God's Word Is for Everyday Living # 2
THE WORD FROM THE LORD

Jeremiah 37:16

I have been preaching a series on THE WORD FROM THE
LORD, which comes from an experience in the life of
Jeremiah, the prophet. When Jeremiah was the only
prophet in Israel telling the truth, the king had his
own prophets who told him what he wanted to hear. But
when it came down to it, the king himself knew that his
were only false prophets, and they did not declare the
Word of the Lord. He knew that if he was going to get
the truth about the situation the nation faced, he had
to go to God's prophet, and he had to go to God's Word.
“Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon,
where he remained a long time. Then King Zedekiah sent
for him and had him brought to the palace, where he
asked him privately, ‘Is there any word from the
Lord?’" (Jeremiah 37:16-17). That's the topic for this
series. Is there any word from the Lord in this day in
which we live? Is God silent, or do we have a word
from the Lord? "Yes," Jeremiah replied, "you will be
handed over to the King of Babylon." It wasn't a word
he wanted to hear, but it was a word that he needed to
hear, a word of judgment. He said, "You need to get
ready." You and I need to get ready for what we are
facing. We're on the edge of eternity. We stand on
the precipice that divides time and eternity. We stand
in the last days. We stand in the days before the
fulfillment of Bible prophecy, the coming of the Lord.

So we last talked about the Word of the Lord. We said
the Word of the Lord is A PERFECT WORD. God's word is
perfect and complete. We cannot add to it; we must not
take away from it. It's a perfect word. We said that
the Word from the Lord is not only a perfect word, but
it is A POWERFUL WORD. It has the power to change
hearts and lives. We said the Word from the Lord is A
PERMANENT WORD. God's Word is not as the word of man:
it does not change with direction of the wind. But
God's Word is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Then we said God's Word is A PERSONAL WORD. God has a
word that fits each of our lives. God can take any
sermon, any song, any part of his Word, and He can
declare that Word to a crowd of people and then apply
that Word to every individual need and every individual
life.

So I want to continue that thought and say the Word of
the Lord is also A PRACTICAL WORD. God's Word is for
everyday living; God's Word is for everyday people;
God's Word is for Monday through Saturday as well as on
Sunday. Because the Word of God will apply to the
practical needs of your life. God gives us the
practicalities of his Word under symbols that symbolize
how his Word applies to our life and how his Word meets
needs in our lives. I want to give you seven of these
symbols of the Word of God. The first symbol that I
would give is that the Word of God is



I. A SEED TO BRING LIFE
.
“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and
abideth for ever.” (I Peter 1:23) You and I became
believers, and we became new persons because of the
Word of God that is now lodging in our hearts. We were
born again by incorruptible seed; therefore, we have an
incorruptible nature and an incorruptible inheritance
reserved by God for us until that day.

If you want to see people come to Christ, if you want
to see lives changed, if you want to see hearts
touched, if you want to see marriages put back
together, if you want to see people made new and have a
new beginning in their life, then it only comes about
through the receiving of the Word of God and the
preaching of the Word of God. The Bible says that
people are only born again through that incorruptible
seed. Jesus said the seed is the Word of God. A sower
went forth to sew his seed, and he said plainly the
seed that he sews is the Word of God.

I want us to be a church that goes everywhere
scattering the seed. Just one little thing said, one
little seed planted in the life, in the heart of
another person, has the potential to bring forth
eternal life. It has the potential to literally change
the direction of that boy or girl or that young
person's life. That's why it's important to be under
the preaching of the Word of God. That's why it's
important to be under the teaching of the Word of God
every Sunday in Sunday School. It is the seed that
brings life.

The Bible says that the Gospel of Christ is the power
of God unto salvation. It is to the Jew first and also
to the Greek. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ,
because it is a seed that explodes with life in the
heart of the person who receives it. “He that goeth
forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall
doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his
sheaves with him.” (Psalms 126:6) As we sew the seed
of the Word of God, we know it's not a vain exercise.
We know that it is not an effort of futility, but it is
an effort that will bring forth a harvest. “For
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” The
way to bring life to a church is through the preaching
and the teaching of the Word of God. It is a seed that
brings life. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by
the Word of God.

Secondly, not only is it a seed that brings life, but
it is A LAMP THAT BRINGS LIFE. “Thy word is a lamp
unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalms
119:105) The picture there is that in ancient times
people did not have flashlights; they did not have
headlights on their cars - they didn't have cars. So
they would tie lamps many times to their feet. As they
would walk, the lamp tied onto their feet would give a
light to their feet; it would give a light to their
path. It would show them the way to go. It would keep
them from running into objects that would bring them
harm. It literally pierced the darkness and showed
them the way.

