Tim: You've got to have discipline.
If you're going to get up and read the Bible
at 5 a.m. every morning
or at 6 a.m. every morning,
you've got to have discipline.
Brethren, I am here today
to talk to you about reading your Bible.
And it is sloppy Christian life
if you are not reading your Bible
every single day.
Lay it down.
This is the food for the soul.
This is our life. This is our health.
This is where we see Christ.
This is the Word of God.
This is where God talks to us
and shows us Himself.
If you are not reading your Bible every day,
that is sloppy and there is no excuse for it.
Because if you're not reading your Bible every day,
you're doing other things every day -
thing that are not near as important
and you know it's true.
Brethren, this is where the Christian life -
healthy Christian life - this is where it starts.
If you're not in the Word of God every single day,
there is no excuse for it.
No excuse.
And the discipline of the Christian life has to start here.
We talked last week about Bible memorization.
And I wanted to start there because of how important it is
for the health of the church.
But now we're stepping back a step.
We're talking just about getting in the Word.
And I'm not talking about reading
four chapters every day.
Listen, you should be working towards something like that.
I'm not even talking about reading a whole chapter.
And not all of us are cut out the same.
Not all of us read as well.
Not all of us like to read as much.
For some it's more difficult.
For some, our vocabulary is greater or lesser.
Some of us are just more wired readers.
Some love to read.
I recognize we're all over the place.
But brethren, this is our food.
This is the food of the Christian life.
And if there's any discipline you've got to nail down,
even above getting to Sunday School on time,
it is this.
You've got to be disciplined
in reading the Bible.
You've got to.
When you walk into a church,
and you see people who spiritually
stand head and shoulders above the rest,
when you look throughout history,
they were not Scriptural lightweights.
When you come across William Carey's
and Hudson Taylor's and John G. Paton's,
Adoniram Judson's, Amy Carmichael's,
Andy and Rebecca's,
if you look at their saved life
and their relationship to the Word of God,
they weren't lightweights.
They lived in that book.
If you think that you're going to run -
have some incredible spiritual life
and fruitfulness
and be a vessel fit for the Master's use
and you've got a shoddy approach to Scripture,
you're sadly mistaken.
You will never excel
until you have excelled in the Word.
I guarantee it.
Why?
Because that's where you draw the life.
That's where you draw the power.
That's where you see the Christ.
It is sanctification by Your Word -
that's what Christ said.
Sanctification is growth in the Christian life.
It is maturing.
It is being separated further and further.
It is achieving holiness.
It is coming more and more
to the image of Christ.
And it comes through that Word
and there is so substitute.
So how do we do it?
(incomplete thought)
We've got the discipline.
We need to have this delight
and this desire and this trembling
from the Lord.
So you're up at 6 o'clock.
You've got your cup of coffee.
And you've got to factor these things in.
Listen, whatever it takes to be wide awake
when you're in God's Word -
you don't want to do it in a shoddy way.
If you've got to drink tea,
you've got to drink coffee,
look, it might just require you
to get enough exercise in your life
so that you're wide awake at 6 o'clock.
It may require that you don't eat after 6 p.m.
Look, you've got to do what you've got to do to make this work.
This is really important.
Discipline.
If you know that eating at 10 o'clock -
I know every once in a while,
we'll leave a prayer meeting
and a bunch of us will go down to Denny's.
Look, if you can't get up the next morning
after you do that, don't do that.
Just pure and simple.
You say, well, other people do it.
Well, so what what other people do.
If you can't get up to get in the Word
if you do that, don't do it.
That's what discipline is.
Discipline is not always doing what the crowd does.
Listen, typically the crowd
even in good churches
are not spiritually where they need to be.
And so just doing something because the crowd does it,
I guarantee, Hudson Taylor got to where he was
because he was doing exactly what the crowd wasn't doing.
So there you are.
You've got your Bible in front of you.
Now what do you do?
Look, once you make your first pass
through the whole Bible,
you'll get an idea that there's some places
that are more exciting.
Usually, Joshua, Judges...
they read pretty well, right?
Numbers.
That first chunk of 2 Chronicles.
Those things can be difficult.
