Sermon Tone Analysis

Memorization

Memorization

Committing the Word of God to memory helps us in many ways.

Knowing God’s Word by heart means that we can think on it anywhere we go.

All the benefits of the Bible, and ultimately knowing God Himself, are at the forefront of our minds.

Before we get into memorization, let's lay a foundation for God's desire for us to memorize his word:

Commands for obedience:

- God wants obedience to please him.

Not innovation.

Simple obedience.

So he desires for us to obey him.

Let's look at some key passages that through obedience, may lead us to memorization:

So what does it mean for Jesus' wordS to abide, dwell, live in us?

It at it's most basic level means that we can remember them.

More than that, it means that his words captivate our thoughts.

Our lives.

I don't see another way to have the word of Christ dwell in us apart from memorization

Here are some OT verses about meditation.

Now we have copies of the Bible in front of us.

So we can meditate by reading.

And we'll talk more about that next week.

But what about during the time these verses were written?

Very few had copies of books of the Bible.

So how could they obey these verses if it weren't for memorization:

Passages on storing up God's commands within us:

- benefit of memorization - holiness!

- how can the father do this if he doesn't have it memorized?

- we read this last week.

But let's take another look towards the end.

Not forgetting...equals remembering...equals memorization.

So couple all of these exhortations to memorize Scripture with the clear call of Scripture for us to be obedient to Scripture and what do we have?

We have a clear call to memorize Scripture.

Biblical Examples

Peter's Sermon

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2. -

Did he have time to prepare?

No.

He heard something contrary to Scripture and he stood and spoke.

Maybe he had a copy of Joel on him, maybe he had the Psalms on him, but he still knew the text well enough to go there.

How about Stephen's sermon in ?

He was a man full of Spirit and wisdom.

Full of grace and power.

Some people presented false witness about him so that he would be seized and brought before the Sanhedrin.

A Jewish council.

A religious council.

The High Priest asked if the charges laid out against him were true.

He responded with a sermon.

In the sermon, he quotes from the Old Testament at least 10 times:

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2. -

3. -

4. - ,

5. - , ,

6. -

7. -

8. - ,

9. -

10. -

Were all of those text memorized?

Maybe.

Did he look each one of them up?

Maybe.

But do you think there, in the heat of the moment, he pulled out some concordances, a bible dictionary, an encyclopedia, a commentary in order to locate these verses that would best be used in a situation like this? No. Familiarity with the word will help you in any number of given circumstances.

Memorization will help you do just that.

Benefits

Scripture itself tells us of many of the benefits of memorizing God’s word.

Let’s look at a few.

Benefit 1: Victory over sin

Sanctification through hating sin and being determined to fight vigorously against it.

How?

With the Scriptures.

(read together)

We need our worldview transformed right?

From secular to heavenly.

We need our worldview transformed right?

From secular to heavenly.

Our minds need to be renewed.

And this happens through a saturation of the word of God running through our hearts and minds on a continual basis.

Another help with sin would be that we are occupying our minds with heavenly things.

Let's read

Another help with sin would be that we are occupying our minds with heavenly things.

Let's read

Benefit 2: Victory over Satan

Satan is real.

As says, he prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking those whom he may devour.

We are called to be like Jesus, so what did he use to defeat the devil?

Lightning?

Cosmic firearms?

No, Jesus defeated Satan with scripture.

We spoke of last week, when Jesus told the devil, “It is written, man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Satan cannot stand against the truths of scripture.

As we just read, God's word dwelled in Him richly.

3 times Jesus combated Satan with Scripture:

vs 4 - It is written

vs 7 - It is written

vs 10 - It is written

Now here's something interesting.

Remember what we talked about for the past 2 weeks?

The importance of studying the Word of God.

We want to understand it, to know it, to handle it correctly, so that we can faithfully interpret it and apply it to our lives.

Well let's look at a key tactic Satan uses to deceive and destroy people:

Let's read

Satan is quoting Scripture!

He uses it against us!

Is he well-versed the the Scriptures?

I believe he is.

He knows the truth of the Scriptures.

He knows who Jesus is.

Even the evil spirits in say "Jesus I know...".

Satan is wise and cunning.

Prowling around like a roaring lion.

He will probably not show up as horned man with a tail and a pitchfork.