The Authority of God's Word

There's a very defining statement in Deuteronomy 5 in verse 29. Deuteronomy 5 in verse 29, a very defining statement. And here's what it says, "'O that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their children forever.' O that there were such a heart, which meant, for those he was addressing, so to speak, there wasn't such a heart. But it speaks to what God wants to be in us, in those he was talking about, and certainly wants eventually, hopefully, in everyone. And certainly, in us, yes, O that there were such a heart, because this defines the heart that can be led into all truth." You think about that. A heart that truly fears God, that truly wants to keep his commandments, that does want the benefits and the blessings that come to them and their children. That kind of heart, that definition, that kind of heart can be led into all truth. See, when Jesus said in John 16, verse 13, Jesus said in John 16, verse 13, "'Howbeit, when it the Spirit of truth is come, it will guide you into all truth.'" Now, that doesn't mean you come into the truth at age 20, and by 30, you'll have all truth. It doesn't mean if you come into the truth when you're 15, that by age 55, you'll have all truth. That doesn't mean if you live to be 93 years old or 103 years old in the truth, that when you die, you'll have all truth. But what it means is, is God's Spirit will be able to guide you into all truth. That is, all along the way, as you live under the guidance of God's Spirit, you will grow in truth. You'll be going in that direction. You know, none of us, and no one has ever died knowing every bit of truth in terms of every T crossed and every I dotted. Even Paul said, we see through a glass darkly. But the point is, God can keep bringing you along in His truth to where you're growing and you're developing. And the longer you live under the guidance of His Spirit with His truth, the more of it you will understand. Broader and deeper, you'll have a greater and greater understanding. But here's a question. But how can you guide a person's heart into truth when that person's heart is not open to obedience to that truth? How can you guide a person's heart into truth when that person's heart is not open to obedience to that truth? Now here's a simple statement of reality. Truth is authority. Truth is authority. And God's Word is truth. That famous verse, John 17, 17. John 17, 17, your Word is truth. See, truth is authority. And God's Word is truth. Your Word is truth. So, God's Word, this book, this Bible, this is truth. And it's authority. And it's interesting that it is the only comprehensive book of authority and truth on the planet. The only comprehensive book of truth.

God's Word is authority. So what I'm speaking of today is the authority of God's Word. That's what I'm talking about with the emphasis on authority. Authority as the emphasis. So if you want a title, the subject and the title is the authority of God's Word. The authority of this book, your Word is truth. Truth is authority. Yeah, but I've got my ears, too, but that's okay. Those two people back there are sleeping and are awake now. No, I'm kidding. Nobody was sleeping. But this is authority. The authority of God's Word. People's hearts and minds are not truly open and accepting of the authority of the Bible. I mean, just in general, you think about it. People's hearts and minds are not truly open and accepting of the authority of the Bible. That is, they're not truly accepting of the full... I'll put that word in there. The full authority of it. Now, a simple test proves that. Try to get someone to see and do what they don't want to see and do. Have any of you ever had that wonderful experience of trying to get people to see and do what they don't want to see and don't want to do, especially from God's Word? Talk about a frustrating exercise of futility. We're going to change mics now. Technical challenges.

Okay. I think we're on. Maybe this will be better. Okay, already better. My ears already feel better. But it's an exercise in futility, isn't it? And it's... what is it that gets folks more than anything? It's the authority issue. The authority issue that gets them. See, as long as they can retain whatever measure of authority that they wish, it's okay with them. As long as they can be in the driver's seat and they can steer the situation in the direction they want it to go, that's okay with them.

Hey, I'll ride in your car if I get to drive it. Yeah, I'll get in your car if I get to sit up front and sit behind the steering wheel and I get to do the driving. Oh, yeah, I'll take the Bible as long as I get to steer through it the way I want to steer through it. Don't want to be in the back seat.

Don't want to be just in the front seat. I want to be behind the driving wheel, the steering wheel. That's okay with them. Well, it's okay with them because they haven't surrendered full authority to the Word of God. They haven't surrendered full authority to the Word of God. They've retained...where have they retained the authority? They've retained basic authority for themselves. This allows them to take bits and pieces of it, but not all of it, see? So, in that case, who's actually sitting in the seat of authority? Is it the Word of God or is it the person?

