 So we're not limited to the Bible, but God expands. There is an all-out assault on the Bible. It's always been that way. Remember, whatever God says, the enemy wants you to either not hear it or to misunderstand it. Let's go back to the beginning in the garden. The devil comes and he says to Eve, is that what God says? And even though she knows the word, she understands what God has actually said, he puts it in her heart. That's not really what God meant. And we see that happening today, mainly because as we see this process, that the fruit was desired to her heart. Well, so too can sin, so too can some of these other aberrant ways of looking at things that can be desirous to the heart. And so it's easy for the enemy to come. He doesn't have very many tricks, but his tricks are the same. They have been effective. And so if it ain't broke, as far as the devil's concerned, if it ain't broke, why fix it? But you see today, people in the pulpit of all places, people first of all should not be in the pulpit, but even there, they get the attentions of these people and they'll say things like this. So we're not limited to the Bible, but God expands. Well, obviously God is not adding to the scriptures. And so why would a person like her or anyone else, because there's a lot of folks that are saying this now that would go with this train of thought. Sometimes through the Holy Spirit coming through a teacher, bringing more, bringing more. So one verse says this, but then there can be more that God adds on for more understanding. Well, we have a huge problem then because she's saying that God is gonna give us more understanding and add on top of it. But then Paul says though, Paul, you know, in the Bible, he says, now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollo's for your sakes. Why? Look what he says. So that in us, you may learn not to exceed what is written. So that you would not become arrogant in behalf of one on one against another. In other words, do not add what the scripture says. If it says this, don't add more to it. But that's not what she's saying. God wants to bring more. God wants to bring meat. God wants to bring mysteries. God wants to bring secrets of the kingdom. That comes by taking the limits off of him and allowing him to expand upon scripture, bring revelation upon scripture that aligns with scripture. So you got people out there who want to say that God is bringing a new revelation and notice it's coming through them. Notice what's happening. They're telling you that the Lord wants to, don't put God in a box. He wants to speak to you today. And the primary means are through people like me, through us apostles, through us prophets, through us who have these visions, that even they don't call themselves prophets and apostles and so forth, but that's what they're doing. We are told that they're gonna bring in these destructive heresies after these people are falling away from the faith. Remember what he's talking about. 1 Timothy 4, 1, as well as 2 Peter 2, as this falling away from the faith, these people are gonna bring in these destructive heresies, these unsound doctrine. It's gonna creep in, why? And the only way they can come in is because if you think the Bible is not at the level of importance that it is, well then you can look elsewhere. God will not be conformed and constrained to your limited finite ability and capacity. You minimize him the moment you try to put your hands on him. That's why the idea of theology or the study of God is so asinine and sophomoric to me, the pride to think that God would sit in your Petri dish to be observed by you. There is a hatred for people who actually look through the scriptures and study the scriptures and it's coming from of all places people in the pulpit. For him to actually say something so stupid shows how utterly unqualified he is and the fact that there are people that are listening shows how devoid of desiring the Bible as babes desire, milk them desiring or should be desiring the word of God, the folks that listen to them, they are in just as much sin as he is. All we have is a revelation from God. That's all we've got. We know nature because God has chosen to reveal himself in that way but also chosen to reveal himself in Christ and then in his word, that's what he's given us. And so to say that he didn't want us to examine he absolutely does, he's literally given us his word for us to see him, to learn of him and to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord as the scriptures say. But there is this battle out there to make you think that there is more that we need that God wanted us to have more than just the scriptures. There are certain instructions that are definitely not in scripture. No, they're not there. But it is because as believers we have made a grave and big error. And our error is this, is that we forget that the word of God you have is not the ceiling but it is the foundation. Those are nice sound words. Okay, that's the foundation, huh? We're built on that, but it's not the ceiling, there's more. Now, is there absolutely more to God than just his word? Sure, however, what has God decided to reveal to us? What has he decided to give to us? And by the way, is what he's saying, can what he say or what he says can that be found in the scriptures? It cannot. So if God wanted us to do what he's proposing, if God wanted us to depart from the scriptures as he's proposing, then wouldn't God have at