Systematic Reading of The Word

Review of Private Means of Grace Disciplines

0:04 Now, I shall take about five minutes to introduce the subject that is before us and give a brief review. I must start, of course, for the benefit of our visitors and indicate that the nature of this class is one that we're calling a Christian education forum. That is, we're dealing with matters that concern the Christian and his walk before God in life, and we're dealing with it in the context of a forum. That is, we all contribute in discussion as we seek to discover light from the Holy Scriptures, forum pointing not so much to content but to method, and then, of course, Christian education to the content.

0:47 And the first area of concern in our newly established Christian education forum – sounds very fancy, doesn't it? – is the matter of the disciplines of the private means of grace, assuming that many of us lose ground. Through the summer months, because of the disruption of the normal schedule, we must establish afresh, as we enter the more normal schedule of our fall activities, those private disciplines of grace, namely secret prayer and the private reflective reading of the Word of God. And the way we are thinking through this subject is by means of certain fundamental questions to which we have been responding in the light of our understanding of the Word of God.

1:31 Thus far, we've considered... Question 1. Are such disciplines as private prayer and the study of the Word of God necessary?

1:40 And the answer we came up with is an emphatic yes, because of the clear commands of the Word, the general descriptions of healthy saints given in the Word, the examples of our Lord, and then the confirming witness of Christian biography, all of which converge on this affirmative answer, yes, it is essential for a believer to have established in his lifestyle periods regularly set apart for secret prayer and for the reading of the Word of God. Second question to which we addressed ourselves, how are we to determine the time for ourselves? When shall we engage in such disciplines?

2:24 How much time shall we give to these disciplines? And the answer we came up with was that we must establish the best, the best time for ourselves individually in the light of our other duties, the state of our minds and bodies at any given period of the day, a reasonable time, our present state of growth, and the elements of self-denial. No one can legislate to us from Scripture saying you must pray so many minutes per day, you must meet with God at such and such a time during the day. No one can bind your conscience to the time, either the precise time or how much time, and if anyone tries to do it, reject such attempts as you would preserve the health of your soul.

3:08 Your conscience as a Christian can be bound to secret prayer and secret reading of the Word, and I hope it is bound to that. But when and how much time, no man can bind your conscience because the Word of God does not bind it. And then the third question was, should we have structure to this time? Should we simply come to this time and hope for the best, and quote, follow the leading of the Spirit, day by day?

3:32 And the answer that we came up with from the Scriptures is yes, there ought to be a general structure to this time, because God has made us in His image, and as orderly creatures we function better in a framework of order. The very nature of the Word of God demands that we come to it in some degree of consecutive reading. It is not a collection of little spiritual tidbits, and you can just dip your hand in the bucket anywhere at any time, and come up with something good. No, no.

4:02 There is a progression of thought, there is a flow of theme, and therefore there must be some degree of regularity, and then also the directives concerning prayer. After this manner, pray ye, Jesus said. Our consciences are bound to pray in a certain way according to the Word of Christ. And then, of course, we must have structure because of the problem of remaining sin, which makes us dispose to laziness, to dullness, and to, I don't know what else, to call it but diffusiveness of thought, in which our thoughts run in a thousand directions at the same time.

4:38 And then, we were addressing ourselves to question number four when time ran out last week. What should that structure be, in general and specifically? And we said in general that the structure ought to include preparation for prayer and reading of the Word. It ought to include the reading of the Word and some commitment to prayer as a conscious spiritual activity.

5:03 And we concluded last week by stating that though these three things, preparation, the reading of the Word, and prayer, ought to be included and we ought to have some structure for them, we must remember that we are not establishing a new legalism. There is flexibility. And in the course of a week or two weeks or three weeks, there may be times when your whole time is given to worship, other times when the whole time is given to praise, other times when the whole time is given to searching through a principle of the Word of God. So we are not binding you to a new legalism.

5:39 And it's amazing how much of the spirit of Romanism is in our hearts. We want everything all hashed out and laid out for us so that if we've gone through our Protestant rosary, we've spent our five minutes preparing, our ten minutes reading, and our fifteen minutes praying, we've done our thing, and now we can go off and feel that we're religious for the day. Now that spirit is in every single one of us. And we must fight it as a very, very negative factor in the progress of spiritual development.

