Deuteronomy 5:27 Go you near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak you to us all that the LORD our God shall speak to you… I. THE PASTOR'S QUESTION. "What shall I say unto theme" (Exodus 3:18.) The Christian minister is an agent, not a principal. He is a messenger charged with the delivery of a message; but he does not originate that message, he receives it at the hand of another, and he is only responsible for its faithful delivery. This was the ease with Moses: "The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you."(1) What are the essential truths which Scripture reveals to us, and which it is absolutely necessary for us to know? (2) What proportion do these truths bear to one another, and also to other truths not essential? What is their relative magnitude and importance? (3) How may the several truths be harmonised? Again, Scripture occupies itself with two great thoughts: the one having man as its centre; the other God. The thought concerning man is concerning man as a sinner: the thought concerning God is concerning God as a Saviour: and the two streams of thought unite in the further idea, that, namely, of salvation. Thus, to the pastor's question, "What shall I say unto him?" answer may be given thus. Declare to thy people, on the authority of God, their responsibility as men, and their ruin as sinners. But it is not enough that man should know himself as a sinner; such knowledge, if it stand alone, can issue only in despair. God has revealed Himself not only as "a just God," but also and emphatically as "a Saviour. II. THE PEOPLE'S ANSWER. Our responsibility is a joint responsibility. So far as we faithfully expound God's Word to our people, they are to receive it "not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the Word of God." Now this implies that they hear — 1. Willingly. Not because custom requires or respectability demands. 2. Attentively. The willing hearer is commonly an attentive hearer. Lydia "attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul." 3. Thoughtfully. Attention is one thing, thought is another. 4. Honestly, by which I mean without prejudice, with a single desire to know the will of God, and with the fearless unreserved purpose of doing it when known. "We will hear it and do it." 5. Prayerfully. Apart from the Divine blessing and the teaching of the Holy Spirit we preach and we hear in vain. And for that Divine gift we must pray. (E. Bayley, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it. |
    |