Effective Study — William MacDonald

Motivating Young People to Study the Word of God

I'd like to begin with this morning's Keys to Effective Bible Study. We're really building up, bringing up keys. This is the next one, Keys to Effective Bible Study. In introduction, I'd like to say that I spend an awful lot of time thinking, you know, how can we get young people interested, really motivated, to study the Word of God?

I really lie in bed at night, pondering this whole subject. And I guess most of my life has been lived in this area. And I realize that I have an enemy. And that enemy today is TV. If it wasn't TV, it would be something else.

You know, not every generation had TV, but there was always something to lure you away. But you know, why is it that TV is so much more attractive than Bible study? Do you ever think about that? Why is it that, like the sound of music or the late night show or something like that can really grip people?

And Bible study seems kind of drab by comparison. Do you ever think about that? Why is it that it's really so exciting to see these fine young specimens of humanity competing in the Olympics, but it really doesn't seem quite as attractive to see a young person out in Bombay preaching in the open air?

Faith Overcomes the World’s Attractions

Can anybody tell me the key that solves that problem in one word? Well, I'll tell you what it is. Faith. Faith sees beyond all the glamour and pimple of this life and sees what really counts and what really is important.

And it's when we're not walking by faith that the attractions of the world, which I admit seem so alluring, get a hold of us. And when we really neglect that which matters. Pretty something to think about, isn't it?

Discipline and the Lack of an Instant Method

Now, I'd like to say also at the outset that as far as I know, there's no royal road to Bible study. No easy way. I'm glad Brother Sheridan spoke before me because he's a living example of what we're going to be talking about.

You say, oh, he just went to sleep and put on the tape recorder and he got it by osmosis. Don't believe it for a minute. Don't believe it for a minute. He did a look at Brother Sheridan as he ministered the word of God.

Well, I could never do that, you know. You think, well, it just came to him easy. He has a gift for it. No, no. I have to use a word here that's very, very unpopular today and that word is discipline.

It comes by discipline. And I have never discovered an easy way to Bible study. We have instant potatoes and we have instant soup and we have instant printing, but there's no instant knowledge of the word of God.

I've never designed it that way. So, let's start out with that in mind that we're going to have to work if we're going to get into the word of God. And let me also say that what I'm going to say today is not the method of Bible study.

There's just a method. And you might have a different method and it might be far better. All I can tell you is some of the keys that I have followed myself that I found effective in my own life, but I certainly don't force them on you.

Key One: Begin With a Short Portion of Scripture

Key number one. Carefully select the books to be studied and start with a short portion. Carefully select the books. You have to begin somewhere, don't you? Okay. Brother McKenzie here this morning. Well, Brother Sheridan, if a young person came to you and said, where would I start?

Where would you recommend him to start to study the word? Romans. Good. Okay. Romans is good. It's foundational. Somebody else, if I ask somebody else, they might say the Gospel of John. There's no right answer to it.

The idea is to get before the Lord and pray and ask the Lord to lead you to the place and then start with a short portion. The reason I emphasize that is that a lot of us try to bite off more than we can chew.

You know, some people say, well, I'm going to study a chapter a day. Well, maybe you will, but maybe five verses would be better depending on the material. Maybe five verses would be better. If you could get those five verses and get something out of them, it would be far better than doing a skim on a whole chapter.

And I learned long ago that a big job is composed of many little jobs. And I can't do a big job, but I can do many little ones. And they have a way of adding up. 1947, I got down on my knees before the Lord, and as one of the goals of my life, I told the Lord I wanted to go through the New Testament verse by verse and write out my own, from my own private study, write out my own commentary on every one of those verses.

It's not a terribly big job. And I couldn't do that all at once. It was too much to think about. But I could do three or four or five verses a day. And I did. I started doing it. Do you know how it accumulates over the period of years?

So I say, carefully start. Ask the Lord to lead you to some book to start with. As a matter of fact, I started with Romans and then strange that Father Sheridan should say that. I started with Romans.

