Friday, June 02, 2006

The B-I-B-L-E, Yes That's The Book For Me!

God has used the Bible more than any other book to change my life. It is in the Bible where I find the truth of the Gospel. It is in the Bible where I find the purpose for which He created mankind, and more specifically woman. It is in the Bible where I find His teachings, that keep me from being conformed to this world. It is in the Bible that I learn that the world and all its desires are passing away, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. The Bible is God's Word. And I implore you to not forsake it.

As a new Christian I was around people who did not value the Bible. They would have never claimed to not value you it, but they constantly discouraged us from treasuring it. I think the reason was because they had found themselves delighting more in studying the pages of the Bible, than delighting in the Author of the Bible. And that is a huge problem. But it doesn’t mean we neglect the Scripture and pursue God apart from the Scripture. It means we repent and turn to Christ.

I think one of our problems as Americans is that we have heard so many sermons and we have numerous Bibles in our homes. This causes us to be arrogant and ungrateful. We don’t realize how much of what we have is due to the Scriptures. Imagine for a moment if everyone in the States were stripped from all access to the Scriptures. Not only the ability to read from our Bibles, but even the Scripture that we have heard or memorized. We would be plunged into darkness. It is a horrible thought. Yet many believers act as though we do not need the Scripture. They say we have the Holy Spirit and that is all we need. This is a tragedy. And most of these same people don’t realize how much they base their lives off of what they have heard or read from Scripture.

May God be merciful to all of us and bring us to repentance where we have neglected His word.

The following are some quotes from a sermon entitled, Building Our Lives on the Bible, by John Piper. May God give us eyes to see our dependence upon His Book.


"We are a people of the Book. We know God through the Book. We meet Christ in the Book. We see the cross in the Book. Our faith and love are kindled by the glorious truths of the Book. We have tasted the divine majesty of the Word and are persuaded that the Book is God's inspired and infallible written revelation. Therefore, what the Book teaches matters.


"There is no salvation from sin and guilt and condemnation and hell apart from faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; Romans 10:13-17; 1 John 5:12). And there is no other authority besides the Scriptures to show you who Christ is and to give you his Word. So don't leave the Bible, children. Don't leave the Bible, young people. Don't neglect the Bible, dads and moms. Don't ignore the Bible, single people. Under God, the "sacred writings," the Scriptures, are the greatest treasure in the world. They alone make us wise unto salvation through Christ. O don't neglect this Book!"

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