The simple wives, thy laws are
pure, thy judgments are proud. Thy noblest wonders here reveal. OK. Thank you, Sherry. Sometimes we don't sing any hymns
at all. Sometimes maybe one. I want to sing those tonight.
All right, 1 Peter. Let's read from 1 Peter chapter
1. 1 Peter chapter 1. I want to read two verses, one
here in chapter 1 and one in chapter 2. 1 Peter 1, 23. Being born again,
not of corruptible seed. but of incorruptible, by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." Chapter 2,
verse 2. As newborn babes desire the sincere
milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. Verse 3. If so be you have tasted. that the Lord is gracious. Now, this should be a very profitable
study, very profitable, especially if you have trouble reading God's
Word. Anybody other than me have trouble
reading God's Word, knowing how to read it, where to read from? All right, this should be very
helpful, I believe. Now, outside of creation, the
only way in which God speaks to us is through this book. This
is it. The only way. This is the mind
and the will of God for us, and his purpose for all things. Let me ask you a question. Why
does God not speak out loud anymore? Why does God not speak out loud?
If you're like me, there have been many times when you've wanted
him to, haven't you? Why doesn't he speak out loud?
He did, not often, but a few times back
in the very beginning. Mostly he spoke to his prophets,
and then they in turn spoke to the people. But God doesn't speak
out loud anymore. He hasn't for nearly 2,000 years.
Why? Well, there's a reason. There
are a couple of reasons, I believe. There are many more, I'm sure.
But, number one, everything is written in this book that needs
to be said. Nothing else needs to be said.
If we would really study this book, we would find every question
we have answered. Every situation we've been in,
dealt with. You know what? There's nothing
more needs to be said. God has said all that needs to
be said. Number two, why doesn't God speak
out loud? Number two, because all of God's
people hear and read the same thing. There are no different or special
revelations to individuals. Right? That would be, God would
be a respecter of person. God's people are many, many,
multitude of people, yet all of them read the exact same thing. They all can hear the exact same
word from God, no matter where they are. All hear the exact
same word. Another reason, the word never
changes. God's Word never changes. There
are no new revelations. There are no new revelations. Now, if they weren't sad, it'd
be funny, all of these so-called churches that have on their names,
new this and new that, right? New vision, new whatever, you
know. There are no new revelations.
If someone has one, run. This is the standard. You can't
change the standard. What if they changed all rulers
in the world? What if everybody just made up
a ruler the way they wanted to make it up, to measure things
with? Or weights and measures? What if everybody said, I don't
like that, I won't change it. This is the standard. It hasn't
changed. It never will change. All things
are judged accordingly by them. You understand that? It cannot
change. It must not change. Truth, justice,
equity must be constant. And there are many other reasons,
I know, the chief of which is nothing else needs to be said. God has written all we need to
hear. All right, now this is God's Word, and for those who
have been born again by it. You know it is. God spoke to
you through this, the preaching of the word, just as really as
he spoke out loud. All who have truly felt the power,
and this is his word, the word of his power, the gospel is the
power of God and salvation. Those who have truly heard it
and felt its power, its regenerating power, they know it is so. They
know it is God's Word. With each passing year and even
month and week and day, you become more and more convinced, and
nothing and no one can convince you otherwise. It doesn't matter
what the world's saying. It doesn't matter what new findings
science comes up with. It doesn't matter what's being
said. You dismiss all that with a grain of salt, don't you? And
you say with David in Psalm 119, 128, I esteem all thy precepts
concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false weapon. Right, John? You're more and
more convinced. And God does that for his people.
He convinces them more and more. Every time they look at it, every
time they hear it, they become more and more and more convinced. Not that they need convincing.
But it's just God keeps proving his himself his word to his people
that it is indeed God's word. This book is it's amazing. I wish I could describe it. I wish I could. I wish I could
come up with adjectives to convey this glorious thing we call the
Bible. It's God's work. It's wonderful. All right. We get life from it. It's life-giving. It gives life. We read that in
verse 23 of chapter 1. being born again, not of corruptible
seed, that is, our Father's seed, but of incorruptible by the Word
of God. Just as our earthly fathers planted
a seed in our mother's womb and it produced us, in the same miraculous
way God Almighty planted this Word right here in the womb of
the heart. by the instrument of the Holy
Spirit in the heart. There was no life there before.