Leviticus can be rather difficult.
(incomplete thought)
I can remember as a new Christian
just starting to get out there
into certain parts of Isaiah,
certain parts of Jeremiah and Ezekiel,
and it was just judgment, judgment, judgment, judgment.
It was just kind of wearing me out.
But God gives it to us for a reason.
Remember, He that is absolutely perfect
designed this book perfectly.
He put what truth in it
to the degree that He wanted it in there,
He designed it.
And look, Tawfiq is saying
you need to read all of it.
Yes, you need to read all of it.
All of it is the Word of God.
All of it is profitable for doctrine and reproof,
for correction, for instruction.
It definitely is.
It's all inspired.
I mean, if somebody just told me right now
there was a whole book of the Bible that I had never read,
I would go home right now and devour it.
The Word of God thrills my soul.
I want to be in it.
But I know that there are some parts
that are more difficult to go through.
And so what you need to figure out is this:
how to get through all of it
and actually make it through
without wearing yourself out.
Look, I know this,
that just what Hudson Taylor knew,
there are certain parts of Scripture
that can tend to be drier than other parts.
Or at least that we have less expectation going in
that it's going to be helpful,
even though God can come like He did to Taylor
there in Numbers 7.
So it's very important that you pray,
but look, the reality is, there's some parts of Scripture
that are going to thrill your soul more than others.
And you've got to figure out how to get through the hard parts.
And typically, if you're wired this way,
and you can start at Genesis 1:1
and go all the way through, do it.
Do it.
You've got to do that sometimes.
I mean, try that.
You don't have to, but I recommend
that you at least try to do that once.
And look, if you're reading it at a fairly average clip,
you ought to be able to go through the whole Bible in a year.
Disciplined people set goals.
Set a goal for when you're going to get up.
Be goal-driven.
Set a goal for how far you want to get.
I mean, make the goal.
I want to read through the Bible once this year.
2013 is almost at hand.
Sometimes there's a place
wherever you are just to stop.
Pick up the McCheyne Bible reading program
and just go through the whole Bible.
I think that one actually takes you
through the Old Testament once
and the New Testament twice in one year.
And it has you reading four different places
in the Bible all the time.
So the day you have to read Numbers 7,
you also get to read several other places
on the same day.
And you can kind of mix it up.
And when you read the McCheyne Bible reading schedule
you're always in one of the Gospels I believe.
I've gone through that a number of years.
Please, brethren, don't just open your Bible randomly
and read wherever.
Read with a purpose.
Read with a goal.
Read to get through the Scriptures.
Read to accomplish reading
everything that God has written to you.
(incomplete thought)
When I was first saved,
I heard John MacArthur say
that he recommended
pick a book and read it through.
Like 1 John.
All the way through every day for 30 days.
That's a great way too.
Sometimes it's good to mix it up like that.
You don't have to do it the same all the time.
But be goal oriented.
Give yourself a plan.
Be disciplined and knock it out.
If you've never read through the whole Bible
in one year, do it.
If there's a certain book of the Bible
that you want to become familiar with,
do it, read Galatians once a day
every day for 30 days.
That will be immensely profitable to you.
If it's a bigger book like Isaiah,
you might want to break that up
into quarters.
And try to a quarter of it a day,
or you might structure it so that you
read through Isaiah once a week
for four weeks.
You do it four times.
Something like that.
The McCheyne - McCheyne's not the only one.
I just bring him up
because that's the one that I've been familiar with.
Lots of people have created Bible reading schedules.
Get you one.
Do it with purpose.
Give yourself to it.
Go through like that.
Brethren, every day.
Every day, make it a practice,
and unless you have some fluke schedule,
start your day.
Wake up. Get your coffee. Get your tea.
Brush your teeth. Wash your face.
Take your shower.
And then get in the Word.
And brethren, I'll tell you one thing that kills it
is when you try to bite off more than you can chew
and then you get discouraged
and you drop out.
Don't do that.
You're better off starting out
with ten minutes
and doing it faithfully every single day
and continue to do it
and then broaden to 15 or to 20.
Or start with 20 minutes.
