Four Foundational Convictions - 1. Sola Scriptura

Deo, boundifully, with thy servant, that I may live and keep by word. Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from thy law. I am a stranger in the earth, do not hide thy commandments from me. My soul is crushed with longing after thine ordinances at all times. That us rebuke the elegant, the cursed, who wonder from thy commandments. Take away reproachment and contempt from me for I observe thy testimonies. Even though princes sit and talk against me thy servant meditates on my statutes. Thy testimonies also are my delight. They are my counselors. In 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his 95thesis on the door, the church at Vittenberg, Hughes dispute with the Roman Catholic Church, which he was a part of, a priest in, was over the practice of indulgences, selling forgiveness.

The dispute intensified, and so, finally, it basically centered around what the Catholic Church taught had come to teach about justification. But it went beyond that, and at the basis of it, as the foundational difference was the question of religious authority upon what do we base, what we believe, and what we do. And Luther had come to have this conviction as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. That is that the authority structure of a Catholicism was illegitimate, and that authority system was scripture, plus tradition, plus the Magisterium, the teaching office in the Roman Catholic Church. In other words, the church was over the word, and alongside the word was tradition, and the teaching office, the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church.

He was convinced that the church fathers and the papacy and the church councils were fallible. They were helpful, but they were fallible, and they had, in fact, aired in many, many ways. And so, he formulated the principle of, that we now call solace scripture alone, solely scripture. And this principle is the fact that we recognize scripture alone as a supreme and infallible authority for the church and individual believers. And that all ecclesiastical, that is all church authorities, were to be judged by scripture and never the reverse. The church does not judge the scriptures. The scripture judges the church. And so, the principle of solace scripture rejected both the idea that the Roman church possessed revelation of part from scripture that is contained in tradition, as well as the teaching of the Magisterium, and that the church was the infallible interpreter of scripture.

That became the issue, and it was a watershed issue. And in this principle of solace scripture, some people today ask, is it biblical? Is it biblical to believe what the Reformers came to believe that the authority lies in the scripture, and not in the church, and not in tradition, and not in the Magisterium of the church? Well, listen to the words of Jesus. Jesus said in John Kins, speaking to the Pharisees, the scripture cannot be broken. Or in the sermon on the Mount, Jesus said not the smallest letter, nor the least stroke of a pin will by any means disappear from the law. He repeated this again and looked 16. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pin to drop out of the law.

Jesus, in fact, later asserts that greatness in the kingdom will be measured by our obedience to scripture in Matthew chapter 5. Later on in the same passage, he says the judgment is going to be needed out by the same standard, our lining ourselves up with the scripture. Jesus used in his ministry the scripture as the final court of appeal on every matter of dispute, every dispute that he had with the religious leaders in Israel. The final court of appeal was the Word of God when disputing with the Pharisees on, and it was over their high view of tradition alongside a scripture. He said this, thus you nullify the Word of God by your tradition. Scripture determines whether tradition is acceptable and not vice versa.

Tradition is helpful. That is the teaching that's handed down verbally from one generation to the next. The tradition must be judged according to scripture and not vice versa. Jesus told the Sadducees concerning the resurrection because there, according to their tradition, there was going to be no physical resurrection and Jesus responds, you are in error because you do not know the scriptures. Not you don't know your tradition. When confronted with the devil's temptations, Jesus three times says it is written and he quotes from the Old Testament in response to the temptations of Satan. So clearly Jesus accepted as the supreme authority and subjected Himself to it the Word of God. And it is the reason that we elevate the Word of God to be the sole authority is because it is the Word of God, and God is the one who has authority over us.

And because Jesus has put his stamp of approval on the Word of God. And he pre-authenticated the New Testament in the upper room in John 14 and 16. What about the relationship between the scriptures and the early church? Because the priests argued that the church produced the scriptures. Well, the fact is the gospel produced the church, the apostolic teaching that is contained in the Bible that became inscripturated is what formed the church. The church owes its existence to the gospel and to the Word of God. So Paul says, all scripture, all scripture is God breathed. All scripture is the product of God. He doesn't say all tradition and all the teachings of the church is God breathed. He says, all scripture, prophet, they are news to us.