In God's time, in due time, God Almighty sent this seed and conception
happened and life was given. Life is given. Born again. Verse
twenty-five. Now it's not just talking about
the Bible. Many say that. Many say that. But more specifically, verse
25, the word of the Lord endureth forever. This is the word which
by the gospel is preached unto you. The gospel is the power
of God. The gospel is the word we're
speaking of, which God Almighty uses. And even more specifically,
it's the word which speaks of Christ, who is life, who is the
word. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. Christ said, my words are spirit
and life. Christ in you, a real person
dwelling in you through the implantation of this. That's a mystery, but
that's the way it is. Go over to 2 Corinthians 4. 2
Corinthians chapter 4. Just as God created the heavens
and the earth by speaking by speaking, saying, let there be
light, let there be a permanent, let there be this and that and
the other. In the same way, this is how
it happened with you who are born from above. 2 Corinthians
4 verse 6 says, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness
hath shined in our hearts to give Now here's the gospel in
three lines. The light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face or the person of Jesus Christ. Isn't that when light came on
in your heart, John Davis? When God Almighty, and it took
God to do it, to give light. God who, in the beginning, gave
light and commanded, let there be light one day in your dark
heart. And your darkened mind said,
let there be light of the knowledge of the glory of God. This is
what it's all about, it's what salvation is all about, the knowledge
of the glory of God, and where is it seen? In the person and
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's when the light came on.
I see now. I see. James chapter 1 says,
we were begotten of his own will, begat he us with the word of
truth. So, specifically, we're talking
about the gospel of Christ is what God Almighty uses. That's
the word which God uses, not just the Bible. Everybody says
they believe the Bible. They say their preacher, like
that fellow one time, asked a person, what do you believe? He said,
I believe what my preacher believes. What does your preacher believe?
He said, well, he believes what the church believes. He said,
well, what does the church believe? He said, we all believe the same
thing. You ask a believer, now, what
do you believe? Christ is all. Christ is all,
and in all. What do you believe about the
Word of God? We believe it speaks of Christ, who is salvation,
his person, and his Word. All right, being begotten again
by the Word of truth. All right, just as newborn babies—and
we begin as newborn babies—just as newborn babies need milk,
need milk and nourishment, this newborn creation or creature
Scripture says if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation,
a new creature. This newborn creation of God
within also needs milk. Peter said in verse 2 of chapter
2, it's the milk of the Word, the sincere, meaning pure, absolute milk of God's Word. undiluted,
full of all the necessary—whatever—antibodies and the sincere milk of God's
Word. We need this milk, the milk of
God's Word. But Peter says here in verse
2, now, of chapter 2, this is not only a fact, he said, as newborn babes
desire the sincere milk of the Word. They do. They do. If there's no desire for milk,
there's no life. Right? It's the first thing a
child, when it's born, starts doing. Even in the womb, you've
taken, you've seen pictures of them sucking their thumbs in
the womb. And the minute they're born, they're hungry. It's amazing,
isn't it? I know it was so with some of
you, Ed Berry. And I know it was hungry from
the start, and yet to satisfy that hunger. But so it is with
this new creation. We need to—we desire the sincere
milk of the Word. But this is also an injunction or a mandate, an encouragement,
as new-born babe desire the sincere milk of the Word. He's telling
us, he's encouraging us to do that—desire it. Our Lord said,
"'Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness,
they shall be filled.'" And you and I love that verse that says,
"'Open your mouths,' he said in Psalm, "'and I'll fill it.'"
Ever seen little baby birds? Well, he said, open your mouth,
your heart's mouth, your ear, and I'll feel it. Psalm 103. Turn over Psalm 103. I'm laying
the groundwork here. I'm telling you what this is
all about. Psalm 103. Now, the newborn creature does desire, but since
we are responsible, that is, able to respond to parental guidance
or direction which our Father gives, the Heavenly Father, they
shall all be taught of the Father. All our children shall be taught
of him, the Scripture said, and approved and rebuked and all
of these things. All right? But now we've got
a real problem, all of us here, we have a real problem, and it's
called flesh. We live in it. It's a hindrance
to the Spirit. It lusts, that is, fights against
the Spirit. The flesh, the Scripture says,
lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh
so that you cannot do the things that you want to do or would
do. I'm so glad our Lord is the one
that said this. He said, The Spirit indeed is
willing. Our Lord's the one that said
this. He said this when he came back from the garden praying
and he found his disciples asleep. First time he rebuked them. He
said, Can't you watch with me one hour? He said, Watch and
pray that you enter not into temptation. And he went and prayed
again some more and came back and found him asleep, and he
said this, "'The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is
weak.'" I'm glad he wrote that, aren't you? Oh, my, so glad. The Father knows our weaknesses.
