Join us on a profound journey as we explore the seven wonders of the Word of God with the esteemed Adrian Rogers. Dive deep into Psalm 119 and discover how the scriptures illuminate our lives, offering spiritual guidance and nourishment for every believer. Adrian serves as our guide through the rich and dynamic nature of the Bible, encouraging us to find joy and wisdom within its pages. In this episode, we dissect the supernatural, spiritual, and historical significance of the Bible, showcasing its role as the living and powerful Word of God. Learn why the scriptures have stood the
Known for his unique ability to simplify profound truth so that it can be applied to everyday life, Adrian Rogers was one of the most effective preachers, respected Bible teachers, and Christian leaders of our time. Thanks for joining us for this message. Here’s Adrian Rogers.
SPEAKER 02 :
Would you take God’s Word and turn, please, to Psalm 119. If you know anything of the Word of God, you know that Psalm 119 deals with The Word of God. And I love this psalm. As a matter of fact, I have a Bible in my office right near the door. And when I walk out to preach, I can glance at that Bible and almost always I’ll get a verse that out of this psalm to hide in my heart before I come to the platform. I love this psalm and it just, there’s hardly a verse in this psalm will not put a fire in your heart just before you get ready to preach or to whatever you do if you’re going to teach or share the Word of God. But look, if you will, please, at three verses, Psalm 119, verse 18, first of all. “‘Open thou mine eyes that I may behold,’ wondrous things out of thy law. Underscore the word wondrous. And then look, if you will, please, in verse 27 of this same chapter. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts so that I shall talk of thy wondrous works. Underscore again the word wondrous. And then look, if you will, in the same Psalm all the way over, same chapter to verse 129. Thy testimonies are wonderful. Therefore doth my soul keep them. Twice he speaks of wondrous things and then he says they are wonderful. I want to talk to you tonight as we ordain these men about what I’m going to call the seven wonders of the word of God. Now we’ve heard of the seven wonders of the ancient world and then some have tried to say the seven wonders of the modern world. I want to say there are seven wonders of of the word of God. And may I say that the danger is not so much from the infidels who attack the church from the outside. They don’t bother me nearly so much. They’re like woodpeckers pecking on the church and we can see them and shoo them away. But there are others who are on the inside. I call them termites. They are on the inside eating away at the foundation. And we have the infidels on the outside, the woodpeckers, and the liberals on the inside, the termites. And sometimes I think that the termites are doing far more danger than the woodpeckers are. As a matter of fact, there used to be a man named Robert Ingersoll who was a very brilliant man who went up and down the land giving lectures as to why he did not believe in God and he would lampoon and ridicule the Bible and after a while he stopped doing that and somebody asked him why he no longer did it and he said this he said there’s no more need for me to do that anymore as many preachers in the pulpits are denying the Bible in the churches of our land and are accomplishing far more to destroy faith in the Bible than I could do by taking to the lecture platform Well, the Bible is being attacked today. And there are those who say you don’t need to defend the Bible. The Bible will defend itself, and that sounds good. But my dear friend, the Bible says also that we’re to earnestly contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. John Calvin. The great theologian said this, a dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent without giving any sound. I think that’s true. We would be cowards. That great Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, said this, The turning point of the battle between those who hold the faith once delivered to the saints and their opponents lies in the true and real inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. He’s saying that’s the turning point. That’s the continental divide. That is the point of difference. What people believe about the inspiration of the Word of God. And then the great Spurgeon went on to say… If we have in the word of God no infallible standard of truth, we are at sea without a compass and no danger from rough weather without. can be equal to the loss within. He was saying the same thing in another figure of speech. It’s not primarily the woodpeckers. It’s not the waves. It’s the loss of direction. It’s the termites or whatever the analogy is on the inside. Now, there’s seven wonderful things about the Word of God that I want to share with you tonight. I love the Bible. When I began preaching as a 19-year-old boy, I believed the Bible was the Word of God. I still believe it tonight. I believe it even more tonight than I believed it then. I believed it with all of my heart. I got married when I was a 19-year-old boy. I love Joyce with all of my heart. But I love her more today than I loved her then. And I loved her then with all of my heart. But the more I see of the Word of God… The more convinced I am that the Bible is exactly what it says of itself that it is, that it is indeed a wonderful, wonderful book. I’m not finding hidden flaws. I’m finding hidden beauties. And I’m finding authentication of that which I already believe and blessing upon blessing of the book that has already blessed me down through the years. What are the seven wonders of the Word of God as I see them tonight? Well, first of all, One to number one, the Bible is a supernatural book. Another book was written as the Bible was written. Now, the Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16 that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. 