God's Word and You, Part 1

As your pastor, I guess the greatest burden I have is for you to see God's Word as the most important thing in your life, more so than anything else. God's Word needs to reign supreme. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 3 verse 15 that the Word of God is the pillar and foundation of truth.

It's the cornerstone of who we are. And what defines the church is its desire and its ability to maintain that standard of truth. And that's what makes Christ's Community Church a unique church, not a better church, but a different church than most churches because we take God's Word at face value and believe it and teach it and preach it and want people to live by it. We think that's important. And so Paul would tell Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, Timothy, you need to be absorbed in these things. Until I come, he says, verse 13, give attention to the reading and the teaching and the exhortation of the scriptures.

Be absorbed in these things. Meditate upon them. And if you do, Timothy, your progress will be evident to all, meaning to say that if you spend time in God's Word with God, learning about Him, everybody's going to see it, right? Everybody's going to know something's going on with your life because there's been an effect in your life because of the Word of God having that effect. And then it goes on to say, pay close attention to yourself, 1 Timothy 4, 16, and to your teaching for if you do, you will ensure salvation for yourself and for those who hear you.

God holds a very high priority on His Word. In fact, His name is called the Word of God. When the Lord Jesus Christ returns in Revelation 19, it tells us that His name is called the Word of God. Why is it called the Word of God? Because Psalm 138, verse number 2 says that thy word, O Lord, is magnified even as thy very name. Meaning to say that God's Word is on equal level with His name because His name is the Word of God. And when Jesus returns in Revelation 19, the Bible tells us every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

In fact, the Bible says that the Word became flesh. In fact, John 1, 1, in the beginning was the Word. Kind of a reminiscence of Genesis chapter 1, verse number 1. In the beginning God, John 1, 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Verse number 14, John 1, then it says, and the Word dwelt among us, tabernacled among us, came down to us. And then over in verse number 18 of Revelation chapter 1, it says that God the Son has explained to us God the Father.

Meaning to say that the Word became flesh in order to explain to us God. The Bible says, who has known the mind of the Lord?

Answer, nobody. Who knows God's mind? Nobody. So the only way to know God's mind is to communicate with words that which is in His mind. How did God do that? He sent His Son, who is the Word of God, to communicate to us God Himself. He is the radiance of His glory. He is the exact representation of the Father. He is God in the flesh. And what Jesus did was explain God to us in a way unlike anyone else could explain Him to us. Why? Hebrews 1 tells us that God long ago spoke to us through the prophets, but in these last days has spoken to us through His Son, Jesus Christ.

He has spoken to us through His Son. He is the final revelation of who God is because He is God in the flesh. So He walked among us. We beheld His glory full of grace and truth. He is the Word of God. I want God's Word to be in you. For me to say I want God's Word in you is to say I want God in you in such a way that He impacts all that you do. God's Word needs to be in us. So over the next couple of weeks, we're going to take you from A to Z on what that means. That means there's 26 points. I promise it will not take 26 weeks to cover that, although we could spend one week on each point.

We could do that. I want you to see how God's Word needs to abide in you. I want God's Word to remain in you. I want God's Word to be in you. I want you to be able to see the significant impact God's Word makes in your life. It was George Mueller, that great missionary who made a significant impact in hundreds of thousands of people's lives who said these words. I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord.

The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord, but how I might get my soul into a happy state and how my inner man might be nourished.

Now I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it. That thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed, and that thus while meditating, my heart might be brought into experimental communion with the Lord. I began therefore to meditate on the New Testament from the beginning, early in the morning, for the sake of obtaining food for my soul. And yet now, since God has taught me this point, it is as plain to me as anything.

The first thing a child of God has to do, morning by morning, is to obtain food for his inner man. As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time except we take food, and as this is one of the first things we do in the morning, so it should be with the inner man.

Now what is the food for the inner man? It is not prayer, but the Word of God. And there again, not the simple reading of the Word of God, so that it only passes through our minds just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it and applying it to our hearts. That's where we need to be. Spending time in the Word of God, pondering it in our hearts, meditating upon the Word of God, so it impacts all that we are and all that we do. God's Word needs to be in us. As Paul wrote in Colossians, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, let it be at home in your hearts.