Look at Psalm 103, verse 13 and 14, "'Like as a father pitieth
his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.'" He knows
he fears him. Those that truly desire the Word,
those that truly want to desire it, those who truly fear him,
he pities them. Those who don't care, those who
really aren't making any effort, those who are just nominal, he
knows. And he doesn't pity them. But
he pities those. I'm so glad this is written.
Look at the next verse. He knoweth our faith. He remembers
that we're dust. I love the Hebrew—the verse in
Hebrews that says, we have—we don't have a high priest which
cannot be touched for the feeling of our infirmity, but was tempted
in all points, tried in all points like as we are with the weariness
of the flesh, yet without sin as our substitute. But he knows.
our weaknesses. He knows our frame, and he pities
us. All right? And also, here's another thing,
a hindrance. Here's another thing we battle
again. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6, verse 12, he said, we wrestle
not—truly, we're not just wrestling with flesh and blood, with ourselves. with the weariness of the flesh
and these hindrances, but we're wrestling with principalities
and powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness
in high places, whose goal it is to keep you from hearing the
Word of God. And you know this is so because
you can look at something, anything, read just about anything with
enwrapped attention. Be absolutely—some of you are
probably like me, when you're reading or watching something
or reading something, it doesn't matter what's going on around
you. You're absolutely engrossed in what's going on. But is it
that way with the Word of God? No, you're so easily, so easily
distracted. Well, there are other forces
at work. This is not a fairy tale. This is so. This is Scripture.
The adversary, the wicked one, knows our frame also. He knows
our frame, and he knows God's Word is his power. He knows that.
He's seen its power operating on his former captives, and so
he endeavors to keep us from hearing it. If he can't keep
us from hearing it, afterward, try to remove it real
quickly so it won't take root, like the parable in Matthew 13. Right now, as I'm speaking, some
of you are struggling to pay attention. I know it's—I've been there. I've got a distinct advantage
over you. I've been studying this for a long time, and anything
that you study carefully and become greatly interested in,
you're taking up with it. You know how it is when you,
when there's something you've seen or read or whatever, and
you try to tell it to somebody else, and you're so excited about
it, and they're going, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. You know how
it is, don't you? But I understand. I've got a
distinct, right now I understand, and another time I might get
mad at you. But I do, right now I do understand. But right, even as I speak, some
of you are having a hard time paying attention, I'm sure. And
I, sometimes I blame myself, most of the time I don't. I know
it's a good message, I know it is. I've tried it on. You know, if I was standing up
here right now talking about something trivial, something,
some TV show, some magazine article, I'd have your full attention
with me. So what's going on here? There are other things we're
battling again. Other things. All right, let
me give you some helps now. Here are some helps that may
kindle your desire for God's Word. He tells us as an injunction
or imperative or command or mandate, desire it. Like you sometimes
have to tell your children, eat your beans. Eat your green beans. Here's
some helps, I believe, and a desire in it, and hopefully helps to
how to read it. The preached Word, what I'm doing
right now, is of primary importance. You're going to get more out
of what I'm doing right now than weeks of personal reading. It's so. If somebody doesn't believe that,
we'll cancel services for a couple weeks. It's so—I called my pastor
before I wrote that statement down. He said, you tell me, tell
me, is it so that the preaching of the Word is of primary and
utmost importance, even over personal reading of the Word?
He said, without a doubt. Listen to me. When Peter wrote
this, the people didn't have a Bible. They didn't have Bibles. Where
are they going to read the Scripture? All they could get was from the
apostles and the preachers of the Word. That's why they met
so often. It might be somebody who had
a copy of Isaiah. It was very rare. Somebody who
might have a couple of books of Moses, but that was very rare.
About all they had to turn to was the preaching of the Word.
Boy, they got it from a good source. They got it from the
fellows who were writing it. And most everybody in here, if
not everyone, was saved, born again, regenerated by hearing
the preached Word. Now, to be sure, listen to me,
to be sure, someone somewhere might be dealt with, regenerated
by God by reading the Word, just by reading it somewhere. I've
never met a person in my life that that's happened to, never.
