As we begin this morning, I've been reflecting on an experience I had this spring of being the lacrosse coach, one of the lacrosse coaches for my son's lacrosse team.
It was a learning experience for all of us, me included, maybe more so. It was the first year of our school being a varsity program, and sometimes we didn't know what we knew, what we didn't know.
I certainly didn't know what I didn't know as a coach until I started, and I saw it in the players as well.
There would be times when they would go out and run around but didn't know what they were doing because they had had no instruction.
Sometimes they would run to the wrong end of the field. Sometimes they didn't know where they were supposed to be positioned because we hadn't taught them.
Sometimes they would go out there and think they were doing what we had told them, but in fact do something totally different.
And that created its own level of chaos. And sometimes they heard what we had taught them to do, and then they decided that they were just going to do their own thing anyway.
And all of these things happened. What was encouraging to me, though, was to see how many of them would come and say,
Coach, what did I do wrong? Coach, how can I do this better? They had a hunger to learn and grow, and they were seeking out more instruction and learning and knowledge
so that they could improve, so that they could be better lacrosse players.
I wonder if this dynamic is also true, even more so in our spiritual lives.
The same dynamics that I saw in these boys.
At times we are running around, not sure what to do, and mucking things up.
Sometimes we think we know what we should be doing, and we're doing those really hard, but in fact we're not doing the right thing.
Sometimes we know what we ought to be doing, and we just don't want to do it.
We think we know better, and so we do our own thing.
But I got a little taste of what I think God must be like, because God delights when we are hungry to learn from, to hear and obey His words.
When His people seek Him out, then we see His kingdom expressed.
And this is what we're going to talk about a little bit today as we continue our series in the book of 2 Chronicles.
We will be in 2 Chronicles chapter 17 and 18.
That is page 344 in your pew Bible if you want to pull that out.
2 Chronicles 17 and 18, and the importance of God's people seeking God's Word for them.
Now, I know we have some family visiting, and some of you may not be as familiar with the context of 2 Chronicles.
So remember, this is a book written about the history of the kings of Israel after the kingdom had ended and gone into exile and then been restored.
Okay?
So there was a lot there that I just summarized, but this is the big picture of the history of Israel.
And Chronicles was written as the people of God were returning to the land that God had given them and trying to figure out where do we go from here.
I don't know if this is helpful, but Pastor Nick said this this week in staff meeting.
He said kings was written earlier, the same history, but it was written earlier during the exile to explain to the people of Israel,
how did we get here?
How did we get to exile?
Chronicles is written after the exile to try to teach God's people, how do we go forward from here?
How do we live as God's people after the exile?
What does that look like?
And the book is looking back to say, what do we have to learn from what happened before so that we can know what it means to pursue God?
Now, we're looking today at the story of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, and we're not going to look at everything in his.
In fact, there are four chapters of Jehoshaphat.
We're not going to try to cover all of that today.
You might be glad.
It's already 5 of 11.
So, we're only going to…we're going to look at two chapters, and we're actually going to pull one theme,
because one of the things that we've seen as we're looking through the book of 2 Chronicles,
there are themes that are repeated over and over again.
Things like, seek the Lord, that God blesses His people when they seek the Lord.
The importance of right worship, of putting away false gods and worshiping other idols,
and worshiping in the temple God's one true.
The way that God is rewarding those who obey,
and when He judges and brings consequences to those who disobey His instructions and words.
So, these are some of the big themes.
Today, we're going to pull out one more theme,
and that is the importance of seeking and heeding God's words.
So, that's our introduction.
We're going to look…we're going to begin by reading the beginning of chapter 17 together.
So, I'm going to read that, and then we're going to pray, and then we'll look at it together.
So, 2 Chronicles chapter 17, verse 1.
1 Chronicles 1.
And then, there's a lot more in the chapter that we're going to just stop in there.
So, this is the beginning of Jehoshaphat's reign.
Let me pray and ask for God's help as we look at it this morning.
