[0:00] Well, our study is the precious things of God. And we came last week to the preciousness of God's word. And we're going to finish this topic today.
[0:13] Speaking of God's words, the psalmist says in Psalm 1910, they are more precious than gold, than much pure gold. And we asked, why is it?
[0:26] Why is this book precious? And we saw that it's precious because of what it is and because of what it does. And first of all, the word of God is precious because it is the word of God.
[0:40] And that makes it more precious than gold. If that was all that we had to say about this book, it would make it precious, wouldn't it?
[0:52] That we have the very words of God in it. And yet it's precious also because of what it does. It reveals things that we otherwise would never know.
[1:04] Things in the past. Things in the future. Things that are unseen. It reveals God to us. It is God's own self-revelation. Wherein he tells us. His thoughts.
[1:15] His plans. His purposes. The future. The way of salvation. That's the third thing. It reveals the only way of salvation. What a glorious revelation of God we have in the creation.
[1:29] But as glorious as it is, it cannot tell us how we sinners can be right with a holy God. For that, we needed the word. The inscripturated revelation.
[1:42] If you'd like to see what does mankind do with the revelation in creation without the word. So if all we had was the revelation in creation without the written word.
[1:55] You can go to Romans chapter 1 and see what happens when all there is is the revelation of creation.
[2:06] Man suppresses the truth that he finds in that revelation. He refuses to give God the glory for that revelation.
[2:17] And refuses to thank him. He exchanges the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
[2:29] He exchanges the truth of God. Even the truth that he receives in that revelation. He exchanges that truth for a lie. And he worships and serves created things more than the creator.
[2:42] He exchanges the natural relations for unnatural ones. He exchanges the truth of God. He exchanges the truth of God. And so on and so on and so on it goes. And that's what happens if all we have is the book of creation.
[2:56] It's enough to condemn us all. And leave us all without excuse. So what is the preciousness of this book that tells us, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
[3:09] Here we have the way of salvation made known to us. It reveals that in the scriptures. And then fourthly it reveals Christ. His nature, his work, his words, his heart.
[3:23] And then we finished last week with a study of Psalm 19. And we see what the word of God is and what it does. The law of the Lord is perfect. That's what it is.
[3:34] And what does it do? It revives the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy. What do they do? They make wise the simple.
[3:45] They show us the very wisest way to live and make us to walk in that way. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.
[3:58] So this book is precious. No wonder David then bursts into praise that they are more precious than gold, than much fine gold.
[4:10] Sweeter than honey, than honey from the cone. So that's just the way of review of what God's word is and what it does. We finish with a few other things that the word of God does.
[4:22] And the ninth one is that it sanctifies me. It sanctifies me. Jesus said in his prayer to the Father in John 17, 17, Sanctify them by your truth.
[4:33] Your word is truth. So this is a sanctifying agent. It's something that makes us holy. It's an instrument that God uses to set us apart from this world unto himself so that we live unto him.
[4:49] Jesus said to his disciples in John 15, 3, You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. This word cleanses us from sin as it points us to the redeemer, the only way of cleansing, and keeps us from ways of wickedness.
[5:09] So the reality is that God is changing me. And necessarily so because Isaiah 55 says that my thoughts are not his thoughts.
[5:19] And my ways are not his ways. So I need to be changed. And that's why I need to forsake my thoughts. And so I come to his word to be taught how to think.
[5:31] How to think about everything. How to think about God. How to think about myself. How to think about my sin. How to think about the Savior. How to think about my neighbor.
[5:42] About my wife. My children. My church. I need to forsake my thoughts and to receive his. And that's the preciousness of the word of God.
[5:53] That it sanctifies me. It's changing me. Turn to Romans 12 and the first two verses. Familiar verses.
[6:03] But let us come to them again with this question of why is the word of God precious to us? Well it's precious because of what it is and what it does.
[6:15] It says in Romans 12, 1 and 2. Therefore I urge you brothers. In view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices. Holy and pleasing to God.
[6:29] Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is.
[6:41] His good, pleasing, and perfect will. If I am going to be sanctified. That means that I need to not do my will but to do God's will.
[6:52] And where do I learn what God's will is? How do I have my mind renewed such that my life is transformed from going my way to God's way?
[7:04] Here we have it. Don't conform any longer to the pattern of this world. That's how we all came into this life. We were conformed to the world. And now we're told don't be conformed anymore.
