Finding Diamonds in the Word of God

Praise the Lord, everybody. It's a privilege to welcome you to our seminars for General Conference 2021, and my topic that they have assigned me today is finding diamonds in the Word of God. I'm privileged to talk to you about that subject.

A Christian doesn't read the Bible as a textbook, but as a love letter. It's not just theology to us; it's direct communication from God. So the way that we love and obey the Word of God — that reveals to us the way we love and obey God Himself. You cannot separate one from the other. As the apostle John wrote to us in his epistle: "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous." We don't consider them a burden to us. We don't consider them overbearing. We don't consider them something that we have to do. We do them because we love the God of the Word.

Francis Chan — who is a wonderful man, but not an Apostolic by any means — wrote a book called Crazy Love way back in 2008, did a group study DVD series, and this is what he said. I thought it was very telling. Again, while he's a wonderful guy, he's not an Apostolic, and he said this: "If all you had was the Bible, would you come to the conclusion, after reading it, that to become a Christian you would pray a prayer and ask Jesus to come into your heart? Is that really what you would find? Or, if you only had the Bible, would you come away thinking, I need to repent, be baptized, filled with the Holy Spirit? What would you believe if you just had the Bible?"

In this session I want to talk to you about reading and studying the Bible for yourself, on your own. It's a wonderful thing to have preachers and services and all of the things that we do, but you need a relationship with the Word of God yourself. You need to make your Bible your Bible: study it, read it, pray over it, cry over it, write in it, underline it — but make your Bible your Bible.

Now, the Word of God is structured beautifully. On one hand, the Word of God is shallow: if you read it with an open, unbiased heart, you will find the message of salvation. The basic truths that you need from the Word of God are right there on the surface: repent; be baptized in Jesus' name; be filled with the Holy Ghost; live a holy life to please God; don't imitate the world; pray; be a witness; stay ready for His return. It's all there, right on the surface. So on one hand the Word of God is shallow. It's kind of like the prophet Isaiah said: "And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." One paraphrase says it's impossible to get off this road if you really are sincere about following it.

So on one hand the Word of God is shallow, and on the other hand, however, the Word of God is deep. You could examine the Book, the Bible, for a lifetime; you could never exhaust its revelation. You see, the Bible we cherish — it's like that gold mine, it's like a diamond mine, if you will, with treasure after treasure after treasure available to those who make the effort to dig beyond its surface. It's kind of like the writer of Proverbs said: "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter." And so God gets glory — God loves it — to conceal treasures in His Word for us to dig out, to mine. And it is the honor of kings — of course, we are a chosen generation, we're a royal priesthood, we are kings and priests unto God — it's our honor to search out these things in the Word of God.

Now, you know what the difference is between just reading your Bible and studying your Bible? It's simple: it's just a pen. You write something down, or you type something out when you study the Scriptures. This is why your church has Bible study every week in the first place: we dig deep in the Word of God so we can experience its beauty and its revelation and its power.

Now, let me be very clear: you can dig into the Word of God and learn all kinds of things about prophecy and typology, and it's all wonderful. You don't need to know any of this to get saved. Getting saved is an easy message, and we often preach it. But studying the love letter that God left for you — that's what gives you strength to stay saved and to grow in your relationship with God.

In the last letter he ever wrote to one of his young protégés, Paul penned these words to Timothy: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Now, that's quite a phrase: rightly dividing the word of truth. When you understand the plan of Scripture and when you understand the plot of the Bible, you can better understand its purpose in your own life as you read and study God's Word.

I want to begin our time together where Paul ended in mentoring his protégé Timothy. This is his last letter, once again, and he says this: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." Now, it's a wonderful thing, what Paul just did there: he just gave Timothy the four purposes of the Scripture. This is what we need to be on the lookout for if we're going to find diamonds, find gold, find treasures in the Word of God. We're always looking, like a detective, for one of these four things.

Paul said Scripture is profitable for doctrine. It's profitable for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. And if you could put these four purposes on a grid, you would find that two of them impact what we believe. Doctrine is positive: doctrine teaches us what to believe. And so you need to be on the lookout for what the Bible tells you to believe. But you also need to be on the lookout for reproof. Reproof is the negative side. Reproof is what not to believe — because there are so many false doctrines and false ideas and false philosophies in the world. So when you're reading the Scripture, when you're studying the Word of God, you're always on the lookout for doctrine — what to believe — and for reproof — what not to believe.

But I'm so grateful that the Word of God doesn't just affect what we believe; it affects how we live. It affects not just our belief, but our behavior. And so Paul continues: he said the Word of God is profitable for correction. Anyone who's ever had children, you know what correction is. Correction is how not to behave. Sometimes the Word of God says: don't do that; shun that; abstain from the appearance of those things, and stay away from those kinds of companions and situations. And so that's correction. And then the Word of God also gives us instruction in righteousness, which is how to behave — it's the positive sense. So the Word of God gives us a yes and a no for our belief — yes, believe this; no, don't believe this — yes, behave this way; no, don't behave that way. And so the Word of God, when we're studying it, when we're reading it, when we're digging into it, we need to be on the lookout for these things.