Preparation for Time Alone with God

6:12 Now then, that takes care of our review. Now we come to this whole matter of preparation. Now we're descending from general principles. There ought to be preparation, reading of the Word, and prayer.

6:24 And we've just begun a discussion of this matter of how we prepare our hearts, our minds, for our time alone with God. Some suggested the matter of the singing of psalms and hymns unto God. And therefore, a hymn book, a psalm book, a Psalter, is of great assistance in our private devotions. And then I think the class closed, if my memory serves me right, with the suggestion that, in some cases, the reading of devotional literature is helpful in the preparation of the mind and the spirit.

7:02 Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, Jay's Morning and Evening, or similar devotional books can be of assistance in this matter of getting the mind and spirit prepared to pray and to read the Word of God. Now, are there any other suggestions with reference to this matter of how we can best prepare ourselves to meet God in our time alone with Him? Anything else that you have found helpful? Yes.

7:42 Suggestion if your domestic situation is such that while you're getting yourself prepared physically, I know some people that just feel they can't pray unless they first shave. They just feel wrong coming into the Lord's presence with a scruffy chin. I know others that don't feel right praying until they're dressed. It's just a peculiarity of their own temperament.

8:15 It's neither virtuous nor vicious. As one man said, it's neither old man or new man. It's simply human. And those simply human elements are not to be despised.

8:26 So this is what we could call the listening. Listening to good Christian music. Others may have the New Testament or portions of the Word of God on tape. Maybe to put that on while you're shaving or while you're having your cup of coffee.

8:45 Anything that will pull in the loose ends of the mind and dispose it to the conscious awareness that I am now about to have special dealings with God. May I give another suggestion? That if you're one of those who, like myself, finds it necessary to have a little something on your tummy when you first get up before you can pray or meditate or do any of those things, it's helpful then, while you're preparing your cup of coffee or post-it or tea or whatever else it is, that you begin to think of who it is into whose presence you are coming. The same way if you had an appointment to meet with some great earthly potentate, I doubt that your mind would be filled

9:30 with a thousand other things right to the moment that you were ushered into his presence. If you knew that at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning you were going to be ushered into the Oval Room at the White House, I'm sure at least somewhere between 8.30 and 9 o'clock you'd be thinking of this awesome privilege that was yours of sitting down and speaking face to face with the highest public servant in our American system of government, President Ford himself. There would be some previous disposition of mind to consider both the awesome privilege and something of the terrifying reality of what it is to come into the presence of someone of such high dignity as a fellow human.

10:13 Well, how much more, how much more, when we are coming into the presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and some of that is captured in that wonderful hymn on prayer, Thou art coming to a King, large petitions to him bring, for his grace and power such none can ever ask too much. So, this we could call the general focusing of the mind, the general focusing of the mind on what is before us. All right, any other suggestions that any of you have found helpful in this whole area of preparation of mind and heart to come into the presence of God? Yes, John?

10:55 The meditation of past mercies. Having the mind, and this could come under here, could it not, John? Where the mind is recalling past mercies so that when we come to pray, our hearts are full of praise. Many facets that flow out of this.

11:12 Yes, Gordon? So, this again would come under one of the dispenses just mentioned, recounting the past mercies of God, Psalm 103. All right, I'm sure there could be other suggestions, but I hope these have been helpful to at least give you some idea, if you've been finding that you seem to be treading water, or to change the figure, you're on a treadmill in the first half, or maybe you feel you go through three quarters of your devotional exercises and you're just really not with it. Your body is there, but somehow the rest of you isn't there.

11:54 Maybe the problem lies in this matter. You are not taking sufficient time for preparation of mind and heart for the exercises of prayer and meditation upon the Word of God. No time is lost time that is spent in preparation for that secret time with God. And I think we mentioned last week, far better to spend ten minutes preparing yourself if the final twenty minutes, if you've blocked out a half an hour, may be fruitful than feeling, well, if I don't get right to reading and right to prayer, then I won't get through my stated chapter and the things I'm supposed to pray for.

