(Ezek 48:35) ""… and the name of the city from that day shall be: THE LORD IS THERE…”
1. Theological and Biblical Context
a. The Overriding Concept of this Letter, this passage, and this verse is the Presence of God Manifested—In other words, the Glory of God.
b. An overview of the Millennium and Pre-Millennial theology
(1) Pre-Millennial theology is based on the following principles
(a) Interpret the Bible Literally—The Bible is to be taken literally unless there is a compelling reason to not take it literally (such as, when a prophet said “I saw a sign…”)
(b) Understand Israel—As the curses against Israel for her unbelief and stiff necked rebellion were fulfilled literally, so shall all of the promises of restoration and redemption of Israel come to pass, just as literally. Israel, as a nation, will be converted in one day, and God’s promises to the Fathers will be fulfilled.
(c) Understand The Church—The church is not Israel, and Israel is not the church, and God has overlapping but different plans for each entity.
(d) Understand the Distinction Between Israel and the Church—It is a gross theological error to teach that the church has replaced Israel or that all of the promises given to Abraham’s physical seed were annulled and given to the church.
(2) Pre-millennial Theology follows a basic timeline—there is great disagreement about some of the details, but all agree on the basics.
(a) The Church Will Be Raptured Out—1 Thes 4:13-18
(b) The Great Tribulation Will Take Place, the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jer 30:7, Rev 7:14) —(Mat 24:21) ""For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be."
(c) All of the Jews in the world will return to the Holy Land and will be won to the LORD—(Jer 23:3), (Jer 29:14), (Jer 32:37), (Ezek 11:17) ""Therefore say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel."'"
(d) At the very end of the Tribulation, the Jews will be under attack and final annihilation.
(Zec 14:1-2) "Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, And your spoil will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The city shall be taken, The houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city."
(e) Just as it seems as if the people of Israel are about to be overwhelmed, The Lord Jesus will return to take over.
(f) There will be
(i) The judgment of the nations—Mat 25:31-46
(A) Those individuals from the nations who hid and protected the Jews during the Tribulation, and all of the surviving Jews, will be sent into the Millennial Kingdom
(B) Those who did not protect the Jews will be sent to everlasting fire.
(ii) The establishment of the Millennial Kingdom—Rev 20:1-10
c. Why is this important to the study of Jehovah Shammah, The LORD Who Is There?
(1) Because the only place in the Bible that this particular title is given as a Name of God is in Ezekiel
(2) Chapters 40-48 of Ezekiel describe the Millennium and the Millennial worship in great literal detail.
(3) Therefore, anyone who does not understand and believe in Pre-Millennialism cannot possibly understand nor properly interpret this passage.
d. Context: The Message of Ezekiel
(1) The great themes of Ezekiel are these:
(a) God’s Glory: The visible and invisible manifestation and revelation of His Persons, Attributes and Perfections
(i) The Glory is revealed
(ii) The Glory Departs—to the East
(iii) The Glory returns, in a flood, from the East—on That Day, The Day of the LORD.
(b) God’s Man: The Calling, preparation, and ministry of the prophet Ezekiel
(c) God’s People
(i) Israel’s sin
(ii) Israel’s Restoration
(iii) Israel’s Redemption
(d) God’s Judgments
(i) On Israel
(ii) On the nations that oppressed Israel
(iii) On Satan
(e) God’s Kingdom—the Millennial Temple revealed
(f) God’s Presence—He is “there” for His people, He was “there” for His man, Jehovah Shammah is the God who is THERE
2. God Was There for Ezekiel— (Ezek 1:3) "the word of the LORD came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was upon him there."
a. The Prophets’ Interpretation—The Three Greatest Prophets in the Old Testament had several things in common
(1) They were being sent to a people who would not listen, and they knew that from the beginning, their message was going to fall on deaf ears
(2) Much of the message they were sending was addressed to people living far in their future, and even yet in our future.
(3) They address the (still) future full restoration of Israel and the Kingdom of God.
b. The Prophet’s Vision of God’s Glory—Ezekiel’s calling began with a vision that has probably been more mistreated and confused than any other passage in the Old Testament.
(1) Without getting lost in the maze of possible meanings of the wheels and beasts, and ignoring the confusion who want to make this the manifestation of an alien space ship, note this one vital fact.
(2) Fact—this is a vision of God and His Glory
(Ezek 1:1) "Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the River Chebar, that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God."
(Ezek 1:26-28) "And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. 27 Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD ."
c. The Prophet’s Call
(1) God Called—(Ezek 2:1-2) "And He said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you."
(2) Spirit Led— 2 Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me…”
(3) God Sent—Sent to a Rebellious People Who Do Not Want to Hear God’s Word nor follow God’s plan— “… 3 And He said to me: "Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. 4 "For they are impudent and stubborn children.”
d. The Prophet’s Preparation
(1) Says What God Wants Said, no matter who likes it or not—“… I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.' 5 "As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse; for they are a rebellious house; yet they will know that a prophet has been among them.
(2) A man who fears nothing except not pleasing God— 6 "And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
(3) The Message is the Word 7 "You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious….”
(4) The Prophet must consume the Word First— 8 "But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you." 9 Now when I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. 10 Then He spread it before me; and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were lamentations and mourning and woe." (Ezek 3:1-11) "Moreover He said to me, "Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel." 2 So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll. 3 And He said to me, "Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you." So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness.
(5) He is to be a stubborn, hard headed prophet who cares not for the opinions of man—“ “…. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you. 7 "But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. 8 "Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. 9 "Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house." 10
(a) This sounds like some present-day churches I know, and there aren’t enough flint-headed preachers to go around these days.
(b) People who think that preachers should be soft-spoken and inoffensive do not understand the role and responsibility laid upon the True Preacher’s back—(2 Tim 4:1-2) "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching."
(6) The Prophet also does not gauge success by how many believe, only that he spoke the Truth—Moreover He said to me: "Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears. 11 "And go, get to the captives, to the children of your people, and speak to them and tell them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD,' whether they hear, or whether they refuse.""
3. God Was There When the Glory Departed
a. We often think of Ichabod when we think of Glory departing
(1) Eli was wickedly tolerant of his sons’ sins.
(2) His Sons and the armies of Israel were defeated, his sons killed, and the Ark taken
(3) Eli fell backwards and died
(4) Eli’s daughter-in-law died in childbirth, and as she was dying, she named the poor child Ichabod, “no glory,” or “the Glory Has Departed.”
(5) But that was only temporary—the Ark was later returned, the temple went on to be built, and so on.
(6) But the incident in Ezekiel was the final great disaster, the final removal of God from the Temple.
b. The Temple had been inaugurated with a great move of God’s Spirit.
(2 Chr 5:13-14) "indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying: "For He is good, For His mercy endures forever," that the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, 14 so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God."
c. For a little over 400 years, God had been there for Israel
(1) Despite the patience of God, His Presence in the Temple was often ignored, commonly offended by sins and abominations of sinful Israel, and only rarely was there any appreciation of the Glory of God
(2) God had endured insult after insult, rebellion after rebellion, and Israel’s Sin was great, so great that The Glory Departed from the Temple— (Ezek 11:22-25) "So the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was high above them. 23 And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain, which is on the east side of the city.”
(a) Note the slow, stately way that the Glory moves out to the Mount
(b) When God’s Glory returns to the Temple in the Millennial Kingdom—it won’t be like that.
(3) This mountain, of course, is the Mount of Olives!
(a) The Mountain where the Garden was where Jesus often went with His disciples, and where He was arrested.
(b) The Mount from Where Jesus departed in His Ascension—Acts 1:1-11
(c) The Mount where the Returning Messiah’s feet will first touch the Ground—Zech 14:3-5
4. God Will Be There—When the Glory Returns—And He Will Reign for 1,000 years. (Ezek 43:1-5) .;
a. Non-literal interpreters have tried to tie Ezekiel’s temple to all sorts of meanings and fulfillments, none of which are any more than the fancies of men.
(1) Why is this not the Ezra Temple—
(a) The manifestations of God’s Glory were not seen in that Temple, and the floor plan is vastly different.
(b) The Glory never shone in the Temple again after its departure in about 592 B.C.
(2) Why is this not Herod’s Temple when Jesus visited it on Earth?
(a) Because Christ’s Glory was hidden in human flesh
(b) Because this Temple was the one there when Jesus prophesied that it would all fall down
(3) Why is this not the New Jerusalem, the Heavenly city? Rev 21:21 “…the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. 22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple…”
(4) No, this is the Millennial Temple, made for the people of God to worship during the 1,000 year reign of Christ on Earth—because no other explanation can suffice..
b. Note the physical manifestations that were absent when the glory departed from the Temple, but now are seen—
c. Glory returns, like when Habakkuk saw God moving—(Hab 3:3-4) "God came from Teman, The Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah His glory covered the heavens, And the earth was full of His praise. 4 His brightness was like the light; He had rays flashing from His hand, And there His power was hidden."
(1) First, God came from the same direction from which He departed the Temple—“…Afterward he brought me to the gate, the gate that faces toward the east. 2 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east….”\
(2) Manifestations
(a) Noise—the voice of many waters—“…His voice was like the sound of many water…”
(b) Bright light “…and the earth shone with His glory…”
(c) The Glory is like the vision of God from Chapter 1—“…3 It was like the appearance of the vision which I saw; like the vision which I saw when I came to destroy the city. The visions were like the vision which I saw by the River Chebar…”
(d) Ezekiel’s reaction: the common one when Godly people meet God… “…and I fell on my face…”
(e) God’s Spirit is There, and He transports Ezekiel to the heart of God’s Glory, so that he can witness and write about it.
(f) And the Glory Filled the Temple, as it had when Moses inaugurated the Tabernacle and as it had when Solomon decorated the first Temple—“…4 And the glory of the LORD came into the temple by way of the gate which faces toward the east. 5 The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the temple."
d. The Name of the City is “The LORD Who Is There”
A.C. Gaebelein— “…Throughout the pages of the Book we read of Israel’s rebellion, Jerusalem’s judgments, the nation’s disobedience and rejection. They follow the messages of Hope—Israel’s conversion—Israel’s’ conversion, the regathering of the twelve tribes , the final conflict, the retuning glory of the Lord, and from that day the name of the city will be Jehovah Shammah Because He has manifested His gracious presence in the midst of His people and established his throne, blessed His people with all the spiritual and nations blessing, promised by His holy prophets, destroyed all their enemies, and covers all with His visible glory one more. Therefore the city will have the name, “Jehovah is there. What a glory it will be for Him . The city through which He once walked with weary feet, the Son of God garbed In Servant’s form, the city through which he was dragged, when the cross was laid upon His shoulders, the city which cast Him out, the city outside of which he endured the cross and despised the shame, that same city will be made in that day the glory spot of the earth!”
e. My God has always been there for me, and because of Who He Is and What He Can Do, I will ever depend upon Him for my protection and well being.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
The Cultural Mandate: God’s Instructions to Adam and Eve
Reading: Gen 1:26-31, 2:1-16
1. Churches and Professing Christians today are full of the worldview of the World
a. In survey after survey, we find in our land a strange and troubling ignorance of the Truth
b. Worldview Problems Among Professing Christians
(1) The Ignorant Worldview—Ignorance of Truth—not an incidental or accidental ignorance, but a planned ignorance, and a denunciation of those who seek out the Truth in the Bible so that we may teach it so that people may apply it to their lives
(2) The Anti-Bible Worldview—Acceptance of worldly ideas that contradict the Bible
(a) Pro-choice
(b) Gay Rights
(c) Whether or not “gayness” is even a sin
(3) The Accommodation Worldview—Accommodation with sin—we know how we are living is wrong, but…
(4) The Compromise Worldview—avoid conflict in any realm of life.
(5) The Carnal Security Worldview—
c. The Puzzling Positive
(1) On the one hand, there are more great Bible teachers in the US than perhaps at any time
(2) Thousands of pastors and devoted believers go to hear MacArthur, Piper, and other great men of God
(3) There are more Bible study aids available than at any time—
(4) But note, there is also rampant heresy. MacArthur and Piper are both over 60—where is the crop of fresh Sons of the Prophets?
d. The Nagging Negative—heresy is rampant, and “anything goes” in the minds of too many young men of God..
2. Man Was Created In God’s Image, Male and Female— Gen 1:26-27
a. First, this passage takes care of the canard that Jesus never spoke on these things. Mat 19
b. We are created in God’s spiritual image
(1) God, in His Essence, is Spirit, He does not have a body—John 4:24
(2) If God is Spirit, then what does it mean when we say that we are created in His image?
(a) It means that we are spirit in our essence as well.
(b) We have physical bodies and a physical existence, but each one of us is also possessed of an inner self which is spirit.
(c) Eccl 12:7, Luke 23:46, Rom 8:16, Phil 1:23-24, Phil 3:3, Heb 12:23
c. We are created in God’s image Mentally. We are thinking, rational, creatures.
d. We are created in God’s image Emotionally. We have feelings. We can be in joy or grief; we know anguish and delight.
e. We are created in God’s image Morally—we have the right to make choices, and within the limitations of our ability, we have the wherewithal to make choices.
f. We were created in God’s image authoritatively— “…and let them have dominion…” We were created to have authority, to rule and reign as God’s stewards.
g. We were created in God’s image creatively—human beings create! Creativity is part of every human heart. Some create with their hands, some with their minds, some with all their faculties, but we are creative creatures.
h. God’s image in us has been marred by the Fall, but the traces can still be seen
.
(1) Our minds have been corrupted by sin. Rom 8:7-8
(2) Our emotions have been corrupted by sin. Jer 17:9
(3) Our wills are bound by sin. John 5:40
(4) We have both neglected and abused the natural tendency to dominate.
(a) Failure to lead or be led. Eli—1 Sam
(1 Sam 1:12-14) "And it happened, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli watched her mouth. 13 Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 14 So Eli said to her, "How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!""
(1 Sam 1:17) "Then Eli answered and said, "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.""
(1 Sam 1:25) "Then they slaughtered a bull, and brought the child to Eli."
(1 Sam 2:11-12) "Then Elkanah went to his house at Ramah. But the child ministered to the LORD before Eli the priest. 12 Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the LORD."
(1 Sam 2:20) "And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, "The LORD give you descendants from this woman for the loan that was given to the LORD." Then they would go to their own home."
(1 Sam 2:22) "Now Eli was very old; and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting."
(1 Sam 2:27) "Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: 'Did I not clearly reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house?"
(1 Sam 3:1-2) "Then the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation. 2 And it came to pass at that time, while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see,"
(1 Sam 3:5-6) "So he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." And he said, "I did not call; lie down again." And he went and lay down. 6 Then the LORD called yet again, "Samuel!" So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." He answered, "I did not call, my son; lie down again.""
(1 Sam 3:8-9) "And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. Then he arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you did call me." Then Eli perceived that the LORD had called the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, 'Speak, LORD, for Your servant hears.' " So Samuel went and lay down in his place."
(1 Sam 3:12) ""In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end."
(1 Sam 3:14-16) ""And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever." 15 So Samuel lay down until morning, and opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision. 16 Then Eli called Samuel and said, "Samuel, my son!" And he answered, "Here I am.""
(1 Sam 4:4) "So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God."
(1 Sam 4:11) "Also the ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died."
(1 Sam 4:13-16) "Now when he came, there was Eli, sitting on a seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told it, all the city cried out. 14 When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, "What does the sound of this tumult mean?" And the man came quickly and told Eli. 15 Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were so dim that he could not see. 16 Then the man said to Eli, "I am he who came from the battle. And I fled today from the battle line." And he said, "What happened, my son?""
(1 Sam 4:18) "Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years."
(b) Failure to lead well
(c) Dominion perverted into oppression.
(5) We have abused our creativity
(a) Evil intentions
(b) Evil ideas
(c) Evil inventions with evil purposes
(d) Evil, man-made religion.
i. So, we are fallen creatures, made in the image of God, but containing a marred and distorted version of that image.
3. Man Was Created to Fill the Earth—1:28
a. We were blessed, male and female together— Gen 1:27-28 "… male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, …”
(1) God blessed marriage
(2) “Who gives this woman?” God said, “I do.”
(3) God blessed man and woman, He blessed heterosexual marriage, He blessed ONLY heterosexual marriage, and He blessed them for a purpose, to be fruitful and multiply.
(4) Do you want to know Jesus’ views on marriage?—Check this out! (Mat 19:4-5) "… 4 And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' 5 "and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'…”
b. We were blessed to procreate and replenish the earth— Gen 1:27-28
(1) Fill the earth—a spatial term—it means what it says
(2) God loves people, and He wanted the Earth filled with people.
(3) God loves babies, He loves children, He loves life—it is evil and Satanic to hate children, to hate life, to abort and kill, and maim, and torture. It is the height of ungodliness!
c. We were blessed to subdue the earth itself—clear it, till it, tame it, use it, restore it, manage it—we are to be the masters of the soil— Gen 1:28 “… fill the earth, and subdue it…have dominion …”
(1) We were to master the Earth—tame the wilds, explore the reaches, domesticate the animals, control the natural order.
(a) Note that when man fell, a special curse was put on this aspect of humanity.
(b) The Ground Cursed, the natural order upset.—Gen 3:17. Rom 8:19-23
(2) We were to be the stewards over the Earth, using it wisely and properly.
d. We were blessed to have a special kind of dominion: over all the other creatures of this earth— Gen 1:28
(1) Man is the dominant Creature.
(2) We are not animals, we are the masters of the animals.
(3) We are not part of the animal kingdom, we are the stewards over the animal kingdom.
(4) Animals should not be treated cruelly, since they are God’s property; they are not to be wasted or needlessly slaughtered, but we are to use them as God told us to use them, and we are to have the dominion over them.
4. God Provided For Man—1:28-29
a. God Provided A Job: chief manager of Earth—
b. God Provided Food—Gen 1:29-30
(1) Man was originally a vegetarian.
(2) There was no sin as yet, there was no blood shed or which needed to be shed.
(3) The first hunter was God, who first slew animals to clothe fallen man—Gen 3:21
(4) God Provided A Place to Live—Gen 2:8
5. Creation Was Pleasing to God— 1:31
a. Creation, in its original form, was good!
(1) Everything was good.
(2) The Angelic beings were good.
(3) The created order, the plant and animal kingdoms, were good.
(4) Mankind was good.
(5) There was no sin, no disharmony
b. Creation was pleasing to God
c. There was no Hell!
(1) Mat 25:41 ""Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:"
(2) We don’t know when the place of eternal punishment was created, but it was created for fallen angels.
