Billy Graham made a statement concerning the Bible in “Applying the Antidote” in the section, “Guidelines for Christian Living,”
Ninety-five percent of the difficulties you will experience as a Christian can be traced to a lack of Bible study and reading (MasterWork, Fall 2009, p. 162).
We have often said that ignorance is a malady plaguing Christianity. We are not talking about being stupid, dumb, moronic, imbecilic, or a dufis; all those terms my sister used to call me when growing up. We are referring to a lack of knowledge, willful ignorance, not an inability to learn about a specific subject. We all choose to know or not to know about something. With the cumulative codified knowledge base of the world expanding so rapidly, it is humanly impossible not to be ignorant in many areas. Given our human limitations, it is impossible to know everything, even if we possessed a photographic memory and had an IQ of 200+.
But we do make individual choices in what we desire to know. We always have a tendency to learn about those things that benefit us in some way, in our job, in our career field, in our business ventures, passions, or hobbies. Though we cannot know everything, sometimes, however, a lack of knowledge about some things can be very detrimental to us. How many times have we muttered to ourselves, “If I had only known, I would have done this or not have done that” or “I wish I knew then what I know now.”
In our spiritual life we cannot obey the great command of Scripture to love God with the totality of our being without learning about the object of our love. We are not in love with a three letter name, G-O-D,or a metaphysical idea or concept. Our love is directed toward a Person; His personal name is Yahweh; a name He has given Himself (Ex 3:13-14). Love by its very nature implies relationship. In order to know God and experience Him in a relational way it is imperative we learn about Him through the only source that tells all about who God is and what He is about, the Scriptures.
To learn and apply Scriptures is to know God in an intimate way. Jesus stated it very plainly, If you love Me, keep My commandments (Jn 14:15). We when are obeying God’s Word we are loving Him.The opposite is true; we when are disobedient, we are not loving Him as commanded; we have a love or heart problem.The more we desire to know about the Scriptures and apply those truths to our lives the greater our love grows toward God. Why are so many believers ignorant of the Bible then?
Ignorance betrays a heart or love problem. Ignorance breeds disobedience. Ignorance here is not being compared against the knowledge of great Bible teachers, pastors, and scholars. Ignorance in this context has to do with the lack of knowledge on how to live life according to or in harmony with the teaching of Scripture. It doesn’t mean you know everything about the Word; we can know a lot about the Word and not be in love with God; an example of this are the fallen angels who follow after Satan. But it does mean we are growing in the knowledge of Christ, maturing in the faith (2 Pet 3:18).
This doesn’t require any formal training in a Bible college or seminary. Ignorance or a lack of knowledge of the Bible is the result of a wrong desire. It is a desire to know about other things that are considered more important than knowing the Word of God. God’s Word takes a backseat to a love for other things. Whenever the Bible is read, it is read for different reasons. John MacArthur listed below on how not to read the Bible and then concludes the right way.
Don’t read the Bible traditionally because your parents read it.
Don’t read it superstitiously as if it’s going to deliver some religious charm.
Don’t read it educationally to know the facts.
Don’t read it professionally for material in your lesson or your sermon.
Don’t read it inquisitively just so you can bring out the latest biblical trivia and appear to be a scholar.
Here is the recommendation on how to read the Bible, Read it because it’s nourishment. Read it because you can’t live without it…. (GTY.org, 1 Peter 2:1-3). This is the kind of desire missing in Christianity. Many believers are malnourished spiritually; they are living out their lives apart from the Scriptures. They are not in love with God, and their lifestyle reflects that.
Many of God’s people are ignorant of God’s ways because the object of their desires is not toward Him. The Word of God is not the rule of their life; you have heard the old adage,
Sin will keep you from this Book or this Book will keep you from sin.
The Apostle Peter talked about the kind of desire God expects from us toward the Scriptures. Peter helps us in clarifying our desires in a way that is pleasing to God when it comes to the Word of God. This is so important because a proper desire toward the Word of God is foundational for spiritual growth and blessing. God reveals Himself through the Scriptures. Therefore, a lack of knowledge of the Scriptures is indicative of a lack of knowledge of God. It is an inescapable conclusion.
How do you love someone you don’t know? God is not a philosophy; He is not a principle; He is not a power; God is a Person! The more we desire to know the Scriptures for the purpose of really getting to know Him, the more our love develops and grows into a deeper relationship with Him. We must go to the only reliable place to encounter God, the Word of God; it is not necessary for us to go to the woods or some high place to experience Him, to have an encounter with God.