All of the Word of God is God breathed. And so where, what do we base our beliefs and our practice upon? Is it the tradition of the church or is it the Word of God? The traditions of the church must be judged according to the Word of God. That's what Luther came to believe and know and understand. In the purpose of the scriptures, the bear witness to Christ. Jesus said, you search the scriptures and it is these that bear witness of need. So the Bible does teach Solascriptura because Jesus Christ speaks authoritatively through the objective Word of God. Let me read you two short quotes from Dr. Sin Claire Ferguson, who's a pastor in Scotland now and he used to be a professor at Westminster. I think he still is an adjunct professor there, but he's a wonderful Bible teacher and preacher and scholar.

Listen to what he says, for Rome, neither scripture nor tradition can stand on its own. He says this, this is a chapter in a book in which he examines the modern day commentaries written by Roman Catholics that have made some great contributions. Fitzmire's commentary on the book of Romans is a helpful book, but it's helpful in other ways. It's helpful not only in explaining the text, but also explaining the mind of the Roman church. And that is that he teaches, for example, that Romans does teach Solascriptura. Romans does teach that salvation, that justification is by faith alone, which the Catholic church is teaching to knives. But he goes on to say that tradition of the church can trump the scriptures.

It's not the scripture alone, it's the scripture alone with the testimony of the church and the tradition of the church and the Magisterium. And so he says, Ferguson says, as a result of that examination, says, for Rome, neither scripture nor tradition can stand on its own. The rationale for this should not be clear. In the Roman Catholic church, sacred tradition stands besides sacred scripture as a valid and authoritative source of divine revelation. In fact, both emerge within one in the same context, the Catholic church. He goes on, these are important teachings in the tradition, which are not only additional to, but different from and contradictory to the teaching of sacred scripture. These include the very doctrines, which were the centerpiece of the reformation struggle.

And then he mentions some, the nature of justification. Are you justified by grace through faith alone? Are you justified the moment you put faith in Jesus Christ, as Paul says in Romans chapter 5 verse 1? Or are you justified through a life of living rightously in the power of the Spirit? He also mentions these, the importance of the principle of the solar feeday, faith alone, the number of the sacraments. The nature of the sacraments, the sufficiency of the work of Christ, the effect of baptism, the presence of Christ at the supper, the priesthood of all believers, the celibacy of the priesthood, the character, the role of Mary, and much else, like purgatory and maryology and so forth. The more that scripture is exegeded on its own terms, the more it will become clear that in these areas, sacred tradition does not merely add to scripture, it contradicts it.

And if it does, can it any longer be called sacred? I'm not saying all this to bash the Catholic Church. It's to say that we need to understand that what we stand on, the foundation we stand on, is not the teaching of this Church, it is the teaching of the Word of God. It's the Word of God alone. We can go astray in our teaching. But what you have in your hand, when you hold the Bible in your hand, is the very Word of God upon which you can rest your life. Now, I want to show you the practical effects of believing that truth here in Psalm chapter in 119, verses 17 to 24. You already remember that great cinematic piece of art, ghost busters, and remember the rhyme in that song that says, who are you going to call?

That's what I want to ask you this morning, who are you going to call? When times get difficult and confusing and depressing and you're filled with anxiety, who are you going to call? Well, the Psalmist David said that the scriptures are the men of my counsel. It's to the Word of God that I flee when I find myself in great need. In other words, he looked to the Word of God for counsel and advice for living. Why did he have such confidence in the Word of God? Well, in Psalm 119, verses 17 to 24, he tells us, this is an urgent personal appeal of the servant of God who has become painfully aware that he's a stranger in an enemy land. And so he cries out to God, you ever feel like a pilgrim? Does it ever feel to you as you walk with Christ and live for Christ that you're a pilgrim in this world that you're not home yet?

