God's Word and You, Part 7

Turn with me in your Bible, if you would, to 2nd Timothy chapter 4 In 2nd Timothy chapter 4, Paul closes out his his last epistle by giving some encouraging words to Timothy, specifically around the phrase, Preach the Word. 2nd Timothy 4, verse number 2 You've been with us last week as we have continued our series, God's Word and You We ended with the letter P, about our responsibility to proclaim the Word of God And Paul comes back with his mandate saying, You know, Timothy, you need to preach the Word You need to be a public proclaimer of the truth

And then he talks about the fact that as you preach the Word, both in season and out of season, reproving, rebuking, exhorting with all long-suffering impatience He says, this is your job to do, Timothy And then he gives some some motives for that mandate And the first one is because he has been commissioned by God Himself He says in verse number 1, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus And then he says, not only that, but Jesus Christ, he says, is the judge, the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom

Not only because you've been commissioned by God, but because of the coming of God He's coming again And one day He's going to judge every man by a certain standard And that standard, of course, is the Word of God And if man doesn't measure up to that standard, then he will be condemned forever Therefore, you must preach the truth You must preach the Word And then he says, not only because of the fact that you've been commissioned by God, not only by the fact that the King is coming again, but simply because of the contemporary scene

He says this, For the time will come, in verse number 3, when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths You know, in our day and age, more so than Paul's day, people are turning aside from the truth, aren't they? They want to hear what sounds good to them And this has always been a concern of God's, that people just don't want to hear the truth anymore

Way back in the book of Isaiah, the 30th chapter, it says this in verse number 9, For this is a rebellious people, false sons, sons who refuse to listen to the instruction of the Lord, who say to the seers, You must not see visions, and to the prophets, you must not prophesy to us what is right, but speak to us pleasant words Prophesy to us illusions Get out of the way Turn aside from the path Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel That was their condition

That's always been the cry of the rebellious people, and sadly, there have been many preachers who have succumbed to that, giving to people things that they want to hear, not what they need to hear And thus you have churches full of people who don't know the truth, who have turned aside to myths, to foolish speculations, and thus their lives begin to crumble, because as the Lord said in Hosea 6, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge

It's a sad state, but we of all people need to be proclaimers of the truth, right? Teaching people what is right, helping them to understand what God says, that they know the standard that God's going to judge them by So we need to proclaim the Word of God Also, let us cue, we need to quote the Word of God Peter in his first sermon in Acts, the book of Acts, the day of Pentecost, what did he do? He quoted the Word of God That's what convinced the people that what happened on that day, the day of Pentecost, was of God He would take them back to the Old Testament and quote the Word of God

You must give the Word of God, clearly and accurately Romans 10 17 says, Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by what? The Word of God Utterances of God And that's what Jesus did in Matthew 4, didn't he? When he gave the specific spoken word out of Deuteronomy, chapter 6, as he would speak specifically the Word of God, when Satan would come to him and tempt him It is important for you to quote God's Word To do that, you have to memorize it, right? You have to spend time meditating upon it, reflecting upon it Proverbs chapter 22, verse number 17

Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge For it will be pleasant if you keep them within you That's memorization That they may be ready on your lips That's quotation So that your trust may be in the Lord. I have taught you today, even you And so if God's Word is gonna be a part of your life, you need to memorize the Word of God in order that you might quote the Word of God Only God's Word will get you the victory It is written when you are tempted, when you are angry, when you are down and depressed It is written Know the Word of God

Do you know the Word of God enough to be able to say it is written? That's why the sword of the Spirit is the specific utterance Whatever your situation, you need to know what God's Word says about that situation, so you can go back to it and say, yes, but thus saith the Lord It is written Quote God's Word. R, read God's Word Pretty simple, isn't it? Read God's Word. I love what the book of Revelation says Revelation 1, verse number 3 Blessed is he who reads Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near

And then over in Revelation 22, verse number 7, it says, and behold, I am coming quickly Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book The book of Revelation is set off by brackets that say this, blessed is the man who reads this book When was the last time you read the book of Revelation? Blessed is the man who reads this book, who reads the prophecies of this book, and then blessed is the man who keeps the prophecy of this book, who guards it Do you want your life to be blessed? Yes or no? Of course you do You read the book of Revelation, and your life will be blessed

