The sermon emphasizes the critical doctrines regarding the nature of Scripture, focusing on its inspiration, inerrancy, and sufficiency. The speaker draws attention to Paul's message in 2 Timothy 3:16 that all Scripture is divinely inspired, profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. The sermon underscores that Scripture is God-breathed, authoritative, inerrant, and sufficient for all aspects of Christian life and godliness. Through examples from the Bible and exhortations, the sermon challenges listeners to engage deeply with Scripture, to value its teachings in their daily lives, and to revere the preaching of God's word as essential for spiritual growth and understanding. The preacher exhorts the congregation to trust in the Scriptures, which are portrayed as a direct communication from God, as potent and authoritative as His spoken word. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a heightened reverence for and obedience to the Bible, emphasizing its role as the ultimate guide and authority in the life of a believer.

Would you please stand as we now hear from God. And I want to remind you that at the conclusion I'm going to say, may God bless the reading of his word, and then I would ask that you would say amen or amen, depending on your dialect. Let's read this together. Thus saith the Lord, all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, So that the man of God may be adequate equipped for every good work May God bless the reading of his word You may be seated We're going to get back to the Gospel of Mark in one week's time, Lord willing, but this week, spending a Lord's Day in this passage this morning, I want you to imagine with me for just a moment that you're standing with John the Baptist and those watching, those that have come out to John the Baptist in Mark chapter 1. You remember Mark chapter 1?

Jesus is baptized. I want you to imagine that you're standing there in that midst and you hear as Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist you hear a voice from heaven you hear God declare from heaven this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased can you imagine that If you can imagine that you might be saying, that'd be amazing. It'd be amazing to hear that voice from heaven. Or imagine you're with Peter and James and John in Mark chapter 9, Lord willing will be there next Lord's Day and you go on top of a mountain and you get to witness the transfiguration and You hear the thundering voice of God coming from heaven Listen to my son You imagine that a voice from heaven Have you ever said to yourself? Oh I if only I could have lived in that day, if only I could have heard the very voice of God on the mount like that like these men have you ever said those things thought those things Paul tells you this morning in second Timothy 3 16 that you've got something in your hands right now that those men and those women who heard the voice from heaven you have something in your hand that they would have traded anything in the world and everything in the world to have you have his voice breathed out right here in the Holy Scripture.

So are you one of those who say, oh if only I could have lived during the time of the Bible, if I could have just heard God speak to his people, how blessed I would have been. If that's you, stop it. Because Paul says to you this morning, in the scriptures, you have God's voice breathed out, inspired. Something that for ages the saints did not have but yearned for. You have it in your possession right now.

Probably multiple copies of it. So you need not say, oh to live back then would have been so blessed. Saints, you are blessed now. Because as Peter says to you, all that you need, 2 Peter, all that you need for life and godliness, all that you need, you have in the promises of God right here. You have the prophetic word, Peter says, more sure.

You have what only some could see very dimly. You have right here in full. You have something on your nightstand, in your car, on your desk, on your shelf, in your lap right now that hundreds of thousands of Old Covenant, Old Testament saints would have given up everything to have for just one day. And some of you might not even pick it up any day besides Sunday. That needs to change this morning.

This morning we're going to briefly examine three doctrines of Scripture. What are the Scriptures? The inspiration of the Scriptures and the sufficiency of the Scriptures and where the rubber meets the road in this sermon is what you do with that Bible in your hands. Or perhaps it's on your shelf during the week. What you do with that Bible between this sermon and next, that's where the rubber meets the road in this sermon.

Real simple. That's number one. And number two, where the other wheel touches down, is how you hear the Scriptures preached. Sunday to Sunday. Two things going on.

You cannot leave here this morning without having answered the question, what are you going to do with this Bible and how do you view the Word of God this Bible preached every Lord's Day? How are you going to answer those questions? What are you going to do with the Bible? And how are you going to approach sermons, God's Word being preached week to week? Do you come to service on the Lord's Day and listen to one of your pastors preach simply because, well, that's what we do as Christians, or do you come yearning and thirsting, panting after the word to be poured out over you as one of your pastors who's labored and toiled all week to bring to bear upon your life the very voice of God down in his word.