Well, I think it's obvious. You know, people set themselves up as the determining authority. Now, again, most of us have had maybe not wonderful experience with this, but we definitely had experience. That is, that experience with seeing and knowing that people choose what they like or agree with. You can have a Bible discussion with somebody, and they will choose what they like or what they want to agree with, and generally what they do is they won't choose what gets in their way.

People have their way of living, they have their lifestyle, they have their do's and their don'ts, and what they want to do, and they will choose that from God's Word that either doesn't get in their way or doesn't get in their way too much. You know, I'm amazed. They're already playing Christmas music in the stores and all. Of course, I understand what's driving that with businesses, commercialism, got to make a profit, got to get the jump on everybody else.

Of course, people are so concerned now about not being able to get Christmas gifts later, they're trying to get out there and get them now, which maybe there will be less traffic later to have to deal with. Anyway. And some people, of course, as far as choosing what they want or what they like, as long as it doesn't get in the way too much, are very bold and upfront about it. Martin Luther. Martin Luther. The main name of the Protestant Reformation.

And there were two biggies, and the two biggies of the Protestant Reformation were Martin Luther and John Calvin. Those were the two biggies. There were others, but those were the two biggies of the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther is the real biggie. I mean, he's the one that is, let's say, fingerprinted for the Reformation more than anybody else. Martin Luther of the Protestant Reformation called the Book of James. Now, the Book of James was written by the half-brother, half-sibling of Jesus Christ. He was the Jerusalem pastor. He was the headquarters pastor. He was the first born of Joseph and Mary together.

Christ's father was God the Father. Joseph was his stepfather. After Christ had been born, and Joseph and Mary went on to have children, their first born after Christ, the one that they had together first, was James. So he was an apostle. He was both physical half-brother and, obviously, spiritual brother to his elder brother and Savior Jesus Christ that he had grown up with. And yet Martin Luther took his book. We know who James is. Who's Martin Luther?

Martin Luther said, Oh, the Book of James? It's just a book of straw. Well, what do you do with straw? You burn it. Maybe you put it down on stable floors to help with the cleaning up later, after livestock, whatever. Not really worth anything, is it?

It's a book of straw. Oh, he was very bold, because he didn't like what it said about works with faith, that living faith has works. And he did not like that. And so he was so bold, and just very upfront and open, it's a book of straw. And it's as much a part of the Bible as the Gospels or anything else. But he didn't like it. And it's all because of James 2, primarily, and we're not going to go through there. But he was very open in his refusal to accept its authority. He will not take the authority of the Bible. Oh, he might take this part and that part, but you get to the book of James, uh-uh, that part of the Bible, just pitch it. That's straw, because it got in his way. It got in his way. He didn't like the fact it said works. And let me tell you another tactic he did. When he would write about faith, and if he were to do any translation of any of the scripture about faith, he would add a word. He would add the word alone. In other words, it would read, faith alone. Because James said it's not faith alone. The faith alone is dead. The body without the breath is dead. Faith alone is dead. Martin Luther would add the word alone in his writings. Faith alone, because he hated what James said about works. Well, there's a whole bunch of folks that have followed his reasoning, because it fits their heart. It fits what they want. See, Martin Luther positioned himself to accept and do what he wanted to. He retained himself as the final authority. I'm Martin Luther! Who is James? Book a straw. Think about that. That's authority. James is authority. It's Bible. It's truth. Martin Luther isn't. He retained himself as the final authority, the final say. And again, that is what one is doing when one takes that approach. But what about when a whole church takes that approach? What about when a whole church retains the authority to decide what to do and not to do? What to keep and to throw away? What to ignore and what to add? Two weeks ago, when I was here, I spoke on Anchored in the Truth. Learn it. Love it. Live it.

