INTRODUCTION
OUR
RESPONSIBILITY IN THIS STUDY
2
Jn. 9-11 We
have a responsibility to believe and live by the teaching (doctrine)
of God's word. We are to reject that which is false teaching. Therefore,
as the teacher, I have a responsibility to teach only what the
scriptures teach. As the student, you have a responsibility to question
anything that is not according to truth and to refuse to accept any
error. In order to do this, it is necessary for us to understand
what truth
is.
Deut.
29:29 The
Lord has given us what He wants
us to know. However, He hasn't
given us everything there is
to know. Those things that He has chosen
not
to
reveal to us are the "Secret
things of God".
We are to
honor the silence
of God by not adding
to
or filling
in
where He has
kept silent. This does not give us license to bind
our
opinions. In
this study, we will see what God
has said - not man.
An
outline has been provided for each lesson in this series. These
outlines are
intended for your own personal follow-up study to insure that we have
not taken any scripture out of context or misrepresented the
truth in any way. You are encouraged to review each lesson
on your own after we have studied together. Write down any
questions that you have so we can consider them at the next
study.
A
DESIRE TO KNOW THE TRUTH
Acts
17:10-11 The
Bereans are an example of a proper attitude in desiring to know the
truth by comparing
what is been taught to what God's word says.
THE
HONESTY OF STUDYING IN CONTEXT
It
is possible to "twist" the scriptures and make them teach
what ever you want them to teach.
2
Pet. 3:14-18 To
avoid being led into error, it is important to be diligent in your
study of
God's word to insure that you understand
the truth of His word.
If
a newspaper reporter interviewed you and then reported one statement
that you made without mention of any of the rest
of what you said taking
it
out of context),
he would be misrepresenting
you. His "slant" on the news would not be a true
representation of the facts. He could not be credited with
reporting the truth
but could be guilty of slander
and be subject to libel.
This is why we must take care to not misrepresent what God
has said on any matter. Therefore, when studying God's word,
consider the context
by reading before
and after
the verses that are under consideration. Remember, the
scriptures can be made to teach error if not understood in the
proper context. Consider this example:
Psm.
14:1 "...there
is no God..." before,
it says, "The fool has said in his heart..." After,
it says, "...they are corrupt." Without
reading in context,
it
would
be teaching atheism.
KNOW
WHAT HE MEANT - NOT JUST WHAT HE SAID
God
knows what He meant when He spoke. (He
said what He meant, and He meant what He said)
We must understand
what He has said and not assume
what He has said. In other words, in an effort to interpret
what He said,
we may become guilty of misrepresenting
what He meant.
Consider this example:
Jn.
21:18-23 When
Jesus spoke to Peter while others were listening, what He said was
later misrepresented. Compare what He said
in vs.
22 (first sentence)
and how they interpreted
it
in
vs.
23 (next
sentence). Now,
look at the last sentence in vs.
23
where Jesus' statement is repeated
word-for-word, but notice the emphasis
on the word "will"
when
He said, "If I will
that he remain..." Do you see how failing to consider
one
word
changed the understanding
of what He said? False
doctrine was spread because what they heard
was not what
Jesus
meant.
THE
WISDOM OF KNOWING GOD
Having
purpose in life and knowing how to live life to our fullest potential
demands that we understand that God, as our Creator, knows
best the things that make for a happy and fulfilling life
now, and a glorious eternal life beyond this
one. God is the source of that wisdom.
Psm.
111:10 The
beginning of wisdom is in fearing (honoring) God, understanding
His word and obeying what He has commanded.
Col.
2:8 Beware
of human
wisdom as opposed to the wisdom found in God's word.
Prov.
4:7 The
wisdom of Solomon tells us that the main thing in life is to gain
wisdom
and understanding.
Eccl.
1:13 Solomon
set out to get wisdom and know what life is all about.
Eccl.
12:13 After
his search, his conclusion was that we honor (fear) God and obey
what
He has commanded us.
A
FEW GROUND RULES FOR OUR STUDY
THIS
STUDY IS INTENDED FOR EVERYONE.
Because everyone has a different level
of understanding and background in their knowledge of the bible,
this study is
conducted in the same way with everyone. Therefore, please do not be offended
if some of the material seems too simple.
It is not an insinuation that you
don't know anything about the bible. It is my purpose to insure that everyone
come to an accurate understanding of God's word. Repetition of what
you
already know is beneficial to retention and often results in
something new learned.
Let's enjoy in sharing what we know and learn.
WHAT
THIS STUDY IS NOT.
This study is not a product of what a particular "church"
has determined to be their "doctrine." It must be
understood (and
this will
be part of our study in a future lesson) that
the church has no
legislative authority. On
the contrary, the church is subject
to
God's word as its only authority.
THE
PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY.
The purpose of this study is to help you to come
to a fuller understanding of God's word, so that your faith is YOUR
faith and
not someone else's. If you only believe what someone has taught
you without
searching out the truth on your own in order to fully understand it,
you allow
someone else
to determine what you believe for
you (Remember
the Bereans).
If you apply yourself to this study, you will have a good working knowledge
of God's word; of how it "fits together," how it is
properly applied to
us, and how to live & confidently teach others the truth of God's
word.
DO
NOT BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS!
There are no dumb
questions when asked
in sincerity with a desire to learn. Don't be afraid that someone
will think less
of you because you feel a need to ask a question. The question you
fail to
ask
is probably the same
question someone else
is wanting to ask but is afraid to
ask. If no
one
asks, no one learns the answer. So, ask
questions
!
I
will make a sincere effort to answer your questions. If I cannot
answer it when asked,
I will write your question down and try to find the answer in God's
word. When
I have found the answer, I will share it with you and show you where
I found
it. If I am unsuccessful I will tell you that I don't know the
answer. Fair?
However,
I may not answer every questions when
you ask it. Experience has taught
that some questions can be answered too soon, before sufficient background
has been studied in order to fully understand the answer correctly.
Most
questions are answered at some point in this study. No sincere
question will
be avoided. Truth has nothing to hide.
THANK
YOU
Finally,
thank you for the privilege of sharing in this study with you. There
is no more
worthwhile endeavor than to learn of God and to commune with Him in study
and prayer.
Do
not go any further without reading & completing this page
Before
continuing this bible study, it is very important that you answer
the following questions. When you do so, make sure that you think
very carefully before writing your answers so that you are accurately
recounting
what you did or believed at
the time that you "obeyed" that which
you had been taught. Also, it is important that you be specific
when telling
what you did. For example, were you baptized, and if so, tell
exactly
how
it was done (Were you put under
water, had water sprinkled or
poured on you, etc.) Also, it is important that you tell why
you did what
you did. (For example, were you baptized because you had asked
Christ
to come into your heart and therefore believed that you were saved at
that point and was baptized as an outward demonstration of an inward faith.)
It would be good to tell how old you were when this happened and, if
you didn't really understand why
it was done the way it was, say so in your
answer. In
answering the second
question, it is important that you answer it according
to what your understanding was at
the time that you did
it
or experienced
it.
For example, was your understanding that your sins were removed
at the moment you "said
something,
or was it at the moment you prayed
to God, or was it at the moment something was done
(such as baptism).
In most cases, there may have been a number
of things that were
done
or that happened,
but you must be specific in telling exactly what
act
or at
what point
you believed your sins were removed.
These
are not trick questions.
They are not intended for anyone's
benefit but yours. Experience has shown that after having
studied
the scriptures in regard to salvation, our relationship to God, and the
church, it is not uncommon for people to have difficulty remembering exactly
what they believed previously or why they responded as they did to
what they were previously taught. The reason these questions are being
asked at the beginning
of this study is to help you to avoid that problem.
Upon completing this study, you may wish to look back at your answers
and compare them to what you have learned from the scriptures.
1.
What did I do to have my sins forgiven ? ___________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
2.
At exactly what point were my sins forgiven ?______________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
LESSON
1
THE
GOD THAT WE SHOULD KNOW
Who
is God? What is He like? Prepare to stretch your mind as we learn
about the God of Heaven.
Our study about Heaven and Hell should have prepared us for this
part of our study.
Lesson one was a sobering look at eternity's dwelling places. We
will be no less impressed
by the God before whom everyone
will stand and hear which of those two places
they have chosen for themselves. Get ready to be impressed!
Getting
To Know God
Psm.
90:1-2 God
is eternal, having no beginning and no end. When you think of eternity,
what do you normally think about?
Isa.
40:12-26 Isaiah
gives us an insight to the greatness of God. As creator of all things,
He is all-powerful and all-knowing. Man's effort to depict God
in
carved images is foolishness because He cannot be compared to any
created thing. To worship any other, whether created or
imagined, is idolatry. Our brief existence on earth is
dependent on the one
true God.
NOTE:
"Circle of the earth" - Isaiah recorded a scientific fact
about the earth over 700 years before Christ and hundreds of years before science gave evidence to this fact. This is evidence of God's authorship of the bible.
Psm.
139:1-ff God,
who sees and knows all, knows us intimately. There is no place that
we can escape His watchful eye. This can be a great comfort to
us
as it was to the writer, David, knowing that He is ever mindful of
us. On
the other hand, it can be discomforting to know that we cannot hide sin
from His view.
Heb.
4:13 "And
there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and
open to the eyes of Him to
whom we must give account."
Acts
17:22-31 Here,
we find Paul ready to reveal the one true God to some "religious"
people who were ignorantly worshipping what they
perceived
God to be. To them, this was the "unknown God." Paul
warns that we are responsible to know
who this God is, and to submit
to Him by repenting (changing our allegiance). Our
motivation for this choice is the fact that God has
appointed a day of judgment. We can be certain
of this because God has raised the One who is to be our
Judge from the dead; Jesus Christ.
NOTE
- In vs. 29 Paul refers to God as "the Divine Nature."
[theios]
= "Godhead."
2
Cor. 13:5
The
purpose for our study is to help us to examine and prove
ourselves to see whether we are in the
faith.
Unerstanding
The Nature Of God
Jn.
4:24 God
is Spirit.
Lk.
24:36-39 After
Jesus was raised from the dead He had to convince His
disciples that He was not like a Spirit, but had
flesh and bones.
Rom.
1:20
God [theos]
is referred to in regard to His "Godhead" (Divinity)
[theiotes]
NOTE
- The
word "Godhead" may be better understood as Godhood
(The
condition of being Divine).
Compare this to the condition of "parenthood"
where a mother and father are parents.
1
Jn. 5:7 The
Father, Son and Holy Spirit are One
(in agreement, purpose and in their Divine Nature as the
Godhead.)
Mt.
3:16-17 On
the occasion of Jesus' baptism, we find all three Persons of the
Godhead present.
Mt.
28:19 Jesus
commanded His apostles to baptize "in the name of the Father
and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Their authority is One.
Jn.
20:17 The
Father is God (theos).
Heb.
1:8 The
Son is God (theos).
Acts
5:3-4 The
Holy Spirit is God (theos)
Jn.
1:1-5, 14 Using
the same words that Gen. 1:1 starts with, the writer says that, "In
the beginning" (before the creation), the Word existed and the
Word is God. In verse 14 we find that the Word became
flesh andwalked
(lived) among us. This refers to none other than Jesus Christ.
Jesus
Christ is the central Person in the bible. The Old Testament looked
forward to His coming, and the New Testament looks back at His
having come with a view to His return. This is the theme of the
bible.
LESSON
2
GOD'S
WORD - MESSAGE TO MANKIND
Understanding
the ways of God
Isa.
55:8-9 His
ways are higher than our ways, not the same
as our ways. Therefore,
as we continue in this study, you may encounter some truths
that seem foreign to your way of thinking. This is not uncommon. Remember,
He is God, the Creator - we are man, the created. This study
will require an open mind and an honest heart.
Jer.
