Grace Church, Modesto: Why Use the Means of Grace?

#42. When God's Word is Preached, the Wisdom of God is Displayed

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 22:00:02 PST

1 Corinthians 1:21 — For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

Before anyone becomes a Christian (unless that happens at a very early age) they will have certain reactions to God's Word and to the Gospel that are inevitable. At one level or another, for example, they will think that what is taught in the Bible is a load of nonsense, or "foolishness" as Paul describes it in our text. There are different intensities with which this view will be held. Some will admire some of the moral teaching of Scripture or the example that Jesus gave, but they will not believe in Him as a Savior or submit to His teaching about their own condition as sinners. Others may study the Bible as literature, as history or as an archaeological textbook - willing to trust its contents to instruct them in these disciplines but being far too educated to accept that miracles actually took place or that Jesus really was God in human flesh. Others have no time for religion at all. They say they are glad that the teaching of the Bible gives comfort and enjoyment to others but they need no such "crutches" to see them through life. Finally, there are some who mock and jeer, ridiculing Jesus and all who trust Him and seek to serve Him in this world. All these people are wiser in their own eyes than God. They all dismiss what God says in His Word about the reality of sin (and how it may be forgiven) and man's great need of salvation (and how it may be obtained). Other than themselves, they regard as "wise" men those who delve deeper into these considerations from a scientific, rational, philosophical or other perspective in order to bolster the human race in its rejection of God and His Truth.

The outcome of all this so-called wisdom on the part of man is that man does not come to know God. All his "wisdom" actually strengthens him in his pride and his unbelief.

How does God react to this? By saving those who are to be saved by the declaration (or preaching) of a message that the world regards as foolishness. It is clear that it could be no other way. Men and women are not going to be saved through a message that sounds wise to them when their hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, because they can't and don't recognize or desire true wisdom even when it stares them in the face. God's wisdom is foolishness to lost sinners, but God's wisdom alone can save them from their sins.

Every time the Gospel is preached, this amazing wisdom of God is made known. It's message is simple and may be summed up like this:

Man rejected God as his Lord and rebelled against Him, breaking His laws and committing crimes worthy of eternal punishment.
Man does not have the ability or the desire to get right with God.
God sent Jesus as a substitute to keep the laws man had broken, and to receive on the cross the punishment their law-breaking had deserved.
When someone turns from sin and believes in Jesus, their sins are taken away and dealt with by Jesus on the cross, and all the law-keeping of Jesus is counted as theirs.
Since God now regards them as having done no sin but rather having kept the law perfectly, He receives them as children and gives them eternal life. He also sends the Holy Spirit to live in them and to begin a work in which they become more and more like Jesus in character.

Here is wisdom from God - here is the "foolishness" that delivers all who believe in it from hell! And this is the message at the heart of all true preaching. God's wisdom (which is Christ Himself) shines forth, and man's "wisdom" is exposed for the wicked, proud foolishness that it really is. What a compelling reason to hear the Word preached!

#41. When God's Word is Preached, The Gospel is Offered Without Charge

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 22:00:04 PST

1 Corinthians 9:18 — What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

Paul has been talking of his ministry as a preacher of the Gospel, the compulsion that he was under to exercise this ministry and the stewardship that God had entrusted to him. Since he supported himself in the work rather than being paid by others to do it, he indicates in our text that he was able to offer the Gospel freely, without charge.

We have come a long way from this principle since Paul's day. Turn on the television and listen to those claiming to be the Gospel preachers in this day and age, and you won't have to wait long until you are asked to take out your checkbook. This contemporary Gospel is never offered without a charge, even if it is not called that - even if you are asked to "make a gift" in return for receiving some trinket or article that is worth a fraction of the amount you gave. It all sounds more like the traders in the temple, whom Jesus drove out with a whip (John 2:13-17), than the self-denying Apostle who would never have any man able to say that he had bought the Gospel at a price.

But there is another principle underlying the actions of Paul that we need to pay attention to. When the Gospel is preached to fallen man, there is nothing he can contribute towards his salvation. The price has been fully paid by Jesus in His life and in His death upon the cross. The debt that we owed through our sin was so colossal that we could never have paid it, and to think that we could somehow make a meaningful contribution towards our salvation by topping up the merits of the Son of God and the virtue of His perfect life and atoning death is laughable.

Today, we rejoice in a Gospel that is a gift from God - salvation freely offered to all who will toss away their own worthless efforts to merit salvation and will lean wholly on what Jesus has done. No money, no deeds, no pilgrimages, no indulgences, no self-righteousness. Listen to the appeal of God through Isaiah:

Isaiah 55:1 — “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.

And listen to the response that Toplady penned in his famous hymn:

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to thee for dress,
Helpless, look to thee for grace;
Foul, I to the Fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.

The Gospel is free from first to last, and is freely offered in all true preaching. That should encourage us to come to every service that we can, to hear again of the free grace of God in our Lord, Jesus Christ!

#40. When God's Word is Preached, It is a Message of Forgiveness

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:00:03 PST

Acts 13:38–39 — “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.

It's worth reading our text over a few times, and slowly and thoughtfully. The truths it contains are staggering, and they are addressed to you, if you have yet to turn from your sins and rest your whole hope of salvation on Jesus Christ alone. They are addressed to you by way of encouragement if you have done these things. Here are some of the key phrases:

"Let it be known to you, brethren". Paul is in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch and has just preached the Gospel. He has talked about the life and ministry of Jesus and how He was the One Who came in fulfillment of the promises of God. John the Baptist pointed to Him as the Messiah. He talked also of His unjust death but then of His triumphant resurrection, again according to the promise of God. Now, in our verses, Paul comes to the stunning conclusion for his brethren - for the Jews meeting in that place. This is something they must know, and something we need to know to. It is this:

"Forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you". If we knew God better, and understood the magnitude of the offence we have committed against Him more fully, these words would cause us to weep tears of joy and amazement. Forgiveness of sins? Of the sins that quite rightly merited my eternal punishment? Those can be forgiven, cast into the "forgetfulness" of an all-knowing God? They can be blotted out? Though they are scarlet, they can be made as white as snow? Yes, yes and yes again! It is all "yes!" in Christ!

"through Him [Jesus] everyone who believes is freed from all things". What do I have to do to be forgiven? What great work must I do to merit such a gift? There is nothing you can do. All you could manage is to add more sin to the offence you have already caused God. If you are to be saved, God must do it, and He must do it all. What we have to do is to believe in Jesus - to trust that His life and death are fully sufficient grounds upon which God can forgive those who appropriate them to themselves by faith. Salvation is free, and it brings freedom. Freedom from the guilt of sin and its condemnation, freedom from the power of sin and its pollution. You will know the Truth, said Jesus, and the Truth will make you free.

"You could not be freed from these things through the Law of Moses". The Law demands perfection and our sinful hearts cannot deliver it. So without Christ, the Law points with laser accuracy to our sins and cries out for the just punishment to be applied. We need someone to keep the Law for us, and someone Who can receive its just punishment in our place. Jesus is that person, and this is what He did in His life and death.

