Take your Bibles if you would. Turn first of all to Psalm 19, And then we're gonna go to second Peter chapter one. So Psalm 19 and then over to second Peter one. So I'll give you a moment to find those. Psalm 19 verse seven and then second Peter chapter one.

So what do we believe? We have a church constitution. In it, we have a church covenant. We've been looking at that for the past several weeks. Just a reminder of responsibilities we have to the Lord and toward one another as members of the body of Christ and of our local church, this church, Missouri Avenue Baptist Church.

Following the covenant in our constitution is a quite lengthy doctrinal statement that kind of lays out our doctrine, the doctrine of our church, generally true of most Baptist churches, should be generally true of most churches because it comes from where? Comes from here. See, this is really our doctrinal statement. It's this this book. This book that is we call the word of God.

What we believe is is this. This is what we believe. We read in Psalm 19 verse seven, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. By the way, all of these are synonyms for the word of God.

Okay? Let me start back in verse seven. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.

The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them, there's great reward. Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Dear heavenly Father, we thank you for this beautiful, majestic, powerful, true, enduring word that you have given to us today that converts the souls of men into the children of God, that makes us wise, that rejoices our heart, that enlightens our eyes, that endures forever, that is the sweetest thing on earth, and that brings great reward. Lord, thank you for it, for its preservation, that we might read it even today in our very own native language, that we might have the opportunity to read it, understand it, and apply it to our lives with the guidance of the Holy Spirit for it is the sword of the spirit. Lord, I pray as we look into it today, as we reflect upon it, that we might be strengthened in our faith, that we might be challenged in our service, that we might be convicted of our sin, and that if there is one in our midst that is unsure of their salvation today, that they might make that sure even this day.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. If you'll turn over to second Peter, second Peter chapter one, we're going to read verses twenty and twenty one, verses concerning the Bible, scriptures, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation, their meaning opinion. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man. But holy men of God spake as they were moved or carried along by the Holy Ghost.

What is Peter saying? Peter is saying this. The book that we hold in our hands that we read from today is not merely the opinions of men. It is actually the very word and revelation of God himself to us. Every word and letter that were written by those appointed by God and inspired and led along by the Holy Spirit is the very word of God.

Therefore, it carries the authority of God. Therefore, it reflects the nature of God. And therefore, we would be wise to hear what it has to say and to put our faith in the God of the word that we read about and learn from in it. What is the Bible? It is the greatest book ever written.

It is the greatest story ever told. It is the all time bestseller. It is one unified book telling one cohesive story of the redemption of mankind. Written by 40 plus different authors from several different walks of life over more than a thousand years. Find another book you can describe that way.

You won't. It is undoubtedly and verifiably the most well preserved book of all time. Its earliest writings have survived more than two millennia. We possess today hundreds of nearly identical copies, some dating back to before the time of Christ. When I went to Israel back about, I don't know, seventeen years sixteen, seventeen years ago now, I got to visit the Qumran Caves on this side of the Dead Sea and to look in some of those caves where they found copies of the scripture that dated back to almost two hundred years before Christ was born, that were nearly identical in their words to copies we had a thousand years later.

That cannot be said of any other book. It contains hundreds of prophecies which have already come true and none which have prove been proven false. It contains the most accurate insightful history of the ancient world and the world of Jesus' day, having been verified again and again by archaeologists and historians. The scientific knowledge recorded therein is often given far in advance of the knowledge of the day and yet is inexplicably accurate. Its estimation and description of man and the human condition is without equal, proving again and again man's predisposition there's a big word predisposition to violence, immorality, and greed, and many other vices which clearly demonstrate man's depraved condition.

And yet his incredible potential were good. It was created in the image of God. Even with the passing of time, it remains a relevant and beneficial source of information and enlightenment in virtually every field of study and every aspect of life. And despite the attempts of men throughout history to silence it and to destroy it. Like the wisdom found therein, it cries louder and louder every day, refusing to be muzzled, changing forever the lives of those who heed its warnings of coming judgment, who are delivered through faith in its Redeemer and restored by its message of hope.

Over the last decade, the sales of the scriptures have dipped a little bit in our society, but in the past month, they have spiked since the passing of Charlie Kirk. Why? Because, well, he pointed people to what? The Bible. That was his basis for what he and it's been young people that's been buying it.

John eight thirty two says, and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall, what? Make you free. What an incredible book we have, and yet, what makes it truly the greatest literary, academic, and religious work of all is it is the word of God. As it declares itself to be over and over again, the work of the almighty God given, preserved, even translated for us today so that we might read it and know the God who wrote it. Not merely the words and thoughts or the opinions of men.

