The Wonderful Word of God — Greg Locke

The Opening Text: Scripture’s Power to Shape Christian Life

Number three in just a moment. We'll read verses 14 down through verse number 17. Very familiar portion of Scripture, and I hope would be a great blessing to you. I'll tell you this is a portion of Scripture that God is used to challenge my heart and Challenge my Christianity and my character and my Christian life on many many many occasions.

And this is a near and dear portion of Scripture to my heart. And so I hope it'll be a blessing to you. Second Timothy chapter number three verse number 14. That's all stand. Please out of respect for the Word of God.

2nd Timothy chapter number three and verse number 14, please. The Bible says but continue thou the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of. Knowing of whom thou hast learned them and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures.

Which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction. For instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect.

Thruly furnished unto all good works and using this very familiar portion of Scripture I want to preach this afternoon a simple message entitled the wonderful Word of God. Thank you very much. You may be seated That's by our heads and hearts and let's ask the Lord to bless our time together here in our chapel.

Shall we now father we need your help for the next few moments in this Christian school assembly. Thank you so much for the young men the young ladies that are before me. Thank you for the privilege that I have all this week to share my heart with these young people in the mornings and then in the afternoons to go with brother Smith over to the detention center also to the juvenile boot camp and also each night at Seven o 'clock to break the bread of life Lord.

You've given me a lot of responsibility this week and you said to me who much is given much should be required. So I pray that I'd be prayed up stood it up and I'd be fired up for the things of God and you would help Me not to be lollygag as a preacher and not just to preach some old Mundane microwave sermons, but Lord help my heart to be hot Lord help it to be full and help me not just to preach from Overflow of knowledge, but oh dear God I pray that you would open up my heart and open up the hearts of these young men and young ladies before me and just Knit us together as we preach and teach and study through the Bible this week you second Timothy chapter 3 today.

I pray in Jesus name Amen in person as I travel and as my wife and I travel in evangelism and as we have for the past four years I've met some interesting people now. I've met some people that were greatly wonderful in my ministry and I've met some people that were not so hot not so nice to My ministry my wife and I we have been to museums.

We've been to zoos. We've been to science places. We've been to fairs. We've been to some huge churches. We've been to some tiny churches. We've been to some medium-sized churches and we have seen some wonderful things man.

We've been to the natural bridge. I've got a meeting scheduled close to Buffalo, New York. We'll be going to Niagara Falls and we've got meetings scheduled all over and I've been all over California in different places.

I mean my wife and I have been privileged and honored and blessed of the Lord to be able to see some Wonderful wonderful things. But you know in all of my travels and all of my studies and of all the people that I've met across America around the world I have never come up to know anything more wonderful more marvelous and more supernatural than the Bible which we hold in our hands right now.

The Bible as God’s Living and Profitable Word

I want you to understand a few things about the Word of God this morning. We're going to have three points and I want you to help me with the points this morning. But before we do I want you to look back in your Bibles and I want to study just for a few moments verse number 16 just make some prelever preliminary remarks as we go down through this verse and just kind of teach you a few things and then Kind of get into the preaching message.

Verse number 16 of 2nd Timothy chapter 3. Paul is writing and he says all scripture. That means the 39 books of the Old Testament the 27 books of the news. You put them together. Do your math, right? That's 66 books of God.

All right, so he says all scripture not some of it. But every bit of it all scripture is given by Inspiration of God and that word inspirations a fancy New Testament word. It doesn't mean perspiration.

The word inspiration has the idea of God breathe. Did you know if you and I? Every time we were to open our mouth if every time I preached or every time you talk to one of your friends if every Time you was talking and open your mouth when you walked around if you kept your hand up in front of your mouth.

One of two things would be true number one. Most of us would die because of our bad breath. But secondly you would find out that air comes from our vocal cords. It come across our tongue out of our jaws across our little flappy gums and through our teeth off of our tongue.

And you would fear air or breath coming out of your mouth because when you speak you breathe. That's the exact same implication here that Paul is writing young Timothy. He said God very he spoke and as he was speaking he breathed the very words of God into existence.

