Obedience to God’s Revealed Word

Transcript

GRM 717
01/07/2001
Obedience to God's Revealed Word
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

One of the advantages of looking in history is we are reminded that the battles have always been basically the same, the issues have always been basically the same. We have an unchanging Word from God that is always the answer and the solution. But every generation it seems goes through the battles, is beset by the temptations, the conflicts, and the difficulties. And the church of Jesus Christ seems to go through the relentless struggles to hold on to the Word of God and keep it at the center of all that it is and all that it does.

Periodically I get out of my file an article that was written in the 1800s by Charles Spurgeon. Many of you have read this. Some of you have copies of it. But I want to read you at least parts of it again. Charles Spurgeon died in 1892 so his ministry took part in the last part of the 1800s. He was 57 when he died. I'm 57. He was almost 58. I'm almost 58. This article said he pastored the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London for 31 years. I have pastored Indian Hills Church for 31 years. I trust the similarity ends there on that line. But if I do die this year, you'll know, well, he was just like Spurgeon at least in those aspects.

“Feeding the Sheep or Amusing the Goats,” and I don't have the exact date when he wrote this, it would be sometime in the last part of the 1800s. "And evil is in the professed camp of the Lord so gross in its impotence that the most shortsighted can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years it has developed at an abnormal rate even for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a more clever thing than hinting to the church that part of her mission is to provide entertainment for the people with the view toward winning them. From speaking out as the Puritans did, the church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses. My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the church. If it is a Christian work, why did not Christ speak of it? ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ That is clear enough. So it would have been if He had added, ‘and provide amusement for those who do not relish the Gospel.’ No such words, however, are to be found. It did not seem to occur to Him. 'Then again He gave some apostles, some prophets, some pastors and teachers for the work of the ministry.' Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them. Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused? Again, providing amusement is indirect antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all His apostles. What was the attitude of the church to the world? You are the salt, not the sugar candy. Something the world will spit out, not swallow. Short and sharp was the utterance, let the dead bury their dead. He was in awful earnestness. Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into his mission, He would have been more popular when they went back because of the searching nature of His teaching. I do not hear him say, run after these people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive, with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick, Peter, we must get the people somehow. Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them. In vain will the epistles be searched to find any trace of the gospel of amusement. Their messages come out: keep out, keep clean out. Anything approaching fooling is conspicuous by its absence. They had a boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon. After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the church had a prayer meeting. But they did not pray, Lord, grant unto Your servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are. If they cease not for preaching Christ, they have not time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They turned the world upside-down. That is the only difference. Lord, clear the church of all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on her and bring us back to apostolic methods.”

Spurgeon's popularity suffered a little bit during his ministry. And in his own Baptist conference he was voted out, 2000 to 2 was the vote, with his associate pastor, his brother, being on the wrong side of the vote, as some of you know. Statements like that, “Lord, clear the church of all the rotten rubbish the devil has imposed on her and bring us back to apostolic methods,” gives you something of the taste of that emphasis.

“Lastly, the mission of amusement fails to effect the desired end. It works havoc among young converts. Let the careless and scoffers who thank God because the church met them half way speak and testify,” and then he goes on to talk about the futility of that methodology. “The mission of amusement produces no converts. The need of the hour for today's ministry is believing scholarship joined with earnest spirituality. The one springing from the other is fruit from the root. The need is biblical doctrine so understood and felt that it sets men afire.”

It's interesting, we think we are in a different day. Men think they have discovered new methods, new ways of ministry, that reach many more people and are far more effective. And then we read something written about a hundred and fifty years ago and if I didn't tell you the name and date, you would think it's someone writing today. And we realize the battles and the conflicts and the warfare do not change because our God is the same and the enemy of our God, the devil, has remained the same in his relentless opposition to God. And for every generation he is content as the enemy of our souls to recycle his old methods and to work among the people of God to give them, dare I say, a sense of boredom, a growing disinterest, in the truth of God and His Word and a desire for something lighter, more enjoyable, more entertaining. And that flows well with where the world is in its day.

