The Word-filled Believer
April 19, 2006
Pastor Matt Black
Midweek Service
Colossians 3:16
Discipleship: Let’s review our discipleship questions… (For our purposes you do not need to memorize the references.)
What are the Ten Commandments of God’s moral law?
(Quote them.)
Catechism Questions
Q1. Who is the first and best of beings?
A. God is the first and best of beings.
Q2. What is the chief end of man?
A. To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
Q3. How do we know there is a God?
A. The light of nature in man and the works of God plainly declare that there is a God, but His Word and Spirit only do effectually reveal Him unto us for our salvation.
Q4. What is the Word of God?
A. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, being given by divine inspiration, are the Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and obedience.
Q5: How do we know that the Bible is the Word of God?
A: The Bible reveals itself to be God's Word by the heavenliness of its doctrine, the unity of its parts, its power to convert sinners and to edify saints. But the Spirit of God only, bearing witness by and with the Scriptures in our hearts, is able fully to persuade us that the Bible is the Word of God.
Q6: May everyone make use of the Scriptures?
A: All people are not only permitted, but commanded and exhorted, to read, hear, and understand the Scriptures.
Introduction: Open your Bibles tonight to Colossians 3:16. The title of tonight’s message is: “The Word-filled Believer.”
Colossians 3:16 Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Tonight we are going to see from our text that one of the marks of a true Christian is that he is that He is saturated and obsessed with the Word of God. So, everyone not only ought to read the Word of God, but they ought to, as the catechism says, “read, hear, and understand” the Scriptures. Someone who does that is going to be filled with the Word! But how do I get there, you may be asking. Well, in Colossians 3:16, there are three essential elements: commitment, craving, and then change. Let’s look at commitment.
A. It’s a BIG commitment!
Colossians 3:16 “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly”
The word “dwell” means to live. Having a child from the cradle to the grace is different than babysitting. Letting the Word dwell in you is more than a cursory reading. It’s a BIG commitment
B. It’s a SERIOUS commitment.
Deuteronomy 32:46-47
Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. 47 For it is not a vain thing [no small matter; no trifle; i.e. DON’T PLAY WITH IT!—TAKE IT SERIOUSLY] for you; because it is your life
You can’t play around with the Word! The Word must be your life. It must have total control over you. It must dwell in you richly!
C. Not only that, it’s a HEART commitment.
Christ himself tells us:
John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
This testimony was to people who already had a big and serious commitment to the Word, but they lacked one thing. They were not committed to the Word in their heart.
David said:
Psalm 119:97
O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
D. Finally we see that it is a GRACE commitment.
Peter says this:
2 Peter 3:18
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
In order to have this kind of commitment, you must rest on the grace of God. It cannot be manufactured.
So are you committed? What does commitment look like? Look over at Acts 17.
Paul saw this commitment in the Berean Christians.
Acts 17:11
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
“Noble” has the idea of a quality of mind and heart that is engaged, fixed, more involved than most. They strove to understand the Scriptures.
Don’t ever take my word for anything! You must search the Scriptures yourself. You must have this COMMITMENT first and foremost.
So what are the three essential elements of a Word-filled believer? Commitment, craving, and then change.
Now let’s look at craving. This has to do with your values. We see this in the word “Let” from our text. Colossians 3:16 “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly” There is a Supernatural Ability in that. Something has happened. It is now in your will to love the Word of God and the God of the Word. God’s done something. We call that the new birth. As a result of this new birth, the Word of God is esteemed and valued in your life. There is a craving for it.
Illustration: We all crave things. When I was in Spain, we had various fast food places. There was one thing I missed! White Castle Hamburgers. Now I try to eat right. I have my bran for breakfast, and my salads for lunch, but I heard somewhere that if you a real heavy meal once in a while it will speed up your metabolism. Now I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it’s one fact that I just want to leave alone, because I love my White Castle hamburgers every so often. I CRAVE them!
Our craving for God’s Word ought to make our earthly cravings seem like nothing. Job said, “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12).