Lord, thank You for Your Word and that it speaks to us.
Lord, even as we have just sung, we pray that Your Word would shape our minds and our hearts
and our hands and our wills so that we might know You and do Your will.
Lord, we thank You for Your Spirit that helps us to do this.
Lord, I pray for Your help this morning that I might speak the words that You would have me speak,
that I would faithfully proclaim Your Word,
and that we together would sit under and receive Your Word this morning.
Be with us, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.
So, the big idea this morning is that God's people are to love the teaching and hearing of God's Word to us.
We're going to look at it in three steps.
Here's your outline.
If you're looking for it, we want to be people who are loving the teaching of God's Word,
loving the hearing of God's Word,
and loving God's final Word.
So, that's what we will look at this morning,
loving the teaching of God's Word.
Just starting in chapter 17, when Jehoshaphat started out,
he did really well, right?
He did well in lots of areas.
He did put in military fortifications.
He purified the worship of Israel.
Again, those are other themes that we'll cover more strongly at other times.
But one of the interesting things that he did is in verses 7 through 10 that I want to read now,
he created a system of teaching in Israel.
So, chapter 17, verse 7, he says,
in the third year of his reign, he sent out his officials,
and they list all the officials, and I'm going to skip through them for time,
to teach in the cities of Judah.
And with them, the Levites, and then another bunch of names.
And with these Levites, the priests, and two more names.
And they taught in Judah, having the book of the law with…
the book of the law of the Lord with them.
And they went about throughout all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.
One of the things that Jehoshaphat did explicitly was to send his officials,
the Levites, the priests.
It was everyone at all levels of government, all the different branches,
were united in this task,
playing the roles that God had given them more broadly.
If you look back into Exodus, you can see how all these people were set up.
But their roles were to teach the people about who God was,
and specifically God's Word, right?
It says specifically that they were teaching from the law of God,
the book that God had given them.
And this refers to the Scriptures,
the revelation that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai,
the law and the writings that come after that.
And so they had all of these things to teach and remind the people of who God is,
of what God has done,
and what it meant to be God's people,
and how they are to live.
And it emphasizes that this was not just for the officials,
but this was for all people.
So he sent these men out to the whole country
so that all the people, each one, individual Jews…
This is so helpful to see.
It wasn't just that the religious leaders were supposed to know God's Word,
but that every single citizen of the community
was meant to know God's Word.
And this was important because they were having to think about
how to live distinctly in this time period
when those around them were not doing so.
Did you notice when I read the beginning of chapter 17,
it said specifically in verse 4, right?
He sought the God of his Father and walked in his commandments
and not according to the practices of Israel.
Now, if you were here last week,
you remember there's a distinction.
In this verse, Israel is being used to describe the northern kingdom.
The people of God at this point in history had been divided,
and this is describing the northern kingdom
under a king named Ahab.
And it was not a great…
It was still ten tribes of the people of Israel,
but they were not following the Lord properly.
And Jehoshaphat was distinguishing himself
from the northern kingdom by teaching the law of the Lord.
And let me show you how difficult or how distinct this was.
I'm going to read from 1 Kings 16,
chapter 16, verse 30 to 33,
a little bit about what Ahab and his rule was like.
And Ahab, the son of Omri,
did evil in the sight of the Lord,
more than all who were before him.
And as if it had been a light thing
for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam,
son of Nebat,
he took for his wife Jezebel,
the daughter of Ephbaal,
the king of Sidonians,
and went and served Baal
and worshipped him.
He erected an altar for Baal
in the house of Baal,
which he built in Samaria.
And Ahab made an Asherah.
Ahab did more to provoke the Lord,
the God of Israel,
to anger than all the kings of Israel
who were before him.
So this was, up to this point,
the worst king ever.
He was doing everything wrong
with regard to how to be God's people
living in God's land.
He was worshipping other gods.
He was bringing in foreign treaties.
He was building false idols to worship.
He was doing everything wrong.