The Goal: Communion with God

12:30 You see, now you've missed the whole goal of it. The goal, if you could state it in as simple a proposition as possible, what is the essential goal of these private disciplines of prayer and reading the Word of God? Alright? Communion with God.

12:49 How many would agree? Alright, that's the issue. We're not coming to read the Bible so we've had our Bible reading, so that we can take the thorn out of our conscience if the preacher happens to say in the next sermon, have you been reading your Bible? Say, oh boy, I've been reading my Bible.

13:05 You see, the goal is not the pacifying of the conscience. The goal is not to go. Through some kind of a non-material Protestant rosary to say, I've prayed for thus, thus, thus and thus and therefore I've said my prayers. The goal is communion with God.

13:20 Well, if that's the goal, then we'll be satisfied with nothing less than meeting God in His Word. Meeting God in our prayers. And we'll not be content that we've read our Bibles and said our prayers if God is not met in those exercises. So if we keep that in mind, if we keep that before us, then you see, we'll not feel that preparation time is wasted time.

13:46 For it's the preparation time that, humanly speaking, will be the key as to whether or not we meet God. However, I must balance that with the statement, God is sovereign in the extent to which He draws near to us and gives us discoveries of His glory and the enjoyment of His presence. Never forget that. You know all those prayers in the Psalms?

14:09 Can you show up the light of thy countenance upon us? Lord, let thy face shine upon thy servant. Can you make God's face to shine upon you? Can you force Him to lift up the light of His countenance?

14:23 No. You see, there's that element of divine sovereignty. And Newton caught that in that hymn. Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings.

14:33 It is the Lord who rises with healing in His wings. And there are times when we come in the spirit of greatest dullness with the least preparation and expectation. And what happens? God meets us, breaks our hearts, and we're totally surprised.

14:51 There are other times we feel so utterly spiritual when we come to pray and we say, Boy, God is really going to meet with me today. And you come away dry as dust. Well, how do you account for that? Well, no answer is an adequate answer that does not include in it this element of the divine sovereignty in the manifestation of the presence of God to our hearts.

15:11 You see that illustrated in the Gospels. Their minds were held that they could not perceive. Then it says, Jesus opened their minds that they should understand. You see, there's that element.

15:24 It's unpredictable. Now, that doesn't make us lazy. That doesn't cause us to sit back and say, Well, God doesn't lift up the light of His countenance. No, no.

15:32 In those psalms where the psalmist is conscious of the distance between himself and his God, those psalms are marked. Those psalms are marked by the most earnest kind of praying that God would return, that the Lord would lift up the light of His countenance, that God would manifest His presence. All right. Anything else that needs to be said on these general principles of the first element of our time with God, preparation?

The Place of the Word in Devotional Time

15:57 Yes. Yes, the fact that we must. This is not a matter of whether we feel like it or not. It's our biblical duty and responsibility.

16:10 Men ought to pray when they feel like it or not. And men ought to praise it. Men ought to study His Word. These are principles of biblical obedience, whether or not we feel like it.

16:20 All right. Now, the second thing, and we said last week that, though, again, we wouldn't legislate, and some of you, for the most part, may be fine that you must spend more time praying before you read the Word, etc. I do think it can be established from the Scriptures as a general principle that after preparation, then the reading of the Word of God should come so that we are given fuel for prayer. If prayer involves confession of sin, what is it that will reveal our sin but the Word?

16:53 If prayer involves praise, what is it that will give us fuel for praise but the setting forth of our privileges in Christ in the Scriptures? If prayer is petition for grace to perform certain duties, it is the Word that sets the duties before us. If you're a husband and you find it difficult to have much to pray for, just read Ephesians 5 and see what God expects of you as a husband. That your love to your wife is to reflect the tender, sensitive, compassionate, providing love of Christ to the Church, you take that seriously, and that will set you to pray.

17:27 That will set you to pray. And so, it is the Word that gives fuel and directive as well as the basis of faith for our prayer. So, though some of you may feel it's a bit arbitrary, I'm going to take this approach because I'm teaching. If you've got a one, you've got to have a two before you can have a three.

