I’d like to ask you to turn to Acts 17, and we’ll read a portion of a few verses.
Acts 17. We’ll begin in verse 10—the latter half. Paul—well, let’s begin again in verse 10:
But the brethren immediately sent away in the night Paul and Silas to Berea; who, being come thither, went into the synagogue of the Jews.
That gives you some context. This is the part I’d like you to remember and focus upon. This is our theme verse:
Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.
This is speaking of the Bereans. Therefore, many from among them believed.
And then, in the Old Testament, Isaiah 66. This may be a portion of Scripture that you’re not so familiar with—right at the end of Isaiah.
We will look at the latter part of verse 2. Well, let me begin at the beginning of verse 1 for help:
Thus saith the Lord,
Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool:
what manner of house will ye build unto Me?
and what manner of place for My rest?
For all these things hath My hand made,
and so all these things came to be, saith the Lord:
but to this man will I look,
even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,
and that trembleth at My word.
Now, that’s always important when it comes to the Word of God: “Thus saith the Lord.” Notice this phrase: “And that trembleth at My word.”
And the first part of verse 5:
Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at His word.
Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at His word.
Psalm 119. I think you’re already somewhat prepared for this, although people have been teasing me. I’m not planning on speaking on all of Psalm 119. That should be a relief, at least to some of you.
I would just like to bring out a few verses, and then I think they will give us the flavor of this psalm.
The second part of Psalm 119, verse 9:
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed thereto according to Thy word.
Go all the way to verse 89:
For ever, O Lord,
Thy word is settled in heaven.
Look at verse 97:
Oh how love I Thy law!
It is my meditation all the day.
Verse 103. I think probably you’re familiar with some of these verses if you meditated on this:
How sweet are Thy words unto my taste!
Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
And then the last verse I want us to look at, verse 127:
Therefore I love Thy commandments above gold;
Yea, above fine gold.
And then in the New Testament again, a few more verses: 2 Timothy 2:15. I’ll read this from the King James Version, the Authorized Version:
Study to show thyself approved unto God,
a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
And then finally, one verse from the Gospel of John. I think this is a verse most of you know. John 5:39–40—the Lord speaking to the Pharisees:
Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life;
and these are they which bear witness of Me;
and ye will not come to Me, that ye may have life.
And let’s just pray.
Lord, we always come to Your Word with a sense of dependence, and we tell You once again that You alone, You alone, have the words of eternal life. To whom shall we go?
Our eyes are not upon man. Our heart is not turned to man. But our heart looks to the living God. May You breathe upon Your Word. It is Your Word. May You make it alive; may You cause it to be made living in our presence this morning.
And may we together bow and honor You for giving us Your Word. That is all we’re after, dear Lord. So meet us as we come before You, and as we begin this series together, may Your Word be given to us. For we ask it in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
Well, probably I need to give you a little bit of introduction—maybe not so much for those of you here in Richmond. Those of you here in Richmond should probably know what we’re doing, although last week you couldn’t tell by the hands raised who got the email.
But I’d like to give some introduction for those who hear this tape and are not from Richmond, because there are many who do listen to what is shared among us.
We’re beginning this morning a series of topical Bible studies that will include both ministry and the fellowship of the Word. There are two components; there’s not just one component.
As we have been before the Lord, we are convinced that the ministry of the Word is vital. We are likewise convinced that the searching of the Scriptures is vital. And these two things go hand in hand.
So, as we were before the Lord concerning what direction we ought to take in ministry, and what direction we ought to take for our Friday-night fellowship groups, we were convinced that we ought to take up a topical foundation series and share with the saints what the Lord has laid on our hearts. Then we would implore the saints that they would be like these Berean believers and daily search the Scriptures to see if the things they were taught were so.
That’s what our burden is.
You cannot have success in this topical study unless there is ministry of the Word that is right to the point. And you will not—let me put it this way—you will not have success in the study of the Scriptures unless there is a searching of the Scriptures by each believer individually.
Now, I know some of the ministering brothers will be upset about this: you only have one ministry to do your whole topic. Some of the brothers, I know, are going to get to the end of the message and say, “Well, there’s so much more.” And believe me, there’s always more.
But you have one ministry—the first Sunday of every month—to cover your topic. Then, for the remainder of the month, the saints here in Richmond, and those who want to participate from outside of Richmond, are to take the Scriptures and seek the Scriptures for themselves. Search the Scriptures and see what the Word of God says.
We don’t want you to be convinced merely about what we say. We hope what we say is right. One brother has already asked me, “Is what we’re sharing going to be definitive?” Now, I hardly think you can be definitive in one message on such big topics.
