The Bible is Yours Dusty — E.A. Johnston

I was humbled the other day when I got through preaching. I was preaching on the subject to George Whitfield at the Olford Center in Memphis, Tennessee, and when I was through, Dr. Ted Randall approached me.

Ted Randall was the principal of Prairie Bible College in Canada. He's a Bible scholar and the author of numerous books. One of his books is a classic on revival called Fire in the Church. I highly recommend it's study.

What humbled me was this. As I was speaking to Ted Randall, who is now in his 80s, I asked him what he was up to these days. His reply was that he has been for months in his daily quiet time writing out his Bible by hand.

He would spend hours writing out his Bible, just copying verse by verse in his own handwriting on a piece of paper, and he had copied much of the Bible during the last six months. He told me, by taking the time to write out the scriptures, I find that I'm understanding them better.

The Bible as a Treasure to Be Sought

This is from a man in his 80s. Ted Randall knows his Bible better than most men I've ever known, and this shamed me for my lack. I mean, here's a man in his 80s, taking the time to hand copy the Word of God so he could know his Bible better.

And I was also at the time reading the biography of E .W. Bollinger, the Bible scholar, and I was impressed with a facet in his life as well. Bollinger devoted his life to Bible study, and he kept a plaque in his study that was framed with the words of Psalm 119, 162, which state, I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.

And that made me think of a treasure hunter digging for hidden treasure, finding it with great joy of finding that priceless spoil. Preachers of old used to look at the Bible as a great treasure, and they were men of one book.

Preachers in former times had not only mastered the Word of God, they were mastered by the Word of God. And I want to ask us today, friends, about a question, and I want us to be honest. Is your Bible dusty?

Is it gathering dust? Or is it almost worn out and stained with your tears? Do you read your Bible as you should, or are its pages worn out? Or are you guilty of neglecting the Word of God and only turning to it now and then in time of need and encouragement?

Or do you, like the psalmist, rejoice at that Word as one that findeth great spoil? Do you come to your Bible each day with a great expectation of hearing God speak to you through His written Word as a treasure hunter would dig for gold nuggets?

Or is your Bible more like a buried treasure that's just collecting dust? And that's the title of my message this morning, The Bible Is Yours Dusty. Listen, friends, it is the miner who digs deep into the earth who finds the motherlode.

Immersion in Scripture Instead of Distraction

Others are content just to stumble across a nugget here and there on the surface. The Bible's as deep as the ocean. It can never be completely fathomed. We can swim in it. We can dive in it. We can immerse ourselves in it to our heart's content.

But the trouble is, few believers are getting their toes wet these days by reading their Bibles. They just don't read it much except on Sunday mornings. Bible reading's been replaced by other things. The television, the internet, sports, hobbies, and entertainment.

Few pastors today are men of one book. They might know their Hebrew. They might know their Greek. They'll fight you on their theology. But when it comes time to knowing their Bible as they should, they have to confess.

They just don't spend enough time in it. They go to it for sermons, but not necessarily as a rule of life. It's vitally important for Christian workers to go through the entire Bible on a regular basis and have the Bible go through us on a regular basis.

Biblical Conviction and the Authority of Scripture

I believe one of the reasons why pastors don't spend more time in their Bibles is the sad fact that some of them just don't believe it as they should. They have their doubts about certain parts of it.

They lack conviction. When it comes time to preach it, they lack conviction concerning its authority, reliability, and inerrancy. Perhaps a young man believed his Bible to be true, but then he went to seminary and some godless professor put doubts in his mind about the Word of God, and now he can't preach it with conviction like he should.

So he's become more of a teacher of the Word to his congregation rather than a prophet who preaches with conviction. Thus saith the Lord. Higher criticism and neo-orthodoxy has ruined many ministries.

Brother pastor, do you believe your Bible or do you doubt parts of it? Pastors of former days lived in their Bibles. Jonathan Edwards did not have the distractions of radio, television, and the internet.

If he did, he would have had the self-control not to watch it, and he would redeem the time because the days are evil. I really believe, friends, that we do not spend enough time in our Bibles as we should, and many Bibles are collecting dust.

Scripture-Filled Preaching in Earlier Generations

When I read the sermons of men like Solomon Stoddard, Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Foxtroth, Joseph Seawall, Gilbert Tennant, and men in third generation who preach the Word of God, I find much of the Bible in their sermons.

But when I sit and listen to many pastors today, I hear very little Scripture. There's not a whole lot of Bible in there at all. But if we were to read the sermons of men like Azahel Manilton and Jonathan Edwards and compare their sermons to what spills out of our pulpits today, we'd find that their sermons were full and rich of the Word of God and our sermons are full of ourselves.

The messages many of us preach on Sunday morning are indictments against us for how little we know our Bibles. I want to share with you, friends, what a former president of Amherst College wrote back in the 19th century.

This man lived during the time in America known as the Second Great Awakening where God was moving in the land in par for religious awakening. His name was Heman Humphrey. He was friends with the great evangelist Azahel Manilton.