Aren't quite right yet? Well, all of God's servants do. And this is what David is feeling. And so David's basic request is, notice in verse 17, deal boundtifully with thy servant that I may live and keep thy word. The idea of dealing boundtifully is very strong. It means he's crying out to God to be extravagant in his blessings towards him. Pour it on. That's what he's saying. Pour out your blessings upon me. Now, that's a strange thing for a servant to ask. He says, give me boundtifully, not reward. Bless me according to your riches instead of my merit. Bless me according to the largeness of your liberality. Not the smallness of my service. Don't give me what I deserve. Pour out your blessings according to your riches.

See, the reason David played like this is that he knew what God was like. People who think of God as a stingy, parsimonious, height-ward don't play like this. People who liked Judas who thought that God was parsimonious. When a woman comes into the house as time and the leper, as Jesus is there ministering to heaven, she pours out this expensive nod upon his head to anoint his head. Judas is irate that she would waste such extravagance upon Jesus. A year's wages it would cost. And Jesus said, don't stop her. In fact, wherever the gospel's preached, the story of this day is going to be told because she's preparing my body for burial. In other words, she knew that God was not stingy. That his primary thing is not worried about the church is spending too much money in serving him of being too extravagant in showing his glory.

God is extravagant in the way he blesses us. Ephesians 1.7 says in him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, the riches of his grace. His grace is so much bigger than we can imagine. His grace is so much greater than we can ever measure. Philippians chapter 4, Paul is thanking the Philippians for their monetary gift to him and he says to them, and my God shall supply all your needs, according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. We need to have this mindset of David that God wants to bless us. In fact, Jesus told his disciples, the Father desires to give you the kingdom. It's the Father's desire to bless you with true riches.

With true riches. Father's 15, the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight. God delights in hearing the prayer of his people who pray that he would bless them abundantly according to his riches. He is a mountain spring, as John Piper says, not a watering trough. He has so much abundance you could never drink this fountain dry. He has more to give to you than you can ever imagine, and when you look back over your life when you get to heaven and are in his presence, you're going to say, what a fool I was to ask for so little. What a fool I was. David knew that his great need required bountiful provision because of what he faced in his life, and he couldn't produce the bounty himself.

He knew that he was dependent upon God to give him what he needed, and so he throws himself upon God's grace, and he looked for great things that he needed that would come from the goodness of the Lord. But notice the key. Notice the key, and here it is, and this is how it relates to the Word of God. He says that I might live and keep your Word. Here's the key. If you petition God to meet your needs so that you can live an obedience to Him, then you can rest in assurance that He will bless you, and you can ask with freedom and confidence. Has a guy in Isaiah 58 asked God to extend his life, he was sick on the death, and he asked for God to extend his life because he had a role to play in the purpose and plan of God.

And so do you. You have a role to play, and if you cry out for his blessings because you want to accomplish his purposes in your life, you want to be a part of the advance of the gospel and the glory of Christ and the spread of his fame around the world, he will bless you. He will gladly bless you. What exactly do you need him to boundically supply you with as you live as his servants in 2002? Well, it's revealed in these three requests that were written before the coming of Christ several hundred years. It's found in verse 18, 19, and 22, and verse 18, he says, open my eyes. You need your eyes opened. And then in verse 19, he says, do not hide by commandments from me. And then in verse 22, he says, take away reproach and contempt from me.

These are his requests. This is how he wants the bounty of God to be poured out. I noticed these requests. First of all, he says in verse 18, open my eyes that I can see wonderful things in your word. You should be praying now. See, those are the riches of God. This is how God will abundantly bless you at the very height of his blessings is when he opens your eyes so that you can see the wonderful things in his word. I want to play out three implications of this. I want you to think about these things, three implications of this request. The first is that there are treasures in the word which we haven't yet seen. There are treasures in the word which we haven't yet seen. None of us. The word that he uses here, this wonderful things in verse 18, Nephilim, are things that are high and hidden and great and wonderful.

You ever think of the word of God like that when you open the scriptures and you look into it and you're expecting, you're asking God, show me the high and hidden and great and wonderful things in your word. What is that? Well, it's when he unveils Christ to you. Isaiah chapter 9, Jesus is one of his titles there, is called Wonderful. All the great marvelous effects of infinite wisdom meet in Christ and as though you read the word of God and your eyes are opened to the glory of Christ as he has revealed in the word of God, they are treasures. If the wonders of God's self-revelation accommodate in his unveiling himself through his son, Hebrews one says, God's spoken many ways, many different patterns in the Old Testament through the prophets and through different many different ways, but in his last days he has spoken to us in a son.