But we believe it is on our heart to share what the Word of God says. And even more, it is on our heart that we, as brothers and sisters, would be so responsible and so in love with the Scriptures that we would daily, as we read about these Berean believers, search the Scriptures and see if those things are so.
So in each month, there will be a ministry—the first ministry of the month. Now, the brothers told us they didn’t want us to do this every week, so you won’t hear a foundation topic every week. The remainder of the three weeks—sometimes four weeks, the way the calendar goes—will be devoted to the things that we believe the Lord is speaking to us continuously.
There are those who have burdens from the Lord. There are those who have series they are on. There are those who are before the Lord every day about what is the word for the assembly. We will continue to have those messages: messages about teaching, messages about encouragement and exhortation, and even correction. People hate that word, but even correction.
So, one message a month—the first of every month—followed by two fellowship times during the month in your fellowship group, where you have sought the Lord and searched the Scriptures. You come to that time and share what is on your heart from the search of the Scriptures to help the saints.
Now, is that clear? I don’t want to labor this announcement. I have the terrible misfortune of giving an introduction and giving the message on the first topic, so already I’m in trouble.
But not one of these topics can we cover in full detail. If we are going to succeed in having a firm foundation, if we are going to be rooted and grounded in Christ, we must be like the Berean believers. We must receive the Word with all readiness of mind, and then, in addition to receiving the Word with all readiness of mind, we must search the Scriptures daily to confirm what God has spoken.
And I believe in that way we will grow in the Lord Jesus.
So that’s the introduction. We hope everyone will take this seriously. We hope everyone will participate. If we don’t, I think it is to our loss—our great loss—as we go on.
Today, as I said, this is an introduction to the topic. And one thing, as I was praying before the Lord, I thought about: unless we enter more deeply into the Word of God, unless we have a stronger and firmer foundation in the Word of God, when the shaking comes, we will be shaken.
I believe the Scripture clearly teaches that. Or when teaching comes in that is contrary—as you read in Ephesians 4—people are moved by every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, by their cunning devices. But if we have a firm foundation and know what the Word of God teaches, then, when the storms come and difficulties come, we will stand because we are built upon the Lord Jesus.
So that’s sort of the thought the Lord gave me.
Now turn back to Acts 17, and we’ll begin with this verse. I think this is an extraordinary verse about the Bereans. It says of them, “They were more noble than those of Thessalonica.”
Now, just for a moment, think about this. Luke was not the least bit politically correct. He didn’t simply say, “These were more noble.” He said, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica.”
Now, if you think wrongly about this, you’ll begin to think, “What slouches they must have been in Thessalonica. What kind of living testimony did they have?”
Well, let’s read Acts 17 again:
Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.
Not only did they receive what Paul brought to them and receive it as the Word of God, but, in addition to receiving it—and I’m going to make this point enough that I hope you get it—every day they looked into the Scriptures. They considered the Scriptures. They meditated upon the Scriptures. They discovered for themselves what the Word of God said.
Now, I think that is a marvelous testimony to imitate. Oh, that we were Bereans.
But they were more noble than those in Thessalonica. Turn to 1 Thessalonians. I thought, “Gee, when I first read this, I thought, gosh, what did those folks have in Thessalonica?”
Look at 1 Thessalonians 1:6:
And ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord,
having received the word in much affliction,
with joy of the Holy Spirit.
That’s an extraordinary thing for Paul to say: “You became imitators of us, and of the Lord.”
And then:
So that ye became an ensample to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia.
For from you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord.
Now that’s extraordinary. Not only did they receive the Word, but they became models for all those who lived in Macedonia and Achaia. “For from you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord.”
So, if you think back to what we read in Acts 17, you begin to get a fuller picture. These believers in Thessalonica were not spiritual slugs, as you might want to—or be tempted to—think. They became models for all Macedonia and all Achaia, and the Word of God sounded forth from them.
Marvelous testimony.
But when you read Acts 17, Luke wrote this. I think I said Paul earlier, didn’t I? Don’t worry; Linda will correct me. But Luke wrote this: “And these in Berea were more noble than those in Thessalonica.”
Brothers and sisters, do you understand that this little two-verse section is all that is written of the Bereans—the Berean believers—in the whole Word of God?
Some of you might want to include Acts 20:4, I think it is: Sopater, son of Pyrrhus, a Berean. That’s all it says. He accompanied Paul into Asia.
Those mentioned in Acts 17, and Sopater in Acts 20:4—one of these noble ones accompanied Paul on his missionary journey.
Now, brothers and sisters, this is the point. This is the only point. This is all that is recorded in the Scriptures about those in Berea. It’s limited. But think of what is recorded.
Sometimes, I believe, when little is said, there is much spoken.
I wonder about us. When our testimony is written, when the remembrance of us is given, what will be the recorded thought? What will they say of Richmond? What would they say of you?
