THE WORD OF GOD
The Greatest Book ever written - nothing can ever surpass it
I hold in my hand a Book that is INSPIRED:
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 perfect,
throughly furnished unto all good works (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
It is profitable for doctrine: I must be catechised and sound in my faith
It is profitable for reproof: I must be chastened and stricken in my heart
It is profitable for correction: I must be corrected and strengthened in my soul
It is profitable for instruction in righteousness: I must be coached and steady in my walk
It is profitable for my perfection: I must be consistent and spirited in my works
I hold in my hand a Book that is INFALLIBLE:
Jesus said: Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away (Matthew 24:35)
This Book is the word of Him who has never lied in the past
This Book is the word of Him who will never lie in the present
This Book is the word of Him who will never lie in the future
In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; (Titus 1:2)
I hold in my hand a Book that is INERRANT:
It is theologically sound
Any theology that cannot be reconciled to it is bad theology
If any man teach otherwise, and
consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is
proud, knowing nothing … from such withdraw thyself 1 Timothy
6:3,4,6
It is scientifically advanced
When scientists (!) believed that the earth was flat, the Bible declared:
He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. (Job 26:7)
When he prepared the heavens, I was
there: when he set a compass (literally "a circle") upon the face of
the depth: (Proverbs 8:27)
There is nothing in science that contradicts what the Bible teaches
about origins of life or any other scientific subject. Scientists have
what they call "a five year half life" i.e. in five years what is now
known to be "fact" will be proved false and will be replaced with a new
theory. God has no such problems to contend with.
It is morally upright
It's teaching is summed up in the words of it's Holy Author who said: But
as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy (1 Peter
1:15-16)
We may disregard some men's words with impunity - sin is actually defined by the act of transgressing this Book (1 John 3:4)
John Bunyan said: This Book will keep me from sin or sin will keep me from this Book
The word of man at best is unprofitable, for man himself is:
Like a wind that passeth and cometh not again (Psalm 78:39)
Beating out the air (1 Corinthians 9:26)
A vapour (James 4:14)
Full of trouble (Job 14:1)
His tongue from where his words come is an unending source of trouble:
To himself
To his family
To his friends and acquaintances
This Book took Jerome to the wilderness
It took Tyndale to the stake
It took Henry Martyn, William Carey and a innumerable host of others
to the uttermost parts of the earth
It has cost some men the best years of their life
It has cost others life itself
Yet it costs us less than an hour's wage
No one has ever been saved through the word of man
Many have been lost through his words
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when
he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Matthew 23:15
The Religious Authorities have often been its lock
The Pharisees cluttered it up with their vain traditions
The Church of Rome still refuses to learn the lesson and does likewise
Christ has always been its key
In the volume of the Book it is written of me (Ps 41:8)
Angels helped deliver it but desire to look into it
It came down to us from Heaven
To be read on earth
To keep us out of Hell
And he said unto him, If they hear
not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one
rose from the dead (Luke 16:31)
There is more power to convert the soul in a single line in the Bible than in a thousand miracles
But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: (John 12:37)
The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul (Psalm 19:7)
A little child can learn it at his mother's knee
A young man can hide it in his heart
An old man can still learn more about it
The two on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24) were in darkness as they walked in light
When Christ opened to them the Scriptures, they were in light as they walked in darkness
I believe it's true - It removes my doubts
I find it touching - It calms my fears
I find it thrilling - It fires my soul
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew - from right to left (denoting our departure from God)
The New Testament was written in Greek - from left to right (denoting our reconciliation)
The Bible (Authorized Version) contains:
3,566,480 letters
773,746 words
31,173 verses
1,189 chapters
66 books
If you read 4 chapters a day, you will read through the whole Bible in one year
When Jesus Christ died upon the Cross, a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew,
THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS
The Governor wrote it and stood over it
The Jews read it and rejected it
The apostle recorded it and believed it
The centurion guarded it and received it
Truly this was the Son of God
Some reject it because they do not understand it - that is plain silly
Some reject it because they do understand it - that is plain sinful
John wondered at its contents
Jeremiah and David wept at its rejection
It carries the imprimatur of Heaven - nothing else matters
Jesus said: Search the Scriptures - they testify of me
Paul said: Study the scriptures - Show thyself approved unto God
The Angel said: Savour the Scriptures - sweet to the taste but bitter to the belly
Samuel said: Speak Lord for thy servant heareth
Mary said: Be it unto me according to thy word
Isaiah said: Here am I, send me
Job said: That which I know not, show thou me
David said: Open mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy word
This is the true seed which brings forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, some one hundred fold:
The birds of the air could not snatch this seed
The sun in the sky could not scorch this seed
The thorns in the ground could not strangle this seed
It liveth and abideth for ever
The Bible is a two edged sword. Be careful it cuts both ways.
