Trembling at God's Word, Part 3b

Why is it the believer trembles under the authority of God's Holy Word is because it reiterates God's authority. It reiterates God's authority over and over and over again. Over 2,000 times the Old Testament that says, thus saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord. When God speaks, we must listen.

and we must obey. The Bible says, Proverbs 29, verse number 15, where there is no vision, the people perish.

The best translation for that is where there is no revelation, the people are unrestrained. That's the literal translation of Provence 29, Because the latter part of the verse says this, but happy is he who keeps the law. So there's a contrast. Where there is no revelation, the people are unrestrained. They go haywire. They just do whatever they want to do. But happy is the man, blessed is the man who keeps the law of God. Now think this through with me for a moment. If you had the opportunity to watch Larry King live, I think it was three weeks ago, tonight.

You'll note that on that show was Pastor John MacArthur in the studio with a gay guy named Chad and a congresswoman from Colorado and the mayor of San Francisco. And that conversation took place for an hour. It was quite a conversation. And in the middle of that conversation, the gay guy said something very profound because he tells us exactly why America is the way it is. He said, as John MacArthur was speaking to him, and many people missed it, because they were both speaking at the same time. But he said these words, and I quote, he says, I don't want to live in a country that's governed by the Bible.

That's the bottom line. I don't want to live in a country It's governed by the Bible. He would look at Pastor John MacArthur and say, you know, I respect your views, pastor.

I respect your views. And then he would give his view as if to say, well, I want you to respect my view too. I'll respect yours. You respect mine and we can live happily ever after here in America. No, that's not how it works. Because if your view is contrary to God's word, then you're living in sin, right? And so you must understand what God's word says on the issue of same-sex marriages. Because that was the topic of discussion because our wonderful state is going that direction. You know what I'm saying?

State of California. And you need to understand what the Bible says concerning those things. What does the word of God say about same-sex marriages? Well, it's very clear. God's like instant. Read Genesis chapter 1. God gave a command to Adam and Genesis 1. He reiterated that command in Genesis 9. He never rescinded that command. And that command was this. Be fruitful and multiply. Now, God never rescinded that command, meaning that command is to continue on from generation to generation to generation.

Because God never said, stop procreating. Stop being fruitful and multiplying. Don't do that anymore. God never said that. God said, this is what you're supposed to do, Adam and Eve. Noah, his family, this is what you're supposed to do. Because God likes people. And lots of them. Lots of them. See? And so you have to understand what God says in them.

Genesis chapter 19 with Sodom and Gomorrah. Next week will be there. Those of you going to Israel with us at the Dead Sea and to understand what is there, the barreness of that area. And the whole situation with what God did to Sodom and Gomorrah. Read about it in Jude 7. It becomes a classic illustration for apostasy in those who will not listen to the authority of God's word. You see, God's word reiterates over and over again His authority This is what he says And this is what you're supposed to do And we as the people of God are supposed to follow that But that young man on Larry King Live Said, I don't want to live in a country that's governed by the Bible And that's the bottom line We don't want anybody telling us what to do Let alone God We don't In fact, Romans 1 tells us exactly why that scenario is the way it is.

For the wrath of God is revealed, verse number 18, from heaven against all in godliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. You see, this young man, Chad, on Larry King Live, suppresses the truth. He knows the truth. How do I know he knows the truth? Because God said he does. Every person in the world knows the truth. But they suppress it. And they live unrighteous lives.

What does John 1.9 say? John 1.9 says it this way. There was the true light which coming into the world enlightens every man. Now, it doesn't say every man except certain ones or every man that might live in a different country. It says it enlightens every man. And Romans 1 says that the unbelieving world suppresses the truth. See, God made it evident to them. For a sense of the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen. There's no fog here.

it's clearly seen everybody's got 20-20 vision when it comes to the divine attributes of God everybody and it says so that they are excuse me being understood with what has been made so that they are without excuse me for even though they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks they knew God but they didn't want to honor God because you see to honor God would mean you have to submit to him. You have to follow his commands. You have to obey him. And they didn't want to do that. So what did they do?

They became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. They decided to create, God in their image. They wanted to recreate God. They wanted to make a God that they can live with. That's the people of the world. And yet God's word reiterates over and over again, I am the Lord. I am the creator.

