Using Your Bible in Daily Life (5 of 5)

Series: How Do We Know For Sure That the Bible Is God's Word?

Stan Coffey

Isaiah 40:6-8

This has been a great lesson on "How Do We Know For Sure That The Bible Is God's Word?" The lesson today is called, "Using Your Bible In Daily Life." We have learned how the Bible came to be, we have learned how the Scripture came to us and in our next lesson we will learn even more about that. And it doesn't do us any good unless we use the Bible, no matter how much we read the Bible, no matter how much the Bible means to us, we have to use the Bible for the Bible to do us any good. So today we talk about how to use our Bible.

Isaiah 40:6-8 "A voice says, "Cry out." And I said, "What shall I cry? All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."

We have an eternal word in the Bible and although the Bible has been under attack all through the centuries of time, the Bible has stood. Last week we studied the words of Jesus who said, "heaven and earth shall pass away." Someday the heaven and earth, as we know it, will be gone. Peter said the heavens and earth will melt with a fervent heat. That it will be destroyed with a loud noise. So we know that God will someday make a new heaven and a new earth, but Jesus said, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words, shall never pass away." The Word of God is eternal and in spite of the efforts of men to destroy the Bible, the Bible has never been destroyed.

Did you know that there are more ancient copies of the Bible than of any of the ancient classics of literature? There are far more ancient copies of God's Word than any of the Roman classics. And it is amazing that we take, as written, Roman classics like the Roman Historian Tacitus and others and we take those for truth when only about two copies of his work is left and we have hundreds and hundreds of copies of the ancient text of the Word of God and we question some of those copies. And just a few of the classics are left and we do not question them.

I. THE WORD OF GOD IS A SEED THAT BRINGS LIFE

Let's look and see how we use the Bible in daily life. First of all, the Word of God is a seed to bring life. And that is where you have to begin daily life. You have to know that you are born again. So notice what Peter said in I Peter 1:23, "being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever." He is saying the same thing that Isaiah did, that is, that the Word of God lives and abides forever and it is incorruptible seed and it is through the Word of God that we are born again.

Now when we come to trust Christ as Savior and Lord, it is the Word of God that lodges in our heart. The Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, Romans 10. And there is no way for anyone to be saved apart from the Word of God. That seed has to be planted. You remember the parable Jesus told about the soils and the sower of the seed? He explained why not everyone will be saved. He said to the disciples, behold a sower went forth to sow. And he said some of the seed fell on hard ground, some fell on thorny ground, some fell on rocky ground, and some fell on good ground. Then He explained to them, the seed is the Word of God. And He talked about the seed that fell on the good ground, bore fruit. It rooted and it bore fruit and it grew. And that is talking about the four kinds of hearts in the world and how not every person who hears the Word of God will receive it. Some allow the world to choke it out, some hearts are not receptive and they are hard like the hardened soil on the path that has been hardened by people walking upon it. But in the heart that receives it, the Word of God is like a seed that falls into good soil and you know what happens. It gets a little water and it springs to life.

There have been stories about seed that is perhaps thousands of years old, seed that is ancient, and yet it has been planted and it still brings forth life when it is planted in good soil. And that is the way the Word of God is, it is an ancient message, but when it is received in a heart that is receptive, it brings forth new life. And a person is born again by faith in Jesus Christ. And there is so much potential in the seed of the Word of God. And when we witness for Christ, or when we send out missionaries, or when we tell our story, there is so much potential in the seed that we plant. Not everybody is a harvester, not everybody can draw the net, some people are particularly gifted to draw the net and bring a person in to the kingdom and win a person to Christ, but everybody can be a seed sower.

Everybody can give someone a tract, everybody can give so that someone can hear the gospel, everybody can sow a seed. And you never know how far that seed will go. If you sow a seed and that seed finds productiveness and that seed is fruitful then that person sows seed and that person sows seed and it is just like one seed. How much does one grain of wheat produce? Well, it is incalculable, so when you sow this seed of the gospel, you will not know until you get to heaven how great your reward will be. In Psalm 126:6, the Bible says, "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." He will doubtless come again with rejoicing, there is the law of the harvest. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." There is no doubt about it, the Bible says. If you sow a seed, you are going to reap. You are going to reap what you sow, you are going to reap later than you sow, and you are going to reap more than you sow. And these are the laws of the harvest that never change. So the Word of God is a seed to bring life. And it must be sown if it is to bring life. Jesus said, "unless a seed of corn falls into the soil and dies, it abideth alone, but if it is planted in the soil and it dies, it brings forth much fruit." And He was talking about Himself. He was talking about dying on the cross and being buried in the tomb and rising from the dead. Jesus Himself was a seed who had to die. Without His death on the cross, without His burial, there could be no resurrection. And unless you and I die to self, there can be no life; unless we die to sin, there can be no life. There can be no resurrection life in us. The Word of God is a seed that brings life.

