Alone with the Almighty, Part 4

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for the opportunity we have to come and worship your glorious name, to honor you, to lift you up on high. That's our main objective, Lord. We know the Bible says that we are to glorify you above all else.

We ask that as we look into the Word of God this morning, we would understand more of what that means. So when we leave this place, we would be people committed to honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ, not just on Sunday morning, but every day of the week, every moment of the week, as we seek to put you first.

In our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. As we come together this morning, we want to remind you that we're taking a break to deal with something I think is of extreme importance for us as Christians. And that is how we can spend time alone with the Almighty God. How we can learn to glean from the text those things that are so important to us as Christians that we might live in the light of his return. The Bible says in Isaiah 66, verse number two, To this man will I look, to him who is of a broken and contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.

God is looking for a particular kind of individual. One, who looks at his word and trembles at what he reads. Shudders and shakes under the authority of God's Almighty Word. I'm afraid that there are many people today when they read the Word of God, they do a lot of things, but they don't shake and tremble and fear. And yet God says, that's the kind of man I'm looking for.

That's the kind of person I want to bless. That's the kind of person I want to use. Because if you live in the fear of God, that is the beginning of wisdom. That is where a man increases in knowledge. Christ said this in John chapter 6. He said, The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. The words that I have spoken to you, they are life. Zoe, they are quality of life. They are the kind of life that you need. And you would think that the people who would listen to Christ would glean on to that, would latch on to his every word.

Because the words that he did speak were in fact true life. He says, listen, if you want to be able to live in a way that rises above everybody else, then you must understand my words because my words are life. But listen to this. This is so interesting. But, remember the but-ologies of scripture. They always give you a great contrast. And so what do we have? But there are some of you who do not believe. Can you imagine that? Here's a son of man walking the face of the earth, teaching people about himself, performing all kinds of miracles, and speaking the very words of God because he is God.

So every word he speaks is the inspired word of God. He tells them my words are life. If you want life, you've got to believe and obey my words. And then he says, just the flip side of that, but there are some of you who do not believe. Can you imagine that? Some who don't don't believe. And then he goes on to say this. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were, who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. Judas was one of those who heard his every word, yet did not believe. He was the one who heard the words that they were life, yet did not believe.

And he would speak a few more words, and and the text would go on to say that many, many of his disciples, of his followers, would turn away from him and walk with him no more. And Jesus would look at his twelve and say, will you leave also?

Are you going to depart as well? And Peter said, Lord, where are we going to go? For you have the words of eternal life. Not only are your words life, but your words are lasting life. They are not only for today, they are forever. They are not only significant for me as I live my life today, but they are significant for me if I'm going to live in the future with you. Where else are we going to go? Peter knew that the words of God were lasting words. I wonder this morning if you're one of those people who have learned to tremble at the Word of God.

I wonder if you're one of those people who understand that God's Word is life. And not only is that life, it's lasting life. In other words, I really wonder if you love the Word of God. Do you love it with all that you have? Thomas Watson has written a book entitled, The Godly Man's Picture. I have quoted from him quite often. And in there, he talks about the godly man who who loves the written Word. Listen to what he says. Do we make the Word our bosom friend? As Moses often had the rod of God in his hand, so we should have the book of God in our hand.

When we want direction, do we consult the sacred oracle? When we find corruption strong, do we make use of his sword of the Spirit to hew them down? When we are disconsolate, do we go to this bottle of the water of life for comfort? Then we are lovers of the Word. But alas, how can they who are seldom conversant with the Scriptures say they love them? Their eyes begin to be sore when they look at a Bible.

The two Testaments are hung up like rusty armor, which is seldom or never made use of. The Lord wrote the law with his own finger, but through God took pains to write. But though God took pains to write, men will not take pains to read. They would rather look at anything else than at the Bible.

Do you love the written Word? The godly man, the godly woman loves the written Word. If you don't love the written Word, as I said last week, we can tell you all the to-do's. We can write a book on the how-to's of Bible study and put it in your hand. But unless you love the Word of God, those how-to's mean nothing to you. We can tell you how to how to have a good marriage. We can give you all the biblical principles, outline them for you in a book and a nice little sermon or a tape series and tell you this is what you got to do in your marriage to make it work.

