In this sermon, the speaker discusses the internal evidences of inspiration in the Bible. The first proof mentioned is that the Bible claims to be the word of God. The second proof is the continuity and unity of the scripture. The speaker emphasizes that the unerring accuracy of the purposes of the word of God and the transformed lives of those who receive Christ as their Savior are evidence of the Bible's orthodoxy. The speaker also highlights the perfect continuity of the Bible, which is a collection of 66 books written by about 40 different authors. The sermon encourages listeners to have a desire to read and study the Bible.

My Lord, my God, my Lord, my God, my greatest Redeemer, I bow Thee down, I bow Thee down. And this is very powerful, very powerful. So we read tonight from 2 Peter chapter 1. Now reading commences with a 10th verse, 2 Peter chapter 1. Father, we thank you again for your word, and remembering that only the Spirit of God can teach us to cast ourselves upon him. Peace, Lord, through thy word. For Jesus' sake, amen. Therefore, O rather present, be of diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, ye shall never fall. For so an infant shall be ministered unto you abundantly unto the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, as though you know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet or necessary, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me. Moreover, I will endeavor that ye may be able, after my decease, to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunning and devised ploys, but we were made known unto you the power and cunning of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were our witnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, and there came such a voice to him from the angel of glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mountain. We have also a more sure word of prophecy, for the prophetic word made more sure, wherein to you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God's faith, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Tonight, with the help of God, we would like to continue the subject we began this morning in our chart, seeking to lay a good foundation for all of these areas of prophecy before you. And this foundation stems from the fact that in the Bible we have a revelation from God inspired by the Spirit of God. With tremendous importance, we noticed this morning, of the doctrine of inspiration where the Bible is concerned. It is that God has been pleased to give to us a revelation of himself, and in that revelation he has told us of his love for us, of his provision for our salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ, and that instrument used by God in every stage of the Christian life in salvation and in regeneration, in Christian growth and the development of our Christian character, that every stage of the Christian life a medium without duties is the Word of God. The tremendous value of the doctrine of inspiration is that it secures for us an accurate transporting of the knowledge of God to us in a manner in which we can rely absolutely inerrant and fallible from the Word of God. We made it very clear this morning that we believe in the verbal inspiration of the Bible in the very words of God, inspired by the Spirit of God. In fact, we considered, as I said earlier this morning, when we read in 2 Timothy 3-16, that God's scripture is God-free, that it is possible for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the name of God may be perfected, completely furnished unto every good work. And we saw this morning that the Bible teaches that the life that is inherent in the scripture will never forget that this book has life in it. A simple way to prove that is, in 1 Peter we are told that we are born again, incorruptible seed by the Word of God that lives and abides forever. And, it is very simple to see that if the book did not have life, it could not impart life in some tremendously mysterious way. And remember what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John chapter 3, that as the wind blows it goes, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit of God. And, in some mysterious way beyond human comprehension, this literal, living, written Word of God, when received into one's heart, inspired by the conviction that it is of the Spirit of God, regenerates, makes the man or woman a brand-new creature. We are born again, that incorruptible seed of the Word of God that lives and abides forever. This book actually, literally, has life in it. It is a life-giving Word, and the reason it is a life-giving Word is because all scripture is God-breathed. We suggested that perhaps we have an illustration of this in Genesis 2.7, where God created man out of the dust of the earth, God breathed into man's dust of the breath of life, and man became a living soul. That Spirit of God was the first one mentioned in creation, actively working in Genesis chapter 1 and in verse 2. Now, we read that the Spirit of God moves upon the face of the world, and that word spirit is a Hebrew word from which comes the word breath, the word breath and wind, and so on. Oftentimes, it's used interchangeably, and so I believe that the Word of God teaches this. The Bible has in it an inherent life. It is a life-giving Word because it gets life from the very breath of God. The breath of God is associated with all that God has made. We saw that in a number of places this morning, and we don't want to get bogged down tonight in our review. If I could just say that it is our position here at this chapel, we are unalterably committed to the doctrine of the absolute inspiration of the Spirit. The Bible is an error, divinely