Public Reading of the Scripture (2)

Introduction: Historical Context and Sermon Series Overview

0:02 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, July 4, 1993, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. And now let us look to God for His blessing upon the ministry of His own word this morning. Let us pray.

0:25 Holy Father, we come again because we have a felt sense of our desperate need, knowing that unless You, by the Holy Spirit, attend the teaching and preaching of the word, this next hour will profit us nothing. We therefore cry to You that upon the preacher may come fresh and copious measures of the spirit of utterance, the spirit of power, the spirit of conviction, and upon Your people may come the spirit of invitation. Illumination, the spirit of faith, the spirit of discerning inquiry into Your word, grant us all to be like the Bereans who, receiving the word with readiness of mind, are prepared to search the scriptures to see if indeed these things be so. And, O Lord, as our judgments are persuaded by the word, through the illuminating ministry of the Spirit, give us grace to embrace in faith all that You will say to us, and then to work it out in a life of practical obedience.

1:47 Hear our cry, we plead, for the good of our souls, and for the honor of Your name, we plead through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, I would be very surprised if, most of you, from the youngest to the oldest, are not very much aware of the fact that this weekend is a remembrance in our national life of that July 4th in 1776 when a document was signed which has come to be known as the Declaration of Independence. And this document declared in a decisive way the determination, if you will, of the North American colonies to sever themselves from the rule and governmental authority of the British crown. Now, whether we do or do not believe that this act and the subsequent war of independence was justifiable on biblical grounds, and some of us do have serious questions about that, it is a fact that the nation thus born, and now known as the United States of America,

3:14 has experienced unprecedented blessing from the hand of God. The blessing of material prosperity, but above all, the blessing of intense gospel light and unusual gospel privilege. And from the human perspective, no little measure, of that blessing was due to the fact that from the initial settlers who arrived at Plymouth Rock in 1620 until the Declaration of Independence, remember 150 years in which the tap roots of our national life were being formed before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. During that time, the perspective of the Declaration of Independence, the perspectives of the Bible, shaped and molded the emerging nation in every area of its life. Now, I did not say it brought to birth a Christian nation, nor did I say that all of those preceding and including our founding fathers were evangelical Christians.

4:36 I did not say that, because that's, that simply is not true. But what I did say is that the tap roots of our national life that came to expression in the Declaration of Independence, the War of Independence, and the nation subsequently established, had the entirety of its national life profoundly and powerfully influenced by the teaching of the Word of God. The great movements of the Spirit of God under the likes of Whitefield and Edwards and a host of lesser lights had conditioned the soil out of which the plant of our nationhood eventually grew. Now, these things would never have occurred had not God previously done a marvelous work on the continent of Europe in the late 1500s and into the early 1600s, which literally loosed the Bible from its meaty, evil prison within a dead language called Latin

5:59 and once again allowed its message to impact the masses of Europe and then subsequently, many in the nation of Great Britain. Now, what does this little thumbnail sketch of history have to do with us sitting here in this place as a gathered congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ? What does it have to do with my solemn responsibility to preach the Word of God to you? Well, I answer in the words of Paul, much, every way and the connection is this. In our present ministry, here, in this congregation, Lord's Day Mornings, I am seeking to set forth the cardinal truths of scripture which have molded our life as a congregation for the past, now, twenty-six years. I have entitled that series A Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church,

7:11 And presently, in the unfolding of that manifesto, we are concentrating our attention on the issue of our determination to maintain a balanced doctrine of the Christian life. And in the course of opening up what constitutes a balanced doctrine of the Christian life, I have asserted in your hearing that there are no effective substitutes for the God-ordained means of grace in living the Christian life. And having examined the private or individual means of grace, we are now concerned with an examination, of the public or the corporate means of grace. And in doing this, we have seen a very basic principle from Scripture, and the principle is this, that the majority of the public means of grace are found in the setting of a well-ordered biblical church. And then we have seen the identity of those means of grace as they are set before us in Acts 2 and verse 40,

8:28 where Luke records, with respect to that Jerusalem church, that they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching, in fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers. And here we have identified the major corporate means of grace, continual adherence to the ministry of the Word of God. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, continual adherence to involvement with the people of God. They continued steadfastly in fellowship, continual remembrance of the Son of God, breaking of bread, and conscious dependence upon the power of God. They continued steadfastly in the prayers. Having then identified these major public...

9:28 ...public means of grace, we are going back to expand the biblical teaching on each one of them.

