Making His Word Mine

How best shall we start the 21st century? By making His Word, our own.

The Bible is not an ordinary book. It contains the Word of God. The Word of God. On how many occasions have you noticed someone, perhaps even yourself although you wouldn't want to admit it, shy to speak up about God's Word? Shy perhaps because of your personality or an awkward stage of life you are going through. Or maybe shy about the Word because you don't know the Word. Do you know His Word?

Why don't you know His word? Why aren't you "mighty in the Scriptures" by now, like Apollos was? Do you think this is all optional, or all some big game? It is not optional. It is not a game.

How people treat their Bible says a lot about how they feel about God's Word. Don't you think so? I hate it when I drop my Bible. I think last time I was hear, we were out in the hallway here and inadvertently I dropped my Bible. I don't like dropping my Bible, in public or in private. It seems irreverent to me. But at least I had my Bible to drop. Some people come to church without their Bible. Can you imagine that?

Too often I've seen others treat their Bible like it was an ordinary book. If you are going to make God's Word your word, then you can't treat it that way. You need to treat it special. It is the living Word of the living God. No, there's nothing magical about the paper its printed on, or the ink used for the words. There is nothing special about the glue or the stitches that hold it all together. There is nothing holy about the cover. Some have ribbons for bookmarks and some do not. Some have silver or gold-gilt edges, some do not. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the fact that what you are holding in your hands is the Word of God. Can we understand that?

Turn with me to Ecclesiastes 5:1-3, 7. Listen to Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived:

Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words . . . For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.

When we come to the Bible, all other bets are off. We are coming to the living Word of the living God. We are coming to His commandments, His communications to us. The Creator desires to speak with thee. It is not time to chew gum, or crack jokes, or distract another worshipper. It is not time to sing the Words of a holy God to a worldly ditty. People have fought and died for this Word. It has not come to you cheaply. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit; holy men of God who translated this word into English and other languages were tortured, had their eyes gouged out and their genitals burned off--for the sake of the gospel and the Word of God. Do you treat it so cheaply?

"Pastor Larry, we didn't know." Well. Now you do. This Word is your salvation. As I said, it is not a magic talisman or relic. It is not the paper or the cover or a colorful set of maps of the Bible lands in the back that make it God's book. It is God's Word that makes it God's book.

The saying goes, "familiarity breeds contempt." That is both true and false when it comes to the Bible. If you treat it just like any other book, if you treat it as a common thing, that kind of familiarity will lead you to treat it with contempt. You hold in your hand what so many gave their lives to publish and preserve. Other generations have treated it with awe. Who are you to treat it with contempt? Have you worked through it spending not a few minutes here and there, but years piled upon years of deep study? Have you thus determined that it is nothing more than an ordinary book? It is a book to contend with. Even the atheist and unbeliever usually treats it carefully. They've convinced themselves that its not true, but they answer its arguments as if they mean something. The very fact they will attempt to refute it point by point shows you that they take it serious.

If you treat it with contempt, you will hold it in contempt. It is not to be twirled, thrown, or otherwise maimed. Some believers always make sure that they are never stacking any other books on top of it. They go out of their way to treat it with respect.

We are not talking about ceremonialism or ritualism here. I mean that to keep it clear in their own minds that this is a holy Word, they take steps to mark of a special place for it in their mind. If you are going to do this most basic Christian thing--have respect for God's Word--you need to treat it that way. Cultivate a personal reverence for God's Word.

Let me share something with you. Do you know how Jewish people treat the scrolls that have the Torah written on them? With the greatest of reverence. Yes, they've added in some ceremony, and that's probably dangerous too. But they treat the scrolls with respect, because they associate that Word with God.

The more familiar you are with God's Word, the more respect you will have for it. You'll see that it is deep. Deeper than you are.

Now here is another point. How do you speak God's Word?