I brought some other articles I won't take the time to read. Some more current. One refers to an article that appeared in “Newsweek” magazine in 1990. In this there's a series of quotes and it shows how religion today and churches have adjusted their message and methods to be more acceptable to a world who wants to be pleased. For example… you remember, these are quotes from “Newsweek” magazine, not a Christian source: “Unlike early religious revivals, the aim this time is support, not salvation; a circle of spiritual equals rather than an authoritative church or guide. In their efforts to accommodate, many clergy have simply airbrushed sin out of their language. Having substituted therapy for spiritual discernment, they appeal to a nurturing God who helps His people cope. Heaven by this creed is never having to say ‘no’ to yourself. One preacher is apparently proud of the fact he has banished hell, fire and damnation. And he's dropped many of the terms of Christian theology. He says if we use the words ‘redemption and conversion,’ they think we're talking about bonds. There's a spirit of putting people over doctrine. They inspect congregations as if they were restaurants and leave if they find nothing to their taste. The church growth movement experts judge a minister's accountability not by his faithfulness to the gospel but whether the people keep coming and giving. By that measure the most successful churches are those that most resemble a suburban shopping mall.” Then the author of the editorial moves on to give examples.

What I want to do is just go back and focus our attention again by the simple reading of Scripture, to the focus that God has for His people. And primarily what we are going to do is simply read passages of Scripture from the Old and the New Testament that remind us again and again that God's purposes for His people always center in His revealed Word and there is no way for a person to come to God except through His Word, both His written Word and His living Word, His Son. And the more the church moves away from a strong dominant emphasis on the Word of God, the more it moves away from God Himself. And the strategy of the devil is not unique and it should not be surprising. It is always to minimize the emphasis on the Word of God and then fill the void with whatever the people would like. The key thing is we must minimize and ultimately remove the Word that God has given.

Turn back with me if you would to the book of Exodus, the second book in your Bible, the book of Exodus, chapter 19. Here we are at the beginning of the forming of Israel as a nation. They went down into Egypt as a family of seventy people. They came out 400 years later as a mighty nation of about two million people. In Exodus 19 we are at Mount Sinai and the institution of the Mosaic Covenant. These will be the principles that will govern Israel until their Messiah comes. Note what is said in verse 5 as God gives instruction to Moses, “Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Note what God says to His people through His servant Moses. Their relationship to Him is tied to obeying His voice, keeping His covenant which is a record of what He has said. Down in verse 8, “All the people answered together and said, 'All that the Lord has spoken we will do!’ ”

The point here, that we will see carries on even through the New Testament, is that all who will be related to God as His people must have a relation to Him through His revealed Word. And it's not only have heard that Word but it is responding in faith to that Word and evidencing that faith by a living out of that Word, a submission and obedience to that Word. As verse 5 said, “If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant.” The response in verse 8, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do!” We cannot deal with God apart from dealing with His spoken Word and the record of that Word which is our Scriptures, our Bible.

Look in Exodus 24. And these Old Testament passages, I've grouped most of them to limit our having to search through much of the Old Testament, so we have a limited sample. Exodus 24:3, “Then Moses came and recounted to the people,” note this, “all the words of the Lord.” “All the words of the Lord,” every word that God has said is significant and important and that is what must be conveyed to the people, “And all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do!’ ” You note there is no bargaining here. We have decided that 71 percent of the ‘what’ the Lord has spoken we will do. God speaks and the response is, yes, we will do it all -- or no, we reject it.

Verse 7, “Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people.” You see what has happened. They have written down the words that God has said and now Moses takes the written record and communicates it again to the people of God. He “read it in the hearing of the people and they said, ‘All that the Lord has spoken we will do and we will be obedient.’ ” A mark of their true response to the Word of God is their submission to that Word and subsequent obedience.

Look at the book of Leviticus, just after the book of Exodus. Leviticus 10 and look at verse 3, “Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘It is what the Lord spoke, saying, “By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored.” ’ ” Note what is at stake here: the holiness of God, the honor of God. The context: the two sons of Aaron have been just killed by the Lord - Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons - Aaron, the first appointed priest in the nation Israel. His two sons have come and brought sacrifice before the Lord but not according to the instructions God has given, not according to God's Word. Fire comes out from the Lord and consumes them and they die. What was the issue? Verse 3, "By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy." You see what happens? When people attempt to come near to God apart from obedience to His Word, they are really attacking His holiness, they are refusing to treat Him as holy and so they are destroyed.

Now the Lord doesn't function this way physically down through history to our day, but the New Testament tells us these things were written for our example that we might learn from them. One of the lessons that we learn even as the church today from this event that happened 1500 years before Christ, the Lord will be treated as holy by those who would come near Him. That means they must come in humble submission and obedience to His Word.

Look down at verse 8, “Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, ‘Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting,” and so on. Verse 10, “so as to make a distinction between the holy and profane, and between the unclean and the clean, and so as to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them through Moses.’ ” You see the issue here? There is to be recognized the difference between the holy and the profane and we must be careful to teach all the statutes which the Lord has spoken.

