| From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase |
Part four of a series. Read part three.
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Christians individually, and the church as a body, will fall into grave dangers if we do not guard the precious treasure of God's Word within our minds. Evidence of this abounds today. But we will experience manifold blessings if we take God's imperative to guard His Word seriously.
Thus far in this series, we have seen that the Hebrew word tsaphan, which is translated "I have hidden" in Psalm 119:11, is an exceedingly rich term. It signifies the imperative to esteem Scripture as exceedingly precious, something to be treasured above all else, because it is the living and powerful Word of God. We have also seen that this word signifies the imperative to gather the treasure of Scripture into the repository of the mind. Christianity is based upon facts, not mere feelings. It is based upon revealed knowledge, as the Holy Spirit declares to us through the apostle Paul in First Corinthians:
But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)
Guarding the Treasure Against the Father of Lies
The word tsaphan also signifies the imperative to carefully guard the treasure that has been gathered. The Lord Jesus explained this imperative to His disciples thus:
Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the Word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the Word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the Word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the Word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the Word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. (Matthew 13:18-23)
Jesus also told His disciples why Satan desires to rob people of the precious seed of the Word. He said that Satan
does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, because he is a liar and the father of it. (John 8:44)
Satan has been doing this from the very beginning. The Devil's first recorded words in Scripture are, "Has God indeed said..." (Genesis 3:1). His last recorded act, in Revelation chapter 20 beginning in verse 7, will be to "go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth." He will continue to rob unguarded hearts of the Word of God until the end.
Today's Tragic Evidence
We see abundant and tragic evidence of this in the post-evangelical church - its willful neglect of the Bible, its substitution of the word of sinful man for the Word of the holy God, its spiritual anarchy, and in so many cases, its appalling immorality. In our ministry, we hear of more and more once-sound churches in which cohabitation between men and women outside of marriage is being tolerated among the membership. We have even counseled deeply concerned members of a so-called Bible church whose leadership has been tolerating a man in their midst who has written a book advocating polygamy.
We are also hearing from many people who are deeply concerned that the pastors of their so-called conservative churches are saying that now that the United States Supreme Court has shaken its collective fist in the face of God and said that sodomy and so-called homosexual marriage are legal, the church must therefore tolerate these things, which God says are an abomination in His eyes (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13, Romans 1:27).
All of these things, and many more spiritual tragedies, are coming to pass today because professing Christians are not guarding the precious treasure of the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God that is "the critic of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). Truly, as we saw in our last article, "Where there is no Divine revelation, the people cast off restraint" (a literal rendering of Proverbs 29:18).
The Imperative for Christians
What must genuine Christians do? We must, above all, hide God's Word in our hearts in the rich sense of that term as we find it in Psalm 119:11. In verses 68 and 69 of the same Psalm, the writer says this:
You [the Lord] are good, and do good; teach me Your statutes. The proud have forged a lie against me, but I will keep Your precepts with my whole heart.
The word that is translated "keep" in verse 69 is a form of the Hebrew verb nawtsar. The word appears ten times in this Psalm alone. In each case, the use of the word has to do with guarding the Word of God with fidelity; to preserve it from danger; to act as a watchman over it:
Remove from me reproach and contempt, for I have kept Your testimonies. (Psalm 119:22)
Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; indeed, I shall observe it [Hebrew shawmar, a related word meaning to safeguard by treasuring in the memory] with my whole heart. (Psalm 119:33-34)
Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. I remember Your name in the night, O Lord, and I keep Your law. This has become mine, because I kept Your precepts. (Psalm 119:54-56)
I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Your precepts. (Psalm 119:100)
Depart from me, you evildoers, for I will keep the commandments of my God! (Psalm 119:115)
Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them. (Psalm 119:129)
The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting; give me understanding, and I shall live. I cry out with my whole heart; Hear me, O Lord! I will keep Your statutes. (Psalm 119:144-145)
What of You? What of Your Church?
Dear reader, do the psalmist's words describe the resolve of your own heart? Do they describe the attitude of your church? Are you wholeheartedly acting as a watchman over the pure Word of God that you have treasured up in the storehouse of your mind? Are you guarding the treasure of the Word of God with fidelity? Is it, in turn, your guard against the reproaches of those who do not treasure it? Have you made it your resource and refuge against the lies of the evil one?
Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: "For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him." (Hebrews 10:35-38)
"All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the Word of the Lord endures forever." Now this is the Word which by the Gospel was preached to you. (1 Peter 1:24-25)
For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience [literally, endurance] and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. (Romans 15:4)
Next: Treasuring the Word for God's Purpose
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