God and His Word

0:53But I think if we take an honest assessment of our lives, many of us would discover that news outlets, social media, the opinions of our friends and family members, even the opinions of celebrities that we have never met and will never meet, have more sway over what we believe and how we live than the Word of God. Friends, last week we began our Back to the Basics series. And so this fall, what we're trying to do is we're trying to get back. To the basics of the Christian life. And we began with God and His world because we have to start with God and what He has revealed about Himself generally through His creation, His general revelation.

1:45But from there, we have to move on to what God has revealed to us specifically and particularly through what theologians call special revelation or the Word of God. So, today's sermon is called God and His Word. And this sermon is not apologetic in nature, it's not aimed at convincing you that the Bible is, in fact, God's Word. If you're asking that question, or if you know somebody who is, and it's a very good question, we have copies of this book, Why Trust the Bible, available for free on your way out. I would encourage you to pick one up for yourself or for someone in your life and read it, or read it with them.

2:32My sermon today will take for granted that the Bible is God's Word. And my aim today is to help you consider what that means or what that should mean for your life and for our life together as a church. So, let's pick up here in Psalm 19, verse 7. In these verses, 7 through 9, David pens an extended meditation on Scripture. And these three verses are very helpful because what they do is they help us define the nature and effect of God's Word, what it is and what it does.

3:12And so, David, in these verses, uses five different names for Scripture, and each one of those names sheds additional light on the nature of God's Word. So, first, in verse 7, he calls it the law of the Lord. And this phrase reminds us that God is the ultimate lawgiver and judge. He's not the king of some small principality somewhere here on earth. He is the king of the entire universe. And his law is perfect because he is perfect.

3:51Take a look on the screen at Deuteronomy chapter 3: the rock. His work is perfect, for all his ways are justice, a God of faithfulness and without iniquity. Just and upright is he. And what does the law of the Lord do, according to David? He says that it revives the soul. Now, the Hebrew word here that's translated revives is shub, and it really, I think, means something closer to turn back or return. So, one of the primary functions of the law is to promote and restore order. When you think about law in general, that's what it's for, right? It is to promote order, it's to restore order when disorder reigns. Disorder leads to chaos, and chaos does not lead to human flourishing. So, when we as human beings get near the line, or when we cross the line, the function of the law is to call us to turn back, to return to where we were before, so that we and others around us don't experience bad outcomes.

5:08Just laws promote or restore order, which leads to human flourishing. So, when we're about to make a bad decision, or when we've already made a bad decision, God's law reveals our error and calls us to return. Second, the testimony of the Lord. This could also be translated the witness of the Lord. And witnesses are called to testify in a courtroom to give an honest and true account of what they have seen or what they've experienced. But, of course, even honest human witnesses can be mistaken.

5:55They might remember things incorrectly, they might forget important details. But, friends, God is not like that. When he testifies, when he bears witness, he tells the truth about his character, his works, the state of the world, and the heart of man. When he testifies, he tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. God's testimony, his witness, David says, is what? It is sure. That means it's firm, it's reliable, it's faithful, it's trustworthy. And what does it do? It makes wise the simple.

6:42Now, the simple in Scripture often refer to the young and naive, but that word really refers to anybody who is not an expert, anyone who isn't formally educated or trained. So think about for a minute all of the stuff that you hear about in the news: the pandemic, the economy, the disaster in Afghanistan. And you've got all of these people, highly trained, doctors, economists, professors, who are weighing in and giving testimony. But often their testimonies conflict, they disagree with each other. So who do you trust?

7:29How do you make Sense out of it. Who's right? Even if you're smart, even if you're highly educated, it feels impossible to know. But here's the good news. Look at what it says. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. So every time you open your Bible, you are getting a firm, reliable, trustworthy, faithful testimony from God Himself. And it will make you wise no matter how little education you have, no matter how little intelligence you may have, it will make you wise.

8:12Third, he calls it the precepts of the Lord. Well, that word can also be translated instructions, so the instructions of the Lord. I think a lot of us have had the experience where you buy a piece of furniture that requires some assembly, and you open up the box and you see four billion pieces and an instruction manual the size of an Encyclopedia Britannica. So you open up the manual and by the end of page one, it is very clear that whoever wrote the manual is not a native speaker of your language.

8:54But you don't despair because you are a modern person. And so you open up YouTube. And for reasons that you don't understand and no one can explain, someone has filmed themselves putting this thing together. And what happens when you discover that video? You rejoice because now that piece of furniture is actually going to get put together. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. Friends, living life in this world without God's Word is like putting together a piece of furniture without an instruction manual.