Do you make a joke of it? This Word is no joke. Listen, I'm like some of you. You know, I've cracked some lines about this holy Word, I'm sure that I have. May God forgive me. No, we needn't be a batch of dour-faced, sour-faced prudes living un-fun lives. But life isn't about fun. You can have fun, the Christian can have fun, but it is a byproduct of living for God, not the result of the right computer game or entertainment or having fun friends. But you have to watch out. Even in the church they are gunning for your affections with these wrong worldly values. One Christian college, for example, advertised for several months why you should attend that school. What picture did they show? A raft full of young people doing white-water on some river near there. Having fun. This in an a for a supposedly Christian college. Have you noticed, or have you not, that almost everything the church pitches at you, its young people, is pitched as "fun." Its not because they are insincere. Its because of wrong values.

How are you going to get the right concept on God's holy Word if it is just a matter of having fun like everything else? This Word is holy. It is no joke. See, thbere is nothing wrong with having fun or enjoying something that you feel is fun; the problem is when having fun becomes your primary value.

If you are going to be different when you leave here, it will be because of God's Word. Listen, in Bible times do you know what they did when God's Word was read? It was God's Word. They all stood up silent, in rapt attention and reverence. Or they knelt before God. We sit, we laugh, we giggle, we loose our attention for whatever reason. You know why?

Maybe its because of all the frivolous "fun" songs we make out of God's Word. You know, "Pharaoh, pharaoh--let My people go--unh!" Singing God's word to frivolous songs cheapens it in your mind. Do you know what? Satan wants you to sing God's Word. He wants you to put it to cheap words so that subconsciously you make it cheap in your mind. We would be a lot better off if when we heard God's Word we got on our face, prostrating ourselves like the Muslims do. It would at least remind us I hope that God is in heaven and we are on earth, and He is speaking to me?!

When we go to worship, in church, in a home at a vesper, let our words be few. Let them be thoughtful, reverent, spiritual. Otherwise we are giving God the sacrifice of fools; the empty words of humans in the place of hearing the holy Words of God. It is the sacrifice of fools. What did the wise man say? "Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God." When you come to worship God, bring your ears before you bring your mouth. Remember, you have two ears. You know why that is? Its because God gave you a backup. Because its so important that you hear.

He is in heaven; you are on earth. Think about it. Think about it. He has something to say to you. You don't have anything to say to Him. That is, you don't have anything to say to Him unless you know His Word. Then you can talk. Don't worry. Don't think its such a large book. I want to tell you, a few seconds of video take more space to encode than the Bible and all the Spirit of Prophecy does combined. This book isn't so big--not after you've read it through a few times. Once I met a man who claimed to have read the Bible through 17 times. I was so awed by that back then. I had only read it through I think nine or ten times back then. This Word is your life.

Listen, let's do something together. Turn to Psalm 119. Let me show you something.

Here's what we are going to do. Now this is the longest Psalm in all the Bible. Also, did you know that the very middle of the Bible divides right at the 119^th Psalm? It's true. What did God put right in the middle of the Bible? A Psalm all about His Word. We are just going to take the first verse of every one of this Psalm's 22 sections, and see what it says about God's word. Let's see what we can learn about it. Maybe it will help us to make His Word our own.

The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters. You know what the Psalmist found? He discovered that he could very easily say something about God's Word just by working through every letter of the alphabet. Let's start with Psalm 119:1:

ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.

God's Word is His law. John Wyclif when he preached called it that. What do we find here? Under the Hebrew letter "a," the first thing written is "blessed are the undefiled in the way." God's Word preserves us from defilement. Bursting out all around us in this world is defilement of every kind. Nowadays, the way regular people use language is so crude. Just going into any place of business almost, you'll even hear employees swearing in public like it doesn't matter. Notice here that the people who are blessed are undefiled "in the way." The road or the path they take through life is a different pathway. All because they are seeking to live in harmony with the Bible. It makes different people.

Next, look at Psalm 119:9:

BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to Thy word.

How can a young person experience purity? Fantastic question. And a fantastic answer: "By taking heed thereto according to Thy word." You want to live a life that is full of what's good instead of what's bad? Then hear what your Maker says. This is how one becomes changed. We search out these long theological answers. We keep looking for the special formula to have victory over sin. Obey the Word. God will give the power. Don't listen to the whisperings that it is so complicated. Just trust what God says and act on it. You'll be fine.

Next, look at Psalm 119:17:

GIMEL. Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep Thy word.