And I'll tell you, Romans isn't easy. The Bible is a wonderful book. It's so wonderful that a young believer can go and get food for his soul. And no matter how old you are in the Lord, you can go there and still there are tremendous problems too.

Key Two: Turn Unclear Passages Into Questions

It's really a wonderful book. Second, and this is my number, write down in question form everything in the passage that is not absolutely clear. Write down in question form everything in the passage that's not absolutely clear.

People say to me, how do you study the Bible? I say with a question mark for a brain. And that's true, really. Now don't misunderstand me. I've never doubted the Word of God. When I come to the Bible, I come with my mind on its knees.

I come in submission to the Word of God, not doubting. I don't doubt the Word, but I have a lot of questions. And I know there are a lot of people here in the meeting today who are very, very humble. And they read the Word of God and they say, well, I don't understand that, but Brother McDonald does, Brother Sheridan does, Brother McKenzie does.

They understand. Listen, one of the first places you have to come to is just to be willing to ask the question. Say, I don't know what that means, but I'd like to know. And I'd like to give you some illustrations of that before we go on.

John 13 and the Need to Identify Questions

Would you turn in your Bible to John chapter 13? And I'm going to read verses 31 and 32, and I'm going to ask, I'm just going to ask you to raise your hands if you can explain these verses to me. Verse 31, Therefore, this is John 13, verses 31 and 32, Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, now listen, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.

If God be glorified in him, God also shall glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. Now I'd like to know, how many people are there in the meeting this morning? I don't doubt that there are some.

Please feel free to raise your hand. How many are there who could explain those two verses to me in simple, understandable language? Do I see any hands? You see, a brother gets up and reads this in the meeting, and you say, well, he understands it, but I don't, so I'll just blunder on in my ignorance.

Listen, there are very few people that could explain those two verses in simple, living Bible English. But you'll never get the answer if you don't know the question. I'll give you another illustration.

John 12 and the Connection Between Jesus’ Death and Glory

I think it's the preceding page. Let me, I'm going to ask you, I'm going to ask you, really, to speak out on this one if you can. John chapter 12. This puzzles me for years. It puzzles me for years, this passage.

John 12, 20. And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast. The same came, therefore, to Philip, which was of Bethsaida, of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

Philip cometh and telleth Andrew, and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.

But if it dies, it bringeth forth much fruit. What was the problem in that, in those verses I read? Can anybody tell me? Don't be afraid if it's not what I'm thinking of. Can anybody tell me what the problem there is?

What is it, Harold? The hour is come. Okay. That's good. See, there's more than one problem. He just reminded me there's more than one problem. Anybody else see it? A terrific problem in that. That's the idea that I have.

Brother Edmondson? If you're the one who sees the man in speaking of death and resurrection, I want you to carry the true resurrection. That's very good. That's very good. The problem I have for years when I study this is they come and they say we would see Jesus and Jesus says something that doesn't seem to have any connection with what went before.

And that's what Brother Al was suggesting here. They said we would see Jesus. They come to Jesus and Jesus says, except the corn and wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. You say, what's the connection?

You know, when you read something, you expect it to be a flow of thought. But it seems to be very abrupt and very jerky. Well, Brother Edmondson has suggested a good solution. I pondered over this for years.

That was a question that I had written out that I wasn't getting an answer to. But you know, somebody suggested, I read this within the last few months and I liked it very much. The Greeks loved wisdom.

They loved philosophers. And they were intrigued by the teachings of Jesus. And maybe they came to Jesus and they thought, we'd like to bring you back to Athens, you know, and set you up there on Mars Hill and the people will come out to hear you in droves.

And Jesus said, you missed the point. Before I can ascend the throne of glory, I have to ascend the altar of sacrifice. The way up is down, except the corn and wheat fall into the ground and die. I didn't come into the world to be a philosopher sitting in the marketplace in Athens.

