Pastor Paul Chappell: The Reliability of the Bible

your bible turn if you would to second timothy chapter three as we continue our series avoiding the confusion there's lots of confusion out in our world and and we want to keep it out there and stay focused on christ in our hearts and in our church and and how can you avoid the confusion well the way to do that is to have a biblical worldview and last week we had a message from larry our youth pastor our son larry gave a great message i watched it online on why the bible speaks against abortion and where life begins and and uh thank the lord for this series that is just helping us to look at current events in the light of scripture and in light of that we're going to look at the scriptures themselves today and i'm going to bring a message this morning on the reliability of the bible so let's stand together as we turn to second timothy chapter 3. if we're going to be studying our biblical worldview then we want to have confidence in the word itself and today i want you to follow with me as i read just three verses today's message will be a little similar to last week a lot of a lot of facts and slides and some different background to the scriptures and so i encourage you to download the outlines i think you can do that even now if you're really good at tech you can go to the church website and find it but you can do that on fridays when we send you the email as well if you want the outline for this morning let me see here i think they flashed it up here for me uh you can find it at lancasterbaptist.org and follow along that way but however you choose to follow make sure that you get the most out of this second timothy 3 15 and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make the wise unto salvation through faith which is in christ jesus 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 thoroughly furnished unto all good works let us pray father we thank you that we have a lens through which we can view the events of this world and that is the lens of scripture and that it is a reliable lens and that it informs us and guides us each and every day help us to learn and to love your word more because of our time here this morning and i pray and ask this in jesus name amen you may be seated well why do christians say the bible is the word of god and what do we mean when we say the bible is the word of god i would submit to you this morning that if the bible informs our worldview then we certainly should learn more about the origins and why we would trust in this book as the lamp to our feet and the light to our path now make no mistake satan has fought the bible since the very beginning he has fought every word of god in fact the bible tells us in genesis chapter 3 and verse 1 that satan came to the woman when he was tempting her and he said yea hath god said thou shalt not eat out of every tree of the garden and i want you to think about that phrase hath god said and that's what satan has been saying since the beginning of time is that really what god said is that is that really true there's so many versions how can we know the bible is really the word of god and there have been attempts throughout the centuries to question god's word and even with so-called higher criticism coming from europe at the end of the uh 20th century there was an impact of theological liberalism that had really affected every mainline denomination and there were beginning to be seminaries that were questioning passages of the word of god miracles in the word of god and and books of the bible in recent days we have seen secularization on the rise as we saw a few weeks ago humanism and secularization questioning not only the existence of god but the very word of god itself and sadly many people sitting in the pews of gospel preaching churches have been unwittingly led to hold to false views about the bible and about god because there's such a pervasive influence of secularism coming into our minds each and every day one author ff bruce said concerning the bible and the new testament in particular the evidence for our new testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of the classical authors the authenticity of which no one dreams of questioning and if the new testament were a collection of secular writings their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt it is a curious fact that historians have often been much readier to trust the new testament than have many theologians many so-called theologians enter in uh to the to the conversation with the idea of making themselves the authority over the bible but we enter into the conversation realizing that we are under the authority of the bible that god's word is the authority in our lives and while many insist on denying the historicity or the veracity of scriptures we believe at lancaster baptist church that the bible is the reliable word of god i heard about a lady one time that was on an airplane and she was flying along next to this gentleman and and she had her bible out she she always got nervous flying so she would get her bible out and try to comfort her heart a little bit reading the scriptures and the man next to her said do you really believe everything in that book i mean do you actually believe that that contains god's word and the woman said well of course i do and the man said well what about that guy that got swallowed up by the whale she said oh you mean jonah you're talking about jonah yes i believe the account of jonah and and he said well how long do you suppose that he was in that whale and she said well i don't know exactly she said i i have a pretty good idea but i'll ask him for sure when i get to heaven and he said to the lady well what are you going to do if he isn't in heaven she said well then you can ask him now that's a lady who has confidence in the word of god so why do people put their confidence in the word of god i want you to notice in verse 16 the bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of god and i want you to learn with me first of all this morning about the reliability of the bible the reliability of the bible that the bible contains the inspired words of god all scripture is given by inspiration of god the word inspiration is an interesting word the greek word theophnustos which means a god-breathed book the bible is given of the holy spirit just as god breathed into adam and adam