How To Read and Study Pt 3

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good afternoon everyone. It is Tuesday, September tenth, twenty twenty four. It is currently twelve fifty two pm Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Albilene, Texas. How is your Sunday? How is church on Sunday? Did you hear any new interpretations? Did you hear any new new ways and how to interpret Mark chapter four in Matthew chapter thirteen? Did you hear any of that? Did someone present to you a new hypothesis and how to interpret a very important parable?

0:55 Did you hear anything like that on Sunday? Okay, I don't know what was going on in your church, but right here, not in Abilene, Texas, but in Ovalo, Texas, which is not too far from where I'm sitting at Victory Baptist Church. Well, that's exactly what happened. I told everyone to open their bibles to Mark chapter four, Matthew chapter thirteen, and we spent two hours coming up with a new way to understand the parable of the sewer, a new interpretation. I presented a new hypothesis and how to deal with this parable? How did it go? Was it? I don't know. I mean I felt pretty good about it.

1:35 I did. I felt I felt pretty good about it. To be honest with everyone, I thought that I would get a much stronger reaction. I really thought I would either get wow, that was really awesome, that makes perfect sense, or I would get no, absolutely not. Here are my thirteen reasons why your interpretation is trash. I thought I would get strong reactions, but I feel like for the most part, I kind of got okay, Yeah, right, it was good. It was okay. I felt like I didn't get too much from it. I really felt like maybe it was one of those things you put so much work into it, you spend so many hours, you really thought the reaction would be stronger at least maybe you were hoping for. But either way, whether the reaction was strong, whether people care, whether people shrug their shoulders and didn't shrug their shoulders, I still think it was valuable because I believe there's so much misapplication and twisting and almost abusing Mark chapter four in Matthew chapter thirteen. As far as the parable, the Sower is concerned that I think that it was time for someone to challenge the status quo and try to come up with something more workable and I feel makes a lot more sense. So that's what we've done. Hopefully it's been beneficial. I am going to offer a slight modification. All right, so let me get you all on the same page. This all started

3:06 because I have a KJV Study Bible sitting right here. And in this KGV Study Bible, right before you get to Genesis, is an article on how to read and study the Bible. In this article, they put forth the idea. They put forth the hypothesis. Their philosophy is that when it comes to Bible study, if it's going to be effective, if you're going to be an effective Bible study, a Bible student, and if the Bible study is going to be effective in doing anything in your life, then what you need to do again, If you're going to be an effective Bible student, and if the study itself is going to be effectual or effective in your life, if anything is really going to work in Bible study, you don't begin with your mind. It's not about learning hermeneutical principles.

3:51 It's not learning Bible study methods. No no, no, no, no no no. You start with your heart. And according to this philosophy, your heart has to be right before the Bible will be of any value. If your heart isn't right, the Bible won't even get into your heart. It will just bounce off. It will not be effective. You won't be a good Bible student. In fact, roundabout way, I mean, I think it's pretty fair to say this would be the logical conclusion. There's no point in even reading your Bible, studying your Bible, going to church, or listening to sermons because it can't do anything until you get your heart right. Well, you do realize then the problem If I have to have my heart right for the Bible to be of any value to me, Well, then I thought I had.

4:35 I thought it was the Bible that actually changed me, and it was the Bible that actually changed the condition of my heart. But you're telling me I have to get my heart right before the Bible can do anything. So then it's not the Bible that changes my heart. I change my heart, or well then or God just then it becomes all of these questions. And we talked about that problem and the thing the scripture they use to support their argument. Will mark chapter four, verses three through twenty. Mark chapter four, verses three through twenty, where we read these words, and I'm going to read it again. We've read it countless times. You've supposed to have been working on this and reading it over and over and over.

5:17 But let me just read it to you one more time, all right. Mark chapter four, verse three from The New King James. Listen, Behold, a sower went out to sew, and it happened as he sewed that some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on the stony ground where it did not have much earth, and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, it was scorched. And because it had no root, it was root it withered away. And some seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up and increased and produced some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred. So they use that to support their hypotheses, their theory. The Bible will do, will be of no true value until you have well the right ground, you have the right soil, and that's your heart. So if you get your heart right, then your Bible study will be effective. The Bible will be effective and effectual in your life. You'll be a good Bible student. If you don't get your heart right, it's useless. Well, I think that's a horrible interpretation of the parable. Not only that, it just makes no sense because you're telling me I have to get my heart right without the Bible, because the Bible can't help me get my heart right until I get my heart right. Well, once I get my heart right, I don't need the Bible to help me get my heart right, because now my heart's already right, and I got it right before I even open the Bible.

