Clean Transcript

How to Learn Biblical Truth

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• I want you to open your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of Acts chapter 17. The message I'm going to bring you tonight is actually the second part of a two-part message. I normally expound the first three and four verses of this chapter and then reach down and get a couple of other verses. But tonight I'm going to be skipping the first part, and I'm going to be bringing a message which I have entitled, "How to Learn Biblical Truth." I'm going to read the first part, however. Look in Acts 17, verse 1.

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• "Now, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. And some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. But the Jews who believed not moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of a baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar."

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• "And assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. And when they had taken security of Jason and the others, they let them go."

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• "And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night into Berea: who, coming thither, went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of the honourable women which were Greeks, and of men not a few. But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people." Now, I want you to note Acts chapter 17 deals with one of Paul's missionary journeys, his second, by the way. And you find, first of all, Paul went to Thessalonica, and at Thessalonica you had opposition to the gospel. When you get to Berea, you find that you had reception to the gospel. And in the latter part of Acts chapter 17, he goes to Athens where there is indifference to the gospel. So you have opposition in Thessalonica, interest in and reception in Berea.

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• And you have, of course, indifference there in Athens. So let me begin by asking you a question which will hopefully stimulate your thinking before we ever get to our text today. And that question is this. For a moment, I want you to consider this. Why, humanly speaking, was there an interest in and reception to the gospel in Berea, in light of the fact there was opposition to the gospel in Thessalonica and indifference to it in Athens? So my question once again now is, why, humanly speaking, was there interest in and reception of the gospel in Berea?

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• Now, probably the very first thing that's going to enter your mind is this. I know the answer to that, Brother Weaver. And the answer is, because of the sovereignty of God. And yes, I know that God is absolutely sovereign. In fact, the Bible says in Proverbs 16, verse 1, "The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord." It is true that if anyone's heart is ever prepared, God prepared it, for the preparations of the heart in man are from the Lord.

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• But I want you to remember my question that I ask. Why, humanly speaking, did these Bereans have an interest in the gospel and receive the gospel where Thessalonica and Athens did not? You see, it is true that God is absolutely sovereign. But when God moves, God does not work against the nature of man, but God works in man. For instance, hold Acts 17, but turn in your Bibles to 2 Thessalonians, if you would, and look in chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, I believe. Go there very quickly. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And I want you to note what the Apostle Paul says. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13. Notice he says, "But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now, I want you to note that the Bible tells us very plainly, in verse 13, that God has chosen us unto salvation.

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• Election is indeed a biblical truth. In fact, the word "elect," or its equivalent, occurs 73 times in the New Testament alone. You have to believe something about the doctrine of election, or else you're going to have to tear 73 passages out of the Bible. And that doesn't count all of the verses in the Old Testament. That's just the ones in the New Testament. But I want you to note what the Bible says in verse 13, that we're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, note if you would please, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth,

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• whereunto he called you by our gospel. I want you to know that God has not only ordained the end, He's also ordained the means to the end. Election is indeed the foundation of salvation, but election does not do away with the means that God has ordained. It is true that God has chosen us. But God has also chosen us through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.

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• Therefore, men must hear, and men must repent, and men must believe, and men must obey. Very obviously, we've been chosen by God, but it is through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. So let me ask this question again. I'm going to answer it beforehand tonight. But why, humanly speaking, did the Bereans receive the gospel, have an interest in the gospel, when those in Thessalonica and those in Athens did not? So with that question in mind, I want you to turn back to Acts chapter 17, and I want you to see tonight how to learn biblical truth. Now, there are a lot of things that we could say about learning biblical truth, but the things I'm going to show you just occur right here in this passage. In fact, the first message in this brief series, I showed you how to teach biblical truth based upon what the Apostle Paul says. But tonight we're going to look at how to learn biblical truth. So I want you to skip down to verse 11, Acts 17, verse 11.

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• The Bible says, "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." So here, according to Acts 17 and verse 11, is how to learn biblical truth. First of all, God tells us there must be a noble character. He says these were more noble than those in Thessalonica. Now, the Greek word for noble is the word eugenes, and it is translated noble or nobleman in our Bible, and usually refers to someone who is well-born or someone who is of a noble family. It also means to be noble-minded. In fact, the Greek word eugenes is where we get our English word Eugene from. And the word Eugene simply means noble.

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• The interesting thing is that this word only occurs three times in the New Testament. I want to show it to you. If you would look in your Bibles, first of all, to the book of Luke chapter 19 and verse 12. Luke 19 and verse 12. And this passage, of course, has a reference to our Lord Jesus Christ, but I'm just showing you the word noble. It's the Greek word eugenes. Luke 19 and verse 12.

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• "He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return." Well, in this parable, of course, the nobleman is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself and basically is taken from the practice when the king then is going to have someone represent him in a far-off district or some other part of the land. The nobleman went and came before the king. The nobleman was examined. His integrity was examined. His honesty and his trustworthiness was examined and then he went back home, and then, of course, the king would send word as to whether or not he would be the representative for the king and hold title over that land. Well, here in this parable, of course, it refers to our Lord, because not all noblemen receive kingdoms, just our Lord in this particular instance.

