Principles of Effective Bible Study

You know, in the Bible, when God wants to emphasize a point, He repeats it so many times, and I sat there listening to John's sermonette, and I thought, well, there's really no need for me to give a sermon.

He covered my topic very well, and I appreciated that. But, again, repeat and emphasis is often very important for us. Again, it's how God works, and I just take this to mean it's how He was working today. As the people of God, we've been granted an incredible blessing, and it's sitting right in our laps. It's the Word of God. It's been preserved for us down through time. Probably all of us at home can reach onto the bookshelf and pull off more than one copy, more than one type of translation of the Word of God, and it's accessible for us. We can pull up our computer, and we have e-sword, and we have so many other helps that go along as well with the Bible.

But, you know, we're not the only ones to have access to this Word.

The Bible has been freely spread around the world. There's been churches and organizations that have taken the Bible to the world, and whatever borders they could legally cross, they brought it across, and whatever borders they couldn't legally cross, they smuggled it across.

And the Word of God has become available and freely in the majority of the world.

There may be some places where it's a little more undercover, a little more difficult to access than how we have access to it, but the Word has gone out. According to the website guinnessworldrecords.com, it says, quote, although it is impossible to obtain exact figures, there's little doubt that the Bible is the world's best-selling and most widely distributed book.

A survey by the Bible Society concluded that around 2.5 billion copies were printed between 1815 and 1975, but more recent estimates put the number at more than 5 billion, with a B, 5 billion copies, and that's just in print. By the end of 1995, the whole Bible had been translated into 349 languages, with 2,123 languages having at least one book of the Bible in their language. And so it's safe to say that the Bible is widely distributed, widely accessible, through the vast majority of the world. Now, right alongside with that accessibility to the Bible, there's a number of people in the world who would identify, because of the Scriptures, they would identify as being Christian. And that number is 32 percent, roughly one in three in the world, say they identify as being Christian based on the Word of God. This quote comes from learnreligions.com under an article, How Many Christians Are in the World Today? It's by Mary Fairchild, September 24th, 2018. She says, quote, in the last 100 years, the number of Christians in the world has quadrupled from about 600 million in 1910 to more than 2 billion today.

Today, Christianity is the world's largest religious group, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. In 1910, there were 2.2 billion Christians of all ages in the world.

So, if you're going to put those numbers together, and you consider with 5 billion copies of the Bible that has gone out, and over 2 billion people professing to be Christians with that Bible in hand, a question arises. And that question is, why is the Bible the most misunderstood book in all of history? It's printed, it's distributed, it's readily accessible, people pick it up and read it, and yet it's misunderstood. And why is that? Why is it the most misunderstood book in all of history? So many people have access to it. They've studied it, they've read through it, they've considered it, and yet the Bible is the most misunderstood, misrepresented, sometimes even most twisted, most light about book in the history of the world.

Why are there so many denominations among Christianity? Why are people who profess to believe in the truth of God's Word, why are there those that keep Saturday and those that keep Sunday?

Why are those within that professing Christian world, why are those that keep holidays instead of holy days? You know, what's the disconnect? What's the discrepancy in all of these things? How can that be answered? Well, the answer by and large is that people simply refuse to believe that the Bible means exactly what it says. And that's the key. You know, if everybody believed that the Bible meant exactly what it said, the Christian world would look quite different than it does today.

Many people read God's Word, but how many take it at face value and believe that it is the Word of God and it must be lived by, and then make the hard changes in their life to then live by it. You and I need to learn how to get the most out of the living Word of God that we've been given. That begins with acknowledging the source of these words.

As I spoke on last week, the Bible is the living Word of the living God, and He's expressed that to us so that we would know how to live, so that we would take these things and run with them, and they would change our life. And so, with so many things as there are in life, there is a right way to do things and a wrong way to do things. There's a right way to study God's Word, and there is a wrong way to do so.

And you and I need to understand the correct way if we're going to understand truly the message that God would have us understand from His living Word. So today, what I'd like to do is give you five basic pointers to making your Bible study most profitable so that you gain the truth from God's Word when you study it. Five principles to Bible study. And I'll warn you up front, my first point is the longest. So, you know, if we get through point one and you think four more to go, it's okay. My first is the longest.

