After the Preaching of The Word

Introduction: The Duty After Hearing the Word

0:01 I direct your attention again to the command of our Lord given to his disciples in Luke's Gospel, chapter 8, and verse 18.

0:14 Our Lord, having given what is commonly called the parable of the sower, and then having interpreted that parable, a parable which has to do with the manner in which men hear and receive and respond to the word of God, he then issues this command to his disciples in verse 18, Take heed, therefore, how ye hear. And in that, commandment of our Lord is embodied the solemn and constant duty of all believers carefully to regard the manner in which they hear the word of God.

0:55 It is not enough that we do whatever is necessary to put ourselves, under the right preaching of the word. Having done so, we are then under solemn and constant obligation to bring to the proper preaching of the word a proper hearing of that word. And so for three meditations, this evening constituting the fourth, I have sought to open up what it means to obey this commandment of our Lord. In what?

1:31 In what ways can we become proper hearers of the word? If our Lord commands us, take heed, how ye hear, how can we implement that commandment as we sit under the word of God from week to week? Well, I've suggested that the obedience to that command very naturally breaks itself down into three areas of duty. Duties before the preaching of the word.

2:01 Duties during the preaching of the word. And now tonight we conclude the series by considering the third division, duties after we have heard the preaching of the word. Now to some that may come as a surprise. You may think if you have heard the previous expositions, well, if we by the grace of God fulfill those duties before the preaching of the word, that is, we come having, cultivated a fresh awareness that we're dealing with the very word of the living God.

2:37 We have sought to put away all guile and hypocrisies that we might receive the word. We come with a fresh awareness of our dependence upon the spirit and with a teachable attitude, having performed those duties before the preaching of the word. Then by God's grace, if we have sat under that word, and, done what we saw from the word of God this morning as our duty, that is, we have given a resolute fixation of mind to the preaching, and we have sought to render the appropriate responses of heart as the word has come,

3:17 surely then our duty with respect to becoming good hearers is done. No, it is not. For it's in the very context of this eighth chapter of Luke that our Lord gives a very interesting, word to us in his interpretation of the parable of the sower. He says in verse 12, and those by the wayside are they that have heard, then, and the word then is an adverb of time, then cometh the devil.

3:50 You remember the parable spoke of seed that was cast by a sower, and it was only after the seed was out of the seed bag of the sower. And, in touch with the soil that the birds of the heaven descended and plucked it up. Jesus in interpreting the significance of that part of the parable says, those figures find their reality in this fact that after the word has been sown, then cometh the devil. In other words, the devil is very active after the preaching of the word of God.

4:31 And, if he is active to snatch away the word, then the believer must be active to secure the proper enfolding of that word into his heart, so that it may bear its appropriate fruit. And so it is right for us to consider this third line of concern, the duties incumbent upon us after we have heard the preaching of the word. Now as we approach the subject, there are two things that I wish to say by way of qualifying and guarding all that follows. That which follows has a fence around it,

Two Qualifications for Post-Hearing Duties

5:11 and the fence is composed of these two materials in these two qualifications. Qualification number one, I am not suggesting, let alone affirming, that unless any or all of these things are implemented, the hearing of the word of God, has been a wasted effort. I am not suggesting, far less affirming, that unless any or all of these things that we will outline tonight are implemented, the hearing of the word has been a wasted effort. No, I am laying out biblical principles which,

5:54 if implemented, will aim towards a maximum profit from the word of God. You see what we're doing there? I will seek to articulate principles which aim at deriving a maximum profit from the word of God. And should not that be our aim?

6:18 Should we be satisfied with anything less than maximum returns from the input of the word of God? If you have a thousand dollars to invest, you try to find that sphere of investment which will bring maximum returns. If you have a thousand dollars to invest, you try to find that sphere of investment which will bring maximum returns. If you have a thousand dollars to invest, you try to find that sphere of investment which will bring maximum returns.

6:35 Well, if that's true with regard to the silver and gold that perish, and the greenbacks cranked out of Washington, which have lost percentages of their value before the ink on them is dry, how much more with the word of God which liveth and abideth forever? And therefore I am seeking to set before you tonight principles that aim towards maximum profit from the word, but I am not in any way suggesting or asserting that there will be no profit if these things are not implemented. Then the second qualifying and guarding introductory remark is this.

7:18 I am not suggesting that by implementing any or all of these principles that blessing from preaching will be infallibly assured. You see, this is not a little how-to business where you put something in the slot and out comes the promised goodie. As in every realm, God never relinquishes his sovereignty. One sows, another waters, but God gives the increase.

7:46 1 Corinthians 3. Our Lord said, The ways of the Spirit are like the wind. The wind blows where it wills. You cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.

