PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Pleasure & Profit in Bible Study
Moody, Dwight Lyman, 1837-1899 · 31,550 words · 80 reading sections
Part 1
</pre> Produced by Keith G Richardson Pleasure & Profit in Bible Study…
11 wordsSECTION 2D. L. MOODY
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart . . . More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honey-comb.--_Psalm xix:8-10_. Fleming H. Revell Company Chicago, New York Toronto _Publishers of Evangelical Literature_ COPYRIGHTED 1895, by FLEMING H. REV…
52 wordsSECTION 3PREFACE.
It is always a pleasure to me to speak on the subject of this volume. I think I would rather preach about the Word of God than anything else except the Love of God; because I believe it is the best thing in this world. We cannot overestimate the importance of a thorough familiarity with the Bible. I try to lose no opp…
140 wordsSECTION 4CHAPTER I.
Close Contact with the Word of God--Word and Work--The Christian's Weapon--Young Converts and Bible Study--Up to Date--Every Case Met--"Great Peace"--Starving the Soul--The Guide-Book to Heaven. A QUICKENING that will last must come through the Word of God. A man stood up in one of our meetings and said he hoped for e…
274 wordsSECTION 5WORD AND WORK.
Word and Work make healthy Christians. If it be all Word and no work, people will suffer from what I may call religious gout. On the other hand if it be all work and no Word, it will not be long before they will fall into all kinds of sin and error; so that they will do more harm than good. But if we first study the Wo…
333 wordsSECTION 6YOUNG CONVERTS.
If young converts want to be used of God, they must feed on His Word. Their experience may be very good and very profitable at the outset, and they may help others by telling it; but if they keep on doing nothing else but telling their experience, it will soon become stale and unprofitable, and people will weary of hea…
253 wordsSECTION 7SOMETHING NEW.
People are constantly saying: We want something new; some new doctrine, some new idea. Depend upon it, my friends, if you get tired of the Word of God, and it becomes wearisome to you, you are out of communion with Him. When I was in Baltimore last, my window looked out on an Episcopal Church. The stained-glass window…
438 wordsSECTION 8EVERY CASE MET.
Bear in mind there is no situation in life for which you cannot find some word of consolation in Scripture. If you are in affliction, if you are in adversity and trial, there is a promise for you. In joy and sorrow, in health and in sickness, in poverty and in riches, in every condition of life, God has a promise store…
230 wordsSECTION 9"GREAT PEACE."
In Psalm 119:165, we find these words: "Great peace have they which love Thy law; and nothing shall offend them." The study of God's Word will secure peace. Take those Christians who are rooted and grounded in the Word of God, and you will find they have great peace; but those who don't study their Bible, and don't kno…
512 wordsSECTION 10THE GUIDEBOOK TO THE CHRISTIAN'S HOME.
If a man is traveling and does not know where he is going to, or how he is going to get there, you know he has a good deal of trouble, and does not enjoy the trip as much as if he has a guidebook at hand. It is not safe traveling, and he does not know how to make through connections. Now, the Bible is a guidebook in th…
112 wordsSECTION 11CHAPTER II.
Doubting and Inquiring--Proving--A Savour of Life unto Life, or Death unto Death--Understanding the Scriptures--Cavilling--Using the Penknife--The Supernatural--Inspiration. WE DO NOT ask men and women to believe in the Bible without enquiry. It is not natural to man to accept the things of God without question. If yo…
250 wordsSECTION 12PROVING.
Now the request comes: "I wish you would prove to me that the Bible is true." The Book will prove itself if you will let it; there is living power in it. "For this cause also we thank God without ceasing, because when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is …
188 wordsSECTION 13CONVICTED--LOST--SAVED.
A man once sat down to read it an hour each evening with his wife. In a few evenings he stopped in the midst of his reading and said: "Wife, if this Book is true, we are wrong." He read on, and before long, stopped again and said: "Wife, if this Book is true, we are lost." Riveted to the Book and deeply anxious, he sti…
174 wordsSECTION 14CAN'T UNDERSTAND.
You ask what you are going to do when you come to a thing you cannot understand. I thank God there is a height in that Book I do not know anything about, a depth I have never been able to fathom, and it makes the Book all the more fascinating. If I could take that Book up and read it as I can any other book and underst…
494 wordsSECTION 15CAVILLERS.
Did you ever notice that the things that men cavil most about are the very things to which Christ has set His seal? Men say, "You don't believe in the story of Noah and the flood, do you?" Well, if I give it up, I must give up the Gospel, I must give up the teachings of Jesus Christ. Christ believed in the story of Noa…
347 wordsSECTION 16JONAH AND THE WHALE.