17:46 And so, we're arranging in this way. But again, let me put the cautionary word. This is not a new legalism. And no one is saying you must do it this way.

17:56 You say, why do you keep emphasizing that? Because I know how we're built. I know how we're made and constituted. And there'll be someone who'll go out and feel that unless they do it this way, they're not pleasing God.

18:08 No, this is not what we're saying. But in the process of teaching, we must move in some kind of logical progression. So, now we come to the reading of the Word of God. And the first question to ask is this, how are we to read the Word of God?

How to Read the Word of God: Essential Dispositions

18:29 All right, we've sought to prepare our hearts and now we come to where we're going to open this book that we call the Bible. The question is, how should we read the Word of God? Put the things over here as we get them and then we'll try to arrange them in some kind of order. With an open mind.

18:56 What do you mean by an open mind? All right, so what you're saying is we don't come to the Scriptures simply looking for confirmation of our present notions. Isn't that what we're saying? We don't come to the Word.

19:28 In that head, we're looking for things that confirm us in present perspectives. But rather, whatever notions may be there in our minds, for the Word of God to alter those notions, to strengthen them, to refine them,

20:11 there is that spirit of teachableness as we come to the Scriptures. Now, can you think of any portions of the Word of God that indicate that this ought to be an essential part of our reading of the Scriptures? Yes, Jane? All right, great text.

20:26 Psalm 119, verse 18. Will you read it for us, or quote it? All right, the psalmist is praying, Lord, open thou, literally, undress my eyes. Lord, take the veil from my eyes.

20:41 Your Word is clear. But Lord, the dullness is with me. Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. There's that spirit of openness, the spirit of teachableness.

20:51 All right? How else should we read the Word of God? To come in faith, in faith that is the Word of God. We're not dealing with anything other than the Word of the God who has made us and who in grace has redeemed us through Christ.

21:24 All right? Okay. Open mind, to come in faith, to come in a spirit of obedience. There are many passages that teach us that this is an essential way to read the Word of God.

21:44 All right? Read it for us. Psalm 119 and verse 35, and you'll find this all the way through the 119th Psalm, where the psalmist is praying that his heart and life may be responsive in obedience to whatever God says. Sends?

22:10 Were you going to say something? No. All right, Bob? Joshua 1.9?

22:14 All right. So the end in view is, thou shalt do. To the end, thou shalt do. Not just know, but do.

22:34 All right? How else, then, should we read the Word of God? In an open mind, in faith, in a spirit of obedience. Paul?

22:43 Pardon? All right. In faith that it is God's Word. In the confidence that it is His own Word.

22:48 I think we've already touched on that. Gordon? All right. We should read systematically.

How to Read the Word of God: Systematically

23:05 Good. I was hoping someone would give us that. Now, why? Can you give me a verse that supports the necessity of systematic exposure to the Scriptures?

23:14 All right. It's implied if the apostles are commanded to teach whatever Christ has commanded, the explicit reference there is, of course, more exclusive to the teaching wing of the Church, but it's certainly inferred. Something more definitive as far as the individual believer exposing himself systematically to the whole Word of God. Yes, Ralph?

23:49 All right. 2 Timothy 2.15? All right.

23:57 Study, or do thy not most to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed handling aright the word of truth? But that, again, has more particular reference to the ministering servants of God. All right. Eugenio?

24:09 I'm asking the question. You're answering. All right. 2 Timothy 3.16 and 17.

24:24 This is a key passage showing the necessity of some kind of systematic exposure to the Word of God. Speaking to Timothy, Paul says, in verse 14, Abide in the things that thou hast learned and been assured of, and that thou shalt not forsake, but that thou shalt not forsake the things that thou hast learned and been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. And from a babe thou hast known the sacred writings, that is, the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Function number one of the Scriptures, they make wise to salvation.

