How to Assimilate the Contents of the Bible (2)

Introduction: The Emmaus Road as an Illustration of Assimilating Scripture

0:04 Now may I urge you to turn again in your own Bibles, this time to the Gospel of Luke and chapter 24.

0:18 I will not be expounding this passage, though we will be looking at it and using it as one of the illustrations of one of the heads of the sermon, but since there may be some among us who are not familiar with the passage or for whom it has been some time since you read the passage, it would be good for us to turn to Luke 24, beginning with verse 13. Now you'll notice in verse 13 it speaks of that very day, and that very day was what we would call that first Easter Sunday, the day of our Lord's resurrection, and here we have a passage from the Gospel of Luke. It is an incident in which the focus is upon two discouraged, downcast, dispirited disciples and of our Lord coming to them, ministering to them, so that those whose experience began with dejection of heart ended with a burning heart. Follow then as I read verses 13 to 35 of Luke.

1:34 And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was threescore furlongs from Jerusalem, and they communed with each other of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, while they communed and questioned together, that Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were held on one another. And he said unto them, What communications are these that you have one with another as you walk?

2:15 And they stood still, looking sad.

2:22 And one of them, named Cleopas, answering, said unto him, Dost thou alone sojourn in Jerusalem, and not know the things which are come to pass in these days? Think of the irony of it. He said, You're the only dweller. Dost thou know what's happened?

2:39 And he was the center point of all that had happened. And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we hoped that it was he that should redeem.

3:08 Yea, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things came to pass. Moreover, certain women of our company amazed us, having been early at the tomb, and when they found not his body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. And certain of them that were with us went to the tomb and found it, even as the women had said. But him they saw not.

3:41 And he said unto them, O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets had spoken, behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village whither they were going, and he made as though he would go further. And they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is now far spent.

4:25 And he went in to abide with them. And it came to pass, when he had sat down with them to meet, he took the bread and blessed, and breaking, he gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Was not our heart burning within us, while he spake to us in the way, while he opened to us the scriptures?

4:58 And they rose up that very hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, saying, O Lord! The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they rehearsed the things that happened in the way, and how he was known of them in the breaking of the bread. Now let us again pray that God, by the Holy Spirit, would bless our study in the scriptures this morning.

5:30 Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for this portion of your word, how we are refreshed in the simple. reading of it. And we thank you that by the Holy Spirit, our Lord Jesus is able in this place, in this hour, to draw near, and to open unto us the scriptures until our hearts burn within us.

6:00 O Lord Jesus, come by the Spirit and be our teacher, and make our hearts to burn. May we know your presence. And the grace of your presence. And the grace of your Spirit upon us in the study of the scriptures.

6:16 We ask for our good, and for your glory. Amen.

Read the Scriptures Dependently

6:26 Now I have read this portion of the word of God because it clearly illustrates one of the truths that we are presently considering in our Sunday morning series of studies in the word of God. In the course of underscoring those biblical truths which have served us in the past, we have observed as the very backbone, the heart, and the lungs, and the spiritual viscera of this congregation for over a quarter of a century, we have come in our study of these truths to a contemplation of the doctrine of the Christian life by which we have lived and which we are determined to maintain. And in the unfolding of that issue, we are presently discovering the doctrine of the Christian life, and we are dealing with the fact that any balanced teaching and expectations concerning the Christian life must reckon with the fact that there are no effective substitutes for the God-appointed means of grace in living the Christian life. The means of grace, as I have defined them, are those activities and disciplines and relationships which,

7:47 as God has ordained, to nurture in his people the life which he has imparted to them. And we are presently considering those private or individual disciplines or means of grace, the first of which was the habit and the disposition of personal or secret prayer, and now, secondly, the matter of the reading and the assimilation. of the contents of our Bibles. And in our first two studies, I brought forward ten lines of biblical evidence seeking to persuade your judgment that the assimilation of our Bibles is a crucial means of grace and of spiritual development. Having done that, we began to address last Lord's Day the question, since Bible reading is so crucial to the nurture of our spiritual lives, how should we read our Bibles so as to assimilate the content of the Scriptures? And I set before you these three simple headings that we must read our Bibles regularly, and our key text was Proverbs,

9:16 Proverbs 8 and verse 34. Secondly, we must read our Bibles broadly, 2 Timothy 3.16 and Matthew 4.4.

9:26 And we must read our Bibles diligently, Proverbs 2.1-7 and 2 Timothy 2 and verse 7. Now this morning, it's my purpose to set before you four more aspects of the answer to that question. If God has ordained assimilation of the contents of this book mentally and spiritually is a critical means of grace, then we must know what God has said about how to assimilate it.

