Tremble at God's Word

3:35 Talk about fear and reverence and trembling at the word of God. Now, here's the deal. Fast forward 2,500 or so years, to the church today. And just think about this with me. What do we usually associate these kinds of actions with in worship today?

3:59 Standing, raising hands, shouting out. This is what we do in musical worship, right? Band comes out, we're on our feet, we're raising our hands, we're shouting out, we're really extreme, maybe we fall on our faces. which, to be clear, is biblically right to do in musical worship. So you turn over to Nehemiah chapter 12, you see the people doing this and a whole lot more in musical worship. So it's not that that's bad, but I can't help but to wonder, what would it look like if all it took was God's word, his voice, to cause that kind of scene among us? what if all it took was just hearing the word of god to cause all of us to rise to our feet what if just hearing god's word caused all of us to throw our hands in the air and shout amen amen what if just hearing god's word brought us physically to our knees or bowing down with our faces on the ground. And this is not an isolated event in scripture.

5:19 Look at Ezra chapter 9. God's people hear his word. Listen to what happens. Everyone who, notice the word, trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of this unfaithfulness in the exile. I sat there appalled until the evening sacrifice. Then at the evening sacrifice. I rose from my self-abasement with my tunic and cloak torn. I fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the Lord my God, and I prayed. I'm too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. They are trembling at God's Word because when they see it, when they hear it, they see their sin and they're falling on their faces in repentance.

6:07 So if this is how people in the Bible respond to God's word, then why is this posture so rare in our worship? Like why is that not normal?

6:28 Why does that feel extreme? why if that was happening we'd be like whoa that was really a moment is it because we have less sin than they did or is it become because we have grown complacent with coming to worship gatherings primarily as events to watch instead of a God to encounter? Why is that posture not normal? Where are the men who are falling flat on their face before God in repentance?

7:18 Where are the men who are showing that true masculinity is not found when you bow up your shoulders, but when you fall face flat to the ground? Where are the women who do not care how others view them because they're so captivated by their view of him. And I know some people might think, well, I don't know what people would think about me. I don't want them to think I'm super spiritual or this or that. And I would just ask, why are you even thinking about what others think about you? You're in the presence of God. You're hearing the voice of God. Self gone, dead to self. You're just overwhelmed by God. you're not even thinking about what others think at that point besides this is what God desires is pleased with we've read it Isaiah chapter 66 these are the ones I look on with favor that should cause all of us to perk up oh where's the favor of God on those who are humble and contrite in spirit and who tremble at my word. That's where the favor of God rests. And don't miss it. It's not just about fearing God in his word. It's also about feasting on God in his word. So you read the rest of Nehemiah chapter 8 and people, so they're weeping in conviction over their sin.

8:57 And then that leads them to celebrate God's grace. Look at this. Look it down at Nehemiah chapter eight, verse 12. Then all the people went away to eat and drink to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy because they now understood the words that have been made known to them. Yes, when you bow on your face in awe of God and his word and you understand what he's saying, it leads to celebration with great joy. I love the way Jeremiah puts this. Jeremiah 15, 16, he says, when your words came, I ate them. They were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty. Yeah, you're listening to the words of the Lord God Almighty, the God who spoke a word and the universe came into being?

9:53 And that is who you're listening to in that moment, the voice that thunders over the waters? When those words come, you eat them up as your joy and your heart's delight. So what would it look like, even today, in this room across all these churches gathered in this moment to just let God's word ignite our affections and bring us to our feet and cause us to shout and yell out, amen, amen, hands in the air, falling on our faces to the ground. What if all it took was God's word to incite worship like that.

10:50 So, with that set up, now, I invite you to turn me over to Romans chapter 1. And if you don't have a Bible, I would encourage you to find somebody that, well, you can look on with, with them. And while you're turning, can I just point out that in Nehemiah, they didn't have the Holy Scripture that we have. And we have all the more reason to respond like this. They just had the law. We've got the whole book with the gospel. And even better, we know all about Jesus, the word made flesh, and he's actually in our hearts. So for the next few minutes, I just want to invite us in this room and other rooms collectively across the southeast to let God's word lead us to worship just his voice, straight his voice.