And I'm not discounting that. Even people in Scriptures like
the eunuch, the Ethiopian eunuch had no one, he had no one. He
was reading the Word of God without seeing a preacher out in the
middle of the desert, didn't he? And Philip said, do you understand
what you're reading? He wasn't a tongue-talking, born-again
figure. He's just an old eunuch. He said,
how can I except some man show me? And Philip got up in the
chariot and preached Christ. Born-again. Preacher. Just one preacher. One man, one
preacher. The Scripture says that. How
shall they hear without a preacher? Please God by the foolishness
of preaching. Now, this is not—let me give you several reasons why
God uses public preaching. All right? Public preaching—oh,
I hate these things. Public preaching is not to exalt the man. No true
God-sent preacher will become proud. You don't have to worry
about that. I remember my dad one time standing
back at the door, and somebody came back and was talking about
the message, what a blessing it was, and how wonderful they
thought it was, which people should. Just like you ladies
prepare a meal, don't you want to know somebody enjoys it? If
they're not enjoying it, you're going to add a little salt or
something. Or you're going to quit cooking. If they quit saying
things, you just quit cooking. Go to McDonald's, you ungrateful
thing. Right? You need to know. You need to hear. You want to
know. Anyway, this fellow came back and he said after he bragged
on the message, he said, but I don't want to tough you up,
my dad said. Don't you be worried about puffing
me up." And I'm a preacher and know what
he's saying, because the minute you walk out of this pulpit,
you feel like an utter failure and something absolute. I've never been satisfied with
a message, ever. So it's not meant to puff up
the man. But why God uses public preaching
is this. Number one, we're all gathered
together. I told you a while ago that God's Word is—there's
no personal or private revelations, personal interpretations. God's
people, when they're all gathered together, the church, like a
flock of sheep, are fed by the shepherd. They all get the same
food. The church is a family, is a
congregation. It's the nature of sheep to want
to flock together. And God uses that. Heaven is
never going to be one-on-one with the Lord. You're going to
feel like it, but at times, when he's speaking, you're going to
feel like he's speaking directly. But it's never going to be a
one-on-one. No. It's always going to be a—and you're going to be
happy of it. So this is the beginning of—this
is a foretaste of heaven itself. All gathered together to hear
from the Lord. Number two, public preaching
is—it's humbling to hear the word of God through a man. It's
humbling. That's what the word of God is meant to do first,
is humble us, humble us. The doctor, the lawyer has to
sit at the feet of a coal miner or a fisherman and listen to
him because a man by searching can't find out the word of God. It's a revelation. And God uses
earthen vessels, real earthen vessels, humble vessels, Paul
said, very, very humble earthen vessels, so that you will know
that this is from God. When the people heard those fishermen
preaching, And the wisdom that was coming out of the mouths
of those plain old ordinary fishermen, they said, this must be from
God. These fellas, they've never been
to school anywhere. This must be from God. God must be speaking. So you
see, it's humbling. And another reason God uses public
preaching is if you first hear from God through
the preaching of the Word, From that day forward, you'll always
esteem the preaching of the Word highly. You'll never want to
be without it. If that's where you first heard
from God and you continually hear, you'll never want to be
out from under it. Whereas if you were sitting over on a hillside
somewhere and God gave you a revelation, what do I need to go to church
for? I don't need that preacher. I don't need to meet with those
people. I don't need anybody to teach me the Word. I found
it out on my own. But this is the way, God bless
you. Turn to Hebrews 5. Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews 5. Now the apostle gently admonishes
some people for being inattentive to the preaching of the Word.
And we need that. We need that. It's not that he didn't understand.
It's not that I don't understand. I've been where you've been.
Listen to me. Nobody's been as tired in a worship
service as I've been in the past. I guarantee you. I've gone thirty-six and forty-eight
hours without sleep working on the railroad, on call, constantly,
and never missed a service where I was able to attend a service.
Never! It doesn't matter if I worked midnight all night, I was there
that morning, and I never fell asleep in a service. I'm not
bragging on myself, I'm just saying that I know where you're
at. It's a... I understand. I do understand,
but I'm telling you, nobody's ever been as tired as I've been
in a worship service. I guarantee you. Nobody in here
has sat through more worship services than I have. I grew
up. My mother wouldn't let me go
to sleep. So it was ingrained in me. But
now, knowing what I know, it's—Paul admires—look at verse—I
speak—I just spoke as a fool, but Paul did the same thing.
