Well, here it is, 2006, and I have a question. Where does time go? I'm still getting used to writing 2005. Sometimes I slip there and write a 19 down at the beginning. Now I've got to get used to 2006. Wow. What's going on? Did you know that in a 70-year lifespan, according to estimates, you will spend sleeping some 23 years of your life? and 70 years of living on Earth. That's about 33% of your time you spend sleeping. You'll work about 16 years. That's about 23% of the time. You'll spend watching TV, not you, the average American, 8 to 12 years. That's at least 11% of the time. Eating, about 6 years. That's about 9% of the time. And we might add for some a few more percentage points there. For travel, 6 years you spend. Illness, About four years, that's about 6% of your time. As I looked at that, you being sick for four years, I just started feeling sick, you know. That's a long time to be sick. And dressing, you spend two years in that, that's about 3% of the time. And religion, the average American, about a half year, about 0.7% of your time. The psalmist said in Psalm 90, so teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. May God give us wisdom. And wisdom comes from where? Not from man. Not from anything man's written. Only one place. The Psalm is said in 119, 160, "...the entirety of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous judgments endures forever." Think about that. All the Lord has said from the beginning, from Genesis 1-1, all the way to Revelation 20-2, is truth. It's of God. It's factual. It's accurate. It's correct. It's without error. In fact, the Bible is unique, isn't it? It sure is. There's no other book like it. None ever. This is the only one God Himself is the author of. So I ask you this question. Do you know what you have? Do you know what you hold in your hands? I trust you bring your Bible to church. I trust you open its pages. Nothing like bringing your own Bible and being able to mark it up and get to know it and get to know it and just being submerged in it. Nothing like that. Who wrote the first five books of the Bible? Well, we know Moses did, right? There's always dual authorship. God writes all of it, but he uses men to write it. And Moses wrote the first five books. Where was he educated? In the best of schools. He had a pedigreed education, didn't he? Best. Egypt was the renowned center of the universe of the planet Earth at the time. Most powerful nation. They had the most advanced civilization. In fact, since he was trained in Egypt, we'd expect him to have what kind of world life view? An Egyptian world-wide view. You know, they were polytheistic and all the rest. Students are normally propagators of what their professor has said, what they've been taught, and that's what they profess. In fact, in Acts 7.22, it says that Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptian and was mighty in words and deeds. But it's interesting, the Egyptians' cosmogony taught that the earth came from an egg. Sounds like some of our scientists today, doesn't it? But Moses wrote what in Genesis 1.1? God said what? He is the creator, right? God is the creator of the earth. Egyptian astronomy taught that the earth actually gave light to the sun. But what did Moses write in Genesis 1.16 and 17? The sun gives light to the earth. Egyptian anthropology said that man came from worms along the Nile Bank. But God says in Genesis 2, verse 7, that God formed man out of the dust of the ground and then He breathed into him the breath of life. How did Moses know what the Egyptian scholars did not know? How is this possible to come from such a radically different view than what he was taught and trained with? Because he was taught by God. This is revelation directly from God. The psalmist says in Psalm 33, by the Word of the Lord the heavens were made and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. All of Scripture owns its origin, its contents, the divine creative breath of God. Proverbs says in verse 30, chapter 30, verse 5, every word of God is pure. He's a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Well, that's the beauty of God's Word. As we look at 2006 ahead here, this Word needs to be a central piece of our life, all that we do, all that we live. But what's our enemy doing? He's always trying to what? put distance between us and the Word. I don't care what it takes. He'll get you involved with miracles if it takes that. If you want to think that's what's going on today, He'll get you all caught up in that, or get you caught up in rationalism, or He'll make you so successful. He's got all kinds of ways to drive distance between you. That's His number one goal. Whether you're saved or unsaved, keep the Word away from the worldlings, from any human. In fact, His first words in Genesis 3 were, as God said, and He's been trying to get us to question it ever since. Today, thousands of people think of this. Thousands of churches out there will worship God this morning what they call worship, but they will really never hear the Word of God Even though they're told they hear the Word of God and some actually believe that and they go to traditional churches They go to those churches. That's not like your mother's church, but they will never really hear the word the enemies At work no wonder Hosea could say my people are destroyed for lack of wisdom Brethren, you don't have the Word, you will be caught up with about anything that comes along. God has given us a discernment I trust. That's why He has these different movements come along, these different books come along. You have a spirit of discernment. I trust you can sort it out and let that guide you. But after that 4-6, that verse I just read to you, that verse goes on, it doesn't stop there. It talks about a curse. You know how the rest of that verse goes? My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, but... Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priests for Me. Because you have forgotten the law of God, I will also forget your children." Because those families today who go to these kind of churches, not willing to separate, not willing to demand to hear the Word, not willing to go to a church that hears the Word of God, they want to condemn themselves, but they put their family, their generations on in those kind of churches that only take them one way, and it's not to heaven. They put themselves under a curse because they cannot stand up for the Word. So I ask you again, do you know what you have? Do you know what we have? God's never been interested in numbers. He's not really interested in all the grandeur and all the things that go on in the name. He's interested in one thing. How His Word is honored in the hearts of His people. Do you know what you have? Do you know what you hold? Let's ask God for help as we go into His Word. Father, I trust each one of us here could say we know what we have, but yet, Father, I trust that we don't know the half of it. What we really hold here in our precious hands. Your revelation. Your Word. There's nothing, nothing like it. The world can dish up all its splendor and glamour, and yet, Father, it pales into utter oblivion in comparison to Your Word. Father, today, by Your Spirit, teach us How important this Word that we hold is to our lives and to Your glory. Father, help us. Open our mind. Cause us to heed the things we're about to hear for the glory of Christ. In Jesus' name, Amen. I would normally say inside the bulletin, take out the outline, but today being the first of the year and the way smoke damages computers and all that and fires, we're going to say just Take the outline before you there. And if you don't have the outline, put your hand up. We have some extra. We can get them right to you. Anybody need an outline of the worship message here? Okay. We need one there? Lois, you okay? Don't scratch your neck if you don't need one. Okay. Proposition before us. There's three reasons. Three reasons why God's Word is so awesome. And the first question is how powerful, how much energy, force, power does God's Word have? Now you think about it, there's no other book in the world, none other, that remotely approaches the Bible. It's par excellence. It's the number one bestseller. You read the New York Times bestseller, guess what they fail to include? Consistently, the Bible