11:54 And for you, right where you're sitting right now, to feel the freedom to worship however his spirit leads you in response to his word. Whether that's standing in your seat, staying in your seat, standing to the floor, standing in your chair, I don't know, and just in awe, whether that's shouting or raising your hands,

12:25 maybe at your seat or moving out from your seat and bowing down with your face to the ground. Just Holy Spirit of God, lead us to worship you through your word however you desire in this long line of your people who have trembled at it make us that kind of people so Romans chapter one the word of God Paul a servant of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets and his holy scriptures regarding his son who as to his human nature was a descendant of David and who through the spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the son of God by his resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ our Lord.

13:29 Through him and for his name's sake we receive grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints, grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because your faith is being reported all over the world. God whom I serve with my whole heart and preach in the gospel of his Son is my witness. How constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times. And I pray that now at last by God's will that may be open for me to come to you. I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong. That is that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I've planned many times to come to you but have been prevented from doing so until now in order that I might have a harvest among you just as I've had among the other Gentiles. For I'm obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I'm so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.

14:21 I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel, a righteousness from God has been revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last. Just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth of God by their wickedness. And so we know about God as plain to them because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power, divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what is made so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. But their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts, the sexual impurity, for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

15:14 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and they worshiped and served created things rather than the creator who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts that ought not to be done. even though women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way men abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another, men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind that ought not to be done. They've become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They're full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They're gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent ways of doing evil. They disobey their parents. They're senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things, but also approve of those who practice them. You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on them. For whatever point you judge the other, you're condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you'll escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance. But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you're storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed, God will give to each person according to what he has done. To those who by persistence in doing good, seek glory, honor, and mortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking, who will reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for everyone who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. But glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

16:51 For God does not show favoritism. All who sin apart from the law will be judged apart from the law. All who sin under the law will be judged under the law. For it's not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it's those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. Indeed, when Gentiles who do not have the law do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves. As they show the requirements of the law are written in their hearts, their conscience is also bearing witness and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them. This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ as my gospel declares. Now you, if you call yourself a Jew, if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God, if you know as well and approve of what is superior because you've been instructed by the law, if you're convinced you're a guide for the blind, a light for those in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, you then who teach others, do not teach yourself. You who preach against stealing, do you not steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who have war idols, do you rob temples?

17:43 You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it's written, God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you become as though you had not been circumcised. If those who are not circumcised physically keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you, who even though you have the written code and circumcision are a lawbreaker. A man is not a Jew if he is one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly. And circumcision is circumcision of the heart by the spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God. What advantage then is there in being of Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way. First of all, they've been entrusted with the very words of God. But what if some do not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all. As it's written, let God be true, and every man a liar. As it's written, so you may be proved right when you speak, and prevail when you judge. But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what should we say then? That God is unjust and bringing his wrath on us? I'm using a human argument. Certainly not.

18:43 If that was so, how could God judge the world? But someone might argue, if my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and increases his glory, then why are we still condemned as sinners? Why not say, as we are being slandered, this report is saying, let's do evil that good may result. Their condemnation is deserved. What should we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all. We've already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all in their sin. As it's written, there is no one righteous, not even one. No one who understands. No one who seeks God. All have turned away. They have together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves. Their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Ruin and misery mark their ways. In the way of peace, they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth is silenced. The whole world is held accountable to God. And no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law.

19:38 Rather, through the law, we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God apart from the law has been made known, to which the law and the prophets testify, and this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice because in his forbearance, he left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate his justice in the present time so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It's excluded. On what principle?

20:29 That of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles? too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there's only one God who will judge the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we then nullify the law by this faith? Not at all. Rather, we uphold the law. What then should we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If in fact Abraham had something to boast about, if in fact Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. What does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now when a man works, his wages are not credited him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, the man who doesn't work, but who trusts God, who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works. Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him. So is this blessedness only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised?

