Executive summary of Psalm 119. Last week we looked at a quick outline of what we would be talking about. Two major themes in Psalm 119. Reasons to value God's Word and how to show that we value God's Word. some of the reasons because of what it is and because of what it does. The names that David assigns to God's Word and the pictures that he uses there. Okay, so the names he assigns, the pictures he uses to describe God's Word, and then also because of what it does. It gives blessing, it gives cleansing, it gives liberty, it gives direction, it gives understanding. Today we'll be looking into how we show that we value the Word of God by studying, obeying, storing, declaring, and rejoicing over. We looked last week at some of the names, word, law, sayings, statutes, way, commandments, path, testimonies, precepts, judgments, and we looked at how those help us to understand different aspects of God's word and different elements, whether it's commanding us to do something or whether it's testifying to us of something God has done and to be a reminder to us. whether it's a set of laws or a set of precepts to give understanding. We looked at many of those aspects of it. And then we looked at some of the pictures that it uses to describe God's Word. Water that cleanses us, a treasure, a companion, a counselor, a song, honey, light, and a heritage. So we spent some time looking through some of those and now we're into looking at how do we show that we esteem God's Word highly. One of the things that I've noticed in my Christian walk and in the connections to different ministries that I have through magazines and newsletters and conversations and things like that is that everywhere that I've noticed ministries lowering their estimation of the efficiency and the sufficiency of God's Word. A tendency to reply upon man-made technique always grows and eventually a turning away from God's Word. As Paul told Timothy, there are those who, and he used it in this way, are loud and arrogant and think such as disobedient to parents and stuff like that. Having a veneer of Christianity, a veneer of godliness, but denying its power. And that's also true of churches and ministries. As we deny the authority and the power of God's Word, what we are left with is a veneer of Christianity. And so how do we demonstrate that we hold God's Word in high esteem? One I want to suggest to start out with is by studying it. verses two through ten here, how blessed are those who observe his testimonies, who seek after him with all their hearts. They also do no unrighteousness, they walk in his ways. You have ordained your precepts that we should keep them diligently. Oh, that my ways may be established to keep your statutes, then I shall not be ashamed when I look upon all your commandments. I give thanks to you with uprightness of heart when I learn your righteous judgments. I shall keep your statutes, do not forsake me utterly. How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to your word. Over and over again he talks about keeping it according to your word, learning your statutes, keeping your precepts diligently, seeking you with all our hearts. Part of the way that we demonstrate we love something is by studying it. How many of you gentlemen can remember when you first started to think about the woman that you have married, you started to think about her and started thinking, you know, I think there's some reason to be interested here. And then you just walked away and didn't pay any attention to her, correct? No, you began to study her, you began to try to find ways to get close to her so that you could begin to let her know that you were worth being interested in too, and part of the key to doing that was figuring out what does she like, what does she not like, how do I please her, how do I make her laugh, how do I help her to know that I care about her, how do I do things that she enjoys, and you studied and you studied and you pursued her. I wish I could remember how one person said it, I pursued her until she caught me. But you study to find ways to do that. Another way to do it, another way to illustrate this is when you get a new passion in your life, someone comes across your path with some bit of information that picks your interest. I was really surprised yesterday we were talking about cars in the van coming home from a jazz band festival that the homeschool band participated in. I was surprised at how much Janessa knows about fast cars. She's done a little bit of study there. When you see something that gets your interest, you jump into it with both feet. Maybe you love farming and you start to try to find ways to to get involved in whether it's gardening or getting a job on a farm I remember I loved equipment and still do I love heavy equipment and when I was 15 years old had an opportunity to work for a farmer and one day said do you know how to drive a tractor and I said yes sir I know that and he said great and he took me out to his great big Ford and said here's a I can't think of the word, the blade for leveling fields and scraper and he said, do you know how to run one of these trailers, scraper things? Do you know how to do that? And I said, no, but I'm a quick learner. And he said, okay, I want you to take six inches off the top of the field and put it on the bottom of the field. And I said, great. And he showed me how he was going to have to turn to be able to keep the pattern going. And then I got to spend the rest of the day doing that. And I loved it. And that led to much more tractor work for him because I studied how to do it. How do I do it well? How do I make the turn so I'm not missing ground? And he let me be the tractor guy out of the three boys of us that were working together. I was the one that got to run the tractor all the time. That was a little different than Hiroshi Sako. when I was 13, put me on a tractor weeding beans and I wiped out 20 feet, 8 rows. He said, you'll never drive a tractor for me again. I said, I've got to figure out how to do this because I want to drive the tractor. And so I did and it paid off. You