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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Good evening. Good evening. Tonight we're in 2 Timothy, Chapter 2. 2 Timothy, Chapter 2, the Bible reads, Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses. The same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou, therefore, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that it may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits. Consider what I say, and the Lord give the understanding in all things. Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even unto bonds, but the word of God is not bound. Therefore, I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It is a faithful saying, for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no prophet, but to the subverting of the hearers. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth, but shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart, but foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. The servant of the Lord must not strife, but be gentle unto all men apt to teach, patient, and meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. Let's pray, dear Lord God, just thank you for every soul that's able to come to this service right now. Lord, we pray that you bless this service, Lord. Please bless the preaching. Fill paths from here with your Holy Spirit, Lord, as he preaches unto us your word, and that us and the congregation can be attentive, Lord, and just take these truths from your word and apply it to our lives, Lord. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Okay, we're in 2 Timothy 2 this evening, and the title of my sermon tonight is guidelines for studying the Bible. Guidelines for studying the Bible. The Bible tells us in verse 15 of 2 Timothy chapter 2, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And of course, God wants us, commands us to study the Bible, and in like manner, he also wants us to do this in verse 16, but shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness. So it goes without saying that God wants us to avoid heresy. He wants us to avoid misinterpretation of the word of God. He wants us to avoid vain janglings and vain babblings. Why? Because it will just increase unto more ungodliness, meaning that it will simply evolve into more heresy, more false teaching, more false doctrine, and God wants us to be accurate when we study the Bible. He wants us to know what the Bible is actually teaching. And so tonight, I'm going to give you seven guidelines to study the word of God so we could avoid false doctrine, avoid heresy, avoid teaching something and believing something that's wrong, a misinterpretation of the Bible. Now, when you hear a sermon like this, you may think to yourself, well, this doesn't really apply to me because I'm not really planning to be a pastor. I'm not planning to be a deacon. I'm not planning to be an evangelist. You know, I'm a woman, so I'm definitely not going to be a pastor one day. I'm not striving to be like Joyce Meyers or anything like that. You know, so this doesn't really apply. But here's the thing is that there's a difference between understanding the Bible and teaching the Bible. You know, God wants pastors and those who are going into the position of a bishop, of a deacon, to be apt to teach, right? In other words, they not only have to have an understanding of the word of God, but they also have to have the ability to communicate the word of God, right? Whereas all Christians are commanded to understand the Bible, okay? You know, there's a big difference between understanding the Bible and imparting that which you understand to someone else. And so teaching the Bible obviously requires, you know, having the skill of teaching it and imparting that knowledge. But you know, God wants us all to understand the word of God. He wants us all to have the capability of rightly dividing the word of truth, understanding what's on the page, even if you're not going to communicate it to someone else. He wants us to acquire that knowledge, even if we're not going to impart it to another person. So this does apply to you. Now, obviously it applies to people who want to be pastors. It applies to the men who want to be able to teach other people and things of that nature. But in reality, generally just applies to every Christian because we are supposed to be reading the word of God and be students of the Bible. And therefore, this is very much important. Now, let me give you some preliminary thoughts before I get into my main points. And the first thing I want to mention here by way of introduction is that in order for us to be successful at being students of the Bible, we need to read the right Bible. And by the right Bible, I'm referring to the King James Version of the Bible. And you have students of the Bible out there, so-called, but they're using the wrong versions. They're using the NIV. They're using the ESV. And it's essentially a fool's errand to try to learn right doctrine from wrong Bibles. Why? Because a lot of these modern versions of the Bible remove verses, they add content, they teach false ways of salvation, they're not faithful to the underlying texts of Greek and Hebrew, so therefore, they should be shunned. That is the vein and profane babblings, right, of modern day. So if you truly want to understand the Bible, you need to make sure that you're reading the correct word of God, the only word of God, for the English-speaking people, which is the King James Version of the Bible. But also, let me also say this by way of introduction, is that when we read the Bible, in order for us to understand it, we actually have to read it in faith. Meaning, you've got to read the Bible believing the Bible. Don't approach the Bible in a critical manner, wondering if there's any mistakes or contradictions. We need to approach the Bible in faith. He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And so when we open up the word of God, we should approach the word of God knowing full well, this is God's word. This is inspired. This is divinely preserved for me to read. This is exactly what God wanted me to understand and read in 2025. And so we need to make sure that we do that. And the reason that's important is because if you've been reading the Bible for any length of time, you can attest to the fact that you've come across a passage that you don't understand. Or you've come across a passage that seems to contradict the overall narrative of the Bible in regards to some specific doctrine that we believe. And it kind of perplexes you, right? I know when I first got saved, I would read passages, and I'd think to myself, whoa, this kind of threw me for a loop. I don't really understand this. This would almost contradict what I believe about salvation or what the Bible's narrative is about salvation. This seems to be out of place of the general narrative of the word of God. But here was my resolution. Here's my solution to that, and that is, I'm going to believe it anyways, and someday I will understand what this means. And I know that this verse is true. This verse is right, and it's my interpretation of this verse that's incorrect, okay? If I felt like it was contradicting other portions of Scripture. And I think of the song. I forgot what the song is called. It's about the Bible. But the verse in the song says this. If you find when you read it that there's something wrong, there's something wrong with you, right? You know, when you read the word of God and you feel like there's something wrong in the Bible, just come to this conclusion. Oh, there's something wrong with me, okay? I'm not interpreting the word of God correctly. There's something wrong with my interpretation because there are no contradictions. The word of God is without error. It's inerrant. It's infallible. It's indestructible. And so you need to give