Milo

by Dwight L. Moody

The Bible is a storehouse of whose contents no one can afford to be ignorant. It repays reading and study whether it be approached merely because of its literary value, or its ethical teachings, or its practical bearing on everyday life, as, for instance, in the Book of Proverbs. While such reading may bring a measure of blessing, however, in accordance with the Scripture—”Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy” (Rev. 1:3),—I believe that God reveals His deeper truths to the eye of faith. Those who come to the Bible in a devotional spirit, seeking to know more of God and His will regarding us, are the most blessed.

Hence it is necessary, at the very beginning, that the reader shall be a partaker of that new life which alone can digest heavenly food. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2: 14). But they that are after the Spirit, who have been born of the Spirit, do mind the things of the Spirit, and the Spirit-breathed Word is sweeter to them than honey and the honeycomb.

I believe further that the reader must have faith in the Bible, and a love for it, before he will receive much good from it. As Pascal said: “Human knowledge must be understood to be loved, but divine knowledge must be loved to be understood.” Those who are full of doubts will never be much blessed. The Book comes to us as a whole with the same authority, and no man has a right to cut out any portion. Did you ever notice that the things that men cavil about most are the very things that Christ set His seal to? The story of Noah and the flood; of Lot’s wife; of the brazen serpent; of Jonah and the whale—Christ taught them all, and if I give them up, I must give up all Christ’s teaching. What we want is a faith that believes in the Bible from cover to cover.

SUGGESTIONS FOR BIBLE STUDY

1. Read the Bible as intelligently as you would read anything else.

If I receive a letter from my wife eight pages long, and read the fourth page today, the last page tomorrow, then turn back to the first page, it will be unintelligible to me. To grasp it intelligently I must begin at the beginning and read through it in order.

Now the Bible is not only a book in itself, with one distinct purpose running through it from Genesis to Revelation, but it is also a collection of sixty-six books, each complete in itself. Therefore it is only fair and reasonable, if you want to understand it, that you should read them through.

2. Do not read too fast or too much. Butterflies cover more ground, but bees gather more honey. Imitate the bees.

Studying goes deeper than mere reading. There are surface nuggets to be gathered, but the best of the gold is underneath; and it takes time and labor to secure it. Skimming over large areas of truth is not so profitable as the careful turning of every passage.

3. Have some definite object in view.

If a friend should see me searching about a room and should say: “Moody, what are you looking for? Have you lost something?” and I should reply: “No, I haven’t lost any thing; I’m not looking for anything in particular,” he would think me very foolish. But if I tell him I am looking for something, I may expect him to help me find it.

Numbers of people take the Bible without any definite desire to receive anything out of it. We should hunt it thoroughly for its great truths, and not read at random.

In private devotions or for family prayers, select passages as carefully as for public services. All the medicines in a druggist’s shop may be helpful, but they have different properties that make them suitable for different cases. In the Bible there is a word for every condition and circumstance of life. Every case is met; but passages should be selected according to the needs of that case. For instance, in time of trouble, read Psalm 91. For consolation in bereavement, turn to John 14 or 1 Corinthians 15. For devotional reading, turn to the Psalms or to the epistles.

4. Learn to feed yourself. The great trouble with most church members is that they don’t know how to do this. They have to be fed with an ecclesiastical spoon. If they happen to have a minister who feeds his flock, they get on pretty well; but otherwise their souls are not fed at all, and become lean and starved.

Obtain for use a good Bible, a concordance, and a topical text-book. Any Teacher’s Bible embraces the two latter, or they can be obtained separately. They form a complete library, and by their aid the Bible can be studied with profit.

METHODS OF BIBLE STUDY

Every man cannot fight in Saul’s armor, and perhaps my methods may not suit you; but if one method does not help and interest you, try another.

1. First, the telescopic method; that is, taking a grand sweep of a book or chapter, and trying to find out the main outline. Thus, there are seven leading men in Genesis: Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. They stand out like mountain peaks in the course of the history. Study their lives and times, and you will have a fair grasp of the whole book. Similarly, there are ten great sermons in the Book of Acts—five preached by Peter, one by Stephen, and four by Paul. When you know the circumstances under which these were preached, etc., you will have a general idea of the Book of Acts.
2. Another method is the very opposite of this—the microscopic method, when you take a verse or section and analyze it.