10:23 We
are not capable of directing our own way in life without His leading. Because
this is so, God's word demands our humility
to accept this
fact,
our confidence
to
believe what He has spoken, and our trust
in Him to follow the directing of His word.
Prov.
14:12 We
must beware of a way that may seem
right, but that leads to the wrong
destination and our eternal loss. Therefore, we must demand
the truth of God's word and be certain that we understand
it.
Gal.
1:6-10 God's
word can be perverted (twisted) to make it teach whatever man wants
it to teach. Therefore, we must be cautious not to accept
anything in addition
to, or different
than what God has revealed in His word, not even if it
were to come from an angel. No matter who the messenger
is, put your trust in His word, not in men (or angels).
2
Tim. 2:15 We
are to be "rightly
dividing
the word of truth;" [ "handling aright the word
of truth."(arv)]
To command this is to imply that it can be mishandled.
We must be cautious to honor the revelation of truth.
The
standard of truth
Jn.
17:17 Jesus
declared God's word to be truth.
TRUTH
IS ABSOLUTE - NOT A MATTER OF OPINION
Some
say that truth is relative,
that truth is what you perceive
it to be, that
what is truth to one is not necessarily truth to another. However,
what you or I think
does not change the truth.
Illustration:
I may think 2 + 2 = 4, someone else may think it equals 3, another
5, another 6.
One
says, "but I was taught
that 2 + 2 = 3 Another
says, "We have always
believed
2 + 2 = 5
The
other one says, "I feel
that 2+ 2 = 6 and I wouldn't trade
the feeling I have inside for a stack of math books." Is
the answer 4 because I
believe
it is 4, or do I believe it is 4 because
it is the truth?
TRUTH
CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD DIFFERENTLY - BUT IT
CAN BE MISUNDERSTOOD
DIFFERENTLY = ERROR
We
can understand the truth and agree on it, because it is
truth. If
we disagree, one or both of us are in error.
Amos
3:3 "Can
two walk together unless they are agreed?"
1
Cor. 1:10-13 The
result of following men rather than God's word = division.
How
did we get God's word?
Gal.
1:11-12 The
gospel did not originate with man. If you read vss.
13-24
you will hear Paul explaining how he had not had
opportunity to confer with any of the apostles in order to
learn
from them
what he had preached to others after his conversion. He
had not needed
to be taught
the truth because it had been given to him through
revelation by the Holy Spirit. (Also read Eph.
3:1-7
where Paul speaks of this revelation from God that he had
received and we can understand.)
2
Tim. 3:16-17 God
is the author of the scriptures. Inspiration
= "God-breathed"
NOTE
- The bible was written by the hand of 40 different men over a period
of over 1500 years. It should be considered that these
men were unable to communicate with one another to
"compare notes" in order to avoid any
inconsistencies. However, the bible is without
contradiction and is harmonious throughout. This could
only be possible due to the fact that one
mind
authored what all
of these men wrote. That one
mind
is the God of heaven.
2
Pet. 1:20-21 The
means by which God used to reveal His will to man was through the
Holy Spirit, who directed chosen men as to what to speak.
1
Cor. 2:1-ff The
Holy Spirit, Who knows the mind of God (Yahweh), has done the
work of revealing His word to us. Paul is an example of one of those
men who, through the Holy Spirit, preached God's word. What he
preached was not according to man's wisdom but was the wisdom from
God. Therefore, we can trust them to be accurate and true. But
to
understand the things revealed from God, we must view them with
a proper attitude. Our aim in this study is to present
the truth in the way Paul did; speaking only that which
has been revealed and without injecting
man's wisdom. In this way we can understand the truth and know
the mind of Christ.
2
Pet. 1:3 God
has given us all things that we need to know about life in order to live
it according to His purpose. If we have received all
things that pertain
to life and godliness, then we are not to expect any more revelation
from God. In short, we have the complete revelation of God.
Anything else would be more, less or the same.
Illustration: If
I take everything out of my pocket and give it to you, how much
do I have left in my pocket to give? In this way, we have
received all
that God intends to reveal. Remember Gal.
1:8.
Summary
God's
ways are higher than our ways because He is God. Understanding this,
we ought not
to think it strange that our way of thinking often differs from His.
That being the case, it is no
wonder that we are unable to direct our own way through life without
His direction. This demands
a level of trust on our part, as well as a great deal of caution.
Considering the fact that
the same word of truth can be twisted to teach whatever men desire it
to teach, we must
be watchful to not be deceived by such error. We must acknowledge
that God's word
is the standard by which we will be judged, therefore it is
imperative that we recognize that
truth is absolute and any effort to misuse it can lead to our eternal destruction. We can be
confident that we are capable of understanding His word and being in
agreement with others
who properly use it. Also, we can be assured that God is the author
of the bible;
that
when we read it, He is speaking to us through the words that the Holy
Spirit delivered through
the instrumentality of chosen men who faithfully recorded it for all
time. It is truth, it is complete,
it is sufficient, it is the final message from God to all mankind.
LESSON
3
HOW
WE GOT HERE
Six
Days of Creation
In
the creation account it is important to notice the logical sequence
in which things were created.
With each subsequent day of creation, the previous day's work was
built upon in God's
plan to create man - the focus and crown of all of God's creation.
Gen.
1:1-5 Day
1 - Heavens
created (This represented the creation of a physical
realm within which all created things would have their
existance. Within this realm
of the "heavens", time and space, which are
measurable
entities, came into existance.)
NOTE
- It is important to keep in mind that God is eternal and
preexisted all of creation. Prior to the creation of
this physical
realm that we call the universe, the spiritual
existance of Deity, Heaven and all of the heavenly beings
were forever in existance. The creation of the physical
realm and its brief period of existance is but a passing
moment in the backdrop of eternity. This entire realm of
time and space that is contained within the realm
of the heavens will come to an end as quickly as it
began. See Rev.
20:11.
As John witnessed the vision of things to come at the
scene of the judgment of God, he saw that "the earth
and the
heaven
fled away. And
there was found no place for them.
In short, the physical
realm ceased to exist as it was before
the creation.
Earth
created (Covered with water and the only heavenly body in
existance until the fourth day of creation.)
NOTE
- The
Big Bang theory postulates that the universe was formed
by the explosion of matter which flung debris into space
which became stars and planets in their various orbits.
They conclude this idea because of the discovery that the
universe is expanding from a central point. While the
theory is without scientific proof, it does
give evidence to the fact that the point from which the
universe is expanding is measurable from the location of
the universe where the earth is placed. It is
reasonable to understand that the Earth was formed three
days before the rest of the heavenly bodies of the
universe was formed and is therefore the center
of the universe. The Earth would become the focal point
of every important activity in the universe because it
was prepared as the physical
dwelling place of man.
Light
created (day & night)
NOTE
-
Light was created in the absence of the Sun, the stars or the
reflected light of the moon because they were not created
until the fourth day of creation. We understand that
visible light is a form of
energy that makes up just a small part of the electromagnetic field. This
energy field is made up of the entire spectrum of energy that includes
radio waves, infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet light,
X-rays, and
gamma rays. All of these are measurable in wave lengths on the angstrom
scale. An illustration of the difference between sound waves
(or
radio waves) and light waves is seen when you watch a baseball game
from high in the stands and see the batter swing and the bat make contact
with the ball, but you do not hear the crack of the bat until the
ball is
already rising into the air. This is because light travels much
faster than sound - so we see
it before we hear
it. Both light and sound are
measurable
based on frequency. In the case of light, varying frequencies determine
the variations in color. Therefore, God created light that does not
depend on an external force such as the sun - with the ability to
produce color.
This was part of the logical sequence in which God made the
universe.
In
order for the sun and stars to emit their light - light had to be
made first.
Gen.
1:6-8 Day
2 - Sky
created (Firmament = expanse, called heaven)
This expanse of sky was formed by a dividing of the surface water from water suspended above the earth. The space in between became sky.
Gen.
1:9-13 Day
3 - Seas
created (This was done by separating surface water from the exposure of land. Plant
life
was created.
Gen.
1:14-19 Day
4 - Sun,
moon &
Stars
created. God established the measurement of time (seasons, days & years) for the benefit of mankind. Because we live in a physical, finite world, there is a need for time measurements of the limits of our existence.
As previously noted, the light
emitted or reflected by these heavenly bodies was already in existance from day one. This is admittedly a challenge to our thinking due to our limited understanding of the
nature of light.
NOTE
-
Each "day" was a "morning and an evening" which
identifies a 24-hour day. God's creative power did not limit Him to millions of years to accomplish His work.
Gen.
1:20-23 Day
5 - Birds
&
Sea animals
created.
Gen.
1:24-31 Day
6 - Land
animals
& man.
Only man was made in the image of God (having an eternal spirit) In Paul's explanation of the form
that we will take on at death, he pointed out that we have a physical
body and a spiritual
body. (See 1
Cor. 15:42-29)
NOTE
- It
should be noted that the account of the creation of man is
separate
from that of the creation of animal life. There is good reason
for this because man was created uniqely
different from animal life in that man was created in the
image
of God
who is a spirit.
Unlike animal life, man is a spiritual
being clothed in a physical
body. See 1
Cor. 15:35-49
where Paul plainly points out that man is both physical
and spiritual.
Also notice that he distinguishes the physical nature of
man from the flesh of animals, fish and birds. Also he
points out how we will acquire a new body that is suited
for the spiritual
realm that we will enter after physical death.
Gen.
2:1-3b Day
7 - God rested from His work of creation.
Some
Things of Special Note
NOTICE
on days 3, 5 & 6, all living things were to reproduce "after
their own kind." This
was according to God's design, and it defies the evolutionary theory
of life evolving
from one "kind" to another. We find here no evolutionary
"crossing of kinds." It is only because of God's
distinct design work that we can depend on getting
watermelons when we plant watermelon seeds and not grapes; that we
can
depend
on cats not giving birth to dogs, and monkeys giving birth to humans.
NOTICE
on a typical evolutionary chart that lower life, beginning from the
seas, show life evolving to amphibians, then to lower (small)
mammals and birds, next comes the more complex mammals, and
then man. COMPARE this to the order of God's
creation:
Evolutionary
theory God's creative order
Aquatic
life (Simple one celled) Fish
& other complex aquatic life All aquatic life & birds (Day 5)
Amphibians Lower
(small) mammals Land animals (including mammals) & man Birds
(Day 6)
Complex
mammals Man
A
Closer Look at Man, Woman & Marriage
Gen.
2:4-7 This
is the history of God's creation of man and the preparation God made
for putting him on earth. He formed man from the dust of the
ground.
Gen.
2:8-9 God
provided a place for the man to live called Eden. (Verses 10-14 describe
this beautiful place as a garden.)
Gen.
2:18-24 Eve
was the last creative act of God. Notice that unlike the man whom He
had created from the dust of the ground and breathed into his
nostrils
the breath of life, God created the woman from a rib taken out of
the side of the man.
Also
notice that God established the institution of marriage and here stated
His law regarding its sanctity and permanence. Jesus referred to
this event and the law that God, the Father, had established. (See Mt.
19:3-6).
Later, this basic principal of marriage would be used to
teach some important spiritual applications that we will
consider later in our
study.
Summary
God
demonstrated His power and authority in His creation of all things.
We see the order of
His universe and the logical sequence in which He created all things
for the benefit of man.
If we consider the evidence of His creative power, we can easily put
our trust in the record
of His creation. In this accounting of the days of creation, we can
therefore confidently affirm
that God did not need millions of years to accomplish His work, but
did so in "a morning
and an evening." Also, we need not be deceived by the
foolishness of man's thinking
that we are the product of the random selection of some evolutionary
process (or that
removes God from the picture). Nor should we be intimidated by the
supposed knowledge
of highly educated men of science. Notice what Paul wrote in:
1
Cor. 1:25 &
3:18-20 Man's
wisdom is foolishness when compared to God's.
