Everybody like that sunshine? Anybody need a copy of the lesson today? Told you you need to be in the choir. All right. Well, it's a joy and a privilege to be back in the Lord's house again this morning. It's good to see y'all here. And it's been a beautiful past couple of days. It's good to see the sunshine. Got back from branching, got to see how much my grass has grown while I was gone. And I see that I still have the lakes in my front yard. So, do I need to move? They probably wouldn't mind that. All right. We're continuing our study and benefiting from the Word from Paul Walsh's study. We're in chapter 21, and we're going to be talking about benefiting from the Word. And there's a lot of things when we think about when we know God's Word, how we can benefit from it, right? One of the main things that we have is we know exactly what God expects of us, and I think that's a very big benefit. The other big benefit is that we know who our Lord and Savior is according to Scripture, right? And our biggest prayer is that anybody who gets a hold of the Word of God, that the darkness in their life will be illuminated by Christ and they will accept Christ as their personal Lord and Savior because He is the only one who can deliver us from eternal damnation, right? He is our Savior. Paul Washer starts off, well, I'm gonna start off with a prayer this morning. Let's go to Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for allowing us to gather in your house. Father, thank you for those who made it, Father, and we pray for those who are out about traveling, Father. I ask, Father, that you just empty our hearts and our minds this morning and fill us with your Spirit, Father, as we study your Word and looking how we can benefit from your Word, Father. Father, we love you. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Paul Washer starts off, says, one of the greatest purposes of the Bible is to transform the Christian's character into the likeness of Christ. However, this will be highly improbable if our Bibles are abandoned on the shelf, covered in dust. We must have a daily encounter with the Word of God. In the Bible, we can find at least four methods by which the believer can benefit from God's Word. Today we're going to look at the first two, reading and study. The next week we'll look at memorization and meditation. These two chapters will be dedicated to these two crucial practices. Who likes memorization? We do like memorization, but what do we typically remember? We got music, right? Stats for our favorite sports team, right? We can tell you on a baby bluebird sky and the wind blowing out of the east, the fish ain't gonna bite very well, right? Is that right? They bit good yesterday. But what do we put into memorization? And how does that come about? Well, you don't get memorization without the first two, reading and studying. So that's kind of introduction for whoever's speaking next week. But reading and studying. He points out the first thing we're to do is to read the word. The first step in benefiting from the word of God is to read it daily. No one would think of studying a literary work without first reading in its entirety, nor would they think of beginning their reading in the middle of the book or in the last chapter. When I started seminary there, where Wade's going to seminary, the first book they make you read is how to read a book. That's a real book, and it's about this thick. And the first thing it tells you to read is read the book all the way through and do not stop. That's hard for me to do. We like picking and choosing, right? And as we look at that principle in reading a book, we're to take our Bibles the same way. Now you can read them from Genesis to Revelations, or you can read in chronological order, but the theme of reading a book is starting at the beginning and reading to the end. Now I know that in reading God's word, especially when you get to the genealogies, that's hard to understand. But there is some meat that can be found in those genealogies. How are you going to find it? You read it. And then you read it again. And then you read it again. And you've noticed today, in today's society, when you look at people who say they know God's book, they'll pick it out one scripture, and if you leave that scripture alone without the whole context of the Bible, what tends to happen? We start twisting it, right? We start twisting it. When you look at the LGBT, they're going to look at Leviticus chapter 18. I think it's 18 and they're going to say that when God. Said that homosexual homosexuality was abomination, which we'll talk about that here in more than a minute. They use that specific text and say that only means for that culture in that time. Where in the Bible does it say that any text is referred to a special culture or a certain time? The New Testament tells us the Bible is for who? all people. And it tells us that it is good just part of the time, all the time. So this is where reading and studying the Bible and knowing it from the beginning to the end and its whole context comes into play. And it comes into where we have our worldview on the way we look at things. So people are going to say the Bible says love, love, love, which it's the greatest love story ever told. But that love comes with a price, and that love comes with guidelines. And how do we know it? We've got to take the whole counsel of God's Word. So when we read the Bible, yes, there's parts that we need to study, but if we've never read it from front to back, we need to do so, and then we need to do it again. Below we will study the importance of daily and systematically reading through the Bible. It's not just a discipline for the new believer. It should be a practice that the believer faithfully maintains throughout his or her entire life. In Deuteronomy 17, 18-20, we clearly see the importance of reading the Word of God according to this text, what command or responsibility was given to every king of Israel regarding the scriptures, and what does this command teach us, and how should we apply it in our