"How to be a better Bible student" by Hiram Kemp

So far as I can tell, the first time in the Bible, anybody was told to read and study this message is in Deuteronomy 17, 16 through 20. The king is told that he is to take a copy of the law and study out of it all the days of his life.

But after God says that to the king, you read in several other places in the Bible about people like Joshua, Joshua 1 and verse 8, he's supposed to meditate in the law day and night, or Ezra, as was just read for us, Ezra 7 and verse 10, he prepared his heart to seek God's law and to do it and to teach in Israel, statutes and judgments. Later on, Paul tells Timothy, be diligent to present yourself as someone approved, a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed, somebody who can rightly handle the word of truth. And then there are the noble Bereans.

And Acts 17 and verse 11, Paul went to their synagogue, they opened up the Scriptures, and every day they studied to make sure the things that Paul was teaching them were actually found in the Bible. There's people throughout the Bible highlighted as diligent and faithful students of Scripture, but not just in the Bible, down throughout church history, both modern and ancient. There have been examples of people committed to being diligent students of the Bible so that they might come to know the altar better.

I read this week about a church in Switzerland from the 1500s. They would get together at a time, not their normal assembly time. In the 1500s, they'd get together and study Old Testament passages. They'd start with Hebrew, then somebody would get up and read the passage in Greek, and then finally an individual would get up and read the passage in Latin. And each time they would spend an extended amount of time breaking down those passages and making sure they understood them.

Gospel preacher Gus Nichols, well-known, his son, Flavall Nichols, told a story that's in the Free Hardman Lectures about how his dad slowly memorized Scripture and learned the Bible. He would plow in his field and take his New Testament out of his pocket bib, and when he get to the end of a row, he put a verse in his mind, and he plowed the next line until he committed it to memory. Flavall said he memorized many chapters of the Bible that way.

And then of course most recently the girls from Nigeria, 276 young girls were taken away from their homes in a terrorist attack in 2014.

Several of those who were Christians were put in harsh work conditions and starved nearly to death. They had a Bible smuggled in and every one of them committed the book of Job to memory. They copied out by hand. Luke chapter 1 and chapter 2, as they said, they're suffering, reminded them of Mary. They rehearsed the Psalms and then learned to paraphrase them to insert their own situations into them because they really wanted to know the Bible.

Whether ancient or modern people have been students of the Bible and maybe our Bible study habits won't be like theirs. Maybe they won't be identical to people we read about in the ancient world. But the reality is we know of people who put their heads in the book and ultimately put the book in their head. And if we're going to be God's people, we've got to do the same thing. Isaiah 34 and verse 16, seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read.

And maybe though we know it's important, I guess you can't be in church assemblies like this one for long without realizing or hearing over and over again, you need to read the Bible. It's important to study the Bible. And maybe we walk away thinking, I just can't do that. I don't know where to start. Or maybe we know where to start. We read the Bible occasionally, but we say to ourselves, if I'm being honest, I really don't get what's the big deal about making sure that I'm always reading and studying Scripture. Tonight's lesson I hope is going to be beneficial for us as we just talk about some ways to become better and more effective Bible students.

The goal tonight is not to give you all of the information on how to to be a Bible scholar or be a Bible know-it-all. Neither is it to answer all of your questions about the right tools and the right books to go to, but it's just to give us basically some handles on which we can begin to get into the Bible for ourselves, read it for all its worth, and have our lives benefited.

I'm guessing tonight there are probably two groups of people in the auditorium. There's a group that would say, I'm not perfect, but I regularly read and study the Bible. It's just a part of my habit. It's what I do. And then there's another group that would say, I would love to be in that category. But at best, I'm sporadic. I'm on again and off again. Whether in the first or the second category, this sermon is for you. And I hope will be better at the end. Tonight, I just have eight points. And if you sit still and don't move a muscle and listen real fast, it'll be over quick. Number one.

How to be a better Bible student, read the Bible every day. By the way, when I made this sermon and I saw the slides, I said, I'm going to eliminate half of the auditorium that can't read cursive. I'm sorry, but it's too late. All right, number one, read every day. If you want to be a better Bible student, you just have got to read the Bible every day. Now, you will be surprised, nowhere in the Bible does it explicitly say those words. And yet, the idea is baked into the scriptures that people that love God will be regular readers of the scriptures and become conversant in his content, Deuteronomy 6, 6 through 9.