inspired, that it is without error, and is correctly interpreted by the aid of the Holy Spirit, and also without any contradiction. All Scripture is God-breathed. It has length in it, and it has the power to impart life throughout it. This is so vitally important, and it reminds me of the people who were here this morning The Bible, in Ephesians 2 of 8, the Bible says, by grace are you saved through faith that not your salvation is against God. It says this in Romans 10, 17. So, again, faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the Word of God. So, faith that enables you to believe and receive Jesus Christ in a way that transforms your life and saves you, and makes you a new creature in Christ, comes through the hearing of the Word of God. In some wonderful, tremendously wonderful way, the hearing of the Word of God, owned and blessed by the Spirit of God, creates faith in the heart, in the life, in the soul, in the intellect, in the entire being of a sinner, enabling him to accept Jesus Christ, and then, in God, he becomes a new creature in Christ. We saw also, if you remember, in 1 Peter 1, verses 23-25, that all scripture is not only God-breathed, but it is eternal and it is everlasting. That interesting passage reminded us this morning that God is compassing all of man's accomplishments, achievements, all of his glory, and all that he has to boast in with eternal character and equality. The elastiness of the Word of God puts it in these interesting words. In 1 Peter 1, verses 23-25, God says that all humanity is like grass, and all of the glory of man is like the flower of the grass. The grass withers or flowers off all of the way, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. This is the Word of the Father, Gospel, as preached unto you. Jesus himself said, if you remember in the Gospels, that heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass away. Precious Holy Bible treasure, rich and rare, Word of God eternal, beyond compare. This is that blessed heritage that God has given to us. Our firm foundation, you saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent Word. What more can he say than to you he has said? To you who believe that for wrath you shall be bled, and thank God he has said it in the Bible. And the Bible is divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, dependable, trustworthy, and when heaven and earth have passed away, the Word of God will still stand firm and sure. So, you see the value of having your assurance of salvation based upon the authoritative scripture and not upon subjective experience. Not upon what you feel, but upon what God says. Now, in this section here tonight, I want you to notice with me that not only is all the Word of God breathed out of the Spirit of God, getting its authority, not only is it eternal, but here we learn that it is not the opinions of men but that it comes from God. Now, this is vitally important. For those who are opposed to the doctrine of inerrancy in the scriptures, and who don't accept the doctrine of inspiration, try and tell us that men go according to the way they themselves. They think they detect some differences between what various writers wrote, and this gives it forth. Perhaps from the cycle they have not been Spirit taught, or the Word of God has not been rightly divided. And many say, well, this man wrote and he gave us his opinion, and this man wrote and he gave us his opinion. But also notice what we have read here in verses 30 and 31 of 2 Peter chapter 1. Knowing this verse, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. Now, that means that no particular passage of scripture can be interpreted in the light of all of itself. It cannot be isolated from the rest of the Word of God. Now, the reason for that is given in the following verse. Prophecy came not in old time by the will of men, but holy men of God spoke, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Now, let me give you the literal rendering of that verse, and then the New International Version. In the literal Method Greek text, not by will of men did every prophecy come, but by the Holy Spirit borne on holy men of God spoke. So, we see the word moved translated by two words, borne on. Now, the New International Version says, "...for prophecy never had its origin in the will of men, but men spoke to God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." Men who are referred to here as holy men. The word means sanctified or set apart unto a specific purpose or purpose. Here, the word is used in relation to God's mouthpieces, and those who recorded what the Lord said. But, you see, the absolute truth of the transference of the knowledge of God from Himself to us is seen here in that while men wrote, they wrote under the control of the Holy Spirit of God. Now, remember this again, that literal rendering not by will of men did every prophecy come, but by the Holy Spirit borne on holy men of God spoke. Now, in the Bible I have noted, and this is a fascinating thing and I have enjoyed it since I discovered it, that the Bible is its own character type. Not only its passages, but also of the meaning of words. And when I learned that this text had been revised, and the word moved here had been changed to foretold, I looked for it in other places in the Bible. And, thanks to Mr. W. E. Vaughan, my favorite source of information regarding Greek words in the New Testament, I discovered that the word is used in the 27th chapter of the book of the Acts in connection with that ship upon which Paul sailed. You remember it said when they leaved, and they thought that everything was stable, and the south wind blew softly, and shortly after they had moved from their