This is not a part two, by any means, and yet at the same time, it's in the same genre, you might say. Following is an excerpt from the late Cardinal Gibbons' book, Faith of our Fathers. Cardinal Gibbons' book, Faith of our Fathers, and it represents the Catholic view. It doesn't represent my view, and your view either, does it? But it represents the Catholic view of the Bible, and Catholic is simply a Latin word that means universal. That's all it means, the universal church. The Catholic church is the universal church. It is the major, quote, church, and it is very readily and easily identifiably spoken of in Revelation, isn't it? I'm not sure what their membership is today, but it's a billion or better, and there's somewhere around, what, 2.2, 2.3 billion, quote, Christians on earth and the Catholic church is obviously the largest, and in general the Protestant churches have come out of the Catholic church. But here's the Catholic view of the Bible in that book, and it's found under the topic, the church and the Bible. And listen carefully. This is what, this is their view. A rule of faith or a competent guide to heaven must be able to instruct in all the truths necessary for salvation. Now the Scriptures alone, the Scriptures alone by themselves, do not contain all the truths which a Christian is bound to believe. Oh, there's just, you know, a bunch of stuff missing. Nor do they explicitly enjoin all the duties which he is obliged to practice. We must therefore conclude that the Scriptures alone cannot be a sufficient guide and rule of faith, because they cannot at any time be within the reach of every inquirer, because they are not of themselves, this Bible, this book. They are not of themselves clear and intelligible, even in matters of the highest importance. And because they do not contain all the truths necessary for salvation. I'm putting a couple of people to sleep, but that's okay. Think about that. Think about that. Think about that. What a bold statement. Do you believe that you're in a bona fide part of the true Church or not? How do you know? You can't find sufficient evidence to prove it in this book according to the Catholic Church. You've got to go to them. It's amazing. What a bold and open statement. What a revealing statement who sits in authority, who has the final say, Is it the Bible? No. It's the Catholic Church. They have the final say. In fact, if you get a priest to cardinal somebody to be honest with you, they'll say, Christ gave us higher authority than the Bible. If there's a contradiction, we're right. It's wrong.

And just as the Catholic Church sets itself higher in authority than the Bible, so do individuals. And many times, without really realizing that this is exactly what they're doing— I mean, a lot of times, they may not even realize exactly what they're doing. We joke about Bible seminaries being Bible cemeteries because they see how much Bible they can bury. But unfortunately, the basis for those jokes is because when you go to a Bible seminary, you read all kinds of books and study all kinds of books of what they say about the Bible. You learn. You study very little Bible overall.

And even if that, you study select parts of the Bible. You don't study it comprehensively. And the main thrust is to establish the traditional views of Christianity. And they've even made it an art form, either ignoring or explaining away the truths of the Bible. The Bible, this in a seminary, is not the authority. It's not the authority. And you might be surprised. I forget what the attrition rate is. I knew it one time. But in all the Bible seminaries with the young, idealistic men and women going to those seminaries, it is amazing how many of them go in there with the Bible having a certain credibility in their minds, at least, and how that is destroyed.

And how many get into the seminaries going there with the dream of becoming a pastor out here somewhere in a denomination to help people and get blown away in the seminary and give all that up because they're disillusioned. Totally disillusioned. The Bible is God's book of authority for mankind, but people don't want authority in their lives. They just don't. We don't seem to have any problem understanding that with evolutionists. There's no God. We weren't created. We came about by evolution.

And we say, well, your problem is you don't want an authority in your life. You don't want somebody higher than you telling you what's right and wrong because if evolution is true, there is no right or wrong. Think about it. There's no moral law. It is survival of the fittest. It truly is. If it's true, because then there is no higher power. And certainly, believe me, I've read the works of some of them. And some of them, frankly, admit the reason that they say that there's no God, no creation, it's evolution, because they don't want to acknowledge a higher authority that has the right to tell them what to do.

And this is just leather and paper and print to them. It's just a book that some folks wrote. Atheists? Same thing. Of course, most atheists do know deep inside there's a God. They're just mad at him.

And the only way they can get at him is to say, oh, I'll thumb him a note. You don't exist. I'll just show complete total, institutionalized indifference to you. You don't exist. You're not there, God. You're not there. Most of them are mad at God, and they're not true atheists.

