How to Understand the Bible | Part 1

How can we truly understand the Word of God?

...that way. You see, this is grasping. It is going into the Bible to extract the truth. Many people have approached the Word of God that way, and they have failed. Now, if you would understand the Bible, you must learn to welcome the Word.

Welcome to Love Word Finding. We cannot grow as Christians if we are not actively studying God's Word, and it's not enough to know facts about Scripture. Pastor, teacher, and author Adrienne Rogers said, A study of the Bible gives you knowledge about God. Obedience gives you knowledge of God. When we go to the Bible to extract truth, we fail.

Rather, we need to receive the truth and welcome it. James chapter 1 reveals four ways to welcome the Word of God, and if you have your Bible, turn there now as Adrienne Rogers shows us how to understand the Bible. James 1, 21, four ways to better understand the Word of God. Now look, if you will, in verse 21, wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word that is able to save your souls. This is written to Christians, and he's telling Christians how to be saved. Receive with meekness the engrafted word that is able to save your souls. Well, pastor, I thought we were already saved.

Well, we are. Then why does he say, Receive the word so you can save your soul? Well, you need to understand that salvation comes to us in three tenses, past tense, present tense, and future tense.

The past tense of salvation happened when you received Christ as your personal Savior, and you were saved from the penalty of sin. You will never have to die and go to hell because your sin has been washed whiter than snow with the blood of Jesus Christ. A Sunday school teacher asked a little girl, I'm told, is there anything that God cannot do? And that little girl wisely said, yes, teacher, there's one thing God cannot do. God cannot see my sin through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Thank God for that. That is salvation in the past tense. That's from the penalty of sin. But there's salvation in the present tense. That is from the power of sin. Even though we'll not go to hell, the devil has not ceased working on us, and sin still has its allurement and its attraction if we're not careful. And sin is working every day, and you know that is true. So not only do we need to be saved past tense, we need to be saved present tense from the power of sin. One day when Jesus comes, that's future salvation, we're going to be saved from the possibility of sin.

Thank God. But that day is not here yet. And so it is the Word of God that is able to save our souls. The Greek word for soul is the word psyche, able to save your psyche, your mind, your emotion, your will. That's what the soul is. Your mind, your emotion, and your will needs to be controlled by the Word of God. When your mind and your emotion and your will, your psyche is controlled by the Word of God, then you're living in victory. May I give you a testimony? The thing that keeps me going is not primarily how I feel. It is what I know from the Word of God. I've been on the trail long enough to look back and analyze and say, what is it that keeps me?

What is it that holds me? It is the Word of God. Sanctify them through thy word. Thy word is truth. Now, the Bible says we are to receive the Word of God. Now notice in verse 21, receive.

Do you see it? Receive with meekness, the Word of God. There are two words in the Greek language for receive. One is the word lumbano, and that means to grasp, to reach out and take, to get. He doesn't use that word here because you can't just reach out and snatch the Word of God.

You can't just take it. Ever so often somebody says, well, I've studied math. I've studied geometry. I have studied physics.

I've studied history. I'll study the Word of God. So he gets the Bible and he gets him some lexicons and he gets him a concordance and he spreads the Bible out and he takes his mind and he takes his will and he takes his determination and his intellect and he says, I'm going to master the Bible. He may get the words, but he'll never get the music. He may learn about the kings of Israel, but he'll never know the king of kings that way. You see, this is self-prompted taking.

It is grasping. It is going into the Bible to extract the truth. Many people have approached the Word of God that way and they have failed. But there's another word for receive and that's the word that is used in verse 21.

It is not lombano. It is deco mai, which means to welcome, to receive as though you would receive somebody into your house as you receive a guest and you say welcome. Now, if you would understand the Bible, you must learn to welcome the Word. You're never going to take your intellect, you're never going to take your mind and your determination and go into the Bible and draw truth out. But if you'll open your heart, open your mind and welcome the Word. I've had the joy of preaching overseas in different countries and one of the countries is in China. And when I went to China, the guide said, now when you go to the Chinese, to their home, they are the most gracious and hospitable of all people. The Chinese are wonderful people.

If you know the Chinese, you will love them. They are so wonderful and so gracious. And when you come into a Chinese home, they want to serve you something. They want to give you something. It is an honor for them to have you to come under their roof. They know how to welcome you.

They will say you are welcome in our home and they'll want to serve you something. And you ought to receive it to show that you accept their hospitality. But our guide said when they serve you something, if it's tea, for example, never reach out and take it with one hand. That implies your grasping. Take it with both hands. Then you're receiving.

Then you're receiving. Now, we don't just reach out and take God's Word. We lift up our hands to Him and we welcome the Word. We receive the Word. We just take the Word by faith and by grace and let God's Word come into our heart. Now, having said that, I want to mention to you four ways to welcome the Word.