21:27 We've been saying that Abraham's faith was credited as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised or before? It was not after, but before. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that I had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then he's the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he's the father of the circumcised, who not only are circumcised, but who walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be the heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value. The promise is worthless because law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression. But, so here's the picture. Faith in Jesus. Oh, I just lost my place. Well, just tell me what the next words are. Therefore, the promise comes by faith. So it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring. Not only to those who are law, but those who are the faith of Abraham. He's the father of us all, as it's written. I've made you a father of many nations. He is our father in the side of God in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead, who calls things that are not as though they were. Against all hope, Abraham and hope believed and became the father of many nations.

22:36 Just as it had been said to him, so shall your offspring be. Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact his body was as good as dead, since he was about 100 years old, and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but he was strengthened in his faith, and he gave glory to God, being fully persuaded God had power to do what he had promised. This is why it was credited to him as righteousness. And the words, it was credited to him, were not written for him only. They were also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness. For us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, he was delivered over to death for our sins, and he was raised to life for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we've gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. Not only so, but we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, we rejoice in our suffering because we know that suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope, and hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us.

23:43 You see, at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. God demonstrates his love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more will we be saved from God's wrath through him? For if in our sin, not only is this so, but we rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom we have now received reconciliation. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men because all sin, for before the law was given, sin was in the world, but sin is not taken into account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over the nation who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam who was a power over the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace, and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ overflow to the many. Again, the gift is not like the trespass. The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation. The gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more would those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for For all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.

25:14 For justice through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners. So also through the obedience of the one man, the many will be made righteous. The law was added, so the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more. so that just as sin reigned in death, grace might reign through life to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What should we say then? Should we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means. We died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? Don't you know that all of us were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into his death. We were therefore buried with him through baptism in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we too may live a new life. If we've been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him, that the body of sin will be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, because anyone who's died has been freed from sin. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, because we know since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again.

26:15 Death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin. Once for all, the life he lives, he lives to God. So in the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies so that you obey its evil desires. And do not offer the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. Offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness, for sin shall not be your master. You are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we're not under law, but under grace? No, don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you're slaves to the one whom you obey, whether you're a slave to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness. But thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.

27:09 You have been set free from sin, and you've become a slave to righteousness. I put this in human terms because you're weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and ever-increasing weakness, so now offer them enslavery to righteousness, leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you're now ashamed of? Those things result in death. But now that you've been set free from sin, become slaves to righteousness, the benefit you reap leads to holiness. And the result is eternal life. The wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Do you not know, brothers, from speaking to men who know the law, the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives. For example, by law, a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive.

28:00 But if her husband dies, she's released from the law of marriage. So if she marries another man while her husband's still alive, she's called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she's released from the law as not an adulteress, even though she marries another man. So, my brothers, you also die to the law through the body of Christ in order that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work within our members, so we bore fruit for death. But now that we've been set free from sin and become slaves to righteousness, the benefit of your reap the whole... No. But now, by dying to all what's bound us, we have been released from the law, so we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. What should we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not. Indeed, I wouldn't have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, do not covet. But sin, seizing the opportunity to afford it by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from law.

28:53 When the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death. So the law is holy. The commandment is holy, righteous, and good. Did that which is good then become death in me? By no means. But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good so that through the commandment, sin might become utterly sinful. We know the law is spiritual. I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I don't do. What I hate, I do. And if I do what I don't want to do, I agree the law is good. As it is, it's no longer I who do it, but it's sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me. That is in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do. No, the evil I do not want to do, I keep on doing. And if I do what I do not want to do, it's no longer I who do it, but it's sin living in me that does it.

29:45 So I find this law at work. When I want to do good, evil's right there with me. For in my inner being, I delight in God's law, but I see another law at work within the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law at work within my members. What a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature, I'm a slave to the law of sin. therefore there is now no condemnation for all who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death for the law was powerless to do and it was weakened by the sinful nature God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering so he condemned sin and sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires. Those who live according to the spirit have their minds set on what the spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death. The mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God. It doesn't submit to God's law nor can it do so.