We're living in a world that's surrounded in darkness.
We're living in a world that's saturated with the
darkness of sin, the darkness of evil, people literally
stumbling, looking for the way to go, the path in which
they ought to walk, the path in which they should rear
their children, the path in which they ought to direct
their life. The Bible is a lamp unto our feet; it is a
light unto our path. It shows us the way. “We have
also a more sure word of prophecy... as unto a light
that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and
the day star arise in your hearts.” (2 Peter 1:19)
Peter said, "I've seen the Lord. I could talk about
the revelation I personally had. I saw the dead raised
up; I saw the lame given strength to their legs, and
they walked again; I saw blinded eyes that were made to
see. But all of these things I saw and
witnessed - including the transfiguration of our Lord,
when I saw Moses and Elijah come down from heaven and
dwell with Jesus - those aren't the things that are
most significant. I have a more sure word than visions
and revelations and experiences. That sure word is the
word of prophecy where holy men of God, moved by the
Holy Spirit, spake as God's Spirit moved them. That is
more sure than any vision or any revelation that I
could have."

It's amazing to me that we're living in a time when
people are so moved by the supernatural, by visions and
by revelations and by experiences. Peter said, "Just
know that above all of that is a more sure word of
God," and that is the Word that God has given us in the
Bible, the Word of prophecy that we speak. Isn't it
amazing that so many people stumble in darkness when
God has given us a light? It's better than having a
vision; it's better than having an angel come down from
heaven. It is a sure word of prophecy that cannot
fail. I'm afraid that people do not read the Bible or
study the Bible or come get under the preaching of the
Bible because they are afraid of light. The Bible says
that men love darkness more than light because their
deeds are evil. Darkness is afraid of the light.
Sometimes we try to teach our children, "Don't be
afraid of the dark." But what is more foolish: a
child who is afraid of the dark, or a man who's afraid
of the light? People do not come to the light because
their deeds are evil. There's something about this
book that the atheist fears: he doesn't want to study
the Word of God. There's something about this book
that the wicked man is afraid of: he doesn't want to
be changed by the light that's in this book. So he
stays away from the light. You may read other books,
but this book reads you. It is a lamp that gives
light.

But not only is the Bible a lamp that brings light and
a seed that brings life, but the Bible is also BREAD
THAT BRINGS STRENGTH. In Deuteronomy 8:3, Moses talks
about how God has tested the Israelites, how God has
allowed them to be hungry, how God has allowed them to
be thirsty, how God has been with them in the
wilderness. “He did it to show you that man will not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God.” Why do I believe in verbal
inspiration of the Bible? Why do I believe that not
the thoughts of the Bible but even the words of the
Bible are inspired? I believe it because of this
scripture. The Bible says we live by every word that
proceeds out of the mouth of God. There are some who
say, "Well, the thoughts of the Bible are inspired, but
not the words of the Bible." But you cannot have
thoughts without words. Try to think a thought right
now without a word to express the thought. It's
impossible to do. So every word of God is inspired.
The Bible says we don't live by bread alone but by
every word of God. The Word of God is bread to enlarge
us; it is bread to strengthen us; it is bread to
sustain us. Just as a baby would die without bread,
without food, so you and I die spiritually without the
feeding upon the Word of God. It is the Word of God
that strengthens us, that grows us, that sustains us,
that satisfies us. Jesus said, “I am the bread of
life.” It's this written word that gives to us the
living Word, who strengthens our soul.

A doctor made a study of exactly how much fuel it takes
for a person to live a lifetime if he lives an average
life. He came up with these figures. It takes 6,000
loaves of bread, 4 calves - it takes more calves than
that for most of us here in West Texas - 8 hogs, 309
chickens, 70 geese, 100 pigeons - I'm letting somebody
else have my pigeons - 14,000 pounds of fruit, 5,000
eggs, 10,000 quarts of water, 2,000 large fish, 2,000
sardines, 9,000 pounds of potatoes, 12,000 pounds of
vegetables, 6,000 quarts of milk, 10,000 pounds of
salt, 12,000 quarts of coffee, 800 pounds of sugar. So
we're so interested in feeding our bodies all these
wonderful foods. It's amazing that we feed our bodies,
but we starve our souls. We try to live by bread
alone. We find our souls shrink up. Job said, “I have
esteemed the words of thy mouth more than my necessary
food.” Baptists are famous for feasting when we need
to be famous for fasting. Job said, "If I had to
choose between eating a meal and reading the Word of
God, I would take the Word of God." It wouldn't hurt
us to miss a meal once in awhile in order to read the
Word of God and pray. As a matter of fact, Jesus said,
"There are certain kinds of problems that cannot be
overcome except through prayer and fasting." You find
that when you fast and starve yourself of physical
food, that your mind is clearer to think on spiritual
food, on the Word of God. It is bread to bring
strength. Then the Word of God is