If you suddenly start -
I'm going to do it two hours.
I'm going to read 8 chapters.
There was a year when I tried to read
a minimum of 8 chapters a day.
I wanted to go through the Bible really fast.
I just wanted the feel of that.
I wanted to get lots of it quick.
Not that I was going to stay anywhere
real long and meditate,
but I wanted the overall view of the whole Scripture,
and I was trying to nail down at least
8 - 10 chapters a day.
But you know what?
That's the kind of thing you know,
you hear George Mueller prayed a certain amount
or you come across Leonard Ravenhill
and he said if you don't pray two hours a day,
you're just basically sub par or something.
Listen, if you get wrapped up
in that kind of thing,
and you're trying to measure up to somebody else,
that's not the way to do it.
The way to do it is, yeah,
2013's going to start in two months,
and I want to go through the whole Bible.
And you can create your own Bible schedule
or you can look at some of these.
McCheyne's a good one.
Doesn't it have you in four places at once?
Yeah.
You can be somewhere in the Pentateuch;
you can be somewhere in the minor prophets;
you can be somewhere in the epistles;
and somewhere in one of the Gospel's.
Tremendous way to read the Scriptures.
That's four chapters a day.
That's healthy.
Go at half speed.
Read half of each of those chapters.
Or two of them.
And flip flop back and forth
and read the whole Bible in two years.
Some are wired more for one than the other,
but brethren, do it.
And if you feel like, no, I want to read repetitiously;
if you feel like I want to read John till I know it,
do it.
The most important thing is that you're doing it.
That every day you're getting in there.
Every day you're getting in there.
Brethren, read to understand.
(incomplete thought)
Listen, every one of us
that have been saved for any amount of time,
we know what it's like to be trying to read
in Leviticus, and you're like (nodding off).
And you have to go back and read the last chapter over again.
Then you're like, falling out on the thing.
Anybody been there? Where you've tried
to read the same paragraph like 10 times?
Finally, you just give up.
Brethren, if you're falling off to sleep at night,
that might be an acceptable way,
but that is not acceptable in the morning.
That is not acceptable if it's happening to you every day.
If it's happening to you,
you're not getting to bed on time.
And you know, I'm recommending that you do it
before you launch out into your family,
your work, your school,
interacting with others,
but give the Lord your best.
If you're just wired where
you've got a chunk in the middle of your day
and you're a student
and you've got three hours between classes
and you can sit down and you're wide awake
at that time of the day,
I'm certainly not going to discourage you.
If you come in here and tell me that,
I'm not going to call you a godless wretch
because you didn't get up at 5 a.m. and do it.
Brethren, the most important thing is
you're getting that Word of God
into your eyeballs and into your brain
and into your thinking
and renewing your mind with it.
That's critical.
Read to understand.
Don't read when you're drowsy.
Don't read when there's distractions.
Brethren, it's no good if you're over at the table
and somebody's trying to watch TV
and you've got one eye over there
and one eye in the book.
You need to read this book
with your whole-hearted devotion
and attention.
Don't read it where there's distraction.
Sometimes you can read -
I find I can sit at a Starbucks
with music on, people talking,
and I can lose myself in the white noise of it
and be far less distracted than if I'm at home
sitting in my office
where when I'm trying to read,
I keep noticing other things that I have to do.
Wherever, brethren.
Typically I do most of my reading
before we have family devotions.
I try between 6 and 7.
From 7 till 7:30, I'm trying to study
for my family devotions,
but from 6 to 7 is that allotted hour
that I want to give myself to my own
personal and devotional Bible reading.
When I go out praying, I may take
my small testament for Bible memorization
or if while I'm praying, a verse comes to mind,
and I take a small, tiny little Bible with me.
But the big one comes out in the morning.
Tawfiq: Can I say something
to being careful of the distractions?
I know a lot of us have Bibles on our phones
and that can be a good thing,
(incomplete thought),
because if you're reading your Bible
and you get a text message,
it can easily distract you.
So like Pastor Tim said,
you have to know yourself.
You have to know your limitations.
It's really good to have that paper
if that digital screen would distract you.
