The Pricelessness of the Word

Thank you. And then we will be traipsing all around, especially Psalm 119. So in Psalm 119, verse 72, if you want to read along, you can turn there. That's Psalm 119, verse 72. I'm going to read from the Berean Standard Bible. The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.

You may be seated. Thank you. I want to begin by reading from the London Baptist Confession of Faith. Some of you are familiar with it already. Some of you may not be. And if you're not, I encourage you to read it and try to understand what it's saying.

It is effectively the Presbyterians' Confession of Faith, the Westminster, but corrected in all the places where that one needed correction. So that's really the honest way Baptists look at it. We just never say that out loud. But in paragraph 6 of the first chapter of the Confession, it states this, and this was something that came up last night in the debate where there was some different wording that I want to notate.

It says the whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture, And so there's a phrase there that everything in God's word that is expressly set down or necessarily contained that we want to keep in mind. This was largely the topic of the debate last night in some ways, was the idea that when you adapt the word of God, when you take what God has said and then you restate it in other words, there is a sense you're still saying the same thoughts of God to people that he has revealed in his word. And if it is a doctrine that we can prove is necessarily contained in the Word of God, then we can rightly say that it has some of the same qualities of the Word of God, which is what we are going to discuss today.

On Sunday, I preached and there was a sign in the pulpit that said, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. And now there's just the timer. And so if you were here Sunday, you know, you know why I said that. Or if you watch the over hour long sermon on YouTube. But I promise I will try to keep you engaged and do do things in the pulpit that will get your mind on the word of Christ and worshiping him.

So what I want to show you this morning is that the Word of God is priceless. This was not a sermon topic that I came up with. I wasn't reading scripture and thinking, well, this is what I want to preach about. This was assigned to me by Pastor Owens. And I think it's a great topic. I think it's a great way to start things out.

And so what I've chosen to do is try to show you that the Word of God is priceless in at least two ways. One of those ways is that we're going to review a number of scriptures about the Word of God itself. The Word testifies about itself. And because you are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will bear witness with your spirit what the Holy Spirit wants you to believe about His Word.

Which is that it is, in essence, priceless. I'm also going to try to demonstrate its pricelessness by showing you that the Word of God has attributed to it qualities or attributes that are attributes that are the same attributes that we say of God himself. And because we all, I think, must agree a priori that God cannot be bought and sold, therefore the word of God possessing those same attributes will not be able to be bought or sold.

And so there's a bit of a theological argument, which is to say, I want your Christian spirit to simply understand something that's true because the Holy Spirit reveals it to you because of his word. And there's a logical argument, which we will look at in more detail. So let's start in Psalm 119. We're going to spend most of our time cherry-picking verses through Psalm 119 to see ways that the Bible describes itself.

In Psalm 119 verse 72 as we read what we see is that the word is of more value than other things So we have this concept of comparison Psalm 119, 72, the law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver. And what we can understand from this verse is that thousands of pieces of gold and silver is referencing abundant wealth. The concept is this, that there is an abundance of wealth that is potentially possible in this world.

I mean, you could accumulate thousands of pieces of gold and silver. David, who I think wrote this psalm, most certainly had that kind of wealth. And David acknowledges that the word of God is more precious to him than even wealth. If you turn to verse 127, David says, Therefore I love your commandments more than gold, even the purest gold. So you take pure gold, you take that which we make jewels out of, And if you think about pure gold, you take the very substance that overlays the ark, right?

You have all of the images in the temple and in the Holy of Holies where gold was the overlay or even the one complete piece of gold for certain things in the temple. This is the most valuable stuff on earth. And David says that he loves God's commandments more than gold, even the purest gold. And I will argue that precepts, commandments, testimonies, statutes, law, these words when used most of the time, especially in Psalm 119 and Psalms like 19, are references to God's word.

They're not necessarily meant to be thought of in some specific sense, like a precept being different from a testimony. In Psalm 138, we'll see another comparison about God's word. I'll just start in verse 1 for it's a psalm of David. And just in case you didn't know this, by the way, when you read the psalms and it has the little instruction or title Before you get to what's usually verse 1, it's my understanding that those words are also the words of Scripture.