II. A SWORD TO BRING PROTECTION.

The Bible says we have an enemy. The Bible says we
have an adversary who has sworn to destroy us. He has
sworn to ruin our testimony, to devour our family.
He's like a caged animal. He's like an animal who's in
a corner ready to pounce upon us. His name is Satan;
he is the devil. His name means destroyer, slanderer,
wicked one, evil one, the dragon. Ephesians 6:13 says
that we are to put on spiritual armor. “And take...the
sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”
(Ephesians 6:17) How did Jesus defeat the devil in the
Matthew 4 account of His temptation in the wilderness?
Three times the devil came against Him. All three
times the devil quoted the Word of God, but he twisted
it. There are many people who twist the Word of God
today to fit their own design.

He came to Jesus and said, "You've been in this
wilderness for forty days; you're hungry. Command
these stones that they be bread, and eat." Jesus took
out the sword and cut Satan to the quick. “Man will
not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeds
out of the mouth of God.” What did Jesus live on in
the wilderness? He lived on the Word of God. Satan
came to Him and said, "You're the Son of God, the
Messiah; cast yourself down from the pinnacle of the
temple. Does not the scripture say, “He will give His
angels charge over thee that you will not dash your
foot against a stone?" That's a temptation so like
these people who handle rattlesnakes in their religion.
They twist the scripture where the Bible says that if
a man is a believer, he'll take up a serpent, and the
serpent will not bite him. Jesus said, "Satan, the
scripture says, ‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord, thy
God.’” He took the sword and cut him. Satan came to
Him and said, "I'm the god of this age; I'm the god of
this world. Fall down and worship me, and I will give
you all the kingdoms of this world." Jesus took the
Sword of the Spirit. What a temptation that was. "You
don't have to go to the cross; you don't have to pay
for the sins of man. Fall down and worship me."
That's what the devil has always wanted: to be
worshipped as God. He said, "I'll be like the most
high God." But Jesus pulled the sword and said, “It is
written, thou shalt worship the Lord, thy God, and Him
only shalt thou serve.”

If you don't know how to take the Word of God and cut
the devil, the devil will destroy you. The Word of God
is your sword for protection. If you live for God,
you're going to encounter the devil. Somebody said,
"The devil doesn't bother me." It's because you're
going the same direction as he is. If you were going
the right direction, you would encounter the devil.
You will know that the devil is fighting against you.
Thank God for the Sword of the Spirit. The Word of
the Lord is



III. A CRITIC TO BRING CORRECTION

.
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful” - that is,
alive and powerful - and “sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
(Hebrews 4:12) That word “discerner” is the Greek word
from which we get the word critic. The Word of God is
a critic not only of your outward actions, but it also
sits in judgment of the thoughts and the intents of
your heart. That's why the Bible says, “Wherewithal
shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed
hitherto according to thy word.” It is a discerner; it
is a critic. You read other books; this book reads
you. This book criticizes you in order to correct you.
It shows you that even the thoughts of your heart,
even the intents of your mind and heart that are not in
accordance with God's will.

A lot of people today take the Bible, which says it is
to be a critic of us, and they turn and criticize the
Bible. The Bible was never intended to be criticized
by us; it was intended to criticize us. Theologians
have a very popular way of studying the Bible; they
call it higher criticism. Higher criticism is simply a
tool of the devil to bring doubt upon the Word of God.
was about how we approach the scripture, what our view
of scripture will be, whether we will be a critic of
the scripture or the scripture will be a critic of us,
whether we will take this as just a record of God's
revelation - a book that contains the Word of God - or
we'll take this as a book that is the Word of God. It
is the one and only revelation of God to mankind. The
critic will say, "Christ is the standard by which we
live our life - not the Bible, but Christ: the living
Word, not the written Word." You cannot divide the
written Word from the living Word. The written word
and the living Word are one and the same. God said, “I
have magnified my word even above my name.” It is a
critic to correct our lives. The Word of the Lord is





