REMEMBER THE ANCIENT LAWS Sermon preached by Pastor C. John Steer Autumn Ridge Church October 6-7, 2018

Transcription

1 1 REMEMBER THE ANCIENT LAWS Sermon preached by Pastor C. John Steer Autumn Ridge Church October 6-7, 2018 No. 4: Remember Text: Psalm 119:52 The Bible is packed with fascinating details. There are the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. There is also the genealogy of Jesus, pages about Jewish dietary laws, and detailed descriptions of the furniture of the Temple. We might wonder what are the most vital truths for us to remember from this mass of information. Thankfully God has told us and we are making our way through the list that our Heavenly Father instructs us to remember. We have seen that we must remember Jesus Christ. We must remember our Creator. We are to remember the wonders God has done. Today we REMEMBER THE ANCIENT LAWS. This is essential and I will tell you why. Across our country there are churches that were once vibrant. They were packed with people. Many came to faith in Christ. The church was making an impact in the community. But now those churches are a shadow of their former selves. Only a handful are present at the worship service. There is often no youth ministry at all. Sometimes the church has closed its doors for good. We wonder what happened. The answer usually is they forgot the ancient laws. And what is true of churches is also true of seminaries, Bible colleges, mission organizations, and Christian publishing houses. These once had a high view of scripture but over the years error crept in. They are no longer making a spiritual impact for God. That s why when I depart next February my greatest longing for Autumn Ridge is that you do not forget the ancient laws. Now what are these ancient laws? They are another name for the teaching of the Bible. They include the Ten Commandments, but they also encompass all biblical instruction. We are to remember these ancient laws because God s word is inspired so it tells us how to live. It is inerrant, which means it is without error in the original documents. This means it is true and can be trusted. Psalm 119 is the longest song in the Bible and right in the middle we find this statement. I remember, Lord, your ancient laws, and I find comfort in them." (Psalm 119:52)

2 2 This Psalm is a call for us to take scripture seriously. Now let s understand what we mean and don t mean by this statement. I remember, Lord, your ancient laws. First, we acknowledge that not every ancient law is to be obeyed today. For example, there are lots of laws about sacrificing animals to atone for sin. We don t do that now. The reason is progressive revelation. It is true in the Old Testament God told his people to shed the blood of lambs, but in the New Testament Jesus comes as the Lamb of God and dies on the cross. He was the one perfect sacrifice and so no more animals need to be slaughtered. So the ancient laws were pointing to a more perfect law that was fulfilled in Christ. Second, we understand that not all the ancient laws are totally understood today. Sincere Christians disagree on some details of these laws. We believe passionately that Jesus is coming again. But there are different interpretations on the events and timing of his second coming. We believe that the church is the body of Christ, but how the church is to be organized is up for debate. Some people say it should be run by bishops, others by elders, still others by the congregation. But these are relatively minor matters. The major truths are quite clear and these are the laws that we are to remember. The writer of this Psalm says he finds comfort in these ancient laws, and so should we. There are three reasons. First, we find comfort in the ancient laws because of their AUTHORSHIP. The Bible originates from God himself. This is a constant testimony of the psalmist. Look how he describes scripture. It is: Your decrees. (v.5) Your commands. (v.6) Your righteous laws. (v.7) Your word. (v.9) Your statutes. (v.14) Your precepts and your ways. (v.15) The point is that God is the author of the Bible and it is exciting to get a letter from him. There were 40 writers employed in compiling the Bible over a period of 1600 years, but God was directing their words. Peter puts it this way, Prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1:21) Now while it can be inspiring to read the words of God, it can also be alarming for God warns us, My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. (Isaiah 55:8)

