 So we're in Deuteronomy chapter 8 and I just thought about this text because that's where that title comes from, we're not to live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And so in looking at Deuteronomy 8, as we've been working through the Gospel of John on Sunday mornings, we've been spending some time in the Old Testament especially with respect to the Feast of Tabernacles and once before on the Feast of Passover and a lot of those pictures that the Old Testament provides. And so we see a picture of that in Deuteronomy chapter 8. And as a preacher, I know Pastor Rick, Pastor Marcos as well, you know, we've heard at one time or another and it's true, we've heard it often said that every great season of reformation in the history of the church, every great hour of spiritual awakening has always been at a time ushered in by a recovery of the biblical preaching of the Word of God. When you think about it, every great period, great awakening, great revival in history has always been ushered in by a recovery of biblical preaching. Every great revival has been ushered in by a recovery of biblical preaching of the Word of God. And I'd like to add to that statement tonight that what is true for the church, what is true for the bride is true for the individual people of God that make up the church, that make up the bride. Restoration of a life, restoration of the soul to spiritual health and vitality always comes upon a refreshed commitment to the means that God has appointed to that end, namely to the reading, to the study, to the meditation of God's Word. So to the Christian now, we know that the Bible are the words of God are the Christians delight. Jeremiah said in chapter 15 verse 16. Your word to me, Lord, was the joy and rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord God of hosts. The psalmist says in Psalm chapter one verse two, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, he meditates day and night. Job said in chapter 23 verse 12, I have not departed from the commandment of his lips. And I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. I love that one. Psalm 119 verse 162 says, I rejoice at your word as one who finds great treasure. Do you feel that way about the Word of God? Is that evident in your life as a believer? Do we cling to the Word of God that way? There's a story of an old Scottish Presbyterian pastor from the 1700s named Walter Scott. And Walter Scott traveled through his lifetime over 90,000 miles, which back then mostly on foot and by boat, a lot of traveling and preached over 9,000 sermons during that time. Near the end of his life, he said to his secretary, bring me the book, he said. So his secretary looked at the library outside where he was, and he saw, and she saw thousands of books. And she came back in and said to him, Dr. Scott, which book are you talking about? And he said, the book, the Bible, the only book for a dying man. Now that's true. And as much as we know that the Bible is a book for dying men, it's also a book for living men because it tells us our hope gives great hope to the living. So we are to be a people of the book. Christians are to be a people of the book, primarily because God has made us and because we are his people. That truth can often be lost on people when you get into the busyness of life with work intruding on your time with family needs and requirements with kids and with the other pressures of life. It can often be missed, but we belong, we belong to God. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Genesis 126 says, and God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, the image of God. He created him, male and female. He created them. God is our maker. We belong to him. And then, because God's Word is said in Psalm 19-7 to be perfect, converting the soul, God of his own will brought us forth by the Word of his truth. Once fallen and depraved, fallen away from God, separated by God because of our sin, to be his people, God redeemed us to himself through his Word, which is perfect and holy, converting the soul. He brought us forth by the Word of his truth, James chapter 1, verse 18. And now, as those who are God's people, bought with a price, having been brought forth by the Word of his truth, having placed their faith in Christ, we are, as Colossians 3.16 says, we're to let the Word of Christ dwell on us richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord. Our God, who designed us and created us, is the one and the only one with the right to determine and impose his rule and reign upon our life, our belief, and on our conduct. And he does that through the administration of his Word and the power of the Spirit within us. He does that through the administration of his holy Word. And I was thinking about this, it was a reminder of an illustration that, it's a silly illustration, but it helps make the point, and it's often the silly illustrations that help us remember these truths more clearly. But the illustration goes like this. If you go out in the parking lot and you see a car, and the car has been flipped over on its side, and its wheels are spinning, the engine is revving, you see the lights flashing, and the horn is just blinking. The radio is going, it's got old 70s tunes on the radio, because that's the only kind of music it'll