Berean Break
March 28, 2021 broadcast
How to Study the Bible (part 1 of 2)
by George Sinkie
[printable PDF][audio MP3]
[go to: part 2]
Welcome
to the Berean Break. My name is George A. Sinkie
and I am so glad that you have joined us here for this study. We
use the Bible as the standard of truth, so I encourage you to
get out your Bible and follow along. As we begin, lets
go to God in prayer:
Great God in heaven, Thank You
for this day in our lives. We thank You for the moisture.
As we look at our lesson today may we use it to grow and
mature in our knowledge of You and Your will. We especially
thank You for Jesus and it is in His name we pray, AMEN!!
How
many of you have wanted to study the Bible more on your own?
It is great that you are listening to this study but you
want to do more. This program gets its name from the Bereans
spoken of in the book of Acts. Notice how the Bible describes
the Bereans in 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.
Friends, Bible study is important
for several reasons. First, a person cant have faith
apart from the word of God. Paul wrote in Romans 10:17,
So
faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
We need to study the word of God
to hear what the Lords will is and so we can have the faith
that we need to have to be saved.
Second, Bible study is important
because Gods word can save us. James wrote in James
1:21, Therefore
putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness,
in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save
your souls.
Jesus taught man can be set free
from his sins by the truth, not by error. John records
this in John 8:32 where Jesus says, and you shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free.
John also records where Jesus tells
us what the truth is in John 17:17, where He prays to the Father
and says, Sanctify
them in the truth; Thy word is truth.
Third, Bible study is important
because the Bible, not the creeds and catechisms of men, serves
as our authority in matters of religion. Notice Pauls
words to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, All Scripture is inspired
by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,
for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be
adequate, equipped for every good work.
Sometimes a person may say that
he doesnt read the Bible because the Bible cannot be understood.
This is a lie spread by Satan and taught by some man-made
religions to keep their followers in bondage. It has also
been said, The Bible is crystal clear. Its
just so deep you cant see the bottom. The
point is simply this: We may never fully understand all
the Bible teaches. God made it this way so we would not
get bored with studying it, but we can learn all that we need
to know to be saved and how to worship and serve God acceptably.
But to do this, a person must enter
into his study of the Bible with the right attitude and with
a few basic rules in mind.
First, we ought to develop a love for
the truth. It
should be our desire to know what Gods will is for our
lives. Paul speaks of those who are lost because they did
not love the truth. Read with me 2 Thessalonians 2:10,
and
with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because
they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.
Friends, no matter what others
may believe or say, we ought to love the truth enough to want
to know the truth.
Second, we ought to study the Bible with
an open mind. Notice
from our earlier reading from Acts 17:11 the Bereans received
the word with eagerness. Too often people study the Bible,
not to learn what it teaches concerning a given subject, but
rather to prove what they already believe concerning a given
subject. Peter spoke of those persons who distort the scriptures
in 2 Peter 3:15-16, where he wrote, and regard the patience of our Lord to
be salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according
to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters,
speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard
to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as
they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
Third, dont merely read the Bible
mindlessly, but study.
Surely, Pauls admonition to Timothy ought to apply
to us as well. In 2 Timothy 2:15, the KJV says to study while the NASB words it this way,
Be
diligent
to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not
need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.
A good dictionary will be helpful
in your studies. But remember, modern dictionaries dont
provide the meaning of a word as it was used in the First Century,
they provide the modern, accepted usage of a word. For
this reason, I suggest you obtain a good Bible dictionary for
your studies. When you come to a word in the Bible that
you dont understand, take the time to stop and find out
what the word means. A good Bible encyclopedia can also
be helpful in your studies. You might also want to obtain
a concordance, which lists every reference where a particular
word is used, as well as a set of Bible maps.
A good quality Bible helps in a
study of the Bible. Make sure it has a good quality paper
as well as a print that can be easily read. Make sure it
is a reliable translation of the Bible. I would suggest
the New American Standard, the King James Version, the American
Standard Version, or the New King James Version.
Fourth, when studying a particular subject,
resist the temptation to draw a conclusion until you have studied
all the Bible teaches about that subject. Imagine several people each witnessing
the same car accident. One person tells you the driver
who was at fault was driving a red car. Another person
tells you the car had four doors. Still another person
tells you the driver ran a stop sign. Friends, theres
no conflict with what each person saw. But when you put
all of their information together, you know the wreck was caused
when a person driving a red, four-door car ran a stop sign.
Likewise, when we study the Bible,
we ought to gather all the information the Bible provides about
a particular subject. For example, consider the words of
John 3:16, For
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal
life.
People often read this one verse
and reach the erroneous conclusion that all a person has to do
to be saved from his sins is believe. But when we read
Luke 13:3 Jesus says, I
tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise
perish.
We learn we must also repent of
our sins. When we read Matthew 10:32-33 we learn that we
must confess Jesus, because Jesus says, Everyone therefore who
shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My
Father who is in heaven. But whoever shall deny Me
before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.
And when we read Mark 16:15-16
we learn we need to be immersed, which is to be baptized, to
be saved. Here Jesus says, And He said to them, Go into all the world
and preach the gospel to all creation. He who
has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he
who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
So from John, we learn we need
to believe, from Luke we learn we need to repent, from Matthew
we learn we need to confess, and from Mark we learn we need to
be immersed. None of these alone will save us, but nor
can we leave any of them undone and be saved.
Once I encountered another good
example of this. There was a letter to the editor
in the local paper. In this letter, the man taught a doctrine
that the only grounds that allowed for remarriage was the death
of a persons spouse. The death of a spouse indeed
frees a person to marry again. This is shown in Romans
7:2, where Paul writes, For the married woman is bound by law
to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies,
she is released from the law concerning the husband. And Paul also addresses
this issue in 1 Corinthians 7:39, A wife is bound as long as her husband
lives; but if her husband is dead, she is free to be married
to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
Now if these were the only verses
in Gods word that dealt with remarriage then the man would
be right to teach his doctrine. But as we are seeing in
this point of Good Bible study methods, we must look at all
passages that deal with the topic we are studying.
Consider the new information that
we can learn when we read, Matthew 5:31-32, where Jesus says,
And
it was said, Whoever sends his wife away, let him give
her a certificate of divorce; but I say to you that everyone
who divorces his wife, except for the cause of unchastity, makes
her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman
commits adultery.
Jesus is also speaking in Matthew 19:9, And I say to you, whoever
divorces his wife, except
for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.
It is Jesus that gives this exception
condition to remarriage being adultery. Not you, not I,
not even the man that wrote to the paper has the right to add
or take away exceptions to the Lords will. What he
fails to do is to study all of the passages for what they teach
on the subject.
Our time is up for this morning,
but I hope that you can join us next time for more tips on how
to study the Bible.
This Berean Break is brought to
you, here in East River South Dakota, by the pre-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 Gods Word. If you have a comment or a
sincere Bible question, please call or text me at 605-770-5555. The
Berean Break is brought to you in West River South Dakota by
the Prairie City church of Christ. They also meet
at 10:00 on Sunday morning. You can contact them at
605-593-7045. This is George A. Sinkie for the
Lords church, good-bye for now, and remember to check out
what I have taught with Gods Word.
[printable PDF][audio MP3]
[go to: part 2] |