Men say, "Well, you don't believe in the story of Jonah and the whale, do you?" I want to tell you I _do_ believe it. A few years ago there was a man whom some one thought a little unsound, and they didn't want him to speak on the Northfield platform. I said, "I will soon find out whether or not he is sound." I asked h…
505 wordsSECTION 17CLIPPING THE BIBLE.
There is another class. It is quite fashionable for people to say, "Yes, I believe the Bible, but not the supernatural. I believe everything that corresponds with this reason of mine." They go on reading the Bible with a pen-knife, cutting out this and that. Now, if I have a right to cut out a certain portion of the Bi…
559 wordsSECTION 18THE SUPERNATURAL IN THE BIBLE.
It is a most absurd statement for a man to say he will have nothing to do with the supernatural, will not believe the supernatural. If you are going to throw off the supernatural, you might as well burn your Bibles at once. You take the supernatural out of that Book and you have taken Jesus Christ out of it, you have t…
757 wordsSECTION 19INSPIRATION.
When Paul wrote to Timothy that _all_ Scripture was given by inspiration of God and was profitable, he meant what he said. "Well," some say, "do you believe all Scripture is given by inspiration?" Yes, every word of it; but I don't believe all the actions and incidents it tells of were inspired. For instance, when the …
290 wordsSECTION 20CHAPTER III.
_The Old and the New Testaments_. I WANT to show how absurd it is for anyone to say he believes the New Testament and not the Old. It is a very interesting fact that of the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, it is recorded that our Lord made quotations from no less than twenty-two. Very possibly He may have quote…
746 wordsSECTION 21CHAPTER IV.
"My Word shall not Pass Away"--Printing the Revised Version in Chicago--Circulation of the Bible. CHRIST speaking of the law, said: "One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law until all be fulfilled." In another place He said: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass away." Now, let …
354 wordsSECTION 22PRINTING THE REVISED VERSION.
Suppose some one had said that when we had a revised version of the New Testament, it was going to have such a large circulation--men reading it wherever the English language is spoken--the statement would hardly have been believed. The new version came out in New York on a Friday--on the same day that it was published…
308 wordsSECTION 23CIRCULATION OF THE BIBLE.
The Bible was about the first book ever printed, and to-day New Testaments are printed in three hundred and fifty-three different languages, and are going to the very corners of the earth. Wherever the Bible has not been translated, the people have no literature. It will not be long before the words of Jesus Christ wil…
309 wordsSECTION 24CHAPTER V.
Fulfilled Prophecy--Unexplored Country--Babylon--Tyre--Jerusalem--Egypt--The Jew. I KNOW nothing that will upset an honest skeptic quicker than _fulfilled prophecy_. There are very few Christians who think of studying this subject. They say that prophecies are so mysterious, and there is question about their being ful…
317 wordsSECTION 25BABYLON.
First regarding Babylon--"And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make t…
461 wordsSECTION 26NINEVEH.
Now take Nineveh. "And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock. And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste; who will bemoan her? Whence shall I seek comforters for thee?" Now, how are you going…
167 wordsSECTION 27TYRE.
Then look at Tyre: "Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Oh Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top o…
237 wordsSECTION 28JERUSALEM.
Now take the prophecy in regard to Jerusalem: "And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it saying, If thou hadst known, even thou at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace: But now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a…
241 wordsSECTION 29EGYPT.
Now take the prophecies regarding Egypt: "It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations; for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations." Now, mark you! Egypt was in its glory when this was prophesied. It was a great and mighty empire, but for …
103 wordsSECTION 30THE JEWS.
Then, again, the prophecy of Balaam with regard to the Jews has been already greatly fulfilled. "Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth _part_ of Israel?" The Jews were not to be reckoned amongst the nations. There is …
346 wordsSECTION 31OTHER PROPHECIES.
We see how it was prophesied that Eli should suffer. He was God's own high priest, and the only thing against him was that he did not obey God's word faithfully and diligently. He was like a good many nowadays. He was one of these good-natured old men who don't want to make people uncomfortable by saying unpleasant thi…
198 wordsSECTION 32CHAPTER VI.
Text Preaching and Expository Preaching--Peter and Paul at Jerusalem--Oratorical Preaching HERE is a word of counsel for young men who have their eye on the ministry. If you take my advice, you will seek not to be a text preacher, but an expository preacher. I believe that what this country wants is the Word of God. T…
394 wordsSECTION 33A REMINISCENCE OF DR. ANDREW BONAR.