But when speaking of these believers, it said they were more noble than those in Thessalonica. They received the Word with all readiness of mind, and then, in turn, they daily searched the Scriptures to see if the things were so.
Now the first point I want us to get in our hearts is that this ought to be our testimony.
Do we love the Word of God?
I tell you, when I was reading Psalm 119, I discovered one who loves the Word. He said:
Oh how love I Thy law!
It is my meditation all the day.
How sweet are Thy words unto my taste!
Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
that I might not sin against Thee.
For ever, O Lord,
Thy word is settled in heaven.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
and light unto my path.
I wonder, in the end, what will be recorded of us? Were we people of the Book? Are we people of the Book? Is the Word of God our passion? Do we love the Word of God above silver and gold?
I think of Timothy. At the end, what does it say of men? There will be lovers of self, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure. I don’t know—you could just write “USA” right after that in the reference. It speaks of so much of what we’re like, right? Lovers of money, lovers of self, lovers of pleasure.
But what God is after are those who love His Word.
What does it say in Isaiah 66? Those of a contrite and broken spirit, who trembleth at My word.
Do we tremble when the Word of God is read?
Oh, I think of the story of Nehemiah 8 in that great recovery, when it speaks of Ezra going up to the lectern and being raised before the people. It says that he read from the Book of the Law, and the people stood up.
What honor for the Word of God. What respect for the Word of God.
And it says that he spoke from morning to midday. Now all preachers like that verse. That’s the length of every message. People are getting worried, I can tell.
But they had such respect for the Word of God. They stood up, and after he had read the Law, all the people wept.
Now, I believe that is an indication of what the Lord is after. I believe He wants people that tremble at His Word. I believe He wants people like the psalmist, who love His Word above everything else.
And I believe if He finds such people, He will do a great recovery work, just like He did in Nehemiah. That’s the challenge before us as we consider this great topic. And I believe that’s what kind of people the Bereans were, and what kind of people we should be.
I noticed, when I was reading the book of Acts—I don’t know if you notice these phrases; it’s good to do it—that a phrase is repeated over and over. It’s unmistakable when you read it. It is this simple phrase: the Word of God.
Sometimes it says, “the Word of the Lord,” but almost all the time it says, “the Word of God.”
You can see it in so many places. I’ll give you just one example because we don’t have time. In Acts 12:24:
But the word of God grew and multiplied.
Now, to me, this opens a window of understanding concerning why the testimony of the church was so strong in the book of Acts. The reason they were so strong and had such a living testimony was because of the place of the Word of God.
You read it over and over. I challenge you to go home, get out your concordance, and begin to read that phrase: “the Word of God.” The Word of God did this. The Word of God was spoken. The Word of God was received. The Word of God.
It is the secret of the church in the book of Acts. The Word of God came to them in such a living way, they embraced it in such a living way, they lived in it in such a way, and it became part of them in such a living way.
Now, I do think, dear ones, by way of introduction, this ought to be the kind of people we are. That is what the Bereans were like.
Well, that’s all we have for an introduction. But there are three questions. We were told we were to give you questions, so I made it easy. I’ll give you the questions right up front. You don’t need to look further for other questions.
There are three questions. I think if we can answer a little bit on these three questions, then maybe we will have a better understanding about the Word of God.
There ought to be a reason. There ought to be an aim. There ought to be an outcome. In the end, that searching of the Scriptures ought to produce something.
Let’s begin with the first one.
We cannot, first of all—and this is my disclaimer—cover all the reasons why. There are way too many reasons. And that’s the reason you yourself need to search the Scriptures. That’s the reason you need to meditate upon the Word of God. You need to find out for yourself what the “why” is.
I can give you a few highlights, but in one ministry that includes both the introduction and the message, I cannot go through the Scriptures and give you all the reasons. They are numerous. But we ought to discover what the reasons are.
The first one that came to me, in highlight form, is this: if we’re really going to search the Scriptures, we need to know the place of the Word of God.
If we don’t have a real understanding of the place of the Word of God, then we will never appreciate the Scriptures as the Bereans appreciated the Scriptures. That is first and foremost.
I think of Matthew 24, when the Lord Jesus was speaking about the days of the end. He was giving the character of what the end times would be like. Most of you know the parable of the fig tree. But then, after the parable of the fig tree, He said this in Matthew 24:35:
Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but My words shall not pass away.
Did you get that? Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away. This is the Lord’s summary of the end. In His summary of what the end times would be like, this is what He said: “My Word will endure forever.”
And to me, that is the place the Lord Jesus gives His Word. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Word will endure forever.
There’s a little story that I like, which I read about the indestructibility of the Word of God. It was about this dear Christian lady who came up to a laborer and said to him, “Would you like a Bible?”
