AMA: Why Should We Read The Bible? - Pastor David Houck | May 24, 2026

What is the purpose of the Bible? Will not reading it keep you out of Heaven? In this message, Pastor David answers these questions and examines what Psalm 19 says about God's Word.

Transcript

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We're continuing our Ask Me Anything series today. The question that we got was a very interesting one. It is, is faith in Jesus enough to get to heaven if I'm not consistently reading his word daily? And they kind of elaborated in their uh submission. They said, you know, I believe in God. I believe that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, that um He He paid the penalty for my sins and He rose from the dead. But what if I'm not reading my Bible every day as consistently as I would like to? What if I'm missing days here or there? Uh is just my faith in Jesus enough to get to heaven? The answer is yes. The answer is yes, it is. If your faith in Jesus is a genuine faith, if you truly believe that he is the Son of God, and that he is your Lord and Savior, and that through his death and resurrection he paid the punishment, the penalty for your sins, then yes, you are saved. In your notes, Ephesians chapter two, verses eight through nine, Paul said, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. You do not get a ticket to heaven because of good things that you do, because as we said, there isn't enough good things you could do to get your way to heaven, because the standard is perfection. Only Jesus is perfect. What he offers, though, is to transfer his perfection into our accounts when we place our faith in him. As we read in the book of Titus, Paul wrote to Titus in chapter 3, verse 5, he saved us not because of works but done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. We're saved by God's grace. We're saved by his mercy, not by good things that we do. God's not gonna uh talk to us in heaven and pull us aside and say, Hey, you attended church a thousand times in your life. I'm sorry to say the cutoff was a thousand and one. You didn't make it. Or he's not gonna say, hey, you you read your Bible uh once a week. I want it at least twice a week. I'm sorry you didn't make it. It's not about that. It's about what Jesus did for us, not about what we could possibly do. Romans 10 verses 9, Paul says quite simply, what it in what it involves with being saved. He says, Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. So, yes, if you struggle with reading your Bible consistently, if sometimes you look at the calendar and you realize a few days, a week, maybe a month has gone by and you haven't read it, as long as you really have placed your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you've given your life over to him, you're good. You're still saved. And it's interesting because if we were saved by how often we read the Bible, uh, we'd all be in pretty big trouble, right? And it's interesting that the Bible, as we know it, didn't exist until the fourth century. Before the time of Jesus, there were 39 books of the Old Testament, which we refer or which they refer to collectively as the law and the prophets. They believed, and we believe, that these books were divinely inspired, meaning they are the very words of God written through men. Then after the resurrection of Jesus, the apostles and other disciples of Jesus began documenting everything they had seen and heard regarding Jesus. And they began sending letters to churches explaining the salvation of Jesus, what it means to be a follower of Jesus, and how Christians should live. And just as they recognized the law and the prophets to be divinely inspired, the Christians recognized these letters to be divinely inspired too. So they kept them, they read them aloud, they protected them with their lives, they made copies of them and they distributed them to other churches. People started collecting them, collecting whatever scraps they could get of them, copying them and compiling them together. But it wasn't until the fourth century when Christianity was finally legalized by Rome that men got together and could finally compare their manuscripts, piece it all together, and form the first Bible. But for over 300 years, the first 300 years of the church, there was no Bible as we have it today. There was the law and the prophets for those who had access to it, largely just the Jewish people. And then there were the letters, or even just scraps of letters written by the apostles, often read aloud since many people couldn't read. So if daily Bible reading was necessary for salvation, not many people would have made it. And let's be honest, we'd be in pretty big trouble too. A recent survey among Protestant churchgoers says that while most read their Bibles to some degree and hold scripture in high regard, only 31% of Protestant churchgoers read their Bibles daily. And because that was done among Protestants, I decided to look into uh Catholic churchgoers. Among Cathol American Catholic churchgoers, only up to 7% read their Bible daily, and 44% say they rarely or have never read their Bible. So a vast majority, especially in the US, a vast majority of people who identify as Christian to some degree do not read their Bibles on a daily basis. But if their faith is genuine, they're still saved. I heard uh the preacher Alistair Begg, very uh well-known preacher Alistair Begg, talk about how um he said it to pastors, not to his congregation, but it was in a conference. He he