The four books of the bible
Introduction- The one thing that we very much want to share with you today is the very thread that holds us all together. I want you to learn today that the word of God is something that we can all rest upon.
A. The book of eternal-
1. Psalm 119:89 says, “Your word, O Lord is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.”
2. Psalm 119:152 says, “Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever.”
3. How many of you have ever bought something with a lifetime guarantee on it? I was afraid of that. How many of you expect that the product will last a lifetime? See there is a gimmick behind that lifetime guarantee thing. Have you heard of Midas. So you probably know how they sell all these shocks, and mufflers and brake pads with a lifetime guarantee, right? The mufflers that they put on your car with the “lifetime guarantee” have cardboard inside of them. They are made out of very cheap metal that often rusts, and rattles. So what’s the deal? Why the ripoff? Because midas knows that everytime you come in to have that “lifetime guarantee” muffler replaced they can also hit you up for brake pads, air filters, oil changes, tire rotations, rotors turned major repair work; and the list goes on. For everyone of those cheap mufflers that they replace they pay for it three times over with add-ons.
We’ve gotten to where we throw around the term “lifetime guarantee” too much. I keep waiting for the hospitals to start advertising a lifetime guarantee on all pacemakers. I want to push a product on you today that truly does have a lifetime guarantee. There are two things that I know of that have a lifetime guarantee-Kentucky basketball, and the word of God. Al Maguire once said about Kentucky basketball, “It was here before you, it was here during you, and it will be here after you”. I know that the same is true about the word of God. Everything written here will never perish or fade.
B. The book of Food-
1. Dt. 8:3 says, “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
2. This is a book of food.
3. Let’s take a look at this passage in Deuteronomy. The first thing that I noticed is the section “He humbled you”. If you can remember the story, God led these people around in the desert and in the wilderness for forty years. Why did he do that? Look at 8:2a. “...to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.” Does God ever humble us? Do you wonder sometimes why God humbles us? Can you see where I’m going? 8:2a. Think back to a time when you were humbled by God or by anybody or anything else. What kind of emotions did you have? Being humbled is another one of those things that we put a negative connotation on. Why do we view being humbled as such a bad thing? I am humbled every Sunday morning when I get up here before you people and I think, “Who am I to be up here?” So what does that cause me to do? Well if I’m in a right relationship with God, it causes me to want to become better, and to learn more, and do more. It causes me to hunger. What happens after you get hungry? You eat. Folks I’m here to tell you today, If you are hungry because you’ve been humbled; if you are looking for the answers to the problems in your spiritual life; I’ve got good news for you. I’ve got a banquet table right here that the one downstairs can’t compare too. Because God humbles us, and he causes us to hunger, and what? And then feeding you with manna...to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. amen.
C. The book of Inspiration
1. 2 Timothy 3:16- “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.”
2. The Bible is the inspired word of God. What do we mean when we make that statement? We mean that several different men and ladies who all lived in different places and different times, were all inspired by the Holy Spirit to write what was on their heart. Isn’t it amazing to think that with all the writers and with the span of time consumed in the Bible, there is not one instance of it contradicting itself. I can sit down and write an email to someone and contradict myself in the first paragraph. Have you ever felt inspired by God for something before? I have too. I can honestly tell you that when I sat down to write this poem during Sanctity of Life week, I started typing, and when I got done I looked up and that’s what you see before you. I can honestly tell you that God had a part to play in that. The fact remains that the word of God has overwhelmingly proved itself against thousands upon thousands of critics, as a divinely inspired work.
D. The book of Heart
1. I Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”
2. Does anybody here have an eidetic memory? Does anyone know what one is? That means a photographic memory. I know people who once they see something they can pretty much remember it. I can’t, that’s why I have a palm pilot. They actually have contests every year in the United States to determine who has the best memory. One contest involves the contestants looking at a paper with I think two hundred spaces on it. In the spaces are two hundred various numbers. The contestants have one minute to look at the paper. Once the minute is up, they are given a blank piece of paper and told to fill in the numbers. Romans 10:8 tells us “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart...” The word of God is the one thing that if we truly humble ourselves and hunger after it, will dwell in our hearts. God has given us an amazing brain that can remember things such as huge numbers and all these things. But he also gave us his Holy Spirit to help us know and understand His word. Say your car breaks down on the way home today. And you have no idea on earth what might be wrong with it. Now say you have this owner manual to the car, and you know for a fact that the answer to fixing your car is in that manual. Would you look in it? Now say your life breaks down. And you have no idea what the problem or the solution to your problem is. But you have this owner manual. And you know for a fact that the solution to your problem is in that owner manual. Would you look in it? Would you like for me to help you save some time in your life? Sure, who couldn’t use a little more time? *WHISPER* If you memorize the owner manual, and put it in your heart, you’ll know the answer to the problem when it comes up.
3. Once we store this owner manual in our hearts then what? Look at the rest of this scripture. “...as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” Keep on Keeping on. Keep praising God. Keep singing of his excellent greatness. Colossians 3:16 again, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”
