Christ as Our Prophet Part 3

Christ as Prophet and the Call to Submission

0:01 The Lord Jesus is the glorious fulfillment of the Old Testament concept of the Messiah, the Anointed One. When someone was anointed, he was set apart officially for a specific office and function. Priests were anointed for their functions in the temple. Prophets were anointed for their function as the mouthpiece of God.

0:24 Kings were anointed to fulfill the role of a ruler. And the Lord Jesus is the glorious fulfillment of those three offices set forth by many types and symbols in the Old Testament. He is the anointed prophet, priest, and king of all who come unto God by Him and of His glorious church. We have established from the Scriptures the concept of the function of a prophet.

0:53 A prophet is a spokesman for God. He declares the thoughts of God in the gospel. He declares the very words of God. Jesus said, I speak not my words, but the words of Him that sent me.

1:07 We have seen that our Lord is called in Acts chapter 3, the great prophet to come. Hebrews chapter 1, He is the last prophet in the truest sense. And then we looked at two of the implications of this truth. If the only Savior whom God holds before men is the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is, for the Bible says, there is salvation in none other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

1:35 And if believing on Jesus Christ is receiving Him, committing ourselves to Him in all His person and all His offices, then no one has a right to claim he's a Christian unless he has basically bowed to the authority of the words of Jesus Christ. In John 17, Jesus said, describing His own people, they have received Thy word. A Christian is not only someone who's nodded and assented to some facts about Christ, he has embraced Christ not only as his only hope of mercy, trusting only in the merits of His blood to forgive him, but bowing to the authority of His place as the prophet, of His people. The second implication of this truth we considered last week, that only those who continue in that relationship of submission to the words of Christ have any grounds to claim that they are Christians. For Jesus said in John 8, verse 30, 31, If ye continue in my words, then are ye my disciples indeed. The scripture says we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.

3:05 And so those who are savingly joined to Christ will persevere in subjection to the word of Christ. Now this morning I want us to further develop this thought, but in a very practical way. What does it mean in day-by-day experience to be one who believes in Jesus Christ as my prophet? Granted, I am not a Christian.

The Practical Meaning of Christ as Prophet

3:29 Granted, I am not a Christian. Granted, I am not a Christian. Granted, I am not a Christian. Granted, I am not a Christian.

3:29 Granted, I am not a Christian. Granted, I am not a Christian. Granted, by the Spirit I have been brought to bow before His words. When He says that the human heart is the source of sin, I have consented to that.

3:40 I'm not looking for psychological explanations of sin. I realize that it's true. Christ said out of the heart, proceed all forms of sin, and I consent. Lord, that's true.

3:50 He said, no man comes to the Father but by me. And with my heart I say, oh God, I know it's true. The only way a guilty sinner like me could ever approach, is through Jesus Christ. And so, there has been that initial bowing to Christ.

4:05 And there is that desire to continue in the Word of Christ. Now, how does this actually work out in practical day-by-day experience? Well, will you turn with me, please, to the 119th Psalm, and we will consider some very practical truth relative to this burning issue. How can I experience walking with Jesus Christ in that relationship with Him as my prophet?

4:34 Psalm 119.

The Question: How Shall a Young Man Cleanse His Way?

4:38 And we are going to study this morning verses 9 through 11. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee.

4:58 Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid, or better translated, I have laid up in mine heart that I might not sin against thee. As we attempt to think our way through this passage of the Word of God, will you notice with me the three main divisions of thought? First of all, there is a question asked.

5:23 Wherewithal, or with what, or by what means, shall a young man cleanse his way? Then, following the question, we have an answer given. By taking heed thereto, according to thy word. And then following the basic question and the basic answer, we have a pattern unfolded.

5:44 How do we take heed to the Word? Well, the pattern by which we do it is set forth in verses 10 and 11. With my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments.

5:55 Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee. Therefore, to think our way through, let's follow the natural unfolding of these principles of truth. The question asked, Wherewithal, or with what, or by what means, shall a young man cleanse his way? First of all, look at the nature of the question.

6:20 There is no question more basic than this. The psalmist is asking this question, How can I be a holy man? That's a pretty basic question. In fact, that's one of the most important questions you can ever entertain.

