This class taught by Dr. Bill Mounce can be found here:
https://www.biblicaltraining.org/52-major-stories-bible/bill-mounce
| 1. Creation and God
The phrase "Heavens and Earth" is a literary device called a merism which states two opposites, so it is meant here to mean everything. God created everything, from one opposite to the next.
The first 3 days God takes what is formless and void and dark and making it habitable by separating.
3 Truths stated up front
1. God is creator.
- “And God said”
- Ultimate creative might - simply speak and brings order into chaos
2. God created orderly, intentionally, with purpose
- Creation is no accident
- Pagan creation myths - Enuma Elish (Babylonian)
gods/dragons - warring
- Tiamat stabbed in eyes, out of which flow Tigris and Euphrates
- Different today - freak chance of nature -primordial scum on the beach
3. God created it "good"
- Goodness of creation is not inherent
- Creation is good because good God created it good & blessed it with his goodness.
How Big is Your God?
- Don't let Genesis 1 be boring to you because it's familiar. God spoke creation into existence with a purpose.
- After you attempt to see God's power (how huge the universe is and he created it all) know this - God is as loving as he is powerful!
There is only one God.
- No one participates with God in creation
- Not the sun, moon or stars
- Not mother nature / earth
- Not the waters or the dry land - sorry Darwin
| 2. Creation and Us
- People are the apex, climax of God's creation
- The crowning achievement of God's creation
- Literary pattern established, pattern, all pushing towards day 6, then it all grinds to a halt and God creates mankind. We are no mistake from random chance.
- “Trinity” (“threeness”) — we see this in creation
-God the Father — ultimate authority; decides there will be a creation
-God the Son — agent, does work — Col 1:16; John 1:3)
-God the Spirit (v 2) — completes, gives life
This is the “us” of Genesis 1 — we are made in the image of the triune God
- Key is in the Hebrew word translated “likeness” — similar but not identical
- “Image” refers to all those qualities that together enable us to resemble God
- Image of God
- We were made like him
- We were made to reflect him to creation
- APPLICATION #1: THE IMAGE OF GOD IS THE SOURCE OF ALL HUMAN DIGNITY
- “Dignity”: sense of worth, significance — “I’m somebody”
- I am who I am because God has infused his likeness into me
- APPLICATION #2: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREATION AND OUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH
- Continuum
- We were created in God’s image
- Image is never lost, although it is marred by sin
- God died so that his own image in us could reach its full potential
| 3. The Fall
- Adam was standing there the whole time letting Satan tempt his wife.
- God judges Adam and Eve, but doesn't curse them. He curses Satan, but not Adam and Eve.
- The real problem in Genesis 3 is not the snake, it's not Eve, it is Adam
- The essence of sin is questioning God
- his character, goodness, wisdom, his love for his creation, saying God is wrong
- Genesis 3 isn't ancient history, it's current events
- Satan is still telling us the same lies
- God is both Judge and Redeemer
- Not just the judge of sin, but also the redeemer of sin
- It was a loving act of redemption for God to kick them out of the Garden of Eden once they were in their sin so they didn't live forever in sin, never being able to live beyond it. Dying is redemption, someday that life of sin will be done.
| 4. The Flood
- This is no children's story but one of the darkest, bleakest times of human history
- Even in the midst of judgement God is the redeemer
- Noah had amazing faith
- God told him he was going to flood the earth, Noah had no experience of a flood
- God told him to build an ark, a HUGE boat, it took 7 days to fill it up with animals
- The ark had no rudder or sail, they were at the mercy of God, they just had to give in
- What God is asking Noah to do is NUTS! But what does he do? Believe and responds in obedience.
- God calling Noah to do what he cannot see, and he responds in obedience.
- May have taken close to 100 years to build the Ark
- God told Noah and his family to fill and subdue the earth, his mandate for them was not ruined by all the sins of the world.
Genesis 8:17
[17] Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” (ESV)
| 5. Abraham's Covenant
- God chose him to be his agent of redemption, the means by which God would deal with sin
- God promises to bless Abraham, and that he will be a blessing to all the families of the world
- To receive these 2 promises he has to:
- believe, have faith
- he must act on that faith
- They are conditional promises
- Covenant relationship is being established
- certain privileges and obligations that come with that
- Covenantal community (covenant is also with his descendants)
- Genesis 15:6 is one of the most important verses in the OT
- Abraham believed, God counted it to him as righteousness
Genesis 15:5–6
[5] And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” [6] And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (ESV)
| 6. Joseph
- God is omnipotent/sovereign
- God is in control
- God is so powerful and faithful to keep his covenantal promises that will keep those promises even if it means working in the midst of human sin
- Joseph was his father's favorite
- Don't look at Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob as good fathers, great faith but not great fathers.
- 3 Key Things to take from this section of scripture:
1. God is sovereign, using Joseph's brother's sin for good and the great blessings of many
Psalm 115:3
[3] Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases. (ESV)
- Joseph suffered a lot of injustice and yet at every turn he refused to curse God, and when he did good things like interpret dreams he gave God the credit and glory
- God was at work keeping his blessing to Abraham by blessing Joseph and using Joseph and Pharaoh to keep his promises
2. God's sovereignty allows him to keep his promises even in the midst of human sin
- When life seems out of control faith says that God is in control
- God doesn't do evil
- Didn't make Joseph's brothers sell him into slavery
- Didn't make Potiphar's wife lie
- God holds the sinful party responsible
- Nothing happens that God hasn't decreed should not happen, he never loses control
Romans 8:28–29
[28] And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. [29] For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (ESV)
- Our actions of sin never thwart what God wants to accomplish
- He is at work in the midst to accomplish his good, which is that you look like his son
- not the cessation of pain
- not name it and claim it
- but that we be conformed to the image of his Son so that someday we will be glorified and we we see him we will look like him
1 John 3:2
[2] Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (ESV)
3. You and I are called to faith
- to believe in the promises of God
- to confess that when life seems out of control faith says God is in control
- to trust in God, look beyond the immediate, and believe that God is who he says he is
- He will reward righteousness and punish wickedness in his way and in his time
- What pleases God is not that we understand him but that we trust him, believe in him, have faith in him, especially in the difficult times of life.
Isaiah 55:8–9
[8] For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
[9] For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (ESV)
Do you believe that he is sovereign?
| 7. Moses and the Plagues
- YHWH
- I am
1. A claim that God exists, not a myth
2. God is unique, there's no one else like him
3. God's immutability, he does not change
- I am who I am
Jesus is God
"before Abraham was I am"
Jesus was claiming to be YHWH.
John 14:9
[9] Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (ESV)
- NOTES from The Bible Project Video:
- The Bible Project Video on YHWH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLrGM26pmM0
- EHYEH - the one who is and will be, existence doesn't depend on anyone else, this God simply IS
- Israelites wanted to honor the sacred name of God so when they read the Hewbrew bible aloud they stopped saying YAHWEH and instead started saying the Hebrew name for lord, ADONAI
- The tradition lasted centuries
- Later when people translated the Bible into English, they adopted the same practice
- Instead of spelling out the divine name, they translated it as LORD spelled in all capitol letters.
- Ancient Hebrew scribes wanted to prevent anyone from accidentally saying his name out loud so they came up with a device to make sure you remembered to say Adonai.
- They took the four consonant letters of the divine name, YHWH, and inserted the three vowels from their word for lord, AdOnAi and created an artificial hybrid word: YAHOWAH.
- If you pronounced it it would say yah-ho-wah, but no Israelite ever pronounced it, it was just a visual reminder to say the word Adonai.
- Christian scribes later didn't know it was an artificial word so they began to say it allowed and spell it in their writings as: JEHOVAH.
- LORD in all caps in your bible is an indication of the DIVINE name. Don't confuse it with Lord. That's just "adon" in Hebrew which just means Lord/Master.
