Responsibility to God’s Word

Transcript

GRM 999
2/24/2008
Responsibility to God's Word
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh


One of my concerns as I was drawn to what we're going to do today was stimulated by some books I had read by men who were professors in evangelical schools, and as I would evaluate their writings, they have turned from a commitment to the full sufficiency of scripture. And part of this was motivated by a dryness in their own experience and walk with the Lord. So in times of trial and crises they determined that the Word of God was not sufficient, was not adequate, could not meet their needs at the time. To that I began to reflect again on what is to take place in our lives with the Word of God. And I'm just going to overview the matters that are involved in the ministry of God's Word—the character of God's Word itself, and then we're going to talk about the responsibilities of those who minister God's Word. That would include individuals like myself as a preacher of the Word, teachers we have, and our responsibility corporately as the church entrusted with the Word of God. Then I want to focus attention on the responsibility we have as those who hear the Word. You know it's a great privilege, but it's a great danger in our regular, continual exposure to God's Word. If we're not careful, we may find ourselves developing a callousness and hardness to the truth. And then we'll conclude by making a couple of comments about the ministry of the Holy Spirit, which brings the power to accomplish the work of God with the Word of God.

There are a number of passages we're going to look at, and I've grouped some of these and limited some to just one area of the Word so that we can limit having to run too far through scripture. So come to Psalm 119. The foundational matter we have to come to grips with to understand and be committed to is that the Bible is God's Word, it's truth, and it is settled, it is eternal truth, it is unchanging truth. It's the same truth that God gave thousands of years ago to His servants in the Old Testament, and then the New Testament. It's the truth that has been proclaimed down through the history of the church. It's the truth today. Needs no alterations, no change, no additions, no subtractions. Part of the writings I referred to, by men that are in what we call evangelical seminaries, seminaries that in my lifetime stood for the absolute sufficiency of the Word of God in every area, are now saying we need something more, something else in addition to the Word. But we find that the Bible says it is truth, it is the only settled truth that we have. I do not accept the statement, all truth is God's truth. That is set up to delude us and lead us astray. The only sure truth we have is the truth of the Word of God. It's the only truth that brings salvation, it's the only truth that brings sanctification.

Pick up with verse 142. As you are aware, Psalm 119 is about the Word of God. And just about every verse is addressed to God, and the psalmist keeps talking about the Word of God. It is broken down into 22 sections, built around each letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and you have them in your Bibles at the head of each of the eight verses, and each of those verses begins with that letter of the Hebrew alphabet in that section. That way the psalmist has organized it would have made it much easier for Hebrews to memorize and learn this portion of the Word, this method used. But we want to look at some of the verses. Psalm 119:142, your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is truth. Now that statement, your law is truth, and that's in the context of God's righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. We'll come back to this verse in a moment. Look at verse 151, you are near, oh Lord, and all your commandments are truth. Of old I have known from your testimonies, that you have founded them forever. Interesting study for you that we don't have time to go on a sidetrack with, would be just to go through Psalm 119 and mark or write down the different words that the psalmist uses in referring to the Word of God. Like we've seen here, your law, because the Word of God that he had to this point basically, was the law of Moses, the first five books of our Bible. Here he calls it your testimonies in verse 152. All your commandments are truth, and you've founded them forever. You see, it's eternal truth. It is forever truth.

Down in verse 160, the sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous ordinances is everlasting. Every one of them. Now note that connection. The sum of your word is truth, every one of your righteous ordinances is everlasting. Back to verse 142, your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, your law is truth. You see God's Word partakes of His character. Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. The character of God is unchanging, He is the righteous God. Always has been, always will. And His Word is truth.

You come down to verse 160, the sum of your Word is truth, and every one of your righteous ordinances. Because the God who is righteous and has everlasting righteousness, when He speaks, His word is out of His character. So the righteous God speaks righteous truth, righteous words. Every one of your righteous ordinances, another word used. We've had the law, the testimonies, the ordinances referring to the Word of God. They are everlasting, they are righteous, they partake of the God who has given them. They are true.

Back up to verse 89, forever oh Lord, your Word is settled in heaven. It is God's Word, it partakes of His character. And the everlasting God has given His Word, it is everlasting, it is truth. So I don't have to wonder, well times change, this is a different day, the writers had a different understanding, it wouldn't be applicable, it.......... Well, I have to be sure that I am interpreting it correctly, understanding it as God gave it, in the context that He gave it. But you understand, it is His Word exactly as He gave it, it is truth today as it was then. And the character of God stands behind it.