So Jehoshaphat in the southern kingdom
was saying,
we are going to be distinct from that.
We are going to be different
by actually following
and teaching God's Word to us.
This was a high value for Jehoshaphat,
and he loved the teaching of God's Word.
Now what about us?
What does it look like for us
to love the teaching of God's Word?
Well, the first thing is that
it has to come with conviction
that God's Word is good.
2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17,
Paul reminds the church of this.
All Scripture is breathed out by God
and is profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction,
and for training in righteousness
that the man of God may be complete,
equipped for every good work.
We need to be convinced
that this is good for us
and that we need to believe
that it is true, right?
Just like those lacrosse boys
who are running around the field,
they had to believe
that my instruction was good
for them to want to follow it.
Now, my instruction sometimes wasn't good,
and we had to work through that,
but I'm not infallible.
But God is,
and God's Word is.
And so to follow it
is a good thing.
And we need to recognize
that this will come in a context,
and we know this already,
but in a context
where there are many voices
that are saying other things
other than God's Word.
So in 2 Timothy chapter 4,
verses 3 and 4,
Paul warns Timothy this,
for the time is coming
when people will not endure sound teaching,
but having itching ears,
they will accumulate for themselves
teachers to suit their own passions
and will turn away
from listening to the truth
and wander off into myths.
So God's Word warns us
that we live,
that every Christian
has always lived
in a context
where there is a tidal pull,
a current that pulls away
from actually here
listening to the teaching
of God's Word,
that we will,
in our hearts,
want to pursue
teachers that say things
that we want them to say,
things that will suit
our own passions,
that will fulfill
our own desires.
that will conform
to the values
of the world around us
and not be distinctive
in the way
that Jehoshaphat wanted
and the way that God calls us
to be distinctive
from the world around us.
And we need to recognize
that there's a danger
and that we may easily
get caught up
in these currents.
And look,
I could sit here
and pick on a few
cultural things,
sexual morality
or end-of-life morality
or ethics
or those sorts of things
to say,
golly,
God's Word says something
really important
in how distinct
we're meant to be
from the world around us.
But let me instead
pick on some more
core values
that I think
where we love things
that the world loves
sometimes more
than God's Word,
where we would prefer
to have a God
who doesn't judge us
rather than having
a God who loves
righteousness
and goodness.
We prefer to have
a God
who serves
our needs
rather than
a sovereign God
who knows
what is best for us.
We prefer
a gospel,
a message of good news
that tells us
our life is going
to be the best life ever
with prosperity
at every turn
rather than
a gospel of the cross.
And we prefer
a gospel of works
that says
if we can just
do the right things,
check the right boxes
religiously
or in the world
that somehow
we will be okay
with God.
These are some
of the currents,
the deeper currents
that I see
where we prefer
to choose
to see God
through our own lenses
rather than letting
the God of the Bible
reveal Himself
as He is.
So friends,
how do we at Trinity
love the teaching
of God's Word?
Well,
hopefully,
our small groups
are defined
as people
who gather
around God's Word.
So,
if you're not
in a small group
and you may not
fit into one of our
formal small groups
but are you
meeting with other people
to talk about
God's Word
regularly
so that you can
look at it together
and encourage
one another?
I don't know
if you've ever
thought about this
but when we preach
on Sunday morning
we don't preach
topically
for a very
explicit reason
because we want
God's Word
to define
the agenda
for what we preach
on week to week.
So,
we choose
a chunk of Scripture
and then we preach
through it
sequentially
and we do that
intentionally
because as much
as the elders
would love to preach
to you on this topic
and this topic
we send that off
to Sunday school
because we want
God to define
the agenda
of what we say
from the pulpit
every Sunday.
We want God's Word
to say
this is what
needs to be said
to my people today
and as Nick
and I
and the elders
prepare to preach
we always want
to say
God
let this be
your Word
speaking
not ours.
and of course
we always want
to encourage you
to be engaged
in regular
personal
Bible intake.