7:57 You hear the sound thereof. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit, yes, and in a very real sense, so is everyone that is blessed. By the Spirit, in the proclamation of the Word of God, there is always an element of divine mystery in the interaction of the Word with the human heart. You will have that child of God who has given himself to careful preparation before he ever came to the house of God.

8:22 He has sat under the preaching with a mind riveted upon the truth, with a heart that has sought to respond to that truth. He seeks to implement the directives given tonight, and he has left, a relatively dry and barren, that God may remind him that he has no claims over him, and he is thrown again upon the sovereign mercy of Almighty God. Conversely, there is that person who comes to the assembly with his mind all cluttered up with all kinds of rubbish from an over-busy life and too much TV watching and all the rest, and he sits under the Word, and God comes with power and gives him such a ravishing sight, that Christ, as he doesn't know whether he's sitting in his seat

9:07 or halfway to glory. And you have to say, even so, Lord, it seemed good in thy sight. So in introducing our subject tonight, I want to state those two qualifying principles. Any or all of them implemented does not mean, or the absence of their implementation, that the hearing of the Word is wasted.

9:28 The implementation, or all or any of them, does not ensure that we will be blessed accordingly. Well then, what are the duties incumbent upon believers after hearing the Word of God preached? If we are to be obedient to our Lord's command, take heed how ye hear. If the devil is active after the seed is sown, how may we, under the blessing of the Spirit, counteract that activity of the enemy and profit from the Word?

Duty 1: Repetition – Riveting Truth to the Mind

9:58 Well, everything I have to bring to you from the Scriptures tonight follows the tracts laid by four simple words. The first one is, Repetition. Repetition. We must seek to rivet to our minds the content of the Word preached by repeating what we have heard.

10:20 Now, it is the responsibility of the preacher, as a teacher, to repeat cardinal issues in order to impress them upon the minds of the hearers. Peter could say, he said, I'm going to stir up your pure minds by way of remembering. Remembrance, though ye know these things and be established in them. Paul could say, he said, I'm going to say some things you heard before, but it's not grievous to me, and I know it will be profitable to you.

10:49 Now, that's one of the great tasks of a preacher. He must forego some of the elegance of oratorical style and break some of the rules of classic rhetoric if he's going to teach and preach in such a way as to edify the people of God. And one of the ways to do that is by repetition, recapitulation, review, pounding the issues home to the minds of God's people. But that is not the responsibility of the preacher alone.

11:17 It is the responsibility of the hearer to seek to rivet the truth of the Word to his own mind by repetition of what he has heard. Turn, please, to the book of Proverbs for some very vigorous exhortations which point in the direction of this duty. Proverbs chapter 2. My son, if thou wilt receive my words and lay up my commandments with thee.

11:55 You see how the image goes from receiving a gift to laying it up as a treasure. It's one thing to have the commodity in one's hands. It's another thing to have it in one's safe. So he says, whatever I deposit in your hands as a treasure, put it in the safe.

12:17 Lay up my commandments with thee. Chapter 3 and verse 18. Speaking of the blessings that come with the acquiring of wisdom. The gaining of it is better than the gaining of silver and of gold.

12:32 Verse 14. Then the preciousness of this heavenly wisdom is described in the following verses. Now notice verse 18. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her and happy is everyone that retaineth her.

12:52 You know it's one thing for a man to have a date with a woman. It's another thing to put a ring on her finger at a marriage altar. So he's saying with this beautiful woman truth. Don't merely court her and date her but marry her.

13:09 It's not enough. That there is a laying hold upon that truth. There must be the retention of that upon which we have laid hold. Over to chapter 4 and verse 5.

13:23 Get wisdom. Get understanding. Forget not. You see, having attained it, don't relinquish it.

13:32 Get wisdom. Get understanding. Forget not. Neither decline from the words of my mouth.

13:40 Verse 13 of the same chapter. Take fast hold of instruction. Let her not go. Keep her for she is thy life.

13:50 So you see this emphasis upon not only acquiring but retaining the truth of God. And the emphasis is meaningless unless there is the same kind of conscious endeavor to retain as there is to acquire. And in both cases the attaining and the holding, the acquiring and the retaining are made subjects of commandments. Then, of course, that well-known passage in Deuteronomy when God gives the covenant to his people without having the benefits of the printed page.

14:35 Oral instruction, of course, was so much more vital. God says in verse 7 of Deuteronomy chapter 6, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be upon thy heart.

15:00 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and talk of them when thou sittest in thy house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down, when thou risest up, thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes and thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thy house and upon thy gates. You see what God is saying? He's saying now I've deposited my law in your midst as my people. But it is not enough that that deposit is merely there.

