How to Study and Understand the Bible

It is the Sabbath, isn't it? Okay, let's hope so. That it is. Wonderful job with special music. Always wonderful to hear from those that give us that special treat. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving, by the way, that everything went well for you. We had an enjoyable one. My sister and her husband invited us to join their side of the family. That was kind of an interesting experience to get to know my sister's husband's family, which is, you know, you're talking about being a stranger. You don't know anybody. It's kind of unusual. At Thanksgiving, I was sitting with people I didn't know. And, you know, of course, that's not unusual, but it is sort of difficult to break the ice, you know, and begin to open up and have a good discussion. But we ended up having a very good discussion and a very nice and delightful Thanksgiving. It was very special to us, and I hope it was, again, for you. Last Sabbath, I spoke about how the church is the temple.

And it's the foundation. The foundation was built upon the apostles and the prophets, with Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. And, of course, we are, as one of the points, the major point of the sermon I gave, is we ought to be pillars in that temple that God is building.

And I talked about how we could be pillars within that temple, and how we should be pillars. In fact, how God is calling those are going to be pillars not only now, but He's calling those are going to be pillars in the world tomorrow forever and ever. That's hard to grasp, isn't it? To be a pillar forever and ever and never go out of the temple of God, as the Bible even says to us. You know, ministers of Jesus Christ are careful, are told to be careful about how they build the building of God, how they build the temple. Very important thing. You know, we don't want to erect God's temple, by the way, with basically sort of a barn. We don't want to make a barn.

What God wants is to consider to be His temple. It would be something very, very special as far as God is concerned. God is not raising up a shack, in other words, in the temple, but He's raising up something that is an incredible temple that will be incredible forever and ever. Well, it never ceased to be, again, an awesome thing for this universe, in fact, to behold. And when Jesus Christ returns, He's going to come back and He's going to occupy the temple. And we know that, of course, the temple is also the church, and the church is going to marry Jesus Christ.

So there's a lot of analogies here, of course, that are important. But again, the Bible very clearly tells us that we are the temple of God, the churches. And again, we ought to all be training to be and be the pillars now. And a pillar, as I was pointing out, was somebody very stable, very strong, immovable. And I gave the analogy, of course, of the cathedrals in Europe, you know, being able to see these humongous columns that rise up in some of these cathedrals that are so solid. I mean, they're like the General Sherman tree down there, you know, up there on King's Highway, you know, to see how fantastic those things are.

But each of us individually should be that way. We should be strong and resolute in the truth of God. Let's go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, down in verse 8, over here. But it says, "...now he who plants and he who waters are one." So we have the same job, don't we, in terms of the ministry. And if you're contributing to the building of the temple, we have the same job, the same responsibility. One person plants and another person waters. And each one, though, will receive his own reward according to his own labor. And so, as pillars, we are actually earning a reward for what we do in the contribution of building this great temple that God is erecting.

But again, it's not a shack. It is something that is going to be, you know, tremendous and awesome for all eternity. It says, "...for we are God's fellow labors. You are God's field. You are God's building." And again, very clear within the Scriptures, isn't it? And again, there is a reward for our labors in the temple. And that is really what it's all about, brethren. There are rewards in doing labor within the building. And God wants us, as ministers and the roles that members have as well, to be careful how we build. Because here's the thing, what you do and what I do is going to be tested.

And the Bible says that it's going to be tested by fire. Now, fire is a very voracious thing. It almost has a personality. If you ever see seen a fire, you know, it just goes places you would not expect. You know, it... I've heard firemen talk about this, about, you know, the fires and how, you know, they can be so uncontrollable and unpredictable. It's like, what is lurking behind the door? You know, in every building that's on fire. But fire, again, is going to test whatever it is that we've done in our life.

And sometimes that causes me to lose sleep at night, by the way. I realize, brethren, that every person I counsel, every person that I'm involved in baptizing, that person is going to be tested. You know, that God's going to hold me accountable for what I did or did not do. And that's why, frankly, when I counsel people for baptism, I try to put them through the wringer. Pull them through the keyhole backwards, as they say. And in fact, I try to talk people out of getting baptized. You know, because if you can talk them out of getting baptized, they're not ready anyway.

They're not really ready. But, you know, hopefully, eventually they do get baptized, but I am very careful. But even though, you know, you're very careful still, you have some that crash and burn. And it just bothers me. It really does. If I lose sleep over anything, it is that. I mean, it is something that really is very troubling. You just wish it would never happen. And, you know, if there's ever a time where you wonder about the load of being in the ministry, that is when it is.