Turn over to Isaiah 40. We'll read a section that will be picked up by Peter later in the New Testament. We'll pick up with verse 6, a voice says, call out. Then he answered, what shall I call out? All flesh is grass, all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever. People come and go, God's Word stands forever settled in heaven. It stands forever. The glory of man comes and goes, the Word of God stands true. Think about it, think about the impact of the Word of God. It endures down through time. Why? It will endure down through eternity because it is the word of the eternal God.

Come over to the New Testament, Matthew 5. We're talking about this Word as truth, we're talking about this Word as enduring, eternal. And Jesus addressed this matter in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:18, for truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished. Everything God has said must come to pass. Some of the things He has prophesied have already occurred, some have yet to take place. God has given a settled, sure Word. It says not the smallest, most minor marking, every detail. We don't just have a Bible that we get the gist of it. You understand, every letter in it, the smallest letter, it's important. It has the place in the work and Word of God.

Matthew 24, Jesus said it very clearly, heaven and earth will pass away, verse 35, but My words will not pass away. You cannot escape the Word of God, you can't outlast it. Man thinks that in the future things will be different. The Word of God will be the Word of God in 100 million years, because God will be God, and His Word is forever settled in heaven. We have truth. What a precious treasure to have the Word of the eternal God, and we have it right in our hands. The writers of the scripture and the people who heard them, they didn't each have a copy. They had to go and hear somebody read a copy. We all bring it, you probably have multiple copies lying around your house. We fail to appreciate what a great treasure.

We have to jump back to I Peter before we move on to another section. Here is where Peter quotes from the passage we read in Isaiah 40:6-8. I Peter 1:23, for you have been born again, not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable. We talk about perishable and imperishable, and corruptible and incorruptible in the context of our physical bodies in our study of I Corinthians 15. You understand, the Word of God is entrusted to us in the physical realm, but it does not partake of the corruptible character of this physical realm. And as this physical realm passes off the scene, we have a new heavens and a new earth. And in Revelation 21, the word of our God will go on. But we are born again by this seed, the Word of God, the living and enduring Word of God. Then he contrasts it. All flesh is like grass, all is glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, the flower falls off, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. And then that great statement, and this is the Word that was preached to you. That's the word that Peter preached, that's the word that people heard and were saved.

Go back and read Peter's sermon in Acts 2. He preached the Word of God to them, it's the Word that we are entrusted with today, that we preach. Nothing has changed. If Paul would come and visit this service, if Peter would come, if Moses would come, if Isaiah would come, they should be able to sit down and say, that's exactly the word we preached, that's exactly what we said. Nothing has changed, because Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. The eternal God. They have revealed themselves in His Word.

I Peter 2:2, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the Word, that you might grow with respect to your salvation. You'll note, we were born again, in verse 23, through the living and enduring Word of God. If people are going to get saved, they have to hear the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ, Romans 10. And then once we have heard and believed the Word and been born again by the seed which is not perishable but imperishable, we continue to grow and develop in the character of Christ, through the continued ministry of the pure, unadulterated truth of God's Word. That's why it is so crucial that we understand that this is God's means of salvation, this is God's means of growth and maturing for us. One of the most effective attacks of the devil is to try to add things to the Word of God.

One of the men that I referred to, his writings, and I referred to it at the retreat yesterday with the men. The man who starts out his book saying that he is a firm defender of the inerrancy of scripture, he has defended it, he has written supporting it, he believes the scripture is God's Word without error. You know what that does? That disarms you because you say then that he is an ally, because I, too, believe the Word of God is inerrant, without error. But he and I part ways. He believes the Word of God is without error, but He does not believe it alone is sufficient and complete to accomplish God's work in your life and in the church today. We need additional matters, additional revelation, input from experiences. We find truth about angels and demons from sources outside the Bible. Now you see what the devil has done is say, let's join together because we both agree on the inerrancy of scripture. But we do not agree that the scripture is sufficient for the accomplishing of God's work. That is a major parting of the ways. Now you want to wed something else to the Word of God as an authority, and now I will no longer have, in verse 2, the pure or unadulterated milk of the Word. And what you've done is brought the antidote to the Word, and you nullify its effectiveness to accomplish God's work. The devil is brilliant. Let them have the Bible, let them have an inerrant Bible. We just will nullify its power and effectiveness. Oh, the devil can't do that. Yes he can. Paul told the Galatians, anyone who adds anything to the gospel is cursed to hell because they have corrupted the truth.