That is not just something that was inserted later. Those are actually words of Scripture that are for our instruction. So David says, I give you thanks with all my heart before the gods I sing your praises. I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your loving devotion and your faithfulness. You have exalted your name and your word above all else.

So there we have David saying that God has exalted his word above all else, along with his name, his name, of course, being synonymous with his person and his works. Proverbs 8, just keep moving along and looking at verse after verse. First, if I say nothing from my own imagination here to convince you the abundance of scripture verses that will speak of God's word from God's word itself should be enough to convince anyone of its pricelessness.

David says in Proverbs 8, we'll start in verse 10. The entire Proverbs is pretty strong to support what I'm saying. He says, Receive my instruction instead of silver. This is Solomon, excuse me, I think I said David. And knowledge rather than pure gold. For wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire compares with her.

I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. Wisdom is of more value. God's instruction is of more value than silver. You should desire it more than you desire wealth. I don't think it is necessarily wrong to desire the good things in this world. And I don't think it's wrong to be wealthy.

In fact, the two men that we've read now in the scripture, David and Solomon, would have been two of the most wealthy men alive at the time. Which strengthens the point that desiring God's word and God's instruction above even great wealth shows its pricelessness. In Psalm 19, if you bounce back there, and then the rest of the time will be in Psalm 119.

So I apologize if we tear the spine of your new Bible. So, and I apologize, what I really mean is I'm not sorry if I make you turn the Bible pages a lot. I think you should. I think when you sit in a sermon, you should turn the pages of your Bible, an actual paper Bible I would recommend, although you could argue about the Bible app thing. And I think that you should be used to looking at the Word of God yourself and following along with the preacher, In Psalm 19 verse 10 referring to the law of the Lord the testimony of the Lord the precepts of Yahweh the commandments of Yahweh the fear of Yahweh the judgments of Yahweh referring to God word David writes they are more precious than gold than much pure gold They are sweeter than honey than honey from the comb.

So the things that we need, the things that we value in this world, the things that are sweetest to us, none of them compare to God's Word. So this is point number one, that the Word is of more value than everything else. And if the only thing I did was show you those verses, I think it proves that the word is of more value than everything else. But let's turn to Psalm 119 again, and we're just jumping around, and we're going to go to verse 89.

What I want to show you now is that the Word of God proclaims itself in such a way that it is equated with, or we'll say equivocated with, eternity. So now we are starting to talk about attributes of the Word of God that cannot be used to describe anything that is itself not God. We wouldn't describe created things, which by nature would be the only things that have any kind of exchangeable value.

We wouldn't describe created things as eternal. So here are four verses that will show you that God's word is eternal. Psalm 119, 89. Your word, O Yahweh, is everlasting. It is firmly fixed in the heavens. So God's word is everlasting.

It's a term to help us see that it is from before creation. And it's firmly fixed. It's established. There's something about God's word that is also unchanging. Do you know any other beings that are unchanging but the one true God? I don't.

I'll take your silence as a no. 96. I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is without limit or exceedingly broad. There's an infinitude to God's word. There's an eternality to it. There is an expansiveness to it that is beyond limit.

It's unfathomable. You cannot plumb the depths of it completely. It's incomprehensible. That does not mean you can't understand God's word. It means you can never fully understand God's word. So it's actually a nice phrase I've heard in Reformed theology is that God is apprehendable but not comprehensible.

So you can understand things about God, but you will never wrap your arms around God. That's an attribute of God. He is infinite. He is limitless. So when God's word describes God's word as something that is limitless in comparison to David saying he's seen a limit to all perfection, It is an explicit statement of God's word having attributes that only God can have.

In Psalm 119, 144, your testimonies are righteous forever. Give me understanding that I may live. It's a separate topic in there, but it's God's testimonies are forever. That's why we went to that verse. And it is life-giving. We must understand in order to have life.

And in 152, David says, Long ago I learned from your testimonies that you have established them forever. And so God's word is compared to the most valuable things that men can imagine or women can imagine. And God's word is equated with eternity. God's word is also equated with truth. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. So if Jesus is going to describe himself as the truth, then anything else that God's word describes to, or excuse me, anything else that God's word describes as the truth should be taken seriously.