know, if you love to draw, You study how people draw. You look. You see, how do I do this? How do I make it better? If we love God's Word, we look into it. We find out what is it that makes it so powerful? How do I get to know Him? And we pursue studying Him. We also obey it. Let's go back to the boy-girl thing. Find out my wife doesn't like this, am I going to continue doing it? Hopefully not. Because it doesn't please her. Guys, learn the lesson early when you're pursuing a young lady. If she doesn't like it, you better not do it again. Because you might lose her over that thing. She might just decide, I really like him, But he has no interest in pleasing me. And if she's wise, she'll listen to that voice and say, I'm going to wait until he grows up a little bit or look elsewhere. Because that would be a sad thing to get into a relationship with someone who constantly hurts you. We demonstrate our high opinion of God's Word, our high estimation of God's Word by obeying it. He says in verse 1, how blessed are those whose way is blameless. How do we know those whose way is blameless? Because they walk according to the law of the Lord. They live it out. How do we know those who are observing His testimonies? Verse 2, they seek Him with all their heart. They're always looking for ways to be pleasing to Him. And in verse 129, Your testimonies are wonderful. Therefore, my soul observes them. It looks. It constantly is watching. It's looking for the detail. It's looking for the various shades and facets of how does it work. And by testing our ways, we obey it by testing our ways to keep them accountable to God's Word. Verse 9, how can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to your Word. I appreciated one pastor who was telling me, in fact it's Pastor Mike Jones at Independent Bible Church, he said his first elders meeting when he first came here, what, 35 years ago now? First elders meeting, walked in and there was something going on in the church and so they were debating, do we continue with this or do we stop with this? And the argument was over, if we continue with this, what families are going to leave the church? If we stop doing this, what families are going to leave the church? Will we be stronger with the families that will stay if we continue, or will we be stronger with the families that will stay if we stop? And after that meeting concluded, he said, gentlemen, if we ever come into a meeting again, to consider something of importance to the body of this church, and we do not use the scripture to determine is this something we ought to do or not to do, you have my letter of resignation the next morning. The test of what we will do is, does it please God? Do we observe what God says that we ought to do? Do we test our actions by His word rather than by how many people might be offended. There are many other scriptures there that we could look at, but I'll leave them to you to follow up on. And by storing it is another way that we show we esteem it highly. Your word have I treasured in my heart that I might not sin against you. It's more than just keeping it. It's keeping it in a place of honor and usefulness. You know, it's more than just saying, you know, some churches you go into and they have a great big Bible on the altar in front of the stage, and you walk up, and I've actually done this in some churches I've visited, go, to see what happens. And we can do the same in many homes, can't we? Does your Bible get used? One of the things I look for is do you mark it up? Some people like to keep their Bible clean. One person gave me a good justification for that so that the next time I read it I'm not stuck in my last study. I have to study it again. Now that's a good reason not to mark. I like to mark it up because that starts my study the next time then. Why did I mark that? Why was this important? How does that deal with what I'm going through now? But is it used? Do we look for ways to bring it into conversations? Do we speak when people say, oh, you believe that Bible stuff? Do we esteem it highly enough to say, actually, yes, I do? Or do we just put it up in the house as a decoration or carry it as a decoration? I've known people who would carry it around and they carried it around because every spare moment they had that there was nobody around, they wanted to be engaged in it. But others that I've known seem to carry it around as a mark of, I'm a Christian, and the bigger the Bible, the better. In fact, in the 70s, there used to be the jokes about carrying the Bible around so that you could clobber unbelievers over the head with it and beat them into submission. Be careful about judging people's reasons for carrying. Do we keep it close to us because we love it, we honor it? Do we hide it in our hearts as a treasured possession? How many of you remember the container of your treasures that you had to give up when you moved away from home for the first time? For me, that container was underneath my bed. All the important stuff to me was under my bed. And when we moved from Greenleaf, Idaho to Newburgh, Oregon, and mom and dad said, okay, it's time to pack up your room, go down and get started. Pulling those things out and thinking, oh, I've got to do something with it. Am I going to be able to take it with me or not? They were treasures because they were things that at some point have been important to me. What was interesting was how some of them had lost their treasured aspect when I put them under the bed. Because I forgot they were there. You know, do we do that with our Bible? Do we forget that it's there? Do we forget that God has direction for our lives and not consult His Word to find that? How do we treasure it? And then by declaring it, verse 13, with my lips I have told of all the ordinances of your mouth. Do we speak his word? Is encountering his word equal to having an encounter with the second person of the Trinity? Because that's who we are encountering when we read the word. We are encountering the Word of God. The Logos of God, as John described Him. The One who took on human flesh and dwelt