6. The First Law—
a. The Law was in Two Parts
(1) Part 1—the positive Laws—Gen 1:28-29
(a) Are these Laws?
(b) These are commands
(c) It is possible to disobey these commands
(d) In fact, it was violation of these commands which led to the confusion of languages at Babel.
(2) Part 2: the Negative law, the only “shall not…” Gen 2:16-17
b. God gave the one negative law, perhaps as a test. Why did God do that? There are many speculations, but no biblical answers.
c. Man violated that one Law
7. Applications—Adam’s Instructions Today
a. The image of God continues, though marred by sin.
b. The Dominion of man over the Earth continues, though perverted into oppression and misuse.
c. The basic institution (the family) set up by God is under attack as never before:
(1) Free and easy divorce
(2) Free and promiscuous fornication and adultery.
(3) Perversion masquerading as a “right.”
(4) And now, even paedophiles are taken to be “normal.”
8. The Command to be fruitful and multiply continues, though many societies are murdering babies at a faster rate than they are having babies.
9. The Law of the Tree today—
a. The law of the Tree is abrogated because we are no longer in the Garden. We don’t even know what kind of tree it was.
(1) The temptations that arose from that Law are still with us, and are the heart of all temptations— 1 John 2:16
b. The effects of the violation of that Law continue with us—Rom 5:12, 1 Cor 15:22, 1 Tim 2:11-14
1. Churches and Professing Christians today are full of the worldview of the World
a. In survey after survey, we find in our land a strange and troubling ignorance of the Truth
b. Worldview Problems Among Professing Christians
(1) The Ignorant Worldview—Ignorance of Truth—not an incidental or accidental ignorance, but a planned ignorance, and a denunciation of those who seek out the Truth in the Bible so that we may teach it so that people may apply it to their lives
(2) The Anti-Bible Worldview—Acceptance of worldly ideas that contradict the Bible
(a) Pro-choice
(b) Gay Rights
(c) Whether or not “gayness” is even a sin
(3) The Accommodation Worldview—Accommodation with sin—we know how we are living is wrong, but…
(4) The Compromise Worldview—avoid conflict in any realm of life.
(5) The Carnal Security Worldview—
c. The Puzzling Positive
(1) On the one hand, there are more great Bible teachers in the US than perhaps at any time
(2) Thousands of pastors and devoted believers go to hear MacArthur, Piper, and other great men of God
(3) There are more Bible study aids available than at any time—
(4) But note, there is also rampant heresy. MacArthur and Piper are both over 60—where is the crop of fresh Sons of the Prophets?
d. The Nagging Negative—heresy is rampant, and “anything goes” in the minds of too many young men of God..
2. Man Was Created In God’s Image, Male and Female— Gen 1:26-27
a. First, this passage takes care of the canard that Jesus never spoke on these things. Mat 19
b. We are created in God’s spiritual image
(1) God, in His Essence, is Spirit, He does not have a body—John 4:24
(2) If God is Spirit, then what does it mean when we say that we are created in His image?
(a) It means that we are spirit in our essence as well.
(b) We have physical bodies and a physical existence, but each one of us is also possessed of an inner self which is spirit.
(c) Eccl 12:7, Luke 23:46, Rom 8:16, Phil 1:23-24, Phil 3:3, Heb 12:23
c. We are created in God’s image Mentally. We are thinking, rational, creatures.
d. We are created in God’s image Emotionally. We have feelings. We can be in joy or grief; we know anguish and delight.
e. We are created in God’s image Morally—we have the right to make choices, and within the limitations of our ability, we have the wherewithal to make choices.
f. We were created in God’s image authoritatively— “…and let them have dominion…” We were created to have authority, to rule and reign as God’s stewards.
g. We were created in God’s image creatively—human beings create! Creativity is part of every human heart. Some create with their hands, some with their minds, some with all their faculties, but we are creative creatures.
h. God’s image in us has been marred by the Fall, but the traces can still be seen
.
(1) Our minds have been corrupted by sin. Rom 8:7-8
(2) Our emotions have been corrupted by sin. Jer 17:9
(3) Our wills are bound by sin. John 5:40
(4) We have both neglected and abused the natural tendency to dominate.
(a) Failure to lead or be led. Eli—1 Sam
(1 Sam 1:12-14) "And it happened, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli watched her mouth. 13 Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 14 So Eli said to her, "How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!""
(1 Sam 1:17) "Then Eli answered and said, "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.""
(1 Sam 1:25) "Then they slaughtered a bull, and brought the child to Eli."
(1 Sam 2:11-12) "Then Elkanah went to his house at Ramah. But the child ministered to the LORD before Eli the priest. 12 Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the LORD."
(1 Sam 2:20) "And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, "The LORD give you descendants from this woman for the loan that was given to the LORD." Then they would go to their own home."
(1 Sam 2:22) "Now Eli was very old; and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting."
(1 Sam 2:27) "Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: 'Did I not clearly reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house?"
(1 Sam 3:1-2) "Then the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation. 2 And it came to pass at that time, while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see,"
(1 Sam 3:5-6) "So he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." And he said, "I did not call; lie down again." And he went and lay down. 6 Then the LORD called yet again, "Samuel!" So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." He answered, "I did not call, my son; lie down again.""
(1 Sam 3:8-9) "And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. Then he arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you did call me." Then Eli perceived that the LORD had called the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, 'Speak, LORD, for Your servant hears.' " So Samuel went and lay down in his place."
(1 Sam 3:12) ""In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end."
(1 Sam 3:14-16) ""And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever." 15 So Samuel lay down until morning, and opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision. 16 Then Eli called Samuel and said, "Samuel, my son!" And he answered, "Here I am.""
(1 Sam 4:4) "So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God."
(1 Sam 4:11) "Also the ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died."
(1 Sam 4:13-16) "Now when he came, there was Eli, sitting on a seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told it, all the city cried out. 14 When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, "What does the sound of this tumult mean?" And the man came quickly and told Eli. 15 Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were so dim that he could not see. 16 Then the man said to Eli, "I am he who came from the battle. And I fled today from the battle line." And he said, "What happened, my son?""
(1 Sam 4:18) "Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years."
(b) Failure to lead well
(c) Dominion perverted into oppression.
(5) We have abused our creativity
(a) Evil intentions
(b) Evil ideas
(c) Evil inventions with evil purposes
(d) Evil, man-made religion.
i. So, we are fallen creatures, made in the image of God, but containing a marred and distorted version of that image.
3. Man Was Created to Fill the Earth—1:28
a. We were blessed, male and female together— Gen 1:27-28 "… male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, …”
(1) God blessed marriage
(2) “Who gives this woman?” God said, “I do.”
(3) God blessed man and woman, He blessed heterosexual marriage, He blessed ONLY heterosexual marriage, and He blessed them for a purpose, to be fruitful and multiply.
(4) Do you want to know Jesus’ views on marriage?—Check this out! (Mat 19:4-5) "… 4 And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' 5 "and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'…”
b. We were blessed to procreate and replenish the earth— Gen 1:27-28
(1) Fill the earth—a spatial term—it means what it says
(2) God loves people, and He wanted the Earth filled with people.
(3) God loves babies, He loves children, He loves life—it is evil and Satanic to hate children, to hate life, to abort and kill, and maim, and torture. It is the height of ungodliness!
c. We were blessed to subdue the earth itself—clear it, till it, tame it, use it, restore it, manage it—we are to be the masters of the soil— Gen 1:28 “… fill the earth, and subdue it…have dominion …”
(1) We were to master the Earth—tame the wilds, explore the reaches, domesticate the animals, control the natural order.
(a) Note that when man fell, a special curse was put on this aspect of humanity.
(b) The Ground Cursed, the natural order upset.—Gen 3:17. Rom 8:19-23
(2) We were to be the stewards over the Earth, using it wisely and properly.
d. We were blessed to have a special kind of dominion: over all the other creatures of this earth— Gen 1:28
(1) Man is the dominant Creature.
(2) We are not animals, we are the masters of the animals.
(3) We are not part of the animal kingdom, we are the stewards over the animal kingdom.
(4) Animals should not be treated cruelly, since they are God’s property; they are not to be wasted or needlessly slaughtered, but we are to use them as God told us to use them, and we are to have the dominion over them.
4. God Provided For Man—1:28-29
a. God Provided A Job: chief manager of Earth—
b. God Provided Food—Gen 1:29-30
(1) Man was originally a vegetarian.
(2) There was no sin as yet, there was no blood shed or which needed to be shed.
(3) The first hunter was God, who first slew animals to clothe fallen man—Gen 3:21
(4) God Provided A Place to Live—Gen 2:8
5. Creation Was Pleasing to God— 1:31
a. Creation, in its original form, was good!
(1) Everything was good.
(2) The Angelic beings were good.
(3) The created order, the plant and animal kingdoms, were good.
(4) Mankind was good.
(5) There was no sin, no disharmony
b. Creation was pleasing to God
c. There was no Hell!
(1) Mat 25:41 ""Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:"
(2) We don’t know when the place of eternal punishment was created, but it was created for fallen angels.
6. The First Law—
a. The Law was in Two Parts
(1) Part 1—the positive Laws—Gen 1:28-29
(a) Are these Laws?
(b) These are commands
(c) It is possible to disobey these commands
(d) In fact, it was violation of these commands which led to the confusion of languages at Babel.
(2) Part 2: the Negative law, the only “shall not…” Gen 2:16-17
b. God gave the one negative law, perhaps as a test. Why did God do that? There are many speculations, but no biblical answers.
c. Man violated that one Law
7. Applications—Adam’s Instructions Today
a. The image of God continues, though marred by sin.
b. The Dominion of man over the Earth continues, though perverted into oppression and misuse.
c. The basic institution (the family) set up by God is under attack as never before:
(1) Free and easy divorce
(2) Free and promiscuous fornication and adultery.
(3) Perversion masquerading as a “right.”
(4) And now, even paedophiles are taken to be “normal.”
8. The Command to be fruitful and multiply continues, though many societies are murdering babies at a faster rate than they are having babies.
9. The Law of the Tree today—
a. The law of the Tree is abrogated because we are no longer in the Garden. We don’t even know what kind of tree it was.
(1) The temptations that arose from that Law are still with us, and are the heart of all temptations— 1 John 2:16
b. The effects of the violation of that Law continue with us—Rom 5:12, 1 Cor 15:22, 1 Tim 2:11-14
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Let the Alibis Begin
The Myth is Dead, Let The Alibi Begin
By Charles T. Buntin
In the past several days there have been several opinion pieces linked to the central idea that If Obama loses, it is because we rural white folks are all racists. The most well-known writers are Clarence Page and Matt Rothschild, and today there was another opinion piece in The Progressive, by Kevin Gray. What is especially ironic, and a bit funny, is that conservative talk show host Dennis Prager posted an article two days ago predicting this would happen, and happening it is!
The Mainstream Media must be brain-linked, or perhaps they sense a change in the electorate, so they are crafting the alibi-lieSharing the self-absorbed hubris of their candidate, who apparently thinks that we are all bitter, cousin-marryin', flag-wavin,' gun-totin,' Bible-thumpin' cretins if we won't vote for him. The alibi is being formulated, and in the Mind of Obama the Exalted, the narrative must conform to the legend he imagines himself to be. He will never be tempermentally able to say, 'I was defeated because the American people decided they did not like my announced policies and they wanted a real Commander in Chief." That would not match with his self-designed personal journey to greatness. This is a man who has published two biographies when he has not had sufficient real life experiences to merit an article.
Colin Powell has a real narrative--forged in war and peace, from housing projects in New York to the White House--and he earned that narrative every day, in ways that only a career military professional can understand--and he contended with racism that OBAMA never knew. Condaleeza Rice, whether you like her or not, has a narrative, and it does not consist of dreams, visions, or hubris, but of real work done. It is about a girl who would have died as a young teen had she not been sick the day of the Birmingham Bombing, for those little girls who died were her classmates.
In my military career, I served with or met many of John McCain's fellow prisoners, and what I found in almost all of them was (1) selflessness, (2) Absorption in others instead of oneself, (3) A sense of mission, and (4) an overwhelming humility combined with (5) a quiet, definite strength and maturity. I will never forget the day in 1984 when, along with 800 other junior officers, I was blessed to attend a symposium of former POWs. McCain was not there, but several of his fellow-prisoners were. The POWs sat at on couches in the cavernous auditorium, and we listened in total hushed silence as they passed the microphone around and just talked. Then, they answered questions for nearly two hours—serious questions, searching questions, soul questions. When the time was done, we were called to attention and as we stood there, a montage of American scenes were flashed across the huge screen, and for the first time, I heard these words: “If tomorrow all the things were Gone I’d worked for all my life…”.
As the music grew and the words cut at us like knives, 800 professional military officers wept like babies. Fighter jocks, hard-nosed maintenance officers, spooky intelligence officers, security officers and spookier missile launch officers cried and thanked God that there were men like these. That is the kind of man John McCain is.
All I see and hear in Barak Obama is hubris, self-absorption, and vapidity beyond degree. I still don’t know what a community organizer is, and suspect that if I knew, I’d be less than impressed. His positions scare the pants off me, and the idea of him going head to head with Vladimir Putin is frightening. I can’t vote for the man, but it isn't race. I would vote for Colin Powell, with whom I disagree on many things, or for JC Watss with whom I agree on nearly everything. Heck, I'd vote for Condaleeza Rice without hesitation. These are genuine people who clawed up from the bottom and have achieved many times over what results (?) we find in the OBAMA Mythology. What I find in the narrative is Mr. Obama's empty suit. These folks just happen to be African-American, being African-American is a profession for OBAMA.The alibi is being readied.
By Charles T. Buntin
In the past several days there have been several opinion pieces linked to the central idea that If Obama loses, it is because we rural white folks are all racists. The most well-known writers are Clarence Page and Matt Rothschild, and today there was another opinion piece in The Progressive, by Kevin Gray. What is especially ironic, and a bit funny, is that conservative talk show host Dennis Prager posted an article two days ago predicting this would happen, and happening it is!
The Mainstream Media must be brain-linked, or perhaps they sense a change in the electorate, so they are crafting the alibi-lieSharing the self-absorbed hubris of their candidate, who apparently thinks that we are all bitter, cousin-marryin', flag-wavin,' gun-totin,' Bible-thumpin' cretins if we won't vote for him. The alibi is being formulated, and in the Mind of Obama the Exalted, the narrative must conform to the legend he imagines himself to be. He will never be tempermentally able to say, 'I was defeated because the American people decided they did not like my announced policies and they wanted a real Commander in Chief." That would not match with his self-designed personal journey to greatness. This is a man who has published two biographies when he has not had sufficient real life experiences to merit an article.
Colin Powell has a real narrative--forged in war and peace, from housing projects in New York to the White House--and he earned that narrative every day, in ways that only a career military professional can understand--and he contended with racism that OBAMA never knew. Condaleeza Rice, whether you like her or not, has a narrative, and it does not consist of dreams, visions, or hubris, but of real work done. It is about a girl who would have died as a young teen had she not been sick the day of the Birmingham Bombing, for those little girls who died were her classmates.
In my military career, I served with or met many of John McCain's fellow prisoners, and what I found in almost all of them was (1) selflessness, (2) Absorption in others instead of oneself, (3) A sense of mission, and (4) an overwhelming humility combined with (5) a quiet, definite strength and maturity. I will never forget the day in 1984 when, along with 800 other junior officers, I was blessed to attend a symposium of former POWs. McCain was not there, but several of his fellow-prisoners were. The POWs sat at on couches in the cavernous auditorium, and we listened in total hushed silence as they passed the microphone around and just talked. Then, they answered questions for nearly two hours—serious questions, searching questions, soul questions. When the time was done, we were called to attention and as we stood there, a montage of American scenes were flashed across the huge screen, and for the first time, I heard these words: “If tomorrow all the things were Gone I’d worked for all my life…”.
As the music grew and the words cut at us like knives, 800 professional military officers wept like babies. Fighter jocks, hard-nosed maintenance officers, spooky intelligence officers, security officers and spookier missile launch officers cried and thanked God that there were men like these. That is the kind of man John McCain is.
All I see and hear in Barak Obama is hubris, self-absorption, and vapidity beyond degree. I still don’t know what a community organizer is, and suspect that if I knew, I’d be less than impressed. His positions scare the pants off me, and the idea of him going head to head with Vladimir Putin is frightening. I can’t vote for the man, but it isn't race. I would vote for Colin Powell, with whom I disagree on many things, or for JC Watss with whom I agree on nearly everything. Heck, I'd vote for Condaleeza Rice without hesitation. These are genuine people who clawed up from the bottom and have achieved many times over what results (?) we find in the OBAMA Mythology. What I find in the narrative is Mr. Obama's empty suit. These folks just happen to be African-American, being African-American is a profession for OBAMA.The alibi is being readied.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Community Organizers, Governors, and Blasphemy
In a political year known for history-making events, incredible sleaze, mindless chutzpa and more lies than normal, the “mainstream” media (a.k.a. the Democratic Party’s media friends) has been exceptionally biased this year. They are not even covering their tracks anymore, but are blatantly supporting the Democratic ticket. Even their own people have noted this, and some of their allies have suggested they tone it down—it’s gotten that bad. The lies, misstatements, distortions, and friendly editing that has gone on is well-documented and sad—I will leave the big picture to those who have commented on it. I just want to deal with one particularly ridiculous statement, first laid down by a Democratic congressman, then picked up on by the Democratic Media, and that is the ridiculous Democratic line, “…Jesus was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a governor.” This is intended, of course to compare Barak Obama to Jesus, and Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin to Pontius Pilate—both of which are totally inaccurate comparisons.
The originator of this bit of biased and ridiculous fluff was one Steve Cohen, a Democratic congressman from Tennessee. This has got to be one of the most idiotic propositions ever voiced by an American politician. In one fell swoop, Mr. Cohen demonstrated that he flunked theology and history (if he ever took either course), and managed to blaspheme Jesus Christ along the way. The phrase, “Jesus was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a governor,” probably was inspired by Governor Palin’s dig, delivered with humor in her speech at the GOP national convention, which wondered what a “community organizer” actually does (something I am still not clear on). The Democratic Party, represented by the aforementioned representative from Tennessee, came back with the Pilate Rejoinder, which has been and is being duly repeated by their allies in the media. Let’s look at this statement.
This line contains within it two “big lies,” and one hidden tidbit of hidden Truth.
