Thy Word

[0:00] My word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

[0:12] The word of God, the word of God is very precious and it's very beautiful, it's very important, it's a vital thing for the saint and something we should treasure.

[0:23] And I'd like to put it tonight, some of the things that we should do and need to do with the word of God to personally make use of it in our lives.

[0:35] And the first thing is that we ought to honour the word, we ought to honour the word of God, we honour it. You know, it's some 400 years the King James was written, 400 years ago, that we had the word of God in our tongue as much as there was other versions of it before.

[0:55] But how we treasure this word of God, it's something we honour, we want to honour the word. And it's sad at times these days where the word is dishonoured.

[1:07] At times when I was just listening to some Christian radio of late and they read what they say is the word of God and it sounds nothing like it.

[1:20] And I was just dismayed to a degree, as much as they're doing something which is better than nothing, it just seemed like it took something away from the word because it wasn't the real thing, it was just some paraphrase.

[1:34] And that's not to say that paraphrases might be of some usefulness, but when it comes to the word to study, the word to preach, the word to dig deep into, we want to have the real thing, we want to honour the word of God.

[1:48] Because we believe that the Bible is something important. We believe that the words of the Bible are the words of God. The words of God, they should not be trifled with, they should not be tampered with, certainly not stolen from or added to.

[2:04] The word of God should be honoured. And the word should be honoured because it shows us where we would have, where he would have us plant our feet. When we see the word is the lamb unto my feet and a light unto my path.

[2:20] If we want to have clear direction, I know Brother Ian was scrambling through his street directory tonight to try to find a certain place. And he had to have a street directory that could point him to that place.

[2:33] And I know Julie was saying we could do with an updated street directory because there's numbers of suburbs that don't show in our version of the street directory. But, brothers and sisters, I put it to you, this doesn't need updating.

[2:46] The path is still the same. And this tells us the path of life. That path that we need to place our feet and to be sure that they're headed in the right direction.

[2:57] And so, the word of God should be honoured. And so, when we open it, we want to sit up and take notice of it. Because it's his word. It's the word of God to our soul.

[3:08] And it's inspired of God. It's inspired of God. As we read as Paul spoke to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3 from verse 14. Again, that familiar passage.

[3:20] And I know as a younger man, I was in a Bible school. And one of the folk in the Bible school put this verse to song.

[3:33] And I might just sing it to you tonight, just to be radical. 2 Timothy 3 verse 14 to 17. And it goes like this.

[3:45] 1 Timothy 3 verse 14.

[4:15] 1 Timothy 4 verse 15.

[4:45] All scripture is given by inspiration of God. Sometimes it helps to put the word of God to a melody. To help us remember it. So we can help memorise the word of God.

[4:58] It's something that we should meditate in. And we should memorise. And the word inspiration. Inspiration means God breathed. It means that God has breathed his breath into it. God himself gave these words.

[5:10] They're from his mouth. and so we should honour the one and his words. The divine author who gave these words to us as the writers were moved along by the Holy Spirit.

[5:24] This book is timeless. It's something we ought to treasure and hold dear. And Isaiah 40 verse 8, it says, The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever.

[5:38] The word of our God shall stand forever. Something that goes beyond time and space than any dimension of man. And one occasion came where Moody was asked one day how he knew the Bible was inspired.

[5:51] This evangelist was asked, How do you know the Bible is inspired? And the evangelist replied, Because it inspires me. Because it inspires me.

[6:02] That is how I know it is inspired. So true, isn't it? There's inspiration here for your soul, for your life, for your eternity. And it's been said too, another saying, is that men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself, but because it contradicts them.

[6:23] That is the reason why sceptics abound, why those come and attack the word of God, because it speaks against their sin. It unsettles them. It unnerves them.

[6:34] It convicts them. It undermines their false security and their false hope because it shows them they're lost without a saviour. A preacher called Torrey said this, Other books tell us what men suppose.

[6:49] The Bible tells us what God knows. Other books tell us what other men, almost as foolish as ourselves, speculate. This book tells us what an infinitely wise God, who made us and all things, and consequently knows all things, has inherently revealed.

[7:10] He's revealed this inherently. It's without error. Now, some would question that, that there's numbers of books that you can read that discuss apparent contradictions and just demolishes the argument completely because there's really nothing that man has raised as any kind of argument, as a contradiction of sorts, that in his mind, that stands up to scrutiny.

