Psalm number 40 and we shall turn to the verses 7 and 8. I then said I know I come in the volume the book is written of me I delighted I will oh my god yeah thy law is within my heart. This is one of those Psalms in which the Holy Spirit guiding the pen of his servant David and the tongue was speaking very clearly of the future coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We have no doubt of whom the text speaks. It is not David saying it. It is the Lord Jesus Christ in the Spirit of Christ speaking in Old Testament times. And we know that to be true because in Hebrews chapter 10 The Apostle Paul uses this very scripture and refers it absolutely and uniquely to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Which tells us one very important thing about scripture. That is, it is its own interpreter. I'm not against concordances or commentaries. I have them in my study, several of them. I refer to them. But actually, scripture is its own interpreter. The Holy Ghost, who first guided it at the pen of those who wrote it, is the one who can give us the clearest and the truest interpretation of its words. And so we have before us this afternoon the words of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Then said I, when did he say it? Well that's a big question isn't it? When did he say it? In one sense he was saying it through his servant David as he wrote this psalm. But he said it in many ways before that. in every promise that had gone before concerning his coming from the book of Genesis onward. And he of course said it in the covenant of grace when the three persons of the glorious trinity entered that wonderful transaction. So the gospel may be preached to sinners And it was the dear Son of God who, in obedience to His heavenly Father, as His obedient servant, agreed, yea, volunteered more than that. Just as willing as His Father He was to come as the sinner's friend. And so we should be very thankful that even in the Old Testament we have the words of our Lord to refer to all wonderfully fully fulfilled by the dear saviour in his full life and in the ministry of the word since through his servants. So it says here, then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me. And we want to ask really three questions this afternoon very briefly. First of all, Who wrote the book? Secondly, for what purpose is the book written? And thirdly, how we are to use the book? What book then is the Saviour speaking of here? In the volume of the book. And the word volume actually means scroll. In the Old Testament times there weren't books like we have, like we saw printed in that video earlier. They had scrolls in which the Word of God was written. And so in the Hebrew it would be a scroll. But our translators have quite rightly put it as the word volume because that refers to a book in which there is instruction, in which there is history, in which there is above all without any qualification whatsoever. From the very first to the last verse in Holy Scripture we have the Word of God. Of course, God does have other books in one sense. Creation is a book. In fact, it's such a clear book that we read that those who live and die without faith will find that creation itself would leave them without excuse in that solemn day. There's enough around us, if only we had eyes to see it and ears to hear, that prove to us that there is a God, a creator, and one who has created us to whom we are accountable. Many years ago there was in Iceland a man who was talking to a missionary. And the missionary was asking how this man came to know the Lord. He had no book as we had. He had no Bible to refer to. He had no one in his own language. And he said to the missionary, well it was like this. As I was making a canoe, he said, for fishing, I began to think, who made the wood for which my canoe was being built? I was making a canoe, but someone must have made the tree from which the canoe came. He said, little by little my eyes were opened to know that there was a creator. And from then, he said, I realized I was subject to that creator, answerable to him. But then I began to desire how to know I could be at peace with this creator. And so step by step the Holy Spirit led him, even without the book in the written language, to obtain the faith that is in Christ Jesus. The book of creation then is a wonderful book. Though the book of the eternal purposes of God in the covenant of grace, that's a very wonderful book. In that book were written the names of the whole Church of Christ from the beginning to the end of time. And that is reflected in the book of the Revelation where we read of the Lamb's book of life. But the book spoken of in our text this afternoon is undoubtedly the book of Holy Scripture. Which of course contains the book of creation and the book of the eternal purposes and the Lamb's book of life. The book then, in our text this afternoon, is the holy, inerrant, infallible Word of Almighty God. Never forget that when you pick up this book, you're picking up God's Word. Yes, God used men like Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and David itself, in the New Testament, the apostles, to have