But again, all of this, all of what John covered, weaves in and out of what I have to give to you today as well, and I appreciate that. Point number one, and these aren't by any means all that we could come up with, but point number one to more effective and accurate Bible study, it starts before you even open the book. And that is start your study out with prayer. Start your Bible study out with prayer. Before you even open the Bible, before you begin your study every day, stop, take time, and go before the throne of grace that we heard about in the focus scripture today.

God is there. He wants to give us understanding and open our mind, but we need to go and ask Him for it. Ask Him to help us receive the instructions He intends for us to receive. This is His living Word, and it's by His Spirit either working with us or dwelling in us that we're going to understand it. Because apart from that, we're going to try to understand it by human reasoning, by the logic that mankind employs.

We want to understand what the author intended in the very words He's given us to receive. So, study and start your study, brethren, with prayer. Let's begin today in Psalm 119, verse 33. Psalm 119 and verse 33, this is essentially a prayer of King David.

And David was a man after God's own heart, and David sought a close and intimate relationship with God. And, you know, sometimes I think we tend to forget that David had scripture before him that he could study. He had the books of Moses and the important words that had been recorded up to that point. And as all the kings were to do by God's instruction, copy down your copy of the law and read it and study it.

He said, let it guide your rulership. So, David here is expressing to God in prayer his desire for understanding.

Verse 33 of Psalm 119, he says, Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law. Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me to walk in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to covetousness. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things and revive me in your way. You know, have you ever gone through the week and you just kind of feel like you've been battered or beaten up or you know you're in the world, you're at the job, and you know there's financial troubles or there's stresses of various kinds. What do you get out of God's Word? What do you get out of coming to church? Well, hopefully it is, as David says here, revive me. You know, renewal, refreshment. It is indeed what we should get as we approach the Word of God. Continuing on, he says, verse 38, Establish your Word to your servant who was devoted to fearing you. Turn away my reproach, which I dread, for your judgment so good, and behold, I long for your precepts. Revive me in your righteousness. So David's asking God to open his mind as he approaches his Word to give him understanding and how to actually direct his steps and to live and to renew me. You know, revive me, restore me, uplift me by the instructions you have for me to live by. Still, in Psalm 119, we'll go up to Psalm 119, 105, a very familiar Scripture. David says, Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and it's a light to my path.

So if these words are going to actually direct where we place our feet, one foot in front of the other, day by day, we need to pray for understanding. We need to see that path illuminated before us, see the obstacles, and see the blessings. Verse 106, he says, I have sworn and confirmed that I will keep your righteous judgments. I am afflicted very much. Revive me, O Lord, according to your Word. Again, do you ever feel afflicted? Walking through this life, facing the weak, you know, get into God's Word for revival. Revive me according to your Word.

Accept, I pray, the free will offerings of my mouth, O Lord, my prayer, my praise.

And teach me your judgments. My life is continually in my hand, yet I do not forget your law.

The wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I have not strayed from your precepts. Your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever. It's like he's saying, this is an inheritance from God to David. He says, I treasure this and I live by this inheritance of your Word. He says, for they are the rejoicing of my heart. I've inclined my heart to perform your statutes forever to the very end. So again, David's acknowledging the sheer impact that God's Word has on his life, the direction it gives him, the knowledge of how he should live. But again, brethren, that begins with even understanding these words that God would have us receive in the first place.

You know, what's the message? What's the significance? What's the change that we're to make? It comes through a proper understanding of the Word of God.

God's blessings come to us through understanding the truth. You know, his blessings aren't geared to follow through by leaving according to untruth or misconception. It's by God's truth that we'll refresh and revive and receive that blessing. So don't seek that understanding apart from God. You know, don't approach his Word apart from him, apart from seeking his guidance, his Spirit. It's his mind that are behind these words. It's his mind we're to be putting on, and his Spirit that we need in order to receive these things as he is intended for us. So don't go it alone. When we look around the world today, there's intelligent people. There's people who have written many books. I've been to the library. I've seen biblical commentaries. I've been online. I've noticed how many things there are that are archived even online. There's people who have spent their entire life studying the Word of God, and they've written volumes of commentaries, book after book after book, about the entire Bible. They're intelligent. They're educated. They might even have a theology degree or a master it or a doctorate, but the interesting thing is in many of these commentaries, what you're going to find is that the plan and purpose of God is missed.