They're very, very few people that are true atheists. And we would expect that with those folks, evolutionists and atheists. Church people? But church people? Religious people? You mean they might have the same basic hang-up with authority? As evolutionists and atheists? Yeah, I do. I mean, they might have... Yes, I do. I mean, just that. It's just not as obvious. And it is easier to kind of hide and cover. And because of the religious nature of it, the religiosity, the person is allowed to kid himself about it. Well, you know, I believe in God, and I believe in the Bible, and yeah, brother, I follow God, yeah, I follow the Bible.

I let God's Spirit lead me. God's Spirit told me to do this. God's Spirit told me to do that. God's Spirit led me here. God's Spirit led me there. I hear that a lot. You do, too. But it is the type of self-deception that the person may not even be aware of.

But it's coming off of something that's deep in their natural, carnal, human make-up. It is an authority issue, and most people don't even stop to wait and consider it. Think about how it is with many. Just saying again, the natural mind. Serving a God who is far off. I serve God. Serving a God who is far off is humanly, carnally, naturally, automatically, a whole lot more comfortable than one who is near, at hand, close by, that's standing there in front of me, so to speak.

See, as long as Christ is king in heaven—I can live with that—that's fine with me. As long as he is king in heaven and not on earth. Not on earth. It doesn't really affect my life that much. I can still kind of do what I want to do and customize my religion and what I take from the Bible and what I don't. Yeah, Christ is king in heaven. That's wonderful. As long as he's not king on earth. That's a very comfortable arrangement that can be lived with. Or if he is held in view as a babe and a manger, which is coming up very shortly. He's held in view as a babe and a manger. Or the Lamb of God, who loves you so much, he died for you. Which is all true. Which is all true.

He was a babe and a manger at a time. He is and always will be the Lamb of God who died for us. But as long as that's the position. I mean, think about it. A babe and a manger doesn't represent a lot of authority.

A Lamb of God, a pure Lamb that will die for you, doesn't represent a lot of authority. But to picture that King in heaven, that Lamb, on this earth, what has he got in his right hand there? That looks like a rod of iron.

Oh, in certain scriptures that talk about him using that rod of iron, whenever he should truly need to. You mean he might actually correct me in what I'm doing, my lifestyle, the route I'm taking, the road I'm on, the path I'm walking? You mean he might actually step in and correct me with a rod of iron? You mean he's got that kind of authority?

Humanly, that's not a comfortable image to live with. And a lot of folks choose not to live with that image. People feel a freedom to do what they want and to set their own standards. And, you know, here's one of the things that's nice about getting older. As long as you keep your mind, as long as you keep your memory, the knowledge and understanding of events, experiences, and all continue to increase in you.

And you begin to make more and more connections as time goes on. And, of course, there are certain things in your life you've got more and more to reflect back on and think about and study and search and analyze. But there are certain things that will stick in your memory very sharply. And I remember long ago—it doesn't seem like so long ago—when I was young, hearing this—I was watching this Billy Graham crusade.

I needed a sermon for that Sabbath. I'm kidding about that. But I was watching this Billy Graham crusade part of it just to see what he would cover and how he would cover it. Because I knew he knew about the Sabbath. But anyway, he had this rodeo writer giving his testimony. And this rodeo writer said this. He said, The Lord doesn't care what I'm doing and where I am as long as I'm serving him.

Well, that's the whole point. That's the whole problem. When you truly accept the authority of God's Word, you can't just do what you want to do or be just where you want to be. It changes things. And regarding doing as you please, that authority gets in the way. Because, see, that's the basic problem with authority. It gets in the way. As long as I can be my own authority and pick and choose what I want to do and all, hey, that's good. But no, wait a minute. If there's an authority higher than my authority, higher than me, that means I'm supposed to adhere to it.

I'm supposed to do my best to live according to it and what it tells me. And, of course, again, this book, God's Word, God's Truth, the authority of God's Word, considers something. Zechariah 14, 9 tells us simply this. Zechariah 14 and verse 9 tells us that the day is coming when Christ will come back to this earth as a king to rule over it all. Every corner and crevice, gully and canyon, etc. Every land, period. And, of course, again, very familiar Scripture there, and you know it well.