[7:17] But rather what are we to do? Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So we're in this work of mind renewal.
[7:30] There's ways that I still am conformed to this world. And I'm even blind to those ways. So I come to God's word. And my mind is renewed.
[7:41] As I think God's thoughts and I ponder his ways. And that changes the way that I think. And it enables me then to approve what is God's will.
[7:55] And it transforms my very living. The book. It's changing me. From the inside out. And that makes it precious. David found it to be a great help in sanctifying him.
[8:08] He says. He cries out in Psalm 119, 9 and 11. How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I have hidden your word in my heart.
[8:21] That I might not sin against you. You see the cleansing, sanctifying tool that the scriptures are. As we hide it in our hearts.
[8:34] And embrace it. And take it to us. And meditate on it. And memorize it. It keeps us from sin. I think it was one of the earliest Bibles my parents gave me.
[8:45] They wrote on the early flyleaf of the Bible. This book will either keep you from sin. Or sin will keep you from this book.
[8:57] These two are just that opposed to one another. This book and sin. So if you hide it in your heart. It will keep you from sin.
[9:08] But if you're not hiding it in your heart. It's a good chance that sin is the reason you're not hiding it in your heart. There's something that has supplanted it. So let thy word, O Lord, be fire in my soul.
[9:22] Burning out every sin. Cleanse my heart and mind from every evil thought. Make me pure within. That's the attitude with which we come to this book.
[9:35] The Lord Jesus found it to be help in fighting against sin. In his temptations with the devil in the wilderness. As he answered each time.
[9:47] It is written. So, does that not make God's word precious to you? This book helped the Lord Jesus to not sin against his father.
[9:58] And it's the same book. And in fact, we have more than what he had in fighting against sin. So that's the ninth reason it's precious.
[10:10] Because it's sanctifying me. And I must be sanctified. Because without holiness, no man will see the Lord. Oh, how blessed to have a book that is used in my sanctification.
[10:22] And then tenth. It comforts us in our trials. This is what this book does. It comforts us in our trials. There's a reason why the Psalms are some of the most favorite portions of God's word for afflicted saints.
[10:37] How often in our trials we come to the book of Psalms and we read. And it's like immediately we sense. Whoever wrote this knows what I'm going through.
[10:52] I couldn't have put it in better words. I couldn't have expressed my own confusion, my doubts, my fears, my worries, my complaints any better than what I found here.
[11:05] Luther said he never understood the Psalms until God afflicted him. If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. Psalm 119.92.
[11:19] Psalm 119.143. Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands are my delight. And so the people of God have found great encouragement in their afflictions from this book.
[11:33] I think of Pilgrim's Progress. And a Christian was traveling alone. I believe it was the valley of the shadow of death. It was just a narrow strip of land that fell off on either side with minions of hell flying about him, whispering things in his ear, doubting the existence and goodness of God and being tempted.
[11:54] Things were dark. Things were, he was alone. He was afflicted. And Bunyan says that he took comfort when he heard the voice, just a voice of someone further on in the journey.
[12:13] He just heard the voice of another pilgrim. Why would that encourage him? In his affliction. Why would he suck such great encouragement from the fact that I just heard the voice of another pilgrim up ahead?
[12:27] Well, that means that I'm not the only one who's been through this way. And there's grace in the Lord Jesus to get me through it. Somebody else got through it by the grace of the Lord.
[12:40] And so there's comfort, there's encouragement. Just knowing that no temptation, no trial, no affliction has taken me, but such as is common to man.
[12:51] And God is faithful and he will not allow me to be tempted more than I'm able, but with the temptation will make a way of escape so that I can stand up under it. And somebody else is standing on the other side of this valley.
[13:05] And so we find great encouragement as we turn to the Psalms and to the word of God in our afflictions. It's through the encouragement of the scriptures that we have hope.
[13:19] Romans 15 and verse 4. The psalmist says, Lastly, it completely equips me for life.
[13:48] And I'm sure we could go on to 20 probably, but we've got to end somewhere. There's more precious things to study. But here's one reason it's precious. It completely equips me for life.
[14:00] Now we don't know what life has in store for us. What's it worth to know that I have a book that will completely equip me for anything I'm going to face out there?
[14:11] It's right here. This book. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3.
[14:22] After telling us that this book makes us wise for salvation, Paul then says in verse 16 and 17 of 2 Timothy 3, All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
[14:48] I think this is a super text for showing us for God's word. Because it covers both bases. It's precious because of what it is.
