WEBVTT 1 00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:20.660 And so I think maybe we should go ahead and listen to it once again, recognizing God’s providence in such things. 2 00:00:20.660 --> 00:00:32.360 One of the things that that emphasizes is how we do often sing the very words of Scripture, paraphrases like the one we’ve just sung, how close that is to God’s Word. 3 00:00:32.360 --> 00:00:34.980 You can see that as we read this morning. 4 00:00:34.980 --> 00:00:39.900 The emphasis today is on the voice of the Lord , the Word of God. 5 00:00:39.900 --> 00:00:47.860 And so it’s appropriate that we have just sung about it and that we read these words again. 6 00:00:47.860 --> 00:00:49.900 The voice of the Lord. 7 00:00:49.900 --> 00:00:51.500 Psalm of David. 8 00:00:51.500 --> 00:00:56.000 This is God’s holy and inerrant Word. 9 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:02.820 Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 10 00:01:02.820 --> 00:01:06.040 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name. 11 00:01:06.040 --> 00:01:10.020 Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. 12 00:01:10.020 --> 00:01:13.400 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. 13 00:01:13.400 --> 00:01:16.340 The God of glory thunders. 14 00:01:16.340 --> 00:01:18.440 The Lord is over many waters. 15 00:01:18.440 --> 00:01:20.300 The voice of the Lord is powerful. 16 00:01:20.300 --> 00:01:23.520 The voice of the Lord is majestic. 17 00:01:23.520 --> 00:01:27.200 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. 18 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:31.200 Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. 19 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:38.980 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf and Sirion like a young wild ox. 20 00:01:38.980 --> 00:01:42.760 The voice of the Lord uses out flames of fire. 21 00:01:42.760 --> 00:01:45.700 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. 22 00:01:45.700 --> 00:01:49.120 The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 23 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:54.780 The voice of the Lord makes the deer to calve and strips the forest bare. 24 00:01:54.780 --> 00:01:59.680 And in His temple, everything says glory. 25 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:03.200 The Lord sat as King at the flood. 26 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:06.640 Yes, the Lord sits as King forever. 27 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:08.840 The Lord will give strength to His people. 28 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:14.520 The Lord will bless His people with peace. 29 00:02:14.520 --> 00:03:03.620 The Word of God. 30 00:03:03.620 --> 00:12:42.260 Please open your Bible this morning to Second Timothy chapter 3 . 31 00:12:42.260 --> 00:13:06.900 For those of you who have been with us for quite a few years and for those of you who are still with us, you may have noticed, I don’t know if I’ve ever called attention to it, but usually on the first Sunday of the year, I usually talk about the Bible itself. 32 00:13:06.900 --> 00:13:17.460 I usually try to focus on the Word of God, because the Word of God is particularly it’s the whole focus. 33 00:13:17.460 --> 00:13:27.100 It’s the whole focus of our ministry and is what all transforming grace comes to us through the ministry of the Word of God. 34 00:13:27.100 --> 00:13:35.360 And as we’ve already observed this morning in that informal way, we are a Bible church. 35 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:46.060 We are a church that’s dedicated to teaching the whole Word of God through reading, through preaching, and through song as we did a few minutes ago, and through prayer. 36 00:13:46.060 --> 00:13:52.800 We pray very often, as I did partly this morning, the very words of Scripture back to the Lord. 37 00:13:52.800 --> 00:13:55.100 The Word of God is central. 38 00:13:55.100 --> 00:13:58.320 And so it is important that we recognize. 39 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:11.680 We believe that the Bible is the Word of God, verbally inspired without error in its original manuscripts and written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. 40 00:14:11.680 --> 00:14:22.750 So that’s why I want us to call your attention to this verse again in Second Timothy , beginning in verse 16. 