You know, you'd like to go and hide somewhere. You know, sometimes when you feel that way, that maybe what you did was not right. Something you did was wrong. But going on, verse 10, it says, According to the grace of God, which was given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.

Better be careful what you do. And, brethren, this message is not just to the ministry, but it's to you, each of you, and the responsibility that you have within the church of God. How are you building on this foundation? You know, are we building those things that are going to survive?

And so we are warned again to be careful how we build on it. It says, For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, or stubble as it says in the King James, each one's work will become clear, for the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. And if anyone's work, which he has built on it, endures he will receive a reward.

And so whatever survives, you're going to receive a reward based upon that. And so what we build in our lives and in the lives of other people, brethren, we have to be careful because we're going to be tested on it. And of course, if it survives, then we're going to be rewarded for what we do. And hopefully we will receive great rewards as God's people. But we must be careful not to build.

Gotta be careful when we're building. We're not building with wood, hay, and straw.

Now, in every building, you're going to have some wood, probably. But we're going to have to be careful what we build and how we build it. Now, if you look at the building materials he's talking about here, you know that straw is easily ignitable. Very easily ignitable. I remember down in was at Alabama one time, I had this ditch that was a parental problem for me in terms of landscaping. And anyway, I chopped and I hacked and I had all this dead stuff that was in there. And I remember I was very naive at the time about it. And I said, I know what I'm going to burn this stuff. And so anyway, I set it on fire. Man, it just went up just like that. It burned things and even I didn't want to burn. But it goes up fast, very quickly, burns quickly. Now, what do we derive from this? What can we understand from this? What is straw?

Just like down south, I used to have Deacon used to bring me fat lighter. How many of you know what fat lighter is? None? Well, my wife does. You don't count. But you put that in your fireplace, man, it'll go just like that. And then basically, you get it from cedar trees and he'd go out and when he cut wood, he cut this fat lighter that was old and it was just soaked in the juices of the old type cedar tree and then it would just catch on fast and burn in a fireplace.

You didn't need those sternal logs you know you buy. You spend three dollars for what are they, five dollars now. I've wanted a lot like that in a long time. But they go up fast. Well, straw has that quality about it and certain things have that quality about it. Well, let me explain, brethren, the analogy here. If you build with straw, if you build with wood, it easily is ignitable. Okay? What does that mean? It means that some people are easily offended. In other words, they get offended and they're gone.

They're like, you know, they used to say down south, like the Baptist fish. You baptize them on Sunday and they're gone on Monday. You know, they get spoiled in one day. So, if we're if we're straw and we don't want to be straw, do we, in our own personal lives, we're easily offended. We wear our emotions on our cuffs and we don't know what is going to set somebody off. And you can build a whole church that way. You know, sometimes a pastor, and I've been in areas, by the way, where the pastor spends most of his time putting out little fires in the church.

You know, somebody here says something to somebody in the church, just so offended. There are some people that aren't offended. They're not offended by anything. You know, they're very hard to be offended. And, brother, that's what we ought to be. You know, we ought to be the gold, the silver, and the precious stones, the solid things that are not easily ignitable and not affected by it.

You know, because the Bible says again, be careful. Be careful what, as ministers, we build in the church, and you be careful. And I have to be careful what I build in my own personal life. And I'll tell you, if we've got an attitude that is like a hair trigger, we're going down the wrong path. And we need to change that so that we're not easily offended. Let's go to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3.

You know, I've been in church areas, by the way, that, you know, I've had... basically, I would run a circuit, and I knew that certain people were going to call me as soon as I got home from church on Saturday night. They were offended about something. Now, not necessarily what I said, you know, although sometimes I must say I probably did my share.

But they might be offended by something that was sent from the headquarters back in those days, the worldwide days. But you knew that they were going to be the ones on the phone. And you'd have to spend an hour trying to calm them down, trying to guide them to, hopefully, to gain stability about themselves. But in some cases, quite frankly, brethren, it didn't work. You know, I mean, I've spent hours and hours on the phone talking to some people, you know, until you get the blue in the face, the proverbial blue in the face, and it still doesn't work.