3 3 This means that the Bible is often politically incorrect, and frankly, if we are not offended by some of its statements, we are not reading it correctly. Now the nature of what offends us has changed over the years. Centuries ago when people read Love your enemies they thought that was absurd. You don t love your enemies. You kill your enemies. Now we regard loving your enemies as a path to peace. When Paul wrote to Philemon returning Onesimus who was a runaway slave, he told Philemon to receive Onesimus, no longer as a slave, but... as a dear brother." (Philemon 1:16) That really upset slave owners back in the 19 th century, but that sort of clear biblical teaching led to the end of the disgusting practice of slavery in our country. Nowadays some are offended about the Bible s insistence that marriage is between one man and one woman and that God made us male and female, with not a variety of options in between. To some that may seem quaint and old fashioned, and even prejudiced. But these are God s ancient laws written for the good of society and we abandon them at our peril. It is a helpful exercise from time to time to ask what passage of the Bible really offends us because often that is where the Holy Spirit is challenging us right now. Maybe we are offended by the Bible s insistence that we must forgive others because there are people we regard as undeserving of our forgiveness. Maybe we are offended by the Bible s teaching that we are to welcome the alien and the refugee in our midst. We object that our country can t afford that. Yet these are the ancient laws we are to remember. Scripture is often upsetting because God is the author. Second, we find comfort in the ancient laws because of their AUTHORITY. Human writings are constantly in need of revision, but God s writing never needs correction. The Psalmist expresses it this way, Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens." (v.89) Down through the years people have tried to disprove the Bible, but it ends up disproving them. Some years ago skeptics in Scotland tried to disprove Luke s account in Acts. They sent Sir William Ramsey to all the places Paul visited in his travels to find errors in Luke s account. But Sir William Ramsey saw the accuracy of Luke s narrative and became a Christian. In the 1950s Kathleen Kenyon, the famous archaeologist, said the fall of the walls of Jericho could not have happened. But in 1990 further archaeological discoveries vindicated the biblical record. It sometimes seems that every dig of the archaeologist s shovel confirms the Bible.

4 4 When I am in London I like to visit the British Museum. I find it a faith-building experience. There you can see the Taylor Prism. This prism gives the Assyrian version of Sennacherib s campaign against Hezekiah, which is recorded in 2 Kings chapter 18. There is general agreement between the two accounts. In the same room you can see the Babylonian Chronicles. These consist of the records of the major events of a king s reign. They recall the first capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BC. The Babylonian Chronicles help us to understand the frequent references in First and Second Kings to the chronicles of the kings of Judah. In the Egyptian Room you can see an Egyptian brick. This brick is made out of mud and straw, the kind the Israelites made when they were slaves in Egypt. The brick comes from the reign of Ramesses II in the 13 th century BC. The Exodus may have taken place during his rule. So it goes, on and on. A visit to the British Museum shows the Bible is not a book of myths. For God s word is rooted and grounded in history. Then we find comfort in the ancient laws because of their APPLICATION. Have you ever wished God would speak to you? He has through his Bible. All you have to do is open its pages and listen. It addresses all the big issues of life because the Bible is like no other book. Reading it and applying it bring a variety of incredible blessings to our life. Let me give you a personal example. Gretchen has been gone this week. She is in Washington DC helping to welcome our fourth grandchild. I am miserable without her. I get depressed. The evenings are long and the nights are endless. I thought I needed comfort from these ancient laws. The book of the Bible I relate to well is Lamentations. In the third chapter there is that marvelous promise, God's compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I meditated on God s faithfulness and waited to see how it would work out. I was particularly dreading Thursday as it was my birthday and without Gretchen I thought it would be the worst birthday of my life. But my colleagues kindly came in and sang to me and gave me cards and some gifts. A friend said he would take me out for dinner but instead took me to his house where a whole group of friends had gathered for a surprise birthday party. It was a wonderful evening. Then our President visited Rochester, especially on my birthday. I didn t meet him, but it was such a kind gesture. The truth was I had the best birthday of my life and discovered that indeed there is great comfort in the ancient laws. Other books are for our information. But the Bible is given for our transformation. A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn t. There are books that men and women make. But the Bible is a book that makes men and women. Perhaps we are in need of this comfort today. So what should we do? The Psalmist tells us when he says, "I have hidden your word in my heart." (v.11)

5 5 He didn t put God s word away in a drawer or a bookcase. Rather he placed the word of God at the core of his being. Now the Psalmist had a much smaller Bible than we do. He just had parts of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch, the historical books, and some prophetic books. But he buried what he had deep down in the center of his being. There are three actions we can do to make the Bible come alive. First, we must take it into our hands. We start by getting hold of a good version of the Bible and we hold it in our hands. Perhaps you say, How about reading the Bible on my phone? One of my colleagues has an answer for that. He says, The problem with using your phone is that we can be tempted to check our s or watch a YouTube video. The benefit of the Bible is that it can only be read for its own sake. Second, to make the Bible come alive we must get it into our head. We can do this by memorizing passages, as we do with our Victory Verse each week. We can join a Life Group as that provides the essential spiritual discipline of Bible reading. Each Wednesday evening I meet with about 12 guys. This year we are going through the book of Daniel. Before we gather we read a commentary and do homework. I would not be studying Daniel if it wasn t for the Man Group meeting every Wednesday. I benefit enormously from it. Perhaps you say, But I don t get much out of my Bible reading. Then say this to God before you read. Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law." (v.18) God loves to answer that prayer. Third, to make the Bible come alive we must hide it in our heart. We must let the truths of scripture become part of our being. The Psalmist tells us how to do this when he says, I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. (v.15) The Bible shows us what is supremely important. It helps us to avoid the pitfalls of a shallow existence so we don t reach the end of our life asking, Is that all there is? When we fill our mind with scripture we are able to say, Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors." (v.24) So the Psalmist gives this testimony, I remember, Lord, your ancient laws. (v.52) When we do we make three great discoveries. First, we gain INSIGHT INTO THE HUMAN CONDITION. There is a lot of consternation about the state of our country today. People lament the lack of civility, the growing tendency for us to be tribal in our affiliations, the distrust of authority expressed by athletes kneeling during the National Anthem.