Benefit 1: Demonstrating Desire for Scripture-Shaped Doctrine and Practice

9:35 Therefore, in our last time together, taking the first means identified in Acts 2.42, namely, Continuance in the Apostolic Teaching, I asserted that the most fundamental of all the public means of grace involves the reading, preaching, teaching, and application of the written Word of God, the Bible. We had time on that occasion only to focus on the biblical basis for the public reading of the Word of God in the gathered assembly of the people of God. We examined the Old Testament roots of this practice, beginning in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 31.9, and following and tracing it down through to the Restoration under the period of Nehemiah. And then we looked at the New Testament trunk and branches of this practice, culminating in the command to Timothy

10:46 that he should give attention, constant, careful attention, to the reading, that is, the public reading of the Scriptures. Now, you say, you still haven't made clear to me the connection between that historical overview and what we're doing. Well, the connection is simply this. If it were not for the Protestant Reformation that loosed the Bible from its medieval prison house in the Roman Church and made it the book of the masses, there would have been a lot of people who would have said, There would have been no Pilgrim Fathers landing at Plymouth Rock. There would have been no conditioning of the taproots of our national life prior to the Declaration of Independence. There would not have been that pervasive influence reflecting biblical perspectives in the totality of our national life at our founding. We've not been a nation.

12:00 We've not been a nation that was, in great measure, the product of an open Bible, a read and a preached Bible.

12:11 And that's the connection. And having demonstrated that the practice of the public reading of the Word of God, revealed and written, is a practice that has its taproots in the Old Testament and its trunk and branches in the New, what I want to do this morning, as time permits, is to set forth the manifold benefits of the public reading of the Scriptures in the gathered church, and then, thirdly, to bring some practical observations and exhortations relative to this practice. Having established the biblical basis of the practice, we will now concentrate on the manifold benefits, and then some serious exhortations to you, the people of God, with reference to this practice. So then we take up the manifold benefits of the comprehensive public reading of the Scriptures in the midst of the gathered church. And I have seven such benefits to set before you. Number one.

13:33 The comprehensive public reading of the Scriptures constitutes a patent demonstration that we desire to have all of our doctrine and practice did by the Scriptures.

14:00 When we read the consecutive or, in some other way, comprehensive reading of the Scriptures, that is, over a lengthy course of time, seeking to have and to have salient comments made upon the entire of God's written Word, what are we doing? Well, we are demonstrating that we as a congregation desire to have all of our doctrine and practice shaped by and corrected by the Scriptures. Jesus said in John 4, 24, that the Father seeks a very limited kind of worship. It is not limited to place or to external circumstances, but it is limited by spirit and truth. God is a spirit that worship Him, must worship Him,

15:16 in so that under to God worship that is inflamed by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit touches spirits, but whatever the spiritual nature of that worship may be, it must always be found within the boundaries of truth. God does not merely seek worship in truth, worship in spirit and in truth. However, He does not seek mere worship in spirit, but it must be in spirit within the bounds, in the bounds of truth. And you will remember in Matthew chapter 15, what our Lord said when human traditions begin to frame and to shape worship, and gradually move the worship of the people of God away from the guidelines of truth. In Matthew 15 and verse 6, verse 7 we read, You hypocrites, well, they prophesy of you, saying,

16:42 This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the priests of men.

17:03 The priests of men regulate the worship of the professing people of God. That worship has been constituted. Vain worship. And one of the great benefits of the comprehensive public reading of the Scriptures is that it makes it patent to all.

17:28 We desire to have all of our doctrine and worship and practice founded upon, shaped by, and corrected by the Scriptures. We want to worship God in no manner that we are not worshiping God. It will make us embarrassed to turn up the next page in our consecutive reading and read the portion in the company of the people of God. And if comments are made to give to that portion it's plain and obvious sense.

18:03 And if we turn up something that is on a collision course with something we presently believe, something we are presently doing, something we do not believe and confess, something we are not doing. We want the Scriptures to mold and to shape the worship that we would bring to our heavenly Father. It was the Bible translated into the common languages of men. The Bible read privately.

18:33 The Bible read and preached publicly that caused the monolithic power of the Roman church to be broken in the Protestant Reformation. And one of the great legacies that has come to us from that mighty movement of the Spirit of God is an open Bible. And if the Bible should be open anywhere, surely it should be open in God's house where His will and His Word must have sway over all that occurs within that house. So there is the first of the manifold benefits of the commoners.

Benefit 2: Declaring Conviction Regarding the Nature and Usefulness of the Whole Bible

19:14 Comprehensive public reading of the Scriptures in the midst of the gathered church. But then secondly, this comprehensive public reading of the Scriptures constitutes a continuous declaration concerning our conviction regarding the nature and usefulness of the whole.

