And if God is the ultimate authority, and if God in His character is flawless, then the Bible is flawless, and the Bible is the ultimate authority. So we say to begin with then that the Bible is infallible.
And that's the first reason to study it, because it is the only book that never makes a mistake. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Among the most important ingredients for your Christian growth is the sound teaching of God's Word by gifted preachers and teachers. But, you know, attending church, Sunday school classes, even listening to radio programs like this one, those are no substitute for regular personal time studying the Word. And today, John MacArthur begins a study that will give you the tools that can help you understand God's Word correctly and see its life-changing work in your life.
The series is titled How to Study the Bible. And, John, a question as you launch this study, what would you say is the biggest stumbling block for people who really want to know and understand the Bible better, but they just can't seem to put it together? Well, the answer is they don't have a plan.
And second to that, they don't stick with the plan. So we want to help with that. I mean, obviously, we're passionate about everyone studying the Bible. And so this is a series that directly approaches that very important matter in your life.
I mean, think about it. Jesus said that we don't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. That is a sweeping statement. And the Apostle Paul said all scripture is inspired and profitable. So there's no more important skill for you as a believer than handling your Bible with understanding and clarity and accuracy. Really, there's nothing like the joy of digging into and discovering biblical truth on your own. No part of life that a deeper and wider grasp of God's Word does not touch. So this series gives you the basics you need to know to study the Bible on your own.
If you miss a day, you're going to miss a lot. So stay with us starting right now for this practical look at how to study the Bible. Thanks, John. And now, friend, whether you're a new believer or a longtime Christian, a pastor or a student, we can all benefit from a refresher course on what it takes to interpret the Bible correctly. So here again is John MacArthur beginning his series, How to Study the Bible. For any Christian, in fact for every Christian, it's really vital that you know how to study the Bible. That you be able to dig into God's Word yourself, to glean and to gain all of the tremendous riches that are there. I often think of the words of Jeremiah, who in Jeremiah 15, 16 said, Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was my source of joy and rejoicing. The Word of God is a tremendous thing. No Christian should be handicapped in his own ability to study the Word of God for himself, for herself. We're going to be examining just how we study the Bible.
But we want to get a little bit of a running start on that theme. And so I want, first of all, that we should discuss why it is important to study the Bible. Walter Scott, great Christian, was dying. He said to his secretary, Bring me the book. His secretary looked at the library outside where he was and saw thousands of books.
And she came back in and said, Dr. Scott, which book? He said, The book, the Bible, the only book for a dying man. And I would have to add to that that the Bible is not just the only book for a dying man, but it's the only book for a living man.
Because it is the Word of life as well as the hope in death. And so we come to the Word of God with a tremendous sense of excitement and anticipation. Let me share with you, to begin with, something about the authority of the Word of God. And this really covers the theme why it is important to study the Bible.
First of all, let me say this. We state from the very beginning that the scripture is the Word of God. It is not man's opinion. It is not human philosophy. It is not somebody's ideas. It is not a pooling of the best thoughts of the best men. It is the Word of God.
And as such, there are several things that we need to realize about it. Number one, it is infallible. In total, the Bible has no mistakes. In its original autographs, it is without error. In Psalm 19 and verse 7, the Bible says of itself, the law of the Lord is perfect.
It is flawless. In fact, it has to be because it is authored by God who is flawless. If God wrote the Bible, and if God is the ultimate authority, and if God in his character is flawless, then the Bible is flawless and the Bible is the ultimate authority.
You see, the fact that God is perfect demands that the original autograph, the original giving of the Word of God must in and of itself also be perfect. So we say to begin with then that the Bible is infallible. And that's the first reason to study it because it is the only book that never makes a mistake. Everything it says is the truth. And not only is it infallible in total, but there's a second word we use to describe the Bible and that's the word inerrant.
Not only infallible in total, but inerrant in the parts. In Proverbs chapter 30 verses 5 and 6, it says this, Every word of God is pure. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. Every word of God is pure. Not only is the Bible in total the infallible Word of God, but in part, to the degree that every word is the truth of God. I would add another term. The Bible is not only infallible and inerrant, but it is complete.
