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This morning I'm preaching on the subject of the Holy Spirit's guidance, the Holy Spirit's guidance. If you would, look down at your Bible there in John chapter 14, verse number 16. The Bible reads, and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth. And we're talking about the Holy Spirit of God in the context here. And it says, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him. But ye know it, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. And so Jesus Christ, of course, in these chapters is predicting the fact that he's going to go away. He's going to die, he's going to be buried, he's going to rise again, but then ultimately he's going to ascend up to the Father in heaven and he's going to leave them alone. But he's not going to leave them comfortless. He says, I will come to you, because of course he comes to them in that upper room and he breathes on them and says, receive ye the Holy Ghost. And so the comforter, the Holy Spirit of God, is who he leaves with them. He says, he's with you, but he shall be in you. Because in the New Testament, of course, we're actually indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God. Now jump down if you would to verse 26. The Bible reads, but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. So one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is that he will bring to remembrance the Word of God in our hearts. So he says to the disciples, I've been speaking to you all these years and the Holy Ghost, when he comes, he's going to bring to remembrance the things that I've said to you. Because obviously, you know, we all hear a lot of preaching in our lives and we read a lot of things and you're not necessarily always going to remember what you've read or heard. We're not always going to retain everything that we've learned. And part of the Holy Spirit's ministry is to bring the Word of God to our remembrance at the right time and help those things that we hear and read from the Word of God to really sink in and become a part of who we are and also to guide us at times when we need them. Those verses will pop into our mind and they will help us to know what to say or what to do in a certain situation. And so the comforter will bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I've said unto you. That's what Jesus said. Now flip over, if you would, to chapter 15, verse 26. So really this talk about the comforter is spread out over chapters 14, 15, and 16. So chapter 15, verse 26 says, But when the comforter has come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. So the Holy Spirit is going to bear witness of or testify of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then go to chapter 16, if you would. Chapter 16, verse 12, the Bible reads, I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. Now this is a very important verse in verse 13 because it talks about how he's not going to speak of himself. Now what does that mean? Does that mean he's not going to talk about himself? Obviously not because we know that the Holy Spirit is behind the Word of God because the Bible says that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and it's the Holy Spirit of God that comes upon men of God who gave us the Word in the first place, who wrote down the Word or spoke the Word in the first place. And so when the Bible says that he shall not speak of himself, it's not saying he's not going to talk about himself because of course the Bible talks about the Holy Spirit and so that's the Holy Spirit speaking about the Holy Spirit. When the Bible says that the Holy Ghost shall not speak of himself, the of there is referring to the source of where the words are coming from, meaning that he's not going to come up with some new thing or some new revelation. He's not just going to speak of his own accord or from his own source, but rather what does it say next because we can let the context define it. He shall not speak of himself, but here's what he's actually going to do, right, but rather he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. So you notice he's not the source of these words, but he speaks what he hears. He doesn't speak of himself from his own repository of thought, but rather he takes what he hears and he speaks it, right? It says whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. And then it says in verse 14, it reiterates the same thing, he shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. So notice he's taking the word of Christ and showing it to us. He's not speaking of himself, but he's hearing the word from Christ and then he transmits that to the believer. He shows that to us, he guides us into all truth, and he doesn't speak of himself, he speaks what he hears from Christ. And then it says in verse 15, all things that the Father hath are mine, therefore said I that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. Jesus Christ is the word of God, right? He's the word made flesh. And so Jesus says that the Holy Spirit is going to take of mine and show it to you. Now here's why this is so important is because today when people talk about the Holy Spirit of God, sometimes what they end up doing is they just end up dreaming up things in their own mind, dreaming up things in their own heart, just following their own passion or their own imagination and claiming, oh, this is the Holy Spirit leading me. You know, I'm being led by the Holy Ghost. Here's the thing about that. The Holy Spirit is not going to lead us independent of the word of God. Okay. So you know, the word of God is in black and white. It's written down. It's set in stone, literally. It's preserved. It's the same as it was 100 years ago, 100 years from now. It's still going to be the same. And if we're led by the Holy Ghost, nothing that the Holy Ghost guides us or shows us or reveals to us is ever going to contradict this word of God right here because he's not on his own program just speaking of himself. No, he's taking of the word of God and showing it unto us. He's taking of the word of Jesus Christ and showing it to us. He guides us into all truth, but he uses the word of God to guide us into all truth because what did he say? He said, look, he's going to bring to remembrance all things whatsoever I've said to you. So he's not just going to show up and start leading you contradictory to what is revealed in the written word of God. Rather, he reminds you of the word of God. He brings the word of God to your remembrance and his guidance and his leading is always going to be in line with and consistent with what is revealed in the written word. We have to be careful because there are a lot of people who will say, oh, God told me this. God spoke to me. And in reality, it is often a figment of their imagination. I mean people in false religions will say the same thing. Unsaved people will say that. And you know that God is not