2 Timothy 3:14-17 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them; and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 
	In our last consideration of this passage, we looked at the manner in which we are to continue in our living faith in Jesus Christ. As His Body of Believers, united in Him and with Him, we are to persevere through all that we encounter on this earth with our hearts and our beings set firmly in Him to be our everything. This is for the sake of our being conformed more and more in line with and adding to the glory of God on this earth. We do not look for anything after our self lives, but constantly endure for His sake Alone, to His Glory, to His Honor, and to His Praise, in the lives that we now live.
	This morning, let us look at the value that we are to find in God’s Word for this purpose of enduring all for His sake. There are several key aspects that we would be very wise to take into consideration. Many times, we give God’s Word its nominal due. We freely express the sentiments that it is God’s spoken and inspired Word set down for our edification. That it is for our up building in Christ, and for our guidance and our admonition as to what we should and shouldn’t do in our lives. It is easy to say these things, but do we practice that which we so readily proclaim. There is often a danger in mouthing our dedication to His Word, yet not responding to it, not trusting it, not really thinking that it applies to today’s life and society. We seem to class it as important, but not important enough to replace what this world puts forth as wisdom and truth. 
	On another plain, maybe we don’t value it as any more than the book that we take to church and read on Sunday. It is great to find those passages to read before God. It does serve its purpose in providing for our weekly teaching. And, it does have good and upright things to say to us, but it doesn’t really fit the pattern of our weekly endeavors at work. When we have difficulty, it is much easier to seek the advice of friends and even to pray rather than to seek out that which God may have written a long, long time ago. There is a general forbearance to the Word. We treat it with deference in one sense, but with intolerance in another. 
	Sometimes, we just don’t like what we read and what it could mean if we were to take it very seriously and very literally. We find that our lives, seemingly generally good and upright, would have to change, would have to be adjusted, sometimes in very drastic and radical measures to comply with what we are told in God’s Word. And, sadly, we are just not ready to go through all that trouble. I pray that this morning’s sharing will bring a deeper sense of the full investiture that God has established in His Word. I especially pray, it will cause us to more fully and absolutely value His Word above everything else in our lives. That we will see that obedience is not just required, but is the sacrifice of honor that God is due today and every day from every one of His Redeemed. 
	The overriding theme of this consideration is that God’s Word is Powerful, beyond any comprehension in its influence on this earth and in our lives. We must never consider it with anything less than awe welling up within us. His Word is the very voice of God by which all things have been created. His Word is the very source of life and It works omnipotently and accurately in Its activity of God’s Sovereignty and Grace on this earth. The Prophet Jeremiah was given a very concise statement by God as to the manner in which His Word is a consuming fire that will burn away all the undergrowth and impurities of our lives. 
Jer 5:14 Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, "Because you have spoken this word, Behold, I am making My words in your mouth fire And this people wood, and it will consume them. Living here in California, we are often reminded of the power of fire as it sweeps across hills and burns away the brush and the undergrowth. That is the same vision of His effective Word in our lives, individually and corporately. It is God’s purifying power that melts the hardness of our hearts and burns off the dross and the impurities as we undergo its effective work in our lives. Yes, there are often those times when we feel absolutely nothing more than ashes. Then His Word, by the Power of the Holy Spirit, creates new life from those ashes, giving us beauty in its so perfecting work of Christ.
	As well, Jeremiah was told, by God, that His Word is a crushing Hammer, that shatters the most solid rocks into dust. Jer 23:29 "Is not My word like fire?" declares the Lord, "and like a hammer which shatters a rock? Just as the fire melts and purifies, the hammer of God’s Word pulverizes the hardness and makes dust of the flintiness of our souls. So often, I am met with the phrase that so and so will never change. They are so set in their ways that nothing will get through to them. God’s Word is harder than any inflexibility of the human heart or soul. It will break asunder and demolish every stronghold set against it. It can not be hindered or dissuaded from its appointed task as set forth by God. The Prophet Isaiah was cognizant of this truth as we read in Isa 55:8-11 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth, And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. 
	God’s Word will crush all opposition and nothing can stand against it. That is why we hold onto all hope in Him as we deal with those who seem to be so set against Him. There is only so far that He will permit them to go and then the hammer of His Word will crush that hardness into dust and cause life and beauty to flourish in the midst of the decay and rubble.  
	Ezekiel found out, in a most wondrous manner, that God’s Word is the Life-giving force of creation. As he was shown in Ezek 37:1-10 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. And He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord God, Thou knowest." Again He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.' "Thus says the Lord God to these bones, 'Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. 'And I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.'" So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew, and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord God," Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life. "' So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life, and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
	So many of us tend to take for granted the fact that God spoke the Word – and there was life. By the power of His Word, eternity became filled with all that which we so off-handedly call creation. We cannot create life by the power of our words, so we consider it with a grain of disbelief and cautiousness. That does not change the truth, however, that God’s Word is filled with the very breath of life, everlasting life. That is never to be minimized or compromised. There is no life apart from Him. His Word is what gives breath to the lungs, beating to the heart, nervous impulses to the brain and animation to our spirit. It is His Word which causes us to become an active and dynamic creation for the purpose of filling this universe with His Glory. 