6:37 For the Scripture says, Without holiness, no man will see the Lord.

6:41 The Scripture says, No unclean thing shall enter that city. Without are the unclean, and the dogs, and the whoremongers, and idolaters, and whatsoever loveth and maketh a lie, we read in the book of the Revelation. So this is a very vital question. But I want to ask you this.

7:01 Why does he say young man? Not all of us are young men. Not all of us are men. Period.

7:06 Is this just a sermon for men this morning? Or just for men? For young men? Then we'd have the problem, what's a young man?

7:16 The fellow's in their teens. Any guy that's still in his twenties, he's young. Hits your thirties and you've had it. You're over the hill.

7:24 To a fellow in his thirties, why, you're a young man until you're fifty.

7:29 And to the men in their fifties, well, they're just going to have to face up to it while they just admit, maybe I am approaching that time when I'd be called an old man. They still won't call themselves that.

7:41 What's involved in that question? I want to discover the nature of the question. I believe it's this.

7:47 He says, how shall a young man cleanse his way for the simple reason that if we can find the way that a young man can be holy, we've found the way that any man can be holy for in a peculiar sense,

8:01 there are no more greater pressures exerted upon an individual to turn aside from the paths of holiness and righteousness and godliness than those pressures without and within that converge upon a man in his youth.

8:18 Can I support this? From Scripture, yes.

The Basis of the Question: Justification and a Desire for Holiness

8:22 Paul said to Timothy, Timothy, flee. What kind of lusts? Youthful lusts. There are peculiar passions and desires or youth, passions and desires peculiar to youth and particularly to a man.

8:40 For a young man has not had that maturing which comes from experience. He has not had that mellowing which comes with the years. His passions, physical passions are at their peak and he may not yet know God's legitimate expression of those desires and capacities in the realm of marriage. As a young man, he's a bundle of ambition,

9:06 a bundle of dreams. The world is before him, his life. He thinks, what shall I do? And there is that tremendous appeal of material pleasure.

9:15 He isn't like the man who's 60 and has everything and goes home to his penthouse and says, to some swanky place in New York and sits down and drinks himself to sleep because he's found that money and material things bring no satisfaction. The young man hasn't found that by experience yet. And out there there's all the glitter of success, of station, of position, of popularity, prestige, and all of those temptations converge upon a young man in a peculiar way upon a young man.

9:48 Especially in David's day where women had still in great measure kept to the dignity, to the dignity of womanhood. They were not obsessed with this idea that a woman's place is some kind of a lesser place and if she gives herself to cultivating her womanliness and using her womanly gifts of motherhood and parenthood, she's somehow a second-rate citizen. In David's day and in any day when the Word of God is obeyed, women take their God-given place, which is primarily in subjection to the man and in the home, and in it, they find their glory. It's not that it squeezes them and puts them in a mold that cramps their style.

10:30 A woman never knows the true beauty of her, quote, style until she embraces her womanliness and seeks to cultivate it to the glory of God. But the woman is in the non-aggressive role in most of these cases, so the young man has a peculiar temptation. And I think the sense of the text is this, that if we can find out the way by which a young man be set by all of these pressures without and within, if we can find the way that he can cleanse his way, if it'll work for him, it'll work for me. It'll work for you.

11:04 So that's a very vital, important question. Now, not only consider the nature of the question, but consider the basis of the question. Notice what his question is. How shall a young man, what, be successful?

11:17 No. A man will ask that question by nature. But only a man who's been touched by the grace of God will be burning, burning within to find out, how can I be holy? See, by nature, a young man will ask questions like this.

11:33 How can I be popular? How can I be a success? How can I make an impression on the world, or on the girls, or on the fellas? No man by nature, especially a young man, gets concerned with, how can I be holy?

11:49 You see, this question was asked by a man whose heart and life had been touched by the supernatural grace of God. And it's only a man whose heart and life has been touched by the grace of God that will ever ask a question like this. How can I be holy? How can I go on in pleasing God?

12:10 This is the superstructure built upon the foundation of a true work of God's grace. The man who asked this question is the man who could say, as he did in Psalm 32, quoted again in Romans chapter 4, Blessed is the man whose iniquity is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. And so, the foundation upon which this question is built is the foundation of forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ and a new life imparted by the Spirit of Christ.