[14:59] What does this text tell us God's word is? It's God breathed. It's the word of God that before it ever comes out of the mouth of the prophet, it first came out of the mouth of God.
[15:14] He breathed out. All scripture is God breathed. It's come from him. It's God speaking. So that's what it is.
[15:25] And that makes it precious. But also what it does. So that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
[15:36] Now some have said that this phrase, the man of God, is a technical term for ministers of the word. That Paul is speaking to Timothy and he's referring to him as a minister of the word.
[15:48] That this book will thoroughly equip you, Timothy, for every good work that you do in the ministry. And I simply say that may very well be.
[16:00] But if it completely furnishes the man of God to minister to the saints, this same book will thoroughly equip you with everything that you need to live the life that God has for you.
[16:16] So if it's true of the shepherds who equip the flock with this word, it's no less able to spiritually equip the whole flock for whatever works are before them.
[16:31] Well, the fact that all scripture is the word of God makes it all useful. Do you see that? All scripture is God breathed and profitable, useful.
[16:44] So anything that comes out of God's mouth is useful. There's no vain repetition. There's no unnecessary words that come out of his mouth.
[16:59] If it comes out of his mouth, it's useful. And that's another thing that makes it precious, just to think that it's useful. And all of it's useful.
[17:11] Its doctrines are useful. It's useful. Of who God is. The doctrine of salvation. The doctrine of the Trinity.
[17:23] The doctrine of sin. The doctrine of redemption. It's all useful. Winslow says, There can be no real stable building up in God's truth when the great doctrines of grace are faintly believed and loosely held.
[17:39] No doctrine is important. It's useful because it's God breathed. But not all of the Bible comes to us in doctrinal statements.
[17:51] Some of it comes in the way of commands and precepts. And these two are precious. They're precious to a man who wants to please the Lord.
[18:01] Because here we find out what pleases the Lord. And that alone makes it precious to me. I want to show my love to my Savior and my God.
[18:14] What will please him? How can I show my... He's given me a book to find out what pleases him. It's a book of commands. It has commands and precepts.
[18:24] And those are useful. By them we learn his will, his desire. By them is your servant warned. And in keeping them there is great reward.
[18:37] The promises of God. Some of the words of God come in the form of promises. We're going to take several weeks just for that alone. It's one of the precious things of God.
[18:47] But the rebukes and corrections of Scripture are also precious. When I'm reading the Word of God and it says, You're the man. And it points its finger at me.
[19:00] That's precious. Because I'm wandering away from that narrow path. And I need somebody to rebuke and correct me. What a precious book. It does that for me.
[19:12] It rebukes and corrects me. It's living and active. Luther says it has feet and it runs after me. It has hands and it lays hold of me.
[19:23] It's got a mouth and it talks to me. This is the book. Hebrews 4.12. It's alive and active. And rebukes and corrects us.
[19:35] When we wonder. His words bring us back. And then there's aspects of history. There's a lot of historical narrative in the Bible, isn't it? And that's profitable and useful to us as well.
[19:48] Because in reading history, we get to see truth fleshed out in the lives of people, real people like us. And we have both good examples to learn from and bad examples to flee from.
[20:02] The word of God teaches us by the failures and the successes of others in its historical portions. And it's in that history that we learn of the faithfulness of our God to his people and to his plans.
[20:17] 2 Peter 1.3 says that God's divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
[20:33] So it's precious because it's sufficient. It's enough to prepare me for life in this world, a godly life. Well, that's the end of our study of why the word of God is precious.
[20:48] Because of all that it does, because of what it is. Then we've got to press this question as Winslow does a bit more personally.
[20:58] So it is precious, but is it precious to you? And again, that something can be precious in what it is and yet not precious to us.
[21:12] Those could be two different things. So let's see what it was to others. Job, stripped of all your health and wealth and your children, all of earth's treasures, what is God's word to you?
[21:25] And he tells us in Job 23.12, I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread. Treasured.
[21:37] That's a word of valuation, isn't it? We're putting price tags on things now. How high is the value of this and that? Well, how valuable is your daily food?
[21:48] Okay, you put a certain price tag on that, don't you? Valuation. And you say, well, I value that very highly. I can't live without it. And Job says, here's the afflicted Job.
[22:01] He does not know the way he takes. He doesn't know what God's doing in his life. And Job, what's the word of God to you? Oh, I treasure it more than my daily food.
