2. Presentation
No. 7
Part One
Section I

3. Prayer Thought:
Why Jesus Taught In Parables
"And He had another reason for teaching in parables. Among the
multitudes that gathered about Him, there were priests and rabbis,
scribes and elders, Herodians and rulers, world-loving, bigoted,
ambitious men, who desired above all things to find some accusation
against Him. Their spies followed His steps day after day, to catch
from His lips something that would cause His condemnation, and
forever silence the One who seemed to draw the world after Him.
The Saviour understood the character of these men, and He
presented truth in such a way that they could find nothing by which
to bring His case before the Sanhedrin. In parables He rebuked the
hypocrisy and wicked works of those who occupied high positions,
and in figurative language clothed truth of so cutting a character that
had it been spoken in direct denunciation, they would not have
listened to His words, and would speedily have put an end to His
ministry. But while He evaded the spies, He made truth so clear that
error was manifested, and the honest in heart were profited by His
lessons...." {2TG2: 13.2}

4. "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman
that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word
of truth." 2 Tim. 2:15. "But sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts: And be ready always to give an answer to every
man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you
with meekness and fear." 1 Pet. 3:15. The commandment
in the Bible is that a Christian must study, and that he also
must give an answer to every man. .... answer with
meekness and fear. {SR1: 204.2}

5. If a father commands his son to do a certain thing and
that son refuses to obey, he has dishonored his earthly
father, and is become a transgressor of the fifth
commandment. But if one is asked to do a certain
thing by his heavenly Father and should refuse to
respond to the call, such a person has dishonored his
heavenly Father, and is become a transgressor of the
first commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods
before Me." In fact, he is breaking the first four
commandments which are honor to God, while the last
six are love for man. "For whosoever shall keep the
whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of
all." Jam. 2:10. {SR1: 184.1}

6. Isa. 28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom
shall he make to understand doctrine? [them that are]
weaned from the milk, [and] drawn from the breasts.
Isa. 28:10 For precept [must be] upon precept, precept
upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little,
[and] there a little:
Isa. 28:13 But the word of the LORD was unto them
precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon
line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little; that
they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and
snared, and taken.

7. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary:
Precept: 1 : a command or principle intended especially as
a general rule of action
2 : an order issued by legally constituted
authority to a subordinate official
synonyms see LAW
Law: 3 : a rule of construction or procedure

8. Isa. 28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom
shall he make to understand doctrine? [them that are]
weaned from the milk, [and] drawn from the breasts.
Heb. 5: 13-14: For every one that useth milk, is unskillful
in the Word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong
meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those
who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern
both good and evil.

9. The Jews before Christ's day, and ever since, thought they
had all the truth there was to know. True, they had the
Bible. But their consequent misunderstanding of the plan
of God, and resultant over-confidence in themselves, led
them to feel that they were rich and increased with goods
and in need of nothing. It was this attitude that caused
them to turn a deaf ear to the teachings of Christ the King
of glory. Thus their misconception of the Truth, and their
prejudice against light upon the Word of God, so robbed
them of the knowledge and the wisdom of Jehovah that
they were finally led, to their everlasting shame and
condemnation, to commit the terrible crime of taking the
life of the Son of God. {TN4: 6.3}

10. Precepts of Studying the Truth:
• Do not become over-confident in yourself – TN4: 6.3

11. This fearful guilt, however, does not lie upon the hapless
Jew alone. The Christian church as well, in each of her
succeeding periods, has in effect crucified the Saviour
afresh in rejecting His messages of Present Truth to them.
So it was in the days of Luther, of Knox, of Wesley, of
Campbell, of Miller and of Sister White. And so it is today
with all who are failing to take special heed to avoid the
enemy's ever-set snare. {TN4: 6.4}

12. Now the only safe and sane procedure is to read closely
every page of the solemn message contained herein. Let
not a line escape your attention. Study every word
carefully and prayerfully. Be an earnest and diligent
student of the Truth. "Prove all things; hold fast that
which is good." 1 Thess. 5:21. {TN4: 7.1}

13. Precepts of Studying the Truth:
• Do not become over-confident in yourself – TN4: 6.3
• Read closely every page of the solemn message – TN4: 7.1
• Let not a line escape your attention – TN4: 7.1
• Study every word carefully and prayerfully – TN4: 7.1
• Be earnest and diligent in your study of Truth – TN4: 7.1

14. As their record shows, the Bereans made a thorough and unbiased
investigation of the messages which came to them, that they
might know whether "those things" were so. In so doing they
were neither misled by the enemy nor reproved by Inspiration,
but rather were led by their open-mindedness to keep pace with
the Truth, and were honored for their noble course. But the
priests, whom God had previously made recipients of the Word,
upon learning that the common people were hearing the Truth
gladly, came and confused them. For this, those dignitaries were
condemned -- and all who gave heed to their voice rather than to
the then unpopular one, were thus misled. {TN4: 7.2}
These things being written for our "ensamples," let us not fail to
emulate the "more noble" example of the Bereans! Only thus can
we honestly exercise our judgment; otherwise we repeat the folly
of the Jews who were led astray by the so-called wise teachers of
Israel. {TN4: 7.3}

15. Precepts of Studying the Truth:
• Do not become over-confident in yourself – TN4: 6.3
• Read closely every page of the solemn message – TN4: 7.1
• Let not a line escape your attention – TN4: 7.1
• Study every word carefully and prayerfully – TN4: 7.1
• Be earnest and diligent in your study of Truth – TN4: 7.1
• Make a thorough and unbiased investigation of all
messages that come to you – TN4: 7.2

