Preaching God's Word: Why it Still Matters

0:01 Well, if you were to think of God's favorite name for His book, it would be the Word of God. Now, the more liberal a man gets, the less he wants to call the Bible the Word of God. In liberal seminaries, they will say the biblical materials, or they will say the record of God's revelation, OR THEY WILL SAY THE PAULINE EPISTLES. AND IN A SENSE THAT'S, THAT'S ALL ACCURATE. BUT THEY KIND OF STUTTER, THEY KIND OF STAMMER, THEY DON'T LIKE TO SAY THE WORD OF GOD. THAT'S VERY

0:46 IMPORTANT. I WANT TO SAY THAT GOD, HOWEVER, HAS ONE FAVORITE TERM FOR THIS BOOK. IT IS THE WORD OF GOD. THE ADRIAN ROGERS The Adrian Rogers Pastors Podcast is a wellspring of biblical encouragement, specifically for those called to preach the word, love the church, and lead with integrity. Listen now and be strengthened for the road ahead. Take your Bibles, God's word, and turn, if you will, to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. and we want to talk just a little bit about the gospel ministry. A very plain title for our study, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 beginning in verse 5 and we'll read through the end of the chapter. Paul is speaking to the church at Thessalonica and he says, For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.

2:01 And ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that ye were examples, that's what the King James says, actually, examples to all them that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God were to spread abroad, so that we need not speak anything. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and the true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised up from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

2:57 Well, we want to talk to you a little bit about the gospel ministry, serving the Lord. Now, preaching is more than words, but it includes words. And I want to talk to you young men about how to have power in the pulpit. and I speak not only to them, but I speak to every man on our staff, including the man standing behind the pulpit. I speak also to all of our teachers and all of the leaders and all of the witnesses in our church. Now look first of all, and I want you to think of the content of Paul's preaching. Notice in verse 5, for he says, For our gospel came not unto you in word only, However, it means that it did come in word. He calls it our gospel. And then go to verse 8.

3:51 For from you sounded out the word of the Lord. I want to talk a little bit about the content of this preaching, the gospel preaching. It is the word of God. Now, don't try to turn to all of these scriptures. But I want to lay something on your heart tonight that may sound incidental or it may sound plain, but if you will think with me about it, it is absolutely incredible. And that is this, that the Bible is the Word of God. That was a good place for an amen, but I didn't say it well enough.

4:36 I'm trying to give you something that is so simple and yet so profound. I give you another chance for an amen. The Bible is the Word of God. Now, why did I want you to say amen to that? Well, if you were to think of God's favorite name for His book, it would be the Word of God. Now, the more liberal a man gets, the less he wants to call the Bible the Word of God. In liberal seminaries, they will say the biblical materials. Or they will say the record of God's revelation. Or they will say the Pauline epistles.

5:24 And in a sense, that's all accurate. But they kind of stutter, they kind of stammer, they don't like to say the Word of God. That's very important. I want to say that God, however, has one favorite term for this book. It is the Word of God. I'm going to go very rapidly. So you have to get the tape if you want to get all these down. But I want you to listen to these scriptures that delineate this book or God's revelation. Mark 7, verse 13, making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered, and many such like things do ye. Luke 5, 1, and it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret.

6:21 Acts 4, verse 31, and when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. Acts 12, verse 24. But the word of God grew and multiplied. Romans 10, 17. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by, now you say it this time, the word of God. All right, Ephesians 6, verse 17. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Colossians 1, 25, Whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the Word of God. 1 Timothy 4, verse 5, For it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.

7:21 Hebrews 4, 12, for the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. First Peter 1, verse 23, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Second Peter 3, verse 5, for this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water. Revelation 20, verse 4, And I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God. Now, that ought to be enough to inform you that God loves the term, the Word of God, because the Word of God uses the very term, the Word of God.

8:25 And when Paul came to these people in Thessalonica, he preached to them, and he says in the first chapter, our Word, turn over to the second chapter, and look in verse 13. And he says this, For this cause also, thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the Word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. Now, I could give many more scriptures, but I have given enough to say without stutter, stammer, equivocation, that over and over and over again in the Bible, the Bible is called the Word of God.

9:20 Or as holy men of God spake, they're anointed speaking, the apostles and the prophets. Or the words of our Lord are called the Word of God. Now, if the Bible is the Word of God, and it is, there are three inferences. There are three things that must be true. And I hope you're following me. Number one is its absolute perfection. Why? Because it's the Word of God. Does that make sense? Its absolute perfection because it is the Word of God. First Timothy 3, verse 16, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. That means it is the breath of God. Inspiration means thunistis. Do you know what you're hearing right now?

10:14 You say, well, we're hearing you. Well, you're hearing my breath. You're hearing my diaphragm pushing my breath up through my apparatus, whatever's in there, and going over my larynx and taking my teeth and my tongue is forming that sound as it causes my vocal cords to vibrate. What you're hearing is my voice. But what is moving all of that is my breath. Without breath, I couldn't preach. You say, may he run out of breath. Without breath, I couldn't preach. The Scripture is given by inspiration or the breath of God. God breathed out the Scriptures. And the Scriptures are the words of God.