6:44 So that makes that ley. It makes literally no sense. So I started working on a new interpretation. Simply put, we first kind of interpret it. I'll call it a more dispensational approach. I think that what this parable is doing is it's demonstrating the historical reaction of Israel to the message of Christ. I'll just say the message the Covenant promises the message of the Kingdom, those promises to Israel, those words directly given to Israel, and that this parable outlines Israel's response, and we see that in this parable it kind of obviously highlights and pictures the response that we find in Mark chapter three and Matthew chapter twelve.

7:33 And most of that response is spoken of is by those who are who are the religious leaders of Israel or the Jews at the time. So I think this parable what it demonstrates is that from the time of the Exodus all the way to the time all of those Covenant promises will be fulfilled to Israel, they will be restored, they will be in the land. Until then, they are going to demonstrate and they have demonstry well these responses as pictured by the different soils. Sometimes they've demonstrated a very hard heart and in a sense God's promises and messages just bounced off of them. Sometimes they demonstrated that they were the stony ground and they did not have much earth, and immediately it sprang up because it had its and immediately it sprang up because it had no death of earth. But when the sun was up, it scorched him because it had no root. It withered away.

8:27 Sometimes we see Israel responding positively, yes, we will obey, and then immediately it falls away. We see that even when they were given the Ten commandments, we will obey everything you say. And then what was it, twenty minutes later they were taking off their clothes and running around a golden calf. Right, so we see that a feed and some seed fell among the thorns, and it grew up and choked it. Well, we see many times Israel is distracted and the thorns growing up around it jokes out their commitment and following God. And then sometimes and I think ultimately we'll see Israel the ground will be perfectly tilled, they will be fruitful. And that sounds like all of the blessings spoken of about Israel and the New Covenant. And that's when they are restored. They in a sense, the Israel's revived, restored, and now they are blessed and they are fruitful, and all of that language sounds like language in Ezekiel and Jeremiah about the New Covenant.

9:32 So I think ultimately that's where it will be fulfilled. I said, for us, we're very similar to Israel. Right, we have been set free from the bondage of sin, in this way, we are no longer under the condemnation of sin. We're no longer the guilt and the condemnation of sin has been removed in Christ Jesus, we still struggle with the power of sin. And don't tell me we've been set free from the power of sin practically, because if we've been set free from the power of sin practice, well then we should be perfect. And you say, well, no, we're not perfect. Well then what's keeping me from being perfect is in control, which would be sin. Therefore, I've not been set free from the power of sin. So we have been set free in part positionally. Practically we have it. And so guess what happens to us throughout our entire Christian life. Sometimes we're the hard ground, Sometimes we're the stony place, sometimes the thorns this and we ultimately will be fruitful when we step into eternity with a new body, and we will become like him and then all things will be fruitful. And so I put that in glorification as well as a being applicable to us.

10:42 So the only thing I want to do before we move on, and I'm going to talk about this a little bit on Sunday and I'm going to give this as an assignment. I believe all of these soils. I think three of them represent how we live out our Christian life on a regular consistent basis. Sometimes we're in the thorns, sometimes we're the stony place. Sometimes we're the hard heart, and I think that that is true. So the only modification I'm going to make I do believe also that the thirty sixty one hundredfold fruit can also occur to some level in our lives. Even before Glorification or even before Israel and their history, there were times they were fruitful before the actual fulfillment of the New Covenant.

11:32 So I think that there all four represents well for Israel things that had happened right that they were, they represented all of those. Ultimately, the fruitfulness will be fulfilled in the New Covenant when they're in the land and all the promises. And for us, these four soils represent our Christian life to some level, through different stages, different periods, different times, maybe within even different days in the same week. Sometimes we're hard, sometimes the heart we have the hard heart. Sometimes we're in the stony place, sometimes we're among the thorns, and sometimes there's fruitfulness in our Christian life, but ultimately the fruitfulness will be fulfilled in glorification. That's the only modification I would make is that I think there is some sense of fruitfulness even before glorification. I emphasize the glorification part, or the fulfillment of the New Covenant part.

12:24 But I think in Israel's history there was times they appeared to be fruitful, and in our Christian life there's times we appear to be fruitful to some level. That's the only modification I would make. Now here is my challenge. Here is my challenge. What I want you to do is I want you to start considering from Genesis to Revelation. I want you to find examples, stories, narratives of people in the Bible who would be considered a believer, a follower of God, a follower of Christ. Yet in their lives they demonstrate these soils, right, hardness of heart, words, just not penetrating stony place. Oh it appears to but then it kind of just burns away, it withers away.

