The Most Memorized Verse and All the Others (2010-01-05).pdf

David Mathis
Bethlehem Baptist Church
January 6, 2010

The Most Memorized Verse and All the Others

2010 Fighter Verse Kick-Off Theme: 'God’s Word for All of Life'

What do you think is the most memorized verse in all the Bible? My guess would be that it’s John 3:16. If you agree, why do you think so? I think it’s because John 3:16 tells the gospel in one sentence. Like Romans 6:23. Like Romans 8:1. Like 1 Timothy 1:15.

It starts with God. Then sin is implied with the mention of “the world”—because by “world” Jesus means the fallen, sinful world, fallen because of our sin. Then into that context, we hear about God’s love, and the demonstration of that love in the coming of Jesus and Jesus dying for us.  Romans 5:8 is Paul’s version of John 3:16. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The Whole Bible in One Sentence

So God, sin, Christ, and then there’s “faith” or “belief”—“whosoever believes in him.” And finally, eternal life, which Jesus says in his prayer in John 17:3 is “knowing you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” You could say that John 3:16 captures the message of the whole Bible in one sentence.

What I’d like to do in the next few minutes is take a quick look at the four parts of John 3:16 and apply them to the kind of Scripture memory we do at Bethlehem in the Fighter Verse program. So here are the four parts: 1) God so loved the world, 2) that he gave his only Son, 3) that whosoever believes in him, and 4) should not perish but have eternal life.

1) God So Loved the World

John 3:16 starts with God, and so should our approach to the Fighter Verses. It is his word that we memorize, and it is his gospel that we believe in. And he is the one who ultimately provides the strength in which we do our memorizing and our fighting for faith in the gospel.

Because of the truth of John 3:16, God is for us. He’s already on our side. We don’t memorize Scripture to win God on our side. We don’t fight sin to win God on our side. He is already for us. We memorize, and we fight against sin and for faith in the gospel, because he has already won us. We don’t win him. He won us.

And John 3:16 talks about God’s love. “God so loved the world.” And for the Christian, we are not merely recipients of God’s general love for the world, but we are specific recipients of God’s love in the sending of Jesus. We memorize as specific recipients of his love. And God has such a special love for his children that he cares about all of their lives. Our theme for tonight is “God’s Word for All of Life.” God loves us enough to care about our struggles with anxiety. He loves us enough to help us conquer our fears. He loves us enough to not leave us to ourselves in our lust. God cares about all of life and wants us to apply his gospel to our lives indiscriminately.

2) That He Gave His Only Son

In what way did he give his only Son? He gave him over to death. Romans 3:25 says that God “put [his Son] forward as a propitiation [a wrath absorber] in his blood, to be received by faith.” God gave his Son over to die on behalf of our sins. So Paul says in Romans 8:3 says that “God has done what the law . . . could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.”

And notice that it says “his only Son.” You hear in that how valuable the Son is, and how infinitely valuable is God’s own glory that he vindicated in saving us sinners through Jesus.

It All Relates to Jesus

And who is this “Son of God”? Jesus. All our Scripture memory relates to Jesus. All the promises that we memorize and trust in the Fighter Verse program are about Jesus. Does anyone know what 2 Corinthians 1:20 says? “All the promises of God find their Yes in [Jesus]”!

This is what it means for our Scripture memory to be Christian. It’s Jesus-centered. It’s Jesus-focused. It’s Jesus-empowered. It’s Jesus-conscious—Jesus the eternal Son of God who took on our human flesh and became “one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus himself battled unbelief. And so Hebrews 2:18 says, “Because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

The Sermon on the Mount in 2010

This year we have the Sermon the Mount ahead of us. That’s our Scripture memory project for 2010. How does this relate to Jesus? Here are just a few ways:

• Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. The words we memorize are his words.
• Jesus faced every temptation (and conquered it) that the Sermon on the Mount teaches about: anxiety, hatred, lust, greed, pride.
• Jesus died so that we could live the Sermon on the Mount. He does mean for us to live it, not merely be discouraged by it and run to the cross. Yes, that is an important side of the Sermon on the Mount for sinners. The bar is too high for us to accomplish in our strength, and the bar is definitely too high for us to win acceptance with God through it. But once we’re been accepted by God on the basis of Jesus’ righteousness alone, not ours, Jesus means for us, by faith in him and his gospel, and by the help of the Holy Spirit, to make real progress, and to learn to live the life pictured in the Sermon on the Mount more and more.

