Well, turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter four. 1 Timothy chapter four, verse 13, we read Paul’s instructions to the young pastor, Timothy, and his instructions on what he ought to be doing in the worship service until Paul comes.

That’s what it says here in 1 Timothy 4.13, it says, until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and to teaching.

This is one of the primary texts for this evening because it is such a clear command for us, for the church. We are continuing our series on worship. I’ve really enjoyed this series that we started at the beginning of the year, and now we’re coming up on June, so we’ve been going six months almost, or five full months almost, on this topic of worship. And we started with what worship is and what worship looks like, not only in our worship services, but in our daily life. But as we’ve been focusing recently on why it is we do what we do. For example, on a Sunday morning in a worship service, or here on Sunday evenings as well. Why it is that we worship the way that we worship.

And we talked about a few things that are commanded in scripture, things that we must be doing. We began with the ordinances, with baptism and the Lord’s Supper. And then last time, a few weeks ago now, we continued with another thing commanded to us to be doing in our worship, in the preaching of God’s word. We are to be preaching God’s word. And those things are essential because they are clearly commanded in scripture as what the church must be doing. We must baptize, we must take the Lord’s supper, and we must preach the word.

But that is not all we must be doing. As we just saw in that opening verse in 1 Timothy, we are also to be reading the word of God publicly. And that’s different from preaching. We just saw that a couple of weeks ago that true expository preaching includes the reading of the text, but also includes the explaining the meaning of Scripture and applying the meaning of Scripture to our lives. And that is vitally important. But so is the act of publicly reading Scripture.

This is why we include multiple scripture readings in our Sunday morning worship services along with the preaching of the word. One of the things I’d like to do in the future is to grow our ministry of the public reading of scripture and begin incorporating more men into the readings on Sunday mornings and have a rotation of different men that would come up and read the scripture reading for that Lord’s Day. I just need to get organized on that and get that together. What I’d like to do this evening, we have the clear command we just read, and so, I mean, that’s point blank, publicly read the scripture, and we could just end it there. That’s what the Bible says, that’s what we do. But what I want to do tonight is to look at the precedent in scripture, of the public reading of scripture in worship, and look at the importance of the Scripture reading, not only in the Bible, but also in our worship services today.

And so like we have in a lot of these areas that we’ve covered, we’re doing a bit of a biblical theology of the public reading of Scripture. We’re going to look at many different places, starting in the Old Testament right through the New, and see how this was done and why it’s important for us. So again, we’ll begin in the Old Testament. And when we look at the Old Testament, we start right at the beginning of our Bibles.

We realize that they did not have the scriptures as we have them today. God’s word was given and recorded over time. In the earliest days, they didn’t have any written scriptures. It wasn’t until Moses that the word of God was written down and recorded for the purpose of reading for future generations. That’s roughly 2,500 years from Adam to Moses. with no written scripture, at least in the sense that we have it in the Word of God. So as we read Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers, we need to realize that at that time when those events were taking place, they didn’t have scripture, they didn’t have their Bibles. The scriptures were either being written or written after the events that take place in those books of the Bible. It really isn’t until Deuteronomy. that we see the reference to reading and remembering what Moses had written down as scripture.

We know that the book of Deuteronomy begins by telling us what it is. We’re going to be in several places there, so turn with me to the book of Deuteronomy. And we’re going to start right in Deuteronomy chapter 1. Deuteronomy 1 verse 1. Deuteronomy was called in the Hebrew Bible, the words of Moses. And that’s how the book starts. Deuteronomy 1 verse 1, these are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness. And so as Moses begins his preaching and instruction to Israel, we see that the instruction is for them to keep these words, to write them down, to return and remember the words that Moses is recording for them. So that’s how the book starts, and then turn over a couple of pages to Deuteronomy 4.

