A Need to Know Basis(We all need to know)

by Samuel E. WardPastor, Covenant Baptist Church

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IntroductionA. Biblical Illiteracy Is a Problem

1. In our general culture 2. In our churches

"Americans revere the Bible - but, by and large, they don't read it. And because they don't read it, they have become a nation of biblical illiterates."

- - George Gallup and Jim Castelli

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B. Biblical Illiteracy Is a Scandal (according to researcher Albert Mohler)

1. Fewer than half of all adults can name the four gospels.

2. Many professing Christians cannot identify more than two or three of the disciples.

3. Sixty percent of Americans can't name even five of the Ten Commandments.

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4. Eighty-two percent of Americans believe "God helps those who help themselves" is a Bible verse.

5. Twelve percent of adults believe that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife.

6. A survey of graduating high school seniors revealed that over 50 percent thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife.

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7. A considerable number of respondents to one poll indicated that the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham.

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C. Israel has provided many examples in its history of the God’s judgment and discipline for their failure to teach God’s ways to their children in spite of God’s many warnings, Deu 8:10-20; 2 Kings 17:37-41.

D. Do not think that God will not judge the church (globally, locally, and individual members) if it does not keep in its memory God’s Word and its practice, Heb 12:5-6, 11.

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I. Ignorance of God’s Word Has Serious Effects

A. On Individuals

1. People are destroyed as a result of ignoring God’s Word and therefore are unable to make wise and righteous choices, Hos 4:1, 6.

2. People are brought to spiritual starvation because they have ignored God’s Word and no longer remember to turn it for help, Amos 8:11-13.

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3. People are left without a compass for life, Psa 119:105.

4. People are without a clue on where to find true joy or peace, Psa 119:111,165.

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B. On Churches

1. There is a dearth in our churches of trained teachers and those willing to be trained. This ought not to be! (Heb 5:12-6:3, 7-8)

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2. There is a widespread shallowness of the biblical view of contemporary issues that is evidenced by how many in the church have come to accept society’s view of issues. All this is because Christians are so ignorant concerning God’s Word they are not able to discern the biblical view, Isa 5:20.

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C. On Society

1. Because of our ignorance of God’s Word, our standards of morality are “turned in – side out” so that good is evil and evil is good, Isa 5:20.

a. We have those who claim to be

Christians who slaughter the innocent (abortion).

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b. We have those who claim to be Christians but put the wicked on a pedestal while denigrating and insulting the righteous, Phil 3:18-20.

c. We have those who claim to be Christians who participate in and approve of the same perversions and wickedness as those whom God says deserve death, Rom 1:24-32.

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2. Because of our toleration of the world’s view of morality even within the church, it is no wonder that . . .

a. Pornography and promiscuity

exists in the church at levels nearly equivalent to that in the general population. Some research groups call these statistics into question. However, consider:

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Consider. . .

• 29% of born again adults in the U.S. feel it is morally acceptable to view movies with explicit sexual behavior. (The Barna Group)

• 57% of pastors say that addiction to pornography is the most sexually damaging issue to their congregation.(Christians and Sex Leadership Journal Survey, March 2005)

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b. Children are deprived the kind of parenting that is their God-given right because marriage is being re-defined.

c. Juvenile delinquency rates increase in families with single-parents, especially if the cause was divorce.

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Divorce was highly significant when predicting the variation in juvenile violent crime. These findings show a positive relationship between divorce and violent juvenile crime which support previous research showing that divorce can lead to crime.

--Jeannie A. Frye http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-05192010-

095240/unrestricted/Fry_JF_T_2010.pdf , p. 40.

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The Most Serious Effect of Ignoring God’s Word

When there is no absolute rule binding a society or community (including the church), the result can only lead to anarchy which usually leads to authoritarian rule. This is our future unless the teachings of Scripture become the absolute guide first for the church and then positively impact our society and awaken it again to God.

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We do well be aware that our own hearts are prone to write our own rules. But we need to accept the warnings of God’s Word.

(Prov 21:2 NIV) All a man's ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.

(2 Cor 5:10 NIV) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

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II. Ignorance of God’s Word Can Be Prevented

A. By Spending “Alone Time with God,” Psa 1:1-3; 119:97-98

B. By Sitting Under the Instruction of Gifted Teachers and Encouraging Each Other to Practice What You Learn, Heb 3:12-14; 10:24-25.

C. By Training Your Children Regularly and Diligently in God’s Word, Deu 6:6-7; Eph 6:4

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ConclusionAlbert Mohler exhorts the church:

Churches must recover the centrality and urgency of biblical teaching and preaching, and refuse to sideline the teaching ministry of the preacher. Pastors and churches too busy–or too distracted–to make biblical knowledge a central aim of ministry will produce believers who simply do not know enough to be faithful disciples.

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We will not believe more than we know, and we will not live higher than our beliefs. The many fronts of Christian compromise in this generation can be directly traced to biblical illiteracy in the pews and the absence of biblical preaching and teaching in our homes and churches.

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This generation must get deadly serious about the problem of biblical illiteracy, or a frighteningly large number of Americans–Christians included–will go on thinking that Sodom and Gomorrah lived happily ever after.

--Albert Mohler

http://www.albertmohler.com/2004/06/29/the-scandal-of-biblical-illiteracy-its-our-problem-2/