Psalm 1, Psalms begin this way, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, doesn't stand in the way of sinners, doesn't sit in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on that law he meditates day and night. And because of that he's successful, he's like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in his season. His leaf doesn't wither, everything he does prospers, but it comes from that meditating day and night.

It's what the Bereans did when Paul got to their synagogue in Acts 17 and verse 11. Every day they opened their Bible and regularly read what Paul was teaching them to make sure they weren't being deceived and that they were actually being taught the truth. It's the idea behind James' words in James 125 when he says, those that are blessed in their deeds are those that look into the law of liberty and continue in it. If you want to be a better Bible student, you just have got to commit. I'm going to read the Bible every day and never miss.

It's going to be hard to be fluent in Scripture, conversing in what the Bible teaches when you go hard for two weeks and then miss four months. When you're on again and off again in Bible study, you've always got to jump back in and reorient yourself. But if you just make up your mind, I'm going to read the Bible every day. No matter what, you're going to be a better Bible student in the long run. It's impressive that one of the Bible's favorite metaphorical ways of describing itself is this food. Your words were found and I did eat them. Jeremiah 15 and verse 16.

The Bible talks about the sincere milk of the word, 1 Peter 2 and verse 2. Milk to meat, Hebrews 5, 12 through 14. Imagine how malnourished you would be if you ate good for about two weeks in a row and then you just fell off for four weeks because you got busy or life just happened.

You know that would be detrimental to your health. And the very same thing is true spiritually. Deuteronomy 8 and verse 3 says, man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. If we're going to be better Bible students, we've got to get into the word every day. What did Jesus say to pray in the model prayer, Matthew 6? Give us this day or what? Our daily bread. If we need physical daily bread, then it's also true we need spiritual daily bread every 24 hours, and we've got to commit to getting in the scriptures.

I guess many of us would assume, you know what, I'd be a better Bible student if I knew the ancient background. If I knew the ancient languages or if I had all of the tools and commentaries and computer software and all of the different hacks that are available, but the reality is as helpful as those things may be, the most helpful thing, perhaps the thing hurting you the most in becoming a better Bible student is you just simply don't read the Bible every single day.

Donald Hebb is a famous Canadian psychologist. This is called Hebb's rule. He's a psychologist and he came up with this phrase. It's not about Bible study, it's about anything. He sent neurons that fired together, wired together.

And his idea was there, neurons in your brain. And when you do the same activity over and over again, two neurons at the same time working together create neural pathways. And over time, your brain is made to respond to certain things, habits, build, and that's how memories are made. That's why you go to a concert and you watch a pianist and you say about her, how has she been doing this? It seems like she's just a natural.

Or he's just out in his driveway every day bouncing the basketball and over and over again and before long he can do it blindfolded. That is not by osmosis, it's by practice. Over and over again, repetition because neurons that fire together, wire together, as you read the Bible, over and over again, whether or not you see results over time, you're being changed.

Your Bible study and my Bible study should resemble more of a slow cook and a crock pot than it should a microwave. I know we want to go from ignorance to genius overnight, but the Bible says you don't jump in grace, you grow in it second Peter 3 18. And if you want to be a better Bible student, it's just going to happen a little bit at a time. It's called the success rule of 1%. We tend to think great success has to take great achievements and great leaps, but that's just not the way it happens.

and writing books, saving money, exercise, you name it. We think, if I could just make a big splash, it would change everything, but life rarely happens that way. But if you could improve just 1% every day, listen, it's not gonna show up in the beginning. You won't really see a big difference, but if you improve 1% every day by the end of the year, whatever it is, in this case, Bible study, you'd be 37% better.

What we need more than we need a hack is we need a habit. We need a commitment that says, I want to read the Bible every day. I want to read the Bible so often and so frequently that in my life God's voice becomes the loudest voice in my heart. And over and over again, as I read the Word of God and just get it into my bloodstream, over time his desires for me become my desires for me. And I no longer have to carve out time to study the Bible, I just have to do it.

