God’s Book
There was a military officer who happened to stop by an island in the South Pacific. The military officer discovered that the island was inhabited by cannibals. Cannibals are humans who eat other humans. One day he came cross an old tribal chief. He saw the chief reading the Bible in the language of the island people. The officer asked him, “What are you reading.? The old chief held up his Bible and said, “I am reading the Book that belongs to God.? “You’re out of date, aren’t you, old man??the officer asked. “In my country, we don’t believe in that Book anymore; it is a book of myths.? The chief thought this over carefully and replied, “You don’t believe this Book in your country.? “This book made me a good man.? “Before this Book came to my island, I ate people like you.? “This Book has changed me.? “Now, white man, you tell me you want me to throw away this Book and eat you?? I wonder if anyone can guess what the officer’s answer was.
The Bible has the ability to change people’s lives. Do you believe that? I know you believe it. I’m sure you have heard of many other stories about how lives have been changed through this book. We believe that there is life changing power in this Book. And we believe that what the Bible says is true. We believe the words of Hebrew 4:12. It says that, “the word of God is living and powerful…” We all believe! But how many of us spend time everyday allowing the power of this book to affect our lives. Billy Sunday was a great evangelist in the 1800’s. I like what he said. He said, “Going to church don’t make anybody a Christian, any more than taking a wheelbarrow into a garage makes it an automobile.? Going to church is good. But just going to church does not make you a Christian. Friends, what is a Christian? Very simply, a Christian is a Christ-like person. Are you Christ-like? Don’t look at the person who’s sitting next to you. It’s easy to think you are Christ-like when you compare yourself with your neighbor. Look at Christ and ask yourself, “Am I Christ-like?? I know I am not Christ-like. How can we become more Christ-like? Can we change ourselves to be more Christlike? What does Jeremiah 13:23 say? “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.? Scripture makes it clear. We cannot change ourselves. We can act like good Christians. We can look like sincere Christians. But unless God changes us, we cannot be true genuine Christians. Do you know how God changes us? How did God change the cannibal? It was through the power in the Word. That is how God changes us. What did Jesus say in John 17:17? "Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy word is truth." Do you want to be sanctified? Do you want to be holy like Jesus? You need to get into the Word. On p. 100 of Christ’s Object Lessons it says, “The Scriptures are the great agency in the transformation of character.? Friends, God uses the power in the word to change us. Do you want a transformed character? Do you want more than just an outward behaviour change? Do you want to be changed from the inside out. A change beginning in the heart?
What happens to the person who goes to church every Sabbath, but does not spend time in the word of God? He goes to church and he learns that people who are saved and going to heaven keep the commandments. So he goes home and he examines his life. He realizes that he has some sins. He confesses his sins, and then changes his behaviour. He goes to church the next Sabbath. He learns more about the law. So again he confesses his sins, and changes his behaviour. And the cycle continues from Sabbath to Sabbath for twenty years. At the end of twenty years, what do we have? We have a person with very good behaviour. We have a person who can keep the ten commandments flawlessly. What we have is a good moral person. Morality is good. There are some benefits to morality. Morality will keep you out of trouble. Morality will keep you out of jail. But is morality Christianity? Morality is not Christianity. Morality has never been Christianity and never will be. The person who goes to church faithfully every Sabbath and is morally good can easily deceive himself into thinking that he is a good Christian. The Pharisees were such good Sabbathkeepers that they hurried back from the cross to be in time for sundown worship. But that did not make them righteous before God. Morality has to do with behaviour. Christianity is about a relationship. It is about growing up in Christ. It is about changing from the inside out. Do you want to be a Christian? Do you want to be Christ-like?