I'll make one more comment, and then I want to get very, very practical with you for a few moments. Scripture refers to itself with two major words in the New Testament. First, Scripture refers to itself as the logos. Logos, this Greek word, is used 300 times in the New Testament. It's a broad term; it refers to the total revelation of the Word of God. It also, of course, refers to Jesus Christ, who is the Word made flesh; He is the living Logos. All of Scripture points to Jesus. And we see that word in Scriptures like this — we're very familiar with these: "In the beginning was the Word" — the Logos, the total revelation of God — "and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And of course that Logos took on flesh: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us... full of grace and truth" — we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.

So let me take an application from that. The Logos is the complete, the full revelation of God, and we need to know that, and we need to believe that, and we need to follow that. But there's more to the Word of God than just learning a list of doctrines, or a list of principles, or a list of rules. There's more to it than just understanding some typology. There's the Word of God for you, and the Word of God for your situation. And that's really what we're looking for as we read and study the Word. It's not just for academic, intellectual knowledge; it's heart-to-heart communication with God, because this is His love letter to us.

And so the Word refers to itself with another Greek word in the New Testament, and that word is rhema. And rhema is used about 70 times in Scriptures like this. Jesus said — this is when He's being tempted by the devil — "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word" — not logos, rhema — "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." And Paul uses it in this verse, Ephesians chapter 6, verse 17: "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" — again, not logos, not the complete revelation of God, everything that God's revealed about Himself in His Word, but rhema. Rhema is a specific directive of Scripture; it's a specific word for a particular person or a specific circumstance.

Now, it's very important to realize that a rhema — a specific word from God — is never contradictory to the whole counsel of the Word of God. A rhema, a specific word, never contradicts the logos; it's simply a specific word for a situation. This is what our Apostolic teachers and preachers, evangelists and prophets — this is what they do when they stand in our pulpits, in our services, in crusades, and they declare the word of the Lord. They're taking the logos, they're taking that full, whole counsel of the Word of God, but they're bringing a specific word for that specific service or situation.

You see, the Bible is a supernatural book, and Paul talks about the sword of the Spirit, which is the rhema of God. The devil's not that concerned that you have a list of pet doctrines in your head that you learned 50 years ago and you keep kind of repeating them from memory, by rote. He's not that concerned. But here's what he is concerned about: if you get a word from God today for your situation. And that's what we're looking for when we mine the Word of God for its riches. The Bible's a supernatural book; that's why we need a rhema word from the Lord.

Now, let's get practical. There are many ways to study Scripture. There's inspirational, where you just kind of read and pray until God prompts you to look at a verse in a particular way. There's the topical way to study the Bible, where you look up all the references on prayer, or faith, or grace, or love. There's the biographical way to study the Bible, where you study characters in the Scripture — Joseph, or Moses, David, or Paul — and you learn principles from their lives. There's the exegetical way to study the Bible; this is where we go verse by verse — verse-by-verse teaching and verse-by-verse preaching — and we study the Bible in order, in its context, and we draw great wealth from that. I love doing that. We use all of these in our Apostolic teaching and preaching.

One of the most beautiful ways to study the Bible is typological. We learn from its types and its figures, its patterns, its shadows — the symbols that point ahead to something greater. And often this is something yet to come; it's like the Old Testament pointing to the New Testament. I think the tabernacle plan is probably the greatest example of typological teaching in the Scripture.

But in every case — no matter what method you're using for Bible study, no matter what method you're using as you read — maybe you're studying a Bible character and writing down notes and things about their life. I've learned so much studying the life of David, or studying the life of Joseph, by just doing that: writing down the things that happened to them and how they impact me. But no matter what way you're studying the Bible — historical, biographical, topical, it doesn't matter — if you want to get the most out of your Bible reading and studying, you need to do a little homework. This is what sets a student of the Word apart from just a reader of the Word. Otherwise, you're just reading Scripture in a vacuum. And I've got to tell you, that's where most false doctrine in the world, and even in Christendom, comes from today: they just read Scripture in a vacuum; they pull out of it what they want it to say. As they used to teach us in Bible school many years ago, for me: a text without its context is a pretext. It gives a misleading direction or a misleading appearance. A text without its context is a pretext.

So what are some tools, just in a practical sense — what are some tools that can help you and me mine below the surface of the Scripture and come up with diamonds that inspire us, that we can share with others, and that mean so much?