lives. So verse 18, now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on the scroll in the presence of the Levitical priest. Hold right there, back to 18. So we see right there in the first part, who is that verse talking about? He's talking about the king. He shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priest. Now go to 19. And we'll go on to the end. Verse 19. It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by carefully observing the words of this law and the statutes. Verse 20. that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right or the left so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel. So we see something here. In this text, every king who is high and lifted up, right, is to write for himself a copy of God's Word in the presence of the Levitical priest and he was to read it all the days of his life. So a question come to my mind is why the Levitical priest? What was so important about the Levitical priest? What was their role? They knew the law and they were the ones that God had put in that position. They're the only ones that could oversee the rituals that was going on, right? Because they were the ones that proved to be true followers of God. Now with any man group, we know that eventually they would fade away and we would get our Sadducees and our Pharisees, right? The Republicans and the Democrats of the gospel. Is that fair? But here at this time they were the ones. They're the ones that made sure that the king was accountable for getting the word of God correctly. And the king, what did it say he had to do? It was his duty to rightly understand the word of God. He was to make a copy of God's word and learn it and obey it. And he was to do it. Every day. Till the end of his life. Knowing God's law and actually obeying it was and is the only way that one can truly lead his people. Fathers, husbands. That falls on us and our families. We are to know God's Word and don't learn it and obey it. How are we going to do it if we never read it? How does this apply to us? We are to get a copy of God's Word. We are to learn it and obey it every day for the rest of our lives. Every day. Today, we do not have to copy a scroll. We don't have to have a priest, a Levitical priest, to make sure we're copying the right thing. God has given us his word, a translated word that is true, the Holy Bible, and it is readily available. Today, many of us have copies of God's word, right? We can read it in the click of a button and a simple touch of a screen. It's there. There's no excuse. Technology has given us everything we need, right? There's no excuse. So what is our excuse for not knowing God's word? If you're like me, it's laziness. Number two, we learn from Deuteronomy 17 verses 18 through 20 that the king of Israel was commanded to read the law of God all the days of his life. And according to this text, what will we gain from reading the word of God? In verse 19, we learn to fear or reverence the Lord. We also learn in verse 19 to learn carefully. We learn to carefully observe the word of God. And then on in verse 20, we keep our hearts from being lifted up. So we must fear and observe, and we must not be lifted up above who? What did the text tell us about being lifted up? I don't know. I lost it. Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priest. It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart not be lifted up above his countrymen. that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right or the left so that his sons might continue long to his kingdom in the midst of Israel. Why does that tell us about the position of the king? As we know it. When God looks down at our leaders, how is he compared to us? We're equal. God created us all in His image, right? Male and female, He created them. When it comes to following God, there's none of us greater than the other. And that tells you something about the king's countenance, right? If he fears the Lord, which we pray he does, he's going to teach and he is going to observe. And he will not think himself any better than anybody else. Does that apply to us today? Absolutely. Reverence, obedience, and humility are foundational virtues of the Christian faith. These can be obtained through a lifetime of faithful reading through the Word of God. And we begin in Genesis and finish in Revelation. Then we begin again. And by the end of our lives, we should have read through the Scripture countless times. Wow. Moving on. In 1 Timothy 4.13, what did the Apostle Paul exhort his young disciple Timothy to do? so that he and the local church might grow in their knowledge of the word. Well, let's read it. He says, until I come, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Church is to be centered around the reading and preaching of God's word. Evangelism should be centered around the reading and preaching of God's word. Mission should be centered around the reading and preaching of God's word. Going out, proclaiming the gospel as God has commanded us to, to point them to me? No, to point them to Christ. That is what it is to be done. Throughout Paul's epistles, we discover an emphasis on God's word and a devotion to it. Why? Because it is his word. It is his rule book for us to follow. The emphasis is to read it and to study it, and we are to expound upon it, preach it, and teach the word of God to everyone that we meet. We cannot rightly expound, preach, and teach if we do not read it and study it. Where do we start? In the beginning, and we go to the end. And one more thing. Rightly expounding, preaching, and teaching mean absolutely nothing if we do not obey it. We can't make our own version and preach that. It's nothing. It's powerless. It's pointless. It's damning. It leads people to hell and not to heaven if we preach our own version. And we need to grab a hold of that. Paul Walsher states here, the public reading of scripture in the local church is not an option to be discarded, but a command to be obeyed. It should be a central element of the church service. As the scriptures are being read, we should