outsells any other book week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade, but the New York Times refuses to put it on the bestseller list. There is an impassable gulf between the Bible and every other book ever written. Those who love the world delve into the world's books, but those who love God delve into His book, the Word of God. The psalmist says in 119.89, Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven. It's settled. It's a done deal. Men attack it. They tear it apart. They say all kinds of things to condemn it. But God says, guess what? It's all settled. It's God's pure Word. We're going to look at Psalm 19. Actually, we're going to look at a number of different texts of Scripture this morning. So, this is a topical message. and lie the first of the year. So I'm going to say open the Psalms. And if you let your Bible just open in the middle, Psalms being 150 chapters, pretty much it should open right in that area there. So, Psalm 19. Let's turn there. It's a great Psalm. Psalm 19 starts out with God's natural revelation in the first six verses there. God reveals Himself in two basic ways, right? One is through natural revelation, through creation, through the sense He's put in our heart and out of Him. But that's never enough to bring us to Him. Never enough to bring us to Christ. So then He gives a special revelation. And He begins to talk about special revelation in verse 7. Psalm 19 and verse 7. Notice what He says. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. Wow. Talk about words to a thirsty heart. Aren't those sound? Don't those taste so good? Verse 7, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. That word sure, that's the idea that the word does not change there. It's sure. It's steadfast. It's established. No one's going to change the Word of God as far as being of truth. It's verified by Him. The psalmist says in 119, the entirety of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous judgments endures forever. And notice what the word does there at the end of verse 7. It says something there, doesn't it? Psalm 19, verse 7, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. That word, making wise, interesting. In the Hebrew, that's the idea of a simple one is one who leaves the door open. Maybe when you were a kid, your mom and dad kept telling you, don't forget to shut the door. Well, a simple person leaves the door open. That's one who has an undiscerning spirit. They don't know when to shut the door. Something comes along, they run to this. They run to that. They fill themselves in this philosophy. They buy into this. Whatever their teacher, professor says, they go along with that for a while. They just, whatever comes along, they fill themselves that. But the Word of God does what? It makes us sure and steadfast. It closes the door. We don't have to run that direction. In fact, in verse 8, the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. Back when you were not a Christian, think back to that point. You had no idea what way to walk, what way to run, what to really believe or not. Just what sort of seemed natural is what filled our minds, by and large. No idea to live. We had no compass, no direction in which to walk in this world. And so the response to various events would be accordingly, whatever seems to fit, whatever seems to go, we would follow. You see, we do read the Word for information, but it's not just for information. We read the Word of God for transformation. We're no longer the same when we're born again, when we understand what this Word means. We come alive. This Word all of a sudden begins to really make some sense to us, and we begin to reform our lives around it. Listen to verse 9. Listen to the rest of these. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yes, than fine gold, much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward." For those who fear, For those who are filled with anxiety, for those who can't sleep at night, for those who struggle, the question is, is there any hope? Is there no hope? Must we run to miracles? Is that where the hope is? The static gibberish? Go there, run to psychology? Drugs? Materialism? Hobbies? Sports? And the final analysis is there's only one place to go to. It's to the Lord. And how do we go to approach the Lord? It's through His Word. It's just what we read. It gives us peace like nothing else can deliver. The psalmist said in 1 1914, I've rejoiced in the way of your testimonies as much as in all the riches. If the idol of America is the almighty dollar, it's nice to know there's something far greater. It's God's Word that teaches us, that instructs us, that causes us, gives us hope. If we could just sum up here six quick concepts we just read in these few verses in Psalm 19, we see that it converts. It makes us wise. It rejoices the heart. It enlightens. It endures. And it enriches. Think. Think of the amazing power of God's Word and what He's given to us in it. Let's go over to Matthew 4. We're talking about the power of the Word of God. Let's go over here to this chapter. Matthew 4. You know, when the Lord calls His sheep and He says, You'll feed the sheep right and one thing. I don't want to see is any a scrawny sheep a skinny sheep I want fat fluffy sheeps at LeMoyne Baptist Church and in light of that Last week we kept the message I don't know if it's on the shorter side But it certainly wasn't a long one not mine by my standards and it's light of our service times and the New Year and Christmas and all that and Today we just might delve in a little deeper. So hang on if some of you are scrawny here get ready to be fed We're gonna get into this word and take it apart. So hang on. That's where I'm coming from this morning We're gonna take a look at the some good text here before us look at Matthew chapter 4 then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil and when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights afterwards he was hungry Now, if I would have been writing the Scripture, if the Holy Spirit had led me at this point, I would have put, very hungry. I miss a day or two, I get pretty hungry. Forty days is quite a while. Verse 3. Of course, the tempter knows what about us. How long has he been around? A long time from the beginning. Can you imagine how he knows all our weaknesses? What can tweak us to get us going in the wrong direction? Can you imagine that? So, what kind of temptation do you think our Lord is going to be hit after 40 days of fasting? Verse 3. Now, when the tempter came to him, he said, if you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. One of Satan's classic attacks is to use doubt. He loves to doubt, to have us doubt God. If God really loves you, you certainly wouldn't be going through this right now. If God was a good God, you wouldn't be dealing with this in your life. If God really existed, how do you explain this, what you're going through? He loves to have us doubt. Christ has fasted 40 days, nothing wrong with eating bread, is there? Verse 4, But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Don't you find that amazing? Here's the arch enemy. Our Lord is in a wrestling match with him. Our salvation is at stake. God's glory is at stake. And of all the things to say, what's the first words out of his mouth, our Lord's mouth, in confrontation with Satan? It is written. He goes back to the Old Testament Scriptures here. The monumental battle, and our Lord quotes Scripture. Satan is saying here, man needs bread to live. Jesus is saying here, man needs God and His Word to live. Classic difference. One is of the world, one is of God. We live by God's Word and He will take care of us. A legitimate craving should not be satisfied in an illegitimate way. Verse 5, Then the devil took him up into the holy city, set him on the pinnacle of the temple. Verse 6, And said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning you. And, he not only quotes one scripture, he comes back and quotes another one. Look at this, end of verse 6, And in their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against the stone. Did you know Satan is a great student of the Bible? Boy, he sure is. He studies it. He quotes it. This is Psalm 93 here, Psalm 91 rather, and he quotes it. Just because someone uses the Bible, don't think they're necessarily