Tim: Yeah, I have a sleep function on my Mac
and you know what? That's good to kick that in.
I don't need to have a computer screen on
right in front of my Bible
if it's going to be a distraction.
You guys know what distracts you.
Be honest.
If your phone is distracting you, turn it off.
If your computer is distracting to you,
turn it off.
If there's any distractions, turn them off.
Brethren, pray.
George Whitefield.
Many of you know this.
"Above all, my mind being now
more opened and enlarged,
I began to read the Holy Scriptures
upon my knees,
laying aside all other books
and praying over, if possible,
every line and word.
I got more true knowledge
from reading the book of God in one month
than I could ever have acquired
from all the writings of men."
I strongly recommend that you do not have study bibles
if you are prone to go look at the notes all the time.
Let God speak to you through His Word
without John MacArthur's interpretation.
You do not need that.
If you don't have discipline to read God's Word
and to hear God's voice
and meditate on His Word
before you run to the commentary on it,
don't get a study Bible.
Whitefield is right.
The Word of God is pure.
John MacArthur's interpretation of that Word
is not always.
The best men have wrong interpretations.
And I would just say this,
if you're going to read to profit,
ask questions of the text.
I mean, come to God's Word,
like I just read to you.
Here is Asa.
Ask yourself questions.
Asa is clearly - something about his life
is being pinpointed as not being good.
He sought doctors first.
You ask yourself this -
ask questions of the text.
Is Asa a godly example or an ungodly example?
So you have to know your Bibles somewhat.
You need to be reading your Bible.
You need to know the context.
Is he a good guy or a bad guy?
What do you say?
What's that?
Yeah, he's one of the good kings.
He was one of the good kings.
And you would want to compare this to 2 Kings.
Because when you get these synonymous accounts
you can compare them.
Just like in the synoptic Gospels,
you can compare these accounts.
So he's a good king, but he did a bad thing.
I mean, you're asking yourself questions.
Is he a good king?
Is this something I should imitate?
No, he's a good king, but this is something
I shouldn't imitate.
It's kind of like Lot.
Is he righteous? Yes.
Scripture tells us "righteous Lot."
We brought it up the other day.
When he offered his daughters
to the homosexuals, the Sodomites,
was that a good thing?
So you have to be asking questions of the text.
(incomplete thought)
When God finds fault with Asa
for not pursuing Him before the doctors,
what does that teach me about God?
Oh brethren, theology proper.
The theology of God.
If there's anything we want to find out
when we go to God's Word,
it is who our God is.
What does it teach us about God
when you find God finding fault with Asa
for seeking doctors before he sought God?
What does that teach you about God?
He wants to be sought first.
He wants to be trusted.
He wants to be looked to.
You read that text in the Old Testament.
If you're asking questions of the text -
I just threw down some questions
that I think are very relevant for asking yourself.
This will help you.
Don't just read blindly.
Ask. Ask.
What is this teaching me about God?
What does this teach me or reveal to me
that I need to believe about God?
Does it reveal something I need to thank God for?
Should something I'm reading here produce praise?
Does it reveal something I need to repent of?
Does it reveal sin in my life?
Does it reveal something
that should influence the way I pray?
(incomplete thought)
This influences me to pray.
Brethren, if all of a sudden I get sick,
or I get a headache,
or my child is ill,
or they get a disease...
Father, You find fault with Asa
for running straight to the doctor.
I'm coming to You, but Lord,
if You don't rise up and intervene
when Your people are coming,
then what good is it?
Lord, why would You tell us to come to You first
if You never help us?
If when we come to You, You don't help us
and we have to go to the doctor then,
what good is it for You to tell us in Your Word
that we should come to You first?
Father, why would You tell us that
unless You are going to do what the doctors can't do?
And if we time and time and time again go to You first
and You're not doing what the doctor's can't do
and we have to go to the doctors to get any help at all,
why would You tell us that in Your Word?
Do you think there's a place to pray that way? I do.
I think there's a way to pray definitely that way.
Father, You told us.
This is given to us, brethren, for our doctrine,
for our teaching, for correction.
You know what correction is.
I'm going in a wrong way.
Correction is God's Word moves me
to the right way.
