Recapturing a Reverence for the Bible

You know, we live in a society, and I guess it's a trait of human nature, that when we have a lot of something, we tend to devalue it. You know, we're very young and someone gives us a dollar. Maybe I'm speaking of my age a little bit. A dollar was worth a lot back when you were 16, 17, 18.

Remember the first job I ever had? I made it. McDonald's was $2 an hour. And that seemed like wonderful to me to go and work for $2 an hour. You know, no one does that in America anymore. But a dollar meant something. And it was valuable to you. When your relatives gave you a gift of a dollar or two, it meant something. But then as you get older and you make more money, a dollar doesn't seem to be worth much anymore. We don't pay that much attention to them. You know, some people on limited incomes, they do watch every dollar they spend.

And others, you know, it doesn't really make any difference. If that's the cost of a dollar more here than there, it doesn't really make that much difference to us. It tends to lose its value because we have so many of them, it tends to become commonplace. And you know, that happens with many things in our lives, that things can devalue by the number that we have or how common it is to us.

And when we compare our lives to what people did back in ancient times, you know, we can step back and we can realize, boy, we do have it very good in so many areas, you know, physically as well as spiritually when you look at it. You know, another thing is we look around the world, I look at and I hear about how other religions, and I don't mean Christian religions or so-called Christian religions, but other religions handle their holy book. And you know, you look at the Muslims, and if you attack, if you say something cross about the Qur'an, you stand in danger of getting a severe retribution, don't you?

You know, I have no idea how many copies of the Qur'an are extant. I have no idea if the Qur'an is available on iPads and cell phones. Like we have, you know, what the Christian book and holy book is, is the Bible. And everywhere today we have Bibles everywhere. All of us have one, probably more than one, copy of the Bible at home. You know, we have them available on our cell phones and iPads, and they become very commonplace, which is far different, far different than most of mankind has experienced from the time of Jesus Christ.

Now when he was alive, the Bible was a rare thing. It was you would go to the synagogue, and you would read there with the people what the Bible had to say. They cherished it. When they were copying it, the scribes put a lot of detail and a lot of tension into it to make sure that that Bible, those scriptures, were perfect in what was being written. And there was a high value placed on that.

Even when you look back in our history and our country, back, you know, a couple hundred years ago, 250 years ago, when the founding fathers were putting together the Constitution, you can look at our Constitution, you can see the Bible, the influence it had in their lives. They held it in high esteem. It was something that they paid attention to. It was something they lived by. It was something that made a difference to them. And here we are in the 21st century.

Here we are in the 21st century, and we have Bibles everywhere. Probably more Bibles sold in the United States and the United Kingdom last year than maybe in years before. Everyone wants one, and yet no one really defends it. No one really thinks about it. Most people that have one in their house don't even look at it. And it's become very commonplace, and it's not at all held in esteem as the holy book of what should be the Christian religion. The holy book that should have some reverence attached to it, if it is really the holy book of the people that esteem it and say that they are Christian.

And so today, I want to take us back, and I want to talk about the Bible and how special it is and maybe recapture some of the reverence that we have for this book that God has given us. Because it is a tremendous gift, but it's a tremendous work of art, and there is no other book like it anywhere on the earth. And I want us to just kind of step back and think about what the Bible is, how important it is, and what place it should have in our lives. It is the very Word of God.

And you don't have to take my word for it. You know, Jesus Christ, when He was on earth, He often quoted from the Scriptures, and He confirmed what was in there. You can look in the Scriptures, and you can see the Bible making claims about itself that no other book can make and stand up to the review and to the review and the criticism that people would have it. There are a number of Scriptures in there that tell us this book is unique.

This book, above all books on earth ever written or ever in the hands of mankind, should be the most highly respected book that you and I have in our libraries and our homes, certainly, and that anyone should have. But somehow, over the years, and we know how it's happened, you know, society and Satan have been masterful at deriding the Bible and making it, at one time, the most popular book when you look at sales, but the most hated book on the face of the earth as well.

So today, let's look at a few verses here that talk about the Bible itself. Let's go back to Psalm 19. I read Psalm 19 a few weeks ago here in Orlando. Was it a Bible study that I read these verses? And you remember we were talking about, that chapter begins, with the heavens declare the glory of God, and how David went from observing the sky, and then what transpired in his mind as he meditated on that.

And in verses 7 to 11 of Psalm 19, he makes some very, very important comments and statements about the Bible. In verse 7 it says, The law of the Lord is perfect. It's perfect, he says. Now, perfect is a good word and when you read that word perfect there, it means what we think of perfect today. The law of the Lord is perfect. It can also mean complete. The law of the Lord is perfect.