Which one's it gonna be? Those are the questions you need to answer and there's only one right answer this morning beloved in case you were wondering Could there be more than one right answer? Of course not Here's the right answer God speaks today Authoritatively and sufficiently in the Bible So listen to Him as if your life depended upon it because it does. Paul begins with the first doctrine of scripture, the identification of scripture. What are the scriptures?

Well, notice the start of verse 16. Look there in 2 Timothy 3, 16. All scripture. Now, what is included in that phrase all scripture? Well to answer that question we need to only look at two verses prior to begin this discussion.

Look just above our passage this morning at verses 14 and 15 in 2 Timothy 3. Go ahead and look there in your Bibles. You need to see this. Look in verse 14. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them.

And that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Remember, this is Paul talking to Timothy. Timothy, I want you to continue to give yourself to the sacred writings that you've grown up with. Sacred writings could easily be translated, and it is translated, in a number of translations as holy scriptures. Timothy, continue in the things you've learned from childhood through the holy scriptures, these scriptures, these sacred writings, they point the way of salvation found in Christ Jesus.

Well, what is that? What are the sacred writings? What is the holy scriptures? That's the Old Testament. Timothy was brought up in the Old Testament.

And throughout the New Testament, when the word writing or scripture is used, the Greek word, graphē. It often refers to Old Testament passages. If you just look in the gospels alone, Jesus uses that Greek word all the time, and almost every time, it's referring to prophecies in the Old Testament that he's going to fulfill. So the Old Testament books all 39 books in the Old Testament are clearly in view here when Paul says all scripture but is it just the Old Testament? Is it just the first 39 books found in your Bible?

What does he really mean by all scripture? Is it just the Old Testament? Well, we're going to answer that question by staying with Paul, but we're going to ask the question, what comes before second Timothy? First Timothy. Someone said it.

Hundred percent. Hey. First Timothy. So, let's see, in first Timothy, does Paul use that same phrase, sacred writings or scriptures, same Greek word, graphē, and does he shed any light? Because if he uses it in the way in first Timothy To help us understand then we can understand second Timothy the second letter even better So let's go together, turn a few pages to the left, go to 1st Timothy 5 18.

1st Timothy 5 18. So this is his first letter to Timothy. First Timothy chapter 5 verse 18. For the scripture says, you shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing, and the laborer is worthy of his wages. You see that there?

For the what, says? For the scripture, says. That's the same exact Greek word in 1 Timothy 5 18 that is used in 2 Timothy 3 16 in our passage. All scripture, grafe, scripture, grafe. So what is all scripture?

Well verse 18, look at it again. For the scripture says, you shall not muzzle the ox. That's a quotation directly from Deuteronomy 25 4. That's Old Testament. We've already established that the word scripture at least refers to the Old Testament, but Paul isn't done.

Look again at verse 18. For the scripture says, Deuteronomy 25, four, and the laborer is worthy of his wages. You know where that second phrase comes from? That's a direct quotation from the Gospels, the New Testament. Paul tells you in this verse, just as much as the Old Testament is scripture, the New Testament is scripture.

As the scripture says, Old Testament and New Testament. What's Paul doing? Old and New are altogether equally authoritative, equally inspired. We'll get to that word in a moment. That's what he means by all scripture.

So when Paul says all scripture in 2 Timothy 3.16, what does he mean by that word all? All that are in this Bible, old and new. And just so you can see this even more clearly, let's ask a different apostle. Real quick, who's another apostle that we could phone, we could double check with so that we're, make sure we're getting this right? How about Peter?

How about Peter? Let's go to him. The Apostle Peter says the exact same thing at the end or at the beginning of 2 Peter. Go to 2 Peter with me. 2 Peter 3.

Yes, it's the end there. 2 Peter chapter 3. Look at verse 16. We're gonna go here and then we'll spend the remainder of our time in second Timothy, but just one more place I want you to turn with me so you can see it yourself. Second Peter 3.16.