2 Timothy 3, 16. And the word inspiration is the Greek word theonustis or penustis, however you wish to pronounce it. Theonustis. And it literally means that the Scripture… Is God breathed? Now what you’re hearing tonight is my breath. That makes my voice. As my diaphragm pushes up on my lungs and the air comes out of my throat, it comes over my larynx and causes my vocal cords to vibrate and my tongue, my teeth, my lips form sounds. And these sounds go into the air and the microphone and come into your ear. And there are vibrations that are set up in your ear that send signals to your brain and your brain interprets these sounds. But what you’re hearing really as I speak is my diaphragm. breath. I couldn’t speak without breath. Now, the Bible is the breath of God. That’s literally what the word means. It literally means that God breathed the scriptures out. The Bible is as much the word of God as if God were up here in a physical body speaking words. It is the breath of God. And that scripture, 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, says that all scripture is given by inspiration of God, not part of it. That’s the reason we believe in what I call the verbal plenary inspiration of the Bible. Verbal, from the Latin verba, means word. We believe in word by word inspiration. inspiration. Matthew 4, 4, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. We believe in verbal inspiration. That means word by word inspiration of the Bible. You say, well, what’s the point? What difference does it make? Well, you see, some people say the Bible is inspired in its thoughts, but not its words. Well, very frankly, you cannot have Accurate thoughts without accurate words. Anymore to have thoughts without words would be like to try to have mathematics without numbers. Words mean something. Our Lord Jesus taught that even a jot or a tittle there in the Word of God was important. And in the original manuscripts, every line, every point, every pen stroke, every jot, every tittle was placed there by the will and the purpose of Almighty God. I believe that. The verbal inspiration of the Word of God and the plenary inspiration of the Word of God. The Latin word plenus means full. That is, it’s fully inspired. Now, it may not be as fully inspiring. If I had to be shipwrecked on an island, I’d much rather be shipwrecked with Romans than 1st or 2nd Chronicles. And nothing wrong with 1st or 2nd Chronicles, but some of it reads like a Hebrew telephone directory. Now, I had rather have, of course, the book of Romans. Sure, that’s fine, that’s wonderful. But I want to tell you, 1 Chronicles is as inspired as the book of Romans. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. And you’ll find as you read the Bible, 3,808 times a phrase like this, God said, or the Lord said, or thus saith the Lord, or the Lord spake, Thousands of times it says that. Now, either the Bible is the Word of God or it’s a big bundle of lies. Because over and over again it says that this is what God says. Now, having said that, somebody says, well, how do you know that God gave all of the Bible? If all the Bible is the breath of God, how come it sounds so different? Why, if you’re reading, for example, James, it doesn’t sound like what Paul wrote. And if you read Peter, it doesn’t sound like James or Paul. So if God wrote it all, why is it all so different? And why is the language so different and the style so different if it’s all given by inspiration of God? That’s a very interesting question. I’ve asked Carter Threlkel. Carter, where are you? I want you to come up here tonight, get a trumpet for me, and hit a few notes, would you? Make it pretty, Carter. Thank you. Now, Carter, get a trombone and hit a few notes for me. All right, thank you. Now, let’s give him a hand. Now, how many of you, if your eyes were closed, could tell the difference between a trumpet and a trombone? Let me see your hand. Most all of us. Even me, I could do that. I could tell the difference between a trumpet and a trombone. All right. Now, the trumpet has a personality of its own, has a tone, a tenor of its own. And the trombone has a characteristic, a personality, a tone, a temper of its own, right? But who was playing both instruments? One man, Carter Threlkel. You pick up the Bible and you can see the personality, the temperament, the characteristic of the Apostle Paul. Or you pick it up, you can see the personality, the characteristic, the temperament. of Simon Peter or the others. But who is behind both of them? Almighty God. And you see, as these instruments were used of this man, human instruments wrote the Bible, but behind these human instruments was Almighty God. The Bible says, holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And so as you read the Bible, it’s a very human book. You see the prayers, the praises, the fears, the victories, the yearnings, the frustrations of the men who wrote this book. It’s marked by their personalities. Yet God, in and through these men, was the one who was doing the speaking, the leading. Dr. Lewis Schaeffer said of the Bible, It is not such a book as man would write if he could… Because it condemns him. Or could write if he would. Because it surpasses him. That’s a great statement. So the Bible is a supernatural book. It’s not like any other book. Robert E. Lee, the great statesman in general, said, The Bible is a book in comparison with which all others in my eyes are of minor importance and which in all my perplexities and distresses has never failed to give me light. That’s what Robert E. Lee said about the Word of God. It is, my