discipline our minds to listen intently. Why must we listen to it intently? Because the man speaking may not be saying something right. And know that there is a blessing in faithfully listening to the word. According to the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3, three through four. What could be gained by reading through a letter, the letter that he had written to the believers in Ephesus? Verse three. He says that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery as I wrote before and brief. What could be gained through, I'm sorry, by referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. The first thing we see is they could understand his insight into the mystery of Christ. That's what the revelation is. They could understand his insight into the mystery of Christ. Who gives the insight? The Holy Spirit. He tells us Himself who it is. And when we read Scripture, we get a... Watch the stuff they got today when you're trying to pay your bills. You got double authentication. Is that... Am I saying that right? When we read God's Word, there's double authentication. Someone say it for me. There's double proof. Yeah, you see it written and the Holy Spirit reveals it. Prayerfully, I hope he does. How many times have you read the Bible and you put yourself in the middle of it? That's a dangerous place to be. Because the only place we should be in the Bible. As we look at our simple condition that separates us from God. That's where we should be when we put ourselves in the Bible. We should not be the main character. Even though Christ is to be proclaimed to everyone, He is the center of the Bible. He is our Savior. He is the perfect sinless Son of God. who walked on this earth, who breathed the same air that you and I breathe, who faced the same temptations you and I did, yet he was sinless. That's what this whole book is about. A mighty God and how he loves us so much that he saved us. In John 539 he tells us you search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. It is these that testify about me. I skipped a part. How could the promise of Ephesians 3? Be applied to all of God's Word and answer this question in light of what Jesus taught in 539. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. It is these that testify about me. Many times we hear a statement on something and know it to be true, but do not fully understand it to be true until we witnessed it ourselves. Does that make sense? Unless you've been there and seen it, you really don't grasp the reality of it. I know it seems a little hard to understand, and I may be explaining it wrong, so I'll try to clear it up a little bit the best I can. I can have a customer bring me a vehicle, and they can say it's jerking and making a thumping noise, and they will try to explain to me how the steering wheel is shaking back and forth, and then give me verbal expressions on the noise it's making. And as a mechanic, sometimes that's pretty interesting, right? And we look at people, and they're trying their best to explain it, but they know nothing about it. And that's fine, because they come to someone that can help. Is that making sense? Now, the shaking of the steering wheel can mean a very number of things, a vast number of things. It could be a vibration from unbalanced tires. It could be a misfire in the engine. It could be a flat tire. It could be a transmission shutter, bad brakes, shocks, or even just being on a horrible road, which we have none of those around here, right? But regardless of whatever it is, One who is not familiar with a vehicle and how it operates doesn't know the vast majority of these issues. They just know something's wrong. And as one who works on them for a living, we come to know how the vehicle feels and acts and reacts. And we know from experience how to check things out. And most of the time, an experienced technician will know exactly what the customer is talking about, no matter how silly their story sounds. I hope I hadn't lost you. You see, I know vehicles because I work on them and I study them every day. And sometimes I probably study more than I study God's Word. God has given me a gift in being mechanically inclined. Why, I don't know. But I'm grateful for it. It supplied a means for me to raise my family. God has used that to help me supply to pay my bills. God uses us for very vast different things, right? So in order for me to be the best I can be, I must know what I'm doing. And there's a lot that I don't know. Vehicles have changed from when I first started working on them. And I think I'm getting too old to go back to school. But God says I'm not. The Bible is something that we should depend on more than anything. We should know it from front to back. We should know it enough that when we see something wrong, it should burden us. Our conscience should not be seared so much that our heart is not broken anymore. I'm still old enough to remember when TV was censored. Right? I even remember grandma and grandpa wouldn't even let us watch the news because sometimes the stuff on news was too harsh for us to understand. And that was as a little child. And now I've got a grandchild growing up knowing more about the world than I did before I was 13. And that's heartbreaking. And we've got government leaders who do not know God's word. They know parts of it. They know the things that make them feel good. They know the things they want to identify with, but when it comes to squashing what their flesh wants, they forget about it and no longer is the Bible relevant. So I hope I haven't lost you on this. The Bible tells us who Christ is. It doesn't tell us to let Jesus take the wheel when we've hit rock bottom. It tells us that he is Lord, always Lord, and he is to be Lord of everything in our lives. So if we claim to follow him and know him and love him, what must we do? Read his word and know it. Paul Washer says here in varying degrees, all scripture testifies of Jesus Christ. Through reading of scriptures, we are to, we are able to gain greater insight to the wonderful mystery of his person and