11:08 That's what he said. NOT THE WORDS OF MAN, THE WORDS OF GOD. AND A GOD OF TRUTH CANNOT INSPIRE ERROR. THE FACT THAT THE HUMAN INSTRUMENTS THAT WROTE IT DOWN MAKES IT NO LESS THE WORD OF GOD THAN MY VOCAL CHORDS THAT ARE MAKING NOISE MAKE WHAT I'M SAYING ANY LESS MY WORDS. AND, UH, FIRST PETER, CHAPTER 1, VERSE 21, SAYS THIS, FOR THE PROPHECY CAME NOT IN OLD TIME BY THE WILL OF MAN. BUT HOLY MEN OF GOD SPAKE AS THEY WERE MOVED BY THE HOLY GHOST. IN THIS CHURCH, WE BELIEVE IN VERBAL PLENARY INSPIRATION. YOU SAY, PASTOR, I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS. VERBAL MEANS THAT GOD INSPIRED THE WORDS OF THE SCRIPTURE. WE SAY, HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT? I'LL TELL YOU HOW I KNOW IT. MATTHEW 4, 4, WHERE JESUS SAID, MAN SHALL NOT LIVE by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

12:10 Every word. Now people say, oh, well, the Bible, the thoughts are inspired, but the words are not inspired. That's ridiculous. You can't have thoughts without words anymore. You could have math without numbers. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Hebrews 30, excuse me, Proverbs 30, verse 5, every word of God is pure. Now, if the Bible is the word of God, can it have error? It's impossible. How could a God of truth inspire error? If it's God's word, then you know there's the absolute perfection. And the second thing I want you to think about is the wonderful character of the word of God. You see, when the Bible calls itself the Word of God, that says something more than its perfection because God gives the same term to the Bible that He gives to His Son.

13:16 Did you know that Jesus is called the Word of God? And the Bible is called the Word of God. For example, John 1, verse 1, verses 1 through 3, In the beginning was the Word. Now, he's not talking about the Bible there. We're going to see he's talking about Jesus. He was there in the beginning. He didn't have his beginning in Bethlehem. There never was a time when he was not. You know that, don't you? He is the preexistent God, always having existence. He's the great I Am. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, God, and the Word was God. Chew on that. And listen to this. The same was in the beginning with God. It doesn't mean that He had a beginning. He was there when anything else had a beginning. That's what it means. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. Everything has this stamp on it, made by Jesus. Made by Jesus. The devil has no raw material. All he can do is pervert what God has made.

14:27 He's a pervert. And you can just say that to his face sometimes. Satan, you're a pervert. He perverts what God has made. And you read over there in Revelation chapter 19, verse 13, concerning Jesus, and it says this, His name is called the Word of God. That's His name, the Word of God. Now, what is the conclusion that you draw from that? That the character of the Bible and the character of Jesus are linked together. God Almighty has given them both the same name. If one is fallible, so is the other. If one is a fraud, so is the other. If one is spotted with error, so is the other.

15:24 You see, the same name is given for the Word of the Lord and the Lord of that Word. Now, as you study the Bible, you're going to find a wonderful thing. You're going to find that the written Word honors and presents the living Word. And you're going to find that the living Word, Jesus, honored the written Word. And he said, not a jot nor a tittle shall fail from the law till all be fulfilled. He said, search the Scriptures, for these are they which testify of me. He said, the Scripture cannot be broken. Who said that? Jesus said that. Now listen to what I'm saying. The living Word honors the written Word. The written Word honors the living Word.

16:18 The same name is given to both words. They're both called the Word of God. So therefore, when the Bible is delineated as the Word of God, not only do we see its absolute perfection, but we see its wonderful character. I want you to see the correspondence between Jesus and the Bible. I want you to see how God describes both of them. For example, both of them have their origin in God. 1 Peter 1, verse 21, I already read that. It talks about how the Bible was inspired. It says, For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Actually, here's an idiom, an illustration from the sea. As a ship is borne along with wind in its sails, these writers of the Scripture were borne along by the Holy Ghost.

17:15 All right. How did the Bible come? From the Holy Spirit. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. How did Jesus come? Galatians 4, verse 4. But in the fullness of time, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. The Holy Spirit of God came upon Mary. Both the Bible and Jesus have come from heaven. Both the Bible and Jesus endure forever. 1 Peter 1, verse 25, the word of the Lord endureth forever. Revelation 1 verse 18, Jesus said, I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Both ever living.

18:04 Both cannot change. The Word of God cannot change. Matthew 5 verse 18, the written Word for Jesus himself said, Verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, not one jot nor one tittle shall fail from the law, till all be fulfilled. Do you know what a jot and a tittle are? Think of a comma or a dot over an I. It's the smallest marking in the Hebrew language. Jesus said the Word of God doesn't change, and Jesus Himself doesn't change. See the correspondence. Hebrews 13, verse 8, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Both are unchanging. Both the written Word and the living Word are light for a dark world. Psalm 119, verse 105, Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

19:00 John 8, verse 12, Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Both the living Word and the written Word are light. Both the living Word and the written Word are absolute truth. John chapter 7, verse 17, Jesus speaking to the Father said, Thy word is truth.