of God. Satan knows... the best place Satan puts his men is where? Right in the pulpit. Whenever you're looking for Satan, come on up here and look behind the pulpit. That's where you need to look. The classic across America, across Europe. Europe is gone. They've been liberalized and the gospel is... You've got to go to about a thousand churches before you find one that even has a semblance of anything to do with the Word of God. Don't be surprised when Satan uses the Bible. Expect it. This church was born out of a situation, a minister who actually was aligned with Satan himself. He denied the virgin birth. He denied the deity of Jesus Christ. He denied the writings of Paul. If that isn't Satan, I don't know what is. Three families came out of that church. They wanted to hear the Word of God. My question has always been is, why three? Where's the rest of them? Verse 7, Jesus said to him, it is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. Notice what Jesus does here. He does not open up the earth. He does not swallow up Satan. He does not bring fire down upon Satan's head. What does he do? He keeps quoting Scripture. Of all the things to do! Here's the Son of God with all the power in His hand, and He what? Quotes the Word of God. Do you think He understands the power of His enemy? You think He understands the power of the God? Here is my question to you and me. Do you understand the power of God? Do you understand His Word? That's really our question. Our Lord certainly does. He's the author of it. Verse 8. Again the devil took Him up on the exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world. their glory and he said to him all these things I will give to you if you will fall down and worship me verse 10 then Jesus said to him away with you Satan for it is written you shall worship the Lord your God and him only you shall serve it is written it is written it is written he first quotes back in verse 4 Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 3 Secondly, he quotes Deuteronomy 6.16. Now, thirdly, he backs it up about three verses and quotes Deuteronomy 6.13. Do you get an idea where our Lord probably had his devotions that day? What he meditated upon? Deuteronomy. In fact, all these verses relate to Israel wandering in the wilderness. In the wilderness, you get a real idea of reality, right? There's no life here. The psalmist says in Psalm 6.23, we live in a dry and weary land where there is no water. The whirlings think life is here. Some Christians, how many, think life is really here. But God says, no, no, we live in the dry and there's no life here. Life is somewhere else. All of us live in a wilderness. Remember Jeremiah, in his days, in Jeremiah chapter 2, he says the people commit two evils. What were those two evils? First of all, they forsake the God of what? Living water. There's the great drinking fountain, the only source of life, the only one we get. Understand the reality and have true vibrant life in Brethren don't be don't ever be content with the mediocrity of the middle-class lifestyle. It can't deliver There's only one so they committed this great evil They turned from the God of living water, and then they did something what they make for themselves They made idols what kind of idols they hewn cisterns, but those cisterns had what they were broken cracks and they could hold no water and They licked up the dust and thought it was life. It's like Americans today. All their materialism, all their education, they lick up the dust and they really think it's life. Until God opens their eyes up. No life there. It's bankrupt. Can't deliver. Only Christ can. Notice what Jesus says there in verse 10, as He quotes Deuteronomy. He says at the end there, Worship the Lord your God in Him only. Notice that word, Him only. No one else. Don't ever compromise a single most important reality in the universe. There's only one to worship. His name is the Lord God above. See the power of the Word of God, what our Lord is saying? In Jeremiah 23, Jeremiah said, "...is not my word like a fire?" Indeed it is. Fire does what? Fire often in Scripture speaks to judgment. Oh, it judges. This word that people condemn, the professors actually take this book and throw it across their classroom, try to intimidate Christians in it. You know what this word is going to do someday? It's going to stand up and condemn everyone who doesn't bend the knee to this word and to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jeremiah also goes on to say in 23 there, verse 29, and it's like a hammer that breaks rocks in pieces. Can you imagine that? It can take the hardest rock The hardest heart, which our hearts are really made like what? Stones. And it can break them, smash them, dissolve them, and turn them into flesh where we'll love God, where we'll come to God. That's the power of the Word. It can take the most evil, nastiest, diabolical person on planet Earth and take that heart of stone and turn it into flesh and bring it right unto God. I have proof of that. You know what? You're looking at one of the most evil persons that ever lived on planet Earth. That's right. For 27 years, I refused to let God in my life. The greatest commandment is what? Love God with all your heart, mind and soul. For 27 years, I said, nothing doing. I'm living my life my way. Oh, I might go to church. I might even read my Bible. But it's on my terms, my way. It's all of me. You don't get any eviler than that. Is there such a word, eviler? You know what I mean. You don't get any worse than that, do you? No. Next time you're looking for an evil person, go to the mirror. See what you see. That should humble all of us. See what Jesus is teaching us here about His Word? It's in everything that we need is found right here in His Word. The Word is what drives us into a vital living relationship with Christ. In 2 Timothy, He said, it thoroughly equips us for every good work. But doubt, distrust, unbelief puts distance between us and the Word. Remember one of the six pieces of armament we're given in Ephesians 6? It's a helmet there. It's the helmet of salvation. And in 1 Thessalonians 5, 8, it's called the helmet of the hope. of our salvation. Hope is what? Anticipation. Expectation is confidence. Hope in the Greek means assure hope. We know it's going to happen based on the Word of God. But doubt is lack of faith. Doubt gives us worry and turmoil. How do we grow in our faith? How do we grow in our hope? It's the Word of God. That's where it starts and that's where it continues. See what he's saying here back in verse 4? When he said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, A legitimate craving should not be satisfied in an illegitimate way. Christ fed the 5,000, didn't He? He made bread there, didn't He? It's okay to do that at the appropriate time. The moment you focus on your needs, your desires, your wants, what you think you need, what you think has been wronged for you, you're focusing on the creature. That brings in doubt. But the Word, the beauty of the Word, causes what? Love. It causes us to get a hold of the promises of God, and we have great hope. And a hundred years from now, We'll see it all the better than we do right now, won't we? May we walk by faith and not by sight. The moment you focus on those things brings turmoil, but the moment we focus on the Word, we have life. At issue here is the type of son Jesus will be. That's what is at issue with Satan here. And it's saying also what kind of son we will be. The key is what? Staying in the Word. Feeding on the Word. Asking for God's grace. That is the key. According to Deuteronomy 8.3, Feeding on and obeying God's Word is more important than consuming physical food. In fact, remember the woman at the well? When our disciples left and they came back and said, what have you had to eat? And he said, what there to them? He said, I have food that you know not of. That's what he said. My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work. An absolute trust, a submission to God above. Does that sound familiar? What Satan does here and what he does today? Sound familiar? He tells us what? Oh, pamper yourself. Indulge yourself. There are no rules. Just pursue luxury. You only go around once. You might as well do it your way. We hear that. We hear that over and over. But we have one