anchor and put out the sea, a north east arose. And he did, because that the ship could not stand up to the wind, so they straightened themselves, and I take it to mean the ship that took the sailors down, so they let the merge of the wind and the sea. And it says, "'The ship will be straightened itself, and face in the wind, and forward driven.'" Forward driven. And the word, driven, in the Greek would be identical as the word moved here, or the word bore along as the revisions had given it to us. And here, the Holy Spirit of God gives us a beautiful picture of the power under which men rode, who were those who talked of that which God breathed. Just like a ship, just like a ship that is sailed by, just like a ship that is ruddered by, with all of its power of steering by, and was completely at the mercy of the sea and of a raging wind, just like a ship in motion, that ship was driven, and so holy men of God spoke as they were controlled and borne along and moved by the Holy Spirit of God. So, you see, here we learn that prophecy never came in times of old according to the opinion of men. It is not what God...it is not what men wanted to write, but what God definitely instructed upon them to write, and controlled them perfectly by securing to us an accurate revelation from God. Now, this is vitally important to the doctrine of inspiration. There is a beautiful scripture in 2 Thessalonians 2.13, or 1 Thessalonians 2.13, read up, and I'd like to read it for you. Paul says, in connection with his visit to the Thessalonians, that it is called also thank you, God, without ceasing, because when you receive the word of God which you heard of us, you receive it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God which also has textual worketh in you to believe. And, Paul has proof that the Thessalonians, when they heard the word of God, did not receive it as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God which effectively works in those that receive this message of God. Now, tonight we want to move along in our study of the doctrine of the authority of the scriptures, and seek to show in the Bible some more infallible proof as to the authority of the word of God. I would like to say that these infallible evidences fall into two categories, I believe, generally. And, since they are internal evidences of the authority of the Bible, the second category would be the external evidences. There are more, I am sure, but that's for the sake of my outline. I have put the internal evidences of inspiration under three headings. Number one, the Bible claims to be the word of God. The second proof of the authority of the scriptures is a continuity of the Bible, the unity of the scriptures. The third one is the unerring accuracy of the purposes of the word of God. Internal evidences, of course, are seen in the result that this message produces in the lives of those who receive Jesus Christ as their Savior. Children are always said and done, and all the theologians have had their say, and everybody has had their say. The third proof of the authority of the word of God is the transformed life. It is the fifth proof that has power to change lives. Elements known as first of all that the Bible claims to be the word of God. It is amazing, but true, that there are men in Protestant America today who are theologians of our ascending and deterrent, who say that the Bible never claims to be the word of God. But, then, the same men say that the Lord Jesus never claimed to be God, nor did he ever claim to be the Son of God. Now, let me give you one fact that you may not have heard about. When you read the Old Testament, you will find no less than 2,000 times a statement like this or its equivalent, "'Thus saith the Lord, thus saith the Lord." It's found no less than 2,000 times in the Old Testament. For example, in Genesis 15-1, the word of the Lord came unto Abram. In Numbers 23-5, the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth. In 1 Samuel 15-10, then came the word of the Lord to Samuel. In 2 Samuel 7-4, the word of the Lord came to Nathan. In 2 Samuel 23-2, the spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and his word was in my tongue, and this is David who is doing the teaching. So, I think it is very, very unusual that men should deny that the Bible came to be the word of God, and over and over men say, "'The word of the Lord was in my mouth.' So, the word of the Lord came to this one and that one, and they spoke because God had spoken to them." I'll tell you now, dear friends, it is wonderful to know that the Bible God spoke to speak in emphatically came to be the word of God. What I like about the Bible is what I find in Psalm 119, verse 89. It's really one of the beautiful things about it, and there the psalmist says, Now, that's good, and we ought to thank God that it is, because you see, in these days when everything is changing, and as we mentioned this morning, that some men and some institutions such as seminaries who, a few years ago, in their doctrinal statements and their brochures, tell you, quite frankly, that we believe in the narrative of Scripture, they now have eliminated that statement from their brochures when they send it out to prospective seminarians. And they're moving away from this doctrine. But, you see, I like it when he says, For ever, O Lord, thy word is heaven and heaven. So, you see, there's the beauty of that, and it's in your book. If you are here tonight, and you have not received Jesus Christ as your Savior, if you haven't discovered it in your life, and if God loves and leads man to death, hell, and destruction, you hear Jesus say, I am the girl, I'll be his sinner, and he shall be sold. And if you receive Jesus