I want to use a simple illustration. Suppose three men measure the length of this room and one of them uses a yardstick 35 inches long, another uses a yardstick 36 inches long and the other a yardstick 37 inches long. They won’t get the same answer because they are not using the same standard. The same is true in the field of philosophy and religion. If each man uses a different yardstick, nothing but confusion and division can possibly be the result.
And, friends, that is just exactly what is wrong with this world today. One man uses the “Pope” at Rome for his yardstick. He says that whatever the “Pope” says is right. He measures everything by that. Then I come along and measure by the Bible, the Word of God, and he and I get different answers. Somebody else takes the church to which he belongs as his standard of measurement. People say, “My church teaches so and so,” and “My church practices so and so.” I have even had them come to me and say, “What does your church believe on this point? What does your church teach here?” They simply mean, “What does the group of people with which you are associated have to say about this matter?” Over and over again I have them ask me, “What do you think about it?” I have heard that expression many, many times during the last four weeks.
Well, you can see how all these different yardsticks will get different answers. One man wants my opinion about it, that’s his yardstick; somebody else uses his church’s opinion as his yardstick; another takes what his parents think about it; still another takes tradition as his yardstick; and someone else takes simply the way he feels about it. I hear them say, “Well, I like it, and therefore it must be all right,” or, “It seems good to me.” I recently heard a boy try to justify his going to a particular church on the basis that it made him feel good. Well, those are just all irregular standards. They are not standards. People who reason like that are using the wrong unit of measurement.
Friends, God hath spoken and when God speaks all the world should be quiet and listen. We should take his word as final. It should be the standard by which we decide all questions, and until the world can agree upon the word that God has spoken as its yardstick, as its unit of measurement, as its standard for determining truth, we shall continue to have division and confusion in this world. So I want to impress you with the fact that God hath spoken. Let us go to that word to find the answer to every question that pertains to religion. In fact, I might just say the answer to every question, for almost all questions are answered in the Bible, at least in a general way. If we would apply the principles of its teachings, all of our domestic and social problems would be solved. Our industrial and political problems would be solved. Our international problems would be solved, if all people would learn what God hath spoken and follow it.
VI
Will You Obey His Word?
I hope you are impressed with the fact which God hath spoken. Are you willing to hear that word? Friends, the word that God has spoken tells us that we must believe, in order to be saved. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). “Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to God” (Heb. 11:6). Faith is the very foundation of Christianity, so much so the Bible says, “The just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17). We are to walk by faith and not by sight.
The word which God has spoken says that “Except ye repent ye shall likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). This word which God has spoken unto us through his Son, Jesus, tells us that if we confess him before men he will confess us before his Father who is in heaven. But if we deny him, he will deny us before his Father who is in heaven (Matt. 10:32, 33). Then, friends, this same word which God has spoken says, “Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord, our God, shall call” (Acts 2:38, 39).
This word which God has spoken tells those who have been baptized and have gone astray, to come back repenting and confessing their faults and praying for forgiveness (Acts 8:22; 1 John 1:9). This word which God has spoken promises that he will not let us be tempted above that we are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it. (1 Cor. 10:13). This word that God has spoken tells us to be faithful unto death and he will give us a crown of life incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away (Rev. 2:10; 1 Pet. 1:4).
Are you willing this morning to listen to the word which God hath spoken? I am not asking you to listen to me or to listen to any group of people, but to listen to the word of God. He said, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” If you are willing to hear and to heed that word that God hath spoken, then come forward while we sing and make your wishes known.