I was in London in '84 and a barrister had come down from Edinburgh. He said he went through to Glasgow a few weeks before to spend Sunday, and he was fortunate enough to hear Andrew Bonar. He said he happened to be there the Sunday Dr. Bonar got to that part of the Epistle of Galatians where it says that Paul went up …
876 wordsSECTION 34ORATORICAL PREACHING.
I know there is a class of people who say that kind of preaching won't do in this country. "People want something oratorical." Well, there is no doubt but that there are some who want to hear oratorical sermons, but they forget them inside of twenty-four hours. It a good thing for a minister to have the reputation of …
196 wordsSECTION 35CHAPTER VII.
Reading and Studying--At Family Prayers--A Word in Season--Helpful Questions. MERELY reading the Bible is not what God wants. Again and again I am exhorted to "search." "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and _searched_ the Scriptures daily, wh…
403 wordsSECTION 36FAMILY WORSHIP.
Now, when you read the Bible at family worship or for private devotions, look for suitable passages. What would you think of a minister who went into the pulpit on Sunday and opened the Bible at hazard and commenced to read? Yet this is what most men do at family prayers. They might as well go into a drug store and swa…
323 wordsSECTION 37HELPFUL QUESTIONS.
I have seen questions that will help one to get good out of every verse and passage of Scripture, They may be used in family worship, or in studying the Sabbath School lesson, or for prayer meeting, or in private reading. It would be a good thing if questions like these were pasted in the front of every Bible: 1. What…
263 wordsSECTION 38CHAPTER VIII.
How to Study the Bible--Feeding one's self--The Best Law--Three Books Every Christian Should Possess--The Bible in the Sabbath School. SOMEONE has said that there are four things necessary in studying the Bible: Admit, submit, commit and transmit. First, admit its truth; second, submit to its teachings; third, commit …
130 wordsSECTION 39FEED YOURSELF.
The quicker you learn to feed yourself the better. I pity down deep in my heart any men or women who have been attending some church or chapel for, say five, ten, or twenty years, and yet have not learned to feed themselves. You know it is always regarded a great event in the family when a child can feed itself. It is…
310 wordsSECTION 40THE LAW OF PERSEVERANCE.
The best law for Bible study is the law of perseverance. The Psalmist says, "I have _stuck_ unto thy testimonies." Application to the Word will tend to its growth within and its multiplication without. Some people are like express-trains, they skims along so quickly that they see nothing. I met a lawyer in Chicago who…
169 wordsSECTION 41THREE BOOKS REQUIRED.
There are three books which I think every Christian ought to possess. The first, of course, is the Bible. I believe in getting a good Bible, with a good plain print. I have not much love for those little Bibles which you have to hold right under your nose in order to read the print; and if the church happens to be a l…
376 wordsSECTION 42SUNDAY SCHOOL QUARTERLIES AND THE BIBLE.
I think Sunday school teachers are making a woeful mistake if they don't take the whole Bible into their Sunday school classes. I don't care how young children are, let them understand it is one book, that there are not two books--the Old Testament and the New are all one. Don't let them think that the Old Testament do…
815 wordsSECTION 43CHAPTER IX.
The Telescopic and Microscopic Methods--Job--The Four Gospels--Acts--Psalm 52:1. THERE are two opposite ways to study the Bible. One is to study it with a telescope, taking a grand sweep of a whole book and trying to find out God's plan in it; the other, with a microscope, taking up a verse at a time, dissecting it, a…
87 wordsSECTION 44THE BOOK OF JOB.
An Englishman once remarked to me: "Mr Moody, did you ever notice this, that the book of Job is the key to the whole Bible? If you understand Job you will understand the entire Bible!" "No," I said, "I don't comprehend that. Job the key to the whole Bible! How do make that out?" He said: "I divide Job into seven heads.…
426 wordsSECTION 45MATTHEW.
Men sometimes tell me when I go into a town: "You want to be sure and get such a man on your committee, for he has nothing to do and he will have plenty of time." I say: "No, thank you, I do not want any man that has nothing to do." Christ found Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom. The Lord took some one He found …
868 wordsSECTION 46Part 46
4. The sermon of woes; Christ's last appeal to the Jewish nation. Compare these eight woes with the nine beatitudes. You notice the closing up of this sermon on woes is the most pathetic utterance in the whole ministry of Christ. "Your house is left unto you desolate." Up to that time it had been "_My Father's_ house,"…
227 wordsSECTION 47MARK.