Christ, then you went from your Father to the Word of God. He's got to lead us on this long, hard path to life. And whenever you do that, remember, this word is forever settled in heaven. I know I am saved today. I have been saved for thirty-one years in law, and I have never in these thirty-one years had not the slightest doubt that all my sins are forgiven. Nothing is lost. I made a discovery one time, and that discovery was this, that I was a worthless, no-good sinner on my way to hell. And I'll tell you this, my friend, no matter whether you are the same kind of worthless, no-good sinner I was, or whether you're a religious dead god, worthless, no-good sinner, it doesn't matter. The only kind of people that God saves is worthless, no-good sinners. The Son of Man comes to people to save us, which is law. This is a discovery you must absolutely know in order to become a Christian. Now, when I discovered that, I learned that Christ died for my sins, and it was a just, worthless, no-good pilgrimage that Jesus died, and that was good news to me. And I learned that God loved me, and if I received Jesus Christ as my Savior, God would give me eternal life, and straighten out that mess, and make a man out of me, and change my life. I thought a man would be a fool not to get in on that, and I believed him, and I trusted him. And when I did receive him, my friend, I set my feet squarely upon the Word of God, and that Word was forever spread in heaven. Now, if you want me to doubt my salvation, don't come to me and ask me about some emotional, subjective experience that I've had, and don't ask me whether I've had a second blessing or not. I've had a second billionth one, and I'm working on the second three-fifth season. I can't count the blessings I've had. Don't try to get me occupied with my feelings. All I know is, be my feelings what they were, Jesus is my Savior still, because that Word is forever settled in heaven. He that believes on the Son has everlasting life. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And, I believe that that Word is forever settled in heaven. Now, that's why it's important to see the doctrine of inspiration. Let me give you another wonderful nugget in the psalms. In the 138th psalm, in verse 2, there the psalmist directs his voice to God and says, Thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy name. Thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy name. That's interesting. It's a striking statement by the name of God that's exalted, the name of God that's magnified. It's that name that's written all over all that God has made, that glorious name of God eternal, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And yet, the psalmist, writing by the inspiration of the spirit of God, says, Thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy name. Why? Well, if you have been raised in olden times like me, and I'm afraid there's not anybody else here. Maybe Clint Warren-Parrish, who will build me up, and one or two more that were raised in olden times. It's a vanishing breed, I admit that. But, way back when I was a boy, we used to have men, and I can remember them now, and how many times I've heard people say, That gentleman, that Mr. So-and-so, the man's word isn't done. Do you know what that meant? Now, there are some today. I must say this. There are some professing preachers I wouldn't trust with a wooden nickel. There are some that are so crooked, you have to screw them in the ground with a crook screw when they die. Jimmits will never be able to get them in a straight box. But, I believe this. There are some people today who are... Listen, there are some people today... I'm moving, and there are here this night some of them who I would trust with every gut and tick of earthly possession I have without a thing in writing. I would trust them with it. You know why? Because I know these people, and they have character, and they know that a good name is better to be treasured than great riches, and they will not sacrifice their name for the sake of the material possessions that they might gain. You see, a man's word is his own, and what they meant was, if this man gives his word, then you don't have to worry about it. This man is as good as his word. It goes from man to God. When his word is to sacrifice his name and his character. And so, you see, the Sermonsters are magnified by the word of the Lord Almighty. Now, look at the beauty of this, my friends. Suppose he was an unsaved person. You see, Jesus Christ is your Savior. You do what God tells you. Listen in his word, and you cannot go back on his word. There are some things God cannot do. Absolutely cannot do it. For one of them is, he cannot say one thing in his book and leave something back in his book. He cannot do it. He cannot do it. Because God's word has magnified and exalted above all of his name, and the reason for that is this. If God breaks one promise in his book, the very character of God is for all eternity gone. The name of God is no good. He is no longer the tender, more trustworthy. Now, the beauty of that is this. If you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, I don't care how thin you are and how little faith you have underneath how much faith you have in the world. If on this broad road, and you're here tonight, and you take one step forward to get closer to Jesus Christ as God, believe that Jesus died for you. Trust him as your Lord and Savior. God promised you eternal life. Now, the question is this. Do you think God is going to let one worthless, no-good sinner like you wind up in the land of fire at the expense of a sacrifice of his name? Never! Never! Instead of it, all the world would be lost, and the name of