9:34You see all of the different pieces: family, government, relationships, school, work, friendship, religion. You see all of these different pieces, but how does it all fit together? How can one know? Without God's Word, you have no instruction manual. But once you realize that God's precepts, His instructions, actually make sense out of every part of life and life as a whole, you rejoice because you're no longer guessing and hoping that things will turn out okay in the end.

10:17Fourth, he calls it the commandment of the Lord. And that phrase highlights God's authority. Without authority, all we can do is. Influence. But people in authority don't influence. They command. They issue directives. So the Word of God is not a compilation of suggestions for us to peruse and then bring into our lives where we see fit. No, the scriptures are the commandment of the Lord. They are the directives of the Lord who is the king of the universe.

11:02And what makes his commands different from that of, say, a military officer is that David says they are pure, enlightening the eyes. Anyone who has served in the military, even those who have served as officers themselves, will tell you that not every command issued by someone in authority is pure or brings light to a situation. But God knows everything. He is perfectly good and perfectly wise. So all of his commands are pure. They're never conflicting and they bring light into dark hearts and dark situations.

11:46Now you come to verse 9 and David says, he calls the fear of the Lord. That phrase seems out of place, doesn't it? Because he's been talking About the word of the Lord. He's been using these phrases that are all synonyms for God's word specifically. And now, here in verse 9, he says, the fear of the Lord. So, why did the Holy Spirit move David to begin talking about this? Well, friends, if we read and we rightly understand the word of God, his law, his testimony, his precepts, his commands, his rules, well, then fearing him is a natural outcome.

12:31A few weeks ago, we talked about the fear of the Lord in Joshua chapter 24. And we said that to fear God is to conceive of him as he really is, perfectly holy and just, all-good, all-powerful, all-knowing, and then living in light of that reality. God, through his word, reveals himself to us as he really is, and that leads us to view him with reverence and awe and wonder. We don't approach him casually anymore. So, David can say here in Psalm 19 that the fear of the Lord is clean because that kind of fear is untainted.

13:19It is right to fear God, and we fear God when we conceive of him as he really is through reading his word. And finally, in verse 9, he calls the scriptures the rules of the Lord. You probably have a note in your Bible that that can also be translated just decrees. I think all people have a tough time with rules. But as Americans, we really tend to bristle at them, don't we? We love our freedoms too much at times.

14:02Why do we recoil from rules? I think it's because so many of them seem arbitrary or they're oppressive. Plenty of rules out there are random. They make no sense. And they don't always lead to human flourishing for all people. Instead, some rules throughout history have actually harmed certain people. And we long for justice, don't we? We wanted justice on the playground when we were kids. And we want justice in the courtroom as adults. We long for just laws to be justly applied to all people.

14:43The good news is that God's rules are what? He says they are true and righteous altogether. They are true. They make sense in the real world. They correspond to reality. And they are righteous altogether. Meaning, they lead to good outcomes for everyone. So, friends, when you take verses 7 through 9 together, you have this beautiful picture, this multifaceted picture of what God's Word is. It isn't one thing because it is perfect, it is many things. It is sure and right and pure and true.

15:24It turns us back when we've gone astray, it makes us wise, it causes us to rejoice, it enlightens our eyes, and it causes us to fear the Lord forever, which is right. So, it's easy to see why David says in verse 10, take a look there: more to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. That's the appropriate response. We should desire God's word more than anything else in life.

16:14Now, we have to be really careful here because the tendency for us as believers is to read verse 10 and to nod in agreement and then to quickly move on with the rest of the text and our lives. But I think, brothers and sisters, we have to ask ourselves some really hard questions about verse 10. Is God's word really sweeter to me than the finest food that I can imagine? Is God's Word more desirable to me than all of the gold, all the stacks of cash in the world?

17:00Do I treasure it? Church, we have to be honest with ourselves here. Is God's Word really that valuable to us? Do we desire to read it and to hear it read? Do we desire to hear it preached and taught? Do we desire to center our lives around it? And more than that, do we actually center our lives around the Word of God? Do we love the Word of God? If we look at our lives, they will tell us the truth.

17:41We say we're too busy to read God's Word. We say we're too tired. We say it's too hard. Friends, the entire Bible can be read aloud in 71 hours. That's 13 minutes a day for a year. Just 13 minutes, and you can read through the entire Bible cover to cover in one year. How many Christians have read through the entire Bible in their life? We say we're too busy, too tired to spend 13 minutes a day in God's Word. And the average American spends 150 minutes a day on social media.