10:06 Having established that God has mandated that we read our Bibles regularly, broadly and diligently, I now set before you four more aspects of the reading of the Word, the Word of God, which Scripture imposes upon us. And the first is this, that we must read the Scriptures dependently. We must read the Scriptures dependently. And what am I seeking to convey by the use of the word dependently?

10:43 Well, nothing other than the fact that since the author of the Bible can give us true understanding of His Word, we must convey the spirit of dependence upon God Himself to teach us when we read His own Word. Turn with me please to several pivotal texts found in Psalm 119 that illustrate what it is to read the Scriptures dependently.

11:19 Psalm 119, this lengthy psalm that celebrates, the manifold nature and function and benefit and glory of the Word of God. We read in verses 18 and 19 the psalmist's prayer. Thou that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law, I am a sojourner in the earth, hide not Thy commandments from me. Now think of who it is that sends these words.

12:01 Well, whether it is David or another of the writers of the Psalms, the man who writes these words knew what it was to be a recipient of special revelation. He knew what it was to be one of those relatively few human beings that ever walked the face of the earth to whom God that would be embodied in the Scriptures and become part of that God.

12:38 He knew what it was to be a recipient of special revelation. When he came to study the existing revelation, he did not presume that that high and holy privilege would automatically qualify him to understand what had been previously written.

13:09 Therefore he prays things out of Thy law as Bridges quaintly expressed what they were. Then is the prayer of the psalmist. It is not in her Bible. Open my eyes to the Bible I already have.

13:46 The Apostle Paul. If you had been a Jeremiah or one of the prophets Matthew or Mark or Luke or John who had been used to be one through whose scripture was given, would you not be tempted to think that if God gave you such a high and noble privilege, then surely He would not withhold the lesser blessing of illumination upon that which was already written? The blessing of revelation is a far higher blessing than that of revelation. But you see, the psalmist did not presume that because God had used him as an organ of revelation, he would automatically be the recipient of illumination. But rather, in a spirit of humble dependence upon God, he cries out, Oh, behold wondrous things out of Thy law. Hide not Thy commandments, from me. Similarly, look at verse 73 in the same psalm.

15:01 Thy hands have made me and fashioned me. Give me Now again, remember, he had no problem with the Hebrew language. He was conversant in it. He didn't have the barrier of having to make sure that he had a translation that reflected the mind of God.

15:27 He didn't have the barrier of centuries of time between what God, had written and what He was reading and the barrier of a diverse culture. He was part of the Hebrew culture out of which the scriptures came. He had none of the impediments that we have and the problems and barriers that we have. Nonetheless, he cries out, Give me understanding that I may read Thy commandments.

15:57 What is this? But a manifestation of a man reading indolently, conscious that if God does not not open his eyes. He will not hold wondrous things out of the law of God, conscious that if God does not give him understanding, he will not learn the commandments of God. And then I take you to that incident in Luke chapter 24 that I read in your hearing, a beautiful example of why we need to read our Bibles dependently. We read in verse 32 of this passage, And they said one to another, Was not our heart burned within us, while he spake to us in the way, while he opened to us the scriptures? Now notice, the burning heart did not come from the privilege of being eyewitnesses. Eyewitnesses of the risen Christ. We'd say, My, if the Lord would only appear to me in

17:14 a post-resurrection, living manifestation of his presence, that would make my heart burn. No, it didn't make theirs burn. The burning heart is attributed to the ministry of Jesus in opening to them the scriptures. It's plain. Was not our heart burned within us in the way, while he opened to us the scriptures? The living resurrection. The resurrected Christ took the body of then existing revelation, and we read in verse 27, beginning from Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself, and dejected, dull, suddenly were transformed into burning, rejoicing hearts. And he did the same thing later on with others of his generation.

18:17 The disciples look at verse 45 in the same chapter, then opened he their minds, that they might understand the scriptures. The scriptures were plain, what hitherto they had not seen. The objective revelation was there in the Old Testament scriptures, but their minds were dull, and by his own personal ministry as their gracious prophet, they were kept blind. He instructed them, opening the mind of Christ, not merely through the inner vestibule of the ear to the deep recesses of perception, of understanding. And, dear people, you and I must be convinced that though the scriptures are objectively the word of the living God, and though the scriptures in and of themselves are for the most part clear. The problem is we've got veils over our eyes that need to be removed. We have

19:43 dullness of mind and slowness of heart. We need to read our Bibles dependently because it does not lie in us to open them to our own understanding. And the practical manifestation of this determination to read the Scriptures dependently will be the cultivation of a prayerful disposition whenever we pick up our Bibles to read them. When Richard Baxter wrote out his ten directives for personal Bible reading, directive number eight was this. Presume not on the strength of your own understanding, but humbly pray to God for light. And before and after you read the Scripture, pray earnestly that the Spirit which did indict it, that is, the Scriptures, may expound it to you and keep you from unbelief and error and lead you into the truth. May I ask you a very simple question? Do you make it a habit before you ever open up to your psalm, your proverb, your chapter, your section for the day? Is it your habit?