All right, that's the Word we have that is the unchanging Word. This is where we have to begin. If we're not in agreement on this, we cannot walk together, we're not walking the same road. This is God's Word. That's just not a nice statement, that means that it's the focal point. God has spoken. I don't care what you have to say, you don't care what I have to say. The only thing that matters is what does God say. That's our beginning point.

Next thing, those who are entrusted with the Word, their responsibilities. I would say that applies to me, that applies to every teacher in this congregation, it applies to us as a church, because the church is the pillar and support of the truth in I Timothy 3:15. So it's just not a responsibility I need to be aware of as one who is called to preach the truth, but you have to be aware and committed to it as a member of the body of Christ, the church of Jesus Christ because you are part of being a pillar and support of the truth.

Come back to Jeremiah 1. Here you have the call of Jeremiah to be a prophet, and in this call God tells Jeremiah what his responsibility will be. As God tells Jeremiah, I have set you apart to be a prophet to the nations, Jeremiah says, no, Lord. I don't know how to speak, I'm too young. Isn't it interesting how we think we have to inform God? The omniscient God failed to consider, when He was going to call Jeremiah, that he didn't know how to speak and he was too young. So Jeremiah reminds the Lord. The Lord tells Jeremiah, don't tell me you are a youth, because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak. This isn't all about you, Jeremiah, it's all about Me. And any young inexperienced speaker can do what you have to do. You simply have to take the Word I give you and go tell it. I'll tell you where to go with my message, and you go there and tell them. All that I command you, you speak. Well, that's pretty simple. Here it is, everything I command you, you speak.

Verse 9, the Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, the Lord said to me, I have put My word in your mouth. That's the responsibility. My word in your mouth. You are now entrusted with My word. All that I command you, you speak. We won't take the time to go back to Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32, where God very clearly speaks through Moses and says, you do not add anything to My word, you don't take anything away. You don't add anything to My word, you don't take anything away. Nothing has changed in the thousand years almost, between Moses and Jeremiah. Do you know what God has to say to Jeremiah? All that I command you, you speak. I've put My words in your mouth. Not interested in you having your words to speak, you speak My word.

Look over in Ezekiel 2, a passage I take you to often, I've referred to often. I use it often when I have opportunity to or with other pastors, often younger men going through difficult times in their ministry. It's a reminder, it's a reminder to us. I'm not a prophet, we are not prophets, but we have the same kind of responsibility with the Word of God. To understand the church, that we are the pillar and support of the truth, understand that there is a similarity in our ministry as a church to Ezekiel's ministry, to Jeremiah's ministry, because the Word of God has been entrusted to us. We have a responsibility with it. God calls the prophet in Ezekiel 2 and God says to Ezekiel, son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you. Then He said to me, son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me. They and their fathers have transgressed against Me this day. I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children. You shall say to them, here is what I think. You shall say to them, thus says the Lord. As for them, whether they listen or not, for they are a rebellious house, they will know that a prophet has been among them. You, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words. Though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions, neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence. They are a rebellious house. But you shall speak My words to them, whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.

You see the clarity here—whether they listen or not. In fact, in a moment we'll read in chapter 3, they won't listen. That's not Ezekiel's problem. Ezekiel's responsibility is give the Word of God. If Ezekiel starts thinking, this isn't going to work, if he tries it and it doesn't work then there is no sense in my giving out a message that nobody listens to. There is no sense in my trying to talk to people who listen to me or come hear me. So I think with some minor changes, we could get people drawn in and ......... Do you think that would sound all right for Ezekiel? Ezekiel couldn't do that, God has just given him a commission. Yet the church as the pillar and support of the truth, I can't tell you how much material I get a chance to read saying, people today won't come to hear the Bible taught. This is not a day where you can do Bible exposition and people will come. We live in a different day, our culture is not oriented to that. We live in a television generation. People are visually oriented. They don't come to hear the Word of God, they won't come to sit for Bible teaching. And those who are going to try to do that are going to end up talking to themselves. And, let's face it, if our churches are going to reach the world, we're going to have to do something that they'll want to listen to. And pretty soon we're thinking, well, they probably have a point. We have to reach the world, and if the world won't come hear Bible teaching, we must make some changes and adjustments. And pretty soon we think we've validated why we don't have to give forth the Word of God whether they listen or not. We're the exceptional generation, we only give forth the Word of God if they want to listen. And if they don't want to listen, we give forth something else. We won't deny the Word of God, we just turn our ministry from being a ministry of the Word of God. Like if Ezekiel had gone and said, I believe every word of the Word of God, I just don't believe it's effective for my generation. It wasn't. You understand that, it wasn't. Before Ezekiel ever got a change to begin his ministry, God told him, humanly speaking, you will be a failure because they won't listen to you.

