How Shall We Respond to Scripture #2

Here in the New Testament we see that the death and resurrection of Christ are the basis on which God releases us from sin redeems us from sin breaks its power so that you can become this kind of person the Psalm 19 has illustrated you to be hello and welcome once again to pulpit with John Green, founding pastor of truth Community Church, Cincinnati, Ohio today as he continues teaching God's people. God's word.

Don wraps up a series called effective Bible study with a final look at the absolute necessity of allowing God's word changes from the inside out. If you got your Bible handy, let's get started. Here is our teacher with part two of a message called, how shall we respond to Scripture here on the truthful, what is it that you should want as a Christian.

One of the central things in your heart going forward from this moment you're sitting here as you look forward out on your life and work goes here from now. Maybe some of you realizing you know you been you've been unfaithful to God.

You've you've been you've been an irritable, argumentative influence in your household and your mindful of the fact that that's not right. What you need to feel the weight of the conviction of that. Not just kind of brushed it off and say well that's just the way I am well just the way you are, might just be displeasing to God and realize that you need to change you understand that it's just not right for you to be that way to accept sin in your life. The people perhaps have pointed out to you again and again and you just continue on and you refuse any correction young people. Now it's not right what your desire should be under the influence of the word of God is to say, God, what I want is I want to compliant heart for you and I want to grow in holiness. That's the way we respond to God's word.

That's the way indirection.

The Scripture points us in that spirit runs throughout the Bible, look over at Matthew chapter 60 want to reinforce this in your mind, the spirit of anticipating sin and asking God to deliver you from sin before it even happens. Matthew chapter 6 Matthew chapter 6 verse 12, Jesus taught us to pray our father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, verse 12.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors and see the forgive us our debts forgive the existing deficiencies that I have before you will.

God and then Jesus says look to the future. Verse 13 and do not lead us into temptation as we go from this point forward. Father, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

He says so going forward. Lord I do not want to go into temptation. Rather, I want you to order my steps by your providence so that I am led into a life of obedience to you Lord direct my steps providentially hinder me from going into those realms where I would be tempted to sin and instead father deliver me from it. Deliver me from the realm of Satan.

The influence of demons from the unrighteousness. It is in my own heart.

Deliver me from all of that father why so that I might be blameless before you so that I might walk complete before you, that I might respond to you in a way of which are worthy youth who are hallowed using his kingdom is coming use use will should be done. Lord, I want to be in compliance with you. I will be in submission. Do you want all my heart affections to be in complete sympathy with you, with no countervailing force having power in my heart that's a proper response to God's word you see in it say it's a character shaping it it it it forms fundamental aspects of who you are, not just a superficial thing for the day. This is pointing us to the way that we should be not simply what we should do what we should be in the presence of God. While is one final aspect of it here seen David asked for pardon for past sin. He seeks protection from future sin finally asked for purity in God's presence asked for purity in God's presence. God's knowledge is pervasive.

Our secrets are open before him our inner man is subject to his examination. What David does. Here in verse 14. As he takes his whole inner man and he lays it, as it were, on the altar of God says God hears my sacrifice before you. Here's what I want to be. Here's here's what I give to you father verse 14. Look at it with me. He says let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight oh Lord my rock and my Redeemer. What's David doing here he is praying that his inner man would honor the Lord is praying that he's praying that the very way that he thinks would be pleasing to God is a lot got wrapped up in that. Isn't there that the Lord that my thoughts would be through the what I think about you and what I think about myself would be aligned with the truth of your word that you've revealed. I want my thoughts to be true.

Lord, because I know that would be pleasing to you.

I want my desires and my impulses to be toward righteousness and holiness rather than toward sin in this world. I want my affections to align with the people of God rather than desiring the wickedness of the people that are around me that don't know you. I don't want to to want the same things that an unsaved man wants because father he doesn't even seek after you. I'm seeking after you God and so I want the totality of all of the different impulses of my heart. I want every one of them to be that which you could look upon and be pleased and say that's the way it should be there, something that always strikes me about this song.

Look back at verse 19 verse one, the comprehensive thought of this song is astounding.

He opens up in verse one on a macro scale, saying the heavens are telling of the glory of God and their expanse is declaring the work of his hands. He looks out and as it were, PE peers through the spiritual Hubble telescope and he looks into the deep recesses of the skies in the creation and he gives glory to God for the way that he's displayed himself like that says God your glories on display there and as you work through the song and you get down toward the to the final words that he says here he's gone from macro to micro he's gone from outside to inside.