way to do it, and that's God's way. Moms, before you take that job outside the home, ask this question. Is it God's will? Is that what He wants me to do? Dads, before you take that promotion that requires more time on the road, more time away from the family, ask this question. Is it God's will? Is it what He wants me to do? Christian, before you do that thing, before you spend that money, ask this question. Is it God's will? Is it what you want me to do, Lord? A. W. Tozer said the true Christian ideal is not to be happy, but to be holy. Boy, that's so counterintuitive, isn't it? Isn't it written somewhere in Scripture, God wants us to be happy? Show me the verse. I don't find it in there. But when you're really holy, God is happy with us and there'll be a joy deep down even though we're going through a storm in life. Hebrews 10.7 said of Jesus, Behold, I have come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do your will, O God. Christ had one will, right? Remember in the garden? Not my will, but your will be done. That comes by grace. That's the only way it comes. By feeding on the Word. By the grace of God. Down in Brazil, there was a Senor Antonio of Mainos, and he bought a New Testament. And he hated the Lord, hated the Word of God, and he bought that New Testament just so he could burn it up in his fire. So he runs home, and he goes to burn it up, and he finds out his fire went out. It had never gone out before, but his fire's out. So he stokes up the fire, and he fills the book, the New Testament, into the fire, but it did not burn. It just sat there and did not burn. So he pulls it out, and he opens up the pages so it'd burn a little better, you know, so it'd finally catch fire. And he threw it back in, but as he threw it back in, his eye was caught hold of that Sermon on the Mount. And his hand just won't release it. He went to fill it in, but it just... And he brought it back and he started to read it. The beautiful Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5, Matthew 6, Matthew 7. And he read it. And he began to read. And all night he read. And finally, as the sun was coming up, he stood up and said, I believe. I believe. He turned from his sin and trusted in Christ. That's the power. The power of God's Word like nothing else. Isaiah said it better, didn't he? than any of us could. So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I intend it." The Word of God. It's interesting, the same sun that melts wax is the same sun that hardens clay. God is at the helm. His Word will go forth. It accomplishes what He wills. So again, I ask you this question. Do you know what you have? Do you know what you hold there? This powerful Word of God? Second question. What's the reason for this power of God's Word? Why is it so powerful? Well, we're here in Matthew. Just turn over one chapter in Matthew chapter 5. Drop down to verse 17. Matthew chapter 5 verse 17. The reason. The reason for this power in the Word of God. 517. Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to Fulfill. Verse 18, For surely, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. You see Jesus' view of God's Word? Today you have seminary professors, especially in the state colleges and campuses, but even in religious settings, and they really think they know more than Jesus. Can you imagine the day when they stand in front of Him? They think this Word is filled with error. It's tradition. It's myth. and all the rest. Notice what our Lord actually says in verse 18. I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law, till all is fulfilled. What's Jesus' opinion of the Word? Nothing's moving. I mean, it's fixed. It's final. It's all of God. Now, remember again what that little Hebrew letter is, that smallest letter called the jot, which we call the yod, that first letter right there. That's the smallest letter. And Christ's saying, heaven and earth has to be moved first before anything's going to happen to that letter. And then he talks about this thing called a yod, a tittle, which we call the difference here between a resh and a daleth. These are two Hebrew letters here. And you see a little bit of a difference there? Just that little squiggly one coming off the daleth there. Distinguish it between the resh. That's that thing called a tittle. That's just that little hook of a letter. And see the veracity the Lord places on the Word. It will not be moved. There's 66 books in the Word of God. There's 1,189 chapters in God's Word. And every one of those chapters, he says, is of the Lord. There's 774,746 words in the Word of God. They're all breathed by Him. There's actually 3,566,480 letters in the Word of God. And every hook on every letter, he said, is breathed out by God. It's not moving until heaven and earth are moved. Just as you pick up a pen and write with it, so God picks up men and He writes His Word with it. Look over at Luke chapter 16. We're here in Matthew. Turn over to Luke. Luke chapter 16 and verse 17. Satan's alive and well. When some people open up their mouth and pretend to be religious and the newscast quotes them, you can listen to the hiss that comes out of them. Because they do not align themselves with Christ. They align themselves with Satan. Luke 16, verse 17. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail. Now, you see what our Lord's saying there. Do you listen to what He's saying? Jesus refers here again to the smallest stroke of the Hebrew letter. And He says it's fixed, it's final, it's not moving anywhere. It's God-breathed and it's complete and you have to move heaven and earth. Now, you know, if I was writing that, you know what I would have said? Remember that snow we had about two weeks ago? I'm out there in my driveway and about six inches, I'm shoveling that snow and I couldn't even do it in one time. I have to get out there several times. Man, I'm huffing and puffing. And to me, I'd have written something like this, you know, just to get the point home. I would say, it's easier for the snow in your driveway to be moved away than for one tittle of the law to fail. I mean, that's tough enough to move all that snow, right? But what's our Lord saying? Hey, you can move all of earth, and by the way, move all of heaven, And that comes first before that one little hook and that one little letter will fail that's inaccurate from God. That's Christ's opinion. And if you think you know more than Christ, then my advice to you is it will be to you when you stand in front of Him, as so many professors out there think they know more than Christ. God uses different authors to write His book, from kings to fishermen to farmers. How many? About 40 of them. Some are in palaces, and some actually wrote it in prisons. vast variety of them. God took about how much time to write a letter? Yeah, you ever write a letter to someone, you put it aside, and you don't quite get back to it, and you pick it up maybe a week or two later? That's what God did, right? But he spent how much time writing this book to us from Moses to Revelation? He spent about 1,600 years. That's 60 generations. It took him a while to write that out, to give us his complete record. And so we have it today before us. It's written on three continents, Asia, Africa, and Europe. It's written in three languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Yet it's all from God. 2 Peter 1.21. Prophecy never came by the will of men, but holy men were moved, spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Let's turn to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 3. I encourage you to take notes and interact with this. These are important things. As the enemy comes and plants doubts in our mind, listen carefully to what Christ Himself said. 2 Timothy 3. Let's begin at verse 15. "...and that from childhood ye have known the holy Scriptures." You see how he's writing to Timothy here? His grandmother, his mother, taught them the Scriptures. If we went back to previous verses, we could see that. So important, isn't it, parents, to teach our children the Scriptures. which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." So the Scriptures even of the Old Testament taught them of Christ. Verse 16, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. I have a particular person, a relative of ours, and he says, well, that's what they said. How do you know it's really true? How do you know it's really of God? And I'd like to ask the question, how do you know it isn't? You know, have an open mind. Don't close your mind. Amazing how the whirlings love to close their mind and say it can't be. Be careful of thinking you know more than God. Open your mind up to the possibilities and look at what Christ clearly says. All Scripture is given by inspiration. And that word inspiration is what? God breathed. God breathes it out is the idea. When God breathes in Scripture, you see powerful things happening. Listen to these. He breathes into the atom the breath of life. All of a sudden, someone made out of the clay comes alive. And secondly, in Psalm 33, he breathes out creation. He speaks. He commands. It comes to be. Job says in 37.10, by the breath of God, ice is given and the broad waters are frozen. And what else does God breathe out? He breathes out His Word powerfully. So it's accurate right down to the very hooks of the letters. Listen again to verse 16. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. Notice what it's proper for. Please, the first thing is what? Listen, if you don't know theology, if you don't know truth, you're never going to be set free. Your whole destiny is based on theology of Christ and who you are and how those two come together. Christianity is a cognitive religion. If you're going to be lazy with your mind, you're never going to understand this. You have to tie into it with your mind. It's proper for doctrine, for reproof. What's that? You ever go down the expressway the wrong way and see those big signs on the entrance ramps? Wrong way turnaround? That's what Scripture is. You go in the wrong way, it's reproof. It rebukes us. It's also for correction. How to get right back on the right way, right? For instruction in righteousness. How to keep us going the right way. 17, that the man of God may be complete Thoroughly equipped for every good work. You see what we have here before us? Get a hold of it. It's all we need. You don't need the psychiatrist, the psychologist, the therapist. You don't need some kind of clinical experience. You have the Word of God. The Christian counselor Larry Crabb said it like this, there is no such thing as a psychological problem. All problems are either spiritual or physical. If you have a physical problem, if you have an appendicitis attack, you go to the medical doctor. And if you have any other kind of problem, then you what? You go to the Word of God. There's the answer. It thoroughly equips us, verse 17 says. All the demands of life, all that comes at us, we have right here before us. Any non-physical problem, the Word is sufficient. It takes care of the soul. If you have a physical problem, you go to a doctor. If you have another problem, you go to the Lord. Hebrews 4.12, For the Word of God is living, powerful sharper than a two-edged sword piercing even to the division of the soul and spirit and Joints and Merrill and is a surrender of the thoughts and intents of the heart We divide that sharply all the way down to thoughts and intents Nothing else does that nothing else all the man-made opinions can never measure up to what God has done in fact that word sword there is the word McCarrion and It was a very unique kind of sword, a short sword, a lightweight, sharp, double-edged sword. It revolutionized ancient warfare. And what God is saying by using that particular word there, this word is capable of cutting to the innermost recesses of man's heart like nothing else can. All the man-made babble that goes on out there cannot compare to the sharp word of God. Let's step back for a moment here. What is needed to know God? Let's look at a couple terms. I've got them in the notes. I'd like you to fill out the definition there. What's revelation? Well, to know God, God has to reveal Himself, right? Revelation is the disclosure of knowledge to man by God. If God never disclosed Himself to us, guess what? You and I can never figure Him out. See, religion is trying to figure out God, build up to His point. That never happens. It can't be. Revelation, though, is not enough. See, if God reveals Himself, how do you know what's revelation from non-revelation? We need something else. What do we need? We need inspiration, right? What's inspiration? That's the supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit upon the sacred writers, where they are divinely supervised in their production of Scripture. They're restrained from error and even guided in using the right words, the choice of words that they used. Inspiration. So we have revelation. And then men come along and inscribe it, make a record of it, so we have that revelation now inspired. It's accurate down to the jot and tittle. But we need something else. We need transmission, right? If there's only one time that was written down 2,000 years ago, guess what? We're not going to have it today. So that needs to be accurately transmitted. In spite of that old TV ad, remember when the monk needs some manuscripts and he goes down to the bottom of the monastery and he runs out 5,000 copies on his Xerox machine? 2,000 years ago they didn't have Xerox machines. It didn't work that way. No. Manuscripts are scripts of parchment made by scribes. And they had unbelievable, fantastic ways of reckoning. They had stichonomic reckoning, where the middle word, the middle verse, they knew precisely. They counted their words. That's why when the two scrolls of Revelation were found, the Dead Sea Scrolls, a date from about 150 B.C., their word for word basically was what we have today in our Bible. They love to say how the word changes. It does not change. It's the same today and forever. Today we have thousands of manuscripts of the New Testament. Some just a small portion of the text. Maybe half a word or half a verse. Some of those manuscripts are a whole book, and maybe even the whole New Testament. We have many manuscripts today. And because we have so many manuscripts, over 6,000 today, we can get back to the original. We live in an absolute age of richness of manuscripts to get back to the Word of God. The New Testament is the best attested text of ancient history. There's no question. Sophocles, you know how many manuscripts we have of him? Just one. Plato, you know how many manuscripts we have of him before 600 AD? Just four. That's all. And people love to tear the Word apart. Listen, we're going to doubt everything from the other ones if we're going to doubt the Word of God. We have basically next to nothing from these other sources. In fact, there's no original manuscript of any ancient document. But because we have abundance of resources of 6,000 manuscripts, we can compare and contrast and get right back to what we call the very Word of God. This indeed is the Word of God. But even if we have revelation, even if we have inspiration, even if we have a good transmission, we have a good record, which we do right before us here, that is still what? It's not enough, is it? It's not enough. You can't understand this Word. I can't understand it myself. Those who are here today in natural settings, without the Spirit, if you're not a regenerate person, you really can't understand this. It doesn't make that much sense, really. What we need is illumination. You and I are When we come alive in Christ, we have the Holy Spirit, the ongoing work of the Spirit, so we can understand and obey the Word of God. This Word really makes a difference to us. I talked about when I took my family in New York City to the Natural Museum of History when we lived out there. I'll never forget going in one of those rooms there and just a whole bunch of rocks behind a glass cabinet. There's a big wall of these rocks, big, small, in all kinds of shapes and sizes. A bunch of gray, dull-looking things. But there was a button there that said, push the button. So I did it. And all of a sudden, the regular lighting shut off and the black lighting came on. And all of a sudden, those old, gray, dull rocks, you know what happened to them? They burst forth in a splendor color of radiance, beauty. I've never seen anything like it there. The same rocks, the very same thing, but radically different, just in a new light. So will the Word of God. When the Holy Spirit illuminates you, this thing comes alive. You see the