died for this bride, for the church, for us, for me. And so, Father, we are grateful that you have instituted the church and that we just pray that you continue to use it for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We would pray, Father, that you continue to utilize the ordinary means of grace to help us to grow and be conformed to our Savior as well. And we just commit this time to you now, this first hour as well as the second hour, I pray that you would bless it, that we might grow in grace, that we might grow in the knowledge of Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. Well, this will be the last session that we'll have concerning the Word of God as the the means of grace that he ordinarily uses to cause his people to grow. One of the differences between teaching time like this and that of the second hour is that this time is is oftentimes more topical in nature as opposed to expository, and that's just the nature of a teaching such as this. And as such, hold on, because we're gonna be moving around the scriptures this morning, but I'm sure that it will go well. So we talked about those means that God ordinarily uses to cause us to grow in grace, that being the word and the fellowship, the prayers of the church, and the breaking of bread or the ordinances. And in our previous gatherings, we spoke concerning the Word as to the necessity of the Word and the exposure that we have had to the knowledge that we are sinful creatures and that we are creatures and that there is a God, there is a Creator. and that the light of nature, that which we see around us, reveals to us that there is a God. If we were to look at Psalm 19, for instance, it says the heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. So the creation around us, the things that we look at, our drive to the church service this morning, and the beauty that we see, the glorious day that God has given to us, reveals to us, it speaks to us that there is a God. And in fact, we also find that in Romans chapter one, and verses 19 and 20 where we read, ìFor what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them, for His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world into things that have been made. So we have creation. We can know about God. We know that there is a God, and we can know that this God possesses an eternal power and has a divine nature. His attributes, just in nature, reveal that there is a God, that we can know about God. But we also find in the necessity of the Word of God that we need to have revelation, a special revelation, because in our fallen state we cannot know God ourself unless God reveals Himself to us. And we find in 1 Corinthians 2.14 It says that the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able, not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. And the natural man who has, who will fall in nature, his spirit is dead, and he is not able to understand the things of God. So that's why we need special revelation. That's why the Word of God is so important to us. And we have this just prior to that, that verse 14, beginning in verse 10. It says, these things God has revealed to us. through the spirit for the spirit searches everything even the depths of God for who knows a person's thought except the spirit of that person which is in him so also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the spirit of God now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from God that we may understand the things freely given to us by God and we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural man does not have the ability to know the things of God because they are spiritually discerned. And so we have this special revelation. We have this redemptive revelation that is revealed to us, that which we receive, and then we again impart that to those around us. And so we have this special revelation that is necessary for us to know not only about God, but to know God himself. And then secondly, we spoke about the identity of the scriptures. And there we identified the 39 books of the Old Testament, the 27 books of the New Testament. And technically speaking, this is not the Word of God. It's a translation of the Word of God because the Word of God is given to us in the original languages of Hebrew and Aramaic in the Old Testament and in Greek in the New Testament, and the writers of the Confession say that it is necessary for us to translate this into a vulgar language, okay? Now, think of that in terms of being that that is different than Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic, not in other terms that we might think of it today, but it is translated into a language that we can understand and readily read. However, When there are questions as to doctrine and so forth, it is wise for the learned to go back to the Hebrew, to the Greek, to the Aramaic, and that's why Pastor Logan is studying the Greek and the Hebrew, so that he can go back to the original languages so that we might be better in form, that which he imparts to us, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, is right and correct. And along with that identity of the Scriptures, we spoke of the canon of Scripture, the canon meaning the straight edge of truth or the rule for our life. And so we have the necessity, we have the identity of Scripture, and then we also spoke about the authority of Scripture. I won't get into a lot on that as we review this, but I will just make this statement, and we said it several times, you said it with me, we believe the Word of God because It is the Word of God. It is self-authenticating. But the battle of the authority of Scripture, of God's Word, as I had said, has been won in evangelical circles over the previous decades for the most part. But the real issue that we typically deal with concerning the Word of God is the sufficiency. of the Word of God. We spoke to that last time, and we'll focus on that again this morning, especially in the proclaimed or the preached Word of God. So, do you believe that God has given to the world His revealed Word in all things necessary, all things necessary for His own glory, for man's salvation, and for faith and for life? More importantly, do you believe that God has given to you, given to you, all things necessary for these three areas, God's glory, man's salvation, and for faith and life? Our sufficiency of God's