How To Study The Bible Part 1

you [Music] hi everybody David guzik here I am a pastor a Bible commentator a Bible teacher and what I want to do in this particular session is talk to you about how to study the Bible specifically how to prepare for a teaching or a Bible preaching or sermon and especially I want to walk you through the process that I use now I don't pretend for a moment to think that my method my way of preparing to teach the Bible is gonna work well for everybody it may or may not work well for you but I think we can always learn something good from somebody else's example and so I'm gonna walk you through how I prepared to teach Psalm 28 and use it as an example maybe you'll learn something about how to study the Bible either for yourself because we should all be Bible students listen I'd say to you even if you're an atheist even if you don't even believe in God you should be studying the Bible and I'll tell you why because it is non deny ibly the most influential book of human history there is no book that's ever been published that has had a greater influence on the world and especially on Western culture than the Bible and so just as it being the most influential book of all time just for the sake of history just for the sake of cultural understanding you should read and study the Bible so how do you dig in deep and starting Bible again here's how I did my own preparation for teaching Psalm 28 I'm gonna walk you through it step by step we'll put text up on the screen to help you understand what I was reading and what I was understanding and we'll just go through it like this okay number one and again this is about Psalm 28 so I'm gonna be talking about the psalm begin with the Bible text that's number one so I began with the text of the psalm now in the old days when I would do this I would read from the text of my print Bible I use the new King James Version that's something for us to talk about a different time which version is best this or that but I use the new King James Version it was very good and help for me and I gotta say I still use that version and but often and I'm preparing at a computer using Microsoft Word for my word processor oftentimes I'll just copy and paste the text from a website or from a Bible software program by the way a great Bible resource site for your Greek or Hebrew your Bible text and many different commentators including myself blue letter Bible B L B dot org it's an invaluable Bible resource and of course you can also get my Bible commentary on enduring word calm but the enduring word but blue letter Bible BLB org a tremendous Bible resource okay here's the text of Psalm 28 and I'm just gonna read the whole thing to you a psalm of David that's the title of the song then verse 1 to you I will cry o Lord my rock do not be silent to me lest if you are silent to me I become like those who go down to the pit hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to you when I lift up my hands toward your holy sanctuary do not take me away with the wicked and with the workers of iniquity who speak peace to their neighbors but evil is in their hearts give them according to their deeds and according to the wickedness of their endeavors give them according to the work of their hands render to them what they deserve because they do not regard the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands he shall destroy them and not build them up blessed be the Lord because he has heard the voice of my supplications the Lord is my strength in my field my heart trusted in him and I in helped therefore my heart greatly rejoices and with my song I will praise him the Lord is their strength and he is the saving refuge of his anointed save your people and bless your inheritance shepherd them also and bear them up forever what a great Psalm isn't it not a very long song only nine verses but Psalm 28 is fantastic now what do I do with that well I read through the psalm many times I just read through it again I think about it as I read that I'm making biblical connections but you just read it many times I'm looking for how its organized I'm looking for the flow of the psalm I'm looking for patterns within it I'm trying to see the development of thought throughout the psalm and things like that and I'm praying I'm thinking through the psalm let me tell you I feel blessed and refreshed just by reading and thinking meditating through the song and I can't give you a time limit on how long this takes look it takes as long as it takes it's a I read it as many times as I need until I feel like I understand it I think about it until I feel like I've got just kind of a general idea in my head I haven't really put much down on paper yet or on on a computer keyboard yet but but it's filling my heart it's filling my mind read it read it read it as one person says read your self full that's how I do it okay then comes to step number two then I begin to organize the psalm with sort of a skeleton of an outline the beginnings of an outline when I look at Psalm 28 I see how the psalm begins as a prayer of petition in other words it's asking God to do something if you look at it there in Psalm 28 verse 1 and by the way even though we're gonna be putting things on the screen you may want to open up your Bible and follow along in Psalm 28 Psalm 28 verse 1 says to you I will cry O Lord my rock do not be silent to me look you know what that is don't you that's a petition it's a prayer do not be silent to me that's asking God to do something that begins at Psalm 28 verse 1 but then excuse me I'm adjusting my Bible here but then in the middle of psalm 28 there's a shift it begins thanking God look at verse 6 of Psalm 28 it says this blessed be the Lord because he has heard the voice of my supplications now when I noticed that verse 1 begins as a prayer a petition verse 6 begins thanking God for answering the prayer I like that that gives me a dividing line to begin my organization so here's I divided