	In absolute line with this is the fact that His Word is Life-changing reality. When we come face-to-face with Jesus Christ, the Living Word of God, we find ourselves the witness to the power and the grace and the mercy and the love that defies any human understanding. The witness is of Him and not what we can do by using His name. The Word of God does not function apart from the glory that it brings unto God. 
Consider, briefly, what was going on within the mind frame of those who were watching all the miracles that God was doing through the ministry of the Apostle Paul. They thought that they could use the same words that Paul spoke and that there would be a difference made to their own glory. 
Acts 19:11-20 And God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out. But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, "I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches." And seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, "I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of all; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing. 
	Notice that there was a tremendous difference that took place as the populace realized that the Word of God was not for their own purposes, it is for the glory of God and God Alone. It made an indelible difference in their lives. Those who had formerly practiced magic, the practice of occult worship, etc. brought forth those books that were very, very valuable in the eyes of mankind, yet they became utterly worthless and offensive to these believers. They burned them in a visible show that there was something that had changed within their understanding of what would please God. There was a fear of Who God was and they wanted to make a clean break from those elements that had captured their minds and hearts. They were confessing those practices that were displeasing to God and ridding those things from their lives. 
This is something that is missing in the church today. We harbor those things that should be cleansed away from us. We hold onto those things that we consider too valuable to discard, even though we know that they are displeasing to God. We need to come to God in fear and trembling as to the truth of into Whose presence we have come. There should be a sense of not wanting to offend God, of not bringing before Him a callous disregard for the truth of His Holiness and His Righteousness and His Presence of Glory. When we enter into His Presence, as His Body, it should be with honor and with respect, to a far greater level of appreciation and tribute, than we would enter into the throne room of any earthly potentate. There is to be a reverent fear to be in His presence, realizing that we are only here because of the work of Jesus Christ, and singly because of Him. Apart from Christ, The Living Word of God, we dare not come before God because His awesome Holiness would incinerate us instantly. Ponder this in our hearts each time we prepare for worship, as we gather together in His Presence, and let His Word be established as our daily source of reverence before Him. 
	In continuation, God’s Word is also our defense against the onslaught of this age’s spiritual attacks. When we are faced with those doubts and fears, those anxieties and troubles, those spiritual battles that so swiftly and ceaselessly beset us; we have His Word as our Defensive Weapon. As we are taught in Eph 6:13-17, Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 
God’s Word is Truth. When we are assaulted with the lies and the hollow deceptions of this age, we need to immerse ourselves in His Word as our covering and our defense. Holding onto His Word is our way of persevering to the end in triumphant glory. As much as this world has tried to minimize and to discredit His Word, it stands gloriously triumphant in the declaration of Jesus Christ. In that reality, we stand protected and assured in it through all that this world launches against us. His Word stands forever.
	This morning’s final aspect of His Word is the one with which we are most familiar. It is the piercing Instrument of God to cut asunder all that is not Christ within us. Heb 4:12+13 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. 
It is by His Word that we are brought into the spiritual truth of our living relationship with Jesus Christ. As God uses His Word to work within our hearts, we soon come to realize that there are those areas that need to be dealt with in our dying to self and living unto God in Christ Jesus. There develops a spiritual awareness of those things which truly no longer have a place in our hearts and do not serve to further God’s Glory in us. 
This brings us back to the introduction of our message this morning. Will we consider God’s Word as vital to our present, day by day life, in such reality, that we beseech Him, that we seek after Him with all our heart and soul, to conform us to its every precept and instruction? Or, will we fight the Hand of God in operation through His Word and vainly try to hold onto those elements that are not consistent with the expressed love of God in Our Lord Jesus Christ? My prayer is that there has been some awareness gained as to the fullness of what God’s Word is in all His Truth. That we will want to know Him to an ever increasing depth through the effective ministry of the Holy Spirit bringing His Word to life in us. I pray, with all trepidation and fear and humbleness, that we would be so after the depth of God, with one heart, that we will desire for God to have absolute and unhindered freedom to do His complete work in us. That the purifying fire and the shattering blows and the cutting sharpness of His Word will create such a holy and righteous conflagration, such a relentless pounding, such an increasing piercing of soul and spirit, that we will have nothing left in our lives but Jesus Christ! In His Name, so be it!
You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them; and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. Amen. 

This morning’s benediction is Ps 145:17-21 The Lord is righteous in all His ways, And kind in all His deeds. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them. The Lord keeps all who love Him; But all the wicked, He will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord; And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever. Amen.