And he, in anger, said, “Don’t give me a Bible, and if you do, I will throw it in the fire.” Not a very gracious person, you would think.
This sweet little lady left the Bible on the table nevertheless. And this man, in his fury and anger, took the Word of God and threw it upon the coals. It looked like all the words would be consumed—burning up, turning to ashes.
Then a page flew out of the fire. This man’s wife picked it up, looked at it, and read it. It said:
Heaven shall pass away,
but My word shall endure forever.
The indestructibility of the Word of God.
He was smitten. He could not sleep. He wrestled with this. He said, “How could this happen?” Finally, he yielded to the Savior, and he accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. This laborer went and sought that dear Christian woman out, apologized, and told his story.
What a beautiful story.
This is the place of the Word of God. There may be many things you treasure in life. I have a few. The Lord says all of it will rust and decay. But do we treasure the Word of God?
Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but My word shall endure.
My word will not pass away.
Brothers and sisters, we need to learn the place God has given His Word.
I think of Psalm 119. I’ve already told you we’re not going to look at all of Psalm 119. I asked you if you would meditate on it, at least, and read Psalm 119. I won’t ask for a show of hands.
But even John picked up the cause, and I understand yesterday he sent out an email for those of you who read email. Some of you don’t even know what email was; we learned that last week. Maybe you had a chance to reflect upon Psalm 119.
There’s nothing like it in Scripture. There’s nothing like it.
Psalm 119 is the longest psalm. If you take your Bible—all including the Old Testament and the New Testament—and cut it right in half, then open up your Bible, you will get right to Psalm 119. At the heart of the Bible is the Bible. That’s the way I would like to put it. At the heart of the Bible is the Word of God.
Then you begin to read Psalm 119, and you see this extraordinary love and respect that the writer of this psalm had for the Word of God. It’s extraordinary.
And even more extraordinary, it is written in twenty-two sections. Some of you may not know what these different sections mean, but for those of you who at least thought about it, there are twenty-two sections. It is the Hebrew alphabet. It begins with Aleph and ends with Tav.
What I believe the writer is saying is that from A to Z, the Word of God is the most important thing. I believe that’s the whole message.
And it’s even more extraordinary than that. He takes each section and puts eight verses per letter, if you will. There are eight verses for each of the twenty-two sections. In every verse, in some way or another, he brings in the place of the Word of God.
In every single verse of Psalm 119, he brings in the place of the Word of God. He may put it in different ways. He may say, “Your Word.” He may say, “Your statutes,” “Your commandments,” “Your testimonies,” “Your judgments,” or “Your precepts.” But nevertheless, the whole of Psalm 119—right at the heart of the Bible—is concerned with this one thing: the Word of God.
That is the place of the Word of God.
Now, how many of you discovered that is the royal theme of Psalm 119? I think most people got it. When you read it, you begin to understand that this one is really caught up with the Word of God. He saw it in every aspect of life.
There’s nothing like Psalm 119 in Scripture. He went in order with every eight verses, repeating again eight verses. He saw the Word of God in all of its glory. It’s like looking at a many-faceted diamond.
He saw it in persecution. He saw it in affliction. He saw it in blessing. He saw it in teaching. Everywhere he looked, he found that the secret and the answer, from A to Z, was the Word of God.
And to me, that is the place the Bible gives to the Word.
Let me read a few verses:
Oh how love I Thy law!
It is my meditation all the day.
Now, I wonder: is that true of us? How that convicts me. How that convicts you.
How sweet are Thy words unto my taste!
Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever:
for they are the rejoicing of my heart.
One has said of Psalm 119, “This sacred ode is a little Bible all of itself.”
Now, many of you read commentaries. I’m not against commentaries, but I will have something to say about commentaries as we go on. Matthew Henry—does that name ring any bells to anyone in this room? Glenn’s favorite commentary, I know, from being with our brother on Friday night.
Matthew Henry’s father, Philip Henry, gave him this advice. He said, “Take one verse of Psalm 119 every day of your life, and read it and meditate on it over and over.”
That was the advice of a father to a son. And we wonder how this brother arrived at such great understanding of the Word of God. He meditated every day upon a single verse. His father went on to say, “If you do this, twice a year you’ll get through Psalm 119.”
Now, a brother already told me this morning he’s going to check me out according to Matthew Henry. I don’t know how well I’m doing, but Matthew Henry saw something about the Word of God because of his father’s advice.
Do we meditate on the Word of God? Do we chew on the Word of God? Do we chew on it again and again? I think some of us found this time that we did on meditation very difficult. But we ought to be a people who meditate daily on the Word.
That is the place of the Word of God.