In fact, let's start in verse 15 just to get a little context. Second Peter chapter 3, Starting in verse 15. Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking to them of these things, and which are some things hard to understand which the untaught and unstable distort as they do also the rest of the scriptures to their own destruction I want you to think about what you just read Peter tells you false teachers are taking Paul's letters and they're distorting them just as they're distorting what else? The rest of the scriptures you see what he's doing there Just in case you were wondering okay Old Testament Part of scripture the Gospels part of scripture, But what about the epistles? Peter says, you bet your bottom dollar.

But that's included in the all scriptures. Just as they were taking Paul's letters and abominating them, as they do the rest of the scriptures, he was equating the authority of Paul with the authority of Jesus, with the authority of the prophets. Same Greek word, graphē. So, when Paul says all scripture, he truly means that word all. How many books?

All 66 books. Not just the first 39 and not just the last 27. All 66 books. So Now that the identification of the scriptures have been clearly seen, we need to answer the question, what's so special about these 66 books? What's so special about these scriptures?

All of these scriptures. Well, Turn back with me to 2 Timothy chapter 3. We'll spend the remaining time here. I won't make you turn around as much. 2 Timothy chapter 3, let's get back to our passage.

We're going to get to the meat of the matter. What's so special about these scriptures? What's so special? Well, every one of them, every book, all 66 of them is inspired by God. Look in verse 16 again.

All scripture, All of this is inspired by God. This is the meat of the matter. Every word here in this book is from God. So you don't simply have a few phrases from God. You do not only have a sentence or two from heaven.

You do not have just an utterance from the mountaintop. You have in your hand, in your very possession, the inspired word of God. It's the very voice of God pertaining to all things necessary for life and godliness. That word inspired there in verse 16, it can be translated, breathed out. A lot of translations say all scripture is breathed out by God, all scripture is inspired by God.

That's exactly right. God is the origin of all scripture. He's the author of all of it. So think about that brothers and sisters. When you open your Bibles, you open it up, you don't need to wish that God would somehow speak to you.

He is speaking to you when you read the text. He's speaking. There's this craze right now, This is just craze among our charismatic and Pentecostal brothers that God told me experiences are so big. There's this craze in evangelicalism of, you know, I heard from God moments. And sadly, most of it's bogus because what they supposedly heard from God in a voice or God told them somehow, most of the time it contradicts what he says right here in the scripture.

And God cannot contradict himself and continue to be God. So You know, there really should be a whole bunch of saints in this body who every day, every day say those phrases, I heard God speak to me today. God told me today, you should say that and then immediately be able to point to the chapter and verse where He in fact told you those things. Because they open their Bibles and they read them and they listen to Him speak. Beloved, you can say those phrases.

But don't look anywhere else for them except for right here. You have all that you need. Beloved, truly God speaks today. God speaks and you should listen to Him. You should listen to him.

This is from God. This is God-breathed. So think about that. Paul, Peter, Moses, David, Joshua, all the prophets, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. They might have been human authors, but they were literally carried along by the Holy Spirit as they wrote, so that the ultimate source, the ultimate author of all of scripture is God Himself through these men." So I just want to keep saying it because it's really important for you to hear.

He speaks today, right here. Will you not listen? Will you not open your Bibles and hear God speak to you and then respond to Him in obedience? Anytime I get the chance to invest in young men, to invest in children, and teach them how to read their Bibles, we just have a conversation with God when you're praying. Here's how you do that.

You read the text of Scripture. He speaks to you, and then you respond to Him in prayer. And then you open your eyes and hear him speak again and then you respond to him in prayer That's how we do the Lord's Day service Scripture is read God speaks and then we sing a song and response and then scripture is read because God speaks and then we sing a song in response he speaks so you cannot say as so many do God is silent today you cannot say that He declares his glory in natural revelation, in creation, all around you. He is speaking there, but he speaks specifically in words, in words without error that are never failing in total authority, in special revelation right here in your Bibles. And so because that God is the author of all of scripture, from the inspiration of scripture comes some sub-doctrines of the inspiration of scripture.

One of those is that all scripture is inerrant. That is a cool sounding word, inerrant. And it means without error. And I just want you to think about how simple this conclusion can be made. Who's the author of Scripture?

Thank you. Let's try that again a little bit weak. Who is the author of scripture? God is the author of scripture and if God is without error, and he is, then what he authors must be without error. This naturally comes from the doctor of inspiration, comes the doctrine of inerrancy.

