Love The Word - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. It's one of the great things about the Word of God.

We always say everything is so unfair. And God says, look, I promise you justice. He said, I will make all things right. He said, that's the way to work. Sin will be stopped permanently, forever.

There will be no appeals. By the way, on a personal level, that's why He said, Paul said it to the Romans, but vengeance is mine. I will repay. In other words, when somebody hurts me, God, you're a just God. That's between you and them, not between me and them. You see, as soon as I get involved, something happens.

I have no true sense of justice. I'm a fallen creature as well. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again, he shows us how God's Word meets our world. I want to look at Psalm 19. Starting in verse 7, in these next few verses, we see descriptions of the Word of God and what are the results. What does the Word of God do?

Why is this so important? The very first thing, verse 7. He says, the law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The Bible transforms you.

The Bible transforms you. Notice he says the law. That's the word Torah. We get that from Moses. The law, the law for life, the rule for living, the law of the Lord.

There's the ownership. What law are we talking about? We're talking about the law of God. He said the law of the Lord is perfect. That Hebrew word means all-sided. It's a very difficult thing to understand.

It's all-sided, it's all-encompassing, it's comprehensive in its scope. The law of the Lord is perfect and it says restoring. Some translations say converts, the soul, the inner you, the real you. That's what the Word of God does. Word of God could take a person as unregenerate as I was before I came to Christ and transform him into a lover of God. That's what the Word of God does. It's a very important thing. It transforms your life. He said that's what makes it so magnificent and so wonderful.

He doesn't stop there though. He says the testimony of the Lord is sure, it makes wise the simple. The word testimony is interesting. What is a testimony? It's what somebody does who testifies. Well, what do you testify to? The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. You testify.

Notice this though. This scripture says something interesting. The testimony of who? Of the Lord. It says the Bible is a testimony of the Lord.

God says I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. About what? Everything. About me, about you, about the world, about sin.

I'll tell you something about everything. I'm going to give my testimony here. It's the testimony, he says, of the Lord. He said the testimony of the Lord is sure. That word sure is a wonderful word.

You know it. Amen. He said the testimony of the Lord is amen. Amen means what? So be it.

It's true. He said the testimony of the Lord is sure. And he says making wise. He says making wise the simple.

Actually he says giving wisdom to the unguarded mind. We're so naive and so foolish. Jeremiah 17, the heart of a man is desperately wicked, is deceitful above all things. I can't trust me.

You can't trust you. You see the heart of a man is desperately wicked, is deceitful above all things. Who does it deceive? The man.

You see and he says look that's not the way this works. The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise. He said the simple where the unguarded mind is giving wisdom.

Giving wisdom about everything in life you could possibly imagine. Then he goes on and he says the precepts of the Lord are right. The precepts, the divine principles. He says the prescriptions, the pronouncements, those things. The precepts of the Lord.

He says they are right. And they rejoice the heart. You see when you find out in the word of God what life's really about. Who Christ really is, what he's really done. When you really understand it, it should give you one thing. Joy. You see it should give you joy. It's not a matter of saying you know I need to.

I got that calendar thing they put on the seats you know and I got to read the whole Bible this year. You know I'm just going to get it done like the castrol oil approach. You know just read those verses. Get those verses in and you'll be. I can guarantee one thing.

It'll be good for you to do it but you won't be much better at the end of the year. It doesn't work like that. That's not what the word of God is like. You see it should give you joy.

Let me illustrate that. Go with me now to Luke 24. Luke, hold your place here we'll come back. Luke 24, verse 27. Jesus has been crucified and resurrected.

There are a couple of disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus walks up to them and begins to engage them in a conversation. And they're all upset because Jesus has been crucified. They don't know it's Jesus.

So he begins to talk to them. Notice what verse 27 says. Then beginning with Moses. That's Genesis by the way. And with all the prophets.

That's all the way to Malachi. He explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. That had to be the greatest Bible study of all time. Just imagine the Son of God himself saying, I'm going to start in Genesis and I'm going to go to Malachi and I'm going to tell you everything the Old Testament says about me. What an amazing thing. I think for some of us it'd be like, oh, is this going to be long? You see and that sort of indicates where you are.

Category one, two, three. You see, it tells us who we are. Notice their response, verse 32. They said to one another, were not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us on the road, while he was explaining the scriptures to us?