For Lie #1, let’s talk about Governor Pontius Pilate. First, Pontius Pilate was NOT a governor. The original Greek of the New Testament refers to Pilate as a “hegemon,” which means the ruler of a province. In fact, the official title Pilate held was either Procurator or Prefect (the scholars differ on the exact wording) either one of which was an appointed office under Caesar. Pilate was a combination military ruler, tax collector, and personal representative of Caesar. He was not elected by the people (as Sarah Palin was), nor was he very popular with the people because of his violent repressive measures. So, Pontius Pilate was not a governor, and he bares no resemblance to Governor Palin or any other elected official under the Constitution of the United States.
For Lie #2, (and this is where blasphemy comes in), we have the statement, “Jesus was a community organizer.” Of course nothing could be further from the Truth—Jesus’ mission was multifaceted, but NONE of it involved “community organizing.” The classic Biblical definition of Jesus’ ministry is “Prophet, Priest, and King.”
Prophet refers to his teaching ministry. Jesus, according to Christian teachings, was the one referred to by Moses in Deut 18:15 : ""The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear…”. In His prophetic ministry, Jesus expounded the Law and the Prophets and taught His disciples the rudiments of the Gospel of the Kingdom, with the Holy Spirit (John chapters 14-16) filling out the outline after Christ’s ascension, through the ministry of the Holy Apostles.
Jesus came as high priest and sacrifice. Jesus’ primary mission was redemptive—he came to die for our sins—Mat. 1:21, Mat 20:28, John 10:14-17, and many more verses that could be cited here. One had to be perfect and divine to be our sacrifice, and the job’s been done—so Barak will have to find another avenue to be a Messiah.
Another Part of Jesus’ ministry, one yet to be fully fulfilled, is that of King. One day Christ will return and set up his Kingdom, and every knee shall bow to Him (Phil 2:5-11, Rev chapters 19-22, etc.).
To call Jesus a “community organizer” is a blasphemy of such broad effect as to boggle the mind. It is like comparing God to Peanut Butter.
Jesus was not, in any sense of the word, some kind of “community organizer. sent to show the Romans and the Jews how to be charitable and get along, nor did he set up some system of welfare to the poor, nor was He involved in politics at all, nor were any of His apostles. Jesus came to Earth to die, to rise, to ascend, and to return.
An inconvenient Truth—(Sorry, Algore). There was this one guy in Jesus’ day organizing the community in Palestinethis community organizer’s name was Barabbas. (Mat 27:16-17) "And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. 17 Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, "Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?"" (Mark 15:7) "And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion." Now I am not accusing Barak of being THAT kind of community organizer, but he does have this close friend, William Ayers, an unrepentant, ex-revolutionary who used to blow up buildings and wishes he could have done more—Barabbas—that’s it—but not Jesus.
Charles T. Buntin
The originator of this bit of biased and ridiculous fluff was one Steve Cohen, a Democratic congressman from Tennessee. This has got to be one of the most idiotic propositions ever voiced by an American politician. In one fell swoop, Mr. Cohen demonstrated that he flunked theology and history (if he ever took either course), and managed to blaspheme Jesus Christ along the way. The phrase, “Jesus was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a governor,” probably was inspired by Governor Palin’s dig, delivered with humor in her speech at the GOP national convention, which wondered what a “community organizer” actually does (something I am still not clear on). The Democratic Party, represented by the aforementioned representative from Tennessee, came back with the Pilate Rejoinder, which has been and is being duly repeated by their allies in the media. Let’s look at this statement.
This line contains within it two “big lies,” and one hidden tidbit of hidden Truth.
For Lie #1, let’s talk about Governor Pontius Pilate. First, Pontius Pilate was NOT a governor. The original Greek of the New Testament refers to Pilate as a “hegemon,” which means the ruler of a province. In fact, the official title Pilate held was either Procurator or Prefect (the scholars differ on the exact wording) either one of which was an appointed office under Caesar. Pilate was a combination military ruler, tax collector, and personal representative of Caesar. He was not elected by the people (as Sarah Palin was), nor was he very popular with the people because of his violent repressive measures. So, Pontius Pilate was not a governor, and he bares no resemblance to Governor Palin or any other elected official under the Constitution of the United States.
For Lie #2, (and this is where blasphemy comes in), we have the statement, “Jesus was a community organizer.” Of course nothing could be further from the Truth—Jesus’ mission was multifaceted, but NONE of it involved “community organizing.” The classic Biblical definition of Jesus’ ministry is “Prophet, Priest, and King.”
Prophet refers to his teaching ministry. Jesus, according to Christian teachings, was the one referred to by Moses in Deut 18:15 : ""The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear…”. In His prophetic ministry, Jesus expounded the Law and the Prophets and taught His disciples the rudiments of the Gospel of the Kingdom, with the Holy Spirit (John chapters 14-16) filling out the outline after Christ’s ascension, through the ministry of the Holy Apostles.
Jesus came as high priest and sacrifice. Jesus’ primary mission was redemptive—he came to die for our sins—Mat. 1:21, Mat 20:28, John 10:14-17, and many more verses that could be cited here. One had to be perfect and divine to be our sacrifice, and the job’s been done—so Barak will have to find another avenue to be a Messiah.
Another Part of Jesus’ ministry, one yet to be fully fulfilled, is that of King. One day Christ will return and set up his Kingdom, and every knee shall bow to Him (Phil 2:5-11, Rev chapters 19-22, etc.).
To call Jesus a “community organizer” is a blasphemy of such broad effect as to boggle the mind. It is like comparing God to Peanut Butter.
Jesus was not, in any sense of the word, some kind of “community organizer. sent to show the Romans and the Jews how to be charitable and get along, nor did he set up some system of welfare to the poor, nor was He involved in politics at all, nor were any of His apostles. Jesus came to Earth to die, to rise, to ascend, and to return.
An inconvenient Truth—(Sorry, Algore). There was this one guy in Jesus’ day organizing the community in Palestinethis community organizer’s name was Barabbas. (Mat 27:16-17) "And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. 17 Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, "Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?"" (Mark 15:7) "And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion." Now I am not accusing Barak of being THAT kind of community organizer, but he does have this close friend, William Ayers, an unrepentant, ex-revolutionary who used to blow up buildings and wishes he could have done more—Barabbas—that’s it—but not Jesus.
Charles T. Buntin
Friday, September 12, 2008
Obama the Idiot
Obama approved the latest ad, which ridiculed John McCain for not being computer literate. Apparently lost in the research is that McCain's injuries, suffered during six years of torture as a POW prevent him from using a keyboard or mouse.
DUH!
Again, we have here a lightweight with no honor, pushed on us by who knows what dark forces in our nation, and he approves a commercial like this--will he insult blind people next? What a total nincompoop!
DUH!
Again, we have here a lightweight with no honor, pushed on us by who knows what dark forces in our nation, and he approves a commercial like this--will he insult blind people next? What a total nincompoop!
Compare Obama and Palin
With reference to Senator Barak Obama being a community organizer like Jesus and Governor Palin being like Pontius Pilate, here are some facts.
1. Jesus was not a community organizer. His Kingdom, He told Pilate, was "not of this world." John 18:36.
2. Jesus was organizing for a future world, a New Heaven and a New Earth, Rev 21:1-8.
3. Jesus did not contribute to the slaughter of the innocents (except being the intended victim) (Mat 2:18), while Senator Obama has consistently voted to continue slaughtering innocents, even those born alive after a botched murder.
4. Governor Palin is from a small town, as was Jesus; she was in the fishing business as was the families of Peter and Andrew, James and John. Until she went into politics to make a difference, she was a working mom like Mary, helping with the family business.
5. One of Senator Obama's best friends William Ayers, was, like Barabbas, an insurrectionist and murderer. The difference being, according to church tradition, that Barabbas later repented and became a follower of Jesus. Ayers thinks they did not kill enough.
1. Jesus was not a community organizer. His Kingdom, He told Pilate, was "not of this world." John 18:36.
2. Jesus was organizing for a future world, a New Heaven and a New Earth, Rev 21:1-8.
3. Jesus did not contribute to the slaughter of the innocents (except being the intended victim) (Mat 2:18), while Senator Obama has consistently voted to continue slaughtering innocents, even those born alive after a botched murder.
4. Governor Palin is from a small town, as was Jesus; she was in the fishing business as was the families of Peter and Andrew, James and John. Until she went into politics to make a difference, she was a working mom like Mary, helping with the family business.
5. One of Senator Obama's best friends William Ayers, was, like Barabbas, an insurrectionist and murderer. The difference being, according to church tradition, that Barabbas later repented and became a follower of Jesus. Ayers thinks they did not kill enough.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Sarah Palin's Faith and Twenty-One Words
By Charley Buntin
B.A., M.S., M.A.R
National Board Certified Teacher of History
I often send Bible lesson notes out to a small group of people, and these notes are always based on a Bible text or passage. However, the text for this written message is an unusual one, because this text is not from the Bible, and this set of notes is not about a religious topic. Our text is, in fact, totally secular, found in one of the most revolutionary paragraphs of a very revolutionary document, The Constitution of the United States. In Article VI, , we read the following:
"...3. The senators and representatives before-mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of theseveral states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this constitution; but noreligious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under theUnited States."
The American Left, in its frenzy to destroy Sarah Palin and brand her some kind of religious kook, has made Sarah Palin's faith into an avenue of attack against her qualifications to be Vice President of the United States. The "All Things Considered" program on I heard the other day on National Public Radio, and CNN's Anderson Cooper, and others in the liberal media have attacked with glee the idea that Sarah Palin depends on prayer, that she believes in the power of prayer, that she believes in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, that she believes the Bible, and that she seeks God's guidance and leadership in her life.The "two left coasts" of our media, (and some in the Middle, like the Atlanta Constitution) treat this knowledge of Governor Palin's faith as if they had discovered illegal drugs in her stuffed moose head from the office! Horrors! How dare any intelligent and educated person depend on God and wait for His guidance! How dare a potential Vice President of the United States believe in the power of prayer! This is dangerous—the next thing you know, there will be a Bible on the desk in the Oval Office! This is how they are acting about all of this.
To put it in a most distinguished and scholarly way, what a crock of smelly stuff! There is a term for this set of activities by the left media: religious persecution! This bald-faced persecution of Governor Palin is a drastic mistake by the liberal left, because Sarah Palin is FAR from alone. In her faith in a living Christ Who guides us by the Word and Spirit, she is not alone, and as any evangelical knows, you don't have to be Pentecostal to believe these things—all Bible-believing Christians, in varying degrees, believe this way, evangelical and mainline, Protestant and Catholic, Baptist and others. And in small town America, requests for prayer are taken quite seriously, and they cross all party and denominational lines. This writer is one Southern Baptist who has seen prayer work many times!
So, what of our secular text for this set of study notes? This text, written in 1787 by a group of real geniuses is the basis for our freedom; this short document has been used by God's Providence to provide a growing wealth of liberty for all. The first, and longest part of this text is this:
"...The senators and representatives before-mentioned, and the members of the several statelegislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the severalstates, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this constitution..."
Those who hold office in this great land, including not only political office holders the military, the police, and firefighters, are required to swear allegiance to this text. Imagine that! Dictators and emperors, kings and queens, from ancient times through today, require that all of their minions swear an oath to them; that is not so here. When this writer, at the tender age of 19, was sworn into the US Air Force, it began a happy association that continues and has continued into retirement. When I was inducted, then again when re-enlisted, then again when I earned my commission, and again when made a Regular Officer—in each case, I swore and oath. I swore allegiance to a thin document in parchment, a pamphlet, a tract, a brief statement of the principles of governing a free people. My loyalty was not and is not to my colonel, my generals, or even out Commander In Chief—my loyalty is to a set of ideas written on wrinkled lambskin with a quill pen. As I have sworn many times, so has Sarah Palin several times—and her record is that she has maintained loyalty to her town, and her state, and to the oaths she undertook. Those who know her best have said that after she seeks God's guidance, she then looks for a solution for all Alaskans. What could possibly be wrong with that? What kind of rude and arrogant mind would assume that, having sworn and kept an oath as Mayor of Wasilla and Governor of Alaska, that Sarah would violate that oath as Vice President or President. Only a mind twisted by bias, hatred, and party spirit could be so blind—and that is where too many in our news media live. Sarah Palin has made and kept faithfully, the oaths required of office holders under our constitution. So much for the first half of our text.
The second part of our secular text is this:
"…but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trustunder the United States…"
My Scots Presbyterian ancestors could not legally meet for worship under the Kings of England, and they, along with Baptists, Quakers, and anyone whose religious opinions differed with the Crown, were excluded from attending college and holding any office at all. This was the religious test of the Anglican establishment that our forefathers and foremothers faced, and they were not alone. Until religious freedom was written here and then locked in decisively in the First Amendment's "free exercise" clause, any dissenter from the religion of their secular ruler anywhere in the world faced the same wall. The Jews who came to Rhode Island and other places, the gentle Mennonites and Quakers of Pennsylvania, the Baptists of Rhode Island, and others, were set free politically by the 21 words above, to be able to believe what they willed, and yet be a full and equal partner in this great experiment of government.
The religious beliefs of an American are sacred to their God, and in a strange secular way, the religious beliefs (or non-belief) are sacred to our political system. The left-wing media in the United States has minimized and attempted to keep a good distance from Senator Obama's Muslim relatives and Muslim background, and so they should, for 21 words tell us that there can be no religious test. One would think that they would give Governor Palin the same courtesy, since it is her right, by the sixth article of the Constitution of the United States, to practice her religion without any religious test making her unqualified for any public office.
Twenty-one words have made matters of conscience to not be the matter of the state; let's adhere to them. And, given the wild and wooly shape of the world in which we live, what's wrong with a request for divine intervention?
B.A., M.S., M.A.R
National Board Certified Teacher of History
I often send Bible lesson notes out to a small group of people, and these notes are always based on a Bible text or passage. However, the text for this written message is an unusual one, because this text is not from the Bible, and this set of notes is not about a religious topic. Our text is, in fact, totally secular, found in one of the most revolutionary paragraphs of a very revolutionary document, The Constitution of the United States. In Article VI, , we read the following:
"...3. The senators and representatives before-mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of theseveral states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this constitution; but noreligious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under theUnited States."
The American Left, in its frenzy to destroy Sarah Palin and brand her some kind of religious kook, has made Sarah Palin's faith into an avenue of attack against her qualifications to be Vice President of the United States. The "All Things Considered" program on I heard the other day on National Public Radio, and CNN's Anderson Cooper, and others in the liberal media have attacked with glee the idea that Sarah Palin depends on prayer, that she believes in the power of prayer, that she believes in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, that she believes the Bible, and that she seeks God's guidance and leadership in her life.The "two left coasts" of our media, (and some in the Middle, like the Atlanta Constitution) treat this knowledge of Governor Palin's faith as if they had discovered illegal drugs in her stuffed moose head from the office! Horrors! How dare any intelligent and educated person depend on God and wait for His guidance! How dare a potential Vice President of the United States believe in the power of prayer! This is dangerous—the next thing you know, there will be a Bible on the desk in the Oval Office! This is how they are acting about all of this.
To put it in a most distinguished and scholarly way, what a crock of smelly stuff! There is a term for this set of activities by the left media: religious persecution! This bald-faced persecution of Governor Palin is a drastic mistake by the liberal left, because Sarah Palin is FAR from alone. In her faith in a living Christ Who guides us by the Word and Spirit, she is not alone, and as any evangelical knows, you don't have to be Pentecostal to believe these things—all Bible-believing Christians, in varying degrees, believe this way, evangelical and mainline, Protestant and Catholic, Baptist and others. And in small town America, requests for prayer are taken quite seriously, and they cross all party and denominational lines. This writer is one Southern Baptist who has seen prayer work many times!
So, what of our secular text for this set of study notes? This text, written in 1787 by a group of real geniuses is the basis for our freedom; this short document has been used by God's Providence to provide a growing wealth of liberty for all. The first, and longest part of this text is this:
"...The senators and representatives before-mentioned, and the members of the several statelegislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the severalstates, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this constitution..."
Those who hold office in this great land, including not only political office holders the military, the police, and firefighters, are required to swear allegiance to this text. Imagine that! Dictators and emperors, kings and queens, from ancient times through today, require that all of their minions swear an oath to them; that is not so here. When this writer, at the tender age of 19, was sworn into the US Air Force, it began a happy association that continues and has continued into retirement. When I was inducted, then again when re-enlisted, then again when I earned my commission, and again when made a Regular Officer—in each case, I swore and oath. I swore allegiance to a thin document in parchment, a pamphlet, a tract, a brief statement of the principles of governing a free people. My loyalty was not and is not to my colonel, my generals, or even out Commander In Chief—my loyalty is to a set of ideas written on wrinkled lambskin with a quill pen. As I have sworn many times, so has Sarah Palin several times—and her record is that she has maintained loyalty to her town, and her state, and to the oaths she undertook. Those who know her best have said that after she seeks God's guidance, she then looks for a solution for all Alaskans. What could possibly be wrong with that? What kind of rude and arrogant mind would assume that, having sworn and kept an oath as Mayor of Wasilla and Governor of Alaska, that Sarah would violate that oath as Vice President or President. Only a mind twisted by bias, hatred, and party spirit could be so blind—and that is where too many in our news media live. Sarah Palin has made and kept faithfully, the oaths required of office holders under our constitution. So much for the first half of our text.
The second part of our secular text is this:
"…but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trustunder the United States…"
My Scots Presbyterian ancestors could not legally meet for worship under the Kings of England, and they, along with Baptists, Quakers, and anyone whose religious opinions differed with the Crown, were excluded from attending college and holding any office at all. This was the religious test of the Anglican establishment that our forefathers and foremothers faced, and they were not alone. Until religious freedom was written here and then locked in decisively in the First Amendment's "free exercise" clause, any dissenter from the religion of their secular ruler anywhere in the world faced the same wall. The Jews who came to Rhode Island and other places, the gentle Mennonites and Quakers of Pennsylvania, the Baptists of Rhode Island, and others, were set free politically by the 21 words above, to be able to believe what they willed, and yet be a full and equal partner in this great experiment of government.
The religious beliefs of an American are sacred to their God, and in a strange secular way, the religious beliefs (or non-belief) are sacred to our political system. The left-wing media in the United States has minimized and attempted to keep a good distance from Senator Obama's Muslim relatives and Muslim background, and so they should, for 21 words tell us that there can be no religious test. One would think that they would give Governor Palin the same courtesy, since it is her right, by the sixth article of the Constitution of the United States, to practice her religion without any religious test making her unqualified for any public office.
