Let's turn in our Bibles to Psalm 19
for our scripture reading.
I'll read the first, the odd-numbered verses.
Pastor Brian will lead the congregation in the
reading of the even-numbered verses.
Shall we stand as we read the Word
of God?
The heavens declare the glory of God, and
the earth showeth its handiwork.
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto
night showeth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their
voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the
earth, and their words to the end of
the world.
In them hath He set a tabernacle before
the sun.
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of
his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man
to run a race.
His going forth is from the end of
the heavens, and a circuit unto the ends
of it, and there is nothing hid from
the heat thereof.
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting
the soul, and the commandments of the Lord
are pure, enlightening the eyes.
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing
the heart.
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening
the eyes.
And the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever, and the judgments of the Lord
are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
yea, than much fine gold.
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
And moreover by them is thy servant warned,
and in keeping of them there is great
reward.
Who can understand his errors, cleanse thou me
from secret faults.
Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins.
Let them not have dominion over me, and
then shall I be upright, and I shall
be innocent from the great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the
meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy
sight, O Lord, my strength and my power.
Father, we do ask that the meditation of
our hearts might be acceptable, Lord, in thy
sight.
How we thank you for your Word, the
law of the Lord which is perfect, the
commandments of the Lord which are just, the
statutes of the Lord which are right.
And Lord, we just pray that today you'll
give to us a greater appreciation of your
Word, that Lord it might be applied to
our hearts, and that it might bring forth
fruit in our lives thirty, sixty, a hundredfold.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
You may be seated.
This week we continue through the Bible.
We're in Isaiah, chapters fifty-three through fifty
-five.
And tonight Pastor Skip, leading us in the
study of these chapters, and we've been enjoying
immensely Pastor Skip's studies here on Sunday night,
and we would encourage you to come and
join with us, seven o'clock this evening.
Chuck Gerard will be leading us in worship,
and we're going to be in the study
of these chapters, and we've been enjoying immensely
Pastor Skip's studies here on Sunday night, and
we would encourage you to come and join
with us, seven o'clock this evening.
Chuck Gerard will be leading us in worship,
and we're going to be in the study
of these chapters, and we've been enjoying immensely
Pastor Skip's studies here on Sunday night, and
we would encourage you to come and join
with us, seven o'clock this evening.
Chuck Gerard will be leading us in worship,
and we're going to be in the study
of these chapters, and we've been enjoying immensely
Pastor Skip's studies here on Sunday night, and
we'll be in the study of these chapters,
and then followed by Pastor Skip and our
study in Isaiah fifty-three through fifty-five.
Fabulous chapters.
This morning we'd like to draw your attention
to the fifty-fifth chapter and verse ten,
This morning we'd like to draw your attention
to the fifty-fifth chapter and verse ten,
where the Lord declares, For as the rain
comes down and the snow from heaven, and
returns not thither, but it waters the earth
and makes it to bring forth and bud,
that it may give seed to the sower
and bread to the eater, so shall my
word be that goes forth out of my
mouth.
It shall not return unto me void, but
it shall accomplish that which I please, and
it shall prosper in the thing whereto I
sent it.
In Hebrews we are told that the Word
of God is alive, it's powerful, it is
sharper than any two-edged sword.
It pierces and is able to divide between
the soul and the spirit, and the bone
and the marrow, and it discerns the thoughts
and the intents of the heart.
Isaiah speaks of the Word of God and
the life that the Word of God can
bring, the power of the Word, the purpose
of the Word, is found here in Isaiah
55.
He speaks about the purpose of the Word
of God.
It's like rain that comes down from heaven
to water the earth, to cause it to
bring forth and bud.
We look at the fields this time of
the year, we see the vegetation pretty much
gone, we see the dark earth, we see
the dust, and we realize that within that
dirt there lies a potential for color, for
beauty, though it looks very barren and desolate
at the present time.