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• So we know here it's nobleman. Now, look in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 26. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 26. Here the word is used again. Just showing it to you so you will understand Acts 17 momentarily. Look in 1 Corinthians 1 and note verse 26. Our Lord says this, "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called." And then he goes on to say, "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." Now note what God says specifically, that not many noblemen are called. Now, does it say that none are called? No, but not many of them. And when we use the word noble here, it refers to, as the English would say, those to the manner born.

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• or what we would say in our day and time, high society, or the rich and the elite, the intellectual, the educated, so to speak. But our Lord says not many of them are called. Some are, but certainly not many of them. So in this passage, very obviously it refers to someone who is of high birth, an aristocrat, someone high up in the echelons of society. But when you go back to Acts chapter 17, and you look at verse 11, when the Bible says that these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, it has nothing to do with those who were well-bred. It has nothing to do with the aristocratic. It has nothing to do with those to the manner born. Rather, it refers to those who are noble in character. Those who are noble in integrity, those who are noble in honesty.

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• These were the individuals who heard Paul preach. And these were the individuals who said to themselves, basically, if what Paul is preaching is right, then I'm wrong. If what Paul is preaching is true, then I have been believing a lie. There's something wrong here. In other words, these people have a noble character in the sense that they were willing to admit their ignorance. They were willing to admit their error. They were willing to admit their sin.

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• Do you realize the first step in education is to realize that you do not know it all? I get so tickled because I have taught in college and I find it absolutely astounding that many young men and a few young women go to college to teach the teachers. And that's a fact. They really take David literally when he said in Psalm 119, "I have more understanding than all my teachers," because they go there and instruct the teachers. The Puritans had a saying, and it went like this, "How many would be wise if they did not already think themselves so?" And that's a fact. Do you realize the very first point in learning is to acknowledge and confess and realize that you do not know. There are none of us that know everything and there are none of us that know even everything about one subject.

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• And you have to come to the realization we're ignorant. And I've got news for you, folks. You can study the Bible for a hundred years and you can still be ignorant concerning the scripture. There's no way in the world that one man can absorb and understand and learn everything perfectly. No, you have to come to the realization that you're going to be absolutely honest with scripture and you're going to bow to what scripture says.

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• Now, let me give you an illustration of what I'm talking about. Many years ago, I was training a number of young men for the ministry. And I would allow them to preach as often as I could. And then I was always trying to find churches that needed pulpit supplies just so they could get some experience preaching. And usually I found places for them to preach. Well, one church right down the road from us, about 40 miles away, their pastor had resigned and left. And they needed someone to supply the pulpit for that Sunday. So they asked a young man that I had been training if he would come down and preach for them. And he consented and he drove that 40 miles one way just so he could preach there that day. Well, when he got there and it came time for Sunday school, there was another pastor there who was looking for a church. Now, the man I sent did not want to pastor the church. He was just going there to help them out and to be a pulpit supply.

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• Yes, he was going to pastor, but he was not necessarily interested in that particular church. But the man who was visiting, who just showed up, was interested in that church. And so what they did was this. They asked the visiting pastor then to teach Sunday school. And the man I sent was still going to preach. Well, that was all right with the man that I sent there. And so he sat down in the Sunday school to listen to the visiting pastor teach Sunday school. The man was a notorious Arminian. And this church did not use Sunday school quarterlies. They did not use any type of manuals. They just opened the Bible and taught. And it just so happened that morning, the Sunday school lesson was 1 Thessalonians 1. Now, I don't know if you're familiar with 1 Thessalonians 1, but 1 Thessalonians 1 only has 10 verses in it. That's all, 10 verses.

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• But verse 4 says this, "Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God." The young man that I sent sat in that Sunday school class. And he listened to that pastor teach from 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Here is my firsthand report. He told me, "The pastor, he read verse 1 and commented on it. He read verse 2 and commented on it. He read verse 3 and commented on it. He read verse 5 and commented on it. And he went all the way to verse 10." He said, "Pastor, not only did he not comment on verse 4, he did not even read verse 4."

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• Now, folks, let me tell you something. There is something wrong with a man who will not admit what Scripture says. You may not understand it. You may not like it, but you have to be honest and at least say this is what the scripture teaches. And here's a man who is supposedly a pastor and a teacher and a theologian, and he was so dishonest he would not even read a scripture verse that contradicted his theology.

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• Years ago, I was listening to Lester Roloff preach on the radio, and I love Lester Roloff. Lester Roloff was not a theologian. I can tell you that right now. But he could warm your heart and stir your heart when he preached. And he was not a real singer. But I tell you what, he would be preaching and right in the middle of the sermon, he would break out singing. And I have sat there many times and just wept listening to the man sing. His heart was so full of grace and mercy. And he couldn't sing. But I heard old Lester Roloff on the radio.

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• And he was teaching from Ephesians chapter 1. And I thought to myself, this is going to be interesting when he gets to verse 4, because verse 4 says, "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." And so I had my ear very attentively tuned to that radio. And when Lester Roloff got to verse 4, he read it. And then Lester Roloff said this, he said, "Folks, the Bible says that we were chosen in him before the foundation of the world."