Comprehensively from beginning to end, because God cannot err what he has written, cannot err from Genesis to Revelation. Think about Hebrews 8, 18. It is impossible for God to lie. It is impossible for God to lie. It is impossible for God to be in error.

Therefore God cannot author that which is not true. And God has authored this book. So Paul says, therefore, God's word is without error. So you might read something in the Bible, and you might say, well, this doesn't seem to comport with reality. The Bible might seem to be an error to you.

Well let me tell you, it's not the Bible that is ever an error It's your misunderstanding. It's your wrong interpretation That needs to be corrected not the Bible Right. I always pray beforehand when I think about preaching God's Word, and I say if it's boring, it's not because your Word is boring, Lord, it's because I am. So get me out of the way. So I'm sorry if it's boring.

I'm trying my best. God's word is inerrant. And if we see something that we think is wrong, inconsistent, in error, well it is not the Bible that is in error, it is ourselves. You can believe this Bible. Psalm 12 says, the words of the Lord are pure words.

As silver tried in a furnace on the earth refined seven times, you, O Lord, will keep them. The words of the Lord are pure. He will keep them. And that brings us to the second doctrine of scripture that comes from the truth that all scriptures inspired by God and that is the infallibility of scripture all scripture is infallible So think about this all scriptures breathed out inspired by God and you know who God is he is a never failing God therefore as the author of scripture scripture itself can be unfailing if God is unfailing scripture must be unfailing it can never fail that term infallibility already said it it refers to the scriptures being unable to fail. They are trustworthy.

They cannot be broken. These two doctrines go hand in hand together. If they are without error, they will not fail you. If you go to Isaiah 55, you don't need to do this, but you can write it down. Isaiah chapter 55 makes it very, very plain.

When God speaks the word that He declares, it's always accomplished. When God speaks, when God promises, Isaiah 55 is so clear here, His promises never fail. What God declares is always accomplished. So, I wonder, beloved Crossroad Churchians, are you trusting in the Holy Scriptures? Are you listening to God speak?

I want you to think about how it might not be connecting with you yet but it's but I hope it's about to. Think about what Timothy was going through in 2nd Timothy. These words would have meant massive would have had massive implications for this brother as he was in a difficult time in his ministry. I just want to show this to you. You can go back home and read all the 2 Timothy and get a better flavor, but just in the beginning of chapter 3 you would see Paul is making clear to Timothy that he knows that he's in hard times and hard times are ahead he tells Timothy you're gonna be persecuted False teachers are going to stand up against you and they're going to be in great error.

People that you love, they're going to fall away from you and fail you. But Jesus Christ and His Word will not. Hold fast to this word, Paul says to Timothy. Cling to the promises of God in Christ, Timothy. Timothy, remember that though false teachers are going to stand against you, they're going to be in error, and people that you love, they're gonna desert you in failure, the holy scriptures that you stand upon, they are without error and they will never fail you.

You see what's going on there? Church, Are you standing on the perfect, never failing, promises of God found right here in this book? Though all around your soul may give way, is he then your all, your hope, your stay, because of the promises here? Children I wonder, children are you, children, are you singing songs like Jesus Loves Me, This I Know, or the Bible Tells Me So? Are you singing songs like that?

Can you raise your hand children, if you've ever sang that song? All right, now adults, you raise your hand too. There you go. Amen. How do you know that Jesus loves you?

You say, Jesus loves me, this I know. How do you know that? Go ahead, children, you tell me. For the Bible tells me so. Children, let's sing it.

Jesus loves me this I know. Sing it out. For the... God loves me this I know. Children, if you are hoping in Jesus Christ, if Jesus Christ is your Savior and Lord, if you are trusting him and you are singing Jesus loves me this I know because the Bible tells me so you can trust that promise you can trust the promise of his love for you little ones why Because He said it and He never fails you.

The Bible tells you children, He loved you and gave Himself for you. And you can especially trust that promise. When you find yourself in sin, Little children, when you find yourself disobeying your father or your mother, and when you find yourself doing something that you know is wrong, hitting your sibling, pinching them, Whatever it is, you find yourself doing something evil. Do you not know that that promise is true for you even in that moment? Do you know that the promise is for you, that Jesus loved you and gave himself for you?

