Transcription downloaded from https://bibletalks.htd.org.au/sermons/36711/gods-word-wow/.

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[0:00] Josiah, my son, could you please bring me a Bible? I've forgotten to bring one with me. Thank you. Bring it up. Aren't kids great?

[0:12] Now, friends, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone has sold 100 million copies. It's made J.K. Rowling richer than the Queen of England.

[0:25] But Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is only number 10 on the top 10 most printed and most best-selling books of all time.

[0:36] 100 million copies is a drop in the water compared to the number one book that has been the most popular book of all time. You know what it is?

[0:47] That book is the Bible. People estimate that the Bible has been printed over the last 500 years since the printing press but even the copies that were handmade before, altogether they estimate 5 or 6 billion copies of the Bible or the New Testament.

[1:07] It is by far the most popular book of all time and it's still being printed and selling more than any other book every other year. So I think Harry Potter has probably peaked but the Bible will continue its lead and continue to be the most popular book of all time.

[1:25] The number two book after the Bible is a book of quotations from Chairman Mao and they estimate there are 900 million copies of that in circulation.

[1:37] So even number two is under a billion and the Bible is 5 or 6 billion and the lead is growing. It is an amazing book. It is, friends, the Word of God.

[1:49] Now publishing figures alone don't prove that it is the Word of God because, well, just look at some of the top ten on the music charts. I'm not a great fan of some of the stuff that makes number one.

[2:02] But it's true to think if God has spoken through a book, we would expect that book to be the biggest selling book of all time and that's what we find.

[2:15] If God has spoken through a book, we would expect this book to be the most translated book of all time and that's what we find with the Bible. If God has spoken through a book, we would expect this book to have had a major impact on the world, on world history and on nearly every culture and only the Bible can we say that is true.

[2:39] If God has revealed himself in a book, then I am holding the most precious thing in the world. And the psalmist said it. He says, The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

[2:55] So I could put a Bible out here and a big pot of gold and the wise person would choose the Word of God. Now my children have many names and depending on the occasion you use different names.

[3:09] So Jemima gets called Mimey and Missy Moo and all kinds of crazy things. Lydia is Lydia and Liddy Diddy and Diddy Widdy and variations on that kind of rhyme.

[3:21] When you are intensely passionate about something, you don't just say Bible, you say different names for it. So the psalmist says, Your law, O Lord, your decrees, your precepts, your commandments, your righteous ordinances, your word, your words.

[3:40] This whole psalm has colourful language for the Bible because the psalmist loves the Bible. It's not a flat, predictable book. It's a colourful, exciting book.

[3:53] And so you want to have different words to describe it. And it's God's. You come to the Bible saying, God, this is your book, your commands, your words.

[4:04] If God is righteous, then so are his words. If God is good, then God's words are good. So Psalm 119 says, You are righteous, O Lord, and your judgments are right.

[4:20] You have appointed your decrees in righteousness and in all faithfulness. The Bible is right because God is righteous. The Bible is true because God is true. The Bible is good because God is good.

[4:32] Therefore, friends, we ought to have a certain kind of affection for the Bible that this psalmist had, that our children read. The psalm says, I find delight in your commandments.

[4:47] Talking about the word of God. I find delight in your commandments because I love them. I revere your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.

[4:59] That's verse 47 and 48. Telling God that we love his word. Or verse 97. He's singing, Oh, how I love your law.

[5:11] It is my meditation all day long. Or 167. My soul keeps your decrees. I love them exceedingly. Grownups, children, have you told God recently that you love his word?

[5:30] It's a good thing to do because it is God's word. We wouldn't maybe have the courage to say that. We'd be nervous about saying that if God himself didn't give us permission.

[5:41] In fact, he's given us a whole paradigm of how to love the Bible in Psalm 119. I would encourage the families here to read Psalm 119 today with each other or read it with a friend.

[5:56] If we love God, we will want to love the Bible. The Bible's from God and it's also about God. So we love God and we love the things about God. He is the content of this book.

[6:08] It's not a rule book. It's not just a boring history. It is a book where God is the main character on every page. It is God's word about himself to us on the canvas of the story of salvation.

[6:27] Now some people might say, well I find reading the Bible hard. I don't delight in it. I find it kind of hard work. Well we need to pray the prayers that are in Psalm 119. It gives us some prayers to pray with the Bible.

[6:40] So 18 says, Lord open my eyes that I may behold the wondrous things in your law. Or 33 Teach me O Lord teach me the way of your statutes and I will observe them to the end.

[6:57] So as we read the Bible we want to combine it with prayerfulness that God would open our eyes to the treasures that are in them. Part of the power of the Bible is that people with big brains who are very smart wrestle with it for years and yet little children can delight in it and understand it.

[7:17] It's a wonderful book. And friends the benefits of the Bible will only come if you pray and obey. You must not just have the head knowledge of the Bible but you must absorb it into your life.

[7:32] It was wonderful hearing one of the children read verse 9 How can a young person keep their way pure? by guarding it according to your word. Or 11 I treasure your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.

[7:48] So as we absorb God's word and live it out it will become the treasure that God has designed it to be. I think it's a really unhelpful thing everything we see on television I'm not saying television is bad and most of television is actually okay but the problem is I think so much of television is just trivial so it's not wrong it's just trivial and when you're absorbing just trivial things all the time your mind becomes kind of flat and your heart becomes cold to the grandeur of God's word and only God's word can kind of wake us up from the deadness to the things of God that we just have if we're just living everyday life absorbing the kind of negativity around us.

[8:37] Only God's word can grow our souls so that we can see a grand God Only God's word can exercise our spirits and our hearts so that we love him more Only God's word can give you an understanding of yourself and of the world and only God's word can help you have hope in a despairing world Friends today we've got a special table as you leave church I think everyone should have their own Bible whether you're three years old or ninety-three years old it's a privilege that we have that Bibles are cheap and accessible so we have a whole table of Bibles for all ages for sale do you have your own Bible does everyone in your family have their own Bible and are you reading it alone and together the Bible is not just a book for ministers it's a book for all of

[9:39] God's family anyone who loves God should and can love the Bible one last verse number 140 says to God God your promise is well tried and your servant loves it your promise is well tested in my life and your servant loves it may we all be able to say that that God's word is not a dusty closed book but a book that is well tested in our life and experience and we as God's servants love it let's pray for that friends dear God thank you for the Bible thank you for speaking to us we love you Lord and we love your word help all of us to read it together as church families marriages Bible study groups men's and women's groups and as individuals help us father to cherish that you have revealed yourself to us in a book and we have that book available to us today help us to treasure it father for

[10:45] Jesus sake amen thank you Thank you.