41 00:14:22.750 --> 00:14:46.120 We’ll read 16 and 17: All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 42 00:14:46.120 --> 00:14:52.280 Let’s ask God’s blessing on this passage as we study it today. 43 00:14:52.280 --> 00:15:05.980 Father, as we reflect on this passage, we thank you for its truth, that we have a trustworthy text before us, and not just trustworthy, but it’s your very Word. 44 00:15:05.980 --> 00:15:09.840 Help us to recognize that truth. 45 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:21.160 And I pray, Father, that you help this truth to resonate in our hearts so that we respect your Word, so that we believe it, so that we obey it. 46 00:15:21.160 --> 00:15:23.460 We ask this in Christ’s name. 47 00:15:23.460 --> 00:15:29.040 Amen. 48 00:15:29.040 --> 00:15:33.120 The Apostle Paul writes his letters to people going through difficulties. 49 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:39.580 As we’ve learned in our study in 1 Corinthians , it’s written to that local church in Corinth. 50 00:15:39.580 --> 00:15:46.020 That whole letter we spent a great deal of last year looking at is all about the local church. 51 00:15:46.020 --> 00:15:57.000 The struggles that that particular local church is having, and God preserved that letter for us because most churches struggle with those same issues. 52 00:15:57.000 --> 00:16:08.420 And so, God writes His Word to us in this world that is filled with all sorts of conflict and difficulty and troubles, to His people. 53 00:16:08.420 --> 00:16:10.520 It’s a message to us. 54 00:16:10.520 --> 00:16:15.360 And there was no difference in this letter that Paul wrote to Timothy. 55 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:20.200 In fact, he anticipated troubles that the church would have. 56 00:16:20.200 --> 00:16:31.620 If you look at the very first opening verses of chapter 3, it says, “Realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come. 57 00:16:31.620 --> 00:17:10.260 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying its power.” 58 00:17:10.260 --> 00:17:12.840 How are we to live in a world like that? 59 00:17:12.840 --> 00:17:18.000 And that is, I think you recognize, very much the world that we live in. 60 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:20.090 This is the character of people. 61 00:17:20.090 --> 00:17:31.280 It’s the character of people that we are around all the time, and too often, it’s the character of people who occasionally come to church. 62 00:17:31.280 --> 00:17:36.300 In order to live in a difficult world, God has equipped us. 63 00:17:36.300 --> 00:17:46.380 He’s given us a book to encourage us, to give us salvation and hope. 64 00:17:46.380 --> 00:17:49.900 That’s the point of the Word of God. 65 00:17:49.900 --> 00:17:51.880 It’s a book of salvation. 66 00:17:51.880 --> 00:17:54.000 It’s a book that gives us hope. 67 00:17:54.000 --> 00:18:10.940 Remember these words in Ephesians , Paul prays that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you know what is the hope of His calling, that is, you’ll know what the hope of your salvation is. 68 00:18:10.940 --> 00:18:15.220 He gives us that through the Word of God. 69 00:18:15.220 --> 00:18:22.000 Romans 15:4 it says, “Whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction.” 70 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:31.020 So that’s one of the wonderful things about the Word of God is that the Bible, this Bible was written for you. 71 00:18:31.020 --> 00:18:33.040 It’s written for you. 72 00:18:33.040 --> 00:18:37.040 God gave us this book and He wrote these things. 73 00:18:37.040 --> 00:18:41.070 It says in John 20:31 , “These things are written that you might believe.” 74 00:18:41.070 --> 00:18:47.220 And then 1 John 5 it says, “These things I’ve written to you that you may know.” 75 00:18:47.220 --> 00:19:01.060 And in the passage in Romans that I read, “These things are written in earlier times was written for our instruction so that through perseverance and encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope.” 76 00:19:01.060 --> 00:19:06.000 God encourages us and gives us hope through His holy Word. 77 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:11.100 So what is it about the Word of God that gives us hope? 78 00:19:11.100 --> 00:19:17.240 Well, this verse says, “All Scripture is inspired by God.” 79 00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:21.820 That means literally, God-breathed. 80 00:19:21.820 --> 00:19:24.340 That’s what that word inspiration means. 