work. Oh, there's so much that we do not know about God, but I'm so grateful for what he has given us to know about him. And he is wonderful. So how does this apply to us? We are to get a copy of God's word. We are to learn it and obey it every day for the rest of our lives. Today, we do not have to copy or scroll. We have a copy readily available for us. And I went to the wrong page. But it fit in. It went great. This is why I need my binder. What does Revelations 1.3 promise to every believer who reads its contents? And what else besides reading is required? Revelations 1.3, what does it tell us? and heed the things which are written in it for the time is near." The promise here is in this verse is that the man who reads and who hears the words of prophecy and heeds the things which are written in it is blessed. There's three things that must happen that we see in this verse. Number one, what's number one? We must what? Read. Number two, we must hear. We must hear what we read. Number three, what must we do? Obey, heed. We are to act on what we hear and read. If we do this, we'll be blessed according to this verse. Does that know what that verse says? So just by simply reading, hearing and obeying, the Lord blesses us. What a blessing, right? Paul Washer says here, the key truth taught in Revelation 1-3 can be applied to all of scriptures. More than mere reading is required if we are to be blessed by the word. Our reading must be accompanied by the heartfelt obedience, as James declared, but prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. It is only the effectual doer who will be blessed in what he does. And amen to that. Second thing, don't let me run out of time. Study the Word. So we've read the Word. That's what we're supposed to do beginning to end. Now we can get to the studying part. Reading the Bible is important, but there is more that we must do if we hope to receive the full blessing of the Word of God. We must not only read, but we must also study in greater depth to the things that we have read. Some Christians strongly, some Christians wrongly believe that in depth study of the scriptures is only for pastors and theologians, but the Bible itself teaches that it is the responsibility of who? Every believer. Every believer. So what does the Apostle Paul command his young disciple Timothy in 2 Timothy 2.15, and how can this command be applied to every Christian? 2 Timothy 2.15 says, be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. We are to be skilled workmen in God's word. We are to carefully and thoroughly search the revelation, search for the revelation of God in scripture. not deviating or distorting scripture in any way. Not deviating or distorting scripture in any way. You see, this helps us from being a false teacher and it helps us point out false teachers as well. He says here in his notes, Paul Walsher does, the command be diligent comes from the Greek word, which means to make haste and to earnestly strive to be bent on or to do one's best or to labor over. The phrase accurately handling comes from the Greek word, which means literally to cut straight, referring to our great need to both interpret and to teach the word of God with the most accuracy possible. Ezra 7.10, do we have that? I didn't skip a page, did I? I hope not. Ezra 710 is a powerful example for the threefold relationship that every believer ought to have with scriptures. According to this text, Ezra has set his heart to do what? Three things. Our text says, for Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel. So what's the first thing he taught us to do in this text? To study the law of the Lord. From the Hebrew word, which is translated to seek, in our study of the word of God, we are seeking as one who seeks great treasure. The second thing he tells us to do what with the law? Practice, practice the law of the Lord. Throughout the scriptures we are warned that we must be doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. The last thing he tells us in this verse is we are to do what with the law? Teach. We are to teach the law of the Lord. Every single one of us can teach the law of the Lord. Why? Because we have it, we can read it, we can study it, we can expand upon it, and we can share it, right? It is often said that the Christian who does not share the truth that he receives becomes like a stagnant pool. The word that flows into us ought to flow out of us to others. Who all is guilty of that? Keep that to yourselves. I can tell you I have been guilty of it and I probably will be guilty of it. Because sometimes our attitudes get in the way, right? But we must always be taking in God's word and always letting it flow out. Number three, how should these three truths listed above be applied to the life of every believer? And how should they be applied to your own life? Well, we must study God's word so that we can rightly practice God's word in order for us to be able to rightly teach God's word. That's how that works. How can we teach God's truth if we do not study what his word says and if we do not practice what his word says? And I've got a couple examples. Example number one. God's word is explicitly clear on homosexuality and marriage. His word says it is an abomination to congratulate or to accept homosexuality as a Christian. And he says it is sin. How do I stand on that? I stand firmly on that conviction because of Leviticus 18, 22 tells us that you shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination. These are words from God to us. Leviticus 1830, God tells us this, thus you are to keep my charge that you do not practice any of the abominable customs which have been practiced before you as not to defile yourselves with them. I am the Lord your God. Plain and clear, right? 