God says, I've exalted My Word above, or in some translations, equal to My name. There is no way to know God apart from the Scripture. You could know about God from the created order. You could know there was a God, but you cannot know that God apart from the revelation of that God in Scripture. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.
I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Seems everywhere you turn today, everybody has an opinion about the role of government, medicine, religion, education, marriage, and family, just to name a few. The question is, with so many opinions dotting the map, whose view really matters? Well, on this edition of Grace to You with John MacArthur, you'll see that there is only one perspective that actually carries any weight, and that's God's. And you'll see why knowing that should motivate you to honor every word of Scripture. Stay here as John continues his study, Why I Teach the Bible.
And here's today's lesson. The church is unique in the world. The only organism, the only institution that our Lord is building, it is His own unique possession, purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ for all eternity to the glory of God and the praise of His Son. The church stands in contrast to everything in a fallen world, its design, its life, its character, its tasks, its activities, its duties, responsibilities, and privileges are all clearly outlined in the Scripture. People ask me often, why is it that you spend all your time going through the Bible? Why is it that you preach long expository messages? Is that what you always do in your church?
Et cetera, et cetera. Doesn't that get in the way of worship? Isn't it somewhat irrelevant? I've read that through the years. I read a dissertation. A man wrote a Ph.D. paper on me and said, MacArthur is biblical.
He's just not relevant. Why do you spend all your time in the Word of God? I'll tell you one reason, very simple, is because I've been commanded to do so. But beyond that, it is because honoring the Word of God fulfills the church's commission to bring heaven down. In Psalm 138, verse 2, God says, I've exalted My Word above, or in some translations, equal to My name. The point that He's making there is there is no knowing Him apart from His Word. There is no way to know God apart from the Scripture. You could know about God from the created order and from reason and from moral law and conscience.
You could know there was a God, but you cannot know that God apart from the revelation of that God in Scripture. Heaven comes down in the Bible because in the Bible, God speaks. If we were in heaven now, we would be gathered around the throne worshiping with the angels and the glorified saints.
We would be there in heaven exalting Jesus Christ and exalting the Son and celebrating the absolute pure perfection of the place. And at the same time, we would be exposed to the fullness of the disclosure of the glory of God in all His wonder, in all His majesty, in all His perfection. You see that in Ezekiel chapter 1. Ezekiel has a glimpse of God and the glorious, shining, spinning, fiery, bejeweled wheels of the amazing light that comes out of His glorious presence is emblematic of the revelation of God. You see a similar situation in Isaiah 6 where God is revealed to Isaiah as high and lifted up, sovereign, majestic, and holy. You see God again in Revelation 4 and 5 and the wonder of His throne, the majesty and beauty of His jeweled throne and the beauty of the Shekinah light shining through and all the majesty of that description again is a disclosure of God. But that's not the only disclosure of God in the Bible. Everything that tells you anything about Him is a revelation of God. And when the church looks at the Word of God and sees the revelation of God, you're bringing heaven down. My goal in preaching the Word of God to you is to set the Lord before you, is to set the Lord before you, is to let you see Him.
Every passage unfolds truth about Him. In the church then, that's why we live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. That's why we are committed to the preaching and teaching of the Word of God because it is God's self-disclosure. It is God's revelation. We don't take away anything from it.
We don't add anything to it. We just teach the Word of God. And when the Word speaks, the King of Heaven speaks and He speaks about Himself and heaven comes down. The psalmist said in Psalm 56, 4, in God whose Word I praise, in God I put my trust. I put my trust in the God revealed in the Word. If I'm going to put my life in His hand, I want to know Him. And the way I know Him is through His Word. And if I'm going to put my life in His hand, I want to know His will. And the way I know His will is in His Word.
If I'm going to put my destiny in His hand, I want to know that destiny. And the way I know it is revealed in His Word. No wonder Job said he loved the Word of God more than His necessary food. No wonder Jeremiah said the Word was in him the joy and rejoicing of his heart.