81 00:19:24.340 --> 00:19:29.040 It is the God-breathed Word. 82 00:19:29.040 --> 00:19:32.560 All Scripture is God-breathed. 83 00:19:32.560 --> 00:19:39.320 It is the Spirit of God gives forth the Word of God. 84 00:19:39.320 --> 00:19:42.290 It’s not an ordinary book. 85 00:19:42.290 --> 00:19:48.640 It’s it’s been breathed out by the Holy Spirit of God. 86 00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:54.420 The Bible is coming from His breath. 87 00:19:54.420 --> 00:19:57.100 And that’s why we call this the Word of God. 88 00:19:57.100 --> 00:20:00.200 You know, we we do this all the time. 89 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:02.000 We carry this book around with us. 90 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:04.520 We call it the Word of God. 91 00:20:04.520 --> 00:20:07.540 Do we ever really think about that? 92 00:20:07.540 --> 00:20:10.800 It’s the Word of God . 93 00:20:10.800 --> 00:20:16.160 The Creator God, the all-powerful God has entrusted to us a Word. 94 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:19.680 And He’s given it to us in this book. 95 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:24.880 He’s communicated His thoughts to us. 96 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:35.360 I mean, we come together, we we read God’s Word, and we come together to hear God’s Word and to understand God’s Word. 97 00:20:35.360 --> 00:20:44.460 And my job as a preacher, my job as a minister is a very simple job at its core, at its base. 98 00:20:44.460 --> 00:20:50.660 All I do is tell you what it says, what God says, in His Word. 99 00:20:50.660 --> 00:20:59.520 I come to a passage like this, and I’m simply paraphrase and reiterate and say exactly what it says. 100 00:20:59.520 --> 00:21:06.640 My goal and my prayer is to stay in the truth so I don’t depart from it, to just simply bring the message. 101 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:08.220 I’m a messenger boy. 102 00:21:08.220 --> 00:21:13.100 That’s not a role that has any particular dignity. 103 00:21:13.100 --> 00:21:18.030 You know, you don’t you don’t really think that the person, we don’t get many messages these days. 104 00:21:18.030 --> 00:21:25.400 You know, we don’t have many people knock on our door and read a telegram to us, like you used to a few years ago. 105 00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:29.400 But the messenger boy wasn’t honored particularly. 106 00:21:29.400 --> 00:21:34.620 Might have been given a tip, but not honored particularly. 107 00:21:34.620 --> 00:21:37.460 The important thing was the message. 108 00:21:37.460 --> 00:21:41.940 What you answered that door for, and what you received was the content. 109 00:21:41.940 --> 00:21:55.660 And that’s my role, is to explain, to be able to to restate, to communicate the content so that you know what God’s Word says. 110 00:21:55.660 --> 00:22:06.260 So, God wrote this book, gave this book to us and in in in out of grace, has given gifted people to the church. 111 00:22:06.260 --> 00:22:17.020 Each one of you, gifted people, to minister in every one of us, ministers in some way, through the Word of God. 112 00:22:17.020 --> 00:22:20.140 So, you know, it’s an incredible thing. 113 00:22:20.140 --> 00:22:28.900 It is a book, but this book is a book that contains it it is the very Word of God. 114 00:22:28.900 --> 00:22:32.080 Now, I like books. 115 00:22:32.080 --> 00:22:33.660 I like to read. 116 00:22:33.660 --> 00:22:38.660 And I like to read all kinds of books. 117 00:22:38.660 --> 00:22:41.880 I like to read stories that are novels every now and then. 118 00:22:41.880 --> 00:22:53.540 I like to read books that are often generally often books that are non-fiction, and quite often books about the Bible or theology and things like that. 119 00:22:53.540 --> 00:23:00.270 But most any book, well every book in fact, contains a spiritual message. 120 00:23:00.270 --> 00:23:03.060 I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about that. 121 00:23:03.060 --> 00:23:09.660 If you read something like Moby Dick , you can read a story like Moby Dick . 122 00:23:09.660 --> 00:23:25.560 And as you read that story, you experience, you can read it because it, you know, it’s a wonderful, I’m sorry to say, way to tell the story. 123 00:23:25.560 --> 00:23:27.790 I don’t know why I’m doing that today. 124 00:23:27.790 --> 00:23:29.460 I apologize. 125 00:23:29.460 --> 00:23:32.700 You can read a book like that. 126 00:23:32.700 --> 00:23:38.350 The point of reading something like that is because you experience something that you otherwise can’t experience. 