Episode Transcript
I've been looking forward to coming to church all day and uh there we go.
I'm gonna have to be like one of those old-fashioned preachers tonight, Brother Shepherd.
Preach a little bit and do this right here and preach some more.
But I've been looking forward to coming to church all day.
And I tell you what, even if I sweat a little bit up here tonight.
Just being able to be here with you, see your precious faces, pray with you, and share God's word together is such a blessing, such a blessing.
Proverbs chapter 13, verse 13.
Proverbs chapter 13, verse 13.
Title of the message tonight is: It's all about the word.
It's all about the wor.
You can't be a preacher, not a good preacher anyway, not a real preacher, very long without just absolutely falling in love with the scriptures and deciding that they are the number one thing in this world is the the word of God.
And so the title here, it's all about the word, is very fitting tonight because it is all about the word.
The Bible starts off in verse 13 with the word whos.
The word whos lets us know, just like whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Whos lets us know that this that we're looking at tonight is a universal truth.
That's applicable to all people in all places at all times in this world.
Whos or whosoever, any person that, look back in your text, despiseth the word.
Despiseth the word.
Whoso despises the word.
So there is a universal truth in this world.
And that is, every person was created to live by the Word of God.
Every person you see drive down the highway, every person you meet in the grocery store, every person you see walking their dog, every person you see.
Dancing and shouting death to America.
Every person you see with a bone in their nose somewhere, it doesn't matter.
They all were created to live by the Word of God, their Creator.
Genesis chapter 1 verse 27 says, So God created man in his own image.
In the image of God created he him, male and female created he them.
One set of people.
He created a male and female in his image, and from those people, the Bible says he's made from one blood all nations of men.
And just as sure as God created that first man and woman in his own image and then spread their descendants across the world.
So God also said in Deuteronomy 8:3, that by every wor that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
God made everything by His Word.
God made us by His Word.
He said, Let us make man in our image.
And once that Scripture is given, the Scripture cannot be broken.
So they did.
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit made us in His image and then breathed, inspired us with His breath, the Word of God.
God gave us His Word as a light that we may see, as a sword that we may defend ourselves.
As food and water that we may be sustained, as truth, that we may know.
As encouragement that we may always rejoice, and as directions that we may be guided along the way here in life.
And knowing this, It is natural and logical for a man to highly esteem the word of God.
In his heart, that he may benefit from all of the necessary provision of God's Word and from the great reward that he receives in following it.
Adam did not do so.
Eve did not do so.
Cain did not do so.
They had the word of God.
But they des it, just like it says here.
And sadly, the vast majority of people in this world despise the word.
And to despise the word of God means to hold it in low esteem, not to hate it.
Not to curse it, not to be on some kind of agenda to destroy the Bible.
That's not what it means to despise.
Now, it could be included in that.
But it's not limited to that.
I think most oftentimes it's not that someone wants to destroy the word of God.
To despise God's word, again, means to hold it in low esteem, to consider it unworthy to follow.
So, to not obey God's word is to despise God's word.
Speaking to King David in 2 Samuel 12, verse 9, Nathan the prophet said, Wherefore, or why hast thou despised?
the commandment of the LORD to do evil in his sight.
Thou hast killed Uri the Hitt with a sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
So here's David.
David was a godly man.
We study the words the Holy Spirit wrote through David in the Psalms.
The inspired word of God.
David was a godly man.
David held God's word in high esteem.
But in this case, he despised the word of God.
Many people think that they highly esteem the word of God, but they take no time to learn it, they take no care to follow it.
But to neglect God's word is to despise it.
I'm going to say that again: to neglect God's word.
Is to despise it.
I have given people gospel tracts or some of my books before that I believe were lost.
I believe they needed to be saved.
And like many of you, I've said here, there's something I'd like you to read, and I'll explain it to them what it is.
And they'll take it, and a lot most of the time they'll say they'll read it.
But later, when I followed up with them, now a lot of them have read it.
A lot of them will read, and they'll have a good follow-up.