Twenty-one words have made matters of conscience to not be the matter of the state; let's adhere to them. And, given the wild and wooly shape of the world in which we live, what's wrong with a request for divine intervention?
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Jehovah of the New Covenant
The Names of God:
Jesus Saves—The Jehovah of the New Covenant
Jer 31:31-34
(Isa 12:2) "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation."
1. The Language Barrier: Clearing the Confusion
a. First, the word “salvation,” or “saved” in the OT, is the Hebrew word “Jeshua,” or “Joshua—Jesus’ name MEANS salvation.”
b. Then let us consider the language of Jeremiah 31:31-34
(1) The word YHWH occurs five times in this short passage—and the passage is all about what God has done and will do for the elects’ sake.
(2) This is the New Covenant, the Everlasting Covenant, the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant, and the central figure of this New Covenant (in the Old Testament) Is YHWH, and in the New Testament, is our Lord Jesus Christ.
c. A major issue: Kurios = Adonai? Or, Kurios = Jehovah?
(1) The Old Testament has two distinct words for “Lord,” Adonai and YHWH, but in the New Testament, both names are translated “Lord” or “lord”, or “Master,” or “master,” depending on the context
(2) As to the basic meaning of a word, Kurios could be translated either “LORD,” or “Lord.”
(3) If the verse is a quotation from the OT, the OT usage tells us which word is in view
d. A reminder about Covenant precepts in general.
(1) A Covenant is something conceived and established by God Himself—
(2) The scope of a covenant is defined by God—it may be universal, or it may be personal and limited, such as the covenant with Eleazar.
(3) A Covenant may be conditional (a works covenant) or unconditional (a Grace covenant)—Example of a conditional covenant—the Mosaic (Old) Covenant—
(a) Unconditional: The Second Noahic Covenant and the New Covenant
(b) Conditional: The Mosaic Law.
(4) A Covenant is monergistic, one-sided, dictatorial—God is the ruler and judge of every covenant He makes with man, there is no synergy between God and man.
(5) The times for a covenant are established by God. Some covenants are everlasting, and some have a beginning and an ending. God sets the time of the covenant’s beginning, and God sets the time of duration and ending.
(6) Covenants always involve blood and cutting.
(7) Covenants have rules and regulations of administration and enforcement.
(8) What is a Covenant?
“…A covenant is an unchangeable, divinely-imposed, legal agreement between God and man that stipulates the conditions of their relationship…” [1]
2. Jehovah is the LORD of the New Covenant
a. He Promised He Would Bring in the New Covenant—Jer 31:31 –
b. God is the Actor, God Will Fulfill His Promises—"Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will…” God is Sovereign, God is in Control—Dan 2:20 "…wisdom and might are his: 21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings…”
c. God Had Set The Time— Behold, the days come [are coming], saith the LORD, that [when]…”
d. God sent forth His Son at His time—Gal 4:4 “… when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law…”
(1) Christ Himself announced this in His ministry—Mark 1:15 "And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel."
e. In the prophecy in Jeremiah, we are told that Jehovah God Will Cut the New Covenant— “…that I will make [cut] a new covenant…”
3. Jesus and the New Covenant
a. A Covenant comes into effect when the blood is shed.
b. The New Covenant Was Taught by Christ in the Upper Room the Night Before His Crucifixion—Mat 26:28 "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
c. The Covenant Meal, which was a picture of the cutting of the covenant to come the next day—Mat 26:20-29
(1) The disciples at the Covenant Meal with the Maker of the Covenant.
(2) After the false disciple left, there was detailed teaching about the new Covenant from John 13-17.
d. The Covenant Presented— Mat 26:28 "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
(1) Testament = diatheke, which is “covenant.”
(2) Christ Himself is the Covenant Sacrifice to be made.
e. The Covenant Cut— Mat 27:50-51
(1) In this moment the Law is fulfilled—
Gal 3:13 "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:"
Rom 10:4 "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."
Luke 24:44-49
(1) In this moment, the veil in the temple is torn asunder, showing that the way to God is open, and that the Law and its ordinances are done forever.
(2) This began the New Covenant. We are in the New Covenant, we are seeing its out working continue, and Our Covenant God guides us in working it out in our lives.
f. Jesus Is Jehovah, as shown by the New Covenant
(1) He is the I AM of the New Covenant
(John 6:41) ""I am the bread which came down from heaven.""
(John 6:48) ""I am the bread of life."
(John 8:12) "I am the light of the world…”
(John 8:58) “Before Abraham was, I Am..”
(John 10:7) "…”I am the door of the sheep."
(John 10:9) ""I am the door….”
(John 10:11) ""I am the good shepherd. …”
(John 11:25) "…I am the resurrection and the life…”
(John 14:6) "I am the way, the truth, and the life…”
(John 15:1) ""I am the true vine…”
(John 18:5) "…, "I am He."
(2) We know He is Jehovah by comparing Old Testament prophesies and New Testament fulfillments.
(a) David said, (Psa 23) "The LORD [YHWH] is my shepherd…” But it is Jesus who is the Good Shepherd—John 10:11
(b) Isaiah Saw the glory of YHWH, but John Says that incident revealed Jesus’ Glory—Is 6:1-11, John 12:37-41
(c) YHWH is the Redeemer of God’s people, but it is Christ in Whom we find redemption—Is 44:6, 1 Cor 1:30-31
(d) Theses passages refer to YHWH, but John the Baptist identified them with Christ
(Isa 40:3) "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God."
(Isa 40:10-11) "Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand, And His arm shall rule for Him; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him. 11 He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young."
(e) Jehovah is our righteousness, Jer 23:5-6, but Romans 3:21-28 show that it is Jesus Who is our righteousness.
(f) A comparison of Hebrews 1:10-12 compared with Psalm 102 shows that Jesus is Jehovah.
(Heb 1:9-12) "8 But to the Son He says….10
And: "You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. 11 They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment; 12 Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail.""
(Psa 102:25-27) "Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. 26 They will perish, but You will endure; Yes, they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will change them, And they will be changed. 27 But You are the same, And Your years will have no end."
[1] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1994, page 515.
Jesus Saves—The Jehovah of the New Covenant
Jer 31:31-34
(Isa 12:2) "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation."
1. The Language Barrier: Clearing the Confusion
a. First, the word “salvation,” or “saved” in the OT, is the Hebrew word “Jeshua,” or “Joshua—Jesus’ name MEANS salvation.”
b. Then let us consider the language of Jeremiah 31:31-34
(1) The word YHWH occurs five times in this short passage—and the passage is all about what God has done and will do for the elects’ sake.
(2) This is the New Covenant, the Everlasting Covenant, the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant, and the central figure of this New Covenant (in the Old Testament) Is YHWH, and in the New Testament, is our Lord Jesus Christ.
c. A major issue: Kurios = Adonai? Or, Kurios = Jehovah?
(1) The Old Testament has two distinct words for “Lord,” Adonai and YHWH, but in the New Testament, both names are translated “Lord” or “lord”, or “Master,” or “master,” depending on the context
(2) As to the basic meaning of a word, Kurios could be translated either “LORD,” or “Lord.”
(3) If the verse is a quotation from the OT, the OT usage tells us which word is in view
d. A reminder about Covenant precepts in general.
(1) A Covenant is something conceived and established by God Himself—
(2) The scope of a covenant is defined by God—it may be universal, or it may be personal and limited, such as the covenant with Eleazar.
(3) A Covenant may be conditional (a works covenant) or unconditional (a Grace covenant)—Example of a conditional covenant—the Mosaic (Old) Covenant—
(a) Unconditional: The Second Noahic Covenant and the New Covenant
(b) Conditional: The Mosaic Law.
(4) A Covenant is monergistic, one-sided, dictatorial—God is the ruler and judge of every covenant He makes with man, there is no synergy between God and man.
(5) The times for a covenant are established by God. Some covenants are everlasting, and some have a beginning and an ending. God sets the time of the covenant’s beginning, and God sets the time of duration and ending.
(6) Covenants always involve blood and cutting.
(7) Covenants have rules and regulations of administration and enforcement.
(8) What is a Covenant?
“…A covenant is an unchangeable, divinely-imposed, legal agreement between God and man that stipulates the conditions of their relationship…” [1]
2. Jehovah is the LORD of the New Covenant
a. He Promised He Would Bring in the New Covenant—Jer 31:31 –
b. God is the Actor, God Will Fulfill His Promises—"Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will…” God is Sovereign, God is in Control—Dan 2:20 "…wisdom and might are his: 21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings…”
c. God Had Set The Time— Behold, the days come [are coming], saith the LORD, that [when]…”
d. God sent forth His Son at His time—Gal 4:4 “… when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law…”
(1) Christ Himself announced this in His ministry—Mark 1:15 "And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel."
e. In the prophecy in Jeremiah, we are told that Jehovah God Will Cut the New Covenant— “…that I will make [cut] a new covenant…”
3. Jesus and the New Covenant
a. A Covenant comes into effect when the blood is shed.
b. The New Covenant Was Taught by Christ in the Upper Room the Night Before His Crucifixion—Mat 26:28 "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
c. The Covenant Meal, which was a picture of the cutting of the covenant to come the next day—Mat 26:20-29
(1) The disciples at the Covenant Meal with the Maker of the Covenant.
(2) After the false disciple left, there was detailed teaching about the new Covenant from John 13-17.
d. The Covenant Presented— Mat 26:28 "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
(1) Testament = diatheke, which is “covenant.”
(2) Christ Himself is the Covenant Sacrifice to be made.
e. The Covenant Cut— Mat 27:50-51
(1) In this moment the Law is fulfilled—
Gal 3:13 "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:"
Rom 10:4 "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."
Luke 24:44-49
(1) In this moment, the veil in the temple is torn asunder, showing that the way to God is open, and that the Law and its ordinances are done forever.
(2) This began the New Covenant. We are in the New Covenant, we are seeing its out working continue, and Our Covenant God guides us in working it out in our lives.
f. Jesus Is Jehovah, as shown by the New Covenant
(1) He is the I AM of the New Covenant
(John 6:41) ""I am the bread which came down from heaven.""
(John 6:48) ""I am the bread of life."
(John 8:12) "I am the light of the world…”
(John 8:58) “Before Abraham was, I Am..”
(John 10:7) "…”I am the door of the sheep."
(John 10:9) ""I am the door….”
(John 10:11) ""I am the good shepherd. …”
(John 11:25) "…I am the resurrection and the life…”
(John 14:6) "I am the way, the truth, and the life…”
(John 15:1) ""I am the true vine…”
(John 18:5) "…, "I am He."
(2) We know He is Jehovah by comparing Old Testament prophesies and New Testament fulfillments.
(a) David said, (Psa 23) "The LORD [YHWH] is my shepherd…” But it is Jesus who is the Good Shepherd—John 10:11
(b) Isaiah Saw the glory of YHWH, but John Says that incident revealed Jesus’ Glory—Is 6:1-11, John 12:37-41
(c) YHWH is the Redeemer of God’s people, but it is Christ in Whom we find redemption—Is 44:6, 1 Cor 1:30-31
(d) Theses passages refer to YHWH, but John the Baptist identified them with Christ
(Isa 40:3) "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God."
(Isa 40:10-11) "Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand, And His arm shall rule for Him; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him. 11 He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young."
(e) Jehovah is our righteousness, Jer 23:5-6, but Romans 3:21-28 show that it is Jesus Who is our righteousness.
(f) A comparison of Hebrews 1:10-12 compared with Psalm 102 shows that Jesus is Jehovah.
(Heb 1:9-12) "8 But to the Son He says….10
And: "You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. 11 They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment; 12 Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail.""
(Psa 102:25-27) "Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. 26 They will perish, but You will endure; Yes, they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will change them, And they will be changed. 27 But You are the same, And Your years will have no end."
[1] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1994, page 515.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Romans 11 Study
For those who receive our regular Sunday notes, that series is based on a schedule started while I was filling in for a few weeks at FBC Clinton. However, my actual Romans class, the Bible Exposition Class at Trace Creek, has made it up to Chapter 11 of Romans, and we have been in that series for several years so far.
Romans 11 is worthy of stand alone study, as it deals with one of the great questions of the Bible, "What is the deal with National Israel?" The lesson posted here today is the first of several on Romans 11.
Israel—God’s Chosen People
(Rom 11:1) "…I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin…”
1. The context of the Text
a. Three Major themes of Romans 9-11
(1) Israel
(2) The Sovereignty of God in Salvation
(3) The Responsibility of Man in Salvation
b. The immediate context—Except for a remnant, Israel’s stubborn refusal to believe the Truth has distressed Paul to no end.
c. The Theological Context
(1) The story of how the church neglected to obey the Abrahamic Covenant and how the church became the great persecutors of Israel is a long-developing drama with many players, but four men stand out
(a) The Roman Emperor Constantine—He “Christianized” the Roman Empire, or perhaps more accurately, he “Paganized” the church—and it was under his reign that Replacement theology became the main position of Christian thinkers.
(b) Augustine of Hippo—one of the greatest minds in the history of the World
(c) Martin Luther—The man used of God to break the chains of Roman Catholicism.
(d) John Calvin—the man who systematized the Reformed Faith.
(e) All of these men, as great as they were in some areas, had many failings and all of them had doctrinal beliefs that are frankly odious to Baptists and other Free Church people
(i) All were infant sprinklers
(ii) Augustine believed in baptismal regeneration, and Luther was not far off from that. Both Augustine and Luther believed there was real grace and some kind of real Presence in the elements of communion.
(iii) All believed that church and state should be unified—they all followed the so-called “two sword doctrine,” ludicrously based on Luke 22:38. 38They said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is enough.”
(iv) This passage has been interpreted in many ways, but the Imperial Church and most of the Reformers as well, used this as an excuse to persecute others violently.
Out of the words of peter recorded in Luke…the Church distilled the ridiculous doctrine that Jesus intended His Church to have two swords, he “sword of the Spirit,” which the clergy wields, and “the sword of steel,” which the soldier swings…By this colossal piece of sophistry the church made herself believe that she could order the life-blood of men to be let, all the while getting none of it on her skirt! (Leonard Verduin, The Reformers and Their Stepchildren, pages 42-43)
(f) Using this totally false teaching, all of these great men persecuted baptistic groups violently, from Augustine’s persecution of the Donatists up through Luther and Calvin’s suppression of the Mennonites and other Anabaptist groups
(g) And, all of these men and their followers either encouraged or allowed the persecution of the Jews.
(2) The eschatology (end times theology) developed by Constantine and Augustine, and transferred to the Reformation by Luther and Calvin, has many names and one common thread.
(a) First, the common thread—hatred or disregard of Judaism and Jews, and a belief that Israel is a dead letter, with its benefits and promises all spiritualized (made not literal) and transferred to the Church (the “universal” church, all you local church men!).
(b) The first and kindest name—Replacement Theology, meaning that the church has replaced Israel.
(c) Then there is Supersessionism, meaning that the church has superseded the Jews as God’s elect people.
(d) The more accurate and condemning name—Anti-Semitic theology, is appropriate, because the seed of Anti-Semitism was planted by this theology which was taught to the common people and was used as an excuse for every persecution of the Jews up to the present day, most notably in the Third Reich!
(e) A gentler name for replacement theology, is coined by noted author and my former pastor and good friend and great Christian gentleman, Dr Barry Horner in the book Future Israel. He refers to this theology as Anti-Judaism, which means the same thing.
(f) The theology developed among some leaders of the early church, and taken to its ultimate expression in the Holocaust, is the theology that Israel has been replaced by the church.
(g) More than influencing the persecution of the Jewish people for 1700 years, this theology guts the meaning of much of the Bible, because the Bible is a Jewish book, including the New Testament!
2. The Big Question—Has God Forsaken Israel? “…I Say Then has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin …”
a. This is the major question of questions of Romans 11.
(1) First, if God has cast away national, ethnic Israel, there are a lot of very specific prophesies that either were never true, or God was talking out of both sides of His mouth, or that God, in anger, revoked.
(2) Abraham’s initial Call had Unequivocal Promises—(Gen 12:1-7) "Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." …7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him."
(a) God promised to make, from Abraham, a special People
(b) God promised to give Abraham’s People a Land
(c) God Promised to make Abraham the father Of many nations
(d) God promised to bless all families in the earth—see Rev 7:9-14
(3) God’s Covenant with Abraham had very specific promises—(Gen 15:7-21) "Then He said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it." 8 And he said, "Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?" 9 So He said to him, "Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 "And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 "Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 "But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." 17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces…” The Significance of God’s Action here—
(a) The Covenant Sacrifice Custom was that when two men made a solemn covenant, they would make a sacrifice and divide the pieces of the sacrificial animal. Then, those guaranteeing the covenant would walk in the midst of the pieces, signifying that “If I violate this covenant may I be cut in half like these animals.”
(b) When God made the Covenant With Abraham, God alone walked in the midst of the pieces. God took all the responsibility, because only His Providence could make such promises sure. And what did God SOLELY guarantee?
(4) “… 18 On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates; 19 "the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 "the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 "the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.""
(5) Replacement theologians have tried for nearly 1900 years to obscure the meaning of this and to spiritualize the promises by saying “land” does not mean “land,” and by translating every instance of Israel in still-future prophecy by claiming that “Israel = church.”
(6) The claim is that the land promises were done away with because Israel broke the Covenant (which they did). However, Abraham did not walk through the pieces, only God did! For God, the Land Promises given to national Israel stand.
b. The key point missed by those who want to say “Israel has been rejected, is that there is a pattern established in the Bible, of the temporary destruction and dispersion of Israel, followed by a return to the land.
c. There will be a final future return, which will not a partial return of a mostly unregenerate group as in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, but the regeneration and salvation of an entire generation of Jews AND a return to the land in the Millennial Kingdom.
(1) The Pattern in Leviticus—
(a) Lev 26:38-39 Curse
(b) Lev 26:40-42- Restoration
(c) Ultimate restoration and salvation of Israel is foreshadowed by God’s promise that they will not cease to exist as a people, but will maintain some level of identity—Lev 26:44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. 45 But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.'"
(2) Pattern in Deuteronomy
(a) In Dt 28, God pronounced future judgments against Israel—28:64 "Then the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known; wood and stone. 65 "And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. 66 "Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life. 67 "In the morning you shall say, 'Oh, that it were evening!' And at evening you shall say, 'Oh, that it were morning!' because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see.
