How to Study the Bible

[00:00:00] You're listening to a podcast by Lance Lambert Ministries. For more information on this ministry, visit lancelambert.org or follow us on social media to receive all of our updates. [00:00:11] In this episode, Lance shares how we should approach the study of God's Word. He walks through practical ways to study the Bible. This message is part of a larger series that Lance gave as part of his Bible study series. You can find this message and others transcribed in the book how how the Bible Came to be. Part 2 let's listen to how to Study the Bible. [00:00:32] Well, now, this evening we come to this last study in this series, which we have entitled how to Study the Bible. [00:00:47] We've now looked at many aspects of the Bible. [00:00:51] We have looked at the matter of authority, of inspiration, of revelation. [00:01:00] We have looked at the aim and the scope of the Bible, its structure and its growth, the text and its transmission over the centuries. [00:01:14] And we have dealt with the history of the English version, the Bible. [00:01:21] Now it remains for us to consider the way we should approach personal Bible reading and study of God's Word. [00:01:34] Now, there's been an awful lot in these studies that have of necessity been technical, but we must this evening point out that in every way God's Word can meet us. There is in fact no part of God's Word which God cannot use at some time or another to really meet us in our need. It is interesting, for instance, to discover what God calls His Word. He calls it In Matthew, chapter 13, verses 19 and onwards, a seed. [00:02:13] It is a seed which is sown in us and will grow. It will convert us, and then it will grow and it will bear fruit. Much fruit, in fact. [00:02:28] And then in 1 Peter, chapter 2 and verse 2, we're told it is milk. When we are very young and we can't take solid food, then God's Word is milk to us. So you must never think that once God has sown His Word in your heart and it's taken root and it's beginning to grow and you're a true child of God, that there's not something in God's Word for you. However simple your outlook, however young you are as a Christian, well, then you see, there's something for you. God's Word is called milk. We are told, desire it as newborn babes. [00:03:13] And then we are told in Hebrews, chapter 5 and verse 14 that when we are a little older, it's solid food. [00:03:21] When we've got beyond the milk stage, we still need milk. But when we're beyond just milk, then there's solid food. In the Bible, and we're told that solid food is for those who are full grown, it says. [00:03:38] Then again, in Psalm 119 and verse 105, we are told that God's Word is a lamp to lighten our path, to guide us. Do we need guidance? [00:03:53] Do we know? Do we need to know something of a situation we're in? Do we need to understand God's will for our lives? Do we need to understand God's purpose in its most general and greatest lines? Well, God's Word is a lamp. [00:04:11] Not only will it give us personal light and show us the way, not only will it lead us, as it were, into all truth, but it will show us a much greater scale if we would know what is the purpose of God from eternity to eternity. And so we could go on. [00:04:33] And in Jeremiah, in James 1, verse 23, we read that the Bible is a mirror in which we can see ourselves. [00:04:46] There's a very great need for us to see ourselves, to see whether we're growing in the Lord, to see what's ugly, to see what's untidy, to see what needs cleaning up, to see just what we're like. And God's Word is a mirror. And if we're honest, we come to God's Word, then we shall see things as they really are. We shall see a reflection of things in God's Word. It will tell us the truth about ourselves. We shall see a reflection. It's no good saying that reflection is someone else. That reflection is me. I'm looking into it. [00:05:22] And so God's Word is a mirror. [00:05:25] And then, as I just said now, in Jeremiah 23:29, God's Word is called a fire. [00:05:32] A fire that burns and purifies. Burns up the dross and purifies what is true and valuable. [00:05:43] So God's Word is like that. If you and I are honest and if we want to go on with the Lord, then God's Word will be a fire in our bones. [00:05:54] And it will burn up what is dross if we allow the Lord to have his way. And it will purify what is of himself. Thy word, it says in one of the Psalms, O Lord is tried, and it's tried by fire. [00:06:13] And then again the same verse, Jeremiah 20:29, we're told that God's word is a hammer, and it breaks what has got to be broken. [00:06:23] If there's something in you which has got to be broken, you can be quite sure that God's Word will break it in the end. God's word is a hammer. And sometimes we don't like certain parts of God's Word. There are some people who only read certain portions of God's Word because they know those are the comforting portions. I always feel a little fearful about promise boxes in that direction. For you cannot fail to get some comforting promise from a promise box. [00:06:53] But you see, God's word at times is a hammer. And you know it is for our own well being that part of our nature gets broken, that there's something in us that needs breaking. Then thank God, God's Word will break it. It's a hammer in the hands of the Holy Spirit. [00:07:14] And then again in Ephesians 5:26 we are told that God's word is a laver, a washing bowl, a washing place. [00:07:26] And there we can be washed continually and we can be kept clean. Jesus said, ye are clean through the word that I spoke unto you. And the psalmist said, thy word have I hid in my that I might not sin against thee. [00:07:43] God's word is a laver. [00:07:46] And every time we read God's Word, it cleanses our minds. Now are you troubled by evil thoughts? Read God's Word, you'll find it has a cleansing effect upon your mind. [00:07:59] Are you bothered about other things? You feel dirty? Read God's Word, you will find it cleanses you somehow. It purifies the atmosphere, it purifies the mind. Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. [00:08:16] Well, God's word is a laver. And the priests had to continually come back to the laver to wash in it. And so you and I have got to continually come back to God's word that we may be washed, we may receive that Washington by the word. [00:08:34] And then of course, in Ephesians 6:17, God's word is a sword. [00:08:42] And in Hebrews chapter 4 it is a sword that does something in us. [00:08:49] It's a sword that divides soul from spirit. [00:08:52] Now that's really almost a surgeon's knife. [00:08:55] God's Word can be like that. It's not a blunt instrument. [00:08:59] It's not an instrument that hacks its way into you. It is just like a surgeon's knife. [00:09:07] God knows exactly what he's doing. And by his word he can sever things. [00:09:14] He can just get in on the inside and he can say, that's Christ and that's you. [00:09:21] He can discern the thoughts and the intents of the heart by his word. Search me, O God, and try me and see whether there be any wicked way in me. God does it that way. But also God's Word is a sword to be held in our hand for defense and for victory. [00:09:42] In Ephesians 6:17, we're told that it is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Get it into your hand and you'll be able to withstand the devil. And in the day when he comes, when the evil one comes, you've got God's Word in you and you can deal with the evil. And you can defend yourself by the word of God. And not only defend yourself, you can overcome the evil one by the word of God. Now, all these things, this is what God's Word is. We've been talking about a lot of the technicalities of God's Word, the way, the structure of the Bible, the growth of the Bible, the text of the Bible. But