Note: This little book is for Young Christians. Its object is, to help them to search, reverence, and obey the Word of God, and to own its supreme authority to guide them, in every department of their lives, as the children of God, in the family, in the church, and in the world.
Time was when the Word of God in its solitary dignity was the believer's guide in everything. It answered all his questions, enlightened all his path, and guided him in fulfilling all his relationships to God, his brethren, and the world. Creeds, catechisms, and confessions had no place in those happy days. The Word of God, the whole Word of God, and nothing but the Word of God, was the final appeal. A "thus saith the Lord" from the Book settled everything; nothing more was asked for, nothing less would have been received. God had spoken, and His people heard the Word and rendered Him prompt obedience. They stood in "awe of His Word," and receiving it not as the word of men, but as it is, the Word of God, it wrought effectually in them that believed (1 Thess. 2:13). Subject to one Lord, guided by one Book, the saints were for one accord or one mind, and there, were no divisions among them. Ere long the fine gold became dim; men's words became popular, and by their traditions and teachings, they supplanted the Word of God. Gradually, as time wore on, creeds and confessions came to the front, and the Word of God went to the rear, till its voice was all but hushed in the dungeons of Rome.
Again there was a recovery and "The Book" was brought forth. Popish darkness fled before its light, and again the Gospel of God was proclaimed with more or less clearness, and is still heard and believed among men. We have "The Book" again in our hands, and in our mother tongue: The Book that contains the whole revelation of God, perfect and complete. Nothing can be added to it, nothing can be taken from it. What a treasure! Do you know, dear young believer, that in that precious Book you call "your own Bible" God has stored up all the counsel, all the advice, and all the knowledge you need as His child while here below? Not only about salvation does it speak to you, but about everything. Yes; every step, from the day of your conversion, till your feet stand on Heaven's threshold, is marked out in the pages of the Word of God.
Keep a firm grip, then, of your Bible, and make it your constant companion, your counsellor, your "spiritual adviser," as well as the bread-basket for your soul, and your sword for the battle. Remember "Every word of God is pure" (Prov. 30:5), and "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable" (2 Tim. 3:16). It is the devil that divides God's Word into two parts, calling the one "essential" and the other "non-essential," but the child of God who loves his Father's Word delights to say "I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way" (Psa. 119:128). That's it. Not only concerning salvation, but concerning all things. Baptism, the Lord's Supper, Church Fellowship, and the Coming of the Lord, just the same, for God has very fully and clearly given. His will on all these things, and no man, or company of men has any right to give "their ideas" about them, any more than they have to "devise" another way of salvation.
Take the Word of God then, young believer, and the Word of God alone for your guide. Enquire within for everything. Bring all you hear and all you read, to the test of the Word of God, and if it will not stand the test, reject it, even if the one who wrote or spoke it is called a "divine" or a "learned man." That is what the Bereans did when they heard Paul preach. "They received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11), and he called them "noble" for doing so. Bring all "to the law and to the testimony, and if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no light in them" (Isa. 8:20). No matter how hoary with age and honour the traditions of men may be, they cannot command the allegiance of God's child; he must say as did the Apostles—"We ought to obey God rather than men," even if like them he may have to suffer for it.
The Word of God in Salvation.
A man and his wife were one night sitting reading the Word of God. Suddenly looking up somewhat amazed, he said, "Wife, if this book be true we are lost!" and again resumed his reading. Before he had gone far, he again looked up and exclaimed, "Wife, if this book be true, we may be saved!" and a third time, in a loud voice, "Wife, if this book be true, I am saved!" Just so; I never could have known I was lost, but by God's Word; my own heart would never have told me that. I never could have even thought that God would have so loved a sinner as to give His Son to die for him; I know it because God's Word has said it (Rom. 5:8). And who could ever have dared to say his soul was saved, his sins all forgiven, and Heaven his home, if God had not said so in His Word. But He has and I believe it simply because He has said it. Surely that's enough. "The entrance of [God's] words giveth light" (Ps. 119:130), and we are "Born again by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever" (1 Peter 1:23). No matter what men say, we don't ask their opinion; God has said it, and we believe Him, and it's just the same with everything else. It is not what Mr. So-and-so says, but what does God say? That alone must settle the question; whatever it may be.
The Word of God the Believer's Food.
The new-born babe requires its milk else it will decline and die; the working man requires his food, else his arm will soon be powerless and his strength decayed. So it is with the Christian. The life he has. received in being "born again" requires nourishment: first milk, then "strong meat" as he is able to bear it. And so we read— "As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby" (1 Peter 2:2). Look at that helpless babe on his mother's breast. See how eagerly he sucks in the milk that feeds and makes him grow, aye, and screams if it be withheld. Learn here a lesson, young believer. Desire the sincere (that is, the pure, unadulterated) milk of the Word of God in the same way. Drink in verse after verse of it for your soul's nourishment and growth. Seize every opportunity you can, to meditate and feed on the Word of God. Your soul cannot thrive without it, you cannot grow if you neglect your Bible. Many have found out this to their cost who have tried it, and gone on for years buried in the world, and barren in their souls. Neglect of God's Word has been the cause of so little growth among many who are truly converted, and of backsliding and misery among others who for a while "ran well." All God's mighty men have been lovers of the Word.