Deuteronomy 4, starting in verse 1, this is what Moses has to say to them. In his first, Deuteronomy is four different sermons of Moses, and in the beginning of his first sermon here in chapter 4, He says this, so now Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to do so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I am commanding you. Your eyes have seen what Yahweh has done in the case of Baal Peor, for all the men who walked after Baal Peor. Yahweh your God has destroyed them from among you, but you who clung to Yahweh your God are alive today, every one of you. See, I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land which you are entering to possess it. You shall keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, surely this great nation is wise and understanding people.

When we see words like statutes and judgments and commandments, that’s the written word of God. That’s the scriptures. They were to listen to these words of Moses. They were to keep these words of Moses. Verse two says, don’t add to or take from these words, which means there was going to be a set record of what Moses said. There was going to be a written account that they were to keep and remember. These words were spoken so that they would be written down as a definite record and read and remembered by future generations.

That’s what these words are for. And we know from the familiar passage in Deuteronomy in chapter six, turn over a couple of pages again, in this same opening sermon of Moses. Chapter six, we know it well, starting in verse four. Hear, O Israel, Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one. You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

These words which I’m commanding you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as phylacteries between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Moses’ words were meant to be recorded, to be read and remembered. This is why he’s giving them to you. Keep these words. This will be your wisdom. This will be how you live in the land. There needs to be a written account and you need to read it. You need to remember these things.

And again, turn over a few more pages to chapter 10, speaking specifically about how the 10 commandments were given. Moses tells the nation of Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 10, starting in verse one, At that time, Yahweh said to me, carve out for yourself two tablets of stone, like the former ones, and come up to me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood for yourself, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you shattered, and you shall put them in the ark.” The Word of God, here specifically the Ten Commandments, were written down and kept for the use of future generations. And this instruction to record and keep and read these words in the future applied to all that was recorded for us in Moses’ writings, or what would come to be known as the law or the Pentateuch, the first five books that Moses wrote here for us. And that would also apply to the revelation that would follow Moses’ writings. Scripture by its very nature, as revelation from God. was to be recorded and kept and read and remembered. And when Israel was obedient to do this in their worship, they would be living in the grace of God. We see several examples throughout the rest of the Old Testament of Israel doing this, reading the word of God, remembering what they were given.

Turn over now to Joshua, Joshua chapter 8. We know Joshua records the conquest in the promised land as they defeat the many nations. Joshua 8 records for us, turn to chapter 8 there of Joshua. Joshua 8 records the conquering of Ai, which only happened after Israel repented of the sin and disobedience that we see of Achan in chapter 7 of his greed and theft. But in chapter 8, Israel conquers Ai, and Joshua, their leader, responds by holding a worship service. After they conquer them, he holds a worship service. And in Joshua 8, starting in verse 30, it records this for us.

Joshua 8, starting in verse 30, says this, then Joshua built an altar to Yahweh, the God of Israel. So this is a worship service. on Mount Ebal, just as Moses, the servant of Yahweh, had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses.” So Joshua is obeying what was written.

And an altar of uncut stones on which no man had wielded an iron tool and they offered burnt offerings on it to Yahweh and sacrificed peace offerings. And he wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written in the presence of the sons of Israel. And all Israel with their elders and officers and their judges were standing on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, the sojourner as well as the native. Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim, the other half stood in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses, the servant of Yahweh, had given a command at first to bless the people of Israel.

Then afterward, and get this, this is part of their worship service. They’d done all these rituals that Moses said they needed to do, but this is what they did then. Then afterward, he read all the words of the law. the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded, which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women and the little ones and the sojourners who were going in among them.” They read every word that Moses had wrote.

They read all of scripture. They read the whole Bible that they had at that point. Remember that next time we read a long passage in our worship service. At least I’m not reading the whole Bible. That’s what Joshua did in this worship service. He read every word that Moses had written. This was part of worshiping God for what he had done for them.

Then we see at the end of Joshua’s days, right before he dies, turn over to chapter 24 now. Chapter 24 of Joshua. And there we read this in verse 26. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of Yahweh. Not only did Joshua understand the importance of the written word of God and the importance of reading it so the people heard it and understood it and remembered it, Joshua wrote down the book of Joshua to add to the law of God. As God was revealing himself and the things that he had done through Joshua, Joshua wrote them down as scripture. As the Holy Spirit carried him along, as Peter says, he wrote down the words of the book of Joshua so that it could be recorded and kept and read and remembered, just like the law of Moses. And you continue to see this pattern throughout the history of Israel.

