Twinkies and Root Beer
A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of Root Beer and he started his journey. When he had gone about three blocks, he met an elderly man. The man was sitting in the park just feeding some pigeons. The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the man looked hungry, so he offered him a Twinkie. The man gratefully accepted it and smiled at boy. His smile was so pleasant that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a root beer. Again, the man smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word. As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave, but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the man, and gave him a hug. The man gave him his biggest smile ever. When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?”He replied, "I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know what? God’s got the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen!" Meanwhile, the elderly man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home. His son was stunned by the look of peace on his face and he asked," Dad, what did you do today that made you so happy?" He replied, "I ate Twinkies in the park with God." However, before his son responded, he added," You know, he’s much younger than I expected." Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Embrace all equally! Author unknown
1 Peter 1:6-12 Our greatest weapon is the Word of God
We are in a world that has tried to say that the word of God is not true and because it has thrown out the Bible in many areas of our lives there is no morality. Without God and His word, what do we have to make us do the right in our lives? How many times have we seen evil triumph over good because it was man who decided what should be done? O. J. Simpson, Kennedy assassination, Clinton lies, anti-abortion- pro-choice, choice of life style, creation vs. evolution in Maryland. To win a war one needs to have superior weapons to defeat what the enemy throws at us. In the Gulf war, Saddam Hussein fired a total of 86 Scud missiles but these blown out of the sky by our Patriot missiles. Critics of the Patriot missiles said they would not work but in the heat of t he battle they showed they could defeat the enemy. You may remember that as the Desert Strom. Right after Jesus was baptized, He encountered the first Desert storm war. 2 Cor. 10:4 “We use God’s mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the Devil’s strongholds.” IS 54:17 “No weapon that has been made to be used against you will succeed? You will have an answer for anyone who accuses you. This is the inheritance of the Lord’s servants. Their victory comes from me," declares the Lord.”
When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He did not use philosophy or human reasoning but said, “It is written.” In our scripture reading today, it says that our faith is being tried with fire to make it pure. I want us to look at what Jesus believed about the Word of God that it might increase our faith in this book. We will look at the four Gospels to see what Jesus believed about the Word of God. JN 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
1. Jesus believed that the Bible was God’s Word. He believed in the inspiration of the Word of God. He knew that God used human writers as instruments to record what should be said. God was the true author. He said in MT 4:4 “every word proceeds out of the mouth of God.” This is not a book written by men with their wisdom. MK 7:13 Because of your traditions you have destroyed the authority of God’s word. And you do many other things like that." JN 10:35 “The Scriptures cannot be discredited.” Jesus said that what David wrote in the Psalms was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Paul said 2 Tim. 3:16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right.” Inspired means the breath of God. 1 Thes. 2:13 “And we will never stop thanking God that when we preached his message to you, you didn’t think of the words we spoke as being just our own. You accepted what we said as the very word of God, which, of course, it was. And this word continues to work in you who believe.” 2 PT 1:21 “No prophecy ever originated from humans. Instead, it was given by the Holy Spirit as humans spoke under God’s direction.” All that we have in this book was given to us by the Holy Spirit.
2. Jesus believed that the entire Bible is God’s Word. This means He that every word was inspired by God. There are not some parts that are and some that are not. This inspiration as I have read means that every letter and every stroke of it and every word was inspired by God not just concepts or thoughts. He spoke in Luke 11:51 “From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zechariah.” Genesis 4:8- 2 CHR 24:20. Jesus was saying from start to finish the Word of God is true. He states here that all the Old Testament is true. When He speaks about the New Testament He says John 16:13 “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.” Some today would like to believe that part of the Bible is good but not all of it but Jesus said all of it is inspired. MT 5:18 “I can guarantee this truth: Until the earth and the heavens disappear, neither a period nor a comma will disappear from Moses’ Teachings before everything has come true.” The smallest letter looks like an apostrophe and Jesus says that could not be changed. Jesus believed that the word of God was inspired even down to the littlest stroke to all the letters to all the words of all the books to be true.
3. Jesus believed that the Bible is without error. The entire Bible is inerrant or has not inaccuracy. The Bible is true without any mixture of error. The Bible does not lie. TIT 1:2
‘This truth gives them the confidence of eternal life, which God promised them before the world began and he cannot lie.” Some might bring up a point that how could God trust sinful men to write His holy Word? Christ was born in woman who had sin. Just as the Holy Spirit came upon Mary so He came upon men as they wrote what he told them to write.