speaking to them, especially when they say, well, God told me and then they bring out something that's just contradicting the Bible. So who am I supposed to believe? You or the Bible? And if God is speaking to them with these extra biblical revelations and giving them all these new truths, well, let me grab a pen and write them in the back of my Bible so I can have all of God's word. But in reality, I already have all of God's word right here in this book and I'm not looking for an extra biblical revelation. You see, here's the thing about extra biblical revelations in 2022. If they are in line with what the Bible says, then they're unnecessary because we already have the Bible saying the same thing. And if they are not in line with what the Bible says, then they are false. So if they're saying what the Bible says, okay, redundant. I've got it right. I've got everything right here. Genesis to Revelation. And if they're not in line with the Bible, they're a liar. And so it's that simple, my friend. We do not need extra biblical revelation. But what we do need is the Holy Spirit guiding us in our lives. Every single day we want to be led by the Holy Ghost. We want to be guided into all truth. When I read my Bible, I want the Holy Spirit to be teaching me the Bible as I'm reading the Bible. When I'm sitting in church and listening to the Word of God preach, I need the Holy Ghost to help me to understand what's being preached and to help me to discern whether what's being preached is right or not. And many times when I make a decision in my life, I'm going to make that decision. I'm going to pray to God and ask for his guidance and I'm just going to trust that God is going to subtly guide me because he promised that if I acknowledge him in all my ways that he will direct my paths. And one of the ways he does that is through the Holy Spirit living inside of me, guiding me, revealing truth to me, and showing me what is wrong and what is right. Now if you would go back to Jeremiah chapter 23 because the danger is that people would just go with what they feel or go with what they think sounds good or that sounds right. And I can just feel it, hey, that's the Holy Spirit leaving me. But that's not necessarily true because a lot of people, they could just imagine that and then just start following some voice in their head that's really just their own internal voice. And so we don't want to confuse our will, our opinion, our biases, our prejudices. We don't want to confuse that with the leading of the Holy Spirit because both exist, right? We have our own personality, our own heart, our own thoughts, our own biases that we've inherited just from our culture, from our parents, from our upbringing. You want to make sure that we understand the difference between that and being actually led by the Holy Spirit. And so in Jeremiah 23 verse 16 the Bible reads, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Harken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you, they make you vain, they speak a vision of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They say still unto them that despise me, the Lord hath said, ye shall have peace. Now look, these guys are claiming that they're led of the Holy Spirit, they're claiming that God has spoken to them, they're claiming that God has revealed these things to them. They're claiming that the Holy Spirit has led them to preach to those who hate God, to those who despise God, ye shall have peace. Now that sounds a lot to me like wishful thinking on the part of these prophets that just want everything in this world to be sweetness and light. They want God to bless everybody. They want God to give peace on earth and goodwill toward men and for it to just be applied unto every single person indiscriminately, but let's face it, that's not the reality of the world that we live in. Yes, God's peace and goodwill on earth toward men, it's available to everyone, it's accessible to everyone. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He will have all men to be saved and to come into the knowledge of the truth, but the reality is that those who despise God are not invited to the party, my friend. Those who despise the Lord, those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ, their Savior, they are not going to have peace. There's no peace saying my God unto the wicked. There's no peace for them, but yet these false prophets, what do they say? They say to people that despise God, oh, you're going to have peace. They write books called God is not mad at you, and on the back of the book it says, I don't care who you are, I don't care what you've done, God's not mad at you. God is a lie because God is angry with the wicked every day. How do I know that? Well, you know, the Holy Spirit told me that. No, the Bible told me that, and the Holy Spirit brought to my remembrance what God spake before the world began, that God is angry with the wicked every day. I know for a fact that God's angry with the wicked every day because it's written right here on black ink on a white page in the Word of God, and this Bible is the rock on which all of my faith is built, on which this church is built, my preaching is built, my salvation is built, everything is on this foundation, the Word of God. And so someone comes along and says, well, God's not mad at you. Well, we need to test that with the Word of God and see, is that coming from your own heart, or did that actually come from the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit tell you that, or is that from your own imagination? And I guarantee it is from the female joker's imagination, okay, because it's not consistent with the Word of God. And also, you can see why she would want to think that. You can see why everybody would want to think that. I mean, like, it's pretty comforting just to think, like, well, let's say there's a doctrine that just said everybody goes to heaven. Everybody goes to heaven. You know, you see these comics every once in a while, and they show, like, you know, Prince died or something, and he's going to heaven, and Michael Jackson's there to greet him, and Martin Luther King Jr. is there to greet him. And it's like, you know, and then, like, it's like Jimi Hendrix is there, and Jim Morrison from The Doors is there, and so it's just like all the singers, Elvis Presley's there, you know, and it's just, it's like, you know, they're all getting there. It's all these celebrities. Robin Williams is just ready to receive him with open arms. Who's seen comics like that and things like? And then when a celebrity dies, it shows them dying, and then it shows all of these other, you know, just wicked celebrities from the past that did not even necessarily profess faith. You know, Elvis might be there. Okay, you know, he, I've heard people say that he claimed to be saved and everything. Who knows? But the point is, you know, a lot of these people are avowed