God’s Word is Settled - Part 1 of 2

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, Thou forest of my God and King, Thou triumphs of His grace.

This is LaSare Bradley, Jr., welcoming you to another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour. With reverence let the saints appear, And I'll be for the Lord, He is my command with reverence here, And tremble at His word. How terrible Thy glories be, How bright Thine armies shine, Where is the power that binds with thee, O Truth compared with Thine!

The northern pole and southern breast, On Thy supporting hand. Darkness and day from east to west, Move round at Thy command. Our subject for today, as we come to verse 89 in Psalm 119, is God's Word is Settled. Well, this is a comforting truth, and it's also a vital truth that we stand firm in our commitment to God's Word, knowing that it is settled.

If you'd like to help keep this broadcast on the air, you can send your support to Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Turn with me to Psalm 119, we read beginning with verse 89, Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven, Thy faithfulness is unto all generations, Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. They continue this day according to Thine ordinances, for all are Thy servants. Unless Thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction. I will never forget Thy precepts, for with them Thou hast quickened me. I am Thine, save me, for I have sought Thy precepts.

The wicked have waited for me to destroy me, but I will consider Thy testimonies. I have seen an end of all perfections, but Thy commandment is exceeding broad. My subject is God's Word is Settled. Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven.

If God's Word is settled forever, then certainly it follows that God Himself is from everlasting to everlasting. Let's notice the 90th Psalm, which is written by Moses. Verses 1 and 2, Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever, Thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God. I love these words by Charles Spurgeon.

What can threaten His existence, thwart His purpose, weaken His power, dim the clearness of His eye, diminish the tenderness of His heart, or distract the wisdom of His judgment? Thou art the same, and of Thy years there is no end. Then recollect, child of God, you are a sheep that can never lose its shepherd.

You are a child that can never lose its father. Yes, the God that we worship has been our dwelling place from all generations. He is from everlasting to everlasting. So God's Word is a firm foundation. Thy Word is settled in heaven, and therefore it cannot be altered on earth. It is sure, it is certain, it is fixed. No decree by church council, no edict by any religious leader can alter the Word of God. It is settled forever in heaven. No opinion of higher criticism can affect it.

Men come along and try to find flaws with it. They do their research and their analysis and they come to the conclusion that there are many errors, many contradictions, many things that are not reliable. But the fact is, God's Word is settled in heaven. So really it doesn't matter what may be said or done upon this earth in an effort to refute it.

It is settled. There are those who rest it, as Peter describes that in his second epistle. In other words, they purposely distort, twist, turn the Word of God in an effort to suit their own purposes.

But let's notice what the result of that is. 2 Peter 3, verse 16, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood. He's talking about the epistles of Paul, and we certainly coincide with that. We can certainly appreciate what Peter is saying, that Paul writes some things that are hard to be understood, but says, which they that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do also the other scriptures.

And what's the result of that? Does that shake the Word of God? Does that change the Word of God?

No, it's unto their own destruction. The Word of God is settled in heaven, but those who rest it, those who misrepresent it, twist it, interpret it to their own liking, do it only to their own destruction. It is settled in heaven.

It cannot be destroyed on earth. The Bible has been banned and burned. There have been times in various countries where it was illegal to possess a Bible. Many places in the world today where every effort is made to suppress it.

There are countries where Bibles must be smuggled in, in order for people to have access to them. But with all the effort that man has put forth, with all that Satan has done to try to wipe out the Word of God, remove it totally from this earth, it's settled in heaven and God has promised that He is going to keep it and preserve it. No doubt one of the reasons that men object to it so strenuously is because they despise its absolutes. We live in a day that people like to think in terms of being so broad-minded, being so accepting that really as it comes down to the final conclusion, there is no absolute truth. Truth is what something means to you. What may be truth today may not be later on.

If it's truth for you, it may not be for me. But when we turn to the Word of God, we see an entirely different picture. Isaiah chapter 55 verse 8, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Oh man has plenty of his own thoughts. A local columnist wrote in the Cincinnati Post this week an article in which he speculated about what Paul might have said had there been another epistle to be located and in the process suggested that in this next epistle he would have refuted everything that he basically said in the epistles that we have in the Word of God, which revealed the fact that the man is not particularly happy with what is in the Word of God.