It is the sword of the Spirit
The Spirit of God wrote the Bible
The Spirit of God applies the Bible
The Spirit of God preserves the Bible
We ought to be challenged by the Bible
We ought to be cleansed by the Bible
We ought to be changed by the Bible
Changed from darkness to light
Changed from power of Satan to the power of God
Changed from glory unto glory
Changed from a pilgrimage on earth to a home of many mansions in Heaven
The Canon of Scripture:
No church decided it
The true church discerned it
The harlot Church extended it
Augustine said: "I should not believe the gospel itself, if the
authority of the Church did not move me to do so" The Church is an
authoritative witness of the Bible not an authoritative judge as argued
by Rome. How can a Church sit in judgement over God as He has revealed
Himself in His word?
He appointed some teachers to teach it, yet we need not, said John, that any man should teach us
Every known insult has been hurled against it
The atheist Voltaire boasted that within 100 years, it would be a
museum piece. After Voltaire's death, the Geneva Bible Society bought
his printing presses and the very presses that printed Voltaire's
sneers started printing the word of God.
This has a modern day equivalent. The huge radio mast in Georgia (ICS)
that beamed out Communist propaganda to the West in the days of the
Soviet Union, now sends forth gospel radio programmes.
Surely He who sits in the Heavens shall laugh
One modern eminent Bible commentator draws an interesting comparison:
Suppose there was a man who had lived
upon this earth for eighteen hundred years, that this man had
oftentimes been thrown into the sea and yet could not be drowned; that
he had frequently been cast before wild beasts who were unable to
devour him; that he had many times been made to drink deadly poisons
that never did him any harm; that he had often been bound in iron
chains and locked in prison dungeons, yet he had always been able to
throw off the chains and escape from his captivity; that he had
repeatedly been hanged, till his enemies thought him dead, yet when his
body was cut down he sprang to his feet and walked away as though
nothing had happened; that hundreds of times he had been burned at the
stake, till there seemed to be nothing left of him, yet as soon as the
fires were out he leaped up from the ashes as well and as vigorous as
ever! But we need not expand this idea any further. Such a man would be
super-human, a miracle of miracles. Yet this is exactly how we should
regard the Bible! This is practically the way in which the Bible has
been treated. It has been burned, drowned, chained, put in prison, and
torn to pieces yet never destroyed! (Arthur Pink on Divine Inspiration
p85)
Jehoiakim tried to cut the word of God
Sons of Jacob tried to cheat the word of God
Pharaoh tried to challenge the word of God
Satan tried to change the word of God
In the Garden of Eden
In the Wilderness of Judea
Yes, the word of God shall stand, though assailed on every hand,
Its foundations are eternally secure,
It will bear the critic's test and the idle scoffer's jest,
It's saving truth forever shall endure
It is a light for my path
It is a map for my journey
It is a sword for my battle
It is my companion in my time of loneliness
It is my counsellor in my time of distress
It is my comfort in my time of trial
The central message of the Bible is that our Creator God became man and
died for our sins in order to reconcile us unto Himself.
An old Puritan, wrote:
Who could have imagined that one, yea
millions, should be rich by another's poverty, filled by another's
emptiness, be exalted by another's disgrace, healed by another's
wounds, eased by another's pains, be absolved by another's
condemnation, and live eternally by another's temporal death? Who could
have imagined that infinite justice and mercy should be made fast
friends, and fully satisfied by one and the same action; that the
greatest fury and the greatest favour, the greatest hatred and the
greatest love, should concur in, and be manifested by one and the same
thing? Could men or angels speak such mysteries? Surely no.
The Bible's message is unique.
All earth religions have their sacred Books.
Church of Latter Day Saints have their Book of Mormon.
The Jehovah Witnesses have their Watchtower and Awake! Magazines.
Rome has its ancient traditions etc.,
All teach, one way or another, salvation by works.
The Bible teaches salvation from the penalty/power/pollution and presence of sin is
By Grace alone through Faith alone in Christ alone, without the deeds of the Law.
Reader: Do you have a Bible? Do you read it?
Do you believe it to be the very word of God to your soul?
Man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)
Here are words whereby you and your house can be saved (Acts 11:14)
Without delay, get yourself a copy of this Unique Book. Read it for yourself.
As you read, ask God to reveal His Son, Jesus Christ, to your heart.
Read it earnestly.
Read it faithfully.
Read it honestly.
Keep reading until God answers your prayer and you become a Bible believing Christian, heaven born and heaven bound.
"There is much talk in these days about science and "useful knowledge."
But after all a knowledge of the Bible is the one knowledge that is
needful and eternally useful. A man may get to heaven without money,
learning, health, or friends, but without Bible knowledge he will never
get there at all. A man might have the mightiest of minds, and a memory
stored with all that mighty mind can grasp, and yet, if does not know
the things of the Bible, he will make shipwreck of his soul forever. "
J.C. RYLE: 'BIBLE READING'
Colin Maxwell
The Christ of God (by Leslie Armstrong) In same style as above. It was
this piece which encouraged me to write the above.
Cork Free Presbyterian Church, 10 Briarscourt
(Annex) Shanakiel, Cork, Ireland