A LIGHT UNTO MY PATH
(2 Timothy 3:16-17)
“The Importance of Studying Your Bible”
The Scripture reading this morning will be from 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verses 16 and 17. And the title of the message is “A Light Unto My Path.”
Last Sunday I mentioned five “IF’s” that will be required if Grace Memorial Baptist Church is going to grow closer to the Lord and also grow in numbers. The five “IF’s” were:
IF everyone will study their Bibles daily;
IF everyone will pray daily (for the church, for each other, for a lost person;
IF everyone will attend Sunday School, Sunday morning and evening worship services, and Wednesday night Bible study;
IF everyone will witness to at least one lost person each month; and
IF everyone will invite at least one person each week to church;
These five “IF’s” are important not only for us to mature as individuals, they are also important for us to grow as a church.
If we will be faithful to do these five things, then our church will grow closer to the Lord and we will grow in numbers.
I gave every member who was here a workbook to help you keep up with your efforts.
If you are a member here and didn’t get one, please see me after the service and I’ll give you one. We want every member to be involved.
The workbook is an accountability tool. You’re not accountable to me. You’re not accountable to the deacons or to your Sunday School teacher.
No one else will look at your book unless you show them, but it will help keep you accountable to yourself and to God.
This morning I’m going to start a series of messages that deal with the five “IF’s” of church growth. The first message will be on the importance of Bible study. Let’s read:
2 Timothy 3: 16-17, “ 16All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
According to George Barna Research, “memorizing and studying the Bible are low priorities. Their most recent surveys show that about half of all adult Americans listen to preaching or Bible teaching in a typical week.
And, even though, 1 out of 3 read the Bible during the week, only 1 out of 10 claim to study the Bible weekly and fewer than 1 out of 25 devote themselves to memorizing at least one new Bible verse per week.”
Is it any wonder that this once great Christian nation is slipping farther and farther away from God?
D.L. Moody, a well-known evangelist in the 1800’s, once said, “ I prayed for faith and thought that some day it would come down and strike me like lightning.
But faith didn’t seem to come. One day I read in Romans that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”
I had up to this time, closed my Bible and prayed for faith. Now I opened my Bible and began to study and faith has been growing ever since.”
Do you want to have a faith that will move mountains? Do you want to have a prayer life that packs a powerful punch?
Then pray with your Bibles open. Study and pray and pray and study, and then pray some more.
The Book of Psalms is a good place to start, go to Psalms and pray along with King David. Pray the Scriptures. Listen to some of the heartfelt prayer that David prayed in Psalm 25,
“ 1 To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, I trust in You;
Let me not be ashamed;
Let not my enemies triumph over me.” (Psalm 25:1,2)
“ 4 Show me Your ways, O Lord;
Teach me Your paths.
5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day.”(Psalm 25:4,5)
Or go to 1 Chronicles 4: 10, and pray the prayer of Jabez, “ 10 . . . Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!”
The end of the verse says, “So God granted him what he requested.” His prayers packed a powerful punch.
A survey showed that 92% of all households in the United States owns at least one Bible, but owning a Bible and studying a Bible are two different things.
I own a Webster’s dictionary, but I certainly don’t know the meanings and pronunciation of all the words in it. Because I don’t study Webster’s Dictionary.
If you went to all those households that have a Bible and asked them to show you their Bible, most of them wouldn’t even know they had one and if they did, they wouldn’t know where they had them hid.
Even though 92% of the households in this country claim to own a Bible, only 37% of those surveyed say they read it once a week. Those who claim to read their Bibles once a week, spend an average of only 52 minutes reading it.
There are Christians who will spend 20 hours a week watching T.V., or reading a juicy novel, or working crossword puzzles, but they don’t have the time to study the most important Book ever written, the Word of God.
Now, let’s take our priorities and weigh them on the scales. If we spend 2 – 3 hours a day watching T.V., and we spend less than 10 minutes a day studying the Bible, which one is more likely to have the biggest influence on our lives?
Why is it so important that we study our Bibles daily? Because:
1. THE BIBLE IS “GOD-BREATHED” -
Verse 16 says that, “16All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” The Bible is the inspired Word of God.