You know, who is God? What is He doing? What is our purpose? What is His eternal plan? So many of these things get missed in the commentaries, and some of the most educated and high-achieving people in history have studied the Bible, and they've lived by principles. They've maintained morals.

Our country was founded on principles of the Word of God, but then also we would recognize that so much was missed in terms of the truth of God and the purpose of God. And so my point is, it doesn't take a high IQ. It doesn't take a doctorate-level education to understand the Word of God. Those people do exist. They have written many books, and yet what we would understand is there are still things which are lacking. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 25.

1 Corinthians 1 verse 25. This is hopefully for us a little bit of a humbling passage.

1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 25 says, because the foolishness of men—excuse me—the foolishness of God is wiser than men. Yet you take the wisest man on the face of the earth and stack him up against—you know, this is tongue-in-cheek—the foolishness of God. And there's no comparison, right? God is so much higher. It says, the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see, you're calling, brethren, that not many wise, according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. You know, you don't have the greatest academic minds, generally, sitting in the Church of God. Now, we are educated, and some are educated even more than others, but my point is understanding God's Word doesn't come by sheer education. It comes by something greater. It says, verse 27, But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, the wise of this age. God has chosen the weak things of the world to put the shame the things which are mighty. And he's chosen the base things of the world and the things which are despised and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are. And notice why, verse 29, that no flesh should glory in his presence.

No person could stand up and say, yep, God knew just how smart I was, and that's why he called me.

You know, God knew that I could comprehend what it is that he wanted me to know when others quit, and therefore that is why he called me.

That's not what the Bible says. It says, No flesh should glory in his presence, verse 30, but of him. You are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. You know, you think there's something to glory about? It's God and who he is and what he is doing in us and through us. But the glory isn't of ourselves. The point is, humble yourself before the mighty hand of God, and he will exalt you in due time. So again, the point is, we must yield to God. It doesn't take a formalized training or high IQ. What does it take? It takes God's Spirit, either working with us before baptism or dwelling in us and working in us following baptism.

You can be led by the Spirit. You can be guided and directed by the Spirit of God.

There are two convicting agents, which is, number one, the Word of God, which convicts us of the truth, and the Spirit of God. Those are the two convicting agents in our life, and we have to yield to them both in unison. If we're going to gain what it is that God would have us to gain from a study of his Word. So we saw from David, he had a yielding heart, even though he was king. He sought for God to open his understanding, and that should be our prayer as well. Don't start your Bible study, brethren, without prayer. I was talking to someone this morning, and they said, well, a lot of times we Bible study and pray, but I hear what you're saying. We're probably going to reverse that. I said, well, you know what? There's nothing wrong with the Bible study prayer sandwich. Pray to God to open your mind. The meat's in the middle, right? Bible study, and then pray to God to help you implement what it is that you've just learned through the study of his Word. So begin with prayer. That's point one. Point number two to more effective and accurate Bible study. Again, this is how we approach God's Word. Study with a willingness to respond and change. Study with a willingness to respond and change, because when we ask God to open our minds, and he does so, and he gives us understanding but we do nothing with it, why would we expect him to offer us any more? Why would he expand that? Why would he deepen that if we simply refuse to act and change on the understanding that he has given us?

When God opens our minds, we're now led to a level of accountability, because then the question becomes, what are you going to do with that which God has given you? Will you respond? Will you live it? James chapter 4 verse 17 says, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. It's actually a rejection of God to have understanding and then to refuse to do what he has given us to do. And so if we're expecting God to open our minds to the truth of his word, then we need to be willing to accept it and to respond when it is revealed to us. Again, that's the heart and attitude by which we must approach our study. For asking God to open our mind, and he gives us his spirit, and he gives us the understanding, and you turn and go the other way and don't respond, why would he open your mind to more understanding? So the purpose of our Bible studies, you know, we grow an understanding of the truth, we prove doctrines, we do various things, but the ultimate end of why we study God's word is to take on the stature of the fullness of Christ and the character and the nature of God. We study the laws, we study the commandments, but those things aren't an end unto themselves. Their point is to point us into a way of life that is according to God, by which we might take on his nature and the character of his Son. Jeremiah 10, verse 23 through 24, Jeremiah says, you know, correct me, God, but not in anger, lest you destroy me. And I think that's probably where all of us would come from, but God does correct us, and oftentimes the way he corrects us is through his word. And as mature Christians, we need to be people who are actually self-correcting in the face of God's word. By self-correcting, I mean we study it and we see something by which maybe I'm acting this way and God sets this standard that way, by God's Spirit, we should be motivated to make a change, to be self-correcting in those things. Otherwise, as the Scripture says as well, if you would judge yourself, you would not be judged. So let us judge ourselves, let us be motivated unto change, and at times God will have to step in more directly, but you know, God, don't destroy me, please. And by our account, let's not provoke him to anger in the process as well. Let us consider his words. Isaiah 66, verse 1 and 2.

