The Truthfulness of God's Word

And I'm thankful, always thankful for the opportunity to teach the word of the Lord, no matter the setting, and then I I guess I can say I'm especially thankful to be able to come and teach in this Bible class. We're going to be Brother Spall mentioned it a few weeks ago, a rotation of teachers on various subjects, and this in this series we're talking about the word of God. And today we are going to focus on the truthfulness of God's word. The truthfulness of God's word.

Yeah. It is. That's in my lesson. Praise God. You're ahead of me. Praise God. It's inherent and it's infallible, the word of God. And it's one thing to say that, it's another thing to believe that and live that out. We just lived it out. The Bible talks about prayer and that he's a healer or he's a protector, and so we practice that, we live that out. You know, really it does little good. Thank God for everybody that believes something, but you got to live that out.

You got to translate that into life steps and display the word of God through our actions and behavior and our belief systems. So, from 2 Samuel, we're going to read some 2 Samuel chapter 7, and if you have your Bible or device, if you would turn there and then also Psalm 119. Now it's it's up here on the screen and we always do that and we try to send it to the media team so that it can get up there, but I just want to encourage you.

Don't depend on the screen only. So on your device or uh on your uh in your Bible. You know, we are seeing fewer and fewer of these these days, you know. That's another lesson for some other time. I read a neat article. It convicted me. It convicted me. Basically, here's what the article said. You're not nearly as apt to be distracted with this as you are with this and I just used this this week. I used it at a place where I was. But it kind of spoke to me and I thought, "Hmm, that makes sense." So if you have your device or you have your Bible, uh use that as well as the screen.

Here we go. This is David responding Nathan the prophet had made a prophecy concerning David's life, concerning his lineage, concerning his kingdom, how he his influence would go on beyond his own life and would go out in through his son and then on to others. So this is David's response in verse 28 to Nathan that prophecy of God's promises. And now, oh Lord God, thou art that God. Aren't you glad you know that God? The certain God and thy words be true. And you have promised this goodness unto thy servant.

David is saying, "I believe what was just spoken to me in prophecy. And you know what? Speaking of prophecy, every prophecy of this great book is going to come to pass, and it's going to ful- be fulfilled. David said about a prophecy about him and his family and his kingdom, "Thou has promised this goodness unto thy servant." There are some promises in the word of the Lord that you have grasped and taken hold of. I just want to encourage you right now. This isn't in the notes, by the way, but I feel it.

Hold on to that promise. Hold on to the promise of God's word. And then Psalm 119, which is the longest chapter in the Bible, and the majority, almost every one of the verses, talk about the word of God. Psalm 119 and 140. "Thy word is very true. Therefore, your servant loves it." It's true, it's absolute, and I know I can stand on it and depend on it, and so I love it. And then verse 151 of Psalm 119. "You are near, oh Lord, and all" Everybody say, "all." "All" Thank you.

That was a powerful response. "And all thy commandments are truth." Hallelujah. No circumventing, right? Every commandment of the Lord is true and will be fulfilled if we follow those out. So, since the Bible is God's word, and we just read where all of his words are true. Since the Bible is the word of God, we can say that the Bible, which is the word of God, is truth. Every word he said. And of course, inerrancy, it being inerrant, is just a logical deduction since the scripture is the inspired word of God.

God never lies. Not one word, not one phrase, not one sentence. It's all true. Every word is inspired by God, and so every word is true and err- errorless. Well, the one response said it's infallible. It's never wrong. The word of God is never wrong. I pray today there's an increase and an affirmation. I'm teaching the people I know you believe the word of God. I affirm that, and I pray the spirit of the Lord and the word of God affirms that you're believing the right thing, and there's not a question.

This is the word of truth, and it is infallible. That the Lord would not only affirm what we are and what we believe, but increase it. I I want to lift my hand and say I want my faith in the word of God to be increased. Hallelujah. I want it to grow to where what God says it, I'm just going to expect it. What God promises it, we should we should expect people to get the Holy Ghost in this day and hour, no matter how much sin there is.