[7:38] They can all be demolished because the word of God is perfect. It's sure and it's certain and we can trust in the truth of it. And he goes on with the quote, This book makes men wise with the wisdom that is golden, the wisdom that brings eternal salvation.

[7:55] No one can study this book or write, no matter how ignorant he may otherwise be, without being possessed of that priceless wisdom that means eternal life. No other book has the power to make us acquainted with God and with his son Jesus Christ that this book has.

[8:11] Oh, study the book that brings eternal life. Make it in your own experience the implanted word which is able to save your souls. And the word of God, it contains the gospel of God, the good news, the gospel message, the good news, the saving message.

[8:30] It says in James 1, 21, that we ought to receive with meekness the engrafted word. Let it be something that's engrafted, that comes and lives and abides within our heart, our life, which is able to save your souls.

[8:45] Friends, there's no other book on planet Earth today that has that message. No other book, no other saving news for your soul than what is contained in this book.

[8:58] And John says that in verse 31 of 20 in the gospel of John, But these are written that you may know that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name.

[9:14] So friends, honour the word. Honour the word. I've seen occasions where other so-called holy books are held with great esteem. You know, they kiss them, they place them in special places in their homes and in their festivals and their religious observances.

[9:35] And yet sometimes we treat this book so carelessly, so heedlessly, we do not honour it. We do not honour it as we ought to. But most especially, honouring the message of it and living and learning from that truth in it.

[9:49] And secondly, we ought to obey the word of God. Obey the word of God. As Bible believers, we want to know and to do the will of God. And how can we?

[10:00] You know, there's some folk that have got all kinds of funny ideas about what the will of God is or how they discern the will of God. It's almost like the colour of their cornflakes in the morning or whether they had a certain little dream when they were asleep or something of that nature.

[10:17] But friends, if you want to know, to know the will of God, to know the will of God, there's no better place to find it than in His book, in His message to man. We do not presume that our own will and our own inclinations and presumptions and preferences necessarily are the guide for our life.

[10:37] And we all have different convictions on certain matters, certain preferences or convictions. And those vary from family to family, from individual to individual.

[10:47] And they're not the things that are to guide our life, but the word of God is what must guide our life. That is what is, thus saith the Lord. And there's no getting around about that.

[10:59] And these are things that we've got to find and dig deep in the word for ourselves to know what His will is for us. Because that is surely and certainly authoritative.

[11:10] Certainly authoritative and utterly reliable. You know, this is the lamp that will give clear light, clear light for our lives. I know, I don't know about you, but sometimes I've got vision problems and the light has to shine for me to see things clearly.

[11:28] And that's true for all of us, I'm sure. And if we're not seeing things clearly as to what God's perspective on issues are, then it's because we haven't got the light shining onto our path and onto our way.

[11:42] And friends, tonight the Bible is the only authority, the only authority that reveals the will of God for our life. It's not by some presumption or some impression that is not always reliable.

[11:58] Now that's not to say God can't give us impressions and give us revelation of sorts, but we must test everything by the word of God. Otherwise, we can make the mistake of various false cults and prophets, so-called of today, who wonder here and there, blown to and fro by every wind of doctrine because they haven't got the solid foundation of the word of God because they must we must, all of us must have the divine authority to fulfil the plan of God for our lives.

[12:28] We must have the biblical blueprint and obey its message. It's essential, it's needful, it's vital that we all have that today because the word of God, it must be obeyed.

[12:39] It must be obeyed by the sinner. It must be obeyed by the saint. As it says in 1 Peter 4, verse 17, for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God, that deliberately and blatantly disobey the gospel of God?

[13:01] What shall their end be? We know what the Bible says their end will be. Utter destruction and damnation, eternal torment. Friends, it's telling and true and we must be alarmed by that and stirred by that to get right with God, to make peace with God and judgment must begin at the house of God.

[13:23] Friends, too, as a church, as God's people, as godly people here, one and all, every one of us, every one of us must give account of himself to God and that is where we need to obey the word.

[13:36] Search it and find his direction. Find his will and follow it. Obey the word. A man was travelling frequently on trains and one day he was on the train reading his Bible as was his custom to do and one of the passengers there, an unbelieving fellow, said to him, why did you spend so much time reading a book which everybody criticises so much these days?