2 Timothy chapter 3, though, listen to this over here. There is a generation, brethren, where this is going to grow worse and worse, I can promise you. And maybe, just maybe, brethren, we are there in this generation. So we have to beware. But 2 Timothy chapter 3, down here in verse 1, it says, But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come, for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money. Boy, if we're not there, I don't know where we are. People are selfish, it seems. I saw they have a new word now, it's called a selfie.

And frankly, I didn't know what they were talking about. And I didn't know what a selfie was. How many of you know what a selfie is? Boy, I am really out of it. I had to look it up to find out what a selfie was. Apparently, it's when you take a picture of yourself. But so, if that's a revelation to you, I'm glad I talked to you something today. But maybe the only thing I'll teach you. But anyway, men are selfish these days. And I'm not saying it's wrong to take a selfie, by the way. I'm just saying, it's interesting, it's called a selfie. They should call it the selfish, rather than the selfie. But anyway, lovers of money. You know, the affluences cause that. Mosters, proud, blasphemers, disobedience of parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving.

You know, slanderers talking about people all the time. I mean, who looks at television anymore? It's one big gossip thing. You know, you go on some of these, you tune into some of these talk shows. They have whole talk shows about telling about this movie star and that movie star.

It says, without self-control. I saw an article that said, by the way, recently that prayer helps us to have self-control, by the way. Brutal. They're brutal. Despisers of good. Traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God, having a form of Godliness, but denying is power. From such people, turn away. So here, this age and day, this perilous days that you and I live in, brethren, we're going to turn away from these kinds of doing things. It says, for of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts. But notice verse 7 here.

Always learning, always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. In this generation, in that generation that Paul is talking about here, there would be those that would learn and learn and learn and never come to see the truth, never grasp it, never understand it. And, brethren, that's a danger. In the world, we can understand how this does apply in this world. It's like they have programs in different churches that are just incredible.

You know, they've put us to shame, by the way, in the Protestant churches of the things that they do. I'm talking about education. But in all of the education that they have, they never come to see the truth. You know, and I've said that before, that all the scholarship in the world, all the major, you know, Bible, encyclopedia-type things that they've written, all the they've never discovered when the Sabbath is. What a, you know, a crying shame for the world that we live in. Now, so we can understand why this happens in the world, though, because the world is deceived, as it says in relation 12.9. But how do we apply this to the church, brethren? What it says here in 2 Timothy 3. I don't think he was just trying to tell us about, you know, what the world is like. I think he's warning us to, because we're all sort of a cross-section of this world, one way or another. So how does it apply to the church, you and me? If you read it something in the Bible, brethren, always ask yourself that question. How does it apply to me? Well, brethren, some just never seem to grow and mature spiritually and never quite get it. I remember Mr. Herbert Armstrong used to shake his head vociferously, and he would say, half of you, brethren, don't get it. You know, hey, those jowls would just go back and forth in slow motion. Half of you don't get it. He was being very loving at that time, because it was a lot more people didn't get it, brethren. And brethren, I'm afraid that even though we went through 95 and we've been through a host of things since that time, that sometimes people just don't get it even now. And some have to be taught over and over again the same thing. In other words, they're not going on to perfection like it says in Hebrew 6, but they have to be taught the same thing. You've got to go back and grind through all the same things. Now, we do need to go over things. By the way, we've gone over before, lest we forget what we have been taught. But I'm talking about basic things, how to keep the Sabbath.

I'm talking about basic things like, you know, dress on the Sabbath would be, to me, very basic. It's too bad we even have to say anything about it. But I think we should. You know, these things are very basic to us. But we shouldn't have to be taught things, rather, over and over again, if we're going to go on to perfection. We get that, we move on to something more important.

Well, brethren, my premise for this message today, if you haven't gathered already, is do you understand the message, the overall message of this book? Do you get it? Do you get the overall message of this book?

You know, do you come to see the truth? Have you come to see the truth so that your spiritual life is stable and growing? Then you're not the type of person that's like the the wood, hay, and the stubble, or the straw. But you're like that gold, silver, and precious stone. It's just going to last forever. And go on and on and on. And not only, brethren, are you stable in your own personal life, but you're a stable force in the lives of other people.

You know, the Bible is the number one bestseller in the world.

Anywhere in the world you can go open up, usually, in a hotel. You can pull it out and have the Bible there. They're everywhere. Now, more and more, the Qur'an is there, you know, in some places. But the Bible is very prolific in the world. And, you know, there's no way of knowing, but some estimate that a hundred million Bibles—I think that's a low-ball figure—are sold every year.

