“I Will Instruct You” (Part 1 of 2)

Welcome to Truth Network. Not only about his past, but about his future as well. Today on Truth for Life Weekend, we'll find out why we can trust God with our future fears as well as our past regrets. Alistair Begg is continuing our study in Psalm 32.

The story so far is of David's transgression. In fact, he mentions that in verse 1, happy is the one whose transgressions are forgiven. And the transgression that is unremoved reveals itself in depression, in verses 3 and 4, my bones wasted away. And then the depression is alleviated by confession.

I confess my sins to you, I acknowledge my sins. And in that confession there is liberation, freedom, and as he sees all that is his in God, he recognizes that it is God who is the source of his protection. And verse 7, you are my hiding place, you will protect me from trouble. And then between verse 7 and verse 8, there is a voice change, and God speaks in verse 8, and we move into the realm of instruction. Verses 8 and 9 are essentially the Lord's reply to David's words.

Let's just read them again. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding, but must be controlled by bit and bridle, or they will not come to you. David is here making this wonderful discovery, and it is truly a wonderful discovery, that God is not only able to deal with his past, but God is also willing to direct his future.

It bears saying again, doesn't it? He is reminded that God deals with his past and directs his future. If you pay attention to people's conversation, as I'm sure you do, you will have noticed, as I have noted, that not only in the realm of athletics and particularly professional golf, but also in just about every aspect of life, it is difficult to go through a week without somebody telling you that they are just living in the moment. I am just in the moment.

Or I was in real time. And that kind of phraseology has become part of our common, everyday interchange. But at a far more disturbing level, I think most people would be prepared to acknowledge that their inability to deal with the sixty seconds they are now experiencing is more often than not tied to the fact that when they go backwards, it is to recrimination and to regret and to disappointment and to failure. And indeed, one of the questions of their lives is, Is there any way, is there anyone who can legitimately deal with my past? And in looking forward, is there anyone who can help me with my fears—fears about my health and about my future and about my family and about my retirement and about my eternal destiny ultimately?

So if you've had any of those thoughts, I think you're simply representative of what is generally the case. And therefore, I hope you will be helped, at least in that respect, by what we find before us this morning. David introduced to the fact that God not only deals with his past but directs his future. He doesn't simply take him up out of a miry pit, out of the clay, as in Psalm 40, and set his feet upon a rock, but he establishes his going. At least that's the King James version.

That's how it finishes. Psalm 40 verse 2, He set my feet on a rock and established my going. The whole notion of forward momentum, of that propulsion that takes us on. Now, it's quite common for someone who has recently accepted God's offer of forgiveness, someone who has recently come to understand who Jesus is and what he's done and has become a believer, has been converted, has become a follower of Jesus, for them to ask the question, What happens next? Is there any kind of course of instruction? And the answer, of course, is yes. And wonderfully, as this eighth verse makes clear, not only is there a course of instruction which is very comprehensive, but it is God himself who promises to do the teaching. And this God who promises to do the teaching has provided for us the course notes.

And all that we have for the course is provided for us in the Bible that he has given to us. And this God, this instructor, is the one who takes a very personal interest in the welfare of his children. I will counsel you and watch over you. The promise here is not that God passes it off to some lackey, not that he gives it away to some inferior being. No, he says, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.

I will counsel you, and I will watch over you. You say, Well, he doesn't do that directly, does he? He does it through the Bible. He does it through pastors and teachers and so on. He uses means.

Of course he does. But here's the issue. I or any other individual may do my best to exegete this passage. I may study it, learn it, hopefully get it as right as I can, and convey it to you.

You may listen to that, and at a cerebral level, you may process the information. But unless God is your teacher in that and through that, then everything that happens happens at a completely superficial level. It is when you are listening to the Bible taught by a mere individual that a divine dialogue takes place with your soul, whereby you recognize at a deep-seated level that something is taking place in this interaction that cannot now purely be explained in terms of the verbiage of the one addressing us, but that at the very core of our being there is an instruction taking place, and we feel as though we are instructed by the very one who wrote the book into whose pages we are looking. That is what God pledges to his servant to do, and he does to us who also serve him.

Spurgeon gets it wonderfully when he says, He who made you his child will put you to school and teach you until you shall know the Lord Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life. Now, let's look at this under four headings or four words concerning this instruction. Let's notice, first of all, that it is vital. Secondly, that it is practical. Thirdly, that it is personal. And fourthly, that it is rational. We'll never get to four.

We may get to three. But why worry? First of all, this instruction is vital. It is vital instruction. And we can't say that about all instruction, can we? Not every piece of information that comes our way is vital.

Maybe extraneous. Do you know this? Have you learned that?

Do you know this or the next thing? And someone says, Well, no, I didn't, but it doesn't really make a difference to me getting up in the morning or going through my life. But when we come to the instruction of verse 8—indeed, the indication of God's instruction to us in his Word—it is vital. And it is vital for three particular classes of person. Number one, it is vital for the beginner.