importance of it. You want to be underneath the preaching of it. You want to follow it. You want to put it into your life. Nothing like it. Why does one person cherish and love the Word of God and another person could care less? It's right here, because of the Holy Spirit, because of illumination. James warned us. He said, just hearers of the Word, not doers. Why? It's not illuminating. It doesn't make any difference to some. But yet, when Peter himself confessed, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, our Lord is quick to remind him what? Flesh and blood has not revealed that to you, but my Father in Heaven. It's the only way we can understand truth. It's by God's revelation, by His direct will. 1 Thessalonians 2.13 For this reason we also give thanks to God without ceasing, because you received the Word of God, which you heard from us. You welcomed it not as the Word of man, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe." Of all the books published today, can you imagine? All the books that are out there today and all the ones that are published. In fact, I just heard that knowledge is increasing so fast that every six months human knowledge doubles. Back in the 1700s, you'd go to university and learn everything the world knew at that time. Now, it doubles every six months. But of all the books that are out there, here's the one. Here's the source. Here's the one God has written. And we need to be students of this Word. Solomon said, to the making of books, there is no end. But to making of God's Word, there's nothing like it. Again, I ask you the question. Do you know what you have? Do you know what you hold? One last question before we wrap this up. How should we apply God's Word? Okay, this is application. Okay, so it is the Word of God, so it has power. So what? How does this work out in our lives? Our capability in living our life to the fullest is really from God? It doesn't come from us. As Christians, we need the resources only God has. It doesn't come from us. We are fully responsible, right? God says that time and time again. We are fully responsible whether to come to Him or whether to grow in grace. We are accountable for that, but yet we are completely unable to do that in and of ourselves. You can't do it. I can't do it. Now, don't ask me to put that together. You have one obligation. If Scripture clearly says something, you better believe it. So many, they have such a humanistic theology because, well, that doesn't make sense. I can't understand. Therefore, I'm not going to accept it. Can anybody explain the Trinity to me? Can anybody explain to me ex nihilo creation out of nothing? Why do we have such a problem with this when God's sovereign on the throne, and all of a sudden we don't understand, so we're not going to buy into it? You know, we're fully responsible, but fully unable. Doesn't Philippians 2 says, work out your salvation with fear and trembling? I'm fully accountable. I'm commanded not to work for it, but to work it out. But then the very next verse, verse 13 of Philippians 2 says what? For God who works in you both to will and to do. Hold on to both those truths. Don't set neither one aside. Remember when men went to the moon? How'd they get there? What enabled them? They actually took what with them? They took an earth bubble. They couldn't live on the moon. They had to take air from earth to live on the moon. Technically, they really didn't live on the moon. They lived on an air bubble they borrowed from earth. The moon could not supply what they desperately needed. They were in an alien environment. So the Christian is in an alien environment. We live in a strange land, and we need one thing. We need God's resources, which this world can never deliver. Anything on earth here will never satisfy, will never take care of what you and I desperately long for, which is the Word of God, which drives us into a relationship with Him. Listen to these superlatives in 2 Corinthians 9.8. Listen to this. God is able to make all grace abound to you. that you always have all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. There's only one source that comes from. It's right there. It's all of God. It's nothing to do with you or me or anything we can tweak God. Or if I do this today, if I have my devotions, now God, you're obligated to bless me. It doesn't work that way. That's a works mentality if you think that way. It's all of grace. The means are established. By His Word. As our Lord said in that prayer to His Father in John 17, 17, Sanctify them by your truth. Your Word is truth. How do we sanctify? How do we grow in grace? It's by God's Word. It's by His truth He's given to us. That's how we grow. In the Word. In God's Word with God's Spirit. Every saved person is involved in a daily conflict. Yes, we're new creations, but we're battling this thing called the flesh. And the one hope we have is what? God's Word coupled with God's Spirit. That's the thing that delivers us. That's the thing that we can grow in Christ and grow up in Him and grow in grace. Acts 12.24 is an amazing statement. Listen to this. The Word of God grew and multiplied. Now, wait a minute. How does God's Word grow? This word actually grow, gets fatter, and gets to be a bigger book? How does God's Word grow? What does He mean by that? People bought into it. They believed and turned, and they imbibed themselves, and they grew in this Word, and Christ was manifested more and more in their lives. They saw Christ. That's how the Word of God grows. And people put on Christ. They grow in the Word. Let's go back to Joshua 1.8 and finish this up. Go all the way back to Joshua. First five books of the Bible called the Torah, called the Law, written by Moses. What's the sixth book? That's Joshua. The one who went in and conquered the promised land. God used him in a mighty way. And Joshua 1.8 is a great verse dealing with Scripture. Look at this. Joshua 1.8. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Verse 8 is really the theme verse of this entire book. Basically what God's saying throughout the rest of the book, God blesses people who pursue Him. We do it inadequately, we never measure up like we should, it's all a grace still, but as we pursue God, He blesses us. That's what He's saying here. Listen again to these words here. The book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. What's that mean, from your mouth? That refers to a common muttering. When you studied something and very intently you would mutter it with your mouth. One so engrossed, so caught up in a study that they would actually repeat it back. They would say it. They would say, the book of the law, the book of the law, the book of the law, shall not depart, shall not depart from my mouth. But shall meditate, meditate, meditate, day and night, day and night. You mutter it. You repeat it back. It flows out of your mouth. That should always be part of our mouth. All the time is what it's saying there. It should never leave our mouth. In other words, when you open up your mouth, when I open up my mouth, whether it's day or night, sooner or later, and it should be sooner, what flows out is Scripture. Scripture flows out. Some people, when you cut them, they bleed. They're bleeding. You ever seen that happen? Most people, when you cut them with a knife, they bleed. Blood. But there's some who are so caught up in the Word, so love the Word, so meditate, so memorize, so engulfed in the Word, that when you cut them, it's biblical. The Bible flows out of them. We've seen it here in our church, some people. Just love the Word and quote the Word, and they open up their mouth and it just flows out. You see what this verse is saying here? We're to reflect upon the Word. Look at verse 8 there again, what he's saying there. But you shall meditate in it day and night. The Hebrew word there is hagat, which literally means to mutter. The word we're just referring to. Mudder. Meditation. What is it? It's the act of calling to mind some belief, some idea, some truth, and meditating, pondering upon it, and correlating it to my life. How does it make a difference in my life? As I go down the road, I meditate upon the Word of God. How often are you to meditate upon it? What's the word say? Day and night. No time off, right? When one continually mutters God's Word, one is