You can ask the folks that come with me. I'm not known for being a guy that has class, but I want you to notice something. A kangaroo pin. I did that so I won't forget you. Now if I ever have anything classy on, it's because my wife got it.
All right, now... One guy said to me last night, he said, boy, you look so tired, but every time you preach, it's like you're not tired anymore, and each time it gets stronger and stronger, so what are you going to do today? I'm probably going to drop, fizzle out or something, but no, I feel all right, and the Lord's been good. It's good to be here.
I want to give you a lesson here that I think is real critical. It's really just a lesson on the Scripture, what the Scripture can do in your life. And I know for a fact we don't really appreciate the book that we hold, The Power of the Spirit.
that's in it the power that's in the King James Bible the Bible runs the world and the world doesn't have to recognize the Bible they have to go by it and they can ignore it they can say they don't believe leave it, just book written by some men, and they're all going to do exactly what it says they're going to do. Now you think about it. If you really thought that there was no God and the Bible is just a made up bunch of stuff, and it said you're going to do something in the future, then you would purposely not do it to prove the Bible's wrong, right? Well, they can't do it.
They have to do what it says. So ahead of time, the Bible says the whole world's going to come together against Israel. makes no sense.
That's not common sense. Some little nation, I mean a tiny little nation, and you're going to have China and America and Russia and all of Europe against one tiny nation? Yeah, it's going to happen. And it's already happening. The anti-Semitism around the world can only be answered by the Bible.
It's answered by a spiritual battle that's going on. And so look at Daniel chapter 4. Now this is about a three-hour lesson in 45, 50 minutes or whatever. Daniel chapter 4 and verse 17. So what the Lord does is, a man, the Lord gives men free will, so a man says, you know what, I want to be over a country and I want to run it, and I'm going to do this when I get in power, and he doesn't realize, if he gets in that position, He's just a pawn in the Lord's hands.
He's going to do what the Lord says without him even knowing it's the Lord. For instance, Nebuchadnezzar, he just gets up one morning and he says, you know what, I'm going to expand my kingdom. I'm going to take over Israel.
And the Bible says he was just a servant of the Lord. The Lord calls him my servant. That doesn't mean he was saved. That means he's just a pawn in God's hand.
I'm going to punish my people for not listening to the prophets I sent to them. Come here, Nebuchadnezzar, go get them. And Nebuchadnezzar thinks, I'm just doing what I want. And they don't realize his Bible is running their lives. Daniel 4, verse 17. This matter is by the decree of the watchers and the demand by the word of the holy ones to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and setteth up over it the basis of men.
So you have a prime minister here? He's one of the basis of men. We have a president in the United States. He's one of the basis of men.
It's like a bunch of guys fighting to be the basis. It's kind of like that guy in Genesis that has a title called the King of Sodom. Imagine aspiring to be the King of Sodom.
I'm the best sodomite in the land. That's what politicians are. Politicians are base people. And I don't have time to go into that, but the word politics itself shows you something's wrong with a man that wants to get into that.
And so the Bible's going to run the show, all right? Look at Romans chapter 9. You have a real good example back in Exodus with a pharaoh that was over Egypt, and the Lord, in his timing, waited till a man was born who would be so full of himself and so base that he would go overboard in his stiff-necked heart to where his own people were begging him, would you let these people get out of here? This is killing us. And the Lord said, I set that guy up so that I would get more glory.
And that guy didn't know that. He's just saying, I don't care. I don't know the Lord.
I'm going to do what I want. And the Lord was just using it so he could get more glory. So people still, to this day, thousands of years later, know about what happened in Egypt. That's the best-selling book in the world, and it tells you that story. Romans 9, verse 17. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up.
So Pharaoh got empowered by the Scripture raising him up and putting him in that position. So that's what Daniel said, that the children of men may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. So for this purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
And so that's what happened with Pharaoh. Now, that's what's coming up right around the corner. The Bible says, and for the sake of time, I won't go to it. If you want to write it down, Joel chapter 2, Joel chapter 3, Zechariah 14. In those places, the Lord says all the nations are going to come together against Israel. That's what this world is gearing up toward.
They're gearing up toward a final clash with God with one man over it called the Antichrist. All right, now... The Lord gives us a free will.
He gives all men a free will, including lost men. But the Lord is not some despot, some wicked king that wants men in hell. He does everything to keep a man from hell.