19:42 When there is comprehensive reading of the Scriptures, whether continuously, and consecutively as we do, or in some other structural form, but wherever there is the comprehensive public reading of the Scriptures, it constitutes a continuous declaration concerning our conviction regarding the nature and usefulness of the whole Bible. Now what is the nature of Scripture? The nature of Scripture is nothing, nothing less than that which the Apostle designates it in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16. Having reminded Timothy that from a babe he had been acquainted with the Old Testament Scriptures called the sacred writings, earlier in the chapter, 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15, the sacred writings which are able with the blessing of the Spirit, the Spirit of God to make us wise unto salvation, in verse 16, the Apostle by the guidance of the Spirit gives us one of the most amazing yet clear statements concerning the nature of all Scripture.

21:06 All Scripture is literally that it is of the very mouth of God. Scripture is not the effusion of Moses' religious sensitivities and perspectives about God. Scripture is not Isaiah's religious consciousness and perspectives concerning God. Scripture is not the Apostle Paul's insights and ideas about God and truth and sin and right.

21:49 No! Scripture told it what Scripture says in a passage that takes a differing perspective but underscores the same reality. Peter tells us in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 21, 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 21 with respect to the nature of Scripture, for no prophecy ever came by the will of man. Prophecy, and in particular, prophecy embodied in the written Word of God did not come to us. Because at some given point, a man who was a little bit more religiously sensitive and more susceptible to spiritual realities got some insights and said, oh, I have some wonderful things to share. No, no prophecy ever came by the will of man. But men strung and bore the Holy Spirit

23:14 of the Spirit's mind. Through men wrote, but what they spoke and that which came to be written is nothing other in its very nature but the product of the mighty operation of the Spirit of God upon that humanity giving to us the very words of God. For this is what Paul claims in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, one of the most pivotal passages with reference to the nature of Scripture. For here the Apostle tells us, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, we received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God, which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Spirit teaches, combining spiritual things with spiritual words. Here the Apostle makes it known that the things that came to him as an Apostle by way of God's work of revelation are expressed not in words

24:38 that Paul was at liberty to choose for himself, but the very words to embody the thoughts of God which constitute the revelation of God. Those very words are under the superintendence of the Holy Spirit.

24:58 And when we have the comprehensive public reading of the Scriptures, what are we doing? We are declaring openly and unashamedly our conviction regarding the nature of the whole Bible.

25:16 And while there are sections that are very obscure to us, and while we may receive much more immediate, obvious, widespread benefits, from a section such as the one we are presently reading in the book of Luke, as our attention is focused upon the suffering and the death of the Lord Jesus, much more obvious, present, immediate, widespread benefit than some of those chapters to which we have plowed in the prophets with abstruse imagery and nations long since buried in oblivion. Dear people of God, we read them with the same reverence, with reverence and attention. Why? They are all... We not only make that statement regarding the nature of Scripture, but its usefulness.

26:15 Going back to 2 Timothy 3.16, all God, even that which is more difficult for us to understand, less likely to bless us to our socks upon a first consideration.

26:34 Nonetheless, Paul says in 2 Timothy 3.16, all Scripture is inspired of God, now notice, profitable. How much Scripture is profitable? All of it.

26:51 Because it's all God-breathed, it is all profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction, literally, for training or discipline, which is in righteousness that the man of God, in this case, Timothy primarily, and only by indirect, allusion and reference, the people of God in general, but the primary reference is to Timothy as the servant of God, that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work. And so the servant of God needs the whole book of God to do the work of God.

27:38 And when we say, let us turn to this passage for our consecutive reading, let us turn to that passage for our consecutive reading, what are we doing? In this comprehensive public reading of the Scriptures, we are making a continuous declaration concerning our conviction regarding the nature and the wholeness of the whole.

28:07 For man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the Bible. Of the mouth of God. And when we come across words and paragraphs and chapters that are obscure over the worth of the passage,

28:38 humbled and thick in our sinful humanity, that we don't dance for joy at the glory of what God has revealed.

28:51 If you place a bullfrog down in front of a Renoir and he doesn't croak with excitement, you don't dance for joy. You don't throw eggs at the Renoir picture. You say, poor bullfrog, he has no capacity to appreciate.

29:11 And when we come to God breathe Scripture and there are passages obscure and hidden, let in accusation on God humility and say, oh God, were it not for the veil of remaining sin and its influence upon my susceptibility and the blindness of remaining corruption, I would dance for joy. He would see in this passage of your glory, of your ways, of your son, of your salvation.

29:50 When we give ourselves to the comprehensive public reading of the Scriptures, I say it constitutes a continuous declaration concerning our conviction regarding the nature and the usefulness of the whole Bible. Thirdly, the comprehensive public reading of the Scriptures creates, it creates an increasingly common, an increasing common pool of awareness of the contents of the Bible.