It's complete. All you need in life is this Bible, is what he's saying. It is complete. It is perfect. It converts the soul, if we follow it. What other book? Whatever book on earth could make the claim, it will convert your soul, it will lead to eternal life if you yield, and if you give yourself to God and allow him to open your minds, open our minds and convert our souls and transform, as it says in Romans 12 verse 2, to what his will is. The answers are there in the Bible.

The testimony of the Lord, and throughout the Bible we see the testimony of God. The testimony of the Lord is sure. You don't have to doubt it. It's not up for question. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Read it, cherish it, apply it. It will make wise the simple. The statues of the Lord, they're right. They'll bring rejoicing to your heart. What other book can say that? The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. It's pure. There's nothing evil, there's nothing dirty.

It is pure, like pure gold, all good, no evil. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever, forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold.

Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. And then you remember in verse 11, it says, Moreover by them your servant is warned. Oh, the Bible has a lot of benefits. There's a lot of things we can learn from it and should learn from it. And we should hold it in high esteem. It's got all those things and it even keeps us on the right path. Let's go over to Isaiah 48. Or not 48, Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40. In verse 8, Isaiah writes, The grass withers, the flower fades, and he compares that to mankind.

The grass withers, the flower fades. We'll be here on earth for our designated period of time and we will disappear. But the Word, the Word of our God, the Bible that we call it, the Scriptures, the Word of our God stands forever.

Forever. No Malachi, verse 6, says, I am the Lord your God. I change not. What I said back before the beginning of time, back what I said to Adam and Eve, back what I said in Old Testament times, back what Jesus Christ said, it's the same yesterday, today, and forever as it says in Hebrews 13, verse 8. What other book that has ever been written can you go back and you can say, it's the same forever.

It simply doesn't stand true. Despite the advance in technology, despite the change in the way we live, the Bible and its truths stand forever. It's the one constant in the universe. Back a couple books and book of Psalms. Psalm 12. Psalm 12 and verse 6. Yeah, Psalm 12, verse 6. The words of the eternal are pure words. They're pure words, like silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times. Every word in there is exactly where it should be.

Every word in there has meaning. You know, Christ, when He was on earth, He confirmed the word. He said in Matthew 4, 4, when He was being tried, live by every word of God. Live by every word. Throughout His ministry, He would confirm those words so many times as He would just recite something from the Scriptures that they had available. Live by every word. Same thing that Moses wrote back in Deuteronomy 8.3. Live by every word of God. He would caution Israel. God would tell us the same thing. Live by every word of it. It's all there. It's what you need. It is the very word of God.

Now, people say, does God speak to us today? Yes, God speaks to us today. It's there. His Word is there in that Bible. What we need if we use it. The words of the law are pure words like silver, tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times.

You shall keep them, O Lord. You shall preserve them from this generation forever. If we go over to the book of John, John 10, and verse 35, Christ Himself, who is called the Word of God, when you read in Revelation 22, when He returns to earth, His name is the Word of God. In John 1, He was the Logos. He was the spokesman we have in our laps, the Word of God. In John 10, John 10, verse 35, He makes a claim here.

I'm just going to read verse 34 to where He begins the sentence here. Jesus answered, and He said, Does it not written your law? In your law, I said, You are God's, small g. If He called them gods, to whom the Word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken. The Scripture cannot be broken. Whatever you read in that Bible, it is true.

From Old Testament to New Testament, from the first century A.D. to the current day, dating back to the time, it's complete with history, it's complete with prophecy, it's complete with instruction, it's complete with correction, it's complete with all those things that we need. And it cannot be broken. There are many people who try to say, Well, this doesn't make sense, and that doesn't make sense, and that doesn't fit.

And when you go back and when you look and put the whole Bible together, you see it cannot be broken. It's the only book. Only book on earth that Jesus Christ Himself said, the Scriptures can't be broken. You can trust in them, you can rely on them. It is the very Word of God. John 17, 17, you know that verse, Jesus Christ, when He was praying before He was arrested that final night after the Passover, He said, Set them apart, set your people apart, sanctify them by truth.

Your Word is truth. The only pure source of truth on the face of the earth today is this Bible that so many in this country just toss aside, don't look at, don't read, don't even listen to a lot of times. They hold it in disdain or maybe even worse, just as a common everyday book that just looks nice on a bookshelf or on a coffee table.

First Peter, in Peter he talks about prophecy and the Scriptures that are here. First Peter 2, verse 20. First Peter 2 and verse 20. It must be 2 Peter 2 and verse 20. Let me see. I'll find it here in a minute. Ah, yes, here. Second Peter 1. Second Peter 1, verse 20. Got my 1s and 2s mixed up here, it looks like. Second Peter 1 and verse 20. Again, I don't know why, I just don't always do this. Let's start at the beginning of the sentence in verse 19.

