Who Is To Blame For Your
Ignorance Of The Bible?
"Someone has said that God does not need our
learning to further His cause. Of course not, but He needs our
ignorance still less." - Encyclopedia Of Sermon
Illustrations
The present statistics have
it that only 12% of Evangelicals read their Bibles.
What an abomination this is!
The question we must ask is this - What are the
other 88% doing with their time?
What are they reading - if not God's Word?
What are they pursuing after - if not a Greater Knowledge of the
Lord?
What consumes their time throughout the day - fellowship with man or
God?
Is it any wonder that there is as much sin - abortion, divorce,
adultery, fornication, homosexuality, pornography, licentiousness,
loose morals, cursing, filthy talk, dirty jokes, etc. - among Church
folks as there is in the world?
So what are many pursuing after - if it be not the things of God?
Is it more money, prestige, a position, self aggrandizement,
recognition or approval from man, etc.?
What presumption to think that we
don't need to seek after God after receiving salvation! After
all(as some think), we have our "ticket punched" and we are ready
for heaven.
Is that so?
Hosea 6:3 - The Prophet Hosea admonished us with these words
- "Then shall we know, if we follow on
to know the LORD..."
Matthew 5:6 - The Lord Jesus Himself said -
"Blessed are they which do hunger and
thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."
Philippians 3:10-12 - The Apostle Paul said it this
way - "That I may know Him, and the
power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being made conformable unto His death; If by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had
already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after,
if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of
Christ Jesus."
2 Peter 3:18 - The Apostle Peter added -
"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ..."
Oh! Where - oh where - is the hunger
for more of God to be found among His people?
Why do so many sit complacently and pompously in their churches -
week after week - not desiring more of Jesus or for a Mighty Move
of the Spirit to occur?
Who among us is -
..."following on to know
the Lord"?
..."hungering and
thirsting after righteousness"?
...following after Jesus in such a way as to
"apprehend that for which"
they were "apprehended"
of Him?
..."growing in grace and
in the knowledge of the Lord"?
Are so many deceived by Satan into believing that they have already
"attained" or been made perfect... that they don't
have to pursue after all that God has for them, their families,
churches, cities, nations, etc.?
Why are many of the Churches spiritually dead? Why is their no
"word in season" for the
people...no "fresh oil"
...no moving of the Holy Spirit...no life...no miracles...no
deliverances...no healings...?
Proverbs 2:3-5 - King Solomon instructed us as to the manner
in which we should seek after God -
"Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for
understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her
as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the
LORD, and find the knowledge of God."
What word comes to mind after read this passage of Scripture? What
about the word - "diligence"?
It takes hard work and great pains to know God. He doesn't bless
casual or lazy observers.
Hebrews 11:6 - As the writer of Hebrews told us -
"...He is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him."
Notice the wording that Solomon used
here in describing how a man should seek after the knowledge of
God's Word.
"...seekest her as silver,
and searchest for her as for hid treasures..."
Solomon was no fool! He knew human nature. He knew how man is
prone to seek wholeheartedly after money, wealth, and riches rather
than God! Hence, he compared the Christian's search for
"knowledge" to the
covetous man's search for wealth.
Think about it - how far will a
covetous man go to get rich?
To what pains will he subject himself in order to acquire great
wealth?
Then do the same - only pursue after God and a knowledge of His
Word.
Be ashamed of yourself if you are not in as much earnest for God's
riches as he is for the world's.
"...seekest her as silver..."
- Be like the miner who labors day and night, faces many dangers and
hazards, and undergoes great exertion with utmost constancy and
resolution until he finds the precious ore.
"...searchest for her as for hid
treasures..." - The precious metals or stones are
hidden in the earth or in caves. With untiring tenacity and extreme
care, they must be extracted.
There are precious "jewels" - answers for every one of
life's problems - hidden within the pages of God's Word. Only those
who are willing to dig - night and day and day and night - and turn
every stone will find them.
So many are running to man for answers - counsellors, psychologists,
psychiatrists, Preachers, Prophets, etc. Instead of being willing to
"seek" and
"search" God's Word for
themselves, they run after another man - who has a piece of paper
displayed on his wall called a "degree" - and trust
that he has the answer for their predicament.
Only God knows the solution to your problems, O
Christian!
He may choose to use another man - one who is filled with His
Spirit - to pass along a
"word of knowledge" your way, but
for the most part, He wants you to seek after Him yourself.
In closing, it is recorded in Adam Clarke's Commentary
on Proverbs 2:4 that in the Brazils, there were slaves who
were "employed to scrape up the soil from the bed of the Rio
de Janeiro" River and then "wash it carefully"
in search of gold particles and diamonds. There was a state law
which decreed that, if any slave would find a diamond of a certain
amount of carats, he would automatically have his freedom.
Can you imagine the zeal and tenacity by which these slaves worked
day and night in order to find that one diamond which would purchase
their freedom from slavery?
In John 8:32, the Lord Jesus told us -
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free." We can understand from this statement that
God's Truth has the power to liberate the mind, emotions, will,
body, and spirit! The more knowledge of the Scriptures that we have
and apply to our lives, the freer a people we will be.
So many in the Body of Christ - even
though they are saved - still have many bondages.
They are not totally free from the world, the flesh, and the
devil.
If that be the case with you, O Child of God -
then how desperate are you - to be free from
pride, idolatry, anger, stubbornness, lying, fear, lust, envy,
jealousy, greed, selfishness, laziness, gluttony, unclean thoughts,
corrupt conversation, etc.?
Jesus is promising you freedom this day as Brazil promised the
slaves freedom. There is one condition! You must search for the
precious "diamond" in the pages of His Word.
Are you willing to do that?
Do you want to be free - yes, free indeed?
Then know that it will not come easily, but it
will come if you search for it with all of your heart. God will see
to it!
Proverbs 3:13 - We leave you with Solomon's words to all
those who pay the price to "seek"
and "search" after the
"hidden treasures" of God
- "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,
and the man that getteth understanding."
May all those reading this message indeed be the happiest and freest
people - because they have found true liberty through the knowledge
of God's Word.
Connie