The one who desires to live one day in eternity with Jesus must make it a priority to spend time with this book every day. For the one who is determined to live forever with Jesus this book is not an option. It is a must. When you choose to follow Jesus and call yourself a Christian, this book is not just an option. Do you want to know what a lot of people tell me. They say, “Martin, I just don’t have time.? “Martin, you work for the church, it’s part of your job to spend time reading the Bible everyday.? “But many of us are busy, we have to work and we have no time.? Friends, it is a matter of priorities. We make time for what is important. We have time to watch Korean dramas. We have time to carve that extra teeth, so that we can take home extra cash. Some of us are so busy doing the work of the Lord that we neglect the Lord of the work. Many of us are like Martha. We are busy running around doing work, trying to impress others, and thinking that Jesus will be impressed. We need to be like Mary. We need to be sitting at his feet listening to him. Many Martha’s in the church will one day say to Jesus, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in Your name?? And then with tears in His eyes, He will say, “I never knew you. I wanted to know you. I spent so much time knocking on the door of your heart. I wanted to spend time with you one on one. But you never opened the door to your heart. You were always busy doing something. You were too busy to ever let me in. I’m sorry. But I don’t know you.
I hope that only a very few of us will have to hear those words. I have a friend who works for the county. He’s got a very busy schedule. But he knows that he needs to find time to spend with Jesus. He has a little time in the morning and a little time at night. But he knew he needed more time with God. He needed more time in the word in order to satisfy his spiritual thirst. My friend decided to spend half of his lunch break studying God’s Book. In Job 23:12 it says, “I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.? If some of you are so busy, I think it is in your eternal interest that you skip one of your three meals and spend your time in the Word of God.
Friends, we are living in a day and age where we cannot afford not to be in the word of God. We need to be in the word of God, being guided by the Holy Spirit. In Selected Messages volume 1 p. 133 it says, “the Holy Spirit, through the Scriptures, speaks to the mind, and impresses truth upon the hearts of men.? Friends, we live in an age, where truth is lost. We live in an age where we do not know what sin is anymore. We live in an age where we come to church and we don’t want to hear about sin. We don’t feel our need for Jesus anymore. We don’t need Jesus anymore. Jesus came to save us from our sins. But because we don’t recognize that we are sinners, we don’t need Him.
Ten, twenty years ago, we knew what sin was. Sin was sin and we called it by its right name. But in this day, in terms of modern pop psychology, sin is decreasing. What do I mean? A parent who kills their child is not seen as responsible because they themselves have been abused as a child. A drunkard who squanders his health and financial resources, and abuses his family is considered to be ill. We don’t use the words adultery and fornication anymore. We now talk about being sexually active.
Modern pop psychology teaches that homosexuality is not a sin. Homosexuals are viewed as having an alternate lifestyle. Besides they were born that way. By the way, did you know that at Pacific Union College, the psychology department teaches this same error. When I was at PUC ten years ago, they taught it, and they continue to teach it. They teach that homosexuality is not a sin. One of my friends came from PUC to our church a few weeks ago. He is a psychology major. He told me that he is going to switch majors. He realizes that if he continues in the psychology program, it will lead him away from God. He told me that the professors tell him that what the Bible teaches is just another perspective. They use that word “perspective?a lot. In our Adventist institutions, there is a lot of error that is being taught. Don’t think that your children are safe just because they are studying in our Adventist institutions. You need to tell your children to get into the word of God. In the 90’s, the list of human behavior that are considered to be sin are not getting longer and longer, but shorter. Not guilty by reason of insanity is now being applied to every kind of behavior that used to be considered sin pure and simple.