Can there possibly be a more glorious message that this? How shall we understand those who call themselves believers and yet stay away from a service where the Gospel is preached because it is "not for them"? Have they grown tired of hearing about what Jesus did to set them free? Have they "graduated" in their faith to a point where the work of Jesus no longer seems important to them? Have they minimized their view of their own sin, and therefore also of the work of Jesus for the sinner? Let us be careful of going in that direction and of thinking such things ourselves! Let us not become so familiar with the stupendous facts of the Gospel that they no longer thrill our souls. Let us also make every effort to be present at every opportunity when forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to us in the faithful preaching of God's Word!

#39. When God's Word is Preached, the Unfathomable Riches of Christ are Proclaimed

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:00:01 PST

Ephesians 3:8 — To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,

So then, it is Christ Who speaks when the Word of God is preached, but what about the message? What are the contents of Gospel preaching that would make us want to pay attention to it, to be present for it? Paul gives us the answer in our text - Christ is the content, as He is also the speaker! And Paul denies us any opportunity to think about dry and dusty lectures concerning someone who lived and died almost 2000 years ago. Look at the terms in which he speaks of the message he had declared to the Gentiles - it was a Person, it was "the unfathomable riches of Christ". Let's ponder the riches of Christ for a moment - material, spiritual and personal.

How shall we quantify the material riches of Christ? Christ, Who even now is seated on a throne in heaven at the right hand of Almighty God! Christ, Who rules over all things and Whom God has made heir of all things! In short, Christ Who, in terms of created things, is the Creator and Possessor of them all! The wealth of the richest people who have ever lived on earth is like a drop in the bucket compared to the riches of Jesus in earthly things.

Then again, consider the spiritual riches of Jesus - He is the King of Glory, the God-man. His domain is not confined to this world alone but reaches into heaven itself. All the angels of God bow before Him and call Him "Lord". In addition, Christ is the only Savior from sin, the only One who kept the law of God and earned a righteousness that He can bestow on those who turn from sin and put their trust in Him! Can we begin to comprehend such riches?

Lastly, think of the riches of His character - perhaps the most glorious and engaging of the facets of His wealth. Here is one Who is altogether lovely, sinless, spotless. Here is one whose character is so infinitely beautiful that one name could never convey it, and so He has many in Scripture. Here are just a few:

Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins
Christ, because God made Him to be Prophet, Priest and King and anointed Him above His companions with the oil of joy
The Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father from all eternity
The Son of Man, born of a virgin, bearing the likeness of sinful flesh but without sin
Emmanuel, because as God He would pitch His tent, or tabernacle, among His people here on earth
The Lamb of God, because He would be sacrificed to provide eternal cleansing from sin by His blood
The Rose of Sharon, perfect in beauty and fragrant to the senses
The Fairest among ten thousand - incomparable in every way!
The Morning Star - He brings day with him into the soul, the light of grace and of glory; and he will give his people that perfection of light and wisdom which is requisite to the state of dignity and dominion that they shall have in the morning of the resurrection (Matthew Henry on Revelation 2:28)

No wonder Paul called the riches of Christ unfathomable! They are bottomless. There is no measure in heaven or on earth by which they can be counted, valued or comprehended! It will be the most pleasurable occupation of the saints in heaven to plumb the depths of the riches of Christ.

We must understand two things from Paul in our text this week. First, and astonishingly, when God's Word is preached, and particularly the Gospel, the subject matter is these unsearchable, unfathomable riches of Christ! If that doesn't make us want to hear the Gospel preached, one may well wonder what will! But second, and even more remarkable to Paul (and therefore it should also be so to us) God has actually entrusted the preaching of such a subject to saved sinners! Paul regards himself as the least likely candidate to receive such an honor. "I am the very least of all God's Children", he says, "and yet this is the message God gave me to preach!" We must make this point in case we are tempted to criticize our own preacher, or think it unlikely that God could use them to declare such an exalted message. "He can!", says Paul, emphatically. How can we be so sure? Because it is not a matter of the man and his abilities - not at all! This is a matter of God's grace. Paul did not deserve to be a Gospel preacher ("this grace was given me") and no-one else deserves it either. But God, Who is rich in grace, gives this calling to men so that His children might hear the unfathomable riches of His most precious Son!

It is our prayer that these meditations may alter our understanding of preaching, and make us hunger and thirst for it, rejecting all the gimmicks and gizmos and entertainments of the current age and demanding of our preachers rather to fulfill their lofty calling by declaring to us the unfathomable riches of Christ!

#38. When God's Word is Preached, His Power is at Work

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 22:00:05 PST

1 Corinthians 2:3–5 — I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

Romans 1:16 — For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

There is all the difference in the world between preaching and lecturing. In both cases, someone stands in front of other people and addresses them. In both cases, he has a topic. In both cases, he is trying to communicate something and he structures his address to that end. In both cases, he may be trying to persuade the listeners of certain opinions. But that is where the similarities stop. A lecturer will usually lay out his information, consider various points of view and weigh their merits and demerits. He will then turn the matter over to the judgment of his audience. He indicates he is doing so by using phrases like "I submit to you that....". He places them in the seat of judgment over the arguments that are being presented.

On the other hand, a preacher stands to declare the eternal truths of Almighty God. He does so as an ambassador. He speaks in the Name of God, as though God were speaking through him (which He is) 2 Cor 5:20. The preacher does not "submit" the Word of God to the judgment of men. He may appeal to men on God's behalf but there is always an inherent authority in the act of preaching that does not apologize to anyone for the message. Rather, the preacher declares it to be God's Truth, and calls upon his hearers to submit to it.

But there is another distinction between preaching and lecturing that we need to consider, and which Paul mentions in our text. When a faithful man, commissioned by God, preaches the Word, Christ speaks through him as he preaches and spiritual power attends the message. This power works in several different ways, depending on the particular hearer:

If he or she is not a Christian, there are two possible outcomes from hearing God's Word preached:

They may, through the power of preaching, believe the Gospel and be raised from the dead (spiritually speaking), or take a further step towards their eventual salvation.
They may also be hardened in their sins and take a further step towards their ultimate destruction.

If, on the other hand, the hearer is a believer, God's Word preached can convict of sin, comfort in affliction, train in righteousness - do all the things we saw earlier in this series.

God makes it clear in the Bible that there is one thing that His Word cannot do once He has sent it out - and that is to return to Him without accomplishing the purpose for which He sent it (Isa 55:11). It follows that Divine power must always be present to accompany the preaching of the Word.

Churches today are too ready to settle for lecturers in their pulpits rather than having preachers. In too many places we have speakers who pander to their listeners and say things their itching ears want to hear. Small wonder there is so little life-changing power in evidence. The message is tailored to suit the tastes of the hearers, rather than them being brought into subjection to the Divine Word! What we desperately need is a return to the primacy of preaching, for churches that have forgotten what preaching is to rediscover it, and for men to declare the Truth with authority and with the power that attended the preaching of Paul in our text!

