Well, before I start, I just want to say, you know, when I was growing up, my dad used to walk around with his glasses like this, and it used to annoy the tar out of me. And now here I am with my glasses like that. I've got a spot, I had a spot frozen off the other day and it's still a bit messy. So if I look like a, if I look a bit stupid, that's why. So, all right. 2nd Timothy, 2nd Timothy chapter two. 2nd Timothy chapter 2. Now your notes may be set out a little bit differently to how mine are. It'll still be all the same text obviously, but if I say turn the page or I'm looking at a different page, it's okay if it's different to yours. Just keep following. So 2nd Timothy 2.15 of course, which is a study to show they're self-approved unto God. a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Now, we're just going to continue with the principles of right division. But before we do, let's just have another word of prayer. Let's pray. Father, thank you, Lord, for being able to, at this time, to spend some time to think about the important subject rightly dividing the word of truth. Father, I pray, Lord, that you would just lead and guide throughout our time this morning. May we be able to learn to rightly divide a little bit better. And Father, I just thank you for what you will do in Jesus' name. Amen. So before I start, we can study all of these things. you know, verse by verse and things like that. And, you know, be good Bereans. But the reality is, ultimately, who is the best? What's the most important thing with rightly dividing word of truth? Well, it's to have the Holy Spirit of God use the sword of the Spirit to help you to have the understanding. We can get a head full of knowledge on how to do these things, But as I like to say, it's one thing to have a head full of knowledge, it's another thing to have a heart full of the Word of God. And so the important ingredient is always the Holy Spirit's working when we study the Word. And it's easy to, you know, you get reading, doing your daily Bible reading and you read something really really interesting and you dig into it and you find these things out and you go, wow, that's really cool. And you're learning lots. But the thing to really have in your Bible study is to have the Holy Spirit as your guide in rightly dividing the word of truth, because it is the sword of the Spirit. So just with that in mind, let's start on our notes here. And we're going to actually spend some time, perhaps more time this morning, actually looking up the verses and doing some practical, looking at things practically from the word of God to hopefully get a hold of the principles that I've got here. And also, with these principles here, obviously this is not the thing of, okay, this is the, to use the term, this is not the Bible of right principles in the sense of this is the whole box and dice. But these are things that I've learned practically from my time in the ministry, the things that the Lord's given me to help me to study the word. And of course, you can do your courses on hermeneutics and get all of these, all the right ways of doing it all. And they're all good, don't take me wrong. But we're just looking at this from the point of view this morning of, and last time, from the point of view of how God's helped me to study the Word. Okay, so looking there at the top of your sheets, I just got there to refresh our memories as to what we are doing here in these sessions. Let's think back to last training day and quickly review the basic principles that we looked at. We only looked at two last time. Principle one last time was the whole of the Bible is for us, but not all of the Bible is to us. And the whole of the word of God, it's for us. We have the whole book here. We don't just stick in the New Testament. We have the whole Bible for us, but not all of it's to us. And so, of course, when you think about that, you think about, for example, the Jews under the law, and I've got that there. Before Jesus came at his first coming, he came to fulfill the law. And as we see to the church in in Galatians 3 verses 23 to 25, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. And now that Christ has come, we are no longer under the schoolmaster. So we need to rightly divide the word of truth, is your blank there. So all of the Bible is for us, but not all of it's to us. And principle number two that we looked at last time was, the foundational doctrines of the faith are unchangeable. So when we read the Word and what we read seems to go against what we know is right doctrine, or when someone else puts their view forward on some verses and their view contradicts doctrine, always be sure that you or the person putting forward their view have incorrectly interpreted the Scripture. I know a statement of faith in our churches, it's not the Bible, but it's obviously showing us, it's giving us all of the right doctrines, all your basic doctrines. And if you're reading the Bible and you're getting some sort of an idea that's not scriptural or not doctrinal, then you know that you've got something wrong. And likewise, if somebody else is trying to convince you of something, even if you don't know