In this lesson, Pastor Joe Babij begins explaining how to learn and grow from the Bible. Specifically, Pastor Babij discusses seven compelling reasons for knowing God’s word and then four ways to do so.
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okay it is time it is time so let’s get going there was a lot of things in this chapter and um chapter 2 this is my the last one I’ll do uh now and then I’ll pick it up at the uh at the end of June I think the beginning of June or something like that is the next one because uh Greg will do it next and then Khalif will do it Mark will do it so there’s other people teaching it and uh anyway uh when I first became a Christian um I was the first generation Christian in my family both on my mother and father’s side and um so somebody put in my hand a uh Scofield King James Bible and um then somebody gave me a Halley’s Bible Handbook right and then someone else gave me a strong exhaustive concordance now those actually this book of course your phones now you can look up things real quick but this has like every word if you only think of one word in a passage of scripture an exhaustive concordance will you’ll find it all right and uh so this book was a great treasure to me before phones before computers and um and that actually the Haley’s Bible Handbook uh was another one I looked up everything in these books when I first became a Believer and uh because I didn’t know anything you know and it takes a long time to learn things and we also when you learn something you may have to relearn it right or add to what you already learned so it’s the process of learning is continual uh and um don’t give up you may get discouraged sometimes you may think you’re having a brain freeze and you’re not getting it don’t worry about that just continue to plot on and believe me God opens your eyes uh and he opens your ears to hear the word of God and it just encourages you because the truth is found in the word of God are found nowhere else in the world in the universe right and um so um we’re privileged to have the word of God in our hands and it’s a great blessing uh to actually um be a Christian and to know that you actually have a right relationship with Christ and God because of of what he’s done our behalf and uh and believe me when you know those things it does free you up in your life it frees your mind it frees your soul right it frees your conscience it frees you can actually relax and enjoy life and God does want us to enjoy life the Christian life is not you know a bunch of do’s and don’ts it’s enjoy life but of course in enjoying life we are also obeying God and uh because obedience is something we want to do now right God’s just the spirit of God’s given us the desire to want to do it all right so that brings us to lesson two and lesson two is going to be that of uh we it’s week four lesson two how to know the Bible now there’s no way in these lessons that we can cover everything uh so we’re going only going to cover a few things and like I said there was a lot of stuff in this chapter so everything cannot be covered so some things you’re going to have to retain by your own study and hopefully you did do the work and uh you because that’s part of it getting in there and doing the work looking up the scripture yourself right don’t don’t just sit there with your arms crossed and expect you know somebody to spoon feed you like a baby no we are babies when we first become Believers but God wants us to mature to become a strong man who knows the word of God can fight the devil with it and then a spiritual father who learns how to knows how to live by faith every day and just put God first in everything so uh do the work even if you don’t understand it all just do it and understanding will definitely come let’s pray though Lord this morning we thank you for uh the opportunity to meet uh with each other and to gather around the word of God it’s it’s a great blessing it’s exciting to the heart and to the soul and Lord we just want to learn more and we want to be what you want us to be so we can learn how to please you in all things just as the scripture tells us and I pray that you would do that Lord make us grow from a spiritual baby to a spiritual young strong person who knows the word of God stands on it and then also a spiritual father who has now internalized and has chewed upon and now it’s becoming part of how a person thinks and acts and feels and makes decisions that honors you so I pray that you would do that continue to do that in our life we know Lord that your will and so we want to be part of it and enjoy the blessing of it I pray in Christ’s name amen all right so first thing uh just to some compelling reasons for knowing God’s word all right some compelling reasons here’s the first one will keep you from sin right um where’s that found Psalm 119 verse number 11.
I’m going to have you look up other passages so I don’t expect you to look at all the passages this morning but Psalm 119 verse number 11 says your word I have treasured in my heart that I might I may not sin against you right I may not sin against you so it will help you to defeat sin it not only will help you identify sin it will help you to defeat sin second thing it will build you up Acts chapter 20 verse 32 says and now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to Build You Up and to give you an inheritance among all those who are Sanctified so it’s able to build you up now the word of God is going to do something else to you it’s going to break you down it’s going to break you down but it’s also going to build you up it’s going to break you down it’s going to drive out of you wrong thinking uh wrong thoughts about God wrong thoughts about life about yourself and it’s going about the enemy and it’s going to replace it with the correct thinking right that’s why in Romans 12 it says that we do we’re to be transformed in our mind so God doesn’t bypass your