We move away from the Word of God, the teaching and instruction of the God's Word, and the obedience in faith to God's Word, we move away from honoring God and reverencing Him as holy. We cease to make a distinction between that which is holy and that which is profane and in so doing we corrupt the worship of God. Now fire doesn't come out from heaven and consume us but our God is a consuming fire and He does clearly say that ultimately fire will consume all who do not humbly submit to His Word in faith and treat Him as holy by the response of obedience to His revealed truth.

This issue of the Word of God is an essential one. It is a serious matter that God does not take lightly. We think we can make adjustments. We think the Word of God is something we can play with and adjust and alter to fit the mode of the day. But God says you are tampering with My holiness. I will be treated as holy by those who will approach Me. And for the church to function as the sons of Aaron as though, well, we'll come to Him, we'll make some adjustments, this will be all right… this is a very, very serious matter.

Turn to the book of Deuteronomy 4, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Old Testament, the fifth book of what is known as the Law, the five books that Moses was used to record. There are other passages we don't have the time to look at. I would encourage you on your own. Maybe you could look at Exodus 39 and 40. Don't turn there now. But take Exodus 39 and 40 and Leviticus 8 and 9, those four chapters, and just go through and underline every time or highlight it says, “they acted just as the Lord commands,” “just as the Lord commands.” You are reminded God's people are to be a people of God's Word and they are to do just as the Lord has spoken. You know a lot of things go on as God's people are together but we must never lose the focus of what we are about. We are about the Word of God and it's that Word working in our lives. We are a people living in obedience to the Word.

Deuteronomy 4:2, “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it,” you note, the Word of God exactly as God has given it, no additions, no subtractions. “That you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” Chapter 4 verse 24, you should note, “the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” Chapter 5 verse 1, “Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: ‘Hear, O Israel, the statues and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing.’ ” note this, “ ‘that you may learn them and observe them carefully; ” You know, God has spoken what is necessary, that we hear the Word of God and learn it so that we may do it.

Verse 29, God says concerning Israel and their professed willingness to obey the Word, “Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever!” Verse 31, “But as for you, stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them.” You note, God speaks, God's spokesman takes what God has said and teaches God's people, that they might do what God has said. The pattern never changes and God's work in the world and among His people. Verse 32, “So you shall observe to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you.”

Very simple, isn't it? What is our responsibility? To learn what God has said and thus to do it. Now if you were the devil going to oppose the work of God, you don't have to think very long to know what you have to do to effectively oppose God. God has spoken. Now if I can corrupt or alter or keep the people from hearing what God has said, they won't be able to do it. And so the battle rages and churches do all kinds of things in worship services, but very little if any time is given to the serious study of the very words of God. How are we going to learn what God has said so that we may do it?

Look in chapter 6 of Deuteronomy, very familiar portion, “Now this is the commandment,” verse 1, “the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you may do them.” You see again the pattern: God has spoken, I must teach you, so that you may do them. "So that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life.” Verse 3, “O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you.” You see this is not only for the parents. It's for the children of the parents and the grandchildren of the parents. The Word of God is to be taught and instructed and built into their lives with an emphasis on the importance of obeying it. Only God can change a heart but God in His grace and mercy has chosen to use His Word in hearts and lives. And I can't change the heart of my children or my grandchildren, but I can take the truth that God has given and see that they are taught and instructed.

Then he goes on in the importance of this. Verse 4, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” And note where it goes on to, “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.” You see, if you really love the Lord, then His Word consumes your life. "You shall teach them,” these words, “diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

The Jews, you see them in the news, you see them at the Wailing Wall, and you see those little boxes strapped to their forehead, phylacteries. They get it from here, they've taken this literally, they've bond them to their forehead. They put Scripture verses in those boxes. You see a little box on the back of their hand and they've bound them to their arm. They've missed the pointed totally. What God is calling for is lives that are saturated, controlled by His Word. Everything you do with your hands, everything you think, everything that takes place in your house, all governed and controlled and saturated with the truth of God, governed by the revelation God has given. That's the instruction, that's the environment that our children are to be raised in. That the Word of God is precious. We are about the Word of God.