A man chooses to go to hell. Again, for the sake of time, we're not going to turn to all the passages, but you'll see throughout the Scripture, the Lord has got His hands wide open, not begging, but giving an open invitation. Would you come?
And His intent is to save any and every individual. But He gives a free will. You have to choose.
And Jesus Christ, just before they're about to crucify Him, a few days before that, He goes up that hill and He looks down over Jerusalem. And he says, and you can almost see the tears in his eyes and hear the emotion. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, now that stone is the prophets and kill is them that are sent unto you, how oft I would have gathered thee as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and ye would not.
And he's looking down and he's seeing Rome come in maybe 30, 40 years later and destroying that place and women being raped. Jews being crucified as much as 500 a day and the temple being destroyed and he said if you only knew what I really wanted for you But you wouldn't How different it would have come out for Jerusalem had they received their Messiah, but they had a free will and they chose that. And so the Lord has his hands open all day long of a disobedient, gainsaying people.
What's he say? All day long. and have stretched out my hands with disobedient and gainsaying people.
That's the Lord coming to me, all you that labor and heavy laden. I'll give you the rest. But you would not.
So it's a free will. So even though the Scripture is still, it's going to come out like the Scripture says, man has a free will to say yes or no. Now, the first thing I want to say is look at James 1, some things the Scripture will do for you. And first and most important for us, is that it will save your soul.
James chapter 1 and verse 21. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. That's a small W. That's talking about the scripture.
The scripture is able to save your soul. That's how powerful it is. Hebrews chapter 4 says the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow. That book is able to get inside of you.
That book knows what you're thinking. It's a discerner of the thought. The book is, the Scripture, not Jesus Christ, the capital W word, but the small w word is able to save your soul. It's able to get down inside and know what you're thinking. A discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Now that's why it's so important as Christians when we go out and talk to people that we don't give them our opinion, but we tell them what the Scripture says. Because when you give the Scripture, Whether you see it or not, or ever see any fruit from it or not, a spiritual transaction takes place. So when you just say, well, I think, you know, it would be good to vote for this guy, nothing's happening there. I think the government should be doing this.
Nothing spiritual is taking place there. But when you put those words out, a spiritual transaction takes place, and literally a battle takes place. And we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness, this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. And so when a conversation takes place between two people where the word of God is being put out, something takes place.
And a spiritual transaction takes place that has power to it. Just speaking the words of man doesn't really do much. Nothing really takes place when you're just Look at 1 Corinthians 2. When you're talking like that, I mean, I'm not saying there's anything wrong, but we could talk about the Celtics.
That's a pretty good basketball team. They won. So what? Right?
But when you start putting the Word of God out, now something spiritual, eternal can take place. 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 12. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man, that's the flesh, that's the lost, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. So until a man agrees with what this book says about him, he really can't understand it.
Because he's lost. His spirit is dead. And the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. So a lost man has a dead spirit until he turns and submits to what this book says and receives Jesus Christ. He can't know it.
He's ignorant of it. And that's why when a guy came to witness to me, I said, I don't want to hear that. Because I was dead. I was dead spiritually.
Now, I've watched the scripture take over and give life. And I'm sure if you're much of a soul winner, you've seen it over the years. I'm talking to a guy, and I'm looking up at him. He's a big guy, and I'm looking up at him, literally, like six foot six, six foot four. Looking up at him, and as I'm talking to him, telling him about Jesus Christ, his lip starts quivering.
He's not afraid of me. He could just beat me into the ground. Next thing I know, I'm talking to him some more, and he's kind of turning away, and I see a little tear, and he doesn't want to show it, and he's like that. And then 15 minutes later, he's on the sidewalk on his knees getting saved. That's the scripture taken over.
Receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. That's what the scripture can do. Now look at 2 Peter chapter 3. The second thing is this scripture can destroy you. And who wants to hear the negative? 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter 3 and verse 15. An account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned in unstable rest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
Now, a guy can approach the scripture and make it say what he wants it to say. and say, well, I believe this, I'm going to say it should be translated this way, and he can rest that scripture to destroy himself. Now, if he's saved, he can't lose salvation, but he can sure destroy the rest of his life, and he can sure pay for it at the judgment seat of Christ with all kinds of loss, of reward that he could have had.
