How to Understand and Apply the Bible, Lesson 5
Welcome to 30 minute classes, a course of 15 Bible lessons, all about 30 minutes each. Our topic for this course is “How to Understand and Apply the Bible.” In this fifth lesson, we’ll give eight reasons why you should study the Bible.
And I’ll just do a little check-in here, just to see how you’re doing and continue to encourage you a bit. To make it this far in this class is commendable. I hope you know that. We’ve covered some serious theology so far. Some of you are hearing things that you’ve never heard before, and it can be overwhelming. But let’s continue our work hard, relying on grace, just like Paul taught us to do. And I promise that God is faithful, he’ll reward your obedience.
But what I keep thinking about, what keeps coming up in my heart. Is that for some of you there are things that God has wanted to say to you for years, personal words to you, but because, maybe there’s been some fear on your part to really get into God’s word, that he’s not been able to communicate those personal words to you. There’s been a spiritual disconnect, and maybe now, with some of this new learning, you’re gaining the confidence, maybe for the first time, to really hear God speak to you from the Bible. And that excites me! I hope it excites you too.
Ok. Like always, let’s do a little review. We are learning how to understand and apply the Bible. We’ve got THIS lesson and just one more after this one to help us understand God’s word, then the second half of this course, lessons 7 through about about 14, I guess, will be us learning how to apply God’s word. We laid the foundation with the doctrine of Scripture in lessons 2 and 3, and then we began to build on that foundation in lesson 4. And we’ll do more building here in lesson 5.
Now just a quick review of the doctrine of Scripture, we’ve gone over it several times now. Hopefully it’s settling into your hearts and minds. We’ve learned that the Bible is authoritative. It is powerful and it creates obligations. These are God’s words. And if we call ourselves Christians, if Jesus is our Lord, then we will submit ourselves to Scripture. We position ourselves under its authority and we do what it asks us to do. Remember Jesus’ question to his disciples? He asked, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? So, to make God the ruler of our lives, we must receive his words—we must respond to them.
Then we talked about the Bible being inspired, it was breathed out by God. God did not just give the apostles and prophets an idea and then let them run with it, but he put his words in their mouths, and because we was preparing them from birth, for this very purpose, HIS words and THEIR personalities perfectly came together, so that what was written in the Bible was exactly what God wanted. And because it was exactly what God wanted, we can be certain that there are no errors in the Bible. There couldn’t be, because God can’t lie. So the Bible is inspired, inerrant, and infallible.
The Bible is also sufficient; it has all the words that we need for salvation, faith, and life. God gives us all things pertaining to life and godliness. The Bible is clear. It’s not just for smart people, but it also makes the simple wise. God is always clear when it comes to his expectations of us. He’s gonna give us enough understanding to carry out our present responsibilities.
The Bible is complete. What’s written is written. The canon is closed. No one is any longer adding to God’s word. And finally, the Bible is effective. It always does what God intends it to do.
So, that’s the doctrine of Scripture: The Bible is authoritative, it’s inspired, it’s inerrant and infallible. The Bible is sufficient, it’s clear, it’s complete and it’s effective.
Alright. So, in the last lesson, we asked and tried to answer the question, “how can we know that the Bible’s true?” And I warned that I wouldn’t give the typical evidential apologetics, where we’d look at a lot of science and archeology to make our case. I don’t think that’s a bad approach, but I do think there’s a better one. And that’s called presuppositional apologetics. It just kinda acknowledges that we all have our presuppositions, our starting points that we all circle back to—whether it’s science or humanism, or the Bible. So, the Bible’s true because the Bible says it is. And we shouldn’t be embarrassed about that.
Now, if you ARE trying to win someone to Christ, I don’t recommend you just come out and say the Bible’s true because the Bible says it is. Witnessing is a little more nuanced than that. There ARE ways to draw people into our circle; the Bible’s circular argument is not a vicious circle. And I wish I could get into apologetics, but we gotta get back to our class. Maybe we’ll do an apologetics class in the future.
So, we’ve been talking about God’s written word. The apostles and prophets wrote down God’s words, and they made it permanent. And you could argue that face to face communication is more personal, but making the word permanent was more important. God’s words had to be put down, so they could be passed down. So, in lesson 4, we talked about the transmission of Scripture. So, God started having his words recorded early on. On the way out of Egypt, God gave Moses the Ten commandments and all the other laws, and he put them down, some of them literally in stone. God wrote the Ten Commandments with his own finger on the tablets, and when the first ones broke, God worked with Moses to make another copy. And then all the other laws were recorded, and it all became the covenant document between God and his people. It was their national constitution.
These words were for them “no empty word, but their very life.” Deuteronomy 6:6-9 says, “these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” This word was to be everywhere, ever before them.