He said, I'm a fool in glory, but I'm going to do it. So I
know where you're at. Don't do it. Just don't do it. Drink a big old cup of coffee
before you get here or something. All right? Look at chapter 5,
verse, let's see, chapter 5, verse 11 and 12. Of whom, and
speaking of Melchizedek, we have many things to say and are hard
to be uttered. It's hard to preach, but seeing
you are dull of hearing. See that? Some of them also,
like we get, dull of hearing. He said you ought to be teachers.
Speaking to some, they ought to be teachers, elders, preachers. But you have need that one teach
you again. Start all over again like a little
child. It ought not to be. So that's
the general admonition. Let me give you some reasons
for dullness of hearing, all right? I'll tell you why. I know why. give you some reasons. Number one, number one, lack
of preparation before you get here. Lack of prayer. Lack of prayer. If you don't
ask God to bless you to hear this word, you're not going to
hear it. He said, ask and you will receive. If you don't ask, He said, You
have not, because why? You ask. Is that as simple as
you can get? Mom, do you have anything to
eat? I sure do. Are you hungry? Open your mouth.
I'll feel it. How simple can you get? Lack
of prayer, preparation, forethought, lack of sleep, the night before. Now, you can't control perhaps
Tuesday, but Saturday night. Other things, too. Other things
will dull us. This world will dull us spiritually. It sure will. It will hinder
us spiritually. And this is the one thing needful.
Don't let anything make you dull up here. Don't
do it. And I'm trying to be as gentle
as possible, but the apostle—it's a gentle admonition, it is, but
this is why we become dull of hearing. We can't stay up especially
late on Saturday night watching who knows what and then wake
up late the next morning and then get up and watch some more
nonsense and then listen to some nonsense on the way here. and
then talk about the weather when you get here and then all of
a sudden start worshiping. You can't do it. It won't—God
will not honor that. He just won't honor that. He
won't do it. He won't give the spirit of worship
except to those who ask, seek, mock, strive. That's just so. Look at verse fourteen here in
Hebrews five. Strongly belongs to them that
are of full age, even those who by reason of youth have their
senses exercised. Spiritual exercise. Spiritual
exercise. There's certain habits that you
can get yourself into that's good. Habits. Certain habits
that you can What's the word I'm looking for? Form that are
good. Good habits. Not all habits are
good, but there are certain habits you can form that are good. One
of them is the habit of worshiping. Believers, true believers, are
in the habit of worship. They don't worship out of duty
or because they're supposed to or just out of habit, but they're
in the habit of it. and can't imagine not doing so. I hope I never again call anybody
or ask anybody or inquire of anyone about not coming to the
worship service. I hope I've learned now that
whoever wants to be here will be here. We'll be here. And unless it's someone I know,
if something's wrong or whatever, and need to be contacted, but
God's people will be here. They'll be here. It's their habit. They're in the habit. The Scripture
says about Paul, it says, as his habit was. He was in the
synagogue on Sabbath. That was just his habit. It's
like breathing. Now, you get out of the habit,
listen to me, you get out of the habit of attending a reading. We're going to get to reading
in a minute. You get out of the habit, and the more you're out
of the habit, the more difficult it is to do so again. This is
a fact. It becomes easier to miss and
harder to attempt. Easier to put it off reading
and harder to pick it back up again. Why is that? God's not going to bless unfaithfulness.
He's just not going to do it. He said, draw an eye unto me,
I'll draw an eye unto you. Forsake me, forsake you. If you don't need me, I don't need
you. That's what—that's the way it
is. He said, forsake not the assembling of ourselves together. Hebrews 10—look at it. I want
every eye to look at this. Now just hear me, I quote this
all the time. Hebrews 10.25. I want you to
be able to quote it. I want it written on your heart.
Hide, I want God to hide this word in your heart. I want this to come up in your
mind and heart all the time. Hebrews 10.25. Not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together. as a matter of some end, but
exhorting one another. So much the more as you see the
day approaching. The day of what? Christ's return. Christ's return. All right. Let's
go on. Let's go on. OK. Let me tell you why the preaching
of the Word is so profitable. This Word is prepared for you.
This meal is already prepared for you. You don't have to cook
it. I hope I don't ever have to cook another meal again. You
listen to me a minute? I cooked dinner last night. Tried
to. The verdict, you can ask them what they thought of it. I was tore to all to pieces.