That's a promise God gives, and throughout the entire Bible, God adds blessing upon blessing to those who just pick up the book and read it Read it Jeffrey Thomas, who was a Welsh pastor, said in his book, Reading the Bible, he says, do not expect to master the Bible in a day or a month or a year, rather expect often to be puzzled by its content It is not all equally clear Great men of God often feel like absolute novices when they read the word

The Apostle Peter said that there were some things hard to understand in the epistles of Paul, 2 Peter 3 16. I am glad he wrote those words because I have felt that very often So do not expect always to get an emotional charge or a feeling of quiet peace when you read the Bible By the grace of God, you may expect that to be a frequent experience, but often you will get no emotional response at all Let the word break over your heart and mind again and again as the years go by, and imperceptibly there will come great changes in your attitude and outlook and conduct

You will probably be the last to recognize these Often you will feel very, very small, because increasingly the God of the Bible will become to you wonderfully great So go on reading it until you can read no longer, and then you will not need the Bible anymore, because when your eyes closed for the last time in death and never again read the Word of God in Scripture, you will open them to the Word of God in the flesh, that same Jesus of the Bible whom you have known for so long, standing before you to take you forever to his eternal home

Isn't that good? You are not going to always understand what you read Some things are difficult to understand, and so you read it over and over and over again, and sooner or later what's going to happen is that you'll see your attitude changing, and once your attitude changes, people around you will notice that attitude change He says even without you even noticing it, it's going to happen God's Word is living, and God's Word is active, and God's Word is powerful so much so that if you just read the Bible, just read it, it begins its transforming work in your life

What did you read this week? Where did you read this week? Did you even read a verse? Did you read a chapter? Did you read a book? A book of the Bible, that is What did you read this week? How can we expect God to do his transforming work in our lives without looking at the book that transforms people's lives, right? So we need to read the Word of God But some people like to read the Bible just because we've always read the Bible Some read the Bible superstitiously

That is, well, you know, I better read my Bible today because if I don't, then, you know, my job interview this week might not go very good, so I'm going to read my Bible Or I'm going to read my Bible this week because if I don't, I mean, the report from the doctor could be so severe that things would be very bad, so I'm going to read my Bible, thinking that somehow if I read my Bible, it's almost like a rabbit's foot. I rub it a certain way, things will turn out the way I like them, so we kind of read the Bible superstitiously Other people read the Bible educationally or intellectually

That is, that they want to increase their knowledge about the facts of the Bible So therefore, they read it so that they become very articulate in the facts of the Bible, not in order to know God, but to know the facts of the Bible Others read the Bible denominationally That is, they find the proof text for what they say they believe, and that's the only way they read the Bible Other people read the Bible inquisitively That is, they are so inquisitive about cults or about Satan or about end-time prophecy That's the only things they read

Now, none of those are wrong taken by themselves, because if you're reading the Bible, that's a good thing, right? But how is it we are to read our Bible? Can I give you just some principles about reading your Bible that will help you? Let me give you just six of them Read the Bible, number one, prayerfully Read it prayerfully Don't open the Bible without praying first Read the Bible prayerfully Listen to the psalmist in Psalm 19, verse number 12 Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes Verse number 18 Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from thy law

When we read the Bible, we read the Bible prayerfully That is, we are asking God to do something as we open our Bibles So important So elementary, but so very important for us to grasp Oh, we'll run to our Bible, we'll open it up, and we'll read it without ever asking God, teach me something, Lord, today. I mean, that's a man, that's a woman who really wants to know what God has to say for them So you read the Bible prayerfully Number two, read the Bible attentively Attentively Proverbs chapter 2, verse number 1

My son, if you will receive my sayings and treasure my commandments within you, make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding For if you cry for wisdom, lift your voice for understanding If you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God Listen, God wants you to seek God wants you to search God wants you to lift your voice God wants you to incline your ears God wants you to do some work in your Bible reading So you read the Bible attentively