And my days don't feel complete and I don't feel as if I've really lived that day until I've actually read the Bible. We start to say like Peter, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe in a sure. You're the Christ of God. You want to be a better Bible student every 24 hours, no matter what else happens in the day. So you know what I'm going to read the Bible. Here's number two. If you want to be a better Bible student, we're going to have to read different translations.

In Nehemiah chapter 8 and verse 8, the people come back from Babylonian captivity and Ezra stands up to read them the book of the law. In Nehemiah 8 and verse 8, the Bible says, so he read out of the book of the law distinctly and gave the sense and calls them to understand the reading. This idea in Nehemiah 8 and verse 8, he gave the sense. It means he gave them the understanding. When he read the Bible to them, their Old Testament law, they were able to understand it.

And then in 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, Paul says, all scripture is God breathed and it's useful and it's profitable for doctrine, reprove, correction, instruction and righteousness. That the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Your Bible and my Bible was meant to be read and to be understood. The Bible was meant to be read and to be understood. And if we're going to be better Bible students, we've got to read different translations.

Sometimes people will read an older translation. Let's just say the King James version of the Bible. And they spend most of their time because of his archaic terminology, stuttering and stammering overphrases and words that they never really use on a day-to-day basis, often becoming frustrated with Scripture and believing to themselves that maybe Scripture is confusing. That you really can't understand what God's saying because that language is so far removed from their everyday life. And so either they read one without understanding or eventually give up and quit reading altogether.

But remember, the Bible was written to be understood. And if you're going to read the Bible, unless you're going to learn Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic, you're going to read through translation. And every translation, every translation that accurately translates the word of God is the word of God. And every translation is imperfect. And so I would say about English translations, date them all, but marry none.

Don't get over committed. Don't become a translation warrior and say, my translation is the best. And if you really love the Lord, you use mine. The best Bible translation is the one that you will read and the one you will obey.

Even if you learn the languages, I believe God wants you to have the Bible in your own mother tongue that you speak. I know that's right because in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost, Peter and the other spoke in Acts chapter 2 and verse 11, the Bible says, we do hear them speak in our own tongues, the wonderful works of God. That's exactly like he wanted it. And if we're going to be better Bible students, we need to read in different translations. Suppose somebody gave you a family history about your family, your great, great, great, great, great grandfather wrote down your family history, but he wrote it in Latin.

and you want it to understand your family history and suppose down through the centuries your family translated this so that various generations could have it and provided that they were all translated equally which one would you want to read? Would you want to read the one from 1600s that you need a dictionary by you to continually flip to and understand the words or what if there was one translated in the year 2000 with more up to date vernacular so that you could simply get through the reading and then do the hard work of comprehension

Listen, read a Bible translation that you can simply read with words that are familiar to you so then you can get on to the serious work of comprehension. Read a translation that turns on the light and that doesn't keep you in the dark.

Psalm 119, 105 says, your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path. Ephesians 3 and verse 4, Paul says, when you read, you can understand my knowledge and the mystery of Christ. The Bible was meant to be understood and we're going to be better students if we just read in different translations. But this is not just about ancient translations versus modern. Even if you read a modern translation, your Bible study in mind will greatly improve if we change it up.

This just means that if you're a New King James person, there should be occasions in your life when you say, you know what? I'm going to go two months through the Book of Acts, but I'm going to do it in the New American Standard. If you carry the ESV, you should occasionally just pause and say, I'm going to read through the Gospels and the NIV.

I'm going to read through the book of Proverbs and the NLT. Why is that the case? It's because we read in our Bibles and over time we think we know what it says and as we learn the Bible by heart we shut off our minds. We've got passages underlined and highlighted and for a good reason but if we're not careful we deceive ourselves into thinking these are the really important parts and we skip and skim the rest of it. The more familiar we become with the Bible the greater the risk that we stop being shocked by its teaching. Hearing something said different in the Bible doesn't change the truth. It changes you and that's the point.

Read the Bible in a different translation. Do it differently. It'll help you. It'll help you be a better Bible student. The show don't forget the lyrics started in 2007, but it's run continually up to today. There are different hosts that host the show. The idea of the show hasn't changed. There's a million dollars given to any contestant that can sing a song from various genres and get all of the lyrics right. You watch the show at home and you think to yourself, you're talking to the screen. The song comes up and you say, oh, that's easy money. I know this one.