I am God. And there is no other God. besides me. I'm it. If you turn your Bible to the book of Jeremiah the fifth chapter, in verse number 22, it says this, do you not fear me, declares the Lord? Do you not tremble in my presence? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea and eternal decree so it cannot cross over it. though the waves tossed yet they cannot prevail, though they roar yet they cannot cross over it, but this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart. They have turned aside and departed.

They do not say in their heart, let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives rain in its season, both the autumn rain and the spring rain, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Over in chapter 10, verse number six of Jeremiah, It says there is none like thee, O Lord, thou are great and great is thy name in might. Who would not fear thee, O king of the nations? Indeed, it is thy due. For among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like thee. Then, verse number 10, but the Lord is the true God.

He is the living God and the everlasting king at His God. his wrath, the earthquakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation. Chapter 13, verse number 15, listen and give heed. Do not be haughty, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings darkness and before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. And while you are hopping, or excuse me, hoping for light, he makes it into deep darkness. and it turns into gloom. Don't become haughty. Listen.

For he is the God of wrath, the God of justice. The God who has great indignation against those who will not follow His word. Isaiah chapter 30. Verse number nine says this, 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. Speak to us pleasant words. Prophecy illusions. They don't want to hear the truth. They don't want to hear the authoritative word of God.

They want to go someplace where people will speak pleasant words, will prophesy to them things. they want to hear. Is that not modern day evangelicalism? Sure it is. People don't want to hear the truth that God's the authority and what God says goes.

You've got to repent and get right with him. They just want to live the way they're living. And as long as you don't talk about sin and talk about God who is authoritative and how he rules overall, then everything's fine. But once you begin to talk about their sin or talk about their issue and say, thus say it the Lord, they say, They wait a minute. I can find another church down on the next block. They won't even talk about those things. And they'll go there. And yet God's word speaks with great authority.

Let me give you a few illustrations about that. Because we need to understand this. Because there are people out here thinking, you know, I submit to the authority of God. I believe that God speaks. And when God speaks, I follow his word. I'm going to do what God says.

Until that day, it hits on an area that really most me to the wrong. wrong way. And then I have a problem. And God says, you bet you got a problem.

Because you're unwilling to listen and obey what I have to say. When it comes to the issue of salvation, it's important to understand what the Bible says about there, right?

I mean, because you're going to run to people every day who've got their own view about what it means to get to heaven and what God's going to do. Yet God says there's only one way to heaven.

That's through his son, Jesus Christ. There is no other name in heaven given among men whereby you must be saved. Everybody's a sinner. The wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life. And if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. But you must do what God says.

It's important to understand. The Bible speaks voluminously of our need to repent of our sins. We do that. you got to repent. Over the last several months, many of you who are new to our church have always wondered why it is I left my previous church. Simple fact was that I was preaching verse by verse through the book of Mark. When John the Baptist, the voice crying in the wilderness, came preaching repentance. Jesus followed on his heels and Jesus had the same message that John had. He preached repentance.

And that church was very upset that I would preach repentance from that pulpit. And I said, well, what do you want me to preach? If that's what the word of the Lord says, then that's what we got to do, right? We got to preach repentance. Repend and believe the gospel. That's what Peter said. Acts 17, Paul, said that God is commending that all men everywhere should repent. Jesus said in Luke 24, verse number 47, that were to go into all the world and preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins. That's what the Bible says.

Yet they were against that. They didn't think that repentance was necessary for salvation, that all you had to do was just believe what Jesus said and you'd be saved. Well, that sounds good. But I would tell them that the demons believe what Jesus says, but they're not saying.

saved. In fact, they even tremble. The issue is repentance. I remember when we had a question and answer one evening in one of the young men who came up to me asked a question. He asked this question. I couldn't believe he asked it, but he did. He said, why is it that you would come to this church, this historic church, and preach something different than what has been preached in this church. And I said two things. One is, well, when I preach, I don't preach based on the historical position of the church.

I preach what God has said on the issue. I said, but you must understand this church was founded on by men who preached repentance. R.A. Tori preached repentance. Louis Talbot preached repentance. J. Vernon McGee preached repentance. So it's not that I went against the historic position of the church. I was right in line with the historic position of the church. But you see, what does the Bible say about salvation? And there's a whole slew of churches out there that preach against talking about repentance.

That somehow it's a work. And you can't add works to salvation. But we know that 2 Timothy 2.25 says that repentance is a gift from God. There's nothing about salvation that's a work when God's involved. And you must preach in line with what? God's word says. And never waver from that. That is so important. Whether it's the issue of salvation, whether it's the issue of practical living, we have a young lady in a church who was engaged to a young man and she was in her 30s thinking that she would never get married.

