836. How to Study the Bible

Welcome to The Daily Platform sponsored by Bob Jones University. Following a hymn sung by the student body and chapel, Dr. Sam Horn, Dean of the BJU Seminary, concludes our doctrinal series, God's Word in Our Hands. You are my life and whose life is lost in you. You are my tower, a mighty fortress. You are my strength and strength, you are mine.

All might be bothered, will alone my holding. You guide my footsteps, but I may not fall. In joy or sorrow, I will exalt you. You are my righteousness, you are mine.

All might be bothered, will alone my holding. You are my Creator, you are only God. Yours is the power, yours is the glory. Yours is the blessing, you are alone. Yours is the power, yours is the glory.

Yours is the blessing, you are mine. We are finally coming to the end of our semester series, God's Word in Our Hand, and we have had a wonderful semester together. We have been learning all kinds of things about the Bible. We started off sort of surveying the series and where we were going to go and what we were going to be talking about, and together over the semester we have heard messages on the inspiration of Scripture. We have talked about the fact that this revelation from God is preserved. We've talked about the different translations. We've talked about the purpose acuity and the clarity of Scripture, and we even learned a little bit about the Emperor's New Groove in that sermon with Dr. McGonigal. We have talked a little bit about the authority of Scripture. We had Brian Smith, and he came in and gave us the big storyline of Scripture, talked about the worldview. And here we are today at the end of our series, and the question that we want to answer briefly this morning is this.

What do we do with all of this information that we have taken the opportunity and the time to consider about a book that we honestly believe is God's Word, and we have it in our hand? I don't know what you're going to be doing this summer, but in just a few weeks after graduation, Dr. Pettit and myself and Dr. Gary Reimers are going to have the opportunity to travel to Israel to lead a study tour, and part of that study tour is going to involve a trip to Egypt. Now I'll never forget the first time I went to Egypt, and I saw the Nile River for the first time. I saw Cairo. I saw the Great Pyramid at Giza.

I had an opportunity to stand very, very close to the side of the Sphinx and just marveled at something that I have only seen in pictures. But one of the most impacting things about the Egypt portion of that trip, and it's something I'm looking forward to as we go back, was the opportunity to go to the museum in Cairo and see the incredible treasure that had been found and dug out of the dirt from the many tombs of the pharaohs that have been uncovered over the years. Most of those tombs are located in what is known as the Valley of the Kings. That valley is located in the modern town of Luxor, which is very close to the Nile River.

It's the old ancient city of Thebes. And by about 1900 to 1950, over 62 different tombs had been discovered by archaeologists who were interested in ancient Egypt. They had found the different pharaohs and the different tombs and family members of those families, of those pharaohs rather, that had been buried in those tombs. And they had uncovered some of the mummies, and they had uncovered some of the treasure.

But most of the tombs had already been vandalized or had been broken into, and much of the treasure had been stolen centuries ago by tomb robbers. There was a gentleman back in those days who was very interested in Egyptology, and in particular in the discovery of these ancient tombs, and his name was Howard Carter. And Howard Carter had come across the name of a pharaoh that you know as King Tutankhamun, more commonly known as King Tut. And the royal cartouche, that is sort of an Egyptian hieroglyph that had the name of the royal king on it, had been found in a tomb that had been vandalized. And sort of the common knowledge or the common thinking of the day was that King Tut had probably been buried in this one room of this tomb, and his mummy and sarcophagus had been taken, and really there was no point in even looking. And most Egyptologists felt that by 1915 most of the tombs, if not all of them, had been discovered.

But Howard Carter believed that there was one more tomb to be found. And so he began to study the topography of that valley. He began to see where the valley sort of came in together, and it's a very barren place, a very rocky place. He began to study sort of after the rains where the waters would come together, and where the wadis would be.

And so he isolated a segment based on his study of topography. He isolated a segment of that valley where he thought maybe a tomb might be located. And he found a patron, and he began digging in the earth in that area, and he began digging in 1915, and he dug for seven years. And by the end of the seventh year, by the end of the digging season in the seventh year, his patron said, I'm really at the place where I don't think you're going to find anything.

I can't keep supporting this indefinitely, so let's let this be the final digging season for you, and let's kind of wrap up the project. And so he obviously went ahead and began digging, and in November of 1922, November 1st to be exact, one of the servant boys, one of the little boys who was a water bearer, was sort of sitting around digging in the sand, and he found the top step to what eventually became a staircase, leading down to a door that eventually, when it was uncovered, became the doorway into the tomb of King Tutankhamen. And on November 22nd, or sorry, November 31st, 1922, Howard Carter stood there at the door, and they dug a hole through the door, and he put a lamp through that door, and his patron had come all the way over to Egypt to be there, and he said to him, what do you see? And Carter said the famous words, wonderful things. And as he looked through that door, and as eventually they got in, they uncovered the most incredible and the most complete cache of any Egyptian artifacts ever found in over 3,000 years, and you can see many of those remains today in the Cairo Museum. You see, what in the world does that story have to do with our study, God's word in our hands?