21:06 To pause and in a spirit of dependence, not as a form, but in a spirit of utter dependence, to bow and behold wondrous things out of thy law. Do you read the Scriptures dependently? Do you read them in the conscious awareness, regardless of your IQ, regardless of your reading skills, regardless of your previous knowledge of the Word of God? Not a one of you, has been a recipient of direct revelation, but the psalmist was, yet he prayed, open thou, I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Could it be, I only ask the question, that much of our barren dry Bible reading is God's faithfulness to His own Word in Jeremiah 17 and verse 5? Could it be, that much of our barren is God's fulfillment of His own Word in Jeremiah 17, 5? Thus saith Jehovah, Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and makes flesh his

22:34 arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord. He shall be like a heath in the desert, shall not see when good cometh, shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, assault land, and not inhabit it. Is that what your devotional reading of the Word of God becomes many times? Like a salt flat with nothing that is fresh and verdant, that God is cursing your creature confidence? Trust in man, even his own flesh, his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord. But look at verse 7, blessed is the man whose trust is in the Lord, and whose trust the Lord is. He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, overtones of Psalm 1. He shall

23:44 be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out its roots by the river, shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. Psalm 1 describes such a person as the one who meditates in the law of God day and night. He shall be like a tree planted, Jeremiah says, the one who trusts in Jehovah, shall be like a tree planted by the rivers. Bring the two together, and you have the full picture. It is not mere Bible reading, or mere meditation, without the aid of the Spirit of God that will make us like flourishing trees. It is reading in the spirit of dependence upon God Himself, that He would teach us. Dear people, if we would cultivate that disposition and read our Bibles dependently, then more and more we would come from the place where we read our Bibles, saying, Did not our hearts burn within us, while He by the Spirit opened unto us

24:58 the Scriptures? But then, secondly, or if you're counting from last week, fifthly, we must not only read the Scriptures dependently, but we must read them meditatively. We must read the Scriptures meditatively. I simply remind you of the crucial place that we saw meditation has in Psalm 1, in the description of the blessed man, and in Joshua 1, in the description of the successful man. Blessed is 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 is in the law of the Lord, and on his law meditate the tree planted. Central to the blessed man is this matter of meditation. Likewise, in Joshua chapter 1, as God is commissioning Joshua, He says to him that he would take, he was to take this book of the law, it should not depart out of his mouth, but thou shalt meditate thereon, that thou

Read the Scriptures Meditatively

26:20 mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Here, meditation is central to our dealings with the Word of God. And though most who studied the subject of meditation in the Scriptures will point out that it is not directly addressed by that word in the New Testament, surely Colossians 3.16 points us in that direction.

26:56 Let the Word of Christ dwell, and that word is the very word to describe the nature of the spirits indwelling the believer.

27:12 Romans 8.11 speaks of the Spirit of Him that raised up Christ from the dead, dwelling. 2 Corinthians 6.16 speaks again of the indwelling.

27:25 And in 1 Timothy, Paul speaks of the Spirit who dwells in us. Now we are commanded let the Word of Christ dwell. What's the difference between someone dwelling in and being a mere soldier? Someone who comes and stays for a night. That's the picture. Let the Word of Christ set up its internal within you in fullness. Well, how do we get the Word of Christ dwelling in us richly, apart from the discipline of meditation? Meditation is the means by which the Word dwells in us richly. Now I know the use of the word meditation in this new age climate must be qualified. And in his

28:24 excellent book on the disciplines of the Christian life, Mr. Whitney, commenting on this matter, writes, One sad feature of our modern culture is that meditation has become identified more with non-Christian systems of thought than with Biblical Christianity. Even among believers, the practice of meditation is often more closely associated with yoga, transcendental meditation, relaxation therapy, or the New Age movement. Because meditation is so prominent in many spiritually counterfeit groups and movements, some Christians are uncomfortable with the whole subject and suspicious of those who engage in it. But we must remember that meditation is both commanded by God and modeled by the godly in Scripture. Just because a cult uses the cross as a symbol doesn't mean the church should cease to confess its faith in the cross. In the same way, we shouldn't discard or be afraid of scriptural meditation simply because the world has adapted it for their own purposes. Then he goes on to say very helpful things and then comes to this description of what Biblical meditation is that is very workable and helpful.