II. THE WORD OF GOD IS A LAMP THAT BRINGS LIGHT

And then the Word of God is a lamp that brings light. The Psalmist said, "thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, it is a light for my path." Now in those days, they didn't have flashlights, they didn't have lamps with batteries, and they use to tie lamps to their feet, oil lamps to their feet so that when they walked down the pathway at night, those lamps tied to their feet, would give light to their paths. That is exactly what the Psalmist is talking about. He is talking about an oil lamp tied to their feet as they walked down the path, it would give them light as they walked and they could see in front of them where they were going. In doing so, they would avoid a stone in the path, they would avoid a cliff, they would avoid danger, and they would see where to walk.

Now as you and I read the Word of God, and as we obey the Word of God, then you and I avoid the darkness of this world. We are living in a dark, dark, world. We are living where Satan has set traps for all of us. We are living in a world where we need the guidance of the Word; we need the guidance of God everyday that we live. We need to be shown where to go. And the Bible says the Word of God is a lamp into our feet. It shows us where to walk, it shows us where the dangers are, and it shows us the devices of the devil. So we need to hear the Word, be in the Word, listen to the Word, obey the Word.

Then it is a lamp into our feet, a light unto our path. In II Peter 1:19, Peter talks about how the Word of God is a more sure word of prophecy. He said, "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:" Now Peter had seen many things. He had seen the dead raised to life; he had seen people healed in the name of Jesus. He had seen Christ walk on the water. He himself had walked on the water to go to Jesus, but Peter said, in spite of all the miracles I have seen, there is something better than visions, there is something better than miracles, and there is something better than seeing people raised from the dead. He said I would rather have the Word of God than to have all those miraculous things. He said I have a more sure word and it is the Word of God. He said I would rather have that than all these miracles because I know that the Bible is from God.

You have to discern whether every super natural experience is of God or if it is coming from some other source, but you know the Bible is from God. So it is a lamp that brings light unto our path. It is amazing, Paul said the same thing in Galatians where he said, though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, than the gospel I have preached, let him be accursed. For the Word of God is a sure light unto our path.

Now what is more foolish, a child who is afraid of the dark or a man who is afraid of the light? Jesus said you will not come unto me that you may have light. And John said they will not come to the light because their deeds are evil. He talked about those who fear the light. Are you afraid of the light today? Do you know why atheists do not want to believe in God, they are afraid of the light? They are fearful of the light. They don't want to hear about God, they don't want to hear about the Bible, they don't want to hear about faith, because they are afraid it might be true. And if it is true, then they are intellectually astute enough to know that they are responsible and accountable. So there is something about the Bible that the wicked man is afraid of. He doesn't want to be changed by the light that is in this book. He wants to stay in intellectual darkness. It is very comforting to be an atheist because if you are an atheist, you don't have to be accountable to a supreme being, you don't have to be accountable to a judgment. So you just stay in the darkness. Or an agnostic, you just stay in the darkness and say I don't know whether there is a God, there may be, there may not be. I don't know. And if there is a God, I don't know who He is. But it is intellectually dishonest because the Bible says that from the creation of the world, He may be known. He may be known by the things that He hath made, even His eternal power and godhead may be known. And Romans says, that God may be known innately by mankind. He says that the pagan who does not have the laws of God written in the Bible knows the laws of God that are written on his heart. He says the man in the deepest heart of the jungle knows thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not bear false witness, that is what Paul says in Romans. He says that the man who does not have the law is still guilty before God because the law is written upon his heart. God has made mankind and written and revealed His law by writing it innately upon his heart.