how yourself how to answer that person that's trying to convince you of something, just don't let that shake your faith, but just know that they're wrong. The Bible is right and the doctrines that we adhere to are correct. And if you're having trouble with that, then go and see someone, go and talk to your pastor Go and talk to your pastor or if you are the pastor then you've got a problem. But anyway, but yeah go and see your pastor or somebody else that you know is very well granted in the word and get them to help you with that. So today we move on to the third principle which is when reading scripture we must compare scripture with scripture to get an accurate picture of the timing of events recorded. Now this is where we're going to start to have a bit of a dig and we're going to put Scripture beside Scripture to get this point hopefully a bit better. So let's get two places in our Bibles, Luke 1 and Matthew 1. Luke 1 and Matthew 1. And we're going to spend a bit of time in both. So first of all, we'll be Luke 1. And then we'll go to Matthew 1 after that. I shall put my ribbon over here. So I'm not going to rush through this this morning. And so if I don't finish right where I hope to finish, well, that's all right. I'm from Bundy anyway, so we don't keep time down there. So Luke 1 and Matthew 1. So in Luke chapter 1, verse 30, we see there the angel, Gabriel, appearing to Mary. And verse 30 says, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be? seeing I know not a man.' And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren." So first of all, and we did look at this a little bit last time, but what we're going to do is we're going to get the timing, okay? When was this? When did Gabriel appear to Mary? Was that when Mary was already about to become with child of the Holy Ghost, or was it a few months later was when Joseph had his dream about being with Mary? How does it all fit in time-wise? So I think this is a fairly simple example, but it illustrates what we're trying to get with this point. So here we have Gabriel has appeared to Mary. He's told her, if you take note, in verse number 35, for example, it says, then the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee. So take note of the tense there, it's future. It hadn't yet happened, right? And so he then, as he gets to the end of his message to Mary, He then tells her about Elizabeth, her cousin, being with child in her old age. She has conceived in her old age and she's in her sixth month. So, yeah, she's two thirds of the way through her term. And so off Mary goes to visit Elizabeth. In verse number 39, it says, and Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste into a city of Judah. and entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth. So off she goes to visit her cousin. So number one, we see here the angel, on your notes, the angel Gabriel appears to Mary to tell her that she would be with child as a virgin when the Holy Spirit would overshadow her. As we've just read there in Luke 1, verse 26 to 35, thou shalt conceive. future tense. Number two, at the end of the revelation Gabriel made to Mary, he then informs her that her cousin Elizabeth had conceived a son in her old age and was already six months pregnant. So in other words, we're seeing here the progression, right? Time-wise. Number three, Mary then went to her cousin and spent about three months with her. Have a look there in Luke 39 verse number 56, And it says, and Mary abode with her about three months and returned to her own house. And returned to her own house. So that was point number four. Now, so we've seen the progression time-wise there. So basically Mary stayed with Elizabeth to pretty much full term. And then go over to Matthew chapter one. Matthew chapter one. Matthew chapter one. And let's have a look in here, verse 18, which says, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Now, think back, when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, she was not yet with child. Okay, so this is after, after the angel had appeared to Gabriel. Angel Gabriel had appeared to Mary, sorry. But how far after? All right, so let's continue here. Then you've got a blank there to fill in, by the way. It says, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Now, by this time, the Holy Spirit had overshadowed her and formed that baby in her womb. which would be our Lord Jesus Christ, like he said he would in Luke 1. Note, she's found with child already, so the forming of the baby Jesus had not just happened in the sense of back there in Luke 1, it didn't just happen just then, but how far along she was at this time is not clear here in Matthew 1. So at that time when Joseph had a dream where the Lord revealed to him that the child forming in Mary's womb was the creation of the Holy Spirit would have been about the time when Mary had come back from visiting Elizabeth, somewhere around that time. Matthew chapter 1 verse 24, knowing that Mary was with child and having been instructed to take his espoused wife Mary into his house in the dream, he awoke and did so straight away, which is your blank there. Mary had to have returned from visiting Elizabeth for