constantly thinking about God, right? About His Word. Colossians 3 says, what sets your mind on the things above and not on the things around the earth? The Bible is very specific about four objects we meditate upon. I'm sure there's many other things, but there's four classic ones in the Word of God. First of all, it's God's Word we meditate upon. Second of all, it's God's providence. He watch cares over us, doesn't He? We meditate upon that. Third, it's God's creation. Wow! His beautiful wonder, splendor. And fourth, it's God's character. And primarily in the new creation where the Lamb's blood is shed. Those are the things we meditate upon. What are some of the ways to think, to muse, to ponder, to chew upon, to contemplate? What does this word mean, meditate? Let me just mention five different ways you can meditate. First of all, repeat the verse with emphasis upon different words as you go through it. John 3.16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God so loved the world that He gave. For God so loved the world. You see, as you go down the road, as you're in your study, as you're behind just you and God and no one else, you just break those words apart and think about those. Emphasize the different words in the text. Secondly, rewrite the text in your own words. You like John 3.16? Make it your own. How would you say that? Same truth, but in your own words. How it applies to you. For God so loved me, so loved Ron, that he, you know, make it your own. Third way, list ways the text applies to you. Break it down. What, okay, so what? What does this difference make in my life? Let's categorize all the different ways this text can make. That's another way you can meditate. Fourthly, make the text your own prayer and pray it back to God. Especially in the Psalms. When you read a Psalm, Make it out in your own words and just pray it right back to God, those truths that are in there that are appropriate to pray back to Him. And then fifth way is draw a picture in your mind of this verse. You have a whole palette of paints there, and as you take that palette of paints like an artist would, paint that verse out. With you in it or whatever, but paint what that verse is saying, what it means in your mind. Meditate. Set your mind. Mutter. Repeat it back. As you meditate upon it, it begins to fill your heart. And that's no doubt, no doubt why this is a book and not a music video, not a TV show, not a movie. Can you imagine? What happens with a video? It just washes over us. You know, you see, you ever watch a commercial or a movie? I mean, they're there and they're gone. All the different camera angles, a spot here, a second here, a zoom here, all the flashes, the lights, the music that pours in and out. I mean, after you're done with it, you're just sort of, oh, you know, you're just sort of pleasantly pleased, but no cognitive retention of anything. But when the Word of God... See, God has written His Word and how often does that change? It's the same yesterday, today, and forever. We can take this Word apart. We can meditate upon it. I can put my mind upon it. It doesn't change. It requires time. It requires commitment. It requires saying no to good things so I can say yes to better things. So when I meditate upon it day and night, it changes me. It changes the way I talk. Colossians 4.6 talks about my Speech being with grace, seasoned with salt. You can tell someone who meditates upon the Word. Just the way they talk, the words that come out of them. Your talk will edify and build up. Ephesians 4. You don't tear people down. You want to edify. You want to build up. You want to say what is best for that person to promote them on towards Christ. In Christ. The average workplace, the average talk that goes on in the average workplace about the average boss, you know what it's like. You know what they say about their boss. They tear them down, they cut them up and spit them out. They're chopped up into little dices across the American work escape. But for the Christian, when they talk about their boss, it's not like that. They're different. They're filled with the Spirit. They meditate upon the Word. Donald Whitney put it like this. Why is it so often we finish our Bible reading and five minutes later we can't remember a thing? It's because we read without thinking. I tell people it's better to read less, if necessary, in order to have time to meditate more. While reading God's Word gives light too, reading is not real unfolding. Meditation is. That's how I understand the Word. Did you ever read it? Five minutes later, somebody asks you, what did you read? I don't know. I've been there. You've been there. It's because we don't meditate. We don't reflect upon it. Do you read the Bible daily? Do you? Have you read through the Bible? This is God's love letter to us. Can you imagine somebody writing a love letter to somebody? Don't ever read through it. After you've been a year in the Lord, we should always, at least a year or two, read through this entire book. And I suggest you do it annually. Keep it before you. All of it. Do you meditate on it when you read? Do you have a schedule you work through? It's so good when you read a book to start at the beginning and read to the end. Can you imagine just pulling out a section and just reading that? You need to read the whole book. And let me suggest to you, we have some Bible reading schedules this year for 2006. You can just read the New Testament, you can read the Old Testament, you can read Wisdom literature. I suggest you always keep Christ before you. That's the beauty of the New Covenant and the New Testament. So at least read that much. But regardless how the Spirit leads, three different sections here. You can tear it out, mark it off, keep it right there in your Bible, pick it up the next day, read it again. Pick up a schedule that will be passed out at the end of the service at the door. Do you have a heartbeat that the psalmist has who exclaimed this? Oh, how I love your law. Do you love God's law? His word? The psalmist says in 4610, be still and know that I am God. Most Americans can't be still. They always have to have TV and always music on, always going somewhere, running here, running there. Be still. Maybe we should plaster that above each of our doorways at home and then real big across the roof of our church. Be still and know that I am God. Are you? In order to meditate, you have to say no to some things and say yes to the best. The Gallup poll taken of Christians asked about their faithfulness in Bible reading. In that poll, they found that 42% had never picked up their Bible in the last seven days. They said Christ was their Lord. They said they loved Him, but they didn't love His Word enough to pick it up in at least one day in seven. 26% said they read it only once in the last seven days. Now, that's more than two-thirds that only picked it up one time or no times. They said they loved the Lord of the Word, but not His Word by what they did. 17% read it three to six times. Only 12% said they read it every day. How much time do you have for the Word? You know what it takes to read the Scripture? If you're to read it through in a moderate rate, it takes about 70 hours. You break that 70 down over the number of days in the year, that's about 12 minutes a day to read through the Word of God. Do you have 12 minutes for the Lord? God got up on the cross and died for you. Do you have 12 minutes for him? Family devotions. Let's move from personal to family devotions. Ephesians 6 says, You fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Bring them up. That's the word of nourishing there. Of rearing them tenderly. Calvin said, fondly cherishes the idea. It's as a baby bird is in the nest and mother comes back and she fondly cherishes, takes care of them. She feeds her young. Who has the responsibilities of bringing up our children? The pastor, the Sunday school teacher, the teacher during the week that they go to. Who has that responsibility? It says you fathers. Dad has the responsibilities with you. The buck stops at your door. As the day coming, we will stand accountable. Not just with our children, with our wives. Two men we need to be bringing them along, having the time. Every now and then I hear of an unfit mom and dad who raised their kids and did not feed them