12:50 Until you can face God, knowing that your sins have been blotted out by His mercy and grace through Jesus Christ, that you are, to use the technical term, justified, then this question isn't for you. For this is a question that follows. Until you know that your basic love of sin has been replaced by a work of God's grace giving you a basic longing to be holy and pure and righteous, then this question is not for you. For the basis of this question is that a man has been so transformed by the grace of God that he wants to be holy, he wants to walk in a cleansed way, and he can do so knowing that he does not need to face the judgment and wrath of God. He is a justified, forgiven man. So I would say to those of you here this morning who have never seen yourself as a helpless, hopeless, hell-deserving sinner, oh, my dear friend, listen to me, I say it tenderly and lovingly,

14:01 will you not pray that God will show you what you are in His eyes until the burning question that bursts from your lips is that question which bursts from the lips of a jailer at Philippi? Sir, what must I do to be saved? That's the question you ought to be occupied with this morning. If you've never seen your sin as offense against God, you've never seen your heart as a corrupt heart that needed the transforming grace and power of God, your sin such that they need the cleansing of His blood, I urge upon you to consider those issues, and then this issue will follow.

14:42 For if you seek to cleanse your way externally without coming first of all for forgiveness and for an internal transformation, you'll end up a perfect Pharisee. The Pharisees were people who cleansed their way externally, but Jesus said within they were full of all kinds of rottenness and sin and uncleanness. And so if you try to answer this question, how shall I cleanse my way without first of all answering this question, how can I be right with God? Then you'll end up a perfect Pharisee.

15:15 And Jesus said of the Pharisees that they were twofold more the children of hell than others. But now for those of you who are here this morning, who know that you are justified, you've come as guilty, helpless, hell-deserving sinners, and you've looked up to Jesus Christ, the perfect not only prophet, but priest, the one who died for sinners and rose and now lives to apply the merits of His blood and to keep them. And you've looked to Christ alone and you look to Him alone this day as your hope of mercy. You know the truth of John 15, 5, without me or severed from me ye can do nothing.

15:56 It's only you who are joined to Christ that can cleanse your way, for severed from Christ we can do nothing acceptable to God. They that are in the flesh, the Scripture says, cannot please God. And oh, dear one who's not in Christ, you cannot please Him until you get in Christ. And the only way to get in Christ is to come by way of that path of repentance and faith, turning from your sin and looking to Jesus Christ as He's offered in the Gospel and embracing Him.

16:24 But those of us who have looked and lived and do now look and live, for faith is not a static fit of the past, but it is a disposition that is active and operative in the present. And if you're here this morning thinking you're saved because you nodded to some facts in the past, you're deluded. If Jesus Christ isn't a present reality to whom you look and towards whom you move in submission and trust, you have no grounds to claim you're a Christian. But I believe there are such here this morning.

Unbiblical Answers to the Question of Holiness

16:55 And having looked at the question, the nature of it, the basis of it, now let's look at the answer given. How shall a person cleanse his way? And the answer? By taking heed thereto according to thy word.

17:12 And as I was meditating on this passage, and this is where the message started, in my own devotions earlier this week, I began to think, now how would some people answer that question? Wherewithal, how can a young man cleanse his way? How can he walk in practical godliness and holiness? And I began to think of some of the answers that some people would give you if you were asking them this question in our day.

17:34 There's the answer that I would call the answer of positionalism. And this is teaching for you who are saved, who are the children of God, that I think you need. There are those who would say, ah, forget it. As long as you're in the flesh, you're going to have the old nature to bother you.

17:49 And one day when the Lord comes, it will all be done away with. Since you're accepted in Jesus Christ and your record in heaven is perfect, don't even worry about cleansing your way down here. Your state and your standing are separated. Forget it.

18:02 I've actually had people tell me this. Had somebody tell me that right here in this church. When I preached a message on holiness one time, a man who'd been, quote, a Christian for 40 years came up and said, my young man says you've got it all wrong. The only holiness I'm concerned about is that which I have before God in Jesus Christ and how I walk and live down here is not my concern.