But unless you love your wife, all those how-to's mean nothing. Oh, you might do them for a while, but they will go by the wayside because down deep you love yourself. You don't love your wife. So we can give you all the how-to's about how to read your Bible, how to study your Bible, how to cross-reference in your Bible, how to apply your Bible. But if you don't love your Bible, then in a couple of weeks, in a couple of months, you'll put it aside and you won't look at it because you don't see it as your life.

Matthew 4, 4, man shall live not by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. That's where we're at. And that's where we're at in our study of our alone time with the Almighty, the essence of my time with Him. It began with the primacy of salvation. It moved to the responsibility of preparation. And now we're right in the midst of the centrality of revelation. So whatever my time with God is, it centers around the revelation of God's Holy Word. And last week we tried to help you understand that you need to love it with all you have.

Why? For number one, it's purposeful and it is powerful. That was point number one. That's as far as we got last week. But let me review it for you briefly because there was a lot of questions and a lot of discussion about what we said last week among some of you in your own private discussions with other people or in your Bible studies.

It is purposeful and it is powerful. We took it from Isaiah 55 verse number 11 when God says that my word won't return to me empty or void, but it will accomplish all that I have set forth for it to do.

There's a purpose behind God's Word. And God's Word is so purposeful that it is powerful enough to accomplish whatever purpose that He has. And we said first of all, it was purposeful and powerful enough to confront man on a sin.

Look at Jeremiah 23, 29 where it says that the Word of God is like a hammer. It's like a fire. It shatters that in which it contacts and it purifies that which it contacts. Because God's Word is powerful. God's Word is purposeful. And then we move from there to talk about how God's Word can not only confront a man, but God's Word will convict a man. It will convict a man of his sin. So important for us to grasp this. If you listen to 1st Corinthians chapter 14, Paul says these words. He says in verse number 23, If therefore the whole church should assemble together and all speak in tongues, and an ungifted man or an unbeliever enter, will they not say that you are mad?

But if all prophesy, if all speak forth the Word of God, if God's Word is being given forth, listen to what he says, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all. He is called to account by all. The secrets of his heart are disclosed, so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you. Paul says, listen, you can have all the showy gifts you want, but if you want man to really truly worship God, then you need to prophesy. Here you speak forth the revelation of God's Holy Word, for when you do that, and an ungifted man or an unbeliever comes into your assembly, and he hears the Word of God, he is convicted.

Why is he convicted? Because God's Word confronts man. It's like a hammer. It's like a fire, and it goes to the depths of the man's soul. And then that man is convicted, and he falls on his face, and he worships God. You want to know why there aren't many people in churches today worshiping God? It's because God's Word is not being proclaimed on a faithful basis. That's why. That's the bottom line. People aren't falling on their face before God and repenting of their sin, because God's Word hasn't been faithfully proclaimed, because it's God's Word that convicts the man.

So if God's Word confronts the man, convicts the man, it will cleanse the man. That was the third point, because John 15 3 says that you are made clean through the Word.

The Word of God is like a washing machine. It kind of cleans up all the impurities of your life. That's why Paul said in Ephesians 5 26, that we are regenerated by the washing of the Spirit through the Word. It's the Word that washes us clean. God's Word is purposeful and powerful enough to confront man, to convict man, to cleanse man, and ultimately to convert man, to turn his life around, to transform him from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. We looked at 1 Peter chapter 1 verse number 23, what talks about the Word of God being an imperishable seed.

It's that living and abiding Word of God that transforms a man, that turns him around. And that's why we need to give forth God's Word continually, because persuasive speech does not win a man to Christ, but God's Word does. Listen to John chapter 5. Verse number 24. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Listen.

God says, truly, truly, verily, verily, what I've said to you up to this point is so true, but what I'm gonna say to you now is triply true.

