An Urgent Appeal To Search the Scriptures, “How Readest Thou?”, Part 2

September, 2002

by: Jim Barnfather

Continuing with our study on this great 62 page book, “How Readest Thou?”, the author, J. C. Ryle presses the point of Romans 15:4; 3:2 that the Bible was “written for our learning” and is “the oracles of God.” No book in existence contains the framework and importance of directing our daily life as does the Bible. The Bible alone gives a true and faithful account of man, of the beginning and end of the earth on which we live. The Bible alone gives us true views of God; that He only has made a full, perfect, and complete provision for the salvation of fallen sinners. That the atonement by the sacrifice and death of His own perfect, unblemished son upon the cross completed the just for the unjust. The Bible promises a new heart and new nature to all who will hear and follow the God–man, Christ Jesus.

Oh, how important is the knowledge of the great book! How precious are the promises, which the Bible contains for those who love God. How blessed the hope which the Bible holds out to believers in Christ Jesus; peace, rest, and happiness in the hour of death. No book in existence has produced such wonderful effects on mankind as the Bible. It is the Book whose doctrines turned the world upside down in the days of the apostles, and continues twenty centuries later. No book in existence can do so much for everyone who reads it rightly as the Bible. It does not profess to teach the wisdom of this world, or explain geology, astronomy, mathematics, or philosophy, The Bible is “able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). The Bible shows you what you are — a sinner. The Bible shows you what God is — perfectly holy. The Bible shows you the great giver of pardon, peace, and grace — Jesus Christ. The man who reads, knows and lives the truths of the Bible has everything, which is absolutely needful to make him spiritually wise. Our closing questions are questions we first asked. What do you do with your Bible? Do you read it? How well is your study? Do you live it? Consider those questions as you pick up and begin reading the Bible. “How Readest Thou?”