became a living soul god breathed into his words and they are alive and they have been giving life to men who believe on the lord jesus christ and so the word inspire means to breathe into so we believe the bible to be a god-breathed book john 6 63 says the spirit quickeneth the flesh propheteth nothing the words that i speak unto you they are spirit and they are life hebrews 4 and 12. for the word of god is quick meaning alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart the bible is a living book god breathed his words into the human authors who pinned those words they were not the words of those men but of god himself and these words are alive i mean when we hear preaching and when we read the word of god the thoughts that are penetrating our heart and the words that penetrate our heart are convicting uh like a sword cutting at times and discerning our own thoughts the bible tells us in first peter 1 23 that we are born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of god which abideth forever and so the bible is a living word it is an incorruptible seed it is a seed that will never die it produces fruit it brings new life and so we see that god's word as an inspired book from a divine author is given to us now the divine author is god's holy spirit god himself but then it comes through human writers this is very interesting because some people say well the bible is just man's word just a bunch of guy's opinion but listen to what the bible says in ii peter 1 21 it says for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of god spake as they were moved by the holy ghost all right so let's think of this now the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man it was not man willing and saying all right i'm just gonna write what i want to write but the bible teaches us that it came of holy men of god uh as they were moved by the holy ghost again god is the author these men were simply writing out the god-breathed words that were given to them the bible claims that the holy spirit moved men to write what he wanted yet many times they wrote from their context from their styles but the words were the very words of god the bible was written by almost 40 human authors from all different backgrounds and generations over a period of 1 years that the bible has a unity and a continuity that only one writer could have brought throughout and that of course is because god is the author of this book david for example claimed that god gave him the words as he wrote and the bible teaches this in second samuel 23 2 the spirit of the lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue and many times the prophets of the old testament would say thus saith the lord this was the message they were giving from god the writers expressed that they were aware that the scripture was coming directly from god henry morris wrote years ago there are in fact over 320 quotations from the old testament recorded in the new testament as well as over 1 000 clear and definite references to it always the context indicates the belief of the speaker or writer that he was referring to the authoritative word of god whenever he made such a quotation or such a reference so whenever you find these references in the new testament to the old testament they were indicating what the scripture said what god said again not their own opinion and so we have the bible from a divine author through human writers coming down to all of us as a needy people who need the direction that comes from god himself these are god's inspired god-breathed words but not only do we see the scriptures as being inspired but secondly we see them as being inerrant the word of god provides inerrant facts facts that are without error and i think about the uniqueness of scripture being without error the bible for example was not written simply as a history book or simply as a scientific book but when you touch upon those subjects in the bible you'll find the accuracy of the bible so wonderful on each and every occasion it is the only book of antiquity that gives an account of the special creation whereas god created all things out of nothing it is unique to the bible uh this wonderful story of our creation the bible is the only book that gives a continual historical record from the first man until the present day the bible is the only religious book containing detailed prophecies by the hundreds of things to come and so many of them having already been fulfilled and so when we look to the word of god we see this as an inerrant word and it gives us many accurate descriptions for example uh regarding history we have the accurate record of history from the bible the bible tells us about pharaoh uh and uh the accounting of the egyptian egyptians uh slavery of the children of israel and uh all of the accounting of the making of the bricks out of mud and straw and several years ago maybe 20 years ago or so i was able to visit at the british museum and i was just thrilled to see some of the actual bricks taken from egypt with an actual stamp of king ramses ii in the brick and so many archaeological studies have shown the bible to be absolutely infallible and what a blessing i think of the existence of the hittites a group of people mentioned in the bible and for many years the critics attacked and said there were never such a people there were never such a people as uh the hittites and yet archaeologists discovered the him the hittite empire and much of the hittite empire has testimonials there as well in the british museum it wasn't found until many hundreds of years after the record of scripture but the bible was right all the time there's the existence of the historical figure found in daniel chapter five beltashazar and again many times uh critics would say there is no such uh individual there's no such leadership and yet again you can find the clay tablets that were discovered uh showing that the scriptural count was right all the time and so whenever the bible touches upon history uh whether we have fully understood it yet archaeologically or not uh as time has given uh evidence the word of god is historically accurate it is scientifically accurate the design of our earth is described in the bible uh in isaiah 40 and 22 we read it is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth and many of you know this but for hundreds of years men taught that the world was flat and yet