He writes, And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as the light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation Now we know, scholars say there's one-third of the Bible is prophecy. It's of no private interpretation. It isn't something that a group of people get together and say, well, this is what that means and this is what that means.

The Bible interprets itself. It will let us know what are those prophecies. We may not note all the details, even as we look ahead from now until the time of Jesus Christ's return. We know what will happen. We may not know exactly how it happens. And we can speculate, and it's not bad to speculate as long as we realize it is speculation. But no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man.

But holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. What he's saying is there, that Bible, what you read, it was written by God through His Holy Spirit through men. He is the author. He is the author. So when we look at the Bible, I hope all of us hold it in high regard as one of the most precious treasures that we have.

Greater than our bank accounts, greater than our homes, greater than anything. You know, you go back to your church history from the time that Jesus Christ started the church and through the dark ages when there was no Bible, and there was one church that was dominating the world scene. And they suppressed the Word of God. They didn't want people reading it. And people died, gave their lives just so that this book that you and I have multiple copies of, that it could survive, because they would not allow it to be held down.

They would give their lives just so that it would continue to be on the face of the earth. That's how important it was to them. It should be even more important to us. In 2 Timothy 3, it's a memory verse that I'm sure we all know. Paul, as he's writing to Timothy, a new minister, he again reminds him of the importance of the Bible and the Scriptures.

In 2 Timothy 3, in verse 16, he says this. We'll take it word for word, because we read this verse many times, and most of us could repeat it verbatim. He says in verse 16, all Scripture, everything you have available to you, Timothy, everything that you have available to you, from Genesis right through Malachi, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. That's the offer. Not man, not man's ideas, not his thoughts on life. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.

It is profitable. It is profitable. It benefits us. It has many benefits. We'll talk a little bit more about even more of the benefits that are hidden in the Scriptures there. It is profitable for doctrine. You want to believe in something? You want to believe what God and truth is? It's in the Bible. That's where you find your doctrine. That's where you look at the Scriptures and you build truth.

You might hear something that someone says that might sound good, but then what you do, as you used to hear, those of us who have been in the church for many, many, many years, go back to your Bible and prove it. Prove that that's the doctrine. Don't just believe what you hear. Go back in the Bible and prove what is said. That's where you find it.

If you can't find it in the Bible, if the Bible doesn't give you that doctrine, if it's a difference, then the doctrine of the Bible says, don't believe it. Don't believe it.

The person saying it is a false prophet or preaching heresy, and you can try to correct them, but all Scripture is given by us for God's profitable for doctrine. It's profitable for reproof. Reproof isn't a word that we use too often there. If you look up the Greek word there, it means a thing by which things are tested or proved, or by which conviction comes. Go back to the Bible.

When you see it in the Bible, when you prove it in the Bible, this is your source book. Believe it and stand on it. It's profitable for correction. That's not a word any of us like to hear, right? But if we really believe God is working with us, if we really believe Jesus Christ is returning to earth, if we really believe that He is going to establish His kingdom, and if we really believe He is preparing us for what He wants us to do, then every single one of us, several times in our life, we need correction.

Sometimes we may hear something about ourselves, and we may initially reject it. But then when we analyze, and when we go back to the Bible and we see the picture of who God wants us to be, we stand corrected.

This is what God wants us to be. This is the attitude we need to have. He didn't call us to be just as we are. He called us to be taught, to have our ideas corrected, to have our behavior corrected. It's there in the Bible, the picture of who God wants us to be is there, if we seek it, if we look at it, if we allow God to do that, and if we are willing to be corrected.

Of course, if we are going to have an attitude you don't find in the Bible among people who will be in this kingdom, the resistance, the just-closing-your-mind to it, the just-believing-you-are-right, and not letting the Bible teach you is profitable for correction. And it's profitable for instruction in righteousness. If you want to be a righteous person, you want to be who God wants you to be, the instruction is there.

People buy instruction manuals all the time. We follow, and I learned long ago, and I would put together kids' toys. I would think up, I know how to do this. Invariably, I would have to go back to the instructions and do it step by step. And say, if I had just learned that from day one, I would save myself a lot of time and frustration. Just follow it step by step and do it. The Bible gives us instruction in righteousness.

Can't do it our way. Do it God's way. He gives us what we need. It's all in that book. What other book? What other document on the face of the earth can promise all those things and be absolutely, absolutely true in its word. And we prove it when we go through it, and we use it in the way that God wanted us to. And it says in verse 17 that the man of God, or the woman of God, that the man of God may be complete.

It's all there. You don't have to go to other sources and say, oh, God doesn't show me how to do this. He doesn't give me instruction in that. I don't understand that. It's complete. It's complete. That the man of God may be complete when he applies all these things thoroughly equipped, thoroughly outfitted for every good work. We can't, and we certainly shouldn't ever, discount or take lightly this book.

