A Baptist and His Bible—Dr. Jerry Vines

[Applause] i think that's the best introduction and welcome i've ever received when i got up freeze i don't know i don't know what we're going to do monday night and tuesday night i really don't this thing seats ten thousand people you know when you kind of squeeze in together we'll do the best we can second timothy chapter three second timothy chapter three beginning with verse 14. second timothy chapter 3 beginning with verse 14 we read these words continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and has been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in christ jesus all scripture is given by inspiration of god now drop down to chapter 4 verse 1. i charge thee therefore before god and the lord jesus christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom preach the word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables but watch thou in all things in your afflictions do the work of an evangelist make full proof of thy ministry for i am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand in beautiful human language resplendent with divine revelation the apostle paul sets forth the bible's teaching concerning itself now it may help us to get a little bit of background right here paul the older preacher is coming to the end of his road and what a road it has been it started on the damascus road and it has gone all the way now to the dungeon of rome timothy is the younger preacher just beginning his road and the older preacher wants the younger preacher to understand the importance of the book which he holds in his hand so in these closing words of the old preacher paul to the young preacher timothy he wants to talk with him for a little while about the importance of the bible and the necessity that he preached that word in the ministry which god has given to him it is interesting to me that in verse 15 paul refers to the bible as the holy scriptures and he says to young timothy from a child you have known the holy scriptures what he's saying is this is not a new book to you you have known it all of your life i think that many of us in this service tonight can identify with that the earliest memories of my life about the bible came to me in vacation bible school i can remember those days as just a little child i would go into vacation bible school sometimes it would be my opportunity to stand before the other students with a copy of the bible in my hand and after the pledge to the american flag and the pledge to the christian flag i would take a step forward and with trembling hands i would hold in my uh hand a copy of the bible we would pledge allegiance to the bible and then we'd sing songs like this the b-i-b-l-e yes that's the book for me i stand alone on the word of god the b-i-b-l-e and then sometimes we would sing holy bible book divine precious treasure thou art mind from a child thou has known the holy scriptures the holy scriptures it is an unusual word combination found only here in all of the bible the word for scriptures here is the greek word grammati it is not the word graphic which is used in verse 16. nar it is the is it the word uh lagos in chapter four verse two it is the word dramata which means uh the writings are the documents and then he says the holy writings the holy documents another unusual word it is not the normal greek word hagias for holy but it is another word it is used in one other significant place in first corinthians chapter 9 and verse 13 where reference is made to the holy things of the temple it is talking about those vessels and utensils in the temple and they are called the era they are called the holy things the sacred things things that had been separated for special uses of god and so when paul writing to the young man timothy about the bible wants to emphasize uh the special reverence attached to this book he calls it the holy scriptures he sounds kind of like a baptist doesn't he talking about the bible i heard about these three preachers a presbyterian and a pentecostal and a baptist who were talking about what paul's denomination might be if he uh came back to earth and someone said uh the pentagon the presbyterian said oh i think he would surely be a presbyterian because he would admire our scholarship and the pentecostal said well i don't think there's any question about it he'd be a pentecostal he would love our doxology and praise the baptist preacher didn't say anything and so one of them looked at him and said well what do you think he would be if he came back he said oh i don't think he'd change when when you talk about the holy scriptures you are talking baptist talk and i want to talk to you a little while tonight about a baptist and his bible and in these verses the apostle paul takes the young man and he takes us quickly to the counseling room and then he takes us to the classroom and then he takes us to the crisis room first of all he takes us to the counseling room and he shows us the intention of the bible he says in verse 14 continue in the things you have learned that's continuation and have been assured of that is conviction knowing of whom thou hast believed them and then he says from a child you have been able to know the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation that is conversion there we find the intention of the holy scriptures there what we find what our bible is intended to do and the apostle paul is reminding young timothy of the experience he had reminding of him how that he was through the holy scriptures that he came to know the lord jesus as his savior you know in my church when i was a boy we had a sunday school class known as the tel class i lived a lot of years before i understood that the t-e-l class made up of the grandmothers in our church represented timothy eunice and lois you