The Settled Word

Every September we give up a few minutes of our morning worship service to a representative from Gideons International. We have monthly contribution to this wonderful lay organization built into our budget. Their sole purpose is to distribute the Bible all over the world. They put them in jails, schools, hotel and motel rooms and anywhere else they receive permission to do so. The representative shares with us some life-changing antedotes of people who have encountered the Living Word of the Bible placed by this organization. I personally know of a man who was saved as a result of a Gideon placed Bible in the Los Angeles County jail. He now has a ministry to the poor and homeless in 3 cities in our area where many have come to Christ for salvation.

Why is the Bible so powerful? I want to share with you a few thoughts on that question this morning from Psalm 119.

A. The Permanence of the Word. (89-91)

(89) "For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven."

There was never a time when the Word of God did not exist. (John 1:1) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Before the sun, the moon and the stars were made the Word was. Before anything was brought into existence, there was the eternal Word.

Not only was the Word present before anything was made, but the Word will remain after everthing else that was made ceases. (Matt 24:35) "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." After science, philosophy, governments and education; and gold and big houses and the dollar have all passed away, there will be the precious living Word of the living God. Because God’s Word is eternal in heaven, clearly it can be depended upon on earth.

You can say, "Wait a minute, pastor!" I’m getting confused. First you said the Bible is the Word and now you say the Word was God. Which is it?" The Bible is the Word because it has one central character - Jesus Christ. Open the Bible anywhere and it reveals Jesus. That is why Philip could take a portion of Isaiah that the Ethiopian eunuch was reading and begin to preach Jesus Christ to him. So the person of the Word is Jesus. Furthermore, it is the living Word because God has empowered it through His Holy Spirit to accomplish to the last detail His perfect will and purpose.

The written Word, the Bible, totally expresses God’s work of creation, redemption and glorification which is all summed up in the living Word, Jesus Christ Who is God. It is because of this that Scripture often uses the Word interchangeably for the written Word and for Christ.

(90,91) "Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all are thy servants."

As David hide in the hills and desert from Saul, he kept harkening back to the promises of God that he would be the king. His confidence in God’s promise was written hundreds of years before Christ. Can God be trusted to keep His promises 2600 years later? David writes that God can be trusted to "all generations." To emphasize that truth, he ties it to creation. When you or I walk out of this building and find no air to breathe then we can begin to doubt God’s promises. When we look up and there is no light or sun or stars, when there is no ground beneath our feet, no water in the sea, no beauty to fill our eye; then we can say God will not keep His promises. But until those things happen, trust God. All of those things operate at the pleasure of God and they are His sign that His promises are true and trustworthy.

B. The Preservation of the Word. (92)

"Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction."

Again as David flees from Saul, he says that the anchor for his soul is the Word. When you and I run into life’s troubles what is the first thing we should do? Pray! Take your problems to God. But after that we tend to get confused. We look for answers in our circumstances, wait for our situation to change or perhaps even look for a sign through a dream (though I hope not.) Do you know where we should be looking for God’s answers? The starting place is the Word. We always think of prayer as one-way. We tell God what is on our heart and that’s it. But God wants a two-way communication. And most often the answer to your prayer will come as He reveals truth and direction and understanding to your circumstance through the written Word. So when you pray, open up the Bible and let God speak. It is through this means that He will often sustain you in your difficulties.