God requires all of His people—not only ministers and scholars—to study His Word diligently. Today, R.C. Sproul explains why every Christian should seek to read the Bible regularly. Get Bible Study Basics, a collection of 8 complete teaching series from R.C. Sproul, with your donation of any amount. You’ll also receive a 12-month subscription to Tabletalk, Ligonier Ministries’ Bible study magazine: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/3812/bible-study-basics Meet Today’s Teacher: R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was known for his ability to winsomely and clearly communicate deep, practical truths from God’s Word. He was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine. Meet the Host: Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of ministry engagement for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, host of the Ask Ligonier podcast, and a graduate of Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne, Australia. Nathan joined Ligonier in 2012 and lives in Central Florida with his wife and four children. Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
Full Episode
I hear what you're feeling when you say the Bible is too difficult. There are parts of it that are excruciatingly difficult. But at the other hand, I want to remind you that there is enough there that you can grasp even without a formal education in biblical studies that is of eternal significance for you.
We live in a time in which access to the Word of God has never been easier, particularly for those living in the West. In addition to the many copies that you likely have on a bookshelf or on your nightstand, our computers and smartphones can instantly search multiple translations and even drill down to the original languages. This is an incredible stewardship, a blessing from God.
And as you'll hear today from R.C. Sproul, we shouldn't be content with simply reading the Bible. We should study it in depth. You're listening to the Monday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm your host, Nathan W. Bingham. Today, R.C. Sproul will be providing helps and principles to aid you in your study of Scripture.
I'll also tell you later about a special edition DVD and MP3 set featuring eight series from Dr. Sproul to help you go deeper in your own study of God's Word, plus a year-long subscription to our Bible study and devotional magazine, Table Talk. And of course, you can learn more or respond to today's offer at renewingyourmind.org.
To help us see the importance of the diligent study of God's Word, here's a message from R.C. Sproul's Knowing Scripture series titled, Why Study the Bible?
In this course together, we're going to be considering principles of how to study the Bible. The goal of this time together will be for all of us to increase our ability and our skill as interpreters of the Bible so that we can read that book for ourselves and understand it and be able to deal with it in a responsible, a mature, and a diligent way.
I would love to be able to give a course in how to study the Bible in three easy lessons. But so far, I haven't been able to find those three easy lessons that will do it. This course is going to take work. We're going to try to stretch our knowledge. We're going to try to stretch our understanding and get better tools so that we will know how to handle difficult passages in the Bible.
And in this first lecture together, I'd like to explore the most basic question of it all, and that is, why should we study the Bible at all? Every year, the results are the same. The Bible continues to be the perennial national bestseller of all the books in print.
But the cynics, of course, respond to that by saying, yes, everybody buys a Bible, everybody owns a Bible, but there are precious few who read it and even less who diligently study it. It's one thing, of course, to be involved in a daily devotional where we skip over a very small portion of Scripture and meditate on it. That has its real value.
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