In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the dependability of the Word of God. He explains that anyone, regardless of their sins, can believe in the message of the Bible and be saved. The preacher uses the analogy of a booklet representing all the sins a person has committed, and explains that Jesus Christ took the punishment for those sins on the cross. By believing in Christ's death, one can receive eternal life and victory over the fear of death. The preacher also emphasizes the responsibility of speaking God's word accurately and without unnecessary distractions.

We'd like to turn in our Bibles, please, to Paul's letter to Timothy, the second one, 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3, we'd like to read from verse 16. Shall we pray? O God our Father, in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord, the Savior of sinners, that name, O Lord, in which we have salvation and access into thy presence, we open thy word, and beseech thee to speak to every heart of thy holy city. Amen. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect, or perfected, completely furnished unto all good work. Of all the doctrines connected with the Christian faith, I think it goes without saying that none could possibly be more important than the one that has to do with the very foundation upon which all spiritual knowledge rests. And this foundation, of course, which is the basis for all Christian knowledge and all spiritual knowledge, and the only reliable authority in the world today, is the Bible, the word of God. This book is the only source of information in existence today regarding spiritual truths and things that are to come. And, in the matters of faith and practice, it is the only recourse that genuine believers have. I am firmly committed to the belief through the very rugged conviction that the Bible is inspired by the Spirit of God. It is absolutely infallible, inerrant, and is absolutely dependable, and it is trustworthy. The word of God is the medium through which God works in every stage of the Christian experience. As a matter of fact, there is no salvation apart from the Scriptures, and, when you become a Christian, there is no spiritual progress and growth in the Christian life apart from the word of God. The importance of the Bible and the authority of the Scriptures is seen simply in that, in every stage of the Christian life, this inspired volume is absolutely indispensable. In Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 8, the Bible says, "...By grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves it is a gift of God." In Romans 5, verse 1, the word of God declares that, "...therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Now, let us be clear on one thing, that faith does not save. Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners. However, God declares that faith is that, and don't ask me to explain it. I am not called to explain it, but proclaim it and announce it, that faith is that mysterious thing which is departed through the soul, the conscience, the heart, and mind of a dead sinner that enables him to believe on Jesus Christ as the salvation of his soul under the transformation of his life. By grace are you saved, not by faith, but through faith. Faith is that which enables me to believe that Jesus died for me. Faith is that which enables me to trust Christ in a way that changes my life. For, I am sure that by now all of us are aware that there is a so-called intellectual faith in Jesus Christ that has no effect whatsoever upon the life. And so, there is a belief that is not worth believing. There is a kind of a faith that is false. But, the faith that enables you to receive Jesus Christ, to trust him, and to trust him in a way that makes you a believer, comes through the hearing of the Word of God. If you were not charged with notice in Romans 10.17, your Bible says, so, then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the Word of God. And so, we learn that salvation comes only through the Bible. Now, there may have been a time, and there may presently be in some spheres of the world, in some localities where people have not access to the Bible. I have no argument at all with those who claim that a sovereign God can impart eternal life to anyone whomsoever he pleases on the basis of whatever life he gives them. I believe that. However, the Bible teaches that in this enlightened society of ours where the Word of God is available, there is no salvation apart from the Scripture. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the Word of God. Then, whenever I receive Christ, whenever you receive him as your Savior, the only way to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is through the Word of God. You show me a genuine believer who has been saved in a leap of time, and who has made no progress in their Christian life, and I'll show you a Christian who has never learned the importance of the Bible in Christian growth. It is absolutely impossible to develop the new life that God gives, and to be spiritually sound and enjoy spiritual good health apart from the inspired Word of God. In John chapter 17 and verse 17, when the Lord Jesus was praying for his followers, he said to the Father, Father, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy Word is truth. In Ephesians 5, verses 25 and 26, Paul wrote to the brethren in the church at Ephesus, Husband, love your wife even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the Word. I don't think we can overemphasize this truth that it's absolutely and unequivocally no salvation apart from the Word of God. Now, you see, my friends, I've been in your home visiting recently. You remember the night I encouraged you to read, and maybe you don't like to read. You see, this is what it's all about. Salvation comes through the Word of God. We encourage you to read the Bible. We