alive. If you don't know, you have been called by God to glorify him. And the only, the only means to whereby you can secure that end is through the word of God, both in the old and new testaments. The word of God, the Bible is stand.