They say the Word of God is living and I would agree with them based on my personal experience. Ever since I became a Christian in 1980 I have had a hunger for truth that surpasses my desire for anything else. The Word of God only stimulates that. It leads me to things I want to know about. I know who I am. I know where I came from. I know where I am going. I know how to get there. I know how to lead others to eternal life. I know what ails my country and how it can be healed. I learn about the roles we play in life like manhood, husband, father, and son. I know the future and where the world is headed. People want to know these things and the Bible speaks directly about them. the Word of God is living. The key to unlocking that is discussed in this lesson.
This is a review of John MacArthur’s book Keys To Spiritual Growth with comments and study questions along the way. Feel free to study along and answer the questions or ask your own in the comments section below to enrich our learning. To go to the start of this series click here.
1 THE MASTER KEY – A Presupposition
The Bible is alive: “The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Peter speaks of God’s word as that which is “imperishable… living and abiding” (1 Peter 1:23). Paul refers to the Bible as the Word of life (Philippians 2:16).
The Bible’s Vital Signs
In what sense does the Word of God live? We can best see that by comparing it with the decay, destruction, and corruption that surround us. Death is the monarch of this world. This earth is nothing but a large cemetery; everyone is dying. Some people think they are living it up. Actually, they’re living on the downside, for their bodies and their glory soon wither and fade away like the grass (1 Peter 1:24).
In contrast, the Bible is inexhaustible, inextinguishable, and life giving. The death and decay of the world system cannot touch it.
The Bible is alive in itself.
The Bible is perennially fresh. In every generation and every age, the Bible proves itself to be alive and relevant. Its riches are inexhaustible, its depths unfathomable.
A few years ago I decided to choose a book of the Bible and read that same book every day for thirty days. I figured at the end of a month I would really know that particular book. I started with a relatively short book-1 John. At the end of thirty days, I discovered that there were still things that I did not know about the book, so I read it for another month. Even after that I felt I didn’t know 1 John as well as I wanted to, so I read it again for another thirty days. Do you know something? First John still holds mysteries for me that I haven’t even tapped. Every time I read it I get excited!
Another reason we say the Bible lives is that it is up-to-date.
Have you ever looked at your old high school or college textbooks? Most of them are obsolete. The march of progress and discovery has left them behind. But the Bible speaks as perceptively and definitively to the twentieth century as it did to the first century.
The Bible discerns hearts. It has insight that shakes us up. It is a sharp, two-edged sword that dissects our innermost beings. It judges the thoughts and intentions of our hearts (Hebrews 4:12). It reveals to us exactly what we are, which is why those who cling to their sin don’t read it: They don’t want to be convicted. Those are some of the reasons why we say the Word of God is alive.
The Bible is life giving.
The Bible not only has life, but also gives life. The power to reproduce is a fundamental characteristic of life. Mere human thoughts and words cannot impart spiritual life. But the living Word of God can. James 1:18 says, “In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth….” The Holy Spirit uses the Word to bring about new birth. The only way to become a child of God is through the living Word: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). We are “… born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).
Consider the parable of the sower in Luke 8. The Word of God is the seed scattered over the world (Luke 8:11). Some falls by the wayside and is snatched away by the devil so people won’t believe and be saved. What is the germ of life that people must believe to be saved? The life-giving Word.
Jesus stressed the importance of the Word in the process of regeneration. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” John 6:63). The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to produce life.[1]
The Bible sustains spiritual life.
As Thomas Watson said, Scripture is both the breeder and the feeder of life. By it we are spiritually born, and by it we are nourished to maturity. Peter said, “Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2).
Have you ever seen a hungry newborn baby? That baby isn’t interested in hearing you talk, in playing with you, or being cuddled. Nothing short of being fed will satisfy. Peter tells us that our desire for the Word should be that strong.[2]
Many Christians do not strongly desire the Word. As a result they are emaciated and improperly nourished, suffering from spiritual malnutrition. They need to remember the words of Jeremiah, “Thy words were found and I ate them, and Thy words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart…” Jeremiah 15:16).
Paul reminds Timothy of that truth: “In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following” (1 Timothy 4:6).
The Word of God nourishes believers. We need it as a baby needs milk, but we also need to grow up so that we can take in solid food (Hebrews 5:13, 14).
The Bible transforms lives.
Paul encouraged the Ephesians to be renewed in the spirit of their minds (Ephesians 4:23).[3] In Romans 12:2 he said that the renewing of our minds transforms us. Even as believers, we need to let the Word change us. We do not become perfect when we become believers. The Holy Spirit still has a lot to do to mold us into Christlikeness. We still struggle with our old sinful patterns of living (see Romans 7:15-25). Only through filling our minds with the Word and living in obedience to its principles can those patterns be changed.
Many Christians struggle with the problem of how to be more committed to the Lord. They attend seminars, read books, seek certain spiritual gifts, see counselors, listen to talk shows just about everything except turning to the Bible. Yet if they neglect the Word, little if any change will result. Only the Holy Spirit, working through the Word, has the power to bring us to maturity in Christ.
Paul reminded the Corinthians of that truth: “But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). What is the mirror he speaks of? Scripture. James wrote, “If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was” James 1:23, 24). How do we become transformed to be like Christ? As we see the glory of Jesus Christ revealed in the mirror of Scripture, the Spirit of God transforms us into the image of Jesus Christ.[4] That is the master key to spiritual growth.