it some time, okay? The last thing I want to mention is that in order for us to understand the Bible, we have to be saved, okay? That's a pretty obvious point there, right? You know, the Bible tells us, And according to the Bible, once you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to reside within you. He's sealed within you. And the Bible calls him the spirit of truth that teaches you the word of God. Let me read to you from John 16 in verse 13. You don't have to turn there. It says, So part of studying the Bible is submitting yourself to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, meaning that when you read the word of God, you're to pray for understanding and not rush the Holy Spirit to understand certain things, okay? It's just like, well, I'm not understanding, so the Holy Spirit's not doing his job or something like that. Well, here's the thing. Sometimes I know in my personal life as a new believer years ago, it's probably because I can't handle it yet. You know, my mind isn't saturated with enough word of the word of God and Bible doctrine to quite understand the deep things of God because the Bible tells us that he shows us the deep things of God, right? The Holy Spirit does. And so part of understanding the Bible, you have to be saved. Now, with that being said, let me give you these seven guidelines to studying the word of God to rightly divide the word of truth. We'll come back to that in just a bit. And go to John chapter 14, if you would, John chapter 14. Guideline number one to understanding and studying the word of God, this is very basic. My first two points are pretty basic. Number one is that the Bible should be read repeatedly. In order to study the Bible, a good guideline to study the Bible, a standard for studying the Bible is that you need to read the Bible every single day from cover to cover. Now, I'm not saying Genesis to Revelation in one day, I'm just saying you should endeavor, make it your goal to read from Genesis to Revelation repeatedly all the days of your life. This is a life-long process. Now, why is that important to even mention? Well, because sometimes people will have this attitude of studying the Bible, but they're actually not reading the Bible. They only study passages of Scripture in the Bible. They want to study a specific passage or a specific Scripture, so they only go to that particular passage and the passage that reference that particular topic, but they kind of avoid just reading the Bible holistically, whereas we should be reading the Bible entirely holistically. You know, to gain a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the word of God, the mind needs to be frequently saturated with the Bible. And as students of the Bible, we need to familiarize ourselves with its content. And, you know, the best way to do this is by repeatedly reading it day in, day out, week in, week out, month in, month out, year in, year out. And this is why it's important, my friends, that you follow the Bible reading schedule. You know, I hope that you haven't fallen behind, but if you have, it's okay. We're still in January. Okay? You have tonight to catch up. You have tomorrow to catch up. Catch up, you know, just make sure that you do it before February. Okay? Because then it begins to turn into a monster, and then at that point, you're going to go back to just studying the passage of Scripture and not actually reading the Bible holistically. And if you don't have a Bible reading schedule, get one from me or from one of the ushers after the service. You know, you should have a systematic manner in which you are reading the Bible, but the point is that you need to read it repeatedly throughout your life. Okay? And this is one of the major differences between fundamental Baptist churches and many other churches is that a lot of churches don't really emphasize or push reading the Bible. Why is that? Well, if we were to think of the nefarious reason why, it's possible because the pastor doesn't want you to understand the Bible so that he can just teach you any kind of false doctrine and you just believe it. But it's important for you to read the word of God day in and day out, cover to cover holistically. Let me read to you from Colossians chapter 3 and verse 16, it says here, Let the word of Christ dwell in you, listen to this, richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Now, I want you to notice that it says that the word of Christ should dwell within us richly. What does richly mean? It means in a generous manner, plentifully. Now, what conclusion can we come based upon that verse? Well, as a Christian, we should endeavor to saturate our minds with the Bible through either listening to it, reading it in the morning, playing it in your house, listening to songs that emphasize the Bible. It's kind of like the Bible should be the centerpiece of your life. You start off the mornings by reading the Bible and maybe you're on your way to work or you're on your way somewhere and you can turn on an Alexander Scorby or turn on some preaching. What I'm saying is the word of God should be saturating the mind on a consistent basis. The Bible talks about that this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shall meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then thou shalt make that way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success. And obviously as a student of the Bible, we would define prosperity as understanding the Bible. So in order for us to be prosperous in that manner, we have to meditate upon the word of God. How do we do that? By saturating our minds with it. The Bible also says in Psalm 119 in verse 30, the entrance of thy words giveth light it giveth understanding to the simple. Look at John chapter 14 and verse 26 if you would. John chapter 14 verse 26 but the Comforter referring to the Holy Spirit. Comforter is just another name for the Holy Spirit. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name He shall teach you all things, and I want you to notice this, and bring all things to your what? Remembrance. Whatsoever I have said unto you. Now go to Deuteronomy chapter 17 Deuteronomy chapter 17 So it says here that the Comforter, the Holy Spirit will teach us all things, right? He will minister to us the word of God as we read the Bible. But it also says that He's going to bring all things to our remembrance. Now in order for the Holy Spirit to remind us of the Bible there needs to be content to remember. Right? How is He going to remind you of biblical content that you have never read or meditated upon and needs to be already in the vessel, it needs to be in the mind already. So when you read the word of God and you don't understand certain portions, don't worry about it the Holy Spirit can bring that into remembrance and make connections as you read other portions of Scripture. And I think almost everyone could probably attest to a time in their life where they read something they did not understand. But then somewhere along down the road a couple of years in as they're reading the word of God they come across another passage of Scripture maybe in the New Testament and it's almost as if you're reminded of that passage you didn't understand in the Old Testament. And what happens is you make that connection and you're like, whoa, now I understand what that means. That's the Holy Spirit bringing those things into remembrance. Okay? Now memorization of the Scripture aids with this. Absolutely. But reading the Bible repeatedly actually gets the job done as well. Okay? And so I definitely encourage people to memorize Scripture memorize chapters, memorize passages, but really one of the most effective ways to saturate the mind with Bible content is just reading the Bible every single day for the rest of your life. The more Bible we read the greater the recall, the deeper the understanding. And you know