mind he he transforms your mind so you think the way we we start thinking biblically we start thinking according to how God actually created us and that’s when we begin to see life in a whole different way and then also thirdly uh it of course it will cause us to live and not be ashamed live and not be ashamed it says in Psalm 119 1 16 sustain me according to your word that I may live and do not let me be ashamed of My Hope so the word of God will actually help you to live life and live it in a way where you’re not ashamed you know you there’s things we all were ashamed about in our life and could be ashamed about but we grow to a place where we’re not ashamed because a lot of the things that happened in our life that brought shame was a lot to do with our sin almost all of it’s to do with our sin and and to wrong influences wrong teaching wrong thinking of being dead and trying to figure out life on our own you know and people do that and they end many times it ends up in tragedy right and it’s a shame what’s going on today with such a high level of suicide in our culture that has people are hopeless they find no no other reason to get up the next day and live right and uh and remember that about when it when it comes to your life God has full authority over that you don’t have authority to take your life only God can uh does that and he’ll do in his timing at the right time all right uh and then of course a fourth thing could be uh this to know the truth all right Psalm 119 160 it says the sum of your word is truth and every one of you of your righteous ordinances is is Everlasting all right every one of your righteous ordinances is Everlasting so to know the truth what is the truth what do you get truth from today all right are you getting truth on uh on social media are you getting truth on on television are you getting the truth truth from your politicians no nobody’s given truth today matter of fact if you tell the truth you’re in trouble if you try to hold someone to the truth or to doing what’s right you’re in trouble and it seems everything that is evil is now good everything that is good is now evil and that’s exactly what the Bible said so I I’m not surprised right I don’t like it I don’t like what I see but I’m not surprised because the Bible the word of God tells us this is what’s going to take place this is what’s going to be that’s reality and I think one thing that the scripture does help us to how to live in this way that we live a real life reality we live in a sin cursed world there’s going to be problems in our life there’s going to be weaknesses in our life there’s going to be disease there’s going to be death because God said so but he’s taking care of all those things all right and there’s going to be a new Heaven and new earth where righteousness dwells and where there is no more death or crying or sorrow or he or pain or disease and so that’s what the hope that we have as Believers and that is true that is true why is that true well I don’t see it but I have it by faith because God is true and his character is true and I can trust him right and then also the next thing is know where I’m going Psalm 119 in verse number 5 it says oh that my ways may be established to keep your statutes my ways may be established that kind of person knows where they’re going they know where their next foot’s gonna go there they know what the next thing to do is because God is directing them and leading them also it gives you understanding Psalm 119 verse 99 I have more insight than all my teachers man that’s a passage of scripture right for your testimonies are my meditation I have more insight than all my professors now that’s that’s or my teachers why because you know the word of God right and the word of God comes from the mind of God and so therefore we’re going to see through things that are not true we’re going to be able to see what is reality because God allows us to do that by his Spirit now of course somebody can be religious and not have that understanding only believers who have the spirit of God have that illumination when they come to scripture and then another thing is that we know right from wrong right Hebrews 5 14 but solid food is for the mature who because of practice they have senses trained to discern Good and Evil all right when you become a Believer you definitely know the difference between good and evil matter of fact you even know that more so in your own heart you know when you have evil thoughts you know when you have the desire to do evil things or to go back to your old self and uh and do something you did back then because that then you remember they gave you some pleasure it gave you some relief but it didn’t it was all a big lie and you were just slaves back then and so you don’t do it because I know it won’t please the Lord and it won’t be beneficial for me growing in my Christian faith right so saying all those things what do we mean when we describe the Bible as sufficient what do we mean now I’m asking you to answer that question all right so what do we mean by that the Bible is sufficient okay it takes up every aspect of your life Glenda uh and and it can fulfill things in your life that nothing else can what else mark okay everything we need to know for salvation obey him and gave God’s people everything they needed at that particular time right that’s exciting to think about too that’s right so so in reality we we don’t really need anything else but the scriptures right to sustain us spiritually um if we had no other books now thank the lord we do because God has given teachers with certain gifts that have have he has given them insight to be able to write to help us make uh understand the Bible better but if we had none of those we would do fine if we just stayed in the word of God and of course that one passage of scripture that we’ve been probably mentioning almost every week right here in second Timothy 3 16 and 17 if you