- The One who Was, who IS, and who FOREVER WILL BE.
- God confirms he'll keep his promise to Abraham (Exodus 6)
- The Exodus is not just a story where a bunch of horrible things happened, it's a testament that God is faithful to his word and keeps his promises
| 8. The Ten Commandments
1. “You shall have no other gods before Me."
-Exodus 20:3
2. "You shall not make for yourself a carved image..."
-Exodus 20:4
3. "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain..."
-Exodus 20:7
4. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."
-Exodus 20:8
5. "Honor your father and your mother..."
-Exodus 20:12
6. "You shall not murder."
-Exodus 20:13
7. "You shall not commit adultery."
-Exodus 20:14
8. "You shall not steal."
-Exodus 20:15
9. "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
-Exodus 20:16
10. "You shall not covet...anything that is your neighbor’s."
-Exodus 20:17 (ESV)
- First 4 of the 10 commandments focus on how we relate to God
- no other gods, carved image, name in vain, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
- God is a jealous God.
- Human jealousy is usually a bad thing
- Divine jealousy is a good thing.
- You don't want God to share you with "the gods of this world."
- You don't want God to be content with just pieces of your heart, or for you to worship him and a whole bunch of other gods
- 3rd commandment, don't degrade, trivialize, treat with disrespect God, take his Glory away. Not just swearing. Don't treat God as something common.
- 4th Sabbath Day - work and rest as a pattern
- Commandments 5 - 10 if YHWH is my God then how does that affect how I relate to other people?
- 5th honor your parents that your days may be long in the land... Not saying they gave birth to you so do what they tell you but that YHWH is your God and therefore his command is for you to honor your parents.
- Commandments 6-9 all deal with taking things from your neighbor
- If YHWH is our God we won't take another person's life (murder), spouse (adultery), property (steal), reputation (bear false witness).
- 10th don't covet, deals with the heart. Leads to the heart attitude that will lead to not breaking the other commandments. The heart that doesn't covet doesn't murder, commit adultery, steal, lie.
- Does it matter today? Yes! They're all summed up in these two:
1. Love God
2. Love Your Neighbor
- Deuteronomy 6:4–5 is Jesus's summary of the essence of the first 4 commandments:
Deuteronomy 6:4–5
[4] “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [5] You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (ESV)
- Leviticus 19:18 sums up commandments 5-10.
Leviticus 19:18
[18] You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. (ESV)
- It's not about just keeping the law externally. It's about your heart being sold out to God. If external obedience was what the 10 commandments were really all about you couldn't summarize them with love.
- You also can't say that obedience is not required. It's not about just having a moment of positive volition. You can't just pray a prayer and you're good to go and live however you want.
- Holiness always matter
| 9. The Presence of God
- Why did God create?
- To have fellowship with us, not that he needed it
- That fellowship was broken by human sin
1. God is holy and so he will not dwell in the midst of sin
2. Sinful man who desperately needs a holy God
- Tabernacle was a place where the presence of the holy God dwell even in the midst of his covenantal and sinful people. Maintain his holiness amongst sin.
- Are you a part of the people of God?
- Are you defined by external things, even if they're good, or a person in whom the spirit of the living God lives? Dwells and is at work changing out hearts and minds and out of a changed heart and enjoyment of being in the presence of God, we desire to please him.
| 10. The Holiness of God (Leviticus)
- Sacrifice, burnt offerings
- male without blemish, bring God your best
- The person bringing the sacrifice kills the animal, is a participant, not just sitting back and watching
- In the sacrificial system we see that God is a Holy God
- God doesn't sin and is in fact separate from sin
- God's holiness drives the sacrificial system
- When we sin we are separated from the Holy God and something must be done to reconnect us to him
- As you grow in awareness of God's holiness we grow in awareness of our sin
- God's holiness highlights our sin
- Sin is the breaking of God's rules
- They are God's rules so when we sin, we sin against God
- Forgiveness comes from God
- Sin has a high cost
- The only acceptable punishment for it is death
- If a person doesn't think sin is that bad they haven't come to grips with the holiness of God
- God is a forgiving God, forgiving us with his mercy and grace
- God could be loving and just letting us burn in hell from our sins
- God allows a substitute's death to make amends
- Sacrifices aren't an automatic thing, your heart and repentance really matters
Isaiah 1:10-20
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching[b] of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
12 “When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
13 Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17 learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow's cause.
18 “Come now, let us reason[c] together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be eaten by the sword;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (ESV)
- Our sins have separated us from a Holy God
- The wages of sin is death
- Forgiveness is only from God as a gift
- Forgiveness is received only when I stand before the alter and offer my sacrifice there
- You can't understand what happened on Calvary unless you understand what happened in the book of Leviticus
- Hebrews teaches us that God's holy demands were once for all satisfied when Jesus died on the cross
- The cross is the ultimate alter and the Lamb of God died taking away our sins as a substitution to pay the penalty for what we have done wrong
- Jesus fulfilled the entire sacrificial system
- It was just there to help us understand our sins and that they cost the shedding of blood to be forgiven, forgiveness is only given through death
- The ABCs of Christianity
- Admit we are sinners
- Believing that Jesus's death on the cross payed the price for your sins
- Commit your life to him
- It was our hands that killed Jesus just as it was the sinner who had to kill the sacrificial animal:
Leviticus 1:4–5
[4] He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. [5] Then he shall kill the bull before the LORD, and Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. (ESV)
| 11 Sold Out to God (the Shema / Deuteronomy)
- Numbers = punishment for unbelief.
| 12 Faith is Not Genetic (Judges)
- God renews the Covenant with his people
- God promises to be their God if the people will commit themselves to faithful obedience, to making YHWH their God
- Each generation must make that decision / commitment for themselves
- Faith is not genetic, it must be taught
Deuteronomy 6:6–7
[6] And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. [7] You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (ESV)
- Judges = It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Best of Times
Judges 2:7
[7] And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel. (ESV)
Worst of Times
Judges 2:10
[10] And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel. (ESV)
Judges 21:25
[25] In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (ESV)
Joshua's generation was great but they failed to train their children.
| 13 God is King (1 Samuel)
- Samuel was the last Judge in Israel, and also a prophet and a priest
- Saul, 1st King, then David
- It seems like people just don't get it in the Old Testament
- Other than a few like Moses, David, etc. they can't get it and never will
| 14 David and Goliath
- David has faith in God's promises to be with Israel, he believes God
- David ran to the giant Goliath, he couldn't wait to see God work
1 Samuel 17:48
[48] When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. (ESV)
- David believed God
- True faith always leads one to act
- Faith without works is dead
James 2:26
[26] For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (ESV)
| 15 God's Provision and Protection (Psalm 23)
- difficult time for David, running from Saul
- David's men turn on him, plot to kill him
- David responds not in fear but in faith
- David sees God as intensely personal
- my shepherd, he makes me lie down, then write to God - you prepare a table before me
Psalm 23:1–2
[1] The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
[2] He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters. (ESV)
Psalm 23:5
[5] You prepare a table before me...
- God does what he does for his name's sake
- God is the center of the universe
- We are not the center of the universe
- Why does God lead us through the valley of the shadow of death?
- To take us to a better place
- God is still the good shepherd in the midst of struggle and hard times
- David believes God is with him and his God's presence is fullness of joy
- Are you one of his sheep? Your neighbor? Co-worker? Because the promises of Psalm 23 are not for everybody.
- Jesus's sheep know they need a shepherd, and that their good shepherd laid down his life for them
| 16 Confrontation and Confession (Psalm 51)
- How can David who slept with Bathsheba and had her husband killed be a "man after God's own heart?"
- Good people fail
- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Gideon, Saul, King David
- How does David respond to his sin?