(b) Then, in Dt 30:1-10, God pronounces blessing and restoration, and SPIRITUAL SALVATION to all the remnant at the future day of restoration
(3) Jeremiah and the New Covenant follow the same pattern of rejection and full future restoration—(Jer 31:31-37), (Jer 32:36-42)
(4) The same rejection and ultimate restoration is covered by Ezekiel as well—(Ezek 36:1-38), (Ezek 37:1-14)
(5) Details of the final battle and the Glorious appearing are also part of the OT prophesies that have not yet happened in our day.
(Zec 12:8-10) ""In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the LORD before them. 9 "It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn."
(Zec 14:1-5) "Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, And your spoil will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The city shall be taken, The houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the LORD will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle. 4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south. 5 Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee As you fled from the earthquake In the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Thus the LORD my God will come, And all the saints with You."
(6) Some have gone so far to say that “His people” applies to the church and not to Israel.
(7) In all of these NEW TESTAMENT references to “His people,” the Jewish people are in view
(Mat 1:21) ""And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.""
(Luke 1:68) ""Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people,"
(Luke 1:77) "To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins,"
(Luke 7:16) "Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen up among us"; and, "God has visited His people.""
(Rom 15:10) "And again he says: "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!""
(Heb 10:30) "For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. And again, "The LORD will judge His people.""
(Rev 21:3) "And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God."
(Mat 2:6) "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.'""
(Acts 7:34) ""I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt."'"
(Rom 9:25-26) "As He says also in Hosea: "I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved." 26 "And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' There they shall be called sons of the living God.""
(2 Cor 6:16) "And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.""
(Heb 8:10) ""For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."
d. Paul’s personal evidence—The remnant! Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin …”
(1) Paul had seen the conversion of many Jews to The Faith. Late in his ministry, he was comforted by his Jewish Christian co-workers—Col 4:10 “… Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, with Mark the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him), 11 and Jesus who is called Justus. These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are of the circumcision; they have proved to be a comfort to me…”.
(2) In each era, some Jews have been saved through our Lord Jesus Christ—but the majority has persisted in unbelief.
(3) The Bible itself is such a Jewish book that without considering Israel, it makes no sense—our Savior Himself is Jewish, most of the writers of Scripture were Jewish, and the Jewish faith was fully appropriate and true in its day. And, the Jewish faith itself was never regarded to be untrue, but in this dispensation, it is incomplete and apostate! Christ Himself had this to say about the Law—(Mat 5:17-20) ""Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."
e. The New Covenant expression of this is the temporary blindness of most Hebrews to the Gospel’s truth—including a hint of a promise of remnant salvation—2 Cor 3:14-16) "… their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away."
f. This is the “blindness in part” that Paul mentions in Romans 11
(1) The Blindness is only in part—and remember, most Gentiles are not saved either.
(2) The Blindness is a judgment from God which WILL BE LIFTED
(a) It is lifted for some when they come to faith in the Messiah as part of the Remnant—2 Cor 3:16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away."
(b) It will be lifted for the nation of Israel after the last Gentile has come to Christ—(Rom 11:25-27) "For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.""
(Rom 11:1) "…I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!...”
Romans 11 is worthy of stand alone study, as it deals with one of the great questions of the Bible, "What is the deal with National Israel?" The lesson posted here today is the first of several on Romans 11.
Israel—God’s Chosen People
(Rom 11:1) "…I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin…”
1. The context of the Text
a. Three Major themes of Romans 9-11
(1) Israel
(2) The Sovereignty of God in Salvation
(3) The Responsibility of Man in Salvation
b. The immediate context—Except for a remnant, Israel’s stubborn refusal to believe the Truth has distressed Paul to no end.
c. The Theological Context
(1) The story of how the church neglected to obey the Abrahamic Covenant and how the church became the great persecutors of Israel is a long-developing drama with many players, but four men stand out
(a) The Roman Emperor Constantine—He “Christianized” the Roman Empire, or perhaps more accurately, he “Paganized” the church—and it was under his reign that Replacement theology became the main position of Christian thinkers.
(b) Augustine of Hippo—one of the greatest minds in the history of the World
(c) Martin Luther—The man used of God to break the chains of Roman Catholicism.
(d) John Calvin—the man who systematized the Reformed Faith.
(e) All of these men, as great as they were in some areas, had many failings and all of them had doctrinal beliefs that are frankly odious to Baptists and other Free Church people
(i) All were infant sprinklers
(ii) Augustine believed in baptismal regeneration, and Luther was not far off from that. Both Augustine and Luther believed there was real grace and some kind of real Presence in the elements of communion.
(iii) All believed that church and state should be unified—they all followed the so-called “two sword doctrine,” ludicrously based on Luke 22:38. 38They said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is enough.”
(iv) This passage has been interpreted in many ways, but the Imperial Church and most of the Reformers as well, used this as an excuse to persecute others violently.
Out of the words of peter recorded in Luke…the Church distilled the ridiculous doctrine that Jesus intended His Church to have two swords, he “sword of the Spirit,” which the clergy wields, and “the sword of steel,” which the soldier swings…By this colossal piece of sophistry the church made herself believe that she could order the life-blood of men to be let, all the while getting none of it on her skirt! (Leonard Verduin, The Reformers and Their Stepchildren, pages 42-43)
(f) Using this totally false teaching, all of these great men persecuted baptistic groups violently, from Augustine’s persecution of the Donatists up through Luther and Calvin’s suppression of the Mennonites and other Anabaptist groups
(g) And, all of these men and their followers either encouraged or allowed the persecution of the Jews.
(2) The eschatology (end times theology) developed by Constantine and Augustine, and transferred to the Reformation by Luther and Calvin, has many names and one common thread.
(a) First, the common thread—hatred or disregard of Judaism and Jews, and a belief that Israel is a dead letter, with its benefits and promises all spiritualized (made not literal) and transferred to the Church (the “universal” church, all you local church men!).
(b) The first and kindest name—Replacement Theology, meaning that the church has replaced Israel.
(c) Then there is Supersessionism, meaning that the church has superseded the Jews as God’s elect people.
(d) The more accurate and condemning name—Anti-Semitic theology, is appropriate, because the seed of Anti-Semitism was planted by this theology which was taught to the common people and was used as an excuse for every persecution of the Jews up to the present day, most notably in the Third Reich!
(e) A gentler name for replacement theology, is coined by noted author and my former pastor and good friend and great Christian gentleman, Dr Barry Horner in the book Future Israel. He refers to this theology as Anti-Judaism, which means the same thing.
(f) The theology developed among some leaders of the early church, and taken to its ultimate expression in the Holocaust, is the theology that Israel has been replaced by the church.
(g) More than influencing the persecution of the Jewish people for 1700 years, this theology guts the meaning of much of the Bible, because the Bible is a Jewish book, including the New Testament!
2. The Big Question—Has God Forsaken Israel? “…I Say Then has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin …”
a. This is the major question of questions of Romans 11.
(1) First, if God has cast away national, ethnic Israel, there are a lot of very specific prophesies that either were never true, or God was talking out of both sides of His mouth, or that God, in anger, revoked.
(2) Abraham’s initial Call had Unequivocal Promises—(Gen 12:1-7) "Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." …7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him."
(a) God promised to make, from Abraham, a special People
(b) God promised to give Abraham’s People a Land
(c) God Promised to make Abraham the father Of many nations
(d) God promised to bless all families in the earth—see Rev 7:9-14
(3) God’s Covenant with Abraham had very specific promises—(Gen 15:7-21) "Then He said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it." 8 And he said, "Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?" 9 So He said to him, "Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 "And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 "Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 "But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." 17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces…” The Significance of God’s Action here—
(a) The Covenant Sacrifice Custom was that when two men made a solemn covenant, they would make a sacrifice and divide the pieces of the sacrificial animal. Then, those guaranteeing the covenant would walk in the midst of the pieces, signifying that “If I violate this covenant may I be cut in half like these animals.”
(b) When God made the Covenant With Abraham, God alone walked in the midst of the pieces. God took all the responsibility, because only His Providence could make such promises sure. And what did God SOLELY guarantee?
(4) “… 18 On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates; 19 "the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 "the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 "the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.""
(5) Replacement theologians have tried for nearly 1900 years to obscure the meaning of this and to spiritualize the promises by saying “land” does not mean “land,” and by translating every instance of Israel in still-future prophecy by claiming that “Israel = church.”
(6) The claim is that the land promises were done away with because Israel broke the Covenant (which they did). However, Abraham did not walk through the pieces, only God did! For God, the Land Promises given to national Israel stand.
b. The key point missed by those who want to say “Israel has been rejected, is that there is a pattern established in the Bible, of the temporary destruction and dispersion of Israel, followed by a return to the land.
c. There will be a final future return, which will not a partial return of a mostly unregenerate group as in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, but the regeneration and salvation of an entire generation of Jews AND a return to the land in the Millennial Kingdom.
(1) The Pattern in Leviticus—
(a) Lev 26:38-39 Curse
(b) Lev 26:40-42- Restoration
(c) Ultimate restoration and salvation of Israel is foreshadowed by God’s promise that they will not cease to exist as a people, but will maintain some level of identity—Lev 26:44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. 45 But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.'"
(2) Pattern in Deuteronomy
(a) In Dt 28, God pronounced future judgments against Israel—28:64 "Then the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known; wood and stone. 65 "And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. 66 "Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life. 67 "In the morning you shall say, 'Oh, that it were evening!' And at evening you shall say, 'Oh, that it were morning!' because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see.
(b) Then, in Dt 30:1-10, God pronounces blessing and restoration, and SPIRITUAL SALVATION to all the remnant at the future day of restoration
(3) Jeremiah and the New Covenant follow the same pattern of rejection and full future restoration—(Jer 31:31-37), (Jer 32:36-42)
(4) The same rejection and ultimate restoration is covered by Ezekiel as well—(Ezek 36:1-38), (Ezek 37:1-14)
(5) Details of the final battle and the Glorious appearing are also part of the OT prophesies that have not yet happened in our day.
(Zec 12:8-10) ""In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the LORD before them. 9 "It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn."
(Zec 14:1-5) "Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, And your spoil will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The city shall be taken, The houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the LORD will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle. 4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south. 5 Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee As you fled from the earthquake In the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Thus the LORD my God will come, And all the saints with You."
(6) Some have gone so far to say that “His people” applies to the church and not to Israel.
(7) In all of these NEW TESTAMENT references to “His people,” the Jewish people are in view
(Mat 1:21) ""And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.""
(Luke 1:68) ""Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people,"
(Luke 1:77) "To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins,"
(Luke 7:16) "Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen up among us"; and, "God has visited His people.""
(Rom 15:10) "And again he says: "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!""
(Heb 10:30) "For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. And again, "The LORD will judge His people.""
(Rev 21:3) "And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God."
(Mat 2:6) "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.'""
(Acts 7:34) ""I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt."'"
(Rom 9:25-26) "As He says also in Hosea: "I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved." 26 "And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' There they shall be called sons of the living God.""
(2 Cor 6:16) "And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.""
(Heb 8:10) ""For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."
d. Paul’s personal evidence—The remnant! Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin …”
(1) Paul had seen the conversion of many Jews to The Faith. Late in his ministry, he was comforted by his Jewish Christian co-workers—Col 4:10 “… Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, with Mark the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him), 11 and Jesus who is called Justus. These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are of the circumcision; they have proved to be a comfort to me…”.
(2) In each era, some Jews have been saved through our Lord Jesus Christ—but the majority has persisted in unbelief.
(3) The Bible itself is such a Jewish book that without considering Israel, it makes no sense—our Savior Himself is Jewish, most of the writers of Scripture were Jewish, and the Jewish faith was fully appropriate and true in its day. And, the Jewish faith itself was never regarded to be untrue, but in this dispensation, it is incomplete and apostate! Christ Himself had this to say about the Law—(Mat 5:17-20) ""Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."
e. The New Covenant expression of this is the temporary blindness of most Hebrews to the Gospel’s truth—including a hint of a promise of remnant salvation—2 Cor 3:14-16) "… their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away."
f. This is the “blindness in part” that Paul mentions in Romans 11
(1) The Blindness is only in part—and remember, most Gentiles are not saved either.
(2) The Blindness is a judgment from God which WILL BE LIFTED
(a) It is lifted for some when they come to faith in the Messiah as part of the Remnant—2 Cor 3:16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away."
(b) It will be lifted for the nation of Israel after the last Gentile has come to Christ—(Rom 11:25-27) "For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.""
(Rom 11:1) "…I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!...”
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
What Can We Learn From the Rich Young Ruler?
What Can We Learn
From The Rich Young Ruler?
Mat 19:16-22, Mk 10:16-22, Luke 18:18-23
The incident with the rich young ruler is often preached on, seldom interpreted correctly, and often interpreted very wrongly.
To see this in our minds as we need to see it, we must place this man in the present day, and later in the lesson we will do that.
The major problem in Christendom for the past half century has been a false brand of evangelism which has led to millions of fake believers in a fake Gospel populating sham churches which are often little more than religious social clubs.
We must assure that we understand some basics.
--We must know what the Gospel is
--We must depend on the pure preaching of the pure Word and Holy Spirit conviction,
--We must own up to the fact that many churches have lulled millions into a false faith which, if not changed, will result in eternal loss.
--The typical “Bible Believing” church in our area and nation today has a few basic problems:
--The majority of churches and professing Christians don’t know what the Gospel is. To many, it has become much like that of the church of Rome, a superstitious ritual of saying the right words at the right time and being pronounced saved.
--The majority of churches and professing Christians don’t know what a Christian is
--The majority of churches and professing Christians don’t know what a church is
--The majority of churches and professing Christians don’t know what a Pastor is
--The majority of churches and professing Christians don’t know what a pastor’s job description is.
--WE have met the enemy, and he is us.
--So, given this great challenge, what can we learn from the Rich Young Ruler?
1. First, Who Was This Young Man?
a. His identification
(1) “one”
(2) Rich and young—Matthew
(3) Ruler—Lk 18—MacLaren says that the young man was a synagogue official, very unusual for one who can still be called “young.”
(4) He had GREAT possessions—but note, they were of no comfort to him!
b. His religion—good points
(1) He was serious, sincere, humble (this took place in public) and concerned about eternal things—he wanted to be right—but by the questions he asked, he was showing that he knew he did not have the peace and the relationship with God that others had.
(2) He understood the central issue in his mind—eternity
(3) He ran to Jesus and fell at His feet, so he felt the urgency of need—Mark 10:17
(4) In spite of his religion, as with his wealth, he had no peace—deep down inside, he knew that he was at war with a Holy God, and that he must eventually be converted or die.
(5) The problem with this—any number of false religions would take him thus far.
c. His religion, negative points
(1) He had only a surface understanding of the Law, or he would never have claimed to have kept it
(2) The Sermon on the Mount settles once and for all, that we cannot keep the Law
d. The Lost Religious Person
(1) Christ Jesus, in that passage, shows the depth of the Law is not in outward obedience, but in heart obedience and love of God and Love of His Law, and the single verse above all others that should frighten any who would earn salvation by the Law—(Mat 5:48) ""Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."
(a) Now, some would point out that the word for “perfect” here is teleios, which can mean “mature,” and does not have to delineate absolute perfection. The Truth is that both meanings can be borne by the word, each dependent upon context
(b) Places where the word teleios means “fully mature”
(1 Cor 2:6) "However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing."
(1 Cor 14:20) "Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature."
(Eph 4:13) "till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;"
(James 1:4) "But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."
(Heb 5:14) "But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."
(Phil 3:15) "Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you."
(c) Places where “perfect means perfect”
(i) Is God’s Will Perfect, or fallibly mature? (Rom 12:2) "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
(ii) Is the Presence of God in Heaven a place of maturity or a place of perfection? (Heb 9:11) "But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation."
(iii) Does God give imperfect gifts? (James 1:17) "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."
(iv) Is the Word of God mature, or perfect?! (James 1:25) "But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."
(2) Bottom line—in the Sermon on the Mount, the standard of behavior taught there is that we are to be perfect AS GOD IS PERFECT—AND NO ONE CAN FULFILL THAT STANDARD EXCEPT BY IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS.
(3) The Law and the lost religious person
(a) The Law cannot save, it can only kill—Rom 7:7-14
(b) The Law teaches us about sin and our utter lack of righteousness—Rom 7
(c) The Law shuts our mouths—Rom 3:19-20
.
(4) He was self righteous—he thought he had kept the Law
(5) He did not really know who Jesus was
(6) He was, in short, a heretic—his understanding of eternal life was that he would work his way to heaven
(7) His reason for coming—he was not satisfied yet—works will never satisfy.
(8) Perhaps here we have a type of conviction, BUT
(a) He would avoid Hell
(b) He would get Heaven
(c) But there was no dread, no repentance
(d) There was no confession
e. A.T. Robertson’s comments are helpful here.
(1) “…What lack I yet? (ti eti husteroôö) Here is a psychological paradox. He claims to have kept all these commandments and yet he was not satisfied. He had an uneasy conscience and Jesus called him to something that he did not have. He thought of goodness as quantitative (a series of acts) and not qualitative (of the nature of God). Did his question reveal proud complacency or pathetic despair? A bit of both most likely…”
f. Bottom line—
(1) He thought that he could buy eternal life with one great deed.
(2) This was one of the theological ideas floating at the time—that a man could do one great deed, or be very holy in one area, and so merit heaven. This is the reason for the question which was asked by more than one of the Jewish leaders in forms slightly different, but yet the same question—Mt 22:36, Mark 12:28—Which is the most important commandment in the Law?
(3) Jesus’ answer was uniform—He summed up the whole law!
(4) This young man’s religion was vastly different from the Pharisee in the temple, praying to himself
(Luke 18:10-14) ""Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men; extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 'I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' 13 "And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' 14 "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.""
(5) —The Pharisee thought, “I thank thee Lord that I am soooo good.”
(6) The Rich Young Ruler Knew He had a need, but he did not know what it was.
2. What can we learn from Jesus’ reaction?
a. First, Jesus “flunked evangelism 101…” (John MacArthur)
(1) This man was READY—or was he?
(2) “He has come looking for eternal life, he has come to Jesus, lead him in the sinner’s prayer, settle it once and for all…” Or, can we?
(3) Jesus did something very unusual to our minds, He stood this man up with a series of questions and sarcastic remarks—Jesus knew this man was lost—but how did He know? Why did Jesus react this way? Is it just because, as the God-man, that He knows man (John 2)? NO!
(4) Jesus saw what any Christian worker or preacher should look for—He saw a man who had no repentance, and who was looking to an improvement to his own self-made religion.
