The following sermon is by John MacArthur, pastor, author, and Bible teacher with Grace to You. If you've never contacted Grace to You, we want to send you a free booklet by John called The Good Samaritan and the Gospel. The story of the Good Samaritan is familiar and profound and frequently misinterpreted. you need to get the meaning right. This booklet will help you do that. Request your free copy of The Good Samaritan and the Gospel by writing to samaritan at gty.org. That's samaritan at gty.org. And this offer is good in North America and Europe through December 2024. And now unleashing God's truth one verse at a time. Here is Grace To You Bible teacher, John MacArthur. The story of my life can basically be tied to one thing, and that is the love of the truth. Everything is about the truth, written, the truth incarnate. You can't divide them because the Word of God is the written Word, and the Word of God is also the incarnate Word. Psalm 138 says, God has exalted His Word equal to His name. The only way we can truly worship God, serve God, honor God, love God, and proclaim God is to do all of that with His Word. The hymns we sing are reflective of the truths of Scripture. Set to music the way they are, they lift our souls and our spirits, as you experienced again in the wonderful time of worship this morning. But everything rises out of one book. There's a simplicity in the Christian life. There's a simplicity in Christian ministry because everything comes out of one book. Now, admittedly, it can take a lot of books to understand the one book correctly, and that's why you're here. Take a lot of influences, a lot of instructors, preachers, teachers to get this one book right. But how remarkable it is that God has deposited everything he wanted us to know definitively with regard to redemption, salvation in all of its fullness from eternity to eternity is contained in one book. To know this book is to know everything that God intended to give you in this life. That's the simplicity of the Christian life. That's why we talk about reading the Scripture, because as you read the Scripture, you are hearing the voice of God, and you are hearing Him tell you exactly what He wants you to know. And you say, well, it's a long book. There seems to be a lot in it. In one sense, there is a lot in it. In another sense, there's not a lot. There are some basic truths in the Bible that are rehearsed again and again and again and again, starting in the book of Genesis and running all the way to the book of Revelation. You have, of course, sin and the fall in Genesis. You have the promise of a son who would be born, who would crush the serpent. That's the redemptive work of Christ in Genesis. You have it all consummated in Revelation. And in between, you have the history of sin and righteousness. You have the development of the promise of the Messiah. You have the arrival of the Messiah, the ministry of the Messiah. You have the epistles of the New Testament defining His work. You have the book of Acts, which expresses the proclamation of the gospel of the Messiah, Savior, and then it all consummates in Revelation. Everything you need to know is in this book. It is this book that produces salvation. 1 Peter 1 says, we're begotten again by the word of truth. The only way you can be redeemed, the only way you can be transformed and born again is by the power of the Word of God. The power is in the Word. The Word is alive and powerful, Hebrews 4, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Word of God is the most powerful instrument of transformation in the world. It is the only instrument of soul transformation in an eternal sense. All of that sweeps across Scripture from beginning to end. And as you think about Scripture, I always think about it in a kind of a sequence of Number one, you have to know what it says, and you know what it says by reading it thoughtfully and carefully, and reading the writings of people who do understand what it says. In other words, you spend your life saturating yourself with the Word of God and with those who have accurately handled the Word of God. so that you can know what it says. It forms the structure of your life in the sense that if you were a body, the Bible would be your skeleton, your structure. It's what gives form to every aspect of your life. So you have to know what it says. And following on that, you have to know what it means by what it says. Pretty obvious to all of us that Satan works overtime to misconstrue the meaning. He is the original perpetrator of misinformation and disinformation. Every false cult, every deviant form of Christianity, every heresy has Bible verses to support it that are twisted by Satan and his emissaries and his human agents. You can only sell false religion in a Christian form, not talking about other world religions, but you can only sell false forms of Christianity by twisting Scripture. And you can only succeed at that if you're talking to people who don't know what Scripture teaches. That's why we're told to know the Bible, and therefore not be, as Paul puts it, children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine." Children are immature. They can't protect themselves. They don't have the discernment. And that's true spiritually speaking. If you're a new believer or a believer who has not been developed in understanding of the Word of God, you are susceptible to Satan's lies. And it's not just misinformation that has maybe some minor consequences. Misinformation from the kingdom of darkness has disastrous and devastating consequences. So to know the Word is absolutely critical. To know what it means is, of course, essential, because the revelation of God is in the understanding. Let me say it this way. The meaning of the Scripture is the Scripture. If you don't get the meaning right, you didn't get the revelation. You got something else. And there are a lot of false interpretations