15:32 There must be the retention of that deposit and he's saying use every possible means to retain what has been acquired. And so he says talk of this thing while you're walking in the way write them upon the doorposts. In other words, by every legitimate means possible rivet to the mind the word of God which has come as a deposit from the living God. And surely the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 119 and verse 16 point in the same direction.

16:06 I will delight myself in thy statutes. I will not forget thy word. You see here is a man determined that he will retain what he has acquired. Why?

16:23 Because he counts the acquiring of one truth from the word of God as of greater worth than thousands of gold and silver. Now when you put that kind of premium upon truth can you imagine a man who has acquired at great cost rare gold coins worth thousands upon thousands of dollars. He doesn't leave those gold coins lying around in his dresser like loose pennies, nickels and dimes. He doesn't stick them in his pocket just for giving vent to his nervous habit of jangling his change.

17:02 If they are worth something to him how he treasures them is reflected in how he regards them. And if we have anything of the biblical estimation expressed in the Psalmist where he speaks of counting the words of God of greater worth than thousands of gold and silver having acquired one little piece of that gold under preaching we are not going to carelessly put it in a pocket with holes in it or simply throw it on the dresser with loose change. We are going to make every effort to rivet it to the mind and one of these ways is by repetition of the content of the word of God.

17:46 Now by way of practical application I want to descend to very intimate pastoral admonition and counsel. If you have not begun to repeat the main substance of the Sunday school lesson or the sermon driving home with your children in the car or ask them at the table what they had in the Sunday school and seek to drive home the points may I suggest you begin to do this. Who knows how much is lost between 12.30 and the time we finished our meal at 2.30

18:23 when that could be one of the most wonderful opportunities to treasure up what has been acquired. May I urge you who are heads of households to ask the children to give back to you the basic idea that was expressed in the Sunday school class that the main thoughts and heads of the sermon be gone over and discussed so that by repetition there is this riveting of the truth to the mind. Perhaps it would be a good discipline for some of you at the end of the day to gather as families and to review the ministries of the day. I know some of you do this in your families in groups for some of you who have never attempted this

19:08 may I urge upon you to attempt it as a means to do what our Lord has commanded take heed how ye hear and a good hearer as we've seen from Proverbs and Psalms in Deuteronomy is one who will not lightly relinquish whatever God has given him under the ministry of the word. For those of you who have little ones and who must alternate often in services what a wonderful benefit it is to your own soul as well as to your husband or wife to go back home and seek to give back what you have heard. You may want to keep notes not of the entire sermon but the main drips of thought

19:53 the concepts of the word of God the texts that were discussed and you go back and you will find in sharing it with your spouse it's riveted more firmly to your own mind. An interesting thing happened the other day one of the young men in our assembly was telling me something I don't know what the connection was but he said you know pastor I had occasion to spend a good bit of time with one of the men in his car and he has a tape deck and he said he kept playing the same sermon over and over and over again until frankly this young man said to me he said I was getting kind of sick of hearing the same thing over and over again but he said you know I have to confess something now that some time has passed that sermon he said is having a powerful influence

20:36 upon my life the way many others have not. Now what happened by repetition the truths of that sermon were riveted to that man's mind and the spirit of God is bringing it to remembrance in times of need. So my dear brother sister you dear young people who are serious about the word of God if you would be a good hearer if you would in the name of the God of heaven counteract the activity of that foul demon of hell who would snatch away the word like the fowls of the air who pluck up the seed cast from the seed bag of the sower then I urge upon you

Duty 2: Supplication – Pleading for the Word on the Heart

21:21 after the hearing of the word remember the word repetition seek to rivet it to the mind by repetition. Now the second word is the word supplication after the hearing of the word there ought to be supplication and supplication which is prayer on behalf of specific need in two directions first of all that God would write the word upon my own heart and then that God would incline my heart to obey the word thus written upon it. All right supplication first of all

22:03 that God would write the word upon my heart as surely as we repeat the sermon to rivet the word to the mind we must cry to God to write the word upon the heart. Now one of the greatest blessings promised in the new covenant the covenant sealed in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that covenant which forms the framework of our coming to the Lord's table this is the new covenant in my blood said our Lord one of the great blessings one of the great blessings of that covenant is articulated very clearly for us in Hebrews chapter 10

22:47 will you turn there please and may I say it's a delight to hear the rustle of the pages of the Bible if you don't bring a Bible that's like going to school without your textbook the writer to the Hebrews setting forth the better things of the new covenant Christ's priesthood Christ's sacrifice here in the tenth chapter quotes from the Old Testament concerning this better covenant this new covenant ratified in the blood of Jesus and the blessings of that covenant