Studying a phrase or studying a word that God will unravel to you so many mysteries that you might understand what he has for you That your heart becomes joyous, excited about what God's doing Many people say, you know, I've read through the Bible every year for the last 15 years That's a great thing You say, well, what have you learned? I haven't learned anything, but but I've read my Bible They're not reading attentively You want to be able to search the scriptures to discover the knowledge of God And so the Bible tells us that we are to read the Bible prayerfully

We are to read the Bible attentively as we look and ask God to teach us more about who he is And then we read the Bible purposefully Purposefully The Bible tells us in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verses 16 and 17 that God's Word is what? It's profitable That means there's a purpose behind it God didn't put the pages in the book just to fill up space He didn't do that He didn't have to have a book big enough to go to the publisher so that sells He wrote a book that is very precise and has behind it a very unique purpose

That if read properly, if studied properly, makes the man of God thoroughly furnished, thoroughly complete It trains in righteousness So therefore there is a purpose behind what what God says Read the Bible purposefully Why? Because behind every word is a purpose Behind every book's a purpose Behind every chapter there's a purpose It turned with me real quick to Acts chapter 5 Acts chapter 5

In Acts chapter 4 you have the whole scenario about how people, you know, sell their goods and sell their properties and and they give them to the church because there are people who have needs and they want to help meet those needs. I mean, I mean that's what they were into

That was that true fellowship of believers as they would sacrifice as much as possible to help their fellow brothers out and they give an illustration in Acts 4 verse number 36 and Joseph a Levite of Cyprian birth who was called Barnabas by the Apostles, which translated means son of encouragement, and who owned attractive land sold it and brought the money and laid it at the Apostles feet And so what happened? You got this man who's called the son of encouragement He's got attractive land

He sells it and then he goes and lays at the Apostles feet and says listen, whatever the needs are meet the needs Son of encouragement, Barnabas Acts chapter 5 begins how? But, but a certain man named Ananias with his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property and kept back some of that price for himself with his wife's full knowledge and bringing a portion of it He laid it at the Apostles feet

There was a certain man in contrast to this man Barnabas who also sold some property but the problem is he would come only lay a portion of it and he would lie about it and what happens both he and his wife are struck dead in the church because they lied And then it says verse number 12 and at the hands of the Apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people and they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico, but none of the rest dared to associate with them

Why, why is that? Because you see if you lie you get struck dead in that church and people aren't too excited about being struck dead So they're not going to associate with those people anymore You see the but-ologies of Scripture come out And so as these Apostles were we're preaching the Word of God and many things were happening it says over in verse number 17, but under the but-ology of Scripture, but the high priest rose up along with all the associates that is a sect of the Sadducees and they were filled with jealousy Why, because people were following this sect of Jews

These, these people who were doing signs and wonders and were accomplishing great feats and more and more people were, were following them and giving their lives to Jesus Christ the Messiah So they laid hands on the Apostles and put them in public jail Verse 19, but an angel of the Lord during the night opened the gates of the prison and taking them out he said go your way stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this life You see the but-ologies there? They happen over and over again It's important to see them You read the Bible purposefully

Why, because there's a purpose behind everything God says There was a purpose behind the Son of Encouragement of Barnabas There was a purpose behind the illustration of Ananias and Sapphira There was a purpose behind why people would not dare to join that church because that church was committed to purity and people who live impure lives don't want to be associated with the church that's committed to purity and there were those on the outside who were upset about it what they were doing So they threw them in the prison, but an angel of the Lord came along

Why, to show you that no matter what you do if you're honoring God and glorifying Him God is going to intervene God's going to do his work in his own way and accomplish a great purpose in your life because God's in control See that? Read the Bible purposefully And I could go on with many illustrations of the Bible that help you understand the comparisons, the contrast, but that's so important for you to understand Read the Bible repeatedly Repeatedly Read the same chapter over and over and over again Read the same book over and over and over again

