Scripture Memorization (A.N. Martin / Tom Welsch)

Introduction to Scripture Memorization and Tom Welsch's Role

0:04 The following message was delivered on September 11, 1994, in the adult Sunday school class of the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:16 Now, as we welcome our visitors, as well as those who regularly attend this class, obviously a word of explanation is in order. We do not usually conduct the class from a round table, with two of us sitting here at the table. But in the providence of God, there were some factors in the life of our church which your elders felt led, or should lead, to taking the class hour today and using it in this particular format. Those of you who frequent this place as members or regular attenders, you are aware that in the past several weeks, we have been announcing the availability of another round, a round of scripture memory, and the booklets have been downstairs in the foyer, and a number of you have already signed up for that memory course. And it is also evident to any of us who belong to this assembly that in God's providence, Mr. Tom Welch, my dear brother sitting to my left and to your right, has been the major human instrument to bring us as a congregation to new levels of consciousness. And I am very grateful to you, Mr. Tom, for your patience and deliberate commitment to this activity

1:37 of the memorizing of the word of God. And so this morning, what we are going to do in this class is to seek to stir up your minds with respect to the privileges, the benefits of scripture memory as a spiritual discipline. And our format will be as follows. I am going to begin by asking Tom a series of questions, the first few of a biographical nature.

2:02 He did not ask that these questions be included when he gave me a tentative list Wednesday night. These were not included, but he has consented to do this at my request when I gave some reasons why I felt it would be helpful. And then the questions will focus more particularly upon the scripture memory materials that are available for us here and why we ought seriously to consider them. And then when I have finished these questions, I have finished asking Tom a number of questions.

2:35 He is going to address some questions to me. And then we are going to take up what we call some yeah buts. And if you want to know what yeah buts are, just listen carefully and eventually we will come to the yeah buts and we will address those as well. Well, Tom, let's begin then with the first question.

Tom Welsch's Personal Testimony and Early Involvement

2:55 And though I know you are reluctant to talk about yourself, I am going to ask these questions about you. When and how were you first brought to be interested and involved in the memorizing of the Word of God? Okay. Before I answer that question, there is another question I would like to take the time to answer.

3:16 If you would turn in your Bibles, please, to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. This is a question which God asked through the Apostle Paul. And I would like to take just a few moments to answer that. 1 Corinthians chapter 4.

3:32 And verse 7. For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now, if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

3:58 Well, my answer to the question included in this verse is, what do you have that you did not receive? My answer is nothing. Anything in or about me that does not call for divine judgment and condemnation has been given to me. What I have, I have received through infinite mercy alone.

4:25 Because he who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, has freely with him given me all things. And this morning, a brother had given me a book to borrow and read, and in some of my spare time, this is a Christian, some of his correspondence from the 1600s. And this statement in one of his letters struck me this morning, and I'm adopting it as my own. He said, One being in a dark place hath exceeding much refreshment in it.

5:01 Blessed be his name for shining upon so dark a heart as mine. And that's my testimony. This morning. To answer your question, Pastor, when I was around eight years of age, my family began attending an evangelical free church in Wisconsin.

5:24 And I was encouraged, and the whole entire Sunday School class, the entire Sunday School was encouraged to memorize long passages of Scripture, chapters of both the Old and New Testament, as well as scriptural hymns. And I thank God that he so moved in my heart that I enthusiastically participated in that program. Then when I was about 12 years old, my family moved to New Jersey. And the church that I was attending at that time, once a year, participated in a structured memory program known as BMA, back then, or Bible Memory Association.

6:08 And through my teen years, I memorized through the five high school booklets of memorization. And last night, in preparing and thinking about that, I wondered if I had an old copy of the first high school memory book. And I do, and it was entitled, Basis for the Christian Life. This is the first memory book that I memorized from years ago.

6:34 And in going through this again, I came upon Assignment 3, which I would just like to share the first part. The title of the assignment is, Christ Satisfies Our Spiritual Thirst and Hunger. And there are passages in this assignment taken from John Chapter 4, The Woman at the Well, and John Chapter 6, I am the Bread of Life. At the very beginning of this assignment, there is about a five-line poem, which doubtless I read over 30 years ago as I began this assignment.