It says, And the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord in his name one. And then, previous to that, those six verses back in verse 3, it says this. In verse 3, it tells us that it's going to be war. The babe and the manger, the Lamb of God, is going to war.

Verse 3 there, Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle. And one of the things that has to be established is his authority.

And he will. He won't ask permission. He establishes it. There is war because he comes back with authority. In that Mount Olivet prophecy in Matthew 24, verse 30, it says this, Matthew 24 and verse 30, it talks about, and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And what will that sign be? I couldn't tell you in specific detail because I don't know in specific detail, but I know in terms of the comprehensive scale because the Scripture goes on to say, in outline form or comprehensive scale, what it is.

It says, then shall all the tribes of the earth, they're going to see the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. Why would they mourn? Why would it be upsetting to them to see Christ coming back? Well, we could probe back more than I will this morning, but they're going to mourn. And they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with what? Power and great glory. That power, obvious power, obvious glory and power, brilliance and color and just a magnitude of power that's part of that sign.

And it's going to be obvious that what's coming is coming with power, with authority, with power and great glory, with authority. Tribes mourn because authority gets in the way of what people want to do. And there's nobody on the face of the earth more independent than Israelites.

Period. Israelites are the most independent people on the face of the earth. Authority gets in the way of what people want to do. In that same chapter, verse 38, in that same chapter, notice it says this, For as in the days that were before the flood, our times that we're living in, not that we're going to live in, that we are living in and are going to continue to live into deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper.

Now, they are and are becoming like the days that were before the flood. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating. You've got to eat. You quit eating. You die. You die not too awfully long after you quit eating. You've got to eat. They were eating and they were drinking.

And you've got to drink. They were marrying. Well, marriage is of God, isn't it? And giving in marriage.

It's interesting. The world was so corrupt that God said, It makes me sick to my heart and stomach that I've created mankind. I mean, the emotional impact upon God at what He saw happening. And He said, I'm going to have to wash it all off the face of the earth and start over.

They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark. Life was going on as they were accustomed to. So what kind of eating were they doing? What kind of drinking was it? What kind of marrying? What kind of giving in marriage was it? Obviously, it was not godly. Or they wouldn't have been wiped out. Obviously, it was not godly. Or God would not have sent the flood. It was as they pleased when they knew sufficiently better that they should not have been doing the kind of eating and drinking and marrying and giving and marriage that they were doing. But it was by their design with them as their authority, not God. God the Father and Jesus Christ are currently in heaven. We know that.

But they're not far off through the power of the Holy Spirit, are they? But obviously, there's another way also that they're not far off, that they're close at hand. Close at hand, and that is with and through the Bible. Often it has been said that Christ is the living Word of God, and He is the living Word of God, the Logos, and the Bible is the written Word of God. The teaching of the Bible is a true reflection of God, and what the Bible teaches is what God would teach if He were here in person. After all, He is the one who wrote it. It is stamped with His authority. Not my authority, not your authority, His authority. And a major test of conversion and submission to God. You know, I have not often, but from time to time, a person will come to me and say something like, Mr. Beam, I just have to wonder sometimes if I'm converted. I just got my doubts about my conversion. I'm concerned about it. And, of course, there can be various reasons why a person might think that, wonder about that. And in most cases, their minds can be put at ease based on what the reasons for thinking that are, because most people who get concerned about that are converted. But let me give you a major test of conversion. And again, you hear me talk a lot about you examine yourself. You look at yourself. I don't want to assess you. I don't want to examine you. I'll teach you. I'll lay things out. And I'll counsel with you to the degree that you want to be counseled on something. Yes, yes. That's part of, obviously, why I'm here. But I want people to know themself. I want them to understand themself. I want them to search themself. And helping you to sometimes have the tools by which you can assess yourself accurately. That's good. A major test of conversion and submission to God. How do I know I'm really converted? How do I know that I'm really submitted to God? It's simply one's submission to the authority of His Word. You take this book, you open it, you read it, you study it, you see what is expected of you by God, you see what you're supposed to be doing, and you yield to that authority, and you set yourself to as fully as you possibly can with God's help to follow that authority. So that would bring up the question, how much of its authority does one accept? Again, I have known people who say, well, I don't accept that part, but I'm not going to accept the other part. Well, I won't do that, but no, I'm not going to do that. Well, I mean, it's like one man was telling me one time about someone that he knew who had a certain amount of the truth. And the man who was telling me solved some additional truth that he hadn't seen in the Bible.