Jesus prayed to the Father, Sanctify them by Thy truth. Thy Word is truth. It is the Word that is able to make you wise to salvation. It is the Word that is able to sanctify you. It is the Word that is going to cause you to grow, as 1 Peter 2 says.
The Word is everything. Look over at 1 Timothy, chapter 3, and verse 15. A very important definition of the church is given in this verse. Toward the end of verse 15, 1 Timothy 3, it says this, the church of the living God, and then it defines it as the pillar and support of the truth. The church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.
Obviously, Timothy, when receiving this letter, was in the city of Ephesus. In that city there was a great temple to Artemis or Diana of the Ephesians. There were some formidable things about that temple. One fact is that it had 127 pillars. Those pillars were at their heart, solid marble, but the marble was overlaid in gold, and the gold was studded with precious jewels.
127 great, massive, marble, gold-covered, bejeweled pillars held up the massive stone edifice of the temple of Diana, a temple to Satan, seducing spirits, doctrines of demons, deception. And Paul has that image in his mind and looks at the church and thinks of the church in contrast to this great edifice with great foundation and pillar holding up lies and deception. The church holds up the truth. It holds up the truth. If there should be anything true about the church, it should be it's where you hear the word of the living God. That's why we train men in the Master's Seminary to handle the word of God, because that's what they must do.
If they're going to be faithful to what the church is, the church is where you go to hear God speak, to hear the word of God. And that's my great joy. That's my passion.
That's what I love. And there's nothing I love more than to come here and to give the word of God to a people who receive it and apply it. People sometimes say to me, you know, you preach all the time. You go, you go, you preach, you preach. What drives you?
Well, first of all, there's a certain amount of responsibility I have before God, like preach the word be instant, in season, and out of season, that kind. But I'm also drawn to that because I know the impact that it has, and I love to see the fruit of that. It's exhilarating. It's thrilling. When I was in South Africa to preach to the people down there when I came home from there a couple of years ago, exuberant, alive, almost electric, just capturing every word with real, to borrow an old word, verve, going to New Zealand, getting the same kind of response as I preached in the Maori church and in other groups, just watching them just grab everything and just kind of, with a joy in their heart, respond, sometimes even verbally, sometimes applauding, just a real energy to receive the word of God.
That's a very compelling kind of thing because you know what it can do in their life. I was thinking too, telling the students at the college, very different than preaching in London. The English are very stiff, very stiff, much more than even the Irish, very stiff. I was in London a couple of years ago at Central Hall, which is a big building, an auditorium building built by the Methodists across from Westminster Abbey right in the middle of London. And it was a conference with 900 English clergy, highly educated English clergy. And the typical English people are very reserved and very stiff and very staid.
I mean, I don't expect the wild outbursts, but a little response now and then is nice. Anyway, so we were in this conference. We had Eric Alexander, Dick Lucas from St. Helens Bishopgate in London, myself, and a gentleman, an outstanding man from Sydney, Australia. And we were to preach to these 900 ministers all week long.
Well, 900 highly trained English clergy, you know, you don't go in there unprepared. You know, these guys had great material. And I knew it would be a great week of great preaching. And the first day we sat in this stuffy old musty place on the floor in these hard wooden chairs. And I never felt a thing because the preaching was so great.
But the first man to preach was from Sydney, preached a great exposition of several passages, by the way, out of 2 Corinthians, masterfully done with great, great insight, great spiritual sense, powerful stuff, captivating the essence of the heart of the servant of God. And I was really moved, and I cherished every moment. And no one moved the whole time, just no one moved. And the pulpit is like here, and there's a table here, and there's a guy sitting there who's the moderator. And he just sits there the whole time it's going on.
And occasionally glasses at the speaker. Well, he finished after an exhausting fifty-five minutes of pouring his heart out. And when you're done, they told you to sit down by the moderator. So he finished, and he sat down. And I thought, wow, boy, that was great. And a man walked up, came to the microphone, and said, tea is served.