29:42 In addition to these distinctives, let's define meditation as deep thinking on the truths and spiritual realities revealed in Scripture for the purposes of understanding, application, and prayer. Meditation is deep thinking on the truths of Scripture for purposes of understanding, application, and prayer. Meditation goes beyond hearing, studying, or even memorizing as a means of taking in God's Word. A simple analogy would be a cup of tea. You are the cup of hot water and the intake of Scripture is represented by the teabag. Hearing God's Word is like one dip of the teabag into the cup. Some of the tea's flavor is absorbed by the water, but not as much as would occur with a more thorough soaking of the teabag. In this analogy, reading, studying, and memorizing God's Word are represented by additional plunges of the teabag into the cup. The more frequently

30:53 the tea enters the water, the more effect it has. Meditation, however, is like immersing the bag completely and letting it steep until all the rich tea flavor has been extracted and the hot water is thoroughly tinctured reddish-brown. Simple analogy, but a beautiful analogy. And it is by meditation that the Word of God is as it were in the soul of the believer.

31:27 Passages that we have contemplated in previous study, we must learn meditatively. Notice, it's central place again in Psalm 119. We'll just look at several of the verses in which the psalmist makes evidence that meditation upon the scriptures was part and parcel of his constant interaction with the Word of God. Verse 15, meditate on thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways. The dominant emphasis here is the declaration of the Word of God. The declaration of purpose that he is committed as a matter of due privilege to meditate upon the precepts of God. Verses 23 and 24. Princes also sat and talked against me.

32:31 So thy servant went on a pity party. No, but thy servant did meditate on thy statutes. Here the emphasis falls upon the excuse making. I've got this at home and I've got this pressure and I've got an unconverted spouse and I've got this and I've got that. He says, princes the great ones of the earth were sitting down and but he said it didn't keep me from the discipline of mind that brought me in touch with the Word of God. Thy servant did meditate on thy statutes. Thy testimonies also are my delight and the men of my counsel. Meditation the Word of God became part of the acts of wise counselors so that when he faced a decision his counselors were ready at hand to guide him into the way of righteousness and it was meditation that brought them there.

33:34 Notice verse 47 and 48. I will delight myself in thy commandments which I have loved. I will lift up my hands unto thy commandments which I have loved and I will meditate on my statutes. The nuance of emphasis here is that meditation is the accompaniment and expression of love to the Word of God. If we may change the imagery from the tea bag to a living human being. Those whom you love are those with whom you delight to spend time in whose company you find refreshment and joy. I'll delight myself in thy commandments which I've loved. I'll lift up my hands to thy commandments which I've loved. I will

34:19 meditate. Meditation. Meditation is the handmaiden of genuine affection for the Word of God. You're not anxious to go in and out of the presence of one you love.

34:30 You're anxious to linger. And so meditation is the lingering in the presence of the words of the living God. Verses 78 and 79. Let the proud be put to shame for they've overthrown me wrongfully.

34:50 He's facing opposition, facing difficulty, but he doesn't allow it to make him sour and bitter. They will meditate on thy precepts. Let those that fear thee turn unto me and they shall know thy testimonies. How will they know them? Because under God in the face of opposition I have fastened them to my mind and to my soul by the discipline of meditation. Verse 97 Oh how love I thy law. It is my meditation all the day. Verse 99 I have more understanding than all my teachers for thy testimonies are meditation.

35:38 Verse 148 Mine eye anticipated the night watches that I might meditate on thy word. What a beautiful picture. He said I couldn't wait to be awakened for my turn at watch when in the stillness of the night in no distractions my mind could fasten itself upon the words of God and I could speak my soul in its truths. Oh dear people, do I need to bring forward more evidence that if we are to profit from the reading of the scriptures we must not only read them dependently.

36:18 Open thou mine eyes. We must read the scriptures meditatively. We must ask questions of the scriptures. What is it saying about my God?

36:31 What is it saying about man? What is it saying about God's promises, God's provisions? What is it saying about my duty? If I'm reading a historical section what does it reveal of the ways of God, of the works of God?

36:47 What sins are to be avoided? What virtues are to be emulated? There's some very helpful material in one of the books we've recently begun to carry called the Bible in the Closet by Watson and Lee, two old Puritans. But a helpful section.