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• He said, "I will be honest with you. I don't understand the doctrine of election." He said, "I probably don't even know how to teach it." But he said, "I will tell you one thing, I believe it because the Bible says it very plainly." And then he went right on. At least the man was absolutely honest. You have to say, yes, yes. But you know, the problem is this with most people. Most people are not honest.

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• We come to the scripture with our preconceived ideas. And we want to read into Scripture, we want to eisegete, we want to read into Scripture that which we already think, that which we already believe, instead of exegeting it and bringing out what the Scripture actually, literally says.

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• Now, I want you to look at Acts chapter 17, because Paul is preaching in Thessalonica, and if you look in verse 4, the Bible says this, "And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few." Now what happened? Look in verse 5. "But when the Jews, who believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people." So here were these Jews who didn't like what Paul was preaching, didn't like what those with him taught, and so what did they do?

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• They'd get angry and start assaulting anyone that they can. It's imperative, folks, that we understand that the God who is absolutely sovereign in salvation is equally sovereign in illumination.

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• Now, let me show you what I'm talking about. Watch carefully. Skip down, if you would, to verse 13. Remember, these are the Jews from Thessalonica. Paul goes to Berea and he's teaching and preaching in Berea. And look in verse 13. "But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people." They created more problems. Now, here's what I'm getting at.

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• If you don't see what I see, at least we ought to be able to agree to disagree.

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• Now let me explain what I mean. If God is sovereign in salvation, then He is just as sovereign in illumination. That's why the Bible says that there are babes in Christ, there are young men, and there are fathers in Christ. You don't expect a baby to act like a teenager or a 20-year-old boy. And you don't expect a 20-year-old to act like a 55-year-old. No.

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• They're different character traits and they're different attitudes. My responsibility is to teach you. And dear friend, listen, I can teach you until I'm blue in the face, but I cannot open your eyes. I cannot illuminate you. I cannot turn the lights on. Only God can do that. And if God doesn't open your eyes, then you'll never see truth, it's just that simple. So why should I get mad at you if you don't see what I see? And why should you get mad at me if I don't see what you see? What we can do is share the word of God with each other and argue with each other, not fussing and fighting, but give biblical arguments to support our stance. Look at the scripture. The point I'm trying to make is this. We don't have to cut each other's throat just because we don't see eye to eye on everything. It is wrong. It is wicked. And it's ungodly doctrine, or lack thereof, that leads to wrong, wicked, ungodly conduct.

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• And if you and I are going to ever learn the Scriptures, we've got to be willing to lay aside our error, our sin, and our pride. Let me ask that you turn in your Bibles, first of all, to the book of Isaiah chapter 1. Watch what God says. We're going from Isaiah to the book of Amos. But look in Isaiah chapter 1, if you would, and let's begin reading there with verse 16. Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 16.

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• Here's a passage that most of you probably know. Notice what God says, though, in Isaiah 1, verse 16. God says, "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord." Now, wait a minute. Before God said, "Come now, let us reason together," what did God say? "Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings, learn to do well, cease to do evil." You're never, ever going to be able to reason with God until you cease to do evil and make yourself clean and learn to do well. You're not going to reason with God until you turn from your error and from your sin. Very obvious. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Amos. Amos chapter 5. Notice what he says. Amos chapter 5 and let's begin there with verse 14. Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos—look in Amos chapter 5.

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• And verse 14. God says it like this. "Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph." Now note, you have to seek the good and not evil, and you have to hate the evil and love the good. You're never going to love the good until you hate the evil. And you're never ever going to seek the good until you turn from that which is evil. And then if you look in your Bibles to the book of Proverbs chapter 21 and verse 30. Proverbs 21 verse 30. And notice what the scripture says. Proverbs 21 verse 30. Here it is. "There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord."

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• Do you realize it is pointless and it is useless to argue with God? There is no wisdom. There is no understanding. There is no counsel against the Lord. Period. What good does it do any man to fight against Scripture? Not a bit of good. Not good at all. I had a pastor friend years ago. I was in his office. And we were rejoicing over some truths, and we were talking about the doctrine of election. His secretary was outside in the outer office. The door was open. She could hear us.

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• We weren't trying to hide anything. And this conversation was just between the pastor and myself. And we were rejoicing over God's sovereignty, the doctrine of election. And all of a sudden, the secretary jumps up from her desk, runs in the office and gets between her pastor and myself. And here is exactly what she said. And I'm quoting. She was so upset, she said, "I don't care what the Bible says, I know God's not like that." And her pastor said, "Did you hear what you just said?"

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• It's useless to fight against God, and let me tell you something, folks, it is nothing but hypocrisy on the one hand and sheer blasphemy on the other hand, for you and I to cry to God for truth when we're unwilling to turn from the error that we're holding. Why in the world would we expect God to give us truth when we're unwilling to turn from that which is not true? The first step in learning truth is to realize that we do not possess all knowledge.