section a this is the prayer of petition making requests to God that Psalm 28 verses 1 through 5 then section B you have the prayer of praise happy in the answer God has brought to prayer that's Psalm 28 verses 6 through 9 so again I like this organization it seems like okay there's the first half of this Psalm and a second after the so now I'm gonna be honest with you not every Psalm not every chapter the Bible lays itself out to such organization and we want to be careful that we're not forcing a pattern of organization upon the text but where we see it we see it and we're very grateful for it so you get the two divisions here section a the prayer petition that's the first five verses of Psalm 28 then the prayer of praise because verse 6 begins a section of praise that's the second section of the song section B the prayer of praise verses 6 through 9 okay so what do I do next I have my general division just in the very beginning of an outline there then I continue the outline throughout the psalm you see after I've made those two broad divisions now I'm ready to organize the text within those two sections now here's what I came up with and I do want to emphasize there is no absolutely right or wrong answer for doing this now of course there's some answers that are more faithful to the text there's some answers that are less faithful to the text but to people who really love Jesus and really know the Bible and really want to understand it can come up with slightly different structures I like my structure obviously but let's just break it down how I did first of all I see that in the first two verses David now by the way I know David is the author of the psalm how do I know it because the title of the psalm told me it says a psalm of David so in the first two verses David repeatedly asked God to hear him he said do not be silent to me and then he said hear the voice of my supplications when I cried to you so I give this section comprising the first two verses that title asking to be heard by God okay in the first section he's asking so in the first part of the first section he's asking to be heard what about verses three four and five then I look at Psalm twenty eight verses three four and five and they seem to be pretty coherent as a unit with David asking God that he would not suffer the same fate as the wicked this is what he says do not take me away with the wicked evil is in their hearts give them according to their deeds render to them what they deserve he shall destroy them in other words he has the wicked in mind yet it is all in the form of a prayer so verses three four and five I give the general heading asking to be spared the fate of the wicked so after I've done that this is how the first section looks we have part a the prayer of petition making requests to God then verses 1 and 2 asking to be heard by God and then I haven't there the text there for Psalm 28 verses 1 through 2 1 & 2 I should say then in the second section starting at verse 3 I have the section where instead David is now asking to be spared the fate of the wicked that's verses 3 & 4 so verses 1 & 2 to you I will cry O Lord my rock do not be silent to me lest if you are silent to me I become like those who go down to the pit verse to hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to you when I lift up my hands toward your holy sanctuary that's asking to be heard now versus three four and five asking to be spared the fate of the wicked do not take me away with the wicked and with the workers of iniquity who speak peace to their neighbors but evil is in their heart give them according to their deeds and according to the wickedness of their endeavors give them according to the work of their hands render to them what they deserve because they do not regard the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands he shall destroy them and not build them up so again I like what I've done with the first part of the psalm the first half verses one through five now for the second broad section this is verses six seven eight and nine what do I do with that in Part B I see that in verses six and seven David is praising God because his prayer was answered blessed be the Lord because he has heard the voice of my supplication my heart trusted in him and I am helped therefore my heart greatly rejoices so I'm gonna title the psalm 28 verses 6 & 7 as praising the Lord who hears prayer he's praising the Lord and he's praising God who hears prayer maybe I should stop right here before I talk about verses 8 9 and just say do you see what I'm trying to do in my own breakdown of the text I'm not trying to be fancy I'm not trying to be eloquent I'm just trying to be clear and simple in my explanation titling verses 6 & 7 as praising the Lord who hears prayer is about as basic as it gets but that's what appeals to me I like clarity and simplicity anyway breaking it looking at verses 8 & 9 we see that David is not so much there thanking God as he is praising and extolling the Lord who is the strength of his people so we see there vs. 8 9 the Lord is their strength he is the saving refuge Shepherd them also bear them up forever you got to be strong to bear up so I'm gonna title verses 8 & 9 as praising the Lord who is the strength of his people so what happens well I break it all down here's part 2 again this encompasses verses six through nine of Psalm 28 and I title it part two the prayer of praise happy in the answer to prayer then the first part verses six and seven praising the Lord who hears prayer and I won't read verses six and seven you can read them yourself and then verses eight and nine part 2 or section 2 praising the Lord who is the strength of his people okay do you got that so I've got the major divisions of the psalm first half second half and then within those divisions I have the individual sections or parts now in my step two that's the broad break down into ABC or ever many are necessary and then in Step three that's the