[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Thank you, Bibles, and turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 4, if you would.
[0:13] And we're never going to get Deuteronomy 4 covered, but boy, this is a great chapter. And so let me read with you just a few verses to give you a taste of what we're going to be in as we go through Deuteronomy 4.
[0:26] Look at verse 8. And what nation is there so great that has statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?
[0:38] And so Moses, God says, Israel, y'all are blessed because I'm giving you the book. I'm giving you the law. I'm doing that work in your heart. Look at verse 24. The Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
[0:53] He loves you. He wants you. He doesn't want to share you. Look at verse 31. For the Lord thy God is a merciful God. He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he's swearing to them.
[1:07] I keep my word. That's what he says there. And so if you would, go with me now to Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 1, and we'll go as far as we can in the next 26 minutes.
[1:18] They were to teach the people to do the Word of God. Teach the people to do the Word of God. Chapter 4, verse 1. Now therefore, hearken, O Israel, under the statutes and under the judgments which I teach you, for to do them, that you may live and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers gives you.
[1:42] If you've got your pencil there, your ink pen, I want you to underline this. He said, I teach you. I teach you. And then underline, do them. I teach you to do them.
[1:53] And then you could even underline that you may live. That you may live. God is telling people what they can do that will bless them and be a success.
[2:05] Moses gave the law and he taught it to them. They didn't get the Word in a vacuum where they would have to guess what it was. He gave them his Word.
[2:16] The Word was given in an organized fashion. The Word was taught to all men on all levels who will be able to teach others also. Do you remember the story? Do you remember how he has 70 men?
[2:27] He's got guys over thousands and guys over hundreds and guys over fifties and guys over ten. And Moses said, you come. I'll teach you all the law. And then you got... So in other words, it was a discipleship ministry.
[2:38] Could I get a foundation name in there? And it was a discipleship ministry. And he taught them in an organized fashion. He told men what to do. The Word was taught to all men.
[2:48] Though they would know the law, they wouldn't keep the law. They'd know the law, but they would not keep the law. God would have to provide with the law a sacrifice to atone for their failures.
[3:03] Man would fail. And God would step in as a sacrifice to pay for that failure. So I want you to understand here when God gives the law, and he's going to give all this law in Deuteronomy chapter 4, and all the law he's going to give in all the books of the law, and he's going to give all that law.
[3:23] He knew right off the bat they weren't going to make it. So maybe you've misunderstood it, and you think, well, in the Old Testament, heavy, heavy hangs over your head. And God says, you got all these rules. You got to keep these rules, or I'm going to kill you.
[3:35] Then you haven't read your Bible. Because what happened in the Old Testament was, God said, here's the law, do it. And he said, y'all won't, so I'll make some sacrifices. And in the law, he explained the sacrifices.
[3:47] You remember that from Numbers, amen? So he said, here's the word, now go do it. I want you to write this down somewhere. It was for transformation and not information. It was for transformation and not information.
[4:00] In verse 14, the Bible said, And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments that you might do them in the land whether you go over to possess it.
[4:11] You got your Bible open? Verse 14, circle the word teach and then circle the word do. He said, I'm not teaching you so you'll know. I'm not teaching you so you can take a test on it. I'm not teaching you so you'll have an idea about this.
[4:23] I'm teaching you this so you will do it. There was never the idea of knowing more about God's word. Pause.
[4:35] There's not the idea of knowing God better. You don't read the Bible so you can know God and keep living like you were. You don't read the Bible so you can know the law and ignore the law. He said, I give it to you so you'll, what's the word?
[4:48] Do. Do. So it was never about, y'all take a test on this. We got a catechism class. Everybody memorized the answers. He said, I want to see it in practice. The idea is that they would put it in practice.
[5:00] The word of God is for living. They were to do, but the actual doing is impossible. That's why in the very law that you read in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, you will see sacrifices from a good and gracious God.
[5:20] Look if you would at verse 9. Remember to take care of your spiritual life first. So as you study the Bible and as you grow, here's what he said to them.
[5:31] Verse 9, he said, only take heed to thyself. I'd like you to just take a second and underline this. Take heed to thyself. And then he said, keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, lest they depart from thine heart.
[5:49] Teach them thy sons, teach them thy sons and thy sons' sons. Keep your soul. Keep your soul. It's easy to like to teach others what to do.
