Responding to God's Word B

We do not look down on Scripture. We exalt it.

We lift it up. How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him with all their heart. Psalm 119, 1 and 2. Do not degrade the Word of God.

Treat it with eminent respect is what He is saying. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur. Today John continues a study that explains how you can help your church become what he calls a Bible-driven church. John's focus will be on the importance of responding properly to the teaching of God's Word. Of course, teaching the Word is our core commitment here at Grace to You.

Why? Well, we believe what Scripture says about itself, that it is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. It revolutionizes you individually, it changes your family, and without doubt, God's Word needs to be the foundation of a local church. So with that backdrop, here's John to help you make sure you're responding to Scripture as you should, and applying the life-changing power of God's Word to your congregation. First Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 20, the Apostle Paul says, do not despise prophetic utterances. Let's look at just some of the specific elements of this verse that will free us to understand its meaning. The word despise means to downgrade.

It means to consider as nothing, or to make absolutely nothing of. Prophecies, prophetic, is another very important Bible word that is going to take a little bit more study for us to understand. But it basically means what God has said, what God has said.

Now that falls into two categories, spoken and written, and I want you to understand that. The word profiteos, which is the word here, is used in the New Testament both for spoken word and for written word. The word means to speak before, not in a prophetic sense, but to stand up in front of people and speak before them.

It means literally to speak publicly, to proclaim publicly. This gift, the gift of prophecy that some Christians have been given, is a Holy Spirit given skill for public proclamation of God's Word. Now, having said all of that, we want to say prophecy is not only spoken, but prophecy is written. There are a number of times in the New Testament when the word profiteos is used of written revelation. Go back to Matthew 13, and we need to do this Bible study because this verse can be and has confused many, many people.

Frankly, most commentators appear to me to be confused by it. In Matthew 13, verse 14, you have the same word, profiteos, and it's there referring to Isaiah. Matthew 13, 14, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, and then he goes on to quote out of the prophecy of Isaiah itself, chapter 6. So here you have this word, prophecy, not referring to a speaking, but referring to a writing, not referring to verbal communication, but written communication, and in fact here it refers to the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. Go over to Romans, the very end, the last chapter, Romans chapter 16, and here you have a very interesting statement in verse 26, Romans 16, 26.

He says, does Paul, now is manifested, that of course he's referring to the gospel and the revelation of the mystery which has long been hidden, that's the new covenant of verse 25, is now manifested and how? By the Scriptures of the prophets. In other words, these men who wrote the Scriptures had a prophetic ministry. They spoke before the people. They wrote before the people.

They gave the Word of God to the people, either in spoken form and or written form. So we know then that the word can refer to speaking or it can refer to the written word. Go to 2 Peter for a moment, 2 Peter 1, he says in verse 19, we have the prophetic word, then in verse 20 he defines it, prophecy of Scripture, he calls it, the prophetic word, the prophecy of Scripture. Here is the same term again and here it refers to inspired Scripture. That little phrase, prophecy of Scripture in verse 20, was the current term for the Old Testament as a unit. It was the word prophesied. The Old Testament then is the composite of prophesied revelation.

Peter's words also would embrace the New Testament because he says no prophecy, old or new, was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. There he's talking about prophecy as written Scripture, written Scripture. Look at Revelation chapter 1 for just a moment, verse 3.

You can just listen if you want. Speaking of Revelation, John writes, blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy. And there he is calling the book of Revelation, the prophecy, the prophecy. In the last chapter of Revelation, three times John refers to the book of Revelation as the prophecy, the prophecy, verse 10, verse 18, verse 19.

Now all that aside, let me sum it up, okay? Sometimes this word, propheteos, refers to spoken word, the revelation of God coming through the mouth of a prophet, but always that spoken word had to be in perfect agreement with the written word. Sometimes the word prophecy refers to the written word. In either case then, prophecy attaches itself to the Scripture, okay? It is either the Scripture or in perfect agreement with the Scripture.

Paul's point is clear. When he says, do not despise prophesying, he is saying, do not look down on or consider lightly the revelation of God inscripturated, whether you read it or whether you hear it proclaimed. Do not think lightly of it. Do not diminish its importance.

Do not downgrade or degrade it. Job said he treasured the Word of God more than His daily food, chapter 23, verse 12. Jeremiah fed on it every day with joy. Joshua, you remember, in giving that wonderful instruction in chapter 1, verse 8, said, the book of the law that is the Bible, the Scripture shall not depart from your mouth. You shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.

Then you will make your way prosperous. Then you will have good success, Joshua 1.8. In Deuteronomy, the Lord instructed the people very, very clearly about how they were to treat the Word of God with supreme devotion.