when the entire Bible when the entire Bible is read you actually see the bigger picture. So this is why you know a lot of these scholars only want to focus on certain portions of Scripture, scholars so called. But at the end of the day God wants us to see the bird's eye view of the Word of God. You know you can't just understand the Word of God by just reading one portion. You have to have the holistic view of the Word of God in order to get the overall purpose of the Bible. Okay? The Bible tells us that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. And it says that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works. So in order for a man of God to be effective in the ministry, to be a good spouse, to be a good employee to have good understanding of the Word of God what's needed? A small percentage of the Bible? No, you need all Scripture in order to be profitable in those areas. Look at Deuteronomy 17 it's one of my favorite passages of Scripture here when dealing with reading the Bible it says in verse 18 and it shall be when he referring to the king sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priest the Levites. And it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them. There's a wonderful commandment that was given to these monarchs, right? God is telling them when you guys have a king I want them to literally transcribe the Word of God a copy for themselves and they're to read it every single day. To keep the king humble to keep the king eternally minded, to keep the king from getting involved in sin and getting involved in covetousness but also to help the king to fear God and to keep his commandments. Now you may look at a portion of scripture like this and think to yourself well this is for the kings though well guess what, we're kings too and so, you know, yeah, okay so we should just, oh yeah, this is for kings, I can't read I shouldn't read the Word, this commandment is only for kings you know, just like you know, Proverbs 31 where the commandment is given to the king not to drink alcohol, oh yeah, that's only for kings you know, but it's okay for us to do it or something, it's nonsense obviously we can apply this scripture to ourselves because of the fact that there's many other portions of scripture that command us to give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine and so just as the king is commanded to read therein all the days of his life, guess what that's applicable to you and to me as well now fortunately you don't have to transcribe the Bible every single day now you can if you want to but one's already made for you, right you just have to go purchase it, if you don't want to buy one, we can get you one the point is, read the Bible holistically let me also say this is that this is why we as a church read the entire chapter every single service, when the sermon goes on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Thursday night we want to give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine which is the passage of scripture within its context is telling us that churches should be reading the word of God for the people as well and in fact let me read to you from 1 Timothy chapter 4 you don't have to turn to verse 15 it says meditate upon these things give thyself holy to them that thy profiting may appear to all take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine continue in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee so guideline number 1 for studying the Bible read the Bible repeatedly and I would hope that if last year you failed in this area you fell short in that area of reading the Bible well you know it's the new year pick up the Bible, read it through and don't bite off more than you can chew if you couldn't read the Bible through once last year don't say I'm going to read it through three times this year I'm going to read it through two times this year I'm going to make up for last year just read it through once don't bite off more than you can chew pace yourself, use that Bible reading schedule and read the Bible repeatedly and look, this isn't a race this is I mean you're racing against yourself but this isn't a sprint, it's a marathon and so the goal should be I'm going to read through the Bible in 2025, but I'm also going to read the Bible through in 2026, in 2027 and for the rest of my life that is the goal guideline number 1, read the Bible through repeatedly, guideline number 2 study the Bible with the intent to acquire knowledge and apply wisdom so we should approach studying the Bible with the intent to acquire the knowledge of the Bible but also to apply that to that which we're learning, go to Psalm 111 if you would Psalm 111 Psalm 111 now this is important because you know a lot of churches, specifically fundamental Baptist churches will often have this attitude of like hey, you should read the Bible for inspiration, not information it's a very common phrase amongst the old IFB almost to the point where they kind of downplay the importance of just learning the content and the knowledge of the Bible but let me just remind you that the Bible says to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and God does not want us to remain simple when it comes to the things of God. He doesn't want us to have a simplistic disposition when it comes to studying the word of God He wants us to know the word of God but in like manner we're also supposed to apply the word of God as well now there's going to be instances where you learn something from the Bible and actually there's no application to it right? It's just information you're learning and that's good. For example you know, we learn about the wrath of God in Revelation chapter 8 and on, but we don't have to apply it because we're not even going to be here, but it's knowledge that He wants you to know. Now obviously we can extrapolate some application where it's like knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men right? Like knowing that the wrath of God is going to be poured upon this world, that should motivate us to sow one right? We can extrapolate that, but in general it's not like alright man I got to make sure I get saved or something because I don't want to, we're already saved it's just knowledge that God wants you to have and we don't want to downplay knowledge, we do want to understand that knowledge puffeth up, charity edifyeth but we need both okay? And so knowledge is imparted, let me say this knowledge is imparted into the person that puts what they have learned into practice so a good motivator for you to understand the Bible is make sure you do the Bible, when you learn something put it into practice even if it's a secondary application seek to put that have the intention to put what you're learning into practice even if it's in a small way, why? Because the more you practice what you learn the more it gets ingrained in who you are and you're able to recall it that much the more I'm going to read to you from James chapter 1 before we go to Psalm 111 James 1 verse 22 says, but be doers of the word, not hearers only deceiving your own selves for if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass for he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway forget it with manner of man he was but whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed I want my Bible study to be blessed well in order for that to happen I need to make sure that I'm actually applying that which I'm reading, look at Psalm 111 and verse 10 it says here the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and I want you to notice this a good understanding have all they that do his commandments his praise endureth forever hey do you want good understanding then do his commandments if you want a plenary thorough understanding of the scripture apply that which you are learning, go to 2 Corinthians chapter 3 2 Corinthians chapter