A hundred million Bibles. At least, that's what I think Wikipedia says. Wikipedia also says that this book, there have been 2.5 to 6 billion of these books sold in the world or distributed in the world. So that's a lot of books, isn't it? 2.5 to 6 billion, I guess they don't know.

But even though this is the most popular book every single year in the world, brethren, it's also the most misunderstood book. And it is certainly a coded book.

You have to have the decoder to understand it, but it is misunderstood by the world in so many ways. And unfortunately, sometimes because many in the world don't view the Bible as being that important. I was mentioning last week about how in Costco they had a problem, one of their stores that they put fiction on for the sale of the book. It was listed as a fiction book. And I don't know why people would be surprised at that, because a lot of people treat it as nothing more than fiction. You know, they view the Bible as purely allegorical, just a lot of stories put together. And of course, there are some people, they look at this Bible, as everything's literal. Everything is absolutely literal. Now both are in error, by the way.

Everything in here is not literal, nor is everything in here allegorical, either. But you have to have spiritual savvy to know the difference between the two. And again, you have to have to have the decoder in order to understand it. So, brother, and the remainder of the sermon, I want to talk to you about this. How should you and I study the Bible to really come to understand it?

How should we study the Bible to really come to understand it? Like I said, there are a lot of people who read and read and read and never understand this book. You know, also we need to be aware that when we are studying this book, it helps us to build the gold in our lives, and the silver in our lives, and the precious stone that is going to stand the test of trial, the test of tribulation, as fire actually symbolizes the test of trial in our lives.

I've told you this before, but I remember when God began to work with me, I think I was probably 16 or so when it really started happening, and I remember I picked up a plain truth at a friend of mine's house. I happened to be over at his house, and he had this stack of plain truths about this high. And I wonder, what is this magazine you're saving? I never knew anybody's saved magazines. And I had a speech, and I was a sophomore in high school, and I had a speech I had to give, and I saw on one of his plain truth magazines Japan being a super giant, super tankers. I was talking about super tankers. Many of you may remember the old plain truth. Well, I looked at the article in there, and I liked it, and I thought, well, I want to give a speech on this in high school. I was in high school, and so I gave this speech on Japan's super tankers and how Japan was coming up. At the time, of course, you could buy trinkets from Japan for a little of nothing. Everything was plastic. Nothing was of any value. That was before, of course, Toyota and all of these things. If you had a... My uncle had a little datsun, and we used to laugh at how if you took a can opener, you could use a can opener to actually take a fender off with a can opener. But, you know, of course, people are not laughing at Japan anymore. But that's how I got introduced to the Plain Truth magazine. But I started studying the Bible, and I told you this before, that I read and read and read, and I never understood it. And I felt pretty confident about myself, because I'd taken a number of classes, and I'd always been able to understand history. I'd had science, mathematics. If I put my mind to it, I'd determine I could understand it. Well, I did. I said, I'm going to do that with this book. So I started reading the Gospels, and I read them over and over again. And I got upset with myself that I didn't understand it.

Finally, I said, I said, God, I'm going to understand this book! And the more I got angry, the less that happened.

But finally, I said to God, okay, if you will reveal to me what this book means, I promise you I will live it. I'll do what it says. That's when the lights begin to go off. And only until I had that commitment to do what it says did God begin to reveal what this book means. And it's been a discovery ever since, in terms of my own personal life. And I discovered something right there in my life about understanding this book.

I never heard the word coded, but I think then God sent his spirit to begin to decode the book that I can understand it. So, brethren, how should you study the Bible to really come to understand? Now, I'm not going to take a lot of time on some of these points, but I want to give them to you, particularly our young people. You know, here, there are many of you that are establishing your spiritual foundations to make sure you're building solidly the foundations that you're raising up so that you will be a pillar in the temple of God forever and ever. The number one thing, and it's what happened to me, is surrender to God and the authority of the Bible. Number one, surrender to God and the authority of the Bible. And, you know, also, if we do that, we must be willing to forsake our ways, our own personal ways, our thoughts, and our ways that are of this world and society.

Over in Isaiah 66, let's go over to Isaiah 66. Oftentimes we refer to it, but we don't turn to it.

But in Isaiah 66 over here, notice what Isaiah the prophet says. And down here, verse 1, or the beginning here, and it says, Thus says the Lord, heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.

So, you know, how do you impress a God like this?