more detailed to break down into one two three four however many are necessary I'm really not trying to do an exposition of the text there this is what I'm trying to do in this parts two and three of the break down I'm trying to organize it and break it down into pieces that make sense to me and I'm using that as a way to follow the progression of thought throughout the section in other words the exposition is going to come but for me the exposition begins with a sense of order and organization throughout the passage I want to have a sense not only of the psalm as a whole but how it flows and I have to say this as well ordering and organizing is easier in some Bible passages than it is in others to the best of my ability I'm not trying to impose a structure onto the text but I'm just trying to let it flow from the words itself and the title that I give to the section doesn't have to describe everything in the section but just what I think is the main idea or the main theme of it okay that's the first three steps read the text then do the big sections then do the smaller sections accounting for the individual versus now step four I give it a title at this point I usually feel like I'm ready to give a title to the chapter or to the psalm so here's what I came up with from Psalm 28 I titled it Psalm 28 praise from prayer heard and answered again praise from prayer heard and answered and I simply came up with this title by looking at the section headings and thinking of something that accurately described the psalm or the chapter look I'm gonna be honest with you I'm really not very good at coming up with titles for teachings or sermons I'm just not great at that but I tried for something that's just accurate and descriptive I know guys who have the gift of sermon titles I don't I'm just coming up for something plain now it isn't unusual for me to change the title after I've worked on it more but I'd like to do this before I do my line by line thinking of the psalm come up with at least a preliminary title for the psalm or chapter okay now on to step 5 I've made my title I've got my breakdown now point 5 I title line by line thinking at this point I'm ready to do what I feel is the core work of the expositor and what is the core work of the expositor to think through the biblical text line by line in context seeking to explain to illuminate and to apply the biblical text again explain illuminate and apply the biblical text so this is how it looked for me through Psalm 28 now I'm gonna use blue text to make comments on my thinking or process the things in blue text that you're gonna see on the screen those are things that I would not have in my actual notes the black text is what I'll have in my actual notes the green text is used to indicate questions that I asked about the text and there's a good to ask of a Bible passage in general what is in green text would never be in my thigh notes so what I'm gonna present before you are the way I would outline the passage and what I would write why I would write it and then some additional questions I would make along the way so it'll be up there on the screen and we can kind of talk about it as we do it first of all I have Psalm 28 praise from prayer heard and answered it's a psalm of David part a the first part the prayer petition making requests of God and then starting 0.1 verses 1 and 2 asking to be heard by God now again I'm just looking at the biblical text and trying to think through it line by line sometimes word by word so what do I come up with well first of all in verse 1 the psalm begins to you I will cry O Lord my rock do not be silent to me this is what I write down in my thoughts am I thinking about this this is what I would type in my notes with the opening of this Psalm David was both trusting and hopeful in faith he gave God the title he longed for him to fulfill to be David's Rock in the present season of difficulty David said this also in hope because at the moment he felt God to be silent to him now again why well because here I'm just thinking about the words in verse 1 David's cry and then the words silent he's crying unto God but he feels God is silent he doesn't want God to be silent so I'm asking myself the question what is the opening note or tone of this passage then I look at the next line this is the second line or actually maybe the third line of verse 1 where he says lest if you are silent to me I become like those who go down to the pit this is what I write in his trouble David felt that the grave was near and if God did not intervene he would not live long I just want you to know there's nothing terribly profound about this I'm just trying to be clear I'm just trying to explain the text but this was this was my thinking the consequence of God's silence - David this was a logical progression if you are silent to me I'm gonna die and again I'm thinking what's the problem revealed in the passage David's gonna die if God doesn't come and rescue him then I think of the next line I think we're down now down into verse two when I cry to you when I lift up my hands toward your holy sanctuary and David's using the poetic technique of repetition this is what I'm writing on the text and parallelism to say essentially the same thing in two ways his prayer was a cry to God and his body was set in the traditional posture of prayer that meaning I lift my hands now especially when I'm studying the poetic passages but really all throughout my study the Bible I'm always looking for examples of repetition and parallelism in the songs it's very characteristic of Hebrew poetry and literature sometimes there's a deeper meaning in the parallelism sometimes not see I'm asking my question is there a practice mentioned in the text that we should do today such as the lifting of the hands that's something to think about maybe to apply from the text all right going on out of verses 3 4 & 5 David in this section again it's the second part of the first section if you