[14:02] And the man said, the main object is not to criticise the Bible but to let it criticise me. You know, sometimes we look, as I've said of late, how the word is like a mirror and it points out where we need correction.

[14:16] It points out where we need improvement and let the word criticise your life. Let it convict you. Let it draw you closer to Christ. Let it paint Christ's picture so that you want to be conformed to that.

[14:27] You want to be more like him as we talked about earlier today. And so, if we hear this book, it will open our eyes, it will show us our need, our lack, it will brighten our pathway, it will help us to obey him in the day by day by day as we have decisions to make.

[14:44] All of us, every day, there's decisions to make, there's choices about how we live our lives, of places we go, of how we spend our money, of how we use our time, of how we apply ourselves.

[14:56] Let the word be your guide. Let the word be something that you find that answer for the day by day needs of your life.

[15:07] Let the word challenge and stir and convict us. Let it draw you to a closer walk with him, to that biblical discipleship that he wants you to have.

[15:18] And be prepared to do the hard things. You know, in the word, the Lord Jesus, he gave some hard things to people. Things like, eat my flesh and drink my blood.

[15:31] And we read in the context there when he said that, that, in that occasion, from that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.

[15:45] You know, that's John 6, 66. There's times when the hard truth, it bites, it stirs, it provokes, it jabs us as that sharp two-edged sword that penetrates to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.

[16:03] It jars our nerves, it quickens and it jolts us at times the word of God. And it should do, it ought to do. As it says of some, they're prick, they're provoke, they're cut to the heart when the word was spoken and delivered.

[16:18] And like that too, we ought to be sensitive to the word of God. Don't lose that sensitivity to the sharpness of it. And let it be a scalpel that can operate, that can minister, that can surgically remove that cancerous object, that blockage that's hindering your walk.

[16:38] Let the word do its work. And this book makes no apology. The one who says, eat my flesh and drink my blood, the one who says, take up your cross, deny yourself, follow me, it's his word to you.

[16:53] It's a challenging word. It's a provoking word. And it must be. It's the unvarnished truth. And we must honour it and we must obey it. And thirdly, we must apply the word of God.

[17:05] Apply the word of God. In James 1, verse 22. James 1, verse 22, it speaks much about the word about practical application.

[17:17] Practical application. Because we can be hearers and not doers of the word. In James 1, verse 22, in the context, it talks about laying aside the ugliness of our sin, of the vileness of it, of the filthiness of it, and receive with meekness the engrafted word.

[17:41] That word that's planted, that word that's birthed within us, that's planted in us, which is able to save your souls.

[17:52] And James writes further, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. Friends, we must apply the word.

[18:02] Apply the word. Let it live in your life. This is not some dusty old book that we just open on a Sunday occasionally, if that. This is not some book that should be neglected and not honoured, not obeyed, but applied.

[18:21] Must be. And how do we do that? How do we apply the word of God? Apply it in the day by day, in the everyday, in our everyday decision making of life.

[18:33] There was a survey done of numbers of attenders of churches in the USA. 4,000 laymen in some 114 churches, evangelical churches of the US.

[18:48] And they were asked, do you feel the preaching on Sunday relates to what's going on in your life? And over 83% saw virtually no connection between what they heard on Sunday morning and what they faced on Monday morning.

[19:01] Now that's the fault of preachers to a degree and I acknowledge that. I'd like to think that there'll be something you can take to heart tonight, but you can be stirred to think, how can I apply this?

[19:17] How can I perceive the word of God to be a light unto my path and a lamp unto my feet? how can I make that happen?

[19:31] Where I walk this week ahead? Where I walk on Monday? Where I walk on Tuesday? Etc. What I face Monday morning? When I turn up to work, not this Monday, but when you go to work next and you face some challenge, you face something in your face, maybe a colleague, a workmate, when you face some crisis in the home place, in the family place, in your everyday living, go to the word.

[20:07] Go to the word. And I know I've been encouraged of late. My wife is very diligent in not being to give her a big head tonight, but she's in the word. She's digging deep in the word.