you know, this is the thing that's most important. [00:10:26] This is the way God uses his Word with us and to us. [00:10:33] So I want us in the light of all that this evening to consider for a little while how we should personally read and study the Bible. Now, the first thing I would like to underline is this, the need to be careful not to substitute books on or about the Bible for the Bible itself. [00:11:02] You know, it's an amazing fact that all of us have a tendency to more easily read books on the Bible than the Bible. [00:11:14] For instance, do you know, I know some people who take Scripture union notes and other notes, and I found in some cases they read the notes and don't read the Bible. [00:11:26] An amazing fact. [00:11:28] But we must be very, very careful not to substitute books on or about the Bible for the Bible itself. [00:11:36] You can read a commentary, for instance, and really you're virtually reading the commentary and not the text. [00:11:44] You can read a quite helpful book, an exposition, shall we say, on some chapter of the Bible. But in fact, you're not reading God's Word itself. It may be a helpful and valuable commentary and exposition, but it's not God's Word itself. It's comment upon God's Word. Now this is very important. This is a danger we can all fall easily into. [00:12:11] Reading and studying books in place of the Bible. [00:12:19] Now, such books, I suppose it hardly needs to be said, have got their place. [00:12:25] They are legitimate and they're valuable. [00:12:28] But if they are substituted for the Bible itself, the reading of them is substituted for reading of the Bible itself. [00:12:37] Then they become positively dangerous, positively dangerous, because they have become a good and legitimate thing, has become the means of keeping you away from original contact with God's Word. [00:12:55] You are reading God's Word in a second hand way. [00:13:01] Instead of getting right through to God's Word itself and letting the Holy Spirit use God's Word in your heart and life, you are in fact taking something that it is meant to someone else. [00:13:16] You see, now that has its place. I'm not going to stop this evening talking about the place that Exposition and Commentaries and Bible Notes and much else have. I'm just pointing out that it can be positively dangerous if we read those things in place of the Bible. The thing to remember and do is to read and study God's Word itself above all else. [00:13:44] It's a strange thing that we often find almost an aversion within ourselves to reading God's Word. [00:13:56] We have a natural, a natural, should I say traitor within us. [00:14:04] And often there is an aversion within us which we may not have even recognized to reading God's Word to do. You know, we can spend hours reading the newspapers, we can spend hours reading a novel, we can spend hours reading books. [00:14:23] But when it comes to reading God's Word then there's a strange aversion to it. We have difficulty over it. We just don't want to. Or we say we find it hard going. [00:14:36] Isn't it strange we don't find it about other things, but when it comes to God's Word we find it. [00:14:43] Now this is very strange and in many ways I think that we've got to take very real note because Bible study can become not only vital and valuable and instructive for us, but it can become enthralling. [00:15:03] I don't know why people should think Bible study is always tedious, why they should always feel that it's some terrible duty through which they have got to plod. [00:15:16] Do you know Bible study can become absolutely enthralling. I'm not saying that it'll always be exciting or enthralling. There are times when we have got to plod. [00:15:26] There are a lot of reasons for that. We sometimes get out on the wrong side of the bed some mornings and whatever we do somehow or other is wrong. But what I am saying is this, that Bible study need not only be valuable and instructive and necessary, but it can be enthralling if it is approached in the right way. Now this is the point of this study this evening. That's what we're going to talk about. If it's approached in the right way, of course. I mean if every single morning you're given awful lumpy porridge that hasn't got enough salt in it and also then after that you have a terribly hard boiled egg and tea that looks like dishwater. And every single morning you get that. Well, I don't wonder that you long for a continental breakfast of one little roll and a nice cup of coffee. [00:16:30] Because somehow you don't relish your breakfasts, you don't look forward to them. You see a little bit of variety, a little bit of better cooking, a little bit of more care and your breakfast will come to mean something to you that you'll look forward to. Not only necessary, not only important, but they will also be something you look forward to. That's exactly the same with Bible study. And I'm not being irreverent. [00:16:59] A little more time is taken over it. A little more care, a little more preparation, a little more variety in the way that you approach it. And your Bible study, your Bible reading will not only be vital, but it will also become enthralling. [00:17:16] The first things therefore to remember are two things. [00:17:22] We must read God's word itself. [00:17:27] Now get that in your head. I know it's terribly simple, but we must read God's word itself. That's the first thing. And the second thing is this. [00:17:38] Determination is needed to ignore feelings and make time. [00:17:47] Now I found this, that this is version that often you've got inside of you. Once it's ignored and you make time, you're enthralled. [00:17:57] And often those are the times the Lord meets you most especially. [00:18:03] It's just as if in the unseen that Evil one knew there's a blessing for you that morning and so he's tried to put you off. [00:18:13] Determination's needed. Now come on, determination. You've got to really. [00:18:18] Don't just think it's the old man. [00:18:20] Some people seem to think any determination belongs to the old man. It's the flesh, life. No, there can be a determination at the right time. You must fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on life. Where aren't you go. Determination is needed to ignore these feelings. You're not going to have anything to do with these feelings. You've got to feel. Supposing day after day you refuse to eat because you didn't feel like it. You'd starve to death in the end. [00:18:44] You've got to pull yourself together and eat. [00:18:48] So you've got to spiritually, the devil knows only too well he'll inject some kind of drug into you. Spiritually, that'll just take away, you know these purple hearts, you know what they do? They take away your appetite. You can live without and heals. That's what the devil sometimes does with some people. He gives a spiritual purple heart. [00:19:03] And after a while they lose their appetite for God's word, you see, and they think they're all right, but gradually they're collapsing and we can all see it. The backbone's going, there's a dullness in the eye, there's a pallor in the face. They're going down slowly because they've lost their appetite for God's word. All they've got to do is pull themselves together and say it's necessary for me to have a daily meal spiritually. [00:19:28] And that needs determination to ignore my feelings and to make time. Someone said you'll never have time for reading of God's word or for prayer until you make it. [00:19:39] It's very true. If you wait for some little opportunity during the day, you'll discover that a whole week has gone by and you've got no opportunity. The opportunity has to be made. Time has to be made. That's the first thing. The second thing is, the second large thing I'd like to say is the need to take Bible reading and