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• We are wrong in a lot of things. And let me tell you, I want to say it lovingly. I want to say it kindly. And I know you have regard for your parents just like I have regard for my parents. But just because your parents taught you something does not mean necessarily that it's true when it comes to the Bible. And just because a preacher taught you something when you were a kid does not mean it's true. I was taught a lot of things by a lot of preachers. And when I started studying the scripture, I found out I was taught wrongly. Most of us say, "But Brother Weaver, you don't understand, I was raised like this." I understand. I do understand because I was raised a certain way myself. I came to the realization that old black preacher was right when he said that their Bible showed us yet a whole lot of light on them commentaries. You start studying the scripture and you're going to find out that God is right and not necessarily just the way you were raised and just the way you were taught.

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• I'll tell you this, folks. When God saved me and called me to preach, there were a number of pastor friends that took me under their wings and taught me. And when I went to Bob Jones University, I ran into my first teacher who understood the doctrines of grace. And he was teaching them, and it flew all over me. I knew what he was teaching. I knew exactly what he was saying.

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• And here's the thing that really hurt me. I realized if he was right, then all of those men that I loved and who had taught me for those few years before I got there, that meant they were wrong. I did not want my friends to be wrong. I stood up in class. I pointed my finger at his face and I said, "Mr. Gaynor, you know that's not true. You're just saying that because it's intellectually acceptable and you're wrong." And you know what he said to me, "Mr. Weaver?"

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• "Sit down and shut up." He said, "I will see you after class." So after class, I was hot, I was mad because if he was right, all my friends were wrong. I was wrong. After class, he said, "You realize I could send you to the discipline committee and have you kicked out of school." I said, "Yes, I do." But I was hot. I was mad. He said, "But I'm not going to do that." He said, "I'm not going to report you."

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• He said, "Because I do know that you study and I do know that you're honest." And he said, "I tell you what, I'll make a deal with you." It was only about a month before school was out for the summer. He said, "We will resume this conversation in the fall. We won't speak about it anymore until the fall when you come back." And he said, "But there's one thing I want you to do this summer. You make sure that you always allow the scripture to interpret your experiences. You never allow your experiences to interpret the scripture." I said, "Yes, sir, I'll do that." And boy, that summer, God really dealt with me. God showed me some things.

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• If I had time, I could spend hour after hour showing you how God taught me and opened my eyes. And when I went back to school that fall, he was the first man I looked up. I knocked on his door and I said, "Mr. Gaynor, I owe you an apology." And I said, "If you'll get me in front of the class, I will apologize to you in front of the whole class because you were right and I was wrong."

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• You have to come to the realization that we don't know all truth and we don't have all truth and we have to be honest enough. We have to have a noble character enough that we're willing to admit when we're wrong and that God is right.

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• Now I want you to go back to Acts 17 and look in verse 11 because here's the second qualification to be able to learn biblical truth. He said in verse 11, "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind." Now, the word readiness is translated forwardness of mind or readiness of mind or ready mind or willing mind.

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• It also has reference to zeal and eagerness and spirit and passion. Let me tell you what the word is. I love it. The word for readiness here is the Greek word prothumia. Pro is the preposition to or toward, and thumos is the word for passion or heat. So literally, it's to have a passion towards something. It's to have spirit towards something. And these people had a readiness of mind for the Word of God.

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• You remember what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 1 in verse 5? He said, "So much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that be at Rome also." And the word ready is prothumia there. He said, "I've got a spirit of eagerness, I'm ready, I'm willing, I'm able." In 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 2, Peter wrote this to the pastors.

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• He said, "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not of constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind." If you would like to guess what word is used there, if you guess prothumia, you're right, or prothumos, yes. It's the pastors must rule with a ready mind. They must preach and teach with a ready mind. You want to know why Brother Mooney likes to preach so much? That's why.

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• Listen, preaching is my life. It's his life. That's all I've done for 46 years. And the man said, "I'll preach at the drop of a hat and I'll drop the hat myself." I mean, you know. You say, "Can you preach for an hour, two hours?" Yeah. Longest sermon I ever preached at one time was two hours and 45 minutes. They told me not to stop till I got through and so I didn't. But you say, "Man, you got to be out of your mind." Have you ever noticed that it is politically and socially correct to have a passion about anything and everything except the word of God? Have you ever noticed how people spend money and work and effort on a ball game? I mean, they will sit for hours on hard benches.

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• They will cheer and yell until their throats are absolutely sore. They'll do it in all kinds of weather. And yet the same people cannot sit in church and listen to a message for one hour. I don't understand that mentality. You know, one never hears the complaint about the benches being too hard at a ball field. Nobody ever complains about the fact that it's not air-conditioned there, or it's cold there. Have you ever noticed, no one ever complains that the seats there are not padded. It's amazing. And nobody, I've never ever found a sportsman that got upset because the game went into overtime. Oh no, I've got to sit there another 15-20 minutes watching this box.

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• What, they'd quit this stuff and let me go home? No, you don't hear that. And it's not just people who love ball, it's hunters and fishermen as well. I've known hunters that'll get up hours before daylight, go out and sit in cold, freezing weather, eat a sandwich or a couple during the day, come back in at night, have been out in the weather all day long, have not killed one thing, have not even seen any game.