play. And let's say for the sake of our illustration, that you go out in the parking lot and the car can talk. So the car says to you talking, he says, listen to me, I can make noise. Honk, you know, it's over on its side and it's spinning its wheels. And I can spin my wheels, it says, no one ever who owned the car would allow the car to do that, turn itself over on its side and make that kind of racket and do that kind of thing, put itself in that situation. Why? Because the car was never rolled off the production line to function in that way. It was never intended to function like that. Does it have the capacity to function like that? Yes, it can be flipped over on its side, can spin its wheels and it can honk its horn. Some today are even designed to talk to you, but that's not the reason of the purpose for which the car was made or manufactured. It wasn't designed by the manufacturer to operate in that way. You know, I once saw a bad accident, I was in claims for a period of time, and I saw a terrible accident where the car had been wrecked on the interstate, had run head on into another car, completely wrecked and the horn was jammed. The horn was stuck and so the horn wouldn't go off. It was just constant steady stream. It wasn't manufactured to be that way, but it was a beat up wreck. It was doing nothing but making noise, could do nothing but make noise. How do we know what the car was made for? We know what the car was made for because the manufacturer tells us. And the manufacturer gives us an owner's manual. The owner's manual tells us how the car is to function and the ultimate purpose for which the car was manufactured. Now think about it again, who is our manufacturer? God, and do we have an owner's manual? Yes we do. And God has the right to tell us how we are to live, how we are to believe, how we're to conduct ourselves. He as the manufacturer gives us an owner manual, owner's manual that tells us those things. Those who rebel, who go off on their side, spinning their wheels, tuning their own horn, they can do that. They weren't designed by God to function in that way. We were designed by God, created by God, to function in the way that God has designed us to function. God never made us to have a heart and a mind depraved and fallen by sin. He never made us to have a heart and a mind separated from Him in any way, separated from Him by our sin. We're not to go off spinning our own wheels and tuning our own horn. As we come to Deuteronomy chapter 8, we see God in Deuteronomy chapter 8 now with His people, again administering His will for His people in the wilderness through His Word. I want to make some specific applications from this passage for us in our church today. So in Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 1, the first thing we read is that every commandment God says, every commandment which I command you today, you must be careful to observe that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers. Now we think of ourselves, and we've done this going through the book of John, in a second Exodus, so to speak. We too wander in a wilderness, the wilderness of this world, and we too are serving the Lord, obeying the Lord, trying to faithfully in the wilderness, awaiting our inheritance in the same way that the children of Israel were at this point in time. But here God gave them in the Old Testament basically the same charge that He gives us in our context today. He says, every commandment which I command you today, you must be careful to observe. Now there's two things about that statement that the Lord makes. One, the charge that He gives to them is to keep my commandments. How many of them? Not all of them, every one of them. Every, it's a universal command, keep all of my commandments. Now to keep all of them, you have to know them. You have to know them. You have to read your Bible. You have to know what God expects of you. And then you need to approach the Word of God with the intent of the heart, with the power of the Spirit indwelling you to obey every commandment. And like I said this morning in John chapter 8, that's where the battle begins. The battle begins. We want to obey the Lord while pleasing in His sight, and so we have to fight the sin which so easily ensnares us. We're to obey every commandment. Then He says something else very interesting, that you must be careful in their observance. As we seek to obey God's Word, we have to be watchful. We have to be careful. We're to be careful to observe it that we may live and multiply and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers. Now we can think of many examples in Scripture, can't we? The book of Hebrews being one primary example so many times where the Lord reminds us to be careful to observe the things we've heard lest we what? Lest we fall away, right? Remember the letter to the Hebrews. Be careful. Be diligent to observe all those things that the Lord has taught us because in our hearts these hearts so prone to wander. So prone to wander. So we have to obey every commandment. And I would submit to you. That takes a resolve of your will and a dependence upon God to be committed to obey every commandment. So when the Lord says the Bible is to be your delight, the Word of God is to be your delight. Interesting to think about delight as a