Friday I was driving from Murrieta, the Bible
College, back here to the church.
I've been teaching at the Bible College Friday
morning.
Coming through Temescal Canyon, between Elsinore and Corona,
the hills are all brown, very dry, I
don't suppose they've had any water for several
months.
And they look so blighted, they looked so
deserty.
And it was only a few months ago,
back around April, that I was driving that
same route Temescal Canyon down 73.
The hills were alive with color.
The golden California poppies were blooming, vast fields
of poppies coloring the hillsides, looked like a
carpet.
And of course, the green grass and what
a difference between that beautiful verdant hillside in
April and the dry barren hillsides here in
September.
But I realized that in those dry barren
hills, in that dirt, dust that is there,
there lies still the potential for beauty.
There are poppy seeds that are there on
the ground, and the various grass seeds that
are there.
They will lie there until touched by the
rains of the winter and the spring.
And then once again, the hills will be
covered with the beautiful carpets of different wildflowers
and the green and the mustard and so
forth that will just cover the hillsides.
All it needs is water to bring forth
the beauty, the hidden beauty that is there.
And I realize that there are many lives
that are like those hillsides now, blighted, dry,
parched, but the potential for great beauty is
there.
All it needs is the Word of God
to bring to life all of the resources
that are there, right there, just waiting to
be touched and may brought into life and
beauty through the Word of God.
How marvelous is the Word of God!
And the purpose of the Word is to
bring forth beauty from your life, to give
life to you, and to bring forth beauty.
"'Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer thought
it scarcely worth his while to spend much
time with the old violin, but he held
it up with a smile.
"'What am I bidding, good folks?' he cried.
"'Who'll start the bidding for me?' "'A dollar,
a dollar.
We'll make it two.
Only two, we'll make it three.
Three dollars once, three dollars twice, and going
for three, but no.' From the room far
back came a gray-haired man, and he
picked it up with a bow.
And wiping the dust from the old violin
and tightening the loosened strings, he played a
melody pure and sweet, as sweet as the
angels sing.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer, with a
voice that was quiet and low, said, "'What
am I bid for this old violin?' And
he held it up with a bow.
"'A thousand dollars?
We'll make it two.
Two thousand?
We'll make it three.
Three thousand once, three thousand twice, and going
and gone,' said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried.
"'We can't quite understand.
What changed its worth?' Quick came the reply,
the touch of the master's hand.
And many a man with life out of
tune, and battered and scarred by sin, is
auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd, much like
that old violin.
A mess of potage, a game of chance,
a drink, and he travels on.
He's going once, he's going twice, he's going
and almost gone.
But the master comes, and the foolish crowd
never quite understands the worth of a soul,
and the change that is wrought by the
touch of the master's hand."
We have seen so many lives blighted by
sin, fruitless, barren.
And we have watched how the Word of
God transforms and changes, and brings forth such
beauty from those lives that were once really
just cast aside and thought could never bear
fruit.
And yet you see them today, and you
see what God has done through the power
of the Word in his life, and we
stand always in amazement at the power of
God's Word.
Jesus likened the Word of God to seed
that was planted in the ground.
He said, there was a certain man that
went forth sowing seed.
Some of it fell on the wayside, some
fell among stony ground, some fell among the
thorns, and some fell on good soil.
That which was by the wayside was soon
eaten up by the birds, never did anything.
That which fell on the stony ground sort
of came up quickly, but soon died because
it lacked depth of earth.
That which fell among the thorns grew up,
but yet the thorns choked it out, and
it never bore fruit.
But that which fell on the good soil
brought forth fruit, thirty, sixty, a hundred full.
The interesting thing, likening the Word of God
to seed.
For you see, in the seed there is
that DNA molecule.
In that DNA molecule is all kinds of
information.
The information to produce and to replicate the
source of the seed, whether it be a
bare grain, or whether it be a sequoia
tree, or whether it be a beautiful flower,
all of the information for the reproduction of
that original source of the seed is there
coded in the DNA.
