Central Place of Personal Bible Reading (1)

Introduction: The Indispensable Place of Personal Bible Reading

0:04 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, February 21st, 1993, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:16 Now will you turn with me, before we pray, to a very familiar portion of the Word of God, but its very familiarity is such that it warrants constant reiteration, constant reading in the hearing of God's people. It's found in 2 Timothy chapter 3, 2 Timothy chapter 3,

0:46 in giving to Timothy, his spiritual son, a realistic assessment of the spiritual climate in which he will have to carry out his ministry, a climate in which there will be increasing manifestations of self-love, very interesting, self-esteem, self-love, self-actualization generation. The scriptures tell us that grievous times have come when men are lovers of self. So rather than this whole religion of self-love being an evidence of our coming of age,

1:27 it is another manifestation of the grievous times that have come upon us. And then the apostle goes on to say that in the midst of, in those grievous times, men, being the inveterate religious creatures they are, will hold to a form of godliness, but they will deny its power. They will go on singing their hymns and attending church, but living like the world. There will be no evidence of the power of the gospel transforming them.

2:00 But what is Timothy to do in such a set of circumstances? Is he to throw up his hands and quit? Is he? Is he to become cynical and sour?

2:10 No. He is told in verse 14 of chapter 3, But abide thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a babe thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Scripture inspired of God, also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction or training which is in righteousness,

2:53 that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto good work. Let us then pray in the confidence that we have God breathed scripture in our hands. God may so speak to us. That we will know its teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction in the way of righteousness.

3:20 Let us pray together. Our Father, we are so thankful for the privilege that has already been ours to worship you in this place this morning. We thank you for the felt sense of your nearness in the Sunday school hour. As your word came to us, we believe not in word only, but in power.

3:45 Thank you for being with us in our worship as we have sung your praises, as we have acknowledged with gratitude your mercy that has included us in your heavenly Zion. Thank you for the worship we have been able to pour out at the feet of Christ our great prophet. And for this hymn of praise we have been able to sing concerning your word. Thank you for the sobering word read in our hearing.

4:19 And for the corporate prayers that we believe you have heard. Oh God, it has been good to draw near to you in the felt reality of communion with yourself. And now we come again, pleading that as we turn to the scriptures, we may know the ministry of the Spirit with the word. Oh Lord, capture every mind and heart, with your own truth and grant that ere this hour is over, each one of us will know that we have heard from you, the living God.

4:56 Find the powers of darkness, that wicked one, who, like the birds that follow the path of the sower, seeking to snatch away the seed sown. May he not be able to snatch away the seed sown in our hearts this morning, but from the youngest to the oldest, may that seed be received in good and honest hearts, and bring forth fruit thirty, sixty and a hundredfold to the praise of your name we plead. A little more than a hundred years ago,

5:38 a bishop in the Church of England by the name of John Ryle, known to many of us as, wrote these very perceptive words. Next to praying, there is nothing so important in practical religion, as Bible reading. God has mercifully given us a book, which is able to make us wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 3 and verse 15.

6:15 By reading that book, we may learn what to believe, what to be, and what to do. We may learn how to live with comfort, and how to die in peace. Happy is that man who possesses a Bible. Happier still is he who reads it.

6:38 Happiest of all, is he who not only reads it, but obeys it, and makes it the rule of his faith, and of his practice. Nevertheless, it is a sorrowful fact, that man has an unhappy skill, in abusing God's gifts. His privileges, and power, and faculties, are all ingeniously perverted to other ends, than those for which they were bestowed by God. His speech, his imagination, his intellect, his time, his influence, his money,

7:21 instead of being used as instruments for glorifying his maker, are generally wasted, destroyed for his own selfish, self-destructive ends. And just as man naturally makes a bad use of his other mercies, so he does of the written word of God. One sweeping charge may be brought against the whole of Christendom, and that charge is neglect and abuse of the Bible. We have no need to look abroad.

8:01 The proof lies at our own doors. I have no doubt that there are more Bibles, and writing as someone ministering in Liverpool in England, he says, I doubt not that there are more Bibles in Great Britain at this moment, than there ever were since the world began. There is more Bible buying and Bible selling, more Bible printing and Bible distribution, than ever since England, when England was a nation. We see Bibles in every bookseller's shop, Bibles of every size, every price and style, Bibles great and Bibles small,

8:43 Bibles for the rich and Bibles for the poor. There are Bibles in almost every house in the land. But all this time, I fear, we are in danger of forgetting that to have the Bible is one thing, and to read it, and to obey it, is quite another. Why have I read these words, written over a hundred years ago in your hearing, on this snowy morning in February of 1993?

