4 Big Reasons to Read Your Bible(Reasons 1 & 2)

2. The Law

Romans 7:7 What then shall we say?  That the law is sin? By no means!  Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin.  For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet."

                              

The Law is important for three reasons. 1. It reveals to us what sin is. 2. It leaves us guilty before God. 3. It teaches us how to live.

1 John 3:4 Everyone who makes a practice sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

Since sin is going against the Law then shouldn’t we know what the Law is?  How can you know what the Law is if you don't read your Bible.  You want to know what the Law says?  Then read Exodus 20 for a start.  I guarantee that you are guilty of breaking at least a few of these laws.  Once you realize that you are guilty before God for violating his laws then that leads us to reason number 2.

Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

Now that the law has been made known to you, you will no longer be able to justify your sins because now you know that they are wrong beyond doubt. This leaves the door open for the Gospel because you realize that without some help you are going to be condemned.  This is why the Law is such an important part of evangelizing, because it is only through the Law that people realize their deep need for the grace of Jesus Christ. How can we make them realize their need of grace if we as Christians do not even know the Law?  It also ties into an earlier point I made about how the Bible teaches us to live.

Romans 7:22 For I delight in the Law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

This is a very important passage because it shows that while we should take delight in the Law it is impossible for us to keep it.  It also shows that it is very important for us to TRY to follow the Law in a pursuit of righteousness.  Just because we are Christians and freed from the Law does not give us license to disobey it.  On the Contrary.

1 John 3:9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep sinning because he has been born of God. 

Notice that it says that, "no one born of God makes a PRACTICE of sinning." It does not say that one who is born of God does not sin, just that they do not willfully sin.  So therefore it is important for us Christians to study the Law of God so the sins that we are not yet conscious of may be revealed to us in order that we might correct them in our pursuit of righteousness.

1. The Gospel Message

Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jews first and also to the Greek . 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."

This passage gives a definition for what the Gospel is.  It is the power of salvation for anyone who believes.  Well, believes in what exactly?

Romans 10:9 - because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

It is important to realize that Jesus came and was the fulfillment of the Law.  Because God must be just and cannot let sin go unpunished He sent His one and only Son to bear the punishment for our sins (death) so that we can be safe from His wrath.  This is the gospel message.  That we who are guilty sinners are saved from God's just wrath by the blood that was shed by Jesus (who was guiltless before the Law) when He was crucified on the cross.  God further showed His power over death and thus showed us His power to save us from death when He raised Jesus from the dead after three days.

Romans 5:8 but God showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned alread , because he has not believed in the name of the Son of God.

We have seen how the Law keeps people from justifying their sin.  So it is important that after we have stopped their own justifications that we let them know the Gospel so that they might truly be justified before God. 

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through  the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

How can we hope to spread the Gospel without knowing exactly what it is?  These are just a few clarified verses that help explain exactly what the Gospel is, but I cannot describe to you the feeling of awe that will fill you when you are reading the Bible on your own and you come to the realization that the Gospel isn't one of the many themes in the Bible.  It IS the theme of the Bible.  The more you read, the more you will begin to realize that the whole Bible tells of the Gospel and that all of its passages are tied to the Gospel.

The Bible does not need to be modernized or revamped or spiced up in order to get people interested.  The Bible simply needs to be taught so that people can realize on their own just how wonderful it is. You won't realize this if you think of the Bible as a textbook.  Its wonder and majesty can only be realized when you have that eureka moment when you realize that it is God's Word to you.   Every time I read from it I am left in awe and wonder and I want more.  The Bible is fascinating.  The more you read, the more you understand how it all ties together and you just can't get enough of it.  

4 Big Reasons to Read Your Bible (Reasons 3 & 4)

These next two posts are going to be slightly different than my others.  If you have read my other posts then you know how important the Bible is and why every professing Christian should devote time to studying it.  In these two posts I am simply going to put this into a list and expand on why the Bible is important and the importance of knowing what it says.

4. Sword of the Spirit.

Ephesians 6:17- and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God,

Hebrews 4:12- For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the hearts.