One of the most wicked men in history, Pilate, said, what is truth? And in that statement, he testifies that truth can be standing right in front of someone and they won't see it. So I want to exhort you today, you must be born again. I don't know everybody in here. I'm preaching to you as if you're Christian men and women. But I want you to remember that when these things are hard to understand, that you must be born again to be spiritually enlightened and illuminated to actually grasp what God's word teaches.

Even though it's plain, it requires the Spirit's work. Again, that's proven in chapter 1 of the Baptist Confession. If you don't know, I love that confession. So, Psalm 119, 138. The testimonies you have laid down are righteous and altogether faithful I going to argue that to be faithful there something about it being truthful there That's the truth. In verse 142, David adds, Your righteousness is everlasting and your law is true.

In 151. I love hearing the pages turn. I love it. Thank you. You are near, O Yahweh, and all your commandments are true. And in Psalm 119, verse 160.

The entirety of your word is truth, and all your righteous judgments endure forever. I'm just going to challenge you right now that when you do your Bible reading plan, and you read Psalm 1 and it's 6 verses, and you read Psalm 2 and it's 12 verses, and you read Psalm 3 and I don't know how many that one is, maybe 9. And then you start getting into some of the bigger Psalms and you put in the effort and you read through them and you think about them and you get to Psalm 119.

For many people that's a tough day in their Bible reading, especially if you do multiple chapters a day. I'm going to recommend two things. At least once in a while, read the whole thing all together. Don't split it up as if it's not one psalm. But secondly, I'm going to encourage you to endure to the end and to keep your mind focused as you read this long psalm.

I think it's easy to read the first 44 or 48 verses and to be engaged. And now you've gotten to about the longest length of most chapters of the Bible. And then you just can read word after word after word. And what's important to understand is that every word of God proves true and that all scripture is inspired and it's profitable for you. And so I want to encourage you when you read Psalm 119, ask God to help you to stay focused the whole time.

I'm speaking as a man who has read Psalm 119 and realized afterwards, well, I didn't really read it that time. I just looked at all the letters and my brain made the sound inside of the word, but I didn't understand it as I ought to have. And so if you're anything like I am, fellow child of Adam, so you are, you struggle to read God's word sometimes too.

And you know, the same God that raised his son from the dead and promises to raise every one of us from the dead one day can also do something as simple as free your mind from some distractions while you're trying to do something wonderful and spiritual like study his word. So ask him for help. Knock and it will be opened unto you. Right? Seek and you shall find.

You do not have because you do not ask. I could preach on a million things off some of these verses. It's just amazing. The whole Christian life is encompassed by God's Word teaching us from every scripture. Which brings us to the next point. So first of all, I said the Word's of more value than the most valuable things.

It's equated with eternity and equated with truth. Thus it has, we'll say, attributes of God. And anything with attributes of God, by its very nature, must be priceless. The Word is essential to God's children. Because the word of God is what sanctifies us, Jesus said, sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth.

That's John 17, 17. He's praying to his father in what's called the high priestly prayer where he's interceding for us. Such a wonderful way. It should bring you to tears if you read that chapter. The word of God sanctifies people. And if it's a tool of sanctification where the power and authority that the word of God has is what is actually capable of changing you and helping you and cleansing you of all unrighteousness, then I'm going to make a logical argument.

By its very nature, it's priceless. It cannot be sold or bought. So if you go back to Psalm 119, verse 9 and 11, I would expect that if I asked 75% of people in the room, could they quote this? These are good memory verses people quote. How can a young man keep his way pure? It's a question.

It's a legitimate question. By guarding it according to your word. I am a salvation by grace through faith alone preacher. And I expect everyone here understands that. I think that we do not do any works to contribute to our salvation. God loves us by grace, and it has nothing to do with anything that he sees in us or foresaw in us.

