Practical Tips for Bible Memory
Chapters
0:00:56 What Bible verse is judge not lest you be judged?
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00:00:04.000 | Pastor John, last time you explained why you memorize Scripture, why it's a
00:00:08.000 | priority for you, and you challenged us to memorize Romans chapter 8, the whole
00:00:12.000 | chapter. Last time you said you wanted to give us some concrete practical
00:00:15.000 | suggestions on how to do that, so let's talk about that today. What are some very
00:00:19.000 | basic steps that can help us memorize a chapter of Scripture?
00:00:23.000 | When I was a pastor at Bethlehem, we always began the year with a focus on the
00:00:28.000 | Word and prayer. And in that week, we'd have a kickoff on Wednesday night, and
00:00:34.000 | we'd emphasize Scripture memory. And one of those years, I remember a few years
00:00:38.000 | ago, Sam Crabtree, the executive pastor, stood up and he recited the entire
00:00:43.000 | Sermon on the Mount. It was riveting, because Sam's a good reader anyway. And I
00:00:50.000 | remember at one point, he started walking across to the side of the platform as he
00:00:57.000 | was beginning Matthew 7, "Judge not that you be not judged, for with the judgment
00:01:02.000 | you pronounce you'll be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured
00:01:05.000 | to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but don't notice
00:01:09.000 | the log that is..." And when he got to the word "log," he had timed it to stand
00:01:15.000 | beside one of those massive wooden columns in our sanctuary, and he put out
00:01:21.000 | his hand and he said, "Why do you notice the log?" And he put his hand on that just
00:01:27.000 | as he was reciting it. I'll never forget that. It was just so amazingly powerful
00:01:33.000 | that he was doing the recitation, that he had this picture of a log, you know, 40
00:01:41.000 | feet tall, and just massive. So I have had some amazing experiences of people
00:01:49.000 | reciting Scripture. John Bloom, the president of Desiring God, recited the
00:01:54.000 | entire book of Hebrews from memory as the main message in one of the worship
00:01:59.000 | services at his church. And so I've been working on this and believe in it, and I
00:02:06.000 | want to help people with some hows here. So here's a suggestion. Andy Davis has
00:02:11.000 | written a little booklet. It's online for free in a PDF called "An Approach to
00:02:17.000 | Extended Memorization of Scripture." And I would recommend everybody look at it,
00:02:23.000 | but I'll give you the summary of how it helped me here. So if you're going to
00:02:27.000 | memorize Romans 8 with me over the next 40 days or so, because there are 39 verses
00:02:34.000 | in it, that is a verse a day, I'll show you how I do it. And this is just
00:02:39.000 | basically I'm repeating what Andy says, so I give him full credit for these
00:02:43.000 | suggestions, and I thank him for inspiring me and helping me. So day one,
00:02:48.000 | that might be tomorrow for you, day one, you read "There is therefore now no
00:02:54.000 | condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." And you read it 10 times. You put
00:03:00.000 | your eyes on it and read it 10 times. Now you'll have it memorized before the 10th
00:03:04.000 | time, but keep reading it. Don't lift your eyes off it. And look at every different
00:03:09.000 | word, because looking is part of fixing it in your brain. Then when the 10 times
00:03:14.000 | is done, you close your eyes or shut your Bible and say it from memory 10 times.
00:03:21.000 | And I would suggest each time you say it, emphasize a different word. "There is
00:03:25.000 | therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ." "There is therefore
00:03:29.000 | now no condemnation for those who are in Christ." "There is therefore now no
00:03:33.000 | condemnation for those who are in Christ." "There is therefore now no condemnation."
00:03:37.000 | And as you mention each of those words, new meanings probably will flash before
00:03:42.000 | your eyes and fix the word, not only because of its content, but because of the
00:03:47.000 | meaning of it in your mind. So when you're done with that, take a few seconds,
00:03:51.000 | you're done for the day, as far as memorizing Romans 8. Next day, day two, you
00:03:56.000 | say that verse 10 times without looking. If you have trouble, you look, get it down,
00:04:01.000 | and then you go to verse 2, do exactly the same thing. Read it 10 times, close
00:04:07.000 | your eyes, say it 10 times, and then say the two together. And same thing day
00:04:14.000 | three. Recite verses 1 and 2, and then say the third verse 10 times, I mean read it
00:04:20.000 | 10 times, then say it 10 times, and right on through 39 times. The trick is going
00:04:27.000 | to be staying with it and repeating the long passage. It gets longer every day, so
00:04:33.000 | it's going to take more time every day to do this. But it doesn't take a lot of
00:04:37.000 | time. I'm setting aside maybe 10-15 minutes a day in the new year to nail down
00:04:42.000 | some things that I've worked on in the past and to make some progress. I want to
00:04:46.000 | memorize Philippians again. I had it a couple of years ago, and I want to make
00:04:50.000 | sure I have it again when I teach on it in the fall. So that's my suggestion. Go to
00:04:58.000 | Andy Davis's article online, grab it, don't grow weary in this battle. Pray, pray
00:05:04.000 | for strength as you begin, and let the Bible talk to you powerfully, and commit
00:05:14.000 | to do it. It's just infinitely worth it.
00:05:18.000 | Yes, excellent. Thank you, Pastor John. And that booklet by Andy Davis is again
00:05:22.000 | titled, "An Approach to Extended Memorization of Scripture." You can search
00:05:26.000 | for it online, and you'll find it easily enough. Now this commitment to extended
00:05:30.000 | Bible memorization requires a lot of time. This is a big commitment, and I think,
00:05:34.000 | Pastor John, this presses forward an important and really an inescapable
00:05:38.000 | question about settling on one translation of the Bible. So let's talk about that on
00:05:43.000 | Monday. Until then, check out the redesigned DesiringGod.org where you can
00:05:47.000 | find thousands of books, sermons, articles, and blog posts from John Piper. I'm your
00:05:51.000 | host, Tony Reinke. Have a great weekend.
00:05:53.000 | [END]
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