- with true confession, no excuses or blaming others
- When you sin against others you sin against God
- Confession is for our sake. God wants us to have joy and gladness instead of bitterness and anger
- David doesn't just want to be forgiven, he want's to be different, for God to make his heart clean, no legalism
- Agreeing sin is wretched and so are we when we're in it, yet God completes completely and freely though there may still be consequences
- We're not fooling God when we fail to confess
| 17 The Wise and Foolish (Solomon, Proverbs)
- Solomon was wise and started well but ended poorly
Proverbs 1:7 (ESV)
[7] The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
- Fear of the Lord means reverential awe
- we treat God with worshipful respect
- If you search for wisdom you will find God because true wisdom starts with knowing who God is
Proverbs 2:1–6 (ESV)
[1] My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
[2] making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
[3] yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
[4] if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
[5] then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
[6] For the LORD gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
- God knows best
- Two kinds of people
- believes God's ways are the best ways
- people who don't believe God is wise
- The wise person is teachable and always think's God's ways are best
- The fool doesn't listen to God
- The fool is all about short term gratification and does not think about consequences
- Are you going to believe God or your friends?
- Do you believe that God knows best?
Proverbs 3:5–7 (ESV)
[5] Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
[6] In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
[7] Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
| 18 Suffering and Faith in God (Job)
- Can you trust God? Even if we're not blessed and
- Will I have faith in God even if I suffer? If I don't understand the way things are
- When life makes no sense at all can I still trust God?
| 19 Elijah and Syncretism (1 Kings 14–18)
- United Monarchy - When Saul, David, & Solomon were kings
- Divided Monarchy - the 12 tribes split after Solomon dies
- Southern 2 tribes, Judah & Benjamin, follow Solomon's son Rehoboam
- become known as The Southern Kingdom, or Judah
- Northern 10 tribes follow Jeroboam
- become known as the Norther Kingdom, or Israel
- Capital of the Southern Kingdom remains Jerusalem
- Capital of the Northern Kingdom is Sumeria
- Jeroboam had a problem
- All worship and festivals happen in Jerusalem in Judah
- Creates two new worship centers in Bethel and Dan
- Big no no, clear in Mosiac Law that you only worship in Jerusalem
- Creates golden calves and claims they're who brought them out of Egypt
- Jeroboam's answer to his problem is syncretism, merges the Mosaic religion of Yahweh with the Caananite religion of Baal and Asherah
- Baal was the chief God in the Caananite religion
- often depicted as a bull
- god of fertility, storm
- Ashera was his consort / girlfriend
- We must not compromise by mixing the worship of the true God with the worship of false gods
- We must not compromise by trying to straddle the fence, or mix teaching of the true God with false gods
- Elijah means Yahweh is my God
- Choose this day whom you will serve, don't be luke-warm, don't straddle the fence
| 20 Isaiah and the Holiness of God (Isaiah 6:1-8)
- 100 years after Elijah things are still going downhill
- Northern Kingdom has mostly bad kings, eventually conquered by Assyria, deported and resettled with foreigners and syncratism really set in
- Even most of the "good kings" didn't destroy the high places with foreign gods
- Isaiah was highly educated, 25% of the words he uses we don't know what they mean, had a huge vocab
- hardest book to translate
- one of the most quoted books in the NT
- dominated by themes of God's holiness, judgement, and redemption
- God is a God of holiness and the whole Earth is full of his glory
- You get to an end with words when trying to describe God's holiness
- The immense power of nature, like Mt. St. Helens, is nothing compared to God's power
- Glory is holiness revealed, holiness is glory kept silent
- When we see God's glory we can't take our sin lightly
- People who take sin lightly don't know God's glory
- The only biblical response to seeing God's glory is to fall on your face
| 21 Isaiah and the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 52–53)
- Promise of a coming savior woven through the OT
- 4 prophesies about Christ at the end of Isaiah
2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)
[21] For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
- Atonement, substitutionary atonement. We aren't righteous, but we are righteous because he is righteous
| 22 Micah, Judgment and Salvation (Micah 2:6-7)
- The people falsely believe that religion is external, just go through an external ritual and you're good to go
- They think they'll all go to heaven because they're the natural blood relatives of Abraham
- They think they're saved by their external religion, because they do certain religious rituals they can do whatever else they want and it doesn't matter.
- We have the same atmosphere in America
Micah 2:6–7
[6] “Do not preach”—thus they preach—
“one should not preach of such things;
disgrace will not overtake us.”
[7] Should this be said, O house of Jacob?
Has the LORD grown impatient?
Are these his deeds?
Do not my words do good
to him who walks uprightly?
- Out of a heart of love for God flows covenantal obedience, flows love, flows kindness, flows humility.
| 23 Hosea and Unfaithfulness to God
- God longs to receive his people back to him if only they would be faithful
- If we're willing to be faithful he's willing to forgive and take us back
- We are idolaters if we desire something more than we desire God
- We are idolaters if we seek something more than we seek God
- We're good at crying out to God in hurt and pain but when the money is flowing and life is free from poverty and pain we forget God and the more we worship the gods of wealth and comfort.
- As we descend the downward spiral of sin our children get caught in it
Deuteronomy 6:4-7
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[b] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
| 24 Habakkuk, Righteousness and Faith
- Habakkuk prophesied around 640 - 610 B.C.
- Assyria conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel about 80 years before he started
- Habakkuk talks back and forth with God
- Central question of Habakkuk - How do you live in the in between time? In the meantime?
- God is righteous and just and has promised to reward righteousness and punish wickedness
- We don't always see this, so how do we live in the meantime?
- Answer: Habakkuk 2:4 (ESV)
"Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith."
- The just shall live by faith
- Habakkuk lived by faith:
Habakkuk 3:16 (ESV)
I hear, and my body trembles;
my lips quiver at the sound;
rottenness enters into my bones;
my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble
to come upon people who invade us.
Habakkuk 3:17–18 (ESV)
Habakkuk Rejoices in the LORD
[17] Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
[18] yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
- Habakkuk's faith has freed him from fear
- He will rejoice in God his savior even in great difficulty
Hebrews 11:6 (ESV)
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Hebrews 11:1–3 (ESV)
[1] Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. [2] For by it the people of old received their commendation. [3] By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
The question of Habakkuk:
- Do you believe God? Will you be faithful to him day in and day out? Through difficulty? Will you rejoice in the Lord and take joy in the Lord of your salvation?
| 25 Jeremiah The New Covenant
- The theme of "The Heart"
- the heart is what is primary and behavior is secondary
- the heart is the center of our will, thinking, decision making, passions, priorities set, values established
- our heart leads our feet and mouths follow
- what's going on deep down inside the core of our being?
- our hearts motivate why we do what we do
- the human heart is wicked
Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV)
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Matthew 12:34 (ESV)
You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
- most people think they and the heart is basically good
- the problem is not external
- the core of the human dilemma is the wicked human heart
- we are sinners by nature and by choice
- if in evangelism the people you're talking to won't accept this fact they will never see the need for forgiveness
- the only solution for the human condition is to deal first with the heart and let that move from the heart out to behavior and that is God's solution
Jeremiah 31:31–34 (ESV)
The New Covenant
[31] “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, [32] not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. [33] For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [34] And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Ezekiel 36:26–28 (ESV)
[26] And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. [27] And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. [28] You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Ezekiel 37:1–14 (ESV)
The Valley of Dry Bones
- Gods spirit can breath life into your dry bones
1 Corinthians 11:25 (ESV)
[25] In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” [26] For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
- the new testament / covenant comes thanks to Jesus's life and death
- after he ascended God's spirit was poured out on flesh
- God's promise to Abraham of blessing was being fulfilled
- God changes people:
1 Peter 2:9–10 (ESV)
[9] But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. [10] Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
| 26 Lamentations, Confession and Faith
- they are acrostic poems, each line starts with the next letter of the alphabet
- passionately honest with how it is and how bad it is
- no victim mentality, they accept the blame
- God never gets blamed for anything when it comes to true confession
- Why would God let something this bad happen? People want God to stay out of their business until something bad happens and then sweep in and fix it, then leave so they can go back to living how they want to
- we want what we want when we want it, but people of faith will sit down and quietly wait for God to act, believing God is faithful, loving, and will do what he said he would
- you find out what you truly believe in the midst of pain
| 27 The Birth of Jesus
- Genesis 3 man falls to sin and God promises he'll do something about it - the snake crushing king foretold "I will put enmity between your offspring and her offspring...he shall bruise your head"
- 1,800 B.C. God makes a promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 "in you all the families of the earth will be blessed
- 1,000 B.C. God makes a promise to King David in 2 Samuel "when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body and I will establish his kingdom and he shall build a house for his name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever and I will be to him a father and he will be to me a son."