Four ways. And so in order to help you to understand them, we're going to let all four of these ways begin with the letter R. How do you welcome the Word? Number one, welcome the Word with a repentant heart. Welcome the Word with a repentant heart. Look again in verse 21. Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted Word which is able to save your soul. Now, there is a moral qualification to understand the Word of God, not primarily an intellectual qualification, primarily a moral qualification. It is not enough to know Greek and Hebrew and to have a Bible dictionary. Now, you must lay aside what the Bible here calls the superfluity of naughtiness. Now, that's a word we use a lot, isn't it? That's the reason that some say the King James is hard to understand. What does the word superfluity of naughtiness mean? It literally means that which remains or that which is left over.

It means residual sin. You see, when you got saved, you repented of your sin, and you received Christ as your personal Savior and Lord. As best you knew how. But you were a new Christian. There was a lot that you did not know about Jesus and a lot that you did not know about you. And so when you got saved, you were very much like Lazarus who came out of the grave. And Jesus said to Lazarus when He raised him from the dead, Lazarus, come forth.

And Lazarus came forth, but how did he come forth? He was dressed in the grave clothes of the old life. The stitch of the old life was upon him. Now, he had received life.

He had come out of the grave, but he still has the grave clothes on. And Jesus said, loose him and let him go. In other words, take that off which remains, that superfluity of naughtiness.

Take the grave clothes of the old way off of him. Now, what does that mean to you? Well, you may be saved and on your way to heaven, but you've got some superfluity of naughtiness. You've got some hangover sins. You've got something that remains.

I'm going to tell you something. I repented of my sin when I received Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, but I have done far more repenting after I got saved than I ever did when I got saved. Isn't that true about you? I've done far more repenting. Why? Because after I've gotten saved, I've learned so much more about me.

And I've learned so much more about the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Bible says you lay aside that superfluity of naughtiness and filthiness. Now, the word filthiness, do you know what the root of the word filthiness is?

You'd be surprised. Earwax. Earwax. The word rupus means earwax. Now, what God says is if you want to hear, you've got to clean out your ears.

Physically, you can't hear if your ears are stopped up. And God says that sin in your life is like wax in your ear. Just get rid of it.

Get rid of it. Listen, friend, to hear God, there is a moral qualification. It's so simple, and yet it is so profound. The reason that many of us do not understand the Bible when we read it, the reason that God's truth does not come into us is that we've got hangover sin, that superfluity of naughtiness.

We've got spiritual wax in our ears. And therefore, it is absolutely important that when you study the Bible, the very first thing you do is make a full confession of sin and ask God to search your heart and see if there'd be some wickedness in you. Get your heart clean. Get your heart right with God. Now, if you're going to garden, before you plant the seed, you weed the garden. That's what it's all about.

Just get your heart right. So many times we sing that song, fill my cup, Lord. I lift it up, Lord. Well, do you think he wants to fill a dirty cup? Maybe we ought to sing, cleanse my cup, Lord.

I've messed it up, Lord. And then after God cleanses the cup, then he'll fill the cup. After we weed the garden, then the seed will grow. After we get the wax out, then we can hear.

Do you like that? Receive the Word. Welcome the Word with a repentant heart. Secondly, not only should you welcome the Word with a repentant heart, verse 21, but welcome the Word with a receptive heart, verse 21.

Look at that also. Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with... Do you see this next word? Receive with... Look at it. Receive with meekness, meekness, the engrafted Word which is able to save your soul. Welcome the Word with meekness. What is meekness? Meekness is a teachable spirit.

To be meek means to be teachable. In olden times, and I've told you this when we preached through the Beatitudes, when people would take a stallion full of fire and power and strength, and they'd want to be able to ride that stallion, they'd have to break him so they could put a bridle and a bit and a saddle on him. When that powerful animal had been broken, not crippled, broken, not crippled, broken, the fire, the stamina, the strength is still there, but when he is broken, not crippled, broken, they said he had been meeked. He'd been made meek.

That was the word. I'm going to meek a horse. That means I'm going to break this horse. Did you know that God wants to be able to put the bridle and the bit on you? Did you know that God wants to take you and bring you under his control and make you sensitive to his commands? That's a meek spirit. That is a receptive spirit. Now, you say, I want to learn the Word of God. Question, are you meek?

First question, are you clean? Second question, are you meek? Do you have a teachable spirit? I will give you a promise from the Word of God, and I want you to listen to it. It is John chapter 7 and verse 17, Jesus said, If any man will do God's will, he shall know the doctrine. If any man will do God's will, he will know the doctrine. You see, it is the will that comes. The will must be surrendered. It is not primarily the mind. It is the heart, the will.