all the while the bible tells us that it is a sphere the circle of the earth the bible teaches us about gravity job 26 7 he stretcheth out the north over the empty place and hangeth the earth upon nothing and we see god uh teaching us exactly concerning uh the gravitational pull of our of our earth and of of the system in which we live and so we have inspired words in the bible we have inerrant words when the bible does speak about history or science the bible gives us the accurate record but then i want you to notice that we have an infallible truth in our hands this morning we have an infallible truth in our hands uh evidence of the infallibility of the scripture can often be best seen when studying the prophecy of the bible henry morris said one of the strong objective evidences of biblical inspiration is the phenomenon of fulfilled prophecy the bible is essentially unique among the religious books of mankind in this respect some of them contain a few vague forecasts but nothing comparable to the vast number of specific prophecies found in the bible in other words some false religions try to make some vague forecasts of what may come but the bible has given over and over again specific prophecies i think specifically of the lord jesus himself the bible prophesies the time of the birth of the lord jesus and when you study daniel's prophecy in daniel 9 25 and 26 and as you study out uh the meaning there of the 69th week ending with christ's death and you begin to study the timing of when christ died and and then back that uh away uh from the seven year period you'll find that jesus christ's birth was prophesied uh within just a few years span of exactly when he came the mode of birth of christ's birth was prophesied in isaiah 7 14 therefore the lord himself shall give you a sign behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and his name shall be called emmanuel and the place of the birth of jesus was prophesied micah 5 and 2 but thou bethlehem ephrata though thou be little among the thousands of judah yet out of thee shall come forth unto me that is to be the ruler of israel whose goings forth have been from old from everlasting what an amazing book that 700 years prior to the coming of christ we read about the timing of his coming the way that he would come by way of the virgin birth and the place where he would be born bethlehem just a tiny speck on god's earth just a little tiny village and yet god pinpointed and predicted accurately through his word when jesus would be born we could speak for hours on the reliability of the bible but i share these few illustrations simply to say that when god tells us that all scripture is given by inspiration of god that this is a god-breathed book it is supernatural it is high above all the literature and all the opinions that this world can offer but i want you to think about something secondarily with me this morning and that is the durability of the bible we see the reliability of the bible but i want you to think about the durability of the bible and i want you to notice the bible says in verse 15 these words and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures now paul is reminding timothy here that he had known the scriptures from his childhood that could only be true because they had been kept throughout the old testament generations in other words the scriptures referred to there are referring to the old testament scriptures that timothy held and understood and studied and he says timothy you've known these scriptures from the time that you were a child by the way thank god for mothers and fathers who read the bible to their children don't leave christian education to the church or to the school but be sure you're reading god's word and talking about god's word in your home and paul said timothy you've learned this from your mother and your grandmother throughout all of these years so the old testament had been brought to that point and then the new testament uh also placed into the canon but how how do we understand the durability of the scripture well i want you to notice this morning that the words of god have been preserved god's word has been preserved you see god has promised that through the old testament era and all the way through until the very last verses of revelation he says i don't want you to add to or subtract from this this is my word and uh he said i want you to know that this is a durable word deuteronomy 29 29 says the secret things belong unto the lord our god but those things which are revealed belong unto us that our children forever that we may do all the words of this law psalm 12 and verse 6. the words of the lord are pure and as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times thou shalt keep them o lord thou shalt preserve them from one generation to another so god says i'm gonna make sure just as sure as the early early people had my word and had my revelation from the time of moses and the law all the way until this present day that you have my word in your hands available to you isaiah 40 and verse 8 the grass withereth the flower fadeth but the word of our god shall stand forever and when you compare what isaiah wrote around 700 bc and what peter quotes almost 800 years later you can see the continuity of the scripture i just read you from isaiah listen to what peter said in first peter 1 24 for all fleshes as grass and all the glory of man is the flower of grass the grass withereth and the flower thereof followeth away but the word of our lord endureth forever isaiah said it peter said it 800 years later we see the continuity the durability of the bible matthew 5 and 18 for 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 god said i'm not going to let any smallest part of my scripture be extracted i'll keep it for you it will be reliable for you not only does god preserve his word uh in the text but he gives to us copies that we might have in our hand and in our possession and so the word is preserved and the words are preserved but notice secondly that the bible manuscripts have been preserved now we have i believe in our hands this morning the preserved word of god and i have great confidence in the king james bible because of the text from which it is given and because of the process whereby god has given us this wonderful book but when we say god's word is preserved we're speaking of the fact that yes he has held it