- 740 B.C. God speaks through Micah 5 "but you oh Bethlehem...from you shall come forth one who is to be ruler in Israel whose origin is of old from ancient days
- 740 B.C. Isaiah 7 "the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel" which means God with us
- 0 B.C. The angel Gabriel visits the virgin Mary
- Luke 1:26–38
Birth of Jesus Foretold
Luke 1:26-38 (ESV)
[26] In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, [27] to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. [28] And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” [29] But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. [30] And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. [31] And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. [32] He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, [33] and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
[34] And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
[35] And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. [36] And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. [37] For nothing will be impossible with God.” [38] And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Matthew 1:18–25 (ESV)
The Birth of Jesus Christ
[18] Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. [19] And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. [20] But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. [21] She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” [22] All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
[23] “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Emmanuel”
(which means, God with us). [24] When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, [25] but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
- "Son of God" is biblical language which means he is God, Jesus is God
- John 1 "in the begging was the word and the word was with God and the word was God
- John 1:14 "The word became flesh and dwelt among us" Jesus was fully human, this mystery is The Incarnation - God was made flesh
- oranges can't pay the penalty for fig trees, and only a human being can pay the penalty for human sin
- Hebrews 2
| 28 John the Baptist
- around 27 A.D. John the Baptist broke onto the scene
- the Jews came to John to be baptized but he knew they didn't come with repentant hearts but rather hands full of things to give - "look at me God I'm a Jew who keeps the law" and John would have them know there's no value in them being Jews and that they need to come in repentance with our hands empty knowing we can give God nothing
- there is no place for biblical repentance that results in constant sin
- the person who claims to have had a conversion experience and their life shows no change and they think that's OK, maybe not preferable but OK, then the words of John cry out "bear fruit in keeping with repentance."
- if you're truly repentant you will bear fruit and if you don't bear fruit you're a tree that is cut down and burned
- the idea that once we've had a conversion experience and then nothing else matters is really a strangely American phenomenon
- repentance is a confession and profession
- a confession of your sin, brokenness, inability to do anything about it
- profession of faith that what I can't do Jesus has done on the cross
- when we have that powerful repentance our lives start to change
| 29 Nicodemus and Rebirth
- born of water - undergo the waters of repentance
- born of the spirit - the holy spirit
- you can't earn it, it is God who saves by cleansing and renewing
- the only way to get from the realm of earthly existence, the flesh, into the realm of spirit where there is life is through the work of God's spirit, we can't do it to ourselves, only God can do it
- This is why all works religions are simply wrong
- What does it mean "whoever believes in Jesus?"
- it certainly involves believing the facts, but that's not saving faith because "even the demons believe and shudder" James 2:19
- believing in Jesus includes the idea of coming to faith submitting ourselves to God's rule, entered the kingdom, said the sinner's prayer
- but "believe in" means more than all this. It's more like "believe into" whoever believes into him
- no longer believing in ourselves, transferring our trust out of ourselves into the person of Jesus Christ
- receiving Jesus, abiding in Jesus
- that by believing you may have life in his name
John 20:30–31
The Purpose of This Book
[30] Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; [31] but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (ESV)
- Paul calls it "being in Christ"
- Col 3:3 "our life is hidden in Christ"
- Gal 2:20 "it is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in me"
- "Whoever believes into him" moving our trust out of ourselves throwing ourselves into the merciful hands of God fully trusting him for everything, forgiveness, salvation, life itself
- true biblical saving faith moves us out of ourselves and moves us into the person of Jesus Christ mystically joined with him and we become his child and we live as his child, follower, disciple
- to believe into Jesus is to abide in him, to live in him, be joined to him, no longer trust in ourselves, but take everything we are and transfer it into him and place all our trust in him
- eternal life does mean that it will go on forever, but the emphasis is that the age to come is a different kind of age. The emphasis is on quality not quantity.
John 17:3
[3] And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (ESV)
- the essence of eternal life is relationship, to know God
| 30 Beatitudes
- beatitude Latin word for blessed and it doesn't mean happy but approved by God
- blessed are the poor in spirit, every disciple of Jesus should be poor in spirit which means they know they have nothing to offer him
- blessed are the meek. A meek person has an accurate assessment of who they are, they know who they are, a true view of one's self
- The New Testament is counter cultural
- We should hunger and thirst for his righteousness
- ABCs
- Admit you have sinned
- Believe on Jesus
- Confess Christ Publicly
| 31 The Lord's Prayer
Matthew 6:9–15
[9] Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
[10] Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
[11] Give us this day our daily bread,
[12] and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
[13] And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
[14] For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, [15] but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (ESV)
- Not meant to be repeated word for word meaninglessly but used as an example
- prayer starts with a proper view of who God is
- "Our Father..." pray corporately not just alone
- Our Father - God is personal, cares for us, hears our prayers,
- prayer is not primarily about me, but God
- We are calling on God to act for his Glory
- we pray may your name be holy
- your kingdom come - God rule in me
- your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven - which is always done perfectly, not my will but yours be done
- We are called to forgive, our debt to God is far greater than any debt someone has to us
- Our Father in Heaven, when we see him for who he is we start to understand who we are, and how we should be utterly dependent on him
- Everything we have comes from him - our talents, everything - so we must rely on him
- human security is an allusion
- my forgiveness of others is not predicated (based on) on their repentance, but God's forgiveness of me is predicated upon my forgiveness of others, if I am truly forgiven then I will forgive
- no matter what I've done to someone, or what they've done to me - my sin against God is far greater
Matthew 6:12
[12] and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Matthew 6:14–15
[14] For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, [15] but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
- most of us are obsessed with ourselves and that shows itself in self reliance
- instead of being free we are enslaved, but prayer teaches us we are to be obsessed with God our Father in Heaven and with His holiness, and His reign, and that His will be done
- it is only with this kind of obsession that we will see we are utterly dependent on him for everything
- instead of reminding God of everything he owes us, we come to him with our hands open and empty and pray Our Father in Heaven and we're free to rest in his arms and trust and serve
- prayer is worship, another way to come into the presence of God declaring who he is and what he has done
[13] And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
- pray the Lord's prayer as a pattern to follow
| Seek God (on 12:23)
- worry carries the illusion that it accomplishes something, but it doesn't
- worry carries the illusion that we're in control but we're not
- the Sermon on the Mount is counter cultural in the extreme when it comes to worry
- the kind of person who recognizes his spiritual poverty and trusts in God's righteousness is the kind of person who will replace worry with faith as he seeks hard after God
Matthew 6:25–31
Do Not Be Anxious
[25] “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [26] Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? [27] And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, [29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? [31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ (ESV)
- God feeds the birds and clothes the flowers
- The Creator is also the sustainer
- Don't just see God in the miraculous but also in the nature he created, the laws God established and still superintends
- The laws of nature are still supernatural, gravity doesn't work because mass attracts, gravity works because God says mass should attract
- God is at work creating and sustaining His creation
- We must learn to see God at work supernaturally in both the mundane and the unusual, the ordinary and the extraordinary
- When we believe God feeds the birds and clothes the flowers then we'll be able to see that God also feeds us and clothes us
https://www.biblicaltraining.org/52-major-stories-bible/bill-mounce
| 1. Creation and God
The phrase "Heavens and Earth" is a literary device called a merism which states two opposites, so it is meant here to mean everything. God created everything, from one opposite to the next.