He says to them, these words which I am commanding you this day, Deuteronomy 6, 6, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontels on your forehead and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Fill your life with the Word of God, is what He's saying.

Fill your whole life with the Word of God. Psalm 1 said, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, but who walks in the truth of God, the man whose life is totally devoted to the Word. His delight, it says, is in the law of the Lord and in His law, He meditates day and night.

That is the godly man. We do not look down on Scripture. We exalt it.

We lift it up. How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him with all their heart. Psalm 119, 1 and 2.

Oh, how I love thy law, said David. That command then takes us to a very serious consideration of Scripture. Do not degrade the Word of God.

Treat it with eminent respect, is what He is saying. Now, this is only possible for Christians. 1 Corinthians 2, 10 says that God has revealed them to us through the Spirit. And then down in verse 14, 1 Corinthians 2, 14, a natural man, that's an unconverted man, a non-Christian person, does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him. He cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised. The unregenerate person cannot lift up Scripture, exalt Scripture properly. Martin Luther said that unconverted man is like a pillar of salt. He's like Lot's wife, like a log in a stone, like a lifeless statue which uses neither eyes nor mouth, neither sense nor heart until he is converted and regenerated by the Holy Spirit, end quote. The best the unsaved man or woman can do is to gnaw on the bark of Scripture without ever really getting to the wood.

Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, suggested I think a graphic illustration of the wrong approach to Scripture. And he was looking at all these people in academia who purport to be Bible scholars and he said this, a little boy is to be spanked by his father. While the father goes for the rod, the boy stuffs the bottom of his pants with several table napkins.

When the father returns and administers the whipping, the boy feels no pain as the napkins absorb the whack of the rod. The little boy represents biblical scholars. They pad their britches with their lexicons, commentaries, and concordances. As a result, the Scripture never reaches them as the Word of God. Having nullified its power by shielding themselves with their academic paraphernalia, they thus never hear the Scriptures as the Word of God. If they would unpack their books from their britches, which are necessary rightfully used as illustrated in the story of the love letter, then the Scriptures could get through to them as the Word of God, allowing Holy Scripture to get through to us as the Word of God is the special work of the Holy Spirit. Only those who have the Holy Spirit can obey this command of not despising the Word of God. Unless the Spirit lives in you and unless you exalt the Word of God not only in mind but in obedience, you will despise prophesying and violate this very direct command. Now as we bring this to a close, I want to ask you two questions. Why should I not despise the Scripture?

Why should I not do it? And I'll just run this by you very briefly. Number one, because of its essential character. Because of its essential character.

Let me just tell you about its character as it comes from its own claims. First of all, it's authoritative. The Scripture is authoritative. Isaiah 1, 2 says, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken.

When God speaks, you better listen. It is authoritative. Secondly, it is infallible. It is infallible. And that is collectively, totally, comprehensively, it misses nothing, makes no mistakes. Psalm 19, 7, the law of the Lord is perfect. The law of the Lord is perfect. It is total, comprehensive, and perfect.

And then I like to use the word inerrant. While it is infallible in the whole, it is inerrant in every part. Proverbs 35 and 6 says, Every word of God is pure. Everyone.

Everyone. Down to the jot and the tittle which will not be removed, Jesus said. The Word of God is authoritative.

When God speaks, you better listen. The Word of God is infallible. That is, the comprehensive Scripture is flawless.

It is inerrant. There is not one mistake in it. In its original autographs, every word of God is pure. Fourthly, it is sufficient. It is sufficient. It is able to totally transform the soul, Psalm 19 says, to make simple people wise, to bring rejoicing to the heart, to enlighten the eyes. It is sufficient. It is able to make the man of God perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. It is able to make you wise unto salvation, 2 Timothy 3, 15 to 17.

It is sufficient for everything. Number five, it is effective. It is effective. You remember Isaiah 55 says, So shall my word be that goes out of my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but shall accomplish what I please.

It is effective. When God speaks a word, it comes to pass. And then it is determinative.

It is determinative. What do I mean by that? Your response to the Word of God is determinative of your eternal destiny. He that is of God hears God's words. You therefore hear them not because you're not of God. When someone comes along and denies the authority, infallibility, inerrancy, sufficiency, and effectiveness of Scripture, all they do is reveal their spiritual condition. Because if you don't hear God's words, you don't belong to God. Jesus said that.

If you do, you belong to God. It is determinative in ascertaining one's eternal destiny. So why should we not despise Scripture? Because of its essential character.

And secondly, because of its generous benefits, because of its generous benefits. Scripture is the source of truth. John 17, Jesus said, Thy word is truth.

