How do you know when you have a desire, a real desire, you'll honor the word, you'll love it,

it'll be the source of war for you on occasion, it'll be the topic of conversation most familiar

on your lips as you proclaim it, and it'll show up in your life, even involuntarily.

Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. You'd never want to

discourage a person from reading the Bible, especially a non-Christian. Still, the bottom line is

it's only after the Holy Spirit opens your eyes, after you're saved, that you're really able to

understand Scripture and apply its truth to your life. If you're a Christian, that should make

you supremely thankful for the salvation you've received, thankful for your unique ability to

understand the Bible. Still, there are gaps in our understanding when it comes to Scripture,

and today John MacArthur shows you what it takes to fill those gaps. In another practical lesson

from the study he calls, how to get the most from God's Word. So take your Bible and follow

along now as John starts the lesson. We've laid down this foundation preliminarily, we must have

a high view of Scripture, we must know its content. Now, beyond that, I want to give you some

understanding of the requirements for determining the meaning of Scripture. Some requirements for

determining the meaning of Scripture. May I suggest to you that even unbelievers may have a certain

interest in the Bible. I am always amazed why liberal theologians who deny its inspiration

want to become professors of religion, or professors of theology, but they do, they have some kind of

interest in Scripture. It is also possible for an unregenerate, unconverted, unsanctified person

to read and understand some of the basic content of the Bible, right? They can read that Jesus

died on a cross, they can read that he rose again, they can read that he promised to return,

they can read that he did miracles, they can read that an axe had floated, they can read that

the Lord parted the Red Sea and the children of Israel crossed under the leadership of Moses

...