Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Psalm 68. Psalm 68, we read for our text,
verse 11. Verse 11, if you have one of
our free Bibles, it's page 577. Psalm 68 and verse 11. The Lord
gave the word, Great was the company of those
that published it. This psalm is a psalm or song
of David and was on the occasion when the Ark was brought up to
Jerusalem. Let God arise, let his enemies
be scattered. Psalm 68, verse 11. Now this morning I do not intend
to give a study of the history of the biblical text. The Trinitarian Bible Society
has a booklet written by Malcolm Watts, the retired pastor of
Manuel Salisbury, and the booklet is referenced on our library
page of our website There are many articles that are written
that establish these scriptures and show the history as how we've
come to the Word of God as we have it today. That is not my
intention this morning, but to preach the Word and to strengthen
our souls in the receiving of the Holy Bible as the infallible,
inspired Word of God that speaks to us. In our day, it's the cause
of no doubt for other generations as well, of the great majority
of departures from the truth, merging with the world, denying
a vital godliness. It begins with a low view of
Scripture begins with undermining it, being critical of it, not
viewing it as the inspired, infallible Word of God, replacing it in
assemblies of God's people with other things, instead of the
Word being central and the Word being the subject of all of the
worship, other things are taking its place. We should never think
that that would never happen to us. I've no doubt there are
many churches in this land that if we went back several years
ago, they would never have thought that they would have turned away
from the word, watered it down or undermined it in any way. Be strengthened in the doctrine
of Scripture. Jonathan Edwards, the theologian
of the 1700s, he says, go often to the Bible to hear the great
God Himself speaking to you. Himself speaking to you. I wonder how many times we really
realize that as we read the Word of God, that it is God Himself
speaking to us. And there'll be some times that
that is a very specific word that the Lord applies to us. We all know that we can communicate
one with another by hearing one another, by speaking to one another. If someone speaks to us, with
no doubt they have spoken to us. But if that person could
not speak, perhaps they were dumb, or maybe they were at a
distance, and the only way they could communicate was by a letter
or by a note, and they wrote to us, would we think any less
of that word as being their word? Would we say that because it
was not spoken and we heard it in our ears, then it is not their
word? If they were giving us news,
would we receive that news? Or would we say, well, we'll
receive it if they tell us on the telephone, but we won't receive
it through a note? If they were giving us direction,
would we obey that direction? Or would we say, well, because
it's written direction, it doesn't have the authority of being a
verbal? We need to ask ourselves these
questions when we come to the Word of God and ask, are we receiving
this as the Word of God to us? And hearing it as if it had all
of the authority As if God was speaking, and in our very presence,
or like the disciples, as they believed the Lord Jesus Christ,
that He was and is indeed the true and living God. And as He
spake, and many said, never man spake as this man spake. We read those words in the Word
of God, we read them. But do we really receive every
word of God as the word of God? So I want to look with the Lord's
help this morning. Firstly, the word of the Lord. And then secondly, the word given
to the people of the Bible. Just go through some of those
characters in the Bible where the Lord spoke to them and that
is what governed what they did in their lives. And then lastly
the word given to us and especially thinking of through those that
publish it The Lord gave the word, great was the company of
those that published it. In Martin it says, the army of
them that published it. But firstly, the word of the
Lord. How do we know it is the word
of the Lord? while we are told by the Word
itself that it is so and that God has spoken to us. In the
epistle of Paul, the apostle to the Hebrews, we read that
God, and this is in the first chapter of verse 1, God who at
sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he
made the worlds. And we are very clear that scripture
tells us that God has spoken unto us in these last days, the
days from Christ to the end of the world, to the time that Christ
shall come the second time with power and great glory, there's
a distinction made here. He did, He spoke to us, He spoke
in different ways, different times in the past by the prophets,
but these last days spoken unto us by His Son. And we know that
The Lord Jesus Christ is the incarnate Word and every Word
of God is pure. We are told in Proverbs 30 verse
5 that it is so. Every Word of God is pure. But what does the Word say of
itself? In the second epistle, to Timothy,
Paul to Timothy in chapter 3, we read in verses 16 and 17,
that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, that is God
breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect
through the furnished unto all good works. Inspired. God breathed. And then we have
in the second, and we read in the first epistle of Peter, but
the second epistle and chapter one, we read in verses 20 and
21. Knowing this first, that no prophecy
of the scripture is of any private interpretation, For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the
author of the Scriptures through men, teaching them what to write,
the very words what to write. And it's not of any private interpretation. We're not to read the Word of
God and think, oh, it means this, it means that. Scripture interprets
itself. And when God has spoken, He knows
what He has spoken. He knows the message. There is
a message. And we are not to interpret that
and make it to say what we want to say. One of the things today,
and some of us have known it, when we've perhaps written into
a newspaper, and they've taken our letter, they've taken it
out of context, They've removed parts of it, they've changed