[20:19] She's making a practice of it. She's making a habit of it. And if we're in the word, if we're letting the word saturate that sponge that is our brain and filling it with his thoughts, filling it with his ways, with his will, then something will happen with our walk.

[20:38] It will affect our walk. It will impact on how we speak, on our attitudes of life, on our responses to what life throws at us.

[20:49] The word is something you can apply, something you can apply in your life. As it says in Joshua 1 verse 8, the book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein.

[21:08] For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then shalt thou have good success. The word of God is like a medicine for our soul. It gives us a wholeness.

[21:19] There's a preventative aspect as well as a curing aspect. I know we've had some friends give us some medicine to help with different conditions of life, but this is the medicine for the soul.

[21:32] There's no better than this, than the gospel as someone has put it. Now the word of God is a medicine. There's healing in the word. He sent his word and he healed them.

[21:44] And it's greater than any directions I human doctor, the word of God. It says in Proverbs 4 verse 20, the context of it, Climb thine ear unto my sayings, let them not depart from thine eyes, keep them in the midst of thine heart, for they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

[22:05] And the word their health, it can also be translated medicine. It's health to your flesh. The words that we read in this book are health to our flesh.

[22:17] It's medicine for our soul. God's word is full of power and it sets people free. It doesn't bind people up, it liberates, it rescues, it delivers people.

[22:32] The word of God he says, our Lord you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Free. And he says if you continue in my word then are ye my disciples indeed.

[22:44] Will you do that? Friends, I urge you today for the week ahead, for your life ahead, make it your decision tonight that I'm going to continue in the word. I'm going to receive the word with meekness, that implanted, that engrafted word.

[22:58] I'm going to meditate on the word. I'm going to feed upon it whenever I get the opportunity. There's some, as I said earlier, who get little cards where they write down Bible verses, they keep them in their pocket for those moments of time that are otherwise wasted when they can read the word and feed on it and grow from it.

[23:19] Listen to the word, read the word, speak the word, give the word, take God's medicine daily. It'll bring healing to your soul.

[23:30] Healing to your soul. You know, we know that life at times is full of challenges. We know folk overseas as we've heard of late, great crises.

[23:44] If you have the word in your heart, you can draw strength from that. You can find strength from that word. It can be like a medicine to your soul. So, search the scriptures as the Bereans did.

[23:56] Hide it in your heart like the Psalms did that I might not sin against thee. Take hand to his word that it can cleanse your way as the young man is challenged to.

[24:09] Let the word be applying the true gospel, the whole counsel of God, that biblical worldview. When you face challenges, when you face decision making, that it's within that framework of the biblical worldview that you can set decisions, you can make choices that align with God's word.

[24:32] Now, all the time we're bombarded, aren't we? Especially folk who spend lots of time in front of the telling. You can get bombarded and besieged by so many things that are contrary to God's truth and we need to counteract that and develop a biblical worldview.

[24:52] Because sometimes what we fear from the world, we know it's contrary to God. It's anti-God. And we need to be constantly discerning of that. Even on the Christian wavelengths, again, constantly discerning, constantly weighing and testing and judging, righteous judgment.

[25:14] Friends, and how do we do that? By the measuring stick, by the plumb line of God's word. It's critical, especially when there's wolves at the door, when there's poison, when there's dangerous teaching, we need to constantly go back to the word.

[25:29] Go back and check it out. Check me out. Check everything out with the word of God. And it'll be your delight. As the psalmist said to close, His delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law does He meditate day and night.

[25:48] If we can do that, brothers and sisters, if we can honour the word, honour it, honour it as it's God's truth, honour it more than the Muslims honour their Quran, honour this, honour it.

[26:03] This is precious to your soul. Honour it. Obey it. Obey it. Don't take it piecemeal. This bit's for me and this is not. As much as there's dispensations and some is addressed to the Jews, etc.

[26:19] But obey the word of God. Don't disobey it. And apply it. Apply it. And it will be your delight day and night as you meditate on it.

[26:32] And God will bless you as we see biblical thinking, as we see biblical mindsets, as we see biblical worldview, as we see biblical role models, as we see biblical families, as we see biblical standards instead of the standard of the world.

[26:50] biblical and people will wake up and notice because they'll say there's a light unto your path. There's a lamp unto your way. There's something that's guiding you that's beyond time and space.

[27:04] CONGREGIST Thank you.