Obey the Word

Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. You'll understand that we must not only know about the Bible. Not only do we have some information about the Bible, but we must, in fact, delight in the Bible, we must love the Word of God. and obey the word of God. Welcome to the Verdict with Pastor John Monroe.

This daily program is a media ministry of Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. If you want to grow in your faith and experience God's power in your life, it isn't enough to simply go to church or try to be a better person. Today, we're learning about the supernatural word of God. Obedience is key to living as authentic followers of Christ. Here's Pastor John Monroe.

Today, we continue to think of the importance of obeying the Word of God. Last time we learned that the Bible is absolutely authoritative. Because God is the author. The Bible has its origin in God. Therefore, The authority in our life is not in ourselves, our experiences, our church traditions, our personal feelings, but in the Word of God.

God graciously has revealed His truth to us in His Word. as by ourselves we could never arrive at the absolute truth. Our minds are darkened. Our hearts hardened. Our sin has captured our wills.

So it is imperative. That we humble ourselves. Read the Word of God and obey it. Let's continue to think now of the impact the Word of God has in our lives. Second Timothy.

3 verse 14. Paul is saying to Timothy, as for you, Timothy. Continue in what you've learned and have firmly believed. We don't believe in brainwashing. We're not a cult.

That's why we want you to come with your Bible. If what you hear from this pulpit, if what you hear from your life group, if what you hear from your Bible study ideas don't, if they don't conform to the Word of God, it doesn't matter who's saying it, reject it. No, this book, the Bible. Is the perfect, indestructible word of God. It remains forever, and it is our authority.

Now if you believe that It is essential then That we know the Bible, that we study the Bible, that we memorize the Bible, and we. Obey it. And we must. As we know the word of God then be able to discern truth from error. We've got to be able to discern, as it were, spiritual junk food from the living word of God.

Let me ask you to turn. to a passage which will help us in 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. And uh we'll read first of all the first three verses. 1 Peter 2, verse 1: So put away all malice, and all deceit, and hypocrisy, and envy, and all slander.

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk. That buy it. You may grow up into salvation. You see your spiritual life The supernatural transformation begins with the Word of God. We are saved by the miracle of the new birth.

How does that come about? By the living and abiding word of God. Look back to chapter one. First Peter one There's Twenty-three Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable. Through the living And abiding word of God.

Don't you love that? Here is spiritual transformation through the living. and abiding word of God for Peter knows his Bible. He's going to quote it. All flesh is like grass, and all his glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers and the flower falls. He's quoting from Isaiah 40. But the word of the Lord remains Forever. This is why we preach and teach the Bible. As authentic followers of Jesus, notice what Peter is saying: we are to long, verse 2 of chapter 2, long for the pure spiritual milk of the word in order to grow.

And Peter uses an analogy that we can all understand. You don't give. uh a baby, a T-bone steak or a donut. Or a hot dog. Or peanut butter, don't give anyone peanut butter, is my view, but you certainly don't give that to newborn.

What does the newborn baby want? Milk. It wants that mother's milk. That is a physical desire. And the desire for milk by the baby is evidence that the baby is healthy.

I think of that. We Can we say, as baby Christians, here we are, we've been born again. We're beginning to follow Jesus Christ. What's going to keep us healthy? How are we going to grow the pure milk of the word, pure spiritual Milk.

Do you long? For the Word of God. See, authentic followers of Jesus have a love for, have a delight in the Word of God, and that is given by the Holy Spirit. You cannot give that baby the appetite for milk. I cannot give you a spiritual desire for the Word of God.

If you find the Word of God boring, it's not my fault. It's your fault. There's something wrong, there's a spiritual disease. It's a sign that you're not healthy. Listen to the words of Jesus.

And John. John chapter 8. Verse forty seven I think these verses are very striking. John 8 verse 47. Whoever is of God, Here's the words of God.

The reason why you do not hear them is that you're not of God. The spiritual person The people of God hear the word of God. Chapter 10, the great chapter on the good shepherd. Jesus says, John 10, verse 27, my sheep. Hear my voice.

And I know them and they follow me. That's the character characteristic of the sheep. The sheep hears the shepherd's voice and follows him. If you don't recognize the shepherd's voice, just You got a question, am I one of the sheep? This is one of the characteristics of the follower of Jesus.

Chapter 18. John 18 is before Pilate. John 18 verse 37. Yeah. Then Pilate said to him, So you're a king?

Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Notice what Jesus says now. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. That's striking, isn't it?

Here is God Himself. God incarnate before Pilate. Here The word. of God. See, God's word is pure, it's wholesome.

It's not weathered down. It's got no additives. It is 100% safe. And the more you read the word of God, and the more you obey the word of God, the more. You will desire the word of God.