parts of it, and what they publish is totally different than what
we meant or the message that we had at all. And some people
will do that with the Word of God as well. Take it out of context,
make it to say what it does not say. We should always think,
what is God saying to us? What is His message, not willingly,
deceive ourselves by saying, well, we want the message to
say this, so we'll make the word of God say what we want it to
say. That is just blind deceiving
ourselves. We want to know what God says
to us, what he speaks to us, and that what he speaks is authority. In the end of the chapter that
we read, we read this, that In verse 25, the 1 Peter 1, but
the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you. And very clearly identifying
what the word is. And not just the words of the
Lord in red in the Bibles, but the whole of the scriptures from
beginning unto end. When Paul preached to the Thessalonians
in the first epistle to them in chapter 2 verse 13, he says
that, for this cause we thank God without ceasing, because
when ye received the word of God which we heard of us, ye
received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the
word of God, which effectively effectually worketh also in you
that believe. The scriptures themselves speak
of what they are, testifies of what it is. When our Lord was
tempted by Satan in the wilderness, immediately after he was baptised,
driven of the spirit to be tried in the wilderness, Satan came
to him after 40 days when he was unhungered and tempted him
and said, if thou art the Son of God, command these stones
that they might be made bread. But our Lord again and again
answered him from the Scriptures, it is written, it is written. And he goes right back to the
Old Testament. that man shall not live by bread
only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
God. Right back to Deuteronomy, to
the books of Moses. Our Lord again in Matthew 24,
when he speaks of the end of the world and the dissolving
of everything here. He says, heaven and earth shall
pass away, but my words shall not pass away. And those exact
words are recorded in Matthew and in Luke and in Mark, and
words very similar as well with John. The emphasizing of the
enduring, abiding, Word of God. Though all things shake, and
you might feel that in your life, in Providence, in all things
that are happening, you might feel many things are being shaken,
many things are being tried. But the Lord brings it right
to the end of the world. When the world shall be destroyed
by fire, the word of the Lord endureth forever. Man might be
able, and he does, burn the Word of God, banish the Word of God. He cannot destroy it, cannot
destroy it. And we need to be very clear
on these precious truths. To receive the Word of God exactly
as it is, not say, well, that is Paul, that is James, that
is John. Yes, they were the penman, they
were used. But the very word, every word
of God is pure. Not just the ideas, not just
the very words that God has chosen to use. Have the word translated
from the original languages of Hebrew and of Greek? But has that taken the Lord by
surprise? Of course not. He says, go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature in every nation, kindred
and tongue. The wonderful miracle at Pentecost
of the instantaneous, without learning, speaking in other tongues
the wonderful works of God. And the Lord has, and will to
the end of time, Raise up those who are godly men, gracious men,
men that know their own language well and men that know the languages
of the scriptures well and are able to translate that word into
the tongues of the nations. The psalmist says, thy word have
I hid in mine heart. We cannot hide in our hearts. a word that we do not understand
in another language. How many times have we heard
someone speaking in another language? Or heard maybe even the psalms
or hymns sung in another language? And they've meant nothing to
us. It's not profitable. It doesn't edify us. We can be
told what that word is, but It doesn't help us until we understand
it. The apostle, when he reproved
those that were speaking in tongues in the early church, and no one
was interpreting, he says that if there is not an interpreter,
they should not speak in tongues. Because he said, how does it
touch one? How can we know what to do? How
can we understand it? He said, I would rather speak
five words with the understanding than ten thousand words in an
unknown tongue. May we bless the Lord for his
word in a faithful translation in the authorised version where
it is translated word for word as far as is possible and not
just translated into the ideas where the interpretations of
men intrude into the sacred text. We want to hear not man's interpretation,
but exactly what the Lord has said to us. That is a very important
principle in biblical translation, that we have the very Word of
God. On to look then secondly at the
word given to the people of the Bible. This is the record that
we have of God speaking to those who've gone before us. Sometimes
we can almost get the idea, well, they were almost more than human. They were different than us. But no, they weren't. They were
flesh and blood as we are. They were made just like us,
and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was manifest in the flesh,
the same body as what we have, flesh and blood, and the same
soul, made like unto his brethren of the seed of Abraham. And these
Old Testament saints as well, we read of Elijah that he was
a man subject to like passions as we are. It's a reminder that
They had failings, infirmities, weaknesses, fears, just the same
as what we have. We should remember this. But
God spoke to them. God spoke to Noah. And it was God that told him,
in Genesis chapter 6, to make an ark. Noah didn't just decide
to Do that himself. Reading verses 13 and 14, God
said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me, for
the earth is filled with violence through them. And behold, I will
destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Rooms shalt thou make in the
ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And he
gave him the plan of the ark. God told him, and then when the