Love the teaching
of God's Word
by
having an app
on your phone
listening to God's Word
if you have a hard time
sitting down
and reading
getting a good
study Bible
so you can not only
read it
but actually
study it
and get into it
and understand it
memorizing Scripture
I'm always encouraged
when I visit homes
and in the bathroom
there's like a
there's a Bible verse
you know
taped to the mirror
so that when we wake up
in the morning
there's God's Word
just in the warp
and woof
of the life
of this family.
These are some ways
that we can love
God's Word.
Jehoshaphat
didn't just prioritize
the teaching
of God's Word
though he also
sought to hear
God's Word
and so in chapter 18
we see Jehoshaphat
seeking to hear
from God
in the midst of
quite a challenging
situation.
Now prophets
are one of the ways
in the Old Testament
that God speaks
to his people
and we see a prophet
coming into this.
I'm going to try
to go through this
really quickly.
In chapter 18
Jehoshaphat
against wisdom
made an alliance
with Ahab
and we think
this was probably
a good-hearted attempt
to unify Israel
but it was unwise
because as we've seen
earlier Ahab
was not a good king
and so
and Ahab says
hey since we're
in this alliance
let's go up
and recapture
this town
that we had lost
this town of
Ramoth Gilead
and so
so in verses
one through four
of chapter 18
this is the setup
for what happens next.
So now if you want
to turn with me
chapter 18
verse 4
they're about to go up
and this is what
God's word says
and Jehoshaphat
said to the king
of Israel
inquire first
for the word
of the Lord
and then the king
of Israel
gathered the prophets
together
four hundred men
and said to them
shall we go up
against Ramoth Gilead
or shall I refrain
and they said
go up for God
will give it
into the hands
of the king
but Jehoshaphat
said
is there not
here another prophet
of the Lord
of whom we may inquire
and the king of Israel
said to Jehoshaphat
there is yet
one man
by whom we may
inquire of the Lord
Micah
the son of
Micaiah
the son of Imlah
but I hate him
for he never prophesied
good concerning me
but always evil
and Jehoshaphat
said let not
the king say so
and then the king
of Israel
summoned an officer
and said bring
quickly Micaiah
son of Imlah
now the king
of Israel
and Jehoshaphat
the king
of Judah
were sitting
on their thrones
arrayed in their robes
and they were sitting
at the threshing floor
at the entrance
of the gate
of Samaria
and all the prophets
were prophesying
before them
and Zedekiah
the son
of Chenanah
made for himself
horns of iron
and said
thus says the Lord
with these
you shall push
the Syrians
until they are
destroyed
and all the prophets
prophesied and said
go up to Ramoth
Gilead
and triumph
the Lord will give it
into the hands
of the king
okay
did you get all that
in summary
they're going up
and Jehoshaphat
says wait
wait wait
we don't want to go
without hearing
from the Lord
don't you have any
prophets of the Lord
and Ahab says
sure
I've got 400 guys
in my pocket
and they're here
to say
go do whatever
the king wants
and so they show up
and you know what
they say
let's go do
what the king wants
and Jehoshaphat
smells a rat
and so he's like
wait
but is there anyone
who actually inquires
of the Lord
and when
again
when you see the Lord
the way it's written
with all capitals
that's Yahweh
that's the God
of Israel
the way he revealed
himself to Moses
way back when
and so
so
so he says
isn't there anyone
and Ahab says
oh yeah
there's this one guy
but he's so annoying
because he never says
anything good about me
and
and Jehoshaphat says
if he seeks the Lord
let's bring him in
and so
they send for this
prophet of the Lord
but in the meantime
the end of this section
imagine this circus
right
these two kings
are sitting on a throne
and there are 400
prophets
and it feels like
it's this
just big pomp and show
of supporting the king
and this
this one priest
Zedekiah
makes a crown
of horns
and says
with this horn
you will go
and have great victory
and
and you just think
what
in this context
how strong
Jehoshaphat is
to say
but don't we need
to hear from the Lord
where there's
all this cultural pressure
to just
go with the flow
but he doesn't do it