We looked at the earth as his footstool, this awesome God that is in the heavens. Do you build a temple to him? Is that going to be impressive to God?

I don't think so much. Of course, this part about, you know, the earth being his footstool, perhaps a little bit allegorical, but the earth, in other words, is nothing as far as God is concerned. He says, Where is the house that you will build me? And where is the place of my rest? For all those things my hand hath made, and all those things exist, says the Lord.

But on this one will I look, on him who is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word. That's why I say, number one, brethren, you have to surrender to God, and you have to surrender to the authority of the Bible. And of course, you do that, you have to prove God exists. And the Bible, you know, the Bible says, a fool has said there is no God. So I'm pretty assured, brethren, that we don't have fools here in this congregation. And so it'd be pretty easy for us to prove that God exists, right? If a fool has said in his heart, there is no God. If we're intelligent, we should be able to come to see there is a God, and see that this is the Word of God as well. And again, to surrender to it. But God looks to that individual who trembles at his word. And that's just a word, brethren, that means who is reverential, who treats it in an honorable fashion. In other words, it treats it with reverence because it is something that proceeds from God and God's Spirit. So number one, brethren, if studying the Bible, surrender to God and the authority of the Bible. Number two, believe God.

Believe God.

Mr. Armstrong used to talk about the two hardest things. Number one, to repent. Number two, to believe God. So believe God and what God says. Believe his word and accept its plain meaning.

Let's notice over here in John 5, John 5, about this. If we want to come to know the picture, the big picture, the overall truth of the Bible, brethren, these are the things we have to do. Believe God. But here in verse 42, Christ is talking to the scribes and the Pharisees. But in verse 42 it says, and they said, is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? I'm sorry, I'm chapter six, aren't I? Chapter five is where I want to be. Okay.

Your Christ is talking again to the scribes and the Pharisees, but I know you that you do not have the love of God in you. I've come in my father's name and you did not receive me. If another comes in his own name, him you will receive. He says, how can you believe who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?

Do not think that I shall accuse you to the father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, of whom you trust. Now, the Jews, by the way, the scribes and the Pharisees, you know, just trusted in Moses. Almost, they idolized Moses. Here's the thing, though. They idolized Moses, but they didn't believe Moses. They didn't believe what Moses said.

And it says in verse 47, it says, but if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? You know, and that's the problem, isn't it? That they didn't believe Moses. They didn't believe God then through Moses, and they weren't about to believe Jesus Christ, who was speaking for the Father in heaven. And by the way, the context here in chapter 5 is, remember, Christ had healed a man on the Sabbath day, and they accused him also of thinking he was equal with God. And, you know, of course, the Jews did not, as I reread here very clearly, Christ said, did not accept Moses and what Moses said and believe what Moses said, and they weren't about to believe what Christ said. And then, don't today believe what Christ said. They don't believe what God has said. So, number two, brethren, if you want to study to understand the whole overall picture of the Bible is, believe God and believe His word and accept its meaning, accept its plain meaning. Number three, number three, study to find what the truth is. Study to find what the truth is. And ask God for guidance rather than to see what the truth is in the Bible. Ask Him to reveal the true meaning of the Bible. Now, I'm not going to go to this Scripture, but you might want to write it down. In 2 Timothy 2, verse 15, the old memory Scripture, study to show yourself approved under God. So, when we study, brethren, God wants us to have an additive of finding the truth. And if we have that attitude, God will reveal it to us. And Paul goes on to tell Timothy, a workman that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And so, brethren, study God's word to understand the truth, the overall picture of it. And understand, brethren, the truth of the whole book.

Put together how every piece fits into the puzzle. It's like, brethren, we used to talk about how that when you're first called, it's like this big puzzle. And you put the border in, and then you fill in what goes in the middle. It's like the old jigsaw puzzle. That we come to understand those things very, very slowly, some of them, and we study, and we come to see the truth.

So, study, brethren, to find the truth. Ask for God's guidance, and ask Him to reveal the true meaning to you. Now, number four, by the way, I'm going to give you some important tips to understand the Bible. Important tips to understand the Bible. So, don't number these, by the way, these tips. We're just... you could label this particular part of the message, tips to understand the Bible. One thing that is very, very important, brethren, when we are studying the Bible is realize this. You cannot come to understand it by yourself. You can't understand this book by yourself.

You can come to see some things, but you're never going to see the overall picture without somebody to help you along the way. I remember when I was studying, I thought it was just me, but it wasn't.