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• "Boy, we had a good time out there." And you let the preacher go 10 minutes over and he can't stand it. "Man, we were supposed to have been out here 15 minutes ago. What's wrong with him? Doesn't he know I've got things to do? Doesn't he know I've got places to go? And doesn't he know I've got people to see?" Isn't it amazing that when you get a passion for the Word of God and you get a passion for listening and learning for the Word of God, all of a sudden you're a lunatic and you've gone off on the deep end. But that doesn't apply if you're watching football games or hunting or fishing. No, no, no. It's only if you really want to hear the Word of God and learn the Word of God. "Oh, he studies all the time. He's a Bible fanatic. You know what he is. He's in one of them cults." Yeah, isn't that amazing? You know, in Acts chapter 20, the Apostle Paul was preaching.

  #53 | 37:19 to 38:21 | cleaned

• And by the way, I hope you remember, Paul didn't have any 30-minute sermons. But in that chapter 20, Paul was preaching and he preached till midnight until Eutychus fell out the window and killed himself. Then Paul quit preaching and went and raised Eutychus from the dead. And then the Bible said he went back and preached until the break of day. The only reason I don't preach past midnight is I can't raise folks from the dead.

  #54 | 38:22 to 38:55 | cleaned

• Hard enough to keep you awake during a sermon. I mean, you know. But, you know, Paul, can you imagine preaching till early morning? I was in a meeting in Illinois and I preached that night and, oh, the Lord just blessed. And when I got through preaching, everyone was just standing around talking, no one was leaving. And I jokingly said, "If I knew everybody was going to stay around like this, I'd just preach another sermon." They sat down and I preached another sermon. And when I got through, they still didn't want to leave. And their pastor got up and preached. And when he got through preaching, I got up and preached again. You know, we didn't get out of that meeting that night about one or two in the morning.

  #55 | 38:58 to 39:55 | cleaned

• That's only happened to me about twice in my life. But I'm just simply pointing out the fact, when you get really zealous and you really want the Word of God, all of a sudden folks think you're funny. You know, David said in Psalm 119 verse 97, "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation day and night." You see, here's what God is saying. If you and I really want to learn the truth, we have to have a mind ready for the truth. We have to have a mind that's eager for the truth. We have to have a mind that desires and hungers for the truth of God. How few people today are really willing to discuss the Word of God, study the Word of God, go deep into the Word of God. No, no, no.

  #56 | 39:55 to 40:35 | cleaned

• What we'll do, we'll go home and, oh, well, we'll read a chapter and that'll be it. We don't study. Yeah, we'll read every now and then. Isn't it amazing, too? Now, listen to me. You have a special meeting. Folks don't come every night to the meeting. Well, they should, unless God providentially hinders them. I understand work. I understand sickness. Same thing with coming to church. Some folks who come Sunday morning won't come Sunday night.

  #57 | 40:36 to 41:06 | cleaned

• Have you ever wondered about that? And you ask, why in the world is that? I want to explain that in just a few minutes. But you say, "Brother Weaver, it's probably not real natural to, you know, just want to listen to the word of God all the time and study all the time." Well, it may not be natural for some folks, but it sure is for some other folks. I want to show it to you in the Bible. I want you to turn in your Bible to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13, and let's begin reading there, verse 13. Watch carefully, Acts 13, verse 13.

  #58 | 41:08 to 41:49 | cleaned

• "Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down."

  #59 | 41:53 to 42:09 | cleaned

• Now watch, "And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on." Now let me just stop there. I've threatened to do this for years. I haven't done it, but I'm going to one of these days. I'm going to bring a message on the mistake, the mistake of a great rabbi. Can you imagine anyone being so stupid as to ask the Apostle Paul if he had anything to say? He said, "Ye brethren, if ye have anything to say, say on." Look at verse 16, "Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience." And then in verse 17, he begins a history lesson, and he preaches and teaches in that history lesson. And if you'll skip down to verse 39, Paul is now concluding this little message, and he says, "By him, that is, by Jesus Christ, all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

  #60 | 42:09 to 43:12 | cleaned

• Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you." Now watch. "And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath."

  #61 | 43:12 to 43:34 | cleaned

• Now, before Paul could get away, they said, "Now, wait a minute, Paul, you are coming back next week, aren't you? You will be here. We want to hear more of this." No, that didn't satisfy them either. "Yeah, I'll be back," says Paul. Now watch what he says. Verse 43. "Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who,

  #62 | 43:34 to 44:00 | cleaned

• speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God." Paul said, "You know, I just happen to have another sermon outline on perseverance. Let me give it to you right now." It wasn't enough for these people that they had a promise that Paul and Barnabas were coming back. They had to follow them. And Paul preached again. And look, if you would please, verse 44, "And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God." You've got to remember, Paul did not have any 30-minute messages. He preached. What would make people so eager and so hungry to hear the preaching of the Word of God?

  #63 | 44:01 to 44:46 | cleaned

• If you will turn in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, I will show you this is another message in and of itself. But here's what will give you a ready mind, an eager mind toward the Word of God. Look what the Apostle Paul said, 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13. He said, "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." Paul said, "Here's what it was when you heard us preach. You didn't sit back and say, 'That's what Paul thinks. That's what Barnabas says. That's what Silas wants.' No. Paul said, 'When you heard us preach, you received it as it was in truth the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.'" If you ever come to the realization this is God's Word and God is giving you what He wants you to have.