He said, "In the last days, I will pour out of my spirit." That's why I know this week kids are going to get the Holy Ghost at youth camp because it's a promise of God. We can just believe the word of the Lord because it's infallible, it's never wrong, it's without error. It's free from all falsehood. There is nothing false in this book. There's nothing that's almost true. It's all the truth of God. It doesn't mislead us. It's not subject to mistake. It's entirely true and here's the blessing, it's entirely trustworthy.

You can trust this word. You can It was spoken and written thousands of years ago, but it's just as trustworthy now as it was when God inspired it. You can trust this book. God help us. God help us to increase our faith in your word. And then when that happens as it's taught and as it's preached or as we read it in our devotion time. It doesn't matter where you hear it or where you read it. It can make an impact on our lives. Can speak to us.

I was in a Wednesday night service this past week there where Lisa and Chris attend church and they they do a little focused prayer point at the very beginning of the service and one of the ladies of the of the church, sister Susan, gave the prayer point and she read from 2nd Chronicles where they were surrounded and the the people didn't know what to do, but the prayer was God, our eyes are upon you. Our eyes are upon you. And that phrase just hit me strong.

I wrote it down. I told the lady afterwards that I'm going to preach that. The word of God can be powerful and if we can be sensitive to it, maybe something that's said today in this lesson, it may be one phrase or one sentence or a whole paragraph, whatever it is, but it can touch and bless you because of the power of the word of God. It's reliable, it's trustworthy, and here's why. Because God is faithful and he is true. And then also, Hebrews 6 and 18 gives us another reason that we can trust God.

Hebrews 6 and 18, that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie. It's impossible for God to lie. Praise God. I love that. It's impossible for him to lie. Numbers 23 and 19. And I think I gave that to the media. 23 and 19. This is Balaam speaking to Balak, the king. Balaam, that prophet that they're trying to call to to curse the people of God. God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent or recant.

Has he said and shall he not do it? Hallelujah. Woo. Has he said and shall he not do it? Or has he spoken and shall he not make it good? God's going to make this good right here. Hallelujah. We don't have to worry. When you're in your daily reading this week and you read something, you don't have to question, well, I wonder if that one's going to happen. I wonder how true that really is. He spoke it, he's going to make it good. In other words, he is going to fulfill his word.

I don't know, I just feel like hugging my Bible today. Hallelujah. And I want to hug it more than with my arms, but I want to hug it with my faith. Woo. Doesn't life create doubt for us? Circumstances of life and we think, is this ever going to get any better and am I ever going to be healed or are they going to ever come back to God? We just keep believing in faith, we keep praying and using the word of God and depending upon the word of the Lord and you can trust that word.

God's law is truth. Every word of God is true. Second Samuel in our text said, you are God and your words are true. And then Psalm 119 in that text said, your word is very pure. All your commandments are truth. And then Psalm 19 and verse 7, the law of the Lord is perfect. That means it's complete. It lacks nothing to be complete. The testimony of the Lord is sure. The commandment of the Lord is pure. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous and there's no wasted word.

True and righteous all together, all together. Now, the Bible not only is infallible and these these two words are are connected, I suppose. It's inerrant. There's no error in the word of the Lord. You know, if the Bible contained errors, then somebody would need to fix those errors. It It'd be upon you or I or somebody to fix those errors in the word of the Lord for it to be true. But then, you read the Bible and it says, "Don't make any changes. Don't add to it.

Don't take away from it." Why? Because you don't need to. Because the ultimate voice of authority that knows all things, that's all powerful, omniscient, has spoken it. There's no need to make any changes. Inerrancy of the word of God is evident to us. Second Timothy, turn to Second Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15. And of course, this is Paul teaching the word of God to his son in the gospel, Timothy, who is embarking on ministry. And he says, verse 15, "And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures." This makes me want to pause right here and say, "I'm not one bit sorry I was brought up in the church.