We should need no encouragement to seek out true preaching of the Word of God, to humble ourselves under it, and to be transformed through the power of God that is at work as it is preached.

#37. When God's Word is Preached, it is Christ Who Speaks

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:20:26 PST

Romans 10:14 — How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?

So far, we have seen something of what God's Word is and what it does. We are turning our attention now to look more specifically at some aspects concerning the preaching of God's Word.

It is important for us to do this in a day when the nature of true preaching is not well understood and it has become significantly devalued in the eyes of those who would call themselves God's people. Our adversary well understands the power of God's Word to do all the things we have been considering, so it is completely understandable that he bends his mind and his powers to cause us to pay little attention to the authoritative proclamation of the Truth of God (which is what preaching is).

We can begin this part of our study in no better place than with our text. Paul is talking about preaching as the means God uses to engender saving faith in the hearers. Faith is critical, he says, but it must have an Object. If people have not heard about Jesus, how shall they believe on Him? If no-one preaches to them, how shall they hear?

Different translations of the Bible render this verse differently and some of them rob it of its full significance. Some translators have inserted the word, "of" into the second sentence, so that it reads along these lines: "how will they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?" See what a difference this makes! In the version above, the people place their faith in Jesus having heard Jesus Himself speak to them through a preacher of the Gospel. In the second case, they hear about Jesus from a preacher and then place their faith in Him. So in the one case, it is Jesus who speaks when the Word is preached, in the other case it does not have to be. Clearly, it is important to know which concept is the more correct. The version that is quoted above does, in other passages, translate the same Greek word that appears here as "whom" in the form "of whom", so we need to dig a little deeper to judge whether they were most likely to be correct in the way they translated that word in Romans 10:14 If we look at some other New Testament texts, we will be able to see what was understood to be happening when God's Word was preached:

Ephesians 2:14–18 — For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

Paul writes to the Ephesians to tell them how the barriers between Jews and Gentiles have been taken down in the Gospel. He quotes from the Old Testament in verse 17, telling them that the preacher Who did this and then announced it to them was Jesus. And yet, Jesus never visited Ephesus and His ministry (with rare exceptions) was directed toward the Jews. How did the preaching of Jesus reconcile Jews and Gentiles? How did He preach to those were far off, including those in Ephesus? It had to be that He was preaching through those who took the Gospel to the Gentiles! See what Paul says later in this same letter:

Ephesians 4:20–21 — But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,

How did the Ephesians "hear" Christ? They heard Him speaking to them through the preachers of the Gospel who came to Ephesus.

Now, in the light of this, think about what happens in your church (assuming it is a faithful church with a faithful pastor) each time the preacher stands to declare God's Word to you. Christ is speaking to you! Doesn't that make preaching special? Your Lord and Savior is addressing Himself to you, and using the instrument that He has selected for that purpose. Do you want to hear Jesus speaking to you every week? Listen for Him in the faithful preaching of the Word! He will be speaking.

Do you ever wonder whether you will go to the second service on the Lord's Day? Isn't one service enough? Let's turn that on its head for a moment. Do you love Jesus? Do you love to hear His voice speaking to you in His Word? Those who have fallen in love with a man or woman in this world know that they cannot hear the voice and see the face of that person often enough. There is no effort that is too much for them if they can just spend time with their loved one. Do you only love Jesus enough to want to hear from Him through a preacher once a week? Do you find it easy to miss even that one opportunity when something more appealing comes along? We may say we love Jesus with our lips, but what story are we telling with our lives?

This week, now that we know what is happening when God's Word is preached, let's make the most of every opportunity we have to hear our precious Savior speaking to us!

#36. God's Word Helps Us to Recognize Who Jesus Is

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 22:00:02 PST

John 5:39 — “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;

So far in this series we have looked at what the Word of God is, and our recent studies have focused on what it does. A consideration of these things should certainly motivate us to read the Bible, or else we should examine the condition of our hearts before the Lord! We are going to conclude the series by considering preaching more particularly, as an encouragement to us all to make sure we not only read God's Word but also hear it preached whenever we have opportunity.

This week, though, we will look at one final thing that the Word of God does that is most important: it helps us recognize Who Jesus is. In our text, Jesus rebukes the Jews because they possessed the Scriptures and yet they did not recognize the Messiah when He came. "These are the Scriptures that testify about me", He says.

The fact is that even without having the New Testament (like the Jews of Jesus' day), you could know exactly where Messiah would be born, what He would be like, what He would do, how He would die, rise and ascend to heaven, and that through His life and His sacrifice he would earn righteousness for His people, save them from Hell, purchase the gift of the Holy Spirit for them and welcome them into His eternal kingdom at the end of the age.

The whole Bible is written so that we may know without doubt that Jesus is the Christ. It was written over 1600 years by perhaps 40 authors and yet it has one theme and one purpose - to point to Christ. In the Old Testament Jesus and His work are anticipated:

through prophecy (place of birth, virgin birth, ancestry (Son of God and son of man), nature of ministry, manner and purpose of death, resurrection, ascension and so on - it is a long list!),
reflected in the lives of individuals like Melchizedek, Moses, Joseph, David and many others - another long list!
Displayed through events (water flowing from a rock, the manna coming from heaven, the bronze serpent that Moses made and lifted up, Jacob's ladder that reached to heaven, the tabernacle furniture and ceremonies and so on - again, a long list)
Appearing as "The Angel of the Lord" in several accounts throughout the Old Testament, to Joshua, to the parents of Sampson, to Gideon (to name but three).

In the New Testament we see Jesus born and fulfill not just some of these prophecies, types and shadows, but every last one of them! No wonder He rebuked the Jews - He had been staring them in the face every time they read the Scriptures and yet they didn't know Him when He came!

Suppose for a moment that we did not have the Bible. How would you know Jesus was Who He claimed to be? He did many remarkable things and said many profound things, but without the Bible, what would these prove?

So the Bible makes us very certain that Jesus is the Christ, the only Savior, and that if we put our trust in Him, we can never be disappointed. If we don't read the Bible, how will we know Who Christ really is, or How will we know we have trusted the right Jesus and not just one of our own imagination (who could never save us)? Or how will we ever get to know this blessed One who fulfilled all prophecy that we might have eternal life? Read your Bibles! Hear the Word preached! Get to know God's only Savior from sin!

1 John 5:10–13 — The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. 11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

#35. God's Word shows the Way to Escape Death

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:17:58 PST

John 8:51 — “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.”

In the recent posts of this series, we have seen that God's Word is a primary means God uses to sanctify His people. It feeds our souls, revives us, gives us strength and comfort, wisdom and understanding. It produces reverence for God and is the sword of the Spirit, a weapon we can wield both to defend ourselves and to attack the enemy's strongholds. Finally, in the light of all this, it provides a firm foundation for life. We have also been at pains throughout this series to stress that it is not merely the possession of God's Word that will produce these effects in us - we must actually apply it, use it, keep its precepts.