And he said, I was all excited about it. And he said, so I went to my friend, and I said, hey, I've got to share this with you. And the guy said, hold on. You've got some more truth or new truth from the Bible? Yeah, yeah. Let me show you. Wait a minute. Hold on. I've got all the truth I can handle right now. I don't want to know anymore.

People, we're interesting critters, aren't we? And thankfully, God is very merciful and loves us, and he has a plan of salvation by which and through which and how he will reach all in due time. But anyhow, how much of its authority does one accept? How much of it does one live? See, you can't live what you don't accept. And when you accept, you've still got the challenge of trying to live it. But if you don't accept it, there's no chance of trying to live it.

So one comes first before the other. You buy the horse, and then you go looking for a saddle, so to speak. But no. You accept the authority, and then you accept, well, by accepting the authority, well, that means I've got to do my best to live that. So again, the question, how much of it does one truly try to live? Now, God's true people, and I do emphasize true, God's true people have a wholeness, W-H-O-L-E, versus partial, have a wholeness approach.

Because if a person's approach is, let's say, not resistance to all of it, they're willing to take the Bible and study it and see what it says to learn it.

And they're willing to accept maybe pretty big portions of it.

But think about this. If there is a resistance to, of course, in most classic cases, a resistance to all of it, but let's crank it down a little bit less than that, resistance to parts of it, resistance to some of it, resistance to parts of it. That's a dead giveaway. What's that dead giveaway to? It's a dead giveaway to what is notated in Romans 8-7.

When you run into someone who either resists the Bible or resists parts of it, Romans 8-7 says, because the carnal mind is enmity, it's animosity, it's hostile against God. That's the natural carnal mind. It doesn't mean against God on every single point.

Again, as long as people can choose the parts they want to live and follow, that's fine, because they're in the driver's seat. They're the authority.

But when it comes down to surrendering, truly, to the authority of God's Word, they're no longer in the driver's seat. They've accepted God steering the vehicle through His Word, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

That's a classic statement of an authority issue. And if you or I find elements of that in us towards God's Word, wherever we find those elements, that is a certain part of our, let's say, old man, old woman, the carnal side of us getting in the way. And we have to deal with it. See, will we let God rule in our life through His Word? Well, God's true people will. If any of us are true people of God, if any one of us is a true person of God, we will let God rule in our lives.

I don't want to rule in your life. I want God to rule in your life. I don't want you to rule in my life. I want God to rule in my life. Rulership in your life through His Word. God's true people will accept that and do that. If God's Word lays out clearly what the expectation is, then it's not another human that's expecting you to do that. It's God. And again, God's true people will surrender to that authority.

See, God's Church, God's people, preserve God's Word. They preserve His truth. How? In their lives by living it. How is God's... This Bible is the Word of God. And again, how many millions and millions or billions of Bibles are there on the planet today? And how many people who own Bibles, which is a great number of people, either truly understand it or will truly yield to its authority?

And this Bible here, being the Word of God, this particular copy of it is leather and tissue paper, a type of thin paper, and black ink, and with some coloring that I've put into it on my part as a tool to use. But the Bible, just as the Word of God laying there, where are people going to go and see people living what's in there?

Of course, a lot of them don't even know for sure what's in there. And again, people will live parts of it, but they won't choose all of it. But God's Church, God's people, preserve God's Word and God's truth in their lives by living it. This is what was met by Paul to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3, verse 15. Paul said this, He said, In other words, preservation of the truth. And you think about that. The Church is the support and the preservation of the truth. If people want to go, even if they don't know that's what they're seeing, but if God wants people to see where what's in the Bible is put into practice and lived, He would point them to His people, wouldn't He?