Philip Henry went on to say to his son, “All grace grows as love for the Word grows.” That’s a remarkable statement—simple advice that the youngest child in here can follow in the searching of the Scriptures.
The second thing in this first point I want to consider is the power of the Word of God. Do you know the power of the Word of God? To many of us, these words are just words on a page.
But not only do we need to know the place of the Word of God; we must know the power of the Word of God. There is absolute power in the Word of God. There is delivering power. There is convicting power. There is power that goes beyond anything we could imagine. There is power to live in every circumstance. There is power to overcome every evil.
I think again of Psalm 119:9:
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed thereto according to Thy word.
You young people who stayed in here this morning, you are able to make an effective change in your life that will last for a lifetime if you take heed to the Word of God. It is able to cleanse your way and set you on the right course from the beginning of your life.
If you take heed to His Word, your life will be one of meaning, and you will begin to discover how much power there is in the Word of God. Take that as advice.
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed thereto according to Thy word.
Some of you may not think your way needs to be cleansed, but at least according to the Word of God, it does.
Or I think of Psalm 119:50:
This is my comfort in my affliction:
for Thy word hath quickened me.
Did you know the Word is powerful in affliction? It can take you through the darkest things, and it can bring you out triumphant because it is full of the power of God.
There is not one temptation, not one difficulty, and not one adversity you can be brought into in life where the Word of God does not have power to bring us through and out triumphantly.
“This is my comfort in my affliction: for Thy word hath quickened me.” It has quickening power. Praise the Lord for that.
Verse 114:
Thou art my hiding place and my shield:
I hope in Thy word.
I have to think this is what was on Corrie ten Boom’s heart when she was in that prison, her family was killed, and she was in the darkest of circumstances. She discovered the Lord Jesus through His Word as her hiding place. It kept her in the darkest days, and she came out triumphantly.
That is the power of the Word of God.
Or I think of the New Testament—John 8:31–32. This is a verse that the Lord literally made alive to me when I was newly born again. I’ll never forget it. It convinced me that God was the living God.
I was reading John 8:31–32. The Lord said this. I remember it like it was yesterday. The Word came off the page with such power:
Jesus therefore said to those Jews which had believed Him,
If ye abide in My word, then are ye truly My disciples;
and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
This Word has power to make us disciples. You cannot become a disciple unless you know the Word of God. I still think some of us think there were only twelve disciples—I don’t know, like there were twelve reindeer or something.
But every believer is to be a disciple. We’ve lowered the standard to such a degree that we have believers and we have disciples. Every believer is to be a disciple.
And you cannot be a disciple unless, He says, “My Word abides in you.” Then He goes on to say, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
I can tell you for myself, I was bound with chains. I remember it like it was yesterday—bound with chains. But when this verse became alive to me, and the Holy Spirit breathed upon it, He said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
That’s the power of the Word of God. Do we know it?
Why should we study the Word of God? Because of the place of the Word of God and because of the power of the Word of God. That is the reason why.
There are many things we could talk about. Hebrews 4:12, I think of. I’m giving you these to take back and meditate on:
For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword,
and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow,
and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.
This Word has power to sanctify us.
You want to be sanctified? You want to be whole? You want to be complete—spirit, soul, and body—according to 1 Thessalonians 5? Then get into the Word of God. Meditate upon the Word of God. Embrace the Word of God. Take the Word of God and make it part of your being.
The Lord said in His last words to His church, “If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” That is the power.
Or I think of the practice of the Word of God. It is to become so practical that it is part of our daily living. Now, I don’t think with many of us it is part of our daily living. I don’t think we follow the Berean example: daily they searched the Scriptures. How this convicts me. We lose such opportunities.
I remember once when our family went to Orlando, Florida, to see Mickey Mouse, or whatever we did. It was the only time. Some people seem to think that’s Mecca and take a trip every summer. I don’t understand. Enough of the mouse already.
But nevertheless, we enjoyed it very much. We had great fun. I remember we were going through these cattle lines. I hate those things. They’re like livestock waiting to get on a ride. Sometimes you can take an hour to get on that ride. Why do human beings subject themselves to such things, to get on something and go in and out, and see the same people fifty times?
But there was this Hasidic Jew in line to get on this big mountain thing—whatever it was. I can’t even remember. Maybe you can help me. Space Mountain? Okay, I’m not sure. It was a splash thing, Jerry. I’m not sure. If I had splashed on Space Mountain, I wouldn’t be here.
But nevertheless, there was this Hasidic Jew. I remember this little fellow with the braided hair hanging out, the black hat, and the tassels. I’m not making fun of Hasidic Jews. Some of them are very devoted.