4. Jesus knew that the Word of God would never fail. So we come to a word that might be hard in this day of disbelief called infallible. The promises of the Word of God will all be fulfilled. Everything prophesied will happen. Every Judgment will be done. Every truth will be correct. Nothing in the Word of God will be deleted. There cannot be made any amendments or adjustments or there will be no rewrites of opinions. The Word of God cannot be canceled or reversed. Luke 16:15 “It is easier for the earth and the heavens to disappear than to drop a comma from Moses’ Teachings.” We know that every detail of His life was fulfilled that was written. If we choose to reject the Bible, we have t o reject Christ. Our faith in Christ is bound together in the belief of the Word of God. Voltaire said that within 25 years the Bible would be forgotten and that Christianity would be outdated. Did you know that 40 years after his death the French Bible Society used his house to print Bible in? Voltaire died but the Bible is still living today. It is infallible.
5. Jesus believed that the Word of God is the supreme in its power. Jesus did not say the Word of God witnesses to or that it points to. He said it is written and that leaves no doubt it is authority over all else. The Bible is not give slanted truth or opinion but it is as honest as it is written. When Jesus said it is written He affirmed that, they were the very words of God not just a general message. We are to live by every word that comes from God. That makes me want to be in the Word more and more for it is life. God has exalted His Word to the level of His name. PS 138:2 “for you have magnified your word according to all your name.” We are subject to God’s Word and therefore cannot say what we think about it for our personal liking. The Bible does not contain mere suggestions or divine preferences, opinions or options but commands that are necessary for our lives. The Bible is the final Word above every other word.
6. Jesus believed that the Bible was historically perfect. The Bible does not go against history or science. In the book “The lawsuit against the Bible” there is given a challenge to any one who can find an error in the Bible. Many tried but no one was able to disprove any thing in the Bible as being accurate. That means that all the people and events in the Bible are accurately true. There are no errors in the history, science and geography in the Bible. Jesus said, “Your Word is Truth.” What would be the four stories that you would pick out of the Bible that that have received the most criticism from skeptics? They would be Adam and Eve, Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah and Jonah. Jesus referred to all of these when He was here on the earth. MT 19:4 "Haven’t you read the Scriptures?" Jesus replied. "They record that from the beginning ’God made them male and female.’ Jesus believed that they were real and believed in the history about them. He referred to Noah when He said, “As it was in the days of Noah so shall it be before the coming of the Son of man.” Jesus referred to Sodom and Gomorrah in the same in saying the world would be like those cities before His coming. RM 1:24 “So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. 28 When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness.” In quoting about Jonah He said that as Jonah was three days in the fish so He would be three days in the grave. Jesus believed in the whole Bible as being accurate and right.
7. Jesus Believed the Bible is imperishable. Jesus used scripture to defeat the devil and knew that was the only power to defeat him with. Using the scripture as some has said it like using a cannon ball to kill a mosquito. Satan was no match for the mighty word of God. Jesus did not debate or use a magic formula or even bind or condemn the Devil but used the Word of God. Satan is no match the saint that uses the word of God to live a life in Christ. 2 CO 10:4 The weapons we use in our fight are not made by humans. Rather, they are powerful weapons from God. With them, we destroy people’s defenses, that is, their arguments EPH 6:14-17 “So then, take your stand! Fasten truth around your waist like a belt. Put on God’s approval as your breastplate. 15 Put on your shoes so that you are ready to spread the Good News that gives peace. 16 In addition to all these, take the Christian faith as your shield. With it, you can put out all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Also take salvation as your helmet and the word of God as the sword that the Spirit supplies.”
“A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t”. Spurgeon 1 CO 10:13 “There isn’t any temptation that you have experienced which is unusual for humans. God, who faithfully keeps his promises, will not allow you to be tempted beyond your power to resist. But when you are tempted, he will also give you the ability to endure the temptation as your way of escape.”
If Jesus relied solely on the Word of God to defeat the Bible what more do we need. The battle in the wilderness was mismatch for the Word of God prevailed.