Jesus loves me this I know. Why? How? Because the Bible, which never lies, which never fails in all of its promises, God, through the Bible, tells you so. Children, I want to exhort you, come to Jesus with your sin.

Trust Him. Need Him. And he will not fail you in forgiveness. He will not fail you in making you born again He will never fail you you will be his and he will be yours for all time now and forever He will love you because He said so. You can sing that song.

That's a glorious song, children. And adults in this room, you have in your hands the promises of God through all 66 books right here. Promises like no one can snatch you from His hand if you're in Christ by faith. Promises like nothing can separate you from the love of God. Nothing if you belong to Christ Jesus by faith.

And yet some in this room, and I understand it, but they will say, you will say, it doesn't feel like that. It doesn't feel like I'm inseparable from his love. It feels like I'm separated from the love of Christ feels like I'm so far away from his grace and his mercy maybe I'm not his you're wrestling beloved I just please hear this your feelings do not get to be master over you. You can only serve one master, Jesus says. Some of us are trying to serve two.

Don't serve the master of emotions. They will fail you. They will fail you time and time again. What they tell you will always fail. But you know who will not fail you?

God. God will not fail you. What God says cannot fail. So I exhort you, bring your feelings, bring your emotions, bring all of your sentimentality under the lordship of Jesus Christ. I'm one of the most emotional dudes I know, but I can't let my emotions bring me down the path of the wicked.

I've got to rein them in. How do I do that? Take them captive and make them obedient to who? Christ. Bring them under the Lordship of Jesus.

Make your emotions serve the Master. Confess it in your life. Confess it in your life. Confess it. And then look to Jesus.

Look to Jesus. Jesus loves you. This you can know because the Bible Tells you so So in this day if this day you're wondering at your salvation Ah, please look no longer at yourself. Listen no longer to those feelings that scream at you, condemned, condemned, condemned. Listen no longer to the father of lies that shouts at you, condemned, condemned, condemned.

And instead, if you are hoping in Christ, listen to God. He says to you in his infallible and errant word if we confess if you confess your sins He is faithful and righteous To forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. All of it. He says things like, so that in Christ Jesus, all who are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation for all who believe. You need to listen to God.

He has told you so. And His promises are true. His Word is unfailing. He's accomplished it in the finished work of his son, hasn't he? So do you think that the doctrines of scripture are important?

You think the doctrine of inspiration is important? You better believe it! Your salvation, Your hope, your very life depends on it. So I encourage you again, hear God speak in his word. Listen to him.

Believe him and obey him. But not only is the scripture without error, not only is it never failing, lastly under the inspiration of scripture, lastly it is authoritative. All scripture is authoritative. All scripture, Paul says, is breathed out by God. Breathed out by God and who is God?

Well God is the only one with all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore his words right here hold complete authority. See how this works. It all stems from the divine inspiration. So, just when the prophets spoke, thus saith the Lord, and their words were binding, so too, any command or precept or testimony or judgment found in any of these 66 books comes with the authority of God himself Pastor James coats you might be familiar with that name He was the Canadian pastor jailed for his bold stance and standing against tyranny and on the Word of God saying that we must meet as a church.

This is what he says. He believes it. God's written Word is no less authoritative than his audible voice. God's written word is no less authoritative than his audible voice. It rightfully demands full submission and obedience.

And that dude lived it out. He was imprisoned for basically that statement. What God says right here is just as powerful as if I was on top of Mount Sinai and I heard the voice of the Lord. You know how massive implication that is the way you approach this book and yet some of us see you next Sunday Bible let us repent of such negligence so let's just think about that for just a second. All scripture is inspired by God.

So all scripture is authoritative. All scripture is infallible. All scripture is inerrant. Meaning, all scripture is just as authoritative as when we read in the scripture that God said. So when we read in the scripture, sometimes we perk up and we should, that's great.

Thus saith the Lord, God spoke, and it was actually the sentence from the mountaintop, or Jesus in the red letters. Jesus's words in the red letters. Those are big-time, right? Actually, every single word in the Bible should be read. So If you believe, if you believe, I need you to hear this exhortation.