what we have before us. But it is essentially God's Word. We're not to handle it deceitfully. We're not to add to it. We're not to take from it. We're not to amend it. We're not to adapt it. And the one thing that was preeminent when the version that we love so much, the King James Version, when they gathered in Hampton Court and around that time to translate this book that we love so much, the one thing that bound them together, and they were from different backgrounds, was this. They were to translate from the Masoretic and from the received text accurately what the text said. Not what they thought it ought to say or didn't want it to say. And they had that one ambition and a godly given ambition. So we may say we take up the word of God. In our translation we have a faithful translation of it. From which we should be so thankful because there are many languages yet wherein The Word of God is not published in the faithfulness of which we have before us. So, first of all then, who wrote the book? Who wrote the book? Well, we mentioned already that God used this man and that man. And in the time of David, he would have had the first five books of what we call the Pentateuch, the books of Moses. And probably some other parts were coming then to light. Joshua was one who wrote as well. But he would not have the full book that we have before us this afternoon. But nonetheless, what he did have, has the same authority as the whole book. That is, it was written by God. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. It is God breathed. God breathes, remember that. That is the distinct work of the Holy Ghost, who cannot err, the Spirit of Truth, who applies the word that we have on the page. Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. You say, but were they all holy men that the Holy Ghost used? Well, there are two cases in the Word of God where unholy men were used. If only to read the Book of Numbers and there the utterances of that sad and terrible character Balaam. But friends, the Word of God was in his mouth, but never in his heart. Don't you be like Balaam, dear friends. May God not leave you like Balaam. All of us here are very familiar with the Word of God. We sing of it, we read of it, we hear of it. But if it remains at that level only, we are no different to Balaam. Balaam had it in his tongue, in his mouth, but it was never in his heart. And that prayer that Balaam made, let me die the debt of the righteous, let my last end be like his, he never desired to live the life of the righteous. And why did he not? Because the Word of God was not in his heart. If the Word of God is in your heart, you desire to live the life of the righteous. Wherefore by their fruits he shall know them. Now the other man in the New Testament, you remember at the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ? When the Jews were upset because Pilate had written over the cross of our Saviour, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. They wanted to amend it, they wanted it adapted to suit their own prejudice. No, says Pilate, what I have written, I have written. No doubt the hand of God was on that ungodly man. So that testimony to the kingship and Godhead even of our Lord Jesus Christ remained even over the cross as he was suffering and bleeding and dying there. Now in our text bearing in mind is the Savior speaking. He had a wonderful love for the book. He loved the law of God. He didn't just do it because it was there. He did it because he loved it. It was his own law. And he was obeying as the man Christ Jesus. In love. Now you children will know and I'll just come to your level for a moment. Your parents may ask you to do something. And you may reluctantly do it. You really would rather not be doing it but you think well you better do it in case there might be some trouble if you don't. That's not loving what you're asked to do is it? But if you do it because you love the one who's asked you, and love what you're doing because they've asked you to do it, then you're more Christ-like. He loved the law that he obeyed. He loved the precepts. He loved the commandments. And you remember the very first recorded words of our Saviour. Now He must have spoken before the first recorded words. He was 12 years old when we had the first recorded words. He must have spoken many, many words before then which the Holy Ghost has not seen fit to tell us. What He has told us is this. The first recorded words of the Saviour. Wish ye not. I must be about my father's business. What was his father's business? To fulfill what's in the book. And blessed be his holy name. He's fulfilled every jot, every tittle of it. Why did he fulfill it? Because his father gave him the responsibility of so doing. And he was fulfilling it in love. for those who in and of themselves could in no way fulfill all the precepts and commands of it to make themselves righteous in God's sight. It's very significant to note, and perhaps you younger ones can check me out on this, how many times we have those three words recorded in the Word of God, it is written. Written by God, of course. It is written. I think it's 80 times. 