study seriously. [00:19:58] It's no good taking it sort of in a light hearted, frivolous way. [00:20:04] Why don't you get a lot out of your Bible reading? Because you're not taking it seriously. That's why you fall out of bed, you put a comb through your hair, you sort of look rather bleary eyed at the mirror and then you start to brush and clean yourself up and then you have your breakfast or I don't know if it's before breakfast or after breakfast. And then three minutes between then and catching the bus. You race through the daily light. [00:20:31] Not even the word of God. Often it's the daily light. Mr. Red Paul once called it the lazy man's Bible. [00:20:37] You race through it and you're off, you're off, you see and you say, when you hear it, you say, I don't know, I've lost my appetite for spiritual things. Well, of course you've lost your appetite for spiritual things. You'll never get anywhere until you take Bible study seriously. Do you really think that God is going to take you seriously if you don't take him seriously? [00:21:01] Do you really think that the Lord Jesus said don't cast pearls before swine is going to open up the treasures of his word when you are just sort of somehow crawling around the place and you're going to devote just a rushed minute in which you're thinking all the Time about getting away, and your mind's on other things. [00:21:22] You think the Lord's going to open up the treasures of his word? You. No, no, not at all. Not at all. Now, there are four things in God's Word that show us how we must seriously treat the reading and study of his Word. First, in Acts chapter 17 and verse 11, Acts 17:11. [00:21:50] Now, these were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily. Now, your authorized version has searching the Scriptures daily. [00:22:04] And in fact, the word means investigate. [00:22:08] These people examined or investigated the Scriptures daily. [00:22:13] Now, the first thing you must, if you're going to take the Bible, if you're going to take Bible study seriously, the first word to remember is examine or search or investigate. I looked up Vine's dictionary. I found a very interesting thing. This word means to examine by torture. [00:22:34] It was used, for instance, and Pilate spoke of the Lord Jesus. I have examined him, he said, and find no fault in him. The word is to examine very carefully under torture. It was used in that connection anyway. Now, you see, this is the kind of word that God uses as a Bible study. It's not to be confined to a rushed few moments. [00:22:57] You've got to examine carefully. You've got to investigate the word of God. [00:23:06] Now, that's very important. [00:23:08] It is to be thoroughly investigated, to be searched out. It is like a mine of precious things. Now, in a mine, men have got to go right down into the darkness and they've got to work hard to get those precious things out of the mine. And God's word is like a mine. [00:23:27] It yields to hard work, real examination and investigation. The second word, Joshua, chapter one and verse eight. [00:23:41] Joshua, chapter one, verse eight. [00:23:45] This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate thereon day and night. That thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written. [00:23:55] And then Psalm is the first Psalm, Psalm 1 and verse 2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law doth he meditate day and night. Meditate. [00:24:11] We need to give time to reflection. It's very interesting. This Hebrew word means to mutter, to meditate or to mutter. The idea is of someone who is so lost in meditation that they're muttering to themselves, they're turning it over in their heart, and they're lost in thought. That's the word, lost in thought. [00:24:32] Now listen, do you take the study and reading of God's word so seriously that you meditate in these days in which we live, in which meditation is a lost start, reflection. Do you reflect upon what you eat? Do you meditate? You see, God's word is food. It must be digested. [00:24:54] It must be digested. [00:24:56] And so you must not only read God's word, but you must think upon it. You must be lost in thought upon it. You must reflect upon it. Then again another word. Now this isn't so easy. In 1 Corinthians 2, 1 Corinthians 2:13, last part of the verse, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. That's the Authorized Version, the Revised Version. It's not a very easy sentence to translate. You'll find all the versions differ and all of them have marginal alternatives. But the Word really, and I want just to remind you here, is to compare. [00:25:49] You see, we need to compare Scripture with Scripture all the time, remembering that the Bible is an unfolding revelation. [00:25:59] Now Turn over to 2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 20, knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is a private interpretation. [00:26:15] In other words, no Scripture can be uniquely interpreted. [00:26:24] It cannot be interpreted on its own. [00:26:27] Every Scripture must be seen in the perspective of the rest of Scripture. In other words, learn how to compare Scripture with Scripture. Learn how to do it. Turn again to 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 15. [00:26:52] Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. Rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Now, the word originally here was rightly dividing, cutting or dividing, and then it came to mean dealing rightly. [00:27:10] Now we must learn how to deal rightly with God's Word. [00:27:16] Only the Lord knows how terribly sometimes His Word is treated, how people tear it out of context, how they wrongly divide it. [00:27:29] They don't compare Scripture with Now if you're going to take Bible reading seriously, compare Scripture with Scripture. Learn to rightly divide, to handle or right the Word of God. And lastly, in taking Bible reading and study seriously, obey God's word. Let me James, James 1:22 but be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only. [00:28:16] And then in John chapter 7 and verse 17, John 7 and verse 17, I'm going to read this. In the Revised Standard Version, it says this. If any man's will is to do his will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God. [00:28:42] If any man's will is to do the will of God. Now don't expect God's word to to be opened up to you if you're not prepared to obey. It's a closed book. [00:28:56] Many people come to me and say The Bible doesn't speak to me as it should. Yes, the Bible will not speak to you if you're not prepared to obey. If any man's will is to do the will of God, he shall know of the teaching that it is from God. If a person's will has not capitulated to the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you're not prepared to obey him, then do not expect God's word to open up to you. You see, taking God's word seriously means that you're not just looking upon it as something to be trifled with, something just to be played around with. A little bit of sort of intellectual study, a little bit of adding to the. To the brain, as it were. [00:29:47] No, God's word won't open up to that at all. [00:29:51] You must learn to obey. So that's the second thing. The third thing in studying and reading the Bible is the need continually of prayerful reliance upon the Holy Spirit. The Bible is mere literature to the natural mind. [00:30:15] It's a great mass of religious law of story, some history and doctrine. [00:30:26] To the natural man, its real meaning is hidden to such. [00:30:34] Now it's true to say the Bible is a closed book to the natural man. [00:30:41] Now let's just look at another scripture or two. 1 Corinthians, chapter 2, verse 12. [00:30:52] But we received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God, which things also