And Peter said, some people are taking the writings of Paul, and resting them as they do the other scriptures. So Peter said Paul's writings were scripture back in his day. And so he said they're taking it and resting it to their own destruction. So instead of bringing life, it destroys a man, depending on the approach.
Now, you ought to consider how do you approach this book. And I dare say a lot of times you approach it kind of blasé, where you're just used to it. And the Lord says, to this man will I look.
You want the Lord to look to you? Well, then watch your approach to the Scripture. He says, to this man will I look. See, there's a poor and contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
So I don't care how long you've been saved. I don't care how many times you've been through the Bible or how many times you study it. You ought to come to it and say, now, Lord, these are your words, and I'm fearful of taking something wrong.
I'm fearful this morning of saying something wrong against the Scripture. And I come to it and I say, Lord, I don't care what I've been taught. I don't care what I already believe.
I don't want to go against what these words say. Now you show me, not just studying, but just reading the Bible. Give me what I need to see from it.
And the Lord says, that's who I'll look to. And your approach to the Bible matters. The wrong approach, you can rest it to your own destruction.
If you wanted to, you can go and prove anything you want in the Scripture. And you've heard people do that. All your cults will use the Bible. Everyone uses the Bible.
And a man comes in there and says, well, I think water baptism is what washes away sins. You can find verses for it. I think you should have to eat the body of Christ every Sunday morning to have eternal life. You can find verses for it.
You'll rest it to your own destruction if you don't approach it properly. Look at 1 Kings chapter 13. 1 Kings chapter 13. Now here's a guy, a young man, is called to come into Bethel and preach something. And you might be familiar with the story.
And verse 1, And behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. Now, for the sake of time, I want to skip over, just kind of encapsulate this. But this young man is called as a prophet to go into Bethel, where there's already an old prophet there. So he must not be doing his job, because he has to call a young man into Bethel to preach against Jeroboam.
The kingdom is just split, and Jeroboam has set up a whole false religion, with a false altar, false priesthood, false sacrifices, a false feast. And he's ruling over Jerusalem, over Israel in the north. And the Lord calls a man to come to Bethel and preach against that false altar that he set up, and prophesy some things. And he prophesies some things that aren't going to happen until 300 years later under Josiah. And so he comes in and everything he's doing is by the word of the Lord, doing exactly what he's told, by the scripture.
Look at verse 3. And he gave the sign the same day, saying, This is a sign which the Lord has spoken. Look at the end of verse 5. The man of God hath given by the word of the Lord. Verse 9. For so it was charged me by the word of the Lord.
So the Lord... the word of the Lord comes to this young man. He said, you go into Bethel, you preach against that king and his altar, and then you get out of there and leave town, go a different way. Don't stay.
So the guy goes in there and he preaches against the altar and Jeroboam gets mad. And he said, get that guy. And his arm shrivels up and he says, Hey, help me out here.
And the prophet prays for him and he gets healed. He says, man, you're a pretty good guy. Why don't you come to my house?
I'll feed you a feast. And he says, nope. I was told by the word of Lord to get out of town, come in here and tell you the truth, and then get out of town, go another way.
And he does. So he goes in there and he starts leaving, and he sits down under an oak tree and starts to rest. In the meantime, the devil comes to an old prophet and his boys come to him and say, hey, a young man just came in and preached to Jeroboam, and that old prophet is used by the Lord to test the young man.
If you're a young man, especially a young man called to preach, you better watch out for an older man. Don't just take his word because he's an older man. And this older man comes to this young prophet and he says, hey, you need to come to my house and have a meal with me.
Now, he already passed the test when Jeroboam did that. And he says, I can't do that. But the word of the Lord told me to get out and not stay.
And he said, well, I'm a prophet like you are. I'm a King James Bible believer. I'm a Ruckmanite. And the Lord told me, listen, it doesn't matter who says it, if the Lord tells you something different than what he already told you, you better not listen to it. And that young man says, oh, okay, you're a prophet too.
What he should have done is just stuck with what the Lord told him to do by the scripture, by the word of the Lord. And instead he thought, You know, just think about it. If the young man was thinking, he would have said, wait a minute, how come, if you were in Bethel and you're a prophet, why didn't the Lord just tell you to go preach it? Because some old prophets don't do what they used to do.
Some old preachers no longer do what they used to do. And the Lord can't use them anymore except to foul up a young man that he wants under his wing, wants a control. And so that's just a side warning for you. So it ends up costing them his life. Why?