13:18 Next everything seems to be going good, but the thorns seem to choke it out. And then some level of fruitfulness. Find believers, those who would be considered believers who demonstrate these soils. Right, so find the believer, give me the passage of this is the believer, this is the person. Here's what happened that demonstrates this soil. And what you're going to see is that those soils represent all of our Christian lives. We all go through different stages. There are times where we just won't lit, we don't listen to God's word. It's just bouncing off our heart. Is hard it is, it's just it's not receptive and any way shape or form. And then there's times where it, wow, yes, I'm excited, yes, and then it just just withers away quickly fast, and we're like, what happened? And then there's times where we're right there amongst the thorns and it's choking it out because of the cares of this life, and it happens, and sometimes there's periods of fruitfulness. So your assignment is very simple, very simple. Find examples of people in the Bible who demonstrate this, and maybe be one individual that in the complete narrative of their lives, you see, Wow, there's a little bit of hardness, and oh, there's a little bit of this, and there's a little bit of this, and there's a little bit of this, because I think that's our lives. Our lives are not we sometimes want to reduce our lives a very one

14:50 dimensional one is very simple. You're always this way or always that way. You know, you're not always one way. Your life is constantly and flux. Your life is constantly going going through stages. It can happen in a week. Like just think in your spiritual life, how sometimes how you're approaching, and think about spiritual things and the Bible and church, and then how sometimes things can change drastically within just a few weeks. That's what I want you to do. I want you to to try to picture. I want you to demonstrate that this is the existence, that those soils represent the existence of Christians throughout their lives.

15:31 I know we like everything to be it's this stage and then everything changed. It's never that simple, you know why, Because we still have a sinful nature. We still have depravity. Therefore, that depravity, that sin and just being a human being with emotions and and all the things and all the circumstances we face in life. We're going to go through these stages. I think that's at or interpretation of the parable, all right, I think primarily Israel's where you need to look. I think that's where you need to look first, and then I think it represents their history. And then ultimately, when you read again the New Testament promises in Ezekiel and Jeremiah, which that covenant has made with the House of Israel and the House of Judas, clearly Israel, that fruitfulness sounds very much like the promises made in Deuteronomy twenty eight to thirty. We can go on Ezekiel what thirty six? I believe we talked about it on Sunday, So that's your assignment, all right. Now, that means we then have concluded looking at the section where in this article how to read and study the Bible, they say begin with the heart, and they go through the parable, and they apply it to basically being a good Bible student.

16:53 And I don't believe the parable works the way that they have demonstrated, and I do believe then it leads to a very compli cad mess where a convoluted mess. Forget complicated, it's just convoluted, where the the Bible will be of no value to you until you get your heart right. But then you have to get your heart right without the Bible, because the Bible doesn't get your heart right. So then the Bible it just really becomes very broken. Now, after all of that, we turn the page and the article now moves to motivations. Right, so we've read the introduction, We've read their little paragraph or section on why to spend time in the Bible. We began we looked at their concept of beginning with the heart.

17:39 I'm going to argue you begin with the mind. If you want to be a good and effectual Bible student, you want the Bible study to be effective, you begin with the mind. You have to know the rules of interpretation, you have to know hermeneutical principles, you have to know how to handle the text of Scripture. Right, I say you begin with your mind. You don't begin with your heart, because their entire premise makes no sense. Now this means we move to the section entitled motivations. Motivations. Now, please note how they begin this section. Once our hearts are receptive to the word, we can hear the motivations offered us in Scripture among other motives we read in the Bible.

18:26 So even they can they double down Hey, look, before we even read these scriptures about what should motivate us to read the Bible, Well, we can't even hear or really understand those motivations until we get our heart right. So it's like basically saying, don't even continue reading these scriptures I'm about to give you unless you get your heart right. Don't get your heart right, then you can study the Bible. Then you can learn how to study the Bible. There's no point in even listening to reading the rest of this article unless you get your heart right. It's a very strange perspective. It's like you have to get your heart right, and the Bible will not help you get your heart right because the Bible can't do anything for you until you get your heart right. It is a very strange hypotheses that they put through. And I know they would say, well, that's not exactly what we're saying, but it's clearly what they're saying, so I know they would try to well they would probably just contradict themselves, but I mean, just listen to the read that once our hearts are receptive to the word, we can hear the motivations offered us in scripture. We can't even hear what the scriptures are saying until we get our heart right. You've got to get your heart right.