we speak. And so on, verse 14. [00:31:05] Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged. [00:31:18] But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, and he himself is judged of no man. [00:31:25] And then again in 2 Corinthians and chapter 3, we read in verse 14. [00:31:33] But their minds were hardened. For until this very day, at the reading of the Old Covenant, the same veil remaineth it not being revealed to them that it is done away in Christ. [00:31:44] But unto this day, whensoever Moses is read, a veil lieth upon their heart. But whensoever it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away. [00:31:57] Now listen, my dear friends. There is a veil over the heart of the natural man. You can be even a converted person, but you can have a veil over the heart. The Bible is a closed book, an absolutely closed book, unless you really have been brought into an experience of the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit of God that really begins to lead us into all truth. Now this is exactly what the Lord Jesus spoke of. John, chapter 16, verse 13 and 14. He said, when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth. He will glorify me, for he will take of the things concerning me and will declare them unto you. And then again in John 14 and verse 26, the Lord Jesus said again, but the comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things. [00:33:07] And of course, in Ephesians 1 and verse 16 to 18, which we have so often quoted, Paul gets on his knees and he prays for the church at Ephesus. And he prays that there may be granted unto them a spirit of wisdom and revelation. [00:33:28] The eyes of their hearts being enlightened that they might know. [00:33:34] They might know. [00:33:36] Now don't you think when you, when you think about why didn't Paul write to the church at Ephesus and say, now look here, here's my letter. [00:33:46] I believe this letter is absolutely from God. Now all of you get down to studying it. Get down to studying. That's all you've got to do. [00:33:57] He didn't say that. What he said when he wrote this letter was, look, I'm getting on my knees and I'm praying that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, that you might know what I'm talking about. [00:34:07] In other words, you can have this letter of the Ephesians, you can have this whole book and somehow or other you can study it, you can get hold of its doctrine and its teaching and yet remain spiritually in the dark because the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ has not been granted to you. The eyes of your heart have not been enlightened that you might know. [00:34:34] So, my dear friends, you can't just approach this book like you'd approach Shakespeare or you might approach the Quran or you might approach something else, some of the great Chinese classics. You can't just approach it like that. You have got to approach this book in prayerful reliance upon the Holy Spirit. Do you know, I never read this book without praying first that the Holy Spirit will lead me. I was taught to do that when I was first saved. And I've done it all the way through my life that I can remember. I have never opened that book. I remember that dear old lady who had quite an influence on me when I was younger, Aunt Dagmar, she used to say many times to me, don't ever open that book without asking the Holy Spirit to lead you. [00:35:25] And it got into my Heart. And I can't read this book without asking the Holy Spirit to reveal. I always tell the Holy Spirit, lord, you know I'm blind, I'm absolutely blind to this book. [00:35:39] Please lead me into the truth. [00:35:42] And it has been my experience that the Holy Spirit has led me into the truth. The little that I know I owe completely to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Why did John the apostle in 1 John 2, verse 22 say, you have an anointing from God. [00:35:57] You have no need that any man teach you. The anointing itself will teach you. [00:36:02] It doesn't mean to say that you don't need teachers. There are functions in the church, gifts in the church of teaching. But you see, you have within you the Holy Spirit who can reveal originally these things. You not only hear it on the platform, but inside it's being made real to you so it becomes original. [00:36:19] You're not going to second hand experience. [00:36:21] Now listen, whenever there is no real revelation or enlightenment of the heart by the Holy Spirit, all experience, all knowledge is secondhand. [00:36:30] And when fascism or communism or whatever antichrist force finally comes, that kind of second hand Christianity will be the first to go. [00:36:42] It will shift overnight, be gone in a flash. People will not be prepared to lose effort for Christ's sake. [00:36:52] No, you see, the whole point is to have an originally inward knowledge of the Lord. How does that come by you and I getting on our knees prayerfully telling the Holy Spirit I'm alive. You know, there's a strange arrogance in us all, a strange pride in us all that stops us from doing it. [00:37:10] As if we're giving something away when we get on our knees. Well of course we are really. When we get on our knees and tell the all that we're just saying, Lord, in these matters I'm a simple fool and I need the Holy Spirit. And that's the kind of attitude really the Holy Spirit takes up. [00:37:28] Once you say I'm a simple fool in things of God, the Holy Spirit will say, well, I'll start to educate you. [00:37:34] But if you think that you've got a brain and a mind and an intellect and all the rest of it, you'll get yourself into such a mess, you'll have it all up here and you'll be barren down here and you'll blame it on everyone else. [00:37:46] Go around saying, oh, they're this, they're that, they're the other. And in fact it's you, you, you've got it all up here and not here. [00:37:57] Can't blame that on anyone else. [00:38:01] Every One of us has been made provision for by Christ that we might have an original experience of the Lord. [00:38:10] Never study the Word of God without first praying for the Holy Spirit's gracious ministry of guidance, enlightenment and instruction. Now, if any of you ever read Scripture Union notes, you ought to know that because it's there at the beginning of every portion. A little prayer for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I fear many people overlook that as the best thing about scriptural Bible notes. [00:38:40] Fourth thing in the way we study God's Word is the need of humility in our approach to the Bible. [00:38:48] Yes, you see, God doesn't have to open up His Word to us. [00:38:54] And if there's any trace of arrogance, he won't. [00:38:59] There has got to be humility. [00:39:03] And this is really what it means when a person gets on their knees like a little child and asks the Lord by his Holy Spirit to lead them into all the truth. We must have humility when we approach God. That this is God's Word. And it's like it's hidden. The vast part of God's Word is hidden. [00:39:26] These things are hidden from the wise, but they're revealed to babes and suckling. [00:39:31] And we need to be very, very humble when we come to God's Word. When we come up against a problem where we don't understand, a difficulty in God's Word in our reading and after we've prayed about it, when we've asked the Lord, well, Lord, will you show me what this means? And the Lord doesn't show you what it means. Be humble enough to let it go and leave it and concentrate on what you do understand. You can be absolutely sure that in the little portion you're reading there's something for you. [00:40:06] Concentrate on what God is saying and let go of what you don't understand. I learnt this lesson in Egypt because I had a dreadful kind of mind which was like a dog worrying a bone or cat watching