The first 3 days God takes what is formless and void and dark and making it habitable by separating.
3 Truths stated up front
1. God is creator.
- “And God said”
- Ultimate creative might - simply speak and brings order into chaos
2. God created orderly, intentionally, with purpose
- Creation is no accident
- Pagan creation myths - Enuma Elish (Babylonian)
gods/dragons - warring
- Tiamat stabbed in eyes, out of which flow Tigris and Euphrates
- Different today - freak chance of nature -primordial scum on the beach
3. God created it "good"
- Goodness of creation is not inherent
- Creation is good because good God created it good & blessed it with his goodness.
How Big is Your God?
- Don't let Genesis 1 be boring to you because it's familiar. God spoke creation into existence with a purpose.
- After you attempt to see God's power (how huge the universe is and he created it all) know this - God is as loving as he is powerful!
There is only one God.
- No one participates with God in creation
- Not the sun, moon or stars
- Not mother nature / earth
- Not the waters or the dry land - sorry Darwin
| 2. Creation and Us
- People are the apex, climax of God's creation
- The crowning achievement of God's creation
- Literary pattern established, pattern, all pushing towards day 6, then it all grinds to a halt and God creates mankind. We are no mistake from random chance.
- “Trinity” (“threeness”) — we see this in creation
-God the Father — ultimate authority; decides there will be a creation
-God the Son — agent, does work — Col 1:16; John 1:3)
-God the Spirit (v 2) — completes, gives life
This is the “us” of Genesis 1 — we are made in the image of the triune God
- Key is in the Hebrew word translated “likeness” — similar but not identical
- “Image” refers to all those qualities that together enable us to resemble God
- Image of God
- We were made like him
- We were made to reflect him to creation
- APPLICATION #1: THE IMAGE OF GOD IS THE SOURCE OF ALL HUMAN DIGNITY
- “Dignity”: sense of worth, significance — “I’m somebody”
- I am who I am because God has infused his likeness into me
- APPLICATION #2: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREATION AND OUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH
- Continuum
- We were created in God’s image
- Image is never lost, although it is marred by sin
- God died so that his own image in us could reach its full potential
| 3. The Fall
- Adam was standing there the whole time letting Satan tempt his wife.
- God judges Adam and Eve, but doesn't curse them. He curses Satan, but not Adam and Eve.
- The real problem in Genesis 3 is not the snake, it's not Eve, it is Adam
- The essence of sin is questioning God
- his character, goodness, wisdom, his love for his creation, saying God is wrong
- Genesis 3 isn't ancient history, it's current events
- Satan is still telling us the same lies
- God is both Judge and Redeemer
- Not just the judge of sin, but also the redeemer of sin
- It was a loving act of redemption for God to kick them out of the Garden of Eden once they were in their sin so they didn't live forever in sin, never being able to live beyond it. Dying is redemption, someday that life of sin will be done.
| 4. The Flood
- This is no children's story but one of the darkest, bleakest times of human history
- Even in the midst of judgement God is the redeemer
- Noah had amazing faith
- God told him he was going to flood the earth, Noah had no experience of a flood
- God told him to build an ark, a HUGE boat, it took 7 days to fill it up with animals
- The ark had no rudder or sail, they were at the mercy of God, they just had to give in
- What God is asking Noah to do is NUTS! But what does he do? Believe and responds in obedience.
- God calling Noah to do what he cannot see, and he responds in obedience.
- May have taken close to 100 years to build the Ark
- God told Noah and his family to fill and subdue the earth, his mandate for them was not ruined by all the sins of the world.
Genesis 8:17
[17] Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” (ESV)
| 5. Abraham's Covenant
- God chose him to be his agent of redemption, the means by which God would deal with sin
- God promises to bless Abraham, and that he will be a blessing to all the families of the world
- To receive these 2 promises he has to:
- believe, have faith
- he must act on that faith
- They are conditional promises
- Covenant relationship is being established
- certain privileges and obligations that come with that
- Covenantal community (covenant is also with his descendants)
- Genesis 15:6 is one of the most important verses in the OT
- Abraham believed, God counted it to him as righteousness
Genesis 15:5–6
[5] And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” [6] And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (ESV)
| 6. Joseph
- God is omnipotent/sovereign
- God is in control
- God is so powerful and faithful to keep his covenantal promises that will keep those promises even if it means working in the midst of human sin
- Joseph was his father's favorite
- Don't look at Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob as good fathers, great faith but not great fathers.
- 3 Key Things to take from this section of scripture:
1. God is sovereign, using Joseph's brother's sin for good and the great blessings of many
Psalm 115:3
[3] Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases. (ESV)
- Joseph suffered a lot of injustice and yet at every turn he refused to curse God, and when he did good things like interpret dreams he gave God the credit and glory
- God was at work keeping his blessing to Abraham by blessing Joseph and using Joseph and Pharaoh to keep his promises
2. God's sovereignty allows him to keep his promises even in the midst of human sin
- When life seems out of control faith says that God is in control
- God doesn't do evil
- Didn't make Joseph's brothers sell him into slavery
- Didn't make Potiphar's wife lie
- God holds the sinful party responsible
- Nothing happens that God hasn't decreed should not happen, he never loses control
Romans 8:28–29
[28] And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. [29] For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (ESV)
- Our actions of sin never thwart what God wants to accomplish
- He is at work in the midst to accomplish his good, which is that you look like his son
- not the cessation of pain
- not name it and claim it
- but that we be conformed to the image of his Son so that someday we will be glorified and we we see him we will look like him
1 John 3:2
[2] Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (ESV)
3. You and I are called to faith
- to believe in the promises of God
- to confess that when life seems out of control faith says God is in control
- to trust in God, look beyond the immediate, and believe that God is who he says he is
- He will reward righteousness and punish wickedness in his way and in his time
- What pleases God is not that we understand him but that we trust him, believe in him, have faith in him, especially in the difficult times of life.
Isaiah 55:8–9
[8] For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
[9] For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (ESV)
Do you believe that he is sovereign?
| 7. Moses and the Plagues
- YHWH
- I am
1. A claim that God exists, not a myth
2. God is unique, there's no one else like him
3. God's immutability, he does not change
- I am who I am
Jesus is God
"before Abraham was I am"
Jesus was claiming to be YHWH.
John 14:9
[9] Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (ESV)
- NOTES from The Bible Project Video:
- The Bible Project Video on YHWH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLrGM26pmM0
- EHYEH - the one who is and will be, existence doesn't depend on anyone else, this God simply IS
- Israelites wanted to honor the sacred name of God so when they read the Hewbrew bible aloud they stopped saying YAHWEH and instead started saying the Hebrew name for lord, ADONAI
- The tradition lasted centuries
- Later when people translated the Bible into English, they adopted the same practice
- Instead of spelling out the divine name, they translated it as LORD spelled in all capitol letters.
- Ancient Hebrew scribes wanted to prevent anyone from accidentally saying his name out loud so they came up with a device to make sure you remembered to say Adonai.
- They took the four consonant letters of the divine name, YHWH, and inserted the three vowels from their word for lord, AdOnAi and created an artificial hybrid word: YAHOWAH.
- If you pronounced it it would say yah-ho-wah, but no Israelite ever pronounced it, it was just a visual reminder to say the word Adonai.
- Christian scribes later didn't know it was an artificial word so they began to say it allowed and spell it in their writings as: JEHOVAH.
- LORD in all caps in your bible is an indication of the DIVINE name. Don't confuse it with Lord. That's just "adon" in Hebrew which just means Lord/Master.
- The One who Was, who IS, and who FOREVER WILL BE.