least put it in the scriptures? It is from the word of God that you build yourself. You know, when people say if it is not in the word, I wouldn't believe it, it's the craziest thing you can ever say. When Moses saw the burning bush, where did he see it before? Who wrote about the burning bush before him? This is how backwards in Aslan is getting now. So if someone says it's not in the scriptures, they're saying, well, I'm not gonna listen to you. If what you're saying is not in the scriptures, and so he says that's crazy. Think about it as he's trying to, as he's trying to be profound and fancy. Think about it. Moses at the burning bush, who wrote about that? How absolutely stupid is that? We have the scriptures given to us to see how God is interacting with us and the message. So God has given messages to these prophets, to these apostles and so forth, to have them written to inspire the Holy Spirit to write these scriptures down. And so he says, well, because at some point in time, they didn't have scriptures. And now these people, like Moses, who wrote the first five books, wrote the first five scriptures that we have, well, because he didn't have a Bible, then we don't need one either. Are you listening to me? When Paul was taken out of his body, he said, whether in the spirit or in the flesh, I don't know. Where was that written before? This very same Paul, when he's speaking up, says all scripture is inspired by God and a prophet for the teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness. I'm gonna make this passage because he's gonna say something. And notice where he cuts off it. Because if you see in the spirit, you realize that the Bible probably contains 0.0001% of the things of the spirit. But it contains everything that the spirit revealed to us, that he wanted to reveal to us. That is why the Bible says it like this. It says that the word of God is good for doctrine, for rebuke, for building. It is the foundational setting. Now notice what he didn't say. He didn't complete it. He says it is good for doctrine, he says, which is teaching. It is proper for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, so we can come and correct this guy for training and righteousness. Look what he says in verse 17. So that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. This man is not lacking anything, but listening to him, listening to lovey, then we need more. So there is this war against someone trying to study, trying to have sound doctrine. Notice what the Bible says. Paul says, but as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine, the things which are core with sound doctrine. But you've got preachers out there who's like, no, I'm not into doctrinal this, doctrinal that. I'm not into hermeneutics, hermeneutics, all it is, fancy word, hermeneutics just simply mean it's a method of how we read the Bible or how we read. We all have a hermeneutic, whether you know it or not. You read things a certain way. Matter of fact, in most cases, you don't even realize it. The way you read a newspaper, the way you read a magazine, when you read some story, it's to convey the point of an author. The writer is trying to convey a point and you are to take it. That's why it's important to understand one what a hermeneutic is and then what the text is talking about. But now listen to these arguments that go against it and you can see what the problem that the church is having today. But why would I pit these two against each other, hermeneutic against faith or hermeneutic against faith? Well, because I have recently entertained people that solely depend on their hermeneutic, right? To bring them to certain conclusions that does not give leeway to faith. By the way, who he's speaking about, this is some time ago, but he's speaking about me, thinking that all I rely on is my hermeneutic. He didn't really understand. Matter of fact, it's clear. He has no idea what the word hermeneutic is and what hermeneutics are. But because I'm saying, guys, look at the scripture, see what it says. This is what it says, what it means, what we call authorial intent with the authors trying to get across how the people understood that. But no, you come back 2000 years later and says, no, this is what it means even though they get a totally different meaning. And the Lord showed me this, that the enemy is attacking our faith. No, the Lord didn't show him anything. As a matter of fact, if the Lord would have showed him something, then what he would have done was to go and compare what he thinks he's being told. This is his opinion. Really what it is, is his emotion. Really what it is, is insecurity. The fact that he can't back up what he said with scripture. And so therefore someone that uses scripture and say, wait a second, I've got a problem. You might not be right. You might be wrong. You might be right. Well, there's a problem. And so he said the enemy is using the Bible to attack faith. Does that make sense? I need y'all to see this before amen, even as we progress, the enemy's intent is to attack our faith. And he will use hermeneutics to do so. And the Lord began to show me, he says, now what did you know of me based on academic knowledge that brought you into salvation? Nothing. The ignorance and absolute stupidity of that statement is what did you know? Well, you didn't know anything about him unless someone told you about him, whether it was someone or you read it yourself. It came from the