a mouse. [00:40:21] You know, the kind of thing that couldn't let go, couldn't let go. And I used to get hold of a problem, say something about the for example, in the Book of Acts and all those that were foreordained unto eternal life were saved. Well, now I'd get hold of that and I'd worry and worry myself. Then how can it say whosoever will may come? [00:40:43] How can it say that? And I remember once I was in Port Said, I ruined one of the times. These two dear old men, missionaries in the morning when we gathered around the table around an open Bible Because I was worrying and worrying and worrying about this problem and I couldn't get an answer out of them, you see. [00:41:00] And so I said, but it must. There must be some answer. And finally the oldest one of the two said to me, you must be humble in your approach to God's word. [00:41:11] She said, I have studied the book, the Bible, most of my life. [00:41:16] And she said, look. And she showed me her Bible, which had very wide margins and there were written all notes in her hand writing, and against some was a question mark and the date, and then underneath there was another date. And it just had understood. [00:41:35] And she said, now, when I came up against that problem, I couldn't understand it. I said, lord, are you going to show me this today? And then I'd think about it and nothing would happen. I didn't worry about it. I'd learned the lesson, she said, to be humble in the approach to God's word. And I put a question mark in the. In the margin and put the date. And then she said, sometimes it so happened I heard a word and I thought, that's it. [00:42:02] Explained all she said. I read. I came as reading again and I read it and I saw a question mark. [00:42:08] Whatever was wrong with me then, that's perfectly plain to me. Ever did I put a question mark in there, see? So then she would put next to it, understood, and put the date, you see. Now you see, this is what happens if you grow, if you're humble enough to leave things and grow. Of course, it doesn't mean to say that we must put up with all kinds of problems and mysteries in the world. But the thing to do is, when you come up against a problem in God, in your reading or study of God's word, ask him about it. And if he doesn't reveal it to you, don't bother. Go on like a child. Don't bother about what you can't understand. Go on to what you can do. You know, if you bother like I used to, so much about what you can't understand, you won't get what you can. [00:42:51] You see, you're so bothered about circling round and round, it's like a whirlpool, you're sucked into it and you never get to the harbour. [00:43:02] So remember, humility is very important. [00:43:05] Then. The fifth thing I want to just say something about this evening is the helpfulness of Bible aids. [00:43:11] The helpfulness of Bible aids. [00:43:14] Now, I've said some harsh things about commentaries and notes and so on, and I'm not going to take those back at present, but I am going to say the Bible aids, and they're different to Bible commentaries and notes and exposition and so on. Bible aids are invaluable. Now, what are Bible aids? Well, if you want to seriously study and read God's word, you must have a good concordance or a good word dictionary. I've put over here Young's Concordance. [00:43:52] Here is Young's Concordance. You see, every single word in the English Bible is in this volume. [00:44:02] And all you have to do in the Authorized Version rendering is to find the word and look it up. And there you'll find all the different words translated by that one word and you'll find out the shade of meaning of the particular word that's in the verse or passage you're reading. [00:44:18] Now, I won't spend longer on explaining or showing you how to use a concordance. A lot of you will know, but some of you may not. And I'll be only too willing afterwards to show you how to use a concordance. It's invaluable. Once you started using a concordance, it's well worth three pounds to get a concordance like that because it's invaluable to Bible study. Now, I'm not talking about that little Cruden's Concordance that is so in fashion amongst many of you. I'm talking about Youngs or Strongs. [00:44:51] All cruden does is tells you a particular word wherever it's used, but it doesn't tell you if it's the same Greek or Hebrew word or a different one. But Young's will tell you immediately exactly what is the word used and what particular shade meaning it has. [00:45:14] We could say an awful lot about that, but there we are. Now, there are two good Bible dictionaries that I have put out here, New Testament ones. One is the simplest person in this room should be able to use this. That's Vine's Dictionary of New Testament Words. Really, you don't need much intelligence to use that. And then there's this one. A Critical Lexicon of Concordance of Bullinger. And that's another marvellous work. [00:45:44] Now, if any of you want really to understand what is the meaning of that word, you must have one or other of these dictionaries. [00:45:53] These are Bible aids. They don't tell you what the compiler thinks, they tell you what it means. [00:46:03] That's all. And that's what you and I want to know, isn't it? We want to get down to what God's word means. And these are Bible aids to our understanding of God's word. [00:46:14] Well, now, that's one thing. We could say a little more about that later perhaps, if someone comes to us. If you want me to show you, I'll show you how to use it and give you examples of how to use it. But you see, if you're reading in your Bible and you come up against the word in John 21, you see, Jesus said, lovest thou me? [00:46:36] And it has a little number in the Revised Version, the American Standard Version. And Peter answered, lord, thou knowest that I love thee. But you wouldn't know by just reading that that there were two different words used. [00:46:50] The Lord Jesus used one word for love, and Peter replied with another word for love. Then the Lord Jesus used his word again, said, lovest thou me, Peter? And Peter used his word again, and then the Lord Jesus used Peter's word the last time, and Peter used it back. Thou knowest that I love thee, Lord. You wouldn't know that, would you, just by reading your ordinary English version. But there you'll find it in the concordance or a good word dictionary. The second very helpful thing in Bible AIDS is a good Bible dictionary. Now, not a word dictionary, but a Bible dictionary. And I've put two out here. One is dear old Fawcett's Bible Encyclopedia and dictionary, and the other is the new IVF button. Personally, I think now that this new Bible dictionary of the IVF is, is really undoubtedly the best. But Fawcett was a godly old man. And although this, this volume is now a little dated, it's still a mine of spiritual wealth. Now, what, why do we need a Bible dictionary? Well, you see, take for instance the word seals. [00:48:07] Well, we'll look up the word seals in here, you see. What do you know about seals? Does it mean anything to you? [00:48:14] Does it mean anything to you? Well, you see, and you look it up in here and you, you in your Bible dictionary. Course, it'll cost you a little bit. Once you've got it, you've got it. [00:48:26] You find everything about seals in the Old Testament and the New Testament. You've got the illustrations, you've told something about the history of ancient seals and it's all explained to you. See here. You see, we discover, for instance, in the New Testament something very, very wonderful in the New Testament. In the New Testament uses the term seal. We have considered the ideas of ownership, authentication and security predominate. [00:48:52] And then it goes on to tell you where and how and how. In one case, sealed with the Holy Spirit really means the marriage