25:02 But all Scripture is inspired of God and is also profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, for instruction which is in righteousness, that the man of God may be furnished completely unto every good work. Now again, the primary reference is to Timothy as a servant of Christ, and if he wants to be thoroughly furnished for all the demands upon him as a ministering servant of Christ, Paul says he must have this thorough acquaintance with the whole of what is called Scripture. You see, that is why we take such a strong stand against the idea of any further reference of revelation. When people say that in this day

25:46 we need tongues and prophecies for the edification of the Church, what they are saying is that we do not have a complete and adequate revelation that can furnish us unto every good work. We need to have added to this revelation some fresh word from God, and tongues and prophecy are fresh words from God. And don't let anyone kid you that they are anything else. The Bible says, if you are ever in a meeting where there is a so-called prophecy, it is always spoken in the first person.

26:23 Not as when I am preaching and I exhort you and say, as your pastor I plead with you. The prophecy always comes in the first person. I the Lord say unto thee, fear thou not for I am with thee. You must not be disturbed at the circumstances about thee.

26:41 Go forth in my name. I am speaking directly through the speech organs of the prophet. That is saying that scripture is not adequate. Now I am not creating a caricature.

26:53 I have been in enough meetings and heard enough tapes to know whereof I speak in this matter. And likewise when someone speaks in tongues in a language that is not discernible to him or others and the interpretation comes, it is always in the first person. As though God had said no, no, we say such is not needed for edification because we have the whole word to perfect the whole man unto every good work. But now here is the problem.

27:25 Why has there been a vacuum that has made people run for new revelations? It is because much of what is in the word has been ignored and overlooked. Why are people running after these movements in which there is no God in life? It is because whole sections of the word of God which speak of koinonia have been overlooked.

27:51 Individual saints have not been reading the whole word of God to absorb the concept. Why is it that you have people going off in this tangent and that tangent? Many times the tangents are created by the vacuum of ignorance concerning great segments of the word of God. To take this wonderful inheritance that God has given him and to acquaint himself with it.

28:19 And I think this passage is one of the clearest. And then the second one of course is Matthew 4.4 in which Jesus said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by what? Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

28:39 Now how much of this book do we believe by bread alone? If he is to live and have good physical health, he should live by bread. That is, he ought to have a well balanced diet that takes in all of the things that God has provided in creation for the sustenance of physical life. And the more we realize the delicate relationship between chemical imbalances and emotional and mental disorders, the more we realize that we are living in a world that is full of spiritual minerals and vitamins in our

29:23 word. And if you ignore any part of it, the deficiencies will be reflected in poor spiritual health. Man shall live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. So then, there must be the systematic word of God in the spirit of obedience in some kind of systematic order.

How to Read the Word of God: Dependence on the Holy Spirit

29:56 Holy Spirit, have you got any passages that demonstrate that this is necessary? Yes. The entrance of thy word, which in the marginal reading is the opening of thy words,

30:17 giveth understanding it, giveth light. Alright. Psalm 119. We might through comfort of the scriptures have hope.

30:49 Yes. There is a dependence upon the Lord by his spirit to open the word. Can we come up with some more passages that teach that this is an integral part of proper reading of the scriptures? Alright.

31:06 Let's look at a key passage, alright, in the Gospels. Luke chapter 24. You remember that throughout their dealings with the Lord prior to his crucifixion, whenever our Lord spoke explicitly of Satan, the disciples could not understand this. At one point, Peter even tried physically, at least verbally, in their intimations that he committed himself even to physical opposition to such an idea.

31:43 This shall never be to you, Lord. You shall not die as long as I'm alive. And the Lord had to deal with him very strongly and say, Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou thinkest not the things that be of God but the things that be of Christ?

32:00 And this is what the Apostle Paul said in his Evangelism in the Book of Acts. Again and again it says, opening and alleging from the Scriptures that Messiah, that Christ, must suffer and must needs be raised from the dead and that Jesus was indeed that Christ. So it's a great theme of the Old Testament. Now, then, when did they come to understand this?

32:32 Well, he didn't give them a different Bible. We just read in Luke 24, 45, the following words. Then opened he their mind that they might understand the Scriptures. And he said unto them, Thus it is written, and it had always been written, and they had read these things and said unto them, Behold, the Son of God is born again from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name

33:16 unto all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. Ye are witnesses of these things. He opened their mind. They saw them as a discovery of their own mental faculties.

33:34 They could say, I see it. And yet the Scripture says that discovery was rooted in his activity. He opened the mind. He didn't put them in a state of ecstasy and give them a vision.