Paul instructed Timothy that All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:16-17).
If you feel that you must go to the woods or some lofty place to encounter God, take the Word of God with you! Don’t go without it! God never contradicts His Word. If you are not grounded in the Word, experiences can contradict the truth of the Bible. If a mystical experience violates the teaching of Scripture, that experience is bogus and of the devil. Reject it; and seek the counsels of the Scriptures and leaders who hold the Word in high esteem.
1Pe 2:1-3, Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
Desire (epipotheo) is an aorist imperative compound verb. Whenever a preposition is added to a verb the action is intensified. It means to long for, to crave, to yearn, to desire greatly, a compelling desire. Desire is also a generic verb; it can be used in both a positive and negative sense depending upon the context (cf. Jas 4:5 in negative sense where the object is a forbidden desire). Peter makes use of this verb in the positive sense, to have a compelling, burning desire for the Word of God. This desire that Peter is speaking about is commanded, by the way.
In the Septuagint (LXX, the Greek translation of the OT) this same verb is found in Psalm 42:1,
As the deer pants for the water books, so pants my soul for You, O God.
Here the verb is used of a thirsty deer panting for water, and the psalmist uses this analogy to describe his desire for God. We all understand desire and what it means to hunger, to thirst, to have a driving desire for something, to long for love and affection, to crave for something in order to satisfy an insatiable desire, good or bad, a consuming passion that is strong, intense, and compelling. This kind of desire grabs our attention, like hunger or thirst (cf. Mt 5:6; Jn 6:35). In clarifying our desires, Peter states the quality of that desire should be an insatiable craving. a craving for what? Peter now gives the object of that desire – the pure milk of the word.
Pure (adolos, only used here) means without guile, without deceit, without contamination, unadulterated.
The Word of God is the only Book we will ever go to without having to worry if we are getting bad information, or about being unreliable or untrustworthy. There are no hidden agendas, no mistakes, no errors, no miscalculations, and no imperfections (cf. 2 Tim 3:16-17). The only goal of Scripture is to make us Christlike as we spread the gospel to a lost and dying world. It is so reliable and trustworthy that we base our eternal destiny upon it; we make it our rule of life while everyone else is ignoring or rejecting the truth of God’s Word. Our world view is God’s view of the world.
The world claims, “There are mistakes in the Bible, contradictions; you can’t trust it; it is a book by man; it opposes evolution. The God of the Bible is not who He claims to be; a God of love doesn’t allow pain and suffering!” But to those who love God, the Bible is more precious than gold (Ps 19:10)!
Milk in this passage has more to do with desire (like newborn babies desiring a mother’s milk), not elementary truth, milk versus solid food, cf. 1 Cor 3:2; Jn 16:12).
Of the word (Word = logikos [derived from the root word, logos] used only here and Rom 12:1, reasonable, rational, logical, spiritual). This refers to the spiritual nourishment found in the Word of God (cf. Deut 8:3; Mat 4:4). In 1 Pet 1:25 Peter already revealed what the word has reference to in 1 Pet 2:2,
But the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
The milk of the word is linked to the eternal and saving word of God. The Word is our source of spiritual nourishment, reflecting the mind of God; the Scriptures are the mind of God. If we are to have the mind of God we must learn and apply the Scriptures.
In clarifying our desires toward the Word, Peter tells us what kind of desire we are to have:
As newborn babes, as babies crave milk, we are to crave God’s Word. It is a natural tendency for a baby to be fed. They will let you know when they are hungry. Life will be miserable until they are fed! Babies have a natural compulsion to feed. That craving should never go away.
We are instructed to do all kinds of things with the Word. Here are some examples.
Meditate, Josh 1:8; Ps 19:14
Desire, Ps 19:10; 1 Pet 2:2
Delight, Ps 40:8
Grow, 2 Pet 3:18
Taste, Ps 119:103
Hide, Ps 119:11
Love, Ps 119:97
Abide, Jn 8:31
Hear, Jn 8:47
Search, Acts 17:11
Treat the Word like a sword, Eph 6:17
Think, Php 4:8
Teach, 1 Tim 4:11
Read, 1 Tim 4:13
Preach, 2 Tim 4:2
(cf. Ps 119:1-176) I recommend taking time out to read this chapter illustrating what our attitude needs to be toward the Word of God. Love for God and love for His Word go hand in hand: to know to be to do like God because we are deeply in love with Him.