atheists, or they're Jews, or whatever, the pagan, unsaved, you know, and it's just this attitude that just says, well, they're all in heaven. They're all looking down on us, and, you know, even, it doesn't matter that they didn't believe that Jesus is the Son of God. You know, God just loves everybody. Everybody goes to heaven, but you know what? We just read it this morning in the scripture reading before the sermon, John 14, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Nobody. It doesn't matter if it's, well, Gandhi, you know, he gets a pass, and Gandhi's like, you know, oh welcome, artist formerly known as Prince, I'm so glad to see you now that you've died to be, you know. It's like, no! Now Gandhi and Prince are both in the same place. One of them's a Hindu, one of them's a Jehovah's Witness, and they're both in the same place, okay? You know, I mean, you know, the most famous Jehovah's Witness is Prince, okay? I can't even name another Jehovah's Witness. It's the only one I know of. But the point is that, you know, I can see why though people would want to believe that. You know, I mean, me in my flesh, in my own human understanding, you know, I would like that. I would like it if everybody goes to heaven, I would say, okay, yeah, I'm okay with that. I'm going to heaven and so is everyone else, sounds great. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? I mean, does anybody just hate that? Oh, you know, I'm just thinking, like, man, if everybody's going to heaven, sounds great, but it's a lie because everyone's not going to heaven because you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved, and if you don't believe on Jesus, the wrath of God is abiding on you. That's what the Bible says. Now God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. You know what it means when it says he loved the world? That's saying that he loved everybody in the world, everybody. Now a lot of people say, well, he only loved the elect. You know, he only loved the people that are going to get saved. But here's the thing about that, no, because it says he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that whosoever believeth in him, which is a subset. Does everybody see that? Two different groups here. There's the world and then there's whosoever believeth. Which one did he love? The world. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that whosoever believeth in him would not perish but have everlasting life. Does everybody see how that works? I'm updating the language into our monoclonal vernacular, sorry Patrick Boyle. But anyway, the point is, you know, when the Bible says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life, the word should there, that's a little bit archaic because in our monoclonal vernacular we would say he did that so that whosoever believeth in him would not perish but have everlasting life. That's the meaning. That's what should meant 400 years ago, okay. And we still get that thought just from hearing it in English. It's the most beautiful, famous verse in the entire Bible, the most beloved verse of all time, John 3.16. We go out sowing, we knock on people's doors, they can practically finish it for us. You know, we start to give it to them and they finish it for us. And then we ask them, what do you have to do to be saved? Oh, live a good life. Go to church. It's like, you just recited it. How can you recite that verse and then tell me that salvation is because you have quit sinning and you're living a good life now and you, I'll tell you why. Because it takes the Holy Spirit's guidance for the word of God to actually sink in and to actually understand God's word. It takes the Holy Spirit to do that. That's why. They can just recite that to you. Oh yeah, I know. And then their belief is literally the opposite. And so God so loved the world, right? The world. So that whosoever believeth would be saved, right? But that's different of a group from the world. There's the world, which is everybody that he loved and died for. And then whosoever believeth are the people who actually have eternal life. Because God's gift of salvation is not going to do someone any good if they don't receive it. The Bible talks about the word being preached to unbelievers, but the Bible says the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that hurt it. If you don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, his sacrifice on the cross for you is not going to get you to heaven because you did not receive the gift that he offered. And that's what the Bible clearly says. It says, what must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's a must do to get saved. You must do that to be saved. So therefore, based on everything that I just quoted and explained right there, you know, is everybody going to heaven? Absolutely not. In fact, the Bible says, broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be which go in thereat because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. The majority is not saved. Well, let's see if that matches reality. Christianity swept the world when it first came out. I mean, you know, by the first century AD, Jesus Christ died on the cross, you know, sometime around 33 AD, you know, give or take a few years with our calendar system not being exact, but sometime in that period. But just by the end of that century, the apostles had turned the world upside down with the gospel and Christianity spread like wildfire throughout the world immediately. Even history will tell us that by the second century, it's everywhere, you know, it's all over the place. It's everywhere. It's spread like wildfire. But did the majority of people believe on Jesus Christ then? No. Did the majority believe on him now? No. Because even if you counted every single person who even vaguely claims to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, even if you counted them all as saved and took all of their word for it, it's still less than half of the population. And we know that not everyone who says Lord, Lord is actually saved. Okay. And so therefore, yes, it is the minority that are saved and it is the majority that are not saved. Now I could see why people would want to believe that everybody goes to heaven or that most people go to heaven or that 90% of people go into heaven, but it is false. And anybody who's preaching that, they're prophesying that of their own heart. That's not what the Holy Spirit's going to show you because that's not consistent with the word of God. And so they speak this vain vision where they say to those that despise God, the Lord has said you shall have peace. Remember in verse 17, and they say unto everyone that walketh after the imagination of his own heart. I mean people are just out there living however, doing whatever. They say to them, no evil shall come upon you, you're going to be fine, it's okay, no big deal, you just keep doing what you're doing. Folks, they're