And so if I'm going to the doctor without praying,
this is good for correction.
It moves me into the right way.
For instruction in righteousness.
This shows me how to live a righteous life.
A righteous life is living by faith.
And God is telling us to live by faith.
Don't just run to the doctors
and don't just run to the nurses
and don't run to the medical authorities.
Don't just go to Texas Med Clinic
until you get on your face.
You've got a problem in your family? Get the whole family on their knees.
My daughter had a serious problem.
We anointed her with oil and we prayed over her.
And God wasn't pleased to heal her
and we took her to the hospital.
(incomplete thought)
There's some people who will never take their kids to the hospital.
I'm not saying that.
That may be the way that the Lord's going to deal with it.
But don't start there.
Start by running to the Lord. Lord, what would You have me to do?
Ask these questions.
Does it reveal something
I need to change my thinking about?
Brethren, think with me here,
every single encounter with Scripture
ought to confront something about you,
about your sin,
about the way you think of God,
about your faith - everything.
Every encounter with Scripture
ought to be correcting.
It ought to be instilling something.
It ought to be showing you truth.
It ought to be causing you
to refine your thinking.
Something.
Scripture demands a response from us.
It is God's voice.
He's looking to us to respond to His Word
in praise, in awe, in repentance, in faith.
Remember that.
I need to go to God's Word
and God is expecting response.
Trembling.
To this man will I look.
Trembling at His Word is a response.
Believing His Word is a response.
When you walk away
feeling a thrill in your soul,
brethren, I find that thrilling to my soul
that God doesn't want us going to the doctors first.
Don't you?
I mean, I find that something to rejoice over.
I find that something that my faith
can lay its teeth into.
I love that!
God doesn't want us to go there first.
But some response.
As Donald Whitney in his Spiritual Disciplines,
he says if you can just come away
from Scripture with one thing;
(incomplete thought)
I have a feeling that if we really looked at it exactly,
how many an hour after they've read their Bible,
don't remember anything they've read.
It doesn't come into their mind.
And they go through the day
not thinking about what they read.
But if you can shut your Bible
and remember one thing;
if you can key in on one thought,
let it really register in your mind
and give enough time on that thought,
meditate sufficiently on it,
and sometimes it may be 2 or 3 things,
but if you can lay a marker down -
a mental marker -
one thing, one reality, one truth,
if you can remember at least that one thing,
you'll typically be miles ahead of what most people
leave their Bible reading with.
And brethren, if you just do that
365 times out of the year,
you come away from your Bible reading
with one thing that you're able to carry with you
into the day several hours or through the whole day,
brethren, do you know what that does
in a lifetime?
Massively profitable.
And I think it will really help if you're asking questions.
If you're asking questions:
What does this teach me about God?
You ask those questions.
Those little markers are going to come.
Because as you're answering those questions,
as you're saying what does this teach me about God?
What does this teach me about me?
What does this teach me about the devil?
What does this teach me about my world I live in?
What does this teach me about the way man is?
What does this teach me about sin?
What does this teach me I ought to be repenting of?
How does this teach me how to fight
this good fight of faith?
What does this teach me about Christ?
What does this teach me
about how I ought to relate to Christ?
You're just asking all these questions.
How does my encounter with Scripture,
what sort of response is demanded from me?
You're asking that kind of question.
It will be so helpful.
And then you take one of those things
that seem significant to you
and you just try to make a mental marker of it.
You give enough time to thinking about it
right there at that moment
that when you walk away and you're driving to work
or you're walking to work or you're going somewhere,
you're on your way to church,
it comes back to you.
Wow! God taught me this morning
He doesn't want me looking to doctors first.
That's huge!
Tawfiq: Something I find extremely profitable
right on the heels of what he was just saying,
because after we read,
there is a tendency to pray
before and after you read,
because if you don't think
that the enemy of your soul
is crouching at the door ready to grab
the very things that you just read,
desiring to distract you with everything else,
then you've forgotten that this is a war.
So highly, highly encourage to pray
before, even during -
you read something, praying that the Lord
would help you to, the Bible says, to hold fast
to the Word with patience and endurance.