Good evening. Let's see. I'll probably have you to Matthew 12, verse 3 first. I'm going to open with quite a few comments. I want to continue on that subject of spiritually exercising, exercising ourselves spiritually. Today, read. How important is it for you to read your Bible every day? When you think about that, it's actually one of the most important spiritual exercises or disciplines that each of us must cultivate. Listen, I was not a reader when the Lord saved me. In fact, I might have read maybe one complete book in the first 18, 20 years of my life, but I was not a disciplined reader of anything. And so that hurt me when the Lord saved me because I wasn't a reader and I wanted to become a reader. But now I have the desire to read the scriptures because now God had changed me and I wanted to know more about my God and about the Lord Jesus Christ. So reading is an exercise that we must cultivate in our Christian lives if we would be godly, also known as being conformed to the image of Christ. If that's going to happen, we not only need to read our Bibles, we need to read them consistently. Now listen, in the days of Jesus's earthly ministry, he encountered thousands upon thousands of the common people whom he taught. Now, when he went to the Sermon on the Mount, he didn't say, open your Bibles to Matthew 5. The fact of the matter is, the common people didn't have the scrolls. They didn't have the Scriptures. He spoke the truth to them. Many in the first century church didn't have the scrolls or the Scriptures. They heard the Word of God from Christ, and then they heard them from the apostles, and then from their pastors and teachers. And so Jesus taught these common people who knew about the promised Messiah because they had, I believe, at least been told that in Israel, in Capernaum, in Bethlehem, in Jerusalem. They had heard that. They knew that the Savior and salvation would come. The problem was that it had been skewed. I think Randy mentioned this. last time he preached, they were looking for a, the common people that is, they were looking for a different salvation and in turn a different savior. Their messiah was not the one that they actually were waiting for when he came on the scene. He came to save his people from their sins. He came to deliver them from not the tyranny of Rome, but the tyranny of Satan. from the captivity of their sins from the God of this world. And again, none of the common people were walking around with a copy of the Word of God. The Lord Jesus had many encounters with the common people. He also had many encounters, as you know when you read the New Testament, with these pastors and teachers that taught them. the religious leaders, the scribes, the Pharisees, the religious lawyers, lawyers being not attorneys, but the ones that studied the law, who were to be spiritual guides to the people of God. They were to guide them in the truth of God. For the most part, these men, as you know, they were lost and unregenerate students of the Bible. It's like a lost man teaching you from a textbook. And so that's what the scribes and Pharisees were. They knew where to find the truths in the scriptures, but they didn't have the Spirit of God in them. They didn't possess the Spirit of God. They didn't truly believe God. And therefore, instead of teaching the Word of God to save the people's lives from their sins, they corrupted the Word of God and they mixed it with their own opinions and their own tyrannical traditions and thus they destroyed people's lives. Of course, Jesus in Matthew 23 said that these teachers, when they made disciples, in other words, we're to make disciples for Christ. That's what my calling is, make a disciple for Christ. When they made disciples, they made disciples of themselves. And Jesus said, you make them twofold more the children of hell than yourselves. When these unregenerate teachers, since remember they had the scrolls, whenever these unregenerate teachers challenged the Lord Jesus because of something they saw Jesus or his disciples doing, whenever they found fault with Christ, he would answer that challenge by asking them a pointed question that went something like this, have you not read? Have you not read? when they would find something that he and his apostles were doing, or both. Just listen, Matthew 12, 3, his disciples plucked ears of corn. It was the Sabbath day. And they found fault with that. Jesus challenged them and said, have you not read what David did? Matthew 19.4, is it lawful to put away your wife for every cause? They asked him. Matthew 19, you'll find this there. So the Pharisees tempted him with this question. Jesus said, have you not read that which God appointed from the beginning? That a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and there shall be one flesh? Moses allowed you to write a bill of divorcement because of the hardness of your hearts. That's the second time. The third time, the woman who had seven husbands. This was the Sadducees' question. Well, who's she going to be married to in the resurrection? Jesus said, you do err not knowing the scriptures. nor the power of God. Have you not read that those in the resurrection are as the angels of God? You've not read the word of God, and you have the word of God. He goes on in Mark to say, therefore, you do greatly err. You do greatly err. The parable of the vineyard, of the rejected stone. I think Randy read this one. In this parable, Jesus spoke to the chief priests, the scribes and the elders. In Matthew 21, he says, Did you never read this in the scriptures, that the stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the headstone? Have you not read this? They read it. But these were lost men reading the Bible as a textbook. And listen, the unregenerate can take the Bible and they can learn a lot of things from it. but to live the Christian life with the fruit of the Spirit? Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance? It's not gonna happen. It's a dead letter to the lost. You know what a student of the Word becomes without the Spirit of God? Pharisee. Pharisee. Jesus told him, you have the Word of God, Have you not read this? That lawyer in Luke, one more. What shall I do to inherit eternal life? This was a religious lawyer. Jesus said, hadn't you read the Scriptures? How readest thou? How do you read? What does it say? And so Jesus answered him. Let me show you something in Matthew chapter 2. I read all those passages. Matthew chapter 2. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, the Scriptures indicate for us that those who had all the advantages, and that knew that the Messiah was promised, knew the Scriptures where the Messiah would be born of a virgin. Isaiah chapter 7. They had the Scriptures. Romans says, what advantage hath the Jew? Paul says, much every way chiefly unto them were committed the oracles of God. They have all of the truth. Matthew 2 seems to indicate to us that among the religious leaders, the ones who had the scrolls, not one of them was looking. But do you know who read the truths of God and came seeking the Messiah to worship Him? I believe to be Persians, wise men that came from the East, Magi, came on a long journey from modern-day Iran, from Persia, They came, look at it. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. You know how they knew this? And I believe that they got the prophecy of Daniel. They read the prophecy. They believed in the God of Daniel. So they came. And it says, they said, where is he? They went where else? To Jerusalem. Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him. This is the amazing thing. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled. Okay, I get that. Another king that's going to depose you. But this is the thing that troubles me. Jerusalem was troubled with him. Herod was troubled. Why was the people of Israel, why were they troubled? They should have rejoiced. Wow, these guys know something that we don't. Now I believe this star appeared and disappeared and then reappeared. Because if it was always there, Herod would have seen the star too, but he didn't. Listen, God showed these wise men of the East who I believe were believing men, the Messiah. And they found him when he had gathered together the chief priests. This is another amazing thing. Verse four, when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes and the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said in Bethlehem of Judea. So they knew the scriptures. They knew it. But they were lost. These were unregenerate men. And besides, Bethlehem, they had the Scriptures. You can see it for yourself. Micah. It's an amazing thing. I wanted to refer to these passages to make a point that each of us needed to be readers of the Word of God. Here the religious leaders, the ones that should have been guides to the people of God, had corrupted the Word of God. They had mixed it with their traditions. They taught what they wanted to teach. They didn't teach the Word of God in truth. Beloved, we need to be not just casual readers of the Word of God, but prayerful, believing, obedient readers of God's truth. We must not just be a casual reader. We just go through and read it. Listen, I would encourage you when you read the Word of God every single day, and you ought to read it every single day, some passage, one verse, one thought, one word, write it down somewhere. Begin to journal. Write it down. It helps when you write things down, write it down. That helps you to think about it. It's repetitive. You just get a little notebook, write it down. I read this today. This spoke to me. Write down how it spoke to you. Not telling you write a book, but beloved cultivate. cultivate a love for God's word, learn Christ, as Ephesians says. I love what the Thessalonians, Paul said of them, he says, for this cause also thank we God, and this is how we need to read the word of God. He says, when you receive the word which you heard of us, let me say, when you receive the word which you read in your Bibles, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe. Beloved, we need to know that we hold in our laps God's Word, a luxury that many people in times past did not have. I went in the Books of Million the other day. There's an entire line of shelves packed chock full of Bibles. You can go in Walmart and there's Bibles on the rack. I mean, it's Bibles. You can get a Bible anywhere. There's no dearth or famine of getting a copy of the Word. Now, how important is it for you to read the Bible every day? I got a quote from John Blanchett. I read this. I thought it was good. He said, surely we only have to be realistic and honest with ourselves to know how regularly we need to turn to the Bible. This is to the question, how important is it for you to read the Bible every day? So with that thought in mind, how often do we face problems, temptations, and pressures in our lives? Every day. Then how often do we need instruction, guidance, comforts from God, and greater encouragement? Every day. To catch all these felt needs up into an even greater issue, how often do we need to see God's face? When you see that in the scriptures, it means to enter into the presence of God. So how often do we need that, beloved, to hear His voice, to feel His touch, to know His power? The answer to all these questions is the same every day. As the American evangelist D.L. Moody put it, a man can do no more A man can no more take in a supply of grace for the future than he can eat enough for the next six months or take sufficient air into his lungs at one time to sustain life for a week. We must draw upon God's boundless store of grace from day to day as we need it. Nothing could be more true. Beloved, we need it every day. How often do you need help? How often do you need wisdom? How often do you need guidance? How often do you need help from God, fresh grace? Especially wisdom. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. What good is it if I have a bunch of biblical knowledge, but I don't have the wisdom to practice it? Beloved, we need that. Listen, we are privileged Christians. There's no privileged generation like the people in America. We have the complete Word of God. Many of us have more than one Bible. We have a couple of Bibles in the house. I have two. I preach from different ones. And that's not the only two that I have. Listen, we have the advantage over people of many other nations who don't have the Word of God in this day. We have no excuse for not knowing God and the Gospel of Christ. Again, have you not read the Scriptures? But then how do you read the Scriptures? And let me give you some examples from some of the people of God. Turn to Ezra 7, verse 6. Let me just give you some examples and encourage your heart. And listen, from Sunday, this is no different. You must exercise yourself in reading the Word of God. You must discipline yourself to read the Word of God, and not just as a casual reader. Listen, this word is alive. We are to get our life from it. In fact, Jesus said that. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God shall man live. Shall we live our lives? Listen, that's Look at Ezra. Ezra went up from Babylon. This is when the new Jerusalem was being rebuilt and the new temple was being rebuilt. He was a ready scribe in the law of Moses. which the Lord God of Israel had given, the king granted him all of his requests according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him. And there went up some of the children of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethanims unto Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which is in the seventh year of the king. For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and to go on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. And notice, Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord. That's one of the keys, brethren. Prepare your heart to seek God in the scriptures. And then look at the second part. Not only to seek God out of the Scriptures, but to do it. To obey it. In other words, see what the Scripture says and obey it by faith. Just do it. And then, to teach in Israel's statutes and judgments. So you see that? Prepare your heart to seek the Lord and the Word. Obey the Word of the Lord. And then God will use you to teach others the word of the Lord. The book of Job, don't turn there, but you know it. Job said, I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than what's in the plate that mama cooked. The words of his mouth, I esteem them to be more necessary than what I would call necessary food. It's the most necessary food for our hearts and lives. Beloved, that's the food that the soul needs to eat. We need to feed our souls. Listen, we must have fat souls. We need to feed them. But so often our souls are fannished. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. How are you going to take heed to it, a good, well-balanced knowledge of it, unless you're in the word each day? By taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. We need to make deposits. We need to take some good seed and plant it in our hearts. Isaiah 34, 16, you don't have to turn there, but the phrase is there. The prophet says, seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read. It's what it says, the prophet. Now look at 15, 16 of Jeremiah. I want you to see that one. And then Ezekiel, but Jeremiah 15, 16. Jeremiah said, thy words were found and I did eat them. And thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart. For I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. You know what that word eat means? If you look the Hebrew up, it means devour it. Devour it. And it was a joy and rejoicing of his heart. Now Ezekiel 3. Ezekiel says the same thing. Ezekiel 3 and verse 1. This is what the Lord told Ezekiel. Ezekiel 3 and verse 1. Moreover, He said unto me, Son of man, and that's what God called Ezekiel, eat that thou findest, eat this scroll, or this book, and go speak to the house of Israel. So eat it, you read it, digest it. He didn't literally eat the pages of the paper. He ate the book though, he digested it. And what you take in, go speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth and he caused me to eat that roll. And he said unto me, son of man, cause thy belly to eat, fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then I did eat and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. And He said unto me, Son of man, go, get unto the house of Israel, and speak with My words unto them. Beloved, that's what we must do. And so that's My encouragement for tonight. I want you to be students of the Word. I want you to understand. Ask your questions. to the Lord as you read. Read the Word prayerfully. Prepare your heart to seek the Lord when you read. Don't just open the Word up haphazardly, and don't just read the Word right before you go to sleep. You can read the Word right before you go to sleep, but God deserves quality time. Open up. You say, well, I've got to go to work early. Get up earlier. Give God some good time. Seek the Lord. Do you esteem God's Word more necessary than your physical food? Do you eat the Word? Do you digest it? Do you think about it? I would encourage you to get a little book, get a little journal, write down something each day that God spoke to you about. It might just be a word. You might have just read grace. Write down how gracious your God is to have saved you from your sins. Devour, digest the word. Hide it in your heart so that you may use it in your Christian life. Listen, your heart needs to be like an armory where you store up, where you sharpen the sword of the Lord, which is the word of God. Be a seeker of the book of the Lord, like Isaiah says. So Christian, have you not read Do you not know the Scriptures? Haven't you read that God will not forsake you? Haven't you read that God hears the prayers of the righteous? Have you not read that God will give you a measure of grace for each day? Listen, oftentimes we are weak in trusting the Lord because we're not in the Word. We're not fellowshipping with God. We're not trusting. We're not believing. the Lord, to believe the Lord is to be in His Word. Listen, trusting and believing the Lord is perfectly spiritually aligned. Trusting and believing the Lord is perfectly and spiritually aligned with reading the Word. And from that will come forth obeying the Word. And so keep that question in your minds. Have you not read? Listen, I feel like that when somebody asks me a question that I can't answer from the Scriptures. That's okay. But you know what? Time to go read. So read the Word of God, beloved, knowing that it is God's Word. It is the necessary equipment to equip you for the Christian life. Don't go out into the world and, yes, I'm saved, but what does that mean? I don't know. That should not be us, brethren. So seek ye out of the book and read. Remember, this is a spiritual exercise, probably the most important one. But I pray that the Lord will help us as we look at these in the coming days. So, amen. Let's dismiss in prayer. Lord, we pray that you would help us, Father, to be avid readers of the word of God, lovers of your word. The psalmist said, oh, how I love thy law. How I love thy word. It is my meditation all the day long. Let us never hear or read passages like this and think, well, that's impossible. No, it's not, Lord. It's not. Help us, oh God. In his law doth the godly man meditate day and night. Help us, Heavenly Father. Lord, I know that if you teach us your word, we desire to know it. Father, you'll teach us how to walk in thy truth, but Father, it must come forth from our obedience, and so we pray that you'd help us. Bless your people as we go to our homes. Please be with all those that weren't here this day. We want you to receive all the glory and the honor, and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.