THE TALKING BOOK
Prov. 6:22
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: We live in a World of Give and Take
1. A Jewish Rabbi, named Levy, and a Catholic Priest, Father O'Malley, were best of friends for 10 years.
2. One day they were talking at Father O'Malley's house when O'Malley surprised Rabbi Levy by suddenly offering him lunch.
3. "Rabbi, I have made some lovely Ham sandwiches especially for us. How many shall I put on your plate?"
"I'm sorry, Father," replied Rabbi Levy, "but you know we Jews don't eat Pork of any kind. It’s not kosher."
4. "I know, Rabbi," said Father O'Malley, "but I was hoping to persuade you. I won't tell anyone and so no one would know."
5. "Thank you for your kind offer, Father," said Rabbi Levy, "but I really won't be able to accept it." But the Priest persisted, "Oh please Rabbi, please accept my offer."
6. The Rabbi rolled his eyes & finally smiled. "Alright! OK!" said Rabbi Levy, “You win. I'll have a Ham sandwich - but only at your wedding!"
B. THE BIBLE: LIFE-SAVER
1. Cold terror gripped the heart of a soldier as mortar rounds whizzed overhead, rifles cracked, and the Vietcong closed in.
2. Suddenly he felt ripping pains as a bullet tore into his chest and arm. Yet it wasn’t the end for this soldier. According to an article in The New York Times, the bullet was slowed by a New Testament he was carrying in his shirt pocket.
3. Years later the young man still treasured the blood-stained Book with the ragged hole through the middle. He believes it saved his life.
B. TEXT & THESIS: THE WORDS OF THE BIBLE……
1. “When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you” Prov. 6:22.
2. The Bible is God’s gift to mankind, a love letter from our Father!
3. This morning we’re going to look at the supernatural character of the Bible. That it’s a Book that’s alive!
4. The title of this message is “The Talking Book!
I. THE WORD IS ALIVE!
A. NO BOOK EVER SPOKE LIKE THIS BOOK
1. The Bible looks like any other book in a bookstore, but it’s not. At Barnes and Noble, it’s thrown in with other books, but it’s nothing like them.
2. The words of this Book are ALIVE! Heb. 4:12 says, “For the Word of God is alive 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.”
3. The word “alive” is in Greek “Zoe,” alive, active, moving, accomplishing. They are living words with spiritual power.
4. The Bible is not the words of a man, a king, or a president, but of God. The voice that speaks to us from the Bible is the voice of God.
5. BIBLE: LIKE A TWO-WAY RADIO!
a. It talks WITH you, not TO you!
b. As questions come to your mind, the Bible answers those questions.
c. The Bible speaks to you – no matter what situation you are in – sin, triumph, despair, etc.
d. It’s because the Holy Spirit brings the Word to you. Jesus said, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” John 14:26.
6. The Holy Spirit illuminates the Word. “All scripture is given by inspiration [theopneustes; God-breathed] of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” 2 Tim. 3:16, KJV.
B. ILLUSTRATION
1. The Christians in Lahore India needed a stamp for their New Testaments. They included the verse, Mt. 11:28; “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
2. They hired a Muslim engraver to carve the rubber stamp. When the engraver brought it, he said, “While I was cutting those words in the rubber, God was cutting them in my heart.”
3. He became a Christian because he found that verse was alive; it spoke to his inner being and brought a wonderful change!
C. FRESH TODAY
1. When I read a promise spoken 3,000 years ago, it’s just as fresh as though it were spoken by God today.
2. Not monopolized by any one generation. Just as fresh today as when spoke to Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, or Jeremiah.
3. No one ever outgrows Scripture. No matter what age you are, or how much you’ve learned throughout life, the Bible never becomes ‘dated,’ stale, childish – it remains the Word of God!
4. “The Entrance of Your Words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple” Ps. 119:130.
KJV.
II. WORLD FINDS THE BIBLE OFFENSIVE. WHY?
A. IT REMINDS US OF OUR SIN
1. The world doesn’t want to hear that it’s OUR SIN that made Jesus go to the cross! It was YOUR sin, MY sin that did that!
2. Romans tells us there is no one righteous, that ALL have sinned. Most people are confident their bad deeds aren’t all that bad.
3. One poll found that less than 4% of Americans think they could end up in Hell. Romans 3:9-12 makes it clear: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God…. No one does good, not even one.’”
4. Someone has said, “Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself but because it contradicts them.”
B. IT REMINDS US WE CAN’T SAVE OURSELVES
1. The reality is, we all want to be in control. We want to be in control of our destinies, even our spiritual/ eternal destinies. But we can’t be, and that galls intellectuals and rebels.
2. The message of the Cross says we’re absolutely helpless & have to depend on a Person outside ourselves to save us.
C. OFFENSIVE, BECAUSE IT’S SO SIMPLE
1. It’s simplicity offends people. It paints us all with the same, broad brush of sin. The cross strikes at our self-image, our worth, our pride, our intellect.
III. SO HOW DOES THE WORLD RESPOND?
A. OMIT/ OPPOSE IT.
1. Many people leave out or exclude the parts of Scripture they don’t like. Cafeteria plan – skip repentance, hell, sin.
2. At Men’s Bible Study, man said he’d been to a funeral. The deceased had clearly died in sin, yet everyone there said he’d “gone to a better place.” Our man said, “Doesn’t anybody go to hell anymore?” Evidently not!