I don't whether I would have had to be dragged to Lincoln by my heels if I had gotten that message before I came. You're going out there to the middle of the desert, in that forlorn place. I had to go get a map and find out where Nebraska was. I had insurance on my car one time, I never forgot it. My insurance man said, we write about every place but Nebraska and one or two states. I said, that won't matter, I'm never going to be out there. Then I find out, here I am. But lo and behold if God had said, you're going out there, I think they've started to move into houses. But nobody is going to listen to you. And you go out there and preach everything that you have been blessed to be taught and learn, but they are rebellious, they won't pay any attention. Nobody will respond. I'd think, why would I go, Lord? I mean, that's a waste of my time, it's a waste of your resources. Send me some place where ............... All of a sudden now, I'm worried about what is not my responsibility. You know I have my hands occupied with just my responsibility. We as the church have the responsibility, we're the pillar and support of the truth. Yes, but people don't want to hear the truth. Now what does that have to do with us? We're the pillar and support of the truth, right? Yes, but if people won't come and hear the truth, pretty soon we'll be empty. All right, what's our responsibility?

How many times do you have the conversation with your kids when they're young and they keep bringing this up and you keep coming back to this. What did I tell you? Yes, but you don't understand, my friends were all ........... Stop. What did I tell you? Yes, but I thought it would be ......... Stop. What did I tell you? I wonder, what do the angels think, what did God tell them. And we're down here, yes, but .......... So here is the responsibility of those entrusted with the truth, whether it's an individual like now today, my speaking to you the Word of God, the teachers who have taught classes, Bible study teachers, whatever. Our responsibility corporately as a church, here is what we are about, here is our reason to exist. We are a pillar and support of the truth. When people walk through the door they will get the truth. It will be God's Word. You can be sure, if you go to their Sunday School classes, you go to their services, you go to their Bible studies, it will be about truth. Well, I don't think I want that. Well, you wouldn't want to go there, because that's what you get there.

Come to the New Testament, II Timothy. This was true for the prophets in the Old Testament. Nothing changes. Just like the Word of God doesn't change, the responsibility of those entrusted to give forth the Word of God doesn't change. So II Timothy 1. This is Paul's last letter, he's awaiting his impending execution. He'll say in chapter 4 that the process that will culminate in my death is already underway, I'm already being poured out, the process has begun. He is, if you will, passing the truth on to Timothy. He has taught Timothy, now the responsibility will become Timothy's, along with others. In verse 6 he reminds Timothy to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you. You get the idea that Timothy had maybe cooled off a little bit, as we often have a tendency to do with the passing of time. He tells Timothy, God has not given us a spirit of timidity. Perhaps Timothy had pulled back because here is his mentor, the man he held in such high esteem, the man through whom he had seen God work, God speak. And now he is in prison, waiting execution. Maybe it's a time to lay low for a while. He's just afraid. God doesn't give a spirit of cowardice, but a spirit of timidity.