There needs to be nothing added. Now maybe that's a surprise to some people. There are people today who believe that we need to add to the Bible. There is a certain existing sort of a philosophy-theology combination known as neo-orthodoxy. And they tell us that the Bible was simply a comment in its day on man's spiritual experience. And today, man is having more spiritual experiences and he needs another comment. In fact, I was reading one writer who said that we need a Bible to be written today, just like we did when the Bible that we have in our hands was written, because we need somebody to comment on what God is doing now. So that the Bible is still being written.
This same writer said, when Tom or Mary stand up in your church and say, Thus saith the Lord, they're equally inspired with Isaiah and Jeremiah or any of the other prophets. In other words, the Bible is not complete. That's a current philosophical theological thought. But at the end of the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, we read these words. For I testify unto every man, Revelation 22 18, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. The Bible ends with a warning.
It ends with a warning not to take away anything and not to add anything. That's a testimony of its completeness. It is infallible in its total.
It is inerrant in its parts. Never makes a mistake in its total presentation, in its most divisible presentation, and it is complete. Now, we would have to add a fourth word about the Bible. It is authoritative.
If it is perfect and complete, then it is the last word. It is the final authority. Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 2 says this, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. When God speaks, everybody listens because his is the final authority.
The Bible demands obedience. The Bible is not a book for discussion. And by that, I don't mean that we shouldn't discuss its implications and applications and meanings. I mean by that, we shouldn't discuss whether it's true or not. It is authoritative.
It affirms and assumes that it is true. In John 8, 31, you have a little incident here where Jesus is confronted by some of the Jewish leaders. And as Jesus faces these leaders, there's a little dialogue going on, and there, of course, are other people there. And it says in the text here that many believed on him.
No doubt some of them were leaders. But he said to them, If you continue in my word, then are you my real disciple? In other words, he demanded a response to his truth. He demanded a response to his word. It is authoritative. In Galatians chapter 3 and verse 10, it says this, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Amazing. Cursed is anyone who doesn't continue in everything written in this book. Tremendous claim to absolute authority. In James chapter 2 and verse 9, we read this, If you have respect of persons, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one part is guilty of all.
In other words, to violate the Bible at one point is to break God's law. It is authoritative in every part. Well, infallible, inerrant, complete, authoritative. We ought to add another word. This is a great word. The Bible is sufficient.
It is sufficient. For whatever it is in the heart of a man that is necessary, the Bible is sufficient. In 2 Timothy, there's a great word. Chapter 3 and verse 15. And Paul here says to Timothy, And that from a child, Timothy, thou hast known the Holy Scripture.
Now watch. Which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Now first of all, it is sufficient for salvation. The Bible is able to make you wise unto salvation. You can ask yourself this question. What is more important than salvation?
Nothing. It's the greatest reality in the universe. And the Bible is that which makes you wise unto salvation.
But more. Verse 16 says, Now watch. For doctrine, that's teaching, principles of wisdom, divine standards, divine truths. For reproof. That means that you're able to go to somebody and say, hey man, you're out of line.
You can't behave like that. There's a standard and you're not making it with that standard. It is also profitable for correction. That says to that person you've just reproved, now don't do that, do this. This is the new path. You teach, you reprove, you show a corrected way, and further it is profitable for instruction in righteousness. Now you point the new way and show them how to walk in it. Fantastic book, the Bible. It can take somebody who doesn't know God, who isn't saved, and then save them. And then it can teach them. And then it will reprove them when they do wrong.
It will point to them the right thing to do and show them how to walk in that right path. And then the result is, verse 17, That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. The incredible reality of the Bible is that it is sufficient to do the whole job.
It is one product that does the whole job. The Bible is infallible, inerrant, complete, authoritative, and sufficient. In Romans chapter 15, and I can't resist just adding this one text to the thought we've given you. In Romans 15 and verse 4 we read this, For whatever things were written in earlier times, and of course that has reference to the Bible, for whatever things were written in earlier times were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort from the Scriptures might have hope. The Bible again is the source of patience and comfort and ultimately giving us hope now and forever.
Incredible book. I think also of the first chapter of James and the 25th verse. And this is a really tremendous text. It says, Whosoever looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and that's the Scripture, and continueth in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of this work, this man shall be blessed.
