God-Validated - 5

It has been such a joy to be with you once again in the gospel of our great Savior and to open the Word together and to be as one body together in Christ here in this location.

It is always a joy to be with you. I think this is the tenth time that I've been here for meetings and what a delight each of those has been and how swiftly the past 20 years have gone. That's one of the things that amazes me so much about life but it was a token of great divine favor when he put me in touch with your pastor and we were able to establish the fellowship that has continued and grown through the years and that has been a part of our gatherings here and so I thank you for your very very careful attention. This is a very easy place to preach. It's obvious that a sound theological and expositional foundation has been laid and continued to be developed here for a congregation to be so very attentive.

Sunday before last I preached in another Baptist Church in my area there in Maryland and I would tell you that there are very very few Baptist churches there that would dare to have me preach for them anytime but I was happy to be there with a dear a dear pastor and there was a fellow on the back road to know who he was but he just kept looking at his watch and then wouldn't look at his watch again and then on one occasion he got up and went out. Now I don't know if it's because his bathroom trips were timed or what it was and that's why when the time had come but he did come back in I'll say but I haven't seen anybody here looking at their watch at all and maybe it's because my eyes have failed and I'm just not seeing like I used to but your attentiveness your kindness your friendship your fellowship in the gospel are all beyond description and I am so grateful for the blessing the Lord has given me to be with you in this regard again my thanks to all of you that I've been able to sit down across the table from and eat and fellowship on a more personal basis and for the wonderful communications we've had here in the church for your and here in the sanctuary as well. We've read Psalm number 19 and the target to which I am pressing in this message is that verse number seven it says the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. The idea there that the scriptures the law of God is complete it is perfect and it is effectual that's what we work toward this evening as we deal with the last topic of the five on the news that you can trust namely the scriptures the only news you can trust and come tonight to consider the subject of it being God validated. We noticed in the first message that it was God breathed he breathed forth through holy men of old the very words he would have us receive the revelation from above and we noted Sunday night that it is God preserved and in an amazing collection of information far far more vast than we considered on Sunday evening we see the unmistakable evidence that the scriptures have been preserved supernaturally when you consider so ancient a piece of literature for which over 5,000 ancient manuscripts yet remain when other literature of the same class may have at most 20 manuscript there's no comparison the uniqueness of the scripture being preserved by God and then we considered on Monday evening how the scriptures are blessed by God in as much as wherever the Word of God goes and is received prosperity follows to that culture that nation and the most prosperous nations of all human history are those that have received the scriptures and that is not to say that everyone in them is saved by any stretch of the imagination but it is a matter of cultures that are built upon biblical precepts thereby demonstrating that those precepts and that worldview has been embraced by that people in the production of their culture and wherever that has been prosperity has followed God has blessed his word happy is the nation whose God is the Lord and then we noticed as well that God has worked through his word to bring about purposes that men could never achieve and we come tonight to consider God validating his word but this is the problem we have tonight if we can call it a problem all of the messages to this point have in essence been evidences of God validating the scripture the scripture is validated by the fact that it has been preserved if that is not a validating argument there is none a validating argument the way that the people's who've embraced the scripture have been blessed and prospered and in fact the problem we come to at the message tonight is the problem of knowing what to include because the fact is everything is a validation of scripture the whole of creation this is something that this Psalm we've read is strongly suggesting the heavens declare the glory of God you cannot describe the heavens except by virtue of the God of the scripture he's the only one that can be the source and if you go away from that you've got evolution is the best offer man can make and what a lame offer it is I mean not to get off of the subject onto that matter but we know by human experience universally the order and structure and complexity never arise unaided out of chaos it does not happen we know it doesn't happen we do not expect a jet airliner to originate in a scrap metal yard complexity order sophistication never arises unaided out of chaos and yet the evolutionary world adopts a system which is a continual proclamation of that thing we all came up out of random nothingness and they defend that position by saying it could happen over long long time in other words billions of years but there again we all know that time does not improve things leave your house for ten years just five unattended to nobody to cut your lawn just leave it and you will come