David says—" O how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day." (Psa. 119:97). "I rejoice at Thy Word as one that findeth great spoil" (Psa. 119:162).
Job says—"I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food" (Job. 23:12).
Jeremiah says—"Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart" (Jer. 15:16). The blessed Lord Himself when here below, was the Man whose delight was in the law of the Lord, and He meditated therein day and night (Psa. 1:3). He lived by "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4).
Dear young believer—Make it a habit daily to have your soul fed out of God's Word.
Open your Bible while your heart breathes up to your Father in Heaven, "Give me this day my daily bread," and you will be abundantly satisfied; for there is "bread enough and to spare." You cannot live to-day upon what you got yesterday, but like as Israel gathered the manna fresh every morning so must you. They gathered it early, and when the sun waxed hot it melted (Exodus 16). Let your soul have the first attention. If you go out to your business, commence your daily work, or pore over the letter or newspaper, before you have got "manna" for your soul, it is not likely you will have much appetite for it after. Satan hates meditation on the Word of God and prayer, the twin sustainers of the believer's spiritual life, so he will try to cheat you out of them. Watch! Read the Word carefully and prayerfully. Give your soul the full range and scope of Holy Scripture, and not a few favourite passages. The Spirit "guides into all truth."
Read it with reference to yourself, for your soul's need—your own walk and life. Say, "that is for me" and whatever it condemns about you renounce; whatever it commands obey; for "Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it" (Luke 11:28).
Perhaps you have little leisure time, but the Lord knows all about that. Every man of Israel gathered the manna according to his eating, and he that gathered little had no lack. Only watch, that the flesh and the devil don't steal away your time.
Mary S--- was kitchen-maid in a farmhouse. Up in the morning at five, often working till ten at night. You may ask "when had she time to read her Bible?" Ah! but "where there's a will there's a way"; and Mary had her morning portion of manna, and was strong to bear the taunts and jeers of the ungodly during the day.
James R--- was an apprentice grocer. He got only half-an-hour to his meals and worked from early morning till late at night. I saw James was "growing," and asked his master's wife how he got on in the house. "O," she said, "he sits with his spoon in the one hand and his Bible in the other." That explained it. He was feeding on the Word of God, and growing thereby; as it is written "I write unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the Word of God abideth in you" (1 John 2:14).
Beware of "light bread." Religious books are sold in abundance, and read by many believers, most damaging to the soul. The "Evangelical" magazine may contain the devil's poison, as well as "the yellow boarded novel," only it may be better hid, and coated over with Scripture.
"Take heed what you hear" (Mark 4:24). Much that goes by the name of the ministry of the Word of God is but well-spun theories and traditions of men; cunningly devised fables got up to please the people, and make the Word of God of none effect. Should I lend my ears to such preaching? Let God answer—"Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge" (Prov. 19:27).
"If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness ... from such withdraw thyself" (1 Tim. 6:3-5).
The Word of God the Believer's Guide in the Family, the Church, and the World.
"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path" (Psa. 119:105). It gives light on every step of the way, and in every department of a Christian's life. There is no room for "I think" in the smallest manner, for God has given His thoughts in His Word, and happy is the child of God who can say with David—"How precious are Thy thoughts unto me, O God!" (Psa. 139:17).
In the Family. How to behave here, God has told us plainly. Husbands, wives, parents, children, masters, and servants are all shown their various responsibilities and privileges in the Word of God. A fruitful source of the disorders and troubles in many families is the neglect of these plain injunctions. Some seem to have no idea that God expects obedience in this, as well as all else, even down to the manner of His people's dress. See 1 Peter 3:1-4; 1 Tim. 2:9, 10, for "present fashions" for a Christian woman, and Deut. 6:5-7 for the place the Word of God should have in daily life, in the social circle.1
1For instructions as to the place and responsibilities of Husbands—See Eph. 5:25-28; Col. 3:19; 1 Pet. 3:7. Wives—See Eph. 5:22-23; Col. 3:18; 1 Pet. 3:1-6; Tit 2:4-5.
Fathers—See Eph. 6:4; Col. 3:21.
Children—See Eph. 6:1-3; Col. 3:20
Masters—See Eph. 6:9; Col. 4:1.
Servants—See Eph 6:5: Tit. 2:9; Col. 3:22; 1 Pet. 2:18; 1 Tim. 6:1.