He's spoken to us in Christ. Christ is this treasure that he will open your eyes to if he will ask him. Do you ever ask him to open your eyes to Christ in the word? In Luke 24, when he's walking along the road to Emmaus with those two disciples and he begins to open the scriptures to their minds, open their minds to the scriptures and he begins to show them how the Old Testament testifies to him from Genesis to Malachi. Their eyes are open and they said their hearts begin to burn within them because they begin to see Christ in the scriptures. I can tell you that it doesn't matter what you're going through, your greatest need, your greatest need is to see Christ and he's in the scriptures. And the Spirit of God will open your eyes to him.

The second implication is this that we are spiritually blind and only God can give us spite so that we can see these wonderful things. These in chapter 4 says before we come to Christ that our minds are empty spiritually. We can't see Christ. We can't find him in the scriptures. It's a close book to us. It's why Jesus told Nicodemus and John 3, unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Unless your heart is changed, you cannot see Christ in the scriptures. And in this same writer, John says in 1st John chapter 5, Jesus has come and given us an understanding so that we could know God. That's the only way we come to know God is if Jesus gives us an understanding and our eyes are opened, scripture needs opening, but what needs opening much more is your eyes.

The veil isn't over the book, it's over our eyes according to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4. It's not the book that's veiled, the book has quality to it, but our eyes are veiled. And we need him to take the veil off. I woke up, I'm having insomnia since I've come back from Philippines. I sleep two hours in dead awake and I can't sleep and I got up this morning, went to bed at 11.30 and got up at 1.30 and I started reading Revelation. I've been reading through the book of Revelation, so I read from about chapter 10 all the way through the book and there was a veil over my eyes. I'm going to tell you, and I was getting irritated about it. I can't understand what he's trying to say to the seven churches in this vision.

I mean, there's some things I can understand, but I need him to open my eyes so that I can see Christ there, because I know he's the center of that book. And we need him to open our eyes. The third implication is that those who receive spiritual sight through regeneration crave more. They crave more. Sometimes we sing these songs about longing after Jesus and people want to unsafe people come and hear you sing these things, they are what is it with these people? Okay, you know, you're Christians and you follow Jesus. Why is it that you act like there's nothing else in life that you want other than Jesus? Because we've tasted and we have seen that the Lord is good and we crave more. And so the person who's tasted craves more and the psalmist had spiritual perception.

He knew there were wondrous things to be seen and so he prays open my eyes that I can see. And he thinks of this, brothers and sisters, that he, this is David, the one through whom God gave so much of the word of God and he prays open my eyes that I can find wondrous things in your law. If he had to pray, certainly you must pray and I must pray if we're going to understand the scriptures. You can't learn the scriptures, you can't, you can't see Christ in the scriptures by gambling in it, by sticking your toe in it, by reading five minutes in the morning, you have to immerse yourself in it. You have to come to the Word and you have to ask God to open your eyes so that you can see. David says, once you've tasted, you're long for more.

This is the proof of the true knowledge of God is a thirst for a deeper knowledge of God. I want to know more. I'm hungry to know more. Listen to this, Charles Hadness, Virgin, what perfect precepts, what precious promises, what priceless privileges are neglected by us because we wander among them like blind men amongst the beauties of nature and they are to us as a landscape shrouded in darkness. We beautifully read our chapter and yet we don't see anything. We're like people walking through the beautiful, most beautiful spots on the face of the earth and they have their nose stuck in a book or in a paper and they're not even noticing the glory of this creation. We come to this book and sometimes we wander through our impulses.

This is why Peter, this is why the Apostle Paul prayed the way he did in Ephesians chapter three that he prays that the Lord Jesus would come and he would settle down and feel at home in the hearts and their inner man would be strengthened so that their eyes could be open and they could see the truth about Christ and they could come to understand the height and depth and length, breadth and know the love of Christ. He prays for them and they would have a spiritual experience that was deep so that they could understand the word of God and then reading through the book of Ezekiel lately and one of the repetitive notes that he sounds in that book is that the way that we get away from God is first we turn our heart and once we turn our heart away from him then our eyes attach to idols.