God should be dropped back down. No matter. Don't you understand me? For salvation of sinners rests upon the word of God. My word, O Lord, is forever settled in heaven. I am magnified by the word of the Lord my name. So, you see, if you receive Christ as your Savior, you need worry no longer about being lost in the day to come, because God is not going to let you who put your trust in Christ be lost painlessly, because if he does, it costs him his name. Do you understand that? And I say again, do you think God is going to let one poor, worthless sinner like you and me go to hell at the cost of his very name? No. No, my friend. You see the importance tonight of the value of the word of God. Now, another blessing in the Bible that, to me, illustrates this wonderful authority and trustworthiness is the continuity of the Bible, and I've tossed it down in my notebook because I could not memorize all of it, and it's so good I wanted to get it. This Friday, I have this to say, that this wonderful book appears in one volume in which there is a perfect continuity of historical sequence from the creation to the new heavens and the earth. In it, the Bible, we have the presentation and exaltation of the most perfect personal earth, air, and heaven. Yet, this one volume, which exhibits the most perfect continuity of thought the world has ever seen, is composed of a collection of 66 books written by about 40 different authors. Among these writers of the Bible were kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, physicians, poets, and shamans who could have known but little of each other since their lives were lived in various countries. And, just as their writings, the writings of these 40 or so authors, stretch over a period of six generations of human history, representing a period of approximately 1,600 years. Now, you look at that book you have before you, and remember that within its cover are the writings of approximately 40 men, and these writings stretch over a period of 1,600 years of human history. And, many of these writers never heard of one another, and yet when you read the Bible, you learn that from Genesis, the book of the beginning, the Bible bears witness to one way of salvation. From the beginning to end, the Bible testifies to one way of salvation. From the beginning to end, the Bible has one great thing, the personal work of Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 10 and 7, starting from the 40th Psalm, Jesus said, "...Lo, it is written of the volume of the book of me, I come to you by will of God." In John chapter 5 and verse 49, Jesus said to the Jews, "...Search the scriptures, and then you think you have eternal life." And they said, "...Jesus hath testified of me." In Luke chapter 24 and verse 44, Jesus said to his disciples, "...These are the words which I have taken to you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled in the law of Moses, in the prophets, and in the psalms concerning me." Now, do you not understand that if you had a book written by 40 authors, here in the United States of America, and this book written by 40 authors, if it was written in a period of 16 or 16 years, let alone 1,600 years, if these men claimed they never knew one another, and didn't know what the other one was writing about, and were to produce a book with this unit and continuity of scriptures, there's not a man alive who's an idiot enough to believe that. Now, everybody would know that they had been built just to lose it. They had gotten together and agreed on what they should write, so they built a consistent testimony. This, my dear friends, is a wonderful book that God has given to us, and look at it, over 1,600 years of human history, by 40 different men who never heard of one another, and who did not know what the others were writing about, and they all wrote about the same person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Some way of salvation, faith through Jesus Christ, and faith in Christ, and salvation through God. My friends, it's impossible for this book to be of any human origin. It must of necessity come from God. You know, the more I study the Word of God, when I was an unsaved man, I used to believe that the Bible was a bunch of fairy tales not right on the quality of these tables, and not even as interesting in some places. But, after I became a Christian, and began to try to study the Word of God, I will confess to you tonight that I do not have enough faith to be an unbeliever. I just haven't got enough faith to be an unbeliever. And, I don't think anybody who approaches the study of the Word of God objectively and listens to its claims and interprets its sayings in the light of plain literature and in the light of common sense, then it's a lecture to go loud, but the book is absolutely supernatural. Now, where there is a confluence of the natural and the supernatural, as in the spirit of God, he is a human instrument, when the two are brought together, there are things we cannot understand. As in the confluence of the natural and the supernatural, when the spirit of God, who knows the woman of the Virgin, Jesus Christ, I don't understand how, in the woman of the Virgin, the Holy Spirit of God forms a baby. I'll never be able to understand that. There are a lot of things I don't understand. But, you see, the Bible does not depend for its authority upon my understanding. So, let's remember this. It is a supernatural book that has given us Bible school of God, and we can rely upon it. Now, I'd like to give you one further evidence. The third one is the prophetic estimates of the Scripture. Now, we read that here, the value of prophecy in relation to the Word of God. What we read tonight here at length