But there's been so many times that when I followed up with these people later to talk with them about what they learned and try to carry that conversation on. and speak to them about the Lord.
The conversation has gone something like this.
Hey, did you read what I gave you?
I remember one particular man, I asked him, and he was in his vehicle when I asked him.
And he picked it up, he picked that gospel track up, he goes, I got it right here.
I keep it right here on the dash of my vehicle.
He's very proud of that.
Or they'll say, you know I've got that Bible on my nightstand.
I keep it right there on my nightstand.
It never moves.
It stays right there on my nightstand.
Like they're holding it in a special place.
And that I should be really grateful that they have it on the nightstand.
And I truly believe that they think they're keeping that literature in a place of honor.
I really do.
I've had a lady a while back tell me that she had something that her priest had blessed, some little trinkets her priest had blessed, and she kept those.
In her house, and she felt she would always be okay and go to heaven as long as she kept those little trinkets the priest had blessed.
And, like those little trinkets, I believe that these people think they're keeping.
That literature that I've given them in a place of honor in their homes, in their hearts, by putting it in a prominent place.
I believe when people take the Bible and they keep the Bible on the coffee table or they have it posted up somewhere in a prominent place in their home.
I believe that in their hearts they believe that they're highly esteeming the word of God by putting it in that prominent place.
But by not taking it out of that place and getting it off the coffee table and into their heart, what they're really saying through their actions is What I wrote and what God wrote is not worth their time to mess with.
It's really what they're saying.
We're going to keep it here in a prominent place.
Meanwhile, we'll turn the television on with remote control, or we'll listen to whatever, we'll do whatever.
He reminds me of the unprofitable servant.
He was the one that had one talent, if I remember right.
Just one.
You know what the Bible says?
To whom little is given, little is required.
I mean, just one little talent, one little opportunity, one little something he could act on in life.
That was wholly given to him from God.
And what does he do?
He takes it and he hides it in the earth.
He hides it in the earth.
And I believe when you look at The conversation between Jesus and that man, that man acted like these people who talked to me.
Lord, I knew this and this about you, so here's what I did.
I went and I hid it in the earth.
That way I'd make sure and have it there for safekeeping.
You know, what did you do with it?
I didn't do anything with it.
I just stuck it in the earth and hit it there, but it's there.
I still got it.
It's right here on the dash of my pickup.
But like the unprofitable servant who hid his Lord's talent in the earth so he wouldn't lose it, people hide the word of God on their nightstand, their coffee tables, on their desks at work, but they fail to hide it in their hearts.
David, King David, Said in Psalm:, Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee.
Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.
Too bad he didn't do it that time.
With Bathsheba in that certain time, he neglected, he despised God's word.
And one day, every one of us, every person, will be judged according to God's word.
So we should all strive to live according to God's Word.
Be not deceived when we disregard the word.
We des the word.
When we disobey the word, we despise the word.
King David, again, did esteem the word of God.
Being a prophet of God, but when he disregarded God's word, in that case with Bathsheba, he despised it because at that moment.
In that decision that he made at that time, he had to set God's word aside to then follow the lust of his own heart.
S with Uriah.
He had to do that when he had Uriah slain.
He should have manned up, should have confessed.
But it didn't work that way.
And whoever despises the word, the Bible says, if you look back in your text, shall be destroyed.
Shall be destroyed.
There's a lot of ways that a man can be destroyed.
Again, King David esteemed the Word of God.
He wrote some of the Word of God.
But on that occasion, he despised it.
So you have a time when people part despise or temporarily despise God's Word, and a temporary despising of the Word of God brings temporary judgment.
A permanent despising and setting aside of the Word of God brings a permanent judgment.
That kind of makes sense to you.
And so in that same sense, there's a way to be destroyed temporarily, there's a way to be destroyed permanently.
David's sin with Bathsheba destroyed his testimony.
It destroyed his peace.
It destroyed his ability to govern for a time.
Man, it destroyed his family.
It was a rough time he went through, destroyed his pride for sure.
The Hebrew word translated destroyed.