IV. A HAMMER THAT BRINGS POWER

.
God spoke to Jeremiah and said, “Is not my word...like
a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah
23:29). If you read 2 Timothy 3 of the social and
moral climate of the last days, you read of a society
where men's hearts are so hard that they are without
natural affection. Mothers cast their little babies
into trash cans. Fathers walk out of the home, never
again to care for their families, never again to be a
husband to his wife or a father to his children.
Without natural affection. Truce breakers, fierce,
heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers
of God. That is a society whose heart is as hard as a
rock. What can we do to penetrate the heart that is
hardened against God, the heart that is hardened
against even the natural affection that God has placed
into the heart of a human being? What can we do to
hardened hearts of despots and dictators and men who
commit genocide? The Bible says, “God's Word is like a
hammer that breaks the heart, the rock, into pieces.”
We preach the Word of God; we share the Word of God.
The Word of God can break the hardest heart. I've seen
it do it time after time after time. I've seen the
Word of God break the heart of an atheist; I've seen
the Word of God break the heart of the adulterer; I've
seen the Word of God break the heart of the homosexual;
I've seen the Word of God break into pieces the heart
of the rebellious and even the heart of the Satan-
inspired and the Satan-indwelt. The Word of God can
break the heart.

If you had a pile of big rocks, and you wanted to make
a pile of smaller rocks, and you had a hammer laying
by, and you ignore that hammer, and you try to break
the rocks in pieces with your fists, all you're going
to do is bloody the rocks with your fist. But if you
take that hammer that's designed to break rocks, and
you use that hammer in your hand, your hand becomes a
source of power that can break that rock. When we take
the Word of God and teach and preach the Word of God
and live the Word of God, we become a mighty power.
Our hand becomes a hand that can do what no man's hand
can do: it breaks even the hardest heart into pieces.
Churches make the mistake of trying to out-world the
world, trying to out-entertain the world, trying to
out-media the world, trying to outdo the world. The
answer is not in something new. If it's new, it's not
true. The answer is not even taking something old and
putting it in a new form. The answer always is and
always will be the preaching of the Word of God. The
Bible says that it pleased God by the foolishness of
preaching to save those who believed. This word is
like a hammer.

Last of all, the Word of God is like A FIRE THAT WARMS.
“Is not my word like as a fire?” (Jeremiah 23:29)
After being rejected of men, after thinking his message
was not getting out, after thinking that it was foolish
to be a prophet of God and to live for God when the
whole world was rejecting God, Jeremiah said, “Then I
said, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore
in His name.” He said, "I'll lay down my Bible; I'll
never preach, and I'll never witness in His name." But
then he said, “But His Word was in my heart as a
burning fire within my bones, and I was weary with
forebearing, and I could not stay.” Jeremiah said, "I
could not keep silent, because the Word of God was as a
fire burning in my heart, warming my heart." Am I
speaking to anybody today whose heart has grown cold?
Your heart has grown cold toward that mate; your heart
has grown cold toward the Bible; your heart has grown
cold toward the Lord; your heart has grown cold toward
the lost world, and you have no desire to witness or
share Christ or to see people come to Jesus Christ.
Your heart has grown cold toward the church for which
He died. Let me tell you your problem: you've gotten
away from the fire; you've gotten away from this book.
You need to come back and gather around the flames of
the Word of God. The Word of God will melt your cold
heart; the Word of God will replace it with a burning
love for Jesus, a burning love for people, a burning
love and a burning desire and a passion to serve God.
Because His Word is like a burning fire within your
heart.

Years ago before the days of modern medicine, a pastor
and his wife had an only son. That son became very
ill, and the doctors had warned, "Your son is going to
die." So they made him as comfortable as they could.
They were constantly there by his bedside. The doctor
came by one day and said, "Your son is gone." The
pastor daddy said, "I cannot accept that." He said,
"No!" He opened his coat, and he opened his shirt, and
he put that little boy up next to his heart. He held
his arms around him. They said for nine hours he held
that little boy up to his heart. Giving his testimony,
the pastor said to a group one day, "That 'dead boy' is
twenty-three years of age, and now he's preaching the
gospel of Jesus Christ." We live in a cold, dead
world. The only way to revive them, the only way to
bring them life, is to hold them to our heart that is
filled with the Word of God and hold them until the
love of God can bring new life to their cold, dead
being and cause them to live again. Is there any word
from the Lord? There is, and it's a word that brings
life and a word that brings warmth if we'll open our
hearts and allow it to come in.