First of all — this is kind of like holding up a football to a football team — but number one: you've got to read the Scripture. Don't just skim the Scripture to keep up with your daily Bible reading chart. Those are wonderful; I have one, I use one. But if you never read beyond just going through a few chapters a day for your Bible reading chart, you're probably not going to glean a whole lot under the surface of Scripture. Because when you read Scripture, you've got to think about it, savor it. You've got to comprehend it and meditate on it, and even take time to pray about it as you read. And so don't just skim through the Scripture to get done and check off the list. Number one, if you're going to mine underneath the surface of Scripture: read the Scripture. I've said this often in conversations with new believers: I would rather them read a paragraph of Scripture and it means something to them, and they understand it, and it connects with their life, than have them read chapter after chapter and not even really remember what they read. So, read the Scripture.

Secondly, let me say that there's an attack today on the Old Testament part of the Scripture. I've been shocked in the last two or three years to hear well-known denominational pastors literally go on the attack against the Old Testament, as if it doesn't have any application today. So number two, if you're going to mine for the wealth of the Word of God: read the Old Testament as well. Until the books of the New Testament were written and distributed in the first century — have you ever thought about this? — the Old Testament, those Scriptures, were the only Word of God possessed by the early church. They didn't have a New Testament yet. But with only the Old Testament and the help of the Holy Ghost, those early Christians were able to minister and win the lost in a dynamic way. Peter quoted Joel at Pentecost to explain the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and he quoted Psalms as well to prove the resurrection of Jesus Christ in that same sermon. In his defense before the Jewish council, Stephen opened with Genesis and closed with Isaiah, and in the middle of his message he referred to Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Amos in between; he used the Old Testament. Philip taught the Ethiopian eunuch about baptism in Jesus' name using only the writings of Isaiah. James concluded the Jerusalem council by quoting Amos. Paul even quoted an Old Testament verse about oxen to teach churches to support their spiritual leaders. So in the New Testament church — in their theology and their decisions, in their ministry — they depended on guidance from the Old Testament Scriptures, because they didn't even have the New Testament yet. And I just want to say that we can, too. Read the Old Testament as well.

Number three: if you want to mine the Scriptures, know the background. So important — know the background. What is going on in the lives of this writer that you're reading, or the hearers that he's writing to? What are the events situated on the timeline of the Scripture in this book? You've got to kind of become a little Bible detective. Ask questions like any good reporter would ask: who, and what, and where, and when, and why, and how. And you say, well, that's a lot; I'm just looking for a way to just read the Bible and get something out of it. Do you understand that all the information that I'm referring to is quickly and easily obtainable in a Bible dictionary or a Bible commentary — or better yet, it's available online; it's available on your phone. All you have to do is Google it. You can Google these terms — Book of Isaiah, Jeremiah — you'll find all kinds of things. Or if it's a character, put in their name and just put "Isaiah Bible" or "Jeremiah Bible"; you will find a wealth of information there. There are lots of Christian sites. Many of the resources that I have in my library in book form — some of them are huge and heavy — they're available online, so easy now. But let me make an argument with you today: just by doing a little homework up front — who is this author writing to? Is it the time of the united kingdom of Israel, the divided kingdom? Are they in captivity? Do they have a good king? Do they have a bad king? What's happening? What recent circumstances have happened in the nation? — just by doing a little bit of homework up front really increases your understanding of whatever book you are reading. And the words that are on that page, they will mean so much more to you when you understand the original context. So number three: know the background.

Number four, very similar: know the customs. You see, we often read the Bible with Western, modern eyes. But biblical work and home life, courtship, marriage customs, social norms, religious practices, and a thousand other everyday details — they were vastly different in the ancient East than they are in the modern West. And so we make assumptions that we don't even know we're making: about how they were married, or about their home life, or about how they went to work. We even now look back and we read our modern understanding, and even our modern codes of ethics, or whatever we want to call them, back on Scripture — and by doing so, we misunderstand Scripture. Now, there are all kinds of online resources here, and there are books I've got in my library, like Manners and Customs of Bible Lands — that's an old one, a classic — but there are many good resources here. If you're reading about a mantle, look up a mantle in a Bible dictionary or online. If you're reading about weddings, or marriage, or courtship, make sure you do the homework by knowing the customs.

Number five — and I love this one; I could go way far afield here — but number five: if you're going to mine the depths of the Word of God and find diamonds in the Scripture, dig into the words of Scripture. If knowing the background of a passage — if that's the broad look, so you can see the scenery and know what's going on — then digging into the words and the names and the phrases and the places of the Bible, well, that's the deep look. This is where we really get to work mining the depths of Scripture.

In my library I've got like a 25-pound Strong's Exhaustive Concordance; it's huge, it's heavy. I don't ever take it off the shelf anymore, because you could get a hernia just picking it off the shelf. We used to have to carry around books like that just to figure out the meanings of words. But now there are so many great resources today — Bible software, websites online — to give us the meanings of Bible words so quickly, so simply. And so you can look up the meaning of a Greek word, of a Hebrew word, and you learn great things by doing this.