bond. [00:49:00] See, you wouldn't really know that Unless you had a Bible dictionary. Or there's another thing you might look up take watchman or watchtower. Do you know anything about that? Well, now, supposing you thought, I'll look it up in my Bible dictionary. You see here you get a lot of help because when you look up watchtower, you find this kind of thing. [00:49:22] These were. The watchtowers were used for two different purposes in biblical times. Firstly, towers were built from the earliest times in the past to protect cattle and sheep against animals and thieves. It's possible that towers were erected in vineyards and corn fields for protection against thieves. [00:49:39] Secondly, towers of a more complex structure were built in the defense works of larger cities and so on in the watchtowers, watchmen on the alert for hostile action against the city. They were also there to give word to the king of any person approaching the city wall. In time of hostility, the dangers of the night were especially feared and the watchman eagerly looked forward to the break of day. Well, now then, that gives you some idea, doesn't it? Begin to understand what it means when Habakkuk says, I will get me up into my watchtower. Now you understand what he's on about. You see, he's talking about the break of day. He's going to get up there and watch, to guard. [00:50:18] He's got the things of God. They're his interest, you see, and he's there to defend it spiritually and wait for the break of day. Well, I mean, I don't know whether that helps you, but it helps me. [00:50:31] And then there's another Bible aid, an English dictionary, good English dictionary. I won't tell you which one. You probably all know anyway. [00:50:40] This will often help us in our understanding of words. [00:50:46] Many people don't really understand the words we commonly, even even commonly use. And sometimes it's necessary to have an Oxford dictionary. And when we're thinking, what does that word mean? [00:50:58] Does it mean, I once knew a person who thought that undertake really only meant taking away dead bodies. [00:51:08] So they were a bit surprised about the hymn He Will Undertake. And I'm though I'm sure they got some spiritual benefit out of it by thinking of diversions of the cross. Nevertheless, I mean, it's amazing what people do think. And we're all such proud people, we won't tell each other what we really feel about words. I always used to pronounce the word misled, mizzled. [00:51:33] I could never understand the word. I used to think, I wonder what that word means. Mizzled and didn't never used to like to ask anyone. In fact it was misled. [00:51:42] However, you need a good English dictionary to discover what these words mean. Then another useful Bible aid is found in good versions of the Bible. In the Bible itself, it is the marginal references. [00:51:57] Now these are these references here, not at the footnotes of your Revised Version, but here in the columns of the American Standard Version, certainly, and of the Revised Version. [00:52:13] Now the best cross references are found in the Revised Version, the American Standard Version. A lot of thought and care went into their compilation. [00:52:24] They are in fact invaluable. Now let me give you an example of this very swiftly. Exodus, chapter 13, verse 21. [00:52:35] Of course you're probably using all various versions, but in Exodus, chapter 13, verse 21 we read, and the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud. [00:52:45] Now my Version has where and the Lord it has just before the Lord the little letter X. [00:52:55] If I look in the margin I see X. [00:52:58] And I read chapter 14, verse 19. [00:53:01] Now I read and the angel of God who went before the camp of Israel removed and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud removed from before them, and stood behind them. Then it says verse 24. I read over on to verse 24. And it came to pass in the morning watch the Lord looked forth upon the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and discomfited the host the Egyptians. Now you see, I got cross references to other references to the pillar of cloud fire. If I look on to chapter 33, chapter 33 and verse 9 and 10, I read again and it came to pass when Moses entered into the tent, the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tent. And the Lord spoke, spoke with Moses, and all the people saw the pillar of cloud. If I turn on to Psalm 78 and verse 14, Psalm 78, verse 14, I read this in the daytime also. He led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of Fire. [00:54:11] Psalm 99 and verse 7, 99, verse 7. [00:54:20] He spake unto them in the pillow of cloud. [00:54:23] And then lastly Psalm 105 and 39, he spread a cloud for a covering and fire to give light in the night. [00:54:37] Now do you see, you've had a whole little Bible study there. [00:54:41] The pillar of cloud and fire in different connections. [00:54:47] And you see all form of cross reference. Do you ever look up cross references? [00:54:51] The best way to get to know your Bible and to understand the meaning of things is to use the cross references. [00:55:00] And there they are for you. And not only that, but use the other marginal or footnote that give alternative or variant readings. [00:55:11] You see, that's all useful Bible aids. [00:55:15] Then I must go on very swiftly. [00:55:18] Again, I'd like to say something about devotional reading of the Bible. We can never over emphasize the need to regard God's Word as our spiritual food. [00:55:29] And therefore we need to take some part of it each day and thoroughly digest it. [00:55:37] Can never overemphasize the need of taking some part of God's Word and digesting it each day. If you have one huge meal and you don't eat for a week, you'll suffer. Physically you will. I won't tell you how, but you will suffer because you are meant to have regular meals, not to gorgeous now and again it doesn't do you good. [00:56:02] And consequently spiritually you need to regularly feed upon God's Word. It's good to have a definite scheme or plan of reading rather than to be haphazard. There are some people I know love to be haphazard. They just open their Bible in the evening and read the first bit that their eye lights upon. Well, if the Lord blesses them, I'm very glad. But I think that it's much better to have a definite scheme or plan for reading God's Word. Now, there are many schemes. My Bible here has in fact a scheme by which you can read the whole of the Bible in three years from end to end. Perhaps that's a bit too ambitious for some of you. But the thing is, why not take a book and take paragraph a day, just a few verses every day. Don't, don't overdo it. Don't try to read a whole chapter a day, just take a few verses every day. Now, these few verses you take, give time for reflection over them. Of course, I take it you've already prayed. [00:57:14] The Lord will lead you and guide you and instruct you by his Holy Spirit. Now give time for reflection and meditation over this daily passage. [00:57:24] These few verses you're reading, look up the marginal cross references, look them up, follow it through. You'll begin to get very interested. Some of them are dead ends. You'll come and you'll think, oh, I don't know what that, why they've got a cross reference to that. But there are others that will help you on your bethro. [00:57:43] And you'll think, well, that throws light upon that. And find out the meaning of the words which are important in that particular verse or passage. Look them up if you've got to, look them up in the concordance or the dictionary. Look them up if there's some custom or some event or something which you can't understand from just reading the word have. Look it up in the Bible dictionary. But you see, for this kind of Bible study, you need