lying. But who has stood in the counsel of the Lord and has perceived and heard his word, who has marked his word and heard it? Behold a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind. It shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord shall not return until he have executed, until he have performed the thoughts of his heart. In the latter days he shall consider it perfectly. I've not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I've not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings. Basically what he's saying is then their preaching would have actually been consistent with my word. If they were actually preaching through the power of the Holy Ghost and not out of their own hearts and their own imaginations. Verse 26, how long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart. Folks, we do not want to be prophets of the deceit of our own heart. Just saying, well you know, God is just really impressed upon me, X, Y, and Z. Well it better be consistent with the Bible. Well I just feel like God's leading me over here. Really that's funny because the Bible prohibits you going over there. But I'm supposed to believe that the Holy Spirit is leading you over there? It doesn't make any sense, does it? You know, God's not going to lead you into sin. God's not going to lead you to defy his word. God is not going to lead you in a way contrary to the way he led the men who penned the Bible. Because the same Holy Spirit should be one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. Now if you would flip over to Luke 24, while you're flipping over to Luke 24, I'll bring out another scripture along the lines of what we read in Jeremiah. It says in Ezekiel 13, 17, likewise thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people which prophesy out of their own heart. And prophesy against them. You know, so this could also be women. It's not just men who do this. It's not just men who get up and preach and do these things. But he says, you know, there are women out there who are just led by their own imagination and they prophesy out of their own heart. It's false, okay? The Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? So this whole thing of just follow your heart, trust your heart. The Bible says whosoever trusteth in his own heart is a fool. Folks, let me say that again. That's the Bible. Whosoever trusteth in his own heart is a fool. That's what the Bible says. So we want to make sure that we differentiate these things because it's easy for people sometimes to mix these things up of following the Holy Spirit, being led by the Holy Spirit, being guided by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit teaching us all things, the Holy Spirit guiding us into all truth versus following our own heart, following our own imagination and then just saying, oh, that must be the Holy Spirit. I just have this gut feeling about, oh, it must be the Holy Spirit. It could just be your own gut feeling and your gut is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. You know, because we could say whosoever trust in his own gut is a fool because when the Bible talks about the heart, we often call that like go with your gut. Saying go with your gut is pretty similar to saying go with your heart and, you know, sometimes our gut can lead us good and sometimes our heart can lead us well, but often our heart is deceitful and so we don't want to rely on that and that should never trump scripture. So you say, well, what's the difference? How do I know if I'm being led of the Spirit or if I'm being led by my own heart or my own imagination because I want to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading. I want to listen to the Holy Spirit, but at the same time, I don't want to just follow my heart because if I did that, you know, it's foolish. Well, let's get into this a little deeper here. Look at Luke 24 verse 27. This is when Jesus Christ is appearing after his resurrection to a few disciples that are on a walk and it says, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, we're in verse 27, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So the Lord Jesus Christ expounds in the scriptures all the things about himself. And then look at verse 32, and they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us, by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures. Now here's why I'm bringing up this passage. Because Jesus is physically there walking with them and what is he doing? He's actually opening the scriptures to them, right? He's opening it up. He's explaining it. This is the exact ministry of the comforter. Now we don't have Jesus physically showing up and in human form, walking next to us and showing us and telling us, hey, this is what the Bible means. But that is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. When we read our Bible, the Holy Ghost shows up and he opens to us the scriptures. He opens our understanding that we would understand the scriptures. He guides us into all truth. He takes of Christ's word and he shows it to us. He opens it up to us. Now here we have Christ showing them, but that's because Christ was physically on this earth at that time. You know, this is Jesus after his resurrection. He stayed around for 40 days and he's physically walking and talking with him. Flesh and bone, Jesus Christ is there. But he ascended to the Father, my friend, and he's not any longer walking and talking on this earth in bodily form, right? Jesus Christ is spiritually in the midst of us. Wherever two or three of us are gathered together, Christ is in the midst. Christ is spiritually in our hearts. But as far as literally being on this earth, flesh and bone, he's not, my friend, he's in heaven. He's at the right hand of the Father. The Holy Spirit is the one who fulfills this role of explaining the Bible to us. And when he does open the scriptures to us, our heart burns within us. Just as when Jesus explained the Bible to them, their heart burned within them. What do they mean by that when they say our heart burned within us? Obviously we're not talking about something physical necessarily, but what we're talking about is just the excitement, right? Just oh, this is good, right? They're passionate. They're fired up. They're loving it. They're burning up inside with a passion for God's word. They're excited. And look, there have been so many times when I learned something from the Bible and man, I get so excited. Like literally, I kid you not, some of the most exciting moments in my life were when I'm reading the Bible and some light bulb comes on and it's just like, wow, right? And your heart burns within you. That's what that means. It's talking about that excitement, that joy, and it can just be a feeling of just euphoria and elation at having God's word opened up to you. Now look, if you're walking down the road with Jesus and you've already read the Old Testament your whole