[6:03] It's another one to live out what you teach. It's amazing to me too, by the way. People come to a church and they're not even really faithful, but they're like, I want a ministry.
[6:13] They're not really faithful, but they want to teach. They're like, you know, they aren't living it, but they want to teach other people to live it. That means they hadn't read Deuteronomy chapter 4. Amen? So he said, keep your soul.
[6:25] God's people would become incredibly judgmental and critical. The Jews were incredibly judgmental and critical. Baptists are critical and judgmental.
[6:40] And here's what he said. Could you read the verse with me one more time if you would? Only take heed to thyself. Keep what?
[6:50] Thy soul. So the whole point was, hey, I need to worry about old Austin. He's got a lot of problems. And I need to worry about keeping Austin in line more than I worry about keeping you in line because I'm supposed to take care of my soul and not be so worried about others.
[7:08] Then they were not to forget what God had shown them. I hope you'll underline in that verse, lest thou forget. God wanted them to remember. And the problem is that we can get close to God and love him, but life goes on and we move on.
[7:24] We get cold and we let what we know move to the back burner. I want to stop and just say this to you. Can I just remind you that it's so easy?
[7:36] A new Christian is so excited and he wants to learn and he wants to get all this stuff and he wants to know all this stuff and he's growing and he's enjoying discipleship. But we've been saved a long time. I've been saved over 50 years.
[7:48] And all of a sudden, that's not as important and we kind of move it to the back burner. I've heard the old, old story. I know that story. I know all this stuff. And it's just not that important.
[7:59] And he said, guys, I'm going to teach you the law. And you're going to do the law, but you can't forget the law. Remember what God's teaching you. Then he uses it to make it clear.
[8:10] He said, don't let them depart from your heart. Look at the verse up there. It says, it says, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life.
[8:24] It will take work to keep them in your heart. Can I remind you of that? It takes work to keep the Bible in front of you. Once you read it through once, you might say, well, I've done it.
[8:38] Once you read it through 10 times, you might say, I've done it. I know in my personal life, especially in certain passages of Scripture, it's kind of hard for me to read the Bible because I already know what it's going to say.
[8:49] It's kind of like watching a movie the 20th time or the 100th time. And you're like, I know what's coming next. I already know. So I can easily go, finished, done my Bible reading.
[9:00] If you're not careful, that's where you get to. And he said, work at it. Could I ask how much we memorize Scripture? Could I ask, do we teach it to others? Do we live it out? Do we do what we can do to hear it and keep it in our hearts?
[9:15] And then he said, I want you to teach your children and your grandchildren. Would you look at that verse, chapter 4, verse 9. Look at the last part. Teach them thy sons and thy sons' sons.
[9:27] Teach the Bible. That's family altar. That's family devotions. You don't need to make it a long and drawn out and boring and dull thing. But it'd be good if you take five minutes or ten minutes a day.
[9:40] It'd be good if you sat down with your family and said, I want to teach y'all some basic stuff. They're not going to be home long. They're going to leave soon. And when they leave, they're going to do what they want. And so your goal is to get them lined up the best way you can so they can fly right and live right and do what they're supposed to because you got that opportunity.
[9:58] Look at verse 10. Deuteronomy 4, 10. I'm going to get to this in a minute.
[10:21] But since I don't think we're finishing chapter 4, I want you to notice this. God wanted them to know Moses didn't make up the word. Because they could have easily thought Moses made it up.
[10:31] Moses went alone. And Moses got him a couple of scribes. And Moses wrote it. And so God said this. I will make them hear my words. And as you read Deuteronomy 4, you're going to find out that out of the fire and out of the cloud and out of the mountain, God spoke.
[10:46] They were like, okay, that ain't Moses. We recognize Moses' voice. We know what Aaron sounds like. But that ain't them. Somebody else is talking. And God said, I want you to respect me.
[10:57] So you won't think Moses wrote this. I'll say it where you can hear it. Now go teach your children. If this is the Baptist Bible. If this is the Christian Bible.
[11:08] If this is what 40 men wrote over 1,500 years. And maybe we don't need to teach it. Maybe it's just good literature. But if God spoke it. If God spoke it.
[11:20] Which he says he did. Which we believe he did. Which the Bible proves that he did. Then I need to make sure that I teach my children. We must teach our children.
[11:31] We must see the word of God is super important. We know that their success in life and death will be proportionate to their knowledge of the word of God and their obedience to it.