But I do understand from the Word of God that when you read Moses without Christ, according to 2 Corinthians, there is a veil upon the heart. Here was one who could not see the Word of God in all of its radiance and beauty. Yet, in this endless line, he had opened the Scriptures the whole time.
It made such an impression on me. I thought, “Gee whiz, here I am as a Christian, who at least has some understanding—however limited—about the Word of God and the central focus of the Word of God. The veil has been lifted, and I don’t take time in those lines. I didn’t have out the New Testament.”
How many opportunities we lose?
I don’t want to bring you under condemnation unless it is by the Holy Spirit. But I think we need to reconsider: what do we treasure?
Well, it’s a very practical thing, the practice of the Word of God. May the Lord help us.
2 Timothy 3:16–17:
Every Scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction,
for instruction which is in righteousness:
that the man of God may be complete,
furnished completely unto every good work.
Every Scripture is divinely inspired, that we could be completely outfitted—to put it in proper English. You know, sometimes you go to a place and you want to be completely outfitted to the teeth. You want to be set up. The kids call it “bling” or something. I’m not sure what that was. One time, I thought it was something dropped.
But you want to be outfitted. If you, as a Christian, want to be outfitted—complete as the man of God, fit for every good work—we need to know the Word of God.
It is profitable for reproof. It is profitable for teaching. It is profitable for conviction. It is profitable for correction. And it is profitable for instruction in righteousness.
There are many of us who can’t receive a word of correction. I often tell my partners—we do these employee reviews that I hate. I hope none of my employees are here, by the way, or listen to this tape.
But in those reviews, sometimes we have to give some corrections. I’ve told Linda over and over: nobody likes correction. There are people who say, “Oh, it’s positive criticism.” I have a law: nobody likes criticism, even if you call it positive criticism.
But we, as the people of God, need the Word of God to correct us, or we’ll go right off the road. We need the Word of God to correct our teaching. We need the Word of God to keep us on the straight and narrow.
Profitable for correction. May the Lord really help us in the practice of the Word of God, that it would be so real that we could truly enter into allowing the Word of God to be part of our everyday practical living. In all these areas, we would find every provision for every situation.
I was reading R. A. Torrey’s little book, How to Study the Bible. I got it years ago. It’s only about this big and about three-sixteenths of an inch thick. It is the most profound little book I’ve ever read about the study of the Word.
One of the things he gets into in searching the Scriptures is a willingness to work hard. Now, that’s where you lose half the crowd, I’m telling you. They see “work” as a four-letter word, and you’ve lost them from the beginning.
It reminds me sort of of the gold rush. Linda and I went to Alaska, and that was part of the rush for gold. Everybody thinks of the forty-niners, but so many people went to Alaska. I don’t know what you think of a gold rush, but there is a whole lot of hard digging to find gold.
People just think of the gold. They think of the end. But you talk to most of those—if you could find a forty-niner still—there were a lot of hard days.
And I wonder, as Christians, are we willing to do some hard digging?
Well, for the comfort of you all who are about to expire, I just have a few more points here. I knew this would be difficult.
How do we search the Scriptures? There’s no question we should, but how?
Now, I think when we ask this, we tend to focus on methods. We are “how-to” people. How do you get it done? What do you do to get it done?
But if you look at the Word of God, God never focuses on methods. He always focuses upon the man. That’s the beginning.
If we are to be able to search the Scriptures, if we are to find out the real meaning of the Scriptures and the real aim of the Scriptures, and if the Scriptures are going to transform our lives, then we need to be dealt with as a people.
It is always the man.
If you forget everything I said this morning—some of you want to do that, by the way—remember: with God, it is never the method first. Method is important, but the man is premier.
So we need to allow the Lord to deal with us. We need to be spiritual. You read 1 Corinthians 2, I think it is:
Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:
for they are foolishness unto him;
and he cannot know them,
because they are spiritually judged.
You cannot know the Word of God unless you are born again.
You think of Nicodemus. You remember that night scene when he was with the Lord. There was probably not a more brilliant man than Nicodemus at that time, and yet the Lord said to him, “Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Then He said, “Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
So the first thing, when it comes to how to study the Scriptures, is the man.
I was reading in Brother Nee’s book, Living Sacrifice, on the study of the Word, and in his book, Search the Scriptures. I was also reading R. A. Torrey’s book, as I just mentioned, How to Study the Bible. Both of these giants agree on one thing: number one, it is the man.
If the man is right, you can use different methods. Even if you use the poorest of all methods, R. A. Torrey said, you will gain much if the man is right.
The problem is that we go into the study of the Scriptures with hardened hearts, without humbling ourselves as little children, without a willingness to seek the Lord in His Word, without a willingness to say, “Lord, what is Your Word saying?”
It is first the man.