said, you know, when he goes on vacation on a Sunday morning, you know, he'll sleep in a little bit, he'll go through a bike ride, he'll get a nice breakfast uh with his wife, and he thinks, you know, this is pretty nice, you know, doing doing your own thing in a Sunday morning is pretty nice. And he said, sometimes I wonder if God made me a pastor just to ensure the fact that I'm gonna be in church every week. I'll be honest, sometimes I feel like God made me a pastor to ensure that I am reading the Bible every day, because if I'm not, I'm in pretty big trouble on a Sunday morning. I love the Bible, but we all struggle with that consistency. We can all struggle with making that a daily habit. That doesn't mean we're not saved. But before you go home and say, hey, my pastor said I don't need to read my Bible, we need to understand why our Bibles are so important. We need to answer the question: why should we read our Bibles? One of the best passages in our Bible that speaks to what scripture is and the power it contains is found in the 19th Psalm, if you would like to turn there with me. Uh, this is definitely um becoming my favorite passage in all scripture. C. S. Lewis, the great author C. S. Lewis, uh, referred to the 19th Psalm not as just the greatest psalm, but one of the greatest pieces of poetry to ever exist. And the psalmist, who is King David, begins the psalm out by talking about the glory of God's creation and how how God's creation proclaims the existence of a God. How it's impossible to look at a gorgeous sunset like we had just recently and not think, man, there must be an artist behind that. And then he transitions from the glory of God's world to the glory of God's word, beginning in verse 7. He wrote, The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned, in keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins, let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Heavenly Father, I ask for your help and your assistance in today's word. My words are limited in just how much I can convey the beauty and the power and the holiness of your word. But I just pray that you would guide me and give us all spirits of openness and understanding that we might see your truth for what it is. Amen. So first let's identify the purpose of Scripture. The purpose of Scripture. First of all, it is God's complete and perfect instruction. God's complete and perfect instruction. In the first part of verse 7, David wrote that the law of the Lord is perfect. Now, law essentially can just be translated as instruction. The instruction of the Lord is perfect. When David writes about the law, he is looking back to the law that was written before him, the law of Moses, the law and the prophets as they had existed up to that point, the books that have been written up to that point. But we know that the Holy Spirit, who is guiding David to write this, while David is looking back to what came before, the Holy Spirit is looking ahead to what will be. That these words aren't just about the law of Moses, it is about all of Scripture. The scripture that existed at the time of David, the scripture that David was writing, even if he didn't realize it would be holy scripture, and the scripture that is yet to come, especially the New Testament. It is perfect. It is God's instruction manual. God, the author of life, the creator of humanity, gave us an instruction manual. When you buy a new appliance or a piece of technology, guys, I know oftentimes we don't like to read it because we know better, but there's often an instruction manual with it. God did the same. God hasn't left us to wander aimlessly through the earth just trying to figure out life on our own. Too often we take that approach, but the manual is sitting right there. It tells us everything we need to know about God, about our purpose, about salvation, and how to live a full life. Again, the first part of Psalm 19 is all about how creation declares the existence of God. But creation doesn't tell us who that God is or how to have a relationship with Him or how to find salvation. It holds everyone accountable because just by looking at nature, you can see there must be a God. But it doesn't really tell you much about who that God is, what he thinks of you. So God gave us further instruction through his written word. He gave us a book authored by around 40 different men over a period of 1,500 years. And these aren't just human ancient ideas comparable to the writings of philosophers or other religious manuscripts. No, it is the very words of God written by the power of the Holy Spirit through human hands. The Apostle Peter said, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. They were guided by men. It's dual authorship. It can be hard for us to comprehend, but that's because God's ways are so much higher than our ways. Men wrote it, you can see their personality in their writings, but they are also the very written words of God. And as God is perfect, so is his word. It is without error, it is inerrant. There are no contradictions, there are no mistakes. People for centuries have tried dismantling it, have tried abolishing it, have written entire books attacking it, but it still stands. It still stands. And it stands on its own. Believe me, there is a lot of outside historical, scientific, and literary evidence for the reliability of scripture. There is, it's out there. The number of manuscripts that we have written in a short period of time from the birth of Jesus or the life of Jesus, it all demands