Paul says in verse 8, join with me in suffering for the gospel. Don't be ashamed, join with me in suffering. Come down to verse 13, retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me. Guard through the Holy Spirit which dwells in us the treasure which has been entrusted to you. See the attitude of Paul toward the Word of God? Here is the greatest treasure. Paul didn't have material things to pass on to his son in the faith, Timothy, but you have a treasure entrusted to you. That which is of great value, it's precious. Guard it, retain it. I want you to know, all that are in Asia have abandoned me. We think, Timothy doesn't need to hear that, he's already shrinking back. I'm calling you to join with me in suffering for the gospel, not joining a party.
Come down to chapter 2 verse 2, the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, be strong, verse 1. I mean, this is the call. You see nothing has changed. The treasure of God's Word is entrusted to you, you hold on to it, you guard it, you teach it and you do it boldly, and you don't be ashamed. Timothy, I've ended up in prison, I'm going to be executed, my life has been a hard life, going from prison to prison, beating to beating, chased out of town. I'm sure you will be more effective in reaching your generation than I was in reaching mine. Learn some lessons from me, Timothy. There are better ways to reach a generation than just hitting them in the face with the Word of God. Not at all. He says, Timothy, step up. Your life will be no different than mine. You join with me in suffering for the gospel. Not to do it would mean you are ashamed of the gospel. And that timidness doesn't come from the Spirit of God, because God doesn't give a spirit of timidity. You know, we hide behind, I was reluctant to do it, I didn't think that probably God wanted me to do it. Remember that verse, God doesn't give the spirit of timidity, He never causes us to be ashamed or embarrassed or afraid to step forward with the gospel of Jesus Christ, the truth of His Word. And then Timothy is to continue the process. You entrust this to faithful men who will pass it on. That's all it is, it's a pass on, pass on, pass on. Next generation, next generation. We're not preparing the next generation in this church for anything other than the present generation and the preceding generation we've had. Passing on the Word of God.

Well what about if our culture, our society doesn't want it? They're going to get it anyway. We preach the Word in season and out of season, when it's popular, when it's not, when people want it, when they don't. That's the responsibility entrusted to the church as the pillar and support of the truth and every teacher in the church, our corporate responsibility.

The hearers of the Word of God. Now here is an area of great responsibility, impacts every one of us. There is no more important area than how we hear the Word of God. Go to Matthew 13. You know a failure to appreciate this causes great confusion. I have to remember it. Bottom line is, I am not responsible for how you respond to the Word of God. I am responsible for how faithfully, clearly and purely I have presented to you the Word of God. You are not responsible for the response of those you present the Word of God to, you are responsible to have accurately, correctly, in love presented the Word of God. Matthew 13 you have the parable of the soils. And Jesus is speaking in parables in chapter 13, began a new way of addressing the people because there has been a change. Chapter 12 closes the opportunity to Israel in the gospel of Matthew. Now Christ begins to speak in parables, not to reveal truth, to hide truth. The disciples ask Him, why are you now talking in parables? He says, because they are not going to know the truth. It's to hide the truth from them.

Verse 13, I speak to them in parables because while seeing they do not see, while hearing they do not understand. They don't hear, they don't understand. Then He goes on, He tells the parable of the soils. He spoke to them many things in parables, verse 3. The sower went out to sow, later on He identifies the sower as Himself, the Son of Man. He sowed some seed and it fell by the road. The birds came up and ate them. Others fell on rocky places, they didn't have much soil. Immediately they sprang up, they had no depth of soil. When the sun had risen, they were scorched because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns, the thorns came up and choked them. Others fell on good soil and yielded a crop, 100, 60, 30-fold. The disciples don't have any idea what He's talking about, even His own disciples, let alone the unbelievers.

So when they have a chance they ask Him and down in verse 18, He interprets the parable for them. Hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the Word of the kingdom and doesn't understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. That's the one in whom the seed was sown by the road. So there you have a hard heart, it's his heart. The seed has fallen on his heart, it's been sown in his heart, verse 18. But it's like a road, it's beat down, the seed doesn't penetrate into the heart. You know what? It just doesn't lie there for weeks and months. The devil comes and snatches it away. That's why you have to respond to the Word of God immediately, now. You say, well, I'll see. No you won't see because the devil isn't a passive observer, he is an active participant. He's doing all he can to turn you away from truth. So the Word of God falls there, it lies there, the devil comes and snatches it away. And you know what it's like, you talk to people about the Word, you've shared the Word. You talk to them a little bit later it's like they never heard anything, it was nothing. What happened to the Word? It's gone, didn't penetrate.

The next one, the one in whom the seed was sown in rocky places, this is the man who hears the Word and immediately receives it with joy. But he has no root in himself, it's only temporary. When affliction or persecution arises because of the Word, immediately he ..................... Oh, that's what I need, oh, yes, I want the Lord. That's just what I've been wanting to hear. Time goes by, family gets upset with the decision he's made to turn to the Lord, whatever. Pretty soon he is gone. The Word never penetrated down into the heart, it just lay under the surface, nothing really happened, there is no fruit produced.