see timothy had a wonderful wonderful advantage he had a godly mother eunice and he had a godly grandmother lois and from a child knowing of whom you have learned them from a child he had been taught the holy scriptures i can almost imagine that eunice and lois day by day would say what scripture shall we read for tiny tim today and they would carefully select it and one day they'd read about creation and another day they would read about noah and his ark and another day they would read about uh abraham placing his son on the altar on mount moriah they were preparing his little heart so that one day he might be wise unto salvation and then on a day there was a man named paul who came to preach at the first baptist church of lystra and he preached the gospel and he preached the simple story of salvation and when the invitation hymn was given young timothy went forward and he gave his hand to the preacher and he gave his heart to the lord jesus christ and he was made wise unto salvation and i can almost imagine that a deacon went home that day and around the lunch table somebody said did anything happen at church today well he said not much we had a long-winded preacher and oh yeah eunice's boy tim joined the church today not much happen not much here is the man who's going to be the traveling companion of the apostle paul he just got saved not much here's the man to whom two books of your bible were written not much here's a man for whom the angels of glory rejoiced and there was fruit basket turned over in heaven because another soul was saved not much ring the bells of heaven there is joy today for a soul returning from the cold he was made wise unto salvation you know that's exactly what the bible's intended to do in psalm 19 verse 7 the bible says the law of the lord is perfect converting the soul and in john chapter 20 verse 31 it says what things or were written were written for our learning and it says that you might know that jesus is the christ and that believing you might have life through his name you see the the purpose the intention of the bible is to make us wise unto salvation you ever thought about how wise you have to be to be saved well first of all you have to know you're a great sinner and you see this bible confirms what our own experience screams in our heart because it is this bible which says all have sinned and come short of the glory of god it is this bible which says there is none that doeth good not one you have to know first of all to be saved that you are a great sinner but then also you have to know that god has provided a great salvation and you find this in the bible and you have to know that god has provided this great salvation in the person of his son the lord jesus christ you see the bible is a book which points to the lord jesus jesus christ is the theme of the bible the bible says about itself in acts chapter 10 verse 43 to him give all the prophets witness that through faith in his name whosoever believeth in him might be saved you see this bible is intended to exalt the lord jesus christ therefore bringing us to a knowledge of him in salvation you see the bible is a book which tells us about jesus in the old testament he is anticipated in the new testament he is announced the old testament uh predicts him the new testament presents him if you want to know about the stars you read astronomy but if you want to know about the bride in the morning star you read the bible if you want to know about the ages of the rock you read geology but if you want to know about the rock of ages you read the bible if you want to know about the roses and the lilies you read botany but if you want to know about the roles of sharon and the lily of the valley you read the bible i find my lord in the bible wherever i choose to look he is the theme of the bible the center and heart of the book he is the rose of sharon he is the lily fair wherever i open my bible the lord of the book is there and so you see when i realize that i'm a great sinner and when i see in the bible a great savior i understand that through faith in him i can have a great salvation the bible says in acts chapter 4 verse 12 neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved one of the reasons i have always loved the sunday night service is because on a sunday night joe sitting right where you sit on the second row i receive the lord jesus christ as my savior i have always been thankful that i was a part of a church that had a sunday night service and didn't close the doors i have always been thankful that god gave me a pastor who preached the word of god and told me that i was a sinner and told me that christ died on the cross for my sins and told me that if i would turn from my sins and receive jesus christ into my heart in my life i would be saved and that night i heard an old old story how the savior left from glory how he gave his life on calvary to save a wretch like me and i did what timothy did i went forward and i gave my hand to the preacher and i gave my heart to jesus and i walked out of that building and i had been made wise unto salvation that's the intention of the scriptures and that's why we baptist and that's why believers get all upset and out of joint when people start messing with the bible you see the mess with the bible is to is like uh poisoning medicine for a dying man it's like polluting the bread of a hungry man it's like corrupting the water of a thirsty man you see it is this book which brings people to faith in the lord jesus christ and undermine the message of this book and you have done eternal damage to the souls of people i heard about the great preacher henry ward beecher who was invited to attend the atheist club presided over by robert ingersoll the noted agnostic and so he went and he set uh to listen to ingersoll who gave