If you believe that the words of Jesus mean more than the words of Peter or Paul, it's not the Bible that's in error. You are in error there. You cannot say that the words of Jesus carry more weight than the very words of Paul and Peter and all the Apostles. Do you know why you can't say that? Because Jesus himself says they speak with my authority.

You know who's speaking in Genesis all the way to Revelation in every word you read, Jesus. Jesus is speaking. So don't let us ever, ever say, well the red letters, they get the, this whole Bible is red. And we should read it. All scripture's inspired by God.

It will never fail. It is without error. It has authority in all things. One could say It is sufficient. And that's the final doctrine that we'll be discussing today that Paul communicates to Timothy, the sufficiency of scripture.

Look in verse 16 and then we'll read into 17. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. Notice that word, all scripture, inspired by God, and it is profitable, Profitable. That word profitable could be translated. All scripture is useful or all scripture is to your advantage.

It's for your benefit. It's for your ultimate and eternal good. All scripture benefits you. It's sufficient for all that you need. If you were to go to 2 Peter chapter 1, you would hear these words from Peter.

God, in his power, has granted to you all things that you need for life in godliness. How? Through the knowledge of Him. But where do you find the knowledge of God? In these 66 books.

All that you need is found in God's word. The scriptures are sufficient. But in what ways? In what ways are the scriptures sufficient? In what ways do the scriptures benefit you, provide you with all that you need to live a godly, satisfied life in Christ Jesus.

Well, we need look no further than verse 16. What are the ways that the scriptures benefit you? How are they sufficient? Look there at the end of verse 16. For teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be equipped for every good work.

How many good works? Every good work it says. You see that there? I want to make sure you see that word every. Every one of the works, it's sufficient.

Think on that Christian. God wrote this for you. That you might be taught for teaching, it says. That You might know, be taught the doctrines herein. Taught about who God is and what He's commanded.

Taught about His law and the delight it can bring to the Christian, and the mere that it is, it reveals your own sin and your desperate need for Jesus. But not just taught about your sin and the law, but also taught about the law keeper, Jesus, who came and though you are guilty and couldn't keep the law, He kept the law so that in Him you are declared a law keeper, righteous, because of Him. You were taught that. God wrote this for you. That's blessed.

But then He didn't stop there. He then taught you Now that you are born again, now that you belong to the law keeper, and you're a child of God, here's how you are to live in my world. He taught you. Brothers and sisters, father, anybody in this room, children too, Do you know how your father loves you? He teaches you.

That's one way. Loving fathers teach their children. They don't just let their children go off whatever way they want to go. God the Father is not a derelict father and so if he is teaching you in his word it might not be as fast as Calvin learned. Ain't nobody going to be like him by the way.

It might not be as fast as other men and women might learn. It might not be, You might not know as much as everybody, but if He's teaching you, you should feel the love of God. God's teaching you. He showed me something this morning. Don't you ever open your Bible and you hear something from God and you go, I didn't know that.

And then question the love of God. Loving fathers teach their children. They're teaching you. You think on that. He wrote that you might be taught.

But he also wrote this for reproof, Paul says. For reproof. So that you would be reproved. Shown your fault, shown your error, shown that you're wrong. And this is love.

For God disciplines, he rebukes, he humbles, He chastises those whom He loves. So when you read the holy and errant and fallible authoritative scriptures, and you're shown the folly of your ways, you're shown the seriousness of your sin against God, In that reproof, you are experiencing the love of God. I think some of us try, we get convicted of sin by God through the Holy Spirit, and our immediate thought is, God doesn't like me. I'm condemned. Beloved, if you belong to Jesus Christ, the conviction of the Holy Spirit is evidence of the love of God.

When you are reproved, it is not evidence that God is angry with you. It is evidence that God loves you. He loves you. He gave you this book. You'll be taught.

You'll be reproved. When he shows you the error of your ways, he doesn't just stop there. He then shows you the person and work of Christ. And he says, here's correction. For correction, Paul says.

