Why Desire God's Word?

Reading of God’s Word

Introduction

William Tyndale:

In 1521,during an argument between two academics, a bold statement was made by a man described as “learned but blasphemous.” The statement declared ‘We had better be without God’s laws than the Pope’s.’

The other combatant was a man who was deeply educated through the prestigious Oxford and Cambridge Universities who was recently appointed the chaplain for the house of Sir John Walsh at Little Sodbury (as well as the tutor to the Walsh children). This man’s name is William Tyndale

Tyndale’s response is one of my favorite quotes of all time. He said: ‘I defy the Pope, and all his laws; and if God spares my life, ere many years, I will cause the boy that driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures than thou dost!’

This statement would start a journey that would change the English speaking world forever. William Tyndale would go on for the next 15 years avoiding the tyranny of the Catholic church in order to provide the word of God to the average, everyday working class man rather than just requiring them to trust their Catholic Authority. Tyndale would be burned at the stake in 1536 for simply desiring the Word of God for his people.

Hundreds would give their lives to put the Word of God into the hands of God’s elect no matter their financial or educational background. We take this for granted. The book we carry on Sunday morning and leave on the shelf Monday-Saturday as dust collector is a book that God has providentially kept for His people and our learning. Men and women were willing to give their lives because of the desire for God’s Word, meanwhile today, we would rather allow the World to make a mockery of God’s Word to appease our gratification and quell our fear of discontentment. We have become the “learned and blasphemous” man who would rather the traditions, opinions, and law of man over that of God’s Holy Word. My hope this morning is to stir in your hearts and minds a renewed desire for God’s Word and that the Word of God is the ultimate and final authority for areas of life!

Let’s Pray

I. God’s Word Points to Salvation(vs. 1:22-23)

a. Displayed through our obedience (Vs 22, Eph 2:10, James 2:14-18, Jn 14:15)

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

James 2:14–18 “What use is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead by itself. But someone will say, “You have faith; and I have works. Show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.””

John 14:15 ““If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

b. And works new birth in corrupted sinners (Vs. 23, Romans 1:16, II Tim 3:14-15, Romans 10:14-17)

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

2 Timothy 3:14–15 “But you, continue in the things you learned and became convinced of, knowing from whom you learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 10:14–17 “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim good news of good things!” However, they did not all heed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

Application: Justification (Romans 5:1-2, Eph 2:8-9, Gal 2:16)

Romans 5:1–2 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we boast in hope of the glory of God.”

Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast.”

Galatians 2:16 “nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”

II. God’s Word Never Falls Away (vs. 1:23-25, Isaiah 40:8)

a. Like this imperfect world (Vs. 23-24, Gen 3:17-19, Romans 3:23, Rev 21:1)

Genesis 3:17–19 “Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In pain you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.””

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Revelation 21:1 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.”

b. But is kept by the perfect God (Vs. 25, Matt 5:18, Matt 24:35, II Tim 3:16-17, II Pet 1:20-21)

Matthew 5:18 ““For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

Matthew 24:35 ““Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”

2 Timothy 3:16–17 “All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

2 Peter 1:20–21 “Know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes by one’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

Application: Preservation

III. God’s Word Nourishes the Believer (vs. 2:1-3)

a. By cutting out the junk (Vs. 1, Heb 4:12, John 17:17, Zech 5:2-4)

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Zechariah 5:2–4 “And he said to me, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits.” Then he said to me, “This is the curse that is going forth over the face of the whole land; surely everyone who steals will be purged away according to the writing on one side, and everyone who swears will be purged away according to the writing on the other side. “I will make it go forth,” declares Yahweh of hosts, “and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name; and it will spend the night within that house and consume it with its timber and stones.””

b. And providing sustenance (Vs. 2-3, Matt 4:4, Matt 6:30-33, Jn 6:35)

Matthew 4:4 “But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’””

Matthew 6:30–33 ““But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

John 6:35 “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will never hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”

Application: Sanctification (II Cor 5:17, Phil 1:6, Rom 6:1-11)

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

John 17:17 ““Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.”

Philippians 1:6 “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Romans 6:1–11 LSB

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died has been justified from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

The Challenge

Next verses begin to talk about being built upon the chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the living word of God.

John 1:1–5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.”

John 1:14–18 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has been ahead of me, for He existed before me.’” For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

Jesus, the living word of God, and dare I say the eternal second member of the Godhead is eternal. He has called us to a life with Him as Lord. He desires us to be disciples of His Word

Matthew 28:19–20 ““Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.””

2 Timothy 2:2 “And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

God’s Word is God revealing Himself to His elect. He convicts us of sin through His Word, His Spirit helps us to understand His Word, and He commands us to keep His Word. Even in the garden of Gethsemane as he was praying for His church before His death, Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17:17 ““Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.”

William Tyndale found God’s Word so important that he was willing to be burned at the stake and use his last breaths to pray that God would “open the eyes of the king of England” to the atrocities of the Catholic Church and their stronghold on the Word that does not belong to them. (And by the Grace of God this prayer was answered).

Here is the Challenge. God’s Word is precious and a gracious gift from Him, do you see it that way? Or do you see the Word of God as simply a Book of good lessons that you can pick and choose what you want to follow or not? May we desire God’s Word as if our life depends on it.

It is never too late to start being in the Word daily. People were willing, and in fact did, die so you could have God’s Word in a language you understand, not so you can keep it on a shelf.