It's an interesting word.
It literally means to bind, like with a rope, to wrap a rope around someone real tight.
And we get this idea.
People have always given this idea that they don't want to follow the Bible because they want to be free to live how they want to.
But the truth is, when you despise the word of God, you're actually bringing yourself into bondage.
The Bible, the Word of God, brings men into freedom.
Despising God's Word, on the other hand, brings men into bondage.
Bondage and destruction, therefore, go hand in hand.
Bondage and destruction Go hand in hand.
I saw on the news today where a judge had sentenced a man to death.
He said his execution date.
But you know what happens before that man is sentenced to death?
He's bound first, isn't he?
It's hard to kill a free man, and you've got to catch him first.
And so binding, being bound, and being damned go together.
And so whoever despises God's word shall be destroyed in the sense that they will be bound and harmed.
When David suffered God's judgment because of his sin with Bathsheba, he was no longer free to live and reign in the power and joy of God's kingdom as he was before.
He was bound to the terrible consequences of his circumstances, to the pain, to the suffering that he endured, bound to the death of a child that he had begotten.
He was broken or destroyed, if you would, for a time.
But as a believer in God's grace, as a believer in God, in his promised Savior.
Then he was eventually restored by the grace of God.
And so, if we get bound and broken in this world for some sin that we commit as believers in Jesus Christ, Thank God there is always that final permanent remedy in the gospel.
God will restore.
God will bless and God will heal us through His grace.
But unbelievers shall never be restored.
There's no remedy for an unbeliever.
When you conscientiously despise the word of God and hold in your heart that it is not true, it is not worthy for you to follow, it is not something you want to.
Stake your life upon, that type of despising of the Word of God brings a permanent binding and a permanent destruction.
Complete bondage, complete death, complete destruction.
David didn't totally despise God's word, so he temporarily despised it in the passion of his lust.
But those who completely despise the word of God shall be completely destroyed without remedy.
Speaking of Israel in 2 Chronicles chapter 36, verses 15 and 16.
The Bible says, And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers.
That is, he spoke.
To his people through his messengers, the prophets.
Rising up bet, that means getting up early in the morning.
And sinning because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.
God didn't want. to destroy Israel.
God didn't want to send Assyria and Babylon or plagues or whatever else came their way, how God judged them.
So God would send prophets to them, trying to reason with them How?
Through his word.
But what happened was they despised the word of God.
They rejected it.
They despised it.
Verse 16 says, But they mocked.
The messengers of God and des his words.
Now David would never mock the messenger of God.
Even when Nathan, the messenger of God, came to David, he didn't mock Nathan.
He didn't imprison Nathan.
He just hung his head down and said, gigs up.
I did it.
I'm wrong.
That's what a child of God will do.
But these people, they mocked the prophets.
And we've seen people mock Christians today.
They love to laugh at us.
They love to think we're stupid because we think someone actually created everything and we hadn't just been Evolved over millions of years.
They mocked the messengers of God and despised His words and misused or mistreated His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people.
Look what it says at the end, till there was no remedy.
There was a remedy for David, and that was the gospel that he believed.
But when you despise God's word totally, you'll be bound and destroyed totally.
God was so gracious.
Trying to extend his hand of love and mercy, and they just absolutely refused to have anything to do with the word of God.
And finally, there's no remedy.
It's the same thing as the book of Hebrews talks about when the Bible says, If we sin will after we receive the knowledge of truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
So those who know the sacrifice of Christ through the gospel message, but despise this will despise the sacrifice of Christ, there remains no more sacrifice.
In other words, there's no more remedy.
There is none.
And that's what these people had.
They had no rem.
Unless a man embraces God's Word and God's Son as the remedy for their sin, there will be no remedy.
They'll only have destruction.
Now, the Hebrew word destroyed here literally means, remember, to what?
To bind.
To bind.
Now, speaking of the man.
Who despises the gospel, the word of God?
Jesus said in Matthew 22:1, Then said the king to the servants, bind him.
Isn 't that interesting?