Joseph to do as instructed by the Lord and for that matter this could not have happened before Mary went to visit Elizabeth as she was taken into Joseph's house for all intents and purposes as his wife. Now we know at the end of Matthew chapter 1 that they didn't consummate the marriage until after the baby Jesus was born, verse 25, that's clear. And so let's Think about that a little bit. Mary's been told by Gabriel she would be with child. He tells her that Elizabeth has been with child for six months. She's already six months through the term. So Mary goes and spends three months with her. She then comes back and she's with child. when Joseph has that dream. So things have progressed again and then Joseph is instructed at that time to take Mary into his own house and be as husband and wife, except obviously they didn't consummate the marriage until after the baby was born. So how do we come to that order? By comparing Scripture with Scripture to get the timing of things. You know, quite often we'll look at something in the Word of God And if you don't know the timing, it's kind of a little bit of a confused mess. You know these things are true, but you just don't know how they all fit together time-wise. And so here we have the importance of putting the scriptures beside each other and going, okay, like for example, this one, Luke 1, okay, she's not with child. It's still future tense. She goes off to see Elizabeth, her cousin, who is with child in her old age. Then she comes back. as it says there in Luke 1, after three months. And then Joseph has the dream when she's already with child of the Holy Ghost. So if she's found to be with child, that would then suggest that she was probably at least a couple of months along when some things are starting to change. And then Joseph takes her into his house as his wife, as instructed. So we've looked at that to get the timing and to help that point be a bit clearer. To get an accurate picture of the timing of events recorded is important. It helps us to get a better grasp of the Word of God and does clear away confusion when we're studying it. So I don't know where your notes are at this stage, so I'm on the second page now. Another example of comparing Scripture with Scripture to understand not just the timing of things but to draw lessons for ourselves can be seen with the Lord calling Peter, Andrew, James and John to be his disciples. So let's go to John chapter 1 first of all. Let's have a look at another example. In this one, you've got to compare a few more verses to get the order. Now, again you'll find in your bible especially in the gospel for example where you'll have it looks like the same events or similar events and you've been sitting there going is this one in the same or is it different and so this is where you need to really just You sit down, and this is what it really means to study, to show they're self-approved. You really sit down. Don't just spend five minutes looking at that subject. If it's something that the Lord's got your attention on, stop and pay the time with it, but put the time in on it, and get all of the scriptures that relate to that particular happening. Say, like, for example, you know, like the miracles of Christ, for example. You get them in, you know, you know, the same miracle in the different Gospels. And you can pick up different details of them. But here we're dealing more with the timing of things. But nonetheless, you need to get at the Scriptures and you find every reference to that happening. Or it might even seem like this happening here is very similar to that one, although they're saying they may or they may not be. but this is where you study to show yourself approved, and you compare Scripture with Scripture. So let's look at this one. John 1, verses 35 to 42. John 1, verse 35 to 42. We won't probably read them all for time's sake, but John 1, 35, we see John standing, John the Baptist standing there with two of his disciples. And then verse 36, the Lord comes along, behold the Lamb of God, Verse 37, the two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus. Verse 38, then Jesus turned and saw them following and saith unto them, What seek ye? And they said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say being interpreted, Master, where dwellest thou? And verse 39, he saith unto them, Come and see. Verse 40, one of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. And so verse 41, he first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted the Christ. And so here we see then Andrew is introducing Simon Peter, his brother, to the Lord Jesus. We've found the Christ, the Messiah. And so this is the first place where any of these four are found in relation to the Lord meeting the Lord. Now, I've got here on my notes, this is the first mention of any of those who became part of the 12 disciples meeting the Lord Jesus. In these verses we see Andrew first, who was one of the two disciples of John the Baptist that went to Jesus and asked him where he dwelt. Andrew then took Simon Peter, his brother, to meet the Messiah. So, here we see Andrew and Peter believing on Jesus as the Messiah. Now second, go to Matthew