23:30 are not extensively described here but you have the heart of them in these words verse 15 and the Holy Spirit also beareth witness to us for after that he hath said this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days saith the Lord I will put my laws on their heart and upon their mind also will I write them then saith he their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more one of the great privileges of the new covenant is in the language of this verse the activity of God in putting his laws on the hearts of his people

24:13 and upon their minds writing his laws now what God promises should always become the basis of what you and I pray now some have the notion that if God promises it therefore I need not pray for it no no you misunderstand the intention of a promise of God if you think it is a blank check not to pray or not a blank check but an excuse not to pray no what God promises is to form the basis of what I plead before him

24:55 and in one of the Old Testament passages in which the blessings of the new covenant are articulated Ezekiel 36 after God outlines all the blessings of the new covenant he then says moreover for this thing will I be required of by the house of Israel to do it for them what a wonderful thing it is to know that when I can come before God after the hearing of the word and pray for them and plead with him oh God write that word upon my heart I do not need to say as I need to say after so much that I pray if it be your will I have no question that that is the will of God within the framework of the new covenant

25:40 he is committed in the blood of his son to do it my what an argument to bring before God Lord you are committed in the blood of your son to write your law upon my heart as one who has embraced the mediator of the new covenant all the blessings of that covenant are mine in him for Jesus Christ's sake oh God my Father write your law upon my heart and you don't need to say I repeat if it be thy will because he has expressed his will his commitment in covenant fidelity

26:24 sealed in the blood of his son and you see this is where the physical elements of the communion service are such a blessing when I'm praying I can say Lord as surely as I held a cup that held common ordinary fruit of the vine surely as I held that the blood of your son was spilt he himself said this is the blood of the covenant oh Lord as surely as that blood was spilt for sinners such as I am surely Lord you are committed to write your law upon my heart I need not have this constant problem of being moved under preaching and then at the point where I need

27:08 what has been preached I don't seem to have it present it doesn't seem to be operative Lord write what I hear upon the tables of my heart could it be with us with respect to the tremendous power and the tremendous disparity between what we hear and what seems to move us and what actually works out into life that our Lord would say in the language of James 4 2 ye have not because ye ask not how often have you prayed at the end of a Lord's day oh God my Father according to the terms and tenor of the new covenant

27:51 write your law upon my heart oh may what I've heard be inscribed in the fleshly tables of my heart but we must not only supplicate that the word would be written upon the heart but that the heart would then be inclined to keep the word thus written turn to the 119th Psalm for an example of a man who recognized the need for such praying Psalm 119 he says in verse 11 thy word have I laid up

28:36 in my heart there's the treasuring up of the word in the heart that I might not sin against thee here's the word and the heart both mentioned the word is laid up in the heart but now what's the state of that heart in which the word is laid up well he recognizes that it is a heart in which there are yet the actings of sin and remaining corruption and therefore we find him praying in verse 32 in these words I will run in the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart you see what he's saying Lord

29:20 your commandments are there but I lack the impetus to run in the way of your commandments there is not the measure of love and zeal for obedience Lord I cannot enlarge my narrow heart I will run in the way of the law that is written upon it verse 36 incline my heart unto thy testimony now he says in verse 11 I brought the testimonies into my heart now he says Lord you bring my heart to the testimony see it the two must be joined I've laid thy word up in my heart but Lord you must incline

30:05 my heart unto thy testimony Lord I cannot enlarge my heart I will run in the way of your commandments Lord I cannot enlarge my heart unto thy testimony now he says Lord you bring my heart unto the testimony of your testimony Lord I cannot enlarge my heart unto thy testimony Lord I cannot enlarge my heart unto thy testimony Lord I cannot enlarge my heart unto thy

30:48 testimony Lord I cannot enlarge my heart unto thy testimony Lord I cannot enlarge my heart unto thy testimony Lord I cannot enlarge my heart unto thy apostate who turns his back upon it but oh god the straying element is too much with me i've gone astray like a lost sheep lord seek me bring me back into the way of obedience to the law which i have not forgotten and which i have not relinquished may i give then as a practical

31:32 suggestion if we would be good hearers of the word after the preaching of the word let us not only seek to rivet the truth of what we've heard to the mind by repetition but let us by supplication plead with god to write his word upon the heart and by supplication plead that our hearts would be inclined to obey his word now the third word that fleshes out the directions after hearing the word of god is meditation repetition

Duty 3: Meditation – Absorbing the Word into Life

32:10 supplication and now meditation if we ought to rivet the word to the mind by repetition cry to god to write it upon our hearts in supplication then we ought to seek to absorb the word into all of life by meditation now the duty of meditation is clearly established in the word of god particularly in the old testament but not exclusively

32:42 now we need to learn to do it in this way i hope that by and large gives you an experience color of yours also an understanding that the word of god can be written about in a variety of way especially you do writing about what you find out every single day as we come to understand the fact that the word of god is not'd ahead of us or конце or any 그런potently feeling like the word of god rather as when the scripture says to you understand one thing you should believe it but you do not believe it if you don't believe in the word of god because as And on his law doth he meditate day and night.

