S
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
January, 1935
review and started up the line again. When this system o f reviewing is prop erly used, the passages become so fixed in the memory that one could no more •forget them than he could forget the Lord’s Prayer or the Twenty-third Psalm. For practical purposes it is almost as important to know where a passage is as to know what it is. The moment you announce a Scripture reference, every listener, saved or unsaved, wants to know what it is, for he has an inner consciousness that the Bible is differ ent from any other book on earth. I n d is p e n s a b l e K n o w l e d g e Charles H. Spurgeon, the greatest o f all the great gospel preachers o f the nineteenth century, was once asked:
thousands o f testimonies from those who say they are now able to memorize the Scriptures by this simple card sys tem, though unable to do so before. Re ferring again to my own experience, and I trust in no sense o f boasting, but as an encouragement to others, may I say that by this system I have been able to memorize thousands o f Scripture passages. How many, I am unable to say, for I lost trace o f the number over twenty years ago, and to this hou" Scripture memorizing is still “ the jo> and rejoicing o f mine heart.” There are other important methods o f Bible study, and one should certainly study the Scriptures as a whole, that is, syn thetically. But if one would gain a prac tical or working knowledge o f the Bi ble, there is nothing that can take the
THE REPLY IS IN THE BO O K Drawing from her experiences as a tele phone operator, a young woman, now in attendance at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, recently brought the following illustrations in a devotional message: When I went to work for the telephone company, I was given instructions for a week before I was permitted to work on the switchboard. There was a book— about the size of a Los Angeles telephone direc tory— full of phrases. I had to memorize these phrases and also to learn when to use them. Some phrases were not used often, and others were used hundreds of times a day. The phrases that were not used often were just as important as those used repeatedly. When a call came in, and some one very excitedly shouted, " I want the po lice," we would calmly answer, "I will give you the Police Department." If some one should ask, "W hat Is your
“ Have you ever been able to trace the conversion o f any one directly to a single sentence you ut tered ?” “ Never,” he replied, “ so far as I can remember, to any special sentence o f my own; but often to the utterance o f a verse from the Word o f God. In my experience, that has been the arrow o f conviction which has pierced the joints o f the armor and reached the heart of the sinner.” This testimony is per fectly in accord with the words o f our Lord in John
place of Scripture memor izing for effectiveness in soul-winning. A t the request o f Dr. James M. Gray,then Pres ident of the Moody Bible Institute, the writer turned aside for a season from his union revival work, and for almost three years held the position as Director o f Practical Work in that in stitution. During the last four terms o f that period, the students o f the day and evening schools mem orized over 200,000 pas sages of Scripture. Some o f the students memorized as many as two and three
6 :63 : “ It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” And I would say in closing this brief article on the importance o f Scripture memorizing: If we know the Bible, we shall not only be successful workmen in the salvation o f others, but we shall be kept from astonishment or surprise or fear because o f the strange and startling things that are taking place around us in these perilous times. Then, too, as we drift along the swift, relentless current o f time toward the end o f life, we will find that no other book can equally avail to prepare us for that which is to come, m s we face the unknown sorrows and anxieties which sooner or later must be the portion of all men and women, we find that our only satisfying solace is in trusting upon the eternal unchangeable Word of God, whigh He says “ shall not pass away77 (& fa I “ The fear o f the Lord is the begin ning o f wisdom.” “ For the Lord giveth wisdom: out o f his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.” Would you have true wisdom? Then memorize the Word o f God.
hundred in a single term. This is prob ably the largest number o f specially as signed passages o f Scripture ever mem orized by any student body in so short a time. Since resuming my work as an evangelist, |T have met a number of those students who are now in active service o f various kinds, and without an exception they have testified to the wonderful blessing Scripture memoriz ing is to them now that they, are on the firing line for the LonT? (& ) faI A P r a c t ic a l M e t h o d The system in itself is very simple. I took a small card ( 2 " x 3 x 2 " ) and wrote on one side the reference, and on the other side the passage o f Scripture to be memorized. When I had memor ized a hundred passages or more, I found that I was taking too much time to review them all every day. I had also discovered that it was not necessary to do this to be able to retain them. Those that I had thoroughly mastered, I laid aside to be reviewed only once a week. Monthly, quarterly, and annual reviews were organized as these verses became more fixed in my mind. If I failed to recall a reference or to repeat a passage correctly, it was put back into the daily
name?" we were to reply, "I am sorry, but I cannot give you my name." Now, what if the telephone company had not taught us these phrases? I know that I would have been speechless hun dreds of times a day. I know, too, that in each instance, I could not have said any thing else as convincing in four or five sentences as the one chosen phrase. Are we good telephone operators on G od's switchboard? Too often we try to lead a soul to Christ with our own words. W e forget that it is G od's Word that is "sharper than any two-edged sword." His Word meets every need and every ques tion of the human heart. Our .words could never convince a man of his need of a Saviour, but ¡ust one verse from G od's Word may bring him to his knees before God. It would indeed be ridiculous and un businesslike if, in response to each call, every operator had to search through a bulky book to learn what reply to give. And how amusing we must appear to a sinner when we are desperately trying to find a passage we want to give him. While we are trying to find the verse, Satan has time to say what he wants to say, and he says it. Satan knows the power of the Word of God, and he would like to keep us from knowing and using it. For every attack, there is in the Word of God an answer which can de feat Satan's purpose and a word of con viction that is able to lead the sinner to salvation. Do we know that answer?
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