18:27This fall, we're trying to get back to the basics: Christianity 101. And friends, what that means is we have to have more than a right theology of the Bible, more than right beliefs about God and His Word. God has to regain the central place in our lives. That place that for many of us has been seized by selfish ambition and entertainment and pleasure and leisure and comfort and a host of other idols. But how do we suppose that's going to happen?

19:08By staying up late, watching mindless television and sporting events? By surfing the internet? By skipping discipleship classes and worship on Sunday? By not getting into the Word of God ourselves? No, church, it will only. Happen as we rededicate ourselves to knowing God by knowing His Word. In the book of Revelation, Jesus told the church at Ephesus that they had abandoned their first love. And I think we have to ask ourselves some hard questions this week, including: have I abandoned my first love?

20:00Do I really love God as He has revealed Himself in His Word, like David did? Take a look at verse 11. We're given two reasons here to desire the Word of God. This is the why behind it. He writes this, Moreover, by them, that is the rules of the Lord, by them is your servant warned. In keeping them, there is great reward. So the first reason to desire God's Word is it warns us of danger. We read elsewhere in the Bible that God's Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

20:45So if we get away from God's Word, we have left that lamp, we've left that light, and very soon we find ourselves stumbling off of the path into the darkness. Look at Proverbs 14. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. You see, left to ourselves, we will often choose a path that seems best to us based on human wisdom, sinful desires, our selfish preferences. But God's Word warns us that many of those paths that we would choose on our own, they do not lead to life, but to death.

21:33We will not find what we're looking for at the end of that road. So that's the first reason. God's Word warns us. But second, what does he say? Keeping his commands leads to great reward. Take a look at Leviticus 18 on the screen. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules. If a person does them, he shall live by them. I am the Lord. I believe that promise of great reward is realized both now and in eternity. We are promised life if we keep God's commands.

22:18I take that to mean the full and abundant life that God has promised and intended for us, both here and now, and in eternity. Look at what Jesus said in John 12. Chapter 5, verse 24. He says, Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Has passed. That's past tense. You have eternal life, and that life starts when you hear God's word and you believe him.

23:03David wanted his readers to enjoy that great reward that comes from keeping God's word. Friends, I want you to enjoy the great reward. I want to enjoy that great reward. But there is a problem here. I know it. You know it. David knew it. And that problem is our sin. Let's pick up in verse 12. Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression.

23:57David asks the question. Who can discern his errors? In other words, who can know all of their sinful motivations and attitudes and thoughts and actions? Who can discern those things about themselves? In our lives, we deal with two kinds of sin: sins that we are aware of and sins that we are aware that we are committing. So, sins that we're unaware of, and sins that we are aware that we are committing. When David talks about hidden faults, he's not talking, I don't think, about sins that we are trying to hide. He's talking about sins that we are unaware of. They're present in our lives, but they're hidden from us. We are blind to them.

24:56That's the first kind of sin, sin that we're not aware of. The second kind of sin is what he calls presumptuous sin. And that kind of sin is committed arrogantly. It's committed with complete disregard for God's law. And in this case, we're sinning and we know that we're sinning. So, David asks God to do two things in light of the fact that he's got sins that he's not aware of and sins that he knows that he's committed. He asks God to justify him and to sanctify him.

25:31First, he asks for justification. What does he pray? Look again there. He says, Declare me innocent from hidden faults. David is asking God to justify him or to declare him to be righteous. And friends, David prays for that knowing that he's not righteous, but unrighteous. He knows that he has both hidden faults and presumptuous sins, just like you and me. So David can't pray and ask God, the perfect lawgiver and judge, to treat him fairly and give him what he deserves. Because to treat him fairly and to give him what he deserves means that David has to be punished justly. He has to be declared unrighteous because that's actually what he is. He's a sinner.

26:23So instead, he prays for justification. He prays that God would declare him to be righteous. I want you to look on the screen at Romans 4. This is Paul writing, and he actually quotes David himself in these verses. And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works.

27:00Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. That's what justification is all about. It's about God declaring us to be righteous through faith in his Son. We are not actually righteous, but God is declaring us to be that way. He is justifying us on the merits and the basis of Jesus' perfect work on our behalf. David's second prayer is for sanctification.