I'm not one bit sorry that I was brought up in this apostolic truth. From a child, you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto That's a key phrase. The Scriptures make us wise unto salvation. In other words, it they tell us how to be saved through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Now, verse 16. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Not just old or not just new or not just the part I like. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and watch this, it's profitable.

If there was mistakes in it, it wouldn't make us profitable. If it was errant or if it was fallible, it would not fully make us profitable. And it's profitable for teaching or doctrine or teaching for reproof, for correction. Anybody been reading the scripture and say, "Hmm, I know I need to fix that." We feel that conviction in there. By the word of the Lord, we hear it preached or we hear it read. I need to fix that. For reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. So, if only portions of the Bible were true, how could all of it be profitable like Paul said it was?

All scripture is profitable. And here's what the word wants to do that the man, or you could say man or woman, the the the human life may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. We can be thoroughly equipped for every good work that God intends for our life to fulfill. If we will follow the word of the Lord. And probably one of the key reasons for the word of the Lord, key purposes of the Bible, is to lead us to salvation. Okay. And the the Bible leads us to that salvation.

That's the purp- one of the purposes of scripture. And if it again, if it contained errors, we're talking about it being inerrant. There's no error. Faith in God's important. Believing and trusting in God is important. That's what his word says. Without faith, we can't please God. It's it's true that we need one needs to repent. That's I'm glad it is a doctrine of the United Pentecostal Church, but that's not the reason that it's true. The reason that it's true is because it's God's word. Repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

That's the reason we are so stringent about being baptized in Jesus' name because it is in the word of God, and that word is inerrant. And it leads us to salvation. So, it is a credible source when it says, "And you shall receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost." And it talks about going on to live a life pleasing to him. And John chapter 3 in verse 12, he talks about his life and speaking truth. And Jesus, during his earthly ministry, told the truth. He's talking about that in John.

He told the truth about earthly matters so that people would believe him when he talked about heavenly matters. And he couldn't do any less in his word. Whatever God talks about is true. The Bible is true in historical matters, it's true in scientific matters. It is absolute truth. Now, what do we mean when we talk about truth? And here we're going to look to the word of the Lord and see some characteristics. Maybe you could think Stop with for a minute. I won't ask you to say anything out loud, but just stop.

What What does it mean when we say something is truth? Something What makes truth truth? And those characteristics would make it true if you or I said it, but you can apply it to the scripture and to the word of the Lord. There are certain characteristics that will mark anything that is true. Number one, it's true because it is absolute. We've touched some of this already, a little bit related to it. It's not relative. It's not dependent on anything else. Romans chapter 3 and verse 4 says, "Let God be true, but every man a liar." God is true.

His word that he has spoken is true. That you may be justified in your words. Every word of God is absolute. It is absolute. That's characteristic number one. Characteristic number two is it is precise. It is accurately stated. It's correct even to minute details. Proverbs 30 and verse 5 says, "Every word of God is pure." Every word of God. That word pure there take comes uh from a meaning that is referencing how gold is purified by the fire. And if there's no impurities, if you want to make something of pure gold, if they wanted to make a coin or anything else of pure gold, the refiners would heat that until any impurity would rise to the top and they would scrape that off and they would end up with pure gold.

The word of the Lord is pure. There is nothing in this book that is an impurity. That is incorrect. There's nothing from God's voice that is not precise and pure. The third attribute about truth is it is immutable. We read about this in scripture. It's never changing. It's constant. Praise God. I've always enjoyed going back through one of the Brandings notes. He left about 10, 12 or so notebooks. And I'd go through there. Sometimes I'd go through those just to make a check on myself. Are we still preaching this?

document Are we still adhering to that word of of God? And that word, whether it was in the 1930s or 40s or went all the way back to when God first spoke it and the writers would write it, it's never changing. It's constant. Everything else around us changes. But this word is true. Hallelujah. Old Testament time, New Testament time, modern times, it's immutable. It does not change. Psalm 119 and verse 89. Forever. Would you say that with me? Forever. Yeah. Forever, oh Lord. He kind of starts it like, I'm not going to fool around here.

