This sermon emphasizes the importance of being rich in the Word of God, knowing it intimately, and allowing it to dwell in us richly for wisdom and transformation. It highlights the significance of the Bible in salvation, its self-authenticating nature, and the power it holds to change lives, nations, and conquer sin. The message stresses the eternal and infallible nature of God's Word, urging believers to invest in it wholeheartedly and prioritize its study and application in their lives.

And so we are exhorted here to be rich, to make the Bible our intimate friend, to know it like the back of our hand. And sad to say so many are not rich, but rather poor in the word. They say they've been a Christian for some time, but here they haven't got the Bible read through once yet. And it reminds me of a husband that's been gone for a while, and he comes back and come to find out his wife hasn't got the, didn't get his whole letter read through. How does that make the Lord feel? Surely it's a grievance to him, surely an insult, that he has fashioned and put together this beautiful word, and we're not reading it. For some it's simply because they've never been born again, right? I mean they don't have the word of God written on their mind, they don't have it written on their heart. This is new covenant reality. When the Lord comes in regeneration, He implants the word in our very souls. And so for some it's just that they've never been born again. Yeah, women, you see a man that you are interested in, and you find out that he's not daily in the word of God, do not marry him. Don't go near the door of his house, and vice versa for men with the women, because that person you see is a cursed man. The blessed man, Psalm 11, is he who delights in the law of the Lord, and in it he meditates day and night. And we're talking here not just about raw Bible knowledge, right? He goes on to say, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Talking about wisdom, not just knowledge for knowledge's sake, I mean knowledge can do nothing but destroy us if we're not careful, it will puff us up. There's a lot of pride that can be attached to knowing the Bible better than somebody else. Terrible. It can puff us up, and so we don't want just more information, we want to change lives, we want to have the mind of Christ, we want to know the Lord, to be on the sacred page, I seek thee, Lord. And so when we read the Bible, we want to read it right to get the message, to get the mind of Christ, that it might dwell in us in all wisdom. How do we know this book, how do we know these words are inspired? Well, admittedly, I can't prove it to you. Like two plus two equals four, you know, the blind can't see the sun. But once the eyes are opened, there's light everywhere. It's self-authenticating to the spiritually illumined. Like the brother said in his testimony, he hadn't read the book of John before he realized this book is from another realm. It's self-authenticating. Think of its style. I mean, the Koran does not compare. Think of the message. We're talking about the origin of all things. We're at the end of all things. The purpose of all things. We're talking about heaven and hell, how to gain one and escape the other. Talking about eternal life. Talking about immortality. How to conquer the grave. This is the message of the book that we have in our hand. And there's nothing else that can give us this grace, this help, this light, this knowledge, this wisdom. Think of the unity of this book. Sixty-six books written by some 40 authors over 1,600 years period of time and yet it all blends together in one great message. Think of the circulation of this book. Why there's none that compares. More Bibles written in more languages than any other book that's ever been written. Think of the preservation of this book. It's been kicked around by the foot of pride everywhere and yet it abides. Think of the prophecies in this book. I mean, cities have been prophesied and countries have been prophesied hundreds of years beforehand, even in detail, right down to 30 pieces of silver. Ah, there's no book like it. David says concerning Goliath's sword, there's none like it. None like it. And so it is with the sword of the Spirit, there's none like this book that we have. What are we doing with the Good Word of God? Think of the power of this book. Lives have been changed. Countries have been altered. Souls have been redeemed. The sin has been routed. Darkness has been scattered by this book. What a book we have. The Lord didn't say your house is going to pass away. He said heaven and earth is going to pass away. But My words will not. They are infallible. Health is failing. Economy is failing. Everything is failing and wearing out, but the Word of God abides. It stands. Ah, if it's infallible, we ought to invest everything we can in it, right? Other things fail. The Word of God will not fail. You'll never be sorry. Give yourself to the two eternal things on earth, which is the Word of God and the souls of men. George Mueller, he estimated that he'd read the Bible over a hundred times by the time he reached age 60. And then in the last 22 years of his life, he read it another hundred times, five times a year. And yet he said, I feel, toward the end of his life, he said, I feel like I have just begun to scratch the surface of what God has to say to us. This word is so essential, I'm saying. I mean, it's essential in salvation, right? It's the power of God and the salvation the newspaper, the magazine, the Facebook. You will not find any help out of your sins. You know, when I got here Thursday, I walked up to the door over here to register, and I saw a sign on the door. It said, Registration for the Fellowship Conference on the back side of the building. And it had an arrow. Go this way and that way. And do you know what I did? I saw a secretary sitting in there. I opened the door and I asked her. And she said the same thing the sign said. And afterwards, I reflected. And I thought, why didn't I take the sign for what it said? And so with us, we've got to take the book for what it says. It's a road map to heaven. You better believe it and walk in the light thereof. Yes, it is so sufficient. I mean, you can go up on campus and you can get a degree in sociology, and yet you don't know how to do it. You've got to get along with your brother or your sister, your father, your mother, your wife. You can get a degree in philosophy and yet not know the real purpose of life. A degree in speech and communication, and yet you don't know how to talk with a God that made you. This is the good word of God. Let's be rich in it. So delightful. I mean, its histories are accurate. Its prophecies are true. Its phrases are beautiful. Its precepts are holy. It's the good word of God. No wonder John Wesley said, Give me the book. Give me the book of God. You know, students, I mean, why is it that a student can go to college and all of a sudden, I mean, he's in a whole different gear. I mean, he is plowing. He is studying. I mean, every idle moment, he's studying. And you get up from the dinner table, back to the books. Why is it that we study the books that men have written so diligently? And when it comes to the good word of God, we're so leisurely, so casual. It's not seemly. It doesn't make sense. I was talking with a brother the other day, and he said, and on the job, he says, I listened to the book of Hebrews three or four times. I forgot what he said by noon. He got it on the earphone, you know, and he's ramming the word of God into his soul. Got to get it in. Don't be deceived and fiddle it away, your time, your precious time. Let's resolve. You know, Ezra said, I set my heart, you know, like an alarm clock. I set my heart to study the law of the Lord. We got to make some resolve here and get at it. Choices. Choices, I'm talking about. Oh, what a word we have. Let's be rich in it and get it out. I mean now. I grew up in northeast Iowa in a small farming community, and in those days, there was a farmstead about every quarter or half a mile. Everybody knew everybody. There was Axel Rasmussen. There was Baldy Pieper. There was Ed Cordes. And right on down the line, we knew them all. And I had a time, there was a time in my life when I could have gone back about three years after I was converted, when I was back living at home with my parents, driving that gravel truck, when I could have gone back over to that area and gone door to door and all that I had to tell them is my friend, my father's friend, I want to tell you that I've been saved from my sin for the grace of God. And I did not do it. I was so low in those days. I didn't get it done. And do you know what? Now they're almost all gone. If you're going to do anything for God, you better do it now. You better do it today. You better get at it. Move. Be rich in the Word. And all the more as you see the day approaching.