floating around. which is another reason among many why you can thank the Lord you're here at the Master's University where you're going to get it interpreted accurately. So when I think about the Word of God, I think about comprehension. I have to know it and what it means. Then there's a next step. It has to become conviction. In other words, I know it well enough to say, that's a principle I will live by. We live by our convictions. We live by those things that grip our hearts and to which we say, I believe that. I believe that. I get it. I understand that. I believe that. I was listening to an interview with President Trump a couple of days ago, and the interviewer said, when you pray President Trump, what do you pray for? And he said, I pray for the world, I pray for our nation, I pray for our family. And I pray for myself. Well, what specifically do you pray for? Well, I pray that I'll be good. Because if I'm good, I'll go to heaven. And if I'm not good, I'll go to another place. That is the prime heresy, that you're going to go to heaven if you're good. I don't know how many pastors have intersected into his life, but how can he be at the age he is surrounded by so many quote-unquote evangelical pastors and not know the first thing about salvation, that it is not by works lest any man should what? It's by grace through faith alone in Christ alone. The entire Protestant Reformation was built on that. That's not a minor error. That's Satan's dominant lie that justifies every form of religion in existence. Salvation comes by a true understanding of the gospel. In Romans 10, Paul says, faith comes by hearing the message concerning Christ, hearing and understanding it. So you have to know what the Bible says. And then believe it to the point that it becomes a conviction, because you will live your convictions. Your convictions are what motivate you, they're what frame you, they're what restrain you. And then I would take another step and say, you have to have that conviction to the degree that your default position in life is to be obedient to that conviction. that it's not a battle every time you face the temptation to violate a biblical standard, a biblical command, a biblical truth. It shouldn't be a battle every time that happens. If it's a real conviction, it frames your thinking. If you genuinely believe it and you own it, then the default position should be that I obey it. If you don't obey it, then you could question whether it's really a conviction. But having said all of that about comprehension of Scripture, conviction of Scripture, commitment to Scripture, where you want to be in life is at a step higher. And I call that affection. Affection. I've been around long enough to know the difference between knowing Scripture and loving it. I've been around long enough to know the difference between battling to hold on to what is right and being powerful against temptation, because I not only know it, Believe it, hold it as a conviction, but I love it. I love it. This is where you want to be in your life. To love the Word of God is to love God because the revelation of God is merely a reflection of His nature. Now, that's just a little introduction. Open your Bible to Psalm 19. Psalm 19. Now, the Psalms are obviously loaded with tributes to Scripture. You could go to Psalm 119. We could do that sometime, but it has 176 verses. Every one of those 176 verses extols and exalts the Scripture. But I think a more condensed tribute to Scripture is found in Psalm 19. Let's look at verse 7. Let me read through verse 14. The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true, they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant is warned. In keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back your servant from presumptuous sins. Let them not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, and I shall be acquitted of great transgressions." And then this marvelous conclusion, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer." This is a testimony to the sufficiency of Scripture. There's a comprehensiveness in just these few verses that parallel Psalm 119, even though there are 176 verses there. That psalm just says this over and over and over and over. So let's go back to verse 7, and notice that there are six terms here that describe Scripture. The law of the Lord, the testimony of the Lord, the precepts of the Lord, the commandment of the Lord, the fear of the Lord, and the judgments of the Lord. If it isn't obvious enough, of the Lord, of the Lord, of the Lord, of the Lord, of the Lord, of the Lord, of the Lord, is defining the author, the source. But Scripture can be viewed from many perspectives. It is law. In that sense, it is binding. It is inviolable. It is required. Power is expressed in penalties for violation. But the Scripture is also, in verse 7, testimony. It is the testimony of God. It is God giving you His personal testimony. Although there are a number of biblical authors, as we know, from the human viewpoint, every word is by inspiration of God through those authors. So the Bible is the law of God by which He defines how we are to conduct ourselves. It is also the testimony of the Lord so that we can know everything He wants us to know about Him. This personalizes Him as more than a lawgiver, but one who wants to be fully known. In verse 8, Scripture is identified as precepts. And we could say those are doctrines, those are absolutes, those are positive affirmations, statements that can be made as a result of the truth in Scripture. Verse 8 also says it is commandments. It's not suggestions. It's not options. It's not discussion material. It's binding commandment. Verse 8 says the Scripture is the fear of the Lord. What does that mean? Fear has to do with honor, respect, awe, and worship. So the Scripture is then the law of God, the operating manual for man if he wants to have a right relationship with God. It