Because it's His people that exercise it in living color, of living flesh and blood. The Church is the pillar, the support, the stay, the preservation of the truth. See, the Bible, the authority of the Bible, will live to the degree in our lives as we surrender to it. Now, you're the Church. People will say, Are you going to Church this Sabbath? And somebody's like, Well, yeah, I'm going to Church this Sabbath.

What you're actually doing is you're going to Church services. Now, is it wrong to say, I'm going to Church? No, it's not wrong to say, I'm going to Church. But if you want to be totally, technically accurate, the Church is coming together in assembly for church services. It's more technically accurate to say, I'm going to services, or I'm going to Church services. Because the Church is everyone. Where are you during the week? Where's the Church during the week? You, Rome, the Church here, is scattered out all over the countryside during the week.

That's where the Church is. It's you. And you come together into assembly, as God commanded, on the Sabbath into services. Now, if I were to ask somebody, if I were to say, are you going to Church this Sabbath? Well, Mr. Veeam, you said that's wrong to use it that way. No, I didn't. I'm just making the point. If you say, going to Church, you're going to Church services. But the point that I am trying to make is you are the Church. Whether it's a Monday, a Tuesday, a Wednesday, a Thursday, a Friday, a Sunday, wherever you are, you are the Church. You are the stay of the Word.

You're the preservation of it. You're the support. In what way? By living it wherever you are, because you're surrendering to it, because you recognize it's the authority over you. And, you know, God's people tremble at His Word. In Isaiah, it is said this in Isaiah 66, verses 2 and 5.

Isaiah 66, verses 2 and 5. But to this man will I look, or woman, even to Him or her, that is poor and of a country, spirit, and trembles at my Word. I am Martin Luther. I am part of the Catholic Church.

We need a Reformation. Now, I'm not going to reform things as far as they go, but I'm going to do what I want as far as reforming. And my authority is higher than the Bible. And, frankly, personally, I can't stand the book of James. It's a book of straw, and I don't have to follow it.

And furthermore, whenever I speak about faith, I'm going to add a word to make it clear where I stand, and that I'm not going to accept the authority of God's Word when it comes to faith and works. I'm just going to say each time, faith alone. He didn't tremble at God's Word. He didn't respect it. In verse 5 there it says, Here are the Word of the Lord, you that tremble at His Word. Who trembles at His Word?

His people do. I can't become and remain a true person of God if I don't stand in awe of His Word, if I don't respect it, if I set myself above it. And, of course, when a person sets themselves above it, when you do, guess what you do? You set yourself above God.

Martin Luther, now I'm not saying he met it this way, I'm not saying he understood or realized or met that he was setting himself above God, but he was. He was. Psalm 138 verse 2. Psalm 138 verse 2.

David said, Now there's the word your truth. Your word is truth, John 17-17. For your truth, for you have magnified, and every little kid knows what it means to magnify, you know, a magnifying glass, you make something bigger, you make it look bigger, you make it bigger, when you magnify something. For you have magnified your word. You've got truth, and you've got word there. For you have magnified your word above all, what? Your name. It's a way of David, under inspiration, saying, God, your word, which is a pure reflection of you, your word is held higher than your name in the sense, in the sense that God adheres to his own word.

God has never sinned. God cannot sin. God did not create sin. He had nothing to do with the existence of sin. And the Bible very plainly says, God will not lie. And says he cannot lie. He adheres to what he had written in there for us to live by, because the Bible is the perfect expression of his nature, his righteousness, his way. When we set ourselves above the Bible, we set ourselves above God, and you can't get any more serious than that because that's what Lucifer did.

Thankfully, and again, in God's mercy, most people don't really realize that that's what they're doing. God's people don't tamper with it and alter it. And, of course, here we are coming to the time of the year, shortly ahead of us, we're getting into that season where God's people are...it's one of the biggest test times of the year, in terms of what they will stay clean from and what they will partake of.