Isaiah 66, verse 1 and 2, thus says the Lord, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you will build me, and where is the place of my rest? For all these things my hand has made, and all these things exist, says the Lord. But on this one will I look. You want to know who has God's focus and attention?

On this one will I look, on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.

We're talking humility, right? We're talking on our knees before God, saying, Father, show me something, not let me show you something. You know, and it's those who tremble at God's word. And trembling can go both ways. It can be awe and reverence and respect for just the awesome things God shows us that have changed our life. And trembling could also go in the direction of, you better fear if you don't respond according to what God has given you understanding. You better fear not to live according to the truth and the way of God, because the consequences are things that all men will tremble at.

So God's word's important, and we need to spend time in it, as was already mentioned today and daily, as was already mentioned. I appreciated that very much. Now, the Bible's not meant to be a battering ram to assault one another, right, with the Scripture, or to poke someone in the eye with the Scripture. A husband should not assault his wife with Ephesians chapter 5 verse 22.

Wives submit unto your husbands as to the Lord. Who's that command, too? Who's that instruction to? Is it to the husbands to enforce? Is that the direction of the instruction? No, it says, wives submit unto your husband as to the Lord, but by the same token, the wives must not use Ephesians 5.25 to assault their husbands. You should be treating me more like more lovingly and sacrificially. When we study God's word, each person needs to study from the perspective of applying it to themselves and applying the things that apply to themselves. So if a wife is studying God's word, she's going to apply the things that apply to her as a wife. And if a husband is studying God's word, he is to apply to things that apply to him as a husband. And if both are doing their parts, the relationship works well. A wife will desire to submit in loving, lovingly submission to her husband who is godly and loves her and sacrifices for her as Christ loved the church. It's a mutually beneficial relationship, but each have to do their part. And you don't take one scripture to beat the other person over the head. We're fast approaching the Passover, I guess. In my mind, we are, because I'm about to be gone for four Sabbaths here shortly, and I'll be going to Africa, and then I'll come back, and then, you know, spring holy days will be coming quickly. So my mind's already gearing towards the Passover, but the time between now and then is a time of self-examination. It's a time of considering our own lives against God's word. And what does Paul say about that? Well, in 1 Corinthians 11, 28, he says, let a man examine himself. And so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. So he doesn't say, let each man examine his spouse, and you'll see what she really needs a Passover for. You know, don't let a person examine their neighbor or their fellow Christian. The point is, this is self. Self-examination. And really, it is how we must approach God's word.

The frame of mind is to study it with a willingness to respond and change ourselves in the face of what it is that we study. Jeremiah said, correct me, God, but don't destroy me. So we need to be self-correcting in the face of these things and yield to God's word and respond to what he reveals. Point number three, the more effective and accurate Bible study is, study the Bible for what it really says in context. Study the Bible for what it really says in context. Because oftentimes confusion, misunderstandings, disagreements arise over taking the Bible and adding to or taking away from the biblical record or studying it out of context. And twice in the scripture it tells us, at least twice, don't add to these words or take away from them. And to do so then enters into a very dangerous position. My radar always goes up. I get leery when I hear somebody say something like, well, here's what the scripture means even though that's not what it says.

Or here's what it means even if the word isn't there.

Moses and Aaron and the 70 elders of Israel went up on the Mount Sinai and they saw the God of Israel.

And some would say, well, that's a vision even though that word vision isn't there.