life, you've heard it in the synagogue or whatever, you've studied the Old Testament and now all of a sudden Jesus is walking next to you and to let me tell you what that story really meant. I mean, they're just having aha moment after aha moment. I mean, just light bulbs are going on. I mean, this was just an incredible Bible study that they're having with Jesus. And so is it any small wonder that their heart burned within them as he opened the scriptures unto them? But folks, this is what the Holy Spirit will do for us, okay? But here's the thing about it, you have to be there. You know, if you're not reading your Bible, how is he going to open the scriptures to you? You're not even reading the scriptures. You're not even in the scriptures. How is he going to bring to remembrance all things whatsoever Christ has spoken unless you heard those things for the first time? You can't remember something that you never heard the first time. It's like, man, you know, I'm having trouble retaining all of these lectures, professor. It's like, well, you weren't in class. You know, I'm having trouble retaining what I read in my school textbook. Oh, did you read the textbook? Well, no, but you can't retain something. You can't remember something. Nothing can be brought to your remembrance that you didn't hear the first time. So how can I have the Word of God brought to my remembrance that I've never read the Word of God? See, the more I hear the Word of God in church, the more I read the Bible, that's giving the Holy Spirit something to bring to my remembrance. You know, this is the sword of the Spirit, right? So you know, if I don't read my Bible, if I don't go to church, the Holy Spirit's like, where's my sword? You know, I mean the Holy Spirit's ready to use the Word of God to guide us into all truth, to lead us into all truth, to teach us all things, to bring things to remembrance, but it's like you haven't put the sword in his hand. You've got to do the reading. You've got to listen to the preaching in order for the Holy Spirit to use the reading and to use the preaching. Go to John chapter 10, if you would. John chapter number 10. Our heart burns within us when God speaks to us through the Scriptures. You know, I just went on this road trip, of course, that ended, you know, like a week ago or whenever it ended, and on that road trip I preached this series where I preached through the 12 sons of Jacob, which are also the 12 tribes of Israel. And so I just had this idea, because I was preaching about 14, 15 sermons, I thought, okay, I can do the 12 sons and then maybe throw in Ephraim and Manasseh, kind of round out the series. So I did this 14-part series on the sons of Jacob, and it caused me to really dig deep, because I'd never heard a series like that and I'd never preached a series like that. So I had to dig deep on Reuben, dig deep on Simeon, dig deep on Levi, looking at every time they're mentioned and really just going over those stories with a fine-tooth comb, because some of them there wasn't really a lot there, so I wanted to get as much out of it as I could, right, and kind of milk that story for everything that I could spiritually to be able to preach a viable sermon on some of these. And let me tell you something, I learned a ton in preparing that series. And just the first sermon alone, the sermon on Reuben, there were three things about that Joseph story that I had never thought of that just made the story make so much more sense, and it was just, my eyes were so opened about that story, and it was just so great to learn something about a story that I've heard my entire life. I mean, I've grown up with that Joseph story my whole life in Sunday school and in church, Christian school. How many times have I read the book of Genesis over and over and over and over again? But yet even a very familiar story, it's like I'm just learning new things, learning new things. And then I had a great just aha moment on the trip as well. I was out running, and as I was running, I was thinking about the sermons that I was going to be preaching. I was meditating on these stories because the next day I was going to be preaching on Simeon in the morning and Levi at night. And I was out running, and all of a sudden it just dawned on me that Levi, in that story in Genesis regarding his sister Dinah, that Levi tells the men of the town deceitfully that they need to get circumcised, but yet they die anyway. And he kills them anyway, even after they follow the instruction to be circumcised. And I'm thinking like, wow, because you know, Levi is representing the Levitical priesthood, the Old Covenant, the Old Testament. I mean, he's Levi. And the law tells you to be circumcised, but the Bible in the New Testament tells us, well, if you get circumcised, you're a debtor to keep the whole law. Everybody sins. Everybody comes short. Everybody dies. The Old Covenant, the law, obedience to the law, can't save you. And if you seek that path of salvation, it will end in death for you. You have to be saved through Christ, right? Through believing in Jesus, not through the law, not by the works of the law. Salvation could never be achieved by the works of the law. And I remember I was just jogging along, and I mean, I've been preaching the Bible my whole life. I've been thinking about these things, reading these things, right? I mean, I got saved as a six-year-old boy, and I mean, I'm born and raised in church. And I'm just, it seemed like such a simple, obvious thing about that story. But man, I was just, I was so excited when I thought, my heart just burned. I was like, wow. And you know what? It's the Holy Spirit who reveals those things to us. You know, God knew that I'm getting up the next day to preach, and so God gave me that. Here's something to preach. You know, here's the message I want you to give. And so it came from the Bible. It came from reading the Bible, meditating on the Bible, and then the Holy Spirit of God taught me something, and that came from him, and I was able to preach that. That's the Holy Spirit, okay? That's not me just dreaming up something or making, that's not my imagination because it's consistent with what is there in the Bible. I wasn't smart enough to come up with that on my own. All these years of reading and studying the Bible, but it just hit me like a lightning bolt, right? Just as I'm running. I just wasn't even in like a major sermon prep mode, but I was open, you know, because I'm thinking about the things of God, and then boom. There it is, the revelation. And here's the thing. It's not some extra biblical revelation, it's a biblical revelation because it's God just opening the scriptures to me. Oh, wow. There's another layer to that story that I hadn't thought of. That's just one example, you know, throughout the trip, other revelations came as I studied and meditated on God's Word. Look at John chapter 10 verse 4, and