So it's a concern for us as parents to be modeling this in our homes. It doesn't just mean formal instruction. We talk about the difficulties that come in. We relate that to how our God sovereignly works in our life even in difficulties. They see that we as the parents have lives governed and controlled with the Word of God. We love God and so we love His Word. Why do we come together on Sunday morning? Well, you know, you have to go to church on Sunday morning. Everybody goes to church. No, because we love the Lord. We love His Word. We need to be fed and nourished on His Word. We need to be with other believers. That's the passion of our life. The most important thing you do as a parent is to model that in the way you live your life in your home before the next generation.

Down in verse 17, “You should diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His testimonies and His statues which He has commanded you.” You see that repeated emphasis? We must be living the Word of God. We are God's people so it's His truth that shapes us in all that we do.

Look over in chapter 8 verse 3, “And He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” We are familiar with that quote because Jesus quoted it in the temptation in Matthew 4 with the devil. But you note here what we've learned: the Word of God is more important to me than my food. He esteemed the words of God's mouth more important to him than his daily food. I wonder is that the case? In our homes is that what our children think, the most important thing in my parent's life is the Word of God? You know, I think they would give up their food, they would even give up the television before they give up the Word of God. I mean, they are really passionate about this. It doesn't mean you don't talk to your children in anything but Bible talk. No, but it's the reality of a life, this is everything, more precious than food.

Look in Deuteronomy 26. We have to move along then out of Deuteronomy. There are many other verses here that are good. Deuteronomy 26:16, “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statues and ordinances. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul.” Sounds like Deuteronomy 6, doesn't it? You love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. You keep His Word with all your heart, with all your soul. I mean, there is no difference. You tell me you love the Lord but you are not passionate about humbly obeying His truth. It's just not so.

“You have today declared the Lord to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statues, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice.” That's what’s part and parcel of being God's people, a commitment to the Lord. I place my trust in Him, that means I rely upon Him, I'm committed to obedience to Him. “The Lord has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments.” You see, they are inseparably joined together. God's people are those who are controlled by His Word. They have come to believe what God has said.

Chapter 27, while you're here, verse 9, “Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, 'Be silent and listen, O Israel! This day you have become a people for the Lord your God. You shall therefore obey the Lord your God, do His commandments and His statues which I command you today.’ ” It is relentless in emphasis. It permeates all the Bible that God has spoken and He calls men and women to submit to His truth and thus to obey Him.

Turn over to Joshua just after Deuteronomy. Moses dies, he's replaced by Joshua as the leader of God's people. And God speaks to Joshua and says, “Moses, my servant, is dead.” Now we have to come up with plan B; this changes everything; new times, new methods. No. Verse 7, Joshua 1, "Only be strong and very courageous;” now note this, “be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.” That's what they had as the revealed Word of God to that point; what we have is the first five books of the Bible. What do you do? You don't turn to the right. You don't turn to the left. You fill your mind with the Word of God day and night. You meditate on it, you think on it. Why? Because it's to shape your life and to control you and direct you and guide you in everything you do. And you are obedient to all of it.

We have to jump to the New Testament for time, Hebrews 4. We'll go to the back, toward the back of your New Testament. Hebrews 4:12, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." You see the power and ability of God's Word. God's Word does what God does. Jeremiah 17:9,10 we're told that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. Who can know it? This depraved, deceitful heart. “I, the Lord, search the heart.” Only God can get into the inner recesses of the heart and the mind and sort things out. You know, psychology is supposedly able to delve into your motives and why you do what you do. And you know, you go in and you talk to the psychiatrist or the psychologist and he gains insight into what motives you and you do this because you have this kind of mother and this kind of father and this has happened. It's all foolishness. The Lord is the only one who works in the heart and the mind… and His Word.

You'll note, His Word is able to judge the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. Why do you think people do not like the Word of God? They'll go and hear many things, but you know what? They don't want to hear the Word of God. You can go to lunch, sit down this afternoon with unbelievers, and talk about all the football games that have gone on and the change in the weather and what's happened on the political scene and they are just give and take, give and take. And you bring up and say, let me tell you what God has said and you start to share with them God's eternal truth, and what happens? Tension. Unease. People don't like to hear it. It's always interesting to observe what goes on at funerals where unbelievers come and they hear the message and you know, they can hear eulogies, they hear all kind of talk. But you tell them about the life-saving truth… and you can sit and watch. I was sitting behind some men at a funeral held here recently and the Gospel was being presented again as it had been earlier and this person said, “He already told us that.” They'll talk about football repeatedly. They'll push the rerun button and watch how many times the same play. Tell them the Gospel once… twice, and its needless repetition. Why? It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It's cutting through to the very heart of a person. They don't want it. They are being exposed to the light and they are the sons of darkness. You see the power of the Word of God? It's effectiveness? It's able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. You submit yourself to the Word of God, it reveals you for what you are. All the pretense, all the facade, it's nothing. God is not fooled. His Word cuts into the heart.