18:21 If you were to ask some people, how can I cleanse my way? They'd say forget it. Don't worry about it. It's not important.

18:29 That's the answer of positionalism. Then there's the answer of some brands of what's called holiness teaching. They'd say, ah, to cleanse your way, you need a second work of grace that'll just completely root out all inbred sin and you'll never have to worry about being cleansed anymore. In one great work of cleansing, the old nature will be rooted out, you'll be given a pure heart, and the problem will be solved.

18:56 That's the answer some would give. Seek and carry till you get a second work of grace and inbred sin is taken from you. That's how you cleanse your way. That's the answer some would give.

19:06 Then some of our Pentecostal friends, and I do not say this disparaging them, because I have many dear friends. My godly grandmother, whose prayers were part of God's instrument to bring me in the kingdom, is a godly Pentecostal woman who not only shouts loud but lives right. And that's all right. Someone said, I don't care how high you jump and loud you shout, just so long as you walk straight when you come down.

19:32 Well, she's walked straight. She's walked straight through the years. But now we're dealing with truth, not with individuals. We're dealing with principles, not with personalities, and we've got to learn to do that.

19:43 Pentecostalism would say, well, to cleanse your way, wait until you get the baptism with the evidence of tongues. And when you've got that, you've had it. You'll take off like a bird. Then the answer of some deeper life teaching, the common answer would be given, in general, by, again, I'm not thinking of individuals, by what's commonly called the Keswick movement, would be, ah, listen, listen, you've got the wrong word in there.

20:08 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? That's your whole problem. You're trying to do it. And as long as you're trying to do it, you're going to fumble the ball.

20:19 What you need to do is just let go and let God cleanse your way. And so much deeper life teaching would say, you see, you've got the right desire. They wouldn't be like the positionalists and say you ought not to be holy and ought not to have a desire for holiness. They'd say, oh, yes, you ought to have a practical desire for practical holiness.

20:39 They wouldn't say the answer is a once-for-all second work of grace or a baptism in the Spirit, but you've got to come to the place where you realize you don't strive, you don't wrestle, you don't cleanse, you just abide. That's the answer that's being given and causing great confusion to many. Now, what's the right answer? Not my answer, but the Bible's answer.

The Biblical Answer: Taking Heed to God's Word

21:03 Notice what it is. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? And it's so unglamorous. Nothing mystical about it.

21:11 Here it is. By taking heed thereto according to thy word. How does a man cleanse his way? Here it is.

21:20 By diligent obedience to the revealed will of God as found in the Word of God. That's how you go on in the process of sanctification. When Jesus prayed in John 17, Father, sanctify them through the truth. Thy word is truth.

21:42 This is how the process goes on. By taking heed to the Word. By diligent obedience to the revealed will of God as found in the Word of God. And dear ones, that's the essence of sanctification and holiness.

21:57 What is sin? Sin is transgression of the law in thought, word, and deed. Well, what then is holiness? But obedience to the law.

22:09 The law in thought, word, and deed. If the essence of sin is any lack of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God, then the essence of holiness is all conformity to and consistency with the law of God in the power of the Holy Spirit by means of the written word. You see, our Lord Jesus, who is called in the Scripture the Sinless One, the Holy One of God, what did His holiness consist of? What did His sanctification, not in the sense of a process, for He had no process in His life, but His practical godliness, in what did it consist? Was it not precisely this? Diligent, strict conformity of heart, mind, motive, and will to the revealed will of God. He said, I do always those things that please my Father.

23:13 He walked in the light of His Father's revealed will. Notice the first verse of the 119th Psalm. It says in a very summarized way what I've been trying to say for the last three, four minutes, Blessed are the undefiled in the way. Isn't that what you want to be?

23:31 Isn't this what He's asking? How can I cleanse my way? I want my way to be cleansed of defilement. How can it be?

23:38 He tells who they are. Blessed are the undefiled in the way. Who are they? Those who walk in the law of the Lord.

23:46 Oh, that's so unglamorous and so unspiritual sounding. No kind of mystical thing where you've got to juggle yourself up into some state where you wonder, well, am I abiding or am I striding? Just the simple principle. They walk in the law of the Lord.