Our eyes are filled with idols he says in Ezekiel 14 that what happens to us our heart horizon is filled with idols of the heart and the reason that's true is because we turn our heart away from him but when we attach our heart to him as Paul prays in Ephesians three and there's a wonderful thing he prays in the first chapter let me read this and in the first chapter of Ephesians the first prayer that he gives in the book beginning in verse 17 is this I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of this calling one of the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe in accordance with the working of the strength of his might which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him in his right hand in the heavenly part of all rule and authority and power and dominion Paul prays that our eyes would be open to these things that the spirit would strengthen our inner man so that we could come to see what's been revealed in the word of God or the prayer that God would enable us by his spirit to know and understand his mind that he has revealed to us in the word of God without the special aid and assistance of the spirit of God we never will we will have a surface kind of understanding of scripture if the kind of preaching that I am told continually in material that sent to me and if you go to these these seminars on church growth what you discover is what you must do if you're going to draw people is preach what is obvious on the surface of the text and never do anymore don't make people think don't make them struggle with concepts that are there in the word of God don't make them look for these wonderful things you will frustrate them simply tell them how they can have a better marriage and to get a better job and look better before the world so everybody will want to be Christians because it's so much fun to be a Christian but don't challenge them to think deeply about the word of God you'll run them off they'll be yawning and sleeping and wandering away because they don't want to have to struggle and think and look deeply in the word of God I don't believe that I believe every child of God who has a spirit of God who has tasted and seen that the Lord is good wants to taste more of his word I'm convinced of that when we are healthy spiritually we want to know his word we want to dig deeper we want our eyes to be open we want we pray what gave the praise opened my eyes and let me see the wonderful things in your word you have to pray it that our eyes would be opened our hearts would be affected the second request is found in verses 19 through 21 and that is he prays that I would keep your commandments that you would keep your commandments before me at all times notice how he says this in verse 19 he says I'm a stranger in the earth these are the words of king this is what king said I'm a stranger in the earth because he had sinned and God banished him and he said I'm a stranger in the earth I'm a I'm I'm cast out and now David praised this and he says this is the basis of his plea to God to not hide his commandments from him you see the result of sin is that we are strangers to God but the result of salvation is that we are strangers on the earth you notice that God says you and all of a sudden you're a stranger on this earth that's what John 17 says when Jesus prayed in the upper in the garden his priestly prayer I have saved him out of the world now I'm going to send them back into the world they're not at the world but I'm sending them into the world and David says I'm a stranger in the earth we're banished then as long as we are out of heaven we still sing in no chorus this world is not my home just a passing through my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue see this world is not our home you know why because Jesus is not manifestly raining over this world we see rebellion against his commands and his character all around this and it makes us feel like strangers in this world and if this world is not going to be at home until Jesus comes to reign upon this earth when heaven comes earth it's going to be home and it's going to be a place we love to be but now in the meantime we need his commandments in order to live in a world that's an enmity with God and don't ever forget that that's where you're living you're living in a world that is an enmity with God that's the theme of the gospel of John that's what's so amazing about John 316 when John says for God's will love the world in the context of Johnny saying God so love this humanity that is at war with him that he's sin is only begotten son we live in a world that is at war with God and so we need his commandments in James chapter 4 it says friendship of the world is enmity with God why is that because the world is it enmity with God first John 2 he says everything that's in the world the lust of the flesh lust the eyes the boastful pride of life they're not of God but they're of this world and this world's passing away this world is not of God and so we're strangers here and God's commandments are my solace in my exile when God when his commandments come to me his commandments when they come to me it reminds me of home you know I think back on my childhood some of the most precious moments in my life is when my father corrected me I remember one time I shouldn't tell the story probably there were in kids in here but I was about 11 years old and me and my cousin were down behind this cement wall it was kind of a loading thing around the safe way and we were down in this thing smoking and we're down there we I don't know how we got these cigarettes now I can't remember but we're down there and so I stood up with this cigarette in my mouth and I turned and look and there was