7:08 And I'd like to read it again today, after 30 years, and add my amen by name. It's an anonymous poem. But the poet says, Satisfied and full of favor by my King I stand, having blessings without number from His opened hand. Oh, the riches of His treasure!

7:34 Oh, the greatness of His measure! Oh, the fullness of my pleasure as His gifts expand! And I just want to say amen to that truth that is contained in that poem. From those beginnings then, Tom.

7:53 I'm not the reader. Oh, I'm sorry. Just have to turn the page. All right, then we'll have to get coordinated.

7:59 You wink with your right eye when I'm to ask the next question. I'm sorry, Tom. Go ahead. Well, around five years ago, I offered the fifth book, the fifth book in the series of memory booklets for elementary age children, offered this to my fourth grade Sunday school class here at Trinity, and also offered it to their brothers or sisters if they would like.

Benefits of Scripture Memorization in Welsch's Life

8:25 A year or so after that, other children became involved, and moms and dads wanted to memorize, and there were adult memory booklets, and others throughout the congregation that have been memorizing using these materials for the last several years. And I think maybe that answers the first as far as my history, how I got involved. All right, then the second question is, since you've been involved in this over a number of years, not only personally as a spiritual discipline to your own profit and growth in grace, but then in more recent years in encouraging others, I'm sure we could take the whole class if we had given you time to prepare an outline of the specific and manifold benefits that have come to your own life and to your own walk with God through this discipline, but would you share with us the major benefits that you have found from a commitment to the memorization of the Word of God? I would like to do that and ask you to turn to the Psalm which we sang this morning, Psalm chapter 19. As Pastor Martin, I introduced this hymn and emphasized the truth of the Scripture

9:52 where the Psalmist concentrates on the glory of God and His revelation in creation. This is the way this Psalm begins, The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork. Notice in verse 4 it says, speaking of creation and the sun and others, Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. Then the Psalm ends in verse 14, speaking of words again, not the words, the unspoken words of creation, but in verse 14, Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. As we may know God through the words of His creation, the Psalmist reminds us He knows us through our words, both the spoken and unspoken, the meditation of our hearts. And so, first of all, I would like to thank God that the reading, the reviewing, the recalling and reciting of His word has been His instrument to keep the meditations of my heart acceptable in His sight. Then in Psalm 119, please,

11:20 in verse 11, Psalm 119, 11, Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. And I thank God this morning that over the years God has so blessed His word, as I have memorized it, to the restraining of myself from sin and of quickening me in my duty. And then third of all, if you would turn in the New Testament to John chapter 2 and verse 17, John 2, 17, as Jesus cleanses the temple of the money changers, in chapter 2 and verse 17, it says, Then His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your house has eaten me up. And then in verse 20,

12:47 verse 22, Therefore when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said. And throughout my life God has brought to my remembrance the scriptures which I have memorized, and they have provided light and guidance in my changing circumstances, in my prayers, and in my witnessing. And this morning I would declare with a psalmist, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Now moving, Tom, from the more biographical into the matters of the materials that are now available to our own people, to assist them in any course of Bible memory, I'd like to ask you, why produce Bible memory booklets? I couldn't locate the quote, but perhaps you're familiar, those of you who have read, used the Bible reading schedule that McShane had written years ago,

Rationale for Producing Bible Memory Booklets

14:12 and in his introduction to that, to paraphrase him, he offered his Bible reading schedule for the year, so that God's people, when it would be, would be time for devotions or for reading God's word, it would give them direction, and it would give them a guidance in the reading of the Scriptures. And I have seen through the years that when a person is decided by God's Spirit and convinced that Bible memory is a duty and a privilege, he might, or she might sit down and ask himself the question, well, what shall I memorize? Where shall I begin? And all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. However, I have found over the years that memory books offer guidance and direction to help us in finding and pointing which way we are to go in our memorizing. The memory books that I have prepared also help us give definition to what we memorize. This is a 12-week memory course that these memory books contain.

15:23 And so it gives more definition as far as how much should I be memorizing? How much should I be memorizing? About how long should it take me? This is a 12-week course with a beginning and an end, and therefore I trust it will help the God's people in this congregation answer that question, what shall I memorize and how long should it take me?