9:20 Well, my answer is for the simple reason that in the course of our present series of sermons, entitled A Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church, we're engaged in considering the ninth affirmation of that manifesto. And that affirmation has been expressed in this way. We are determined to maintain a balanced New Testament teaching and expectation concerning conversion, the Christian life, and the mission of the Church. In seeking to focus your attention on the second strand of that affirmation,

10:02 namely the doctrine of the Christian life, we have, for several months, been examining some of the major principles of living the Christian life as they are set out before us in the Scripture. Several Lord's Days ago, we took up these principles expressed in this way. There are no effective signs for the divinely appointed means of grace life purposes. I defined a means of grace as a divinely instituted, activity, discipline, or relationship

10:47 calculated to increase and strengthen the spiritual life which God imparted to us in conversion. I suggested that it is helpful in seeking to identify and collate these various divinely instituted means of grace to think of them in two broad categories. The private or individual means of grace on the one hand, and the social or corporate means of grace on the other. We then proceeded to consider the most fundamental of the private means of grace, namely,

11:27 the habit and the disposition of personal or private grace. Today, we begin to examine together the second major private means of grace, namely, personal , Bible, reading. However, lest the triteness of that phrase be an impediment to real application of mind and heart to our subject, I want to address this matter of personal Bible reading in this way. When I use that term, I am referring to the practice of personal, mental,

12:12 and spiritual assimilation of the contents of the Bible. The practice of mental and spiritual assimilation of the contents of the Bible. And I am ass...

No Substitute for Assimilation of Scripture

12:37 For this divinely appointed, sovereignly instituted means of grace, there is no effective substitute for the habit and the disposition of personal or private prayer, likewise, there is no effective substitute for the practice of personal, mental, and spiritual assimilation of the contents of the Bible. Now, because of the undeniable indications that Bishop Ryle's opening remarks with which I began this morning

13:19 are more true now than when he originally wrote them a hundred years ago, I want to do one thing and one thing only this morning. In fact, I can only begin to do it. It will take me two messages in which to accomplish it, and that is to demonstrate the dispensable place of the personal, mental, and spiritual assimilation of the Scriptures as a means of grace. It is one thing I do.

13:49 He said it with reference to an overall perspective on the Christian life, and that is to demonstrate that the spiritual assimilation is effective on the Christian life. With reference to the sermon this morning and, God willing, in our next meditation, this one thing I do. Preacher and teacher of the Word of God, I have one aim, one goal, and toward that I am bending all of my powers in dependence on the Holy Spirit, and that is to demonstrate from the scroll an indispensable place.

14:33 Mental and spiritual assimilation and, God willing, in our next study, another five, so that when we are done, we will have had ten clear lines of biblical evidence, all of which point to this one conclusion, that personal, mental, and spiritual assimilation of the Bible is an indispensable means of grace

15:11 to the impoverishment of our souls. If it is perpetually neglected, it brings into question whether we have the divine life of God within our souls. If we attempt to provide any substitutes for it, we will be cursed of God for our arrogance, and if we simply trip along, ignorant of the species of personal, mental, and spiritual assimilation of the Word of God, our status as perpetual spiritual pigments

The Central Place in the Spiritually Blessed Man (Psalm 1)

15:54 is a constant witness to our folly. Think with me on five lines this morning. Number one, consider the central place of the assimilation of the Scriptures of the Spiritually blessed man. Consider the central place of the assimilation of the Scriptures

16:36 of the Spiritually blessed man. Turn, please, to Psalm 1. Psalm 1. To point out, in a very real sense, the first Psalm sets the very tone and framework and theme of the entire book of Psalms, and it begins with the exclamation, all the blessedness of the man that walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight

17:21 is in the law of Jehovah, and on his law doth he meditate day and night. The Psalmist begins with this exclamation, and it's in the plural, all the blessednesses. It is the plural of an intensified expression. We could render it freely all happy, the man.

17:51 The measure of blessedness is the man, the woman, the boy, the girl. That intensely blessed man, woman, boy or girl is described negatively in terms of three things that he does not do as a pattern of life. He does not walk in the counsel or advice of the wicked. He does not stand in the way of sinners, associating unnecessarily with them, viewing life through their glasses, nor does he sit in the seat of scoffers.

18:35 He does not take the mindset of the skeptic and of the unbeliever. That's the negative. The person who knows intensified blessedness, the blessedness of communion with God, of the favor of God, the spiritually blessed man is the one who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, does not stand in the way of sinners, does not sit in the seat of scoffers, but we must not leave him there. For he would not be the intensely blessed man did he only avoid those three things.