want to say it's a 2 versus 3 4 & 5 David is asking to be spared the fate of the wicked so I have my Bible text there and then just simply line by line I'm gonna think about it and when I think about it I'm gonna think about it on my keyboard I'm gonna let my fingers do the thinking and I'm gonna let them explain to myself and just kind of as I talked to myself and meditate on the text I begin with the first line do not take me away with the wicked that's the first line of verse 3 here's my thought about it David happily knew that his life was different than the workers of iniquity that's in the second line of verse 2 and he asked that God would treat him differently than the wicked no get that's just a simple observation don't me like the wicked God I'm not trying to be fancy I'm just trying to see what's there then in verse three the second part of it he says who speak peace to their neighbors but evil is in their hearts when David thought to describe the wicked he began by noting that they were false in their words hiding the evil that was hiding in their hearts again it's just a simple observation and if you want to ask yourself a question that would lead to this you ask yourself the question where is the focus of the focus on God on self on sinners on saints or something else then he says beginning in verse 4 give them according to their deeds now here's my comments on that again just my thoughts on that verse in his own seasons of sin David cast himself upon the mercy of God and ask to be forgiven his sinful deeds here he prayed for a harsh judgment to be applied to the wicked that God would deal with them according to their wicked deeds now how did I come to that thought here I'm just considering that it is David saying this and when I think about David I remember he's the one who sinned himself so David also knew how to cast himself on the mercy of God and yet David knew this that God was not always merciful I'm asking myself this question does this emphasize more God's mercy or God's judgment listen both are valid aspects of God's character and God is not obligated to show mercy if you're obligated to show it it's not mercy so David emphasizes this point by repeating the same idea in four different phases so again I'm looking for the patterns of parallelism of repetition so notice in this text how he repeats the idea again and again first in verse 4 according to their deeds and then he says in the next line the wickedness of their endeavors then he says in the next line the work of their hands and then he says in the following line what they deserved you see the pattern here he's repeating himself and he's doing it for emphasis now verse five I look at the line beginning there because they do not regard the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands when David considered the wicked deeds of the ungodly again these are my thoughts on it he also considered that they ignored the creative work of God - David this was evidence of one being sinful and ripe for judgment again notice this he's saying one of the things that make this and I'm just drawing this from observation on verse five they do not regard the works of the Lord well I think that's very significant you see that line they do not regard the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands that makes me think of Romans chapter one verses 20 and 21 where Paul expressed the same idea now there when you've been doing this for as long as I have you become something of a what do you call a topical Bible something of a chain reference in your mind you read a Bible passage and it connects with another one so I read David's line in verse five because they do not regard the works of the Lord and I think that's what Paul was talking about in Romans chapter 1 verses 20 and 21 now maybe you haven't been studying the Bible for as long as some other people maybe you don't have these connection but I want you to know this is the fruit of many years of diligent Bible study you will become a walking topical Bible one passage will always suggest itself to another passage and can I say it's a beautiful thing because the links the connections the beauty the intricacy of the Bible will just reveal itself to you so I include that verse in my teaching notes I'm asking myself the question how does this connect with other passages in the Bible and this is what I write in my notes Paul expressed the same idea in Romans chapter 1 verses 20 and 21 and then I quote the passage for since the Curia of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse because although they knew God they did not glorify Him as God nor we're thankful but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened that's their fate so I think that's a great connection to make and I'm always looking to make connections now the last part of verse five it says he shall destroy them and not build them up so then I'm thinking the wicked forget about God but he doesn't forget about them God promises to give those who reject him what they deserve you see I just thought it was a very interesting idea the beginning part of verse five he's talking about man forgetting God and then I'm talking about in the end of verse 5 God doesn't forget about them even if man wished that God would forget about him God does not forget and you can ask the question what does this passage tell me about God and you'll get to that one thing it says God does not forget he remembers even if it's in judgment alright now what about the second part of this Psalm starting at verse 6 again under the general heading of B this is the prayer of praise happy in the answer to prayer well first we got the first section number 1 verses 6 and 7 praising the Lord who hears prayer and here's how I break down those two verses I quote the opening lines of verse 6 blessed be the Lord because he has heard you see in David's trouble he cried out to God and now he's praising God who heard and answered his prayer he became