a blistering attack on the christian faith and mocked and made fun of the bible and everything holy and after uh ingersoll sat down to thunderous applause he looked over at uh beecher and he said would you like to say a few words in defense of the bible and beecher rose slowly to his feet then he said he said you'll have to forgive me if i seem a little bit shaken on the way to the meeting tonight i i saw something which shocked me greatly he said i saw a poor blind man standing on the curbside he was walking on a cane groping his way alone and then he said i i saw a young lad come to assist him across the road and about that time a hulk of a man came and pushed the lad away and broke the man's cane and pushed the poor blind man in the mud and went on his way laughing and there was silence in the room for a moment and then ingersoll jumped to his feet and his eyes were blazing and he roared he said the bully do you know who he is do you know who he is bitcher bitcher said yes i know who he is it's you ingersoll he said it is you he said man is poor and blind and he is groping and little there is to lean upon and few there are to help him along the way and what do you do ingersoll you come along and you break his faith in the bible you push him in the mud and you go on your way laughing you are the man ingersoll ladies and gentlemen god have mercy on the man who will temper with the book which makes us wise unto salvation so he takes us first of all to the counseling room and he shows us the intention of the bible but then secondly he takes us to the classroom and he shows us the inspiration of the bible now we find ourselves in verse 16 in the classroom again i often think when i hear people like dr patterson and when i hear people like dr mohler how wonderful it would be uh to go back to the classroom again and sit at the feet of these wonderful scholars we probably have 10 or 12 seminary professors who are in this conference godly men who have paid the price and have studied and prepared themselves to teach young men uh about the word of god and how to preach the word of god oh god bless you wonderful professors god bless you godly men and i think how wonderful it would be to be in the classroom again but but could we just for a moment you and i go to the classroom could we put on our thinking cap for just a moment and go to the classroom we do not come as scholars of the bible there are no scholars of the bible they're only students of the bible i do not come tonight as a teacher i come tonight as a student trying to learn about the inspiration of the bible and in verse 16 we are given a very clear statement about the bible's inspiration it says in verse 16 all scripture is given by inspiration of god i think that's about eight eight uh words if i counted correctly in the king james text it is actually three words in the greek text and the third word is a word a one word which takes five words in the king james text to translate it is the word the opnostas and the word theopnustas is a compound greek word built on the word theos the word for god and nuo the word for wind are to blow putting it together it becomes a verbal adjective and it is used in the passive sense and it simply is saying here all scripture is god breathed that god is the agent of the inspiration of the bible that god is the source of its origin of its content and of its nature and so you see when i come to the classroom i learn that the scripture is supernaturally inspired of god this is no mere book this is a book breathed by god himself when god scooped up the lifeless play that was adam and breathed into adam's nostrils the breath of life and and adam became a living soul that was creation but in inspiration god picked up the lifeless pages of man's manuscripts and breathed in them so that what we have is the living breathing word of the living god just like a little child picks up a seashell and puts it to her ear to hear the winds and the waves blowing in the seashell we pick up a copy of the word of god and in its pages we hear the blowing of the divine spirit of god the bible is supernaturally inspired now this does not take away the human element in the bible there are some people who say well you you believe in the inspiration of the bible the holy spirit inspired it it does away with the human personalities and of course we know that it does not when you read the bible you find human personality everywhere when you read your bible you find the burning sarcasm of an isaiah and you find here the the moving pathos of a jeremiah and in your bible you find the deep philosophy of a john in your bible you find the crisp logic of of a paul amos writes like a farmer and peter writes like a fisherman and paul writes like the scholar that he is if god wanted a selection of psalms like david he selects and prepares a david to write them if he wants a series of letters like paul's he prepares a paul to write them there is a dual authorship in the bible second peter 1 21 puts it this way holy men of god spake that's the human element but it says as they were moved by the holy spirit that is the divine element and so you see the bible is super naturally inspired but i want you to notice not only is the bible supernaturally or which by the way that means to us then that if the bible is breathed by god it means then that a perfect god has inspired a perfect book a perfect god could not inspire an imperfect book all scripture is god breathed and god ladies and gentlemen does not have halitosis his word is divinely accurately inspired and that that just simply means then that whatever the bible teaches on any subject it is accurate the bible is not a science book but when it speaks on scientific subjects it's scientifically correct the bible is not a history book but when it touches on