Saying No to Neglect (Part 3 of 4)

Most of us have enjoyed well-written books that entertained us or taught us something new. Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg explains why the Bible is superior to any of those books.

In fact, it's superior to all of them combined. Here's Alistair. I invite you to turn with me, if you would, to the book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament and to chapter 10. In our studies in Nehemiah, we've been following the account of God's dealings with his people at a particular point in the history of the nation, at a time when they were under the leadership of two men in particular, Ezra and Nehemiah.

There's absolutely no question that the events that we're considering were long ago and far away. For some of us, that's enough to conclude that there can be no possible application to our day, since we have this kind of smug idea that our day is unlike no other day, and only what is very immediate can be applicable. Well, in actual fact, the more we study the Bible, the more we realize that there are timeless principles contained in it which are relevant to every age and to every generation, especially—and this is our emphasis in these studies—amongst those who are seeking to ask the question, What does it mean to do God's work in God's way? And this morning, as we pick up the account essentially at the thirtieth verse of chapter 10, I want to take some time to remind us just how it is that the people of God found themselves at the thirtieth verse of chapter 10 and how we are tracking with them to that point. All that has been taking place in these last few studies for us emerged as a result of a simple request which is recorded in the first verse of chapter 8. The people had assembled before the Watergate, and they came and asked Ezra if he would be good enough to bring out the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel. So they gather together, and they ask their leadership, Bring out the book. We're told that Ezra and his helpers began to teach from the book to this large assembled congregation. And the way in which they approach it is largely framed by the eighth verse of chapter 8.

They read from the book of the law, making it clear, giving the meaning so that people could understand what was being read. And so we say again and again, and we labor hard to make the point that our purpose in opening up the Scriptures, in putting Scriptures in the pews, in encouraging people to carry their Bibles and to read them, is because we recognize that it is through God's Word that he chooses to speak. And it is very important that we would then understand it and apply it. It's very possible for us simply to have some kind of emotional surge.

One of my friends was telling me he was playing golf in Scotland, and one of the foursome who was being caddied for by one of these ancient men against the wall of the old ancient corsets in Andrews was caddying for this man, and he hit a pitching wedge from close to the green, and he flew the green, and it careened down the other side, and the caddy said to him, Aye, you had a rush of blood to the head. And this idea of just a sudden surge which produces a sort of involuntary response is not unusual when you get around religion. And indeed, there are some groups of people who foster their religious experience on just that kind of thing.

And if they don't get some kind of rush of blood, they are forced to assume that the event has really been convened in vain, because it is only at that point that we can assume that God has really done anything. Now we need to wean one another away from that kind of expectation—not that we would be engaged in some kind of emotionless experience of Christ—love could never be such a thing, nor could devotion and obedience—but that we understand clearly that the book was read so that they might understand it, and then in understanding it, that they may put it into practice. Because we may be stirred in a moment without ever being changed. We may be challenged and moved and unchanged. We may be the makers of great resolve, and by the time two hours has elapsed, since that great stirring of heart and mind, we may be no different from what we were before.

We all know how easy it is to read things and believe that just because our eyes were cast over them, that somehow we had internalized them and we were about to do them, and then we go in and take the test, and we discover that all that happened was that our eyes happened to be opened over a book that was opened, but nothing took place between the contact of our eyes and the page and all that was involved beyond that. So I say to you this morning, whenever God's people are concerned to bring out the book and seek humbly to understand it and to obey it and to apply it, whether it was six hundred years before Christ or two thousand years after Christ, it will always have a radical impact upon them. It will impact who we are, our identity. I spoke in recent days with an individual who came and said, My life is full of questions. I want to know who I am. I want to know why I exist. And the pages of Scripture provide those answers for those who are really seeking.

It will impact who I am, what I do, my activities, where I go, my geography, and how I live. Indeed, the writer of the book of Hebrews is so consumed with the power of the Word of God that he makes this graphic statement in Hebrews chapter 4, for the Word of God is living and active. You may want to turn to that and look at it just so that you can make sure that it's there. And if you underline your Bible, you may want to underline that sentence, for the Word of God is living and is active. You understand what that's saying? It's saying that this book is alive. Somebody once asked Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great preacher in the Victorian era in London, how you defended the Bible. His reply was, I don't defend the Bible. You don't defend a lion.

You simply cut it loose. And the Bible is living and it is active. This, of course, is the discovery that is made by those whose eyes become open to the truth of God's Word, because by and large, people think of the Bible as some kind of boring and inactive piece of work. Why would I have one? Why would I read it? Why would I keep it? Why would I sit in here for this jolly long time, listening to this chap talk about it?

