HOW SHOULD I STUDY THE BIBLE?
INTRODUCTION
1. Most dads have done it
a. Children get a toy for Christmas or birthday that needs “some assembly”
b. We are smart enough to figure it out so we start that light assembly without the directions
c. Hours later when the toy is not finished, does not resemble anything from this world and there are more parts than room, we finally take our the directions
d. As Christians we are building our lives, we have the directions, if we want to resemble what God intends we must consult the directions, the Bible
2. There is no set style for study
a. Outlines
b. Topically
c. By paragraph
d. Main thing is find a style to study
3. There are three adverbs we all need to add to our study style, we must study:
a. Prayerfully
b. Purposefully
c. Persistently
4. Understand John 12:48, “The one who rejects me, and does not receive My saying has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.”
5. The most important thing you will ever do is pick up and study the Bible as it instructs you in the manner of Christianity
TRANSITION: The first thing to consider when studying is that study must be done:
I. Prayerfully
A. Psalm 127:1, “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it”
1. We try to ingest all the Bible we can and admire those who can quote long passages of the Bible
2. It is good to have the Bible memorized and to read as much as possible, but understanding is the primary objective of Bible study
3. Keep God active in your study process
4. Who would you rather have as a study partner, the world, your family, or God, the author of the book?
5. The Bible helps to build your relationship with God
6. Ask for His help in learning of Him and He will assist you
B. Matthew 7:24-27, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. 25 "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock. 26 "And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. 27 "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and it fell, and great was its fall."
1. When you build your house you are to build on God’s foundation
2. When working construction we had blueprints to follow, the greatest asset in interpreting those blueprints was the one who drew them, if he was available to help understand the job was much easier
3. Pray for success in studying, for His help in understanding and you will be preparing on the proper foundation
4. John 14:13-14, "And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”
5. Sometimes I think we make life much more difficult on ourselves because we do not ask in prayer
6. Pray to God and see if He is not true to His word
7. He challenged Israel like this in Malachi 3:10 to test Him in this way and see if He is not faithful
C. Study God’s word prayerfully and allow Him to guide your through the pages of the Bible and see if prayer pays off
TRANSITION: Many times we pray and expect God to do the rest, when we pray we also need to be ready for our part. Part of this is to study:
II. Purposefully
A. One purpose of our study is to please God
1. Ephesians 5:8-10, “for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord”
2. Paul talks here about how darkness displeases God
a. As we live our lives on earth we are groping in darkness
b. We are lost and alone
3. The Bible shines the light of God on those miserably dark lives
a. When going through Northern Kentucky on I-75 you go through a dark pass and on the other side are the lights of Cincinnati announcing its presence
b. The Bible is that light of God in our lives announcing the presence and grace of God
4. Study the Bible for the purpose of finding that light so that you can follow it
5. So that you can, “Awake sleeper and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you” (Eph. 5:14)
B. Another purpose is to be taught by God
1. Psalm 71:17, “O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth;
And I still declare Thy wondrous deeds.”
2. God is the greatest teacher of all times teaching on every level of learning
a. He uses wrote commands in the 10 commandments (Exodus 20)
b. He teaches using examples (Ananias and Saphira and Lot’s wife)
c. He uses well-educated men like Paul and Luke, fishermen like Peter and John, and tax-collectors like Matthew
d. He reaches out to people of all levels in life from all levels in life to show that the Gospel is for all and changes all
3. Be humble enough to be taught by God through His Bible
4. After all, the one thing we all want when we are learning is to learn the truth and not a lie and John 17:17 proclaims, “…Your word is truth.”