15:51 Now why did you produce these particular memory booklets, Tom? Well, I produced, first of all, the one for the adults, First Peter, in anticipation of your series in preaching from First Peter. Is it still planned to begin soon? I produced the first one about maybe two years ago in anticipation of your beginning that.

16:20 And in particular now, though it's only been the last several months, that verses, and we won't turn into this one, its reference is 316, 2 Kings 316, where the prophet tells the king of Israel of the armies of the Edomites and Israel and Judah, they were out of water, and so the prophet instructed the kings to dig ditches, and that God would provide water, and that water which God provided not only refreshed, the troops and the animals and all that were with them, God used that to defeat the enemy as well. But that reminded me of what we want to do in anticipation of this series of preaching, is to dig ditches. That is to hide God's word in our hearts from First Peter that when these expositions are given to us, they might have some place to be gathered and settled in our hearts that we might receive all the profit that we can from this preached word. That it might just not run off and bless us for that day or for that week, but that we might truly be prepared to receive the word of God in those expositions. But the book of Proverbs,

17:46 particularly as Solomon addresses them to my son, I prepared a memory booklet, especially for the teenagers, some adults are memorizing from that, have signed up, God willing, I will begin memorizing Proverbs since I've gone through the Peter series already, and others as well. And then for the younger children and down to preschool, I have portions of praise which are the Psalms, where each of those children who sign up will be memorizing a Psalm according to their capacity. And so that's why I chose those particularly. Books to memorize.

The Importance of Accountability and Awards in Memory Programs

18:30 Well, I'm sure that many appreciate that labor and are grateful that the memory booklets are made available. It's also clear to us that in addition to signing up and obtaining the memory booklet, that the person who does this is willing to make himself accountable to some fellow mortals. Now, where does this whole idea of accountability come in? Shouldn't this just be a matter between ourselves and God?

18:56 It is true. It is a matter between ourselves and God. But God teaches us in Scripture that there is also a mutual accountability that Christians have one to another. I'd like you please to turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 3.

19:13 Hebrews, chapter 3, and verses 12 and 13. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Also in Hebrews, chapter 10 and verse 24. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.

20:40 May we turn to Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament, chapter 4, and verse 9, Ecclesiastes 4, 9. Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. And then verse 10. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.

21:19 But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Then we have a picture of that, please, in Exodus, chapter 7. Exodus 7. I left out a one. Exodus 17, please. Yes. And verse 9.

22:16 Exodus 17, verse 9. And Moses said to Joshua, Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses said to him and fought with Amalek.

22:41 And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And so it was when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands became heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it.

23:02 And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. Well, I think those verses and the principles in them are very compelling and clear to all of us without any further comment. But now I also understand, Tom, that in the program offered here and in similar programs, I know it's true in the Bible Memory Association, that awards are offered.

23:39 Why should we offer awards? Isn't our duty and the privileges that come from that sufficient to motivate us? Is this not an intrusion of some kind of a carnal pressure? Would you respond to that question?

23:54 I'm sure it's a question some have had. Well, scriptures talk about rewards. So once again, if you would please turn back to the book of Hebrews and Hebrews chapter 11, please. Hebrews 11, verse 24, beginning in verse 24.

24:20 Hebrews 11, 24. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. For he looked to the reward. Then we've been hearing about rewards in our preaching recently.

24:58 Sermon on the Mount, if you would turn to Matthew chapter 5. The word reward isn't used in the first verses in the Beatitudes, and yet the idea of reward is there. For instance, verse 5, blessed are the meek, because it's scriptural and right to be meek. That's true.

25:33 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. The word reward is used in verse 12. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. And then in chapter 5 and verse 46,

26:00 for if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? Chapter 6 and verse 6, verse 4, that your charitable deed may be in secret, and your father who sees in secret will himself reward you openly. It's repeated in verse 6.

26:29 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your father who is in the secret place, and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And the same is applied to fasting. Your father will reward you openly. But turn please then to chapter 10.

26:55 Matthew chapter 10 and verse 40. Matthew 10, 40. He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward.

27:21 And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward. The children and teenagers may choose a reward from a list of sound, scriptural, Christ-honoring books provided through the Trinity Book Service. This is a reward which they can look to while memorizing and received after completion of their memory course.