(5) At this point, this man could have been led in “the sinner’s prayer,” and he would have dutifully said all the right words and signed the card
(a) He would have been baptized, ASAP to make sure he did not get away
(b) He’d have been taught about tithing right away!
(c) In months, he would have been teaching a class
(d) In a couple of years, he would have been made a deacon
(e) One big problem—he was not for real! His religion was a sham!
b. Instead of welcoming this man, instead of making the sign of the cross over him, Jesus, the Master Fisher of Men, made several questions and statements to and about this man
(1) First Question: "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.”
(a) In other words, “do you know who I am?”
(b) Have you had this revealed to you, as it was to Peter? (Mat 16:16-18)
(c) Of course, the young man did not have this knowledge, but being self-righteous, he assumed that some men were good, and he sensed that Jesus was a cut above the ordinary—an understatement to be sure—so he referred to Christ as “good master.”
(d) Major problem—calling Christ a good teacher and going no further is an insult to His Person and Work.
(e) Christ Jesus is not a teacher of Truth merely, He IS Truth (Jn 14:6)
(2) Question 2—The true or false question—“But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."
(a) Jesus is not teaching false doctrine here—if anyone COULD obey, they could enter into life
(b) The problem is that we are born sinners, we have a congenital disease called “sin,” inherited from our first father, Adam, and manifested and practiced in our own lives.
(c) Jesus threw out this comment to show just how self-righteous the man was.
(3) Jesus Told Him to Keep the Law
(a) First, Jesus picks the “easiest” commands, the ones concerning interpersonal relationships between human beings. He skips the hardest questions, having to do with out worship of God and our devotion to Him. However, even this abbreviated test is beyond the ability of the young man, as it is for us.
(b) The lists of commands are somewhat different in the three gospel accounts—and they include two things that are not directly part of the 10, “Love your neighbor, and do not defraud.” Why are these included, especially together, and especially the second?
Mat 19:20 "You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother.' " and, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"
Mark10:19 "You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Do not defraud,' 'Honor your father and your mother.'"
(c) These last two were a setup for the hammering conviction of covetousness, which not only involves the worship of possessions, but it also involves envy of others, and a desire to have their stuff.
(Exo 20:17) ""You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.""
(d) Covetousness is a true heart sin, a thing of the soul, something where superficial faith cannot even pretend to be real.
(e) The unbridled desire for “stuff,” when it interferes with God, family, church, is a symptom of this sin of Coveting.
(f) Coveting is not about wanting stuff, it is beyond that—it is wanting your neighbor’s stuff. It is not keeping up with the Jones’, it is looting them in your heart—(Exo 20:16-17) ""You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.""
c. The Rich Young Ruler’s Response is even more shocking—19:20: The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?"
(1) Here again is his shallow understanding of the Law, and here again is his cluelessness with regard to his own sin.
(2) Yet, still, there is this doubt in his mind.
3. Jesus Gives a Test, and the Ruler Fails it—19:21-22
a. Did Jesus hereby command us, or, for that matter, anyone else, to live by this? Absolutely not. He dealt with many wealthy and influential people in his ministry, and He never said any such thing to any other.
b. This was a test, given to this man who was a slave to his possessions and his position—John 12:46—and the man failed the test, proving that he would have faired no better with the first half of the Pentateuch.
c. Jesus’ often forgotten words— (Mat 19:23-26) "… 23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 "And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" 26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.""
(1) Few passages in the Gospels have been so abused as this one. A.T. Robertson’s comments are helpful: “It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye … Jesus, of course, means by this comparison … to express the impossible. The efforts to explain it away…[such as] narrow gorge or gate of entrance for camels which required stooping, etc. All these are hopeless, for Jesus pointedly calls the thing “impossible” (verse 26). “
(2) His real conclusion is this—only God Saves Sinners.
d. So the rich young ruler got away—and many, if not most evangelism manuals and methods of today would scold the Lord Himself for letting it happen
c. But one thing that did NOT happen—there was not a fake salvation of a self-righteous, religious, heretical man, and the kingdom was not weakened by welcoming into its fellowship one who could not be a part of that fellowship.
4. So, What Can We Learn from the Rich Young Ruler?
a. The Eagerness of a “seeker” tells us nothing
(1) Just because a person is eager to be saved (as they understand salvation) and join the church does not mean they have been or are about to be, saved.
(2) Was this man’s understanding of his own situation correct? NO
(3) Was he looking for salvation on God’s terms? NO, he was looking for something he could DO to inherit eternal life.
(4) Had the Holy Spirit finished the job of conviction in this man’s life? Absolutely NOT! There is no evidence that the Law had killed him and showed him his lost condition.
b. Over-Eagerness on our part can create a monstrosity.
(1) It is well to take time to talk to a person who comes for counsel.
(2) This is required even when that profession comes under a pulpit ministry which preaches the Truth.
(3) But, when that desire comes from other sources, or when it arises in doubtful circumstances, we must be double careful.
(4) There is nothing wrong with investigating the profession of a person who expresses initial faith in Christ, just as believers are to self-examine their own salvation from time to time.
(5) 2 Cor 13:5
(6) 1 John—the whole book.
c. We also learn that a highly-placed religious leader can be lost—he was a ruler of the synagogue
d. We learned that someone can be well-versed in the Bible and not be a genuine seeker
e. We learned that someone can be upstanding, humble, and to a degree repentant, and still not be a genuine seeker.
f. We learned that, if the Law has not done its work of killing us, that the Gospel cannot be used to save us.
Gardiner Spring, in his book, The Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character, notes that the following are of no good in discerning true salvation
1. VISIBLE MORALITY................................. 5
2. SPECULATIVE KNOWLEDGE..................... 10
3. FORM OF RELIGION .................................. 13
4. EMINENT GIFTS....................................... 16
5. CONVICTION FOR SIN ............................... 17
6. STRONG ASSURANCE .......................... 20
7. THE TIME OF YOUR SUPPOSED CONVERSION .... 22
But Here are some things which ARE marks of true conversion
1. LOVE TO GOD ....................................... 24
2. REPENTANCE FOR SIN............................ 28
3. FAITH IN CHRIST..................................... 33
4. EVANGELICAL HUMILITY .................. 37
5. SELF-DENIAL............................................ 40
6. DEVOTION TO DIVINE HONOR ANDGLORY OF GOD
7. THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER ......................... 51
8. BROTHERLY LOVE ................................ 55
9. SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD.......... 59
10. GROWTH IN GRACE................................ 64
11. PRACTICAL OBEDIENCE ...................... 69
From The Rich Young Ruler?
Mat 19:16-22, Mk 10:16-22, Luke 18:18-23
The incident with the rich young ruler is often preached on, seldom interpreted correctly, and often interpreted very wrongly.
To see this in our minds as we need to see it, we must place this man in the present day, and later in the lesson we will do that.
The major problem in Christendom for the past half century has been a false brand of evangelism which has led to millions of fake believers in a fake Gospel populating sham churches which are often little more than religious social clubs.
We must assure that we understand some basics.
--We must know what the Gospel is
--We must depend on the pure preaching of the pure Word and Holy Spirit conviction,
--We must own up to the fact that many churches have lulled millions into a false faith which, if not changed, will result in eternal loss.
--The typical “Bible Believing” church in our area and nation today has a few basic problems:
--The majority of churches and professing Christians don’t know what the Gospel is. To many, it has become much like that of the church of Rome, a superstitious ritual of saying the right words at the right time and being pronounced saved.
--The majority of churches and professing Christians don’t know what a Christian is
--The majority of churches and professing Christians don’t know what a church is
--The majority of churches and professing Christians don’t know what a Pastor is
--The majority of churches and professing Christians don’t know what a pastor’s job description is.
--WE have met the enemy, and he is us.
--So, given this great challenge, what can we learn from the Rich Young Ruler?
1. First, Who Was This Young Man?
a. His identification
(1) “one”
(2) Rich and young—Matthew
(3) Ruler—Lk 18—MacLaren says that the young man was a synagogue official, very unusual for one who can still be called “young.”
(4) He had GREAT possessions—but note, they were of no comfort to him!
b. His religion—good points
(1) He was serious, sincere, humble (this took place in public) and concerned about eternal things—he wanted to be right—but by the questions he asked, he was showing that he knew he did not have the peace and the relationship with God that others had.
(2) He understood the central issue in his mind—eternity
(3) He ran to Jesus and fell at His feet, so he felt the urgency of need—Mark 10:17
(4) In spite of his religion, as with his wealth, he had no peace—deep down inside, he knew that he was at war with a Holy God, and that he must eventually be converted or die.
(5) The problem with this—any number of false religions would take him thus far.
c. His religion, negative points
(1) He had only a surface understanding of the Law, or he would never have claimed to have kept it
(2) The Sermon on the Mount settles once and for all, that we cannot keep the Law
d. The Lost Religious Person
(1) Christ Jesus, in that passage, shows the depth of the Law is not in outward obedience, but in heart obedience and love of God and Love of His Law, and the single verse above all others that should frighten any who would earn salvation by the Law—(Mat 5:48) ""Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."
(a) Now, some would point out that the word for “perfect” here is teleios, which can mean “mature,” and does not have to delineate absolute perfection. The Truth is that both meanings can be borne by the word, each dependent upon context
(b) Places where the word teleios means “fully mature”
(1 Cor 2:6) "However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing."
(1 Cor 14:20) "Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature."
(Eph 4:13) "till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;"
(James 1:4) "But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."
(Heb 5:14) "But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."
(Phil 3:15) "Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you."
(c) Places where “perfect means perfect”
(i) Is God’s Will Perfect, or fallibly mature? (Rom 12:2) "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
(ii) Is the Presence of God in Heaven a place of maturity or a place of perfection? (Heb 9:11) "But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation."
(iii) Does God give imperfect gifts? (James 1:17) "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."
(iv) Is the Word of God mature, or perfect?! (James 1:25) "But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."
(2) Bottom line—in the Sermon on the Mount, the standard of behavior taught there is that we are to be perfect AS GOD IS PERFECT—AND NO ONE CAN FULFILL THAT STANDARD EXCEPT BY IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS.
(3) The Law and the lost religious person
(a) The Law cannot save, it can only kill—Rom 7:7-14
(b) The Law teaches us about sin and our utter lack of righteousness—Rom 7
(c) The Law shuts our mouths—Rom 3:19-20
.
(4) He was self righteous—he thought he had kept the Law
(5) He did not really know who Jesus was
(6) He was, in short, a heretic—his understanding of eternal life was that he would work his way to heaven
(7) His reason for coming—he was not satisfied yet—works will never satisfy.
(8) Perhaps here we have a type of conviction, BUT
(a) He would avoid Hell
(b) He would get Heaven
(c) But there was no dread, no repentance
(d) There was no confession
e. A.T. Robertson’s comments are helpful here.
(1) “…What lack I yet? (ti eti husteroôö) Here is a psychological paradox. He claims to have kept all these commandments and yet he was not satisfied. He had an uneasy conscience and Jesus called him to something that he did not have. He thought of goodness as quantitative (a series of acts) and not qualitative (of the nature of God). Did his question reveal proud complacency or pathetic despair? A bit of both most likely…”
f. Bottom line—
(1) He thought that he could buy eternal life with one great deed.
(2) This was one of the theological ideas floating at the time—that a man could do one great deed, or be very holy in one area, and so merit heaven. This is the reason for the question which was asked by more than one of the Jewish leaders in forms slightly different, but yet the same question—Mt 22:36, Mark 12:28—Which is the most important commandment in the Law?
(3) Jesus’ answer was uniform—He summed up the whole law!
(4) This young man’s religion was vastly different from the Pharisee in the temple, praying to himself
(Luke 18:10-14) ""Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men; extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 'I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' 13 "And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' 14 "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.""
(5) —The Pharisee thought, “I thank thee Lord that I am soooo good.”
(6) The Rich Young Ruler Knew He had a need, but he did not know what it was.
2. What can we learn from Jesus’ reaction?
a. First, Jesus “flunked evangelism 101…” (John MacArthur)
(1) This man was READY—or was he?
(2) “He has come looking for eternal life, he has come to Jesus, lead him in the sinner’s prayer, settle it once and for all…” Or, can we?
(3) Jesus did something very unusual to our minds, He stood this man up with a series of questions and sarcastic remarks—Jesus knew this man was lost—but how did He know? Why did Jesus react this way? Is it just because, as the God-man, that He knows man (John 2)? NO!
(4) Jesus saw what any Christian worker or preacher should look for—He saw a man who had no repentance, and who was looking to an improvement to his own self-made religion.
(5) At this point, this man could have been led in “the sinner’s prayer,” and he would have dutifully said all the right words and signed the card
(a) He would have been baptized, ASAP to make sure he did not get away
(b) He’d have been taught about tithing right away!
(c) In months, he would have been teaching a class
(d) In a couple of years, he would have been made a deacon
(e) One big problem—he was not for real! His religion was a sham!
b. Instead of welcoming this man, instead of making the sign of the cross over him, Jesus, the Master Fisher of Men, made several questions and statements to and about this man
(1) First Question: "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.”
(a) In other words, “do you know who I am?”
(b) Have you had this revealed to you, as it was to Peter? (Mat 16:16-18)
(c) Of course, the young man did not have this knowledge, but being self-righteous, he assumed that some men were good, and he sensed that Jesus was a cut above the ordinary—an understatement to be sure—so he referred to Christ as “good master.”
(d) Major problem—calling Christ a good teacher and going no further is an insult to His Person and Work.
(e) Christ Jesus is not a teacher of Truth merely, He IS Truth (Jn 14:6)
(2) Question 2—The true or false question—“But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."
(a) Jesus is not teaching false doctrine here—if anyone COULD obey, they could enter into life
(b) The problem is that we are born sinners, we have a congenital disease called “sin,” inherited from our first father, Adam, and manifested and practiced in our own lives.
(c) Jesus threw out this comment to show just how self-righteous the man was.
(3) Jesus Told Him to Keep the Law
(a) First, Jesus picks the “easiest” commands, the ones concerning interpersonal relationships between human beings. He skips the hardest questions, having to do with out worship of God and our devotion to Him. However, even this abbreviated test is beyond the ability of the young man, as it is for us.
(b) The lists of commands are somewhat different in the three gospel accounts—and they include two things that are not directly part of the 10, “Love your neighbor, and do not defraud.” Why are these included, especially together, and especially the second?
Mat 19:20 "You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother.' " and, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"
Mark10:19 "You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Do not defraud,' 'Honor your father and your mother.'"
(c) These last two were a setup for the hammering conviction of covetousness, which not only involves the worship of possessions, but it also involves envy of others, and a desire to have their stuff.
(Exo 20:17) ""You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.""
(d) Covetousness is a true heart sin, a thing of the soul, something where superficial faith cannot even pretend to be real.
(e) The unbridled desire for “stuff,” when it interferes with God, family, church, is a symptom of this sin of Coveting.
(f) Coveting is not about wanting stuff, it is beyond that—it is wanting your neighbor’s stuff. It is not keeping up with the Jones’, it is looting them in your heart—(Exo 20:16-17) ""You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.""
c. The Rich Young Ruler’s Response is even more shocking—19:20: The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?"
(1) Here again is his shallow understanding of the Law, and here again is his cluelessness with regard to his own sin.
(2) Yet, still, there is this doubt in his mind.
3. Jesus Gives a Test, and the Ruler Fails it—19:21-22
a. Did Jesus hereby command us, or, for that matter, anyone else, to live by this? Absolutely not. He dealt with many wealthy and influential people in his ministry, and He never said any such thing to any other.
b. This was a test, given to this man who was a slave to his possessions and his position—John 12:46—and the man failed the test, proving that he would have faired no better with the first half of the Pentateuch.
c. Jesus’ often forgotten words— (Mat 19:23-26) "… 23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 "And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" 26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.""
(1) Few passages in the Gospels have been so abused as this one. A.T. Robertson’s comments are helpful: “It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye … Jesus, of course, means by this comparison … to express the impossible. The efforts to explain it away…[such as] narrow gorge or gate of entrance for camels which required stooping, etc. All these are hopeless, for Jesus pointedly calls the thing “impossible” (verse 26). “
(2) His real conclusion is this—only God Saves Sinners.
d. So the rich young ruler got away—and many, if not most evangelism manuals and methods of today would scold the Lord Himself for letting it happen
c. But one thing that did NOT happen—there was not a fake salvation of a self-righteous, religious, heretical man, and the kingdom was not weakened by welcoming into its fellowship one who could not be a part of that fellowship.
4. So, What Can We Learn from the Rich Young Ruler?
a. The Eagerness of a “seeker” tells us nothing
(1) Just because a person is eager to be saved (as they understand salvation) and join the church does not mean they have been or are about to be, saved.
(2) Was this man’s understanding of his own situation correct? NO
(3) Was he looking for salvation on God’s terms? NO, he was looking for something he could DO to inherit eternal life.
(4) Had the Holy Spirit finished the job of conviction in this man’s life? Absolutely NOT! There is no evidence that the Law had killed him and showed him his lost condition.
b. Over-Eagerness on our part can create a monstrosity.
(1) It is well to take time to talk to a person who comes for counsel.
(2) This is required even when that profession comes under a pulpit ministry which preaches the Truth.
(3) But, when that desire comes from other sources, or when it arises in doubtful circumstances, we must be double careful.
(4) There is nothing wrong with investigating the profession of a person who expresses initial faith in Christ, just as believers are to self-examine their own salvation from time to time.
(5) 2 Cor 13:5
(6) 1 John—the whole book.
c. We also learn that a highly-placed religious leader can be lost—he was a ruler of the synagogue
d. We learned that someone can be well-versed in the Bible and not be a genuine seeker
e. We learned that someone can be upstanding, humble, and to a degree repentant, and still not be a genuine seeker.
f. We learned that, if the Law has not done its work of killing us, that the Gospel cannot be used to save us.
Gardiner Spring, in his book, The Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character, notes that the following are of no good in discerning true salvation
1. VISIBLE MORALITY................................. 5
2. SPECULATIVE KNOWLEDGE..................... 10
3. FORM OF RELIGION .................................. 13
4. EMINENT GIFTS....................................... 16
5. CONVICTION FOR SIN ............................... 17
6. STRONG ASSURANCE .......................... 20
7. THE TIME OF YOUR SUPPOSED CONVERSION .... 22
But Here are some things which ARE marks of true conversion
1. LOVE TO GOD ....................................... 24
2. REPENTANCE FOR SIN............................ 28
3. FAITH IN CHRIST..................................... 33
4. EVANGELICAL HUMILITY .................. 37
5. SELF-DENIAL............................................ 40
6. DEVOTION TO DIVINE HONOR ANDGLORY OF GOD
7. THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER ......................... 51
8. BROTHERLY LOVE ................................ 55
9. SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD.......... 59
10. GROWTH IN GRACE................................ 64
11. PRACTICAL OBEDIENCE ...................... 69
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Where Are The Leashes?