just look at the scriptures as all scripture that means Old and New Testament right what is inspired by God it means comes from God it’s profitable though here it is the word of God is profitable for reproof write for correction for training in righteousness for what reason so that everyone could be equipped for every good work for everything God has for you and I to do it in this this side of Eternity the word of God will provide to you all right and so we can never let we can never push it aside or we can never say I I know enough I don’t need to know anymore or I’m going to take a break no no there’s no breaks you keep going because it’s going to be beneficial for you right it’s going to break you down it’s going to build you up and it’s going to mature you spiritually so you can do what God wants you to do in this life you have something for everybody to do and uh and believe me when I first became a Christian do you think that in my mind at that time I wanted to be in front of people and and teach the word of God or preach the word of God no way that was the furthest thing from my mind in fact the thought of it would would make me think I would never want to do that not me and yet that’s what the Lord did I would never have picked it and believe me if it’s not for the word of God I don’t want to be in front of people because I don’t have much to say apart from the word of God you know and uh but the word of God is is just to have the privilege to study it and to be broken down and built up in my own office is is um I always think I’m the weakest person in the the whole uh chain link because the Lord has to keep me in that office to study so he makes her strong enough to live the next day right and do what he wants me to do but the word of God will make you strong and it will not allow you to be swayed back and forth by all the strange stuff going on in any particular culture at any point where any person ever lived like we live in a very confusing uh I mean information dump every single day in our life and you know young kids have too much information too soon and they can’t handle it and that’s why there’s all this confusion about who they are what they’re supposed to be what they’re supposed to do uh and you know it ends up many times not not being very good at all for them so the scripture includes really preaching teaching counseling Believers unto godliness and so therefore that means the primary focus of every sermon every Bible study every counseling opportunity uh every time you’re talking with somebody about the word of God has to be scripture uh we must be teaching the word of God as the church gathers that’s always the emphasis is that we are to teach the sufficient scripture and if we don’t do it if we fail to do it if we fail to recognize the inspiration and the inerrancy and the authority and the sufficiency and the rebel relevancy of the word of God then what happens is that we start pursuing just our own Comfort rather than obedience and it ends up being you know health wealth and prosperity or whatever else you want to put on that list right it ends up being personal experience as your Authority rather than the authority of the word of God it ends up being contemporary thinking as our guide instead of uh the principles of divine truth you know political correctness I can’t say this and I I can’t think like that uh you know don’t offend that group and don’t talk about Sin and oh wait you can’t mention that Doctrine forget that just preach the next thing right just tell people what the word of God says and it’s going to do what it needs to do and uh we can’t pick and choose and uh what they call the Jefferson Bible where he cut out pages of scripture in Scripture that he didn’t like and you know that’s not what we’re to do we’re to take the word of God study it and then give it out and live it our own life so if we do if we don’t believe the word of God is sufficient really the church produces people uh who really pursue their own desires based on ungodly standards and cultural and societal worldliness that’s what happens because if if you don’t have the word of God what do you have right you just got yourself in the world and then Satan didn’t help in that in that uh mix of things so this passage of scripture incredible passage of scripture you’re included it does mean that uh it’s always got to be the Bible plus nothing uh it’s not management skills it’s not psychology it’s not traditional Church fathers or other books nothing is needed to make the Bible relevant the Bible may not give an explicit answer to every uh specific problem but it will always give the principles by which we can through obedience glorify God it will always give that right so bring it bring that brings me to next how to know the Bible right now this seems in your book simple but how about starting to hear it uh now do you think there’s a problem when it comes to hearing do we have a problem when it comes to hearing what what is the problem all right the Lord does need to give us ears to hear somebody can sit in a church that preaches the word of God for 30 years and not hear a thing you know and not hear a thing and of course it will be present in their lives too but one thing that God does when he saves people he he gives them ears to hear not just anything but the word of God so hearing is very important in fact take your Bible and turn to Second Timothy chapter four second Timothy chapter four first of all and then we’re going to look at these other passages too on the screen but second Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 and 2 says this now of course Paul is writing to Young Timothy who’s going to be the pastor of the church at Ephesus right and he’s Young and he’s a bit afraid uh and he’s going into something where uh into a culture maybe he wasn’t necessarily uh sure about and so it’s Paul writes to him he says I solemnly charge you second Timothy 4 1.