28:06 I would say in the light of all of these principles in which God himself deals with his children on the basis of incentive to award that are reflecting the image of God in our dealings with our children, with one another, and within this framework, it certainly carries my conscience, Tom. I think it's time for you now to address at least a question to me. Well, I have several. All right.

Scripture Memorization as a Christian Duty

28:35 You are my friend. We'll see.

28:45 Pastor, is the regular, continual committing of the word of God to memory a Christian duty? Well, that question, Tom, brings us immediately into the matter of seeking to educate the consciences of God's people, and I would answer without any reservation that the memorizing of Scripture as a conscious discipline of the Christian life is indeed a clearly revealed duty. I am not saying that enrollment in this particular memory plan that's being made available on the table downstairs through your endeavors, that it is the duty of every Christian, or every member, or every visitor of Trinity Church to sign up for this particular memory plan. And I don't know how to state that any more bluntly, but I know, having stated it just that clearly, someone's already brought the wall down who's fighting their biblical duty, saying, Now we're telling you you've got to take their memory cords and you can't be a member in good standing. No, no one said that. This person does not think that.

29:57 I would be jumped on by my fellow elders if I ever dared to bind your conscience in a way that was unscriptural. However, with respect to the question, is it a duty to commit the word of God to memory? I do believe the Bible's answer is clear and unambiguous, and it is yes. And there are several passages that I would like to comment upon briefly that in my judgment were these the only passages and they are just the selective few, they would be enough to bind my conscience and I believe the conscience of anyone who is committed to the fact that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. And the first passage is Deuteronomy chapter 6, a pivotal passage in conjunction with God's old covenant revelation through his servant Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 6. And in the first three verses we have a general call to the people of God to a lifestyle of obedience to the word which God had revealed. Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the ordinances which the Lord your God commanded to teach you

31:25 that you might do them in the land whither you go over to possess it. And so the basic thrust of the first three verses is a sweeping command to the people of God to obey the word that has been revealed. Verse 3, Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it that it may be well with you. Then in verse 4 we are given what is the central burden of all of those commandments and precepts.

31:58 You remember when Jesus was asked what is the great commandment in the law? What is the supreme commandment of all the Old Testament revelatory data? Listen to the echoes of it in this text. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your might.

32:23 So that in this call to obedience the great end of that call is that the covenant people of God might manifest their whole soul commitment to love and serve the God who had redeemed them out of Egyptian bondage. But then it's as though God anticipates the question. Well, if our great duty is to obey you and among all those duties the wellspring of each of them is to love you, Lord, with all the heart, soul, and might, how does one put himself in the way of that obedience and of that lifestyle in which supreme love to God is manifested in those who profess to know this God as their God? And then we have in verses 6 through 9 what I call the Old Testament command to the memorization of Scripture. And these words, notice, not just the thoughts that the words contain, not just some misty, vague notion of the overall concept, but these words. God spoke in specific words.

33:46 And he says these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart. They shall be upon your heart. They shall be taken internally. The words, not just their impress, not just their secondary benefits, but the words themselves.

34:06 And they should be so taken into your heart that you would then be able to teach them. That is, the words. And you shall teach them diligently unto your children. You shall talk of them when you sit in the house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up.

34:23 Now, if we were to try to obey that literally, even with the most compact of Bibles, we'd find it very difficult. Now, remember, this was in the day before printing presses, before paper as we now know it. Every Israelite did not have a little cart that he pulled behind him that had a set of scrolls of the book of the law. God is saying, you must so commit it to memory that it is regulative of your life and you are able then to draw it forth in all the circumstances of life in order to impart my very words to your children.

35:00 And then he goes on to say, you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand and they shall be frontlets between your eyes. Now, the Pharisees literalized this. I believe God is using a figure of speech, a frontlet. It would be an ornamental thing, as it were, tied between the eyes.

35:18 They actually would write out certain passages and put them in a little box that was tied around the head. But what God is saying is that wherever you go, in your activities, the hands symbolic of the activities of life, and in your thinking, that which is between you, that which is between your eyes, write them upon the doorpost of your house and upon your gates. Surely, if any Israelite was serious about obedience to this command, he would have to be committed to memorizing the word of the living God. And this command is repeated in chapter 11, verses 18 to 20.

