THE BIBLE: GOD’S MAP Guidance – Part 2

‘By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path.’ Psalm 119:105 MSG

1. CONFIDENTLY SUBMIT TO THE BIBLE

‘All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.’ 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT

N.T. Wright: ‘How can the Bible be authoritative?’ John Stott: ‘On the Bible and the Christian life’

“If God has spoken, listen! If God has recorded his words in a Book, search its pages with a believing heart. If you do not accept it as God’s inspired word, I cannot invite you to pay any particular attention to it;

but if you regard it as the Book of God, I charge you, as I shall meet you at the judgement seat of Christ, study the Bible daily. Treat not the Eternal God with disrespect, but delight in His Word.” C.H. Spurgeon

2. GET TO GRIPS WITH THE BIBLE

‘Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night.

They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.’ Psalm 1:1-3 NLT

3. ACCURATELY INTERPRET THE BIBLE

‘…“You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.”’ Matthew 22:29 NIV

‘“But about the resurrection of the dead – have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”’ Matthew 22:31-32 NIV

Resources: ESV Study Bible, including online version Tom Wright ‘... for everyone’ New Testament series / The Bible Speaks Today commentaries ‘Bible In One Year’ by Nicky Gumbel

4. WILLINGLY APPLY THE BIBLE

‘Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it – not forgetting what they have heard but doing it – they will be blessed in what they do.’ James 1:22-25 NIV

‘Sing to the LORD, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name.’ Psalm 30:4 NLT

‘They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”’ Luke 24:32 NLT