Jesus confirms all of these things in our text this week. If we read and hear God's Word and obey it, all these results will be produced in us because we will have crossed over from death to eternal life. So He is not telling us something we must do to earn salvation, but something we will do if we have received it. One noteworthy point in the words of Jesus quoted above is how He begins His statement. "Truly, truly," He says, or "Amen, amen." Used once, this word is a strong affirmation of what is being said. Used twice in a row, the statement takes on a force and a solemnity that we should not overlook. Jesus wants us to be absolutely sure of what He is saying. This is the One Who declared Himself to be the Truth. He is the Living Word of God and we should expect everything that comes from His lips to be incontrovertible truth. Yet He goes to great lengths to underline for us that this statement is solid, firm, certain and utterly trustworthy. If anyone obeys the Word of God, he will never see death!

Perhaps we should explain that Jesus is not talking of the physical death that we will all see, unless we are among those who are alive when Jesus returns in judgment. Rather, He is referring to what Scripture calls the "second death", in which those who have not obeyed God's Words are eternally and justly punished for their offences against a holy God. Jesus tells us most surely that the way to eternal life, rather than eternal death, lies in listening to His voice in the Scriptures and doing what He commands. This is sure and certain.

So let's not only read God's Word this week, but let's also be careful to do all that God commands in it!

#34. God's Word is a Sure Foundation for Life

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:00:14 PST

Luke 6:47–49 — “Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 “But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Jesus gives us His evaluation of two different sorts of people. On the one hand, there are those who hear His words and live their lives accordingly - putting into practice the things they hear from Him. On the other hand, there are those who hear His words and turn a deaf ear to them, so that they do not follow His commands and His instructions. Which are you?

The first set of people, He says, have a solid foundation so that when trials and difficulties come upon them like a tsunami, they will not be swept away and destroyed by the force of them. Their foundation is firm and cannot be undermined, weakened and eroded by troubles and hardships, or indeed by the Judgment on the Last Day.

How different is the fate of the second group of people, who have no firm footings for their life, All they have are vague hopes that somehow everything will turn out alright. But vague hopes are no help when the flood of troubles and difficulties come upon us - and those who build their hopes upon them find their lives in ruins, and are swept away to destruction like many of the structures we witnessed in that horrendous Japanese tsunami.

Like a tidal wave, afflictions can come upon us with little warning. There is often no time to strengthen the underpinnings of our lives before they are put to the test. That's why it is important to make sure today that we have a sure foundation for our lives before it's too late. The final trial that each of us will face is the Judgment of God and there is only one foundation we can trust in that is strong enough to enable us to endure that - the saving work of Jesus Christ!

Where does Jesus point us in the passage above so we can make sure we have this foundation in our lives? He says we have to know His words and act upon them. Where will we find His words? In the Bible, and we can hear them preached from the pulpits of faithful churches. As we begin another new week, then, here are a few questions for us to reflect on:

Is my life built on this firm foundation - am I seeking in my life to discover and obey all the commands of Jesus? (If not, you need to turn from your sins and trust in Jesus alone to save you and to give you new life and a solid foundation for the trials that are ahead.)
Am I searching the Bible every day to know more about how He wants me to live? If not, how will you cope when the trials come upon you?
Am I being careful not just to read the Bible and hear it preached, but to live my life accordingly? It is not enough to be hearers of the Word, we must also be doers of it.

Let's get busy with our life-foundations in this coming week!

#33. God's Word is the Sword of the Spirit

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 22:00:01 PST

Ephesians 6:17 — And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

We are continuing to look at the ways in which the Word of God itself tells us that it is an important tool that God uses in our sanctification - the process in which we are made more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ and less and less prone to fall into sin. This week we want to focus on a particular role that the Word plays as we engage in the Spiritual warfare that God calls us to fight as His children.

In this well-known passage from Ephesians, Paul tells us that we need to be strong to fight this fight, but not by working out at the gym, and not by our own effort. We are to be strong "in the Lord and in the strength of His might" if we want to prevail in this battle. We need to understand that Satan and his forces are way too powerful for us to face without God's strength. There were some characters in the New Testament who discovered this when they tried to drive out demons in the name of Jesus, but without knowing Jesus for themselves. They were quickly overpowered and badly beaten by the demons, using the body of their host for the purpose.

Paul stresses that this is a spiritual war - not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places. So that we may be strong in the Lord and in His strength, Paul urges us to put on the armor that God has given us. It is "full armor", which means that it contains everything we need to stand up against the furious assaults of the Enemy.

In our series on why we should pray, we saw that prayer was one component of this armor but as we read the list that Paul gives us, we find the Word of God is present - it is our sword. It has defensive and offensive applications.

How can the Word of God be used as a defensive weapon in the spiritual warfare? Remember what we have already seen about what it is. It is Truth, it is pure and upright. Satan, on the other hand, is a liar and the father of lies. Most of his attacks on us depend to one degree or another on deception and lying. He lied to Adam and Eve in the garden about the consequences of eating the fruit, and about the motives of God in forbidding them to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Some of his lies are enormous, some are very subtle. How shall we expose them? How shall we disarm Satan as he whispers his lies to us and makes sin seem so attractive? We need the truth! We need a divinely powerful weapon that can show the lies for what they are and cut their power out of them, one that is sharp to expose sinful motives and separate even soul and spirit, joint and marrow. This is the Word of God!

How can the Word of God be used as an offensive weapon? God tells us in another part of the Bible that he has given his children divinely powerful weapons that are able to demolish the strongholds of Satan (2 Corinthians 10:4). Again, as Jesus said, it is the truth that sets us free. This sword, through the message of the Gospel it contains, will cut through the chains that bind Satan's captives and release them into the liberty of the children of God. God has invested power in the Word to raise the spiritually dead to new life in Christ!

This week, let's make sure that our sword is polished and slides easily out of the scabbard when we need to use it. Let's train ourselves in its use, let's rejoice that God has given us such a weapon, and let's wield it for His glory!

#32. God's Word Produces Reverence to God

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 22:00:02 PST

Psalm 119:38 — Establish Your word to Your servant, As that which produces reverence for You.

We have been looking over the last several weeks at the ways in which the Word of God is the means God uses for the sanctification (making holy) of His children. We have seen that it feeds their souls, revives them, strengthens them, comforts them and gives them wisdom and understanding. If you take the sum total of all these effects, you can begin to appreciate what a thorough work God's Spirit is able to to in His children through the Word! We will stay with the theme for one or two more weeks - and this week we want to dwell on the fact that God's Word produces reverence for Him.