Defending the Bible
In An Age of Satanic Deceit
Bro. Charley Buntin
Sunday School Teacher
Trace Creek Baptist Church
Mayfield, KY 42066
--One of my favorite illustrations about the Word of God is a story attributed to Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, certainly the greatest preacher in the English language
--The Story goes that a young preacher boy came to Spurgeon and said, “Brother Spurgeon, don’t we need to defend the Bible?” Spurgeon is supposed to have answered—“The Bible is a like a lion, young man, if you unleash it, it will defend itself.”
--This story is has the ring of truth, and I love it, but there is a problem with this picture: Not all of the leashes that bind the Bible are easily seen. If we are to unleash the lion of the Word so it can defend itself, we just remove every imposition of man, including those of saved men who are unduly influenced by the world and its lusts,
--We need to unleash the Bible from all of the abuses and restraints that men have put on the Word, but we must find all of the leashes, all of the problems, and some of them might be on our shelf or in our desks, or in the television programs we watch.
1. What and where are the ties that Bind the Bible? What Are the Issues?
Of necessity I have preached on the sufficiency of Scripture that the Word of God is true, it is inerrant, it is inspired, it is complete. It brings all revelation to an end. Nothing more is needed than the truth of the of the Word of God applied by the Spirit of God. It is clear and it is sufficient...it is sufficient. Not all these attacks, by the way, come from people outside Christianity, most of them come from people who call themselves Christians, liberal theologians, experientialists, existentialists, pragmatists, occultists, cultists, etc., etc., all claiming to represent God and attacking Scripture’s inspiration, inerrancy, historicity, canonicity, uniqueness, power, clarity and sufficiency. And so we’re always going to need to go back and defend Scripture. (John MacArthur, sermon manuscript, God’s Defense of the Scriptures, Part 1)
a. Identifying the usual suspects (MacArthur’s List expanded and explained)
(1) Liberal theologians—“Liberal” in this case does not necessarily refer to the politics of the theologian, but to their theological beliefs, more more specifically, disbeliefs. Liberal theologians come in all shapes and degrees of heresy, but there are some common threads.
(a) Liberal theologians are more distinguished by what they don’t believe than what they do believe.
(b) Liberal theologians consider the Bible to have been written by the church, and by mere men, and not inspired (God-breathed) by God.
(c) Liberal theologians usually deny all or part of the Bible, and apply whatever meaning they want to apply to everyday life and Christianity.
(d) Liberal theologians tend to deny the supernatural and have some “spiritualized” understanding of all of the events that the Bible represents as miraculous.
(e) Liberal theologians usually don’t believe the central elements of “the faith once delivered to the saints…” Jude 3
(2) Experientialists—A experientialist is one whose who life and faith are dominated by experiences, with no way to test the validity of those experiences—and they always “spin” circumstances to make it seem as if they have something going for them. An experientialist doesn’t care how much Truth you have, he has his experience which in his mind trumps all Truth.
(3) Existentialists—This philosophical view teaches that we really can’t know for sure what is true, so if a thing or situation seems OK with us, then we are all right.
(4) Postmodernist—This philosophy goes one step beyond the existentialist.
(a) The postmodernist believes that we really can’t know any absolutes, because there are no absolutes except those that exist for us in our own little world.
(b) The Postmodernist believes that it is impossible to know the meaning of the Bible, and that those who do careful, verse by verse exposition are being “arrogant” to presume that the Bible can be understood.
(c) Many of us sometimes fall into this very subtly by the “God given verse.” The testimony in these cases goes like this: “I prayed to God, and He gave me this verse, and this is what it means to me.” This sound so wonderful, but the Truth is that it makes no difference what you think the verse means, it can only mean what it was intended by God to mean. It is true that sometimes prophetic scriptures have a present and later fulfillment, and that we can take various applications sometimes from a passage, but at the heart, if a passage means one thing for you and another for me, IT MEANS NOTHING AT ALL TO ANYONE.
(5) Pragmatists—A pragmatist designs a theology that works for them, and the guide point is always, “does it work?” and, of course that means the pragmatist writes his own criteria for success anyway.
(6) Occultists—those who combine New Age mysticism with some degree of Christianity
(7) The Adders. One of the most feared family of snakes in the world are the Adders, and in theology, this is greatly more important. Here what we mean is those who add to the Bible.
(a) Cults usually add a book or more to the Bible
(b) The church of Rome has added several books; these are books that were declared by their own great Doctor of the Church, St. Jerome, to be NOT part of the Bible.
(c) But in reality, any prophetic utterance or writing that claims to be in addition to God’s written revelation in the OT and NT is automatically heretical—the Bible cannot be added to.
(d) That is why all I have to read of Joel Osteen’s book is the title, and I don’t need to read what is inside. The very statement: Your Best Life Now, is a heresy—the rest can be no better!
(e) Currently there are at least two unusually poisonous Adders puffing around theological circles, probably more.
(i) One is The Journal of the Unknown Prophet, purporting to be a message direct from Jesus
(ii) The other is Don Piper’s “90 minutes in Heaven,” a Christless trip to a Christless place!
b. The Easy list of issues
(1) Mac’s List
(a) Inspiration—what is the origin of the Bible? Is it a man-made book, a man-made book guided by God, a God-influenced book with the errors of man showing through, or is it God-breathed, originated with Him?
(b) Inerrancy—Does the Bible contain actual factual errors, or is it fully without error in all that it teaches, narrates, or proclaims? [One of the subtle trickeries of men who oppose the word of God is to point out that characters in the Bible say things that are incorrect or sinful, “so the Bible has mistakes…”. ] A child should be able to deal with that bit of illogical fluff! If the Bible is narrating an event or relating a saying or discourse, what the Bible says was said, was said, and what the Bible says was done, was done, both just as the Bible said so.
(c) Historicity—Are the Bible histories accurate, or are they allegories to be interpreted any old way that we please?
(d) Canonicity—Are these the only God-breathed books, and who picked and how?
(e) Uniqueness (exclusive nature)—are the books of other religions equally valid?
(f) Power—Does the Word of God possess the power to change lives?
(g) Clarity—Does the Bible make sense, and can we come to understand it?
(h) Sufficiency—Is the Bible incomplete on any areas touching the human soul or Spirit?
(2) Biblical Infallibility
(3) Biblical Authority
(4) Is there continuing revelation?
c. A less obvious list
(1) Biblical relevance—is the Bible just a thing of the past, does it need to be re-invented?
(2) Cultural relevance—Is the Bible hopelessly wed to ancient cultures and therefore do we need to remove and slice and dice to make it appropriate for today? (This is a particularly problematic situation, because to get the full meaning of texts we do have to put them in the historical and cultural context in which they were written. However, those men who call for “cultural relevance” usually mean to re-define the Bible along the lines of modern morals and culture. The bottom line here is that Culture does not have a right to correct the Bible, the Bible should shape culture.
(3) Biblical Sufficiency—“the counseling question”—“Is the Bible missing some insights into human character and behavior that only psychology can supply?
(4) “Prophetic Words” Can we receive a different meaning for a text because of some mystical connection?
(5) Is the Bible the ONLY true way, or are there others?
(6) Is the Canon of Scripture Closed? Are there continuing revelations today?
(7) Can we prove the veracity of the Bible from outside the Bible? NO. That would create a standard outside the Bible that claims greater authority than God’s Word.
(8) There are those today who wrongly dividing the Word—many who claim to believe and defend the Bible have such irrational and incorrect hermeneutical schemes that they undermine the very Bible they attempt to defend. This often comes up when talking about the relationship to the OT Law and the NT, and when attempting to deal with the Sermon on the Mount, one of the most misunderstood parts of the Bible.
d. There are four books of God’s revelation Three of them are at best incomplete and they cannot save, and the fourth book must be everything to us.
(1) Nature—which can tell us much about God, but not enough to save us—Ps 19:1-6, Rom 1:19-21
(2) Providence—God has expressed Himself in History, but the revelation is far from complete and cannot provide sufficient information to save—Is 46:8-11, Acts 17:24-26
(3) Conscience—The Law written on the hearts of men (Rom 2:15).
(a) It cannot save, only convict
(b) It is filtered through our sin and corruption
(c) It can be seared nearly shut by wanton sin in a person’s life.
(4) The fourth, and only sure and reliable witness, is the Word of God itself.
(James 1:21) "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls."
(1 Pet 1:23) "having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,"
(1 Pet 2:2) "as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,"
(Heb 5:12-14) "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."
(Acts 6:2) "Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables."
(Acts 6:4) ""but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.""
(Acts 6:7) "Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith."
(Acts 13:44) "On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God."
(Acts 13:48) "Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed."
(Acts 20:32) ""So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified."
(2 Tim 2:15) "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
(2 Tim 4:2) "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching."
(5) From 19:7-9, there are six descriptions of God’s Word, six attributes of God’s Word, and six benefits of God’s Word.
(6) 19:10-11 give the value and usefulness of God’s Word
(7) 19:12-14 we see the benediction of the Psalmist
2. The Introduction to the Bible—Ps 19:1-6
a. This is the answer to the old saw that “I can worship God on the lake as much as I can in church—you can’t
b. What we can learn from The “book” of nature is sufficient to make us guilty but not sufficient to save our souls!
(1) The Glory of God
(2) Some of the Attributes of God (Rom 1:19-21)
(3) The universality of Creation—it is obvious to anyone who really looks that an almighty God created all things
(4) Only four possibilities about Creation
(a) Everything has always existed
(b) Everything created itself
(c) The Aliens brought it in (Where did they get it?)
(d) God created all things
c. What we cannot learn from nature
(1) From nature, we cannot learn the nature of the Triune God
(2) From nature, we cannot learn who Jesus is and what He has done
(3) From nature, we cannot learn of our sinfulness
(4) From nature, we cannot learn how God wants us to live (conscience helps a bit, but only from the Word can we learn what is right and wrong.)
(5) From nature, we cannot learn how God wants us to worship
(6) But most important of all, From nature, we cannot learn how to be saved
(a) The preaching of the Cross—1 Cor 1:18-21
(b) Faith comes by hearing the Word—Rom 10:17
(c) There are definite things you must know and must believe in order to be saved—Rom 10:9
d. Descriptions of the effects of God’s Word in 19:7-9
e. In General, these are not so much descriptions of particular types of Bible writing, but they all apply to all types of Bible writing.
f. The main message here is a celebration of the various effects the Word of God has on those who hear and obey the Word of God
g. What The Word Does
3. The Law of God Converts “…7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul…”
a. First, what is “law?”
(1) Law—the doctrinal teaching of The LORD—Yahweh, or Jehovah
(2) “Law” is used in different ways
(a) Sometimes, “Law” means the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses
(b) Sometimes “Law” means the whole Old Testament
(c) Sometimes, “Law” means the Whole Bible
(d) Sometimes, “Law” is talking about a general principle
(e) Sometimes, “Law” refers to the Gospel—
(James 1:25) "But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."
(James 2:12) "So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty."
(Gal 6:2) "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."
(f) How do you distinguish? Context!
b. What do we mean by “perfect?” It means integrity, truth:--without blemish, complete, full, perfect, sincerely (-ity), sound, without spot, undefiled, upright
c. The Law of the Lord Converts—the word means to turn—it speaks of repentance to turn from sin and evil, to turn back to God—God’s Word has the power to bring about repentance.
d. This is perhaps the most neglected understanding of evangelism: “you can’t get them saved unless they realize they are lost!”
e. The most important purpose of God’s Law in all its forms, and throughout all the ages of time, is to cause man to see his sin and repent unto salvation—(Rom 3:19-20) "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin."
(1) Knowledge = epignosis, an overall and overwhelming experiential knowledge that we are lost and undone without Christ.
f. Conversion is the convicting power of the Word when wielded like a sword by the Holy Spirit—the Law “…converts the soul…”
(Acts 2:37) "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?""
(Acts 9:5-6) "And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" Then the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads." 6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" Then the Lord said to him, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.""
(Heb 4:12) "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
4. The Law of God Instructs— “…The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple…”
a. Testimony—another synonym for the whole of the written Word. It refers to the testimony of a good witness—God Himself witnesses, the Holy Spirit Witnesses, The Lord Witnessed, and His apostles witnessed. The testimony of a true and good witness cannot be refuted, and must be believed.
b. Sure—the word speaks of faithfulness, dependability, certainty—you can depend on what God’s word says, you can not only stake your life on it, you can build your life on it.
c. Simple—the word refers to “open minded,” not foolish. The fool, in the Bible, is one who does not believe and does not want to believe. The “simple” person is open to what God has to say, and they will believe it.
(1 Cor 1:27) "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;"
(Mat 11:25) "At that time Jesus answered and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes."
d. In the book of Acts, there is a particularly pointed example of this—(Acts 4:5-13) "And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes, 6 as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, "By what power or by what name have you done this?" 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: 9 "If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, 10 "let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 11 "This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.' 12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." 13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
(1) This passage has often been used by those who have an agenda against studying of the scriptures, to try to say that study and learning about the Bible is not important. Nothing could be further from the Truth
(2) These men had not been to the apostate and false schools of the Pharisees for sure, but they had been in the school of Jesus! For three years, these men had been taught by Word and by example; they were the prototypes for discipleship done God’s way.
(3) Truly in their case the testimonies of God had made the simple wise—not wise after the world, but wise in the things of God.
5. The Law of the LORD Brings Joy—“…8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart…”
a. Statutes—rules given by a properly constituted authority to guide us in our life
b. His Word is RIGHT!
(1) The word in the Hebrew refers to that which is straight as opposed to what is crooked.
(2) God’s Word is absolute
(3) God’s Word is true
(4) God’s Word is steadfast
(5) God’s Word is unwavering
(6) God’s Word is unchanging
(7) What is right is right, what is wrong is wrong, get plugged into His Word, and He will cause you to rejoice in HIM!
c. Christianity is NOT a conduct-neutral faith! God expects His people to live for Him
(1) What a mess the churches and professing believers are in!
(2) We have allowed Satan to creep in and convince us that obeying God is optional for the believer—when growth in Grace and Holiness are mandatory for every believer.
(3) God is not a cosmic killjoy—he is a wise parent, knowing the pitfalls and dangers in “the jungle out there…”, and His Word is not meant to kill joy, it is meant to bring joy.
(4) But if you think that Joy in God means living like the Devil and expecting God to pick up the tab, you are sadly mistaken.
(5) If you think, like the old Jazz song, that you can live on “one day of prayer and six nights of fun,” and if you can live that way without being constantly being convicted, then you aren’t saved anyway. At a recent youth conference, a nationally known speaker was lamenting the fact that a survey had shown that 75% of Christian youth nationwide did not believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ. A much wiser and perceptive speaker corrected this data by saying this—“That is a lie and an insult to truly saved young people, because if the youth don’t believe in the Resurrection of Christ, then they aren’t Christian youth…”
d. True Believers rejoice at the teachings of His Word because they love His Word
(Psa 119:97) "Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day."
(Psa 119:113) "I hate the double-minded, But I love Your law."
(Psa 119:163) "I hate and abhor lying, But I love Your law."
(Psa 119:165) "Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble."
(1) Do you want peace and joy in your life? Then get into God’s Word
(2) Do you want true happiness and fulfillment? Then soak up all of God’s Word and let it be a light to your path and a lamp to your feet.
(3) Men, Young and old, to you want to put a rod of stainless steel into your spine and make your stand for Christ? Then you get into this Word and let it rock your world with Truth!
(4) Ladies, do you want to be able to minister to women in need around you? Get a handle on this Word, and you will have an endless supply of healing words, comforting Truth, and soul-changing power!
(5) Young people—do you want to be able to rock your school for the LORD? Do you want to have hope for the hopeless children around you? Then wear out your copy of this Word, learning it, cross-referencing it, soaking it up to your skin.
(6) Preacher boys, do you want to never have to worry about getting a message up or having something to preach? Then study and learn God’s Word until you bleed Bible.
6. God’s Word Brings Enlightenment—“…The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes…”
a. Commandment—The commandment of the Lord—A name of the law of God from the idea of setting up, appointing, constituting.. The idea here is not so much that the thing is right in itself as that it is appointed or ordered by God; that it is what he requires.
b. When we can’t see our way, He lights our way!
c. God’s Word is pure—there is no mixture of error in it.
(1) What God’s Word says is so, IS SO
(2) What God’s Word says is right IS RIGHT
(3) What God’s Word says happened, TOOK PLACE
(4) What God’s Word says was said WAS SAID
d. Trusting His Word brings the ultimate Light into our life: (2 Cor 4:6) "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
(1) “According to the expressive Hebrew idiom, it is to the soul what food is to the worn and fainting body…” Perowne
(2) (Eph 1:18) "the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,"
7. God’s Word brings acceptance of and appreciation for His chastening Hand—“…9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether….”
a. There are two parallel statements here—one refers to the inner, unseen working of God’s Word, and the other to what we and others can see outwardly
b. Fear—of the Lord, based on what we read
c. Judgments of the Lord—God judges according to His word
John 12:48-50 ""He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him; the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. 49 "For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. 50 "And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.""
8. Overall Value of God’s Word.
a. Its worth
(1) It is worth more than the valuables of this world, even in large quantities
(2) It is worth more than the many small pleasures of this world, even those that are morally OK—honey and the honey comb
b. Its usefulness if observed and kept
(1) First—the depth of discipleship—Mat 28:19-20
(2) 2nd—it serves as a warning. The sense of the word here is of those who are so bright that they shine—those who take the Word seriously will be warned and see the dangers coming.
(3) Great reward
(a) For the lost person who hears, heeds, and believes, salvation is the reward, Heaven itself the prize
(b) For the saved person who makes the Word the only guide to his life, the reward is a fulfilled life here and great rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
9. Case Study—the Psalmist himself—Ps 19:12-14
a. The Psalmist fears the onset of secret faults and errors—
b. His prayer
(1) He asks God to keep him from moving away from God’s plan for his life
(2) “Do not let them have dominion…” Paul said that sin SHALL NOT have dominion over us, so the Psalmist is asking God for what God will promise to give.