33:20 Now, whatever that means, one thing is clear. That there is no such thing as a righteous man living consistently with what he is, who is a stranger to meditation. There is no such thing as a righteous man living consistently with what he is, who is a stranger to meditation. The first characteristic of the righteous man is, in the law of God he meditates day and night.

33:52 And for an example of such a man, we turn again to the 119th Psalm, and with very little comment I shall simply read several of the verses so that you feel something of the force of the prominence of meditation in the interaction of the psalmist's heart with his God and with the word of his God. Psalm 119 and verse 15, I will meditate on thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways. Meditation preceding respect to the ways of God. Verse 23, Princes sat and talked against me, so I went off and had a pouting fit,

34:36 and asked why did God let me be treated thus? No. Princes sat and talked against me, but thy servant did meditate on thy statutes. Verse 48, I will lift up my hands also unto thy commandments which I have loved and will meditate in thy statutes.

35:02 And there are many other passages. Perhaps the best known is verse 97. Oh, how love I thy law! And how was his love expressed?

35:10 It is my meditation. Meditation all the day. Meditation was the fruit of love to the law of God. And wherever that love exists, meditation will occur.

35:24 In the New Testament, perhaps the closest thing to meditation in the way of commandment is Colossians 3.16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. You see, let that word dwell in you.

35:40 Let it take up its home and abide in you richly. Let it take up its home and abide in you richly. Let it take up its home and abide in you richly. Now, what does meditation mean?

35:49 Well, the two most frequently used words in the Old Testament mean to ponder. The other one means to murmur or to mumble. So you don't learn what meditation is from etymology. You get little hints.

36:06 But I would suggest a practical, working description of meditation as follows. Meditation involves the concentrated consideration, Meditation involves the concentrated consideration, of a specific aspect of biblical truth. Meditation involves the concentrated consideration of a specific aspect of biblical truth. Maybe there was a particular point in a sermon, some aspect of the person or work of Christ that was enunciated, some duty that was laid upon the conscience, and as you sat it came home with unusual power.

36:43 Meditation is taking that aspect of truth and taking all the powers of the mind and soul and concentrating them upon that truth. I would suggest in the second place that it involves a specific application of that truth to one's own circumstances and situation. Meditation is that activity in which our concentration upon the word or a specific aspect is not in the abstraction. The reason that truth struck us is that it answered a question which we'd had for weeks or months and it opened up a whole new vista of understanding to us.

37:25 And therefore as we concentrate upon it, we reflect upon it, it is with respect to our own circumstances and situation. Maybe there's a duty that we've omitted. Maybe this very night there's something, an area of your life that's been unfolded by the word of God. Meditation will be to take that text, that passage, that principle from the scriptures, concentrate upon it, let as it were something of its weight and its light and its heat be impressed upon the soul, but not in abstraction, but with respect to your own particular circumstances and situation.

38:04 And then thirdly, meditation will also almost invariably involve viewing that truth in its various relationships to other truths. This is one of the beauties of meditation. God's truth is so invariably involved and intertwined that when you look long enough and hard enough at one part, it will lead you to its sister and brother and kindred and cousin and second cousin, twice removed, twos, and you begin to see the beautiful symmetry of the word of God in the context of meditation. You see, in a very real sense, the communion service is a wonderfully, graciously imposed exercise in meditation.

38:46 Did you ever think of it that way? Not until I was preparing for this message. And it was a kind providence that this was a communion Sunday. What did Jesus say concerning this table?

38:58 This do in remembrance of me. In other words, when we come to the supper, there is to be a concentrated attention given, not to all biblical truth in general, but to a specific truth, namely, Christ in his dying love to his people. This do in remembrance of me. So there is a concentrated consideration of this specific truth that Jesus Christ, in the uniqueness of his person as the God-man, died for sinners, died for me.

39:39 And in dying for me, he has become the bread of life to me. But surely it involves something more than that. It involves the specific application of that truth to my own situation and circumstances. If I come burdened down with the memory of sins committed that fill me with a sense of shame, then my meditation must take that general truth of Christ in his person and work and make specific application to my own wounded conscience.

40:15 And I will find as I do that my conscience as it rests through the blood of the everlasting covenant. There is meditation, you see. Concentrated attention to a truth, but not in abstraction, as it applies to me. Perhaps I do not come with a conscience weighted down with the sense of miserable failure.

40:37 There is the consciousness, I'm a sinner, yes, but maybe this has been the week in which God has enabled me to triumph in an area where I've known nothing but defeat. And so I come to the supper with joy. Why? Because I say, Lord, this triumph is the fruit of your suffering.

40:53 You died for what purpose? To redeem me from all iniquity and purify me to yourself. Zealous of good works. Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that this victory that I've never known before is not the fruit of my strivings.

41:10 It's not the result of my cleverness. It is the issue of the pouring forth of redemptive blood. Well, you see, you can trace that out in any number of directions. But then there is the tracing of that truth upon which we concentrate to its related truths.

41:29 And how can we come to the Lord's table obeying His command? Do this in remembrance of me. As we think of Him and His dying love, we think of the Father's heart so large as to send the Son. And then we think back that that heart set its love upon us in eternity.

41:49 And we go from the cross to the throne into the very mysterious depths of eternity where we view the sovereign electing love of the Father. And then He says, this do in remembrance of me. And the Apostle says, as oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye show forth the Lord's death till He come. And then our minds think ahead that a time is coming when we'll no longer need broken bread and the fruit of the vine to remind us of our Savior's dying love.

42:26 We'll see with these very eyes, transformed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, we'll see the Lamb in the midst of the throne and we'll join the four and twenty elders and the thousands upon ten thousands and we with them will cry worthy of the Lamb. You see, you have a wonderful illustration of what meditation is. Meditation is in the proper coming to the Lord's Supper. Now, do we meditate?

42:53 You say, Pastor Martin, you really are living in a fool's paradise. You'd better get down out of your study and away from all your old Puritan friends. Don't you know you're talking to people who live in the New York, New Jersey metropolitan area? Who've got to drive through this wretched traffic on Route 80, Route 46, Route 22, Route 287.

43:11 Who've got to go through the stinky smell of the Lincoln Tunnel to go into... Meditation!

43:17 In the New York, New Jersey metropolitan area where life is lived in this whiz-bang frenzy? My friends, until God comes down and rewrites Psalm number one, you and I had better learn to meditate. I don't care where we live. In what area, at what era of human history, for the blessed man has always been the man who meditates in the law of God, day and night.

43:43 Now, does that mean that he has a rich uncle who pays his bills? Who takes care of all the economic necessities and he, like a monk, having his house for his cloistered place instead of a monastery, just sits in the corner like little Jack Horner and looks at his Bible and meditates? No. Obviously not.

44:07 The man who wrote this often spent hours out on a battlefield with a sword cutting off people's heads and putting them to death. Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands. He had to administer the entire theocracy. He was a king, a man with all the demands of a place of leadership.

44:28 No, no, to meditate in the law of God day and night does not mean that we are detached from other legitimate God-honoring responsibilities. But it does mean that having riveted by repetition some precept or principle or phrase from the Word of God to our mind, having cried to God to write it upon the heart and incline the heart to its obedience, what do we do? Our hands may be changing our little one's diaper. They may be washing the dishes in the sink.

45:03 They may be changing the beds. They may be pushing an iron over an ironing board. But in those activities in which the total engagement of the mind is not necessary for our own safety or for the safety of the one to whom we are ministering, or in terms of the job we are performing, then you see the mind turns over that thought that has come from the Word of God and sucks sweetness from it, turns it over, rivets itself upon it. That's what it means to meditate in the law of God day and night.

45:39 I can remember again how I had to learn this lesson the hard way. I read Psalm 1 and I didn't have anyone to interpret it to me in a balanced way. And I thought it meant just what it said. But it seems to say day and night, every waking moment in the day and in the night, you would consciously be thinking of the Word of God.

45:57 Well, I'd only been converted a few months and I was doing construction work to put aside some money to go off to school. And I'll never forget, after the first week or so I came home and I'd only been a Christian a few months and the Word of God was precious and I would spend hours reading it and hours praying over it and hours preaching it on the street corner wherever anyone would give me a half an ear. But then I came home feeling so discouraged and I said to my dear godly mother, Mom, do you know that today there was a period when what a whole hour went by and I didn't think of the Lord and I didn't think of His Word once. I said, I must be growing cold to the Lord and backslidden.

46:39 She said, son, what were you doing during that hour? I said, well, it was the hour when I was putting the sand and the cement into the cement mixer. I was touting out so many shovels. She said, well, what would happen if your mind was wandering a little bit and you got your arm in there?

46:57 I said, I'd lose an eye. She said, well, do you think the Lord expects you to be thinking consciously upon His Word and by not giving all of your attention to mixing cement you could endanger the body He's given? I said, oh, I see it now. Well, that was a simple little lesson.

47:14 But that was a profound lesson to me. My conscience was tortured. And there may be some mothers here whose consciences are tortured. It seems that days go by, particularly when you have little ones who need that constant care day and night.