number 3 let me give you just a practical example of this particular point regarding doing what you've learned you know the Bible tells us that the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that winneth souls is wise you know one thing I've learned in my personal life and observing other Christians the people who know the Bible the best are those who go sowing those who go and actually preach the gospel are often the people who have a very good understanding of the scriptures, now why is that well obviously from a divine perspective we can say God imparts knowledge to those who are actually doing the work, it's like a reward it's like a reward you read the word of God you go sowing and God just gives you knowledge of the Bible and that's absolutely true but here's the thing is that you know the reason why Christians actually know the word of God because they go sowing is because they're always confronted with situations with people who are people asking them questions so they're constantly exercising that muscle of learning the word of God people are asking them questions about different topics, about different doctrines forcing them into a position where they have to learn what the Bible says about that specific topic therefore you're actually learning the word of God and applying it in real time because how many of you have ever been stumped at the door with the Bible question I know I have, those of you who have not you're just perfect, you just do the commandments of God all the time but I know I've been stumped where it's just like, that was a curve ball I didn't expect that one but you know what, I'll tell you something when that happens to me you know what I do, I'm like I will never get stumped with that ever again I'm going to go back and I'm going to learn that and I'm going to put that in my arsenal and make sure that I'm ready for the next time, so it causes me to study the Bible with the intent to put myself in that situation again so that I can teach the Bible to that person or answer that particular question so this is why Christians who are actively sowing can recall Bible stories or passages because they're constantly using them and look don't take this for granted because you'd be surprised how many people out there they can't even find the book of Romans they can't find certain passages of scripture, they don't know where they're at whereas I'm sure your soul winning Bible has that little stain there because you've referenced that passage of scripture so many times, it's just like your Bible's dirty from just your thumb because you've got dirty thumbs and you constantly flip into that passage you're actually applying the portions of scripture that are being mentioned so this is important so guideline number one we said the Bible should be read repeatedly, read the Bible guideline number two, study the Bible with the intent to acquire knowledge and apply wisdom guideline number three understand the divisions of the Bible understand the divisions of the Bible, we started off the sermon in 2 Timothy chapter 2 that commands us to rightly divide the word of truth now let me explain what that doesn't mean because this phrase, rightly dividing the word of truth has been perverted by the dipsticks of this world named the dispensationalist who will pervert 2 Timothy 2.15 to mean that God has divided history into 7 different dispensations 7 different ways of getting saved, 7 church ages, and there's all these types of divisions in the Bible that they impose upon the word of God that don't exist and I'm not saying that every dispensationalist is just a damnable heretic because that's not true because there's some light dispensationalists out there who just are obsessed with Jews and they believe we can disappear at any moment or whatever and if that's what they want to believe then they can be wrong about that but then there's some hardcore dispensationalists, we would call them hyper dispensationalists who pervert the doctrine of salvation because they say there's different manners of ways of getting saved throughout history and that's wrong, and they'll point to 2 Timothy 2.15 by saying well you have to learn how to rightly divide the word of truth you gotta reference Clarence Larkin's book on rightly dividing the word of truth use his charts, that's how you can get a plenary understanding of the different dispensations of the Bible even though the word dispensation is only mentioned like three times but there's seven different dispensations apparently, okay that's not what it's referring to now is the Bible divided? Absolutely okay, first and foremost the Bible is divided into two sections, right? Old Testament New Testament, let me read to you from 2 Corinthians, or you're in 2 Corinthians verse number 3, verse number 5 says not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament not of the letter, but of the Spirit for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life, so first and foremost I want you to understand that according to the Bible, we are New Testament Christians, okay not only that, but the Bible divides it between the letter and the Spirit, the letter referring to the Old Testament, the Spirit as actually referring to the New Testament, so the Bible is divided into two main sections each further organized into distinct categories okay, Old New Testament Old Testament, you have the books of the law Genesis through Deuteronomy then you have the historical books which is Joshua through Esther poetical books, Job, all the way through Song of Solomon, then you have the major prophets Isaiah through Daniel then you have the minor prophets Hosea all the way to Malachi then you jump into the New Testament broken up also into different sections you have the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles which would be considered somewhat of a historical account, you have the Epistles and then you have Eschatology with the book of Revelation now turn with me if you would to Daniel chapter 9, Daniel chapter 9 if you would now this is important, right understanding the divisions of the Bible and the fact that each section is further organized into distinct categories is very important to understand when it comes to studying the Bible why is that? Well this leads me into my fourth guideline and that is that subjects should be studied within the category that majors on those themes and doctrines let me repeat that again, guideline number 4 is that subjects should be studied within the category that majors on those themes and doctrines you see there are certain books of the Bible that specialize in particular topics and doctrines you should know what books of the Bible to reference when you're studying a specific subject why is that? Well because if we're talking about salvation we don't want to reference the book of Proverbs it's a poetical book that has nothing to do with salvation now let's look at an example of this, look at Daniel 9 verse 2, it says here Daniel 9 verse 2 says in the first year of his reign I Daniel, listen to this understood by books the number of the years where of the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolation of Jerusalem so I want you to notice that in order for Daniel to understand how long the captivity, the Babylonian captivity was, he didn't reference the Pentateuch he didn't reference Genesis, Exodus Leviticus, Numbers, and John, what is he referencing? He's referencing the book of Jeremiah that specialized in the Babylonian captivity Daniel had the discernment that if you wanted to know how long they were going to be in captivity for, he needs to reference the book of Jeremiah because that's a book that specializes on the captivity and specifically how long they were going to be gone for go to John chapter 20 if you will John chapter 20, we also see let me read to you from Matthew 24 and verse 15 Jesus Christ when addressing