Paul praised the Thessalonians because they received the message from God as it was indeed his word and not that of just men's or Paul's. First Thessalonians two thirteen, for this call is also thank we God without ceasing because when he received the word of God which he heard of us, he received it not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. Paul writes, I am so thankful, he writes to the Thessalonians, that when I came bearing the word of God to you, that you received it by faith as actually the word of God. The word of God that effectually worketh. That is the word of God which is mighty and powerful.

The word in Greek there for effectually worketh is one word. It's the word energeo. If you look at it, it looks just like energy with an o on the end. Energy o. Okay?

Energia o. Why? Because it is powerful. It is powerful in changing the lives of the Jews in Thessalonica and the idol worshiping pagans that heard it and were converted and changed. And that society began to change because God's word is powerful, because it is God's word.

And yet the word of God is under increase increasing attack in the modern world from the lives of men. Just as the deity and resurrection of Christ, just as God's plan of redemption, just as creation, just as the church and many other great truths in the works of God are under attack. The word of God is ignored. It is belittled. It is questioned and rejected by modern scholarship on a daily basis in every way from the science teacher to the psychologist to the philosopher to the historian and, yes, even in the pulpit.

What infuriated people the most about Charlie Kirk is he dared to go on a college campus and contradict the professors and say that this was the word of God and they needed to listen to it. That is what angered them the most and continues to even after his death because it can change hearts. It can turn people away from the lives of men to the truth that makes them free. We need to be, I think, a little more active ourselves in sharing it with others than we often are. It's good that we share it here.

We also need to share it out there. Sadly, it is treated as any other flawed book in many religious settings. It's even explained away rather than accepted and followed. It has been often twisted and distorted, misquoted, to justify that which is evil and perverse. Well, it has been simply dismissed and rejected by most of the scholarly world.

Satan has always been busy attacking this book because this book can change lives. This book can turn the world upside down. This book can lead people out of darkness into light. This book can lead people out of the chains of sin into the freedom and the light of Jesus Christ. It can give them joy that the world is taking away, and it can give them eternal life.

Thus, Satan has been trying to destroy it, distort it, and muzzle it. And again and again, he has failed. And it shall endure. It shall endure. We're reminded in Isaiah 40 verse eight, the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of God shall what?

Stand forever. Try as they might, they will not succeed. Just as the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, we'll not prevail against the word of God. Psalm thirty three one writes, the counsel the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Many thousands and thousands of scientists and theologians and philosophers have gone into the dustbin of history, and the things they taught are remembered no more.

For the few that still are, they will be often disproven, often contradicted, and more and more forgotten. But the word of God, it's gonna what? It's going to stand forever. And why? Why?

Because it's not a mere collection of religious writings or philosophies dredged up out of the whimsical mind of man ever changing that it is the word of God himself revealed to mankind. Second Timothy three sixteen and seventeen says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. That word inspiration can be translated God breathed. In other words, it's the very communication of who? God to his very his very words.

As if God was standing right there talking to us. When we read God's word, we are reading his word. Not just the words in red, but the entire scripture. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is therefore profitable for doctrine, for teaching, for reproof, for correction. That is setting us straight.

For instruction and righteousness, teaching that the man of God may be perfect, completely, thoroughly furnished unto all good works, that we might be prepared and taught to be sent out and service the Lord. It's all here right in this book. You wanna know how to change a tire? Go find a car manual on changing a tire. You wanna know know how to how to fix a refrigerator or we will have to go find the schematic for that.

But if you want to know how to live, here it is. Right here. This is what you need. Any philosophy, any psychology that's worth its salt is based on what? It's based on this.

Because it is the book that tells you how to be born again, and it is the book that tells you how to live, and it is the book that tells you about the God you serve, and that you will spend eternity with one day if you accept his son as your savior. It is the word of God. And you say prove it. Why don't you disprove it? It declares it over and over and over again.

You disprove it. It's been tried. There are at least two different books by two different men back in that library who set out in their life to disprove it, and the books back there don't disprove it. Those men became converted Christians and set out to write books to help people understand that the evidence is far far more in favor of the word, that it is the word of God. They couldn't disprove it.

Instead, to themselves, they proved it or that is God did and changed their lives and changed their path and their direction. Back to second Peter one twenty and twenty one, knowing this first that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. The prophecy came out in old time by the will of men, but holy men of God spake as they are moved by the holy the holy ghost. All matters discussed and revealed therein are trustworthy, infallible, and without errors, the God who spoke it. And it is just as useful and beneficial and transformational to its readers today as it was in centuries past and continues to be.