You say, well, I've got to get into this habit of reading my Bible. That's a discipline. Yes, it is a discipline. You need to be disciplined, you need to do it. Don't just talk about it.

Do it. Don't wait till you feel particularly spiritual. Do it! Open the word of God. Pray for God to guide you.

And as you read the word of God, Something supernatural happens. Your desire for the word of God grows and grows and grows.

Now, Peter has said something. Did you catch it? That as you obey the word of God, There are certain attitudes There are certain actions that you've got to put away. their destructive attitudes. Chapter 2, verse 1 of Peter.

Put away. All malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all. Slander. Mm. As I come to the word of God then, There are certain things I've got to put away.

If you eat junk food all day, you live on Big Macs and peanut butter. And other horrible things, and Coke and Pepsi, don't be surprised. When you don't have an appetite for a wholesome, well-balanced meal. You've eaten junk all day, you've eaten junk all week, and then someone puts in front of you this beautiful, well-balanced meal, and you say, I'm not very hungry. Don't be surprised if you're taking junk physically that you've got health problems.

There are people who have physical eating problems, eating disorders. They eat too much or they eat too little. And uh this is a well recognized phenomenon. that people don't eat properly and it affects them physically.

So says Peter. There's a possibility that you're taking in spiritual junk food. That you've got a spiritual Disorder. A spiritual eating disorder. If you're going to be spiritually strong, if you're going to have this desire for the pure milk of the word, you've got to throw certain things out.

Just as physically, the beginning of the year, you say, I'm going to... I have a good diet and I'm going to keep myself fit. That means there's certain stuff you don't eat and you don't. Mm-hmm. Is that right?

Nothing wrong with the occasional Big Mac. I love fries, I love milkshakes. But I don't live on them. If you want to give me one occasionally, I will thank you. I think I could have a milkshake just before I come up and preach, and it might make me feel really good.

But to live on that kind of stuff There's going to be disorder.

Now what have you got what have you to get rid of? Notice it. Verse 1. Malice. And all deceit.

Hypocrisy, envy and slander have to be put out. Peter has encouraged us, chapter 1, verse 22, to love one another earnestly from a pure heart. You got some malice. In your life? You got a grudge against someone.

There's some deceit in your life. Malice is a deliberate deceptiveness. You see, among Christians, yes. Perhaps in your own family. Perhaps at work, perhaps in in the church.

There's some nasty, destructive attitudes in your life. Envy and slander. Are to be put away, put aside. Not Uncommon. In the church.

What's envy? Envy is the inward attitude behind so much hypocrisy and malice. Envy is wanting to be what you're not. Envies wanting to have what that other person has: their car, their home, their looks, their ministry, their attitude.

Something about them, you envy them. And what happens then, as you focus on that, you become bitter against them, and that envy often leads to slander, evil speaking, and criticizing people unfairly. And Peter is saying, listen. If you're going to have the spiritual desire for the milk of the word, you've got to get rid of these attitudes. You've got to get rid of that junk in your life.

Just as you get rid of physical junk food, you need to get rid of junk food in the spiritual life. Will you do that? Turn back a few pages. If you're in 1 Peter, turn back a few pages, and you'll be in James. James chapter 1.

James says the same thing. I find this intriguing. He uses the same picture of put away, take off your old clothes of envy and slander and hypocrisy. But there's something else we've got to get rid of if we're going to receive the word of God. James 1.

Verse 21. Therefore, put aside all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. Very similar to 1 Peter 2, isn't it? Things I've to put aside. Filthiness and rampant wickedness.

Whoa, that stuff is writing to believers. Any any filthiness in your life? I don't know what's going on in your heart. I don't know what's going on in your mind, but you do. These things are incompatible with spiritual growth.

You're wondering why you're not growing. You're wondering why you're still in spiritual immaturity. You're not receiving the implanted word because you haven't put away filthiness, rampant wickedness, these other sins. You know what they are in your life. You think you can live as you like.

And get up into immorality and pornography and all kinds of stuff, and then you can play being a Christian. Put it. Aside. See, these sins, please hear me. Prevent you from receiving and obeying the word of God.

These things pollute your mind. They pollute your relationships. They pollute the relationship with God. Simon says, I've stored up. Psalm 119 verse 11.

your word in my heart. That I might not sin against you. Your word have I treasured in my heart, I might not sin against you. It's the old adage that many of us were taught that This book keeps us from sin. And sin keeps us from this book.

You want to have a clean heart? Read God's Word. It will cleanse you. It's got a cleansing effect. But sin will keep you from this book.

And so James and Peter are really saying the same things. It's wonderful to read the Word of God. I want this to be your greatest delight. I want you every day as you come and you open the word of God to say, what's God going to say to me? I want you when you come here and listen to preaching, or when you go to your life group and you're in your Bible study, I want you to say, Lord, what are you going to teach me today?