127 00:23:38.350 --> 00:23:45.180 You what is it like to go back to the 19th century and work on a whaling ship? 128 00:23:45.180 --> 00:23:47.660 I would have no way of knowing that. 129 00:23:47.660 --> 00:23:50.940 But I can tell you who did know all about it. 130 00:23:50.940 --> 00:23:53.640 And that was the writer. 131 00:23:53.640 --> 00:23:58.380 Melville knew exactly what that was like because that was part of his own experience. 132 00:23:58.380 --> 00:24:05.740 And when he wrote that book, he conveyed his thoughts, Melville’s thoughts. 133 00:24:05.740 --> 00:24:18.730 The spirit of Melville was active in writing that book and conveyed truths about his own lives that we can read and experience, so that we share in Melville’s thoughts. 134 00:24:18.730 --> 00:24:23.160 Well, the Bible is far more than that. 135 00:24:23.160 --> 00:24:28.700 It’s the it’s the thoughts and the breath of God. 136 00:24:28.700 --> 00:24:30.560 It’s the very Word of God. 137 00:24:30.560 --> 00:24:35.220 And this is, you know, it’s it’s important. 138 00:24:35.220 --> 00:24:44.860 Life, it’s a life-giving breath from God. 139 00:24:44.860 --> 00:24:46.800 God breathes into Adam. 140 00:24:46.800 --> 00:24:50.560 Adam becomes a living soul. 141 00:24:50.560 --> 00:25:01.240 If somebody should faint and you wonder if they’re dead, you know, one of the old things people used to do, I don’t know, they probably still do it, is there any breath? 142 00:25:01.240 --> 00:25:02.180 Breath is so faint. 143 00:25:02.180 --> 00:25:05.320 How can you tell if they’re breathing, their heart’s beating? 144 00:25:05.320 --> 00:25:13.720 Well, you hold the mirror up to their mouth and if fogged up and oh, you know, there’s still some breath there. 145 00:25:13.720 --> 00:25:17.270 Breath is necessary for life. 146 00:25:17.270 --> 00:25:24.820 And God gives us life through His living Word, which is God-breathed. 147 00:25:24.820 --> 00:25:27.180 It’s not an ordinary book. 148 00:25:27.180 --> 00:25:30.520 And these aren’t ordinary words that we read. 149 00:25:30.520 --> 00:25:34.510 These are the very thoughts of God that are God-breathed. 150 00:25:34.510 --> 00:25:41.500 And when we read God’s Word, it’s an active force to change us. 151 00:25:41.500 --> 00:25:44.480 We can be changed through the Word of God. 152 00:25:44.480 --> 00:25:48.360 It’s a powerful force for action. 153 00:25:48.360 --> 00:25:54.220 Paul says that God is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think. 154 00:25:54.220 --> 00:25:55.340 Ephesians 3:20 . 155 00:25:55.340 --> 00:25:57.980 And he calls God the Almighty. 156 00:25:57.980 --> 00:26:00.180 We we think about that. 157 00:26:00.180 --> 00:26:02.260 We know that’s true of God, don’t we? 158 00:26:02.260 --> 00:26:13.200 That God is the Almighty God, the Creator of this vast universe, all that there is, galaxies and galaxies. 159 00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:17.620 God is the one who created it all. 160 00:26:17.620 --> 00:26:25.100 And He possesses the our Lord Jesus possesses all power and authority. 161 00:26:25.100 --> 00:26:34.900 Remember we just got through the Christmas story that angel says to Mary, “With God nothing will be impossible.” 162 00:26:34.900 --> 00:26:43.160 And Jesus says, “With God all things are possible.” 163 00:26:43.160 --> 00:26:45.860 That means that God’s power is infinite. 164 00:26:45.860 --> 00:26:52.060 He can do anything that His holy will desires to do. 165 00:26:52.060 --> 00:26:56.180 Nothing is limited to what to to to the will of God. 166 00:26:56.180 --> 00:27:03.240 He can actually do whatever He wishes to do, whatever He would like to do. 167 00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:07.940 The power of God and the Word of God. 168 00:27:07.940 --> 00:27:13.680 And the way He accomplishes things is through His Word. 169 00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:26.370 You know, all of the creation, light and the creation, all that comes through the spoken Word of God. 170 00:27:26.370 --> 00:27:37.920 “By the Word of the Lord, the heavens were made and all their hosts by the breath of His mouth, for He spoke and it came to be, and He commanded and it stood forth.” 171 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:52.780 The Lord said to Jeremiah, “Behold, I put my words in your mouth, see I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms to pluck up, to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” 172 00:27:52.780 --> 00:27:57.800 It’s the Word of God that makes those changes, that changes things. 