If this is not true, then your faith and beliefs have no sure foundation. If this is not true, our sins are not forgiven. If this is not true, there is no hope of eternal life for it is God's word that reveals those things to us. Not long ago, a preacher who was well known in our circles, whose name I won't give for the sake of his father, declared that we need to unhitch our faith from the scriptures. I dare say we have no faith without trustworthy word of God.

All of it. Both the Old and New Testament. Both the part you like and the parts you don't like. Both the parts you understand and the parts you don't understand. Either it is the word of God or it's not.

You can't have this middle ground. Where do you think your beliefs come from? Where did God reveal and record and preserve them for us? What other foundation for your faith and doctrine do you ascribe to? The traditions of the church?

Which one? Which one? As we said, we were Baptist here and there's Presbyterian church, there's Methodist church, there's Catholic church, and there are Orthodox churches. There's 10 different kinds of those. Shall we go on?

Maybe maybe you're facing the writing of the rabbis. That's that's why Jesus Christ stuck out like a sore thumb when he got up to speak because he didn't quote this rabbi said that and that rabbi said this and this rabbi said that because they all disagreed with each other. Jesus simply sat up and said, this is what it is. You see? Maybe maybe it's the pope.

Which pope? You ever noticed they contradict each other too? Because they're not they're not inspired by God. This is. You say Christ is where my faith and belief comes from, but I asked, where did you learn about Christ?

What did Christ himself say? For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me. For he, what? He wrote of me. But if you believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

Jesus said if you were throwing cast doubt on on me and my claims, then you're casting doubt on the writings of Moses. If you cast down on the writings of Moses, well, then chances are you're not gonna believe me because they're one in the what? They're one in the same. They are one in the same. Why is the Old Testament still in our Bible and not just the New?

Because this Old Testament is the foundation of this New Testament. It's built upon this one. There is no redemption without creation. There is no need for redemption without the fall. There is no Messiah without Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David.

And the whole Bible is about the grace of God and redemption by faith in him. It is all God's word. And because it is God's word, we all need to listen. It is the basis, the foundation of our faith. For it is the God of the word in whom we place our faith, who has revealed himself in the written word and in the what?

And in the living word, Jesus Christ. I believe Christ wants us to trust his word. He quoted it over and over and over again. Between Christ and the apostles, they quoted from every book of the Old Testament except for Esther. In matters of prophecy, its words can be counted on to come to pass.

That is why we believe in the rapture of the church, the soon return of Christ to establish his kingdom literally as he foretold in the scriptures. Because again and again, God spoke via the prophets and his words came true. Consider all the prophecies which came true in regards to Christ's first coming, how he would be conceived, where he would be born, to what family or lineage, that is the family of David as we learned in Sunday school, the manner of his death and also of his resurrection. In matters of science you say with a book the bible's a book of religion. It's not a book of science.

Yeah. But when it speaks on science, well, it it either is the word of God or it's not. So in matters of science, it reveals an accurate account of the origins of mankind and the laws that govern the workings of God's creation. It is the only eyewitness account of creation. No scientist was there.

Only who? Only God. Only God. That is why we still believe in the creation of the world and man by the direct act of God and a universal flood despite the unbelieving professors who teach the masses otherwise. If you'll take an honest look at fossils, and you say fossils, dinosaurs, that's not for Christians.

No. They exist. Yes. A lot of times, the skeleton you see in the museum is built off of three bones. The rest of them, they made.

Yes. That is true. But those animals did exist in some form or fashion. Here is the amazing thing. Their bones are preserved two to three to four thousand years later.

Not millions or billions, but thousands of years later, the question is how were they preserved at all? Because normally, that does not happen. You know how it happened? A world wide flood explains it all explains it all. That's how they were formed.

That's how you can find them today. Just as the what? Just as the Bible says. The Bible foretold of the first and second laws of thermodynamics revealed therein long before man discovered them, or that the creation of life is the sole domain of God, or the life is in the blood, or the world, the earth hangs on nothing, or that it is round or that the heavens are vast and we are small, all revealed right here in the word of God before man discovered it. Because, well, you know, God knew it.

In Proverbs eight twenty seven, when he appeared when he prepared the heavens, I was there when he set a compass upon the face of the deep. The word compass is the word circle. Because while man was saying the earth was flat, God was already saying thousands of years ahead of time that it was a globe, a circle. Isaiah forty twenty two, it is he that sitteth upon the what? The circle of the earth.