The third kind of heart, the one whose seed was sown among the thorns. This is the man who hears the world and the worry of the world, the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. You cannot add the Word of God to the clutter of your life, you cannot add Jesus Christ to the baggage of your life. Jesus said he who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. He who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. You have to take up your cross and follow Me. Period. That's it. It's all or nothing, there is no bartering, there is no bargaining. It's all or nothing. People hear the Word of God and say, that's what I need. I think that's part of the answer for me. But you know what? You add it to all the other clutter of life and pretty soon the Word of God is choked out. It produces nothing.

All those three kinds of hearts are unfruitful. Now I want you to note something. Jesus Christ is the sower in the initial action here. The Word of God is what is sown. There is nothing wrong with the One doing the sowing, there is nothing wrong with the seed being sown. But nothing of value and lasting significance has happened. Why? Because the people who heard did not respond with the right heart. Jesus doesn't say, the sower ought to have done a better job of getting his hearers ready. Jesus didn't fail in anything, there was nothing wrong with the sower. Well, he should have used a better seed or something .............. No, the problem was the heart. I am not responsible for how people respond to what I preach. I am responsible whether I preach the pure Word of God, but I will not give an account for how they responded. I cannot make a person believe the truth, I cannot make a person take the truth into their heart and submit to it. I can only present the truth. That's all you can do. The responsibility is on the hearer.

There there are those who hear the Word, verse 23, the one on whom seed was sown, and this is the only true believer. And it was sown on good soil. He hears it, he understands it, he brings forth fruit. Now not everybody produces fruit to the same degree, some 100-fold, some 60-fold, some 30-fold. For those who truly believed, there is ongoing impact.

Let me say something to remind you. We have to be careful. I think this has happened with some of the men I've referred to, they are professors in evangelical schools. But you get oriented and you hear the Word, you're in the Word, you deal with the Word, which old-time writers often referred to as trafficing in the Word. We come to a Bible teaching church, we go to Bible class, we come to a service, then we go to a home study, then we go to another study. And pretty soon it seems like I just get familiar with it. Sometimes I'm sitting listening to a teacher in a class and my mind is elsewhere, I have other things on my mind. The dangerous thing because you develop habits. It is a dangerous thing to sit under the ministry of the Word of God and not respond to that truth, because you develop a callousness, a hardness. And pretty soon it seems like the Word of God just doesn't seem to be alive, nothing is happening. And so we think there is something wrong with this church, there is something wrong with my teacher, there is something wrong with others. Tell me why. We have developed a pattern of hearing the truth, even studying the truth, but not taking that truth into our hearts and having it transform us.

I'm always concerned when I'm going to preach a passage. Lord, have I considered what impact this has on me. Is this passage alive and rich to me? Do I think this truth is more precious than anything to me? Otherwise I get into a pattern, I can work through and get the facts of this passage together and pass them on to you pretty accurately. But pretty soon it becomes cold and it's just an activity. I think this has happened as I read some of the writings of these men who have been professors for years, and pretty soon they say, the Word of God wasn't sufficient because it didn't meet my needs. Instead of going back and saying, Lord, forgive me for having a calloused heart to the precious truth. We begin to think, the Bible is good and important, but it's not enough. Now I'm really in trouble. You have to be careful you hear the Word of God. You hear the Word of God and pretty soon we're thinking, I think I get enough of the Word. How can I get enough of God? The infinite God? I get enough of Him, I know enough about Him. I do? It's like growing out of love with my wife. I mean, I know her much better than I did when we started dating but now I think, I have enough of her. I'm not going to ask if she has ever said that about me. But it shouldn't be that way in a healthy relationship, should it. I mean, I want to spend more time with her. I enjoy doing things with her most of anyone. How do we grow out of love with Christ? Well, I just think I get enough of the Bible. Well, how do you learn about Him? How do you fellowship with Him? We have to take in the Word of God and feed on it, eat it. Do you know what Ezekiel had to do before he went and preached in Ezekiel 3? He had to take the Word of God and eat it, and it was sweet like honey in his mouth. And he assimilated it. Then God said, now you go tell them.