Can't be triply true. It's either true or it's not. He's trying to get their attention. You've got to understand this, that if any man hears my word and believes in me, he has eternal life. If a man doesn't hear my word, he doesn't have the opportunity to believe in me and will perish in his sins. And that brings us where we were last week. Nobody goes to heaven unless they have heard the Word of God and repented of their sins based on what they've heard and believe in their heart. That's what Jesus said.

And I know a lot of you are really taken back by the fact that we said that if you live on some desert island someplace and don't hear the Word of God and die, you will go to hell. That is exactly what the Word of God teaches. I'm sorry. That doesn't agree with where we are at. But that's what the Word of God says.

And some people say, well, wait a minute. Doesn't the Bible say that Jesus is not going to return to every man hears the gospel? Yes, it does. But it doesn't say that the rapture of the church is going to happen before every man hears the gospel. It's in Matthew 24, the Olivet Discourse. And if you were with us on our study on Wednesday night, you know that every person on the face of the globe will hear the gospel during the tribulational period. Why? There's an angel that flies around in midheaven proclaiming the gospel.

That's why. Can you imagine that? There's a hundred and forty-four thousand Jewish evangelists. There are a little over fifty-five thousand evangelists and missionaries in the world today. Just today. Around fifty-five thousand that we know of. And we don't even know if they're all Christians or not. In the tribulation, there's a hundred and forty-four thousand of them. They're Jewish evangelists and they go all over the globe. They go wherever the Lamb leads them. It says in Revelation chapter 14.

Wherever the Lamb leads them, they go. They follow him no matter where he says, they go. Because the whole world will hear the gospel. Plus you have the two witnesses in Revelation chapter 11. That's the context of the whole world hearing the gospel. There is no precedent that the whole world's gonna hear the gospel before the rapture of the church. Before it's translated home to Christ. The bottom line, folks, is that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. That's it. That's what the Bible says.

We said last week, that might not reason with us, but whenever you trust in reason, you always what? Sin. It's either reason or revelation. Revelation is always true. Reason, unless it's based on revelation, is not true. We must understand it because God's Word is purposeful and powerful to confront a man, to convict a man, to cleanse a man, and ultimately convert a man. That's what God's Word does. God's Word does that. See, we have diminished the power of God's Word. We have diminished it thinking that if someone just believes the supernatural being up there that they're gonna go to heaven, God's gonna say, okay, you tried your best.

You can make it. You've just affirmed salvation by works. If you believe that God's Word doesn't have to be heard in order to be saved, you believe in a works system. And I question your salvation. You might not like that, but I do because it's not works. It's all God. It's all Christ. It's all about Him. It's never about us. That's why we train people to go to unreached people groups. That's why we go into all the world and preach the gospel because we believe in what God said. If man could come to faith without hearing the Word of God, then we can disobey Matthew 28, right?

We have rationale. We have a reason to disobey Matthew 28 because after all, if they're sincere, God will take their sincerity into consideration and take them to heaven. So why go? Why let them hear and have a chance to deny the truth, right? Just let them go to heaven. We'll stay home. But that's not what the Bible says.

Christ says you go. Go to the whole world because they need to hear. And how will they hear? Without a preacher. And how should they preach? Unless they are sent. And we left off by saying that God's Word not only does that, those four things, but also condemns a man, doesn't it? Remember Proverbs 13? Proverbs chapter 13, verse number 13, the one who despises the Word shall be destroyed. Wow! The one who despises the Word shall be destroyed. And then it says, but the one who fears the commandments will be rewarded.

Can't despise the Word of God. It'll destroy your life. It's purposeful and powerful to confront, to convict, to cleanse, to convert, ultimately to condemn those who despise it. But if we can do all that, listen, let's move on and hopefully we can finish this point today. It's also number two, it's also personal and penetrating.

God's Word is not only purposeful and powerful, but it's personal and it is penetrating. God's Word touches the depths of a man. We know the verse in Hebrews chapter 4, verse number 12, when it says these words, 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. That's God's Word. That's a penetrating kind of thing. God's Word cuts deep to the soul, divides between soul and spirit.

God's Word can do what nothing else can do. It's living. It's active. It's sharper. It's powerful. God's Word can do that. God's Word is personal as well as penetrating to do, of course, four things. Number one, to critique your life.

