Opening Prayer

Let’s pray. God, You are holy. You are different than us. God, the right response to seeing You, who You are, is to worship. And God, our hearts naturally refuse to worship—that is the essence of sin. That is the way that we were born. God, every single one of us suppressed the truth in unrighteousness. Some of those here still do. God, I pray that by Your Spirit, You would open eyes through Your Word, so that we see You in Your Word, that we would come and worship. God, as I teach, I pray that You would give my hearers ears to listen, and minds to understand, hearts to believe, that Your Spirit would cause obedience and trusting faith. God, guard my words. Help me to speak clearly and accurately. And I pray that Your Holy Spirit, like I said, would do what You do with Your Word—transform hearts and change lives. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Introduction: How to Read the Bible

All right, well, we are back together with “How to Read the Bible.” If you do not have a note-taking sheet, can you raise your hand? We have the outline on the sheet where you’re able to take notes. We also have new inserts for your binder. Every week, when you come in, on the back table there will be a note sheet for the sermon. So you can pick that up on your own; it will be there. And then there’ll be a set of inserts for your Bible. On your own, just to streamline things as you come in, look on the back table over by where Kiki is standing and just grab your own note sheet each day when we start.

So today our lesson is “How to Read the Bible, Part 1.” We’re going to be starting—continuing what we’ve been learning, but now actually getting into the nitty-gritty of how to read your Bible. Today, I’m going to go through why your note sheet is the way that it is. And then over the next weeks, we’re going to get into what you actually do when you have your Bible open—how you go about studying and getting the most out of Scripture.

But before we jump in there, or to set the trajectory and the tone for why you actually put your bottom in the chair, open your Bible, and go through with your pen or pencil—before we get to the “how to read,” I want to go back over why we do it, how we do it, and why your note sheet is arranged the way it is. That flows from a passage of Scripture: 2 Corinthians chapter 3 is where we’re going to be—2 Corinthians 3, starting in verse 15.

Read the Bible Prayerfully with Faith

The first way that you need to read the Bible is to read it prayerfully, with faith. That might seem sort of obvious, but I want to ask you the question: do you actually do that? How often do you sit down in the morning, or the evening, or whenever you open your Bible, and just open it and start reading, thinking, “My mind can do this. I know how to read. I do this for school all the time. I’m going to read the words on the page, and I can get what I need from the text.” I’ll confess, I’ve done that. I do that. I actually caught myself this week—even though I was preparing for this lesson—I did that. I opened up the Bible and I started reading. Then I remembered what I’m about to teach you.

So I want you to pay attention to this point. This isn’t just a point to write on your sheet to move on. This point needs to change the way that you read your Bible every day for the rest of your life: you must read the Bible prayerfully, with faith. Do you guys remember the prayer I taught you to pray before you read the Bible, before you hear a sermon? Remember the acronym: L-U-B-O-T? It’s a silly thing, but I promise it sticks in your brain. I’m not sure if you caught it, but I prayed that for us as I began this sermon. I’ve prayed it almost every day for about the last decade and a half when I open up the Bible. I commend it to you.

LUBOT: Listen, Understand, Believe, Obey, Trust

Do you guys remember what the first letter, L, is? “Listen.” Yeah, you have to actually listen before you can do the rest. You can’t do the rest of these things until you listen. When you’re hearing a sermon, you listen with your ears. When you’re reading the Bible, you listen with your eyes. You pay attention. Have you ever read a whole chapter and thought, “I don’t think my brain was even on”? You actually skimmed over every word—maybe you said it out loud—but you weren’t listening to what you heard. Ask God to help you listen.

Then what does the U stand for? “Understand.” There are some ways in which nonbelievers can understand, and there are some ways, we’re going to learn about today, that only believers can understand the Bible rightly. Regardless, you want to ask God to give you the self-control and the mental focus, and then the help by the Holy Spirit, so that you would listen and understand His Word.

But listening and understanding aren’t the ends in and of themselves, though we often act like they are. How often have you gone to a sermon or read the Bible and thought you did your job because you can walk away and say, “Well, this passage said that…”? That’s the top line of your note-taking sheet: “What did the text say?” All you have to do to be able to answer that question is listen and understand. You might do that in a sermon. You listen, you understand, and you say, “I got it. That was a good sermon, Pastor Smith. I listened and I understood it.” Sometimes we don’t even accomplish that—that’s why we need to do it.