Why? Because as Isaiah the prophet said in Isaiah 28 verses number 10 to 13 that it's line upon line, precept upon precept Repetition is the mother of learning So you go back and you read it. I could preach a passage of Scripture six weeks in a row and never preach the same sermon on the same text Why? Because God's Word is truth And in that truth are so many mysteries that need to be revealed, that need to be studied and uncovered So you read the Bible repeatedly Also, you read the Bible patiently Paul would give a great illustration in 2nd Timothy 2 verse 6 about the hard-working farmer

Why? Because you see we we want to open our Bible and point our finger to a text and say okay this is the verse for me today Instead of reading patiently through the Scriptures and asking God to teach us And you know what? As you do that, as Paul would give the illustration of the hard-working farmer who who goes and cultivates the land and plants the seed and prays for the rain And then he sees the crop begin to grow over a process of time He's got to be a man of great patience You can't go out and pull the weeds up out of the ground say grow, grow, grow Come on, come on Get up out of there

You can't do that He has to be a very patient man, and we have to be very patient people, right? So you read the Bible patiently, knowing that God is going to produce a great work And then you read the Bible enthusiastically Read it with enthusiasm Why? The psalmist in Psalm 119 verse number 97, Oh how I love thy law Psalm 119, 127. I love thy commandments above gold Yes above fine gold Verses 47 and 48. I shall delight in the commandments which I love and I shall lift up my hands to thy commandments which I love The psalmist read with great enthusiasm

You got to be enthusiastic about what you're reading Why? It's a source of truth John 17, 17 Thy word is truth Sanctify them in truth Thy word is truth Listen, do you know that in your hands you have the source of all truth? You know how the earth began and you know how the earth is going to end and you know everything that's going to happen in between that Because God tells you You know the solution to man's problems You know what man needs Why? Because it's written in the truth It's great to know you have the answers and you do

Because God's word is the source of truth and that truth is living It was truth in Genesis chapter 1 It's the same truth today Because truth never changes and Jesus Christ never changes And so therefore we understand that we should be enthusiastic about this because this is truth And therefore I want to know the truth So when people ask me or when confronted with falsehood, I can speak the truth We also realize that the psalmist said in Psalm 19, 8, the statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart

You want to have joy? You want to be jubilant? Then you need to read the statutes of the Lord because they put joy in your heart If you're depressed, if you're downcast, read the Word of God Read it enthusiastically because there's something about God's word that's going to instill joy in your life The Bible tells us that this book is the source of victory That's why it's called the sword of the Spirit That's why Christ in Matthew 4 would quote it That's how we gain victory over temptation If you want to be victorious in your Christian life, you must read the Word of God

You must master the Word of God and God will do a great and mighty work in your life The Word of God is the source of your growth, right? As newborn babes desire the pure milk of the Word that you may grow thereby You should be excited about growth You should be excited about maturity You should be excited about becoming more than God wants you to be And so you should enthusiastically go to the Bible and say, Oh Lord, this is the source of joy for my life today This is a source of growth for my life today

This is my source of victory today. I am going to gain new insight through your Word, Lord, so that I might be able to overcome temptation, stand against the wiles of the devil Lord, this is the source of truth. I am so excited about being here. I am so excited about reading the Word of God that I can't wait to see the truth you're going to give to me today That's how we ought to be Are you that way? That's how you need to read your Bible So you might be able to sit down and say, you know what? When I read my Bible, I do get something out of it. I do

We told you before, if you read your Bible and don't get anything out of it, it's not a commentary on the Bible, it's a commentary on who? You Not the Bible It's not the Bible's fault, it's your fault That's why the Bible says, lay aside all malice Lay aside all wickedness, that you might receive the Word of God which has been implanted in you Right? So therefore, if you want God's Word to be a part of your life, you've got to quote the Word of God That requires that you memorize the Word of God You've got to read the Word of God You've got to study the Word of God That's letter S

Are you a student of the Word? You need to study the Word of God The difference between reading and studying is a pencil and a piece of paper Did you know that? That's just the difference Picking up a pencil, a piece of paper, and beginning to write some questions and answer them What are those questions? You come next week, I'll give them to you Let's pray.