19:19 But we have the positive. But his delight, is in the law of Jehovah, and on his law doth he meditate day and night. Positive things are said of him. It is said that his delight is in the law of Jehovah.

19:42 And here the word Torah is used. And though there are times when it refers more exclusively to the ten words of Moses, in its more general sense and certainly in this context, it refers to the entirety of the word of God, which at this point in time would have included at least the Pentateuch, the first five books of Moses, and the blessed man, the blessed woman, the blessed boy or girl, the one whose blessedness is near to the bursting point is the one who has delight of Jehovah. Who cannot think

20:26 of God's revealed mind as contained in the scriptures without getting genuinely excited. He cannot think of the scriptures and be emotional. The sense of some kind of a mystic emotion will make him a more holy man. Oh no.

21:05 Meditate could be rendered on his law. He doth humble. He doth mumble. He doth speak.

21:28 He doth news. In other words, it's the picture of a man who's taken something into his mind and is so memorized with it all with himself concerning the content, the substance of facet of the law of God.

22:04 Meditates, describes the righteous man as the one who his hand finds to do and does it with all faith as unto the Lord

22:47 and not as unto men. To fulfill the full range of his God-given duties in the midst of his life. He is a man. She is a woman.

22:59 He is a boy. She is a girl who is determined that all life will be regulated now listen carefully by the word of God mentally to the point the terminology deliberately. Consider the central place of the assimilation of the scriptures in the spiritually blessed man. use of the word assimilate if you look it up in the dictionary when used with regard

23:44 to living things is that what is taken into the plant or the animal becomes a very part of that living organism and it is this relationship to the word of God which is celebrated in Psalm 1. The spiritually blessed man, spiritually blessed woman, boy or girl, wherever you find him as one who resolutely deliberately refuse

24:18 to react to life with sinful presuppositions and to look out at life with sinful spectacles he refuses to sit in the seat of scoffers who in the pride of their intellects set themselves up as judges over the word and ways of God. Wherever you find a truly blessed person you will find the person who refuses those three patterns who is found in light

25:00 in the law and who is not only exceedingly such a person and then the verse is three that brings forth fruit in his season. He is the one whose leaf does not wither and notice he alone is the righteous man for the contrast

25:45 of verse four is there's only one other kind of person and that's the wicked. The wicked are not so. My friend, you're either the righteous described in the first two verses or you're a wicked man or woman. If you don't delight in the word of God and you don't meditate in the word of God God says you're a wicked man.

26:10 I didn't say I didn't make the judgment. I am not saying that if you pass through a period of physical dullness where it's hard to read your Bible and where it's hard to feel anything but your headache and your fever you're not a Christian. No, I'm not saying that. That would be cruel and heartless.

26:30 There are times when due to our physical and emotional state and a general state of spiritual dullness we can't delight in anything spiritual. We'd give a thousand dollars if we could feel one twitch of delight in some spiritual reality. I know what that is. I know what it is to have to stand and try to lead you in worship where my own soul felt like a glacier.

26:55 I know that. I know what it is through various influences of sin, indwelling sin and the world and the flesh and physical indisposition to pass through periods when there is not that mumbling over and that musing upon and that humming and that flushing the mind day and night with the Word of God. Yes, I'm fully conscious of the realities of physical and spiritual dullness and backsliding but if this is not the baseline of your life the ordinary pattern of your life that you delight in God's law

27:39 and you meditate in it day and night you are a wicked man a wicked woman a wicked boy a wicked girl. Mom and Dad are going to play your favorite radio. Oh, we're going to see Dumbo. Oh, we're going to see this or that or the other.

28:10 Dare not mention specifics lest someone think I'm putting my imprimatur on it. You know what it's like to get excited to delight in it to tear up its images. Oh, this is the part that's coming and to be excited. If you don't know any of that excitement Mom and Dad say time for devotions.

28:30 We're going to read about Moses. We're going to read about Joshua. We're talking now about parents that seek to make the Bible stories come alive not talking about dull pedantic parents sitting at the table mumbling through the Bible. Dear people I'm not a jerk.

28:47 I know that parents can make the Bible uninteresting. I understand precious children. You don't delight in God's word. You're wicked.

29:01 You delight in your favorite video. You delight in your favorite comic character. You delight in your favorite activities. But you don't delight in God's word.

29:13 You resent it when Mom and Dad try to get you to memorize it. You resent it when your Sunday school teachers try to get you to memorize it and to hide it in your heart. It's because you're wicked. Wicked.

29:31 It's true of you adults. The central place in the spiritually blessed man is clearly set forth in Psalm 1. Oh but someone says that's the Old Testament. Well so what?