matters of history it does so accurately and in fallout if you cannot believe what the bible says about genesis how can you believe what the bible says about john 3 16 if you can't believe in the beginning god created how can you believe for god so loved the world he gave his only son if you can't believe what the bible says about creation how can you believe what the bible says about salvation it's as if jesus anticipated the debate that would go on in our century in john 3 verse 12 when he said if i have told you of earthly things and you believe not how will you believe if i tell you of heavenly things it is supernaturally inspired that means every paragraph that means every sentence that means every line that means every word that means every letter it is all god breathe god god-breathed book but ladies and gentlemen the bible is not only supernaturally inspired the bible is verbally inspired the second word there is the word graffey all scripture graphe you know the word we get our word graphics from it they put graphics up on these screens from time to time it is the word graphic it is the word graphics and it means to write and it has to do undoubtedly with the words all scripture is god breathed every word is god breathe that means that the words of the bible are inspired now when i went to school they used to say to us now you don't expect the words of the bible to be necessarily inspired it is the thought it is the thoughts expressed that are inspired not necessarily the words now i come from a little town up in carroll county georgia we may not have been the most brilliant people in all the world but but nobody ever has been able to explain to me how it is possible to have thoughts without words now how can you have a thought without a word you just try just for a moment now right where you said have a thought but don't use any word now you just sit right there put it to the test think something right now think something but don't use any word now what are you thinking if you're thinking anything there's some words attached to it i i heard about two indians who were carrying on a conversation and one said to the to the other ugg and this indian said back to him ugh and this indian said back to him ugg and this indian said ugg and this indian said and the other indian said don't change the subject oh listen listen ladies and gentlemen when you take the numbers off the page the math disappears when you take the notes off the page the music disappears when you take the words off the page the words disappear did jesus believe in verbal inspiration let's let him speak for himself turn over to matthew chapter 4 and verse 4. and in matthew 4 and verse 4 the lord jesus said these words he answered and said he is talking to satan he said in matthew 4 4 it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of god now add this corollary matthew chapter 24 verse 35 where it said where jesus said heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away where do you find his words where do you find the words of inspiration first corinthians chapter 2 verse 13 says this it says in first corinthians chapter 2 and verse 13 which things also we speak not in words which man's wisdom speaketh but which which words god speaketh you find the words of god in the bible turn to matthew chapter five it goes a little further than this he not only believed the words were inspired he believed more than that matthew chapter five and i want you to look at verse 18 the words of jesus it says in verse 18 for verily i say unto you now when jesus says verily that means he's fixing to say something very important you better turn up your antennas verily i say unto you till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled now he said one jot now a jot was a hebrew letter it was the hebrew letter yoth it is the smallest letter in the hebrew vocabulary it is actually just a breath mark for instance back in the old testament when abram was known as abram you remember that abram and then his name was changed to abraham the only difference there is a yo the abram and then when the spirit moved upon abram he became a bra ha um a breath mark jesus said not one little breath mark will pass away until all be fulfilled and then he said not only one jot but he said one tittle now what about a tittle do you know about a tittle if you've ever had hebrew you know what a tittle is a tittle is a little indention on a hebrew letter about 1 32 of an inch it is just a little indention jesus is saying not one little breath mark not one little indention nothing shall pass away until all my word be fulfilled verbal inspiration i love the words of the bible don't you all that word salvation all those words of faith hope and love all that word grace oh that word jesus what a name is the name of jesus the very words sing them over again to me wonderful words of life let me more of their beauty see wonderful words of life the bible is first of all supernaturally inspired secondly the bible is verbally inspired and then thirdly the bible is totally inspired it says all scripture and it is the greek word passa passa graphe the apnestas all scripture now the word all is a word that simply means that the whole and every part of the whole is inspired of god now that's where baptists have always been you know we had a little struggle back in the 80s and into the early 90s about whether all of the bible was inspired or not the historic position of southern baptist has always been that all of the bible is inspired and i said to them back then and i repeat it that that i'm standing where southern baptists have always stood and when they stand where they ought to stand they'll be standing where i'm standing i heard about an old guy named jeb oh jeb and his wife were going to town one saturday in the pickup