Rom.
11:33-36 In
short, man is not as smart as he thinks he is.
Finally,
we have learned that man is the crowning achievement of God's
creative work, that woman
is a unique creation, and marriage is of God's arrangement for them
both.
LESSON
4
SIN
ENTERS THE WORLD
Before
sin entered the world
Eph.
3:11-12 Before
God created man, He had a plan to redeem man, knowing that man
(having a free will to choose) would fall into sin. According to His eternal
plan, God made provision for this according to His purpose
which included Jesus Christ as the redeemer.
Eph.
1:4-5 Before
God created the world, He already had chosen that those
whom He would adopt as His own would have to be holy and
blameless in their love for Him. But how was He able to
do this?
Isa.
46:9-10 He
has all knowledge, knowing and declaring the end from the
beginning. Why did God choose to make man, knowing that
man would
sin? He made man for His own pleasure. (See Phil.
2:12-13)
Gen.
2:15-17 The
first choice
was given to man by denying him the right to eat of "the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (The kind
of tree is not
the
point of this message. The denying
of this particular tree made this tree
a tree that would cause man to distinguish between good [obedience]
and evil [disobedience] if he chose his
will over God's.)
Gen.
3:1-13 Notice
that Satan did not deny that God told them not
to eat of that tree,
but he denied that they would die
if they ate it (cf 2:17).
He deceived
Eve by twisting
the truth.
Rom.
4:15 Paul
pointed out that "where there is no law, there is no sin."
1
Jn. 3:4 Sin
is described as "lawlessness" - a refusal to obey law.
Isa.
59:1-2 Sin
is what separates us from God (breaks fellowship with God).
Jas.
2:26 This
"separation" of man from God is spiritual
death. (As physical death is the "separation"
of the body from the spirit.)
Ezek.
18:20 Sin
is not "inherited" or "handed down" from
generation to generation. Each
person who sins (which includes everyone. Remember Rom.
3:23)
is accountable for their own
sin.
Rom
14:10-12 "We
shall all
stand before the judgment seat of Christ" and "each
of us shall
give account of himself
to God."
The
First Ray of Hope for Man
Gen.
3:14-15 The
Seed of woman (Christ Jesus, the Messiah) would "crush" the head
of Satan (a deadly blow), but in so doing, her Seed (Christ) would
sustain a "bruised heel" (painful but not deadly). This is
the first
prophecy of hope that points to the coming of the Savior and the
remedy for sin by Christ's victory over sin. We will
learn in a future lesson that this prophecy was fulfilled
in Christ's painful crucifixion on the cross when He
overcame death and crushed Satan's power.
NOTE
- The
events surrounding the sin that was committed in the garden and
the prophecy that it concludes with made necessary the
entire remainder of the bible. Were it not for sin
committed in the garden, our bible might have been no
larger than the first few pages leading up to this point.
LESSON
5
THE
UNFOLDING OF GOD'S PLAN TO REDEEM MAN
After
Adam & Eve's sin in the garden of Eden, the rest of the bible is
devoted to the unfolding
of God's plan to restore the lost relationship between God and man,
the fulfillment of
that plan, and the results of it's completion. It is the story of
God's grace
and our access to
Him through faith
in His Son, Jesus Christ. As we ended the previous lesson, the first
ray
of hope was revealed in God's giving of the first of many prophecies
regarding the coming
of His Son, the Messiah. Notice in the chart, that there are 3
epochs in the history of man.
As we begin this journey through time, we find that God spoke
directly to the heads of
families ( or patriarchs). During this period of time, the theme of
the bible is "Christ is coming."
The only hope for mankind's redemption begins here and continues
through a
long
history of many generations. In this lesson we will look at some of
the key figures in the
unfolding of God's plan. As we do, we will refer to the New
Testament, specifically to Hebrews
11, where these same characters are portrayed as men of faith.
Heb.
1:1-2 Here
we have a thumbnail synopsis of God's revelation to mankind.
Cain
& Abel
Gen.
4:1-8 Cain
& Abel's conflict was one of jealousy over worship. This
resulted in
the first murder.
Heb.
11:1-4 Notice
that Abel's worship was by obedient faith.
Notice
- God declared him righteous.
"Righteousness"
- [dikaiosune]
"Whatever is right. Whatever conforms
to the revealed will of God." (God's word being the
standard
of right)
Righteousness is the condition resulting from obedience to
God
Jas.
2:14-21 Faith
involves more than just belief, but is the confirmation
of that belief in
the action of obedience.
Notice
- (vs.
18)
This verse demonstrates how the claim to have faith only
is an empty
claim because it does not demonstrate
by example
an obedient
faith.
Rom.
10:17 We
know that God must have told Cain & Abel how
to offer acceptable
worship, because Abel's worship was by faith, and from this
passage we find that faith depends upon hearing God's word.
Consider
- Did Cain worship God according to his own
will or according to God's will?
Prov.
14:12 Remember
this passage? It is a warning that we can see fulfilled in the
unacceptable worship of Cain, whose worship may have seemed
to
be good, and made Cain feel
good, but was not accepted by the God
to whom the worship was to be directed.
Noah
Gen.
6:5-8, 11-12 The
wickedness of man had grown to an all-time low. Yet, in all of this wickedness,
one man found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
"Grace"
- Favor
or approval that is unmerited (unearned).
Gen.
6:14-22 God
instructed Noah how to build the ark as the means of saving himself
and his family.
NOTE
- God was specific
in
His instructions to Noah.
Consider
- If God had told Noah to "make yourself an ark of wood,"
what kind of wood
could Noah have used? Any
kind of wood could have been used, But when Godspecified
"gopherwood," that eliminated all other kinds of
wood.
This
is an important principle to understand.
Gen.
7:1, 5 God
allowed Noah into the ark because he had obeyed God's instructions.
God recognized this obedience as righteousness.
Heb.
11:7 This
obedience is described as faith.
NOTE
- He was saved from the flood as an "heir" which is
conditional upon the "righteousness
which is according to faith."
Consider
- Who were the only people saved from the flood? Only
those who believed and obeyed.
Were
they saved by grace? Yes.
God provided the instructions for their salvation.
Were
they saved by faith? Yes.
Their obedience to God's offer of grace was in conformity to
God's plan to save them.
Were
they saved by faith only? No.
If God had not given them warning of the coming
destruction and instructions on how to be saved from it,
they would have had no source upon which to have faith.
When they acted upon God's warning, they had nothing to
boast of in their faithful obedience. It was ultimately
God's grace that made their faith possible.
Jas.
2:14-21 Remember
this passage? It applies here also.
Lessons
we can learn from Noah's example
Eph.
2:4-10 There
are some parallels seen in the saving of Noah's family within the ark
and the salvation of mankind in Christ as Paul explains in this passage.
Later, in a future lesson, we will see how this relates to us in
our present age.
Notice
- (vs.
8)
In the same way that Noah and his family were saved from the
flood, the salvation of man is "by grace through
(by way of) faith. Even faith
is a gift because without God's warning & instruction, there
can be nothing upon which to have faith, and therefore no
basis upon which to act
in obedience. Therefore, salvation
from destruction is dependent upon righteousness righteousness
is dependent upon obedience, (Rom. 5:21) obedience
is dependent upon faith, (Heb. 5:9) faith
is dependent upon revelation, (Eph. 2:8) revelation
is dependent upon grace, (Eph. 3:2-7) grace
is dependent upon God. (Tit. 2:11-12; Gal. 1:6)
Note:
Noah's salvation was dependent on all
of these things. To have left off any
one of these, he would have been lost with the
rest of the world in the flood. Therefore, He could not say that
he was saved by righteousness only,
or by obedience
only,
or by faith only,
or by revelation only,
for all of these things
were dependent upon God and His gift of grace.
Abraham
Gen.
12:1-7 The
3-fold promise made to Abraham. (392 years after the flood)
Heb.
11:8-10 The
Land
promise - Abraham's faith in this promise is seen in his
obedience
to God's instructions regarding it.
Heb.
11:11-12 The
Nation
promise - Abraham's wife demonstrates faith in this promise
in her conception of the promised child in their old age.
Gal.
3:16 In
this passage we are told Who the seed is that was spoken of in the first
prophecy of a coming Messiah in Gen.
3:16.
Here we see that
this
prophecy was fulfilled.
Isaac
Gen.
15:1-6 Abraham
began to wonder how God would fulfill His promises.
Notice
- (vss.
5 &
6)
His faith was accounted as righteousness.
He acted
on faith.
Gen.
16:1-3, 16 Abraham
was 85 year old when Sarah gave her handmaid to him in
an
effort to help God to fulfill His promises. Later, we see their
faith & trust
in God grow as they recognize that God is all powerful.
Gen.
22:1-18 We
see the faith of Abraham in offering his only son through which the promises
that God had made to him could be fulfilled.
Heb.
11:17-19 This
tremendous act of faith in the face of that which appeared to be a
contradiction to God's purpose, shows the character of Abraham. It
shows
the level of his faith to believe that God could raise his son from
the dead in order to still keep His promises in spite of no
prior examples of such ever having been done before.
Sometimes we try
to work things out for God, not realizing that He knows all and has all
power to keep His will. In this account, we can also see some parallels
of the coming of Christ and the sacrifice of God in sending
Him to earth as a sacrifice for mankind.
Jas.
2:22-24 Abraham,
in offering Isaac, acted
upon his faith. His faith, working together
with his work
of obedience, demonstrated what perfect (complete)
faith is.
Jacob
Gen.
32:24-28 Jacob,
later called Israel, continues this lineage of promise.
Gen.
35:23-26 Jacob
begets 12 sons through which the nation of Israel comes. Through
his son Judah, Christ would come into the world. Another of
those sons was Joseph.
Joseph
Gen.
37:3-8 Joseph
was the favorite son of Jacob, and his brothers were jealous.
Gen.
37:23-28 One
day when Jocob sent Joseph to check on his brothers, they sold him
to some merchants going to Egypt.
Gen.
37:29-ff Notice
that Jacob believed his son's deceipt & could not be
comforted. He was convinced that Joseph was dead and his
emotions
responded in grief. The lesson for us is that we too can be
deceived and be totally convinced, allowing us to trust
our emotions.
Gen.
39-44 The
life of Joseph is an interesting account. We find Joseph to be consistently
faithful to God in his obedience to His will. And we see
(Read: how
God blessed Joseph in every circumstance of his life, no matter
39:1-20 how
bleak it looked at times. Through God's grace and Joseph's
40:20-23 obedience,
his family was blessed and an entire nation (Israelites)
41:1,
29-31 resulted.
God's hand in carrying out His plan is clearly seen in the life
41:37-44 of
Joseph. He is an example we can all look up to and follow.
Gen.
45:1-10 Joseph
reveals his true identity to his brothers and invites them to bring
their families and their father to Egypt where he could provide & care
for them. The land they moved to was Goshen.
Ex.
1:1-5 The
company of Jacob and his son's family was 70 people.
Ex.
1:8-14, 22 Another
Pharoah comes to power who did not know Joseph. He
put
heavy burdens on the Israelites.
Moses
Ex.
2 Moses
is born. (1491 BC)
Ex.
2:11-15 Moses
leaves Egypt to dwell in the land of Midian. (40 years old.)
Ex.
3-4 Moses
was called by God from a burning bush and told to lead
Israel
out of Egyptian bondage. (80 years old.)
Ex.
12-15 After
430 years of bondage, Israel is freed from Egypt.
Summary
Acts
7:1-36 A
summary of history from Abraham to Moses and the Exodus as
told
by Stephen.
Lesson
6
THE
LAW COMES THROUGH MOSES
Ex.
20 God
gives the 10 commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai
Ex.