chapter four. Matthew chapter four. So what have I done here? Okay, I've looked for the early accounts of Andrew and Peter, and James and John for that matter, in relation to meeting the Lord and following him, all right? So Matthew chapter four, verses 18 to 22, which reads the famous verses, and Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother. Now take note of what they're doing, okay? Casting a net into the sea for they were fishers. So Peter, Simon, Peter, and Andrew, they're out from the shore a bit and they're casting their nets to catch fish. And the Lord calls out to them, and He says, He saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. In this first case, Simon, Peter and Andrew, they were fishing still. They're still casting at the net. James and John, they're mending their nets with their father. You take note of the small detail because it'll help you a lot when you're studying the Word of God. And so they follow the Lord. Now, Where are we? So, here in Matthew Chapter 4, this was after the time we've seen in John Chapter 1. So, how do we know that? Because at the beginning of Matthew 4, we see the time the Lord was led of the Spirit into the wilderness where He fasted 40 days and 40 nights. This is when the devil as the tempter came and tried to tempt Him. After that, in verse number 12, if you just have a look back there in verse number 12, it literally says there, Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee. So when Andrew and Peter met the Lord Jesus, John was not in prison, he was still baptizing, that's how they met the Lord. And Andrew was there, he was one of the two that was following John the Baptist, and then he introduced Jesus. So then we see in Matthew 4, John's already in prison. So it's after. It's not the same time, it's after. And then the Lord gives the famous call, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Now, where do we go from here? So hopefully you've got your blank there straight away. They left their nets and followed him. Third, let's go to Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1. In Mark 1, verses 16 to 31, in Mark 1, verses 16 to 31, we see a parallel account. Now, as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets and followed him, And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the ship, mending their nets, which is what we saw in the first account of Matthew 4, correct? Peter and Andrew were casting out their nets. James and John were mending their nets. And straightway he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with hired servants and went after him. And we go, well, praise the Lord, they obeyed. and they followed the Lord. Okay, but let's continue on. Let's see some more. Now, let's turn to Luke chapter... Sorry, here we go. I didn't quite finish that, did I? So, look at verse number 21, verse number 21. And they went straight, sorry, they went into Capernaum and straightway on the Sabbath day, he entered into the synagogue and taught. Now, he teaches there and then There was in their synagogue, verse 23, a man with an unclean spirit and he cried out saying, let us alone. And verse 25, Jesus rebuked him saying, hold thy peace and come out of him. Verse 26, the unclean spirit went out. Then verse 29, jump to verse 29, and forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. But Simon's wife, wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell him of her. Verse 31, and he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them. Now, let's get the order here. Verse 16, 17, 18, and 19, and 20, we see the same parallel account for Matthew chapter 4. Yeah, we're good with that. So Matthew 4, and these verses here are Mark 1, they're after John chapter 1. John chapter 1's first when Andrew and Peter, we know, met the Lord. And it's quite likely that James and John were there too, but it doesn't mention them. You know, their part was in the business, fishing business, and they seem like they are a team anyway, so most likely they'd gone down to Jerusalem also for the feast. But anyway, so... John chapter 1 is first, then Matthew 4 and Mark 1 is the Lord's first calling of these guys, the four fishermen. And then after that, they go straight way into the synagogue there, as we see there in verse 21 of Mark 1. After the synagogue and he's healed the man of the unclean spirit, they go into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. and then the Lord heals Simon Peter's mother-in-law. Brave man. Anyway, I won't get into mother-in-law jokes, but anyway. So, why do we look at that? Why do we look at him healing the mother-in-law? Let's go to Luke chapter four. Luke chapter four. What are we doing? We're building a bridge between the different accounts time-wise. We're getting the flow of it. You understand what I mean? Yeah? Okay, Luke Chapter 4. In Luke Chapter 4, have a look at verses 38 and 39. And he arose out of the synagogue and entered into Simon's house and Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever and they besought him for her and he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she arose and ministered unto them. And so if you look back in verse 33, we see the