The Scriptures and the World, by A.W. Pink

To more and more desire the “sincere milk” that is God’s Word, we must constantly seek His face in this dark world (I Pet. 1:19).  The question we should then ask ourselves, then, with regards to our spiritual growth, is the following: “Does my reading and study of God’s Word make me less worldly?” (Click here to view the full article.)

We profit from the Word when:
1) our eyes are opened to discern the true character of the world
2) we learn that the world is an enemy to be resisted and overcome
3) we learn that Christ died to deliver us from “this present evil world” (Gal. 1:4)
4) our hearts are weaned from the world
5) we walk in separation from the world
6) when we evoke the hatred of the world
7) we are elevated above the world

Thoughts:
How attached are we to this world?  How distressed do we find ourselves when troubles come and how to we compare our reactions to such events to our reactions when the name or Word of the Lord is profaned?  “Have you learned to be independent of and defy the world?”

“Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord”

The Scriptures and Obedience, by A.W. Pink

We are not Christians at all unless we have fully surrendered to and “received Christ Jesus the Lord” (Col. 2:6). We would plead with you to ponder that statement diligently. Satan is deceiving many today by leading them to suppose that they are savingly trusting in “the finished work” of Christ while their hearts remain unchanged and self still rules their lives. Listen to God’s Word: “Salvation is far from the wicked; for they seek not thy statutes” (Ps. 119:155). Do you really seek His statutes”? Do you diligently search His Word to discover what He has commanded? “He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). What could be plainer than that?

A man profits from the Word when:
1) he discovers God’s demands upon him
2) he discovers how entirely and how sinfully he has failed to meet God’s demands
3) he is taught therefrom that God, in His infinite grace, has fully provided for His people’s meeting His own demands
4) there is wrought in us a love for His commandments
5) our heart and will are yielded to all God’s commandments
6) our soul is moved to pray earnestly for enabling grace
(Click Here) 

The Scriptures and Good Works, by A.W. Pink

So often Christians, throughout the history of theology, have taken various extremes in Biblical truths—thus, corrupting these truths.  From the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of the Christian to “the justifying faith of Paul and the justifying works of James” because Christians do not understand Biblical truths, and instead, create there own, they are left to wonder how their understanding of Scripture fits into the Bible’s overall truth-claims.  Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can guide the believer’s mind to total honesty when interpreting Scripture.  But, to many, a tough question still remains to be answered in total; it is that of good works.  How do good works play into this idea of not taking extremes but instead maintain precisely what Scripture says?  How do good works play into truly profiting from the Word of God?  Pink offers seven points by which they relate and build upon one another when.  We know we are profiting from the word when:

1) we are thereby taught the true place of good works
2) we are thereby taught the absolute necessity of good works
3) we are taught thereby the true nature of good works
4) we are taught thereby the true source of good works
5) we are taught thereby the great importance of good works
6) we are taught thereby the true scope of good works

Side-note:
The reason I don’t give an extended summary under each of the five points is that Pink’s analysis of these points are very clear and concise, and I just want the reader to read it because I think that may be more helpful that way.  (Click here to read the article!)

The Scriptures and Prayer, by A.W. Pink

God’s children tend to sin more when they are praying rather than when acting in other ways, because so often do believers not understand the sickness they are repenting and asking for forgiveness for.  But how do we know how to pray?  How can we please God with prayers from the depths of our hearts?  Jude 20 tells us to “pray in the Spirit”.  The Word of God explains to us the holiness of Him and what he requires of us.  The believer is profiting little from the Word if the purity and power of his prayer life is dead.  “Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your ownselves” (James 1:22).

Pink provides seven criterion by which an individual knows he is profited from the Scriptures:
1)  when he is brought to realize the deep importance of prayer.
2)  when he is made to feel that we know not how to pray.
3)  when he is made conscious of our need of the Spirit’s help.
4)  when the Spirit teaches us the right end in praying.
5)  when he is taught how to plead God’s promises.
6)  when he is brought to complete submission unto God.
7)  when prayer become a real and deep joy.

For those, like me, who believe they are too busy:
“…the fact remains that each of us takes time for anything we deem to be imperative. Who ever lived a busier life than our Saviour? Yet who found more time for prayer? If we truly yearn to be suppliants and intercessors before God and use all the available time we now have, He will so order things for us that we shall have more time.” 

