Reading: The Living Voice of the Living God (Slides)

Exegesis is not dissection.

The Bible is not a dead frog. The written Word is the living voice of the living God, not a dead thing to be dissected.

If anything, God's word dissects us.

A blade that cuts deep

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:12-13)

The Lord reads our minds

• You perceive my thoughts from afar. (Psalm 139:2).
• I the LORD search the heart and test the mind. (Jeremiah 17:10)
• For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness'; and again, 'The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile." (1 Corinthians 3:19-20)

Foolishness to the worldly mind

The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing... None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory...The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor 1:18, 2:8,14)

Hidden from the wise and learned

Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. (Matt 11:25-26)

• Our knowledge of God depends entirely on God revealing himself to us.

Clueless teacher

"No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again... That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit... You are Israel's teacher and you do not understand these things?” (John 3:3-10)

Evil deeds, dark minds

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. (John 3:19-21)

For dead teachers, the Bible is dead teaching

• The living voice of the living God can be known only by those whom God has made spiritually alive.
• Without rebirth, even religious leaders and expert scholars cannot experience, embrace, or expound the living Word.
• Some teachers who are not spiritually dead may still produce dead teaching if they are not living and studying by the Spirit.

Knowledge of His will

We have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 1:9-10)

Reading God's mind

• The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God...no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Cor 2:10-11)
• God has revealed it to us by his Spirit... 'For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ. (Cor 2:9,16)
• God gives us a piece of His mind!

The Teacher Within

• The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26)
• But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie--just as it has taught you, abide in him. (1 John 2:27)

Unveiled radiance

Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Cor 3:15-18)

Radiant face

Study to be a skilled interpreter and speaker, and do so depending on the Spirit and delighting in His manifestations to you.

A preacher needs the Spirit to enlighten his heart in order to:

• Understand the true meaning of the text
• Encounter Christ the living Word
• Shine with divine light when preaching

Thirst for God

Some Christians are eager for spiritual realities and will not be put off with words, nor will they be content with correct "interpretations" of truth. They are athirst for God, and they will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of Living Water. (A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, 1948)

Desire for fire

Evangelicalism has laid the altar and divided the sacrifice into parts, but now seems satisfied to count the stones and rearrange the pieces with never a care that there is not a sign of fire upon the top of lofty Carmel. But God be thanked, there are a few who care. They are those who, while they love the altar and delight in the sacrifice, are yet unable to reconcile themselves to the continued absence of fire. They desire God above all. (Tozer)

No manifest presence

There is today no lack of Bible teachers to set forth correctly the principles of the doctrines of Christ, but too many of these seem satisfied to teach the fundamentals of the faith year after year, strangely unaware that there is in their ministry no manifest Presence, nor anything unusual in their personal lives. They minister constantly to believers who feel within their breasts a longing which their teaching simply does not satisfy. (Tozer)

Spiritual nourishment

Sound Bible exposition is an imperative must in the Church of the Living God. Without it no church can be a New Testament church. But exposition may be carried on in such a way as to leave the hearers devoid of any true spiritual nourishment whatever. For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience they are not the better for having heard the truth. (Tozer)

Delight in His sweetness

The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts... Others before me have gone much farther into these holy mysteries than I have done, but if my fire is not large it is yet real, and there may be those who can light their candle at its flame. (Tozer)

Scribe or prophet?

The scribe tells us what he has read, and the prophet tells us what he has seen... Between the scribe who has read and the prophet who has seen there is a difference as wide as the sea. We are overrun today with orthodox scribes, but the prophets, where are they? The hard voice of the scribe sounds over evangelicalism, but the church waits for the tender voice of the saint who has penetrated the veil and has gazed with inward eye on the wonder that is God. (Tozer)

Spirit-guided preachers

• Be born again and have God's Spirit in you.
  
• Keep in step with the Spirit, not grieving or quenching Him but instead shunning sin and seeking communion with God.
• Pray in the Spirit as you study the written Word and as you proclaim the preached Word.
• Listen to the Spirit's voice in the communion of saints: how Scripture is understood by others in your church and by Christians living in other cultures and in previous eras.

Speak the very words of God

If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:11)

It is an awesome thing to pay close attention to God's way of communicating, and to speak God's words to others.

Enlightened heart

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. (Ephesians 1:17-19)

Knowing the love that surpasses knowledge

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:16-19)