Glad to see you again. Last week, we opened up a series on the Bible, and what it should mean to a growing Christian. This week, I’d like to continue that thought.
If, as we discussed last Monday, the Bible is a true book—so what? My math textbook is true also. Surely truth is not exclusive to the Bible, right? Well, that’s not quite as simple as it might sound. To start with, the Bible doesn’t go through revisions. It hasn’t been updated or abridged. No new passages or fundamental truths are added at any point in history. And the crazy part is that it all agrees with itself.
Think about that for a moment. Just ponder over the idea of dozens of writers all writing the same thing, never contradicting the basic tenants of the writings, despite most living decades apart, if not hundreds or thousands of years after the rest. I dunno about you, but that part kinda blows my mind on its own.
The fact is that as a believer, you can not treat the Bible like any other book, because it’s not like any other book. No other book claims to be the inspired breath of God himself. Many books claim to know truths, some even claim to be divinely inspired. But only the Christian Bible claims point blank to be written by the very Spirit of God.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” (2 Tim 3:16, ESV)
“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Pet 1:20-21, NASB)
The Bible is the Rock of all true believers. It is the compass by which we find our moral North, the map by which we find our way through the darkest of life’s passes. This is not a book that can sit idly on your shelf if you call yourself a believer (and wow, does it ever hurt to write that sentence. Talk about conviction...). You can not call yourself an apprentice and never show up to work. You aren’t a student if you never show up to class. And you aren’t much of a Christian if you never read what God has to say to you. Sitting in a pew and drinking up some doctrine is all well and good (assuming you have a good teaching pastor), but you don’t make it long in a desert with only a sip of water.
Next week, I’ll give out a list of precepts for reading the Bible; things you can use to make the study of the Scriptures much easier on yourself, but for the time being, I’m going to leave you all with this word, from Charles Spurgeon (and I HIGHLY recommend you take the time to read the full text of this most excellent oratory) (underline added):
“This Bible is a book of authority; it is an authorized book, for God has written it. Oh! tremble, lest any of you despise it; mark its authority, for it is the Word of God. Then, since God wrote it, mark its truthfulness. If I had written it, there would be worms of critics who would at once swarm upon it, and would cover it with their evil spawn; Had I written it, there would be men who would pull it to pieces at once, and perhaps quite right too. But this is the Word of God; come, search, ye critics, and find a flaw; examine it, from its Genesis to its Revelation, and find an error. This is a vein of pure gold, unalloyed by quartz, or any earthly substance. This is a star without a speck; a sun without a blot; a light without darkness; a moon without its paleness; a glory without a dimness. O Bible! it cannot be said of any other book, that it is perfect and pure; but of thee we can declare all wisdom is gathered up in thee, without a particle of folly.”
And a warning from the same (underline added):
“But let me say one thing, before I pass on to the second point. If this be the Word of God, what will become of some of you who have not read it for the last month? "Month, sir! I have not read it for this year." Ay, there are some of you who have not read it at all. Most people treat the Bible very politely . They have a small pocket volume, neatly bound; they put a white pocket-handkerchief round it and carry it to their places of worship; when they get home, they lay it up in a drawer till next Sunday morning; then it comes out again for a little bit of a treat, and goes to chapel; that is all the poor Bible gets in the way of an airing. That is your style of entertaining this heavenly messenger. There is dust enough on some of your Bibles to write "damnation" with your fingers. There are some of you who have not turned over your Bibles for a long, long while, and what think you? I tell you blunt words, but true words. What will God say at last? When you shall come before him, he shall say, "Did you read my Bible?" "No." "I wrote you a letter of mercy; did you read it?" "No." "Rebel! I have sent thee a letter inviting thee to me; didst thou ever read it?" "Lord, I never broke the seal; I kept it shut up." "Wretch!" says God, "then, thou deservest hell, if I sent thee a loving epistle, and thou wouldst not even break the seal; what shall I do unto thee?" Oh, let it not be so with you. Be Bible-readers; be Bible-searchers.”
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