OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD THE BIBLE


A. THE BIBLE IS GOD'S BOOK AND WE PROFESS TO BE GOD'S CHILDREN
  1. We should revere the Bible:
    1. Tremble at His Word - Isa. 66:5
    2. Love it with holy awe - Ps. 33:8, 9; 119:97
  2. It must never be treated by us as something common:
    1. Too many people speak of the Bible as if it were something common.
    2. The Bible is the work of the Holy Spirit; it is holy - Isa. 34:16; Rom. 1:2
B. LET ME DIRECT YOUR ATTENTION TO A FOURFOLD APPROACH TO THE BIBLE
  1. Too often the ear is inclined to hear the wrong thing:
    1. Angels listened to Lucifer.
    2. Adam listened to Eve, and Eve to the serpent - Gen. 3:1-6
    3. The Jews listened to the Rabbis.
    4. Today many people listen to false preaching - 2 Tim. 4:1-6
  2. It means that we are not to be deaf:
    1. Ear is no proof of hearing - Matt. 13:13
    2. At times the ear needs to be operated upon - Isa. 50:5
    3. By the Word of God - Acts 2:37; Heb. 4:12
  3. To search:
    1. The Spirit of God searcheth, so must we - Dan. 12:4; 1 Cor. 2:10
    2. Personal and prayerful reading of the Word of God is very rewarding - John 5:39; Isa. 34:16
  4. Worthy objects for searching:
    1. Eternal life - John 5:39
    2. Immortality - Rom. 2:7
    3. Kingdom of God - Matt. 6:33
    4. To be guided right - Matt. 22:29; Ps. 119:105
  5. Other timely and beneficial suggestions:
    1. Eat the Word - Jer. 15:16; Rev. 10:9, 10; Matt. 4:4
    2. It would be foolish to ask why we are to eat -
      1. We eat to live
      2. We eat for strength - Eccl. 10:17
    3. For some hunger will come, but too late - Amos 8:11
  6. To live by the Bible is still another fact for consideration:
    1. "Apply thyself wholly to the scriptures, and apply the scriptures wholly to thyself" - Jas. 1:22
    2. There are many mouth Christians - Ezek. 33:31; Isa. 29:13
    3. Said a Brahman to a Christian Missionary: "If you were as good as your book, you would conquer India for Christ in 5 years."
    4. "The more you know of God's Word, the more you can know God's word; and the more you are living by God's Word, the better you can understand God's Word."
    5. "Aiming to do never saves, but doing does" - Jas. 1:23; Rom. 2:13
C. HOW WONDERFUL AND HOW BLESSED IS THE BIBLE
  1. Think of what it has done:
    1. In the lives of persons that read it, believed, and lived it!
    2. What would your life be today, had it not been for the influence of the Bible?
    3. Your life and mine, and the lives of all men would be full of darkness - Isa. 60:1-5; Ps. 119:105; 2 Pet. 1:16-20
    4. It, and it alone, can transform lives - Heb. 4:12; it, and it alone, can lift the curtain from the future and permit us to look beyond today.
    5. Let us revere it and approach it with awe and holy dedication; let us use it as the guide to God and the kingdom of heaven.


Design © John Bryant 2011