33:52 He didn't give them, as it were, some fresh revelation that Christmas needs that. They couldn't see it. They saw it, but they couldn't see it. Now with the same Scriptures they see it.

34:07 What made the difference? The illuminating work of the Lord Jesus. He opened the mind. Did someone have a hand raised?

How to Read the Word of God: Meditation

34:26 Yes. Yes, the whole passage, John 14 to 16, that discourse of our Lord, we need to be present now. We read with open mind, in faith, in the spirit of obedience, systematically in dependence on the Holy Spirit, and the other fundamental things that ought to characterize how we read the Word. Yes, Priscilla?

34:57 Yes, I was hoping someone would come up with that. We won't go into what meditation is, but we'll go into what God meditates upon the Law of God day and night. It doesn't say the Blessed One is the one who reads, even reads his Bible day and night, but who meditates thereon. All right, and then the Joshua 1, 7,

35:36 isn't it, or 1, 9? Joshua 1, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35,

36:21 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64,

37:06 65, 67, 68, 70, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 91, 92, 93, 92, 93, 94, 95, 100, 12, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21,

37:50 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 62, 63, 64,

38:35 65, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 91, 92, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 100, 100, 100, 102, 103, 102, 103, 104, 104, 105, 105, 105,

39:20 106, 107, 108, 109, 109, 1010, 110, 115, 116, 117, 117, 118, 119, 1110, 1113, 1115, 1117, 1118, 1119, 1121, History of what in particular?

The Distinct Contributions of Scripture Sections

39:50 All right, particularly they are four biographies of the Son of God. Isn't that what the Gospels are? Four biographical sketches of the Son of God, the Lord of Glory. So they are calculated then to set before us the glory of Christ, the nature of His work, what He is like.

40:08 For the God with whom we have to do is the God who is revealed in Jesus Christ. Never forget that. So there is something in the Gospels to be contributed that is not to be contributed in the Psalms. What are the epistles essentially?

40:26 Yes, ma'am. All right, instruction to the churches, particularly instructions in what? Could we give some broad outlines of what the epistles contain?

40:37 Doctrine and the life that flows out of that doctrine. All right, what about the Pentateuch? What about the first five books, the five books of Moses? What?

40:48 What is their peculiarity? What sets them apart, say, from the historical books of Kings and Chronicles?

40:59 Solomon, all right, the giving of the law. What else? All right, the book of beginnings, Genesis, will give us creation. Not only the beginning of the world, but the beginning of what else?

41:14 Sam, all right, the beginning of the concept of God initiating covenantal commitments to His creatures. The beginning of sin, the beginning of the nation of Israel. All right, we've done enough. You see now that there are distinct contributions.

Concurrent Reading of Contrasting Portions

41:49 To these broad sections, or from these broad sections of the word of God. Therefore, there ought to be a concurrent reading of contrasting portions of the word. For instance, if someone commits himself, say, I'm going to read through my Bible in the course of two years. You could do that if you would commit yourself to the reading, I think, of about two chapters a day.

42:13 Let's see, three in the old, one in the new, we'll take you through in a year, so that's four. Yeah. So, if you were to do two chapters...

42:19 Four chapters a day, it would take you through in approximately two years. But can you imagine how dry it would be if in your devotions for a period of a couple of weeks, you were hung up in that section of Leviticus with all the ceremonial law, and that's all you had to feed your soul upon. Now, there's food for our souls in that section. And we'll come, perhaps, when we take an Old Testament survey course down the road in this class, we'll come to some of that wonderful contribution.

42:47 But you see, that would be pretty... That would be pretty slim pickings, by and large, compared with what it'd be like when, perhaps, your two chapters were in Matthew 13, 12 and 13, or Ephesians 5 and 6, you see?