So let's see what he says about this inspired Bible. Shall we verse 16 all scripture is given by inspiration or God breathing if you will and Is profitable now a lot of people have a bad problem in America and around the world.

You know what it is. They think the Bible was written by a bunch of old fogey people for a bunch of old fogey people. It's got old fogey rules and regulations dictates and commands statues and testimonies and it's not relevant to today's society.

That's a lie. This is the living abiding breathing Word of God and it is just as relevant today as it was when the ink pen of inspiration Run out in Revelation 22 21 young people. I want you to know this Bible is profitable.

It's profitable for your life. It's profitable for your soul. It's profitable one day for your marriage. It's profitable for child rearing. It's profitable for churches. It's profitable for Christian schools for public schools.

It's profitable today's November 7th for elections and for America and for around the world. The Bible is a profitable book. It's not a dead book. It's not an old lethargic book that belongs on some Vatican shell or some religious library or some biblical zoo somewhere.

It is a profitable profitable book now if God in fact is going to say that his book is profitable. Then isn't he going to tell us what it's profitable for. I believe so and he does look back at verse 16.

It says all scriptures given by inspiration of God and it's profitable number one. It says For doctrine now the word doctrine is a much overused and much abused term in modern-day Christianity. The word doctrine basically means teaching.

There's a lot of people that say well doctrines just not important, but that's a lie young person because doctrines very important. It's very important what you believe. It's not just enough to know what you believe.

But you ought to be able to base it on the Bible and know why you believe it and doctrine is very very important. We have the teachings of heaven and hell. We have the teachings of God and the devil. We have the teachings of the virgin birth of Christ.

We have the teachings of the tribulation and the rapture and the second coming of Christ. And we have the teacher and the teachings of the inspiration of the Bible. We have the teachings or the doctrines of creation and there's all kind of doctrines and teachings in the Bible.

And if we say that doctrines not important then who's to say what's right and who's to say what's wrong? So the Bible says that itself is profitable to teach us that which is right to teach us that which is wrong.

To teach us what is Scripture and what is contrary to Scripture? So the Bible is profitable to teach us some things but it's also profitable the Bible says secondly look at your Bibles for reproof. Now what is reproof?

Well reproof is God telling me what is wrong with my life now. You know. The word reproof is a negative word in the Bible a lot of people think everything in the Bible is rosy-posy. And everything's wonderful and so walk in the park and it's a nice little cream cake walk and there's nothing bad and God is always Love.

God is always love but not as not only positive in the Bible. There's also negative in the Bible and sometimes people have to be reproved and rebuked when there's open wicked sin in their life. For example, let's say I were to go outside and I was to get my diesel trunk and let's say right before I got in it.

And started it up. I cranked up the hood. I popped a little latch there on the front there I lifted it up and I took the negative side cable off of my battery now a battery in a vehicle has a positive cable.

Has a negative cable those two coming together the positive and the negative they make the car start. They make the car go and they work all the little apparatuses there. They run this and they run that well.

Let's say I took the negative off and I thought well, I'm just gonna be positive all my life. I don't care anything about negative. I don't like reproof and rebuke and I'm just gonna drive my vehicle on the positive.

No, you wouldn't get very far matter of fact, you wouldn't even start the vehicle. You've got to have the positive cable and you have to have the negative cable to make the car go and you've got to have Positive in the Bible and there's also negative in the Bible when you put them together.

They cause everything to come together. So, okay God shows me that his word is profitable for teaching or for doctrine. But he also tells me that it's profitable to teach me what is wrong with my life.

For example, God says okay Greg you are living your life in a way that is not pleasing to me. You are living your life with sin. You are living your life for the world. You're not living for me. You're not pleasing to me.

So God tells me what is wrong with my life. And specifically points out the area, but I'm glad it didn't just stop there. You know, sometimes some people are abusing reproving say hey, this is wrong with your life.

But then they don't tell you how to fix it. But God does look what your Bible says verse number 16. It says it's profitable for doctrine for reproof for Correction. So first of all, God says his Bible is profitable to tell us what is right and what is wrong.