Benefit 3: Creating a Common Pool of Biblical Awareness

30:25 The comprehensive public reading of the Scriptures creates an increasing common pool of awareness of the contents of the Bible. For example, when Paul writes to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and he begins by saying, I would not have you ignorant brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea and did all eat the same spiritual food and did all drink the same spiritual drink, he's assuming they'd have some idea of what he's writing about. He's assuming that the Bible would have some idea of who Moses was. And what is this being baptized unto Moses in the cloud? And what is this eating the same spiritual food and drinking of that same spiritual drink? When it says in verse 7, neither be idolaters as some of them were as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

31:39 Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed. He's assuming there's a common knowledge among the people that he can make reference in sketchy form to whole blocks of Old Testament history and use those sketchy references as the launching pad for instruction and exhortation. Well, how did he get that knowledge? Well, thankfully, because some were willing literally to go to the stake and die that the Bible might be accessible to the commoners and man.

32:17 And the next time you're tempted to neglect your Bible, look at it and say, that Bible has the ashes of martyrs on it.

32:30 There were people who made their lives with this Bible in their hands.

32:45 Our, I'm sorry, our Bibles are covered with the ashes of martyrs and spattered with the blood of people who suffered to give us a Bible in our own common tongue. And surely, by faithful, disciplined practices of personal Bible study, there should be a growing, common pool of understanding of the contents of the Bible among us. However, joined to personal Bible reading and family devotions, there is such a diversity. One finds one method more helpful than another.

33:26 One family has three kids, all five years old and under. The content, of their devotional exercises will be radically different at points from the person who's got three teenagers or three kids coming into or just over the threshold of puberty. And so, because of the individuality of personal Bible reading and the tailor-made nature of the Bible reading of the family worship, there must be a place where those of us who preach can have some confidence that we're not talking in an unknown tongue when we say and when we look at that miserable man, Pilate, declaring openly the innocence of the Son of God as we read in our Scripture reading this morning. For as we saw several weeks ago, I would be able to say, preaching a couple of weeks from now, as we saw several weeks ago, there are those in our interest like that of Herod is to see if Jesus would be will do some miraculous thing. They want to learn nothing from his lips. They want to know nothing of his heavenly religion.

34:42 They want the stars and the moon to play leapfrog and dance across the horizon. And then the preacher will know that he's not talking in tongues, that there is a common pool of biblical understanding. That's one of the great benefits of the comprehensive public reading of the Scriptures. It creates this increasing common pool of awareness of the content of Scripture so that Bible preachers trying to explain the Bible with the Bible and enforce the Bible by the Bible are not talking into the air.

Benefit 4: Giving Christ His Rightful Place as Prophet

35:27 But they are speaking to a people who are growing in their corporate understanding and knowledge of the contents of the Bible. Fourth great benefit, the comprehensive public reading of the Scriptures to the gathered church conspicuously gives Christ his rightful place as the great prophet of his people. P-R-O-P-H-E-T of his people. The comprehensive public reading of the Scriptures to the gathered church conspicuously gives Christ his rightful place as the great prophet of his people. Turn please to Acts chapter 3. Acts chapter 3. Here is one of the most pivotal passages if not the most pivotal passage in the New Testament on Christ as the great prophet of his people under the new covenant.

36:39 Chapter 3. Peter at the end of this sermon there does not appear to be any deep pungent earth-shaking conviction such as occurred under the sermon preached a short time before recorded in chapter 2 but nonetheless Peter's preaching preaching the will of God the word of God and in the midst of his sermon he says this verse 22 of Acts 3 Moses indeed said a prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you from among your brethren like unto me to him shall you hearken in all things whatsoever he shall speak unto you and it shall be that every soul that shall not hearken to that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people yea and all the prophets from Samuel and them that followed after as many as have spoken they also told of these days Peter is informing his hearers that this ancient prophecy given in the time of Moses is now fulfilled that great and final prophet like unto Moses has come and that we who sit beneath his

38:09 ministry are to hearken in all things whatsoever he shall say unto us now does that sound like familiar language at the end of the gospel of Matthew make disciples of all the nations baptizing them into the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit teaching them whatsoever I have commanded you and when we begin to get hold of this truth that all of scripture is the speaking of Christ because first Peter one ten and eleven clearly teach us that it was the spirit of Christ speaking in the prophets of the old testament first Peter one in verse ten concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come to you searching for the what time or manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow them it was Christ by his own spirit speaking through the prophets