properly, nutritionally. They had an improper diet. And they even hauled in and the kids are taken away from them. Dads, how's your diet for your children? Your spiritual diet. So important. Spiritually. I never forget, you can custom make your devotions. And one time as my kids were getting a little older, I thought, well, in forming friendships, let's go through Proverbs. and write down what a good friend is, what a bad friend. We started at Proverbs 1, went all the way to Proverbs 31, and then we lined them all out. And by the end of that study, we had 50, 60, 80 things that made a good friend and made a bad friend, and we'd have a little review each time. And they had to recall it by not looking at their notes, by what they remembered. Instill it into them. Design it that fits them, to bring them along in the faith. Do you love your children? Do you? If you say you love them, how do you not have time for the most important task of all? Of training them up in the Word. What's more important? Eternal souls? Or other things in my life? What do you have that's going to last in your life? How long is your job going to last? Your car? Your house? Your bank account? How long do those things last? For a moment and gone? But the souls of your children last for an eternity. Nothing. Nothing more important. Parents, do you love your children? Calvin said you must put glasses on your child to see all the world through those glasses are the scriptures and here's the beauty of the Word of God as we Bring them up and and train them. We always did after supper had supper then we moved over the living room right there automatic It's a habit. It's always done and by the way, I've said this before dad's but if you have trouble with devotions just have them find you that's all if you don't aren't the first one initiate after you get up from the supper table within one minute if they remind you you owe them five bucks and And if you still can't get over it, say $50 then. Every time I forget, I pay you $50. When there's a will, there's a way to get this done. There really is. And the beauty of the Word of God, that's the means to salvation. Romans 10, 17, So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. 1 Corinthians 4, 15, For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. This Word is the means to bring our children alive like nothing else. James 1, 18, Of His own will He brought us forth by the Word of truth. It's called a seed, the word. Can you imagine a farmer who says that a farmer never plants seeds? Can you imagine a Christian parent who says that a Christian never plants seeds in his children? You can live up a form. You need to do that. You need to plant seeds, too. If they don't hear the word, they can never come to the Lord. The Lord tells us in His Word that it's so awesome. He says, you have magnified your word above your very name. Isn't that amazing? God puts it above His name, but there's some husbands They're so selfish, they can put the TV first, they can put their priorities, their sports and hobbies first, but they can't put the Word of God first in their family's lives. Peter says it like this, "...therefore laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking." How do you put those things aside? What comes out of our mouth? How do you do that? The very next verse, 1 Peter 2.2, "...as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the Word that you may grow thereby." One of the life signs of a Christian is they love the Word. They grow in the Word. They have an intense desire to hear the Word. They go to a church that preaches the Word. They read the Word. When a mother brings home her newborn from the hospital, that child just wants one thing. You ever been in a home maybe babysitting and the nursing mother's gone? And that child wants what? Screams out for one thing? Just milk? That's all he wants? That's all she wants? Just that baby? That baby doesn't care what color the clothes are on it? Doesn't care what color the room is? What kind of car you got parked in the driveway? What kind of house? It's focused on one thing. Give me the word. Give me the milk. That's what I want. That's the way it is with a Christian. When God puts His Spirit in them, they want one thing. They want the milk of the Word. That's a healthy sign. Can you imagine a mother who brings home the child, she lays it in the bed and the child never wants milk? Two days, three days later, no milk. Doesn't feed, doesn't want. After a while, what? The child's what? Dead. Stillborn. How many Christians are stillborn? They never were brought alive. They never loved the Lord. They never loved His Word. Job said, I have treasured the words of your mouth more than my necessary food. Before He put His physical food first, He put His spiritual food first. Have you had your eyes opened? Have you, by the Word of God? Can you see how filthy you really are in sin? How desperate you are? Can you see that Jesus Christ, the eternal God, become man, went to the cross to die for sinners? Have you seen that? There's only one hope for all of us. We're all in the same boat. We've all sinned. We all fall short of God's glory. And only His death at Calvary, by me believing simply in that and that alone, can save me. Have you seen that? If you love the Word, you've seen it. If you don't love the Word, you haven't seen it. And I invite you today, come to Him. Turn from your sin, trust in Him, and He'll give you everlasting life. 2 Corinthians 5.17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Are you a new creation? Is your language different? Is your mindset different? You have new pursuits, new friends now. 1 Timothy 1.15, this is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Have you seen how chief sinner you are? Have you seen that? The eternal God has died for sinners. Come to Him. That's all we can do is simply by faith we're saved. Theodore Monard, while telling his little brother about blind Bartimaeus, asked him this question. What would you have asked for if you had been in his place, this blind man? The boy answered, I would ask for a nice big dog with a collar and a chain to lead me about as a blind person. Bartimaeus knew better than what he needed. He didn't need reformation, he needed regeneration. You see, that's like the world, isn't it? Isn't that what the world does today? How many choose the blind man's dog rather than the seeing man's eyes? We need eyes that see. That comes with the Scripture. That comes by God's grace, as He takes my heart of stone and makes it a heart of flesh. Turn from your sin, trust in Him, and you have eternal life. I am told that the lion tamer, why he uses the following equipment. He uses a whip, he uses a gun, and he uses a stool. And with those three instruments he can take that mighty, massive beast and turn it into a little pool of butter. Now the gun I understand, the whip I understand, but why on earth does he use a stool? A chair? What's the purpose of that? And from what I understand, Whereas the lion looks at that chair, the bottom of it, all he sees is four legs there. He doesn't know which one to focus on. He's confused. And because he's confused, he can't plan it out. And therefore, he is turned into... renders powerless by his lion tamer. You see, that's what Satan has done to the first Adam. He's ruined him by causing him not to focus on the Lord and focusing on other things that's best for him. But the last Adam has come. He's focused on his father and he's accomplished what the first Adam did not accomplish. He's accomplished life for us. Come to Christ. Turn for Him. Jesus is victorious. Keep focused on Him and you too can be victorious. Let's close. Let's ask God to use His Word in 2006 in our life in a mighty and powerful way. Let us pray. Father, we thank You. Thank You for Your mighty Word. We know this has been a longer message, but Father, how important it is as we face 2006 with all that the world, the Satan, and flesh throws at us, that we must be anchored. We must be students. And that we must not just know Your Word, but must drive us into a vital living relationship with You. Help us, Lord. There be one here today who knows You not. Bring them alive by Your power. Cause them to see their desperate hopelessness. And in Christ, indeed, we are victors. We thank you for it all, in Jesus' name.