back to a house that is bedlam overgrown with vines and everything else and you'll have a major job straightening up because time does not lend itself to the improvement of matter it only declines and yet that is one of the great necessities and defenses of the evolutionary theory no no creation validates the scripture and so while I'm off subject here it's just to make this point the whole creation is a validation of God's Word and so to take 25 35 45 minutes Brandon said I could preach to midnight if I want I told him I would tell you that to take that much time and I said that you'd run him out of town if I did that to take that much time and try to pick what to include in such a small part of time when discussion of everything that is could clearly be a validation of the scripture is a challenge but willing to ever to do so so I better get back on subject and quit talking and let me say number one much of what we've already discussed this week that the uniqueness of the Bible itself is God's validation of the scripture we talked about it Sunday morning how that 1500 years think again of a book that began to be written in the year 521 and was just completed and came off the press yesterday and over that 1500 year period from all manner of different cultures 40 different writers were writing out of their own experience in their own language out of their own culture and writing about the most controversial subject known to man religion and when it's finished 1,500 years later it is the most unified and coherent thematic presentation that you can find that alone proclaims its validity it must be what it claims to be it must be what Christ's Church make it to be in their preaching and claim the very Word of God the uniqueness of the scripture unique in its preservation as we've already noted what other book has been preserved from antiquity with such abundant textual manuscript support preserved not simply in those manuscripts but preserved in the writings of the church fathers as we noted Sunday that the whole of the scripture could be rewritten by quoting from the church fathers who in their writing quoted the whole Bible ultimately name another book these uniquenesses of the Word of God bespeak the fact that it is the Word of God and of course as we noted the uniqueness of God's blessing upon it wherever it is gone prosperity has followed let me ask you a question has Islam been good for the people who are under its Dominion I think I know how you would answer you find such despotism and hardship and you contrast the history of the Islamic world with the history of the Protestant Christian world and you have basically a long list of contrasts not even comparison the uniqueness of scripture the power that it has exerted in human lives which we'll get to further and so the fact of all of these unique qualities of scripture which arise out of its content testify that that content is valid and who gave that content God himself and so God validates the scripture simply through the uniqueness of its content of its authorship of its presentation and of the blessings that attend to the proclaiming of God's Word a second area of validation that I choose tonight is the fact that the scripture validates itself by fulfilled prophecy and you consider the prophecies that are made in the scripture and then the fulfillment of them reported in the scripture fulfillments which are not only reported in scripture but confirmed historically and once again you come to a unique book unlike any other which was right on right on right on again and again and again and again with its prophecies that have been fulfilled let me name a few of them in Isaiah chapter 7 it foretold that Jesus would be born the son of a virgin the reporting of its fulfillment Matthew chapter 1 verses 18 through 25 as well as Galatians chapter 4 and verse 4 in Genesis chapter 12 there was the prediction that Messiah would be born the seed of Abraham and in Matthew chapter 1 in the genealogy of Christ it is confirmed in Genesis 49 it is foretold that this Messiah this King would be from the tribe of Judah and in Matthew chapter 1 as well as Hebrews 7 and Revelation 5 the confirmation of that is given in 2nd Samuel chapter 7 it was foretold he would be born of the household of David in Matthew chapter 1 as well as what Romans chapter 1 report the fulfillment thereof Micah 5 2 said that he would be born in Bethlehem and Matthew chapter 2 verses 6 & 8 identified that as his birthplace Hosea chapter 11 verse 1 says he would be called out of Egypt in Matthew chapter 2 presents the fulfillment of it Isaiah chapter 40 predicted that he would have a forerunner in John chapter 1 records the ministry of John the Baptist who was the fulfillment of that prophecy Isaiah chapter 35 foretold that he was to be a worker of miracles and in fact the Gospels record 37 detailed miracles of Jesus however the Apostle John shocks us by saying that the world would be too small if they tried to record all Jesus Christ had said and done that was in John 21 the whole world could not contain the record of his miraculous works in Isaiah 53 it was foretold that he was to be a man of sorrows and so in Matthew 26 we read that he took with him Peter into two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy and then said he to them my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death Isaiah 53 also told that Jesus was to be rejected of men and in John chapter 1 verse 12 we read he came into his own and his own received him not we read as well of Barabbas whom the people of Israel under the instigation of the evil religious leaders chose to be released rather than Christ Barabbas who had committed murder in leading an insurrection men desired him over Christ he was rejected of men as Isaiah had said Zechariah chapter 13 foretold that our Lord would be deserted and indeed Matthew 26 tells us that Jesus said to the multitudes or you come out against me as a thief with swords and staves to take me away I sat daily with you in the temple and laid no ho ye laid no hold upon me but all this was done that it might be fulfilled in the scriptures of the prophets all the disciples forsook him and fled he was to be scourged Isaiah 53 tells us and indeed Matthew 27 records the scourging the flogging the beating of Christ Psalm 69 said he would be given vinegar to drink and all four of the gospel writers record that event upon the cross where vinegar was given to him to drink Psalm 22 foretold that he would be pierced and indeed John 20 speaks about Thomas coming and wanting to put his fingers in the piercings of the hands saying he wouldn't believe till he had done so we find that he was surrounded by enemies forsaken in Psalm 22 in Matthew 26 presents that scene in the Garden of Gethsemane and then in the trial before Pilate Psalm 22 as well says that he would be forsaken by God and indeed from the cross Christ stated those very words that God had forsaken him Isaiah 53 said he would be numbered with the transgressors and we know from Matthew 27 that he was crucified between two transgressors the thieves we're told from Psalm 22 that he would agonize with thirst and indeed in John chapter 19 in verse 28 tells us that he said from the cross I thirst and in fact as John gave that account he prefaces it by saying Jesus knowing that all things were now fulfilled that the scriptures might be accomplished saith I thirst and there you have Christ upon the cross fully cognizant of what is happening and knowing that the scriptures foretold that he would thirst and so at that point he says I thirst knowing the scriptures foretold they would give him vinegar to drink and he knew if he said I thirst they would come with the vinegar and it's exactly what happened he was in full control as he was there on the cross seeing to it scripture was fulfilled we find from Psalm 31 it was foretold that he would commend his spirit to God and indeed in Luke 23 46 he says father into thy hands I commend my spirit Psalm 22 foretold that he would have his garments divided and distributed and indeed Matthew Luke and John all three report the soldiers gambling over his garments Psalm 34 proclaimed that there would not be one bone of his broken in John 1936 records how that happened indeed crucifixion victims always had their legs broken because it hastened their death but when the one who would break the legs came to Jesus he saw he was already dead and so he didn't exert his effort to break his legs thus fulfilling scripture Isaiah 53 verse 9 said he would be buried with the rich and indeed John 19 in Matthew 27 speak of a rich man Joseph of Arimathea who craved the body of Christ to put it in his own tomb Psalm 16 foretold that he would arise from the dead without seeing corruption in Matthew Mark Luke John and Paul all speak about the resurrection of Christ fulfilled Psalm 68 says he would ascend into glory in acts 1 records the fulfillment of his ascension into glory these are 24 passages prophecies of the Old Testament that were fulfilled in the new and the point to be observed is it appears there are 356 such Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in the new show to me another book with those credentials uniqueness of the Word of God God validating his word but there's more to be noted from this and this was brought to my attention refreshingly this afternoon as Bob Latour and I sat at lunch together and he spoke concerning what he teaches in his Bible class at the Christian School and his comments prompted me to go back to my room and do a Google search and find out more as well and doing so I see what he's talking about and it's worthy of our consideration what are the odds that one person might be the one who is the full filler of these prophecies if you take just eight of these prophecies the odds that one person would fulfill those eight prophecies when mathematically calculated calculated are utterly staggering for one person to be the one in whom only eight of these prophecies are fulfilled that person would be one in 100,000 I'm not finished yet 100,000 trillion right one and then 17 zeros after and then do what I did go to the computer to ask how you say it in words the odds that one person would be the fulfillment of just eight of these prophecies all of them converging on one are one in 100,000 trillion and if that's not staggering Christ is the fulfillment of all 356 of them and if this does not validate the scripture then nothing is real everything is just a phantom dream a third validation of the scripture I would maintain is the confidence that later biblical writers expressed in the integrity of the earlier biblical writers you read the writers of the New Testament and you see the confidence that they expressed in affirming the Old Testament writers and it's not that they were good buddies just scratching one another's backs the New Testament writers who wrote within a period of about 40 years didn't know any of the Old Testament writers personally the closest one to them was 400 years before them that's older than this country is and yet they refer to the Old Testament with an absolute bedrock certainty of its reliability Matthew quotes the Old Testament 36 times mostly from the prophets Isaiah Zechariah and Malachi and the Psalms in Deuteronomy Jesus referred to the divine authority of the Old Testament in Matthew 5 8 12 Luke 4 10 and 15 17 24 and in John chapter 5 he quoted the Old Testament almost see yes he quoted the Old Testament 78 times