If this is the only book you ever read,
you'll never understand this book
- Howard Hendricks
Taking a small break from "Why Work?" Below is a cut/paste from John MacArthur's James
1:26-27 sermon "The
Belief that Behaves."
I find it interesting in a couple of ways, one being - I'm
reading Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" (the current English version…if
you've read it, or tried!, you'll understand!)…..anyway…I love it when I've
been pondering something and God shows it to me through another's teachings. Two - I struggle with bringing my behavior in line with "what I think I believe." And there it all lays in my ponderings of Bunyan's messages, engaging in Christian practice/application of life. (I used application because MacArthur did below)
More and more I understand what Howard Hendricks meant
when he said, holding the Bible high above his head, "if this is the only
book you ever read, you'll never understand this book."
To that point…….
John
Bunyan, speaking of the wonderful glass which the shepherds of the
delectable mountain showed to Christian and Mercy, wrote "Now the glass was one of a thousand. It
would present a man while looking one way with his own features exactly and turn it but
another way and it would show one the very face and similitude of the prince of
pilgrims himself. Yea, I have talked with those that can tell and have said
that they have seen the very crown of thorns upon His head by looking into this
glass. They have therein also seen the holes in His hands and His feet and on
His side." So said Bunyan.
What he
was saying is if you look into the Word of God you'll see two things. One,
you'll see your own sin and two; you'll see your Savior. The man who continues
looking into the mirror of God's Word sees in it things far more wonderful than
his own face. Yes he sees his own face and he sees the sin on his own face, he
sees his own filthy garments, he sees the spots and the stains on his life, but
the longer he looks the clearer comes out of the glass the face of Jesus Christ,
the thorn-crowned brow, the Christ on the cross, the Savior whose blood
cleanses him from all that sin. And such a person who sees and then responds to
Christ and then lives out the Word is blessed in the doing. Joshua 1:8 the Scripture says, "The book of
the law shall not depart from your mouth. You shall meditate on it day and
night and observe to do all that is written therein and then you will make your
way prosperous and then you will have good success." The doer puts the
Word into living. Enjoying the Word then is more than a momentary experience;
it is the application of truth to a life time, to a life time. And any other
reaction to the Word but doing it is self-deception, self-deception. And so
many people are self-deceived.
To that end..........apply well and not be self-deceived.
Danny
Oh...and this time I really believe I'll get through Bunyan's classic.