43:02 So, the commitment that starts in Genesis and just plods right on through has much to commend it in terms of sheer dogged determination. But it does not have much to commend it in terms of edification. Whereas, if you're going to do concurrent reading, a chapter in the Old, a chapter in the New, and maybe a Psalm, now, do you see how balanced this will be? When your Old Testament reading is in one of those sections that is not as rich in its devotional yield,

43:36 now, I'm not saying it's not inspired, it's not as rich in its surface or immediate devotional yield, what is lacking here on that given day may be made up for that chapter in Matthew that sets before you. That sets before you the glory of Christ and that Psalm that brings you into the interactings of a believer with his God. Likewise, when you're coming in the New Testament, perhaps, to a more heavy doctrinal section that is really stretching your mind, Colossians chapter 1, and you're finding it a bit difficult to penetrate that, maybe your Old Testament reading now will be in a historical section that is just filled with the kind of exemplary biography. These things were written, we read in 1 Corinthians,

44:19 for our admonition, for our example, and you're reading the story of the slaying of the giant Goliath, and as you see David going out in the name of God, you find your soul stirred to cry to God for that kind of faith that looks beyond the size and the foreboding impression of your problem and sees the might and strength of your covenant God. So, I would suggest for this reason, a concurrent reading of contrasting portions of the Word of God. of the Word of God. And, for example, I gave one example here, but one that I have found helpful, and I know others have, is the practice of reading a psalm a day, or a half a psalm,

45:03 if it's one of the more lengthy psalms, a proverb a day, and just keep going through the book of Proverbs, which brings in your practical life, and then maybe a chapter in the Old and a chapter in the New. In the course of a year, that will take you through the psalms, at least once, if you split the larger ones, and admit perhaps some days when you will not be able to get to that, and not psalms. It will take you through the Proverbs, of course, there are 31 chapters, so theoretically it will get you through Proverbs twelve times in the year. It will get you through approximately a third of the Old Testament, and it will take you all the way through your New Testament.

45:38 So that if you follow the plan similar to this, over a period of three years, you would have gone through the Old Testament completely once, the psalms you would have gone through the three times, the book of Proverbs, 36 times, and the New Testament once. Now, you see what you're doing is, by concurrent reading the contrasting portions, you're receiving the benefit of the various contributions while still having a systematic exposure to the entirety of the Word of God. Now, we do not say that one portion is more inspired than another, but it is right to say that the book of Ephesians will bring more edification in its six chapters

46:21 than six chapters from the heart of the book of Leviticus or from Chronicles. Now, that is not to demean the Word of God. It is simply to recognize that God intends certain things by some portions of His Word that He does not intend by others, and that in no way lessens our confidence in the absolute inspiration and infallibility of the Word of God. Now, Cynthia, did you have a question?

46:46 Yes, very good, thank you. Now, when I opened it up for other suggestions, I was going to mention that this is the, what's called the McShane's calendar for daily reading, and this is the similar type of concurrent reading. And he has it split into family reading and secret reading. And to give you an example of this, the family reading would be Matthew 1 for the first day, and the secret reading would be Ezra chapter 1 and Acts chapter 1.

47:16 And I think McShane's takes you through in a year, doesn't it? Takes you through the entire Scriptures. But it's, again, this concept of concurrent reading of the Scriptures. Yes, Ken?

47:32 Yes, so it underscores, again, some of the principles we've been mentioning here so that there is greater exposure to that, to those sections of the Word of God that are richer in their yield to the average believer as far as direction and devotional material. Yes. Or no, it may, yes, as McShane does, as stuffing yourself and not masticating it. That's right. Yes.

48:10 Well, that's the benefit, again, of the McShane pattern. He splits it into family reading and secret reading, assuming, you see, that the heads of households will be reading the Word of God to their families. And, likewise, some may want to, perhaps for their devotional time in the morning, read their psalm and their New Testament chapter, and then for an evening reading before they go to bed, which, in the nature of it, they'll not be able to bring quite the same mental and spiritual energy, they'll do their Old Testament reading, and they're proper. So, again, we can't legislate as to how, when, how much, but here are some practical suggestions that have been helpful to others.

Practical Plans and Avoiding Abuse of Scripture

48:47 Now, if some of you found some of... Yes.

48:51 These are available, I think you can get them from Banner of Truth in Carlisle. In fact, we can get some. Harry? Is Harry here?

48:59 Harry? We'll get some for the book table. All right? Good.