the books of Moses 26 times our Lord quoted from Genesis Exodus Leviticus Deuteronomy Psalms Proverbs Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Amos Jonah Micah and Malachi he referred to the Old Testament as the scriptures as the Word of God as the wisdom of God the Apostles quoted 209 times from the Old Testament and it's considered it to be quote the oracles of God and as we've already noted the Old Testament in hundreds of places predicted the events of the New Testament as the New Testament is the fulfillment of the old we have such things as this showing Christ's commitment to the Old Testament and I might mention there's a sermon that I preached some time ago endeavoring to answer the question to what extent did Christ believe the Old Testament and that's a very valid question and study to undertake because so many of the theological liberals to say nothing of the people they've influenced look to the Old Testament as points just mythical information you mean there was a man that was swallowed by a whale and survived to tell about it you know that cannot be true you mean God sent fire and brimstone from heaven upon a city and destroyed it you can't believe that is those are just a snake talked to a woman and misled them come now that's the attitude toward the Old Testament that's just mythology it's allegory to teach us some other truth that's the mindset and yet we find that Christ emphatically and repeatedly affirmed his absolute and unwavering confidence in the Old Testament and so if we're going to news the word Christian we better believe what Christ said and what he said was an absolute affirmation of the Old Testament to this extent the soldiers came into Gethsemane to arrest the Lord Jesus and take him away to judgment he knew what it was about he knew it would be to take him to the trial and then his death and Peter pulls out his sword swings it and one of those who has come to take Christ who happens to be Malchus the servant of the high priest and Peter cuts off the man's ear I think the guy probably lurked sideways so he didn't get his head and consequently he just got his ear the Lord Jesus said to Peter put your sword away do you not think that I could call legions of angels but how then would the scriptures be fulfilled and what you see that Christ there who had the capacity to call the armies of heaven to his defense and deliverance knew that to do so would mean the scriptures were not fulfilled and that's what he lived to do the will of his father in heaven and he was so committed to the Old Testament scriptures that he chose as a disciple Judas Iscariot knowing from the start Jesus would betray him so that thereby the scriptures would be fulfilled and he would not speak up for his own defense at the assembly because to do so would transgress the fulfillment of scripture this is the extent to which Christ believed in the exact literalness of the Old Testament scriptures and for me to believe anything else is to be in conflict with Christ and those in conflict with Christ have no right to call themselves Christians but many do a fourth validation that I would point to of the scripture is what I will call the validation or the confirmation of primitive conscience now when I speak of primitive conscience I'm speaking of that innate conscience with which every human being is born primitive conscience before it has been distorted by hardness of heart and repeated sin I choose this example I have told a lie you have told a lie you didn't tell me that you did but I know you did we are a bunch of liars you and me both you probably do not remember the first lie you told but you probably do recall that instinctively you knew that a lie was not truth you knew that truth was something over here that you were contradicting or obfuscating that you were refusing to acknowledge you were endeavoring to convince someone that something untrue was true when you lied and in your own heart and conscience though you didn't process all of these explanations surely yet you knew instinctively that a lie was wrong nobody had to stop you and tell you oh no lies are not right they're wrong you knew that you knew instinctively that stealing was wrong nobody had to tell you that betrayal misrepresenting of another person unfaithfulness all of these things we have an instinctive conscience that they are wrong and yes that conscience by being often transgressed can be cut down to nothing can be hardened until you no longer feel it but there's a point in time where you have a primitive conscience and you know many things to be right and wrong based upon that and this is the thing to know the scripture validates that conscience it says the same thing and by the same measure the conscience validates the scripture here you have two separate and distinct items the book of God's revelation and the creation of God in a human being and both are saying the same thing until the one in man is dulled and perverted by willful presumptuous transition primitive conscience in mankind agrees with the morality of scripture there is something instinctive to tell a person that he ought not to commit adultery and no one has to tell him that and as the Apostle Paul wrote to the people of Rome he pointed out how the Gentiles do by nature the things that are contained in the law of God how does the evolutionist describe explain conscience that human beings have a certain set of instinctive values which they've not been taught because many of the human beings who have it have had no teaching whatsoever which have not been learned from scripture for the same reason many of those who have those values have never had the scripture but they have that set of values and I would maintain that the fact that God has