BIBLE STUDY

When my youngest daughter was four, she raised her head from blessing her food and said, "Daddy, I just asked Jesus into my heart." When I asked her what that meant, she said, "I want to mind Him." Even at four, she understood that God loved her, and she wanted to "love Him back." All true believers in Christ want to please the Lord out of gratitude, but it appears that most of us are lazy about it. We go to church, pray, and read our Bibles, but do we really understand what the preacher is teaching or what we are reading? God's Word needs to studied; it needs to be rightly divided (2 Tim. 2:15). I have written extensively on Rightly Dividing the Word of God, and the interpretive method which recognizes the Bible is divided into dispensations, so I will not take time to cover it again. Please read back through the list of topics and take the time to study Dispensationalism.

One might ask why it is so important to be a serious Bible student, and the answer is really quite simple: God told us to. The New Testament has numerous admonishments to study the Truth. There are two very important reasons why. First, that we will be able to recognize false teaching. Acts 17:11 suggests that people who listen to preachers (which included the Apostles) are honorable if they go home and verify what they heard with the Scriptures. We are warned over and over to beware of false teachers (Matt. 7:15; 24:4-5; Jn. 8:44; 2 Cor. 11:3; Eph. 4:14; Titus 1:10; 2 Jn. 1:7; Rev. 12:9; etc.). Unless we prayerfully compare what is being presented with the Word, we may be deceived. The second reason is so that we don't pass on the false teaching.

One of the most important rules of Bible study is to compare Scripture with Scripture. One should never take a single verse and build a doctrine on it if there are others which speak to the same topic. A good example is the subject of divorce. Deuteronomy 24:1 and Mark 10:2-4 say that a man may divorce his wife if she displeases him. That seems clear enough, until you read Mark 10:5-9. The real fault is not that of the wife, but it is the hardness of the husband's heart. God hates divorce (Mal. 2:14-16)! Consider all that the Word says on a subject before believing something and sharing it with others.

A faithful student of God's Word will also consult the teaching of other faithful student's of His Word. One should always "check it out against the Word," but there are excellent Bible teachers who have Bible study materials available on the internet. I recommend http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org. They have a vast library of study materials from which to choose, and it is free. I recommend the Ryrie Study Bible, and the Young's Analytical Concordance of the Bible instead of the Strong's. Lord willing, I will tell you why tomorrow. I like the Nave's Topical Bible and The Reference Passage Bible for study helps. I highly recommend Things to Come by J. Dwight Pentecost on the subject of Bible prophecy. Most of all, I recommend prayer and commitment to be found a faithful student of God's Word!