19:23 That settles it, folks. Jesus said it. But then Jesus himself said in John 14, 6, I am the truth. The living word and the written word. There are those people who try to tell us, well, you know, the Bible, my goodness, that was written by men, so we would expect to find some error in it because it was written by men. It was, men were the human instruments that brought the Bible. Well, do you think that the humanity of Mary made Jesus less than perfect? How did Jesus come? Did he not come? Was he not born of a virgin? How was it possible for a sinful woman? And by the way, let me say this. Mary was a sinner. Does that shock you? that some people have the idea of the immaculate conception. Do you ever hear that, the immaculate conception?

20:18 They think that refers to the virgin birth. That doesn't refer to the virgin birth. That refers to Mary. That is a conjured up doctrine that says Mary had no original sin. No, Mary was a sinner. And when she realized who the Savior was, She said, my soul doth magnify God, my Savior. She needed a Savior just like everybody else. God, my Savior.

20:50 She was a sinner, but her son was not a sinner. Her son was absolute perfection. And the humanity of Mary did not diminish once centillum and iota, the perfection of Jesus Christ. You say, well, Simon Peter wrote 1 and 2 Peter. He was a sinner. Paul wrote the apostles. He was a sinner. I grant you that. But I'm telling you that God was so involved in that process that God gave his God-breathed book by miracle. And the same Holy Spirit who protected the Lord Jesus Christ FROM SIN, THOUGH BORN OF A SINFUL WOMAN, WAS THE HOLY, UH, PROTECTED THE HOLY WRITERS OF THE SCRIPTURES FROM INCLUDING ERROR IN WHAT THEY WROTE. AND IF HUMAN, HUMANITY, IN ANY PRODUCT PRESUMES FALLIBILITY, THEN THE LORD JESUS WAS NOT INFALLIBLE BECAUSE HE He himself was human.

21:58 The Bible's the Word of God. Now, I'm saying that that speaks of its absolute perfection. I'm saying also that speaks of its wonderful character. Thirdly, it also speaks of its awesome power. Its awesome power. because it is the Word of God. Let the phrase Word of God sink into you. Hebrews 4, verse 13, For the Word of God is quick and powerful,

22:42 sharper than any two-edged sword. You know what the word quick is? It's the word we get our word zoology from, or zoo. It's zoan. It's alive. and powerful. Do you know what that means? It's the word energis. It's the word we get our word energy from. The Bible throbs. It pulsates with energy. It is the Word of God. Quick and powerful. Speaks of its awesome power. You see, look, we're converted by the Word. Let me just tell you some things the Word does. We're converted by the Word. First Peter 1, verses 22 and 23. Peter says, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God. You are impregnated.

23:39 with the Word of God. Being born not of corruptible seed, sperm, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. You see, you're converted by the Word. Furthermore, once you're converted, you're cleansed by the Word. What did Jesus say in John 15, verse 3? Ye are clean through the Word that I have spoken unto you. There's no way to stay clean in the Christian life apart from the Word of God. But not only are you converted and cleansed, you're controlled by the Word. First Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17, all scriptures given by inspiration of God. And if it is, then what follows? It is profitable for doctrine. That's what's right.

24:31 For reproof, that tells you when you're wrong. For correction, that helps you to get right. and for instruction in righteousness, that helps you to stay right. You're to be controlled by the Word. And you're to be confirmed to the Word. Excuse me, we're confirmed by the Word. How do we know? How do I know that I'm saved? Because the way I feel? Mm-hmm. What about when I wake up with a dull headache? I ate sauerkraut and ice cream and then went to sleep. Well, not by the way I feel. Sometimes I feel saved. Sometimes I may not feel saved. But feeling has nothing to do with it. How am I confirmed? I'm confirmed by the Word. John chapter 5, verse 24, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my Word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.

25:31 So I want to say to you two guys, preach the word. Preach the word. Paul said, the gospel we preached is indeed the word of God, not the word of man. And the same written word, that written word presents the living word. The living word honors the written word. AND I PRAY GOD, AS LONG AS THIS BUILDING STANDS, AS LONG AS THIS CHURCH ENDURES, THAT FROM THIS PLACE WILL SOUND THE WORD OF GOD. AND I PRAY GOD, AS LONG AS THERE'S BREATH IN YOUR NOSTRILS, WHETHER IT'S A YOUTH MINISTRY OR WHETHER YOU'RE A PASTOR OR WHATEVER YOU DO, THAT YOU PREACH THE WORD. GOD SAYS, THERE'S NOT MY WORD LIKE A HAMMER THAT BREAKS THE ROCK IN PIECES. You take the hardest rock and just keep tapping.