‘Behold, the Lamb of God’s
ide o amnos tou
theou
College Study
18th teaching
12.3.2012
“Know Thy Weapon”
So I decided that we should have a breather tonight and a
kind of debriefing. That’s why we went much slower through the review. I’d like
these things that we’ve studied not to just pass on into the abyss of our
forgetfulness. But I’d hope that these things will remain learned, that we can
remember them.
James tells the story of a man looking into a mirror. This
has special application for us. Let’s look at the story in James 1:23-25.
That’s exactly what we do NOT want to be: forgetful
hearers. I hope that the things we’ve learned become practical to us, that we
can live them out and share them with others, so that we may not forget but be
doers of the Word.
*Now as I said, I realized what we would talk about tonight
yesterday. And so when I woke up this morning, the thought of what we’re going
to study challenged me. You see, last night, as I was going to bed, I decided
that I would wake up and read the Bible together with my wife. So of course,
when I woke up this morning, I walked over to my shelf and hesitated. My mind
went through a thousand thoughts! “Read it later!” “You’ll be studying later
anyway!” “Facebook is calling!” “But you’re hungry right now!” And on and on.
It was all I could do to just pick up the book and sit down and open it to a
bookmark I had left there some time ago!
This is something I have struggled with even in Bible
college, and which I know that many of us also struggle with: studying the Word
of God, whether you want to call it morning devotions or just studying it on
our own. My goal here tonight, is to encourage and inspire you, and myself, to
get at it.
Tonight I’m going to be preaching on studying the Word.
Tonight’s study is entitled “Know Thy Weapon”.
The Bible is compared to a sword
in Hebrews 4:12. There, it reads: “For the word of God is living and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of the soul
and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart.”
We’ve got a powerful weapon in our hands. God has entrusted us with a great tool: the sword of the Word. But let me ask you: would you give a sword to a child without teaching them about it and how to use it? Who would do that?
We’ve got a powerful weapon in our hands. God has entrusted us with a great tool: the sword of the Word. But let me ask you: would you give a sword to a child without teaching them about it and how to use it? Who would do that?
Whenever a weapon is given to someone, there is training
that goes with it. We have a great weapon in the form of the Bible, the sword
of the Spirit. Let us learn its heft, its edges, its balance. Let us learn how
to thrust with it, parry, feint and slice with it. Let us learn of what it is
made and of the Author who made it. Let us learn how to use our weapon.
The Calvinist theologian R.C. Sproul wrote: “We fail in our
duty to study God's Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not
so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is
not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are
lazy.”
I cannot, we cannot, get lazy in reading the Bible daily.
We cannot.
Let me give you 6 reasons why we should be studying our
Bibles on our own:
1. It is commanded that we study
our Bibles.
2. We need to feed on the Bible to
mature.
3. We cannot expect to learn
everything on Sunday.
4. We cannot preach to others to
read the Bible if we’re not doing so.
5. We need to study the Bible to
live the Christian life.
6. We need to study the Bible so
we can share with others.
1.
It is commanded that we study
our Bibles
Turn to II Timothy
2:15. It reads: “Study to show
yourself approved if God, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth.”
Pretty clear. If we want to
please our Father, then study His Word.
2.
We need to feed on the Bible to
mature
Sometimes, when the Bible talks about Christian maturity,
it uses the metaphors of food. This is something we’re familiar with, after
all. A baby cannot chow down on some steak and potatoes. A baby requires milk.
But a man can enjoy a manwich because he is fully mature. He can take it.
For example, the Corinthian church was full of baby
Christians. Paul calls them carnal. They were believers indeed, but they were
living according to their flesh: disputing, arguing, bickering… just like
babies. Paul writes to them in I
Corinthians 3:1-3 “And I, brethren,
could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in
Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not
able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still
carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not
carnal and behaving like mere men?”
The writer of Hebrews had the same problem as Paul of an
immature audience.
Hebrews 5:12-14
says “For though by this time you ought
to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the
oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone
who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is
a baby. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who
by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
On the other hand, Paul met Christians who were quite the
opposite. They were the Bereans. Acts
17:11, “These were more fair-minded
than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness
and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”
Which kind of Christian describes you and I? Are you a baby
Christian or are you mature? Are you more like the Corinthians, unable to
digest the meat of the Word? Or are you more like the Bereans, receiving the
Word and searching through the Scriptures?