3. ILLUSTRATION
a. A minister was once speaking to a large audience in a city auditorium. An atheist came forward and challenged him to debate.
b. “I accept, provided you bring with you one man who has been saved from a life of crime or drunkenness by your atheism, and one woman who has been saved from a wild and promiscuous life and who have become saintly by adopting your atheism. And for every one you bring, I’ll bring 100 such men and women who’ve been changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ!”
c. The atheist simply walked away!
B. CHANGE IT
1. They figure somebody back in time got it wrong, and we’re so smart today that it’s high time we fixed it.
2. But God warned us about changing anything written in Scripture; “If anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City” Rev. 22:19 (Dt. 4:2; Pr. 30:6).
C. COMPROMISE/ WATER IT DOWN
1. Crosses & altars have been removed from some churches because they give too much of a “churchy feel.”
2. Paul said, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” Gal. 6:14.
3. There’s an old adage which goes: “What you win them with, is what you win them to.” If you win them with parties, promises of financial blessing and no hardship, if difficulty happens, they’ll turn back.
4. But if you tell them the Way is hard, the Road is narrow, and sacrifices will have to be made – when those happen, they’ll stand strong and make it to the gates of Glory!
5. Basically, if you win them with a compromised gospel, you’ll automatically have compromising Christians!
6. Every builder knows that if you start off with a faulty foundation, the whole building will be crooked!
7. Jesus would rather have a small but pure church than a large, compromising church! “Come out from among them and be separate says the Lord, and I will receive you and you will be my sons and daughters!”
IV. WHY WE MUST STAND BY THE BIBLE
A. MAN’S CRAZY LAWS
1. In Temperance, MS, you can’t walk a dog without dressing it in a diaper.
2. In St. Louis, a law on the books makes it illegal to park your car without turning off the engine. This was to avoid scaring horses.
3. In Kansas City, KS, saying the name “George Washington” without adding the phrase “blessed be his name,” can land you with a fine of up to fifty cents.
4. In California, selling a gold piece without tooth marks in it is considered forgery.
5. An old statute in Flint, MI, compels dentists to offer a “slug of whiskey with no additional charge to said patient.”
6. In Raleigh, North Carolina, before a man asks for a woman’s hand in marriage, he must be “inspected by all the barnyard animals on the young woman’s family’s property, to ensure a harmonious farm life.”
7. In Salzburg, Germany, any child born on August 18th must be tested for possible witchcraft. [This is due to a local legend that an evil warlock was born on that day in 1638. —Eric C. Davis]
8. Aren’t you glad we have God’s Word?
B. WHY WE STAND BESIDE GOD’S WORD?
1. The Bible IS GOD’S WORD – THE ONLY WORD FROM GOD TO MAN. The voice that speaks to you from the Bible is the Voice of God!
2. The words of this Book are ALIVE! They’re words with spiritual power behind them. Jesus said, “The words I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life.”
3. This SAME WORD upholds the Universe (Heb. 11:3). It guides the future to its ultimate fulfillment. God’s Word will outlast the Universe; “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” Mt. 24:35.
4. Only the Bible has power to save you & transform your life!
C. EXAMPLES OF IT’S POWER
1. TRYING TO BURN THE BIBLE
a. A Brazilian man bought a New Testament and took it home intending to burn it. He lit the fire and tried to burn it, but it wouldn't burn.
b. He spread out the pages so that it would burn more easily, saw the Sermon on the Mount, and flung it back into the fire.
c. But then he had a strange desire to read it, so he pulled it back out of the fire, and read it all through the night. By the time the sun rose, he was a believer.
2. A FEW PAGES ON A BEACH
a. Vincent Quiroga in Chile found a few pages washed up on the shore after a tidal wave. He read them and wouldn't rest till he got a complete Bible.
b. He became a Christian and devoted his life to distributing the Scriptures in northern Chile. Barclay, William The Daily Study Bible: Timothy, Titus & Philemon p201.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUS.: WE SAY WE CAN’T READ THE BIBLE?
1. A man in Kansas City was severely injured in an explosion. The victim’s face was badly disfigured, and he lost his eyesight as well as both hands.
2. He was just a new Christian, and one of his greatest disappointments was that he could no longer read the Bible. Then he heard about a lady in England who read Braille with her lips.
3. Hoping to do the same, he sent for some books of the Bible in Braille. Much to his dismay, however, he discovered that the nerve endings in his lips had been destroyed by the explosion.
4. One day, as he brought one of the Braille pages to his lips, his tongue happened to touch a few of the raised characters and he could feel them. Like a flash he thought, I can read the Bible using my tongue.
5. At the time Robert Sumner recorded this account, the man had “read” through the entire Bible 4 times.
[The Wonders of the Word of God, by Robert L. Sumner.]
B. ALTAR CALL: GOD INTENDS THE BIBLE TO BE OFFENSIVE, TO RUB YOU THE WRONG WAY!
1. The Bible SIFTS & SEPARATES. It requires us to yield our Intellect to God’s wisdom; to humble our Pride to His greater purpose.
2. It commands our obedience; it tests our love. Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will obey Me!”
3. Jesus said, "If anyone would come after Me, they must deny themselves, take up their cross daily and follow Me” Lk. 9:23.
4. To follow Christ, our own opinions and will must be put to death!
5. “This Gospel is the power of God to all who believe…” Rom. 1:16. If you trust it, it will save you!
6. “But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Rom. 10:8-10
7. Prayer for salvation, rededications.