Not because he's good at talking about it, but because it's living and active. You see, we've all taken courses at college and university, which when you read the sheets and got the book list for it, you looked at your friends in the class and you said, this is going to be unbelievably boring. I mean, I can just tell from looking at the course outline, this will be dreadful, unless, of course, we get a great teacher who will be able to enliven a dead subject. And there's lots of people who attend upon the considerations of religion in much the same way. They come along believing somehow or another that what we have here is a dead book, and we need an enlivened teacher to bring death to life.

Let me tell you something. There is more life in this book than there ever will be in all of me. There is more power in this book than there will ever be in the brightest of statements or the cleverest of sermons or the most emotionally stirring songs. When that conviction takes hold of a heart, then the book becomes central in our lives. The writer to the Hebrews goes on to say that not only is it living and active, but it's sharper than any double-edged sword.

It penetrates even to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. Now, I don't fully understand all of this except that it seems like it really cuts through it—that's what it's saying—and it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. That's why people come and they are worshipping, and they say, You know, I don't know how it is that that fellow knows so much about me. I mean, he must have been reading my diary during the week that he would speak in the way that he spoke, because it was as if he knew the insight of me.

None of us who teach or preach here know the insight of anybody else. But God's Word knows the insight. And God's Word is able to bring healing, and able to bring encouragement, and able to pick up the downtrodden and set right those who are off track, all because of the power of the Word. So when the people said, Bring out the book, they were in for something. And every time God's people say, Bring out the book, they're in for something. The power of the Word and the work of the Word work hand in hand.

When Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3.16, he says to him, All the Scriptures that we've been given are God-breathed, and they are profitable for a number of things. Let me tell you what they are. For teaching, rebuking, correcting, training, and equipping. What should we teach? The Bible.

What is the basis of a rebuke? The Bible. Where should our correction come from? The Bible. How should we be trained to serve? From the Bible. How will we be equipped to be all that God intends us to be?

The Bible. Growing up as a child in Scotland, we used to sing this chorus that said, Read your Bible, pray every day, pray every day, pray every day, read your Bible, pray every day, and you'll grow, grow, grow. And we just go, and you'll grow, grow, grow, and it grows on either side as you go, and you'll grow, grow, grow. Read your Bible, pray every day, and you'll grow, grow, grow.

It's absolutely true. You'll know if you're growing. Because you cannot, I cannot grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ unless the Word of God is taking root within my life. Unless I'm beginning to discriminate between the true and the false, the wise and the foolish, that which is in accord with God's plans and purposes, and that which is absolutely spurious. Now I mention this, and I'd like you to turn to another Old Testament passage for just a moment, to the prophecy of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 23. In direct contrast to the Word of God, which is powerful and effective, the words of false prophets are absolutely useless. And in Jeremiah's day, God speaks to his people through his servant Jeremiah, and this is his concern, that his people would become discriminating in determining who and what they were going to listen to. Now, loved ones, we're talking about an event that took place six hundred years before Christ, and we're now two thousand six hundred years away from that approximately, and I want to say this to you.

What God said by his prophet all those years before Jesus arrived is as up-to-date as today's newspaper. I'll tell you why. Because we are living now in an era which manifestly, obviously, has concluded that the answers that science has offered are inadequate answers to the basic questions of life—to the Who am I? Why am I? Where am I going? Does it matter what will happen when I'm gone?

Science has been unable to answer those questions. Now you say, Oh, that's very interesting. In fact, I met somebody just this week, and they told me a wonderful thing about that. They had this big crystal that was hanging from their rearview mirror.

Maybe they'd been listening to your sermon, Pastor, about the importance of the rearview mirror, and they decided that they would hang a crystal on it to remind them just how important it was. But they were telling me all these amazing things about the various dimensions of spirituality that they've been discovering. And, you know, I didn't know what to say. Well, loved ones, I'm here to tell you, you're going to have to, and I'm going to have to find out what to say, just as they needed to find out the difference in Jeremiah's day. Now, listen to this as I read it.

You need to follow along only if you choose. Listen to this. This is God speaking through his prophet. This is what the Lord Almighty says, Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you.

They fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. This is Jeremiah 23 verse 17. They keep saying to those who despise me, the LORD says you will have peace. And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, No harm will come to you.

I have to beware of turning this into the body of my message this morning, but if it happens, so be it. In other words, there will be great crowds of people who will march down the streets in defiance of the very straightforward proclamations of the Word of God. And at the head of the parade will be false prophets who will say to the people who despise the very clear dictates of the Word of God, You will have peace. You may live in a blatantly homosexual lifestyle, and no harm will come to you.