the assumption that this is real. There's evidence out there. People will sometimes look into trying to debunk the reliability of scripture, the reliability of the gospel accounts, and end up seeing that the evidence is too overwhelming to the opposite, that it is real. But we don't even need that. It's helpful. But God's word stands on its own. God's word defends itself. It all pieces together, it all connects. It's perfect. But when David referred to God's word as perfect, he isn't just saying it's without air. He's saying it is perfect in the sense that it is complete, it is whole. It's not missing anything. Paul communicates the same idea. He wrote to Timothy, all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training and righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. All of Scripture, every last word is profitable. It is of great spiritual and personal gain. And by the whole of Scripture, we can be made complete. Given everything that we need to live life the way that God wants us to live, to love and serve God the way that we were designed to, to live a full life here on earth and find eternal life in heaven. Your Bible is not missing anything regarding that. There is no need for new radical ideas or prophecy or teaching. God has given us everything we need to know. That's why so many times lately I've warned you that if someone says today that they're a prophet, that they have a word from the Lord for you, what they say next better be a direct quote from Scripture, because that's God's word to us. There's no personal new messages for us. Then that's saying that God's not done. That this word isn't enough. If we need to add anything, if we need to add a new idea, a new concept, a new revelation from God, then that means this is missing something. But that's not what scripture says. That's not what God says about it. His word is finished. We believe sometimes you might hear this referred to as a closed canon, meaning that these 66 books within our Bibles are the only books divinely inspired, and are the only books that will ever be divinely inspired. There's no need to add anything to it. There's some religions like Mormonism who claim to have new additions to Scripture, and it completely contradicts everything that Scripture says. But that's heresy. Scripture is complete. In fact, the Apostle John said so when he completed the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 22, verses 18 through 19. He wrote, I warn everyone who hears the words of this of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. Now, yes, the direct application of John writing this is about the book of Revelation. The Apostle John was given visions and prophecies regarding the end times and return of Christ, and he says, Hey, you better not add a single word or take away a single word from what I wrote. But just as David didn't really realize the full truth when he spoke about God's word, I don't think John realized the full truth. That the book of Revelation, led by the Holy Spirit, would be placed at the very end of our Bibles, of a closed canon. That when you get to the very last page of your Bible, it says, Don't you dare add a single word or take a single word away. Why? Because it's complete. It's complete. Secondly, it is God's identity and nature revealed. His identity and nature revealed. Nature declares the existence of God, but it doesn't tell us much about who God is and what he is like. But since God created humanity with the purpose that we might know him and be in a relationship with him and be in community with him and with each other, he has chosen to reveal himself to us through his word. Scripture is a testimony to who God is, a testimony that is sure, is true, that is reliable. Psalm 119 also speaks often about uh is all about the truth of scripture. It's the longest psalm. I would love to preach through it, but I who knows how long it would take for us to get through it. But that psalmist said, You are good and do good, teach me your statutes. Scripture, God's instruction to humanity, reflects the love, justice, holiness, and compassion of God. It shows us that he is good and that all he does is good. Scripture is a reflection of the goodness of God. And just as he sent Jesus, his son, to reveal to us the Father, Scripture was sent to us to reveal to us the Son. All of Scripture, every single book in your Bible is about Jesus. Ask even the Old Testament, even the stuff written before him, yes, especially the Old Testament, even all those long uh lists of laws and rules, yeah. It all points to Jesus. Jesus himself told a crowd of listeners that scripture was being fulfilled through him before their very eyes. After his resurrection, Jesus actually showed some of his disciples how all of the Old Testament points to him. In Luke 24, verse 27, we read, and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. People were confused by the resurrection and by everything that had happened, and Jesus said, You're surprised by this? He said, Yeah. Can I uh can I see your Bible? Well was no Bible, but he went through and he explained how everything in the law and the prophets, everything in the Old Testament pointed to him and he fulfilled it all. I've thought about um from time to time doing a series, you know, called Finding Jesus in the Old Testament. But the truth is, how on earth would I choose? Because he's everywhere, he's in every page. In one way or another, it leads to him, it foreshadows to him, it points to him, or it communicates our need for him. And then, of course, the New Testament is about him. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are eyewitness accounts and thoroughly investigated accounts of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The Apostle Peter said, For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. The gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are not myths or legends or fairy tales. It's not once upon a time and it's not heavily or uh happily ever after. They're testimony, they're eyewitness accounts saying we're there and we saw it. That's why the first time you read through the gospel accounts, you might be uh kind of confused by all of the seemingly random detail in it, locations and names of people and timelines, and you really think, Am I supposed to understand what all this means? Well, no, not really. But the original recipients understood because it was the authors saying, This happened, this is where it happened, and this is who saw it happen. Like there are 500 people in Jerusalem who saw Jesus alive and well. You can go ask them. This is the soldier that Peter cut the ear off of, and Jesus put it back. This is his name. You can go find him and ask him. They were eyewitness accounts. Then Luke continued his work in the book of Acts, explaining how the apostles spread the message of Jesus. People like John, Peter, and Paul wrote letters explaining who Jesus is and how to follow him. Then John wrote Revelation about the return of Jesus. All of creation points to the existence of God, but only scripture can point you to God Himself and the way to salvation. Old Testament and New, it's all about who Jesus and who God are. Thirdly, it is God's good and righteous commands. His good and righteous commands. Between verses eight and nine, David said that God's word is right, pure, clean, true, eternal, and righteous. It is good. Paul said in Romans chapter 12, so the law, or Romans 7, verse 12, so the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Both the Old Testament and the New contains laws and commands and instruction. Now, some of the Old Testament laws were ceremonial and civic, meaning they were specifically for the ancient people of Israel, instructing them how to worship God or how to run the nation. Most of those commands don't directly apply to us today. That's why we eat pork. That's why we don't have to celebrate the Passover. It was specific laws and commands for a specific people. I was having a conversation with someone just yesterday about it, about well, how do you know if the Bible said, you know, in the Old Testament, don't eat pork, why wouldn't it apply? I'm like, well, if you feel that way, that's fine, but then you better go ahead and follow all of the laws in the Old Testament. So if you're wearing something made of several different materials, you know, if you've got two different types of fabric in your clothes, that's gone. If you're a guy and you you cut the sides of your hair, that's gone. So they don't all apply to us today. But Old Testament and New contains moral laws, like the Ten Commandments. Things like don't murder, don't lie, don't steal. Those laws always apply. That's how God created the universe to work. That's his purpose for humanity. Later on, Jesus said all these laws can be summed up by one single law. Love one another the way I have loved you. And these laws aren't crazy religious rules and traditions. In fact, the Jewish people had taken the laws that God gave them and made them overly complicated and burdensome. And Jesus critiqued that constantly. Other religions have commands about how many times a day you have to pray, what direction you must be facing, what clothes you can and can't wear, that you can't drink hot beverages. It's all ritualistic, it's burdensome, it doesn't make sense. You ask, what on earth does this have to do with heaven? But John tells us God's law is different. He said, For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. Now, don't get me wrong. It doesn't mean that God's commandments are always easy. In fact, they're often very challenging, but not because it's some impossibly difficult task, but because they conflict with our human sinful nature. The Ten Commandments, God says, don't covet, meaning don't lust after or long for something that isn't yours. Whether it's a person, whether it's your neighbor's car, whether it's that mansion you drive by, and you just wish, man, I really wish I had that. He says, Don't do that. Now that's a very simple command. But that's challenging. Right? It's challenging not to do that. Why? Not because it's difficult in concept, but because it interferes with our natural sinful desire. But all of God's commands, despite how challenging they may be, are for our good. God isn't some tyrant who makes random rules just for the fun of it. Despite what people might say, he isn't trying to kill our chance at fun and happiness. In fact, it's the opposite. As the creator of everything, he understands how things work, how should they go, what is right and what is wrong, what is good for us and what harms us. And his instructions are for our good. It's to lead us down the good paths and keep us away from the wrong ones. They're for our protection, for our safety, our health, and our happiness. The world might say this is what leads to happiness, but guess what? We've all been down those paths. And it doesn't work. If you find the right job, finally you'll be happy. Some of you are working the job you always dreamed of and you're miserable and you hate it. That if you make this certain amount of money, you'll be happy. You make that amount of money now, and money's still tight. If you buy this car, if you get this person, if you have this relationship, whatever it might be, but it doesn't fulfill us. And God says, I know that's what I've been trying to tell you. Only I can bring you the joy that you want. Follow my commands, and I'll lead you to that joy and peace and fulfillment. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7, verse 24, everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. He painted a picture of someone, a wise man who built a house on a rock, and a foolish man who built his house on sand. And the storm came, and the waves and the wind blew, and the house on s on sand collapsed. The house on the rock stood. Jesus said, Build your life on my truth. Build your life upon my commands, upon my instruction, and when the storms of life come, you'll still stand in the end. Now let's look to the power of scripture. The first one is this redemption. Scripture contains the power of redemption. In verse 7, David said that it has the power to revive the soul. Here's a catch with the original question. No, skipping a day of reading the Bible isn't keeping you out of heaven. But to truly be saved, you must have encountered the word of God somewhere at some point. Either you read it, you heard it preached, or someone told you about it. Because God's word is what tells us about salvation in the first place. You can't come to those conclusions on your own. You can't look to the sunset and say, that's a beautiful sunset. I bet there's a God that created that. I bet I'm a sinner and God sent his son to die on a cross to bear the burden of my sins. And if I place my faith in him, then I'll be alright. No, you need God's word. You need someone to tell you that. You need to read it. Which is why Paul wrote, For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Salvation is found in Jesus. But how do you know if you've never encountered God's truth? How do you know if you've never encountered God's word? James wrote in chapter 1, verse 21, therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. This is why when I come up here, I preach scripture, not some popular ideas or wisdom, advice that I could come up with, or other TED Talks have come up with. Maybe I could guide you down the right path, but I don't have the power of redemption. God's word does. Next, it's revelation. Scripture has the power of revelation. Verse 7 says it makes wise the simple. Oftentimes in churches today, we hear people say, I just want to hear from God. I just want wisdom. Pray for me because I need God's wisdom. I just need guidance. I just want God's guidance. I just want God to tell me what the right thing to do is. And open up your Bibles. I want to hear God's voice. Okay, He's written you a book. He is trying to speak to you. Someone once said that the greatest dust storm in history would happen if everyone blew the dust off their Bibles simultaneously. We're so desperate for guidance. I mean, our culture is filled with self-help books and podcasts and counselors, and we look everywhere for wisdom and guidance and instruction because we all realize, even if we try to paint a different picture, that we are fools, that we are wandering aimlessly, that we need instruction and guidance, and we will go everywhere but to the source to find it. But God's word has the power of revelation. Psalm 119, verse 130. And psalmist wrote, The unfolding of your words gives light, it imparts understanding to the simple. And it led him to receiving the knowledge of salvation in Jesus. That's the power of Scripture. And we know that it is living and active, that it's a divine power to it. That it the power of God's sacred words work with the power of the Holy Spirit to bring truth to you when you need it. Maybe this has happened to you at some point, that you're in a time or you're having a conversation with someone or you're trying to figure something out, and a verse comes to mind. A verse that you haven't read in a long time. Maybe even words, and you couldn't even tell you what book or chapter they're from, but something comes to your mind that you've either heard a pastor say or you've read in scripture before. That's the power of God's living and active word, that's the power of the Holy Spirit giving you his truth when you need it most. In fact, you can't understand scripture at all without the Holy Spirit. John or uh John tells us that Jesus said, When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. The Holy Spirit is what reveals to us the truth of Scripture. Maybe some of you have experienced this that before you came to Christ, you might have read scripture, you might have opened up your Bible, and you really didn't get it. Really just didn't click or make sense to you. You didn't understand what you were reading. And then one day it began to make sense. One day it clicked. One day something you've read a thousand times finally speaks to you. It's because the Holy Spirit has given you understanding, and you have discovered the revelation of God's word. Next, God's word is the power of rejuvenation. Rejuvenation. In verse 8, David says that it can rejoice the heart. It's refreshing. God's word is a source of hope and joy and encouragement. Jeremiah said, Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart. Yes, scripture is challenging at times, but it also brings much peace and rest and joy. Just read through the Psalms, read the words of Jesus, read the wisdom of Proverbs. It can refresh your souls. It's a break from the noise and the garbage of this world to just sit down, open up your Bible, and to hear the words of God, to block out all the fake stuff on social media and to actually discover the truth. That will bring rest to your souls, unlike anything else. And when you start to understand truths, when things start to click, it becomes exciting. That is one of the main reasons why I love what I do, because I love digging into God's word. And when things start to click, when things start to make sense, when you discover uh the meaning behind something and you see how it all paints this one big, beautiful picture of God and salvation and Jesus and his plan for humanity, it brings joy to the point where I can't wait for Sunday morning to tell you guys about it. Some of you have maybe experienced that too. Some of you have come to me on a Sunday morning, super excited, and you say, You won't believe what happened this week. I read this, I've read this a million times, and then it finally made sense. And there's joy, there's excitement to it. And during the tough times of life, because there will be tough times, it gives us encouragement and endurance and hope. Paul said, for whatever was written in the former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. We can read about the endurance of faithful men and women in the past, heroes of the Bible, people like Job, David, Paul, how they experienced immense suffering and adversity, trials, and how God brought them through. It can bring encouragement to you. When you read about God's promises to those who love him, of the eternal rewards awaiting us, you can remember that all the pain and suffering and illness and disease and trouble and difficulty and war in this world is temporary. We can read about our eternal home in heaven. And it brings us wisdom to navigate through challenges. Like when you're talking to a close friend, when things just aren't going right, and you just say, I just need to get some stuff off my chest, and you meet them for coffee, you sit down with them, you tell them what's going on, they listen to you. You go quiet, they start to talk, encourage you. Maybe they give you some advice. God's word is waiting to do that for you. Psalm 119, verse 24 says, Your testimonies are my delight, they are my counselors. God's word is the greatest counselor you could ever find. Next it brings reverence. It's impossible for a believer to read scripture and not grow in reverence and respect and awe of God. David wrote in verse 9, the fear of the Lord is clean and during forever. Now you might think, well, the fear of the Lord, I thought we were talking about the law. I thought we were talking about scripture. The law in the scripture brings the fear of the Lord. And it's fear in all sense of the word. It's it's a healthy awe and respect for God and for his power. Doesn't mean you live terrified of God, but you recognize that he is sovereign, that he can do whatever he wants, that he is ultimately in control, that he has the power to bring eternal life and death. So you should have a healthy fear of him and also respect and an awe and a wonder. And scripture will increase that in your life. Psalm 119, verses 89 through 90 says, Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your faithfulness endures to all generations. You have established the earth and it stands fast. You just read about God's faithfulness. You just see the immense truths of his word. Isaiah 55, verses 8 through 11. God says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. You can read through scripture and definitely see God's ways, God's thoughts are higher than our ways and our thoughts. My job is to expound upon, to teach upon, to explain scripture the best that I can, but there are some things that it says, this is what the Bible says, and that's the best that I can do because our brains can't really comprehend it. And you just learn to accept that. And then when you read about the prophecies and how they were fulfilled even during the time of the Bible, and you see how they're being fulfilled today, you see how powerful God's word is. That his word does not return to him empty, but it accomplishes his purpose, and you grow in reverence. The next power of God's word is righteousness. As a Christian, when you place your faith in Jesus, you are made a new creation. You are justified before God, you are given a new eternal status as forgiven, as clean, as pure. But in the meantime, you will be transformed over time to be more and more like Christ. The Holy Spirit enters you, He does work through you, He begins to change your heart, your mind, your attitude, your beliefs. That's why someone might look to you and say, Hey, what happened to you? You're completely different than you were before, and say, Yes, that's God. That's not me. God's word helps us do that. It helps us become righteous. What is righteousness? Righteousness is doing right. It's being right, it's being holy and set apart from the evil and the filth of the world. God's word guides us to do that. In verse 9, he said, the rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. His words lead to righteousness if you're obedient to them. And they protect us from wrongdoing. They protect us from hurting ourselves and hurting others, which is why in verse 11 he said, Moreover, by them is your servant warned, in keeping them there is great