47:29 And you say, I haven't spent a half an hour reading the Word of God and concentrated attention to the Word of God. Days go by and I can't seem to get 15 minutes to pray. Well, I certainly don't want to be a mouthpiece of the devil to console a backslidden mother because mothers can be backslidden. But I would seek to be an instrument in the hands of my Lord to take some unnecessary pressure off the conscience of a tender young mother.

47:58 God expects you in the care of that child, in the care of your home. When the particular task performed demands the concentration of all your faculties, He does not expect you at that point to be consciously meditating upon His Word. And anyone who tells you that, God does not have a balanced scriptural base to rub your conscience raw. Anyone who tells a young mother, no matter what her schedule is, if she doesn't have her half an hour quiet time every single day, she's backslidden.

48:30 That's ridiculous. There's not a shred of Biblical evidence to support such an allegation. And dear young mothers, one of the most wholesome signs that you're not backslidden is that your heart still yearns for more time alone with God. You feel the pain of not having more time.

48:52 Now when you cease to feel that pain, that's a sign you may be in bad shape. You see? But we must meditate. Whether we're young mothers, whether we commute into the city, whether we commute 50 miles from here, there will be very little profitable hearing without meditation.

Duty 4: Implementation – Working Out the Word in Life

49:13 Well, I hurry now to the last word. After the hearing of the Word, riveting to the mind by repetition, seeking by supplication to have it written upon the heart, and the heart inclined to obedience, then by meditation, seeking to assimilate it into the totality of life, but then there's got to be this fourth thing, or it all comes to naught and is aborted. There must be implementation. There must be implementation.

49:48 And here again I want to establish this principle from the Old and the New Testaments. And we go back again to our friend tonight, Psalm 119. And I hope by now some of you are getting the idea that if you haven't read that Psalm for a while, it might be good to read one of those eight-verse sections before you come to the ministry of the Word every Lord's Day. It would be a very salutary exercise, I'm sure.

50:14 But notice now how the psalmist was conscious of this principle that implementation had to follow exposure to the Word of God. Psalm 119, beginning with verse 57. The Lord is my portion. I have said that I would observe thy words.

50:35 I entreated thy favor with my whole heart. Be merciful unto me according to thy word. I thought on my ways. Here's a hint of meditation.

50:47 You see, he's reflecting on his lifestyle in the light of the precepts of God. I thought on my ways and turned to God. And turned my feet unto thy testimonies. I made haste and delayed not to observe thy commandments.

51:07 Here is implementation. He receives the Word. He prays. But now after receiving and hearing and meditating, he implements.

51:21 He says, I turn my feet into the way of thy testimonies. I made haste and delayed not to render obedience. When God laid upon Joshua the duty of meditation, this was the ultimate end. In Joshua 1.8, he said,

51:39 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. Why? That thou mayest observe to do. Meditation leading to implementation.

51:52 And then, of course, you've already anticipated, I'm sure, many of you, the New Testament passage, James chapter 1. James chapter 1, verse 22. Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves. For if any man is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror.

52:23 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But he that looketh into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth, but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing. The words hardly need comment, do they? Blessedness comes in the implementation.

52:53 Then, of course, that passage in Hebrews 5, which underscores the principle that we become candidates for more light, only as we obey and work out the light we have. The writer to Hebrews desires to open up certain strands of truth relative to Christ as the great fulfillment of the Melchizedekian perspective on the priesthood. But he said, I can't tell you these things, verse 11, chapter 5, of whom that is Melchizedek. We have many things to say and hard of understanding.

53:31 Why? Seeing ye are become dull of hearing. Now what made them dull hearers? They were not good hearers of the word.

53:41 He goes on to tell them, for when by reason of the time ye ought to be teachers, there's been much truth preached to them, you have need again that someone teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of God. And there becomes such as have need of milk and not of solid food. For everyone that partaketh of milk is without experience in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food is for full-grown men.

54:08 Now how do they become full-grown men? Even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil. You see what he's saying? True spiritual growth does not come in terms of the mere input of Biblical knowledge into the ears or even in terms of its being riveted to the mind.

54:33 It is when it is implemented, when it is worked out in use, making practical ethical decisions, no to this, yes to that, yes to this, no to that, the word of God at work in practical ethical and moral decisions, that man becomes full-grown. Why? What comes by way of input is turned into spiritual sinew and muscle as he works out the word of God. It could well be that this is the problem with some of you.

55:11 There's much input and much understanding, but in many ways you're still a babe. Why? Because you are not exercising your spiritual senses under the discipline of the word. For instance, we touched some pretty nitty-gritty things today.