Tea is served. And I was expecting, thank you, brother, wow, you know. That was rich. That was great. What a blessing.
Not tea is served. I thought, this is a tough crowd, because that was great. That was great preaching. Then came Eric Alexander.
I mean, it's hard to improve on him. And he did a message on Isaiah 6, and he literally rung out of Isaiah 6 everything that was conceivable. I mean, it was a masterpiece. And at one point, he had tears coming down his cheeks as he preached on the holiness of God and the brokenness of the prophet in that chapter. And he was moved with great compassion.
And it was a powerful, it was the greatest thing I've ever heard on Isaiah 6. And he finished. And he sat down. And the same guy came up, tea is served. And I was getting real nervous, because I was next, you know.
And I didn't think I had the clout to break the chain, you know. So, after lunch, I had to come back and preach in the afternoon. And I got up and just poured out my heart. And I preached that time on Psalm 19, on exalting the Word of God.
And just put everything I had into it for an hour, and sat down, you know, just kind of spent when you do that. And the same guy walked up. He says, tea is served. That was it. The whole day, no one said thank you to anybody.
No one acknowledged whether it was good, bad, or indifferent. But when I sat down at this table here in that brief time, this little table had a skirt around it, the moderator kept looking forward like this. But underneath the little cloth around the table, he slid his hand over and patted me three times on the leg, in such a way that nobody knew he did it. So, that night, Christopher Catherwood, who is the grandson of Martin Lloyd Jones, said, I want to take you to the Oxford Cambridge Club, which is like 500 years old. You can't go there unless you're a graduate of Oxford or Cambridge, or unless one of them takes you there.
And he graduated from both, and so he took me in. You go in there, and he says, you know, over at that table, Winston Churchill planned World War II, and things like that. You know, it's an amazing place. And this is a silent room. Don't say anything.
No one has spoken there in 350 years. You don't want to break it. You know, things like that. There's big overstuffed brown chairs and bookshelves that go to the ceiling, and ladders that slide.
You know, it's that kind of place. So, I sat down. I said, Christopher, look, I just have to ask you a question. I said, these guys are preaching great stuff, tremendous, and nobody moves, and nobody says thank you.
Nobody says anything. Isn't somebody going to say thank you? He said, oh, it's not done. I said, well, it ought to be.
I guess you can get to the place. Oh, I said to him, by the way, I said, Christopher, what does it mean when the moderator pats you three times on the leg? He says, did he do that? I said, yes.
He said, oh, it's huge. Well, I suppose there's a place for all different kinds of responses, but I worry a little bit about people who look at Scripture as a disinterested critic, analyzing it instead of applying it. I love to preach the Word of God to people whose hearts are greatly moved by it, powerfully moved by it, who don't just sit in judgment on it. That Word, which in Psalm 19, turn to it for a moment, we are told is so sufficient. Psalm 19, that very chapter on which I preached that first day in London, says in verse 7, the law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure or clear, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true, they are righteous altogether. Through the judgments of the Lord are true, they are righteous altogether. Three verses, six lines.
Six lines that are parallel. They each have a title for Scripture, a characteristic of Scripture, and an effect of Scripture. Six titles for Scripture. It is called the law, the testimony, the precepts, the commandment, the fear, the judgments.
That just looks at the Bible from different facets. It is the law of God. That is, it is His requirement for man's conduct. It is the testimony of the Lord. That is, it is His self-disclosure.
It tells us about Himself. It is the precepts of the Lord, principles, doctrines, truths. It is the commandment of the Lord. It is binding, mandates with authority. The Bible is the fear of the Lord.
What does that mean? Well, the fear of the Lord simply is another way of saying it's the manual on worshiping Him, honoring Him, exalting Him. And then finally, the Scripture is called the judgments of the Lord. It is the adjudications of the Judge of all the earth.
It is His divine verdicts on man, his life, and his destiny. So when you look at the Bible, it is all of that. It is law, testimony, precepts, commandment, fear, and judgments. So you have six titles for Scripture.
