Sermon preached on Sunday, November 6, 2011 at Garden Valley Chapel; Psalm 19:9.

At one time there were some 600 miles of catacombs under the city of Rome, nearly all them dug and used by ten generations of Christians over a period of 300 years. In the early centuries of the church, the catacombs served as meeting and burial places for perhaps as many as four million Christians. A common inscription found on walls there is "The Word of God is not bound."

In his famous hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," Martin Luther declared, "The body they may kill; God´s truth abideth still."

John Bunyan wrote his most famous work, Pilgrim´s Progress, while jailed in Bedford, England, for preaching the gospel. Yet for several centuries that book was second in sales only to the Bible. Bunyan´s cell window faced a high stone wall that surrounded the prison, making it impossible to see into or out of his cell.

On many days, however, he would preach loudly enough for his voice to be heard on the outside of the wall, where hundreds of listeners, believers and unbelievers, eagerly awaited his proclamation of God´s Word, which was unconfined by stone walls or iron bars.

Before the Communist conquest in the late 1940s and early 1950s, there were more than 700,000 Christians in China. During the subsequent "cultural revolution," at least 30 million Chinese were slaughtered, including most of the Christians. Yet, after more than forty years of brutal oppression, imprisonment, and executions, the church of Jesus Christ in that vast country has a current membership of an estimated 30 million to 100 million. Although written copies of Scripture are still scarce, the truth of God´s Word endures in their hearts. Its power cannot be bound. The more it is assailed, the more it prevails.

Andrew Melville was the successor of John Knox in the Scottish Reformation. On one occasion, a certain official had him arrested and said, "There will never be quietness in this country till half a dozen of you be hanged or banished [from] the country."

With perfect composure, Melville fearlessly replied, "It is the same to me whether I rot in the air or in the ground. The earth is the Lord´s; my fatherland is wherever well-doing is. I have been ready to give my life, when it was not half as well worn, at the pleasure of my God. I lived out of your country ten years as well as in it. Yet God be glorified, it will not lie in your power to hang nor exile His truth!"

When it comes to God´s Word, no man can exile His truth. Its power cannot be bound. It is not confined to stone walls or iron bars.

In honor of this great and powerful Word I invite you to stand for the reading of God´s Word.

Read Psalm 19:7-14.

CONTENT

We began [a few weeks ago] looking at the ATTRIBUTES OF THE WORD in this magnificent psalm of David and today we want to continue in that study.

We devoted an entire message on verse 7, an entire message on verse 8, covering four [4] out of the six [6] attributes of the Word of God and now as we approach verse 9, we will endeavor to devote an entire message on the last two [2] attributes of the Word of God.

So far in our study, Scripture testifies concerning itself in these ways:

o As law, Scripture is God´s "teaching" or "instruction" for life. It is God´s manual for life. It is completely perfect, so comprehensive, so error free and complete. It causes total transformation - taking a person from spiritual birth and growth them all the way to glorification.
o As testimony, Scripture is God´s witness of Himself - affirming who He is and what He requires of man. It is sure - far more than experience. It makes the lowly, the fool, and the undiscerning wise.
o As precepts, Scripture is God´s "directions, principles." In other words they are the principles that instruct us to do a certain action. It lays out the path that you are to walk. It causes real joy.
o As commandment, Scripture is God´s mandate for mankind. It is authoritative. It is radiant - producing light (i.e. giving understanding). It causes us to have a true understanding of what life is all about.

Those are the four [4] attributes we have covered thus far and now beginning w/ v. 9 David writes of the fifth attribute of the Word of God.

Join us as we study Psalm 19:9.