my dad and I remember his I remember how he he rebuked me and yet he showed love towards me and I remember how one that made me feel that he cared about me when he corrected me and told me what I ought to do when he gave me his commandments it made me feel like he was my father when you get into the word of God and you discover his commandments and when you're wrong and he shows you and it is word that you're wrong and you need to change you need to repent and turn from what you're doing it makes you feel at home God your father your father's reviewing you and correcting you every son who is really a child of God every child of God is reviewed by the father and he scorches every son who may receive he's a good father and so he's given us his law because he loves us and so he says I want to hide this law in my heart what do we do that we'll back up in verse 11 someone 19 he says by word I have treasured in my heart that I might not sin against me what is this idea of hiding the word in your heart well it's when when we aren't able to understand or obey the commandments of God as we read them and we don't see how they fit and we don't understand them we hide them in our heart because it's going to come a day when those commandments are going to open our eyes what we need to do at that very moment so he says we hide them in our heart and in verse 20 says my soul is crushed with longing after dying ordinances at all time this is the effect of being transformed by the spirit of God that there is this constant longing after God's ordinances what a strange thing godliness lies in our desires doesn't it isn't that what you struggle with is the desires of your heart that's where the real struggle is is what your heart desires you can discipline yourself to do almost anything but as Paul says in Romans chapter 7 I went through the law and I for the other commandments and then I came to the ask him about shall not covet and he says I couldn't get my heart to do what it was supposed to do I couldn't stop coveting the effects of transformation as we long after God's ordinances we'd long to know and obey the Lord's commands the ordinances of God that word is just another term that's used to describe the law of God and the refers to God's decisions about issues of dispute where do we go when there's issues of dispute we go to the word of God he's infallible and immutable decisions on moral or spiritual questions there is ordinances the loving ordinances of God for his people so when an issue comes up we don't sit around and discuss about what might be right in this situation until we find out what the word of God says what does the word of God say about premeritals sex what does the word of God say about abortion what does the word of God say about the issues of life that we face what does the word of God say those are his ordinances he's given to them to us just like a good father trains his child his son and daughter he teaches them the truth he teaches them ordinances that are true that reveal the character of God and he says I I'm longing for them you're very long for the ordinances of God you're very long to know what God says about this issue instead of trying to figure out how you can do what you want to do you know there's a new there's a new movement in theological circles and some call it the neo-biblicism and it's this radical biblicism is that the word of God is our foundation it is our authority we come to this to find out what we ought to do in faith and practice neo-biblicism says this as long as it's plausible then we have to allow in other words if a person comes to one scripture isolated from the rest of the word of God don't practice the analogy of faith that is what the rest of the scripture says simply pull it out of its context make it mean whatever you mean as long as it's possible for that for that verse to mean that in your situation then that's within orthodoxy it's called neo-biblicism I call it below me what we want to do is to are so long to know his ordinances we want to know the truth we want to know what God really thinks about this and the process here is that God reveals his will and then our hearts long to be conformed to it see if we'll just expose ourselves as born again believers to the word of God and we discover what his ordinances are then we will discover that our heart begins to long after that we want to do that we want to be obedient to him we want to live according to his ordinances because we know it is love for us in Christ and that they are beautiful and good and perfect that's why Paul says in Romans chapter 12 if you give yourself to him then you will discover what the good and perfect will of God is and you will long for it as David does God judges in our heart rejoices in the verdict see that's what that's what fellowship is God brings his judgment from his word to us and sometimes it tells us where on the wrong side of the line but we rejoice in it because God has informed us what we ought to do and so we make the changes says in verse 21 thou dost rebuke the arrogant the cursed who wander from thy commandments the arrogant the word arrogant means somebody who's insolent who's presumptuous who doesn't care what the word of God says they can manage the word of God there's a lot of people on who can manage the word of God they can rule over the word of God and make it say whatever they wanted to say so they can live like they want to live I know people like that but the person who is humble before the word of God who's not arrogant and insolent and presumptuous the person who's humble in heart is obedient because he wants to do the will of God and so David prays that his commandments would be in his heart continually and then