Friends, we are living in a world where Satan is busy running around spreading his lies “because he knows that he has a short time.?Rev. 12:12 We live in a time, where we must seriously be in the word of God. A month ago, my friend went to Soquel for a weekend retreat. The guest speaker for that weekend was Morris Venden. Morris Venden is a well-known author and speaker in our denomination. He is well-known for his messages on righteousness by faith. My friend told me that during one of his messages, Morris Venden said that he regretted making a contribution to the daily devotional books. We all know what devotional books are. There is one page to read for each day of the year. Why does Morris Venden regret making a devotional book. Because these books give people the impression that this is all you need in order to stay alive spiritually. Isn’t that correct? We spend a couple of minutes in the morning, quickly reading a page. And then we run out the door singing, “This little light of mine, I gonna let it shine.? Morris Venden knows that a short 5 minute devotion is not sufficient. We need to immerse ourselves in the word of God. You might say, “Well, I listen to a lot of sermons on tapes. So I’m being spiritually fed. I’m doing okay.? I’m really happy for you. I think we have a great tape ministry program in our church. And it’s good to listen to many sermons during the week. I personally love listening to tapes. I listen to tapes all the time. But tapes can never be a substitute for the time I must spend the open pages of God’s book. If you are way too busy to read the Bible, and it is not your priority, that is fine. But don’t believe the devil’s lie that you are doing perfectly fine just with the tapes. Because that simply is not true. Listen carefully to these words from page 390 of Desire of Ages. “As our physical life is sustained by food, so our spiritual life is sustained by the word of God. And every soul is to receive life from God’s word for himself. As we must eat for ourselves in order to receive nourishment, so we must receive the word for ourselves. We are not to obtain it merely through the medium of another’s mind. We should carefully study the Bible, asking God for the aid of the Holy Spirit, that we may understand His word. We should take one verse, and concentrate the mind on the task of ascertaining the thought which God has put in that verse for us. We should dwell upon the thought until it becomes our own, and we know "what saith the Lord."
Earlier, I talked about how we live in a day where we don’t are losing sight of what sin is. I mentioned that the devil is busy with his deceptions. Please consider these words from the pen of inspiration. This is taken from Gospel Workers 308. “Perilous times are before us. Every one who has a knowledge of the truth should awake, and place himself, body, soul, and spirit, under the discipline of God. The enemy is on our track. We must be wide awake, on our guard against him. We must put on the whole armor of God. We must follow the directions given through the Spirit of prophecy. We must love and obey the truth for this time. This will save us from accepting strong delusions. God has spoken to us through His word. He has spoken to us through the testimonies to the church, and through the books that have helped to make plain our present duty and the position we should now occupy. The warnings that have been given, line upon line, precept upon precept, should be heeded. If we disregard them, what excuse can we offer? If we disregard the truth, what excuse can we offer? In second Thessalonians we are told that God will finally give us over to strong delusion. Let’s read that. 2 Thessalonians starting with verse 9. “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.?
Several months ago, we as a church went up to Leoni Meadows for a weekend retreat. I’m sure it is still fresh in your minds. Our guest speaker for that weekend was Dr. Chea. On Sat. morning, Dr. Chea asked me a favor. She asked me to have all the young people write 5 things that they had difficulty communicating to their parents. After the students had written, I collected all the papers. Before I gave the papers to Dr. Chea, I read the papers. There were two sentences that a student wrote that really touched me. And so I copied them. I have them right here with me. On Sat. night, Dr. Chea shared most of the things that the students had written. But she didn’t mention the two statements that this one student wanted to communicate. So the parents of this child never got to hear what their child wanted to communicate. So this morning, I want to communicate this for that student. The first sentence goes like this. “I wish you could talk more about God to me and how he is so good.? And the second is this: “I wish you could encourage me to read Ellen G. White books and to be more connected with God and to be more Christian-like.? This young student wants to know about God. This young student is hungry for the word of God. This student wants to be a Christian. Would you like me to tell you who wrote this? I will not tell you. And the reason is this. If I told you, many of you parents will say, “well, that’s not my kid.? So it’s easy for you to get lazy and not get into the Word. Instead, I want every parent to believe that your child wrote this. (Some of you may be thinking, “My child and I didn’t go to Leoni Meadows. So I don’t need to worry about reading the Bible.? If you are thinking those thoughts, what can I say to you? I can say that those thoughts are not from God. Believe that your child wants to grow spiritually. Believe that your child wants to be encouraged to read the Bible. You decided to raise children. You brought them into the world. You have a responsibility. You have a responsibility to demonstrate Christianity to your child. You need to get into this book. You need to learn about Jesus. You need to become like Jesus. Your child needs to see Jesus in you. When our parents are into the Word, our children will get into the word. And when we are all into the Word, we will experience power in this church. Can you say amen? Amen!