when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. So he's using this illustration about a shepherd. He's saying, you know, when a shepherd goes somewhere, the sheep end up following the shepherd because they recognize his voice and they know he's their buddy. They know that he takes care of them. I'm talking about literal sheep, not Christians, but actual literal animal, kind of sheep. Okay? So the actual sheep, you know, they follow the shepherd, they know the voice of a shepherd. If someone else shows up and starts giving them commands, they may not respond right away, right? It's like, wait a minute, who's this guy? They know the voice of the shepherd and they know the voice of a stranger. They know who is their guy and who is maybe someone else's shepherd or some other just random guy. That's an illustration Jesus is using. You know, the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him. They're going to be scared, right? So you know, they know the shepherd, they'll come to the shepherd, they'll be like, really happy and friendly. But then maybe a stranger shows up and they're kind of like, you know, trying to get away because they're like, who is this guy? Maybe he's a scary person. Maybe he's an enemy or whatever. And you know, we don't, we don't really know anything about sheep because we live in the city. And who, who, who actually has spent a lot of time around sheep? Maybe you? Yeah. Like two people, three, four. Yeah. Okay. So basically like about 1% of people. But I, you know, I, I, I haven't. So I would maybe just think of an illustration that I know, like, think about like your dog knows you and, and like, like sometimes I'll get home and the dog's in the backyard and it hears me walking in the driveway, just hears someone walking in the driveway and it's like, and then as soon as it hears my voice, it gets all meek, like, oh, I'm so sorry to have been so rude to you, sir, you know. And all of a sudden it looks all meek, like, oh man, I'm sorry, you know, how embarrassing that I barked at you in that way. And that's probably something that we as city people could connect to. But the idea of knowing the voice of the shepherd and, and not knowing the voice of a stranger, okay. We'll look at verse seven, then said Jesus unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers. By the way, Buddha came before him. He's a thief and a robber and a liar. Say, well, Hinduism is the oldest religion. Well, the Hindus and their priests and teachers, you know, they were liars. Other false messiahs came before him, they're liars. And by the way, let me just add, you know, he said everybody who came before me is, is, uh, is, are the thieves and robbers. But let me also say that, you know, based on the rest of the teaching of scripture, everybody came after him as a thief and a robber too. Mohammed, Joseph Smith, you know, right? He's only, you know, he's speaking about up to that point, but obviously knowing what we know about the rest of scripture, everybody after him is a liar too. There's only one friend, it's Jesus. He said, I'm the door. By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. Look at verse 14, I'm the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. So he's saying, I know my sheep and my sheep know me. As the father knoweth me, even so know I the father and I lay down my life for the sheep and other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also must I bring and look at this phrase and they shall hear my voice. The word here there, it's not just saying like audibly, it's saying they're going to hear it like they're going to recognize it. They're going to hear my voice. They're going to know the voice of the shepherd. Why? Because they're the sheep. The sheep know the voice of the shepherd. When Buddha comes along, they're like, that's a stranger. When the antichrist comes someday, the sheep are going to say, that's a stranger. That's why the Bible says that the antichrist will be so slick that he would deceive the very elect if it were possible, but it's not possible. The elect shall not be deceived by the antichrist because the sheep know the voice of the shepherd and a stranger will they not follow. So when we talk about the guidance of the Holy Spirit guiding us into all truth, we need to rely on the Holy Spirit's guidance of what is the truth? Which doctrine is right? What should we believe about salvation? What should we believe about every doctrine? Who do we trust? There's all these different preachers out there saying different things. There's all these different religions out there, even within Christianity. Someone once you're like, okay, I'm saved. I know Jesus is my savior. I know that salvation is by grace or faith, but what about this doctrine? What about that doctrine? What about this religion? What about this church? You know, should I go to this non-denom church? Should I go to this Baptist church? Should I go to this Presbyterian church? Should I go to Calvary Chapel? You know, where do I go? What do I do? Right? Okay. Uh, Baptist? Which one? I mean, there's all these different Baptists, right? What do I do? Independent fundamental Baptist? Okay, there's 40 of them in Phoenix, you know? What do we do here? I mean, you know, and I'm not saying there's only one right choice because of the fact that obviously there are multiple good churches, right? Even in a given city, there could be a lot of good churches. There could be several churches that are at least acceptable, you know, churches that would please the Lord. I'm not saying that there's necessarily only one right option, but I can tell you this. There are a lot of really wrong options where God does not want us to attend, where God would not be pleased, and there are a lot of really bad doctrines that even saved people could get sucked into. You know, we're all saved. We all have the right doctrine on salvation, but other doctrines could creep in and people could be deceived and believe in some foolish things, some wrong things. They could be taken astray on some tangent of wrong belief. So we need the Holy Spirit to guide us and direct us. How about this? Well, which version of the Bible are we going to read, right? Are we going to do the King James Bible, the traditional text? Are we going to do the traditional text that's 400 years old in modern English, tried and true, or are we going to do the ESV or the New American Standard or the NIV, the New Living Translation? You know, these Bibles that are constantly changing and updating and revising. Which one are we going to do? Well, you know the Holy Spirit can guide you in that decision? Because if the Holy Spirit's going to guide you into all truth, sounds to me like he's going to guide you to the right kind of preaching, he's going to guide you to the right church, he's going to guide you to his word, and it sounds to me like that if you are a sheep, you should be able to recognize the voice of the shepherd. And