Scripture where, oh, you know, here we have the angel of the Lord and he's called by the name of Yahweh. But there's a problem with that scripture because that certainly can't be correct. So take the angel of the Lord, remove it, now read it, now it makes sense. I just say, brethren, we have to be very careful, especially when establishing doctrine that we do not add to or take away from the Word of God. That includes all of us. We must all be so careful. What does God's Word say in context? And context is so important because ignoring the context will get us into trouble time and time again. When we study God's Word, we need to ask and answer the questions, who was this written to? You know, who was it actually directed to? And why was it written to them? When and where was it written? Under what circumstances was it written? Because we have a book that spans thousands of years, multiple authors, and you have ancient Israelites and you have Jewish people in a Greek culture, and you have prophecies of people who are yet to come at the end of the age or surrounding us at the end of the age. So you have this whole span of audience and authorship in the book, but the ultimate author is God. We need to understand, though, these questions. Who, when, where, how, why, as we evaluate the Scripture for context. In some cases, the Bible is addressing a very specific group of people, and when it's being addressed, it applies specifically to that group, but there are principles that could apply to all, even in a specific circumstance. And I want to look at an example of that. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 1.

This would be seen an example in the Scripture of something that has taken place that is not directly applicable to us, but pulling the principle for application. And I'll just say, the Bible is written... the Bible is written for us and it's preserved for us, but it's not necessarily written to us in most cases. The book of Corinth was written by the Apostle Paul to the church in Corinth, and it addressed issues in the church of Corinth and questions in the church of Corinth. So it was written to them, but it has been preserved for us that we might learn the lessons, draw the principles, understand the doctrines. 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 1, Paul says, it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles that a man has his father's wife. And he says, and you are puffed up. You're proud. You know, your tolerance somehow is great because you know about this and you're okay with it, I guess. You're puffed up and you've not rather mourned that he has done this deed might be taken away from among you. So we're talking a circumstance very specifically and directly related to Corinth at that time. Verse 3, for indeed as absent in body, but present in spirit, I have already judged as though I were present him who has so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that a spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's saying, you're going to need to put this person out. It's going to be, number one, an example that others would learn in fear. But number two, the point is the sin isn't to be tolerated in the midst of the congregation because of the effect it has on the congregation. But also, number three, what we understand is the point is this person needs to come to repentance. And Paul in 2 Corinthians says, you know, receive this man back lest he become discouraged. You know, you put him out of the congregation, delivered him to Satan as it says. He repented, and now you accept him back, lest he become discouraged. Verse 6, he says, your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleaven, for indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The point I'm making again, brethren, is, you know, the context. You go, all right, who was this written to? Why was it written? And once you understand that, you understand, okay, this wasn't directed at, you know, just shotgun approach to everyone and everything, but you learn the lessons of the circumstances, then that must be applied, and Paul gives them the solution.

Now on the other side of the coin, you know, this was to a group that we pull at principle. On the other side of the coin, there's places in the Scripture where specific matters are addressed to specific people that do apply directly to us as well. Like it was spoken to a very specific group of people, but it applied beyond the scope of just those who it was directed to, and again we're talking context. John chapter 13 and verse 33, let's look at this example.

John chapter 13 and verse 33, this is the last Passover that Jesus Christ will spend on earth with His disciples. Remember He said, go find the room, find the house, rent the room, and you know, we'll meet up. And so they had the foot washing, they had the bread and the wine, and so the context of who is here is the twelve. John chapter 13 and verse 33, we come to understand sometimes how specific instructions can apply in on a broader scale. John 13 33, Christ says, little children, I shall be with you a little while longer, and you will seek Me. And as I said to the Jews, where I am going, you cannot come. So now I say to you, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples if you have loved one for another. And we might ask the question, well, who's the you that Christ is talking to here?

Because He says, a new commandment I give to you. And we're specific to the twelve on the Passover.

And so when we evaluate it, we say, well, does this apply to us, or did it just apply to the twelve? And how would we know? And the point is that context in Scripture sometimes is immediate to two or three verses right around. Sometimes context is immediate to one or two chapters or the book surrounding it. But ultimately, context is in context with the entire book and all the Scriptures on a point. So Christ did say to you to the twelve, and this point did apply to the twelve. And that was His instruction. And if you were to take it specifically at this point and in this context, that is who He's talking to, and that's what He said. But when we put it together as a package, Matthew 28, Matthew chapter 28, and I'll give you a verse here when I get there.