duty, but delight as a duty. And performing that duty is our delight. So we're to delight in that. We're to delight in the Word of God. It is to be our daily meditation when the Lord commands us to pray and to pray without ceasing. That's our delight. And it's not burdensome to perform that duty to the Lord. It's our joy. It's our rejoicing to do that. When the Lord commands us to evangelize, what do you do with that commandment? Do you obey the Lord? It's the resolve of our heart to obey every command. And we've got to be careful in their observance with a fear of God to obey him rightly in a way that he's worthy to be obeyed. Now notice they're careful in their observance and they're to keep every commandment. Obedience to the Lord is both watchful, careful, it's meticulous, so to speak, and it's universal, all commands. Where to do that, you must know them. Proverbs chapter two, beginning in verse three, the Bible says this, Yes, if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding, where does discernment and understanding come from? Comes from the Word of God, every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. If you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. That's what we want, isn't it? Where to fear the Lord? We want to be like our brother was praying earlier, full of the knowledge of his will, full of the knowledge of God. But if you keep going in Deuteronomy chapter eight, look at verse two. And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. They here in verse two, reminded specifically of the discipline that they had come under in the wilderness. Now remember the context here. They had not gone into the promised land as God had commanded them to. And so they came under the chastening of God, the discipline of God. He says you're gonna wander in this wilderness for 40 years. So they went to the school, so to speak, of hard knocks. This is tough love on the part of God and it's love intended to teach them a lesson now that God commands them to remember. The Lord your God led you in the way all those 40 years in the wilderness to humble you, to test you, to know it was in your heart whether you would keep his commandments or not. So 40 years of boot camp in the wilderness so that God would bring this to remembrance. They would remember these things. The time itself had been memorable, all that had happened to them. You can think of those wilderness wanderings and all that the Bible describes there, all of the chastening, the fiery serpents, right? The raising up of the bronze serpent. Moses striking the rock rather than speaking to the rock. God at Mount Sinem and all those things in the wilderness that they would have remembered, the time had been very memorable. And that memory was useful to them. It was helpful to them. It was profitable for them to remember. And I want to tell or give you an example of why. It was as if their history in the wilderness was piling up for them evidence for obedience. Why do you obey the Lord? Because look at all these difficulties that you encountered and look at how God provided for you. Look at all this adversity that you faced and look yet here today you are still following the Lord. You're still here. You've persevered and God has preserved you. Look at these terrible and awful predicaments that you once found yourself in and look at how the Lord graciously and mercifully saved you. We remember them, don't we? When we're going through the Gospel of John and we look at the Feast of Passover which is to remember God's deliverance of his people out of bondage in Egypt. We look at the Feast of Tabernacles. Remember God's deliverance of them and providing for them in the wilderness. These things designed to make them remember so that they have evidence then for obedience. And look at verse three. They were to remember the difficulty, remember God's provision. Why? Verse three, for the sake that he humbled them, he allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna which you did not know nor your fathers know, that he might make you know that a man shall not live by bread alone but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. And I think about it for a moment and apply this truth to yourself, us today. They were to remember trials. They were to remember difficulty. They were so often brought to and brought through. One, because of pride, was meant to humble them. They remembered and they remembered for the sake that otherwise their hearts might be lifted up against God. They might forget God, neglect God. They were to remember the trials because of pride. It was to humble them so that they weren't too haughty, so that they weren't secure. If you go on down further in Deuteronomy chapter eight, it's so that their hearts weren't lifted up and they forget the Lord their God. They were to remember so that they weren't prideful and weren't neglectful. I remember not long ago thinking of this issue of apathy and indifference and just thinking through the causes of apathy and indifference. And there are many today who would like to say that apathy or indifference in the Christian life is because of what Atoli and Chevidian would say is performanceism. People just work too hard, they try too hard and so they get tired serving a Lord. Now with a vast majority of evangelicalism