In the Church. Here the Word of God is very full and plain. The first Epistle to Timothy was written, to shew him "how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God(1 Tim. 3:15). And God has not repealed that Epistle nor the first Epistle to the Corinthians. They shew us to-day "the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof" (Ezek. 43:11). Although man has brought in his Creeds and Confessions, upsetting and supplanting the order of the Church of God as given in the Word, let it be remembered that God has never changed His mind one whit, and what He wrote to the Church of Corinth and to Timothy nineteen hundred years ago, must be our guide to-day. Men's churches may be guided by men's words; men may sit in council to frame laws and issue bulls at their pleasure, legislating to build up the various sects they have attached themselves to, but the "Church of the living God" must be governed by the Word of the Living God, and in subjection to her living Head, whose Name and reproach she bears. If God's people would take their Bibles and compare the churches of the present hour with what God declares in Scripture they ought to be, there would be somewhat of the humiliation among them that filled young King Josiah when the long-lost Book of the Law was found, and things in the "religious world" were brought to the test of what was written therein. He rent his clothes, "Because," said he, "our fathers have not kept the Word of the Lord to do after all that is written in this Book" (2 Chron. 34:18-21). And he did not stop there, but at once commenced to set things in order according to the Book. That's what we have got to do to-day. Confusion and disorder are around us everywhere in the professing Church, but God and His Word remain the same. We cannot restore the Church of the day of Pentecost when "all who believed were together"; but, like the handful of Jews who went up from Babylon to Jerusalem, we can build amid the ruin according to the Book, and rally around the Name of the Lord Jesus, with arms open to receive all whom He has received. And this is being done to-day Bless His Name. Search your Bible, young believer, and see there what the Church of God is, its fellowship, order, rule, and discipline. You will there learn what worship is, and who are worshippers; what God has said on baptism as well as who are to be baptised and when2 what .the. Lord's Supper is, who are to partake of it; arid how often.3 All this is fully gone into once for all in God's Word, and left there for our obedience. Times and customs have changed, but God and His Word abide for ever.
2 Who are to be baptised?—Believers only: See Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:16.
How?—By immersion: see Acts 8:38, 39. The Greek word "Baptizo" means "to dip," to plunge, to immerse, Acts 16:14, 15; 16:32-34.
When?—After believing: see Acts 2:41; 8:12; 8:37.
What does it Mean?—It is a figure of death, burial, and resurrection with Christ: see Rom. 6:3; Col. 2:12.
—Search the Word for it and all the Scriptures that command it, and the case you find where infants are said to have been baptized, insert here. chap. verse
3The Lord's Supper was instituted by the Lord Jesus: see Matt. 26:26; Luke 22:19, 20. For believers only see Acts 2:42; 20:7. Observed on the first day of the week, Acts 20:7. To be continued till the Lord come. 1 Cor. 11:26.
In the World. Our path here too is mapped out for us clearly in the Book (see John 17). Our duties to kings and governors (Rom. 13:1; 1 Pet. 2:13, 14), our walk among unconverted men (Col. 4:5; 1 Thess. 4:12), and even our behaviour towards our enemies (Rom. 12:20), are all clearly shown there, so that we need neither be in darkness nor in doubt.
Obedience to the Word of God.
"To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" (I Sam: 15:22). "I have no greater joy than, to hear that my children walk in truth" (3 John 4).
Nothing pleases God so much as obedience to His Word. And no amount of service can make up for wilfully shirking the plain commands of Scripture. Some seem to have forgotten this, and under the plea that it would "hinder their usefulness" and "fetter their zeal," they shuffle past, or allow to lie unheeded some of God's plainest injunctions.
Would God ever put any man into a "sphere of usefulness" where he could riot, dare not, obey His Word? Never! Neither would He send His servants into a circle where what they are to preach and what they must not mention are prescribed by men; for has He not declared in the Book, "He that hath My Word, let him speak My Word faithfully" (Jeremiah 23:28)? A "door of "utterance" that will not admit "the whole counsel of God" cannot be of His opening, and the servant who consents to be silent on certain subjects, because they would give offence, and upset the traditions of the men he panders to, will have to answer to his Master for it at the judgment-seat. And there the word of approval shall not be, "Well done, successful servant, you have spoken to great crowds," but "Well done, good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things" (Matt. 25:23).
In seeking to obey the Word of God, you will find many to hinder you, and your own friends and relations may be the worst of your opposers. If it were a question between your own will and that of your parents, then you must obey them, but i£ it be the will of God and your parents' will that are at variance, you must obey God rather than your parents. In doing this, some have had to suffer, and even to leave the home of their childhood for Christ's sake. But surely this is not too much to do for Him if He call you to it. And Jesus says, "He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me" (Matt. 10:37). Solemn, searching words! M---, after she was a few weeks converted, had been reading the Word of God, and came upon Mark 16:15; Acts 2:41; 8. 35-38. She saw it was her privilege to do likewise, and decided there and then to follow the Lord and be baptized. Her parents objected, and would not hear of it. She sought to show them from the Book it was God's will she wished to do, but this only increased their fury. She told them she would rather do anything than disobey them, but she must obey God, let the consequences be what they might. She followed the Lord, and suffered for it, but He was with her in the trial, and soon redeemed His promise, "Them that honour Me I will honour" (1 Sam. 2:30). Her parents, three sisters, and a brother are all converted now, and she has had the joy of seeing those who persecuted her, follow in her steps. Hallelujah!
You will find religious professors among your greatest enemies if you follow the Lord fully, for many there are who call Jesus "Lord" but do not the things which He says. But what saith the Scriptures? "If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him." (John 14:23)
From The Word of God by John Ritchie. Kilmarnock: John Ritchie, [no date].