But so often, we behave like that’s the end. It’s not. Once you’ve listened and understood, you also have to do the B, the O, the T. What does the B stand for? “Believe.” That takes a miracle. Then what’s the O? “Obey.” This is not the obedience like the Pharisees obeyed, where they created their own rules and thought, “Oh, I can accomplish this.” This is obeying what can’t possibly be obeyed without the Holy Spirit’s help, because it’s obedience from the heart. If you want to look it up, it’s Romans 6:16—obedience from the heart. And then the T stands for “trust,” or “faith.” When God says something, you say, “I know I can trust that it is true.”

You need a miracle to respond to God’s Word like this. So we start by praying LUBOT. And here’s something helpful: I just want you to know I didn’t make this up. You guys heard of Martin Luther? He’s a pretty important guy in church history. This principle is in line with what Luther said—that the unregenerate can understand the grammar of John 3:16, right? They can read, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” They can understand that and explain it. There are lots of unregenerate people who have written commentaries on the book of John, who can explain it better than me. But you know what they don’t do? They don’t believe. And because they don’t believe, they don’t obey and they don’t trust. They know that whoever believes won’t perish but have everlasting life, but they don’t believe. You are in danger of that if you only listen and understand but don’t believe, obey, and trust. That’s why we need to pray for all of that.

But you can’t obey and trust if you haven’t heard and understood. That comes through actually studying God’s Word, which is what we’re going to be doing over the next few weeks. So we have Listen, Understand, Believe, Obey, Trust. What I want to do today is to give you a scriptural basis for why I set up the note-taking sheet the way I did, and why I encourage you to pray the way we do.

Unbelief and the Veil (2 Corinthians 3:15-18)

We’re going to see that from so many passages, but we’re going to spend some time in 2 Corinthians 3. Before we go there, I want you to remember from two weeks ago: your heart is soil. Remember what Luke 16 (the story of the rich man and Lazarus) says about your heart? The rich man who had died, and he was in Hell suffering, what did he want to happen? Because he said something like, “If only this happens, my brothers will believe.” Who remembers what he wanted to happen? He wanted Lazarus to rise from the dead and go tell his brothers—because, as he thought, “If a dead person came back to life, of course they’d believe.” But do you know what? Our hearts are so hard that even that’s not enough to get through. There’s only one thing that can get through these hard hearts and cause us to believe. Do you know what that is? It’s God’s Word, with eyes opened by His Spirit.

So I want you to look at 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Second Corinthians 3:15 describes why the rich man, why the rich man’s brothers, and why maybe you read God’s Word and respond like the rich man, respond like his brothers, or respond like every other person who’s ever been born naturally responds. You read God’s Word, and you go…unaffected. Have you ever shared the gospel with someone and said, “You have to understand, if you don’t believe this, you’re separated from God forever, and God offers you forgiveness,” and they look at that and just say, “That’s a foolish message. That’s silly. I can’t believe you believe that”? What’s the difference?

Second Corinthians 3:15 speaks of unbelieving Jews. It says, “To this day,” so all the way up to when Paul was writing, “Whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart.” We have to back up and figure out what this is talking about. There was an event that actually happened in Exodus: Moses would go meet with God. When he met with God, he would take a veil off his face. God gave Moses the grace to meet with Him face-to-face. God was so glorious that when Moses left, he actually shone. It weirded the Israelites out, so they said, “Could you cover that up? It’s making us uncomfortable.” So Moses would wear a veil over his face when he went out among the Israelites, and he’d take the veil off when he got to see God face-to-face.

What does a veil do to your sight? If you’ve ever worn fabric over your face, you can’t see very well. It dims the light. In Ephesians 4, it speaks of Gentiles—this isn’t just a Jewish problem—having their minds darkened due to their hardness of heart. That’s why they don’t understand. It’s like there’s a veil. The glory is there, right? The glory is in God’s Word, but when Moses is read (Moses is the first five books of the Bible), some responded with faith; but those who still have the veil respond like there was no glory in the text. In reality, the whole Bible is full of glory because it reveals God and His glory. But when you read it apart from the Holy Spirit—when unbelieving Jews read it, or unbelieving Gentiles read it—they can’t see the glory that’s actually there. It’s like a veil lies over your face. Or like your eyes are darkened—like your eyes are shut. If you shut your eyes, does the room cease to be light? No. You just can’t see it. The glory is there. The problem isn’t in Moses, or in God’s Word. The problem is in our hearts. A veil lies over their hearts because of unbelief.