21-23 While
the 10 commandments was a set of basic laws for the Israelites, many
other laws were given as part of the body of that entire law.
ISRAELITES
ARRIVAL AT CANAAN
Num.
13 12
spies sent in to spy out the land. The people disbelieve.
WILDERNESS
WANDERINGS
The
remainder of Numbers
is devoted to the history of the 40 years of wandering.
Josh.
21:43-ff Israel
receives the promised land. All of the promises kept.
Remember
Gen.
12:1-7
THE
JUDGES
The
next period of history includes the period of the judges
. These were leaders chosen
by
God to lead and make judgments regarding the laws governing His
people.
Samuel and
his sons were the last of these judges. This period covered about
450
years. (Acts 13:20)
Notice that Acts
13:16-23
gives a brief synopsis from Israels Egyptian bondageto
the coming of Christ.
Judg.
2:8-19 Herein
is depicted the continuous cycle of Israel's turning from God to idols,
God's mercy in sending them judges to persuade them to return back
to Him, and then, after returning, repeating the same unfaithfulness.
ISRAEL
ASKS FOR A KING
1
Sam. 8:1-ff Israel
asks for a king to be like the nations around them.
1
Sam. 9-10 Saul
chosen to become their first king.
1
Sam. 15:3-26 Saul
fails to obey Gods specific
command and is removed from his throne
because of his disobedience. His disobedience was due to
his
assumption
that God would be pleased with his actions.
2
Sam. & 1 Chron. David
becomes the second king of Israel. (Writer of the Psalms)
2
Chron. 1:7-12 Solomon,
David's son, becomes the third king. Notice his purity of heart
as he asked God for guidance to lead His people. While he did
not
ask anything for himself, God gave him wisdom & wealth also. (Solomon
is the writer of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon)
The
period covering these three kings is 120
years.
THE
KINGDOM DIVIDES
Northern
kingdom
- Israel (10 tribes) lasted 200 + years. Destroyed by Assyrians
in
721 BC.
1
Kgs. 12:20 Jeroboam
was made king.
1
Kgs. 12:25-33 Jeroboam's
presumptuous sin of devising his own system of worship results
in the fall of the northern kingdom.
2
Kgs. 17:1-18 God
destroyed this northern kingdom by using the Assyrians. They would
never again be a nation of people. Only Judah remained.
Southern
kingdom
- Judah (2 tribes, Judah & Benjamin) beginning under the rule of
king Rehoboam
(Solomon's son) lasted 300+ years. Destroyed by the
Babylonians in 600 BC.
2
Kgs. 24:18 - 25:10 God
used the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem and to take captive
the people of Judah.
During
this period of the divided kingdom, God sent many prophets to the
people to warn them
of certain destruction, urging them to repent and turn back to Him.
But their continual refusal
ended in their demise. As we will see in the next lesson, a remnant
would return to Jerusalem
out of Babylonian captivity to rebuild the temple, the walls of the
city and the city of
Jerusalem once again. The books of Ezra, Nehemiah & Esther tell
of these events.
Lesson
7
THE
COMING OF GOD'S KINGDOM
In
606 BC, king Nebuchadnezzar, ruler over the Babylonian Empire,
besieged Jerusalem and
captured some of the young men of that city to serve in his palace.
Daniel, an Israelite of
the tribe of Judah, was one of those young men. God blessed Daniel
and used him as a
prophet to interpret a dream that the king had. No one but Daniel
was able to give the interpretation
of the dream. As proof that Daniel was capable of telling the
meaning of the dream,
the king tested Daniel by not telling him the dream but requiring
Daniel to tell him
the details
of the dream and then
give the meaning of it. In this magnificent prophecy, God
revealed
to Nebuchadnezzar the rising and falling of 4 great world empires
that would span a
history of over 1000 years. In this prophecy, God revealed what is
now a matter of secular
history. This revelation of prophecy counted the time, beginning
from Nebuchadnezzar's
dream to the time of the establishment of God's Kingdom over which
His
Son, the promised Messiah, would reign forever.
Dan.
2:31-35 Daniel
tells Nebuchadnezzar the details of the dream as proof of his ability
to give its meaning.
Dan.
2:36-45 Daniel
tells Nebuchadnezzar the meaning of the dream and the certainty
of its outcome.
Dan.
2:44 Consider
the significance of this verse. It tells specifically when
God would
establish His Kingdom on earth.
Notice
- Unlike these kingdoms who were ruled by subsequent kings (see the
next page)
this
Kingdom that God would establish would "not
be left to
other
people.
Notice
- Unlike these kingdoms, this
Kingdom "shall
stand forever."
Mt.
16:18 "...the
gates of Hades (the realm of the dead, or death itself,
gvw) shall not prevail against it."
As
Jesus said these words, He foretold that death would not be a
factor in His Kingdom's existence and continuation. He
was referring to the church
which is
the Kingdom.
Mt.
16:19 He
spoke of the church, and in this verse, the Kingdom interchangeably
as one and the same.
Notice
- The time
of His Kingdom's establishment would be during the Roman Empire.
(See the next page.)
Mt.
16:13-19 Jesus
said, "...I will
build... future
tense.
Mk.
9:1 The
Kingdom would soon
come in their
life time.
Col.
1:13-14, 18
By 62 AD, at the time of the writing of this letter, the
Kingdom was already
in
existence.
(Notice that he referred to the Kingdom, the body &
the church as one and the same thing.)
Eph.
1:19-ff Written
at about the same time as the Colossian letter, we
find that Paul refers to the kingdom being in
existence. Christ reigns now
at the right hand of the Father.
Jn.
18:36 Jesus
identified His kingdom as not being of this
world. His
kingdom is a spiritual
kingdom.
1
Cor. 15:20-28 At
the end of time, when the world and everything in it is dissolved
and the universe passes away, Christ will deliver
the kingdom up to the Father, at which time He will
put down all authority and the Father will be all in all.
Remember
- When we studied in lesson 4, part 1, about Noah and the flood. God warned
Noah of the coming flood. He told Noah how he and his
family could escape that destruction. Noah obeyed God's
instructions in
building the ark. Only those who were inside
the ark were saved from
death.
? On
the last day, where must we be if we are to escape eternal death? Inside
the kingdom of God (the church).
IN
THE NEXT LESSON WE WILL LOOK AT THE MESSIAH THROUGH WHOM THE
KINGDOM WAS PROMISED TO COME.
WORLD
EMPIRES OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM
BABYLONIAN
[Chaldean]
606 -536 BC Approximately 90 years prior to the rise of
this world empire (during the reign of the Assyrian
empire), Isaiah foretold of the Babylonian empire (by name)
and prophesied its destruction 160 years before the event,
even naming the Medes as the nation that would overthrow
them before the Medo-Persian empire came into existence.
(Isa.
13:17- 22;
21:9) Jeremiah
foretold the complete destruction of Babylon (70 years
before the event). (Jer.
25:1
dates the time of this prophecy [606 BC]) (Jer.
25:11-12)
NEBUCHADNEZZAR
606 - 561 BC Carried the Jews in captivity with Daniel & Ezekiel.
EVIL-MERODACH
561 - 560 BC
NERIGLASSAR
559 - 556 BC
LABASH-MARDUK
556 BC
NABONIDUS
555 - 536 BC
BELSHAZZAR
536 BC
MEDO-PERSIAN
536
- 332 BC (Dan.
5:28
identified this as the 2nd. kingdom)
CYRUS
538 - 529 BC---- In Isaiah's prophecy of the destruction of Babylon
160 years before it happened, God called Cyrus by name
(long before his birth) as the one who would accomplish
this (Isa.
45:1-4)
In the same year Cyrus defeated Babylon, he authorized the
Jew's return to Jerusalem.(Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther)
DARIUS
the Mede
was a co-regent (sub-king) under Cyrus & ruled the lesser
CAMBYSES
529 - 522 BC empire of the Medes. GAUMATA
522 - 521 BC
DARIUS
(HYSTAPIS) 521 - 486 BC was defeated at the naval battle of Marathon
by the Greeks in 490 BC. He inscribed
the Behistun Rock. This king is mentioned by Ezra as having
permitted the temple in Jerusalem to be rebuilt. (Ezra
6:1-12)
XERXES
I
(AHASUERUS) 484 - 465 BC was defeated at Salamis by the Greeks
in 480 BC.
ARTAXERXES
I
(LONGIMANUS) 464 - 424 BC permitted Ezra to go to Jerusalem
to restore jewish affairs there. (Ezra
7:1-26)
400
YEARS OF SILENCE
between the old and new testaments after Malachi. This
period of time includes approximately the last 70 to 90 years of
the
Medo-Persian Empire, all of the Greek Empire, and about the first
60 years of the Roman Empire. After 400 years of silence, God
would
set up another prophet in John the Baptizer. (Lk.
3:1-6)
GREEK
331 - 31 BC (Dan.
8:3-8, 20-21
identified this as the 3rd. kingdom)
ALEXANDER
THE GREAT
was born 356 BC - and died 323 BC. He was was
responsible for causing the Greek language to become
the common language of the empire before being
defeated by the Roman Empire.
ROMAN
31 BC - 476 AD
AUGUSTUS
CEASAR
was first emperor of Rome and was in power when Jesus was
born. (Lk.
2:1
identifies him in power at Jesus' birth.)
TIBERIUS
CEASAR
was second emperor of Rome (Lk.
3:1 John
the baptizer was active during this emperor's reign.) Many
emperors reigned throughout the Roman Empire. But we can clearly see
that Daniel's
prophecies pointing to the coming of the Messiah during the days of
the Roman empire were fulfilled exactly as God planned.
(See
Mk.
1:14-15
and Mk.
9:1)
Lesson
8
CHRIST,
THE MESSIAH OF PROPHECY
In
the previous lesson we looked at the prophecy sent to king
Nebuchadnezzar that Daniel the
prophet interpreted. In that prophecy he saw an image of a man that
had a head of gold,
chest and arms of silver, a belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron,
and feet of a mixture
of iron and ceramic clay. Daniel identified each part as
representative of kingdoms(world
empires). He named the head of gold as being the Babylonian Empire.Subsequent
history records that the Babylonian Empire was defeated by the Medo-Persian
Empire, then followed the Greek Empire, and finally the Roman Empire.In
Dan.
2:44
Daniel foretold the coming of God's eternal kingdom during the time
of the
kings
under the Roman Empire. In that verse he also made known that this
eternal kingdom would
"not
be left to other people."
Unlike all earthly kingdoms who would have a number
of kings that would succeed one another, God's eternal kingdom would
have aneternal
King.
This prophecy, as many before it, pointed to the coming of the long
awaited Messiah.
Remember the promise given by prophecy to Abraham in Gen.
12:7;
"...And in
you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
Gen.
3:15 Remember
this first prophecy given in the garden of Eden that pointed to the first
ray of hope for redeeming man from his separation from God because of sin.
Notice again that the Seed of woman (Christ) would suffer a bruised
heel (a
painful but not fatal injury) while He would crush the serpent's
(Satan's) head
(a fatal blow).
Isa.
7:14 This
prophecy foretells the virgin
birth
of Christ as a "sign" to identify this One
as the Messiah, naming Him Immanuel
("God with us"). This prophecy was
given about 700 years before its fulfillment.
Mt.
1:18-ff The
virgin birth was explained to Joseph by an angel of the Lord.
Notice
- vs. 25
Joseph did not "know"
Mary "until"
Jesus' birth. Unlike Catholic doctrine, Mary was not a perpetual
virgin.See
Mk.
6:1-4
Mary gave birth to 4
other sons and at least 2 daughters.
After
this point in time, the theme of the bible changes to "Christ
has come."
Isa.
9:6-7 Isaiah
prophesied about 700 years before the birth of Christ of His coming
and of the establishment of His everlasting kingdom.