For teaching, for reproof, for correction. God instructs us how to turn away from our sin and believe the truth here in these pages of the Bible. The truth about God, the truth about our sin, and the truth that we desperately need a savior. And so as God reproves you and shows you that the way of the wicked will perish, you're reading Psalm one and Psalm two, the way of the wicked will perish, and you see that, you see that going on in the world, you know where you're headed, and yet as God reproves you and convicts you of your sin, he then gives you eyes to see the way of the righteous found in Christ. He corrects you and he says, repent, turn, and you do and you trust in Christ and you go down the path of the righteous.

He corrects you so that you would be trained in righteousness. For by grace you've been saved through faith, this is not of yourself, so that no one may boast. We are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them. Not only does God teach you, not only does He reprove you and bring you to repentance and then correct you and give you Christ, He then trains you to walk in obedience to him. This word is sufficient.

So how do you know how to walk in obedience to Jesus Christ who saved you? How do you know? How do you know how to obey God? You listen to the most recent Ted Talk? You turn on Spotify.

Open up some podcasts. Those are all fine potentially. But you know the first thing that you should do when you're trying to answer that question, God, what is it that you want me to do? Hear directly from him. And then go to those, name your pastors, and ask that they would help you figure that out too.

And then go to the other P called podcast. I know it's like a little soap box thing I've been on lately with some of my brothers and sisters. I think people have the wrong pee. People go to podcasts before they ever go to their pastors. You know the person in the podcast doesn't know a lick about you?

They're not your pastors. They're not gonna give any kind of, well, they might have some kind. They're not gonna give near the same amount of accounting for your soul as your pastor's will. Get the right P, right? Read the scriptures and then go to your pastor's.

And if we don't know, boy, we'll tell you. And we'll sit there and plead with God to show us. Happy to do that. So how do you know how to obey Christ? How do you know how to obey God?

You read it in his scriptures. The scriptures are sufficient, Right, beloved? They are sufficient. These 66 books, they're inerrant, infallible, they have complete authority over your life. You desperately need to listen to God speak in the Scriptures.

Is He silent today? No. I do need to say this. We spoke earlier of the Unfailing promises of God how that should comfort you as a Christian if you're if you're believing upon Christ His promises to you will never fail But I also need to talk to another crowd. There is another part of the unfailing of God that you need to hear if you are in rebellion to Jesus Christ.

If you this morning, children, adults, middle-aged, old, young, you, if you are in rebellion to God, his judgments are unfailing just as much as his promises of blessing. His wrath will be unfailing for you in the day of judgment. His wrath is sure for you. And so I ask you, I plead with you, turn to Jesus Christ, be saved, recognize that, yes, I believe that his promises of wrath to come from my sin are true and unfailing, and I will be under the wrath of God, lest I repent. Return from your wicked ways, trust Jesus, and there is a promise for you there.

He will in no way cast you out. That's a promise. You will go home justified. So, I would encourage you, where you sit before you leave, if you do not know the name of Christ you do not name the name of Christ beat your breast bow your head and cry out to God God be merciful to me a sinner. I trust in your son.

And the promise for you is, you'll go home justified. Couple exhortations and I'm finished. Exhortation number one. I've been saying it all along, but I want to make sure I say it one more time. Read your Bibles.

Please read your Bibles. Please read your Bibles. Listen to what is spoken here. It's not a man who speaks, but God who speaks. I just want you to consider the implications of this.

Just a little bit and then we're done. If you ignore your Bible, which is authored by God, if God's speaking to you through your Bible, if you ignore your Bible, If you shun and reject your Bible, you are shunning and rejecting God. It should be easy. It should be easy for us to see. To ignore your Bible is to ignore God.

So if you're born again, You don't like that idea. So here's the course for you. Repent, open your Bible, and listen to it. That's one exhortation, okay? We all got that one?

Surely. And then I want to exhort you in one more way. Please hear this. This is not coming from any, I hope you don't sense pride or, I just try to exhort you according to God's word. Don't think lightly on listening to God's inspired, breathed out, sufficient word being preached.

Don't think lightly. Don't take lightly the weekly Hearing of God's word being preached for the well-being of your eternal soul. Don't do it. I want to exhort you, let your whole life revolve around, let the pattern of your family's life revolve around the anticipation of the Lord's day. Especially that moment where we ascend the holy mountain of the Lord and we hear his voice from his word as one of your pastors brings God's voice to bear upon your life.