the end times says when he therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place listen to this, who so readeth let him understand when Jesus Christ is addressing the subject of end times he addresses what? He references what? the book of Daniel, why? Because the book of Daniel is a book that specializes on end times Bible prophecy okay now why is this important? well let me explain to you why this is important false prophets like to use books of the Bible that have little or nothing to do with a particular subject that they are trying to pervert Jehovah's Witnesses like to use Ecclesiastes to teach on the doctrine of salvation repent of your sins the repent of your sins crowd he likes to quote from Matthew, Mark, and Luke but not from John, they avoid John why? Because Matthew, Mark, and Luke has the phrase repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand that term repent for the kingdom that phrase repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand is not found in the book of John why? Because the book of John is one of the four gospels that really hones in on and majors on how to communicate the gospel in a very simplistic manner that the entire world can understand look at John chapter 20 verse 30 and many other signs truly that Jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written referring to the book of John that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name I mean how many times have you gone into an argument or a debate with someone who believes in a repent of your sins false gospel and they never quote the book of John I can't tell you I don't even recall a conversation that I've had with someone who believes in a false gospel that ever addresses the book of John period John 3.16 which is the most famous verse in the Bible especially when it comes to salvation and the book of John is very it communicates, it puts the cookie on the bottom shelf when it comes to salvation because let's just be honest the doctrine of justification and salvation can be very deep there's portions of the Bible for example a very systematic book on justification would be what? the book of Romans and it goes deep into this subject of justification glorification, sanctification salvation, by faith imputation requires a little more maturity in that subject but here's the thing though is that in order for someone who just doesn't know any of that to get saved and to understand the Bible the book of John is great it's very elementary very rudimentary when it comes to its language communicating the gospel, just believe he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life, he that believeth not the son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him, I mean a child can understand that, it's written in a very simplistic manner, therefore the book of John majors on the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith all you have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that is a book that needs to be referenced for salvation, not Matthew Mark, Luke and John now are there verses, can we explain those verses in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? absolutely, but they need to be explained in light of the clear scriptures such as the book of John not be referenced as the main scriptures for salvation because people can get confused okay we're gonna have you to go to Romans chapter 4 Romans chapter 4 you know, Judaizers like the Hebrew roots the Hebrew movement, the 7 day Adventists and the like will use the Old Testament to teach you that you have to keep the law but will avoid books such as Romans Galatians, Colossians and Hebrews so a lot of these Hebrew roots type Judaizers, they love the Old Testament, they love the book of Exodus, they love Leviticus, they love numbers in Deuteronomy, but they will avoid the epistles of Paul like the plague you know, it's funny how a lot of these Judaizers just love, they claim to love the word of God, they claim to love the Bible, but you know, they just never talk about what Jesus said about Jews and about the synagogue of Satan, they avoid that like the plague even though that is a very clear portion of scripture I mean, he's like the authority, if all we had was Jesus, if we're just supposed to listen to Jesus, that's all we needed right there right, to give clarification as to what he thinks about that liberal churches will use the book of John to teach the love of God but will ardently avoid the Old Testament books that major on the moral laws you know, they love sticking to the New Testament if they go to the Old Testament, it might be for what, the book of Psalms right maybe Psalm 23 maybe Psalm 1 maybe the book of Proverbs but God forbid you should study Leviticus 18 Leviticus chapter 20 Deuteronomy or any other portion of the scripture in the Old Testament and they'll say, well that's Old Testament then why didn't you just throw it out then, huh it's crazy how people are like yeah, but that's Old Testament, so are you saying we should just tear out that portion of our Bible and never reference it ever again no, because the Old Testament though we're New Testament Christians the Old Testament has its place in the life of a Christian and that's why the Bible says that all scripture is profitable and so yeah, we're not going to address we're not going to cite the book of Leviticus for verses on salvation we're not going to cite it for how to read the Bible we're not going to cite it for how to resolve or maybe you can't resolve it for a certain conflict but you know, certain Christian New Testament practices, how to conduct the administration of a church but you know what, it has its place and there's a reason why God put it in the Bible so it's nonsensical to say we can never reference these scriptures because it's Old Testament you're basically saying God you made a mistake by putting this book in the Bible it has its place and so we need to understand that each book has its major that it talks about and let me also say this is that the fundamentals of the faith, meaning salvation the resurrection the doctrine of hell, heaven the trinity, the word of God the fundamentals of the faith should be primarily learned from the New Testament when you want to learn the fundamentals of the faith you do not go to the Old Testament you go to the New Testament and here's one of my favorite phrases the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed and let me just say this, and it's not sacrilegious to say it the New Testament is better than the Old Testament and if all we have for the rest of history any section, we'd go with the New Testament we thank God that we have both but the Bible literally calls the New Testament a better covenant established upon better promises with a better mediator so you need to make sure that whatever systematic doctrine you're learning you're getting it first from the New Testament and then you get the Old Testament passages to reinforce those clear teachings let me read to you from Mark chapter 9 before we go into Romans chapter 4 this last verse here for this point that I'm making about subjects being studied in the category with the books that major on those specific themes Mark chapter 9 is the Mount of Transfiguration I'm not actually going to read the whole thing but it's the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus goes to the mount and who shows up? You got Moses and you got Elijah and of course Peter is there, Peter, James and John they see this and they're amazed by it Peter puts his foot in his mouth and he's like can I make three tabernacles? and it's just like, what's that for? and it's a very notable miracle that takes place here but it's very interesting because once it's all said and done verse 7 says this and there was a cloud that overshadowed them and a voice came out of the cloud saying this is my beloved son, hear him and