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Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 454 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text --Brother Thomas: Well, Praise the Lord! I've thought of a verse of scripture that I hope the Lord can help us with--Hosea chapter 4 and verse 6, Hosea chapter 4, verse 6. The Lord says through this prophet concerning His people, "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." May the Lord help me to just elaborate here for a few minutes, digress, or whatever you want to call it on what it means to have that Word in the proper and the fitting time. Makes a vast difference. You know the Word of God helps you sometimes when you don't see any place of help. Everywhere you look, you see nothing. You see despair. You see disillusionments, discouragement. I was thinking about David. You know, David was having a terrible time. The people had just about rejected him. He was afraid they were going to stone him. He was left alone--almost alone. The Bible says that he encouraged himself in the Lord. So, it makes a difference. A lot of times you have to do that and the Word is a great resource. "The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Praise God, there's power in the Word! ( congregational amens ). If it's God's Word! Now many things are called God's Word that's not God's Word. I believe the devil uses it. In fact, he did when he tempted Christ. Jesus used the Word on him. So, when he saw that Jesus believed in the Word, he decided that he'd try that on Jesus. But, he was misusing it--misapplying it. The Word, rightly divided, is what we need--the Word of God. The Word of God will help you when you're down! ( congregational amens ). The Word of God will show the way when you don't know the way! You don't know whether to go straight, to the right, to the left, or back up. But God's Word will help you. "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." God's with you! ( congregational amens ). The Lord wants to bless you! He wants to strengthen you! He wants to lift you up! Praise God! I'm thankful for the Word of God. I don't know what I'd do without the Word of God, for it's God speaking to me. When the Spirit of God takes and quickens it to me, at a time of need, a time of trouble, a time of despair, it lifts me up. I know it's God because it does something for me. It's better than a transfusion! It's better than anything else--better than a meal, cause it'll last forever. And God's people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. If there ever was a day that we needed to have His Word in our heart, it's now. It'll help us as we face the things that's coming on this earth. It's not going to get any better. It's going to get worse. But, Praise God, we're the victor! ( congregational amens ). Because we're on the right side. We have Him. If you have Him, you have everything that God has! ( congregational amens ). Hallelujah! Hallelujah! It's true. "Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." Sometimes we get hold of things now and they're real so far we can see and then worry about them. That don't help nothing. Just leave it where it's at. You think you may know, but God does know. And God's gonna take care of it. You need to get the Word in your heart. How many verses of scripture can you quote? How many? Can you quote a dozen? Can you quote a Word when you need it? You need to live by the Word. That's what Jesus said. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." And you live by it. That's your life! Not what you feel, it's what God says about you. Hallelujah! My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. God help us! The Lord actually can minister to you through His Word, something you've committed to memory, something you've gone through, something you know about. And when it comes, it's just like a--oh, what a refreshing it is, what a strength it is! It lifts you up. I'm gonna tell you, the devil's tackling a lot of us. I know I've suffered here recently the worst case of depression I've ever suffered. I couldn't get no peace, no way. My wife knows it. I was so miserable. I don't know what was wrong. It was no special thing. No significant--nothing I can put into words, just plain depression. But God's Word will bring you out of it! That's the only thing that will bring you out. ( congregational amens ). And the devil, he's smart. He can attack you through things you'd never believe. He's eager to disillusion you. He's eager to do something to make you despair. He is the master of despair. But God is the Master of deliverance. God is the Master. God is Deliverance! ( congregational amens ). Hallelujah! Hallelujah! What helped Jesus there in the fourth chapter of Matthew? What helped Him when the devil come? -- Congregation: The Word. -- Brother Thomas: Absolutely! That's a good place to go. Let's go over to the fourth chapter of Matthew. "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." Isn't that something? That almost seems like God was working against Himself. But He needed that temptation. He needed it. Let's go over to Deuteronomy. We'll go back there, just a minute. Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 2. "And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live." God wants us to know that. If He didn't bring you to these places where you have to really and truly live by the Word, if He didn't put the condition, the situation there where you had to pull it out and stand on it, you would never learn. It's like muscles. If you don't exercise them, they dry up. Our faith needs the trial. It's good for us. It doesn't hurt us. And we need to live by the Word of God! Hallelujah! In our relations with our family--our wife, our children, our relations with our neighbor, our brother and our sister in Christ in the church, we need to live by the Word. It don't make any difference how you feel or what the case is, just go by why you know is right by the Word. And, God will bless you. God is on your side. He is a partner with you in this. That's His Word and He's watching over it. When you obey it, He takes knowledge of it. That's God. And so, God's people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. Do you have His Word? You need to know there's life in it. Life in it, and it's health to all our flesh. Praise God! The Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. It'll permeate your very being. It goes to the center, to the very core. God's Word is alive. It's a living thing! You see this electricity here in these lights? They've got a switch somewhere. If that switch is turned off, you've got no light. And I'll tell you, the Light of God is His Word. And when you quote it, you're drawing that Light into your life. It's for your good. He wants you to learn to live by it, because you draw the Life of God into your being. No matter what the trial may be, no matter where you're at, or what you're going through, God's Word will help you! Hallelujah! Praise God! ( congregational amens ). Hallelujah! Suppose God hadn't given us these things. Just think about it. Look at this now in verse 5 of Romans chapter 4. "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Now that means you believe and God counts it for righteousness. Did you know many people today don't know what to believe? Do you know these people that's wandering everywhere, one believing this, one believing that--they don't know what to believe. Praise God, if they've got the Word, they've got God. And that's all they have to have--the Word. You need the Word of God more than you need anything else. Hallelujah! "Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works." Think about it, now. God sees your faith and He puts it to your account--the righteousness from that. It's imputed to you. It's placed to your account. Don't worry. God sees it. He sees what you're believing in and what you're trusting in. And you can trust in and tell Him, Lord, I believe in this. I'm trusting in this. That's what David was talking about that "describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Now let's ponder that for a minute. God will not charge us with sin. He'll not charge you with sin. That don't mean you won't have some. That don't mean you won't do something wrong. Now I don't want everybody standing up in here saying they don't sin. ( congregational laughter ). I'd rather you be honest. I don't mean now for you to take advantage of God's goodness. And I don't believe you will. But realize this one thing. You're saved because Jesus died for you. You're saved because He paid your sin debt. You're saved because He died on that cross. And when He said, "It is finished", it was finished. Your sins in total was paid for. They were paid for! And today, the salvation you have comes to you as a result of what He did. ( congregational amens ). And you can thank God for it. You don't have to beg God to save you. If you are a sinner and lost--and you may be here, as many as we have here, could very well be some that's lost, you don't have to beg God to save you. You ought to thank Him for it and stand on that Word. Hallelujah! All hell can assail, but if you're standing on that Word, you can quote this scripture to yourself, to the devil and to the Lord and to somebody, if they need it. The Word of God does something for us. It's quick. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. Even to you and to those who quote it. It's yours. I remember one time, I was sitting in the barber shop. I'd done a few outlandish things I guess. These barbers they were--I was just sitting over there, you know, I wasn't getting no haircut. This was the time whenever they'd shave you. And the fellow I was with, he was leaned back in the chair and the guy was shaving him. They got to telling jokes. And they'd laugh about those jokes. I knew they was filthy jokes. And I just sit there. And I had a little pocket testament. I took it out of my shirt. I just quoted the scripture. I just remembered the scripture. And I said, "There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." That fellow got quiet. It got quiet and they stooped down and they said, who's that fellow? He said, that's a Baptist preacher. ( congregational laughter ). Anyway, I felt like doing something. And I felt good when I did what I did. I give the devil a black eye. If they don't learn anything, they'll learn one thing--that they sure don't want to do things in front of everybody. Praise God! But the Word of God is what did it. That Word. Hallelujah! Just remember to learn to live by the Word. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." That's our life, that's what we're here for. ( congregational amens ). That's what we're here for! That's why we want to hear from Phil, from me and others. It's because we need this Word. It's got all the vitamins, proteins and everything else we need, right here in the Word. It's not what we feel. It's not what we think. It's what God's Word says. ( congregational amens ). Just remember that. It's not what your fortune-teller says. I don't need to go to a palm reader. I need to go to the Word. Hallelujah! 
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