[22:14] I can't live without it, is what he's saying. I've got to have the knowledge of God in my darkness. He knows the way that I take. And when he has tried me, I will come forth as gold.
[22:25] I don't have a clue the way that I'm going. But he knows. How does he? The word of God, you see, his comfort in his affliction, caused him to treasure the word of God high above his daily food.
[22:38] We don't miss our daily food much, do we? And if we treasure the word of God, we'll not miss our daily portion of Scripture. Sure. So, Job, it's good to see you.
[22:52] You counted the word of God precious. Jeremiah. Red-eyed Jeremiah. Weeping prophet Jeremiah. Why is he weeping? Because the word of God was not precious to the people of God. They ignored it.
[23:04] They neglected it. They trampled on it. They went their own way. And here's Jeremiah living in that culture. Jeremiah, what's the word of God to you? Well, 1516, when your words came, I ate them.
[23:20] They were my joy and my heart's delight. It's like my favorite food. And to take it in is just to savor it and to love it.
[23:32] Brethren, we live in a world that does not treasure the word of God. But we can. We can be like Jeremiah and we can weep that they do not treasure. This valuable word from heaven.
[23:46] But we can count it as more precious, more joy-giving, more heart-delighting than our favorite food. David, would you tell us what the word of God means to you?
[23:59] David, shepherd of your father's sheep out on the hills of Bethlehem. David, shepherd of the people of God. How precious is God's word to you? Psalm 119.72.
[24:11] He says to the Lord, The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold. Now, David as king would have had a lot of gold and silver.
[24:26] So he's not just talking hypothetically here. But he's saying as precious as gold and silver is, your word is more, much more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.
[24:45] Is the word of God more precious to you than your net worth? Than all your savings or all your retirement, all that you could have or want to have?
[24:55] How would you ever go about finding the answer to that question? And we hear David say that. The words of your mouth are more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver.
[25:08] Is God's word more precious to me than all of my money? How would I even find an answer to that? Well, our minds tend to drift toward our treasures, don't they?
[25:23] So the miser, what's he doing? He's always thinking of his treasure. And he's often found counting it. David, often thinking about God's word.
[25:37] Often meditating on it. Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day. That's a good indication of whether we treasure something. Are our thoughts kind of going back home to that?
[25:50] Like pigeon, carrier pigeons that return home. And they're out flying about in the midst of their day. But they keep coming back home. And that's a sign of our treasure.
[26:02] As the miser's mind returns to his treasure. And David's mind returns to his treasure. And he meditates upon it day and night.
[26:13] Well, let's just remember. Job, Jeremiah, and David. They had a very thin Bible. You think about what these men had.
[26:27] They didn't have much. And yet they treasured what they had. More than their food. More than their finances. And now here, what do we have?
[26:38] We have the whole 66 books. The finished, inscripturated revelation of God. God has said everything that needs to be said to his people.
[26:49] Until Jesus comes back for us. He's said it all. He's had it written down. And we're blessed in his providence to have a copy of it. How precious then it ought to be to us.
[27:00] We not only have the gospel foretold in words and symbols and pictures. We have the record of the Lord Jesus Christ. God, the eternal son, taking flesh and living and dying and rising again and ascending.
[27:15] We have the whole book. Precious treasure, thou art mine. There was once a blind man who had to learn Braille in order to read his Bible.
[27:26] But he counted it worth the effort. Because after all, it was God's word. But one day he found that he had lost sensitivity in the tips of his fingers.
[27:38] To where he could no longer discern the Braille letters in his Bible. And he was broken hearted. And he dropped his head and wept over his open Bible.
[27:51] And in the process, his tongue happened to touch the page. And he realized he had sensory feelings in his tongue. And he learned to read the word of God with his tongue.
[28:07] I think we can safely conclude that the word of God was precious to that man. Oh, blessed thing to be able to have eyes.
[28:18] And blessed thing to have a book. That is nothing less than the word of God. Winslow gives us some practical exhortations.
[28:29] I want to close with this. It's because of what it is that the Lord Jesus tells us to be careful how we hear. And obviously in that day they did more hearing than reading.
[28:41] They didn't have a copy of the scriptures to carry with them. And so I'm going to say not only should we be careful how we hear it preached. But we should also be careful how we read it.
[28:53] If the book is utterly unique, there's no other book like it, then my way of listening to it and reading it ought to be unique. I ought to read this book like I don't read any other book.