80 times in the Word of God, we have those words, it is written. No qualification. When the dear Saviour was contending with Satan in the wilderness, He just quoted His own Word. He didn't add to it, subtract from it. He just quoted the, I was going to say the naked Word of God. And he put no conditions on it. And Satan could not answer back. You'll notice, he didn't answer back at all. Though the Lord came at him with three different thrusts from the word, each one silenced the evil one. It is written. And it's very important, dear friends, that we understand. And who wrote the book? Whose book are we handling? and it should be the best of all books to us. We can live very near it and yet not benefit from it. Many years ago there was a tourist who was visiting the eastern states of the United States of America. And he wanted to visit the Niagara Falls. And he got within quite a near vicinity. He could actually hear the falls and he was about 10 miles from it. And he said to one of the locals, he said, where are the Niagara Falls? Why should you go down this road, he said, and just keep going and you'll come to them. And he said to this man, have you ever seen them? Oh no, he said. He lived within 10 miles of the falls. When the wind was in the right direction, he could clearly hear it, but he never went to see it. Don't be like that with God's Word, dear friends. You hear it, but do you ever go to see it? Do you ever ask to know Him who's written it? Whom it speaks? Is it just a mere letter to you in the head? Or is it like our dear Savior in the heart? You know it's very interesting to notice in the book of Deuteronomy that the side of the ark there was a little aperture in which the law was placed. The law was placed. And that tells us how it was with our Lord Jesus Christ. The law was in his heart to fulfill and to obey. I think you have heard me say this before, at least my people have done, but I'll repeat it because it's illustrative of what I'm trying to say. When Mary I, that terrible queen who shed so many martyrs' blood during her short reign, in her time Calais, believe it or not, belonged to England. It was an English town. That was the other side of the Channel. And she so loved Calais, she said, if I die, you open up my heart, you'll find Calais written on it. Poor, sad, foolish woman. My dear friends, if you, and I say this most reverently, if we opened up the heart of the dear Saviour, what would we find? The holy law of God in all its precepts, all its commandments, all its promises, all its expectations written. on his loving heart. And if you have the heart of Christ, dear friend, and the new nature is the Spirit of Christ, then in the same measure as the Spirit of Christ is given to you, so will God's word be written in your heart. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, said the psalmist, that I might not sin against thee. The next question then is, for what purpose is the book written? A very wonderful word at the end of John chapter 20, which I've often looked at and often felt encouraged by. Let me just read these words. And many other signs, truly did Jesus and the presence of his disciples, was not written in this book. Note that word book, you see. But, these are written. Why? For what purpose is the book written? Why has the Holy Ghost, I say it most reverently, taken such pains to give us this book? That you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. That believing you might have life through his name. That's the whole purpose of this book being written. That Christ may be revealed in it's sacred pages. The sinners might understand their need of this precious Jesus. And that they might prove to be their saviour. Your saviour. My saviour. This is why the book was written. That sinners might learn of Christ. Though we know sadly, and it's a very solemn fact to have to say, that man by nature has no heart for the book, no desire of it, no understanding of it. So we need none other than the Holy Ghost who first wrote it to come into our hearts and reveal the truth to us. Spirit of truth, come down, reveal the things of God who make to us salvation known and witnessed with the blood. And the whole purpose of this book then is to reveal Christ. And I've often wished I could have been with a tour on the road to Emmaus. It must have been the most wonderful sermon ever preached on the face of this earth. When the dear Redeemer drew near to the two sorrowing, heartbroken, perplexed, despairing, bewildered disciples as they made their way to Emmaus. And as they journeyed in their sorrow and debated, and I think, friends, they weren't agreeing on the interpretation of this, that and the other. Jesus himself drew near and went with them. The very one of whom the book speaks, the very one whose book it is, drew near. And he asked them of their trouble and they tell him of it. And he gently but lovingly reproves them for not looking at the book in faith. He said, if you look at it in faith, you'll see. And what did he tell them? From beginning at Moses, the prophets, the Psalms, right before the Old Testament, he revealed himself. And friend, the more he did that, the more their darkness