173 00:27:57.800 --> 00:28:08.260 What God spoke through the prophet wasn’t just something that was said, it wasn’t just information, but it has a power behind it. 174 00:28:08.260 --> 00:28:14.080 The God-breathed Word is life-giving and it’s powerful and it’s the creative force of God. 175 00:28:14.080 --> 00:28:22.480 But just because we hold God’s Word, we have it on a shelf at home, or even read it. 176 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:28.240 It doesn’t mean that we have access to that power really, not completely. 177 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:32.220 Yesterday was New Year’s Day. 178 00:28:32.220 --> 00:28:37.940 They had the Rose Bowl, and I think Ohio won narrowly. 179 00:28:37.940 --> 00:28:39.780 I didn’t watch the game. 180 00:28:39.780 --> 00:28:43.000 And before the Rose Bowl is always the parade. 181 00:28:43.000 --> 00:28:51.240 And I think yesterday, in yesterday’s parade, the winning float was UPS Stores. 182 00:28:51.240 --> 00:28:54.250 I don’t remember if I’m remembering that right. 183 00:28:54.250 --> 00:29:09.580 I think it was the UPS Stores that had, you know, a float of that was had to do with a big rooster that was reading a book to its chicks. 184 00:29:09.580 --> 00:29:15.160 And it was about the slogan was “Rise, Shine, and Read.” 185 00:29:15.160 --> 00:29:16.880 It’s a good good slogan. 186 00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:25.340 And I was thinking about that because I remember hearing a story a good while ago. 187 00:29:25.340 --> 00:29:28.820 It was J. 188 00:29:28.820 --> 00:29:31.420 Vernon McGee story, another one of those. 189 00:29:31.420 --> 00:29:33.440 And he experienced this first hand. 190 00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:36.980 He was at the Rose Bowl parade. 191 00:29:36.980 --> 00:29:54.740 And as at the at the Rose Bowl parade, he’s watching all these beautiful floats go by, and all of a sudden the whole thing slows down, because one parade was one of the floats that was going along started sputtering, stopped, and then it held up all the rest of them. 192 00:29:54.740 --> 00:29:57.620 And they couldn’t go because this one was stuck. 193 00:29:57.620 --> 00:30:03.920 And the reason it was stuck is because it had run out of gas. 194 00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:17.340 And the really interesting thing about it was that it was a a beautiful float covered with roses, and it was sponsored by the Standard Oil Company. 195 00:30:17.340 --> 00:30:23.530 And that’s, and you know, McGee says it made me laugh when I realized what had just happened. 196 00:30:23.530 --> 00:30:35.020 They had all the resources with all these thousands of of of gallons of oil, I mean, thousands, good grief. 197 00:30:35.020 --> 00:30:37.620 Millions of gallons of oil. 198 00:30:37.620 --> 00:30:47.040 And yet couldn’t access any of it for that one for the vehicle when they needed it. 199 00:30:47.040 --> 00:30:54.760 We have access to God and the power of God through His Word. 200 00:30:54.760 --> 00:30:58.200 He’s given it to us. 201 00:30:58.200 --> 00:31:01.880 But it has to be it’s applied to our hearts by the Spirit. 202 00:31:01.880 --> 00:31:09.520 And it has to be received and appropriated to have benefit. 203 00:31:09.520 --> 00:31:13.640 It’s the God-breathed Word. 204 00:31:13.640 --> 00:31:22.760 It is life-giving and powerful and it can change us, but only if it’s appropriated. 205 00:31:22.760 --> 00:31:24.760 The verse says that it teaches . 206 00:31:24.760 --> 00:31:29.500 All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching. 207 00:31:29.500 --> 00:31:37.200 Teaches us important truths about life and salvation, how we are to function in the body of Christ. 208 00:31:37.200 --> 00:31:55.380 We’ve been spending a great deal of time, I mentioned earlier, in 1 Corinthians and in studying the book of 1 Corinthians as we went through chapter to chapter 12, and that whole book is about the local church and the problems that happen in a local church. 209 00:31:55.380 --> 00:32:11.400 And it leads up to the culmination that we’ve had so far is in chapter 12, where it describes Paul uses a powerful metaphor and there a metaphor particularly applies to the church at Corinth, that local church. 210 00:32:11.400 --> 00:32:14.920 That’s what makes it resonate for me. 211 00:32:14.920 --> 00:32:20.480 Where the church is the local church is described as the Body of Christ. 