You may live in violation of your marriage vows, and no harm will come to you. You may have yourself as God, your crystal as your shrine, your little Buddha as your emphasis, and only peace will be your experience. But which of them has stood in the counsel of the LORD, to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word? See the storm of the LORD will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked. The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly.

Now listen to this. I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message. I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds. Now, loved ones, this is a very important point of discrimination. Whenever you hear somebody or read a book or see a television program, one of these 48 hours or 20, 20 or insight edition or limited edition or who knows what edition, when you see this stuff that is guaranteed to intrigue and to mystify and to draw in, a fundamental question is this.

Does this prophet call for repentance and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ? If the answer to that question is no, then they are irrelevant, and they are wrong. Enough said, no need for further conversation. Do not send me their books. Do not ask that I watch the programs. Do not send me their tapes and their videos, because I'm dying under the weight of all this material that you keep sending me that you're intrigued by. If I may say so graciously to you, grow up and be discriminate and learn how to chuck this stuff.

You don't need me or others to tutor you on this. You understand the Bible. You read the Bible. You can tell whether somebody is bringing something that is in accord with the words of Jesus. What do you need to know about somebody who looked up into the bright light of the operating room, and the next thing they saw was their Aunt Fanny from Minneapolis, and then the next thing they saw was a long corridor, and then the next thing they saw was a chariot. Who in the white world cares? Jesus said, I'm going to prepare a place for you.

If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also. Now, you say, well, you're a bit of a dimwit. We've known that for a while. Your mind does not run in scientific lines. You're strange in that respect.

I know all of that. I'm just trying to save you a lot of silly reading, save you a lot of stupid conversations, save you a lot of lying in your bed and looking up at the ceiling and wondering. These prophets speak, but they don't turn people from their evil ways and from their evil deeds. I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name.

Well, what do they say? They say, I had a dream. I had a dream.

Isn't that it? Have you ever seen so much about dream therapy in all your life as in the last four or five years? You could live in absolute purity with your children and end up in jail in this crazy world in which we live. All that needs to happen is that your daughter goes slightly doolally at one point in her life, goes to see one of these individuals who track her back through her dreams, real or imagined, and explain the fact that she drives up the wrong side of the street on the basis of the fact that somehow or another she was abused when she was a child. They say, I had a dream. I had a dream. How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship. In other words, this is devilish.

This is satanic. And the activities of these people, witting or unwitting, under the guise of religion and spirituality, is not to draw people to the one true living God, but it is to draw them away from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in a great quest for spiritual fulfillment. Now look at verse 38. "'Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what a straw to do with grain,' declares the LORD, is not my word like fire,' declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces." You see, there is no greater privilege in all of the earth than to be given the opportunity to teach from this book, because it is alive and it is active. It cuts through it, exposes attitudes and the judgments of hearts. It is able to correct and to rebuke and to train and to teach and to build up and to equip in righteousness.

And it is vastly different from the spiritual rhetoric of false prophets 600 BC and 2000 AD. You see, loved ones, don't assume that we're going to be able to pass this baton of faith into the hands of our children and our grandchildren just too easily. And we may make it through unscathed and be caught up to glory and go on to heaven.

But there's a generation coming behind us right now, as you know. Therefore, it is imperative that we understand, we obey, we apply the Word of God. You're listening to Truth for Life. That is Alistair Begg reminding us of the power and profit that is found only in the living and active Word of God.

We'll hear more tomorrow. Our aim at Truth for Life is to build your confidence in the reliability of Scripture. In addition to the daily teaching you hear on this program, we love recommending books that will encourage you to spend time immersed in God's Word. Today, we want to invite you to request a newly published Advent devotional titled O Come O Come Emmanuel.

It's a hardcover book. It contains a rich collection of daily readings to reflect on as you anticipate and experience the Christmas season. Each of these daily devotionals follows the same format, but with a different set of prayers and meditations. Each day you'll read from Scripture, you'll recite historical prayers, there's a creed or a catechism, you'll say the Lord's Prayer, and you'll end with a benediction. Request your copy of O Come O Come Emmanuel today when you give a donation to support the teaching ministry of Truth for Life. You can donate online at truthforlife.org slash donate or call us at 888-588-7884.

I'm Bob Lapine. Today we learned about how God's people took a vow not to neglect God's house. What exactly did that vow entail? Join us tomorrow as we learn how that vow caused God's people to completely realign their focus and what that means for us today. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.