in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is the judge is to judge the living of the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom verse number two preach the word right Herald the word be ready in season and out of season now that in season and out of season that been it’s been taken different ways but basically what he’s saying in that passage of scripture is that some in the in the sense of preaching the word of God there couldn’t be a time when it’s in season and people want it and it could be a time whether it’s out of season where everybody’s against it but you don’t stop because the people don’t want to hear it you keep preaching why because God said so that’s why and in doing that notice the next it says preach the word be ready in season and out of season re it says again he reprove rebuke exhort with great patience and instruction now that great patience that means it’s going to take many times a long time for some people to get it but you got to keep doing it you have to have the patience to keep doing it go to the next passage go to the next book preach it through and go you know and then just keep going because if you do that you’re going to not only it’s not only going to benefit yourself it’s going to benefit those who hear you right and you’re going to be planting seeds cultivating Hearts so the word of God takes root and people grow up uh and to have a life that is uh solid in Christ Jesus and uh not wavering but very stable so listening to the word of God hearing it is it has to start there it can’t go any other place so I do want you to turn into Acts chapter uh 5 in verse number 51 did I say is that 51 there yeah Acts chapter 7 verse 51 excuse me Acts chapter 7 verse 51. now it enacts uh it’s really indicating a serious problem amongst the people of Israel as the apostles went around remember acts as a is a historical book all right that means it’s recording what happened all right what happened how the gospel came to the Jews to the Gentiles to the Samaritans and how it affected people some people received it some people rejected it some people said I want to hear more about this all right and so there’s many different things but if you notice here in verse number 51 look at the middle of the verse it says and ears it says they were actually hard of hearing it says and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit you are doing just as your fathers did so he’s referring to the Old Testament group of Israelites who didn’t listen to God either if you read the wanderings in the wilderness the people were not very compliant to God’s word they were bucking Moses at every step they were bucking Joshua at every step you even in the last chapter of Joshua Joshua had a try to persuade his people to put away your idols and listen to God and Obey him so that people were still doing what they shouldn’t have been doing and so this whole thing about always resist things is this resistance it really means the the literal the word literally means to fall against or to rush against something so the resistance here is not just against we know Stephen is the one in this context preaching and he’s giving a whole history of Israel but it’s against God himself so what great sin is committed when people resist the Holy Spirit by refusing to listen to the word of God they’re hard of hearing and this is not just slow comprehension but it’s an inability to comprehend that all the Prophet Jeremiah was right when he diagnosed the people’s spiritual problem in Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse number 10 and what did he say there really good passage of scripture it says To Whom Shall I speak and give warning that they may hear that’s a question behold their ears are closed and cannot listen behold the word of the Lord has become a reproach to them they have no Delight in it are there people like that you can talk about anything but don’t talk about Jesus in the word of God immediately they start saying ah now let’s not go there you know and they don’t even want to hear they don’t want to even talk about what they say religious things right that’s either too personal to them or not but there are people that have closed ears and because they have closed ears and will not listen the word of God is is a reproach to them and it’s no Delight to them at all it’s a disdain to them right it’s something they dislike very much so they stopped in reality listening to the word of God and because they do that they stopped listening then they misunderstood God and they must misunderstood almost everything else in their life and it became even their own history according to the history that I don’t know if you ever read that passage of scripture in an acts where Stephen really lays out the history of Israel I mean every single part it’s a great passage of scripture if you want to know what happened in the Old Testament he kind of like gives the whole summary in the Old Testament in in that chapter and and yeah but what do they do to Stephen they stoned him to death they stoned him to death uh because they didn’t want to listen and they they didn’t think it was them it was about them or maybe they thought it was about them yes it relates well to the passage that you just mentioned because I think in that passage it says they literally stopped up their ears and physically and rushed in that’s right yeah yeah that’s right and and see that’s that’s the thing is that the literal rendering of the word is to fall against or to rush against like no I don’t want it it’s not just like a casual I don’t want to hear no it it’s a violent I don’t want to hear and um and yet the word of God does produce that in people because it gets down to the Deep recesses of the heart you know oh I’m not responsible to anything anybody I’m not I don’t even believe there’s a God or Creator well how why would I be responsible to him right that that’s why people often think and and