212 00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:27.580 We’re used to the Ephesians metaphor where the whole church, the universal church is a picture of the Body of Christ. 213 00:32:27.580 --> 00:32:34.460 But in 1 Corinthians 12 he’s describing the local church or applying it to the local church as the Body of Christ. 214 00:32:34.460 --> 00:32:36.160 It’s where you serve. 215 00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:37.290 It’s where you belong. 216 00:32:37.290 --> 00:32:39.300 You are an integral part of it. 217 00:32:39.300 --> 00:32:41.940 You’re important to it. 218 00:32:41.940 --> 00:32:46.160 That’s teaching. 219 00:32:46.160 --> 00:32:48.040 That’s telling us who we are. 220 00:32:48.040 --> 00:33:00.020 That that’s explaining to us what our role is and in how we are to function and to please God. 221 00:33:00.020 --> 00:33:09.840 And so, you know, that teaching is that when you do something for someone in the local church, you’re doing it for the Lord. 222 00:33:09.840 --> 00:33:10.400 It is His. 223 00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:12.980 You’re doing it for the Lord. 224 00:33:12.980 --> 00:33:19.740 I mean, that’s the passage in Matthew’s Gospel where he says, you know, you say, “What did I do? 225 00:33:19.740 --> 00:33:21.190 What did I see you naked? 226 00:33:21.190 --> 00:33:23.260 Or when did I see you thirsty?” 227 00:33:23.260 --> 00:33:29.970 He says, “Inasmuch as you’ve done it to the least of these, my brothers, you’ve done it to me.” 228 00:33:29.970 --> 00:33:34.980 That’s how that’s how that’s how intimate that passage is. 229 00:33:34.980 --> 00:33:37.280 We can learn from that. 230 00:33:37.280 --> 00:33:38.960 We can apply it. 231 00:33:38.960 --> 00:33:40.740 We can believe it. 232 00:33:40.740 --> 00:33:43.760 Or not. 233 00:33:43.760 --> 00:33:46.360 We can reject it. 234 00:33:46.360 --> 00:33:50.620 One of the things that the Scripture does, it teaches. 235 00:33:50.620 --> 00:33:54.970 It also reproves . 236 00:33:54.970 --> 00:34:01.400 It’s it tells us when we’re headed in a wrong direction. 237 00:34:01.400 --> 00:34:05.480 I do some woodworking here and there. 238 00:34:05.480 --> 00:34:11.480 And when you get a board out, you want to know if the board is straight. 239 00:34:11.480 --> 00:34:23.400 You might use a square or a straight edge or something and you compare it to that and you can see if it’s misaligned in some way, if it’s crooked or misaligned. 240 00:34:23.400 --> 00:34:26.100 The Bible does that. 241 00:34:26.100 --> 00:34:35.480 We come to the Word of God, and the Word of God communicates truth that tells us what we’re like. 242 00:34:35.480 --> 00:34:42.660 It shows us a standard and then it shows us us. 243 00:34:42.660 --> 00:34:53.200 And one of the passages that I like to look at on New Year’s Day is that passage in James 1 that compares the Word of God to a mirror. 244 00:34:53.200 --> 00:35:01.420 And he says, you know, you go and you look at the mirror in the morning and then you can go away and forget all about what you looked like. 245 00:35:01.420 --> 00:35:09.280 You know, you forget that your hair is, you know, sort of a mess and that your makeup is smudged or whatever. 246 00:35:09.280 --> 00:35:15.340 Or you can correct those things. 247 00:35:15.340 --> 00:35:21.280 You go to the Word of God and it tells you two things. 248 00:35:21.280 --> 00:35:27.640 It tells you what you should look like, and it tells you what you actually look like. 249 00:35:27.640 --> 00:35:29.010 And you can see that difference. 250 00:35:29.010 --> 00:35:43.140 It can it shows you the portrait of the Lord Jesus in a perfect way and that perfect standard, and then it shows you who you are. 251 00:35:43.140 --> 00:35:45.580 And what do you do? 252 00:35:45.580 --> 00:35:47.040 Well, you can reject it. 253 00:35:47.040 --> 00:35:51.680 You know, you can walk away from the mirror and forget. 254 00:35:51.680 --> 00:35:57.770 Or you can take the truth, the truth that we studied in 1 Corinthians 12 . 255 00:35:57.770 --> 00:36:07.300 It teaches us that we are to be an active, loving part of the Body of Christ because it’s a vital organism, not just an organization. 256 00:36:07.300 --> 00:36:11.120 And you can say, “No.” 257 00:36:11.120 --> 00:36:18.200 You can say, “I’m not accountable to anybody except me.” 258 00:36:18.200 --> 00:36:21.280 Me and God, we’re good together. 