[11:41] Can I just remind you this? If you believe the Bible at all. And whether you believe it or not. What I'm about to say is true. So suppose you don't believe it. Suppose you think it's a good literature. I'll just tell you something.
[11:52] And according to the word of God. When you die. If you don't know Jesus. You go to hell. And it really exists. And your children. And where they will spend eternity. Might have a lot to do with how much time you took to say.
[12:04] Let me show you what God said. And then not only that. You want to know about marriage. And you want to know about living right. And you want to know about joy. And you want to know about happiness. You want to know about your sins been forgiven.
[12:15] Your kids need to hear the Bible taught to them. Teach the Bible to them. By the way. I think it's a tad embarrassing sometimes. In my own case. You kind of feel almost strange.
[12:27] When you want to say to your wife. Sit down here. I'm going to teach you the Bible. Sit down here. Family. I'm going to teach you the Bible. But we got to get over that. We got to say. I'm going to work at teaching my family the Bible.
[12:39] You are the head of a great congregation. Your family. God gave you a woman. And God gave you kids. And you got an opportunity to sit down with them.
[12:49] And teach them what the word of God says. But point one is about the law God gave. And I just want to remind you. Here's one verse outside of the Old Testament. That I want you to write down in the margin of your Bible.
[12:59] If you would. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 24. You know that the Bible is clear. It's clear in the Old Testament by the way. It's clear in the books of the law. That nobody can keep the law.
[13:10] It's very clear. Because if they could keep the law. You wouldn't have given them sacrifices. But in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 24. The Bible says. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster.
[13:22] To bring us unto Christ. That we might be justified by faith. You need to open your Bible there. But you definitely ought to write in the margin of your Bible. Beside Deuteronomy chapter 4.
[13:33] Galatians 3 24 and 25. And you need to understand this. When God gave the law. So you know you couldn't keep it. Some of you might be here tonight. And you might be saying. I just can't live up to it. Well I'm glad you recognize that.
[13:44] Because you can't. You might be thinking. Sometimes I think God expects too much. He does. And he knows he does. That's why he sent Jesus. To fake up for what you couldn't do.
[13:55] And he put the bar really high. He said. Ain't none of them going to be able to do what I'm fixed to ask for. They're all going to. They're all going to come short. They're all going to fail. Nobody's going to live up to it.
[14:05] So Jesus will take care of the job. So look at what it says. If you got your Bible open to Galatians chapter 3 and verse 24. You should underline schoolmaster. The guy who comes to you and says.
[14:16] You failed. You need help. The guy that gives you a test. And he gave you the test. Underline it in verse 24. To bring us to Christ. So basically what happened was.
[14:27] You're in the school system. And Jesus is the headmaster. And you're in a classroom. And the schoolmaster is in there teaching you. And you flunk. And he did it on purpose. You were in addition.
[14:39] And he gave you calculus. And you said. I just can't cover this. And the schoolmaster says. Boy you're going to flunk. You just ain't going to make it. Come here. I'm going to take you down to see Jesus.
[14:51] I'm going to take you to see Jesus. Look at what he said. That we might be justified by what? I need you to read that with me. Might be justified by? We might be justified by faith.
[15:02] Because so quickly. We fall into. We got to keep rules. And that's not what we got to do. We're justified by faith. What Jesus did on the cross. So you make it really clear.
[15:13] Look at verse 25. But after that faith has come. Look at what it says. After faith has come. Would you just read this last phrase out loud with me? Everybody at the same time. Are you ready? We are no longer under a schoolmaster.
[15:27] We no longer need the law. Because we've now got faith. He took us to Jesus. And Jesus showed us. An old preacher when I was a kid preached a message.
[15:38] Dr. Law and Dr. Grace. And he said Dr. Law went in. And he opened the patient up. And looked inside. And said this guy's got cancer. He's going to die. There's nothing I can do. Just close him up.
[15:49] Take him out of here. He's dead. And as he walked out the door. Dr. Grace said do you mind if I have a look? And Dr. Grace said I can fix that. And Dr. Grace went in. And Dr. Grace makes a difference.
[16:00] It's law who tag teams with grace. So you can come to Jesus. Number two. And I won't be able to get past this one. Listen to this. You are to have a high respect for the word of God.
[16:12] Look at Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 2. We are to have a high respect for the word of God. I don't know how to say this to you. I beg you to let this be true in your life.