Verse 19, let's start there. Matthew 28 verse 19, you know, Christ was talking to the disciples, new commandment, I give you, but did it just stay there? Matthew 28 verse 19, go therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.

And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And so what we see is Christ said, I give you a commandment, and it was very direct and specific who He gave it to. But then as we move on, we see this is commandment for all the disciples. And He said, go and teach it all things that I have commanded you, and it expands beyond there. So there's points in the Bible, such as the writings of Paul, where some like to pull it and say, the law is null and void.

Right? Law is done away. Law is nailed to the cross. You don't have to keep the law anymore. And there's a whole teaching that's built on the law being done away by some. And the point is, you have to take a scripture and you have to understand how it is in context of the rest of the scriptures in the Bible as well to determine if it's speaking specifically to a point of people or whether it applies beyond that point. And certainly in this case, this new commandment applies to all of us as the people of God. So, brethren, we need to be cautious that we don't ever use a single scripture out of context from the rest of the scripture seeking to establish a truth or a doctrine. We have to consider it in weight and in the context of the entire package of the overall scripture. It leads me to point four. Point number four to more effective Bible study is, and this might sound a little funny, but it is true and it is scripture. Point number four, let God be true, but every man a liar. Again, that's scripture. More effective and accurate Bible study. Let God be true, but every man a liar. See, when we study God's word, we can read our own interpretation into it. We have our own background, we have our own education, we have our own experiences, and oftentimes it's not wrong to approach the word of God from that because it does speak to us in a very special way, but we have to be careful that we don't read those things into the word of God. So, let God be true, but every man a liar means that we have to view the word of God from the perspective of God and what he says. And when we need to understand what it actually says, we may ask a man's opinion or a man may give it, and you know I give mine, but the point is let God be true. Let God's answer be the emphasis by which you build your understanding of the truth. Romans 3 verse 4 is that reference, let God be true, but every man a liar. Romans 3 verse 4, and I saw in the archives of ucg.org that John Miller has a sermon by this title, let God be true, but every man a liar, and that's on my list for this next week to go listen to. But it's an excellent principle to remember, brethren, because man will say things, and honestly, sincerely so, and legitimately so. You know, sometimes man will speak to deceive, but there's many times man will speak to educate and to uplift, and sometimes they are correct, and sometimes they are incorrect, and the effective Bible study depends not on what the man said, but on whether it agrees with what God says. Let God be true, and every man a liar.

In our church history, many of us will remember a dear white-haired old man who used to say, don't believe me, believe your Bible. And Mr. Armstrong's admonition is true to us today.

You know, don't believe me. I'd ask you to listen and to consider, but the true test, the litany test of truth is in the Scripture. What does God say?

We won't turn there for time, but we're familiar with Acts 17, 11, the Bereans.

Paul came there, and the Bereans were more, I would say, it's fair-minded. I would say that probably means open-minded or willing to receive what it was that Paul was bringing, but it says they searched the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

So what would Paul have been teaching? What was Christ crucified? It was the message that the Messiah had come, that these things had been fulfilled, that He was coming again, and the kingdom of God would come. And they heard that message, and they went from there to search the Scriptures, the Old Testament, by the way, as we call it, and the prophecies are there, but they went looking to see if what Paul said was true about this man Jesus, did He... is what He said He fulfilled. Does that line up with what God prophesied in the Scriptures? And again, that example is set for us to be Bereans, to go and prove whether these things are so by the mouth of God, and that is the standard. So again, when we're studying the litmus test, is whether a position holds up according to the weight of Scripture and not an individual's private interpretation. Point number five, final point for today, a more effective Bible study, is let the Bible interpret the Bible. Let the Bible interpret the Bible. And I mentioned commentaries earlier, and many commentaries have been written, and there's some useful things you can learn from a commentary, but I tend to steer away from them personally, because most of the words are man's words, they're not God's words. But I would recommend, when you study the Bible, you use things like Greek and Hebrew lexicons, or you use things that give you chain reference scriptures to other scriptures that pertain to that word or that topic, you know, actual legitimate study aids, rather than a man's commentary. And let the Bible interpret the Bible. If something seems confusing or even contradictory, don't just toss out the difficult scripture, but rather let the clear biblical passages lead you into a better understanding of what might seem to be obscure. Start from the known and move to the unknown.