he doesn't do it
the story goes on
it continues
in verse 12
and the messenger
who went to summon
Micaiah
said to him
behold
the words of the prophet
with
the words of the prophet
with one accord
are favorable
to the king
let your word
be like the word
of one of them
and speak favorably
but Micaiah said
as the Lord lives
what my God says
that I will speak
and when he had come
to the king
the king said to him
Micaiah
shall we go
to Ramoth Gilead
to battle
or shall I refrain
and he answered them
go up in triumph
they will be given
into your hand
but the king said to him
how many times
shall I make you swear
that you speak to me
nothing but the truth
in the name of the Lord
and he said
this is now Micaiah
responding
and he said
I saw all Israel
scattered on the mountains
as sheep
that have no shepherd
and the Lord said
these have no master
let each return
to his home
in peace
and the king of Israel
said to Jehoshaphat
did I not tell you
that he would not
prophesy good
concerning me
but evil
and Micaiah said
therefore hear
the word of the Lord
I saw the Lord
sitting on his throne
and all the host
of heaven
standing at his right hand
and on his left
and the Lord said
who will entice Ahab
the king of Israel
that he may go up
and fall
at Ramoth Gilead
and one
and one said
one thing
and another said another
then a spirit
came forward
and said before the Lord
saying
I will entice him
and the Lord
said to him
by what means
and he said
I will go out
and will be a lying spirit
in the mouth
of all his prophets
and he said
you are to entice him
and you shall succeed
go out
and do so
now therefore
behold
the Lord
has put a lying spirit
in the mouth
of these your prophets
the Lord
has declared
disaster
concerning you
okay
did you get all that
this is great drama
this would be a great TV show
can you imagine this scene
so Micaiah
comes in
and the guy who's bringing him
says hey Micaiah
like everyone's saying
they should go up
can you just like agree
can you say the same thing too
so that everyone will be happy
and
and Micaiah's like
no
I'm a prophet of the Lord
I'm called to speak God's word
so I'm going to do
whatever God says
now then
confusingly
when he gets there
and the king asks him
the first thing he does
is seemingly
parrot
what all the other prophets
are saying
which raises a question
why is he doing this
is this really what he's saying
and
and it
it makes
lots of commentators
think he's being ironic here
he's saying
yeah okay here
this is what it sounds like
if I'm going to say
what everyone else says
it's also possible
given what we see later
that
the Lord is
wanting to use his prophets
to give
a lying spirit
so that
it will entice Micaiah
to go
or
entice Ahab
to go up
so
so it's a little unclear
exactly what Micaiah
is doing there
but fascinatingly
even Ahab
the evil king
who isn't seeking the Lord
this isn't Jehoshaphat
this is Ahab saying
oh come on Micaiah
I know that's not
what you have to say to me
it's got to be
something worse than that
you're just telling me
to go up and do what I want
that can't be really
what God is saying
it's fascinating right
Ahab is the one
who calls him out
and Micaiah says
yeah you're right
that's not actually
all that I have to say
in fact
what I see
is Israel
without
a shepherd
and in fact
you should not
go up
but you should
go home
in peace
go back
to your towns
and be at rest
this is actually
what God is saying
to you
if you were to listen
and Ahab says
see
I told you
and Micaiah continues
and he tells
the story
of what's going on
in this heavenly throne room
where there's this discussion
between God
and his angels
the spirits
saying
how can I get
to my plan
because my plan
is for Ahab
to go up
and to do this thing
and he's going
to be killed
and so they have
this back and forth
and then I will put
a lying spirit
in the prophets
and they will speak
these words
and then Ahab
will go up
and do this thing
and then he will
be destroyed
and so Micaiah
lays bare
the inner workings
of what God
is doing
how God
sovereignly
is using
lying prophets
to carry out
his sovereign will
now
it's fascinating
to see what happens
then
right
because Ahab
who got
the first one
and said