maybe maybe you have thought that way at one time that you didn’t need anybody and and so therefore you know you had your own way of thinking about things and doing things your own philosophy of life even in Psalm 40 and verse number six don’t really have time to look at that but it says their um sacrifice and meal offering you have not desired it says my ears you have opened burnt offerings and sin offerings you have not required now in that passage of scripture it really means there that the people were dead to the voice of God and God had a in a sense dig out their ears so they would listen he would dig it out and so what does God do he actually you know takes a pick if you want to have a picture of it and a shovel and mines through the sides of the cranial Granite that’s stuck in our ears making the opening in our ears so we would hear the word of God and so the actually the passage of scripture literally tells us that uh now that you have made me listen now that and then it says and finally I understand you don’t require burnt offerings and sin offerings if the heart is not right and if my ears aren’t open to listen you know and that’s what happens because the Christian mind is not merely to read the word of God but the word of God is to be heard it’s to be internalized it’s to be personalized and if not you’re just going through religious motions and that doesn’t please God it doesn’t please God for you just to say teach me something no because if somebody has that kind of attitude you’ll learn nothing God wants a heart that’s receptive ears that are open eager to learn eager to take it in I don’t know about you but when I first became a Christian and I still have it now I was excited to hear the word of God and anytime it was being taught I was there I was there and I was there with open eyes and open the ears and I wanted to learn and I still thank the Lord today I still desire that I still have that and I learned even all the teachers in our church I learned from everybody who teaches I’m there I’m learning something because God’s using the gift that you is given many of you people to teach other people so uh we can pass it on and and we can grow together so the word of God is meant to be heard to go to the heart it’s also meant if we read the rest of Psalm 40 we find that David speaking there says that it actually loosened his tongue and it caused him to speak joyfully of God’s righteousness and his loving kindness and his truth among the gathered assembly so it’s not just a religious ritual it ends up being when you listen to the word of God and it gets a hold of your heart it’s going to be real worship real worship so when it comes to listening when it comes to listening do you think you are the problem who’s the problem when it comes to listening when moms tell their children don’t do this and they look at you in great Defiance and do it anyway where’s the problem the problems in their heart right the problem is in her heart so when it comes to not listening we’re the problem and God wants to rectify that problem and he wants to open your ears and in many cases he’ll take a pick and shovel and open them if you won’t open them himself yourselves especially if you’re a Believer right and some people say you know I met Christians who have said um you know what I I never was good in school I didn’t even graduate high school and now I’m a Christian I look at the Bible and I can’t understand anything I read and they’re just living this constant just depression with themselves because they don’t understand things and guys you just tell them just keep at it keep doing it and this one particular person actually I’m speaking about was actually illiterate and learned how to read after becoming a Christian later in life and began to understand the word of God and his whole life exploded and became completely different right and one one reason why is because he wanted to hear he wanted to learn and God gave that to him now so the Lord will do that you know so don’t say to yourself you can’t do this or I can’t learn this that’s not true because you have the Holy Spirit of God now uh in illuminating your heart and mind so you will be able to learn it so what benefits does listening and obeying to the word of God promise to us a promise to promise to us all kinds of benefits uh it says in Proverbs chapter 1 verse 33 but he who listens to me shall live securely and will be at ease from The Dread of evil all right now remember in Proverbs what is Proverbs it’s the picture of the father teaching his son wisdom how to live skillfully and what does he say in chapter one he says listen if you listen these are the benefits you’re going to have you’re going to have live a life that’s secure that a life of security means it’s going to be exempt from worry because you know what you’re doing you know what you know what life’s about and then also once you hear it will be an ease from Dre The Dread of evil now that that is amazing and it all comes from listening to the voice of the one who has wisdom so you can learn how to live skillfully in your life and the one who has wisdom is God teaching us through the word of God even in the gospels Luke chapter 11 verse 28 he said on the contrary blessed are those who hear the word of God and what and observe it so it’s not just hearing of course the next thing is going to be to read read it and study it to read it and study it if you notice in Timothy First Timothy chapter 4 verse number 13.