37:04 I re-read the section. It's not lengthy. Good practical advice to help. And the materials are there.

37:11 But dear people, it must begin with the conviction that I have a duty and privilege before God to read my Bible meditatively. And I know, I know that saying this in this media glutted age as we contemplated last week with everything under the sun bombarding our eyes and our ears God has not and if you can't break through and be one who meditates on the word of God, you will not like a tree planted by the waters. You'll be unstable. You will be inconstant. You will be one who is uncertain of a hundred different issues.

38:02 There is no shortcut, no substitute for the divinely appointed means of grace. And that means of grace, Bible reading must be marked by reading meditatively. But then we consider thirdly this morning we must not only read dependently, meditatively, but we must read the scriptures believingly. We must read the scriptures believingly.

Read the Scriptures Believingly

38:29 Now here it's interesting that in Baxter's 10 Guidelines for Bible Reading, he puts this number one. Directive number one Bring not an evil heart of unbelief. Open the Bible with holy reverence as the book of God, indicted by the Holy Ghost.

38:53 Bethink you well if God should but send a book or letter to you by an angel. How reverently would you receive it? How carefully would you peruse it and regard it above all the books in the world? And how much rather should you do so by that book which is indicted by the Holy Ghost and records the doctrine of Christ himself whose authority is greater than the angels? Now why is it so crucial to read the Bible believingly? Well I want you to look at two passages with me that answer that question. First of all Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4.

39:36 In this portion the writer's writer to the Hebrews is exhorting his readers that privilege alone is not enough. The wilderness generation had great privileges but they perished in the wilderness under Moses because of their unbelief. And now he writes in chapter 4 of Hebrews, let us fear therefore lest haply a promise being left us of entering into his rest any one of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good tidings preached unto us even as also they but the word of hearing did not profit them because it was not united by faith with them that heard.

40:29 Here there is an isolation of the problem with that generation. There was no fault in the revelation given. But neither was there any profit from the revelation given. And the reason is the word of hearing did not profit because it was not united by faith with them that heard.

41:00 And dear people of God, if we do not read the scriptures believingly we can read our Bibles through once a year, twice a year, fifty times a year. If we do not read them believingly the scriptures will not profit us.

41:19 They will not profit us. Go back to the Luke 24 passage and as our Lord takes these dejected disciples in hand, notice the sin that he highlights when he begins to deal with them. Luke chapter 24 they're explaining why they're in the state they're in. Verse 25 He said unto them, O foolish men, now notice, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.

42:02 You're in this state fundamentally because you've not believed in all that the prophets have spoken. You've been selective in your faith. They had said we had hoped it was he who would redeem Israel when the prophets spoke of a coming Messiah who would redeem his people Israel. They believed that.

42:25 But when the prophets said behold my servant and then describes the suffering servant who would be rejected, who would be spat upon, who would be accursed of God, they didn't believe that part of the prophets. So Jesus takes them back and says look, you're foolish and slow of heart to believe. In all that the prophets have spoken, was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning from Moses and all the prophets he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

43:06 What happened? Nothing was changed in scripture and nothing was changed in the facts concerning Jesus. The difference was they now looked upon in faith scriptures that they were regarding in unbelief. Changed them from dejection to exultation.

43:28 From being cast down to having the burning heart. Jesus brought no new revelation. He took them back to the revelation already given and said you must receive in faith what was spoken by the prophet. All that was spoken. And dear people of God, we will not profit from our Bible reading unless we read the scriptures believingly. That is, we come to all of its history in the posture that if our Lord Jesus accepted the history of Genesis we accept it without reservation. When our Lord says, have you not read he who made them in the beginning made them male and female and said for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, quote, right out of Genesis 2 if the Son of God believingly confesses Genesis 2 as straightforward history. That's how we approach Genesis 1 and 2.

44:35 And if the Son of God says remember Lot's wife he believed Lot was a historical person and Sodom and Gomorrah were historical cities and judgment came and a woman was turned into a pillar of salt. We read the history as straightforward history. In the posture of faith like Abraham when we read the promises, promises that seem to go far beyond what we can conceive of as, quote, the possible we say as Abraham did, Romans 4 19 to 21 look at the passage this is the posture with which we must read the scriptures to our prophet and without being weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead. He being a hundred years old and the deadness of Sarah's womb yet looking to the promise of God he wavered not through unbelief but waxed strong through faith giving glory to God being fully assured that what he had promised he was able also to perform. We do not make our understanding or the ability of men the measure of our expectation. God is up to fulfilling every one of his promises and we must read the scriptures

46:02 believingly when we come to its history, when we come to its promises, when we come to its warnings. Scripture Jesus said scripture cannot be broken, not one jot or tittle shall pass till all be fulfilled and dear people of God the moment you allow the slightest little gray fuzzy question mark to be written on the tables of your heart and put it between you and any line of scripture, God have mercy on you.