24:01 That's it. By the power of Christ, yes, we're going to come to that, but they walk in the law of the Lord. Their undefiled walk is a walk of conformity to the revealed will of God. That means when a wife says, how shall I cleanse my way?

24:22 It means that you start taking seriously everything in the Bible that tells you what you're supposed to be as a wife and a mother. And you start putting it into practice by the help of God. That's what you do. You as a husband, when you say, how shall I cleanse my way?

24:39 You start taking seriously what God says in His Word about a father and about a husband and about the breadwinner, you who are students. You take seriously what the Bible says to those who are under authority and their relationship to those over them. You take seriously what God says about in the multitude of counselors and respecting the hoary head, the white hair, respecting those who've got some years and experience behind them. You start taking seriously what God says.

The Pattern: Earnest Prayer for Help

25:06 That's the essence of cleansing your way. Now, having looked at the question and the answer, notice the practical pattern that is set before us in verses 10 and 11. Now, how do we take heed to the Word? You say, I can see that the answer is clear.

25:24 The way I'm going to be a holy man or woman is to walk in obedience to the Word. But how do you go about doing that? Well, there are two principles under this pattern. Notice them.

25:35 Verse 10 is the first. With my whole heart have I sought thee, O let me not wander from thy commandments. This is the principle of earnest prayer. The Psalmist says, I know that the way I'll be a holy man is to walk in the light of the revealed will of God.

25:56 But I've got a problem. Even though the grace of God has touched me and I want to be holy and I want to be obedient, there's another principle that makes me want to wander. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.

26:18 That's what the Psalmist is saying. Paul said it in New Testament terminology. He said, I delight after the law of God with my mind, but I find what? Another law within my members warring against the law of my mind.

26:34 And so the pattern that is set before the Christian is not only to recognize that the way to be a holy man or woman is to be conformed to the revealed will of God, but the pattern is this. There must be earnest prayer which is first of all a confession of my own helplessness and the tendency to go astray. The Psalmist is confessing prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. It's a confession of his helplessness.

27:08 In New Testament terminology, it's the Psalmist confessing, Lord Jesus, without you, I can do nothing. So with what? With a half-hearted mouthing of the words, oh God, I can't do anything today unless you give me grace. Amen.

27:24 No, no. He said what? With my whole heart. He said, Lord, I'm so convinced of my weakness and my propensity to evil with my whole heart.

27:32 I plead, God, do something for me. See? It's so easy to say, I know I'm weak and helpless and the Lord has to help me, but now I want to hear you when you go to your closet. When you're asking for grace, how do you ask?

27:46 Do you ask like a man who's desperately in need of it? Hmm? Ah, that's the proof. Somebody says, I believe without the Holy Spirit the work of God can't be done.

27:55 We need the power. That all sounds good, but when all is said and done, I want to hear you pray, if you pray. As a church, we can confess without the Holy Spirit upon us, moving, working, empowering, giving life to our assembly and penetrating into the Word. All is in vain.

28:16 That's fine to say that, but where are you Wednesday night when we get together to implore God to send the Holy Ghost? That's what I want to know. Where are you Wednesday night? Hmm?

28:34 You see, that's intensely practical. That's the proof that we believe it and the proof that the Psalmist believed that he did not have, by nature, that which it takes to do what he knew he had to do. If he was to cleanse his way, he had to take heed to the Word, but he realized there was this principle of wandering. So he calls upon God in earnest supplication.

28:56 With my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments. So there must be earnest prayer which is a confession of my helplessness and a laying hold of his strength. If we want to be holy men and women, that's what has to be our daily pattern.

29:16 Isn't that what our Lord taught us in the Lord's Prayer? When we come to the place where we're asking for our own needs, what do we pray? We pray, Lord, give us this day our daily bread, all that I need for life physically and spiritually. That's laying hold of his grace.

29:31 And then we confess, lead me not into temptation. We're telling God that left to ourselves we'll walk in paths we ought not, and that when we come into those places our hearts are like a tinderbox of iniquity, and every temptation is like a lively spark. And we say, God, don't let the sparks fall. I'm afraid of what'll happen.