We should reverence it in a way because it is the Word of God. Not that we worship it. It is the Word of God, and we should always hold it in high esteem and not let it become common. Not let it become common or an everyday thing that we just have tons of them around and we can get to it whenever we want.

It is the Word of God. So I ask myself, and I guess we can all ask ourselves, how valuable is the Bible to you? And do you treat it? Do I treat it with the respect? And do I use it in the way that God intended for someone who wants to be a man or woman of God? Do we use it the way we should? We talked about several benefits of the Bible already. I've got ten more, and I'm not going to take a lot of time on all ten of these.

Among many, if you go and do a study through the Bible of the Word of God and all the ways that God uses the Word of God, the statutes of the Lord, the law of God, the testimonies of the Lord, the judgments of the Lord, everything that he talks about in the Bible, and there are many, many, many references to it. In fact, a whole long chapter totally devoted to the Word of God and its benefits. You can guess what that chapter is. But let's go and look at a few more things that the Word of God does.

Of course, it takes God's Holy Spirit, which is a gift that he gives to us, when we repent, when we're baptized, when hands are laid on us, and we ask God to put His Holy Spirit in a repentant's mind and heart that is willing to put self and the past to death and begin His life anew, as it says in the Bible in 1 Corinthians 5. When we're ready to do that, God will open our mind that this instruction book comes to life, this correction book, this valuable piece of leather and paper that you have in your laps.

Let's look at James 1, verse 17. Throughout the Bible, you see the men of God, inspired by God, who as they wrote these things. In James 1 and verse 17, James writes, What he says to one he says to all. What he said a hundred years ago, he would still say today. What he said a thousand years ago and five thousand years ago, he would still say today, there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of his own will, because he wanted to. Of his own will, he brought us, not you and me and everyone he's called. Of his own will, he brought us forth, how?

By the word of truth. By the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures. However, we first heard the word, and there is a hearing of the word that has to happen. Whether you heard it on a radio program or a TV program, or if you heard it from a family member, or you heard it from your parents, or a friend. However you heard the word, God touched your mind. God opened your mind.

You heard something that you hadn't heard before, and you went to the Bible. You went to the Bible and you saw that that is true, and you began to see the Bible is the word of God. It's the book to the future. It's the book to eternity. There is no other book that can promise you eternal life. What's God who promises his eternal life? If we follow what he has to say. He brought us forth by the word of truth.

It'll bring our children forth that are also called by that word of truth. It's no wonder that Moses instructed the children of Israel and the people of today, let this Bible be your guide. Talk about God in the morning, evening, and night. Make him part of your life.

Let it be your instruction book at home. Read it. Talk about it. Study it. Make it part of your life, because it is the most important thing. It should be the most important thing in your life. It should be the most important thing, and your children should see that in your life, if it is the most important thing to you.

That's what you live by, and you see it the way it is. If it's something you just drag out on Friday night or just drag out on Sabbath morning when you're coming to services, what does that say? What does that say? It's not the important book. It's not the guidebook. It's not the valuable book that God intended for us to be. It should be something that we are looking at every day. We are brought forth by the word of truth. God gave it to us to do that.

Let's go back to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1, verse 22. Peter 1, since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, have you been having been born again, having buried the old, and looking forward to the time when we will literally be born again into God's kingdom, having been born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible through the word of God which lives and abides forever, born of incorruptible seed, the seed that God plants in all of us.

And that word of God is something that He plants in us all the time. If we are using it. He goes on and says, he quotes back from where we were in Isaiah 40, verse 8, Because all flesh is grass, all the glory of man is the flower of the grass, the grass withers, its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.

Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. The word of God gets preached, the word of God gets heard, the seed gets planted by using it the way God instructed, commanded His church, opens minds to do. In Luke 8, we were talking about the parable of the soils a few weeks ago in Luke 8, verse 11. Christ when He's explaining that parable to the disciples, He says this.

Now the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. The seed is the word of God. It's there. We should highly treasure it. We should highly look to it. We should highly value it. And we should make it part of our lives. So number one, when we're looking at the Bible, it does. God did bring us forth by truth, and we grow by the truth in the word of God. Number two, and I'm just going to quote Matthew 6, but you can be turning back to Jeremiah.

Matthew 6 in the model prayer that Christ gave when He was asked by the disciples, in what manner should you pray? And Christ said, this is how. And He goes through the model prayer, and part of it, He says, give us this day our daily bread.

And of course, we understand that that sentence refers to our physical food that we should be giving thanks to God, but it also refers to our spiritual food because He does feed us spiritually as well as physically. So when we say those words and we pray each morning, we should be thankful to God for the food He gives us and also for the spiritual food that we should be ingesting that day. In Jeremiah 15, verse 16, Jeremiah was going through what God had called him to do, a very difficult life, warning the people of Judah what was going to come.