Do you recognize that this is your natural state? Have you ever read the Bible and just thought, “I don’t see what the big deal is—it doesn’t seem that powerful”? Or maybe you’ve read a command, and you just don’t have the ability to follow it, to obey. Or you’ve read something about God, and you just don’t respond like other people around you do. You hear maybe Pastor Smith, or your discussion group leader, or your parents, or one of your friends tell you about what they read and how powerful it was, and you read it and think, “Huh, just words on a page.” Maybe a veil lies over your heart. That is the natural state of humanity.

How does the veil get removed? 2 Corinthians 3:16 says, “Whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” Can you take the veil away? Can you open your eyes and see? You need God to take that veil away. This is what we do: we preach the gospel to someone, saying, “Can’t you see? Look at this glorious God who gave Himself. He died in our place. If you would only believe, you could have eternal life.” Some people hear that message and say, “I want to believe,” and they do. Some people hear that message and walk away. What’s the difference? The difference is that one person, God did a miracle; and the other person was left in their own rejection of God. God gave them what they asked for—they wanted to live without Him. If that’s you, that leads to a place where this glorious gospel is rejected, and you go straight to Hell rejecting God, because you wanted that.

That is why you need to pray when you read the Bible. You need to say, “God, take this veil away. God, let me believe Your Word when I read it. Let me obey You and let me trust You.” Therefore, the goal in Bible study is not to merely understand the Bible, but to understand the Bible rightly. When we understand the Bible rightly, we see God there, and we see His glory. That’s exactly what 2 Corinthians 3:18 says. Now, speaking of Christians, “We all, with unveiled face”—what did Moses see when the veil went away? He saw God. We “behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.” Where do we behold the glory of the Lord? In His Word. When you turn to Christ, God removes the veil so that you see the glory of the Lord there. Verse 18 continues: we’re “being transformed into the same image [the image of God] from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

The Transforming Power of God’s Word

So how do we read the Bible? We read it prayerfully, with faith, and we read it to see God and to see His glory in the Word. Our goal in Bible study isn’t merely to understand; you could read the passage and understand everything it says, but you don’t truly understand the Bible unless you see God there and His glory revealed. The Holy Spirit shows us God’s glory through the text, and then we are transformed by Him. Right—you don’t skip over understanding. It’s not like we say, “Just read the Bible, skip your mind, and God will change you.” No, you have to understand what you read, and sometimes that takes hard work. We’re going to talk about that—sitting down and asking lots of questions, diagramming sentences. That’s why we have people like Jeremy, Alex, and David learning original languages, learning Greek, learning Hebrew, learning Aramaic, learning how to study and diagram. They spend hours in the chair with their Bibles open so that they understand. But not as an end in itself. They understand so that they can believe, obey, trust, and see God in His Word—then proclaim it accurately to others, so that they can be changed. That change comes by the Spirit.

We are totally dependent on God for this. It’s not something that happens if you just become a better reader or diagram sentences more effectively. You should become a better reader, and you should learn how to diagram. You should learn how to use tools. But not so that you get knowledge merely—rather so that you understand what the Bible says, so that you can believe, obey, and trust, seeing God in His Word and being transformed by Him.

Do you remember what Alex talked about last time from Proverbs 2:4–6? It says, “If you seek [wisdom] like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of Yahweh and find the knowledge of God.” Wisdom, the fear of the Lord, and knowledge of God come from His Word. It is a precious treasure, worth digging for. But if you’re digging for something, you have to know what you’re looking for. You’re not digging for cool nuggets to impress your friends—“Check out this neat thing I found in the Bible.” You’re digging to find God. He doesn’t hide Himself—He loves to be found in His Word. He does the miracle of opening your eyes so that you can see Him in His Word and be transformed.

So we read to see God and His glory in the Word, and we read to be transformed by the Spirit in His Word. In 2 Corinthians 3, we see that if you turn to Christ, God removes the veil so you can see God, see His glory in the text. When you see Him for who He is and respond by faith, He changes you—He transforms you by His Spirit.

Sometimes people say, “I just want to go out in nature so I can see God in nature.” Yes, you do see something of God in a sunrise or in creation. But you do not see God more clearly anywhere in this life than you see Him in His Word. So if you say, “God, I want to be sanctified”—which means to be made more holy—then the best way is to read His Word with faith. Say, “God, show me who You are, let me see what You command, let me see what You promise, let me believe it, let me obey it, and let me worship You.” That is how God sanctifies you.