39:37 concerning his own coming salvation and the glories that should follow and while it is not true that Christ is the explicit subject of every single pronouncement of scripture every single scripture does not focus explicitly upon Christ Christ is indeed the giver of every single word of scripture and therefore as our great prophet he not only ministers to us through those whom he gives as pastors and teachers to expound and preach and apply his word Christ speaking in and through his appointed ambassadors those who speak in his name by his appointment and in the power of his spirit but he speaks in the public reading of the word of God thus this morning of his own rejection before the angry bloodthirsty mob it was Christ through the pen of Luke recording those pathetic scenes of unprincipled Pilate and sign hungry Herod and the mob had no just to bring

41:06 accusation whose case was so weak that it rang from these unprincipled men the confession we find no fault in him he's done nothing worthy of death how we should listen to the word of God when we believe it is Christ himself as our unseen but present prophet speaking to us through the reading of his own word for did he not say where two or three are gathered in my name there am I in the midst and he's in our midst not only as our succoring priest ready to bear our deepest burden not only as our advocate ready to represent us before the Father as we acknowledge our sins and our failures not only is he among us as our king to protect us and to govern us as our prophet to teach us of himself to teach us of his ways to teach us of his will to teach us of his promises and the comprehensive public reading of the scriptures to the gathered church conspicuously gives Christ his rightful place as the great prophet oh dear people how it should

42:35 change your attitude when those who lead the service say and now for our consecutive reading of the scriptures we shall your heart should leap within you mine for me and rose again and by the spirit is present is now about to speak even to me oh God give me the heart of the Samuel speak Lord for thy servant heareth fifthly the comprehensive public reading of the scriptures to the gathered church raises and addresses and resolves issues that would otherwise either be overlooked or would be improprietous to treat in a public assembly the comprehensive public reading of the scriptures to the gathered church raises addresses and resolves issues that would otherwise be overlooked or regarded as improprietous to be spoken in a public assembly but all scripture is profitable

Benefit 5: Addressing Otherwise Overlooked or Improprietous Issues

44:03 and if God gave in his word that which was to be read to the entire assembly including children that could hear with understanding I doubt in all my years of preaching that I would say anything about the horrible base shameful sins of bestiality a woman shall not lie down before a beast as before a man it is upon a beast but God said that word was to be read at least once every seven years in the presence of children as well as grown adults a man shall not lie down with man as with a woman it is abomination the horrible sins that were ripe for judgment in Canaan became the very sins in which the Israelites outdid the Canaanites and it seems in which our nation is determined to outdo the Israelites that outdid the Canaanites things that need to be addressed but the modesty of a servant

45:32 of God would refrain from mentioning them in a public assembly or there might be issues just in the way God puts different preachers together and the way he deals with them in their own struggles with remaining sin and in their own Christian lives the promises and the perspectives of the grace and power of Christ that become highlighted in their own experience they tend to emphasize those things that's impossible that it should be otherwise and the benefit of the comprehensive reading of the scriptures is that the whole gathered church is forced along with the one leading to confront issues that would otherwise be overlooked or one might judge to be indiscreet to mention in the mixed assembly of God's people but since all scripture is God breathed and all is profitable is there anyone so arrogant as to say you're wiser than God oh Pastor Martin or Pastor Jeff never should have read that passage if it's part of what God said was to be read to his old covenant people and if it is part of that which Jesus says oh I have commanded

47:00 don't you be wiser or more fastidious than God God will judge your arrogance this is one of the great benefits of the comprehensive public reading of the word number six I think we're going to get through all seven on time the comprehensive public reading of the scriptures to the gathered church continuously acts as a quality control over the content of the public teaching and preaching let me give it to you again the comprehensive public reading of the scriptures to the gathered church continually acts as a quality control over the content of the public preaching and teaching again and again you as a people have been both commended for this spirit and exhorted to abound in this spirit the spirit of the Bereans Acts 17 11 these were more noble than they in Thessalonica in that they received the word with readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so though they sat with an open teachable mind before an apostle

Benefit 6: Quality Control Over Public Teaching and Preaching

48:30 they didn't sit with a gullible mind they brought what he said to the touchstone of the word of God itself can you imagine what would happen in this pulpit if you as the people of God continue to demand that the scriptures be read comprehensively that over a period of a certain number of years the whole of the old and the new testaments be read publicly and someone began to cast questions over the doctrine of eternal punishment and the regular reading brought us into the gospels and into such language as this and the rich man died and was buried and in hell he lifted up his eyes being in torment fear not them which kill the body and after this have no more that they can do yea rather fear him who can cast both soul and body into hell and the smoke of their torment shall ascend up forever and they have no rest day nor night you see what would happen to any preacher who had begun to waffle if there's any grace in the hearts of those of you sitting in the pew and any love for the word of god you say wait a minute wait a minute