He says God your glories displayed in the heavens. I wanted displayed in my heart I wanted displayed in the person that I am. That's how much he desired purity and you know what, that's true righteousness. That's a glorious transformation when you understand and embrace the fact that God is not simply looking at you like men do, that God is not simply looking at your outer conduct, and as long as the good church people look at you and think that you're doing okay that you're all right, that's not true. God's after an inner transformation. He's after your inner man your inner affections in the way that you think belong to him and are under his authority you have you have an obligation of loyalty for your inner man to belong to God in a in a loving, submissive, affectionate way. And David says, Lord.

That's the kind of person that I want to be. I want the very way that I think to be pleasing to you. I want the things that I feel to be right in your presence. I want the things that motivate me in life to be that which you would look on and say that's good, that's what I want out of my children there someone who's reflecting the image of my son. That's it. That's the proper response to the word of God is when you recognize that your inner man is a place of worship before a holy God. It's from that inner man that transformed mind that transformed affections. It's there that come forth fitting words of praise is from that the flows the issues of life that you guard your heart so that that your heart is directing you in the ways that would be pleasing to this God who has revealed himself what should your response be to God's word. Your response to God's word should be that you have a desire, a comprehensive complete desire to please him with the purity of your life. That is the only proper response to this holy God. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15 says this through Christ then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God.

That is the fruit of lips that give thanks to his name in an epistle that was all about the superiority of Christ in the book of Hebrews, it comes down to this saying through this Christ then here's our response. Here's our response.

We offer up continually as a mark of character is a mark of the settled affections of your heart I will be a man who praises God. I'm going to be a man who gives thanks to God I'm going to be a woman who devotes my energies and affections to being a woman of God that reflects what he would have me to be and that he would find in my heart, egg, AAA, a bundle of affections and emotions of intentions and right-thinking that is all designed to reflect back on his holiness with purity that he finds pleasing and a heart that is full of gratitude that he's made himself known in creation, but is made himself known in the Scriptures is made himself known in crises made himself known in my conscience. He's made himself known in in my very conversion is made himself known in the church all these great ways that God is made himself known and you think this, what say he's made himself known so comprehensively from the greatest skies to the to the job until of Scripture disabled in if he's revealed himself so comprehensively like that then you know what is going to get from me you say to yourself what is going to get for me is he's going to get my all is going to get a comprehensive response from me not cherishing sin but holding things on the that I want to keep, but that there would be a total unconditional complete repentance from sin in your life that the gives yourself unconditionally to Christ. That's the only thing the trite for you to be satisfied with anything less than that kind of complete self response to God is not right. That's not worthy of a God who's done so much for us in Christ and in his word continual offer of sacrifice, the fruit of lips to give thanks to his name.

Now, as we say that an even as David as David said it he says is not with the spirit of posting he says it in a spirit of trust. The spirit of expectant trust of reliance on the goodness of God rather than a reliance on self and his own self effort look, let's just be honest with each other, haven't you and I both had enough failure and saying I'm going to be this kind of person now and you go out and you stumble on the drive home for some US pretty hard. You got a short drive in five minutes. You know, I don't know how that happens but have you had enough of making these grandiose declarations about what you're going to be and then you go out, stumble on it later and you just you know you know what that's like David here isn't asserting his desires for purity and that's in that spirit, here's the spirit in which you offer that up where you offer that desire to to God.

Look at verse 14 with me again. He says let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight oh Lord, Yahweh, my God of faithful love my covenant keeping God my promise keeping God. Lord, I offer that up to you because you keep your promises because your covenant keeping God because I'm someone great and myself, my rock, he offers up the spirit in it with them and with the metaphors complete trust that you are the refuge you are what I cling to you are the foundation stone that I lay hold out as I express these desires.

Lord not I trust not in myself that I can be this way all.

It's where I want to go the father, the ultimate fulfillment must come from you. You must help me be like that Yahweh is reliable he is a sure source of strength to David because he is his rock eases promise keeping God. Don't miss those closing words at the end there, either. Oh Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. Redeemer being a word that speaks of God as his deliverer. God is the one watch this God is the one who delivers his people from bondage. He redeemed the people of Israel from Egypt. He redeemed them from slavery.

He has the power to bring us out from foreign hostile powers that are over us and bring us into the place of his blessing where he is appointed us to be and what David is saying here not.

He's speaking in a spiritual sense right you get this. This is really really important for you to see. He's not talking about a physical deliverance when he talks about about Yahweh is his Redeemer because all of the whole contactor member contacts from this past weekend you do, don't you, good.

