Study your Bible
One concern I hear at nearly every Pastor’s fellowship I attend is the lack of personal Bible study by the congregations. One Pastor recently told me that he believed only two or three people in his congregation of 120 read the Bible regularly.
If you’ve ever heard me preach more than once, I’m sure you have heard me quote at least the first half of 2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
The Word of God, the Bible, is the most important thing involved in salvation and living the Christian life.
The Bible is essential to salvation. In a chapter where God explains salvation by faith, He emphasises the need for Christians to tell the gospel to others. Romans 10:13-15, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”
In conclusion, the Bible states, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Saving faith is a direct result of the Scripture.
We can say the same thing about living faith. Earlier in the book of Romans, God tells us this about living faith. Romans 1:17, “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”
From faith to faith, Christians are not only saved by faith, but we are to live by faith as well. Even though the topic in Romans 10 is salvation, the words of Romans 10:17, “faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of God,” would also apply to the faith we need to live a Christian life from day to day.
This is why the lack of Bible study by Christians is such a concern. How do we fight off Satan, or grow in Christ? How do we lead others to Him if we are not in the Scriptures regularly? And by “a regularly” I’m not talking about getting a dose at church once or twice a week. I’m talking about getting alone with God, picking up the Scripture, and reading/studying the Scripture on a daily or near-daily basis.
When Satan tempted Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13), Jesus responded to each temptation with Scripture. When temptation comes our way, how can we fight it off without using the weapon Christ used? We can’t, but many Christians leave their sword of the Spirit gathering dust on a table or shelf. At the same time, Satan wins victory after victory in their lives. We’ve all heard the remark about bringing a knife to a gun fight, yet Christians the world over go into a world of spiritual warfare without any weaponry (the Bible) at all.
When we yield to temptation, that is sin. It is not our willpower that overcomes Satan; it is the Word of God. Psalm 119:11, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
Jesus used the Word to fight Satan. We need to study God’s Word to show ourselves approved. We need to hide God’s Word in our hearts to keep us from sinning. Why then do Christians not find the time to spend in His Word each day? Why is the rest of life a greater priority than the main thing God provides to get us through life the most productively?
With so many Christian marriages ending in divorce. At the same time, the Word tells us in great detail how to have a happy relationship. With so many Christians with fear and anxiety, yet the Prince of Peace can comfort them through His Word and prayer, with so many Christians unsure of what God wants them to do with their lives when the Word explains how we can “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” With all the problems in life that the Bible explains how to deal with or avoid, why do we leave the Bible a closed book?
Many of the problems in our lives as Christians stem from the lack of God’s Word in our hearts. Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”
The importance of the Word of God to a Christian cannot be overstated. If Jesus has washed your sins away, do you read His Word? Do you apply His Word to your heart and life? Do you recall verses from your heart to help fight against temptation? Have you transformed your worldly thinking to Biblical thinking?
The things mentioned in the previous paragraph: reading His Word, applying His Word to your heart and life, using the Scripture in life situations, and thinking Biblically, are how we make it through the Christian life. How are you doing?
Preacher Johnson is Pastor of Countryside Baptist Church in Parke County Indiana. Website: www.preachers-point.com; Email: [email protected]; Mail: 25 W 1200 N; Kingman IN 47952. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Timothy-Preacher-Johnson-101171088326638. All Scripture KJV.
