The Benefit Of God's Word

The Benefit of God’s Word – 4th January 2009 pm

The Wonder of the Bible

1. The wonder of its formation-the way in which it grew-one of the mysteries of time.

2. The wonder of its unification-a library of 66 books, yet one Book.

3. The wonder of its age-the most ancient of all books.

4. The wonder of its sales-the best-seller of all time, far ahead of any other book.

5. The wonder of its interest-the only book in the world read by all classes of people.

6. The wonder of its language-written largely by uneducated men, yet the best book from a literary standpoint.

7. The wonder of its preservation-the most hated of all books, yet it continues to exist!

I. God’s Word Authenticates the Deity of Christ – John 20:31

The Bible reveals to us who Christ is and how we can know Him. John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus IS God and that it is only by placing your faith in Him that brings everlasting life.

It isn’t necessary to see Jesus Christ in order to believe. Yes there is no doubt that the early Christians were blessed to see their Lord in the flesh and to know that He was alive, but that is not what saved them. Joh 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

We cannot see Christ, nor can we see Him perform the miracles that John wrote about in this book, but the record is there and that is all we need Romans 10:17.

As you read John’s record you come face to face with Jesus Christ, how He lived, what He said, and what He did. All of the evidence points to the conclusion that He is indeed God come in the flesh, the Saviour of the world.

The signs and miracles that John selected and described in this gospel are proof of the deity of Christ. They are important, but sinners are not saved by believing in miracles; they are saved by believing on Christ.

Many people followed Him because of His miracles John 6:2 And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased; but in the end most of them left Him for good John 6:66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

We have the Bible to authenticate Christ’s deity – and we are presented with a threefold proof of this thesis: our Lord’s works, our Lord’s walk, and our Lord’s words. The Scripture shows Christ performing miracles; the Scripture shows Christ living a perfect life in the midst of His enemies; and you hear Him speaking words that nobody else could speak.

Either Jesus was a madman, or He was deluded, or He was all that He claimed to be – God. Whilst some did call Him deranged and deluded, the majority of people who watched Him and listened to Him came to the conclusion that He was unique, unlike anyone else.

He claimed to be God come in the flesh, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. That is exactly who He is.

II. God’s Word Gives Hope to Man – Romans 15:4

The idea of this verse is that when we go through this life serving the Lord, there will be times of discouragement and defeat. In those times, we need to learn to look to the Word of God. It is there that we will find the encouragement we will need to continue on for the glory of the Lord.

Again, we can look to Jesus as our example. When He was tempted, He used the Word of God, Matt. 4:1-11.

When He was on the cross, He quoted the Scriptures three times, Matthew 27:46 My God.. (Psalm 22:1) ; John 19:28 I thirst... (Psalm 69:21) ; Luke 23:46 Father into thy hands I commend (Psalm 31:5). This shows us that in the difficult times of His life, Jesus used the Word of God for His Own comfort and strength.

If He did, how much more do we need that kind of help? Therefore, the believer must be well acquainted with the Bible. When the difficult days come, and they will! You can run to the Word of God and find help and strength to make it through those valleys.

No one ever said that the Christian life was an easy life. However, it is not an impossible life! When a believer lives for the Lord, there will be times when we feel like throwing in the towel, but the Word of God will enable us to continue on for the glory of God. By the way, when you don’t spend time in the Word, it will show on you! You will get critical. You will become mean spirited. You will become intolerant of others and hard to get along with.