together and given it to us but also that there are manuscripts and some say well where are the originals well let me say to you that i'm afraid if we had all of the originals people might worship the originals rather than the author of those originals but i will tell you that there is much in the way of manuscript evidence that guides and directs and reminds us that we have the very word of god and i'm not an expert in manuscript evidence but let me share a few thoughts with you the overwhelming physical manuscripts that exist today are astounding to us because they are handwritten uh they are found in vellum and papyrus and and placed in various places around the world as a testament to the early faith of the scribes and the believers who loved the word of god no other ancient books or writings have more extant evidence regarding their existence and their history than the bible itself bruce metzger from princeton years ago said if you take the 20 000 lines of the new testament it is safe for any scholar to say there's at least 99.6 accuracy no ancient document none has the kind of documentary support that the bible has over 5 000 documents even in time magazine in 1988 one author wrote in his article religion who was jesus and he said the one thing that we cannot deny the christian is the documentation that is available across the centuries nothing in ancient literature homer uh or the gaelic wars of caesar nothing matches the bible so when you've got this kind of documentation this kind of accuracy you have very compelling evidence and i'm so thankful that we have a bible that's inspired a bible that's preserved and that the manuscript evidence that exists shows to us the authority uh the accuracy regarding the scriptures that we preach i've had the privilege of seeing some of these ancient copies in my lifetime in the bodner library in geneva switzerland martin bodmer had purchased some of these ancient books and bibles and and manuscripts and there in his library you can see a gutenberg bible of course one of the first bibles printed uh and really uh god used the printing press to spur on hearts with respect to love for god and and for souls being saved but beyond that in this particular library there are several manuscripts uh by titles p 66 p 72 and p 75 and uh these are some of the earliest christian writings and it was a thrill uh for me to see some of these writings p 66 known as the bodmer papyrus ii dates to 200 a.d the codex is just one century removed from the original text of the bible and it contains john chapter 1 verses 1 through 13 and the opening words of verse 14. on the next one we were able to see uh the earliest copy of the book of jude and the epistles of peter again uh just less than a century removed from those that sometimes people say where are the originals my heart was still thrilled to see those that were really so close to the early church and had been hand written and were discovered in various digs and archaeological digs in the middle east these books seem to have been copied by the same scribe that were in the bodmer library and the handwriting assigned uh to those uh to those times uh in another picture here uh p 75 the scholars date between a.d 175 and 200 is the earliest known copy of the gospel of luke and again what a thrill it was to stand there and see something uh pinned out in 175 the earliest in the world known copy of the gospel of luke and what we find in these uh early manuscripts is that they are in exact concordance to the word uh that we preach even to this very day and so uh it's a blessing to know that god's book is supernatural uh i believe in the word of god without the manuscripts but the manuscripts uh they're not simply saying that the bible might be the word of god they're confirming the bible is the very word of god another library in dublin ireland is the chester beatty library chester beatty began purchasing these artifacts he was a a very successful british businessman who made this his his uh hobby in the chester baby library there is a document known as p45 it's a part of a codex of matthew mark luke john and the book of acts and again these are dating back to 200 250 a.d there's one known as p-46 it contains romans it contains portions of hebrews first and second corinthians ephesians galatians philippians uh the other p 47 contains the oldest known text of the book of the revelation and all of these early papyri are housed at the chester baity library i was able many years ago to see them with my own eyes they've troubled some textual critics because they favor the byzantine or the texas receptus family that thrilled me to find that out those would be in the lineage of our king james bible and so it's just amazing to study and to see that god's word not only declares itself to be infallible but when you find those early manuscripts you find that there's continuity in what we have been able uh to have in our very hands today and i'm thankful for that uh tremendous heritage that we have the biblical heritage that we have even to this day this morning over at cambridge university there's a another codex that dates back to the 400s and this particular codex contains the gospels and acts in both greek and latin and the only book that is complete is the gospel of luke and the codex was acquired by the theologian theodore beza in 1562 and he gifted it to university in 1581 and again the reason i mentioned these is because of the accuracy and the continuity to the very bible that's in our hands this morning and so we see that the words are preserved we see that the manuscripts are are provided and showing continuity and then i want you to see thirdly that the bible is indestructible no matter what tyrant no matter what dictator tried to get rid of the bible the bible still stands for us today josh mcdowell in his excellent work evidence that demands a verdict said the uh the the bible has withstood vicious attacks of its enemies as no other book many have tried to burn it ban it and outlaw it from the days of roman emperors to the present day communist dominated countries some of the examples we've seen in history in 303 diocletian issued an edict to stop christians from worshiping and to destroy their scriptures and this was something that was common and the burning of scriptures was common and that's why many of the originals are not found because they would they would