46:40 It's human pride and arrogance that questions what God has revealed. It's one thing to say, oh God, I don't understand that. And oh God someday I hope you'll make plain to me why this happened that way and how that fits. It's one thing to say, Lord I believe that. I embrace it. I bow to it as a man, a woman of faith. I cannot understand it, though I can't fit things together. And I long for the day when I'll know even as I'm known. And the confused and the unclear will be made plain. But it's another thing to say, how in the world could that be? That's the spirit that Paul goes after in 1 Corinthians 15. As I was struggling to see if God would lay a quote Easter message on my heart, I went back to reading the resurrection chapter. And alas,

47:36 nothing took hold. And that's why we're plowing right on in our regular course of study today. It's not that I'm ignorant of what today is in the so-called church calendar. But you notice how Paul treats that skepticism of unbelief. He says, thou fool. You're talking like a fool. When you start trying to bring God down to your standard of how things can be done and what is possible and what is probable, he calls such reasoning foolish.

48:05 How can God bring forth the dust of his when that dust has long since been turned into other substances, etc.? How in the world can God gather together all the particles of the man who was thrown overboard, died at sea, and the shark ate him, and the shark ended up in someone's tuna fish can, and the tuna fish can has been eaten by the cat and by the kids around the table, and tuna fish sandwiches, and some of it is in the local sewerage. How has that happened, thou fool, Paul says? If God can open his mouth and speak into being galaxies that we haven't even discovered, it's no big deal for him to gather all the particles together and reconstitute it, the glorified body.

48:53 The arrogance and folly of unbelief. Dear people, read our Bibles believingly. Believingly. But then finally, we must not only read our Bibles dependently, meditatively, believingly, but we must read the Scriptures obediently. We must read the Scriptures obediently. That is, we must come with a disposition like that of the angels who wait around the throne of God to catch the first intimations of the will of God, and they leap to do his bidding. That's why we're taught to pray, thy will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven. How is the will of God done in heaven?

Read the Scriptures Obediently

49:38 It is done with alacrity! It is done with joy! It is done without reservation! And God has given us his word primarily to regulate the life of his people in the midst of his covenant mercies to them.

49:56 That's why he's given the Scriptures not to titillate our curiosity. He has given his word primarily to regulate life. See how he emphasized this in the giving of the old covenant in Deuteronomy chapter 4. Deuteronomy chapter 4.

50:19 And now, O Israel, hearken unto the statutes and unto the ordinances which I teach you to do them, that you may live and go in and possess the land which the Lord your God of your fathers gives you. You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God. Which I command you. You see the emphasis. God says, I've given you this body of revelation that you might obey what I have said. Again, the passage in Joshua 1 in verse 8. Joshua was to meditate in the law of God day and night. To what end?

51:07 That he might become an astute student of the Scriptures and answer perplexing questions about the Scriptures? No. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth. Thou shalt meditate thereon day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein.

51:31 Meditation was to lead to implementation. Meditation was to have as its terminus not an expanded understanding as an end in itself, but a more intelligent commandment to the will and the ways of God. And that's true in the new covenant. Jesus said in Matthew 28 make disciples of all the nations, baptize them teaching them to what?

51:58 To observe whatsoever I've commanded you. The focal point of the teaching responsibility of the church is ethical and moral. Teaching them to observe and even the book of the Revelation with all of its mysteries. It's interesting that in the opening words the emphasis falls precisely on this issue. Revelation 1-3, blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of the prophecy and keep written therein. If only people would study the book of the Revelation with this in mind. It doesn't say blessed is he that readeth and they that hear and those who can dogmatically interpret every figure and every image and its place in human history. No! Blessed is he who

52:49 reads. Blessed is he who hears. Blessed is he who keeps. Blessed is he who keeps. We must read the scriptures obediently. Therefore in our Bible reading we must come with the disposition and I want you to listen carefully as I bring this to a focus expression. We must read with the disposition of an obedient willing slave on the one hand with all the freedom and affection of a loving loyal son on the other hand. Now don't just pass that off as preacher's talk.

53:31 If you don't get hold of that you're going to miss something vital. We must come to our reading of the Bibles with the disposition of an obedient willing slave on the one hand but with all the freedom and affection of a loving loyal son on the other hand. And you know where you find those two truths set very closely together? Open your Bibles to the book of Romans.