I came to seek and to say that which is lost and I have to die. Now, I'm not saying that's the answer to it. But it's a suggested answer to it. All I'm trying to say is, unless I can see the problem in a passage, I'm not going to see the answers.

And please, don't be ashamed of asking questions, even in the quietness of your own soul. The old Chinese proverb says, he who asks a question is a fool for a minute. He who asks no question is a fool forever.

Key Three: Pray for Teachability and Answers

That's the second key. Write down in question form everything in the passage that is not absolutely clear. Number three. Pray that the Lord will keep you teachable and help you to find the answers. Pray that the Lord will keep you teachable and help you to find the answers.

I pray on my regular prayer list, Lord, keep me teachable by the Holy Spirit. I never want to get to the stage where I think I've arrived, where I think I know it. I always want to press on and find new truths in the Word of God.

And you know, it really is marvelous how God answers that prayer. You don't get the answers overnight. Sometimes you wait many years to get them. And I want to tell you, when I see some of these things like that about Philip and the Greeks and the Lord Jesus answered, I get more joy out of that than if I struck a vein of silver.

Key Four: Reread, Memorize, and Meditate on the Passage

Really, I do. To me, that's one of the great joys of living, to see these tremendous things in the Word of God and the moral beauty of the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Number four. Reread the passage often.

Let's say you're starting with the first verses of Romans. Reread the passage often. Memorize it if possible till your mind is thoroughly saturated with the words of Scripture. This is a wonderful thing in studying the Word of God.

Reread it. Memorize it. Go over it till your mind is thoroughly saturated with the words of Scripture. You say, why do you do that? Well, because you're pondering it. It's in your heart and in your life.

And that's how the Spirit of God is able to bring light on the subject to you. Meditate on the passage, comparing it with other portions of the Word. Did you notice our brother Sheridan did that? He's in Leviticus 23 now and then he's over in 1 Corinthians finding the spiritual application of what we have here in the Old Testament.

Key Five: Compare Multiple Bible Versions

Meditate on the passage, comparing it with other verses. Number five. Not all my brethren might agree with me. I say read it in as many different versions as possible. You know there are different versions of the Bible?

Some are better than others. But I must confess I have as many of them as I can find and I read the passage in as many different versions as possible and I get help from them all. Not all in the same way.

Just let me give you an illustration of that. J. N. Darby. I think somebody here has Darby's translation. 2 Corinthians 4. A verse that used to baffle me. I didn't know what this meant. 2 Corinthians chapter 4.

It says verse 6. I'm reading it in the King James which I use in public ministry. But I certainly use the other versions. 2 Corinthians 4, 6. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Well, now probably that's clear to you and I don't doubt that it is but it was a difficult verse to me. And so I, especially that passage to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. To give.

Didn't get too much out of it. Then I read it in Darby and I can't hold it exactly but you get this idea that the same God who at creation said let there be light has shined in our hearts. At creation he said let there be light but he himself has shined in our hearts.

Why? I think Darby says for the outshining. For the outshining. The outshining of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. What it's saying is that God shined in our hearts so that it might shine forth through us.

What it's saying is that God never intended us to be the terminal of his blessings but the channel of his blessings. Now I don't get it in the King James but I did in Darby. But I read it. So I would suggest to you to read as many different versions of the Bible as possible and here and there you'll pick up real help.

I really the book of James never really clicked in my mind and my heart till I read it in Philip's version. I know it's just a paraphrase but I think the Lord gave that man help as he put that together.

Key Six: Use Commentaries and Bible Reference Works Discerningly

Read James sometime in Philip and you'll get a real thrill for your soul. Read as many versions as possible. Number six. Read as many commentaries as you can find. Read as many commentaries. I'm speaking of good commentaries you know evangelical commentaries.

Now here's where a rub comes in. Most of us are intellectually lazy. I'm not criticizing you. I'm speaking about number one. We're intellectually lazy. I'm reading and for instance I come to a word and I don't know the meaning of it.

I'm lazy. It takes it takes tons of to overcome that inertia to reach over and grab Western dictionary and see what that word means. Don't you find that? You'd rather blunder on and think it means something even if it's wrong.

So this is true with commentaries too. We're intellectually lazy and we have to discipline ourselves. We have to drive ourselves to go to these folks and study them and get food from them. And you say what about that?

Brother McKenzie already has recommended the use of commentaries and I agree with him. There are some who just read the Bible. Well that's okay. The Lord bless them. But God gave teachers to the church to build up the saints for the work of the ministry and to me it makes little difference whether I hear that teacher speaking orally or reading in a voice.

And I can get help from almost all of these evangelical commentaries but that doesn't mean you can endorse everything that's in them. My colleague says to the students that we're working with eat the orange and spit out the seed.

And that's a good thing to do. You eat the orange and you spit out the seed. You prove all things and you hold back that which is good. You separate the precious from the vile. You say how do you do that?

You're just a young believer. A young believer has the spirit of God and the spirit of God is the one who enables you to discern truth from error. Absolutely. So read these commentaries and read discerningly and make notes on helpful passages that you get.

I write them down, make a note and tuck them away in my file under that chapter. Just let me give you and not only commentaries but Bible dictionaries and all the rest. I could give you many illustrations of this.

Using Reference Works to Understand Difficult Passages

For instance, the parable of the fig tree. Jesus comes and he doesn't find any figs on the tree and he curses it and it says it wasn't yet the time for figs. In fact, a lot of the critics of the Bible say Jesus acted excellently there.

He lost his cool and he cursed the tree because it didn't have any figs and there weren't it wasn't the time for figs anyway. Well, it does seem strange, doesn't it? You say, how do you get around that?

Well, I'll tell you how to get around it. Go to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia and look up under the word fig. That's all you have to do. And it explains the whole thing. It explains that the figs there in Bible land, they had an early crop that was edible but it wasn't the real fig.

Those trees came out first of all with an early crop of they were kind of a harbinger of the crop that was to come. And that's when Jesus went to the tree when that early crop should have been there. Not the real kind of fig but the first fig.

Jesus knew that if those first figs didn't come the later crop wouldn't come either. And that's true. If it wasn't that early crop of figs there never would be any fig on it when he cursed the fig tree.

Well, I've just given you a brief sketch of it. That's International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on the figs explains the thing very satisfactorily. In fact, I would go so far to say that there are very few subjects in the Bible that you couldn't get help on right up at the bookstore this morning.

Key Seven: Discuss Questions With Other Christians

Do you believe that? The books that are there at the bookstore I could go there and get help on almost any subject in the Bible. Sounds shocking but it's true just to say. Okay. Number seven. Discuss the questions with other Christians and try to get more answers.

Discuss the questions that you have. We were talking yesterday about profitable conversation. That's a wonderful thing, isn't it? A wonderful way to redeem the time. Say these questions and discuss them.

I've made a practice of doing this down through the years. I've always tried to have an older man as a mentor. For many years it was Robert Little up there in Chicago. And I used to say my questions in my little seven-star diary and then every once in a while I'd ask Mr. and Mrs. Little out for supper and he had to work for his supper.

I'd bombard him with these questions. And he enjoyed it, of course. He wasn't complaining. He really loved every minute of it. But it's wonderful some of the answers you'd get. Not all. Because nobody knows all the answers.

Key Eight: Explain the Passage Simply in Your Own Words

Not even Robert Little. But it was really wonderful some of the answers that I got and I'm grateful for them today. Okay. Number eight. Keep searching until you can give a simple, concise explanation of the passage in your own words to somebody else.

I don't think that I've really got the passage until I can sit down and explain it to you in such a way that you can understand it. Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God shall glorify Him in Himself and shall straightway glorify Him.

I don't think I understand those verses until I can sit down and make them clear to you. And I worked towards this in the study of the Word of God. Brother Sheridan today he takes the Feasts of Jehovah and he explains them so even I can understand them.

Key Nine: Study With the Intention of Obedience

That's it. That's Bible study. You have the passage there. Number nine. And this is very, very important. Study with the intention of obeying what you... I can't overemphasize this one. Study with the intention of obeying what you read.

Do not evade the plain teaching of the Word of God. People say, oh yes, Brother Sheridan has an IQ that I don't have. I've got news for you. It isn't the IQ that counts, it's the OQ that counts. They say, what do you mean OQ?

I mean obedience quotient. I know people that don't have such a high IQ but they're masters in the Word of God. It doesn't have to do with formal training at all. One of the glories of the assembly is to see men and women who have not had a lot of formal training but they've gone to the Word of God and become educated people.

I believe that with all my heart. My own father probably never went beyond the eighth grade of school but he became a Christian and he studied the Word of God. It's obedience that counts. Somebody has said, obedience is the organ of spiritual knowledge.

Obedience is the organ of spiritual knowledge and it really is. If you go to the Word of God with this mind, if God shows it to me, I'm going to do it. I want to tell you something, you're going to make progress in spiritual things.

Obedience as the Path to Spiritual Growth

Years ago, we had a young fellow come to me. Some of the folks here know him. When he was unsaved, he was down at Fort Bragg, I think it was Fort Bragg in North Carolina and he was a parish keeper there and all the rest.

He was practically illiterate when he went into the service and he was so bashful he couldn't even look at a person. And in a wonderful way, God saved his soul. And he had that attitude. He came to the Word of God and said, well, God said it, I don't care whether I see anybody doing it or not, I'm going to do it.

And that fellow started to grow. And he grew by leaps and by bounds. He's over on the mission field now and I've been with him on the mission field. I've served with him in France, I've served with him in Vienna, Austria and other countries.

That fellow can preach the gospel in Spanish, German and French today. He knows some Polish and a smattering of Russian. He calls himself the Emmaus Dropout. Well, praise God for dropouts like that. That's all I can say.

Why? Because he had a heart to obey the Word of God. He was a fanatic of the Lord Jesus and if he fought in the Word, that's what he wanted to do. So be encouraged. Just have that attitude. Come to the Word of God.

Maybe there's somebody here this morning that's unsafe. And the same thing is there. If a person is unsafe, he's not a decided Christian. But he wants to know. I would tell him, just go to the Word of God and say, Oh God, if this is your Word, if I'm a sinner and lost on the way to hell, if I can be saved and have eternal life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, show it to me now as I read your Word.

Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Go and start in the gospel of John. Read the gospel of John. You know what will happen? You'll get saved. That's what will happen. You'll get saved.

If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak for myself. Wonderful, isn't it? What a wonderful book this is. Shakespeare, never turn me on like the Bible.

Study with the intention of obeying what you read. Don't evade the plain teaching of the Lord. And we can think of 60 theological reasons why that doesn't mean what it says. I'll tell you, you'll never go on in the study of the Word of God if you have that attitude.

Key Ten: Pass on What You Have Learned

If God says it, believe it. Practice it, and you'll go on for him. And finally, number 10, pass on to others what you have learned. Pass on to others what you have learned. You see, you could just spend the rest of your life studying the Word of God and just become like the dead sea, all inflow, no outflow.

You don't want that. I would tell a young person to covet to have a Sunday school class where you get that outflow. I would tell her to have a home Bible class or a class at school, something like that where you can share what you're learning.

And even if you don't have a class, share it with some other Christian during the day. And this has a tremendously beneficial effect in your study of the Word of God. A hundred years from today, a lot of the things that we're learning won't make any difference.

The butterflies of vermin. Mineral deficiencies of the tomatoes and the cockleberries. The browning reaction of potato chips. You know, a lot of the knowledge that we're getting today won't make any difference a hundred years from today.

But I'll tell you, dear friends, the knowledge of the Word of God will really count. Let's all be Bible students. Shall we?