Look over in James, just after Hebrews. Hebrews, James, chapter 1 verse 21, “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.” You have to turn from your sin and receive by faith the Word of God. And you note, it's implanted into your heart. The next verse, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” There are people who come to this church, young people who have been raised in this church, parents who have attended for years, they have deluded themselves into thinking because they have heard the Word of God, they have been saved by the Word of God. That is not so. They delude themselves. You must receive by faith the Word and then be a doer of the Word which indicates that it has been implanted into your souls. As a result of that you are doing the will of God.

Look in 1 Peter. Keep going after James to 1 Peter 1:22, look at verse 23 for time, "you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, through the living and abiding [enduring] word of God." How do people get saved? Through hearing the Word of God. Look at chapter 2 verse 2 of 1 Peter, "like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation." How do those who have been born again grow in their new life in Christ? Through the Word of God. You see the absolute sufficiency of God's Word. What's it going to take to get people saved? They are going to have to hear the Word of God. What's it going to take for people who have believed the Word to grow? They are going to have to be taught the Word of God. Why does the church abandon the Word as if we need to do something more effective? You know why? The Word of God is brutal. It's like a sharp scalpel. And I'm never exposed to the Word that it doesn't do a work on me. You know it brings great joy and blessing but there is always that adjustment taking place in my life.

You know what happens when you get into sin, the first thing you want to do? I want to get away from the Word. A man begins to have an affair at work and says, "Boy, I can't wait to get to church in the morning." Oh, no. "Boy, I'm looking forward to Bible study this week." No. It's not the way it is. In his mind what's going on? "Boy, I think I'm going to say I'm not feeling well. I'm not going this morning." What happens when someone's in sin? Pretty soon they are around less and less. Why? I don't want to be around the Word. Why? It cuts. And for all of us it does. Why do unbelievers come and they walk away and say, I'm never coming back. We think we need to change our service, they didn't like it. I can't change the Word of God. You know what they do? It's like the article by Spurgeon we read. Let's make adjustments to make them more comfortable. It's no new thing. What makes them uncomfortable? The Word of God. We want to make unbelievers comfortable here, just take the Word of God out of it, they'll be comfortable. But it's the Word of God that saves. It's the Word of God that produces growth, that sanctifies.

Turn to the end of the Bible, to the end of the book of Revelation. Jesus Christ speaks His final words to the Church, Revelation 22:17, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.' And let the one who hears say ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.” What a gracious invitation, the water of life, free. You'd think there'd be a line all the way downtown waiting to get in. There's water of life, you can have it free. But there's also a strong warning. “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book; if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book.” Serious matter, the plagues that bring ultimate destruction in the fire of hell according to chapter 14. The torment, the smoke of the torment of those who are perishing that goes up endlessly. “And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.” Here it is, but here is the only way it is. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life;” Jesus said, "no one comes to the Father but through Me,” [John 14:6]. I'm the Bread of life. Here, come partake of the water of life freely, no cost. But you add anything to My Word, you take anything away, you're doomed, is what He says. You see the Word in its finality, its completeness. We come to a time when people want to be religious but they don't want the Word of God.

We have to look quickly at a couple more passages and we're done. 2 Timothy 4:1, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom.” This is a solemn charge, as solemn as you can get. God is the witness, Jesus Christ is the witness, taken in light of the fact He's coming again and He will judge all men. “Preach the word.” Do you think Paul knew the seriousness of this matter? He's a man about to be executed. Timothy's picking up part of the responsibility of passing on the truth that God has revealed. This is a serious matter. You better do it exactly as it's been given. "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

We live in the last days which have been the days of Messiah, from the first coming of Christ to the second coming. And I really believe we see this cycle goes through just about every generation. We'll come on and they are enthused and excited about the Word of God and then over time there is a declining interest in the Word but still an interest in being religious. And they want teachers, and they gather these teachers and they are in abundance, you can find them all over. And they say the kind of things you want to hear and they just put the message in a way that's it not offensive. It doesn't turn people away. I'm not embarrassed to bring my friends for fear that they will say something that will mean they'll never come back. And it's just the kind of atmosphere I want. And they accumulate these kind of teachers in piles, literally. They turn away their ears from the truth. Nothing new. Soften the truth. Shorten it down; if you can't say it in 15 minutes you probably can't say it. We come with all these cute little things. What we really want to do is minimize the Word, minimize the offense for the preaching of the cross is offense to those who are perishing. And I want a service I can bring my perishing friends to where they won't be offended. Which means you can't preach the cross because the preaching of the cross is offensive to those who are perishing. If I want to bring unbelievers to a place where they won't be offended, it must be a place where the preaching of the cross is not taking place. But then they cannot be saved. So why don't I just take them to a football game and do away with the charade of religion altogether. A church must be careful it doesn't prostitute itself before the world and with the world.