Not just destroy him, bind him.
A complete loss of freedom here.
God made us to be free.
But here, by despising the word of God, the Bible says who the Son sets free is free indeed.
And Jesus said he came to set them free.
Came to set the captives free.
And they're like, we've never been in bondage to anybody.
Yeah, you are in bondage.
You're in bondage to sin.
And so, what happens?
They reject the Savior who came to set them free, and by despising the Word, He is the Word, and by despising God's Word, The first thing their sentence says is bind him.
Bind him what?
Hand and foot.
There were different ways to bind someone when I was a law enforcement officer.
There was handcuffing them in the hands in front.
That was the most pleasurable way for people.
There was handcuffing them behind the back.
That was one of the least pleasurable ways for people.
But you know what the least pleasurable way was?
Hog-ty them.
Back in the day, you could do that.
When me and Brother Shepherd were younger and on patrol, you could do that.
Until a lawsuit or two happened, they kind of changed the rules on it.
They used to you bound them hand and foot if they were giving you trouble.
Well, Jesus isn't worried about any lawsuits.
He said, You bind them hand and foot.
But all their extremities are bound.
There's just no freedom at all.
And so they're going to be completely bound.
To the circumstances, to the judgment of God with absolutely no way to resist it.
Bind him hand and foot and take him away.
And cast him into outer darkness.
There shall be weeping and gnas of teeth.
Now, I want you to notice the active particip.
Of the king's servants in this.
Because remember, whoever despises God's word shall be destroyed, is what the proverb says.
Who shall be destroyed, and that Hebrew again is to bind.
Notice this act of participation in this despiser's destruction.
The king's servants, they do what?
They bind, they take away, they cast into outer darkness.
They bind.
They rem and then they cast into outer darkness the person that despises the word of God.
We're not talking about karma here.
We're not talking about one bad deed causing the universe to make some other bad deed happened.
This isn't just some kind of natural response for breaking God's word.
This is an act partic that God has in the condemnation of those who despise His Word.
Just as sure as God created man in his own image, God also said again in Deuteronomy 8:3, By every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.
Doth man live.
And so if a man doesn't live by the Word of God, he's going to die without it.
He's going to die without it.
So he who despises God's Word doesn't simply face the natural results of a bad decision.
He faces the righteous just and revenge of the God he offended.
Bind him hand and foot, take him away.
Cast him out.
It's a lot different than whosoever will, let him come unto me, and I'll never cast him out.
If they only will.
But they don't.
So whoever despises God's word shall be destroyed.
Look back in your text.
But he that feareth the commandment and that word fear means a person that reverences.
That's that reverential fear.
Whoever reverences God's word, whoever holds it in high esteem so as to obey it, to hearken unto it, shall be reward.
Rather than destroyed.
Proverbs 11:1 says, The wicked work of the deceitful work, but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward.
Wh fears the commandment shall be rewarded.
I've been meditating on that the past couple of days.
That's a wonderful promise.
Whoever you are, if you'll reverence, if you'll hold in high esteem the word of God, there is a sure reward in you for that.
God's word.
It's like food.
I've got wild grapes growing in my yard, and I've got ok in my yard.
I don't know, Brother Shepard.
I know you like okra.
I don know if you've ever seen the nutritional content in okra.
It's packed full of nutrition.
Now, the grapes, the wild grapes I have, it's also packed full of nutrition, just different kind.
But that food that I eat, it has a benefit built inside of it for those who partake of it.
And God's word is no different.
That's why the Bible says man doesn't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God doth man live.
God's word, therefore, is likened to bread.
Jesus likened himself to bread.
The bread that he gave on the cross, he said, was his flesh, and the drink was his blood.
So if you partake of the gospel, there's a certain benefit built into that gospel.
That's eternal life.
That's justification.
That's one food the Bible gives.
But there's more than just the gospel in the Bible.
I mean, we can see the gospel all through the Bible, but there's a whole lot more to the Bible than the cross of Jesus Christ.
There's all kinds of wonderful food in the Bible.