I want to love your word more, but these sins will come in and they will drag you away and they will destroy you.

So this starts our understanding. It prevents us from receiving and obeying the word of God. And so James says here in 1 James 1, verse 21, that we receive with meekness. The implanted word. A humble attitude is essential.

The word of God is to be received with humility. Isaiah reminds us that God looks to the one who is humble. And contrite in spirit, and who trembles at his word. Isaiah 66, verse 2. Who's the one that God looks to?

The one who comes with humility, the one who comes contritely, the one who comes to God as it were on our knees. Asking from a word from God. And it's that one that God looks to.

So your attitude in coming to the Word of God. It's so important. Your attitude as you come to worship is so important. We've addressed this before. Don't come in a critical spirit.

Come with humility. Don't come looking for someone to complain about, some singer, some instrumentalist. The color of my tie, or someone else, people make all these comments. You think, that's not the point, please. Come With humility.

So you read the word of God, a home, of a humble attitude to receive it. You're coming to God Himself. As we come together like this, you realize we're in the very house of God. And we want to worship God, we want to praise Him, we want to humbly receive His truth. There must be A humble expectancy in his word.

Now, notice verse 22 of James 1. 22 through 25.

So we're going to receive the word with humility. We got this. And be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man who looks intently at his natural face in the mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres being no hearer who forgets. But a doer who acts He will be blessed in his doing. Notice that? Who is the one who's blessed by God? The one who just hears no.

The one who does, the one who obeys with this humble attitude and responds to the loving word of God.

So James is saying, and I'm saying, don't just be a hearer of the word, be a doer. There are many people who just hear the word of God. They accumulate a lot of information. But if you just hear the word of God and are not obeying it, James is saying you're deceiving yourself.

So you may think you're a strong believer in Jesus Christ because you can discuss the Word of God. You've got some verses memorized and in the live group you can give some little spiritual nugget and you think, yeah, I've got this down. But it's only in your head. That truth hasn't transformed your heart and your life. It doesn't really impact how you are at home and how you conduct yourself.

You're only a hearer of the word and you're deceiving yourself. You're like the man who looks in the mirror. And he's got some dirt on his face, he sees it, but he leaves. It's a totally pointless exercise. What's the point of looking in the mirror unless you are going to make some change?

What's the point of reading the Word of God and just accumulating information, but it is not being obeyed? Rather than being humbled by the word of God, if it's just in your head, you're puffed up with your knowledge. And you may have strong views. about Christian living. You may have strong views about church government.

You may have mastered every Christian cliché, but you are deluded. and thinking that you're spiritual. Remember in the series in Matthew, we thought of the parable Jesus told about the men building. One build on the rock, one build on the sand. Who is the man who builds on the sand?

The one who hears the word of God, says Jesus, and does not obey it. He's deluded. He's got a nice house on the outward. He looks very spiritual, but in fact, he's utterly foolish because when the storm comes, he collapses because he has no foundation. It's very interesting.

That our Lord, when he gives the commission at the end of Matthew chapter 28, he tells us. To go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. And then he says, teaching them. Remember what it says next? Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

That's what a good teacher does. A good teacher isn't just giving information, there is some action point. And as you read the Bible, and as you hear the Bible, and as you discuss the Bible, Think what do I have to observe? What is this for me? In 1 Peter, is there any envy in my life?

Is there any filthiness in my life? If so, I've got to throw it out. That's being obedient, that's humbly obeying. You say that can be difficult. Yes, but the Spirit of God will give you all the help you need.

to do his What am I saying today? I'm saying that the word of God must be heard. It must be understood and it must be obeyed. Obed. Instant obedience.

When I was growing up, that's what my father wanted for me: instant obedience. He didn't want to say it twice. You know that if you're a parent. You want your children to get it the first time. Can you practice that?

When your heavenly Father speaks to you in His Word, it's instant obedience. Don't argue. Don't fret. but humbly saying yes, Lord. This says James.

That you are blessed. in your doing.

So obey. the word. of God. Father, help us. to do just that.

We we we confess But we sometimes listen to the devil. Is the father of lies, and so I pray. Let the pure truth of scripture. May penetrate our hearts that we'll be humble. But their hearts would be good soil to Receive that word.

And that'll bear root and flourish. as we're obeying the Word of God. We thank you. Help us. In Christ's name, amen.

This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. But to find truth and certainty about who we are, and find peace, we find We must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God. To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World.

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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.

Well, what's your verdict? Has your life been transformed by the Word of God? Have the truths of Scripture led you to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Faith comes by hearing. and hearing by the word of God.

Open the Word of God. Start with the Gospels. And as you read, ask God to give you understanding and to help you obey. I take this opportunity to wish you a happy new year. May you experience God's blessing as you follow Him and as you obey His Word.

Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.