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     Good morning and welcome to the Berean Break.  My name is George A. Sinkie and I am so glad that you have joined us this morning.  Last week we began to look at a lesson on how to study the Bible, because the seeker of truth will want to know how to study God’s Word.  While some people study man-made creeds and catechisms, it is God’s desire that we study His will, which is revealed in the Bible.  One thing that I should have mentioned last week is that we should begin our study of the Bible with a prayer.  That is what we are going to do right now, so let’s pray:

Great God in heaven.  We thank You for this day in our lives.  We thank You for the safety that You have given to us and pray that You continue to watch over us.  Help us now Lord to open our hearts and minds to You.  As we understand what we read from Your word help us to apply it into our lives.  Thank You for Jesus and the sacrifice He made for us.  May we obey Your will so that we can be saved.  In Jesus’ Name, AMEN!!

     Many people in this world think that the Bible is hard to understand and therefore they simply listen to some man or woman and do what they are told.  They are deceived and indoctrinated into man-made doctrines and never know the will of God nor the salvation that He offers to those who obey Him.  As we are learning in these two lessons there are some basic principles that we need to follow when studying the Scriptures.
     Last time we started out by looking at the need to develop a love for the truth.  There are people who love many things.  They love “religion,” that is, they love the idea of being “religious.”  We must understand that there is a vast difference between being “religious” and being right with God.  As you read through Acts 17, starting in verse 22, Paul is in Athens and is talking to people who are very religious, but they did not know the God of the Bible.  Others love a certain man or woman… if they say it then these people believe it to be truth.  They never check it out to see if is Scriptural or not.  Still others love the things of their life.  These people will search for someone that will tell them they are OK just like they are, and then they will follow that creed.  None of these are a love for the truth and there is no salvation in any of them.  Do you love the truth?  Do you love it even when it shows that you are doing something wrong?
     That ties in with the second point we looked at — we need to study the Bible with an open mind.  It we come to the word of God with our minds already made up about what we want to believe, then we will find the “proof” for it in the Bible.  We should come to the word with the attitude of “God, what do You want me to believe?”
     While there is a benefit from simply reading God’s word, what we need to do is study the word.  What did that word God choose to use mean?  How does this verse harmonize with every other verse God used to speak about this topic?  What does this verse teach me?
     Again this ties to the next point which is to not draw a conclusion until all God said on a topic is considered.  This one point would destroy many, if not most, man-made doctrines… they would die for lack of proof.

     Let’s go on now and look at some more points of The Seeker of Truth Will Want To Know:  How to Study the Bible.  We looked at four points last time, so picking up with point five, when reading a particular passage, consider the period in which it is written and when the Bible applies it.  The Bible includes three separate dispensations, the Patriarchal, the Mosaic, and the Christian.
     The Patriarchal age was God’s will for all people for a period of roughly 2500 years, from the time of creation to the giving of the law of Moses to the Jewish people.  The portions of the Bible that are in this period begin with the first chapter of Genesis and extend through the twentieth chapter of Exodus.  Some of the main characters who lived in this period are Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
     The second dispensation of time is the Mosaic age.  While all other nations appear to remain under the Patriarchal system, God took the Jewish nation and gave to them the law of Moses, recorded in Exodus chapter twenty, and extends until Christ’s death on the cross.  The Mosaic age covered a period of about 1,500 years.  The offering of animal sacrifices and observance of the Sabbath are characteristic of this period of time.  We often call this period the Old Testament time.  Some of the main characters that lived during this period include Moses, Samuel, David, and the prophets.
     The last dispensation is the Christian age, the period of time in which we now live.  With the death of Jesus on the cross, the Old Testament ended and the New Testament time began.  On the first day of Pentecost after Christ’s ascension to heaven, Christ’s apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit.  Christ had earlier promised the apostles this would happen in order to guide them into all truth and bring to their remembrance all that Christ had taught them, this we are told in John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”
     It was on this day that the gospel was first preached in its entirety, that salvation was offered to in Christ’s name.  The Christian message began to be proclaimed on that day, recorded in Acts the second chapter, and will continue until the end of time.  The Christian message began to be proclaimed on that day, recorded in Acts the second chapter, and will continue until the end of time.  The Bible calls this period of time the last days.  Peter in defending the apostles says in Acts 2:16-17, “but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:  ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams;”