54:04 And it was only in preparation for today's ministry that I saw how beautifully they coalesce. I never saw them as enemies but in Romans 6 where Paul is dealing with the question if salvation's all of grace and justification is based on the doing and the dying of another and not our work. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? He says may it never be because if we've been united to Christ by faith and we have the virtue of his death put to our account in that same union with Christ we've died to sin and dying to sin we have a new master. And notice the imagery epitomized in the language of verses 16 through 18. 16 through 18.

54:55 Know ye not that to whom you present yourselves servants or slaves to obedience? His slaves you are whom you obey whether of sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness. But thanks be to God that whereas you were the slaves of sin you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto you were delivered and being made free from sin you became slaves of righteousness. Paul says every man is a slave. You're either a slave of sin or a slave of righteousness. A slave of sin unto death or a slave of righteousness and of God unto life. Our identity as Christians is that of slaves. We are the property of another.

55:46 And Paul nowhere denigrates, speaks lightly he says this is our privilege in grace is to be the bond slave. God be thankful that you are now slaves of righteousness. But in chapter 8 notice what he says in verse 14 as many as are led by the spirit of God these are the sons of God. You receive not the spirit of bondage again to fear but the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father the Aramaic word for daddy intimacy the spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

56:28 Now what's he saying in Romans 8? He says that we who in one dimension of spiritual reality are slaves are in another dimension of spiritual reality sons. And you must not set these against one another and say well if I've risen to the joyous filial intimacy of a son then I can say I'm a father. The concept of a slave is beneath the dignity of a son.

56:59 No. I am both a son and a slave.

57:05 And therefore when I come into the presence of my God I address him as my father. My father who is in the heavens. And I pray hallowed be thy name and express my love to him and my desire to honor and to please him. When I come to his word I come as a son expecting that the spirit given to sons will be operative to teach me. I'm going to read dependently yes. But I take the posture of a bond slave of Jesus Christ and Paul used it of himself. Paul a bond slave of Jesus Christ. And I say oh God you are my master. And I'm coming to this book not to get information. Not to just get some inspiration. But I'm coming for direction. To have my conscience and my will included by your revealed will. I'm coming with a

58:05 disposition of reading the scriptures obediently. And I could commend you many sections of Psalm 119 but in the interest of time let me just point you to two. This again is clearly brought out in Psalm 119. All of these dimensions are there.

58:26 Read the first eight verses at your leisure and you'll see that that is the dominant emphasis in the opening paragraph. But now look at verses 33 and 34. Teach me oh Lord the way of thy statutes. There's the spirit of dependence.

58:42 Oh God teach me. But to what end? And I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding.

58:50 There's the spirit of dependence. But to what end? And I shall keep thy law. Yea I shall observe it with my whole heart.

59:02 And then the verses that form the basis of the little booklet that we've written. The life of principle obedience verses 57 to 60. The Lord is my portion. I've said I would observe thy words. I entreated thy favor with my whole heart. Be merciful unto me according to thy word. I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. I made haste and delayed not to observe thy commandments.

The Challenge of Obedient Reading and the Danger of Unbelief

59:33 He's reading the word of God obediently. This is why that old couplet is accurate. This book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book. You see if you don't come to the word of God obediently, how are you going to come really asking God to teach you? Really coming with a spirit of openness. And what I began to do and I had to stop it because it would have meant a whole sermon. I just began to take chapter 5 of certain books throughout the Bible and knowing what's in them began to think alright if in my regular reading and I have my own course of reading through the scriptures in a consecutive way. Suppose I knew I was coming to chapter 5 of Matthew and I was conscious of unmortified pride.

60:26 How could I come to the Beatitudes knowing they're going to begin with the words blessed are the poor in spirit. Really praying oh God teach me. Oh God search me. If I was deliberately, if I were deliberately harboring the spirit of ill will and I knew in chapter 5 I was going to come on the passage where murder is not just plunging the knife but speaking ill of another and feeling ill will in the heart and having an alienated relationship to another.

60:58 If I were allowing my eye to be the inlet of lust though externally I were faithful to my wife how could I come to chapter 5 with a disposition of obedience knowing Jesus was going to talk about whoso looketh to lust on a woman hath committed adultery and if thine eye offend thee pluck it out if thy hand offend. You see how can you come to the word of God that way when you know what's in there and you've got a controversy that you're not willing to settle. Then I thought of Ephesians 5. Suppose I had a pattern of being loveless to my wife of having bitterness to my wife of being insensitive to my wife how could I come to Ephesians 5 with a spirit and disposition of expectation and dependence and obedience when I knew that that chapter was going to nail my sin.