The Central Place in the Spiritually Blessed Man (Revelation 1)

29:44 That's God breathed scripture profitable for doctrine. But it's very interesting that the last book of the Bible the book of Revelation begins on the same note. Turn to Revelation chapter 1. Revelation chapter 1.

29:58 I would rest the case biblically on that Psalm alone. So I don't do this because I accept the fact that the Holy Testament is the scripture profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction instruction. But notice how the last book of the Bible begins Revelation 1 3 blessed here's a beatitude that comes long after Matthew chapter 5 in what we commonly call the beatitudes. Blessed is he that keeps

30:43 the words of the prophecy and keep and that word keep means to treasure up to retain as something precious as the concept of more than mere external observance. It means to keep as a man keeps the darling of his heart his wife a woman keeps and treasures her husband now that persecution has been let loose upon the church and John is in the isle of Patmos for the word and testimony of Christ and evil and sin

31:27 have already made horrible inroads among some of the churches so that five of the seven churches in Asia Minor receive severe indictments and rebukes and calls to repentance from the risen man the spiritually blessed woman here he is there she is blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things that are written therein. You see the central place of the assimilation of the scriptures in the spiritually blessed man not the mere reading not the mere

32:11 hearing but the assimilation he delights in and meditates day and night by meditation spiritual masticating and swallowing and a spiritual process of absorption into the very stuff of the soul and of the spiritual life blessed is the one who not merely reads and hears that are written would you be spiritually blessed no substitute for this divine appointed means of grace secondly consider the central place of the assimilation

The Central Place in the Spiritually Stable Man (Psalm 37)

32:56 of scripture in the spiritually stable man be it central place in the spiritually blessed man but the central place of the assimilation of the scriptures in the spiritually stable man now what child of God in this place this morning does not desire stability and constancy in his walk with God in his communion with Christ in his obedience to Christ surely true Christian in this place if he could have his way would never waver

33:40 one life of constancy and devotion to Christ obedience to Christ sealed for Christ that kind of stability is not to be ours in this life but there is a relative stability spoken of in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 12 what is the

34:10 state of the spiritual infancy it is marked by instability would you be a spiritually stable man or woman with all of your ups and downs and periods of dryness none the less people looking at you you are blessed and predictable thank God to those whom I have known through the years who are blessed and predictable spiritual stability well what place does the assimilation of the word of god have in such

34:52 a life turn please to psalm 37 and verse 31 for the answer considering now the central place of the assimilation of the word of god of the scriptures in the spiritually psalm 37 to this psalm without a little bit of nostalgia the first time i ever preached a sermon in a church was in a little church in forchester new york and i expounded portions of this song i'd already preached on the street corner but that was my first proper preaching in a church in pulpit

35:32 and it was from this song and in this song there is so much we looked at it a few weeks ago in terms of one of its great promises relative to prayer but now notice the description of the righteous in psalm 37 in verse 31 we know that the his is the righteous because of verse 30 the mouth of the righteous talketh of wisdom and his tongue speaketh justice

36:02 the law of god here we are torah again the word of god is in his none of his steps description of us spiritually it says none of his steps shall slide it's the picture of someone who's walking in a treacherous where there is loose soil and rock beneath his feet and to have his feet go underneath out from underneath him would be to

36:41 be treacherous he could slide down a deep craggy precipice and be dashed to pieces certainly does not mean he may not have some stumblings for notice he's already described the righteous man in verse 23 and following of the same psalm this way a man's goings are established of the lord and he delighteth in his way though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down for the lord upholds him with his hand so whatever the psalmist is saying in verse thirty one about a stable man he's not talking about sinless perfection

37:24 he's not talking about times when he may stumble and skin his knees but he's talking about that sliding that would result in destruction that sliding that would result in the shaming of the name of Christ that would result in marring and scarring his witness bring into question perhaps even the validity of the profession of his faith surely child of god you want to be a spiritually stable man or woman bouncing off his ear and preaching twice or three times a week

38:03 the law of god is off his ears in family devotion and the law of god is being threaded through his eyes in private story of a man's life or another in marriage or in marriage is their death or their last name goes in the name of god of devotions for when the thread passes through the eye of the needle it leaves nothing on the surface of the needle takes nothing from the thread no he's described this one as the law of god in his in other words there's been a process of mental and spiritual assimilation for the

38:44 scripture says guard thy heart above all that thou guardest for out of it what has your heart has you what's in your heart is what you are and here spiritual stability is attributed to the fact that the law of god is in his heart therefore none of his steps who and i to be kept from the banana peels of this world the loose round us down a precipice into ruin it is only as of god