They didn't want to hear it. They would do all these things to him, and he lived in one way a very lonely life because of what God had called into. In verse 16, it says this, Your words were found, Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.

In the midst of trouble, I ate Your words. As I ate them, in the midst of everything I was going through, there was rejoicing. I felt the life come back into me. The despondency, the depression, the despair, whatever it is, it was lifted because when I had Your word, it's the word, and you can mark this down for number three, God's word is life. John 6, verse 63, Your word is life.

I felt that come into me, and he knew that he was hearing the word of God. I ate them. As I say those words, there are probably a few other places in the Bible you're thinking of disciples of God who literally ate what God gave them to eat and the things that generated as a result.

One of those is back in Ezekiel 3. Just another two books over. Ezekiel 3. Ezekiel 3, verse 1. Read some of these verses here because they're instructive and remind us of the power of God's word when we ingest it. Of course, when we eat something, if we're really, truly eating it the way God would have us eat His words, it becomes us. It changes us. When Christ said in John 15, verse 7, Let my words abide in you, He meant eat them.

Let them become you. But if you have a strict diet and a very limited diet of what you're ingesting, how much of God really is getting into us? Ezekiel 3, verse 1. Moreover, He said to me, Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll and go speak to the house of Israel. The word of God is made to be heard. The word of God is meant to be spoken.

The word of God is meant to be preached. Eat this scroll and go speak to the house of Israel. Well, those were God's people back then. We know who God's people are today. Go speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, Ezekiel says, and He caused me to eat that scroll. And He said to me, Son of man, feed your belly. Feel your stomach with this scroll that I give you.

So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness. It was so refreshing. It was so good to have that truth, that purity that I was ingesting. And He said to me, Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them. Not your words, speak with my words to them. For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and at hard language.

But the house of Israel, they know who I am. I've appeared to them back on Mount Sinai. They know my words. They're not unfamiliar with this. The same thing that He would tell you and me today. If He were not unfamiliar with His words, speak the words. And at services every week, no matter where you go, to a real church of God, a true church of God, you will hear those words spoken. Just as God said to do. You are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel.

Not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But somewhere along the line, the house of Israel became dull of hearing. The words of God had become commonplace.

They no longer had the resonance that they did before. They no longer had the impact that they did before. They were just kind of common. They heard them all the time. Maybe every Sabbath, when they were in a synagogue or whatever, or where they were in the temple, they would hear those words, but it just kind of went right over and like, yeah, we've heard that before.

And they didn't have the impact that they had. They weren't the words that were giving them instruction and righteousness, correction. They weren't motivating them. They weren't allowing them to inspire them. They had become commonplace and they had become dull. And yet God said, if I had sent you to someone else and they heard these words, it would motivate them.

But to my people, Israel, you're just not listening. But the house of Israel, he says in verse 7, will not listen to you because they won't listen to me. For all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. They've grown hard. They've grown dull of hearing. And you know, you and I can become the same way as that house of Israel. If we don't hold this Bible with the value that it was intended to have, if we're not using it, if we're not reading it, if we're not studying it, if we're not meditating it, if we're not using it, the guidebook to life and eternal life that God intended it to be.

And if we're not looking at the words and looking at ourselves, I'm getting ahead of myself, I hear myself speak, if we're not looking at ourselves the way the Bible says we should be, and monitoring and measuring ourselves against that. Behold, he says, verse 8, I've made your face strong against their faces and your forehead strong against their foreheads, like Adam and stone, harder than flint.

I have made your forehead. What are you telling Ezekiel? Don't you depart from those words. Don't you soften them. Don't you try to mitigate what I'm saying. Don't compromise. Don't make it easy on them. You follow what they say. You tell them what I said. Don't be afraid of them. Don't be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. And he said to me, Son of man, receive.

You know when you receive that word receive? It means welcome. Welcome. Receive into your heart all my words that I speak to you and hear with your ears. And go. Get to the captives. And remember when Ezekiel wrote this, Israel was already captive. They were already taken aside. They had already lost their kingdom. And go get to the captives of the children of your people.

Speak to them and tell them, Thus says the Lord God, whether they hear or whether they refuse. Speak it. Because those words are words of life. Those words are our spiritual food. Those words are the things that you and I spiritually live by. If we really believe in God, if we really believe that Jesus Christ is returning, if we really believe that the kingdom will be set up on earth and that God has something in mind for you and me that He's preparing us for.

Then the Bible. The Bible becomes a very, very important part of our life. The most important part of our life, of course, with God being first and follow my line of thinking here.