Lk.
2:8-14 The
fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy is seen in this account. Notice
that it is stated that a child had been born to "you"
- even as Isaiah said would be born to "us."
This explains how Jesus is elsewhere often referred to as the
"Son of man
" because He was sent to us and was born to us.
Isa.
53:1-ff This
prophecy (the single most detailed in all of scripture) foretold of
the suffering of Christ. Many details of this prophecy
will be clearly seen in the New
Testament scriptures we will look at in this lesson. Notice from vs.
10
to the
end, the perspective is from the Father's vantage point in heaven as
He looks
down on the sufferings of His only begotten Son.
Psm.
22:1-21 In
this psalm, David reveals details of Christ's sufferings on the cross about
1000 years before that event. Notice the incredible accuracy of
detail
as this prophecy unfolds itself in Matthew's account of Christ's
trial and crucifixion.
Jn.
18:28 - 19:13 Christ's
trial
- Notice
Jesus states that His kingdom is not of this world. While
they were thinking "earthly kingdom," He was referring to a heavenly
kingdom whose throne would be at the right hand of the Father.
Later, we see the confirmation and fulfillment of this.
As
we study the next portion of this account by Matthew, refer below to
the prophecies
as they are fulfilled in the corresponding verses of this chapter .
Mt.
27:1-ff Christ's
sentencing and crucifixion
- fulfillment of prophecy. Notice that those who had been
responsible for His death made certain to insure that the
tomb be "sealed" so His disciples not break in without
detection and steal the body in order to make the claim
that He had been raised from the dead.
vs.
35 .........Psm. 22:16-18 They
divided Jesus' garment, casting lots for it.
vs.
38 .........Isa. 53:9, 12 Jesus
died between 2 thieves.
vss.
39-44 ...Psm. 22:6-8 The
crowd blasphemed & taunted Jesus.
vs.
46 .........Psm. 22:1 Jesus
cries out to the Father words of anguish.
vss.
47-49 ...Psm. 22:14-15 Jesus' dry mouth is quenched with sour wine.
vs.
5 ...........Isa. 53:9 Jesus
is buried in the new tomb of a rich man.
Mt.
28:1-15 Christ
is risen from the dead.
Notice how, after those who had been responsible for His
death realized what had happened, they tried to
cover
up the truth by fabricating a lie that was commonly believed.
Lk.
24:1-ff After
Christ is risen from the dead,
He is seen by His disciples and many others for 40 days as
proof of His being raised from the dead.
Acts
1:1-14 Christ's
ascension into heaven.
His apostles are told to wait in the city
of Jerusalem to receive the power of the Holy Spirit in order to
begin
the proclamation of the gospel from that place. Compare this to Lk.
24:46-49.
Dan.
7:13-14 In
this portion of a prophetic vision sent to Daniel, we see from a heavenly
perspective, the ascension of Christ from earth as He
comes to the Father (the Ancient of Days) to be seated at
His right hand
and receive dominion of His everlasting kingdom (the church). Keep
in mind that this prophecy was given over 500 Years before its
fulfillment.
Eph.
1:20-ff Paul
writes of the power of the Father in raising the Son and seating Him
at His right hand, where He now reigns over His kingdom,
the church.
Notice
in the unfolding of these events, not only the fulfillment of
prophecy, but the
fact that the establishment of the church was in God's
eternal plan.
The church
was not an "afterthought" due to a failure of Christ to
establish His kingdom,
as premillenial doctrine teaches. But we have seen that Christ did
notfail
because He was put to death. On the contrary, He fulfilled every prophecy in allowing
Himself to be crucified in order to complete God's eternal plan to redeem
man from his sins. Consider this thought: If Christ had failed toaccomplish
the establishment of His kingdom as was prophesied, then we could not
trust any
of God's prophetic word to be accurate. Also, if Christ was supposed
to return to earth again to establish His kingdom, as
premillenialists claim,
what's to say that He wouldn't fail again? Reference
could be made again to Dan.
2:44
as well as Isa.
9:6-7
regarding this.
Mt.
16:18-19 As
Jesus proclaimed the establishment of His church, He tells Peter that,
on the basis of Peter's statement of truth (that Jesus is the Christ
[anointed
One] the Son of the living God) He would build (establish) His
church. Then He honors Peter with the privilege of unlocking its gates
by promising him the "keys of the kingdom of heaven."
In
the next lesson we will see the unlocking of
the kingdom.
Col.
1:1:13-18 Notice
that when Paul wrote this letter (62 AD) the kingdom was already
in existence. Paul refers to the kingdom and the church as one
and
the same as Jesus did in the previous scripture that we read.
Lesson
9
A
NEW LAW FOR A NEW KINGDOM
As
we learned in the previous lesson, Christ came to earth according to
God's eternal plan to
redeem man. In that plan, Christ was to die as the only suitable,
perfect sacrifice for the sins
of mankind. Before His death, He had promised to "build"
His church, which is the "kingdom."
(Mt.
16:18) We
learned that His kingdom has already been established, for Paul
referred to it as already being in existence in (Col.
1:13-18)
(62 AD).
In
Lesson 5 we learned that the law of Moses was given at Mt. Sinai 3
months after they were
freed from Egyptian bondage. Consider now some of the details of
that event and the
law that was given at that time:
Ex.
19:6 God
declared the Israelites as His "special treasure above
all peoples."
Ex.
20 God
spoke to the people the 10 commandments.
Ex.
21-23 God
gives His ordinances (laws) to the people of Israel.
Ex.
24-31 God
gives His priestly laws to the Levites regarding their service in
matters
of
the worship of the people, such as animal sacrifices, etc. (also
Leviticus)
A
Look at the Sabbath Law
Ex.
20:8-11 The
Sabbath law, the 4th. law of the 10 commandments.
Deut.
5:14-15 The
Sabbath day was given as a reminder
of
their deliverance from
Egyptian bondage. (THIS
ONLY APPLIED TO THE ISRAELITES)
Ex.
31:14-17 The
Sabbath law was given specifically
to Israel. (Notice
the penalty for violating this law -Death)
Num.
15:32-36 An
example of one who violated the Sabbath law. Do
you suppose they had any trouble understanding the frequency
of this law? The implication of the command to keep the
Sabbath holy was understood to be a weekly observance.
God's
Promise of a New Law
Jer.
31:31-34 God's
promise of a new law is stated here about 600 years before its
fulfillment.
Eph.
2:10-16 Paul
wrote these words to Gentile christians (Remember, if you
weren't a Jew, you were called a "Gentile.")
Here, Paul reminds them
of
how they, as a people, had not had the advantages of the Jews. (Remember,
the law of Moses was only for the Jews - Gentiles were
not
subject to that law.) But now they, along with the Jews, were all
"made near by the blood of Christ" by virtue of
the fact that the thing which
once had divided the Jew from the Gentile had been removed.
"Abolished"
- "To do away with." (Notice
the past
tense: "done"
away.
Illustration
- The Emancipation Proclamation abolished
slavery (13th. amendment)
"Enmity"
- "That which is a cause of strife
or division
due to disfavor. As an enemy.
Some
things to consider
-
What
was the source of this "enmity?"
The law of Moses.
What
was "abolished?"
The
law of Moses.
How
(or when) was this done?
"In
His flesh" when Christ died on the cross.
ONE
BODY (The
kingdom - the church)
Col.
2:13-14 The
law of Moses was taken out of the way at the cross of Christ.
"wiped
out"
- (blotted
out)
Compare to an "ink blotter"
Heb.
8:6-ff Christ
is the Mediator
of a better
covenant with better
promises.
Notice
- He quotes from the prophecy of Jer.
31:31-34 that
foretold of this new
law which was to come.
Notice
- He refers to the fact that the law of Moses was not "faultless."
Notice
-
In that the law of Moses had "faults," its "weaknesses"
was not a reflection
on God's inability to make a "perfect" law. It was
designed
& purposed
by God to not
be perfect, but to be a prelude
to the
perfect
law which would come after
the old law had been fulfilled (its purpose
having been accomplished.)
Rom.
8:1-4
says more about this as it contrasts between the fleshly
law of Moses and the spiritual law of Christ.
"Mediator"
- A "go-between" as used in negotiating a contract between
labor and management.
"Covenant"
- A contract. In this case, a unilateral
contract established by God in which He states the conditions which we, as the other party to the contract, has no authority to negotiate.
? Why
was this a better
covenant? Because
it has better
promises.
Heb.
10:1-10 The
old law was a shadow
of good things to come.
Illustration
- If I hold my hand in front of a light and it casts a shadow of my
hand on the wall, Is the shadow the "real thing?"
Is the shadow "similar?" Is it "better?" ? Since
the sacrifices under the old law did not accomplish forgiveness of
sins, but "reminded" them of their sins, why would we want
to go back
under that law?
Rom.
7:1-7 Under
the new law we are delivered
or
discharged.
? Does
a soldier who has been "discharged" from the military,
salute or obey
a military officer?
No.
He is no longer under the authority of that officer.
Jas.
1:21-25 This
new law, under which there is forgiveness of sins (unlike the old law),
is called the "perfect
law
of liberty." It is a law of "liberty" because under this law we are set at liberty from the
bondage of the old
law. We are free
from the law of Moses.
Gal.
3:16-25 The
old law served as a tutor
or "schoolmaster" till
the
"Seed" (which
is Christ. Remember Gen.
12:7; 22:18)
to bring us to Him.
Lesson
10
THE
WAY TO HEAVEN
In
Review
- Remember
in Isa.
59:1-2 (Lesson
4) we pointed out that it is sin that has separated
man from God. In Gen.
12:3 and
Gen.
22:18 we
saw the promise of God to Abraham
that in His Seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed, understanding that He
was referring to Christ as that seed of promise in Gal.
3:16.
We learned in the previous
lesson (9) that the law (Old Testament) was a temporary law
specifically given to the
Israelites to "bring us to Christ" as a "tutor."
Gal.
3:19-25.
In this divine plan for redeeming
man from his sins, God solved the dilemma of remaining a just
God while also being
a merciful
God by becoming our justifier.
Rom.
3:21-26 God
is both just
as well as the justifier
in the sacrifice of Christ.
Heb.
2:14-ff Christ
took on the form of fleshly mankind in order to pay the penalty for
sin - death! Since God is an eternal spirit and cannot die, it
became necessary
for God, in the form of Christ, to come to earth in the flesh in order
to be able to die
physically and thus become the only suitable
sacrifice
for sin.
Remember
at the end of lesson 5 how the example of Noah and the saving of his
house was
a demonstration of the grace of God (see Eph.
2:4-10)
(Refer
to this lesson again.)
In the
sacrifice of Christ, Christians "have been made near by the
blood of Christ"(Eph.
2:13)
His
blood removes the sin that separates us from God. But how do we gain
access to His blood
and the forgiveness of sins? How do we receive the blessings that
are "in Christ"?
Eph.
1:3-10 Notice
that forgiveness of sins (which is one of many blessings) are found
in
Christ. This
lesson and lesson 11 are devoted to
finding
the answer to this question.
Jn.
14:1-7 Christ
is the
way
- as a road that leads to heaven. In Him is truth
and (eternal)
life.
? How
many ways does Jesus say leads to the Father and the place He has prepared?
Prov.
14:12 Remember,
there is a way that seems
right, but leads to destruction.
Note
Many people deceive themselves, thinking they are okay, convincing
themselves that God will overlook His law and let them
into heaven anyway.
Mt.
7:13-14 We
have a choice of following the broad, easy way or the narrow,difficult
way that leads to destruction. But remember, truth is narrow.
? Would
you go down a road that does not lead to your house just because it is
a wide, paved road that is easier to travel than the one that does
lead to your house?
? According
to this passage, will the majority of people choose the road that
leads to heaven?
Tit.