6 6 Then there is a growing concern about sexual harassment expressed in the MeToo movement. All sorts of diagnoses are made and various remedies are offered. But instead of things getting better they seem to get worse. So what is the problem? The Bible identifies it with a three-letter word. It is S I N. Sin is at the root of our alienation from one another. Our tendency is to excuse sin and think it is just old fashioned morality. But once we engage with scripture we see sin for what it really is. Sin is our rebellion against God. Sin causes us to be out of fellowship with our Heavenly Father. That is why the Bible calls us to hate sin. By nature we love sin. It is our natural element. But once we remember the ancient laws we find ourselves loving what God loves and hating what God hates. We are able to say, Oh, how I love your law!" (v.97) and I hate every wrong path. (v.104) But gaining insight into the human condition wouldn t be helpful unless there was a remedy. The Bible points us to the one who has paid the penalty for our sin. The Bible helps us to make sense of Calvary and understand why Jesus had to die. The Bible explains the table spread before us today. Scottish theologian James Denney pictured a man running along Brighton Pier crying out to the world, I love you! I love you! And I ll prove my love for you. With that the man jumps into the sea and drowns. But the man has not proved his love. He has not saved anyone. He has merely shown that he was demented. The cross of Christ does not make sense until we understand that our sin has cut us off from God. Then Jesus sacrifice on our behalf is good news. We see that Jesus was paying the price for real sin. He was dying for a definite reason. He was redeeming his own people. Martin Luther said we become a sinner by faith. What he meant was we tend to feel pretty good about ourselves. We don t think we are sinners. On the contrary, we believe that we are better than other people. So we don t feel that we have a need to repent. But the Bible shows that we have forgotten God s ancient laws. We have failed to live by his standards. When we believe this by faith, then by faith we become sinners. We understand the human condition. We know what our greatest need is. A second benefit of remembering the ancient laws is the IMPACT ON OUR BEHAVIOR. The wonderful truth is that the Bible helps us to stop sinning. So the Psalmist writes, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." (v.11) A man was telling me recently the Bible has helped him become a better husband.

7 7 He is loving and serving and cherishing his wife more because of what he is reading in scripture. His home is now a happier place. The Bible can make us better parents. I knew one family that reads a chapter of Proverbs every night together. There is incredibly good advice on parenting in Proverbs. There is counsel on how to live together in peace. We know that pornography is a huge problem for many people. It destroys marriages, families and individuals. It is a powerful addiction that rewires our brain. It is hard to conquer. But there is one remedy that works. And that s reading our Bible. It is virtually impossible to read scripture, memorize scripture, and pray through scripture, and then turn to pornography. The two don t mix. God s word will drive us from pornography, or pornography will drive us from God s word. So if we want a clean life and an honest life, then we need to soak our souls in scripture. For as we read about a holy God we want to stop unholy practices. That is why D.L. Moody wrote in the flyleaf of his Bible, This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from it. How can young people keep themselves pure today with all the garbage in the world? How do you say no when everyone is saying yes? How do we deal with lust? The Psalmist asks, How can a young person stay on the path of purity?" (v.9) The answer is, By living according to your word. (v.9) That is why it is essential we teach our children, our Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers the Bible. We cherish these ancient laws because of the impact they have on our behavior. The Holy Spirit uses the Bible as a mirror and holds it in front of us so we see the ugliness of our iniquity. The Spirit then reveals the beauty of Jesus and shows how we can become like Christ by turning from those habits that grieve God. A third benefit of remembering the ancient laws is that we receive ILLUMINATION FOR OUR JOURNEY. The Psalmist affirms, Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path." (v.105) The Bible shows us the way we should go. It provides guidance in times of uncertainty. As a church we are going to need a lot of wisdom over the coming year. That s why we must remember the ancient laws. We must hang on tight to scripture. We must not deviate from what this church has cherished for 160 years. Let s close by saying together our Victory Verse for the week. We declare it as a pledge of our intentions. I remember, Lord, your ancient laws, and I find comfort in them. Psalm 119:52