Aug 22, 2021 11:00 (1 Kings 22:51-2 Kings 1:18)

does that change here so so so right here see so [Music] thank you so [Music] okay [Music] good morning good morning welcome to westminster presbyterian church if you're visiting with us this morning special welcome to you a couple of announcements before we begin number one i want you to know that the session this past friday night and saturday morning had a little session retreat out in conyers at camp westminster and the purpose of that session retreat was very simple it was just to pray for the church we spent hours saturday morning and friday night praying for all kinds of things praying for one another praying for the diaconate praying for all the ministries of the church praying for the people of the church praying for the preaching of the word the receiving of the word among the people praying for finances of the church and facilities of the church and i say that just to encourage you that it is our intent to depend upon the lord upon the god who opens his hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing for the health and life of this body we have that posture we pray as we enter into the fall season and as you may be aware today is kickoff sunday we just had a preview of all the sunday school classes for the adults back in the fellowship hall and next week those classes will be beginning in earnest along with classes for the youth and everyone else in the church so please be attuned to all the new things that are happening this fall you may see around the church there should be some left in the fellowship hall this ministry connections booklet that will give you all kinds of information as to what's going on at westminster right outside in the hallway there's also a new church directory updated so if you're interested please pick up one of these i also want to remind you that this week wednesday night we'll be starting our wednesday night routine with a congregation-wide dinner from 5 30 to 6 30 and then programming for everyone from age 2 to 102 at our church i think that is it let us now direct our attention to the word of god and meditate upon these words from joshua chapter 24 now therefore fear the lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness put away the gods that your fathers serve beyond the river and in egypt and serve the lord and if it is evil in your eyes to serve the lord choose this day whom you will serve whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the river or the gods of the amorites in whose land you dwell but as for me and my house we will serve the lord [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Laughter] so [Music] so [Music] hmm oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] is oh [Music] [Applause] time [Music] let us pray father son and holy spirit one god and three persons you are our covenant keeping lord you are our almighty king and we praise you we praise the name of the lord for your name alone is exalted over all of earth and heaven our father we are a people who have been tempted and tried and sometimes fail we are a people who have heard this week a thousand other voices trying to gain our ear and to draw us from you so as we come into your presence this morning we pray that you would give us a listening ear and a willing heart and a joyful spirit direct all of our attention to your glory revealed in the christ to whom we are joined by faith we pray that you would send out your word and that your spirit would make us into a worshiping people who love you and who love to trust you would you do this by your supernatural power and be magnified among us we pray in jesus name amen friends we have a wonderful opportunity this morning to declare something that is objectively and wonderfully and beneficially true so let's do this eagerly christ is risen he is risen indeed let us stand and sing hymn 58 the first three verses o splendor of god's glory bright [Music] [Applause] oh foreign foreign amen please remain standing for a responsive reading that is actually not a responsive reading i will read matthew chapter 7 verses 24 through 27 i ask that you would respond in your hearts but please do not respond by reading the text aloud with me listen as i read for this is the very word of god everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock the rain fell and the floods came the winds blew and beat on that house but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock and everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall of it now let us respond now by singing the final three verses of o splendor god's glory bright [Music] um [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] so oh [Music] our father in heaven we thank you for the word of the prophets and of the apostles by which you've revealed yourself to your people we thank you that your word will never fail but will accomplish that purpose for which you sent it we thank you that we can rest secure in the gospel of jesus christ who is the incarnate word who died and rose again for the forgiveness of sins and may our tithes and offerings be pleasing in your sight may they be unto your glory in all the earth in christ's name we pray amen [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] raised is [Music] oh [Music] and let us pray once again our father in heaven glorious god before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth in the world from everlasting to everlasting you are god we lift our prayers to you gracious father with all holy reverence and confidence knowing that as our father you are able and ready to provide out of your bountiful mercy and we confess that we have often been hearers of your word but not doers and we boast we make presumptive claims of faithfulness with our lips while in truth our hearts are for are far from you and as a sinful people before you we confess with full conviction and all sincerity that we deserve nothing but your holy wrath poured out in perfect glory and righteousness forgive us our sins gracious father in christ's name and for his sake only blot out our iniquity let us not be lost from his shepherding hand and let us not stray from his flock we pray that you would give us the grace to be hearers and doers of your word by the power of your spirit give us the grace that we might plunder the riches