And they start singing the song and you know the song up until the music stops, the screen goes blank and then you've got to fill in those blanks and then you find out, I don't know this song at all. I've made up the lyrics my whole life and hummed in and added in words. These words don't even exist. These lyrics don't exist. And if that were me, I wouldn't win any money because I have no idea what I'm singing in the Bible works that same way.

Over time, we shut off our brains. And we start saying about narratives and scripture. I know this one. I've heard this one before. And we just start going through the motions. We'll be better Bible students if we say like Samuel. And 1 Samuel 3 and verse 10. Speak Lord, your servant is listening.

Different translations slow us down. They make us pay attention and catch things we miss in our rush and in our habit to just go through the motions. And here things said the same way over and over again if you want to be a better Bible student. Occasionally switch things up and read things in a different translation. It'll cause you to pay attention, see things you've missed. Here things said in a different way and cause you to reflect in a way maybe you haven't before. Here's number three. If we're going to be better Bible students we need to read and study the Bible and community.

The Bible was always meant to be studied together in a congregational setting just like we're doing now. If you turn your Bible to Colossians chapter 4 and verse 16, Paul says to the church at Colossae, the letter that I've written to you, I want you to read it before the church and then pass it on to the church at Laodicea and get the letter from them, the Book of Ephesians, and I want you to read that as well.

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 27, Paul says, see that this letter is read among all the holy brethren. It was a congregational idea, even the book of Revelation. And Revelation chapter 1 and verse 4 was written to the seven churches in Asia. Several times, John says in Revelation 2, 29 and Revelation 3 and verse 12, listen to what the spirit says to the churches. The Bible was written for the church and we are going to be better Bible students when we read the Bible together in community.

We typically think about our Bible study, it's my own personal thing, and you and I need a personal Bible study habit, but we also need to read the Bible alongside other people. In preparation for this sermon, I sent out a survey to about 20 or 30 different people, some in this congregation, but people in other places.

different age groups, different demographics, different educational attainments, people that grew up in the church and people that had just recently obeyed the gospel. There were different questions in the survey. I was just trying to get an idea of what people struggle with and how they go about reading the Bible. One of the questions in the survey was, when have you felt that your Bible study was the most consistent and most effective? Almost everybody I asked said when I'm reading the Bible with somebody else.

when I've got some kind of accountability. Even if we're not sitting down reading together, if I'm reading the Bible, even if we read the same chapter and we text the verse, or there's some kind of accountability that's built into the Bible study, I feel like I'm a better Bible student when I do it that way. We didn't invent that. That's not new. That's the way it was always meant to be. There's something about dialogue and conversation that we get when talking to other people that helps us think about things we wouldn't think about otherwise.

Iron sharpens iron just like a man sharpens the face of his friend Proverbs 27 and verse 17 We're all just like the unit in Acts chapter 8 33 31 Philip says do you understand what you're reading? What did he say? How can I unless somebody should guide me because we need help and reading the Bible and community Is gonna help us do that if you want to be a better Bible student find somebody that'll keep you accountable

Read the Bible alongside somebody else with the same goals in mind and study the Scriptures with somebody else because it just so happens. We rarely do anything in life without helping motivation from other people. It's just the facts. Two really are better than one. Ecclesiastes 4 9 through 12. But don't just read the Bible and community privately. Read the Bible and community collectively in public with other Christians.

I know I'm talking to a Sunday night crowd and many of you already come to Sunday morning Bible class and Wednesday night Bible class. I just want to encourage you to keep doing it. Be it present in the local assembly, but can we take it a step further? When you come to Bible class,

be in Bible class. If you're going to profit from studying the Bible, you've actually got to be in the Bible. In Luke chapter 10, when Mary saw that Jesus was there teaching Luke 10, 39 says, she sat at Jesus' feet so that she could learn. When you come to the collective congregational Bible study, you can learn a great deal. Exponentially, your knowledge of the scriptures can grow if you learn and grow in the Bible study. Somebody says, well, I'm on my phone texting and checking ESPN, and I'm daydreaming and doing my own thing because I don't like our Bible class options. Well, teach a better one.

But until then, until that happens, you need to get into the congregational group and study with everybody else. Add some comments. Help us do it better. Acts 242 says the day people became Christians, they devoted themselves to the apostles doctrine, and you need other people to help you.