I want to know. God says, if you will to do my will, you will know the doctrine. You receive the Word with a repentant spirit. You receive the Word. You welcome the Word with a receptive spirit.

Have you got it? Now, here's the third way to understand the Word of God. The third R is you welcome the Word with a responsive spirit, with a responsive spirit. Look in verse 22, But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own hearts. You see, once you get your heart clean, once you surrender your will, then if you would understand the Word of God, then to obey what God tells you. If you do not respond to what you hear, the Bible says you are self-deceived. Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

No man is a bigger fool than the man who is self-deceived. You know what's wrong with so many folks today? They come to church. They sit, soak, and sour.

They never apply what they hear. And if you like a sponge, you sit, soak, and sour before long you'll stink. You've got to give out what comes in. You receive the Word with a responsive spirit. Did you know that if you hear truth and don't act on truth, do you know what Jesus calls you?

He calls you a fool. In Matthew 7 and verse 26, Jesus said, And every one that heareth these things of mine, and doeth them not, I will liken him unto a foolish man. When a man hears, and he doesn't do. Again, Jesus said in Luke 11, verse 28, Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it. It's not enough to hear. Now, every now and then people will compliment my preaching.

I think a preacher's lying if he says he doesn't like to hear that. If you've got a compliment for me, help yourself. It's all right. I don't care.

It's fine. But I want to say this. The best compliment you can give to my preaching is to live what I say, not just to hear it, not just to say, Well, you know, pastor, that was good. Wasn't the music wonderful or whatever? Oh, the best compliment that you can give to the Word of God is to obey the Word of God, to live it out.

Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only. Years ago, I heard of an actor, a famous actor who was in a crowded theater. They'd come to hear him, and a fire had broken out in the wings of that theater. The manager came to the actor and said, We could have a bad situation here. There's a fire. It's not out of control, but if the people smell smoke, if the people hear the word fire, they'll all head for the exit.

It could be a disaster. They have come to hear you. I suggest that you go out on the platform and you tell them about the fire, but tell them in such a way that they would leave in an orderly fashion. This great actor, according to this story, came to the platform. They applauded him. He said, Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement to make. Give me attention. I don't want there to be any undue alarm, but I want you to listen carefully.

A small fire has broken out in this theater. There's plenty of time for all of us to leave. So I'm going to ask that right now we stand, and in an orderly way, we vacate the premises. They applauded. Wonderful. Wonderful.

What a fine actor. They thought it was part of the act. Just a story, but it illustrates how many people hear the word of God. They come and listen to a preacher preach the word of God. Oh, isn't that fine?

Isn't that wonderful? Yes, how we love to hear the word of God, but God says you're self-deceived. You read the word, hear the word, and don't heed the word. Be doers of the word, not hearers only. What a convicting reminder in today's lesson from the book of James to be doers of the word and not hearers only.

We're going to hear the powerful conclusion of this message coming up tomorrow. I hope you can join us then. Do you have a prayer request you'd like to share? At Love Worth Finding, it's one of our greatest honors to come alongside you and pray with you and for you. If you can, go to our website homepage at lwf.org slash radio and scroll down to find our prayer wall. You'll find the option there to either submit a prayer request or pray for others. This resource is one of our favorite ways to keep the ministry and the community praying continually for one another's needs.

We can't wait to hear from you today. Again, go to lwf.org slash radio and scroll down to our prayer wall. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD and mention the title, How to Understand the Bible. This message is also part of the insightful Back to the Basics series. For the complete collection, all 18 powerful messages, call that number 1-877-LOVEGOD, or you can order online at lwf.org slash radio, or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Many of the messages in this series are also featured in a new resource, the What Every Christian Ought to Know Study.

You can find that tool at lwf.org slash radio. Well, thanks for studying God's Word with us today. Are you actively receiving the Word of God with a repented heart and a receptive spirit? Study the Bible with a meek spirit today, ready to welcome it in and act upon what's revealed to you. And be sure to tune in tomorrow for part two of How to Understand the Bible, right here on Love Worth Finding. Alistair reached out recently and said this, I listen to one of Adrian Rogers' messages every morning and it's a highlight of my day. No one can explain God's Word to us like he can. He's one of the greatest Bible teachers of our time who gives life changing advice that stirs the soul.

Isn't that good? We are happy to share these profound messages simply stated by Adrian Rogers. At Love Worth Finding, we believe it's more important now than ever to keep Christ at the center of our lives and in our homes. We want to send you our It Takes a Family booklet collection. This bundle features four powerful booklets that deal with family matters from a Godly perspective so you and yours can honor God in the home. Request this bundle when you call with a gift right now at 1-877-LOVEGOD or give online at lwf.org slash radio. And again, thanks for your generous support of Love Worth Finding.