In each case of the Lord, the covenant name of Yahweh is given, so there's no question about who the author is. Then you have six characteristics of Scripture. It is perfect, sure, right, clear, clean, true.
All six of those running down those three verses. Scripture is perfect. That means comprehensive. It is sure.
That means reliable, trustworthy. It is right. That means it establishes the right path to walk in. It is clear. That means it makes the dark things clear. It is clean. It is clean. That means it is pure.
As the Old Testament says, like metal tested seven times, silver tested seven times in a furnace. It is true. Scripture is comprehensively perfect.
It is reliable, sure. It sets the right path. It produces clarity on otherwise dark subjects. It is absolutely clean and without flaw, and it is utterly and completely true. Now, what can this perfect, sure, right, clear, clean, true word do?
Verse 7, restore the soul. The soul is inner man. It can totally transform the whole inner man. It can make simple people wise. It brings joy to the heart. It brings enlightenment to the eyes. It endures forever.
What does that mean? It brings a relevant source for every generation and every culture and every time. And finally, in verse 9, they are righteous altogether. They produce comprehensive righteousness. What can the Scripture do in your life? It can totally transform your whole inner person. It can take you from simple-mindedness to utter wisdom and skill in all areas of living. It can bring joy to your heart. It can lighten your eyes about the dark things. It produces a relevant source for every issue of life, and it produces comprehensive righteousness. That's what the Word of God does. Now, if I am a pastor and I look out at you as a congregation and I ask the question, what do I want to accomplish in your life?
It's simple to answer. Here's what I want to accomplish in your life. If God could use me, I would like to see God totally transform your whole person. I'd like to see you totally transformed into the image of Christ.
If those are my desires, what is my tool? The Word of God. The Word of God. And that's why we do what we do, because we understand its effect. That's why we hear the words of Paul in Colossians 3.16, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.
That's what affects everything in your life. And so you hear the Word, and in good Thessalonian fashion, you examine it carefully. And what is true, you cling to. It's the Word of God that assaults every deception. Go to 2 Corinthians 10. Paul says, the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly.
Verse 4, they're not human. We can't fight this great spiritual battle with human weapons, human ingenuity, human cleverness, human wisdom, but divinely powerful, mighty unto God. If we want to fight a spiritual war, we've got to go to heaven and pull our weapons down. We have to pull the weapons down because the enemy is so formidable. We're trying to destroy fortresses, verse 4 says. We're trying to smash fortresses. Every time I read things and hear things on this spiritual warfare, I feel so concerned because I hear these people saying, spiritual warfare is chasing demons, chasing demons.
No, it's not. It's not chasing. In the first place, you can't cast demons out. Christ could, the apostles could, but we can't. Chasing demons isn't the issue. That's not the way to fight the spiritual war. It's not a war fought on that level. Let the holy angels worry about the demons in the dimension that they exist.
Let Michael take care of whoever he needs to take care of, as in the book of Daniel. Let the angelic warfare be what it is. We have to fight on another level. And if we're going to pull down fortresses, what is that going to do? What does that mean and how are we going to do it? Verse 5, we have to destroy speculations. What do you mean there? Logismos, ideas, ideologies, concepts, philosophies, religions.
That's what it means. Our enemy, the direct attack that we make on our enemy is against the ideologies, the false religions, the false philosophies. That's what we assault.
Another way to say it in verse 5 is, every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, anything unbiblical. Spiritual warfare is not fought by chasing demons. Spiritual warfare is fought by smashing error. And error is smashed with only one set of weapons.
What is it? Truths. The only thing that brings down error is truth. How do we destroy ideologies, logismos? How do we destroy speculations, concepts, religions, every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God? And how do we take all those captive to the obedience of Christ only one way? And that is through the preaching and teaching and witnessing of the truth.
We want to smash the fortresses. We have to bring the big guns, and the big guns come from the Word of the living God. As a church then, we are utterly committed to being the pillar and support of the truth.