- God confirms he'll keep his promise to Abraham (Exodus 6)
- The Exodus is not just a story where a bunch of horrible things happened, it's a testament that God is faithful to his word and keeps his promises
| 8. The Ten Commandments
1. “You shall have no other gods before Me."
-Exodus 20:3
2. "You shall not make for yourself a carved image..."
-Exodus 20:4
3. "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain..."
-Exodus 20:7
4. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."
-Exodus 20:8
5. "Honor your father and your mother..."
-Exodus 20:12
6. "You shall not murder."
-Exodus 20:13
7. "You shall not commit adultery."
-Exodus 20:14
8. "You shall not steal."
-Exodus 20:15
9. "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
-Exodus 20:16
10. "You shall not covet...anything that is your neighbor’s."
-Exodus 20:17 (ESV)
- First 4 of the 10 commandments focus on how we relate to God
- no other gods, carved image, name in vain, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
- God is a jealous God.
- Human jealousy is usually a bad thing
- Divine jealousy is a good thing.
- You don't want God to share you with "the gods of this world."
- You don't want God to be content with just pieces of your heart, or for you to worship him and a whole bunch of other gods
- 3rd commandment, don't degrade, trivialize, treat with disrespect God, take his Glory away. Not just swearing. Don't treat God as something common.
- 4th Sabbath Day - work and rest as a pattern
- Commandments 5 - 10 if YHWH is my God then how does that affect how I relate to other people?
- 5th honor your parents that your days may be long in the land... Not saying they gave birth to you so do what they tell you but that YHWH is your God and therefore his command is for you to honor your parents.
- Commandments 6-9 all deal with taking things from your neighbor
- If YHWH is our God we won't take another person's life (murder), spouse (adultery), property (steal), reputation (bear false witness).
- 10th don't covet, deals with the heart. Leads to the heart attitude that will lead to not breaking the other commandments. The heart that doesn't covet doesn't murder, commit adultery, steal, lie.
- Does it matter today? Yes! They're all summed up in these two:
1. Love God
2. Love Your Neighbor
- Deuteronomy 6:4–5 is Jesus's summary of the essence of the first 4 commandments:
Deuteronomy 6:4–5
[4] “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [5] You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (ESV)
- Leviticus 19:18 sums up commandments 5-10.
Leviticus 19:18
[18] You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. (ESV)
- It's not about just keeping the law externally. It's about your heart being sold out to God. If external obedience was what the 10 commandments were really all about you couldn't summarize them with love.
- You also can't say that obedience is not required. It's not about just having a moment of positive volition. You can't just pray a prayer and you're good to go and live however you want.
- Holiness always matter
| 9. The Presence of God
- Why did God create?
- To have fellowship with us, not that he needed it
- That fellowship was broken by human sin
1. God is holy and so he will not dwell in the midst of sin
2. Sinful man who desperately needs a holy God
- Tabernacle was a place where the presence of the holy God dwell even in the midst of his covenantal and sinful people. Maintain his holiness amongst sin.
- Are you a part of the people of God?
- Are you defined by external things, even if they're good, or a person in whom the spirit of the living God lives? Dwells and is at work changing out hearts and minds and out of a changed heart and enjoyment of being in the presence of God, we desire to please him.
| 10. The Holiness of God (Leviticus)
- Sacrifice, burnt offerings
- male without blemish, bring God your best
- The person bringing the sacrifice kills the animal, is a participant, not just sitting back and watching
- In the sacrificial system we see that God is a Holy God
- God doesn't sin and is in fact separate from sin
- God's holiness drives the sacrificial system
- When we sin we are separated from the Holy God and something must be done to reconnect us to him
- As you grow in awareness of God's holiness we grow in awareness of our sin
- God's holiness highlights our sin
- Sin is the breaking of God's rules
- They are God's rules so when we sin, we sin against God
- Forgiveness comes from God
- Sin has a high cost
- The only acceptable punishment for it is death
- If a person doesn't think sin is that bad they haven't come to grips with the holiness of God
- God is a forgiving God, forgiving us with his mercy and grace
- God could be loving and just letting us burn in hell from our sins
- God allows a substitute's death to make amends
- Sacrifices aren't an automatic thing, your heart and repentance really matters
Isaiah 1:10-20
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching[b] of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
12 “When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
13 Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17 learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow's cause.
18 “Come now, let us reason[c] together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be eaten by the sword;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (ESV)
- Our sins have separated us from a Holy God
- The wages of sin is death
- Forgiveness is only from God as a gift
- Forgiveness is received only when I stand before the alter and offer my sacrifice there
- You can't understand what happened on Calvary unless you understand what happened in the book of Leviticus
- Hebrews teaches us that God's holy demands were once for all satisfied when Jesus died on the cross
- The cross is the ultimate alter and the Lamb of God died taking away our sins as a substitution to pay the penalty for what we have done wrong
- Jesus fulfilled the entire sacrificial system
- It was just there to help us understand our sins and that they cost the shedding of blood to be forgiven, forgiveness is only given through death
- The ABCs of Christianity
- Admit we are sinners
- Believing that Jesus's death on the cross payed the price for your sins
- Commit your life to him
- It was our hands that killed Jesus just as it was the sinner who had to kill the sacrificial animal:
Leviticus 1:4–5
[4] He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. [5] Then he shall kill the bull before the LORD, and Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. (ESV)
| 11 Sold Out to God (the Shema / Deuteronomy)
- Numbers = punishment for unbelief.
| 12 Faith is Not Genetic (Judges)
- God renews the Covenant with his people
- God promises to be their God if the people will commit themselves to faithful obedience, to making YHWH their God
- Each generation must make that decision / commitment for themselves
- Faith is not genetic, it must be taught
Deuteronomy 6:6–7
[6] And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. [7] You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (ESV)
- Judges = It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Best of Times
Judges 2:7
[7] And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel. (ESV)
Worst of Times
Judges 2:10
[10] And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel. (ESV)
Judges 21:25
[25] In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (ESV)
Joshua's generation was great but they failed to train their children.
| 13 God is King (1 Samuel)
- Samuel was the last Judge in Israel, and also a prophet and a priest
- Saul, 1st King, then David
- It seems like people just don't get it in the Old Testament
- Other than a few like Moses, David, etc. they can't get it and never will
| 14 David and Goliath
- David has faith in God's promises to be with Israel, he believes God
- David ran to the giant Goliath, he couldn't wait to see God work
1 Samuel 17:48
[48] When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. (ESV)
- David believed God
- True faith always leads one to act
- Faith without works is dead
James 2:26
[26] For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (ESV)
| 15 God's Provision and Protection (Psalm 23)
- difficult time for David, running from Saul
- David's men turn on him, plot to kill him
- David responds not in fear but in faith
- David sees God as intensely personal
- my shepherd, he makes me lie down, then write to God - you prepare a table before me
Psalm 23:1–2
[1] The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
[2] He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters. (ESV)
Psalm 23:5
[5] You prepare a table before me...
- God does what he does for his name's sake
- God is the center of the universe
- We are not the center of the universe
- Why does God lead us through the valley of the shadow of death?
- To take us to a better place
- God is still the good shepherd in the midst of struggle and hard times
- David believes God is with him and his God's presence is fullness of joy
- Are you one of his sheep? Your neighbor? Co-worker? Because the promises of Psalm 23 are not for everybody.
- Jesus's sheep know they need a shepherd, and that their good shepherd laid down his life for them
| 16 Confrontation and Confession (Psalm 51)
- How can David who slept with Bathsheba and had her husband killed be a "man after God's own heart?"
- Good people fail
- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Gideon, Saul, King David
- How does David respond to his sin?