He said this: “To study the Bible well, two basic conditions must be fulfilled. One, the person must be right and trained. Two, the method must be right.”
There are many methods as we enter into this search of the Scriptures. But unless we are right, then we will never enter in in a full way. May we allow the Lord to deal with us.
Now, you young people, when it comes to the Word of God—and you adults, by the way—humble yourself as a little child. There is no advantage in age. As a matter of fact, there may be a disadvantage in age.
I remember more things about the Word of God when I was six months old in the Lord than I remember even today. Most of the verses that are still embedded in my heart come from that early first year, when I used to read the Word over and over, and the Word still rings in my heart.
You young people, give yourselves to the study of the Word of God. You will confound professors. You will confound the wise if you only seek the Scriptures with all your heart.
The man has to be right, but the method is important.
Let me hit a few practical things on method. We solved a little bit of that for you. There are different methods. You can have the book method. You can have the topical method. You can have the biographical method. You can have the chronological method. You can study types, miracles, or all sorts of things.
But we’ve narrowed it down. What we want to do is encourage the saints to take one topic and study that topic as thoroughly as they can in a month. Begin to meditate on that topic, and even begin to memorize the Word of God.
You’ll tell me—I know there are people who come up to me all the time and say, “You don’t understand, Brother Kenny. I can’t memorize the Word of God.”
Poppycock.
Anybody in this room—don’t test me on this, please; I might be embarrassed—can sing a song from the sixties, and I’ll remember almost every word from forty-some years ago. Almost every word to every song. It’s a shame.
But somehow, deep in this brain, they are embedded there. Sometimes I just hear a little tune on the radio, and all of a sudden I find myself again singing songs that I knew in 1966. And you don’t want to hear me sing.
Memorize the Word of God.
The psalmist said:
Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
that I might not sin against Thee.
There are many suggestions we can make. Some will insist that you need to use a certain translation. I’ll say that’s not true.
We are a divided household. Linda’s favorite is the 1901 American Standard Version, and I think most of you know by now I favor the Darby translation.
Get a good translation and read it over and over and over again. After you have read it, chew on it over and over and over again. You will begin to see the secrets in the Word of God.
I’m not going to say you have to have the King James Version. I’ve had folks do that to me. I had one brother write to me and say, “Shame on your tape ministry for using that verse out of that version.”
Well, God bless you. You want to use the King James, use it. I love the King James. I use the King James quite a lot. Most of the verses I have memorized are from the King James.
Don’t sacrifice the Word of God. Get a good translation. Don’t get a paraphrase. I’m afraid some people do. When I started out, I had Good News for Modern Man. I don’t know if you remember that, Jim Stalker—the little stick men in it. The Lord used Good News for Modern Man.
But what I would suggest is this: if you’re going to do a serious study of the Scriptures, don’t get a paraphrase. There are different versions. There are modern-English versions that are good. There are other versions that are more accurate. I’m not going to sit up here and sell you on a version.
I began using the version I use for all the wrong reasons, because a brother I admired was using it. But it has become part of me, and other than the poor bindings it comes in, it’s a great version.
Get a version. Don’t sacrifice readability for accuracy. Get a version. If you stumble at the “thees” and “thous,” get rid of the old-English version. All of you King James people might attack me in full force sometime, but if you get hung up on the “thees” and “thous,” then get a modern translation.
You meditate. You consider it. Read it and read it again.
I want to tell you one other thing, and I’m almost finished. I know some of you may find it hard to believe.
Another suggestion: get a concordance. Does everyone in this room know what a concordance is? I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t live without a concordance.
I don’t know if you’ve ever heard the story of Cruden, who did the first concordance. We need to be very grateful for people like that. He gave his life to finding out every place a word was used in every one of the Scriptures. They said that so much so, he became deranged.
Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that story, but Cruden became deranged. Then six years later, in the Lord’s mercy, he came back and finished the whole concordance. Everything—Cruden’s, Strong’s, Young’s—takes off from the work that Cruden did. He laid his life there.
Do we love the Word that much? Would we spend hours searching a word, searching wherever that word is in the Scripture?
What a legacy he has. Get a concordance.
On a topical study, I want to give some of you young people—and maybe some of the older people too—this advice: take the word that is the focus and find every Scripture in the Bible, Old and New Testament, about that word. Then look for similar words.
For me, in searching the Scriptures, I looked up “search,” “searched,” “searching.” I looked up all kinds of things: “Word of God,” “Scripture,” everything I could think of. I would look it up, take all of those verses, and then begin to think about them.
What both Brother Nee and Brother Torrey say, which I think is profound, is this: begin to discover the facts of the Word of God. If you don’t study and understand the differences in the facts in the Word of God, you will never come to getting the light out of the Word of God.