ark was done, when the time was ready to go into it, we read
in the first verse of chapter seven, and the Lord said unto
Noah, come thou and all thy house into the ark. What a beautiful
word that is. You ever thought, the Lord did
not say go into the ark. He said come. The Lord was there. The Lord was in the ark and he
said, come, come down and all thy house into the ark. Come
unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, I will receive
you. Think of the Lord's words while
I'm earth. He is a beautiful anti-type of
the ark, the way of saving from the wrath, the destruction that
was to come upon the earth. But then in the next chapter,
chapter eight, when they were safely brought over the flood
and brought the other side of the flood to a new death, we
read in verse 16, go forth. In verse 15, God spake unto Noah
saying, go forth of the ark, thou and thy wife and thy sons
and thy sons with thee. Dear friends, Noah, he needed
the Lord to tell him to make that ark. to come into the ark,
to go forth from that ark. All that Noel did, are we any
different? Do we desire that the Lord, through
his word, might also instruct us and teach us in the way that
we should go and what we should do? Abraham was the same in Genesis
chapter 12. The Lord had spoken unto Abraham,
and we read in verse 1 of chapter 12, Now the Lord had said unto
Abraham, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred
and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee.
The Lord has spoken to him. Abraham didn't just decide he
was going to move from one place to another. Going to the New
Testament with James. We are told, go to now, that
say we will go to such a city and sojourn there and buy and
sell. He said, but you ought to say,
if the Lord will, we will do this or that. Sometimes we might
feel there is a venturing, but we would not go and do something
that is contrary to the word of God or in a place where the
Lord It's very evident His pleasure is not there. We are to heed
to the directions of the Word of God. The Lord in Genesis 22,
He spoke to Abraham after he'd been tried regarding on Mount
Moriah with Isaac, to offer up Isaac, and He blessed him. The very words of the Lord, he
blessed him, the angel of the Lord, called unto Abraham out
of heaven the second time. By and said, by myself have I
sworn saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing and
hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I
will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the
stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore,
This is the word of the Lord being used to bless the people
of God. We think of Jacob later on in
chapter 28 as Jacob left his father's house and as he travelled
towards Haran, then we Have the Lord appearing to him in a vision
by the night, the land has set up upon earth. Genesis 28 verse
13. The Lord stood above it and said,
I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father and the God of Isaac.
The land were on their lines to thee will I give it and to
thy seed. A beautiful promise. Behold,
I am with thee and will keep thee in all places whither thou
goest. and will bring thee again into
this land, for I will not leave thee until I have done that which
I have spoken to thee of. God spoke that word to Jacob,
and that word, along with that, to Abraham and to Noah, is recorded
in the holy word of God. It is his word that is also spoken
to us. hath in these last days spoken
unto us. The Lord spoke to those, too,
in the way to Emmaus, in all the Scriptures, the things concerning
himself. Then we have with Moses. The
Lord appeared to Moses in the desert and in the fiery, burning
fiery bush in Exodus 3, In verses 4 to 6, and Moses turned aside
to see that great sight. The Lord God called unto him
out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he
said, here am I. The Lord then gave him that commission
to go into Egypt and to bring the people of God out of Egypt. And it is a remarkable thing.
When Moses was starting then to go to Pharaoh, and those of
you familiar with the Word of God will know, they had those
nine plagues, and then the tenth, the Passover. And each time Moses
went into Pharaoh to tell him to let the people go, but if
he wouldn't, then he'd bring the next plague. And from chapter
six right through, to chapter 14, each of those chapters begins
with a word that is very similar, that is, God spake unto Moses
and said. Chapter 7, the Lord said unto
Moses, see I have made thee. Chapter 8, the Lord spake unto
Moses, go unto Pharaoh. Chapter nine, then the Lord said
unto Moses, go in unto Pharaoh and tell him. Chapter 10, the
Lord said unto Moses, go in unto Pharaoh. And this goes on right
through to chapter 14. God spoke to them. He caused
them to know his will and what he should do. John the Baptist
going into the New Testament when he was in the wilderness,
God spoke to him. and said to him in the wilderness
to go and to begin his ministry. The Apostle Paul on the Damascus
Road, the Lord appeared to him and said to him, Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me? It's hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. Through and through the scripture,
we have the Lord speaking directly to men. And we are told that
in this same way, in the Word of God, we have no other word,
we're not to look to man's writings, we're not to look now to that
speaking of the Lord from heaven in the same way that he spoke
to those that we've just mentioned of, but we are to view the Word
of God that we have, the closed scripture, From Genesis to Revelation,
nothing subtracted, nothing added to it, that God speaks through
that, and speaks through that to us. That is what I want to
notice in the third point. The word given to us through
those who publish it. Our Lord tells us in Ephesians,
Now that he has given those apostles and teachers and preachers, he's
given to the church those who he has commissioned go into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be
damned. Now those that, as they did,
preach the word, speak the word, and Even to the end of the world,
I will give you pastors after my own heart and preachers and
teachers. And the word is to be preached.