encourage you to come to church. Not that we're going to cut another notch in our belt and say we've got so-and-so to church, but so we can have the joy of privilege of proclaiming to you the Word of God. And, without the Word of God, you cannot be saved. You understand what we mean? You see, the Bible is absolutely indispensable to salvation. It is that wonderful medium of regeneration. Peter distinctly declared that we are born again of incorruptible seed by the Word of God that lives and abides forever. And that's why the Bible, you see, if it is not inerrant, if it is not divinely inspired, if it is not infallible, then what hope have we? So, let's remember this, that every stage of the Christian life is inseparably associated with the Word of God. And so, all rests upon the authority of the Bible. I've noticed it become in black covers, in red covers, in white covers, and in blue covers. But we must not get so occupied with the book that we forget that it is a revelation from God, that it is inspired by God. Some people have some strange and weird ideas about the Bible. I was speaking to a lady on one occasion, and she had such a healthy respect for the Bible, she was afraid to even pick it up. Consequently, it had three inches of dust upon it, and she was perishing and going to hell with the way of salvation right under her nose. Now, anybody who has such respect for the Bible is absolutely a duplicate devil. The Bible is a book that God has given to us. But, my friends, listen, it is a revelation of God to me. And, you see, he who claims to be a servant of God and speaking the words of God and the words of eternal life must, of course, have an authority from which to speak. It is absolutely impossible to speak with authority unless you have an authority from which to speak. I believe that one thing that appeals to people today, and this is why so many false teachers are suffering poor sinners on the way to hell by the millions with their false doctrines, is because they speak with such absolute authority. The world's number one apostate, the greatest false teacher in America and the entire world today is preaching on the radio in countries throughout the whole world, speaks with such authority that multitudes both of sinners are falling into hell, and ignorant Christians are even sending men into the court whose doctrine, though it denies every blessed truth of the Christian faith. And, it all stems from the fact that he speaks with authority. So, I believe this, that if we are to give a message that commends itself to those who hear, we must, by all means, speak with authority. But, then you see the blessed thing about this, God has given us an authority from which to speak. You see, what we're talking about this morning, dear friends, is the foundation for everything that can be said on this chart. There's such a babble of human voices in the world today regarding the doctrine of so-called soul sleep that says, whenever a person dies, the spirit and soul goes to the grave and sleeps in the fire until the resurrection. There are those who do not believe that the spirit and soul of a Christian immediately goes to be with the Lord Jesus when they die. There are those who do not believe there will be a thousand years' reign of peace on the earth when Jesus sits upon the literal throne of David in the city of Jerusalem. And, if you listen to this cacophony of voices, this din of voices, everybody propagating his own particular view, it's enough to drive you crazy. So, when you turn away from that and turn to the Word of God, we discover that in 1 Peter 4.11, and don't ever forget this, Peter says, If any man speak, let him speak as of the oracles of God. Now, I give you the New American International Version. It says, If anyone speak, let him speak as speaking the very words of God. The New American Standard Bible says, Whoever speaks, let him speak as it were the utterances of God. So, you see, there is a sole responsibility laid upon all of us who stand behind the so-called sacred desk and open the Word of God to speak. And, what a terrible, what an awful responsibility it is. How it makes a man feel so little to have not only this privilege, but this terrible responsibility. That man is absolutely responsible to God. Every word that he speaks when he's signing this book is like a word coming out of the literal mouth of God Almighty. That's the meaning of that passage. If any man speak, let him speak as of the oracles of God. And, how foolish it is, and I have been so guilty of this in my ministry, of going off into sidetracks and saying things that are not necessary and unrelated to that upon which we are speaking. If any man speak, let him speak as an utterance of God. Now, I ask you a question. How can a poor sinner like me, or anyone else, speak utterances of God if he has these utterances of God from which to speak? Authority, my friend, is derived from the reliability of a Bible. Now, do you remember that interesting occasion? Those of you who read your Bibles, in Matthew, chapter 7, verses 28 and 29, the Lord Jesus was teaching, and we read this, that the people were astonished at his teaching. You know why? Well, he taught them as one having authority, and not like the scribes. So, you see, there were religious leaders in the days of the Lord who talked, and were just rattling, just talking to be heard. But, when it comes along Jesus Christ, the Son of God, they marvel at him because this man speaks with authority. Where did he get his authority? Well, of course, you say Jesus Christ is God in the body of human flesh, or the authority needed. Absolutely true, but let me give you his reasons why he spoke with authority. In John 14, 10, Jesus said, "...the word that I speak unto you I speak not from myself." In John 17, 18, Jesus said, Listen, You see, my friends, the authority with which the Lord Jesus himself taught came from the fact that he spoke the oracles, the utterances of God. Every word he spoke came from the lips of his Father in Heaven. And so, authority is based upon the reliability of the Bible. And, for that reason, and I'm not going to apologize for that overextended introduction, we're going to kick up the subject this morning and this evening at 630, known as the Doctrine of the Inspiration of the Scripture. Is the Bible the Word of God, or does the Bible contain the Word of God? Is the Bible the Word of God? Is it inspired by the Spirit of God? Is it trustworthy? Is it dependable? Can I, as a poor sinner, believe the message of this inspired volume, do what it tells me to do, be saved and rest implicitly and peacefully in the assurance that my sins are all forgiven? Is it a leap in the dark and a guess, or does the Bible speak with such absolute authority? Is it inspired in such a way that we can depend upon it without any fear or trembling whatsoever? Now, here in 2 Timothy, chapter 3, in verse 16, and before we get into this verse a little, it might do well just to give you a very brief distinction between revelation and inspiration, because they are so closely allied. We need to know both of them. Revelation, as I understand it, is that direct divine influence by which God communicates the knowledge of himself to his preachers. I repeat, revelation is that direct divine influence by which God communicates the knowledge of himself to his preachers. But, in the communicating of that knowledge, the Doctrine of Inspiration is of paramount importance because the Doctrine of Inspiration determines whether we get an accurate revelation or an inaccurate one. This is the value of inspiration, and the inspiration is that same direct divine influence that secures for us an accurate transference of this knowledge. Could you imagine that if God's plea was free to reveal himself to us poor sinners, and he did it in such an indistinct and clouded manner that we were seeking and feeling after God and groping around in darkness, and we should be left in a state of confusion? What profit would it be if God said, Those poor sinners down on the earth, they need me, they need my salvation, and I'm going to reveal myself to them. And then, he gives us a revelation of himself that leaves us groping around in the dark like the heathens on the light of the stars and the sun and the moon. Know, my friends, God gives to us his word inspired by his Spirit, and this guarantees us an absolutely accurate transference of the knowledge of God from himself to us. This is the value of the Doctrine of Inspiration. All Scripture, notice here it says, is given by inspiration of God, and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction, and righteousness. This word, inspiration, is found only two times in the entire Bible. It is found once here in this passage that we have read. It's found again in Job chapter 32 and verse 8. In there, in the Old Testament, Job says this, There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty gives him understanding. There's a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty gives him understanding. But, if you've ever read a Good Revised Version, you'll notice that they change the word in the text, and it says, in all the Good Revised Versions, that there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. The breath of the Almighty. Now, in the Authorized Version here, this word inspiration is not the very best choice of words. It doesn't give us the true meaning or the force of this tremendous passage. For the word inspiration comes from two Latin words it means to breathe into, and you see, in the light of this word that's left in the King James and the Authorized, seems indicative of the fact that God allowed men to write the Bible, and as they wrote, he breathed something divine into it. But, that's not the thought at all. That is not the thought. It isn't that God breathed something divine into the words that men wrote, but that the very words of the Bible are the creative product of the very breath of God. And, to back this up, you'll notice very interestingly in the Bible, and I'll call a number of them to your attention, how often the breath of God is associated with everything that God made. Take the example that starts in Genesis chapter one, and in verse one. In the beginning of the word, the word was with God. I'm sorry, I haven't done one. That's another beginning. There's a number of beginnings in the Bible. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And, we mean that the heavens and the earth, they were without form and void. And, then notice this. It says in Genesis one and verse two that the Spirit of God brooded over the face of the world. Now, get this picture. God created the heavens and the earth, and for some reason or another, they became without form and without void. Some believe it's associated with the downfall of Lucifer, which would be one of our subjects in the coming sun, in the will of God. And, that brought about the cataclysmic destruction of God's original creation. We're not going to get sidetracked into that long-drawn-out controversy. But, the point remains that whatever happened, that which God made was without form. It had no substance and no shape. There was no order to it, no real design. And, we read that the Spirit of God brood over the face of the deep, and God said, let there be light, and there was light. And, the word spirit in Genesis 1-2 is the Hebrew word for breath, for breath. Come to chapter two and verse seven, and you'll find God created man out of the dust of the earth. Genesis 2-7. And, there lay Adam upon the earth, an inanimate being, no movement. He had all of his power. He was a whole person, but he had no means of communication with God. He had no life from God. He had form. He had substance, but no relationship, no communion. And, we read in Genesis 2-7, God breathed in the man's nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And, just as breath from God gave life to creation and gave life to man, while I cannot explain it, I believe it, and I'll tell you I rejoice in a lot of things I believe, I can't explain that life, listen, life inherent in the word of God comes from the very breath of God. Just like man got his life, and like the world in which you and I are living, was created by the very breath of the mouth of God. Now, let me give you some other passages in Psalm 33 and verse 6. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. In Isaiah 45 verses 22 and 23, Look unto me, and be ye saved of the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself the word of God out of my mouth. In Matthew chapter 4 and verse 4, Jesus said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And, over and over, I give you one totally unrelated passage that illustrates the truth of the association between speaking and the mouth, or breathing. In the ninth chapter of the book of Exodus, you read that Saul of Tarsus reacted, breathing out threatenings and slurs against the disciples of the Lord. He wasn't breathing on them, trying to kill them with halitosis. It's simply a manner of speech that he was threatening them with words, yet the Spirit of God says he was breathing out threatening and slurs. So, throughout the word of God, you'll learn this, that the breath of God is associated with that which God has made. And, again, I say, while I can't explain it, I believe that just as the very creation originates with the divine influence of the breath of the Spirit of God, just as Adam laid from the dust of the earth, got his life from which you got yours, whether you believe it or not, he got it because God breathed into his muscles a breath of life, and man became a living soul. And so, this classic book, the Bible, my friends, from which we offer the salvation of God, and for which we preach the gospel, in Psalm 119, verse 130, your Bible says, "...the entrance of thy word giveth life, and giveth understanding to the senses." In Hebrews 4, 12, the Bible declares that the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of some of the soul of the spirit and of the jaunt of the mouth. It is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Neither is there anything hid from him with whom we have to do, because everything is naked and open under the eyes of him with whom we have to do. And there, the word of God declares that the written word and the living word are one and the same. And you see, my friends, what we're trying to impress upon you this morning is this. That if you have been somewhat reluctant to believe the message of the Bible and receive Jesus Christ, you fear to throw him away. This is a book that can be trusted. This is a word that you can rely upon. It is absolutely without error. You can depend upon it, but you have to act upon it. You have to believe this message that God has given to us. Now, another thing about the Bible, and I want to show you over a little further, turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 1, that the word of God is not only God breathed. And, incidentally, all Good Revised Versions change that text in 2 Timothy 3.16 to this reading, All Scripture is God breathed. All Scripture is God breathed. And never you forget, friends, today, those of you who prefer to be safe, that the great controversy raging in America today, even among the New Evangelicals, is the authority of the Scriptures. Everything in the Christian life rests upon the authority of the Bible. You rob the Christian of an inerrant book, you rob the Christian of everything he's got. And I don't see the likelihood that you see how anybody can be so presumptuous, can be so audacious, as the man who is smart enough to tell the difference between what is right and wrong in the covers of this book. Well, one thing about me, when I was in heathen Israel, the whole junk believed nothing but a bunch of comic books, and that's exactly what I believed. But I thank God that I've got little enough sense to believe that I can't tell you what's right and wrong, so when I accepted it, if you don't mind, I swallowed the whole thing. Now, if you like what you swallowed, bless your heart, you go on and choke on it and go to hell. But this book gives me eternal life. This book gives me peace with God. This book gives me the assurance that my sins are all forgiven. And I'll tell you something else I like about it. Not only is it a God-breathed word, but it is incorruptible and it is everlasting. Notice here in 1 Peter chapter 1, it says in verse 23, being born again. Notice, not the corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. So, you see, my friends, it is the word of God by which you are born again. When you receive the message, the Spirit of God comes into your body to live, and you are made a new man or woman or boy or girl. Notice in verse 24, For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is like the flowers of grass. The grass withers, the flowers fall away. But the word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Now, notice the everlasting character of the indestructible, infallible, and errant word of God. Here, the Spirit of God gives to us, in an inspired volume, one of those interesting comparisons between all man's intellect and all of man's religion and politics and everything he's got going for him. He contrasts that to the authority and the durability of the word of God. He does it in a very interesting way. He says in verse 24, For all flesh is like grass, all flesh is like grass. Sometimes, in the Bible, the word flesh means all humanity in reference to the human race. Sometimes it means flesh, like plain meat. Other times, it's the depraved principles and the passages of our poor fallen nature. Here, it is