Your Word is Wonderful
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Every sport involves some level of risk. But the greatest risk must be faced by those in motorsports. In an interview with Sports History Weekly, Mario Andretti was asked the following question, “What makes a talented race car driver?” Is it fearlessness, reaction, judgment, or strategy? As the only race car driver to win the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, and the Formula One World Championship, fearlessness, reaction, judgment, and strategy are all talents that Andretti has in abundance. So, which one is the most important? He said, “All of the above.”
But then he added this, “. . . plus burning desire and confidence. I say burning desire because of the risk involved. If you want something so badly, you have a burning desire to do it, then you aren’t distracted by fear or risk or anything else.”
What is it that we are passionate about? What is it that consumes our time and efforts? Where is it that we spend our money? What gets us out of bed in the morning? What causes us to daydream? What causes us to become angry? What is it that illicit such deep emotions? What is our burning desire?
This is a very important thing for us to get clear in our minds today. Because in reality this is why we do what it is we do. In general this is the deciding factor as to why we do what we do? It is the difficulty as to why many for centuries struggle to articulate any kind of morality or are even able to enforce any kind of morality. Because in the end people will only do what they want to do. Even when we say we are doing things we don’t want to do, we are only doing it because we were faced with a choice of consequences and doing what we don’t want to do right now outweighs what we are gonna have to do in the future. So then the question becomes… what would you rather do? So in the end, you are still doing what you want to do. It is the passions and the desires of our heart that move us. That motivate us. That drive us. That causes us to do what it is that we do. And in our culture … the motto… Nobody tells me what to do. No one has the right to tell you what to do. I decide my own reality. Deciding for myself is the only true freedom I have. Follow your heart. Pursue your passions. Do what you wanna do. Unless what you wanna do keeps me from doing what I wanna do. This is a common thing and illustrated beautifully in the scriptures.
In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.
This why for centuries now the worlds brightest thinkers have not been able to give and or present an adequate and functional objective morality. How do you get people to do what they do not want to do? And this is the reality of everyone who says that Jesus is not your king.
So as you can see… understanding passions, desires, wants is a very important thing to recognize and understand. It gives us our motivation and it tells us what is that’s actually important to us. If we are honest with our passions they it will tell us what is really real.
In modern evangelicalism today we continue to pervert what is true in order to proclaim what is not true and then we wonder why our passions are misplaced. Why is it that most professing Christians are more in line and passionate about the culture than about the Scriptures or church.
There is a tale told of that great English actor Macready. An eminent preacher once said to him: "I wish you would explain to me something." "Well, what is it? I don't know that I can explain anything to a preacher."
"What is the reason for the difference between you and me? You are appearing before crowds night after night with fiction, and the crowds come wherever you go. I am preaching the essential and unchangeable truth, and I am not getting any crowd at all."
Macready's answer was this: "This is quite simple. I can tell you the difference between us. I present my fiction as though it were truth; you present your truth as though it were fiction."
Do we even believe that what the Bible has to say is real? Do we believe that it is true? Do we believe that the Word of God is wonderful and beautiful? Do were yearn in thirst for it? Well our Psalmist did. Let’s look and see why.
Your laws are wonderful.
No wonder I obey them!
The teaching of your word gives light,
so even the simple can understand.
I pant with expectation,
longing for your commands.
The grass withers the flower fades but the Word of our God stands forever.
Wonderful Word
Truthful Word
Thirst for the Word
The first thing we will look at today is the psalmist conclusion that the word of God is indeed wonderful. The second thing we will uncover is the firm belief of the psalmist that the Word of God is true. Finally, the thirst for the word is displayed in the beauty of the good news that it presents.
Thesis: Though sin and the patten of this world causes us to lose sight of what we have been given by the Lord, it is the very Word of God that will bring wonder when we truly taste and find out that it is good.
I. Wonderful Word
- “Those who know them best wonder at them most.” - Spurgeon
A. The Wonderful Hebrew word Pele. Which is commonly translated wonderful. It carries the sense of carrying feelings of wonder. Something unusual or even something miraculous. Man when I read your Words oh Lord… its all just too good to be true.
B. It really does carry a dual sense. Yes… the comfort and promises it makes are truly wonderful and it is also that which is full of high mystery. It is that which brings joy to behold, cherish, and find comfort… but it is also that which is “out of this world.” There is a lot in it that is beyond us. Beyond comprehension.
C. And yet for many in modern evangelicalism, we continue to decline in biblical literacy and it remains on the coffee table collecting dust in many home all across the world. Something that brings comfort. Something that is still beyond human understanding that will only come to light when the Holy Spirit brings understanding. Something this wonderful that contains the wonderful in all senses of the Word. The wonderful Word is wonderful. How can this be?
D. I understand this position of the world. By nature the world does indeed reject the Word of God both hardened and darkened to its light. By how is this possible in the church. Reading the Word is treated as if it is a kind of burden. Reading the Word is the last reaming hope for us. Reading the Word is that which we have no time for. Reading the Word is that which continues to be a real struggle. In the church?