259 00:36:21.280 --> 00:36:23.320 That’s all I need. 260 00:36:23.320 --> 00:36:29.440 And you can walk away from the Word of God. 261 00:36:29.440 --> 00:36:34.100 And you may be far more deceived than you think. 262 00:36:34.100 --> 00:36:37.880 It might not be you and God after all. 263 00:36:37.880 --> 00:36:47.360 Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” 264 00:36:47.360 --> 00:36:50.560 My sheep hear my voice, listens to the Word of God. 265 00:36:50.560 --> 00:36:57.420 You know, it doesn’t matter how deeply I study the Bible. 266 00:36:57.420 --> 00:37:08.860 I can I can study it in its original languages and and read commentaries and do all sorts of things with the Word of God. 267 00:37:08.860 --> 00:37:22.120 I can analyze it in all kinds of ways, but if I reject its message, I will never be blessed by it. 268 00:37:22.120 --> 00:37:30.540 Faith is the Word of God believed. 269 00:37:30.540 --> 00:37:37.340 Faith is displayed when God’s Word is obeyed. 270 00:37:37.340 --> 00:37:39.880 Faith is trusting God. 271 00:37:39.880 --> 00:37:49.100 We think of faith and believing God, you know, we believe in that there is a God, and we believe in Jesus, that He died on the cross. 272 00:37:49.100 --> 00:37:52.140 We believe all sorts of things. 273 00:37:52.140 --> 00:37:55.340 But do you believe the Word of God? 274 00:37:55.340 --> 00:38:01.800 If you don’t believe the Word of God, you don’t believe God. 275 00:38:01.800 --> 00:38:07.700 Satan is a monotheist. 276 00:38:07.700 --> 00:38:10.640 He believes that there’s one God. 277 00:38:10.640 --> 00:38:12.630 He is a great theologian. 278 00:38:12.630 --> 00:38:21.080 He knows far more about God than most preachers. 279 00:38:21.080 --> 00:38:26.480 But he rejects all of it. 280 00:38:26.480 --> 00:38:34.820 So we can come so far, and if we go no further, we stay self-deceived. 281 00:38:34.820 --> 00:38:37.400 So God corrects us. 282 00:38:37.400 --> 00:38:41.080 He reproves us, and that’s a wonderful thing. 283 00:38:41.080 --> 00:38:46.880 The the Word of God is profitable for teaching, for reproof, and for correction. 284 00:38:46.880 --> 00:38:59.540 In the workshop, when I look at that board and realize that it is not flat on one edge, I have a machine in my shop called a jointer. 285 00:38:59.540 --> 00:39:04.080 And it does one thing basically. 286 00:39:04.080 --> 00:39:06.660 Can do other things, but mostly it just does one thing. 287 00:39:06.660 --> 00:39:12.920 And that is, you run that board over it and it gives you one flat edge on the board. 288 00:39:12.920 --> 00:39:14.880 It straightens the board out. 289 00:39:14.880 --> 00:39:16.880 It corrects it. 290 00:39:16.880 --> 00:39:25.780 It makes the the board that was crooked, it cuts away the crooked parts and leaves a straight board. 291 00:39:25.780 --> 00:39:28.960 The Word of God does that. 292 00:39:28.960 --> 00:39:37.920 The Word can the Spirit of God applies the Word of God to our heart and it corrects us. 293 00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:44.810 It calls us to be made right when it’s received. 294 00:39:44.810 --> 00:39:50.020 You know, we have sinful hearts, and it’s so easy. 295 00:39:50.020 --> 00:39:54.700 Every one of us harbors sin in our heart and it’s hard to get rid of it. 296 00:39:54.700 --> 00:39:58.760 It’s hard to change a prideful thought. 297 00:39:58.760 --> 00:40:03.000 It’s hard to change a besetting sin that is within us. 298 00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:09.320 Vicky’s got some good friends who own some rental property. 299 00:40:09.320 --> 00:40:19.200 And they rented their property out and this past year, their one of their tenants decided that he wasn’t interested in paying rent anymore, but he didn’t want to leave. 300 00:40:19.200 --> 00:40:29.680 And with some of the things that’s involved in the government, they were not weren’t able to to to get him to leave. 301 00:40:29.680 --> 00:40:31.760 They couldn’t evict him for the longest time. 302 00:40:31.760 --> 00:40:41.720 They finally went through a very lengthy process and now he’s out of the apartment out of the place. 303 00:40:41.720 --> 00:40:55.980 It’s a an interesting thing, you know, you’re you’re there, you have this problem, you are are it increasing this debt and and worry in your life and you can’t get rid of this one thing. 304 00:40:55.980 --> 00:40:58.080 It’s like sin. 305 00:40:58.080 --> 00:41:01.100 Sin gets into our life and we can’t do much about it. 306 00:41:01.100 --> 00:41:06.040 We are absolutely powerless in ourselves to do anything about it. 307 00:41:06.040 --> 00:41:09.720 But God didn’t leave us powerless. 