You know, I don't mean that God was just helping me. I mean, I was getting help from the church, basically, except I didn't know it. I didn't know it. When I was reading the old Playing Truth magazine, I didn't know that God was helping me through the church, and I was coming to see the truth. I began to understand it. But realize you can't come to understand it by yourself.

And over here in Acts chapter 8, Acts chapter 8, let's notice this over here, in Acts chapter 8 and verse 27, you know the story about how God miraculously was telling Philip to go down to a certain place. And God worked with Philip quite powerfully here. And he happened onto this very important dignitary who was a treasurer to Queen Condeise, and he had a very high position. But he was a proselyte Jew, and he was studying on the way to Jerusalem, apparently. And he was heading up that way, and he was studying from the book of Isaiah, the scroll of Isaiah.

But let's notice here, verse 27. Verse 27 of chapter 8, And so he arose and went, and behold a man of Ethiopian, a eunuch of great authority under Condeise, the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning and sitting in the chariot, and he was reading Isaiah the prophet. So he was coming back, not going, but he was coming back from Jerusalem. And then the Spirit said to Philip, Go near and overtake the chariot. And so Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, Do you understand what you're reading? And he said, How can I understand unless someone guides me? And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him, and the place in the Scripture where he read was this. And it speaks, of course, of what would be happening to Jesus Christ. And so Philip answered his questions and had to guide him. So rather than an important tip is to realize you cannot do it on your own. This is not a vanity thing.

Coming to see the truth is not a vanity thing. I did it all by myself. I did it all by myself.

If it's a vanity thing, brethren, you will never come to see the truth.

The Ethiopian eunuch was inspired so much that this is in the book, in the Bible. And so, brethren, it behooves us really to listen to what the Scripture tells us here.

Another important tip, brethren, to understand the Bible is to study a topic from cover to cover.

You know, it's like Mr. Armstrong used to talk about this religion that was founded on the passage over there in Matthew 24 about topknot come down.

So in this particular church, they wore their hair in a topknot.

You remember him telling that story. So that's becoming highly specific in the Scripture and slicing and dicing it to what you wanted to say. But anyway, of course, a woman's hair is the glory, the covering, as the Bible says, you know, as well. But study a subject from cover to cover if you want to come to see the truth. You know, a lot of people, again, base their doctrine on one Scripture and very shaky at that. Another thing that is very important in studying the Bible, a tip, brethren, is do not try to interpret the Bible. You don't have to interpret the Bible. The Bible interprets itself. Over in the book of Daniel, of course, you see that it talks about these beasts that are spoken of and interprets who the beasts are. They're empires that emerge. You don't have to interpret that, have to figure that out. In fact, it identifies for itself who those first two beasts are, especially. And of course, the last one is not, is clear, we identified that way, and it has to be perceived and seen in the world. But, of course, when you see these great empires emerge, you begin to put two and two together. You begin to understand. So don't try to interpret the Bible, because the Bible interprets itself and interprets its own symbols so that we can understand. Another important thing, brethren, is study the context of the Scriptures. Some people jump to conclusions, and they take something totally out of context.

And another important tip, brethren, is be careful to prove all things. Prove all things. I'm not going to turn to it, but 1 Thessalonians 5, 21.

It says, prove all things and then hold fast that which is good. And another rendering, by the way, in the New King James, I think it is, it renders it tests all things. So we ought to be able to prove things in the Bible, not just one way, but several different ways, so that we can come to see the truth. That's that. If you want to find out what is truth and what is not truth, brethren, if you can prove it a number of different ways, then maybe you got something.

But you have to be able to do it that way. And, of course, don't base your entire beliefs on one little Scripture that is kind of gray. And finally, brethren, an important tip is avoid jumping to hasty conclusions or taking things carelessly for granted as well.

Over the years, I've seen some people make some pretty silly mistakes in their life.

Reminds me of the story about the aircraft was going down. I'm not even going to tell you the whole story because you've heard it. And the smartest man in the world is on board, and you've got somebody else that's on board, and there's only three parachutes. And anyway, the smartest man in the world says, I'm the smartest man in the world. And so he grabs one of the parachutes. He said, I deserve to live on the smartest man in the world. So he jumps out of the plane.

And I think it was one of the priests who says, because there was a boy scout on, you know, there was another person on board, and they said, well, I guess I'm going to have to die, you know, for everybody because there's not a parachute for me. And then somebody says, well, not the worry. The smartest man in the world just grabbed this boy's sack lunch and jumped out.