reward. God's word protects us as it guides us as long as we're obedient to it. There's a term called sanctification, which is just the process of becoming more and more holy, becoming more and more like Jesus as you mature and grow in your faith. Jesus prayed for his disciples and prayed for us. We read it in John 17, verse 17. He said to God, Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. Meaning God's word, scripture, God's message and instruction to us is what sanctifies us. And it has the power to protect us from sin and temptation. Psalm 119, verse 9 says, How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. The more you read God's word, the more it will transform you and guide you. You will be consumed by it. It will be in your mind and your heart. In verse 11, he said, I've stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. The more you're consumed by the word of God, the more your heart and your mind are directed towards the word of God, the less it will be directed to sin and temptation around you. And it's not just defensive. The word of God doesn't just protect us as a shield, but it is the most powerful weapon that we have. Paul said in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 17, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. God's word is the weapon that we wield to defeat the evil forces in the world. When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert, how did he resist temptation? By quoting Scripture. Deuteronomy of all places. It's powerful. Which is why Satan doesn't want you reading your Bible. We have more access to God's word than any other generation in human history. It's for free on our phones. We have it. We give it out for free. If you don't have a Bible here today, take one of ours. Take two. I mean, we love it. We give out the Bible. It's everywhere. Go to a hotel and check the nightstand. All right, the Gideons probably put a Bible in there. Then why is it so hard for us to read it? Because the enemy doesn't want us to. Because he's afraid of it. Because that's the weapon that will bring his ultimate defeat. It's powerful. And the more you soak it up, the more equipped you will be when temptation comes your way. Next, it brings repentance. Repentance. We are sinful beings. But we never really understand just how sinful we are until we're confronted with God's word. Because the Bible and the purpose of the Old Testament law is to identify the sins that we struggle with. Paul said in Romans 7, chapter verse 7, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin, for I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had said, you shall not covet. That doesn't mean the law forced him to sin, but that means the law revealed to him the sin. We all covet, but you might not realize that's a sin until you read, do not covet. You might not realize that a lustful thought in your heart and mind is necessarily sin until you read, hey, that's sin. I mean, we often don't acknowledge that we're in the wrong until we're confronted by it, right? That's what the Bible does. That's why in this Psalm, David transitioned from speaking about the power of God's word to a humble request for God to help him avoid sin. Verse 12, he said, Who can discern his errors? Who can discern his errors? Who can possibly know everything that he has done wrong? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Meaning there's some things we might do that are sin that we might not even realize. And then he says, Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. He says, protect me from the sins that I don't even realize or don't even see in myself. And then please protect me from the sins where I know it's sin, but I do it anyways. He says, Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression. God's word will protect you. It will identify the sin. It'll point to you where you're in the wrong. And then by God's power, you can change. I was going to uh label this point as reflection, but reflection is pointless if it doesn't lead to action. Like looking in a mirror, which is what uh James says in chapter 1, verses 23 through 25. He says, For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in the mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away at once, and at once forgets what he looks like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. You could stare in a mirror all day long, looking at a piece of spinach in your teeth. But as long as you don't actually take it out, nothing changes. The Bible is a mirror held up to reflect who you are, and sometimes that's not a pretty picture. But nothing changes if you don't do anything about it. That's repentance. Repentance is to change your mind about something, to change direction, to change course. The repentance is when you read that something is a sin in the Bible, you're confronted by it, you feel it in your heart, the Holy Spirit is kind of nudging you from the inside, and then you say, God, help me. I want to turn away from this. That's repentance. That's the power of God's word. You see the sin. You see what you need to start doing or stop doing, and then by the power of God, you do it. You act. So the ultimate answer to this question why should we read the Bible? Well, true life is found in God's word. True life is found in God's word. No, you don't need to read the Bible every day to get to heaven. But you should read your Bible every day if you want to experience life to the fullest. God's word should be the centerpiece of every Christian's