But I will argue that part of the Christian life is something that is called evangelical obedience. And for many Christians, obedience is a very nasty word. They equate it with law, the Mosaic law. They equate it with being unspiritual. The Bible does not have any problem commanding God's children to be obedient. And it should be your desire as a Christian to exalt and magnify the Lord Jesus Christ by trusting that he is your propitiation for sin and at the same time working feverishly, if you must, to fight your sin.

And how do you do that? By guarding it according to God's word. It's God's word that tells you what sin is. And it's God's word that tells you the remedies and the things to do to fight your sin. It has the power in the privacy of your own home to reveal your sin to you. It's a thought.

It discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It's more powerful than any two-edged sword. Verse 11, I've hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. David now basically challenges us, hey, memorize God's word. Remember, memorize it, because when you memorize scripture, a few things happen. One of those things is that the scripture is now available at the moment of temptation.

Some of you think you're going to go to church on Sunday, you're going to hear a good sermon, and then you're going to go watch football after and do all the other things you want to do, and then on Wednesday when temptation comes, you just hope God's going to just jump in and help you. He can. That's not the normal means by which God grows Christians.

God expects you to be bathing yourself in his word in such a way that when the moment of temptation comes, you're able to quickly discern that it's temptation and know what to turn to instead. That is what God expects of us. And I dare say that Jesus mocked men in his day for not understanding basics of the scriptures that I think are more complicated than what I just said.

So bathe yourself in God's word, hide it in your heart, memorize it. When you memorize God's word, one of the things that happens, unless you're an insane genius, which I think there's a couple in here, but you have to continuously roll it over in your mind. Most people don't read something and then have it memorized forever. You have to think about it over and over and over, and then you've got to pull out a little note card and you've got to review it, and then you review it again, and then somebody asks you, your accountability partner asks you, Hey, can you quote this to me?

And then you realize you can't. Then you've got to do it again. And you do it again. And while you're doing that, you're meditating on it, day and night, feasting on the law of the Lord, as David also commands us to do in Psalm 1. In verse 24, your testimonies are indeed my delight. They are my counselors.

God's word is a counselor to God's child. Verse 38, establish your word to your servant to produce reverence for you. I will submit to you that if you had reverence for God, you'd never sin. That doesn't mean you don't revere God at times, but we, in the moment of sin, we are always breaking commandment number one, along with whatever other commandment we're breaking.

God's word is essential to his children for their sanctification. Verse 130, one more. The unfolding of your words gives light. It informs the simple. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it. Why would you not unfold God's word for yourself regularly if you hate the darkness?

It's essential to God's child and I'm going to insert the thesis here of the Dorian principle and the concept is because God's word is so essential to his children, I don't know how we can charge people for it. It's like saying, I have the thing that's going to help sanctify you, and I'm not going to give it to you unless you give me a quarter or $25 or whatever things equate to in your life. In Psalm 119, verse 36, moving on, this is similar to the first point that it has value, but David says, He says, turn my heart to your testimonies and not to covetous gain.

Turn my eyes away from worthless things. He says, revive me with your word. I separated this out. This is an explanation of God's word having great value, but he's contrasting it to worthless things. I just wanted to remind you that there are worthless things in this world, and God contrasts his word to those. God's word is to be on our lips.

Look at verse 13. With my lips I proclaim all the judgments of your mouth. Verse 43. Never take your word of truth from my mouth, for I hope in your judgments. And verse 46. I will speak of your testimonies before kings, and I will not be ashamed.

I don't know how you would put a price on something that other people that are also Christian are supposed to be able to just speak to one another. How do you speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs? How do you have the word of Christ dwell in you richly and share it with one another and provoke one another to good works with God's word and use it for correction and training and instruction in righteousness so the man of God may be equipped to every good work?

How do you do that with one another if every time you want to do it you have to think, do I have to pay somebody for it? The answer is you can't. If it's supposed to be on our lips, it has to be free. So it of more value than everything It equated with eternity It equated with truth It essential to God children for sanctification It's contrasted against worthless things.

It's to be on our lips. And the word itself is wisdom. If you turn to Job 28, Job 28, one of the neatest things in the world And I think the simple way to put it is to try to understand when Job's friends say things, how to understand that. There's an apparent contradiction where God says at the end of the book, basically, they're all kind of wrong. But all scripture is given by God and is profitable.

And so there's something about the things Job's friends say that is right and true. And there's something about what Job's friends do that's totally wrong. And I think the simple way to put it is that they say a lot of really true things about God and they apply it wrongly. That's, you know, I think that's the basic. But in verse 15, in speaking about wisdom, Job 28, 15, it says, It cannot be bought with gold, nor can its price be weighed out in silver.

So now you have wisdom equated with this thing that's beyond the value of gold and silver. And I'm going to tell you that Jesus is wisdom personified. So we'll just spoil the whole ending of that one. But that's how wisdom is perceived in Scripture and Proverbs 8 as well. In Job 28, at the very end, speaking of God, it says, Then he looked at wisdom and appraised it.

Okay, well now it's interesting because I'm going to tell you that the Word of God is priceless. And now I just read a verse that says God appraised wisdom. Which I'm equating with the word of God. It says he established it and searched it out. And he said to man, behold, the fear of the Lord. That is wisdom.

And to turn away from evil is understanding. And now we have this phrase, the fear of the Lord. That is wisdom. And I would argue. That the fear of the Lord is. In our context, coming to Christ.

In the Old Testament, it would have been believing in the coming Messiah. So Proverbs 15, a couple verses just to prove the point about wisdom. Verse 14, a discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly. 15, all the days of the oppressed are bad, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast. And then he says, Or about wisdom, how much better to acquire wisdom than gold in verse 16.

To gain understanding is more desirable than silver. So now we have wisdom that's spoken of in the same way that the law of the Lord is spoken of in Psalm 119. Verses 19 and 20. It's better to be lowly in spirit among the humble than to divide the spoiled with the proud. God has repeatedly told us in terms we understand that there are things that are better than wealth.

It's really that simple. And you know the reason is because we desire wealth and we love wealth and we're by nature and Adam covetous people and we fight that nature when you're born again. You still have to deal with the indwelling sin. And so God tells us how to value things. So yesterday, Pastor Owens quoted an Augustine or Augustine sermon. I don't know which is the correct Protestant way to say it.

And I have a more lengthy version of the same quote. I'm going to try to read it and give you some comments on it because it is a little bit of... It's not the kind of quote you can just read and understand the first time. I'll just say it that way. But Augustine speaking on the incarnation of the word. So in John 1, it says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him. Without him was not anything made that was made. And then moving on to verse 14, it says, And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. So we have this very clear equivocation now of Jesus and the word, the logos. And Augustine says, How without Christ is that which surpasses all things?

So now we getting to the juice here We going to prove that all these things that I made you read and listen to have all culminated in the theological and I say logical and natural conclusion that the word of God itself is priceless with all its implications One of those meaning you can't sell it. How without price is that which surpasses all things? And any purchasable thing is either equal to the price or it's below the price or it exceeds it, right?

So if you're from the Midwest, if you've ever met a person from Ohio, all right, what do they do? You tell them, I like your shirt, and they tell you how little they paid for it. That's our thing. We all do it. You're not even laughing in California because you don't do this. You probably overpay for everything here, I guess.

You're overpaying for Gavin Newsom, I'll tell you that. Oh, now we got political. Sorry, Colin. Made G3 mad and state of California. Any purchasable soul thing is either equal to the price that's below it or exceeds it. So the idea is this.

You're either paying what it's worth, or you underpaid and you got something of more value, or you paid more than it was worth. And, you know, there may be reasons to do any of those things at any time. And Augustine says, but to the word of God, nothing can either be equaled or to exchange. Can anything be below it or above it? For all things can be below the word of God, for that all things were made by him.

He says, In this expression, the price for procuring the word is the procurer himself. And now it gets really beautiful. I'm going to explain that again in a second, but I'm going to go down to a little more in the quote where he explains it himself. So accordingly, when we buy anything, we look out for something to give that for the price we give, we may have the thing we wish to buy.

So he's saying whenever you buy something, you look for what you have that you can give in exchange for it. And that which we give is without us. So it's something outside of us. It's your $4 or your 60 silver pieces or whatever you're buying, you know, you're trading. He says, and if it was with us before, what we give becomes without us, that that which we procure may be with us.