Our text takes different forms in modern Bible translations. Sometimes "Establish" is rendered as "Confirm" or "Fulfill". Sometimes, "word" appears as "promise" and sometimes "producing reverence" is translated in the sense of causing fear. The fundamental meaning is the same in any of these cases, even if a different translation might highlight one emphasis as opposed to another. To establish something is to make it stand - which is one meaning of to confirm and fulfill. The promises of God are spoken by Him in His Word, and "reverence" certainly carries an element of fear with it.

How shall we understand this verse, then? In context, the psalmist is rejoicing in God's Word and delighting in it. However, he recognizes another principle at work in his flesh that threatens to make him behave in a way that is contrary to the precepts and ordinances of God, which he really does not want to do in his new heart. He is asking that He would hear God speaking to Him in His Word in such a way that He would grow more and more in his fear of offending such a wonderful God.

Israel heard God thundering from the mountain and was terrified. Even Moses trembled at the voice of God. The psalmist wants to be aware that what is written in the Bible is every bit as much God's Word as what was declared with such awesome power from the mountain. He wants to tremble as he reads its pages or hears it preached. He wants to grow in reverent fear for God and in love for His Law so that at the same time he will grow more afraid of sinning.

This is a wonderful way the Bible can help to give us victory over sin. It is not to be had by gritting our teeth and exercising all our own energy and might. It is not to be had (generally) in an instant. It comes as God reveals Himself to us in His Word and we grow in awe of Him in view of His perfect, holy character. The more we tremble in His presence and marvel that we are recipients of His love, the more we will fear to offend Him and the more we will find strength in our battle with sin.

This week, let's get serious about fighting the good fight of the faith - let's read the Word and hear it preached!

#31. God's Word Give Us Wisdom and Understanding

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 22:00:00 PST

Psalm 119:130 — The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.

The Psalmist has fallen in love with God and with every word that comes from His mouth! He pants for it (verse 131), he weeps because there are those who do not follow its commands (verse 136), he finds every precept of God to be wonderful (verse 129).

He is one who knows the darkness of sin from which the Lord has rescued him - a darkness that still threatens to overshadow him as the spiritual warfare rages in his soul. He also knows the ignorance that sin had caused in his heart - there was a time when he neither knew God not cared for His commandments. Yet now he knows the Lord and he finds that His words bring light to dispel the darkness of sin, His words bring spiritual understanding to those who are in ignorance or who are simple.

Note, though, that the psalmist gives us a very important clue about the way in which the Word operates in giving us this light, this understanding. It is the unfolding of God's words that produce this effect. The word most often is used to talk about an entrance or a doorway but can also mean unfolding or opening. This is very instructive for us. The word is a doorway or an opening through which light and understanding are obtained.

For a moment, let's Imagine ourselves standing outside a palace, with an open door in front of us. Everything about the palace is beautiful and through the open doorway we can see that the inside is full of light and pure knowledge. There is an invitation posted outside the door to all who desire light and understanding, saying that they should enter in and take as much as they will, without cost. What should we do? Shall we stand outside and admire the fine construction of the palace and particularly this doorway - the gateway to light and knowledge? Shall we stand outside and reflect on how good it would be to have light and understanding? Shall we stand outside and decide that such an offer must have a catch - it sounds too good to be true, after all! If we choose to stand outside this opening for any reason at all, we shall never experience the light and the understanding that are offered.

The psalmist had not done this. He had run in through the entrance and found the light and the understanding he received to be wonderful. So much so that he panted after them and wept that there were any alive who chose to live in the darkness and ignorance of sin when such glorious light and understanding were freely offered to God's children.

Don't stand outside the door of God's Word this week, never entering in to receive its light and understanding. Read it and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you into it. Hear it preached and ask God to take you inside to the place of light and wisdom!

#30. God's Word comforts us

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 12:40:16 PST

Psalm 119:82 — My eyes fail with longing for Your word, While I say, “When will You comfort me?”

The affliction of the psalmist continues and in this portion of the psalm, we see that it is caused or worsened by wicked, lawless liars who are persecuting him:

Psalm 119:84–88 — How many are the days of Your servant? When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me? 85 The arrogant have dug pits for me, Men who are not in accord with Your law. 86 All Your commandments are faithful; They have persecuted me with a lie; help me! 87 They almost destroyed me on earth, But as for me, I did not forsake Your precepts. 88 Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.

He feels the injustice of their attacks on him but rather than lash out at them, he puts his confidence in God and waits patiently for Him. He knows that God sees all things and He knows that God will repay all those who act unrighteously with the justice their sins deserve. He knows that God will not allow the wicked to triumph over Him and that everything that happens to him on earth is for his good and for the glory of God. That is how he is able to bear up under the persecution, to remain at peace and to continue to find the strength to walk with the Lord in obedience. We can understand, perhaps, that he finds comfort in the prospect of all these things as his affliction continues.

But how did the psalmist know all these things? How did he know that vengeance lies with the Lord and that the wicked will surely be called to account for their deeds? How did he know that God had not forgotten him, and that his trials would yield a harvest of righteousness in his own life? We find out in our text. He knew all these things because they were revealed in God's Word.

Imagine the plight of the psalmist if there was no Word of God. How would he make sense of his suffering? How would he endure it patiently? Where would his comfort lie? Yet that is the precise situation we cast ourselves into as believers if we neglect the Word of God. It is designed to revive us and to strengthen us, as we have seen. It is designed to comfort us in our afflictions and to do many more things as God uses it in our sanctification. However, we can derive none of these intended blessings and benefits if we never read it, never hear it preached, never meditate upon it.

The Christian life is a hard life to lead. God has told us that this is the case (no matter what some preachers might try to tell you). Because it is hard, God has given us His Word. It is not an optional extra in your walk with God - it is indispensable. You neglect it at your peril!

#29. God's Word Strengthens Us

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 22:00:00 PST

Psalm 119:28 My soul weeps because of grief; Strengthen me according to Your word.

Last week, we saw the psalmist crying out to God, feeling the deadness in his soul through sin and turning to the Word of God for spiritual revival. However, this is not the end of his journey through this struggle. He still has several steps to go as life flows back into him through the Word.

The first thing he does is to confess his sin and to sense God's forgiveness. "I have told of my ways, and You have answered me" (v 26). This is absolutely essential for us, too, if we would know God's help in times of such distress. Then he cries out to God for a greater understanding of His statutes, and he meditates on all God's wonders (v 26, 27). Yet still, in our text, the psalmist's soul is "weeping" within him - poor, needy, weakened through grief. His soul is still downcast within him, still brought low from a sense of his sinfulness and unworthiness. Again, this is an experience that true children of God can face today. The question is, what can be done about it if it should happen to us? Should we just tough it out, gritting our teeth in the hopes that tomorrow may be a better day, or is there something more positive we can do? Has God given us anything that might work to help us in these situations?