He would prefer to see it changed. You see, man has a lot of thoughts. He embraces many different philosophies and concepts about everything, about whether there is a God and if he believes there is a God, what kind of a God he is, about man, what his state is, what his future is, what his purpose is. All of his own speculations are inferior because God says my ways are higher, my thoughts are higher than yours. So no matter how brilliant the individual may seem to be or how brilliant he may think that he is, his thoughts can never compare to the thoughts of God. God is right and if our thoughts differ, we're the one that's wrong. We're not going to be able to correct the Lord and say, surely God didn't really mean that.

I just know it couldn't be that way because I feel so strongly that the opposite of that is appropriate or right. What God says is truth. Our word is established in heaven. There are those that consider the gospel, the teachings of the Word of God to be absolute foolishness. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18 says that the gospel is foolishness to those that perish.

Person that doesn't have an ear tuned to hear it, person that doesn't have their eyes open, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them. So the gospel is foolishness and you can understand that from the human point of view. Whoever could have come up with the concept that here are guilty sinners, here is a holy God, these sinners are at enmity against God, how can they be reconciled?

How can they be brought together on peaceable terms? And whoever in their wildest imaginations could ever have come up with the idea that God would become a man and live on this earth, tempted at all points like as we are yet without sin, and ultimately go to the cross and take the place of those that were in the covenant and secure them and that by this blood sacrifice they are redeemed. See the reason of the human mind just doesn't lay hold of that, seems to be foolish. But thy word, O Lord, is settled in heaven. Many have scoffed at it, you hear people talk about how absurd it is to pattern your life according to the principles of the book that was written so long ago and they were always quick to add full of so many errors as though they are the final expert, they are the authority, possibly have read very little of it, if any at all, but they have their opinions and they scoff at the word. 2 Peter chapter 3 says in the third verse, knowing this verse that there shall come in the last day scoffers walking after their own lust and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation, you just hear somebody today who feels that they are so superior in their intellectual considerations, have gone so far in their educational pursuits that they are above this type of thing. They think these poor ignorant Christians that go around talking about Jesus coming back, how absurd it is, they scoff at it, somebody says, you see things have been going on business as usual for all these years, why should you think there is ever going to be a day that is going to change, that he is coming back? Where is the promise of his coming? But he says in verse 5, they are willingly ignorant, willingly ignorant.

That indicates accountability. Yes, the world despises the absolutes of God's word. They consider it to be foolish.

They scoff at it. But in spite of all the attempts to ban it or burn it, to refute it and deny it, the word stands and Jesus says in Matthew chapter 24 verse 35, heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away. We look to the mountains of earth and they seem to speak of that which is solid and secure and will always be there.

Look into the heavens and say those stars are in their places and this is nature and everything is going to continue on course. And it does continue because the Lord upholds it. But the time is coming that he is going to be through with it in its present form. Thy word, O Lord, is settled in heaven. Seeing then that God's word is a firm foundation, as the hymn writer says, how firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in his excellent word. Yes, God's word is a firm, solid, sure foundation. That being the case, God's doctrine does not change. You can just rest assured that whatever someone we come forward with today, as a new twist and turn in the philosophical ramblings about the purpose of life and how men ought to think and how they ought to structure their lives, there will be certain ideas that are popular for a while and then they will fade and then something else comes on, some new idea.

And people are always searching for something that's new, different and exciting. But the doctrine of God does not change. And God himself does not change. Malachi chapter 3 verse 6, he says, I am God, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Why was it that the sons of Jacob, his chosen people, were safe and secure? It's because God is a covenant keeping God, I change not. Why is it you and I are being held up and preserved and kept today as his people? Because God says, I change not. Not because of some noble quality on our part, but because of the faithfulness and mercy of God. Hebrews chapter 13 of the 8th verse says, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.