come in and they would murder the christians and they would burn their bibles diocletian amongst other roman emperors 25 years later however constantine ordered eusebius to have 50 copies of the bible made and distributed throughout the roman empire and you can see the attacks on the bible but you can see god sustaining the bible throughout history william tyndale one of the most famous names in bible translation he translated the bible into english while running from hostile authorities amazing stories about william tyndale and how he shipped copies over to belgium and how they were hid in there and then how they were found by at times the roman catholic church or the government and they they were destroyed many times in burn but he kept translating the word of god until he was martyred in 1536 his ministry however lived on and the tyndale bible became a major source uh in the lineage of the king james bible from which i preached this morning and what i'm simply saying here is that whenever there was an attempt to burn the bibles to get rid of the bibles there was another great moving of god to translate and to to give scriptures into the language of the common people and to distribute the bible and so the bible is amazing in its reliability it is amazing in its durability and then i want you to see finally this morning the bible is god's word because of the capability of the bible i want you to think about the capability of the bible this morning with me notice in verse 16 again the bible says 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 thoroughly furnished unto all good works now when i think about the capability of the bible i think first of all about the authentic power of the bible i think about my own life how god saved me through the words of this bible how he brought new life to me through this message how he has so many times convicted and changed and how he's helped me to become a better husband or father how he's helped me to understand circumstances and difficulties in life just by reading this book this book is alive and it speaks to your heart as no other book can it is authentic in its power a.w tozer said an honest man with an open bible and a pad and pencil is sure to find out what's wrong with him very quickly and then he'll find out how to make it right very quickly that's what it tells us it will do notice that in verse 16. it will give us doctrine reproof correction and instruction doctrine is a set of beliefs god says i'm going to give you a set of beliefs i'm going to give you reproof when you need it i'm going to give you help when you need it we'll see this in a moment but it's authentic in its power the bible teaches us that it reveals the thoughts and intents of the heart thomas brooks said it is the very drift and design of the whole scripture to bring souls first to an acquaintance with christ and then to an acceptance of christ and then to an assurance in their walk with christ you show me a christian that gets away from the bible they lose assurance you show me a christian that stops reading and they're not faithful in church that's why this pandemic has been so concerning to me as a pastor it's disrupting our normal schedule of things including our times in church and so forth that's why we're trying so passionately to be faithful because you show me a christian that gets away from teaching preaching and studying for lengths of time and and there's not the change that's needed in his life that comes through the word of god and so it is authentic in its power but it's authoritative in its principles and i want you to study those principles just quickly i mention them first of all doctrine doctrine shows us what is right i was speaking this week with a very well-known christian leader and i was speaking to him about some of the history of of recent liberalism that's affecting churches and false theories and philosophies that are seen in mainline denominations and i just asked him the question i said how have you processed through a lot of the changes that you've needed to make over the years and he said there hasn't been a process i've just gone to the bible and done the right thing each time in other words what he was saying is the bible gives us the doctrinal principles to live our lives by it gives us those ancient landmarks so for example the bible says forsake not the assembling i don't have to get up on sunday mornings and kind of figure all that out as soon as i sense the lord leading and in these days we've had those with underlying conditions and we're sensitive to that and some that are watching at obc live dot tv but all of us have had to kind of say lord this is what you're saying and i want to obey you as best i can in the culture in which i live the bible tells me that i'm to honor my wife and to love her as christ loved the church i don't have to decide that every day i don't have to feel that every day it's just it's a doctrine that god has given to me and i don't have to decide every day who jesus is it's a doctrine that has been given to me and i don't have to decide every day whether or not i'm going to read the bible it's a doctrine that has been given me i could go on with it but the scriptures give us authoritative principles and the word here is doctrine and one of the great needs in the lives of so many in this room today is to become grounded in some doctrines so that our christian life is not so wishy-washy so back and forth and so that by doctrinal conviction we will live the christian life you see so he gives us doctrine then notice what else it says it says he gives us reproof now ladies i'm going to tell you something i i believe that god's word will make your husband a better man of god quicker than you can and a lot of times ladies will say well i've got my husband needs this and my husband needs that and he probably needs that and 10 times more but what we as husbands really need is to get into this book and to get to church and let god's word reprove us because when we're wrong the bible is going to tell us we're wrong by the way that's why some people stay away from church they don't want that preacher telling them what to do well listen i don't have any i don't have any desire to tell you what to do i learned a long time ago a man persuaded against his will is what unpersuaded still but i do have a desire for you to let god's word tell you what to do and