     Many people, though no doubt filled with good intentions, often practice error because of their failure to properly apply certain passages to the correct period of time.  For example, some today observe the Sabbath, even though the observance of the Sabbath is not a part of the New Testament under which we now live.  The old law, including the commandment to observe the Sabbath, was nailed to the cross.  Read Colossians 2:14, “having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
     Sabbatarians such as the Seventh Day Adventists will have you believe that only the ceremonial law was nailed to the cross, while the moral law was not, thus the commandment to observe the Sabbath is still binding on us today.  But friends, neither your Bible nor mine teach such a doctrine.  Listen to Paul’s words recorded in Romans 7:4, “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.”
     When Paul wrote that we are dead to the law, what law was he talking about?  The law of Moses, including the commandment to keep the Sabbath.  Notice further on in verse seven:  Romans 7:7, ‘What shall we say then?  Is the Law sin?  May it never be!  On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”’
     Friends, what law said “Thou shall not covet?”  The same law that included the commandment to observe the Sabbath.  The commandment to observe the Sabbath was written on the same stones as the commandment not to covet.  You can read that in Exodus 20:10-17.  I wish we had time to read these longer readings but we just do not on this program, so that is your assignment to read Exodus 20:10-17 following today’s program.  Also consider Nehemiah 9:13-14, “Then Thou didst come down on Mount Sinai, And didst speak with them from heaven; Thou didst give to them just ordinances and true laws, Good statutes and commandments.  So Thou didst make known to them Thy holy sabbath, And didst lay down for them commandments, statutes, and law, Through Thy servant Moses.”
     Friends, did you notice that God made the Sabbath known at Mount Sinai, when the law was given to Moses.  No one can make something known to you unless you have no prior knowledge of it.  No one was commanded to observe the Sabbath prior to the giving of the law of Moses, and no one is commanded to observe the Sabbath during the Christian dispensation in which we live today.

     Under the New Testament, we worship differently than those who lived under the law of Moses.  For example, music that is offered in our worship to God must not include the use of mechanical instruments of music.  To do so is sinful and unacceptable to God.  God instructs His children to sing in Ephesians 5:19, “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;”
     And also in Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
     Christians are to gather together on the first day of every week in order to observe the Lord’s Supper as we see in Acts 20:7, “And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to depart the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.”
     On the first day of the week Christians are also to give as they have prospered.  As we can read in 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also.  On the first day of every week let each one of you put aside and save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.”
     While gathered for these things Christian will also listen to God’s word taught and preached, they will pray together, and as we just saw sing to teach and encourage each other.

     Our sixth and final point is that we must be willing to take what we learn and put it to use.  James wrote in James 1:22-25, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.  But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does.”

     Our time is about up for this morning, There are other points that we could make but if we will follow these six points we will be on our way to a closer relationship with God.

     This Berean Break is brought to you, in love, by the pre-denominational and non-denominational church of Christ that meets at 1600 East First Avenue in Mitchell SD.  You are welcome to meet with us at 10:00 Sunday mornings for our assembly followed by a time of Bible Study, also on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 for an additional time to study God’s Word.  If you have a comment or a sincere Bible question, please phone us at 605-770-5555.  We want to remind you of the non-denominational TV program, “KNOW YOUR BIBLE” on KDLT-TV at 9:00 on Sunday mornings.  This is George A. Sinkie for the Lord’s church, here in Mitchell, good-bye for now.  Remember that we care about you and may God bless you as you do His will.

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