2:11-12 God's
grace has appeared to all
men. This grace is seen in His revealing
of truth which teaches
us how to live. This
grace that has
been
extended to all men is God's
part in salvation.
? Does
this mean that all
will be saved? No.
Therefore,
there must be some condition
upon which we are saved.
Heb.
10:26-29 Notice
that we can reject
His grace and forfeit His mercy.
2
Cor. 6:1 We
can receive God's grace in
vain
- for naught.
Mt.
7:21 Heaven's
reward involves more
than our acknowledgment that He is Lord.
There must be obedience.
This
obedience is our
part in salvation.
Heb.
5:8-9 He
is the author
of eternal salvation "to all who obey
Him."
? Who
is salvation promised to?
Mt.
7:22-ff Jesus
illustrates that obedience is not in word but in deed.
Note What
may seem to be a good work can be a lawless deed. (Remember Prov.
14:12)
Only good
works are those done according to His will.
Remember
from
Lesson 6, Saul's sin and God's response. (1
Sam. 15:3-26)
Illustration
- If I used your
check book to write a check to a good
cause (without your
approval) and I signed your
name to the check ("in your name"),
would
I be honest in doing that - and would you be pleased? In
doing that, I might claim that I did it "in your
name" - but did I do it with your authority?
Rom.
6:17 God
has given us a pattern
(form
of doctrine) to follow.
Note A
form
or pattern
reminds us of the form
that is used into which concrete is poured
in order to create the desired shape we want (such as in a side
walk).
Or
it may remind us of a pattern
that is used to cut out the fabric to make a dress
according to the desired size and design. This is what God has done. He
has given us the gospel as a pattern
or form
by which we can be molded into
the design that He desires. Part of this design
makes up the conditions of entrance
into His kingdom as well as our behavior and attitudes as citizens in His
kingdom.
? When
you obey God, can you obey only from an outward expression and not
from the heart? Wouldn't this be hypocrisy?
? When
you obey God, must you obey Him according to His form
(pattern)
of teaching?
Note If
the same form is always used, the resulting product will always be
the same.
To get something different would require a different
form. Do you agree
that this is true?
Lk.
8:4-15 In
this parable of the sower, notice how many different kinds of soil (which
represents the different conditions of heart) there were.
? In
this parable, how many different kinds of seed did the sower plant?
? What
did the seed
represent in this parable?
Note What
differed in this parable was not the seed, but men's hearts. The
resulting crop did not differ because of the seed, but
because of the ground it fell on. This represented the
different conditions of heart that is found in those who
hear the gospel.
Note The
law of procreation demands that a seed produces after its own kind.
This law
was established by God as we saw in Lesson 3 in the account of
creation. (Gen.
1)
Therefore, one kind of seed can only produce one kind of
plant. Making application of this same principle to the
gospel as is illustrated here by seed
that is planted into men's hearts, does it not follow that the
gospel can only produce one thing - a christian?
Therefore, the only kinds
of Christians that there can be are - faithful, unfaithful,
weak, strong, etc.
IN
THE NEXT PART OF THIS LESSON we
will build upon the thoughts that we have
studied in this section. We will consider what the scriptures teach regarding
this "way to heaven." As we have already learned, there is
a pattern to
be followed. While God's love is unconditional, we will see that
salvation is not.
The gift of God's Son has been offered to all who will accept it.
The means of
our accepting that gift are the conditions of salvation that God has
provided.
Lesson
11
THE
WAY TO HEAVEN - HOW WE GET THERE
Hearing
is Believing
The
way to heaven involves that "form of doctrine" or pattern (Rom.
6:17)
which are the conditions or steps
that
lead to God's
throne. In following Jesus, who leads the way to the
Father, it is essential that we hear
the message of the
gospel. HOW we hear is important because this has
to do with our attitude toward what we hear.
Heb.
11:6 "Without
faith it is impossible to please Him..." In order to come to God,
it is necessary to have faith.
Rom.
10:17 Faith
comes by hearing
God's word. It is the source
of faith in God.
Lk.
8:5-15 In
this parable of the sower, notice in vss.
12-15
that where the seed (God's
word) was sown, it is said that they heard.
Also notice that the only ground that produced a crop
represented the "noble
and good heart."
Even though everyone
in the parable heard,
not everyone bore fruit. It
takes an honest heart to apply what the ear hears.
Acts
7:54-58 In
Acts 6 we are introduced to a Christian named Stephen, who,
because he was teaching the truth in opposition to what
the Jews
believed,
was brought before the Jewish high council. In Acts 7:2-53 he
gave a synopsis of the biblical history from Abraham to that
present time. Notice their response in vs.
54:
They heard
but did
not
believe. Notice in vs.
57
that they stopped
their ears,
refusing to hear
any more.
Acts
2:37 On
the day of Pentecost, notice the difference in response of those who
heard
from those who heard
the teaching of Stephen. Notice that they both
were "cut
to the heart "
But they
"gnashed on him with their teeth," however,
these
asked
what they needed to do.
To
Believe or Not to Believe, That is the Question
The
next step on our way to the Father involves the positive response
to having heard
the gospel. If we have a "noble and
good heart," the result will be belief
.
Jn.
3:16 ? Is
it God's will that you believe in Him?
Jas.
2:19 Notice
that the demons believe, yet they are going to be cast into Hell according
to Mt.
25:41.
Now
read Jas.
2:14-18
and see the context
in which this statement was made
regarding demons that believe. Notice James' point is that faith
alone
is
useless. In vs.
18
he poses the question to one who believes in faith only
by
challenging them to demonstrate
or prove
their faith without the
evidence
(work)
to back their claim. 1Thess.
1:3 speaks
of the work
of
faith.
Now
read Jas.
2:21-24
and see the example of Abraham who demonstrated
his
faith by the obedient act of offering up his son Isaac. By his
work
of obedience "...it
was accounted to him for righteousness."
Notice that
his being justified was conditional
upon his obedience.
See Heb.
11:8.
Remember
- To be justified
means to be pronounced
righteous
or be deemed
right.
Rom.
5:1-2 We
are justified
by faith and faith gives us access to God's grace.
Jn.
8:24
?
Is
it possible to go to Heaven if we refuse to believe Jesus is God's
Son?
Jn.
14:15 As
Jesus spoke to His apostles, He appealed to their love
as the motivation to obedience.
?
If you refuse to believe and
obey Him, do you love Him?
I
Change My Mind
After
hearing and believing the truth of the gospel, the result should
be a conviction of heart which motivates us to a change
in our thinking, and how we view sin and our life.
It also should result in a change in our allegiance to
God as opposed to following our own
will.
Heb.
4:12 The
power of God's word is demonstrated in its ability to discern
the
"thoughts and intents of the heart." We can
fool some people regarding our
motives,
and sometimes, we may even deceive ourselves (1
Jn. 1:8),
but once
a noble and good (honest) heart comes in contact with the power of
God's
word, we cannot fool ourselves and still be true to ourselves unless
we repent. Once we know the truth, we must deal with our
conscience.
Acts
2:37 On
the day of Pentecost, after hearing
the truth and believing
its message,
they were "cut
to the heart
." They were convicted in heart. That
conviction lead them to ask, "What
shall we do."
Acts
17:30-31 As
Paul taught the people of Athens regarding their false religion of idol
worship, he pointed out that God once overlooked such, but now
commands
us to repent.
In saying this, he was calling on these people to turn
away from
that which was in error and turn
to the
truth - serving
the one true God.
"Repent"
- (lit.) To perceive afterwards, afterthought, therefore; a change
of mind or purpose.
? Why
is it important that we repent?
2
Cor. 7:9-10 Godly
sorrow leads us to repent. The difference between the sorrow
of the world and godly sorrow is this; When a child is
caught in an act of disobedience to their parents, they may
be sorry only because they "got caught" and now
are suffering the consequences of what they did. This is
worldly
sorrow. However, if they are sorry for the fact that they
disappointed their parents, this is genuine or godly
sorrow. This indicates a noble and good (honest) heart.
Considering the price that has been paid for our sins, we
should be sorry for the sins in our life that made it
necessary for Christ to die on the cross.
? Does
repentance mean more
than godly sorrow?
Acts
3:19 A
change of mind (repent) and a resulting change in direction (convert) are
conditions for the blotting out of sins. If we change our minds, our
actions
should
follow suit.
Eph.
4:17-5:7 Paul
admonished these Christians that their conduct should now reflect allegiance
to God in "putting off" their former conduct and
manifesting the
change of heart that had turned them to be obedient to the truth of God's
word.
An
acid test of true repentance
Mt.
19:3-9 Jesus
taught the divine law regarding marriage. In His teaching on this
subject, repentance demands not remaining in an adulterous
marriage.
Ezra
10:3-4, 9-12, 44 In
this account, we see the problem that resulted from the Israelites
not having destroyed the people of Canaan when they moved
into the land. What God had previously warned
the
people before they entered the promised land had come to
pass. They had intermarried among the idolatrous people of the
land in violation of God's forbidding, and had been led into idolatry
as a result. The solution to their problem was a need to
repent
of their unauthorized marriages. It took a tremendous amount
of love for God and devotion to His teaching to do what
they did. They put away their wives. Notice that many of
these marriages had children in them. The lesson for us
is that
God's
will must override even the closest of ties if they are in violation
of His will.
Mt.
10:37-39 The
closest of ties are not to prevent us from putting Him first.
Confession
- The Statement of My Conviction
Mt.
10:32-33 The
confession of our faith that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God is the acknowledgment of our faith.
Jesus said that we must do this before
men as a condition of His acknowledgment of us before
the heavenly
Father.
Mt.
7:21-23 Notice
again this scene of the judgment day. Those who are
unprepared are declared to be unknown
by
the Son. If we are unknown
to Him on that day, He cannot "confess
us to the Father."
Illustration
- Have you ever been invited to a gathering where you didn't know anyone?
That is an uncomfortable feeling. If that has ever happened
to
you, you may remember how good it felt to have someone there that
knew you and introduced you to others. In Lk.
12:8 the
writer says that He will confess us before angels.
Rom.
10:9-10 In
addition to believing that Christ, as God's Son, has been raised
from the dead, our confession of that faith before men is
a condition of salvation. Notice that this a verbal
confession with our mouth.
Notice
- The confession that God has commanded of us is not
a confession of our sins, but of our faith in Christ. ? What
is the condition under which Christ will acknowledge us before the heavenly
Father?
? If
we refuse to confess our faith in Jesus Christ as God's resurrected
Son, can we be saved?
In
Review
Study
this review on your own in preparation for the next lesson
1
Pet. 1:3-4 Because
God is merciful, He gave His Son and raised Him from the dead
in order that we might have hope of an inheritance in heaven that
is
reserved
for those who are His own.
1
Pet. 1:10-12 He
has revealed this hope through chosen men (prophets) who, as they
were revealing this hope, sought to understand its meaning which
was
intended for us. These are things that angels desired to look into. We
are most blessed to be able to understand these things now. (Remember
what we studied in Lesson 2 regarding how we have
been
given God's word.)
Eph.
3:1-6 Paul
spoke of this "mystery" which has been revealed. Notice
that he says
that we can
understand
what was revealed to him. Also notice
that
this "mystery" had to do with the fact that Gentiles (those
who are not
Jews) should be "fellow heirs,
of the same body,
and partakers of His
promise
in Christ
through the gospel." (Remember
in Lesson 4 the promise given to Abraham in Gen.
12:3 and
repeated in Gen.
22:18
that "in your Seed all the nations of the earth shall
be blessed, because you have obeyed Me." Gal.
3:16
identified
that "Seed" as being Christ.
Eph.
1:7-10 The
message of this hope (the forgiveness of sins "in
Him"),
God intended to be revealed at the right time. Until that
time, it was a mystery. The result of His revealed plan
is the gathering
together
of those who are "in
Christ"
into one body "in
Him."