49:03 Harry's got an order on the way Monday morning. All right? Very good. All right, other suggestions, and I think probably this would be the best suggestion.

49:10 The first thing to do, because we just have five minutes, the class time is gone again, are there some plans of private reading, concurrent reading through the Word of God that you have found helpful? Paul? Well, I would say the principles that we dealt with earlier, Paul, about why we ought to have any plan at all, apply here, that if we have no goal, generally, we don't get very far. And I must confess that when I don't have some kind of definitive goals before me,

49:55 I give in to my flesh and to spiritual laziness, and then I find myself tempted to do the picking and choosing which keeps me, maybe, from the exposure to certain portions that I most desperately need, but for which I have no natural inclination. Yes? But I think, again, you see, that that shows...

50:29 I don't know who the brother was, so I'll say that if he's here, I don't mean anything personal by it. I think that shows, you see, a defective mentality. The Song of Solomon is calculated to help a person, married or unmarried, to see the sanctity and the purity of the intimate marital relationship when carried out under the eye of God. And it's one of the most wonderful ways to keep, on the one hand, from being infected with the hedonism of our day, the preoccupation with the flesh, and, on the other hand, the asceticism that has often been identified with Christianity, but is pagan.

51:02 It's not Christian. So I think single people ought to read the Song of Solomon. Now, they ought not to make that their devotional reading morning, noon, and night.

51:12 I begin to suspect their motives for reading it, you see. And here again, if they're committed to a systematic reading, then they'll be kept from making an abuse of it, because there's no portion of the word that the flesh will not abuse. See, some people, left to themselves, would simply live in Romans chapter 8. They never read Romans 6.

51:32 Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? They just love that. No condemnation. No condemnation.

51:38 Oh, how I love that. No condemnation. But they never read Romans 6. And there's something about the systematic, the commitment to a pattern that takes us, as it were, by the scruff of the neck when we most need to and brings us through fields that otherwise we might not walk through.

Further Suggestions and Caution on Interpretation

51:55 Yes, dear? Yes. Yeah. This is the one I've been following for this year.

52:02 I've just made it a project on my own. No real reason, except that I felt it was necessary to get through the Scriptures in their entirety this year. And I've been using the one at the front and then just ticking off each day. And then when you get behind, you do some catch-up reading.

52:15 Yes. Sam, and then we'll come back, Bob. I would say, again, Sam, that if someone has the time to do this or wants to do that as supplemental reading, that this can be very helpful. I'm going to make some other suggestions.

52:52 It looks like we won't have time this morning. But in terms of taking on a hobby of mastering one particular book early in your Christian life and then making it a practice to read that book through at least once a week. Say, if you're going to say, I'm going to read the book of Ephesians and then throughout your life get all the best commentaries on it and read those through as something apart from and in addition to what we would call our stated devotional exercises. All right?

53:20 Bob? And then we'll go back to Grove and then we'll have to quit if we're going to be right on time. I have just about 20 minutes. Yeah, very good.

53:41 Yes, we'll come to that. All right, Grove, this will be the last comment. About 15 years ago, I did a whole virtue of keeping out of reading all the verses

53:53 because God's people would be better at it than us. Yeah, right.

54:36 I have... That's a good qualifying principle.

54:47 You see, it just underscores again we can't make a rule in this. Now, again, that's a principle that can be abused because God does not speak to us apart from the laws of grammar and context. And a lot of believers have come up with silly ideas because one verse leaped out at them and they gazed on that verse for half an hour until they saw nothing but that verse. But when it was looked at in its context, in the flow of thought, in the general argument of the epistle, the verse meant completely the opposite of what it was or what they thought it meant.

55:17 And God never tells us something devotionally that is not accurate linguistically and theologically. And I want to bear down on that thing because the word of God is used by some Christians as a magical kind of talisman and the words can say anything just so long as they suggest a spiritual thought. But God has spoken to us in grammatical construction. He's spoken to us in thought units, what we would call paragraphs and all the rest.

55:35 And so I think this will come into play as we develop this further. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

55:41 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

55:45 Thank you. Thank you. But our time is gone. We have to bring it to an abrupt end here and we'll pick up here next week, God willing.

55:52 Let's pray.