of your word treasure it in our minds lay it up in our hearts and practice it in our lives we pray for a season of fruitful ministry and fellowship in the coming year at our church we pray for children's ministry for youth ministry college and career ministry men's and women's ministry esl missions meals ministries and many more here at westminster we pray that in the whole life of our church your word would be received by your people with faith and obedience we commit unto you oh lord those in our church battling illness and infirmity among those we pray for joan quillen's grandson for carol gardner walter and margie sandell for patty messner for sue jake's son jeffrey and jonathan jakes pray for anna tufts father as well as her family for gay lord langley susanna bessel for bob and linda estell for austin cook for john and inez hunt for charlie martha and william akins for all of our expectant mothers you o lord are our sovereign god you are the great physician you will do no wrong so be glorified in our midst oh lord be with us even now we pray in christ's name amen let us continue in our worship as we stand and sing the glory apathy [Music] is [Music] ask that you would remain standing for the reading of god's holy word uh we continue in our regular sermon series on the divided kingdom of israel and judah and this morning as we kick off a new season of fall ministry we actually bring our study of first kings to a close and begin our study of second kings so our scripture reading this morning is first kings 22 beginning with verse 51 all the way through second kings one please listen now as i read for this is the very word of god first kings 22 beginning with verse 51 ahaziah the son of ahab begin to reign over israel in samaria in the 17th year of jehoshaphat king of judah and he reigned two years over israel he did what was evil in the sight of the lord and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of jeroboam the son of nebat who made israel to sin he served baal and worshiped him and provoked the lord the god of israel to anger in every way that his father had done after the death of ahab mohab rebelled against israel now ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in samaria and lay sick so he sent messengers telling them go inquire of baal zabob the god of ekron whether i shall recover from this sickness but the angel of the lord said to elijah the tishbite arise go up to meet the messengers of the king of samaria and say to them is it because there is no god in israel that you are going to inquire of baals above the god of ekron now therefore thus says the lord you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up but you shall surely die so elijah went the messengers returned to the king and he said to them why have you returned and they said to him there came a man to meet us and said to us go back to the king who sent you and say to him thus says the lord is it because there is no god in israel that you are ascending to inquire of baals above the god of ekron therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up but you shall surely die he said to them what kind of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things they answered him he wore a garment of hair with a belt of leather around his waist and he said it is elijah the tishbite then the king sent to him a captain of 50 men with his 50. he went up to elijah who was sitting on top of a hill and said to him o man of god the king says come down but elijah answered the captain of fifty if i am a man of god let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his 50. again the king sent him another captain of 50 men with his 50. and he answered and said to him o man of god this is the king's order come down quickly but elijah answered him if i am a man of god let fire come down from heaven and consume you in your fifty then the fire of god came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty again the king sent the captain of a third 50 with his 50. and the third captain of 50 went up and came and fell on his knees before elijah and entreated him oh man of god please let my life in the life of these 50 servants of yours be precious in your sight behold fire came down from heaven and consumed the two former captains of fifty men with their fifties but now let my life be precious in your sight then the angel of the lord said to elijah go down with him do not be afraid of him so he arose and went down with him to the king and he said to him thus says the lord because you have sent messengers to inquire of baals above the god of ekron is it because there is no god in israel to inquire of his word therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up but you shall surely die so he died according to the word of the lord that elijah had spoken jehoram became king in his place in the second year of jehoram the son of jehoshaphat king of judah because ahaziah had no son now the rest of the acts of isaiah that he did or they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of israel may the lord bless to our hearts and minds the reading of his word and you may be seated would you join me in prayer heavenly father we come before you and we pray for that spirit wrought simplicity and clarity of mind that we would receive your word and believe it and obey it we pray these things in jesus name amen but we live in a complicated world a world full of complex issues that often call for sophisticated analysis and nuanced qualifications and we live in a world that is just full of information we are surrounded by words words words written words spoken words news footage talking heads opinion pieces posted videos podcasts blogs social media books magazines etc etc etc all these words i think i think are supposed to help us navigate the complexity but more often than not they just make the situations murkier and more confusing in such a world when we observe the news or we listen to or read the barrage of opinions that are available it's easy to become discouraged disheartened and and overwhelmed by it all week it can feel like you're we're drowning in a sea of information and we can fall into a kind of paralysis by analysis where we just don't know what to think or what to do about anything well in such a world the bible comes to us and presents us with what you