There have been times I've been working on a passage and I get all done and think I have it all together, and it's just not alive for me. And some of those are the times I have to say, Lord, where should I be in the Word today with you and with the congregation. I'm not going to get up and preach that passage because ......... What do I say? Well here are some facts, I hope they help you. They haven't done anything for me. I mean if it's not rich to me, if I haven't found that the Spirit has taken this and made it life to me, nourishment to me, food to me, how can I expect it's going to be to you? Pretty soon I'll convey that. So you have to be careful in your heart. You sit there and say, I was at church today. What did you study? Well, some of the stuff we went over we've done before. And pretty soon I'm getting tired of the Word of God. But you know, you're getting tired of the God of the Word. I just don't find ................ I think there is something missing in my life. Well I have to get my heart where it ought to be. So it's taking in the Word of God, and I have a heart that is receiving the Word and it's producing 40-fold. I want it to produce 60-fold; if it's producing 60-fold I want it to produce 100-fold.

Hebrews 4. Catch the context, chapter 3 verse 12, take care brethren that there not be in anyone of you an evil unbelieving heart, that falls away from the living God. Verse 15, today if you hear His voice do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me. Down in chapter 4 verse 7, today if you hear His voice do not harden your hearts. It's a terrible danger. You hear the Word of God, don't harden your heart. You say, well, it may be hard today, but I'll be all right tomorrow. Don't count on it. I have to deal with today. Why is the Word of God not precious to me today, why is not rich to my soul. I think it is the way it was presented, I think it was the passage we were in. But you understand, everything in this book, God hasn't said anything ............. Remember Jesus said a jot and a tittle, like our little apostrophe, everything comes from Him, everything reveals to me something about Him. I don't want to get started on well, I don't get anything out of it. That says something about the condition of my heart, doesn't it.

I have to back up and say, are they really teaching me the truth. They're teaching me something other than the truth of the Word of God. No wonder I'm not getting anything out of it. They're teaching me the Word of God mixed with something else. That's a problem. Now I'm being taught the Word of God and I need to get down and say, Lord, soften my heart. That doesn't mean the Lord never wants to move me to another church or another place, I'm not saying that. I'm saying the reason for going can't be because well, they're teaching the Word of truth but it's not getting in my heart. We have to say, Lord, I have to get that right before I go anywhere else because I will be useless to you in that state. Don't harden your heart.

Verse 2 of chapter 4, we have had the good news preached to us just as they also, but the word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith to those who heard. The only way the Word of God works is when I hear it and I respond in faith. That's what brings my salvation, that's how I continue to grow.

We have to go back to Psalm 119. Just note what the psalmist says, I don't have time to read all these verses. I would encourage you to go through this psalm with a marker and just mark some of it. Get a sense, almost every verse as I mentioned is addressed to God. It's about the Word of God from beginning to end. Ten times in this psalm David says the Word of God is his delight; eleven times he says he loves the Word of God. Just go through and mark out the different things he says about the Word, what it means to him, how it works in his life. I may have to say, Lord, this is what ought to be going on in my life if I am your child.

Gary Wissel spoke at our retreat yesterday afternoon and he was one of the newer men. He gave an account to illustrate what we're talking about, really. When he was in Ecuador, was going with someone to one of their Bible studies in the mountains. And you know what they had to go through to get to a Bible study—walk 1½ hours to get to a bus, then ride the bus for 2 hours, then walk down the mountain for 1½ hours. Gary said I walked down the mountain and I'm thinking, you have to walk back up when this is over. He said one of the men there in the Bible study gets off work at 2 a.m. and then he starts so he can get to the Bible study by 6 a.m. It takes him that long to get there. I wonder how many would be here if it was that kind of journey to study the Word of God for us. We have a 10-15 minute journey in a comfortable car and we look out and say, it's going to rain and I just washed the car. Maybe we shouldn't go today. We may not have snow out but they did say it might snow. Who knows what it could be like before we're done? Maybe we oughtn't to go. And if you do go you say, it just gets to be sort of .......... How are the kids feeling today? Maybe we ought to stay home. Well they feel all right but you know a lot is going around, maybe they won't feel all right in an hour. It's almost like wouldn't it be a relief not to have to go today? I think our blessings become our burdens. Here I have the greatest privilege to come and study the Word of God, to be with believers in the study of the Word. Other people pay a tremendous price, go through great difficulty to do it. We can do it and we say, oh well ............... So what do we do now? We try to arrange the time we study the Word so it doesn't interfere with everything else. And you know everything else is getting moved to Sundays. I wonder how much time do these people have for other things if you don't off work until 2 a.m. and it takes you four hours to get to the Bible study, then you have to get back home. That doesn't leave much time for anything but work and going to Bible study. We find out what's important in our lives, don't we. Somehow, the study of the Word, we can push that out, we can cut that back. I mean, I want the Word but we don't need it that much. What are we talking about? How precious is that to me?

