Evil is sometimes said to be darkness. In reality darkness is the absence of light. So, how do we rid our American culture of such evils as murder, child-abuse, drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, abortion, lying, stealing-- well, all the kinds of evil that make the evening news? With light, light of God’s Word, of course! Oh say-- let’s see about that.
Welcome, my friend, to our Bible study program In Search of the Lord's Way to become a Christian and to live as a Christian ought to live. We believe the Lord's way to become a Christian is the only sure way. Oh me! Look what I just said! I said the Lord's way is the only sure way to be saved. In our present culture, there is no one way to do anything, is there? Everyone can do everything his own way. But, bear with me, will you? The Lord Himself said, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father but by me." That is John chapter 14, verse 6. You see, I believe Him. And, His way to live this life is the best way that has ever been introduced to the family of man. We pray God will bless our Bible study together today.
In spite of its exclusiveness, the Bible is a book of universal appeal. I mean, from every corner of the universe and every country and culture-- even from Communist and Islamic countries where the Bible is forbidden, comes the plea, "Send us more Bible, or bring us more Bibles." While the earliest writings in the Bible are some of the oldest documents in existence, the Bible message is still as fresh as tomorrow morning's newspaper. We are giving our message today, "God's Word Is Light."
If you think you might want a free copy or a free CD or audio cassette tape of it, please mail your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083 or by e-mail to searchtv@searchtv.org. Or, you may use our toll-free telephone number. It's 1-800-321-8633. You might want to visit our website-- wwwsearchtv.org. Ken Helterbrand will lead us now as we sing, and then I will be back for the Bible reading and we'll pray together.
We are reading today from the book of Psalms, the 119th chapter. It is a long one you remember, and we are beginning at verse 129 and we will read through 136. “Your testimonies are wonderful; Therefore my soul keeps them. The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple. I opened my mouth and panted, For I longed for Your commandments. Look upon me and be merciful to me, As Your custom is toward those who love Your name. Direct my steps by Your word, And let no iniquity have dominion over me. Redeem me from the oppression of man, That I may keep Your precepts. Make Your face shine upon Your servant, And teach me Your statues. Rivers of water run down from my eyes. Because men do not keep Your law.” As I said we read through verse 136. Now let’s go to God in prayer. Holy Father, we pray that Your word may have entrance into our lives today as we meditate upon it, as we think of it. We are so thankful to You, Father, for the inspiration of the Scriptures that You have given us that we can be sure that the things that we read in our Bible are Your word. And we are thankful for the preservation of it so that today we can have it even in our own language. Thank You, Father, for all of these blessings and be with us now and guide us through the word which we have read, and we pray Your blessings upon our study together. In Jesus’ holy name we pray, Amen!
What an inspiring book, the Bible! Remove from the great literature of the world every reference to biblical teachings, and you will have stripped the world literature of its beauty and its worth. And the same is true of the best music and the galleries of great art. Remove every biblical inspiration from the works of the great artists and you will have left very little of any interest at all. Remove from the statute books the laws founded upon biblical teaching, and you will have removed the foundations of the great civilizations of history. Men of learning-- and eminent statesmen, as well as men of science have testified to the essential importance of the Bible for our existence. For example, Benjamin Franklin once said, "Young man, my advice to you is that you cultivate an acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures." Thomas Jefferson said, "I have said and always will say that the studious perusal of the sacred volume will make better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands." Abraham Lincoln said, "I am profitably engaged in reading the Bible. Take all of this book upon reason that you can and the balance by faith and you will live and die a better man." And did you know that there was a time when our National Congress authorized the printing of the Bible? Yes! It's true! For the first hundred and fifty years of our history, Bibles were imported from England. However, with the Revolutionary War that source was suddenly interrupted or cut off. America was in the greatest crisis of her history at the time-- and was without Bibles. It was a crisis. Yes, it was! You see, the Bible was the very foundation of the people's faith, even their education, and, yes, their government. And they were without Bibles! So, Congress ordered 20,000 Bibles to be ordered from Holland or Scotland or-- somewhere. In 1781 Congress, the American Congress, commissioned a printing of the Bible by a printer in Philadelphia, and a year later one of the rarest Bibles today came forth from the press. It is called "The Bible of the Revolution." It was born out of that crisis.
One of the very first sermons I tried to preach as a beginning preacher back in 1941 or--maybe it was early in 42, I titled, "Why I Believe the Bible." It was a message really received and gladly received in those days. It's different now. You see, the culture has changed. God is not revered now as He was then. Consequently, His Word isn't esteemed as highly as it was then. It isn't that God has changed, because you see, God doesn't change. In Malachi chapter 3, verse 6 He says, "I am the Lord, I do not change." And His Word doesn't change either. Psalm 119, verse 89 says: "Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven." The Bible says of itself, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that (and the word "that" right there makes this a statement of purpose-- All Scripture is given by inspiration of God so that) the man of God may be complete, thoroughly furnished or equipped to every good work." That is 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 16 and 17. My friend, if the Bible doesn't teach it, we have no authority to preach it or to practice it; it is just that simple. To do so, is to "pervert the gospel of Christ" (as we read in Galatians chapter 1, verse 7) because the Scriptures fully equip the man of God to every good work. "No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation (or origin), for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter chapter 1, verses 20 and 21). The gospel of Christ is called the "everlasting gospel" in Revelation 14 and 6.