[16:24] Listen to it. You shall not add unto the word which I command you. Neither shall you diminish ought from it. That you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.
[16:36] I want you to notice we don't add to. We don't take away. And we keep. And we realize that it was the commandments of Moses. Is that what it says?
[16:48] Read your Bible with me. Look at verse 2. Commandments of who? Of the Lord your God. And what did he say? Commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. I have the right to.
[16:59] I am your creator. I command you. They were not to take away or add to the word of God. They did add to the word of God. They put a law, a fence around the law.
[17:11] They said God said this so we'll make another law to make sure you don't mess up that law. And so the Jewish people, they knew what God said. But they made up really foolish rules that would make you not ever get in trouble with that.
[17:25] So we looked at you don't work on the Sabbath. And we saw that you, you know, you couldn't go outside to give bread to a poor man. But you could let him, you could stick your hand out and let him stick his hand in.
[17:36] Because if you went too far out with your hand, that'd be work. If he came too far in, that would be work. So you got to kind of meet at the right place. So you weren't working. Ridiculous. About like Baptists do.
[17:46] When God says something and we add 25 rules to make sure we don't do what God said to. And so we want to be careful we don't add to. But then we also take away because they ignored the parts that didn't fit their paradigm.
[18:00] Whatever didn't seem to work for them, they just ignored that. Isn't that what we tend to do? Don't we tend to take the Bible and say, well, I'm not really that interested in that part. I don't like that part. And that part doesn't go with me. Don't we almost want to treat the Bible like it's a cafeteria and you pick and choose what you like?
[18:15] By the way, I think that you have to be honest and say, we've been through numbers. Was that a good book or not a good book? If it's a good book, say amen. Not because I'm preaching it, but because it's what the book said.
[18:26] And you found out and you were like, man, that's a good book. Because it's God's book. Can you say amen? So we don't ignore. You don't say, I'm just going to put that aside. I'm not going to put up with that.
[18:37] The word was given for them to obey it and to keep it. We also have the word and we are to obey it. We are to observe all that he said.
[18:48] Now listen, let me explain something to you. If you're not saved, you need to really figure out this. That God's listening. He's got his ten commandments and he's got all kind of other commandments. And he's wanting you to realize you're in trouble.
[19:03] I told you when I was 40 or so, I took my son Chris to see the diabetes doctor. And I walked in and the diabetes doctor said, you know, you're a prime candidate.
[19:16] You've got two of the three qualities to be a diabetic. I said, okay, what are they? She said, fat, 40, and female. You're fat and you're 40. The only one you're missing is female.
[19:27] I said, praise Jesus for that, amen. At least I didn't get diabetes already. But the point is that they can look at you and say, I mean, she was ruthless. Like, hey, you better lose weight, buddy. I didn't.
[19:38] But the point being, the point being that law says, look at yourself. And then he says, you can't do it. I've got to get you to Calvary.
[19:49] Every time you read the Bible, every part of the Bible you're in, you need to realize so clearly that we can't. We must go to Calvary. And after we're saved, we realize that he placed desires in us to do his will.
[20:02] So I want to show you the other side of that. I can't, but that's not an excuse not to. See, once you're saved, before you're saved, you're like, I'm trying and I'm trying and I'm trying and I can't live up to it.
[20:15] So I've got to go to Calvary. But after you're saved, it's not like I'm trying anymore. It's like, I don't know why I do this stuff. I just like doing it now. I now like reading the Bible. I now like praying.
[20:25] I now like giving. I now like treating a person right. I don't know what happened to me. It seemed like I got love just coming out of me and I love people all of a sudden. You know where that came from? It came from God doing it.
[20:36] It's amen. And so you're, hey, we will live out what he said. But we'll live it out because he lives it out in us. It's the love of God shed abroad in our hearts.
[20:47] Verse 10, I already said it to you. But God said, I'm going to make them hear my words. I want them to know that I'm saying it.
[20:57] Hearing God himself say his words would cause them to fear him. I want you to go to verse 10 and I want you to mark the word fear. He says, especially the day when thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, gather me the people together and I will make them hear my words that they may learn to fear me.
[21:16] All the days of their life that they shall live upon the earth that they may teach their children. He wanted them to see the importance of it. He wanted them to fear him.