49:58 this passage is clear there is a place called hell there is eternal torment there is the frightening horrible prospect of men and women sinking into a place of hopeless helpless endless despair and woe you'll demand that somebody else be in that pulpit who is honest with the word of god suppose someone were beginning to question the absolute sovereignty of god over all things including the salvation of men what would happen when you came to john six no man can come to the for me except the father which is sent me draw him and i'll raise him up in the last day then in the reading you came into romans nine jacob have i loved he saw have i hated is not of him that willeth him as he chose us in him that we should be holy and without blemish

51:28 before him in love having predestinated us unto adoption of sons through jesus christ unto himself according to the good pleasure of his will you see what happens the public comprehensive reading of the scriptures will act as a quality instrument of the preaching and teaching that goes on in the congregation the day you despise it the day you allow it to be taken from you you know what you're doing you're setting yourselves up to be misled from the pulpit don't ever give it up to the people of god in two very crucial areas the public comprehensive reading of the scriptures to the gathered church becomes a means of grace of instructing the people of god in two crucial areas number one the proper way to interpret

Benefit 7: Instructing in Interpretation and Prayer

52:57 and apply the word of god and a way of знаюing the Holy Spirit and how to stand up in the holy spirit of our body and our soul to the holy spirit of god and praises unto God and by the responsible public reading of the word of God with a choice comment here and there responsible elders who are cutting a straight course in the word of truth who are doing their utmost to handle the word of God aright who in the language of Titus 1 are able to exhort in the sound doctrine and to convict the gainsayers as they read and give those few but choice comments you are gleaning a practical set of principles of hermeneutics that's just a big word for the principles by which rightly to interpret the word of God but then you're also learning how that very word

54:26 can be turned into fuel for prayer did you notice this morning how when Pastor Jeff led us in prayer Lord we are sobered as we read this account sobered and unprincipled pilot and your heart goes out into yes Lord I was sobered oh God don't let me be like pilot God make me a man able and willing to stand for my convictions no no in the practical Christian light there are perhaps few things more important than those two disciplines how do I write He handle the Word of God so is to extract its proper me %um and apply yes that's why you can predict exactly what the prayer unpredictable prayers and beyond brainwashing Exactly exempt they were you optional perfect Christ yeah by Sunday? You think that just happened? No, I'll tell you why it happened. As I moved for years in rank-and-file evangelical churches, I got so weary of shop-worn prayers that were just ground out with no freshness. Sickeningly predictable, the opening prayer one way, the

55:55 pastoral prayer another way. No freshness, no variety, no impact of the Word of God. I said, Lord, if you ever put me in a pastoral situation, never, never, never, never, never will I curse a people with such spiritual deadening prayers. That's why in the early days that practice was started. That's right. Unless you're ready to call me a liar, that's why it was started. Didn't know of anybody? Nobody else was doing it. But I knew one thing. If I would hook my opening prayers as the mouthpiece of God for the congregation to the next psalm, it would never become dry and predictable, because there's such a rich variety of devotional life in the psalms. That's how the practice got started. I know. And then there were other concerns with the consecutive reading of the Word, but that was one.

57:06 One of the main burdens, that there would not be a sickening, deadening predictability.

57:16 I don't think it's an easy thing to be the mouthpiece of hundreds before the throne of grace with freshness. Week in, week out, month in, month out, decade in, decade out. That's why some of us are concerned that we don't hear your amens. You wonder, well, Lord, I've labored, I've thought through ahead of time, I've prayed that you'd help me in prayer, and you've poured your soul.

57:39 And you really wonder, have I been the mouthpiece of the people? Have I expressed their yearnings and their struggles, and have I expressed their aspirations and their praise and their longings? Well, if so, then say an amen louder than something that an ant at the corner of your mouth could hear. Amen! Yes, Lord, that was the burden of my heart. Well, without struggling, dear people. I've been able to see those seven benefits of the comprehensive public reading of the scriptures to the gathered church. It demonstrates our desire to have all of our religion shaped by an open Bible. Constantly declares our conviction regarding the nature and the use of scripture. It creates an increasing common awareness of the contents of the Bible. It

Exhortation 1: Cultivate Prayerful Expectancy

58:46 gives us the ability to understand the Bible. It gives us the ability to understand the Bible. It gives us the ability to understand the Bible. It gives us the ability to understand the Bible. It gives Christ his rightful place as the prophet of his church. It addresses and resolves issues that otherwise would be overlooked or avoided. It acts as a quality control over the public preaching, and it aids the people of God in the right interpretation of the Bible and how to turn your Bible into prayers. Now, in the light of that sevenfold, that manifold, that manifold benefit, I give you three very simple concluding exhortations. Here they are. Number one, as a congregation, we must continually cultivate an increasing measure