And the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. In matters of philosophy, the wisdom of God revealed therein far surpasses the wisdom of man and has been proven time and time again to work despite the unbelief of many. No man has ever come close to equaling the wisdom of the book that that verse came out of, Proverbs. It is just as relevant today as it was in the days of Solomon. That is why we believe the answers to man's problems, both spiritual and psychological, have their foundation, the word of God and not the words of Sigmund Freud.

Man's understanding and inferences are constantly changing, but the word of God stands forever. It does not need to be updated for it is eternal truth as generation after generation who look into it discover. In matters of history, it is the greatest source in the world, particularly in The Middle East when it comes to archaeology and human diversity across the globe. That is why we believe that the Jews, the Israelites are actually the chosen people set aside for a time due to their unbelief and Jerusalem, God's chosen city, to which Jesus will one day what? One day return.

Luke one thirty two and thirty three, I read it in Sunday school this morning. He shall be great. He shall be called the son of the highest. The Lord God shall give unto the unto him the throne of his father David. He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom there shall be no end.

When Christ came the first time, he didn't finish that part. He finished the part that made it possible for us to be part of his kingdom when he died on the cross for our sins and rose again. But one day he's coming again to fulfill this part just as the Bible says he will. And he will rule and reign from his father David's throne where? In Jerusalem, which is still there.

I visited it. I can personally testify Jerusalem is still there. It is still there. In matters of morality, it is the final authority by which man is judged. That is why we preach that taking an innocent life, born or unborn, black or white, Jew or Gentile, frail or strong, young or old, sick or whole, is murder.

That is why we teach that sexual perversions, adultery, promiscuity, fornication, homosexuality, pornography are an affront to our creator and will bring God's judgment. Marriage is honorable in the bed undefiled, whoremongers and adulterers, God will what? Judge. That is why we believe that it is still a sin to get drunk, to curse and use profanity, to abuse a spouse or child or neighbor, to steal and defraud, to lie and cheat, to gossip and slander, to show partiality toward anyone based on race, ethnicity, or status, and finally, to reject the God of the Bible for other gods, idols, or religions. Why do we believe all that?

Here it is. It's God's word. Carries his authority. All we need to know about right or wrong, find right here. Either you believe it or you don't.

The world has chosen largely to discard it, but one day they'll be judged by it. But it is the faith upon which we stand and which we have been saved. It is our final rule of faith and practice as a believer in Christ, which should not only be true of Baptist but of every believer in Christ no matter what denomination you call yourself. To believe in Jesus is to believe in his word. To reject the word is to reject the son of God.

In matters related obviously to God and the spiritual need of mankind for redemption, it is the truth that alone can set men free. That is why we believe that salvation from sin and hell is by the by grace through faith alone and the shed blood of Jesus Christ as the scriptures declare. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me. John five twenty four, verily verily I say unto you that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is past from death on to life.

That is why John said he wrote the book of John. But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name. This is God's gift to us. That we might know how we got here, that we might know how we got in the mess we're in, that we might know that there is hope and a way out, that we might know of Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life, That we might be saved, that we might have eternal life through faith in him. That we might know as his children how we might live to the praise and glory of the one who has given us life, and that we might share it with others.

It is the word of God. It has changed my life. It can change yours. Do you believe God sent his son as the scriptures declare? Do you believe that he died on a cross for your sins and mine?

Do you believe he rose from the dead as the scriptures declare? Do you believe that he will save all those who come to him in faith and repentance, confessing their sins and him as their Lord and savior? Have you called on him in faith to save your soul who you learned about in this book. Because if you will, he will because he keeps his word. He has kept it to millions before you.

He will keep it for you as well. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for the word of God that you've given to us. Thank you, Lord, for the strength that we find in it, for the knowledge that you have passed on to us. Lord, I pray that we would declare it.

I pray we would defend it, contend for it, share it, Live it. Believe it. Apply it. That you might bear the sword of the spirit in our lives and in the lives of others to change their lives and to change the world around us for Jesus Christ. For it is still as powerful today as it was.

It's still true today as it ever was. Lord, may we read it more. We may trust in it more. May we share it more. For it is what the world needs and the savior that we read about therein.

Lord, we pray if there's one who's yet to trust Jesus as savior, we pray that today would be their day of salvation. That they would come as we sing this hymn of invitation today. That we might share with them how to know that they are a child of God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.