I'm not going to give any ifs or ands or buts about this. Forever, oh Lord, your word is settled in heaven. That word settled means to put in place or to place, to stand, like you would put a pillar for a building and set it strong in the foundation. Your word is There is no wind of doctrine that can change this book right here. And they you know, I think it was Paul talked about winds of doctrine that would come. And don't you know we hear it.

We hear some strange things, don't we? Nowadays about Bible and truth and society. I read this article uh a few months ago. It touched me. I hadn't used it before, but as I was studying for this lesson, the the title of the article, "Progressive Publishers Launch Children's Bible Stories with Social Justice Diversity Themes." "Faith books emphasize diversity, inclusion, and justice for children." And these books were written for children ages 4 to 17. "A crop of new children's storybooks aims to reach progressive Christians, which are turned off by traditional presentations of scripture, offering messages focused on diversity, inclusion, and social justice." "Publishers say the projects are meant to reflect the faith values of a changing audience." Faith values don't change.

This is my comments. This isn't article. This part's my comments. Faith values do not change. We do not fit the values to the audience. We inform the audience of the unchanging values of the word of God. It's immutable. But to sell those books and for those to be popular, they were crafting them to those who had itching ears and were looking for a truth that they could accept or believe. The author said they also hoped to prompt children to ask questions. That's not bad and that don't take very much.

Kids are ready for that. And challenge, watch this, challenge traditional beliefs about God, Jesus and the biblical narrative. The book is intended as curriculum to be taught in classes so that it would create a doubt or a question in children's minds so that they could find and poke a loopholes. I'm thankful I'm I see Michael in here today. I'm thankful for our Bible quizzing program. I'm thankful for the word of God that our young people are are learning. But they're writing this these books. We're talking about the immutable word of God.

It's never changing. But it is being challenged. Prompt children to ask questions and challenge traditional beliefs about God, Jesus and the biblical narrative. "Did that happen?" Lewis said describing how the storybook presents Jesus resur- Listen to this. Talking about Jesus' resurrection. "Did that happen?" That's what they're saying. "For me," he said, "it matters more that children know that love never dies, so that's where I landed." They were downplaying the resurrection, which is part of the gospel plan and the gospel message. Now, love is important. I'm not saying it's not important.

But it's important to believe, yes, Jesus did rise from the dead. There was a resurrection. And I don't know that I've ever seen anybody that had died. I I may have. I don't know that I've ever seen anybody that's been resurrected. I've heard good testimonials about that. But I've never seen anybody. But faith doesn't have to see it. Hallelujah. Faith just needs to believe it. And if the book says Jesus rose from the dead, he rose from the dead. And Lazarus rose from the dead. But there's an effort to create doubt.

And not only in these books, but I think all of us have encountered things that we see and things that we read and we hear things and there's a challenge to Oh, that's old-fashioned to believe that. No, I'm inspiring our faith today to say we're going to stand upon the word of God. Forever it is settled. Here's Here's continuing. It's okay to actually tell kids from the get-go. Here's what it's okay to say. Some of these stories are about true people and things that really happened.

And some of them are made-up stories. I wrote in caps, "Wow." after that sentence. Wow. These are books that are being published in Christendom. This isn't some anti-God slowly slowly trying to dilute the word of God and the word of truth. APC, let's hold to this word of God, no matter what the majority may believe or say. We love it because it's His word. We believe it because it's His word. Huh. The authors acknowledge that readers who interpret the Bible literally may not be the right audience for this book.