- with true confession, no excuses or blaming others
- When you sin against others you sin against God
- Confession is for our sake. God wants us to have joy and gladness instead of bitterness and anger
- David doesn't just want to be forgiven, he want's to be different, for God to make his heart clean, no legalism
- Agreeing sin is wretched and so are we when we're in it, yet God completes completely and freely though there may still be consequences
- We're not fooling God when we fail to confess
| 17 The Wise and Foolish (Solomon, Proverbs)
- Solomon was wise and started well but ended poorly
Proverbs 1:7 (ESV)
[7] The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
- Fear of the Lord means reverential awe
- we treat God with worshipful respect
- If you search for wisdom you will find God because true wisdom starts with knowing who God is
Proverbs 2:1–6 (ESV)
[1] My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
[2] making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
[3] yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
[4] if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
[5] then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
[6] For the LORD gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
- God knows best
- Two kinds of people
- believes God's ways are the best ways
- people who don't believe God is wise
- The wise person is teachable and always think's God's ways are best
- The fool doesn't listen to God
- The fool is all about short term gratification and does not think about consequences
- Are you going to believe God or your friends?
- Do you believe that God knows best?
Proverbs 3:5–7 (ESV)
[5] Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
[6] In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
[7] Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
| 18 Suffering and Faith in God (Job)
- Can you trust God? Even if we're not blessed and
- Will I have faith in God even if I suffer? If I don't understand the way things are
- When life makes no sense at all can I still trust God?
| 19 Elijah and Syncretism (1 Kings 14–18)
- United Monarchy - When Saul, David, & Solomon were kings
- Divided Monarchy - the 12 tribes split after Solomon dies
- Southern 2 tribes, Judah & Benjamin, follow Solomon's son Rehoboam
- become known as The Southern Kingdom, or Judah
- Northern 10 tribes follow Jeroboam
- become known as the Norther Kingdom, or Israel
- Capital of the Southern Kingdom remains Jerusalem
- Capital of the Northern Kingdom is Sumeria
- Jeroboam had a problem
- All worship and festivals happen in Jerusalem in Judah
- Creates two new worship centers in Bethel and Dan
- Big no no, clear in Mosiac Law that you only worship in Jerusalem
- Creates golden calves and claims they're who brought them out of Egypt
- Jeroboam's answer to his problem is syncretism, merges the Mosaic religion of Yahweh with the Caananite religion of Baal and Asherah
- Baal was the chief God in the Caananite religion
- often depicted as a bull
- god of fertility, storm
- Ashera was his consort / girlfriend
- We must not compromise by mixing the worship of the true God with the worship of false gods
- We must not compromise by trying to straddle the fence, or mix teaching of the true God with false gods
- Elijah means Yahweh is my God
- Choose this day whom you will serve, don't be luke-warm, don't straddle the fence
| 20 Isaiah and the Holiness of God (Isaiah 6:1-8)
- 100 years after Elijah things are still going downhill
- Northern Kingdom has mostly bad kings, eventually conquered by Assyria, deported and resettled with foreigners and syncratism really set in
- Even most of the "good kings" didn't destroy the high places with foreign gods
- Isaiah was highly educated, 25% of the words he uses we don't know what they mean, had a huge vocab
- hardest book to translate
- one of the most quoted books in the NT
- dominated by themes of God's holiness, judgement, and redemption
- God is a God of holiness and the whole Earth is full of his glory
- You get to an end with words when trying to describe God's holiness
- The immense power of nature, like Mt. St. Helens, is nothing compared to God's power
- Glory is holiness revealed, holiness is glory kept silent
- When we see God's glory we can't take our sin lightly
- People who take sin lightly don't know God's glory
- The only biblical response to seeing God's glory is to fall on your face
| 21 Isaiah and the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 52–53)
- Promise of a coming savior woven through the OT
- 4 prophesies about Christ at the end of Isaiah
2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)
[21] For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
- Atonement, substitutionary atonement. We aren't righteous, but we are righteous because he is righteous
| 22 Micah, Judgment and Salvation (Micah 2:6-7)
- The people falsely believe that religion is external, just go through an external ritual and you're good to go
- They think they'll all go to heaven because they're the natural blood relatives of Abraham
- They think they're saved by their external religion, because they do certain religious rituals they can do whatever else they want and it doesn't matter.
- We have the same atmosphere in America
Micah 2:6–7
[6] “Do not preach”—thus they preach—
“one should not preach of such things;
disgrace will not overtake us.”
[7] Should this be said, O house of Jacob?
Has the LORD grown impatient?
Are these his deeds?
Do not my words do good
to him who walks uprightly?
- Out of a heart of love for God flows covenantal obedience, flows love, flows kindness, flows humility.
| 23 Hosea and Unfaithfulness to God
- God longs to receive his people back to him if only they would be faithful
- If we're willing to be faithful he's willing to forgive and take us back
- We are idolaters if we desire something more than we desire God
- We are idolaters if we seek something more than we seek God
- We're good at crying out to God in hurt and pain but when the money is flowing and life is free from poverty and pain we forget God and the more we worship the gods of wealth and comfort.
- As we descend the downward spiral of sin our children get caught in it
Deuteronomy 6:4-7
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[b] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
| 24 Habakkuk, Righteousness and Faith
- Habakkuk prophesied around 640 - 610 B.C.
- Assyria conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel about 80 years before he started
- Habakkuk talks back and forth with God
- Central question of Habakkuk - How do you live in the in between time? In the meantime?
- God is righteous and just and has promised to reward righteousness and punish wickedness
- We don't always see this, so how do we live in the meantime?
- Answer: Habakkuk 2:4 (ESV)
"Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith."
- The just shall live by faith
- Habakkuk lived by faith:
Habakkuk 3:16 (ESV)
I hear, and my body trembles;
my lips quiver at the sound;
rottenness enters into my bones;
my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble
to come upon people who invade us.
Habakkuk 3:17–18 (ESV)
Habakkuk Rejoices in the LORD
[17] Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
[18] yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
- Habakkuk's faith has freed him from fear
- He will rejoice in God his savior even in great difficulty
Hebrews 11:6 (ESV)
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Hebrews 11:1–3 (ESV)
[1] Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. [2] For by it the people of old received their commendation. [3] By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
The question of Habakkuk:
- Do you believe God? Will you be faithful to him day in and day out? Through difficulty? Will you rejoice in the Lord and take joy in the Lord of your salvation?
| 25 Jeremiah The New Covenant
- The theme of "The Heart"
- the heart is what is primary and behavior is secondary
- the heart is the center of our will, thinking, decision making, passions, priorities set, values established
- our heart leads our feet and mouths follow
- what's going on deep down inside the core of our being?
- our hearts motivate why we do what we do
- the human heart is wicked
Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV)
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Matthew 12:34 (ESV)
You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
- most people think they and the heart is basically good
- the problem is not external
- the core of the human dilemma is the wicked human heart
- we are sinners by nature and by choice
- if in evangelism the people you're talking to won't accept this fact they will never see the need for forgiveness
- the only solution for the human condition is to deal first with the heart and let that move from the heart out to behavior and that is God's solution
Jeremiah 31:31–34 (ESV)
The New Covenant
[31] “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, [32] not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. [33] For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [34] And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Ezekiel 36:26–28 (ESV)
[26] And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. [27] And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. [28] You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Ezekiel 37:1–14 (ESV)
The Valley of Dry Bones
- Gods spirit can breath life into your dry bones
1 Corinthians 11:25 (ESV)
[25] In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” [26] For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
- the new testament / covenant comes thanks to Jesus's life and death
- after he ascended God's spirit was poured out on flesh
- God's promise to Abraham of blessing was being fulfilled
- God changes people:
1 Peter 2:9–10 (ESV)
[9] But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. [10] Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
| 26 Lamentations, Confession and Faith
- they are acrostic poems, each line starts with the next letter of the alphabet
- passionately honest with how it is and how bad it is
- no victim mentality, they accept the blame
- God never gets blamed for anything when it comes to true confession
- Why would God let something this bad happen? People want God to stay out of their business until something bad happens and then sweep in and fix it, then leave so they can go back to living how they want to
- we want what we want when we want it, but people of faith will sit down and quietly wait for God to act, believing God is faithful, loving, and will do what he said he would
- you find out what you truly believe in the midst of pain
| 27 The Birth of Jesus
- Genesis 3 man falls to sin and God promises he'll do something about it - the snake crushing king foretold "I will put enmity between your offspring and her offspring...he shall bruise your head"
- 1,800 B.C. God makes a promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 "in you all the families of the earth will be blessed
- 1,000 B.C. God makes a promise to King David in 2 Samuel "when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body and I will establish his kingdom and he shall build a house for his name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever and I will be to him a father and he will be to me a son."