no that can't be it
now here's these things
and if you read
the rest of the chapter
what he does
is he says
well
that doesn't matter
everyone else is saying
we should go up
so let's go up together
but I've got a great idea
I'm going to disguise myself
so I don't look like the king
and I'm going to let you
Jehoshaphat
look like the king
so that when we go together
you'll be leading us
and no one will know
that I'm the king
so who's ever going to
want to kill me
and so that's the idea
he tries to hide
by disguising himself
they go up
the enemies recognize
that Jehoshaphat
isn't Ahab
God delivers Jehoshaphat
miraculously
when he's the target
of their initial attack
they then break off
their attack
and in a fascinating
turn of events
it says a man
in his innocence
that's the better
translation of the word
in his ignorance
innocence
just shoots an arrow
and in God's sovereignty
it flies through
and it pierces through
Ahab's armor
and he dies
by the end of that day
and so God's word
is fulfilled
and the plant
and the armies
are defeated
they don't win the battle
they don't win the day
but they do go home
in peace
now what are we to make
of this story
this is true
of lots of chronicles
where we're like
okay what is the point
of all this
because one of the big
questions that I have
is Jehoshaphat
was he obeying
or disobeying
the word that he heard
from God
about this
because God's plan
was for them
to go up
so that Ahab
would be killed
and Jehoshaphat
knew that
I think that's
giving him way
too much credit
to be honest
I think Jehoshaphat
was the
little brother
was the weaker
of the two kings
and Ahab said
we're gonna do this
let's go do this
and Jehoshaphat said
well I guess
maybe we can try
and do that
because I don't know
what else to do
because I want
to unify Israel
that's my read on it
you know
here's the question
for you
for coffee hour
was he wise enough
to see God's hand
and to follow along
or was he foolish enough
to really believe
that by being
Ahab's ally
this would be a good thing
it doesn't say
what his motivations were
we do know
at the beginning
of chapter 19
another prophet comes
and he rebukes
Jehoshaphat
for his alliance
with Ahab
he says
you should not
ally with this
wicked man
who does not
follow the Lord
what we do see
in all this story
is that Jehoshaphat
longed to hear
God's word
and there's a little
question at the end
about whether he
actually obeyed it
so
but he did long
to hear God's word
and friends
this is what God
would want for us
as well
now we might ask
ourselves
but does God
still speak
are there still
prophets
that we should be
seeking out
who can come
and say
thus saith the Lord
well
Jesus has given us
a better
a better fulfillment
than that
if you remember
in John 16
in the Garden of Gethsemane
or not in the Garden of Gethsemane
in the Last Supper
as Jesus is teaching
he says this
in John chapter 16
verses 12
through 14
he says
I still have
many things
to say to you
but you cannot
bear them now
when the spirit
of truth comes
he will guide you
into all truth
for he will not
speak on his own
authority
but whatever he hears
he will speak
and he will declare
to you
the things
that are to come
he will glorify me
for he will take
what is mine
and declare it to you
and friends
what God did
is he filled
his initial
followers
with the Holy Spirit
and he's continued
to fill his church
with the Holy Spirit
through the apostles
writing
we have this book
that is the writings
of those
inspired by
the Holy Spirit
to write scripture
and we
as believers
in Christ
have the Holy Spirit
in us
allowing us
to understand
God's word
the Bible says
that without
God's help
we are unable
we are blind
to seeing
the truth of God
but that when
God's spirit
is at work in us
we are able
to see
the truth
of God's word
and this is
a glorious
thing
and we will
have to have
this discernment
because as we've
talked about before
there will be
false teachers
there will be
those who will
come and say
I'm not going
to read it
but 2 Peter 2
talks about
false prophets
coming along
who will teach
destructive heresies
and will live
destructive lives
to hurt those
who come
how do we
discern false
teaching from
true
well here are
