Welcome to the teaching ministry of God's Garden Church. It is our prayer that God would use this ministry in a mighty and powerful way in your life to draw you ever closer to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Our current series is The Word of God. We're hoping that God uses a series to show you the importance, the necessity, and the absolute beauty of His Word. With that all being said, let us get into the preaching of His Word. Here is Pastor Bismuel Miranda. The title of the message today is The Needfulness of the Word. Our scripture is Joshua 1 verses 1 through 8 in our series, The Word of God. And since you have, I'm sure, the Word of God open before you. I will read God's holy and inspired word verses 1 through 8. And before I read this, I want to inform you that I'm really going to spend most of my time in verse 8 alone. I'm reading 1 through 7 so that we can kind of get the context and kind of give you a synopsis of what's going on. But our focus will be verse 8. After, says the Word of God, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I have given to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. The wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful 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. And God bless the reading of His Holy Word. Father, teach us today the needfulness of Scripture in our lives. Remind us of the things that we should already know. And teach us things that, for whatever reason, we don't know, Lord. Cause us, O Father God, to walk out of here with a heart that's crying out for Christ through the Word. A heart that understands the importance that the Word must play in the life of the Christian. We pray these things, Lord, in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. And amen. Well, beloved, the backdrop for our passage is the death of Moses. As you've read, Moses had been the only leader the Israelite people had ever known. He had led them for over 40 years. He started his leadership, if you remember, at the age of 80. And he led them for 40 more years until he was 120. At 120 he climbed the mountain. Can you imagine? And died. Right? And died on top of the mountain. And so Moses had been the only leader that the people of Israelite had ever known. And now Moses, as God announces to Joshua, is dead. And the people are without a shepherd. The people of God need a shepherd. And God in His infinite grace provides Moses' assistant, Joshua, as the new leader. Imagine taking over for Moses. That would be some hard, I was going to say shoes, but better yet said sandals to follow him, right? How do you take over after Moses, the greatest leader, the only leader, and one of the greatest leaders ever mentioned in Scripture? Moses is dead, and now Joshua has the torch given to him, not by the people, but by God Himself. And Joshua must now lead. If you remember, Joshua had been Moses' assistant. He was the one that slapped, if you remember, as close as he could to the tent. Moses was allowed to go into the tent of meeting, the tabernacle. He was allowed to go into the tabernacle and no one else. And God said, no one else may come this close to the tabernacle. And so Joshua wanting to get as close as he could to God, he got as close as God allowed and he slept there. And that's the message, that's the kind of man that he was. A man that wanted to get to as close to God as possible. He was the one that led the people of Israel many times into battle at Moses. He was kind of Moses' general as well. And if you remember, he was one of the spies that was sent into the land. He was one of two men that came back and actually gave the glory report that he was supposed to. Everywhere in scripture that we read about Joshua, he is just a very godly man that loves the Lord and was faithful to being the second in command to Moses. But Moses is now dead and God calls Joshua to be the new leader. So in verse 2, God commissioned Joshua to arise and to lead the people into the promised land. If you remember, the people had been waiting for this day for over 40 years. God had taken them through the wilderness and a pretty direct route all the way to the promised land. They had sent 12 men in to spy out the land. Ten men came back and gave a bad report of the land. Two came and gave the good report. The people of God tempted God for the 10th time, if you remember, with complaining. And God finally said, if you will not enter the land fine, you shall wander in the desert for 40 years until all of this generation dies and your children will inherit the land. And so for 40 years, they had been wandering in tents through the desert, waiting to enter into the promised land. It had been 40 years. Can you imagine 40 years of waiting to come home? And now Moses is not only dead, but Joshua is the new leader. And God says, guess what? You're going to actually lead them into the promised land. It is a big, big task in front of him. In verses 3 and 4, God reiterates the promise made to Abraham some 400 plus years before. All the land would be given to the people of Israel. They would finally possess the land promised to Abraham. God had made promise to the people of Israelites when He took them out of bondage of Egypt to take them into the promised land. But