When they’re obedient in their worship, when they’re publicly reading the Word of God and remembering the Word of God, they are worshiping Him and living in obedience. But they would quickly forget. And you would see that the Word of God would go out of style in the nation of Israel. They would quickly forget the Word of God and stop reading it. and that would lead them into trouble. We have King David, who loved the word of God, and he wrote Psalm 19 and Psalm 119, which read like love letters about the word of God. But it doesn’t take long after that king for the kings to completely forget that there was such thing as the scriptures.

But then there would be kings every once in a while. that would find them and reinstitute what God’s word says, and they would lead the people in living according to the word of God. And this was the warning that we see to the people of Israel. As the prophets warned them and gave God’s admonition to them, it was always to go back to what was written, go back to the word of God. In 2 Kings, turn to 2 Kings. We’re gonna look at some of the kings and what they did in 2 Kings and Chronicles. But in 2 Kings 17, we see this warning. 2 Kings 17, starting in verse 13.

This is after Israel has rejected Yahweh, their God. And this is the warning. Verse 13, yet Yahweh warned Israel and Judah by the hand of all his prophets and every seer saying, turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments. My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by the hand of my slaves, the prophets. Turn from your evil ways and go back to what was written in the law, in the prophets, in the commandments.

It continues, however, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers who did not believe in Yahweh their God. They also rejected his statutes and his covenant which he cut with their fathers and his warnings with which he warned them. And they followed the vanity and became vain and went after the nations that surrounded them, concerning which Yahweh had commanded them not to do like them. And they forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God.”

It goes on to describe the wickedness that they fell into by not remembering what God’s Word said. “‘Cause they made for themselves molten images, two calves, made an asherah. They worshiped the host of heaven and served Baal. They made their sons and daughters pass through the fire and practiced divination and omens and sold themselves to do what is evil in the sight of Yahweh, provoking him to anger.

So Yahweh was very angry with Israel and caused them to depart from his presence. None was left except the tribe of Judah alone. But he’s not done. Continues, also Judah did not keep the commandments of Yahweh their God. Over and over, God tells them, you forgot the commandments. You forgot the statutes. You forgot everything that Moses wrote down for you. And the people refuse to hear what God has to say to them and to return to the covenant and the commandment that he gave them through Moses.

And instead, as we read there, they commit the most wicked crimes, the most wicked things they could do to offend God. And that’s what happens when you reject the word of God generation after generation. It goes on to say down further, if you look at verse 34, And following, to this day they are acting according to their earlier customs.

They are not fearing Yahweh. They are not acting according to their statutes or their judgments or the law or the commandment which Yahweh commanded the sons of Jacob, whom he named Israel. They forgot the law that made them who they are. They forgot the scriptures that set them apart.

Moses says in Deuteronomy, what nation is so blessed as the nation of Israel to have a God that speaks to them and gives them his word and gives them the expectation he has for them and yet they want to live like everyone else. They reject the written word of God and it ends up in wickedness and idolatry. This is what happens when people neglect the reading of God’s word.

We’re going to look at some kings now. started to bring the people back to God’s word. Turn over a couple books to 2 Chronicles. There’s a lot of kings that are just a mess after King David, but in 2 Chronicles chapter 15, you kind of read a summary of the state of the nation of Israel. 2 Chronicles 15 verse three, this is where they’ve gotten to. After all these wicked kings have forgotten the word of God and have not led their people to follow the word of God. Verse three of 2 Chronicles 15. Now for many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law. They didn’t have the word of God. They didn’t have God because they neglected his word. But when the people sought after Yahweh, when they returned to him, he mercifully heard their prayers. As it says in the next verse, verse four. But in their distress, they turned to Yahweh, the God of Israel. They searched for him and he was found.