And then in the New Testament, we have the gospels,—Jesus’ words, and the letters of Paul and Peter and the others, and all these recorded words along with the Old Testament became a deposit to be guarded, to be fought for. So this Bible got passed down to the church, and it became our foundation, our covenant document, our constitution.
So we had to ask the question: how well did God’s words get passed down. Were all the words preserved? And we know that the Bible is inspired. It’s been authenticated by God himself. BUT we are quick to point out that it's really only the original manuscripts that are official. God hasn’t authenticated every single copy. And we talked about what would have to happen for every copy, every translation, every commentary written, every sermon preached to be authenticated by God. God could’ve done that. He certainly has the power to authenticate all of it. But what we said was that God’s desire was that the church study God’s word together in community. He wants us all to feast on Scripture. And we might get some things wrong, but in the same way God directed the writers of the Bible, the Holy Spirit will guide the church today into all truth.
So, even if there have been some typos along the way—we talked about those—we can be confident knowing that those kinds of difficulties are actually pretty rare, and they never really involve important doctrinal issues.
But we do run into some difficulties in the Bible regarding science. We’ve talked about the level of precision that science requires, the kind that the Bible’s not all that interested in. But the Bible does comment on the world around us. The writers marvel at creation, and they write about it, but usually they make comments regarding its appearance—how it looks. And to have a Bible that’s sufficient and clear to everybody for all time, it makes sense that it wouldn’t be written with scientific precision. Rather, it would be written in normal, everyday language. Like when we see the sun appear in the morning, peeking over the horizon. We watch it rise, and we say “look at that beautiful sunrise.” Even though we know the sun didn’t rise, it was the earth rotating.
Ok. So, we can also trust the Bible because of its prophecies and miracles. The Bible is full of prophecies that came true. And we talked about the statistical probability of even just a few of those coming true was staggering. But they did! And with miracles too, the evidence for miracles like the resurrection is overwhelming.
Alright, wrapping up our review: We’ve got a Bible that’s authoritative, inspired, inerrant, infallible, sufficient, clear, complete, and effective. We can trust it because the Bible itself attests to its own trustworthiness. The Bible’s true because it says it is. And because God is in control of history, we know his words were transmitted just the way he wanted them to be. The Bible we read today IS God’s words.
And I love that passage from Hebrews that we ended last lesson with. Let me read it again, Hebrews 6:16-20:
“For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
Alright. Let’s get into Lesson 5, “Why Study the Bible?” If you’ve downloaded any of the pdfs for these studies, or even if you’ve scrolled down to the bottom of the transcripts for the audio, you’ve probably noticed that I try to list my sources for each lesson’s content. I don’t do a lot of citing of those sources within the text, but I do want to make sure I give credit where it’s due, and for this lesson and the next, I will rely heavily on John Macarthur’s book ‘How to study the Bible.’
Now, we’ve talked a little bit about motivation. Some of us need more of it than others. But, no doubt, studying the Bible is hard work. It’s laborious. We’ve talked about that. But, if that buffet that I’ve already put out before you in the previous lessons hasn’t whet your appetite, then let me try to give you, in this lesson, even more incentive.
Here’s eight reasons why you should study the Bible, and they’re in no particular order: I’ll go ahead and list them real quick, then we’ll spend a few minutes on each of these. 1. Truth, 2. Happiness, 3. Victory over Satan, 4. Victory over demons, 5. Victory over temptation, 6. Growth, 7. Power, and 8. Guidance.
Alright, let’s jump into these. The first reason you should study the Bible is because it’s the source of truth. John records Jesus’ prayer to the Father in John 17:17, it says: “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” So God’s word is truth. But what IS truth? Truth is ultimate reality. It’s what everyone’s searching, they’re searching for meaning. But most people are looking in the wrong place. 2 Timothy 3:7 says that people are “always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
And this is so obvious, the search is all around us. I read about this the other day. An activity called ‘extreme tourism,’ have you heard of this? These people are out there searching for truth, for some ultimate experience to give them meaning. It’s no longer good enough to just climb the tallest mountains, now people are visiting the most dangerous places in the world, and intentionally putting themselves in harm’s way.
So, for example, they’ll go swim with the sharks without a cage, or they’ll go run around in mine fields in some far off war-torn third-world counties. Ridiculous things. But this is my favorite one. Remember Chernobyl, the nuclear reactor in Ukraine that melted down back in the eighties. The whole site STILL just glows with radiation decades later. You hold up one of those instruments, and you see the needle just jumping all around, going crazy. It’s all radioactive. And there’s this one area, that’s right in the middle of the site, that supposedly has the highest concentration of radiation, and the challenge is, to go visit Chernobyl—and they let you do this, and then go sit right there, in that one area, on this piece of old, melted-down machinery, purposely exposing yourself to these crazy levels of radiation. Then you snap a selfie, of course, and then, I don’t know what, you see if you survive. So, this is the ultimate experience; it’s extreme tourism.