parallel account of Him being in the synagogue. And then verse 38 and 39, we see the parallel account of the Lord healing Simon Peter's mother-in-law. So we're building that bridge for the flow. Okay, now look in Luke chapter 5. So it's gone on. We've seen the flow from John 1 to Matthew 4 and Mark 1, and then from Mark 1 here to Luke 4. Now in Luke 5, it says at the beginning, and it came to pass. So this is after all of these past events, right? And it came to pass. As the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and saw two ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their nets. So is this the same time as back in Matthew 4? No, it's not. It's a different time. These guys were out of their ships washing their nets, all of them. And so both ships are there, the fishermen were out of the ships, which they weren't in the other accounts, and they're washing their nets here. Before, Peter and Andrew were still fishing, and James and John were mending the nets. It's a different time. You could look at that and go, oh, this is like another account like Matthew. No, it's not, it's later. And we've established that by building that bridge time-wise, by seeing the flow, yeah? That make sense? Okay, all right. So here, in here, he gets into, as we know, he gets into Simon Peter's ship and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land and he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. So totally different happening. Before he just walked past and said, you guys casting out your nets out there, come in here and follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. You guys mending your nets, you follow me too and I'll make you fishers of men and they did and this one, They're all out of their ships and they're just washing their nets. And he says, hey, Simon, let me use your ship for a minute. I want to teach the people. So he teaches them. And then he says, okay, Simon, launch out into the deep. Now push off and let's get out there a bit deeper water and let down your nets for a draft. Famous passage. And Simon says, master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. And so we know what happens. There's a great multitude of fishes, verse 6, and the net break. And they beckoned unto their partners which were in the other ship that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships so that they began to sink. Totally different times to Matthew 4 and Luke 5. And so we know here Peter gets down on his knees and says, depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord. And for he was astonished, verse 9 of Luke 5, for he was astonished and all that were with him at the draft of the fishes which they had taken. And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. So you might say, okay, well, what can we get from that? Number one, we're getting the flow of how it all happened. which, you know, you could look at that and kind of go, well, is Luke 5 the same as Matthew 4? If you don't sort of build a bridge, you sort of, you can be confused. But you can get more than that. You know, at John chapter 1, we see Simon, Peter, and Andrew meet the Lord for the first time. Matthew 4, he calls them to follow him, and I'll make you fishes of men, and they did. They followed him. Then Mark 1, we saw that, and Luke 4, we saw that the Lord went into the synagogue straightaway after they followed him. And then after the synagogue, they went to Simon Peter's house, well, it was Simon and Andrew's house, and healed the mother-in-law. And then it came to pass that Simon Peter and Andrew and James and John were back at the boats, they're back at the ships. Why? They've already been called to follow Him. So, what are we seeing? And this is, you know, I've preached this before. You meet the Lord, John chapter 1. The Lord, you know, lays on your heart to follow Him and be fair to him about your walk with Him. But Luke 5, you've still sort of got one foot in the world and in your old life. And the Lord's just got to do something special just to rattle your cage so that you give him unconditional surrender. And so, you know, you can get a whole lot from getting the timing of events by comparing Scripture with Scripture, laying them out side by side, because it is important and you get a whole lot more from it if you do that. And that's the right division. So the principle was when reading Scripture, we must compare Scripture with Scripture to get an accurate picture of the timing of events recorded. It's important. Otherwise, you know, we're kind of, you know, not really getting as much from a Scripture reading and study is what we ought. So, on the bottom of my page, number two, it says it's just got the order of things there that we've already looked at. So, we don't need to go back over that. You can read that later if you want to. So, let's finish this third principle by saying this. Even by comparing Scripture with Scripture, we are not going to be able to clarify every detail of what happened throughout the Word of God. For example, sometimes, and I'll just an example of it just escapes me at the moment but you know you can be reading something verse 25 might be a certain time and then