might call a a path of shocking simplicity now some may ridicule it for being overly simplistic but this morning i want to present you god's simple revealed path for navigating a complex world here it is at the end of the day there is one fundamental choice that we all need to make and there are two roads and only two roads that diverge from that choice one choice two roads the choice is this will you listen to believe and obey the revealed word of god or not if you choose to reject god's word it may seem like you have many other options but the bible says in the end all those options lead to the same place there's one fundamental choice and only two roads two ways to live the bible presents us with this choice and these two roads over and over and over again in the scriptures we see this for the initially in genesis one through three when god creates the man and the woman he gives them all manner of freedom to work and explore and play but but at the heart of it all he gives them a simple command a simple choice two roads obey the command and live disobey and die of course satan realized what was at the heart of the matter the the simplicity and clarity of the choice so he went after the man and the woman at this very point did god really say twisting god's word it will not happen as god says challenging god's word and then offering an alternative word right an alternative path a false hope of blessing and fulfillment as we know adam and eve made the wrong choice took the wrong path and have plunged the world into that fateful decision and that challenge that choice and these two roads are then presented in the scriptures over and over again we see a beautiful picture of this in in psalm 1 the the psalmist says blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked but his delight is in the law of the lord the word of god on his law he meditates day and night and as a result the one who meditates on the law and puts it into practice he lives on the path of blessing and those who reject the word it's a path leading to destruction and of course as we've already heard in our service no figure in scripture is clearer in presenting this simple but profound choice than jesus christ himself you might say jesus is the great two ways to live preacher he presents us with two paths narrow path that leads to life the broad path that leads to destruction there's two ways to build a house you build a you build it on the rock of the word or you build it on the sand of rejection of that word and anything else you choose to build on there's only two destinies blessing and curse heaven and help now i say all this by way of introduction because what we have before us in our text this morning is in some ways a case study on this choice and these two ways it's a case study on the word of god versus the words of the world and we see a simple fundamental choice with two ways flowing from it our text this morning revolves around the life and death of the israelite king ahazaya and it fundamentally involves his relationship to the word i've divided our sermon up into five sections the first of which i've entitled ahaziah's general rejection of god's word and embrace of another way ahaziah's general rejection of god's word and his embrace of another way uh this is covered in first kings 22 51-53 what we have in these verses you might call uh the 30 000 foot view perspective on ahazayah's reign what do we learn from this overview well we learned that ahaziah is the son of ahab and jezebel he had a short reign but in that short reign he established himself in in full orbed and comprehensive wickedness the text says he did what was evil in the sight of the lord which involves rejecting the way of the lord and his word and instead it says he walked in the way of his father which is ahab the way of his mother jezebel and the way of jeroboam the son of nebot now a quick refresher on these characters ahab and jezebel had manifold sins that we encountered in the text they both wholeheartedly embraced the worship of other gods canaanite gods the baals and the asherahs to be specific they hated the word of the lord they they hunted down persecuted imprisoned and killed the prophets and they ruled with egregious self-absorbed injustice and oppression of the weak ahaziah we're told walked in this way but we also read he walked in the way of jeroboam now jeroboam you may remember was the first king of israel after judah and israel were divided into separate kingdoms and jeroboam did not overtly worship foreign gods but what he did was he corrupted the worship of the one true god and he sought to reform the worship of god according to his own words so that worship of god served his political ends al huzziah we read did this too he walked in all their ways right it's a it's a comprehensive checklist right corrupt worship of the god of israel check uh worship of pagan deities check hostile oppression of the prophets and the people check as the text summarizes in verse 53 he served baal and worshiped him and provoked the lord the god of israel to anger in every way that his father had done so this was ahaziah at his core this is the general assessment of his piety and reign he walked in many ways but essentially it was all part of one path the path that comes when you reject the word of the lord this then brings us to the second part of the sermon in verses one through eight of second kings which i have entitled ahaza's rejection of god's word and embrace of another way having told us what kind of king and what kind of person ahaziah was in general the text now gives us a very specific example of his behavior which illustrates the previous assessment now we're told in verse 1 that after the death of ahab moab rebelled against israel now israel had subdued and ruled over moab going all the way back to king david but we read that after the death of ahab it seems mohab thought there's perhaps an opportunity to cast off the shackles of of israelite rule now the moabite rebellion is going to be a prominent feature in some upcoming chapters particularly chapter three but i have to say here in chapter one it's not it's not altogether clear how or even if the moabite rebellion has any bearing on the direct details of this chapter but but there's one possible connection that we could consider and that is that