  #64 | 44:49 to 46:06 | cleaned

• God is preparing you for what is ahead of you. When I was in boot camp, Fort Jackson, South Carolina, I never will forget the very first day that I went into the mess hall and they served me creamed beef on toast. Oh, I looked at that stuff. I said, "I'm not eating that slop." And this is what it looked like. Listen, I was raking on the farm. My mother fixed grits and eggs and biscuits and toast and meat and I was used to a real breakfast.

  #65 | 46:08 to 46:56 | cleaned

• So I turned my nose up and I walked out of that mess hall. And when we fell in formation, the sergeant said, "Boys, full field packs, five mile march up and down hills, up and down it." I'm going to tell you about an hour after that, I could have eaten 50 pieces of that creamed beef on toast. I learned to like it. They knew what they were going to do with us. I didn't. I turned my nose up.

  #66 | 46:58 to 47:33 | cleaned

• They were giving me something that would give me energy and strength. No, I didn't want it. God puts out for you that which He has ordained for you. And God says you need a ready mind to get it. You need to be ready. You need to be eager. You need to understand that this is His Word and it is for you. If you want to learn truth, you have to have a noble character.

  #67 | 47:33 to 47:59 | cleaned

• You have to be willing to admit you're wrong. You have to be willing to admit that you're in error many times. But you also have to have a mind that's eager and hungry for truth, zealous of truth. But if you go back in your Bibles to Acts chapter 17, you'll see the third thing that is required. Notice he said in verse 11, "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."

  #68 | 48:01 to 48:30 | cleaned

• Ah, what did they do when they heard Paul preach? They compared what he preached with the scripture. Here's the practice: they searched the scriptures. Now, let me tell you something about searching the scriptures. Searching the scripture does not mean that you just run the verses in a concordance. Does not mean that you just look up several parallel passages. There's more to searching than that. The Greek word for search is anakrino, which literally means to investigate, to examine, to scrutinize, to judge, discern. And this word is specifically used in a forensic sense of a judge holding an investigation.

  #69 | 48:31 to 49:24 | cleaned

• It denotes a thorough examination of the witness that is being examined. Anakrino. Ana is the preposition that is usually translated into up or upwards and krino means to judge or discern. So anakrino literally means to discern into or discern up.

  #70 | 49:24 to 49:45 | cleaned

• Now, let me give you how this word is used in our New Testament. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, in verse 3, said it like this: "Mine answer to them that do examine me is this." Paul had enemies. He said, "My answer to those that examine me is this." What were his enemies doing? They were scrutinizing him. They were turning him every which way they could. They wanted to find something on the Apostle Paul. It's the same word. It means to examine closely. When you look in Luke 23 in verse 14, Pilate examined Jesus.

  #71 | 49:45 to 50:33 | cleaned

• Here he was as a judge trying to determine guilt or innocence, etc. He knew he was innocent, but he gave him an examination. So when the Bible says that these people searched the scripture, it was more than looking up verses in the concordance. It was more than reading parallel passages. It was more than just reading. What they were doing, they were scrutinizing. They were examining. They were discerning these verses and these passages in their context to get their full meaning.

  #72 | 50:36 to 51:05 | cleaned

• They were searching for a biblical interpretation and a biblical application. Now, watch this. Look at verse 11. They searched the Scripture. That's the practice. Here's the period: daily. The Bereans were not spasmodic. They were not on again, off again. They did not just study weekly or monthly. They studied daily. Let me tell you something, folks. It takes constant, consistent and dedicated time to learn the Word of God. I want to tell you this. It's the absolute truth. You cannot learn the Bible in Bible college. You can't. You may learn some things about the Bible, but the only way you can learn the Bible is to read it yourself and to study it yourself. You're never, ever going to get in college what you need to pastor or what you need to live.

  #73 | 51:05 to 52:10 | cleaned

• I don't care how many years you go to theological school. The only way you can know the Bible is to study it for yourself. And let me tell you, folks, I know I don't have any doubt in my mind. Most of you folks here read your Bible every day. I believe that. I really do. Most of you not only read it every day, you probably read the Bible all the way through once a year or at least all the way through.

  #74 | 52:10 to 52:42 | cleaned

• Ever how long it takes you. And I appreciate that and I'm thankful for that, but let me tell you something. I had rather read one verse and understand it than I had to read 40 chapters and not understand the thing I've read. I want quality and not quantity. What good does it do you to say, "Well, I read my Bible all the way through two times this year"?

  #75 | 52:43 to 53:18 | cleaned

• You still don't know what's in it. You still don't know what it said, because you just read it. You never searched it. You never discerned it. You never examined it. You never scrutinized it. You just read it. They searched the scriptures and they did it daily. I'll tell you, you know where I get most of my messages from? Just from my reading every day. I read the Bible every day not to get a message, I just read it for my own benefit. And usually while I'm reading it, I see things that I've never seen before.