They were rejoicing. You see, it was like this is incredible. I now get it. When you really got a hold of the word of God, you get it. You see, you understand the way the world works. You understand where the world's going. You don't put your hope in man.

It doesn't matter who's in the White House. You see, that's not our life. We live apart from that.

The kingdom of heaven is not of this world. You see, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. You see, that affects the way you are. I'll never leave you nor forsake you.

I'm always going to be right here for you. That's where you get strength from. These are all the things that makes you rejoice because you have a knowledge that they don't have out there. That's what the word of God does. Now back to the psalm. He says the precepts of the Lord are right.

They rejoice the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure. He said it gives enlightenment to the eyes.

What does he mean? He means the word of God dispels darkness. That's what the word of God does. It dispels the darkness.

It enlightens your eyes. That word pure is the Hebrew word bar. And it means clear and clean. His commandments are very clear. That's one thing I love about the word of God.

I don't have to guess. It's not like God makes them so ambiguous. No one can understand them. The things that God's telling you not to do, everybody understands. You see, when he says don't bear false witness, don't lie. You've got to be as clear as that.

You see, each one of those things are clear. God says, look, I'm not trying to fool anybody here. I want you to understand how clear the commandments are. I want you to get those so that you understand them. It says, I want you to enlighten the eye.

I want it to dispel the darkness. The question is, by the way, why does he tell us those things? I think some people think, well, he tells us that because he doesn't want us to have any fun.

Just the opposite. Sin always has consequences. What God is telling you in those commandments is, don't sin because I'm not mocked and you will reap what you sow. You see, I don't want you to reap it. I don't want you to go through that pain, that agony. You and I both know and are painfully aware of making really stupid choices. Then we bear the responsibility of the consequences. If we're really callous enough, we'll say, where's God? Why isn't he helping me? He said, I did help you, I told you don't.

You see, and you went and did it anyway. You see, do we listen to the voice of God or do we listen to other voices? You see, that's one of the things, think about the things that you do and the voices that you listen to.

How about this one? You know, you only live once. You ever said that or heard that? You only live once.

Therefore, you grab all the gusto you can. I don't want to disappoint you, but that's not in the word of God. That's a Budweiser commercial, okay? That's not the word of God. That's not what the word of God says. It doesn't say that at all. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Do you realize that is exactly the opposite of what the word of God says? Exactly, and we live by those words. What did Jesus say?

Seven times 70. Forgive. What? They hurt me. Forgive. No, no. They repeated it.

No. Consequences. Consequences for you is you'll become a bitter human being. You see, the word of God is different. He says, look, I have a very different view than the world view.

He said, I want to dispel the darkness that is your own in these circumstances. The word of God tells me how to be a father. It tells me how to be a husband. It tells me how to be a friend. It tells me how to be an employee, how to be an employer. Word of God covers everything. He said, I'll dispel the darkness. And yet so often, we listen to all of these, I would call them, stupidisms.

You know, the culture has these stupidisms, and we believe them. We reap what we sow. There's something else the word of God does in verse 9.

It adds stability. He said, the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The fear of the Lord, what's he mean by that? He means the fear that leads to respecting God for who he is. Look, I know that God is love, and I know that God loves you.

I've said this. There's nothing you can do to make God love you more, and there's nothing you can do to make God love you less. But please, don't say that is the full definition of God, because it's not. He's holy. He's righteous. You see, that's who God is. He won't be mocked. You see, he can't say, no, no, Lord, you're going to have, you love me, and so I can do whatever I want to do. He'll say, you can, but you're going to reap what you sow. You see, you can't escape it.

That's the way life works. He is not mocked. He said this leads to a respect for God, and respecting God is essential if you're going to have a relationship with him. Again, hold your place here and go with me to Luke 23.

We're at 24, now 23. Verse 39, the crucifixion. See what respect for God can do. Verse 39, one of the criminals who was hanged there was hurling abuse at Jesus and said to him, are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.

But the other one answered, rebuking him, and said this. Do you not even fear God? Interesting statement. Don't you fear God? You don't have respect for God? You see, this is a place of justice. He says, do you not even fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly. I'm being crucified because I deserve to be. You see, I know what the law was.

I know what I shouldn't have done, and I did it anyway. He says, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. This man has done nothing wrong. He was saying, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise.

Why? He feared God. You see, he saw God for who he was, he saw sin for what it was, and he realized the only solution I have is to go to Christ for help. An abbreviated version of what we call the gospel.