Don't let it be a stranger to you. God's Word should never be a stranger to us. It should be that welcome Word that we easily receive because it is, in fact, truly the Word of God. Now, why is this so important? I want to talk about that with you for a few moments. Why is the Word of God so important? Why is it we're going to spend time doing this? There are some of you out there today who look at the Word of God as just another book.

It's a book that has lots of genealogies and visions and miracles and all kinds of illustrations and stories that are fascinating, but it's just another good book. The Bible is more than that. There are others of you who see the Word of God as important because your pastor said it was important or because your parents said it was important, although you don't realize the importance of it. Someone told you it was important, so you think, okay, God's Word is important, therefore I must somehow understand it and study it and read it and hear it and that kind of thing.

But you really don't believe it's that important. There are other people who see God's Word as that living, abiding truth. That's where we need to be, right? That's why this is so important. For most of us, it's just not that important. Oh, we'll come to church on Sunday. Maybe we'll come on Wednesday. Maybe every once in a while we'll open it at home. But for most of us, that's about all we do, isn't it? God's Word needs to be an active part of our everyday life. That's why as your pastor, I am compelled to spend time talking about the Word of God, its importance and its value to your life.

It's valuable. It's important. Why? It's infallible. It's without error. The sum totality of the Scriptures is that it is without error. It is truth. Psalm 19, verse number 7 says what? The law of the Lord is perfect. It's perfect. What an amazing statement. God's law is perfect. And Psalm 19 is a tremendous passage of Scripture because verses 7 to 10 is God's commentary on the Word of God. It talks about the law of the Lord, the judgments of the Lord, the precepts of the Lord, the ordinance of the Lord, the fear of the Lord.

He defines God's Word in different ways, all meaning the same thing. It's the Word of truth. But he says the law of the Lord is perfect. It's complete. It's truthful. And therefore, it becomes our standard for living, our rule of faith and practice. The only rule of faith and practice. The Bible says over in Proverbs 30, verse number 5, every word of God is flawless.

It says over in Psalm 19, these words in verse number 9, the fear of the Lord is clean. That is, the fear of the Lord is absent from impurity, absent from filthiness. It is completely clean. No error. Psalm 119, verse number 116, the sum of thy word is truth and every one of thy righteous ordinances is everlasting. The sum of the Word of God is nothing but truth and every one of your ordinances are righteous. And because they are righteous, they are everlasting. They last forever. The Bible tells us, Isaiah 65, verse number 16, that God is the God of truth.

Jeremiah 10.10, the Lord is the true God. John 3.33, God is truthful. John 17.3, God is the only true God. Revelation 19.11, Jesus Christ is faithful and true. God is true. If God's Word is true, we need to know the truth, right? In a world where there are no absolutes, at least that's what we're taught, there is something that's steadfast and sure and true and that's the Word of God. So you can stand up and say, yes, I know the truth. I know the truth about life. I know the truth about eternity.

I know the truth about death. I know the truth about the beginning of the world and the end of the world. I know it all about it because God has said so in His Word. People will think you're some kind of egomaniac, but that's the truth. You know truth because you know the God of truth and therefore you stand firm on that. God's Word is authoritative, is it not? Sure it is. If it's true, it's authoritative. And therefore you're accountable to the Word of God. There are over 2,000 direct statements in the Old Testament concerning, thus saith the Lord.

I love what Isaiah 1 verse number 2 says. It says, hear, O heaven, listen, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. The Lord has spoken. Hear, O heavens, listen up, O earth. God speaks. It's authoritative. You need to listen.

Not only that, God's Word is effective, isn't it? Sure it is. Isaiah 55 tells us very clearly these words. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bare and sprout and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be which goes forth from my mouth. It should not return to me empty without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. God says my Word always accomplishes, listen, exactly what I want it to accomplish.

Paul said it this way over in 1 Thessalonians 2, verse number 13. And for this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you receive from us the Word of God's message, you accept that it not as the Word of men, but for what it really is, the Word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. Isn't that good? God's Word performs its work in you who believe. God's Word is effective. God's Word, listen, always works, always. Never is there a time God's Word doesn't work. It always works because it always produces that which God wants to produce in those who believe it.