29:51 And we say, it's that holy distrust of ourselves, that sanctified lack of confidence. But he doesn't stop there. He calls upon a God who's able by his grace to keep him from wandering. So his prayer is not only a confession of his helplessness, but also a confession of his faith that there's something God can do in the mysterious operations of his spirit that can check that tendency to wander and the hymn writer hit it right on the head when he said, here's my heart, Lord.

30:27 Oh, take and seal it. God, you can do something that'll keep me from wandering. Well, we've got to hurry on now to the second part of this practical pattern. The first is earnest prayer, prayer that confesses helplessness and lays hold of omnipotence.

The Pattern: Disciplined Assimilation of God's Word

30:44 But then there must be what we find in verse 11. There must be an assimilation of the word of God. Thy word have I hid or as the American Standard translates it, thy word have I laid up like a store of some precious jewels or materials I've laid up in mine heart that I might not sin against thee. There must not only be earnest prayer confessing helplessness, laying hold of omnipotence, but there's got to be this second thing, a disciplined assimilation of the word.

31:23 And assimilation involves what? Well, you can't lay up something that first of all you don't find. A man who's laying up a treasure of 50-cent pieces, they're a rare item these days, he's got to go out and find them first. So the first step to laying up the word in the heart is get exposed to the word.

31:41 You say, Pastor, you're getting back and ringing that same old bell you always ring. That's right. But that's the only one I see in this matter of how to be a holy man. If you're not daily with consistency, exposing yourself to the word, you can read a hundred books on theories of the Christian life and be as carnal as a goat.

32:01 It just won't work. It won't work. The word's got to be hidden. And before it can be hidden, it's got to be seen.

32:11 So the first thing is exposure. Then with exposure, there's got to be accumulation, gathering it up. It's not the word to which I'm exposed, he says, that will keep me. It's the word that is treasured, that I'm supposed to have.

32:27 Now, here's the man who's out hunting fifty cent pieces and when he finds them, he puts them in a pocket with a hole in it. All his labor's in vain. Doesn't work. Better make sure his pockets are sold over.

32:39 And I think probably that's what happens with many of us when we hear sermons. There's exposure. We got some holes in the pockets of our heads. Our hearts.

32:49 And I imagine I trample over an awful lot of my sermon when I walk to that back door to shake a hand. Hmm. I wonder how much. own sermon I trample over it might be discouraging seriously don't we do this not only with what we hear in church but in our own personal bible reading so if we're going to lay up the word we must not only have exposure but we've got to learn how to accumulate and store up now how do you do this this is where meditation comes in meditation is taking the 50 cent piece and putting it in a good secure place that's why psalm 1 says the god-blessed man is the man who meditates upon the word of god what does meditation do meditation takes the principle of the word brings it before my eyes and lets its beings begin to strike me in my thought patterns then in my living patterns in my acting and reacting I by meditation begin to turn over that truth like one would take a well-cut flawless diamond and hold it this way and light will dance and sparkle in certain relationships turn it another way and more light dances and sparkles and that's what we've got to do with the truth of god hold it up before our eyes not literally but the eyes of the mind lord what

34:10 does this truth say to me here turn the truth a bit and lord what does it say to me here that's meditation laying up the word of god in our hearts letting it apply to us where we live the book of proverbs mentions this and will you look for a moment please to proverbs chapter 2 being the old version the proverbs chapter 2 notice verse 1 my son if thou receive my words and don't stop there but the fifty cent pieces in a good secure place hide my commandments with thee not only receive my words my son but hide my words notice chapter 3 & verse 3 let not weürt attempted it the bond mabel about bain etels Write them upon the table of thy heart. Chapter 4, verse 20 and 21. My son, attend to my words. Accline thine ear to my sayings.

35:22 Let them not depart from thine eyes. Keep them where? In the midst of thy head or heart? Heart.

35:34 Keep them in the midst of thy heart. Why? The heart is the seat of my being. Where the heart goes, I go.

35:42 Where the heart is, the treasure will be. Jesus said, where thy treasure is there will thy heart be also. Proverbs 4, verse 23. Out of the heart proceed the issues of life.