Okay, so number one, we were brought forth by the word of truth. Number two, the Bible is our food. And you can mark down... I'm not going to turn to Hebrews 5 right now. Hebrews 5, 13 to 14, talks about the milk of the word and the strong meat of the word, using furthering the analogy of the Bible as our food. And the word is life. Psalm 119.

You know, we all have... many of us have GPSs today. And many of the places we go, you know, what will we do without our GPS that kind of gives us the path on how to get there. You know, in old days, the older days, I guess, we would have maps that would kind of give us a guide.

This is where you're starting. This is how you get there. This is the route you take to get to your destination. And sometimes we had to ask people to give us the directions. They would...

Remember the days you would copy down, turn right at the street, turn left here, go another couple miles. We have to have a path to get where we're going. The Bible is that path. We see it here in Psalm 119, verse 105. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

It is the path. It is the map to where God is leading us. I'll go down in verse 133 of the same chapter. It says, direct my steps.

You direct my steps, God. Direct my steps by your word. Direct my steps by your word.

Let that be the path that I follow. Not my will, not my ideas, not my reasoning, not my logic, not my will. Let your words direct my steps and let no iniquity have dominion over me.

Psalm 37.

Psalm 37, verse 23. The steps of a good man. We all want to be good men and good women, right?

The steps of a good man are ordered by the eternal. They're ordered by the eternal.

We don't order them and tell him what we're going to do. We don't challenge him and say, no, no, no, no, this is the way I see it. This is the way I want to go. This is the path I think I should follow. We simply yield to God and follow the path that he gives us. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in his way. When God sees the willing, yielded, humble heart that's following him and allowing him to teach us and guide us. So, number four would be, it's our GPS to the kingdom or it's our walk. It's our path. It's how God will direct our paths if we let him. If we let him and if we know what's in this word that he gives us, that will tell us how do we get from here to where he desires us to be. Okay, number five. Let's turn back to Joshua.

Joshua 1. Joshua, of course, led the nation of Israel after Moses died. He was the one who led them into the Promised Land and the many lessons they learned there as they were conquering the countries and the nations and the city-states that were there before them. And as God is instructing Joshua in the first chapter there, he tells him, you be of good courage.

You stand strong. You be the man that I will be and I will be with you through it all. In verse seven, he says this, he says, only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law. So we hear the word. We preach the word. We speak the word.

If we do the word, because just speaking it and just hearing it and just knowing it doesn't mean anything, as it says in James. James, we do that you may observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded you. Don't turn from it to the right or to the left.

Just do what I tell you to do exactly the way. That is the way, the only way.

To where you're going. And he says that you may prosper wherever you go.

Well, all of us would like to prosper. Every one of us would like to see what we do be beneficial and successful. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. You want success in the areas of your life? Follow what God said. Follow it. And success isn't always measured by the size of your bank account or the number of square feet in your house or the year of the car you drive. Success, true success, is the peace and what God does and what he builds in your life as you're building your house for him. You want to have success. You want to feel satisfied. You want life to be good. That you wake up and you feel like you have accomplished something that you have a purpose in life physically and spiritually. Don't depart from the law. Meditate on it day and night. Read it. Study it. Do the things in it that it says, then your way will be prosperous and then you will have good success.

It's all there. It's all there when we follow what God has to say. So, number five is this book, the Bible, will show us the way to have good success. Good success in our lives.

Number six. Number six. Let's turn over to 1 John. 1 John 2. 1 John 2 and verse 5. You know what? I want to start reading in verse 1. Let's read down to verse 5. 1 John 2 verse 1. My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. That's an important thing. In the Bible, Psalm 119 verse 11 says that the word, when we keep the word of God, it will keep us from sin because we'll be able to identify sin. The law itself tells us what is sin. When we read the Bible, we see what sin is. Sometimes it can be cleverly disguised as we talked last week of how we let things let ourselves depart from what God has called us to do. We're distracted by this and allow everything to become more important than the many other ways that Satan can lead us and draw us away from God. My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. By this we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. We know Him if we do what He says, exactly what it says in the Bible, not a version of it, not something that by our reasoning we thought, oh, that's just as good as long as we're doing this. For instance, keeping this day instead of that day, God's okay with it. No, God said do it exactly the way He said. If we know Him, if we love Him, we do it the way He said. Now be this, we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. He who says, I know Him and doesn't keep His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in Him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in Him. By this we know that we are in Him. How does agape come? How is agape formulated? Yes, it's the fruit of the Spirit. Yes, agape comes when we are baptized, when we receive God's Holy Spirit. And as that fruit, we allow it to be developed in us.

You can't do it apart from the Word of God. Whoever keeps His word, who does it? Who knows it, lives it, eats it, makes it part of Him. Whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God, the true agape that God wants us all to develop, truly the love of God is perfected in Him.