[21:26] Now let's just stop a second and understand fear. This fear here is not the fear of the man who's going to slap you. It's not the fear that God's going to kill you. It's an awesome reverence and respect.
[21:40] We ought to be what they used to call God-fearing people. And that's not a bad term. It's a great term. God-fearing people believe this. There is a God in heaven.
[21:52] And he did make us and he will judge us. There is a God in heaven and my life has not lived at my style and my ways. But what does God want done in my life? I want to please God.
[22:02] I love God and I'm looking to God to find out what God wants. And God said, I want to tell them what I got to say so they know. And he said, but I don't know if you have any idea. I preach to you and you're like, oh, ho-hum.
[22:16] But if you can imagine Moses said, hey guys, everybody come together. And all of a sudden, this is my word. I'll just sit down if it's okay.
[22:28] They had to know, buddy. And he said, I'll let you hear me so you know. This ain't Moses' stuff. This isn't what Joshua thinks. This isn't what Aaron thinks.
[22:39] This isn't what Miriam thinks. It's what I think. So fear me and know that I am God. And teach that to your children. We should know that we have the very word of God in our hands.
[22:50] Now you need to listen to what I'm about to say. Everywhere around you, they're trying to tell you that you don't have the Bible. And God doesn't speak like that anymore. But that's simply not true. You've got a Bible.
[23:01] God speaks in his book. And I don't care how old the Bible is. And I don't care how far away you are from hearing God actually say it. You know, Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12, that it is alive.
[23:12] The Bible says quick and powerful. It means alive and powerful. It knows what you're thinking. It knows what your intents are. It knows you. That's amazing. You can read the Bible someday and you'll be like, wow.
[23:28] My grandmother was an ignorant country lady. I don't think she knew how to read. Never saw her read anything. But my granddaddy used to read the Bible to her every day.
[23:40] They finished the Bible every year. Granddaddy reading it to her. And she used to take me. She always pushed my hair back. You know how grandmamas are. And she'd show me the Bible and she'd say, see all them hash marks? That's how many times we read this book.
[23:51] And she said this. She said, son, every time we read it, he puts new stuff in there. He don't put nothing new in there. But he lets you see something new.
[24:03] It's his book. And we should be committed to teaching his word to our children. You must know you have the word of God. There was no image.
[24:15] Only a voice. Look at chapter 4, verse 12. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the voice of the words. He spoke to you out of the fire and you heard the voice of the words.
[24:30] But you didn't see a similitude. You didn't see an image. You didn't see anything. You even recognized. You recognized only you heard a voice. They will later try to make images of God.
[24:43] Idols. But he reminds them he never showed them anything to look at. Not one time he didn't show them anything. Like some people get hung up on doves. In the new church nowadays, you know, they're like the Holy Spirit's a dove.
[24:56] They got a dove hanging over the pulpit or over the, you know, he said, I didn't show you any images. And no tongues of fire. He didn't show many images. He said, I gave you my voice.
[25:07] That's pretty stinking powerful. It seems that we so desperately want more than his word. You may have this problem. We want signs and wonders. That's why we like some of the foolishness on television that's called Christianity.
[25:23] Not the book, but the junk. And that's junk food. You need to get in the book. But then we like feelings. You come right here to church and you like feelings.
[25:34] It's like, well, I just feel like this. Who cares how you feel? I don't know if you got gas or ate pizza. I don't know what happened to you. Who cares how you feel? What's the book say? What's the voice say?
[25:45] What's the word say? We want something more than just his word. And that causes great spiritual failure. Don't trust other things.
[25:55] When God showed himself, it was to teach us and make us know his word. Verse 36. Verse 36. He said, out of the heaven he made thee to hear his voice.
[26:07] Out of the heaven. You see that? I can only imagine being there back then. Can't you? Could you just for a second imagine? Two million people. Moses trying to talk to him.
[26:18] Everybody passing the word down. Moses is saying something. Y'all listen. I'll tell you what he said. And then all of a sudden a big booming voice that covers two million people. All of them hear God talking.
[26:29] That he might instruct thee upon the earth. He showed you his great fire that thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. We must become people of his word.
[26:40] He has given proof to his people here that the Bible is more than just what Moses wrote. It's the very word of God. And they know that because they heard it with their own ears.
[26:53] The word of God made them wiser than other nations all around them. Look at verse 6. Verse 6. Keep therefore and do them. This is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations.