16. "Do not read the Word in the light of former opinions; but,
with a mind free from prejudice, search it carefully and
prayerfully. If, as you read conviction comes, and you see
that your cherished opinions are not in harmony with the
Word, do not try to make the Word fit these opinions.
Make your opinions fit the Word. Do not allow what you
have believed or practiced in the past to control your
understanding." -- Messages to Young People, p. 260.
{TN5: 6.2}

17. Precepts of Studying the Truth:
• Do not become over-confident in yourself – TN4: 6.3
• Read closely every page of the solemn message – TN4: 7.1
• Let not a line escape your attention – TN4: 7.1
• Study every word carefully and prayerfully – TN4: 7.1
• Be earnest and diligent in your study of Truth – TN4: 7.1
• Make a thorough and unbiased investigation of all messages
that come to you – TN4: 7.2
• Do not read the Word in the light of former opinions, but, with a
mind free from prejudice. – TN5: 6.2
• Do not try to make the Word fit your opinions. Make your opinions
fit the Word. – TN5: 6.2
• Do not allow what you have believed or practiced in the past to
control your understanding. – TN5: 6.2

18. Any explanation of a prophecy which adds to or takes from
any part of relevant scripture in order to harmonize the
interpretation, can only be false. When the Spirit of God
interprets the Scriptures, He does not in any way need to
alter any part of Them in order to make the explanation fit
that which is being unfolded. When, moreover, the true
interpretation of a prophecy is made, it always contains a
lesson of present truth "adapted to the necessities of God's
people" (The Great Controversy, p. 609) at the time the
scripture is revealed. Knowing this, Satan is continually
Paving the Way for Sinning Against the Holy Ghost. {TN5:
6.4}

19. Precepts of Studying the Truth:
• Do not become over-confident in yourself – TN4: 6.3
• Read closely every page of the solemn message – TN4: 7.1
• Let not a line escape your attention – TN4: 7.1
• Study every word carefully and prayerfully – TN4: 7.1
• Be earnest and diligent in your study of Truth – TN4: 7.1
• Make a thorough and unbiased investigation of all messages that
come to you – TN4: 7.2
• Do not read the Word in the light of former opinions, but, with a
mind free from prejudice. – TN5: 6.2
• Do not try to make the Word fit your opinions, make your opinions fit
the Word. – TN5: 6.2
• Do not allow what you have believed or practiced in the past to
control your understanding. – TN5: 6.2
• Do not add to or take from, any relevant statement in order to
harmonize it with your belief system or explanations - TN5: 6.4

20. “Moreover, whatever interpretation we may place on
any statement in reference to any truth, must be in
harmony with every other statement on the subject.
…….…” {3SC1: 11.1.1}

21. Logical Precept:
Understand each statement separately, then bring them all
together, one by one in their chronological order, the reason
for so doing is because we are studying a progressive
revelation of truths. Our final understanding of the subject
must be one in which all statements are in harmony.
Expecting our understanding to change as we add each
statement.

22. To illustrate thus getting a wrong idea of a thing from a
wrong view of it: a child who accompanies his mother to
a zoo, and who has never seen a peacock, suddenly
comes upon one in full tail-spread going away from him,
and creating to his uninitiated eyes the illusion of a large
walking fan! {TN3: 103.3}
Thrilled with the illusory wonder before him he excitedly
exclaims the sight, only to have his mother disenchant
him with the disillusioning assurance that it is only a
peacock! On another occasion, however, when
accompanying his father to the zoo, the child again sees a
peacock, but this time in full front view presenting a sight
apparently entirely new and different. Quickly he turns
with excited questions to his father, who tells him that it
is a peacock! {TN3: 104.1}

23. Whereupon the argument begins, with the son
protesting that the peacock which he and his mother
had seen, looked nothing like this one. And unable to
reconcile, as simply major and minor aspects of the
same thing, that which he now sees from the front, or
main point of view, and that which he before saw
from the rear, or foreign point of view, his mind
gropes in confusion wondering whether to believe
Father or Mother. {TN3: 105.1}

24. So it is with the Bible when one looks at a subject
from a standpoint foreign to the author's. He finds
discrepancies in the position held by the one who
sees the subject through the author's eyes. In order
consequently, to maintain the false idea resulting
from his foreign point of view, he is led to resort to
outside sources: to one commentator or the other; to
this version or to that; to technicalities and inferences
of language: in the Greek, in the Hebrew, in this, in
that, or in the other (languages, none of which it is
likely he himself either reads or writes); or to referring
to this or that so-called original manuscript (which in
all probability he has never seen). {TN3: 106.1}

25. At the end of this long winding road, he has succeeded only in
magnifying from a mole hill to a mountain one passage of
scripture, and in reducing from a mountain to a mole hill, or
entirely setting aside, another passage of scripture, all because
the Bible, which the Lord has placed in his hands, does not
support his idea. These pretentious procedures are calculated
to demonstrate his scholarly attainments in the hope of lending
to his false idea such an appearance of authority as to compel
their acceptance by all who come in contact with his theory.
{TN3: 106.2}
Concretely: It is never fair when treating of the subject of the
judgment, to give first and foremost consideration to any
writing which deals directly with the subject of salvation,
while only incidentally referring to the subject of the
judgment. Take for example Paul's statement: {TN3: 106.3}

26. Logical Precepts:
1. See the subject through the eyes of the author.
2. Do not magnify one statement while reducing
another or entirely setting aside another, because
the SROD do not support your idea.
3. Always give first and foremost consideration to
statements dealing directly with the subject of
study, over statements only incidentally referring
to the subject.

27. Subject: “Seven Last Plagues”

28. Subject: “Seven Last Plagues”
Rev: 15: 1-8 & 16: 1-21

32. Illustrate how to do a search on folio.