dear friend, a supernatural book. Second wonder of the Bible. Not only is it a supernatural book, but my dear friend, it is a spiritual book. Now what I mean by that is that the Bible… written by the Holy Spirit, must be interpreted by the Holy Spirit. Now, revelation is God’s communication of truth to man. Inspiration, in a broader sense than the narrow sense I gave just a few moments ago, is the recording of that revelation. But you see, revelation and inspiration is not enough. We still need illumination. to be able to understand the Word of God. And in these scriptures that I read to you tonight, notice that they were prayers. Lord, open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things in thy law. I love that passage in Luke chapter 24, where the Lord Jesus, after his resurrection, was walking with two disciples, forlorn and dismayed, on the road to Emmaus, And he walked with them and talked with them and conversed with them. And then there’s a very wonderful part there in Luke chapter 24, verse 45. The Bible says, and then he opened their understanding. My mind has camped on that verse many times. I thought, oh God, do that for me. God, do that for me. He opened their understanding so they could understand the scriptures. You see… The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned. What does that mean, the natural man? It means the soulish man, the psychological man, the man apart from the Spirit of God, he can’t understand the Bible. He may be able to give you the names of the kings of Israel. He may make a history test on the Bible. He may even be able to articulate the doctrines of the Bible in his own way. But friend, he will never know the real message of the Bible until the Holy Spirit of God turns the light on in his soul. The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God. That’s the reason that when we come to this book, we must come to this book and lay in the dust. our intellectual pride, and say, Lord God, speak to me. Isaiah chapter 55 and verse 7 says, let the wicked forsake his thoughts, the unrighteous man his ways, and let him return unto the Lord. Just forsake your thoughts. You put away your slide rule, you put away your microscope, you put away your intellectual pride, and you come and ask the Holy Spirit of God to teach you. This book is a spiritual book. You will not rip truth out of it. God will reveal it to you. You won’t have it. I mean, you may have a perfectly inspired word of God, but until the Holy Spirit uses it as his convicting cutting sword, or until he illumines you as a student of it, it’ll not be real in your heart. Thirdly, third one of the word, not only is it a supernatural book, and not only is it a spiritual book, It is the Savior’s book. The Savior’s book. I say it’s the Savior’s book, number one, because he believed it. And it’s the Savior’s book, number two, because it presents him. Jesus Christ is the hero of the Bible. If you read the Bible and you don’t find Jesus Christ somewhere, somehow, standing in the shadows or presented in plain view, go back and read it again because the Bible is about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me just say, reiterate those two things again. First of all, Jesus was a believer in the inerrancy of the Word of God. Even the liberals have to confess that Jesus was a believer in the inerrancy of the Word of God. Jesus said in John chapter 10 and verse 35, the Scripture cannot be broken. That’s what Jesus Christ said about the Scripture. And by the way, just turn to the Gospel of John chapter 5. I want you to see what the Lord Jesus said about the Word of God. John chapter 5 and verse 39. Jesus said, search the Scriptures. And then you think that you have eternal life. And they are they which testify of me. And by the way, what scriptures was he talking about then? The Old Testament. The New Testament had not yet been written. And Jesus speaking to the Pharisees and others said, you search the scriptures. These are they which testify of me. Don’t ever get the idea that the Old Testament is about Israel and the New Testament is about the church or the Old Testament is about history and the New Testament is about the Lord Jesus. Friend, Jesus said concerning the scriptures, the holy writings, that they testify of him. And then I want you to look down in verse 45, John chapter 5, verse 45. Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. And when he said Moses, he was talking about what we call the Pentateuch. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Called under one heading Moses. Now Jesus believed that Moses wrote the Pentateuch. And then notice what he says in verse 46. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me. For he, Moses, wrote of me. Do you see that? Friend, that’s powerful. Now, we have people today who don’t even believe that Moses wrote the Pentateuch. And they would laugh at the idea that Christ is in the Old Testament in the first five books of the Bible. But you know what? I’m going to line up with Jesus who said that Moses wrote it. He didn’t say some priestly redactor wrote of me. He said, he, Moses, wrote of me. And then I want you to notice this. That Jesus put the writings of Moses and his sayings on the same plane. But if you believe not his writings. How shall you believe my words? Do you see that? Do you see what he did? You see, he endorsed what Moses wrote and he put what Moses wrote on the same level as his own words. Now turn back to the book of Luke here for just a moment. Luke chapter 24. I’m just trying to show you Jesus’ view of the Bible because why? Well, he’s your master. And the servant’s view of the Bible must be the same as his master’s, right? Right? Now look in Luke chapter 24. We’re back on the Emmaus road now. Jesus is walking along with these two forlorn disciples. Sees that they don’t understand his resurrection. And he says to them in verse 25. Oh fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Now, do you know what Jesus Christ would call you tonight if you don’t believe all that the Old Testament prophets said? He would call you a fool and slow of heart. That means dull of hearing. Oh, fools! And slow of heart to believe not all that the prophets have spoken. And then notice how he reasoned with them. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, that is, he began in the Pentateuch and went right on through the rest of the Bible. Beginning at Moses and all of the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Oh, how I would have loved to have had a tape recording of that. Can you imagine what that must have been like? To be walking along with the very son of God who begins with the book of Genesis. And he goes right on through the Bible. And he shows them in all the Bible the things concerning himself, the Old Testament. Oh, wow. You see, what I’m trying to say is, my dear friend, this supernatural book, this spiritual book is the Savior’s book. He believed it. He said, the scriptures cannot be broken. And he said, you search the scriptures for these are they which testify of me. Jesus is the theme, the hero of all of the Bible. In Genesis, he’s the promised seed. In Exodus, he’s the Passover lamb. In Leviticus, he’s that perfect sacrifice. In Numbers, he is that star out of Jacob. In Deuteronomy, he’s the prophet that is greater than Moses. In Joshua, he is the commander-in-chief and judges, the deliverer. In Kings and Chronicles and Samuel, he’s the king of kings. In Ezra, he is God’s temple. In Nehemiah, He is the gate to the city. And Esther, he is the one come for such a time as this. In Job, he is the redeemer who will stand in the last day upon the earth. In Psalms, he’s the good shepherd. In Proverbs, he is the wisdom of God. In Ecclesiastes, the one upon whom we attend. In Isaiah, he is the virgin born son of God. In Jeremiah, he is the righteous branch. In the Song of Solomon, he is the one altogether lovely. And in the book of Hosea, he is God’s son called out of Egypt. In Malachi, he’s the son of righteousness with healing in his wings. This book is the Savior’s book. Now, there are some who would accuse you if you love the Bible too much. You know what they will accuse you of? Too much according to them, if you love it too much according to them. They will accuse you of bibliolatry. You know what that means? They say you made an idol of the Bible. You worship the Bible. Well, dear friend, let me tell you something. If they call your deep love for the Bible bibliolatry, that’s their problem and not yours, unless you actually worship the Bible and allow it to stand between you and Christ. But if it brings you closer to Christ, pay no attention to them. Just keep on loving the Bible and cherish it all the more. It is the Savior’s book. Because He loved it and believed it, you can love it and believe it. Now here’s the fourth wonder of the Word of God. It, my dear friend, is a sovereign book. A sovereign book. Now what I mean by that is it is the supreme authority in spiritual matters. Not human reason. Don’t take the Bible and parade it past the bar of human judgment to see if you agree with it or not. Not conscience. Conscience is not the supreme authority. If you had to choose between obeying the Bible or obeying your conscience, I hope you know what you would do. Obey the Bible. You see, conscience is not an infallible guide. Your conscience is like a sundial. Only a true light, the sun, will make it register the right thing. Don’t look at the Bible with a flashlight of human opinion. You have to look at the Bible in the light of the Holy Spirit of God. Not the flashlight of public opinion. Tradition. is not the authority. Jesus warned of those in Mark chapter 7 and verse 13 who make the word of God of none effect through their tradition. You say, Pastor, I don’t like you calling the Bible sovereign because God is sovereign. Yes. And the Bible says, God says. God says. Let me give you a verse, friend. That’ll blow your doors off. Here it is. Psalm 138, verse 2, For thou hast magnified thy word above thy name. Now you chew on that one for a while. God has magnified his word above his name. So, dear friend, this book is a sovereign book. A man and his word may be different in this dishonest world in which we live, but God and his word are the same. Amen. If you can bank on God, you can bank on the Word of God. It is a sovereign book. I want to say the fifth wonder of this wonderful book is it is a surviving book. A surviving book. It goes on and on and on and on. Matthew chapter 24 and verse 35. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words… Shall never. Pass away. First Peter chapter 1 verse 25. The word of the Lord. Endures. Forever. Forever. When the earth becomes a sender. And the stars splinter and fade. The word of God. Will be in existence. It doesn’t change. It survives. Ever so often. We’ll read in the newspapers about some new theory as to how the earth began. Or how the universe began. Or how some early man they found this thing or that thing. Or somebody has found some hidden esoteric books and all of this thing. Ever so often you’ll read this and then people forget about it. The Word of God just keeps on going on. You know, I’m so glad the Bible doesn’t agree with modern science in every instance. Why? Because if it agreed with today’s science, tomorrow it may be wrong because science is constantly changing. You give these scientists enough time and maybe sooner or later they’ll catch up with the Word of God. I’m serious about that. That’s not a cliche. Friend, it’s an incredible book. You don’t have to be ashamed