55:30 Remember when we talked about what's required under the hearing of the word of God? Under the hearing of the word, there must be this resolute fixation of the mind, and we talked about general mental discipline, and how excessive TV watching undercuts it. Now, some of you were smitten at that, but you know what's going to happen? You're going to go back, and this coming week, you're going to watch the same amount of hours of TV, and no good comes.

55:56 What's the problem? You're not exercising your senses in terms of the new light you received. It's a frightening thing. Not only altogether possible, but in the case of many of the Hebrews, it was their actual situation.

56:16 The writer to the Hebrews here is not talking about apostates. He talks about them in chapter 6, but there's a sense in which this state can be the harbinger of apostasy. When we begin to have the word impinge upon the conscience, but do not implement the changes demanded by that impingement. Today, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart.

56:41 That's why the Psalmist could say, not boastingly, but in the understanding of this principle, I have more understanding than the ancients. Why? Not because I have a better IQ, but he says, because I keep thy precepts. He said, my increased understanding is the fruit of my obedience.

Conclusion: Call to Diligent Hearing and Unbelievers

57:01 Well, dear children of God, I lay before you those four simple words outlining your duty and mine after the hearing of the word. I emphasize again, I am not saying if these duties are not implemented there will be no profit from the preaching you hear. Nor am I saying if you implement these there will automatically be a certain measure. But I am saying that if we are pressing to a maximum return from preaching and teaching of the word, then it is presumptuous to plead for that return without following these principles.

57:38 These principles of the word of God. And as we follow them in dependence upon the Spirit and cry for His gracious working most frequently, most frequently, the measure of our true blessing from the word of God will be in direct proportion to our repetition of what we've heard, our supplication with respect to it, our meditation upon it, and our immediate implementation of it in life. Oh, as we anticipate the regular ministry of the coming months, if God is pleased to spare us all, I hope that we will come longing to see our Savior, longing to hear His voice,

58:22 to know His will, and obey His precepts. And if so, then may the words of Christ ring in our ears. One of the elders suggested last week maybe we ought to have a sign and hang it up over the doorways of this auditorium if they'd let us do it. Take heed how ye hear, that as we enter, it will come home to us with power that we have a tremendous responsibility to give constant and solemn attention to the manner in which we hear the word of God.

58:55 But you may be sitting here tonight and may have sat here this morning and said, for the life of me, I cannot understand what in the world that man's getting so excited about. And these crazy people, they really seem to be interested in it. They sit and take that stuff for a whole hour. My friend, is that the way you've been thinking?

59:15 Do you know why you think that way? There's one very simple answer. You're a stranger to the Christ who has captured our hearts. Because you see, Jesus said in John 14, if ye love me, ye will keep my commandments.

59:29 He that loveth me not keepeth not my words. You see, it's because we love Christ who first loved us, that when he says, take heed how ye hear, we want to obey that commandment out of love to him. And the reason you're indifferent to the word of God is because you are indifferent to the Son of God whose word this is. And my friend, indifference to him is a terrible thing.

59:58 It's an evidence of unbelief. It's an evidence that you love your sin. It's an evidence that you're on the way to perdition. And I would call upon you to reflect upon what you've seen and heard today and say those people are living in a realm that I know nothing about.

60:18 They're concerned about issues that are totally beyond the realm of my acquaintance. That's true, we are. That's why John could say, or the Lord could say, the world knew me not, it will know you not. No, John said it.

60:33 The world does not know us. But my friend, this is no little esoteric thing. We are warranted on the basis of the word of God to say all that we know and enjoy in Christ and in his word is yours if you will have it. But you say, where can I obtain it?

60:53 Only one place. It's in a person. And that person is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died for the most wretched of sinners, who rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father and now in his word says to all men, come unto me. You see, this has nothing to do with going through some kind of ecclesiastical ritual.

61:18 It has nothing to do with learning a few things and spitting some things back to a reverend. No, no, no, my friend. It has to do with you and your sin, having direct dealings with the Son of God in his saving power. And if you are one whom I've described in these last few moments, oh, that you may reflect upon your ways, you begin to take down that dusty Bible and know the dust of it and begin to search its pages and begin to seek in earnest to know who you are and where you're going and how much you need the Savior and how willing he is to receive you if you'll have him on his terms.

61:58 Let us pray. Our heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this day in which we've been privileged to reflect upon what it means rightly to hear that word. We pray that you will seal these things to our hearts.

62:26 Oh, God, incline our hearts to keep and to obey your precepts. Make of us a body of good hearers of the word of God. We thank you now that we may commend to you those who must leave. Give them journey mercies as they make their way to their homes.

62:48 May they reflect and meditate upon what they have heard this day. And for your people who will remain to remember the Lord Jesus in his appointed way, may great blessing come to us as we put ourselves in the path of obedience. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.