it says until I come give attention to the public reading of scripture to exhortation and teaching now looking at this passage of scripture you’ll realize why do we read the scripture every Sunday because the Bible says to do it right read the scripture and it could be for those who are not necessarily reading the scripture so they hear it they’re hearing the scripture and they’re they’re listening to the scripture and they’re being exhorted by the scripture and they’re being taught by the scripture so if you’re not able to preach it then how people are going to hear it and that’s why in the next passage in second Timothy 2 verse 15 and why don’t you turn there in your Bibles uh and really be I always keep saying this but be ready to use a paper Bible because you’re not going to learn the Bible by using your phone because your phone is too sterile it’s doing the work for you right you don’t have to turn the pages I think isn’t there an app where if you use your phone it sounds like the pages are turning all right because I said one Sunday I said how come you know when it’s really nice to hear paper Bibles because you hear people’s Pages turning but then in on the phones there’s nothing right so I think somebody says I think there’s an app like that you know there probably is there’s an app for everything uh but anyway just to read it uh and study it but notice the passage it says be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a Workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of God now of course this is a passage specifically to people who will be pastors but nonetheless it’s for the body of Christ it’s for all of us because all of us should be studying the word of God right because you don’t know what God’s going to do with you in the future you may be a Sunday school teacher you may there may be someone here that’s going to grow up to be a preacher there may be someone here is going to be someone who’s going to teach you know women groups and stuff like that so you don’t know what the Lord’s going to do but you start learning the word of God it starts filling you up it starts correcting your heart and mind then you may be the one who he gives you see that you have that gift of teaching and you know what if you have the gift then you have to use the gift because God’s given it to you for our benefit for the benefit of the body not just for your own benefit the benefit of the body so when you are when I am or and you are studying to be approved by God and to not be ashamed before him why are you not ashamed because you’re starting to learn how to handle the Bible correctly you’re not misinterpreting it you’re using it as intended and that becomes very beneficial to you and to others because that what’s really it it is what really gives you understanding all right so these are some of the questions of course read the Bible prevent truth Decay right not tooth decay he’s here are some of the questions that we should be asking when we are studying the scripture who’s speaking to whom was the passage written what is the main idea of the passage what does uh the chapter teach concerning Christ or God in in those senses is there an example for me to follow In this passage is there an error for me to avoid is there any Duty for me to perform is there any sin to confess is there a promise for me to claim all right well so what is it you know those are questions that really need to be asked when you are studying the word of God all right so when we think about that let’s say we were uh well this is a little thing or a guy says is there any Bibles that doesn’t convict me and it doesn’t make me feel like I have to do something you know and uh that is uh hopefully that’s not you you know but we read it and then of course we have to have a definite plan now let’s just say in a definite plan of studying the word of God we have to study words sometimes now I’m not really looking at the dangers of studying the Bible incorrectly that’s that’s going to have to be a lesson for another time but these are just you’re gonna let’s say you’re studying the word heart in scripture right now there’s a lot of passages that talk about the heart just and and some of these listed up here like Matthew 5 8 blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God and then um Mark 10 but Jesus said to them because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this commandment and then in James 4 8 draw near to God and He will draw near to you cleanse your hands you Sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded now if there’s a whole other list in the Jeremiah that famous passage we always use the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick who can understand it when we’re looking at even a word heart we have to be careful that we don’t say well this word heart means exactly the same thing in this passage as it does in that passage no you always have to be looking at the context right because and we have to really say what what does the heart actually mean somebody who’s just hearing the word of God they think the heart was that thing that’s beaten in your chest no the hardest comprises the mind right the will the conscience all those things are included in in when the Bible talks about the heart it’s it’s who you are and your inner man and so the Bible is going to use that term uh often I was talking to a missionary many years ago and he says that in the culture that he’s uh ministering in they don’t have a word for heart actually the word heart is the word for stomach so stomach would be the center of their being and so there’s the problems that you have in translating things you have to figure out what things mean and and to make sure they mean a certain thing within that context of that passage of scripture I can’t do in a word study could be the most dangerous thing you can do or proof texting I’m using a word here and a word in the Old Testament and I’m making them say mean the same thing and they don’t from the context so but you don’t know that right away and so you have to be very careful when you’re studying the word of God that you’re staying within the parameters of the context of scripture all right so we hear it we read it we study it a definite plan we’re studying words also we should be studying doctrines uh the doctrine theology proper is the doctrine of God uh bibliologies the doctrine of the Bible