truck and his wife looked at him and said you know jeb when we married we didn't sit this far apart and old jeb said i ain't moved i'm standing where southern baptists have always stood we believe in the total inspiration of the bible we believe the whole and every part thereof is equally inspired of god now you know at the turn of the century an old thief silently crept into this land this whole thief had been over there in germany robbing people of faith and robbing them of spiritual power and and moral uh strength and and this whole thief made its way into the northern part of our country and began to move down the eastern coast depleting denominations and killing denominations and and robbing institutions of their faith and ripping the bible from the hearts and the hands of the common people and and that old thief has been around a long time it's an old thief it first appeared in the garden of eden oh where the the satan said to adam and eve in the garden has god said questioning the accuracy and the authority and the acceptability of scriptures and that old thief began to to move in and that old thief was is who i call destructive criticism destructive criticism which clips the wings of faith with the scissors of reason all destructive criticism which uh submits the warm wonder of the word of god to the coal merciless analysis of destructive criticism and destructive criticism had a toolbox it brought with it and had some had some diabolical tools in it in that box was a heretical hammer driving into the bible the nails of the anti-supernatural and nails of anti-miraculous and it had a had it had a a skeptical saw pulling the word from the bible saying that they're the word of god in the bible are separate things so that now the bible is inspired in spots but this spot is inspired but that spot is not inspired and now somebody's got to be inspired to tell you which spots are the inspired spots and then there it had a cynical crowbar bar ripping the bible from the hearts of the common people but i am here to tell you ladies and gentlemen that conservative scholarship has risen to the occasion in our day and has demonstrated that all destructive criticism and all of his tools are are flawed you can't take the supernatural out of the bible you can't take the miracle out of the bible you can't kick god out of his bible any more than you can kick god out of his universe [Applause] you you say preacher do you believe in the miracles of the bible yeah i believe in the miracles of the bible preacher do you really believe that a big fish swallowed jonah yeah i believe it how i stood him i'll never know but i believe he did it and preacher do you really do you really believe that daniel survived all night in the lives then i do i believe when daniel went down there he used the the warm mane of uh of the line for a pillar and used the tail to switch the mosquitoes off and the next morning when the king came down to see if he was alive oh daniel said yep i'm doing fine what's for breakfast o king i don't understand all about the bible but i believe it all i believe everything about i don't have all the answers in the bible you know somebody said where'd king get his wife well i don't know where king got his wife and i don't care if listen if if cain was happy with her i'm happy with her it won't make any difference to me as an 18 year old boy i went away to school and the first time i walked into a bible class room the professor got up and he said young men and ladies anybody who says the bible is not filled with errors is a fool and it rocked me and i can well remember going out to a garden area one day there in that city getting down on my knees with my bible and i said lord i don't know a lot about the bible and i'm not as smart and i'll never be as smart as these men are but i've been taught to believe that the bible is the word of god and lord i'm gonna just hold on to the book i'm going to believe that is all inspired of god ladies and gentlemen that's been over 46 years ago i'm here to tell you tonight i know the bible was from god the old as well as the new divinely inspired the whole way through i know the bible is true [Applause] he takes us to the counseling room and shows us the intention of the bible he takes us to the classroom and he shows us the inspiration of the bible and and then he takes us to the crisis room and he shows us the implications of the bible you see what you believe about its intention and what you believe about its inspiration will have implications in your life and in your ministry if you're a preacher and that's why when you get to the first verse uh of the fourth chapter he says i charge thee therefore you see now he's making some applications he's drawing some implications and for just a moment i want to tiptoe through the verses i don't have the time to touch on all of them but ladies and gentlemen what you believe about the bible has implications for your preaching if you are a preacher it has implications for your preaching god said to the young timothy through the old preacher paul preach the word and he said to it preach it faithfully you're standing before the lord you'll give an account one day preach it incessantly in season and out of season preach it effectively reprove rebuke and exhort preach it continually when they want to hear it and when they don't want to hear it now you know preaching is central to the worship of the church the central act of worship is the proclamation of the word in a new testament church that's what it's all about you know in the average baptist church on a sunday morning i'm so thankful for this in the average baptist church on a sunday morning you walked in you will find a baptist preacher with a bible in his hand and from the top of his head and the bottom of his heart and the