God's Word, because it is God's Word, planted
in your heart, has the capacity of transforming
you into the image of God.
All of the information is there coded, and
as it falls on the good soil of
your heart, brings a transformation and brings the
beauty of God out of your life.
The grace, the love, the tenderness of God
is then manifested in you as God's Word
has its effect upon your life.
We are told that the earth has the
potential that is there.
All it needs is the rain falling from
heaven to bring forth the full potential.
The potential to give seed to the sower,
first of all.
You see, it is God's purpose that the
propagation continue.
So, when a farmer harvests his crop, the
first thing that he is interested in is
setting aside enough seed that he can plant
his crop next year.
He wants to perpetuate that crop.
And so, the seed for the sower is
the first thing that is taken out.
What is left is ground into wheat to
make flour, or the wheat is ground into
flour to make bread for the eater.
But first of all, seed for the sower.
The propagation and the perpetuation of the harvest
is necessary.
God's Word.
Jesus, when he commissioned his disciples, said, go
into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature, seed to the sower.
Take it out, spread it over the world.
Take the fruit that is in your life,
has been produced by your life, and share
that fruit with others.
What the Lord has done for you, what
the Lord has done in you, share it,
spread it out, let others know.
Years ago, when God began to bless Calvary
Chapel with a surplus of funds, at the
board meeting, we began to discuss the surplus
of funds that the Lord had provided for
us and how could we best invest these
funds to reach our world with the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
One of the board members spoke up and
said, what is it that has attracted us
to Calvary Chapel?
What is it that has transformed our lives?
It is the simple teaching of the Word
of God.
Why don't we take this teaching of the
Word of God and put it on radio
so that people around the country can experience
the same transformation in their lives that we
have experienced in our lives because of the
Word of God?
And that was the beginning of our Word
for Today radio ministry across the United States.
And as the seed was sown, as rain
coming down from heaven, it began to bring
life to people all over the United States.
We have hundreds of thousands of letters from
people whose lives have been transformed, whose families
have been transformed as a result of the
teaching of the Word of God.
And as a result, hundreds of churches have
sprung up across the United States teaching the
Word of God, seed to the sower.
But it has also bred to the eater.
It is so nourishing spiritually to get into
the Word and to study the Word and
to grow by the teaching of the Word,
bred to the eater, sustained by the Word
of God.
Now we are told the power of God's
Word.
We are told by the Lord that it
will not return unto him void, but will
accomplish that which he says he pleases.
Years ago, the Lord changed my ministry and
revolutionized my ministry.
Up until then, I had been preaching to
the church.
And I came to the realization that the
church didn't really need preaching as much as
it needed teaching.
In Hebrews chapter 6, it said, leaving the
first principles of the doctrines of Christ, the
repentance from dead works, the baptisms, the laying
on of hands, let's go on into maturity.
Let's grow up.
Let's become mature.
Well, I had not done that as a
pastor.
I was still just preaching repentance from dead
works, baptisms, laying on of hands.
And I wasn't really leading the people into
maturity through a systematic teaching of the Word
of God.
And so, impressed of the Lord, I decided
that I would start teaching the Word.
And the first book that I chose was
the first epistle of John.
And interestingly enough, John said that the purpose
of that epistle, the reason why he wrote
it, is that they might have fullness of
joy, that they might have freedom from sin,
and that they might know assurance of their
salvation.
We spent a whole year on Sunday mornings
teaching through the first epistle of John.
At the end of the year, though I
didn't recognize the relationship, by the end of
the year, the people had a greater joy
in their walk with the Lord than they
had ever known before.
They had greater power over sin, and they
had assurance of their salvation.
I didn't relate that to Isaiah until years
later, when I was reading in Isaiah, and
God says, my word will not return to
me void.
It will accomplish, really, the purposes for which
I have sent it.
I thought, amazing.