Well, I've seen people make some pretty stupid mistakes in their lives. It's like they grabbed a sack lunch and jumped out of the plane. Anyway, it was funny in my mind when I was thinking about it.

So those are important tips, brethren. Very important tips.

You know, the scribes and Pharisees really did not understand the scriptures. Time and again, Christ told them that. Let's go over here to John 5. John 5 again in verse 38.

He says, notice here, verse 38, John 5, is that, but you do not have his word abiding in you because whom he said, him you do not believe. Again, they didn't believe Christ. But notice verse 39, it says, you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and these are they which testify of me. You know, they were getting on their high horses about some things that they believed that Christ said, well that's talking about me. Talking about the return, you know, the coming Messiah. And so they misunderstood. They didn't believe Moses, as I said earlier, and they didn't lead Jesus Christ. And they misunderstood scriptures. They misapplied scriptures as people do today. Number five now, this is an overall point here. Number one is surrender to God and the authority of the Bible. Number two, believe God. Believe his word, accept its plain meaning. Number three is study to find the truth, ask for God's guidance, and ask him to reveal the true meaning. Number four, I gave you important tips to understand the Bible. But number five, brethren, is act on the knowledge that you gain. And there are two points about this that we need to point out. Number one, we can't understand it if we don't apply it. How many times have I sat in people's homes and explained to them about tithing? And they said, I don't have enough money to tithe. And we always tell them, look, it doesn't make sense on paper. But if you begin to do it, you'll be able to do it. God will make a way for you to do it. And, you know, I've had people that say, I don't understand this. Well, if you believe it, then do it and you'll come to understand it. It's like Mr. Armstrong, you may remember, actually understood the feast should be kept. And they kept it for seven years alone. But I think it was like 14 years before he understood what they meant. He just knew that they should be kept. And God opened the understanding to him. Of course, after seven years, other people started keeping the feast with them. And they began to understand it. They began to to do these things. But they would not have ever understood these things had they not applied what they had been taught. And so that's important. Also, remember, brethren, unless knowledge is applied, it is of absolutely no value. Unless you are going to put it in practice in your own personal life, it is of no value. And like in my own personal experience, God did not open up the door until I promised I would live by what he revealed to me. And he won't reveal to you anymore unless you're willing to live it. Unless you're willing to put it into practice.

I know that in the past, the church has said that, you know, I know Mr. Armstrong, when he was alive, used to say that no one has really ever known what God could do for them, at least among we mortals here. Christ, of course, lived it to the fullest. But no one would ever know what God could do with somebody if they absolutely submitted it to God.

And they applied those things that God has commanded us to do.

So, brethren, act on the knowledge that you gain and put it into practice. Let's go to James. That is the wisdom of the Bible, by the way. That little point there, you can make a whole sermonette about that. Maybe a whole sermon about that. But, you know, we won't do that. But James 1, verse 23, it says, For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. The Bible is like a mirror to us, brethren. You look at it, and it's like face to face. You're looking at yourself, right here. This book slices and dices you right and left. It gets down to the marrow of the bone, as it says in Hebrews 4.12, over there. But God wants us to come to see ourselves, and it will tell us. It will guide us. But verse 25, let's notice here, it says, But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. But notice the last part of this, which is really encouraging. This one will be blessed in what he does.

I've said before, brethren, to you that God can only bless an effort. He won't make you do anything. He will only bless the effort that you make in your own personal life.

You have to take a step if you want God's backing.

Sometimes you'll even carry you, but you've got to take the steps. You have to walk on your own two feet.

So, brethren, pray for God's guidance, that your mind will be open to the truth, and that you will apply what you are hearing, and pray for more of the Spirit of the truth in you. The Spirit of the truth, meaning within you, you want to know what the truth is. You're eager to know the truth. It's important to you. You know, the Bible is given by God's spiritual inspiration. All the men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit. And it's profitable for us to be taught, again, by these words. In order to understand it, by the way, we have to have God's Spirit. And God only even gives us His Spirit to help us when we're willing to submit to Him. It's like with the disciples. God's Spirit was with them, but it wasn't in them until the day of Pentecost. And, brethren, God's Spirit will be with us as well.

Number seven here is study regularly. Study regularly. Make it a part of your day.