It will come as no surprise to you to learn that God has indeed given us what we need - the means of grace - and that an important one of these is the Word of God! The same Word which revives the soul of the believer is the Word that strengthens him! The psalmist knew this. You can almost see him praying this as he hears the Word, or as he reads it. He asks that God would strengthen him - which seems to mean that God would enable him to stand up under the affliction. How interesting that he does not ask (as we might) that the struggle would simply be removed. See how he continues his prayer in the following verses of this psalm:

Psalm 119:29–32 — Remove the false way from me, And graciously grant me Your law. 30 I have chosen the faithful way; I have placed Your ordinances before me. 31 I cling to Your testimonies; O Lord, do not put me to shame! 32 I shall run the way of Your commandments, For You will enlarge my heart.

He knows this battle will remain with him as long as he lives on earth. But he understands that God can use His Word to enable him to endure. It is through the Word that he will avoid false and foolish ways in future and stay true to a path of faithfulness. It is in clinging to the Word that he will avoid being put to shame. It is through heeding the Word that his heart will be enlarged.

The question for us this week is whether we know these things to be true as the psalmist did. If so, we will immerse ourselves in God's Word so that it can show us our sin, so that we can confess it and find forgiveness, and so that we can be strengthened to fight the good fight of the faith that rages "around us and within".

#28. God's Word Revives Us

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 14:20:26 PST

Psalm 119:25 — My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your word.

We are continuing to reflect on the sanctifying influences of the Word of God and have seen already that it feeds our souls and causes them to grow in grace.

This week and next, we are looking at a remarkable passage from the Psalms, in which the psalmist records for us his sufferings and his inner struggles during a time of great affliction. He has been brought to the point where it seems to him that his soul is lying in the dust of death. How did he get here? It seems it was because the Word of God had helped him to see what he was really like. It had exposed his sin and corruption as he had perhaps never seen it before. He had wanted to do good, but evil was right there with him, overwhelming him, and so he reached the point where he despaired of spiritual life and he cried out to God that his soul is lying in the dust of death.

Have you ever known this intense struggle with sin? Have you ever looked within your soul and wondered whether your profession of faith in Christ can possibly be real, given what you found there? If so, be comforted that you are not alone. Many, if not all, true children of God go through such struggles at one time or another, and to varying degrees. What is important for us this week is to see what the psalmist did, where it was that he looked for help even as he contemplated this deadness of soul, even as his spiritual senses reeled with an understanding of his sinfulness that caused him to despair of spiritual life. "Revive me according to Your word," he says. "Quicken me", another translation puts it - "Make me to live".

Why would he look to God's Word for help? Remember that it was by the Living Word of God that all things were called into being out of nothing. It was by the spoken word of Jesus that Lazarus was called out of the tomb and raised to life. It is by the written Word of God, applied to our souls by the animating power of the Holy Spirit, that we can be made to live again even when we sense the death of sin running rampant within our souls. One reason this is true is because the Word of God contains all His great and precious promises of good towards His children, of deliverance from the guilt and the power of sin, of the eternal inheritance that God has prepared for His own. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, can use these promises to enliven the soul that is cast down to the dust, and to set our hearts at rest in His presence! As Peter once said to Jesus, "Where else shall we go, Lord? You have the words of life."

Friends, are you crushed to the point of despair by your sins? Are you beginning to think that you have never been saved at all? What should you do? Come to the Word of God! Read it, hear it preached. Perhaps you are right, and you never have been truly saved - what should you do? Come to the Word of God, because only here is there Good News of a Savior from sin! Perhaps you are a believer, but your life, like a candle, has flickered so low that there is only a smoldering wick remaining. What should you do? Come to the Word of God! Here is where you will find your Savior again - the One Who will never snuff out the smoldering flax or break the bruised reed. Here is ointment for your wounds, here is healing for your infirmities, here is life and power!

Surely this is a good reason to read God's Word and to hear it preached!

#27. God's Word Feeds Our Souls

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 22:00:02 PST

1 Corinthians 3:1–2 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able,

Hebrews 5:12–14 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

1 Peter 2:2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,

In our next few "reasons", we are going to see some of the ways in which God's Word will work to sanctify us, in answer to the prayer of Jesus that we looked at last time.

Today's texts give us a very striking picture: that the Word of God is nourishment to our souls.

If you have ever been unwell and lost your appetite, or have undertaken a fast for any length of time, you will know how quickly your body loses strength - and you will know the gnawing, relentless pain as your body lets you know it needs food. If you have been in the company of newborn babies for a few hours, you will know that they have a very definite way of letting you know they need to be fed. Without a constant supply of food, we will most certainly die of starvation.

In our passages this week, God teaches us to translate into the spiritual realm what we already know about our physical bodies and the food we eat. We are to understand that God's Word is food for our souls. Without a constant supply of that food, our souls will not grow as they should - they will be stunted and malnourished, they will grow weak and we will have no strength or power to live the Christian life.

The texts also tell us that there should be a progression in our spiritual eating habits as believers, as there is a progression in the way a baby feeds over time. If we are new believers, the Word is our milk to cause us to grow more mature and strong in the faith. As we mature, we gradually supplement the milk with solid food. Once we are mature, the Word should become a feast of meat and other delicacies to our souls, a delight to our spiritual senses and a source of daily strength.

The curious thing is that although God has prepared His Word to be the very best, tastiest and most delicious food for our souls, regardless of our spiritual maturity, we are often like spoiled children, turning our noses up at the solid food and wanting to remain with the milk the whole time. Can you imagine what would happen to a baby who was never weaned onto solid food, and how he would compare with one who received the diet appropriate for a maturing body? That is a physical picture of what happens to our souls if we never progress from the milk to the meat of God's Word - and it is obvious that something is very wrong with any believer who is in this situation.

Perhaps you struggle to read the Word and to hear it preached and do not feel fed in your soul after doing so. Search your soul for any sin that could be causing that problem and confess it, and then come to the Word with prayer and ask God to feed you from it. Don't feel you have to read huge amounts every time, either - just begin with something short and sweet, perhaps from the Psalms or the Gospels. This is especially true if you have been starving yourself of the Word for a while. When someone is physically emaciated through starvation, they are not given a large plate of steak and fries for their first meal!

It is also important to "Chew" the Word carefully before you "swallow" (meditate on the Word and take time over it). Don't rush to gulp it down so you can get on with something else - savor the taste and the texture! Read with thanksgiving and praise. Soon you will find your appetite growing and you will be able to adjust your diet accordingly.

Why not choose this week to recommence a nourishing diet from the Word of God? Take milk if that is what you need but press on towards the meat. You need this food if you are to grow in grace and holiness as you serve the Lord here on earth!

#26. God's Word is a primary means to our sanctification

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 22:00:01 PDT

John 17:17 — “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

If God's Word is useful for training us in righteousness - in the habitual practice of doing what is right - it must of necessity also be a means to make us more holy. Our Lord Jesus confirms this in our text, taken from His great high priestly prayer.

