"Saturated by God's Word"
Romans 12:1-2
Sunday, October 28, 2012

Introduction: Last week we talked about being on the front lines. We talked about how important it is to stand strong in our faith for God. Today I want to talk about how we need to be saturated by God’s word so that we can be strong and wise in how we live for the Lord. We need to be saturated by God’s word so that we can know what God calls us to do. We need to be saturated by God’s word so that we can know what is true and what is false.

            The Bible is God’s word to us. The Bible is God’s way of sharing His truth to His people so that we can know who God is and what this life is to be about. Too often we find ourselves in predicaments or struggles because we have made poor choices. Knowing the Bible helps us to make good and wise decisions. Knowing the Bible helps us to have a clear idea of the path we are to walk.

            So let’s talk about becoming saturated by God’s word!

I.                   Saturation is a process- (Psalm 19:4; Romans 12:1-2; Jeremiah 29:11)

a.      A sponge- I have two sponges and two bowls. When I place the

sponges in the bowls, they become saturated with whatever is in the bowl. When I squeeze the sponge, we will see what is in the bowl. As I squeeze the first sponge, we see that it is filled with clear water. As I squeeze the second sponge, we see that this bowl is filled with red colored water.

What this object lesson tells us about our lives, is that we are filled with whatever we allow to enter into our lives. When we are squeezed, what is in us will spill out. SO, if we you are an anxious person, when life becomes hectic and you are squeezed, worry will come out. If you are an angry person, anger will come out. If you are a materialistic person, then what comes out is the desire to seek more and more.

It is important that we include God’s word, the Bible, in our regular routine each day. We need to make sure that we are putting God’s word into our minds; into our daily lives. This is because when we are living our lives each day, we want to make sure that when we are pressured in any way (and we all know that most days are filled with some kind of pressure), we want God’s word to flow out of our mouths, and thoughts, and actions!

The psalmist says in Psalm 19:4, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” The only way we can know that we will please God with our words and our hearts is by having God’s word thoroughly in us. This all comes from the desire of wanting godly things to come out of our lives. Without this desire, we will not be motivated to include God’s word in our lives. Without this desire, we will allow the things of this world to distract us away from God and His word!

b.      Daily saturation- Because of the sin in our lives, we don’t always

desire the things of God. We don’t always desire to know and live out God’s word. We don’t always think that God’s word will lead us into the wonderful life we picture for ourselves. Beyond that, as we live out our Christian lives (and sometimes face persecution, as I talked about last week), we don’t always think that being saturated in a godly lifestyle is what is best. So, we have to ask God to fill us with this desire. We have to ask God to help us see that knowing and following His word is what is best.

            We have to take to heart the words of Romans 12:1-2. We have to let God’s word transform us into the people we were created to be, not the people our sin leads us to be. We have to present our bodies to God daily as a living sacrifice. We have to understand that we honor God by living for Him each day.

            When we daily saturate our minds with God’s word, we begin to see the difference between the ways of God, and the ways of the world. We can see how easy it is to pick up the customs and practices of this world. We begin to see how the world deceives us into thinking that we have to look out for number one. We can see more clearly how the world makes us think that we have to have all that great new devices and possessions.

            The phrase “do not be conformed” is meant to be an ongoing action. This is why we must daily saturate ourselves with God’s word, so that we are daily led to be conformed to God’s ways, and not the world’s ways. We have to create for ourselves godly patterns. It is only in doing this daily that we can see God’s will for our lives!

            Do you believe that the God of creation has a plan and will for your life? I hope so, because He does. As Jeremiah 29:11 says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.’”

II.                Revealing our Hearts- (James 2:14-18; Ephesians 4:29)

a.      Behaviors that aren’t Christian- Think again about the sponge. The

only thing that comes out of the sponge is what it has absorbed. This is true for us as well. Our behaviors will show what we have absorbed into our thinking. Our behaviors show our desires. Our words reveal our heart. So let’s think for a moment what behaviors we might think are not Christian.