This means that it is “God breathed.” God spoke to the hearts of the various writers and they faithfully wrote down His Word.
Our Bible had its beginning about 1400 years before Christ. God spoke to Moses, and Moses picked up his writing instrument and began writing the first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy.
More than 1500 years later, the Bible was completed. God spoke to John the apostle on a small island in the Mediterranean Sea, and gave him the Book of Revelation.
Over the centuries, God inspired forty-four men from different backgrounds to write the sixty-six books of the Bible.
But, in spite of the different time periods and differences in talent, this Book has a oneness and a wholeness that can only come from one Source.
Why is it important that we study our Bibles daily? Because it is the Word of our Creator God.
He made us. He owns us, and He speaks to us through His Word. But, not only that.
2. THE BIBLE IS PROFITABLE -
It says so in verse 16. What does it mean, when it says that all Scripture is “profitable?” Does that mean if we study the Bible we will become wealthy? If you are a born-again Christian, you are already wealthy.
You are a child of the King, and you will inherit the kingdom.
Matthew 25: 34 says, “ 34“Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:”
Since we’re on the subject of inheritance, hold your places at 2 Timothy, and turn back to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, beginning with verse 9 for just a moment.
Those of us who are saved will inherit the kingdom of God, but what about those who are unsaved? Let’s read:
1 Corinthians 6: 9-10, “ 9Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”
When some of the Corinthian Christians read that, I’m sure their jaws dropped and their hearts sank.
“What does he mean, “adulterers” can’t get into heaven.” “How dare he tell us that homosexuals won’t inherit the kingdom of God.”
One poor guy was probably crying over in the corner thinking, “Oh, man! I got drunk one night and coveted my neighbor’s donkey and took it on a joy ride. That’s three strikes!”
Then, when they read verse eleven there was a big sigh of relief that went up from the crowd.
It says, “ 11And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
Getting back to 2 Timothy. The word “profitable” doesn’t mean that reading the Bible will make you wealthy by worldly standards. The word “profitable” here means “beneficial.”
All Scripture is beneficial or advantageous to those who read it. It is a good thing.
A. It’s good for doctrine. Our doctrine as a church is what we believe about God, about Christ, about the church, and about mankind.
The earliest doctrine of the Christian church stated that (1) Jesus was the Messiah; (2) that God raised Him from the dead; and (3) that salvation was by faith in His name.
This is our doctrine. This is what we believe as Christians.
So the Scriptures are good for doctrine. How are we going to know what is true doctrine and what is false doctrine if we don’t study the Word of God? Scripture is also:
B. Good or profitable for reproof and correction.
God’s word will scold us and admonish us to do what is right. That is what reproof means.
No one likes to be reproved, but we all need it from time to time. That is why the world hates the Word of God.
Those of the world want sin to be tolerated. They value political correctness over Biblical correctness.
God’s Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths. It will lead us to righteousness and away from the paths of sin if we will heed it.
The sinful world hates light. Jesus said in John 3: 20-21, “ 20“For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21“But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
So the Word of God let’s us know when we step out of line. It is profitable for reproof and for correction. It is also:
C. Profitable for Instruction in Righteousness -
Did you know that the Bible was one of the main textbooks in our public schools in the 1700’s and 1800’s?
Public school children were required to study it and they were encouraged to memorize as much of it as they could.
It wasn’t against the law back then to mention the name of Jesus. Public school teachers prayed with their students at the beginning of every school day.
And there was a Bible on every student’s desk.
Abraham Lincoln said this about the Bible, “ I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to men. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book.”
The Bible is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, and verse 17 says, so “17that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Can you still be saved and be a Christian if you don’t study your Bible? The answer is “Yes, you can.” But if you don’t study your Bibles you won’t be complete.
You won’t be fulfilled. You won’t be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
You’ll be stumbling along like someone walking in the dark without a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path.
To be the best that we can be for God, for others and for ourselves, it is so important that we spend time studying and digesting God’s Word.
Word Count – 2060
Grace Memorial Baptist Church
January 7, 2007