  #76 | 53:22 to 54:14 | cleaned

• And I think, wow, I need to preach on that, and then I start studying it, I examine it, I scrutinize it. That's how I got this message on Acts chapter 17. I want to know what these words meant. I want to know how they applied to me. I'm just simply pointing out the fact, here we've got to do it. Let me show you what it really means. I want you to hold that 17, but turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 2. Proverbs chapter 2. And boy, I want you to look at this. Proverbs chapter 2.

  #77 | 54:16 to 54:53 | cleaned

• And let's begin reading there with verse 1. You talk about a passage. Let's read through verse 5. "My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God." Let me go back and read this same passage with the emphasis that we need. Here it is. God says, "My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then, and only then, shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God."

  #78 | 54:53 to 56:05 | cleaned

• If you knew, if you knew that somewhere on your property there was a chest full of gold doubloons hidden there by a pirate, you knew it was there. You didn't know where, but you knew it was there. Here's my question. Would you take the shovel and dig a little and quit, say, "I'll pick up here next month"? No. You know what you'd do? You would dig until you dug your whole yard up. You would keep digging until you found that treasure.

  #79 | 56:08 to 56:44 | cleaned

• This is exactly what God is saying. You have to keep at it. You have to cry. You have to have a mind eager and ready, and you have to scrutinize and you have to examine until you get the truth, until God shows you his word. Now, watch this. Here's my question. Why is it that we do not learn the truth, hold it, value it, and esteem it very highly?

  #80 | 56:45 to 57:18 | cleaned

• Let me ask this another way. How is it some of you have already forgotten what I preached on Sunday? How is it some of you have forgotten what your pastor preached two weeks ago or a month ago? Come on. Here's the answer why you've already forgotten. Because you didn't work for it. You didn't put anything into it, you didn't search it out, you didn't examine it, you did not try to make it yours. There is not a one of you that has worked and studied and put effort into the sermon that I'm preaching tonight, not one of you.

  #81 | 57:19 to 58:11 | cleaned

• I have, but you haven't. And you know what that mentality breeds? Easy come, easy go. Doesn't matter. He'll be back next year. I'll get it next time he comes back. That's the truth and you know it. The reason we willingly and easily and readily miss church and the preaching of God's Word, we hadn't put anything into it. Pastor has, but you haven't. Doesn't mean anything to you. You hadn't prayed all week. You hadn't studied all week.

  #82 | 58:14 to 58:59 | cleaned

• I remember when I was a boy. We had a 1958 Ford. It was a brand new one. My mother asked me if I'd take the trash to the dump. I said, "Yes, ma'am." I'd have done anything to drive that new Ford. And I put the trash in the trunk and my friend and I got in that car and I drove down our dirt road. I turned down the highway, I turned down another dirt road and I went to the dump and I put the trash out and I came back. I stopped at that dirt road when I got to the highway.

  #83 | 59:03 to 59:43 | cleaned

• I looked left, I looked right, didn't see a thing coming. I pulled that thing down in low. I said, "Bill, watch this." And I mashed that accelerator to the floor. And I spun out of that dirt road, and I hit that highway, tires squealing, and that Ford heavy, and it sat down in the rear like that. And just as it sat down, I looked in the rearview mirror, and I saw my father coming around the curve in his pickup truck.

  #84 | 59:44 to 1:00:10 | cleaned

• I drove 20 miles an hour the rest of the way home. There's a long story to that, but let me tell you. Here's the point I was making. It was easy for me to try to lay down rubber and burn that rubber when I wasn't buying the tires. Well, when I got grown and married and I had to buy my own tires, I didn't peel off. Because it cost me something.

  #85 | 1:00:12 to 1:00:46 | cleaned

• When truth costs you, you don't forget it. That's why the Bible says, listen now, Proverbs 23, verse 23, "Buy the truth, and sell it not." If it has cost you something, you're not going to sell it. If it's valuable to you, you're not going to sell it. The Bible says in Proverbs 25 and verse 2, "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter."

  #86 | 1:00:48 to 1:01:19 | cleaned

• Now, I want you to go back in your Bibles to Acts chapter 17, I want to start tying this together for you, but look at Acts chapter 17. Watch carefully, because when I began this message, I asked you: Why, humanly speaking, did the Bereans have an interest in the gospel when Thessalonica opposed the gospel and Athens was indifferent to it? Well, verse 11, "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." Watch. "Therefore many of them believed." Humanly speaking, there was interest in the gospel in Berea because of opposition and indifference, because they had a noble character, they received the Word with all readiness of mind, they searched the Scriptures daily, and in light of that, using the means that God ordained, therefore, many of them believed.

  #87 | 1:01:23 to 1:02:26 | cleaned

• You remember, God chose us unto salvation through sanctification and belief of the truth. God has already ordained the end. He's also ordained the means to the end. These people did exactly what God would have them to do. And therefore, they believed. He gave them the gift of faith. You know, here's that verse in 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 7, Paul said, "Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things."