given that to every one testifies to in fact the validity of the scripture proclaiming the same and the proclamation of the scripture validates the conscience as well it's it's cross validation so God has written the law upon our hearts and this validates among many other things is a validator of the law of God but now we come to what is I believe the ultimate and absolute and most conspicuous validation of the law of God and we've read from the 7th verse of Psalm 19 the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the law of the Lord is perfect okay it is perfect in its origin it is the law of the Lord he gave it it can be nothing but perfect it is perfect as well in its obligation it obligates every human being there are none exempted from the law of God the scripture God willing tomorrow I will cross the North Carolina Virginia border and once I'm in Virginia North Carolina has no jurisdiction over me but I can never cross a boundary and get away from divine jurisdiction because the law of the Lord obligates all souls it is perfect in its origin it is perfect in its obligation and then I would say third it is perfect in its operation when you think of every legal system on planet earth you recognize they are all imperfect and we could go to the things that they require or forbid and find imperfections among those but I'm not talking about that I'm rather talking about the structure of human government and the imperfections of it if you are ever involved in a trial a criminal trial or you observe what goes on there you recognize that there are two potential results either guilty or not guilty but it's to be noted that there is no result innocent it's simply guilty or not guilty guilty means the evidence says they're guilty not guilty says it's not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt that they are guilty but it doesn't say they're innocent and we are all aware of loophole lawyers who specialize in getting criminals off the hook and my are they good at it and the criminals are good at getting the money needed to pay them because you have to pay them well reminds me of a distant relative that I had by marriage on my father's side of the family I spoke with him only once he was an attorney he was retired when I spoke to him but he'd had a reputation in Harford County for being the lawyer to go to if you're in trouble he will get you off the hook he started this law practice in the backseat of his car and if a client came to him with a guilty issue he would say to him I'll take your case you pay me $25 if I win for you you pay me $50 double that and he built a law practice that I think was a rather shady practice and all the bad people knew he's the guy to go to and at the one time I spoke with him as we were at a family get-together a dinner he made the comment I always figured that if I could get a guilty man off the hook then innocent people had an even better chance themselves no isn't that great reasoning isn't that wonderful what a way to approach the enforcement of law how many lawyers function in that kind of an ethical climate and I'm not here to pick on lawyers I have a nephew who just graduated from law school and some of you have children in law school we need good lawyers but you see what I'm saying there is an imperfection in our legal system and we cannot have the verdicts guilty or innocent because we could never know that the person is really innocent we can only say it's not been proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that he is guilty and therefore he's were declared not guilty that's man's law and legal system the law of the Lord is perfect he knows the thoughts and intents of the heart human law addresses only the outer behavior and it doesn't really address that it only addresses the outer behavior that has been observed and it really doesn't address that it only addresses the outer behavior which has been observed and demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt to be the wrong behavior then the verdict can be guilty when it comes to the law of the Lord there was no question the scriptures are a searcher a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart all things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do nothing will hide or obscure the truth as God knows it and sees it the law of the Lord is perfect it's perfect in its operation but the perfection of its operation goes even further than that for it says the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the judge on the judge's bench can see the guilt of the criminal and can sentence him to a sentence of punishment but he can't change the scoundrels heart he cannot rewire the criminals thinking or reprogram his computer but that's what the law of the Lord does the scriptures change the sinner and in that is one of the greatest validations of their truthfulness and of their origin and of the fact they they are the Word of God they actually remake the person and the fact that across the planet tonight there is a Church of Jesus Christ comprised of sinners who have truly been transformed from darkness to light from death to life from sinners to Saints from enemies of God to sons of God from children of perdition to children of glory validates the scripture God has done a mighty work and nothing but the scripture will do that Harry a Ironside how many of you have heard of Harry Ironside Harry Ironside was a prominent Bible teacher and conference speaker in this country in the first half of the last century and on one Sunday afternoon as he was walking home from the place where he had spoken there in San Francisco walking along Market Street he heard at the corner of Market and Grand Avenue a commotion something going on and soon recognized