Adrian Rogers was a motivator, an encourager, and a leader of the faith. He was also passionate about presenting scriptural application to everyday life circumstances. And you'll hear that in today's message.
Now, let's join Adrian Rogers. Take God's word. And turn to 1 Peter chapter 1, and in a moment we're going to begin reading in verse 23. We've been talking about kingdom authority. And God put you into his kingdom.
He has given you back the dominion that Adam lost. And he wants you to have authority in your life. You're not to be a slave of the world, the flesh, and the devil. You're not to be a victim. You are to be a victor.
You are to be living in this life, reigning in this life in authority. But we have taught you that in order to have authority, you must submit yourself to authority. You can never be over those things that God wants you to be over. until you are under those things that God has said. Does that make sense to you?
You must be under in order to be over.
Now God does not give His authority to To rebels. If you have a rebellious spirit, If you rebel against the authority that God has set over you, then God is not going to give kingdom authority to you. And if you live without kingdom authority, what a tragic loss. Today we're going to talk to you about the authority of the word of the Lord. Because when the king is supreme, then his word is supreme.
So we're talking to you today. about the word of the king. And the word of the king. Is the word of God.
Now let's read what the scripture says about the word of God, and we're going to break in in verse 23. It tells us how we are saved. Being born again. not of corruptible seed. but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
For all flesh is as grass. and the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord. endureth.
Forever. And this is the word. by which the gospel is preached unto you.
Now it's very obvious that the theme there is the word. The word of the Lord, the word of the king. What can you do with the Bible?
Well, there are some who despise the Bible. They hate Christ, they hate the Bible, they hate churches, they hate you, they hate me, and they despise the Word of God. But not only are there those who despise the Bible, they're those who deny the Bible. They just simply say, I don't believe it, I don't accept it as the Word of God. And that settles it.
Then there are others. They don't despise it or deny it, but they distort it. They claim to believe it. But they twist it and get fanciful interpretations and lead men astray claiming to believe the Bible, but they actually distort the Bible. Then there are others who don't distort it, but they dissect it.
Rather than reading it as a love story, they read it as a math book. And these are the people who can split a theological hair into 16 equal sections, but somehow they hear the words, but they never get the music. They don't understand the message of the Bible, though they call themselves theologians. But these are not the greatest danger. The great danger in this crowd are those who disregard it.
They claim to believe it, but very frankly they know very little about it. Many who've been Christians for many years have not read all of the Bible. You're not conversant with the Bible. You don't know the themes of the Bible. You don't understand the great chapters of the Bible.
Now, obviously, no one has mastered the Bible, but many of us have done so little. to understand God's word. Is it not true? That many people spend a great deal of time with the newspapers and the television. I want to ask you a question.
How many of you believe with all of your heart that the Bible is the Word of God? How many of you believe everything you read in the newspaper and see on television?
Now, how many of you spend more time with the newspapers than you do with the Word of God, reading something? That you don't believe, and neglecting something, you say you do believe. Don't you think there's time for adjustment? Don't you think that we better get things in priority? This is the word of the king, and we're going to learn how to have authority when we get under the authority of the word of God.
Now, let me give you four things about the Bible. that I pray will burn themselves into your heart. Four things about the word of the king. First of all, it is God's incontestable word. God's incontestable word.
What I mean by that is this. that we cannot We cannot come up against the Bible. Successfully. There's no contest there because the Bible is just what it says it is: the Word of God. Look again in verse 23: being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible.
Bye. The word Yeah.
Now the Bible calls itself by many terms But God's favorite expression for the Bible is simply this. The Word of God.
Now you find it here. Let me give you some other scriptures. For example, Acts 4, verse 31. They spake the word of God with boldness. Romans 10 verse 17, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 17. And the sword of the spirit Which is The Word of God. Hebrews 4, 12, and the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword.
So Then I love this one, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13, for this cause also, thank we God without ceasing. Because when you received the word of God, which you heard of us, Ye received it not as the word of men. But as it is in truth, The word of God.
Now you say, pastor? Why is that important? Why do you call it the word of God? Because you see, If it is the Word of God, and it is, over 500 times in the first five books of the Bible, it is called the Word of God or something similar. Over 1,000 times in the books of the prophets, it says this is the word of God.
Over 4,000 times in the Old Testament, it uses this equivalent, the Word of God, 44 times in the New Testament, the Word of God, if that is true. That this book is the Word of God, then you can say this: when the Bible speaks, God speaks.