We can no longer ride in the back-seat of our parents’
minivan. When I was a kid I expected to go to church and read the Bible
whenever my parents made me. Now I can no longer expect that. So do I have my
spiritual senses exercised by reason of use, through practicing these things?
Am I able to digest the solid food we’ve been taking in during this college
study? Or will I spit it out and crave milk?
I’m not talking about gaining head-knowledge. I’m not
talking about becoming this prideful, ivory-tower, cold kind of person who
looks down on others because “I know so much”. I’m only talking about spiritual
maturity.
We must be able to take in the solid food. It’s crunch
time. We need to be studying for the great test of adult life, the Finals, so
to speak.
Jesus said “It is
written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of that proceeds
from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)
3.
We cannot expect to learn
everything on Sunday
Anyone recognize this? It’s the
game Operation.
Now what’s the difference between the game Operation and a real surgery? The first
one is just a hint of what the second one is really like. It’s a difference of
reality, of complexity, of detail.
So too, if we expect to be spiritually fed and learn all we
need to know from one or two Bible studies a week, from one church service a
week, we are sorely mistaken. One hour of Bible study in a whole week will only
give us a tiny grasp of all truth rather than if we were to study the Bible
daily ourselves, and have our studies confirmed at church and at college study.
I know that the things we’ve been learning have at times
been difficult to learn. At times, the information is overwhelming. But this is
not all new stuff.
What we’ve learned about the Bible and about God are things
we should already know, and do already know. We already know God exists. We
already know Jesus is the Son of God. We already know the Bible has never been
corrupted. We already know the Word says that we should love one another. We
know these things. We know Theology Proper and Bibliology, it’s written all
throughout this book of books!
What we’re learning at this college study should merely be
a confirmation of what you’re already learning on your own.
So, if this study seems to be overwhelming, maybe you and I
just need to step up to the plate. Maybe we just need to study more on our own,
that these things will not be new to us but merely confirmation of what we’ve
already known.
4.
We cannot preach to others to
read the Bible if we’re not doing so
This is what scares and inspires me!
The Apostle writes in I
Corinthians 9:24-27, “Do you not know
that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a
way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is
temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we
for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I
fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into
subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become
disqualified.”
O Preacher, preach unto yourself!
What is one of the first things we tell a new convert? Read
the Bible. Start in John or Matthew. Read the Bible.
But how can we preach that to others if we do not tell it
to ourselves. Paul knew this. He feared that he could be disqualified. We must
practice what we preach, lest we be found as hypocrites, false, mask-wearers,
counterfeit, unauthentic, fakes.
5.
We need to study the Bible to
live the Christian life
George Washington, who needs no introduction, once said: “It is impossible to rightly govern a nation
without God and Bible.”
We don’t have the task of governing a nation, thank
goodness. But we have the task of governing ourselves and submitting to the
authority of God and Bible in our lives.
II Timothy 3:16 says “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that
the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
You want to live the Christian life? Here’s the manual. It
is valuable for teaching, for correction and for instruction. The Bible equips
us.
You wouldn’t dream of jumping out of a plan without the
proper equipment. You couldn’t imagine climbing a mountainside without the
proper equipment. You could not go scuba diving without the proper equipment.
So too, you cannot live the Christian life unless you get the proper equipment.
Psalm 119:11
says “Your word I have hidden in my
heart, that I might not sin against You.” The Christian life will have its
dangers and temptations. If you want to stay on the road, you need to have the
Word, the equipment.
6.
We need to study the Bible so
we can share with others
Turn to John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your
remembrance all things that I said to you.”
Last week we talked about this briefly.
What is memory? In order for memory to work, it must recall
a previous experience or previous knowledge. You can’t remember something you
never heard or never knew or never learned.
Studying the Bible is like giving the Holy Spirit
ammunition, things He can bring back to our remembrance for when the time is
right to share that specific thing with someone else. Therefore, we still have
the responsibility to study and to learn, that the Spirit of God may bring
these things back to our remembrance.