That's good to know. Human beings are prone to be rather fickle. Person can have one mood today and another one a few days later or in the same day. Person may seem to be a loyal friend for a while and then all of a sudden over some minor disruption things change. But Jesus Christ is the same. He's the friend that sticketh closer than a brother. And if he's your friend today, he's going to be your friend tomorrow and next week and next year and forever, he's the same. And therefore because God is the same, he doesn't change, his doctrine doesn't change.

Think about it from this standpoint. If God changed, that would indicate, since he's a good God, that there was a good reason for the change. Which would also indicate that there was some reason earlier that he did not see, know and understand that this change would be in order. To say that God would change would deny his perfection. But since God is omniscient, knows all things from all eternity past, then God doesn't change.

There's no need to change. Because he's holy, he's perfect, and he knew every detail from all eternity past. He knows the end from the beginning, so God doesn't change. Deuteronomy 32, I love this beautiful language. Verse 1, Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, as the showers upon the grass, because I will publish the name of the Lord. Describe ye greatness unto our God.

He is the rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment, a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. What's this doctrine of God? Well it falls like the gentle rain, it's like the dew that comes to refresh the grass, the tender herb, like the showers, where we've been through such a dry spell, and we had a nice rain the other day, it was really amazing that in just such a short time, some of these dried up lawns that looked like they were done for, started turning green. Just a shower, and oh how true that is in spiritual things. Sometimes God's people are all but dried up it appears, but you let a little shower come down from heaven and how quickly the scene changes. When they're refreshed, when their sights are lifted up from the things of this earth and they begin to see the greatness of God, that makes all the difference, that's what his doctrine is about. I will publish the name of the Lord, ascribe ye greatness unto God. If we're preaching his doctrine, then we're not talking about how impressive man is and about his noble qualities, we're ascribing greatness to God.

And there's a good test. You start listening to somebody preach, you may have a little question, I wonder if this is sound, well here's one valid test, are they ascribing greatness to God? If the whole discourse is built around the idea that man's self-esteem must be built, man must think more highly of himself, then you know there's a problem with that. That's not the doctrine of God. Doctrine that we find here is to ascribe greatness to our Lord. And Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 says, 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, thoroughly furnished into all good works. All scripture, the Old Testament, the New Testament, all of it is given us by inspiration, breathed out of God and it's profitable for doctrine. So the doctrine doesn't change. No need to look for an improved brand, God gave us the doctrine that we needed and would be to His honor when He gave it to us initially. In the book of 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 3, He says, if any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men, of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness from such withdrawal thyself. So a rejection of the doctrine of God puts one in terribly bad company, being given to envy and strife and evil surmisings. And as we say this concerning the basic doctrine of God, the doctrine that describes who God is, what God has done, His attributes, His characteristics, certainly then as we would narrow this down to the gospel itself, His gospel is established. In fact Paul warned as he wrote to the churches of Galatia, Galatians chapter 1 verse 8, he said, if any man come among you preaching any other gospel than that which I have preached, let him be accursed.

He did not allow any room for a new improved gospel. Oh my, how sad in this day, when rather than preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, which points out that there is a great need here because man in his natural state is fallen. It's not that he just needs to find out a plan for his life. It's not that he needs to improve his personality. It's not that he needs to figure out how to get on the wagon train of health, wealth and prosperity.

He's got a problem more serious than any of that. He is under condemnation. And the gospel of Jesus Christ comes on that basis that here are guilty, lost, ruined sinners that need not just a little improvement in their immediate circumstances.

They need a savior. And in the gospel of God's grace, the gospel of Jesus Christ, that's what we're preaching. It's not a message just designed to make people feel good about themselves. Multitudes of people flock to that kind of thing today.

What will be made? In fact I've had people be bold enough to tell me that. I really don't like this kind of preaching that tends to convict you and make you feel bad. I want to go to church and come away from there just feeling good about myself. Well, obviously some portions of scripture just weren't written with that in mind.

They were there to show us what we are and to humble us and bring us down to dependence upon our God. I'm glad you've been with us today. I hope the message has been a blessing. If you'd like to help with the support of the program, you can do so by going to our website at BaptistBibleHour.org. Till we greet you next time, this is LeSaire Bradley, Jr. bidding you goodbye and may God bless you. It is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior, praising my Savior, praising my Savior all the day long.