Now listen. When the Bible speaks God speaks. And if God is speaking in the Bible, what conclusions must you therefore draw? If it is the word of God, then it must be perfect. Amen?
It's absolute perfection if it is the Word of God. For the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. And a God of truth could not inspire Error. It is the Word of God. And the Bible says in the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 30 and verse 6, every word of God is pure.
Jesus said in Matthew chapter 4, verse 4, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. The Bible was given by God. He used human penmen. Their ideas, their expressions, their personalities are all reflected in the Bible. but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Let me show you something beautiful. Did you know? That God gave the same title to Jesus that He gave to the Bible? What does God call the Bible in our text in verse 23, the Word of God? What does God call his son in Revelation chapter 19 and verse 13?
Here's God's description. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called. the Word of God.
Now a man in his word may be different, but God in his word are not. What I mean by that is that Jesus and the Bible are not identical, but they are inseparable, and you cannot separate the word of the Lord from the Lord of that word. And the Lord of the Word is called the Word of God, just as the Word itself is called the Word of God. Think of the similarities between Jesus and the Bible, both have come from God. The scriptures have come from God, and the Bible says in Galatians 4, verse 4, that God sent forth his Son.
The scriptures will last forever. 1 Peter 1 verse 25, the word of the Lord endureth forever. And Jesus endures forever. Revelation 1.18, he says, I am alive forevermore. Amen.
Both are unchanging. Jesus said in Matthew 5, verse 18: Not a jot nor a tittle will fall from the law till all be fulfilled. And Jesus As described in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 8, as the one who changes not, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Both Jesus and the Bible are lights in a dark world. Jesus said in John 8, verse 12, I am the light of the world.
And the Bible says of itself in Psalm 119, verse 105: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. John 17 verse 17 says, that the Bible is truth. Jesus said, thy word is truth. But in John 14, verse 6, Jesus said, I am the truth. You see?
If you believe in Jesus... You have to believe in the Bible. If you believe in the Bible, you have to believe in Jesus. You cannot separate the two. You think that the Bible as as the incontestable word of God has incredible power.
That's the reason the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12. For the word of God is quick. and powerful.
Now what does that mean quick and powerful?
Well, the word quick is a translation of the word zoon. It's the word we get zoology from, or zoo from. It means alive. It has life. And the word powerful is the Greek word energes.
It means it pulsates, it throbs with power. It's not like any other book. You read other books, this book reads you. It has power, it has life. And it has power.
And I've learned that about preaching the Bible. I've preached the Bible long enough to know this is not. an ordinary book. It cuts, it burns, it crushes, it has. One man was translating the scriptures, and the more he got into the scriptures translating the scriptures, he said, I became so impressed with the power of the word of God, I felt like I was trying to rewire a house without cutting off the main switch.
That's the power. of the Word of God.
So put this down in your heart and in your mind. It is the word of God. It is not like any other book. Believe this. Believe this.
When the Bible speaks, God. speaks. When the Bible speaks, God speaks. It is the word. Of God.
It is the incontestable Word of God.
Now, here's the second thing. Not only is it the incontestable word of God, it is the incorruptible word of God. Look now in verse 23. being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible By the Word of God.
Now why do we say it is incorruptible? Because It has not a taint. nor a blemish of any corruption upon it. And it will remain that way. There's nothing men can do.
to add any corruption. to the Word of God.
Now plenty have tried. One man said, One way I know the Bible is the Word of God, it has stood up under so much shoddy preaching. Amen. You know, you think about any other book. that's had so many wackos and weirdos and fruit loops claiming to believe it.
It would have gone the way, it would have been corrupted, but it stands today, ever pure. Every word of God is pure. Atheists have railed against the Bible. Cynics And agnostics have smiled at it. Liberals have moved heaven and earth to remove its miracles.
Materialists have ignored it. Radicals and false cults have twisted it, and yet it is the incorruptible word of God. Dr. Robert G. Lee.
was my predecessor once removed. A dear man, I had a lot of fellowship with Dr. Lee before. He died and He and I were friends and I had the responsibility and the privilege to preach his funeral when he died. But Dr.