35:52 So at that seat of my being, where I make decisions, where I set values, where I make commitments, the psalmist says, at that point, the word of God should be there telling me what my values should be. Telling me what my goals should be.

36:19 Dictating to me what my action and reaction to this given situation should be. And it's only when the word is kept in the midst of the heart that it's there as a governing, powerful influence in the life.

Practical Application of Assimilating the Word

36:35 Now let me be intensely practical with this and take an area that I trust is a relevant thing to at least many of you here.

36:45 You're driving down Bloomfield Avenue and some young man says, one squirt, 16-year-old, 70-year-old kid has just gotten his license and has turned a deaf ear to everything he's heard in school about being careful when you're driving the rest and you've got several children with you, maybe taking them home from Sunday school, your own children. And this fellow recklessly cuts in in front of you, you've got to slam your brakes, he throws one of the kids over so they bang their nose on the dashboard and you've got to take them to the hospital for a couple of stitches. Now how are you going to act toward that fellow?

37:19 Get my hands on him, I'll wring his neck. That's the way we're going to act?

37:24 Left to ourselves we would, but now what's the problem? What does the Word of God say at that point? Here's what it says. If possible, we ought to seek to have the law apprehend him for reckless driving because God put the law there to check the abuses of liberties, but in my own personal attitude, what should it be?

37:40 Does the Bible have anything to say about that? You say, well, I read my Bible through a few times, I never found anything mentioned about that. Oh, yes, you have. Yes, you have.

37:48 You've found lots about that. You ever read anything in your Bible? It goes something like this.

37:55 Not rendering railing for railing. Not rendering railing.

37:59 Love your enemies. Do good to those that despitefully use you.

38:09 Now, you see, you can have a regular temper tantrum over that guy and justify it on the grounds that, well, he ought to know better and all the rest,

38:18 and fail to realize that God had something to say about how you react to that situation simply because the Word at that point was not where? In the midst of your heart. Had it been there in your heart and the natural reaction was beginning to emerge, there the Word would have spoken and the Holy Spirit could bring to remembrance that which you had hidden away by exposure, by meditation.

38:43 That's how practical it is. And you can apply it, we don't have time this morning, to a number of situations, but it's as the Word is laid up in the heart, kept in the midst of the heart. This is why, again, to be very practical, there is no substitute for systematic Bible reading that every couple of years takes you through the entire Bible because our minds are slow to grasp and slow to retain, quick to forget. And so, as Peter said, I need to stir up your minds by way of what?

39:17 Remembrance. Paul said in Philippians 3, he said, I'm going to write the same things. And he said, to me it's not grievous, and to you it's necessary. So if I repeat myself, don't think you're going to hurt me by saying, Pastor, you repeated yourself.

39:30 No, that's no embarrassment at all because, for me it's not grievous and for you it's safe because it's only what is there in the midst of the mind and heart that's going to mold and shape the life. You take some of you people who are here this morning. When I talked about people who've seen themselves as sinners, lost and undone, and who fled to Christ, you don't know what that means. It'll be so easy for you to just slip out of here and forget all of that, but oh, if you love your never-dying soul, don't forget it.

40:01 You better say, hey, what did that preacher mean about that? You better get your Bible down off that shelf and blow the dust off and you better start reading it and saying, God, what did that preacher mean when he talked about unless you're born again, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven? What did he mean when he quoted the words of Christ? No man comes to the Father but by me.

40:20 You see, don't let that truth slip, but you cherish that truth. As a Christian, don't let this truth slip and when someone comes along saying, are you having problems with sin? You want to cleanse your way? Here, I've got the answer and they say, that's just the trouble.

40:34 You're trying. Now you need to just give up trying and just trust. I hope you remember what you heard this morning and you don't get enmeshed in that teaching on the Christian life which leads to pacifism and deception and many times to much worse things than that. We've got not only to assimilate the Word, but by the grace of God, keep it before our consciousness and what will happen?

40:58 Notice the last part of the verse. Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not what? Sin against thee. How?

41:06 How shall I cleanse my way? How shall I have my way kept clean from sin? Here's how. By taking heed to the Word.