that promise was made on a previous promise to Abraham 400 plus years before that he would enter into the promised land and that the land would be given to him and to his descendants forever. And so God, by reminding Joshua that this promise is not only the promise to Moses, but really the promise to Abraham, that he would be the one that fulfills it. God is reminding Joshua that he never forgets his promises. Can you say amen to that? Because that's important for us to realize. That 400 years seems like a long time for you and I, correct? We're not going to be around 400 years from now in this flesh the way we are now. But that 400 years for God is really a drop in the bucket. He remembers his promises and here it comes to pass when God's timing is correct. In verse 5 in our synopsis, God makes a further promise to Joshua. The people of the land who are formidable would not be able to stand against Joshua and the Israelites. God promises that he would be with Joshua in the same way that he was with Moses. God would never leave this new leader, but he would walk with him. As a matter of fact, God reiterates the promise, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Now that's important for Joshua because he is about to inherit this incredible leadership role. And God tells him, listen, I'm never going to leave you and I'm never going to what? Forsake you. And that's important because if you read in Deuteronomy 31.6, that's the same promise that God gave to Moses. God told Moses, I will never leave you and I'll never forsake you. And in these verses, God comes and tells Joshua, hey, the same way I was with Moses, I will be with you. The same God that guided Moses is the same God that's going to guide you. And guess what? Just like Moses, I will never leave you nor forsake you either. And so that here Joshua has to understand that the great works that Moses has done, he did because God was guiding him. Moses was a great leader only in as far as that God was leading him. And Joshua needs to understand that, that he can be a great leader too, only in as far as God's going to lead him. And God will never leave him or forsake him. And beloved, I got to take a side note to say that in Hebrews 13, 5, the same promise is reiterated to us as a church. God says, just like I told Moses in the Old Testament, in the book of Hebrews, God says to the church, guess what I'm saying to you? I will never leave you. The same exact wording, or forsake you. So that God is really saying to the people of God, I am in it with you for the long haul. And we can only say amen to that. Amen. What an incredible thought that is. That even though sometimes we commit stupidity, and sometimes we sin against God, or sometimes we are weak, God promises that if we are His people, He will never what? Leave us nor forsake us. What an incredible promise we have in God. And here's the promise reiterated to Joshua. In verse 6 we get to the heart really of the matter. Joshua is afraid. Joshua is afraid to be the next leader. And this could be for a variety of reasons. Number one, he knows how difficult leadership can be. He saw the toll that it took on Moses for 40 years. He was Moses' assistant for 40 years. And he saw the toll of leading this group of people that often wanted to turn back to go to Egypt and abandon their faith. He saw the toll that it took physical, mental, mentally and spiritually on Moses. And now he's the leader. Could you imagine? The people haven't changed. And so it's difficult leadership. Biblical leadership is difficult. Even in the New Testament we are told that everyone is supposed to submit and obey their ministers, for they are one who are going to give an account to God for your life. So it's difficult to consider that the minister has to give an account for your life before God, what he did with you as a parishioner. Another reason that he might be afraid is that he feels the immense burdens of leading such a great number of people. Remember, we're not talking about a nation of 100 people or 200 people or 500 people or a church of 4,000 people. We're talking about a nation of millions of people. He's their leader. He's the one guy where the butt stops at his desk. That could be overwhelming as well if you would think about it. It seems that Joshua was afraid also that he would not be able to deliver the people into the promised land. What if he failed in conquering the promised land? That seems to be an outlying thing because God promises him over and over again, you're going to be able to do this. I am with you. God commands Joshua then to be strong and to be courageous because the outcome is secure. God is in charge. God is doing the work. Joshua just needs to be obedient to God. In verse 7, God instructs Joshua as to the source of that strength and that courage that he must have in order to wage the good fight. Strength and courage are incredible attributes of faith. And these attributes are taught in the Word of God. So that Joshua needs to be a man that is in the Word of God, so that his faith might be strengthened, so that he could show the appropriate strength and courage needed to lead a people. Joshua is commended to be obedient to God and His Word. He is commended to be singularly focused on the Word