so when you're reading the King James versus reading the NIV, I wonder which one is going to sound like the shepherd and which one is going to sound like the shepherd is on one of those programs, one of those documentaries where his face is like in the shadows and he has to speak through like a voice changer. Who knows what I'm talking about? They try to predict somebody's identity and they put him in a shadow and their voice is like a voice changer, so you read that NIV, it's like it's talking about Jesus, it's talking about him dying on the cross and rising again, but it's like, you're just like, that you, Jesus? This don't sound right. Have you ever known someone, and I don't know if this is still relevant in the age of cell phones, but this was especially true with telephones back in the day. You'll know someone and then the first time you talk to them on the phone, you're like, who is this? Because people sound way different on the phone. Who knows what I'm talking about? And you're even questioning like, is this the right phone number? Because they sound so different, right? Here's the thing, you know, the voice of the shepherd is garbled in these modern perversions of the Bible, because that's what they are. They're a perversion of scripture. They've twisted scripture, they've mutilated scripture, they've put holes in it like Swiss cheese where they've removed entire verses, phrases, clauses, they've made dramatic changes to the text, and let me tell you something, the Holy Spirit can guide you in that matter. Now a lot of people would say, well how do you know that you're not just following your own heart? How do you know this isn't just your bias? You grew up with the King James. How do you know that this just isn't your imagination and not the Holy Spirit? Well let me tell you how, okay? Because the difference is that our imagination is going to lead us to what we want to believe, what we want to be true, and it's not going to end up being consistent with the Bible. Whereas the Holy Spirit is going to lead us in such a way that it's consistent with the written word, right? And it's not always necessarily going to be what we want to believe, but it's going to be the truth. Sometimes it's what we want to believe, and as we grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, usually what we want and the truth end up lining up more and more often. Ideally they would always line up. But the point is that the sincere person, and this is the key, sincerity, the sincere person who actually loves the truth and wants to know the truth and puts the ESV on the floor in front of them and puts the King James on the floor in front of them and gets on their knees and prays unto the Lord and asks God to show them which one is right and sincerely prays that to the Lord and then looks at both, is going to know that the King James Bible is the word of God and has nothing to do with any preference or bias or it is the Holy Spirit guiding them into all truth. And is it consistent with the word of God? What does the word of God say? The word of God says that God would preserve his word. Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away. It's easier for heaven and earth to pass than for one jot or one tittle to pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Man did not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. God promised again and again to preserve his word. He said these words which are in thy mouth, he said that Isaiah will be in the mouth of your seed, in the mouth of your seed, seed from henceforth and forever. So is there ever going to be a time when the word of God falls off the face of the earth? No. And when we actually look at the subject of Bible versions we find that the other versions such as ESV, NIV, New American Standard, et cetera, are based upon newer archeological discoveries. They're based on archeological discoveries that were made in the 19th and 20th centuries, right? The discovery of Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, Codex Alexandrinus, the papyri throughout the 20th century, the Dead Sea Scrolls, you know, not for the New Testament but, you know, has changed some of these scholars' understanding of the Old Testament text. It didn't change my understanding of the text because I don't believe we need to go back and reconstruct the original text because it's been lost. And oh, it's been lost but we found it in the desert. We dug it up. Folks, what you dug up cannot be the word of God because the word of God was never buried. The word of God was preserved in every generation. What's the Bible that the Holy Spirit's been using, right? The one that was just discovered by scholars or the traditional text? What does traditional even mean? That which is handed down, that which is passed down, that which is received. That's why we call the traditional text the received text, the textus receptus, the received text is that which is the traditional text, that which the Holy Spirit has used for centuries, not the one that was buried. So if I get on my knees and seek the truth on this matter, the Holy Spirit is going to lead me to the King James. And by the way, long before I understood why I was King James only or why I needed to be reading and using the King James, you know, I just preferred the King James. I didn't even know why but I always just said something's wrong with the NIV because I went to a church for many years as a teenager where they preached the NIV and I had the King James in my lap and the NIV's coming across the pulpit for years. And I'm just thinking, something's wrong. You know, and I believe that was the Holy Spirit showing me like, boop, boop, boop. This is the right one and it's like, no, bad. Well that's just your own understanding, your own preference. Oh really, that's funny because when I test it against God's word, that leading toward the King James matches scripture that God's word would be preserved in every generation. Right? Whereas some other bozo could come along and say, well you know, God led me to the ESV. Well that, oh so he led you to a book that's based on modern archaeology and a modern reconstruction of the text. How is that consistent with the doctrine of preservation? It isn't. So that's your own heart that led you that way. And you know, you say, well what would motivate someone to be led toward these modern versions? Well because it's the path of least resistance. Because in most of these churches, right, you know, that's what all the cool kids are using. And if you use the King James, you'll often be attacked, ridiculed, persecuted, mocked. I mean people will say, King James only is sort of a cult. Which is, it's like, well who's our cult leader? Who are we following? I mean there are millions, there are literally millions of churches that are using the King James. And the King James is still the most read Bible in America. Now it's not the best seller. The best