That's what we do. I will follow the mandate of 2 Timothy 4, 2, preach the Word, be instant in season and out of season. Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. The church is heaven come down. That means the worship of God, the exaltation of Christ, the presence of holiness, and the honoring of the Word. That's what we do.
Let's pray. Father, thank you again for clarity with which your Word speaks to our hearts. We who know the truth are thrilled to know it, and yet at the same time bear a weight of responsibility, knowing that to whom much is given, much is required. Lord, help us to be faithful to pursue that truth in all its application and all its expression in our lives. What a privilege to be your children, to bear your name. We give you glory in Christ's glorious name.
Amen. That's John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, with today's message on Grace to You, part of his study titled, Why I Teach the Bible. Now, here's something we think is important to do regularly. We want to share with you some responses that we get from listeners, because we want to give you a sense of how God is using grace to you in the lives of people like you. And so, you've got the stories there, John.
These are like many that we hear. I wish we could share them all, but these are excellent reminders of why we do what we do, so share those with us. Yeah, I mean, this is the treasure that all of us enjoy, because this is the feedback from the ministry, and I love reading these letters.
Here's one from Doug in San Diego. He writes, Words cannot adequately convey my overwhelming love and dependence on your ministry. To have your teaching through the New Testament constantly available on Grace Stream has done great things for my walk with the Lord. I've told many friends and co-workers about your app, your website, and your daily broadcasts. I've also ordered a few of your books for friends and family. Thank you for all you and your staff do to teach Scripture.
And that's from Doug. Here's a letter from Wendy. Thank you for providing Grace Stream on the Grace To You app.
I leave it on all day. It's my spiritual IV therapy. I think I've listened to the entire New Testament teachings three times now. Thank you, thank you.
Wow. I've listened to other sermons on your app as well. My rule during a recent family road trip vacation was to listen to one of your sermons every day. My children had multiple aha moments as you taught, and we had good conversations. Thank you for explaining the Bible. Well, thank you, Wendy, for loving the truth.
We have that in common for sure. So those are the kind of notes we get every day. They're a glimpse of what God is doing through His Word as it's being proclaimed. And by the way, they both mentioned Grace Stream. Grace Stream is available on the Grace To You app or directly from our website, gty.org. Just to explain, Grace Stream is a continuous loop of my sermons through the New Testament from Matthew through Revelation. It takes about two months to get through it all, and then the sermons repeat. Basically, you just jump in wherever we are in the flow of the New Testament and listen and learn.
And I think you'll benefit from it as Doug and Wendy have. Start listening today to Grace Stream or whenever you have a few minutes. And Grace To You is reaching people right where you are, right where they need us through a variety of means. Grace Stream, the Grace To You app, the Study Bible app, television, free books, CDs, and we mail all these things out by the thousands every month, and of course by daily radio broadcasts and more. So thanks for praying for us and expressing your financial support that makes it possible for us to keep doing this.
Yes, friend, thank you. And this broadcast and all the free resources online could not happen without your support. So if you'd like to help us get God's Word into people's hands through a wide and growing variety of means, make a donation when you contact us today. You can send your tax-deductible gift to Grace To You, Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. Or you can make a one-time donation or set up a convenient recurring donation when you call us toll-free, 800-55-GRACE. Or go to our website, gty.org. And thank you for remembering what a crucial time of year this is for us.
About a quarter of our annual budget is made up by gifts we receive in the last weeks of the year. Again, to express your year-end support, call 800-55-GRACE or go to gty.org. And if you'd like to review John's current study, Why I Teach the Bible, you can download every lesson free of charge at our website, along with 3,500 other sermons. That's 52 years of John's Bible teaching in audio, written transcripts, a lot of video too, available now at gty.org. That's gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson, inviting you back for our next broadcast when John goes to Psalm 19 and shows you God's own defense of Scripture. That's the title of the study he begins tomorrow with another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.
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