God's Word works every time without failure. It never doesn't work. It always works. God told Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 5, verse number 14, because you have spoken this Word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth fire, and this people would, and it will consume them. Wow, that's effective. God would later go on to say in Jeremiah 23, verse number 29, are not my words like fire, declares the Lord? Are not my words like that which shattered the rock? God's Words are effective. That's why when He returns, He speaks the Word and what happens?

Everybody is incinerated. That's why when He brought everything into existence, He spoke a Word and it all came into being. That's the effect of God's Holy Word. God's Word is so important, not only because it's infallible and inerrant, not only because it's authoritative and effective, but there's something about God's Word that illuminates the mind. You ever had questions? A lot of questions over the events of September 11th. People ask all kinds of questions. The biggest question is always what?

Why? Why this? Why at this time? Why God? This way. You ever met someone who lost a baby? Big questions. Why? How? Or how about the young man who's given his life to Christ and serving the Lord and he's got a great family and they're following the Lord. He's on his way home from work. He gets in a car accident and dies and he leaves all of his children, his wife. He leaves them all. I don't understand. Why? How? How come him and not somebody else? He had such a bright future. You ever ask questions like that?

The Bible says this, the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The commandment of the Lord is clear, lucid, and sheds light on all things. All things. I know why babies die. I do. I know why tragedy happens. I don't question that. I know why loved ones die. I know why God chooses some to salvation and others not. I don't understand that. Why? Because God's Word has told us. God's Word is pure, clear, enlightening the eyes. All of us need to be illuminated, right? All of us need to be able to see what God sees and see how God sees things.

How are you going to know that unless you know the Word of God? Let me give you an illustration. A young man was pastoring in a church in Brigham City, Utah. He pastored Brigham City Bible Church. Not a very big church, as you can tell, but that's where he was. He was a missionary to Mormons. Having been in ministry for a number of years, he needed refreshment. He needed time to get away with his family. So he had two daughters and a son. He decided to go on vacation here in Southern California, visit a church in the area, spend time being nourished in the Word of God, letting his family relax.

In Southern California for a while. He had two boys that were foreign exchange students who lived with he and his family and decided to bring them along with them because he wanted them to experience what they experienced and at the same time had the opportunity to share Christ with them and evangelize them. So they all got in their van and journeyed to Southern California. And the trip was also a twofold purpose. He would also enroll his daughter in a college here in Southern California. And that's what he wanted to do.

So on the day they went to enroll her and got her all signed up, they made a truck off the campus. And lo and behold, they were hit by a truck going 60 miles an hour. The two girls, his two daughters, were catapulted out of the back of that van, killed instantly. His son, to exchange students who were with them, living with them, on vacation with them, were in intensive care for six weeks. Surgeries and all kinds of difficult problems. When asked, the father asked, what do you think about all this?

Responded this way. He said, isn't God gracious that he would take my two daughters home to be with him and spare those two boys who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ? Isn't God gracious? And then he said, you know, I brought my daughters to Southern California because he wanted to put them in a church. Specifically, he was coming down to Grace Community Church. He said to Pastor John McArthur, he said, you know, what I wanted to do was let my daughters have a big church experience. I just didn't know that it was going to be the church triumphant in heaven that they would be experiencing.

That, my friend, is what the word of God does. The word of the Lord is lucid. Commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes. When tragedy comes your way, what is your response? What do you say? How do you see the working of God in your life? That's what God's word does. Listen, I don't even want to speculate what you're going to face. But if you know the commandment of the Lord, then those things that are muddy are going to be made clear. Those things that are going to be dark are going to be enlightened.

And you'll say, I know what God's doing. I can see the hand of God working. I understand why God does what he does. I want that for you. I want that for me. Don't you want that? What do you tell the woman who's born again and her family's not? Heart breaks over and over again. What do you tell her? You tell her what God's word says. To not grow weary in well-doing. To help her understand that God is at work in her life, in his life, her children's life. To remain steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord because God has not yet chosen to save them.