And then it's profitable to tell me what is wrong. Specifically with my life and then thirdly it's profitable to tell me how to fix that which is wrong in my life. So God says Greg this is wrong. And this is how you fix that which is wrong.

But it doesn't stop there. The Bible even goes further and says this for instruction in Righteousness, you know what that means? That's God telling me how to keep it fixed. So God says Greg this is wrong.

This is how you fix what is wrong. And this is how you keep it fixed for the rest of your life. And this is what keeps you in the Bible from ever going back to the place where I had to reprove you and rebuke you.

Ever to begin with so you can see how profitable the Bible is for daily living. All right. Now I want to give you three undeniable three Unchangeable and three most unforgettable facts about the Bible and I'm going to say them to you.

And then when I do that, I'll hold out my hands and we'll all say them together. I want you to say I'm nice and loud to make sure we get it not in our heads. But we get it in our hearts. All right, number one.

The Truthfulness and Authority of God’s Word

God's Word is true. Would you say that with me God's? Word is true from Genesis 1 1 to Revelation 22 21. There are no mistakes. There are no contradictions. There are no lies. There are no falsehoods.

There are no Misconceptions if you will this is the Word of God. That's why we have this Christian school that's why we have revival meetings in this Baptist Church because we want to open people's heads and open people's hearts and Fill them with the truths of the stories and the pages and the doctrines of the wonderful Word of God.

This is not a comic book. This is not Sports Illustrated. This is not Reader's Digest. This is not USA Today. This is not the Chicago Tribune. It is not the Wall Street Journal. This is the Word of God and we don't have to apologize for that.

We don't have to back down for that. We don't have to say we're sorry for that and as young men and as young ladies. You can know this afternoon that this book that we hold in our hands this book that we memorized.

This book that we study this book that we read this book that we learn in this book that you work in your paces in your different studies on this book that you hear talk from and this book that you hear preach from from this chapel platform every Day, this book is not a book.

It is the book. It is the Word of God and young person you can stake your life on that God's Word is True every bit of it. Yeah, I want you to think about something just for one Jesus said in John 17 17 Sanctify them or set them apart from that truth or through that truth.

Thy word is Truth. Now, there's a verse in the Bible that I want you to understand. Please don't turn there. But listen to me Jesus was talking to a religious group of people called the scribes and Pharisees.

And here's what he told them. John 8 44. He said ye are of your father the devil and the lust of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and of old not of the truth. Why. Because there is no truth in it when he speaketh a lie.

He speaketh of his own for he is a liar and The father of it. So what did Jesus just state to those people and what was Jesus trying to reiterate to you and I as God's people today? Simply this the devil is 100 all lie.

He has no truth in him. He is a false. He is a fake and he is a phony baloney for sure. He is a liar and the Bible says the father or literally the originator of lies way back in the garden. So the devil is a liar now, let me paint you a picture here.

All right, not on a wall not really draw on a map but just thank for something for a moment if the devil is 100 liar if he is all falsehood if he is all fake if he is all wicked and if the devil has no truth in him.

Whatsoever, which the Bible does say that we'll put the devil right here. We'll go to this side of the platform and we'll say that here over here is the Bible. We've already established that the Bible has no lies has no Misconceptions has no things that are contradictory in one book and contradict in another book.

No lies. No falsehoods whatsoever. So way over there on that side of the platform We have 100 falsehood and lie and way over here on this side of the platform with the Bible. We've got 100 truth and 100 right and no falsehood and no lies whatsoever now.

If that be the case and it is. Does it not stand to reason logically that he who is a liar? Wants to do his best to keep you as far away from the truth as he possibly can. He wants to keep you out of the Bible.

Why. Because he wants you to live a life of a lie. He wants you to be a liar. He wants you to be a fake. He wants you to be a mass Christian if you will he wants you to be a lying phony baloney false Christian.

He wants you to live the same life that he is living and the devil's doing his dead level best to keep people Away from the truths of the Word of God because those truths will transform your life. Those truths will help you be a better young person for God those truths will help you be a better student.