Well, let me ask you a question. We have been looking at the contours of scripture. We have been talking about all of the underpinnings of the Bible that you have in your hand, and we have finally come to that place where we have a door that is opened into the word of God, and as we look into that door, the scripture says to us in the 119th Psalm that God will open our eyes and cause us to see wonderful things that God has placed in that word from him that you hold in your hands.

But how do you get to those things? How do you actually get into the treasure trove of God's word and begin to uncover and appropriate all of that for yourself? And the answer is you have to study your Bible, and that's what we want to talk about. Four very simple ideas this morning in very practical ways about studying your Bible, and so if you're thinking through this, the first thing we probably need to clarify is what do we mean when we say study our Bible, because we talk about reading our Bible all the time, but what do we mean when we talk about studying our Bible? And so one of the things we want to do very quickly is sort of capture in our mind the difference between reading our Bible and studying our Bible. When you read your Bible, primarily you're focusing in on information and familiarity. You're looking for the content and the layout of your Bible. You're wanting to become familiar with, acquainted with the structure of how the Bible is put together. It's put together in two major parts, the Old Testament, the New Testament.

Each of those parts has segments. You have the Pentateuch. You have the historical books, the wisdom books, the poetical books, the prophetic books. You have the gospel in the New Testament. You have the book of Acts, the historical section. You have the epistles that are going to unfold for you, the meaning of that gospel. And then, of course, you have a prophetic book that ends the New Testament. So we want to become familiar with the layout and the content of our Bible so that we can remember what God has said and where God has said it.

One of the things that has helped me as I think about reading my Bible is just to remember these four little ideas about reading my Bible. I want to read it regularly. I want to read it daily. I want to read it repeatedly. I want to read the Bible over and over and over.

I may want to take a book of the Bible and I may want to read that a number of times. So I want to read it regularly and repeatedly. I want to read it reflectively. I don't want to just run through the scriptures so that I can say I've read through a particular portion of the Bible. I actually want to reflect on what God is saying to me as I read through those scriptures. And that's really the fourth idea here, and that's reading it responsibly. So I want to read it regularly and repeatedly and reflectively. And then I certainly want to be responsive to what God is saying to me.

What is God saying to me as I read the scriptures? So when I read the Bible, I'm focusing in on understanding what God has said and where God has said it. But if I'm really going to appropriate all of that in a meaningful way, I'm going to have to go beyond reading to study. And when I think about studying, studying is actually different in this way. Studying focuses on learning the meaning and understanding of what I am reading. I may not study my Bible every single day like I read it every day, but there ought to be times regularly in my life where I take concentrated periods of time.

And that's really what studying is. It is the careful and intentional consideration of a portion of what God has said that I'm familiar with, that I've taken time to read regularly and repeatedly and reflectively and responsibly. There are going to be times when I want to take that portion of scripture or another portion of scripture and I want to give careful consideration to make sure that I go down into the roots of what God has said so that I understand what God means in this portion of scripture.

And I understand what God wants me to do with it in the living out of my life. So one of the things we need to do is we need to make sure in our mind that we understand what we mean when we talk about studying our Bible and we are talking about the careful and intentional consideration of God's word so that we understand what God has said and we know what to do with it in our life. And that brings us to the second idea this morning and another very simple thought is why should I do this? I mean if I'm going to take the time to do more than read my Bible, if I'm going to really take the time to sit down and go down into the roots of this, why should I do that? And let me give you three very simple reasons out of texts of scripture this morning that I think anchor us to the reasons why we should do this. One of the reasons why is that God intends to do the careful study of his word for you and for me to live a transformed life. One of the texts I think that will certainly bear out this in your thinking is the very familiar text in Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 where we are encouraged because of the mercies of God to do something. And if you're going to successfully do the thing that Romans 12 is talking about you're going to have to give some serious and intentional consideration and contemplation to understanding and identifying the immense mercy that God has poured out to you and to me through what he did on the cross. If we don't take the time to really ground what comes next out of a study of that mercy everything else will just be something that we do out of a different reason than the Apostle points to.

Out of the mercies of God we are instructed to take our bodies and use them in a certain way to render acceptable service to God. And the only way that we're going to be able to take our bodies and to live distinctly like this is for God to take his word just like he talks about in John 17 verses 15 through 17 and sanctify us by means of that word. So your study of scripture the deep understanding of what God has actually said in his word is essential to your ability to live a transformed life through the power of that gospel and the energizing of God's spirit as he opens your eyes so that you can see the wonderful things that he has placed there.

It's not just essential to leading a transformed life it also helps us to live a profitable life. You can see that in the text that is usually associated with the inspiration of scripture in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 14 all the way down to verse 17. But let's jump in to verse 16 where we're reminded that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine and for reproof and for correction and for instruction in righteousness. God's word informs and instructs my mind. God's word is going to convict, it's going to cleanse, it's going to strengthen my conscience. God's word is going to repair, it's going to build my character.