[27:09] Which shall hear all these statutes and say, Man, that's a great nation of wise and understanding people. You know what made them wise and understanding? Not blood.
[27:20] Not the color of their skin. Not the hair type they had. They had the book. They heard the voice. They had the word. God's people were advanced. Did you know they suffered from less disease?
[27:32] Because he told them all kinds of stuff to avoid disease. Their relationship was different among themselves because they knew how to treat each other. He told them that. They had less poverty because he told them how he wanted them to handle poverty.
[27:44] God's a good God. So every nation around there would be like, Man, if you're a poor Jew, they'd take care of you, buddy. They'd take care. You know, when they harvest a field, they just leave stuff growing in the corners so poor people can get it.
[27:55] Law. Anybody else walking by would have been like, I'm going to get my daddy when we was on the farm? You don't leave one stalk of corn, buddy. You get it all. God said, No, no, no.
[28:07] You don't get it all. You leave some. And by the way, if you happen to drop a bunch of it, just leave it. Some poor people might need that. What a God. Say amen. What a God. They knew. God wanted them to teach their children to love, reverence, and respect or fear him.
[28:23] That's back in verse 10. This reminds you. God's people were to fear him, and they were to teach their children the same thing. Only two verses we covered. So it's going to take a while. The Rami 4's got a lot.
[28:35] But anyway, can I just say this to you? You got the book. You got the voice. And not the TV show. But the real voice. You got the word of God. You should make a time every day to say, I'm going to read his book.
[28:50] You should memorize some of it. You should talk about it with your children. You should talk about it with your grandchildren. You should talk about it with your wife. You should share it in Sunday school, in a Sunday school class.
[29:02] You should get involved in foundations. All this stuff we do around here is ridiculous, isn't it? So much stuff to do with the book. It's because we know the book's not a book. It's the very word of God.
[29:16] Father, I love you. I thank you for the chance to speak your word. I thank you for the chance to share your truths out of this book tonight. And I am asking you to work in hearts and draw people to you.
[29:27] And I'm asking you to show your people how important your book is. And that we'd reverence it and reverence you. And we'd teach it. So God, I ask you to work.
[29:38] And I'll give you praise. With every head bowed and every eye closed. If you're here and you've not accepted Christ as your Savior, you're not sure. If you haven't seen yourself sinful. If you haven't seen yourself needy.
[29:50] You're not really saved. It's not about praying a prayer. Not about joining a church. Not about writing your name on a card. Lord, it's about coming to a place in your life when you realize, I am a horrible sinner.
[30:03] And I deserve hell. And if you study the Bible, that's what he's going to say to all of us. And then we come to him and he saves us. If you're not saved, tonight's your night. The Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
[30:15] The Bible says, there's none righteous. Nobody perfect. Nobody right. Not a one. Only Jesus. But it tells me that Jesus loves us. And he loves you and he wants you to be saved.
[30:26] I'd like to ask you tonight to trust Christ as your Savior. Right there where you are. Say, Lord, I've sinned against you and I know that. And I want to trust you for my eternal life and for my soul.
[30:37] And Christians, can I just ask, would you make a commitment in your seat? I'm not teaching the Bible like I should. I'm not spending time in the Bible personally. I'm not sharing the Bible with my children.
[30:49] And I should be teaching my children and my grandchildren. And I want to work on doing that. I'm not getting involved in discipleship, but I want to. Don't play with this. It's the Word of God.
[31:01] I bet no one would have taken lightly if they heard that booming voice from heaven. I bet they'd have all taken it seriously. So tonight, would you take the Word of God seriously? Father, work in hearts.
[31:12] Bring people close to you. Save, move, change lives. And I'll give you great honor and great glory and great praise for what you do. Your heads bowed, your eyes closed.
[31:22] I want to ask you to make a commitment. And Stephen will sing, but I want to ask you to make a commitment and say, Hey, I haven't been in the Bible like I should. And I just want to get in the Bible.
[31:33] No guilt, no manipulation, but I want the Word of God to be so real to me. Would you right now come to the altar or there in your seat and just tell him, Lord, I'm going to make more of your Bible. I want to spend more time in it.
[31:44] Would you do that? Would you tell him that? If you're not teaching your children, would you say, I'm going to take this seriously? Do as the Lord spoke to your heart about. And whenever you get through praying, you stand and sing with Stephen as he leads us in this song.
[31:57] Thank you.