E. I think the big problem is we are taking cues from the World again and we cannot experience the true wonder of the Word because we are still deciding if the Word of God is really the word of God. So much is said and so much is doubted about the word of God today that it remains unsettled. Many Christians are now diminishing the word of God saying that it is just a book written by man. Allowing the science of the discovery channel to determine what we believe it is. Don’t believe it true but see it as something that’s helpful. And so much is redirected because of the acceptance of the philosophies of this world like pragmatism that the Bible could be seen as true and not necessarily helpful. Hard to get the Bible to be of good help when the end result is sinful.
F. But our psalmist says that this truth is the reason why he obeys the Word of God. What should be our response be when we uncover this wonderful truth? Admired, loved, honored, respected, kept… in other words… obeyed. But does this happen? Do people read the wonderful words of God and do not do what it requires? All the time.
For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.
G. But maybe the reason is we do not know it enough to see it as wonderful.
Charles Spurgeon - “Those who know them best wonder at them most.”
II. Truthful Word
- Living life when you cannot see.
A. Not only is the Word of God wonderful, it brings with it light. Its not hard to see the point of the figurative language. Light is there so that we can see. We are not blind. With the Word of God we will never need to walk in the dark. We will never need to be blind. I am pretty blind without my glasses.
B. One of the funniest things how long I can survive without my glasses. Ever try not having your glasses and trying to find your glasses?
C. So why would we try to get through life without knowing the scriptures? Like trying to walk through life with the blindfold. When we put the Bible aside it is like we are saying we prefer the blind fold. But it seems that way in modern evangelicalism today… we prefer the blindfold. No wonder we are into all kinds of stuff… it is the actual blind leading the blind.
D. So do we not believe that the Bible is light to guide us through life? Do we not believe that the Bible is wonderful and enlightening? Then why do we not know it? Why do we not desire to go deeper in it? Or maybe we do believe that the Bible is a light unto out feet and we can see more clearly. Maybe we do not light what we see. Maybe we would rather be blind. This is why we present truth as if it is fiction. We don’t really like what the Bible has to say about life and godliness. We really don’t like the truth.
E. And it does not take a rocket scientist to see it. In one reading of the scriptures, evident in proverbs, it will make wise the simple.
The instructions of the Lord are perfect,
reviving the soul.
The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
F. So our excuse cannot be that it is too difficult to understand. Uh oh. So what is it then? Laziness? Add to the list as one of the things we gotta stop saying as Christians. The other day on social media someone says Christianity is not about doctrine or theology its about a relationship. We gotta stop saying that… you probably don’t even know it, but this statement is what we call a self-defeating statement. Not about theology or doctrine but a relationship … is a doctrinal statement. In you own words you are saying we should not listen to what you just said.
G. What you are really saying is that you are not willing to learn anymore, not willing to be shown that you are wrong, not willing to make an effort to admit error. In one swoop you are showing the rejection of the truth because of laziness and or you don’t like the truth. Therefore my relatioship with Christ is personal… you cant tell me … Its between me and Jesus. My relationship and my truth.
And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
H. It is not your relationship with Christ and its not even my relationship with Christ … it is our relationship with Christ. We are to be built up together
Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
I. Unity in the faith. This is not going to happen if we do not see the Bible the same way our psalmist does. The more we know the more wonderful it becomes. The more we know the more we can see. With something so wonderful how can we not thirst for it.
III. Thirst for the Word
- Impossible to satisfy.
A. The Hebrew Word Shaaf … translated thirst. The idea is more literally I opened my mouth and I panted. I like the rendering… Insatiable. It is a desire that is impossible to satisfy. Our psalmist wants more and more and more. His appetite for the scriptures just cannot be satisfied.
As the deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for you, O God.
I thirst for God, the living God.
When can I go and stand before him?
B. Our reformer Martin Luther wrote, “To be taught rather than to teach, I have opened my mouth, that I might not want to offer what is mine, but desire to receive what is Yours.”
C. And we too can say the same. We have heard the gospel of Jesus. The gospel is so wonderful and desirable that even angels LONG to look.
It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
D. Even the angels desire the unfolding of the gospel. It is truly wonderful. Salvation is here for us all who have rebelled against the Father to not just get another chance, but an inheritance in Christ. Really?
E. The Bible tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is none righteous no not one. We are all by nature children of wrath. There is no one on earth who always does good and never sins. If we have broken the smallest of commands we are as guilty as one who has broken all of them. We deserve all that is coming to us. The place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. The eternal fire. Outer darkness. The place reserved for the Devil and his angels. But it did not end there.
F. God made a way for us. There is forgiveness for us today. Salvation is here. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.
G. What else? You mean there’s more? Yup… If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Salvation is here.
H. All of this from the wonderful, truthful and insatiable Word of the living God.