Dr. Gough:
When I went in the Navy Mom and Dad gave me a Bible.
--They had prayer with me, said, "Read this daily."
--We had Bible reading at home; grace, and prayers.
--They wanted me to continue that practice. I did.
--I say to you - all youth - it's a useful habit.
--Let it be the Word of life, for you, for others!
Of all books, what is the best to know, and live by?
--I've read, and owned, many. Given most all away.
--For me, the best and greatest is the Bible.
--It is God's Word - inspired, invaluable for life.
--Its message, changeless; yet it changes lives.
--This Holy Book is God's written Word of life.
--About Jesus, God's Living Word, called "The Word."
--"In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1).
It takes a trinity, we see, to express any one word.
--First comes a thought - each thought takes a word.
--Without a word to convey it, a thought is unknown.
--God, our Father in heaven, I liken to a thought.
--To know a thought, we must have a word - as Jesus!
--He is "The Word," revealing the thought, "His name The Word of God" (Rev. 19:13). Jesus is God.
--What does it take to speak the Word that expresses the Thought? It takes breath - The Holy Spirit!
--Jesus came, God, as Man - in love, Word and deed.
--We need the Holy Trinity! And the Holy Bible!
Why read, teach, preach, and seek to live this Word?
--Because "All Scripture is given by inspiration..."
--Not some, as liberals say, but "all Scripture."
--If only some was inspired, who would know which?
--"All Scripture, by inspiration of God" (2 Tim 3:16).
--If God makes a diamond, it's all diamond.
--When the Lord saves us, He saves the whole person!
In II Timothy 3 Paul extols the Bible's place to us.
--He writes young Timothy, "continue in the things."
--What things? "Things you have learned" of God!
--Why? "Knowing from whom you have learned them."
--"The Holy Scriptures, for salvation, through Jesus."
I've found the Bible profitable. Got me a Testament.
--I kept it with me in uniform. A copy in a pocket.
--To redeem the time, I read, learn, share the Word.
Friend, the Word is "profitable for doctrine."
--"Doctrine" means teaching. It teaches us well.
--It is "for reproof, for correction."
--It sets us right, and all who will read it.
--It has "instruction in righteousness." That helps.
--This book, unlike some others, won't lead astray!
--It only leads us "in righteousness." To Jesus.
--How we all need that, to overcome the world.
--Most of us are easily misled, without God's Word.
I need this Bible daily. I don't know about you.
--But I do. It shows me what's wrong, to correct it.
--It shows me what's right, to practice it.
--It shows me how to please God. To be a light.
--To live to point the way of the lost to Jesus.
--Helps me grow in wisdom and ways of the Lord.
--It is by this Word we are "born again" (I Pet 1:23).
You ask, How do I know the Bible is God's Word?
I. GOD DECLARES, JESUS PROVED, IT IS GOD'S WORD.
--Not the mere words of mere men, the "Lord God."
--"Thus says the Lord," found over 3800 times!
--"Holy men of old" - over 40 - penned it, for us.
--But the Eternal, Creator, Redeemer God, wrote it!
--I used to dictate letters to a secretary - my own letters, she only typed them up - I made them up.
I love books. I have read many great works to know.
--But the book I love and read most, is God's own.
--It will do a person more good, than all others!
There are books that discredit, seek to disprove or denigrate God and His Word - don't believe them!
--Do you think some man - no matter who - knows any more than Almighty God? That's laughable!
--Some think they do - but in time proven wrong.
--God won't lie. Take God's Word rather than man's.
II. IT IS GOD'S WORD, PROVEN BY HISTORY, AND TIME.
--The genuine lasts forever. That's God's Word.
--The Bible began in the beginning to a chosen people.
--Generation after generation have lived by it.
--Blessed by believing it. Found joy, peace, in it.
It is the foundation of our nation's Constitution.
--The Book, and faith, that brought many to America.
--Our forefather's gave their lives for God's Word!
--Most of our universities were founded on it!
--Formed to teach it! Early on, schools taught it!
--It enriches minds. Inspires obedience. Gives joy.
Many, like tyrants, have tried in vain to destroy it.
--They have confiscated, burned and banned the Bible.
--But it stands. Eternal. As Jesus said it would!
--No doubt, history proves, it is indeed God's Word.
III. COUNTLESS PROPHECIES FULFILLED CONFIRM THE BIBLE.
—Imagine, many foretelling the future so accurately.
--Hundreds of years before it ever came to pass.
--Like where Jesus should be born, "in Bethlehem."
--Born "of a virgin," exactly as He was, and lived.
--I know of over 233 prophecies Jesus alone filled!
--Who would think or believe, all were a coincidence?
We've been in Bethsaida, Chorazin, Tyre, and Sidon.
--All once thriving towns of the Bible. But not now.
--For their sin and unbelief, they have only ruins.
--Jesus predicted that! Disobeying God, has a price.
--And also the impending fate of all who are unsaved.
God said the Jews would never lose their identity.
--They have not .. for all these centuries, opposed.
--As He promised, they are now back in their land.
Archeologists dig, but not found one contradiction!
--Scientists, seeking the truth, find it in a Bible.
IV. PERHAPS THE GREATEST PROOF, ARE CHANGED LIVES.
--Saved and changed by Jesus, by the "Word of God."
--That's what Paul wrote young Timothy, and to us.
--God's Word is "that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (v 17).
--"Complete" means we have all we need in this Book.
--In Jesus, His Spirit, His Word, we may be maturing.
No other Savior, as Jesus, and no other Book, as the Word of God, has changed converts as this Gospel!
--It is all about Jesus - convincing multitudes.
--They follow Christ. Baptized. Active in church.
--I have yet to meet one disappointed in Jesus!
--History has so many examples.
--John Newton, a slave trader, became a believer.
--His life so changed, became a pastor and hymnwriter.
Also many are kept from Satan's ruin by this Book.
--The Spirit of God uses the Word of God, to bless.
--God's Word keeps one from sin, or sin keeps us from God's Word. Let the Lord and His Word change you!
V. NO OTHER BOOK COMFORTS PEOPLE AS DOES GOD'S WORD.
--It is in the Psalms, as the 23rd; or John 14; and so many other promises, people prefer at sad times.
--The Book for "born again" youth, who wish guidance.
--Help when in "the valley of the shadow of death."
--When overwhelmed with sorrow, and losses so dear.
--Or if emotionally hurt, the Bible soothes things.
--Or hope eludes us, and the world seems against us.
--Where better to find our way? Find peace and joy?
--To find forgiveness, understanding, or counsel.
It is here, more than any philosophies, man-made.
--No other religion compares with Jesus, God's Son.
--God "has in these last days spoken to us by His Son whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds" (Hebrews 1:2).
--Jesus is the Word, God's best and last word to man.
--Whose death on a cross, and resurrection, saves!
--He is "The God of all comfort, who comforts us."
--"God is our refuge and strength, a present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1). Let the Lord help you.
Jesus invites all, "Come to Me, I will rest you."
--Bibles come in all translations, prints, sizes.
--With the one, sublime meesage, and blessing to all.
Some day, before God, we'll be judged by this Book.
--I beg you, do not neglect God's Word, or Jesus!
--Peter told Jesus, "Lord, You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68). It is true, and for you!
--Come, enjoy life!
Dr. Wilbert D. Gough