Understanding and enjoying
God’s word
Psalm 119 et al
Good morning everyone, you can be turning to Psalm 119 just about smack dab in the middle of your bible. We are continuing our series entitled, “Pathways of Grace.” We are looking at the various means of grace God gives us whereby we can walk with him and accomplish his purposes for our lives. We have been looking at the essential means of grace of the word of God. We’ve talked about how the word is necessary for true life, how we benefit from it as we read it, memorize it, hear it and today we are going to talk about how we benefit from it as we study and meditate on it. The title of the message today is “Understanding and Enjoying God’s Word.” Let’s pray as we seek God for his blessing on the preaching of his word today.
Psalm 119:9-32 (ESV)
9 How
can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 10 With
my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! 11 I
have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. 12 Blessed
are you, O Lord; teach me your
statutes! 13 With my lips I declare all the rules of
your mouth. 14 In the way of your testimonies I delight
as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix
my eyes on your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will
not forget your word. 17 Deal bountifully with your servant, that I
may live and keep your word. 18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous
things out of your law. 19 I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not
your commandments from me! 20 My soul is consumed with longing for your
rules at all times. 21 You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones,
who wander from your commandments. 22 Take away from me scorn and contempt, for
I have kept your testimonies. 23 Even though princes sit plotting against
me, your servant will meditate on your statutes. 24
Your testimonies are my
delight; they are my counselors. 25 My soul clings to the dust; give me life
according to your word! 26 When I told of my ways, you answered me;
teach me your statutes! 27 Make me understand the way of your
precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. 28
My soul melts away for
sorrow; strengthen me according to your word! 29
Put false ways far from me
and graciously teach me your law! 30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I
set your rules before me. 31 I cling to your testimonies, O Lord; let me not be put to shame! 32 I
will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!
This wonderful Psalm celebrates the wonder of God’s precious word in all 176 verses. It is a Hebrew acrostic poem, each 8 verses beginning with the same Hebrew letter, running through all 23 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This morning I want to spring off of a wonderful sentiment we find in Psalm 119. Did you notice it from the section we read? Listen again to a few of the verses from what we read.
Psalm 119:9-32 (ESV)
11 I
have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. 12 Blessed
are you, O Lord; teach me your
statutes! ….. 15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix
my eyes on your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will
not forget your word. ….. 18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. 19 I
am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me! ……. 26 When
I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes! 27 Make
me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous
works. ….. 29 Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law! …… 32 I will run in the way of your commandments
when you enlarge my heart!
Wow! This psalmist loved God’s word and longed to draw his life from it. From this longing came a heartfelt prayer that God would grant him understanding from the word. This brother was obviously committed to studying and meditating on God’s word so that he might enjoy all its benefits. And that is what I want to talk about this morning – studying and meditating for the purpose of understanding and enjoying God’s word. Now when I say enjoying I mean that in the broadest sense of the word – in other words, finding our life, our strength, our obedience, our joy in God’s word. And the fundamental truth I want us to remember is that if we are to enjoy God’s word we must give ourselves to study of God’s word. We must seek understanding for the purpose of enjoyment. So I want to take time this morning and next week to talk about how we are to study God’s word. There are 4 points I want to convey in this two-part message about the study of scripture. 1) Scripture is Compelling, 2) Scripture is Clear, 3) Scripture is in Context and 4) Scripture is Christ-Centered. So first, Scripture is compelling.
1.
Scripture is
Compelling
Any study of God’s word must be based on the conviction that
we are not dealing with just any old piece of literary works. We must enter into our study of God’s word
with this conviction or we will miss its benefits. Although the bible is indeed literature and
the common methods of analyzing literature can be extremely helpful in
understanding the bible, the bible is not any old literature. It is a supernatural book given by God
himself. The scriptures by the power of
the Holy Spirit and the history of the people of God attest that this book is
the very words of God breathed out by God himself as men wrote. It is important
that we ground our confidence in the scriptures above all things in the fact
that God himself attests that these are his words by the power of the
Spirit. We have two places to ground our
assurance of truth – on our own opinions or on God’s as they are revealed to us
by the Holy Spirit. This is what is
called the self-attestation of scripture.