Don't just ask God for good stuff and good outcomes; ask Him for good stuff and good outcomes so that you can keep His word. Just this--just this one difference--could make a life-difference in your approach to God. If you put His Word first, He will inundate you with honors; He'll pour out heaven's treasures over you. But He doesn't do that for just anybody. It is reserved for those who put His word first. He is faithful. Honor God and He will honor you.

Psalm 119:25 comes next:

DALETH. My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.

When you are becoming dry, when you need life, God's Word will give you life. You know "quicken" is the way "to make alive" was spoken a few hundred years ago. Do you ever need quickening? You know we're all essentially dead apart from God's Word. Ever seen those paramedics in action? "Clear!" they call out, before they apply the voltage to restart the stopped heart. They are dealing with power. When you come to God's Word, you are dealing with power; quickening power. Do you ever need some of that? I do. And I receive it to, because God is not stingy about giving it. He loves to give you and me life by means of His Word.

The next letter in Hebrew is Psalm 119:33:

HE. Teach me, O LORD, the way of Thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.

And its true. Ask God to teach you, but then do your part. Sit down in some quiet place with His Word. He will teach you. He not only teaches but empowers, so that you can keep that Word real in your life "to the end." There's nothing else like it.

The next letter in the Hebrew, now at Psalm 119:41 is:

VAV. Let Thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD, even Thy salvation, according to thy word.

Our Father's mercies are best expressed in that He gives salvation to us. And it is His to give. Notice, "O Lord, even Thy salvation." And notice that even God's salvation comes, only it says, "according to Thy word." God's salvation comes only by and through His Word. And we thought it was something funny. Not funny.

Wonderful.

So wonderful in fact that when we go the next letter, here's what it says, Psalm 119:49:

ZAIN. Remember the word unto Thy servant, upon which Thou hast caused me to hope.

The Psalmist reminds us that God is faithful about what He has promised us. He has caused us to hope in His Word, and what comfort that brings. Has His Word caused you to hope? If not, then you need to make His Word your word. You need more of God's Word than you've probably ever had before. You need it now. Are you ready for hope?

Its more convenient to fret, to worry, to count ourselves all just victims and say that God doesn't love me. But for those who serve Him, His Word causes hope. I do not think I would be alive today without the Word of God. It has given me hope. It has been the most special thing in my life. In it, God speaks with me.

But there is more. Psalm 119:57 says this to us:

CHETH. Thou art my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep Thy words.

God is our portion. That is, He is what we get. We were made in His image; we were made with a God-sized gap in us that needs filling. It has to be filled. But when we turn from God we fill it with anything but. And that always leads to sorrow. But when we keep, through His strength, His words, we get Him--God. He's our portion. Thank you Lord. I want to make Your words mine.

The next letter in Hebrew comes at Psalm 119:65:

TETH. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy word.

Do you know that this Word of God's deals well with us? God is so fair. He is so merciful. Everything around us encourages us to feel victimized, unfairly treated by the world and by God. But in the end we'll have no complaints. We'll see that He has bent over backwards to be more than fair. All according to His Word.

Then there's Psalm 119:73, the letter yod. It's the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, you know, one of the jots and titles. It is also the letter that God's name starts with, YHWH or "Yahweh."

JOD. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments.

How fitting that with this little letter the Psalmist reminds us that God made us. "Thy hands have made me and fashioned me. Give me understanding." For what purpose? So that I can go to business college, get an MBA, and makes money hand over fist running with the sharks? No, not at all. It is a different value system. Give me understanding Lord so that I may learn Your commandments. Learning God's commandments means living them in every aspect of our life. You don't take a quiz and then forget about it. Learning God's commandments is a life-project. They are not hard to learn. But we grow, we have new experiences. We just keep growing toward heaven. That's the plan.

Then there's Psalm 119:81:

CAPH. My soul fainteth for Thy salvation: but I hope in Thy word.

Do you long for God's salvation? We are talking salvation here. Then you will trust in God's word. See how big this is? This is salvation.

Psalm 119:89 says:

LAMED. For ever, O LORD, Thy word is settled in heaven.