Those truths will help you be a better son a better better daughter a better brother a better sister. They will help you one day be a better father a better mother a better husband a better wife. They will help you be a better worker.

They will help you be a better person. And yes. Most certainly will help you be a better more godly sold-out Surrendered and separated Christian and the devil is a liar and for years He's trying to tell people that the Bible is alive.

The Bible is alive, but I would remind you Titus chapter 1 verse number 2 the Bible says that God Cannot Lie, and if it's in this book and since this book is from God therefore my God cannot lie. So this book is the truth the whole truth and nothing, but the truth so help me God.

The Endurance of Scripture Through Opposition

All right, so number one God's Word is true, but number two. I want you to see this God's Word Has been tried would you say that with me, please? God's Word has been tried say brother lot. What do you mean by that there have always been people that have tried to stamp out the Bible?

There have always been people that have tried the patience of God there have always been people that have ridiculed the Bible and kick the Bible and put the Bible under the rug and tried to hide the Bible and locked the Bible away and there have always been people that said the Bible's full of lies and the Bible's full of Contradictions and the Bible's full of all these presumptions from God and there's no real miracles and Jesus was just some old fictitious man.

And he never really died. He was never really buried. He never really rose again and the Bible's not the Word of God. It's just a nice little storybook. It's just a nice book to color in and to take notes in and it's just some book that gets a bunch of preachers all Riled up and there's always been people that have tried to disprove the Bible.

But you know what they're dead and gone and the Bible still living. They're dead and gone and the Bible still believe is still believed and is still breathing and is still abiding and the Bible is still With us and the Bible says forever Oh Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.

Sometimes you ought to read especially not right now because it'll take you some time, but you ought to read psalm 119 verses 1 through verse 176 176 verses and every single one of them have one thing the Word of God the Word of God the Word of God.

The Word of God. David said in Psalm 101 19 verse number 9 Wherewithal shall a young man or a young person for that matter cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy Word and there's always been people that say well the Bible is just a fictitious book.

The Bible is just a storybook. It's not a real Bible, but you know what they tried the Bible and they tried the Bible. They put the Bible in the fire and it comes out. They try to drown out the Bible.

They tried to burn out the Bible. They kicked it out of public schools. They kicked it out of the courtroom. They kick it out of here. They kick it out of there and they say the Bible's not the Word of God.

But it's still the Word of God no matter what they say. They can lie about the Bible. They can make falsehoods about the Bible. They can kick the Bible anywhere that they want to they can rip up the Bible.

They can retranslate the Bible. They can rewrite the Bible. They can reread the Bible. They can do anything they want to but they can't change the fact that this is the eternal precious Wonderful perfect Word of Almighty God and young person the Bible has always been tried on Sunday morning I was in Sunday school here and I was preaching from Matthew chapter number 6 from Psalm chapter 11 from Isaiah chapter 40 and also from 1st Timothy chapter 3 verses 15 and 16 and as I was preaching that I said something about we don't need to worry about Tomorrow because tomorrow the Bible will still be the Word of God.

Perhaps you were here. Perhaps you are not but let me give you a quick little rendering of something that I said I believe it'll be interesting to you. There was a wicked vile infidel by the name of Voltaire.

Voltaire hated God. Voltaire did not believe in heaven did not believe in hell, but he knows better now I'll promise you that right now. He did not believe the Bible. He kicked around the Bible. He said that God was fake.

He believed in evolution and here's what Voltaire said this was years and years and years before anybody's time in this room. He said 50 years after I'm dead. The Bible will be a book of non-existence.

There won't be any Bibles in existence 50 years after I'm dead. He said 100 years after I'm dead. Not only will the Bible not be in existence He said but no one will own a copy and no one will have ever heard of a copy of the Bible.

Can you hear the great irony and what that man said 50 years after I'm dead the Bible about being existence not being circulation. No printings of the Bible. No readings of the Bible. No preachings of the Bible.

And then he said 100 years after I'm dead and gone. Nobody will have heard of a Bible. Nobody will ever have seen a Bible and nobody will own a Bible and it's been more than 200 years since Voltaire's been dead.