Take, as an example, Gal. 6:7: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” The text naturally divides into three sections. (1) “Be not deceived.” Now take a topical text-book and see what the Bible says about deceiving; who deceives us; how we are deceived, etc. (2) “God is not mocked.” What is the Bible meaning of “mocking”? Do men ever try to mock God? Can He be deceived? etc. (3) “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Note the certainty of the reaping— “shall;” the two kinds of sowing and reaping—sowing to the flesh and a harvest of corruption, or sowing to the Spirit and a harvest of everlasting life; that a man reaps the same kind as he sows, and more than he sows—some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, some an hundredfold, etc.

3. Study of subjects or topics. It has been well said that we must not read the Bible by the blue light of Presbyterianism, or by the red light of Methodism, or by the violet light of Episcopalianism, but by the light of the Spirit of God. Between conflicting opinions, most Christians are in dense ignorance regarding the most fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. What they should do is take the Bible and study for themselves.

For instance, consider the doctrine of the atonement. A great many say that it is folly to claim that men are saved by simply trusting in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. When you meet that objection, go to the Bible and find out all it says about the blood. We have the first reference in the third chapter of Genesis, where blood must have been shed before Adam and Eve could have been clothed with the skins of beasts. Follow the doctrine through the sacrifices of Abel and Noah and Abraham; the ceremonies and sacrifices of the Mosaic dispensation; the prophecies of Isaiah and Daniel. Pass from the Old Testament to the New, and see how the cleansing power of the blood of Christ is emphasized, until we reach the last chapter of Revelation, where we read about the Lamb of God, by the merits of whose shed blood alone we can hope to enter into that new Jerusalem.

Other fertile subjects are: Fulfilled prophecy; Old Testament types; the meaning of proper names; the promises; prayer; heaven; the attributes of God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost; faith, love, hope, etc.

4. The study of words and expressions. Here you take a word or expression and follow it through the whole Bible, or through some particular book or section, with the help of a concordance.

For instance, in the second chapter of Habakkuk there are five “woes” against five common sins:

1. “Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his!” 2. “Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house!” 3. “Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity!” 4. “Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink!” 5. “Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach!”

Again: Faint not in prayer. Luke 18:1.
Faint not in confidence. 2 Cor. 4: 1.
Faint not in hope. 2 Cor. 4: 16.
Faint not in well-doing. Gal. 6: 9.
Faint not at tribulations. Eph. 3: 13.
Faint not under chastening and rebuke. Heb. 12: 5.

Study in the same way the seven “blesseds” and the eight “overcomes” of Revelation; the “better things” of Hebrews; the “believings” and the “I ams” of John; “the fear of the Lord” in Proverbs; the seven “walks” of Ephesians; three “sound” things in Titus; the seven “forty days” of Scripture; five “much mores” in the fifth chapter of Romans; “with one accord” in Acts; six “precious” things in Peter’s epistles, etc.

5. Another profitable study is Bible characters. Take one man and follow him from the cradle to the grave.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Here let me say that the key to the whole Bible is Jesus Christ. You remember that, on the way to Emmaus with those two disciples, “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He (Jesus) expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Notice those two “alls.” The one theme of the Old Testament, in type and prophecy, is the Messiah; and the New Testament deals with His life on earth, and with the Church, which is His body, and with His coming glory.

Do not expect ever to exhaust the full meaning of Scripture. A supernatural God must have a supernatural Book. Finite minds cannot grasp the infinite. That is one reason why men who know the Bible best find it ever new.

Talmage has said that as the smallest dewdrop on the meadow at night has a star sleeping in its bosom, so the most insignificant passage of Scripture has in it a shining truth. Spurgeon said that the flowers of God’s garden bloom, not only double, but sevenfold; they are continually pouring forth fresh fragrance. George Muller wrote that he had read the Bible through a hundred times in order, and every time with increasing joy. Whenever he started afresh it seemed like a new book to him. Joseph Parker recently said that he had preached twenty-five volumes of sermons upon the Bible, and that when he had written the very last words his feeling was that he had not begun it yet!

I thank God there is in it a height I have never been able to reach, a depth I have never been able to fathom, a length and a breadth I know nothing about. It makes the book all the more fascinating and proves it divine.