God's word is settled--it is settled forever. What is bound in heaven is bound on earth. If you want something you can depend on whenever everything else is changing all around you, from the sky on down, it is God's Word. The new space station--they say that it is now almost the brightest object in the night sky now. Very impressive to see what humankind has done. But did you know this? The space station Mir is going to splash-down somewhere soon, because its orbit is decaying and they can't keep it up there? They lost control of it a few days ago, lost contact with it for about a day. They've got it under control again, and they think they can bring it down in the Pacific Ocean. But what God settles is forever, and what man does is temporary. What man puts up, must come down. What God puts up, hangs there on nothing and just stays there. His Word makes it so.

Next is Psalm 119:97:

MEM. O how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day.

How much do you think about God's Word? If you will spend a small bit of time in it at least, and ask God to help you, He will help you. He'll help you have that Word in your mind throughout your day. When I go to bed, do you know what? I hear God's word. My mind plays it back to me. When I wake up, it is the same. Ask God to do that for you. Then spend some time each day reading from it, thinking about it, memorizing it. Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night and go out into the living room to read the Bible. Pam comes and gets me and urges me to go back to bed. And I do. But I can lay there for awhile with His word rolling back and forth through my mind. And you know, I find that when I fill up with His word, my thoughts are interspersed with prayer with Him. It is very, very special, and very personal. And don't get me wrong. I am not always in this kind of experience. But how precious it is to me. And it can be for all of us. Don't you want something like that? "O, how I love Thy law!" O how I love the Bible.

Here's a popular one now: "NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105. Is that the way God's Word is for you? Our world is a dark place under the curse of sin. God sent you and me His light to show us the pathway home to His house. Notice too that God's word does not shine His light on a transporter pad like in Star Trek. Christianity is not a "Beam me up, Scotty" quick-fixter. His light shines on a pathway for your feet. Your feet are for walking, moving, ambulating along. And that's what paths are for too. Christianity is a battle and a march.

But the path is lighted by the Father. By means of His Word.

You'd have thought that by now the Psalmist would have grown bored and moved on to some other project. But no. He next comes to the letter . . .

SAMECH. I hate vain thoughts: but Thy law do I love.Psalm 119:113.

Do you think the Psalmist started this way? Hating vain thoughts? No, we all start by loving, appreciating vain thoughts. Vain is the word for "empty." We all start life with a predisposition to liking empty thoughts. It is this fact--that so many are unconverted and still have this sick appreciation for empty thoughts--that drives television. It makes you laugh at the snappy saying or the computer-generated special effects in the commercial. I saw a commercial not long ago where a car shakes all the mud off itself after the owner gets out, like a dog you know, shaking to get the water off. I laughed. Thought it was clever. For a moment. But it was a vain thought. It was empty. It gave life to the inanimate. See, that's been reserved for God. He gives life. Man makes the illusion that he gives life, but God gives life. I tell you that one of these days we are going to begin to see that all of this stuff is computer enhanced, its all modified and made more perfect than it is or ever will be in real life, and we've been sold an illusion. And we are going to leave it behind, because we can't trust anything we see anymore. But we can always trust in God's Word. So we learn to love His law, His Word. It is all that is really real.

Next comes Psalm 119:121:

AIN. I have done judgment and justice: leave me not to mine oppressors.

Now where is God's Word in that verse? How can we do judgment and justice in our lives? Can we do it on our own? Isn't it true that we can only live out what is right if God helps us? God promises us in His word that He is faithful. When we live His way, He will not forsake us. This verse is a reminder of that solemn trust between the Psalmist and His God. Do you trust God to be true to His Word? He will not leave you to those who oppress you. He will deliver you. That's just the kind of God He is. That's the way His Word works. So we need to treat and think of His Word with respect. Its not like just any other book or any other saying or any other so-called Scripture.

Next we read Psalm 119:129:

PE. Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them.

God's word is full of richness and fatness and truth. It makes good sense to hold onto it, to keep it. His Word is not just interesting. It is truth itself put into your hand. Remember Pilate's question--what a question it was: "What is truth?" But after asking the question he heard the noise, the clamor of the crowd, and he was distracted. Imagine that! Jesus is standing right in front of you, and you ask Him what truth is! And then you don't wait for the answer! Pilate is one of the saddest characters in all the Bible in my mind, because of this incident. But how many people I've met who are just like that! God's words are good for you. In itself this is good cause to keep them.