David's strength and shield you see I love that it's a nice contrast between two kinds of crying out first David cried out in pain and agony now he's crying out in praise declaring God to be his strength in his field a great question to ask yourself as you're going through a Bible text say is God being praised is God being tear and if he is why now here's a sub point I make under that I'm keying off the ideas there in verse 6 excuse me verse 7 where he talks about the Lord being his strength and his shield this is the comment I make it's a beautiful thing to say my strength and my shield some have a theoretical knowledge of God as a strength or a shield without knowing the goodness of it in the individual life so don't miss those simple words the word my makes all the difference there notice what David says my strength my shield what a difference what a difference between saying a strength or a shield but David no is able to say my strength of my shield and this is a good point of application is it not we need to apply this to our lives now going on to verse 7 continuing on in verse 7 we see in verse 7 where he says my heart trusted in him and I am helped this is my observation on this David here adds his voice to the testimony of countless others who have found help as their heart trusted in God this brought great rejoicing and singing to David you see when I read that line my heart trusted in him and I'm helped I just occurred to me you know David's not the only one who could say that who else could say what is being said here and I thought David's not the only one that trusted in God and God helped him many people have said that isn't that wonderful that David puts himself alongside and you know I got to say in summer and I think of myself I can say this can I not say my heart trusted in him and I am helped and of course you can say it as well so you see this business of studying the Bible and analyzing it line by line sections this is not a cold this is not a sterile thing my own heart is nourished I'm being ministered to as I understand this alright let's hit these last two verses of the psalm verses 8 and 9 this is the second part of the second section where David praises the Lord who is the strength of his people this what he says he says the Lord is their strength and he is the saving refuge of his anointed now that's how I begin my analysis there and what do I say about those verses I say this this is the blessing of those given to the heart that trust God God becomes their strength notice that it says the Lord is their strength that's the point I'm trying to make he doesn't just give strength he is their strength he's the refuge of the anointed now in every Psalm in every chapter I study I'm looking for a pathway a connection to Jesus and here's an obvious one look at the word anointed so here's the comment I make on this I say the word anointed mashiac I thought I knew the Hebrew word for anointed but I confirmed it with online Bible this reminds me of the ultimate anointed one Jesus the Messiah his anointed are in the Messiah and therefore they are strong and safe listen a great question for you to ask every time you're reading every time you're studying the Bible ask the question where is Jesus in this passage and that's a great thing to examine then the last section of this save your people this is in verse 9 and bless your inheritance Shepherd them also and bear them up for ever David concludes this Psalm with a series of short prayers asking God to bring his people what they need and what to look for so listen Lord bless your people bless your inheritance Shepherd them but it's prayers God please continue to have your hand upon us and again this is where this passage leaves us that's always a great question ask where does the passage leave us alright this is part one of how I go through the work this is my own time with the scriptures and let me tell you part one to me is the most intensive it's the most tiring and I mean that in a good way when I say tiring I just mean the good feeling you have of giving yourself to a good work it's the most filled with fellowship with God time I have in my Bible study there I am just me and my Bible thinking through the text thinking through what God has to say breaking it down for myself typing out my observations in a way that might make sense to me for me it's a beautiful thing it's it's kind of like journaling for myself I'm journaling but I'm journaling not so much about my feelings I think that's what a lot of people do with a journal and look there's a place for that but that's not what I'm doing here I'm journaling about what the text itself says and how it applies to my life so these are the first five steps so far I take the text I read it over and over again I break it down into its big parts I break it down into its smaller parts I give it a title that's the fourth step and then finally I go line by line now I don't feel that I have to make a comment on every line note just the things that kind of strike me the the things that you know just jump okay here's something important here's something beautiful here's something that that's but I don't feel obligated comment on every single line or every single word know that I mean that's just too much but I make comment on what jumps out to me sort of doing my own journaling through the text but again it's not journaling about how I feel it's journaling about what God has said this is the first part of my real intensive Bible study in the second part that we're gonna examine in just a moment we're gonna talk about the commentary work which i think is a secondary very important thing [Music] you

Channel: David Guzik

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Keywords: how to study the bible, bible study, david guzik, guzik, enduringword, bible, psalm 28

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Length: 35min 38sec (2138 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 23 2019