(Remember what we studied in Lesson 7 about Daniel's
prophecy in Dan.
2:44
- "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will
set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.")
Eh.
1:20-22 That
one body is the church over which Christ is reigning at the Father's right
hand. (Remember in Lesson 7 the promise made by
Jesus in Mt.
16:18- 19
in which He promised to build His church, calling it the "kingdom.")
1
Cor. 15:20-28 As
we noticed earlier in Lesson 7, at the last day, Christ will deliver
up the
kingdom
(which is the church - the body) to the Father, who will then
be "all in all" (having all authority).
Eph.
5:23 Christ
is the Savior
of this body (the church).
Eph.
2:16 We
looked at the context of this verse in Lesson 9. Notice that it is
in this
"one body" that we are "reconciled
to God." Therefore we must
insure
that we are in that body even as Noah and his family was in the ark
during the flood.
Reconciled
-[Katallasso]
"Properly denotes to change, exchange (especially of money);
hence, of persons, to change from enmity to friendship.
(Remember
what we studied in Lesson 7 in Isa.
59:1-2 about
how sin
separates us from God.)
Eph.
1:3 Every
spiritual blessing (such as these we have looked at) has been made
available to us "in
Christ."
IF
-
we have forgiveness
of sins "in Him,"
and
since those who are "in
Him"
have been gathered
together into one body, and
since Christ is the Savior
of the body (the church), and
since we are reconciled
to God
in that body, and
since Christ will deliver
up the kingdom
(the church) on the last day,
THEN
- it is absolutely essential that we be in
the body
(the church, the kingdom) if we expect
to be forgiven
of our sins, saved
from eternal destruction, reconciled
to God, and enter
heaven with those who have been gathered together in that one body to
be delivered
up to God at the judgment.
Heb.
2:3-4 This
message of salvation began to be preached by Christ and then (on
the Pentecost after His resurrection) by His apostles.
Acts
2:47 On
the day of Pentecost, when the gospel began to be preached,those
who obeyed the message (pattern,
remember Rom.
6:17) "the
Lord added to the church those who were being saved." ? Can
one be saved and not be in the church?
Notice
- (Remember, we are not saved by the church,
but by the blood
of Christ.
The church [ekklesia]
is made up of those who have been "called
out"
of the world.)
Where
are you on your journey?
As
we have learned so far, Jesus has demanded that the way to heaven can
only be reached
if we are willing to hear
(understand) the gospel and believe
that He is the resurrected
Son of God, love
Him
and express that love by repenting
(changing
our mind)
and being converted
(turning
from our old ways) and confessing
our faith in Him as God's
resurrected Son. These are the conditions that lead
to
entrance into His kingdom which
we will look at in the next part of our study. It is important at
this point in our study to understand
that refusal to obey these conditions, as we have seen, will cause
our sins to
remain
and thus, ultimately, disallow us entrance into heaven.
When
we obey God's directions
In
Lk.
17:7-10,
Jesus teaches a valuable lesson about obedience. When we have done what
we were instructed by our master, we have nothing to boast of. We
have merely done
what we were supposed to do.
Illustration
- If a man falls overboard into the ocean and someone throws a life
preserver to
him, he must take hold of the life preserver and hold onto it while
he is pulled back up to the deck. When he has escaped from
drowning, he would be arrogant and self-righteous to boast
that he had saved himself by his own doing.
A
Word About Salvation by Grace Through Faith
The
previous illustration demonstrates the fact that grace (which is an
unearned gift) does not demand
that we have no responsibility in regard to our salvation. In lesson
10 at the top of page,
we noticed that grace
is God's
part in the process of salvation and obedience
is our
part. As emphasized in the previous illustration, obedience to the
God's conditions of salvation
is an extension of God's grace and is not a matter of earning
our salvation. Truly, after
obedience to God's will, we have nothing to boast of. This
is a good time to review what we learned in lesson 5 in the example
of Noah's
obedience
to God's forewarning of the coming flood (destruction) and His
instructions for building
the ark. Keep in mind that both of these things constituted God's
grace - they were a
free gift to Noah for the purpose of saving him and his family. But
Noah had to act
upon what
God told him if he expected to take advantage of that gift. His
doing so was not a matter
of earning
their salvation from death in the flood. For
your convenience, I have copied that portion of lesson 5 for you to
refresh your memory
of what we learned about:
Lessons
we can learn from Noah's example
Eph.
2:4-10 There
are some parallels seen in the saving of Noah's family within the ark
and the salvation of mankind in Christ as Paul explains in this passage.
Notice
- (vs.
8)
In the same way that Noah and his family were saved from the
flood, the salvation of man is "by grace through
(by way of) faith. Even faith
is a gift because without God's warning & instruction, there
can be nothing upon which to have faith, and therefore no
basis upon which to act
in obedience.
Therefore, salvation
from destruction is dependent upon righteousness righteousness
is dependent upon obedience, (Rom. 5:21) obedience
is dependent upon faith, (Heb. 5:9) faith
is dependent upon revelation, (Eph. 2:8) revelation
is dependent upon grace, (Eph. 3:2-7) grace
is dependent upon God. (Tit. 2:11-12; Gal. 1:6)
Note:
Noah's salvation was dependent on all
of these things. To have left off any
one of these, he would have been lost with the
rest of the world in the flood. Therefore, He could not say that
he was saved by righteousness only,
or by obedience
only,
or by faith only,
or by revelation only,
for all of these things
were dependent upon God and His gift of grace.
Having
reviewed this material, you should be ready for our next lesson
regarding "Entrance
Into His Kingdom". If you have any questions at this point, be
sure that
we answer them before beginning the next lesson.
Lesson
12
ENTRANCE
INTO HIS KINGDOM
We
have looked at the new kingdom (which is the church), its King (which
is Christ), and its law (which
is the New Testament). We have also looked at the conditions leading
up to our entrance
into His kingdom. To the right is an illustration of His kingdom and
the blessings that have
been made available in
Christ and His kingdom as we studies previously. Remember, on
the last day, this kingdom will be delivered up to the Father and
Christ at that time will put down
all authority and God, the Father, will be all in all. 1
Cor. 15:20-28.
With these thoughts in
mind, in this part of our study, we will consider what the New
Testament has to say about the conditions
of entrance into His kingdom.
Acts
2:47 Remember
we noticed in our last study that the Lord added those who were being
saved to the church (His kingdom).
? Do
you agree from this passage that entrance into the Lord's church
involves the
same conditions required for one to be "saved?"
Notice
- Under the law of Moses (Old Testament) a person was a citizen of
that nation
by virtue of birth.
However, citizenship in God's kingdom (the church)
is
not by physical birth. Notice what Jesus told Nicodemus in:
Jn.
3:1-8 Entrance
into this kingdom involves a spiritual
birth. Remember what Jesus said
in Jn.
18:36,
that His kingdom is "not
of this world."
It is a spiritual
kingdom.
Remember
- Earlier in our study when we were looking at "Hearing is
Believing" we left
off that part of our study in Acts
2:37
where upon hearing the
gospel
preached and realizing that they had crucified the Son of God, they
asked what they must do to be saved. Now let's look at the answer
that was given to them.
Acts
2:38 In
addition to repentance, they were commanded to be baptized.
? What
was the purpose of repenting and being baptized?
?
If
you were told to repent and be baptized for a one million dollar
check, what
would you do?
Notice
- They were told to repent and be baptized for
the remission of sins. Some teach that the word
translated as for
means "because of." This is
incorrect
because it would make this verse meaningless. The Greek word from
which "for" is translated is EIS. If it meant "because
of," the verse would read
like this: "...Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in
the name of
Jesus Christ because
of
the remission of sins..." This would be saying that
they were to be baptized because they were already
saved. However, this is not what was said. Look at:
Mt.
26:28 Do
you believe that it was necessary for Christ to shed His blood in
order for our
sins to be removed? This verse has exactly the same sentence
structure
as
Acts
2:38
and also uses the same Greek word, EIS. Read
this verse>
Notice
- Let's look at this verse, changing the meaning of the word for
(EIS) to "because
of." "For
this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many
because
of
the remission of sins." By changing the meaning of the word
for,
we have made this verse say that Jesus shed His blood because our
sins were already
removed. Obviously, this is not true.
This
point is very important because it has reference to the
PURPOSE of baptism.
? After
considering the meaning of Mt.
26:28
and also Acts
2:38,
do you believe
that it is necessary for us to be baptized for the remission of our
sins?
? Does
it matter if we are baptized for the wrong reason? It does to God.
Acts
16:16-34 The
Example of the Philippian Jailer
Notice
-
Notice
that in vs.
30 the
jailer asks the same question that those on the
day of Pentecost asked in Acts
2:37
"What must I do to be saved?
Notice
- Notice that their answer to his question was to "believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ." Then we are told that they
"spoke the word of the Lord to him and all who were in
his house." After this they were baptized. This shows that the
answer to their question "to believe" involved
more than just a mental acknowledgment, but demanded
obedience.
The word that they taught him must have included the
necessity of baptism for the remission of sins just as
Jesus taught His apostles to teach before He ascended back
to heaven. Look at:
Mk.
16:15-16 In
addition to believing, Jesus said we must be baptized in order to be
saved. To refuse to believe would cause one to be lost. Anyone who
would refuse to believe would have no reason to be baptized.
? If
on nothing else, do we agree that baptism is commanded?
What
is Baptism?
"Baptism"
- is from the Greek word "baptizo"
which means "to dip or immerse."
Notice
- Some teach that baptism is the same thing as "sprinkling"
or "pouring." This
is incorrect. If God had chosen sprinkling,
He would have used the
Greek
word, "rhantizo."
This word is used in Heb.
9:13
(Read verses 11-14) If God had chosen
pouring,
He would have used the Greek word
"epicheo."
This word is used in Lk.
10:34
(Read verses 33-34)
Acts
8:26-ff The
Example of the Ethiopian Eunuch
Notice
-First, notice the humble heart of this honest and sincere man who was
not ashamed to ask for help and admit that he didn't understand what
he was reading. Notice how important it was that he
understand who
Isaiah was writing to in order to understand its meaning.
Therefore, Philip "preached Jesus
to him."
Notice
- This is the most complete example of obedience. The eunuch
obviously believed. The fact that he was willing to obey
indicates that he was repentant. He confessed his faith
in Christ as God's Son. Then he was baptized.
Notice
- Notice that both Philip and the eunuch went "down
into the water,"
indicating that it required much water, not just a
sprinkling or pouring of a small amount. ALSO notice that
the eunuch went on his way rejoicing after
he was baptized.
? What
was his reason for being joyful after
being baptized? Joy
is the logical response after
one's sins have been forgiven.
Why
Baptism?
Rom.
6:3-6 Baptism
is a burial.
Christ shed His blood in death and then was buried. It is in
His blood that we have remission of sins. So it is in His death
that we must also be buried if we want to also be in His
resurrection. Baptism is symbolic
of Christ's physical death, burial and resurrection. In a spiritual
application where the old man (spiritually) is put to
death, buried and then raised to live again a new life in
Christ.
? When
we bury someone, do we sprinkle dirt on them or do we cover them under
the ground?
? Do
we bury someone while they are still alive or after they are dead?
Notice
- Because we understand that we do not bury people alive, we should
also understand that we would not bury someone in baptism
who is already alive
in Christ. It is in death that we put away our old man of
sin. And that old body is buried in the watery grave of
baptism. Do you agree?
Gal.
3:27 We
are baptized into
Christ. This agrees with the previous scriptures that we
read.
Col.
2:9-12 We
are complete in
Christ. It is in
Him
that all fullness dwells.
? If
we are complete in
Christ, what are we if we are outside
of Christ?
Eph.
1:7 Redemption
and forgiveness of sins is in
Him
through His blood.