in 2 Peter 1, you'll notice Peter says, "...we were with them and the Holy Mount." Now, what Peter's talking about here in 2 Peter 1 is the experience that he and James and John had on the Mount of Transfiguration. It's recorded in Matthew chapter 17, also in Mark and in Luke, that they were on the Mount of Transfiguration, and Peter said, "...now listen, I want you to know this. We have not sat under you, trying to divide tables and myths, for there may none of you have power in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father both glory and honor, and attained such a birth in him from the Holy Mount, saying, This is my beloved Son, and both am well pleased." Now, Peter says he heard this voice. What was going on on the Mount of Transfiguration? Well, I believe if you'll notice very carefully these words in verse 19, you have the result of that which transpired on the Mount of Transfiguration. As a result of that experience, he said in verse 19, we have also a more sure word of prophecy. The Revises put it this way, we have the prophetic word made more sure. Another revision says we have the words of the prophet made more sure, more reliable, and it simply means this. That on the Mount of Transfiguration, when the Lord Jesus Christ was transfigured before them, he took on in his appearance, I like what Mark said. He used his language. It's so striking and so different. He said this garment was blistering white, was flying snow. It was white, but it was full of conviction. These are some very interesting names, and Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, my friends, momentarily took upon himself that body which he bears in the glory today, and that body also which he shall bear and which he shall love, and he has now that body of his, and he's going to sit upon the throne of David and reign for a thousand years, known as the Millennium, as he comes back and puts his enemy down under his feet, and at the end of the figuration, he's going to come back and establish his kingdom. Now, I suspect that approximately two-thirds of Old Testament prophecy has to do with the establishment of his kingdom. And, you see, on the Mount of Transfiguration, the Lord Jesus said he gave Peter and John a miniature picture of the establishing of the literal kingdom, and Peter says, as a result of that, we have the words of the prophets made more sure, because the Lord Jesus gave them a little preview of the literal establishing of a kingdom of which the major part of the prophecy of the Old Testament has to speak. I might pass this interesting fact along to you, and you can take it home with you in case you don't want to. But, turn it down a bit, and you can do the same thing, and if you read your Bible school systematically year by year, eventually, you'll find them all yourself if you'd like to make a note of them. But, it'll be easy to remember, because there are 333 purposes and predictions related to the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament, 333. Now, there are many, many more. But these 333 predictions concern, in fact, a very special one, and the reason is this, that they can be found as a matter of history already fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ recorded in the full gospel. I repeat, 333 predictions in the Old Testament concerning the Lord Jesus that can be found as a matter of past history already fulfilled in the life of the Son of God. Now, not, listen, not in some haphazard or fortuitous manner, but in a very exact manner, in a very minute manner of technicianship that is undeniably supernatural. Now, let me give you some examples. In Isaiah 714, we read that the Lord Jesus was to be born of a virgin. In Isaiah 111, He was to be called out of Egypt. In Jeremiah 3115, He was to be slain with a sliver. In Isaiah 1120, He was to be anointed with the Spirit. In Zechariah 9.9, we read of His entry into Jerusalem. In Psalms 41 and 55, He was to be betrayed by a slave. In Zechariah 11 and verse 12, we read the prophecy that He was to be sold for thirty-six silver. In Zechariah 11 and verse 13, a pot of steel was to be brought with a sliver which the Lord had sold. In Isaiah 53, chapter 13 and verse 7 of Zechariah, we read that He was to be forsaken by His disciples. Isaiah 50 and verse 6, He was to be spit on and scourged. In Exodus chapter 12 and 34 of Psalm, we read that not a bone of His body was to be broken. In Psalm 69.21, we read of a gall in the vinegar. In Psalm 22, hands and the feet pierced, the part of their garments under casting of the law. And everybody who reads the Bible can find these, and all the others that make up the 333. Fulfilled, I say, my friends, it's in minute detail with a very accurate date. Not a matter of death will I have the chance, but absolutely fulfilled. Now, let me give you a little space. Let's say that I aspire to be a prophet. Now, one thing about the Bible is, it makes you feel what a prophet is. If a man were to know whether he was a prophet or not, if he prophesied and what he said comes to pass, that's all the proof you need. If it doesn't come to pass, that's all the proof you need in the opposite direction. That's very simple. So, let's say that I, tonight, am professing to be a prophet with this. And I am going to prophesy tonight that next April, in the month of April, that we're going to have a shower somewhere in Durham County or its environment. And we're going to have a shower on April 11th. Easy to remember, because that's my birthday. We're going to have a shower of rain. Now, if I make that prophecy tonight, and we have a shower somewhere in Durham County on the 11th of April, then I will not be famous. Because, look, anybody could make a guess