”To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”

They do not have a clue what the Bible says. They do not read or study their Bibles. What are the implications? Provable fact that most Americans are biblically illiterate.

"Americans revere the Bible--but, by and large, they don't read it. And because they don't read it, they have become a nation of biblical illiterates.“ George Gallup and Jim Castelli Gallup Poll Survey

Fewer than half of adults can name the four gospels. Many Christian can only name a couple of the apostles. 60 percent of Americans can only name five or fewer of the 10 commandments. 82 percent of Americans think, “God helps those who help themselves,” is a verse found in the Bible. 12 percent of Americans thought Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife.

 More than 50 percent of graduating seniors in one survey believed that Sodom and Gomorrah were a husband and wife.  A significant number of respondents in one survey believed the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham.  8 percent of teens surveyed believed Moses was one of the 12 apostles.  In a Barna poll, significant respondents believed Jesus sinned, reject the existence of Satan, deny the existence of Hell, half didn’t know the birth narrative of Christ was in Matthew and Luke.

 It was not a problem of our forefathers.  Absence of Bible teaching in public education.  Lack of respect for Bible accuracy even in churches.  Breakdown of the home – no Bible taught there.  Alternative teaching forms – modern media.

 Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no love no acknowledgment of God in the land. 2 There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Because of this the land mourns, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea are dying…

It destroys the individual Amos 8: "The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD, "when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.

See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—even eternal life.

Hebrews 5:11-14 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.”

Isaiah 5:13, Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the LORD's anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.

The problem is ours to fix

Psalm 119: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119: Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me.

Deuteronomy 6: These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Ephesians 6:4 -- Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

2 Timothy 4: In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction…

…3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

 If we’re not strengthening our Bible knowledge we aren’t accomplishing our calling in Christ.  It is through His word that we are set free:  John 8: To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

We are to feed upon the word of God. We are to feed upon every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. How’s you knowledge of the Bible? Feast? Or famine?