of God. And today, beloved, we will focus then our attention on verse 8 after this synopsis that we've just gone through. In this verse we will encounter the doctrine of the necessity of Scripture, if you're taking notes, the necessity of Scripture. And it is my sincere prayer that God would illuminate our thinking on this matter and bring incredible truth to bear upon our souls. So let's look at verse 8. And let us look at that first part in verse 8. This Book of the Law. I'd like to stop there. This Book of the Law. With that phrase, we have here the uniqueness of Scripture. The uniqueness of Scripture. What we first encounter in the verse is the singularity of the Word of God. How unique it is. God commands Joshua concerning one work and one work only. Joshua was commanded to come to this Book of the Law. And he was to come to no other source. God doesn't say, hey, why don't you look at the Word of God and see if it's beneficial for you. God says, this Book of the Law, this is what you need to, this is your road map, this is what you need to study, this is what you need to know. This Book of the Law is what you need. This is the only authority over your life. But we just sang about that, didn't we, in our Reformation song. So la scriptura, only the Word of God. And that's what God is saying here. He gives him the Bible as he had it and says, this book of the law. Now we understand As much revelation as Joshua had, as much revelation that comprised the Word of God in Joshua's day, Joshua was bound to obey that revelation. And if you remember, the Bible was not even written when Moses became leader. Moses, by God's guide and wrote the first five books. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. And it is only those five books that are not given to Joshua. This book of the law. So that Joshua is only receiving five books of the entire Bible because that's all that had been written at that point. And that book of the law, those five books were enough for Joshua to lead the people correctly. That's how complete the Word of God is. And I'd like to take a little trip with you and consider what's found in those five books of law. In those five books of law we see the creation of man. We see the fall of man. We see the promise of the Messiah. We see that God promises back in the garden that He's going to send one who's going to redeem all men. The expectation of Jesus Christ is found in the first three chapters of the first book of the entire Bible. That's an incredible thought for you, isn't it, in me? And if you remember, Abraham takes his son up to the mountain to sacrifice him. And the son looks and says, Dad, I see the flames, I see the wood, I see the fire, I see the knife. But where is the sacrifice? And you remember Abraham's promise to his son. He says, Our God will provide for himself a what? A sacrifice. That is the call of the entire scripture. He's coming. The sacrifice of God. God will provide for Himself a sacrifice. So, in the five books, Joshua had enough to expect the Messiah, to expect that God would send the Messiah to be a sacrifice for the people of God. He had enough to understand that God was promising a regeneration, a renewal, as He did with Abraham. He had enough to understand that God was going to do the work. He had enough to understand what faith was, what grace was, that God only called people by grace. And through faith, because Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Imagine just those five books, the incredible doctrines. The resurrection is found in those five books. It is Jesus who referenced the Sadducees, if you remember, when they were mocking the resurrection. He says, have you not read where God says, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That's found in the first five books of the law. God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the what? Of the living. And if they have been dead for hundreds of years and God still used the present tense to call them, that speaks that there will be a day of what? A resurrection. The doctrine of the resurrection is found in the first five books of Moses. I just want you to consider that all of the Bible is needful for us, isn't it? And we have a privileged position that Joshua did enough. Joshua only had the first five books and it was enough to show him the glories of God. You and I have the completed work of God. All of it. From Genesis all the way to Revelation. The entirety of God's Word to guide us and to teach us about God. God gives those five books, the books that contain all these incredible doctrines, about the coming of the Christ, the sacrifice of the Christ, the resurrection of the Christ, the resurrection of the dead, faith alone being the way that we come to God, the circumcision of the heart instead of just only of the flesh. All of that is found in the first five books. What an incredible thought and more. I can go on. And it is given to Joshua and it says, these five books, these are sufficient for you. This is all the revelation you have, but you know, live your life according to these five books. God is making the point that only Scripture has what we need. Did you hear what I just said? Only Scripture has what we need. Only Scripture can illuminate our path. And just