The four Gospels are independent of each other, no one was copied from the other. Each is the complement of the rest, and we get four views of Christ, like the four sides of a house. Matthew writes for Jews. Mark writes for Romans. Luke writes for Gentile converts. You don't find any long sermons in Mark. The Roman…
449 wordsSECTION 48LUKE.
We now come to Luke's gospel. You notice his name does not occur in this book or in Acts. (You will find it used three times, viz.; in Colossians, Timothy and Philemon). He keeps himself in the background. I meet numbers of Christian workers who are ruined by getting their names up. We do not know whether Luke was a Je…
917 wordsSECTION 49Part 49
3. It is a gospel of prayer. We learn that Christ prayed when he was baptised, and nearly every great event in His ministry was preceded by prayer. If you want to hear from Heaven you must seek it on your knees. There are two parables about prayer--the friend at midnight and the unjust judge. 4. Here is another thing …
686 wordsSECTION 50JOHN.
John was supposed to be the youngest disciple, and was supposed to be the first of all that Christ had to follow Him. He is called the bosom companion of Christ. Someone was complaining of Christ's being partial. I have no doubt that Christ did love John more than the others, but it was because John loved him most. I t…
618 wordsSECTION 51ACTS.
A good lesson to study is how all through the book of Acts defeat was turned to victory. When the early Christians were persecuted, they went every where preaching the Word. That was a victory, and so on all through. Luke's gospel was taken up with Christ in the body, Acts with Christ in the church. In Luke we read of…
931 wordsSECTION 52Part 52
VIII. Paul's sermon to the Athenians. He got fruit at Athens by preaching the same old gospel to the philosophers. IX. Paul's sermon at Jerusalem. X. Paul's defence before Agrippa. I think that is the grandest sermon Paul ever preached. He preached the same gospel before Agrippa and Festus that he did down in Jerusal…
141 wordsSECTION 53THE MICROSCOPIC METHOD.
Let me show what I mean by the microscopic method by taking the first verse of Psalm 52: "Why boastest thou thyself in iniquity, O mighty man? The goodness of God endureth continually." This verse naturally falls into two divisions, on the one side being--man, on the other--God. Man--mischief; God--goodness. Is any par…
395 wordsSECTION 54CHAPTER X.
One Book at a Time--Chapter Study--The Gospel of John. I KNOW some men who never sit down to read a book until they have time to read the whole of it. When they come to Leviticus or Numbers, or any of the other books, they read it right through at one sitting. They get the whole sweep, and then they begin to study it …
306 wordsSECTION 55Chapter 1. The call of the first five disciples.
It was about four o'clock in the afternoon that John stood and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God." Two of John's disciples then followed Jesus, and one of them, Andrew, went out and brought his brother Simon. Then Jesus found Philip, as he was starting for Galilee, and Philip found Nathaniel, the skeptical man. When he go…
112 wordsSECTION 56Chapter 2. "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." We had a good time in this chapter on Obedience, which is the key word.
Chapter 3. This is a chapter on Regeneration. It took us more than one day to get through this one. This gives you a respectable sinner, and how Jesus dealt with him. Commit verse 16: "God so loved the world, that He gave His Only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life…
586 wordsSECTION 57Chapter 16. The promise of the Holy Ghost. Here you find the secret of Power, which is the key word.
Chapter 17. This chapter contains what is properly the "Lord's prayer." Learn verse 15: "I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil." Key word, Separation.…
38 wordsSECTION 58CHAPTER XI.
Study of Types--Types of Christ--Leprosy a Type of Sin--Bible Characters--Meaning of Names. ANOTHER way of studying is to take five great divisions--History, Type, Prophecy, Miracle, Parable. It is a very interesting thing to study the types of the Bible. Get a good book on the subject and you will be surprised to fi…
524 wordsSECTION 59BIBLE CHARACTERS.
Another good way is to study Bible characters--take them right from the cradle to the grave. You find that skeptics often take one particular part of a man's life--say, of the life of Jacob or of David--and judge the whole by that. They say these men were queer saints; and yet God did not punish them. If you go right t…
124 wordsSECTION 60PROPER NAMES.
Another interesting study is the meaning of proper names. I need hardly remark that every name in the Bible, especially Hebrew names, has a meaning of its own. Notice the difference between Abram (a high father), and Abraham (father of a multitude), and you have a key to his life. Another example is Jacob (supplanter),…
88 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.