[29:08] In what ways? Well, Paul says to the Thessalonians, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. And so if it is the word of God, and it is, then we ought to receive it as such.
[29:25] And there's a whole unique way of receiving a word from God that is different from receiving any other book. And I'd like for us just to think of some of them and just close with these practical exhortations because of what it is.
[29:41] Number one, read it personally. Read it personally. The longest chapter in the Bible is what? Psalm 119. What's its theme from beginning to end?
[29:54] God's word. He's extolling the word of God for 176 verses. You're hard-pressed to find. I think there's just three or four verses out of the 176 that don't speak about God's word.
[30:08] It was a precious book to David. And if you want to just follow up on our study, read Psalm 119 meditatively and pray it right back to God. 210 times he uses the word your.
[30:25] So it's a book of, it's a chapter about God's word, but he keeps using the word your. Your commands, your precepts, your statutes, your testimonies.
[30:37] Those, that's a personal pronoun. And David loves, what we learn is that David loves the word because of the person speaking it. And so we too are to read it personally.
[30:50] So I come to this book to meet with my God, to listen to his voice talking to me. You see, that's a unique way to read a book. Only this book do I read that way.
[31:01] I'm listening to God speaking. And I mean God in all three persons. And so here my father talks to me. Here my Lord Jesus reveals his heart to me.
[31:15] Here my Holy Spirit instructs me. So how important is communications in any relationship? Well, it's absolutely essential.
[31:28] Here our God is speaking. So I want to do more than read. I want to listen to him. How intimate is a relationship where one of the two does not listen?
[31:40] Well, it breaks down, doesn't it? And so I want to be all ears when God is speaking. I'm listening to him now talking to me. It's a personal thing.
[31:52] And only in listening to him can I get to know him better and find him more precious to me. So his words are precious because he is precious.
[32:03] I say this out of my own experience. Be careful that you don't reduce your time in the word to a mere discipline. To a mere discipline.
[32:15] It is a spiritual discipline. And we need to grow in the spiritual discipline of taking in God's word. But just watch against letting it be nothing more than a discipline.
[32:28] If you don't have it as a spiritual discipline, you will suffer great loss because you'll only read it when you feel like it. And that won't be nearly as much as you need it. But let's not forget we're meeting with God when we turn to his word.
[32:43] We're not just coming to check off three more chapters or three more paragraphs or three more verses. I found that a little thing in my own mind.
[32:55] I think as we grew up, we spoke of our quiet time. Or I thought of it as doing my devotions. Any of you had that language growing up?
[33:06] That I'm going to have my devotions. And that's fine. It has its practical help. We are showing our devotion to our God when we sit at his feet.
[33:17] But I found it just helpful just to change the way I even think and speak of it that I'm having a meeting with God. It's a personal thing here. God is speaking to me.
[33:29] Not a big thing, but at least think of it that way. That God himself is meeting with us. So discipline yourself to meet with God. He's eagerly waiting to speak to you.
[33:40] He's got a lot to tell you, so don't stand him up. Go meet with him and listen to what he has to say. Read it personally. That's the first. Secondly, read it prayerfully. Asking for the light and help of the Holy Spirit.
[33:55] This same David in Psalm 119 says this in verse 18. Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things in your law. This is the believer David with the Holy Spirit.
[34:09] And what is his prayer as he comes to the word? Open my eyes that I might see wonderful things. There's enough prejudice, enough blindness in my heart as a Christian that I'll miss a lot of it if God doesn't open my eyes.
[34:23] So read it prayerfully as you come to it. Winslow says, The word of God is but a dead letter unattended by the Spirit. Oh, but with the Spirit, how that word springs to life.
[34:37] We have the author of this book living within us. A resident scholar. The one who inspired every word of it. Come to him with your question.
[34:48] Don't read it alone. Read it with him. And take your questions to ask him. To open your eyes and show you wonderful things. Read it prayerfully. And not just before you read, but after you've read.
[35:01] God has spoken to you. Now you speak back to him in prayer. Thirdly, read it reverently. Psalm 119 verse 161. Verse 161. My heart stands in awe of your words.
[35:16] Do you stand in awe of the word of God? The Lord says, I look with favor upon him who trembles at my word. So remind yourself each time you come to hear or read God's word.
[35:32] I'm about to hear almighty God address me. And that has a way of preparing us for it. To receive it reverently. And so we take off our sandals.