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—1 Corinthians 3:12

Context
Christ Our Foundation
…For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work.…

Now if any man . . .—Better, But if any man.
Precious stones.—Not gems, but grand and costly stones, such as marble. “Hay,” dried grass used to fill up chinks in the walls. “Stubble,” stalks with the ears of corn cut off, and used for making a roof of thatch.

Many ingenious attempts have been made to apply the imagery of this passage in detail to various doctrines or Christian virtues, but it seems best to regard it as broadly and in outline bringing before the reader the two great ideas of permanent and ephemeral work, and the striking contrast between them. The truth brought forward is primarily, if not exclusively, for teachers. The image is taken from what would have met the eye of a traveller in Ephesus where St. Paul now was, or in Corinth where his letter was to be first read. It is such a contrast as may be seen (though not in precisely the same striking form of difference) in London in our own day. The stately palaces of marble and of granite, with roof and column glittering with gold and silver decorations, and close by these the wretched hovels of the poor and outcast, the walls made of laths of wood, with the interstices stuffed with straw, and a thatched roof above. Then arose before the Apostle’s vision the thought of a city being visited by a mighty conflagration, such as desolated Corinth itself in the time of Mummius. The mean structures of perishable wood and straw would be utterly consumed, while, as was actually the case in Corinth, the mighty palaces and temples would stand after the fire had exhausted itself. Thus, says St. Paul, it will be with the work of Christian teachers when the “day of the Lord is revealed in fire.” The fire of that day will prove and test the quality of each work.

Benson Commentary
1 Corinthians 3:12. If any man build upon this foundation — Thus firmly laid; gold, silver, precious stones — The most valuable materials in nature, the most solid, durable, and precious, and which can bear the fire. And here they stand for true, firm, and important doctrines; doctrines necessary to be known, believed, and laid to heart, and which, when so received, fail not to build up the people of God in faith, love, and obedience; rendering them wise unto salvation, holy and useful here, and preparing them for eternal life hereafter. The apostle mentions next, as materials wherewith some might possibly build, and with which indeed many have built in all ages, wood, hay, and stubble; materials flimsy, unsubstantial, worthless, if compared with the former, and which cannot bear the fire. And these are here put, not merely for false doctrines, condemned or unsupported by the word of God, or doctrines of human invention, but all ceremonies, forms, and institutions, which have not God for their author, and are neither connected with, nor calculated to promote, the edification and salvation of mankind: all doctrines that are unimportant, and not suited to the state and character of the hearers; all but the vital, substantial truths of Christianity. To build with such materials as these, if it do not absolutely destroy the foundation, yet disgraces it; as a mean edifice, suppose a hovel, consisting of nothing better than planks of wood, roughly put together, and thatched with hay and stubble, would disgrace a grand and expensive foundation, laid with great pomp and solemnity.

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. Revelation 20:12

Context
The Final Judgment
Then I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead, and each one was judged according to his deeds.…

And I saw the dead, small and great . . .—Or rather, And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before (not “God,” as in text, but) the throne, and books (or, rolls) were opened; and another book (or, roll) was opened, which is (the book) of life; and the dead were judged out of the things which had been written in the books (or, rolls) according to their works. And the sea gave forth the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave forth the dead who were in them; and they were judged each according to their works. The latter of these verses is added to assure us that the dead, in whatever quarter, must appear before the judgment throne. Death and Hades—“the grave world,” and “the great watery grave”—the sea, “the universal hidden region of the dead,” give up its prey; for there is One who sits upon the throne who has the keys of death and Hades (Revelation 1:18). It has been said by some that the dead here spoken of as coming forth from the grave are not all the dead, but only “the rest of the dead” mentioned in Revelation 20:5. Those who believe that the first resurrection there mentioned is a literal physical resurrection are compelled to limit the resurrection here to the resurrection only of the remainder of the dead. But the verses before us suggest no limitation, and the language most assuredly tends to the idea that saints and faithful servants of God take part in this later resurrection. If all the saints and righteous men of old are raised prior to the millennium, and take no part in this last judgment scene, then only the faithless and wicked are left to be judged before the great white throne, and as none of these can be found written in the book of life, the bringing forth of that book becomes meaningless. This is one result of vicious literalism of interpretations. The real significance of the scene lies in the vivid picturing of that great and solemn truth that we must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, and that before Him there is nothing hidden which shall not be revealed (Matthew 10:26; comp. 1Corinthians 4:5). Then shall every human life appear in its true light. stripped of all the deceptive adornments which have given a fictitious respectability to ingenious fraud, and a fatal popularity to adroit wickedness and splendid vice. Then shall men be judged, not by rank, or success, or achievement, but according to their works, as it is twice stated here, and according to whether they have any life towards God. The works and the life towards God must be combined. A man may have, from the activities of his Christian works, a name to live, and yet be dead: the life-book and the workbook combine to mark the real servant of Christ. If he labours more abundantly than all, it is Christ who works in him, for his life is a life by the faith of the Son of God. (Comp. Galatians 2:20; 1Corinthians 15:10; James 2:14-26.)

Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
And I saw the dead, small and great – All the dead – for this language would express that – the whole race being composed of the “small and great.” Thus, in other language, the same idea might be expressed by saying, the young and old; the rich and poor; the bond and free; the sick and well; the happy and the unhappy; the righteous and the wicked; for all the human family might, in these respects, be considered as thus divided. The fair meaning in this place therefore is, that all the dead would be there, and of course this would preclude the idea of a “previous” resurrection of any part of the dead, as of the saints, at the beginning of the millennium. There is no intimation here that it is the wicked dead that are referred to in this description of the final judgment. It is the judgment of all the dead.
Stand before God – That is, they appear thus to be judged. The word “God” here must naturally refer to the final Judge on the throne, and there can be no doubt (see Matthew 25:31) that this is the Lord Jesus. Compare 2 Corinthians 5:10. None can judge the secrets of the heart; none can pronounce on the moral character of all mankind, of all countries and ages, and determine their everlasting allotment, but he who is divine.

And the books were opened – That is, the books containing the record of human deeds. The representation is, that all that people have done is recorded, and that it will be exhibited on the final trial, and will constitute the basis of the last judgment. The imagery seems to be derived from the accusations made against such as are arraigned before human courts of justice.

And another book was opened, which is the book of life – The book containing the record of the names of all who shall enter into life, or into heaven. See the notes on Revelation 3:5. The meaning here is, that John saw not only the general books opened containing the records of the deeds of people, but that he had a distinct view of the list or roll of those who were the followers of the Lamb. It would seem that in regard to the multitudes of the impenitent and the wicked, the judgment will proceed “on their deeds” in general; in regard to the righteous, it will turn on the fact that their names had been enrolled in the book of life. That will be sufficient to determine the nature of the sentence that is to be passed on them. He will be safe whose name is found in the book of life; no one will be safe who is to have his eternal destiny determined by his own deeds. This passage proves particularly that the righteous dead are referred to here as being present at the final judgment; and is thus an additional argument against the supposition of a resurrection of the righteous, and a judgment on them, at the beginning of the millennium.

And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books – The records which had been made of their deeds. The final judgment will proceed on the record that has been made. It will not be arbitrary, and will not be determined by rank, condition, or profession, but it will be according to the record.

According to their works – See the notes on 2 Corinthians 5:10. The fact that the name of anyone was found in the book of life would seem, as above remarked, to determine the “certainty” of salvation; but the amount of reward would be in proportion to the service rendered to the Redeemer, and the attainments made in piety.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 7:21

Context
A Tree and its Fruit
…So then, by their fruit you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’…

He that doeth the will of my Father.—The continued stress laid on the ethical side of religion, on the nullity of the confession of a true faith (as embodied in the “Lord, Lord”) without doing the will of God, more than confirms the interpretation of Matthew 7:16 above given. A further development of the same thought is found in John 7:17, and we are taught that it is by doing the will of God ourselves, or rather by willing to do it, that we gain the power to distinguish, so far as we need distinguish, truth from error, man’s teaching from God’s.