This is the section of Chronicles that speaks of the prophet Azariah and the king Asa. And Azariah comes and warns the king of the things that they need to do. And as instructed by the prophet Azariah, King Asa did start to institute all of these changes in Israel to get rid of all the idols in the high places and all the wicked things they were doing. And that resulted in peace for the nation of Israel during his reign. And his son, Jehoshaphat, continued with these reforms started by his father. And he sent his officials, as we see in chapter 17, Josaphat sends officials and Levites and priests throughout all of Judah to teach the law of Yahweh.

They knew, this is where we need to get back to. If we want to repent and come back to God, we need to go back to his word. The people need to hear the word again. So they went around to all the different towns and started teaching and reading the word of God to them. But as usual, these reforms don’t last long. After that generation goes on, more and more generations of neglect and rebellion follow that.

Then you have King Hezekiah that’s raised up in 2 Chronicles 30. He again brings the people back to the word of God. That didn’t last long again because Manasseh comes after him and goes right back to idolatry. One story I want to focus in on is King Josiah. King Josiah is a man. amazing testament to the importance of the Word of God. He had already begun to bring the nation back to the ways of God.

And they were starting to clean things up. They were getting rid of the altars. They were cleaning up the temple of God again. And in 2 Chronicles 34, turn there this evening, 2 Chronicles 34, almost right near the end of the book of 2 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 34. as his men were cleaning out the temple to restore the worship of God. The temple had become nothing more than a warehouse. They had kept all their junk in there. They didn’t worship God like they should have. So as his men are cleaning out the temple, listen to what happens.

2 Chronicles 34, starting in verse 14. When they were taking out the money which had been brought into the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Yahweh given by the hand of Moses. They found a Bible. It’s amazing to them. They’re surprised. They found a Bible. What is this thing? The nation of the people of God find a Bible, and they’re surprised by it.

So Hekiah answered and said to Shaphon the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of Yahweh. Huh, go figure. He found a Bible in the house of God. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and Shaphan brought the book to the king and furthermore responded to the king with a word saying, everything that was given to the hand of your servants they are doing. They have poured out the money that was found in the house of Yahweh and given it to the hand of the supervisors and those who did the work. Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, Hilkiah the priest gave me a book. And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.

Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the law, He tore his clothes. You think the king was very familiar with what God’s word said? They found a book and they read it. And they were so shocked by what it actually says. The king was so upset he tore his clothes.

It continues, then the king commanded Hilkiah Ahikam, the son of Shaphon, Abdon, the son of Micah, Shaphon, the scribe, and Asaiah, the king’s servant, saying, Go, inquire of Yahweh for me and those who are left in Israel and in Judah concerning the words of the book which has been found. For great is the wrath of Yahweh which is poured out against us because our fathers have not kept the word of Yahweh to do according to all that is written in this book.”

Wow. What a tremendous passage of Scripture. What a revealing passage of Scripture that reveals the state of Israel at this point. They find a Bible in the temple, and they don’t even have any clue what’s inside of it. And when they read it, it shocks them. Oh, this is why things are so miserable right now. This is why it feels like the wrath of God has been poured out on us. Yeah, because it told you that. They found a book, and the king, he realized just how far they had fallen when they read the word of God. If only they had continued to read the word of God the whole time.

Well, as we know, Israel and Judah were eventually cast out of the land for rebellion and disobedience. But after the people return from exile, it is interesting to see what they do. They come back to rebuild the city. They come back and begin to rebuild the walls, and we read that in Nehemiah, as Nehemiah organizes and helps build the city back up.

But turn to Nehemiah chapter eight. Again, just over a few pages in your Bible, Nehemiah chapter eight, starting in verse one. Find it here. Nehemiah chapter eight, it says, and all the people gathered as one man at the square which is in front of the water gate, and they said to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which Yahweh had commanded to Israel.

Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could understand when listening on the first day of the seventh month. They learned enough. from their captivity, and they’re being cast out of the land, that when we get back, we probably ought to read the word of God again. We probably ought to go back and figure out what went wrong. We ought to go back and see what God has for us in his word.