Because he didn't follow what the Scripture said. The Scripture can give life, but it can also destroy it if you don't follow it. All right, look at Psalm 105. The next thing is the Scripture will try you out.
Psalm 105, and here's Joseph. You know the story of Joseph there down in Egypt. Joseph gets a dream, and now he's sitting in jail. And in Psalm 105, look at verse 17. He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant, whose feet they hurt with fetters. He was laid in iron until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him.
So Joseph's sitting in prison and he's being tried by the word of the Lord? What's that mean? Well, if you remember the story of Joseph, he's a 17-year-old boy. He's younger.
All the other guys, all his older brothers are out there, and Joseph gets a dream, and he's dumb enough to tell his brothers his dream. He said, hey guys, I had a dream. You're all going to bow to me.
It's a good way to get your older brothers on your side. And so his brother, what's this dreamer? Who does he think he is? Mother and father and his brothers are all going to bow to him.
And then it just starts to eat at him. A little later, Joseph comes out to bring some food to him, and here comes this stinking dreamer again. And they throw him in a pit.
what happens. They sell him into Egypt. Now he's doing right. He's raised up to a position in Potiphar's house, and the wife comes after him, and he refuses to take part in that adultery or fornication. So he ends up in prison.
Now while he's sitting in prison in chains, two guys say, hey, I had a dream. Did you see the trial there? The trial is, yeah, I had a dream one time too, look what it got me.
The Word of the Lord was trying Joseph right there. You're still going to believe the dream? The Word of the Lord that came to you in a dream, are you going to still believe it, even though you're sitting in prison?
And he did. He says, well, the Lord can interpret dreams, and that's all used to get Israel through this famine and get them down into Egypt, all on the Lord's timetable. But notice the Word of the Lord will try you.
And you're going to find that's true in your life. This life is going to bring circumstances that I preached a little bit about the other night with your thorn. And there's going to be things that come in your life that the Scripture is going to try you out. Are you going to believe what the Scripture says?
And let's face it, a lot of things are going to happen in life that aren't going to look like it's coming out like the Scripture said. I mean, is Jesus Christ really coming back? It doesn't look like it. They've been preaching about that for hundreds and hundreds of years. He still hasn't come back.
Some even dated it, and the date went by, trying you out. You going to believe it? I believe he's coming back not by the circumstances, but because he said so. If we're not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Bank on it.
He said so. I don't care what happens. I don't care if we get an American president that says, we are now Israel's friend and we're going to help them out. We're going to fight the rest of the world with Israel. It's still going to come out like the scripture says.
It has to because it's God's word. God's not a man that he should lie. Neither is the Son of Man that he should repent. And so you'll be tried.
And it's normal to doubt some of these promises we're given. All things work together for good to them that love God. Do you love God?
So everything in your life's for your good, huh? Well, it says so, but don't look like it, does it? And that scripture will try you.
You're going to believe it? And I've had times in my life where I had to say, this is for my good, even though I don't see how. And you just, Scripture's going to try you out.
It'll try a man. And Joseph passed the test. He interpreted the dream for the butler and the baker, and the Lord brought them all back out, including Joseph. So you're going to have circumstances in your life where it's going to try you out, and some of them are going to be hard.
They're going to be hard to believe them, but you just have to cling to the scripture. And if you don't get to a point in your life now where you know that's God's word, nothing and no one can change it, It means what it says. You're going to have to cling to that sometimes with nothing else to cling to.
Where there is absolutely nothing in the circumstance that looks like it's good. And the only thing that looks good is if he just fixes things. And he doesn't. Well, then that's for my good.
My God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory. Well, I can't pay this bill. My kids don't have any food.
That's supplying my need? Yep. Years ago, I was a young Christian, and I started reading some things that really, I really wasn't able to handle at the time, but you have to mature through some of those things. And Richard Wurmbrand wrote a book that I read, and he's 13 years in a communist prison. And he writes something that really struck me.
Maybe I'm just weird, but reading the whole book, I got one real strong thought out of it. And this may sound strange to you, but this is 45 years plus ago I learned this. He said this in his book, God has not promised to give you breakfast. Now, out of the whole book, that's the thought you got out of it?
Yeah, that's what I needed to get out of it because we think our need is breakfast. We think our need is that bill paid. We think our need is that cancer to go away. But my God shall supply all your need. Then what's your need?