very obviously the human race and mankind in general. And, God is saying, for all mankind is like grass, and all the glory. That word glory is from the word doctor, from which comes our English word, doxology. Everybody that goes to church knows what the doxology is. If you don't know anything else, you've seen the doxology, it is a human phrase. And, you see, this word doctor has to do with opinion and estimate. That is man's opinion of himself, man's praising himself. My dear friend, if you don't think a poor sinner was saying his praise, you crank him up and get him started talking about himself. He'll tell you how good he is, how smart he is, how much money I've got, and everything else. But, you see here, God says, listen, all humanity is like grass, and all of man's wisdom, all of man's religion, all of man's accomplishments and achievements are like the flower of the grass. Now, he says the grass withers, and the flower does fall away. We surely have had a real illustration of how the grass withers in the summer, haven't we? It came up in the spring, and remember, we had a little wet spell. And up came those little green blades, and a little flower perched on the top of it. And we looked at it, and we said, ah-ha, how beautiful it is. And then just when I got my garden planted and laid by and was looking for the rain so I could fill up everybody's trees over in the triangle section, no rain, no rain, no rain. I walked out in my garden, I fast-spoke the Lord, I prayed with him, and I prayed with him, and he ain't rained on me yet. And, you see, I've learned this. There God gives me an illustration. And soon my corn, when I put nitrogen by food time, started to have great big ears full of white sweet crumbs, withered and withered and withered and withered. And it didn't do anything, hardly, where it should be. And, you see, God says this is what man's brain is like. This is what man's wisdom is like. Let man plant a couple of miles and let him go there. What has he gotten against there? I'll tell you one thing. He'll either pollute it or, if he finds anything alive, he'll put it on federal relief. So, I say to God, oh, keep him away. Listen, my friends, we need to learn that pure, pure human man is like a grain of seed on the shore in the sight of God. All of man's wisdom, listen, all of man's religion, all of man's vaunted powers, and all of his claims to greatness, that it's like a blade of grass with a little flower perched on the top. The grass grows in the flowers all the way. That's man. That's man. But, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. And in Romans 1, 16, Paul says the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. And this is the word that brings you the message that God loves you, sinner. This is the word that tells you how to be saved. This is the word that gives you the assurance that you are saved. This is the word that gives you a victory over the fear of death, gives you a victory and saves you, first of all, from your rotten, stinking, no good self. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. This is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. God breathes eternal, everlasting, indestructible fullness of Almighty God. He that believes on the Son has everlasting life. You know what I'm saying? Anybody else here say it's not me? I'll tell you, I want to thank God that my salvation is not resting upon an emotional experience that I had. This book, man, you've got to believe in inspiration of Scripture, or you're going to sell the whole thing down the creek. The pattern is raging. I was in a friend's home on Friday. They loaned me a copy of Harold Lindsell's book on the battle for the Bible. Get it, you really Christians, and you'll see the holocaust that's pouring on, even in the fundamental purpose of the Christian church in America. Christians are turning away from the doctrine of inspiration of the Scripture. Look, my friend, what we're trying to get across to you today is this, that we invite you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved. When we tell you that Jesus said, I am the door by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved. I don't care whether you're on the beast, the marvel, wicked, filthy side, or the dog-goat, or the drunk, or the harlot, or the bum, or whether you're on the clean footpath side with baptized church members and young people who have grown up in a Christian home and learned the language like a parrot but have never been seen. I don't care which side of the road you're on, the Bible says Jesus said, I am the door by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved. And I want you to know he says it in this book. This is the kind of book he says it in. Listen, where all philosophers and emotionally oriented people miss the hallmark is they must learn it, and I want you to learn it if you don't know it, that faith never rests in the intellect, nor in the feelings. It rests in a person. Jesus Christ. You know, I was down in Pembroke just a couple of weeks ago. Those people down there have a real problem getting saved because many of them have told the Lord what they're going to do and how they're going to get saved, what kind of feeling they're going to have. And they're looking for some sort of emotional experience to tell them that they're saved. And this dear girl came from a family that had been cursed with this awful plague of emotionalism. And the poor girl, you could have cried if you just seen the look on her face. She looked like somebody was fixing a shooter. She looked like a criminal going up to gallows. And every time I'd known her and seen her in a meeting, she looked like that for 10 years. On Sunday evenings, she wouldn't leave. She just kept hanging around the front. And I went and said, Mary Lewis, can I help you? Can I help you? Oh, she said, Mr. Morris, I've got to be saved. She said, I've