The Importance of Knowing God’s Word

Knowing the word of God is so important. It will prevent us from believing lies from false teachers. It will lift us up when we are feeling low. It will help you feel close to God as you get to know Him. When you spend time in His word you will start to see things from a spiritual perspective. It’s God’s instruction manual for life and His love letter to us.

Proverbs 4:20-22, my son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.

The more you read the word the more God will help you understand it.

Luke 24:45, Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

Salvation comes through our belief and faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is why the devil is seeking to get people to believe a false gospel.

Romans 1:16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

Jesus and his disciples have warned us many times about false teachers coming to deceive us. Jesus said in 2 Peter 2:1-3, But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words.

The devil works hard to put in road blocks to complicate the message of the Gospel. He does not do this in an obvious way. The verse said he does it secretly. He slowly twists the word of God or places doubt in your head that what God says is true. This was the very first temptation that brought sin into the world. God told Adam and Eve in Genesis 2:16-17, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 3:1, now, the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?” He got her to doubt God and what he said, then when she was doubting he threw in a lie. Verse 4 “You will not surely die. Verse 5 Then serpent threw in a temptation and said “You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” She ate from the tree and then got someone else to follow. Eve gave some to her husband who ate the fruit also. When God called to them, Adam started blaming Eve and Eve blamed the serpent for deceiving her. God did not say awe you poor thing because you were deceived I will not let you face the consequences of your actions. NO, Spiritual and physical death entered the world because they believed a lie. This is why it matters what you believe!

Jesus says in Matthew 7:15, Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Jesus is saying that false prophets will appear innocent like sheep are here to destroy. Look at the scandal that has gripped the Catholic Churches. People placed their trust in these priests. These ministers were not called by God but by Satan to destroy the lives of children and families.

The job of a pastor or priest is to help you grow spiritually. They should inspire you to have a relationship directly with God through prayer. They should energize you to evangelize. They should encourage you to read the Bible. If they say it’s too hard to understand what the Bible says, and you should leave it up to them to interpret the Bible for you, that should send up a red flag. It could be power, prestige or admiration that pastor is seeking. He may not want you to know more than him. His interests are above what’s best for you and they are not God centered.

People will trust their priests or pastors to tell them what the word says. They assume the priest has studied the word and knows it better than them so they put their trust in their pastor’s education and how he personally interprets the word. When people trust humans, false teachings enter the church.

Jeremiah 17:5, thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. Don’t trust another person for your salvation because salvation is fully your responsibility.

Some people have embraced their religion because that’s what they were brought up in and they trusted their parents. Parents don’t lead kids astray on purpose but they are human and can fall for lies like the rest of us.

At some point in our life all of us have been lied to and at some point we believed a lie, not because we are a bad person but because we are trusting. It can be hard to admit to ourselves that we fell for something that was not true. We need to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and keep moving forward.

So, if we don’t want to believe a lie, where do we look to find the real truth?

John 17:17, Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

We need to compare everything to the word of God because this is our baseline for truth.

The enemy will say that scripture is written by man and cannot be trusted and then will supplement the word with their own literature. There are multiple denominations that use the Bible to support their writings. Their literature then becomes scripture to them and the Bible only a side book to occasionally reference. They pick and choose verses and take it out of context. They think as long as they have Bible references in the, it’s ok to believe, and its Not.

If you have a special Bible translation written just for your specific religion such as the New World Translation, the Book of Mormon, etc., I would not use it. They add and subtract from the word of God which can lead you astray. If you have a Bible containing more than 66 books such as the book of Maccabees, I would not use it. A Bible with the Apocrypha are extra writings that have been added to the Word and parts are contradictory to the Word. Make sure you have a good Bible like the King James Bible, English Standard Version or NIV.

Philippians 2:12, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Isaiah 9:15-16, for those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up. You will not get a reprieve in hell because you were duped by fallen man.

You have access to the Bible and to the Holy Spirit that leads you into truth per John 16:13. If you don’t utilize them, that’s on you.

2 Peter 1:20-21, But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

The Bible has 66 books. They were written on three different continents, in three different languages, over a period of 1500 years. There is a perfect unity. It’s like a puzzle where all the pieces match to form a beautiful picture. You can’t place two people in different rooms and ask them to write something and have them come out and their writing’s align and complete each other’s like the Bible. This is fully the work of the Holy Spirit.

When the government wants to train someone on how to recognize counterfeit money, they show them the real dollar and all the unique details that dollar possesses. They do not train them using all types of counterfeit money, because that could be extensive. When a counterfeit dollar appears they will easily recognize that it is false, since they know the real dollar so well. We need to have this mindset with the word of God. If we are to recognize a false gospel it will be because we know the real thing.

Matthew 22:29, Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. Let’s make sure we know scripture so we won't be wrong about the most important thing. If we are going to slack off, fine, but let it not be with your salvation that will affect where you will be for all eternity. It will be worth making the time to read your Bible.

John 8:31, Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples. If we want to be a disciple of Jesus then we need to know the Word. Knowing the word has many benefits. Here is a quick list of some of the things the Bible says the Word is and what it can do for you

The WORD Can

Romans 10:17 - Bring faith

Colossians 3:16 - It can Teach and admonish

2 Timothy 3:16-17 - It reproofs, corrects, trains in righteousness, brings competence, it equips

Psalms 119 - It can keep you from sinning, gives you Life, Strength, hope, It is sweet, It is light, a lamp to my feet, a hiding place, a Shield, It is understanding, it brings rejoicing, singing, and deliverance.

Romans 15:4, it can encourage us, and gives us hope.

The WORD Is

Proverbs 4:20-22 - Life and healing to all their flesh.

Ephesians 5:26 - The word is sanctifying, cleansing

1 Peter 2:2 Hebrews 5:12 - It is spiritual milk to help you grow

John 6:27 - It is solid food

Proverbs 30:5 - The word is pure, it’s a shield

Hebrews 4:12 - It is living, active, sharp, piercing, discerning

John 6:63 - It is spirit and life.

1 Peter 1:25 – It is good news.

Psalm 33:4 - It is right

John 17:17 - It is truth

John 15:3 – It is cleansing

Psalm 119:50 – it is comforting

The Word is Jesus

John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Revelation 19:13, He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God