Turn you Bible to Romans chapter 10 and notice what Paul says about the way we learn the Bible that we might be quick to overlook. We love Romans 10 17, so then faith comes by hearing and that's right. But Paul has something to say about the way we learn before Romans 10 17. He says in verse 14, how would they hear without a preacher? How would they preach unless they be sent?

as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings. Verse 16, but they have not all obeyed the gospel. So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. How does faith come? Paul says faith comes by hearing the word of God. When does that happen? According to these verses, at least a part of the way it happens is in the gathered congregation, your heart needs to hear the Bible proclaimed.

Yes, faith comes by studying the Bible individually on your own, but that's not all of it. Faith comes when you hear somebody heralding the message, proclaiming the message, because the Bible was meant to be studied in community. And if you want to grow your knowledge of the Bible exponentially, sometimes a new convert says, how am I ever going to learn at all? I always say, just come to worship. And in a few weeks, you need to read the Bible on your own, but just by never missing an assembly and hearing sermons and Bible classes, an amazing thing happens.

You hear from Christians that have been studying the Bible longer than you've been alive, and your knowledge just exponentially grows. If you want to be a better Bible student, study the Bible collectively with people in private one-on-one, but then as a congregation, never miss an assembly of the church. When you're in the worship service, flip in your Bible. This actually fuels the personal Bible study you're going to do throughout the week as it points you in directions and helps you to grow and study. Read and study the Bible in community. Here's number four. Practice what you read.

One of the ways to be a better Bible student is to practice what it is that you read on the pages of Scripture. Ezra chapter 7 and verse 10 says, Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it.

And James says in James 1, 22, and 23, do not become a professional hero. He says, be doers of the word and not heroes only, deceiving your own selves. If any man is a hero of the word and not a doer, he's like a man who beholds his natural face in the glass, he goes his way, and he forgets what kind of person he was. We learn the Bible to live the Bible. The bottom line is God wants us to know the word so that we can actually do it. If we learn and we know but we don't live, we actually lose. And to be a better Bible student, we've got to actually do what the Bible's telling us to do.

One of the ways to improve your Bible study is to open up the Bible to read it and then make up in your mind, I'm going to do what the Bible says. James 4 and verse 17 says to the one that knows to do good and doesn't do it to him, it's a sin. Jesus washed his disciples' feet and then he says, if you know these things, happy are you if you do them. Now, here's your challenge. John 13 17, here's your challenge.

Every time you read the Bible, every single day you read the Bible, make up in your mind, I am going to do one distinct thing today that I wouldn't have done otherwise because I've read the Bible. I'm going to change something about my life or in somebody else's life because I read the Bible. Now listen, every day that's not going to be easy, but you'll read the Bible differently if you look for it. Drop a burden, Philippians 4, 6, and 7.

Forgive a wrong, Colossians 3 and verse 13. In the bad relationship, 1 Corinthians 15, 33, and start a new one. Have an eternal conversation, Mark 16 and verse 15.

Help somebody that's in need or make a phone call, James 127. Your Bible study will change. If you read the Bible and resolve in your mind, I am not going to be the same after having read this verse. Too much of our Bible study stays in the Bible and it was never meant to be that way. Our Bible study is supposed to get out of the Bible and into our flesh and bones as we live it out in our community.

People should know that we are reading the Bible and not because we took a picture of our devotional time and posted it on social media. They should know we're living the Bible and reading the Bible by the way we live and carry ourselves. And so Paul could say in 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 2, you are our written epistle known and read of everybody. People can tell that you've been reading the Bible based on the way that you live. And if we practice what we read and actually do it, our lives are going to be changed. Here's the next one.

If you want to be a better Bible student, change your pace. Don't read the Bible the same way all the time. Don't do the same thing over and over again. Then your Bible study will get monotonous and it won't click like it should. If you want to be a better Bible student, change your pace. Psalm 119 and verse 15 says, I'll meditate on your precepts, have respect unto your ways, delight myself in your statutes. I won't forget your words. Psalm 119 and verse 18 says, open my eyes that I might behold wonderful things out of your law.