So for those of us who deeply believe John 3:16 and build our lives on John 3:16—not just our conversion, but our everyday lives!—the Sermon on the Mount is a glorious passage to memorize. The words of our Savior, who died to forgive our sins and make us right with him, given to us as a gift to help us by his Spirit live more and more the kind of life he died so that we might live, the kind of life that makes us happier than any other kind. Scripture memory is about our joy.

3) That Whosoever Believes in Him

Believes. Not whosoever memorizes Scripture. Not whosoever fights against their sin. But whosoever believes. The reason we call these “Fighter Verses” is because we are fighting against sin and we are fighting for faith. We’re fighting for faith in the gospel, because faith in the gospel is what will produce the fruit of obedience in our lives. And we fight against sin because sin will destroy the joy we have in the God of the gospel. It is faith in the gospel produces purity. Faith in the gospel produces humility. Faith in the gospel produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

But we don’t only battle for faith, but we also battle from faith. At bottom, it’s not our willpower that energizes the Scripture memory enterprise.  It is the new heart produced God’s giving of his only Son for us. When the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see the love of God in the gift of his Son for us, our hearts are changed. We become the kind of people who want to fight for our faith in the gospel from our faith in the gospel. “I believe; help my unbelief.”

So what we battle against is unbelief, and what we battle for is faith in the gospel, and what we battle from is faith in the gospel.

4) Should Not Perish but Have Everlasting Life

Death and life are at stake. The unbelief in our hearts that is exposed by the sins of anxiety and lust and hatred and boasting are deadly. And so what we hope to do with these Fighter Verses is become aware of the sin in our lives, and become increasingly aware that our sin comes from unbelief in our hearts, and when sin rears its head, we strike with the daggers of these verses right at the heart of sin: unbelief in the gospel.

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whosoever believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Everlasting life. This is the life that begins right now in the new birth and goes on into eternity in the presence of God, who is our Great Treasure. As Jesus said in John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Knowing the one true God, and his Son Jesus, this is why we memorize Scripture.

A Concluding Challenge

So let me conclude with this challenge. This is an echo of Pastor John’s sermon this past weekend. It’s taking what he said about prayer and applying it here to memorizing Scripture. And know that with both of these categories, I’m talking first and foremost talking to myself. In the irrationality and inconsistency of my sin, I can be on either side. You may feel the same way.

To the disciplined types. To the best of our memorizers. You are right that memorizing God’s word is of infinite value. You are right that you likely will be a happier person for memorizing God’s word. You are right that memorizing God’s word is a new desire of the born-again heart.

But beware the dangers of your discipline. The Jews in John 5 had memorized tons more Scripture than anyone in this room, and Jesus utter to them these heartbreaking words in John 5:39–40, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” Let’s not be among their number. Let’s not think that we can win acceptance with God through memorizing Scripture. May Scripture memory never lead us to miss Jesus.

And to the spontaneous types. To the worst of our memorizers. (You may be able to pray well without discipline, but it is very hard to recite Scripture from memory without discipline!). You are right that memorizing Scripture does not increase your righteousness, and not memorizing does not decrease your righteousness, but as John Bunyan said, your righteousness is “Jesus Christ himself, ‘The same yesterday, today, and forever.’” You are right that Scripture memory can become legalistic. You are right that it can fuel our pride.

But beware the dangers of your spontaneity. If you don’t memorize Scripture, you will not have it with you for all of life. There will be times when the battle will come upon you, and you’ll be without the right sword. Because we are accepted by God on basis of Jesus’ righteousness, we are free to enjoy memorizing Scripture. Ultimately nobody’s got a gun to our heads. This is a gift. This is for our joy.

No Better Time Than Now

So I think this is great time to get on board. There is no better time to start than to memorize the Sermon on the Mount with your church. Let’s do this together because Jesus has changed our hearts. Let’s do this together for our joy.

It is oh so joyful, and God is oh so magnified, when we are freed by gospel-powered Scripture memory to apply God’s word to all of life.