39:26 the word of resident in the deepest change chambers of our hearts to use a different image literally interlaced with the thread is from the loom of the spirit's ministry of the heart that doesn't happen magically but by means of personal private mental and

40:07 spiritual would you be marked as stability then consider the central place of the assimilation of the scriptures in the spiritually stable that now thirdly consider the central place of the assimilation of the scriptures in the spiritually man spiritually now by spiritually successful i mean one who accomplishes in the strength of god that which he is given to do in the will of god

The Central Place in the Spiritually Successful Man (Joshua 1)

40:51 that is to be said spiritually success spiritual success is accomplishing in the strength of god

41:00 God, that which we are given to do in the will of God. Key text that indicates the intimate connection between such success and the assimilation of the scripture is Joshua chapter 1. Joshua chapter 1. Remember the setting? Moses is dead. Joshua, his successor in leadership,

41:38 is under God to lead the people of God into the land of promise. God says to his servant, verse 5, there shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good

42:08 courage, for you shall not fail me. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good courage, for you shall not fail me. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good

42:10 courage, for you shall not fail me. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good courage, for you shall not fail me. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good

42:12 courage, for you shall not fail me. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good courage, for you shall not fail me. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good

42:13 courage, for you shall not fail me. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good courage, for you shall not fail me. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good

42:14 courage, for you shall not fail me. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good courage, for you shall not fail me. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good

42:15 i swear unto their fathers to give them what is god saying he's saying now joshua here's your task moses my servant is dead but nothing of god died as tozer has so beautifully stated it when a man of god died my servant is dead but i am that i am and because i all that i am and all that i ever have been my purposes are such that as i was with moses so i will be with you i will not fail

42:56 you nor forsake you and you will therefore be successful god gives a promise of success this people to inherit the last i'm going to make you strong to accomplish my will that's success you're going to be successful therefore i use the term successful joshua you will not be aresser You will be a spiritual success. I will give you my strength to accomplish my will. God gives what appears to be an unconditional promise that he'll do it.

43:37 There in verse 6, you shall the people to inherit the land. But as we read on, it was not unconditional. There was a means that Joshua was to employ to attain that end. And what was that means?

43:53 Only be strong and very courageous to observe, to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success, whithersoever you go. Now you see the condition comes, I will give success, but you must do all according to my word that you may have. The book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate thereon day and night.

44:36 Familiar language?

44:38 That thou must observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosper. And then thou have not I commanded thee be strong and of good courage. Be not affrighted, neither be dismayed.

45:02 For the Lord thy God is with thee, with us, whithersoever thou goest. But someone says, but Pastor Martin, that was God's word to Joshua. What does that have to do with me? Well, if you will take the time to read Hebrews chapter 13 of God that was given to Joshua and how the writer to the Hebrews picks it right up out of this passage and its usage in two other places in the Old Testament and says this promise applies to all of the people of God in every place.

45:36 And in every age, therefore, arguing from the analogy of Scripture, we say that the principles embedded in what God says to Joshua are indeed directly applicable to every child of God. Would you be spiritually successful in and dispossess even nations as a military and political and religious leader? No. Would you accomplish in the strength of God?

46:12 What? What is given for you to do in the will of God? Would you be the godly wife that God has called you to be? The godly sensitive whose love to your wife mirrors the love of Christ to his church?

46:29 Whose dwelling with his wife according to knowledge will cause people to be amazed that a man could understand the delicate soul of a woman? Would you be successful? Would you do in the will of God as a husband and as a wife? What God has commanded you to do?

46:48 That is spiritual success. Would you as parents nurture your children in the chastening and admonition of the Lord? Would you as an employer so treat your employees that they will know this man himself is never, never far from remembering that he also has an employer? That's the argument of Paul in Ephesians.

47:12 You employers, you masters, you have a master in heaven. As long as you remember that, you'll treat your employees in such a way that they'll know your Christianity is more than Sunday religion. That's success. What is given you to do in the will of God?

47:31 You kids that attend that high school on the hill, what is the will of God for you? To study hard, to master what's there, to have discernment, to see through the things that are part of the counsel of the ungodly. And while you may have to give it back on a test, you can put your footnote. I've given your teacher what you asked.

47:52 I've shown that I've mastered the material. But I don't believe a word of it. I believe what my Bible says. To have the moral courage to be like a Daniel in the midst of the Babylon of Montville High School.

48:05 That's the will of God for you. Would you have the strength to be successful? Here's where it's going to come. How's it going to come?

48:14 You shall meditate in the law of God day and night. Day and night. Make thy way prosperous. Thou shalt have good.