if god wants to reprove your thought life and if god wants to reprove your action in your home and if god wants to reprove the management of your life in some way then he'll do that through his word that's what god's word can do and he does it in such a wonderful way it gives us doctrine reproof notice the next word correction it shows us how to get right god's word does not just condemn us but it corrects us and it helps us to know how to do better and then the next word is instruction it shows us how to stay right god says i'm going to mentor you i'm going to guide you someone says i need a life coach start with the bible i need a mentor start with the bible god said i'm going to give you the guidance and the instruction that you need along the way and so we see the word of god containing authentic power and containing authoritative principles and then it contains a perfect process for our lives notice in verse 17 as we close that the man of god may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works now let me say that every one of us should desire to be men and women of god and the word perfect means mature and what god is saying to us is that with his word we can become mature we can grow through his word that the man of god may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works ready to do the work that god has called us to do dwight moody said the scriptures were not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives and that's what god's word can do and that's what god's word can do this morning it can touch our lives and convict us and change us today and so we see this morning the reliability of the scriptures it is an infallible inerrant and preserved word we see the durability of the scriptures that throughout all of these centuries god has maintained his word and yes he's given us manuscripts but our faith and confidence is not found in a manuscript it is found in the script the very word of god and the promise that he said i'm going to preserve my word that's enough for me god said he would preserve it and he has and we trust him today and so we see the reliability of the bible the durability of the bible and the capability of the bible this book is the mind of god the state it shows us the state of man it shows us the way of salvation it shows the doom of sinners and the happiness of the believers its doctrines are holy its precepts are binding its histories are true its decisions are immutable read it to be wise believe it to be safe practice it to be holy and put your trust in the bible the very word of god i like what president ronald reagan said about the bible he said within the covers of one single book the bible are all the answers to all the problems that face us today if we would only read and believe and i agree all the answers to the problems that face us today if we would only read and believe someone's burdened bear their burden someone feels neglected love your neighbor someone has a need help them in their time of need listen god's word has given us the moral concepts from which our very government was founded upon and we must follow the word of god even in this difficult day but there is no greater way that the bible changes lives than when the word of god is found in the heart of a man who turns to jesus christ as his savior you see the way that somebody is saved is by the hearing of the word of god faith cometh by hearing and hearing by what the word of god no one is saved without the word of god salvation is not i saw a vision at my bed salvation is not i turned over a leaf a new leaf salvation is not it was real dark and then a light came on salvation is always in response to the word of god faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of god and that's why the bible says how can they hear without a preacher and how can he preach except he be sin god says i want my word to be preached we must hear the word of god but we also must have the work of the holy spirit so the bible tells us that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit and when the word of god is heard and the spirit of god is working someone's life can be changed forever being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptable by the word of god which liveth and abideth forever and friend when you hear the word of god and you understand from the word of god that you are a sinner that falls short just like i am just like everyone that has ever lived and when you realize you're a sinner and that christ died for your sin and you turn to christ to be your savior at that very moment the incorruptible seed of the word the message of the word the gospel of christ it finds lodging place in your heart and you put faith in jesus christ and you are saved at that very moment how because of the message of the word of god and that's when god's word begins to change lives and so have you received christ as your savior have you received that incorruptible seed into your heart do you know that jesus christ is living within you and that heaven is your home someday if you know that it's because you heard that from the word of god and god's word brings salvation to our life and if that seed has germinated in your heart and you know that you're saved then the bible says grow in the grace and knowledge of our lord and savior jesus christ as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby and friend when you see crazy stuff on the news or you see a bad situation in the neighborhood or you're struggling in your marriage i want to direct your attention to the word of god for the answers go to god let him direct your world view don't go by your emotions you'll be like a you'll be tossed to and fro just back and forth back and forth one day you you want them one day you don't want to stay with them one day you're gonna follow god the next day you're not going to one day you're going to do this and do that and sell this and so that and up and down and live here and live there don't go by your emotions go by the reliable stable guidance of the word of god amen

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

Views: 1,434

Rating: 4.8048782 out of 5

Keywords: preaching, sermon, Christian, God, Jesus, Lancaster Baptist Church, Lancaster Baptist, Pastor Paul Chappell, Paul Chappell, Bible, 2 Timothy 3

Id: kGtd1TYLU00

Length: 43min 18sec (2598 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 14 2020