Lesson 24 Warring Against the Flesh - Believing God’s Word
Questions 1, 2, and 3
I want to start by saying something that might be surprising: reading the Bible will do you no good whatsoever! Studying Scripture, memorizing Scripture, hearing sermons, etc. will profit you absolutely nothing! Unless your reading/hearing is combined with believing!
Question 1. What has to happen for us to experience the transforming power of the gospel?
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“The Good News was preached to us just as it was to them. But the teaching they heard did not help them, because they heard it but did not accept it with faith.” Hebrews 4:2 (NCV)
Question 2. According to Hebrews 4:2 NCV, why did the good news of the gospel not help the Israelites who heard it?
If we do not accept the Good news by faith, it will profit us nothing.
Many years ago, a young Russian boy began attending his local church's Sunday School because the priest gave out candy. The boy actually memorized all four of the gospels, even recited them all the way through in church. This young boy was Nikita Khrushchev, who later became a Communist politician and outspoken atheist. The mere reading of Scripture, or memorizing even large portions of it, does absolutely nothing for the heart if not combined with faith.
Another example is that of the Pharisees, many of whom memorized the entirety of the Torah (first five books of the Bible, written by Moses), yet did not, by faith, believe the gospel and failed to see Jesus in it. "If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because Moses wrote about me. 47 But if you don't believe what Moses wrote, how can you believe what I say?" (John 5:46-47).
Question 3. According to John 5:46-47 NCV, what was the main problem with the way in which the Pharisees read the Old Testament?