That's what he did. It's amazing. Now back to the psalm. The fear of the Lord is clean and endorsed forever.

It's an amazing thing. Solomon's writing about a thousand years before Christ. And the words to Solomon mean as much to him as they do to me. Here I am 3,000 years down the road. And what it means, the words mean to him means the same thing to me.

That's astounding. The stability of the word of God and what it can bring into your life. It adds stability to your life. He said the judgments of the Lord are true, they are righteous altogether. The Bible promises justice.

That's what he is saying. The judgments of the Lord are true. It's one of the great things about the word of God.

We always say everything is so unfair. And God says, look, I promise you justice. He said, I will make all things right. He said, that's the way it will work. It will be stopped permanently forever.

There will be no appeals. By the way, on a personal level, that's why you said, Paul said it to the Romans, but vengeance is mine. I will repay. In other words, when somebody hurts me, God, you're a just God.

That's between you and them, not between me and them. You see, as soon as I get involved, something happens. I have no true sense of justice. I'm a fallen creature as well. Like I said, for so many of us, either we overreact or we don't forgive and then we become very bitter souls and then we pay for that price as well. He says, look, leave justice in my hands.

I will repay. So it transforms you. It gives you wisdom. It brings you joy in your life. It dispels the darkness of your life.

It adds stability to your life, and it promises you and me justice. Notice what he says after that then. He says, they are more desirable than gold, yes, much fine gold, sweeter also than the honeycomb and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant is warned, and in keeping them there's great reward. Who can discern his errors and acquit me of the hidden faults and keep back? He says, your servant from presumptuous sins. He said, only the Word can do that. You see, only the Word can do that. The Word of God can do for you what you cannot do for yourself. And one of the great characteristics of a Category 4 Christian is they love the Word of God. They're not obligated to the Word of God.

They're a church program that will make you a Category 4 Christian. But you can make you one. Now, I know there are excuses. I've heard a lot of them.

I'll give you three. I've heard people say, you know, but the Bible is not very interesting. You never studied it.

You have no idea. I spent 40 years in the Word of God, the last 35 in Hebrew and Greek. It's more interesting now than it was 35 years ago. I learn something every time. It's an astounding book, but the idea that it's not interesting tells me you never studied it. You're just simply making a statement.

You saw words you didn't want to pronounce, and so you said, well, this is a little bit boring for me. Finally, what people often say, I'm just too busy, and I forget to study. I could say a lot of things about that, but let me just say something else. I have seen you people before and after the service with your cell phones. Boy, you sure make time for it, don't you? It's astounding. It's astounding to watch somebody.

Have a conversation with someone and something buzzes in their pocket, and you can see them. Like, I'm obligated to this thing. I have to look. I have to look.

And it's somebody, hey, how you doing? You see, you have time. By the way, if you didn't have time, then you're busier than God ever intended you to be. One final reason that they get is this, I don't understand it. Yeah, I know, because you're babing Christ. You see, you can only take milk, and you can't eat the meat. And so you read it, and you say, I don't understand it. See, that's a testimony about you but not about the Bible. That should motivate each and every one of us.

It's an accumulative effect. Remember what the writer of Hebrews said, 20 years down the road, you should be teachers. But he said, now I have to teach you the elementary principles. The Bible is called a fire, the sword, a hammer, a seed, milk, meat, light, mirror. It's an astounding book. Category four Christians love the word of God. Paul was writing to the Ephesians, and he told the Ephesians, he said, you know, you need to be controlled and filled by the Holy Spirit. And he said, and when you are, all these things come to you. And it's a neat passage.

But when Paul was writing to the Colossians, he told them about all the same things that he does in Ephesians. But he says this, let the word of Christ indwell you richly. If the word of God indwells you richly, all these things happen to you.

It's an amazing thing what the word of God can do. The question you have to ask yourself is, how do I stand with the word of God? Do I endure it? Do I like it?

Or do I love it? Just pray. Father, I would just pray that each of us would be honest with ourselves and ask ourselves the question. As Jeremiah said, I took your word and I did eat it. Is that what speaks to us? Do we love the word of God?

Or do we just simply like it? Father, I pray that if we are going to be all that we can be, the authentic believer in Jesus Christ, a person that loves you with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, if that's what our goal is and what we want to become, to live life as wisely as possible, may we be convicted that we must love your word, for your glory, and for our good. In Jesus' name, amen. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word, 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.

That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. .