59:34 of prayerful expectancy for the blessing of God upon the public reading of the word. As a congregation, we must cultivate an increasing measure of prayerful expectancy for the blessing of God upon the public preaching of the word. Remember what happened under the, I'm sorry, public reading. Did I say preaching? I mean public reading of the word. Remember in the Old Testament? It was at the mere reading of the law that you have a record of at least two great national awakenings and reformations that came under Josiah and under Nehemiah. It was just the record of at least two great national awakenings and reformations that came under Josiah and under Nehemiah. It was just the record of at least two great national awakenings and reformations that came under Josiah and under Nehemiah. Without all of the

60:24 rich and glorious truth of the New Testament that we have, the Scripture says no word from God shall be void of power. The Scripture says of itself that it is a sharp two-edged sword cutting, dividing asunder of soul and spirit. I wonder, dear people, if we came with earnest prayer and expectancy to the public reading of the word, if we wouldn't find at times sinners laid bare under the sheer power of the word of God read and hear them cry out, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Or some saint struggling with some deep inner conflict in the reading of the word, light breaks in, and there'd be an unexpected, uncontrollable hallelujah that would blow the reader out of the pulpit.

Exhortation 2: Resist Rivalry or Replacement of Public Reading

61:23 Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings. May God give us surprising light while the word is read. Oh, dear people, cultivate an increasing measure of prayerful expectancy for the blessing of God upon the public reading of the word. Exhortation number two, as a congregation, we must resist any attempt to rival or replace the prominent place given to the public reading of the word. Resist any attempt to rival or replace the prominent place given to the public reading of the word. Don't allow anyone, anything to rob you of this means of grace. Those benefits, those seven manifold benefits that we considered will then erode. In the world can congregations by their common suffrage approve of the things they approve of, so many of which stand in stark contradiction to some of the simplest statements of the

62:42 Bible unless Jesus would say to them, you do err not knowing the scripture. Matthew 22, 27. And in recent years, my wife, and I, our conversation about many things becomes more and more extensive without some of the distractions of earlier years. How many times has she said to me, honey, they err not knowing the scriptures. They err not knowing the scriptures. And Jesus, worthy for that, even though every man didn't have a Bible sitting on his nightstand. He still held them accountable. And as a congregation, you must resist any attempt to rival or replace the prominent place given to the public reading of the word in this place when some of us, if the Lord tarries and delays His coming, are in our graves. And someone tries to persuade you, if we're going to reach this biblically illiterate generation, we can't have Bibles on our laps. It will scare them away.

63:59 We can't have sermons full of... Bible, we'll be talking in tongues.

64:03 We've got to reach people where they are. We've got to have a user-friendly product. You say, who would say that? Thousands are not only saying it, they're doing it.

64:13 Local churches with memberships in the thousands built on a ministry that hides the Bible.

64:29 See, you're kidding. I'm kidding, folks. I don't stand up here and...

64:52 There'll be no... No traditional families will...

65:02 We're publicly... But I don't...

65:15 The word dysfunctional, and I'm not going to use it in this pulpit. Chronic eating disorder. Sexually...

65:38 With anything other than the form of sound words revealed in the Bible. And I know some of you don't like that.

65:55 You know why?

65:57 Because if you can be persuaded that your problem, be it lust, gluttony, insubmissiveness, lack of loving headship, is something for which someone has not yet got a handle. Then you excuse yourself from dealing with it. So you sit there and say, well, nobody's found my handle yet. My friend, if we need 20th century cycle Bible to handle it, then this Bible was not complete to make Timothy thoroughly furnished to every good work.

66:35 He was ministering in a pagan society with drunkenness, with fornication, with abortion, with immorality of every kind. And Paul said, Timothy, you've got to equip you with the cycle Bible of the 20th century. Folks, I'm planting the flag on this issue.

67:03 And if you want to be tickled with cycle Bible and quasi-Christian psychology, churches are legion, they're selling by the hundreds. I serve you notice. You'll not receive any sympathy here.

67:27 Somewhere along the line, somebody will come along and say, but you know, you know, you know, you know, God help some of you sitting here today who said amen.

67:39 Raise your hand and say, but sirs, will you show us why the pattern started in Deuteronomy 31, nine and following. And then you get the scriptures that we've showed form the roots of the public reading of the word and challenge who's ever leading to try to persuade you. Otherwise, show us that our understanding of these passages is wrong, that the inferences from them are unwarranted. Yeah,

68:09 an open Bible in your laps, a loved Bible in your heart and an obeyed Bible in your feet. Are your legacy of spiritual liberty? Don't give them up, give them up. And there's nothing but chases of bondage, waiting for bondage to the next expert bondage to the next smooth talking fellow bondage bondage lies outside the lids of this Bible.