is the testimony of the Lord, His personal disclosure that we might know Him. It is the source of doctrines, principles, affirmations that define all of spiritual reality. It is commandments, that is to say, it is the final word on whatever it says. It is fear. It is a manual on worship. It teaches us how to fear the Lord. And then finally, of the six, in verse 9, the judgments of the Lord. adjudications, verdicts from the divine bench, which is to say the Bible is the final word and the final judgment that God renders will be based upon what you did with His Word. So we see the multifaceted reality of Scripture, and that richness plays out, as you well know, in the narratives and the history and the didactic portions of the Word of God. Now, notice again, there are six characteristics of Scripture. Go back to verse 7. It is perfect, it is sure, it is right, it is pure, it is clean, and it is true. Now, these are marvelous realities. Take the word perfect. It's not so much the idea of perfect as contrasted with imperfect. It's not making that contrast. It's perfect in the sense of complete, comprehensive, lacking nothing. That is such a definitive statement. The law of the Lord, the Word of God, is complete, comprehensive, full. Everything you need is there. Then it says it is sure. In a world of unsure things, in a world of theories and ideologies and ideas, this testimony from God is absolutely sure. It is, again, to be completely trusted. And then in verse 8, the precepts of the Lord are right. This Hebrew term means not so much right as opposed to wrong, but it lays out a right path. This is talking about a life path, so that the precepts of the Lord set the right path. Now, we know the Bible says the The Word of God is the lamp unto my feet and the light to my path. But it's more than that. It's not just the lamp and the light. It is the path. It is the Word that we walk in. And then in verse 8, it is pure. It is pure. No defects. That's an amazing promise. Scripture says that it's as pure as if it were refined by fire. It's pure. And then in verse 9, it's clean. It's clean. There's no admixture of evil or error, which is very much like being pure. Pure in its totality, clean in every part. And summing it up in verse 9, the judgments of the Lord are true. I started out by saying the most important thing in the world is divine truth. Here it is, the complete, sure, right, pure, clean truth. The law of the Lord the testimony of God that we might not only know His law, but we might know Him, precepts to frame our understanding and our lives, commandments to be obeyed, patterns of worship to be followed with the recognition that in the end, All God's judgments will be predicated on how we handled His Word. Now let's go back through those three verses one more time. It has six titles, the law of the Lord and so forth. It has six characteristics, perfect and the others we mentioned. It has six effects. First of all, The law of the Lord is perfect restoring the soul, converting. It is the power to convert. The term actually means to totally transform, totally transform. Paul said as much the same, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation. The word saves. John, as he closes his epistle, says, these things are written that you might believe, and believing have life in His name. By simply believing the power of the Word of God, the transforming power of the Word of God through the Holy Spirit is activated, restoring the soul. What is the soul? It's nephesh. It's translated a lot of ways in the Old Testament. It basically means the inner person, the inner person. So Scripture is so comprehensive, it can totally transform the whole inner person. That's that first statement. That is a monumental testimony to the power of Scripture. There's no power like it. comprehensively transforms the whole inner person. And again, that's what Peter meant when he said we are begotten again by the Word. And then that second effect, it makes wise the simple. When you read through Proverbs, you find frequently, and also in Psalms, mentions of the wise and the foolish. The wisdom that they're talking about is not sort of just mental insight. It's how you live. It's how you walk, how you conduct yourself. The Word of God makes wise the simple. The simple person is described in the book of Proverbs as someone who basically is a fool. He's equal to a fool. He looks at life simplistically, whereas someone who views life through the Word of God is wise. And the actual idea of simple is I think best described with the notion of discernment. A Hebrew picture of it would be this. Let's just say that the wise person knows what to accept and what to reject. Sort of objectively, it would be defining the door on your house. You have a door on your house because you want to keep some people out and some people in, right? You discriminate. You hear people say, you know, I'm very spiritual, but I have an open mind. The Old Testament would say, well, shut it, because you have to know what to receive and what to reject. That's why Psalm 1 says you don't want to sit in the seat of scoffers. You don't want to expose yourself to lies and foolishness. That's one of the reasons you're here. You're not in some other university where every effort would be made to fill you with lies. You can take the person who doesn't know when to close the door, who doesn't know what to accept and what to reject, and the Word of God will make that person skilled in living. That's what wise means, skilled in living, meaning that he can navigate or she can navigate life skillfully with understanding. Verse 8 adds another benefit. The Word of God brings joy to the heart, rejoicing the heart. I remember when Jeremiah was in kind of a melancholy mood, and nobody was listening to him, Jeremiah the prophet, and he said, Your words were found, and I did eat them, and they were in me, the joy and rejoicing of my heart. I