19:46 We're in so much trouble. And what do you mean get your heart right? Like, I don't know what that means. Does that mean then we get our hearts so right that it's perfect, or just we get to get it right fifty per If I get my heart write fifty percent, then do I only hear fifty percent of scripture? Like the whole thing just falls apart. But here they want to give us. Are you ready for this? They want to give us one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten motivations to get you to buy a Bible, own a Bible, read a Bible, and study a Bible. Right, here's their motivations. You're ready. There's a lot of scripture they are going to provide. So here we go. Here's the motivations for why we should read and study the Bible.

20:40 Now again their philosophies. You begin with the heart, I say, you begin with the mind. We then we spend all of that time working on Mark chapter four three through what thirty I think, but Mark chapter four, Matthew chapter thirteen. We spend all of that time, in a sense, engaging in actual Bible study. So that's how this all fits together. Motivation number one. They want us to go to Psalm one nineteen Psalm one nineteen and they want us to go to verse one hundred and eleven. All right, here we go, Psalm one nineteen one eleven. Your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart. I'm gonna grab a different translation Psalm one nineteen, one eleven. Psalm one nineteen one eleven.

21:43 Is this Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart? All right, so pretty similar. That was the King James and the new King James. Let me read it to you one more time. Your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever, for they his testimonies, which is a term referring to God's word. They for they are the rejoicing of my heart. Now, this is the way they describe this motivation. You are motivated to read and study the Bible to experience consistent joy.

22:25 If you want consistent joy, you read and study your Bible. Now is that what Psalm one nineteen eleven is saying. Is that what it is saying, let's do a little work on it. Let's do a little bit of work. See, this is going to take us forever to get through this section because we're gonna have to look at all these scriptures and then immediately what are we going to do. We're going to do Bible study? Right, So, in an article about how to study the Bible, we are challenging how they're actually using scripture, and so far this article is demonstrated a complete misunderstanding and how to actually study the Bible, even though it's supposed to be teaching you how to do it. I find that a little bit ironic. Right, Hey, here's an article about how to read and study the Bible, and we're using the article to demonstrate this is not how you read and study the Bible. All right, But let's do a little bit of work, all right. So I'm gonna I'm gonna ask see, I'm going to do a little bit of work here, I'm gonna put I'm gonna do. I'm going to use chat chat GPT is what I'm going to use here. Uh see, here, some one nineteen one eleven. All right, I'm going to do it.

23:55 Wait here for it to do everything it needs to do. Here, hopefully we can get some answers here. All right, we don't need that part, for they are the joy of my heart. This part of the verse reveals the emotional connection between the Sawmist and God's word. The law isn't seen as a burden, but as a source of deep joy and fulfillment. The Sawmist finds the greatest delight in God's commandments because they align with God's will and bring him closer to God. All right, Okay, see now, I'm all right. They kind of went that direction, but not exactly. I'm gonna read it again. I'm going to read it again, all right, So remember the study Bible is telling me.

24:39 This article is telling me, why should you read and study your Bible? Because it will bring you will experience consistent joy. So it takes this motivation and basically makes it a promise you. Why do you read and study your Bible? You will have consistent joy. It makes it almost a dogmatic promise for your life. I want you to read it again. Now, maybe I'm wrong, but I'm having a little bit of trouble here, all right, some one nineteen one eleven, not obviously some verse eleven, one eleven, someone not verse eleven, verse one eleven, p One nineteen one eleven. I keep wanting to go to some one nineteen eleven because obviously it's a very famous verse. So I keep wanting to go back to that some one nineteen one eleven. Your testimonies have I taken as heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart. I don't think it's a promise. I think it's a declaration. The Samis is saying, they your testimonies, they are the rejoicing of my heart. That I have a they I find joy in them. I don't think it's a guarantee that you and I will have the same emotional response. I think it's simply seeing the sawmist is saying I rejoice in them. I find rejoicing in them. I don't know if we can make this a promise, all right. In fact, I'm going to challenge chat GPT here. I'm going to I'm gonna challenge it. See, would it be incorrect.

26:19 To claim the joy expressed is a guarantee for every believer. When when they read and study the Bible. Let's see what it says here. Okay, yes, sorry, so chat GPT seems to agree with me. It says it would be incorrect to claim that the joy we expressed in Some one nineteen one eleven is a guaranteed universal experience for every believer whenever they read, study, or meditating in the Bible.