Well, Brother Donovan, if I don't eat, then what? You die and you go to heaven. How important is it that I stay alive? And I'm about a three-year-old baby Christian, and I realized my life doesn't matter.
What a great thought to get. Everything I'm doing shouldn't be just to stay alive. It shouldn't be just to stay comfortable.
That's not what I'm here for. And boy, if we all could get a hold of that and live like that. And so that scripture will try you. Look at Jeremiah 15. I've got to keep moving.
I could keep preaching there for a while. Jeremiah 15. The next thing, the scripture will separate you. Jeremiah chapter 15. Verse 15. Now, of course, Jeremiah, he gets thrown in a dungeon. He's the one preaching the truth.
All these false prophets around him are telling the Jews, don't worry, Nebuchadnezzar's not going to come in. We'll just lean on Egypt and they'll take care of us. Jeremiah is saying, he's coming in and he's going to destroy this place.
God's done with you. And your only chance is to give in to this invasion that's coming. If you try and fight it, you're going to die. If you lean to Egypt, you're going to die. You better just say, all right, what's coming, I deserve it, and you'll get through.
You'll be brought into captivity and you'll have a remnant to be able to come back. If you don't, there's not going to be peace. But all the prophets are saying, peace, peace, don't worry about it. Everything's great.
Wall Street's doing good. Don't worry about it. The economy's good.
Don't listen to Jeremiah. He's just an old fuddy-duddy. He's a dinosaur.
He doesn't realize what's going on. Why does he have to be so negative? Look at all of us. We're all preaching peace. Jeremiah said, that's what the Lord said.
So I'm going to preach what the Lord said. And it separated them. Got them alone. You know what you're going to find out as a Bible believer when you start following that book?
You're going to be separated from people you don't want to be separated from. Some loved ones, maybe children, maybe parents. It'll separate you from everybody if everybody around you doesn't want to follow it.
Because of thy hand. Now Jeremiah's got it down. The Lord doesn't say, Jeremiah, you're full of it. You're wrong. He's right.
You know why you're going to get alone sometimes? Because of him. You know why somebody's not going to like you and not be able to have fellowship with you?
His fault. I know I've got one atheist brother left. I've got to lead two sisters to the Lord and one brother, my mother.
I've got one brother left. He's 11 months younger than me, and he claims to be an atheist. 48 years of praying for him, on and off witnessing to him. We can't get along. I've smoked pot with him before.
We get along fine. Now, when you're 11 months apart, you know, you're 12, 13, 14, you do some fighting, but we got along. Well, since I got saved, we don't get along. I'd like to get along with my brother, but it's your fault I can't.
Because I know how to get along with him. Just leave him out. As long as I don't bring up you and your book, me and my brother can get along.
Well, I can't. And Jeremiah said, it's because of your hand, and some of you better realize that, and put the blame where it belongs. It's God's fault.
Is he worth serving? Or you want to get along with your brother, your sister, your mother, your father, your kids, whoever it is. And I'm going to tell you something, believe it or not, a lot of Christians fail right there. The Italians say familia, family.
Family is everything. It's a matriarchal society. Grandma runs a show. Don't offend Grandma.
My grandmother came to me crying, Brian, please come back to Mother Church. I can't, Grandma. He saved me.
And she's crying with tears in her eyes. Can't. Because of you.
And I want to, by the grace of God, put him ahead of grandma and my brother and whoever else. Some have the misfortune of having a wife they can't get along with because of him or a husband they can't get along with or a child. And that's where a lot of Christians fail. I've had Christians tell me, that's my boy. I'm not supposed to have fellowship with him?
Not if he won't come to the Lord. Yes, you will have to cut off fellowship with some people. You'd rather not.
Doesn't mean you don't still love them. Doesn't mean you don't still try and witness to them or even bring them back to the Lord if they're backslidden. But you're not going to be able to get along with them. Jeremiah said, I'm alone because of you, Lord. All I have to do is just go along and say, yeah, there's going to be peace.
We can make America great, Israel great again. And everyone will love me. But I sat alone because of your word.
And the scripture will do that to you. And you better recognize that. That's important. And most Christians won't stand for that.
All right, look at Mark chapter 4. What time are we getting to be? Brother Young? Huh? Okay, good.