Word is primarily found in the preached word as those such as Pastor Logan, myself, or others proclaim the word to you and help to find its meaning and seek to apply it to our lives. And this is done in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. There's never a case that you can have the Word of God rightly preached where the Holy Spirit is not active, where the Holy Spirit is not active in the preaching of His Word, in the hearing of His Word by the congregation, and also in the belief of His Word. And we'll get into that thought about believing God's Word in just a bit here. concerning the proclamation of the Word. Now we've been in 2 Timothy chapter 3 several times in our teachings here, and I would like to continue here in chapter 4. In chapter 3 we had Paul's admonition to Timothy concerning being aware of the false teachers that are out there, but to follow his teaching conduct, his faith and patience, his steadfastness, his persecutions and his sufferings, to be participants in that. He reminded him of his upbringing, that he had learned the scriptures, the sacred writings, which were able to make him wise, and to continue to pastor the church in Ephesus, and to help the congregation grow in sanctification, because the Word of God is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and training in righteousness. Now, Pastor Timothy was a young pastor, and in all these things that were coming at the church in Ephesus, in all the things that come against today's church, against this church, Paul has a solution for that. And we cannot miss this. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom, Preach the word. Preach the word. Be ready. In season and out of season, whether it's convenient or inconvenient, preach the word. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching. Why? Why? For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." Does that sound like today's church? Well, let me tell you that that's the way it has always been from the day that Paul wrote this letter to Timothy, even to today, even to our own society. There are those who will not endure sound doctrine and will turn away from truth, seeking after other teaching and other myths to soothe their own itching ears. So Paul's solution here is to teach the word. and to preach the Word. And the Word is to be preached to whom? Everyone. The proclamation of the word is not only for unbelievers, the proclamation of God's word is for believers as well. Consider Paul as he wrote to the church in Rome. He said, I've longed to come to you. I've desired greatly that I might preach the word to you and have fruit among you as well. These are people that Paul had already identified, just in a few verses prior to that, as saints, as believers. Paul was anxious to preach the word, not only to unbelievers that they might be saved, but that the word might be effective in the lives of believers, those who have already believed. The word is to be preached to you, believers and unbelievers. We learn as we grow in grace about God's justification in the confession. Well, I'll turn to the back of it and say, in the catechism, what is justification? Church, if someone was to ask you, what is justification? Can you answer them? Those are the things that are taught from the pulpit. Justification is an act of God's free grace wherein he pardoneth all sins and accepted us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. Now right there, there's about four or five sermons in that one statement. When it speaks of God's free grace, well, it speaks of an act of God as opposed to a work of God, of God's free grace, of our forgiveness, and God's accepting us and adopting us and bringing us into his family. And only because Christ's own righteousness, those things that have been imputed to us, Isaiah 61, we are dressed in the robes of righteousness, in the obedience, the act of obedience of Christ that has been imputed to us, to our account. And in like manner, the word is preached to the church. What is adoption? Again, Adoption is an act of God's free grace whereby we are received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. We are brought into the very family of God. When we speak to one another, we speak to each other as what? Brother, as sister. A spiritual brother is closer to us oftentimes than a brother by blood who is an unbeliever. Because we're brought into the family of God. And being part of the family of God, we also have an inheritance. We can read about that in Romans chapter 8 and 1 Peter chapter 1. An inheritance that is undefiled, unfading, and kept or protected for us in heaven. kept for us in heaven by the very power of God, and we ourselves are protected by the very power of God. We learn about that from the preached Word of God. I hope you're getting a sense of how important it is to be under the preached Word of God, to hear God speak through the preacher. And the preached Word of God reveals God's will for our lives. Do you know that I know what the will of God is for your life? I can tell you because God tells us in His Word in 1 Thessalonians in chapter 4, I'll read verses 1 through 4. Finally then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, and that you are to do so more and more. I'll get back to that in a moment, that more and more. For you know what instruction we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God. Can you tell me? For this is the will of God. Your sanctification, that's the will of God for you. That's what he wants for you. How does that happen? You hear God speak, you hear the proclaimed work of God. The will of God for us, as we sit under the preached word, we are sanctified. And what is sanctification? Again, going back to the Catechism, question 44. I'm sorry, that is not correct, that would be question 38. Sanctification is the work of God's free grace whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness. to become more like Christ. The old has passed away, behold all things are new. And our old nature is put to death and our new nature is growing in grace and growing in sanctification. Now you note that I said that justification or adoption is an act of God. and that sanctification is a work of God. There's a difference. In an act of God, we find that God has acted, that which he has done is complete. and there is no additional justification required because we've