Benson Commentary
Matthew 7:21. Not every one, &c. — The Lord Jesus, having declared the whole counsel of God, with regard to the way of salvation, and observed the chief hinderances of those who desire to walk therein, now closes the whole with these and the following weighty words; thereby, as it were, setting his seal to his prophecy, and impressing his whole authority on what he had delivered, that it might stand firm to all generations: that saith, Lord, Lord — That is, that makes a mere profession of my religion, that gives me the title of Lord and Master, or claims an interest in me as his Lord; that calls upon me and pretends to learn of me as a Teacher, to rely on me as a Saviour, to obey me as a Lawgiver, be subject to me as a King and Governor; shall enter into the kingdom of heaven — Shall be acknowledged as a true member of the church militant, or be admitted into the church triumphant. Some that say unto Christ, Lord, Lord, shall be saved, being his true disciples; but every one that does so shall not: None, indeed, shall, as Christ here declares, but such as endeavour to fulfil the whole will of God in faith and holiness, viz., that will which is described in this sermon. They that make it their care to understand the doctrine here declared, to experience the graces here delineated, to perform the duties here enjoined, to shun the hinderances here guarded against, and to embrace the helps here recommended, — they that thus comply with this holy, acceptable, and perfect will of God, shall be acknowledged loyal subjects of Christ’s kingdom here, and shall undoubtedly be admitted to reign with him hereafter.

Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Not every one that saith … – The Saviour goes on to say that many, on the ground of a mere profession such as he had just referred to, would claim admittance into his kingdom. Many would plead that they had done miracles, and preached or prophesied much, and on the ground of that would demand an entrance into heaven. The power of working miracles had no necessary connection with piety. God may as well, if he chooses, give the power of raising the dead to a wicked man, as the skill of healing to a wicked physician. A miracle is a display “of his own power” through the medium of another. An act of healing the sick is also a display of “his power” through the agency of another. In neither of these cases is there any necessary connection with moral character. So of preaching or prophesying. God may use the agency of a man of talents, though not pious, to carry forward His purposes. Saving power on the mind is the work of God, and he may convey it by any agency which he chooses. Accordingly, many may be found in the day of judgment who may have been endowed with powers of prophecy or miracle, as Balaam or the magicians of Egypt; in the same way as many people of distinguished talents may be found, yet destitute of piety, and who will be shut out of his kingdom. See Matthew 7:21; 1 Corinthians 1:26; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. In this last place Paul says that, though he spoke with the tongue of angels, and had the gift of prophecy, and could remove mountains, and had nor charity or love, all would be of no avail. See the notes at 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.

Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord,…. Not every one that calls Christ his Lord and Master, professes subjection to him, or that calls upon his name, or is called by his name; or makes use of it in his public ministrations. There are many who desire to be called, and accounted Christians, and who make mention of the name of Christ in their sermons, only to take away their reproach, to cover themselves, and gain credit with, and get into the affections and goodwill of the people; but have no hearty love to Christ, nor true faith in him: nor is it their concern to preach his Gospel, advance his glory, and promote his kingdom and interest; their chief view is to please men, aggrandize themselves, and set up the power of human nature in opposition to the grace of God, and the righteousness of Christ. Now not everyone of these, no, not any of them,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. This is to be understood not of the outward dispensation of the Gospel, or the Gospel church state, or the visible church of Christ on earth, in which sense this phrase is sometimes used; because such persons may, and often do, enter here; but of eternal glory, into which none shall enter,

but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. This, as it may regard private Christians, intends not merely outward obedience to the will of God, declared in his law, nor barely subjection to the ordinances of the Gospel; but more especially faith in Christ for life and salvation; which is the source of all true evangelical obedience, and without which nothing is acceptable to God. He that seeth the Son, looks unto him, ventures on him, commits himself to him, trusts in him, relies on him, and believes on him for righteousness, salvation, and eternal life, he it is that does the will of the Father, and he only; and such an one, as he is desirous of doing the will of God in all acts of cheerful obedience to it, without dependence thereon; so he shall certainly enter the kingdom of heaven, and have everlasting life; see John 6:40 but as these words chiefly respect preachers, the sense of them is this, that only such who are faithful dispensers of the word shall enter into the joy of their Lord. Such do the will of Christ’s Father, and so his own, which are the same, who fully and faithfully preach the Gospel of the grace of God; who declare the whole counsel of God, and keep back nothing that is profitable to the souls of men; who are neither ashamed of the testimony of Christ, nor afraid of the faces of men; but as they are put in trust with the Gospel, so they speak it boldly, with all sincerity, not as pleasing men, but God, and commend themselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God: such as these shall have an abundant entrance into the kingdom and glory of God. The Vulgate Latin adds this clause, “he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven”, and so does Munster’s Hebrew edition of the Gospel according to Matthew.