among us. This is also His Word. It's not just His life, but it's what He has spoken so that we might know the One who sent Him forth. If we want to know the ways of God that are higher than the ways of man, we need to listen to what He has said. He has spoken. He has not worked in secret. Do we recognize that when we are with the Word of God, we are with the Word of God? Do we come to it with that sense of an attitude? Have, Lord, speak to me, even as you spoke to the prophets, and help me to see wonderful things in what you have said." Look at Matthew 17-2 for just a moment. You remember the story here. Peter, James, and John are with Jesus up on the mountain, high on the mountain by themselves. Verse 2, Jesus was transfigured before them. His appearance was changed before them. And his face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light." For however long they were there, God lifted the veil of Jesus' submission so that they could gain a glimpse of his glory. For just a few moments, his humility was removed so that his glory might be revealed. Let me see if I can figure out how to say it so it comes across as I mean it. For just a few minutes. In his humility, Philippians tells us that he set aside the rights of God. Is that what you were wondering? That he set aside the rights of God and allowed himself to be covered, allowed himself to take on human flesh in such a way that when we look at him, we wouldn't look at him and say, wow, that's the Son of God. So when we looked at him, he looked just like we do. And for just a few moments, that was lifted off of him so that we could see, so that they could see who he really was. And then they notice Moses and Elijah with him. And Peter's response, Wow! In the 60's vernacular, Hot diggity! Or cool? Only it would have been way beyond that. Lord, it's good for us to be here. Yeah, that's an understatement if you ever had one. If you wish, I'll make three tabernacles. One for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. Three shaded places so you can get out of the hot sun. Did that come out correctly, Lord? Standing here shining like the sun. Let's get you out into the shade. Putting his foot in his mouth there. And then the voice of God spoke out and said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. And when the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. Now, it's interesting to me that they weren't terrified before. Because they hadn't grasped yet what was going on. who this was that they were standing with. But when God spoke and says, this is my son, my beloved son, my son in whom I am well pleased, listen to him. Do we ever have that sense of encountering the Word of God when we encounter the Word of God? Luke 24, down to verse 32. If you remember the story here, what is happening is after Jesus has risen from the dead and the women have come back to the disciples and said, we've seen him, and they're thinking, what is going on here? And some of the disciples are walking back home. And as they approached, verse 28, I'm going to start reading there. As they approached the village where they were going, he acted as though he was going further on. We need to start even before that. Verse 13. The two of them were going to that village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. Twenty minutes a mile. hundred and forty minutes, two hours, that's a pretty good amount of time to talk. And if you're like many people, as you walk and get engaged in conversation, you slow down and so maybe three, three and a half, four hours. They're walking and talking with each other about all that's gone on. And while they're there, Jesus approached them and began traveling with them. And their eyes were prevented from seeing Him and recognizing Him. He said to them, What are these words you're talking about? What's going on? And they said, Have you been somewhere out of the country? You don't know what's going on. In verse 19, What things? They said to him, The things about Jesus, the Nazarene, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word and the sight of God and all the people, and the chief priests, our rulers, delivered him to the sentence of death and crucified him. We were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. And some of our women amazed us this morning when they came to the tomb early and didn't find his body. And they came saying that they'd seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. And some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women had said. They didn't see him, but he said to them, oh foolish men. Slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Wasn't it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter his glory? I had a book called In Search of the Messiah that somebody gave me a number of years ago and it documents through the rabbis, the rabbinical literature for the 200 years leading up to the birth of Jesus Christ how the rabbis understood that there were going to be two presentations of the Messiah. The first when he would come to suffer and the second when he would come to rule. And he's saying to them, don't you remember those things? Don't you remember what the scriptures say? It's interesting how easy it is for us to forget. Why is it that firemen have drill every week. So that when they get into the middle of the fire or they get into the middle of the crisis, their training will kick in. They have to keep observing and testing and retesting and relearning and observing again so that their training will kick in. One particularly awful situation. First EMT on the scene said, I recognized the man. I recognized the accident that had happened. And I knew he had to be completely broken up and there's no way he was going to live. And I couldn't move. I just couldn't move. The second person on the scene came in and looked at the situation and said, I don't know this guy, but I recognize he's not going to live more than a few minutes. But here's an opportunity for me to learn what I can about ministering to somebody who is hurt as badly as this. And his training kicked in