I could give you so many examples here. But remember: it's not just a matter of picking the meaning you like best. You don't just look up a word and then say, okay, here's seven definitions, and I'm going to pick number five because it fits what I want to say. Context matters — especially with words. Modern, funny explanation: if I say to you "hot dog," you can't parse that out and say, okay, hot, dog — so a hot dog is a warm canine. You can't do that in English; you can't do that with Greek and Hebrew words. Context matters. And this is where comparing different sources that you trust will help you. One preacher said this — and I think it's very wise, and funny too: if you discover something in the Scripture that nobody else has seen in 2,000 years of church history, you're wrong. Somebody else has seen it; there's nothing new under the sun. Somebody else has studied that. And so learn to compare your findings. You say, wow, this word in this context means this — and then go compare it; find it in two or three other places and confirm what you're studying. But don't let the difficulties of context, or the little bit of extra time it takes to look up words, don't let that dissuade you from digging into the very words of Scripture. I just get so excited about that.

I got studying repentance once — which, of course, in the Greek language is metanoia; it means turning away, a turning around. And we preach that and study it. And one day it clicked: well, the word "repent" happens in the Old Testament. What's the word in the Hebrew language? What's the word in the Old Testament? And the word for repent in the Old Testament is shuv, and it's a warfare word. And if you look it up, it literally means "destroy the house." It's when an army swept in, took people captive, took them away, and as they dragged them away from their city, which is in flames, there was nothing left to go back to. And so they never went back. It never happened; it was never the same again. That's repentance. Repentance is when you turn away from your old life; you do it in such a way that you destroy the house. You don't leave any connections back there so that you can easily slip into sin. All these little meanings, by digging into the words of Scripture — there are treasures there.

Number six: if you want to mine the wealth of the Word of God, read Jewish resources. Now, I want to say very clearly — don't misunderstand me — this one can be tricky, because there's always somebody that tries to take this to an extreme, like people who read a few Jewish books or Jewish resources and now they think we should keep a literal Sabbath day, or we should observe Jewish feast days, or we should even baptize in the Hebrew version of the name of Jesus — all in direct contradiction to what the apostles did and taught. So I'm not talking about that. But if you have a good Apostolic filter — if you've got a good pastor, and you're submitted, and you can confirm what you're learning and finding, and you're not just somebody that's a law unto themselves — you can glean wonderful truths from some Jewish sources. And there are many online. There's a website called Hebrew for Christians; you can study the letters and the words of the Hebrew language. Because after all, the Jews were the original Oneness believers; they believed in one God. And Hebrew was the original language used by God to communicate His revelation to man. So you can learn a lot by studying some Jewish resources. Read some Jewish resources.

I've taught on the prayer shawl; read so much about that garment — and it's a beautiful thing. You don't need a prayer shawl to pray; we're filled with the Holy Ghost, we are a temple of the Holy Ghost. But it's a beautiful thing, filled with so much meaning when you study it — and it's everywhere in the New Testament.

Number seven, and finally: if you want to mine the riches of the Word of God, learn to pray the Scripture. Pray the Scripture. Don't just read it, study it, and walk away unchanged. But when you read or study the Bible, what we're really doing is — we're not just looking for some neat twist on a word, or some neat turn in a story, or some new revelation or way to communicate Scripture. That's not what we're looking for. We're looking for a word from the Lord. So pray over what you are reading and studying, and always be on the lookout for God to speak.

And if I can say this — it's so practical that it almost sounds like it's not important — this is why you need a pen. I suggest a pen and paper over a phone and typing it out, or an iPad, or a laptop, because these things have so many distractions on them. But if you've got something ready so that when the Lord quickens a word to you, you can instantly, immediately write it down — that's beautiful. And learn to pray the words of Scripture. The Psalms is a beautiful place to start; it's like jumper cables, booster cables, for your prayer life. If it gets a little dry, read the Psalms, put your name in there, and pray those words of God over your life. But pray the Scripture when you're studying the Scripture, because when God speaks a rhema word to you — a specific, right-now word to you — then you've got a word that can not only help you, but help someone else.

And I close with this Scripture. Paul gave us permission to do all of this. He said: "All these things happened unto them" — unto Israel — "for ensamples: they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." Everything in the Scripture — while it is a word to somebody else, it's a word to Israel, it's a word to Judah, it's a word to the first-century church — Paul says, no, it's all given to us for examples. It's written to us, on whom the ends of the world are come. And that's why we need to mine the depths of Scripture and find diamonds in the Word of God.

I hope something here has been helpful for you, and I thank you for listening today. And I'm praying for you, that your study of the Word of God becomes rich and deep and fulfilling to you, and that ultimately it causes you to grow in the Lord and changes your life. God bless you today.