How Do We Understand It? Series

Story about understanding the Bible

Turn to 2 Timothy 2:15 This morning we continue our series on

the Bible. We used the term text (ICON/VIDEO) because it speaks of

the ancient text while at the same time speaking of our contemporary

times. In week 1, we discussed the Why? (ICON/3 IMAGES). Why do

we have the Bible? What is it’s purpose? God gave us the Bible

because He had a story to tell, a story of who He is, of His great love for

us, and His wonderful plan for us. Last week we answered the question

How? (ICON/5 IMAGES). 4 principles impact how we got the Bible:

INSPIRATION (ICON/STATEMENT): GOD USED HUMANS TO WRITE

HIS WORD, BUT HE SUPERINTENDED THE PROCESS TO ENSURE

THAT THEY WROTE, WORD FOR WORD, HIS MESSAGE TO US

WITHOUT ANY MIXTURE OF ERROR. We’ll expand on this next week

when we discuss the reliability of the ancient text.

Now this morning we turn our attention to the question: How can

I understand the Bible? (? ICON). I hear that a lot: “Pastor, when I read

the Bible I don’t really understand it.” (2 TIMOTHY ICON/VERSE) 2

TIMOTHY 2:15 “DO YOUR BEST TO PRESENT YOURSELF TO GOD

AS ONE APPROVED, A WORKMAN WHO DOES NOT NEED TO BE

ASHAMED AND WHO CORRECTLY HANDLES THE WORD OF

TRUTH.”

This verse points out some important information for us. Each of

us is building something with our lives. What are you building? Is your

life one that God approves of? The key of course, is in how you handle

the word of God. Jesus said that when we build our lives on His word,

we withstand the storms of life. When we build our lives with and on the

word of God, we bring pleasure to Him.

Now, let me ask you a critical question this morning: Are you

doing your BEST to present yourself to God? Can you correctly and

effectively handle the Word of God? Listen: if you can’t, if you won’t-

don’t call yourself a Christ-follower. If the only intake of God’s word is

what you take in here on Sunday morning, I don’t know what you are, but

you’re not a Christ-follower. Jesus said in John 15, “If you abide in Me

and in my word, you’ll bear fruit, you’ll have your prayers answered,

you’ll be my disciples, my followers.”

Being a studier of the word is not some kind of extra option you

have. Christ-followers are folks who know, understand, and correctly

handle the word of God.

So, having said all of that, many of you struggle with how to get

started; how to study and understand the Bible. So this morning we’re

going to give you some basic tools to help you. 3 tools to help you this

morning:

TOOL #1 OUR INTERPRETER IS THE HOLY SPIRIT JOHN 14:23-

26 JESUS REPLIED, “IF ANYONE LOVES ME, HE WILL OBEY MY

TEACHING. MY FATHER WILL LOVE HIM, AND WE WILL COME TO

HIM AND MAKE OUR HOME WITH HIM. HE WHO DOES NOT LOVE

ME WILL NOT OBEY MY TEACHING. THESE WORDS YOU HEAR

ARE NOT MY OWN; THEY BELONG TO THE FATHER WHO SENT

ME. ALL THIS I HAVE SPOKEN WHILE STILL WITH YOU. BUT THE

COUNSELOR, THE HOLY SPIRIT, WHOM THE FATHER WILL SEND

IN MY NAME, WILL TEACH YOU ALL THINGS.”

Right off the top, you have to understand the process of

understanding spiritual truth. It’s not a matter of intelligence or worldly

wisdom. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals spiritual truth. If you have the

Spirit of God, you have the One in you who can interpret and reveal what

the Word of God says.

So when you come to a passage or verse that you don’t

understand, the first thing, the very first thing you do is pause and pray,

“Holy Spirit, help me to understand this. Reveal your truth to me.” The

Holy Spirit is an interpreter.

I can’t tell you how many times this has happened to me.

Reading or studying and being confused about what I’m reading, and I

pray and sooner or later, the Spirit of God reveals the Word of God to

me.

TOOL #2 OUR ATTITUDE OPENS THE DOOR TO

UNDERSTANDING PSALM 1:2-3 “BUT HIS DELIGHT IS IN THE

LAW OF THE LORD, AND ON HIS LAW HE MEDITATES DAY AND

NIGHT. HE IS LIKE A TREE PLANTED BY STREAMS OF WATER,

WHICH YIELDS ITS FRUIT IN SEASON

AND WHOSE LEAF DOES

NOT WITHER. WHATEVER HE DOES PROSPERS.”

Jesus would finish His preaching many times with the idiom: “He

who has ears to hear, let him hear.” What did He mean by that? He

meant that if you come with an attitude that you WANT to hear, that you

want to understand, that is a huge determinant in deciding if you will in