If we're going to be better Bible students, we've got to change the way we do it sometimes. That means changing our pace. What does this mean? If you're the word study person, don't always go to the Bible and count up all the words and do the same thing all the time. It's great to read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, but don't do it like that every year, all the time where you know what's coming next. Sometimes you've got to diversify. I like to say to new converts, new Christians should gulp the Bible.

and experience Christians should learn to sip it. New Christians should gulp the Bible because there's so much ground to make up. Just read as much of the Bible as you can. You're not going to remember all the details, but you need to get your hands around the story and the narrative, orient yourself to what's going on. And then you've got your whole life to go back and get the details. And people who've been reading the Bible for a long time, two words that are going to help us study the Bible simply to slow down.

drill down into the details. NT Wright says, read the Bible big and then read the Bible small. What does that mean? It means change your pace and the way you go about it. If you always read three chapters a day, what if you try at five? If you always read four chapters a day to get through the Bible in a year, what if you slow down and actually read two? If you change your pace, it's gonna help you as a Bible student. You're gonna see things as you go about it differently than you would otherwise. Read the Bible big.

Take a Saturday and just take Romans and read the whole thing all the way through.

take you probably an hour, maybe a little more, but you know what? You could get wrapped up in a Netflix series and do that in no time, right? Just take the book of Romans and read somebody says, I won't remember all the details. Listen, that's not the point. Just let the whole book just wash over you. You will be surprised how much you remember. You know some books like Philemon, 2nd and 3rd, John Jude, Obadiah, the two verses that make up Psalm 117, those short one chapter books, you really don't have to put those on the six month reading plan. You can tackle those in the time it takes you to leave your bedroom and get to your kitchen, read the Bible big.

But then read the Bible small. Zero down on certain sections, the Sermon on the Mount, a certain chapter, a certain character, diversify your Bible study. Let Jesus as the master teacher teach you in different instructional methods and say, I want to learn in every way you possibly can instruct me. Psalm 32 and verse 8, he says, my eye is on you. I have counseled you with my word.

read the Bible by changing your pace and go about it in different ways. Don't do the same thing you've always done over and over and over again. We need to study the Bible every day like clockwork, but don't just go through the motions like busy work. We need to slow down and challenge ourselves. Jesus would say, let these words go deep down into your heart or into your ears. Luke 19 and verse 44. If you want to be a better Bible student, change your pace in the way you go about it. Here's the next one. If you want to be a better Bible student, focus on others.

You open up the Bible and you think the Bible's about me. And a part of that's true, but then a part of that's not true. Leviticus 1918, the second greatest command, you know this one. Love your neighbor like you love who? Love yourself. If you open up the Bible and when you read the Bible, it doesn't matter where you're reading. If you read the Bible with a focus on others, it's gonna help you be a better Bible student. Open up your Bible and say, okay, I need to ask myself some challenging questions. Who does this passage mean that I need to go out and try to love?

Who do I need to share this verse with and try to relate this teaching to? Who do I need to go and serve as a result of having learned this passage? Read your Bible, but don't think first things first. How does this apply to my life? You take the Bible, read a passage and say, okay, now how do I apply this truth to somebody else's life? Because at the end of the day, the whole Bible is about loving God with your all and loving your neighbor as yourself. And you're going to be a better Bible student and so am I. If we read the Bible and then we start looking outward and we focus on others.

Clint left his readers tonight. We're not going to pick on him, but some of you have on glasses. I won't say who, OK? Now, why do you have on glasses? You went to the optometrist. They did the exam, and they said, hey, you need help seeing. Seeing what?

You need help with glasses so that you can see out there. Neil took his off, by the way. You need help with glasses so that you can see out there. The glasses are designed to help you see other things different. The Bible is the ultimate vision enhancer. You read the Bible so that you can see better out there. The Bible resembles more of a street light than it does a night light.

The Bible is about letting the light in your life light up the world in which you live. It's not a night light just to light up your life and your corner of the world and your family. The Bible at its heart is a street light that says, because you've read the Bible, you're going to change your community, your corner of the world, the people that impact you. Listen to Jesus. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven, Matthew 516. Read the Bible with an outward focus and you're going to get more out of it.

Neil quoted this verse this morning, but in Mark chapter 10, 43 through 45, Jesus says, who so ever would be chief among you, let him be your servant, even like the son of man, who came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. If we never read the Bible, focused on other people, we read the Bible wrong, but if you read your Bible, focused every time you come up with, okay, who can I serve and how? It'll naturally make you a better Bible student. Here's number seven. Read the Bible, focus on yourself.