Christ's Example: Overcoming Temptation with the Word

41:13 But how do you do that? Earnest prayer, confessing my helplessness, laying hold of His omnipotence and then by that assimilation of the Word. Our Lord Jesus is the perfect example of this and this is our closing illustration this morning. Just briefly touch on it.

41:31 You're familiar with the narrative, most of you, in Matthew chapter 4. I always get a little bit disturbed when I read in books, well, the way you overcome temptation is fight the devil with the Word of God. I never quite know what people mean by that. And they use this example of our Lord where He quoted Bible verses to the devil as though quoting those verses somehow the devil just jumped up and got afraid and turned around and went away.

41:55 But our Lord wasn't overcoming temptation by quoting Bible verses to the devil. All the books written on it notwithstanding. What was He doing? Well, let's see what He was doing.

42:04 Notice in Matthew, the devil came to our Lord and God, the Father, had apparently revealed to Him that it was not yet time to break His fast. He had been fasting for 40 days and nights. And the tempter came, verse 3, and said, If thou or since thou art the Son of God, the word in the original can be translated if or since, command that these stones be made bread. But Jesus answered and said, It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

42:40 What was He doing? He wasn't scaring the devil away by quoting a Bible verse. The devil can quote more Bible verses than you can, than I can.

42:50 A little bit later, he starts quoting something.

42:53 What was our Lord doing? He's a perfect example of Psalm 119, 9 through 11. How shall the Son of God keep His way clean that He might be a perfect, sinless Savior for sin?

43:08 He'd had the Word of God stored up in His heart. And now the temptation comes. And the way of our Lord is in jeopardy. Will it be a stained way?

43:17 The Father has said, It's not time to break your fast. The devil comes and says, Since you're the Son of God, prove your stuff and break your fast. The Lord says, I am committed to the Word of my Father. And at this point, His Word to me, the Word that's in the midst of my heart, the Word that tells me what to do and gives me grace to turn a deaf ear, to what you're saying is this.

43:43 Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And from the mouth of my Father has come the Word that I'm not to break this fast.

43:54 And I'm committed to that Word. You see, it wasn't just quoting a Bible verse that scared the devil away. It was the Word in the midst of his heart which at that point gave him the directive he needed to walk the way of God instead of to walk in a way that would have been sin. And he did the same.

44:12 The same thing in the next temptation and in the next. And so, overcoming temptation is not a matter of memorizing some verses and when you get tempted quoting them to the devil.

44:23 It's a matter when you're in the midst of that temptation. There that fellow's just cut you off and the old flesh is rising up and you want to tell him off and at that point the Scripture comes to mind. Bless them that curse you. Do good to your enemies.

44:38 And at that point you say, Oh God, I'm going to live by Your Word. And you say, God, give me grace. Take that angry spirit away. That's how you've driven off the flesh and the devil.

44:49 Not by quoting a verse, but by saying to that Word in the midst of the heart, Lord, I'll be committed to that. See?

44:58 You young people, you're out on a date. You're a normal human being. You kind of like that fellow and that girl.

45:06 Your passions begin to be aroused. You begin to want to take liberties that you know under God you shouldn't. You can quote verses all night long and end up losing your virtue. But it's when you feel the rising up of passion that begins to dictate and says, Do this!

45:23 The Word of God in the midst of your heart says, Flee youthful lusts.

45:29 And you say, Lord, I'm committed to that Word of Yours.

45:34 And you turn on your heel and get out of that situation which is the situation of temptation for you. You see, that's how it works. Hiding up the Word in the heart that in the situation of temptation we might not sin against God because rather than obeying the dictates of lust or the devil, we obey the Word of God. We obey the precepts of the living God.

45:57 And the temptation comes for you young men to turn aside from the call of God to some lesser thing.

46:05 You need to have some words burned into your heart by the Spirit. What shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his own soul?

46:15 Those words burn into the heart, hidden in the heart. They'll keep us from sin. A very basic question. How shall a young man cleanse his way?

46:25 A clear answer by taking heed to the Word and then a one-sided, wonderfully practical pattern. How do we do that? With my whole heart if I sought thee, O let me not wander. Thy word if I laid up in mine heart.

46:37 Make God grant that we shall be men and women who not only ask the question, but we get David's answer and then have David's experience that I might not sin against God. Let us pray.