35:58 I will not take the time to go to it. A second passage that in my judgment is one that binds my conscience and ought to bind the conscience of every Christian to some systematic commitment to the memorizing of the word of God is Psalm 1, the description of the blessed man. Ultimately, our Lord Jesus alone fits this description to perfection. But all of his people, to some degree, reflect this path of blessedness.

36:30 And how is the blessed man described? Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of Jehovah. And on his law does he meditate day and night. And if one is to meditate upon the law of God, to reflect upon it in all the circumstances of the day and the wakeful hours of the night, it is impossible unless that word is stored up in his heart.

37:09 In the language of the text that Tom quoted, thy word have I literally laid up in my heart as a treasure that I might not sin against you. And then, in the New Testament, there are several passages I, in the interest of time, I'll just touch briefly upon Colossians 3.16, where there is a present imperative verb, enoikeo, which means to take up residence in, and here we are told, let the word of Christ dwell in you, take up residence within you richly. And then he goes on to indicate how that word dwelling in us richly will not only influence us, but our influence upon others. And though the phrase in the original here, word of Christ, does not say words, but refers to the message concerning Christ, that message, according to 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 12, comes to us in words which the Holy Spirit taught the inspired penman. So no one can have an accurate grasp upon the word or the message of Christ unless he treasures up the very words in which that message has been revealed to us, and those are the words of Scripture themselves.

38:38 And then a final passage, 1 John 2 and verse 6. We are told concerning every believer, he that says he abides in him, that is, in Christ, ought himself so to walk even as he walked. Well, when we turn to the life of our Lord Jesus and seek to observe the patterns of his walk, it is evident that no little element in that walk was that he framed his actions by the word of God that he had committed to memory. Jesus did not quote Scripture by dipping in to the omniscience of his divine mind.

39:20 The Scripture says he grew in wisdom and in knowledge and in favor with God and man. And our Lord Jesus so treasured up the word of God by memorizing it, that when he is out in the desert, for remember, he has no little cart pulling behind him with all the scrolls or even Deuteronomy from which he quotes most profusely there in the desert temptation, and he is able to say, it is written, and to quote the very words of God that as a man he had treasured up through the discipline of memorization. And if we are walking as he walked, then we too will seek to treasure up the word of God and have it in readiness to be used even as our Lord Jesus did. And then for any taking notes you may want to add these other texts and I'll not comment upon them in the interest of time. Proverbs 6, 20 to 23, where the father, Solomon, commands his son to treasure up the word in his heart, and then the command to be holy as God is holy, 1 Peter 1, 15 and 16, and the great instrument in effecting sanctification is the word of God, John 17, 17, Psalm 119, 11,

40:46 Psalm 37, and verse 31. Well, I've run through those things, Tom, and perhaps consumed more time than I should, but in the light of those passages and many others I have no reason for reservation in saying that I believe the memorization of the word of God is indeed a Christian duty. Amen. I agree.

Addressing Common Objections ('Yeah Buts')

41:08 Hmm. The clarity and force of these scriptures cannot be denied, Pastor, but perhaps we may have to do a little fox hunting, for we read in Song of Solomon chapter 2 and verse 15, and I'm going to have to quickly turn here to make sure I quote it right, Song of Solomon 2, 15, Song of Solomon 2, 15, Catch us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes. There's a type of little fox that Pastor Martin already mentioned at the beginning. It's called the yabut fox. Now, for those more refined, it's the yes-but fox, but we're talking about the same animal.

42:15 This fox, when it comes to these types of Christian duties, this fox comes in various forms. For instance, there is the yabut. I've been a Christian for quite a number of years and have never before really tried to commit whole portions of the Bible to memory, so it's kind of late for me to begin now, fox. You know what fox I'm talking about?

42:44 Yes. Yes. Well, how would you kill that fox, Tom? Oh, not kill him.

42:49 How would you kill him? How would you try to get him out of the vineyard?

42:54 How would you try to get him out of the vineyard? How would I? I don't know, Pastor Martin. How would I try?

43:02 Would you want me to respond to that? Yes, please. All right. Well, I would respond by saying that if one had not been doing it, it might have been out of general ignorance of what the Word of God taught, in which case the first thing to do is to confess to God the sin of ignorance.