already been justified. But the work of sanctification is different. That's an ongoing process. There's a sense in which we are as sanctified as we will ever be, yet there is a growing sanctification in us as we become more and more like Christ, as the graces of God are dispensed to us, imparted to us, and received by us. So it's an ongoing thing, and it takes time. Think of children. We have Richard standing in back with their young son. Well, a few years, he's not going to be as easy to hold and carry around, right? Because he grows. He grows physically, and it takes nourishment and food to do that. And in like manner, spiritually, we grow as we are also fed, fed by the Word of God, that we become more and more like Christ and grow in that grace. And another point I would make, and this would be a point that may be new to some, but the work of sanctification is a cooperative work. In other words, we have a part in it. It says, yes, it is a work of God's free grace. There's no question that God's grace is involved in our sanctification. But here's a point where we could maybe blunt that a little bit if we're not available. How much value do we put on the gathering of the church? How much value do we put in the gathering of a teaching time, or a Wednesday night, or whenever the elders call a meeting of the church? And how are we considering that? Is that just something that takes up our time? Or is that a time where we can hear God speak? If we can be available, and we must be available, without being available, we're not going to be there, it's awful difficult to grow in God's grace. I'm not saying it's impossible, but these are the means by which God ordinarily causes us to grow in grace. We need to be available for our sanctification. Now, in addition to that, we do have a duty in terms of not only our sanctification to be available, but as we believe and God begins to cause us to grow, we also have a duty. And what duty is it that God requires of man? Again, question 44, the answer being, the duty which God requires of man is obedience to His revealed will. Obedience to His revealed will. We are also, additionally, beyond that, we are also required to believe. And I can't wait until Pastor Logan gets to chapter 6 in John In the book of John, it's far and away my favorite chapter. So much good stuff in there. But here we have Jesus in chapter 6. And he feeds the 5,000. And then he crosses the lake. And he walks on the water. And the people perceive that he is gone. And that very next day, beginning in verse 22, the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there. Had Jesus not entered that boat with his disciples, but with his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum seeking Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here? And Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, you are not seeking me, not because you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set a seal." And that's a long introduction to my point here. Then they said to him, what must we do to be doing the works of God? What must we do to be doing the works of God? Church, what must you do to be doing the works of God? Jesus answered them, this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent. That you believe. If there's any work that we have, It's not really a work, we don't contribute to our salvation. We understand that we are depraved and all of our being has been affected by sin. And Romans 3 tells us that we do not seek after God, so salvation is a work of God, or rather an act of God. Well, it's an act and a work, right? Why would I say that? Because justification is an act. Sanctification, also part of our salvation, is a work. That's an aside. Never wander from your notes. You get in trouble that way. So we do have a duty to believe. We do have a duty to obey the revealed will of God, and that will of God is revealed to us in the moral law, in the Ten Commandments. Not for salvation, but as a result of salvation, that we are to obey God's law. And knowing the word of God is central to knowing God. In fact, you can't know God apart from the Word of God. Knowing the Word of God is central to knowing God's will for our lives. We can't know God's will for our lives apart from this redemptive revelation in God's Word. And knowing the Word of God is central to understanding the works and the acts of God in saving man and bringing him into a situation where he is reconciled to God himself. So knowing the Word of God takes many forms. We have the public reading of God's Word. And I'm thankful that we read at least three different passages in our worship service as we gather each Sunday morning. In 1 Timothy chapter four and in verse 13, Paul writes, until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture. Command of God. Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture. Do not neglect this. Okay? We need to be reading publicly the Word of God. But we also need to be reading the Word of God privately. And I hope that each of you takes time each day, at least once, to sit down and read the Word of God. Now, I like to read Proverbs or Isaiah in the morning. Proverbs for wisdom. All of God's scripture, of course, is is available to us in terms of wisdom, but also I like to read in the book of Isaiah because it gives us a view of an awesome God. Oftentimes, I'll take a particular chapter and read it multiple times through the week. And last week was Isaiah 40, and talks about just how large our God is, and how the nations are but a drop in the bucket compared to God, and that we are like grass, here today, gone tomorrow. But what lasts forever? The Word of the Lord. gives us a very large view of God. So the private reading is important. And that, both the public reading and the private reading, give us opportunity for meditation. It sets the stage for the day. And I think of Psalm 1. Blessed is the man that does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers, but his delight... Now understand, I understand Psalm 1 is speaking primarily about Jesus. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. What's the result of that if we were to take and practice that on a regular basis? He's like tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does, he prospers. So we got the public reading. We got the private reading. We have the meditation on Psalm 1. Well, what happens when we meditate on those things? Well, in Philippians chapter four, I believe it is. Let's see if I can find it. Oh, here we are. Okay, Philippians chapter four. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Again, speaking to meditation of God's word, we need to be able to fill our mind with God's word in order that we might be fed and that we might think on these things. Now, considering thinking on these things, what are we filling our mind with? And I'm just going to give you an example of how it just subconsciously comes out. This last week when we were in North Dakota, we had conversations about my brother, my oldest brother, and we had some conversations about my best friend from high school. And so one night after we returned, I was dreaming about my brother and we were playing basketball. He cheated, by the way. But in another case, we were dreaming about my friend, and we were going out to San Francisco. We both love bison football. We were going out to San Francisco to watch Trey Lance play. Where did this come from? have no idea, other than the fact that we had talked about them, and briefly. So if that's the sort of thing that comes out of our mind, what is it like if we were to consistently fill our mind with the Word of God? and those sorts of things. And you've experienced this, and I've experienced this, where you wake up in the middle of the night, and a passage comes to mind. And you can pray about those sorts of things, or you can think on those sorts of things. And I have no problem praying at night and falling asleep. I have no problem with that. But we take those opportunities. We are to renew our mind. That's what Paul tells us in Romans chapter 12. We're talking about the renewal of our mind. And we do that by filling our mind with the things of God. And then lastly, the last form that we have is the preached word. The preached word. And there I'd like to turn to Romans chapter 10. and look at what Paul has to say concerning the preached word. And I didn't mark that, but I should find it quickly here. Romans chapter 10. Speaking of the, for the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. Verse 11. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. That reminds me of Galatians 3, no distinction between Jew and Greek, between male and female. Okay? The same Lord is the Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Here's the operative verses, verse 14. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how will they believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how will they hear without someone preaching? And how will they preach unless they are sent? So I'm gonna work backwards from that. We have the preachers who are sent, okay? They don't just happen to become pastors. They are called out and sent by God. And then they preach. What do they preach? They preach the good news. They preach about sin, death, and judgment. That's the law. This is the content of the preaching that you should hear for the most part, Sunday to Sunday. About sin, death, and judgment. That doesn't sound like good news, does it? That's the preaching of the law. in Romans chapter 4 says that we understand that our need, because we speak about sin, we understand our need about a Savior. And the good news is that God has justified us by His grace and by His grace alone. So the preacher is sent. And he preaches the good news. And we, on the other hand, hear, right? We hear. But we hear not with only our ears. That might take in the sound, right? But we hear with our heart. We hear in the very depths of our being. The Greek word here is akule. That's where we get our word acoustics. Does this room have good acoustics? Can you hear well? And I don't know if this is a Greek word, but I know that the prefix hupo simply intensifies what follows. So we hear with our heart, hupo akule. Is that a Greek word? It is now. Alright, I get to copyright it, and whoever uses it, I get paid for that. We hear with our heart, the very depths of our being, we hear Christ. The preached word, we should be hearing Christ speaking. That's why When I was searching, Carol and I were searching for a church, we moved down here. We wanted to make sure we found a church that exposed the Word of God, expository preaching, that we might hear Christ speak. And then we believe. We were sent. Our preacher is sent, he preaches the good news, we hear it, and we believe and are justified. For by grace you have been saved through faith, that of not yourself, but as a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. So God's word goes out. And I want to finish here where I finished last time we gathered around this passage. And that is in Isaiah chapter 10. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater. What do you think of when you see the rain? What do you think of when you see the snow? I know you never see snow down here in Tennessee. Not really. Okay. you think about how it waters the earth and compare it to how God's Word goes forth. Verse 11 says, So shall my word that goes out from my mouth, it shall not return to me void or empty. It shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." So God's word goes out. It accomplishes its purpose. For some, it saves. For some, it's a continuing salvation in terms of sanctification. And there's some other purposes, but those are the primary ones I'll focus on right now. It causes our minds to be renewed as we consider the greatness of our God. The Word of God, the Word of God is sufficient to reveal to you and to me God's glory. The Word of God is sufficient to reveal my salvation, your salvation, And the Word of God is sufficient to cause us to grow in faith and apply that faith to our lives as we grow in sanctification, as we grow in conformity to His Word. Next week we'll be gathering with the saints at Covenant Baptist Church. In the following week we will be gathering at our place, south of town for the Reformation service. So we won't have any first hour teaching here, but we will continue and continue, I'm assuming we'll be moving on with the ordinary means of grace through prayers as Josh will be able to bring that to us. We only have a few minutes left, and I've asked a few men to come and pray. And I'm going to ask Steve to come forward now and pray for us. And then two other men will follow shortly that can pray along the lines of what we talked about today.