Our Footsteps: Some Advice from Bishop J.C. Ryle

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Some Advice from Bishop J.C. Ryle

Listen to me and I will give you a few short hints [on reading the Bible]:

1). Begin reading your Bible this very day. The way to do a thing is to do it, and the way to read the Bible is to actually read it. It is not meaning, or wishing, or resolving, or intending, or thinking about it. You must positively read.

2). Read the Bible with an earnest desire to understand it. A Bible that is not understood is a Bible that does no good. Work hard, and do not give up the work in a hurry.

3). Read the Bible with deep reverence. So to your soul, whenever you open your Bible, "O my soul, thou art going to read a message from God."

4). Read the Bible with earnest prayer for the teaching and help of the Holy Spirit. Pray for the Spirit to guide you into all truth. You should beg the Lord Jesus Christ to "open your understanding".

5). Read the Bible with a child-like faith and humility. Resolve to receive heartily every statement of truth, whether you like it or not.

6). Read the Bible with a spirit of obedience and self-application. Sit down to the study of it with a daily determination that you will live by its rules, rest on its statements, and act on its commands. The Bible is read best, which is practiced most.

7). Read the Bible daily. Yesterday’s bread will not feed the labourer today, and today’s bread will not feed the labourer tomorrow. Do not scramble over and hurry your reading. Give the Bible the best and not the worst part of your time.

8). Read all the Bible and read it in an orderly way.

9). Read the Bible fairly and honestly. The right way of interpreting Scripture is to take it as we find it, without any attempt to force it into any particular system.

10). Read the Bible with Christ continually in view. The grand primary view of all Scripture is to testify of Jesus.

No comments:

Post a Comment

I Believe...

1). I believe that there is one God. I believe God consists of three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
2). I believe that God is holy, righteous, loving, and just.
3). I believe that mankind is separated from God by sin; that sin entered the world through Adam and death through sin.
4). I believe that, because of sin, man is condemned. Because of God’s utter hatred for sin, there is an eternal conscious punishment in hell for all those who do not come to God on His terms, dealing with their sin.
5). I believe that confessing our sins and confessing Jesus Christ as Lord is the only way to properly deal with the sin that has infected everyone. Jesus Christ paid our sin debt on the cross; reconciliation by substitution. There is nothing we can do to add to the finished work of Christ.
6). I believe in the security of the believer, that once he is truly born-again, there is nothing that would cause him to lose his salvation.
7). I believe that upon the death of a true believer in Christ, that he is ushered immediately into the presence of the Lord, where he will live in everlasting joy in Heaven, experiencing eternal fellowship with God.
8). I believe in believer’s baptism by immersion. I don’t believe baptism is necessary for salvation, but it is a beautiful outward profession of an inward possession.
9). I believe in a literal 6-day creation where God created the heavens and the earth and then rested on the seventh day.
10). I believe that the words written in the Bible are truth. I believe that the Bible is inerrant in its parts and in its whole. I believe that the 66 books that make up the canon of scripture make the Bible complete and that God inspired the words written therein. The things that were written down in the Bible are sufficient for every need we have. Not only is God’s Word sufficient, but it is far superior to any other method of handling the problems that man faces, since He has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness.