How To Unlock Your Bible

Last Sunday (1/7/7), we began a new sermon series "What You Believe And Why You Believe It", and our first topic was "The Bible Is God's Word". If you are in the local area we encourage you to come and learn more about the fundamentals of the faith. What I would like to do here on this blog is to give you some information in addition to the past week's message. As I said, last week was "The Bible Is God's Word", but how do I understand it? How can I unlock my Bible? Well, let me give you some practical keys to unlocking your Bible. First, some spiritual conditions must be met, and secondly I'll give you some practical steps.

I. SPIRITUAL CONDITIONS:
1. You Must Be Converted (See I Corinthians 2:14-16).
--The Bible is a spiritual book. Therefore, only a spiritual man can understand its deep and most precious teachings. Spiritual discernment can be obtained in only one way: by being born again (see John chapter 3). Also go to our web site: www.sandhillbaptist.com and click on the Need Him link.
2. You Must Hunger for the Word of God (see I Peter 2:1-3)
--You must have a desire to grow as a Christian. Thus you must have a hunger for the Word of God to nurture your spiritual growth.
3. You Must Study and Dig Into the Word of God (see 2 Timothy 2:15; Prov.2:1-5)

--You must set aside time to study. In Proverbs 2 the 'seeking silver' and searching for hidden treasure is hard work. The one who wishes to get not only silver but also the gold out of the Bible must make up his mind to DIG! Not just a quick glance, but study the Word, meditate on it, chew on each verse, ponder on its truth until it comes alive in your heart! It's hard work, but you get out of anything, what you put into it. I had a homiletics professor who once said, "Men, study with your boots on, because it is hard work." And it is. R. A. Torrey said, "The reason many people get so little out of their Bible reading is simply that they are not willing to think. Intellectual laziness lies at the heart of a large percent of fruitless Bible reading." So, take time to study and meditate on God's Word. Be like the Bereans in Acts 17:11.
4. You Must Be Willing To Obey The Word (see John 7:17)
--Obedience and revelation go hand in hand. As Mark Twain once said, "It's not the difficult passages that bother me [that I don't understand]. It's the ones I do understand." Our problem is we don't obey the passages we do understand; e.g. "forgive your brother"; "Live peaceably with all men"; "Love one another as Christ loved you" etc. We must obey the Word if we ever expect God to reveal more of it to us.
5. You Need To Pray Psalm 119:18
--If you desire productive Bible study, you need to offer this verse up in prayer.
6. You Need To Turn To Your Teacher, the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26 and John 16:13)
--The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth. If you really want to know a book, any book, then get to know the author. Who better than the author can teach you his book. And the Author of this Book (the Bible) is God the Holy Spirit. He will teach you what this Book says.
--Those are some spiritual conditions that must be met. In the next few days, I'll give you some practical steps in Bible study. Until then, may God illuminate His Word to you!
Bro. Royce