and he immediately began to do what he could. He was a paramedic. Much more training. How many times have you had something happen and just for a moment you freeze? Oh no, oh no, what do I do? And hopefully then your training and something that you were taught kicks in and you think, oh wait a minute, okay, I understand this, I know what to do now. And you step back and you can evaluate and then step in and accomplish something. He says, don't you remember your training? Don't you remember the scriptures? The scriptures said that the Messiah had to suffer and then to enter his glory. So verse 27, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. And they approached the village where they were going, and he acted as if he was going to go on. But they urged him, saying, Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over. So he went in to stay with them. And when they had reclined at their table, and he with them, he took the bread and blessed it. And breaking it, he began giving it to them. And then their eyes were opened and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. And when they were able to speak again, they said to one another, were not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us on the road? While he was explaining the scriptures to us? Sometimes when teaching the Word is interesting because I think it was last week or the week before, Jeremy said, how did you feel about the service today? And I said, it was really, really good. And he said, I could tell you were really excited. The words he used, you were having an epiphany. Because there was something about God's Word that had just caught my attention in such a way that I was realizing, this is precious stuff. And sometimes, leading a Bible study or talking to someone about the Scriptures, and they see me getting really excited, and they go, man, it's been an hour. How much longer are we going to go? And I go, wow, it's been an hour? We're just scratching the surface. We've hardly gotten started yet. You know, admittedly, there are times when we come to the Word and it feels dry. But do we esteem it in such a way that we recognize that this is the Word of God that we are approaching? And that even if it seems dry, it's still His Word. And we make the effort to get to know him through studying it. And as we study it, eventually he starts to open it up and we start to realize as we start to put the pieces together, oh, this is how it fits. This is how it works. Oh, wow. Now that dry stuff is making sense. I remember the first time that I heard someone preach the lineage of Jesus from, let's see which one was it, I think it was the Matthew lineage. And when he said my topic today is going to be Matthew chapter 1, it was in seminary if I remember correctly. A bunch of us were sitting together in chapel and going, this is going to be interesting. What in the world can you do with the begets? And as he started to preach through Matthew chapter 1, we were looking at each other and going, this is really interesting. This is really fun. And all of a sudden, some of the dry stuff was starting to make sense for us. I remember when I used to look at Genesis 5 and think, oh, this is just... What in the world is the importance here? And then when someone showed me how, I think it was Henry Morris in his book, The Genesis Record, put the meanings of the names together, and how they traced out the gospel. Oh wow, that was exciting. And then I started to put the years together, and realize how short a time it was from the flood to Adam. And how far into the generations Adam would have been known. And then how few generations it was between Adam and Abraham. I think it's five generations is all it takes to get from Adam to Abraham. Yeah, from Adam to Methuselah to Noah to Shem to Abraham. I think that's the connection. You can reach them in five generations. And to realize the possibility that his father would have known Shem. And you start to wonder, how was it that God got a hold of Abraham? Quite possibly because someone had taught him who was only very close to Adam. It's many years, but few generations. And as those things started to come out, all of a sudden some of those dry chapters started to make sense. I remember in Sunday school one time, shortly after you guys had started coming here, Craig and Lisa, that you taught through Leviticus. I go, oh, all those sacrifices are finally starting to make sense. I'm finally starting to see how they fit together to lead us to Jesus Christ. I had never been able to read through Leviticus in one reading. And now it's started to make sense. But as we get in and we study and we start to realize this is God speaking to us, And then we start to realize, did not our hearts burn within us? 1 John 1 1-4 John recounts that time on the hillside, high up in the mountain. I'm going to read the parenthetical statement first, verse 2, and then read verses 1 and 3 without the parenthetical statement. Verse 2, life, the life was manifested to us. We have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was shown to us. And so what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at, what we have touched with our hands concerning the word of life, what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we're writing to you, we're writing so that our joy may be complete. John says, my whole purpose in writing is to try to relate to you, God. Do we recognize that that's who we're encountering? And then do we declare that? You know, oftentimes we're really flippant with, you know, God told me this morning to write this song for you and so I just want to share this song with you. And the song may be scriptural, it may not be scriptural, but God told me to write it for you. Now did he? Or is it just you felt inspired at the moment? You wrote it down, but you never tested it by scripture. You know, it's one thing to feel inspired, it's another thing to meet God. All of us feel inspired. Sometimes I feel inspired to go out and play basketball. Or feel inspired to go on Facebook and see what's been said there today. Or to, this doesn't happen real often, go in and clean my office. Yeah. Cherry Grove Friends Church, as we were pulling out, they had a new reader board sign up. It said, prayer, it's a God thing. Or instead of a play on it's a good thing, it's a God thing. It was pretty neat. Cleaning my office, is that a God thing? I don't know. But there's a difference between being inspired by some emotional thing and being inspired because we just were confronted by God. And John says, this is what we saw, this is what we heard, and this is how you know that you have fellowship with Him. And then do we declare it like John did? Do we declare it like Peter says, I've done my best to be able to remind you about all that Jesus has said, and I'm writing this letter so that even after I'm gone, you will be reminded. Do we declare it to those around us? Do we rejoice over it? Back into Psalm 119 verse 14. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. The sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. Do we rejoice over God's Word? God said He would sustain me. He said if we would follow after Him that we would be able to mount up with wings as eagles and to run and not be weary and to walk and not faint, that we would be able to exchange our strength with Him. And this week I was so depressed, I was so discouraged, I was so overwhelmed, and God gave me the strength. I didn't have it. Do we rejoice over God's Word at work in our lives? Do we delight in it? Do we meditate upon it? I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies as with all riches. I will meditate on your precepts, regard your ways, I shall delight in your statutes, I shall not forget your word." Do we meditate on it? Do we delight on it? Do we sit and chew on it and say, God, how is this working? Or do we put it away and say, well, I've got my three minutes of reading for the day. for the first time this week and last time I come to think of it was three months ago. Or do we look into it, chew it up, digest it? The ability to rejoice over God's Word is a direct result from reading it, studying it, applying it, meditating on it, applying it, and seeing it work. So if we're not rejoicing over it, it might be because we're not into it and it's not into us. Which would show that we don't esteem it highly, we don't value it highly. So how does it work? If you look at Matthew chapter 7, you remember the portion of Jesus, what we call the Sermon on the Mount, where he says, enter through the narrow gate, verse 13, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and there are many who enter through it. But the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it. Those ones who are seeking after God are looking for that narrow gate. When they see everybody going down one path, whether it's something that's popular, a fad or something like that, they look at that and they say, now is this a God thing? Or is this a fad thing, a world thing? And then they begin to look and say, God, what is my response to that to be? How do I follow after you? If this is a wide gate, and it sure appears to be wide, where's the narrow gate? that you want me to go through. And they search after Him and His will with all their hearts. The unrighteous mind is open-minded. Oh, this is a new thing. This ought to be fun. Let's do it! Without regard for what are the consequences? What are the roots? Where did it come from? Where is it going? Is it true? Is it praiseworthy? Is it upright? Does it demonstrate God's wisdom? Does it demonstrate humility before God? Is it a sign of arrogance? Is it something that I would be able to be proud and boast in? In just me? We don't evaluate it by what God would have us to evaluate if we are of an unrighteous mind. In closing, three last pictures for us to look at. Go to Jeremiah, down to chapter 23. Starting in verse 25, God says, I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy falsely in my name, saying, I had a dream! I had a dream! Just as an interjection, I've had a few dreams too. God says, continues on, How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, who intend to make my people forget my name by their dreams which they relate to another, just as their fathers forgot my name because of Baal? The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has my word speak my word in truth. What does straw, the prophet who says, I had a dream, have in common with grain? The prophet who has God's word declares the Lord. Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer which shatters rock? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets who steal my words from each other. Behold, I am against the prophets who use their tongues and declare the Lord declares. Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams, declares the Lord, and related them and led my people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting, yet I did not send them or command them, nor did they furnish this people the slightest benefit. Is not my word like fire, like a hammer which shatters a rock? Paul told the Corinthian church, yeah, all our works are going to be tested by fire to see whether they stand up. God's Word is like fire, like a hammer that shatters rock. Another picture, Hebrews 4, 12. So, if God's Word, and while you're turning to this other one, is like a hammer and like fire, Who would it be like a hammer or like fire to? And Jeremiah says it's to those who would say this is what God says, but it's not what God has said. Just saw a quotation yesterday. Oh, how did it go? Basically, the gist of it was, if you want to find out who God is and how God works, you need to look deeper and deeper into yourself. And the deeper you look, the more about God you'll learn. And it's on an advertisement. this new fad in evangelical Christianity, spiritual direction, that you need to have a spiritual director, a mentor who leads you and helps you to understand all about God by taking you further and further into yourself. Jeremiah, speaking on behalf of the Lord, said, those who would say that this is how you get to know God, For him, he will be like a fire, like