There is a difference between truth and fact, as much a difference as between faith and experience.
Jesus faulted the Jewish leaders for not handling the Scriptures correctly: they thought they had eternal life, but the Scriptures point back to Jesus, and they refused to accept him or follow him. Here is where they failed — for, “if you had believed Moses you would have believed in me, for Moses wrote of me. But if you don’t believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5:39-47)
Four times Jesus used the word, believe. This should be startling to us all. You can so study and memorize and mold your life around the Scriptures, as the Pharisees and Saducees had done, and still fail to believe them. Failing to believe them, you will fail to understand them.
Many try to substitute experience for faith, looking for the miracle or the sign or the wonder to change someone’s heart. As wonderful as they are, miracles never build faith. Their only purpose is to point people to the Word of God — and then when a man faces the Word of God, or rather, when the Word of God confronts the man; then, and only then, does faith rise in the heart.
“ Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God,” (Romans 10:17).
Remember that the Hebrew used repetition to show emphasis. Hearing and hearing is being emphasized. Paul is making a point we dare not miss. Joshua said, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night…” (Joshua 1:8). Again, the Psalmist writes, “in his law doth he meditate day and night…” (Psalms 1:2). You may think I am repeating myself, but you need to understand how important it is: faith comes by hearing the Word of God, and only by hearing the Word of God.
The priority of the Word in our lives cannot be underestimated. We dare not treat the Bible as a common book for it is the living Word of God. How we treat the Word of God is exactly how we treat the Father