43:19 There was provision in the Old Covenant for sins of ignorance, and when the Scripture tells us that if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, even the unrighteousness of unfulfilled duties born of ignorance, and then to repent of the sin and the sins that no doubt have been fathered and mothered by the failure to memorize the Word of God and repenting of that to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, which is to begin, to begin modestly as the person who's convinced he's abused his body because he hasn't exercised. If he goes out and tries to run five miles the first day while he gets discouraged and quit, so begin modestly, begin to stretch the muscles of the brain and of the heart that are engaged in memory work, and far better to have a good conscience as an old person than to have a conscience that is even nagging more because more light has been shed upon an aspect of duty. Thank you. Well, then there is the yeah, but I've never been very good at memorizing anything and I'm not sure I'll succeed, Fox, or a close relative to that. The yeah, but I might embarrass myself, Fox.

44:39 Could you help us? Well, I would say again, far better to be embarrassed in seeking to obey God and to have a good conscience than to live with a bloody doubt and a sense of defeat before one had ever tried. And here again, even the memorizing of certain portions would be of help where the scripture says, my grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness.

45:08 I can do all things through him who strengthens me so that ultimately this is not a demand upon me, but upon the grace of God in me and towards me through the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay. But what about the I'm a busy mother with several young'uns or I'm a busy two-job husband or I'm a heavily academically loaded student and my schedule doesn't permit Bible memory right now, Fox? Well, I would say that that Fox has lots of lots of company in his litter.

45:46 And that is simply saying that I don't have time to do my biblical duty. And if that's so, then either I'm mismanaging my time or what I regard to be duties are not duties. For there is enough time in every day to do the will of God. There is enough time in every day to do the will of God.

46:13 God says, be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is. But then it's interesting, he goes on immediately to say, redeeming the time, buying up the opportunities. And once we get serious about doing all the will of God, it's amazing how many slots of time we can discover that we've been squandering and wasting. Not to speak of slots of time that are being used in pursuits that are definitively non-Christian.

46:45 That's all the Foxes that I brought with me this morning, Pastor. All right. We have some. All right.

Additional Benefits of Scripture Memorization

46:56 Well, we come then to the final question and we're doing well time-wise, Tom. Okay, well then I'll ask it. All right. Just want to make sure that I didn't see you wink at me.

47:06 Okay. All right. Well, all right. Obedience, we know, is its own reward.

47:15 And we have mentioned a few benefits this morning. But are there other specific benefits which I may expect as we may expect as we hide God's word in our hearts? Well, you've mentioned some of them that have come from your own experience, Tom, in terms of the word of God being there to fasten your mind upon that which is pleasing to God because as you mentioned to me when we were discussing this on the phone, seldom is the mind in any state of neutrality. It's thinking about something.

47:52 And if it's thinking about the word of God, then it's not going to be thinking about things that are going to draw us away from God. But I would say several other benefits that come to my mind immediately are first of all in terms of our witness. In 1 Peter 3.15 we are told as the people of God we are to sanctify Christ always as Lord in our hearts, being ready to give an answer to everyone who asks us a reason of the hope that is in us and to do this with meekness and with fear.

48:29 Well, if we're to sanctify Christ as Lord, that is, live in such a way that Christ's presence and Lordship over us is a constant reality, we are to do so in a state of readiness to give to anyone who's seeing our radically alternate lifestyle as Christians and wants to know what makes you tick, well, our answer is far more effective when we can interlace it with the very words of God. There is a peculiar, I may use the word even mystical, mystical in the sense that we cannot subject it to a laboratory analysis, but there's a peculiar power in the quoted word of God. God says, is not my word like unto a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Jeremiah 23, 29. Hebrews 4, 12.

49:27 The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. So in terms of giving spiritual power and unction and penetration to our witness, the more we are able in our witness to others to quote the very words of scripture, the more we have reason to believe that the spirit of God will own his own truth with power. That is not to say he will not bless testimony and these other things, but even in our testimony, if we can quote the word of God and have it ready at hand, this is what happens in preaching. Never do I sense more authority and more of the unction of the spirit of God than when I'm buttressing something I've said with the very words of the living God. And there's like an impregnable wall of authority that stands between the preacher and his hearers. To discount what is said is to discount what God has said when it is clearly rooted in the scriptures. And then I would say a second great benefit, especially to parents, we go back to Deuteronomy chapter 6, when the child is beginning to develop an inquiring mind and realizing that there is reigning sin if he's not converted and remaining sin if he is converted, many times that sense of rivalry and that sense of pushing against parental perspective and parental authority and parental directives.