308 00:41:09.720 --> 00:41:13.940 He gave us the power of His holy Word. 309 00:41:13.940 --> 00:41:16.960 And the Word of God convicts. 310 00:41:16.960 --> 00:41:20.140 It corrects. 311 00:41:20.140 --> 00:41:29.680 It awakens us, it brings us awares to make us aware of the sin and it awakens us to guilt and the burden. 312 00:41:29.680 --> 00:41:38.800 And it it stirs us to repentance and to turn from it, and to turn towards Christ in something far better. 313 00:41:38.800 --> 00:41:44.620 And God removes and He sanctifies us through that. 314 00:41:44.620 --> 00:41:59.720 You say, I believe the Word of God, but if you never act on it or receive it in faith, then you’re not being obedient to the Word of God and you’re not receiving its blessing and power. 315 00:41:59.720 --> 00:42:05.400 God promises blessing to those who are corrected by His Word. 316 00:42:05.400 --> 00:42:07.190 I’m just going to read this, and we’ll close. 317 00:42:07.190 --> 00:42:10.540 The Lord do the words David. 318 00:42:10.540 --> 00:42:15.380 God promises blessing to those who are corrected by His Word. 319 00:42:15.380 --> 00:42:17.740 I’m just going to read some Scriptures here. 320 00:42:17.740 --> 00:42:19.700 Psalm 119:119 . 321 00:42:19.700 --> 00:42:26.760 “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart.” 322 00:42:26.760 --> 00:42:28.820 Luke 11:28 . 323 00:42:28.820 --> 00:42:34.920 The Lord Jesus, someone shouted, “Blessed is the womb that bore you.” 324 00:42:34.920 --> 00:42:42.200 Jesus said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” 325 00:42:42.200 --> 00:42:45.660 Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. 326 00:42:45.660 --> 00:42:47.220 Revelation 1:3 . 327 00:42:47.220 --> 00:42:57.120 “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and keep what is written in it.” 328 00:42:57.120 --> 00:42:59.060 God blesses us. 329 00:42:59.060 --> 00:43:01.110 He trains us in righteousness. 330 00:43:01.110 --> 00:43:07.780 When we read the Word of God, we experience the glory of God and the wonder of the Gospel. 331 00:43:07.780 --> 00:43:10.140 We become what we see. 332 00:43:10.140 --> 00:43:20.700 We are all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord and being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. 333 00:43:20.700 --> 00:43:30.240 That’s the power of the Word of God and the transforming grace of the Spirit of God when the Word is received in faith. 334 00:43:30.240 --> 00:43:36.700 So let’s uh look to the Lord now for for blessing. 335 00:43:36.700 --> 00:43:52.300 Father, as we as we’ve studied this passage, we do pray, Father, that as we read your Word, in your Word, as we reflect on them and think about them, that you would renew our minds. 336 00:43:52.300 --> 00:44:04.420 Father, that we would have this mind in us, which was also in Christ Jesus. 337 00:44:04.420 --> 00:44:15.380 We pray that you work on our hearts to remove our mind, to prove the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. 338 00:44:15.380 --> 00:44:41.780 Help us, Father, as we see our sinfulness, as we turn from it, as we trust the Word of God, as we allow it to correct our thinking so that we know, first of all, that the God that we’re worshiping is the God of revelation, and not the God of our own will imagination. 339 00:44:41.780 --> 00:44:53.800 We pray, Father, that as we trust your Word, that you would work to train us in righteousness, so that we can be useful, powerful. 340 00:44:53.800 --> 00:45:08.580 And Father, that as we do so, as we wait for your good will in our lives, in which we expect your grace and provision for us, that we would be faithful ourselves. 341 00:45:08.580 --> 00:45:12.280 That we would be trusting in you ourselves now. 342 00:45:12.280 --> 00:45:16.580 And we just ask, Father, for this strength. 343 00:45:16.580 --> 00:45:25.140 As we come to the Lord’s table, Father, we pray your blessing on the bread and the cup. 344 00:45:25.140 --> 00:45:37.260 We ask, Father, that we receive this recognizing that it is a symbol of of something far greater, the ministry of Christ, His body broken for us. 345 00:45:37.260 --> 00:45:46.280 We pray that as we do this, that we would do it to your glory, to the glory of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. 346 00:45:46.280 --> 00:48:45.580 Stir our hearts to worship, we pray, in Christ’s name. 347 00:48:45.580 --> 00:48:47.580 Amen.