27:07 While Some one nineteen emphasizes the salmist personal joy and delighting God's word, several factors show why the joy may not always be felt by every believer in every circumstances. Varied emotional responses to scripture, different life circumstances, People approach scripture in different emotional states. Someone dealing with grief, confusion, or doubt may not immediately experience joy when reading the Bible. Instead, they may encounter other emotions like lament, conviction, or even frustration. The Bible's variety of tones, not all parts of scripture are meant to produce joy in the moment. Some passages bring conviction, correction, or sadness, or for example, you have passages of judgment or lament. While joy may eventually follow repentance or growth, the immediate feeling may not be joyful.

27:53 And then they go on, offering a whole lot more. Here they go on. So the chat GPT immediately pushes back on this idea. I'm pushing back on it, and just the way it's read, For they are the rejoicing of my heart. He's speaking of himself. The psalmist is speaking of themselves. Hey, they bring me joy. They may bring us joy, they may not. But you can't say, hey, the motivation is Listen to how the motivation is written to experience consistent joy. See, this is the idea. This is where you stand before the pulpit. Ladies and gentlemen. If you want joy, and if you want to be happy, you just take your Bible. You just read it and you will be happy. You will have joy. And if you don't experience that, it's because something is wrong with you spiritually or you're not reading and studying your Bible. Now, there may be other scriptures you could use that could possibly make some argument that joy should be connected with scripture.

28:51 But I think you got to be careful when you read these passages where the Psawmist is expressing their personal emotion, and then you take that emotion and say boom, this is a promise. This is a guarantee. That's bad Bible study. It's great that the sawmist found joy, doesn't mean everyone will have the same emotional response. That verse some one nineteen one eleven is not offering a promise, it's not offering a guarantee. It's simply describing the Saalist response that he finds joy. Joy would be an acceptable emotional response.

29:35 But it's not a guarantee, at least based on Some one nineteen one eleven. Now, we could turn this into a you know, an assignment. Find all the verses that would seem to indicate that that studying and reading the Bible should bring you joy. I me know, we we could make it an assignment. I'm not gonna we're not to go into that right now. But just once again, in an article about how to about how to read and study, they're all of their examples so far, they're not even I don't know if they know actually how to read or study. And I'm not trying to be mean, but it's just this is just bad all all the way around, right, because what should you do with someone nineteen eleven one eleven. You can first you got to understand the genre it's poetry, right, so there's going to be a poetic element to it. Right. It's very expressive, it's very emotional, so you've got to be very careful.

30:28 And in many cases it's simply the samis expressing their emotion. It's not always to be taken as now, this is what you must do, or this is how it's going to happen, or this is a promise, or this is a guarantee. A right number two. So the first motivation, according to this article is you're going to read and study the Bible because you will experience consistent joy. Now I would like you, now, I would like for you. You don't have to tell me, but I'd like you to get very personal, like very very very real. Come on personally in your own Christian life. How much consistent joy has reading and studying the Bible has has it brought to your life? Just be real, just be real. Now, you may not be able to say it at church because everyone will be like you're a satan, a right, who knows what they'll say. So I know in church you can't you can't ever be real. You got to always be fake in church. But here, you know, it's just a podcast, so you can be real. Come on, consistent joy that is that you have received in your life as a result of reading and studying the Bible. Now, whatever that reality is, I just want you to be real with it now. Then you can try to struggle with why. Why? Why if it's not been consistent joy, why I want you to struggle with the reality of that.

31:57 All right? The next the next motivation and the next promise here is to sort out our thoughts and motivations. So say, one of the reasons we read and study the Bible is to sort out our thoughts and motivations, and it gives us Hebrews chapter four, verse twelve. Hebrews chapter four, verse twelve. Now I think you know exactly what we're getting ready to read here, right Hebrews chapter four, verse twelve. If I can find Hebrews, they've moved it in my Bible. Some conspiracy has happened today. Here we go, Hebrews, chapter four, verse twelve. Here we go, Hebrews, chapter four, verse twelve. For the Word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even the division of soul and spirit, joint andmorrow. And as a discerner of the thoughts and the intense of the heart. Now I'm getting ready to get it very very frustrated. This is the convoluted mess that appears in many Christian books, and sometimes it leads me to question my own sanity.