The Apostle Peter writes in I Peter 3:15, “But sanctify
the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone
who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and with fear…”
Let’s not get caught with our pants down. Let’s not get
caught un-ready for any conversation we may have. If you’re shining your light,
people will approach you like a moth to the flame. You’ll end up in
conversations with unbelievers representing atheism and agnosticism and
Mormonism and every other –ism in the world. We need to always be ready to give
an answer, a defense, an apologetic to anyone who asks us.
And where shall we find that? From one church service every
week? From one Bible study every Monday? How well do you think you would pass a
college Final if you only studied for an hour and a half once a week, or even
twice a week? We need to be studying daily.
Let me conclude with this poem by Greek professor, Amos
Wells:
I
supposed I knew my Bible
Reading piecemeal, hit and miss,
Now a bit of John or Matthew,
Now a snatch of Genesis,
Certain chapters of Isaiah
Certain Psalms (the twenty-third);
Twelfth of Romans, First of Proverbs
Yes, I thought I knew the Word;
But I found that thorough reading
Was a different thing to do,
And the way was unfamiliar
When I read the Bible through.
Oh, the massive, mighty volume!
Oh, the treasures manifold!
Oh, the beauty of the wisdom
And the grace it proved to hold!
As the story of the Hebrews
Swept in majesty along,
As it leaped in waves prophetic,
As it burst to sacred song,
As it gleamed with Christly omens,
The Old Testament was new,
Strong with cumulative power,
When I read the Bible through.
Ah! Imperial Jeremiah,
With his keen, coruscant mind;
And the blunt old Nehemiah,
And Ezekiel refined!
Newly came the song idyllic,
And the tragedy of Job;
Deuteronomy, the regal,
To a towering mountain grew,
With its comrade peaks around it
When I read the Bible through.
What a radiant procession
As the pages rise and fall,
James the sturdy, John the tender
Oh, the myriad-minded Paul!
Vast apocalyptic glories
Wheel and thunder, flash and flame,
While the church triumphant raises
One incomparable name.
Ah, the story of the Saviour
Never glows supremely true
Till you read it whole and swiftly,
Till you read the Bible through.
You who like to play at Bible,
Dip and dabble, here and there,
Just before you kneel, aweary,
And yawn thro' a hurried prayer;
You who treat the Crown of Writings
As you treat no other book
Just a paragraph disjointed,
Just a crude, impatient look
Try a worthier procedure,
Try a broad and steady view;
You will kneel in very rapture
When you read the Bible through.
Reading piecemeal, hit and miss,
Now a bit of John or Matthew,
Now a snatch of Genesis,
Certain chapters of Isaiah
Certain Psalms (the twenty-third);
Twelfth of Romans, First of Proverbs
Yes, I thought I knew the Word;
But I found that thorough reading
Was a different thing to do,
And the way was unfamiliar
When I read the Bible through.
Oh, the massive, mighty volume!
Oh, the treasures manifold!
Oh, the beauty of the wisdom
And the grace it proved to hold!
As the story of the Hebrews
Swept in majesty along,
As it leaped in waves prophetic,
As it burst to sacred song,
As it gleamed with Christly omens,
The Old Testament was new,
Strong with cumulative power,
When I read the Bible through.
Ah! Imperial Jeremiah,
With his keen, coruscant mind;
And the blunt old Nehemiah,
And Ezekiel refined!
Newly came the song idyllic,
And the tragedy of Job;
Deuteronomy, the regal,
To a towering mountain grew,
With its comrade peaks around it
When I read the Bible through.
What a radiant procession
As the pages rise and fall,
James the sturdy, John the tender
Oh, the myriad-minded Paul!
Vast apocalyptic glories
Wheel and thunder, flash and flame,
While the church triumphant raises
One incomparable name.
Ah, the story of the Saviour
Never glows supremely true
Till you read it whole and swiftly,
Till you read the Bible through.
You who like to play at Bible,
Dip and dabble, here and there,
Just before you kneel, aweary,
And yawn thro' a hurried prayer;
You who treat the Crown of Writings
As you treat no other book
Just a paragraph disjointed,
Just a crude, impatient look
Try a worthier procedure,
Try a broad and steady view;
You will kneel in very rapture
When you read the Bible through.
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