fled, the more their fears disappeared, the more they were one in heart with each other, and especially with the one who was speaking. So when they got to their home, they couldn't bear to think of the stranger who had joined them, leaving them. Abide with us is toward evening, the day is far spent. He went in to tarry with them. And we know that he was made known unto them in the breaking of bread. Friends, he went to the book to reveal himself. And if you want to know more of Christ, dear friends, then go to the book. And ask the dear Saviour to send His Holy Spirit into your heart to show Christ on the sacred page. Remember that when John the Baptist was in the womb of Elizabeth and Mary went to visit, Elizabeth said, what is this to me? The mother of my Lord should come to me. And we read John Baptist leapt in her womb. Why? Because the name of our Lord Jesus Christ was mentioned. And if you have Christ in your heart, dear friends, then when the name of Christ is mentioned, like John Baptist, your soul will leap. There's a mark of divine life. Does your soul leap when you find Christ on the sacred page? You may be in an unexpected place. You suddenly find something sheds a new light, a new ray on the dear Saviour. It's my Jesus speaking of. This is my beloved. This is my friend. Oh you daughter of Jerusalem. There's none like him. He's incomparable. Yes, the chief is among 10,000, the altogether lovely one. Always a wonderful thing when we have Christ revealed to us. And the Lord said to those Jews who were debating and criticising him, search the scriptures, for them ye think. Note that what he said. You think you have eternal life. Friend, you must go further than thinking. You have many thoughts about this, that and the other. As one good man said, opinions are not saving. What you and I need is the Holy Ghost to reveal to us this dear Saviour as ours, that it's no longer just thinking about Him, then we begin to know Him. As Paul says, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. Mind you, if you do know Him, you'll have thoughts about Him. Oh yes, precious thoughts. But the great point is, do we know Him of whom the book is speaking? And the Lord said, in this book, search it. You have eternal life. life eternal. Something that goes beyond the last breath you and I will draw in this natural body in which we are in temporarily. Search the scriptures for them ye think ye have eternal life. How many here tonight or this afternoon can say not only do I think, I know by the witness of the Holy Ghost that I have eternal life. And it's Very beautifully put by one man concerning the book. Christ suffered willingly. He came willingly. He suffered willingly. And he died willingly. All that's revealed in the book. He came, lo I come, in the volume of books written of me, to do thy will, O my God. He came willingly, not hesitantly, not grudgingly. He willingly left the bosom of his father to come down into the sin-cursed earth as a man. He willingly suffered the man of sorrows acquainted with grief. He willingly laid down his life, and no man could take it from him. He willingly laid in the grave to sanctify it for his dear people. He willingly rose again, and now at the right hand of his father he is no less willing. Listen to these words. Because he continueth ever, this man hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able, there is his willingness, able to save to the uttermost. All that come unto God by him seeing ever liveth to make intercession for them. Oh bless God for the willing Saviour. How willing was Jesus to die that we wretched sinners might live. The life they could not take away he freely and lovingly gave. Bless God for a willing Saviour. May he make us his willing people. Oh we're so backward aren't we? We're so unmoved. But my people shall be willing in the day of my power. So the purpose the book is written is to reveal Christ. The third thing is what are we to do with the book. Especially of course this has to do with preaching as well as hearing. We read in Isaiah 29 18. In that day shall the death Hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity. When Paul was commanding Timothy in the second epistle, he says, Timothy, you are to preach the word. That's to be your source. That's to be your book to go to. You are to preach the word, the written word, the incarnate word. Yes, and the necessity of the applied word. You're not to stray from the word, Timothy. You're dealing with souls. You're dealing with eternal matters. And it's the book that you are to refer to and to relate to. And friends, it's a wonderful thing. And many of you here can say when the Lord opened your ears to hear the words of the book, you'd heard it in your outward ear many years perhaps. But then it came with such power, you couldn't resist it. It was an irresistible power. It fastened like a nail in a sure place in your heart. And you had to listen to it and began to obey it. And it made a great difference in your life. And those of you who are hearers are to test what you hear according to the book. And if those of us who preach God's holy word stray from the book, it's the preacher who's