seller is the NIV. If you just want to just put it on the shelf, precious moments, use it as a doorstop, whatever, give it to somebody on a birthday, baptism, Christmas, whatever. But the one that people actually read, people actually read their Bible more than twice a week, Q research polls have shown that it's overwhelmingly the King James. Even though other Bibles might outsell the King James, King James Bible, people actually read the thing, read a King James. People who just carry it to their rock and roll church, they don't mind carrying the NIV because they, if I don't have to read the thing, who cares what it is? The NIV is great as long as you don't read it. It's once you start reading it that you figure out there's something wrong with it, especially if you're actually saved. Especially if you're indwelt by the Holy Spirit, you're like, what's going on? Now here's the thing, maybe somebody doesn't get that because they've never really been exposed to the King James, so all they know is the garbled voice changer and they're just kind of like, Jesus, is that you? Because they've barely even heard Jesus' voice. Now they had to hear Jesus' voice to get saved, that's for sure. But some of us have heard his voice more than others. We spend more time reading the Bible, more time listening to Bible preaching and so forth. And so at the end of the day, the leading of the Holy Spirit is critical. And when people ask me, well how do you know the Bible's the word of God? How do you know it's the King James? You know, my answer is the Holy Spirit. I mean, to me, that's the best answer, if I have to just give a short answer. You know, the long answer is, well let's go to the Bible and see where the Bible says it's going to be preserved and we could go into all that. But honestly, just the Holy Spirit is how I know that the Bible's true. Now as far as the King James, yeah, I can use internal evidence in the Bible, but is there really any concrete for sure evidence, like scientific or historical, that the God of the Bible is real and that Jesus really died on the cross? Is there any concrete scientific or historical evidence? Of course not. Because without faith it's impossible to please him. The evidence for Jesus is the Bible. But how do you know the Bible's true? Because the Holy Spirit has borne witness with my spirit that I'm a child of God. Now I don't expect unsaved people to understand this. I don't expect the disputer of this world and the wisdom of this world to understand that, because the Bible says the preaching of the cross is to them which perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved is the power of God. And so I don't expect unsaved fake theologians and fake scholars, and I don't expect unsaved people who are out there that are atheists and agnostics to accept that, and they're just going to laugh at that and mock at that. Well, you know, I wonder if they're going to be laughing when they split hell wide open, because the bottom line is the Word of God is true, because the Word of God has power unlike any other book, and it is the Holy Spirit that has shown me that the Word of God is true. And here's the thing about that. If you say, well, no, no, no, the Bible is validated by science, then you're basically saying, well, science is the final authority. And because science validates the Bible, I'll accept it. Well, the Bible's validated by history, so, oh, okay, so history is the final authority, and so I'll accept the Bible because history. No, there's no higher authority than the Bible, therefore nothing can validate the Bible but the Bible. Nothing can validate the Bible but God, because God's the final authority. If God's the final authority, he validates. You know, without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. I don't need science to validate the Bible for me. I don't need history to validate. Now, don't get me wrong. I believe the Bible is consistent with history. I do believe the Bible is consistent with science, but that's not why I believe the Bible. I believe the Bible because of the power of God's word. Because never man spake like this man. Because the word of God is quick and powerful unlike any other word, and my heart burns within me because of the power of God's word, and the Holy Spirit has revealed that to me and continues to guide me into all truth. And let me just comfort you with something. If you actually care, if you actually love God, if you actually want the truth, if you actually are sincere in your heart, if you seek, you will find. If you knock, the door will be opened unto you. And so you will be guided by the Holy Spirit if you want to be guided by the Holy Spirit. Now a lot of people, you know, they're looking for something a little more dramatic. They're looking for thunder, lightning. And you remember when Elijah was on Mount Horeb, God wasn't in the thunder. God wasn't in the whirlwind. God wasn't in the storm. God wasn't in the forest fire. God spoke to him in a still, small voice. And so the Holy Spirit's leading is subtle. It's not like, Stephen, you're 41 today, happy birthday, I want you to preach on the Holy Spirit this morning. Yes, Lord, I'll preach what you, you know. That wasn't how my day started. Because God's spiritual leading is subtle. But here's what's interesting about God's subtle leading that's not always right there open and on the surface. Here's what it is though. When you're sincere and you're reading your Bible and you're going to the church that's actually preaching the Bible and you just live your life sincerely, reading your Bible, praying, loving the Lord, you just find yourself just getting to the right destinations. You can't necessarily point to, well, God told me to turn left here and God told me to turn right here. But it's just like, here we are. And you look back and say, Jesus led me all the way. Even though you can't necessarily always know it because he's not just hitting you with a two by four. Go that way, you idiot. It's a very, it's a subtle leading and you have to be sensitive to it. And the way that you're sensitive to it is through being open to the Spirit's leading by reading the Bible, meditating on God's Word, and just caring and loving the truth and wanting to know the truth. If you want to know the truth, you're going to know the truth, my friend. Because God wants you to know the truth and you want to know the truth, it's going to happen. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for the Holy Spirit, Lord, and for the comfort that we derive from the Holy Spirit and all the many other ministries of the Holy Spirit that we didn't talk about this morning. But Lord, thank you for this ministry of guiding us into all truth, Lord. Help us to follow that leading and help us to be reading our Bibles and constantly seeking truth so that you can guide us and bring things to our remembrance. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.