2.  Evil has been in this world a long time.  Herod the Great sent men to kill all the male children two & under in Bethlehem and that vicinity.  Matt 2:16-18.  Why would Herod commit such an atrocity?  We could give many answers.  But, we find a partial answer in this morning’s text: Herod did not know Scripture.

3.  An ignorance of Scripture is so very dangerous.  “From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 3:15). ▪ Implication is clear: If I don’t know the Scriptures, I cannot know how to have salvation.  “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand” (Rev 1:3). ▪ If I don’t know the Word, I cannot be “blessed.”

6.  Herod had a long history of atrocities.  He became enraged with his favorite wife, so he had her strangled.  He executed two sons & had another executed on his deathbed all because he believed they posed a threat to his power.  One of Herod’s brothers-in-law mysteriously drowned in a very shallow pool.  Knowing the Jewish kosher laws, Emperor Augustus supposedly said that he would rather be one of Herod’s pigs than one of his sons.

8.  Scripture has great ability to mold our lives.  “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word” (Ps 119:9).  “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently” (1 Pet 1:22).

10.  Ignorance of Scripture leads to disaster in our lives.  If we’re ignorant of Scripture, we’ll sin in many ways & face great heartache: “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Ps 119:11).  If we’re ignorant of Scripture, we’ll end up lost: “From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 3:15).

11.  Let’s commit to making 2013 a year in which we know Scripture!  Congregational Bible study.  Bible reading.