I mean, do you not know that your pastors, all three of them, do you not know that those who preach from this pulpit, who spend hours and hours and hours laboring and wrestling and praying, sweating, even crying over the text. Do you not know that they speak to you as men set apart by God to bring God's voice authoritatively to bear upon you? Imagine what that does on Saturday night to the guy preaching imagine wow it's so hard to sleep if that's true if that's true John Calvin wrote the sermons are to be the highest event of the Christian's life each week. He wrote that listeners should be working to listen as hard as the preacher is working to preach that Every sermon he wrote is preached by two ministers The external minister the pastor and the internal minister the Holy Spirit the breath of God Calvin would often say to his people in preparation for the Lord's Day, he would say, remember that you are going to God's house this morning, and you are going to hear from God the creator of heaven and earth and he is communicating to you today through his word preached and you will either be softened by the voice of God coming through the word preached or you will be hardened by it.

But either way, you will not go home unchanged. That's good. So I want to ask dear parents, sweet dear parents that I love and I'm so in this grime, when I say parents I really mean me. How do you prepare your family to hear the word of God, the inspired, breathed out, sufficient word of God. How do you prepare your family to hear that word preached on the Lord's Day?

The day that God has set aside, as the Puritans called it, the market day of the soul, where you fill your life full of truth that you might ingest it throughout the rest of the week and come hungry the next Lord's Day. Do you come home parents from the Lord's Day and do your children know more of the defects of the preacher? Or do your children know more of the sweetness of the Christ preached? Fathers, I want to exhort you particularly. Fathers, hear me.

I plead with you, you need to say things to your wives and your children in the days leading up to Sunday or even the evening before the Lord's day or on your car ride into this building. You need to say things like, you're gonna hear the voice of God this morning, children. God is going to speak directly to you through His word in the sermon. Wife, children, your pastor is just an ambassador of Jesus Christ. Hear the word of God that comes to you this morning as he preaches.

You need to prepare your family like that, fathers. You need to say things like, every sermon counts, Abigail. Every sermon counts, Annie, for eternity. You talk like that. So fathers and husbands, you must shepherd like this.

You must prepare the hearts and the minds of your children and your wife like this. You must. That's on you. You put away any excuse you have right now. It's on you.

God has sent some. So far be it from you, fathers, to prepare your children for the workplace and to prepare them for the upcoming ball games and to prepare them for everything else in life, but how to come ready to hear God's word apply to their lives every Sunday. We cannot be like that anymore, brothers. We cannot be that. We cannot be derelict to prepare them in the most important way.

Here's how you approach the house of God. As one brother puts it, and I think this is so helpful, we should go, all of us, children, wives, fathers, but I'm still speaking to the fathers preeminently, We should go from our knees to the sermon where the perfect, sufficient, and authoritative word of God is proclaimed. And then from that sermon, go back home to our knees and plead that God would work that reality in us. Oh, fathers, you need to be that example for your children and for your wife. You have to do that first and then invite them to follow you in that.

You need to lead your families like this brothers. You must. Their lives, their souls, their eternities depend upon that. All under the sovereignty of God I recognize that that does not negate your responsibility So if you really believe these doctrines of scripture you will read your Bibles and you will listen and esteem the preaching of God's Word as you would, as God would have you do. And if you do that, generations to come will do the same.

So will your children. And by God's grace your children's children until one day the knowledge of the Lord covers the land as far as the water covers the sea. You want motivation? Christ died for you and was raised up for your justification and your newness of life And he invites you Shepherd as I have shepherded you Let's pray together Lord your law is perfect, restoring the soul. Your testimony sure, making wise the simple.

Your precepts are right, rejoicing the heart. Your commandments, Lord, are pure, enlightening to the eyes. The fear of you, Lord, is clean, enduring forever. Your judgments are true. They are righteous altogether.

They're more desirable than gold, yes, sweeter than honey in the drippings of the honeycomb. By them we, your servants, are warned, and in keeping them there is great reward. O Father, in light of these doctrines, work right and new affections and habits into us Lord for Jesus's sake and the sake of our families amen