of the Bible. I mean, you don’t have to stand behind the corner and wonder, am I going to be an ignorant rube for believing the Bible? My dear friend, this book is timeless. It is ultimate. It is indestructible. It is infallible. It is eternal. It is not the book of the month or the book of the year. It is the book of the ages forever. Oh, Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. That’s an incredible thing that we’re holding in our hand a document that is literally millenniums old in some instances. Here we are in the 20th century, the atomic age. And still we’re finding help and comfort and wisdom from this book. Let God be true and let every man be a liar. Thank God for this book. That is a surviving book. And Dr. Lee, this time Robert G. Lee, not Robert E. Lee, said this concerning the Bible. Enemy noise has not silenced one warning. The enemy’s black smoke has not dimmed one bright hope. The enemy’s stabs have not torn one blemish in its snow-white vesture. Infidel ink has not diluted one drop of her honey. The enemy has not plucked one petal from the rose of Sharon. nor impose one stain upon her purity. I love that. I like that. I want to say that the sixth wonder of the seven wonders of the Word is this. Not only is the Bible a surviving book, but the Bible is a sustaining book. Not only does it survive, but it enables me to survive. As you are physically sustained by physical nutriment, You are spiritually sustained by the Word of God. That’s exactly what Jesus Christ taught in Matthew 4, verse 4, when He said, “…man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Every word that comes out of God’s mouth is to your spirit what bread is to your body. That’s the reason that old Job said, and perhaps the oldest piece of literature known to man, the book of Job, Job 23, verse 12, I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. That is, if I had to choose between the word of God and groceries, I’d have to choose the Bible. I’m afraid most of us wouldn’t do that. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary meat. And do most of us a lot of good if we studied more and ate less. Say amen. You notice true. It’s a sustaining book. Here’s what God’s word says. First Peter chapter two, verse two. As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. No wonder we have so many baby Christians who remain babies. They don’t get the word of God. They’re not growing. The great Bible teacher of yesteryear was Dr. R.A. Torrey. If you have any of Dr. Torrey’s books, read them. If you don’t have some, buy them. Here’s what Dr. Torrey said. You may talk about power, but if you neglect the one book that God has given you as the one instrument through which he imparts and exercises his power, you will not have it. Ninety-nine Christians in every hundred are merely playing at Bible study. And therefore, ninety-nine Christians in every hundred are mere weaklings when they might be giants, both in their Christian life and in their service. I’ve been pastor long enough of this dear church that I love with all of my heart and soul to know that a great number of our people are only playing at Bible study. About all the real nutriment they get is when they come here on Sunday, and I’m grateful that you do. But friend, this book is a sustaining book. The older I get, the longer I live, the more I know, the more I understand the sustaining power of the Word of God. I want to say the last of these seven wonderful things that I have seen in the Word of God tonight. This book, that is all of these other things, is therefore a supercharged book. I mean, dear friend, it has incredible power. I preached several Sunday nights ago on the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. The verse that I used was John 6 and verse 63, where Jesus said, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, they are life. We read other books. This book reads us. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 says, the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. It’s quick. You know what the word quick means in the old King James English? It means it’s living. It’s alive. It breathes. It sings. It pulsates with power. There’s power in the Word of God. Jesus said, the words I speak unto you, they’re spirit, they’re life. It’s quick. It’s powerful, energase. It means that it is full of energy. Well, I preached it long enough to know, friend, this book does things to people that nothing else will. I mean, there’s power in this thing. I’ve seen, and piercing, listen, it’s able to penetrate and scrutinize the innermost part of your personality. So many figures of speech in the Bible. The Bible is called a seed because it impregnates. It’s called a fire because it burns. It’s called a hammer because it crushes. It’s called a sword because it cuts. One more time I want to tell you that the purpose of the Bible is to present Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world. And that’s the reason the Apostle Paul said, I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. James 1, verse 18, of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. I hope you’ll always stand in awe of this book. And I’ve mentioned seven wonders out of 70,000 wonders of the word of God. Father, I thank you again for your word. I preach to my own heart that I stand, dear Lord, not only in awe, but I stand humbled. I confess before these people my lack of study, appreciation, appropriation, application of your word. And I commit, dear Lord… My heart to you tonight. To know it. Love it. Preach it. Practice it. And ponder it. In a better way. Please help me to do that Lord. Please. In Jesus name. Amen.
SPEAKER 01 :
If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with Him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you.