So, what are all these people doing? Why are untrained civilians climbing into rockets and blasting off into space? What’s this all about? It’s all about the search for truth, for meaning. It’s like the verse we just read, we’re “always searching, but never arriving at the truth.’
But WE have it! We’ve GOT the truth. The search is over. It’s here, right our hands, it’s God’s word. God’s word is the source of truth.
Second reason that we should study the Bible? Because it’s the source of happiness. Luke 11:28 says, “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” The Greek word translated ‘blessed’ is makarios [ma-KAR-ee-os], and it means ‘happy.’ Happy are those who hear the word of God and keep it. We read it again in David’s Psalms, Psalm 1:1-2 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers,” BUT, and here it is, “his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” David was talking about Old Testament law, mind you, and he calls it his delight. Have you ever talked about Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy like that? We usually think it’s boring. “Happy is the man,” he says. How many of us think reading the Old Testament is a delight?
Or even Revelation? Revelation freaks everybody out. We usually do our best to stay away from it. But read Revelation 1:3. It says, “Blessed is the one [Happy is the one] who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.”
God’s word is a source of happiness—all of it. Not just the gospels, but the Old Testament too, even Revelation. Blessed is the one who hears it, blessed in the one who meditates on it.
Third reason we should study the Bible: Because it’s a source of victory over Satan. Matthew 4:1-11 records the temptations of Jesus. It’s the classic text showing us how we can gain victory over Satan. Let’s read it.
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.”
Notice that Jesus answered every temptation with Scripture. He’d say “It is written, it is written,” and then he’d quote from the Old Testament, which was Jesus’ Bible. God’s Word shut Satan down every time, and it gave Jesus the victory, and it can do the same for us.
The fourth reason why we should study the Bible is victory over demons. Let’s read Luke 4:33-36: Jesus had just started his ministry and “In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”
What is this word? They cried. It’s God’s word. We talked about the authority and the power that Scripture has. And we read it again here; those demons didn’t stand a chance.
So, victory over Satan, victory of demons, then number 5, victory over temptation. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:13-17 to put on God’s armor. We know the passage, let’s read it:
“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
So the armor of God, we’ve got a whole suit of armor, a belt, a breastplate, shoes, and a shield—all protective gear. And we’ve got a sword as our weapon—it’s the word of God. And the Greek word for sword there is machaira [MAHK-a-rah], and it’s not a long sword, it’s actually a short dagger. In the ancient world, men would keep these daggers strapped to their thighs, hidden under their cloak. But we usually think of the sword of the spirit as a sword that you kinda wave around, but it's actually one of these daggers used for stabbing. The idea is that the word of God pinpoints temptations and stabs them. It’s a quick thrust, straight to the problem. So, wielding the short of the Spirit is knowing your Bible well enough that you have passages and verses for every situation—for every temptation.
So, that’s why we say if you want victory over sin, then you gotta be like David who, in Psalm 119:11, he “stores up God’s word in his heart, that he might not sin against God.”
Next is growth. We study the Bible to grow. And I guess this is the sixth reason we’ll give. Growth. God’s word is our source of growth in the Christian life. 1 Peter 2:2 says that we need nourishment, we’re like little babies. “Newborn infants,” Peter writes, “long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” Babies need milk to grow; Christians need the Bible.
And there’s something wrong about adults who still act like children. Paul wants us to grow up; to mature. Ephesians 4:12-15, says we should be “building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,” Maturity is the goal, Paul says, “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” . . . no longer children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
That’s why we’re here studying the Bible, so that we can build up the body, that we might all be spiritually mature adults. And when we all attain mature manhood, that’s when the church is built up in love. So the Bible is our source of growth.
Alright, just a couple more reasons, and we’ll move a little quicker now. The seventh reason we study the Bible is power. The Bible is our source of power.
Hebrews 4:12 says, “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
So, we said the sword of the spirit is a penetrating dagger. It cuts to the very depths of a person’s being. And that’s because it’s living and active. It’s powerful.
And finally, the last reason, reason number 8 that we should study the Bible. The Bible is a source of guidance. God’s word is our guide.
Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” The Bible directs us in the way that we should go. If you’re looking to line your life with God’s will, it’s his word that will get you pointed in the right direction.
Alright. Eight reasons why you should study the Bible: Truth, Happiness, Victory over Satan, Victory over demons, Victory over temptation, Growth, Power, and Guidance.
And we’re outta time. Thanks for listening to this lesson. Hope you’ll continue on to the next one, as we continue to learn ABOUT God, AND how to live for him.
SOURCES:
Frame, John. The Doctrine of the Word of God. P&R, 2010.
MacArthur, John. How to Study the Bible. Moody, 2009.