the third and last thing he asks for here is in verse 22 to 24 don't let me be overwhelmed by the attacks of my enemies verse 22 take away reproach and contempt for me for I observe by testimonies and this is really important because what he's saying here we talk about reproach you talk about slander you ever been slandered have you ever had anybody slander you I mean to say things about you the others that destroys your reputation and then the word contempt is what people think because of the slander the attitude they have towards you because you've been slandered David knew about this because he was reproached and he was slandered against and people despised him because of that slander many times and so he plays to God take away reproach and contempt for me for I observe by testimonies so he's talking about it's a fear of man and Proverbs 29 25 it says the fear of man brings a snare brings a snare to the Christian to the person who's wanting to follow Christ as a disciple the fear of man is a snare when you really want what people think of you it can rob you of being a servant of God what are you giving heed to what fills your horizon what do you care about most what do you think about when you go to bed at night when you wake up in the morning is it how you appear to men and how you want to have a reputation and how you want people to view you in a certain way David is asking that his attention would be fixed on God that he would fill his horizon and he wouldn't be drawn away by the slander and contempt of his enemies you know pastors are especially vulnerable to this because they're always in a sense they're always on trial I mean it's not that people always mean to them it's just they're always on trial because people will typically come to a church or leave a church because of something about the pastor and so he's always on trial and it's always obvious what the judgment is and so he gets defensive and he starts caring about what people think instead of what God thinks and he becomes duplicitous because he wants people to liken and David says remove that from my mind don't let me be driven by that let me care about what you say and then he says in verse 23 even though princes sit and talk against me by servant meditates on nice statues what keeps you from meditating on his statues what keeps you from meditating on the word of God from being in the word of God are you too busy pleasing people you too busy trying to maintain an image before people yet too many things in your life that have to do with your image people's opinion of you David says even though the princes those in authority under me talk against me by servant meditates on my statutes verse 24 thy testimonies are my delight my testimonies are my delight they are my counselors while his enemies took counsel with one another he took counsel with the testimonies of God here is his counselor here's biblical counseling it's the counseling of the Bible it's the counseling of the word of God notice this he says that they are my counselors literally the men of my counsel are the scriptures the men of your counsel is it to the scripture that you flee how can they be we'll notice here are the steps right here in the verse in the verses first we observe them you have to observe them you have to actually find out what there are you have to come to the word of God and observe them the word observe means to to watch to keep the guard I mean to be attentive to find out what there are the final that God has said in regards to this issue in your life and then the word meditate means to muse or to complain or talk to the scriptures you're a talk to the scriptures you look complain to the scriptures do you ever interact with the scriptures enough to get upset because you can't understand what it means or because you don't like what it's saying then you don't read the Bible deeply enough you need to read the Bible in such a way that you talk to it it's never going to talk to you if you don't talk to it if you when you come to the scriptures you don't use on it you don't complain to it you don't wrestle with it you don't see the rough edges of God but you don't like and you wrestle with those things and you talk to the word and you talk to God about it you need to interact with it in other words come to be exposed to it deeply enough that observe it deeply enough watch it deeply enough that it actually shakes you loose I got a call from my mom the other day or I called her yesterday and I was talking to her and she began to tell me she's 80 to be 82 this year and she was telling me that about Deuteronomy and in the conversation we're talking about some things she begins to tell me about the end of Deuteronomy and she begins to tell me how wonderful it is and she says it's amazing to me I've read the Bible so many times she been says and she has six years old and she's 82 and she says I read it so many times but it's it's so wonderful it was just so wonderful and she's telling me all these things about Deuteronomy she meditates on it she talks to it and it talks to her and then he says you observe you meditate and then you delight they become delightful to you you take delight in them you rejoice over them you ever read the Bible and you just have to stop and give God thanks for this glorious truth you need to read it that much you've got to read it enough you've got to be in it enough that sometimes you can't help it you have to stop and because you're overwhelmed with the joy of what this word reveals about the Son of God about the joy that the word cuts deep and shows you where you're wrong and you repent and you cry after God and and joy fills your heart that you have to stop and just delight before the Lord in