            When surveyed, some of the answers that came out were smoking, alcoholism, drugs, having an affair, pornography, swearing. When people see Christians doing these kinds of behavior, they do not think that they are being Christian. They do not think that this is how God would have them to live. They do not think that this is how Christ would live.

            Why is this? Because what they proclaim (that they are a Christian), and how they live (in unchristian ways) do not match. In the book of James, chapter 2, we see this teaching as well. James says in 2:14, 17-18 “What good is it my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?…So faith by itself is dead if it has no works. But someone will well say, ‘I have faith and you have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.’”

            As Christians we are called to match our behavior with our words; our actions with our faith. We cannot just say we believe, and not have it affect our lives. If this is the case, then we are allowing the world to squeeze us into its mold, instead of allowing God to transform our lives. The Bible has much to say about behavior and lifestyle. When you know what the Bible says, then you can begin to put it into practice into your life. That is why sermons are so important. With my sermons I can challenge and encourage you in how you should live. That is why Bible study is so important. In Bible study we can understand what the scriptures are telling us to do all the more!

b.      Avoiding these behaviors- So let’s think about some of these behaviors

and see how saturating ourselves with the Bible can help us to be transformed into a new person.

EX, 1. Before I became a Christian I developed some bad behaviors. One of those was swearing. In high school it is easy to swear, because it seems to be the cool thing to do. But when I became a Christian, I knew that I needed to change my behavior. I knew that swearing was not consistent with how God would have me talk. The challenge was that because it was a part of my normal conversation when I was with my friends, I found it difficult to just stop. So I decided to memorize a scripture verse that had to do with speech. By memorizing this verse, and saying it often, I was saturating myself with the word of God.

I decided to memorize Ephesians 4:29, which says, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification, according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.” In other words, the words that come out of our mouths should be edifying to God and to those to whom we are speaking. The words we speak should be appropriate for the moment, and beneficial to the situation. Whenever I would start to swear, or even think about swearing, I would say this verse. In time I was broken of this practice!

            EX, 2. Another example could be that of someone who has a problem with drinking. This is a very difficult problem, and I don’t think that just quoting scripture could help an alcoholic completely stop, but it definitely will help them to transform their lives for the Lord! So maybe they memorize Ephesians 5:18, and saturate their minds with this verse.

            Ephesians 5:18 says, “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” If we desire to be transformed into the person God would have us to be, then we do not want to participate in acts of debauchery. So, by saying this verse over and over, by saturating yourself with the word of God, you are consistently reminded about what not to do: get drunk. You are also reminded of what you are called to do: be filled with the Spirit of God.

III.             Meditation Causes Saturation- (Matthew 10:16, Psalm 145:9, 149:4;

2 Corinthians 6:14, 7:10; Ephesians 4:26)

a.      What do you accept of the world?- This leads us to understand that

meditating on the word of God is the best way to bring the saturation of God’s word into our lives. If we are going to change the way we think, then we have to know what is right, and what is wrong. We have to know what God wants for us.

            Don’t be fooled, the world is constantly saturating us with what it wants us to believe, and do, and think. We are in the middle of a presidential race. Both candidates are spending a great deal of money on commercials, and on phone calls. Why? Because they believe that if they saturate people with their message, and their presence, then people will vote for them.

            So if we are saturated with the things of the world, we have to saturate ourselves with the word of God to combat the world. We accept things of the world without even realizing it. What do you accept of the world because the world has saturated you with it?

            Movies? Music? Language? Practices? When you decide to go and see a movie, does it bother you if there is bad language in it? Does it bother you if there is nudity in it? What causes you to say, “I will not go and see that movie, even though it got great reviews”?

            When you listen to music, what would cause you to not by an album: the lyrics aren’t Christian? Or maybe, the artist is not Christian? How do you determine what is okay and what is not?

            These questions are important for all the areas of life. The world would have us to believe that anything and everything is okay. But God would have us to be a little more discerning. That is why the Bible says be in the world, but not of it.