Paul addresses people who are not to simply have a slight desire for the Word of Christ here and there, but people who are so famished that they are only content when the Word is dwelling—living—in them. This has the idea of a hunger—an obsession, a desire that is never quenched or satisfied. You see as you commit yourself to God’s Word and meditate on it, you will begin to crave it, though there will be an ebb and flow because of sin in our lives.
This craving is the MARK of Spiritual Birth
Let me say this, if there is no CRAVING for God’s Word in your life, you cannot be saved. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). You see the way you get your craving (what we call joy) is through HOPE. You trust in it and it gives you comfort. If you find God’s Word boring, and you are not trusting in it, and this is basically the way you life day in and day out with just an apathy toward God’s Word, then you have not had faith in Jesus Christ.
How is this?
Our Physical life begins by the Word of God
Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
Hebrews 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God
Hebrews 1.3 Christ upholds all things “all things by the word of his power”
Our Spiritual life begins by the Word of God
James 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth
I Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
Craving God’s word is a basic desire of a child of God.
There must be a craving—that craving grows as you have more of the Word:
1 Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
Luther’s Puppy
Are you hungry for God’s Word? Or do you simply endure it? Let me tell you a story about a dog named Tölpel. This was no ordinary dog—this dog belonged to the great Reformer of the sixteenth century, Martin Luther.
One day Luther's puppy, Tölpel happened to be at the table, he looked for a morsel from his master, and watched with open mouth and motionless eyes,
Martin Luther said, "Oh, if I could only pray the way this dog watches the meat! All his thoughts are concentrated on the piece of meat. Otherwise he has no thought, wish, or hope.”[1]
I could say the same thing about our hunger for God and Scripture. Oh that we as God’s people could read the Bible with even the intensity of that puppy with one goal in life!
Or perhaps we can learn a lesson from little Rebeca or little Braeden and Mannaseh or Benjamin. We need to long after the Word as a new born baby.
Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Psalm 19:8, 10-11
The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart…10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.
Psalm 63:1
O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
So what are the three essential elements of a Word-filled believer? Commitment, craving, and then change. So let’s look at this last element now. CHANGE.
Colossians 3:16 “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly”
The word “richly” has the idea of something qualitative. You can tell it’s having an effect.
A. Change takes WORK.
2 Corinthians 1:24
Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.
Paul says, listen, we did not come to just tell you what to believe. We didn’t come as lords and hand you a doctrinal statement! No, we got along side of you and were helpers of your joy. The word “helpers” is the word for those who labour along side, or literally energize along side. You’ve got to fight to get to the Word! It’s work!
The preservation of the peace and joy we have comes through labouring in the Word of God. It takes work. It is a fight. Our adversary the devil prows around like a roaring lion, and he has an insatiable appetite to destroy one thing—the joy you have in the Word of God.
One preacher gives a good illustration: “When Satan huffs and puffs and tries to blow out the flame of your joy, you have an endless supply of kindling in the Word of God. Even on days when every cinder in our soul feels cold, if we crawl to the Word of God and cry out for ears to hear, the cold ashes will be lifted and the tiny spark of life will be fanned.”
Sometimes you’ve got to CRAWL to God’s Word if you are going to see change.
God’s Word is the Sword of the Spirit. It is the only weapon you have to fight for your joy in the Lord. You’ve got to continue to the end of the battle and fight until you see change!
Psalm 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul.
I love the idea in this verse. The word “converting” has the idea of quickening, reviving, or restoring. This is what the Word of God does. This is the outworking of the grace (power) of God’s Word. It is this reason that we must ABIDE in it, DWELL in it.
B. Not only must you work in the word for change, you must learn to WEAR the Word. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve worked if you are not wearing the Word of God.
Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Psalm 1:1-3
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Conclusion: So where are you today? Do you leave your sword at home? You’ve been given the freedom of the word of God—we have no laws against reading it, but do you read it? It is all you need! Are you a “Word-filled” believer?
Closing Hymn: 333 Open Our Eyes Lord