50:56 Well, that's just your way of looking at it. Well, that's just your generation's way of thinking. Well, if you as a parent can say, no dear, no son, this is what the timeless eternal word of God says. And you can lay that word before your child.

51:14 You can then have the confidence that though he may reject it, though she may reject it, they cannot, but in their hearts, heart of hearts, know that the issue is not between their perspective, mom and dad's perspective, but it is a perspective from the living God himself. And then the third benefit that comes that has not been mentioned, and this is of critical importance, if you are to be a discerning people sitting under anyone who preaches the word of God. It is said of those Bereans that they were more noble than those in Thessalonica. Why?

51:51 In that they received the word with readiness of mind, Acts 17, 11, and searched the scriptures daily whether these things were so. Well, if we are unacquainted with the scriptures and we are not at home in the scriptures, and if we have not treasured up the scriptures in our hearts, we will not be able to be the discerning, critical listeners that we ought to be. And I want to testify here in closing of the tremendous benefit that this has been to me over the years. As a baby Christian, one of the first disciplines I submitted myself to was getting enrolled in the Navigators TMS.

52:33 It was called Tropical Memory System, where they had verses lined up in different categories in different programs. And because much of the word of God was hidden in my heart as a young Christian at age 18, and then subsequent to that I have had different programs of memorizing the word of God over the years. In struggling down a very winding, oft-times lonely path, seeking to know what is the truth of scripture, I've been preserved from so many errors because when I would hear something or read something, immediately five, ten texts of scripture would flash into my mind. I'd say, no, it doesn't appear to square with that.

53:16 It doesn't appear to square with that. It doesn't appear to square with that. And there was a tightly woven sieve to catch the rocks of error before they could build up a whole bastion in my own breast. And so I would commend that as one of the additional benefits of scripture memory.

Concluding Exhortation and Program Details

53:34 Well, our time is gone, and we are men under authority. Is there any last word that you want to say to the brethren, Tom? No. Well, I'm sure I speak for all of us when we say we do appreciate the work that you have done and continue to do in this area of helping us in performing this biblical duty, and we trust that one of the results will be that though we've not said they must sign up for this program, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

54:01 That's an unscriptural proverb, but it has a lot of good sense in it. And the bird in hand is right there in the foyer, and we'd urge you prayerfully to consider signing up. Many benefits. Others I'll just have to stop.

54:16 But please, prayerfully consider whether or not this would not only enrich you but the entire congregation as we commit ourselves to hiding the word of God in our hearts. While you're turning? Yes. I've been thinking.

54:27 Perhaps you haven't read the paper downstairs that's attached to the table. I just thought I'd outline briefly what the program is. The first recitation begins, it's scheduled to begin, Lord willing, October 2nd. It's going to be the first recitation that we're going to do in the next few days.

54:41 It's going to be the first recitation that we're going to do in the next few days. It's going to be the first recitation that we're going to do in the next few days. The memory books, Lord willing, will be produced this week for those who sign up. There is planned a meeting next Lord's Day evening after the evening service to distribute those memory books.

55:00 Each one who signs up will be given a hearer, the idea of accountability to which that person will recite each week. So, we have, you have basically one more week to sign up if you wish to do so. And I would urge the folks, a number of you have purchased the Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney. And beginning on page 37, he has an excellent section, just a few pages, on the discipline of scripture memory.

55:28 And I close with this quote. Many Christians look on the spiritual discipline of memorizing God's word as something tantamount to modern day martyrdom. It is like requesting volunteers to face Nero's lions. How come?

55:44 And then he gives some answers. But then he says, what if I were offered every one of you one thousand dollars for every verse you could memorize in the next seven days? Do you think your attitude to memorizing scripture and your ability to memorize would improve? Any financial reward would be minimal when compared to the accumulating value of the treasure of God's word deposited in your heart.

56:14 Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for this time that we've been privileged to spend together. We marvel again at the adequacy of your holy word to teach us all of our duty. And we pray that you would seal to our hearts the things we have considered today and grant us not to be idle hearers deceiving our own selves but doers of the word.

56:42 We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.