- 740 B.C. God speaks through Micah 5 "but you oh Bethlehem...from you shall come forth one who is to be ruler in Israel whose origin is of old from ancient days
- 740 B.C. Isaiah 7 "the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel" which means God with us
- 0 B.C. The angel Gabriel visits the virgin Mary
- Luke 1:26–38
Birth of Jesus Foretold
Luke 1:26-38 (ESV)
[26] In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, [27] to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. [28] And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” [29] But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. [30] And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. [31] And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. [32] He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, [33] and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
[34] And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
[35] And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. [36] And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. [37] For nothing will be impossible with God.” [38] And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Matthew 1:18–25 (ESV)
The Birth of Jesus Christ
[18] Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. [19] And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. [20] But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. [21] She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” [22] All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
[23] “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Emmanuel”
(which means, God with us). [24] When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, [25] but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
- "Son of God" is biblical language which means he is God, Jesus is God
- John 1 "in the begging was the word and the word was with God and the word was God
- John 1:14 "The word became flesh and dwelt among us" Jesus was fully human, this mystery is The Incarnation - God was made flesh
- oranges can't pay the penalty for fig trees, and only a human being can pay the penalty for human sin
- Hebrews 2
| 28 John the Baptist
- around 27 A.D. John the Baptist broke onto the scene
- the Jews came to John to be baptized but he knew they didn't come with repentant hearts but rather hands full of things to give - "look at me God I'm a Jew who keeps the law" and John would have them know there's no value in them being Jews and that they need to come in repentance with our hands empty knowing we can give God nothing
- there is no place for biblical repentance that results in constant sin
- the person who claims to have had a conversion experience and their life shows no change and they think that's OK, maybe not preferable but OK, then the words of John cry out "bear fruit in keeping with repentance."
- if you're truly repentant you will bear fruit and if you don't bear fruit you're a tree that is cut down and burned
- the idea that once we've had a conversion experience and then nothing else matters is really a strangely American phenomenon
- repentance is a confession and profession
- a confession of your sin, brokenness, inability to do anything about it
- profession of faith that what I can't do Jesus has done on the cross
- when we have that powerful repentance our lives start to change
| 29 Nicodemus and Rebirth
- born of water - undergo the waters of repentance
- born of the spirit - the holy spirit
- you can't earn it, it is God who saves by cleansing and renewing
- the only way to get from the realm of earthly existence, the flesh, into the realm of spirit where there is life is through the work of God's spirit, we can't do it to ourselves, only God can do it
- This is why all works religions are simply wrong
- What does it mean "whoever believes in Jesus?"
- it certainly involves believing the facts, but that's not saving faith because "even the demons believe and shudder" James 2:19
- believing in Jesus includes the idea of coming to faith submitting ourselves to God's rule, entered the kingdom, said the sinner's prayer
- but "believe in" means more than all this. It's more like "believe into" whoever believes into him
- no longer believing in ourselves, transferring our trust out of ourselves into the person of Jesus Christ
- receiving Jesus, abiding in Jesus
- that by believing you may have life in his name
John 20:30–31
The Purpose of This Book
[30] Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; [31] but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (ESV)
- Paul calls it "being in Christ"
- Col 3:3 "our life is hidden in Christ"
- Gal 2:20 "it is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in me"
- "Whoever believes into him" moving our trust out of ourselves throwing ourselves into the merciful hands of God fully trusting him for everything, forgiveness, salvation, life itself
- true biblical saving faith moves us out of ourselves and moves us into the person of Jesus Christ mystically joined with him and we become his child and we live as his child, follower, disciple
- to believe into Jesus is to abide in him, to live in him, be joined to him, no longer trust in ourselves, but take everything we are and transfer it into him and place all our trust in him
- eternal life does mean that it will go on forever, but the emphasis is that the age to come is a different kind of age. The emphasis is on quality not quantity.
John 17:3
[3] And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (ESV)
- the essence of eternal life is relationship, to know God
| 30 Beatitudes
- beatitude Latin word for blessed and it doesn't mean happy but approved by God
- blessed are the poor in spirit, every disciple of Jesus should be poor in spirit which means they know they have nothing to offer him
- blessed are the meek. A meek person has an accurate assessment of who they are, they know who they are, a true view of one's self
- The New Testament is counter cultural
- We should hunger and thirst for his righteousness
- ABCs
- Admit you have sinned
- Believe on Jesus
- Confess Christ Publicly
| 31 The Lord's Prayer
Matthew 6:9–15
[9] Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
[10] Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
[11] Give us this day our daily bread,
[12] and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
[13] And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
[14] For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, [15] but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (ESV)
- Not meant to be repeated word for word meaninglessly but used as an example
- prayer starts with a proper view of who God is
- "Our Father..." pray corporately not just alone
- Our Father - God is personal, cares for us, hears our prayers,
- prayer is not primarily about me, but God
- We are calling on God to act for his Glory
- we pray may your name be holy
- your kingdom come - God rule in me
- your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven - which is always done perfectly, not my will but yours be done
- We are called to forgive, our debt to God is far greater than any debt someone has to us
- Our Father in Heaven, when we see him for who he is we start to understand who we are, and how we should be utterly dependent on him
- Everything we have comes from him - our talents, everything - so we must rely on him
- human security is an allusion
- my forgiveness of others is not predicated (based on) on their repentance, but God's forgiveness of me is predicated upon my forgiveness of others, if I am truly forgiven then I will forgive
- no matter what I've done to someone, or what they've done to me - my sin against God is far greater
Matthew 6:12
[12] and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Matthew 6:14–15
[14] For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, [15] but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
- most of us are obsessed with ourselves and that shows itself in self reliance
- instead of being free we are enslaved, but prayer teaches us we are to be obsessed with God our Father in Heaven and with His holiness, and His reign, and that His will be done
- it is only with this kind of obsession that we will see we are utterly dependent on him for everything
- instead of reminding God of everything he owes us, we come to him with our hands open and empty and pray Our Father in Heaven and we're free to rest in his arms and trust and serve
- prayer is worship, another way to come into the presence of God declaring who he is and what he has done
[13] And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
- pray the Lord's prayer as a pattern to follow
| Seek God (on 12:23)
- worry carries the illusion that it accomplishes something, but it doesn't
- worry carries the illusion that we're in control but we're not
- the Sermon on the Mount is counter cultural in the extreme when it comes to worry
- the kind of person who recognizes his spiritual poverty and trusts in God's righteousness is the kind of person who will replace worry with faith as he seeks hard after God
Matthew 6:25–31
Do Not Be Anxious
[25] “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [26] Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? [27] And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, [29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? [31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ (ESV)
- God feeds the birds and clothes the flowers
- The Creator is also the sustainer
- Don't just see God in the miraculous but also in the nature he created, the laws God established and still superintends
- The laws of nature are still supernatural, gravity doesn't work because mass attracts, gravity works because God says mass should attract
- God is at work creating and sustaining His creation
- We must learn to see God at work supernaturally in both the mundane and the unusual, the ordinary and the extraordinary
- When we believe God feeds the birds and clothes the flowers then we'll be able to see that God also feeds us and clothes us
Comments
Post a Comment