Look at the psalmist, look at Psalm 119:16, I shall delight in your statutes. I will not forget your Word. Verse 24, your testimonies are my delight, my counselors. Where do I go to learn how to deal with this? I go to your Word, it's my delight. Verse 35, make me walk in the path of your commandments for I delight in it. Verse 47, I shall delight in your commandments which I love. Look down to verse 70, I delight in your law, in contrast with those whose hearts are covered with a layer of fat. The Word of God is not getting through. There heart is covered with a layer of fat, I delight in your Word. I wonder, would we be embarrassed. We act sometimes like our hearts are covered with a layer of fat, we're not those who delight in the Word of God.

Verse 77, may your compassion come to me that I may live for your delight. Your law is my delight. Verse 92, if your law had not been my delight, then I would have perished in my affliction. I thought of this verse when I read the book by the one professor and he said, in this time of affliction I found that the Word of God was not enough. I said it was just the opposite of the experience of the psalmist. If your Word had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. You know if that's not the pattern of my life when affliction comes, I'm confused. But you know if I delight in the Word, then in good times and bad times, so to speak, I turn to my delight, my sustenance, my strength.

Down in verse 97, oh how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. You know, there's a lot of talk about meditation. In modern meditation, Eastern meditation, they want you to empty your mind. That's not biblical meditation. Biblical meditation is fill your mind with the Word of God and think on it. Oh how I love your law. It's my meditation all the day. What do you think on through the day? What's on your mind through the day? That tells you what you love. I mean, someone is dating someone. Who do you think about during the day? I can't stop thinking about them. That's the way it ought to go. The Word of God, it's on my mind all the time.

Jump down to verse 143. This is right after the verse we read, your law is truth. Trouble and anguish have come upon me, your commandments are my delight. What a contrast. Trouble, anguish have overtaken me, this is what is going on in David's life, the psalmist's life. But you know what? Your commandments are my delight. That is what gives me pleasure and joy. If this is our testimony, this is what we love, the Word of God, this is our delight, would we be finding it so hard and such a chore to go and study the Word of God? I need to examine myself. I am a hearer of the Word like you are a hearer. Is it really rich to me? Is it a treasure to me? Is it the delight of my life, the love of my life? I wish I could be involved in the study of the Word every day. What a blessing that would be. It's not how little can I get by with, that's not the way I treat things I love. I really love it, I want more time with it, more time with them. That's my delight, that's what I do. Is that what it is with the Word of God? Is it my treasure?

With this the Holy Spirit takes the truth of the Word of God and conveys it to our hearts and it is that combination. It is understanding this is the eternal truth of God, given forth in its purity, and I as a hearer take it in, I believe it, I assimilate it into my life, I delight in it, it's the treasure, it's my joy. And through this the Holy Spirit is assimilating it so I am being transformed as I behold His glory in the mirror of the Word into the same image, from glory to glory as Paul wrote in II Corinthians 3:18. It's the word of salvation, it's the word of sanctification, it's the word of the eternal God.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of your Word. What a treasure has been entrusted to us. We, your church in this place, this local fellowship, a pillar and support of the truth, Lord, we individually entrusted with this treasure. Lord, may it never be a burden, never be boring. May it be the love of our life, the delight of our life, the treasure of our life because it is the revelation of your person, your character, your work. Through it we come to know you, to love you in a greater way. Lord, may we treasure it. And Lord, for those who may be here, they come regularly, the Word of God falls on a hard heart, the Word of God does not penetrate. Lord, may they stop to consider and contemplate the need to turn to place their faith in the Savior who loves them and died for them. May they not harden their hearts to the truth, but may they be hearts that ___________________ be receptive to the truth. We pray in Christ's name, amen.