a hammer that shatters. But he also gave another picture, and I should have included that, the picture of the clay in the potter's hand. Would you not much rather be like the clay in the potter's hand that is able to be molded and shaped into the shape, and as he pushes it, yeah, there's pressure, but you give, and he works you into the shape he wants you in. by following after his word. In Hebrews 4.12, another picture that he gives us here, is the word of God is active and sharp, is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. Piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, piercing of joints and marrow. Where does the bone stop and the marrow begin? That's a really good question. Able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. I love the commercial, some of you have seen it, it's a Geico commercial where he says, was Abraham Lincoln really honest? And his wife comes in wearing this dress and she says, does this make my bottom look big? And you can see him in the background. yes, and she huffs out. He could have said no, and in his heart be thinking yes, Or I could have said, no, and I'm saying no because I don't want to hurt your feelings. Or I could have said, how do I say yes and not hurt your feelings? How do I say yes and hurt your feelings? When I was in Introduction to Interpersonal Communications, we were given a list of levels of communication. And I've added a couple of levels to it since in my time. But the first six were, what is it that I intend to say? What is it that I actually say? What is it that I think I said? And then what is it that you actually heard? And what is it that you think you heard? And what is it that you think I meant by what you thought you heard? You know, God's Word is living and active and it's able to divide through all of that. When we say yes, but really we mean no. When we say, absolutely I will, and we're saying, I will do it, but I will hate you every moment as I do this. You say, I'm happy, this is great. And inside you're seething in anger. God's Word is able to judge and divide between the thoughts and the intents of the heart. I think that's why David was able to be known as a man after God's own heart. Because even when he had done something horrible, God knew what his heart was. He knew what was going on in there. And sometimes we have a good intent, but it comes out poorly. Sometimes we have a bad intent and it comes out well. God knows the differences. The third picture, James 1. Therefore, down to verse 21, therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, some of your versions will say engrafted, which is able to save your souls. Prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. By so doing, you are receiving the word that is implanted or engrafted. I remember watching a video on someone grafting one kind of apple branch to a different kind of apple tree and watching as he prepared the two places and on one side he took what was one solid piece and opened it up so that there were three distinct parts of the receiving branch and then on the branch that was coming in, so yeah, it looked like this. The branch coming in, he broke it into two parts, stuck it together and then bound it together and then watched over that and in the grafting together, grafting the inside and the outside so that each thing had the veins to be able to move the nourishment through. The receiving tree then was able to nourish the engrafted branch. In our case here, he's talking about receiving the word engrafted into us which is able to save our souls. Allowing God's word to get engrafted into us in such a way that it becomes so much a part of us that even the way we think and that which motivates us and that which pushes us is changed. So we think he's a branch grafting into us, but what in actuality is we are the branch being engrafted into him. It says, if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror, and then once having looked at himself and going away, he immediately has forgotten what kind of person he was. The one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer, but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. The last of the pictures. When we look at God's Word, do we realize it's looking at us? Do we allow it to instruct us? Do we allow Him to instruct us, to teach us? Or do we just look and say, oh, that's really neat, that's pretty heady stuff, very insightful, and then walk away and forget? Today is the fifth Sunday. Normally on the fifth Sundays we have the physical elements for communion here. Today I don't want there to be anything between you and the Word of God. Nothing that would distract you in any way. With the physical elements we have the distractions of the time it takes to pass everything and those kinds of things. Today I would like for us not to have those distractions. I'd like for you to take just a few moments and test yourself by what we've looked at in the scriptures today. Am I one for whom the living Word of God is going to come and burn me and crush me? Or it's going to divide away and all that does not belong to Him and I'm going to find out that there's nothing left? Or I'm going to look at it and walk away and forget what it has taught me? Or showed me about myself? Or am I going to be one who comes and recognizes that the creator of the universe yielded up his life in payment for my sin. The creator of the universe presented himself before God in my place and accepted my penalty on his own body endured the separation from God that should have been mine, that gave Himself up for me as the perfect sacrifice. And as we come to Him in that manner of being, then we find that when His Word comes to us, it molds us rather than crushing us. It opens up and reveals that which needs to be cleaned away, but then it engrafts that of Himself into us. And then it teaches us who we are and who He is by showing us Himself. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, were not our hearts burning within us as He explained the Scriptures to us? I'd like us just to take a few moments and consider Christ.