48:28 It does. Who makes his pronouncements tends to be the ideal. Constantly assimilating the word of the living God. And there's no substitute for God's grace.

49:05 No effective substitute. And this is what is so tragic with the state of evangelicalism in our day. When people are looking for all kinds of spiritual success. When God has said no.

49:21 This is my pointed way. This is my way. My way. Would you be successful?

The Central Place in the Spiritually Blameless Man (Philippians 2 & Job 23)

49:37 Here is the pattern. The fourth place. Consider the central place of the assimilation of the scriptures in the spiritually blameless man. The central place of the assimilation of the scriptures in the spiritually blameless man.

49:56 Surely every one of us is Christians. Desires to be. What we are commanded to be in a passage such as Philippians chapter 2. Is there any Christian here who would say no I don't want to be that.

50:11 Philippians chapter 2. Do all things without murmurings and questionings. In order that ye may become blameless and harmless children of God without blemish. In the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.

50:35 Among whom you are seen as lights in the world holding forth the word of life. The same Paul who acknowledged in his own experience he was far from sinlessly perfect. The good that I would. The same Bible that says if any man says he has no sin he is a liar and the truth is not in him.

50:59 The same Bible calls us to a life that is blameless. Harmless. And without blemish. Now brethren that is not an unrealistic standard.

51:13 Though not sinless. And no little part of blamelessness is when you sin even before the ungodly. You confess your sin. A parent who loses his temper with his unconverted kids.

51:31 And humbles himself and says kids daddy blew his cork. A sin. I've asked God's forgiveness will you forgive me. He's blameless though not sinless.

51:40 If he does anything that has the appearance or the substance of ill will. He acknowledges it. He confesses it. He seeks forgiveness.

51:53 Harmless. He has no blemish. Of moral perversity that has not been addressed biblically. Now that's the standard for every one of us.

52:04 And if you're a Christian you don't sit there and say. Boy God's set an awful heart. You're calling God a pharaoh. Don't you do that.

52:13 Without blemish. As a brilliant of light. Against the inky black backdrop. Of this crooked and perverse.

52:31 Where people can sit on national television. And swim zooming until their face is filled. Oh God make me one who can scream. When I'm in the street and in the locker room.

52:57 Make me to be a young woman. Who can blush. When a fellow even looks at me with a leering eye. Make me a man who can feel ashamed of men.

53:09 When I see them with their lustful glances. Following the backside and the skirt of everything that walks by. Oh God make me blameless. Dear man of God.

53:24 Isn't that the yearning of your heart? Isn't that your yearning? You don't know a thing of the grace of God. You're content to say you're floating to heaven.

53:36 On the virtue of Christ's blood. And you don't passionately long. To be blameless. Harmless.

53:42 And without blemish. In this dark world. My friend face it. You're not a Christian.

53:48 I fear we've got too many hangers on in Trinity Church. You've got a convenient Christianity. And you've been sensing in recent weeks and months. The heat is on.

53:59 That you're not going to be very comfortable around here. Unless something happens. That's not a threat. That's just a step.

54:05 I believe there are many of you. Whose hearts even as I read the words. Say oh God. That's what I want to be.

54:16 I want to be a spiritually blameless. Man. Woman. Boy.

54:21 Or girl. That's what I want to be. That's what I'm committed to be. Well God tells us.

54:26 That there was such a man. In his day. He doesn't tell us. But God tells us.

54:31 I want you to turn to the book of Job. Many times you can tell where I've been in my own devotions. By the things that come out in the preaching. Well may God ever grant that it be that way.

54:42 And that's why there'll never be staleness. In the ministry of a man. If he stayed in one place. Like Gardner Spring did for 62 years.

54:51 He's my standard. He did that in New York City for 62 years. I figure maybe somebody can make it for 60 years in Jersey. All right.

54:59 The book of Job. Some of you say oh no. Thank God there isn't. Thank God there are others that say Lord grant it.

55:11 The book of Job. Verse one. Chapter one. There was a man.

55:17 He won an angel. Won a glorified saint. Sent down from Heaven. He was a man.

55:23 By nature. United to Adam. By nature. Filled with all of the potential for evil.

55:29 Common to all men. There was a man. In the land of Uz. Whose name was Job.

55:35 And that man was perfect and upright. One that feared God and turned away from evil. Perfect does not mean without moral blemish or spot or totally absent of the reality of sin. The subsequent story shows that the man had the seeds of doubt.

55:55 He had the seeds of cynicism. He had the seeds of bitterness and despair. And God lets them all come out, but he never changes his description of it. He was a perfect and an upright man who feared God and turned away.