Isn't that great? You know, when you read it and you do it, you're blessed. Now back in verse 21, James says that if we receive with meekness the engrafted word, it is able to save our lives. The Greek text literally means your life. In other words, it will save your life if you will receive the word of God.
And I think by that he means it will give you the fullest, abundant, abounding life imaginable. And it is possible too for a Christian who doesn't obey the word of God to lose his life, right? 1 Corinthians 11. Some of those Christians in Corinth violated the Lord's table and he took them home.
So he said some of you are weak and sickly and some of you even sleep. Ananias and Sapphira disobeyed God's command and dropped dead in front of the whole church in Acts 5. And so James is saying, look, if you receive the engrafted word and you obey it and you continue in it, it has an incredible way of perfecting you, of blessing you, of saving your life even. So, all these things are true of the word of God.
Let me give you two more things. The word of God is effective. The word of God is effective. Listen to the words of Isaiah chapter 55 and verse 11. It says this, so shall my word be.
This is the way my word is going to work. That goes forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please.
Isn't that great? God's word is effective. You know, one of the incredible things about being a teacher of the word of God is that you know it'll do what it says it'll do. You know, I often wonder about the door-to-door salesman who comes in and tries to demonstrate his product and it doesn't work. You know, I always think about the lady who was living out in the country and the vacuum cleaner salesman came by and he got to the door and he was there with a high pressure deal, you know, and he says, hey lady, he says, I got the greatest product you've ever seen. This vacuum cleaner will eat up anything.
In fact, if I don't control it, it'll suck up your carpet. And before she could say anything, he says, lady, I want to give you a demonstration. So, he went into the fireplace and threw ashes in the middle of the carpet. He had a bag full of stuff. He poured out on the carpet. He says, lady, I want you to watch this product. It'll suck every bit of that up and she was there aghast. And finally, he stopped long enough to say to her lady, if it doesn't suck up every bit of this, I'll eat it all with a spoon. And she looked him right in the eye and said, well, sir, start eating.
We ain't got no electricity. Well, that's a pretty tough situation, right? To be caught in a situation where your product isn't going to work, that never happens with a bottle. It is always effective.
It always does exactly what it says it'll do. Tremendous reality about the scripture. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 5, we read this. And this is a great word about the effectiveness of the scripture. For our gospel came not unto you in word only. Boy, you know, when you hear the word of God, it isn't just words. He goes on to say, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance. In other words, when the word goes forth, it has power.
It has the Holy Spirit and you can have the assurance that it'll do what it says. Great truth. So, what have we said then to start with? That the word of God is infallible, in total, inerrant in its parts, complete so that nothing is to be diminished or added to it, authoritative so that whatever it says is absolutely true and commands our obedience, sufficient so that it is able to do to us and for us everything we need, and effective it will do exactly what it says it will do. One last word. The word of God, the Bible, is determinative.
It is determinative. In other words, how you respond to the word of God is the determiner of your life and your eternity, in fact. He that is of God hears God's word.
You get that? He that is of God hears God's words. It's in the plural there. Ye therefore hear them not, Jesus said, because ye are not of God. In other words, it is a determiner of whether an individual is of God or not of God based on whether they listen to the word of God. In 1 Corinthians, there's a very definitive text that points this out. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 9. It says, eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. Man could never know what God prepared. Man could never conceive of God's dominion.
Man could never conceive that he would be a part of it. Man could never conceive in his own humanness, in his own human mind, in his own patterns of logic, all that God has prepared for him. But verse 10 says, God has revealed them to us by his Spirit. For what man knoweth the things of a man except the spirit of a man which is in him? Even so, the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. But the natural man, says verse 14, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
Now you have two separate kinds of people. The people who receive the things of God, the people who do not. The people who can receive, the people who cannot. The unbelieving people, they can't receive it. They don't have the Holy Spirit.
The human mind can't handle it. The people who know God, they have the Holy Spirit, they receive the Word of God. You see, it is a determiner. Those people who receive the Word of God indicate by the very understanding of the Word of God that they possess the Holy Spirit, and that proves them to be believers. I had an experience of talking to a man who continually admitted that he didn't understand the Bible. I didn't really say this to him in so many words, but I hinted at it that we didn't expect him to understand the Bible. He didn't have the one necessary thing to understand it, the life of God in his soul by the presence of the Holy Spirit. So, the Word of God then is presented to us just simply in terms of its beauty and its glory and its capabilities in these simple words.