And all of a sudden this man asked her to marry her. And she was ecstatic. As an engagement gift, he bought her a brand, new BMW. Imagine that? I wanted to get to know that guy. Several months later, she called me in the phone, she says, I have a real problem. I said, well, what's that? She says, my fiance and I don't agree theologically. I said, really? I said, on what issues? And she began to name the different issues that they didn't agree on. and I said yeah you do have a problem I said what are you going to do with the beamer I want to give it to the church your pastor she gave it back she realized you couldn't marry him because the theological difference was so great that they would soon separate She gave her back.

She broke the engagement because she realized that she needed to stand true on what God's word said more so than her feelings for this man. I respect that woman for her stand. So important. You know, there are so many issues, the issue of creation. The man was created by God. He didn't evolve. because God speaks authoritatively on that. God speaks authoritatively that it was six days and not six periods of time. Yet there's a whole slew of evangelicals who believe that it was six ages that the earth was created in.

And there's an old earth. It's not an old earth, it's a young earth. How do we know that? Exodus 20, verse 11. For in six days, God created the heavens and the earth. On the seventh day, he rested. Now, if you take the Bible literally, and you believe in ages and not days, then that means you can never take a day off work because you must work for six periods of ages and rest in the seventh age. But nobody wants to do that, right? We want to take that one literal, see? But don't want to take Dennis as one literal.

And if you ever did take off because it was the seventh age, how long does that age last? You can't go back to work again. See? So you must understand the implications of our belief concerning a six-day creation. I said the fact that every time the numerical adjective is used with a Hebrew word yon for day, it's always unequivocally in the Bible 24 hours. Can't get around it. The Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 4 that we are to preach the word.

preach the word. Why? Because the word is authoritative. In Titus chapter 2, verse number 15, Paul told Titus that you are to reprove and do you are to rebuke with all authority. Not because Titus himself had authority, but because when he used the word of God, it was authoritative. And therefore, when you use God's word, you speak with authority. That's so important. When the Bible says that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God, that proves the deity of Christ more so than any other verse in the Bible.

The Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory. We preach the Word. We don't preach things about the Word. We preach the Word. That's what it's about. because the word of God's authoritative. But Paul said in Secativity 4, he says, but the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. They don't want to hear that anymore. But wanting to have their ears tickle, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths.

That is modern-day evangelicalism. They don't want God to speak with authority on the issue. You find people wanting to go through a divorce and looking for all kinds of ways to get a divorce, but yet they don't have biblical grounds. Looking for some way out of the marriage. Yet the Bible speaks with authority on marriage. Bible speaks to authority on raising children and families. And we need to do what God says.

And yet we live in a society that doesn't want to hear the truth. So what do we do? Stop proclaiming it? No, we speak it louder. We yell it from the rooftops because those who know God will tremble under its authority. They have a broken and contrite heart. Charles Spurgeon, a number of years ago, gave a parable. He said in the days of Nero, there was great shortness of food in the city of Rome, although there was abundance of corn to be purchased at Alexandria. A certain man who owned a vessel went down to the sea coast, and there he noticed many hungry people, straining their eyes toward the sea, watching for the vessels that were to come from Alexandria with corn.

When these vessels came to the shore, one by one the poor people wrung their hands in bitter disappointment, for on board the galleys there was nothing but sand, which a tyrant emperor had compelled them to bring for use in the arena. It was infamous cruelty When men were dying of hunger To command trading vessels to go to and fro And bring nothing else but sand For gladitorial shows When wheat was so greatly needed Then the merchant whose vessel was mirrored by the wharf Said to a shipmaster, take thou good heed That thou bring nothing back with thee from Alexandria but corn And whereas aforetime thou hast brought it in the vessel a measure or to a sand bring down not so much as would lie upon a penny at this time bring down nothing else i say but wheat for these people are dying and now we must keep our vessels for this one business of bringing food for them and spurgeon observed alas i have seen certain mighty galleys of late loaded with nothing but mere sand of philosophy and speculation and i have said within myself nay but I will bear nothing in my ship but the revealed truth of God, the bread of life, so greatly needed by the people.

So true, over 100 years ago, Spurgeon made a commitment that when people come to this boat, they will be fed the wheat and the truth of God's word because hungry, dying people need the truth. May it be that we Give the truth of God.