You can see all of this in the language that is here. It is profitable for doctrine, it is profitable for reproof, it's profitable for correction, for the rebuilding and the realigning of my character and then it's profitable for training and preparing me for living usefully before the Lord. So that in verse 17 I will be a person thoroughly equipped unto all good works. And then the third reason we ought to do this is because we desire to live an approved life. And you can see that if you ever went to Awana you know this verse 2 Timothy 2 15 there is a workman that can stand before God in an approved status and what puts him in that place is the fact that he has given strength and attention and focus to rightly dividing something, to coming to right thinking about the word of God and all of this is going to demand an intentional focus of your time of my time that goes well beyond reading.

And that brings us to the third thing this morning and that is this. What will this require of me? What kind of mindset do I have to have? First Thessalonians chapter 2 13 describes a group of people who receive the very same word of God that you're holding in your hand and Paul writes about them we thank God constantly for this that when you receive the word of God which you heard from us you accepted it you embraced it not as the word of man but what but as for what it really is the word of God which is at work in you believers. What kind of mindset these are not new ideas but we need to come with a mind that is ready to read and understand it. When we sit down to study the word of God we need to come with a heart that responds joyfully and eagerly to it.

We need to come with affections that have been cleansed and shaped by it. Here's a big one for me I need to bring my will to that table and I need to come with a will that is eagerly submitted and energized by what I am studying and then I need understanding that is illuminated by the Holy Spirit. Somebody said this who do you think you are to suppose you can ever understand the word of God in your own strength.

That's an amazing statement to me in my own life. We need to come with understanding that is illuminated by the Holy Spirit and that brings us really to the final point this morning and that is this. How can I get started in a practical way? What are some things that I can do once I understand the meaning the difference between reading my Bible and studying my Bible and I come with these motives and I have this mindset that has been prepared by the Holy Spirit. What are some methods that I can use to get started? Well I would suggest there are a few things to keep in mind.

Number one you need time for this. Time speaks to the availability the focus the intentionality of this activity that you engage with your Bible. It's different than reading you get up in the morning you're running out the door you may read a chapter of your Bible you may reflect on it but but when we study the scripture there needs to be a time maybe it's once a week maybe it's twice a week where you set apart a portion of time to give careful and and focused attention to a portion of God's word it's going to require time and then secondly it's going to require some tools. Let me suggest three tools that you're going to need if you're going to actually give attention and focus to the study of your Bible.

The first thing you're going to need is a good study Bible and I would suggest two that you may want to give some consideration to one is the MacArthur study Bible and a second potential source for you would be the ESV study Bible many of you already own these the ESV study Bible is available as a download on your device and the value of these is the study notes that give you instant access to questions that you may have as you begin reading through your scriptures so you need a study Bible you also need a journal you need a journal you need a way to preserve what you are reading one of the reasons we know so much about what Howard Carter experienced as he peered through that door is that he took copious notes in his journal and those journals are preserved for us and as you go through the reading of your scripture as you go through the study of scripture one of the best things that you can do is to take the time to journal and record and preserve what you are discovering and then you need some basic theological resources available to you to answer questions I would suggest too you're going to need one at least one systematic theology book and one of the ones that I use quite a bit is Wayne Grudem systematic theology these are all available online and you need a simple commentary for under 50 you can make an investment for the rest of your life that will give you a resource that will give you at least one set of answers to questions you may have about the text and and here's a two volume abridged set of the expositor's Bible commentary all of these are available on Amazon and then you need a technique you may want to take a moment and think about studying a book in your Bible you may want to pick the book of Ruth for example this semester I'm going through the book of second Corinthians but you may want to pick a book in addition to your Bible reading and just say you know for this period of time or for this year I want to take this book and I want to get down into the roots of this book you may want to study a section of your Bible maybe you want to study the Pentateuch maybe you want to study the prophetic section you may want to pick a topic maybe you want to talk about wisdom or or you want to talk about mercy you want to pick a theme that you want to master in the course of semester maybe you want to study a personality maybe you want to study somebody like Saul or Samuel or David or you may want to pick a question that you wonder what God's word has to say what does the Bible have to say about witnessing that's the topic we're going to be looking at next week how did they do it in the new testament how did they actually accomplish it is Christ the Lamb, Christ the Risen God, and in heaven present the patience. Christ the Lamb, Christ the Risen God, and in heaven present the patience. See the cross of adversity, the Son of Christ the Lamb, and see the truth, the truth beneath the sea, and the power of the Earth and the sky, and that the Son of God is no longer there, and that the Earth is from the grave, whose ways we watch, whose name is still the day, where God in heart shall speak. And if it is wrong, and safe in every sight, he embraces forever your good will, but we deny, the faith you've gained in Christ, and the servant that reigns in us, and the saints of the whole world, and the one who reigns, with the highest levels of any faith. And here the cross, the comfort for the day, with the presence and the glory, the saints of the whole world still run away, with the highest levels of any faith, and here the cross, the comfort for the day, and the presence and the glory. You've been listening to The Daily Platform. I'm Steve Pettit, president of Bob Jones University, and I invite you to join us at our beautiful campus in Greenville, South Carolina, to see how you can be prepared academically and spiritually to serve the Lord through one of our more than 100 undergraduate and graduate programs. For more information about Bob Jones University, visit www.bju.edu or call 800-252-6363.