I’ll give you one example. In Romans, the first eight chapters, there is a difference when you get somewhere in chapter 5 between “sins,” plural, and “sin,” singular. In the first part, you only see the blood. After that, you only see the cross. Now, why is that? Does it make any sense?
You need to discover those facts, and you need to, in a prayerful, humble, contrite, and broken spirit, say, “Lord, what are these differences? What do they mean?”
That is how you search the Scriptures. May the Lord help us.
Well, this is my conclusion. What should be our aim in searching the Scriptures? There ought to be an aim. If there’s not an aim, then we’ll totally miss it.
As I read that verse in John 5:39–40:
Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life;
and these are they which bear witness of Me;
and ye will not come to Me, that ye may have life.
This is the Lord speaking to the Pharisees. Here is the point: I think sometimes we read this verse totally wrong. We think it is a condemnation for searching the Scriptures.
But if you look in the original language, you can begin to read this verse and leave out the “ye,” and it simply says, “Search the Scriptures.” Brothers and sisters, we ought to search the Scriptures. That’s what the Bereans did. It is not a condemnation for searching the Scriptures. It is encouragement to search the Scriptures.
But the condemnation is that they missed the royal subject of the Scriptures. He said, “In them ye think ye have life; and these are they which bear witness of Me; and ye will not come to Me, that ye may have life.”
Dear ones, this is the royal theme of Scripture. Throughout the Scriptures, there is but one thing. It is in the Old Testament from the very beginning, and it is in the New Testament all the way through. That one theme, that golden theme of the Word of God, is the Lord Jesus Christ.
If, in all of our searching of the Scriptures, that is not our end and that is not our aim, then according to this condemnation, we have missed what the very purpose of the Scriptures is all about.
You remember that story on the road to Emmaus, when the two disciples were headed to Emmaus. The Lord appeared to them. Wouldn’t that be grand? They were talking and communicating about the things that had taken place, and He asked them what was going on. They said, “Don’t You know?”
And it says that He began to open to them, in all the Scriptures, from Moses to the prophets, all the things concerning Himself.
He is the royal subject of all the Scriptures.
If your Scripture study doesn’t lead you to Christ, cause you to see Christ in a greater way, and cause you to grow in the Lord Jesus, then you have missed the point of all the Word of God.
I’ll never forget the early years. It blew me away, dear ones, when people began to speak on the sacrifices out of Leviticus and began to unfold the beauty of Christ. I had never seen it. My eyes were opened. I was amazed.
I’ll never forget when people began to speak on Nehemiah, and then they saw the Lord Jesus recovering His church in a day of declension. Oh, I can’t tell you what it did for me.
Then, slowly, these ones anointed by the Holy Spirit began to speak about what the heart of God was. I saw that, from beginning to end, the heart of God never changes. It is always concerned with His Son, and it is wrapped up in His Son.
If we are to do an effective searching of the Scriptures, we need to see the Son. That’s the whole thing. And that glory will exceed anything we know.
We went last year to Alaska on a trip. By the way, it was a good trip. I recommend it.
One day we went to see Mount McKinley. People had been coming back for two months to see the mountain—all of the school—and they said they never saw it.
That next morning, Linda and I woke up. I can’t tell you—the sun, the clouds had rolled away, the fog had rolled away, and that mountain, in all of its splendor and glory, was a sight.
People stood back on that deck of the McKinley Lodge for hours. It may have helped that some of them had a bar nearby, but they stood out for hours, transfixed with the beauty and glory of that mountain. The radiance of that view captured them, and there was nothing else in the sky.
I’ll never forget it. My kids, I put them through the torture of looking at all six hundred of my photographs. Nothing like this.
When the veil is taken away, when the clouds are taken away, when the fog dissipates, and you see Christ in the Word of God, there is nothing like it.
Such a sight. Such glory. Such beauty.
You will then be as one like Isaiah, whose eyes have seen the King.
That is the aim. That is the aim of all the future study. May the Lord help us.
Lord, we submit these thoughts to You, and we’re asking that You would really give us a good start.
Lord, I ask Your forgiveness for all the opportunities I have missed. I ask here among my brethren that You would give me a love for Your Word, that it would be more precious than gold.
Lord, I ask that You would do a work in us, that we would be a people like the Berean believers; that we would receive the Word with all readiness of mind, and we would daily search the Scriptures to see if these things are so.
Lord, lead us in our study. We are after You when it is all said and done. We want to see the glory of the Lord Jesus. We want to see the radiance of the Lord Jesus.
So we are here asking You that You would give us a good start. You would give us a new desire. You would cause us to tremble at Your Word, to love Your Word above all other things, and that we would grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
For we ask it in Your precious name. Amen.