68:38 Here's an example for you. If you know a lot about the Bible, you know, For it's the truth that sets us free, and Jesus said, sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth.

68:54 Well, you say, but all truth is God's truth. Ah, yes, but there's a great assumption there. You mean to tell me that pure secularists who hate God and hate the Bible and hate the doctrine of creation are coming up with truth about matters such as sin and human responsibility? No, I don't buy it.

69:13 As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. And a heart that denies God and denies moral absolutes and denies sin and denies creation is not going to be a heart out of which comes, quote, truth to help me as a Christian. Some of you may someday understand why I've spoken so forcefully on these issues, but I'm reading books that are considered the cutting-edge books, and I see where people are trying to take devandry.

69:50 I'm in an evangelical church, and it scares the liver out of me.

Exhortation 3: Understand Distancing from Bible Distances from Christ

69:57 So I exhort you, I exhort you with all my heart,

70:04 resist any attempt to rival or replace the prominent place given to the public reading of the word. My last exhortation, and I'm done, as a congregation, understand. Understand and act upon the conviction that anything that would distance you from your Bible will distance you from God. Anything that will distance you from Christ.

70:29 Have you got that? Anything that will distance you from your Bible will distance you from Christ. Now I know it is possible to traffic in the Bible and miss Christ. Jesus said to the religious leaders of his day in John 5, you search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, but these are they which testify of me, and you will not come to me that you might have life.

70:58 It is possible. The traffic in the Bible and miss Christ. I know it. But it is not possible to move away from your Bible and still find Christ.

71:09 For this is where he's found. Then opened he their understanding, and he showed them in all of the Psalms and Moses and the prophets the things concerning himself. And they said, did not our hearts burn within us while he opened unto us? Dear people, hear me.

71:34 Anything, I don't care how innocent or helpful it appears, the devil isn't going to get you, dear people, with something that looks harmful.

71:48 No matter how helpful it appears, anything that would distance you from the scriptures will ultimately distance you from Christ.

72:02 Beware of it. Beware of it. Beware of it. Beware of it.

72:07 Beware of it. Beware of it. Beware of it. Beware of it.

72:07 Beware of it. Beware of it. Beware of it. No matter how innocent and helpful it may appear,

72:13 if it begins to have you put your confidence in the insights of any man, I don't care who he is, what his credentials are, so that you begin to have a kind of dependence that many in this area have upon a certain radio guru, it is sickening to see the chronic dependence, it is sickening to see the chronic dependence, upon that man, as though he's the only one that can understand the Bible. They should know if his methods of interpretation distance them from their Bibles, instead of giving them increased confidence that in dependence on the Spirit they can read and understand their Bibles without any human intervention.

73:05 They ought to be suspicious the day this preacher puts any distance between you and your Bible. You better go find someone else. And I mean that sincerely.

73:17 I have said hundreds of times over the years, believe nothing unless you see it with your own eyes, in your own Bibles, and then believe it because you see it there, not because I pointed you to it. These continued steadfastly in the Apostles' teaching. Continual adherence to the Word of God. Is that where Trinity will be a decade from now?

Conclusion: Call to Steadfastness and Unbelievers

73:46 Continuing steadfastly in the Apostles' teaching, that is, in the public reading of the Word of God? I haven't talked about preaching, just about the comprehensive reading of the Word of God.

74:08 If you're here and you're not a Christian, I hope you've gotten hold of one thing, if nothing else. You may have sat there and said, what's that crazy man all worked up about? Well, I'll tell you what he's all worked up about. He believes that what's in, in the lids of this book, is a matter of life and death, and heaven and hell.

74:26 And you better start taking it serious. I beg you, if you never come back to hear me preach, get your Bible out and let Christ preach to you. Ask Him to show you what you are as a creature and a sinner, answerable to God. Ask Him to show you the way of forgiveness and life and salvation.

74:47 God grant, that this blessed book will hold its rightful place among us till Jesus comes. Let's pray. Our Father, how we thank you for the scriptures. Thank you for giving us this blessed book that is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway.

75:16 Thank you for prophets and apostles, many of whom were willing to seal their labors with their own life's blood. Thank you for Wycliffe and Tyndale and a host of others who paid a dear price that we might have this blessed book in our hands and on our laps and in our homes. Oh God, have mercy on our laziness. Have mercy on our itch for novelty.

75:51 Have mercy that we can treat so lightly, so great a privilege as an open Bible. Do use the ministry of the word this morning to bring a heightened appreciation for, and volitional commitment to, the public reading of the scriptures in this place. Hear us and answer us for Jesus' sake. Amen.