Mark chapter 4. The next thing is this scripture will bring persecution into your life. And I'm not going to stay on this very long because I know very little about this, if anything. And all the years I've been saved, I don't know persecution.
Maybe some small form of it, but not like we've seen our brethren go through over the years. years of church history. Mark chapter 4 verse 16. These are they likewise which are sown on stony ground who when they have heard the word immediately receive it with gladness and have no root in themselves and so endure but for a time afterward when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake immediately they are offended. So that word can bring persecution.
And in that case, that's somebody that's not even saved. They have no root. The root is Jesus Christ.
So they liked what they heard, but they didn't get saved. But I'm just using that verse because of how plain it is. Persecution came for the word's sake.
And you as a Christian will get persecution for the word's sake. And like I said, as of right now, maybe the Lord's going to let us see some in our country at least and probably in Australia. You don't know what it's like to be persecuted for preaching. We preach outdoors. Nobody came and threw us in jail, tied us to a post and burned us at the stake, whipped us.
But boys, there's some brethren right now, you don't have to go way back in church history, right now in other parts of the world, you're not going to get the media and Fox News and you're over your. channel over here, it's right wing or whatever, if you even have one, they're not going to report the truth. In places in India right now, a bunch of believers just like us gather together in hiding from a Hindu population.
And in some cases, they get caught and the Hindus surround them, start a fire around the whole building and burn them alive inside the building, just for the word. Just for believing what you believe, does the newscast report on it? So that book can bring persecution.
And I'm weak, and I thank God I haven't had to suffer. But maybe that's why the church is so weak in so many places in the world, because she isn't suffering. And she's way too comfortable and way too complacent and getting along and rich.
Have no need of anything. Don't realize you're poor and miserable and blind and naked, spiritually speaking. We're increased with goods. We have many things.
We're going to get a new building. And don't realize that you're in need. Alright, look at Romans 15. I'll finally give you a positive one.
They're all positive, really, though. Romans 15. The scripture can bring comfort. Romans 15, 4. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. Now, in this sinful world, just even living right, you're going to have some troubles come in. And there's some troubles you're going to go through, and it might be the persecution we're talking about.
It might be the trials. It might be the separation, all those things that we're covering that the Scripture does. But there's going to come points where you're not going to get comfort any other way than by getting your nose in that book and getting alone.
No one else can be there all the time, not even your wife or your husband. And there are some troubles that you're not going to get through any other way but through comfort of the scriptures. And the Lord will come in there and just give you a balm and show you it's going to be all right.
This is only for a while. I'm still here. I haven't left you.
And there's a comfort you're going to get that some things in life you're going to go through that you can't find comfort any other way, but the scripture can give you that comfort. And again, I haven't suffered much as far as just for living right. But there's been times when I've been along with that book and tears have fallen on those pages and the comfort comes with just from that book and nothing else.
I know a real good Christian man, a good black man down over in America there, and him and his wife only had one child, a boy. And the boy was saved, the wife saved, the husband saved, and good Christian people, Bible believers. And just out of no warning or anything, that boy killed himself.
And I mean, just a horrible trial to go through. And that man got along with his Bible, and he's looking through his Bible and reading it, and his wife looked over and she said, oh, so that's how we're going to get through this, huh? Yeah, and that's how they're getting through it. and still trying to get through. How do you ever get over that?
17-year-old boy, all these hopes for him, gone. Well, you only get through it through the Scripture. Scripture will give you comfort. And those things you read in the Old Testament, they're written for your comfort. And most of what we go through, really, you'd probably have to...
Just categorize them as petty aggravations. But there's going to be some times in this life you're going to have some real trouble, and only the Scripture coming through is going to give you the comfort. And like I said, it all kind of comes together in this lesson, but there's going to be some things you're not going to get the answer to as to why.
And yet, if you stay in the Scripture, you'll have a peace that passes all. understanding. Lord, I don't understand why you don't fix this.
I don't understand why I have to go through this, but there's a peace that comes and a comfort that can only come from the scripture, and the scripture is the answer. All right, and you know along those lines, there's all different kind of personalities, and people are different. Some people are just really weird, and some people they're just, and I'll speak for myself, I'm not really a friendly person. I think you can tell by looking at me. And the Bible says if a man's going to have friends, he must show himself friendly.
So I don't have a lot of friends because I'm not friendly. But it doesn't really bother me. But no man's an island.