1
Pet. 3:21 Keeping
in mind the example of Noah and how he and his family were saved
from dying in the flood, remember that only those who were in the ark were
saved as we have already noted.
? Do
you believe that baptism is required in order to save us from our
sins?
Notice
- Baptism is the answer of a good conscience. It is the assurance
that we have
obeyed from the heart that pattern
or form
of doctrine that He has given
us. Look at 1
Jn. 3:20-22.
When we know and understand what He has
told us, and we do
it, we have refused to defy our conscience. It is by obeying
God's pattern that we can know
that we are saved.
The
Example of Paul's Conversion
Paul,
who wrote the letter to the Romans, tells of his conversion. We read
of this in
Acts 9, 22 and 26.
Acts
9:1-16 The actual account of Paul's (Saul's)
conversion.
Notice
- Notice the question that he asked; "What do You want me to
do?" Also notice that he was fasting and praying for
3 days while he waited for his answer. Some
would say that Paul had a "religious experience" and was
saved on the road to Damascus. Others would say that he
was saved while he was fasting and praying.
?
Was he saved yet?
Acts
22:12-16 Paul recounts his experience before a Jewish mob.
Notice
- Notice that upon the arrival of Ananias, he was told what he must
do; "arise and be baptized, and
wash away your sins."
Remember, he had been fasting and praying three days, yet
was told to "wash
away your sins."
Notice
- Also notice the rest of what Ananias said, "Arise and be
baptized, and wash away your sins,
calling
on the name of the Lord."
?
What do you suppose he meant by "calling on the name of the
Lord?"
Rom.
10:11-13 Paul
used the same
quotation here in showing that the gospel is now available
to "all" - both "Jew and Greek" - "whoever
calls on the name of the Lord."
Notice
- Paul was quoting from Joel
2:32. (Read
this)
Notice
- Notice
that this is the same passage quoted by Peter and the other
apostles on the day of Pentecost in Acts
2:21
when assuring the people that what they were witnessing was
a fulfillment of what Joel the prophet had foretold long
before.
Notice
- Notice the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy in Acts
2:41
when over 3000 people were baptized on that day.
Conclusion
- "Calling on the name of the Lord" involved being baptized
"for the remission of sins."
Rom.
10:14-15 Notice
that being able to "call on the name of the Lord" required
that the message of Christ first be preached before people
could respond to it.
Rom.
10:16-17 Even
though the gospel was already being preached, some were not
obeying the conditions of salvation, therefore Paul notes
that "not all have obeyed
the gospel." The he quotes from Isa.
53:1;
"Lord, who had believed
our report?"
Notice
that Paul equates "believing" with "obeying."
This
was an active,
obedient
faith. This is true
faith.
Acts
26:19-29 After
Paul had recounted his experience on the road to Damascus to
King Agrippa, he spoke of his own "obedience to the
heavenly vision" and of his preaching this same
message (as described in vs.
23).
Paul's words almost
convinced Agrippa to become a Christian. Notice that
Paul's desire was that Agrippa would become "such as
I am." - A Christian, freed from his sins.
1
Jn. 3:18-21 How
can we know
we are saved from sin? The answer to this question can
be found only when we can compare our response and see if
it fits
the pattern.
Note Remember
2
Jn. 9
and how important this point is.
At
this point in our study, it's time to look back at your answers from the
beginning of our study. Do they agree with what the scriptures have
revealed?
When
Confronted with the Truth
As
we learned in the beginning of this study, it is very easy for error
to be taught, and therefore
we are warned not to be deceived. This is why you have been
encouraged to study
this material on your own in the light of the scriptures - to read it
in its proper context and
understand
what
the truth is. Only in this way can your faith be your
own
and not
borrowed
from someone else. When
people have been taught error without realizing it at the time, it
becomes their responsibility
upon learning the truth
to make the necessary changes and to obey the truth. We
have an example of this in the book of Acts:
Acts
18:24-ff Here
we are introduced to Apollos, a preacher in the city of Ephesus
whose understanding regarding Christ and baptism was
limited to the teachings of John the baptizer, for "he
knew only the baptism of John." When a man and wife
by the name of Aquila and Priscilla recognized his lack of
understanding, they "explained to him the way of God
more accurately."
Afterward, Apollos left Ephesus and went to the province
of Achaia to the city of Corinth.
In
the mean time, Paul came to Ephesus, where Apollos had
taught his limited understanding about Christ and baptism.
There he found some whose understanding was limited to
that which Apollos had taught them:
Acts
19:1-5 After
Paul asked them a couple of questions, he found out that they
did not know about the giving of the Holy Spirit, and
their understanding about baptism was limited to that of
John's baptism (which was a baptism of repentance, which
pointed to the Christ who was "preferred" before
John - See Jn.
1:19-28)
Notice
- Notice that after Paul pointed out to them the difference between
being baptized into John's baptism and being baptized into
Christ (See Acts
2:38
- "in the name of Jesus Christ." - Also see Gal.
3:27),
they were baptized again,
this time for the right purpose;
the remission of sins.
This
points to the importance of having a right understanding of the
purpose of baptism in order for it to be valid.
Illustration
- If I go out into the street and offered a hundred dollars to anyone
who would allow me to baptize them, would that baptism be
for the remission of their sins? Certainly not. Their
purpose for being baptized would be to receive the
hundred dollars. Likewise,
when people are taught that baptism is an outward show of
an inward faith that their sins have already
been forgiven, would that baptism be for the remission of
sins?
Heb.
5:8-9 "though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the
things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He
became the author
of eternal salvation to all who obey
Him,"
Remember
Isa.
55:8-9
His ways are not our ways, though they may seem strange to us.
2
Kgs. 5:1-14
Naaman's leprosy was removed only when he obeyed. What he
expected
and what God wanted
differed. Once Naaman obeyed the conditions, his leprosy
removed. What about the removal of sin?
Lesson
13
THE
CHURCH THAT JESUS BUILT
In
this lesson we will be looking at the nature of the church that Jesus
promised to build. As a
review, let's look at the promises and events leading up to its
establishment.
Dan.
2:36-45 The
prophecy seated in Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a kingdom that
would never be destroyed pointed to its establishment in
the days of the Roman Empire.
Jn.
18:33-37 Jesus,
as He stood before Pilate, was questioned regarding the claim
that He was a king. Jesus's explanation of His kingdom
identified it as a kingdom rather than an earthly
kingdom. He also confirmed His
purpose
in coming to the earth to be
that King.
Mt.
16:13-19 After
Peter made the good confession that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of the living God, Jesus confirmed that He would
build
His church and the gates of Hades (the realm of the dead,
therefore inferring death)
would not prevail against it. This agreed with that which was
revealed in Nebuchadnezzar's dream regarding the
everlasting nature of God's kingdom.
Notice
-
that Jesus was still speaking of this kingdom in the future
tense.
Notice
- In vs. 18 Jesus speaks of His church, then in vs. 19 He refers to
His kingdom - both having reference to one and the same
entity.
Mk.
9:1 Shortly
after saying these things (cf
Mt. 16:28), Jesus indicated the nearness of its coming
Dan.
7:13-14 Daniel's
vision of the Son of God ascending up to heaven and being
seated at the right hand of the Father (the "Ancient
of Days") is an "angel's eye view" of what
Paul would write of several hundred years later in the
fulfillment of this scene.
Notice
- In this vision, the Son of God was being seated on the throne as
the King
over His kingdom.
Eph.
1:20-ff Later,
Paul confirmed the fulfillment of Daniel's dream and the certainty
of the fact of Jesus, having been raised from the dead by
the glory of the Father and having seated Him at His right
hand.
Notice
- In Paul's explanation of this, Jesus is at the right hand of the
Father as head over the church. This confirms that the
church and the are one and the same thing.
Acts
2:36-47 On
the day of Pentecost, the kingdom had its beginning. The promise
of remission of sins had finally come and the Lord added
those who were being saved
into
this body of saved people - known as the church
church
[ekklesia]
= "Called out.".
2
Thess. 2:14 As
Paul here explains, we are "called" by the gospel of
Christ.
1
Pet. 2:9-10 What
we have been "called out" of, is the "world."
What we have been called "into" is a
relationship with the Father in which we are "the
people of God."
Eph.
1:3, 7, 11 It
is in this relationship (called the "heavenly places") that
we enjoy all of the spiritual blessings which include
forgiveness of sins and an inheritance in heaven.
Eph.
4:1-6 Paul
confirmed that there is but one
body. Remember that Paul referred to the body as being
the church as we read earlier in Eph. 1:22-23.
Col.
1:13-14, 18 By
62 AD (at the time of the writing of this letter and the Ephesian
letter) the kingdom was already in existence and referred
to them in the present tense.
1
Cor. 15:20-28 At
the end of time, the Son of God will deliver up the kingdom to the
Father and will put down all authority, at which time the
Father will be "all in all."
Lesson
14
THE
PROBLEM OF DIVISION
Eph.
5:22-33 The
church is to be subject
to Christ.
(vs. 24) and to respect
His will (vs. 33). Notice that in Jn.
17:21,
His will is that we all be one. Remember, He died
for the church (vs. 25) because of His great love
for her. His desire is that she be holy
and without blemish
(vs. 27).
2
Tim. 4:2-5
Paul warned the young preacher, Timothy, to preach the truth now,
because the time would come when they would not hear the
truth, but find preachers who would say what they wanted
to hear. But remember 2
Jn. 9-11.
Acts
20:28-31 Paul
warned the church in Ephesus (vs. 17) that division would come
from within their own ranks. It's no wonder that later,
when Paul wrote a letter to them, he reminded them to "keep
the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace."
2
Tim. 2:11-ff Paul
warned of error and to be watchful not to follow those who teach
error.
2
Thess. 2:1-12 Paul
warned of a "falling away."
1
Tim. 4:1-5 Paul
warned that in latter times, some would depart from the faith,
teaching error.
Mt.
15:1-14 Among
the Jews under the Old Testament law, their leaders had
transgressed the law and taught error by teaching their
own doctrine.
Notice that what God has not planted shall be uprooted.
Bewared of blind leaders who lead others who are also
blind into the same ditch. Remember
Prov. 14:12.
1
Cor. 1:10-15 In
Corinth, there was already a problem of division.
1
Cor. 11:17-18 Notice
the result of "following
men."
1
Cor. 3:1-9 Division
among God's people is evidence of carnality
(fleshly- mindedness - or the opposite of being
spiritually-minded).
Eph.
4:1-6 UNITY
= ONENESS "one body...one
hope...one
Lord...one
faith."
Acts
2:47 Remember,
the Lord adds the obedient to His church -Which
church?
The
confusion that has resulted in the religious world because of
division is
a sad fact. Such confusion is the result of men "teaching as
doctrines
the
commandments of men." (Mt.
15:9)
Such division is not by God's design,
but by man's doings.
1
Cor. 14:33 God
is not the author of confusion.
Consider
- If people from all denominations decided to come together to
examine the New Testament and follow it
and
nothing else,
what would result?
The
church as it is patterned in His word, according to His design!
Wouldn't
you like to be just a Christian? Wouldn't you like to be a part of a
group of Christians
who work and worship together in harmony - without all of the
confusion found
in denominationalism? Wouldn't you like to be a part of that which
the Lord
added
those first Christians to on that first Pentecost after Jesus'
ascension? (Acts 2) You
can! The pattern of God's word that we have examined in this study
can result in
the peace that is available in Christ - if you will follow His lead
as He has revealed it
in His word. Unity is accomplished only in Christ through His word -
if we will heed it.
There are many like you who have sought the truth and have found it
-and have joined
themselves together in congregations around the world - people who
are
simply
Christians and who seek to glorify God as His church -"the
pillar and ground of
the truth." (1 Tim. 3:15)