top of his lungs he'll be preaching the word you heard about the old boy that preached pretty good on sunday and the next morning he and his wife were having that extra cup of coffee and he leaned back in the chair he said you know sugar he said you know they're just not many great preachers in this left in this world are there and she said no darling and there's one less than you think there is preach the word now we're told today that you've got to do it different we're told you can't preach the word today you got to do something else to get people to come uh that the preaching of the word is passed that the preaching of the word won't fit into the culture that we you just can't get up in a pulpit like this and and just sing a little singing and and then somebody get up and just preach that you just can't do that anymore and the latest thing we got going now is this interpretive movement now now in baptist circles that's dancing that's what we call that that's dancing and like one one uh scholar said one baptist scholar said a dancing foot don't go on no praying me but now we've got interpretive dance and i got to thinking about that brother rodney i i thought you know that's what i need to get into to get me a crowd i you know we're not running but about 4 000 on sunday night i i got to do something we're dying maybe i can get into interpretive dancing i can see it now [Applause] preach the word preach the word [Applause] but uh but it won't work you you can't build a church you know the uh the church growth movement came along and you know there's much to applaud about the church growth movement and there's much of it but that's good i mean who of us pastors you know not one of us don't want to grow a church i mean really you know you heard about the old boy then your pulpit committee came to see and said we're looking for pastor to stay with us while our pastors haven't stayed too long we want somebody to stay with us while he said i'm just the man you're looking for he said i've had two churches and i stayed with both of them until they died you know what old boy one old pastor said he said you know the church i got right now is dying slower than any church i ever had now you know we all believe in getting a crowd we you know all of us want a crowd but ladies and gentlemen there's a difference between a crowd and a church all right we got some squirrely stuff going on today dr mohler took me in louisville kentucky by church a few years ago this is true i saw it with my eyes i wouldn't believe it if i hadn't seen he took me by a church that had a sign out front that said express worship in and out in 20 minutes you know what we got going today we've got what i call church light it is the church of the seven and a half percent tithe the 15-minute sermon eight commandments and you get to pick them it is church light it's everything you ever wanted in a church and less preach the word preach the word oh but you can't do that pray you know you can't talk about sin you'll run folks off i mean man you'll offend people i never have understood that you know where you're gonna run on the hill number one hell number two and uh and you know and you can't you know you can't preach on the blood and and all of that you can't preach on judgment and none of that you know you'll offend modern sensibilities that you know they it'll that you know you'll turn their stomachs you know you you know i i the lord led me to preach a series of sermons through the minor prophets last year and i went into it with fear and trembling you were here one night charles first good sermon you'd heard in three months wasn't it and i said lord i said what am i gonna do you you've led me to preach on these minor prophets i said nobody'll like it listen do you know who i found out liked it better than anybody else it's these kids sitting right over here they just ate the minor prayer did you like it when i preached on the mind of prophets yes sir you did brother they ate it up ladies and gentlemen i want to tell you the word will work preach the word preach the word preach the word there is a difference between building a crowd and building a church now i'm for building a crowd i am i'm fabulous you know one guy said about me up in georgia a number of years ago he said old vines he said vines would baptize a monkey if he could get him into the baptistery and come to think of it i think i have baptized a few monkeys and uh and more than one turkey and a few donkeys along the way too preach the word preach the word it'll still work ladies and gentlemen you see the argument when i came along you see we we've got a new thief when i first preached this sermon the old thief was destructive criticism now today what we have is a new thief and he came right out of the house acts chapter 20 the bible says of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things i call it the conservative cop-out now you won't find any self-respect in the southern baptist preacher today who will not say i believe in the absolute inerrancy infallibility of the word of god but ladies and gentlemen i'm telling you it is one thing to say you believe the bible it is another thing to preach about now i want to ask you a question i want to ask you a question now think with me a moment what's the difference between a liberal who says he does not believe the bible and doesn't preach it and a conservative who says he does believe the bible and doesn't preach it the practical result is the same how shall they call upon him and whom they have not believed and how shall they believe on him in whom they have not heard and how shall they hear except there be a preacher it has preaching implication it has witnessing implications did you notice what he said down in verse five in verse five he said do the work of an evangelist