33:14 Their entire premise was you got to get your heart right or the Bible will be of no value. Now you're telling me that I need to read the Bible so that I can understand my thoughts and my motivations, because the Bible allows me to see it. It's the tool that lets me see in my heart. So I can really see what's going on in my heart, and I can see if my vote motivations are right or if my vote motivations are wrong. But I don't need the Scripture to help me look into my heart if I already got my heart right before I ever study the Bible. Because the Bible won't do any good unless I already have my heart right. Now you're telling me I need the Bible in order to understand my heart, well, there would be nothing to understand my heart. How did I get my heart right? Like, either my heart is right or my heart is not right. Ah, let me read it again, all right, the Bible, for the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even the division of soul and spirit joints tomorrow. And as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, do we Why should we be motivated to read and study the Bible? Because the Bible is external to you and I. We read it so that we can be confronted by something outside of us, which we'll confront and try to help us see how we're thinking and how we are feeling. That's why I reject the concept that God speaks to us inside of us,

34:46 because you can't discern that, You can't determine is that you? Is that God? No, you know what you need. You need a word outside of you. Now, the word outside of you you take and then hopefully it serves as a mirror and you see, well, I see my thinking, I see my emotions, I see my desires, I see my feelings and their contrary to this word that's outside of me. You may not like it, you may disagree with it, you may want to reject it. You may have a hard heart, whatever the condition of your heart may be. But you're going to be confronted with it. That's why you need the Word of God to do the work in your heart. It's the surgical instrument to cut open and expose what's going on in your heart.

35:28 That's why you need the Word of God to fix and work on your heart. Oh man, a lot. So in the previous section, I got to get my heart right, or the word of God will not do any good. But I'm motivated to read the Bible because it will help me then be able to sort out my thoughts and my motivations. Well, I wouldn't have to sort out my thoughts and motivations if I already have a right heart correct, because my thoughts and motivations should then be right. Oh man. Christians love to talk in circles. But this is a good motivation. See that first one about consistent joy.

36:12 So here's what I would say. I want I want you to ask yourself about, Well, come on, honestly, does the Bible bring consistent joy in your life? Come on, be honest? And then secondly, what role has the Bible played in your life confronting and helping you be able to discern your thoughts and your motivations? Has the Bible played a big role in your life, allowing you to be confronted with oh Man on motivations? Here are not right, my thoughts are not right? Has it played valuable role there? All? Right? Next we'll just do one more. This one has a couple of scriptures. Go to Ephesians chapter six, Ephesians chapter six, Ephesians chapter six. They want us to read a large section here. Pesians chapter six. Start in verse eleven Ephesians six eleven. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of the age, against spiritual host of wickedness, and the heavenly place. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand the in that evil day. Having done all the stand stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having to shod your feet with the prespiration preparation of the Gospel of Peace. Above all taking

37:44 the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Right, so they say the first are the not the first The first scripture they give for their third point is this, we take the scriptures. We are motivated to read the scriptures so that we can guard ourselves from sin and error. That the Bible will help us guard us from sin and error. They also give us First Peter Chapter two, First Peter Chapter two, I'm gonna challenge all of this First Peter Chapter two, Verse one, therefore laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy. Hang on, there we go. My cover's falling off my Bible, therefore laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and evil. Speaking as newborn babes, desire there the desire, the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby.

39:02 All right, well, that seems to be more about I'm motivated to read the Bible so that I may grow so right there that I don't know what this one has to do with this one. But they combine these two verses to say they combine these two passages the Phesian six eleven through seventeen one Peter two one through two, and here is their argument. You should be motivated to read your Bible because the Bible will guard you from sin and error. All right, now, let's think about this. David or Moses wrote scripture? Right? The argument is that Moses wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. If he wrote the first five books of the Old Testament, if he wrote those five books, or at least most of them, all right, obviously he couldn't have recorded his own death.

39:54 But okay, you get the idea. If he wrote most of those five books, did it keep him from the sin that he committed which kept him from going into the Promised Land? He wrote all of that scripture, he wrote all of that scripture. Did it keep him from that sin? David wrote a lot of scripture. Did it keep him from adultery? Murder? Cover up? Did it keep him from polygamy? So? Did did the scriptures keep Moses away from sin? Did the scripture keep David away from sin?

40:46 And we got we could go into David a lot of things David did. Right, We're just going with the big sin. We've got the numbering of the people's situation that occurred. We got a lot of situations with David, and he had multiple lives. Solomon wrote scripture, right, we typically a credit Solomon writing what Ecclesiastes Song of Solomon the Proverbs? Did it keep him from sin? Serial adulterer, serial polygamist, and an idolater? Paul wrote scripture and he said the things I want to do I don't do, and the things I don't want to do I do.