One day, Jesus is going to come back, and no longer will we merely see Him through the Bible, but we will see Him as He is. Do you know what’s going to happen on that day? 1 John 3:2 says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now…and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.” When Jesus comes back, you won’t just see Him in the text; you’ll see Him face to face. And that sight will glorify you completely—no more sin. Now, God moves us away from sin by letting us see Jesus in the Bible. It’s not automatic; you can’t just open the Bible, see the word “Jesus,” and expect immediate transformation. You have to pray, “God, let me see Jesus here, and transform me.” When you have the opportunity to respond in faith, do it. When you have the opportunity to obey, do it. Do it not to earn God’s favor, but because of who God is. And the way God works that faith in you is through His Word.

So, our goal in Bible study: if you don’t know what you’re aiming at, you probably won’t hit it. When we read God’s Word, we say, “God, let me see You, let me respond in faith.” That’s the purpose.

Conclusion: Seeing God’s Glory

Look at your note sheet. The first thing you fill out is: “What did it say?” You have to understand what it said. Then the next question is, “What did it teach me about God?” Because that’s the goal—you must see God here in the text so that He transforms you by His Spirit. That’s why the last question is, “How should this affect me?” So you start with prayer—LUBOT—and you end with prayer: “God, I saw You. I know more about who You are. I know that You are gracious. I know that You are holy. I know that You are patient. I know that You are a righteous judge. I know that You are merciful. I know that the only way we can come to You is by faith. I know that You’re sovereign. I know that You require perfection. I know that You forgive those who confess.” You will never exhaust what you can learn about God. Don’t get tired of learning the same things day after day. If you see that, you say, “This must affect me.” Maybe you worshiped yesterday—do it again today. Maybe you obeyed yesterday—do it again today.

Sometimes how it should affect you is: “I need to go clean my room. I need to go ask forgiveness from my parents. I need to love my brother better.” Sometimes the effect is simply: “I need to love You, God. I need to worship You. I need to trust You.” Sometimes you read the Bible and think, “I still don’t understand.” Then you can pray, “God, I know some things about You already. I rehearse those truths. Please help me be a better reader, a better student. Help me so that tomorrow I might see You in Your Word.”

I promise that digging deep into God’s Word—digging for treasure in God’s Word, desiring the wisdom that comes from God’s Word, the fear of the Lord that comes from God’s Word—is worth it. It’s worth the hard work. But hard work aimed at mere knowledge, or aimed at impressing your friends or your parents, won’t accomplish anything if you’re not aiming at seeing God in His Word. You don’t have to be a believer to work hard at reading the Bible, but you do have to be a believer to respond to what you read with faith.

That’s why we pray. You should still have your Bibles open to 2 Corinthians 3. Jump forward to 2 Corinthians 4 and look at verse 4. It talks about the unbeliever—maybe this is you, the one with the veil. It says, “In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” The light is there, but their eyes are closed because they’re blind. The god of this world has blinded them. They are willfully blind because of their unbelief and hardness of heart. If they would only turn, the veil would be removed.

Don’t be like my dog—he’s the dumbest dog you’ve ever met. If we put him in the coffee table and close the lid, he just thinks that’s his new reality. He stays there. Don’t be like that. Don’t say, “Well, if God wants to lift the veil, I guess I’ll just wait here in the dark.” Instead, cry out, “God, lift this veil! I want to see!” He tells you what you have to do to see: turn to Jesus in faith. If my dog whimpered for even a second, I’d let him out of the coffee table. So don’t be like a dumb dog. Say, “God, let me out! God, let me see!” And He will. But it takes a miracle to make you see.

Look down at verse 5: “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.” And then verse 6: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’—” (when did God say that? At creation. He said, “Let there be light!”)—“has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” The same power that created light out of nothing is required to open your eyes and let you see the glory of Christ. If you pray, “God, shine light into my heart,” He will do it.

That’s what we’re talking about over the next few weeks—how to actually read the Bible and see God there. But you need to know, from the start, what you’re aiming for: “God, let me see You, let me respond rightly with faith.”

We’re going to go to our discussion groups and talk about this lesson. I’ll pray. God, I pray for our time in our discussion groups that it would be fruitful. I pray that You would make these students want to know You, and that their Bible reading would be affected and changed. Their sermon listening would be changed. I pray for the next 30 minutes that it would be fruitful—for us to know when to talk, know when to listen, and that Your Spirit would be active. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.