that verse one frames ahaz rule as vulnerable at some level it was perceived as weak at least weaker than his father's by israel's neighbors right and and ahaziah's fall and an illness may have just continued to contribute to this perception in any case we read that zia falls through the lattice in the upper chamber of his house and he's severely injured in the process he lays in bed sick with his life hanging in the balance now it's often said that trials don't build character as much as they reveal it and that's certainly the case here with ahaziah's fall and subsequent illnesses it just reveals in with specific clarity the character of the man in his illness ahaziah seeks some kind of word a divine word even something to direct and guide his future something that can tell him whether he will live or die but in the spirit of ahab and jezebel he does not seek the word of the lord but instead he sends messengers to inquire of baal zabob the god of ekron now baalz above literally means the lord of the flies it's the clear source of william golding's inspiration for the novel of the same name but but scholars are a little bit divided here over whether this is the actual name of the deity and and perhaps the being the lord of the flies had some kind of positive connotation in ekron or whether the author has here made a slight modification to the more standard title baal zabul which means bail is exalted in order to kind of get a little dig in at the emptiness of baal but in either case what's clear is that ahaziah does not seek the lord he seeks the word and the council of baal this despite the fact that as we will soon see he has clear knowledge of elijah as a prophet in the land he's able to clearly recognize elijah from from a basic description of his dress and you might say that what we have right here in these opening verses is ahazayah's foundational rejection of the word of god he rejects it from the outset he rejects it in what he chooses to seek what he chooses to pursue what he wants to listen to and this is the way it is with so many people in our world today i mean we're all seeking and choosing words that we want to live by we're all determining who or what has ultimate authority gravitas weight and influence in our lives and then we seek after their words their opinions their their advice to guide and direct us and it must be said in a very straightforward way that that many in our world today and even many in the church are are ascribing ultimate authority to and and choosing to seek and granting ultimate influence to other words than the word of god many of us ascribe ultimate authority to whatever the opinions are in the university faculty lounge we inquire after the thoughts of political leaders we inquire after the opinions of our social circles we we inquire as to the latest trends on social media we inquire into whatever seems to line our pocketbook most effectively we inquire after whatever voice seems loudest and most influential what is the the voice of majority opinion or we simply inquire of ourselves deter letting our own feelings and passions and intuitions and ideas rule the day and there are many in our world who truth be told have have never actually heard or even read the word of the lord many in our world today who have no idea what the bible even says but they have already rejected the word of god nonetheless because they don't even care what it says they don't seek it out they have no desire to hear it they have committed themselves from the outset to other sources other authorities other influences other words just like ahaziah and then if and when folks do hear the actual word of the lord they then just reject it out of hand right that's what ahaziah did we read that when ahaziah sent messengers to inquire for a word from the lord of the flies the angel of the lord came to elijah the tishbite with a word from god he told elijah arise go up to meet the messengers of the king of samaria and say to them is it because there is no god in israel that you are going to inquire of bowels above the god of ekron therefore says the lord you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up but you shall surely die and we read that when the messengers returned to the king and delivered elijah's message with great clarity and accuracy when azia heard the word of these messengers he he immediately inquired about about the description of the man who gave this solemn message and he rightly concluded that this word had come from elijah the tishbite but it's interesting in in hearing this devastating word incorrectly identifying its source he ahazaya is not humbled in any way it does not lead him to contrition or repentance but rather it leads him into open and direct rebellion against the word the word of god and against the man who brought it rejected the word at the level of inquiry in terms of what he sought after and then he rejected the word of god in terms of reception in that when that word came to him in a way that he was not seeking he would not have it they rejected it out of hand and many in our world do the same today they do not want the word of god from the outset they they do not inquire of the word of god they've already rejected it in terms of what they have chosen to pursue and so if the lord should if the word of the lord should come to them they then reject it outright this brings us to the third portion of the sermon which i've entitled the assault on the word of god and its deadly consequences this is verses 9 through 12. we read that when ahaziah heard that the message had come from elijah he sent a captain with 50 men to go get elijah that's an interesting move on ahaziah's part is it not on the one hand i think ahazayah's intent here is pretty clear given his character given that we know he walked in the ways of ahab and jezebel i think we can we can conclude ahaziah is not sending these men to invite elijah to a dinner party he's not inviting elijah even to a debate or a discussion he is not saying ah uh elijah come let us reason together on this matter now these men are coming to arrest elijah they're coming to capture elijah and bring him to his doom plans to persecute imprison and even kill the prophet just as his mother and father sought to do on repeated occasions but what i find interesting is that given ahaziah's