Peter in clarifying our desires understood that before we do any of those things above, there has to be a craving or desire for the Word of God for sustenance. Everything else will flow out of that longing.
There is a prescription containing five ingredients for developing a desire for God’s Word. The medicine goes by the acronym READS.
· Rely upon the power of the Word to transform you (cf. Rom 12:2; Heb 4:12; Jer 23:29; Rom 1:16).
1. 1 Pet 1:25, But the word of the LORD endures forever. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. The Word brought us salvation (new life in Christ) and it has the power for our sanctification (to develop Christlikeness).
2. For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe (1 Thess 2:13).
3. We have no problem in believing the Word for our eternal security but in our temporary situations our faith does not share the same reliance on the Word. We trust Him in our deliverance but do not seek His advice in the daily affairs of life. Whatever the Word can do in our salvation (positional sanctification) it can equally do in our progressive sanctification (becoming Christlike) in the daily walk.
· Eliminate sin in your life.
1. Therefore (1 Pet 2:1) refers back to previous chapter, because of the transforming power of the Word, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking
2. Laying aside (aorist middle imperative participle) is a command to strip off like clothing the filthy things in our life. Laying aside and desire (v. 2) are commanded.
i. All malice, wickedness in general, thinking and acting like the world.
ii. All deceit, decoy, guile, bait, deception, dishonesty.
iii. Hypocrisy, not genuine, not real, phony, fake, pretending to be something we are not.
iv. Envy, jealousy, a desire to have what others have, to be who others are, to resent others because it is not your situation.
v. All evil speaking, defamation, slander, speaking unkindly, disparaging remarks, gossiping, malicious, backbiting
vi. There is a downward progression with these sins starting with malice and ending with evil speaking. All of these are sin-fillers: sweet going in; bitter going out. They curb or kill the appetite for God’s Word, like eating sweets before a meal. All of these are contrary to 1 Pet 1:22, love one another fervently with a pure heart. All of these sins are a violation of the second commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mk 12:31) which is inextricably linked with the first command to love God (Mk 12:30). Our failure to love God with all our heart is revealed when our behavior toward our neighbors takes a downward spiral. Think on how much time we spend on these things in our mind and conversation with the things of God. Does the bad outweigh the good?
· Admit your need for spiritual nourishment.
1. As newborn babes, Christianity is not a psychological crutch anymore than a baby desiring milk for food. As the breast is the source of nourishment for a baby, the Word of God is to the believer. It is our source for spiritual nourishment and protection, it contains important antibodies to ward off sin and temptation.
2. We never arrive in our journey toward Christlikeness. Paul said in Php 3:12, Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected, but I press on…. Pride prevents pressing on.
3. Jesus even made use of Scripture in dealing with His temptation in Matt 4:4, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
4. Those who say, “I don’t really need to study the Bible; I’ve gotten this far without it; and I am no less for wear” betrays their infantile mentality and a life characterized by pride. Why start now? Two reasons: [1] it’s sin; fellowship is broken (Jas 4:17; cf. 1 Jn 1:9); [2] our faithfulness to God will be judged (2 Cor 5:10).
· Desire to grow in Christ (1 Pet 2:2; 2 Pet 3:18; Eph 4:15), the goal of growth is Christ.
· Survey how God has blessed you.
1. If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious (1 Pet 2:3).
2. If, since you have tasted (experienced) the goodness or kindness of God.
3. Gracious means good, kind. God is good.
4. Here are just a few verses on how God has blessed us:
- Ps 34:8
- Rom 5:1
- Rom 5:5
- Rom 5:8
- Rom 8:17
- Rom 8:28
- Rom 8:32
- Rom 8:37
- Rom 8:39
- 2 Cor 5:17
- Eph 1:3
- Eph 1:7
- Eph 2:7
- Heb 4:16
By taking this medicine for a lack of desire, the power of the Holy Spirit will help you in cultivating a craving for God’s Word and avoiding 95% of your problems. Clarifying our desires is worth the effort, folks!
But as it is written: "EYE HAS NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NOR HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN THE THINGS WHICH GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM” (1 Cor 2:9).
When I Survey The Wondrous Cross
- When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride. - Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood. - See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown? - Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