Jeremiah 5:30,31, Jeremiah says as God's spokesman, a terrible thing has happened, the prophets prophesy falsely and My people love to have it so. The prophets prophesy falsely and My people love to have it so. Sometimes I scratch my head and say, why isn't there a mass exodus from many churches that are no longer teaching the Word, and then I begin to wonder are we dealing with believers at all.

One passage and we're done. Ezekiel 2, God gives Ezekiel a message to preach, and He says to him, verse 3, “Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people.” What a sad testimony, the nation that God has chosen to be His own special possession, a rebellious people. “I am sending you to them…” verse 4, “I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord.’ ” You see Ezekiel comes, he comes with a message from God. “As for them,” note this, “whether they listen of not… they will know that a prophet has been among them.” Whether they listen or not they will have heard a message from God. "And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions." You get afraid to share the truth of God. Well, don't be afraid, don't fear their words, don't fear the thistles and thorns, and even if you sit on scorpions don't worry about it. "Neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence… but you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not."

Some say I have the simplest, clearest job in the world, (if I can call it that), simply tell you what God has said. And you know what? It doesn't matter, in that sense, whether you listen or not. I don't have to go home and say, they didn't listen, what should I change? I have to go home and say, did I clearly teach them the Word of God? You see, our responsibility as a church is to be a lighthouse, to be a place where the truth is proclaimed. We get concerned: well, if they don't listen, we got to do something different, no sense in talking to ourselves. We're back to: if God's pleased, that's effective. What did Ezekiel have to do to be effective? Gather a large congregation, get many people to hear him. No. You tell them what I said whether they listen or not.

Turn over to chapter 3. What Ezekiel has to do is take the Word of God into his heart and life and it becomes part of him. Then verse 4, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them.” Verse 7, “yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you.” Oh, great! I came to Lincoln 31 years ago. It would have been a lot harder if God had said to me, “I'm sending you to Lincoln. I just want to tell you nobody is going to listen to you.” Lord, do You mind if I stay in Philadelphia? “Get to Lincoln.” That's what Ezekiel had, “You go and preach this message to them, Ezekiel. And you know what? No response, no listeners.” Well, Lord, why should I go? “You go because I told you, you tell them what I told you because I told you.” It doesn't sound like a very good ‘church growth strategy’ to me.

Verse 10, "Then He said to me, 'Son of man, take into your heart all My words which I shall speak to you and listen closely. Go to the exiles, to the sons of your people, speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or not.'" You know, God had to tell Ezekiel repeatedly you do this, you tell them whether they listen or not because we all have that same tendency. And the church has been deluded into thinking, look, we'll be more effective if we get more people to listen. As Spurgeon said over a hundred years ago, we'll win them, more of them, by entertaining them. The trap of the devil. As he said, it's the rot of the devil that's been brought into the church. Nothing but the Word of God will save people. You can not offend the elect with the Word of God, the truth of the gospel and you can do nothing but offend the non-elect with the truth of the gospel.

So we as a church have one role and responsibility: we as the people of God, we as individuals belonging to the Lord, to fill our lives with the Word. If we followed you around for a week would it demonstrate that the passion of your life is the Word of God? I love to study the Word, I love to be in the Word. It's the delight of my life. It molds and shapes me in all that I do. Is that what our church is noted for, it's the place where you will hear the Word of God? The youngest children have classes. What they want to do in those classes is to begin to teach them the Word of God. The oldest adults, what are they doing? Teaching them the Word of God. They are out in other places, what are they doing? Sharing the Word of God. That's our life. That's our bread, our water, our food, our drink, as the people of God. It is life.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the richness of Your Person, the richness of the revelation You've given of Yourself and Your truth. Lord, I pray these might not just be words we hear that are well-familiar words, Lord, that they may be our life. That we may not be careless with them, that we may not be lax. Lord, may there be no cooling of the passion of our hearts and minds for You and Your truth. May this church have a passion for truth because it's passionately in love with the God of truth. We pray in Christ's name, amen.