The Scriptures and Christ, by A.W. Pink

Man must contemplate God’s purity and his impurity because the Scriptures testify to Christ’s purity (John 5:39) and our depravity.  Our profiting lay in “mystery of Christ” which is only revealed in the Bible (Eph. 3:4).  Our profiting from the Word of God can then be determined based upon the extent to which Christ becomes more and more real and precious to us.  Pink continues with his typical layout of seven points by which, he believes (and, I think, Scripture deems legitimate), an Individual can know if he or she is profiting from the Word.  He is profiting when:
1)  The Scriptures show the individual his need for Christ.  This is, however, not simply upon conversion, but throughout the sanctification of the believer.
2)  The Scriptures makes Christ more real to the individual.  That is, as Job said, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye seeth thee” (42:5).
3)  When the individual is more engrossed with Christ’s perfections.
4)  As Christ becomes more precious to the individual (I Pet. 2:7).
5)  As the individual’s confidence in Christ increases.
6)  When the individual feels a deepening desire to please Christ (John 14:23).
7)  When the Scriptures cause the individual to long for the return of Christ.
 
Side-note:
The greatest difficulty that many believers have–my self included–is to more and more long for the supernatural knowledge that is spoken of in the Scriptures—that is, that which is “not intellectual but spiritual, not theoretical but experimental, not general but personal.”  The question to continually ask ourselves, then, is “Is it your chief joy to get alone and be occupied with Him? If not, your Bible reading and study has profited you little indeed” (Pink).  (Click here to read it.)

The Scriptures and God, by A.W. Pink

The Supernatural Understanding of God
In the second part of Pink’s series on “Profiting from the Word”, he turns to the Scriptures and God. (Click here to read it.)  Throughout the essay, Pink emphasizes the supernatural character of Scripture and how this affects the individual.  The Scriptures is the only way that man is able to know God (I Cor. 1:21).  Knowledge of God’s Word is achieved by study and memorization, but this is far from knowing Him.  “God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God” (2 Cor. 4:6).  “In thy light shall we see light” (Ps. 36:9).  The helpful analogy that Pink uses follows: “Water, of itself, never rises above its own level.  So the natural man is incapable of perceiving that which transcends nature.”  God must first reveal Himself to us for us to know Him.  “We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us understanding that we may know Him that is true” (I John 5:20).  To merely know Him theoretically or intellectually would be to make the drastic mistake of the Jews.  That is, supernatural knowledge of our Holy God is necessary to have supernatural experience.  This experience, then, results in supernatural fruits, which the individual produces with the strength of the Spirit.  This experience, according to Pink, is specifically seen in the individual’s attitude toward God—that is, to love what God loves and to despise what He despises.    

Profiting from the Word
Finally, Pink’s concludes with six points which he speaks of in much greater length than I will here.  He who is spiritually profiting from the Word of God possesses:

1)  A deeper recognition of God’s claims.
2)  A greater fear of God’s majesty.
3)  A deeper reverence for God’s commands.
4)  A firmer trust in God’s sufficiency.
5)  A fuller delight in Gods perfections.
6)  A larger submission to God’s providences.

Side-note
Pink’s points are verified with scripture references and have caused me to read his writings slowly and meditate on the verse he uses when speaking of certain topics.  I would suggest anyone who reads Pink to do the same.  Particularly in these essays, Pink brings back the seriousness of the matter.  The believer’s dependence on the Word of God as his inerrant source, that is, his source for truth, is of necessity to please God.  Every believer longs to experience the supernatural knowledge of God and to move beyond the theoretical.  Crying out to God for help in our seemingly helpless state, I think, may be a good place to start.  And, of course, His Word provides us with the tools to exercise this.  But there will be marginal gain without the supernatural light God sheds upon believers.

The Scriptures and Sin, by A.W. Pink

This is the 1of 10 messages by A.W. Pink on “Profiting from the Word”.  (Read it here.)  In “Scriptures and Sin”, Pink encourages those who are reading Scripture to do so Biblically—this is actually the reason for all ten messages.  In this essay, using much Scripture, Pink shows that Scripture is not a mere intellectual pursuit, and the Bible should not be read like a textbook.  Pink lays out seven was that an individual is spiritually profited from Scripture which he explicates—something I won’t be doing here.  Here is an outline of his seven points though.

An individual is spiritually profited from Scripture when:
1)  The Scripture convicts him of his sin.
2)  He is sorrowed over sin
3)  The Word leads him to confession of sin.
4)  He produces a greater hatred for sin.
5)  It causes the him to forsake sin.
6)  The Word fortifies him against sin.
7)  The Word causes him to practice the opposite of sin.

Because, when reading Scripture, it is easy to do so for the purpose of knowledge, Pinks essay brings a helpful compilation of Scripture references to support his above seven points.

To those who may not read this article but are just browsing on this blog for some reason, Pink suggests that Christians who are reading Scripture ask themselves the following questions:
1)  “Is the reading and studying of God’s Word producing a  purging of my ways?”
2)  “Are my thoughts being formed, my heart controlled, and my ways and works regulated by God’s Word?”

“Till sin be hated, it cannot be mortified; you will never cry against it, as the Jews did against Christ, Crucify it, Crucify it, till sin be abhorred as He was.” (Thomas Manton)