obviously this is elevating and exalting the fact that Jesus is the ultimate authority but isn't it interesting that it doesn't necessarily negate the authority of Moses or the authority of Elijah it's just saying that Jesus Christ of the New Testament is far more important you know, think about this, Moses represents the what? the law Elijah represents the what? the prophets but when it comes to Jesus, hear ye him showing us that the emphasis should always be placed upon Jesus Christ this is why when we study the Bible we study it seeking out Jesus Christ we study it seeking out Jesus Christ even in the Old Testament because it all revolves around him so what are the guidelines? guideline number 1 is the Bible should be read repeatedly number 2, study the Bible with the intent to acquire knowledge and to apply wisdom number 3, understand the divisions of the Bible number 4 is that subjects should be studied within the category that majors on those themes and doctrines guideline number 5 is this fundamental doctrines are firmly established through clear teachings in the Bible what is a clear teaching? John 3.16 is a clear teaching and you know, I've never met a heretic that can really explain to me what John 3.16 means when they're just like, no, you gotta you know, faith without works is dead and you quote John 3.16 I can explain to them James chapter 2 but they can't seem to explain John 3.16, why? because it's too easy it's too clear it's just right there it's the verse that even unsaved people can quote the only unsaved people that can quote James 2 are the ones that think that they're saved but people who are not saved who don't even claim the name of Christ they can quote you John 3.16 because God wants all the world to know look at Romans chapter 4 in verse number 1 it says Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh hath found for if Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory but not before God for what saith the scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness not to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness now verse 5 of Romans 4 there's a very clear portion of scripture that teaches us that it's not by works and it's so clear and concise it's so blatant that it even uses the phrase but to him that worketh not which is a very because you know people can say well we're not saved by works but if you don't work you're not saved well here it says but to him that worketh not so it's even given the example if this person just never does any works he's still justified because he believed and quite frankly I've never met a heretic that can explain that verse to me they always jump around and go to different portions of scripture but they can never actually correctly interpret this portion now while stories dark sayings and what I mean by dark sayings I mean you know these portions of scripture that are enigmatic they're hard to understand that's what a dark saying is while stories dark sayings and variables can reinforce doctrines they should not be used as the foundation for establishing them okay so you should never go to some enigmatic dark saying of the Old Testament in order to prove a doctrine it only reinforces doctrines that are already clearly stated in the New Testament that are already clearly said okay and in fact you know even in the New Testament by the way because who's the writer of the New Testament that has some of the darkest sayings the apostle Paul I mean when you read for example second Corinthians he has so many run-on sentences it's just like you kind of lost me for a bit there all right let me let me read this again because this is so you know he just writes in that style where it's kind of dark not dark like in dark humor I'm talking about like dark as in like it's hard to understand okay and in fact second Peter chapter 3 verse 15 says all as also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable rest meaning that they twist as they do also the other scriptures unto their own destruction ye therefore beloved seeing you know these things before beware lest he also being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness what is this telling us it's telling us that wicked people false prophets actually know what they're doing when they take these very enigmatic scriptures they do with the intent to twist them because you know there's a lot of dark sayings in the Old Testament where you can kind of extrapolate any interpretation you can pretty much use it to teach anything because it's not clear right and so false prophets will use that instead of going to John 3 16 John 3 36 Romans 4 5 you know the book of Romans they rather go to the very dark portions of scripture where you can pretty much pull out any type of interpretation ok and so fundamental doctrines are firmly established through clear teachings in the Bible so what are we saying here let me repeat these guidelines here the Bible should be read repeatedly you should study the Bible with the intent to acquire knowledge and apply wisdom understand that the Bible excuse me understand the divisions of the Bible subjects should be studied within the category that majors on those themes and doctrines fundamental doctrines are firmly established through clear teachings in the Bible guideline number 6 and we're almost done here's a very obvious one but it's very important and that is study verses within their context context by the way is just another way of saying within its text ok now that I have you turned somewhere did I have you go anywhere go to Deuteronomy chapter 30 Deuteronomy chapter 30 I'm going to read to you from 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 16 says for we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eye witnesses of his majesty notice that he says cunningly devised fables the Bible also talks about that we henceforth be no more children tossed about carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craft in us whereby they lie in wait to deceive the Bible also says in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 when talking about the interpretation of scripture it says in verse 13 which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual this is when we say that you need to interpret scripture with scripture not isolate a verse and build up an entire argument off of that one verse but rather already have an established doctrine and use other portions to reinforce those doctrines okay not isolate scriptures now passages what are some of the passages that people take out of context Matthew 7 that's a major one I mean that entire chapter is just butchered by people judge not that you be not judge and just scribble out the rest of that chapter you know you shouldn't judge anybody because the Bible says judge not lest ye be judged they didn't even quote you got one verse to quote you couldn't even get that one right you said less there's no less there judge not that you be not judged and it's just like that's the all end scripture to never be mean to anybody to never call out sin to never call out any false doctrine just never judge that's a verse that's taken it's completely ripped out of context right James 2 faith without works is dead being alone one of the most notorious passages to be taken out of context okay and so you know people use this all the time I mean just mark it down if you ever post anything on social media about grace getting saved by grace through faith alone just mark it down if some false prophet sees it they're gonna put James 2 just mark it down it's always gonna happen you always have someone put faith without works is dead being or some some variation of that right faith without works is unalive you know whatever whatever they say nowadays but here's the thing is that you say well that is in its context well the context of the chapter is not about salvation you know the context of the