The whole context is confession of sin. Lord deliver me from temptation lead me in the right way to go. And so, spiritually, and he and he says, Lord, I offer up my inner man is an altar of worship to you and so this is his inner man, responding, not asking for physical deliverance here at the end he says, Lord, I offer up this prayer to you in trust for who you are my rock and my defense and my Redeemer. Lord, you have the power to deliver me, even from the sinful impulses of my own heart. You can lift me beyond those you have the supernatural ability to free me from the shackles of my own sin so that I could become that which I have asked you to make me my rock and my Redeemer. He is trusting God to deliver him from the power of sin, so that he could worship acceptably in the presence of God. You know, as you read Scripture and as you study Scripture you realize it or that it that it beckons you it calls you illustrates for you a profound response doesn't it. These aren't superficial emotions that David is expressing as if he'd know he'd heard a catchy Christian tune on you know radio Israel and is just responding in a motion to a musical impulse, his home inner man is engaged in seeing what I want you to see is that that's the illustration and that's example for you as well but your whole inner man would be engaged.

The you would think through life and say okay Mike, my whole life belongs to this one in David's prayer here foreshadows even the reality of New Testament salvation. You were in bondage to sin. You were under a curse.

The curse of God that comes upon those who disobey his law and what did Christ do Christ came and Christ redeemed us Christ redeemed us from that power with his death on the cross. Galatians 3 verse 13 Galatians 3 verse 13 says Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us in the fulfillment of God being David's Redeemer was was so much greater than what David must've understood in the shadows of the Old Testament that the redemption of God was so complete in the way that God answered this Old Testament prayer was so profound that he entered into human flesh and went to a cross to make sure that that redemption would be a cop redemption in Christ has freed you from sin from the penalty of sin and it is broken the power of sin in your life so that you can belong to God, you can belong to Christ and live a life that a profound depth that is devoted to his glory here on the New Testament, we see that the death and resurrection of Christ are the basis on which God releases us from sin redeems us from sin breaks its power so that you can become this kind of person the Psalm 19 has illustrated you to be beloved that how God's word blesses us why we spent so much time over the past two days trying to understand why we can understand Scripture and the kind of person that we need to be to understand Scripture and how we shall interpret Scripture and how do we get started.

Why do we. Why do we go to all of that trouble. Why so many hours on that one thing why so much, why does the question even need to be asked, why would we do it because how many times do we have to say it because this word is precious because the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom it testifies is precious because he died for you. He rose again for you to do is to save you from sin and to secure for you and eternal glory that you didn't deserve Matt's precious that's awesome. It's glorious, it's undeserved. It's gracious, it's merciful.

It's kind of God's done all of that is recorded in force in Scripture than is and at the least that we can do if Christ gave his all like that for us isn't the least we can do is to give our all and return in our inner man is there anyone of you that would want to argue that that's not necessary that that that it would be right to be any other way. He wants to make that case in the presence of a holy God, not me, and I know not you. Psalm 19 has pointed you to how your soul was restored and says this is the way forward in living a life that response in a manner that glorifies him want to settle it in your heart fresh once you renew your desire what you renew your commitment as we close here to say yes.

That's the kind of person I'm going to be I want to give you a moment to just respond to what we seen in Psalm 19.

This will be a little bit will take a just a little bit of extended time here to help you respond and not just rush into the next part of the service. David showed us to pray for pardon for past sins. Noah take take a few moments now and just confess sin in response to God's word.

Understand that you do fall short. God is graciously giving you a few quiet moments in the presence of Christ in the presence of his word to confess things and to straighten out those wrong areas of your life before. Take a moment to do that just now. We seen from God's word here to to ask God to lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Isn't it your desire to toot for God to work in your heart to direct you away from sin and toward greater personal holiness will take a moment to ask him to do just that.

He's eager to answer that sincere prayer from your heart and want you just now without reservation without trying to hold onto anything else. What you just gather up your whole inner man and offered to God as David did, but the meditations of my mouth. The thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you. The words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you want to ask God to make you a person like that going forward that's nongreen, bringing our series titled effective Bible study to a powerful close here on the truth pulpit will friend if you'd like to hear today's message again. Or perhaps you'd like to find out how you could support this ministry.

Just go to the truth. Pulpit.com that's the truth.

Pulpit.com right now. Here again is done with some final thoughts while my friend it's sad but true to realize that were living in an age where people increasingly do not care what the truth is, Scripture told us that there would be times like that in second Timothy 43 it says the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.

What should you and I do. Our response must be to study and teach Scripture. All the more carefully friend thank you for your prayers and your support of the truth pulpit as we seek to teach God's people. God's word.

Thanks God that's all the time we have right now I feel like inviting you to join us next time.

Nongreen continues teaching God's people got truthful