God's Word will critique every aspect of your life. Every thought, every intention is scrutinized by God. When the Word of God is open. That's why a lot of us don't like to read the Word of God and spend time or go to Bible preaching churches because God's Word critiques our life, doesn't it? There's a standard God gives. It's not man's standard. It's God's standard and he demands that man live to his standard. And man can't do it without his grace, without his power. And man, when exposed, critiqued, scrutinized, ceases failures, and either submits humbly to God, repents of a sin, or turns and walks away from God and despises the Word in Proverbs 13 and 13, which we just read, that man is destroyed.

God's Word critiques your life. Turn with me to Psalm 119. We're gonna spend some time here this morning. Psalm 119, tremendous, tremendous chapter in the Bible, which speaks about the Word of God, and it's what the Word of God says about the Word of God.

I mean, I don't know how greater, what greater commentary you can have on God's Word than God's Word itself. And Psalm 119 does that for us. But Psalm 119, verse number 80 says this, May my heart be blameless in thy statutes that I may not be ashamed. May my heart be blameless according to thy statutes that I may not be ashamed. Here's a man who wants to walk in integrity. Here's a man who wants his life scrutinized by the Word of God. If you go back to Psalm 119, verse number 4, it says thou hast ordained thy precepts that we should keep them diligently.

Oh, that my ways may be established to keep thy statutes. Then I shall not be ashamed when I look upon all thy commandments. I shall give thanks to thee with uprightness of heart when I learn thy righteous judgments. I shall keep thy statutes. Do not forsake me utterly. God's Word is that which critiques a man, critiques the individual so that everything about them is exposed because God knows the intentions of a man's heart. Number two, it challenges the man.

Not only critiques the man, it will challenge you. It will challenge you to live in light of what you have just heard. It says in Psalm 119, verse number 133, these words, establish my footsteps in thy word and do not let any iniquity have dominion over me. Establish my footstep in thy word and don't let any iniquity have control over me. That's the challenge, isn't it? Is not the challenge for us to live in obedience to God so that sin doesn't control us? And the psalmist says, establish my footsteps.

May I be firmly planted in that which is true so that that which is on the outside coming after me doesn't control me and rule me. That's the challenge we all face every single day. And God's Word not only critiques a man, but it challenges a man to live in obedience to it. And then thirdly, it confirms the man.

It confirms the man. Listen to Psalm 119, 28, my soul weeps because of grief. Strengthen me according to thy word. How is a man confirmed? How is a man established? How is a man strengthened according to the word of God? Psalm 119, verse number 116 says this, sustain me according to thy word that I may live and do not let me be ashamed of my hope.

Sustain me, lift me up, confirm me, strengthen me. And God's Word is that which does it. Listen to Proverbs chapter 24, verse number 5. A wise man is strong and a man of knowledge increases power. A wise man is strong and a man of knowledge increases power. A man who knows God, what do we say in Daniel 11, 32? That the man who knows his God acquires something, strength, and accomplishes something, a supernatural kind of service. That's what Daniel 11, 32 says. The Proverbs says the exact same thing.

That the man of wisdom is a strong man and the man of knowledge increases power. Now listen to what verse number 10 says. If you are slack in the day of distress, your strength is limited. If when the day of distress comes and you slack and you falter and you fall by the wayside, your strength is limited. Why is your strength limited? Because you don't know God. Why? Because those who know their God increase in power, increase in strength, so that when the day of distress comes, you don't falter and slack in your faith.

And then it says down in verse number 13, same chapter, Proverbs 24, my son eat honey for it is good. Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste. Know that wisdom is thus for your soul. If you find it, then there will be a future and your hope will not be cut off. You see, if you find wisdom and increase in knowledge, you have a future. You have a hope. It sustains your life. It confirms your life. So when the day of distress and adversity comes, you remain steadfast in your walk with God.

It's personal. It's penetrating. To critique the man, to challenge the man. God's Word is personal and penetrating. That God's Word is precious and pleasing. And God's Word is praiseworthy and perennial. The question is, do you know that? I trust that you do. Let's pray.