Spiritual Disciplines – 02

Scripture Intake

Text: Matthew 4:4

Place Preached - (Mississauga International Baptist Church)

Date Preached - (09/28/03) PM service

Introduction:   

“The alternative to Discipline is Disaster” – Vance Havner

ILLUS: Where Would We Be Without A Bible?

1. In our Morality?

2. In Our Understanding of Life?  It’s Trials & Triumphs?  It’s Purpose? Etc.

3. In relationship to Christ and the Gospel?

4. In terms of our Spiritual Maturity?  (if we could be saved).

No Spiritual Discipline is more important than the Intake of God’s Word!!   No Substitute for it!

It is Milk, Bread, Meat & Honey

It sustains, fortifies, satisfies, stimulates and excites our spiritual senses.

It sharpens us, prepares us, energizes us.

It corrects, convicts, and encourages us.

It shows us our lost condition, how we have broken God’s law, and it’s consequences.

It shows us the Remedy for our sin in the blessed person of the Lord Jesus Christ!!

The Bible instructs us in how we can please God and be like the Lord Jesus Christ – which is not only pleasing to God, but fulfilling for us.

ILLUS. & STATS:  Lack of Bible Reading and it’s importance to us today.

11% of Gen pop. Read the Bible regularly.  18% of professing believers read it everyday.

ILLUS: The Dust Storm if every one read their Bibles at once.

What are the Self-Disciplines of Scripture Intake?

I. Hearing God’s Word

This is the easiest part in a way. It can be accomplished through several means.

A. Through Faithful Church Attendance

Listening to the preaching.

This is one very good reason not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Heb. 10:25).

Quite Frankly – This concerns me a lot!!

Develop the habit of steadfast attendance to the place where God’s Word is faithfully preached.  Is that all so hard?

1 John 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Now the purpose for hearing is Obedience.

Luke 11:28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

Revelation 1:33Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

James 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Then there is the issue of Faith which is produced by hearing God’s Word.

Romans 10:1717So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

1. This is faith for Salvation (but doesn’t stop there!)

2. Faith for day-to-day living.

FOR INSTANCE....

A discouraging circumstance / Financial struggles / Family issues / Problems on the job / Victory needed over besetting sins.

B. Through recorded messages.

Cassette / CD / Video

Radio / TV careful!  NOW the Internet

GREAT!!! But be careful – does not take the place of attendance in the Local Church.

C. Hearing is A Priority

It must be a priority!!

1 Timothy 4:13  Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

D How to Approach the time of Hearing the Word

1 Thessalonians 2:13  For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

We must be careful in our personal approach and anticipation of it’s hearing.

Do you prepare yourself to hear God’s Word?

Ask yourself the following questions before each message...

What is my Purpose here?

What do I need?

What is it I will be hearing?

Pray for the message and the messenger.

Ask God to speak to you.

As you see, Hearing the Word is not passive listening, but a cultivated discipline.

II. Reading God’s Word.

25% of professing Christians say they never read God’s Word.

Matthew 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Since He did say “Every word”, He must have at least intended for us to read every word.

2 Timothy 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

How often should we read our Bibles?

• How often do we face problems & temptations?

• How often do we need instruction, encouragement, guidance?

• How often do we need to know God’s presence and His power?

Here are some practical suggestions for consistent success in Bible Reading.

A. Find the Time

Morning, Noon or Night – It will take discipline

Set a specific time – Allot a specific amount of time.

Takes 71 hours to read Bible through at a single setting.

B. Find & Use A Bible Reading Plan

Read from OT & NT everyday.

Read 3 chapters a day and 5 on Sundays to take you through once in a year.

Or 3 chapters OT and 3 chapters NT very day to take you once through OT and 4 times through NT in  one year.

Another plan advocates reading a book at a sitting.

Some encourage reading it by its sections.  One portion every day from each of the following sections:

The Law / History / Poetry / Prophets / NT

C. Find a word, phrase, or verse to meditate on each time you read.

Job 23:12  Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

ILLUS: Man in Kansas city who lost eyesight and both hands in an explosion.  One of his greatest disappointments was that he could no longer read the Bible. He heard about a lady in England who read braille with her lips, but discovered his nerve endings had been damaged too badly, he finally learned to read Braille Bible with his tongue. He had read through four times!!! Pg. 30-31 of Sp. Disc of the Chr. Life by Whitney.

III. Studying God’s Word

Reading gives us breadth and Study gives us depth.

ILLUS: Cruising across the lake, or slowly crossing in a glass bottom boat. 

Reading is for Altitude, scope, perspective.  Study is for unearthing nuggets, treasures etc.

A. OT EXAMPLE

Ezra

Ezra 7:10  For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.

Nehemiah 8:1-8

B. NT EXAMPLES

The Bereans

Acts 17:11  These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

Paul

2 Timothy 4:13  The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.

He continued to Study God’s Word until he died!!

We fail not because it is difficult to understand, not because it is boring, but because it is work.

C. TOOLS for Study of God’s Word.

Start Simple – Begin with Bible, Pencil & Paper

Record your insights, discoveries, questions, key words, cross references.

Other tools – word study books – Vines etc.  Historical and background content – Bible Dictionary.   Concordance – Treasury of Scripture Knowledge – Commentaries.

Conclusion:     (Review)

QUESTIONS....

1. If your growth in Godliness were measured by the quality of your Bible intake, what would be the result?

John17:17

2. What one thing can you do to improve your intake of God’s Word?

Church attendance / Sermon tapes / Daily Reading / Study Materials.

Let's finish this chapter with a substantial word of encouragement. It's from a helpful booklet, Reading the Bible, by a Welsh pastor named Geoffrey Thomas. Whenever he writes of reading the Bible, also think of hearing and studying it as well.

Do not expect to master the Bible in a day, or a month, or a year. Rather expect often to be puzzled by its contents. It is not all equally clear. Great men of God often feel like absolute novices when they read the Word. The apostle Peter said that there were some things hard to understand in the epistles of Paul (2 Peter 3:16). 1 am glad he wrote those words because I have felt that often. So do not expect always to get an emotional charge or a feeling of quiet peace when you read the Bible. By the grace of God you may expect that to be a frequent experience, but often you will get no emotional response at all. Let the Word break over your heart and mind again and again as the years go by, and imperceptibly there will come great changes in your attitude and outlook and conduct. You will probably be the last to recognize these. Often you will feel very, very small, because increasingly the God of the Bible will become to you wonderfully great. So go on reading it until you can read no longer, and then you will not need the Bible any more, because when your eyes close for the last time in death, and never again read the Word of God in Scripture you will open them to the Word of God in the flesh, that same Jesus of the Bible whom you have known for so long, standing before you to take you for ever to His eternal home