life. Just as the universe revolves around the sun, gets life from the sun, so we should find our source of life from God's word. Jesus said, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Our minds and souls should live off of God's word the same way our bodies live off of food. It is the source of life for a Christian. It's the source of eternal life when you hear the word and then you place your faith in Jesus. But then follow it in order to experience life to the full. I say this all the time. Jesus didn't just die so that you can have eternal life in heaven. He died also that you might have a full life here on earth, that you might experience true joy, true peace, true patience and love and compassion, compassion, that you might be satisfied with what you have rather than continually longing after other things, that your relationships might be as healthy as they can be because you're not causing problems. But you only get that when you expose yourself to God's word and allow God to transform your heart. Some of you placed your faith in Jesus, and really ever since then, there hasn't been much life change. Why not? Because you're not reading his word. It's a source of life, and we should view it as such. I will say, there is probably a problem that you should pay attention to if you have zero desire to read your Bible. Let's be clear about that. No, if you miss some days, you know, you can still be a Christian. But if you have no desire to ever open up the word of God, then there's a problem there. Then either you are so deeply entrenched in your sin and your mind is just completely seared to the point that you better fall on your knees and beg God to soften your heart, or your faith is no faith at all. I mean, how could you really love God and not want to hear from him? We should desire it, long for it. We should be like David. He said, It's more desired to be than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Says, given all the riches in the world, all the wealth that exists, I would rather choose God's word. Psalm 119 says something similar. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. We should desire it above all else. If you don't feel like you're there, my challenge to you is just start reading. Just start. The more you read or listen to it or soak up God's word, you will begin to desire it more. Because it will begin to change your heart, your thoughts, your habits. You will begin to feel the effects of the power, the living and active power of God's word. And if it still seems hard, just pray that God would give you that desire. Say, God, you know my heart. You know that I struggle with setting this as a habit. Help me. Pray and ask for wisdom and understanding. Pray that God would enable you to understand his truth when you read it. We have bookmarks over on the table that you can have for a Bible, and please take a Bible if you don't have one. And it gives a guide of how to read. And we encourage, start by praying. Pray that God would help you understand what you are reading. And then don't just read it. Meditate on it. That's why in verse 14 he said, Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Let the meditation of your heart, let your thoughts continually dwell on God's word, his truth, his love, his encouragement, his promises. Soak it up. Write it down. Underline your Bible, fill it with notes. When you don't understand something, ask me, ask Pastor Mike, look it up, listen to messages throughout the week. Get a study Bible that helps you understand. Maybe instead of scrolling on TikTok on your lunch break, you open up the Bible app. Instead of grabbing your phone first thing in the morning, you reach for your Bible. When you go to bed, you're not watching TV, you're ending your day with the Bible. You have a verse that you write out and you put it on your mirror or on the dashboard of your car. You challenge yourself to memorize a verse. I would challenge you, memorize this passage in Psalm 19. It will change the way you view scripture and the way you feel about it. You meditate on it. And if you do so, you will be blessed by it in this lifetime, in the lifetime to come. The book of Psalms begins. Blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. Why should we read the Bibles? Why wouldn't we? It's a source of life for every believer. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, for your revelation, for your truth, for the authors of scripture, and for the Holy Spirit who delivered these messages to us. Lord, you didn't want to leave us in the dark. You wanted to reveal yourself to us, your son to us, and the path to salvation to us. And you did so through your word. Lord, we are so blessed with how easily accessible and ready, readily available it is to us. Forgive us for so often allowing the dust to collect. Lord, I pray that these words would continue to dwell in our hearts and our minds, that we might establish a habit of opening up your word. That if someone here has never done that before, that they might take a Bible if they don't have one, and that they might begin today. Just beginning with one of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, that they would open it up, that they would say, God, show me who you are, and that your word would transform them. I pray that we all might be people of God's word, devoted to Scripture above all else, and that that might be the core focus of our gatherings here on Sundays. We love you, we thank you, and praise you. Jesus' name we pray. Amen.