It is infallible, inerrant, complete, authoritative, sufficient, effective, and determinative. Now somebody might come along and say, well that's really great. I hear the Bible claiming that for itself, that's super. And if it is all those things, man, I've got to get into it. I mean, if this is really true, I've got to get into this thing. I've got to find out all about these inerrant, infallible, complete, sufficient realities and principles. But can I really be sure it's true?
You know, it's funny. We live in a world where people really don't respond to authority very well. In fact, our whole world kicks against authority.
We want to deny the authority of the home. There's a fight now to deny the authority of the man in our society and women want to fight against that. And maybe sometimes it has been oppressive and there needs to be a little more balance. There is a fight on the part of young people on junior high campuses, high school campuses, college university campuses to fight against those in administration. There is a sort of an anti-government feeling in some cases. There is even a sort of a kicking against the police and anything authoritative.
We really kind of throw that off. It's kind of rugged individualism. Everybody's his own god. You know, we're back to Invictus. I'm the master of my fate.
I'm the captain of my soul and all of this. And we don't really like to respond to authority. So when you come along and say to somebody, you know, I want to tell you the Bible is the absolute authority.
It's absolutely sufficient and efficient and all of these things. They say, well, how do I know that? I mean, I'm not going to accept that unless you can show me how. So how do we really define or how do we determine that the Bible is true? Well, I've always thought, and this is just kind of a footnote for a minute, but I've always thought there are basically five areas of proof. And of course, ultimately, you can't really prove the Bible is true because you can't crawl outside our little world and meet God face to face and say, hey, God, give me the straight scoop. I now see you.
I behold you. Just tell me, is it true? You've got to take it by faith ultimately, but there are sure some convincing things that make our faith sane. And there are five basic areas of proof.
Number one is experience. One of the first reasons that I believe the Bible is true is because it gives us the experience that it claims it will give us. For example, the Bible says that God will forgive your sin. I believe that. I accepted his forgiveness. And you know what?
He did it. You say, how do you know that? I have a sense of freedom from guilt. I have a sense of forgiveness. You know, the Bible says that if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have passed away. All things become new. I came to Jesus Christ one day and you know what happened?
Old things passed away and all things became new and I experienced it. The Bible really changes lives. Somebody said a Bible that's falling apart usually belongs to somebody who isn't. And I guess that's true because the Bible can put lives together. Millions of people all over the world are living proof that the Bible is true. They've experienced it.
Tough to argue. But you know something? Although that's a great argument in some sense, it's a weak one in another sense because, you know, if you start basing everything on experience, you're going to run into some people who've had some pretty wild experiences. You know, the drunk who sees the pink elephants but really doesn't. And the Muslim and the Buddhist and the guy in Hare Krishna and the guy who sits under a tree and contemplates his navel and whoever else, they're going to get an experience.
And if you base it all on experience, you're in trouble. So I say that there's one, that's just one way and of the five, it's probably the poorest way, but it's still evidence for some. You're listening to Grace to You with John MacArthur, pastor, author, chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. And his lesson today is part of his series titled How to Study the Bible. Friend, this foundational study is available to download for free at our website, gty.org. It's a great resource to share with a new believer that you may be discipling. To download How to Study the Bible, get in touch today.
Our web address again is gty.org. And all four of these messages are available in MP3 and transcript format. The title to look for again, How to Study the Bible. And remember, all of John's sermons, that's more than 3600 messages, are available for free to download at gty.org. And for even more help in rightly dividing God's Word, keep in mind that we have thousands of free study tools at our website, gty.org. In fact, a few suggestions from the Grace to You blog.
Look for these three series of articles. The titles are Preach the Word, True in Every Way, and The Sufficiency of Scripture. Those blog series are excellent supplements to our current radio study. The blog and many more free Bible study resources are available at gty.org. Now for John MacArthur and the entire Grace to You staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for making this broadcast part of your day. Be back tomorrow as John shows you some more keys to unlocking the riches of the Bible and the implications it has for your daily life. John is continuing his practical series called How to Study the Bible with another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Grace to You.
