Is Bible Study Important

Happy Sunday. Today we look at our first spiritual discipline, Bible study. I'll answer the question, is Bible study important? Spoiler alert, the answer is a resounding yes.

Why is it a big deal? The discipline of Bible study will protect you from this crazy world. In a few short days, many graduating or few short weeks, many graduating high school seniors will head off to college. Away from home, they'll have more freedom than ever before.

Suppose a freshman with no clue of what the Bible says is approached by a man who offers him a million dollars to rob a bank and kill the staff. The planner of the crime has it all figured out. It's the perfect crime. No chance at all of being caught.

$1 million for one hour work. If that freshman has no biblical training, they've never heard thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, they may just do the unthinkable. Now, let's take it down a notch. Suppose that same freshman is offered drugs or sex before marriage.

What happens with no foundation? Now, that's going to happen a lot. I hope you get the point. It's vital that we are students of scripture and we make sure our kids are as well.

Listen to this wisdom from the first psalm. Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path that sinners tread or sit in the seat of scoffers. But their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in season, and their leaves do not wither.

In all they do, they prosper. At church last Sunday morning, I was so happy to watch as 10 college students were commissioned to spend their summer spreading the gospel in Poland, Japan, and in a region of the Himalayas. Those young people have been exposed to the truth from God's word. Back to the question, is Bible study important?

You know, it is. One of my favorite biblical stories is found in Luke chapter 16. Jesus tells a story there about a rich man who spent his days in great luxury. At the gate of his estate sat a very poor man covered with soores.

The poor million's name happened to be Lazarus. It seems that both of these men died at about the same time. And I'm going to pick up the story beginning at verse 22 of the 16th chapter of Luke. There we are told, "The poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the heavenly banquet.

The rich man also died and was buried and he went to the place of the dead. There in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side. And the rich man shouted, "Father Abraham, have some pity. Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue.

I'm in anguish in these flames." The poor man in heaven, the rich man in hell. But Abraham said to the rich man's son, "Remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted and Lazarus had nothing. So now he's here being comforted and you are in anguish.

And besides, there's a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here and no one can cross over to us from there." And then the rich man said, "Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father's home, for I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don't end up in this place of torment." But Abraham said, "They have Moses and the prophets."

The rich man replied, "No, Father Abraham. If someone is sent to them from the dead, then that'll get their attention. they'll repent of their sins and turn to God. But Abraham said, "If they won't listen to Moses and the prophets, they won't be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead."

That story has a great great lesson. When the rich man was begging for Lazarus to go warn his family, to warn them that heaven and hell are very real, he was given the answer, "They have Moses and the prophets. Your brothers can read the Bible was the answer the rich man gave." But it was argued, "No, Father Abraham, if someone is sent from the dead, they'll repent of their sins and turn to God."

But Abraham said, "If they won't listen to Moses, if they won't listen to the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead and goes to tell them." The answer to the rich man's dilemma was read the book. Now, please note, and this is interesting, the only book available at that time was the Old Testament, Moses, the prophets. Today in our lifetime we are so blessed.

We have so much more. We have the complete story. We have the story of Jesus. We have his words.

We have the New Testament and we should know it. If you have access to a computer, you have access to some of the greatest Bible study tools out there. Many of them are free. If you want to have some names of them, send me an email and I'll send you some websites that you'll love that are free.

I have a friend going through cancer surgeries right now and she's using her computer to watch sermons from all sorts of folks to re receive strength and encouragement from biblical teaching. We should all be in the habit of daily reading God's word. It's a discipline that we must develop if we are to stand strong. I challenge you to do that.

I read recently that it takes about 70 hours to read the Bible from cover to cover. I hope you've done that and you'll keep doing it as long as you can read. Pray with me. Father God, thank you for your word.

Help us to hide it in our hearts so that we don't sin against you. Help it to be a light into our path so we walk the right way. Encourage us, Father, to get to know you better through the discipline of Bible study. In the name of Jesus I pray.

Amen. God bless. Have a great week.