III. THE WORD OF GOD IS BREAD THAT BRINGS STRENGTH.

So the Bible is the lamp that brings light, The Bible is the seed that brings life, and the Bible is the bread that brings strength. You remember Deuteronomy 8:3 that we looked at last week, Jesus quoted this in His confrontation with Satan in the wilderness temptation. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Notice that, EVERY WORD. How do I know that the words of the Bible are inspired, not just the thoughts of the Bible? The neo-orthodox person says the thoughts of the Bible are inspired but not the words of the Bible. Well, I believe the words of the Bible are inspired because I don't believe you can have thoughts without words. Have you ever tried to have a thought without words? Try it sometime. Try to think a thought without a word, you cannot do it. Because a thought demands an expression of a word. And the Bible says man does not live by bread alone but by every WORD that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Now the Bible is the bread that brings strength. You remember the Scripture talks about manna that God reigned down from heaven on the Israelites to strengthen them. And when we think about bread, we think about how Jesus said in John's gospel, He said, I am the bread of life. He referred to the manna that the children of Israel ate and died in the wilderness. But He said of Himself, he that eateth of this bread, meaning Himself, shall live forever. He said, I am the bread, not as your fathers ate in the wilderness and died, but he that eateth of this bread shall live forever. And when we take communion, symbolically, we take a part of the body of Christ when we take and eat of the bread. And spiritually, we are the body of Christ. So it is bread that brings strength.

Now a doctor made a study of exactly how much fuel it takes for a person to live a lifetime if he lives an average life. And he came up with these figures; it takes 6,000 loaves of bread, 4 calves, (he didn't live in West Texas, I know I will eat more than 4 calves in my lifetime), 8 hogs, 309 chickens, and 70 geese. 100 pigeons (I am going to let you have my pigeons!), 14,000 pounds of fruit, 5,000 eggs, 10,000 quarts of water, 2,000 large fish, 2,000 sardines (you can have my sardines too), 9,000 pounds of potatoes, 12,000 pounds of vegetables, 6,000 quarts of milk, 10,000 pounds of salt, 12,000 quarts of coffee, 800 pounds of sugar. So you see, we are interested in feeding our bodies, but the Scripture says, man does not live by physical food alone.

Now, Baptists are famous for feasting. One fellow said that he left a certain other church and he joined the Baptist church and gained 50 pounds immediately because of all the eating we do! But we need sometime, to set aside, time when we don't eat so that we can concentrate on the Word of God and God's will for our life because it is the Word of God that will grow us. Bread is for enlargement, bread is for strength, bread is for sustenance, and that is what the Word of God is to a believer. You and I would die spiritually without the bread of the Word of God. Without the words that proceed out of the mouth of God, you and I cannot be fed.

IV. THE WORD OF GOD IS A SWORD THAT BRINGS PROTECTION

Then the Word of God is a sword to bring protection. Ephesians 6:17 talks about the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. Now, this is an offensive weapon. The armor of God is a defensive weapon. Soldiers put on armor to ward off the enemy that attacks them, but the sword is your offensive weapon. You are going to try to stab the enemy. We don't think about this much, but the Bible talks about resisting Satan and he will flee from us. Not only do we put on defensive armor, but also we need to go on the attack against the devil. That is what Jesus did. Ephesians 6:17 says take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And the sword of the Spirit brings protection. A believer ought to be able to wield the sword of the Spirit when the devil comes against you with a temptation, when the devil comes against you with an attack, you ought to know a Scripture that will wiled him off and a Scripture with which you can attack him. That is what Jesus did in the wilderness. And Jesus showed us how to wage spiritual warfare.

But if you don't know the Scripture, then you will be unprepared. How do you use your Bible, you use it like a sword. And several times in the Bible the Scripture is called a sword. Again and again, we are told that this sword is supposed to be used in spiritual warfare.

V. THE WORD OF GOD IS A CRITIC THAT BRINGS CORRECTION

The Word of the Lord is a critic to bring correction. It is a critic to bring correction, Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Why do you need the Word of God to judge the attitude and thoughts of your heart? So that you can repent and get your heart right and God won't have to judge you, amen? If you read the Bible and you have some attitude that is incorrect or you have some bitterness that is incorrect, if you have some attitude that is not God honoring towards someone and you read the Scripture where the Bible says that all bitterness and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you, the Word of God has just judged your spirit and shown you where you are wrong. So you confess that to God and it is cleansed, it is taken care of. And you and God are right, you are right with God and you are right with your fellow man. And God shows you what to do if you need to go to someone and make it right. By the way, the Matthew 18 principle is that if you have something against a brother you go to him, you don't go to fifteen other people, you go to him, not someone else. And you say, brother, you have offended me in this or I have this against you and you work it out with him. But it is the Word of God that is a critic to bring correction. The word here for judge is a word hat means discernment or critic.