I was so irritable. Everybody was in my way in the
kitchen. You know where I'm coming from? I just had to get in the drawer
and somebody would be in it. Out of the way. When the food
was ready, I called, and they didn't come right away. That made me mad. I don't want to ever have to
cook food again. Somebody else cook it. I hope I'll be more
understanding, and when they call, I come. But the Word, this
is already prepared for you, a big meal. Big meals are already
prepared for you. All you need is hunger. And the
more hungry you are, the more you'll get out of it. I know
it's good food. I'm eating it. I have eaten it,
and I'm eating it again. It's leftover for me. Hearing the word preached is
of primary importance because you'll receive most of your growth
from it. Most of your assurance, peace, and comfort will come
from it. You not only get peace and assurance and comfort from
the Word itself, the gospel itself, but by these, all these others,
being with all these others that believe, have like faith. You're
rubbing shoulders, you're all in agreement. When everybody's
in agreement, you just, you know, you believe more strongly. And it all comes from hearing
the word preached. It's like a family meal. This is like a
family meal. And you know, you all are here.
Nearly everyone in here is faithful most of the time. Why am I saying
these things? You're the only ones I've got
to tell it to. I'm not rebuking you per se,
but there'll come a time when you'll be tempted to do else
otherwise. And I hope this will come up.
This is a family meal. This is a family meal. The experts today are now finally
recognizing the importance of family time. The experts have
finally concluded that you need to sit out and have one meal
a day, all the family together. Well, you don't say. But this
is the family meal. We have a cup only, we only have
two a week. It's not much, is it? This is
the family meal prepared For you, with all the nutrition in
mind—your nutrition, table, everything in this food is conducive to
your health, to nurture your love, to cause you to grow, to
grant you life more abundant. It's a good place to be. A good place to be. And that's
why, here in this place, We make much of this book. It's about
all we do. We read this book. Always. You'll never have a service without
reading this book. And you'll never hear a message
that's not from this book. But why? Because this is the
blessings of God. All right. Our attitude. Look
at 1 Peter 2. Our attitude plays a great part
in this. Peter said this. 1 Peter 2, verse
1, before he said, desire the milk, he said this, lay aside,
verse 1, lay aside all malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, and evil
speaking. Our attitude plays a great part
in us hearing the Word, or not hearing it. God will not bless
us to hear the Word if we come here with a bad attitude. He
won't do it. Whatever that attitude's about,
whether it's about our job, whether it's about something at home,
or we're bitter toward another believer, God won't bless us
to hear it. He won't do it. This is why the scripture says,
"'Let not the sun go down your rack,' meaning don't go to sleep
without resolving the argument. Don't go to sleep mad. Get over
it. Get over it. make peace, get
over it. Why? Because you'll wake up even
more bitter than you were before. And there's another scripture
that says if you come to the table or come to worship, if
your brother has ought against you, don't come here. Be reconciled to him first. God's
not going to bless somebody who's got a grudge against one of his
people. He's not going to do it. Have
a bad attitude. Not going to do it. It's not
going to bless them. To do so, to come in with a bad
attitude, is to be in danger of quenching the spirit. Meaning,
other people are here perhaps to worship in spirit and truth.
You come in with a bad attitude and ruin it for them. You've
quenched the spirit. So, in a modern statement, get
over it. Get over it. Can't come in here. Lay aside. That's what Peter
said. Lay it aside. Be done with that. Oh, malice
and guile against all people. Forget it. God's not going to
bless you if you don't. And desire to... Reading God's Word. All
right, I've got four minutes. Can I have eight? Stan said I
could have eight. Do I hear ten? All right. Won't be much longer.
Reading God's Word. I know you have trouble with
it. I do. If I have trouble, I know you
have trouble. All right, how do you read God's Word? You sit
in a chair and you start reading it. That sound simple enough? You
do it. Get in the habit of it. This
is a habit I was talking about. It's good to form. You do it.
How do you read God's Word? Do it. Let nothing and no one
keep you from doing it. Especially make it a habit. First
thing in the morning. First preach. The Lord says,
bring me a first preach. Before this world pollutes your
minds and your hearts and everything. Seek God's will through his word.
Read it. Sit down. Say, I don't have time.
