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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadR.A. Torrey Collection: Torrey, R A - How to Study the Bible: 8 - Fundamental Conditions of the Most Profitable
TOPIC: Torrey, R A - How to Study the Bible (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 8 - Fundamental Conditions of the Most Profitable
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FUNDAMENTAL CONDITIONS OF THE MOST PROFITABLE BIBLE STUDY
1. The student must be born again.
a. 1Co_2:13-14 ["13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1Co_2:13-14)], Joh_3:3 ["Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdomof God" (Joh_3:3)].
b. It requires spiritual sense to make a man a competent teacher of the Bible.
2. A love for the Bible.
a. Job_23:12 ["Neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have esteemed the Wordsof His mouth more than my necessary food" (Job_23:12)], Jer_15:16 ["Thy Words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by Thy name, O LORD God of Hosts" (Jer_15:16)].
b. Abounding life means abounding hunger for the Word.
c. Study of the Word stimulates love for the Word.
3. A willingness to do hard work.
a. Pro_2:1-5 ["1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; 2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; 3 Yea, if thou criest afterknowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; 4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God" (Pro_2:1-5)], Psa_1:2 ["But his delight is in the Law of the LORD; and in His Law doth he meditate day and night" (Psa_1:2)], Jos_1:8 ["This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success" (Jos_1:8), Luk_2:19 ["But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart" (Luk_2:19)].
b. Intellectual laziness lies at the bottom of a large percent of fruitless Bible reading.
c. One pound of beef well chewed and digested and assimilated, will give more strength than tons of beef merely glanced at.
d. Spend fifteen minutes on each word in Psa_23:1 ["The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want" (Psa_23:1)] or Php_4:19 ["But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Php_4:19)].
4. A will wholly surrendered to God.
a. Joh_7:17 ["If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself" (Joh_7:17)].
b. It is simply impossible to get the largest profit out of your Bible study until you surrender your will toGod.
c. A surrendered will will do more to make the Bible an open Book than a university education.
5. The student of the Bible who would get the greatest profit out of his studies must be obedient to its teachings as soon as he sees them.
a. Jam_1:22-24 ["22 But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was" (Jam_1:22-24)].
b. Truth obeyed leads to more truth. Truth disobeyed destroys the capacity for discovering truth.
c. Use, and you get more; refuse, and you lose all.
d. Whatever duty you find commanded in the Bible, do it at once.
e. Truth not lived and stood for, flees.
6. A child-like mind.
a. Mat_11:25 ["At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, LORD of Heaven andEarth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes" (Mat_11:25)].
b. A child is not full of its own wisdom.
c. Do not come to the Bible full of your own ideas, and seeking from it confirmation of them. Come rather to find out what are God's ideas as He revealed them there.
d. Every time we open our Bibles we would do well to get humbly down before God and say, "Father, I am but a child, teach me."
7. Study it [the Bible] as the Word of God.
a. 1Th_2:13 ["For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe" (1Th_2:13), Rom_9:20 ["Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast Thou made me thus?" (Rom_9:20), Gen_5:24 ["And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him" (Gen_5:24)].
b. Involves
(1) The unquestioning acceptance of its teachings when definitely ascertained, even when they appear unreasonable or impossible.
(2) Absolute reliance upon all its promises in all their length and breadth.
(3) Obedience -- prompt, exact obedience, without asking any questions -- to its every precept.
(4) Study it as in God's presence.
8. Prayerfulness.
a. Psa_119:18 ["Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy Law" (Psa_119:18)], Jam_1:5-6 ["5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed" (Jam_1:5-6).
b. What new light shines from an old familiar text as you bend over it in prayer.
c. Prayer will do more than a college education to make the Bible an open and a glorious Book.