We've got to have the Word of God. We have to know it. We have to read it. It's in this book, this book, that we find those things. Okay, number seven, Romans. Romans 15. Romans 15 and verse 4.

Romans 15 verse 4. For whatever things were written before, remember what Paul said about the things that were written before, the things that we learned from the examples that Israel went through and all the people that preceded us. Forever, things were written before were written for our learning. That's why God gave us this. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 4 says the same thing. For whatever things were written before were written for our learning. That we, through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures, oh, there's comfort in the Scriptures.

How we learn patience through the Scriptures. If we lived 100 years ago, we would be much more patient people than we are today. And if we lived back at the time of Jesus Christ, we would understand patience a lot more now for our learning that we, through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. Feel hope missing in your life?

Now, it says in Proverbs 15 where there is no hope, the people perish.

If we lost the vision of Jesus Christ returning, if we've lost that hope, if we just kind of feel our lives are meaningless and we're just drifting along and there's really nothing that exciting about it, if we've lost that hope, go back to the Word of God, read it. Because through them, and of course God's Holy Spirit, the patience and the Scriptures as you read them will generate hope in you. And I'm reading one verse, but if you go back and you look at the commentaries, not commentaries, but concordances or the online Bible helps that you have, you'll find many verses that talk about the Word of God providing hope, providing hope to us. Okay, Romans. We're in the book of Romans. Number eight, let's turn back to Romans 10. Romans 10.

And let's begin in verse 14. We'll go down to verse 17. Just not read every verse there, but in verse 14 it says, How then shall they call on whom?

How then shall they call on him in whom they haven't believed?

And how shall they believe in him of whom they haven't heard? Because we have to hear of the Word of God. We have to hear from the Word of God what truth is, and how will they hear without a preacher? And so God established, as he says in Ephesians 4, His church, where His Word is preached.

From the Bible, because it must be preached. It's one of the ways we use it. It must be heard.

It's one of the values of it. Let's drop down to verse 17. So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Now, you remember your math properties from elementary school?

If faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, faith comes by the Word of God.

Certainly by the Holy Spirit, God intended that we would read, God intended that we would study, God intended that we would hear the Word of God.

And He intended that we would hear it in His commanded assemblies at least once a week. He commanded or He intended that we would hear it in other times that we might be together when we study the Scriptures, the opportunities that we have.

If we really count the Bible important, if we really count the hearing of the Lord as important the hearing of the Lord as important as the own personal study we may do or the CD that we may put in at home, when we look at the whole Bible and the instruction book of what God has for us, He tells us the road map.

He tells us not to add to it or take away from it.

He tells us not to veer to the left or to the right.

Just do it the way I say.

If you want this end result, do what I say.

Hear, read, study, meditate, even memorize sometimes. That's the people of old had to do. If they wanted the word readily available to them, it had to be stored up here.

Not as convenient as we have it today where we can go to our desk, and there it is.

So faith comes. Faith comes by the Word of God as well.

Okay. Number nine, let's go forward to the book of James again.

James 1. This can be a difficult one for all of us sometimes.

James 1, verse 22.

Be doers of the Word. We've talked about that already.

We hear.

We study. We must do.

We must do.

Not knowing it is not enough, but we do as the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Don't think it's enough just to hear it. Don't think it's enough just to read it. You must do it.

Or if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror.

For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

He looks into the Word of God, sees the picture of who he is or who he should be, maybe recognizes that's not who I am, but doesn't actually put into motion or have the desire or the determination to become what God wants him to become.

Maybe he makes excuses for himself. I'm like the people who refuse to come to the great supper that we talked about last week. Maybe he makes excuses for himself that's not that important to God, or he understands this or he understands that.

Well, God understands.

We have to be doers of the Word. And when we see the picture of who we are to be, and we look in the mirror and say, I walk away and just forget it. I'll put that out of my mind. It's kind of not the thing that I wanted to think about today. It's easier to just go on the way I was, pat myself on the back, and say it's good enough to know it.

He observes himself.

He goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

Not who God is looking for.

That's not the roadmap to the kingdom.

That's not the roadmap to eternal life.

Verse 25, But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it It may be difficult to see ourselves and say, wow, I've got to give that up.

I've got to work. But I can't speak that way anymore.

I can't use that expression anymore.

I can't put that before God anymore. I didn't realize I was doing it, but I can't do that anymore.

Or whatever it is.

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and uses it as the book of correction and the roadmap and the picture of who he needs to become that God will open our minds to see because the words are there in the Word. He who continues in it, it is not a forgetful hearer. Who doesn't go away and say, you know what, I'll deal with that later. Or, you know what, that's a little too painful to deal with. I've got other things on my mind and I just kind of forget it. It is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work.

This one will be blessed in what he does.

It means I've got to change.