The command is preach the word, instant, in season and out of
season. And it is that word that we seek
to bring before you this morning. Preach the word. The Lord gave
the word. Great was the company of those
that published it. So it is the publishing through
oral, through the word. You might say of those with the,
like the TBS, they publish the scriptures in a literal way,
printing the scriptures in various languages throughout the world,
and the word is published in that way. in sending forth the
free Bibles. In that sense, the Word is published
and is spread throughout the world. The Lord has especially
ordained that it should be proclaimed and published and preached. And
that is what He did. And the way to amaze, that is
what Philip did. to the eunuch, he preached Christ
unto him. And that is what our Lord's ministry
was, a teaching ministry. He taught them again, interposed
by miracles that he performed, but then immediately returned
to preaching and teaching them. But I want to, under this head
specifically, think of receiving the Word. When the Word is published,
it is to be heard. And if it's to be heard, it's
to be received. How does that apply to you and
I? When we read the Word of God,
when we heard it preached, Every word that we hear of the
Word of God that is true to the Word of God, as the Apostle said
of the Thessalonians, they received it as it was in truth the Word
of God. That Word is received as the
Word of God. And we should understand the
Lord is speaking to us through His Word. But then there will be those
times that He speaks very specifically to us. It was so, as we saw with
Noah, with Abraham, when the Lord wanted them to do things,
when He'd direct them, when He'd guide them, that He spoke to
them in a special way. And the Lord still does that
to His people. Everyone shall receive of thy
words. Thy word came expressly unto
me. So how do we know? When we read
a passage or when the word is preached, how do we know? Do we just have to choose what
we want to hear and apply it to our lives? Or does God have
a hand in it? The Lord says, my word shall
not return unto me void, it shall accomplish the thing whereto
I sent it. If we think of the case of the
eunuch, he'd been to Jerusalem to worship, he was coming back,
he was reading in the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 53 as we know
it, and yet he did not understand that scripture. Philip comes
and asks him, understandest thou what thou readest? And he says,
how can I except some man guide me? At the very place that he
was reading, speaking of the Lord's sufferings and his death,
in the type of the lamb, he is led as a lamb to the slaughter,
as a sheep before her shearers is done, so he openeth not his
mouth. And Philip began at that same
scripture and preached unto him Jesus. Through that sermon, he
was brought to believe that Jesus was the Son of God, and he was
baptized on profession of that. So he brought to a knowledge
of baptism, what was required by it, and made profession of
what he had been brought to believe and receive through the preaching
of the Word. That Word had been effectual.
We read when the apostles preached, when our Lord preached. Some
believe the word spoken and some believe not. In another place
we read, as many as were ordained unto eternal life believed. And so we know that word that
is received by us is by the power that accompanies it, the effect
that it has upon us. Those that believed the effect
whilst they did believe, the effect with a eunuch who desired
to be obedient, to the Gospel. Another way we can know is by
the suitability and how applicable it is. We're told in Romans 28
that we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose. Our lives are not detached from
the Word of God. And often when we come into the
house of God, we come with things that we are burdened with and
troubled with, and maybe have been praying over. And when the
Word then comes, and it comes right where we are, and it completely
answers that question that has been in our mind, it interprets
to us our way, and there is that dew and unction and savour that
attends it, then we know it is the Word of God. for us. The woman at the well of Samaria
discerned Jesus of Nazareth as the prophet because she heard
him tell her about all her life. And sometimes we can sit under
a sermon and think, well, the minister knows all about us.