No, of course you don't. He never will. You never will. You never will the rest of your
life have time. You won't find time. You find
time to do what you want and need to do. You'll find the time. If we've got some kind of ridiculous
pursuit, some trivial pursuit, we'll find the time, won't we,
Kelly? We'll find the time. Find the
time. This is one thing, people. Do
it. How do you read God's Word? Do
it. How do you read God's Word? Turn
back to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. And did you notice
while I was reading this, and if you'll read the whole psalm,
we went through it verse by verse a few years ago. Remember? If you'll notice, the whole psalm
practically is a prayer. concerning God's Word. There
are declarations of what God's Word means to him, but most of
it is a prayer mingled with statements about God's Word. So, prayer. How do you read God's
Word? Not without prayer. Christ said,
without me, you can do nothing. Certainly can't read this. Certainly
the flesh lusts against the spirit. Who's going to help us? The Holy
Spirit. We can do all things through
Christ which strengthens us. We look at verse, did you notice,
verse thirty-three, teach me. Verse thirty-four, give me. Verse
thirty-five, make me. Verse thirty-six, incline my
heart. See that? He's asking the Lord.
You mean David had trouble reading the Word? He's just like you
and me. He sure did. He had a million
sheep. You don't think he had big herds and flocks? He's the
king of a country. You think he had hundreds? He said, Incline my heart unto
thy testimony. Verse 37, Turn away mine ear.
Verse 38, Establish thy word. Verse 39, Turn away. See, this
is a prayer to God concerning the Word. Lord, help me. Help
me. Help me. I do desire it, but
Lord, help me. Make me desire it. Teach me. Give me. Make me. Incline me.
Turn away my heart from this and that and the other. Establish
thy Word." Okay. Prayer is a key. Prayer is a
key. How do you read God's Word? Actually,
where do you start reading in this book? Now, that's a problem,
isn't it? That's a problem, isn't it? You
have trouble, like me, you have trouble knowing where to start.
I'll tell you where to start. And it sounds real simple. In the beginning. Where in the
book do you start in the middle? Is that all I'm saying? Well,
start in the beginning. Start in Genesis 1 and Matthew
1. Okay? And just start reading.
Don't read too much. If, and I highly recommend that
you have a Bible with these center references, a center reference
in the center there. These, do you know how long it
took to write all these scriptural references in there? If you look
on that one page there in all the scriptural references, somebody,
Sherry, looked up all those verses, not just those, they went through
hundreds, maybe even thousands, to find verses that really said
the same thing or were a commentary on the verse you're reading.
We can take thirty seconds to look it up. I guarantee you it'll
help you. If you come across something
you don't understand, is there a little letter beside it? Is
there a word and a number beside it? Look it up. It'll tell you
the meaning of it. This is what it means to compare
spiritual things with spiritual things. Paul said that we do
that. We compare spiritual with spirit.
Scripture with Scripture. God's Word, like Bernard said,
is the best commentary on God's Word. You'll generally find you
don't need to go read something else. And while I'm talking about
this, let me just go ahead and say it. I like these little devotionals.
That's Spurgeon's, Morning by Morning, and so on, Mason's,
and on and on. I like them. But don't call that
reading God's Word. That's not reading God's Word.
Most of the time, that's all we do for lack of time. That's not good enough, but I'll
tell you why. You won't remember the verse
of Scripture that that person is writing about. You won't do
it. If you remember some little illustration
or something that's said in the course of that article, you'll
forget what Scripture he was talking about. It's all right
to forget anything ever said by any man ever, if you just
remember five lines from this book. You know what? This is the only thing that's
settled. All right. Where was I? Run these references.
If you need help, people, I'm telling you, this is the best
thing ever written on the New Testament. I've got them all. I've got John Deal, I've got
Matthew Henry, I've got Matthew Poole, I've got John Calvin,
I've got Trapp, I've got Pink, I've got Owens, I've got Newton,
I've got Man. Name something. I've got them
all. Look down there. I'm about ready to start giving
all my books away. I don't use them anymore, but
I use these. Why? This man, a faithful preacher
and teacher of the Word expositionally to his congregation, a pastor. out of a concern for his people
during a Sunday morning Bible study, verse by verse. Look through
all of those commentaries, every commentary at his disposal, which
all of them are hard to read. We don't say, thee and thou and
this and thus and those. We don't speak in lofty, flowery
language anymore. We don't do it. He did all the
work for you and wrote down the little pithy, pointed needful
statements in a short, concise manner. It's right there for
you. He did all the work for you. If you don't have these,
we've had them time and again. They've sat on that table for
months unsold. We'll give you a set. I'm telling
you, it's the best things there is. It's the only thing I ever
use anymore, ever. If I get in a bind, I generally
don't look at any commentary, but if I get in a bind, I'll
go straight to this. Because there's Gill and Manton
and Owen, all in that little book right there. If you don't
have one of these, don't buy anything else but this. Strong's Concord. This is a Bible
dictionary. That's what it is. This has every
word in God's Word written down and where it is. You want to
know where a Scripture verse is? You say I think it's said
somewhere I remember reading so I don't know where that is.