There are other books that you read and you judge the book, you know, the word critic is someone that writes a review about the book. But this book criticizes you, you don't criticize this book. It is a critic of the reader. And that is the difference in the Word of God and other books. It is a critic to bring correction.

A lot of people take the Bible today and they try to be a critic of the Bible. Some people think the Bible is inspired in parts and they are inspired to show the parts, but the Bible is inspired in whole and it is a critic of those who read it. It is there to show us the way and to show us the things in our life that need correction. So the Word of God is quick and powerful, alive and powerful, and sharper than any double-edged sword.

Why is it a double-edged sword? The Romans invented a double-edged sword. It was a short, broad sword. Up until that time, they only had a single edged sword. The other side of the sword was dull, but the Romans invented the double-edged sword. And made it a shorter sword because with it they could fight up close with the enemy. They could get up close and use their shields. They could reach around their shield and with the double-edged sword, it would cut going in and it would cut coming out. And it was their secret to subduing the world, one of their secrets to subduing the world.

Now, the Bible is a double-edged sword because it both convicts and it converts. It cuts and it heals. Because after it cuts and shows you the things that are wrong, then it takes you to the cross and the blood and the love of God and shows you that God loves you in spite of your sin and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. So that is why it is a double-edged sword. Part of the one edge of the sword was to show you the sin, the other edge of the sword is the surgeon's sword, to cut out the sin and to heal you and to make you new.

VI. THE WORD OF THE GOD IS A HAMMER THAT BRINGS POWER

The Word of the Lord is a hammer that brings power. God speaks to Jeremiah and He said it is not my word like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Jeremiah wasn't getting any where with his preaching. He said to God, God everybody's hearts are hard as rocks. And God said, Jeremiah, my Word is like a hammer that breaks the rocks in pieces. Just keep on preaching, just keep on pounding those old hard hearts. Just keep on pounding away, pounding away, and pounding away and My Word will break the hardest heart.

I want to tell you, if you had a big pile of rocks and you wanted to break those rocks, if you just hit on them with your fist, all you would do is bloody the rocks with your blood, but if you had a big sledge hammer that was designed to break rocks, you could take that and begin to burst the rocks. And that is what the Word of God does. I have seen the Word of God break the hardest heart, I have seen it break the heart of atheists, I have seen it break the heart of sinners, I have seen it break the heart of alcoholics, I have seen it break the heart of homosexuals, I have seen it break the heart of drug addicts, I have seen the Word of God break the hearts of the adulterer, the adulteress, I have seen the Word of God break he hardest heart. People on whom their loved ones had given up, but the Word of God can break the hardest hearts. Even those in prison, those in the penitentiary, the Word of God can break their hearts. It is like a hammer, it breaks the hearts into pieces. And that is why churches make a mistake when they try to out do the world. You can't out "Hollywood" the world, you can't out advertise the world, you can't out mediaize the world, the only thing that we have that is unique that is different, that the world doesn't have is the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. And that is why we have to stay with the Word of God.

VII. THE WORD OF GOD IS LIKE A FIRE THAT WARMS AND BURNS

And last of all, the Word of God is like a fire that warms and burns. Jeremiah got discouraged. And he wanted to give up. He said I will not make mention of Him or speak anymore in His name. I will lay down my Bible and he said, I will never preach again. And then he said, but His Word was within my heart as a burning fire within my bones. And I was ruled with forbearing and I could not stay. He said God's Word was such a fire within me I could not help myself. I had to share it, I had to preach it.

A few weeks ago I preached about burning hearts. We need to pray that the Holy Spirit will give us burning hearts so that we cannot help but share the message of Jesus with others around us. Hearts that are on fire for God. The Word of God will melt cold hearts, the Word of God will warm the frozen heart, and the Word of God will give us a burning love for Jesus Christ. His word is like a burning fire within my heart and I could not stay, I had to tell it. I had to pick up my Bible, I had to preach it, and I had to share it. His Word is like a burning fire within my heart.

I hope that when you read the Bible God's Word is like that for you. I hope when you read the Bible that it warms your heart, that it encourages your heart, that it comes alive for you because it is a living book. It is not like a book of history. It is a book of history, but it is more. It not just a book of science and facts, it is more. It is a living book. A book that cannot die because it is alive, it is powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.

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