He has been talking of the fact that the world will hate His disciples because they no longer belong to it, as they once did. They are not of the world, He says, but rather than asking that they be removed from the world, He prays they may be protected from the evil one. Jesus indicates that He intends to send His disciples into the world but He knows the spiritual dangers and temptations they will face. Therefore He asks that they might be protected from these by being sanctified - made holy and set apart to the Lord for His use. This sanctification, He says, will be done in (or by) the truth, which is the Word of God.

In case any of us should think that this prayer was said only for those gathered around Jesus as He prayed, He then indicates that in fact He is praying for all those who would believe on Him through the message the disciples would preach - so that includes every true believer down through the ages.

So the question that arises for us from this passage is the following. If our Savior understood the dangers of this world for those who are His own, whom He has purchased so that they are no longer "of the world", if He provided the Word as a means by which they might be protected, strengthened and made holy while they are here, what are we risking if we leave off reading the Word and hearing it preached? Do we think we know better than Jesus?

We are going to go on in the coming weeks to consider how the Word strengthens us, gives us wisdom and understanding, how it is a weapon in our warfare and how it revives us when we are spiritually weakened. All of these are aspects of what Christ was speaking of to His Father in this prayer. God the Father always hears and answers the prayers of His Son, so we can be sure that He will sanctify us through the Word. But note this simple fact - it does not and will not happen unless we cooperate with the Holy Spirit and make use of the Word God has given!

#25. God's Word is Useful for Training in Righteousness

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 22:00:01 PDT

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

We come to the last point in this text, where Paul has been listing for Timothy various ways in which the inspired Scriptures are useful.

At first sight, there is a lot of similarity between correcting and training in righteousness. Both uses have to do with the difference between right and wrong, and doing what is right. However, on closer inspection there are differences in emphasis. First, "correction" has to do with setting us right when we have gone or are in danger of going wrong. "Training in Righteousness", on the other hand, is about creating within us the fixed habit of doing right all the time. Second, and necessarily, "correction" refers to individual events in our lives where we have done or are tempted to do wrong. "Training in Righteousness" is a lifetime process that every believer undergoes during his or her time here on earth.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to make us holy too, and as we shall see soon, the Word of God is above all others the means He uses to bring about this lifelong process of sanctification. Do you want to be holy, as Jesus was? If not, there has to be a serious question about whether you are truly saved or not. But if that is your hearts desire, to achieve it you must live in an environment permeated by God's Word. You must read it, study it, meditate upon it and listen to faithful preaching of it. If you do not do these things, your desires after holiness will be little more than fond wishes and your progress in holiness will be difficult to measure or to perceive.

So choose training in righteousness this week, and use the tool that God Himself has design to be useful to bring it about!

#24. God's Word is Living, Active and Incisive!

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 22:00:00 PDT

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

We are considering how it is that the Word of God is useful for correction, and we reflected last time on the way it lights our path through the spiritual darkness of this world.

The writer to the Hebrews brings another quality of the Word to our attention this week - it is no dead letter but is made a living and active Word as the Holy Spirit takes it and applies it to our situation. Now it is like a very sharp blade that is able to perform spiritual surgery with infinite precision - separating things that are impossible to divide in any other way.

There are many views about what it means in the text to divide soul and spirit, but one that seems to fit the context is to separate between the spiritual activities of the old man and the new principle of life within the believer. Sometimes it is hard for us to know with what motives we desire to do certain things - whether they are pure and God-honoring, or whether they actually come straight from the flesh but are masquerading as pure and holy motives. And now here comes the Holy Spirit, wielding His sword, separating and dividing our thoughts and intentions and exposing what their origin and their tendency is.

How we need the Word of God to help us see what is driving our desires and our actions in life, and by exposing those that are entirely fleshly, serving as a corrective and enabling us to repent and do things only to the glory of God!

Once again, though, this blade will not do its work if we leave it in its scabbard - we have to take it out and let it do its work in us as we read it and hear it preached!

#23. God's Word is a Primary Means For Our Guidance

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 22:00:00 PDT

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

God's Word, as we have seen, is useful for teaching and reproving us. Last time we began to see that it is also useful for correcting - for showing us what is right when we are in danger of doing wrong.

Imagine yourself on a narrow path through mountainous country. The path is treacherous, uneven, and has no safety rails, and there are precipitous drops to certain ruin - first on your left and then on your right. Those of us who dislike heights would not wish to walk that path in broad daylight - but just think about trying to do it in pitch dark! The sun has gone down and there is no moon or stars to give light. No light from a nearby city provides even a glimmer of help to you. You do not know if the path will take a turn or go straight. You do not know if there is a deadly drop to your left or to your right. How could you take even one step without there being a pretty good chance that it would be your last, and you would find yourself plummeting down and down! What would you give in those circumstances to have a powerful flashlight? One that could show you whether you were about to step into a pothole or step over the edge, but could also help you to look ahead and see the twists and the turns the path will take?

The good news as we make our spiritual pilgrimage through the dark wilderness of this world, and with spiritual eyes that are still sometimes nearsighted because of our sin, is that God has given us a lamp to show us where we are about to plant our feet, and a light to show us the path that lies ahead! Using this lamp, we can safely walk the path that is marked out for us, and avoid falling into temptation and folly. Don't you want this lamp?

The psalmist in our text knew that he had it and was safe as long as he journeyed by its light. And you have the same lamp that he did - because it is the Word of God. This word will guide you through the world and help you avoid painful and dangerous falls!

If you had the flashlight on that mountain path, though, it would do you no good unless you actually turned it on and pointed it the right way. In the same way, the Word of God cannot guide you through this world unless you use it and rely on it to guide you! So use the Word this week, for your own guidance and safety, because the path you tread as a believer is fraught with traps and snares and dangers and difficulties that you will only pass safely if you use the lamp that God has given you!

#22. God's Word is Useful for Correction

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 22:00:03 PDT

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

God's Word, Paul has told us, is useful for teaching and reproof. Now he moves on to show us that it is useful for correction. Here is a remarkable thing - and how glad we should be that in His wisdom, God made His Word so perfect for our needs!

Suppose the Word could reprove us but not correct us. What would that be like? It would keep showing us that we were doing wrong, and give us plenty of evidence to that effect, but it would never show us what was right, or apply any corrective to us where we were in error. It would be like a dentist who could show us many cavities in our teeth as evidence we were brushing them wrongly, but who never took the time to tell us how to brush them the right way and avoid the cavities in the first place. In our walk with the Lord, we need reproof and rebuke - we have seen how important that is already. But it is essential that we also have correction - a guide to put us right when we take a wrong turn.

Needless to say, the Word cannot reprove us if it remains unread on our bookshelves; it cannot correct us if we never hear it preached. We have to make use of the Word in order for God to use it in our lives! So let's break out of the all-too-common habit of not reading the Bible or of not really listening for God to speak to us when we are present for a sermon - and let's start now!

#21. God's Word Exposes Our Sin

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 22:00:03 PDT

Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.”