wish I could say that throughout my entire life everybody believed the truth I taught them. It's not true. You would have to understand that I get about as much flack as anybody who's ubiquitous in the Internet. Does it discourage me that people reject the truth? Of course. Does it discourage me that even shepherding a flock of people or ministering to students at the university, there are some who have no real joy in receiving the truth? It does. But all of that never kills the joy in my heart. I'm like Jeremiah. Your words were found and I did eat them. And they were in me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. John said it this way, these things are written unto you that your joy may be full. You want full joy, live in obedience and love for Scripture. That's where the joy of your obedience comes, as well as the joy of your worship. And just hurrying to the second purpose in verse 8, enlightening the eyes. It's a dark world, it's a confusing world, it's hard to sort it out. We all face that reality all the time. Scripture enlightens your eyes. When I think about that, especially when I'm here, I think about a few years ago when there was a family of missionaries from Utah that were Mormon missionaries, and they wanted to bring their kids to the Master's University. So they drove down to visit the school, and they had brought a Mormon friend just to come along, you know, to just do a little evangelism, and their own children. They were headed to the college down on Sierra Highway, ready to come this way on Placerita. And for some strange reason, a truck went through the intersection. and killed the children. There were three, if I remember right. And the mother and father were spared because the truck hit behind the front seat of their car. They were in the front. I can't imagine a more devastating moment. I got to them as fast as I could. I'll never forget what the father said to me. He said, I wanted my kids to have a heavenly experience at the Master's University, but instead God gave them heaven. That's the way to look at the most disastrous death, isn't it? They went back to Utah, had a flourishing ministry without their children. You're going to need light like that in a dark world. You're going to need to be able to get beyond the dark things when your eyes are enlightened. I was talking to one of the doctors who was telling me I need to have another surgery. And I said, he said, what do you think about that? I said, well, fine with me. I know where I'm going. Either home after the surgery or home to heaven. That's all in the Lord's hands. I wouldn't want to live life any other way, fearing the future. That's why the Word of God promises hope. The psalmist says again and again, I have hope in your word. Then finally in verse 9, the fear of the Lord, the word of God, the manual on worship, is without flaw enduring forever. It endures forever because it has no errors. We're reading the same Bible that the apostles wrote, the same Bible that the prophets of old wrote. In fact, the Bible ends by saying, if you add anything to this book, she'll be added to you, the plagues that are written in it. I heard a liberal theologian recently say, Jesus didn't live by the Bible. There wasn't even a Bible. He was a professor at some elite university. He's a fool. Of course, there was a Bible. It was called the Old Testament. And Jesus lived by that word. And it's the same Old Testament that we live by, with the addition of the new. And it's not going to change. It's enduring forever. That's one of the things that you face when you get into really sound biblical education. There is less fascination with anything modern than there is devotion to things old, because we've had 2,000 years of enlightened people handling the Word of God effectively. The theology of the Master's University we did not invent. It got passed down to us. For me, I'd far rather bury myself in a 500-year-old commentary on Romans than one written a week ago, because the truth never changes. I don't need a modern interpretation. I need the accurate interpretation. So you have the testimony of Scripture transforming the soul, making wise the simple, which is really sanctification, bringing joy to the heart, enlightening the dark issues of life, and being a permanent resource. All of that leads to verse 9. The judgments of the Lord, Scripture, are true. They are righteous altogether. That means they produce comprehensive righteousness. Perhaps the best way to understand it is what Paul said to Timothy. It's by the Scripture that the man of God is made perfect. Perfect. It's comprehensive righteousness. All Scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Timothy 3. So those three verses give you a sweeping testimony of Scripture. In response to that, just listen to this. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant is warned, in keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern His errors, acquit me of hidden faults, and keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins? Let them not rule over me, then I will be blameless, and I will be acquitted of great transgression." What he says is Scripture is our greatest possession. more desirable than gold, our greatest pleasure, sweeter than honey, our greatest protector, it warns us, our greatest provider, it rewards us, our greatest purifier, verses 12 and 13, it keeps you back from presumptuous sins. And the sum of it is in verse 14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer." So what should be the meditation of our heart? Let me close with this. Joshua 1.8. I know you know this verse. This book of the law, Scripture, 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. Then you will have success. Amen. Father, thank you for your word. Give us a love for it, and consequently a love for you. We ask all this in the name of Christ. Amen. 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