61:53 How could I come to Proverbs 5? How could I come to 1 Corinthians 5? If I were not praying how could I come to Psalm 5? Oh Lord in the morning thou say. I just thought of chapter after chapter that I would draw back from. Knowing what was in there I couldn't come to it with any degree of expectancy and I wonder how many of you have problems with systematic Bible reading because you know those chapters that address your besetting sins and you're not determined to deal with them. Who in the world can you come to the scriptures with expectation and joy and anticipation when you're harboring that sin that you know is going to be exposed? No. John 3

62:47 says he that doeth evil will not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed. He that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God. Oh dear people of God there's no substitute for Bible reading but it just isn't any old kind of Bible reading. I'm telling you, trying to tell you from the scriptures what the scriptures say about how we must read the scriptures to profit from the scriptures. And I'm saying that if we would grow up into Christ in all things, we must read our Bibles regularly, we must read them broadly, we must read them diligently, but we must also read them dependently, meditatively, believingly, and obediently. And dear child of God your Savior prays for you. Sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth and the Savior prayer will be answered as the truth of scripture is inwrought into the very texture of your heart as you and I by the grace of God read our Bibles as we ought. My

Application to Unbelievers: The Sufficiency of Scripture

64:01 closing word to you who are not Christians is this and I was struck with this again thinking of how our Lord points us back to the scriptures. You remember that incident in the life of our Lord when he spoke of the rich man in Lazarus in Luke 16? And there's a man who's died in his impenitence and he's gone to hell and suddenly in hell he gets concerned about his brothers and in Luke 16 27 he says to Abraham I pray thee father send him to my father's house for I have five brethren that he may testify unto them that they come not into this place of torment. But Abraham said they have Moses and the prophets let them hear them. They have the scriptures. Let them listen to the scriptures. And he said nay

64:53 father Abraham. Bible's not enough. If one go to them from the dead they'll repent.

65:02 And what was the answer? He said unto them if they hear not Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded if one rise from the dead. My unconverted friend, man woman, boy or girl in your heart of hearts you say well pastor you can go on preaching the Bible all you want and talking about heaven, talking about hell and all the rest but how do I know that this isn't just another religion? If only Christ would come down this morning and appear here in his glory as the resurrected Christ then I'd believe. No you wouldn't. No you wouldn't. No you wouldn't. He himself said you wouldn't. Who knows better Christ or you? It's your word against Christ's word. I'm going to take his. You see your problem is not a lack of evidence. It's a love

65:53 of sin. That's your problem. If you could have Christ in heaven and still have your sin in your present state, you'd like it. See your problem is you need a new heart. You need a change of disposition to where what is now precious to you is odious. What now smells sweetly will stink in your nostrils. What you now drink down with delight you desire to vomit out with disgust. As one of the old Puritans called repentance the vomit of the soul.

66:26 Vomit out your self righteousness. Vomit out your pride and your love of this present world and lay hold of the Christ whom scripture declares delights to receive sinners. Who receives all who come unto God by him. May God grant that the witness of scripture to the Lord Jesus will be sufficient for you to see that he alone can meet your need and he is ready and able and willing to meet it.

Conclusion and Prayer

66:57 In this place today and may God help us as his people. I know there are times in preaching this material I've said Lord this seems so elementary. Are the people going to think that maybe I'm running out of material that I've got to go back to such basics? But I'm convinced as many of you have spoken to me that these notes desperately need to be sounded because the Christian life is one or lost in the trenches of the basics. And this means of grace of personal assimilation of the word of God is critical. And may God grant that as never before we shall be a people in whom the word of Christ dwells richly. Let us pray.

67:56 Our Father we do thank you for your word. We thank you that it teaches us about itself. It teaches us how we are to read it. And we pray that we will receive the instruction of that word as coming from our Lord Jesus himself the ultimate author of the scriptures. And we pray that wherein we have not read our Bibles dependently you would forgive our creature confidence. Where we have not read meditatively but have skipped over the word and not allowed it to steep long in our souls. Have mercy upon us. Where we have not read it believingly.

68:39 Where we have not read it obediently. Oh God forgive us and help us by your grace that the word read will profit being mixed with faith. And the word read will profit because we long to run in the way of your commandments. Bless them the instruction given today to the end that your name be praised as more and more Christ's is formed in your people.

69:08 Hear us, bless us the remainder of this day we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.