Amen. It's a new storybook Bible for families seeking an open-minded Bible. In other words, we can just make it say what we want it to say. There will be a group of sort of literalist or fundamentalist folks for whom this isn't a welcome resource. And I put in red behind that, that would be us. That would be us because the word of God is true. And this word of the Lord, we have found it over and over and over again to be faithful and to be true.

And if you're going through something this week, today, right now, here's here's the thing. We pray, we pray, but I think we need to add to our prayer, go to the word of God. Go to the word of the Lord. You know, there's nothing wrong with reading other materials. And what's coming to my mind right now, there's nothing I think we I think we ought to go to doctors when we should. I I think we should, and I think we should read their report if we can understand it.

And some of those medical terminology we may not always understand, but we can get the interpretation from somebody that that knows. I think we ought to we ought to take care of our health, and I think we ought to be aware of what the doctor I trust I trust the doctor that I go to. I trust him. But here's one thing I know, I also need to go to this book as well. Hallelujah. I need to go to this book and compare, okay, sir, here's your diagnosis.

Here's your diagnosis. But then I need to go to that scripture that says, I'm the Lord that heals all of your diseases. I need to go to that scripture in Mark 16 that says, these signs shall follow them that believe. They shall lay hands on the sick. And they shall they shall they shall somebody you're going to pray for this week they shall recover. I really was wanting a better response than that. Sorry. They shall Hallelujah. Do we believe this or not, folks? I mean, COME ON.

THEY SHALL RECOVER. He's able. And there are testimonies across this place. Thank you for I meant to say this earlier. Thank you for praying. Let me teach, my brother. Let me teach. You just say amen. Um, you know, I wanted to say this earlier. Um, my mother-in-law, thank you for praying for her. She's resilient. In her 80s and 90s and now she's on the verge of a couple weeks of being 100. Knee surgery on each knee. A hip surgery 80s and 90s. This fall that was face down and fractured and at first it looked much more serious than what it ended up being, thank the Lord.

But God intervened. I know she's got a strong constitution, but if she's got that, God gave that to her, too. There isn't any way he's not getting credit. And hospitalized for just 2 days and then home and doing well and people that would come in couldn't believe the the change and the touch and the healing. Our God is a healer. These signs shall follow them that believe. There are testimonies all around us. There are testimonies all around us. Crystal, you're here today by the touch and the hand of God.

Oh, thank God he's a miracle worker. He can take care of cancer. He can take care of what we might call a simple headache. He can take care of a cold or He can take care of any kind of lung disease. He can take care of cancer. I want a reaffirmation. This word is true. Hallelujah. He's your protector also. He's with you. He said, "I'll never leave you." I want to I want to hit this point. He said, "I'll never leave you nor forsake you." That means every day Oh, I appreciate coming to the house of God like we're in today.

I thank God for it. I thank God that that we gather together and it's it's easy for my faith to rise in this kind of an atmosphere. And I believe that's the plan of God for us to come together and be strengthened and helped. But you know, it may not be as easy when we're on our own through the week. But God's with us. In fact, I'm I misphrased that. We're never alone. We're never alone. God is with He said, "I will never leave you at your loneliest moment." Praise God.

At your loneliest moment, when you feel the most lonely, if you can reach into that scripture that said, "I will never leave you. I will never forsake you." I'm going to tell you this word is pure. It's true. It's trustworthy. It's infallible. There's no error to it. He is with you. No matter what the circumstance is. No matter where you are. No matter how alone that you may feel. And I'm not condemning feeling alone because that's our natural That's our natural response. That's our natural response to trial or circumstance.

And we are dependent on humans. I feel strengthened today knowing there's other believers here. You know, it's always good for a preacher to get an amen. And I'm thankful to be among you not just because I'm getting your amens, but I like amens when I'm sitting out here, too. Because it's a camaraderie of the people of God. It helps us to strengthen one another. But there are times when we may not have one another. We can't be with each other. We We can't be together every moment of the week, but we can be together with God every moment of the week.