verse 26 might be six months later and you know and you don't realize that there's a time gap there. So let me just say that if you get to a point where you're studying something and you just can't get it to gel, you can't really get it to fully understand it, then don't let that bother you. It's the Word of God after all. And the Lord only gave us what He wants us to have for what we need to know. And so, I'm just going to be open and transparent when I say this, earlier on my Christian walk, I was really getting into the Word of God. Things like that, like we've just looked at, it would bother me. I look at it and I go, this over here in Luke 5, it just doesn't seem to... It looks like the same kind of thing as Matthew 4, but it just doesn't go together. I was confused. If you're not well grounded in your faith in the Word, things like that can bother your faith in the Word of God. Let me just share something here. It's relevant to what we're looking at. because I think I've only got, what, five minutes? Was it? Anyway, 15 minutes to go? Okay, all right, cool. Okay. It's always got to be somebody from Toowoomba like that. Anyway, so let me just say this. You need to get, one of the biggest things that you need to get a hold of in your walk with the Lord is that this, and get it in your heart, somebody might need to let that person back in, you need to get in your heart that this is the Word of God. You can read all of the books, you can read all of the experts on all of the background to the Word of God and manuscript evidences and all that stuff, and it's all good. Don't take me wrong. Please don't take me wrong with that. I encourage you to do that. Very much so. But ultimately, you've got to have in your heart that this is really the Word of God, and I mean the Word of God, without error, in the King James. You've really got to get a hold of it in your heart. I'll just share a little bit of testimony quickly. I come to that point, I read all this stuff and read all that manuscript evidence and I read all of this and read all of that and I just came to a point where one day I just said, Lord, I just want to have peace of heart from you that this is the book. Now, anybody that's had the Lord answer particular prayer, sometimes the way he answers prayer will speak to your heart, but you share it with somebody else and they go, I don't know, I don't see that. But you just know it's from God. Well, I prayed and said, Lord, I just want you to show me that this really is your book, that the King James really is the Word of God without error. And at that time, I was still working in the bank, the first bank that I worked in. but I'd handed in my resignation and I was just doing a signing officer's job for about a month or so before I finished. And I was in one of the branches in Brisbane on the north side, and they'd stuck me down the back as a signing officer just to, here sign this, oh yeah, right, okay. Probably signed away about $500,000 or something, but anyway, that's all right. Didn't know what I was doing, but it didn't matter. So anyway, I was sitting there, and each I don't know whether I can't remember whether it was every month or every couple of months you used to get the trade union magazine in those days you had to be in the union whether you liked it or not and so I got this trade union magazine and on the back on the back of that magazine down on the left hand corner was an article entitled believe it or not and it said this is no credit cards no cash no checkbooks this is the the crux of an experiment started in 1983, showing my age, sorry about that. This is the crux of experiments started in 1983, where 5,000 people received a mark in their right hand to do their buying and selling with. And this was in Sweden. And if you look into things with the money side of things, Sweden's a bit of a shaker remover and that stuff. But anyway, anyway, It said they would go to the shops that were part of the experiment, and the shop people would just run over the mark with an electronic pen in those days. And that's how they did the buying and selling. Well, I'm sitting there in the back of this branch, and I'd only prayed about, Lord, if this is really your book, if this is really the Word of God, then show me. I just want to have it in my heart, not just up in here. I really want to have it in here so that I can, it wouldn't matter what anybody said, I'd just go, yeah, whatever, build a bridge and get over it. And so when I read that article, that was like the Lord saying, okay, you want your evidence? There you go. It's really the Word of God. What's in Revelation is really going to happen. And I'm just saying, here's your answer to prayer. Well, I was sitting in this branch and like I said, I was at the back. just behind me was the men's and the ladies' toilets. So I was so excited. I couldn't jump up and down for joy in the middle of the banking branch. Otherwise, the people were going, what's the whole lot going on? What's happening here? So I had to go into the men's and jump up and down and shout. I'm going, like this in the men's toilet. So then they come out, sit down again, decomposed. So God does things like that