It continues after listing some of the names of the priests there in verse five, it picks up, and Ezra opened the book. in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people.” He’s standing up on a platform. And when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed Yahweh, the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen. While lifting up their hands, they bowed low and worshiped Yahweh with their faces to the ground.

And then verse eight, they read from the book, the law of God, explaining and giving insight, and they provided understanding of the reading. They went back to the Bible. They got back to the land, they started rebuilding the city, and they worshiped God by publicly reading the scriptures. The nation rightly returns to the God who chose them, who sanctified them, who set them apart as his people. And they went back and they read his word. The word of God was clearly meant to be recorded and kept and read and remembered. And it was intended to be read publicly in the worship of the God who wrote it.

There are many other places we could go in the Old Testament if we had time. We could look at a lot of the Psalms, Psalms that David wrote, like Psalm 1, Psalm 19 and 119, as I mentioned. But you see the importance of the public reading of Scripture in the Old Testament. So what about the New Testament? This is just an Old Testament thing. Well, we started tonight with the New Testament, but when we come to the New Testament, we see that the public reading of scripture was already a part of the temple and synagogue worship, and Jesus took part in that. The Gospels record the end of the Old Testament era before Jesus institutes the church, and we see that even Jesus participated in the public reading of scripture as worship. Turn to Luke chapter four. Luke chapter four, we read of Jesus coming to the temple and not just preaching, but getting up and reading the written word of God. Luke chapter four, starting in verse 16.

And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as was his custom. This is not the only time Jesus read the word of God publicly. This was his custom in the town that he grew up in. He entered the synagogue and on the Sabbath he stood up and read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him and he opened the scroll and found the place where it is written, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And he closed the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.

And all the eyes of the synagogue were fixed on him.” The public reading of scripture in worship. During his time in Jerusalem, Jesus regularly went to the temple. That’s where we’re at in John 7 and 8, where he comes to Jerusalem, he goes to the temple, and he teaches. When he comes there, he does, he teaches, he preaches the gospel, and he talks to people about the scriptures. One passage that reveals this is in Mark. I’ll just read it, Mark chapter 12, verses 35 to 37.

Jesus began to say, as he taught in the temple. How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself said in the Holy Spirit, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet. David himself calls him Lord. So in what sense is he his son?

And the large crowd enjoyed listening to him. Jesus read the word of God publicly and he discussed it and taught it and preached it. This was the custom of Jesus. The public reading of Scripture was part of the worship of God. And you continue in the book of Acts and in the letters of the New Testament. You see a lot of what we covered a few weeks ago with the preaching of the Word of God and the importance of the Word of God in their worship. But we also see specific references to the reading of Scripture.

Paul in his appeal in Antioch reminds the people of the Scriptures that are read every Sabbath. Acts 13. Verses 26 and 27, he says, brothers, sons of Abraham’s family and those among you who fear God, to us the word of this salvation was sent for those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, recognizing neither him nor the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. Paul says they should have known. These scriptures are read every Sabbath. They had no excuse to not know what it said.

And yet, they fulfilled those very scriptures by condemning him. In the next 15, 21 says, from ancient generations, Moses has those who preach him in every city, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath. As much as Israel tried to forget the word of God, the word of God came through. because the Word of God was read in the synagogues every Sabbath from ancient generations. Then as the apostles continue to preach and teach, they treat their own words as the words of Scripture. And it is assumed that the words that they are giving and writing will be treated like the Scriptures. The Word of God has always been treated. For example, Paul in Colossians, as he’s wrapping up his letter, to them. He assumes that this letter that he’s writing, he instructs them to read this publicly.

He says in Colossians 4 16, and when this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans and you for your part, read my letter that is coming from Laodicea. Paul says, you need to be reading my letters. This letter I’m sending to you, read it and pass it on. And the letter you get from Laodicea, read that too. Read it. In 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 27, at the end of 1 Thessalonians, he also says, I implore you by the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. Notice, it doesn’t say, preach something similar. to what I wrote.” It doesn’t say, make sure the basic content of this letter gets through, but do it your own way. No, he says, read it. Paul’s letters were written to be read, and they were to be treated just as we see the rest of scripture was to be treated. They are to be read publicly to all the brothers, which is why we see Paul’s instructions to Timothy that we opened with.

Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture.” This was how they were to worship. Give attention to the public reading of Scripture. Make that a priority, Timothy, to read the Scriptures publicly. This is why we do what we do in our worship services. We open with reading the Word of God publicly. Then we have a passage in the middle where we read the Word of God publicly, and then we preach the Word of God. Because not only do we see it demonstrated throughout the Old and New Testaments, but the Word of God was intended to be recorded and kept and read and remembered.

But here we see it commanded. Read it publicly. Give attention to the public reading of Scripture. Again, this is different than preaching and teaching, although that must be done too. But simply reading the Word of God and teaching it and letting the Word of God speak, it’s vitally important to our worship services.

Think about what Hebrews tells us and what this means. Hebrews chapter four, verse 12. I’m sure you know it well. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The word of God is living and active. Think about what that means. It will accomplish what he intends it to. We just need to unleash it by reading it, and preaching it.

This is what the true church has always done in their worship services. Describing the worship of the second century, the church father, Justin Martyr, he wrote, describing what they do in a church service. Listen to this. This is what a church service sounded like almost 2,000 years ago. This is what he says.

The memoirs of the apostles, or the letters of the apostles, and the writings of the prophets are read as long as time permits. Then, when the reader has ceased, the president, or the preacher, gives verbal instruction and invitation to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray.

That was a church service 2,000 years ago. We read the word of God, we preach the word of God, and then we pray and go home. That was worship. This was what they did. Because the public reading of Scripture is a supreme act of worship. If, as we have said, the worship of God is that which we do that shows His ultimate importance and His worthiness of our honor and praise, if that’s what worship is, then allowing His Word to speak through the public reading of Scripture does just that. It shows his importance, it shows his worthiness of our praise and worship.

In closing, I’d like to read for you what Charles Spurgeon had to say about unleashing the word of God. And here he’s trying to argue against those that try to defend or make excuses for what God’s word says, and try to soften it, and well, that’s not really what it means. And he’s saying you don’t need to defend it, just read it. Let it go, let the word of God speak for itself. And this is what Charles Spurgeon says. The word of God can take care of itself and will do so if we preach it and cease defending it.

See you that lion, they have him caged for his preservation. Shut up behind iron bars to secure him from his foes. See how a band of armed men have gathered together to protect the lion. He’s speaking about how they think about the word of God. You’ve caged up the lion and you stand around it trying to protect it as though it needs protection. He continues, what a clatter they make with their swords and their spears. These mighty men are intent on defending a lion.

Oh fools, slow of heart, open that door. Let the Lord of the forest come forth and free. Who will dare to encounter him? What does he want with your guardian care? Let the pure gospel go forth in all its lion-like majesty, and it will soon clear its own way and ease itself of its adversaries.” That was Spurgeon’s view of the Word of God.

Just let it go. Preach it. Read it. Let it be heard. You don’t need to make excuses for it. You don’t need to try to defend it away. Read it. Preach it. Let people hear it. The word of God is living and active. We simply need to unleash it. We need to preach it and read it publicly. That’s why we do what we do in our worship service. Let’s stand and close in a word of prayer tonight.

Our God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for giving us your word, for recording it over all of these centuries that you have given instruction and commandment and revelation to your people. We thank you for the way that you’ve preserved it for us. We are so blessed, so rich with the blessing of your written word. We have more access to the Bible than any people who’ve ever lived. God, we thank you. We praise you.

We pray that as we seek to worship you through the public reading of your word, along with all that we do in our worship service, that you would be magnified. That when we hear your word, we would realize what your word is. That it is the inerrant inspired word the sovereign God of the universe, given to us so that we may know you. God, we thank you for who you are and what you’ve done in your revelation. We pray all of this in Jesus’ precious name, amen.