Because this book says, "I will never leave you. I will never forsake you." I'm on I'm on this right now. That's not even in the notes, but somebody needs to know what Whatever Whenever you go through something and you feel that aloneness, I want this service to come back to you. I want that scripture to come back to you. God said, "I'm I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to depart from you. I'm going to stand by your side." Hallelujah. He is near. Hallelujah.

One songwriter said, "He's as close as the mention of his name. YOU DO NOT even have to scream IT OUT. YOU CAN IF YOU WANT TO, BUT ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS JESUS, I love you. Jesus, I need you." Woo. Hallelujah. Would you just thank him for his promises right now? And whatever's happened for your life, God, I thank you for the times I felt your word. I've sensed your word being fulfilled. I thank you for those experiences, oh God. I thank you for your word.

Hallelujah. Woo. Hallelujah. That word is sure. He said it's settled. In other words, it's steadfast. And I'm thinking of I'm thinking of that old song now. Standing on the promises. It's not shifting sand. You know, man's explanations, many of them are very accurate. But not ever as accurate as God's word and God's diagnosis. Hallelujah. He's with us. Crystal, when the report, the diagnosis said you had cancer, that was accurate. We're not going into denial. But you can always overmatch the accuracy of man with the total accuracy of God and His word.

That says, "I am the Lord that healeth all by His stripes." I don't know I'm on that healing a lot. It just feels like to me God wants to heal and touch somebody. Hallelujah. By His stripes, we are healed. Hallelujah. He took it. He took those stripes for our healing. His power is for us. If that book says these signs shall follow them that believe, it's better to let the signs follow us than to try to follow the signs. Let the signs follow us. God, don't you want to be an apostolic church in this last hour?

I I don't want anything diluted. I don't want it changed. I want a true apostolic believer, apostolic characteristics in our services, and we're having them. Pastor's been keeping track of various miracles, and it's even hard to keep track. Thank God for that. But, if you've got a miracle, in fact, you ought to praise him right now. If you've got an That's it. That's it. Go ahead. You ought to praise him right now. I thank you, Lord. I thank you, Father. I thank you, oh Lord. Thank you for these miracles right now.

I thank you. I thank you, and I thank you for the ones that are going to happen. I thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Forever, oh Lord, our word is settled in heaven. Praise God. Hallelujah. Job said, "I esteem your words more than my necessary food." Some of us think food's more necessary than other things that's necessary. My wife's saying amen. She wasn't hungry the other night, and I was. I said, "I thought you said we were going to have salmon." And uh she got up and fixed salmon.

She didn't eat a bit of it. She says she lives to eat and I eat to live. Oh no, she eats to live and I live to eat. It is good. It's fun. Let me just ask you straight face up. How important is the word of God to you? Yes, it is. How How many days have gone by this week where you read the word of the Lord? And let me rephrase it. How many days this week have you not read the word of the Lord?

It's more important. Friend, I'm going to eat this week. I I brought my lunch to church. I'm not expecting Peter to preach a long time, but I got lunch. I get to preach in Spanish service this afternoon. We make sure. I took extra time. I don't I don't ever do this on Sundays, but I took extra time and pulled some of those lefties out of the ice box. And they're back there now. Let me encourage you. More than my necessary food. Stand with me if you would, please.

I want us to close this this lesson by just thanking the Lord for his word. And maybe there could be some things come to your mind where maybe maybe it was a lesson or maybe a private devotion or some special word from God verse God spoke to you or maybe the words of a of a song that contains the themes of God's word. But we do owe him thanks for his goodness and for his word. Let's thank him together now. Lord, I'm very thankful for your word.

And not only thankful that we have it, but I thank you for its characteristics that it is unchangeable. That you speak it without apology and help us to do that. Help us to trust you and I know that you are with us and I thank you for your presence. Your presence has attended your word in this class today. I thank you for that because that's you. Your word is you. I thank you now, Lord, in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. And everybody said, "Amen." So be it, the word of the Lord. God bless you.