1 Corinthians 6, 9-10 and Galatians 5, 19-21 list a number of these abominations that God says the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God. That's what it says in these texts. Does God lie? Does God tell fairy tales? No, he does not. He says sexually immoral, adulterers, adulterers, perverts, prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, greedy, drunkards, slanders, and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God. So anytime when we take a stance on this and we put our foot down and we plant it on God's word and people have a problem with us, brother and sister, they don't have a problem with you. They have a problem with God. This is where we got to have the backbone as believers in believing that God will take care of us. We may suffer here on this earth. But where is our treasure at? It's in heaven, it's not here. And we forget that. Ephesians 5, 5 tells for, you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous, that is an adulterer, has no inheritance of the kingdom of God. There's another verse. In Genesis 2, 20 through 25 tells us the creation account of man and woman, thus establishing the marriage between one man and one woman. It's very simple and it's easy to find. Genesis chapter 127 and more, it gives more detail found in Genesis 2, 20 through 25. These are two very hot topic issues in today's society and the Bible is plainly clear on both of these, but many professing Christians will bow down to accept in love people who fit these examples. We cannot. If we actually love them, we will stand up and say, thus saith the Lord. We should study God's word, practice God's word, and teach God's word, and we should not be ashamed to stand for what God stands for and to hate what God hates. You see, we're never alone. We're never alone. We have the Father, our Creator, who stands behind us as long as we study and obey His word. He stands behind us no matter what. His will will be done whether we do it willingly or not, right? And the part where love comes in is if we know someone who is living in these lifestyles, we should love them enough again to say, thus saith the Lord. And if we truly love them, we will be concerned with the condition of their soul. Many believers are intimidated by the study and think that this is only for professional slow down. Many people, many believers are intimidated by Bible study and they think it's only for professional theologians. Am I running out of time? Yep. Acts 17, 11 through 12, we read the apostles, Paul's ministry in Berea. And what does this text say about the Bereans and how can we imitate their example? Acts 17 verse 11. Now these were more noble minded than those in Thessalonica for they received the word with great eagerness examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Verse 12. Therefore many of them believed along with a number of prominent Greek women and men. They were eager to hear the Word of God, and in their eagerness for the Word, they studied the Scripture to verify that the Word they heard preached was actually found in Scripture. They were common people who had a desire to understand the Word of God, and this should be the way that we study the Word of God. We hear it preached, we study what was preached to verify it is within the guidelines of Scripture. That it is God's written word that is being proclaimed. Also, because of their eagerness to study the Word of God, it better equip them to be on the lookout for false teachers. And Paul says here. The word examining comes from the Greek word, which means to examine closely, study thoroughly, scrutinize, investigate, appraise or try someone judicious. To try someone I can't speak judiciously. The Bereans were not scribes or priests. They were common people who simply had a desire to understand the Word of God. As such, they are an example to all believers everywhere. According to 1 Corinthians 2, 11 through 12, what gift has been given to the church and the individual believer so we might understand God's Word? And how is this an encouragement for us today? 1 Corinthians 2, 11 through 12 says, for who among men know the thoughts of man except the spirit of man which is in him? Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except the spirit of God. Now we have received the spirit of the world, but the spirit of God, but the spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. The only way for a human being to know God's hidden wisdom, including his plan for salvation, is for the Holy Spirit to reveal it to them. God's wisdom cannot be figured out through human means. It's only the supernatural means of God as he reveals himself to us through his word. Another reason we must read and study his word. So, I'm out of time. I hope that was, that was, Helpful to y'all according you can go and read in John 7 17 Where he says if anyone is willing to do his will and he will know the teaching whether it is of God or whether I speak for myself You know and you can study on that Proverbs 1 7 tells us the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge And we should be in all the Lord and and we should be obedient to him Psalms 110 verse 111 verse 10 tells us the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom a good understanding have all those who do his commandments and His praise endures forever. So to do the will of God, to obey His commandments, that means we are to yield our lives and our hearts to God, and we are to live by His requirements, and we have an eagerness to learn His word and a zeal to do it. And according to Deuteronomy 5 verse 1, it tells us, Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances of which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn from them and observe them carefully. The great goal of our learning is to hear the statutes and the ordinances that are in God's word, so observe them carefully so that we can be obedient to him by his commands. If we're going to live as God intends us to do, we need to willingly study his word, and we study his word, and God promised to reveal to us who he is, And our desire is to learn His ways and be delightful and joyful. So, thank you. Do we have any prayer requests this morning before we close? All right. Just pray for those who are out traveling and I thank you all for y'all's prayers on my end. And Cody, if you don't mind, can you dismiss us?