like Joshua was instructed, we must pay careful attention to this book of the law, God's holy word, and have no other authority in our lives. No pop psychology, no modern thinking, no philosophies of man. The only authority, the only rule of law for the Christian is this Book of the Law, God's Word. So we echo the call of the great reformers, which we just sang, Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone. And why only Scripture alone has the role? Because this Book of the Law has been given to us by God Himself. I know I've read this in the last few sermons quite a bit, but I think it's important that we go through it again. Second Timothy 3.16. All scripture is what? Breathed out by God. That's a huge claim that the Bible makes, right? It's saying, yes, God used men and writing styles and different way of men thinking to write. But all of it, every single word, every single verb tense in scripture, down to the iota, if you remember, and the dots, is breathed out by whom? By God. It is the breath of God. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. And it goes on to conclude, so that the men of God might be perfect, complete, standing in the presence of God. Since we are bound to Scripture, for it is the breath of God given to us by which we can find life. If you remember Jesus looking at the Pharisees, He says to them, you search the Scriptures, thinking in them you find life, and it is the Scriptures that point to Me. And you refuse to come to Me that you might have that life that you're seeking. All of Scripture is the breath of God. All of Scripture points us to the work of Christ. These glorious doctrines. No wonder God gives five books to Joshua and says, this book of the law, this is what's going to guide you. So I'm going to ask you a question as a Christian. Do you see the uniqueness of scripture? Better yet, do you see the necessity of scripture in your life? If you are not living by scripture alone, then what are you living by? What authority is in your mind? What authority is guiding your life? It must be scripture alone. The uniqueness of scripture. Our next point is found in the next clause. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. And here we talk about the needfulness of talking the scriptures. The needfulness of talking the scriptures. Here we find a direct reference to the Shema. The prayer that all Orthodox Jews pray every morning and evening. Part of that prayer is quoted directly from Deuteronomy 6 verses 4 through 9. And I'd like to read them to you. It says here, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. Does that remind you of a New Testament passage quoted by Jesus? When they asked him, what is the greatest commandment? Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6. Right? He says, the greatest commandment is that you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, your mind, and your soul. And the second one is like it, that you should love your neighbor as you do yourself. Verse 6, And these words that I have commanded you today shall be on your heart. Continue verse 7, You shall teach them diligently to your children. How do you teach them? By speaking them to them, right? And if that's not clear, it goes on, it says, and you shall talk to them, to your children. When you sit in your house, you shall talk to them. When you walk by the way, you shall talk to them. When you lie down, you shall talk to them. When you rise, when am I supposed to talk the word of God to my children? Can you say at every moment, when I go to bed, when I get up, when I'm walking, when I'm sitting in the house. In other words, I'm supposed to speak the Word of God to my children and to anyone really around me all the time. Christians should be known by their love for God and His Word. You shall bind them, tie them up. As a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontless between your eyes. You would put them in so they hang between your eyeballs. In other words, so that you can constantly see it. You're bound to it. You're speaking the Word of God all the time. You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates. In other words, be immersed in the Word of God. And immerse those around you in the Word of God by speaking God's Word. Can you say amen? As the leader, Joshua was to constantly and unapologetically speak the Word of God with the people. He was to exemplify a biblical character. Joshua had to speak what he had learned so that the people would benefit from the instruction he was receiving from God. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth. What an incredible thought that is, isn't it? O Beloved, that God would show you and me the importance of what we're talking about. That you would give yourself to the careful study of God's word. That you would learn it enough to speak it constantly. That the scripture would drip off your lips as if it were honey. Blessing all those around you. The great Reformed Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, C.H. Spurgeon, once wrote a quote about a man that he knew, that he had read much on, excuse me, John Bunyan in his book, in his sermon. And this is what John, this is what Spurgeon writes about John Bunyan. Why this man, John Bunyan, is a living Bible prick him anywhere. His blood is bibline. The very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the Word of God." What an incredible testimony John Bunyan had. If you prick him, he bleeds the Bible. That's what it means too. He bleeds bibline. He bleeds Bible. He cannot help himself when he's speaking to quote the scriptures. It just comes out of him naturally. And why is that important? Faith comes by hearing. Hearing by the what? Word of God. If I prick you, what do you bleed? It's a good question to ask, right? If you were to prick me, what do I bleed? The necessity. If the Bible is unique, then by necessity we must be talking the scriptures. And our next point is, then we also must by necessity be meditating on scripture. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it, says the scripture in verse 8. Joshua was to diligently study and frequently and on all occasions consider the will of God as revealed in Scripture. He was to make no decisions without consulting the Word of God first. As a leader he needed to guide the people of God. He could only do this by meditating on the Word of God itself. It was in the Word of God that Joshua would receive what was needed, discernment, wisdom and guidance. And are we not a society that needs discernment, wisdom and guidance? Do you see the foolishness that's going on in this world? We can be wise and discerning people. We can be people who can discern how to live rightly. We know that left to ourselves, we will make the same mistakes continuously over and over again. However, if we were to meditate on the law of God, we would be led by His wisdom. Listen to what the law of God says about itself. I love this verse. Psalm 119 verses 97 through 99 says, Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my what? Enemies. For it is with me, ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimony are my meditation. He says, because I meditate on your word all the time, I become wiser than my teachers. Psalm 19 verse 7 says the following. The law of the Lord is what? Perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. I love that last part. And the simple here is someone of low intelligence, spiritually speaking. And isn't that all of us when we first come to Jesus? What do we know? Just barely what God has shown us enough to run to Him by His grace. But there's a lifetime of growing worse. And the more we spend time exposing ourselves to the Word of God, meditating on the Word of God, God takes that simplicity away and makes us wise spiritually. Making wise the simple. In the New Testament, the Bible says, if any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives liberally to those who ask. How does he do that? Do you just ask and then just sit and wait? Or do you ask God, God give me wisdom and then run to the Word and God teaches you through the Word. Starts opening your eyes to things that you couldn't see before. The Word of God makes wise the simple. Sometimes as a pastor, I sit in counseling session with people that are making just terrible, horrible mistakes. And my first thought, not a condemning thought, not a judgmental thought is, if you had only turned to the Scriptures, you wouldn't be in this position in the first place. It makes wise the simple. So that we must see the uniqueness of Scripture. We must talk to Scripture. We must meditate on the Scripture. But how often The needfulness of daily scripture is shown in our next part. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night. Joshua's new role as leader would require that he would devote a great amount of time to reading, learning, and applying God's word. When the Bible speaks of day and night, it is speaking figuratively, of course. It's the way we would use the expression all the time. The thought here is that Joshua was going to spend a vast majority of his time in studying five books of the law that were given to him. That's an incredible thought, right? So deep are those five books. So deep are any book of the Bible that you can spend the rest of your life just pouring over just that. Five books. And never reach the end of all the wisdom that is contained within them. Joshua was supposed to give himself over to the study of the Word of God. Psalm 1 verses 1 and 2. You know this psalm. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seats of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates, what? Day and night. We see it there again. His delight is not in doing wickedness. His delight is not giving himself over to vice. His delight is not in sinning. His delight is in what? Studying God's word. I'm going to say something that is meant to be convicting to you and I, and even possibly offensive. But I pray that God would use it in your life for conviction. This is the following. Beloved, 15 minutes a day is not sufficient to navigate this world. Amen? I hope you know what I mean by that. Some of us get up and we spend 15 minutes in our Bible reading, on our phones or whatever it might be, or in our little Bibles, and the rest of the day is mine. 15 minutes a day is not enough. to navigate the crazy of this world, the sin of this world, the racial tensions of this world, the anger in this world, the problems of this world, the spiritual struggles of