41:31 He referred to himself as the chief of sinners. Now I know what people say, Well, it wasn't actually any sin. He just felt that way. Peter wrote scripture, and yet he had to be confronted by Paul with error. Hmm, So I want you to get really I know I'm going to get controversial here, but does the Bible keep you from sin? Well? All right, let's just let's go ahead and throw this out because I think we can. We have a starting point here, right. I know this is a controversial subject, but we have a starting point. We know scripture, no matter how much you read it, no matter if you memorize every page of it, we know this. It will not keep you from all sin because no one can be perfect. So means whatever, however you think it keeps you from sin, there's a limit and how much sin it can keep you from because nobody can be perfect. I will say I'll just start with the scripture be holy as God is holy. But that means you have to be perfect. Scripture cannot get you to the cannot keep you from sin. That it cannot keep you from the sin that keeps you from perfection.

42:48 So then there's a limit to how much sin scripture can keep you from. Right, So does scripture actually keep you from sin? That is a common thing. Right. There's a very famous quote, sin will keep you from the Bible or the Bible will keep you from sin? Does the Bible keep you from sin? I think the Bible tells you what sin is. I think the Bible reveals your sin. I think the Bible confronts you with your sin. I think the Bible condemns your sin. I don't know if you can say the Bible keeps you from it.

43:30 The Bible's there to tell you, Hey, your sinful nature says do this. The Bible says no, no, no, wrong, wrong, wrong, You're guilty in thought word. Indeed, you're guilty by what you do and by what you don't do, and your only hope is the imputed righteousness of Christ. I don't know if you can say it keeps you from sin. Read the Bible all day? Just I don't. Well, we're already at what we're after new What time is it? I don't even know what time it is. We're thirty eight, all right, No, that's why my stomach is growling. I'm starving today. I haven't eaten today. All right, So it's so forget today, start tomorrow. Tell your boss you can't go to work. Twenty four hours. I want you to stay up. Read your Bible for twenty four hours. Don't you can eat, But while you're eating listening to it audio, you don't sleep. Twenty four hours. Read read, read, read, read, read, read, study, do Bible studies, listen to sermons, memorize. Twenty four hours.

44:30 Just that's all you do. And then you let me know if, well, after twenty four hours you become sinless. Why, I know you're not going to become sinless, so you're still going to sind So then how do you measure it? You said, Well, I stopped doing this. Did you stop it externally or did you stop it internally? There's a lot of things I've been able to stop myself from doing externally, and I can pat myself on the back and say I'm such a good guy. Internally I'm a piece of trash. Does the Bible keep you from sin?

45:10 I know there's some scriptures that we may use. I think the Bible condemns it. I think what happens is the Bible becomes a memes to you knowing not to do that, and then you try to resist doing it, and then the idea it keeps us from error. Now that one is that one sound that one preaches good, Hey, the Bible. The Bible is the thing that will keep you from error. Now I used to I would I would preach that content. I would. I would typically use to say, Biblical illiteracy is the soil in which deception, which error is planted. If you don't know scripture, then you can be deceived. I do believe there is some truth to that, but I also have become more cynical because everyone who picks up a Bible believes that their understanding is right, and the error is everyone else is understanding and the other person whom you sing are in error.

46:14 They're holding the exact same Bible, the exact same translation, and they're saying, no, you are in error. But it's the same Bible. So if the Bible keeps us from error, then nobody should have any error. But no, but nobody knows who's in error who's not in error, because everyone believes their reading of the Bible makes them keeps them from error, that their understanding is correct. Presbyterians think I'm wrong because I reject if at baptism. You see the circular reasoning. It's great to say the Bible will keep me from error, and then I read the Bible. I'm like, I'm kept from error. I'm right. Everyone else is wrong. Well, they have the same Bible, So why isn't the Bible keeping them from error and having them believe what you believe?

47:02 Someone's not right. Presbyterians and Baptists both can't be right on infant baptism. Baptists and Presbyterians both can't be right on the structure of the church. Baptist and Lutherans both can't be right on baptism. Where Lutherans believe it's you know, it's regenerative, It regenerates it, it turns that baby into a Christian. It's a means of grace. I mean, go on and on and on and on. The Calvinists can't be right, and at the same time the non Calvinists can be right. They're completely different views of salvation. I mean, I could go on, but everyone would say the Bible, the Bible keeps me from error. How is the Bible keeping us from error if nobody can agree on what it says? So does the Bible? I want you to really think about that today. Does the Bible keep you from sin and keep you from error? I think the Bible gets I think the Bible is truth, so it gives us a source of truth and so we can try to find that truth. So it will help us in our pursuit against error. But I don't know if you're going to say in and of itself, it's going to keep me from error because well, everyone reads it and thinks they're right, and it keeps you from sin. Well, if the Bible keeps you from sin and you see once again, do you see the weird reasoning within the Christian world? Don't Christian? Does? Your church probably teaches this.