This is also why Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:16, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” The Bible helps us to be wise and shrewd. The Spirit of God helps to keep us innocent as doves by leading us away from the things of the world.

b.      Listening to God- When we look at the Bible, it tells us what is right,

and what is wrong. There is a book called The Bible Promise book, which gives you topics, and then scriptures that go with the topics. This book is really helpful to lead you to the verses you might need as you saturate yourself with God’s word!

Let’s say that you struggle with anger. You might look up Psalm 145:8, which says: “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.” Anger is not usually a useful emotion, so we, like the Lord, need to be slow in our anger; controlled in our anger. Or you might look up Ephesians 4:26, “In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” We need to make sure that we have control of our anger and can let it go!

            Another area where people struggle, is guilt. The world tries to make us live in guilt. The world wants to control us with guilt. But God doesn’t want us to go around feeling all guilty. God wants to remove our guilt through forgiveness. God wants to use our guilt to lead us to the cross so that we can then be made free through the blood of Jesus Christ. When we hold on to guilt too long we become sorrowful and depressed. We read in 2 Corinthians 7:10, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”

            I’ve been talking to my children lately about dating and marriage, and how it is important to marry a Christian. We read this in 2 Corinthians 6:14, which says: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness, and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”

            Let me give you one more example: that of pride. The world tells you to believe in yourself. The world tells you to get all you can get. The world tells you to be the best you can be. This all sounds good, but the focus is on me, me, me. God has a different model in mind. God wants us to be humble and to entrust ourselves to Him as our Lord. In the book of psalms it talks a lot about the humble. We are told that God will “save the humble” (Psalm 18:27), “guide the humble” (Psalm 25:9), and “crown the humble with salvation” (Psalm 149:4).

            I could go on and on, but I think you see how the Bible can help lead us to a transformed life for the Lord.

IV.              Biblical Saturation Pleases God- (2 Timothy 3:14-17)

Let me close by reading 2 Timothy 3:14-17, and then wrapping things up.

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of,

because you know those from whom you learned it, ¹⁵ and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

a.      Knowing what is true- We know that God is pleased with us when we

saturate ourselves in the Bible, because the Bible is what helps us to know what is true. The world does not believe in absolute truth. There is no one truth when it comes to those who do not have faith in God. But God believes in absolute truth. God, through the Bible, wants us to become convinced of what is true.

b.      Wrong exists in our lives- A second truth that 2 Timothy 3:14-17 tells

us, is that we all have wrong in our lives. When you become a Christian, you don’t become perfect, you are just forgiven of your wrongs! Because of this, we need to daily evaluate our lives and discover what wrongs, what sins, we have committed. This is why scripture is so valuable, because it helps us to see what is sin. Once we have recognized our sin, we can then take it to God and receive forgiveness for it.

            Many people like to try and ignore their sin, or deny their sin. This is neither helpful, nor fruitful. When you ignore your sin, it will lead you away from God. When you ignore your sin, you will allow it to control you. When you ignore your sin, you will fail to acknowledge your need for transformation. When you ignore your sin, you get to the place where you feel you don’t need a savior!

c.      The Bible corrects us- Lastly, we need to understand that the Bible is

there to correct us by helping us to see right from wrong. The Bible is the most powerful tool for correction, because it is the Word of God. It has been established by God to be the governing word in our lives. It is established by God to set forth all that is good, and right, and pure. The Word of God is “God-breathed” so that when we allow it to work in our lives, it will set us on the right path, and correct us when we stray! The Bible is there to equip us so that we will be prepared to live in this world for the Lord, and to avoid the temptations of the world.

Conclusion: We who name Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord find that we must reject the ‘lordship’ of this world. We do that by turning our attention to God’s word, and away from the teaching of the world. We do that by having the courage to say “no” to this world, and “yes” to God. This doesn’t mean that we withdraw from the world and go and live in a convent. But it does mean that we become counter-cultural people. What I mean by this is that we take our lead from the Bible and what the Bible teaches us. We take seriously knowing and following what the Bible says. We make the commitment to read the Bible daily and go to church weekly, and attend Bible study so that we can saturate ourselves in God’s word. If we will do this, then we will be transformed people, who are truly children of God. Amen.