The things that he has said, the things he has opened up,
the text that he has brought, he must surely know all about
us. And yet he doesn't. But the Lord
does, and the Lord sends his servants to completely meet the
cases of his people. A timely word, a suitable word. How we see in the book of Esther,
how vital timing is. And so it is with the word of
the Lord to his people. You think of the children of
Israel waiting at the Red Sea. They first had to wait. Then
the word was to them, saying to the children of Israel, go
forward. Well, how suitable that was to
them at that time. Not when the Red Sea wasn't divided,
but when it was divided, then they were to go through it. And
we also need those words that are so suitably, timely, brought
to us. A word in season, we might say. May this morning be a word in
season to your soul and my soul. It also is known by the remembrance. The Lord never ever forgets the
word that he speaks to his people. We do forget, but then sometimes
we can have those words again brought to remembrance. And those
are sacred times when we When we feel that, when we have those
words to remembrance, we in our private reading and together
as a family, read consecutively through the scriptures, using
the Trinitarian Bible Society or machines, gathering together
of the scriptures. And so in that way, we have the
peace chosen out for us, read each day, each morning. And how
often we do find that the Lord does ordain the timing of the
reading of those passages. And this morning's one, in Exodus
2, brought back some memories for me. We read of Moses here
being put as a child into the bulrush, an ark made of flanks,
bulrushes, and then Pharaoh's, the daughter of Pharaoh finds
this, the ark finds Moses, and then
his sister came to her, shall I go and call to thee a nurse
of the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for thee?
And it was when then she brought her own mother, then Pharaoh's
daughter says to the mother, take this child away and nurse
it for me and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took
the child and nursed it. And, you know, as I read that,
I thought back to when I was over here, probably 33 years
ago, I suppose, or more, when we got engaged and in East Beckham
Chapel and Uncle Gordon Seymour was preaching and he preached
from that text, take this child and nurse it for me and I thought
at the time I think perhaps others thought well what he was What
I was aiming at was to take my wife and look after her. But at that time I had upon me
very heavy the ministry, the burden of the ministry, the exercise
of the ministry. And the Lord spoke to me through
this, to take that exercise and to nurse it for the Lord. I was to pray over it. to watch
over it, a bit like Mary, she pondered those things in her
heart. And, you know, it was to be some
seven years to be pondering it, praying over it, watching the
Lord's hand. But then, as I thought of that,
then my mind went to another minister, David Field, at East
Beckham as well. and he came two years running.
One, I think, was at the time of our wedding, 1990, and then
the second when we came back for my dear wife's mother's funeral. And each time he brought the word,
it is well. And the first time, The Lord
used it, in my case again, for the ministry. Because that ministry,
the exercise seemed to be absolutely dead, as if it would never ever
come to pass. It was going to be another three
years before it did, after 13 years of exercise on it. But he said regarding that Shunammite
woman, and he said that child was dead. And he said, but she
said it was well. And as the Lord spoke to me that
you think that exercise is dead, you think it will never come
to life, but it is well. And I approve that so. And in
reading the scriptures, the Holy Spirit, he brings back to remembrance through one chapter, through
one verse, brings back a servant, the circumstances,
a chapel, other services. The second time, when my mother-in-law
passed away, he didn't realize he was bringing the same text
again. And that again. That was the word of the Lord
to us. It is well. And may that be a
word to some this morning. The Lord knows your path and
your case. It is well. How we need thee, were to come
where we are. That the Lord alone can graciously
suit it is not taken. If we take a word, then we've
got to struggle to support it and to convince ourselves that
it was for us. If the Lord gives us a word,
then we won't have to do that. His Spirit will bring it to our
remembrance, They'll help us. They'll help us to go forward,
to do what the Lord would have us to do, to strengthen our faith,
to feed our souls. How we need the Word that points
us to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Living Word. How
we need that which points us to put our whole trust upon him
who gave the word. Our text, it begins in this way,
the Lord. The Lord gave the word. And they
always have that in view. Here is our once crucified, now
risen and exalted saviour, which all the scriptures point to him.
And the Lord gave the word in the beginning, He came and fulfilled
the Word and the Scriptures in His sufferings, His death, His
resurrection and ascension into heaven. And He fulfills that
Word in sending forth His Spirit to bring the Word to us and to
speak to us in these last days and bring us to a saving knowledge
of Himself and a trust alone in His sin-atoning death. in his righteousness and in what
he has done for us. Not us, but the Lord. The crown is placed upon his
head, his head who gives the word. Those whom he has saved,
suffered for, those whom he makes intercession in heaven for, he
speaks to them. And so the psalmist says, be
not silent unto me, lest if thou be silent unto me, I become like
them that go down into the pit. And our Lord says, my sheep,
they hear my voice and they follow me. Well, may the Lord grant
us to hear his voice, to hear his word, to receive his word.
The Lord gave the word, great was the company of those that
published it. Amen.