But remain steadfast. You know, what do you tell the family who loses their baby? I don't even want to think of those of you who have young children and might lose them this year. I might lose one of my children this year. I don't know. But it's God's word that's clear, right? Helps us understand the sovereignty of God, the providence of God, the working of God. That is so important. That's why God's word needs to be in you. That's why you need to be able to respond in a positive way when tragedy comes.

It doesn't mean you're not going to hurt. It doesn't mean you're not going to cry. It doesn't mean you're not going to feel the pain of the loss. No, those are all real emotions that we go through. But you have a perspective. You have a perspective because you know the truth. And God is orchestrating a bigger plan that's much larger than you, but has chosen you to be a part of it. It's a good thing, right? Sure it is. I want to spend just a couple of weeks looking at the word of God with you and saying, look, God's word in you.

God wants his word in you more than you want his word in you. He does. I want you to understand me. He goes, I know I'm infinite. I know I'm incomprehensible. But if you seek me, if you journey after me, you'll find me. You'll understand. You'll know. Problem is most of us just don't want to take the time, do we? Something else comes along. Listen, it's God's word in you. It's not God's word in your spouse or God's word in your children. It's God's word in you. It's personal. This is for each of you.

This is for me. I need it as much as you need it. I'm no further along spiritually than you are. I'm struggling through my life, looking at issues, trying to deal with them each day as they come, trusting God to accomplish his work in my life. I need to know God's word just as you need to know God's word. So we journey together, study together, learning together, growing together. God's word in you because it's the word of God that you have to deal with. And when you understand what's there and what God says and you obey that, everything around you changes because everything around you is affected by a light that's being transformed inside out.

I want your family to change. I want your children to change. I want your parenting to change. I want your relationship with your spouse to change. I want it to be better this year than ever before. How's that going to happen? God's word. That's it. God's word and understanding that what he says is true. And therefore, if it's true, it's right. If it's right, then I must do it. That's the way it works. This is where we begin. I say, Lord, I want your word to be in me. So Lord, I'm going to do whatever it takes.

Spend time with you, reading, listening, hearing the word of God, being in the word of God, being under the word of God, being around the word of God and those people who love the word of God. Do yourself a favor. Don't be around people who don't love the word of God. Do yourself a favor. Unless, of course, you are evangelizing them because those who don't know the Lord don't love the word of God, right? So be around people who love the word of God and watch how your conversation changes. Watch how your relationship changes.

Watch how things begin to stand out in your life. That's the kind of people we need to be. And if God can use you in someone else's life to get them excited about the word of God, that's a great thing, isn't it? Get them excited about the word of God. Say, man, you know, God's so... Come to church with me, man. This is so great, man. Come to church. We're gonna learn the word of God together. Come with me on Wednesday nights, man. We're gonna learn about what God says about your family and what the word of the Lord says about how we should govern in our families.

Come learn with me. Oh, I don't wanna learn with you. Oh, come on, man. It's so great. It's gonna be so much fun. I'm gonna be in the word of God, man, learning what God says about what we need to do.

And it's gonna be so much fun. Let's do it together. Watch to see how God works. Watch. He wants to work in your life. He wants to work in your life more than you wanted to work in your life. He's gonna do that through his word. I trust that this year will be different than every other year. You don't want this year like last year, do you? I don't. You don't want this month like last month. You don't want this week like last week. You don't want today like yesterday. You want it different. Why? Because you're coming to know your God in such a way that you love him more today than you did yesterday.

This week, more than last week. This month, more than last month. Isn't that what you want? Sure it is. That's why you're here today. Not here by accident. You're here by appointment. And God says, this message is for you.

It's God's word in you. It's not God's word in your spouse or God's word in your children. It's God's word in you. It's personal. And therefore, God's gonna do a great job. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. The time we have together this morning. We do pray, Lord, for every family, every person, individual in this room. That, Lord, they would want more than ever the word of God in their lives. To understand the law of the Lord, the commandments of God, the fear of God. And the love of God.

Pray, Father, that as we study your word. That all of us would learn to obey every part of it. Because you are called the word of God. And we love you, Lord. That's why we're here today. Because we want to follow and serve you. If someone's here and doesn't know you as personal Savior, may this be the day they give their life to Christ. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.