open rejection of elijah's word it's interesting that he feels the need to send 50 men to go get the prophet obviously there's some element of respect or even fear here ahaziah clearly knew of elijah you must have heard the stories of mount carmel and the power of the prophetic word and yet he seems to fear the power of the prophet even though at the same time he has no interest in listening to or submitting to the prophet's word instead he comes after it with a rather impressive display of force and this is often what happens in our world today often the word of god is dismissed by the world is false and foolish but but it's it's not generally treated as an idol or irrelevant word as a as a kind of weak or powerless word that can just be easily ignored no throughout history great pains have been taken to crush that word to persecute those who believe and obey that word elijah here is not dismissed as a harmless old crank he's assaulted with significant power as a dangerous threat to the king on the basis of the word he has spoken now as we'll see the assault doesn't go very well the captain ironically acknowledges the true identity of elijah oh man of god but he then orders him to come down into captivity with with no seeming respect of the power of god rather the captain takes refuge and what he thinks surely is the greater word right the king says man of god you better listen to the king elijah seems to play off this irony man of god huh that's interesting interesting uh if i am a man of god let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty and fire does come down from heaven and consume him and is fifty now one might think this would surely cause ahaza to pause and consider a different course of action but no he does the same thing again the only difference this time is that he and his new captain seem to double down on conveying the authority of the king's word this is the king's order come down quickly but of course all that comes down quickly is more fire from heaven consuming the captain and his 50 once again brothers and sisters i think there's a pretty simple application here if if you refuse to inquire of the word of the lord if you stubbornly reject the word of the lord if you attack and assault the word of the lord you will face the judgment of god it's not just something we see here in this passage as a kind of fascinating one-off now this is one of the great themes that runs through the whole of scripture the bible begins as we've already spoken of with a simple warning if you disobey the word of god you will surely die and that is just that is then reinforced over and over again sometimes in graphic ways with fire raining down from heaven on the cities of sodom and gomorrah but of course it's not just an old testament teaching and the new testament declares very clearly romans 6 23 that the wages of sin the penalty for disobedience to the word of god is death and if that isn't clear enough for you that consider what the author of hebrews says in hebrews 10 in a way that has a very striking parallel with our passage here he says if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth all that remains is the fearful expectation of judgment and the fury of fire that will consume the adversaries brothers and sisters we we live in a complex world but this principle is is so simple and so clear that even a child can understand if you reject the word of the lord if you will not seek it if you will not receive it if you oppose it you will face the fires of divine judgment now of course it must be said right that fiery judgment may not come with the kind of immediacy that it came in this passage well more often than not in our world people seem to get away with rejecting the word of the lord for a time i mean after all right ahab and jezebel seem to do it for decades sometimes the delay of judgment can embolden the rebellious and discourage the faithful but as the psalmist says in psalm 73 when when i was discouraged i went and what he was discouraged about was the flourishing of the wicked with no sign of judgment and the affliction of the people of god he says but then i went into the house of god which meant he worshipped according to the word of god he says and then i discerned their end truly you set them in slippery places and you make them fall to ruin how they are destroyed in a moment swept away utterly by terrors now you've heard me say it before and i will say it again in the end no one gets away with anything if god's justice is delayed for a time it is not a sign of his weakness but only his mercy but the principle remains simple and sure if you reject the word of the lord you will face the fiery judgment of god well what then shall we do and that brings us to the fourth section of the sermon which i've entitled a desperate appeal before the word of the lord a desperate appeal before the word of the lord ahaziah rejects the word of the lord in his inquiry he fails to seek it and he rejects the word of the lord in his res in the opportunity he has to receive it and then ahazaya and his men assault the word of the lord and seek to remove it destroy it from their lives and wipe it from their consciences this ends in fiery disaster not once but twice so what does ahaziah do he seems to say well the third time must be the charm so he sends another captain with another 50. is obviously a slow learner and i think we could also add he's not particularly concerned about the welfare of his men so we say well right we've seen this right same old same old but not so fast this time the captain of the 50 makes no demands instead he makes a desperate appeal he falls on his knees before elijah and he entreats him oh man of god please let my life and the life of these 50 servants of yours be precious in your sight you see the captain knows he says what's taking place to the previous cohorts he knows his arms and the armor he wears is no match for the fires of god's judgment so he pleads he pleads for mercy let our lives be precious in your sight you see this man this captain was confronted with two words he had the word of ahaziah the order of the king and he had the word of the lord that came from the man of god and he clearly knew which one was greater he knew where true authority and power resided he knew which word he needed to come under and so