When someone in the 21st century says something to the effect that the Holy Spirit told me or moved me or led me, or if it might be a him or a her or their church or their congregation-- to say or to do something that the Holy Spirit did not move the writers of the Bible to say or to write or to do, you can know who is mistaken now, can't you? The word of God is never advanced or strengthened by such assertions as that. Our text says the entrance of God's Word gives light to the simple-- meaning the innocent, in this world so darkened by sin. The Holy Spirit caused it to be written for us-- no doubt-- that: "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever." And that is 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 22 through 25.
Again, the Holy Spirit inspired the apostle John to write, "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John chapter 1, verses 5 through 7). "Cleanses" in that verse, is "present tense, continued action." Therefore, "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another (which fellowship-- or partnership-- is important to every Christian), and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son keeps on cleansing us from all sin." In the process of becoming a child of God-- being born again, as Jesus put it in John 3:3, a person is washed in the blood of Christ (Revelation 1:5; Acts 22:16). And "if we walk in the light, as He (meaning, God, of course), is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing us from all sin.” What a great thought that is! So, God is light. And the entrance of God's word gives understanding to the innocent. And, it lights the way for a person to live in fellowship with God!
The Bible is the word of God, my friend. It is the eternal word of God. It is the unchanging, eternal word of the unchanging and eternal God. There is no other like Him. And there's no other word like His word. The Christian is not only encouraged by His word to live in its light, he is told he must also be judged by it. "The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." That is Hebrews chapter 4, verses 12-13. And Jesus said, "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, he has one that judges him-- the word I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John 12:48).
There is power in the message of the Bible to transform the believer. So that people who live by the light of God's word are called "children of light." The apostle Paul preached the gospel in Ephesus. He stayed there and encouraged those people longer than he stayed in any one place or city. So that "all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks." That is Acts 19 and 10. "And the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified." And, "...the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed." That is verses 18 and 20.
Later, being led by the Holy Spirit, Paul the apostle wrote these people a letter in Ephesus in which he said, "You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk [or live] as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord." Did you hear that? I tell you-- well, let’s look at that again; let’s see what he says. This time-- just for the moment, to get the full import of his statement without the interruption-- suppose we omit the parentheses-- and. that way it would read, "You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord." Oh say! And that grabbed me! Didn’t it you? The children of darkness have become the children of light. And, the "children of light" are concerned with finding out what is acceptable-- not to themselves-- but to the Lord! So very much religious thought nowadays is finding a way that's acceptable to me-- and you to you-- and the next fellow to what is acceptable to him. Oh me! Such confusion. To be light in that darkness, children of light must be different. To be different is to be light! Children of light are concerned with what is acceptable to the Lord!
And how we are going to know what is acceptable to the Lord? The answer to that, of course, is to know what He says in His word, the Bible. That is why He says, "Be diligent (King James says, "study") to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they increase to more ungodliness" (2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17). The word of God is the power to produce the light of a righteous life. In the absence of the word of God, it's dark, friend; it gets darker.
But, let's continue with that passage. It says to those people once steeped in idolatrous, sensual living, now striving to live acceptably with the Lord: "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light. Therefore He says, Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light."
The conclusion of this matter then is: The word of God is the power that generates the light in the life of the Christian. Without the word of God, the Christian's light is extinguished, smothered, put out, or suffocated, however you want to say it. And the world grows darker and darker and darker. Just as life cannot exist in darkness, truth-- the church of Jesus Christ-- "the pillar and the ground of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15) cannot exist and grow without the word of God. That's what is happening in our beloved country today. What we have not discussed is that Christianity-- I mean the kind of church you read about in the New Testament cannot exist in the absence of preaching and teaching God's word. Philosophy and psychology and personality cannot supply the power to light the world, friend. It takes the word of God. Churches are not preaching and teaching it in the 21st century as they ought. And people are not reading and studying their own Bibles for themselves. Consequently, it is getting dark. Darkness is closing in on us, friend. Let's pray. Thank You, Father, for Your written word that lives and abides forever. May it be our guiding light in our lives individually. We pray in the lovely name of Jesus, Amen!
The Bible says, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." That is Psalm 19, verses 7 and 8. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). God's reasoning in that passage is that gospel preaching is an absolute essential to the person's salvation. And, "How can they hear without a preacher" (verse 14). It isn't the one who is doing the preaching that makes the difference. The spirit of ecumenism and inclusiveness is so strong in American religion now, that it's virtually impossible for the lost to learn the way of salvation at "church."
Therefore, we here in these programs, don't hesitate to urge unsaved people to put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and confess Him before men as we are taught in Romans 10:10 and other verses following. We would also like to persuade you to turn your life around in repentance and then be baptized for the remission of your sins as you are taught in Acts chapter 2, verse 38. You see, that way you can go on your way rejoicing as people did when they became Christians in New Testament days. That is what happened to the man in Acts 8:39, you know. Oh, I hope you'll do that today, then, as others have done, let us hear from you.
If you would like a free printed copy or a CD or an audio cassette tape of today's message, simply mail your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Our e-mail address is searchtv@searchtv.org. Or you may use our toll-free telephone number: 1-800-321-8633. Any of it is free. Everything we offer here is free. We're not a business enterprise; we are not in business for profit. We are a ministry for the Lord. The programs originate in Edmond, Oklahoma and are sponsored on this station by churches of Christ in all the area served by this station. So, we are also happy to invite you to worship with a church of Christ very soon if you can do so. Will you do that? And, be with us again next week, too. Oh, I hope you will do that. Maybe tell your neighbors and friends about the program as well. Now may God bless you richly in every way. We love you.
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