56:09 From evil. You know the story of how Satan is admitted into the presence of God and there's this dialogue. And God himself says, verse 8, The Lord said unto Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God and turns away from evil? He was an upright man.

56:35 He was a spiritually blameless man. He was. Shining as light in the midst of the darkness of his generation. Now the question is, how did he get that way?

56:50 Well, turn to Job 23 and you'll see the central place of the assimilation of the scriptures in making Job a spiritually blameless man. And he was conscious of their central place in his own experience. Job 23, verse 2-12.

57:15 In the midst of all of the trauma, those of you that have Alexander Scorby's reading of the Old Testament, if you've not listened to him reading the book of Job, it would be a wonderful exercise for you to do so this afternoon. Most moving. In the midst of this confusion, not knowing what God is doing, he says in verse 10 of Job 23, But he knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth, as gold.

57:46 He has some sense that this is a trial from God that will purify him. Now notice. My foot held to his step. Have I kept and turned not aside.

58:05 I have not gone back from the commandments of God. Now notice the climactic statement. I have turned up the words of his mouth more than my necessary. I have maintained my authority.

58:27 I have maintained my authority. I have maintained my uprightness even in the midst of this traumatic, dark, enigmatic experience because I have not gone back from the commandment of his lips. And the reason he didn't was that he had a sense of the word of God into his very being. I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary.

58:55 He didn't just hear sermons. He didn't just have his devotional reading. He assimilated the word of God and in the midst of all the confusion he says my feet have held fast that are marked out by the precepts of God and it's because they've been assimilated into the very depths of my being that all of the winds and the gales and the buffeting pressure of these confusing providences and these false accusations of my so-called friends and the darkness of no voice from God in the midst of all this. He maintains his uprightness.

59:36 Would you be a spiritually of the word of God? He takes hold of that word assimilated. Be factual in the hour of our trial. And then very quickly and briefly, number five.

The Central Place in the Spiritually Wise Man (Psalm 119)

60:06 Consider the central place of the assimilation of the scriptures. Spiritually wise man. Consider the central place of the assimilation of the scriptures in the spiritually wise man. Surely every true Christian wants to be spiritually wise.

60:25 Why? Because spiritual wisdom is the ability to bring the right truths of the word of God to bear upon a given situation in order to think and to do the right thing. Isn't that what spiritual wisdom is? Spiritual wisdom is the ability to bring the right truths of God to bear upon a given situation in order to think and to do the right thing.

60:55 Now to be wise in the ways of God is God's will for all his children. Ephesians 5, 15 and 17. We are told that we are not to be unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Well how does that wisdom come?

61:13 Well in Psalm 119 the Psalmist tells us. Spiritual wisdom comes in this way. Psalm 119 verses 97 to 100. Oh how love I thy law.

61:29 Here we are again. It is my meditation all the day. It is that on which I ruminate. I muse over it.

61:38 I'm not content to let it merely be thread through the needle of my eye. Moss over the outer vestibule of my ear. As Jesus said let these words sink down into your ears. When I'm before the word of God I get out of the upright position and turn my head this way and say Lord let it sink in.

62:00 Thy commandments make me wiser than mine enemies. For they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers. For thy testimonies are my meditation.

62:17 I understand more than the aged because I have kept thy priesthood. You see it was in the way of yielding up to the moral demands of the word. And constantly seeking to understand. Constantly seeking to assimilate the word.

62:35 That he became wiser than men. Older than himself. And wiser than his teacher. Another lovely little stroke in verse 24.

62:47 That points in this direction. Thy testimonies also are my delight. And my counselors. The marginal reading.

62:58 The Hebrew. The men of my counsel. Thy testimonies are my delight. So that in a given situation I don't know what to do.

63:06 I'm in the counsel chamber. And there's the verse here. And a precept here. And a precedent there.

63:16 And I pray oh God help me to know which voice to listen to in this situation. Which text takes precedence. Which example should be the dominant one. Lord let your testimonies be the men of my counsel.

63:30 You see the problem with many of you. You lack wisdom. Why? Not because you've got a limited IQ.

63:35 You go to the counsel chamber in a given situation. And you have no men of counsel there. Why? You know more of prime time news than you know of the contents of the book of Ephesians.

63:48 You know more what's going on in the audience in the book of Revelation. You know more about the latest non about the book of Psalms. You know more shame, shame if there be such. But I'd be very surprised if there weren't.

64:16 You know more about the plots of soap operas. Or the plot of the life of children. Every five minutes in your Bible you're spending five hours in front of your televisions. Some of you have a practice of regular renting of videos.

