Pleasure & Profit in Bible Study Part 6

Of course there many others that show His divinity, but I think these are enough to prove it to any man. If I went into court and had seven witnesses that could not be broken down, I think I would have a good case.

Notice the "I am's" of Christ.

"I am from above."

"I am not of this world."

"Before Abraham was, I am."

"I am the bread of life."

"I am the light of the world."

"I am the door."

"I am the Good Shepherd."

"I am the way."

"I am the truth." Pilate asked what truth was, and there it was standing right before him.

"I am the resurrection and the life."

In the gospel of John, we find eight gifts for the believer: the bread of life; the water of life; eternal life; the Holy Spirit; love; joy; peace; His words.

ACTS.

A good lesson to study is how all through the book of Acts defeat was turned to victory. When the early Christians were persecuted, they went every where preaching the Word. That was a victory, and so on all through.

Luke's gospel was taken up with Christ in the body, Acts with Christ in the church. In Luke we read of what Christ did in His humiliation, and in Acts what He did in His exaltation. With most men, their work stops at their death, but with Christ it had only begun. "Greater works than these shall ye do, because I go to My Father." We call this book the "Acts of the Apostles," but it is really the "Acts of the Church (Christ's body)."

You will find the key to the book in chapter 1:8: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

We would not have seen the struggles of that infant church if it had not been for Luke. We would not have known much about Paul either if it had not been for Luke.

There were four rivers flowing out of Eden; here we have the four gospels flowing into one channel.

Three divisions of the Acts:--

I. Founding of the church.

II. Growth of the church.

III. Sending out of missionaries.

I believe that the nearer we keep to the apostles' way of presenting the gospel, the more success we will have.

Now there are ten great sermons in Acts, and I think if you get a good hold on these you will have a pretty good understanding of the book and how to preach. Five were preached by Peter, one by Stephen and four by Paul. The phrase, "We are witnesses," runs through the entire book. We say, to-day, "We are eloquent preachers." We seem to be above being simple witnesses.

I. Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost. Someone said that now it takes about three thousand sermons to convert one Jew, but here three thousand were converted by one sermon. When Peter testified of Christ and bore witness that he had died and had risen again, G.o.d honored it, and he will do the same with you.

II. Peter preaches in Solomon's porch. A short sermon, but it did good work. They did not get there till three o'clock, and I believe the Jews could not arrest a man after sundown, and yet in that short s.p.a.ce of time five thousand were converted. What did he preach? Listen:

"But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;

And killed the Prince of Life, whom G.o.d hath raised from the dead: whereof we are witnesses.

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refres.h.i.+ng shall come from the presence of the Lord."

III. Peter preaches to the high priests. They had arrested them and were demanding to know by what power they did these things. "By the name of Jesus Christ, . . . doth this man stand here before you whole." When Bunyan was told he would be released if he would not preach any more, he said, "If you let me out I will preach to-morrow."

IV. Peter's testimony before the council. They commanded them not to preach in the name of Christ. I don't know what they could do if they were forbidden that. Some ministers to-day would have no trouble; they could get along very well. About all the disciples knew was what they had learned in those three years with Jesus, hearing His sermons and seeing His miracles. They saw the things and knew they were so, and when the Holy Ghost came down upon them, they could not help but speak them.

V. Stephen's sermon. He preached the longest sermon in Acts. Dr. Bonar once said, "Did you ever notice, Brother Whittle, that when the Jews accused Stephen of speaking blasphemous words against Moses, the Lord lit up his face with the same glory with which Moses' face shone?"

An old Scotch beadle once warned his new minister, "You may preach as much as ye like about the sins of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but stick to them and don't come any nearer hand if ye want to stay here." Stephen began with them, but he came right down to the recent crucifixion, and stirred them up.

VI. Peter's last sermon and the first sermon to the Gentiles. Notice the same gospel is preached to the Gentiles as to the Jews, and it produces the same results. "To him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.

While Peter spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all of them which heard the word."

Now the leading character changes and Paul comes on.

VII. Paul's sermon at Antioch, in Pisidia. An old acquaintance once said to me, "What are you preaching now? I hope you are not harping on that old string yet." Yes, thank G.o.d, I am spreading the old gospel. If you want to get people to come to hear you, lift up Christ; He said, "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." "Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins."

VIII. Paul's sermon to the Athenians. He got fruit at Athens by preaching the same old gospel to the philosophers.

IX. Paul's sermon at Jerusalem.

X. Paul's defence before Agrippa. I think that is the grandest sermon Paul ever preached. He preached the same gospel before Agrippa and Festus that he did down in Jerusalem. He preached everywhere the mighty fact that G.o.d gave Christ as a ransom for sin, that the whole world can be saved by trusting in Him.

"Having therefore obtained help of G.o.d, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come:

That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people and to the Gentiles."

THE MICROSCOPIC METHOD.

Let me show what I mean by the microscopic method by taking the first verse of Psalm 52: "Why boastest thou thyself in iniquity, O mighty man?

The goodness of G.o.d endureth continually." This verse naturally falls into two divisions, on the one side being--man, on the other--G.o.d.

Man--mischief; G.o.d--goodness. Is any particular man addressed? Yes: Doeg the Edomite, as the preface to the psalm suggests. You can therefore find the historic reference of this verse and Psalm in 1 Samuel 22:9.

Now take a concordance or topical text-book, and study the subject of "boasting." What words mean the same thing as "boasting"? One is glorifying. Is boasting always condemned? In what does Scripture forbid us to boast? In what are we exhorted to boast? "Thus saith the Lord: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this: that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise loving-kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord." Treat the subject "mischief," in a similar manner. Then ask yourself is this boasting, this mischief, always to last? No: "the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment." "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he pa.s.sed away, and lo, he was not: Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found." The other half of the text suggests a study of goodness (or mercy) as an attribute of G.o.d. How is it manifested temporally and spiritually? What Scripture have we for it? Is G.o.d's goodness conditional? Does G.o.d's goodness conflict with His justice? Now, as the end of Bible study as well as of preaching is to save men, ask yourself is the Gospel contained in this text in type or in evidence? Turn to Romans 2:4: "Despiseth thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering: not knowing that _the goodness of G.o.d leadeth thee to repentance?_" Here the verse leads directly to the subject of repentance, and you rise from the study of the verse ready at any time to preach a short sermon that may be the means of converting some one.

CHAPTER X.

One Book at a Time--Chapter Study--The Gospel of John.

I KNOW some men who never sit down to read a book until they have time to read the whole of it. When they come to Leviticus or Numbers, or any of the other books, they read it right through at one sitting. They get the whole sweep, and then they begin to study it chapter by chapter.