In every commandment that we highly esteem and we partake of, by hearkening unto that word, there's a reward in it.
There's value in it for us.
There's a blessing in that commandment when we partake of it.
To obey God's word is to partake of it.
Now, the Hebrew word translated rewarded here literally means to be safe.
How about that?
So destroyed means to bind, to be rewarded here literally means to be safe.
Most of the time in the Bible, though, it's translated as the word peace.
And you know what?
If you have peace, then you are safe, aren't you?
Joshua chapter 11, verse 19, there was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hiv, the inhabitants of Gibeon, all Other they took in battle.
That word peace is the same word translated rewarded.
There wasn't a city that made peace with the children of Israel except for those.
And speaking of Jesus in Colossians chapter 1, verses 19 through 20, the Bible says, For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace.
Through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto him, by him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.
Jesus made peace through the blood of his cross.
That's the reward we get for taking heed and obeying the gospel commandment.
The commandment of the gospel is to believe.
That's why the Bible says they have not all obeyed the gospel.
But when we obey the commandment of the gospel to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, then we get the reward of peace.
He who fears the word of God, who rightly esteems it, seeing himself as a violator of God's commandments, but a believer in God's Son, shall be rewarded with the peace that Jesus made.
God will reward us with good, with peace, with safety, with security, with joy, with blessing.
Any time we reverence His word, you cannot fail, you cannot lose.
Any time by obeying the Scripture.
You cannot.
There's one thing that every believer in Jesus Christ has in common, every single person.
And if they don't have this in common, they're not a believer in Jesus Christ.
But there's one thing that every believer in Jesus Christ has in common, and it's that we have all come to a place in life where we were convinced the Bible is God's word.
And that we would st the eternal welfare of our soul on the message inside of it.
The message that commands us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that we might be saved.
We've all come to that conclusion.
God's Word is true.
The message of God's Word, the subject of God's Word, is God's Son.
The action of God's Son will sed in my place.
And the promise of God's Son is to believe on Him and we'll be saved.
And at some point in time, we've all come to that place where we say, Lord, I'll stake my soul's eternity.
Upon the cross of Jesus Christ.
The man that wrote me for help yesterday started talking about how He tries to believe that he believes, but then suddenly fear will grip his heart.
And then he'll wonder if he does believe enough.
And so he starts doubting that he believes sufficiently.
And I said, you know what you got to do?
You got to come down to this, that you're going to put your hope, your assurance, in one thing, black ink on white paper.
That's it.
Black ink on white paper.
Because your feelings are going to change.
You're going to have scary thoughts.
You're going to have feelings of dread and despair.
That's going to change.
But every time you open that Bible up and you look at Romans 5:6, it's still going to say Christ died for the ungodly.
It won't change.
It's an unchang wor from God that gives us an unchanging confidence in God's Son.
Whoever fears the commandment, that is, reverences the commandment, shall be reward.
And to reverence the commandment to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ gives us the greatest reward of all.
And this same Hebrew word is also translated as pay.
And we're closing up.
We're summing it up now for those who are hot.
The same Hebrew word is also translated as pay, not just reward, but pay, many times in the Bible as well.
He that fears the word of God shall receive the wages of its blessing.
But he that despises the word shall receive the wages of its curse.
Thus, Romans:, for the wages Sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
You, Well, Brother Richard, there's the wages.
That's the payment.
But there it says gift.
That's not a payment.
Oh, yes, it is.
It's just that we're not the ones paying for it.
It's a gift paid for.
With the precious blood of Christ paid in full.
Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful word you've given us tonight.
Thank you, Father, for the exceeding great and precious promises.
There's not a scripture in your word from start to finish that if we do not highly esteem it.
And hold to that word that there will not be a reward in us for it.
And there is not a word from start to finish that if we despise it, there will not be trouble.
In it for us.
And we pray that we will have our eyes and hearts forever locked on your scriptures and our feet forever walking therein.
In Jesus' name, bless the message to the hearts of those hearing tonight.
Amen.