The Bible is the ultimate weapon in any spiritual battle.  The Bible is what Christians need to turn to for any need.  Need help evangelizing? Read your Bible (For more on this see number 2).  Feel like you are under attack by the enemy? Read your Bible.  It is important to know the Bible so that you can fully utilize it as the Sword of the Spirit.  If a soldier is under trained with a sword then it is likely that someone could take it away and use it against him.  The same can be said of the Bible.  If you do not know scripture well enough, then the enemy will try to use it against you. This is shown very clearly during Jesus's temptation in the desert. (Matthew 4:1-11) If you are familiar with this then please take note of how Jesus countered.  He countered with MORE scripture and the devil left with his tail between his legs.  Because of Jesus's intense knowledge of scripture (He is the Son of God after all) He knew how to use the weapon at His disposal when the devil tried to use it to trip Him up.  Now we don't have the inherent and perfect knowledge that is at Jesus's disposal, but we can certainly enhance our understanding of scripture by constant study of it.

3. God’s Voice

Luke 11:28 But he said, "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"

If people want to hear the Word of God it is really a simple thing to accomplish.  All that you have to do is open the Bible and you will have 66 books of the Word of God, and in it God talks addresses any question that you might have.  I'm not saying that if you are reading the Gospel of John you are literally going to read, "You need to be a doctor."  No, I am merely saying that if you want to know God, and how He wants you to make your choices, then reading the Bible is the best way to accomplish this.

You may have been praying once and felt like you audibly received a word from God.  I am not going to refute that this is impossible because I believe that it is.  However, you shouldn't just accept it as God's voice without first checking what was said through scripture.  Here are a couple of reasons for this.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Yes there are some bad things in this world.  They want to derail you from your pursuit of righteousness.  Just because you have a feeling, heard a voice, or have some other inclination, it does not necessarily mean that it is God-sent.  That is why you must put everything to the test even what other people tell you; it is your responsibility to test its accuracy.  The Bible is the measure in which to test it.  Whether it is from another person, by supernatural experience, or by some feeling that you have, it must be verified through scripture.  The Bible is God's word.  God does not change.  He will not contradict Himself.

Lord of Creation

Isaiah 40:28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable.

Who is God?  That is a mighty big question.  The above verse in Isaiah 40 gives as good an explanation as can be said in short.  God is the Creator of the universe.  Of course, since He is the creator, He is also a great many other things.  For instance, He created us so therefore He rules over us as our eternal King.  As the King and Lord of creation, He handed down His laws to Moses in the form of the Ten Commandments.  This also makes Him our Judge.  These are just the three aspects of God that can be derived by His act of creating us as well as the world around us. Over the next few posts I am going to be addressing the different aspects of just who exactly God is.  This one will be dealing with God's role as our creator.

First, I am going to prove to you that God did create everything we see around us.  The odds are that you are reading this either on a computer or a smart phone.  Where did it come from? Someone in a factory put it together of course.  But you know that someone created it because the evidence is there before your eyes.  The same can be said for the trees outside of my window.  How do I know that there is a creator? Because I see the evidence in the mere fact that there is a creation.  If that logic wasn't enough for you then let's open up a Bible. Romans 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Psalms 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. These verses also state that God speaks to us through his creation.  So the entire universe around us is the proof that God exist and that he created it.

Now that we have established that God created everything let's take a look at His role in creating us.  Genesis 2:7 then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. God then created us, the human race out of the dust.  What is the significance of this?  All the rest of creation He spoke into existence but with us He took the time to form us and breathe His very breath into us thereby separating us from the rest of creation.  Why is this the case? Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created us in His own image, and gave us authority over the rest of creation.  Then in Genesis 3 comes what is referred to as the fall of Man.  In trying to become like God, mankind ate fruit from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil thereby condemning mankind.  Why did this happen? It's a long story for another time but the short version is because God gave us free-will and because we are not God we use our free-will to make bad decisions.