Oh, what a great, great reality that is. Thy word is truth. It is the source of happiness, secondly. It is the source of happiness. Proverbs 8 and 34 said, Happy is the man who hears Me. John said in 1 John 1, For I write these things so your joy may be full. Luke says, Happy is the man who obeys the word.

Luke 6, 47 and 48, Luke 11, 27 and 28, that's all throughout Scripture. Revelation 1, 3, Happy is the person who reads this book. It's the source of joy and happiness and blessedness.

Thirdly, it's the source of victory. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin, said the psalmist. Ephesians 6, 17 says, Take the sword of the Spirit which is our weapon. When Jesus was tempted, according to Matthew 4, 1 to 11, every time He was tempted, He answered with what? Scripture.

He said three times, It is written. Yes, the Word of God is the source of our victory over temptation. It's the source of our happiness. It's the source of truth.

Fourthly, it's the source of growth. You remember how we have referred often to 1 Peter 2, 2, As babes desire the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow by it. The Word is the source of our growth.

Spurgeon had a great word. He said, It is the Word that prunes the Christian. It is the truth that purges him, the Scripture made living and powerful by the Holy Spirit.

That's true. The Word cleanses, purifies, and that's the key to growing. That's why in John 15, Jesus said, The Word is like a pruning knife.

It cuts off the sucker branches so that the power of growth can reach the productive areas. The Word is the only source of truth, the only source of happiness, the only source of victory, the only source of growth. Fifthly, the only source of guidance.

Psalm 19, 8 says that the Word is right. And what it means is it lays out a right path. It is a right path to walk in. And then Psalm 119, 105 says, It is a lamp to that path. It is the path.

It is the lamp that lights the path. It is the way to walk. It makes us wise. It reveals God's will. And then sixthly, it is the source of hope. It is the source of hope. Over and over again in Psalm 119, the psalmist says, I have hope in Thy Word. I have hope in Thy Word. I hope in Thine ordinances, which means the Scripture. And so the Word of God is the source of truth and happiness and victory and growth and guidance and hope.

And we could probably add a lot more to that list, but you get the idea. Little wonder it should be more desired than honey and the honeycomb and gold, even fine gold. Why then do we pursue it?

For the reason of its essential character and its marvelous generous benefits, then a last issue. How are we to pursue it? How can I be sure I don't despise it? Very simply.

How can you be sure you don't despise Scripture? Listen carefully. Number one, believe it. Believe it.

That's where it starts. Jesus cried out again and again to people, Believe Me. Believe what I say. And in John 5, 24, He said, Truly, I say to you, He who hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and doesn't come into judgment. Believe it. Another way to say that is to say, Receive it.

Paul said to the Thessalonians, I am so thankful that when I preached to you the Word of God, you received it as it is the Word of God. Secondly, honor it. Honor it.

What do we mean by that? Exalt it. Lift it up.

How do you do that? In obedience. In obedience. Don't be a huckster of the Word. 2 Corinthians 2, 17, don't use the Word to manipulate for your own purposes and your own ends. He says in 2 Corinthians 4, 2, Some people adulterate the Word of God, but you are to honor it, to exalt it, to treasure it.

Thirdly, love it. David said in Psalm 119, 97, as I mentioned earlier, O how I love thy law. And then as you get to the end of Psalm 119, there are just a myriad of repeated statements with that same thought in mind. Thy Word is very pure. Psalm 119, 140, Therefore thy servant loves it.

Deep affection, deep desire. That's what Peter was talking about when he said, as a babe desires, you're to desire. Then obey it.

That's fourth. Obey it. In fact, the greatest mockery that you can render to Scripture is to say you believe it, but don't obey it. If you continue in My Word, you're My real disciple. If you say you abide in Christ, you ought to walk the way He walked.

And how did He walk? In perfect obedience to God's Word. Jesus told a story, remember, about the two houses. And one went down in the flood, Matthew 7, and one remained.

And the difference was that one person didn't do the will of My Father, and the other did the will of My Father. Number five, fight for it. Jude 3 says earnestly contend for the faith. Engage yourself in the battle for the Bible.

Number six, study it. Study, Paul says, to show yourself approved unto God at work when needing not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. Be like the noble Bereans who searched the Scripture daily to see whether these things were so.

Be like Apollos, of whom it was said he was mighty in the Scriptures. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, Colossians 3, 16. Finally, proclaim it. Proclaim it. If you obediently and faithfully believe the Word, honor the Word, love the Word, obey the Word, fight for the Word, study the Word, proclaim the Word, you're not going to look down on it. You're not going to despise it.