So if you want to buy the Bluetooth speaker for $60, when the thing's over, you have a Bluetooth speaker and now you don't have the $60. That's what he's saying. There's an exchange happening. This isn't complicated. It's complicated language because it's translated from Latin. He says, Picking up on what he said earlier, the price for procuring the word of God is the procurer himself, or the purchase price for receiving the word of God is the purchaser, is what Augustine is saying.

Now he says, but whoever would procure this word, or get the word, or do something in exchange for it, commenting on the pricelessness of it, whoever would have it, let him not seek for anything without himself. So don't look for the stuff you have. That's what he's saying. Don't look for $30 or a cow or whatever you trade. Avocado toast in California.

He says, whoever would procure this word, let him not seek for anything without himself to give, but let him give himself. And when he shall have done this, he does not lose himself as he loses the price when he buys anything. The difference in the pricelessness of the word of God, Augustine is saying, is that the value of it is exceedingly great. It's of no exchangeable value with any created thing.

And so for you to get it, your role is to give yourself to the word. And then in the beautiful irony of how exchanges work, you don't actually lose yourself. You actually find yourself when you give yourself to Christ. You actually find your true identity that God has for you. If that wasn enough to make you believe that the Word of God is beyond value we will go to Revelation chapter 19 where I will now show you that Jesus is the Word of God.

It wasn't by accident that Andrew named the website SellingJesus.org, or the YouTube page. Revelation chapter 19. Revelation of Jesus Christ. Verse 11, Then I saw heaven standing open, John writes, and there before me was a white horse, and its rider is called Faithful and True. With righteousness he judges and wages war. He has eyes like blazing fire and many royal crowns on his head.

He has a name written on him that he only knows. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood and his name is the Word of God. I believe that Jesus is the Word of God. He is the word incarnate. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus is sharper than a two-edged sword, able to divide soul from spirit, as bone from marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

In Hebrews 4.13, the next verse after the one we all know about the word of God, he says, And no creature is hidden from his sight, but everyone is naked and exposed to him before whom they're going to give an account. It's even more beautiful in the KJV, actually. I love the way that is rendered. Jesus is the Word of God. He is the truth. Jesus is eternal.

His Spirit gives us sanctification. And so in conclusion, the Word of God is priceless. Not in the sense that it doesn't have value, but in the sense that there's nothing that we can exchange for it that does it any kind of honor. I would argue that if we could... I hate hypotheticals because they're always wrong, but if one of us could live a perfectly holy life, and with our hands that are not even sinful hands, if we could create really great things, That even the best thing that a million holy people could do wouldn't be anything more than a pile of dung compared to the value of the Word of God.

How much worse is it that we're so tainted with sin and corruption in this world that nothing we could come up with could be of value compared to the Word of God. So, do not look at the Word of God as just the words on the page. All that is necessarily contained or expressly set down in the Holy Scriptures are God's thoughts. God's thoughts are revealed to His people by His Spirit, because nobody knows the thoughts of a man if he doesn't know His Spirit.

These things are spiritually understood. And when you have God's thoughts in you, they are to be on your lips. They are reminders of eternal truths. Therefore, the edification and sanctification of you and your dear beloved brothers and sisters in your Christian walk. And they testify to you of the Son of God who came into the world. The one who didn't count it robbery to be equated with God, but humbled himself by becoming a man.

Even to the point of death, even death on a cross. And Jesus Christ died so that sinners could be forgiven. And then because he did that, God has highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name. And so remember that this word that teaches you about Jesus is worthy of your respect. And that its pricelessness is dictated not only by clear, explicit statements about that in God's word, but even good logical deduction.

Pray with me. Father in heaven, we're thankful that you have provided all that we need. Your word is sufficient. And so help us to believe that, help us to trust it, and we ask you to keep our minds free of all the little evil distractions that are out there as we are to remain attentive to the preaching of your word and the teaching of your word. Help us to have sweet fellowship with one another because of the bonds of unity that your spirit creates.

In Christ's name I pray. Amen.