Lee said this about the Bible, and I've copied it down. It is so beautiful. I want you to listen to it. We're talking about the Bible being incorruptible. And he said, quote, All its enemies have not torn one hole in its holy vesture.
are stolen one flower from its wonderful garden. nor diluted one drop of honey. From its abundant hive, nor broke in one string on its thousand-stringed harp. Nor drowned one sweet word in infidel ink. Don't you like that?
The Bible Is the incontestable word of God because it is just that, it is the word of God. It is in the incorruptible word of God. You say, Well, Pastor, We live in a day of modern science. Does it bother you when science contradicts the Bible? No, it does not.
Friend, I am not worried about modern science. Give the scientists time. Maybe one day they'll catch up with the Word of God. And don't worry about it. Don't worry about it.
When a scientist has something good to say about the Bible, That doesn't give me any more faith in the Bible, just a little more faith in the scientists. It is the incorruptible word of God. It is the incontestable word of God. It is the incorruptible word of God. Now, here's the third thing I want you to learn about the Bible.
It, friend, is the in destructible Word of God. The indestructible word of God. Look, if you would, in the last part of verse 23. It is the Word of God. Which liveth.
and abideth What's that next word? Forever. And then uh look if you would in the last part of uh This text. Verse 25. But the word of the Lord.
Endureth. Forever. The Bible is not the book of the month. Here's the book of the ages.
Now it took some 1500 years to write. And the writers span some 30 generations of world history. The Bible was written by men who died some 2,000 to 3,000 years ago. But today it's the most widely circulated book. Thank God for this book.
It is fresh. It is alive. What other book is like the Bible? It is the indestructible word of God. Century after century, men have tried to bury it or burn it.
The kings of the earth have set themselves against it and even the public schools in America seem to be dead set against it. Many centuries ago, there was a Roman emperor whose name was Diocletian. He hated the Bible. In the year 303 AD, he declared a war against the Bible, and Bibles were confiscated and destroyed. And Christians Who named the name of Jesus were put to death many of them with excruciating pain.
Pain. He so hated the Bible that he took a Bible and burned it. And then on top of that burned Bible, he erected a monument. and had chiseled on that monument these words. Extincto.
Normany Christian Nora. What does that mean? The name of Christian is extinct. That's what Diocletian said, but Diocletian died and went to hell. And in 325 AD, Constantine enthroned the Bible.
as the infallible judge of truth in the first general church council. And the Bible came forth like that dove out of Noah's Ark. What are we saying? We're saying that the Bible is the incorruptible word of God. And in spite of all of the rantings and ravings of the naysayers, the Bible cannot fade nor decay, and the foul breath of time and the gnawing tooth of decay cannot destroy the word of God.
Thank God for that. I read somewhere where a man was told to build a wall. That would not fall down. He said, all right. He said, I'll do it.
And he built a wall that was four feet high and five feet wide. And he said, now if anybody pushes this wall over, it'll be a foot taller than it was before they pushed it over. And friend, that's the way the Word of God is. It seems that the more men come against the Word of God, the more the Word of God seems to prosper. And to grow.
Now, here's the final thing, and we're going to slow down here just a moment when we get to the final thing. We said the Bible is the incontestable Word of God because it is just that: the Word of God. We said that the Bible This wonderful book is not only incontestable, but we've said that it is incorruptible. It's the Word of God. incorruptible seed.
And we said it's indestructible. But here's the thing I really want you to see. The Word of God, the Bible, is the indispensable. Word of God. The indispensable word of God.
Look, if you will, in verse 25. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word. by which the gospel is preached unto you.
Now, no Bible. No church, no Bible, no Christianity. Why is the Bible so important? He's talking about the word. And he says, this is the word by which the gospel is preached unto you.
I want you to notice three things about this right now. The Bible. The king's word. provides The church's message. What is the church's message?
The gospel. We have no other message. But the gospel. Paul said, I knew nothing among you. except Jesus and him crucified.
Friend, everything that we preach springs from the gospel and relates back to the gospel. That is the message of the church. You know what I want to be known as? I want to be known as a gospel preacher. And what is the gospel?
Christ died for our sins. He was buried. He was raised again the third day. That's the gospel. He died for our sins, and he was raised from the dead.
I hope you believe the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. History's central event. And that gospel doesn't need to be rethought. It needs to be retaught. We don't need a new and a modern gospel for a new and a modern age.
I am content to preach. the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the Bible from cover to cover. that tells about the gospel. Don't get the idea that the gospel is only found in the New Testament.