book itself is actually written to believers it's actually about being a respecter of people okay and quite frankly the the vast majority of the people who quote James chapter 2 to preach a false gospel if you gave them the Bible and said find me James chapter 2 they wouldn't be able to do it they're just parroting with other people say they rip Matthew 7 out of context they rip James chapter 2 out of context has nothing to do with that Matthew chapter 7 has to do with false prophets you know and it's crazy by the way in Matthew because Matthew 7 also you know the mid part of Matthew 7 they take out of context talking about you know many was saying to me that day Lord Lord and so they mock and criticize the sinners prayer they mock and criticize calling upon the name of the Lord for salvation using Matthew chapter 7 many will say to me in that day Lord well first of all I'm saying unto him Lord save me today if I'm not saved not then secondly that portion of scripture is addressing false prophets who are depending on their works so the very false doctrine they're promoting is the very false doctrine that Matthew chapter 7 is fighting against right they're like oh you can't just believe and call upon the name of the Lord many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord yeah but what else do they say done many wonderful works cast out devils in thy name prophesied in thy name these are all works they're doing the things that you do and they're not saved why do they do that because they're ripping it out of context okay James 2 out of context let me give you another one that they rip out of context Genesis chapter 12 you know when they want to worship the Jews and Israel and you know one of the funniest me obviously what's going on in Los Angeles isn't funny you know I believe God is judging it but there's righteous people there it's sad it's taking place there but you know I enjoy a good meme every once in a while okay forgive me but one of the memes I saw I love is just like oh man it's so devastating all these fires let's send a billion dollars to Israel it's just like that's the solution to every problem it's just like oh man something catastrophic happened let's send money to Israel right now you know I saw another let me deviate from the sermon just to tell you about another meme but it said one of these videos are real but reals are kind of like memes now and this real was just like if movies were actually accurate and it's just like Mr. President Mr. President you know the aliens have come and they destroyed you know Washington D.C. and they're threatening to destroy the rest of the country he's like what send a billion dollars to Israel I was like if movies were accurate that's probably what would happen I mean Israel or Ukraine one of the two right but you know the people who listen to this who hate this mostly the people in the south are like brother you can say that all you want but Genesis chapter 12 says bless them that bless thee you know and it's just like you're ripping it out of context yeah let's just go ahead and avoid Galatians 3 16 then so are you an Old Testament Christian because you're acting like you don't know the New Testament you know I would get that if you're just completely confused about it and you're only stuck in the Old Testament but we're New Testament Christians here and we have the entire book of Galatians that literally gives us the interpretation of Genesis chapter 12 and if you're a New Testament Christian guess what the New Testament supersedes the old we don't interpret Galatians 3 16 based off of Genesis chapter 12 we interpret Genesis chapter 12 based off of Galatians 3 16 there's a slew of scriptures that destroy Zionism brother I just believe the Bible no you don't I just believe the Bible brother I just you know I'm just gonna pray for it find me a verse in the New Testament that says to pray for Israel I'll find you one in the Old find me one in the New because you're a New Testament Christian find me one in the New because I look I can find you verses in the New Testament that prays against Israel and so you know passages are taken out of context so it's important for us to know the context and what do we mean by context when you run into a passage that you don't understand you gotta read the verses before and the verses after even the chapters before and the chapters after I don't think you gotta go too far but you know you gotta work your way out of that passage of scripture why because sometimes people think you know because we have the divisions of the chapters that automatically this thought is only isolated to this portion of this chapter but sometimes it just it's you know it's it's overflow is residual from the previous chapter so we gotta study it holistically in its context okay so read the Bible in its context and let me also say this you also have to read the context of the entire Bible meaning that if the Bible holistically teaches that we're saved by grace through faith don't interpret all hundred verses off of this one verse it's like you have a bunch of verses that say we're saved by believing and then one that says that you know work out your own salvation with fear and trembling don't just change your salvation doctrine off of that one verse you need to realize that number one this probably has nothing to do with those other verses you're just misinterpreting that you gotta read it in its context okay now I like this phrase because it's very true and that is when when studying the Bible there's one interpretation but many applications I don't know about that you know that sounds like ice to Jesus no there is one interpretation of the Bible but because the Bible is very deep a lot of passages actually have various applications that you can have that's not even within the context of whatever it is you're reading okay so let me say this and I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm telling you right now because obviously I'm teaching you that you gotta read you gotta interpret passages within their context but let me also say this you know I don't think it's wrong to quote scripture out of context at times as a secondary application for an already established doctrine meaning if the Bible already teaches us something in the Bible that's very clear I don't think it's wrong to pull out another scripture even if it's out of context to reinforce that teaching because in general that is what this teaches you understand what I'm saying? Now let me give you an example of this okay look at Deuteronomy chapter 30 and as we're reading this passage you know just think to yourself what does this passage remind me of look what it says in Deuteronomy 30 verse 11 verse 11 says for this commandment which I command thee this day it is not hidden from thee neither is afar off it is not in heaven that thou shouldst say who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it neither is it beyond the sea that thou shouldst say who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it but the word is very nigh unto thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayest do it now someone tell me what does that remind you of? Romans what? Romans chapter 10 now Romans chapter 10 has to do with salvation Paul wrote down Romans chapter 10 out of context using these verses from Deuteronomy 30 that has nothing to do with salvation Deuteronomy 30 has to do with just keeping the commandments of God but the wording is just so good the Apostle Paul is like I'm going to recycle this and use it to talk about salvation now his use of Deuteronomy 30 does not negate Deuteronomy 30 he's just giving a secondary application to the words and the statements that are being made here that applies to salvation you understand and so you know sometimes and I'm not saying this is appropriate to do when when you're trying to establish a doctrine I'm talking