48:28 When you become a Christian, you're a new creature. In Christ, old things have passed away, all things have become new, And they say that that's true practically. Well, if that's true practically, I don't need the Bible to keep me from sin. I'm a new creature. Everything is different. There's no more sin in me. If all things have become new and the old is gone, So then why do I need the Bible to keep me from sin? And remember, even in this article it says I got to get my heart right basically before the Bible will be of any value. Well, why do I need the Bible to keep me from sin? If my heart's already right, wouldn't the heart that's in me that's now right, wouldn't it keep me from sin? Because it's a right heart. So we have three motivations to experience consistent joy Some one nineteen one eleven. I don't think that's a correct reading of that, but I want you to ask yourself, Come on, how much consistent joy do you derive from the scriptures.

49:32 I know what you're supposed to say, I know the Church answer. Please just forget the Church answer and just be real and honest with yourself. Come on, go as you go, ask your spouse, go ask your kids. Do you think that I'm a happy, joyful person? Come on go ask them do you think I'm just filled with joy and happiness? And what do you think is producing such happiness and joy? And let them answer and they say, well, I believe I'm full. I'm consistently joyful because I read and study the Bible and just look at their their their their expressions. They may go, they may start laughing at you. Who knows? How has the Bible played a role in you understanding your thoughts and your desires? And number three, how do you process the concept that the Bible keeps you from sin and keeps you from error.

50:32 It guards you from That's the way the article put it, guard you from. I think I said to keep you from but to guard yourself from sin and error. But to guard you means it's keeping it from you. I think I think that I don't think I was being unfair. But but I know plenty of we could find sermons on it that would be making it much more dogmatic, making it much more dramatic, right like that famous saying sin will keep you from the Bible the Bible will keep you from sin. It's that concept. How do you see the Bible guarding you from sin, guarding you from error?

51:13 If the Bible is keeping us from sin and from error, ladies and gentlemen, then why do you sin? And why is there so much error in the American Church? Now? I know when I was a young Christian, the way is it is because they don't read and they don't study. If they actually we just read that Bible. Well, obviously I've now grown enough to realize that was a foolish thing to say, because they do read and they do study. What do you think about those motivations and how do you see them playing in your life? So I have offered you a little, just a little, a little kind of modify trying to clean up my interpretation or part of my interpretation to Mark chapter four. We have called into question this article's argument that you got to have your heart right before the Bible will be of any value.

52:11 We argue you need the Bible for your heart to have any chance of it's the tools needed to work on your heart. We have looked at their motivation for why you should read the Bible. Their first one is to experience consistent joy to sort out, second, to sort out your thoughts and motivations, and third to guard ourselves from sin and error. They have utilized the following scripture to try to support those points Psalm one, nineteen one eleven. I don't think that works, that the joy won in any wa should perform number two Hebrews four to twelve, which I think is a great verse, powerful verse, but it demonstrates why we need the Bible to do surgery on our heart and our mind. And then they said that the third motivation is to guard ourselves from sin and error. Ephesian six eleven through seventeen one, Peter two one through two. I don't think the scriptures. I don't think the I don't know if those scriptures really support that motivation exactly as they have worded it. But I think we have some struggles for exactly what the scriptures do or don't do in regards to guarding us from error and sin. All right, I'm going to stop there.

53:16 I could get one more in, but over at fifty three minutes, we've done a lot. I've tried to summarize it. I hope it's all made sense. If you want more understanding of my interpretation of Mark four and Matthew thirteen. Please go listen to the two messages that I did on that right. In fact, I called them me bring this up really quick. I called them opening up the church one app I called them parable of the Sewer a New Interpretation Part one and Part two. Please go listen to them. I could not go back through all the details of my interpretation. I know I probably oversimplified them in my review, but I just wanted to offer that little bit of modification. Hopefully it made sense. I will, and I give you an assignment that those four soils, if they represent different responses in different heart conditions. I want you to go through the Bible genesister revelation, finding people who would be classified as a believer demonstrating those responses.

54:27 Maybe one individual will show all four, maybe one individual will only show two or three. Just find enough individuals that you have one for each soil, and I think you'll be able to demonstrate that as believers, we can all fall into any of them at any given time. All right, thanks for listening. Everyone, have a great rest of their Tuesday. God bless