Set up a side quality time each day, and make study, Bible study, a habit in your own life. I think a good way to do that, by the way, is we're going to do the Bible reading program in January. Start that again. But, you know, I'm halfway toiled with the idea of maybe having a, you know, Bible study coffee clutch early before services where you can come and talk about, you know, what you've read. But also study different subjects, rather, on a regular basis. You might be intrigued by it to go through them and study them. I'm not going to go to 1 Timothy 3 in verses 13 through 17, but we know over there it talks about how the Scripture is given basically to bring about the whole man, the whole person, the whole spiritual person, is profitable for correction, for reproof, and instruction in righteousness.

You know, it will help us come to become the mature people that we're supposed to be, the pillars that we're supposed to be. And number eight, brethren, number eight, is bezealous in your own life. Bezealous.

You know, we've been given, brethren, what precious few others have been given.

And the thing that we need to be aware of, brethren, is we don't have all the time in the world.

None of us do. I felt like basically the shelf life of a human being is about like a housefly. You know, houseflies don't live very long. We don't either.

You know, 70 maybe, if we're lucky. Maybe 80 if you do real well. But, you know, none of us guaranteed that, you know, that we're going to live to be 80, or whatever it might be. But, you know, it's like they say in Oklahoma, make hay while the sun shines.

Because when it starts raining, brethren, you can't do that.

I'm not going to turn to Hebrews 11.6, but it says, but without faith it's impossible to please God. For he who comes to him must believe that he is, and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Diligently. So be zealous, brethren. Let's go to Revelation 3. Revelation 3.

And the Bible also says, whatever your hand finds a do, do it with your might.

We are living in a day and an age, I believe, where we have people in the church that can be of different mentalities. Of course, as I mentioned, I believe last week about this. I don't know, I may not have mentioned this, but Chapter 2 and 3 talks about the different churches were on that male route in Asia Minor.

I'm not sure if I mentioned there that we believe in the church, that this picture is the church through the ages. So you have respective eras of the church, but also it pictures the church and the attitudes that can be in the church through all ages, quite frankly.

And we can have people with Ephesus attitudes or Cyatyrin or Pergamos or Smyrna attitudes or Sardis attitudes, for that matter. But I think in this end of the age, predominantly, we have the Philadelphian attitude that is in the church and Laodicea together.

But I was trying to point out last week what the Bible does say about the Philadelphian.

In verse 12, let's go down to verse 12 of chapter 3 of Revelation. Christ says, He that overcomes I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go nowhere out. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down into heaven from God, and I will write on him my new name. So he's again talking about the pillars I was discussing last week. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. But here we have a dire warning, chapter 3, verse 14. And the angel of the church of Laodicea, write, these things as the Amen, the faithful to the true witness, the beginner of the creation of God.

Because, you know, God has no beginning, of course, as we understand. It says, I know your works that you're neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.

So the problem with Laodiceans is they're lukewarm. So then, because you were lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. And as we understand, brethren, the time is going to come where people are going to be vomited out into the time of the tribulation. This is because you say I'm rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. And he says, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire.

So God is going to allow some brethren to go through a mighty, fierce fire in the future. And it's, again, it gets back to this woodhay and stubble, and the gold, the silver, and the precious stone. What's going to survive? And the purpose is that you might be rich. Fire, by the way, is the symbol of trial or tribulation. In white garments, you may be clothed, white, of course, symbol of righteousness. That the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with eyesave that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chase, and therefore be zealous and repent. And God's here, Christ says, I stand at the door and knock. And He wants us to let Him in to our lives. So God warns against those brethren who are slothful and thinking that they don't need to grow. They don't need to study. Hopefully, brethren, that's not a part of your mind at all, but you are continuing to grow, and you're solid. You're like the gold and the silver and the precious stone that's going to weather anything. You go through anything.

So, brethren, these are the ways that we can study the Bible to understand the Bible. And I really do seriously mean this, brethren, if we apply these principles, you know, we are going to come to understand. If you really truly do, you're going to understand the Bible. So, brethren, study to come to understand the overall purpose of the Bible so that you can erect something in your life that is going to be lasting, and not only lasting in your life, but the service that you give within the Church is going to be lasting for other people. So, it will survive the fiery trials which are going to come through our own personal lives and which are going to come through the entire world to try the world, as the Bible also says.

And if so, brethren, God will reward us at the end of it, at the end of it all, and He will reward us abundantly. So, let's study to understand the Bible in the right way and in the right manner.