He said that Manilton was a man of one book. Preachers in those days were men of one book, and that book was the Bible. Christians were individuals that immersed themselves in their Bibles those days.

Now your average quick Christian sits glued to their television until their eyes grow the size of saucers and their brain the size of a pea. But this man, Heman Humphrey, wrote about how men in these former days would preach the Bible in its entirety.

They were men anointed with the Spirit of God. They had unction from on high because they stayed in the presence of the Almighty with their holy lives. I want to read you his words concerning pastors of former days who were mightily used men of God because they were men who stayed immersed in the Word of God and walked closely with the Most High.

Here now are Heman Humphrey's words taken from my biography on Azahel Manilton. He's speaking about pastors in former days. Their preaching was not in man's wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and with power.

It was eminently scriptural. The ministers of that day read and studied the Bible more than all other books. They had received it from their master as their only commission, and in virtue of it as ambassadors for Christ, they besought sinners in his stead to be reconciled to God.

It was surprising to notice with what facility they would quote chapter and verse from all parts of both testaments without turning over a single leaf. Indeed, it sometimes seemed to me as if they knew all the Bible by heart, and it is no disparagement to say that they did know much more of it than most preachers do now.

They had a great deal more of it in their sermons. Almost all their illustrations, as well as their proofs, were drawn from its rich and inexhaustible treasures. Thus saith the Lord was enough for them, let who would criticize, cavil, or blaspheme.

They did not shun either from fear or favor to declare all the counsel of God as they understood it, whether men would hear or whether they would forbear. They did not wrap the sword around with flowers, but left the two edges bare and sharp to cut where they would, the deeper the better, and they applied no emollients to heal the hurt slightly.

Oh, how I was smart and under it! I remember it well in my own case, and how my heart rebelled against some of the doctrines which my Bible and my conscience told me were true, till as a hope I was brought to bow and submit at the foot of the cross, and as it was with me, so was it with multitudes of others.

We complained of some of Paul's hard sayings, and wondered why our ministers dwelt so much upon them. We wanted to get to heaven in some easier way, but instead of abating one jot or tittle to relieve us, they pressed harder and harder, driving us from one refuge to another, till there was no hiding place left.

The law which we had broken, times without number, we were made to see it was just, its fiery penalty hung over our heads, and we must submit or die. Under such preaching it was hard to get hopes, but when embraced they were more to be relied upon than if they'd been gained in some easier way.

Our spiritual guides and teachers never said to us, when under awakening, don't be discouraged, wait God's time, and He will deliver you. No, no, but how long will you hold out in your rebellion against God?

They never asked us while in this state, don't you feel better? But why don't you submit to God and cast yourselves upon His mercy, embracing the Lord Jesus Christ by faith who came down from heaven on purpose to save the lost.

Calling Pastors and Christians Back to the Bible

Turn ye, turn ye, or why will you die? Well that friends, is a big difference from much preaching in our day. We don't see the results those old boys did in the conversion of sinners because we're unwilling to preach like they did.

We're unwilling to immerse ourselves in our Bibles like they did. We'd rather be funny and amusing to our hearers so we can feel appreciated by them. We have to be honest and admit that the average Christian today does not know his or her Bible as they should, and the average pastor today does not know his Bible as he should.

Let's stop fooling ourselves and get into our Bibles friends. Years ago when I was writing my book, a Bible survey entitled Know the Book, I discovered at that time how little I really knew my Bible. I still don't know it as I should, but it's my goal to master it and have it master me.

I want to challenge you friend to get along with God today, to be honest with Him about your lack of spending time in His Word. Take out a piece of paper and do this for me friend, and do yourself a favor too.

Take out a piece of paper, get alone with God and write down all the hours you spend watching television and be honest. Write down all the time you spend on things in this world each day and be honest and then add up all the time you spend in your Bible each day and be honest.

Dust off your Bible and turn from your idols and ask God for a fresh revelation to you from His written Word. Go deeper with Him. Go deeper with Him friend, and I promise you your walk with Him will be deeper as well.

Fresh Words from God and Revival in the Pulpit

Brother Pastor, your congregation will appreciate your messages more because they'll glow with a new power from on high if you only spend more time on your knees and in your Bible. I'll never forget the story I heard from an evangelist who had the great opportunity to preach in an outdoor stadium in South Korea to over 100 ,000 South Korean believers.

He was about to walk out on the platform and preach when a South Korean pastor approached him backstage and asked Brother, what do you have for us today? This evangelist replied, Oh I have a great sermon of Adrian Rogers that I want to preach to you today.

The South Korean pastor's face fell and with an anguished look he said We do not want to hear another man's message. We want to hear a fresh word from God. And that's the trouble today. Many are so hungry sitting in our churches who want to hear a fresh word from God.

I wonder what would happen if the majority of the pulpits in this country began to be on fire for God with messages hot from the heart of the Almighty and preached in the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe this nation could experience a revival that would touch this nation from coast to coast under such mighty preaching of the word of God.

Let's preach the word and let that be our prayer.