his glorious word you have to read it that much after read it that seriously it's a treasure it's been given to you as a gift and it is the only basis of our belief and practice I'm glad for the church fathers I'm glad for all the commentators I'm glad for all the theologians who've written I'm glad for all the guys at right today I can't I can only read so much but I can tell you this I'm not going to read the fathers until I read the scriptures I'm in I'm reading the book right now how to read through the scriptures reading the scriptures through the fathers it's greatly enjoyable Gregory of Nancy and sis I'm just it really moved by how God worked in that man's life but it's not the scriptures it's not the scriptures this is the word of God this is the word of God and David says I observe it I meditate on it I delight in it and it becomes my counselors nothing will thrill your heart like those events in your life where you're brought up short by the word of God you delight in it it becomes your counselor and you obey it just because of its authority over your life nothing will thrill your heart like that in our silos they are our delight and in our difficulties they are God in our in our depression they are encouragement I can remember times I was so full of anxiety that I couldn't sleep at night that's not what's wrong with me now I don't think but I I remember times I'd wake up in the middle of the night I couldn't sleep because I was so anxious I was so filled with anxiety deal about what I was facing and how I was going to face and what was going to happen I do feel so filled with anxiety and I found that my counselor was the word of God it's the word of God it's the word of God that will feed your heart it will calm your anxieties that's what the Bible says it's the word of God that will meet your deepest needs from the scriptures we derived joy and we discover wisdom it speaks deeply to us and profoundly to us and if we desire to find comfort in the scriptures we have to submit ourselves to its counsel that's what James does and James won if any man likes wisdom let him ask of God but let him ask in faith without doubting for he who doubts is like the surf of the sea think blown here and there but the man who comes to God and requests for wisdom and he comes in the word of God and his heart is set he's going to believe what the word of God says and God's wisdom comes in is going to embrace that wisdom the wisdom comes and the James says he becomes perfect lacking nothing he outputs you for the trial that you face and for the difficult as you face Genesis 4 when Kane meets up with God after he has slain his brother because God rejected Kane's offering because he didn't do it according the word of God and his brother did able did and God meets up with him actually it's before he slays him I'm sorry just before he slays him and God meets up with him he says Kane why is your countenance falling your face falling why are you so angry why are you so agitated and then God says this to him if you do what's right will not your face be lifted up won't your depression leave you won't your anxiety flee if you do what's right then God says to him but sin lies at the door and it desires to have you you see the struggle was was Kane going to hear the word of God and submit to the word of God or was Kane going to fulfill his heart's desire his corrupt heart's desire and you know the story sin took hold of him God loves you children of God and so he's given you this treasure his ordinances his wisdom this treasure in his book he's given it to you because he loves you he hasn't given it to you so you can put it in a safe and lock it up in a safe place because of it if it gets all tore up and you you read it until there's no more letters on the pages you can go by another one he's given it to you so that you will take and eat this is this is the foundation upon which we base our belief and practice our belief and practice where the fathers are right where tradition is right where teachers are right we say amen but this is the judge as to whether they're right or wrong what I believe about the doctrines of scripture that this is the judge this is the judge not Grudam's theology this book right here and we base what we believe on this book it's not that we understand it perfectly but we understand this we understand this this book is God breathed and it is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction and righteousness that the man of God and the woman of God may be thoroughly furnished for every good work this is what we need let's pray our father we thank you that you love this so much that you have revealed yourself and your son we were with a son to you you love this so much you're willing to send your son into the world to reveal yourself to us and to redeem us from our alienation and sin and then you love this so much that you sent the spirit and you empowered your apostles and those around them to put into writing to inscriptuate this teaching and revelation concerning your son we thank you for this treasure we stake our life on it all that we believe we want to be judged by this book and when it says we're wrong we confess that we are wrong we have great confidence in this book we pray oh God that we that the way we treat it would reveal that the way we read it the way we meditate upon it the the way that we spend time in it will reveal that we do see it as a treasure and pray that it would be the first place that we flee to before we go to people for counsel before we go to professionals for help we would go to the word of God that we would have a heart like David oh God bless us boundily out of your riches we pray as we come to your word in Jesus name amen