scriptures. What we know about him, he has revealed in his scriptures. How do you know about Abraham? How do you know about Isaac and Jacob? How do you know about Jesus on the cross? In the scriptures, it was written for your benefit, for your edification, for your growth, for your development. But know what these people desire is a so-called move of the spirit without the word. But again, it was the spirit that gave us the word. Let's go back to again. I don't know why people get past this point, but it says that all scriptures are inspired by God. This word is Thayon Newstab. This is God breathe. So the Holy Spirit literally gives us this word and we should depart from these words because we don't think it lines up with your teaching and we see that and we want clarification. No, you guys are too focused on the words and not the spirit. This is what people are doing to encourage people who are also lazy in the scriptures who don't want to follow the scriptures to just come and hear someone tell you what they think you want to hear. Because Paul says, the time will endure. That's right now when people will not endure sound. Doc, what do you think that point was written for? Why do you think Paul is making that statement? Because there are those who don't like the message. This is written on Paul's deathbed. Paul is getting ready, he knows he's about to be executed. And so Paul is writing this final letter, knowing this and what does he do? He calls out false teachings and false teachers. Cause of the way that pastors have leveraged, the Bible says, the Bible says, the Bible says. It's like saying the constitution says, the company handbook says. We've said that the Bible is the authority because the Bible says the Bible teaches the word of God. Because of that language, consequently most Christians, most thoughtful Christians believe what's in the Bible. Are you ready for this? Because it's in the Bible. Even now we've got people who are supposed that scholars, really not being scholars or trying to act scholarly, who want to kind of impugn the word of God. However, the Bible says this. This is a matter of fact, the shirt that I'm wearing says whatever God says. Well, this comes from the Bible. Peter says, we must obey God rather than men. How do you obey God? Well, we're going to get from the scriptures. That's what he gave us. And you have to help them change that for illustration. Ask the average person in your church or your uncle or your aunt or your grandmother who loves Jesus. Hey, do you believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins and rose from the dead? Yes, I do. Why do you believe that? Because the Bible tells me so. Because it's in the Bible. That is the wrong answer. We do not take the New Testament document seriously because they are in the Bible. These documents were included in the Bible because of who wrote them, when they were written and what they contained, right? I mean, we believe that we take those documents seriously because of who wrote them. This is him trying to be cute. And he's speaking at an actual seminary, actually my seminary. And so you don't tell someone what to say. You don't expect this sort of foolishness. But I'm glad it's out there because you can kind of see the importance of someone's fault, someone trying to go ahead and impugn the scriptures, trying to once show how wise or crafty they are. But we don't have, we don't know what the writers wrote outside of the Bible. What we can say is this, what we're commanded to, especially of those who are in leadership, elders, pastors, and so forth. Paul says this, talking to Timothy, as Timothy is going out and he, as an elder himself, planting churches and he's encouraging to find men to be just like this. He says, be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed doing what accurately handling the word of truth. Really? So he's speaking about, he's highlighting what they ought to accurately handle. That is the word of truth. If you can't handle that correctly, then we're supposed to believe that you're also supposed to have these other extra revelations from God. No, but that's what they want. People who do not read the Bible, that's what they want you to hold on to. Because if they can get these extra revelations, which are nothing more than feelings or in many cases, a lot of cases just lies. If they can convince you that they're getting extra revelations that are outside of the Bible and you don't know to compare them to the Bible because you don't read the Bible. Well, if they can get them, well then so too can you. I can get these revelations so I can have these dreams, these feelings. I can see something on TV and trigger a thought. And I can call it God because it's my emotions. And after all, my emotions, my feelings are just as much authoritative as the word of God because he's speaking to us outside of the scriptures as she said. So we're not limited to the Bible, but God expands. But one last time we were told not to exceed what is written. And so when someone comes to you and tells you to do just the opposite to actually exceed what is written to come with your own, even though John says not every spirit is of God, so test it out by the word of God. Guys, this is where we at. Make sure that you be a believer that falls back high so word of the Lord in your heart that you don't sin, that you grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord that comes by sound teaching. Amen.