The eighteenth letter in the Hebrew alphabet is found in Psalm 119:137:

TZADDI. Righteous art Thou, O LORD, and upright are Thy judgments.

Get God's Word into you, and you will know that God is righteous. If you want to know not only what truth is, but what righteousness is, then the only source is the Word of God.

Here's a neat one: Psalm 119:145:

KOPH. I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O LORD: I will keep Thy statutes.

How wholehearted are you about God's will and His word? He knows your struggles. The Bible says that He has put all of your tears in a bottle. Those who give themselves wholly over to Him, He gives Himself wholly over to. When Jesus hung on the Cross, it wasn't any half-way thing. He gave Himself wholly for you. We need to take His word seriously, for He has taken us so very seriously.

The "R" in Hebrew is "resh," now that we are at Psalm 119:153:

RESH. Consider mine affliction, and deliver me: for I do not forget Thy law.

God is faithful in His covenant to those who are faithful to Him. He will deliver you. But hang in there, take Him up on His offers, be true to Him. You can count on Him. Don't--especially as we are just sailing straight into the end-time endzone with afterburners blazing--don't forget His law. Don't leave aside His Word. This is the most awesome time you could have lived. We can walk through these end-times with God and see and participate in the finishing of His work! What a special privilege has been reserfved for this generation.

Two more letters only. The Psalmist shares in Psalm 119:161:

SCHIN. Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of Thy word.

No matter what happens, the Psalmist is in awe of God's Word. Can you say that? Maybe we aren't so steadfast as that in general. When we grow frustrated and overwhelmed, we tend to snap back at God, as if He were the author of our pain. But usually a mirror would be much more helpful in figuring out who's the reason why something has gone sour. Its our fault far more often than not. Jesus healed some people, but had to tell them , "go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee." Even if the big guys come along and treat you wrong, stay in awe of God's word.

Now we have the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet: Tau.

TAU. Let my cry come near before Thee, O LORD: give me understanding according to Thy word.

What idea does the Psalmist associate with this last letter of his from A-to-Z review of God's Word? The crying out for understanding of God's Word. How fitting! If you are going to make His Word your own, you must cry out for it. You must seek for it.

He won't fail you. He is there. It is there.

It is there because of His love for you.

Make His Word yours.

See, all the world is wandering out there, and so many don't know Jesus. So few have God's Word. You have a special opportunity. You can have it now. You can begin building now. You don't need to wait. But you have to keep that Word apart from the common things that are in your mind. Don't let them distract you, unsettle you, distort you, turn you into a cartoon. There are already enough of those people running around in this world.

See, Psalm 36:9 says that it is only in God's light that we see light. It is only with His vision that we can see rightly. And we can only get into His vision of things by getting His Word into our mind and heart. It is the Word of Jesus.

So our message this Sabbath morning is so very basic. So very simple. So very crucial. Never forget, never stop, never send someone else the wrong message, by treating God's Word cheaply. You've been bought with a price so very high. He has sent you His Word at such a very high cost. Don't forget it. Ever.

O.K., I have a project for you now. Here's where you can get real practical. I want you to go through these 22 verses we just went over in Psalm 119. Look them over. Think about them. Find one there that especially speak to you--to your needs right now. I want you to look those over this Sabbath afternoon, or perhaps just next in Sabbath school. And I want you to pray about it and memorize the one that God leads you to. And take that special word, that special promise about God's Word, and let it be your helper, your reminder, your motto, for making God's Word your own. And treat your Bibles with respect. And treat His words, even in songs, as what it is: the quickening, life-giving, immeasurably wonderful word of your Maker speaking direct to you. And go on from there. You will be mighty in the Scriptures if the Scriptures are mighty in you. The world needs you. It calls out for help. Go get the Word for them and take it to them so that they can make it their own.

Last Modified 5 January 2001 Contact us at larry@greatcontroversy.org