Isn't it all the pressure put on because of loved ones and family and coworkers and all of that? We understand it. We go through this every year. But God's people don't tamper with this word and they don't alter it, just like Deuteronomy 12.32, again, a very familiar Scripture, Deuteronomy 12 and verse 32, what things, whoever I command you, observe to do it. You shall not add thereto nor diminish from it. And then when you go to the very last chapter of the Bible, all the way to the end of the Bible in the last chapter, Revelation 22.

Revelation 22, verses 18 and 19, it says in verse 18, it says, For I testify to every man that hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words...you've got adding, that shouldn't be. You've got subtracting that shouldn't be. Adding and subtracting, like eating and drinking and marrying and all, doing it wrong.

Addition that shouldn't be here. Subtraction that shouldn't be. If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, notice how serious it gets. God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. What's the big issue? Authority. Authority of God's Word. Submitting to that authority, not saying, Oh, I don't like that, so I'm going to take that out. And I think something's missing there that should have been in there, so I'm going to add that in.

It gets down to an authority issue. And we, God's people, we don't take a file and say, Oh, wow, this two-edged sword, this two-edged sword, it is sharp. Yeah, it is sharp. Hebrews 4.12, For the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. And they knew exactly what Paul was writing about. They could see those swords hanging on the sides of those Roman soldiers in Judea and around Jerusalem.

The gladius, two edges, a two-edged sword. They understood exactly the metaphor and all that the example that he was using here. Piercing even to dividing asunder of soul, spirit, the joints, the marrow. The more you stick your nose in God's word, the more you understand yourself. The more you stick your nose in there and you really study it and the examples he's let be recorded, Old Testament, and knew all of it, the more you understand yourself, the more you see what you need and where you get lacking, and the more you're willing to yield for God to work with you and do.

And of the joints and marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, it has the authority to do that, and it will if we don't blunt that authority. If we don't say, okay, yeah, I'll take that two-edged sword, but what I'm going to do, hand me that file. Okay, I'm going to work this edge down to where it's just blunt on this side. You might be able to beat somebody to death with it, but you sure can't slash them.

Then I'm going to turn it over and I'm going to do that to the edge, too, because I don't want it so sharp. I don't want it cutting deep inside me. I don't want it revealing me to me. I don't want God that close to me. I don't want God up in my face that close. That's uncomfortable. I know He loves me, but He expects me to change, too.

He loves me, but He wants me to grow. He loves me, but He doesn't like what I'm doing or thinking. I've got to blunt this sword a little bit. God's people don't do that, because then you defeat growth and development and overcoming. We accept it in its fullness because it has the authority to judge us. In Jesus' words in John 12, verses 47 and 48, John 12, verses 47 and 48, And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. But don't stop there. Read on.

He that rejects me and receives not my words has one that judges him the word that I have spoken, the Bible. The same shall judge him in the last day. Of course, again, going back to the book of James, and it's in chapter 1, this time, James 1, 22, But be you doers of the word, and not here as only deceiving your own selves.

And as John wrote in 1 John 2.5, But whoso keeps his word, keeps his word in him, in her, in that person, And that person, verily, truly, is the love of God Agape, perfected, matured, Hereby we know that we are in him. Agape grows to maturity in him who truly keeps his word. See, where you find true acceptance of the authority of God's word, There you will find truth being preserved in living flesh and blood. And there you will find people being set apart, because the truth will set apart.

Back in John 17, 17, remember the statement, Sanctify or set apart them through your truth, your word is truth.

God gives his Spirit to those who obey him.

That is always true, Acts 5.32. Acts 5.32, and we are his witnesses of these things, And so is also the Holy Spirit whom God has given to them who obey him. And since it is his word that tells us how to obey him, It is submission to that authority that he looks at.

The authority of God's word is a real issue, Whether it's with evolutionists, whether it's with atheists, Or it's with Martin Luther, the Catholic Church, false religion.

God, through what is coming, is going to have to produce a heart of obedience in all of them.

But among the true people of God, you will already find that heart of obedience.

And submission, because we have already come to see and accept the true and the full authority of God's word.