actually we’ve been doing a little bit of that in this course and you’re going to be the next uh study is going to be the character of God so that’s going to be the doctrine of God so we are we’re going to be teaching Doctrine and of course soteriology is the doctrine of salvation pneumatology would be the doctrine of the Holy Spirit eschatology would be the doctrine of end time so all these particular doctrines in scripture uh it’s often called Systematic Theology when you systematize things and I I think of it like this as you’re hearing the word of God as you’re studying the word of God and as you’re being exposed to the word of God morning more and more it’s like a closet and in the closet you have all these hangers right and what you’re doing is you’re starting to put the hangers in the right place right so there’s order all right and then God begins to kind of like uh draw this great panoramic picture in your mind that it’s it’s got a bunch of pieces missing and then as you’re learning more you’re starting to put the pieces into the picture and you’re starting to see God’s vast program that he’s included you in of this this whole thing called salvation and how God’s going to redeem you and then when you do that that’s how we become stronger because now we we see God’s plan and it becomes part of our life uh now the uh the next one of course you study chapters and books and if that’s what we do in preaching through the word of God you know we’re we’re studying Colossians right we’re studying first John we uh we’re studying Khalifa’s doing first John with the uh the yam people Dave’s doing the Gospel of John so we’re having a large parameter of different things being taught by different people along the way all right Old Testament New Testament try to switch back and forth uh in doing that but nonetheless was ever being taught we’re going to be learning both the Old and New Testament even when you’re preaching the the New Testament the New Testament is based on the Old Testament a lot of things that is written here is based on the Old Testament so we’re going to be learning both now this comes to the next one is that we memorize the scripture Psalm 119 verse 11 turned there Psalm 119 verse 11. I think well these next two I think are probably neglected more than they should be today it says in Psalm 119 verse 11 your word I have treasured in my heart that I might not sin against you now how do you think his word the word of God is treasured in his heart he memorized it right he didn’t walk around you know hurting the sheep with the scroll remember back then Scrolls were probably about this big he didn’t do that they didn’t carry books around with them back then it was in your mind you memorized it in fact Old Testament Hebrew language is written as a memory language it’s only got 50 000 vocab words in the Hebrew Old Testament so that means that it’s meant to be learned it a lot of the literature like Psalms and Proverbs are meant to be memorized in in large blocks and if you ever heard someone uh speak Hebrew it would sound like they’re actually singing it’s got meter to it it’s got rhythm to it so it would be much more easier to memorize now you bring that into American English forget it American English is choppy there’s millions of vocab words being added to our vocabulary more and more every year in the Old Testament the vocabulary Awards it was a dead language Biblical Hebrew so that means no vocabulary is being added to it God closed the language in the New Testament too so no new vocabulary is being added to koine Greek and so there are locked languages and of course God did that for a reason all right so that we cannot change things we can’t give different meanings to things it has to remain the same all right it’s consistent but this is my bet this one right here is my pet peeve meditating on it I really firmly believe that Christians do not meditate on the word of God today and there was a story that I’m going to relate to you story I’m going to relate to you in a second that uh I I think is pertinent to this a very important way to develop the Christian mind is by biblical meditation David points out it is the mind that delighted in the things of God Psalm 119 and verse number 97 it says oh how I love your law it is my meditation all the day so what David was learning he was thinking about it all day long so it doesn’t matter what you do for a living you can be thinking about what you’re being taught in the word of God every day all day and that’s the only way that we can have a transformed mind it’s not just by hearing it and it’s just not by reading it this is the most significant discipline I believe a Christian can have in their life is to be thinking about it thinking about what you’re learning It also says in Psalm 19 148 my eyes anticipate the night Watchers that I made meditate on your word so it looks like David gets up in the morning he’s thinking about what he’s learning from God’s word he’s goes through the day and at night he’s still thinking about it see that’s how you have a transformed mind if you want to drive out all the stuff and all the sinful behavior and thinking in your mind it has to be by meditation so David couldn’t wait to have some quiet time in order to occupy his attention on the word of God you could not wait for those times and that I’m that’s I mean by getting away into a quiet place and thinking you think thinking is beneficial today do you thinking thinking is beneficial I’m talking about real real thinking right most people did not even invent things or create things by just going full speed ahead on everything they did in their life no they stopped and they thought a power sometimes calculating wondering doing the the math on it to see if something would be able to be made and created that’s the way it usually happens it’s the same thing when it comes to the word of God that Christians should from time to time ask themselves