today or that which calls itself Christianity, is that really the problem? No, no. The root of apathy, the root of indifference, the root of coolness toward God is self-righteousness, is pride, it's self-reliance. When you see truly your condition before God and you come to an understanding of how desperately you need him, how desperately you need his word, how hungry and how truly thirsty you are for righteousness, where do you go? You go plowing through God's word, right? You go to the Lord in prayer, you're on your knees, shedding tears, crying out to the Lord for the righteousness that you desire to be walking, pleasing in his sight. You go to his word to know what he says, to know of Christ, to know of God, to live for him. Coolness toward God, apathy, indifference in the Christian life is self-righteousness, it's pride. Where do we go to humble ourselves? Every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Remembering the depths that God has drug us out of, remembering our own bondage in Egypt that the Lord saved us from, right? Remembering our sin and remembering God's grace and mercy, you go back to all those promises and glorious testimonies of God's goodness and grace to us and you go to his word to humble you, to show you your condition and to show you Christ. Here they went to humble, to be humbled, God humbled them. Then it says something very interesting. He allowed them to hunger, fed them with manna, which they didn't know or their fathers know, that he might make them know that a man shall not live by bread alone. That God might make them know. He made them know his provision for them. In the wilderness, God provided manna, bread from heaven. And we know from our study in John that Jesus Christ is the bread of life. God provided for them in the wilderness by providing water out of the rock. And we know that Jesus Christ is the fountain of living water, right? So if we want to know that God shall not live by bread alone, where does God send us today? He sends us to his word, to learn of Christ, to humble us, to make us know. I thought about this many times in many of you have counseled brothers, counseled sisters that have come with difficulties in the Christian life. You're gonna face difficulties. I've talked to many, oftentimes, a brand new Christian, fresh out of the oven, just as maybe, and they're just on the mountain top, right? The Christian life is awesome. I just love the Lord. They're like, Peter, whatever it takes, I'll die for you. I'll never deny you, you know? And then a year later, of Puritans often call it the dark night of the soul, those emotions that may have once sustained a fire, so to speak, are those feelings. Maybe that once sustained motivation to serve the Lord faithfully, they wax and they wane. It's as if the Lord pulls back, as if to say your Christian life is not gonna be based on emotion, not gonna be based on feeling, not gonna be based on fleeting sentiments, but it'll be based on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, to show us our dependence upon Him, to show us that in our sin, how desperate we are for His provision, and to drive us back to the word of God, which is more precious to us than our daily food, to humble us, and again to teach us that we're not to live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Here in Deuteronomy chapter eight, God provided for them, He took care of their food, their clothing, their health, most importantly, He preserved them in the wilderness, and He does that by His word. God will often bring His people low that He might raise them up. If you find in your Christian life that the emotional or sentimental high that you once were on has been waxing or waning, you are to drive yourself back to the steadfast and sure word of God for your daily nourishment, for your soul's health, for your soul's vitality. It's not in emotion, it's not in feeling, it's there that you'll find relief. It's there that you'll find help. It's there you're gonna find your joy restored. It's there you're gonna find your hope. It's there you're gonna find Christ. You have to drive yourself back to the word of God. Through all this, He taught them, man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. The good things that God gave them is provision for their most pressing needs. The good things that God gave them, God used to humble them and to show them His provision for better things, spiritual things. The bread He provided points to the bread of life, points to the bread of God's word, the water that He provided for them, points to the righteousness that they're the thirst for, points to Christ who provides fountains of living water. All of those things designed to point them to spiritual truth for their spiritual health for the salvation of their souls. The ultimate satisfaction of man does not consist in being clothed with purple and fine living and faring sumptuously every day. But our being in covenant and communion with God and learning and obeying His word. You'll look with me quickly at Matthew chapter six. For that very example, Matthew chapter six, beginning at verse 25, I'll just read the text to you. Listen, this applies directly to us in our context. The thing about how that applies, verse 25, therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you'll