It just means that we ultimately know the real truth only when God
reveals it to us – and he does so by His Spirit as we read the scriptures. Calvin has said "[although] sufficiently firm proofs
are at hand to establish the credibility of scripture," "we ought to
seek our conviction in a higher place than human reasons, judgments, or
conjectures, that is, in the secret testimony of the Spirit."[1]
So we know because of scripture and the testimony of God to us as we read scripture that this is a book breathed out by God as men wrote. Peter says in 2 Peter
"no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1:20-21, ESV)
And in 2 Timothy it says,
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness," (2 Timothy 3:16, ESV)
As the inspired word of God the scriptures are compelling – that is they are to be treated as unique and life determining. I think this is a natural and understandable conclusion for us. If we were trying to settle an estate we would know just what to do if we had a document actually written by the owner that spelled out their wishes for their estate. If we knew the document was genuinely from the owner we would use it as authoritative in the handling of the estate. We call such a document a valid will. Well, God is the owner of the estate called the universe which includes you and me and we have a reliable document from him that spells out his wishes. Therefore, since the word of God is inspired of God it is necessarily compelling.
And when I say compelling I mean in particular that they are inerrant, reliable, authoritative and sufficient for all of life in God.
1.1.
Inerrancy & Reliability
They are inerrant. They accomplish all they are meant to accomplish and they do so without error. If the bible is God breathed and are the very words of God, not merely the inspirational words of spiritual men, it follows that they are without error as originally received. Augustine said,
“Because they come from the Holy Spirit the sacred writings cannot contain error.”[2]
[3]"This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him." (Psalm 18:30, ESV)
"The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;" (Psalm 19:7, ESV)
This is the testimony of the scriptures themselves. So we are to approach the word of God understanding that it is inerrant, without fault and fully trustworthy. Time does not permit me to fully walk us through all the details of this and the common objections to this assertion that have been made and well answered throughout the history of God’s people. If you have any questions about this do not be afraid to ask. I believe the bible is truth and therefore robust, it can handle any and all of your questions. And don’t think your questions are original – most likely they have already been asked and answered. I can remember thinking my doubts and questions were original and being afraid to ask others for fear I might cause them to doubt. How sad. I have come to find out that I have no original thoughts, doubts or questions – maybe an original sense of humor, but not any original ideas, and that the counsel of the scriptures and the people of God are more than adequate to answer any of them. I would count it a privilege to help you wrestle through them – that can be a very important and healthy exercise.
1.1.1. Textual Criticism
Let’s take a few minutes to just talk about a few ways we see the inerrancy and reliability of scripture. First, the bible is unique among all ancient books. Although it is written 2000 or more years ago over a span of about 1500 years, we have much reason for full confidence that the bibles we now possess are nearly perfectly preserved for our benefit. Let me show you this with a chart.