And don't just jump into the deep end of, I don't know what the make of this, I'll try to build something out of it. You know, let the Bible interpret the Bible. Always remember that scriptures do not contradict each other, they complement each other. So if you want to know, maybe, you know, what a word means in a context and you're not sure, pull out the concordance and go look at all the other ways that word is used in the Bible and build a framework for how that word is used and what it means. Last week I gave a sermon on the sons of the living God, and that sermon came about by just simply taking a Greek word and exploring it and just making a scripture list. Let's write out, in my case, cut and paste out, and I'm going to spreadsheet the the scriptures that use this word and you look at them and you see what becomes apparent.

And that Bible study can happen in so many different ways.

This last week, Darla and I have been doing a study on strong 7200, which is a Hebrew word, and it's oftentimes translated, scene saw appeared, as in God appeared to Abraham. What does that mean?

Does it mean he appeared and Abraham saw him, or does it mean he perceived him? And that word, 7200, our study is just getting underway because there are 1306 instances where that word is used in the Hebrew scriptures 1306 times. Four times it's translated perceived, actually twice perceived, twice perceived, but we started at Genesis 1-1, and we've gone through most of the book of Genesis. Let's just look at this word. How is it translated? You know, and God looked, and he saw that it was good, and the dry land appeared out of the water, and you just time and time and time and you walk through it. And again, let God be true, but every man a liar, so don't take my word for it. I believe Abraham directly saw God.

All right, and who did he see? Well, no one has seen the Father at any time, but you study it.

You go look at it. You do your research. Again, check it out for yourself. Let God be true, but every man a liar. I want to conclude with just a few final thoughts. These are things I didn't build into points, but they're points of their own. I'll just give them to you briefly, incorporate these into your Bible study. Plan time for regular study. Just etch it out and schedule it and make it a regular routine because it takes roughly 30 days to establish a habit, and it takes no time at all to get rid of a habit. Let's establish it and say, this time during the day is when I will pray and study. And you just etch it in there, and what you'll find is you'll come to look forward to that part of the day each and every day.

Study in topics. Say, this week I would like to learn on this topic and get out the concordance that can give you the reference scriptures that refer to a word or to a topic or to a doctrine and just walk through and study those things and see what God has to say.

Read the whole Bible. That's another option. A lot of times what I do is I go through the Bible in a year, but then I'm topical studying all along the way as well. And you want to do both, because you in a sermon or a Bible study, oftentimes we're going scripture to scripture to scripture on a topic. And so it's a piece here, a piece here, a piece here. That's good, but you want the overview. You want the complete picture. You want to know that when you're looking at a piece here and a piece here and a piece here, how does that fit into the overall message that God has delivered? So study topics, but also read the whole Bible. And as you're studying, take notes. You know, I've got a running list of sermon topics that just spring out of, you know, half a scripture somewhere, half a verse or a stray word, and I go, oh, that might make an interesting sermon. And I've, you know, I've got this running list. But take notes in what you're studying. Write them down in your Bible, as John was telling us, or, you know, write them in a notebook, and it'll help you remember key ideas and scriptures related to the topic you're studying.

And then finally, review and meditate on what it is you've studied. Review and meditate. You've asked God to open your mind. You've seen what His Word says. Take time to ponder what you've been learning. And again, if something seems hard to understand, don't just toss it aside. Think about it. Consider it. Look at the other scriptures on the topic and consider what you've already learned solidly as the starting point. Brethren, God has given us His Word, and He's preserved it miraculously through time. In its original text, the Bible is inerrant. You know, in the Hebrew, the Hebrew scriptures are inerrant, and in the Greek, the Greek scriptures are inerrant in their original form.

The Bibles we have on our laps have some issues, frankly. There are translator errors. There are translator adjustments. There are translator withdrawals of certain words. And so we do have to do our homework to understand kind of what those things are so that we can see them for what they are when we walk through there. But in its original form, God's Word is not contradictory. It agrees. And they are His words for life. So may your Bible study be joyful, may it be fulfilling, and may it draw you closer to God the Father and Jesus Christ through the words that God has preserved for our learning and for our salvation.