been so miserable I can't sleep or can't eat. I've got to be saved. And I said, Lord, please help her, because I knew what she was hung up on, feelings. So I took her inside the chapel and opened this book, The Word of God, and showed her step by step how Jesus Christ had died for her sins, how that God could not forgive her sins unless they had been punished, that Christ had paid the penalty for her sins, that God had raised Jesus from the dead as proof that he had accepted the death of Christ to take her sins away, showed her what the Bible said about believing, what it meant to receive Christ, had her bow her head in prayer and say, God, I do believe that Jesus Christ died for me. I will trust him right now as my Savior. I trust his death alone for salvation. I receive him. And the moment she said that, I said, Amy, and I looked at her, and she still looked like she was going to the gallows. And I said, now, Mary Lewis, let me tell you what the trouble is. You ain't got the kind of feeling you know you're going to get when you got saved. How did you know she said that? Feeling, feeling, feeling. Now, listen, my friend, I wouldn't give you a nickel for a profession of faith that doesn't carry with it some kind of a feeling. Now, that might seem contradictory, but if you profess to be saved and you're not at peace with God, if you claim that you're a Christian and you're not interested in the things of God and your life has not been changed, you ought to turn that in for God's salvation. And I wouldn't give you a nickel, though, for a genuine experience of conversion to Jesus Christ that doesn't flood your soul with joy and tears. I wouldn't give you a nickel for that. But then I'll tell you this. You must never get occupied with your feelings, because faith never rests in the brain nor in your feelings but in Jesus Christ, the resurrected Son of God. Christ is the object of all faith, and listen, listen again, faith that saves you comes through the hearing of the Word of God. Now, we're going to continue this subject in the evening at 630. You seek to produce by the Spirit's help some infallible truth that the Bible is, must be, the Word of God, and that you'd have to be intellectually dishonest not to believe it. But, my friend, I trust today that you know the Lord Jesus, and if you don't know Him, then all you need to do is to accept Him, accept the belief that He died for you, and I'm always striving for illustrations to make this salvation clear, and I'm going to just give you what I've taken recourse to so many hundreds of times. You see, the reason some people are not saved is they make it too complicated. So, listen, here's the truth of the Word of God. You see this booklet here? If it will represent every sin you've ever committed, every lie you've ever told, every nickel you've ever stolen, every evil thought you've ever had, every immoral act you've ever committed, all you see is this power record. Jesus bore them in His body on a tree. God laid them on Him, and God punished Jesus Christ in your place, and the death of Christ has satisfied the judgment of God against you. When you believe that, when you trust the death of Christ to take your sins away, then God will give you eternal life, and you'll be saved. Now, I ask you, my friend, listen very carefully and closely. Have you ever entered through this door? Well, I remember the time that I went to a meeting, and I walked down to the altar, and we prayed. That's all right, but when did you enter the door? I remember the time that I walked down the aisle and shook the preacher's hand during the church. Okay, but when did you enter this door? Well, I remember that vision I had, and I remember the time my little baby was sick, and I prayed, and God made him well, so I'm down to be a Christian. That's okay, but when did you receive Jesus Christ? When? When did you trust Him? Oh, God bless you. What will you do without Him? Is He not kind indeed? Did He not die to save you? Is He not all you need? He is all you need, all you need. And He'll save you right here in this building today. As we bow our heads and close in prayer, you will just say, Lord Jesus, I believe you died for me, and I trust your death to take the sins away. Accept Him, receive Him, and you'll be saved. And I want to remind you of the booklet we are giving away in Connectionary Services, Safety, Circumstance, and Enjoyment. We'll be offering this at every service. Safety, Circumstance, and Enjoyment. How to be saved, how to be sure you're saved, how to enjoy your salvation. If there's a shred of a doubt in your heart and mind as to whether you're right with God or not, come, rest your faith upon this blessed volume that ultimately leads you to rest your faith in the person of Jesus Christ, or in the volume of the book of Him who is risen. Shall we pray? Oh, Father, we thank you for answering our prayer, and for that blessed anointing that drives thy word home to our hearts, and makes it so real to us. And we pray for our friends today who are not saved. And there may be some here, Father, who are not saved and are not even aware of it. And this is the awfulness of the power of the devil, Father, to have people so securely going to hell. Oh, God, we pray. We lay thy word, the instance of it giving light, bring to the hearts of everyone the realization, Father, just exactly how we stand with God. Oh, Lord, to this end, we commit thy infallible word to you, and pray that you will bless that word in the salvation of the lost and the building up of your dear children. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, if you'd like to get the second or third of whichever installment will be at 6.30, we're going to take up a subject where we left off. If you'd like help now, the others go out to the door. You may come down to the front. Let us give you a book. Let us talk to you. Good day and God bless you.