like that, and if you're lucky, if the thing is wise, if the game is love, you might win. But let's add a few details. Let's say that to this prophecy, I am very interested in telling you many details. We're going to fly to the exact center of the county of Durham. And I'm going to drive a huge iron stake with an eye on the top of it like a giant eyeball. And I'm going to take a rope, a nylon rope, and tie it on there and pass it through the axle of the helicopter. And I'm going to send this helicopter up 500 feet in the air, or a thousand, up the highest point where I'm hitting a thing. And I'm going to pass another rope into that helicopter, and I'm going to send another helicopter to that helicopter out exactly a quarter of a mile. And I'm going to let that second helicopter make a perfect circle with the perfect thing of the county of Durham, and then make this circle a quarter of a mile this way all the way around. I'm going to let the second helicopter drop a giant ice cube and pull on to the bottom of it, lay out something like plastic or fiberglass. We're going to fill this with flour. And this is going to take place next April the 10th, getting ready for my prediction in the 11th. Now, I'm adding these details. But as this airplane or this helicopter goes around, it's going to pull a little lever, like a truck does to trucks when they need some driver's attention, and it's going to put out a line of flour. And you're going to have a perfect white, purple line of flour just exactly the circumference as already described. And I add these details. But this shower of rain will begin on the 11th of April at 2 minutes past 3 in the afternoon. And it will last until 24 minutes past 2. We will have 33 and one-third, one-one-tenth of a hundred inches of rain. And the last property, a detail I add, not one drop will fall outside of that white circle. Now, my friend, if I add those details, and every one of them happens next April the 11th, you know that I'm a prophet. You're a candidate for an insane sign. You have to be. You have to be convinced. What do you know? Well, my dear friends, listen. This is an erring accident in which the predictions concerning Jesus Christ have been fulfilled. Three hundred and thirty-three of them have been in an accident. And I'll give you this one, and then I'll have to quit. Let's get Luke chapter 2, I believe it is, the Gospel of Luke, and I'll tell you something very wonderful. Now, this is just one of the three hundred and thirty-three. We have done laboring a little bit tonight. We're not going to get to the extreme and evidences of the authentic Scripture. But I want to express upon us tonight the beauty of this message book. I want us to draw our hearts out to God in worship and gratitude, for giving us such a book, and that it might give us a real desire to read it, put the study of it above everything else in our lives. Now, here is just one of the three hundred and thirty-three. In chapter 2 of the Gospel of Luke, and it came to pass in those days that they went out of the priests, and the priests of Augustus said, all the world should be taxed. And this taxing is sort of like a census or a poll we take on counting of heads. And, of course, this taxing was made for the first time in Quirinius' governor's spirit. Now, this had never happened before. Detail number one. And all that should be taxed, everyone to his own spirit. Now, I don't know why they had to go back to be counted in their hometown, but I remember one time, way back before they had these newfangled methods of census taking, and I was away somewhere years and years ago. A person came around our house taking the census of the people in our house, and he asked my rank, my occupation, where I was, and how old I was, and all about me. Now, even our government, which has a beautiful reputation of being super clean, would never go so far as to say, well, tell your husband to come home so I can count on him. They didn't say that. Or even our government would do such a thing. So, in the city of Rome here, there's this Roman Caesar, all of a sudden he takes a motion, I wouldn't think he got the motion, to count all the Jews they had under his dominion, under his thumb, under his political authority. You see, Rome was a ruling power that day, and Jews were chasing under the Roman rule, and they were giving Caesar a lot of trouble, the Roman authority. So, sitting away out there in the city of Rome, this decree comes out from Caesar Augustus, I want to count all the Jews that the army had got. And I don't want to go over counting, but I'm going to see how inconvenient I can make it for them. They've been causing me a lot of trouble. I want the law passed, and I want them to go back to where they were born at, and where they were raised, to their hometown, so we can count them there. And notice this. It says in verse four, And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth, entered Judea, under the city of David, which he called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary as his spouse's wife, and Joseph's child. So it was that while they were there, that David told her that she should be delivered, as the result was, her firstborn son. You say, well, what's so unusual about this? Well, let me give you another detail. The only thing wrong with this picture here is that Mary was about to be delivered of her firstborn child. And we read in the Bible, and history tells us in the maps, that Nazareth was approximately seven to three to seventy-five miles from Bethlehem. No man in his right mind would take his wife and the firstborn child coming any day and put her on the back of a donkey and go across those hills for seventy-five miles. Well, the fishing was killing. It was good. He went and let her put her in a Cadillac. He could do that. But, you see, God is moving behind the scenes, and all of a sudden, this man gets the idea, I'm going to kill all these Jews. I can just see now this Roman courier riding down into the city square of Nazareth, and a cloud of dust and glowing smoke. Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. Caesar has to see that all the Jews will go back to their hometown and be saved. And I can see Joseph saying, well, man, look at my wife's condition. It's impossible. And I can see this man very, very contentious. And look at him and say, well, you think Caesar cares about us, do I? Get away and do what Caesar did there to serve his law. And very much so. And I believe such a thing had never entered this man's mind when he put his wife up on the back of the donkey and went for 75 miles wide, up and down the hills and the gullies, and the vales and the valleys, and over the mountains. And he got there and he did what he was delivered of the firstborn child. So, what's it all about? What was wrong with Jesus Christ being born in Nazareth? He would have been just as healthy, and I'm sure the hospital facilities might even have been better in Nazareth than in Bethlehem. So, what was wrong with Jesus Christ being born in Nazareth that 700 years before Jesus was born, Micah the prophet, and you read in chapter 5 in verse 2 of the prophecy of Micah, picked up his pen and bore along and controlled by the Holy Spirit of God, wrote these words, without death in him, Ephesus, thereby belittling among the thousands of Judah. Yet out of these shall he come forth unto me, that it should be ruler in Israel who is going forth, from everlasting. And because God said to a prophet 700 years before that Jesus must be born in Bethlehem, no doubt about it, I'll tell you, I don't see how it could be any other way, that God himself put every one of these details in the minds of Jesus of Nazareth, and he's the one that moved through this effort to get Jesus born in Bethlehem. I'll tell you right then, God will turn this world upside down and make it act like a gold-plated steel, and make everybody of us who will let one word of God fall to the ground, unfaithful. The scriptures cannot be broken, my friends. This is the kind of Bible, this is the kind of book that we have picked up, touched in, the rest of this book, bears witness to the fact that God loves us and Christ has died for us. And may I repeat again, every stage of the Christian life, salvation, sanctification, growth and development of our Christian life, all we have to believe of is found in the word of God, that God breathes stricter, absolutely inerrant, insaluble, and absolutely without persecution. Now, this is the book, my friends, from which we preach. It is the only source of knowledge on the earth today. It is the only foundation for the Christian faith. Not only the only book, but it's the only book that we accept, and it speaks with authority that no other book has. Many have written books about the Bible, but no other book speaks with the authority of which the word of God speaks. All Scripture is God's reason. And so you see, it's so important that we, as God's people, make this book the chief objective of our lives as far as learning what it has to say and studying it so we can build on it and share it with others, share our faith with others. And I'll tell you, we'll never know what we'll miss. The greatest mistake I've ever made in the 31 years of Christian life is my neglect of the word of God. What's your name for tonight? Are you saved? I would have thought that everybody here tonight is a Christian, but they can't do that. What a foolish thing that would be. So I ask you tonight, as it flows, do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior? Have you ever trusted him? You say, well, I haven't, but I'd like to, and I don't know for sure exactly how or what it means to believe. Well, my friend, that's why we have this kind of a book. So tonight, if there's a doubt in your mind, ask one doubt that's on your mind whether you're right or doubted. And if you will stay behind and make your needs known, you can take this blessed book, so pure, so reliable, so dependable, you can rest your soul for all eternity on the authority of this book. And you'll take this book, and your book, all the time, and show your heart and have your feelings forgiven. Just let us know about your needs, and don't forget our booklet we're giving away. We'd love to give you one called Safety, Surgery, and Drugs. Many people have been helped through the reading of this book. So we'd be delighted to give you a book or to talk to you from this retreat. If you'll only stay behind and let us thank God afresh for this blessed book, and let us read it, and study it, and give it a place in our life that shows our appreciation and gratitude for such an accurate revelation from God. Tell your friends, Our Father, how thankful we are tonight for the book, Lord, the Word of the Living God. We shudder to think it's a hopelessness and darkness to go unbroken in this darkness, Father, blinded by natures of tragedy and the darkness of this world, grasping and seeking after God, we'd have been lost forever, but, oh, Lord, we thank you tonight for a clear revelation from Thyself, and all this reminds us why it fills our souls, those of us who know thee, to live through sinners without an excuse for them. We dread to think of those who reject this revelation and die and go to hell with the light of this blessed book shining in their very eyes. Lord, speak to every unashamed person here tonight. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.