The gospel is found in the first pages of Genesis, and it goes all the way through the Bible. The Bible teaches us that Jesus saves. The Bible has one villain, the devil. It has one hero, Jesus, and it has one message, Jesus saves. I hope you understand that.
This is the word by which the gospel is preached unto you. I enjoy being called a gospel preacher. I'd rather be known as a gospel preacher than be known as an intellectual. And I know that there are a lot of people who can preach the gospel better than I can, but nobody can preach a better gospel than I can, because that gospel comes right out of the Word of God. I'm not a prophet.
I'm not an apostle. But I'll tell you what. I can preach with the authority of a prophet and an apostle if I preach what the prophets and the apostles preached. Isn't that wonderful? You see, the Bible says we're built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.
So I can stand up and say to you without stutter or stammer, this is the word of the Lord. This book that we love so well provides the church's message, and the church's message is the gospel.
Now, secondly, Not only does it provide the message, But folks, it prescribes the method.
Now, the message and the method are tied together.
Now, look in verse 25. But the word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word by which the gospel is. What's that next word? Preached. On to you.
The method is preaching. I don't say that because I'm a preacher. But I'm telling you that God's plan for the church is for the gospel. to be preached.
Now in many churches preaching has gone out of vogue, out of style, and we've tried with pageants and plays and suppers and concerts and many other things to somehow get some substitution for the preaching of the Word of God. But the Bible makes it very clear that the method is the preaching of the Word of God. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18 says, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish. Foolishness. But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God.
And 1 Corinthians 1, verse 21 says, For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God. by the foolishness of preaching. To save them that believe. It doesn't say foolish preaching.
But the foolishness Of preaching. You see, the church's method is the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It may be preaching from a pulpit. It may be preaching in a Bible study. It may be going door to door, but taking the message of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and proclaiming that message.
Now, here's the third thing. It produces the church's members. Look, if you will, again, in verse 23. Look at it. Being born again.
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible Why? the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. You see, the Bible is seed. That is alive. And you put a seed in the ground and it brings forth life that corresponds to the life that was put in that ground.
I have preached long enough to know that there is life in the Bible. God's word is like a sword that cuts. It's like a fire that burns. It's like a water that quenches thirst. It is like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces.
It is like seed that brings forth life. And it is the word of God that produces the church's members. And the Bible says we're born again. Not by corruptible seed, but by incorruptible, by the word of God. The Bible teaches a regenerate church membership.
The Bible teaches that those who are members of the church are not members of the church simply because their parents were members of the church. They must be born again. They must have a new birth, Jesus said to Nicodemus, who was already religious. You must be Born again. You see?
If you only are born once. You will die twice. The first death is the physical death, the second death is eternal death in the lake of fire. And if you're only born once, and die twice. You wish you'd never been born at all.
But if you're born twice, You can only die once. And how are you born again? being born again not of corruptible seed, But of incorruptible by the Word of God. It is an astounding thing, it is an amazing thing, but I've seen it happen now for over four decades that I've been preaching the Word of God. Preach the gospel, tell the truth, pray, be anointed by the Holy Spirit, and there's something.
supernatural that takes place. People's lives are radically, dramatically, eternally changed. by the Word of God. Isn't that wonderful? It's seed.
That gives life. As you preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and people hear the word of truth. That's the reason that Jesus said in John chapter 6, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. That's the reason the Apostle Paul described his preaching as holding forth. The word of life.
You see, it is the indispensable, indispensable. Word of God. It is the incontestable word of God. It is the incorruptible word of God. It is indestructible Word of God, and therefore it is the indispensable.
Word of God. Now when we get under that word. We have incredible authority. I had an article that I clipped from a magazine. Billy Graham is talking.
Billy Graham said. That when he started his ministry as a young man, he had those questions many times that young students have. And he said he had some doubts in his mind concerning the word of God. And he said he had very little power in his ministry. And then in this article that I want to share with you, he tells what happened to him in the year 1949.
He got alone in the mountains of Los Angeles, and this is what he said. He said, I'd been having many doubts concerning the Bible. I thought I saw apparent contradictions in Scripture.
Some things I could not reconcile with my restricted concept of God. When I stood up to preach, The authoritative note so characteristic of all great preachers of the past was lacking. Like hundreds of other young seminary students, I was waging the intellectual battle of my life. The outcome could certainly affect my ministry. And then he says, I remember walking down a trail, tramping into the woods, and almost wrestling with God.