he does not ask or demand elijah to come down he simply asked that his life and the life of his men would be precious in elijah's sight that they would be spared from the fires of god's judgment and as a result they are spared elijah is directed by the angel of the lord to go down with the man and he goes to the king and he pronounces that same word of the lord directly to ahaziah without any alteration or change and i would suggest to you this morning that that in the desperate appeal of this captain we see before us the way of our own salvation you see as the word of god says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god the truth is none of us have inquired of the word as we ought none of us have received the word as we ought and all of us in various ways have openly rebelled against and even assaulted the word of god in our lives at times we've all hardened our conscience against the word of god and sought to blot it out right remove it from our hearts and minds and lives so that we could do what we wanted and as a result we all deserve the fiery judgment of god and yet god has made a way and he has revealed it in his word a way for people like you and me to be saved god's only son the lord jesus christ the ultimate and perfect man of god came down from heaven he came down to save us from our sin and to deliver us from the wrath and judgment of god and jesus he took in the word the scripture says that even from his youth he made perfect inquiry of the word he sought it out he learned it he grew in it and he received that word and he believed that word and then he perfectly and completely obeyed that word and then he authoritatively spoke that word to others we come before jesus and we declare oh perfect man of god and yet in this perfection the word of god tells us that jesus went to the cross he died for our sins he he died for all the ways that we have rejected the word in our thoughts and our words and our deeds jesus christ the man of god bore the fiery judgment of the father judgment that should have fallen on us he bore it fully completely and to the uttermost he bore it in such a way that the wrath and judgment of god is is turned aside from the people of god so that all who call on the lord all who cry out oh man of god jesus christ save me have mercy on me grant me salvation and forgiveness oh man of god let the judgment of god pass from me the promise of the scriptures the word of god is that all who cry out to the lord jesus will be spared saved delivered set free and now we are set free not to just go and do whatever we want we're not spared from the judgment so that we can now listen to whatever voices we choose but we're set free so that we might engage in simple faithful obedience we're free to make inquiry of the word of god to seek it out to meditate upon it and and through faith in christ we are equipped by the spirit of god to to receive that word and to boldly endeavor to obey that word more and more and when we fail the the word of god calls us to return to christ in confession and repentance and faith knowing that he loves us that he does not condemn us and he sends us forth then again and again to pursue new obedience in accordance with the word of god and this is so important because the final verses of this chapter make very clear and this is the fifth and final section of the sermon it's very brief teaches us this the word of the lord is true and it comes true we see this summarized very clearly verse 17 so he died according to the word of the lord that elijah had spoken say it again the word of the lord is true and the word of the lord comes true the lord's commands are true the lord's warnings of judgment for those who reject his commands are true the lord's offer of salvation through jesus christ to all who call on him that word is true the path of spiritual blessing to those who walk in obedience i tell you it is true and what that means is that even in our very complicated information saturated and confusing world there is a simple choice we can choose christ we can choose to follow him in faith and obedience according to the word of god or we can choose to reject him we can choose to reject his person and his word and his commands and we can pursue other words and other lords at the end of the day we can we can choose life or death the narrow or the broad path we can choose to build on the rock of god's word or the sand of everything else my simple prayer is that we will choose life that we will choose to walk according to the words of jesus and that we will be spared from the judgment that is to come and we will live in the blessed communion that is offered by our god through the man of god the lord jesus christ let's pray heavenly father you you have not given us an exhaustive word that answers every question that we have about everything but you have given us a sufficient word that reveals to us everything we need for life and godliness we pray that in the midst of a confusing and complicated world you would give us that spiritual simplicity to pursue the word to meditate on it to believe it to follow it oh we may not have all the answers for every question but lord we will have what we need to follow you in faith through all the challenges of this life unto glory we pray that it would be so and we pray all these things in jesus name amen let's continue then in our worship and conclude our time together uh singing hymn 558 you'll notice down at the very low bottom and you may notice just by the the words of the hymn itself this is just a simple rendition of psalm one presenting to us these two uh ways and the simplicity and the glory of choosing to follow god according to his word so let's stand together and close our time by singing him 5 58 that man is blessed who fearing god let's stand and sing [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] you [Music] foreign [Music] now receive god's benediction may god be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us that his way may be known on earth his saving power among all nations amen [Music] [Applause] so [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you

Channel: Westminster PCA, Atlanta

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Id: ndpzRzkHlnc

Length: 74min 30sec (4470 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 22 2021