We have seen that the Word of God is useful for rebuking, and our text this week confirms why this is the case. It is the Word of God that contains His Law and Paul explains that one function of the Law is to make us aware of our sin.

Elsewhere in Scripture, we learn that sin is very deceitful. It so blinds us and dulls our spiritual sensitivities and upsets our moral compass that we become unaware of its presence in our lives. It is like a cancer that forms in our bodies, but because it is made of our own cells growing out of control, our normal defense mechanisms cannot detect it and it continues to develop unopposed - it has a kind of camouflage.

The law is a statement of moral perfection. It declares how someone would be living if he or she had no sin in their life. Thus it is ideally suited to reveal sin in the human heart. To continue the cancer analogy, the Law works like a marker compound that only attaches to cancer cells, and tumors that were hard to spot before now light up plainly for all to see.

Just as untreated cancer is fatal to the body, sin that is not dealt with will always prove fatal to the soul of the unbeliever and crippling to the spiritual life of the believer. So the fact that we have (in God's Word) a totally proven and reliable technology to detect and expose our sin is a wonderful gift - because once the sin is revealed and we repent of it, trusting Jesus alone for forgiveness, we know God will indeed forgive us and heal us thanks to the work of His Son.

For the believer, being in the world is not an easy thing. There are plenty of temptations and opportunities for sin to start its cancerous growth. So it is important to have regular examinations and to catch the sin early before it causes a lot of damage and destruction. This is a very good reason for us to be reading the Word and hearing it preached!

#20. God's Word is Useful for Rebuking

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 22:00:03 PDT

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

We are considering what the Word of God does, and have seen that it is useful for teaching. The next thing Paul tells Timothy in our text is that the Scriptures are useful for reproof. The word used in the Greek has the idea of stating that someone has done wrong, with the implication that there is sufficient proof of the wrongdoing.

Perhaps it should not be a surprise, given that the Word of God is absolute Truth, teaches us the Commandments of God and thus defines right and wrong, good and evil, to find that it is useful to rebuke us and to supply the proof when we do wrong. As the believer reads the Word, has memorized it, or hears the Word preached, the Holy Spirit uses it to highlight his or her wrongdoing and to supply abundant proof. The result is that the child of God doesn't have to rely on feelings or mere impressions (which can be deceptive in a sinful soul) but has an objective guide and handbook to know when he or she has done wrong. This may not sound like a good thing on the face of it, until we remember that our wrongdoing quenches and grieves the Spirit of God in our lives, distances us from our heavenly Father, weakens us in the Christian warfare, undermines our assurance that we are saved and defaces our testimony of the saving grace of God. How much better, then, for God's Word to reprove us so we can confess our sin and seek forgiveness (especially since God is more willing to forgive us than we are to confess our sins) than to never have our wrongdoing pointed out and to live our Christian lives in a state of backslidden feebleness.

Sometimes, the Lord would have us to be the means He uses to rebuke or reprove others. When we do so, we must use the Word, use it accurately, and our rebuke must be in the spirit of one who has removed the plank from his own eye before trying to remove the speck from his brother's. It must, above all, be truth spoken in evident love.

We need to be rebuked, admonished and reproved if we are to enjoy a close walk with our God and to glorify Him here on earth, and it is through the Word that this is done. So in the coming week, let's read the Word, memorize it, hear it preached, and let's ask God to show us our sins through its pages so that we may confess them and live ever nearer to Him!

#19. God's Word Teaches us the Way of Salvation

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 22:00:00 PDT

Psalm 119:41 May Your lovingkindness also come to me, O LORD, Your salvation according to Your word.

We have seen that the Word of God is useful for teaching, and that one thing it teaches us is God's Commandments. This week we want to meditate on the fact that the Word also teaches us how to be saved.

The Law convicts us of sin and condemns us as guilty and deserving God's wrath. How thankful we should be that it doesn't stop there, leaving us in a hopeless situation. Rather, it reveals to us the plan God has always had, by which He would save people from the just deserts of their sins.

The Word tells us about a Savior Who would be God Himself. It tells us how He took human flesh and entered this sinful creation, how He took our place and kept the Law that we had broken. It tells us how He was unjustly sentenced to death, though He had never sinned, and that on the cross He took our place and received from God the punishment that our sins had merited. It tells us that Jesus rose from the dead as a sure sign that His sacrifice for us was accepted by God, and it tells us that now the way of Salvation is opened to all who repent of their sins and trust the work of Jesus as the only way they may be saved.

All of this and more is taught us in the word of God. The psalmist in our text realizes he had not deserved this salvation (and could not). He attributes the blessings of Salvation to God's lovingkindness alone (that is, to His mercy). It is only by His mercy that anyone is saved.

For our purposes this week, realize that there is nowhere else you can go to learn of salvation from sin. No other book tells of a Savior Who kept God's Law for you, and Who received God's wrath for your sins (if you trust in Him). This is Special Revelation indeed!

It is unaccountable, then, that we would not want to read this book, or hear its message of salvation preached!

#18. God's Word Teaches Us His Commandments

noreply@blogger.com (GraceChurch Modesto) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 22:00:07 PDT

Psalm 119:172 Let my tongue sing of Your word, For all Your commandments are righteousness.

In our previous meditation, we saw that God's Word is useful for teaching. This week, we are exploring one of the things that we are taught through the Word - the Law of God.

The Psalmist had made this discovery. as he looked into God's Word, he saw the commandments of the Lord and their righteousness. Because his heart was changed through his relationship with God, he found these commandments to be beautiful and a cause of great joy, and he wanted to burst into song as a result.

We know from Scripture that all of us are born with a dim awareness of God's laws. We have a conscience that alerts us when we are contemplating wrong and encourages us when we do right. We also know, though, that we can sear that conscience and silence it when we are determined to persist in a path of wrongdoing. The useful thing about God's Word is that it gives us much more than a dim awareness of God's commandments - they are all recorded for us to read and study. This is useful in two ways. First, the unbeliever will find that the law condemns him or her, and the sense of that just condemnation may be used by God to drive them to Christ for salvation if they will heed it. Second, once having come to Christ, the law continues its work of highlighting sin, prompting confession and forgiveness and playing an important role in the work of making the believer more like Jesus.

How many times have you looked into your Bible at a passage relating to the commandments of God and felt like singing for joy? How many times have you realized that these commandments are righteous and that it is a wonderful thing when God uses them to make us conscious of our sin? In today's church, the answer to both questions is likely to be "never", because all talk of law and of commandments is dismissed as legalistic. The law is seen as a bad thing that no longer has any relevance for the believer. Paul said that "the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good." (Romans 7:12). It is an odd progression in our understanding that causes us to disagree with the psalmist in our text and also with the Apostle to the gentiles! We need the Law and we should love the Law. We are not saved by keeping it, but it shows us true love, true holiness and the true character of our God.

In this coming week, let's sing over the commandments of our God as we read them in God's Word and marvel at how righteous they are!