your life. 15 minutes a day is not enough. And I say that with all confidence in Scripture. Day and night, Joshua, meditate on the Word of God. Speak of the Word of God when you lie down, when you get up, Deuteronomy, when you're walking, when you're talking, when you're sitting. The Bible calls us to more than 15 minutes a day. And sometimes as Christians we say, well, I read my Bible every day, 15 minutes, I'm better than most Christians, I'm good. 15 minutes a day is not enough. That's what God keeps bringing to my own heart. And this is not a legalistic thing. If you look at Psalms, Psalm calls us to all day to love the Word of God more than gold, more than honey, more than anything else. Psalm 119, read it in one sitting. It'll take you about 15 minutes. And then walk away and say that the person who wrote Psalm only spent about 10 or 15 minutes a day with God. It's an impossibility to know God that deeply and to call us to the Word of God as He does. We're just devoting nominal time to God. So where are you going to cover up more time? Beloved, I'm going to say something that hurts. Give up your pastimes. Things that you might love that are not necessarily wrong, But things that you spend in more than 15 minutes a day, if you added all your pastimes up, all the time you spent recreating, unwinding, giving up stress, however you want to call it, I guarantee you, on average, you spend more than 15 minutes a day on stuff. Give up pastimes. Give up entertainment. Give up your general busyness. We must invest time in edification if we want to be men of God. Most of us want a ministry like Paul the Apostle that changes the world. But we're not willing to pay the price that it would take to be those men. To prove this point to you, beloved, I want you to look at 1 Peter 2.2 with me. It's up here on the screen. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation. We're supposed to be like children, babies, who are longing for milk. When a baby wants its milk, the baby wants its milk. And nothing's going to stop that baby. I mean, he's going to scream, he's going to cry. He wants what he wants. We're supposed to be that way when it comes to the Word of God. Longing for it. I want you to look at Psalms 19 verses 9 through 10. The fear of the Lord is clean and during forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Is the Word of God more desirable than gold to us? Is the Word of God sweeter than honey to us? I submit to you that a simple examination of your schedule will answer the question for you. I know what mentally you're going to say, absolutely, I'm a Christian. The Word of God, sola scriptura, it's the only thing I... But study your schedule. And then ask the question, is the Word of God more desired to me than fine gold? Is it more desirable than the sweetness of sweet? That's what honey was, it was the sugar of the day. The argument that we are too busy cannot stand in the all-knowing gaze of God. I am a busy man and I know busy men. God won't excuse me. This has hit me hard home and my heart first. God letting me know, if you're a pastor, you're too busy for the Word of God. You have no business being a pastor. Amen. And if God will not excuse my general busyness, He's not going to excuse yours. Listen, Joshua was to be the leader of a nation of millions of people. He was to lead them from a transient lifestyle, in which they live in tents and moved around, to a sedentary one, in which they were going to build homes and stay in a permanent place. He was to lead them in conquest and battle. And yet God commands Joshua to spend day and night in meditating on the Word of God. I guarantee you're not as busy as Joshua was going to be. And that's what God brought to my own heart. I'm not as busy as Joshua was. I lead maybe 50 people, and I work, and I think I'm super busy, and Joshua was to lead millions of people. And God says to Joshua, Joshua, all this responsibility that's now being placed upon you to lead these people, to talk to these people, to make sure they're taken care of spiritually, emotionally, physically, to take them into the promised land, to conquer, all of that is subservient to one thing first, this book of the law. Meditate on it day and night. For as busy as you and I are, we are not as busy as Joshua was ever going to be. We must make meditation on the Word of God a priority. We must view the Word as being more precious than the gold of this world. And the things that we value, that's what that means, right? Gold. The things that we what? Value. It's not necessarily gold in your life. It could be pastimes. It could be things that you love, that are precious to you. God says, is the Word of God more precious to you than everything? I hope that I've been clear in the needfulness of daily Scripture, because the needfulness of daily Scripture leads us to our next point, the needfulness of proper care with Scripture. Meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful, the Bible says. All of our studies should set our hearts ablaze with the realization of the holiness of Scripture. If this is God's Word, then we must carefully and reverentially handle it. We come to the Word of God with humbleness and contriteness of heart. 