not all of us are called with the gift of the evangelist but all of us are doing the work of the evanders but you see dear one if you don't believe in the bible if you don't have confidence in the bible you're out of the business when you get into the home of a lost person i mean go with me a moment right here in the city of jacksonville into a little home in a neighborhood and you walk in there and and the carpet is smelly and beer cans are scattered all around the room and there sits a man who is battling with alcohol and and his son is on drugs and his his daughter is is expected out of wedlock and you sit there and say i better not tell him romans 3 23 i'll offend him and he said better not tell him jesus died on the cross that might upset him and you just say to him would you like to come to church and join our basket weaving class and he says no but if you could give me the phone numbers for aa and drug rehab and the abortion clinic i'd like to have it ladies and gentlemen if you don't believe the bible you're out of business when it comes to winning people to christ it has preaching implications it has witnessing implications and quickly it has leaving implications you see paul becomes gets to be uh eschatological in these verses not eschatological in terms of prophecy but personally because in verse six he says i am now ready to be offered the time of my departures at hand he's getting ready to leave now what would a man want when he's come to the end of the road when he's getting ready to depart from this world into the next world what does he want for his leaving look at verse 13 the cloak i left at troll as with corpus when you come bring with you and the books but especially the apartments he said bring the cloak that's something warm for his body bring with you that's some fellowship for his soul and then he says in the books that's something for his intellect but then he says especially the parchments the scriptures for his soul some of you may have noticed that there's a face missing in our choir many of you knew and loved miss pearl washington miss pearl 86 years of age i conducted her funeral on tuesday in the choir same and we had a sweet service and i used psalm 23 verse 4 yea though i walked through the valley of the shadow of death i'll fear no evil for it thou art with me and you know i saw that verse from god's word do what i've seen verses do over and over again i saw it reach out its arms and brush away the tears and i saw it tender and touch and mend broken hearts a man was critically ill call for his pastor the pastor came and he said would you like for me to read from the bible and have prayer with you before i go and he said sure and he asked his wife he should go get the bible and she came back with a shamefully mutilated bible and the man the pastor said wow what's wrong with your bible it's just so mutilated he said well you know pastor said when you came to our church i had a whole bible but you taught us that some of the stories in the bible weren't true and i'd come home and i'd tear those out of my bible and and and pastor you told us that some of those verses we couldn't believe and some of those chapters weren't correct and i'd come home and and pastor all i've got left is this bible ladies and gentlemen when you get ready to cross over i want to ask you a question which would you like to have [Applause] though its cover is worn and its pages are torn and though places bear traces of tears yet more precious than gold this is this book worn in old that can shatter and scatter our fears when i prayerfully look in this precious old book many pleasures and treasures i see many tokens of love from the father above who is nearest and dearest to me this old book is my guide it's a friend by my side it will lighten and brighten my way and each promise i find as i prayerfully look will brighten and lighten my day i want us to bow our heads in prayer you agree at that do you know the lord jesus as your savior the purpose of the bible is that you might be made wise unto salvation you say to me pastor i've never received christ as my savior i'm not sure i've been saved could i lead you in a simple prayer and if you mean this prayer in your heart god would hear you would you pray this prayer after me dear lord jesus i know i'm a sinner forgive me of my sin come into my heart lord jesus and save me right now i give my life to you and i will live for you did you pray that prayer you say i did did you mean it in your heart you say pastor i did the bible says whosoever shall call on the name of the lord shall be saved if you pray that prayer in a moment our choir is going to sing an invitation hymn come to jesus our ministers will be standing here folks will be praying for you all over the building i want you to get up step into that nearest aisle and come forward and tell the person who received you i pray that prayer with the preacher if you're in the balkan and the stairs on the sides lead down here downstairs every aisle leads to the front maybe you have accepted jesus on some other occasion and you'd like to make it public this evening you just come and say i'm coming to make my public profession of faith in the lord maybe you'd like to be a member of our church you feel this is where god wants you to go to church just come and say i want to join the church and they will take care of all the details our heads are about our eyes are closed the choir singing our ministers are in their places folks are praying for you if you're with someone who needs to come why don't you offer to walk down the aisle with them [Music] tonight [Music]

Channel: Dr. Malachi O'Brien

Views: 1,115

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: 444_zpnOreU

Length: 49min 37sec (2977 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 26 2020