about reinforcing doctrines and teachings that are already well established in the Bible there's actually nothing wrong with extrapolating other verses of the Bible to reinforce those things because at the end of the day one verse has one application but it does have many applications okay so guidelines for studying the Bible the Bible should be read repeatedly study the Bible with the intent to acquire knowledge and apply wisdom number three understand the divisions of the Bible number four subjects should be studied within the category that majors on those themes and doctrines number five is that fundamental doctrines are firmly established through clear teachings in the Bible number six study verses within their context and lastly number seven study the Bible listen to this with pulpit commentary study the Bible with pulpit commentary go to Ephesians chapter 4 and we're done here Ephesians chapter 4 you see I'm not necessarily against commentary I'm just against bad commentary and the majority of the commentaries out there are pretty bad I'm sure there's good ones out there but one of the best commentaries of the Bible is the Bible itself first and foremost there's 66 commentaries right here one of the best commentators is the Holy Spirit in fact he is the commentator he's the author of the Bible but one of the most effective yet sanctioned commentaries is actually the preaching of God's word in the local New Testament church look at Ephesians 4 verse 11 it says and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and some teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craft in this whereby they lie in wait to deceive so according to the Bible God gave us pastors churches to reinforce doctrines that you're already learning but also to keep you normal in your doctrine you see if you're watching online no one's there to tell you that's a stupid interpretation you're watching online from the comforts of your couch you're about to play Minecraft after you hear this sermon you got chips on your stomach on your belly you got soda you know got pizza on the way and you're getting all these deep truths of the word of God but then you're just like oh man you know I got this one interpretation you know you need to express that interpretation to other people so that people can tell you that sounds stupid that sounds crazy that's not what the Bible teaches pulpit commentary is necessary and not just pulpit commentary just just the commentary of the brethren right you know you come to church and you're like hey I got this got this doctrine I want to share with you real quick hey brother how's it going now I'm not saying that pastor me is wrong or anything but you tell me what you think you know it's like a cunningly it's not even cunning it's just like the it's a foolish devised fable and then you know it gives you interpretation and you're like that's not biblical let me explain to you why it's not biblical and you just shut them down and then they're just like oh man I guess I'm not right about that you know but you can people can't really do that if they're just always at home listening to the Bible and let me just remind everyone in here tonight that online preaching is not church that should be a not controversial point right there watching preaching online is not church you're watching church you're watching other people do church okay but you're not in church oh yeah we do church we just do it online there's no online in the Bible you're watching other people obey the Bible you're watching other people obey God now I get it some people are in certain remote areas where they don't have a church but quite frankly let me just say this I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for them and let me explain to you why the Rodriguez's that's why okay you guys know what I'm talking about the Rodriguez's who drive like three hours obviously they're not here tonight bad example but in general they're here Sunday morning Sunday night Thursday night they're they're they're the ones I'm preaching against right now actually because they're probably watching you know but they're you know they're here and they drive like three hours to get to be here at church so you know obviously I sympathize a little bit with people if they don't have a church in their area but you know we have people who are so committed that they drive hours every single week from San Diego they drive from what is that Oxnard is that correct Oxnard I mean you know we've had people even drive from like Utah to come here you know and so you know I get it but you know at the same time there's other people who actually make the drive because it's important to them online preaching is not church at all now look if you're sick you're projectile vomiting you're running a fever of 103 or whatever stay home and just listen to the preaching and get in church the following week but don't make it a habit to just watching church watching other people serve God watching other people forsake not the assembling of ourselves together because here's the thing you need to be in person first of all for the fellowship but also because of the fact that you need to be normalized through the preaching of God's word and one of the reasons you need the fellowship is because you might interpret the Bible differently than what the Bible is actually teaching so you might come up with an interpretation and say hey you know does this mean this and it's just like no it doesn't this is actually what it means and then you're going to hear preaching from the pulpit that's going to correct your doctrine and kind of stabilize you as a Christian that's why it's so important that stuff needs to be shamed that's why there's so many weirdos out online so many flat earthers and coming up with all types of conspiracies and weird interpretations of the Bible because they don't have anyone telling them they're wrong they're just a bunch of keyboard warriors just telling them what they how they feel about a situation but most of what they say online they'll never say face to face church is church church is in person it's assembling together and so when you're studying the Bible a key element to have is you've got to be in church as well and I can't tell you how many times as a new Christian I was reading the word of God and it's one of the most pleasurable experiences ever I'm reading the word of God, I'm studying something and then the pastor preaches on that particular subject or he answers a particular question and he's just like, well I was just talking about that with someone who told him, that's the ministry of the pulpit it's enriching it enriches your Bible study that much more or maybe you're perplexed and you're just like I don't understand what this means you come to church and the pastor answers it without you even having to talk to him or someone just brings it up to you in person that's why it's important, so these are some very important guidelines for you to take so you can effectively successfully study the Bible Amen? Let's pray, Father we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the guidelines that you set forth within the Bible to help us to have a greater understanding of the Bible Lord, we don't want to deviate into weird and vain janglings and babblings Lord, we don't want to get involved in that which profane and that which is not pleasing to you, things that will increase into more ungodliness, I pray you help us Lord as your people to study to show ourselves and prove them to God help us to be people that are not ashamed and help us to truly, rightly divide the word of truth and none of us are perfect at it, but these guidelines and principles that you set forth can help us perfect our Bible study and I pray that you help us take these things to heart, to apply them this week we love you and we thank you, we pray these things in Jesus' name Amen