just to, he wants you to get it in your heart that it's really the Word of God. We can have a head full of knowledge, but if it's not in here, there's a problem. So we need to lay out, not only compare Scripture with Scripture, not only put them side by side and compare them and work out things time-wise, but with all of these points, the main underlying thing is, We've got to know in our hearts that it's the Word of God and that it's the sword of the Spirit. And it's through the convicting of the whole... You think about when we go out and give out a gospel tract or witness to someone. It says the Word of God goes out and the Lord will achieve with it what He pleases. It's not us. It's His Word that does the work. It's the sword of the Spirit And that's how we've got to approach our study of the word. Lord, I'm just a fallible human being. I look at this and I go, and I go, Lord, that doesn't make any sense. And if we just look at it from that point of view, we will get the doubts and things. So we've got to lay them out side by side and get the right timeframes. So somebody give me a warning when it's five minutes till the end. So principle number four, if you look on your sheets, let's go to the next one. We're obviously not going to get principle number four finished because we've only got a handful of minutes left, but that's all right. We'll do an intro to it and then pick it up next session. Principle number four in Right Division of the Bible, as the Bible is the Word of God inspired by the Holy Ghost, there are a lot of places that we will not understand this side of glory or in the case of prophecy, we won't understand until it is fulfilled. So, let's go over to 2 Peter Chapter 3. One of the biggest dangers that we have as students of the Word of God is trying to say that, oh, this means this and this is going to happen like this and this means that and break an X on them. 2 Peter 3, verses 15 and 16, it reads here, An account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable rest. as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own destruction. Now, let's just have a look at our notes here. Let us start this part with the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples. We'll get back to these two verses in a minute or two, or a few minutes. Let us start this part with the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples during His earthly ministry. Look at Mark 9, verses 31 and 32. Mark chapter 9, 31 and 32. Let me just say this, you don't have to have an answer for everything. You get people just say, what about this verse over here? And they're just pulling out something that they've looked for just so they can try and say, look at me, I found something you don't understand. Grow up. And so the thing is, what we've got to do is, we've got to understand that we, like the point says, we're never going to understand everything this side of glory. We're not. Or in the case of prophecy, like I've said, that we won't understand it until it's fulfilled. So, and you think about all the prophecies that are coming to pass at the moment, and we kind of go, wow, we've never seen that happen. Never thought that was going to go that far. And you look at how far it's gone, even some of the prophecies we thought years ago, like it was in the days of love, we thought, oh, look at this. Decades ago, we were already saying that. And look at where we're at now. Who would have thought? So, you know, you just gotta be careful to not sort of jump in and make it, we gotta be careful to not make ourselves Eddie the expert on everything, because we're not. And, And so just, you know, if somebody suddenly throws something at you that you don't understand, you know, and like I said, they'll find their pet little thing that they've been looking for for years so that they can just be, look at me, I found something you don't know how to answer. Well, it's okay, just say, look, it's the Word of God, I don't understand everything in it. And neither do you. You can put it back on them for that matter. And just say, there's an answer to it. And, you know, if God gives you the answer to it and you can explain it to them, praise the Lord. But anyway, in Mark Chapter 9, verses 31, 32. And it wasn't the only time that the Lord said things like that to them. And so they're going along and kind of going, did you get that? No, I didn't get it, did you? No, they didn't get it. And let me just say this, they weren't supposed to either at that time. And we'll think about that as we go through this, but we're probably out of time, I think. So, looking at your notes there, here the Lord Jesus was privately telling the disciples what would happen to him But as we see in verse 32, they did not understand and were afraid to ask Him. Why didn't they understand even though the Lord Jesus plainly said He would be betrayed and killed and then rising in the third day? Well, we're going to look at that probably next session. Are we up time-wise? Okay, all right, we'll keep going. Just I don't want to finish in the middle of a point, that's all. Things to note regarding this. It was not the right time for them to understand what the Lord