|
When
Written |
Earliest
Copy |
Time
Span |
No. of
Copies |
|
|
Homer (Iliad) |
900 BC |
400 BC |
500 years |
643 |
|
Caesar (The Gallic Wars) |
100 - 44 BC |
900 AD |
1,000 years |
10 |
|
Plato (Tetralogies) |
427 - 347
BC |
900 AD |
1,200 years |
7 |
|
Aristotle |
384 - 322
BC |
1,100 AD |
1,400 years |
49 |
|
Herodotus (History) |
480 - 425
BC |
900 AD |
1,300 years |
8 |
|
Euripides |
480 - 406
BC |
1,100 AD |
1,500 years |
9 |
|
New Testament |
50 - 90
A.D. |
130 AD |
30 years |
24,000 |
|
This chart was adapted from charts in Evidence
that Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell, 1979, pages 42 and 43; [4] |
||||
Here we have a listing of 7 well regarded ancient documents. The left-hand column lists the different documents, with the New Testament at the bottom. The next column tells when the original was written. The next column tells us how old the earliest copy we have is. The next column gives the time span, that is, the amount of time from the original to the earliest copy we have. Notice that the time spans say in order, 500 years, 1000 years, 1200 years, 1400 years, 1300 years, 1500 years and then, 30 years. Among all these well-regarded ancient documents that are all considered reliable, the NT stands out as incredibly unique in that it is only 30 years between the original and the texts we have, that means the texts we have would have been used by those who heard the apostles and perhaps touched the originals with their own hands. That’s incredible, but that’s not all. Look at the last column on the far right. This lists the number of ancient copies we have of each of these documents. Going down the right hand side we see 643 copies, 10 copies, 7, 49, 8, 9 copies and then 24,000 copies. Wow! That is amazing. This is what Matthew Slick of Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry says about this:
The NT was written in Greek and we have more than 5000 different Greek Manuscripts from which to compare. Additionally, there are another 19,000 manuscripts of ancient origin that are translations. That is, we have 19,000 manuscripts of the New Testament in Latin, ..... And finally, all of the NT (except for 11 verses) can be reconstructed from quotes of early church writings. It is very well preserved.[5]
Now, we know the original manuscripts were breathed by God as the authors wrote and are inerrant and fully reliable. But, there are some discrepancies introduced over the ages as the bible was transcribed. All in all these discrepancies are all very minor and involve a copyists changing a spelling or introducing a term that they felt might have been missing or needed to better explain a passage. But, because we have so many of these ancient documents it is not hard to discern where these errors were introduced and eliminate them. Check out this chart, again courtesy of CARM. This is a made up example but mirrors such examples as we may find in textual criticism such as in Mark 1:1.
Not only is the New Testament fully reliable but so is the Old Testament. Until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940's, the oldest extant copy of any Old Testament writings were the Masoretic Text dated around 916 AD. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, a complete copy of Isaiah was found. Its date was 125 BC. The difference in dates between the oldest copy and the newly discovered Isaiah document was 1000 years. This provided a pristine opportunity to judge the copying accuracy of the Old Testament documents since it would be easily discernable which errors crept in over 1000 years. The documents proved to be 95% textually identical. The 5 percent that was different were mainly misspellings of words and did not constitute any threat to the content or reliability of the text. This shows how accurately it was transmitted. [6] Folks, our bible is fully reliable!
1.1.2. Historic reliability.
1.1.2.1.
The Pool of
In John 5 it tells us of a paralytic who is healed in pool called
1.1.2.2. The Hittites
For years archaeologists scoffed at the notion that there was a tribe of people called the Hittites although the bible mentions them some 60 times, then, in 1906 archaeologists found 10,000 clay tablets with numerous references to the Hittites.[8]
I hope you are convinced that the scriptures are fully reliable and inerrant. It is ultimately because the scriptures are breathed from God. And they are not only reliable and inerrant but also authoritative for our lives.
1.2.
Authoritative
I hope all that review of textual and historical reliability and inerrancy didn’t make your brain too full. The point of all this is not academic. The point of all this is to fully persuade us that the bible is no ordinary book, it contains the words of life and as the very word of God it is to be the ultimate source of truth for our lives. Jesus himself said in John 17:17, “Sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth.” As the truth and very word of God to the bible demands ultimate authority in the life of God’s people and all of creation for that matter. God commanded Joshua to study and meditate on it, for his success as a leader and follower of God depended on it.
"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." (Joshua 1:8, ESV)
Jesus teaches us that the one who heeds the word of God is truly his disciple in John 8 and that only those who abide in the word are those in His Father’s love. It is the man who builds his house on the words of God that endures the storms of life according to Luke 6. Isaiah teaches us that the word of God and those who do the word of God stand forever.
" A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever." (Isaiah 40:6-8, ESV)
Ideas come and go, theories change, great civilizations arise and then fade into memory or even obscurity but the word of God continues and never fails to speak truth. Folks there are a million philosophies out there and they are nothing but recycled ideas of men. There is nothing new under the sun. And these various ideas may contain elements of truth but ultimately they will fade and fail. Yet, God’s word will endure forever as the only ultimate authority over our lives. So when we come to the word to study and meditate on it we come to it as compelling, that is, as inerrant and reliable, we come to it as authoritative in our lives and we come to it as sufficient.