And did you know that right now the very house in which Voltaire lived is the national headquarters for the British Bible Society. The very house in which this manly up is now Headquarters where millions and millions and millions of scriptures are printed every year.

Hey the grass withers and the flower thereof fades, but the Word of our God Shall stand forever. I Remember when I was in fifth grade and I knew a lot about fifth grade because I spent two years there.

I had the same teacher. Her name was miss grandstaff. I remember miss grandstaff the Gladeville Elementary in Glade at Glade in a Nashville, Tennessee outside of Mount Judah there where I grew up. I remember I was there and I'd ride the bus and I'd get there and I failed for several reasons in the fifth grade.

But the second reason that I the second year that I was there I remember we went on a field trip now. We took the two fourth grade classes the two fifth grade classes and the two sixth grade classes and I was the only fifth grader because obviously I supposed to be a Sixth grader probably this time.

I was supposed to be a seventh grader because I spent nine years in K through six. All right, so I don't command that anybody should try to do something like that. Okay took me all those years. Like I said yesterday to figure out that F meant fail.

You're not fantastic. And so here I was we went on a little field trip. We got on our bus. We had our sack lunches and we drove to Hendersonville, Tennessee to an Amish community. I don't know what I'm talking about when I say something about an Amish community.

All right, some of you do not all of y 'all put your hands down. It's just a way that people kind of live way back in the backwoods. They kind of live their own way kind of have their own little community if you will, they don't have any electricity.

They don't have any running water unless you get a bucket run down the creek and pick it up yourself. You know, they don't have like trains and planes and Ford trucks and nice big houses and trailers.

And whatever they have they just build it all right there on site, you know, they don't go to Lowe's. They don't go to Walmart. They got the little horse and buggies and nothing wicked about that. That's the way the one live.

That's fine. And so these people are just real primitive. That's the way they enjoy living and Amanda the men dress like men. By the way, ladies got a dress on from their ears all the way down to the bottom of her toes, you know.

You ain't got any trouble figuring out which one's man, which one's a lady? That's for sure. And so he's got walk around got these big old bushy beard stick it out and they grow all their own. Watermelons and corns and cantaloupes and I mean everything.

I thought man, it's pretty neat. We're walking around. We're going these little general shops and we're going these little stores and they're making fudge and they make molasses and honey. And and they got this corn and all this kind of stuff and I was pretty interested in what was going on.

Then they took us to the blacksmith shop. Now I've never been to a blacksmith shop before then and I've never been to one since. Many of you maybe have never had a privilege to go to a blacksmith shop.

There's just not many around nowadays. We got the big steel industries and we got the big earth movers and this that and the other and so. Unless you really live on the Amish community unless somebody's really primitive and old-fashioned way back in the woods.

They just don't do work like that anymore, but the Amish people still do and so I went there and there's about I Suppose there was maybe 185 200 of us kids and we was all in there. We crammed in a building about this big.

It was the blacksmith shop little tent that he was in there and he was in there and he had that great big black Anvil and he had a big old sledgehammer. And he had these little these little sickles and these little pipes and the stuff that he was using man.

He was working in front of this big fire big old just big old tears of sweat. Just drip it all down. You know had his overalls all but he was all dirty. He's hitting there them sparks just to fly. He'd hit in them sparks just to fly.

He'd been that horseshoe. He'd been that barn had all kind of beautiful tools and things and arrangements that he had made all over the wall. And finally he opened it up for a question and answer time.

He said now boys and girls the only silly questions in life are those that go unasked. I beg to differ because I've heard some pretty silly questions. But anyhow, I thought it was my turn. I put up my hand.

I said mister. I've got a question. I said, uh, I mean this with all my heart. I said this might be common knowledge might be kind of silly I said but up. You're hitting that anvil pretty hard by the way.

If you don't know what an anvil is if you've ever seen Saturday morning cartoons with a roadrunner coyote. It's what coyote gets dropped on his head about every five minutes. All right. So anyhow, here's this big black anvil.

He's beating on it and beating on it beating on it beating on and I said mister I said how often do you have to change that anvil? I said listen to me like it's going through a pretty good beat, you know, kids are kind of snickering.