I dueled with my doubts. My soul seemed to be caught in the crossfire. Finally, in desperation, and here's the key, I surrendered my will. to the living God revealed in Scripture. I knelt before the open Bible and said, Lord, many things in this book I do not understand.
But thou hast said the just shall live by faith. All I have received from thee I have taken by faith. Here and now by faith, I accept the Bible as thy word. I take it all. I take it without reservations.
Where there are things I cannot understand, I will reserve judgment until I receive more light. If it pleases thee, give me authority as I proclaim thy word, and through that authority convict me of sin and turn sinners to the Saviour. And then he tells how he began that great Los Angeles crusade where multiplied thousands were swept into the kingdom of God and Billy Graham's ministry then began to have a worldwide import. And he said, as he was preaching the word of God, he says, There, the people were not coming to hear great oratory. Nor were they interested merely in my ideas.
I found they were desperately hungry to hear what God had to say through His Holy Word. I felt as though I had a rapier in my hand and as though the power of the Bible was slashing deeply into men's consciences, leading them to surrender to God. Does not the Bible save itself? For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and the marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. I found that the Bible became a flame in my hands.
That flame melted away unbelief in the hearts of people and moved them to decide for Christ. The word became a hammer breaking up stony hearts and shaping them into the likeness of God. Did not God say, I will make my words in thy mouth fire? And is not my word like as a fire and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? And then he sums up this article by saying, it is my conviction that the preaching of the gospel is to be authoritative if it is to produce conviction of sin, if it is to challenge men and women to walk in newness of life, if it is to be attended by the Spirit's power, then the Bible with its discerning, piercing, burning message must become the basis of our preaching.
Do you know why Billy Graham has been used of the Lord? He goes on to say, I use the phrase the Bible says. because the Word of God is the authoritative basis of our faith. That's what I'm trying to say to you. This is the word by which the gospel is preached.
No stutter, no stammer, no apology. I have found out that when you don't apologize for the Bible but preach the Bible, it goes through the devil's lies like a cannonball, a white hot cannonball through a crate of eggs. There is power in the word of God, power to proclaim it. And Satan does not want you to understand the authority of the Word of God. When Satan came against Jesus and tempted Jesus and tried to get Jesus into sin, what did Jesus do?
Jesus did not come against Satan with emotion. Jesus did not come against Satan with reason. Jesus did not come against Satan with threats. Jesus took the Word of God and said, it is written, it is written, it is written. And three times Jesus ran him through with the Word of God and Satan retreated.
Satan does not like the authority of the Word of God. And when you get under authority, when the Bible becomes your authority, when the Word of the Lord and the Lord of the Word become your authority, then when you stand on the Word of God, Satan and all of his minions will flee. and you're going to have authority for your life. How do you know that you're saved? How do you know that you're going to heaven?
Because of your goodness? Because of your deeds? Because of your emotions? As a teenage boy, I professed my faith in Jesus Christ and was baptized, but for two years, I had no real assurance of my salvation. Up and down, up and down.
Till one day I learned the gospel from the word. Really understood it. I bowed my head on the street corner, the corner of 39th Street and Calvin Avenue in West Palm Beach. I just walked my sweetheart home, the sweet lady I'm married to right now. And I was a teenage boy.
I had to get it settled. I began to pray. I said, Lord, I don't know whether I'm saved. And the devil's trying to make me doubt it. Or whether I'm lost and the Holy Spirit has me under conviction, but I have no peace and I need to get it settled.
And I said, Lord, your word says, Your word says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. I said, God, that is your word. And I looked up into the heavens, not in disrespect, but I wanted to look into the face of God with my eyes wide open. And I said, Lord, now, once and for all, now and forever, as much as in me is, I receive you as my Lord and Savior. I trust your word.
I don't look for a sign. I don't ask for a feeling. I stand on your word. Save me. If I was saved, I still am.
But if I wasn't, I am now. I'd drive down a peg. I trust you now as my Lord and Savior. And I stood on the word of God. And I can tell you by the authority of the word, I knew that moment and from ever forward that I know the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior.
That is the authority of the word of God. It's authority when you proclaim it. It is authority when you stand on it. The Bible is the word of the king. And if you want kingdom authority, you're going to have to be under those authorities that God has put over you, first of all.
The Lord of the Word. Secondly, the Word of that Lord. The Word. of the king. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org.
For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you.