  #88 | 1:02:27 to 1:03:05 | cleaned

• God's not going to just let you go to bed dumb and wake up in the morning smart. It doesn't work like that. Consider what I say. Meditate on it. Think upon it. Study it. Search it. Discern it. And while you're doing that, you seek me for illumination. Consider what I say. And the Lord give you understanding in all things. God does not give understanding willy-nilly. He gives it as you meditate and study upon his word.

  #89 | 1:03:08 to 1:03:36 | cleaned

• Very quickly, look in verse 12. In verse 12 again, you have a blessed result. "Therefore many of them believed." Verse 13, you have a beneficial result. "But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people." You say, "Brother Weaver, how in the world can that be beneficial?" Well, because opposition only grounds and strengthens true believers.

  #90 | 1:03:36 to 1:04:03 | cleaned

• It separates the wheat from the chaff. It demonstrates who really, genuinely believes. And I want you to note something. Look back in Acts 17, verse 5. "But the Jews who believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort." Wow. Do you realize? It's always ignorant, unlearned, and vulgar people that stir up trouble. I'm serious. It is. Because you have knowledge of the Word of God, you don't act like that. You don't do that.

  #91 | 1:04:05 to 1:04:51 | cleaned

• Now, let me ask you. Ask yourself this question. What in the world can the devil do? What can the world do? What can the world system do with a man who has bought the truth and refuses to sell it? Nothing. Nothing. How do you explain the martyrs in the Bible and in the first century? Because here were people that have bought the truth and they refuse to sell it even at the price of their lives. They value the truth more than anything. Buy the truth and sell it not.

  #92 | 1:04:52 to 1:05:38 | cleaned

• Let me make just a couple of applications. The first one is this. There will never ever be any growth in grace and in knowledge until we actually relinquish sin and error. The truth of the matter is most of us really know about our sins. We don't have to guess. We know our sins. We're just not willing necessarily to repent of them. And David said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." And you know what the Bible says, listen to this. 2 Peter chapter 3 in verse 18, Peter wrote, "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." But grow in grace and knowledge.

  #93 | 1:05:39 to 1:06:21 | cleaned

• The little word "and" is the Greek word kai, k-a-i, and kai is translated another way in our Bibles. Sometimes it is translated, in fact very frequently, it is translated as "even." Now listen carefully. So you could read that, "But grow in grace, even in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." So you're not growing in grace unless you're growing in knowledge. And if you want to grow in knowledge, you're going to have to turn from your error, turn from your sin and begin to embrace the truth.

  #94 | 1:06:21 to 1:06:53 | cleaned

• Secondly, let me point out where there is no receiving of the truth with a readiness of mind and a searching of the scripture to discern the truth, there never, ever will be any real conviction for the truth. Truth that does not cost you something means nothing to you. You wonder why so many are willing to compromise, why so many are willing to deny the scriptures. Never cost them anything to begin with.

  #95 | 1:06:53 to 1:07:22 | cleaned

• What difference does it make to them? What did our Lord say in Mark chapter 7, Matthew 15? He is quoting from Isaiah 29 verse 13. Then he said, "What you have is taught by the precept of man." God never taught you anything. If God had taught you something, you would not be compromising it or throwing it away. Your theories that is taught by the precepts of man. Why in the world can men like Demas forsake God for the world? Because truth never meant anything to them to begin with. If you buy the truth, it means something to you. If you put something in it, it means something to you.

  #96 | 1:07:23 to 1:08:08 | cleaned

• Thirdly, you've got to understand this: wherever and whenever truth is embraced and believed and practiced, there will be opposition. These Jews set up trouble for Paul at Thessalonica. They set up problems in Berea. They set up problems for Paul everywhere he went. That's why he said in 1 Corinthians 16, verse 9, that there is an effectual door open to me and there are many adversaries. You cannot move without producing friction. And if you're doing something biblical and right, you will have opposition, period. And then lastly, you've got to consider this. No one will ever learn the truth apart from the word of truth. Our Lord said, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."

  #97 | 1:08:11 to 1:09:00 | cleaned

• Peter said that we're to desire the sincere milk of the word that we may grow thereby. The Bible is our sole authority for faith and practice. We have to learn to love it, to learn it, and to live it. And we're only going to be able to live it as we learn it. And we're only going to be able to learn it as we love it. How do you learn biblical truth?

  #98 | 1:09:01 to 1:09:40 | cleaned

• You have to have a noble character to say, "I'm wrong. God's right." You have to have a mind that hungers and is eager and zealous and willing and ready for the Word of God. And you have to be able to search the scriptures and compare what you hear preached with the Word of God and you see for yourself what God teaches. And when you put all that work and effort into it, you bought it.

  #99 | 1:09:42 to 1:10:12 | cleaned

• And you're unwilling to sell it and part with it. May God help us to learn truth. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask you for your grace and your mercy. Teach us. Teach us to study, Lord. Teach us to build up ourselves in the most holy faith through thy word. David said, "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

  #100 | 1:10:14 to 1:10:39 | cleaned

• With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." Help us, Lord, to be holy and godly by loving your word and learning it and living it. In the name of Jesus Christ we ask and pray, Amen. Amen.

  #101 | 1:10:40 to 1:10:59 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T04:35:08Z