64:38 You'll spend two and three and four hours a week watching movies out of Hollywood. And you don't spend a solid hour a week alone knowing your willful ignorance. And then when your ignorance gets you in trouble where do you run? You run to your elders and you want them to do what all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't do for Humpty Dumpty.

65:21 You want them to put you back together. You made a stupid choice about your marriage partner. Why? Because you didn't get wives.

65:34 Now you want the elders to say you made a stupid choice about your job, your career in this book. You spent more time reading the sports page. Reading the Wall Street Journal.

65:56 You spent more time about the life that you live. You have no muscle to surround you. Why? Because you've neglected this.

66:27 You've neglected it. Until you go to your grave and I go to my grave you will not be made wise through public preaching alone. You will not be able to say as the Psalmist did. I have been given this understanding.

66:56 Why? Because thy testimonies are my meditation and what I ruminate upon and it makes ethical demands. I run in the way of the commandments of God. And as I walk in the light God gives me.

67:12 He gives me more light. For the law of the kingdom is this. Jesus said to him that hath shall be given. From him that hath not shall be taken away that which he seems to have.

67:22 And that was in direct relationship. Lord why are you talking to those people out there in parables. But when you get us along you explain the things to us. He says to you it is given to know the mystery.

67:37 To him that hath shall be given. Dear people. It is time to declare all out on all the things that clap for the attention of your mind and your soul. And are keeping you from becoming a people.

67:57 And have the men of your counsel sit there. And give counsel to the family. And you can make your way from Genesis to Revelation. And pick out the examples and the incidents and carry the conscience of your wife and your children.

Conclusion: The Necessity of Spiritual Food and a Call to Repentance

68:22 That you are a man of God with heavenly wisdom. Guiding your family. He said I want to do one thing this morning. I want to convince you.

68:38 The central place of the mental spiritual assimilation of the word of God. As a means of grace. I have only given you five lines of evidence. The spiritually blessed man.

68:53 The spiritually stable man. The spiritually successful man. The spiritually blameless man. The spiritually wise man.

69:01 All have this in common. They are who are assimilating the word of God. Like what you heard this morning. Every living thing God created requires food.

69:22 The life that God imparts needs sustaining and nourishing. It is so with animal and vegetable life. Birds. Beasts.

69:30 Fishes. Reptiles. Insects and plants. And it is true with spiritual life.

69:35 When the Holy Ghost raises a man from the death of sin. And makes him a new creature in Christ. The new principle in that man's heart requires food. And the only food that will sustain him is the word of God.

69:47 There was never a man or woman truly converted from one end of the world to the other. Who did not love the revealed will of God. Tell me what the Bible is to a man. And I will tell you what he is.

70:02 This is the barometer to look at. If we would know the true state. I have no notion of the spirit. Dwelling in a man.

70:17 And not giving clear evidence of his presence. And his presence is not there. Where there is no love. You children.

70:30 Teenagers. Young people. Test yourself by this standard. You who are the people of God.

70:37 Test your resolution to be what Christ died to make you by these things. Did he die to make you a blessed man or woman. A stable man or woman. A successful man or woman.

70:49 Blameless and wise. Yes he did. I said reverently don't rob him of the fruit of his sufferings by your careless neglect of this. Don't rob your.

71:02 Don't put so light a price upon his blood. That you rob him. Of the fruit of his sufferings. Silly novel.

71:20 For your wasted hours on the telephone. Repent will be different. Due course to some counsels. How to begin.

71:39 But I am issuing the call today to evaluate yourself. Where necessary. To repent. Dear people.

71:50 The future of Trinity Church is bound up in what we do with the things we're hearing in these days. The day this begins to be at the grass roots of biblically illiterate people. It's the beginning of the end. And I mean illiteracy that comes not just from the pulpit.

72:09 It comes in the way of the person of the word. Father. We thank you for your word. Oh how we thank you for your word.

72:31 Thank you for its sufficiency. Thank you for its breadth and its scope. Thank you for the things we've been able to meditate upon this morning. We earnestly pray that you would make us indeed spiritually blessed.

72:48 Spiritually stable. Spiritually and spiritually wise. But oh Lord we know that you will never change the means appointed to that end. Forgive our neglect of that means.

73:07 Cleanse us of our sinful neglect of that means. And grant us not only a temporary stirring of determination to do something. But oh Lord permanent changes that will find us by degrees becoming mighty in the scriptures. Lord seal your word to those who have no delight and hunger for it.

73:32 As they've seen their hearts mirrored by the scriptures. Give them no rest until they have a heart that loves your word. A heart that trusts in your son. Seal your word then we pray.

73:46 In Jesus name. Amen.