30:58 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the spirit if the spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ. He doesn't belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, and your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the sinful nature to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. You did not receive a Spirit that makes you a slave again to fear. You received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. And if we're children, we are heirs.

31:55 Heirs with God. Co-heirs with Christ. If indeed we may share in His sufferings in order that one day we are going to share in his glory. I consider our sufferings, present sufferings do not compare with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits an eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation itself was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, and hope that the creation will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, we ourselves have the first fruits of the Spirit. We groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons of redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that's seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for it? He already has. But if we hope what we don't yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We don't know what to pray for sometimes. The Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words can't even express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accord with God's will. And we know that in all things, in all things, in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called.

33:26 Those he called, he also justified. And those he justified, he also glorified. What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?

33:56 Christ Jesus, who died, more than that, has raised to life, is at the right hand of God, interceding for us right now. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble, or hardship, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it's written, for your sake we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus our Lord.

34:43 There's nothing like this word. Isaiah 55, God says, listen to my word and live. God forgive us for the hours we're spending on our scrolling on our phones filling our minds the drivel of this world God we repent make us people who tremble at your word, oh God.

35:59 We just love your word. God, forgive us. Forgive us for creating a whole picture where Bible reading feels obligatory. Something I should do. Instead of something we run to do to hear from you. Thank you. God, make us a people who are humble and contrite in spirit.

36:45 Tremble at your word. And we beg as people who see you. in your word, in ways that lead us to our faces,

37:07 to throw our hands in the air. God, open our eyes to our sin as we read your word. Just pray, even right now, for the spirit of repentance, humility, contrition, repentance. God, forgive us for becoming so complacent and comfortable. with lack of awe and reverence for your word. Can I just say this?

38:04 I just want to make sure, just in case, just in case, you are in any way tempted to be impressed or to think, wow, that was... I just want to remind you, we live in a world where in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. Children and teenagers memorize the entire Koran. The whole thing. Some of them don't even speak Arabic. They memorize the whole thing in Arabic. They're like memorizing New Testament in Greek. so the only reason why this kind of moment or that might and in any way feel impressive it's because we've lowered the bar so much this this should be it should be normal like we we the first words out of his mouth in the whole book of psalms are blessed happy is the man the woman who meditates on my word day and night.

39:15 This isn't like feel guilty because you're not. This is like, do you want to be happy? Do you want to be happy? Because you're not going to find it in the millions of messages this world has given you. You're going to find it in this word. Listen to me and you'll live. You'll live. and uh and and i i've prayed for for some today for some i've prayed that this would be the moment when you just are awakened to actual christianity out of cultural christianity and meaning and we just heard it romans 1 through 8 not based on what you do just trust in jesus to reconcile you to love relationship with God that does not feel like obligation and routine and mundane activity and just kind of tack on to your life.

40:07 That's not biblical Christianity. It's love relationship with God. And some of you, if you're being honest, have never experienced love relationship with God. And today, in his word, he's inviting you. Not to do some work, figure it out. No, trust in Jesus as your righteousness to reconcile you, to love relationship with God. Say, I want you. I want to hear you. I want to know you. I want to walk with you. I want to live in love relationship with you. And then for others, I pray that God would just call you back to love relationship, like intimacy with him. in a way that will lead you to meditate on and memorize this word, like hide it in your mind and your heart more than anything else in this world. And one other thing, some of you might be thinking, well, I mean, I know I can't memorize very good. And that, for almost all of you, is a lie straight from hell.

41:05 So don't believe it. Say, how do you know? Well, what if I offered you between now and this time tomorrow, a thousand dollars for every single verse you could memorize? I think you'd, you'd figure it out.

41:26 Jesus wept. Boom. you'd figure it out. The question is not whether you can memorize. The question is, what's more important to you? Money or the Word of God? What's more important to you? A million things in this world or this Word? That's the question you've got to ask. We hope you've enjoyed this week's episode of David Platt Messages. For more resources from David Platt, we invite you to visit Radical.net.