questions in order to assess their thought life questions like where are my affections directed a question like about what do I spend a lot of time thinking about are my thoughts and imaginations more often good or evil worry-filled or peaceful you can actually evaluate yourself to see where you’re at and those things right am i setting my inner disposition on things above or mainly on things on the Earth Puritan Thomas Watson wrote this a Christian I quote enters into meditation as a man enters into the hospital that he may be healed he said meditation heals the soul of its deadness and earthliness Watson went on to say the devil is the enemy of meditation he knows that meditation is meant to compose the heart and bring into it the gracious frame of mind which thinks about God Satan is content that you should be hearing and praying Christian but it not to be a meditating Christian so I think that this is something I had to learn and I always think you have to do this you got to do that you got to do that you got to do that to sit back and when I close my office door and I come home you know what I’m doing I’m thinking about the passage and the implication it has and I thought in the beginning that wasn’t very beneficial that I was wasting time actually and I actually had to be in the office how to be doing this and this and this and I said no actually the most profitable time that I have after studying the word of God is thinking about it how does it affect my life how does it add to what I’m already learning how does it make me more Godly holy what are what are the sins that are being identified all those things are going through your mind when you’re meditating on the word of God see Satan is opposed to this great spiritual discipline of biblical meditation now the problem is is that the kind of current medication that is fashionable today is identified more with non-Christian system of thought it is not biblical Christianity meditation in other words associated with yoga and TM and relaxation therapy and New Age movement thought and Roman Catholic spirituality and mysticism and contemplative prayer all those things are not biblical meditation see false religion has hijacked meditation and many Christians are suspicious of it altogether even when we mention the word meditation oh we don’t do that as Christians oh yes you do but make sure it’s biblical medication meditation no today we’re we are really more than ever have access to many kinds of preachers and can turn them on anytime we want any time of day and some people come and tell me that they have listened to three or four messages this past week including mine and then they go on to tell me how depressed they are and how their spiritual walk is Rocky and that their marriage is not doing good and I think to myself wait a minute you just told me you you listened to four sermons this week so what was missing you know what’s missing you can’t listen to four sermons and be able to digest that so it gets into your spiritual life just like you sitting uh behind the table if someone gave you like six servings of the same thing you would have to push one way at one point right because I can’t take this why because you get full and your body cannot handle it and you can’t digest it and in the end it’s not going to be nutritious to you it’s the same thing with the word of God it’s the same thing with the word of God it was it was a man named by John Ball who had his finger on the problem in his day and he wrote on Divine meditation and discovered without meditation truths are devoured but not digested so you can put your your your mind on a fire hose and fill yourself up with all these things and you think they were the greatest thing but you learn nothing because you did not meditate on what you did here so that means you cannot hear a lot before you can meditate on it we hear it in bits and pieces see listening to many servant sermons is not the key to Growing spiritually healthy it’s only part of the means of Grace for spiritual growth James Usher counsel people 350 years ago to meditate and this is what he said one hour spent thus meditating is is worth more than a thousand sermons it is not putting down the word of God it is honoring it he said he said without meditation our faith and understanding will remain simple and undeveloped like unripened fruit by meditating deeply on God’s word God we will get richly inspired we will develop a loving fellowship with him and then he said a Godly Christian is a meditating Christian see so are we doing that so sometimes you have to readjust things in your life so you do that and so it becomes something you can actually spiritually digest and as you spiritually digest it it has incredible value for your life shoving stuff in your in your mind that you can’t handle because you can’t process and decipher all of it is not going to be helpful right you want to digest it so you can live it godliness and Holiness comes from meditating biblical meditation so you may have to limit how many sermons you listen to and listen to one and understand it and it should be from your pastors amen I want to hear an Amen on that one okay we’re done so that well I’m not done but we’re done so let’s let’s pray father thank you this morning because your kindness to us is undeserved and but yet we are so glad you’ve given it to us and I do pray Lord this morning that we would be Christians that have ears to hear that we love the word of God and that Lord we love it to the point we want to think about it in the morning in the afternoon and the evening and I pray Lord it would be so beneficial to our spiritual health that Lord you would by the word of God and by our thinking about it would make a strong Christians who grow every day in Holiness and godliness so we can be the people that you want us to be on this side of Eternity and learn how to please you in all things and I pray in Christ’s name amen