the Revised Version or the American Standard version, or even J.N. darby's version. These three versions are absolutely excellent for this kind of reading. They are important versions. [00:58:24] Now, also, the Amplified can be very helpful for this kind of devotional reading. Just a few verses. You can't read great chunks of the Amplified. [00:58:34] It's hard reading. But you can read a few verses like this and you can think about it. And it can be really helpful if you read it, comparing it with the Revised Version or the Authorized Version. [00:58:49] Indeed, if it's a short passage you read each day, you can even compare it in various versions. Have Weymouth, have Phillips, have the New English Bible. Have them by, open them up and just compare. And you'll be thrilled. You'll be enthralled. [00:59:03] Gradually you'll feel you're getting somewhere, you're understanding something. [00:59:07] That's the way to read God's Word devotionally. And then I'd just like to say something very briefly about comprehensively studying the Bible. I've used this word, comprehensive study of the Bible with this idea that there is a very real place for reading a whole book through. [00:59:30] And it's an essential form of Bible study. Now, I don't mean you can do that in the morning. This is something you'll have to do at another time. But this is when you can have a gorge. [00:59:41] You're having your regular meals, and every now and again you're going out for a good Chinese meal or up to town for a really big meal. Now then, you take a book and read through from beginning to end without any. [00:59:56] Without any reference to chapters and verses at all. Ignore them altogether, just as if they did not exist. And start from the beginning and read right the way through. Oh, I can see some of your faces. You. Goodness, Grace, we must think we've got an awful lot of time. Now listen, in this kind of study, you don't need such a lot of time. [01:00:17] You can read through some of the letters in literally a quarter of an hour. [01:00:24] It's the chapters and verses that slow you down. [01:00:27] When you forget those, you can read through. Philemon, you can read through in four minutes. [01:00:34] Jude, you can get through in three. [01:00:37] Right through beginning to end, even the Book of Job. And there's a large number of chapters in the Book of Job you can read in two hours from beginning to End. Now think about it. [01:00:48] Of course you can't read the Psalms right. People are not meant to be read right through like that. But these other books you can read right through from beginning. Do you know that Campbell Morgan never preached on a book of the Bible till he had read it through consecutively 14 times? [01:01:04] Do you know that Brother Nee read through the New Testament 21 times from the beginning of Matthew to the end of Revelation before he first started to preach right through from beginning to end, sat down and read it through again and again. Do you know how long it would take you to read the whole Bible through from beginning to end? 66 hours. [01:01:26] So it's reckoned. [01:01:28] Well now then, you see, the whole point is this. There's some part of God's word, some book of God's Word you certainly could read right through. And it's very, very important to do so. [01:01:37] It I must say this, however, and this is probably what gives you the problem, it is hard to read a book through in the Authorized Version and even the Revised Version for the New Testament, you want to read it in Phillips or Weymouth or the New English Bible. All of these are helpful. If you want to read it through from beginning to end, right through, you can do it. You can go home tonight and you'll be able to do it and it won't make you tired. If you read Phillips right through, you won't be tired, you'll be quite excited. Much more interested in the newspaper and the Old Testament. It is, once you really get into it, it really is tremendous. And for the Old Testament, although Moffat does change the verses round a bit, if you can get over that business, Moffat is marvelous for reading through a whole book of the Old. Even Professor Bruce Bruce says he is invaluable. If you get there are some books of the Old Testament you can't read through in any other version, from beginning to end, Knox is another man. You can read through a whole book in the Old Testament from beginning to end. [01:02:45] And of course there's the Revised Standard Version. Read through a book in these different versions and gradually you will get grasp the overall theme. But you'll have to do it again and again. But if you mean to seriously study God's Word, that's the way to do it. Start at the beginning and read right through and you'll begin to understand. After a while it'll dawn on, you'll be thrilled at what does dawn on you. [01:03:09] And in this type of Bible study, it's sometimes good to understand a little of the Authorship and the date and the background. And in the versions that are designed to be read like this, you will often find in Phillips and the others that he has in fact given you the date you need at the beginning for this very kind of Bible study. [01:03:27] And then again, I'd just like to say there is another kind of study of the Bible. We can call it the analytical study. I'm not going to say a lot about this because it is so common. [01:03:38] This is an absolutely exhaustive way of studying God's Word and one of the most valuable. How do you do it? Well, it's not so much concern, concerned with the book and the overall theme as the meaning of each phrase, almost each word. [01:03:59] So it's a verse by verse study, phrase by phrase study of the Bible using the cross references, using concordance and using other versions. Now, I want to tell you that the first time I really got an appetite for studying God's word was in Egypt. [01:04:22] And it was in that little missionary home in Port Said where after breakfast, of course, they were retired. But after breakfast they used to clear everything away. [01:04:32] One used to sit up one end of the table and one used to sit down the other end of the table. And then they'd have their big Bibles open and all the other versions were on the table. And then there was the big concordance out. And my word, I. Well, when I first went there, I just gasped. I'd never seen people studied a word like this. This was a real meal. [01:04:55] I mean, we used to spend an hour on one verse. [01:04:59] We never moved off of it. And they used to go through. And one used to say the other, now what do you think this means? And the other one would say, well, do you know, I think doesn't it say so? And so? And so they look in this somewhere in Ephesians, then they look in Revelation and they look it up in the concordance. Then they see what it says in Gonibert and then they look somewhere else. And my word, it was absolutely thrilling. What came out of those studies with those two old ladies, I can't tell you. They were tremendous, absolutely tremendous. I've been to some of the other big conventions. I haven't got as much out of those meetings as I got out of those they. Those around there. And I think Ron will agree with me, he's been to some of them as well. They were. Those two old ladies were walking Bibles. [01:05:41] I used to say I never met any couple like it. And I had only been when I was younger. I had moved quite A bit amongst people who were quite high up in evangelical circles. But they didn't know their Bibles like those people. [01:05:58] They really knew what it was to study the Word. They studied, studied it exhaustively. [01:06:03] And I thought they got so much enjoyment out of it. And it wasn't heavy, it was so light and so living that I was absolutely in thought. And you know, that gave me my first real appetite for God's Word. Ever since then