1.3.
Sufficiency
In line with all that we have been saying, the word of God is sufficient for our lives in all matters that pertain to our relationship with God and others. No, the bible doesn’t teach you how to change the oil in your car but it does talk of the essential things that are important while you change your oil – how to know and love God, how to view mankind, how to relate to others. The very necessary things for true life are found in the bible and the bible is entirely sufficient to address these things. The truth of the bible makes the difference between changing your oil for the love and glory of God and changing it for some other reason. These are more important issues than whether to use 5W-30 or 20W-50. Listen to how the scripture puts it:
" His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire." (2 Peter 1:3-4, ESV)
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17, ESV)
If I understand 2 Timothy right it says that it is the scripture that makes me competent, equipped for every good work. Nothing wrong with reading other authors or consulting what the business world says about leadership but the fundamental truth is that the best any of these books can do is bring attention to what the scriptures already teach in regards to relating to God and to others. If I really want the information and power to be an effective Christian and an effective pastor I need look no further than the flawless and fully competent word of God. Yes, that often comes through good books and good teaching, but good books and good teaching must refer to or duplicate what the truth of God already teaches if they are to be effective regarding the soul and relationships. David Powlison says,
“The Word of God is living and alive: it strikes home, convicting you of sin and convincing you of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. This Word effectively elicits your love; powerfully renews your mind; wisely guides, guards and shepherds your walk.”[9]
--David Powlison
There is a constant drift to pull us away from relying on the word of God in matters of faith and practice. There is always the latest psychological theory that comes along and woos and wins us only to be discarded a decade later. For instance, do you remember inkblot tests, self-esteem training, codependency, playing Mozart for babies, Rebirthing therapy, Catharsis therapy? All of these are largely disputed in the psychological profession as in a recent Psychology Today article. Listen to what they say about recovered memories:
While under treatment for depression in the mid-1980s, Patricia Burgus made a horrible discovery. Her psychiatrist, employing both hypnosis and medication, helped Burgus remember that she had been a victim of horrendous abuse as a child -- torture, cannibalism, even participation in ritual murders. She also learned that she had more than 300 alternate personalities. Burgus was hospitalized for more than two years, often in leather restraints. Eventually she began to doubt the validity of her many "recovered" memories. She sued her therapist, his associate and the hospital where they practiced and ultimately won a settlement of $10.6 million. Burgus was one of many swept up in the "recovered memory" craze of the 1980s. Zealous therapists encouraged clients to recall repressed memories of childhood abuse, leading to more than 800 lawsuits against alleged abusers between 1985 and 2000. Many of these resulted in incarcerations. A few led to suicides.[10]
Folks, I don’t bring these up to disparage psychology entirely but just to make us aware that the treatment of the soul is fully covered in the bible. Yes, there is valuable information that we can gain from psychology and psychiatry but in regards to the soul, the bible is fully competent to counsel us. Why? Because it is the very words of God given for fundamentally what we need for truth and life regarding our relationship with God and with one another. The scriptures are fully sufficient! They deserve our highest confidence. They are inerrant, fully inspired, reliable, authoritative, and entirely sufficient – the word of God to which we apply ourselves is truly compelling! So let us dig in with great anticipation, great confidence and great excitement. We have the very words of God – glory, alleluia!
Well, we have covered only part of this material today. Next time we are going to look at how the scriptures are clear, in context and Christ centered as we cover the fundamental mindset and methods we bring to the study of God’s word for the purpose of understanding and enjoyment. Let’s us finish where we started – with reading a portion of Psalm 119. Close your eyes and listen.
Psalm 119:9-32 (ESV)
11 I
have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. 12 Blessed
are you, O Lord; teach me your
statutes! ….. 15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix
my eyes on your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will
not forget your word. ….. 18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. 19 I
am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me! ……. 26 When
I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes! 27 Make
me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous
works. ….. 29 Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law! …… 32 I will run in the way of your commandments
when you enlarge my heart!
Let’s pray.