Jesus had said. It needed to be after the resurrection. Look at Luke 24. Luke 24. Let's go over there. Luke 24. And let's have a look in verses 13 to 27. Luke 24 verses 13 to 27. So here we see Lord Jesus has risen from the dead. Verse 13, Behold, two of them that went the same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, about three score furlongs, and we know how that goes. They're walking along on the road to Emmaus. The Lord comes up beside them, and he says in verse 17, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another as ye walk and are sad? They explain where they're at, and the Lord then rebukes them and uses the Scripture to explain. Verse 26, Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And on he goes. And so they get to Emmaus. He goes into their house. They constrain him to take bread with him and so forth. And as he breaks the bread and prays, he then disappears. They go back to Jerusalem. Verse 34, saying, The Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon. Then verse 36, And as they spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. Look over in verses 44 and 45. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. There came the right time for them to know. Now I'm going to abbreviate, no I'm not. So looking here, so for us sometimes the Lord does not open up the word of God to us in hard to understand passages until it is needful for us to understand as we see it was with the disciples. If you stop and think about it, if the Lord had opened up the scriptures regarding himself being betrayed and crucified before it happened, how would it have turned out for sure it would have turned out different to the way it had to. Think of Judas on the night with the sop in John 13, for example. The Lord had said, and this is interesting, actually, I kind of looked, I saw that, thought of this recently, I saw it recently, I went, hmm. You know, John 13, it says, after supper was finished. I'll repeat that, after supper was finished. the Lord Jesus then washed their feet. We know Simon Peter objected after supper was finished. But then after supper's finished, after he's washed their feet, he then says, someone's going to lift up their heel against me. And Peter goes to John, he goes, you ask him, because John and the Lord are side by side there. And he says to John, he said, whom I give the sop to, it is he. Now, it doesn't show whether he told Peter that or not, but then he dipped the sop, gave it to Judas whom Satan had just entered into. If you read there, I think it's verse 27, I think. And he says to Judas and ultimately to Satan, he says, that which thou doest, do quickly. And Judas goes out. And it says there in John, 13, where are we? Where are we? John 13 verse 28. Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. Supper's finished, but he used the sop as the signal to whoever was gonna betray him. Here, Judas, have some. Let me dip this bread for you. Here you go. But supper's finished. So it was a clear signal. But no man got it, i.e. especially John and Peter. They didn't get it. And so if If they had understood what was going to happen that night, they probably would have canned Judas before they even got that far. They would have said, Lord, we're not going down there because we know what's going to happen. It wouldn't have worked out right. So, let me say this. When God, when the Lord doesn't open up something to you, you've got a passage there and you look at it and you go, What on earth does that mean? It just intrigues you. Well, maybe it's just not the right time for the Lord to open that up to you. He's got a purpose in all of that. Remember, always remember, remember, burn this into your heart. This is the Word of God. And every time you get something that, again, I'll just make it me, because this is me in the past. Every time I'd see something where I go, I don't understand that. Well, that's just too hard. It would make me doubt, which is why I got to the point that I got that I've already given the testimony about. But knowing that this is the Word of God without error, I can look at that now and go, well, I don't understand that. And Lord, either you're going to open this up to me at the right time when you want to use it, for something in my life, or I don't need to know. And it doesn't bother me anymore. It hasn't done for years, years and years and years. Just know, this is the Word of God. And don't let the fact that sometimes you'll see those things and you just won't get them for now. So we'll finish there in this session. So part of the way through principle number four, But that's okay, we'll start at number two when we come back later. So let's just pray. Let's pray. Father, thank you, Lord, for being able to look at these things this morning. And Lord, I just pray that you would help us to, Lord, just be settled in our hearts about the Word of God being the Word of God, being the Sword of the Spirit, as you tell us in Ephesians 6. And Lord, it's so true. when we treat it as your word, exactly as your word, how it speaks to our hearts. And Father, I just do, Lord, thank you for that. And Lord, I commit these things to you in Jesus' name, amen.