But I want to know here's what he said. I'll never forget it. I was years and years why I didn't say but I'll never forget what he said. He said, you know, son. That's pretty good question. He said this anvil belong to my great-great-granddaddy.

Said pass it on to my great-granddad pass it on to my granddad pass it on to my dad said that's mine. He said now we got some certain little Polishes and some little things that we go through and make sure that it's done right and you don't leave it out in the rain.

And mess it up. He said it might get a little den in it. He said you could drop this thing off the Empire State Building said it wouldn't break open said these things are solid through and said these things are wonderful and said these things work for years and years to come and he said more than likely he said I'll Pass it on to the next generation of my family down to him and down to him and down to him and he said these Anvils are always the same and he said something interesting.

He said but these anvils are so hard. He said we have to rebuild tools all the time. He said our tools are a little bit different than that what you would buy down at a hardware store ace hardware loads or something.

Like that. So he said we're all the time changing tools. He said about every couple of years. We'll go through several hammers and we'll go through several bars and things that we hit with and sledgehammers.

He said we'll make another tool and then it'll mess up on the anvil. We'll make another tool will beat the anvil mess up on the anvil and we'll make another tool and make another tool and he said We're all the time changing tools.

He said but the anvils the same one that we've had for years and years. You know what young person? The old hammers of evolution and the old hammers of secularism and worldliness and rock-and-roll music and wickedness and Hollywood and the secularism and the people that don't believe the Bible and the people that are wicked and immoral and the people of the world and the Order serve the Devil more than they want to serve God.

They beat on the end below the Word of God and they beat on the end below the Word of God and they beat on The end below the Word of God and they try to disprove it and I try to get rid of it. You know what they keep changing their methods all the time.

They change their their avenues of science and mathematics. They change the rules. They change their walls. They change their own statutes and their own regulations. And they beat on the Word of God and beat on the Word of God and they try to make the Bible go out of existence and they try to disprove the Bible, and they're always changing their methods, but the old black anvil of the Word of God just stands the same, young person.

And we've got the Word of God. It is true, and it's been tried, and it always comes forth and stands true like the rock of Gibraltar. It always stands strong. And they beat on it, and they spit on it, and they burn it, and they drown it, and they kick it, and they curse it, and they scream at it, but we still have the Bible.

Trusting Scripture for Salvation and Daily Guidance

And that brings me to the third point, and man, I rejoice in this particular part of the message. God's Word is true. God's Word has been tried. But thirdly, I want you to see God's Word can be trusted.

Would you say that with me? God's Word can be trusted. You can trust your soul to the Bible. You can trust your life to the Bible. You can trust every decision you will ever make in life as a young person, as a teenager, as a middle-aged person, as an older gentleman or a lady.

You can trust every decision you'll ever make on this Bible right here. Let me show you something. Go back to verse number 14 where we started, would you? 2 Timothy 3, verse number 14. Paul is writing.

Look what he says. He says, "...but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.". Verse 15. And that's from a child, from just a young person.

That from a child, "...thou hast known the holy Scriptures," or the Holy Bible, "...which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.". What is Paul telling Timothy?

This is the only book whereby we learn about God's salvation. This is the only book that can show us the true mercy, the true grace, the true love of Almighty God. And he said this is a book that you can trust your soul to, you can trust your never-dying soul to, your eternity to, based on heaven, based on hell, based on having your sins forgiven or your sins not forgiven.

He said this is a book that can make you wise to know about God so you can know how to be saved. So you can trust what Jesus said about salvation, what Paul said about salvation, what is written in the pages of Scripture about salvation.

You can trust your soul to the Bible, alright? I know I'm saved. I'm not worried about being lost. I'm not worried about the devil snatching me out of the grips of God. I'm not worried about some little petty sin or some big sin taking me out of the fold and going to hell one day.

I'm not worried about that. I know, based on my Bible, that I have been assured that I have eternal, everlasting life. So you can trust the Bible when it talks about that. But you know what? You don't just have to trust your soul to the Bible and that be it.