As I taught first John, the purpose of
the book was to bring fullness of joy,
to bring power over sin, to bring an
assurance of their salvation.
And that's exactly what happened to the people
as I was teaching through first John.
Why?
Because God's word won't return void.
It will accomplish the purposes for which it
is sent.
God's word planted in your heart is going
to accomplish the purposes of God in your
life.
And that's why it's so important for us
to get into the word.
That's why it's so important, and we go
through the whole word, that we might get
the full growth, every part of our body
nourished and strengthened, because we go through the
whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.
And thus, God's word does not return void,
but produces the fruit in our lives that
God has intended that it should.
That is why it is so important, really,
if you have a friend that is really
questioning the Bible and Christianity, encourage them, urge
them to read the gospel of John.
Because John, when he wrote his gospel, said,
these things have we written unto you, that
you might believe that Jesus is the Christ.
And by believing, have life in his name.
Now, that's the reason why John was written,
then that's what's gonna happen as people read
the gospel of John.
We had a lady in our church who,
years ago here at Calvary, accepted the Lord,
and her husband was quite upset.
He was an engineer, and was really upset
that she would embrace, you know, the Bible
as God's word.
And he was determined that he was going
to just read the Bible, find all of
the contradictions and flaws, and then he was
just gonna rip her faith apart.
So he started reading and studying the Bible
to find the mistakes in order that he
might use it as a instrument against her
faith.
When he got to the gospel of John,
he accepted the Lord.
God's word, it's alive, it's powerful.
God's word, it's like rain that comes down
from heaven to water the earth, to give
seed to the sower, bread to the eater.
It will not return void, but will accomplish
the purposes for which God has sent it.
Many people have come from all over the
world because they have heard of the work
of God here at Calvary Chapel, and they've
come to find the secret of success.
No secret.
It's the power of God's word.
Simply teaching the word of God simply.
It brings forth beauty in the lives of
the people.
It brings forth life.
It takes them from a barren kind of
a relationship into a rich, full, beautiful relationship
with the Lord.
We can be sure God's word doesn't return
void.
The most important thing is just to simply
teach or to share the word of God
with others.
The story is told of a young girl
who was in the Salvation Army and was
in Chicago, and would be in these park
services, and would stand up and give her
testimony.
And how this one atheist was just incensed
at her simple faith in the Lord.
And how he began to listen to her
and badger her, trying to interrupt the train
of thought.
And he started arguing with her about the
Bible.
How do you know it is true?
How do you know it is the word
of God?
And as he would argue with her, she
would say, well sir, I really don't know
the answer to that.
All I know is that the Bible says
that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son,
can cleanse a man from all sin.
And he scoffed, and he said, that's a
Bible, but how can you...
She said, sir, I really don't know, but
I do know that the Bible says that
the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, can
cleanse a man from all sin.
And he'd go on raving again, and she'd
say, well sir, I don't know, but I
know that the Bible says that the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, can cleanse a
man from all sin.
He finally went away just raving about the
ignorance of these people's simple faith, and they
don't think things through and all, but the
next day he was there, and he said,
what did you say that the Bible says?
The word of God, it penetrated, and he
accepted the Lord.
The word of God, it's like rain, bringing
forth the total potential in a person's life
for beauty, for glory.
Let the word of God penetrate your heart
and your life, and it will bring transformation
to you.
Father, we thank you for your word, for
the power of your word, and for the
purpose of your word, and how the word
of God will prosper in the thing in
which you have sent it.
Thank you, Lord, for how the word of
God has blessed and prospered our lives and
caused us, Lord, to bud forth with your
beauty and with your love.
Lord, we pray today that those that are
here whose lives have been blighted by sin,
lives are out of tune with you.
Even as your word, Lord, has come down
like rain from heaven, we pray, Father, that
it might bring forth fruit in their lives
today, that it might bring forth the beauty
that is possible, the potential that is there.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.