For the beginner. We all have to begin somewhere. And at the outset of any journey, we usually know very little. That's one of the difficult things and the humbling things about becoming a Christian when you're mature. You have actually established yourself in society. You have perhaps done well, and you are known for your intellectual prowess or for your athletic ability or whatever else it might be. And now you have come to an understanding of the need for the forgiveness of your sins, and you've discovered the joy of this forgiveness, and you've been ushered into a whole new world that you never knew before. And there is a language that you have never learned, and you find yourself surrounded by individuals who seem to know so much more than you. Well, don't be alarmed by that.

Everybody experiences that. We've become infants—spiritual infants. We are infants in the matters of divinity—an old word from an earlier era. But we just know so very little about God and God's ways and dealings.

And consequently, we know so very little about ourselves. Before we ever trusted in Jesus, we viewed ourselves in a certain way. We viewed other people in a different way. And we viewed Jesus in a different way.

But all of that has changed. In fact, you might want to just have that reinforced for you by turning for a moment to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And in 2 Corinthians 5, we have what is a classic verse. If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation, the old is gone, the new has come. Now, if we were asked to explain how the evidence of transformation is revealed, we might mention all kinds of things. Interestingly, in the context in which verse 17 falls in 2 Corinthians 5, Paul is pointing out that the big change in the person who has been changed is in, essentially, the way they view things. The way they view things. And we understand this by recognizing his identification of what now is so that, antithetically, we know what was not.

Let me just show you. Those who are not new creations, verse 12, take pride in what is seen. Okay?

They're all about externals, they're all about the outside. Secondly, in verse 15, they live for themselves. Thirdly, in verse 16, they regard Jesus from a worldly point of view.

Okay? Before a person comes to trust in Jesus, they take pride in what is seen, they live for themselves, and they regard Jesus from a worldly point of view. But when a person is in Christ and becomes a new creation, these three things are altered.

And the believer has an altogether different view of Jesus, of other people, and of himself or herself. That's one of the ways we identify the fact that we've actually become Christians. Because we look at people and we say, I wonder if she's a Christian. We never thought that before.

It was never a question. We didn't know anything about being a Christian. Or we thought everyone was a Christian. Or we find ourselves listening to the television, and somebody says something about Jesus and besmirches the name of Jesus, and we find ourselves saying, That pains me to hear Jesus spoken about like that. That's an indication of the change.

Before, it was commonplace. What's different? We have been changed. And the change on the inside reveals itself on the outside. Now, unless we're able to go to the Bible, to the instruction manual, then we're never going to know that kind of thing. By nature, we viewed ourselves in one way, and by grace, we see ourselves completely differently. And when we begin the Christian journey, we're so unaware of who God is, we're really unaware of ourselves and what we're like, our vulnerability to temptation and to dangers, we're just, frankly, a bunch of babies. And we need to be suckled by the milk of God's Word, as Peter says when he writes to his followers. The instruction, then, is vital, first of all, for the beginner.

Secondly, it is vital for the confused. The Bible acknowledges that we are foolish people, we are wayward. That's why verse 9, to which we'll never come this morning, is right there. Do not be like the horse or mule.

It's a very straightforward statement, isn't it? I think many of us would be tempted to take verse 8 and annex it. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you and watch over you. I'm sure somebody can put a lovely melody line to that. You know, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.

It's a nice, cozy thought, isn't it? Well, who's gonna write the tune for do not be like the horse or the mule, which you have no understanding? It's not a nice way to treat people, is it?

They say, Hey, excuse me, listen up, class! Cut the horsey stuff, cut the mule stuff, would you? Listen! That's what he's saying. Don't be like a horse or a mule. What are horses and mules like? We'll talk about that later.

I'm still researching it. But the fact is, they're not particularly rational. That's why you have to nudge them and squeeze them and bang them and hook them and whip them and do all those things. And we are, by nature, confused people. The Galatians were confused. That's why Paul writes to them and says, Are you foolish Galatians?

Are you getting confused all over again? Paul writes to Timothy, and he tells him, You need to understand that there will be people in your congregation who are swayed by all kinds of evil desires. They will be always learning and never able to acknowledge the truth.

Do you get that? Always learning, never able to acknowledge the truth. That's one of the saddest aspects of pastoral ministry, incidentally. To have people under your tutelage and your care who, by a certain point on the road, ought to be teachers, but they're not, and they constantly, like children, drift from one idea to another. And their great need is the instruction which God provides. And thirdly, it is vital instruction for the forgetful. For the forgetful. You say, Well, I'm not confused, and I hope you aren't. I'm not suggesting that everybody is.

The potential is there, but most of us are forgetful, aren't we? That's why the Bible tells us again and again to remember. Remember Jesus Christ, Paul says to Timothy. Who could ever forget that? Remember Lot's wife, who looked back and turned back. Remember your Creator in the days of your youth. Indeed, the ministry of teaching and preaching is essentially a ministry of reminder.