It means that when I see who I am and who I need to be, I've got to change to be like that. I've got to do Romans 12 too. I've got to let God transform my mind. I've got to let him and make the choices myself to do what I know to be right. And not just waltz through life and think everything is okay because I'm doing this and this and this, but maybe not looking at ourselves exactly the way that God would have us look at ourselves. I have one book back in Hebrews 4.

Hebrews 4 verse 12.

The author here writes, For the word of God is living, it's living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit.

Body, mind, and soul are to be dedicated to God.

Penetrating and piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Oh, when we say it, it can be painful when we see it. When we see who we are versus who we think we are, when we get to look at our real motives and God shows us what those real motives are in our heart, it can be painful.

He'll give us the tools. He gives us the power of the Holy Spirit.

And He'll give us the desire if we choose to have that desire and choose to do it, to bring those things in harmony so the whole body, whole mind, whole spirit, heart, mind, and soul, as the Bible says, is in concert and in unity with Him, all working together for the same thing.

We learn of those things through the Bible. God's given us the words.

He gives us His Holy Spirit. They work together with it. It's a book that can change us and mold us with God's leadership and God's spirits. Yes, I don't want to discount that at all. Like a mirror, it shows us who we are.

And when we look at that mirror and it's not reflective of Jesus Christ, we need to get to work. We need to let it be our inspiration.

And we need to let the Bible be that inspiration and that motivator to us as God, through His Word, speaks to us.

Okay, so that would be number 9. Number 10, Psalm 119.

Psalm 119. We could start with verse 1 because 1 and 9 kind of tie together.

Verse 9, how can a young man cleanse his way? How can he become pure? How can he become the way God wants him to be? This would apply to all of us, not just young men, but all of us. How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your Word.

By looking into that mirror that is the Word of God. By taking heed according to your Word.

That's the mirror that we can look into and see where we are in Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5, verse 25 and 26 and 7.

Paul completes that picture for us as he uses the analogy of the marital relationship between husband and wife. Ephesians 5 verse 25 says, Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. That he might sanctify and cleanse her. That he can make her pure. That he can wash her. That he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word. By the Word. Why? That he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. But that she should be holy and without blemish.

That's what we should want for our families, our husbands, our wives, our children. That should be what we want for each other. That's what God wants for you and me. That we would be come without spot, blameless. As we live and as we apply the Word, as we learn the Word, and as we learn more about it by reading it over and over and over again, and not just thinking we know it all because you never know it all. Not one of us in our lifetimes will ever know everything that there is in that Bible to know. You will never know it. And if you think you know it, go back and read it again. That's what God wants. That's what we should all pray for each other. We will be cleansed and we will be washed. And we will become what God wants by the Word. Of course, in concert with God leading us and guiding us, of course, in concert with the Holy Spirit, not minimizing that at all.

So you have there 10 things that the Bible says it can do. I hope no one here doubts any of that.

It's there. But the choice is up to us whether we do it. God's given us the tools. God's given us His Word. God tells us what to do. He gives us the roadmap. He gives us everything we need if we use it the way that He says. I hope you see the Bible as the very valuable piece of property that you have. The most important piece of property in your homes, in your lives. More valuable than the most expensive house that anyone has here. More valuable than the most expensive car. Worth more than any anyone who has the biggest bank account here. This Bible. That Word is the Word that God has given us. It's worth more than anything we have and all of us combined. We need to make sure we're treating it with reverence and not like the world around us just kind of counting it as common and place. I know it all. I don't need to go back into it. But to begin looking at it for what it is and studying it and letting God show us what His purpose and what His will is.

You know, back in Isaiah. Isaiah 66.

Last chapter of the book of Isaiah that has so many prophecies in it, many of which have already come to pass, all of which have been true. Not one of those scriptures or prophecies is broken and it talks about the time yet ahead of us, the time when Jesus Christ will return, the fulfillment of the Holy Days exactly as God has laid Him out for us. In Isaiah 66 and verse 2, he says this, looking at the second half of the verse there, God says, On this one will I look. Now, we all want God to look at us, right? I hope we all want God to look. On this one will I look. On Him who is a poor and of contrite spirit. He is humble. He's got the right attitude. He's teachable. He wants to know what I want. And He comes to come before me with bravado and telling me what I need to be doing or look how great I am. But God let me look at you and God teach me. Someone who is weak and who needs everything you have. On this one will I look. On Him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles, trembles at my word. I ask myself, do I tremble at God's word? And when you look up to Hebrew, it means do you have the reverence for that? Do we tremble at God's word? Or have maybe some of us, maybe just me, maybe along the line, not taking it for the important and valuable book it is. On this one will I look.

He who trembles at my word. May we all examine ourselves and may we all look at God's word and recapture the reverence for it that we should have.