God did not just create us and then turn us loose.  He has an individual plan for each and every one of us.  Jeremiah 1:5"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Now while these are God's words to Jeremiah that doesn't make it any less true for anyone today.  God loves us and has a plan for each us, but because of the free-will He gifted us with we must choose whether or not to accept that plan.  What is God's plan in your life? That you accept His gift of grace offered through the sacrifice of His Son so that we might be reconciled back to God despite our inherent sinful nature. Romans 5:10 For while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. After being reconciled back to God then we can further find His plans for us in His Word (the Bible).  But I can go ahead and tell you his overarching plan for all of us.  Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. God wants you to go and spread the Good News of his Son.  We who sinned against God are called to be reconciled to him so that we can go and spread the Gospel to all nations so that they might in turn be reconciled.  

Like I said earlier, we have been given free-will so that we might choose whether or not to follow God's plan for us.  He did this because He knows that in order for us to show our truest devotion to Him that we have to choose to give Him that devotion.  Do I know what God has specifically planned for your life? No. That's between you and Him.  But I do know that it is His will that all of his children be reconciled to Him (Romans 5:10) and to spread the good news of His grace to the whole world (Matthew 28:18-20).

No Excuses

Ezekiel 3-  17 “Son of man I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth you shall give them warning from me.  18 If I say to the wicked ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require by your hand. 19 But if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. 20 Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and the righteous deeds he has done will not be remembered, but his blood I will require by your hand. 21 But if you warn the righteous man not to sin, and he does not sin, then he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.”

                As a Christian the first time I read these verses just a couple of weeks ago I was greatly troubled.  It bothered me so much that I am still losing sleep over it.  The reason that this passage bothers me so much and should bother you too, my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, should be quite clear but I will spell it out.  God has given us the charge of spreading the gospel all over the world.  As a matter of fact that is exactly the last thing Jesus commanded us to do before his departure to heaven (Matthew 28:18-20).

                So Jesus has commanded us to go spread the Gospel around the world and has entrusted us with his Holy word as a means to do that.  This was God giving us the warning to spread among the wicked so that they might acknowledge their sins and turn from them.  Who is the wicked? Everyone is wicked.  Romans 3:23- “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  No one in the world can be considered righteous on his/her own merits because we have all broken God’s law in some way.

                What does Ezekiel 3:17-21 have to do with this?  My friends, what God told Ezekiel is that if God told him to warn a wicked man to turn from his sins or die and Ezekiel did not do it then when that person reaped the fruit of his sin (as stated in Romans 6:23) then God will hold Ezekiel accountable for that man’s death.  It is the same with you and me, if we know someone who is living in sin and we don’t try to reach them with the Gospel of Christ even though we know we should.  When we stand before God on our Judgment Day, then God is going to hold us responsible for that person’s fate.

                Can you imagine that? God is the Creator, Father, King, and Judge.  His goodness is perfect in every way and because of that He is going to sentence unrepentant sinners to Hell because that is what is required.  He is going to do that even though He created those sinners in his image because he is a Just Judge who always does what is right even though it might break His heart.  How would you like to stand before God and have Him question you as to why you didn’t do as He commanded you and share the Gospel with one of His children therefore forcing God to sentence His  own creation to an eternity in Hell.  Can you imagine the anger and the pain? It’s making me sick just thinking about it.

                We can make up all sorts of excuses to put off sharing the Gospel with someone.  “I’m scared of what they will think?” “I’m too young.” “I haven’t been a believer long enough.” “I just don’t know enough yet.” All of these excuses sound very good in our own ears.  I am guilty of it too, especially that last excuse.  But after I finished reading the book of Ezekiel I went on to read the book of Jeremiah and God had an answer for me there in the first chapter.

Jeremiah 1: 6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord LORD! Behold I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” 7 But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.”

                You want that simplified? No excuses accepted.  God has given us the Bible as his Holy Word and with it we are supposed to proclaim the Gospel to everyone.  Whether we are young or old, as long as we keep striving to further the Gospel, God will give us the words and wisdom to use His Word to reach his lost, rebellious children. 

                So here I am writing this.  If you are a Christian reading this then I hope what God told Ezekiel and Jeremiah affects  you like it did me and that it motivates you to do what you can to spread the Gospel.  That is why am writing this.  This will be the first of hopefully many writings that are meant to strengthen and encourage my Brothers and Sisters in Christ , and at the same time, teach those who do not know Christ more  him so that they might understand the extent of his sacrifice for them.  For the Gospel is good news indeed.

                Romans 3: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.  This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

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