(3) I shall be blameless and innocent—the man of God and the woman of God should see this as their greatest challenge
c. His Benediction—He wants his words and thoughts to be right, that he might please his Savior.
Defending the Bible
In An Age of Satanic Deceit
Bro. Charley Buntin
Sunday School Teacher
Trace Creek Baptist Church
Mayfield, KY 42066
--One of my favorite illustrations about the Word of God is a story attributed to Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, certainly the greatest preacher in the English language
--The Story goes that a young preacher boy came to Spurgeon and said, “Brother Spurgeon, don’t we need to defend the Bible?” Spurgeon is supposed to have answered—“The Bible is a like a lion, young man, if you unleash it, it will defend itself.”
--This story is has the ring of truth, and I love it, but there is a problem with this picture: Not all of the leashes that bind the Bible are easily seen. If we are to unleash the lion of the Word so it can defend itself, we just remove every imposition of man, including those of saved men who are unduly influenced by the world and its lusts,
--We need to unleash the Bible from all of the abuses and restraints that men have put on the Word, but we must find all of the leashes, all of the problems, and some of them might be on our shelf or in our desks, or in the television programs we watch.
1. What and where are the ties that Bind the Bible? What Are the Issues?
Of necessity I have preached on the sufficiency of Scripture that the Word of God is true, it is inerrant, it is inspired, it is complete. It brings all revelation to an end. Nothing more is needed than the truth of the of the Word of God applied by the Spirit of God. It is clear and it is sufficient...it is sufficient. Not all these attacks, by the way, come from people outside Christianity, most of them come from people who call themselves Christians, liberal theologians, experientialists, existentialists, pragmatists, occultists, cultists, etc., etc., all claiming to represent God and attacking Scripture’s inspiration, inerrancy, historicity, canonicity, uniqueness, power, clarity and sufficiency. And so we’re always going to need to go back and defend Scripture. (John MacArthur, sermon manuscript, God’s Defense of the Scriptures, Part 1)
a. Identifying the usual suspects (MacArthur’s List expanded and explained)
(1) Liberal theologians—“Liberal” in this case does not necessarily refer to the politics of the theologian, but to their theological beliefs, more more specifically, disbeliefs. Liberal theologians come in all shapes and degrees of heresy, but there are some common threads.
(a) Liberal theologians are more distinguished by what they don’t believe than what they do believe.
(b) Liberal theologians consider the Bible to have been written by the church, and by mere men, and not inspired (God-breathed) by God.
(c) Liberal theologians usually deny all or part of the Bible, and apply whatever meaning they want to apply to everyday life and Christianity.
(d) Liberal theologians tend to deny the supernatural and have some “spiritualized” understanding of all of the events that the Bible represents as miraculous.
(e) Liberal theologians usually don’t believe the central elements of “the faith once delivered to the saints…” Jude 3
(2) Experientialists—A experientialist is one whose who life and faith are dominated by experiences, with no way to test the validity of those experiences—and they always “spin” circumstances to make it seem as if they have something going for them. An experientialist doesn’t care how much Truth you have, he has his experience which in his mind trumps all Truth.
(3) Existentialists—This philosophical view teaches that we really can’t know for sure what is true, so if a thing or situation seems OK with us, then we are all right.
(4) Postmodernist—This philosophy goes one step beyond the existentialist.
(a) The postmodernist believes that we really can’t know any absolutes, because there are no absolutes except those that exist for us in our own little world.
(b) The Postmodernist believes that it is impossible to know the meaning of the Bible, and that those who do careful, verse by verse exposition are being “arrogant” to presume that the Bible can be understood.
(c) Many of us sometimes fall into this very subtly by the “God given verse.” The testimony in these cases goes like this: “I prayed to God, and He gave me this verse, and this is what it means to me.” This sound so wonderful, but the Truth is that it makes no difference what you think the verse means, it can only mean what it was intended by God to mean. It is true that sometimes prophetic scriptures have a present and later fulfillment, and that we can take various applications sometimes from a passage, but at the heart, if a passage means one thing for you and another for me, IT MEANS NOTHING AT ALL TO ANYONE.
(5) Pragmatists—A pragmatist designs a theology that works for them, and the guide point is always, “does it work?” and, of course that means the pragmatist writes his own criteria for success anyway.
(6) Occultists—those who combine New Age mysticism with some degree of Christianity
(7) The Adders. One of the most feared family of snakes in the world are the Adders, and in theology, this is greatly more important. Here what we mean is those who add to the Bible.
(a) Cults usually add a book or more to the Bible
(b) The church of Rome has added several books; these are books that were declared by their own great Doctor of the Church, St. Jerome, to be NOT part of the Bible.
(c) But in reality, any prophetic utterance or writing that claims to be in addition to God’s written revelation in the OT and NT is automatically heretical—the Bible cannot be added to.
(d) That is why all I have to read of Joel Osteen’s book is the title, and I don’t need to read what is inside. The very statement: Your Best Life Now, is a heresy—the rest can be no better!
(e) Currently there are at least two unusually poisonous Adders puffing around theological circles, probably more.
(i) One is The Journal of the Unknown Prophet, purporting to be a message direct from Jesus
(ii) The other is Don Piper’s “90 minutes in Heaven,” a Christless trip to a Christless place!
b. The Easy list of issues
(1) Mac’s List
(a) Inspiration—what is the origin of the Bible? Is it a man-made book, a man-made book guided by God, a God-influenced book with the errors of man showing through, or is it God-breathed, originated with Him?
(b) Inerrancy—Does the Bible contain actual factual errors, or is it fully without error in all that it teaches, narrates, or proclaims? [One of the subtle trickeries of men who oppose the word of God is to point out that characters in the Bible say things that are incorrect or sinful, “so the Bible has mistakes…”. ] A child should be able to deal with that bit of illogical fluff! If the Bible is narrating an event or relating a saying or discourse, what the Bible says was said, was said, and what the Bible says was done, was done, both just as the Bible said so.
(c) Historicity—Are the Bible histories accurate, or are they allegories to be interpreted any old way that we please?
(d) Canonicity—Are these the only God-breathed books, and who picked and how?
(e) Uniqueness (exclusive nature)—are the books of other religions equally valid?
(f) Power—Does the Word of God possess the power to change lives?
(g) Clarity—Does the Bible make sense, and can we come to understand it?
(h) Sufficiency—Is the Bible incomplete on any areas touching the human soul or Spirit?
(2) Biblical Infallibility
(3) Biblical Authority
(4) Is there continuing revelation?
c. A less obvious list
(1) Biblical relevance—is the Bible just a thing of the past, does it need to be re-invented?
(2) Cultural relevance—Is the Bible hopelessly wed to ancient cultures and therefore do we need to remove and slice and dice to make it appropriate for today? (This is a particularly problematic situation, because to get the full meaning of texts we do have to put them in the historical and cultural context in which they were written. However, those men who call for “cultural relevance” usually mean to re-define the Bible along the lines of modern morals and culture. The bottom line here is that Culture does not have a right to correct the Bible, the Bible should shape culture.
(3) Biblical Sufficiency—“the counseling question”—“Is the Bible missing some insights into human character and behavior that only psychology can supply?
(4) “Prophetic Words” Can we receive a different meaning for a text because of some mystical connection?
(5) Is the Bible the ONLY true way, or are there others?
(6) Is the Canon of Scripture Closed? Are there continuing revelations today?
(7) Can we prove the veracity of the Bible from outside the Bible? NO. That would create a standard outside the Bible that claims greater authority than God’s Word.
(8) There are those today who wrongly dividing the Word—many who claim to believe and defend the Bible have such irrational and incorrect hermeneutical schemes that they undermine the very Bible they attempt to defend. This often comes up when talking about the relationship to the OT Law and the NT, and when attempting to deal with the Sermon on the Mount, one of the most misunderstood parts of the Bible.
d. There are four books of God’s revelation Three of them are at best incomplete and they cannot save, and the fourth book must be everything to us.
(1) Nature—which can tell us much about God, but not enough to save us—Ps 19:1-6, Rom 1:19-21
(2) Providence—God has expressed Himself in History, but the revelation is far from complete and cannot provide sufficient information to save—Is 46:8-11, Acts 17:24-26
(3) Conscience—The Law written on the hearts of men (Rom 2:15).
(a) It cannot save, only convict
(b) It is filtered through our sin and corruption
(c) It can be seared nearly shut by wanton sin in a person’s life.
(4) The fourth, and only sure and reliable witness, is the Word of God itself.
(James 1:21) "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls."
(1 Pet 1:23) "having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,"
(1 Pet 2:2) "as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,"
(Heb 5:12-14) "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."
(Acts 6:2) "Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables."
(Acts 6:4) ""but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.""
(Acts 6:7) "Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith."
(Acts 13:44) "On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God."
(Acts 13:48) "Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed."
(Acts 20:32) ""So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified."
(2 Tim 2:15) "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
(2 Tim 4:2) "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching."
(5) From 19:7-9, there are six descriptions of God’s Word, six attributes of God’s Word, and six benefits of God’s Word.
(6) 19:10-11 give the value and usefulness of God’s Word
(7) 19:12-14 we see the benediction of the Psalmist
2. The Introduction to the Bible—Ps 19:1-6
a. This is the answer to the old saw that “I can worship God on the lake as much as I can in church—you can’t
b. What we can learn from The “book” of nature is sufficient to make us guilty but not sufficient to save our souls!
(1) The Glory of God
(2) Some of the Attributes of God (Rom 1:19-21)
(3) The universality of Creation—it is obvious to anyone who really looks that an almighty God created all things
(4) Only four possibilities about Creation
(a) Everything has always existed
(b) Everything created itself
(c) The Aliens brought it in (Where did they get it?)
(d) God created all things
c. What we cannot learn from nature
(1) From nature, we cannot learn the nature of the Triune God
(2) From nature, we cannot learn who Jesus is and what He has done
(3) From nature, we cannot learn of our sinfulness
(4) From nature, we cannot learn how God wants us to live (conscience helps a bit, but only from the Word can we learn what is right and wrong.)
(5) From nature, we cannot learn how God wants us to worship
(6) But most important of all, From nature, we cannot learn how to be saved
(a) The preaching of the Cross—1 Cor 1:18-21
(b) Faith comes by hearing the Word—Rom 10:17
(c) There are definite things you must know and must believe in order to be saved—Rom 10:9
d. Descriptions of the effects of God’s Word in 19:7-9
e. In General, these are not so much descriptions of particular types of Bible writing, but they all apply to all types of Bible writing.
f. The main message here is a celebration of the various effects the Word of God has on those who hear and obey the Word of God
g. What The Word Does
3. The Law of God Converts “…7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul…”
a. First, what is “law?”
(1) Law—the doctrinal teaching of The LORD—Yahweh, or Jehovah
(2) “Law” is used in different ways
(a) Sometimes, “Law” means the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses
(b) Sometimes “Law” means the whole Old Testament
(c) Sometimes, “Law” means the Whole Bible
(d) Sometimes, “Law” is talking about a general principle
(e) Sometimes, “Law” refers to the Gospel—
(James 1:25) "But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."
(James 2:12) "So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty."
(Gal 6:2) "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."
(f) How do you distinguish? Context!
b. What do we mean by “perfect?” It means integrity, truth:--without blemish, complete, full, perfect, sincerely (-ity), sound, without spot, undefiled, upright
c. The Law of the Lord Converts—the word means to turn—it speaks of repentance to turn from sin and evil, to turn back to God—God’s Word has the power to bring about repentance.
d. This is perhaps the most neglected understanding of evangelism: “you can’t get them saved unless they realize they are lost!”
e. The most important purpose of God’s Law in all its forms, and throughout all the ages of time, is to cause man to see his sin and repent unto salvation—(Rom 3:19-20) "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin."
(1) Knowledge = epignosis, an overall and overwhelming experiential knowledge that we are lost and undone without Christ.
f. Conversion is the convicting power of the Word when wielded like a sword by the Holy Spirit—the Law “…converts the soul…”
(Acts 2:37) "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?""
(Acts 9:5-6) "And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" Then the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads." 6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" Then the Lord said to him, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.""
(Heb 4:12) "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
4. The Law of God Instructs— “…The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple…”
a. Testimony—another synonym for the whole of the written Word. It refers to the testimony of a good witness—God Himself witnesses, the Holy Spirit Witnesses, The Lord Witnessed, and His apostles witnessed. The testimony of a true and good witness cannot be refuted, and must be believed.
b. Sure—the word speaks of faithfulness, dependability, certainty—you can depend on what God’s word says, you can not only stake your life on it, you can build your life on it.
c. Simple—the word refers to “open minded,” not foolish. The fool, in the Bible, is one who does not believe and does not want to believe. The “simple” person is open to what God has to say, and they will believe it.
(1 Cor 1:27) "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;"
(Mat 11:25) "At that time Jesus answered and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes."
d. In the book of Acts, there is a particularly pointed example of this—(Acts 4:5-13) "And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes, 6 as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, "By what power or by what name have you done this?" 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: 9 "If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, 10 "let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 11 "This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.' 12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." 13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
(1) This passage has often been used by those who have an agenda against studying of the scriptures, to try to say that study and learning about the Bible is not important. Nothing could be further from the Truth
(2) These men had not been to the apostate and false schools of the Pharisees for sure, but they had been in the school of Jesus! For three years, these men had been taught by Word and by example; they were the prototypes for discipleship done God’s way.
(3) Truly in their case the testimonies of God had made the simple wise—not wise after the world, but wise in the things of God.
5. The Law of the LORD Brings Joy—“…8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart…”
a. Statutes—rules given by a properly constituted authority to guide us in our life
b. His Word is RIGHT!
(1) The word in the Hebrew refers to that which is straight as opposed to what is crooked.
(2) God’s Word is absolute
(3) God’s Word is true
(4) God’s Word is steadfast
(5) God’s Word is unwavering
(6) God’s Word is unchanging
(7) What is right is right, what is wrong is wrong, get plugged into His Word, and He will cause you to rejoice in HIM!
c. Christianity is NOT a conduct-neutral faith! God expects His people to live for Him
(1) What a mess the churches and professing believers are in!
(2) We have allowed Satan to creep in and convince us that obeying God is optional for the believer—when growth in Grace and Holiness are mandatory for every believer.
(3) God is not a cosmic killjoy—he is a wise parent, knowing the pitfalls and dangers in “the jungle out there…”, and His Word is not meant to kill joy, it is meant to bring joy.
(4) But if you think that Joy in God means living like the Devil and expecting God to pick up the tab, you are sadly mistaken.
(5) If you think, like the old Jazz song, that you can live on “one day of prayer and six nights of fun,” and if you can live that way without being constantly being convicted, then you aren’t saved anyway. At a recent youth conference, a nationally known speaker was lamenting the fact that a survey had shown that 75% of Christian youth nationwide did not believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ. A much wiser and perceptive speaker corrected this data by saying this—“That is a lie and an insult to truly saved young people, because if the youth don’t believe in the Resurrection of Christ, then they aren’t Christian youth…”
d. True Believers rejoice at the teachings of His Word because they love His Word
(Psa 119:97) "Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day."
(Psa 119:113) "I hate the double-minded, But I love Your law."
(Psa 119:163) "I hate and abhor lying, But I love Your law."
(Psa 119:165) "Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble."
(1) Do you want peace and joy in your life? Then get into God’s Word
(2) Do you want true happiness and fulfillment? Then soak up all of God’s Word and let it be a light to your path and a lamp to your feet.
(3) Men, Young and old, to you want to put a rod of stainless steel into your spine and make your stand for Christ? Then you get into this Word and let it rock your world with Truth!
(4) Ladies, do you want to be able to minister to women in need around you? Get a handle on this Word, and you will have an endless supply of healing words, comforting Truth, and soul-changing power!
(5) Young people—do you want to be able to rock your school for the LORD? Do you want to have hope for the hopeless children around you? Then wear out your copy of this Word, learning it, cross-referencing it, soaking it up to your skin.
(6) Preacher boys, do you want to never have to worry about getting a message up or having something to preach? Then study and learn God’s Word until you bleed Bible.
6. God’s Word Brings Enlightenment—“…The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes…”
a. Commandment—The commandment of the Lord—A name of the law of God from the idea of setting up, appointing, constituting.. The idea here is not so much that the thing is right in itself as that it is appointed or ordered by God; that it is what he requires.
b. When we can’t see our way, He lights our way!
c. God’s Word is pure—there is no mixture of error in it.
(1) What God’s Word says is so, IS SO
(2) What God’s Word says is right IS RIGHT
(3) What God’s Word says happened, TOOK PLACE
(4) What God’s Word says was said WAS SAID
d. Trusting His Word brings the ultimate Light into our life: (2 Cor 4:6) "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
(1) “According to the expressive Hebrew idiom, it is to the soul what food is to the worn and fainting body…” Perowne
(2) (Eph 1:18) "the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,"
7. God’s Word brings acceptance of and appreciation for His chastening Hand—“…9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether….”
a. There are two parallel statements here—one refers to the inner, unseen working of God’s Word, and the other to what we and others can see outwardly
b. Fear—of the Lord, based on what we read
c. Judgments of the Lord—God judges according to His word
John 12:48-50 ""He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him; the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. 49 "For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. 50 "And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.""
8. Overall Value of God’s Word.
a. Its worth
(1) It is worth more than the valuables of this world, even in large quantities
(2) It is worth more than the many small pleasures of this world, even those that are morally OK—honey and the honey comb
b. Its usefulness if observed and kept
(1) First—the depth of discipleship—Mat 28:19-20
(2) 2nd—it serves as a warning. The sense of the word here is of those who are so bright that they shine—those who take the Word seriously will be warned and see the dangers coming.
(3) Great reward
(a) For the lost person who hears, heeds, and believes, salvation is the reward, Heaven itself the prize
(b) For the saved person who makes the Word the only guide to his life, the reward is a fulfilled life here and great rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
9. Case Study—the Psalmist himself—Ps 19:12-14
a. The Psalmist fears the onset of secret faults and errors—
b. His prayer
(1) He asks God to keep him from moving away from God’s plan for his life
(2) “Do not let them have dominion…” Paul said that sin SHALL NOT have dominion over us, so the Psalmist is asking God for what God will promise to give.
(3) I shall be blameless and innocent—the man of God and the woman of God should see this as their greatest challenge
c. His Benediction—He wants his words and thoughts to be right, that he might please his Savior.
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