Peter makes it clear when he says, I intend always to remind you of these things, even though you know them and are doing them, so that after my departure you may be able to recall all of this. Well, let's move on. We've spent too long on that.

I'm sorry. This instruction is vital. Secondly, this instruction is practical.

It is practical. It is not merely theoretical. God is not content for us to be loaded up with information, to have big heads, as it were, just gargantuan craniums stashed with phraseology and information. What do you know about what the Bible has to say about the doctrine of X?

And out it comes. And someone else, the fact of the matter is that the information is given to us in order that it may be worked into the warp and woof of our lives. So, for example, a young man is going through his life, and he's seeking to be a follower of Jesus. He's trusted in Christ, and the heaviness has been replaced by this great happiness in finding the will and the way of God. And he's wrestling with the question of purity, and he reads in the instruction manual, and the instruction manual says that you're to live in purity. And as he is buffeted and challenged both by temptations from within and without, he finds himself saying, But how in the world am I supposed to do that? And he goes back into the instruction manual, and he finds the answer—that there is not simply the doctrine, but there is also the precept. Psalm 119.9. How will a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.

Here is the demand, here is the imperative, and here is the indicative. Vance Havner, the old Southern preacher. I heard just a couple of times before he died, after I arrived in this country, I always loved to hear him preach on Moody.

He had that great voice, and he used to say, Sin will keep you from this book, or this book will keep you from sin. Have you noticed? Neglect this, and it's much easier to sin. It's much easier to deviate. It's much easier to wander. It's much easier to play fast and loose with whatever's out there.

But when we have a steady daily diet and input of the instruction manual, it changes things. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. In the way you should go. Remember, Solomon says in Proverbs, There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death. And the way that we should go is different from the way that seems right to people. And that's what makes it so tremendously exhilarating and very often dreadfully challenging to go out into the thoroughfare of life and say that we're going this way, that we're going to go God's way, because God's way is perfect. And men and women say, But that's not the way most of us are going. Of course it isn't. And that's why the psalmist says, Teach me your way, O LORD.

Now, we must draw this to a close. How does this work itself out in life? Well, take any doctrine you want. Take, for example, the doctrine of creation. Here we have the instruction of God's Word about creation. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That's the instruction. So we start from that point.

How does that work itself out? Well, it changes the way in which we view, for example, the elderly in our society and moves us from the realm of sheer pragmatism into wrestling with the consequences of this doctrine, this instruction that God made man in his own image, and therefore the image of man is to be protected and cared for because of who God is. Or, if we take the doctrine of Jesus, second person of the Trinity, the lordship of Christ—Jesus is Lord, the incarnation—it changes everything. If Jesus is Lord, we have no freedom to believe anything other than what Jesus himself taught.

If Jesus is Lord, we have no freedom to behave in any other way than the way in which he said we must behave. So the instruction, vital as it is, is intensely practical. That's why Jesus said, There was a wise man, and he built a house, and he built it on solid foundations, and it didn't fall down when the storm hit. There was a foolish man, and he built a house, and he built it on the sand, and it collapsed when the storm hit. And he said, The one whose house stood is the picture of the man who hears my words and puts them into practice. But the collapsed house is the picture of the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice. I can only but imagine that his brother James listened very carefully to him on that day, because by the time James writes his letter, it is absolutely packed with practical information. And it is clear to James that this instruction that is provided for us changes everything—the way we conduct business, the way we handle money, the way we treat our employees, the way we view social standing. And this classic question is there for us.

What good is it if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? It would be like memorizing recipes, but never cooking meals, and certainly never sharing them with anyone who is hungry. This instruction is vital. It is practical.

Thirdly, I knew the word I had wrong. It is watchful. We can come to that. And then finally, of course, it is rational.

But we'll come back to this. You're listening to Truth for Life Weekend. That is Alistair Begg explaining why God's instruction is vital and practical.

We'll hear more next weekend. In addition to the solid Bible teaching you here at Truth for Life, we love bringing you books to help you learn more about God, to help you share your faith with future generations as well. Today we want to recommend to you a book that will teach young children what it means to be a Christian and enjoy God's blessings. It's Alistair's brand new book titled C is for Christian, an A to Z treasury of who we are in Christ. Find out more about the book C is for Christian when you visit our website at truthforlife.org. And while you read C is for Christian with children or grandchildren, you can also enjoy Alistair's free book for adults called The Christian Manifesto. It's available to download today for free as an ebook. In the book, The Christian Manifesto, you'll explore what Jesus taught about being in his kingdom, and you'll learn how his countercultural teaching about forgiveness and generosity, obedience, and more, how all of this is the path to great blessing. The Christian Manifesto comes with a corresponding study guide. You can download the ebook and the study guide for free today at truthforlife.org manifesto. Thanks for listening today. When God forgives our sin, he doesn't simply wipe our slate clean and then push us out in the world and tell us to do better. As we'll hear next weekend, God personally guides us and instructs us along the way. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.