27:38He asks God to do what? To keep him from presumptuous sins and to prevent them from having dominion or dominance over him and his life. Look at John 8:34. Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. You get good at whatever you practice. And unfortunately, sin is enslaving. So if you practice sinning enough, eventually you're going to wind up enslaved to it. You can ask anybody who's ever been addicted to anything. You practice something enough, especially sin, you get enslaved. To it.

28:32So, David didn't want that to happen in his life, so he prays that God would keep him from sin and to keep him from being dominated by it. In other words, what he's doing is he's praying for his own growth in holiness. And his own growth in holiness would come in direct proportion to the amount of time that he spent reading and meditating on and applying the word of God to his life, just like you and me.

28:59So, David concludes with this prayer. Take a look at the final verse, verse 14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. That term acceptable is used most often in connection with worship. So, there are acceptable and unacceptable offerings. And if you look at the worshipers in the Old and the New Testament, one of the prayers is that they want their worship to be acceptable before the Lord.

29:42And his words and his thoughts, David's words and thoughts, they're going to be formed by whatever he put into his heart and mind most often. What we read and what we watch and what we listen to, all of that shapes what we love and what we think. About so, given David's view of the Word of God, what do you think had the most influence over what David loved and what David thought about? What do you think had the most influence over what David said and did?

30:20It was the Word of God, which he considered to be more valuable than gold and sweeter than the finest honey. For those of you who are already following Jesus, I want to ask you to take seriously the challenge to carefully consider what has the most influence over your life, over your heart and mind, what you love and what you think about. Is it really God's word? Do you love it and treasure it above all else in life?

31:05And before you answer that question too quickly, be sure to take time to really examine the evidence in your life. Whatever you conclude, what led you to that conclusion that you either love God's Word or you don't, like you should. I think if many of us are honest, God's Word and God Himself as a result have taken a back seat in our lives. And when we are looking for truth, when we're looking for guidance, when we're looking for wisdom, we don't go first to God's word, we go somewhere else.

31:51Church, God must regain the central place in our hearts and lives. But that will only happen as we rededicate ourselves to knowing Him as He has revealed Himself in His Word. You may need some help with that. All of us need help with that on some level. If you're in that place today, I've got another free book for you. This little yellow book on the way out, you can pick one up. I really want you to take them. I say this kind of stuff, and you know how this works. People are like, I'm going to leave it for somebody else, right? Well, if you need it, take it. If you know someone who needs it, take it. This little book is called, How Can I Get More Out of My Bible Reading?

32:34I wonder what it's about. What a great resource for us to just humble ourselves and say, we need help in this area. We need help making God central in our lives again. And for that to happen, we need His Word to be central in our lives again. So, church, let's humble ourselves. Let's go to each other and say, I need help in this area. Talk to people in your life group, talk to one of the pastors. We want to help each other know and pursue the Lord. And we want to do that by knowing Him as He's revealed Himself in His Word.

33:12And if you're here today and you're not yet following Jesus, you have come on a great day because God's Word is perfectly sufficient to meet you wherever you are. Are you confused? Adrift in a sea of endless and often conflicting information. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Are you discouraged because so many teachers have failed to help you make sense out of life? The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.

34:06Are you frustrated because politicians continually refuse to pass and enforce just laws? The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. But most of all, are you buried under Guilt and shame because of your sin. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. In Galatians chapter 3, Paul said that the law of the Lord is a guide that leads us to Christ. We fail to meet God's perfect standard. But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus of Nazareth did not.

35:02He fulfilled all of God's law perfectly, and then he offered himself up in our place and for our sins. He died and was buried, and on the third day he rose again from the grave. And when David ends this psalm, I want you to notice that he does not refer to God as my judge and my accuser. He calls him my rock and my redeemer. That is the good news of the gospel. That God is perfectly holy and his standard is impossible for us to meet. But that he has sent his Son Jesus to become our rock, our refuge, and our redeemer through his life and death and resurrection.

35:54So by opening God's Word, you will find instruction, you will find wisdom, you will find guidance. That you need for life in this world. But far more importantly than that, you will find the Savior who promises eternal life to all who repent and believe. Thanks be to God. Let's pray. Father, we acknowledge that your word has not held the central place in our lives that it should, and as a result, you have not held the central place in our lives that you should.

37:12We have gone looking in many other places for wisdom, for guidance, for instruction, even for salvation. And so we pray this morning that you would help us. To center for the first time or to recenter our lives on you and your word. Because your word is perfect. And it's the one and only thing that can revive our souls. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.