eat or what you'll drink or about your body, what you'll put on. Is life not more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. So they think they're sown or reap and are gathering to barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? Now it's interesting that we see this in the wilderness in Deuteronomy chapter eight, God teaching them that you can't live by bread alone. And when the Lord, if you look at the parallels between the Lord's temptation by Satan and this passage in Deuteronomy eight, how similar or how many parallels there are in the two passages, the Lord, Matthew four quotes this passage in Deuteronomy chapter eight, when Satan tempts him to turn the stones into bread, basically the Lord is saying, God can provide for me and it may not even be through the means of genuine food. The Lord fasted for 40 days in the wilderness and God provided for him and kept him alive. Here we don't have to worry about those things. God provides, are you of much more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing verse 28? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They need your toil and their spin. And yet I say to you that even Solomon and all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so closed the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? Oh, you of little faith. Therefore do not worry saying, what shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about its own things sufficient for the day is its own trouble. You know, I've thought about this in reference to priorities in the Christian life. And oftentimes you'll talk to someone who's having difficulty, having adversity, facing trouble. Maybe doesn't know where the next check is gonna come from. You know, doesn't know where the food is is gonna be for the family. Maybe just concerned about getting the next step up in the job because at some point in time he may be fired or they may transition. I mean the company may be reorganized and he's out of there. All of those things and yet in the midst of anxiety, in the midst of worry, in the midst of that difficulty they neglect God's word. They neglect the bread that they're to live by. I remember seeing a documentary a while back about a cab driver in London. A cab driver in London and London, a big city, if you've ever been there, it's just packed, just packed and sort of crazy to get around him. And this cab driver wanting to keep his job, you know, wanting to be able to be a cab driver in London, make money to support his family, had to memorize every nook and cranny of the city, had to memorize a map. So if you look at a map of London, this huge city, every street, every corner, every landmark, every restaurant, every hotel, every tourist site, every place of business, every left turn, every right turn, had to memorize the entire thing. Someone got in his cab, he needed to be able to go without a moment's notice and know exactly where he was going. And so they required cabbies to memorize the entire map, every street name. When you think about that for a moment, the effort that that would take. And that was for his job. And many of us, when we come to the word of God, find barely enough time in the day to read it. And you neglect the word of God. You neglect your daily spiritual food and so you become malnourished. We don't memorize the word of God to allow ourselves to meditate on it, to take it into our heart, to cleanse our way, to keep our way pure. JC Ryle, in his book, Practical Religion, identifies five categories of professing Christians. And our time is short, I wanna give these to you quickly. Five categories of professing Christians and their approach to God's word. One, those who can read, but do not read the word of God. If you're in that position, you can read, but you don't read the word of God, then as a professing Christian, there's simply no comfort for you. There can be no encouragement to you. As JC Ryle said, it would be mockery and deceit to do so. You are in danger. You're in danger. A neglected Bible is evidence that you do not love God. Be sure that if you don't love the scripture, you don't love God, you're not a believer. You're not a Christian. It's like the cancer patient, the cancer patient who knows the cure and yet will not pursue it, will not take it. And there comes a point in time where he ignores the life-giving cure to his own death or he waits so long that the cancer metastasizes and it's too late. And the word of God to draw the application, draw the illustration becomes a closed book, becomes a shroud. That which has been given is taken away. Even what they have will be taken away from them. They can't understand it any longer and it's too late. Second category, those who are willing to read but need to know how. Here's how, listen, start right now, start today. And read it every day. Make it your daily meditation. Read with an earnest desire to understand it. Read it with a diligent desire to obey it, to apply it to your life. Seek the Lord in prayer while you read it, asking the Lord for help and understanding and wisdom that the Lord promises to give you liberally without reproach when you ask without doubting and faith. So read it with childlike faith, with humility, with the intention that you will pursue Christ in it and you'll obey what