5. Study for the purpose of being taught by God
C. Study also for the purpose of discerning good from evil
1. Hebrews 5:14, “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”
a. Did you know that treasury agents learning to detect counterfeits are never exposed to a counterfeit bill
b. They study the real bills so that they know them thoroughly
c. Then when a fake appears they can identify it easily because it does not match the true thing
2. Study to know good and do it so that you can avoid evil
D. Study to teach others
1. Hebrews 5:12 says that you ought to be teachers
2. So many say they cannot teach because they do not know enough
3. God says to learn enough that you can teach
4. Study to get deeper into God’s word, don’t depend on others teaching you, learn to teach others
a. Babies can live on milk
b. Adults need more substantial food
c. We must grow into adults and get the real meat of the word to sustain us and we must teach that to others
5. The Lord’s mission is announced in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
6. Romans 10:14 asks how they will believe and call on His name unless we teach them
7. His mission will not continue unless we study deep into His word and teach it to others
8. According to the Great Commission given by Jesus we are to teach early and often
a. Matthew 28:19-20 says that we are to make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to observe all things He commanded us
b. Making disciples requires teaching those who do not know Christ who He is and why He is important
c. It leads to the importance of baptism in our life and the need for His blood
d. And then we are to continue teaching and helping our student mature to the meat of the word
e. We are to teach, baptize, and teach
f. In order to do that we must study
E. Study God’s word purposefully and intently to learn from Him and teach Him to others
TRANSITION: We should pray as we study and also study with purpose, we should further study:
III. Persistently
A. As humans we are never finished learning
1. There is more in the Bible than any man could ever learn
2. Father-in-law’s grandfather came in the room one day in his 90’s and told his grandsons about something he had learned as he studied
3. We must continually search for knowledge
4. As one man said, “I’ll run when I can, I’ll walk when I can’t, and I’ll crawl when I have to; but I will always, always move forward because I know that when I fail to move forward I begin to die”
5. Continue moving forward in God’s knowledge
B. Persistent study makes us noble-minded
1. Acts 17:11, “Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so”
2. The Bereans were more noble-minded for specific reasons
a. They searched the scriptures
b. But they did it daily, not just once
c. They did not dust off their bibles on Sunday morning
d. They did not pick it up on Wednesday from where it was placed Sunday Evening
e. They did not clear things off of it that had accumulated over time
f. Every day they were studying these things, looking deep into what was taught
g. They were taught one thing at one time in the day and took time in that same day to study that thing out and make sure it was true
3. Noble minded people are that way because they study often the truth, not just preparing for a Bible class but preparing for life
C. They studied behind Paul
1. No matter who teaches you, study behind them because we are all humans
2. It is not an insult to study behind someone
a. In fact, when someone studies further what I have taught it is a compliment to me
b. It means two things
c. First, I didn’t bore them to death but presented the message in a way they could understand and study further
d. Next and more important, they were able to get deeper into God’s word and God used me to help facilitate that
e. And that is the ultimate goal of the preacher/teacher, to get the students engaged with the word of God and participating with it
D. They studied to see if these things were so
1. Not to prove Paul right or wrong or to find all that he said to trap him
2. But to find the truth
3. The ultimate goal of Bible study is to find the truth so that we can practice it
4. Study it daily, not just reading but seeing if these things are so
E. Consider what the Gospel does for us
1. 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work”
2. It is profitable for four things that include all that humans need to do in every aspect of their lives
3. For teaching
a. This means it tells us what we ought to believe
b. What we should hold to be true and right
4. For reproof
a. This means it tells us what we ought not to believe
b. What the world teaches that we ought to reject
5. For correction
a. What we ought not to do
b. Things we ought to avoid in our life as practice, what sin is
6. For training in righteousness
a. What we ought to do
b. For the things of right living, how we ought to operate and the things we need to practice
7. The Bible sets this pattern our for us in telling us what to believe and what not to believe, what to do and what not to do
8. What avenue of life has the Bible not addressed when it covers there four areas?
9. This is how the Bible makes you perfect and completely equipped for every good work that man can do
F. Study persistently, daily giving God time to teach you the mysteries of the Gospel
1. Do not be afraid of what you will learn because God can only tell the truth
2. Do not be afraid to study the same passage again because God’s knowledge is deeper than what you got the first time
3. Do not think you are finished learning because God can always make you better
CONCLUSION:
1. Many people have different styles of study
a. Some prefer pictures and concrete examples
b. Some prefer reading from the Bible and finding different sources
c. Some prefer to talk it out with someone else
d. Order of chaos and anything in between
e. Find a style that works for you and use it to study God’s timeless truth
2. But there are certain means that we should all employ as we study
3. Prayer, so that God is involved in your study, keep God at the center and the rest will come
4. Purpose, study for a reason, not just to occupy time but to learn from God how you ought to live and to teach those principles to others
5. Persistence, so that you continue to learn, the number one cause for burn-out in preachers is the lack of study, keep yourself in the word and it will remain in the place of primacy in your life
6. You can do this, understanding the Bible is not beyond your capacity, put the effort into it because God matters enough to you and you can be a student of the greatest book ever written, the Bible