I've studied it like that. [01:06:18] It gave me an appetite. Of course, words is nothing like that. When you see someone else enjoying God's Word, you start to get an appetite, don't you? You think, what if they're in enjoying it? There must be something in it. Well, all right. That's analytical study of the Word. The last thing I'd like to say very briefly, the other ways of studying the Bible, there are three I've noted down. There's the topical way of studying God's word. Topical way. But now, what do we mean by topical way? Well, take types or symbols. Well, for instance, take the dove. Now take your concordance and look up the word dove. And then look up every single reference through the Bible to the Word. Done. And think about it. Isn't that a wonderful Bible study? Well, you don't already thrill, but I must say this, that if you were to do it, you might be really thrilled. Perhaps you're tired, you'd be really thrilled. You go right to the beginning, you begin to find out biblical typology. Oh, really? [01:07:11] Take the vine, go and look up your cross, your concordance. Look up the word vine and start to go right through the Bible, looking up every revelation to the vine and you'll be thrilled. [01:07:22] That's the way to do it. If you got a bit tired of the other way, well, turn over to the topical way. And there are lots of other subjects I can give you. Oh, my word, I can. And then there are places. Places. And think of the word Hebron. Do you know what the word Hebron means? It means company or for place where people. The place in the river where people have to cross together. So it came to mean fellowship. Now look up the word Hebron. [01:07:45] Take your concordance, look up the word Hebron, and look up every single passage and you will get an illumination upon historical events you never had before. Fellowship's the key. And you'll think, my word, David was crowned at Hebron. [01:08:01] Fellowship. [01:08:02] And so you can go on and oh my, I must stop. And of course, there's Jordan. [01:08:08] Jordan's another wonderful symbol. Look at the Word the. [01:08:11] And every time you find Jordan, it speaks of the cross. [01:08:15] Death to hell. [01:08:16] Well, that's wonderful. And events. Take the Word, the Exodus. Look up every reference to the Exodus in the Bible. [01:08:25] Well, that'll keep you going for a month. [01:08:28] You'll have a real Bible study there. And then there's the occurrence of certain words. Have you ever thought of the word worship? [01:08:36] Have you ever looked it up in the concordance and found. Where does the first time this word worship is ever used? Go right back and look. And then start to look through every occurrence of the word worship. It'll take you a long time. You can do it day by day. But my word, you ought to be a worshipping Christian by the end of it. And then take the word glory. Go look up in your concordance, the word glory. Start with the first occurrence of the Word. Work right the way through to the last chapter, the Bible, till you've got the last occurrence of the word glory. It'll give you an understanding of things you never had before. The topical way of studying God's word. Then there's the biographical way of studying God's word. Well, take an example. Take Demas. Look it up in the concordance. [01:09:20] Three times Demas is mentioned in Philemon. Paul says, my beloved fellow worker. [01:09:28] The second time he mentions him chronologically in Colossians, it's Demas, no beloved fellow worker. [01:09:37] The last time he's mentioning to Timothy, it's Demethus, Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present. You've got a bio, biography, three words. Now then, those of you who got a train to catch in the morning. Three verses, actually. And you've got enough to think about the whole day. [01:09:56] Some of you might need it, too. [01:10:00] And then, of course, you think of David. David. Well, have you ever thought of studying David in relation to his Psalms? [01:10:07] Well, I'll tell you how to do it. Go up into the library. Ask John Griffiths, or ask Douglas Harris. Can you please have a book about David's life? And there are two or three up there. One by Alexander White, a wonderful one. Or David as he's found in his Psalms. Or the life of David is found in it through his Psalms. Or there's another wonderful one, F.B. myers, David. Now take it and start to read it as a Bible study. I know I said earlier, don't read books on the Bible, but here's one that you can read because it's biographical. And then you begin to read the Psalms and set them into the life of David. It'll thrill you. You'll begin to understand the psalms in a way you never understood them before. Why do you think that's what he said? How did he praise the Lord when he was in that scrape? You see. [01:10:53] Oh, there were. And lastly, another way of Bible says prophecy, topical way of studying the Bible to topics biography and prophecy. Have you ever thought. Of course, you've got to be careful here, you can go off the rails. But also we must give the due place to prophecy, its rightful place. Now in scripture there is prophecy, messianic prophecy. That is prophecy to do with Christ. [01:11:20] And there is other prophecy. Now start to study it. [01:11:24] Trace the whole story of prophecy right through the beginning. Fulfilled prophecy. You know, it's wonderful. It's wonderful to study fulfilled prophecy. Then when you finish studying fulfilled style prophecy, start studying unfulfilled prophecy. [01:11:41] Because just as surely as God has fulfilled certain amount of prophecy, he's going to fulfill the rest. [01:11:48] We see. These are all ways of studying the Bible. There's no need for Bible study to be heavy and hard and difficult. You've got to give time, you've got to be serious. You've got to rely upon the Holy Spirit. But my word, Bible study can be enthralling. Of course, that's not what it's. That's not its main objective to enthrall us. The objective of the Holy Spirit is not that we might just be enthralled by God's Word. It is that we might be fed by God's Word. We may be corrected by God's Word. We may be built up by God's Word. We may be strengthened by God's Word. We may be brought under full growth by God's Word. We may be enabled to minister to others through God's Word. We are to be fed and instructed and enlightened through the Word of God. Nevertheless, it doesn't have to be a penance. You know, I'm sure the Lord never gave us this wonderful, wonderful book that Christians might suffer over it, thought of with an ice bag on their head and sort of a cup of strong coffee by the side, burning the midnight hours, sort of thinking, oh, what a penance Bible study is, how difficult and laborious it is. I'm sure the Lord never gave us his word. God gave us his word that it might really help us. That we might every time go away with a sense, oh, how unsearchable are the ways of God past finding out that's what we should go away with from an atmosphere like that every time oh, is this the Word of God? How amazing, how wonderful, and how gracious of God to bring a sinner like me into an understanding like this. [01:13:45] Shall we pray? [01:13:50] Our dear Lord Jesus, we do pray that the result of this time might be that we all really do study and read Thy Word. [01:13:57] Oh, makers of people who really do know something of the inward meaning of Thy dear word. It cost thee so much, Lord, to give it to us. It has cost others so much to bring it to us in England. [01:14:14] Lord, we pray that we might forever appreciate the cost and the sacrifice behind it, and may treat it with the reverence that it deserves. We ask it in Thy name. [01:14:30] May you be serious in your study of God's Word. May His Word be a seed and hammer milk and solid food to you. May you know the deep, deep, deep love of Jesus.