you see there. Read with a time, have a plan. It is called a spiritual discipline for a reason. Much of the Christian life is self-control, is spiritual discipline. Much of the Christian life is denying yourself, taking up your cross and following him. And what that means is following him in self-control and self-discipline, having a time, having a plan, doing that which is necessary for your own spiritual good. God has appointed an end for the Christian, appointed a purpose for the Christian. He is going to conform you into the image of his son, but God has also appointed the means to that end and the means that he has given, the twin towers of the means of which God has given is reading, studying, meditating on his word in prayer. So put those disciplines into your life. Read with a time, read with a plan, spiritual discipline. Third category, those who say they love and believe the Bible, but read it very little. Most of these people in this category are just like those in the first category. They say they love God, but it's not evidenced in their life, not evidenced in their disciplined intake of the word of God. The busyness of life, work, family, all cut short or intrude into our devotion to the word of God. Have to build your life on the rock. When you're in that position, then you can have no assurance. You can have no comfort. You can have no encouragement. And you consider to yourself, I'm just not as fervent as I once was, not as faithful as I once was. Well, if you're not availing yourself of that means that God has appointed to give you assurance, then you're not entitled to it. Invest yourself in the means that God has appointed. You're gonna have very little help in times of need. When the trial comes to sift you, when the affliction comes and strips you bare, you're gonna have very little help because you're not in God's word. And again, coolness toward God or a neglect of God's word is an indication of spiritual pride, self-righteousness. Cannot base your spiritual life on feeling, on emotion. It's on the bedrock of God's word, the spiritual disciplines, the means of grace that God has appointed. Fourth, there are those that read the Bible much, but think they're no better off for its reading. Maybe you don't see it, but often the progress is there. J.C. Ryle equates it to imperceptible growth that grass makes. You can't see it grow, but it grows. I think in Florida it's more appropriate to say weeds. I think you can sit and actually watch weeds grow, right? So you may grow like a weed, you may grow like grass, but oftentimes our growth can be imperceptible, but it's there. You look over the last six months, over the last year, you can see is sin becoming more hateful to you? Is Christ becoming more precious to you? Do you see a work of grace in your heart along those lines? But if you feel as though you're not making progress, consider your method. Do you read the Bible faithfully, but you read it mechanically? Do something different. If you read the Bible and you get done with your reading and you can't remember what it said, then take a smaller passage and meditate on that passage. Memorize it. Get it into your heart, get it into your mind so that you remember what you read. Some folks read, but they don't meditate. It's gonna be difficult to make progress if you don't know God's word and you don't apply God's word in your everyday circumstances. So you may need to change your method. Consider your obedience to it. Many read and yet they don't obey it. They are hearers of the word only, but not doers of the word. Consider where you may be disobeying God's word and don't make excuses about that. Continue to cleanse your way by His word and understand if you're reading, your labor in the Lord is not in vain and don't allow any discouragement to keep you from His word. Sin is gonna keep you from His word or His word is gonna keep you from sin, that old statement, right? So stick with it. Your labor in the word is not in vain. Fifth category and last category, those who love the Bible, live the Bible and read it much. As J.C. Ryle says, we need to resolve ourselves to be more watchful, more observant as time goes by. We need to resolve ourselves to apply it more faithfully to ourselves. We need to teach it to our families, teach it to our kids, just continue to invest ourselves in the word of God to resolve, to meditate on it more faithfully and resolve to obey it more fully and resolve to worship Christ in it as we find Him there on every page of scripture. Amen, amen, let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for your word. What a blessing to the believer. What a blessing to this world, God, that you did not leave us without a revelation of yourself. Thank you, Lord, you've revealed yourself, that you have revealed your redemptive plan to save sinners. Thank you, Lord, for revealing there Christ, our Lord, our Savior. God, we praise you and worship you and thank you for your word. I pray, God, that your word by your spirit would be efficacious, God, to save sinners here who don't know you, but also, Lord, to edify your children, to build up your people, to grow us, to mature us in Christ, to fill us with knowledge of your will that we might live for you as testimonies of your grace for your glory, God, in Jesus' name. Amen.