Luke 8:11

Luke 8:11

Use the Bible.

I. God's Word is a portion of the food He has given to man to live by. It is the spiritual sustenance He has provided to support the spiritual part of us, the soul. For the soul, as well as the body, requires its fitting food. Both must be supported and nourished, if we would have them thrive. Does not all nature cry, from every part of the creation, that everything earthly must be fed? Fire must be fed, water must be fed, even the earth itself, which feeds all things, must be fed, else it will crumble into dust, or harden into a rock. So it is with the soul. That, too, as well as the body, must be fed with food suited to its nature. This is so plain that the heathen themselves knew it. They were fully aware that the soul would never thrive, unless it was nourished with food suitable to it; and to find that food was the great desire of the best and wisest men among them. Now if they did this, they who only knew that their spirits required food, from feeling them crave for it, what will God say to us, if we are less anxious about the nourishment of our souls?

II. For the Bible is not a charm that, keeping it on our shelves or locking it up in a closet, can do us any good. Neither is it a story-book to read for amusement. It is sent to teach us our duty to God and man; to show us from what a height we are fallen by sin, and to what a far more glorious height we may soar, if we will put on the wings of faith and love. This is the use of the Bible, and this use we ought to make of it. If we use the Bible thus, Christ, who is the way of life, will open our eyes to see the way. He will send you the wings I spoke of, and they shall bear you up to heaven. For this must be borne in mind, that God alone giveth the increase. Unless He gives it, no increase shall we receive. Our joy will not be increased; so that the study of God's Book will continue an irksome task. The only way of insuring that our labour shall not be fruitless is by prayer; the only way of drawing down a blessing on our study is to ask for it.

A. W. Hare, The Alton Sermons,p. 278.