It'll be too much a part of the fabric of your life. In closing, I was reading a little note about Martin Luther and how he studied the Bible. He said, I study my Bible like I gather apples. I shake the whole tree first that the ripest might fall. Then I shake each limb, and when I have shaken each limb, I shake each branch. And then I shake every twig. And then I look under every leaf. I search the Bible as a whole, like shaking the whole tree. Then I shake every limb. I study book after book. Then I shake every branch. I give attention to the chapters. Then I shake every twig, or a careful study of the paragraphs and sentences and words and meanings.

The Word is such a unique book. When I am tired, the Bible is my bed. Or in the dark, the Bible is my light. When I am hungry, it is living bread.

Or fearful, it is armor for the fight. When I am sick, it's healing medicine. Or lonely throngs of friends I find therein. If I would work, the Bible is my tool. Or play, it is the harp of tuneful sound.

If I am ignorant, it is my school. If I am sinking, it is solid ground. If I am cold, the Bible is my fire, and it gives wings if boldly I aspire. Does gloom oppress? The Bible is a sun.

Amidst ugliness, it is a garden fair. Am I athirst? How cool its waters run! Or stifled, what a vivifying air! Since thus thou givest of thyself to me, how should I give myself great book to thee? Let's bow in prayer. Father, we know that if we're to be faithful sheep, and if our flock is to grow to being a healthy flock, we cannot look down on Your Word, Your revelation. The words of the poet are so appropriate. Since thus thou givest of thyself to me, how should I give myself great book to thee? The answer is not to despise, not to think lightly, but to think greatly, to believe and honor and love, to study, to fight for, to proclaim. Lord, make us people of the book, people thus that bring honor to Your name. For Jesus' sake, amen. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur.

Thanks for being with us. Along with teaching, every day here on the radio, John also serves as chancellor of the Master's University and Seminary. He's titled our current study, The Bible-Driven Church. John, you've covered a lot of territory in this series, everything from the pastor's responsibility to the things the congregation needs to be doing. So what would you say is the overarching message you want people to take away when it comes to how their church is supposed to function? Yeah, it's pretty simple. You just go by the book. You just go by the Word of God.

There's no mystery. I remember years ago talking to a pastor of a relatively large church and he said, wow, he said, I've just realized how I need to organize my church. I said, great. What was the thing that drove you to this conclusion? He said, oh, I read this book, I think it was by Peter Drucker on leadership or something.

And I said, what? What does that have to do with the Church of Jesus Christ? Those are techniques for getting people to do things in a management style. What does it have to do with the Word of God and the Church of the Lord? But again, it was like the guy had discovered something wonderful and now was going to transform the church. The only thing you need to discover to make the church the church is what does the Lord of the church want in his church? Christ is the head of the church.

We have that basically made very clear to us. You don't get very far into the book of Ephesians before you realize at the end of chapter 1 who's the head of the church, and it comes up again in chapter 3. Christ is the head of the church and he mediates his rule in the church through his word. And so a Bible-driven church is very clearly defined by its adherence to the Word of God.

You know, there were many in the history of the church that were tightly bound by what was a kind of formal principle of the church, that the church shouldn't do anything that wasn't proscripted in the scriptures to do. And when you go to the scriptures, singing psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, praying, reading scripture, preaching the Word, that's the worship of the church. And then the life of the church is nurturing and discipling and all those other things, and then the church scatters to evangelize. So it's all laid out in the Word of God what a Bible-driven church should be.

And here's the bottom line. If you're a Bible-driven church and you're faithful to the Lord of the church, you have his full blessing, and only he can grow the true church. If you deviate from the plan that the Lord of the church has laid down, you're sort of on your own and you're not doing his work, and what you come up with is something artificial. So the Bible-driven church, the series we've done, is available on eight CDs, or you can download them on the website gty.org. If you want the CDs, call or write us and we'll get them to you.

Yes, and this study is ideal to review with a small group or to donate to your church library. To help make sure you and your church are operating by God's standards, pick up a copy of The Bible-Driven Church when you get in touch with us today. Call us at our toll-free number, 855-GRACE, or visit our website, gty.org.

The eight-CD album is reasonably priced and shipping is free, and again, to order the eight-CD album, you can call us at 855-GRACE or go to gty.org. And remember, you can download all eight messages from The Bible-Driven Church free of charge at gty.org. Thanks too for remembering that the support of listeners like you keeps this broadcast on the air in your neighborhood and on stations across the United States and beyond. You play a key role in encouraging believers and local churches around the globe with biblical truth. To partner with us, mail your tax-deductible donation to Grace To You, Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412. You can also donate when you call us at 800-55-GRACE, or you can donate online at gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson, reminding you to watch Grace To You television this Sunday, check your local listings for Channel and Times, and then be here next week when John looks at how you should respond to trials and the blessings those trials actually bring into your life. John's launching a study titled, Making Sense Out of Suffering. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time, on Grace To You.