Everybody, turn your Bible to 2 Timothy 2, 15. This is one of the verses that we started with that eating red for us, but go to 2 Timothy 2, 15. You know this verse. We know this verse. We quote it all the time about Bible study, but if we want to improve our Bible study, 2 Timothy 2, 15 helps us with this. We need to read the Bible focused on ourselves.

Paul told Timothy, study or give every effort to present yourself as one approved unto God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, one who can properly handle the word of truth. He says study, give every effort. You see that? Study, give every effort. What does that mean? It means when you say about the Bible, it's hard for me to study the Bible. Paul says, I know that's why it's going to be difficult. You've got to give every effort.

Paul calls Timothy a worker, a worker that doesn't need to be ashamed. Good Bible study is hard work. Quitting Bible study and saying I'm no good at it because every time I do it is difficult for me. It's kind of like saying I'm never going back to the gym because every time I go I leave sweaty and sore.

That's what it's supposed to do. Listen, Bible study is the spiritually intellectual gem. You go to the Bible to be stretched, to be challenged, to be better. Paul tells Timothy, study to show yourself a proof, approved unto God. Give every effort. It's going to cost you something, a worker, it's work. But then he says, so that you won't be ashamed.

Can you imagine standing before the judgment seat of God and being able to lift your head and say to God, I'm not perfect. I didn't do everything right. But this is your word. This is your book. You gave it to me. I did my very best. I did everything I could within my reason with my resources, my ability. Paul says that can happen. You don't have to hang your head in shame and say, you know what? I didn't read it at all. Paul says you can be somebody who rightly handles the word of truth. You don't have to be ashamed. If that's going to happen for us, we've got to change the way we read the Bible. We do. Have you ever been speed dating?

Don't answer that question out loud. Listen, when you go speed dating, they say, I've never been, they say that when you go speed dating, it's a quick enterprise, right? You've got five minutes to show somebody you're impressive.

that your spouse material to tell them your life story and sometimes we approach the Bible like speedators. All right, Nehemiah, what do you got? Be interesting and quick. Romans, what do you got for me? First chronicles, are you a snooze or not? Because if you are, I've got other things to do. It equates to basically saying to God, I've got better things to do and I'll be back when you get interesting. Paul says study to show yourself approved, a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed. The Bible is a lot less like speed dating and more like taking a road trip with your very best friend.

You don't expect the whole thing to wow you and be impressive. You expect to learn new things, make good memories, have a great time, enjoy their company, and literally just enjoy the ride. And that's biblical Bible study. Read the Bible, but read it for yourself as a worker that doesn't need to be ashamed, like somebody who's going to stand before the judgment seat of God. No, we shouldn't just read the Bible out of duty, but we should never forget that it is a duty.

Jesus says, he that rejects me and doesn't receive my words has one that judges him. The words that I've spoken, they'll judge you in the last day, John 12 and verse 48. Last month I was in the doctoral seminar and these seminars kind of all go the same way. You read books, you come out there for the class and you're going to be called on to give a presentation before the class, lead the whole class in the discussion on the book. Typically the professor's give a list. Hey, here's the books. Everybody's going to be discussing. Here's your book. This professor didn't.

And my friend Charles, the first day of the seminar, he said to the teacher, Dr. King, you forgot to give us the list of who's going to be discussing what books and when. So just give him to us today so we know we normally get it ahead of time. Dr. King said, I don't do it like that. He said, I'm doing a Russian roulette model. Every day when you come to class, I'm just going to call on people at random. And you'll discuss any book I call on. You'll leave the whole class in the discussion. After all, you are doctoral students. Surely you did the reading. And I was sitting there thinking, of course, Charles. And then I went back and read the 200 pages I skimmed because I didn't think he was going to ask me.

and sometimes that's how we approach the Bible. What are the important parts? God, just tell me the parts I gotta read, where we're gonna be queers, what really matters, so we can get on with business, but we should be like the king and Old Testament Israel.

and Deuteronomy 17, 18 through 19. I want to know the word for myself completely and thoroughly. Give me a copy of your law because in that is actually eternal life. And I want to read instead of the Bible because I want to know you as the author. This isn't a checklist. God, you're not boring me. God, you've already done enough. You don't have to impress me. Give me the Bible like we just sung because it's the message of life. Now, here's the eighth and final thing tonight. Read the Bible focused on God.