what he was hearing was a Salvation Army band as they were having a street meeting out there on the streets of San Francisco and so he went to join with them he was one with them in cause and in Christ and when he got to the group a rather good group that had assembled there the lady who was the captain of that division of the Salvation Army I don't understand all of the rank and divisions of the Salvation Army but the lady that was the captain immediately recognized him and asked him if he would like to give a word of testimony which he was very happy to do and so as he stood before the group testifying he noticed at the outer fringes of the group a listener who appeared to be a well dignified gentleman he was well dressed his demeanor and deportment and presence was one that was impressive and he observed that man reaching into his pocket and pulling out a card and the man took a pen then and began writing on the card and as Harry approached the ending of his testimony this man walked up to him and handed him the card which immediately Ironside looked down at and when he saw it was a man's business card he recognized the name right away for the man was a very prominent and well-known leader in the labor union movement of that time he represented the IWW which stood for industrial workers of the world its critics said it stood for I won't work but they had a different different attitude than he did obviously and this is a man who had traveled considerably on the west coast of the country endeavoring to incite class warfare and set the workers against the leaders of industry and the man was an open agnostic you know what an agnostic is someone who says you cannot know that there is a God an open agnostic and eloquent speaker and agitator of people and Harry noticed on the back of that business card that he had written a little statement which read sir I challenge you to debate with me the question agnosticism versus Christianity in the Academy of Science Hall next Sunday afternoon at 4 o'clock I will pay all expenses well immediately Harry responded that next Sunday at 3 he was scheduled to speak elsewhere but he thought he could finish in time to be there at 4 and he would indeed come for this debate upon two conditions condition number one he says to the man in the hearing of all present to whom he has now read the content of the card I will abate debate with you next Sunday but you must bring with you a man a man who will say in his own experience and testimony I was down and out I was overcome by sin and oppression drunkenness and profligacy I was at the end of my rope life was meaningless I had nothing and was utterly wasted but then I came and heard this man speak about agnosticism and my heart was gripped and I was challenged to start a new life and indeed as I embraced the teachings of this agnosticism I became a new man I got victory over all of the things that I was unable to get victory over and I've been living prosperously ever since and then Ironside continued and said the second being the condition I want you to bring a woman who will testify that she had given herself over to the passions of the flesh and to the whole world of godless women users and at that point Ironside said of perhaps even a woman from down here and he pointed over to the area known in San Francisco for its red-light district as we would call it I want you to bring that woman who will testify the same thing my life was ruined and I had nothing to live for but then I discovered through this man's teaching agnosticism and it transformed my life and Harry said if you will bring a man and a woman whom I've just described next Sunday at four o'clock I will be there with 100 people who will say I went to the scriptures and met Christ and he transformed my heart and my soul and made me new and at that time Ironside turned to the captain of the Salvation Army and said can you provide some to come and she came back yes I can get you a 40 real quick and I'll put the Salvation Army band there to lead the procession to the debate and Harry says very well and good I will lead the procession with the band behind me playing onward Christian soldiers and we will have the debate and the would-be debater just waved his hand and walked away while the crowd laughed and cheered you will not find any ideology or book of ideology which is brought about the transformation of lives as the scripture does as it does every day around the world and the greatest validation of the scripture is the Word of God is the fact that there are sinners saved by grace who have utterly repudiated what they once were and have embraced as their own the Lord and Savior of the scripture who is the subject of the Word of God that reveals him to us and therein God validates the scripture by way of the glorious gospel if you've not had the new birth the gospel of Christ applied effectually to your heart seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near for he says him that cometh unto me I will that no wise cast out shall we bow together as we pray our God and our father what mercy and overwhelming love is evident in the fact that you've revealed yourself to ungrateful wretched sinners who by nature are enemies of God who would blaspheme thee and hate thee and turn from thee and yet they were pursued by grace and subdued by the sovereign conquering love that is manifest in the giving of the scripture to us and indeed as we consider the fact that God has saved our soul therein we know the scripture to be true and in the conversion of a sinner scriptures greatest validation is on display bless our time together considering thy great and holy word this week and may it be to the prophet of souls now and forevermore we pray in Jesus name amen