Sermon - Psalm 119:1-24; 2 Timothy 3:10-17 - Transformed by Truth

I grew up in Dartmouth and as a child I was sent to Sunday School until age 6, in the summer I would always go to VBS and when I got older youth group. But being part of church was not a priority for my family and so when I went, I normally went with my next door neighbours. When I was 16 I went to Bayside Camp for a fall retreat, I had my older brother= s little black Bible and during that weekend the truth of God= s word hit right between the eyes and I decided to follow Jesus. That was the beginning of my life being transformed by the truth of God= s Word. Read the front page, 2 Timothy 2:15, A Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.@

You see spiritual growth is the process of replacing the lies of this world with the truth of God= s Word. As Jesus prayed for His disciples in John 17:15-17, A My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.@ God= s Spirit living in us uses the Word of God to transform us or sanctify us to be like Jesus. This is where we learn what Jesus did, what He said, how He acted, how He treated people, and to become more like Jesus we need to fill our mind, fill our heart, fill our lives with His word. As we see in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 in the Message, A Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or anotherC C showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.@

God= s Word is not like any old book, Hebrews 4:12 says, A For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.@ When God speaks, things change. Everything around youB all of creationB exists because A God said it.@ He spoke it all into being. Without God= s Word you would not even be alive.

Rick Warren says, A The Bible is far more than a doctrinal guidebook. God= s Word generates life, creates faith, produces change, frightens the Devil, causes miracles, heals hurts, builds character, transforms circumstances, imparts joy, overcomes adversity, defeats temptation, infuses hope, releases power, cleanses our minds, brings things into being, and guarantees our future forever! We cannot live without the Word of God! Never take it for granted. You should consider it as essential to your life as food. Job said, A I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.@

One of the most amazing statistics is that the Bible is always one of the best selling books every year. There are more Bibles in print than ever before, but if it stays unopened it is worthless. There are believers everywhere who are starving to death spiritually because there Bibles remain unopened. To be a healthy disciple of Jesus, feeding on His Word needs to be a priority. Jesus called it abiding in John 3:31 where it says, A If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.@

How do we abide in His Word day by day and allow the truth to transform us. Today, I want to recommend three ways to abide in His Word, 1) Accepting the Authority of the Truth, 2) Integrating the Truth in your Life and 3) Putting the Truth into Practice

 

  1. Accepting the Authority of the Truth

    In the life of every believer the Bible must become the authoritative standard for life. It has been said the Bible needs to be, the compass I rely on for direction, the counsel I listen to for making wise decisions, and the benchmark I use for evaluating everything. In short the Bible must always have the first and last word in my life.

    A great deal of the problems we experience in life come from the fact that we make decisions based on unreliable information like our culture (everyone= s doing it), our tradition (we= ve always done it that way), our reason (it seemed logical), or our emotion (it just felt right). All four of these are based on things of this world and are flawed by sin. What we need to always turn to is the perfect Word of God.

    As we saw in 2 Timothy 3:16, A Everything in the Scriptures is God's Word. All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live.@

    A Christian university student shared a room with a Muslim. As they became friends, their conversation turned to their beliefs. The believer asked the Muslim if he'd ever read the Bible. He answered no, but then asked if the Christian had ever read the Koran.

    The believer responded, "No, I haven't, but I'm sure it would be interesting. Why don't we read both together, once a week, alternating books?" The young man accepted the challenge, their friendship deepened, and during the second term he became a believer in Jesus.

    One evening, late in the term, he burst into the room and shouted at the longtime believer, "You deceived me!" "What are you talking about?" the believer asked. The new believer opened his Bible and said, "I've been reading it through, like you told me, and just read that the Word is living and active!" He grinned. "You knew all along that the Bible contained God's power and that the Koran is a book like any other. I never had a chance!"

    "And now you'll hate me for life?" queried the believer. "No," he answered, "but it was an unfair contest."

    The most important decision you can make is to settle this issue of what will be the ultimate authority for your life and for the follower of Jesus the Bible is to be the final authority. Second, we need to...

  2. Integrate the Truth in your Life

Once you have settled the Bible as authoritative, the next step is filling your mind with the Truth so that the Holy Spirit can transform our lives with the Truth.

  1. We need to receive God= s Word - with and open and receptive attitude.
  2. We need to personally read the Bible daily to hear God= s voice.
  3. Studying the Bible is another way to abide in the Word. This involves asking questions as you read and writing down your insights.
  4. Another way to abide in God= s Word is by hiding it in your heart and remembering it.
  5. The last way I would say we can integrate the Truth in our lives is by reflecting or meditating on the Word. If you know how to worry you know how to mediate on scripture. It is focussed thinking on a passage, you think about God= s truth.

 

  1. Putting the Truth into Practice

So, first we accept the Bible as authoritative, then we integrate it into our lives, then we need to put it into practice, we need to be doers of the word. This is the hardest step of them all, because Satan fights it so intensely. He doesn= t mind you going to Bible Study as long as you don= t do anything with what you learn. Jesus said in Matthew 7:24, A Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.@ Jesus also pointed out that God= s blessing comes from obeying the truth, not just in knowing it. He said in John 13:17, A Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.@

One of the best ways to put the Truth into practice is to write out an action step as a result of your reading or studying or reflecting. What has God already told you in His Word that you haven= t started doing yet?

Jesus said in John 8:31-32 says, A If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.@