You can find it. Go right to it and find it. And
you can look up in the back in the dictionary what the original
word. Most of the time what's written
in here is exactly what it is. Strong Concord. It's about ten
dollars. That's the best ten dollars you'll
ever spend in your life. That thing is invaluable. I use that more than anything
else. That's what old Barnard used
to say, buy you a Bible and a dictionary. That's it. That's all you need. Don't read too much. Don't read
too much. Don't read three chapters. Don't
do it. You just can't retain it. No way. You'll skip over
something. I don't agree with this reason
in the Bible of the year. I don't agree with that. Men
have a right to disagree with me, but I don't agree with it.
It's just too much. It's too much. Neither do I agree
with preachers preaching in one book for ten years. The very
fellows, that's what they do. I talked to a fellow recently.
He said, we've been in the book of Job now for eight years. I
can't imagine sitting there under that. Another fellow said, we went
through the psalm, took us eight years. I'm thinking about going
back through it again. I thought, man, I'd go somewhere else. Seriously, don't read too much.
We can't take it in unless you just can't quit. You're so engrossed
in it. Don't read, and I hope you remember all this, or else
I hope you're jotting this down. Don't read historically. Don't
read it as a history book or an information book. Whether
Jews this or Jews that. It's not written to the Jews.
It's written to you. This is God's Word to you. Read
it like he's speaking to you. See how it applies to you. Whatever
you're reading, wherever you're reading. How does this apply
to me? God's speaking to me, not speaking
to dead people, not just instructed me in history. This is God's,
God breathed a live word. If it doesn't speak to me, I
might as well not have read it. All right? And lastly, look for Christ in it. Especially
the Old Testament. Now, the Old Testament is Christ
concealed. The New Testament, it's easy to see because it keeps
saying, It keeps telling us about Christ. The Old Testament now, there'll
be some dark, obscure passages. You know, what is this talking
about? I don't understand. I don't understand. Christ is
in there. Christ is in there. That's why
you don't understand it. You're not looking. Listen for
middle suit. Tune your heart to Christ as
you're reading it. Look for Christ in it. That's
why it was written. That's why it was written, to
point you to Christ, not just to instruct you, not just to
feed you information, but to point you to Christ, to build
up your faith in Jesus Christ. That's what the Word is all about.
Look for Christ in it. So, I quit. Attend the preached
Word. Attend it, if at all possible. Make a habit of it. Prepare your
heart and mind to come hear it. Pray for the preacher. Pray for
me. You pray for other people. John, you pray for Gabe. You
pray for me that the Lord bless me. You pray for Gabe. The Lord bless Gabe. You don't
know who's going to be blessed. You will. I guarantee you. That's
the way the Lord does things. He loves intercessory prayer.
He loves it. He blesses the one who intercedes
for someone else. Pray. Read. Read God's Word. How do you read? Do it. Habitually. Pray. How do you read? Pray for
an understanding of it. Lord, I don't understand. It's
a dark book. Would you please just give me something? Well, if your son asks for a
piece of bread, will you give him a stone or a snake? How much more? Lord, I don't
know. I'm going to go away without
anything. Give me something. Pray. Understand it. Search the
Scriptures. Run those references. Scripture
speaks of Scripture. Use helps. Get those. Get those. And there's many things, but
I'm out of time. But, well, I hope that was a
help to you. And if you didn't jot all this
down, we've got a huge tape running downstairs. We can make all the
tape you want. All right, stand with me. Our Lord, thank You for Your
Word. It's more wonderful than we know. We have not yet understood truly what this is
that we have in our possession and what it took to get it to
us. what a blessing, what blessings we miss by not using it. So, Lord, we ask, as you have
instructed us through your servant Peter, we ask that you would
give us a desire for the sincere milk of the Word that we might
grow thereby. We believe, we do, but, oh, Lord, help our unbelief. And we do hear it, we have heard
it, we have heard your voice. Lord, we're so dull of hearing,
though, so very often. Forgive us, forgive us, forgive
us. Increase our faith and our desire,
we pray, for your glory and for our eternal good. This is all
preparation for eternity. Lord, begin this preparation
now, we pray. In Christ's name, we're met here
tonight. Give him thanks for your Word. Amen. All right, you're
dismissed.