There is a song by Carly Simon. It has been remade by a lot of people in recent years. Most recently with Taylor Swift, the name of the song is called You're So Vane, but you probably know the song based on the catchy chorus. I bet you think this song is about you. And I can't help but think that sometimes when we read the Bible, God is humming that same tune to himself. I bet you think this book is about you, but it's really not. It's about me.

The Bible is written to us, but the Bible is actually a book about God, and our society hasn't helped us with this. Devotional books fly off the rack every year with teaching us to go to the Bible for a word of devotion, to impact our lives, to give us a rush on our way, and we approach the Bible with that same mindset. Looking for an intellectual sugar rush of devotion, and when we don't get it, we essentially say to God, be quiet and don't speak again until you have something interesting to say, which is code for until you have something to say to me.

How many times do you come to the Bible and say these words? I want something that applies to my life as if the whole Bible were about you. We read the Bible and we get to 1 Samuel 17 and we say, okay, I'm David and my troubles in life are alive and it's my responsibility to slay the giant. But the Bible is not about you. It's about introducing us to God and calling us upward to what he's done in Christ. I know that's right because Jesus says in John 539, you search the Scriptures because in them you think you have life and the Scriptures really tell you about me.

He says, everything written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms, it's really about me, Luke 24 and verse 44. He's the true and better Adam, who suffered in a garden far worse than Adams, but passed the test of temptation. So his righteousness could be imputed to us. He's the true and better able, who's slain innocently, but his blood cries out for our forgiveness.

Jesus is the true and better Abraham that left his home and left the familiar to go out into a country that he didn't know about so that he could redeem people and create a new humanity. He's the new and better Joseph who's betrayed by his friends sitting at the right hand of the king and uses his very power.

to save those who don't deserve it. He's the true and better Moses who intercedes on behalf of people that are guilty that were despising him spitting in his face and pleading for God's mercy on their behalf. He is the rock in the wilderness struck for us so that we can have water in the desert. He's the true and better Esther who leaves his palace not at the risk of his life but at the very cost of his life.

He's the true and better Isaac, where Abraham's about to slay a son and God says, now I know you fear me because you haven't withheld your only son for me. And when we read about what God did for us in Christ, we say to God, now I know you love me because you haven't withheld your son, your only son for me.

He's the true and better Passover lamb, slain for us so that the death angel that should take every one of our lives because of our rebellion toward God takes his instead and passes over us. He's the true and better priest. King, the bread of life, the true temple, the Bible is not about you. It's about him. And when we learn that, we go to the Bible looking to meet him.

And it changes how we read it. We start looking for ways to encounter our God. Yes, the Bible applies to us. Yes, God has something to say to us. But in the end, God says, the Bible begins with my amazing power in creation. Genesis 1 and verse 1. And it ends with my amazing grace and salvation. Revelation 22 and verse 21.

will be better Bible students if we approach the Bible looking for God rather than looking for ourselves. A humanistic approach says the Bible is supposed to tell me about me but a biblical approach says the Bible is written to tell me about God. People down through the centuries have studied the Bible in different ways. John Wesley said I am but a creature of clay passing through this world on one trip. He says make me a man of one book. In that book there's knowledge enough for me

Piper says, when all of your favorite preachers are dead and all of their books out of print, you'll still have your Bible, master your Bible. Tonight, we talked about being a better Bible student. Not because there's going to be a heavenly Bible quiz or something like that nature, but so that we can come to know the author behind the scriptures better. And when we read the Bible, like our eternal lives depend on it. We're changed. It's no longer a duty. It's a delight.

Maybe tonight, in view of the Bible's message, somebody wants to become a Christian. If you are ready to put your faith and trust in Jesus, turn away from your sins and be immersed in water for the forgiveness of your sins, we'd be happy to assist you in doing that. That's the pattern that the Bible lays out for us to do. It's the pattern that leads you right to Jesus. If we can pray with you or pray for you tonight, in any way, if we can help you come now together, we stand in as we say.