wrong, not the book. Remember that. Put everything you hear from the pulpit or elsewhere to the law and the testimony. If they speak not according to this word, there is no light in them. And I'd like to think of the book as being God's holy word Revealing the thoughts of God. We all have thoughts, don't we? And when we want to express those thoughts, we use words. And if we're being honest, then we're expressing what we believe in our hearts. How wonderful then that Almighty God opened his mouth. I say that most reverently. In the person of his dear son, the express image of his dear son. He expresses his thoughts through the name of his son, the work of his son, the word of his son. In the beginning was the word. Yes, the expression of the father's thoughts. The word was with God and the word was God. The same as in the beginning, with God. Oh bless God then for the book and the mind of the spirit in it. For God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts, aren't they? God's ways are higher than our ways. Now most of us here have been brought up to hear the truth from our earliest days. And before a child is God is called by grace you have many thoughts about what it is to be saved and yet know nothing about it. There was a man who lived in Gamlingae in Bedfordshire and he was a young lad about seven or eight I think he was. And he heard his mother talking to some godly people in Gamley Gay about how they came to know the Lord and what struggles they had in coming to Him and how often they were tried. And he said to himself, if ever I'm saved, I know exactly what to do. I won't be like my mother being so tardy in coming to the Lord. He said, but when the Lord did show him what it was to be a sinner, he found that he was no different to his mother. He needed to be led. He needed to be drawn. He needed to be taught. The Lord did lead him. The Lord did draw him. The Lord did teach him. But he had to learn what we read in Isaiah. I'll bring the blind by way they knew not. I'll lead them in paths they've not known. I'll make darkness light before them and crooked things straight. These things that are unto them are not forsake them. And the pre-ministers of God's choosing and appointing they are to preach the word. Even the dear Saviour set that example in Luke chapter 4 I believe it is. The very first sermon he preached we took the book He took the book. You read it. What book? Well, of course, it was the Old Testament in his day, of course. But he took the book. He opened it. And he read from Isaiah. And he began to preach. This day is this word fulfilled in your ears. You see what an example he set to his servants. Preach the word. You, though you preach the gospel, you are to take the book. And those of you, all of us in our private reading, we are to take the book. Yes, this precious volume which speaks of Christ. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the Word of God will never pass away. Now I don't want to prolong my sermon, but I will just remind you of something that I read only yesterday, which I found very helpful. I'll read it to you. Many of you have heard of John Payton, who was the Missionary of the New Hebrides. A very wonderful book. Read it. If there was a man who loved the book that I'm speaking about, that man did. And he longed to be able to bring that book to those poor ignorant savages, some of them were. And when he was settling in the New Hebrides, in Tanna particularly, he said this. One incident of that time was very memorable. and God turned it into good account for higher ends. I often tell it as the miracle of the speaking wood. While working at the house he was building, I required some nails and tools. Lifting a piece of planed wood, I penciled a few words on it, and requested our old chief, one of the savages, to carry it to his wife, Mrs. Payton, and she would send what I wanted. In blank wondering, as he stared at me, he said, but what do you want? I replied, the wood will tell her. He looked very angry, thinking I was fooling him, and retorted, who ever heard of a wood speaking? By hard pleading, I succeeded in persuading him to go. He was amazed to see Mrs. Pate and look at the wood, and then go and fetch the needed articles. He brought back the book of wood and eagerly made signs for an explanation. Chief in Broken Tannies. Tannen was the island he was on and Tannies was the language he was trying to learn. I read to him the words and informed in the same way God spoke to us through his book. The will of God was written there. And by and by, when he learned to read, he would hear God speaking to him from its page, as Mrs. Payton heard me from a piece of wood. And this is what is very touching. A great desire was thus awakened in the poor man's soul. To see the very Word of God printed in his own language. He helped me to learn words and master ideas with growing enthusiasm. And when my work of translating in port of Holy Scripture began, his delight was unbounded, his help invaluable. To him, the miracle of the speaking page was not less wonderful than that of the speaking book. I ask you, dear friends, is it a miracle to you? May God end his blessing.