[35:46] Because the place we are standing on is holy ground. What makes it holy ground? Because God comes to speak to us. Christ in his word draws near. The shepherd comes to speak to his sheep.
[36:01] Don't miss him. All the means of grace are just paths to him. Read it reverently. At the feet of Jesus. He is exalted above all things.
[36:13] His name and his word. So you exalt it. And you hold it high. You sit at his feet. Take your proper place. Not sitting in judgment upon the word. But putting yourself under it.
[36:26] To let it judge you. To let it search you. To let it teach you. And correct you. And train you. And sanctify you. As James says. Receive with meekness the engrafted word.
[36:36] Which is able to save you. Have thine own way. That's the way we show reverence. Before this word. You're the potter. I'm the clay. Mold me.
[36:48] Make me after your will. While I'm waiting. Yielded and still. So we read it reverently. And then we read it regularly. David says in Psalm 119.16.
[37:00] I delight in your decrees. I will not neglect your word. Whatever you neglect. Don't neglect his word. Winslow says.
[37:12] There's no sure evidence. Of living without God in the world. Than living without intimate communion. With the Bible. It's the greatest sin of omission. Having a Bible and not reading it.
[37:23] For God to be speaking. And us not listening. I like to think of it sometimes that way. That you know God is speaking in this word. And he's constantly speaking in it.
[37:34] All the time he's speaking in it. As long as it's closed. I'm not hearing a word of it. And I. In the beginning God. I said shut it.
[37:45] I'm not hearing him anymore. Created the heavens. He's speaking. Oh be sure to be listening. Don't neglect it. Read it regularly.
[37:56] Five. Read it looking for something to do. Read it looking for something to do. Why do I say that? Because Jesus says that. John 13. 17. Now that you know these things.
[38:08] You will be blessed. If you do them. Jesus said. Blessed are those who hear the word of God. And obey it. James says. Do not merely listen to the word. And so deceive yourselves.
[38:19] Do what it says. Why all these texts. Emphasizing the doing. Of scripture. Unless there is this rotten tendency. In my heart. To read without doing.
[38:31] And so to deceive myself. And to think I'm better off. For having read my Bible today. I'm better off. For having heard the preaching today. That is only true.
[38:42] If what I hear. Gets into my life. And I'm doing it. Otherwise. I've deceived myself. So. So we've got to guard against this. This idea of receiving the word from God.
[38:54] And it not changing the way we live. So read. Asking. Is there something. Here. For me to start doing. That I'm not doing.
[39:04] Is there something. For me to keep doing. Is there something to do more often. Is there something to do differently. To do better. But we must be reading. For something to do.
[39:17] When we come. To the word of God. And then read hungrily. As a newborn baby desires. A sincere milk of the word. Don't spoil your appetite.
[39:27] With this world. I have to. Confess. When our minds are in other places. All day long. And rarely a thought God word.
[39:38] When we come to the word of God. We don't. We don't have that hunger for it. But when it's. It's our meditation. Through the day. Then we come. With an appetite for it. When it's our.
[39:49] Our meditation. Through the week. And we're. We're meeting with God. And he's speaking. Then when we come. Together on the Lord's day. We're hungering. And thirsting. To hear. God's word. Read it hungrily.
[40:00] As a newborn baby. Desires. Its mother's milk. So since God is talking here. Be careful how you hear. Today.
[40:10] We're here. With the word of God. Let's treasure it. Let's. Let's put it right up top there. And some of the most precious things. In this world. How precious is the book divine.
[40:22] By inspiration given. Bright as a lamp. Its doctrines shine. To guide our souls to heaven. O grant us grace. Almighty Lord. To read and mark. Thy holy word.
[40:33] Its truths with meekness. To receive. And by its holy precepts live. We're blessed. Not everybody today. Has what we've got.
[40:45] Let's treasure it. And hide it in our hearts. And live unto the God who's speaking. Let's pray as we are dismissed. Thank you Lord for your precious word.
[40:57] Lord. We wouldn't have even known what to ask for. If we were without it. But having seen it. And having read it. We understand more and more.
[41:09] Just how valuable it is. Forgive us that we take it for granted. And treat it so lightly. Bring us with hunger and thirst. For you. Its author.
[41:19] Father. Son. And Holy Spirit. And transform our reading of it. Our hearing of it. Into personal meetings with yourself. We ask in Jesus name.
[41:31] Amen.