a couple of
thoughts
this probably
isn't comprehensive
one
whatever we teach
should be consistent
with all of
what the Bible
says
it's easy
to pick and
choose
this is my
favorite verse
I like this one
God so loved
the world
great
yes God
loved the world
but God's
love is shaped
in all sorts
of nuances
by the rest
of the Bible
so let's make
sure we understand
that what we're
teaching is in
is in with
the whole Bible
the second thing
I would say
is that all
teaching needs
to be consistent
with the gospel
of the cross
and resurrection
of Jesus
it must be infused
with humility
and triumph
it must so
patterns of both
death and life
of suffering
and sanctification
so much false
teaching goes to
one or the other
sides of those
equations
and it's either
all triumph
with no suffering
or it's all
suffering
and no triumph
finally
whatever the
teaching is
it should exalt
Jesus Christ
it should point
to him
because John
14 tells us
that the spirit
will come
to teach us
about Christ
and it's so
easy for our
teaching to fall
into
exaltation
of human reason
or human wisdom
God forbid
that you would
come and want
my wisdom
when you come
on Sunday morning
what you need
is God's wisdom
and my role
by God's grace
is to teach
that to you
and when I'm wrong
because I'm not
infallible
you can rebuke me
you can challenge
me and we can
talk about it
but recognize
that it's not
about exalting
a human wisdom
or a human reason
and it's not
exalting
of an alternative
way for us
to find salvation
and be acceptable
to God
right
there is only
one gospel
and it is the
gospel of grace
by grace
you have been
saved through faith
and this
not of yourselves
is the gift
of God
so that no one
may boast
not of works
so those are
a couple of
litmus tests
as you think
about false
teaching
look for these
things
when these
things are true
these will be
helpful
when they are
missing
then we need
to be aware
and be wise
I've gone
way long
I'm going to
close this
quickly
but
God's people
are to love
the teaching
and the hearing
of God's word
but finally
we need to
recognize
that we need
to love
God's final word
more than
anything else
Hebrews 1
says this
long ago
at many times
in many ways
God spoke
to our fathers
by the prophets
but in these
last days
he has spoken
to us
by his son
whom he
appointed
the heir
of all things
and through
whom also
he created
the world
he is the
radiance
of the glory
of God
and the exact
imprint
of his nature
and he upholds
the universe
by the word
of his power
after making
purification
for sin
he sat down
at the right
hand of the
majesty
on high
friends
this
is God's
word
to us
so that
we might
know
him
the word
of God
made flesh
that dwelt
among us
and we have
beheld
his glory
it is about
Jesus
at the end
of the day
this is how
God has revealed
himself to us
and when we
want to know
how to be
God's people
we look
to Jesus
when we want
to know
how we become
a part of
God's people
we trust
and believe
in Jesus
that his life
and death
and resurrection
for us
is our salvation
and by faith
in him
we have life
with him
Jesus himself
rebuked
the teachers
of the law
in his day
saying you
search the scriptures
because you think
in them you have
eternal life
and it is they
that bear witness
about me
yet you refuse
to come to me
that you may
have life
so if you're ever
worried that we
worship the Bible
more than Jesus
recognize that
Jesus himself
said no
the Bible
is given to us
so that we
know him better
so that we
know him
in his fullness
and so that we
can understand him
and this is how
we know him
and this is what
2nd Chronicles
in the story
of Jehoshaphat
at least one
slice of it
is teaching us
that God's
people are
to love
the teaching
and the hearing
of God's
word
and to worship
his final word
to us
let's pray
together
Lord thank you
for your word
and thank you
for the teaching
that you give us
in it
Lord thank you
that you are
not a God
that we have
to guess
or have
some spiritual
experience
in order to
know
but Lord
thank you
that you
have made
yourself known
through your
word
and finally
through Jesus
oh Lord
we pray
that we would
be those
who love
you
and love
your word
we pray
this in
Jesus name
amen
to
amen
to
amen
to