2nd Timothy 1.14 says this, By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. We have an affirmative duty, right? To guard what has been given to us. And then 2 Timothy 2.15 says, There's nothing more dangerous with somebody with a weapon that they don't know how to use. Right? The Word of God is the only weapon, the sword of the Spirit given to us. We need to know how to rightly use it. We need to be careful with it. That carefulness in studying it leads us to the needfulness of obeying scripture. So that you may be careful, the Bible says, to do according to all that is written in it. To do according to all that is written in it. I want you to consider that word all. I love that God doesn't use the word most. Alright? I want you to do most of what the Bible says. That would leave us off the hook, wouldn't it, by God? But God doesn't use the word most. What word does He use? All. And when He says all, He means what? All of it. Speaking and meditating on the Word of God is of no avail if we do not obey God's Word. As a minister, I am surprised at how many times I encounter Christians that know the Word of God, and they know what it says, and yet fail to put its teaching into practice. That's an oxymoron. It doesn't work. Do you understand that? Either you're going to be all in or you're going to be all out. It doesn't work any other way with God. His priorities become our priorities. His love, our loves. His hatreds, our hatreds. Scripture shows us a man like this, a man who called himself by the name of God and who knew the Word of God and yet refused to put it into practice. It was King Saul, if you remember. And King Saul knew what God was asking him to do. And he did almost all of what God called him to do, but refused to do all of it. And it cost him everything. Listen to the rebuke that he receives from the mouth of Samuel, the prophet of the Lord. And Samuel said, has the Lord as great delight and burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams." More than any sacrifice that you can make. You can go, you can confess sins, you can give money to the poor, you can do all these works of meritorious grace, all the things that people ask you to do, and none of it will avail you in any way if you're not living in obedience to God. God Himself says through the prophet, to obey is better than sacrifice. Isn't that an incredible thought? And it continues, it says, for rebellion, verse 23, for rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity, as idolatry, because you have rejected the word of the Lord. God has rejected you from being king. Powerful words, amen? He says, listen, your disobedience is like the sin of idolatry. You're setting yourself up to determine what's good or what's bad, instead of letting My Word speak for itself. And because you reject God's Word by not obeying it, God rejects you. This should be a stark reminder to all of us about the importance to the obedience to the Word of God. Think of all you know, beloved. Think of all you've ever read in scripture. When does sin enter the family of God? When we disobey His righteous word. When we refuse to do what is commanded or we do that which is forbidden. All of it is sin. There are two sides of sin. Not doing what God commands us to do and doing what God commands us not to do. Think of all the covenants in the Old Testament. The Abrahamic covenant, the Davidic covenant. Think of all the covenants of the Old Testament. The Adamic covenant, right? The Adamic covenant. Think of all of them and ask yourself, what does each one require? Obedience. Obedience. Do not eat from this tree. For on the day that you eat from this tree, you shall surely die. How are you doing in this area, beloved? How are you doing in obedience to God? You cannot obey that which you do not know. So as you study and you look at scripture, how are you doing in obedience? Oh, that God would grab a hold of our hearts and search them. That the eternal gaze of God would see right through us today. I ask you, beloved, do you have rebellion to repent of? Father, Father in heaven, guide us today. Let your word do its work in us today. Show us our hearts before you. We must obey God's word if we're going to be his people. Yes, to summarize that, we can use the words of Jesus, can we not? If you love me, you will obey my commands, period. Amen? How simply summarized is that? Right? If you love me, you will obey. Not as our kids sometimes grow up thinking that the Bible is all about rules. Don't do this. Don't do that. And it's a rule keeping. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with love. We don't want to do the things that offend God. We love him too much to offend him. He's been too good. It's a love thing. My last point, beloved, is the reward of obedience. If Joshua was to turn to the Bible as he had it, if he was to speak on it, meditate on it, day and night, if he was to obey it with all his heart, being careful with the Word of God, then All of this would lead to the reward of obedience in scripture. The Bible says, for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. I love that last part. God says, you want to be successful as a Christian? Here's what you need to do. This book of the law, talk it, meditate on it, day and night, be careful, obey it. If you do those things, you will be a successful Christian. Amen? And if you fail in those things, you will be an unsuccessful Christian. And when God's speaking of success, He's not speaking about money, health, wealth, fame, power. He's speaking about being well received into heaven. Amen? Doing the work that God has for us. The only way to be successful as a Christian is to walk in humble obedience with our God. And beloved, we see the supreme example of this obedience in Jesus Christ. And we ask ourselves, should we not walk like Jesus walked? Was Jesus obedient to the Father's will? The answer to that is what? Yes. To what extent? The answer is to what? In everything. Consider what this verse says about Jesus. Philippians 2.8. And being found in human form. Being a man like us. Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Did Jesus Christ obey the Father? Yes or no? Yes. To what point? To the point of what? Death. Because he was keeping rules or because he loved the Father? Because he loved the Father. Father, if it's possible to pass this cup from me, then so be it. But if not, not my will be done, but your will be done. He was obedient to the point of what? Death. Is Jesus not our example? What success does the obedience of Christ produce? Because we're saying that if we obey God, it will produce success. What success did the obedience of Christ going to the cross produce? Well, beloved, it produced our very own salvation. Was it successful? Was the obedience of Christ successful? I hope you would say Amen. Listen to what Scripture says about His obedience. Was Jesus successful? Yes or no? Amen. What did He come to do? I came to save that which was lost. Was He successful? Yes. Why? Because He was obedient. We have our salvation because of obedience. Christ is rewarded with a people redeemed because of obedience. He is the first of many. Success in Scripture is measured in faithful obedience to God. I guess the last question I would ask of you today is how successful are you today before our God? Beloved, I close with this thought for you, and I hope that it is a blessing for you to see you need the scriptures in your life. You can't be successful without them. You need to come to the Word of God and see it for what it is, unique, singular, the only authority of your life. You need to come to the Word of God and learn it so much that you're talking it. And it comes out of every pore of your body. You need the Word of God to such an extent that you need to meditate on it. Because it's going to guide you. And your meditation should be day and night, beloved. You need to handle the Word of God with proper care. You need to obey the Word of God and then you will be successful. There's no other way. There are no shortcuts to anything worthwhile and of value in life or in the spiritual life. Amen. And so, beloved, I call you to the needfulness of scripture. I call you to study the Word of God. I call you to a day and night. Make it your delight. Better for you than gold, than honey, than fine gold. Amen. 15 minutes is not enough. For someone who says he loves the Lord, we have to love his word. I pray that love for his word and that a new respect for it has consumed your heart. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your word and for its convicting power in our lives. Father, if there be anyone here who is unsaved, who has never put their trust fully in Jesus Christ, who has lived by other authorities, or has lived with the thought that because I do good works, or I go to church, or I give money, or I participate in religious ceremonies, or because I have some sort of belief in my head that somehow I'm okay with God. May you have stripped all that away from us today. that You have showed us, Father God, that You gave the books, the first five books to Joshua, because in them contained the glory of the gospel, that Jesus Christ would be sent as a sacrifice for sin, that He would die, that He would resurrect again, and that those who put their faith in God through Jesus Christ alone will one day be resurrected. All of that found in the first five books of Moses. The gospel itself, Lord, we don't need. religious ceremonies, or religious thinking. What we need is Jesus Christ, Lord. So if there's anyone unsaved, Lord, I pray that today they would be calling for forgiveness of their sins. That they would realize how desperately in need they are of Jesus Christ. And may You save them, O Father God. And for those who are saved, O Father God, I pray that the Word of God may have been convicted in their life. That they would give up things, times, blocks, in order to make the Word of God a priority in their life because they love it more than fine gold, more than honey, that they realize that discernment, guidance, wisdom comes from it, that they realize that it is the wisdom of God that will lead us in this life in making decisions that will honor God only if we carefully handle the Word of God, if we meditate upon it day and night, that we speak it, when we meditate on it, when we obey it, oh Father God, that in all our lives we would bring you glory and honor. we pray these things in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen and amen. Would you stand with me beloved as we consider our benediction.