You need someone. You can try and act, oh, I don't need anyone. Yes, you do.
And there's times you're going to need some help. And you're not going to get through it just in your own pull-up yourself by your bootstraps, and you're going to be tough and macho and all that. You need help.
You're weak. And the Scripture is going to be there for you if you go to it. And some of them are going to just be promises that are just going to give you a peace that passes all understanding. As Paul says, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed on us. And some of those troubles you're going to go through is going to just be...
Okay, one day this is going to be gone. John Wesley used to preach, and his wife would come out and scream and cuss and say that he was doing something last night that he wasn't doing in front of people. If you were to see John Wesley right now, if you could go talk to him and say, Hey, John, how'd you get through that when your wife was saying all that stuff while you were trying to preach and get people saved? I don't remember that. What are you talking about?
With the glory that's been revealed to me now? I don't remember any troubles like that. And you got to remember that whatever you're going through, and it may be something really hard, it's going to pass.
And one day in glory, you're going to say, nothing to be compared with this. All right, now lastly, and I'll cover this one quick, Psalm 119. The scripture can prevent sin in your life. Psalm 119 and look at verse 11. Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee. Now there's so much power in the scripture.
It has the power if you'll get it in your heart. It'll be there to prevent you from sinning. And every young man needs that. So does every young lady.
You're a child of God. You ought to memorize scripture. Get it in your heart.
And let it come out when it needs to. And the Bible promises, the Lord promised, I'll send that comforter. And when he's come, he'll do all these different things. And one of them is to bring things to your remembrance. Now, I don't know how many verses I've memorized, chapters and all that.
I wouldn't try and brag on that, but with my memory getting older, I forget a lot of things. And if I have a book of the Bible that I've memorized, like Philippians, and I were to start trying to start from verse 1 and go through the whole thing, I would probably miss gaps in there. But when I need it, for a certain thing come up, he'll bring it to remembrance. If you get it in there. But see, you've got to get it in there so that he can bring it out.
And so sometimes you're going to be tempted with something that the thing that's going to get you through is having Scripture right there. Now, I can tell you exactly what you go through. You know why? Because I'm a sinner just like you.
And there are some sins that are going to come in there, and your flesh is going to say, well, I just have to do that. I'm just not strong enough. I'm just going to have to do that. And the Lord will understand. That's the flesh trying to justify doing wrong.
And you memorize 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13, and you'll find you can shut that flesh up with Scripture. No, I don't have to do that. There is no sin I have to commit.
Anyone want to tell me a certain sin today you have to commit? There isn't one. Now, are you going to?
There's a good chance you will. At some point today, you commit a sin, but you don't have to. And the scripture has a promise that you don't have to.
Now, I'll just give you an extreme example. I had a guy call me one time. He'd come to our church. He'd fall out again. He had a real problem with drugs and hard drugs.
And he would get victory at times, and he'd get cleaned up, and he'd come to church, and it'd last four or five, six months, and then he'd go out again. And one night he called me late. I guess it was about 11 o'clock, and he said, I need help.
If you don't come over here, I'm going to get out in the street, and I'm going to get some more drugs. And so I went and sat with him. And at the time, he was shooting needles into his arm. And I sat and talked to that guy in a wheelchair, and he was sweating and trembling. That's how strong the addiction was.
And I need something. And I sat there for a while with him and prayed and went over some scripture with him. And what really struck me about that is what that man was going through in one minute is probably more of a temptation and strength of it than you and I would go through in weeks. I mean, every second going by, if I could just get that drug in my arm, I'd be all right. He didn't have to.
He ended up doing it again, but he didn't have to, because there's no temptation taking you but such as is common to man. God's faithful will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able. And so you need, thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Well, your flesh is telling you you have to do that.
And you say, no, I don't. The option is to call God a liar, and God's not a liar. And so let me encourage you to hide that word in your heart, and don't say you can't.
Oh, no, I'm not smart enough. That's a cop-out. You can do it.
All right, let's close in prayer. Lord, we thank you so much for the Scripture, and we pray that as we spend some time here in it this morning, that this will help your people to... Maybe have a greater appreciation for what it can do in their lives. And Lord, I thank you for the power that's in this book.
And help us avail ourselves of the power that's in it. And thank you for giving it to us perfect. We don't have to mess with it. We just have to believe it and try and live by it.
We pray it in Jesus'name. Amen.