Puritan Philip Henry wrote:
Conversion turns us to the Word of God, as our touchstone, to examine ourselves… as our glass, to dress by (James 1); as our rule to walk and work by (Galatians 6:16); as our water, to wash us (Psalm 119:9); as our fire to warm us (Luke 24); as our food to nourish us Job 23:12); as our sword to fight with (Ephesians 6); as our counsellor, in all our doubts (Psalm 119:24); as our cordial, to comfort us; as our heritage, to enrich us.
There Are No Shortcuts to Spiritual Maturity
Many Christians try to figure out some kind of shortcut to spiritual maturity, but none exists. As we gaze into the mirror of the Word of God and behold the glory of God, as we allow the sword of the Spirit to do surgery on our souls, as we permit the water of the Word to cleanse us, the Holy Spirit will transform our lives.
The most significant step in my personal spiritual development took place when I committed myself to intense study of the Bible. Bible study has become the passion of my life. Nothing in this world consumes me like the desire to study and communicate the Word. While I haven’t arrived at the goal of perfect Christlikeness (Philippians 3:13, 14), I have learned that the Holy Spirit uses the Word to transform me into the image of Christ.
The Bible is central to our spiritual lives. It is instrumental in our regeneration and crucial to our spiritual growth. In it God “…has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). And we pay a high price for neglecting it.
Using the Master Key
Let me suggest five specific ways to use the master key of spiritual growth.[5]
Believe it.
Today many voices compete with the Scriptures for our allegiance. Science, psychology, humanism, and mysticism are all rival sources of authority to the Bible, clamoring loudly for our attention. Don’t follow the majority. Too many in the church seem willing to abandon God’s Word for supposed shortcuts to maturity. But Peter’s response must be ours: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Accept the Bible for what it is – the divinely inspired, infallible, inerrant, all-sufficient Word of God. Doubting the truths God has revealed in Scripture will rob us of our joy and may ultimately destroy our faith altogether.[6]
Study it.
All Christians should make it their goal to be, like Apollos, “… mighty in the Scriptures” (Acts 18:24). Too many Christians are content with shallow, superficial Bible study or even no Bible study at all. Such neglect of serious study can result in doctrinal error as well as misconceptions on how to live the Christian life. The Bible rewards diligent study. And through study of the Scriptures, we can show ourselves approved of God (2 Timothy 2:15).
Honor it.
The citizens of Ephesus honored the statue of Diana because they thought Jupiter had sent it down from heaven. So they worshiped it – ugly, obscene, and horrible as it was. But something of true beauty has come down out of heaven from God – His precious Word, which is more valuable than gold or jewels (Proverbs 3:14, 15). Don’t pay lip service to the Bible while in reality you give your life in pursuit of the world’s substitutes – including things like entertainment, politics, philosophy, psychology, mysticism, and personal experience.
Love it.
”O how love I Thy law! It is my meditation all the day,” wrote the psalmist (119:97). Can you say that? Do you give the Word as much of your time and attention as you do other, less-deserving objects of affection?[7] Do you read the Bible as a love letter sent to you from God? Is the Word of God your passion, something to which you are drawn in quiet moments, or do you turn instead to diversions that actually hinder your growth?
Obey it.
Obedience is ultimately the only appropriate response to God’s Word. It will do us no good to believe, study, honor, and love the Bible unless we also obey it. The commands of God aren’t optional; they are obligatory. We can’t approach the Bible like a smorgasbord, whimsically choosing what we wish to obey and bypassing the rest. Our obedience must be implicit. Samuel told the disobedient Saul, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22).
So you will find God’s Word to be a master key that opens everything else in the spiritual realm! No chamber of spiritual privilege is closed to this key. Despite what many believe and teach today, nothing apart from the Word – no spiritual experience, no mystical key, no supernatural secret, no transcendental formula – can unlock the way to some spiritual power unavailable through Scripture.
Certainly there are other keys, each unlocking a unique, treasured principle of spiritual growth. But they are all based on this one great master key: Each one is a principle from the Word.
The great revival of Nehemiah’s day began when the people urged him to read the Scriptures to them (Nehemiah 8).[8] As they listened their hearts were awakened. They were convicted, cleansed, built up – and they responded in obedience.
Perhaps you are hungry for personal revival. I urge you to allow the Word of God to be the key that will unlock for you the vast repository of spiritual riches that are yours in Christ.
Questions & Notes
- The Spirit of God uses the _________ _________ _________ to produce life. ↑
- Peter tells us that our _________ for the Word should be strong. ↑
- Paul encouraged the Ephesians to be _________ in the spirit of their minds (Ephesians 4:23). ↑
- How do we become transformed to be like Christ? ↑
- What is the master key of spiritual growth? ↑
- For a defense of the sufficiency of Scripture see John MacArthur, Jr., Our Sufficiency in Christ (Dallas, Tex.: Word Books, 1991). For a defense of the inspiration and trustworthiness of the Bible see Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible (Chicago: Moody Press, 1986). ↑
- Do you give the Word as much of your time and attention as you do other, less-deserving objects of affection? What needs to change to improve upon that? ↑
- How did the revival of Nehemiah’s day begin? ↑
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